An Accidental Suprise!

Tonight started off pretty lack luster, Alex had a mini meltdown so I didn't get to enjoy the roast or scalloped potatoes I'd prepared (they were only done cooking by the time we had to go out the door), after a quesadilla we hopped in the car and headed to soccer practice (usually we walk but we were running LATE). I stitched a bit on Giggles before he has to go away for a bit, more on that later. Anyway, I came home and Matt had gone out for some errands he had to run (going to the bank machine). Anyway, mom arrived and we were chatting when Matt came in. He looked really upset (and a bit guilty with a Future Shop bag in his hands). Apparently while at the intersection he'd had an accident, he'd been over the stop line when a car made a sharp turn and clipped the car. All his fault apparently. Knowing I'm the self appointed legal expert he wanted me to take a look at the damages on the drivers side. The lights were in tact so I looked hard at the drivers side for any new bumps when I notice he was down on one knee with a diamond ring in his hand, I just about died!! He'd actually fooled me, and I was one happy fool :) I've now pulled out my L&L The Wedding and hope to work that up by Christmas :). I should really head to bed, I don't normally blog this late but I was just too excited to sleep!!!

Let It Rain

Well, yesterday I popped in my Amanda Marshall CD and listened to Let It Rain, and sure enough, AFTER I got the steaks on the BBQ the sky openned up and drenched everything ;) Last night I puttered around the house getting everything ready for vacation, picked up groceries for Matt, did the laundry, got the suitcases out, organized stash (most important) and gave Alex a good scrubbing (he really needs a hair cut while we're away). I even picked myself up a NEW bathing suit last night...good thing as I thought there might be a possibility I'd have to swim to the car the way it was raining last night.

I settled into my little nest and stitched on Giggles last night, he now has boots!! I should definitely be finished or very close to being so after next weeks vacation. Yippee! Matt came home early as his softball was rained out so we watched the Battlestar Gallactica tapes he'd borrowed from a friend. Today the sun was shining bright and early, I'll probably mow one of the lawns at lunch and attempt to do the other around soccer practice. Then it'll be tidying up some more and awaiting mom's arrival as she has Alex tomorrow. Only one more sleep until vacation!!

Time For a Change

I'm ready for a change! So much so that I've started circulating my very long list of work experience around town. I'm ready for anything, I'll learn whatever anyone wants. Beef up my oracle, I'd do it, on my own time (helps when you live with the master developer ;)) The closer I get to 30 the more I realize how short I've sold myself since our family grew unexpectedly 5 years ago and really believe I'm worth more than my current asking price, or the measly 12 days vacation I have this year. I always did extremely well with my Coop placements, racking up between 5 and 7 offers a term and always was kept on as a private contractor while completing my degree so I think that should say alot. I want to be the best techie and best model stitcher ;)

Speaking of stitching last night was a bit slow. I found out I needed to frog a section of giggles, thankfully only part of a boot. Then it was onto blends, blah...Give me french knots anyday (especially since Jennifer recommended the colonnial, my godsend) I'm really hoping to wrap him over my vacation :) We'll see!

A Rainy Kind of Day

Sure enough, after I finally get around to watering my plants and shrubs the heavens openned up, I can't win. Last night was a quiet sort of night. Matt's ball game was rained out so we all just vegged around the house. I worked on my Mistletoe Kitty and it's almost done, yippee!! Although one of the bead packs is missing so I've been rumaging through my other mill hill kits to find some of the missing colours. Matt was busy trying to get ahold of neighborhood watch to see if anyone had any information on who vandalized our mailbox Saturday night, why us?? Of course it was the one Saturday night where Matt went to bed early, usually he's up in the computer room with the window open until at least 2 am, now we have two beautiful fist marks in either side of it.

Today is shaping up to be another slack day, I'm getting so anxious to hear from the three provincial positions that I applied to over the weekend even though the competitions don't close for atleast another week...sigh...

Weekend Recap

We truly had a nice weekend this weekend. On Saturday we headed to Oromocto lake for a family picnic put on by the VP at DH's work. We had ALOT of fun. Alex and I went for a boat ride which he loved. After lunch we headed to the VP's Christmas tree farm for a treasure hunt, Alex and two other little boys lead the way on the 1 km treck through the woods. It was really neat to see the Christmas trees growing from seed all the way up to ones ready for sale, and as anyone knows I LOVE christmas trees, I can't wait to have a REAL tree this year. After the hunt we cooled off with a dip in the lake, Alex swam away in his supersuit and practiced his floats. After supper, and some stitching on another mill hill 'travel' kit we headed back home and we were all in bed by 9:30.

