Through The Eyes of a Child

There are alot of things that are interesting to hear about from a child's point of view. Mostly this year we've been hearing Alex's view on death with the loss of my grandmother and one of his classmates, however lately the topic of discussion has been money. He's fascinated by credit cards, but hasn't quite come to grips that it's not a shopping spree on a card, and that it can take time to pay off debt, which even the best of us end up dealing with once and awhile. We bought him the first 3 Magic Treehouse books but took a look at the library and found that they have alot of the ones that he isn't getting for Christmas. So I went over yesterday and retrieved a beat up copy of Tonight On The Titanic. When I gave it to him after school he was very excited, but I explained that we had to give it back when we were done, which upset him some. He has visions of owning the entire collection...Anyway, then he started asking questions between the difference between a credit card and a library card. I explained that the library card could only be used at the one spot and that it was a loan, credit cards you had to pay money to to continue using. He pondered over that for a bit and informed me "Mom, it was really good of you to use the library card. Save your credit card for important things....like toys for me" *smacks head*

Last night was relaxing, I was curled up on the couch and stitching for most of the evening as whatever bug I'd had had completely zapped the life out of me. It was nice to make so much progress ;) I also cleaned the bedding for the guest room downstairs and tidied up a little. All and all a very productive night.

Alex is very excited mom and dad are coming down before they fly out tomorrow (and mommy too). This weekend should be pretty busy, gym and swim tomorrow, birthday party Saturday, a pumpkin to carve AND a turkey to roast :) Who could turn down cheap turkey and a week of easy leftovers?? :)

Doe, Two Deer, Two Female Deer

Well, when I went to get my quesadilla out of the toaster oven after helping Alex with his homework I was NOT expecting to see a small doe out munching at the base of one of my lilac bushes. Alex thought it was really neat to watch it eat and we followed it through the house as it made it's way back over where they jump our fence...but first peeing on my lawn :( Alex and I made a costume compromise. He was very overwhelmed (in a good way) when mom dropped off the tickle trunk of costumes that used to be mine and my brother's, he wanted to wear them ALL at halloween. I got him to try on my old clown costume and it JUST fits so I've been after him to postpone the crayon costume. So last night we compromised, he could wear one of the crayon costumes to the Beaver Halloween party if he would wear the clown suit halloween.

Where we have company this weekend I decided to get the groceries after dropping Alex off instead of on Saturday. Although this required a quick trip back to the house to drop the seat off to Matt. I was extra vigilent about looking for deer, nada. I hopped out of the van, put the seat in the Corolla reversed down the driveway and there was an even bigger doe outside munching on one of the lilacs out front, where on earth did they come from??

Groceries was uneventful, I even managed to price winter tires in that time period ;) Turkey's were on sale so guess what we got, now I don't have to worry about cooking much all next week (very good where I'm leaving Friday and Alex and I won't be home for supper Tuesday, lots of leftovers for poor Matt). I didn't get to watch my taped Desperate Housewives as planned BUT I did get to stitch through LOST and Criminal Minds, sweet. Although CM is past my bedtime so I literally flopped into bed, no reading for me last night!!

Tonight should be a fairly stitchy night, and I should be able to get caught up on my taped shows a little. I have some tidying to do when I get home and that's about it for my 'duties' and Matt's raiding tonight so I can just veg by myself on the couch :)

Removing the Blinders

Yesterday was just one of those days, not very stitchy at all. We had a branch meeting at work, which was actually interesting this time around. I didn't realize some people in the branch had been involved in Hurricane Katrina cleanup and the Malawi project. The lady who spent two week in New Orleans in January had a tonne of pictures that were quite frightening, especially considering that was 5 months after and from what her volunteer friends say hasn't improved much since. It is amazing how much news coverage or lack there of skews our vision of the world. Gee from what bits and pieces I've heard on the news it was only positive, like this section reopenning...I knew things probably weren't fully dealt with but wow, they aren't even half way there, or at least not the every day working people like our family. Anyway, due to the meeting I lost my stitchy break time, sigh. That kind of set the pace for the day.

