Sunday, October 30, 2005
Good bye Daylight Savings Time
We had a very nice weekend and productive. I raked a portion of the yard Saturday while Matt resealed some shingles and trimmed the tree that was rubbing against the house when windy. The boys went to get their hair cut and I went on a fruitless boot hunt but did find Alex some Christmas jammies ;) Saturday night I went to bed at 10 after getting mad for stitching in the wrong colour, after picking up what I thought was the rest of the white thread but when I put it under my mock ott-lite it wasn't the same, probably one of the shaders.
Due to our unexpected bedroom guest we didn't make it to church this morning but did attend the area's neighborhood watch halloween party. Alex had a great time roasting weenies, playing games, chasing the other power ranger and facing off against the three darth vaders. He even came in second place in the guess the weight of the pumpkin contest and won himself a cheeseburger and fries from mcdonalds. We also carved pumpkins today, we had so much fun carving our big one that we carved our two decorative pumpkins too! I have a tonne of seeds to roast when I find my recipe!! I also made some really good low fat/low cal pumpkin muffins out of Crazy Plates, much moister than my weight watchers recipe for them and for about the same points. I've done some frogging and stitching tonight as well as set up for the trick or treaters as I won't be getting home first tomorrow night. Now off to bed...
Friday, October 28, 2005
TGIF!
Last night was relatively quiet, with the exception on a new cousin (second or third, I forget how that goes) for Alex and a note from school informing us about performances and that the money was due yesterday, sheesh. It also involved getting groceries (my least favorite chore) and getting to bed early. ;) Oh and I did wrap 3 christmas gifts!! Another one of Matt's gifts arrived in the mail yesterday (thankfully on a day where he doesn't get to the mail first ;)) so now he's pretty much shopped for, dad's done and so is my brother Steven, plus most of Alex's toy related gifts are bought too! I love being almost done early!
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Rita Skeeter Returns!
Last night was a stitchy night, supper was a breeze as it was the one day a week to delve into the B-grade pizza box that showed up last week, yum! Then I headed over to Faith Ann's to pick up my ultra cool pumpkin cottage and I finally got to see the house which is so nice, I loved the colours. I'm soo going to paint some of mine after this wedding!!
I did get some stitching in last night after Alex went to bed, story time ran into the beginning of Smallville so we read the last couple pages in the living room. Alex wanted to watch too as he's pretty obsessed with superheros but thankfully as soon as he said that it was a commercial break so he was scooted to bed. I then parked my tooshie on the loveseat and stitched away at the weddding. I think this is going to be the first pattern I make a working copy of to mark up! I dropped by the computer room on my way to bed and logged my character in to pick up her Robes of Arcana and headed to bed.
I'm really not looking forward to grocery shopping tonight, not one little bit! Thankfully I don't need that much as with the trip to gram's for supper friday and the bgrade last night I have two meals to carry forward to this week, yay! Less planning!
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Not much notice
Last night wasn't as stitchiy a night as I was hoping, however I did get lots of quality little boy time so that made it all worth while (and I even won for once at Candyland!!). Tonight there will definitely be some stitching going on as Smallville's on and I might as well start getting caught up on my taped shows ;)
15 more sleeps until we leave for retreat!
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Another Movie Night!
Today doesn't have anything on the agenda, I may skip the gym as I'm getting a cold and just read Harry Potter as I really need to finish it up before the movie comes out. Tonight I'm hoping to get caught up on at least one taped show before bed which may even be possible before Alex heads to bed where supper is late on evenings Matt's driving ;) Then it'll be trying to finish another chapter of Harry, stitching on the wedding and heading back to bed. ;)
Monday, October 24, 2005
FOUND!!
Busy as a Bee
Saturday we got up and put in one of the two new 7 day programmable thermosats, thermostat 2 was more of a problem than the other three as we ran into trouble in the bathroom, more wires than expected and a thermostat directly wired into the box and not on a breaker (leading to very ticked off Matt, a trip to Kents, no power for a couple hours, etc). After Matt returned home I finally planted my fall bulbs, all 63 of them (tulips, daffodils, crocus and something else...can't think of the name right now) just to stay out of the warpath ;) That afternoon we headed up river with mom and gram to visit my great aunt which was neat, I got to look through some very old leather bound albums of my grandmother's ancestors picks. Alex was having fun playing with one of my late great grandmother's stuffed bears and was perplexed by a racoon pelt that was there.