Sunday was another relaxing day. I headed to CT to get some supplies for planting the rhodedendrons I'd bought a week ago and then filled the wading pool and spent a couple hours out there on the blanket while Alex played between there, the sandbox and the swingset, stitching away at the Imagination Creation until it was complete. After another day in the sun what did I do?? Nap! What a nice rest. Matt took us out for supper and Alex had another big boy milestone...peeing standing up!! After Alex was bathed and in bed I popped in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (my personal favorite) and vegged on the couch...now back to reality ;)

Imagination Creation Happy Dance

And Presenting my latest happy dance...

Imagination Creation on 28ct Blue Spruce

Getting Prepped for a Happy Dance!

The Imagination Creation is really coming along, I just have one little spot of stitching to do in the wings now and then I can complete the backstitching. After watching Cold Case Files I was too chicken to go downstairs and look for the floss I needed. I did however get the tail backstitched before bed. Once it's done I'll be back on finishing up Giggles which I'm hoping will only take a week or two (especially where I have vacation coming up really soon it should be more that obtainable goal).

Last night Alex passed his depth perception retest with flying colours, even getting the bonus box. Yippee!! After not completing it twice I was getting worried, the first time the test was administred after 45 minutes of eye and ear tests which I didn't expect him to complete and after all that at age 3 screening clinic and the test the dr the second time ended up running late and into the time that he usually winds down for bed. Although before the appointment Alex was concerned that he didn't have Xray vision. He was the first kid ever to offer the doctor one of the treats he'd received as a reward for doing well in his test...I was so proud. Then of course at soccer he just did NOT want to listen at all and I had to follow him out on the field a couple times which was REALLY embarassing. Although he loves soccer practice it's one of the rare occasions that you can really tell he's an only child (for the next couple years anyway).

Tonight we need to do a little shopping for our day at Oromocto Lake. I'll also have to have an employment talk with DH tonight, we found out this morning that one of our friends is moving to Nova Scotia and his current position would be right up DH's alley...It would be really nice to have both of us working in town when Alex starts school in the fall.

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week

Have you ever done a color conversion? If so, what did you think about your results and would you do it again? If not, would you like to try someday?

I have done one small colour conversion and that was in my Precious Moments Bless This House, I changed the colour of the girls hair to red so we could imagine it being Matt and I building the sand castle, until he pointed out after framing that I hadn't changed the colour of the boy's eyes to hazel!!

I did like it, mind you I didn't think up the colours on my own. I don't change the colours too often, but will be using someone's conversions for Celtic Autumn, purple is just not an autumn colour for me. I'm much rather content playing with the fabric colours things are stitched on.

Friends That Count

Last night was our monthly Friends That Count get together. It was soooo nice to stitch in airconditioned comfort. Faith Ann had her Celtic Christmas in which was truly breath taking. We also got a sneak peek at the new Fiddlestitch Cottage Autumn teapot and I LOVE the colours. I finally gave my Imagination Creation some spririt and she now has eyes!! She was really beginning to creep me out. I had planned on stitching on Giggles half the night but I had borrowed one of the spools of Kreinik from Cathey (where mine is missing) and that took me to half time so I didn't actually have to take it home. Lucy had some new Canterbury Cross fabric swatches in as well, I may have to order more than my Flax afghan that just came in ;) Overall it was just a really fun night and it felt really good to get out. When I arrived home the house had cooled off upstairs, I thought we might be downstairs last night but everything was ambient upstairs. We've grappled with the thought of an airconditioner but it's soo hard to justify spending that kind of money when it's so nice downstairs and there are two bedrooms waiting for us to use. I have no idea why the lower lever of the house is so cool but I'm not complaining, at least not this summer... :)

He Has Arrived

Harry and his Thunderbolt, or whatever he's flying these days as I'm back on the Goblet of Fire has arrived at the house, yippee!! I'm sure Matt will be holed up in the basement when I get back from stitching night. I went for a walk at lunch hour and my goodness it was hot, it's a good thing I put the pork out to defrost so we can lay it on the grill and not heat up the entire house. I wonder if any other goodies arrived in the mail today :)

