Recovering

It's been a crazy holiday. Good for the most part learning to deal with my parents aging rapidly and getting hurts. Mom busted her head open we'd night and spent the night in the hospital, sigh. We drove back to cincy on wednesday, we got locked out of the Tahoe by the dog, ugh! It's all good. I loved visiting with my mom and dad. Can't believe I didn't get any stitching done! We made perogis on Monday- yum. I also made a infinity scarf ! Fell in love with the pattern. I love to crochet but my skills are beginner- intermediate.

I got myself an iPad 2 with my Christmas money. I love this thing. Love scanning my patterns and just pulling up so very easy.

As we close this year I feel so blessed for my family and friends

ripping

Well, seems I would get one step forward and two back this morning, I am working on a lil freebie by Ink Circles but i just kept making mistakes, soooo, i figured I needed some retail therapy and took a drive to my local cross stitch store, just to by 2 skeins of some Weeks and sampler threads and ended up buying some linen and a new pattern, I can't seem to stay out of trouble....:)

Enjoy your day.

The Story Of The Christmas Robin

Found this on a blog today and was very touched by it. It came from http://bloginsherry.blogspot.com/

The Christmas night was extremely cold and a cold breeze blew constantly into the stable where Mother Mary lay with her infant, Jesus. The fire in the stable, the only source of heat for the baby, was about to go off and all that Mary could do was call the surrounding animals for help. She asked the sleeping ox, lazy donkey, horse and the sheep, but they were either of no use or just refused to help. Suddenly, Mary heard the flapping sound of wings. A robin had heard Mother Mary's cry for help and had flown to the stable to help her out. The robin flapped his wings hard at the dying embers of fire until the fire was rekindled and became bright red. He fanned continuously, flapping hard so that the fire never went out and kept the baby warm. To ensure that the fire stayed alive, the robin used his beak and dropped some dry sticks in the fire. This caused the fire to rise abruptly and it burnt the breast of the bird. Despite the burns that he received, the bird didn't bother and continued fanning so that the infant could be kept warm for long enough to sleep comfortably. Mother Mary heartily thanked the robin for his efforts and tenderly looked at his breast that was now red with the burns and blessing him for his deed of valor and selflessness.

more ornaments finished

Spent the morning finishing off a few more gifts, I still have a few more to work on but at least the "gifts' are finished. I also started to work on an infinity scarf last night. I can crochet but i'm not advanced by any means, I have this beautiful pattern, made it through the first round, but the second one is kicking my but, may have to put it on hold to next week when I see my mom to show me my errors. lol.

also got a batch of cookies made, so many more I want to have but not sure what to do, my stitching tugs at my heart, lol. My in-laws are coming for dinner tomorrow, they are very laid back and I won't have to worry about perfection. phew!

The cold weather is back and it's good stitching weather, hope everyone has a great weekend.

moving along

Very happy with the progress I've made this week on finishing up some gifts.

Last night at my daughters music rehearsal I got a lot done on the LHN Peppermint piece, I'll go back to work on that this afternoon.

Was watching GMA this morning and they had a Kris Humphries mother's butter cookie, they looked good so I tried them out, they are fantastic. So check them out on the GMA website. Now to keep the kids out of them.

Everyone enjoy the day- alas it is FRIDAY!!

starts and finishes

I finished 3 LK ornaments, have many more waiting for my attention...I'm always a work in progress, I've also started two other ornaments, I am nearly finished with Kisses from Heaven but wasn't happy with the color of some backstitching in contrast to the material so I figure I'll look for something with more pizazz. Next I started the Peppermint ornament by LHN, I really like how it is working up, I am using 32 ct linen. Here are my 3 LK finishes..

we had snow flurries today- love it! Best stitching weather! Enjoy the season..

Dawn

Received Exchange Piece

This is a great ornament received yesterday from my LK Christmas exchange and a bonus gift of a black and violet braclet. I found doing the exchange very fun, I participated in a round robin years ago and enjoyed that as well but having to stitch 4 pieces in a time period rattled me with 2 babies, so the exchange pieces are smaller and I feel less pressure. I've now signed up for a seasonal exchange as well and am really looking forward to participating.

