Ok, Where'd My Weekend Go?

Can I have another weekend please?? Oh it doesn't feel like we had one at all! Friday I skipped class after work as I was zonked+++ Also during the day our new couch and chair arrived, hooray!! However assumptions, screwed us over and we were stuck trying to find someone to take our old set. Thank goodness for Fredericton Freecyle and Fredericton Freetrade!! I briefly went home at lunch to see if we could fit the couch in the van to take to goodwill and when it didn't I posted it, and had a whopping 20 some inquiries by the time I got home AND it was out of the house by the time I got back from my hair apt Saturday morning.

I took about every non cleaning second this weekend trying to sneak some stitches in on 'mystery project'. It should be done in the next two days, I can't wait!!! (well with the exception of the accessory pack that needs to be added). Well, we now have one clean house so I should have a bit more free time to stitch. Saturday I picked up a big rubbermaid tub and started 'seasonalizing' my closet so now that room is alot cleaner. And now with the non slip covered couch the living room's maintenance went down considerably! Now the main places that need improvement are the craft room , of which my objective is to spend 15 minutes a day in until it's ready to swap desks. My uncle left us a beautiful desk that we were using for the playroom tv and my old P120 computer that Alex uses but it wasn't big enough to accomodate both the monitor and the keyboard without looking at doing some modifications. I was sitting on the basement couch looking at it and thinking it would be great for stash storage but could imagine Matt's face when I stored cross stitch stuff OUT of the craft room. Did it ever occur to me to swap the computer desk I've been using as a sewing table for it?? d'uh!!!

Sunday we prepared to meet the BIL's fiancé from Switzerland, more cleaning ensued which left the Cote household pretty stuffed up after stirring up all that dust in the evening. We had no idea what time they were coming and the closer it got to pump I started getting anxious and asked Matt to call the BIL to see if they'd be at our house before 1:30, nope, plenty of time! So I packed up and headed down to the fairgrounds to pick up our prizes ;) I was kind of dreading going in as all week I'd been searching for my new Wilton caketaker and couldn't find it and the only place I would have left it was there on entry day...and I hadn't had a chance to put my name on it yet!! I asked if there was a lost in found which I was informed that I'd have to call today, and then said how I suspected I'd put my cake taker down when dealing with Alex and forgot it (I was in a rush) but that they knew about and had it set aside. I was sooooo relieved!

I now have Giggles in our room until he finds a permanent home in the house, and the hardanger wedding candle wrap is now cleaned (the stain less noticeable) and on display in the china cabinet. It's sad seeing the fair over BUT it does motivate one to get their handicrafts in displayable shape!! ;)

Oh...back to our future sister in law. She's very nice and petite+++ I suggested to Mathieu that we pick up some flowers seeing as it's the first time meeting her and they went over well...why don't men think like women ;) We headed down to the Diplomat for dinner which was nice, we were all royally stuffed by the time we left. We were zonked by the time we got home and went through the motions and were in bed at 10 on the dot ;) Now here's hoping for a more restful week!!

Walking Zombie

Oh my, I'm truly exhausted. After having a rough night Wednesday, I got an e-mail mid Thursday afternoon saying that the lawn was going to be sprayed...today. Ideally a lawn should be cut before it's sprayed and guess who's the only one home during daylight now?? Why do I bother keeping a calendar of events??????? To top it off I still had prep work to do for our guests that haven't given us a date or itinerary (ok normally I wouldn't be wondering but it's the BIL's fiance's first trip to Canada, maybe they want to try out the cool restaurants), and I had to clean up the living room for the anticipated arrival of the new couch and chair!! So it was close to bedtime before I relocated everything, scrubbed the floors, made the lunches, did another load of laundry, etc. Oh...and it was bath night for Alex last night as well...that and story time were about the only breaks for me :( On night's like that I know why some people hide out at their offices.

Am I anal retentive for asking for a bit of notice when people plan on visiting?? I mean there are some people I don't mind having impromptu visits from, my parents being one, and not because they're MY parents, they just don't complain or make comments about other people too ofen, so I know they're not talking about my cleaning/cooking and other people who have or are around children and can appreciate the absolute chaos (even when flyladying) that they can unleash. Alex picks up after himself, most of the time, but he can also roam around and get something out which you only find minutes before/after bedtime. No toys in the living room has helped this some...but every so often I get a shock when I haven't realized he's gone from playing in the playroom downstairs to his bedroom and vice versa. Then there's the food or drink spills... Juggling work, kid, schoolwork, fitness is alot of work, let alone throwing in being a half decent hostess.

What's worse?? My Drema package arrived last night and I had NO Time to fondle my new fibers...I hardly got to look at them, killer! The most I got to do was pick up the perle cotton I needed for 'secret project' so I could work on it at lunch. Tonight should be a bit quieter, I'm hoping...

Thanks for the comments on the Evening Dragon, he'll be available on the Dragon Dreams site around Christmas I believe or can be requested from any store that went to the Charlotte market (I believe Jen keeps a list on her site). He was so fun to stitch. I'm hoping Alex will like it and the planned Lost Dragon Sampler :)

Alex so far is loving French Immersion. He's actually found the transition from playtime unstructured kindergarten to sit down and learn grade one a very welcome change. He's like his mother and doesn't do well in unstructured/non scheduled situations :) Although at 3:30 yesterday I saw the phone number for the school come up and my heart just sank (after last year), but it was just the teacher offering advice on a form that I didn't bother to fill a section in (additional school bus stop) and saying how cute she thought Alex was. I guess she overheard him singing their au revoir song to himself at the end of the day and thought he was adorable :) What a relief.

Happy Dancing

  Hooray, thanks to Faith Ann I was able to stitch in the remaining spots of 415, now he's all ready to be framed and then wrapped up until Christmas :(  Maybe he'll sit on my desk at work for a bit until I have to wrap him for Christmas ;)  Stitched on SMF Merlin.

Two Down!