A Creation in Need of a Spirit

Last night after Alex went to bed Matt and I hooked up the Xbox to the little TV down in the playroom, blew up the airmattress and popped in The Last Samurai. It was nice to stitch downstairs. Although after looking at the Imagination Creation last night I realized he needs some eyes, he kind of looks soulless and hollow at the moment. I don't usually leave the eyes until last (well in this project DMC wise). Thinking about this made me look at my own soul and spirit a little which was feeling a little bruised yesterday. I was surprised at how an off the cuff comment about pro active people made by a friend could hurt so much. It probably wasn't even meant as a personal dig but it hurt none the less. I don't look down on people that don't speak up, doing so is more of a calling and in some cases, especially my own, an unwanted one. Anytime I have spoken up over issues in my heart it has been an honest attempt to leave the world a better place than I entered it, I was hoping for silent support from those around me, although I seem more than singled out for being pro active sometimes and I guess it hurts. Thankfully I have a wonderful little family who listens and understands sometimes, and I think actually seeing my vulnerable side reminds them that even though I can have a strong voice and resolve that it doesn't necessarily mean that I have strong 'skin'.

I also have a great circle of friends, and the power to heal, forgive and forget. I don't know what I'd do without my friends at work or stitching. Speaking of whom I can't wait to get out to stitch with them in an air conditioned room tonight! I'm really interested to see what everyone is stitching these days, plug away a little at Giggles and then maybe get back to adding some spirit in my Imagination Creation, he deserves the gift of sight.

Still No Harry

Well I was a little disappointed last night when Harry wasn't in the mailbox! Oh well...it's not like I was going to be the one in the family reading it first. Last night we took Alex to Charlie and the The Chocolate Factory. I've never seen him so enthralled in a movie before. I spent the first 20 minutes wiping the occasional tear out of my eye as the depiction of the Bucket Family was truly touching. We also made the quickest bathroom trip in history as Alex didn't want to miss a second of the movie (after 15 minutes of crossing and uncrossing his little legs). I was impressed on it's interpretation of the book and how the back story that was created didn't take away from the original magic of the book. My sole disappointment was after the movie when we went across the hall to the book store and the only Roald Dahl books that they had were Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and ones we already owned...I was hoping to pick up the Witches which they had three copies of last month.

After returning home and putting to bed one excited but exhausted monkey I sat and worked on my Dragon Dreams Imagination Creation until bedtime. I knew that there was a small erratum in the chart but couldn't remember which colour, although I found I was out of one colour, the one that was the problem but Matt already had the computer tied up so there was no checking online for the correction for me...sigh. Tonight's shaping up to be a fairly quiet night after groceries, I'm hoping to finish the DMC's in the pattern by the end of the night and be ready to work on some of the specialty fibres as of tomorrow. I can't wait!

The Road Life Chooses

Sometimes it's nice to sit back and reflect on the road that life chooses to lead you on. I was once very naive to think that I actually had a choice ;) Having a friend have another baby has made me reflect on the life altering experience that was having Alex and the completely different road it led me on. Before him I was a happy go lucky academic force to be reckonned with, I rarely had a complaint as I'd solely focussed on getting the answers right and not wrong. I had a list a mile long on what I would and wouldn't do when I did have children and assumed that everything I'd conquer everything as I'd always done before. HAH!!!!! I woke up to the real world the day Alex was born and I experienced one nurse who regarded marital status higher than intellectual. Little did I know what path she was leading me on. After 24 hours of being a human soother for Alex either by pinkie or breast my utmost objections to a soother were broken down. At 4 weeks discovering that there are people that can be so linguistically discriminatory that they can justify neglecting an infact in dire need of medical attention who hasn't even learned to speak the english his mother had yet, molded a mother with no voice into one who wasn't afraid to be heard (but still has a hard time calling the doctor for an appointment ;)) And it's still changing, preparing Alex to be a participant in the anti bullying movement and wanting him to speak up if he sees something wrong has led me to seriously consider the role model that I set for him and again speak up when I see things that are wrong. How can I expect him to do something that I in turn won't? As I look back I still wonder who on earth was that girl holed up in the engineering library by day and living a healthy active social life at night five years ago. Mind you I'd be very happy if life just provided me with a survey but seeing as I've surrendered and acknowledged it's control I'm slowly accepting the role it's dealt.