I did get a little stitching done at lunch and was all set to have a stitchy night at home, until I headed to the gym and read for a half hour while running. Now I'm really into the book ;) Oh my goodness, that curiosity phase that I thought Alex skipped showed up last night. We were kind of skeptical when Alex actually stayed in the bathroom long enough for a good tooth brushing (usually we have to send him back in), then Matt noticed something on his sleeve....my lipstick, thankfully not my good Aveda... It was a good thing Matt could be stern as I was trying not to laugh at how silly he looked with his lips colours 5 times bigger than Angelina Jolie's ;) After that incident Matt and I watched 30 Rock (which I just love) and I retreated to bed to read some more.

Tonight is Alex's big Beaver's Halloween party, needless to say he's pretty excited. Matt's signed up for some computing so that'll leave me to get caught up on some shows and stitch tonight, yippee!!

An A-MAZE-ing Weekend

Well, the weekend sure flew by quickly! Did I make as much stitching progress as I intended, heck no!

Saturday started off as usual, load kid in van, drive to gym and swim (and yes Faith Ann, I'm exactly with you on the sibling situation). I was waiting in the change room for Alex when the instructor came in, apparently he'd slipped and bumped his head and was playing it up for all it was worth. I appreciate their concern but when you have children yourself you do run down the checklist for signs of more than just a bump fairly quickly and know when they're playing up how mad/hurt they are. I'm the mother of a future Oscar nominee. An accident report later we headed to my brother's apartment to drop off some goodies. Alex wanted to move in so he could play with the cat. This went as far as informing me I could pick him up on the way back from groceries, needless to say I left with a pouty kid. The Coop was insane++ Apparently it was a sale week, I really need to watch out for those and move my grocery day when all of the out of townies aren't there! On the way out I noticed a flyer looking for part time help for the week of their massive annual sale next month. Am I crazy for even considering picking up a shift or two? I mean I do alot of the school all year round, it would be nice if some of my extra time gave me money and it's only a one week commitment and that's not guarenteeing shifts every evening. Having a little extra cash to put studs on the future winter tire purchase would be nice. Matt's gormet meal was a trip to the Esso for chicken, but at least we got a family movie to watch. We were pleasantly surprised with Zanthura, it wasn't a cheap Jumanji rip off, actually I liked it better. Alex LOVED it, the aliens scared him the first night but he was laughing the second time. The movie sealed off any notion of being cremated as yet another 'grandma's urn' was decimated ;)

Sunday Matt got up at a normal time so we watched Heroes together to get caught up. I LOVE the show but it's not a good stitchy show at all, and won't be until the Japanese character learns some more english so I don't have to read the subtitles ;) I made the boys a quick meal of nachos and left over tacos (guess who had the tacos) and headed to Body Jam/Body Pump. Needless to say I was pretty tired when I got home and in desperate need of a shower. After that refreshment though I was all set to go to the halloween maze and Green Village and happy to be getting rid of some 'oops' pickups that have been cluttering my cupboards for the food bank :) We tried a new dish for supper, Mexican Potato Casserole from www.aimeesadventures.com, which Matt really enjoyed. I did too but would have liked some help with the cutting. After Alex was in bed I ended up 'raiding' with Matt's guild which was actually exciting, especially where they finally completed an instance they've been trying all week. I used to laugh at gamer's but my, they put alot of thought into the tactics behind these things ;)

Today's a quiet day on the schedule, I'll be stitching away with Doctor Who and Justice tonight if all goes as planned ;)

Wreaths For Sale

For anyone in the area who puts a Christmas Wreath up, Alex's School is selling the following as their annual school fundraiser (and they're gorgeous, you can ask anyone who ordered them last year at these great prices)
-Traditional Wreath 12$
-Classical Wreath 10$
-Swags 8$
Pictures to follow. Delivery Date December 2, last day for orders November 3rd.

Well, last night wasn't much of a stitchy night. Matt and I had a 'date' to do some computing together so the time leading up until Alex's bedtime was pretty busy. I did get some stitching in over the noon hour though which did the trick.

