Wash Your Hands!

Oh my gosh, wash your hands, use Lysol, do anything you have to do to ward off the flu.  I guess the one going around is impervious to the flu shot.  Last night I thought I was gonna die.  For reals. 

Yesterday I woke up with a scratchy throat, no big deal.  I was cold, but I have been cold for the past week.  By 8 o'clock pm I had such bad chills that I was shaking violently and got super dizzy.  I got my hot pad and electric blanket and piled under a bunch of blankets.  I was still cold.  As I laid still, my heart was pounding.  This was where I considered going to the hospital because I thought I was having a heart attack.  However, I was actually too sick to care, which seems ridiculous now, but in my fevered brain... I read last night that chills are the precursor to a fever.

I already had a doctor's appointment scheduled for first thing this morning.  I was too sick to take a shower before I went, so I just washed my face.  In hindsight, I never should have driven myself.  (I have been rightfully scolded by my friends today.  I am mad at myself, too.)  I got to the doctor and asked them if I could just immediately go into an exam room so I could lay down.  When the MA took my temperature, it was 104.4!  OMG!  The MA said the high fever was causing my heart to race and my blood pressure was crazy high.  The doctor prescribed a high dosage Tamiflu and lots of Advil.

I love my friends even more today.  My two besties happened to each call me this morning, heard my voice, and immediately starting offering to bring soup, juice, and to take Liesl for a walk.  Luckily, I had stocked up on all of these items a few weeks ago.  Liesl also detected that something was wrong and has been super quiet today.  She is pretty amazing like that.  I have been sleeping  a lot and so has she though out the day.

So I am feeling a bit better and my temp has dropped to a little above 100, thank goodness.  I would hate for anyone else to get this.  So please, please, please, take good care of yourself and keep the germies away.  I still can not believe how fast it came upon me and just how sick I got and how fast.  I have never had a 104 temp in my life, and it is really scary.  I will be disinfecting everything in my house this weekend.  

Come On, Spring!

Okay, I am over it with the cold.  It has been in your bones cold for a while now.  Once my feet get cold, that's it.  I think it is hard to think of anything else when your feet are cold.  So I am ready for Spring.  

What is further increasing my desire for Spring is the fact that I am being inundated with seed catalogs right now.  When I see seed catalogs I start getting visions of me homesteading and Farmer Patti starts getting delusions that I am better in the garden than what is reality.  I get the full picture, too.  The overalls, straw hat, and blingy earrings, cause a girl still has to be stylish!  So at this point, I am trying to keep it real and not order from the catalogs right now.  At least not until I get that tractor ordered.  PS:  Do you think the neighbors would mind if I started beekeeping?

I am feeling very blessed these days.  Everyone that I spoke to that came to the party said that they had such a good time.  A close friend and I were talking yesterday and we have decided that my BFF is out of our league when it comes to cooking.  She is of Sicilian descent, and makes the most amazing Italian food, which just so happens to be my favorite.  She made lasagna for my birthday as well as chicken with prunes and olives.  This does not sound like a good combination in principle, but I would do just about anything for another bite.  My BFF also has a cooking rock star kitchen, which includes a warming drawer.  Warming drawers are one of the coolest things ever.

Little Miss Liesl had to get her nails cut yesterday.  While I groom her, she does not like to have her feet messed with. (She does, however, like her toes massaged.  Go figure.)  So I take her over to Petco, where they do it in ten minutes and trim up her feet to look pretty.  They are also nice enough not to put her in a kennel where she will just panic.  The nice young lady who does her nails (schnauzer have those black nails, where you can not tell where the quick is) is so good with her.  I told her that she understands Liesl.  She told me that she is a terrier person.  The young lady is super nice, good with Liesl and always gives me grooming tips.