Sunday...A Day of Rest

Sunday was truly a day to unwind. We didn't do too much around the house. I had planned on mowing the lawn but it was just too hot and humid, cutting it in all that heat isn't good for it anyway. So after lunch and after having a little down time with Alex I headed in for a nap. After a couple interruptions by the boys (why am I the only one who knows where everything is located??) I got up and stitched some on my Dragon Dreams Imagination Creation until we headed out for a picnic at the lake. It was our first trip to the lake the summer and it was really nice to unwind there. Alex had a great time attempting to swim, Matt attempted to nap and learned that sign language isn't so silent, the group next to us was signing away and apparently there was quite a bit of slapping and grunting. He should have been in with us anyway ;) When he did come in we soaked him good ;) Now it's back to stitching in front of the fan, I can't wait to see this creation come to life!!

June's Ornament Finish

Holly Days Stocking Completed!!

A Tea With The Dragon

Saturday was an official girls day out. We all piled in to Cathey's car and made the pilgrimage to Moncton aka shopping mecca of New Brunswick. Our first stop was Barbara Ann's to pick up some stash from her closing sale. We all chipped in to get her the Willow Tree Angel of Courage (thanks Cathey for the great idea) and she was truly touched, there were some tears when we left the store for the last time. One less stop on our pre-retreat shopping trip.

Our next stop was Elite framing, we've heard such great things about Sandi and Coral Cathey and I knew that they were the only ones that were going to handle our Secret Santa and The Quiltmaker. If they're good enough to frame all of Jennifer's models surely our projects are in good hands. :) I didn't realize that Santa was going to be sooo difficult to find a mat for, trying to bring out the colour in the tree (a needlepaint) yielded alot of teals as any greens clashed with the hue. Finally we found a gorgeous velour matt that was perfect.

Then we were off to lunch at the mall and made a quick stop into Because You Count to pick up some more stash. At the CNSS Jennifer unveiled her Dragon of the Deeps which is truly amazing, I can't wait until mine arrives in the mail sometime in the next couple of weeks!!!!! Tea with the Dragon was awesome and very informative!! We also got a sneak peek of To Trim a Tree which is DEFINITELY going on the to stitch pretty much when it comes out list (Will Guardian Angel ever see the light of day???).

The boys survived their day without mom with flying colours and the house was in tip top shape, I was truly impressed. When we drove in there was also a big brown bunny under the deck, maybe he's the one that's been knawing on my perennials?? Matt is eagerly awaiting the new Harry Potter to arrive at the doorstep. I preordered just so I wouldn't have to drive to the store (gas is expensive), why drive when you can have it shipped for free.

Today is the Dragon Dreams stitch along day over on the Needle and Thread bulletin board, I'm hoping to work on something between mowing the lawn and hopefully having a picnic supper at the lake :)

It's A BOY!

Jackson Elliott Ryan arrived sometime over the noon hour today, I pretty much jumped out of my seat at work when my phone rang!! It's a really good thing I told Eleni that I have a no holds barred naming process before she named him as if we ever have another boy my heart is pretty much set on the name Jack. Matt comes from a big family and trying to avoid names was just too out out of control, besides, how many times do you actually get to name a child, you might as well do what YOU want to do. Mind you when we do have another we're going with the no spilling the name until the birth policy, so if my mother happens to be reading this pretend to be surprised if you ever have a grandson called Jack!!!!!

I've been just too excited to sit still eventhough we did attend the strawberry supper at my grandmother's church tonight. I've been bouncing around the house ever since, my mind missed the message that it should be resting. I beaded the teddy bear for my mill hill stocking ornament, I'm hoping to finish that up tomorrow night. I didn't get any of my reading in although we did get another chapter of Alex's book in. And after 40 minutes of tossing and turning here I am blogging away WAY passed my bedtime as I'm just too excited to sleep :)

A LONG Wait

I'm just generally excited about the birth of my dear friends second child, which should have taken place about two hours ago and am still anxiously sitting by the phone, hoping she's feeling well enough to call before I head to pick up Alex for supper at my grandmother's church :) I think Matt'll be a bit relieved after this year as I think I've been driving him batty were alot of my friends are adding to their families, who wouldn't want a chance to have another and truly enjoy it after learning from all the mistakes one made the first time around (lesson number one encase the phone in cement and bury it in the back yard for a year and lesson two, the house will not self destruct and killer dust bunnies will not attack your baby while you sleep, so get some!). Having an excuse to stitch some baby designs would also be fun too!!!

