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HerProBlog.com is coming up soon for the professional blogging women with tips and discussions.  You can sign up for an email subscription now – don’t miss out on the opening!  Join the Women Bloggers Group now which is the social network for HerProBlog.com.  This is the opportunity to get in on the ground floor.  New members are being added daily.  And even though it is a women’s group, men are not banned.

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]]> http://joyblogging.com/2008/07/a-new-woman-bloggers-community-herproblog/feed/ 2 http://joyblogging.com/2007/12/christmas-is-upon-us/ http://joyblogging.com/2007/12/christmas-is-upon-us/#comments Sun, 23 Dec 2007 02:54:37 +0000 joyntheir http://joyntheir.wordpress.com/2007/12/23/christmas-is-upon-us/

Here it is – Saturday evening. It is snowing and icing outside and the coldest we have been all winter. I am glad it snowed. Yesterday was like a spring or fall day – in the 60’s with a light cool breeze. Today the ‘breeze’ got up to 50 mph gusts. Talk about climate shock!

But it does look and feel a lot more like Christmas. And it is wonderful. I get 2 holidays this year (President Bush gave Monday, Christmas Eve, as a holiday. Big Shock – not really. See, it is election year and he has to make good marks for his party. Plus it costs more to open the facilities and heat it up for the few souls who would actually show up.) Nonetheless, I get a 4 day holiday which is rare.

I even got to do what I love to do; my daughter and I went shopping last night and this morning. I love going out and shopping. But I hate driving in the crowds. We went to ump-teen million stores trying to find a ‘baby alive’ doll for her eight year old. Of course no one had any left in stock.

And I had my little grand-daughter (3 1/2) for a few hours this afternoon. She is such a pill! I love being with her when I can just be with her. She loves the computer. I have an older one set up for the kids Cd’s – reader rabbit, Dora Dora, etc. It doesn’t hook up to the Internet, so no worries there.

In between, I managed to get not 1 but 2 Starbucks! Anyone who is a Starbucks junkie knows the value of that. And I got my first website up and running. It is on body building and muscle building – and a little for weight gain/loss since that normally goes with it. It is at http://bodybuildingmuscleshaping.com . Take a look and tell me what you think. I really would like the feedback.

Well, sometime I will get back to my cross stitch. I really have to get going on making the Christmas stockings for each of the grand-kids. Wish me luck – and if I don’t get back to write again before Christmas – Have a blessed Christmas and safe travel. JoyntHeir

I wrote a blog about shopping on line. I really do like the opportunity to buy online. I still love to shop, but after I do, I can look online for the products I like and even the size I like. And comparison shop for the best price for the quality.

In crossing stitch, I like to look on line for 2 reasons. One is that there are many more patterns to look at – more choices to find the exact perfect project. The other is that there are not very many places in our town to shop at for cross stitch or embroidery. Most of the stores like Walmart just have a token spot. Hobby stores have a larger selection, but seem to stick to a half a dozen venders. On line, the choice is much larger. I am excited about my project to open another site for cross stitch, embroidery, and more. Just think how many embroidery machines you can look at on one site. A brick and mortor store could never afford to keep stock of all the brands and models out there.

Christmas – a time of tradition – a time of joy – a time for memories – a time for memory making. I really have to get going on making Christmas stockings for each of my grandchildren. ’til next time – stay happy and safe.

I had a lovely comment on my about page regarding my ‘name’. Thanks. I had to laugh – its funny how we don’t realize how something looks to another. So, I am changing my ‘handle’ from Joyntheir to JoyntHeir. Should be a little more readable – huh? And a little less ambiguous. Have a lovely night everyone! and God Bless.

24 days until Christmas! Would you believe it? I can’t. Seems like yesterday it was New Year’s Eve 1999 and we were all waiting for the lights to go off! Ha! We knew they wouldn’t. But it was kind of fun to yak about while the computer geeks all rushed to change year fields from 2 digits to 4.

As I put up the Christmas tree, I remember family traditions. Each ornament has a special meaning. The ones my mother embroidered and made of plastic canvas are especially dear to me. And to hand the stockings! I love to hand the stockings decorated with cross stitch. I can’t wait to let my grand-daughter pick out a pattern for her first Christmas stocking. I can teach her to cross stitch, and she will have a lot of time to work on it during the cold days in January and February when she can’t go outside to play.

Traditions – and handing down what we know. Isn’t that what life is all about?

Are there any other crafters out there? Or stitchers? I love to do counted cross stitch. It is like painting a picture. When my niece graduated from high school, I sent her a set of two pretty flower designs in the hoop type frame. I put love in each stitch. I hadn’t seen or talked to her since she was 5 (her mother and I were on the outs). That summer I drove my children (just in their teens) back home to show them where I grew up. I visited with my former sister-in-law who then invited me to her home. She showed me my niece’s room – and in the midst of all black and white decor was the colorful flowers. Apparently she did not like colors and had surounded herself in black and white. When she received my gift, she put them right up on the wall. And from then on she let colors gradually come back into her life.

We never know what one little thing will make the difference in someone’s life. I say, don’t say it with flowers and cards, say it with a gift you make especially for them – with love in every stitch.

Hi there – let me introduce myself – I am . . . . . well, Mom, Mama, Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Cousin, Mamma, Grandma, and Granny.  I want to ‘retire’ – that is – do what I want when I want and have the money to do it.  Anyone relate?

Have you ever noticed that what you spend your time and money on are, as you ponder on it, your ‘passions’ in life?  At work I am known as a ‘passionate’ person – that means to them that I stand up for what I believe in and do it vocally without beating around the bush.  Other people have less desirable names for a person like that.  But it is politely politically correct. 

I do have several ‘passions’ in life.  My family is the first – my kids, and now my grandkids.  I find myself delighting in them as they grow. 

One passion I have is Cross Stitch (counted cross stitch).   As a child of 9, I spent 6 months confined to a bed.  My mother had to find something I could do to keep me in bed.  One of the things she did was to purchase stamped pillowcases and some embroidery thread.  She taught me how to do each type of stitch.  I loved it.  As a teen, I bought stamped quilt tops and embroidered them, then quilted them.  I would watch TV, listen to records or the radio, or be in a waiting room at the doctors or other appointment, and out came the cross-stitch. Later, I met my sister-in-law and saw her beautiful counted cross-stitch pictures.  I wanted to do it.  So I got a book of patterns, some Aida cloth, and proceeded to learn the art of cross-stitch.  It is like painting – creating something beautiful. 

As I grew more practiced at it, I started experimenting with different cloth types, different types of thread, making special pictures for my friends, birth announcements for each grandchild, and designs on clothes.  I even used it when I began to knit.  Sound crazy?  I will expound someday on how I would take a cross-stitch pattern to knit a picture into a sweater. 

When my daughter entered her teens, I taught her how to cross-stitch.  She loved it.   Now my granddaughter is almost the age I started at.  It is time to teach her.  But where are the stores I used to buy my thread, hoops, needles, cloth, and patterns from?  Even Wal-Mart has quit carrying it.  I have to go to the hobby store, and even they don’t carry the selection I used to have.  The specialized needlecraft stores are disappearing.  If I, living in a large city with a dozen suburbs, cannot find the selection, what happens to the women in the more rural communities or small cities do?

I hope this does not turn into a dying art.  There are so many more projects to do, many more things to try – like taking a picture, putting it through software, and getting a coded pattern to cross-stitch.  Well, I had better get off the soapbox for now – I can go on about another day.