Although Liesl is super mellow for a schnauzer, she is very opinionated.  The grooming area has its own entrance.  When she is done, she is ready to go.  So as I am finishing up the transaction, she goes and points her body and focuses on the door.  She puts her nose right on the door, as if to say, "Let's go!"  The nice people at Petco will be telling her that she is pretty and offering her cookies and she will ignore them, with an iron focus on the door, nose still pointed against it.  She has not intention of hanging around.  Most people just say, "Oh, yeah.  Schnauzer."  Oy, she has a hard head.

Well, I am off to sleep.

Girl Day!

Okay, I have now had four days of celebration and I am now totally pooped.  I just can not go at the rate that I used to!

Today my daughter picked me up to take me to San Jose to go to Stitches! which is the huge, yarn show that is held annually.  Knitters seem to know this show very well.  Every knitter I have ever met asks me if I am going.  Despite my cross stitching tendencies, my daughter invited me to go and to take me to lunch, too.  

Okay, I have been to a few conventions in my life, and I used to go to CATS every year, which was more cross stitch based.  However, I have never seen a textile show this big.  Holy smokes!  It was held at the Santa Clara Convention Center which should have been my first clue.  It was almost sensory overload because there were so many colors and textures and products there.  There were such incredible colors and had such depth.  They had the most gorgeous buttons that just looked like treasure.  My daughter pointed out that this is a vacation destination for many people, who stay at the hotel and everything.  We were fortunate to have it an hour and a half away.  My daughter picked some really beautiful things.  We both share the philosophy that you should only buy at shows what is not readily available locally or online to purchase.   

We walked around and I did not see anything until I happened upon this:

It is a copper metallic yarn that has little sequins woven into it.  Being a redhead, I love copper.  Plus there was a beautiful lacy scarf that was serving as a sample of what you can do with it.  It was so pretty.  All you need for the pattern was one skein like this one.  I like it because it is so different.

On the way home, we stopped for bacon cheeseburgers at Chili's.  Oh my goodness.  It was so good.  (Unfortunately, now I have to get back on the diet.)  It was nice to spend some time with my daughter and learn more about the craft that she loves.  We petted the camel roving, buffalo yarn, musk ox yarn, and cashmere.  We were impressed to see that even Lion Brand has entered into the fine yarn field, including items like cashmere into their product line.

So it has been a wonderful few days.  It has been so fun to celebrate and have fun, but I am looking forward to getting back to real life.  I really treasure my everyday life, my family, my Liesl and my friends.  I feel truly blessed.

Birthday Hullaballoo!

Thank you very much for the beautiful birthday wishes.  Your comments always mean so much to me, and today they were especially appreciated.  I so appreciate your kindness for taking the time to write a comment or to send me a good thought.

It was an awesome day!   I woke up feeling wonderful and magical today.  I feel like I have stepped into a new wonderful era of my life.  I took my time easing into the day then stepped out to purchase a new little outfit for my birthday.  I wanted to look pretty because my best friend was throwing a birthday party for me tonight.

It was really wonderful to be surrounded by so much love tonight.  My friends made a huge dinner and invited most of my very favorite people to be there.  It was my awesome kids and my dear friends and we had such a great time.  I felt so fortunate to just be with so many people that I care about at one time.  My friend's springer spaniel even got into the act and laid across my feet a few times.  It was such a great party and one that I will never forget.  I was surprised to get presents, too.  I was just so happy to be around my friends.  Everyone gave me such thoughtful gifts.  I will take photos tomorrow.  It is too late tonight and I feel like I am drifting off while I write this post.

The best part of the evening, was as always, coming home to a furry face that looked so happy to see me.  She even gave me a gift.  She has willingly sat on my lap a couple of times since I got home and cuddled.  Liesl does not do laps, so this was a special treat.  When she does let me cuddle her, I rest my lips on the top of her head and give her kisses.  I also love to smell the top of her head.  The scent is a mixture of dog shampoo, grass, and dog.  There is something so comforting about it.  

So it has been a wonderful birthday celebration so far.  In addition to the festivities, Tony Stewart won today!  Tomorrow is the Daytona 500!  Life just keeps getting better and better.

The big 5-0!

