Opinions?

I removed the stems, leaves, and flowers, just weren't right.  I will probably stitch a simple branch with just a few twigs instead, but wondered if a mirrored bird would be too much for this very narrow piece.

To test this I entered Paint and pasted it.  Even though the linen shading doesn't match, it certainly shows me what I needed to see.

 

What do you think?  One bird with simple branch or two birds?  With the 3" width, I'm leaning toward option one.

 

My car is being located and I will have it Tuesday.  Here's the result from weeks of investigating.

 

The Rogue - nice vehicle, alloy wheels in top package only, but the seat height adjustment didn't raise enough for me.  I need to see the hood and couldn't.  Otherwise, it would have been my choice.

 

The Forester - you end up paying more after taxes than the sticker price, no real discounts, alloy wheels in Premium only. But the interior is very light and looks greenish, we do NOT like light cloth interiors. 

 

The Hyundai Tucson - great vehicle, alloy wheels, the best dashboard layout, more front seat room, only one light color (silver).  Two other colors were not available for us to see in person. The dark wine I chose came with light interior, and two colors on dashboard and doors.  I love spectator style shoes, but not two tone interiors. 

 

The Escape - bingo.  I bitched about this car for two years and then .... bought it again.  Alloy wheels, black interior, the quietest and smoothest ride of them all, 4 wheel (all wheel) drive, and a color I like with black pinstripe.

As with every purchase whether thousands or a few bucks, I always question my decision.  And I have.  But I'm fine with it.  The redesigned interior now offers several bins for storage which was my main complaint previously.  I so hate big purchase decisions and am very glad it's over.  I spent a month on this and can't believe September is gone! 

 

So what do you think?  One bird or two?

 

Oh - I am able to send mail through gmail now (today anyway), but not roadrunner.  Spectrum (Time Warner) has no solution or reason.

 

Hope your weekend is going well.

 

**********************

Car-less in PA

Hello people!  Been a rough week.  Something I ate declared war on my body which made me Governor of Grouch which outranks Commander of Crab.  Carole finally asked if something was wrong and became the Target of Temper.  Did she deserve it?  Yep. 

 

Going to buy a car this morning and I am at the point that I don't care what it is.  They all have a feature I like, and some that I don't, so what does it matter?  I just wish I didn't eat that entire watermelon half yesterday, because my healing body is making freight train sounds.

 

My emails can be received, but I cannot send or reply.  No way, even with the techs taking over my laptop and working on it.  My server is the problem and there is nothing I can do.  Even if I use a tablet or new laptop, my email addresses cannot be used for sending.  Great.  To those I emailed about purchasing the stitchery, sorry.  They have been sitting in the Outbox and I didn't know it.  Elizabeth, I would be happy for you to have the clothespin bag, but I can't contact you and even if it was working, you're no-reply.  I will keep trying to resolve this. 

 

This is as far as I got on the sampler.  Because I'm working without a chart, I ran a thread down the exact center and am working the bands out from that point so they will be centered.

 

Our leaves are browning and falling without changing to the brilliant golds and reds.  Long time without rain, none on the horizon, so blowing leaves is like working in a dust storm.  Terrible.  And dirty!

 

Have a great weekend folks.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

***************

The skinny mini

It's a start!  But how far will I go?

 

The bird was adapted from a Valentine free from Niky's Creations.  Link below.

http://niky-nikyscreations.blogspot.com/2013/01/valentine-free.html

Thanks for the mascara suggestion for emergency root touch up.  I've tried.  But my industrial strength sweat during a hot flash can disintegrate the waterproof barrier in a second.  I use a tissue to wipe my forehead while pushing my hair back.  The marker holds, mascara smears.  After menopause stole my eyebrows, the waterproof pencils did the same which is why they are now tattooed.  I don't make a habit of this and the marker doesn't touch my scalp.  The only way to grow out the gray is to heavily "frost" my hair and even then it would be very noticeable.  Except for one spot, the back is not gray but the front/top is almost solid.  If I looked good in very short hair, a cut would be best, but I don't, and am very uncomfortable being this tall without some volume on the noggin.

 

Have a good week!!

 

********************

Patience

Not a virtue of mine.  Not even close.  But this morning we drove to a recycling event for TV, tires, hazardous waste, paint, electronics, and appliances.  It is quite costly and I assumed not many would attend.  Holy kaboly.  It started at 10am and we arrived promptly, only to find roads blocked because of people trying to get into the fairground's event.  We were in our car for over 50 minutes before unloading.  For that, I have patience!  So happy to see so many turn out even though most people paid well over $100 for just a few items disposal.  It was well worth it for me to get rid of chemical strippers and gallons of paint.  I use the kitty litter and paint hardeners but full gallons need to be spilled into other containers for those methods, and I just didn't want to bother.  So all the smaller samples are poured onto cardboard and dried in the sun, other paint containers have the hardening products or litter dumped in and I've been working on that for a few days. Stirring constantly while slowly pouring these products was a lot easier.  The only paints left are extras for touchups.

 

My husband kept sniffing as we rode the half hour to the event and finally mentioned that he was surprised to be smelling fumes.  But he said it wasn't like paint, more like a magic marker (that's what we old folks called those big markers back when we were young'uns).  Oh, I said, that's me.  Remember a while back I mentioned that I use markers to color my roots in emergencies?  I plan to order the Madison Reed product for roots but haven't yet.  Leaving the cap off for a minute or two dries it somewhat and just touching the roots lightly is enough. My hair is messy enough to not notice a slight difference in color. 