Tonight should be quiet. Alex wants to watch a movie together with popcorn, supper's easy (tacos) so I should get some stitching in ;) Saturday has the usual crazy combo of gym and swim followed by groceries, although this Saturday we're adding in a delivery to my brother's house of some goodies my parents dropped off last week. Thankfully there are no birthday parties this weekend. I'm hoping to get some Christmas presents wrapped tonight so I can take the remaining boxes down to recycling while we're at gym and swim.

Sunday should be quiet besides Body Jam and Body Pump, maybe I'll get around to cleaning out one of the cupboards and doing a little more stitching ;)

Oh Deer!

Well, there have been traces of them for years, knocking over part of our fence, eating my hostas >:( but today was the first day I saw a deer on my street! Today's been one of the only fog free rain free days we've had in a while so seeing a 'cloud' caught my attention, sure enough it was a doe just standing in the bushes. I waited until it decided it was going to do, they aren't exactly the most intelligent creatures on earth. Why on earth they continue to come in our area I do not know. Our section of the subdivisions have been established for quite some time now. Anyway because she took her good old sweet time deciding where she was going to go Alex got to have a really good look at her and was pretty excited. He wanted to go home and call his pappy so they could go 'hunting', good grief. I guess it's time to have him watch Bambi, Brother Bear and The Fox and The Hound again ;)

Last night we arrived home and I had to get Alex's badges stuck on his beaver uniform. Thank goodness for heavy duty Therma Bond. I'll probably sew around them at some point but I just haven't felt up to it lately. I've discovered that it's a good idea when you're dropping your child off and your husband is picking them up to put a full inventory of what they're wearing, eventhough I did the raincoat was left behind but they went back for it ;) The boys went to check out IPod Shuffle stocks but they haven't been shipped yet. They did find a nice logitech headset for me for playing WoW though, it even has girlie colour "clips".

Stitching night was really fun. We had a paper embroidery class which was fun. It was also really neat to see Faith Ann's Blessings of Christmas afghan in person :) I didn't get any cross stitching done last night but it was really fun none the less. :)

Tonight should be relatively quiet, no extracurricular activities, just homework, a little stitching and a little computer :) I should really drop by the gym for a run on my way home as well (and finish another chapter or two of Embroidered Truths). Oh the weekend is getting soom much closer ;)

Avoiding the Itch

Ack... There is nothing more icky than hearing one of the kids you child knows has head lice. Just the thought of it makes me want to scratch ALL over. I mean the chances of contracting it yourself is just as great sitting in a nice high back cushioned chair in a restaurant or theatre but still, ick! We went into defensive mode and picked up a bath with menthol and tea tree oil shampoo just in case. All of the remaining children at the daycare have been screened and it vacuumed but still...those incubation periods are scary. Although if you have a cold my house was the place to be last night as that was all you could smell!! While Alex was soaking in the tub I bagged his stuffed animals just in case, I think this'll be a good opportunity to seperate out some of the baby stuffed animals and put them down in the playroom, it's amazing how much bigger his room looked without the whole zoo in there!

That whole garfuffle made last night very busy, and we also made our phone call to my brother before he flies to Bolivia today until March/April. After Alex was in bed I had lunches to make, laundry to do and then plunked my butt on the couch, reclined and stitched to Doctor Who and Justice. Doctor Who cracked me up last night towards the end. Matt moved his work at home day to today so I'm going to see about getting to Body Jam tonight as well as making a quick stop to pick up Over the Hedge and haggle over 5 dollars (thankfully the two stores are beside each other). Other than that it'll be stitching and catching up on some taped shows tonight for me ;)

Three Day Weekend!!

