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!!

Stitching Question of the Week

When starting a new project, do you start in the middle? If you do, once you've worked down to the bottom, do you turn your chart and fabric around so that you are stitching the top section downwards again or do you just stitch upwards from the middle?

I start in the middle, however the rest of my travels are usually pretty random depending on what colours I use. I'm a vertical stitcher (unless working with hand dyed threads) which has me usually working to the left first and then working part of the right side with the chart upside down...which I should be doing tonight now that I'm back on Giggles :)

I Have Willpower

Oh my, it's been proven, I have willpower. When I was making my last pilgrimage to the local LNS I saw they had stocked Petal Fairy, I put it in my basket. Then I put it back. For once it was a good price and it kind of haunted me. I was going to go today when I realized that I won't be stitching it anytime soon and by then surely one of the INS or the PNS (provincial Needle Shop) would have it cheaper and I'd rather patronize a store that wasn't packing up and heading to Montreal, either stay local or I'll take my business elsewhere that's reliable. What an empowering revelation, as I usually cave.

Nothing overly big on the work radar today. My grandfather's cousin and best friend passed away this morning, he was like a surrogate uncle to my mom and great uncle to us growing up. We looked forward to our special silver dollars in our christmas cards every year that he'd send. It was a great honour to have someone take such interest in our lives. Passing away at the age of 95 however I don't feel the sense of tragedy and loss as much as the other losses I've experienced, it's more of a chapter in life's diary that can be closed and look back at fondly.

Tonight after mowning the back lawn and treating Alex to his favorite supper of tacos (the boy could eat one for every year of his life) and reading another Chapter of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Alex I headed down to the basement and did some scrapbooking. I love to scrapbook but my inspiration for pages can sometimes be fleeting. I finished up a page of Alex trick or treating for the album club at compupro. Then I did a little stitching on my SB ornament to say that I did actually stitch tonight and here I am, I've confiscated Matt's laptop while he plugs away at his game on the family pc, going wireless internet has really helped ;)

A Little Rant

It has been over 6 months since I initally reported a mother/grandmother duo who refuse to put their daughter and granddaughter in a car seat, and when I talked to them in the fall it had already been going on for 6 months. I've reported it, given statements to the police, had promises of a patrol car being sent to catch them and nada! No ticket nothing. What's worse is there is a high end carseat in the back, but they insist on sitting the now 28month old up in the front, at least the occasionally use a seatbelt. Shame on the police for not doing something!!

Stitchless Sunday, So Far...

Today I learned never to underestimate the scope of an outdoor project ;) Case in point when we moved in last year there was a rotten looking bench in the front of the house and ditto for an arbour outback. On Saturday I decided to see what deck scrub would do to the state of the bench before wasting time on the arbour. What an improvement. No more grey wood!! The bench went by pretty quick, the arbour however took most of today, but at least they have be salvaged. Staining will have to wait until another weekend, but at least I picked it up. Needless to say I didn't get nearly as much stitching in as I had anticipated but here's my progress to date (hoping to stitch something tonight).


Giggles Progress week 1

Stitching Question of the Week

Are there any types of designs that you won’t stitch?

I probably won't stitch anything that is simply floral, mind you if there were beads involved or specialty stitches/fibres I'd consider it. Mind you had someone asked me this before I met the local stitching group I would have had band samplers on there (which I collect with reckless abandon now) and hardanger looked too hard (and now I find it relaxing). I'd rather do a large design with shading that 'draws' the character than a small design that relies on backstitching.

The Mailbox Overfloweth

Oh little Happy Dance, the parcel from JJ's had finally arrived. They shipped it promptly, CanadaPost however wasn't quite as speedy. I was soo excited, although I don't think Matt was nearly as excited to see all of my new watercolours and WDW spread out on the love seat.

After a late supper we headed down to the Wilmot wading pool with Alex. I really noticed how much he'd grown in the last year when his head was comfortably above the water in the deep section. I remember taking him as a toddler in his little inflatable boats and letting him paddle around, no need for my assistance anymore. Although that doesn't mean we don't have a close eye on him, I don't understand how some parents can just dump their kids off at a pool and not watch them. We had one little guy shoving Alex, once even on the throat at shove number 4. At that point I kicked off my shoes as Alex was trying to get away and intervened. I told Alex to stay away from the boy who couldn't behave quite loudly and not a single reaction anywhere (where on earth was this kid's parent??) and reminded the boy gently that shoving was not friendly and that no one wants to play with a bully and I actually didn't see him rough housing for the rest of the night.

When we returned home we put a purple Alex (he'd have stayed in the pool until it froze over) to bed and watched Veronica Mars while stitching on Giggles. I started stitching the light blue section of the coat first and have since branched out with the medium blue color. I now have the outside borders of the coat stitched, now to fill it in (progress pic to come soon Faith Ann ;)). I had intended on throwing it on the scanner until Alex required some assistance picking out his clothes (poor monkey was also a bit too sleepy to dress himself this morning).