Wow, Alex had a busy day!! The poor little guy had a tonne of stuff to lug for his first day back (and it wasn't even ALL of his supplies). He really likes his new teacher and both girls that were a 'problem' last year are not in his class, yippee!! According to him there's only one other kid from his kindergarten class in the same homeroom. Then last night he had Matt extract his other loose tooth! This one wasn't as loose as the first but he gets very distracted by loose teeth and he's got enough on his plate entering immersion this year.

I headed to the gym after work for a much needed run. When I got home there was a lovely 'parcel' waiting for me, THANK YOU Faith Ann!! I can't wait for the weekend to try out the pumpkin waffles!! Thankfully there was no homework...yet... I put some chicken parmesan in the oven (Alex had a special request where it was his first day back to school) and puttered around the computer room and then hid out in the kitchen making as much noise as possible waiting for the 'extraction' to be over...that just grosses me out! After Alex was in bed I took one last night to veg with Eureka and finished the stitching (with the exception of 415) on the Evening Dragon and tried my hardest to get to bed by 10..but it ended up being more like 10:30.

Tonight?? Well, that's another story...we STILL don't know when Mathieu's brother and fiancée are visiting so we'll have to kick in clean up mode tonight. I'm hoping it'll only last until 9:00 but it's hard to guage, we also have to get the couch and chair ready to be moved out as the new furniture should be arriving next week (we have a big movie night planned for that event!!). So there'll be some scrubbing going on tonight!! I also need to get a storage tub sometime over the weekend to put my summer clothes in...although for now they'll go in the drawers in the computer room. Hopefully at 9 I'll get to stitch a little bit, after finishing the Evening Dragon I tried to move back to my rotation working on the Summer Dragons...I'm hooked and can't wait to get back to them tonight :) Thankfully supper is in the slowcooker so I can probably do some of the tidying with Alex, as he loves to be a big helper :)

In other stitching news the end is in sight for the 'super secret project'. All rows are either finished or substantially started (with the exception of a heart that needs to be frogged). Now if only my DMC perle would show up... I also finished Monica Ferris' Hanging By A Thread yesterday and started on Cutwork. I'm really hoping I can get Karoline's copy of Crewel Yule back to her in time for retreat (but I'm anal and have to read the books in order)....then it'll be on to Tracy's Laura Child's Scrapbook mysteries!!

Almost finished

Now If I hadn't have run out of 415 this would be a happy dance for one christmas gift for Alex :)

Eureka!

Oh my goodness, I'm completely hooked! Matt had recorded Eureka and yesterday he suggested I watch it where it was a pyjama kind of day. What campy fun...4 hours of it to date to be exact!! It's got the x-file factor but mixed in with the campy Desperate Housewives feel that makes it a fun show to watch even for non geeks ;) Mind you I loved the x-files but it just has the right tones of everything, conspiracy subplot, a town of super smart people, sarcasm and even the over the top Men in Black guns...without that forced feeling of most of the sci fi gen...and a very dashing Canadian as the star. ;)

Well...seeing as my butt was parked watching that, I did get plenty of stitching in on Alex's Evening Dragon for Christmas...with the exception of the grey that I need to pick up this morning :( He should be all done in time to take some pictures tonight though :) Alex was camped out in his room with the ninja turtles taking on his multiple spider men with some Jedi's looking...he was definitely in his own little sci fi adventure ;)

Later in the afternoon we got a call from Alex's new teacher, she seemed genuinely excited about meeting Alex and even asked to speak with him on the phone. I was pretty impressed seeing it was a holiday for her. I'm very excited about Alex's 'fresh start', I'm just hoping he can keep his distance from the girls that caused him sooo many problems last year...and are thankfully in another class. I spent the rest of the evening...until Eureka hour number 4, labelling, making lunches, laying out clothes, fending more death questions (I didn't even realize Alex knew who the Croc Hunter was) and staring at the new light fixtures ;) I'll have to post the pics of our old lights to understand why...one was dubbed the 'gross spaceship light' and the other...well it had a chain and that's just wrong!! I don't know what would be better getting rid of the final 'chain' light fixture in the bathroom or winning stash...it's a tough call ;)

Getting Results

Phew...what a busy long weekend!! It's been so nice to have 4 days off to get some things done around the house. Daycare was closed for a well deserved vacation day so I was home with Alex Friday, mom and dad also visited which was really fun. Mom and I went Friday morning to order the couch/chair and then visited a number of kitchen remodelling stores (for her house). After they left Alex and I vegged...and read some Mummies in the Morning and then had our local liberal candidate drop by on the campaign trail and the poor guy...I really vented my frustrations of the school system thinking that families are still the 1960's makeup with a mother working at home and zoning not being nearly flexible enough for working parents with regards to afterschool care.

Saturday the gardenning was finished for the season, some discount perrenials I purchased were put in and my silver bush moved to the back garden :) Even the lawn got mowed! I also brought back the bins that we'd purchased only to go through every single set at the store and see that the entire atlantic canada shipment was bad...now to find somewhere else to order them. I also labelled Alex's school gear after having a nightmare it wasn't done the morning school started ;) I put in some real good hours working on Evening Dragon too!! I can't wait to post a finished pic of him...then put him in hiding until Christmas.

Sunday we finally found something worse than ceiling fan installation...flush mount lighting installation!! Matt and I put the new front entryway fixture in in no time flat, the same is NOT to be said for the hallway!! Trying to line up a screw with a screw hole on a VERY wide base with insulation in the way and an electrical box which isn't quite level was an extremely good workout for the shoulders!! When we turned the power back on thankfully everything worked! Then I noticed the time and rushed Alex over to a birthday party.

On the way there I had the radio going and heard the rain forecast for today, our traditional FREX day. Considering we bought Alex a bracelet already I was a bit concerned where any future evening would be a school night. We hummed and hawed (and I stitched...) and at 5 packed up to go to the FREX. Well...I think I'll go on Sunday's now. There was hardly a line up anywhere, even at the dippy dog :) Alex was giving 'little' kids (my goodness you'd think he was 10 instead of 6)instructions on all the rides until he met up with two of his friends. Off they went leaving us parents to follow ;) Matt and I got on one of the adult rides with them which I was fine on until it started going backwards...but me not feeling good was a good excuse to check out the exibits.

