the elusive … smell, sun, novel, floss, etc.

This morning began with an elusive … and very unpleasant … scent. While Niek tracked it down (my sinuses are doing their thing again), the mail arrived and included some elusive items from an ONS that I need for gifts (more to follow). And while all this was going on, the sun came out after two days of very stormy weather – hooray for sunshine! As I type these words, the clouds are already moving back in, but I’m happy to have just seen the sun for a bit. It certainly is better than nothing!

On the stitching front, I didn’t do too much stitching last night but I’m really loving this design. I did read a bit further in Excession, by Iain M. Banks – the novel is very enjoyable and while a bit more of a challenge than Inversions was, it’s not too taxing for my sluggish synapses. It’s occurred to me that I ought to get a little nesting stack of books gathered up for when Arden is born, for those first cuddly days together. When Nicky was born, I made my way through the Robert Jordan series. I was banished to bed for a few days due to pelvic problems and had lots of reading time. I think that when Rowen was born, I did little other than stare at her for several days straight! I was also on strict bedrest for a few days, that time due to some blood loss issues, but I was just so fascinated by her that I couldn’t take my eyes off her. And of course baby Nicky spent some time playing up in my room, too. With three kids already on Planet Earth, reading anything longer than a magazine article is probably going to amount to nothing more than wishful thinking. LOL!

On the family front, there are some big happenings! My dad’s partner, Mary, had her birthday yesterday. I’m terribly embarassed to admit that in my limited-brain-wave-state yesterday, I forgot to call. I’m sorry, Mary!! I’m hoping that she and Daddy enjoyed a wonderful day together. Also yesterday, my Mom took my great Aunt Hattie to a nursing home in Bar Harbor. It’s been coming, I’ve known it was inevitable for awhile, but I really dreaded to share the news. As nursing homes go, this one really is special – an old Bar Harbor mansion on the ocean with beautiful common rooms, lots of large windows, and a dedicated staff (that includes one of my mom’s sisters!). My mom’s family hails from ‘the island’, so Aunt Hattie will always have family very close at hand and I hope my aunts and cousins will make plenty of time to visit. Sadly, Hattie’s physical strength has continued to deterioriate and her mental faculties are not what they were either. In short, she can no longer live alone and refuses to allow a daily nurse care for her at her own home. Please think good thoughts for her, and if anyone is interested in writing you can use the same address and my Mom will ensure the cards reach her.

Something of a rant:
Back to stitching, I feel like it’s sort of a civic duty to give a two-thumbs-down report on my experiences with La Boite á Broderie. I had ordered a considerable amount of floss, ribbon, patterns, and even a kit from them after waffling over my order for so long that I wanted everything.  They have some ribbon and floss sets, dyed-to-match, that I thought would make really wonderful gifts for a few upcoming birthdays for which I knew I wouldn’t be able to stitch a gift, so I ordered several sets in various people’s favorite colors (or simply colors that made me think of the people in question). Anyway, my order came in and because it really was rather large, I took the extra step of checking the contents off against the shipping invoice and discovered that one floss (which matched one of the ribbons) was missing. Well, no big deal, right? I contacted the company that day to say that I loved my order but was missing this floss, gave the details, and asked them to please pop it off to me at their earliest convenience. The better part of a week went by with no response, so I sent another email, mentioning that this was intended for a gift and I would be needing it fairly soon, blah-blah. Still no response. Nothing. So I spent a few days sending an email more or less daily, and STILL no response. By then, I was pretty mad. But I ran out of the blasted Egyptian Nights silk that I was using on yet another gift and couldn’t get the same dye lot from anywhere else, so I swallowed my pride and ordered it from the same ONS and included a note to the effect that I was STILL missing such-and-such a floss and would they please include it with this order so they wouldn’t even have to pay for the shipping. And guess what? No response, and no floss included in the order. So my strong advice to anyone looking for an ONS is to avoid La Boite á Broderie. Rant over!

Niek and I are going to (try to) go out tonight without the kids. His youngest brother has volunteered to take Nicky and Rowen overnight (Max is at his biological father’s), so the plan is to take them over after dinner and pick them up around breakfast time. I don’t think I’ve ever spent a night away from Rowen … she slept over at Niek’s parents once as a baby, but I think that was for a nap (and Niek can’t remember). I have pretty strangely mixed feelings about being away from my babies, but it is something I’ve wanted to try for a long time. Of course at 32 weeks pregnant, there won’t be much wildness going on but it should be a good opportunity to spend a few hours simply enjoying one another’s company without any distractions.

Thank you for coming to visit with me today! I hope you’re enjoying a restorative Saturday!