Wherever shall I go?

People compare me to Vivian Leigh all the time.  She has 2 eyes, I have 2 eyes.  She has a nose, I have a nose.  She has a mouth, I have a mouth.  The similarities are endless. Well, now that our house is up for sale, I can't help but remember a bit of Vivian's speech at the end of Gone With the Wind where, as Scarlett O'Hara, she looks up at Rhett & says "Wherever shall I go?"  

I've been thinking that same thing recently. Wherever shall I go?  When the house sells I mean.  And please don't give me the answer that Rhett gave to Scarlett   : )

I know it's early to be concerned about this, but then again, it's not.  No one may even want to buy this house, but it's possible that our first viewer will fall in love with it & make us an offer we can't refuse, & what then? Wherever shall I go?  

John & I have nothing holding us to any particular part of the country.  We're both retired so the sky is the limit as far as moving goes.  Can anyone give me any suggestions?  We like cold & snow. Mountains, lakes, forests ... all pretty.  We hate smoking. We don't want to pay no-fault insurance prices.  We don't like crowds.  The less the insect population, the better.  

Property taxes really don't matter because we will be renting for at least a year to make sure we like the area.  We may even rent until Jesus comes to get us.  We will be wanting to rent a nice house or townhouse.  

Places We're Thinking About

But Have Never Been

Is anyone familiar with these towns or others near them ... say within a radius of an hour or two?  

Vail, Frisco, Fraser, or Winter Park, Colorado

Lincoln, Nebraska

Fond du Lac, Wisconsin

Cumberland, Maryland

Altoona or Harrisburg, PA

Rochester, Syracuse, Schenectady, or Albany, New York

I'm open to other suggestions   : )   

God Loves Us Still

I have always enjoyed reading Chuck Swindoll books & listening to his messages.  I recently started receiving his daily devotionals in my inbox & the one I received the other day was so profound I wanted to share it here.

God Loves Us Still

From a distance, we dazzle; up close, we're tarnished.  Put enough of us together & we may resemble am impressive mountain range. But when you get down into the shadowy crevices ... the Alps we ain't.

That's why our Lord means so much to us. He is intimately acquainted with all our ways. Darkness & light are alike to Him.  No one is hidden from His sight.

All things are open & laid bare before Him: our darkest secret, our deepest shame, our stormy past, our worst thought, our hidden motive, our vilest imagination ... even our attempts to cover the ugly with snow-white beauty.

He sees all.  He knows our frame.  He remember we are dust.

Best of all, He loves us still.

Think about it.  How thankful we should be!!!

Have a wonderful Sunday!!!

The Next to Most Happiest Day of My Life!

My dream ... my fantasy ... is finally a reality!!!  Our house is for sale!!!  Oh, the joy! The rapture!  The heavenly choir of angels singing the Hallelujah Chorus!  

Click for musical accompaniment.

Really!  OH HAPPY DAY!!!  The only day that will surpass this one is the Most Happiest Day of my Life which, of course, will be when the realtor adds a SOLD to that sign & we bid a hearty good riddance to The Devil's Playground & all its demons   : )    

Speaking of demons, I think yesterday's post may have raised a few eyebrows which totally baffles me.  We all know I've been calling this place The Devil's Playground since shortly after moving here & that I've written recently of trying to contact a realtor.  I've talked about wanting to sell for the past 4 years.  The plans to sell have always needed to be postponed because of medical crises.  I was afraid the same thing was going to happen this year ... it certainly seemed to be heading in that direction ... but despite the medical roller coaster I've been & am still on, things have fallen into place & the sale ... or at least the listing ... is happening!  I know that there is our timing & there is God's timing & the two are not always the same.  I can't help but feel that this is God's timing.  Hooray   : )

I'm not putting my cart before the horse here.  I realize that even though we've listed the house for sale (it is going to be on the market for 6 months), that does not mean someone is going to buy it.  I will deal with that disappointment ... & it will be a disappointment ... if & when it comes. However, for now I have some hope & for that I am truly excited & grateful   : ) 

Do You Love Satan???

If you do, then you will LOVE living in
The Devil's Playground!  

Plenty of Residents Just Like This One

Neighborhood Parties

Community Pool

What more could you ask for?

Stay tuned for YOUR chance to live in
The Devil's Playground!

Two Years!!!

The time sure has flown!  When I started this blog 2 years ago, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.  I sort of posted about, well, not much of anything as I can recall.  I had my second giveaway 2-1/2 months later. I must hold some kind of blogging record for that giveaway because a whopping 6 followers out of 38 signed up for it ... lol! Unknown to me at the time, that giveaway was going to thrust me back on the path of cross stitching.  Yes, I had two stitching lives prior to this one.  The somewhat brief recap of these lives & how I ended up cross stitching again can be found by clicking here.

