HAPPY NEW YEAR

I don't think I've ever gone this long between posts before!

At the left is the picture of my "start" on the Beatrix Potter Quaker Sampler. I'm going to work on this as part of an online stitch-a-long. I'm using a piece of ivory linen from Brunner Haus (sadly no longer in business as they retired) which I've been keeping for "something special" as the linen is so gorgeous. The threads are "Tiger Lily" overdyed silks from Victoria Clayton's Hand Dyed Fibers. I'm really excited about this piece and being part of a group where everyone is working the same chart but all with different fabrics and threads. It's really interesting already to see what each stitcher has chosen and it will just get better as we see the pieces develop.

The rest of the week in Florida was mostly quiet. Our road trip home was fun and uneventful. We listened to books-on-tape both directions, finishing the excellent Murder Room by P.D. James and getting about 2/3 of the way through John Grisham's The Partner. Grisham is certainly not the writer that James is, in the sense of the complexity and interest of the writing, but he does tell a really good story.

Reading on the lanai between dips in the spa, I finished a couple of murder mysteries and also the excellent Widow of the South by Robert Hicks. More on that another day.

Back to work meant right back into stress so it's been a long week since we got home- which wasn't really a week ago but feels like months already. The rest of the week looks even worse, so no more about that.

I've got my scrapping weekend at the end of the month- a group of us are going on a weekend run by a Creative Memories rep and I am really looking forward to that. It will be the next installment of the "wedding scrapbook weekend" and maybe this time I will finally have something to actually post.

The Eagles won on Sunday so our playoff time continues, so that will take up another Sunday this week. Wonderful luck is that even if they go FAR (don't want to jinx it, lol), they will not be playing the weekend of my scrap retreat.

Now that Epiphany- the Feast of the Magi- has passed, we can start thinking about taking down the Christmas decorations, so I guess I know what to expect on Saturday.

Time for my evening routine- clothes to steam and lay out, bags (school and hand) to pack, planner to check, phones to charge. Then a little TV, some hot chocolate, and off to bed with some Nyquil- my son has generously shared his cold with me.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season and wish you all a Happy New Year.