Teaching and reading

Well, we're all moved in, mostly unpacked and back from vacation. I don't know if it was a blessing or a curse to go away in the middle of settling into a new house, though! I did get a little stitching done down the shore on Home By the Sea, and I will have to take a picture of my progress later. I've been trying to get back into the routine of stitching at night, and so far, things are going well.

In other stitching news, I started teaching my nearly six year old niece how to stitch. She absolutely adored the movie Finding Nemo, so I picked up this little piece for her to start teaching. I probably should have paid more attention to the age range (8+) rather than the content, but I tried to make it as fun as possible for her. She's a smart little cookie, so I didn't think it would be too difficult, and I made sure to explain that it was going to take some time to finish.

She got the hang of threading the needle VERY quickly, much quicker than I ever did when I started learning, and she was surprisingly patient with the stitching. She had a hard time bringing the needle through from the back of the fabric, but she let me guide the needle for her, and it worked out well. She was good for almost an hour before she started getting bored with it, which was much longer than I expected. We worked on it here and there throughout the week, a little at a time, but I ended up finishing it for her at the end of the week. She was just thrilled with her Nemo, and very proud of the work she did.

I think I'm pretty lucky that my niece is so patient - there's a lot of 5 year olds that aren't so willing to sit still. It also helps that I'm her favorite aunt (she's said so herself to her mom). :-) I think next time, though, I'm going to teach her what I started out doing - stamped cross stitch. That might be easier for her to get the hang of, and this is something I'd really like to be able to share with her, especially since she seems so interested in it. I started teaching her because she'd always be hanging over my shoulder wanting to know what I was doing and wanting to help whenever I worked on my own projects. I'm hoping the stamped stuff will go over well with her.

And on a non-stitching note, Carolien has recieved the "advance copy" of The Hard Way. Imagine my surprise when it went all the way to the Netherlands in about a week! Julie had several extra copies of her book that she gave to friends and family members with the stipulation that they had to be passed on. You can read more about it here. Once Carolien is done reading, she's going to pass the book on to the next reader, so if you'd like a chance to get in on her drawing, be sure to leave a comment on her blog.

I'm still alive!

Moving has sucked up much of my days (and evenings) and by the time I am finished for the day, I am too exhausted to stitch, so I've been spending some time trying to catch up with all the blog posts in my Google reader.

I've just about finished unpacking, or at least unpacking in the main part of the house. There's still the matter of the basement to deal with (more boxes down there, but they're storage items) and the garage (DH's domain). DH has been putting in time on a frustrating project at work, so when he gets home, he doesn't even want to think about dealing with the garage. And just as I finish UNPACKING, I have to start REPACKING as we leave for the shore tomorrow morning for a week long vacation. Don't get me wrong - we're desperately in need of a vacation, and I can't wait to see my little niece and nephew. It will be nice to live without boxes for a week!

C in DC has received her signed copy of The Hard Way, so I hope she enjoys it. Carolien, I promise I will get your copy out to you as soon as I find it. I swear I had my hands on it earlier this week, but heaven only knows where it is now!!! And if anyone else has picked up the book, please let me know how you liked it. Julie's friends and family have been reporting back "book sightings" at local bookstores around the country, and it's some pretty exciting stuff. She'll also have her first book signing at a Borders in her hometown in July, so I am hoping that goes well. I'm just so proud of my friend!

I have a new project to start down the shore, Home by the Sea by Designs from Pamela. I spotted it at the online needlework show and fell in love, so I'm stitching this for a housewarming gift for my DH and myself. I may even finish it as shown with the hooks for the keys, or rather, have DH finish it like that! And I already have the perfect hanging spot for it - right inside the door as you enter the kitchen from the laundry room. The laundry room connects the kitchen and the garage, so that will be the door DH and I use most of the time, and I'll be able to see it every day. I'm going to modify it to include our family name and est. 2004 (the year we were married) on the bottom. I've decided that whenever I do a housewarming gift for a married couple, I am going to use the year they were married instead of when they bought the house because IMO, that's when the family was established. I think I'll stitch the personalization in the same brown as the treetrunks.

Now onto the Friday Feasts. I'm not quite as far behind as I thought I was, even though I haven't done these in a long, long time! (or rather it seems that way). And once I am done with those, I am going back off the grid for another week. See you when I get back!!

