Lost in Space?

Since I received not one, but two messages today with respect to my posting, and also, since I am so far behind in my blog readings now I may never, ever get caught up, I figured maybe I would be a good idea to drop a little post in here to let everyone know I'm still breathing.

It's been a rather hectic week.

To answer Debo Blue's question, yes I have been working away on the current tablecloth project. It's coming but not as quickly as I would like. Definitely not as quickly as I really want and need it to go though.

As if I haven't done enough embroidery stuff over the past five months, I ordered more items last week as well as some other things just last night too. I'm gonna be embroiled in embroidery from now to kingdom come at this rate!

Actually, I do have a bit of a game plan with these other items along with what I already had in my stash. If I start working on these acquistions after the first of the year, I should be able to have all of them completed and probably buy some more things (on sale, of course) between January 1st and December 24th of 2009. Think it will work? Well, I hope so and that's the truth. Pffft!

The other message I received, from my friend, Vic Grace, at Cariboo Ponderer, was prompted by the date of my last post before this one -December 15th. She thought her reader wasn't updating my blog and also, that my blog itself wasn't updating. So I had to e-mail her to explain that I hadn't posted anything since this past Monday and as a result, I was really, really, really behind at this point in time. However, there are still many issues apparently with my blog and Google reader as many folks have commented to me that they can't access my blog via their readers and that my blog is definitely still not updating there.

This has been an ongoing problem since back in late July now. I have no clue whatsoever as to how to correct the problems there and I still can't get any response from anyone in the know-how department at Google as to how to fix this issue. One alternative that could be used -at least I think it works -is to check off that you want to "Follow" my blog. However, I don't know if it works if you just click on the "follow this blog" on my sidebar so you may have to sign up to do that on your own blog. \

Several people have asked if I am going to post a picture of Maya without the tooth she lost last Friday. Between Mandy and me, we finally got several pictures of Maya in which she actually looked at us and opened her mouth enough so that you should be able to see the gap there from the missing tooth. And I'll post those for your perusal here now.

Even though on this picture below you can't see Kurt and Maya's faces, I really liked the shot for the feeling I think it conveys. Just seeing the two of them sitting in front of the tree, looking at it so lovingly, acting like they really love each other too, is just so neat.

Yesterday, I had the monthly lunch engagement with three other girls from my high school class. This one was especially nice as we met at the home of classmate Rose Little Wick where she had prepared a very nice meal -fruit salad, a very delicious sub sandwich she had made and which was served on a plate and looked like a nice big bread wreath and then, delicious homemade pumpkin roll for dessert. Rose and her husband Durvin (also a member of our high school class) have a beautiful ranch-style home on the outskirts of Kylertown-Grassflat and Drifting. How the heck did they manage that? Well, it's on Drain Lick Road which runs kind of between those three villages, that's how. It was just the four of us who met yesterday -Rose, Kate Nelson Eyerly, Linda Wertz Payne and myself but it was a most enjoyable lunch and time to visit -keep au courrant with each other for the month of December. Next month we will be back to meeting on our regular day -the last Thursday of the month. So if there are any folks reading this from the 1962 graduating class of West Branch Area High School -Cooper Center, Lanse, PA reading this and if you'd like to join us for a little lunch, time to remember those good old days, catch up with what others from our class are doing today, give me a call and I'll fill you in on the where and what time, etc.

Tuesday night, I finally finished addressing my Christmas cards -all but three whose addresses I had not updated in my address book so I had to go on a search and destroy mission to find them. Got two of those three finished now but I still haven't located the latest address for my cousin, Kenny Eld. Where in the heck did I put that anyway? I hate it when I put things so I know where I them and then, promptly forget where that place is! Anyone else here who does that too?

Today, Mandy insisted we had to go Christmas shopping so I could -hopefully -get mine all finished up so I can wrap the stuff then on Saturday night. I have no clue why Mandy is insisting I have to have the stuff all wrapped on Saturday night but I have news for her -I'll do it when I have time and that may very well mean just putting the items each in a plastic bag from whatever store I happen to have one of those from, ya know!

Although I like to see gifts all wrapped, so gaily, and pretty, I think my Scrooge side or my Scottish ancestry must kick in here because I also consider it to be just another major rip-off too. More money spent and for what -to have kids rip it to shreds? Now, my family would never have survived very long at Christmas if they'd been around when I was a kid because my Mom and Grandma both would go behind people, picking up the wrapping paper, all the while chiding everyone to "Be careful, don't rip the paper in the middle" and then they would gently smooth it out, fold it up, ever so neatly and store it in a gift box -or some other larger box that may be handy so as to re-use that wrappying paper the next year -and many times, several times again over a string of Christmases! Can you say frugal? That was my Mom and Grandma -both of 'em -for sure! They made darned sure that NOTHING went to waste -not if they could help it anyway!

But anyway, I did get almost all my shopping done this afternoon. Tonight, Mandy has a meeting in State College with her Autism Support Group so she's going to stop by the Barnes and Noble store over there and try to finish up my shopping for me. I got a list today from grandson, Alex, as to what books he would like so Mandy has that information and can see what she can track down along with picking up two copies of "The Shack" as I want to give a copy of that book to my older daughter as well as to my son, and then too, for her to find the latest book by David Sedaris for me to give to either my son or his older sister -not quite sure which one will be the recipient of that book because they both really love David Sedaris's works. (So do I for that matter and I think I'm getting a copy of his latest work from Mandy because when I told her to look for that book tonight, she advised me not to get it because she was pretty sure Santa had it on his list for me. That is until I said I wanted to give it to either Carrie or Clate and she told me then to ignore the previous message as it may have been a false alarm. Sometimes, she cracks me up how she goes about her business of shopping for me, for her siblings and such.

So now, I'm going to put the supper dishes to soak, sit down and work some more on the tablecloth project -probably till the wee hours of the morning. Sometime between now and next Wednesday I still have to stop everything and get myself into a major baking mode as I have not done a single bit of baking for the holidays as yet! Boy, if I don't get some cookies made, the world and Christmas as my kids and I know it is liable to all come to a crashing end! Well one thing for sure, I won't be baking upwards of 15-20 different kinds of cookies this year though like I've been known to do in years past! I'll be lucky if I manage to bake maybe 5-6 different kinds of cookies this year due to lack of time as well as energy!

If I haven't been around to read your blogs, comment now and then, it's not because I don't want to, but rather because my eyes are glued to this tablecloth at the moment and reading 5-10 blog posts a day as I can just isn't really doing much to get that job done.

Hopefully, I'll find a few minutes of time to pop in and give a little update from time to time though between now and Christmas.

Probably will need to take those breaks just to give my poor pin-pricked right index finger a little bit of rest!