Stitchy Ramblings

This post may not mean anything to you if you don't do some type of stitching.  But if you are a stitcher like me, you'll understand my happiness at this.  I have long been planning the start of my first Heaven and Earth Design.  (HAED for short in the stitching world.)  These designs are quite large and beautiful.  I put a lot of thought into choosing my fabric for it, number of skeins I would need of each color (100 different colors in my design) and I used a fabric calculator again and again to make sure I knew just how much fabric to order. 

 

The design I am stitching is Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim by Dean Morrissey.  I decided to use Congress Cloth for my fabric.  It is a 22 count evenweave.  If you don't know what that means, it basically means it is a material for cross stitching with very, very tiny squares.  I'm quite certain I will need to use my magnifier (and lots of light) to do this project!  The HAED are known for showing much more intricate detail in the finished product with a smaller thread count.  Once I decided on my pattern and fabric, I had to make sure I had all the skeins of floss I would need.  I made a copy of the list, checked off what I already had, and headed to Hobby Lobby for the rest.  I needed a lot of DMC 310 for this project, so I decided to just go ahead and order an entire cone of it!  I have been asked over and over again where you can buy whole cones of DMC thread and the answer is 123Stitch. 

 

Here is a picture of my cone of 310.

 

As I said, if you're not a stitcher, you won't understand how exciting it is to have this cone.  But to someone who does any kind of needlework, I'm sure you "get" my excitement, lol!  I shared this picture last night on a couple of social media sites and the next thing I knew, it had been snagged and posted on Pinterest by someone, lol.  If I had known it was going to end up there, I would have cleared off the table before taking the picture, lol!  The cloth you see behind the cone is my Congress Cloth that the design will be stitched on. I will be starting this piece very soon, within the next week.  I just need to finish up my current charity square.  I can't wait to get started!



Let's catch up! :0)

I'm having a really good day.  No real reason really ~ I'm just feeling relaxed and content.  We do have a couple of "big" things going on at the moment.  My husband is changing jobs and we are both really happy about it.  He has landed a job that truly is a "once in a lifetime" opportunity and we're both still a bit slack jawed that this has happened.  Although, I must give credit where credit is due and say that my husband is so very good at what he does and has a very good skill set for his field that one doesn't just find every day.  You could definitely say I'm proud of him!  In addition to that, he is beginning the work of studying for the GRE exam so he can start work on his Master's Degree.  Again, I'm so very proud!!!  I know it will be a lot of sacrifice while he's working towards his Masters ~ between work and school he won't be as readily available to us.  But we purposely waited for him to take this step until our children were a bit older and I feel that we are ready for it now.  It will definitely be worth it in the long run!

 

In conjunction with his new job, we are opening up our contracting business again that we had for many years.  Basically hubby does the work and my job is to keep our books in order.  I took a trip to the office supply store for some things I would need.  Honestly, office supply stores are just as much fun and any other kind of shopping for me, lol!  But I got what I needed ~ ledger books and hanging file folders and such.

 

 

Notice the Lady Grey Tea in the above picture?  I have been looking for Lady Grey for a long while and could not find it.  I finally found some a couple of weeks ago in Publix.  I really like it!  It had a more delicate flavor than it's more masculine counterpart.  It has turned into a fast favorite.

 

In other news, I'm getting a new Kenmore washing machine.  :0)  I'm waiting for it now, it should be delivered soon.  It's a good thing too as our old washer gave up the ghost and I have a bit of a laundry bottle neck and traffic jam happening in the laundry room! 

 

I'm still eating healthy and enjoying it.  Lots of veggies with some lean meats and fruits.  I also have the Greek yogurt everyday and soon discovered that Tucker (one of our kitten clan) loves it as well.  Let's just say the current routine is for him to get a small dish with a tablespoon or two of the yogurt as well.  He knows what mom has when it's breakfast time now and he simply takes it for granted that he gets some too, simply because he likes it and wants some.  And so....he does, lol. 

 

We have several trips we're planning this summer that we are looking forward to.  The first of which will be the first week of June and it's a mother/daughter trip.  We'll be off to Atlanta.  My daughter and I are very much looking forward to it.  We already have our accommodations reserved and we're planning on going to a concert while we're there, as well as some shopping.  I intend to look online before we leave to find any stitching shops Atlanta has, I've heard that there are a few. 

 

So that's what's going on in my home at the beginning of this beautiful summer.  What's going on in your neck of the woods?? 



Tonight....

I have a cuppa of Mudslide coffee...

(yes I know it's not good to drink coffee so late.....shhh.)

I have a white clay mask on my face...

And I'm fixing to start my newest book, purchased today....

Sounds like my kind of Saturday night, lol!  What has your Saturday looked like?

