Kitty treats, puppy treats, we want a home

There are so many adorable pets looking for homes. The alternative to not finding one is scarier than any haunted house. Try opening your heart and homes to an adopted pet from your local shelter, no tricks but there are a lot of treats! Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Foot Fettish Friday No. 4: One foot in a grave with the devil on my heels

Editor's note: This Foot Fettish Friday is a little different as there is no picture, but a story. This was a fun commentary for me to write. It was published in today's paper. It is a story that makes me laugh at my naivety as a child and hope that I have matured (not too much though). As a child my family never celebrates Halloween, so there was no basis for fear of monsters and goblins. Here is my story, I hope you too enjoy it.

-- Published in Fort Polk Guardian (Oct. 27, 2006) --
By: MICHELLE LINDSEY, Guardian staff writer

I remember the day well. My siblings and I had just found reprieve from nearly a week-long imprisonment in the house due to October storms. I was 9 or 10 at the time and all I could think about was getting away from my 11 sisters and brothers. The sun finally peeked through the clouds as we each raced in different directions on the family farm, reveling in our freedom.
I cut through the field by our dilapidated barn to visit a friend who lived behind us.
As usual, I took the shortcut though the old cemetery nestled in the woods. I often played there as a child, a place my siblings feared. It was a quiet haven with graves from the early 1900s.
My favorite pastime was trying to imagine the lives of those who rest there from the writing on their headstones. From beloved spouses side by side to a family of six with children surrounding the parents, I considered them all my friends.
My favorite was an old World War II Soldier whose final resting place was in the front corner beneath an old oak tree with a hand carved headstone proclaiming his heroism.
But this day, there was no stopping to visit. I was free from my rain-soaked prison. I slowed to a walk as I entered the cemetery, skirting puddles and greeting each “resident” as I passed. Through the dilapidated fence and broken gate, along the time worn path I went. Out of excitement, I walked along the cement border of an elderly couple’s grave which rested in the center.
Quick to be on my way, I lost my footing and stepped on the grave, sinking up to my knee in the mud. Frantically I tried to pull my leg out, but the more I pulled the bigger mess I made. Then my foot hit something solid.
As I braced to pull myself up I noticed the earth at the head of the grave move upward. The suction sound of wet mud pierced the silence as I fell backwards. I anxiously pulled my leg free and scrambled to my feet as fast as my short legs could in the mud. I raced home, sure the “devil” was after me.
I quietly entered the house through the back washroom, stripped off my muddy pants and pulled on a pair from the dryer. I’m not even sure now if they were mine. I slipped quietly to the room I shared with my younger sister. I crawled into bed, not uncommon for me as an avid reader.
I’m not sure how much time passed as I prayed under my breath, trying to forget the feeling of my leg trapped in the mud. I made all sorts of promises to God in that time, hoping for redemption. Sunday school lessons swirled in my head as I wondered why the devil picked me. Surely, one of my siblings would be a better choice.
When my father came home he greeted me as he made his way down the hallway of bedrooms and commented how even after being cooped up in the house for days, I still stayed inside to read.
I didn’t tell my parents or siblings what happened that day and it took me a while to return to my secret hiding place.
Even now, years later, when I visit my parents I stop by the old cemetery, now overgrown with weeds. I greet each resident as always and try to clear away sticks and leaves, but now I stop to feverishly apologize to that elderly couple for the disrespect of stepping on their grave that October day.
I know now that the week of rain made the coffin float towards the surface and stepping on it caused it to move on the other side. But, still I relive that moment of fear. Now I maintain a respectful 2-foot distance from the graves when I visit, for fear of the devil chasing me again.

Valium is my friend ...

O.k. so as many of you know Thursdays are the worse days at work because we are frantically putting together the weekly edition of the paper. It has gotten better, we used to have an all female staff which left production day being like one big PMS throw down. However, since we've acquired a few men on the staff (Tommy Gunn included) things are getting better, but still enough to scare the normal person.

