Flosstube 50 - Celebrating a milestone (Aug. 18, 2026)

In this video I celebrate what I consider to be a significant milestone in the flosstube/youtube community. ❤️ I also share current works in progress, a fully finished object and a few new starts. (Even though I said I wouldn't start anything for a while. 😂) Thank you so much for spending time with me! 

Current Works in Progress

* USA 250 by Wrought Iron Stitching

Project name: USA 250

Started: April 12, 2026

Finished:

Designer: Wrought Iron Stitching

Chart purchased: Etsy, 2026

Fabric: 14 count Aida, brown hand-dyed by me

Floss used: 832, 824, 3866, 3777, 898

* Farmyard Friends by Lori Holt

Project Name: Farmyard Friends

Started: April 1, 2026

Complete: 

Designer: Lori Holt

Fabric: 14 count aida, dyed by me, green.

DMC: 347, 893, 151, 976, 3820, 3052, 3848, 3813, 926, 3768, 930, 3799, 535, 3866

Stitch-along with Alison, @Mrs.AZfamilyzooStitchesAlison. Chart was won in a giveaway hosted by Becca, of Sambrie Stitches, on her Instagram. 

* George's Frog by Mudpuppy Stitchery

Project name: George's Green Frog

Started: May 1, 2026

Finished: 

Designer: Mudpuppy Stitchery

Chart Purchased: Mudpuppy Stitchery patreon freebie

Fabric: 14 count Aida, "toast" fabric purchased at Hobby Lobby

Floss Used: B5200, 09, 11, 223, 304, 610, 644, 906, 907

Started this during #MudpuppyMay

Fully Finished Object

* Cherry by LumiStitch

Project name: Cherry

Started: June 26, 2026

Finished: July 1, 2026

Designer: Lumi Stitch

Fabric: Aida 

Fabric Color: White opalesence

Fabric Count: 14 count

Floss Used: DMC 321, 777, 816, 987, 3347

Link to pattern: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4530794096/picking-strawberries-cross-stitch-pdf?ref=shop_home_feat_4&sr_prefetch=1&pf_from=shop_home&pro=1&sts=1&dd=1&logging_key=81a2c6491a8c1bd6bda49b2ab28efde1ab68f922%3A4530794096

Birthday SAL chart.

Finished Project

* Secret Stitch is done! Will share it when I can. 

Started: June 23, 2026

Finished: July 26, 2026

Stitch Count: 3,540

New Starts

* Love is Patient by Artful Offerings

Project Name: Love is Patient, Love is Kind

Started: Aug. 5, 2026

Finished: 

Designer: Artful offerings

Chart Purchased: Gift from Denise of Black Ribbon Studio

Fabric: Aida

Fabric Color: Ivory

Fabric Count: 16 count

Floss Used: DMC 349, 606, 310, 646, B5200.

SAL with Denise at Black Ribbon Stitch Studio.

* Picking Strawberries by LumiStitch

Project Name: Picking Strawberries

Started: Aug. 8, 2026

Finished: 

Designer: LumiStitch

Chart Purchased: Gift from Jessica, the designer

Fabric: Aida

Fabric Color: Spa (kind of a green)

Fabric Count: 14 count

Floss Used: DMC 169, 310, 743, 815, 816, 869, 987, 3031, 3078, 3347, 3865

I forgot to take a progress photo of this project before working on it again. This photo shows more progress than in the video. This is the birthday stitch-along chart my friend Mair chose for her birthday stitch. 

Knitting

* Vanilla sock. The low-priced PDF is by The Crazy Sock Lady

Project name: Santorini blue socks

Started: July 11, 2026

Finished:

Designer: Vanilla sock pattern by Kayla, Crazy Sock Lady

Yarn: Knit Picks Felici Yarn

Color: blues

Needle size: U.S. 1.5 / 2.5 mm

* Porcupine Island Shawl by Denise Bartels

Project Name: Porcupine Island Shawl

Started: June 16, 2026

Finished:

Designer: Denise E.M. Bartels

Where I got the pattern: Ravelry link - https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/porcupine-island-shawl

Needle Size: U.S. 2 / 2.75 mm

Yarn: Deep stash Forbidden Fiber Co

Yarn Color: Wisp - Blue

Guage: We don't need no gauge. 