Deck Demo Is Looking Good

After scraping aimlessly and missing valuable stitching time I've decided that if I had the extra money I'd really start from scratch on the deck, maybe I can live with an opaque stain for a couple more years. I think I'll look into what it'll cost to replace the top planking of the deck over the weekend and decide where to go from there. Opaque stain was just not made for a northern climate where people have to shovel off their decks!!! There that's my rant for the night.

Stitching wise nada today although I did make a wee bit of progress on giggles and my stocking last night, tonight has just been in limbo. Between groceries and talking to a dear friend hours before she delivers baby #2 (I'm soo jealous ;)) things are just off of their usual schedule although change is good.

Tonight Alex and I started Lemony Snicket's The Bad Beginning, he really enjoyed the way it was written (and I thought it was kind of neat as every so often when there was a big word (for him anyway) it would kind of give a more familiar word in a very off hand manner. We've gone through my on hand stock of Roal Dahl books (I'd love to know where my copy of Matilda is hiding) so I thought I'd try one of these books to give us a change of pace. And if Alex decides it isn't for him by then I'll have had a chance to get to the bookstore and pick up The Witches or Judy Blume's Fudge. It just amazes me how he's changed from reading board books to asking to be read to from a chapter book every night. I wasn't a book worm until my third grade teacher introduced us to the works of Roald Dahl, Judy Blume and Beverly Clearly. I think of applied more of the things I learned in that year of school to life in general than all of my years in university.

I'm getting really anxious for the stitching show, even if it isn't that great. I've put alot of work into fixing up the outside of the house and I could use a change of scenery for the day. Tea with the Dragon should be a blast!! Well I should shower and read another chapter of the book before it gets too late....I can't wait to learn more about Baby Ryan (yes that's a last name I know nothing more than he or she is healthy and ready to meet the world)!!

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week

Q : What do you do when you have some sort of obligation stitching to do,but don't want to do it?

I don't really do too much obligation stitching, if I decide to stitch something for a birthday or Christmas I give myself plenty of time, choose a smaller scale project or have a back up plan should it not get done on time. Stitching for me is something I do to relieve stress, not generate it ;)

How To Drive A Standard...According to DS

Today when we arrived home in the reliable rust mobile and parked beside the nice Corolla which I can't drive (standard) Alex looks at me and says "Mommy, I'll teach you to drive Daddy's car!" I was mildly intrigued by this so I asked him to continue...and here are THE RULES
RULE #1 (and yes he's saying Rule Number 1) Don't Crash The Car
RULE #2 Don't Kill Anybody
RULE #3 If someone tries to crash your car honk your horn
RULE #4 Don't Open Your Car Doors On Daddy's Car
RULE #5 Don't Hurt Daddy's Car At All

Good Grief...

Way to Go Ontario/Progress

Way to go Ontario, It's nice to see that at least one province has some common sense concerning vehicle safety. Bets anyone on how long it will take New Brunswick to follow suit with similar legislation, 5-10 years and another what 10-20 before it's enforced (considering how long I've been filing statements on the other mother at daycare who has kept her daughter up in the front seat/beltless since she was about 8 months when there's a perfectly good carseat in the back)

Last night I'd fully intended to read alot of Potter but when I clicked on A&E there was an episode of Cold Case Files on at 8 so I picked up the nearest thing to stitch and met the goal I'd set for myself on the weekend so now I can get back to Giggles...


Charmed Stocking progess

Do any Giggles stitchers know what is supposed to go in his right mitten where I've left a one square hole?? The pattern has a really bright pink but I think that's a mistake. Here's how far I got with Giggles before moving to the small beading project above (darn when the instructions ask you to cross stitch the petit beads, I zoom through the half stitched beads, plus the greens looked very similar so it took having my bead bowl under the light, not my usual stitching position)


Giggles Progress

Oh back to Potter, I did get a chapter read last night, considering it was 20+ pages I consider that pretty good, it was really hard to put the book down and go to bed at a decent hour. I think Alex and I'll be starting the first book in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events or maybe I can stall him long enough until we go to the mall Sunday for Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and pick up a new Roald Dahl book then, I guess we'll play it by ear!

