Mermaid Musings

Ariel (aka Disney's The Little Mermaid) needs a haircut...LOL

I finally made myself sit down and finish stitching her face. Oddly enough, the kit calls for her hair, eyes & lips to be stitching in two strands on 14 ct, but for her face to only be in stitched in 1 strand. I thought it would look awful, but I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome. The peach-y thread is so pale, any white that shows through lends an ethereal look to her face, while the areas done in two strands really "pop". Once I backstitch everything, I think I'll be even more pleased with the overall look. But I digress...

Ariel has LOTS of hair. And I have to wonder...wouldn't living in the ocean result in massive tangles? I remember the times I went swimming without having my mom braid my hair...it was not a pretty site afterwards.

Perhaps Ariel should consider a shoulder length cut with some long layers or even a chic chin length bob?

Or maybe, just maybe, I need to get out of the house more often?

Tiny Tuck Exchange...My Turn!

On this rather dreary Saturday, I discovered a ray of sunshine in my mailbox.

I've already blogged about the shamrock I stitched for the Tiny Tuck Exchange on Tranquil Stitches, which I sent to Rae. Today, I received a tiny tuck from Julie & JoAnn.

Julie, a sweet lady from the UK, stitched these adorable mice and placed them in the tuck made by JoAnn. Not only that, but she filled the mailing envelope with shiny heart-shaped confetti, yummy mini chocolate Easter bunnies and a fabulous card. Click the thumbnails below for larger images.

Thank you, Julie!!!

I am truly blessed...

My sweet hubby, Steven, arrived home last night and rang the doorbell, instead of just walking in. When I opened the door, he pulled out a gorgeous bouquet of carnations from behind his back. Carnations are my absolute favorite flower. The ones he brought home to me are red, magenta and white tipped in magenta, along with tons of baby's breath & greenery. Everything was wrapped in cellophane printed with multi-color butterflies and then tied with purple, lavender and white ribbon. Does he know me, or what? They smell heavenly.

It was a wonderful surprise and reminded me, once again, how very blessed I am to have him as my husband.

What Flavor Ice Cream Are You??

I saw this on Nona's blog and couldn't resist. Wouldn't you know, Mint Chocolate Chip is one of my all-time favorite flavors!

You Are Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Creative. Expressive. Unique.

What Flavor Ice Cream Are You?

Yes, I really do cross stitch!

It's been way too long since I posted a finish!

I took part in a mini tuck exchange on one of the boards I belong to. JoAnn, seamstress extraordinaire, made these adorable mini tucks from various fabric, all with 2 1/2 inch openings. Each lady in the exchange was mailed a tuck, with instructions to stitch something for it, then mail it on to another lady in the exchange. Tuck themes varied, no one knew what theme they would receive and partners identities are only being revealed as the finished tucks are received.

JoAnn sent me an adorable St. Patrick's Day themed tuck. While going through some old Cross Stitch Crazy magazines, I stumbled onto a great shamrock design. I adjusted the colors to more closely match the tuck, stitched it up and sent it off to my partner, Rae.

Rae received the tuck this week, so I can finally post a pic of my latest finish. I love how it turned out! Thank you, JoAnn (for making the tuck) and Shirl (for arranging the exchange). I had so much fun!

Something's rotten in the state of Denmark...errr...Texas

I just couldn't resist the title for this blog entry. It just made me smile.

Great news! Steven qualified for two quarterly bonuses from his job. They will show up at the end of April, and I couldn't be happier.

Then a dark (and somewhat smelly) cloud threatened to blot out my sunshine. We came to the realization that we couldn't wait until his bonus check arrived to have our septic tank pumped. Our homebuilder (if you can really call him that) cut so many corners when he built our house. For instance, inside our pump tank, there is a high water alarm. From what I've read during the last couple of days, systems like this normally include a high water alarm light AND an audible alarm (usually located in your garage or under your kitchen sink). Wouldn't you know...there is a small light next to the outside breaker for the septic pump, but no audible alarm. We have no clue how long the alarm light has been on. Frustrating, not to mention potentially dangerous to our health AND our budget. Steven called around and found a good price on having the tanks pumped.

