the gift of gab

this post is longer than I expected.....
I know I haven't been great at blogging but I have a good excuse... a few of them really. School is a lot of work and I spend most of my time doing that. Add chores and meals and I have just been super busy. I am getting over a pretty nasty case of strep. I guess I wasn't paying attention since I was was so focused on the other things. I had a sore throat for a few days so I used a numbing spray and kept chugging along. Three days later the sore throat was gone - good for me!! I was still worn out but didn't think anything of it. A few days later I woke up in the middle of the night ablaze and hurting from one end to the other -pretty sure I was dying (you know how weird things are when you wake up sick in the night - crazy thoughts!)!! I didn't go to the doctor for two more days (of course) When I got there I had taken 1500 mg of acetaminophen two hours earlier and still had a temp of 100. I thought I had a UTI - I'd never had one but EVERYTHING hurt!! That was clear and the flu test was clear but the strep test was not. The doctor gave me Augmentin which I am apparently allergic to - that was fun. I got another antibiotic and have been getting better every day!! Who knew strep could be so very awful?!? Looking back on last week I lost a few days there. I was sick enough that instead of stitching, like I usually do when sick - I laid in bed. I had a pysch test yesterday and was worried because I had been so out of it but managed to get 78 out of 80 whew!!
 I did mamage to finish my Renato Parolin two or more weeks ago - I don't even remember when!!

Mr Parolin sure has a thing for odd shapes. This one is 27x3 He never uses very many colors. When I was doing the snow I thought I hated the colors but once you put in the houses and trees the colors look right. He does use some odd colors though. I still love his patterns. I did some of that huge border on my flights to and from Vegas! I also started another small picture

I got that much of it done - sadly with variegated thread  - and realized that when I centered it I didn't figure the sweater (which is a real sweater - not a cross-stitched sweater) into the math and so there is no room for it, so it's trash. I was so mad at myself for that - maybe that's why there are no centering arrows on the pattern itself grrrr. I don't know if I want to stitch those words again so it will be put aside for now - plus I need to buy another skein of the variegated thread grrrr. I am back to working on the terrible fruit bell pull by Teresa Wentzler. I have a new pattern obsession  - of course the patterns are OOP!! It's the mystery sampler Blackbird Designs stuck into some patterns they put out years ago called "Where my Heart Blooms" Here is a picture I found online

I only found it because they named a new pattern the same name - one I saw on Barb's blog Wicked Stitcher that I loved so I was looking to buy it - never did because I got caught up in trying to find these patterns!! The mystery charts are in:
Blessings and Kind Wishes, Loose Feathers #31  with Bonus #1
Beyond My Heart, Loose Feathers #32 with Bonus #3
Keepsake Box & Pinkeep, Loose Feathers #33 with Bonus #4
Two Hearts, Loose Feathers #34 with Bonus #5 
One of them has two bonus patterns in it so that makes 5. I love this pattern - I love the birds - the saying  - the snowflakes - I just love it!! So, I continue the struggle of trying to find the last two patterns. I don't understand how patterns can go OOP - it's not like the old days where you had to have so many printed in order to get them printed at all - nope. It's probably a PDF on someone's computer and could easily be sold on etsy. I still continue the search for L'Atelier Perdu as well.
Last year my girlfriends went on a stitching shop hop and they took me along (a picture of my head lol)

Sharon, me and Jessica

 They sent me presents!! They sent me the projects with supplies for all three shop hop projects - isn't that sweet of them!! I have such nice friends!! One of them had tea and cookies in it - not there now yum! I'm excited to make these projects! What a wonderful package!!

look at all that fun stuff!!!

Scott found these in the biggest truck stop in America on I80 in Iowa while on business

they tasted just like birthday cake....crazy! I found these at Walmart - they say white chocolate on them and if you think about it while eating them you can taste it but if you think about carrot cake while eating them - they taste just like carrot cake - crazy!!!