Enjoy the weekend, going to do some stitching and watch some football. I live in Cincy but...GO STEELERS !

ciao

Dawn

mailed my LK exchange piece

Hello everyone, I am pleased that I got my piece done and mailed before the mailing deadline next week. I've been busy sewing all kinds of Christmas ornaments. It is very inspiring to be completing so many things, I typically work on bigger items but have been having fun working on many of LK's Christmas patterns. I have been trying to bake one batch of Christmas cookies each day and then stitch. I've baked cookies 3 days in a row but my family got to yesterday's batch before I could freeze them so those are gone, lol.

It's been a busy few last weeks, had to drive to the other side of Columbus to do a switch off with my ex with the kids, so that was a 2.5 hour drive and then back home to start working on Thanksgiving dinner last Wednesday night. My step daughters came in Wednesday afternoon and my mom in law later that evening, we stayed up till 1:30 am cooking. It was good fun, then Thursday was leisurly finishing the preping and cooking for the feast. I don't mink hosting Thanksgiving, but I don't have the patience when it comes to the little ones jumping on my furniture and running after being corrected, ugh! Just to have my sisters in laws tell me that they let the kids jump at home because their furniture is old, sigh. so is mine but it's got to last awhile longer! We were never allowed to run and jump in a home when I was growing up. Just reinforces me to say my two are enough, lol.

So dinner was good, everyone made it back home safely, it was nice to spend time with everyone and chow down.

Well, i've griped enough, time to start prepping dinner- tonight is cheese fondue and then chocolate fondue for desert- yummy. Perhaps some wine too. :) Have a safe and enjoyable weekend.

Ciao

Dawn

Have you ever...

Got so into stitching that you surprised yourself with how many completed pieces you've done. I've done 6 LK pieces over the past 3 weeks, plus finished a SB stocking. I have my piece done for my LK partner, love it so much now I need to make a duplicate for myself!

Won't get much stitching done this week, my step daughters are coming in from college Wed afternoon, then I have to take my two kids on a road trip to meet up with their dad in Pgh, so I'll lose 6 hours there, thank heavens my mother in law is coming in on Wed to do the cooking, yeah! she is an awesome cook, they are just using our home since space is a issue at her home.

Took a drive up to my favorite store to drop off the stocking and ended up spending $40, on a new pattern, buttons, overdyed and linen, plus a few end cut pieces in her scrap bin that always work out awesome for the little projects. I think a good word to describe me is encouragable, lol.

Oh yes, also made a stop at JoAnn's today to buy some more seasonal ribbon and a skein of floss.

Hope everyone is having a great turkey week!

House is smelling awesome, daughter just made pizzells for a class project, now i'm thinking I'll have to make a batch tomorrow, was going to make M&M cookies today but well, stitching got the best of me and now I"m about to run out the door with my son for his high school sports banquet, DH is down at work at a charity basketball game (he works over an hour away). Busy busy, everyone stay safe and keep smiling!

Ciao,

Dawn

still here

dear friends,

well I have been busy stitching all kind of ornaments by Lizzie Kate, I want the one I send to my assigned LK exchange to be just perfect. Was just talking to my 15 yo son, he is wearing a undershirt with black spots all over it. Seems he forgot to empty his pants pocket of a pen and it went through the washer and yes the dryer, he learned how to scrub ink out of a dryer, easy with a magic eraser but his clothes...well, he learned a lesson...:)

Ok, back to stitching, lots of Lizzie Kate stuff and just finishing up a SB stocking, Brett's Stocking, tomorrow I will put the embelishments on and take it up to the store for the lady I stitched it for. I would have put them on earlier this week, but we are having one of those weeks, full moon and all so with some ripping out and restiching, I figured the embelishments could wait until I got my head on strait.

Hope everyone is stitching with smiles on their face.

Ciao,

Dawn

Lizzie Kate crazy

Well, I've been under the weather with the change of season cold so I'm having a cup of tea and working on my exchange for Lizzie Kate, I love the way it's working up and thinking I'll make one up for me to. I also finished "Dear Santa, we've got cookies" and just got my hand on "Santa wants to know" thinking I'll make that into a cube.

My spreadsheet has over 600 patterns listed and I'm still got a lot more to go. Oh the money I've spent over the years, funny how my tastes have changed.

