Lost & Found

Wait, what, I was supposed be updating my blog? lol Holy moly, where did the last 6 months go?!?! It was unbelievable to me when I logged in to Blogger and saw that my last post was at the end of July and that I had started this blog almost a year ago. I didn't fall off the face of the Earth, or forget about stitching & blogging...well, maybe I did for a little bit, but I found my way back. Even after being lost.

The last 6 months have defenitly been something else, full of many ups & downs. Not too long after my last blog post a new chapter in my life started, and not necessarily by my own willingness. After almost 22 years of marriage my parents decided to seperate. That was really the start of my blogging & stitching hiatus. My attention was turned to packing and moving, and in a way, starting a new part of my life. I now share an apartment with my mom, I help out with rent and bills until we fully get back on our feet. Sometimes it takes a radical shake up to realize how truly lucky we are to have the things & people we have in our lives. It hasn't been the easiest six months, but we've survived!

Work has been another major obstacle. Twords the end of summer and into the fall, I started disliking my job more, and more. I'm at the point now where I completly dread the thought of going in almost every day. I only stay out of neccessity. I've tired applying several places, before Christmas and in the last few weeks, but never hear anything back. I started training as a manager but little has come of it. They did a massive overhaul of all the stores in our district, replacing our general manger and several of our shift managers. We also lost many employess to transfers, fireings and quits. I think only about 3 or 4 people are still there that were there when I started almost 9 months ago. Since all of this has happened, my managment training has been put on the back burner.

Since then I've rarely thought about stitching. I haven't worked on any pieces, started any new ones, or even purchased anything new. In fact, I don't even know where a majority of my stash is. It's unbelievable how many boxes it takes to pack almost 21 years of your life in! lol

Some things, not even the unpleasentries of life can spoil. My dad & I enjoyed another season of Michigan football. Though is wasn't a perfect season, despite the amazing start, it was full of wonderful memories. We were able to make it to Ann Arbor for 4 games, the opener against Connecticut, and the games against Iowa, Illinois & Wisconsin. You couldn't give me a million dollars to spend Saturday with any other person (my dad), in any other place (Ann Arbor). We've been saving out extra pennies and are looking forward to purchasing season tickets this year. GO BLUE!

The new press box and one side of the new box suites & luxury seats at The Big House.

At the end of October I celebrated my 21st birthday. I loving being able to order a beer with my Big House Burger on game days! lol This past Thanksgiving was the first Thanksgiving we didn't spend as a family, in fact my dad was out of town for Thanksgiving. We did spend Christmas together and we enjoyed it. It was hard to get into the spirit at first, sually I'm the first person to put up the lights, start theChristmas music and go overboard with the decorations, but this year was a little harder. I manged to find my Christmas spirit and did the best that I could with what I had to work with. It actually takes a little more ingenuity to go from decorating a large yard & house to an apartment balcony.

A scaled down vesion of my Precious Moments Nativity display.

Just before Thanksgiving we adpoted a kitty from a local cat shelter. He's black with a white belly and paws, and a little white mustache. I named him Bo Schembechler, after the legendary Michigan football coach. We usually just call him Bo or "Schems". He's grown into quite a spoiled stinker, he likes to jump and climb on top and everything, but I love him!

Bo Schems, sitting in a box. He thinks he needs to climb into/ontop of everything! lol

Recently, maybe now that we are more settled in, I have had an itch to get stitching again. I didn't really feel like pulling out an old project, I wanted a fresh start of sorts. The heavens must have lined up because at the exact same time, I stumbled across a great deal on the Lizzie Kate "Boo Club" set. This set has been on my wishlist since it came out, so I figured it was a sign to get back into stitching with a project I really like. The couldn't find a piece of the fabrics I picked out, long enough to stitch the entire piece, so I decided to color my own fabric. I wanted a brown shade to really show off the black and white border around the set. I took a piece of white aida and coffee died it a nice shade of brown. It's drying as I type, so hopefully I will be able to start soon! :) I also found some candy corn buttons from Just Another Button Company that I think I will get to replace the stitched candy corns at the bottom of the border.

Lizzie Kate's "Boo Club"

This week I started visiting all the wonderful blogs that I used to check daily. It really lights a fire under me to once again see so many amazing projects. I can't wait to get back into the swing of things. Thanks for taking the time to catch back up, I'll make sure it won't be another 6 months.

Nick

"What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise."

-Oscar Wilde