Hello friends! :0)

Just a quick little check in today ~ I wanted to say hi.  :0)

Tonight my daughter and I are going to an all girls devo hosted at a friend's house.  She decided to put together a nacho bar and I'm helping her with the food.  I'm bringing a crock pot full of nacho meat so I decided to just do a big double batch with enough to leave at home for my husband and son too.  I'll have to start fixing that here in a few minutes.  I'm also bringing a dessert, so I just found a pretty cake at the bakery. It looked very "girls night" appropriate.  

So that's what's up here on this beautiful May day.  :0)  What fun things are going on in your home?

Stitching charities update

I was going through my posts and realized I never posted an update from December when I talked about stitching for two charities ~ one that makes quilts for sick children and one that is making memorial quilts for the families of the victims of Sandy Hook.  So I thought I would post a little update here.

I finished my first square to go to Love Quilts ~ the horse I had a pattern for and I added the border in myself.  This was for a young girl, I think she is 11 - who wanted a quilt made up of realistic looking horses.  I edited out my name and state at the bottom, that's why it looks kind of fuzzy and odd there.

This is my second charity square but my first one for the Sandy Hook group.  It will go into a quilt for a family who lost their little girl.

I'm working on another Sandy Hook square and then there's one more in line behind that one to finish in the next three months.  My needles will by flying!  :0)

Good food and healthy choices ~ my "go to" breakfast and lunch

Ok.  I have a confession to make.  You all know that I love to cook and I'll admit that I pride myself in being able to do that well.  But the thing is, I come from a long line of very old fashioned, Southern cooks.  The food has been absolutely divine......but not all that healthy.  (sigh) True story.  So I decided to make some changes.  I don't know if it has to do with getting older (and perhaps wiser?) - But I came to place in life where I actually started craving healthy foods.  The things that I once couldn't stay away from...don't really tempt me that much anymore.  I truly want healthy food that is going to be good for me.  It's not a big chore to eat right anymore and I'll admit, that is a nice feeling.  

I've just been taking better care of myself in many areas of my life.  Foods, medications (I wasn't very astute about taking my asthma meds - but I won't miss a dose now), taking vitamins and supplements, taking time to relax and recharge my mind and body - these things have become very important to me.

So, back to food.  Since I have a houseful every day - between homeschooling and my husband working from home - it was hard for me (or at least for a long time I *thought* it was hard) to cater specifically to my own food needs.  I have a family to cook for and my husband is really particular about his food and wants certain things - things that aren't necessarily the healthy choices I want for me.  But I found a way to cover all my bases - pleasing my husband with the food he expects but still having my own needs taken care of.  

And it's been so easy!

I've completely changed what I do for myself for breakfast and lunch and it's made a world of difference to me.  I feel better and have energy throughout my day.  Energy is something I have been sorely lacking for a long while.  But my breakfast and lunch menus now keep me going and also keep me full until the next meal so I don't really have the desire to snack.  (But if I do, I keep some easy to grab healthy snacks on hand. - Protein being the name of the game ~~ I try to stay away from empty carbs.)

So let's get to my menu.  For breakfast I simply mix some Chobani Greek yogurt  (I buy the vanilla flavored one in the tub so I have enough for several days)...

....and I mix in some strawberries and blueberries.

Then I top if off with just a little bit of organic granola.  I like to have some crunch.  (This is the brand I'm currently using...in pic below.)

If I absolutely feel like I need a little more protein, I'll throw in a piece of cooked (of course it's cooked, lol) turkey bacon.  That's it!  It's simple, quick, easy and to be honest - most importantly - it leaves me filled and fulfilled.  I'm really not hungry until lunch and I'm also not walking around fighting my own self over unhealthy cravings.  I feel good.  It feels so good to feel good.  :0)

Now, moving on to lunch.  It's really easy and simple too.  I make a pretty big batch of this to last me a few days so many days all I have to do is heat it up.  I start out with chicken.  I always have chicken on hand because it is a favorite of everyone in my family.  So I bake up some boneless, skinless breasts.  I season them with pepper (everything is better with pepper in my book), rosemary and garlic.  Sometimes I'll change the seasonings up, but that is my favorite combo.  Then I cook up some whole wheat pasta.

Sometimes I'll change it up and use Barilla Plus pasta instead.  I feel this is still a healthy choice because it is not made from white flour, but chickpea flour instead.  So it's a good protein.  

Then I chop up a mixture of raw veggies.  These can change over time but I love broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, and sweet peppers.  But I use whatever I can get at the market.  Sometimes I do have organic, but not always.  It depends how often I can get into the city.  City shopping = organic veggies.  Small town shopping = equals nonorganic.  It's just the way it is.  So I steam the veggies.  After it's all cooked it's just a matter of mixing it all together.  Once it's in my bowl I add some more pepper (I love my pepper), just a tiny pinch of red pepper flakes and some Mama Francesca's Parmesan & Red Pepper cheese.  Ok, yes, I like some spice, lol.  But that product only has 1 carb and 25 calories for 2 tsp, so I don't feel bad about using it.

