Turn On A Dime Tuesday

Yesterday was going good until about 8:30. Found out alternate church was available, got to look at my awesome piece of fabric for Firefly Fairies from SMF which came in Monday, Cathey brought my BYC order with my LK Snippits for this year, buttons for Official Snow Guide, fabric for DD's Magic in My Needle and some WDW to finish up my HIH Christmas Medley, even my opalescent 25 ct lugana for the unity candle hardanger needle wrap and doilie arrived finally (another BYC order) but alas that was all to crumble :(

At dinner I told DFH that the church was indeed available and how grateful I was for my family helping me, then after DS went to bed and I asked for a flat out yes/no about switching then everything stalled and enter the first mention of 'I want our own church' reared it's ugly head, I don't swear much, if any in the last 6 years but after all the stress I've been under and the fact that I or members of my family have been doing all the leg and $$ work, I was probably a little less composed than Bree's famous meltdown and Rex's second graveside ceremony on Desperate Housewives.

But today's a new and hopefully better day, with hopefully some visitors arriving from the North ;)

Monday Madness

Did you ever have one of those Monday's that just makes you want to crawl in bed and wish it was the weekend again? Well I did, thankfully I had some stitching along to keep my hands busy and amp me down a bit. ;) As previously mentioned, the cost of the church for the wedding is a HUGE issue and after talking to numerous friends a 4 times more expensive than every other church in possibly the province so on goes the hunt for a new location and new church home for our family. This upset me a great deal, and really feeling trapped with so little time before the wedding. That was before I got home and found the pamplet for the 'marriage course' in the mail, I could deal with the 80$, but the hours definitely weren't what we were told making them very difficult to arrange for childcare (and the fact Matt doesn't even get home, let alone eat until a half hour after it starts). So this led to LOTS of stitching last night ;) I plugged away at Summer's Magic, watching a little Battlestar Gallactica and passing out at 9:20 from exhaustion.

This morning I was up early as Matt left the door open meaning the second he turned on the hall light my face was blasted with light, grrr...so I got up and ready and arrived at work nice and early to get some more stitching in. Very therapeutic. At lunch I need to run over to singer and pick up a colour that's missing but that's absolutely it for my plans today. Yay!!

Progress Pic

Dragon Dreams Summer's Magic

Posting BP would have been bit frustrating considering how much I have to frog....sigh....  However, switching projects and temporarily distancing myself from my stitching for a couple hours meant I finally started the baby rag quilt who's materials have been sitting in my craft room for the last year, until I ran out of thread on the bobbin and had I replenished it would have had no thread left on the spool ;)

Another Weekend Bites The Dust

Wow, weekends have really been flying by. This weekend was the Dragon Dreams stitch along over on the Needle and Thread board. I diligently pulled out my Blackwork Princess at 9 am, stitched some, then played with DS. I snuck in a little more stitching in the afternoon before we went for a nice walk around the subdivision then headed to Hoodwinked, that movie cracked me up++. After a little sub from subway for supper and playing Ninja Turtles with DS until bedtime I got out BP only to discover an error in my stitching. I was so ticked off at myself I put her in a pouch and got out Summer's Magic. I was between that and There's Magic In My Needle but my fabric at the remainder of my Because You Count order is at Cathey's so Summer's Magic it was. I did take a little stitching break and logged into WoW, with DH and one of his friends from work. We had an Ogre ask to join our little group and couldn't believe there was an online couple (Bettycrocker and DuncanHines ;))...now if only DH would take an interest in stitching like I have his golfing and online gaming ;) It would only be fair right???

Today I got up and DS and I spent some more time playing Ninja Turtles. After making the Cheesy mushroom soup from Life's On Fire and griping to mom about my parish I headed to Body Pump and on my travel's passes Faith Ann from what must have been the photo session ;) I picked the wrong day to up my weights...a new release. My legs were aching but Bad Boys was on tv and they were just about to the scene with Will Smith running around town with his shirt all open so I hopped on the treadmill and ran for a good 15 minutes...until he put on the bulletproof vest. When I got home I worked on Summer's Magic while DS and I watched Toy Story 2. Santa brought him Toy Story on DVD and he loved it and the VHS version of no. 2 will have to do until the easter bunny comes around. He laughed so hard, especially at the Star Wars references.

For supper we tried out the cheesy asparagus lasagna from Life's On Fire, very good, although mine didn't look as good as the picture. Tonight should be relatively low key, some stitching and hopefully a new Cold Case as Desperate Housewives isn't new :( Hope everyone had a great weekend and thanks for all the support on this crazy stitching and weight loss adventure :)

Weigh In Happy Dance

Yay, the official count is now up to 22.5 lbs down since the engagement ;) I had newbody on Wednesday nights which really worked up a sweat. I had one of the not so fit women ask me how come I was sweating so much where I was relatively more fit but I also watched couldn't help but see her form through out the session and knew why her workout hadn't been as effective. Newbody was designed by a physiotherapist and relies alot on the Pilates priciples, control in all movement, not flinging weights around with momentum.

Yesterday was interesting to say the least. I was coming out of the government parking lot on my way to work and noticed it was really quiet in front of the jr high, until I saw the pile of kids out back. I got a glimpse of three bigger boys beating up a little fellow, I promptly crossed in hopes of finding a teacher as goodness only knows what else you can do anymore with all the silly lawsuits. But being a mom I couldn't stand back and watch or walk away from someone else's little boy be beat up either... Some of the kids saw me crossing (the only time in about a year that I've J-walked) and warned the 'bullies' and they dispersed. Not before I took down a description of what they were wearing, heights, etc and called the office the second I got to my desk. Groceries last night was also INSANE, it was one of the big sales at the coop and getting stuck behind one of those 'I'm paying by Visa but have to have a perfect pump' people I was already behind. Inside was crazy and I ended up getting in line when I'm usually leaving and the line up was back to electronics...thankfully 75% of everything I bought was on some sort of sale ;)

I was so zonked after supper (thankfully the boys didn't complain too much when I served left overs) that I logged into WoW for a bit and headed to bed, no stitching for me. DS was up at 4 with an accident, which seems to be more prevalent since the incident at school last week and DH turned off the alarms thinking it was Saturday. Thankfully DS's alarm is set 15 minutes after mine so it woke me up. I've never seen DH get ready so fast in all my life, although I think he might have been running for his life as he has been told on numerous occasions NEVER to touch my alarm (I don't know how many times he's turned off my alarm on work at home days).

This morning I did get to work 15 minutes early and worked on BP, I'm hoping to finish her this weekend, if not by next Wednesday ;)

Today there's nothing on the roster except BodyPump, yay!

Rule of Four

Rule of Four
There, Faith Ann had an 'open' tag so I'll consider myself tagged

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Playground Leader (summer program for kids)
2. Tim Horton's coffee chick
3. DFO secretary/self appointed computer specialist
4. Programmer Anaylyst

Four movies I would/do watch over and over again:
1. Star Wars
2. Ever After
3. Mr and Mrs Smith
4. The Notebook

Four places I have lived:
1. Miramichi, New Brunswick
2. Wolfville, Nova Scotia
3. Moncton, New Brunswick
4. Fredericton, New Brunswick
5. where I currently live :)

Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. Lost
2. Smallville
3. Desperate Housewives
4. toss up between Bones and House (they're paired so well together)

Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Kingston Ontario
2. Charlottetown PEI
3. Halifax, Nova Scotia
4. Manchester, New Hampshire (I don't travel very well)

Four websites I visit daily:
1. TVGuide
2. MSNBC
3. Needle And Thread Bulletin Board
4. Stitch and Stuff

Four of my favourite foods:
1. Estey's Fish and Chips (Miramichi)
2. Lonestar Fajitas
3. Lobster, cooked by people that actually fish them and use enough salt!
4. Mom's Strawberry Squares

Four places I'd rather be right now:
1. At the Nashville Market...one can dream
2. Disney
3. Yankee Cross Stitch New Hampshire
4. In bed stitching

Four people I am tagging:Anyone who wants to answer!!

Beat The Plateau

Yay, broke through any of my previous post preggie weight loss lows (and in probably the best shape of anytime I've attempted to slim down thanks to the mix of classes offered at the gym) Yay, now just 14 lbs to go before Matt owes me 350$ towards a new wardrobe, which in my head I have everything picked out now that I'm downtown where the nice stores are ;)

I worked on BP over the lunch hour, blackwork can be fun although next time I'll definitely do it on evenweave. She now has an empty lower part of the sleeve, her left hip and some chest ;)

In cooking we tried the sample curried chicken recipe from www.cookingfortherushed.com and it was amazing. I'm fussy on my curry and this hit the spot :) My two cookbooks also came in today, yay! Tonight I put Marla's Maple Pork from Crazy Plates into marinate, I can't wait to have it tomorrow, it's a personal favorite :)

Two Finishes

Well, there were two finishes this week on the stitching front, Snowman and Joyful Santa, both by Mill Hill. I can't wait to get the Christmas tree out again...

No progress as of yet on my Blackwork Princess though :(

I went to a kick butt Body Pump class on Friday, skipped the Sunday one though for Eleni's Mary Kay get together which was fun. I really needed a pampering session after this week. DS got in trouble at school on Thursday, swinging around and coming into contact with a grade 2 girl. I checked my phone messages (he's good about telling me when he's been punished for something) and the teacher left one at work (I was in training) and it was more of a "well they said", so we laid out a big restrictive punishment. Friday however I was talking to my friend Tracy (and coincidentally DS's after school care provider) about what had happened while he was outside and her ten year old piped up that these two grade two girls had been tormenting him all lunch hour and knocking off his hat. Don't get me wrong, he shouldn't have done what he did but I'm quite frankly disgusted at how, I dare say, gender biased the discipline has been in just his first year of school. So much for the anti-bullying initiative !!>:(

This week we also had a visitor to our lot, a nice big fox went flying through the back yard. Not what I was expecting to see stepping out of the shower! It was so nice Saturday we went for a walk through part of the subdivision and I'm now thankful we're on high ground. The street behind us is much lower (we have a sliding hill at the back of our property) and many of the homes on that street have severe damage to their culverts due to the unseasonably mild weather we've experienced lately.