One has to love long weekends ;) I had a flex day that I'd planned on using the day after thanksgiving if mom and dad were able to stay down but used it on Friday instead and it was heavenly. I took Vanessa in for an oil and filter change after dropping Alex off for school and got right in so Matt came over for nothing, besides a trip to Tim Horton's while we waited. When I got home I hopped back in my jammies and watched Star Wars and Eureka and did some serious stitching reclined on the couch, sweet! At about 3 I cleaned up again and headed out to do some Christmas shopping. Well if Cathey thought she might come over Christmas morning to see Alex's IDog, I know she'll definitely be over with his final purchases, the two Star Wars Lego Wars games for the Xbox ;) Of course since I found them I found the one place I didn't think to price check them against has them 5$ cheaper each so I've gotta go back to get the guarentee. I also picked up a Cars version of Uno for his sock, and was tickled pink to find a Ninja Turtles Mega Blocks set on clearance. I had 'lego set' on his list but he's kind of at the age where he's inbetween lego phases so a 'theme' set with a mix of sizes was in order and he relates more to the NT's than the Harry Potter sets they had that were actual lego. What was even better was I'd cashed out my Visa points to pay for my half of the santa list ;) Now I just need to pick up stocking stuffers for him and Cars when it comes out on video and we're all set ;) I also picked up a little something for Matt in my travels. After that I picked up the groceries and Alex and headed home for a nice relaxing evening. Matt was transferring my level 60 Warcraft character to a different server (which had a backlog) so even the computer wasn't able to tear me away from stitching ;)

Saturday was busy. Thankfully we didn't have to go grocery shopping after swimming though ;) I started the new Patricia Ann ornament out of this years JCS as my big project was too busy for the ups and downs of gym and swim. Alex had a blast at the birthday party at Kingswood, I hung around for about 15 minutes and then went home to watch Kung Fu Hustle on the free preview the movie channel was having this weekend. Matt and I enjoyed it, although I guess it wouldn't be for everyone ;) I had a bit of a panic when I went to pick up Alex. All of the kids were in the birthday room except Alex, I was so worried. I didn't know that with their treat bags they had coins to play the games there so he'd snuck off to go check them out. We ended up staying another 45 minutes to use up his coins. :) Matt picked up some pizza and we watched another movie while Alex played dressup with the halloween costumes mom brought up on the holiday, then we all cuddled (stitched) on the couch and watched Ninja Turtles 2 (Alex inherited all of his uncles movies on the holiday too where it wouldn't be cost effective to take them over to Switzerland).

Sunday ended up being busy so I appreciated my lazy friday even more ;) After putting a load in the laundry, a moose roast in the slow cooker and sweeping I headed out for Body Jam and Body Pump (thankfully the boys raked while I was out). I was completely spent when I got home, so much that I passed out on the bed even though the sheets were in the wash. Alex ate his moose without realizing it wasn't beef, yippee!! I had a little bit but haven't had much of an appetite lately, which makes up for my lack of gym time last week ;) I also laced two pieces, my SB Witches Moon as the frame is in and Katie's Eggs, stitched by Cathey, which is now proudly displayed beside my china cabinet. I've felt bad about not getting it up sooner. First there was the spring flood which had the basement in chaos, then the wedding, then hunting for the perfect frame, then misplacing my glazier setter, etc... It looks so nice were it is now though :)

Today I'm hoping will be low key, supper's quick and easy to make and my end of the laundry is done. So here's hoping I'll be stitching away to Dr Who and Heroes tonight ;)

Santa's Unexpected Gift

And yes...it's the name of the ornament, not some subtle hint we're expecting.

It's too bad the pick doesn't show how cute the fuzzy stuff is (and sparkly). Stitched on SMF Golden Turret

Girlie Night!

Hooray, last night was a stitchy night, it was a bit crazy leading up to it but definitely appreciated in the end ;) My goals for pre-stitchiness were clean out the freezer as the moose meat arrives tonight, get supper ready, clean up the remaining remnants of turkey day and shower. There's nothing like arriving home to the dishwasher not unloaded and just about being ready to hop in the shower when someone calls to make sure we're home to drop off something DH had to take to work with him this morning, he really needs to be a courrier business so we can right off some things!! Anyway, I did manage to get everything done in time for company ;) It was neat seeing Eleni and Angela's projects and getting caught up, although my meds were making me a little loopy towards the end of the night. Losing an hours sleep the night before didn't help but my train of thought was pretty derailed. :(

So, in my accomplishments last night I finished the cross stitching of this year's Dragon Dream ornament, Santa's Unexpected Gift and moved back to the other project. The deep freeze had alot of the frost chipped away and anything freezer burnt or unrecognizable was tossed so there's plenty of room for moose meat. I was happy to find some things though that must have fallen recently, like a bag of chicken nuggets and a package of yogurt, woo hoo, less groceries to buy in the future. I also shouldn't have to buy juice until about 2007! Cleaning the deep freeze is depressing, especially when there's waste. Definitely motivation to keep better inventory though!

