YAY!! My evil plot worked!!

Misty called me last night in tears. She was so touched and I could hear the relief in her voice. Her kids will have a Christmas and get the coats they so desperately need! She is taking them today so her kids will be warm! She wasn't mad. I didn't think she would be but you never know, sometimes when people feel overwhelmed things don't come out the way they intend. It felt really good to start this and to have everyone join in and help. I'd like to take the time to thank Autumn and Annette for passing the letter around to everyone. I was so afraid that Misty would find out but thanks to their help the letter got to the right people and it was a complete surprise to her. I'd also like to thank those of you who helped. I shouldn't of been surprised but I was overwhelmed by the well wishes and the support we were able to get for Misty.

Now let's all keep our fingers crossed and hope that 2006 is an awesome year for Misty and her family. They have had a long enough string of bad luck so I'm praying the new year is their best yet.

I'm also happy to report I got my Christmas stuff out. The house definitely looks festive for my Christmas party on Sunday. I loved taking out all the hand made ornaments, some I made, some I was given, and hanging them up. I especially loved setting up my little "snowman" village and I could get out all my snowman stuff and put it all together.

Last night went just as I planned. I got to stitch for a good 3 solid hours and make a good start on Mira's "Fairy Elf". I got to plop myself in the middle of the bed, use all the pillows and had a great time just stitching the night away. Maybe hockey night isn't so bad....

I still have a bunch of stuff to do today, cleaning mostly, some small amount of shopping(DH talked me into putting grocery shopping off a day or two since we do have food in the house. I hate that chore so it didn't take much convincing me) I also have to get to the library. My books were due on Monday but it's just so hard to get there before they close with Dh's work schedule.

Well, I decided what to do about the beads.

After sleeping on it and looking at the piece again in the light of day I've decided to rip out all the beading and go with the Delica beads. I found a site today after doing a google search that had really good pictures of the beads and seemed good price wise so I placed an order for the 4 colors I need. It's going to be less than $9 including shipping. I haven't actually started to pull the beads out yet but I'll do that when the new beads arrive. I've never ordered from this company before so it's a bit of a gamble but hopefully they will have quick service. I had really hoped to finish this piece by Dec. 1 but if I get it done by Christmastime I'll be happy...And I'll be even happier if the beads actually fit and look right.

I also think that is it for me and Mill Hill beads. I hear so many people rave about the Delica's but I've always stuck with the Mill Hill because it's so easy to get them when you buy the pattern. Still if it's going to cause this much frustration it might be worth hunting the Delica's down. It might also be a good time to invest in a Delica Color Card so I can do my own conversions.

I still have plenty of Mill Hill's on hand I will still use them on small projects but next big project(which I think will be Mira's "Christmas Elegance") it will be Delica's from the start!

On the bright side of the bead problems is it gives me a clear conscience to start in on my Mira "Elf Fairy" kit I got yesterday. I did fondle it all for awhile but was going to be good and finish my CF before starting anything new. Since I have to wait for my beads I need something to keep me busy in the meantime. I'm looking forward to getting the kids in bed, taking a hot shower, warm jammies, comfy spot in bed, some Jason on my CD player(I just downloaded a recent concert from this tour, since he's not coming anywhere near me this is a as close as I may get) and stitch the night away. Dh has hockey tonight and won't be home until well after 1am so I should have lots of time to stitch. I might even try to stay up until he gets home......

Today was kind of a lazy day. G woke up super early this morning complaining of an upset tummy. He said he wasn't going to be sick but it hurt. We snuggled for awhile and then I got Dh and Donovan off to school and work. G spent most of the morning on the couch with his blankets and stuffed animals and I kept him home from school. About 2ish he ate some toast and some chicken nuggets and he seems much better now. Still I'm glad I kept him home

Because he was home sick though I won't be able to see the end of my evil plot because today is the day. I'm on pins and needles to see how it is received. A tiny part of me is worried they might be mad but I hope not. I really prayed hard over this. It has turned out better than I could of ever dreamed of. The person is so deserving of it!!