Well enough of me rambling on...Blackwork Princess Awaits!!

Stitchy Night

I had so much fun at stitchy night last night, just what I needed after last week's headache of trying to find a photographer and track down our minister! There were a tonne of completed projects and I was kicking myself for forgetting the digital camera. I almost had a finish but realized that the charm I needed was sitting on my desk as training got out late and I didn't have time to go back to the office. I felt like an idiot this morning when I went to pull my needle out of my other mill hill kit and there was the snowflake charm I needed, included with that pattern too which I'd had one me, d'uh. After flip flopping between stitching the christmas elf fairy and the blackwork princess the girls convinced me to start the blackwork princess ;) It's my first go at blackwork and will look cool in the future home of the computers which we plan on building downstairs with a medieval theme (some day...some $$)

Faith Ann brought her Cooking for the Rushed books last night and I'm sold...so sold they were ordered first thing this morning. I like having a good repository of healthy recipes that the whole family will eat. Well...now onto training..

Back Down to Pre Christmas Weight

Yay, I made it down to pre Christmas weight again (actualy 1 oz under)!! Faith Ann's success has been a real re-motivator ;) It's been hard with the new job to feel that successful where my normal gym routine has taken a big hit, thankfully I have a stockpile of exercise videos to help supplement until my probation period at work is over.

In other news I'm getting really close to another happy dance, this time a Mill Hill Charmed Mitten. I was so surprised to see the progress at the end of just my lunch hour, very motivating ;)

Today was just one of those days, the roads were crap and my wipers froze up. When I reached the nearest red light I reached outside to flick it and the next thing you know it was off and in my hand! Yikes. Thankfully it's kind of on (no heavy duty work though...) until I can get to Canadian Tire tomorrow, roads are just too crappy at the moment. Then when I got in the parking lot did I not reverse a little too far into the little barrier...thankfully the snow hanging off my bumper started scraping before I did any damage.

Today I got in for a 25 minute run at the gym, a far cry from my 40 but it'll have to do. I did end up doing the 4 flights of stairs up and down 3 times today and the stairs to training in the other building (8 flights) once, that and the walk to the government parking lot has to add up to something. We've also been eating much healthier ;) Tonight was Little Chickens out of Eat Shrink and Be Merry, tomorros is Chicks on Sticks out of Crazy Plates, Wednesday Tartlette O'Hara's out of ESABM and Thursday is Awe Shucks out of ESABM (tacos on friday are non negotiable ;)). I also have a batch of Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice (CP) muffins set aside for breakfast/snack the next couple of days, how's that for planning? ;)

Wild Weather Weekend

Wow, it was so nice out Saturday! What a treat to have above zero temps (and how scary that we've damaged our climate so), this is the first time we've been able to take our christmas lights down/out in January (usually the deer and the spiral tree are frozen into the ground). Matt and Alex took this opportunity to dig out the cinder block that had managed to find it's way into the center of our sliding hill so we'll be able to use it this winter. Yay!

Saturday night I found my GAST Straw Bonnet so I could work on my Heart In Hand Christmas Medley again...only to realize that in our travels over the holidays the two WDW's I need to finish it have gone missing. sigh... I guess I'll be calling the LNS in Moncton this week. After I finished the sections I could today I moved to my Mill Hill charmed mitten that I'd been working on at lunch, it should be done by the end of the week :) This weekend we also got back on the Flylady wagon, the house is finally getting back on a normal cleaning schedule (and supper is mostly prepared for the week, veggies chopped, meats marinating, yay). I had planned on going to Body Pump today but the roads had a different plan, the temps dropped and made them quite slick, I turned back. It's not really good for the body if it lands me in a body bag... So while Matt was taking care of Alex's bath I did some more fat burning pilates :)

It's stitching week with the 'Friends That Count' and I can't wait to bring in some of my finishes and see what the other girls have accomplished over the holidays :) I really look forward to our monthly meetings :) Well, I should hit the sack.

Second Happy Dance of 2006

Jeannette Douglas Needlerolls 2003-2005

Yay! I just finished the Love Needleroll, after a sewing machine issue. It's amazing how a little thread remnant can make it jam sooo bad! I couldn't believe how LONG the petal stitch took, it looked so easy but by far it was the most time consuming row of all the needlerolls (including the hem stitching!)

Yesterday was busy+++, at lunch I went to check out gym prices downtown then stopped in the bank to transfer 75$ into Alex's RESP account, that ended up taking half an hour, sheesh (profile update, paperwork+++, had I have known I just would have called online). Then afterwork I got stuck in traffic going to Body Pump and the class ran late as they were having technical difficulties with the stereo, arghh...I rushed home only to have Matt's carpool end up right in front of us and stop in the middle of the driveway >:( Then I rushed out to my hair apt only to have the 3rd occurance in a year of them booking in the wrong week and my reaction was not good, especially considering it took about 20 minutes to drive there. The southside location accomodated me but I really missed MY stylist and fired off a letter to the manager today.

Today I just stitched, ended up getting up a bit earlier than normal as Matt didn't turn off Alex's alarm last night >:( Lots of vegging. Here's hoping everyone is having a great weekend!

Girlie Night

Oh my goodness yesterDAY wasn't alot of fun, attempting to find a non overpriced photographer that wasn't already booked was insane. This was worsened by the fact that pushing 30 and having a 5 year old gives one some sense of practicality, asking over a thousand dollars for an album that would sit in my closet and paying and arm and a leg for reprints, no go!
Finally on my afternoon break I had some luck and now we're paying less than that and getting the negatives :)

Although the day wasn't all not fun (I wasn't in official training either so yesterday was kind of unstructured at work) I did get out to lunch with Eleni and picked out my wedding band (just need some bigger diamonds in it ;)). We rushed home, had some awesome chili from Eat Shrink and Be Merry then headed out to order the girls dresses. I had SO much fun. Eleni went first and modeled quite a few, all looking very nice then Cathey went in, tried one one and we sat back for a little fashion show when the next thing you know she came out in white and lavender (not my colour, just the demo size), it took us a couple seconds (or me at least), to figure out she came out in a t-shirt! I forgot she was a power shopper and just wanted to check the sizing of the skirt ;) I had a really good laugh at this! After the dresses were ordered Eleni and I headed to Tim's on the way home and had some girlie, mommy talk time which felt so good. So my disaster day turned out pretty good after all ;)

Tonight is going to be hectic again, hitting body pump at 5 then dropping Alex off and heading over the the Avalon for my hair cut as it's soooo unstylable at the moment, yuck!

Long Day

Today turned out to be a long day, I work less hours but today I took a bad traffic turn on my way to groceries and it took forever! After two days of hitting the gym after work doing groceries was the LAST thing I wanted to do but with the girls ordering their dresses tomorrow night (can't wait :)) it was a necessity. I spent part of my lunch figuring out the weeks menu form Eat Shrink and Be Merry and the rest working on the petal stitch of the Love Needleroll.

When I got home I had to unload the car myself as Matt wasn't home, start supper, put a load of laundry in as Alex managed to get his ski pants dirty, put him in the tub, start homework and then Matt got in so we had supper. I finished Alex's homework and the boys disappeared, leaving me to start tomorrow's supper, unload the dishwasher, load it with new dishes, prep lunches and throw the laundry in the dryer *somebody shoot me*. I collapsed in front of the computer and read that Faith Ann lost another 2 lbs (CONGRATS!!!) and suddenly found motivation to exercise, and did Fat Burning Pilates for 40 minutes :)

Now to go set up the VCR (yes we still have one, no PVR yet) for LOST and do a little hem stitching as I'm dreading doing the frogging on the stitching over one, YUCK!!

Did the Alarm Really Go Off

Ughhh....I could use some more sleep! Monday 5:00, kerpow! toenail first kick to the shin, couldn't get back to sleep, Monday 10:20, finally asleep when big ruckus from computer room (DFH way too into teamspeak in WoW), Tuesday morning 5:10 thunk, elbow to the forehead, yet again...no returning to sleep. Next stop, purchasing a straight jacket until Matt gets out of whatever sleep cycle he's in ;) I expect snoring tonight, it always seems to come in threes ;)

I got to work super early yesterday and did some stitching while I waited for my Oracle training to begin (and the work day). I even got some stitching in at lunch. Where I've moved locations I'm going to be heading to the gym after work for the next little while so I guess I'll be able to get some stitching in over the noon break.

Last night was kind of crazy, I made super in advance for tonight and the roads weren't pretty making it a long drive. I was pretty tired so I headed to bed at around 9:30 after a failed attempt to located my package from Traditional Stitches, oh well.... hopefully some more stitching tonight ;)

Cake

Here's a preview of my cake, without the flowers of course...changed the verse to Happily Ever After, now just looking for a topper that I can actually put somewhere in my house...need to check out willow tree for something small enough.

Back to School

Well, tomorrow's back to school for the monkey, here's a peek at the amount of homework they sent home for the week I took him out of school before the holiday...and he's only 5 >:( This weekend was nice, mom and dad were down and mom and I hit the bridal shows. It was fun and also a little depressing, so far it's been shopping at places I know I can afford, but 600+ for a decent video and 500+ for portraits (the nicest photographer was 1100-1600). I just want one nice picture to put up on my wall but they want to put them in unchild friendly albums and then you need to order decent sized pics at extra $$. I've been really stressed out of the whole maid of honour situation as well, the time and cash its taking to be a part of my MOH's wedding is becoming a real strain mentally and budgetwise, especially where my car is for city use only. It wouldn't be so bad if they weren't so close together. I really don't know what to do.

Work so far has been good, I really like the people that I've met so far and must look into this 'hockey' sport. Not really my thing besides watching a university game or the olympics (after years of playing basketball and watching all school funding go into hockey, and a whole other bunch of bureaucratic bs it was hard to not harbor just a little anomosity) but I think I'll have to look into it so I can converse abit more. It's hard to when you're on probation to feel out just when you can start being a little more social.