Out of our ribbons here was the one we were most excited about:



Alex was soooo proud of his win, and he had his little friends with him when he saw the results. And what's even better is they're a Dragon Dreams recipe for the '04 JCS ;) I/Giggles In the Snow also took home a first in the medium framed cross stitch category (as long as Cathey enters I'll never take home a grand champion ;) her Angel of Grace was gorgeous). I also took home a second in the ornament division with my three Jeanette Douglas needlerolls :)

And without further ado, Giggles...finally framed!



Today will be all about vegging and stitching. I was hoping my package from Drema would show up Friday with the perle cotton I need to finish 'mystery project' but it looks like I'll just be putting the finishing touches on one of Alex's dragons :)

FREX Prep

Yay! We're all set for the local exhibition. I managed to bleach out the red wax that dripped on our unity candle holder last night (although the perle cotton isn't as shiny in that spot anymore), got Giggles ready for the framed cross stitch category, got Wishful Stitching (sampler) ready for the unframed category and my Jeanette Douglas needlerolls ready for the ornament category. Alex also made some of Jennifer's Worth Hoarding chocolate bars (JCS 04) for the children's squares category and I made some cookies for the Crisco bake off. Normally I only use crisco at Christmas and years ago I used to enter ALOT of baking...but now kid time is at a premium and the product categories for baking have much higher winnings so I stick to them (and the horrid memory of some volunteer smushing my bag into my fudge, losing my points on appearance left me abit sore on entering baked goods anymore). Next year I'm hoping to enter 'mystery project' in the large christmas decoration category and hopefully Guardian Angel will also be done at that time.

Last night was productive, I mowed the front, side and a quarter of the back lawn, made Frex food, and I almost put together Alex's bins last night but I'm debating taking them back. The side pieces aren't 'mint' so we'll see...have to locate the receipt first though! Although this did cut into my stitching time. I shouldn't complain too much, everything will be nice, clean and ready for me to kick back over my extended long weekend!! Luckily my job has flex hours and I'm fortunate enough to have enough banked to take the day off with Alex tomorrow which one of was going to have to anyway where our sitter is taking a much needed/deserved day off!! :)

Framed!

Hooray!! Giggles is at the framer's being put together now!! What a p.i.t.a that has been!! I didn't realize that the reason my W was off was because I'd miscounted a snow blob! So, I ended up stitching the exact same part over again in the exact same spot! I only realized this AFTER I'd laced it. It took some creative fixing but he's now centered!! What was worse was my normal lacing needle has been borrowed by the secret project so I had to find a creative way to obtain it without Matt seeing, who was perched on the couch.

Before all that schmoz I had a mini panic attack when I got home and Matt's car wasn't there. He was carpooling and I saw his bud's car drive in but never noticed what car they left in, any other time when someone arrives at the house they either leave their car or leave with Matt! I was beginning to panic thinking it had been stolen but thankfully both of them arrived home just as the new Baked Ziti recipe I was trying was coming out of the oven!!

After supper we headed to the Coop to check out the leather Palliser set they had on sale...but then we made a detour to Lane furniture. What an absolutely gorgeous store!! And what was best is that Matt actually liked EVERYTHING in the store, and believe me that never happens ;). The Palliser set didn't seem quite as nice after sitting in our favorite style, the Alpine but not in the colour shown.

It turned out to be a late night for Alex and he was pretty disappointed we didn't get to read a chapter of The Magic Treehouse last night :( I did pick him up Mummies in the Morning though as we've only got 2 chapters left! Speaking of TMT, it was soo neat when we were at Magic Mountain...we went past the gift shop and all of a sudden Alex got all excited and pointed out "The Jolly Roger", which he'd read about in Pirates Past Noon, we thought it was pretty neat that he'd retained that ;)

In my break time travels I also found a copy of the UK Cross Stitcher, the covetted copy with the Ultimate Margaret Sherry Collection which includes her 12 days of Christmas. Now to find the time to stitch it!!! ;)

And Two Shall Be As One

Well, we made it to the wedding this weekend. We had a late start Friday night >:( Considering I was at the wheel it was a >:(++ kind of trip. Since having Alex I've rarely had the need to drive at night and when I do it's in the city or highly populated areas, not a dark highway. The fact that we encountered a camper that couldn't decide what lane it was going to drive in and was straddling the division was not making me any more comfortable. I was so glad when we passed it. We arrived at Lisa and Davis's house only getting slightly lost, as in about 5 minutes extra of driving at best.

Saturday morning Alex helped Lisa get breakfast ready, he was just bouncing waiting for Matt and Davis to get up so he could get to Magic Mountain. He absolutely loved it! While he was on one of the kiddie slides and Lisa and I detoured to the Tornado, Matt checked out what slides Alex could get on in the adult section and was misinformed that it was only the pro racer...which we clarified quickly. So Alex's first adult ride was hurtling head first down this slide (I wish they had pictures of it to explain why I was screaming as loud as I was the whole way down) on this little foam crazy carpet thing. I was absolutely terrified at the end and here's Alex "Oh that was so totally awesome, we're going again". I don't think he experienced the whole brief airborn sensation I did at age 6 ;)

Every ride that we'd go down I thought Alex would be terrified at the end but no...he was gung ho! Matt and I went on two slides that are safe to say we'll never do again. One is a mini kamikaze all enclosed...which was like having a colon cleansing upon reaching the bottom it was sooo fast. The other looked tame...I heard guys screaming in it but I thought it was because they were trying to be cool fun...Matt ended up flipping and bumping things (apparently one should head the weight warning, even when you're a pound or two over) and well me? It was like a being shot through a cork screw! I ended up wedgied and on my belly with my wedgy exposed!! Thank goodness I'm married or that would have been enough to scare any boyfriend off ;)

Thankfully we did the lazy river and wave pool with Lisa and Davis too, it was so fun to be going as a group instead of just the three of us!!