From Friday's Feasts: A Buffet for your Brain: Friday Feasts #192 & #193

Feast One Hundred & Ninety Two

Appetizer: When you drink soda/pop/coke, do you prefer to drink it from the bottle, a can, or after pouring it into a cup?
Most of the time, I drink straight from the bottle, especially if we're on the road. At home, we usually buy cans of soda, so I drink directly from them. Really the only time I ever drink soda from a class is in a restaurant or someone's home and they make me drink from the glass.

Soup: What television show are you willing to stay up late to watch?
None, really. That's the miracle of cable television. Sooner or later they're going to repeat it. I have been know, however, to keep going with shows on DVD until we finish the disc, which could be very late indeed.

Salad: Name one person, place, or thing you think of as brilliant.
Hands down, my DH

Main Course: Would you be willing to work 4 10-hour days instead of 5 8-hour days in order to save gas?
Absolutely. I've done it before to have the extra day off, and it's not that big of a deal, especially since I like to be in the office early (7-7:30)

Dessert: If you were a superhero, what would you call yourself?
I'm Batman. (it's a joke)

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Feast One Hundred & Ninety Three

Appetizer: Do you consider yourself to be an optimist or a pessimist?

I used to be very pessimistic, but I've tried to be more optimistic lately. I'm still no Little Mary Sunshine, but I think trying to see the good side makes me a nicer person to be around.

Soup: What is your favorite color of ink to write with?

Black, preferably fine or ultra fine point.

Salad: How often do you get a manicure or pedicure? Do you do them yourself or go to a salon and pay for them?

Occasionally I will treat myself to a salon manicure. But I also have quite a collection of tools and polishes, so I used to keep up with doing my own manicures pretty regularly until we started the packing and moving process and my nails went to hell. I'll be fixing that this week while on family vacation. My 5 year old niece loves when I do her nails - I've even taught her to properly ROLL the bottle to mix instead of shaking it! We've made a family tradition to do manicures on vacation. As for pedicures, I don't care for them at the salon. I'd rather do my own at home, and my toes are almost always nicely painted.

Main Course: Have you ever won anything online?

If so, what was it?I won a sweet bookmark from Barbara.

Dessert: In which room in your house do you keep your home computer?

It's in our guestroom for now but may eventually move down to the craft room in the basement. Once we set up a wireless router though, we can really go anywhere.

Calling on my fellow stitchers for ideas

A friend of mine and her husband are expecting their first child this September and I've been trying to figure out a nice piece to stitch for them. They're not finding out the sex of the child until the birth, so that makes it a little harder to narrow down. They've decided to go with a jungle animal theme, but they don't really have any specific colors or anything in mind.

The closest I can find to something resembling a theme are the hooks they've selected:

What I need now is a project that fits this theme. Any thoughts or ideas on what I could stitch?

And the winner is....

Using the random number generator at Random.org, a winner was selected...

Lucky #7! C in DC (Pencil Crossings). I'll be contacting you for your address.

I'd love to send copies to everyone and help support my friend's book, but with the new house, it's just not possible. However, I do encourage you to check out the book next time you're out shopping and hopefully pick up a copy for yourself. If you're interested, I can hook you up with an autograph from the author. Just let me know.

Alternatively, you can request that your library purchase a copy (or several copies!) and borrow it from them.

On a related note, I have a promotional copy of the book I will send out as well, but there are conditions for this. Julie had 13 promotional copies of this book and gave them to her friends and family members. I have a copy of the book and I'm going to set it free, but only to a recipient who promises to leave a comment on the book's blog and pass the book on. (The blog explains the whole process in great detail)

The Random Number Generator selected #20, which is Carolien. Carolien, if you're up to the challenge, let me know. If you'd like to opt out, I'll offer the book up to the next person.

The Hard Way

I am so excited! Julie is one of my best friends in the whole world, and her very first book was released yesterday!!!!

The Hard Way by Julie Luongo, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders and other fine retailers.

Julie and I went to grad school together and I've seen this work in many, many variations, drafts, outlines, etc., and it just kept getting better and better. I am so unbelievably proud of her and I know it's going to be a huge success. I was thrilled to open my package from Amazon yesterday and see the finished product in my hands, and I got an email a little while ago from another friend who ran across it in a B&N in New York. Very exciting stuff, I tell you.

This is also my 100th post, so in honor of that as well as my friend and her fabulous book, I will give away a copy autographed by the author herself to a randomly selected commenter on this post. I'll leave it open until Monday, June 2, to give everyone a chance to get in on it.

