I now give a pause of silence in memory of my computer.

*pause*

There. It's done. We are now a one computer household, with mine finally biting the bullet yesterday. It had been behaving weirdly for the past month or so, and we thought it was one issue when it turned out to be something else. Either way, it's gone buh-bye and now I'm flying co-pilot with my hubby, so computer time will be seriously limited to the daytime.

Along with the death of one computer, we've also had a toilet replaced and a dryer go out on us. My Dad put in a new toilet (the old one was leaking underneath the floorboard and rotting the floor out. Fun) and last night the dryer, while still working, decided not to heat, so the clothes were still wet. This morning my tiny laundry area looks like an Amish backyard, with wet clothes hanging to dry. I don't have a line outside to hang them on, but I think I'm going to have Robert rig one until we can (A) afford a new dryer, or (B) figure out how to replace the heating coil (or whatever it's called). Hey, Val, ever fixed a dryer? If you have, your expertise is now sorely needed!

Normally something as dismal as appliances dying all around me would have me feeling depressed and tired, but aside from the tired part I'm feeling pretty good about things. David and Jessi have been a bit of a handful lately, and I'm doing the best I can. I think the weather is playing a keen part in their restlesness. Being Georgia, the weather can't decide to be Spring or Winter, so it can be warm one day and freezing the next. The past few days have been nothing short of drizzly and yuck, so aside from a little mud-tracking they have had to stay indoors.

Saturday was one of the best days I've had this month. Cindy hosted a Get Together, and my mother (who stitches too) and I went. Needless to say, there was more eating and gabbing going on than stitching, and it was a blast. Those who attended were Cindy (our hostess), Valerie, Cris, Ginny (Val, don't forget to send my the link to Ginny's blog!), Angela, Becky, Erin, and Pat. Val presented me with a gift she and Cris got at last year's CATS, and Cindy graced me with a stunning scissors fob of aqua and turqouise beads complete with a mermaid and dolphin charm (for those new readers, I am simply *crazed* over dolphins). Val even introduced me to Prinncess the pink dolphin, an adorable stuffed dolphin belonging to and named for me by her son Phoenix. Unfortunately Mom and I had to leave before Ginny's beautiful fobs arrived, or I would have left with at least three new fobs in my stash. It was a lot of fun, and I miss them already. And Kirsten, who was not able to attend as she thought, was *sorely* missed. We all missed you, honey! Know you are loved!:)

Stitching-wise, I'm revamping a couple of projects. I'm still working on Frost Bearer, and I'm restarting Fantasy Triptych. I was stitching it on 28 ct evenweave, but truthfully I didn't realize how big this piece really is so I'm restarting it on 32 ct evenweave. I'm using Amsterdam blue, which is working wonderfully with the bold autumn colors of the floss (I'm doing a Rivendell conversion). I've even found ways to add sparklies to the trees, so I think it's going to look really gorgeous when I'm finished.

Last week I started Body-for-Life again. South Beach Diet got me up to Christmas, when I crashed and burned through New Year's. Now I'm back on what worked for me before, but I'm taking things a bit more sensibly this time. I'm excercising and eating right, but I'm not in a "hurry" to lose the weight. It will happens when my body allows it to happen. I've lost 5 pounds, but while I know it's probably water weight already my shirts feel not-so-tight in the tummy. Of course, when you have 80 pounds to lose any little bit helps. Pray for me!:)

Well, I'm off to look at making an Eowyn Challenge bulletin board. I may not get it finished today, but I'll let you all know when it's done.
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