Crochet

* Premie Octopus and blanket

Project Name: Gift for Nephew and wife's first baby

Started: Aug. 1, 2026

Finished: Aug. 2, 2026

Link to pattern here: https://web.archive.org/web/20251006161815/http://mynomadhome.com/octopus-for-a-preemie-osmiorniczka-dla-wczesniaka/

https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://mynomadhome.com/*

Premie Octopus crochet pattern.

Pattern originally found on www.mynomadlife.com. Pattern by Gosia of My Nomad Home.

Try and I might, I can't get the link to the wayback machine to work properly. I already had a few people reach out and ask about the pattern. So here we go!  Disclaimer: This is not my original pattern. All credit goes back to Gosia of mynomadlife. Her website is no longer up and the wayback machine links don't appear to work. At least not for me. This is as original as I can make it.  I was also able to grab a PDF of the blog post.  If you'd rather work with the blog post PDF, that is here. 

ch – chain

sc – single crochet

2 sc tog – 2 stitches together

sl st – slip stitch

R1: 6 sc in a magic ring – here’s a tutorial

R2: 2 sc in all st (12)

R3: 2 sc in every 2nd st (18)

R4: 2 sc in every 3rd st (24)

R5: 2 sc in every 4th st (30)

R6: 2 sc in every 5th st (36)

R7-14: 1 sc in all st (36)

R15: *4 sc, 2 sc tog* – repeat *-* 6 times (30)

R16-17: 1 sc in all st (30)

R18: *3 sc, 2 sc tog* 6 times (24)

R19-20: 1 sc in all st (24)

R21: *2 sc, 2 sc tog* 6 times (18)

R22: 1 sc in all st (18)

R23: *7 sc, 2 sc tog* 2 times (16)

R24: 1 sc in all st (16)

R25: Here you start the arms: * 1 sc, 50 ch, turn and make 2 sc in each ch, finish with 1 sc*. Repeat 7 times so you get 8 arms. End with 1 sl st and pull the yarn through. If your arm doesn’t want to twist try making 3 or 4 sc in each ch. And here is a nice photo tutorial on the arms.

If the outstretched arms are longer that 22 cm, make fewer chains.

The bottom of the octopus:

R1: 5 sc in a magic ring

R2: 2 sc in all st (10)

R3: 2 sc in every 2nd st (15). Finish with a sl st and pull the thread through. Weave in the ends.

Fill the octopus with the fiber and sew the bottom to it.

As for the decorations such as eyes, hats etc. let your imagination run wild. For example, I made the octopuses’ eyes with 6 sc in a magic ring and then 2 sc in all st (12). Then I weaved in the dark yarn and that’s it:) You can find many nice tutorials on the Internet on how to make amigurumi hats, bows and eyes, e.g. this one here. Here is a very useful tutorial on how to embroider the details to the body.

*Battenberg squares

I started this project at the beginning of the year, with my friend Leann, as a crochet-along. As of Aug. 18, I have 120 squares. I think I need 800 total.

*Maeve Squares

This is a blanket crochet-along I started with my friend Cat. We are doing 20 squares total to make a blanket. I'll be mattress stitching my squares together. 

Link to pattern here: https://www.madamestitch.com/maeve-granny-square-crochet-pattern/

Spinning

* Shared about the wrap up of Tour de Fleece

Started strong, finished tired. 

In the Mail

Shared some goodies I received in the mail from a fellow flosstuber for a share.

Group 2

Group 1

Items I made:

Project bag, with matching thread bed.

I dyed some 14 count opalescent Aida fabric, using some rit dye. 