Saturday night we got out for a movie which was fun, something Matt and I haven't done in a long time!! Sunday morning I finally got to talk to the minister and we'll be confirming the date with the church this week, yippee!! We then headed over to gram's and this visit I noticed that she now has my late grandfather's RCAF tags on display as well as a pair of baby moccasins that were hers (what a great history weekend ;)) . We picked up my brother (and got to visit the Degus) and headed to the Snooty Fox, yum! In transit I hit a squirrel, sigh, but he appeared fine as he was climbing the tree when I looked back :( I had their stuffed chicken supreme which is sooo good (chicken stuffed with spinach, feta cheese and garlic with a red pepper sauce), while mom tried out their roasted veggie sandwich. I love that place!!
Sunday afternoon was quiet, as was the evening, just some stitching (pulled out The Wedding again) and watched Cold Case and Desperate Housewives (where smallville was last night I don't know :() I talked with Lisa for a bit about wedding details and Alex called mom on her last night in town to wish her good night, then we talked for a bit more. I've really enjoyed being in the same town with mom even if it's only temporary ;) Tonight will be all about stitching after Alex goes to bed, I'm sure he'll be pretty pooped as he has a field trip this morning down to the Country pumpkin, I hope it stays dry!!
Only 17 more sleeps until we leave for retreat!!
Friday, October 21, 2005
Stitching Blogger's Question
Do you mark or hi-lite your patterns or can you follow them without any markings? Do you make copies to mark up, or do you mark originals?
I normally don't mark up my patterns, I usually don't have mark up copies as most of the designers I stitch have replacement pattern programs, although if I notice the creases starting to get worn while I'm still working on it I will make a working copy. I do good enough keeping my nest of threads, scissors, fabric in order, I can just imagine me trying to juggle a highlighter too ;)
A Fruitless Hunt
I missed Stitchy night Wednesday but got to spend it shopping with my mom which was fun++, I found an awesome present for Alex to boot. I did get to drop in for a bit as Lucy had offered to send the deposit cheque for me and I had money to drop off and pick up, plus my finished projects to show off for a little bit ;) I was glad to hit the sack that night as we'd been to a grueling body pump class at lunch.
Last night after groceries/supper/bath/bed I logged into Warcraft for a bit with Matt and openned up my R&R Reproductions Java Moon for the Samsarah ornament this year and I don't know what they did in the dyeing process but the whiff of whatever it was when I openned the bag almost knocked me out (well just a wee bit of overdramatization there ;)), but it did stink. After working on his belly for a bit it didn't stink as badly. I'm hoping I can finish what threads I have for him this weekend and just be waiting on my 'straglers' order from Janice ;) I think everyone will know when it comes in as I'll be posting finishes left right and center (I'd rather wait than sub threads if possible).
Today's a pretty clean slate, there's the option of going to the newbody class at lunch but I'll wait and see what mom's doing, I do the same routine week after week so having a week to do something different and get some visiting time in makes being flexible fun ;)
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
To Tell The Truth
Last night Alex and I stopped at Tracy's for her Creative Memories sell off, I picked up alot of neat stuff for my wedding album. Alex followed her 11 year old everywhere and wanted to move in, sigh... After supper, homework, bath, bed, I finally got to watch Mr Deeds which I'd borrowed from Angela. My goodness I laughed, especially where Deeds was saving the cats from the burning building. I stitched some as well although my get up and go for this ornament has got up and left. I stitched in the wrong colour for a little bit last night and will need to check my DMC book to see if there's much of a colour difference between 553 and 554, sigh. I don't find the one that I stitched in coordinates that well with the adjacent colour but I can't see one shade making that big a difference, it's more of a conflict of hue.
Tonight I have nothing on the schedule, hopefully mom is coming to visit tonight which would be nice. Eventhough we saw mom and dad on Thanksgiving it was kind of hectic so it'll be nice to have a quality visit. I'm sure she'll hear all about Alex finally getting to be the class leader yesterday which he's been waiting to be since school started. He was soo proud yesterday!!