A Change of Procedure?

I just got off the phone after another productive, not, call to Royal Bank. I inquired as to when they paid my tax account as the letter I received from them claims they paid the correct amount. They paid May 25th! It was corrected by the province March 28th and the corrected balance has been public since that date at SNB online. I received notice of them changing my payments in late June after they'd already taken one with the extra 100+ missing. The response I receive 'well this is the way we do things', if I worked on 2 month old statistical data I think I'd be fired!! Royal Bank, kindly change your procedures!!!!

Book Worm

I think the book worm is back! All weekend I had a hard time concentrating on stitching so I decided to pick up Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire which I've just had a hard time getting into (and need to finish up before the movie). Well, I'm now almost half way through. I think stitching might be on the back burner for a little bit. The book is finally picking up. The first 200 pages were kind of boggy, the first chapter was very promising and then I got lost in quidditch, my least favorite part of the book. I used to read alot before we had Alex but back when we were in the apartment it was just too noisy and there were too many distractions to get much quality reading time in so stitching took over. Now with the house and Alex content to play for hours on end with his action figures (which I'll never understand) there is now time for a good read. I can't wait!! I've really missed my VC Andrews book and poor Kinsey Millhone is stuck a J is for Judgement :) Now to convince Matt to buy me a lounge chair for outside....

It's Has To Look Worse Before It Looks Better

I'm beginning to accept this in reference to refinishing the deck. I managed to get some of the aweful teal stain off of the floor today, although finding my scrub brush OR owning a pressure washer would have been a HUGE help! Matt has yet to take a crow bar to pry off the post tops with really need to be replaced, the previous owner nailed them in place and lowered their life expectancy immensely.

Today's been a ho hum kind of day. Alex let us sleep in until 10...wow (I really needed it as my shoulder was kinked up half the night not letting me have any sort of quality sleep) and then I worked on a mill hill kit that I'd started on the drive to Grand Falls last week. I'd like to have the beading on the stocking portion of the kit done before I work on Giggle's boots.

On the family front Matt had wonderful news Friday, a very large raise!! I'm glad to see him appreciated for all the hard work that he does, if only my own employer showed that much respect for it's employees, or mainly just me, any policy change they've done has for lack of better words 'screwed' me over. I do have a code issue to bring up with my supervisor and I'll probably bring up a salary issue that's been ticking me off for awhile now off the records. Alex has also finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! On Friday, it was so cute, Alex decided to try to read to a little girl in the stands. He grabbed the book out of my bag and started "Once upon a time there was a little boy named Charlie Bucket..." It amazes me how he went right from board books and Dr Seuss right to novels!

A Sleepy Kind of Saturday

I guess the Scott-Côté's needed some R&R after travelling and fixing up the house!! We slept in until 9 (yes, when you have a 5 year old this is considered sleeping in), then after putting the laundry in and getting some stitching in on Giggles I walked with my new McCain's pedometer to the Esso to drop off some old clothes to the Community Living bin (gas @102.9 and the pedometer program at Matt's work made that decision pretty easy). I then took the long way home. After stitching a bit longer I made lunch for the boys and then felt like laying down...they sooon joined and we got up at about 5:00! Sometimes it's good to have a lazy kind of day.

Soccer Night in Canada

Last night was Alex's first official practice in the Hanwell recreational soccer league. I was amazed at how well he did when he they were kicking the balls around. After registering last week Matt and I spent about an hour down in the play room kicking the ball around and noting how we weren't using our hands and looking ahead and not at the ball...and there he was last night doing it, I was soo proud :) The kindergarten kids had a little game which was hilarious to watch (I'm so kicking myself for not bringing the camera. Alex got to throw the ball in, only he walked half way out onto the field to do it. Then my friends daughter was in the opposing teams net and she spent most of the time with her back to the game talking to people behind her. When she wasn't doing that she had the net on her head dancing around with it...what a smart goalie, don't try to make the perfect save, just make shooting impossible.The field isn't too far from our house so we walked over and back lugging Alex in the wagon. At 99.8 cents a litre we're a bit more savvy of how we use up our gas.

