What a May!!

What a whirlwind month this has been!! Whew! This is going to be a picture packed blog, trying to catch up with all that has happened this month!

I spent a glorious two weeks in PA with my best friend and my godson! I forgot how snuggly and loving newborns are! And since he is much smaller than my own nearly 9 year old baby, I constantly marveled at his size! I think when Crys handed him to me I said "My goodness I've stuffed bigger turkeys!" He is an adorable baby and so sweet. My nickname for him is Guppy, and he was starting to mimic the fish-face I was doing to him by the time I left! Here is my favorite picture:


I got home late on a Saturday night, and that Monday my energetic daughter was bike riding with a neighbor when she, according to the boy "flipped her bike". It was one of those mom moments, as I was running down the lane and picking her up off the road, that I knew something serious was wrong. After an evening spent in the ER, we came home with one broken wrist, several probable cracked ribs, an 8 year old who was starting to resemble an old banana she had so many bruises, and two very grateful parents. She wasn't wearing her helmet, and I shudder to think where we'd be if she'd hit her head. Thank God and her guardian angels for that! She's devastated that her softball season is over. We're thinking about seeing if we can hire a coach for some lessons in late summer and winter because she has serious talent. So here's a shot of her cast..when she finishes getting it signed, I'll post a new picture of that. Of course, she got hot pink!


Somewhere in all that, I finished something! I finally finished Mirabilia's Christmas Elf Faery! I stitched her on a Country Stitch Kiwi Illusions, and changed the Mill Hill beads to Delicas. It gives it a MUCH more subtle look, but I love it. This is my first sizable finish this year for myself, so I'm pretty thrilled!!


Finally this month! I finally worked up my courage to go pick up Shai's ashes at our vet's office, and waiting for us was a note. The vet has been thinking of us, and wanted me to know that they had had a stray mom brought in, pregnant. She'd had kittens and all but 2 of them had a home. Well... I wasn't sure, but I thought okay-let's look at them. I took one look at them and was lost. It almost seemed as if this were the time, and while I miss Shai so so much... I know he would love that we all were laughing and loving new babies that needed a good home. We brought them home on Friday night, and it's been such a joy. Kittens are SO entertaining! So without further ado... meet:
Smudgers:

And... Dante:

So that's been my May! I hope yours was just as eventful and happy!
God Bless!

Friends are the family your heart chooses...

This is the wording on my most precious piece of cross stitch. It hangs in my living room, and it was a recent birthday gift from my best friend, Crystal. When Crys and I tally up all the years we've known each other, we usually stop because it reminds us how old we are! We have been friends for over 23 years. My mother once said to me when I was small "If you make 1 lifelong friend, you are rich." She was right.

Crystal and I have experienced it all! Our first broken hearts came in high school, where we were called the "Bobbsey Twins" by some of our teachers. Amusing since Crystal is tall, dark and beautiful, while I am as I always have been—short and fat! But we were always together, we went everywhere together, were each other's biggest champions. We've only fought 1 time, in nearly 24 years… and that was in 10th grade!! We went to different colleges, and typically weren't in touch as much as either of us would have liked. She finished and moved onto a good job in our hometown area, I didn't finish and moved to Philadelphia with a fiancé. Again we weren't in as much touch as either of us liked, but I know I could have called her at 3 am and she would have been there.

I moved even further, to North Carolina and had my daughter. There was no one else ever I could think of that I would want raising her if something should happen to me, so Crystal is Tory's godmother. I moved home to PA when Tory was just barely 2, and amazingly (and not a little frighteningly) Crys and I discovered we both were reading the same types of books (sometimes the SAME book) and… we'd both been bitten HARD by the counted cross stitch bug. It led into this whole whirlwind of experiences… I discovered hand dyed fabrics, floss, specialties.. all those things first because as a stay at home mom, I had more time. Crystal had no children… well no official kids!

When I moved home, and was terrified about being a single mother, Crystal promised me I might be a single woman, but I was never going to be a single parent. Crys has co-parented my daughter with me, and even now still helps when things get tense. Crystal's opinion of my now husband was far more important to me than the opinions of my own parents. There is nothing she does not know about me, or my past. She knows all of my dreams, she knows all of my faults, she knows all of my failings. And she loves me anyways. When I had to have ankle fusion surgery and be in a wheelchair for four months, Crystal was the one who brought me home from the hospital and came out every night for a month to give my 4 year old a bath. When six months later, my doctor told me my hopes for more children were never going to happen, Crystal held me while I sobbed out how unfair it was. And Crystal drove me to the hospital for my hysterectomy.

When she was having struggles, she would come to me and I would just listen. She cried on my should just as much about things. And I was one of the first she called about her surprising pregnancy.

We both cried on the phone as she'd never really wanted children, and I desperately wanted more. She said "well you know this baby will be yours too," and she meant that with her whole heart. It's the only time I've regretted being 7 hours drive away. When Crystal's son was born on Saturday, April 29… she was not the only one crying tears of joy for a much welcomed and very much wanted little boy. I cannot wait to get to her house next Monday and hug her and tell her how very proud I am of her. It's usually the other way around. We're going to finish up the nursery, and I'm going to get to watch her be the most incredible mother. And somewhere in there, I'll get to know my godson. Yeah, my godson.

If you've never had a friend like this, you can't understand it. You might think any number of things. And for those who don't have a friend that they trust enough to call at 8 am, laying in bed, basically unclothed and say " I can't move, my back is out. Come help me dress so we can call an ambulance," for someone who doesn't have a friend that they never care if they are naked, or bitchy, or pms'ing, or whatever… then you can't understand.

And Crystal? Happy Mother's Day.. your first official! I am SO proud of you. Welcome Christopher.. you are much loved, and adored already!