Monday, October 17, 2005
A Super Stitchy Weekend
Alex and I headed to Wallace and Grommit on Saturday, had to move twice though, once for a three month old and another for a birthday party, I'm so glad we made the last minute decision to move away from the birthday party as they really acted up, just what you want after spending $25.00 on tickets and concessions. Besides the annoyances the movie was awesome! Alex is finally at the age where he's picking up on some of the more tame subtle humor, although the middle age spread jam was totally over his head. Oh... I almost forgot the penguins from Madagascar featurette, my goodness they make me laugh with 'Hoover Dam' and 'Shitake Mushroom'.
Yesterday we attempted to see the minister after church but our service ended up running into the 11:45 service, which never happens, so I sent an e-mail and if I don't hear from him I'll see him next Sunday (I'm just so anxious to get the ball rolling especially where the reception site is tentatively booked!!)
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Friday, October 14, 2005
Stressed To The Max
Then I get a call yesterday from 'dream job' that they need someone even better than my supervisor, do people not realize that not all organizational structures are the same?? I rarely see my manager and to do my review my supervisor provides him with all the info. Let alone HR seemed to think I could just track him down like that, HAH! that was at 3 yesterday and he's STILL in meetings. I've decided with the surgery and wedding stress that I'm in no frame of mind to certify for bilingual so I have to break it to them that I only want to be put in for the anglophone position, between med tests and appointments and actual work meetings and training I really can't take anymore time off. Ughhh...
Then yesterday at the bus one of the fathers wanted to move the bus stop as he 'couldn't make a left' to get home (from a U driveway, turn your friggin car around). He yelled at me this morning when I took my son to the regular stop to which I replied that unless he went through school board to get it approved which he never would due to safety concerns I was staying put. The bus comes to the other side of the road stop 3 minutes before ours if you can't get up 3 minutes earlier then drive your kids to school, don't endanger other peoples kids by putting the bus at an angle where it's end is too close (but not directly in the line of vision) to a joining street so that turning traffic can't see the lights. Good grief.
With all that I was stressed to the max by the time I got home last night, I put a frozen pizza in the oven which I rarely do..., after we ate I laid down for a bit before the christmas bazarre meeting and slept through half of it so I decided not to go. Instead I finished stitching what I need to on the LOVE needleroll, found the remainder of the threads for Britty Christmas Kitty and then headed to bed. Here's hoping I get ALOT of stitching therapy on the weekend!!
Stitchers Question Of The Week
I'm a stitching free spirit, when I taught myself to stitch it was with itty bitty kits that were too small for hoops so I never really got into the hoop, qsnap, scroll bar craze so I guess this really doesn't apply to me.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Jump For Joy HD
Joy Needleroll (JCS 03)-Jeannette Douglas
Well it was actually stitched on the weekend but here's my HD picture ;) Now to get the ribbon to tie the ends!! I should have cropped but was too tired last night to access the software by the time this arrived via e-mail last night from dad ;) I plugged away at restitching the Love needleroll which is now all ready to bead and am just waiting for the pearl petite treasure braid and fyrewerks to finish it. I'll probably redo the twill stitch as the stitch instructions in the back do not give the same diagonal effect, e-mailed Jeannette and am waiting to see if she did anything special or if it was just her thread. I've figured out a way to accomplish the same effect and I'm hoping she's just going to confirm what I've already thought of ;)
I've been so zonked for energy this week it isn't even funny. I even taped Lost (not to happy with ABC for moving it so late in the evening) so I could hit the sheets! I'll probably get caught up at 8 tonight seeing as Global no longer airs Joey before Survivor, sigh... Speaking of Joey we watched last weeks and when we turned it off the vcr just happened to be on Friends and my goodness I hadn't realized how much I missed that show! It was the Christmas in Tulsa episode with all of the flashbacks and I then put in a request to start collection the old seasons on DVD. ;) Oh wait, I have a Christmas Bizarre meeting tonight, maybe I won't get caught up at 8 after all... sigh... Why oh why do they only give people 2 days notice about these things, don't they realize that most mothers work now a days and with gas prices up some of us actually make an effort to lump all of our trips in one?? sigh...
Only one more sleep until the weekend thank goodness!
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Maid of Honor Happy Dance...