We investigated our sliding hill today and after a good 40 minutes it looks like we'll have to get a sledge hammer if we want to use it this year. Somehow a cinderblock that was in our woods is now imbedded in the ground in the sliding path of the big hill :(

I did finish some stitching tonight while we watched Sideways, it had it's funny moments but not the kind of funny I was needing tonight. And now presenting Santa's Garden...

Christmas Tree 2005

Ok...so we're one of those families that keep their tree up for the full 12 days of Christmas (I'd keep it up all year if Matt would let me ;))

First Day of Work

Yay, the first day of work went great, of course it wasn't the same without all of my old work friends. Thankfully the city isn't too big and they aren't too far away ;) I'm really excited about the opportunities my new position is going to provide, the amount of training is phenomenal, I feel so blessed to be given the opportunity to update my skillset, that's for certain.

Stitching wise nothing too much on the table for tonight, I'm pretty beat after having the pre-work antsies all last night and not sleeping too much. My threads from Traditional Stitches finally came in though so I may at least look at my Love Needleroll and imagine putting the final stitches in ;) When I say 'finally' I in no means am upset with the length of time it took to get them, one of them was pretty 'rare' and I'd been figuring it would take quite some time.

Tonight on the 'back to healthy eating' front we had 'Awe Shucks' a pan seared scallop dish with alfredo white wine sauce and surprisingly my 5 year old LOVED it, I had to beg him to try a smidgeon of scallop but after that he ate half my supper (really low cal/fat after that ;)) So far so good with Eat, Shrink and Be Merry! Now to check the gym's group fitness schedule to see what I can do this period, especially where I don't think I'll be able to make it to the lunch classes while on probation... small sacrafices ;)

Happy New Year

Yay, it's 2006 already! Where does the time go? We spent new years eve fairly low key, some munchies, beer and checking out Matt's new Jade Empire for the Xbox (moi stitching away). New Years day we actually had our appetizers (we'd been too stuffed from supper to eat any new years eve) and then had a beef fondue for supper along with a bottle of red wine after Alex was in bed, a very fun night (obviously NOT a stitching night though)

Today was fairly quite as well, we shoveled the accumulation of snow and unpacked more from our recent journeys. I also got to stitch on Santa's Garden and he's nearing completion (although I had to frog the tree pots upon looking at the model, yet another poorly explained part of the piece). Tonight we tried out two recipes from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry! which were very good, Ponderoasta and Darth Tater (which Alex ate after he confirmed that I hadn't cooked his Darth Tater toy ;))

Now onto some stitching goals for 2006:
-Finish Mirabilia's Guardian Angel
-Stitch Flower Girl on L&L's The Wedding (this is going to be more of an anniversary project)
-Stitch 1 Mill Hill Santa
-Start L&L's In The Arms of An Angel
-Stitch this year's DD JCS ornament and Christmyth
-Stitch Lizzie Kate's Snow Days
-Stitch Fiddlestitch Cottage's Friends That Count
-Stitch and ornamentify at least 6 ornaments

Reading Goals:
-Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince
-The Davinci Code
-Sue Grafton's "I" Is for Innocent
-Monica Ferris' Framed in Lace

Gardening Goals:
Thankfully this will take less of my time this year as the majority of the beds have been rescued and have had new perennials/bulbs/shrubs put in. Also after two years of extensive pruning our lilacs are in tip top condition as well as the mystery shrub out front. Although I still need to: -build up the beds to either side of our arbour, two hosta plants are in order for sure and I'm uncertain on what else I might put in there
-add additional bulbs to the back garden and maybe some phlox
-continue building up the flower box around out maple/birch
-add another pjb rhodedendron to the side garden to complement the orange and white varieties (white added in 2005)

Limmerick Entries

Yay, the deadline has passed for the Dragon Dreams Limmerick contest. I'm sure there are hundreds of fab entries but that prize of all the Nashville releases would be soooo sweet, here are my entries...

I've cleaned my brick chimney of red
Hoping Santa will bring me thread
No gift cards or cash
Lord, I 'need' some stash
I pray this as I head for bed

From the chimney I heard a great crash
So, to the parlour I made a dash
Santa was covered in soot
Our fireplace was now kaput
But at least he had brought me some stash!

Now here's crossing the fingers

Santa's Garden Progress

Well here's my progress to date (and still learning to use the new camera at 6:00 am ;))

Santa's Garden-Gail Bussi

We arrived safely from Grand Falls at about 4 yesterday, then had the task of digging out my car (although I can't complain to much as our neighbor cleaned out most of our driveway while we were away) so I could get to the airport to see my brother off. What a foggy, wet drive, yuck! To make matters worse I'm not overly familiar with the new exit system to get to the airport so navigating that in the fog was not fun (although I could navigate my way to the mall blind folded and backwards)

Besides the numerous errors in the chart/model (why can't The Cross Stitcher put their errors in a file online??) I've really liked stitching Santa's Garden. I can't wait to have it up on my walls next year. Arriving home it was nice to see the Christmas cross stitches up, guess I didn't appreciate them as much when I was home before where I haven't been out travelling since retreat. It was also nice to be reminded what a large living room we do have (when my stitching stuff doesn't creep up there).

Today's my last day of work at CARIS and my first trip back to my gym since going on vacation. I think I'll be half dead by new years as I have 4 exercise classes in two days on the roster (so I can get my microfibre shirt and recharge after having so many tempting cookies and cakes around ;)).

Some Final Happy Dance's for 2005

Well, we've arrived safely in Grand Falls after waiting out the storm in Miramichi all boxing day. We took the long route which took us past our house to drop off some presents and avoid the crappy 'highway' that's a short cut (I wasn't up to moose, bad conditions, transports and no gas stations or anything for almost 2 hours). I really enjoyed being home an extra day with my family, it's been bittersweet knowing that next year Christmas will be different for me without my brother coming home. Where we're spending it is a bit up in the air although I think I'll follow my parents anywhere they go ;) It's just so rare that we're all home at the same time now a days. Matt's been considering adopting two of my 'grand nieces' although we're still looking up proper degu care and costs, they were sooo fun to play with and much funner than the fish he's been considering buying ;) Now to see if my brother's dumped them off at the store yet.

Back to stitching...I've been plugging away at Santa's Garden and hope to have it done before 2006 rolls around, I'm VERY disappointed with the model that was stitched and the lack of checking over the chart, one symbol isn't there although on the model it looks the same as the hat so I'm going with that and the three sided stitch is not stitched on the model as in the directions. Sigh... Now to check the site to see what's up.

Here are my two latest Happy Dances

Cindy Valentine's Sugar Plum

Mill Hill's Northern Lights Santa

It's Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve Greetings from the Miramichi! Yay, we've all arrived Safe and Sound, Patrick from Ottawa, Steven also from Fredericton on Thursday and Matt on Friday, and also dearest Marge (my PC). It's been odd having limited computer access as mom and dad's pc is having issues to the point it's unusable, odd for computer developer moi to be away so long.

We're gearing up for our big Christmas Eve Balderdash game and food fest, the potato skins just need to be coated, the jalapeno poppers are ready to go in the oven, cookies and squares galore and whatever is left of the caramel corn I made earlier in the day...proved too tempting for some ;) I think while the family is at church (we went to the 4 pm catholic mass as mom and dad's church doesn't have a minister and their only service is at 9, much to late for one anxious monkey) we'll do the rest of the breakfast prep and then I can further examine my Mirabilia Christmas Fairy Kit that arrived with Matt on Friday, it's going to be so hard not to start it before the holidays are over ;)

Alex was good at mass so he openned a gift from Tracy, Daryl and the girls which he is over the moon with, a Star Wars game for the tv. His expression when he saw it was priceless ("hey dad come here and check THIS out"), anyway, I wasn't the camera chick so here's the closest we have to his look ;)

This will be the last Christmas Eve wish from the Scott-Côté's...next year we'll be the new and improved Côté's ;)

Halfway Through The Work

Sheesh, this massive amount of kindergarten homework is seriously cutting into my stitching time! Oye! I do have a really good start though on both Gail Bussi's Santa's Garden, although I need to look up an error in the pattern and I also have a good start on my Mill Hill Northern Lights Santa. Last night mom and I had a chick flick night and watched The Skeleton Key and Must Love Dogs (really liked that one), which involved a whole lotta stitching ;) Although I had to frog out almost an entire row of Algerian Eyes due to some confusing numbers, should have been one strand instead of 2 but saw the 2 not realizing it was the Anchor conversion. Sigh...

Today has also seen some progress on NL Santa while Alex and I watched The Polar Express on a break after doing 5 pages of work this morning. Yay! This afternoon mom's heading south to pick up the boys and the degus so Alex and I'll be baking and plugging away at more work, sigh... Dad should be returning home tonight so Alex is hoping to get swimming, he swam the length of the shallow end on his own (minus his 'super' suit even).

Arrived Safe And Sound

Yay, we made it to the Miramichi safe and sound yesterday via the bus, we made really good time, so good that my parents hadn't arrived at the bus station when we unloaded. It was alot of fun juggling 3 suitcases, 2 carry on's, 1 cabbage patch kid, a 5 year old and a car seat! Didn't do that much stitching on the bus, I did separate out some threads though for a Mill Hill Santa though. We hadn't been here too long before we took Alex swimming, I was amazed that he can now swim the length of the shallow end.

Today we did some of the huge stack of homework that was sent home, and sigh...Alex's good concert clothes, including a pair of brand new khakis have gone completely awol :( What's worse is they were 'emergency only' clothes that he should never have been wearing in the first place >:( Oh well...I just hope the children's place gets some replacements in. To get an idea of just how much was sent home one booklet of the three has 30 pages, I'm sure they're really doing THAT much work in school this week.