Friday Feasts #190 & #191

From Friday's Feast: A Buffet for your Brain

Feast One Hundred & Ninety One

Appetizer: What is the nearest big city to your home?
I'm in a good spot here on the east coast - within an hour of Philadelphia and within 2 of Washington, DC, and New York City

Soup: On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how well do you keep secrets?
With my DH, 0 to -5. I rarely keep anything from him. In general, however, I am about an 8 or a 9. If someone asks me to keep a confidence, I do.

Salad: Describe your hair (color, texture, length).
Gillian Anderson was my "hair idol" in the 90s. My cut and color was very similar to her. The color remains some shade of red, but I've been getting it cut shorter ala Mariska Hargitay's new do for this season. My stylist tells me this is an ideal cut for someone with baby fine hair such as mine.

Main Course: What kind of driver are you? Courteous? Aggressive? Slow?
I am a fast, aggressive driver, though I have slowed down over the last few years. I'm not aggressive just to be mean - it's just that I hate driving and like to get where I am going as quickly as possible. I'm fine as long as people stay out of my way. I will add, however, that I always take road conditions into consideration and never drive too fast for the conditions or the area. Also, whenever possible, I will move over into the next lane to allow someone to get onto the highway, something my driving instructor in HS instilled into each and every one of us.

Dessert: When was the last time you had a really bad week?
An entire bad week? Probably a year and a half ago. I get the random bad day here and there, but really no long stretches of bad days in recent memory.

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Feast One Hundred & Ninety

Appetizer: When someone smiles at you, do you smile back?
Usually, yes I do.

Soup: Describe the flooring in your home. Do you have carpet, hardwood, vinyl, a mix?
In our current house, it's tile in the front entry, carpet through most of the rest of the house except for the bathrooms and kitchen where there's craptastic vinyl flooring. In our NEW house, it's tile in the entry, carpet in the LR, DR, hallway and bedrooms, tile in the bathrooms and kitchen, and hardwood in the family room. At some point, the DR will be getting hardwood as well.

Salad: Write a sentence with only 5 words, but all of the words have to start with the first letter of your first name.
Jennifer jumps joyfully.

Main Course: Do you know anyone whose life has been touched by adoption?
More than the average person, I think. My husband and his two first cousins are all adopted. I also used to baby sit for a couple who adopted their son after many years of trying (unsuccessfully) to get pregnant. Soon after they adopted him, they found themselves pregnant with his sister, and another one followed shortly after.

Dessert: Name 2 blue things.
My beloved dark blue Dallas Cowboys Troy Aikman jersey and my nearly as beloved Tiffany Blue Boxes.

Tea Drinker's Tip

I drink a lot of tea, and I suspect quite a few of my fellow stitchers are tea drinkers as well. I usually drink my tea hot with a touch of honey and milk, and since I drink so much tea, I buy honey in bulk at the local warehouse store in a large plastic bottle. Sometimes I get lucky and can use the whole thing before it starts crystallizing, but sometimes, it starts crystallizing by the time I am halfway through the bottle, and it's hard to use.

However, I found a great tip to cure that - microwaving. Put some honey in a small glass jar and microwave on high until it melts, stirring occasionally (every 15-20 seconds). You need to be SUPER careful when you do this and you cannot leave the honey unattended. Honey in the microwave gets very hot, very fast. Be very careful when you do this! I tried it the other day, putting thick, crystallized honey into the jar. It melted down nicely, and more importantly, has STAYED melted. I was afraid it would go back to its crystallized state once it cooled, but it hasn't so far. So if you have problems with crystallized honey, give it a try!

Vera Bradley on Sale

I know how much my fellow stitchers love their Vera Bradley stuff, and I just ran across a sale on ebags.com that you might be interested in. They have a few discontinued colors - I picked up a couple things in Nantucket Navy, but there are limited quantities of other discontinued colors and styles as well. Definitely worth checking out - the prices are GOOD!

Also, if you shop through Ebates.com, you can get an extra 6% cash back on your purchase. I've been using ebates pretty much since they started about 8 years ago, so I know they are VERY reputable and you don't have to worry about signing up with them. They have a ton of stores, and while the percentages don't seem like a lot, they do add up, and even 2-3% is better than 0%, right? And the nice thing about shopping through them is that you can also use coupon codes in addition to your cashback discount.

If you click through this link, you get $5 and I get $5 for referring you.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE: You DO NOT need to download the MoeMoneymaker toolbar. All it does is check where you are and remind you to shop through ebates if they have a discount. I always check ebates before I start shopping, so I do not use the toolbar. IMO, I don't particularly care for this kind of software anyway as I find it intrusive and cumbersome.

Finally, some stitching related content

But no pictures!!

