Friday, January 30, 2009

We're still here

Well this winter hasn't been as fun as last winter. We did have a lot of snow in December (the most on record), but hardly any in January. It's just funner when it snows...it's also warmer. It's been bitterly cold, temps 15 to 40 below with (and sometimes without) windchill are a regular thing now in the morning. If we want to go anywhere first thing in the morning we have to make sure to plug the battery charger on the car just to make sure it starts.
The house has been nice and warm though...well, I should say 1/4 of it is nice and warm. Also it's supposed to be a balmy 31F here tomorrow...can't wait.
We have our first spring flowers: Paper White Narcissus

They have an intoxicating beautiful smell that has been cheering us all up. The days are also getting longer, so that's a good thing. Now it gets dark just before 6pm...much better than 4pm.

I finished my Four Seasons Chairs Cross-Stitch...this project was started in May 2006 at my folks house in Indiana when they hosted an Indy 500 Race event with a house full of family & friends. I remember parts of that weekend well...it was actually the worst I have ever felt in my life...self-induced with way way way too much tequilla on top of beer, rum & coke, and then red wine...WHAT was I thinking?

The sad story about the 2.5 year cross-stitch project is that when I was ironing it, to smooth out the wrinkles I did not put anything between the cross-stitch and my iron. I had ironed it many times with no problems, but this time Tom suggested I use steam...I'm not very experienced with ironing and actually didn't even realize that I wasn't use steam in the past. Well I BURNT SUMMER!!! I was crying and so upset with myself, but there was nothing I could do. I learned that lesson. I framed it up and shipped it out to my folks...a very late Christmas present...I actually thought I'd have it finished for Christmas 2006...where does the time go?

I'm now working on a smaller project, but no pics for awhile. It's almost done, but it's a present...top secret. After I give it away I'll post a pic. After I get that one done I'm actually going to stitch something for us...something I've NEVER done. Every single thing I've stitched in the past I've given away. I want to make a Birth Anouncement for our baby. I made the design myself, borrowing heavily from a design that my friend Dana stitched for us for our wedding.

When do I find to stitch you ask? I set my alarm to go off at 5am and I can usually get in an hour or so in the morning. Then I can fit 30min to an hour in in the evening when I need to get off my feet and rest my aching back. It only hurts at night...especially after doing the dishes, which I thought would convince Tom to do the dishes, BUT that didn't work and the dishes didn't get done...it was kind of like Shel Silverstein's Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out. I couldn't stand it! In his defense I think Tom has a wonderfully unique perspective and attitude toward life where mess and clutter just don't bother him. He's very much an absent minded professor type. Tom has been WONDERFUL about cleaning the litter box and putting dinner away at night, and I do get a back massage when I whine about it.

You know how we got a snow plow, so we wouldn't have to shovel anymore? Well Tom thought he'd really push the limits of the 4x4 Geo Tracker and decided that he was going to use it to plow a path to the front door...there is a slight downhill incline from the driveway to the front door and...

he got STUCK! In the grass. Another lesson learned...sometimes you just need to use the shovel.

We do have some cute pictures of Reeve snowboarding in our field, but they're on Tom's camera and he keeps leaving it in his vehicle. When I think to get it I'm too chicken to go out in the cold to get it, or he's gone working...like now.

Monday I visit the midwife. I'm now in my 3rd Trimester and still feeling great. The first 9weeks were miserable, but ever since I got over that hump I've been feeling great. We have a very active baby...much more movement than I ever remember with Reeve or Kyle. The baby is also pretty good at keeping a beat. The other night he/she had a pretty good rhythm going on with either a foot or a hand...I can never tell what's what. Soon I'll get Tom to take a picture of the baby belly. Ah, the baby belly, yet another reason to stay inside where it's warm. I just can't find any thermals that are comfortable.

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