All the bad things turned to good

So I will start off with my good news and then move on to my progress on my projects.

First off, Bobby bought me a new washing machine Friday and had ordered a heating element that was to be delivered on Saturday. He managed to get his car running in time for me to have my car to take my daughter to the doctor Friday also. He will still need to have it looked at, but for now it is running.

My new washer makes me so happy. No more filling a washing machine by hand. No more fiddling with the knob to make it run through a cycle. No more belts squealing. Just a good washer that runs great and has a three year warranty on it. YAY Bobby.

The heating element came on Saturday morning, even though the weather everywhere was bad and it took the most circuitous route ever planned by Fedex. It came here to Indiana from Ohio through Kentucky and Tennessee. How out of the way do they have to go? Anyway, now my dryer is running and drying even better than before. YAY again for Bobby.

My daughter is fine. She has quite a cough and is taking an antibiotic, but will be able to go back to school tomorrow. Of course, now my son is sick with a high temp and won't get to go to school tomorrow. He will stay in his room and take a fever reducer here and there and mostly sleep or read. Unlike his sister that insisted on staying glued to my hip from Tuesday morning until today LOL. I love them, but after a while I need some Me time. I am glad she is feeling better and was worried when it seemed like it was getting worse Friday night. Now it is just the cough and no fever with her, and a cough and a 103 fever for my son. YAY colds! Of course I am still sick and both ears are still all wonky to where I can hardly hear, but I am starting to feel better too. Here is a pic of Serenity taking her temp for the hundreth time to make sure she was fever free and had to go to school tomorrow LOL.

So almost everything I was upset about in whiny post is all taken care of now. Still probably won't get a honeymoon at all, but that is ok. I can wait on that until whenever it is in the cards. I did manage to not only get my food stamps back, but they actually increased a whole 19 dollars a month. That means I am now feeding my family of four on 40 dollars a week. Nineteen dollars doesn't sound like much to some, I am sure, but for us it is another six days or more of meat. Depending on the sales. I use around one pound of meat a day for dinner for us. That is usually it, unless I am cooking something that will last more than one day, like a large meatloaf or pot of chili. Cereal usually for breakfast and maybe a peanut butter or bologna sandwich for lunch. When bills aren't as high or something, we tend to take the kids out once a week for Subway or Taco Bell or something like that. It might not sound like much to some, but we enjoy it.

Now on to my projects. I finished my fishie washcloth. The pattern ended up being called Betsy Bass by the designer, although we thing it looks more like an Angie the Angelfish or something. Here is a pick of the washcloth. I haven't woven in the ends yet, but other than that it is finished!

I worked on my cross stitch for a little bit on Saturday and a little while on Sunday. Messed up a few spots, but I don't know if they are that noticeable. I left some of the stitches as they were, as I had not noticed them for quite a while and didn't want to have to do the whole section over. I had missed a row and ended up with a couple of white stitches where ecru was supposed to be. I haven't been using my magnifying glass, as I am getting used to all the tinieness of the linen, but occasionally I need it to see where I have messed up or something. I guess maybe that is why I messed up in the first place. I think the minor mistake isn't going to mess up anything all in all. I just worked around the couple of stitches and got back on track. Here is a pic of the progress since my last post:

I guess I stitch different than almost all the people that I have had the chance to look at their WIPs. They all have complete parts of their pattern done at a time. Looks like they work from left to right or top to bottom, completing all the different colors the pattern calls for in the area they are working on. I, though, work with a color until either I am done with that color for a good ways along the pattern, or I run out of floss on my needle. Then I pick another color that is close to where I left off, or get another strand of the color I was using. If that makes sense to anyone. I don't know if there is a 'right' way to do these, but I just goes with what feels easiest. That could be why I mess up, not the whole not using the magnifying glass!

Bobby didn't see a whole lot of difference at first, until I pointed it out. I told him that I had almost doubled what I had Friday and started showing him and he was like OK I see it now. I am not sure if he did see it, or just wanted me to shut up. Whatever! Serenity oohs and aaahhhs enough to keep me happy!

I didn't work on anything else over the weekend, so now I am back to playing catch up on my place mat KAL. I only have two days to catch up on, so that won't be too hard. Then there is the other scarf KAL I haven't started yet and the one I haven't worked on. I am going to work on all of that tonight. At least until the Benadryl knocks me out!

So until my next update, my faithful tangelers..... Happy Crafting!