Life update

* Life stuff

* Garden stuff

* Family project

* Future family stuff

* Celebrating 50 episodes

Other channels mentioned

Alison ‪@Mrs.AZfamilyzooStitchesAlison‬ 

Jodi ‪@Stitchyplum‬ 

Jessica ‪@LumiStitch‬ 

Denise ‪@BlackRibbonStitchStudio‬ 

Mair ‪@sincity_crossstitcher‬ 

Leann ‪@leann.stitches‬ 

Cat ‪@StitchinWiththeGriffin‬ 

Patty ‪@StitchingWithMyKitties-xe8qz‬ 

Kayla ‪@CrazySockLady‬

Kenzie @MudpuppyStitchery

Flosstube #49 A birthday finish! (July 22, 2026)

 

Thank you for watching my video. I am so glad you stopped by! If you like what you see, please subscribe and click the notification bell to be notified of when I load new videos. 

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~~~~Cross Stitch~~~~

~Works in Progress~

Project name: USA 250

Started: April 12, 2026

Finished:

Designer: Wrought Iron Stitching

Chart purchased: Etsy, 2026

Fabric: 14 count Aida, brown hand-dyed by me

Floss used: 832, 824, 3866, 3777, 898

By Wrought Iron Stitching

**************

Project name: Flea Market Flowers

Started: March 1, 2026

Designer: Lori Holt.  

Complete: 

Fabric: 14 count Aida

DMC: 347, 3328, 3712, 760, 761, 922, 729, 471, 937, 3345, 3814, 993, 598, 597, 322,  08, 07

Stitch-along with Alison, @Mrs.AZfamilyzooStitchesAlison, and Mair, @sincity_crossstitcher. Chart purchased at Fat Quarter Shop. 

********************

* Secret Stitch (Wish I could share)

