She's a big Bama fan--shrine to the Bear in her bedroom and everything--so this was a real act of love. She claims she went to a store where no one knew her for supplies, and that it's hard to sew with your eyes closed.

Hee. He was showing me a cool pattern over X-mas that has the LSU Tiger with all the other teams we played on our way to the Sugar Bowl last year lying bloodied and beaten in its wake (except for the Gator which was picking its teeth).

ETA the right season.

My parents have many Auburn-themed ornaments on their tree. In addition to the Auburn throws, Auburn jewelry box that plays War Eagle, Auburn mail box, Auburn ceiling fan light, Auburn tire cover on their RV, and Auburn/War Eagle horn on their RV. And, of course, the Auburn cross stitch that my mom made.

And I broke their hearts by going to Bama for grad school.

Hm. Well, considering that I am unable to remember what my last cross-stitch project was, I may very well be thinking of embroidery. I seem to recall all needlework making the tips of my fingers hurt, though.

or spins their own yarn from angora goat hair, 'cos they're hardcore fiber junkies now

I should probably learn to do that before I buy the goats.

My parents have many Auburn-themed ornaments on their tree. In addition to the Auburn throws, Auburn jewelry box that plays War Eagle, Auburn mail box, Auburn ceiling fan light, Auburn tire cover on their RV, and Auburn/War Eagle horn on their RV. And, of course, the Auburn cross stitch that my mom made.

Your parents have mine beat. Though my mother once chose not to buy a red car because she thought it would make her look like an Alabama fan. Which, given people's automotive choices in my hometown, was probably a fair assessment.

This may sound weird, but I actually bought myself a coloring book once and used the kids' colored pencils. Sitting on the couch watching TV and coloring it in was perfectly relaxing for me. I can't draw for shit, so it was the next best thing.

I love jigsaw puzzles, too, but I don't have anywhere to keep them set up either, so I always try to find 250-piece ones I can do in one night.

I just ate icing out of the can, with my finger. I'm thinking that was lunch.

Stupid typos.

I wish I could do stuff like that, but I'm so uncoordinated it's a one way ticket to Crazy to try.

This may sound weird, but I actually bought myself a coloring book once and used the kids' colored pencils. Sitting on the couch watching TV and coloring it in was perfectly relaxing for me.

I used to love coloring with my niece and nephew. I never got around to buying coloring books for myself (although I have the big box of crayons somewhere in my apartment), but I'd spend hours coloring in their books. Also, helping my nephew build things with his legos was a blast. We made a kick-ass motorcycle once. Unfortunately it gave my parents the mistaken belief that I liked kids. And while I like my niece and nephew well enough, mostly I just like kids' toys.

My preferred hobby for meditation is jigsaw puzzles

I enjoy doing this with other people but not so much by myself. There was one puzzle, however, that my step-sisters got from their father one Christmas that was 1000 pieces. It was black & white and had many staves of music. That would have been a bitch to do, and I tried but it didn't end up happening. I asked at Christmas this past year if I could have it so I could try to do it again, but one of my step-sisters said no. It's not like she's going to ever do it, though.

I always do cross-stitch with blunt needles. Tapestry needles, to be precise.

I like using embroidery needles.

So not cross-stitch, but my kids were cracking my shit UP today. We're reading Tom Sawyer, and I was reading aloud from the book, and the kids had been silently acting out some of the scenes I was reading, which was pretty funny, but I'd shifted to just exposition. I just read about a schoolteacher's "rod and ferule" and was explaining what a ferule was when one of the kids burst out "FERULSHIZZLE mo nizzle!" His nickname is Snoop, and I popped out, "VERY funny, Snoop Talky Talk" and the class just went into hysterics. I couldn't stop laughing myself.

A couple of the boys were like "Gotta give you props, Ms. G!" and I swear, it was so sweet.

I got props.