Boy am I behind

.... and really trying to get caught up.

First, I had family visit earlier in August - that put me behind.

Then I had to work for 10 days straight (well almost, I was off on Sunday/Monday). I'm way too old for this full time working. I normally work 2 days a week in my local cross stitch shop (and love it). There's just the owner and me - and would you believe she had the nerve to go on vacation to Ireland.

And, there were doctor and dentist visits - which usually take up waaay too much time. I'm trying to adjust to a new partial and having to go back frequently for adjustments. This is not fun.

Sitting in the living room one night recently, too tired to do anything and looked across at this:
Does she look like she thinks she owns the place??

Trying to get back into cyber world...

... after having family visiting, working more than usual, and not feeling well.

My Texas son and his family were here for a long weekend, along with my daughter and her son. And of course, the son and his family who are living with me temporarily - boy, did we have a houseful. Three of my four kids and their families and all but one of my grandkids. Not sure if I'll ever have them all together at one time again - it's so difficult with jobs and kids activities. St. Louis son (the one who wasn't here) is planning on bringing his family around New Years, so I'm looking forward to that visit.

Here's a pic of all the ones who were here this time - the old lady in the midst is me. Otherwise though, they're a great looking bunch!!!

You know, on the rare occasion that I have a photo made of myself, I look at it and wonder "who is that". I don't feel old inside - well, I do this week - but not always. I must say though, living with teenagers again - in this day and age, REALLY does show me that I'm from a totally different generation.

Facebook fans & family

I'm so excited (doesn't take much with me). I have 100 fans on my facebook page IrisOriginals and I have family coming today and Sunday.

Facebook pages much have 100 fans in order to secure their 'name' in the URL instead of the long one facebook automatically provides. Well, that can be a challenge, but thanks for my personal facebook friends and some of 'their' friends I've made it. My lovely daughter was a special help and kept asking her friends to fan me. Reached the magic number this morning. Thanks everyone. There's not a limit and I'd still LOVE to have more fans - so if you aren't already a fan, stop by and become one.

Now for the really important stuff. FAMILY! It's really a challenge for them all to be here at one time. Everyone has jobs/commitments/etc. Probably won't have them all together again till I die - maybe they'll all get to come to my funeral (though I hope that's not anytime real soon). But, I'll have three of my four children (who live all over the country) and seven of my eight grandchildren here for the weekend. Of course, there will be a fair number of bodies sleeping on the floor. I have a big house, but not quite that big.

So, the Texas contingent are hopefully already on their way - arriving tonight. Daughter and grandson from Tennessee will arrive on Sunday and youngest son (who's birthday was yesterday) and his family are currently living with me. Hopefully he's going to be doing the cooking for this crew - though he hurt his leg last night playing softball and it's quite swollen.

He's too old to be playing those games!

Dentist this morning....

.... and Oncologist yesterday. And, I visited both alone! That's a major accomplishment for me.

The dentist was pretty easy. It was only for a fitting for my new partial, so they didn't really poke around or anything. Still stressful for me, but I survived and they were proud of me for coming alone.

Oncologist yesterday was okay too. Routine visit - and I've graduated to 6 months. YEA!!! Big, major goal reached.

Did a bit of shopping after each one and arrived home totally worn out. I just can't walk and shop anymore and what I need at WalMart is always on opposite ends of the store. I failed to check my list well enough and wound up not having one item, but not enough energy to walk the length of the store again.

My energy level is pretty low these days, so balance of today will be resting :)

Red Carpet Dress for Barbie

...well, it's amazing. Guess they print those directions to machinery for a reason. (Did I mention, I hate reading directions.) But, I very patiently did - well, as patiently as I do anything. Took all the thread off my serger and starated from scratch. Followed each little step in the manual, checked all the settings and WALA - it's working again. I'm still not in love with it - though I love the way it finishes. They designed the darn thing for a Rocket Scientist to rethread and adjust, plus aside from the fact that the directions are written in four different languages, I'm convinced English was NOT the first language of the folks writing the manual.

Anyway, it's up and running again and I'm a much happier camper.

So, here's Barbie's new 'red carpet' dress. It fits "My Scene" and "Fashion Fever" Barbies. Took the photos in a hurry, so most didn't turn out well. Must take better photos before I list it in the shop, but I needed a break from the tedious job of working on the serger :)


I love this fabric - it's nice and sparkly ("I was going to take over the world, but I got distracted by something sparkly" - a favorite quote of mine stolen from my friend Jacki). The photos never do the really great fabric justice.