Actually, I've been absent from blogging as much because we were deep in the midst of a house hunt, which, fingers crossed, has been successful. We had our offer accepted on a house and are now working on removing our contingencies, namely acquiring a mortgage, getting a home inspection and a radon test. We're hoping they all go smoothly and we can be in our new house sometime in June. This is our new house:

It's 4 BR, 2.5 bathrooms with central air, a 2 car garage, and a basement. The yard is smaller than we originally wanted, and it's in a development, but I think it's going to be a great house. It's been on the market almost a year, and was priced well above other houses for sale. Finally, the owners relented and came down in price, something our real estate agent was really surprised about. But I really did my research - I was well versed in every house for sale in 2 counties and part of a third, and I knew the offer we made was low but fair. I'm just really glad they accepted it!

And now for the stitching related content...

I finished up most of the stitching on the small version of Acorns and Threads, and decided I didn't want to do the title or the alphabet in the top portion, so I'm currently working out what to change it to. I was thinking about making it a Welcome sign for the front hallway. I originally thought to put in Willkommen (my DH is German), but it doesn't quite fit in the font I'm using and I've already stitched in the border, so I'm not tearing all of that out. I might just look for a different font, or I could stitch the larger version and use the Willkommen for that instead. We'll see.

I've also started a new freebie by Pelin Tezer, called Moire. I'm doing mine in shades of teal green and will finish it as a biscornu. It's a very relaxing pattern to stitch and I think it will be beautiful when it's done.

So that's what I've been up to. I hope everyone is doing well, and now I am going to catch up a little more on my sadly neglected Google Reader!

Friday Feast #188 & #189

Friday Feast #188

Appetizer: Name something you would categorize as weird.
This was hard to answer because I try to be openminded and tactful. Even if I don't agree with something or think it might be weird, I don't usually like to say so publically because I don't see the point in unnecessarily hurting other people's feelings. To each, their own.

Having said that, I will say that some of my eating habits are weird. For instance, I usually don't eat the bottom bun on a burger, usually because it is too soggy. Also, I usually eat what I like the most last, meaning I eat all the vegetables on my plate first. I've come to discover, however, that this is not as uncommon or weird as I might have thought at first.

Soup: What color was the last piece of food you ate?
Brown and white - I ate some parmesean breaded chicken breast

Salad: On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy being alone?
Most of the time, about a 9 to a 9.5. I'm an introvert and being around lots of people, especially ones I don't know well, exhausts me. Once in a while though, I get a wild hair and crave social interaction. It's not often, and the craving does not last long. Most of the time, I am very content to be by myself or with my husband and / or a few close friends

Main Course: Fill in the blank: I will _________ vote for ___________ in _______.
I will definitely NOT vote for Hilary in 2008

Dessert: Describe your sleeping habits.
I prefer to go to bed very late (like 2-3 am) and wake up later (9-10 am) . That seems to be my natural cycle. I do not usually nap, but I do have a weird habit of falling asleep in the passenger seat of a car, sometimes even on short trips.

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Friday Feast # 189

Appetizer: What was your favorite cartoon when you were a child?
In the late 70s, early 80s, Saturday morning cartoons were the BEST. I loved Superfriends, the Laff-O-Lympics, the Smurfs, He Man and the Masters of the Universe, etc. I was also a big Jem fan and I loved Pirates of Dark Water.

Soup: Pretend you are about to get a new pet. Which animal would you pick, and what would you name it?
I've always grown up with larger dogs like labs, so I love them, but my DH has always had schnauzers. Since we have a pretty anti-social cat, we'll probably start with a schnauzer, which should be less overwhelming for the cat. By family tradition, his (or her) name will be Fritzy. Once I get my labs though, I'm going to name them Dallas and Cowboy.

Salad: On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how much do you enjoy getting all dressed up for a special occasion?
If I have an outfit I like, I LOVE getting dressed up for a special occasion. It's finding an outfit that's the problem!

Main Course: What kind of music do you listen to while you drive?
It depends. I like a variety of classic rock with a pretty even tempo. I've noticed the faster the music, the faster I tend to drive, and I already drive pretty fast, so this is not necessarily a good thing. LOL I have a great iPod playlist that randomizes a selection of songs from sub-playlists, so I always have a new, randomly selected playlist to listen to whenever I get in the car.

Dessert: When was the last time you bought a clock? And in which room did you put it?
I can't even remember when I bought a clock, but it might have been the one that's in our bathroom. I like having a clock in the bathroom - it keeps me on track in the mornings. The last time piece I bought was a new wristwatch, about 4 months ago.