~Finished Cross Stitch~

Project name: Cherry

Started: June 26, 2026

Finished: July 1, 2026

Designer: Lumi Stitch

Fabric: Aida 

Fabric Color: White opalesence

Fabric Count: 14 count

Floss Used: DMC 321, 777, 816, 987, 3347

Birthday SAL. Link to purchase chart: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4511249821/cherries-cross-stitch-pdf-pattern?ref=shop_home_feat_3&sr_prefetch=1&pf_from=shop_home&pro=1&sts=1&dd=1&logging_key=be624eb9e4f8fa9d423138662b60b17d5c9e8c77%3A4511249821

~~~Knitting~~~

~Current Knitting Project~

* Vanilla Socks

Project Name: Vanilla Socks

Started: July 11, 2026

Finished: 

Yarn: Knit Picks Felici

Colors: Blues

Needle Size: 2.5 mm

**********

Project Name: Porcupine Island Shawl

Started: June 16, 2026

Designer: Denise E.M. Bartels

Where I got the pattern: Ravelry link - https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/porcupine-island-shawl

Needle Size: U.S. 2 / 2.75 mm

Yarn: Deep stash Forbidden Fiber Co

Yarn Color: Wisp - Blue

Guage: We don't need no gauge. 

~~Finished Knitting~~

* Vanilla Socks

Project Name: Vanilla socks (vinca yarn)

Started: May 29, 2026

Finished: June 27, 2026

Needle Size: U.S. 2 / 2.5 mm

Yarn: Vinca JL

Yarn Color: greens, blues, with a bit of red

~~Various and Sundry~~

I made a project bag.

Woolenvine Tutorial - https://youtu.be/qJKkLBxjLz4?si=3C5QOQPYv7K5BUmh

Other lovely people who are mentioned in this video

Alison  ⁨@Mrs.AZfamilyzooStitchesAlison⁩  

Mair  ⁨@sincity_crossstitcher⁩  

Kim  ⁨@TheSnitchStitcher⁩  

Milka  ⁨@megastitches⁩  

Patty  ⁨@StitchingWithMyKitties-xe8qz⁩  

Holly  ⁨@hobbiesofholly⁩  

Sarah  ⁨@SarahsStitchySpot⁩  

Judy  ⁨@Stitchingbunny1127⁩  

Bridget  ⁨@dawsonsstitchery⁩  

Katie  ⁨@Jeremiahs_Mom⁩  

Kara  ⁨@Seeingstitches⁩  

Sherry  ⁨@sheralynleigh1844⁩  

Heather  ⁨@themirrorimagestitcher⁩  

Hannah  ⁨@LadybugStitches⁩  

Denise  ⁨@BlackRibbonStitchStudio⁩  

The easiest ways you can support my channel: 

Subscribe 

Comment 

Give this video a thumbs up 

Share with a friend 

*Etsy shops and other shops you should check out*

Forbidden Fiber Co. 

   https://www.forbiddenfiberco.com/

AZ Family Zoo

   https://www.etsy.com/shop/azfamilyzoo

   https://azfamilyzoo.com/shop

Mudpuppy Stitchery 

   https://www.etsy.com/shop/MudpuppyStitchery

   https://www.patreon.com/cw/MudpuppyStitchery

Lumi Stitch 

   https://www.etsy.com/shop/LumiStitch

   https://ko-fi.com/lumiselenedesigns/shop

Disorderly Stitcher 

   https://www.etsy.com/shop/DisorderlyStitcher

Black Ribbon Shop 

   https://www.etsy.com/shop/BlackRibbonShop

Ladybug Stitches 

   https://ladybugstitches.com/

   https://www.etsy.com/shop/LadybugStitchesShop

SamBrie Stitches 

   https://www.sambriestitches.com/

   https://www.etsy.com/shop/SamBrieStitches

Sweet Autumn Stitch 

   https://www.etsy.com/shop/SweetAutumnStitch

Stormy Blue 

   https://www.etsy.com/shop/StormyBlue

Northwoods Stitcher 

   https://www.ebay.com/usr/northwoodsstitcher

Milka 

   https://www.etsy.com/shop/milkasrealm

   https://www.milkasrealm.com/

Billy Griffin - Stitching with the Griffin

https://the-emerald-emporium.bigcartel.com/

flosstube, cross stitch, crossstitch, garden, gardening, wisconsin, zone3b, zone4a

A bit of a reset

 I bet you thought I was going to title this one "Smoke!" or "I survived the great smoke-out of '26!"

Nope, I thought I'd try to be a bit unpredictable and *not* talk about the wildfires right away in this post.

*ahem*

It was another one of those weeks which flew by, and I was left a bit perplexed by this when Friday evening rolled around.  How? The week was fairly quiet, thanks to it being an off week at work, and staying in the house, mostly, to avoid the smoke from the wild fires that are burning up by the border. 

Monday was publishing day, which went smashingly well. Tuesday through Thursday went by in a blink. I did a lot of spinning for Tour de Fleece, and touched my crochet projects a bit. I even recorded a garden journal video ... Wednesday morning, I believe it was. 

Can I just say that when I realized Wednesday was the 15th I was shocked. SHOCKED that the month was officially half over. 

This summer is speeding by and it's certainly not going the way I thought it would.  Nothing bad, I should clarify. It's just that I thought I'd have more time to do things, read books, watch interesting movies ... And here the summer is practically over. 

"No it's not," you might be saying. I always feel like summer is on the downslope once Independence Day rolls around. Usually my focus is on the garden and enjoying the fruits of my labors, and think how there is not enough time to do all the things because the garden is producing so much. 

I've been a bit brooding about this.  If I'm using the word correctly. So I decided to take a break from some things this weekend. Mainly crafting and I cut back on the interwebs.

I tried a new television program, and I read a book. 

