WHAT A BEAUTIFUL WORLD...

now that I can see it again! The laser surgery was a piece of cake and now I can see SO clearly out of my right eye. Can't wait to get the other one done.

This procedure - YAG- is done on people who develope cloudiness in the eyes after cataract surgery, which I had four year ago. It was gradual and was beginning to be a huge problem.

It took less than 10 minutes. I had been given mulitple numbing and dialating drops, so I felt nothing. He put what he called a "contact lens" over my eye (biggest contact I've ever seen) so I wouldn't blink my eye, rested my head on the machine and ping, ping, ping. The only thing I felt was the vibration from the pings. Not painful. What I saw was a bright red light. No lasting image.

I didn't feel anything for awhile. Then the numbing wore off and, okay, it was a little uncomfortable. Aleve took care of it and this morning, no discomfort. I do have to use prednisone drops for four days.

Today I was driving like nothing had happened. I'm so glad I live in such a modern age!

On the stitchy side, I've finished 3 LHN ornies and now have to put them together. One more and I can start on the 2011 ornies.

My friend Ann told me that there was a companion piece to the Creation in GOS. I found it! I've kitted it up and it's in the bag with the biggie.

I ordered two charts. I may never get to them, but they were so perfect. They are by Joan Elliot and are the Musician and the Reader, my two favorite pasttimes.  Here they are:

I've added some pages to the top of the blog. You might check them out from time to time. I have a couple more topics, but just have to buckle down and do it.

Have a great day and happy stitching!

   I really am still alive!  It's been an interesting couple of weeks.  We all fully recovered from the rainy trip home to the ballgame. Since then we've won two more. And have moved to #2 in the polls. I'm really not sure we deserve it, but none of the others teams are that good, either. I'm glad Tebow survived the LSU game on Saturday with LSU. In a  mother's opinion, he should not have been playing. Only two weeks out from a major concussion. And tossing his cookies all over the sideline!

I turned another year older on October 3rd. It was a good day. Bama won it's game and we all had lemon/chocolate doberge cake from Baum's. A taste of heaven on earth. I was a big 63. Believe me, at this stage of the game birthdays are a good thing.

In my last post I showed you a picture of my newest chart. I couldn't just kit it up without taking a few stitches. Which started me on a jag. Even though it looks complicated, it isn't. Very ordered. Easy to read chart. Below are a couple of pictures of the real Houmas House. It's just a few miles from here, so I'm going to make the trip down in just a few weeks. This weekend is a festival there, but every one in the area will be there, so I'll make the trip when it's quiet and I can really enjoy things.  

                                            

                                                           

There is a website for Houmas House and I think it's really worth a look. Check out the brochure link for some really great  pictures.

http://www.houmashouse.com/

This is my progress so far. It's probably going to become a little tedious when I get to the sky and the lawn. May have to do a little gridding!

This is my latest read. Just finished it. Really very good. Caroline Bingley gets her comeuppance and it wasn't without tragedy. I thought her style of writing was on a little bit higher level than some of the other P&P knockoffs. It begins just after the wedding. I still see some of Darcy's temper. I enjoyed re-connecting with old friends and, of course, meeting new ones. I would suspect there will be another in the series.

That's about all for today. I have a couple of framing projects to show plus some more WIP's to report. But right now my stitching is calling. To say nothing of Criminal Minds!

ADDENDUM!!

I've had so many nice comments about the photo on the header of my blog. It is a close up of "Miss Hathaway's Garden" by Marty Bell. It took several years to complete: talk about confetti!!!! And it's how I learned -the hard way- about gridding. It's my pride and joy. I'm glad you all like it.

I've managed to do a little reading. I re-read the Harry Potter series and, on a trip to Books A Million, found this little gem. It's titled A Rose for the Crown. It's by Anne Easter Smith. I'm a big history buff, especially British history. It's the story of Richard III ( you know: the guy who supposedly did away with his nephews so he could become king- the princes in the tower)  and the mistress who gave him his illegitimate children. It's well written, well researched. It gives another view of the famous -infamous?- bad guy. My jury is till out on that matter and, in this case, don't take Shakespeare's word for it! I need more info, but it seems that he may not be as bad as he's portrayed. There was even more info at the end of the book in the author's notes. We'll see....

I'm going to make another trip this Friday to purchase this one. It's the story of Margaret, Richard's sister.
Hopefully it will read as easily as the last one.

Also,the glass balls that I use for my TUSal were purchased at Hobby Lobby. They are actually Christmas ornaments. I just turned them upside down in the bowl so the hanger wouldn't be seen. I think they're also at Michael's. There are 3 sizes and I used the medium ornaments.