After getting Alex ready for bed I headed down to the craft room and made a 'quilted' pumpkin with my sizzix machine for Alex's pumpkin scrapbook page...I'm sooo far behind. As soon as 9 rolled around though I was upstairs catching this weeks episode of Veronica Mars and stitching away at the boy's touque in Giggles...I wasn't really in a cross stitching mood, until I started and I made myself stop at 10 and get a good night's rest.

Still no baby news from the Ryan's, it was fun to get out for lunch yesterday on E's last mommy only day and vent, plus it's about the first time in 2 years I've had a bowl of Tim Horton's chili all to myself, usually I have Alex in tow and he insists when ordering that he doesn't like chili but then eats half my bowl!!!! I also got a nice little sale item when grocery shopping this week. While waiting in the coop checkout they had oshkosh clothes on clearance and I saw a pair of jeans and wondered what they'd cost....now Alex has a new pair of brand name jeans for 13$$! I don't think I could get no name and definitely not as stylish jeans at Walmart/Zellers for that much, yippee!!

Stitching Blogger's Question Of the Week

Q : Do you think that you stitch neater on Evenweave than you do on Aidacloth? If so, why?

A : There's no doubt about it, my evenweave stitching looks much better than my aida stitching. I'd chalk it up to experience, the more you stitch the better your tension and your stitches usually lay much better. I don't think it hurts either that 3/4 stitches are much more uniform on evenweave.

Quiet Night

Last night was a fairly quiet one out on 'the range'. After getting groceries and bbq'ing some steak (yay it's official Alex LOVES steak) Matt was out the door for softball and Alex and I had a quiet evening to ourselves. After Alex went to bed I even had some company for about an hour, which was nice as everyone we know seems to be as busy as us to finding visiting time is at a premium. I didn't get too much stitching in which was ok, I wasn't really in the mood last night for some reason. Matt arrived home just as Dancing With The Stars was starting, our summer's guilty pleasure, and after that it was off to bed.

Tonight will probably be another quiet night on the stitching front, Alex has soccer this evening and I'll probably be going to bed early to make up for staying up until 11 watching Dancing (thankfully it's over so I have no reason to stay up past 10 anymore)

I purchased my tickets for Tea With The Dragon yesterday afternoon, I'm soo excited to be going to the CNSS next Saturday!! A girls day in Moncton is just what the doctor prescribed, and hopefully we can get into Elite Framing so Secret Santa can stop residing rolled up in the craft room :)

Sizzix Wishlist

To compliment my cross stitching wishlist here is my wishlist of sizzix products for scrapbooking

-Sizzlits Fruit Smoothie Letters
-Sizzlits Graffiti Letters
-Sizzlits Girls are Weird Letters
-Sizzix Bitty Body
-Sizzix Bitty Boy Hair
-Sizzix Bitty Doll Shoes
-Sizzix Bitty Shorts And Top
-Sizzix Bat
-Sizzix Ghosts
-Sizzix Pocket
-Sizzix Die Tag Scallop
-Sizzix Die Tag Sets

~I REALLY NEED TO WIN THE LOTTO~

Banking Frustration

Well yesterday Royal Bank came this close to being given it's walking papers. For over a week now I've been trying to find out what to do about THEIR mistake with my tax account, they overpaid it by over 1000$. Two phone calls to their mortgage department couldn't tell me jack about how to proceed, yesterday I finally got a letter in the mail telling ME to go to SNB file paper work, wait for a refund then bring the money back to THEM, in the mean time they'll keep taking an extra 100$ biweekly out of my account to recoup THEIR losses, no talk of compensation, no talk of when they were going to straighten out my mortgage payments, and I have to do all of the leg work for THEIR mistake. They paid long after my tax credit was applied to the account and never bothered to recheck the total, grrr... Anyway, I escalated my complaint to customer service (the second woman in mortgages I talked to was EATING on the phone, gross), she's given mortgages a day to respond again before filing a full departmental complaint. What a disaster. I'm really upset as this really puts our vacation plans on hold, losing 200$ a month out of your Me money really for lack of a better word sucks, by the time I plan on going on vacation in August I'll be out 400$ and there's no guarentee that this will be straightend out by then either.

