Welcome Home!

DD Janice and her 3 yr. old Sierra and almost 1 yr. old Brooke went to Ottawa for 9 days to spend some time with Rob's family. The kids had a blast playing with their 3 cousins and spending time with Grandma and Grandpa Smith and Great Grandma Smith. DH & I looked after their dog Molly and Sierra's purple tetra fish, Flounder. We will be bringing the dog and fish back to their house tomorrow and both Opa and I are looking forward to spending some time with Brooke, Sierra, Janice and Rob.

Needle Necessities Floss

This is the Needle Necessities Floss - 189 - Kismet that I need for the chart pictured below. I realize that Needle Necessities has gone out of business and that a company by the name of Threadworx has bought their dye formula to produce the Needle Necessities colours.


This is the Threadworx version of NN 189. It is Threadworx 1148 - Romanian Forest. Personally, I like the Needle Necessities more.

This is the chart I need NN 189 for. I did a search online for other company's overdyed floss looking for a close match but could not find one. All the letters are stitched with NN 189.

If anyone has some in their stash and does not need it, it would be very much appreciated, if you would consider selling it to me.

Get well card I sent to Benjamin.

10 month old Benjamin underwent open heart surgery at Sick Kids to repair a hole in his heart that he was born with. Get well soon Benjamin, we love you and are praying for you.

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My very best friend, Jeanine & I

Jeanine on the left, me on the right. Jeanine and I have been very good friends since we were 9 years old. This picture was taken at her son Brian's wedding in 2000. We both have a few more wrinkles but haven't changed all that much since then except the glasses I wear now aren't quite that big. We don't see each other as often as we would like. She lives just north of London ON and I live in Toronto ON. Her husband Bert and my husband Herb have also become good friends. We thoroughly enjoy spending time together. The last time we went to St. Jacob's, we were there with my daughter Janice and her 2 little girls. I walked into the Lego outlet there and was quickly grabbed into a bear hug by Jeanine's husband Bert, who just happened to be there with his 2 grandsons and Jeanine of course. We were very surprised to see each other but so happy that we did.

A special card for a very special friend

I made this card for Jeanine, my best friend (see post above). The little sticker inside the card says "A friend is someone who knows all about you, but loves you anyway."

Refund cheque

Woo Hoo! Herb calculated my income tax return and told me I owed $5.85 which I paid when I sent my tax return in. We were away Thurs. and Fri. and just checked the mail box today. I got an income tax refund for the amount of $148.84 because Herb forgot to include the $1,000.00 employment deduction which is new this year. He realized his mistake when he was calculating his own income tax return and told me that I would be getting a refund but wasn't sure how much it would be for. Guess who I am taking out for dinner tonight in honour of Father's Day?

Happy Father's Day, Herb

Happy Father's Day to a wonderful husband, father and Opa! We all love you very much! Enjoy your day cuz you deserve it.

Benjamin is going home!

Benjamin underwent open heart surgery on June 6th to close up the hole in his heart that he was born with. I am happy to report that he is going home today. This is a picture of Ben and his mother, Theresa. Benjamin is my nephew Tony's son. Tony and Theresa got a lot of moral and prayerful support while staying in the hospital with Benjamin. Benjamin will always have a special place in the hearts of the people who love him.

Happy 3rd Birthday Sierra!

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Theresa and Benjamnin

My newphew's wife Theresa feeding Benjanmin in the hospital.

Benjamin is doing well and is expected to make a full recovery after his open heart surgery.

Update on my health

The "cold" I was hit with last week still has not gone away. I stayed home from work last Wed. and Thurs. but went in on Fri. Still felt crappy Sat. and Sun. so I have not gone in to y work this week. DH convinced me to see a Dr. and I was lucky that I got in to see him today. I have strep throat and an upper chest infection. I was afraid that I had bronchitis. He put me on a very strong antibiotic and cough syrup. The cough syrup I took a half hour ago has already made me very sleepy. He also told me to stay home the rest of the week as he does not want me to spread my germs around the office.

On the up side: I got quite a bit of stitching done and I am looking forward to attending my granddaughter's 3rd BD party on Sunday. I am on vacation next week so will get lots of rest and I hope to go back to work healthy and well rested on June 16th.

My nephew's son, Benjamin

was born last August with 2 holes in his heart. He had an Echocardiogram and ECG yesterday at Sick Children's hospital in Toronto. He will require open heart surgery to repair the larger of the 2 holes. The smaller hole is not a major concern and will probably not need medical intervention.

I just received the following news from his father, my nephew Tony.

Hi Everyone: Theresa called me at work about a hour ago. Sick Kids called and they've moved the Pre-Op to tomorrow (Thurs. June 5). The surgical coordinator will find us at Sick Kids tomorrow and tell us if the surgery will be this Friday (June 6) or Thurs. June 12 as originally planned. Please pray for us as we're in crunch mode and feeling quite stressed and rushed. Thanks again for all your prayers and support. Tony

Ben is pictured here with his 2 older brothers, Caleb who will be 5 in August and Noah who just turned 4 in April.

Needless to say, he is on the top of my prayer list. Won't you pray for him too?

New beginning or WIP

HAPPY HOME SAMPLER

Designer: Linda Bird

From the July, 2008 Cross-stitch and Needlework Magazine

My progress so far:

I am stitching this on a very soft pale mint green Jobelan evenweave 28 ct. 2 over 2.

I was enabled to do this design by several ladies whose blogs I read. They are doing it as a SAL on Thursdays but since I work until 8 p.m. every Thursday, I have chosen to do it on Sundays and Mondays. Anyone out there who would like to stitch along with me on Sundays or Mondays?

I will have to make a quick trip to Michaels as I need 1 more DMC colour this chart calls for - namely 152. I went through my overdyed floss stash to see if I have enough floss to do the alphabet and lettering. I am surprised that the designer chose to do the alphabet in 3 different shades of blue. Can you tell I hate a lot of floss changes? It just slows me down and I'm not the fastest stitcher at the best of times. Good news! I found 2 skeins of Gentle Arts Sampler Threads - Cornflower. The 2 skeins I have are varying shades of blue that is extremely close to the blue DMC colours 930, 931 & 932 that the chart calls for. I'll be able to stitch up the alphabet a lot faster now! Whoo Hoo!