I'm going to be away for a couple of days, I've come down with the flu and really don't feel like blogging. Or knitting, or cross stitching. Sitting in one place, swaddled in blankets and staring at the wall is about the best I can manage.

Merry Christmas! Hope everyone had a great one!

We spent the entire day lounging around and playing Playstation. What a wonderful, relaxing day. I hate that I have to go to work tomorrow. I can't wait until I can retire and be a lady of leisure.

I did more than finish the back of the cowl neck, I finished the whole thing. Sewn together and ready to wear. Even started the swatch for my next sweater. I'll have some photos in the next couple of days, I still haven't got the scanner working with the new computer and I can't find the installation disk.

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: "Besides framing, what other ways do you finish your cross-stitch pieces?"

I don't finish my own cross stich pieces, I pay good money for other more qualified people to do it. Besides framing, I've had some pillows and stand-ups made, and a couple of bellpulls.

I'm completely hopeless at finishing and sewing, I've tried a couple of times with ornaments and have not been at all satisfied with the results.

The holidays are almost here. Christmas shopping is finished - almost. Dave and I took care of our present buying for each other much earlier this month. I got Kim a gift certificate to Petsmart, and was trying to buy a PC game called Zoo Vet for the vets at work, but ran into some trouble. I ordered three, one for each vet, and when I opened the box there was only one inside. It's taken some doing, but I finally managed to get two more shipped to me just in time to hand them out for Christmas.

I never did manage to get my cards done this year. I don't think I'm going to worry about it now, there's no way the post office will get them delivered in time. I'll put them aside for next year, and probably won't be able to find them so I'll have to buy more. I really appreciate the ones I've received, and I'm sorry I'm not reciprocating.

I don't have any knitting or cross stitch pics to post, not for lack of crafting, I just haven't taken the time. I got another section on my Mystery 6 completed, knitted two scarves, finished the sleeves and started the back of the cowl neck sweater and picked out the yarn to swatch for my next sweater project. I have the next three days off from work, so I plan on starting a new dragon cross stitch and hopefully finishing the back of the cowl neck.

Just Finished:

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week: "Obligation Stitching: Yes? No? Maybe?"

No! I broke myself of that real quick. After having several poor experiences doing model stitching (and no good ones), I stopped offering my services. I stitch for myself, in my free time, at the speed I want to go, and I don't worry about deadlines.

Finally got the results back on Abe's PCR. It said that he has an active ehrlichia infection. Which means he needs to stay on the medications for at least 60 days. I'm so mad, I should have known about this last year when they did the first blood test, not had to wait until he could have bled to death.

I finished the funny color socks. They are growing on me, not that they'll ever be my favorite, but they aren't the ugliest thing I've ever seen. Picture to come. I also finished the sleeves on my cowl sweater. I have to find all the remaining yarn and figure out if I have enough to finish the rest, or if the back is going to be a different color.

I really hate it when I'm in the middle of typing something that I want to post to my blog, and my browser crashes. Usually I'm too pissed off to retype the whole thing. So I flounce out of the room and do something else. Which is why this didn't get posted on Monday.

Two weeks of stitchers QOTW:

What has been your most interesting stitching related injury?

I don't think I have any injuries, especially not interesting ones. I've poked myself with a needle a time or two, but I certainly don't have any in the category of the exploding knitting needle.

Do you know it all or is there something out in the stitching world you still want to know how to do?

I really doubt there is anyone who knows it _all_. I sure as hell don't, all I have to do is look at the EGA catalog of classes to remind myself how litle I do know. I'm pretty happy with my knowledge base, but I'm always willing to learn something new.

Abe is recovering nicely. I still don't have the results of the ehrlichia PCR, I'm going to ask again tomorrow when I go in to refill his pred. I hope I will be able to wean him off the pred soon, as it has made him into pee-pee dog. He can't hold for more than a couple of hours, which means we have to pack his crate with absorbent items and do tons of laundry. What a pain, but he's worth it.

Finished some socks, these are one of the Regia Crazy Color sportweights, that I got at The Stitchin' Post in Plano during their going out of business sale. I hate to see them close, there are still a couple of local places, and one or two not so local and I tend to do mail order anyway. I liked being able to actually see some things in person, or feel them before buying.

Now I'm working on another pair of Crazy Color socks, in a really weird color combo. I bought the yarn because I wanted to see what it would knit up like, and since it was only six bucks for two balls, it wasn't too big an investment if I really hate them.

Simple Green works pretty well to get blood out of car seats and headliners. Why would I know this you might ask? Well, Tuesday morning I was greeted by a greyhound with a bloody nose. It was bleeding pretty bad, and it wasn't from a cut or injury that I could see. So we bundled him into my car and I tried to hold a towel over his nose while we rushed to the vet. Fortunately the ride is short, the towel worked a little, but he still managed to sneeze blood all over me and the car.

We had to take him to the place I don't like, it's right around the corner and open 24 hours, but I am not very impressed with the service. They also sent me a reminder card to bring my dead dog in for a workup. Since I'd only ever brought that particular dog in for cremation after she had passed away at home, I was really not happy.

But I digress, they whisked Abe into the back and treated his nose with epinephrine. Then the vet came out to talk to us, he asked about past history, I told him that Abe had been treated for ehrlichia by the Greyhound rescue that we adopted him from, but their records showed him as cured. I had also requested that he be rechecked for the disease when we took him in for his vaccinations last year (at this same clinic). The vet looked though his records and found the test results. I was furious, and trying very hard to contain myself. The record he pulled out showed that Abe had a titer of something like 1:2048 which is pretty high, and indicates an active infection. When I called last year, I was told that everything (heartworm, lymes and ehrlichia) were all negative, no further treatment needed, just keep him on the Heartguard.

The vet kept him for observation for the day, ran some further blood tests including an ehrlichia PCR (which tests for DNA in the blood, confirming an active infection), and put him on doxycycline. All to the tune of $600 and counting. I'm very angry, not because of the money, although we really don't need extra unplanned expenses around the holidays, more because Abe has been walking around for a year with a blood parasite that we could have taken care of without a bleeding crisis.

The vet has changed hands since last year, they were bought out by VCA, which I'm not sure is a good thing, I'm not a fan of the big corporate veterinary hospitals which practice cookie cutter medicine.

Abe should be fine, which is the important thing. Unless I kill him. We let him sleep upstairs for the past two nights, which we usually don't do, and this morning I was awakened by the sound of an 85# dog urinating on the carpet. This is of course, the reason we don't usually let him sleep upstairs with us, he tends to forget that he has been taught to bark to let us know he wants to go out.


When it rains, it pours. The BMW place called to tell Dave that they had completed the oil change on his motorcycle, but did he know his fuel tank had a leak, and did we want them to fix it? I can't imagine how much that is going to cost.

And, one of my local cross stich stores is going out of business. Their lease expired, and the owner decided to retire. So they are having a 50% off sale on all remaining items. I spent around $500 buying up all kinds of fibers, fabrics and a few charts. Add in my new computer, and I think this is the most expensive Xmas holiday yet.