As for stitching I did do some last night, I have the hearts at the top of the Jeanette Douglas Love needleroll stitched in, and one snow flake (actually the cardinal is done but needs to be restitched due to an off by one, I dislike stitching over one, error which then put the other snowflake off). I also think I'm going to redo the twill stitch to get the same diagonal effect that's on the model. So essentially after lost tonight I should have everything (maybe even some of the hemstitching) done and just be waiting for my RB threads to arrive.
Tonight should be pretty relaxed, as was last night, not having to cook for two days straight is a godsend!
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Happy Thanksgiving
On the stitching side this weekend was surprisingly productive. I finished my Joy Needleroll and just need to pick up some ribbon to ornamentify it, all the finishing sewing is done. My Silkweaver bundle arrived on Friday so I started on my Love needleroll only to realize my Needle Necessities was AWOL so I had to put it down after 2.5 bands (mind you I found it Monday, after spending the weekend convinced it was at work), after that I started Britty Christmas Kitty, working over one when you've been cleaning all day isn't nearly as relaxing!! Britty should be done this week and Love should be done minus the Rainbow Gallery Fyrewerks and pearl petite treasure braid I'm waiting for. I've decided to take the entire month off of stitching the wedding and working on ornaments, I should have a fair showing for retreat ;)
Friday, October 07, 2005
Seventeen
Still No Serenity
When we got home last night after going winter boot shopping (I've learned the hard way to do it sooner than later or else it ends up costing $$$) and surprisingly finding a General Grievous for Alex's stocking (he has one that is minus an arm) we headed home to put up my new pumpkin windsock. When I was trapsing across the wet yard (grass is STILL GROWING, arghhhh....) I noticed a beige spot on my indian corn! I went to investigate as I thought it was one of the husks falling down...nope EATEN!!!! Good grief. When I mentioned it to Matt when he got in he said that Wednesday when he was working at home he heard banging on one of the doors and went to investigate, no intruder at the kitchen, looked out the living room and nothing there either. He threw back the curtain on the front door and whoosh, off takes a blue jay. So much for my 4$ Thanksgiving decoration!
My appointment with the doctor went well, I was so pleased. She warned me it may take awhile to get into the surgeon I wanted but my gut really told me to stay away from the bozo at the breast clinic. I was later venting to a friend of mine who had a relative that had seen said bozo and personally regarded said bozo as a cold hearted, uncaring butcher. I'm a bit more at ease with the thought of going to see a surgeon we've already had contact with before with Alex who everyone else highly recommends. yippee!!
Now to think of how I'd say all this in french to have any hope of passing my bilingual test...
Thursday, October 06, 2005
One of Those Days
I was pretty fidgety as even though I told the assessment clinic I was going for a second opinion there was a letter in the mail booking me, arghhh.... Yay and an appointment for testing that they never bothered to mention. Then I logged into my computer and there was a letter stating that they wanted to screen me for the bilingual position as opposed to the english I wanted, just what I need more stress! I've retained my comprehensive french the 10 years I've been out of school but its my level of communication back that needs work, sigh... I managed to finish stitching the hem stitch on my needleroll, sewed the seam and stuffed it. An ornament for me and an ornament for retreat are now done, yippee!!!
Well off to see if I can get referred for a second opinion!
