Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Reading

Dear Readers,

Do you have a passion for reading as well as stitching? Do you sometimes sit in your favorite comfy chair and wonder - stitch or read? Read or stitch? Do you ever base your answer on whether you want a snack or not? (Just wondering!!! Sometimes I do!)

Anyway, in my web wanderings for some book or other, I stumbled across this website and I've used it most frequently in the past month so I thought I should pass it on to you. It's called Swap Your Used Books - PaperBackSwap.com and it's all about swapping books. They DON'T have to be paperbacks. In general, they just have to have an ISBN number.

I am seriously hooked! I have TONS of books. I have more than I can probably read in a year or two but no matter. I still get more from the library, find a new series, get started on a new author and off I go again. I like to haunt used bookstores as much as needlework stores. I LOVE to buy off the bargain shelves at Border's. I will pay full price for a paperback but it KILLS me to buy a hardback at full price. I'm a one time reader so once I read it, I pass it on. I have several friends that swap with me and in fact, I used to have a "leave a book, take a book" shelving unit at the store. Lots of people didn't like my tastes (mystery, thriller) and personally I'm not into romance (ugh!) Well, unless there's some really good x-rated stuff in it. Then I'd just read those pages and skip the mush. Well honestly! Who can believe all that stuff anyway?

So! In this swapping thing, I've found a new way to recycle my books. Hey, I even shipped out Don Quixote. I think I had it from high school. Basically the whole thing is free but you pay to ship your books to somebody else and they pay to ship theirs to you. You get a "credit" for the books you send and you spend your credits on the books you want. Remember, the post office still has media mail so we're not talking a lot of money here. There's also something called Box-O-Books (these people even TALK like me) where you swap a "box" with another reader that you both agree on. To be in that "group" it's a mere $8 a year.

Oh and they also do videos, books on CD/tape, etc. I haven't looked at all that yet. I think there's still only 24 hours in a day. :-)

Friday, March 26, 2010

Halfway to Dead...

Today is my birthday and I'll let you guess how old I am. Try not to be brutal! :-) I love birthdays. Yes, I'm one of THOSE! Birthdays are a celebration of NOT BEING DEAD! Let's face it, you were hardly aware of your actual birthday so what are you really celebrating? BEING ALIVE! YAY, LET'S HEAR IT FOR BEING ALIVE!

Anyway, today, I'm halfway to dead OR I have half a life worth living left. Either way, I'm glad to be here. I sure don't FEEL old. Oh, except like the day after I do too much yard work or something. Then I think "What the heck? When did I get old?" Oh yeah, and those grey hairs. What's THAT about? I think it should all go grey or white at one time. This constant highlighting is driving me nuts, let alone costly. Don't you think you should just wake up one day and look at mirror and go "AHHHHHH!" because your hair turned overnight? That would be fun. All your friends would do a double take. Let alone your husband. Everybody would whisper behind your back "Wow! Did SHE get old or what?" Anyway, LOTS of people have picked on me this week for being old. Here's a nice shot of what halfway to dead can look like...
Thanks SO MUCH to Jennifer for taking this picture with her phone and sending it to me. Who wants to see this one on my website home page? :-)



Here's the April tree. Yes, I'm really stitching, not just ruminating on life and birthdays...


There are white Mother of Pearl stars I have to still sew on the blue area.

I'm really very thrilled that it's still March and I have the April tree stitched. Some kind soul pointed out to me that I hadn't stitched the two rows around the edges of the last 3 trees. What a drag. Who would like to do that for me? :-) I think I will take a little time out and go back to stitching on my Galaxy. A girl deserves a little stitching time on her own project, don't you think? Cheers! Theresa

Monday, March 22, 2010

I'm Back!

Hello Gentle Readers...

Who used to say that? Miss Manners? I think so.

After an extended absence, I'm back. For those of you who don't know, my dad was diagnosed in November with a variety of cancers and passed away on March 13. His funeral was held on March 18 and 19 in Alabama where he was buried near his late girlfriend. Personally I think my dad was too young to go but I had no say in the matter. Rather than send sympathies I asked people to purchase themselves flowers or a plant because my dad loved to look at flowers. So please be sure to treat yourself well. I'm pretty sure we all go 'round only once.

For some reason, I have The Spring Cleaning Fever! You might think this is because it's spring but I'm one of those people that only gets The Fall Cleaning Fever. So today, I'm rushing about the house, taking down curtains and washing them (twice because they still look dirty!), scrubbing floors, dusting things (don't you LOVE Swiffer dusters? - I absolutely HATE to dust, such a waste of time) and making a stab at all things dirty in general. I sat down here for a rest because my back is killing me after all the vacuuming.

I just finished vacuuming Star and I'm not kidding. The poor thing sees the vacuum coming out and she comes running. Since she was a puppy I taught her that the vacuum is NOT to be feared. The vacuum is our friend! Obviously, she took this lesson to heart. She likes to be vacuumed and what person hasn't thought "why not just vacuum the source of all this hair?" DON'T WORRY! I'm terribly careful about her ears, etc. I pretty much just do her back and sides and she seems to think it has something to do with grooming. If I get the vacuum out and DON'T vacuum her I get the doggy evil eye. That is NOT a pretty thing coming from a golden retriever. :-)

That's why I thought she'd be a natural for the Bissell box dog and asked my whole Homestead email list to vote for her one week. I have to tell you only 21 people voted for her and she didn't win. :-( Maybe I should have included a picture of her being vacuumed. To tell you the truth, I don't have a Bissell vacuum, but I do have a Bissell carpet cleaner. I won't use that on her though, it's hot water! :-) Anyway, maybe BISSELL SHOULD READ THIS AND SEND ME A FREE VACUUM TO TRY ON HER! What do you think about that?

I took 3 projects to stitch on in the car while I was gone. Not a lot of stitching got done, I should tell you right up front. I did stitch a little on the April tree which is a red, white and blue number. Lighting in the hotels was pretty poor and for some reason on the road I couldn't concentrate. In fact, I pretty much looked out the window. Spring has begun in parts of Kentucky with daffodils at the side of the road.

Maybe I'm in the cleaning mood because I have a semi-big-ole birthday rearing it's ugly head at me this week. In case you're wondering, I'm halfway to dead. You figure it out, I don't want to mention it. All I know is I keep realizing I haven't done a lot of what I wanted to do in life. So this August I'm going to Yellowstone. That's right! Me and my hubby. ROAD TRIP! If you're really lucky, I'll take the computer and post pictures along on the way.

Okay, that's it for now! Check back another day for more in my exciting life! Theresa