The wedding was beautiful, although supper ran long...and Alex's sinuses were bothering him and he was tired from our exciting adventure! We ended up leaving at around 9:30. When we arrived back at L&D's we had a chance to catch up some more and look over each other's wedding pics :)

Sunday we headed to one of my favorite spots for breakfast in Moncton, Heinz's. I don't think I'd been there since I lived in Moncton 7 years ago. We had a little wait but it was fun cramming into a little booth ;) When we returned to L&D's we packed up and got to chat some more, it's just been so long!! At noon we headed to the gift openning which was the longest on record I think ;) On the way back to the highway I convinced Matt to stop at Toys R Us to see if they had any of the storage bins, which they did. It was a good thing we'd stopped too as we realized we forgot Alex's blanket AND Walker (Al's Cabbage Patch) at Lisa's!!

Monday I FINALLY got back to stitching but it was certainly frustrating. I need to fix the W on my Giggles in the Snow...which needs to be brought to the exhibition by Thursday...So I got the W all ripped out and do you think I could find 2 of the 4 colours I needed?? VERY frustrating! Then this morning I went to the framer's to see about my frame and the girl covering the shop didn't know where it was...but thankfully found it within a half hour!! I was beginning to think it would be my first year in a while not entering! On break I picked up the threads though and stitched in most of the part that needed to be fixed, only 17 stitches to go!! ;)

Is It Friday Yet?

I dunno about this whole Piggy thing...I would have thought I was a Scooter or even a Kermit. Maybe I'm a diva and don't know it ;)

Last night was another busy night. I headed to Newbody and that class sure has grown in numbers since the wedding. It used to be a little niche group but it's really exploded. Our instructor also explained her absence from last weeks class. She apparently has really bad sciatica...but only when she's pregnant. Wow, she's three months into pregnancy number three and looks fantastic, you'd never know...if that's not motivation to eat better and work out more I don't know what is.

I'd made supper in the morning and Matt popped it in the oven for me so it was ready when I walked in the door. As soon as supper was done I headed out to waterproof the swingset....scrubbing it wasn't nearly as annoying. It looks mighty impressive again! After finishing that Alex and I played a couple rounds of Candyland, he had Clue Jr all set up but that game can take awhile and he needed to get to bed. He has the weirdest obsession with apples lately. I'm beginning to think that he heard somewhere about biting into one to take out oa loose tooth...but it's a healthy snack so should I be complaining? Maybe the weekend my familie's down for my birthday we'll get a chance to visit one of the many orchards and pick our own big juicy apples. I thought it was so fun when my grandparents used to take us, I'm sure Alex would be equally as excited.

After he was in bed I raided my stash and found some fabric to stitch DD's Charlotte Freebie "Good Knight Sleep Tight". Initially I had planned to stitch the Lost Dragon Sampler for Alex for Christmas but when the freebie came in I decided that if he got one stitched gift (his room is in serious need of transition from Winnie The Pooh) he'd definitely enjoy this one the most...Not that I'm not still hoping to complete The Lost Dragon Sampler for him as well, it looks right up my quick to stitch alley ;) Anyway, back to Good Knight...well it's coming along quite quickly! I got a respectable portion of him stitched while watching Bones, especially considering we had a popcorn break in there ;)

Today is going to be busy. I need to wrap the wedding gift and pack. Matt's behind on folding laundry so I'm guessing about 5 minutes before we got to bed I'll be greated with a big stack that needs to be put away. Tonight's also the last night for Alex's soccer and where they do a 'closing ceremonies' and give all the kids participation medals it's going to be a long evening. I'm really hoping to get the back lawn mowed as well tonight, which should be doable before supper, considering it's sitting in the fridge waiting to be warmed up ;)

I'm getting really excited for our visit with Lisa and Davis, with planning for both of our weddings since last summer we really haven't had that much time to spend together. Hopefully the sun will be shining for our trip to Magic Mountain!

The Muppet In Me...Hopefully My Thighs Look Better Though

You Are Miss Piggy

A total princess and diva, you're totally in charge - even if people don't know it.You want to be loved, adored, and worshiped. And you won't settle for anything less.You're going to be a total star, and you won't let any of the "little people" get in your way.Just remember, piggy, never eat more than you can lift!

The Muppet Personality Test

Productive Stitchy Night

Yay, I finally got a good two hours of stitching back in!! Last night was just a productive night overall, I pulled out of the government lot into perfect traffic for once, no reds, no one turning left...picked up Alex, headed to the mall to return two items, both with minimal waits. Returned home and had supper ready to just pop in the oven so I could vacuum the van which I think was holding half our driveway's crushed gravel. I even got around to going through the receipts scattered through out it and shredded those. After distracting Alex I loaded the table and two of the four chairs for my brother in the van, took a shower, put supper on the table and then headed off to Eleni's to stitch with her and Angela (oh and on the way there stopped at the Coop to pick up a tonne of Mccain's Quenchers, they're 50% less sugar for my juice addicted husband, as they were on sale and a really nice Paderno travel mug for me, again on sale).

We started our stitchy night off with a show and tell, I had my stack of stitched but unfinished ornaments...but the girls had impressive projects on the go ;) With fall around the corner I should have more periods of time to commit to my bigger projects, but it's been sooo nice out this summer it's almost a sin not to be outside doing something productive. I made some nice progress on my 'secret' SB project, I got all of the stars finished. Oh my, we watched Vanished and I'm hooked ;) I had to leave at 9:30 to deliver the table to my brother on the way home (figured if I was out in that area I might as well). On the way there just before I turned into the 'apartment district' I saw some dingbat over in my lane, my first thought...drunk. Well after having a collision with a drunk driver before I got into defensive mode, slowed down and started hugging the shoulder in case. Then I saw a big mound on the road which was upsetting, especially where it was still twitching. I thought it might be someone's pet but then saw it was a racoon. Which is kind of ironic as I was going to visit my 'scientist' brother who's currently doing a study on racoons. Well...I think he was more excited about the fact there was a new racoon to necropsy than the table ;)

After I got home I stayed up a little later than usual and enjoyed the fact that my living room was back to normal, no table pieces hidden behind furniture, Matt's laptop wasn't on the base of our new table as a temporary stand, just our old ugly furniture, the nice tv and gorgeous china cabinet :)

Today is Newbody day, hooray! I'm hoping to get the clear wood protector on the swingset when I get home. It would be so great to have another thing off the to-do list done!!