After lunch we headed over to the Zellers here and I found one more set of indoor icicle lights for my house finally. Yay! Then I ran into my friend Darren's mom and found out he was finally flying in for Christmas (I don't think he's made it home for Christmas since graduating from NBCC 8 years ago) so that was kind of neat. I also headed to the gym here and finished off the Order of the Phoenix while running. Now to go do some laps at the pool :)

Gifts Delivered

Well the last of any gifts that I need to take care of went out the door in Alex's backpack this morning, a box of Sarah's Sweet Delights truffles for his teacher and two boxes of Pot of Gold Excellence chocolates, one for each teaching assistant. Mind you in all of the hussle and bussle I forgot to pack the bath ring for Jackson and the tape of Callie when I see Eleni at my going away lunch today. I'll probably make a quick trip up to the house to retrieve them over the 'coffee break'

I was really tired last night, Alex and I had a major freak out session after groceries (and not at each other). As we were heading to our car we looked both ways and crossed a good distance away from a car that had just loaded someone in (not in a spot) when they put it in reverse full blast never seeing us. I kept pushing Alex in a diagonal pattern but he was scared stiff. I was so upset I had the urge to kick the bumper and hard when it finally came to a stop, narrowly missing us. That incident pretty much put my head in a state of exhaustion for the rest of the evening.

We returned home and made some spaghetti which we ate in the living room so Alex could watch the Sponge Bob christmas special. After he went to bed I wrapped the gifts, had a power nap then watched Joey. I made some pretty good progress on Christmas Medley and it should be done by the time I leave Sunday.

Today's my big farewell lunch which I'm looking forward to, Boston Pizza was full but I'll take Keystone's anytime ;) Then at 3:30 we'll be having our staff party here so I'm pretty excited about that too. I'm hoping to convince Matt to make a trip out to see the Christmas lights tonight or tomorrow, I think that would be alot of fun :)

Stitchy Stuffy Night!

mmmmm.....cookies. Everyone brought their 'A' game to the exchange at last night's stitching night and now I'm stuffed. When I got home Matt and I sampled the Kris Kringle cookies, cookie dough truffles, two bite pecan pies and whipped shortbreads, yum girls! (oh and we taste tested the mini cheese cakes as I hadn't had a chance to before I brought them...just to make sure they were ok)

I had alot of fun last night, even if I didn't participate in the stitching exchange this year. I've just found everything hectic with school fundraisers, regular christmas stuff and planning a wedding to get in another ornament. I worked on the chain stitching for my Cindy Valentine ornament (now hopefully some new beading thread will appear in my mailbox tonight) and then went back to stitching on my Heart In Hand Christmas Medley :)

Tonight I don't have too much on the schedule. I need to pick up Alex's teacher's present and some light groceries to make some stuff up so Matt doesn't starve next week (like that would happen). I'll definitely be watching the Chrismukkah OC special tonight, I've gotten out of watching the show but those episodes are too funny! Only 3 more sleeps until the trip to the Miramichi :)

Productive Night

Well there wasn't as much stitching involved but I did do some chain stitching (who ever invented that stitch??) on my Cindy Valentine Sugar Plum ornament. From 6-8 I made supper, tidied up the kitchen, made up cute little recipe tags and packaged up my 12 half dozens of mini cherry cheesecake cookies.

After getting Alex to bed, I tidied up my stitching corner and got some of the laundry started, as well as started the task of cleaning out the fridge before I go away on Sunday. Fun stuff. At nine I settled into my 'den' and frigged around with the Chain stitch and was wondering where on earth I'd put my Heart in Hand Christmas Medley pattern while watching Bones. It was particularly good last night and I loved the whole Christmas storyline. I really haven't been able to go back to CSI after I started watching that show!

Yesterday was also the day that my 'going away' lunch was announced, I got alot of jabber messages of well wishes which was so sweet (probably the reason I got more choked up than usual watching the Christmasy Bones). Friday should be a blast, my going away lunch at Boston Pizza followed by a Christmas Party during office hours that I don't have to find a sitter for that afternoon, sweet.

Tonight's the big cookie exchange at stitching, I can't wait! I'm also looking forward to seeing what every one is up to. I'm proud of myself for getting all of my stuff ready to go on time! Sometimes things are a bit helter skelter and I'd almost expect it that way this close to the holidays (although this has me a bit scared)

Giving Notice

Well, that's what my day was about yesterday, all of the hullabaloo about writing a proper, unbridge burning, resignation later and getting up the nerve to hand it in. I'm not someone who can do things like that very easily and where my manager was out most of the afternoon I took it to HR, probably easier where I didn't know him as well and wouldn't get overly emotional, just choked up. What a whirlwind, bon voyage lunch this friday, yay :)

Last night I did all of my exchange baking during the commercial breaks on Corner Gas and Degrassi, another thing down. While the shows were on I cleaned up my little corner of the living room some as well. Things will be nice and tidy before I leave (and hopefully I'll return with everything in the right order). I just need to put cherries on the mini cheesecakes tonight and then I can sit back and stitch...well after making some gingerbread men for DS.

Speaking of Alex, he was wonderful in his concert yesterday! We're so proud. Matt had a hard time spotting him at first as his telltale red hair was covered in gold tinsel with a star sticking off the top! There was one little boy in his class that sang his little off key heart out, it was just sooo cute. Speak of the devil, his alarm just went off time to go :)

Yet Another Weekend Gone By!

I did have a 'finish' this weekend, sewed the button on this tonight ;)

Dry Turkey-Raise The Roof Designs

Besides that we actually had a very quiet weekend. Friday evening Alex and I made tags with my stamps and sizzix dies. Saturday only consisted of a trip to the mall to pick up our "The Côté's" ornament and mail Shannon and Logan's parcel off as I needed Matt to drive me, poor Betty was acting up which will require her to go see the garage sometime this week.

Today has also been pretty quiet. I slept in so I didn't make it to church, then made some spaghetti sauce and a cake, tidied up some of the stuff that had accumulated while I was sick and then we all hopped in the car to go see Narnia. I really liked it, and would so love to adopt the little girl who played Lucy, she was too cute for words! It's been almost 20 years since I read the book, all I remembered is that I really liked it. Hopefully after I do my baking tomorrow this week will be a little more productive stitching wise!

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week

Q :Have you done any charity stitching, been in one, or would like to organize one?

A: Yes I have done charity stitching, I stitched on a lovely bag that our "Friends That Count" group raffled off at last fall's retreat. I'm a hands on charity person and like to ensure that what work on actually makes it to public sale. I wouldn't be interested in organizing charity stitching, probably because I wouldn't like to nag people to get something done. Stitching is supposed to be relaxing not something that has big deadlines looming (that's what works for ;))

I Hate Being Sick!

Yay, day two home this week, sigh...I've been so achy that I haven't been able stitch either. I thought Tuesday's day of rest would have cured me but it didn't. Yesterday I mistook my uneasy feeling as anxiety over reports that a small plane had crashed, knowing my dad was out flying that day as my reason for not feeling too hot and headed to the gym, no sooner than after I went to wipe down the elliptical did the chills not return. I spent the afternoon at work with my 'work sweater' on with my big columbia wrapped around my legs popping advil. By 5:00 I felt great! At 7 I headed out to pick up Cathey's ornament at Sears engraving (and to order an engraved 'The Côté's" ornament for us) when the clerk I was dealing with was asked by another for directions to the Ramada, when he didn't know (they weren't an age group that would probably realize that the Ramada took over Howard Johnson's) I piped up that I knew, and the cashier asked me when I was done to give the lady directions. When I went over and started giving directions she asked where the nearest cab company would be to call, seeing as the function I was going to was two buildings over I offered to drive her after I picked up some Christmas gifts for Logan. Gee, it was only until she was following me out that I realized how fast I walk around when I shop ;)

The Ladies Night for Breast Cancer was awesome, they had a 20% off store discount, a masseuse, wine tasting, goodies from the Happy Baker/Chef (can't remember the name but they made an awesome bite size chocolate mousse tart with raspberry jam hidden inside), jewellry cleaning (my ring sparkles) and Healthy Chef was there too making thai and curried shrimp flambéed in Jack Daniels (yum yum yum). There was a fashion show by Lindor but where the youngest model was pushing 45 I didn't really feel like it was for me ;)

When I returned home my back started tingling, I thought it was from the massage but withing a couple minutes of hitting the sack I had severe chills again and was up half the night, sigh... Today I spent the day mostly in bed until the 'sick sweat' smell got to me and I ambled downstairs to through the sheets in the washer. Now I'm just mustering up some strength to go out and pick up Alex, sigh...of course it's a day where Matt's driving and gets in too late to pick him up himself. Oh well! Here's hoping everyone else is getting in a heck of alot more stitching time than me ;)

A Day of Rest

Yesterday was a day of rest for me, I wasn't feeling too hot (chilled in fact) so I took a rare sick day and got about 5 hours sleep. I didn't move too far from bed besides to drive Alex to school in the morning. Thankfully I had some stash in my room so before nodding off to sleep I got a good start on my exchange ornament for next week, and actually finished the stitching part that evening, now just to sew on about 12 beads and hemstitch. I also called in my order for a frame for SB's Merry Season so it may actually make it up on the walls before Christmas ;)

I did get 8 of my christmas cards done over the course of yesterday, that's about the one thing that I'm slightly behind on ;) While whipping up some supper for the boys I did manage to dip my marshmallow logs into caramel and roll them in pecans to account for some of my christmas baking ;)

Tonight I'm heading over to the Green Village for a Ladies Night for Breast Cancer research, I could really live in that store come christmas time. Hopefully before I go I'll have enough time to get my beads sewn on ;)

It's Monday Already?

