How-deeeee! I'm just so glad to be here!

How-deeeee! I'm just so glad to be here! (With apologies to Minnie Pearl)

In case you don't know who Minnie Pearl was, she was a country comedienne who was a regular on the Grand Ole Opry stage. She was famous for her straw hat with the tag on it.

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Minnie Pearl

American comedian

Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon, known professionally as her stage character Minnie Pearl, was an American country comedian who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1971. Wikipedia

Born: October 25, 1912, Centerville, TN

Died: March 4, 1996, Nashville, TN

Full name: Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon

Spouse: Henry Cannon (m. 1947–1996)

Buried: Mount Hope Cemetery, Franklin, TN

She was a proud Tennessean and I still miss her to this day. I look back on those simpler days and, while things were simpler, they had their challenges and struggles just like today.

I really don't know where that tangent came from. I just sat down to write a post and the first thing that popped in my mind was the How-dee line. Of course that led to an explanation of Miss Minnie and here I am now wondering what I'm going to say.

We had a quiet Halloween. No trick or treaters (we've not had any for several years now), no candy bought because of the lack of little ones, and thankfully, no tricks. I did get the Grands a treat and got them mailed off before Halloween for a change. I got pics back of happy faces so I guess I did fine. 

I've been cross stitching, as usual. I found a new pattern that I simply fell in love with. It is called "The Embrace" and I started it immediately! 

  I didn't start in the center (big mistake) since most of the things I do now I measure the framing allowance and then start in the upper left corner. I also do a lot of SALs and unless they specifically are started in the center, this is the best way to start them. So, I was merrily stitching along as you can see in my two progress photos.......

.....and today, I realized that I had measured the framing allowance WRONG! The pattern is 12"x 12" and the fabric included is 16" x 16". Great I thought, no problem with the size. Then, I apparently had a gray cell dump because I measured my piece's starting point at 3.5 inches. Yep! Instead of the 2" on all sides that was allowed, I had 3.5 inches on the top and left side. That left 1/2 inch on the right side and bottom!!!!! I was so disgusted that I folded it up and put it in time out. Which was actually silly because unless I frog all of that stitching (I ain't gonna do it), this piece is almost useless. I can salvage the lower part and the right side for smalls, I guess. We'll see.

Since The Embrace has been occupying me so fully, I haven't done much of anything else. I did do a Christmas Card stitch for a card swap but silly me didn't take a photo of it. However, my swap partner did and posted it to the group doing the swap. She liked it. When I looked at all the cards others had done, I felt out of my league but it's just made me want to do more cards and embellish them. I will be getting some doo dads and sparkly things, ribbons and washi tape, etc. This might get out of hand!!  HA!

I still haven't transferred all my files from my backup of my old laptop to the new one, so I'm not sure about my book count. I have read or listened to several more books. I listened to "Sleeping Beauties" by Stephen and Owen King. It was really, really good. I also listened to "A Town Like Alice" by Nevile Shute. As close as I can tell, to date, I've read 53 books. It's probably more but I haven't taken the time to check my Kindle or Audible Library.  That leaves 12 books before the end of the year to meet my goal. That should be doable even if it has to be audible books. They all count!

At the moment I'm reading "Miss Julia Weathers the Storm" by Ann Ross. I was lucky enough to get an autographed copy when she came to the little book shop in the next town to do a reading and Q&A. I wasn't able to attend the event but since I had pre-ordered my book, she was gracious enough to sign it and I picked it up later. This little used-book store always has something going on and there is the hope that they will have other writers and events. 

So I guess that's it for this time. I'm fighting a cold that my husband was so nice to give me earlier this week. Each day I have texted him and asked if that was the worse day (he's a day ahead of me in the course of whatever this is) and each day, he answers no. Today is day 4 for me and day 5 for him. I'm suppose to go to Knoxville on Sunday to attend a play with my sister and niece and Sunday will be day 6. He's still feeling bad but he said that today was better and that by day 6, he should be almost over it. Yay! Maybe after seeing "Oklahoma" and spending time with my peeps, I'll be better also. One can only hope.

As always, thank you for being my bloggy friend and for reading my blog.

Hugs,

Sharon