Time to catch up

Do you really want to catch up with what I've been up to?? If not, no reason to read on. LOL
I finally returned to "normal" the day before leaving on vacation!!!! Thank goodness!! We flew to Florida and stayed in Cape Coral. Ever heard of it? Me neither. I wasn't in charge of getting the rental house, someone else was. We went with 6 other people, they all drove (they are nuts!!!!) Here is my first picture....yep, it's known for the highest foreclosure rate in the country and they have tours to prove it! We had a pretty busy week down there, a tour of the Edison/ Ford Winter homes, a Tiger Spring training game, a day at the beach, a day in Key West and then one day to relax a bit. On a weird Facebook story, while I was down there a husband of a high school friend of mine wanted to "friend" me. Long story short, we met for drinks the night before flying home!!!! If he hadn't contacted me on FB, it would of never happened. It had been over 20 years since I had seen him. I had 3 days home before heading to Chicago for work. Of course while in Chicago it was cold and rainy (thank goodness we spent the day indoors). We had great Chicago pizza and also went to a wonderful Tapas restaurant where we ordered 12 different things and ALL of them were great. Of course we had to get world famous Garrett's Chicago mix (caramel and cheese) popcorn.Well because of the past events...my stitching is really just about nil. I did start and finish a little zipper case while on the airplane and the boat ride to Key West. I gave it to my daughter. Before I left on vacation I did a little more on Fairies. And I've been working on Karen's RR. I also started another ornament from the kit that Shawn gave me (boy those are stitching intense) and I won't show you that until it's finished.
On another note, some of you know that I have been looking for a rescue Schnauzer to adopt. I have been on petfinder.com for several months now (starting back in Jan). I wasn't getting very good communication from any of the organizations I was contacting. Finally I did, and found a dog and they approved me.....only one thing, they couldn't hold her until I got back from vacation. Which I totally understood. Well when I got back, she was gone. I had several emails today from another organization and they told me I would never be approved for a rescue because even though we are an adult couple with no kids at home. We have a baby visit frequently and they can't guarantee they will get along. So since I don't want a puppy, I'm giving up on the idea for right now and have already threatened Carl I better not be getting a puppy for my birthday! Speaking of which, I purchase my own gift...LOL After being at a hotel with a light up swivel magnifying makeup mirror I decided to get on Amazon and check them out. I ordered one so now I will be able to see when I am applying my mascara. What else could a soon to be 50 yr old want???
Last but not least, Amberlyn is walking!!! 10 mos is too young!!! She is just so darn cute I can't help but smile when I see her. Those are supposed to be capri pants. They just look like short pants right now! We also let her in the hot tub for the first time and she splashed up a storm!