Where on earth did the weekend go, the closer we get to Christmas the faster the days seem to fly by! Friday I arrived home with some pop, a bottle of red and a bottle of green, along with some icecream to make some floats for our tree decorating. While we were waiting for Matt to arrive home I twisted the ribbon to fall from the top of the tree and got all of the ornaments out and ready to hang. I even got the lights on the mini tree ;) So after supper we decorated both trees and watched Santa Claus is coming to town with our floats and the pringles Matt picked up the night before. Alex LOVED the special, especially where it was a show that answered some of his "why" questions ;)

Saturday I woke up before the boys and snuck out to a Body Pump class before my holiday decor class. The decor class was fun but the first project was VERY time consuming leading to the ink dyed ornaments kind of turning out crappy (they should have had more time to dry between coats), but I'm so happy with the rest of my projects we'll just forget about that ;) Alex LOVED his Christmas jeans and is actually wearing them now at school. After supper on Saturday we headed to the Christmas tree festival which was alot of fun, Alex was particularly taken with a tree that had all kinds of christmas related jokes on it. Saturday night I finally got to stitch again, only to get to the border of my band sampler to find that my Blue Spruce was AWOL after my floss ring came apart at retreat so I worked on my Cindy Valentine Sugar Plum's as we were watching The Grudge and there were too many suspense sections for me to concentrate on The Wedding.

Sunday morning Alex and I watched Strawberry Shortcake's Christmas ;) Faith Ann saved my project and I went for a walk to pick up some Blue Spruce, I had alot of fun checking out everyone's Christmas displays along the way. After lunch we FINALLY headed out to see Harry Potter, Alex went over to visit my grandmother and Matt and I finally got to see it (we've had NO luck finding sitters lately and not for lack of trying). Poor me LOST it at the end of the movie, I can just imagine how much worse I would have been had I not read the book. I think the fact that we're also an only son family at the moment makes me a bit more vulnerable to some of the touchie moments in the books/movies ;) We had a very nice dinner at my grandmother's after the movie and then headed home. I finished the band sampler while watching last week's LOST and headed to bed.

Tonight should be pretty low key, I woke up with all the inklings of a cold coming on (something I've been trying to ignore for the last couple of days but was worse this mornign), I probably would have taken a sick day today if I didn' t need to go to the framer's today, sigh... Oh well, that just means plenty of stitching time tonight ;)

Twenty One!

Nope, not the game, not the big birthday to celebrate being legal everywhere in North America, 21 lbs gone, yippee!

To Trim A Tree

Well that's our mission for tonight, the exterior lights are all lit (and on a handy dandy remote that I found at Zellers so I don't have to go out and manually plug them in and unplug them), the tree is up and lit and all ready to decorate!! I can't wait. We plan on getting some munchies out and trimming it while Santa Claus is Coming to Town is on tonight on CBS.

Yesterday was one of those crazy shopping days, I searched in vain to replace the interior icicle lights and I don't think they make them anymore, exterior ones are all over the place and the rest are all LED or swag lights...sigh... My last hopes, walmart or the dollar store ;) I did buy some star lights just in case I couldn't find some and I'll just move the icicle lights from the picture window to Alex's room. Oh and on my travels I found a light up house (6$) for what I hope will one day be a christmas village, my mom and grandmother have them and I just love them!

We also went out after Matt got home (he was supposed to pick us up on his way to dropping off one of the guys in the carpool but neglected to mention that he'd be getting off work early so we missed him) and headed out to the coop where he got some new Levi's and a pair of Columbia khakis (for under 30$). He usually scores some really good clothing deals there before christmas. Because we'd had a late night we got some subway and headed home.

Due to all of the decorating I didn't get a single stitch in yesterday :( It's a good thing I at least got another chapter and a half read on the Order of The Phoenix or it would have been a complete anti Katie time day!

Happy December

Gee...it feels like September weather outside, I'm predicting a very green christmas. Not that I'd let the weather dampen my spirits though ;) We had a really nice dinner with mom last night, I made my chicken kabobs and we polished off the Bailey's cake (warning very addictive) and then after playing with Alex and reading the new books Mom bought him and putting him to bed, we loaded mom's car with the gifts and dad's ladder and she bid us good night... only to return 5 minutes later as stupid me forgot to put the wreath in her car (I'd gotten a bit too concerned with the fact that Matt was handling the gifts).

After that I popped Celine's christmas CD into the DVD player and started bringing the boxes upstairs. One of my sets of indoor icicle lights has gone AWOL!!! I'll have to get that along with another extension cord this evening. Matt was mocking mortification when I came in to put up icicle lights in the computer room ;) This morning I moved the armchair into our room and made room for the tree which I'll be setting up tonight so we can decorate it Friday. I was so excited to read Faith Ann's blog and see that the christmas tree festival was back++, I've missed it for the last two years.

I did squeak in a row of smyrna cross stitches yesterday and hopefully a whole lot more tonight ;)

Scrappy Excitement

I'm so excited, I signed up for my first scrapbooking tools decor class at Compupro. I like the idea of being able to use my tools for stuff around the house as well. Here's a peek at what we'll be doing (I can't wait to make the stamped holiday jeans for Alex...now to find a non brand name pair that doesn't have trucks all over them at the superstore that I won't feel guilty about seasoning up ;))

A Nice Visit

I can't believe it's been so long since I got home, I've been a tad on the homesick side for over a month now, first it was soaring gas prices, then thanksgiving, halloween, retreat, bazarre...weekends really seem to be at a premium, so it was really nice when mom came over for a visit last night. While we were awaiting her arrival I made an Irish Cream Cake (omitting the nuts and quartering the glaze). It was sooo good, and now I also have some bailey's in the fridge to try out that commercial with the flaming marshmallow!! I love roasted marshmallows and I can only imagine how good it would taste to dunk a flaming one of those in a small glass of Baileys. Mom came with a new book for Alex, which almost made him miss the bus this morning as he was trying his darndest to read it. We had bought him a book at the book fair that between the site words he's learned in school and the occasional picture words in the book he can actually pretty much read on his own (proud mommy here!). Alex did read the story to mom, maybe to make up for his flying saucer almost connecting with her noggin ;)

Mom left shortly after Alex went to bed and I started the task of organizing the Christmas gifts that need to go home. The big gift for Alex went in the car last night but the rest are in two garbage bags and three shopping bags (stocking stuffers included and items that need to be set up before the big morning ;)). I don't know what I'm more excited for, the chance to go home or Christmas!! After doing all that and unloading the dishwasher to put another load in and tidy up the kitchen I stitched a band and a half on my sampler and headed to bed.

In other news I'm a great aunt...well not quite but as close as I'll get for awhile with my brother arriving home to find two new degus in the cage! Guess they weren't both male as the store keeper had said ;)

It's a Wrap!

Oh my goodness, I was on a wrapping spree last night. I wrapped ALL of Matt's gifts last night, made some executive decisions on things to be wrapped for Alex and what wouldn't be and left out for Santa's display, wrapped my grandmother's gift, Patrick's gift and a little something for someone else ;) I was so excited when I got to the door and there was the last parcel of gifts that I was waiting for! I think there are two DVD's to wrap and then it's just hap hazard wrapping of stocking stuffers. I also started organizing the stocking stuffers into individual bags. My closet is finally looking like a closet again!

In other news my basement is now as fresh as a flower again. Yay! Now to clean up the rest of the house and buy a storage tub at lunch today for all of Alex's outdoor stuff that he's outgrown. We went to bed early last night as I was pretty tired. I did finish the row I was working on on the band sampler and then it was lights out for me.

Tonight I'm seriously hoping to get the indoor lights put up before Matt gets home, one less thing to do and maybe cut out some tags with my sizzix machine. Then after Alex goes to bed it'll be stitching and watching Bones (and maybe wrapping those last DVD's). I can't believe I'll have my Christmas wrapping done before the first of December, yippee!

Wild and Wacky Weekend

Oh my, can I have another weekend to recover from this one?? I arrived home Friday to end up multitasking loading the baked goods into the Corolla and making supper so we could be out the door at 6:30 (oh this also involved scraping the car). We arrived at the school with all of the goodies and I was amazed at how many women knew my son's name, I'm hoping that it's just because with his red hair he's easy to pick out in the crowd and not that he's been in trouble ;) After dropping off all of our goods we headed to Sarah's Sweet Delights and tested wedding cakes. I couldn't convince Matt on the maple buttercream filling but I do like our choices, a kahlua fudge cake with plain buttercream for the open house and an irish cream cake with wildberry butter cream for the anniversary piece (although I don't think we'll be able to resist it for a year!)

Saturday I woke up at my normal work time for some odd reason so I went out and worked on the band sampler until Alex got up, then I snuggled with him for a bit and after that put out the remainder of the outdoor lights. I can't for the likes of me figure out how we hooked them up last year with only the two cords so right now I only have lights on the deck, the deer and spiral tree will have to wait until I can get to the store. I didn't get a chance to put up the interior lights yet in the windows, I think I'll do that tonight.

After all the lighting was up we woke up Matt and got ready for the bazarre. Alex had sooo much fun and won quite a few prizes, I picked up some more books at the book fair and I got a quick look around the craft, playdough, second treasures and bakesale tables and then it was time for me to work the basket table (each class does up a theme basket that are raffled off). I sold tickets to one of our CBC television personalities and they sold out on my shift so I got to mingle abit more.

Finally in the afternoon I got to steam our carpets downstairs and pulled the affected area of the one in the guest room up and javexed it down. That was fun. After that we bundled up and headed to the parade. Matt took alot longer to get up from his nap so we ended up in parade traffic :( We were heading over to my grandmother's (just past the parade route on main st) to park so we took the ring road, only to find a HUGE detour that took us way out to the Lake and all in back of the mall, and eventually to the nursing home. I was a bit panicked so we parked in the church parking lot instead and rushed to brookside drive. Of course all of this was in vain as we were still 15-20 minutes early ;) Alex LOVED the parade, he was dancing and singing and wishing every single person a merry christmas. After the parade we did stop by my grandmother's to drop off her wreath and visited for a bit.

Sunday we awoke to a beautiful dusting of snow, although that meant scraping the car before church. I can't believe it's advent already. There were two little boys being baptized during the service so it ran a bit later than usual. The Sunday school now joins us for communion and after the service I think Alex had more people come to shake his hand than the minister (his hair seems to attract alot of attention). I had planned on going to a class at the gym but was too tired and took a nap. For supper Matt took us out to celebrate my offer to the Diplomat, we hadn't been there in years!! It was so nice to go out for a fancy dinner :) After Alex went to bed I wrapped up some more gifts and then stitched during Desperate Housewives (I so loved the part where Brie pulled out the shotgun in her best dress ;)). Now back to the grind...