Last night I tried the new recipe on Skinnytaste Shanghai Beef with "broodles" - broccoli noodles. I didn't like it. The broccoli noodles weren't as good as I had hoped, I like zucchini better. I started to take pictures because I thought I would love it - nope.
I hate to complain about the snow because we haven't gotten much this year and some states have just gotten slammed but I'm gonna! I have a ridiculously long driveway and even though it's my fault for buying it and not buying some snow removal device I am still going to complain. I was at the doctor on Friday and shoveling on Sunday - ugh. Scott tried to keep me from helping but that is too much heavy snow to do alone. Plus, it didn't kill me and it was a good workout.

  My bird feeder has been having some fantastic visitors!! Along with my normal visitors I had a male and female Northern Flicker, Red-headed Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker and even an Eastern Bluebird - the only one not a woodpecker! I guess my suet feeder really brings the woodpeckers to the yard (Scott hat was for you haha)

Scott does not allow the cat on the bed but here he is so focused on his phone call that Mo managed to get up there and snuggle - I was shocked!!
I forgot to tell you about the calendars Scott made - at the end of the year we got a couple of coupons for Shutterfly calendars so Scott made one of the diners we've visited and one of family. You can have a different picture every month and he could even add birthdays  - these are so cute!!

I hope everyone is doing well and staying warm - and NOT getting sick!! Thanks for stopping by!!

seasons from my porch

These are panoramic pictures off my porch - mostly the same spot - of Winter Summer and Fall I wanted the trees in the Fall one to have all changed but the green ones were so slow last Fall that by the time they change the yellow ones will have fallen already. Scott got a leaf blower last Fall - best toy he's ever bought!! If you click on the pictures - they get bigger!!

Vegas #2

Woo hoo more Vegas!!
We went to see the show "O" by Cirque Du Soleil.

See that drink I am holding - strawberry daiquiri slush - $16 - SIXTEEN - unbelievable!!!  Scott looks like that because he didn't think the picture would take - so serious. The show was beautiful and amazing! No pictures allowed so you will have to go see the show!!

24 hours - woo hoo!! I love Vegas!!

The Hersey's store!!

Reeses pop tart!!

smores

Beijing No. Nine Noodle

Thai tea with bobba

dumplings

So we ate at this noodle house that I think I saw on TV at our hotel. They make hand pulled noodles - cool right!? I was excited to go. The inside was super cool. The tea was delicious. Scott's noodle bowl was good - but not worth $18. My noodle bowl was ok - the noodles and beef broth were good but I order beef brisket and got beef fat - gross! The stuff in that bowl is fat and sinew - not yummy.Certainly not worth $18. the dumplings were only ok. we wanted potstickers but on the menu it said "takes 15-20 minutes" so we settled on dumplings which also took 15 - 20 minutes but it didn't say that on the menu. She told us after we ordered and we should have changed but we didn't think of it. The meal was outrageously expensive for ramen. I don't recommend it.  I know I posted a lot of pictures for a place I didn't like but the inside was neat and the food looks lovely - it would have been great food for maybe $8 a bowl!!
We walked all over our end of the strip - drove to the other end and wandered around there too.So much to see and do!! I liked having a car and all the hotels have free parking. There are shuttles and the monorail but wait times can be long  - which is a waste of time when you are only there two days. The first time we went we didn't rent a car and we walked the entire time we were there - only saw one end of the strip which was enough because one end can keep you busy. this time we wanted to letterbox off the strip and go to the museum and Fremont street so it was just easier. We gambled a little - Scott gave us each $20 and I walked away with $40 - Scott lost all his so I gave him half of mine! Winning is fun - I can see how it can be a problem.