Week Long Forecast: Whirlwinds Ahead!!

This weekend wasn't very stitchy, but it was at least productive. I finally got the remainder of the thank you cards out and about! Yes...the wedding was at the end of May but we had an 'inlaw' incident that required redoing a bunch of them. My original plan was to put out the thank you cards and distribute pictures to people on our Christmas card list, as over the years our list has been weeded out to people that appreciate our cars/pictures. Well, the MIL was up towards the end of June and we gave her a stack to hand out in Grand Falls. Then a couple weeks later, when the remainder were ready to go I found out she'd been distributing wedding photos to her side of the family when she dropped them off. >:( I was insulted, not only for me but for my family. I'll leave it at that as it's a very sore subject that tends to snowball if I think about it too much. So, I went and ordered some pictures from Superstore so I could redo up the remainder of the thank you cards and for some reason their machine kept autocorrecting the images and bleaching them out!! I love that photoshop for film prints but I definitely won't go back for digital prints! After that panic set in, what if my disk was bad? What if they could only be printed on the expensive express machine (the only machine the MIL uses). So...I decided to send a test set to Walmart, one print and one sepia (even the Sepia at the Superstore sucked), however Walmart isn't on my normal route so it took a while to get back there (have I mentioned that the distributed shots in GF were definitely NOT one's I'd pick)...So finally we got a batch of pics printed off and then the file with the list of addresses magically disappeared! Thankfully it's now all done *and took up alot more writing than I thought*

Back to the weekend... Alex enjoyed going to market so much when we were visiting mom and dad that he thinks we should go to the one here more often ;) So Saturday we got cleaned up and headed down and proceeded to the mall to get the boys hair cut. I had some articles to return and some additional pictures to print off as I'd miscounted so it was a productive trip. After a break and reading a stitching related mystery at least, I headed out and started the annual playground equipment maintenance, putting the deck scrub on and wiping it down. I definitely need a hose that'll go back that far, but thankfully about two hours, a pizza and watching The Benchwarmer's later there was a freak rain storm that literally pressure washed the whole unit!! Although this storm eventually brought with it some lightening so that put installing the new light fixtures out of the question!

Later in the evening Matt finally put together the pedestal table we inherited and although it's beautiful the boys are still whining about it. Matt and his long legs are not liking the pedestal in the center at all and there's a bit of a stability issue. Alex is just sentimentally attached to the old table and complaining about the reduction in leg room, arghhhh!!!

Sunday wasn't nearly as productive, but I did get alot of little things done, which actually made a big difference. My afternoon was pretty much a wipe with Bodypump and grocery shopping.

Monday was better, I got to the gym at lunch...Matt actually got his chores done on time, I got to stitch the secret project a bit!! I also convinced Matt that we should leave for our Moncton trip to visit Lisa and Davis Friday so Saturday wouldn't be too hectic for Alex where we have a late wedding to attend for Matt's cousin Dominic and her fiancé Luc at Le Pays De La Sagouine. Alex is very excited about the notion of going to Magic Mountain and somewhere squeezing in a snack at Taco Bell...which will probably be left until after people have to see me in a bathing suit ;)

Tonight I'm heading over to Eleni's for some much needed stitching with her and Angela, my goodness this week is really going to fly by with that tonight, Newbody/possibly pump tomorrow, last soccer practice of the season Thursday then leaving Friday! I'd better get organized ;)

A Glimpse Into The Crystal Ball

Before I begin, I love my husband very much...and swore to love, honor and cherish him, even while he's on the wait list for Martha Stewart's boot camp for tact and household chores. ;)

ROFL, I'm not big on forwarding e-mails...unless they're the girl empowering variety so here it is

Bob's Story...

It is important for men to remember that, as women grow older, it becomes harder for them to maintain the same quality of housekeeping as when they were younger. When you notice this, try not to yell at them.
Some are oversensitive, and there's nothing worse than an oversensitive woman.

My name is Bob. Let me relate how I handled the situation with my wife, Debbie. When I took "early retirement" last year, it became necessary for Debbie to get a full-time job along with her part- time job, both for extra income and for the health benefits that we needed. Shortly after she started working, I noticed she was beginning to show her age.
I usually get home from the golf course about the same time she gets home from work.

Although she knows how hungry I am, she almost always says she has to rest for half an hour or so before she starts dinner. I don't yell at her.. Instead, I tell her to take her time and just wake me when she gets dinner on the table. I generally have lunch in the Men's Grill at the club so eating out is not reasonable. I'm ready for some home cooked grub when I hit that door.

She used to do the dishes as soon as we finished eating. But now it's not unusual for them to sit on the table for several hours after dinner.. I do what I can by diplomatically reminding her several times each evening that they won't clean themselves. I know she really appreciates this, as it does seem to motivate her to get them done before she goes to bed.

Another symptom of aging is complaining, I think. For example she will say that it is difficult for her to find time to pay the monthly bills during her lunch hour. But, boys, we take 'em for better or worse, so I just smile and offer encouragement. I tell her to stretch it out over two or even three days. That way she won't have to rush so much. I also remind her that missing lunch completely now and then wouldn't hurt her any (if you know what I mean). I like to think tact is one of my strong points.

When doing simple jobs, she seems to think she needs more rest periods.
She had to take a break when she was only half finished mowing the yard.

I try not to make a scene. I'm a fair man. I tell her to fix herself a nice, big, cold glass of freshly squeezed lemonade and just sit for a while. And, as long as she is making one for herself, she may as well make one for me too.