The big day is finally here!  Today I turn 50 years old!  I have already had two days of celebration so I am in full happy mode.  Fifty seems to be a great age.  I appreciate the wisdom that comes with each new decade.  Much of it comes with learning stuff the hard way though.  It has a been an extraordinary life so far and I look forward to all that is ahead!

On Thursday I received birthday flowers from an old friend.  They are so pretty!

Yesterday I met up with my mom for birthday lunch.  We had Famous Dave's barbecue, which was awesome!  She had a mountain of presents for me, all of which were gorgeous!  Afterward we went and did a little shopping at HomeGoods, which is one of the best stores ever!  I bought these two treasures:

You all know, I love me some vintage.  I fell in love with this box.  It is actually quite large.  I have no idea what I am going to do with it, but I had to have it.  

The other thing I fell in love with was this large pasta serving type dish.  The photo is a bit deceiving because it is HUGE!  It is 14 inches in diameter.  I thought that it is very unique and lovely.  I plan on getting a bowl stand and standing it upright in my kitchen as decor.  Again, I just fell in love with it.

So now I am off for more birthday fun!  Enjoy your Saturday!

Stitchy Night...Sort Of...

What a good day!  I got to have lunch with my BFF today.  It was a lat minute, spur of the moment kind of thing, which really ends up being super fun.  She had gone to several cooking classes this past weekend, so she got to share her culinary adventures.  She made mozzarella for the first time.  I have always wanted to try this.  She said it was amazing.  So I guess I will be ordering some rennet tablets.  I am always up for a cheese experience.

Tonight it was super duper cold.  We get really high winds here in March every year, and they started early this year.  The house has just been shaking all night.  The winds have a couple of bad effects.  The first is that pollen gets blown around, which is no bueno if you get hay fever.  The second thing is that the high winds apparently affect the ions in the air and make people act a little erratically.  I am blessed not to get migraines (and empathize wholeheartedly with those that do) but during this time of year I do get an increased number of headaches.  I also tend to forget that I spend most of March with my hair in a ponytail or risk having a messed up hairdo.

So it was a nice evening to cozy on the sofa, watch some Duck Dynasty re-runs, and stitch.  I finished knitting the scarf that I had been working on.  This was timely because I was cold.  I would show you with a photo, but I have put my camera in a super duper safe place.  I am hoping to locate it in the cozy cottage soon.

After I finished my scarf, an old piece was calling to me.  Unfortunately, there was an error in it, so I got to unstitch for a couple of hours.  This was really pretty tough because it is on a piece of silk gauze and was stitched one over one.  I am almost to the end of pulling out.  I will be extra careful counting the grid in the future.  I have learned my lesson.

What a lovely, cozy evening...

Birthday Week

Well, it is birthday week!  This is the last week of my 49th year!  On Saturday I turn big 50!  Although, everyone keeps telling me that 50 is the new 40.  I am pretty excited.  The past 49 years have been extraordinary, even with the usual twist and turns that life gives everyone.  However, there has been way more good than bad.  So I look forward to the second half of life, although with all of the cross stitch patterns I have, I need to live to about 175 to stitch them all.  

I have decided that I need to find ways to celebrate this entire week.  I might carry it into next week, too!  It will be kind of like Mardi Gras or the County Fair. I definitely need to wear sequins and bling every day this week.  Luckily, my closet is full of sparkly things.  Alas, I am lacking a tiara.

I think one of the evenings this week, Liesl needs to take me to our favorite dog friendly restaurant.  There is a wonderful restaurant in Carmel, which is like the dog friendliest town ever.  Anyway this restaurant has a dog menu and everything.  Liesl highly recommends the chicken breast.  As soon as they seat you on the patio of this restaurant, they bring you glasses of water and a bowl of water for your dog.  Liesl tries to shake down every waiter in the place for her chicken breast.  After she is done eating there, she immediately goes into a chicken coma and has to sleep off her partying.  Oh, the people food is really super good, too.  Very fresh California cuisine.  