The television show was Ride or Die, on Amazon.  I like it well enough, I suppose. It's one of those programs where I don't know how they could do a second season if they manage to wrap all things up by the end of the first season. 

The book I read was "The Wedding People". I enjoyed it. I started it on Saturday and finished it Sunday evening. 

On Friday I decided to try and find a map showing the path the smoke was going. A few friends who live in Virginia posted on social media that the smoke had reached their state. I was surprised to read this.

It took me a bit of doing to find a map that showed a broader picture of the country affected.

That same day I pulled up Watch Duty, to see all the current wild fires in the country. 

So depressing to see how many wildfires were marked on the map. 

And then to see how close the border wildfires are to my area. 

Friday evening a storm rolled through and helped with the smoke. 

Saturday we made the trek to town, for shopping and I got to see what things look like since the smoke hit the area. 

For the most part, the smoke is gone. Thankfully.  There's still a bit of something, and you can definitely see it on Saturday when you were headed towards Duluth. 

Smoke off in the distance. 

On the High Bridge

Overlooking Lake Superior.

Around midday we went for a bike ride to one of our usual spots. No issues with biking. 

There was maybe one boat out on the water. 

I picked my first official harvest of raspberries. 

Oh, now that I think about it, I should start freezing the berries as they ripen (as long as the birds don't get them first) and when I have enough, make a small batch of raspberry jam. Oh, yum! 

I couldn't break away from the crafting totally. I did knit a few rounds on my vanilla sock. 

So that was this past week, in a nutshell. 

If we were having coffee ... where did June go?

Once upon a time I subscribed to The Perpetual Page-Turner blog and she had a post titled "If we were having coffee together." I thought to myself "What a clever idea." This type of blog post is for when I have a lot of little things I want to share. She still has a blog.  Amazing!

So, grab your coffee/beverage of your choice and join me. 

If we were having coffee ... I'd ask, in all seriousness, what the heck happened to June? I feel like all I did was blink and here we are at the start of July.

I think I know what caused it. I took a lot of vacation time in June. The work schedule was conducive to it, and my hubby was able to take time off for similar reasons. So we had nearly two weeks of free time to do what our little hearts desired. 

All in all, June has been a pretty nice month. 

I was looking through my phone's camera and realized I didn't take as many photos as I thought I did. Also, I was pretty boring this month, when I get right down to it. 😆 I puttered in the garden, I knit, I cross stitched. I fretted about the weather and if we were ever going to get rain.  (Spoiler alert: It did.  Then it turned humid and gross for a while)

If we were having coffee ... I'd let you know that after 25 days (I was told) I got my beloved Rav back. Oh my gosh, I missed having *my* vehicle so much. 

I got the call earlier this week letting me know that the parts arrived and the techs were working on it.  Then about an hour later I received a call lettting me know everything was done and I could come get it. 

I went up to the dealership the next morning, signed the necessary papers and very happily gave them the keys to the loaner. 

I was so excited to see my Rav that I didn't even ask where it was parked.  

I meandered around the parking lot a bit before spotting her. 

If I could have, I would have run over there. 

Instead, I clicked my fob and unlocked the vehicle, to make sure it was mine. 

Then I opened the door, slide into the seat, relished the familiarity I felt, and sighed contentedly. 

A quick selfie was taken and sent to my husband, with the message "Did you hear that sigh of contentment?" 

If we were having coffee ... I'd tell you that I had a very nice birthday.  It was quiet on the day, and I sort of reveled in it. 

Jessica over at Lumistitch gave me a copy of her "Cherries" chart, and gave me three copies for a giveaway. I decided it would be perfect for a SAL. I started a cross stitch stitch-along/start-along for my birthday.

Here's a photo of my start. 

It's a fun, quick stitch and sort of potato-chip-y and I don't really want to stop working on it. My friend Milka is already done with it!

My husband made me my traditional birthday steak dinner. Yum!

If we were having coffee ... I'd chat real quick about Amazon Prime Days and how we managed to mostly abstain from shopping. Almost. 

We decided to order a pressure washer.  It arrived on this past Friday. Oh. My. Gosh. It is a beast! 

The first project we used it for was to power wash the deck so we could re-stain the deck and rearrange the furniture a little bit. 

After power washing the deck. I cleaned so much old stain and grime off the deck. 