Of course, I tend to go into "worst case scenario" mode the moment a bump rises in the road. I hardly slept last night, convinced we'd be smacked with a large repair bill today, certain that our septic system was forever ruined (silly me, it's only 9 years old).

To my utter and total relief, the owner of the septic pumping company was done and gone within half an hour. During that time, he gave us a nice rundown of how our particular system is set up, how often to have it pumped (now that all three kids are potty trained), etc. We found out he's only been in business for 8 months and told him we would gladly refer him to anyone and everyone. I still didn't like having to write that check, but at least it's done now and I don't have to think about it again for 2 years.

The cloud is gone and the sun is shining once again.

Mermaid off the port bow!!

Okay, I admit it... I've been a very bad blogger for the last month. Up until last week, I was hardly stitching and just didn't feel I had anything meaningful to post. Silly me, huh?

Let's see... Steven & I went to see Dave Ramsey live on February 18th. It was a wonderful event and we learned a lot! It had turned bitterly cold here and was threatening to ice, but we still made the 2 hour drive. My mom stayed here with our kids and the four of them watched movies, played games and made crafts in front of the warm fireplace, all in pajamas...LOL They all loved their "pajama party". When we made it back home Saturday evening, we made Smores in the fireplace. Just a wonderful day all around.

What else? Hmmm, we sold Steven's pickup, so that's one less vehicle payment to fuss with. Not to mention, our car insurance dropped significantly, as well! Yay! I'm all for cutting our budget as much as possible. With Steven being self-employed (read: fluctuating income, lol) and me being a SAHM to three kids, every penny counts.

We've also switched our home phone service from a "land line" to VOIP, through a company called Lingo. We have had an SBC account ever since we got married and a couple years ago, we picked up their "all inclusive" plan. All of our local & long distance calls, call waiting, caller ID, voice mail, etc was supposed to be "only" $49.95/month. Well, after SBC tacked on all their taxes, surcharges & fees, our bill was routinely $75.00/month. Not such a bargain.

We would have switched sooner, but we had to wait for a competitively-priced VOIP service to become available in our area. Finally, Lingo made it to our part of Texas. Now my telephone is hooked up to my cable modem, via a small adapter and my phone number didn't even change. We absolutely love it! And the best part? We're getting ALL the same services we had when we were with SBC, PLUS I can now call various other countries outside the US/Canada/Mexico, all for the fabulously low price of $22.09/month. That's the final price AFTER their ONE tax ($0.64) and ONE fee ($1.50). I'm happy :-)

Now, onto the title of this blog entry...LOL Our youngest, Olivia, is turning 5 years old this month. I cannot believe my baby is no longer a baby, nor even a toddler. But I digress...

Olivia is somewhat Disney Princess crazy...just a little ;-) For her 4th birthday, she had a general Disney Princess themed party, with particular attention paid to Sleeping Beauty, Snow White & Cinderella. This year...she's all about Ariel from The Little Mermaid. So, if you've seen the movie, you might remember Scuttle the seagull saying "Mermaid off the port bow!" whilst looking through a small spyglass. (I really need more adult contact, no? LOL)

I'm currently stitching Ariel from a small kit that was free with an older issue of Cross Stitch Crazy (UK). Originally, I was going to frame it, but now I've decided to make it a patch and apply it to a dress or t-shirt, for Olivia to wear to her party. Between the patch and a surprise stitching gift that I can't post a pic of yet, I haven't done much stitching. But I've been stashing! I'll post more about my new stash, and that stitching surprise, later.

For now, I need to run and finish up Steven's end-of-week paperwork, load the dishwasher and make my grocery list. I was floored by a horrid migraine yesterday and got nothing accomplished. Thank heavens for leftovers, otherwise we would've been ordering out for dinner last night, which I prefer not to do.

I'll post more later! I hope everyone is having a fabulous day!