Ah, well.  I shall have to dream about all of the fun I need to have this week.  Life is so good!

Sweet Saturday

This has been quite the productive day.  It has been really warm the past couple of days, and Liesl was looking like a ragamuffin so it was haircut day.  Liesl is a pretty accommodating little dog, who has been professionally groomed most of her life.  So today was not her first rodeo.  I got her shaved down pretty quickly and got the eyebrows and beard trimmed down.   I keep cheese at the ready to give her at incremental steps.  In general, I stop when she gets fidgety and has had enough.  (Think two year old child getting a haircut...)  When she gets to a certain point, I give up and save the rest for another day.  So I still have her legs, ears and tummy to do.  

She looks cute as all get out.  I give her a blunt cut on her beard, which looks a bit more puppy like.  Cutting the beard is the hardest because she does not like the sound of the scissors near her neck.  So I have to work really fast and keep the cheese a comin.'  Cheese is Liesl's total weakness.  She can hear a package of cheese being opened in the kitchen if she is out in the backyard.  She time travels, too, because I will not even hear her coming.  She just appears at my feet.

Speaking of cheese, Trader Joe's makes a five minute fondue.  It comes in a cup like Cup O' Noodles comes in.  You just stick that bad boy in the microwave and bada-bing, bada-boom, you got Fondue.  I have had it for dinner a few times this week.  I even made it tonight while I watched the race.

I am so happy that it is NASCAR season again.  It was good to see my #14 car burning up the racetrack again.  That dry spell from November to February takes forever.  I can't wait to see how this season goes.  I hope to get back to a race this year.  If you ever get the chance to attend a NASCAR race, go!  It is so exciting.

The day was quite beautiful and in the 70s.  Liesl and I got out to the backyard to do a little weeding today.  Okay, I weeded.  Liesl patrolled the gopher holes.  She becomes totally fixated on the gopher holes.  Anyway, I am super excited because I have been wanting to start a butterfly garden.  Last year, I had several Monarch butterflies visiting the yard.  They would actually sit near my feet.  Just this week, Better Homes and Gardens emailed me downloadable garden plans for butterfly gardens.  Some even include plans with water dishes and rocks for them to sun on.  Butterfly gardens are so colorful and cheerful, too.  I am so excited.  I love those garden plans from BHG.

Well, one of us is already snoring so I guess it is time for me to turn off the light, too...

Ash Wednesday

It is hard to believe that it is already Lent.  Didn't we just have Christmas?  I went to Ash Wednesday service.  I like the quiet nature of Ash Wednesday service.  

I have decided this year that instead of giving something up for Lent, I am going to add something or give something this season.  I am working on my Chrismons and I hope to have forty of them made by the end of Lent.  Some are stitched, but some will be made of other materials.   I think it will be good to look at the symbols.  I am also being more prayerful and reflective this season.   

Kind of changing lanes here a bit, I was happy to see the Affenpinscher win at Westminster.  One of the reasons is because Affenpinschers were bred with small schnauzers to bring about what is now the Miniature Schnauzer.  So we kind of keep the win in the schnauzer family.   LOL  I do have to say that Banana Joe is one adorable little dog.  The sheepdog that came in second was pretty special, too.  What a beautiful dog.  Oh, and the German wire haired...  Okay, just dogs in general.  All are beautiful.  I was happy to hear them kind of telling the stories of some of the dogs just having regular lives outside of the show ring, too.  One even goes to work with his daddy who is in the construction business.  

I was happy to come home tonight after church to my fur girl.  She is good company on the sofa while I stitch.  I have 1 3/4 Chrismons done.  Chrismons can only be in three colors, white, silver and gold, so I am working with metallics.  My goodness, that stuff has a life of its own.  However, the finished results are so pretty and so sparkly.

Shrove Tuesday

This is my favorite time of year.  I really love the introspective time of Lent.  This has always been a special time for me.  Today was Shrove Tuesday (or Mardi Gras) so we had a traditional pancake and sausage dinner at church.  It was pretty fun and there was lots of yummy food.  I also learned something that I did not know before.  Carnival is actually Latin for "good-bye to meat."  (Carne valle.)  It all makes sense now.  