Seven
7 Things I Want to Do Before I Die
1. finish stitching my stash
2. pay off the mortgage
3. expand our little family
4. see Disney World
5. Finish painting the deck, only to tear it down in a year or so and put a new one up with semi transparent stain
6. have another nova scotia duck tolling retriever
7. visit Cuba
7 Things I Can Do
1. Juggle three hectic schedules and make sure everyone has clean clothes and a healthy meal
2. Stitch in the car
3. Stand up for myself
4. Play Clarinet and Sax
5. Organize and efficiently execute christmas brunch and thanksgiving dinner
6. Pick up toys and clothes with my toes
7. Mow my own lawn
7 Things I Can't Do
1. Drive a standard
2. Tan
3. Pass up the occasional fish and chips
4. Read in a car
5. Go on carnival rides that involve alot of spinning (thankfully roller coasters are still in)
6. Sleep on my back
7. Bring myself to touch a reptile or rhodent with a tail (guinea pigs are fine)
7 Things That Attract Me to Another Person (in random order)
1. Honesty
2. Intellect
3. Wit
4. Height
5. Compassion
6. Adventurous
7. Anything that makes me more complete knowing them
7 Celebrity Crushes
1. Tom Welling
2. James Marsters
3. David Boreanaz
4. Matthew McConaughey
5. Matthew Fox (gosh I really do like Matthew/Mathieu's)
6. Josh Lucas
7. Jamie Bamber
7 Things I Say the Most
1. Arghhh....
2. Is it Friday Yet?
3. I wish I were stitching
4. I love you
5. Taco day is friday, not saturday, sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday or thursday
6. You'd drive alot better if you pitched that cell phone of yours in the ocean.
7. Can you turn that down please??
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Finished Pics!
Jeanette Douglas's Peace Needleroll-JCS 04
Shepherd's Bush Merry Season
Shepherd's Bush Witches Moon
Last night turned out alot more quiet than expected, our movie plans went bust so I actually got some of the pre-company cleaning done. Does my oven ever sparkle!! ;) Yesterday I also got the photos of Alex's first day of school developed which I'll post later so there isn't picture overload.
I got my hair cut at lunch finally, yippee and picked up the Turkey and Varsol (great combination) after work. After Matt got home we ate and played with Alex until bed time, reading Green Eggs and Ham yet another time and then logged into WoW after tucking Alex in. Darn Major League baseball pre empting Bones!! I did manage to get the hem stitch in on one end of needleroll #2 and hope to have that assembled tonight unless of course we manage to reschedule Serenity for tonight ;)
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Lack of Communication Creates Work
Last night didn't yield any stitching, my head just was not in it after a series of frustrating events so I logged into warcraft for a big and headed to bed. Today I'm finally getting my hair trimmed as right now where I've been growing it out for the wedding the layers almost meet with the bottom, making it look like Alex did my last hair cut. I can't wait to crop it up again after the wedding!! I do have the second needleroll packed away in my purse so I can attempt to hemstitch away while it's being cut where that stitch is so mindless!!
Monday, October 03, 2005
Operation Completion a Success!
Saturday Alex and I got up and made our pineapple chicken in black bean sauce for the finishing day down with the Friends That Count. When it was ready we packed up the car with food, stitching stuff and things to keep Alex busy. We headed to market first where Alex insisted on his own hot italian sausage, I'm thinking great I've been doing well on Weight Watchers and if he doesn't finish it I may be tempted to, but he wolfed it down, then promptly got in the line to see tinsel the clown. Where he didn't actually ask to go see the clown I took him for a little walk to pick out our Indian Corn for the door and waited for him to ask nicely to see the clown which he did. He loves his balloon sword and I even got a little heart sticker (which I forgot was on and ended up walking around with all day!!)
When we arrived at stitching Alex wasn't the only little one there, April had come up with 4 month old Quinn. The two of them were so good!! Tracy of Fiddlestitch Cottage showed up near lunch with her Thanksgiving design almost done, I can't wait until it's in print. I did pick up my winter teapot and she also brought in my Creative Memories leaf maker, yippee!! Alex and I headed out at 3:40 (I can't believe he stayed that long) and bought our tickets for Tim Burton's Corpse Bride which I really liked (the new Harry Potter trailer was awesome, although if they do that montage showing the kids all growing up again I'll scream, I'm not supposed to get choked up in previews). After that some mcdonalds was in order and we headed home to play some board games and wait for Matt to return.
Sunday was a super completion day. I finished stitching both needlerolls after Faith Ann dropped off my threads, yippee!!! Then I finished stitching my Dragon Dreams Hippocampus, fixed some stitched and attached the button on SB's Witches Moon, attached the buttons to SB's Merry Season and then assembled one of the needlerolls. After lunch I headed out and finished painting the last three sections of rungs on the porch and after cleaning up a bit I mowed the front lawn (here it is October and I'm still mowing every week....). I also got one bunch of tulips planted!! Sunday night was for relaxing and doing some of the forementioned stitching ;) (Completed pics to follow as soon as I get my film processed)
I don't know what's on the agenda for tonight, probably mowing the backyard and touching up the white paint on the rungs, then we can finally do the floor, yippee!! Thankfully I have no must see programming on Mondays!!