The next morning we stained.  But first ... we opened the can of stain I bought and immediately declared it wasn't the right one. Bah!  So it meant a trip to Menard's so we could exchange and get the right color. 

With the correct color in hand, we went back home and started the project. 

Looks great, right? We decided it was maybe a little *too* red, so we we got another color and used that for a second coating. 

We are so happy with the end results.  And this new set up. 

I took this photo right after it rained. 

If we were having coffee ... I'd chat real quick about some of the other crafting I've been doing. 

I worked a little bit on my Porcupine Island shawl. 

It's slow and steady progress on this shawl. Despite how careful I'm being, I'm winding up with extra stitches.  It's so weird. 

Squares for the Battenberg blanket have been worked on. 

I haven't touch my Battenberg blanket, or my Maeve crochet square project in ages.  I'm trying to get those projects back in to the rotation. 

If we were having coffee ...  I'd give a sneak peek at the garden. 

Oh! I just remembered something.  We have caterpillars on the milkweed. At least we did this past weekend. I haven't checked to see if they are still there. And all the photos we took are on my hubby's phone. Shoot!  

If we were having coffee ... I'd mentioned that it's the Fourth of July holiday this weekend.  I've been enjoying seeing all the patriotic stuff I've been seeing on social media. Am I doing anything special this weekend? I'm really not sure.  It depends on the weather. We've had some rain this week.  More rain is in the forecast. 

Okay, well, I guess that is it for now. It's been quietish around the homestead. I've been in my own little world probably more often than I care to admit. I'm sure I'm forgetting a ton of stuff to write about, too. 

Thanks so much for reading my nonsense.  I appreciate it. ☺️❤️

Vacation and a tale of two selfies

 This past week was vacation for me and my husband.  How does that work into selfies? Well, I'll get to that. Eventually. 

The universe decided to give me a few things to stress and fret about before I went on vacation, too.

My son had an encounter with a bear.  Yes. Early morning, as he was driving to work.  He braked for deer that ran out in front of him, and before he knew it *BAM* a young-ish bear came slamming into his car. Surprisingly, there wasn't as much damage as you'd think. He's fine, the car's fine. The bear ran off. 

After he called me and told me what happned, I drove out to where he was, to check things out and make sure he was okay. Then, on the way back home my car gave a message that was not good. Turns out there's a recall for that particular issue, and the part is back-ordered nationally. Lovely. I managed to find a dealership that had an appointment relatively soon. My car is currently "at the spa," I guess you'd call it, though I think if she was at a real spa, she'd have been taken care of already and be back in my driveway.  I have a loaner vehicle for now. You'd think I'd be happy with a 2025 Toyota Tacoma.  I am not.  I'm so spoiled and use to *my* vehicle and everything is so different on this loaner. 

Anywho ... 

On Friday, May 29, I cast on a new sock. 

I took this photo as we were driving out to the lake for some late evening fishing.  By the end of the workday that day, I was D-O-N-E. Weekend, here I come!

I caught my first bass of the season. I did not keep it. 

We did bring home some fish. When we got home the girls immediately circled my husband.  They knew what he was about to do, and they love getting tidbits.  I tried taking photos and videos.

They were hanging around him, waiting not-so-patiently. 

We have one hen who is a bit more demanding then the others. She kept circling around and looking in the buckets. 

Going to the other side, in case he was hiding something on the other side. 

Time to go check the other side. 

Staring at him until he makes the right choice and tosses them a few things. 

Seriously, look at that stink eye!

Sunday was quiet.  We did more fishing and I caught a really nice bass. 

I was pretty proud of it, so I asked for my photo to be taken.

I was so proud of it, in fact, that I dared to touch the fish with no gloves. Yup, a pretty big deal. 

Sunday I started putting in the rest of the garden. Or was that Saturday? At this point I don't remember. 

 The important thing is, I got the garden in! I had a lot of help, too. 

"Oooo!" I bet you are thinking, "does that mean you have a garden journal?" I do not.  Yet. Crazy, right? I had all of last week to film and I didn't. I wasn't ready, if that makes sense.  Plus, the weather was a bit uncooperative on the days I thought I might shoot b-roll. 

So, it's still on the to-do list to record a garden journal. 

Well, I had to work Monday.  It was publishing day and work life revolves around that. At least for now it does. (If you know, you know) 