I found an old one with a larger tip that is running out of ink, in black, and it worked much better than the dark brown smaller tip.  It doesn't take much, just enough to break that solid gray root line.  The smell left by the time we got there.  Personally, I love that smell.  I used to sit cross legged on the garage floor with my nose to the gas can when I was little.  That may explain a lot. 

 

I stopped shopping for a car.  We decided on the Rogue because of price and features, still not in love with it, but when we went to the dealer they had no recollection of the printed paper given to us.  Oh!  That must have been the gal that works the printer in the back and she just downloaded the internet price which had all sorts of incentives that you don't qualify for.  And geez, I don't remember saying the chrome bumper protector and appearance package would be thrown into that price, no extra charge.  And geez, I hate dealers that have the manager sitting right there so he can hear everything that is said by the salesperson.  Except of course when they are outside with the vehicle and promise you the world.  We left.  Back to Subaru and am still having a hard time with that very light interior (for all Foresters) which looks green because of the window tint.  And two tone doors and dash.  Seat covers?  That may work.  I even looked at the Escape which is what I have now and hate.  So confused and nothing is calling my name, so I give up for now.  Carole offered her car (which is mine anyway) since she has her son or us do all her errands and shopping.  She will need the car for lunch with the girls on Thursdays and dinners on Fridays though.  That's fine and probably what I will do until I decide.

 

The contractor to repair or replace the siding has not called for weeks so I am stopping that also.  We ordered the windows and they will sit in the basement until he can do the job in the spring, it's getting too late in the year.  He gave us no timeline at all and I do not want this happening close to holidays, probably won't be able to paint the siding before winter.  I am so tired of this and with all else, don't give a damn right now.

 

Bud, of course, could care less.

 

I found a shop that will take this vintage Champion clothespin holder (no consignment opportunities anywhere).   Hope whoever buys it will give it a good home.  There is really no where in this area to take vintage or antique items except Goodwill and Salvation Army which is where most of my items go.  My brother knew a man that picked up truckloads for them and both drivers sorted through, kept the good stuff, and sold the items on Ebay.

  Well folks, that's all I got.  A little stitching done, not enough to show, but now that I got the car and siding off my back, will hopefully focus more on down time.

 

Hope your weekend is wonderful.

Mine is nice and warm! 

Probably snow next week.

 

Thanks for visiting.

 

*******************

Bake bake bake

Tuesday's breads were lemon zucchini with lots of zest and nuts.

 

There is a glaze of lemon juice and powdered sugar that I didn't add since they are going into the freezer. 

 Edit - here's the link for the recipe and of course - my changes.
https://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/lemon-zucchini-bread/

I used canola oil, not olive oil.

I did not “rub” the zest with the sugar.
Used 2  1/2 cups zucchini.
Zest from 2 1/2 lemons instead of two and also used 2 Tbsp fresh juice, not 1.
(we like lemon!) Still isn’t too overpowering.
Added a heaping cup of coarse chopped walnuts.
 

 I use the shredding disc on my old Cuisinart food processor and it is so quick and easy.  Only takes a few minutes to do several large zucchinis and the shreds hold up well for days in the fridge without getting soggy.  But just because I have shreds at the ready, I can't keep making breads so this may be the end.  I finished the night off with two more Death by Chocolate.

 

The first breads were double wrapped in plastic wrap and then vacuum sealed.  Unfortunately, the wrap didn't prevent the machine from sucking all the air out of the breads which are now, bricks.  We cut off the packaging but the poor things never recovered.  I expected them to take a deep breath and fluff up a bit, but they are still bricks.

 

We're down to the wire on the vehicle and although I really planned on the Forester, the Rogue has front collision warning, blind spot detection, much more chrome, and with those extra features it is still cheaper because Subaru's discount is minimal.  To get those safety features on the Subaru would add a few thousand more to an already higher price.  But it is a reliable and safe car and I'm taking another test drive.  I don't really care for either model's red color, no sparkle at all, but if I get the gray or silver or white, I will be walking around parking lots of neutrals, activating the car alarm to find it. 

 

Hope your week is going well.  This week we are having the weather that should have been August's.  And leaves are raining down earlier than usual.  Can you believe we're heading into the end of September already?

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

***************************

The new project. So far.

 

Mary Halsey miniature sampler by the Examplarery caught my eye but I wasn't totally on board with some elements.  Hearts were a welcome addition to my stitching in years past, but not at all now, and that row could certainly be removed.  But for some reason .... I just couldn't click the BUY link. I do like stitchery sewn in the various heart shapes though.  LOVE the Ann Kitpin I just made.

 

You know I prefer the longer, thinner samplers and with my slump, this may be a perfect little stitch.  So I'm winging it.  I started one on 35 count Straw and then moved to my own dyed 35 count for a more subdued background.  I want the bird bright, flowers and berries, dark alpha, and a few borders.  We'll see how it progresses, maybe I will graph it first.  Stitched area will only be 3" wide.

 

It doesn't make any sense at all to me that I am not taking my own advice, well, par for the course I guess.  I hope it goes smoothly but shouldn't I be following a designer's chart and colors to avoid frustration?  Of course!  But this is from a person that blows up vanilla.  Must be the watermelon effect.

 

Have a great day!!

****************