Have to run my daugter to Northern Kentucky Univ to see if she is interested in participating in their Youth Orchestra, need to get out money's worth out of her bassoon. She is bored at the high school, just in the band but nothing challenging. Last night it was my son's soccer try outs, he belongs in a u-16 team, which the club doesn't have so he's been playing up a year and he just turned 15, so his team is a u-17 but now the u-18 team wants him but he wants to stick with his team from last spring, we love the kids and the coach so all is well. I am so happy he is finsihed with football and is focusing on soccer again. Gotta love the high school years....

Hoping everyone has a fabulous weekend. I'm just parousing looking at some of the blogs I like to follow....

Ciao

Dawn

bad blogger

OK, so i'm not a great blogger but I figure I'll keep it going to see my progress and it keeps all my links I favor in order. So my project this week was to organize my floss, which I have accomplished and feel good that it is so nice and tidy and easy to find exactly what I need.

I've also made some finishes that I finally took pictures of. I'm also continuing my spreadsheet of my cross stitch leaflets, I'm at nearly 500 and there is more to do :)

Lastly, I'm excited I got my LK Christmas exchange partner name today and am ready to find the perfect Christmas pattern to make for her.

Fall is here, spent the week raking leaves and now healing blisters, but it was lovely weather to rake. Love the fall, miss my hummingbirds but I'll see them in the spring.

With that, time to go get my son from football and finish dinner.

Ciao,

dawn

Sunday summary

Hello Friends,

Haven't done much stitching this week, I was working on a Blackbirds pin cushion with a crazy boarder and when I was ripping out due to my count error, i somehow ripped the linen so I threw it out, sigh. So I started on my gift for the LK Christmas exchange.

I have continued to work on my spreadsheet of all my patterns, up to 400 and still going strong, lol. I dread to think of the amount of money I have spent over the past 30 years on this!

I also continue to organize my floss, I read someone's suggestion to use plastic shoe boxes and snack baggies with index cards and it is working out beautiful, I just finished the 900's yesterday. Need to go back to the Container store to buy a few more. ;) 10 wasn't enough. Lol.

I stopped at Keepsakes on Friday and grabbed a few linen scraps. She has a basket of different linens etc and sells the pieces really cheap, they are perfect for ornaments and small project. The only downside is I don't always know the details of the material that I buy, but it still makes me happy.

It's been a beautiful fall weekend. The kids and I went and raked the yard yesterday, they weren't happy about it but the yard looks good and it was to nice of a day to stay inside.

DH and I went to Cheesecake factory last night for dinner, it was soo good. It was nice to get out with him for awhile.

I believe today we are headed to Dayton to visit with his parents so i don't think I'll get much stitching done, but I can always take it with me. :)

Have a great day!

Ciao

Dawn

organizing

So I've gone organization crazy, creating a spreadsheet of all the designs that I have. Just like everything tidy, life is easier. Next I need to work on my floss situation, what I have works, but not efficient. So, some places were suggested for minimal cost for maximum storage ie, IKEA and there is one right up the road, so I hear road trip.

Heading up to visit my sick father this weekend, he has gone through some surgery's this month and has more to go, has not been healthy since 2004, but he's still here and trying to make the most. Also can't wait to spend time with mom, my kids don't really want to go, but they just don't get it, someday they will...

Have a great fall evening, just keep stitching...

catching up

Wow, it's been a week since my last post. Ashley has been doing well with her recovery, feeling better, doing homework and returning to school on Monday. For now, I've enjoyed this time with her.

I've done some small projects, tried to attach photos but my computer keeps freezing every time I try to upload them, so for now, text.

The SB stocking is 85 % done, I need the last skein I was short on then to just attach the embellishments. So it's now waiting for completion.

I did a little quickie "Music" by Hinzeit, last night I finished Happy Mom by Triology and started a pinkeep by Blackbird Designs.

Yesterday I spent the day online playing with blogs and patterns available.

Hoping everyone's fall is going great.

Dawn

Sunny Day

Ashley's surgery went fantastic yesterday, in and out before I could do more than 20 stitches! I did finish the piece today, called Winter and it is a lil quickie by Trail Creek Farm that I picked up at Keepsakes last week. Love it, ran to JoAnn's today for some matching ribbon but they are calling for fantastic weather all week so I don't see myself finishing it anytime soon, can't bring myself to go down in the basement when the sun is out and I can open my windows for some fresh fall air!

