Back from Holiday Land

I'm thrilled to be back! Missed everyone!

Haven't stitched much - the holidays are busy enough - but plan to use the next few days to solidify my stitching plans for next year and get things in gear.

Lazy Sunday

As y'all can see the blog is now ready for the Holiday Season!

Not much stitching to report, so I thought I'd bring you a few pictures of my world. I spent Saturday morning taking pictures of dolls I want to sell on Ebay, but there are a few I won't part with and I'd thought I'd share with y'all my favorite doll. Her name is Marnie and she was designed by Christine Orange.

Yesterday I picked up Stephen at the airport - hadn't seen the kid in nearly three years - and he came wearing his dress blues and enough medals to drown in a puddle! Didn't think to take a camara to the airport. His counterpart usually shows up wearing shorts. Speaking of which, Nick will be here tomorrow!!! I took a pic of Steve's medals while he was sleeping (SHHHH!!!)

True to form, the kid went out last night to party and didn't return until 10am this morning - with a cute girl. Some things never change. Stephen has always been a partier and a chick magnet.

No Stitching Last Night

Even though last night was the SAL at my LNS, I didn't do much stitching. I was feeling too tired so, after an hour, I went home. The kits I ordered from Permin on Nov 7 came in as well as two Mill Hill kits I ordered two weeks ago. Harbour (70-8411) is 22 inches long and cost $115 - a lot more than I expected. Blue Flowers (12-5187) was $60-something. Wow, those kits from Europe sure are expensive!

Yesterday I called my doctor's office three times. Still my calls were not returned. I am changing doctors. It's amazing how the staff really makes or breaks a practice. It doesn't matter how much I like a doctor, if his/her staff is difficult to deal with, I go elsewhere. Far too many doctors in South Florida to put up with bad service.

Meanwhile... Provigil, the med I take to stay awake isn't working like it used to. I don't know if I am overly tired or what. This past week I left the lights on in the car twice (I can't even remember when was the last time I did that), I have fallen asleep and burned something on the stove, and I have had to pull over twice because I was too sleepy when I was driving, despite having taken the pill. This is why I am so antsy to get this resolved.

Lighthouses Update

Another update on the Lighthouses of Florida. I stitched a little last night and made quite a bit of progress. There is still a lot of backstitching left to do, but this time I think I will leave that for last.

On another subject, I was really frustrated yesterday because I called my doctor's office yesterday twice and left messages with the nurse, but neither message was returned. That happens to be one of my pet peeves. Not returning phone calls. I mean, this is the first time I call the office for anything, it's not like they hear from me all the time. I don't want to take pills in order to be able to stay awake if it can be avoided. Who knows how long I haven't slept. Who knows what damage has been done to my body because of it.

Complicating matters is that the middle children arrive this weekend and I am leaving for vacation next week. After that we are into the Holidays and if it isn't done this week, then it probably can't get done until January. It could well be February before I finally get a good night's rest.

New Progress

Yesterday I decided to work on a different piece, the Lighthouses of Florida from Oberlin Samplers. It is a very fast stitch! Yesterday I began stithching this around 4pm and I only had the "G" stitched. We stitched until 6:30. The card room we use to get together is used during season by Canadian snow birds for cribbage. I did stitch a little bit more after I returned home, but no more than perhaps an hour. It's a fast stitch because the lines are fairly straight. At the rate I'm going, I should be finished before too long.

I was at the EGA Xmas party last Saturday, and as always it was a lot of fun. We had an ornament exchange and a mini teacup auction. The food was awesome and I got to see some ladies I had not seen in quite some time. I even found out that one of them lives a few blocks from my house. My attendance last year at EGA was pretty irregular I am ashamed to say, but this is what happens when you don't have energy - you miss out on a lot of things. This is what I ended with from the party. The framed piece is by Ruby (aka Elizabeth) and the ornament is by Harriet. I am excited to have something stitched by my friends.

Sleep Study Results

Last week I underwent a sleep study because even though I am narcoleptic, things have gotten a lot worse lately. I went yesterday to the doctor to get my results of the sleep test and he said I'm not narcoleptic, but I don't seem to spend enough time in REM. I can tell that I have been very tired lately. Since Tuesday I have been trying to finish stitching two butterflies on The Rose Garden. I can't manage to stitch a whole lot. It's like I do ten stitches, then I stop and don't want to do more. Obviously something needs to be done.