Where I've Been

I've had some dear readers who've asked where I've been. I'm still here and I haven't given up blogging, but the last couple of weeks have not been routine.

The Monday after the retreat I came home to catch up with Dearly Beloved and the latest in the Great Squirrel Saga* and to sign tax returns and do laundry.

Tuesday we went to vote after I got home from work, which meant later dinner and later everything.

Wednesday was sampler guild meeting.

Thursday I finally had time to finish one of the bits for Ode:

Friday night I came down with what I thought was a bad, bad, bad case of food poisoning.

It was not. I had a tummy virus that wiped me out totally for four days, and I'm still feeling a little ragged. I was able to do a little stitching in that time--actually, there was a pretty repetitive bit that might not have been accomplished quite so quickly if I had had more functioning brain cells.

Wednesday I went back to work and stitched a little Wednesday evening.

Thursday I pulled out what I had stitched Wednesday because I used the wrong color.

Friday I restitched the section I had removed with the right color.

So this is the stitching for this week:

My plan today is to work on the needle book (that's the one with the profile). Just in case you'd like to know, the profile I've stitched is one thread off. It is all tent stitch over one. I am not going to take it out, even if I could figure out where I went wrong.

So that's where I've been and now I'm back, trying to stay away from big crowds and being prepared to work from home if necessary. And we do have toilet paper, which was Dearly Beloved's quest for a couple of days.

One of my co-workers and I have figured out that the next big shortage is going to be hand cream, due to the amount of hand washing and hand sanitizer use going on.

*The Great Squirrel Saga: I may have mentioned in the past that we live in an area where squirrels do not seem to have any natural enemies and therefore have proliferated. We had the one who tried to eat the fake holly berries on the Christmas wreath. We have one who stretches out on our front stoop in hot weather and scolds us when we dare to try to get into our own home, And now Dearly Beloved has a new reason to despise the rats with furry tails.

He had some major work done on the Geezermobile,  then just a few days later, the Check Engine light came back on. He took the car back to the dealership, where it appeared that some of the wires that had just been replaced due to age had been gnawed on. The good old boy who diagnosed squirrel bites informed him that "Squirrels are just weird, man" and suggested putting moth balls under the hood since "squirrels hate the smell of that s**t".

So Dearly Beloved has been doing that.

And, now, every time he drives out of the cul-de-sac, he leaves a trail of moth balls behind . . .