Greetings!

Hi! Long time no chat, eh? (progress pic toward the bottom of this post) Let's see... what have I been up to in the nearly 3 weeks since I last posted... Not much out of the ordinary, really. Spring did finally arrive in my neck of the woods (although, with the amount of rain we've gotten the past few days and will get through the end of the week, I think I may need to start building an ark), so we spent lots of evenings and weekend days outside planting, walking, and just playing.

We've been getting little Roscoe acclimated to his new home, and things are going very well in that quarter. He has wholeheartedly taken to being around us (although he's not the most snuggly kitty, I can see that he wants to be and just isn't quite "there" yet), and desperately wants to be friends with and play with our older kitty, Midnight. Midnight is having none of it. Once in a while you can see a spark of interest (and not the killing kind) while he watches Roscoe play, but usually he curls himself up into a tight little ball and just stays well away from the little furball.

Our friend, Judi has a theory that it is because Roscoe has Giardia (well, he was on meds for 10 days, so he should be over that now) - when she introduced one of her cats to the household it was shunned by the others until the Giardia was cleared up. Makes sense to me... animals can certainly sense when there's something not right.

Let's see what else... my little Leah turned 4 today. It seems like yesterday that I was on a hospital bed writhing in pain for 24 hours straight (yes, I wanted to be SheRa and tried to forgo the meds. I made it 17 hours, then gave in - the nurses were like freakin' pushers, I swear! - I slept for 45 minutes then it wore off on one side of my body... while I was in transition. Then when that side was fixed I had about 5 minutes of relief until it abruptly quit working on the other side of my body... and so it went for the next 6 hours til I finally had the c-section). Anyway! Leah is 4... going on 16. :) She's sweet and defiant, teachable and headstrong, loving and bossy, polite and truculent, an unbelievably picky eater (unless you put sushi in front of her - then she goes Hoover), a budding fashionista (don't even get me started on trying to buy her new shoes... good Lord, I thought I had at least 5 or 6 years til those battles would start), a princess loving cutie pie who steals our hearts anew every day. She continually amazes me with how smart she is, and with some of the amazing things she points out to me with the questions she asks (scene: We're at a local nursery. Leah asks me "Mommy, why are there so many different plants?" I reply "Because God is very creative and wanted to give us lots of different things to look at" Leah replies "Wow! God is amaaazing! He's an artist!"), she consistently gives us sweet pictures of the unique wonder at the miracle of the world that is (to our detriment) the exclusive domain of children.

I was reading around the blogosphere and came across this post, and couldn't help the bittersweet pang I got when I thought of my own sweet girl reaching the milestone of prom, and high school graduation, and beginning to test her wings out in the wide wide world. Then I read Doris' post about her own sweet Rebekah and my heart broke into a thousand little pieces for her. Posts like both of those help me treasure my daughter even more than I already do - even when she's doing her level best to push me over the edge. :)

So, in honor of her birthday, I'm taking the opportunity to shamelessly brag on my kid. These are a few pictures I took while we were outside one evening last week.

OK! So, not a whole lot of actual progress has been made on Wheels - this is where I stopped last night (and as it is taking me forever to get of the 'puter it would appear this evening will end with little or no stitchy time):

Pathetic, really - I haven't even completed 4 vehicles in the past nearly 3 weeks. However, I am getting a second (ok, let's be honest - first) wind on this piece. I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel. It feels like I have gotten a lot more done than I have, and it feels like there isn't nearly as much left to do as there actually is. So, I'm hoping for a finish within the next two weeks on this.

Then what will I do...??? Hmmm.... I have numerous charts shrieking my name... There's Mr. Abbott (companion to Mrs. Abbott), then there's Garden Cat by Birds of a Feather... or maybe one of their Seasons girls... or maybe one of my Carriage House charts... so many charts so little time! :)

Additionally, I just got a crap load of fat quarters and jelly rolls (and some patterns - of course) from The Fat Quarter Shop.com. Oh my - those fabrics are positively luscious and are also screaming my name... hmmm... multi tasking may be in my crafty future. :) Whatever I choose, I've decided I'm going to be selfish with my stitchy time for a while. This is my hobby, not my job - it's supposed to relax me, not stress me out, right?

Oh, by the way, it won't take me nearly so long to post again... hubby is going to find himself kerplunked right out of the computer chair if he keeps hogging the 'net the way he has been. ;)... Did I just say that out loud?

Anyway, thanks so much for your kind comments! I really appreciate and am so encouraged by them! Until next time, happy stitching!!

~Robin