Spoons & Stitches

Christmas came early this year to our family. We headed out on Christmas Eve to do some "last minute shopping." I put that in quotes 'cause I really had no need to shop. Michael wanted to grab a few more things and I didn't want to keep the kids home, so we all went to the Superstore. Michael split off while the boys and I went through groceries. Have just had lunch, Connor was still working on his apples and was sitting in the top cart seat. As he finished eating he started wishing random people a Merry Christmas. Connor gave me a look after a few times, kinda like "is that okay, Mom?" I told him immediate to feel free to wish anyone a merry Christmas as long as he's with me. And he did. That boy wished every single person we passed a Merry Christmas! I could see folks who were having a crappy, stressful day just brighten up after Connor's greeting. About 70% of the folks smiled at us and about 70% of those folks wished us one back. I have to say,...

So work is finally over for the year! Great thanks to my editor for meeting with me and working a plan to keep us on track. Now it's time to turn my mind toward preparing for Christmas. I don't mean shopping-I'm done with that really. I'm talking about crafts! The kids are out of school and we need things to do. I'm hoping to find some craft ideas for a table centerpiece the kids can make. Maybe paper angels or something like that. It's also time to restring my guitar. My twelve-string guitar is currently masquerading as an 11-string at the moment and I'm ready to fix that. Oh, and the strings are OLD. So what to do with the old guitar strings? My first thought is jewelry. I love beading, so I think I'll give it a try with the guitar strings. I'm thinking necklaces and bracelets. I've read some ideas such as making flowers, but most of those appear to require heat equipment. I'm going to try and find some time tomorrow to explore the pos...

It's been one of those days for me. Not a bad day. Just one of those days when you look up every hour and think to yourself, "WTF, I just got here five minutes ago!" at 3pm. I'm supposed to be on vacation starting on Wednesday. The kids will be out of school starting that day and someone needs to be home with them. However, when I got in to the office this morning I found my inbox overflowing. I might end up working at home on Wednesday to finish things up in a timely end of the year manner.I got straight to work-despite the plethora of sugary goodness sitting just outside my office-and before I knew it I was getting the alert for my 11am meeting. WTF? I felt like I'd just sat down ten minutes before then. Today was also a very special day for my department. I work in the Business Analytics Documentation department at SAS. That's right-the BAD department. so every year around this time we have what's called "BAD GOODie day." A big table sit...

So today was our Christmas Cantata called Down From His Glory at Union Grove Baptist Church . It's the first one I've ever sung in, so a wonderful experience. My beloved Mother was able to join us for it and that meant so much to me. The winks from Connor didn't hurt, either. lol Everyone was so good and Bea was almost giddy the entire time. I don't think Satan could have peeled the smile from her face with a carrot peeler! The best part was the true message behind it. It's not just what happened, but why. My wonderful mother took us out to lunch afterward and that was great too. We got a little shopping done after that. If you know my family, you know the Christmas season just isn't the same without some Beach Girl shopping. :) We shopped for exchange gifts, boots, coffee, ties and just had fun. All I could think was "this is what it's all about." Time. Time together. You could give me a peanut butter sandwich for Christmas if you just give me ...

So I am forming a theory that what I have is cluster headaches. They seem to hit me every single day for weeks. Then they stop for awhile. When they start up again they keep going for weeks again. IOW, my headaches seem to occur in cycles. Today seems to be day two of the new cycle. I'm keeping track of it here b/c I'm too lazy to do it elsewhere. I have an appointment with a neurologist and headache specialist in January. I don't want her to tell me " go keep a journal" as step one since I've waited so long. My apologies to those who aren't interested. But for those same folks, here's a little update for the day. This morning I headed out to Jackie's place so we could carpool to the women's breakfast. On  the way I had the good fortune to see a family of deer. They were clearly a family, with Dad, mom and two younger fauns. Beautiful as ever and a little hesitant to cross the road. They did though, right in front of me after I stopped on B...

