Smile

Ack! I came home Monday to a gap toothed smile ;) There are alot of things that you learn to handle when you're a mom, give me stinky diapers, give me vomit but loose teeth gross me out, Here's hoping the adult teeth come in as nicely placed as his baby ones were *crosses fingers* Well, it's finally time I shared my progress on Miss Vicki. I apologize for the picture quality but it was a bit rushed. Apparently in my backstitching blitz yesterday I forgot to do her mouth, eek! She'll be perfect once the white is in her fur but where it's whisper I'd like to do that last. Sigh... Here's hoping the border goes smoothly after the two big green sections are done. I really can't wait to get back to the ribbon.

Yesterday Faith Ann asked a very interesting question. Assuming I had no WIPS what five projects would I start guilt free.

1) Heirloom Nativity - Victoria's Sampler (need pattern, thread packs and fabric)
2) Toy Gatherer - Shepherd's Bush (need kit)
3) Lady of the Mist - Mirabilia (kitted)
4) Santa's Magic - Mirabilia (need kreiniks)
5) Touching the Autumn Sky - Mirabilia (maybe need fabric)

The one I see starting first is Touching the Autumn Sky, I'm still getting warmed back up to doing large pieces and it would be perfect. Plus I have the pattern and threads in my stash, although I'm thinking about ordering something from Silkweaver for it ;) A close #6 would have been A Dragon's Garden by Dragon Dreams but I'm still trying to decide what colour I'd like to stitch it on. It would be perfect in Alex's room!! I'm curious, what would your 5 guilt free starts be?? :)

Lost and Found

Well last night was day two of working out at home and it worked out well. Alex really enjoys doing his homework in our family room and his toys downstairs are getting ALOT more attention now. I like that I'm still getting my workout in but by the time I'm done Alex is also done his homework, it is definitely condusive to more family time.

After Alex was in bed I did a little surfing then Matt and I had a nice night curled up on the couch watching one of our seasons of tv shoes that we got for Christmas and Vicki made her grand appearance. She's coming along slowly but surely, the ruffle at the bottom of her coat definitely doesn't stitch up as fast as her coat did. After that thoug I can't see the border taking as much time. Atleast with the ribbon it divides it up into mini goals :) I really can't wait to get to put the whisper in beads on, I think she's going to be very pretty :)

In other big news, I feel like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I got Alex tickets to the Backyardigans as part of my mommy/son christmas gift, it was to be a mommy son night and we're heading there with Faith Ann and her DS. I put them where I thought was a safe place, one that wouldn't end up bringing the tickets on the Grand Falls leg of the trip. Well...I've been looking for them ever since we got back! Thankfully because they're internet tickets they can be reprinted otherwise I was looking at praying for available seats and shelling out more money. Hooray! Now I can look forward to our 'date night' again :)

Love These

Well, I've seen Barbara Ana's freebies at cyberstitchers for awhile now and love them, and need to figure out how to clone myself to do them all. Now I see some of her other designs that I adore (I think it's the bright colours that draw me to them) are for sale so I guess they'll be on on 'what to buy' list when I'm done my 50 projects. I really need to update my total ;)

Cross Stitch Designs by Barbara Ana

A New Year, A New Look

Well out with the old template in with the new! I don't know why I waited so long to change! Definitely much easier to add new things to the blog with the new template editor. Maybe my reluctance to change is a sign I really am getting older ;)

We had a low key but busy weekend. With the freezing rain we weren't going anywhere Friday or very early Saturday. This involved quite a bit of vegging and still frantically searching for Alex's Backyardigans tickets :( I had a hair appointment in the afternoon to look forward to and the boys were going out themselves to take care of Alex's mop so I did a bit of decluttering. At least the items made it to the bag even if the boys somehow did not make it to Value Village. I've done my share now they can do something! I met them at the mall and ended up being early so I checked out the awesome sale at The Children's Place. Alex has snowpants for at least the next year if not two after I picked up 2 pairs at 8.50'ish. I ended up kicking myself and making a second trip so in total I got 2 pairs of snowpants, one pair of cargo pants that roll up (really neat) into shorts, a fooler golf shirt, a rugby shirt, a gorgeous knit sweater, a genuine leather belt and cozy but heavy weight cotton jammies for 76$ after tax. Yay, a big chunk of his back to school shopping is taken care of. There's nothing like getting top notch and preppy clothing for cheaper than discount store prices ;)

Where we had both vehicles at the mall and were heading home we decided to try out a restaurant just past the ramps to turn off to head to our place via the TCH. Needless to say Alex was very excited about the place as it had gallows and free pool. The service was great and the food was standard but good pub fare. Not the fanciest place but we had fun and the fact it was named after a bit of New Brunswick history it wasn't a bad alternative to the usual dinner rut. After supper I rushed and got together the DMC I missed kitting up for Vicki, grabbed a kit and some fabric to show Faith Ann then jaunted around the subdivisions to her house ;) It was a whole lot of fun sitting back and stitching, playing Wii and investigating the Cricut machine. Although me being me got there and forgot Vicki at home so I have yet another WIP, this time my Pumpkin Hill kit from SB. :P

Sunday we stayed in, it was too cold! Matt assembled my new Nordic Track Elliptical and I did some organizing/labelling with my new label maker that I got for a steal after Christmas. I love it! I also made the boys these for all of their hard efforts constructing my fitness equipment :)

Four!

