Let's start with...

Stitching...
Shall we? Sounds good to me! I finished putting in the last few stitches into the SAL piece "B" just a few minutes ago, gave it a rinse and pressed it. That butterfly stitch was a little tricky! Especially trying to figure out how to anchor the threads when starting it. Oh well, 2 down, 2 more to go this month.

Rainbow Gallery Freebie SAL by Erica Michaels
SAL with Jo and Carolyn
32 count cream Belfast linen, 2 over 2
DMC threads

I have been naughty and buying stash this month...*sigh* the month is only half over and I am already on the wagon. September is a new month though! It is a sickness, I tell you!

Yesterday I got some fun stash in the mail!

I got:
*Bent Creek Zippers Kit "Patriotic Santa"
*Prairie Schooler "1987 Santa"
*Prairie Schooler "Christmas Village"
*JBW Sweet Nothings "Grandmothers"
*Homespun Elegance "Noel Lighthouse Ornament"
*4 My Boys "Snow Proud Sampler"

I am so excited to get the PS Santa...this is my first of the yearly series, I am hoping that eventually I will have them all.

I think that I am going to stitch up the Noel Lighthouse ornament today and put it away for my Dad & J for Christmas. Dad is a lighthouse aficionado. He loves them. They just went on vacation to northern WI and took a side trip over towards Duluth to do some lighthouse tours or something. Crazy kids!

I have been slacking with the SBQ lately so here goes:




Last week's SBQ was suggested by Carol and is:

Do you have a favorite needlework tool that you like to work with?
What is it and why do you like using it?

I have to say that besides the JJ petites needles that I adore, the only other things that I have for tools are: Q-Snaps, Gingher scissors, and Gazelle Stand with scroll rods. Since you saw the Gingher's a few posts ago, here is a picture of my Gazelle Stand that I got to buy from another stitcher as DH's birthday present to me this past year. I love it and love the fact that it has the chart holder. I find myself using it to stitch larger pieces that I don't have to turn over as much to change colors. But I do use the chart holder all of the time.
This picture was taken at our old house in Guam. Back when the CEF wasn't a UFO! I should really drag her out again and put some stitches in her, she is so pretty.

Other than that, I don't have anything else that I use. I was thinking about getting a dololly especially with the issues I had with short threads this week. We'll see though.

Today's SBQ was suggested by Ami and is:

For those of you who use hand or over-dyed floss, how do you store it?

I don't really use much over-dyed floss, excluding my new hanks of SSS. For right now, I have them hanging on a metal ring on a peg on the shelf above the computer. I don't know of another way that would work out better for me. Besides, I can look at them any time I want when I am contemplating something while writing. I do need to rinse them though so that they will be ready to use when I am. When I had a bunch of WDW flosses, I kept them in a box in my craft closet. But they are happy in their new home at Kim's : )

On to other stuff....

Anyone?
Can anyone tell me what the heck the phrase "Snakes on a Plane" means? I have recently seen it on a couple of blogs and I didn't understand what the author was trying to say by saying that. I went to youtube.com and watched the idiotic film trailer for the movie "Snakes on a Plane" with Samuel L. Jackson and I honestly think I might be dumber for it. I don't understand the connotation that is being implied when people use it. Here is where I saw it:

Crochet Dude
(Look at his Tuesday August 8 post)
Crazy Aunt Purl
(Look at her August 4 post, it is the question about the post office box: "Q: I have a question...what happened to your p.o. box? I've had this f'n Christmas ornament for you for eight months now! Snakes on a plane, girl! One day I'd like to get it out of my possession! from Kim")

WTF are they trying to get across with this phrase? I feel so left out!

Saipan Life
So, DH and I have made a big decision this week. We have decided to get rid of our cable tv. I know, it is like cutting off a lifeline for some people. But there is a reason for this.

The other night, I noticed that some of the channels (NBC, CBS, ABC) seemed kind of wonky and they had all Guam advertisements on them which is highly unusual. Then came Tuesday night. Anyone that knows me well knows that I love love love Big Brother and Survivor and the like. Well, Tuesday nights are Big Brother nights. So, I got all settled in and sat down to watch it. Guess what wasn't on? Big Brother. Yep, actually on CBS that night, it had on the Wednesday lineup, from the previous week. Then I started thinking about it...you know what?! I couldn't find Jeopardy! for the last couple of nights as well, along with Days of Our Lives at 1 PM...what gives? So, I called a friendly Customer Service Rep down at Marianas Cable Vision yesterday to investigate. I probably sounded like a lunatic, but the lady told me that channels have changed due to something in San Francisco (where they must get the feed from or something) and now we will be getting it from Guam, but it will be a week delayed. WAIT A MINUTE!

I said, "A week delayed...we are already a week behind the States, does this mean that we will now be 2 weeks behind?" To which she replied a very confident "Yep."

So, we will now save ourselves $49.14 per month on basic cable service by going without. It isn't like we watch a ton of it anyway. And I can always find recaps and some episodes online if I get desperate.

It isn't like we have local news stations here that are worth anything...there is one and it sucks...pretty much tells you what you can read in the paper every day. The news that we get is from California and is a week old...the only channel that is live is FOX NEWS, so that's okay. And, unlike back in the States, rabbit ears are worthless here. You have to have cable if you want to get any channels.

Anyone else out there not have cable or a tv? I will get more crafty things done and get more reading done, that's for sure!

A laptop has officially gone on my Christmas Wish List now though. Since we will be saving money and all....

You know what I want?
I really want our freaking Federal Tax Return NOW! We filed back in February in Guam (since we still lived there) and what a mistake that was! DH called them again this past month to see what the hold up is and he was told that they are still working on 2004 tax returns. That sucks. It is funny to me when I think about it...people have filed, got their returns, and spent the money and are possibly looking forward to next year's return already. I am so glad that we don't have to live like that. I had actually forgotten about it until he brought it up again a couple of weeks ago. I hope that we get it back before we leave in 2008. I don't think that Saipan is much better so who knows what we are going to do next year.

Family
We have just "officially" entered into month 5 of the pregnancy! Woo Hoo! This is a break down of how the weeks are calculated into months for anyone that is interested:
DH & I were trying to fall asleep last night and were debating on how far along I tell people that I am. Since not everyone counts it in weeks. I say that I tell people that I am 5 months, but DH says that I tell people that I am 4 months since I am technically done with the first 4 months or something like that. His logic escapes me at times.

Kim~ DH chose Meriel (that is how we finally decided on spelling it) because I wanted an Irish first name. I was hoping for the first and middle names to have the initials M.J. like me, but I left it up to DH. He did come through with an Irish middle name that started with J...Jilleen. That is a little tradition with my mothers.
Granny is M.J.
Mom is L.J.
I am M.J.

Concetta~ So far, the first name that I have for my Mother's tree is from 1803 and I have 8 names including mine. I am hoping to have 9 names for it come January (go team pink!), but we will see. My Grandma in Dallas is doing the Family Tree and the name in 1803 married into the family so it was kind of a dead end I guess. I don't think that she has researched her lineage yet. That would be my Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandma.

I am having some issues with my family back home right now and this has me kind of stressed out when I think about it. I pray every day to try to figure out what steps to take to make things better, if I even can. The problem is that I don't know what the issue is. Make sense? It is very complicated and time consuming but if you see me MIA for a little while on here...it is just because I may be feeling overwhelmed that day. Otherwise my life is fantastic!

Peace