Super Swimmer

Last evening was DS's first preschool swim class. I was very nervous, he loves swimming so much that I always had to drag him out of Aquatots, I was so worried he wouldn't listen to his instructor. Well my mind had made it out to be worse than it was, actually I was one proud mom up in the stands. Not only did he actually listen to the instructor, he actually swam a bit on his own! Wow!

On Sunday his 'big boy' bed also arrived and to date the transition has been smooth. We never pushed the bed issue, he was safe in his crib (didn't climb out) and wasn't sneaking out of the house in the middle of winter (a big fear of mine) and we didn't have another child on the way so we waited until we bought the house and now that we're settled the time was right.

Some people might ask "well why not put a chain at the top of your door if you're scared he's going to go out in the winter?" Well my reasoning is simple, especially in light of a tragedy that robbed DH's family of their home a couple weeks ago...FIRE. I want DS to be able to get out if he has to on his own. I think instead I'll put bells on the doors or something that makes a noise that this light sleeper will hear him if he gets up during the night. DS is very scared of the dark and now 4 so I doubt he'd be as likely to wander out in the night like some of the stories on the news but still...

Last night I got a bit of stitching in on my Mill Hill ornament and attempted making Divinity Fudge, it's a bit sticky (not much though) and tastes pretty good :) I can't believe it's almost September. I had great ambitions to enter a tonne of contests in the FREX, not the case this year ;)

Blue Christmas

Well at least that's what came to mind while I was stitching Cardinal Santa last night. I didn't read the pattern too close when I started and discovered thet there was a very dark blue listed on top of the dark blue, so now I have to FROG, yuck. The evening went fairly smooth, picked up DS and the groceries after work, came home and got supper on the table then rushed out after supper to finish mowing the back lawn (an acre and a quarter sounded like a good idea at the time... thank goodness we have a couple feet of woods at the back). Then after getting DS showered, he was pretty grimy from helping DH rake, and to bed I did my FlyLady laundry check, and put a new load in and organized DS's art supplies before Big Brother.

I really wish I could have gotten more stitching in last night but I was just too tired. I didn't even stay up to watch the conclusion of Cold Case on A&E. I'm getting really anxious to finish this Santa ornament so that I can work on the Dragon Dreams elemental dragons.

Suprise Visitors...

Life is never boring around the house. I went home at lunch to mow our front lawn so after work DS and I could veg, read and stitch. We walked in the door and the message machine was blinking, what now??? There was a brief message from my MIL saying she was driving through town on her way back from helping DH's Aunt's family get setup temporarily in their apartment until their house is rebuilt (burnt down earlier in the month) and wanted to know if we wanted to meet her for supper. Thankfully I follow flylady.com so straightening up the house in case she decided to show off our new home to DH's other aunt who was travelling with the MIL (he has a huge family) didn't take too long and we had a nice dinner at Boston Pizza.

The restaurant just happens to be a stones throw away from the Southside Zellers where I had a parcel to return, so I got the bright idea that I'd go return it while DH picked up supplies for a fundraiser car wash he's doing on Friday. Forty five minutes later the paper work was finally finished and it should be processed today (computers went down). By the time we got home and got DS to bed it was 9:00! Which is late for our schedule.

I did get a good hour of stitching in on Cardinal Santa though, hopefully will get much more done tonight during Big Brother. Then I can start on the Dragon Dreams Elemental Dragons, the fabric came in just the other day and I can't wait!!

Goals Accomplished...and went to bed on time to boot!

Well the framing stop at lunch wasn't as bad as I though it would be, having my pictures assembled and actually picking out the frames don't even compare stresswise, and I even had time to enroll DS in his first preschool swim class (he's been going to aquatots since he was 18 months). It was nice to come home after work and hang up all of my latest finished pieces on the wall, yippee!

Later that night DH surprised me and brought up the rocking chair from the basement so I could stitch in the computer room with him (he's an online gamer) when I'm not watching tv. Little surprises are soo nice. My Mill Hill cardinal santa got a head last night and I got to bed before 10 (much needed).

Framing Anxiety

Last night I temporarily did some of my lacing work up my exhibition entries up in DH's computer room instead of down in the cross stitch room. My was he suprised. The poor guy had no idea that he'd become a sounding board for my frustrations with framers in the area. I haven't tried the guy that is out by our new house yet but the one I've been going to gives me anxiety attacks, but his frame prices are really good. To start there are no framers that specialize in framing needle arts per say. I'd have to go to Moncton for that, and especially if I wanted a custom mat cut. I have learned that if I actually have an idea what I want that I should really lace my piece first before even entering the store, to avoid the here's this mat, that mat, what part of I really don't want a mat is that hard. Also this would avoid the, I have no idea why you lace when you can (have me) pin, speal. My type A personality seems to always get suckered in to the arguing my side. A frustrated me the last time I was there think I might FINALLY have won a point as I asked what type of pins were used and of course they were of the rusting variety. I do understand that this is his profession...well sort of he orders in the frames and simply assembles your work, but it ticks me off when I feel people are misled about how to treat there needle work. And once you learn the proper techiniquest of lacing is really doesn't take hours to do, I laced a Mirabilia last night in under a half hour thanks to all of the tricks I learned at retreat (actually I'm finishing up lacing a piece from Fiddlestitch Cottage as I type). Maybe next time I'll try the guy closer to home, cheaper frames aren't worth this headache :)

Finally Recovered From the Move!!

The move went relatively smooth in May, however due to the Aliant strike we ended up without a phone and spent multiple hours on pay phones trying to find out why we had no phone, and resorted to contacting the media to get some action.

Then there was the introduction of the FlyLady. She's really turned our world upside down (in a good way). We went from 800 square feet to over 2400 square feet and during the unpacking process Eleni and Angela introduced me to www.flylady.com. Well let me tell you, I think we've either donated or thrown out at least the equivalent of our storage room in the old apartment, I'm really not used to having so much floor space! My sewing/cross stitching room still has lots of room for improvement but I'm amazed at how much better our bedroom looks.

Over the summer I've finished Mirabilia's Titania, Ode to a Fiddle Head by Fiddlestitch Cottage (I can't wait to see her button in the JCS ornament edition), Ballerina Bunnies by Dragon Dreams and just this weekend No Late Knight Snacking by Dragon Dreams as well. Now it's time to stitch Cardinal Santa by Mill Hill who's been neglected over the last 8 months.

Stitching Blogger's question of the week

What would you most like your favourite designer to design next?

I'd love to see Dragon Dreams put out The 12 Dragons of Christmas , I'd love to see the folksy dragons in their own little ornament series or in some sort of sampler.