Cool!

I love looking at old samplers and I'm always on the lookout for familiar names. So I was pleasantly surprised to find this pair of English samplers with my last name THORPE!!!! One worked by Eliza Thorpe and dated 1822, depicting Ticehurst Asylum; the other worked by Charity Thorpe and dated 1834, depicting Queen's Palace.

Hearts for Thee

This is a new design coming out very soon called Hearts for Thee. It might be the last one for a while as my hard drive gave up the ghost and is now in the shop. I have little hope of recovering much but am trying to think positively. Luckily, I'm in the middle of stitching a new design and can rechart it without a problem. It's about half of the designs that I have out now that will most likely be "retired" so get what you want while there are still some out there.

Edited to add: the valentine pendants I put up here yesterday are sold but I did find a sheet I had printed before Xmas and will make a few more so keep an eye here in the next few days for a new post.

As far as the computer troubles, I know I should be much more upset to lose so much but strangely I'm not. I think I realize this is going to be a year of big change in our family and that is more on my mind than my designs. I've had a good run with them and plan to continue but am not buying a new computer until February 1st which is after mercury retrograde leaves. If you know anything about astrology you know that the 3 week period about 3 times a year of mercury going retrograde is not a good time to buy electronics, machinery, cars etc. I'm not taking any chances!DH gave me one of the new cute little laptops for Christmas so there is no hurry as far as being able to connect to the internet and get email. The tiny keyboard causes me a number of typos though. I do miss my mouse!

Speaking of change, DD graduates from high school in May and has applied to 8 different colleges, all on the west coast (except her safety school, University of AZ which is here in town). She's already been accepted to four of them and is just waiting to hear about the California schools. However, her number one choice was University of Washington in Seattle and she heard last week, to her delight, that she has been admitted. She also got her Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do last week so we've been celebrating.

DS just got back from a trip to San Francisco to check out the Academy of Art University and it looks like he is very excited about the place so I know the empty nest is finally here come fall.

On another note, I am discontinuing my webpage because I can never get it updated since DD is my over-busy webmistress and it just seems ridiculous to pay for it. I do much better here as I can update easily on my own.
Whoa, sort of a long post but I guess I had more to say than I realized. I hope everyone has had a great start to the new year. Thanks for reading.

Happy New Year 2009!

Happy New Year everyone! I've woefully neglected blogging during the holidays. Too much decorating and cooking and cleaning and all the other stuff including trips to Phoenix and cancelled trips to Sedona (due to weather) and Mexico (due to logistics). I wish everyone a blessed new year. I've accumulated some random photos to post here from our holidays.


Above is our big ol' tomcat Smokey after a nice meal on Christmas day. He lives for his food bowl in case you couldn't tell.


And this is Snowflake. He's sweet and quiet and loves "his" chair. We've piled it with comforters and pillows and he spends a good part of each day napping there.


Above is my daughter posing with her friend and our big pink sheep "Sheila" in front of the snowmen we put in our entryway each year. This was a few days before Christmas and they made a beautiful cake that day:

YUM...


Above are the kids on Christmas Eve, a little blurry but the light was low.


And oh yes, I had told friends I'd post the lemon ornament I wrote about in the 2008 Christmas issue of JCS and here she is in all her glory. My grandmother gave it to us years ago when I was a kid, no doubt bought at a Christmas church bazaar and I LOVE my lemon ornament. My siblings made fun of it every year we brought out the ornaments which made me love it even more, that plus the fact there are very few ornaments left from my childhood.


And the above photo was taken yesterday in Romero Canyon near our house. A nice 3 mile hike in some beautiful Arizona winter weather. That saguaro cactus is a couple hundred years old I'd guess.


And found in the back of my closet is my snowman vest that still had the tags on from FOURTEEN YEARS AGO! Daughter wanted to pose in a "Fugly Christmas Sweater" and this is what we dug up. Yep, quiet day, no school, something to do on a winter afternoon before Christmas...
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and the new year brings joy to everyone.