It's my party

and I'll cry if I want to. Packing a house is stressful and tiresome. It doesn't help that this butthead

has been eating tape and barfing all over the house. Guess I will be locking him in the laundry room at night. He seems to be handling the packing without freaking out. I still bought some drugs to take him in the car.

those eyes are pretty dilated!!

We did a test run - I should have taken him in the car that day but I didn't think of it - duh!!Oh well - it's not like I am leaving him if he doesn't tolerate the car and I just needed to know how he would react to the drugs.
A week ago Saturday I was helping Scott mow the lawn and I mowed over a ground dwelling yellow jacket nest. I got stung 4 times - 3 on my ankles and one...wait for it.... under my arm. I've never been stung by a yellow jacket before and hope to never have it happen again. It burned for about 24 hours. It is much more painful than expected. I iced, I used hydrocortisone nothing made it feel better. I tried a baking soda paste - nope. Online it said to try aluminum based deodorant - that seemed to work but maybe it had just run it course by then. Once the stinging stopped I was fine - no itching or swelling - nothing. 8 days later I started to feel like crap - Scott thinks it's allergies. I have been taking Claritin for months because I am allergic to Indiana but I have a sore throat and general malaise (making packing so much more fun). Suddenly all four stings swelled up, got hot and itchy,

I am miserable!!! I picked up some Benedryl cream and iced them again. That seems to be helping. This morning I am much less miserable. You know where I've never gotten stung before? My stitching chair!!  I think I will never go outside again. I have mowed my last lawn at any rate.  
I had a birthday. Just like Scott's birthday we didn't go out to eat or have cake (whole 30). Scott bought me some wonderful gifts!!

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 3 new patterns - Autumn at Hawk Run, Home for the Holidays and center point sampler A new Shagwear wallet - those are so cute!! That lovely bracelet from Lizzy James and the coolest needle minder from Stitching Kisses.

It is the Stark crest from Game of Thrones - love love love it!! She sells all the house crests. My husband is a wonderful guy!! Thank you Scott Burch - you are the best husband I have ever had!! My mom gave me money which I immediately spent on the once a year sale at Picture This Plus . I bought a piece of fabric for the Joyeaux Noel picture out of Home for the Holidays that Scott bought me!! Thanks mom!! (she doesn't read my blog but I will throw that out there anyway!!) Not for my birthday, just as a gift - because she is fabulous - my friend Sharon sent my two needle minders from Heaven and Earth Designs and a gorgeous piece of blue fabric.  I am a a hot mess - I took a picture of it and then deleted it when Scott put all my pictures from my phone to the computer. (plus this should have been on my last blog post but I am a jerk and forgot!!) Then I packed the stuff - so no picture. Thank you Sharon, you are awesome!!
I finished the cherry block on Teresa Wentzler's fruit bell pull - woo hoo - one block to go.

I mixed up the blocks because the original had two green blocks together - pears and apples -you can see on this picture I took off the internet,

funny that my picture is plums and cherries too haha

On mine the pears will be last. That is the only stitching I have to show this time. 13 years ago I made a working copy of this pattern - I should have redone it when I pulled it back out. I could hardly see the backstitching and was frustrated. I pulled the original and wow - so much smaller but clearer. So I made a new working copy and threw away the old. With one square to go - duh!! At least that one will be easier to see. I will check the other two Teresa Wentzler WIPS I have before I start stitching them!
We stopped the whole 30 - too hard to cook with the kitchen packed. We will start up when we are settled. We will celebrate out birthdays and the sale of the house after we sign the house away - yay!! 
Ok kids - that kitchen isn't going to finish packing itself! Two days until we pick up the moving truck - and the moving guys come over to load it (best thing ever)!! This Friday we sign on the house!! Thanks for stopping by and I will see you when I see you Ü

Hello!

Hello!
Guess it's been awhile since I posted. Time flies and I lose track of it! We've been busy. We had our inspection. We had a gas leak that needed fixed right away - so no water for 2 days. We managed showers before the hot ran out and I boiled water to do dishes (like a caveman haha). It was fixed by dinner the second day - whew! We had to have the wax seals replaced on two toilets - those were the only repairs they asked for! They had a survey done and the appraisal came back "fine" (whatever that means) - and that's it! We have been packing - it's good to go through and get rid of stuff you don't want to take with you but it draws the process out! Glad I still have two weeks to pack!  I have our moving truck booked and movers coming to help load it!
I have two brothers Chris and Brian - there is at least a 15 year age gap between us. They live in Tennessee - a few weekends ago they came up to see me. We haven't seen each other in 25 years - I guess I should say they are half brothers because it's weird that I haven't seen them in so long otherwise.  Brian brought his wife and daughter. It was really great to see them and I hope to see more of them!!

Stephanie, Savannah, Brian, Scott, me, Ryder and Chris

Chris, Brian and Ryder

  It's weird how much Ryder looks like Chris - just weird!
My dear sweet husband had a birthday - July 9th. I bought him some music he wanted and made him some lair balls from Nomnom Paleo since we are still on the Whole 30 diet and can't have cake. They are good - would be better if I hadn't gotten stale macadamia nuts - grrr. Speaking of the diet - it's going OK - some days I would just like to have some sugar and cream in my coffee. That is really all I miss. I think everyone should try this for 30 days - it is eye opening! If you do be sure to follow the book closely because there are mood swings that you need to know about beforehand. You don't have to do it forever like I need to - just do it for the 30 days and see what foods bother you. If anybody does decide to do it - email me because I have some tips to make life easier - it's still hard at first. I have struggled with high triglycerides for YEARS - no matter what I try I still have them in the 300s - yep HIGH!! I did whole 30 for 33 days and then had a blood draw - not because of whole 30 -  it was just time for blood work to renew a heart medication I take. My triglycerides dropped from 364 to 167 - in 33 days. That alone makes it worth it!!  We will be moving right at the end of this 30 days so I will be off it for a few weeks while I get rearranged and then I hope to be on it for a few months to really get the full benefits!  

I have a finish -

The Drawn Thread - Simply Autumn. It was a quick stitch and cute. My lighting stinks as usual. I did change two colors to stitch from stash. I got all the frogging done on my Amish picture and added some stitching before it rotated out.

I finished the cherries on the Teresa Wentzler fruit bell pull before it rotated out

I finished some more on Tiramisu before it rotated out - and let me say how thrilled I was when all the circles matched up - with the luck I have had with the Amish project I fully expected a huge gap.

Last night I started Patriotic Poppies by With Thy Needle and Thread - so cute!!
 I forgot to blog about participating in The Great Backyard Bird Count way back in February - it was fun. You can do it once or a million times - no pressure. I would stitch where I could see the bird feeder and if a new bird came to eat I would start my minutes so I could get all the birds I usually see. I hope to do it again next year!!

oh rats - I didn't write my name on there!

look at all those red birds! Cardinals, American Finch, Red headed woodpecker

Ryder spotted this guy in the yard

That is all I've been up to - really. Packing and stitching and family and plumbers and inspectors and cooking. I hope you are all having a nice summer. I plan on posting one more time before the computer gets packed. Thanks for stopping by!