So last month I resurrected a hibernating cross-stitch project. I had set it aside about five years ago after the birth of my second son. That time happens to coincide with when I learned to crochet, so you see what can happen. I pulled it out last month and have been making some great progress on it. I'm almost done with the first of the five large motifs. and I do mean LARGE. Each of these motifs is about the size of any project I have done before, so it will be a long project I think. I am hoping to stay focused on it for this year and maybe have it finished before next Thanksgiving-we'll see. I'd say more, but the intended recipient might be reading. lol (and no, that's not it to the left-that's just a cool one.) In the midst of my joy at being almost done with motif 1, I have been fighting off headaches all day. My doc says she's certain this is all allergy related. Really? Allergies in December? I guess I do miss one thing about New Jersey...an end to ...

Edith Poteat, March 2011 Those of you who know me are aware that my beloved Grandmother, Edith Corinne Winkler Beach Poteat, passed away on November 30. I am happy to consider that she is in a much better and happier place for her. I like to think she's up in Heaven now looking down on all of us, her children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, ready to have the best Christmas ever. For the last few years it has been tough for the grandchildren and great-grandchildren to come see Grandmommie for Christmas. It's tough for all of us to find the time off work or the ability to travel. Grandmommie only got to see those of us who could visit. But this year she can watch all of us at once no matter where we are. While she is not with us physically, she is here in spirit. She is in every holiday thought that I have. Her recipes are being made in my home and in those of my cousins, sister, mother, and entire family. I will enjoy trying to make her chex mix, figuring out ...

I have recently discovered that there are many Bibles available for FREE on Kindle. I currently have the King James Version, the American Standard Version (almost identical to KJV) and the English Standard Version. All of these were available at no cost and are easily navigated on the Kindle. You can highlight and save your favorite passages like any other book. I like to highlight and share them on facebook during Sunday services when I'm moved by the scripture mentioned.

A conversation from the MASH tv series. Hawkeye: War isn't Hell. War is war, and Hell is Hell. And of the two, war is a lot worse. Father Mulcahy: How do you figure, Hawkeye? Hawkeye: Easy, Father. Tell me, who goes to Hell? Father Mulcahy: Sinners, I believe. Hawkeye: Exactly. There are no innocent bystanders in Hell. War is chock full of them - little kids, cripples, old ladies. In fact, except for some of the brass, almost everybody involved is an innocent bystander. -- IMDb Quotes: M*A*S*H (1972 TV series) So Mr. President, can we stop it with the multiple wars?

Now those of you who know me well know that I have become absolutely addicted to reading my books on Kindle. I love my Kindle reader and wouldn't go back to paper books for anything (except, perhaps, a lack of a Kindle edition). And no, Amazon.com did not pay me to say that. ;) I've always been the kind of person to read more than one book at a time. One or two fiction, a biography, self-help, my Bible, knitting and crochet books, and more. I sometimes have been reading as many as five at a time. With my Kindle I can carry my entire library everywhere. Oh, and I also sometimes use it to look up song lyrics on the 'net when I need to sing at church and am a little self-conscious about forgetting the words. So imagine my disappointment when my new 3G Kindle stopped working a couple months ago. I tried to turn it on and the screen was damaged. Between you and me, I suspect little feet kicked it while we were in church. Oh, yes, did I not mention that? My Bible is on my Kin...

MacKenzie's skirt , a photo by jtigerheart on Flickr. I finally finished this little skirt made in Baby Jaquards. Lots of fun to knit! I can't wait to see Mac in it!

It has been an interesting day. Work went well, if long. The coming home was the real hilarity. Last night I gave Michael a grocery list to take to the store and get just a few basic items that we needed to have on hand. Now knowing that Michael normally does not actually go to the grocery store the first day I give him the list, I didn't figure he'd get it done. You know how it is. It's kind like asking a man to wash dishes in the next 5 min. It just doesn't happen. So on my way home, knowing that Michael was tutoring over at the elementary school, I decided stop by the grocery store myself . So I picked up a few items we needed for dinner tonight, a couple other items to keep us all stocked up for the kids to eat, make things for lunches for Michael and Connor, snacks, and that sort of thing. Then I got home and as I was putting groceries away Michael got home. And as he was coming in, I noticed that all the things that I had picked up were already in the house...