In the meantime, my grandkids (and my son and daughter-in-law!) are coming Friday. They are on the way to Tuscaloosa to see David's mother (97 and still going strong). So......I guess you all may be subjected to some of Mimi's photos next week. They are SO cute.

Until then, stay safe!

TIME MARCHES ON!

It's almost the middle of the week. Time goes somewhere!

We had a great afternoon Saturday. Michael, the birthday boy, came over and had dinner. Then we spent some time telling stories of our early lives. We all laughed and had a great time.

I went to the movies today-second time this week. I saw Angels and Demons on Monday. It was very good. Tom Hanks has dropped the mullet. And I enjoyed seeing some of the sites I visited on my trip to Italy. The Vatican is absolutely beautiful. The Sistine Chapel, well, it was something being in a place that Michaelangelo poured out a great part of his life.

Today I saw State of Play. It was quite good. A lot of name brand stars. Good story line and a lot of twists and turns.

I've found another series of books to add to the list. I'm reading the first in the series right now. It's A Rose for the Crown and it's by Anne Easter Smith. It deals with the life of Richard III, the alleged murderer of the two little princes. Of course, it's English history, which is one of my favorite subjects.

On the sewing front, "Saving Grace #1" is almost finished. The second one will come soon. I took "Quaker Christmas" to be framed today. And if I don't have enough to do, I'm about to convince myself to do the "Abecedaire" on Gazette94. I also bought a great wire basket to store my needle necessaires in and filled it quickly. So back to the store for another one.

Oh, there is the greatest freebie on the Blackbird blog. Really, really nice.

Well, that's life here-sort of. If you watch weather forecasts, you may have noticed a little tropical depression in the gulf. It's about 2 weeks early: hurricane season is June 1-Nov. 31. We're just hoping it will fizzle out. At least let me get the damage from Gustav repaired before we do it again!

Ta for now,

Guess I'm slowing down!! Or side-tracked. All of a sudden many of the people I graduated from high school with (bad grammar) are showing up on Facebook. Could be because our 45th reunion is this weekend. I won't be going, but it's been great re-connecting. And seeing how they-certainly not me- have aged. I will say that our class beauty is still lovely. But some of the men have gone a little to seed. My cousin Jimmy excepted. He still looks the same.

On the needlework scene, I'm in the process of having Stephanie at Nouveau Encore design a family sampler for me. I need to send her the info that I've chosen because the more I look, the more I change. It will probably be the largest piece I've attempted and probably the last large chart I will do. There's something great about finishing a piece in a few days and then putting it together or taking it to the framer's.

Have a look: http://www.nouveauencore.com/

On the reading scene, the Jane Austen Stitching Group decided to read a book together. Well, I bought it and have read it. Okay, it was passable. To me, there's absolutely nothing about JA that says detective. But I also made another discovery. There is a series of books written by CJ Sansom. They're about a Quasimodo-like character named Matthew Shardlake. He's a Tudor age attorney who solves mysteries. I'm about half finished with the first one. Very good series and I'm going back for more.

That's all on the home front. See ya'll later.

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FINALLY IT'S FRIDAY!

I'm so glad it's Friday. It's been a bit of a long week. Got a lot done but have an even busier week ahead.


I've jumped a little further into cyberspace. I joined Facebook today. Luckily I've located a friend I haven't seen in years. She's living in North Carolina and still married to her adorable husband-not that I thought she wouldn't-but he's great. If any of you guys out there are members please sign me up!


My friend Ann is leaving on a "pilgrimage" on Tuesday. She and her husband are going to chaperon a group of kids from St. Agnes Church to Washington to join the March for Life. She is braver than me. I think I left teenagers behind a long time ago. Good luck, Ann!


I read in the news that John Mortimer has died. He has given me some great reading moments with Rumpole of the Bailey. The article said he was writing another at the time of his death. I'm going to miss reading that one. I'm the original "she who must be feared" or at least I get that impression from DH sometimes. Rest easy, John.


Speaking of books, I bought one yesterday. I've never really been a fan of Anne Rice. I did stumble through Interview With A Vampire and The Mummy but some of the others I found very difficult to read. Well, it seems that she has had a very religious experience. I think it came along unexpectedly. Anyway, she has written a book called Called Out Of Darkness. I read about it in the paper and tried really hard to put it out of my mind. It kept bothering me-maybe God was talking to me-so I bought it. I haven't started it yet-maybe I'm afraid to see what she says. Wish me luck.