I know that I probably look like a saint in the way I support Debbie.
I'm not saying that showing this much consideration is easy. Many men will find it difficult. Some will find it impossible! Nobody knows better than I do how frustrating women get as they get older. However, guys, even if you just use a little more tact and less criticism of your aging wife because of this article, I will consider that writing it was well worthwhile.

After all, we are put on this earth to help each other.....

Signed,
Bob

EDITOR'S NOTE: Bob died suddenly on May 27th. The police report says that he was found with a Calloway extra long 50-inch Big Bertha Driver II golf club rammed up his arse, with only 2 inches of grip showing. His wife Debbie was arrested and charged with murder; however, the all-woman jury found her Not Guilty, accepting her defense that he accidentally sat down on it...

The Stitchy Night Report

Hooray, it was stitchy night last night. I love Faith Ann's afghan, it is just gorgeous. And seeing her so close to finishing her first SB stocking makes me wish I had that stupid perle cotton colour so the Santa on mine would look a little more 'solid'. There was a really good turn out at stitchy night. I'm so excited about the possibility of a workshop too :) It was a special treat where stitchy night fell on Faye's birthday and we got to share her yummy chocolate cake. I stitched away on the 'top secret' project...although truthfully I could be stitching it under his nose and he'd never know...framing bills are get his attention much better ;)

Before stitching we had an interesting Newbody class, the normal instructor was 'out' and another instructor did her best to fill in, but where she was 'rusty' we had a 30 minute Newbody class and a 30 minute ball class...well, after vacation my body definitely appreciated the ball class, it's amazing how much you work in one of those! I must not be completely out of the shape I was in before summer, I was the only one beside the instructor who met the challenge exercise of rising from tuck position to kneel solely on the ball without a single spec of my body touching the floor. It was hard to concentrate enough at first with all the balls going everywhere and the giggles that ensued.

Project surprise Alex was a complete success. I went in to wake him this morning and told him there was a surprise for him at the table...he was so excited to see the new Magic Tree House book there, he was eagerly thumbing through it before his breakfast was served. Last night the girls were raving about the new Source yogurt dessert flavors...well I'd heard ramblings before but I don't know how many times I found a scrumptious flavored yogurt only to turn around and see the calorie count through the roof...but not this stuff. So instead of buying the big 16 pack (why oh why can't they have eights) I picked up the lemon meringue and it was a hit...and with the boys too ;) Alex loves yogurt and I was so glad to find an 'adult' kind he liked, he needs his extra smooth ;)

At lunch today I get to meet up with Eleni and do a big swap, I'm really looking forward to my 'treat' of fish and chips at lunch!!

Stitchy Night

Yippee, it's stitchy night!!! I can't wait!! An opportunity to work on that project for DH!! :) But due to stitching night and trying to squeeze in a Newbody workout before hand all the pre-organizing had to be done last night, making last night another stitchless night (thank goodness I got to stitch at lunch). Well..I could have stitched but the perennials I bought on vacation were begging to be planted!! So I got supper in the oven, tidied up some more post vacation messies, put another load of laundry in, started supper for tonight, got my stuff organized for tonight and organized Eleni's stash order.

We've been working at getting Alex back on his school time sleep schedule but still managed to conclude reading Mary Pope Osborne's Pirates Past Noon before this week's target time. I was feeling a bit guilty about not seeing that much of him today (Matt will be picking him up and I'll briefly see them when I get home for a shower before they head to his last library night) so at lunch I headed over to the book store and picked up book 2 of the series, the Knight at Dawn, (book 4 was a birthday gift or we'd have started in order)..where book 1 wasn't in. I can't wait to see his face when he spots that at the breakfast table tomorrow morning.

Is it just me or did this summer fly by?? I'm sure people could hear us shrieking when we spotted one of our trees leaves turning red!! Alex and I were doing our best impersonation of the KFC fall commercial that's been running for the last year or two. I checked up on Alex's soccer and the last practice of the season is next week! Then it'll be time to look into registering for swimming lessons again and beavers. Typically I don't believe in overscheduling but he really wants to go to beavers and I'd really like him to have some sort of physical activity so we'll try juggling two...but no more ;)

It's even harder to believe that...if tradition repeats itself...that the next stitchy night will also coincide with JCS Ornament Issue Release!! Now there's something to get excited about ;)

We're Back!!

We're back safe and sound...clean is another story ;) Unpacking from our awesome trip home is taking awhile. Apparently DH does not know how to use the washer so there was nice backlog of clothes, thankfully most of ours were washed before we left the Miramichi! I have the quilt I bought loaded back in the van to return so that's out of our kitchen too ;) It was fun setting up the other quilt that I bought for the craft/guest room. Now I have something to coordinate a paint colour with ( the lion king comforter just didn't lend itself to any of the colours I had in mind ;)

I was dead tired last night by the time I hit the sheets, not a single stitch in all evening, just groceries, making a chicken curry and prepping the veggies for tonight's Starving Guy Chicken Pot Pie, then unpacking. It's really nice when your husband offers to bring something to town for someone to pick up the day after you get back from vacation and EVERYTHING is in your kitchen/dining room, closest to the door! Needless to say I wasn't in a very good mood ;) I did get to chat with mom on the webcam afterwards and tested out the fixes that I did while I was home, now they're no longer dependant on the headset. Main problem?? In the 'man's domain' of computers, with the majority of men suffering some degree of color blindness, why on earth would they put two jacks in the back that are pale yellow and pale green. Even I had to double check the colours with some better lighting!!