I will continue to work on the SB stocking that I've been contracted to do. The colors are beautiful but who doesn't love SB?

Pictures to follow soon

I hope everyone is having a fantastic day.

Ciao

Dawn

Preparing

Well, tomorrow my 14 yo daughter has her "kissing" tonsils taken out, they are so big they touch each other when she says awwww. This has been a long time coming, she sleeps poorly and is always tired...typical teenager, after our move to Cincinnati we finally made some progress, sleep study was ordered and the poor thing wakes up 16 times an hour! So tomorrow is the day to her new beginning, after what I hope is a speedy recovery she will finally get some restful sleep.

Anyways...I have nervous energy about the surgery even though it is routine, she is still my baby. I have packed three different projects to work on as I doubt I will sit still long enough. :)

My progress on the stocking is going along well, we had to order another skein of floss as they didn't provide enough ( this is a contracted stitching piece) but all is well and I hope to finish it by weeks end while i wait for that last skein. Then I can fully concentrate on my pieces.

It is a beautiful fall day and I believe that I will spend some time outside clearing my head, perhaps mow the lawn...

Enjoy the day

Dawn

more finishes

Picked up to pieces that were getting framed and finished Morning Star by Blackbird designs.

Feels so great to see things finished to the end!

It's a chilly day today 45degrees outside, and gray. Another awesome day to stitch.

My 14 year old daughter is getting her tonsils out Tues, so I need to go pack a few things to work on while she is in surgery. What to do, what to do, so many to choose from. I feel like a stitching addict ;)

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Christmas Stocking

This is a stocking from SB , the colors are beautiful, the pictures do it no justice. Hope to finish it this week.

Two finished Pin Keeps

Yeh, I did it, I used the tutorials from The Twisted Stitcher and finished 2 pin keeps. The acorn finish I saw on a finished one from Hooked On Exchanges blog a few weeks ago and loved it. She had done a fantastic job, the only change I made to her finish was to add the nut stem, made it more challenging but I am happy with the finished project.

Tonight I will finish up on my BlackBird designs "Morning Star" project. These have been a few productive days for me. Love it!

Have a fantastic night.

Ciao

Dawn

Rainy days

Hello friends,

After a beautiful fall afternoon yesterday, this Friday starts off with rain. A very good day for stitching. Today I finished A Very Merry Autumn by Judy Whitman. I started it yesterday, it is from JBW designs. I saw it on Hooked on Exchanges and loved the acorn style pin keep and plan on doing it as she did. Need some needles and some ribbon so i will run to Jo Ann's when I go to pick up my kids from school. I am ready to start a Blackbird design, I'll have to go see which one I want to do. Some many to start, so little time! I'll make my rainbow with floss.

Enjoy the day!

Ciao

Dawn

Bird and Flower

Yesterday I started and finished this lil number called Bird and Flower by Chessie & Me. It was a free design and worked up really fast. Thinking of making it into a pin keep. I also started the Christmas stocking yesterday but I'm waiting for the main colors to come in so I did a few stitches and put it aside. Last night I started another lil number called Merry Autumn.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic fall.

ciao

Dawn

More finishes

Well I finished Eye on the Sparrow today by Diane Grick, not sure how i want to finish it off yet, perhaps a soft stand. I also added buttons on Lizzie Kate Fall Ya'll, the pattern is so old that they don't make the buttons anymore but we found good substitutes, lastly, I made my first pin book, lol. Pretty good for a first timer, hope to improve as I go along. For the Fall Ya'll, I believe I will attempt a wall or door hanging, keeping working on these sewing skills.

I am about to start a Shephard's Bush Christmas stocking that I was asked to do by my favorite shop owner. That will bring a few extra dollars to keep my habit up :) Attached are today's finishes.

LIzzie Kate Exchange

Joined the Lizzie Kate exchange today, very excited about that. I have been looking for a round robin to join but this seems like it will be equally as fun. Started to browse to see what patterns there are and finishes that would be nice to do.

I took my two most recent finishes to Keepsakes to be framed but told her there is no rush on them since I'm still dealing with high school expenses for 2!

Hope everyone has a great day, cool and dreary, going to go start on some apple pie and stew. Yummy!