It's going to be a good weekend. Tomorrow I have a bunch of stuff to do, errands, shopping, cleaning and baking. On Sunday the Michigan Stitchers are coming for our annual Ornament finishing party but it sounds like most of us don't have any finishing to do. Instead we will eat, talk, laugh, compare stash, and just have a great time. I'm really looking forward to it. I hope to try to get some of the Christmas decorations up before everyone arrives on Sunday. I was going to do it today but with G home he wanted to snuggle and it's kind of hard to say no. The garlands, wreaths and ornaments can wait, hugs and snuggles can not!

I'm only feeling slightly guilty though about the lodge. Billy's brother Dave is being installed as head of the lodge Saturday night. There is a dinner before hand, the ceremony, and then a little party afterwards. I've been to well over a dozen of these things and it's the same thing over and over again so I stopped going a few years ago. In fact the last time Billy was installed I didn't go and I didn't go last year when it was my ex-BIL turn at it. They are just well, boring, and I know there is no way the kids would sit through it. Still it sounds like everyone is going to be there and my SIL and another lodge wife are cooking the meal(normally a lodge brother who is a chef caters the affair but he's been quite ill this year and not up to the task). I know I *should* help, set up, clean up or something but I am just fed up with the whole lodge thing. This year has been really horrible and I'm sick of all the bitching and not a lot of helping from a lot of people. Everyone then has to come back Sunday morning and put on the breakfast which I am missing also because of my stitching GTG. I know I shouldn't feel guilty, but I'm trying not to. I've done a lot more than a lot of other wives do.......

Mill Hill beads suck!!!

I'm down to just a little bit of beading left on my Christmas Flourishes. The Mill Hill beads though I think are going to be my downfall. I've mentioned all along the problems I've been having with the gold tone beads. They are HUGE. I used the gold beads first and got a lot of beading done thinking they looked really big on the fabric. I thought that it was because of the shrinkage of the hand dyed fabric and the fact that I was using regular mill hills on 32 ct fabric. When I then moved on to the other bead colors on the project I realized that the gold beads were bigger, not a bunch, but enough. I did ponder earlier in the project switching the beads to Delica's. I found the subs for them, found a place to buy them and they were only $11. Then Billy got laid off and I didn't want to spend the money so I went with what I had.

I thought I would be fine since I bought all the beads at once and figured I would just go along with them. I had to do a bunch of fudging but I learned a few tricks along the way and as long as I left a few beads off here and there it was ok. There are a few spots I still worried that the gold beads were over shadowing the nearby stitches but I figured I was too far along to change now.

Last night I'm beading away and realize my beading tray is empty of the gold beads. I pull out my supplies for the project and realized I was out of the gold beads. I was completely stumped. The supply list says I only need one package and I may of dropped a bead here or there but how could I be about 50 or so beads short? I'm thinking the beads were bigger and therefore I got less in the package then I should have.

I went to my stash and I had some more beads there. Of course they don't match. Color wise they are fine but the ones from my stash feel smaller and IMHO look smaller on the piece. I hate being so OCD but I know every time I look at the project I'm going to "see" the difference.

So now I have a decision to make:

Go on and finish. This is an option since the two kinds of beads will be separated by a few dress panels so it might not be as noticeable as I think

Tear all the gold beads out and use the one in my stash. This might be tricky since there are area's with gold beads, red beads, green beads and stitching that I did all at once. It would require taking out a lot more than *just* the gold beads.

Tear out *all* the beading, bite the bullet and get the Delica's and start over. I know they will fit and in grand scheme of things $11 isn't going to break the household budget.

At the moment I'm torn between the first option(just finishing it) or the last one(replacing them all with delica's).