I came home after all of the pancake partying to the best dog in the whole world so that we could watch Westminster.  Liesl was not impressed by the other dogs, fully knowing that if she was entered in this contest, she would be in the winner's circle.  I love the dog show.  The terriers are always so well received and cheered for, particularly if they decide to be naughty.  The comments that are made about life with a terrier are pretty funny.  Having one, I know just how strong willed they can be.  I also love the looks on their faces in the ring, like "Where are we going?!"  It makes me laugh and love my dog all the more.

The Purina commercials just make me weep during dog shows.  They really capture what it is like for people who really, really love our dogs.  It is a pretty awesome connection.  The Subaru commercials were making me laugh.  It is pretty smart to market a certain car brand to dog parents.  

After I played with my little furry beauty contestant, I decided to stitch.  During Lent I a working on a series of Chrismons for the church tree this Christmas.  So I worked on the first one.  Stitching with metallic thread is not my favorite, but it makes the finished product look so pretty.  

Well, my carb loaded dinner is making me sleepy so I am off to dream of puppies...

A Perfect Weekend

This was a really wonderful weekend.  Between studying and taking all of those exams the past few weeks a lot of things had gone by the wayside.  It felt so good to get my house back in order, get my laundry done and, of course, play with the Furry One.  She made sure that I made up for lost time on belly rubs.  I even got to play in my craft room yesterday and got all of my Valentine's made.  

The past few days I have really been feeling so grateful for all of the good things in my life.  There has been a magical feeling of joy and the realization that I have truly beautiful people in my life and so many blessings. 

Today was another perfect day.  I had such a great morning at church.  I love that moment, too, when I come home and get to change out of Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes into my sweats.  The hair goes up into a ponytail and an afternoon of fun lies before me.  A lot of times this includes a nap.  Naps are awesome and can change your total outlook on a day.

This afternoon was actually pretty productive.  I got a few things done, including the whole week's homework for a business class I am taking. (I know, I am nuts.)   I played with Liesl and gave her lots of kissies on her sweet head.  She is such an awesome little dog.  I got my Valentines addressed, retidied the house, had a great dinner, then settled into an evening of Downton Abbey.  I even got to start making some Chrismons for church this Christmas.  Life is good.

This is the last weekend without NASCAR.  Next weekend Tony Stewart, starts racing again, which means my after church outfit includes a Smoke tee shirt   It is going to be a good year for the number 14 car.  I expect to see him in Victory Lane a lot!  He always waves to me when he wins...

Hope you had a great weekend, too.  Wishing you a great week ahead.

What A Relief!

Well, I took the last of my exams for my certification.  I have found out that I actually qualify for two certifications, which means that I will get to put a series of letters after my name, which is kinda cool. (I just have to get my application mailed off.) This last test though nearly had me running screaming into the night.  It was not in an area that I had much experience in and was really hard.  I had 24 hours from the time they email a link to the test to complete it and submit it.  I needed just about every second, too.  I worked on it until 1am, got up at 5:30 am and kept working on it.  I passed with a high mark, but I went over every single answer over and over again to make sure it was right.  

The three exams are now done and this is the first weekend in a while that I do not have to study all weekend.  I was thinking about it all day today what I could do this evening.  I had plans of stitching, reading, watching a movie, maybe spend some time in my craft room.  Alas and alack, the four hours of sleep is catching up with me and I was in bed by 8:30.  I am so sleepy.

I have got to finish up all of my Valentines tomorrow and get them mailed off.  A friend of mine a long time ago used to send Valentines instead of Christmas cards.  His rationale was that he really did not have the time during the holidays to do cards.  He said that you get a lot of cards at Christmas, but a Valentine can make you feel very happy.  Everyone likes getting a Valentine.