Ciao

Dawn

Finishes

Excited about two finished items today, I used two soft finishes 1. a pillow from the tutorial on Focus on Fishishing by Ann S. and 2. a stand up by Vonna at the Twisted Stitcher. My pillow isn't as squared off as I was hoping but it is my first one and I'm not a very good sewer to begin with so I happy that is does look nice, now i just need some stuffing. I also made a stand up following Vonna's tutorial and I am happy with the results, again my first stand up so I'm hoping with a little bit more practice they will look outstanding. Hoping to add pictures later.

Now onto some stitching,
Enjoy the wonderful fall day.

Ciao,

Dawn

So I went to my favorite store, Keepsakes, I bought the 2011 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments, leaflet Morning Star by Blackbird Designs and Gathering Basket Pincushion by Blackbird Designs. I spent some of my weekend trying to find a round robin or exchange and was so surprised at how many wonderful blogs there are.  I find myself starting to admire more of the antique samplers, never thought I'd like them but I am a work in progress and appreciate all the great stitching stuff out there.  
Anyways, I took two pieces in to be framed, yeh, and bought some supplies in the hope to try and do some soft finishes, then perhaps I'll feel confident to join an exchange.  I mention my confidence as I was in a non stitching coma as my carpel tunnel was so bad I couldn't stitch, I had my surgery last November and haven't put down my needle and tell anyone the surgery is great, quick recovery and back in business.   With being able to stitch so has my stash grown :)
Another beautiful day, enjoy the evening.

ciao
Dawn

beautiful day

as my heart is heavy with remembering 9-11, my husband and I have done some reflecting of the day as he was on the USS George Washington that was sent immediately to the harbor after the attack, he recalls the smoke so thick that it was hard to see, he took no pictures as it was to painful to remember at that time,  all those men on the ship helpless watching New York suffer.  May God Bless the families of the fallen.

It is a beautiful day outside, my baby girl just turned 14 Friday so I try to keep  being positive so she doesn't feel the weight of the 9-11 events on her birthday.

Today is beautiful outside after 5 days of rain, the positive note is that it was a great week to do much stitching.  Yesterday I spent some browsing through some cross stitch websites, so many beautiful blogs, so many ideas. Beautiful patterns and oh how I wish I had the time to stitch and stitch ;)  I went to Michaels and Hobby Lobby and bought supplies to make a box as shown on the Twisted Stitcher blog tutorial.  I think I wait for a rainy day to work on that project.

My mom is getting older, 78 and having a harder time doing her crafts so she has been sending me home with bags of material and quilting stuff.  She is working on finishing up the last of her projects and then will send me home with her Janome machine.  My passion is cross stitch but I will be making some things  with all the material and patterns too.

Well, i think I'll go work on some stitching and browse through more blogs...
Happy Stitching

Ciao,
Dawn

Got back home to Cincy last night after spending a few days with my family, it's good to see my parents and spend time with mom.
Today was the first day of high school for my babies, where has the time gone?  The house is too quiet!  I will try to stay busy.  I just scanned photos of some of my cross stitch pieces and have two piles, those that are completely done with framing and those that still need to be framed.  I do believe we need to hit big on the lottery to pay for framing!
I hope everyone has a fantastic day!

Ciao,

Dawn

visiting family

Good evening, we made it safely to Erie this afternoon after getting stuck in some major traffic in Akron. So happy to be home visiting my parents. Mom is crocheting and I just pulled out my cross stitch to work on today. Going to go into Erie tomorrow and see if I can hit up a store here, always nice to visit new stores and of course, by more stuff.

Enjoy the evening!

Ciao,

Dawn

Tues already

Well I have been trying to learn how to do my posts via my phone but they don't seem to want to cooperate much. I'll keep trying. I have spent all afternoon on my new piece and started to plan already for the next one I want to do. Had a bit of an off day, took my daughter to town for her bassoon lesson only to find a locked door, when her teachers husband said she had just left for a meeting at the conservatory. Ahh yes the lightbulb clicked on, we were scheduled a half hour earlier this week due to that meeting, lol. It is what it is and it was a lovely day so the drive was nice. I noticed that many trees are starting to change already. I'm not ready for summer to end.

I find myself looking for that parents manual I seemed to have lost, boy the kids really have me baffled. I try to be easy going but damn, sometimes the chores just need to get done. I'm ready to go to Madea's school of child guidence. I love the way she goes old school on kids.

