No longer a Cadet

Yesterday, Mike commissioned into the Air Force as a Second Lietenant. The ROTC detatchment had a little ceremony and here are the pics:

Mike and Jenna:


The Lietenant:

And all of us.

We are very, very proud of our son!

More Wedding Pics

Ok, some more wedding pics...the snapshots are coming in from friends and family.

This is me coming out of the church right after the ceremony. I love the dress! I do wish I'd worked my arms a bit...but...hey...it is what it is.

Mike and Noah doing some line dance...the kids and their friends danced the entire reception. Of course, I did too. Made a proper fool out of myself.

Jenna dancing to the same song. I love her dress. You can see some of the "bling" on it. All pics are clickable and will get BIG.

And the happy couple.

Stitching is going very well all of a sudden. I've gone from famine to feast. I'm back 100% and want to start everything I see (which is very, very dangerous). I allowed myself to start Notforgotten Farms, Parson Brown, a very cool snowman. I'm stitching him on 25count evenweave with the recommended DMC. I did change out one color cause it faded into the fabric. I'm planning on making him into a nice homespun Winter pillow. He'll join the other Frosty Friends in my collection.

Oh, if you are interested, today is the last day to sign up for the Blackbird Exchange Blog Round 3 exchange. Pop on over and sign up. Or email me. Names will be assigned tomorrow. We've got very talented stitchers in the group. No lack of creativity in this bunch. Please join us for a fun time!

Thanks for stopping by. I love when you visit. I enjoy your comments and I hope you enjoy your time in Joanie's World. Stitching pics soon cause I've made enough progress to share. My progress is distinguishable now, not just blobs...hee-hee!

Slowly, slowly my MoJo is coming back

Thanks to everyone for commenting on my last post. I am getting back to normal and feeling more like myself. A few nights, I went to bed with the chickens (one of my Mom's fav sayings). And I am stitching again. Small things. I can't stand the thought of stitching on anything BIG.

So, I worked on Where My Heart Blooms, the house is about 1/2 done now and I am about 3/4 of the way finished. About this time in the progress, I usually just focus on that piece and finish it. It's like an obsession. But I haven't gotten to that place just yet. Soon, I bet! And I am working on the Plum Pudding freebie and I am working on October from Mary Garry. I've stitched that little witch before but gave her away.

I cleaned my house today. It's mostly clean. I stitched most of the afternoon, put out some of my Autumn decorations (I LOVE Fall!!!) I ordered new drapes for my living room (got 'em from JCPenney at 50% off which softened the blow when I told the DH how much they cost).

It's been a good day!

Have you been watching out for the new market releases? There are MANY that I want but I will practice restraint and do my very best not to purchase, um-mm, much. (I'd like to say I am only going to stitch my stash but I would be lying. I am trying to do that. I have so many cool patterns and I love them all!)

I love the new Carriage House Samplings! Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow and the tombstone are too cool. But I am drooling over the new Goode Huswife release, the Colonial Garden Series book. I will buy it and it will be my Christmas present to my self. Everything else that I love will go on a Wish List. Unless I lose my resolve, get stressed out, the planets align and I lose 10 pounds. At that point, there's no telling what I'll buy!

So what's on your Must Have list and your Wish List?

Out of Sorts

Have you ever been like a bird that flits from one thing to the other? Have you ever done that and got so overwhelmed by your lack of focus that it made you somewhat nuts? And gave you small anxiety attacks? Well, that's been my week.

Unfocused

Unproductive

I am blaming my short attention span to the wedding. I don't mean that in a negative way, it's just that's been our FOCUS for the last few months. Now that the wedding is past us (and the kid's are sailing to the Western Carribean as I write you) I realize that there is so much that I let go while preparing for the wedding. And now, there's too many things to focus my attention and energy on. Too many things that need my attention and too many things vying for a piece of me.

Work is insane. Hence a small anxiety attack followed by some really negative self-talk about not being able to handle this job (insert rolling eyes here...). I know that we are busy and yea, I am behind on a few projects but not enough to make me hyperventilate. Which I did and which is terribly perplexing.

Cross stitch is everywhere too. I can't focus on just one project and I can't stitch for more than an hour or so cause I get all fidgety. I've worked on a Prairie Schooler Santa from Santa and Snowmen. It should have been an easy-peasy finish, except, I can't count. Frogs.

Then I came across a blog devoted to smalls, Stitching Smalls with Friends so I had to start an autumn design. I decided to do a small Plum Pudding Needleart freebie called Blessed Be. I thought that it would be fast and easy...Nope. No attention span. Fractured attention span.

So, I decided to write here for a little bit and then go for a walk. It's a gorgeous day so I should at least spend a bit of time outside because before to long it will be too cold and snowy to walk outdoors.

Then maybe I'll be a little more focused and can make a dent in my autumn design.

More Wedding Pics

I am going to bore you a little more with wedding pics...here's the happy couple right after the ceremony.

Mike with 2 of his groomsmen, Charlie, the best man, on the left and Brian a groomsman in the middle at the rehearsal dinner.

And the wedding gift...Jenna pulled Mike away from the driver's side and insisted on driving it! At this point, she still thinks the car is a rental.

Mike getting ready to tuck her into the driver's seat. Jenna is checking out the interior.

Wedding Day pics!!!

I have a few pictures from the wedding. What a beautiful day! It was magical!

This is Chris...he was one of the groomsmen. Mike, Charlie and the DH were picking up their tuxes. Chris decided he wanted to be a manequin...

The wedding cake was scrumptious! Mike and Jenna chose 2 different flavors, one tier was hazelnut cake with chocolate filling (my fav) and the other was an almond cake with raspberry filling. The cake was dense, moist and the icing was not that sickening sweet buttercreme. It was DELISH!!!

The wedding party. The day began with rain but the sky cleared early afternoon. By the time we got to the reception, the photographer could take some outdoor pictures.

And our beautiful bride. Her dress was exquisite. The pictures do not do her justice. She was radiant!

We had a blast at the reception, the food was great, the DJ spun great songs and I danced until my feet ached! We laughed and just had a wonderful time.

Oh, and the best part? After the best man's toast (which was appropriately funny and heartfelt) Mike gave Jenna her wedding gift.....are you ready? He gave her a '08 cherry red MUSTANG! You should have seen her reaction, it was priceless. Mike told her that he misled her, that the car wasn't a rental, he bought it for her. And that he wanted to give her her dream car because he just wants to make all her dreams come true. When he held out the keys to her, there was a gasp from all of us, no one could believe it!

There will be more pictures to come. These are the one's that we got before the camera decided to quit for the evening. I hope you like the little bit that I could share with you!

R.I.P. My Chrissy the Wonder Dog

Today, is a sad day at Chez Wedding...our beloved Chrissy the Wonder Dog has joined Freeway, Fraggles, Pirate on the Rainbow Bridge...

She battled a very aggressive cancer which was untreatable. The tumor was growing all over her muzzle. She didn't appear to be in any pain but she never was a complainer. Our vet, Dr. Steve, told us that there wasn't anything he could do for her. It was only a matter of time. So before she got too bad, we made the painful decision to send her on her way. Oh, how it broke my heart...

Oh sweet Chrissy, how I miss you!