While I was traveling with my mom, I came up with this idea for a little shrug for a baby at our church. (Enjoy MacKenzie!) I pretty much just made it up as I went along, but have now written it up and am posting it here. For larger sizes, repeat rows 1-6 an extra time before you continue. I like using the various stitches, because it adds a bit of a texture to it, almost like ice cream ripples. My mom called Neapolitan and that name has stuck. Enjoy and please post any questions you have. This pattern is free for personal use, but please do not use it for commercial purposes. download now Neopolitan Baby Shrug by Jenna Moore Materials: 1 skein each white yarn, chocolate brown yarn, and strawberry pink yarn. I use dk or sport weight Size H hook Shell stitch: *Sc in first stitch, sk, 5dc in next st, sk, sc in next stitch.* Body of Shrug: ch 56 with White Row 1 Sc in second ch from the hook and in each remaining chain. Row 2 Turn and sc in each chain across. Change to...

Easter was a wonderful day in our household this year. The kids and Michal and I went to the sunrise service at Union Grove Baptist Church. We were there at 6:45 AM for the service and then stayed to help fix breakfast, eat breakfast, and play. The boys played on the playground while we were making breakfast. And after breakfast Michael took time to teach them both about basketball at the basketball court at the church. They had a great time and so did I. I found little Connor got very tired after getting up so early. So I laid out his blanket on a pew and we just wrapped and rolled him up inside his blanket for a little rest. I sang him some songs while we sat there and he rested though he didn't sleep. After that he was ready to go back out and play more basketball. The service was wonderful. The 11 o'clock service they did a little drama-almost a mini rock opera! It was really cool. The boys eyes were riveted to the stage. We enjoyed the rest of the service too, and ...

Overall it's been a very good weekend. On Saturday I got some gardening done with some help from Jeremy. We planted some seeds. I forget what they're called some very tall spire looking things for the mailbox, after first spending my morning digging up all the weeds around mailbox. After that we had a friendly game of Pathfinder and lasted probably to 9:30. This morning we enjoyed church; it was quite a strong message that I really needed to hear. And tonight's service was our baptism. Michael and I were both baptized in the tub full immersion. I've never done that before. But it was the right thing to do. I feel closer to God already. And I feel like the last of my old life is finally gone. I got a chance to say a few words and that felt really good. when I was in high school I took Jesus into my heart and I asked him to be my Lord and Savior but I didn't know what that meant. He was in my life, but he was in my life like a physics class was in my life. Now ...

It's been a long week this week. I've been sick with headaches, a cold, flu, and fever. It's been really hard to function. I haven't been able to get to the office since Monday or really get anything done. I spend most of my days sleeping and just trying to recuperate from whatever this is. I am hoping that this will get better, because I am sick and tired of waking up with a headache, going to bed but the headache, and always seeming to have a headache. On the upside Michael seems to be doing better. He says he will call CTG and find out if they will find a job for him. Him being a known quantity there should truly help him out. In the meantime, he seems to be taking a good enthusiastic approach to our business. I gave him the job description for the graphic intern today and I'm hoping that'll help get us jumpstarted. Once we have the graphics, we can then move forward to integrating those graphics into the module and into the program.

So much has been going on that I've scarcely had time to keep up with it. Michael is on the search for work while also going to school and starting our business. The kids are quickly approaching the end of the school year. And I am about to pass out from lack of sleep. Guess which one I could control? That's right-the one that involves Not starting new net searches at 23:48 hours. Truly, though, it's been a good couple of days for me and the kids. We spent Saturday together, watching movies, playing, cooking and gardening. Sunday was its usual lazy self. Getting back to work is tough, but worth it. Now where's my coffee?