I’ve had so much trouble with this post that I’ve just scrapped it and rewritten it. Ugh. Anyway, here’s what I have been up to this past week:

The Pink Sparrow (I can see a finish very soon! Maybe this week!)

Foxy (Just look at that sparkly white tail! That was the most fun part of this project as I anticipated it would be!)

New Small: GPA’s 2016 Ornament stitched with Gloriana silks Old Gold and India Ink. I will call this one my “Purdue-Army Ornament” because Black and Gold are Purdue’s and West Point’s colors, and my husband and his sister are Purdue grads and my dad is a West Point grad! And then I think I’ll stitch it again in other, more Christmas-y colors because I really like the design!

New Small: Chessie and Me Out in a Limb pin cushion. I love this sweet kitty. I’m stitching with the charted colors on R&R Liberty Gray. It’s a really pretty gray.

All this stitching has been very enjoyable. In addition to stitching, I have been happy about these things:

I got a cactus for my birthday last month. It was an impulse buy at Lowes (a big hardware store) because the bloom color was so gorgeous. Well, it bloomed a show for me this weekend which I just had to share with all the world. Look at that bouquet! I’d rather have this than a dozen roses for my birthday!

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For those curious about plants, I will tell you about it. This is a Torch Cactus which is Trichocereus. I think the hybrid is Sunset. It is about 18″ high, and that is about half it’s mature height. The blooms are an impressive 6-8″ across! It will bloom like this a few times through the spring each year and each bloom show only is in full glory one day, followed by a more faded day, and then it all shrinks and shrivels up, so the bloom is quite special. I am still looking for the perfect place in the yard for it!

Our family enjoys puzzles. I got several new ones. The kids and I plow through each in about 1-2 days. They are like little potato chip eaters with puzzles-they just can’t stop once they get started! Here are some of the puzzles we have done:

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The one on the left is a Pomegranate puzzle by Charley Harper and the one of the eggs is a vintage Springbok puzzle

It is hitting 100 degrees now (that’s 38 C) Is that bad? Well, not for the kids because now it is hot enough to go swimming! Yay swimming! It is fun! It is a great bribe! It tuckers everyone out! It means everyone gets clean! Win, win, win, win!

I hope you all find something to be happy about this week! Have a good one!