Nothing too much planned this weekend. At 99.8 cents a litre we won't be going too far at all. Matt has a ball game at 6 which Alex and I'll probably go to after we grab a bite to eat at home. The field where Matt's games are scheduled has some playground equipment and is connected to the walking trails should Alex get bored, but hopefully where it's nice out there will be some other kids watching their daddys :)

Giggles

Last night I finally got a good start on Giggles in the Snow by Mirabilia. Mind you I stayed up a little past my bedtime, I started watching Dancing With the Stars (just wanted to catch a glimpse of my favorite NKOTB) and Matt actually came out and started watching it with me. I love to watch dancing.

We had a fairly quiet evening. Alex (bubble mower) and I mowed the front lawn while we waited for Matt to get home (what kind of sadist schedules a meeting at 4:30 with someone that they know commutes I have no idea). While waiting I also made up a list of little things that need to be done by Matt around the house, door stops installed, reorganizing the surround sound system, etc. He's going to be so thrilled when I show him it, not.

I also got a good news/bad news phone call last night. Apparently Barbara Ann's Cottage in Riverview is closing so there's a sale on the cross stitch supplies (must remember to reorder the SB button I was ordering through them elsewhere). It's not a big surprise, although a very successful store she's had a really rough two years family (health) wise. I'll miss her store on our bi-annual pre-retreat shopping trips. I love both Moncton area stores as the two seem to compliment each other more than compete. Now to see what I need to order from there before she closes.

Still no sign of the Potting Shed, hopefully it'll show up before the weekend, along with the threads I need for my SB ornament so I can actually do something SB related on the SB elf night (lately it's all been DD ornaments ;)).

Snail Mail Finally Delivers

In my haze induced by lack of sleep I forgot to mention that Canada Post FINALLY delivered two of my three parcels that I've been expecting. Now I can finish a patch on my cross stitch bag and do a little more scrapbooking ;) Now if they'd only bring my parcel with The Potting Shed in it and my WDW for my SB ornament!!

Not a Creature was Stirring

I had a little happy dance last night finishing Not a Creature was Stirring from the 2001 JCS ornament issue on SMF Golden Turret. This allowed me to also get started on Giggles in the Snow while watching a Sarah McLaghlan documentary ;)


Dragon Dreams: Not A Creature Was Stirring

Unfortunately there were creatures stirring in our house last night. Some time in the middle of the night the old cordless in our room started beeping like crazy, sometimes the old battery decides to go on the fritz, so I grumbled for Matt to pull it out when he let me know we had no power. My land did it ever get warm quick! Matt went to investigate, even with the security system I think when he's woken up from the dead of sleep he's convinced there's a robber in the house... When he came back then the little creature across the hall started whimpering 'I can't see...I can't see...'. Poor little guy inherited mommy's fear of the dark, until I realized how much more sleep I got when the room was black in my teens. We brought him into our room so he wouldn't be soo scared. At that point I asked if Matt had called NBPower, nope. So I trudged off into the dark and found the phone book, confiscated the flashlight and headed downstairs to use the phone as upstairs is completely cordless. I'd finally gotten back to sleep when the truck pulled up in front of the house and was working on the box inbetween our house and the neighbors, half an hour later the power was back, Alex was back in his own bed and I was finally getting some shut eye!

It's only Tuesday?

Sigh, it feels like it should be Friday already. Matt was out playing ball last night so I had the night chores all to myself. It was good to see him get out, but doing all the cleaning on my own was not.

I had hope to finish my Not A Creature Was Stirring ornament last night in time to enter it in the SMF Sugar Shack Gallery but I didn't make it. I knew as soon as Matt walked in the door I wouldn't have access to the scanner should I have finished it until at least this morning so I headed to bed.

I did do a little happy dance last night though, although not stitching related. My car's window went back up (after two weeks of noisey plastic). Every June it seems to do this, I'll have the back window down all the way, shut off the car and when I go to put it up again it's dead. Then when it gets warm again and dries out it's fine. I'll have to put a sticker on the button reminding me which of the back windows not to open. One of these years I'm going to learn to drive the stick which is our other much newer vehicle....

Father's Day

Father's Day went over well at the house ;) My back was acting up but some Advil kept the pain in check enough to cook Matt's father's day brunch, a batch of his favorite muffins, a german chocolate cake and roast a chicken. The sun finally came out after a week of rain and while Matt mowed (he just sharpened the blades and wanted to do it himself) so I had the opportunity to weed my gardens and do some of the pruning on the lilacs. 80% of the flowers are gone and I didn't have the heart to prune off where there were still blossoms. While pruning I found a caterpillar, myself, I'm a fraidy cat when it comes to bus but they facinate Alex. I called him over and for 6 hours he lugged that caterpillar lovingly dubbed 'catapilly' as his pet, he was very sad when he had to release it back into nature, although he did so in my garden so hopefully he won't stray too far.

I completely forgot about the DD SAL on Sunday until I read about it Sunday morning. So much for finishing off Baby Bug Ball on the weekend. I'm hoping to finish up the DD ornament I started yesterday before posting my progress (Not a Creature was Stirring on 28ct golden turret by SMF). I did a little bit of sanding around the craft room but not as much as I'd hoped, the back just wasn't cooperating this weekend. Matt's off to softball tonight so I'll have some quiet stitching time tonight. Thankfully his games start at Alex's bedtime so he doesn't miss to much Alex-time :)