So after fighting with the bank, again, I headed out to prune the lilacs. Poor shrubs didn't stand a chance ;) At least they should be in fine blooming shape for next season. After bathing Alex and reading one of our last chapters of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I settled into my nest and worked on Giggles. He now has a face (even if it isn't backstitched)


He now has a head!!

Today we woke up to some much needed rain. After a wet summer last year and a spring that left us wondering if we should build an ark the rain was still appreciated, at least by us. Alot of the lawns around town are looking a bit dry, including a small patch on ours. We definitely need a longer hose to reach that spot to water ourselves. There's a section near the front of the lot that has some large rocks near the surface and with the roots of the grass being more shallow they require more frequent watering. It looks kind of odd having this one yellow patch when the rest of the lawn is sooo lush. I could also use the rain to wash away the bird do-do.Ever since I started refinishing the bench and arbour they've been marking it, in the same spot!! The robins are getting right up there with crows on my annoyance list ;)

Now to go purchase my tickets for Tea with the Dragon at the Needle Arts Festival in Moncton the weekend of the 15-17!!

My Stitching Wish List

Maybe if I keep a wish list I can be prepared a bit better for sales ;)
-P03 Beware of Cat! Pocketbook Kit Lizzie Kate
-Fairy Roses Mirabilia
-Shepherd's Bush Yuletide Sampler
-Shepherd's Bush Wintertide Sampler
-Ottawa Sampler Jeanette Douglas
-Christmas Spool Tree Sue Hillis
-Dragon Virtures Dragon Dreams

This of course isn't including all the hand dyed fabrics I like but it's a start ;)

Giggles Update

Giggles In The Snow Progress

Tonight was a relatively relaxed night, Matt was out at poker night so I finished staining the arbour (yay one less eye sore on the property) and after a run in the sprinkler with Alex and a chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I nested in the stitching area and worked on Giggles.

Today mom had Alex as it was one of the rare day his sitter takes a day for herself, I think they had fun and I hope mom isn't too played out!

It's Good To Be Home!

The weekend went by with little incident. I get very stressed out about going up to the inlaws, sometimes things go fine, othertimes they are a complete disaster. Alex slept with us all weekend which meant we didn't get too much sleep, eventhough he had is Hot Wheels BYOB, the sleeping bag on it makes alot of noise when he moves which is alot, and I have a hard time sleeping with a night light on. Alex was very well behaved at the John Caldwell breakfast (Matt's old high school) and ate all of the ham he'd received. I was worried that he woudln't eat his breakfast as he usually eats it with Mustard, ewww, which I knew probably wasn't on hand. Apparently applesauce on his ham was sufficient. Matt and I snuck away Saturday night to see War of the Worlds, what a delight it was to go to a theatre that had REAL BUTTER instead of that immitation flavored oil that the Empire theatre chain has adopted (yuck). I really liked the movie although I think the news stations hyped the scary factor up just a bit too much, I don't think I illicited one of the blood curdling screams I did in Signs.

Alot of Sunday was spent on the phone trying to get ahold of the RCMP. Sunday morning we took the new divided highway up to the Irving Big Stop when we saw a car coming in the wrong direction!!!! We honked and motioned for the driver to stop and U turn but the lady kept on her merry old way. When we arrived at the big stop it was full so we headed to another restaurant over looking the falls, on our way there we saw the lady again in a parking lot so I got her license plate number and told Matt we should report it, we were debating reporting it at the light when she flew past us making a left on a red light, that solidified my argument for reporting it. After Matt calling 911, being forwarded to the local police and then to the RCMP who were 'unavailable' and we were given a 1-800 number which we couldn't get through to for over 4 hours. Part of that time was spent at the potato festival parade though.

We then headed back home. I debated finishing the staining on the arbour for a long time but knew I was tired so I put my pj pants on so I wouldn't go outside. Later in the evening mom arrived as she has Alex for the day so it was nice to have someone around who watched 'my shows' with me.

As for stitching I've made a little headway in Giggles, he now has the coloured part of his scarf and undercoat stitched and his arms are almost finished. On the trip to Grand Falls I worked on a charmed stocking kit by mill hill but didn't pull it out on the way home, I was just too tired. Hopefully this evening will be a bit more productive!!