walking dead

 We went far away from the strip to do some letterboxing - perfect day for it!! It was sunny and about 60 degrees. Scott really wanted Mexican food - Indiana isn't known for it's Mexican food. We figured Vegas should have some. We asked a local and she told us to go to Lindo Michoacan. So after boxing we went. The building is neat - great view of the Vegas strip. Chips and salsa were good - they bring beans to the table as a dip - good beans! The rest wasn't good. They tried to pass tomatillo sauce off as green chili. The meat was dry. Not good - and expensive. Mexican food is cheap and easy to make it's surprising how many restaurants mess it up. Scott was disappointed - we should have stuck with the diners. 
Sunday morning at 330 am we had to go catch our plane. We had a layover in Denver - long enough to get to the next gate and then we had to wait on the plane because the cabin pressure gauge didn't appear to work. they thought we might be waiting 2 hours while the crew replaced it. they "ran it through" a few times and decided it would be ok - scary no?!?! I have terrible flying luck - half of my flights had a mechanical issues - not good! I ended up taking two xanex again - apparently that is too much because when it came time to get off the plane I could not keep my balance.  Note to self - only take the recommended dose..... duh. All the flights were actually fine. There was some turbulence coming into Colorado but they had warned us. I still think taking ONE xanex is the best way to fly. Vegas was fun - I think Scott was there too long. He was there a whole week.
I started a new project - shameful I know! I was not going to take Teresa Wentzler on a plane - nooo way!! I picked out two small easy projects and realized I didn't have the Sampler Threads for them - ugh really?! So I picked out a Renato Parolin. I left my little granny glasses here on accident so I bought a pair at O'Hare - fun!! I hardly stitched at all - I slept on the planes mostly (drugged haha) and we are only at our hotel to shower and sleep because there is just too much to do in Vegas!! I will finish it because I'm tired of the bell pull - maybe I will do a bell pull square and then a small project and then another bell pull square since they are so tedious. I have ordered the threads I was missing!!
As for the cat feeder - he has figured out that he needs to put his paw up there to get the rest of the food out. That actually works out because it slows him down - usually he eats way too fast. I taped the door up (you can't tell from the outside - it's not as tacky as it sounds) he can only get out what was suppose to come out. Still - I hate things that don't work the way they are suppose to! 
I hope you enjoyed my trip - if you've never been to Vegas you should go at least once. It can be overwhelming and people behave ridiculously - fun to people watch though!!

Vegas - #1

Hello!
I have some fun pictures of Vegas but I will have to do in in two posts. If you have never been to Vegas - it is crazy!! Everything is so big. Everything is also very expensive! I flew in on Wednesday. I had to fly to Chicago first - good thing was my layover was just enough time to get to the next gate. We ended up sitting on the runway for an hour while they fixed a gas pump - scary no?!?! I had great seatmates though

Ann from Canada and Gene from California. They were entertaining. I took two xanex - I don't like to fly - and slept almost the whole way!! Scott picked me up at the airport. He had rented a car - great idea!! You know how limo drivers hold up signs for their passengers? Well, Scott was holding this one...

HA! I would have taken a picture of him but my phone was in the bottom of my bag and I was still weird on drugs haha. We went to our first Vegas Diner - Bachi Burger - yum!!

black and green burger, truffle parm fries, plain fries with pineapple ketchup and miyagi-sans burger

taro boba milk tea

 We stayed at the Paris - and I didn't take one picture of it!! the first night we went over to the Bellagio to see the fountains - never gets old - I could watch it all night!!

The next day we went over to the Neon Museum. That place is very cool!! They have a bunch of the old neon signs that have been removed from the strip. You can get tickets for that and the Mob Museum for a lower price than going to each separately but we didn't go to the Mob Museum.

our guide - very informative!

The last picture - if you put "Neon Museum" into Google Earth and look from above - you can see the face from space - fun!! The museum is really neat - I recommend visiting if you get the chance.
Scott's sister Angie drove from California to meet us for lunch We met her at the only other Diner we ate at on this trip. This makes 60 diners for me - Scott has something like 66 but I don't count the ones he goes to without me. Moondoggies Bar and Naked City Pizza (their site doesn't work right so I put the DDD site for the link.Be careful looking up naked city pizza....) we had the Sicilian topped with meatballs, white garlic sauce, spinach, mozzarella and ricotta. It was delicious!! I think it was the only reasonably priced meal we ate the whole Vegas trip.

That night we went to Fremont Street - not as great as I expected. It's like the shady side of the strip. The canopy is neat but we only saw one "show" on it while we were there.

fried oreos at the Mermaid Casino

and frinkies

Way at the end there is the neatest shopping area - the Container Park it's made from train containers - turned into buildings and cute little shops! They have a stage for events and restaurants - very cool!!

big bug!!

the heart has locks on it - very cool!

I think that's it for this post - I have a few more pictures but I don't want to overwhelm. I hope you are all staying warm!! Thanks for stopping by!