Tonight will be another juggling act with our winter meat arriving and beavers. Speaking of Beavers does anyone want to trade places Saturday?? Beaver's has 'apple day' Saturday 8-12 but Alex has Gym and swim so he'll have to leave early...then after picking up some quick groceries I have to get him ready for a birthday party at 2, ughhh... I know I complained last year about him having no social life but now it's pretty much a new invitation every week. Thankfully the one that arrived yesterday was at the same time as another party, unfortunate for the sweet little girl celebrating her's but an invitation to a 'boy' party for someone his own age is what we've been hoping for. The next party is another logistical nightmare as I believe it's on the same day as our neighborhood watch halloween party, they probably are back to back but the time hasn't been announced for the halloween party. Oye!

Oh Pumpkin Head...

First off, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Ok...we had our dinner today on the civic holiday, which has been the 'tradition'. It seems that every year the only day that accomodates everyone's schedules for a dinner is the Monday as opposed to the more traditional (for the Christians anyway) Sunday. Dinner went off without a hitch and it was so nice to be surrounded by family, although a tad sad without Gram's presence :( Alex was soo excited to have everyone at the house for the feast. It was too funny when I heard a 'I LOVE mashed potatoes'....when he had none on his plate. He thought the stuffing was mashed potato. I even baked my first squash for the event, it was so yummy with the Epicure Maple Spice Dip Mix mixed in instead of brown sugar ;)

Well, I met my weekend goals, Crewel Yule is done (and my gosh I was scandalized when I read the back of Embroidered Truths!! I couldn't believe the victim), Boo (or lovingly nicknamed Pumpkin head by Cathy, Faith Ann, Shannon and I) was stitched and the house generally cleaned up. I got back to Body Pump Sunday and that's a whole other blog subject (long story).

So without further ado, here's Pumpkin head, stitched on navy eavenweave with glow in the dark lettering and some other finishes

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by Faith Ann!

So brace yourselves...5 weird things about me:
1) I too hate my food to touch, fish and chips are the only things allowed to touch!
2) I collect past seasons of Buffy The Vampire Slayer :)
3) I can pick up things with my feet
4) I can watch scary movies but my basement scares me at night
5) People touching my face freaks me out, kisses, ok but hands, including Matt's no way!

Who to tag now that the pumpkin head group has been?? I guess I'll leave it to Eleni, Angela and Barbara :)

Game On

Well...I think I'm game for the 50 pattern challenge. I was looking at my cyberstitchers gallery and last year I had about 25 completes and this year is 26 and counting (there's a few that haven't been posted). That's only two years of not buying any new patterns and I do have more than enough to do me until then.

Last night turned out much busier than expected. I was delighted to see some parcels waiting for me when I got home....All Epicure!! I was in seventh heaven. So last night's spare minutes were spent sorting spices. I took a very nice walk over to Faith Ann's to get some fresh air and drop off her goodies and visit for a little bit. I love her lilac craft room :) The rest of the evening I sorted some more and took the recycling out to the curb. I can't believe how much we accumulated, especially considering I'd taken a load down to the common bins in between pickups (we only have ours once a month). I did get a little stiching in but spent a little time unwinding with Matt in front of the PC.

Well...this weekend thanks to the 'halloween enablers' I'll be working on the 'pumpkin head' freebie over on the Dragon Dreams site, how could I resist ;) Thankfully I have all the materials so it'll be a cheap project ;)

This weekend's goals:
-Stitch 'Pumpkin Head'
-Finish reading Crewel Yule
-scrub floors
-Get a little more stitching in
-Get rid of this #$%^@ cold!! ;)

We're hosting the annual turkey dinner again this year, Alex is very excited that he'll have all of his grandparents present. Which reminds me that I need to pick up some placemats...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Did the Alarm Really Go Off?