I got super good news the other day.  I shared a few months ago that my favorite neighbor, Bill, passed away.  He was such an amazing person and I still expect to see him sitting on his front porch when I come home.  Anyway, I saw his daughter the other day and she and her family are going to move in next door.  I am so excited.  She is my age (young!) and is a super cool person.  We always end up talking for a long time when we see one another.  So we said that we will be having coffee at each other's houses all the time.  She and her husband have such really wonderful, polite children, too.  It will be fun to have a another friend right next door.  All of my neighbors are pretty awesome.

Well, I am off to get lots of rest.  Little Miss Liesl has been so patient while I have been study and test taking.  I owe her lots of attention tomorrow.  Something tells me that I need my beauty sleep.

King Richard III

I was so thrilled when I saw the news yesterday that they have found the bones of King Richard III.  I love the period of British history that involves the War of the Roses.  The roses were the white rose of the House of York and the red rose was of the House of Lancaster.  It was fascinating because families were willing to do anything to put their family members on the throne because they felt that the throne was theirs and they highly motivated by wealth and power.  Richard even turned against his brothers, King Edward IV, and it is believed had his two young nephews killed after locking them in the Tower, to secure his place on the throne.  The nephews became known as the Princes in the Tower.

I recently read a book about King Richard III, which was a page turner.  It is important to remember that the Middle Ages were not warm and fuzzy times, and those who wanted power were pretty ruthless in obtaining whatever they wanted.  Richard was eventually killed by Henry Tudor of the House of Lancaster.  There is some high drama throughout all of the story.  So much scheming, murder, marriage, and double crossing.  It really is better than fiction.

So it was very exciting to know that King Richard's story is being revisited.  He was kind of a bad dude, but it was also at a time when a lot of them were bad dudes.  I read a quote yesterday that said that we try to judge against him against today's standards instead of the standard of the times he lived in.  Royal court politics were pretty rough stuff.  Someday I would so love to go to England and visit places like the Tower, which played such a huge roll in royal politics and England's history.  

So I am off to sleep and dream happy dreams...

Just Cross Stitch

I got my first issue of Just Cross Stitch in the mail today.  I received a year subscription from my son for Christmas.  It was a happy treat to go to my mailbox and see it there.  I was thinking to myself that I have not had a subscription to a cross stitch my son was a baby which would have been 1988 ish to maybe around 1992.  I was lucky enough to be a stay at home mom back then and I loved getting Good Housekeeping and my Cross Stitch and Country Crafts in the mail.

I just peeked in the magazine.  I am saving it until the weekend when I can make reading it a full experience with a cup of tea, a blanket throw, small dog snoozing next to me, yadda, yadda, yadda.  I am up to my eyeballs in studying right now for my last exam which is harder than the other two put together.  I want to be able to enjoy my magazine to its fullest.  

I remember what a big deal it was every year to get the cross stitch calendar.  I used to get one each year for a Christmas present.  Cross stitch has changed so much since the designs back then.  Now there are so many different fabrics, floss options and a myriad of embellishments.  The designs are so different and a lot more complex.  I remember the first time seeing a Lavender and Lace pattern and thinking it was the most beautiful and visually stunning piece of cross stitch I have ever laid eyes on.

We have what is called "AT&T" weather here.  This means that if the golf tournament is in town, it is time for the clouds to open up and rain.  Back in 1995 we started the tournament in February.  Within a few days it had poured so hard that the golf course was flooded and unplayable.  (It was a really bad El Nino year and we lost a lot of crops, too.)  So we resumed play six months later in August. Anyway we have not had rain in quite some time.  You can guess what is in the forecast on the first real couple of days of play.  You got it.  Just another reason for Liesl and I to stay home under our blankies.

Well, I am off to dream happy dreams of cross stitch, chocolate and puppies...