Totally Baked!

Well, no stitching to report for last night, just a tonne of baking completed. So, for tomorrow's bake sale I get to drop off tonight, 4 loaves of cinnamon swirl bread, 3 dozen pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, 2 dozen browned butter frosted brownies (aka butter finger bars), 2 dozen 'Worth Hoarding" Chocolate bars from the 2004 JCS and a dozen low fat chocolate cupcakes (1 box devil's food cake, 1 can diet coke and 2 egg whites), topped with marshmallow fluff (surprisingly low points value) and the awesome snowflake sprinkles Faith Ann gave me :) The house smelled sooo good last night, besides all of the cooking smells all of the Garden Creek Christmas wreaths arrived, it was soooo nice!

This morning the roads were a mess and I got stuck in a traffic line behind a ding bat going 30 under and slamming on their brakes every 3 minutes to check the roads. Do people not realize that just because they're doing it on some point of the road it doesn't mean the chain of traffic behind them can as they're all on different segments of road and ice, especially on hills... Here's my vote on mandatory driver retesting ;) It's not as if the city doesn't have a public transportation system, even if it's flawed for these rare occasions...sigh...

Tonight I'll be vegging with my stitching, that is of course AFTER I drop off the bake sale goods AND go wedding cake testing at 7 :) Tomorrow is super family day, with the bazarre at 11 and the parade at 5, then maybe some celebratory Boston Pizza as the minor flooding dampened (no pun intended) plans on Tuesday :) I'm also hoping to get the rest of the outdoor lights up today/tomorrow and start on the indoor ones. Our wreaths are up so the house is finally starting to look festive :)

A Visit With Santa 2005

Presenting Santa's Favorite Red Headed Elf ;)

Let The Insanity Continue!!

Last night, after picking up Alex's Santa picks and some of the sale items at the coop we headed home with our prize lobster rolls (the coop only has them during the membership appreciation sale) and some nice new Oshkosh pants for Alex's Christmas Concert (16$). After supper while Matt bathed Alex I vacuumed up another dish pan of water out of the carpet, now I'm just waiting for an available appointment from the steamer people! After Alex was in bed I made another two loaves of cinnamon bread dough, a batch of cupcakes which Matt begged and pleaded to have just one and a pan of my butter finger squares. Now tonight I just need to frost the squares and cupcakes, put the base for the other squares in the oven along with the loaves of cinnamon swirl bread and maybe make a batch or two of cookies (it's amazing how much more you can whip up with a little prep, a kitchenaid, breadmaker and a dishwasher ;))

In stitchy news I finished one row of the band sampler. I'm really looking forward to some stitchy time this weekend now that all of the christmas shopping is done. Although I'm going to have to start going to body pump on weekends instead of on Wednesday's at lunch. The normal instructor is on leave and the two backup instructor's that were lined up have injuries or christmas commitments, sigh...

Stitching Blogger's Question of the Week

Q : Do you always sign your projects? If not, why? If so, do you use your first name, initials or what?

A : Nope, can't say I do. Although occasionally I do put my name on the back of the frame. To begin with I never did find a small letter font that I liked that went with any of the patterns I did so in the beginning that's why I never signed my projects. Later, I discovered the secret pleasure of having our work on display and hearing people's honest comments about it and then getting to say "you know, I stitched that". At retreat I try to put my items out when no one is looking so I can get some honest feedback and I really enjoy going to the FREX and hearing strangers talk about my work, I'd rather enjoy the feedback now when I'm alive than tap into the heirloom stuff, but that's just me ;)

The Lord Giveth, the Lord Taketh Away...

Yesterday it poured in Fredericton, I drove through water that I didn't realize was so deep that it was really dangerous and that the road should have been closed...I didn't even think about what I might come home to, maybe I was just too excited/nervous about the job offer with the province. Alex went down to play on his computer and I noticed a little water around our overflow vent, sigh, so I started vacuuming. This lead itself to Matt coming home late as he was looking for celebratory flowers and arriving to a hysterical me as the water just started gushing and all I could think of was saving the christmas gifts (which are all high and dry) and the books that I hadn't gotten around to putting on the headboard of one of the beds as it is still in need of paint but trying invane to keep up with the water flow with a mini shop vac! Thankfully Matt was cool, calm and collected about this and grabbed some dustpans and some garbage cans and actually scooped up the water! Our basement hall carpet wasn't finished so I rolled that up as quickly as possible so now we just need to have guest room one steamed and my craft closet, sigh...

I was so sore last night and feeling pretty gross from the gym and water control workout and I didn't dare shower until 10 when the water level in the overflow drain had gone down about a foot. It was a good thing Bones was up to its awesome antics ('you're a professor, shouldn't you be using your mutant powers or something?' Agent Booth's response to Dr Brennan asking for a gun permit) so that took my mind off the basement for a bit. I even got half of one of the more labour intensive rows done in my band sampler to try to keep up with my one band a night goal.

Today is parent teacher so I hope Alex has improved some since we started working with him. Then tonight I'll be baking (which I'd hoped to do last night) and then stitching through Smallville and taping Lost. Now to get in queue to have my carpet steamed by the pros!

Omigosh!

Well, a long time ago I had meeting...and to make a long story short...they've now offered me a position!! I'm so excited/nervous it isn't even funny. Next year is going to be such a huge change between the wedding and now the job. Who says life is dull?? ;)

Giggles Happy Dance

Yay, a Giggles happy dance...now if I only had a digital camera, the pic will have to wait on my roll of film getting close to completion (plus my anal retentive self would like to do a small fix to the 'w').

Last night was fairly peaceful. When we arrived home Matt had left for the after hours clinic so Alex and I did his homework and then I made a double batch of bread dough and the base for some squares for the bakesale Saturday and threw those in the freezer. Alex was very excited that we were having the maple pork for supper to which I had a mini 'yay, he gets excited over real food finally' moment.

Matt returned home just before Alex's bedtime, with a good chunk of dad's Clive Cussler book read from the long wait at the clinic. After Alex was tucked in and I showered I sat down with Matt and Giggles and caught last week's Lost. I was finding it really annoying as the transition between days felt like a deleted scenes reel on a DVD but the end was pretty intense. I can't wait until Wednesday, Lost should be awesome and there is supposed to be a 'smack down' in the fortress of solitude between Clark and Spike 'er Brainiac/Prof Fine on Smallville.

Nothing too much on the schedule for tonight, I've gotta do some more prep work for the baking challenge at school and then Bones is on at 9. I'm going to sort through my current project box and rid it of any floss colours that are not needed in The Wedding and then it's back to stitching that project ;) Oh if only I could clone myself and send the clone to work, that or win the lotto :)

On The Verge

Oh it's so hard to come in to work when I'm *this* close to a stitching happy dance! If I only could have stayed up an additional hour last night Giggles would be complete now! Beading is done and now it's just doing back stitching around the letters "S" and "N" and backstitching a couple tufts of snow and his pompom. Thankfully the beading is all done and I didn't run out of Kreinik as I thought I would.

A Weekend In Review

Sigh...where do the weekends go? We had a fairly busy weekend++

After work on Friday we came home and got Matt and went to Sarah's Sweet Delights to set down the ground work for our cake, next week we go for the taste testing to see what flavors we're putting on our anniversary layer and what's going on the gift openning layer (the lord beaverbrook has dessert included in the meal price so we're only serving the cake the next day). After we wrapped up there (and trying one of her delicious eggnog white chocolate truffles) we headed up to the Fredericton Mall to attempt to Wake Up Santa. Alex LOVED the magician's show (thanks Faith Ann for letting us know about it), although by the end of the night I think our eardrums were going to shatter from all the little kiddies eeks and shreeks at the magician. It was so cute listening to them singing christmas carols to try to wake up santa (he was REALLY in bed). Instead of waiting in the insane line we went and had supper and then came back for Alex's trip to Santa which consisted of "Hi, I'm Alex and I love Star Wars", only waiting about 5 minutes.

Saturday morning I took Alex to the kids crafts session at Kents where he painted a christmas decoration. Then we headed over to Green Village to check out the christmas decorations (I could so move in there), went to see my grandmother who wasn't home (while we were on that side of the river) and then headed into the dollarstore which had the folders that Karoline had at stitching night, they're too neat!! A duotang with 10 plastic page protectors that you can slide your current project in and out of (much more helpful when working on an SB). When we returned home I worked on Giggles and then took a much deserved nap. That evening we went to Williams for some fish and chips and then I worked some more on Giggles' beading. Oh...and I made three batches of playdough for Alex's school's Christmas Bazarre!

Today was also quite busy. At 12 I headed to Zellers to take advantage of the 10% off coupon Faith Ann had dropped of (thanks again) Friday and I'm now FINISHED my Christmas shopping (including stocking stuffers). YAY!!!!! When I got home and hid the stuff I then cleaned out the coat closet and sorted hats and mittens into some nice new canvas baskets I'd picked up while christmas shopping. Then I went out and put up the new hooks for my christmas lights and put the lights up on one side of the front deck (hoping Matt won't notice if I do them gradually). Now it's off to making supper and hoping I can finish off Giggles tonight, lots of tv involved so it's definitley doable :)

Did I Celebrate 19lbs?

I know I've been down that much for a couple weeks but didn't want to make an official post until AFTER retreat, seeing as I wouldn't have much control over my meals for 4 days ;) But after my Newbody class today it was official!! I'm so close to being in another tenth place number :) It was kind of fun being at retreat 25lbs lighter than the last one (I'd lost the other 6 between last april-july).