Once the day was done I was SO out of there.  I signed off, closed everything up and set everything to DND. 

Woo hoo, vacation! 

The weather was nice, for the most part. 

The grass and leaves burst out and now everything is so GREEN.  Deer are everywhere.

We even spotted the first fawns of the year. 

Over the course of the week we spent a lot of time on the water. We hit a few different areas this year. 

One of the usual spots. 

Loons have been hanging around the lake. They decided my husband was safe and got pretty close to his kayak.  Close enough to get decent photos, anyway. 

A new-to-us spot. We've driven past it for years and always see other people fishing there. 

Not as much current as we thought there would be. It was a beautiful, quiet morning. 

Then we ran into a male Karen at this spot, which sort of spoiled the spot for us. Basically, he thought he owned the entire river. He soon found out that he can't try and throw his weight around without people matching energies.

A different body of water. This made for a lovely morning of fishing, too. 

Hardly anyone else on the water. It was like we had the whole lake to ourselves. 

On Friday, June 5, I posted update on my vanilla sock to my instagram.  Look how much I got done in a week!

This was mainly when I was passenger when we were going somewhere. 

In one week I managed to knit the leg of a sock. When I knit my socks on two circs, I definitely *zoom* through the project. 

At some point during the week I went out to the she shed and pulled floss for two more cross stitch projects I'll be starting this month. 

Wait, make that three more cross stitch projects. What's a few more projects, right? I just need to live forever. 🤣

Friday we brought my car to the dealership to have it diagnosed and see what, if anything, needed to be done. That ended up being a long day and I'm still sort of bitter and sus about how some things shook down.  (Is that even a phrase?) Basically something happened and it was too weird of a coincidence to have happened when it did. That's about all I'm going to say on that. The people working at the dealership were very nice.

I brought my cross stitch with me to work on, and asked my husband to take a photo of me. Which felt really weird asking for.  But, if I don't start asking for this, I'm never going to have action photos of me, right? 🤷‍♀️

I was the only person in the lounge who wasn't staring at their phone. 

This past weekend we went for a bike ride. Which, now that I think about it, we only went out for one bike ride. 

Oh and it was a doozy, of sorts. 

I packed a picnic lunch and loaded up the basket.  

The road we usually ride on to go to a nearby lake has some work being done to it.  A large chunk of the road has been torn up and is gravel.  No biggie.  The part that was a doozy was when I left the gravel and my bike tire hit the edge of the asphalt. The bump was enough to make my phone bounce out of the phone carrier, fly up in the air and come smashing down on the asphalt. I was stunned to see my phone go flipping up in the air. The phone holder is the style where you pull it open, put your phone in, and let the hold draw back in and hold your phone. I guess if you hit something hard enough, the bottom drops out, so to speak, and it's enough to let the phone pop loose.  Then when the spring brings the bottom back up, it was enough force to fling my phone up about 6 feet in the air. The screen protector on my phone is cracked, but otherwise fine. 

The rest of the bike ride was uneventful. 

We enjoyed our picnic lunch.  You like my fancy storage containers? 

I didn't feel comfortable taking photos of the water because people were down there. Instead, I took photos of the trees. 

One more thing from Sunday. This heifer was spotted trying to figure out how to get in to the garden and eat all the tasty plants. 

He saw my husband and causally sauntered off.  We spotted him in the front yard, staring longingly at the garden. 

Today was back to work.  Work was quiet and I was able to catch up on most things. 

This evening I started a new cross stitch project, before sitting down to work on this blog post. 

Hmmm, what could this be? 

Okay, to bring it back to the selfies. ...

I'm not much on taking selfies. I'm trying to get more comfortable in my own skin, so to speak.  Making flosstube videos helps. 

One day when we were out on the water (I'm thinking it was early in the week) I thought I'd try taking a selfie while I was out on the water.  No sunglasses and the sun was sort of in my eyes. 

Very owly-looking, right? I have that resting face, if you know what I'm referring to. 

I remembered seeing or reading somewhere that if you struggle with taking photos, to imagine you are looking at your husband or someone you love, and your features will soften.  Or something. 

Well, my husband was right there, so I looked over at him and felt my face break out in to a smile. 

Maybe not the prettiest selfie. I think you can definitely see the love I have for him in my smile.