Saturday, October 13, 2007

Fire Truck Happy Dance!


I got it finished!! Although there's a lot of mistakes in it, I'm very proud of how it turned out! And I don't think the mistakes are obvious. There was a lot of backstitching! But I really enjoyed doing it - I know, I'm weird! By the way, this pattern was in the July 1995 issue of Cross-stitch Plus. Next, I've got to start another charity square. It's a sports square for Fletcher at Love Quilts.

I actually did some housework yesterday! lol I'm a bad "stacker"! And it had been years since we had seen the tops of my kitchen counters! So I spent half the day yesterday cleaning off my kitchen counters. Now my kitchen looks so clean! Except for the floor, which I'm mopping today!

An update on DD - We haven't seen or heard anything from her old boyfriend - the CRAZY one! Thank goodness! But she has hooked back up with an old boyfriend that I'm not too crazy about. He's better than the CRAZY one, but he's also a deadbeat! Doesn't work, has piercings everywhere, and talked DD into getting a tatto! Thankfully, it's a medium-sized star on the back of her neck. My family is NOT a tattoo family! And I really didn't want her to get one, but she's 18 and after it's done, what could I say or do? I think she will be satisfied with just one. Her dad hasn't noticed it yet! And heaven help us if my mom ever sees it! I tried to talk to her about this guy, but it only made her more determined to see him. (which I knew it would do!) So I'm just praying she'll eventually get past this "deadbeat" stage and find someone who at least has a job! Otherwise, she's doing great - hasn't missed a day of work (actually, she LOVES her job!) and is doing great in her classes! Since her dad had the talk with her about her temper, she's been trying to keep it under control!

Things have finally settled down with my brother, Mom and me! Although DB hasn't gotten a car yet and has to borrow Mom's a lot, they have finally adjusted to being so near each other. DB hasn't lived in our town since his early 20s - 30 years ago!! He wants to be a part of the family and be "involved" and he was really getting on Mom's nerves. He was calling her everyday. Although she'll let you know exactly how long it has been since you last called her, she doesn't want us to call her everyday. When my dad died, she began living by herself for the first time in her life! And, shocking to us, she really likes it! I know she misses my dad horribly, but if he can't be with her, she really enjoys being alone sometimes! If we call her everyday, she thinks we are expecting her to die and waiting for her to die! And actually, DB didn't want to call her everyday, but once he started it, he couldn't figure out how to stop without hurting her feelings. You may have noticed, our family is not the best at communicating! We are very close and love each other to death, but we have problems talking about our real feelings! To anyone - not just family members! We grew up in such a happy family and Mom insisted on "happiness" all the time, so we never learned to tell how we really feel. Mother's feelings are hurt very easily - it has something to do with her own childhood! She has this fear that her family will stop loving her. I've told her many times that she can't do anything that will cause us to stop loving her, but she still worries. We were talking the other day and she said, "What has happened to our family? Why have all these awful things happened to us?" I told her, "Mom, this is life! It can't always be sunny skies and happiness! We have to realize that there will be unhappy times and just go on!" She's trying! Boy! This has turned into a real "baring of the soul"! If you skipped over this last paragraph, that's okay! lol

Oh! I didn't tell you how the calling everyday thing got settled. God certainly works in mysterious ways! DB gave Mom a cell phone to keep in her purse in case she is out and gets lost or needs us! She really doesn't know how to use it though. Well, DB and I were talking on the phone and his cell phone rang. He answered it and it was our mom. But she wasn't talking to DB. She was talking to her sister. She was at our aunt's house. She had gotten something out of her purse and had accidently turned on the cell phone and had pressed DB's number on the speed dial! DB could hear everything she was saying, but she couldn't hear him! She was telling her sister about my brother calling her everyday and that it was driving her crazy! DB and I were dying laughing!! I had tried to hint to DB that she really didn't want us calling her everyday and he had admitted that he really didn't want to. I told him, "I guess this will cure you of calling everyday," and between laughing hysterically, he said, "It sure will!" He called my aunt and told Mom the phone was on so she wouldn't use up all her minutes! He told Mom what he had heard and how he felt about calling her everyday and we all had a good laugh! And we said we would try harder to tell each other how we really feel! lol

Well, this has been a LONG post, but it's been good for me! I've got to go mop the floor and get the sports square kitted up! Have a day full of happy moments, and may God bless you!!

2 comments:

Chiloe said...

Congrats on your finish !!!

Too bad for the new Boyfriend and the tatoo ... teenagers ... I'm glad everything is better with your borther and mom. come to see us more often !!!

Kendra said...

The firetruck looks great!

I know what you mean about non-communicating...my IL's are really bad like that! No one will ever come right out and say what they're thinking or wanting. Instead, they do the hinting (and trust me, they're not mind-readers, either!) and the "tell so-and-so that I'd like for him to do this" and "well tell her that I can't do that right now". It makes for lots of unnecessary conflict within the family! If they'd just TALK to each other, it would help A LOT! But they've been "not talking" for years (generations?? LOL) and I doubt they'll change their ways anytime soon. Oh well...family fun, huh??