Do you like Aida?

For so many years I had a stash of it and never used it always opting for 28ct. Jobelan. Yesterday I picked up a piece of Charles Craft Aida 14ct because the holes were easier to see.

Part of me feels weird because it has been so long sice I have stitched on it, but it is so easy! I am actually stitching something!! Better something stitched than nothing at all, right?
That is my story and I am sticking to it. I am also switching out colors and scrunching the Aida to soften it.

Giving in little by little, glasses are in my future and I have to make peace with that. I have noticed that my stitching mojo comes back when I can see!! The 26-28 ct needles are also too small for me to thread. I used to see those holes, now I need a magnifier to thread.

By end of February I will have glasses. First comes my DS' broken nose fixing. Yeah....all these years without an ER visit. Well, guess that somethings can't last forever. Glad I didn't lower my coverage last year. I was sorely tempted!! I admit it!! Sky high premiums and good kids tempted me. Decided to keep the costlier but better coverage and I am happy I did.

Although things have been challenging I feel blessed. My DS only has a broken nose and it can be repaired. My eyes aren't that bad and glasses will take care of them. We are all healthy.

You are reading this keeping me company. What else can I want?

Simple stitches .....

Thank you, friends

for your very kind welcome back. Good to know that you are there. I will definitely look up those anti-viral addy's to see what is available for free. As a matter of fact, another friend showed me the AVG site and I was impressed (shh... doesn't take much to impress me IT wise LOL).

Sorry to hear that your son had so many problems with his computer. I don't think that people understand until it happens to them. This experience has definitely made me more careful of things that deal with passwords and accounts. A little paranoid, yes, but I admit it. Crazy to think that there are faked sites that mimic the real sites so well. You really have to look at the address your computer is linking up to. Lesson learned.

Cucki, did you receive the kit yet? I sent it a bit after Christmas for two reasons: the post office's I go to were so packed with people the waits were about an hour and I was afraid the package would take even longer to get there because of the Christmas rush. I would have rather it be home safe than in a bin waiting for its turn. If you haven't gotten it, you should have it any day now. I hope that you like it.

On the trading front, things are going well. This year, I am reaping the benefits of last year's search. Yippee!! Hope to trade a few more times this month. A friend once told me about 20 years ago that , "One man's garbage is another man's treasure." If I remember correctly that line is from a song. Maybe a Grateful Dead song. Don't quote me but he was really into the Grateful Dead. Well, in trading this proves to be the case for me. We don't trade garbage obviously, but trading what we don't use for something that we really want but can't get is a blessing. More than that, the friendships made are really out of this world. I can't begin to tell you how much they mean to me. Especially when I am having an "off" day to hear that something I did put a smile on someone's face for a while makes the day better.

It is true that someone somewhere is always thinking about you. I think of my friends everyday and there are times that one remembers those acquaintances from high school or college or former jobs and then somehow their names pop up in conversation out of the blue. We are all connected somehow in good ways.

Our shop, The Stitcher's Market, is going well. We definitely have to list the items that we have in stock and those that we can get. The journey is challenging and worth it. Like many stitchers I can get carried away and want every new thing that comes out. LOL. I am not immune. LOL.

Kids are growing like weeds!!!!! I no longer need to eat the leftovers the kids don't want. You remember that part of parenting, right? The kids don't want to eat something so they leave it behind and then you eat the rest. Well, that has become my DS' main goal in life. If I leave anything alone for more than 5 minutes, invariably the question will come, "Are you going to eat that?" What can you say other than, "Sweetheart, if you want it, you can have it." I don't know where he puts it. Kid is closing in on 6 feet at a really fast pace. If it is edible, it is GONE. It's a bottomless pit I tell you.

DD is closing in on 3 feet. Crazy, I tell you. The clothes baggy and long clothes that Christmas brought are now either just the right length or too short. Wait..... it has only been a month! Those clothes were baggy and long two weeks ago. Can't even blame the clothes dryer for that one. We are holding on the shoes.... both DS and DD's feet grow slowly. Rest assured, that is the ONLY part of them that grows slowly. But don't think that my son is falling over on tiny feet. He wears a 10 1/2 already. Lately, sneakers have been averaging 6 months for both. I think that is acceptable.

Need my stitching mojo to come back. Me thinks it is because I need glasses. (Shhhhhh) Yes, the eyeballs are straining and the eyelids are squinting and I have to face the fact that even with magnification the evenweave holes are still blurry.

DH and I watched Stargate Universe on Netflix last week. Some bonding time there with me talking to the characters and him keeping quiet. I over analyze television shows out loud. Yes, I am guilty of saying things like, "Is this a sci-fi show or a romance novel?" "No, no, no, don't have casual relationships with two or three people at a time, not good for the gene pool." And my favorite....."How can it be possible that no one is pregnant billions of years away from Earth?" Let's face it, almost everyone is in a relationship, no birth control, and no one is pregnant. Not very realistic there with the young nubile crowd. LOL. Yup, science fiction there, for sure!! LOL!!

If you have been with me this far, thanks for reading. I usually don't write long posts like this one so I hope that you enjoyed my ramblings.

Even stitches.....

Did you miss me?

Believe me, it was not intentional.

The computer that I use for my blogging and everything else was infected with at least 50 viruses. It got so bad that I could not even get it to load anything. Scary, scary!!

I guess that at some point in my life I did something really kind for someone, because someone I know offered to use their expertise to help me clean the computer. It took 5 days! I had worms and viruses. Even my viruses had viruses.

He found a keystroke logger, trackers and other things that are just plain scary. So, I have learned my lesson and will purchase anti-virus software as soon as my pocketbook lets me. I have 25 days to purchase it since I have the trial version right now.

Plan to get him at least a gift card to Dunkin Donuts, he saved me money I don't have. There were times I was going to just throw out this computer thinking that it was garbage. Not so, it was just infected.

Thought I would share that with you so you can learn from my experience and keep safe.

Scary, scary.... and it is not even Halloween....