Last night's biggest accomplishment by far was getting Alex to eat brocolli! Especially where he's adamently sworn that the only two things he hates are brocolli and olives. Apparently if it's coated in the curry sauce he'll eat it. He actually mooched half my plate!! Guess I won't need to make him a seperate supper the next time that's on the menu ;)

Today should see some stitching, I'm hoping to sneak downstairs for a bit to work on the stocking, otherwise I'll be upstairs fixing the W on giggles so I can frame him and then try to get back on my rotation ;) Tomorrow's stitchy night so I'm REALLY looking forward to that ;) While we were home we went to the Napan fair and they had a small (but impressive) display of cross stitch, that really got me in the mood to finish something big again ;) Alex really enjoyed the fair, the midway was bloody expensive but thankfully inside was neat and kept him from thinking about the rides too much, petting zoos, exhibits, antique farm equipment, food, and neat competitions, not just the standard show judging of horses...the best by far was the lawn tractor/trailer slalom ;)

Now to see if I can find pics of any of the new Dragon Dreams releases online ;)

Vacation Update

Omigosh where did the time go?? Wednesday was spent mostly taking care of Phoebe (ie: smelly cat). Mom and I had our first experience bathing a kitty, well that was interesting but at least she was no longer matted in poo. The vet took her in and was going to try to fix her up so that the spca would take her and thankfully was going to bill the spca. We didn't know all what was wrong with her besides rhinotracheitis, had this have been 7 years ago I'd probably have taken her in but Alex and the house are pretty demanding...along with hoping/wishing to expand the family in the next couple of years. I don't think I'd make a very good kitty mommy. After Phoebe was left in the hands of a very compassionate vet who we trust with making the right decision what to do with her when all of her conditions we took Alex to his first trip to a national park Kouchibouguac.

Thursday we relaxed where it was raining, dad had to retrieve Steven from Fredericton as he's in a wedding this weekend so Alex got some girly time. We also got in our trip to Estey's, it's definitely changed since the son took over :( Or maybe I'm just that accustomed to William's fish and chips back home. I got back to working on Matt's stocking, I'm trying to keep it under wraps and surprise him at christmas.

Today we headed to the market, where we started our vacation a week ago, then took some pics of some living room sets so Matt and I could make a decision on our wedding gift. Tonight we're hoping the rain stays away so we can get to the Napan fair, amoungst their exhibits is a cross stitch one...guess where I'm heading ;)

And to finish off, some more pics from the week (had a very cute one of Alex swimming at Kouch...until I realized he had some MAJOR butt crack...sigh) Alex, Pappy and Jazz

New Brunswick Day Bouncing At Middle Island

Feeding the Goats, New Brunswick Day Middle Island

Goat Watching

Sand Condo Construction at Escuminac

Look What the Tide Washed In! Escuminac, NB

On The Boardwalk Escuminac, NB

A Couple More Happy Dances

Our First Christmas - Lizzie Kate

Sampler's and Such -Pointsetta JCS '05

Viva La Vacatione!

Ok...my spanish is very rusty! ;) It's been so nice vacationing, we've been to escuminac beach, market, Moncton for a girly shopping trip and just relaxing. Today's been a bit hectic. On our way home from Moncton (with a car load of goodies and stash) we came across a little calico cat on the road. He/she looked pretty neglected so we tried to take it to the spca which was closed. Now when we went up there today, trying to be responsible pet loving citizens they wouldn't take it, told us it had an infection and to put it down ourselves! What the goodness is the SPCA for then?? Anyway the vet wasn't in and the very nice (and not overly impressed with the local SPCA) receptionist was getting ahold of the animal control officer and the managers to see why the goodness we should be reponsible for putting down the poor cute (but ill) kitty before it's appointment at 2. :(

On to much more happy news, I was able to pick up the thread yesterday to finish my Lizzie Kate Our 1st Christmas ornament, yippee!! I did really well and kept my stash bill tame ;) I've been stitching away here and there on Matt's holiday stocking...why even when I'm not working does there never seem to be enough time??

Officially On Vacation

Pics like this are what I'm looking forward to this week...and some ornament finishes to boot!

Testing The WatersFirst Gap in the Grin!

Snow - Glory Bee

Don't Peek - Little By Little Design Co.

Happy Birthday Eleni!

Happy Birthday Eleni!! I'm really looking forward to her birthday luncheon today. Usually someone (actually both of us) are on vacation on this day but with the long weekend being late we can actually go out. Although today's noon hour was at a premium. Where we're usually not in town I didn't even think about it and made an appointment at the spa for a lash tint (I anticipate swimming a bit next week and don't feel like being attached to a tube of mascara...the joys of being a red head with blond lashes), so when Angela sent me a reminder/invite I rescheduled. Not two hours later our project manager sent out an invite for lunch for today where so many of us are going off on vacation in the next couple weeks, I politely declined :)

Well, yesterday was a little hectic. I've been pricing tires ever since I got the inspection back on the van and just out of curiousity checked out Canadian Tire before heading to the Miramichi Friday where I probably would have gotten Walmart to install a set (ours doesn't have an automotive department)...of course they were on sale THIS week! So while showing them to Matt who pointed out the Goodyear model that we had nothing but problems with both times a set were put on the Corolla were also on sale (plus they're touring tires, not what I was looking for traction wise) I headed down to CT, ordered my tires and made an appointment to put them on tonight after Newbody. When I got home I called mom and dad to tell them the good news, as dad keeps giving me not so subtle reminders that they marginally passed their inspection, and when mom relayed the message I then heard in the background 'Oh and I would have put them on for her next week...', being on my comeback ready little toes I replied, 'well they aren't paid for yet I can always cancel', *dead silence* :)

Matt and I enjoyed one of our Movie Night's from the stitching bridal shower. We rented V for Vendetta which was really good...after I got fed up with the first five minutes being so dark and changed the setting on the tv, I knew it was supposed to be a dark movie...but not that dark ;) As it was a 'date' night I didn't get to stitch, which was really hard seeing as one of my packages came in from SBB! I did however finish my Snow ornament by Glory Bee from JCS 2004 on break at work ;) Last night I also made the filling for a tortiere for Matt while I'm away and started packing the non essential clothes for a quick get away Friday morning :)

Tonight Matt is back on schedule and picking up Alex and taking him to the library, so I can go to newbody and then head up to the garage, stitching in tow!! :)

The Owl Has Flown The Coop!

