TOD HAS MADE IT HOME, CROSS-STITCHING & WEIRDNESS

Remember my amigurumi fox that I named "Tod" (from "The Fox and the Hound")?



Well, he has made it to his new home. Sarah says that she "LOVES him" and understands why it was hard for my children to let him go. I'm so glad she likes him. It makes the letting go so much easier.

I have been working on something else, too.



How will they be used? You'll have to tune in later and find out. (Only because I need to take a picture of it... ha!ha! I love how it turned out.)

Friday night Kelley and I sat down at her request, and I did my best to explain to her how to cross-stitch. I had a bookmark pattern kit that she chose to cross-stitch. She seemed to understand cross-stitching, which pleased me greatly as the last time I tried to teach her to cross-stitch (3 years ago?), she and I just both got frustrated. I had used a plastic canvas kit then so that she could see the "squares" and get the feel for the smaller scale of cross-stitch by practicing on a bigger scale that plastic canvas work provides. She's a smart girl, but sometimes I feel that she doesn't take instruction very well. And I know that I'm not always the best teacher. Kelley doesn't like to be told what to do, so perhaps that part of her personality makes it hard for her to just LET someone explain to her HOW to do something. I explained to her that STARTING cross-stitch is the hardest for everyone what with having to find your center point and count the squares to wherever you choose to start from in the graph. After that, the repetitive in-and-out motion of the needle into the fabric is easy and even relaxing. Cross-stitching is not hard. I think the learning and teaching process went much better this time, however, because she told me that she woke up in the morning and did another row of cross-stitching, AND she found it relaxing. YAY! Go, Kelley!

Saturday's mail brought me an invitation to my nephew Jackson's 3rd birthday party in November. When I saw the pirate theme of the invitation, I couldn't believe it! You see, just the other day while I was at our local second-hand store, I bought his brother (who just had a birthday last Saturday) a sleeper that was brand new with its original tag still on it and a stuffed elephant toy. And so that Jackson would have something, too, I bought him a teddy bear and a pair of pajamas that looked brand new. Now normally (because I'm not a big Halloween fan) I wouldn't choose these particular pajamas because I didn't really like the fabric print. But for some reason I felt like it would be ok for Jackson. For one reason, I had seen on his mommy's Facebook page how she had decorated for Halloween. So I thought she wouldn't be bothered at all by the print. But the second reason I felt really compelled to buy this pajama set for my nephew is because the label was from a company named "Little Paul". You see, his daddy (my brother) is named Paul. And I have always thought that Jackson looks a lot like Paul when he was a little boy, a "little Paul"! So though the black pajamas with the skull bone print was not something I would look twice at, I bought those pajamas and sent them, the bear, and Alex's gifts in the mail Friday afternoon.

Imagine my surprise to receive Jackson's birthday invitation the next day and see it decorated with SKULL AND BONES, the print of the pajamas I had just mailed! That was weird for me. I mean, these pajamas are really not my taste and yet because of the label, I bought them for my nephew. And they're gonna be perfect! Weird, huh? But a nice weird, don't ya think? :-)