I too have been having fun figuring out how to use my stash for years to come. After the long weekend I'm going to have to make a stash list as well ;) Although I don't think I'll ever be as organized as Faith Ann ;) It's kind of fun seeing how far the supplies in the basement will go :)

Last night was fairly hectic. Matt has a client in from Australia so he's had to skip his work at home days, meaning I had monkey pickup and beavers to deal with, although after dropping Alex off I had a nice long bubble bath with a book. Matt was kind enough to pick him up so I pj'd up and set out Alex's clothes for today as well putting his makeshift homework in his bag (the regular homework didn't come home, but I preread the assignments so I have an idea of what to do). After he was tucked in bed Matt and I reclined on the couch, me with my stitching, and watched Bones. My goodness that show cracks me up, it's my snappy dialogue fix now that Buffy and Angel are done (although Eureka also satisfies this need). I was falling asleep though by the time the show was done.

I didn't get much sleep last night, my cold had me up at 4, but sure enough by 6:30 I didn't feel sick enough not to go to work. Why can't my body cooperate?? ;)

2007 Stitching Goals

Oh I do dislike having a cold. With my new job I have something like 3 weeks of sick time, much better than the 6 days max I used to have but do you think I can bring myself to use them?? Unless it's a high grade fever or digestive issue I have to drive Alex into school anyway so why not go to work right?? If that's not dedication I don't know what else is ;)

After work I was a good little girl and headed to the gym for my 30 minute run...which also involves plowing through another Monica Ferris book. Thankfully I'm on the one that Karoline lent me in March, I've been feeling guilty for having it so long but wanted to read the others in order first. I'm definitely on track to have Crewel Yule back to her by the time our next stitching gathering rolls around and should be done Embroidered Truths shortly after that ;)

Last night was another early night for me. My medication makes me pretty sleepy in the evenings, so Matt and I reclined on the couch and watched Heroes which we'd taped the night before. I got a litle stitching in but had an attack of the Frogs, sigh. I haven't had an off by one error on evenweave in ages. All the talk of going stash free has made me plan my stitching for next year, and besides some DMC replenishing I can do it completely from stash :) So without further ado here are my 2007 stitching goals:

-Shepherd's Bush Terri's Stocking (for me)
-Fiddlestitch Cottage Winter Teapot
-Fiddlestitch Cottage Spring Teapot
-Dragon Dreams Lost Dragon Sampler (for Alex)
-Finish Dragon Dreams Summer's Magic
-Finish Mirabilia's Guardian Angel
-Finish Lavender and Lace's In The Arms Of An Angel
-Leisure Arts In The Life Of A Child
-6 ornaments
-Work on Lavender and Lace's The Wedding
-Finish SB's Baby Bug Ball

Not Quite the Finishing Weekend Planned

Well, so much for getting any finishing done this weekend. Well that's not entirely true, I did finish stitching a Christmas Gift and have another one 'done' until retreat which is my goal to go dmc free. I wasn't expecting Matt home so soon from hunting...or the birthday invitation Alex received for Sunday.

Saturday we ALL went to gym and swim and then headed up to walmart to pick up some jars (to can salsa) and a birthday gift. This took alot longer than expected due to the crazy sales going on there and the fact that the boys took me out to check out IPod shuffle stocks (sigh, no Shuffles in at the futureshop, I hate when they try to sell you something else because they don't have what you want in stock....I can wait them out ;)). I made lunch when we got home and then completely zonked out for 3 hours, some medication I'm taking either makes me drowsy or allows me to catch up on the sleep I've been missing for the last month. By the end of the day though I was able to cut some pieces of foam core that I need to do some framing. Somewhere in there I also finished the last Monica Ferris book in my stash, now I can finally get on to the two that Karoline lent me.

Sunday was hectic. There was salsa to be made, a tonne of laundry to go out on the line and then the birthday party. Oh my what a mess that was to get to. It was being held at a local park, normally not a problem...but the foodbank was holding it's family fun/fill a bus for thanksgiving drive at the park one block up and the Run for the Cure was bordering the park. Roads closed here, traffic jam there...after a long walk we finally arrived. Needless to say that by the time I got back to the car I just made it back from groceries in time to pick Alex up.

I'm sooo hoping to do some finishing this weekend, due to the holiday there's no swimming to go to, and all of the supplies for Thanksgiving were picked up in advance so there'll be no running to the store. :)