(Sorry the pic has a glare on the sprinkle cheese - but I wanted you to at least be able to see what it looks like.)

Again, this is a good meal and it keeps me happy and filled up and out of the kitchen trolling for unhealthy foods before the next meal. 

For supper I still eat whatever I have fixed for my family.  But I try to follow the 1/3 - 2/3 rule.  I keep the meat or "main" dish to no more than 1/3 of my plate and make sure the 2/3 of my plate has veggie sides or a salad.  

This routine is truly working for me and I'm happy and content with it.  For so many years, I didn't think I could be happy without the more traditional/heavy foods that are staples of an old fashioned Southern soul food way of eating.  But in the end, I have been able to go in a different, more healthy direction because I'm truly craving the better choices now.  In turn, I've been able to see the difference in my energy level and the way I feel.  Add in my vitamins and supplements and I'm just happier all the way around.  

So there's my "go to" breakfast and lunch choices.  What are your favorite healthy snacks or meals?  I'm all ears and would love to get ideas from others. :0)

(All pictures except for the last one are from Google images.)

I'm linking this post to the Titus 2sday Link Up Party.  :0)

As well as the Domestically Divine Homemaking Link Up Party

My favorite things

Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens....

If you're like me, that song will get stuck in your head sooooo easily!  I know I haven't been around much but I am still here.  It seems that some months...or even years I don't have as much time for blogging as others.  But such is life, yes?

So I wanted to post and I was thinking that one thing I'm really enjoying right now is other people's blog posts and Youtube videos about their favorite things.  Anything from self care to homemaking.  I always love to get ideas from other ladies about things they are doing or products they are enjoying.  So I decided to do a favorite things post of my own.  I would like to do them at least somewhat regularly, perhaps once per month?  We shall see.  

Right now I am very much into skin care.  I had a good skin regimen when I was a teenager but then put it to the side in my 20s.  At that point, I (mistakenly) got it into my head that I could simply skim by on my youth.  I was young, didn't see any wrinkles, so I didn't give it a thought.  Mistake.  Big mistake.  I didn't do much more than swipe off makeup and actually purposely stayed away from both moisturizer and sunblock!  I tried a couple that didn't agree with me and then decided they all must be the same, so why bother?  Ugh and double ugh.  

If I could give advice to younger ladies in their 20s it would be this - do not wait until you see visible signs of aging like wrinkles or sagging skin to start your skin care regime.  Because if you wait until the bad stuff is already there, it's going to be too late in many ways.  You are going to have to be in recovery mode instead of maintenance mode - and maintenance mode is highly preferable.  

I use several different things at different times and for different reasons but I wanted to share with you two things I have been using daily.  (All pictures are from Google images.)

This is the moisturizer/sunblock I use every morning after washing my face.  It does not break me out.  I know that is a very common complaint some people have about using a moisturizing cream and/or sunblock.  But this is wonderful.  I use it on my face, arms, hands, neck and decolletage.  I do realize this is only SPF 15, but if I am going out, other things I put on my face have added SPF as well.  (I use an actual beeswax sunblock stick on top of this, plus my makeup also has SPF.)  Also, if I know I am going to be in direct sunlight for any length of time, I will also wear a sunhat.  So by the time I'm done, my face is very well drenched in SPF, lol.  I also reapply this to my arms, hands, and neck throughout the day if needed.

I've also been using Night of Olay every night.  I inherited a trait from my father's side for rather deep "concentration wrinkles" in the middle of my forehead.  I say concentration because they aren't really caused from frowning but we all have a tendency to frown any time we are concentrating on something.  Which is quite often.  We just can't help it.  These two vertical wrinkles had gotten so bad that any time I had a picture taken - even if I was as happy as can be and smiling - I came off looking very severe.  :0(  Not fun.  So I started using this every night all over my face and neck and I've even been known to go in during the day and dab a bit on the trouble spots.  I can honestly say that after about 2-3 months, those two angry looking vertical lines on my forehead are almost gone.  They truly are hard to see now.  So, I am pleased.  (I also use both of these products on my hands.  I always treat my hands the same way I do my face.)

I do have plans to try their Regenerist line in the future.  Probably when this jar of night cream runs out, I'll try the Regenerist. 

The last favorite thing I wanted to share is actually a dish soap that I found.  Now, I have to admit that I am pretty brand loyal to Dawn because I truly have found a difference in how that one works for me compared to other brands.  But when I saw this bottle/scent from Palmolive, I was instantly interested.

I found the one in the center which is Lemon Thyme scented.  At this time of year, when Spring is coming alive, I love anything with a citrus scent especially lemon.  So even though I didn't really want this to wash my dishes, I bought it and have been using it for other things like hand washing, soaking hair brushes and cleaning out make up brushes.  The packaging is pretty and it smells so good and gives me a smile every time I use it.  :0)

So there you have it ~ three of my current favorite things.  If you have any favorite items, please share!