The ONLY person who'd I EVER let tag me, EXCEPT Erika, lol...tagged me for a MeMe. Randomness is my best attribute!

1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Here are the 7 random facts about me:

1) I've lost 31 lbs. since Christmas...woo-hoo
2) I'm a great starter, a horribly finisher!
3) I'm extremely competitive, but couldn't care less once the game is over.
4) My favorite color is blue. ONLY blue, not turquoise, not aquamarine.
5) I'm most vain about my hair. I have good hair, always. ha!
6) I'm most embarassed about my feet. Post surgical, funky shaped and just plain UGLY.
7) I'm a blog and reading fanatic, I read 300 blogs at least twice a week, and usually finish a book every 7-10 days. Not to mention I'm an auditor, lolol.

So I humbly tag:
Lucy
Dawn
Ruth
Leah
Tanya
Taniwa
Jane Ann

Thanks for indulging me, and learning more than you ever really cared to know!

8^)

It's Coming Along

OK, so I've learned lots!

Today I learned NOT to leave my rug on the frame, it has gotten all lumpy. I trust it will relax way before I do.

I may rework the baby quails, they sort of look like frogs, lol. If I don't, that's OK too, my art is far from perfect.

Sure wish I had a group to join, or a friend who was learning with me, but I think I'm doing OK.

I've got ideas for a door crown and a second rug, it's addicting. I'm enjoying creating some things to decorate our home reminisent of our life here in the desert.

Friday Flashback - The Things the Kids Will Remember

The tiny black computer chip that touts an spooky "ooooOOOOOOOOOOoooooo"
It came from a box of cereal in about 1998. We've hidden it in each other's belongings for soooo long now. Just when you've forgotten it's existance, "ooooooOOOOOOOOooooooo", you get it BACK! It.doesn't.die.

The cereal freebies
Having 3 girls all in 5 years, made sibling rivalry very interesting! Everyone wanted the race car in the Rice Krispies, or the license plate in the Frosted Flakes. The giftie was more important than the cereal. The gifties were ALL placed in a large coffee can and passed out on our first official "snow day" of the season. Living in Ohio, made snow days pretty likely.

The top of the 'fridge
It was the "no man's land" for all things you fought over. The cherised item was plunked up there and promptly forgotten. (By Mom too, lol.)

Paying to "borrow" clothes
Instead of stealing a shirt, one kid would charge another for the wearing rights. They purchased most of their own clothing, it was just the way it was. Hey! Otherwise they fought like CRAZY women!

Being paid to do the family laundry
We had "laundry mountain". 3 kids, each in several sports, 2 working parents...it NEVER was caught up. You earned $1 if you washed, folded and distributed a load. No partials.

Making Mom change her clothes BEFORE she could come into the house
OK so for awhile I sold fish in a retail market. P-U, I don't blame 'em.

Looking up in ANY set of bleachers, and knowin' good ol' Mom would be there, rooting you on like crazy.

Knowing Mom would help with ANYTHING involving helping her kids succeed and not stop until the job was done, the homework was brought up to school, the clean uniforms delivered, the cookies were baked.

So if you're still reading...
I got THE BEST gift today, an early Mother's Day gift. A thank you for all those goofy things I did cuz I love my girls fiercly. I got an IPOD Shuffle. WOW. Thanks Erika, and I do...

LOVE YA, LOVE YOUR SHOW.
She had it inscribed. This was a slogan from a radio station as I would drive them to school (instead of them having to take the school bus).

WOW.

"Bliss"ful Worms & "I'm a HOOKER"

I've had my Bliss wool cutter for about 1.5 years, but it never really got out of the box. I may have hurt my dh's feelings tho, as he had thought I didn't like my birthday present! It was quite the contrary, it took me 3 years to gather all the "parts" so I could begin my wool rug hooking journey.
This nifty little handy handy machine slices and dices...well, not quite, but it DOES slice the wool to the required width, depending on the cutter head. I've begun with a #8 cut which is 1/4" wide.

I'm not exactly a "rule follower", but more of a "wanna be". Was supposed to start in the middle, but the middle of this rug is all background. Background is NOT the most stimulating part of the adventure. I began with Big Daddy Quail first and am lovin' it. I'll behave now and settle in to work on some of the background in the center, lol. OK. So I am a rule follower, but they are MY RULES, dadgumit.

My dh and I have a hard time separating. If I am in my sewing room...eventually he's in there too. If he's outside on the patio...I'm digging up something to work on out there. It's just the way we are. 8^)

Rug Hooking gives me the opportunity to be in the great room WITH dh and hey! I can even watch TV..amazing.

My wool from Wendy arrived in Saturday's mail. Big Daddy Quail was my first day of progress "being a hooker". I had the wool in the washer and dryer faster than you can imagine, and had the worms cut before dinner.

Doin' the happy dance!

Economy? Stock Market?

No.

No.

No.

It's a chart of my weight loss since Christmas. The bottom axis is the month's of persistance, the vertical axis is in 2 pound increments.

I've been chipping away at the bod again. And yes, I'm learning some new stuff along the way. Revelations in fat calories, imagine that. I don't need to drown my salad or baked potato in cardiac coverings!

Dh and I have both lost 25 pounds, and even if I doubled that amount I sadly wouldn't be "done". I just know I'm doing the best thing for me right now, and all I can do is give it my best.

What are YOU doing for YOU right now?

Changing boats in the middle of the stream

I seem to be bouncing around alot lately. First standing on one foot, then boucing to the other. Thankfully dh never says one iota about my sewing room and I try to keep my mess confined. (Yeah, right! Well...I said I tried.)

I'm 3/4 done with a sweater for work. It's now tooooo hot to knit on the bus, I did appreciate the warmth when it was cold. I don't know if I'll get back to it before next winter.

I'm 1/2 done with my piece for Tonya's Winter Class. The background has me a little befuddled and I'm chipping away at it slowly.

I'm 0/0 done with my piece for Tonya's Summer Class. It's still playing tricks with my head.

I am changing boats mid-stream.

I've just received a lovely Ault's wool rug hooking frame and have designed my first rug pattern. This is something I have always wanted to do.

My maternal grandmother and her sister were master's of the craft of rug hooking, I'd like to continue in their honor. They produced lovely rugs with flowers in the middle, I'd love to see one, I believe they are all gone from the family.

Living here in the Sonoran Desert is amazing. One of my favorite things is to watch the Quail families, first the parents, then 5-8 babies appear on the scene. They scurry in long lines along the base of our fence, trying to stay out of harms way. My first rug, measuring 19x25 will capture this memory. Pay no mind to the narrow border penned at the bottom, I've added the additional needed inch where you may see a zig-zag stitching line. Darned freezer paper was only 18" wide and I was too lazy to tape on ONE INCH. The background is Belgium Linen. I'm off to place my wool order,Wendy from The Red Saltbox has been a huge help in wool selection. My order should go out early in the week.

My wonderful dh made Sour Dough English Muffins from scratch this morning. My, the house smells good as he cooks them in the electric skillet like pancakes. I was out planting flowers and he brought me a toasted sample complete with strawberry preserves. What a man.
I'm off to swim in the pool and generally just kick-back this afternoon. It's to get to 85 today, the cacti are starting to blossom and everyone is sniffling because of the Palo Verde trees.

Enjoy your day!