Vintage Stash

The other day I had to go to the local craft store to pick up a small piece of ribbon.  Our local craft store also sells cute fabrics from companies like Michael Miller and Moda.  They have a beautiful selection of fabrics at pretty reasonable prices.  Of course the ribbon that I need is in the fabric section so I had to talk past the adorable selection of Valentine themed fabrics.  That was when my eyes fell upon this awesome vintage Valentine fabric.  I had to have it.  I so love anything vintage. Best of all, it was 25% off!  Bonus!  The super nice ladies that work in the fabric department have both been there at least 10 years.  One of the ladies who cut my fabric said she was in love with it, too.  She said that it was totally stash worthy.  I have no idea what to do with it, but it makes me happy to have it.

It was a pretty chilly day here on the Peninsula.  After church all I could think about was going home and putting on my warmest jammies.  I had been invited to a really cool Superbowl party, but I had studying to do, plus I figured wearing my jammies to a football party might be frowned upon.  Plus I kind of needed a nap.

I think I may have shared that I have some pretty severe bouts of insomnia.  It drives me crazy.  I woke up when it was still dark this morning and just could not get back to sleep.  Liesl made the rare decision to come up on the bed and snuggle.  There is something so comforting about dog snuggles, particularly on a cold morning. Within minutes I fell back asleep for another couple of hours and woke up feeling so nice and rested.  Yay!

Speaking of puppies, I did watch just a few minutes of the Superbowl after dinner and then switched over to the Puppy Bowl.  It is amazing how one can just immediately feel happy just watching puppies.  They made me giggle.  Their little baby puppy barks were just so darned cute.  We will not even talk about the cute factor of the hedgehog cheerleaders.  I like to study psychology and I always wonder what brain scans of people watching the Puppy Bowl look like.  I would think that the brain gets "lit up" by all of the happiness endorphin that get released after a few minutes.  I have to laugh when the referee has to issue penalties for Excessive Cuteness and Too Many Puppies on the Ref.  Ridiculously cute.  

So tonight I got to knit for a bit and watch Downton.  I was kind of glad that there wasn't any trauma tonight like for the past few weeks.  It really is the best thing I have watched in so long, and it makes me think that people are really yearning for quality television.  My television tastes really vary and I do love me some reality shows, but this show is so good that an hour goes by and I could swear that I have only been watching for 15 minutes.  I do not know what I will do at the end of the season in a couple of weeks.  The characters are so well developed on this show that it is almost like you know them as real people.

So now I am ready to try to go to sleep.  There are certain days that you lie down in bed with such a happy heart.  I am so grateful for so much.  This has been a nice peaceful day.  

Her Schnauzerness...

First of all, I so want to thank each of you that takes the time to leave a comment.  It really means so much to me that you do that.  I think it goes with the thought that taking the time to do something that may seem small to you can be really big for the person that it is for.  So thank you.  Many times your comments really make my day.

Now along with that, quiltluvr asked to see photos of Liesl and her curly locks.  Her hair tends to get much longer in winter but here is what she looks like now:

I got these when she was playing.   She likes to get every single toy she owns out of the toy box every night.  With her favorites she makes a pile and then lays on it.  That full sized bunny there is her favorite.  You can see that it has seen better days.  The ladybug in the front is missing its face.  She did not like it looking at her...

Anyway that kind of shows the curls she has on her head.  She is hard to get photos of because once she realizes I am taking pictures, she starts moving around.  My camera's shutter speed is not that fast so generally it means that I have photos of a tail, an ear or empty space where seconds earlier a dog was standing.

Back to her curls--she will get curlier before the winter is done.  I am trimming up her skirt, her eyebrows and the beard in the next week.  The thing that always cracks me up when her hair gets to a certain length is that she gets a point on top of her head.  It is kind of like a kewpie doll.   When I am walking her, all I can see is that little point.  It makes me giggle.

I am still really excited about my score for the exam that I took yesterday.  I received my first certification in the mail today.  It is so pretty and has a gold seal and everything.  Now I am preparing for my next exam, which looks like it will be the most difficult.  So I will be studying again this weekend.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...

A Quick Test Update!

I just received an email from the test center.  I got 100% on my exam!  Whoohoo!  One more test to go!