Stealth Mode

Yeah, my car now runs in stealth mode ;) Yeah, I know it was loud when I took it in (or I wouldn't have taken it in ;)) but now it's quieter than when it arrived in Fredericton in the first place! I don't know what else they did to Betty (I name my vehicles) but she's also alot more responsive so I really need to start watching my spedometer. I remember many moons ago when Betty first joined the family in 96 that this was a 'problem' however in the last couple of years it hasn't been....now if only someone could turn back the clock that effectively on me for 200 bucks ;) Now whenever I pick people up they won't hear me coming...

Last night Alex and I went to look at fabric for the bridesmaid dresses for Lisa's wedding which was fun. We picked up some candycane ice cream on the way home along with some pizza toppings. After Alex went to bed and I showered and made my Silkweaver's order for a piece of Golden Harvest linen for my Ottawa Sampler, I plunked my butt down to bead and watched Joey, my taped episode of House and CSI for the first time all season (curls into ball and goes into Night Stalker withdrawl). Beading is coming along quite nicely on Giggles and I'm hoping to finish him up by mid-day tomorrow.

Today or tomorrow I'm hoping to finalize the wedding cake and then put out the exterior christmas lights. There's just so much to do ;) I think the boys will be tenting downstairs tonight which will be fun for Alex. Oh is it 5 yet???

Welcome Logan!

Yay, Shannon's had her not so little (9 lbs 1 oz) boy last evening. I was sooo excited to see the pictures of him this morning. It amazes me how technology can make it feel like my friends in Ottawa are just next door!

Stitchy night was great! There was lots of oooh'ing and aaaah'ing over Faith Ann's new framed pieces, they both look so pretty. I needed it last night too, after grocery shopping and fretting over the fact that the car was going in the shop (she didn't sound too good) in the morning it was nice to sit back and stitch to the point of beading. I did get a little distracted and checked out the Usborne catalogue that Faye had brought in and of course ordered some really nice books for Alex for Christmas. We also got into a discussion about the new provincial nutrition policy which is going into effect, which has crossed a line in my opinion and of course Alex's school made the CBC about it. I'm not so sure anymore that Alex's pumpkin chocolate chip muffin came home the other week because he didn't have time (1/4 cups of chocolate chips in the entire batter isn't going to completely negate the cup of pumpkin, half cup of carrots, 1/2 cup of wheat germ, honey instead of sugar, low fat eggs instead of egg and applesauce instead of oil, sheesh) and kind of makes me angry considering I had to hear from an ashamed child that he had been sent to the office twice and only then did I find out he needed help with his fine motor skills. It was the one and only time I ever sent a baked good to school and I firmly believe it to be better for him than his low sodium/low fat ham on whole wheat sandwich. sigh... Anyway off of my soap box...

Today's trip to the garage wasn't as expensive as I was thinking, phew... Just the water pump and AC pump going and seeing as I haven't used the AC since 2001 due to a leak (it is a '94) they bypassed it for me, I'm soo anxious to hear it purr again. Now for a nice walk over to the northside of the city after work to pick her up.

Eleni and Jackson were in today and I finally got to Williams (hence the need for walking to pick up the car). My land he's grown and looks like the picture of health! I got to give her the Alfred Angelo brochure with the bridesmaid gowns in it, another wedding thing done ;)

Tonight I'm not sure what I'll be up to, I'd like to stitch and do the beading but with things being so crazy I may do something with Matt if he's not busy. Now that my Nightstalker has been cancelled I have some tvless time to either compute or read my HP book :)

It's Stitchy Night

Yay, just what I need, some retreat debriefing, I'm really looking forward to a stitchy night with the girls! ;) Last night after making some pumpkin muffins, making two batches of marinade (one for tonights chicken kabobs and another to put in the freezer), doing a load of laundry, homework, bathing Alex and finishing up a warlock quest, I finally got to plunk my butt down and stitch while watching Bones. Oh how I love Angel...I mean David Boreanaz ;) I really like the show's dialog, it's got the same kind of witty/pop culture references/dead panning/sarcasm that I adored in Buffy and Angel, mix that with an anthropological/scientific concept and I'm hooked. Considering how engrossed I was in the show I did get quite a bit done, I should be beading about an hour into tonights stitching session :)

Last night I lugged the remainder of the christmas gifts in while the boys were too busy to notice (besides the parcel I'm awaiting from amazon which has Alex's Laugh With Chirp book and one of my brother's presents, oh and a little something for Matt). I'm actually really excited about the Matt component of that parcel, without going into detail as goodness knows when he reads this it's come highly recommended and I managed to get it for 10$ off the regular price. Now to continue wrapping. I also developed a stitching strategy for a band sampler that I'd like done for christmas which has me pretty excited without slowing down my Wedding progress too much ;)

Can Retreat Actually Be Over??

Oh we had a wonderful weekend at retreat!! We started with a shopping trip in Moncton where I found some presents for Alex at Old Navy and the Disney store (6.99 adult and children's shirts yippee). Our first stop however was at Barbara Ann's Cottage, it was sad to see it so empty. Then we headed to BYC and picked up more stash, I picked up some new fabric, the latest Lizzie Kate santa(*2) and tiny tidings, some NN perle cotton, mill hill beads and my candle wrap pattern. :) We were disappointed to see Atlantic Fabrics had gone out of business, good thing I got my membership money's worth out of my Sizzix purchase. Michael's was sooo pretty with all of it's Christmas decor, I really hope the rumor is true and that there's one coming to town this spring. After all this, and a stop at the Roots outlet store we headed to Montana's and I had the best apple butter bbq rib tips ever!! It was fun to meet up with Lisa and Dawn her other bridesmaid. We then lugged all of our purchases to Cathey's grandmother's who graciously took us in for the evening. I never thought I'd be the first one to sleep at half past ten, but of course we did some power shopping.

Friday morning I was up at 6:30 and read in the dining room until Cathey got up around 7:30 or so. We did make it to Wildwood by 10 to 10 so we were doing pretty good. It was great to see everyone again although we were by ourselves (fredericton group wise) until about noon. For supper we headed to Pizza Delight (friday 's supper was only available to those that had paid for thursday night too) and Lucy, Angela and I shared an amazing Santa Fe chicken skillet pizza on a garlic sesame crust, yum. When we returned to camp I finished up Dry Turkey and assembled my Joy Needleroll.

Saturday was a relaxed day, we checked out the local craft fair and I got two cute tole painted ornaments at a steal. We also headed to Frenchy's where I found Alex a Children's Place shirt and a pair of Calvin Klein jeans for 4 $ total ;) We also stopped at the dollar store where I found Alex a whoopie cushion for his stocking. Saturday I was good and got the imprint of the angel done for Giggles between then and time to leave on Sunday.

Saturday night we got a bit foolish ;) During snack we decided to see if the whoopie cushion worked so I snuck down to our circle and placed it under Tracy's cushion as she had a nice hard chair for it to sound off against. When she sat down during door prizes the expression on her face was priceless but we couldn't hear it. Apparently it had made a little "wvooot" sound and she was looking around to see where it came from, when she brought it back over we were laughing so hard we were in tears and just then Lucy's name was called so we put it on her chair and she was laughing so hard she plopped down on it and it let out a big one. I then lent it to the quebec group while we were checking out an inflatible duck on a toilet that Cathey and I were accused of putting there. Gee just because we got out a whoopie cushion and had our top 5 things to do at retreat shirts on doesn't mean we were up to that nonsense ;) When we returned from our duck hunt the cushion was on my seat so I picked it up and noticed Cathey talking about the duck as we got settled back in so I made a split second toss which landed perfectly on her seat. I haven't laughed that hard in ages :)

Sunday it was sad to see people packing up (oh and I bought more stuff at the BYC mini store, bad me, but the little Zweigart elves were there from the back of this years JCS) but I still stitched away. I was so happy to receive Tracy's ornament in the exchange. We packed up after lunch and headed home. We got stuck behind a fire truck who wouldn't let anyone pass for half an hour, when we finally got to the accident I would say a moose had been involved as the car was totalled and the roof crushed :( Alex was very excited to see me arrive home and that just topped off the perfect weekend !!

My Bags Are Packed...

I'm ready to go. I'll be waiting here outside my door...I can't wait for Cathey to pick me up (ok, I can't sing or ad lib songs). I'm so excited for retreat it isn't even funny, I REALLY need a couple days away without the *poof* 'what do you want?', sometimes I really feel like the genie in Aladdin. What's worse is Matt has been on his air exchanger rants, to top off wanting to move the wedding as three guests *might* be invited to another wedding the same weekend as ours. Good grief. I get really frustrated as his sinus problems are stemming from something that needs to be fixed medically (and free in Canada) but would rather shell out money to help it. I'll be soo glad to veg in Moncton tonight!!

Last night I got all of my stuff together for retreat and it's sitting in the kitchen. I almost forgot my light but I'm sure Cathey would have reminded me. It was so hard trying to decide what to pack for projects, you hate to lug too much stuff but it's nice to have a back up project should you need to frog as that's not what retreat is about ;) I packed up my new jammie pants which I'm sooo excited about (comfortably wearing a size smaller rocks). Also yesterday I did my weigh in and I'm officially down 19lbs since the engagement but 25 since the last retreat so I packed some of my nicer clothes for a 'look at me now' moment. I'd still like to take off at least another 15 but I'm much happier at this weight, I have my face back!!

Yippee in three hours we'll be hitting the road!!!!!!!

One More Sleep Til Retreat

I don't think I've ever needed retreat more!! Between wedding date craziness, poor Alex getting sent for quiet time at school and trying to remember my french it's been one crazy month already. I definitely need the stitching break before the holiday season!!

Last night while waiting for the minister to arrive (which the church office failed to notify us that he'd had surgery) I actually ornamentified while watching Bones. It was my first attempt at gluing an ornament and I must say I was very pleased! I also put a hanger on my retreat exchange ornament and put them both in the tote.

Tonight I'm heading out for groceries, making the filling for a tortiere for the boys while I'm away and then packing, lots of fun that's all going to be!! Oh well, just one more sleep...