I never imagined having 38 followers let alone the 370 I have now!  I have made many good friends I never would have gotten to know if I hadn't started blogging.  I've been the recipient of prayers, good advice, support, laughs, & more.  It's been a great 2 years!  I thank all of you for being on this journey with me ... long-time followers, new followers, & all the followers in between   : )  

I wanted to have a special giveaway to celebrate this blogiversary.  More than 6 followers signed up this time ... lol!  A total of 44 followers signed up.  How I wish I could give a gift to all of you, but since my name isn't Shirlee Gates, that is not possible.  This was not an easy giveaway to keep track of with 7 categories & 44 followers each having sometimes similar, sometimes vastly different interests.  I thought about doing the random generator thing but it just seemed so impersonal somehow, so I used the "throw the names in a hat (plastic bowl actually) for each separate category" method.  The winners are ...

Cross Stitch Related - Calamity Jr (no blog)

Knitting Related - Angela CG (Stitching at the Zoo)

Crochet Related - Simply Victoria (Simply Victoria)

Prim Decor - Sara (Salmon Falls Primitives)

Sheep - Jennifer768 (The Country Mouse)

Handmade - Marie (Creative Thread)

Gift Certificate - Carol (Stitching Dreams)   

Congratulations!!!

We Have A Winner!!!

Six ladies signed up for a chance to win the Pine Mountain Designs pillow kit I posted here.  The winner is ...

Denise

Country Stitcher 

I have emailed Denise to get her address. Thanks to all who entered   : )

I Went Clothes Shopping Today

After 3 days of medical appointments, John & I left home again this morning just to run a few errands in Lexington.  One of my personal quests was to find some new t-shirts to wear.  Unless you've tried to shop for them yourself, you can't imagine how difficult it is to find plain t-shirts (no designs, logos, pictures, beads, or studs) made with quality fabric & crew necks.

Even though it was early on a Thursday morning, the mall was a hub of activity. Everywhere I looked I saw happy ladies gleefully looking at & purchasing lovely things. I was pretty excited seeing their happy faces & their bags crammed full of new clothes!  I just knew I was going to have bags crammed full of new t-shirts & maybe even more!  Some of the ladies were kind enough to stop for a moment so I could take a photo of them.  

Doesn't La-Teesha look happy?  She found some great bargains!

Carmen, Ruth, & Deidre were taking their purchases to their car & then heading straight to O'Malley's for a round of drinks to celebrate their finds!   

Naomi, Krissa, Brandi, & Madelyn could hardly believe their good fortune!  Their bags were filled with lovely things! 

Let me tell you, I was pretty excited!  The fact that the first 2 stores I visited had nothing for me did not dampen my spirits.  I moved on to the third store.  Remember, all I wanted were a few plain crew neck t-shirts of good quality, but alas, Store #3 did not have t-shirts like these.  They did, however, have some pretty short sleeved peasant blouses.  Memories of the past flooded my mind.  I used to wear peasant blouses when I was a teenager & I looked rather nice in them back then.  I grabbed a few off the rack, & as I walked to the fitting room I pictured myself looking quite pretty wearing them & thought "won't John be surprised to see me wearing something feminine!"  I went into the fitting room, closed the door, took off my bulky winter coat (temps were in the 30s here this morning!), took off my bulky sweater, put on one of the peasant blouses, turned around, & looked in the mirror.

I did my best to regain my composure, telling myself that surely it was just this one particular style of peasant blouse that was making me look like I had glued a few dozen water balloons to my body before I tried it on.  I placed it back on its hanger, chose a different peasant blouse, put it on, turned around, & looked in the mirror again. 

On & on it went.  I finally took off the last blouse, placed it on its hanger, hung all the blouses on the restocking rack, & asked directions to the ladies room where I reflected on the passage of time & "a thousand & one Snickers too many."  

When I was finally able to leave the bowl, I caught up with John.  I decided to look for safe purchases ... something that wouldn't kick my already fragile self image in the gut. I need a new purse.  Sadly I could not find any I liked.  John found himself a watch though, & then we made our way to the car & ran a few more errands.  

There is a happy ending to this story.  I used to love wearing Birkenstocks but I wore out my last pair, which were bought when we lived in Tennessee, & I've not been able to find any Birks sellers here.  Due to the fact that my feet have been killing me since our trip to NYC, I somehow got the inspiration last night to look on the Birkenstocks website for a possible retailer nearby, & there one was, in Lexington!  They didn't have a huge selection, but they did have just the pair I was looking for.  This summer I may not be as fashionable as La-Teesha, Carmen, Ruth, Deidre, Naomi, Krissa, Brandi, & Madelyn, but by golly, I'm going to have comfy feet!