Today is different. Today there is valium. I had a doctors appointment early this morning for some minor issues I've been having and they gave me a lose dose valium to relax me for the test (not psych tests as TG may lead you to believe). Enough so that I could still function at work since there is zero chance of taking off (O.k. if there are large amounts of blood they let you go home!) So here I sit at work actually having completed all of my work and awaiting edits. I don't have a care in the world (except for those imaginary people who keep bothering me while I type.)

Things get changed, last minute deletions are made and things they (editors) removed from the copy are now supposed to be in there. Who cares. Not me ... I spent the last 10 minutes looking for my day planner that was sitting open on my desk.
I'm not a big fan of hospitals or doctors, I don't like people who "know it all" and feel the need to poke and prod you for absolutely no reason except that they can, but I am become a fan of that little prescription pad they carry around. Talk about power of the pen!

I see the value of valium.

Tea Time: My cup of tea ...

O.k. I'm going to go girlie for a moment. For those of you who know me, that's not really a surprise.

Growing up I loved to look at my Granny's tea cup collection, from afar of course. She kept them on top of the china cabinet, but there was a silver tea set that sat out on the coffee table, probably because it was unbreakable (trust me I dropped them a few times.) My grandmother wasn't a "high class socialite" but she is a firm believer in perfect manners, being polite and getting the most from your education.

I always wanted to start my own collection one day. Something to pass along to my children, along with the stories and memories.

Growing up in my father's house with 11 siblings offered little chance of getting new toys, muchless working on a collection such as tea cups or tea sets. I understood, but still maintained that one day I would have one.

My first tea cups (above) I bought as a senior in high school. I bought them out of a Christmas catalog, you know the one with the chocolate covered fruits and nuts. When they arrived, I was so excited. I unwrapped them an put them on the top shelf above my desk, which was pretty safe at the time as I finally had my own room.

When I left for college I carefully packaged them up and transported them with care to my new home with my mom. At the time she and my stepfather were building their new home so we lived in a makeshift house in "the barn" which is actually a well insulated metal building that is now the warehouse for her company. At the time it was like living in a huge loft with makeshift walls from heavy bookcases and furniture. There they sat on my tiny bookshelf reminding me of what I hoped to one day create.

When I left for the university, I again packed them with care and in 2002 when I traveled to North Carolina for my internship, they took the trip as well. One day while shopping with my summer roommate I found a beautiful mint green tea set with raised pink rose. It took little prodding from her for me to purchase it. Finally, my collection had begun.



At the end of the summer I packaged everything up for the 19-plus hour trip back to Houston. There is the front seat of my purple Fort Ranger sat the carefully boxed tea set and two matching tea cup and saucers. I breathed a sigh of relief when I made it to my new college apartment and unpacked my "collection." I placed them on the only counter in that small efficiency apartment. I had my stepfather's gold "college" couch, a day bed and no room for a kitchen table, but my collection was proudly displayed.

Following graduation, I again packaged my treasures and headed off to my first "home." I was staying in a beautiful four-bedroom house that my grandparents had bought to renovate and with promised to help, I moved in. First things first, out came the collection. Now that I had room, I saved my pennies (literally) and bought a brass table with three glass shelves to display my growing collection. It was actually a towel rack for the bathroom, but it was all I could afford and it worked.

Helping my grandmother go through her "Christmas closet" that year, we found a pretty blue tea-for-one set that included the teapot that steeped on top of the tea cup and had a pretty dessert plate with it (not pictured yet.) So I took my newfound treasure home, thinking about all of Christmases I had helped her go through that closet and placed it on the counter.

In May 2004, I packed up all that I owned (which was very little) and moved to Fort Polk to marry my best friend, George. He's not much of a collection guy, but he let me be. There my collection sat in our temporary living quarters all boxed up waiting for it's next adventure. When we got our housing assignment, George and his best friend Gordon began unloading our household furniture, but my priority was to unpack my collection.

Once settled in, I moved it from one side of the kitchen to the other, before finding it's current resting place. I'm sure George got a little aggravated over my constant moving of it, but being the perfect husband, he knew it was not worth an argument.