The Michigan area stitcher's are coming over to my house this weekend for our ornament finishing party/Christmas GTG on Sunday so I may have them give me their opinions then and go from there. For not I think I'm going to work on another Christmas ornament and wait until after the weekend to decide.

This is it for Mill Hill's though. It's so convenient since most patterns call for them and most ONS's and LN's carry them. I also have many in my stash but this is the second time I've ran into a problem with them this year alone(earlier in the year I ran into a dye lot issue on some petites). I've never heard of anyone having problems with Delica's so how come Mill Hill can't seem to get the beads all the same size and similar in color?

We had a nice and productive Thanksgiving weekend. There was just the small hitch of Billy going out with Stephanie for drinks Wednesday night. I was not only annoyed that they were going out again but the way he told me, very off hand at breakfast that morning. True to his word though he went after the boys were in bed and was home within two hours, I still wasn't thrilled with him going.

On Thanksgiving we had a nice time. We had to do two dinner because Billy's mom refused to drive across town to have dinner at Billy's brother's house......Her excuse it's too far(12 miles and she had several offers of people to drive her there and back) and they eat too late(5pm). I sometimes just don't get Billy's mom and her relationship with her kids. The real reason was so she could have Brig and her boyfriend there. The more I'm around that guy the more I realize what an idiot he is. I can't believe she divorced her husband for that guy? I was also thrilled to hear that not only is her 18yo daughter living there(I knew that part) but her boyfriend is practically living there too....Nice!

We had a nice time at my BIL and SIL house after that. Her family are a lot of fun and there was so much food!!! I did see Diane there, I wished her a Happy Thanksgiving but I didn't go out of my way to talk to her either. I will be polite but it will be a long item before I have a conversation with her. The best part of the night was after dinner we played Trivial Pursuit and Billy and I won, on a question I knew the answer too. Ok, it was Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit but we won.

On Friday we went and go new beds for the boys. Donovan has been sleeping on a futon, with a very nice 8" innerspring mattress but poor G was still in his toddler bed. His poor little feet were often sticking between the bars at the bottom and he looked like the witch under the house in "The Wizard of Oz". We've been trying to get a bed for him for awhile but every place we looked they wanted so much money and they were so big. We ended up at Meijers where they had a nice metal bed frame that had a twin bunk on top and a place for a futon mattress on the bottom. The twin mattress for the top was also on sale so it was less than we though it would be.

On Saturday we got the boys room cleaned out and it was a good chance to get the old toys and clothes out of the room. It took a couple of hours to put the new bed together but I'm happy to say that Billy and I were able to get the bed together without any fighting. Even though we get along great in most situations, you put us in the home improvement realm and one of us stalks away in a snit. That didn't happen but it helped that the bed pieces were pretty big and didn't take require a lot of work to get together.

The kids love the bed. G sleeps on the bottom and he has room to stretch out and room for his 10 blankets(ok it's only 4 but seems like more) and his dozen stuffed animals that go to bed with them. Donovan loves being on the top bunk because he can hide some of his stuff so his brother can't even "look" at them.

Saturday night I went out with the lodge wives. We went to see "Menopause-The Musical"(not my choice of what to see). The play was not my cup of tea but it was cute and clever in spots. They all had amazing voices and I was able to appreciate that. Still it was hard while the rest of the wives were sharing their hot flash stories and I haven't got to the point yet. Still we went to dinner after which was yummy and we all split 3 different desserts.

On Sunday I spent the day catching up on things around the house while Billy and the boys went ice skating. Both of the boys have really caught on to skating and have a blast with dad. I had a good time the one time I went but I had a lot to do around the house.

I'm also in a great mood today. My evil plot has come along so nicely and I'm looking forward to seeing come to end in the next few days. I was also really stunned to find the new Mira Fairy Elf Kit in my mailbox today. A dear friend knew how much I wanted this kit and got it for me as an early Christmas gift. I was so touched by her thoughtfulness and genorosity. I'm truly blessed!