A Little Bit of Everything Looks Like A Whole Lotta Nothing

Last night I had great intentions of finishing Dry Turkey, not so. Matt did finish the vacuuming which meant I did get the kitchen and bathroom floor scrubbed and I did get the mirrors cleaned in the bathroom and did another load of laundry so I was all set to stitch after tucking Alex in. He had a time out handed out by Matt just before bed so I hopped in bed to give him a little tlc and to say our prayers together. After our standard Now I Lay me Prayer I did my own little one to thank God for Alex and when I was done Alex bursted into tears and said he'd been to the principal's office that day and on Halloween. The poor little guy was soo ashamed. So I stayed in his room alot later than expected explaining that he needs to learn to control his mouth just like he needed to learn control for potty training, that tomorrow is a new day and that it was very good that he was honest about it and that we still loved him very much. I calmed him down and stayed in bed until he was sound asleep.

I didn't feel like stitching much after that so I emptied out the tote for retreat and started packing. I logged into the computer for a little bit and then headed to bed, reading half a chapter out of the Order of the Phoenix and then turning out the light. Alex seemed in much better spirits this morning and I kept reminding him that today was a new day and after a whole lotta hugs he was ready to go to school. I was going to meet up with a friend for lunch today but she had to cancel and where I don't have my book on me I don't feel like running on the elliptical so I think I'll go home and do some serious retreat packing. I can't believe its only two more sleeps away!!

A Shoppy Weekend

Wow, I never thought I'd see that title. Years ago when we were poor and living in an apartment I seemed to do a heck of alot more shopping ;) This Saturday was the annual 20% off sale at the mall so I dropped in for a peek after taking the bottles in, visiting with one of the nicest wedding cake vendors around, picking up my frame and stopping by market. By the end of my little excursion Alex had two new pairs of Jeans from the Children's Place, I'd bought a Christmas gift for friend Shannon (from my brief Acadia stay) and her bundle of joy they're expecting any day now, a cute little christmas themed Christmas object to go with my brother's gift and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles playset which walmart had for 39.99 instead of the 59.99-69.99 Sears wanted for it. Yippee!

Sunday I worked more on the Dry Turkey by Raise The Roof that I thought I'd finish (but more shopping ensued), tonight though... We took Alex to Chicken Little and then I picked up my pants that I was kicking myself for not buying when they were 20% off at laSenza and got to show Matt what I wanted for Christmas in there (and YAY, I'm down a size in there). I definitely needed new pj pants for retreat, my pink ones keep falling off or are hanging way too low for public viewing ;) Matt took us to A&W for supper, which I just don't crave anymore so it was no biggie.

When we got home we started tidying up, which lead to an incident with the vacuum. Matt usually cleans an area then vacuums it, well Saturday he tidied the living room so I assumed that would be his first area of attack when he started the machine up...fast forward to Sunday where the machine still hasn't been going and Alex needs a bath. I got Matt to vacuum the hair and fuzzies in the bathroom before splashing kid was inserted and for some reason instead of heading to the logical area, being the living room, he headed to the hall. Not too long later I could hear a very ticked off Matt from the basement. Apparently he'd stuck the head of the vacuum into our room before it was tidied and he'd managed to catch the end of a spool of perle cotton and overheated the motor! I felt only slightly to blame as he knows he should tidy up before actually running the vacuum into a room (especially with Alex now playing with action figures and their itty bitty parts) but I bit my tongue and kept on tidying up. ;) He eventually turned back to a nice shade of human.

Tonight I need to ornamentify (which I'd planned on doing this weekend before shopping ensued), finish Dry Turkey and get packing for retreat. I can't believe it's only 3 more sleeps away!!! :)

2005 Dragon Dreams Christmyth Happy Dance

Well, here's my Satyr finally although the scan sucks...I so need a digital camera!! This makes his poor eyes look huge! But I'm happy dancing none the less...not only for that but the 4% raise I received today to...just in time for retreat shopping!!

Back to School

Today I got to go to school twice, once as the bus must have broken down as it drove up the road, turned into the subdivision and disappeared for 25+ minutes, how much longer I don't know as I put Alex in the car and drove him to school as I was late for work. Then I got to return to the school at 9 to read to Alex's class :) I almost burst into tears as he lead me to the rocking chair, he looked too proud. We read The Spooky Old Tree (which is my old book) and What Makes a Rainbow, Alex's other favorite book. The girls in his class REALLY like the WMaR book as it has ribbons that pull through with each colour and eventually makes a rainbow.

Last night I did get some stitching in, although I went to bed fairly early (I can't seem to stay up to 10 with this time change). I finished the cross stitching on my DD Satyr, now to backstitch it when I get home. Cathey's convinced me to stitch Raise The Roof's Dry Turkey so I guess I'll be bad and not work on the wedding ALL weekend. I also need to do some ornamentifying before reatreat. This time next week I'll be counting down the minutes until we head for Moncton/Bouctouche!! Yippee!!

I've been sorted

be sorted @ nimbo.net

Finally, A Stitching Night!!

Well, finally after a little break I got some stitching in, though it was not nearly as productive as it could have been (ie: half the colours had decided to go into hiding) but I did get the 2005 Christmyth Satyr started while watching Smallville and Supernatural. Yay that means one less hour (Smallville was an original broadcast) of taped shows that I'm behind on :) I even managed to get a chapter of The Order of the Phoenix read last night yay!!

It was so nice going grocery shopping kid free last night, I was in and out of there in a flash and home and unloaded the car before Matt arrived home with Alex. I'm hoping to get to do that more often!! Mind you the one thing I didn't think about was swapping out the booster seat where I don't have to drop Alex off at Tracy's in the morning, I'll now have to make a detour on my morning trip to work to drop it off.

I was so ticked off shortly after supper when I listened to the messages on the phone, 1 friggin days notice for Home and School, I plan on speaking with the principle today or tomorrow about this. It's not as if they didn't know the last meeting time at the last meeting >:( Matt doesn't get home until the time the meeting starts normally on thursday and one day doesn't give nearly enough time to juggle his driving schedule, and I'm sure I'm not the only parent in this boat (or one similar). Pretty much all evening appointments for optometrists and dentists are also on Thursday so if people knew in advance not to book said date instead of being forced to choose between being involved in the school or facing another month or two long wait for an appointment, grrr...

This morning I got up a bit earlier than my alarm thanks to Matt turning on the light to find his keys so I made some pumpkin spice muffins for lunch. This particular recipe has alot of amazingly healthy items hidden in it (wheat germ, carrot) and today I tried sub-ing out the butter for applesauce and not a single difference in taste or texture (and they were already from the healthy cookbook, making them even better is a bonus). I just didn't feel like maple pork for lunch, which is odd because Alex ate most of mine. He even asked for my pork over his french fries, wow! I don't know if it's school or what but he now says 'trying new things is good', now that doesn't extend to the vegetable world but he's definitely now interested in lean cuts of meat, yay!!

Presenting My Trick or Treater! :)

Onto The Order Of the Phoenix!

Yay, I finally finished The Goblet of Fire last night!! Finding time to do my own reading has been so much harder since we had Alex that's for sure! I passed up my Tuesday night shows, headed straight for my jammies and tucked myself into my health sheets and started reading. Of course having my 40 minutes on the elliptical end with a character dying didn't spur this on or anything ;)

I was zonked when I got home, we got stuck in a huge traffic jam (which Matt had heard about but didn't bother to talk about as it didn't effect his schedule, I would have taken the Mazzerole Settlement detour) and came home to homework, blah! I really didn't feel like cooking but managed to pull together a very easy recipe for chicken parmesan off of the Kraft site while helping Alex with printing. This recipe essentially bakes the chicken in a can of primo tomato sauce with a couple tablespoons of parmesan stirred in, and later lightly topping the chicken with some mozzerella. Because there's a tonne of sauce I usually cook spaghetti noodles and serve the chicken and sauce on top and just serve it spaghetti style to Alex. Well...last night he took me up on the offer to try my chicken and lets just say I had about half my chicken breast! Tonight has maple port on the menu, I can't wait!

No stitching to report from last night, I was busy reading. I may try to stitch up Jennifer's latest Christmyth tonight to add to the collection. I'm actually semi looking forward to doing groceries after work too, A) to avoid the 5 pm traffic with construction and B) I've asked Matt where Wednesday is his work at home day to pick up Alex from daycare for a couple of weeks so I don't have to bring him grocery shopping, yay!

Happy Haunting

Wow....it's finally over! I'm one tired momma this morning that's for sure. We started off the night at about 5:30, Alex was a bit too excited and was running and not being very careful, which lead to me barking and I HATE doing that. After about 8 houses I heard a big crash, when the door was openning the kids shuffled and Alex fell between a small open section between someone's deck and house. He ended up with only a scratch and was ok, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as he slowed down and was alot more aware of his surroundings after that. Trick or treating went much smoother after that.

At about 7 we parted ways with Tracy and her girls and Laura and her daughter and headed for a quick detour to Faith Ann's. I parked down on the road so Alex could get some real use out of his flashlight instead of randomly pointing it at objects. We were about 10 steps away from the door when he said "Mommy, this is one of your cross stitching friends isn't it" (ie: mommy, I know you want to talk stitching but keep it short as it's my trick or treating night). We'd brought treats for her little guy as Matt was late getting home and missed them on their trick or treating run. Alex was over the moon about his Zwak punch, and asked for it for breakfast this morning (good thing I'd put it in the fridge last night). On our way back to the car Alex made a b-line for the playhouse which he thought was a halloween haunted house ;)

We finally got home and Matt had been creative with our jack's, putting the two smaller ones around the walkway. He'd arrived home late so he'd missed the kids, I never thought I'd see the day when I received less kids than my parents who were up 700% at 7 kids! We put our cauldron of candy out beside our witch and headed out to do part of our street. We even got to meet the new people on the block who are our age, yay! Alex got to pick one candy before bed, brushed his teeth and passed out and I wasn't too far behind him, briefly reading some Potter before drifting away to sleep (darn time change). Poor Matt wanted to watch a spooky movie but I was beat and tired...this weekend perhaps.