The next piece of the collection was when my father came to visit. Shortly after George deployed he drove up (3 hour trip) with my niece Stephanie. We went shopping in the nearby historic town of Natchitoches. At a Christmas/resale store, I found this unique tea saucer who had long lost it's cup and was slightly chipped. The saleslady said she didn't really think anyone would buy it, she had found it when she was going through some boxes and thought she'd put it on the shelf to see if anyone wanted it. She had planned to throw it away but hadn't gotten around to it yet. I had to have it with such a sad story, so $2 later, I had added to my collection.

My latest piece was sent to me by new friend who has helped keep my mind off the of the deployment. She and I exchange gift packages in the mail and in the latest package she send me a collection of tea, cross stitch book of tea cup and a tea pot shaped tea bag holder and spoon.

My collection is slowly taking shape and I am excited to think of the next piece to this puzzle. I guess only time will tell, but it is great to look at all of the pieces and remember the moments in my life that surrounded them. Our future holds many move, meeting new people and one day starting a family. I look forward to the day that I can share these stories with my children. My grandmother never told me the stories of her collection and I don't think I ever asked, but maybe now is the perfect time for a cup of tea ...

www.michellelindsey.com

I recently joined the ranks of the "dot com" world. That's right, it has taken me some time, but I have created a photography gallery for my work. Some are for sale, others part of private collections (I sound so professional). The server is currently have "technical difficulties" so while you can see my gallery, I have been unable to add any new work.

Don't worry! I have them waiting for Artspan, an artist web promotional company, to fix the issues. But in the meantime, here is a look at some of my latest work.

For those of you who have come here via Tommy Gunn, thanks! Aside from my husband, he is one of my "loudest" cheerleaders (did you get a visual of him in a short pleated skirt and pom-poms?)

Hope you enjoy!

Ribbons of memories

On Sept. 24, a fellow military family member brought yellow ribbon to our Sunday Bible study. On each of them was the name of Soldiers cureently deployed in either Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom. She gave each to their respective family member and after class we went to the flag pole in front of the church and ties our ribbons to it. When they return there will be a ceremony and we will remove them.
It is amazing to see all of those yellow ribbons blowing in the breeze and trying to imaging a ribbon for every deployed service member.
The following week AG and I took the kids to take pictures at the flag pole. Here are mine ...

Bad day ... but others have it worse

Although not quite 9 a.m. here, it had already been a tough day for me. My neighbor brought me some paperwork on a local Soldier stationed in Alaska who was injured and is coming home. They are trying to get a Hero's welcome" from the
community. The as I was leaving for work I realized that another neighbor had decorated our side of their driveway (including our yard) with welcome home signs for her husband.
He was suppose to come
home yesterday so I made a point of being gone until dark, but they were delayed a day. Hopefully, it will all be gone when I get home. On top of it all I had to cover a welcome home ceremony for the paper, so I was in tears by the time I got to work. KG ("Guardian" angel that she is) volunteered to cover it for me. It's really hard, some days I can do it and others I can't. I just
don't think I can watch other people's husband's come home when we (unit) still have no idea about when our Soldiers will home.
I called my friend AM who is also going through the deployment. She said it makes her feel a little better when I lose my control. I understand, I am hesitant to let others see me upset, mainly because I hate to lose control and once the tears start, I have so control over when they will stop. It could be an hour or a really LONG day. She is usually more "public" when she is upset whereas I wait until I get to the comforts of my empty house.
I admit that I have it so much easier than most. I don't have to explain why daddy is not home to any children, nor am I raising a child that my husband has not yet met. My family rarely asks and his dad is always supportive, even though I'm sure he misses him as much if not more than I do. He is his father's only child, what a burden that must be.
It's hard for AM to see her six month old doing things and know that her husband is missing it. It's hard to think that she could be walking before he ever meets her. The poor thing is being raised by a group of women. She has been around men so little that she thinks they are strange and often gets scared when around them or hears them speak. On one level its funny, another sad.
I spend so much time with her children that I feel her pain. There are moments when it is hard, like when her son asks if daddy will be home for his birthday next month and others that make us laugh like when he gets mad at her and asks his dad to switch places with mommy. There are moments that I too wish CM (dad) is missing like when her 4-year-old was feeding his 6-month-old sister a bottle o when her eight-year-old types a letter to her dad for her younger brother. I guess at this age they don't realize how much they rely on each other, but hopefully years from now AM will tell them how they got through it together, despite the fights and arguments.
I guess that the best method is just taking it one day at a time ... if worse comes to worse, I'll eat a pint of ice cream and exercise later!

