Best/Worst weekend ever

Pigeon Forge Haul
Originally uploaded by Stitching scientist

It has taken me 3 days to recover from this past weekend and post for you. Now let me tell you why. I decided several weeks ago to get in on the annual pigeon forge retreat hosted by Katrina over at Crossed Threads. I got my mom to come down and watch A. so I could go. I thought I could get out of my friday obligations at work and leave early in order to have a whole 2 days up in the mountains to stitch.

It all began to fall apart about a week before I left, I found out that I had misread my schedule and that we had an anatomy practical on the friday I wanted to leave, and thatI had to stay till it was all cleaned up. So that meant instead of leaving around 8 in the morning I would be leaving at 4 in the afternoon. ugh. but what are you going to do? my job is worth more than my vacation. It is a 4 hour drive so I think I'll get there by 8-9pm at the latest. Fast forward to fri afternoon, So I am heading out making GOOD time when I discover that there is a rock slide on 40 blocking this highway at the border. I freak out cause I only had my mapquest directions with me (the trip involved exactly 2 turns) , there are detours posted but I have no idea if they will put me back on 40 before or after my exit. so I call my husband who tells me the detour will add another hour and a half to my trip, and in the middle of giving corrected directions my phone dies (my new phone that i did not get a car charger for yet!). I am very upset thinking about heading home, but by then i am in TN and about an hour away...I stopped in a rest stop and picked up a cheap map to get me the rest of the way there. arriving around 10:30PM. YAY but I am so agitated i cannot stitch for another hour or so.

Saturday was a good day, hung out with my roomate Shelley, shopped at Dixie Darlin, ate at the Old Mill, stitched till late, had a great time with the games, dirty santa gift exchange, and ornament exchange. Shelley and I decide that we are going to try the Apple Barn for breakfast early the next morning which I had never been to. But once out the door, I discover my car is DEAD, not reving, not not turning over, DEAD. So Shelley jumps my car (we both had jumper cables) and we decide to just get on the road and head our separate ways (she is in GA). I head home, but notice that my radio falters every time I turn on my turn signal. NOT good. So I decide I can't stop or my car will be dead again. I did pause for gas and some snacks (remember no breakfast) but i did not turn off the car while i filled up (it drove me nuts too, I was waiting for the gas cops to show up...) I got home by 1 and when i turned off the car in my drive way it would not start up again (as i had suspected) . I now have a new battery and my mom is headed home to PA. So while my trip was horrible I did get in 1 full good day stitching.

My Haul:
Sampler snowman by Homespun elegance, recipe cards, dinky dyes floss and other patterns not pictured here won in doorprizes and bingo.
Lots of fabric (can you tell i am out of natural shades of linen?), some NN floss, The Branch by Bent Creek, and Curlylocks by Silver Creek Samplers. all bought.

The ornament i got in exchange for my penguin is that cute snowman down in front, and I also got the Snowman photobooth kit from Bent Creek aquired thru the dirty santa exchange. He is so cute I started stitching it already, even though I have ornaments I need to do for 3 more exchanges coming up in Dec.