The "Four" Tag...

4 JOBS I HAVE HAD
Babysitter
Tim Horton's Coffee Girl
'Playground'/Summer Camp leader
Office Assistant

4 MOVIES I WATCH OVER AND OVER
I'll just include the adult ones as they have no Alex influence
Mr and Mrs Smith
Star Wars
The Holiday
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves

4 PLACES I HAVE BEEN
North Conway, NH
Charlottetown, PEI
Toronto, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario

4PLACES I HAVE LIVED
Miramichi, NB
Moncton, NB
Wolfvile, NS
Fredericton, NB

4TV SHOWS I WATCH
Heroes
Smallville
Doctor Who
Holmes on Homes

4 PEOPLE WHO EMAIL ME REGULARILY
Faith Ann
Cathey
Shannon
Mom

4 FAVOURITE FOODS
Mexican
Chinese
Popcorn
Fish and chips


4 PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE
Home
Miramichi Home
Disney World
Because You Count


4 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO
Vacation
Christmas
Days off with Alex
Stitchy nights

4 PEOPLE TO TAG
anyone who feels like doing a meme :)

Morning Has Broken

Well...that moment of silence lasted a bit longer than expected. I'd start to write something and it would be a page long rant about how tactless the news outlets have been over the bans of 15 passenger vans before the families and friends even had a chance to bury their loved ones. There's a time and a place for everything and that side of the coverage reaked of those hobious people that start itemizing and claiming posessions before the deceased is even in the ground. My heart ached all week thinking about the proper side of the story, every day there seemed to be one more little detail in the local coverage that would bring a set of fresh tears. Alex and I wore our black and red Wednesday and needless to say I'm a bit more drained than usual this week.

However...the week has had it's bright moments :) Including stitchy night!!! There weren't as many girls there this time around but Faith Ann and I were there with bells on (hehe, I even picked up my firt christmas gift for 2008 on the way down. Due to the late return home from the holidays I was zapped when I came back to work so I fell into the rut a bit sooner than expected so I was more than happy to stay there even as the girls dwindled out. 'Vicki' is coming along beautifully. I'm finally onto the blue ruffle in her skirt but I see in all of the Christmas excitement I didn't notice the small but crucial second column of colours so I need to make a trip to the craft room to update my project box, yippee!


This weekend thankfully isn't too busy. Matt should be putting my elliptical together, and depending on how I feel I'm going to touch up the paint in the craft room, which will probably be delayed to next weekend. There's a trip to the spa for a haircut planned for Saturday afternoon and then a girl's evening Saturday with some stitching and Wii :) Other than trying out my elliptical my butt is going to alternate between my pc seat and my reclining couch :)

A Moment of Silence

Words cannot begin to describe the impact of this tragedy on the baskeball community, the city of Bathurst and New Brunswick as a whole

Rest in Peace Phantoms

Happy New Year

I hope you all had a merry christmas and a happy new year!

We had a lovely Christmas. From the second we arrived safely on the Miramichi I was having SEVERE second doubts about spending Christmas at our house this year. I absolutely love it there. A beautiful real tree, a cozy fireplace and of course sleeping in the same bed I had every christmas in my memory. Alex was soo fun to watch this Christmas. However all great things come to an end and we had to make the second leg of our trip. We got to spend some time with our new sister in law but the preparation for 'the party' and some snowstorms had me crawling the walls. It was also affirmation that with my migraines and over sensitive hearing that I'll never be able to live in an open concept home. Due to a snowstorm we arrived home late new year's eve and at some point standing in a 3 ft snowbank loaded to the brim with Christmas presents and a house with no food before me that giving up my 'perfect' Christmas wasn't going to be so bad after all. Trying to explain just how much travelling exhausts me seemed to be lost. 'Just cut back on the cooking and decorating'. You know what? I LIKE doing that part, I'd like nothing more than to sit back after Christmas dinner, enjoy my tree and enjoy all of the stuff stashed away in the freezer until new years and have people come to us for a nice dinner or something instead of us travelling all over the province. I want to sit in my new PJ's, reclined in one of the most comfortable chairs known to man with my Ott light and stitch while Alex plays with his new toys and be more than ready to put them away New Year's day. Mind you I need my parents Christmas morning though ;)

In between our trips to Miramichi and Grand Falls we dropped by the house to drop off some of our presents and waiting in the mail was the fabric for 'Vicki' ie: Victorian Christmas Eve by Mirabilia. Well, let's just say she saw alot of stitching time when we were at the inlaws. Mind you I was visited by the Frog! In other stitching news I think my stitched gifts went over pretty well this year. I stitched my parents SB stockings to match our set and Tracy got Lizzie Kate's 'Only Dull Women Have Immaculate Homes'.

By the time new years day rolled around I was exhausted, hence the blogging hiatus. We'd just gotten the driveway cleaned out when our neighbors skiied by to inform us of another incoming storm, Yuck! It's a good thing I had a couple days off to help shovel, put away gifts, catch up on laundry and dismantle the Christmas decorations, again more exhaustion.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend, I'll finally be able to try out my Christmas presents!! Matt got me an elliptical for Christmas where Alex's ever changing demands just don't make the gym as feasible as it once was and I'm going to make a stew in my new Pressure Cooker from mom and dad, needless to say I'm VERY excited!!