A month of ups and downs

Since my last post a few things have changed around here!

1st- my daughter found a schnauzer in the Wal-Mart parking lot, brought it home to me since she knew I wanted one. Well after 2 days I found the owners (not with any effort on their part). I was a little bummed when I found the owner....and Carl knew it. So before I got home from telling him he had emailed me another dog on Petfinder. This was from a different rescue and they approved my application! So now I am the proud owner of a 5 year old mini Schnauzer -Cheyenne. She is just about as perfect as a dog can be. She is so friendly with everyone and she gets along great with Amberlyn. She has been with us for 4 weeks now. This rescue was even willing to drive to Indianapolis to pick her up from the foster home and deliver her to me! Enough dog story...

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2nd- with the housing market being so good to find homes we decided that we would look for a house for our daughter to buy. The one she is in now is really just our rental and not really good for a family to live in. It's pretty small. We looked for just a couple weeks and we found one, made an offer and the bank accepted. It's over 2000 sq feet and just needs some work on one of the bathrooms and some paint before they can move in. I found some great deals on appliances on Craigslist, so now they have everything they need.

3rd- It was my 50th birthday on the 25th. I told Carl I didn't want any big surprise party, that's just not me. Well he thought he had to think of something that would be a surprise that I liked. So since February he has been planning my surprise. He was having Carolyn and Natalie come for the weekend to surprise me and then on Saturday he was having a catered dinner in our basement for 16 people. All family except for 4. Well unfortunately on the day before Carolyn and Natalie were to get here my Dad was admitted to the hospital. He had to tell me all he had planned so that we could make the decision of what to do. All the plans had to be cancelled and instead I had cake, and a birthday toast in the hospital with my Dad. After our little party in the hospital the rest of the family met us at a restaurant for dinner. We had 25 people there instead of 16. Of course it was disappointing for Carl to have so much planning done only to have to tell me about it, but he was a trooper and he knows how much I appreciated all he did to try and make it happen. I hope that one day Carolyn, Natalie and others will be able to visit here! My Dad is out of the hospital and we are taking one day at a time. And I am enjoying any extra time I have to share with him. I got some wonderful gifts from my stitching friends. Anita gave me a GC to Wasatch Needlecraft, Shawn gave me some fabric and thread, Natalie and Karen gave me some "special" floss, and Stephanie, Karen and Natalie stitched a wonderful piece for me that is perfect and then Carolyn made a wonderful box and put great goodies in it.....all the gifts can be seen HERE (9 new photos)They are all so special to me and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

My work had a birthday party for me and dressed up in the 60's attire. They bought a huge cake for all our patients to share and put up decorations and signs. We had a good time and it was just what I needed.

So needless to say not much stitching has been going on around here. And if you are still reading this you are dedicated!!!! But since it has been more than a month.....there's probably more than what I think. I did finish the ornament. The details on this are what draw them to me, but boy they take time to finish!!!

I finished my part on Karen's RR and mailed it on. I got my groove going on a new Mystic stitch, Seasonal Collide.It's not too exciting to look at yet. I'm almost done with one page.

And I've got 2 blocks done so far on Carolyn's RR.No entry is complete without Amberlyn with her favorite Grandpa and my husband of 29 years now (yes our anniversary was the 23rd!)......she is ALL over everything now and practically running already. Her 1st birthday is June 6th.