Heading up Erie this weekend to visit my parents one last time this summer before school starts and travel is more challenging. I always look forward to visiting them, especially my mom! Waiting to have some of her awesome cooking. Worried about my dad, his health is going downhill faster than I expected and I'm trying to figure out how to handle them getting older.

Well back to my project, going to enjoy this wonderful evening while I still can.

Ciao,

Dawn

wonderful weekend

The weekend came and went but it has been wonderful weather. Friday night my daughter and I spent the night at Children's hospital for her sleep study, both of us did not sleep well but we snoozed Sat morning after they released her. Saturday afternoon, hubby, Ashley and I went to Vevay Indiana for their wine festival, great sunny day and some great wine tasting. We bought a wonderful bottle of Raspberry wine, can't wait to uncork it! I treated myself to an Elephant Ear, which i haven't had since I was a child, oh it was so yummy, probably one of the worst things to eat the week before my cholesterol test. lol. Today we have been doing some outside household chores, again enjoying the weather, I painted the light post and now have black paint on my hands and nails, although it is dry i do not want to touch my cross stitch. I finished my Lizzie Kate piece on Friday and started a Bent Creek pattern, got a lot done Friday afternoon but haven't touched it since Friday night. Just enjoying my the outside. So sad that fall is right around the corner, my mum plant is already blooming, high school football games have started and the neighbors leaves are falling in my yard, sigh, lol. oh well. The beautiful thing about living in Ohio is you get to enjoy each season.

On a more serious note, I am happy that none of our friends and family have had any damages due to the hurricane. It is weird not to be in VA this year going through the bad weather.

Enjoy the day

Dawn

Moving Right Along

Ok, well after watching some You Tube videos I have learned more and am well on my way to being a Blogger! Very exciting for me. My next goal is to continue to improve the site and hopefully it will grow to be a worthy blog. There are so many blogs that I have viewed which show fantastic design and character. I know this is a work in progress.

I did spend all day yesterday working on my Lizzie Kate project, and believe it will be done by tomorrow if not tonight.

Enjoy the beautiful day that it is.

Dawn

more stitchin

Good morning, I am still learning my away around the blog world, I hope to figure out had to add my favorite sites and other blogs that I enjoy looking at. Yesterday I picked up my Lizzie Kate project, Time For God #141. I found a major counting boo boo, one that I had to rip out as a finished piece would have been painfully noticeable. So I ripped and got to redoing and I'm back on track. I haven't been to my local store all summer as money is tight and I know I can't walk in without buying something...I hear it calling my name and may take a drive up to it today. It's about a 15 mile drive. After moving to a big city such as Cincinnati last year I expected to find several stores but there is only 1. I am thankful that it is not only a beautiful store but the store owner is awesome too. The store is Keepsakes and it is in Sharonville Ohio. So here is to continued stitching on a gorgeous day!

This project is being done on 30 ct R&R Lucky Penny

I'm still trying to figure this out, how hard can it be? I thought I created a page so I could post pictures of finished pieces and it disappeared. I should expect this today since I made muffins and after I put them in the over I realized I forgot the eggs! At least I can laugh at myself :) Enjoy your Saturday and hopefully I will be making progress over the weekend.

Drink Coffee, Stitch Faster

a new journey

Good evening and welcome to my blog! I am new at this and hope to develop skills as I go along. I have come across so many beautiful sites of fellow cross stitchers and wanted to try it for myself. I am married to the most fantastic man, I have 2 children who are entering the 9th grade, my pride and joy. I also have a lil French Bulldog who has big personality who is my shadow.

I have lived all over the world compliments of the Navy. I have been blessed to see Hawaiian sunsets and Virginian sunrises. My children were born in Italy and my last 12 years were in Hampton Roads Virginia. God has been good to me, I am blessed. I have wonderful friends who I can't imagine not having.

I have a BA in Social Work from Gannon University, I have worked in geriatrics, foster care, employment services, child care case manager and Navy EFMP Respite Care Program Manager.

Moving makes employment a bit of a challenge :)

I have been cross stitching since I was 13, so for 30 years I have acquired many patterns and a variety of tastes. I have a few UFO's calling my name but I'm getting better. I took a few years off due to carpel tunnel and a too busy life but hand is all fixed and life is a little slower so I'm back in full force.

My life is a work in progress....