Foot Fettish Friday No. 3

Whole new meaning to work shoes ...


I'm not THAT much of a shoe fanatic. This was a gift from a friend's daughter for my desk at work. Now if I could just get a handbag stapler ...

Craft Corner: Like a kid in a candy store

Hmmm ... what do I want!?! I'm like kid in the candy store trying to pick out their favorite candy ...

Fabric: My preference is Monaco evenweave, 22-28 ct, but also use 16 and 32 ct on occasion. I am just discovering colored fabrics and pinks and greens are my favorite, but I am also hoping to get some greys. I also stitch on lace bookmarkers, doilies, breadclothes and showcase huck towels.

Needles for those counts are always a plus as I go through them like crazy.

Patterns: I love Victorian-style patterns and am looking for these in particular ...

Chatelaine: Rose Lights

Lavender and Lace: Dance of Roses*
Little Wings
Gift of Peace
Angel of Grace
Nantucket Rose
Ice Angel
Angel of Spring
Angel of Summer
Celtic Winter
Angel of Dreams
Secret Santa
Firefly Fairies
Peace Angel
Angel of Christmas
Celtic Christmas

Mirabilia: Royal Holiday
Enchanted Mermaid
Maidens of the Seasons
Maidens of the Seasons I
Caring Wings
Cinderella
Queen of Freedom*
Spring Queen
Winter Queen
Rose of Sharon
Butterfly Fairy

Vermillion Stitchery: Angel Ornament
Lady Liberty

Waxing Moon: Snow Days Bellpull

Zweigart's: Holiday Treats
Hummingbirds

I am also a BIG collector of Victorian style tea cups and tea pots, and there are too many of those to count, but some I like include:
Coffee Menu, Little House Needlworks
Floral Tea Pots (One and Two), Just Cross Stitch
Sippin' and Stitching, Jeanette Crews Designs
Tea Cup Sampler, Stoney Creek
Rose Teapot, Laura Kramer Doyle
Watermelon Teapot, Laura Kramer Doyle
Teacup Stack, Candamar Designs, Inc.
Teacup Wreath, Sandy Lynam Clough through Candamar Designs, Inc.
Tea Set Tea Tray, Sudberry House


Editor's note: I am still "finding myself" in cross stitching. I have been stitching for 23 years (since I was 5) but have only recently discovered the many patterns available, having stitched what was given to me as gifts or what I could find at Wal-Mart. If you have any suggestions in the "victorian-styles" or Antique American (versus country-type Americana) please let me know. It may be that I have just not discovered a pattern or designer yet. Even if you don't want to trade, but have a pattern or designer suggestion, please leave me a note in the comments box below. For me it's still a magical, ever-expanding world, and I hope it always will be.
I am still in the process of listing projects, so check back often and I'll try to keep it updated.
Michelle

*patterns that I REALLY want for my collect due to special significance.

Last updated: March 24, 2007 @ 9:57 p.m.




Comments posted:
Von said...
Hi Michelle,
You have some nice designs on your list. :)
Have you considered any of the Victoria Sampler designs? Check out their wonderful website, loaded with freebies: www.victoriasampler.com
Thea is one of my favorites! :D

Meari said...
How about Carriage House Samplings http://carriagehousesamplings.com/
or Little House Needleworks http://www.littlehouseneedleworks.com/