Omigosh the Owl is gone!! There's a beautiful old home on Smythe (one of Fredericton's main arteries) that for decades has had an owl in their front porch. Well...ok stuffed animals are gross but this one was a celebrity. Throughout the years, and even changes in ownership, whatever the season or weather, the owl was dressed appropriately, a santa suit for christmas, rain coat for the spring, you name it...the owl even went into mourning when Princess Diana passed away, draped in black and holding a queen of hearts card in it's wing. The house has been for sale on and off for the last two years and when we drove by today it was completely cleaned out...including the owl. Sigh...

Last night was quiet. We tried out a new recipe and then headed out for a bike ride. Both Matt and I really need to put some air in our tires. Alex is really flying on his bike now... By the time he was bathed and ready for bed I was pretty tired myself and didn't stay up much longer than to marinate the pork tenderloin for supper.

Today I should be able to wrap up my Glory Bee ornament on break, I can't wait!! No plans for tonight besides maybe putting some new tires on the van. Although if it's nice out I probably won't and just relax outside. I can't believe it's August already!! Where has the summer gone?

Why Do Weekends Go So Fast?

D'oh...photobucket was having issues last night so I couldn't post the pics this morning I was hoping, sigh...

We had a relatively low key weekend. Saturday I headed over to the Avalon for a much over hair cut. I don't know why every summer I put off the summer crop until mid season and suffer through most of July with hot heavy hair that can only be put in a ponytail that ends up losing all volume by the end of the day. Alex almost cried when I told him I was going, he thinks the ideal woman wears makeup and a ponytail (he's obsessed with them) so after I assured him that my hair would still be long enough to put in one, minus a couple pieces of my layers hanging out he was fine. I took advantage of the warm weather and did a tonne of laundry and had it dry outside on the line and on our rack. As I was driving back from the spa I thought I'd bring up a trip to the waterslides when I got home, but Matt was pretty tired so we stayed home. Alex and I set up the slip and slide instead and I took some pics of him...and thankfully the neighbor across the road wasn't in any pictures without his shirt on ;)

Sunday involved mowing the back lawn and more laundry, and we'd made arrangements for my brother to watch Alex in the afternoon so we could finally see Pirates of the Carribean :) I did the groceries first and picked up Steven on the way back, I even managed to finally pick up some frames, one for my Katie's Eggs finally caught my eye and another for our group wedding photo and autographed photo mat. Oh...and I finally got some hangers to put them up with and some other framed pieces that have just been sitting around waiting for hooks. I LOVED the movie, but forgot to stay for the teaser at the end of the credits, darn having such a nice day to make you feel guilty for being in the theatre so long. Afterwards Matt drove Steven home and I made some applesauce meatballs for the boys. After supper we went for a bike ride. Alex can really pick up some speed on his new bike, we ended up driving down to the cul de sac at the end of our street and back, only to have Alex beg to go out again, so this time we went a bit further to the cul de sac behind our house. After the bike rides and then him mastering the monkey bars finally you'd think he would have been tired, hah! I finally got to do some stitching at 9, way passed his 8 pm bedtime. I didn't do much, just stitched in one of the four instances of the word "Snow" on my Glory Bee ornament :)

Today should be a bit better, it's supposed to shower at some point so hopefully we'll then get some stuff done around the house (like installing our new light fixtures) and then I'll get some stitchy time :)...Thankfully it's only a four day work week for me and then it's vacation!! :)

Catching Up

I'm back!! What a crazy week. Alex and I haven't been feeling too hot (well actually we have been too hot, maybe that was the problem). We were both pretty lethargic! To make matters worse I was finishing the ornament that I really wasn't all that motivated about...now that it's finished I'm so relieved (I hate having half done pieces lying around).

We hadn't gotten much sleep due to some wicked thunderstorms, then the day after one of them Matt's computer (the alpha male computer) just stopped running. I tried powering it on for him and the light flicked once and nothing. It made for putting up with one grumpy boy!! I offered the use of my computer (his two year cast off) and he took me up on the offer...meaning no piccy posting last night for me :( He thought his power supply might be fried. I thought just the way the thing half powered on and died was weird and turns out my conclusion that the on/off button had issues was the correct diagnosis...yay, we can return the additional power supply!! However that does not bode well for work that'll need to be done to replace it...and the fact that I have the same case and notice my button isn't always 100%.

Wednesday was just frustrating. I hate being the 'mean mom'. DH and DS called up north to tell the other GP's about him losing his first tooth, then they 'offered' to pick DS up at DH's work and take him up to their place for the day to which I said no. That would mean 5 hours in the car for Alex and that's just mean, besides which the round trip that they'd be pulling is the same length of time to our house which they refuse to visit. So yet again, I...the one who's been bending over backwards for these people am made out to look like the bad guy for not wanting to subject my poor little 6 year old to all that driving, and to the care of people that are not overly involved in his life, anytime we go up. The only time he sees them is when we have the time/energy/money to go up there and the majority of that time is spent at/preparing some sort of big family event so Alex's one on one time is limited. Matt's like "well wouldn't a day off be nice?", wait...I still have to go to work, he's at a daycare he adores anyway throughout the day, I still come home to the same work load of house stuff and still have to cook supper, plus he'd be arriving home with a very cranky kid who's been cooped up in a car WAY too long. No thanks. We'll readily accept applications for housecleaning, taxiing and laudry though ;)

From that conversation though we did get some semi exciting news, Matt's brother bought a ring for his trip over to Switzerland. He apparently met the love of his life while vacationing in Cuba, headed over to see her again shortly after our wedding, they've had some sort of e-mail/phone thing going on and I guess there's no doubt in his mind on what he wants to do, so we've kept our over cautious mouths shut (we waited over 7 years to get married...so we're on the other extreme ;)). So I may just have another sister in law, we'll have to wait until he arrives back in the country to hear in two weeks...although I'd still prefer if one of those brother's of mine would settle down...I swear I'm going to be a grandmother before I have any nieces or nephews!

Progress Pics from Weekend :)

Penguin Hugs from Paw Prints Designs
JCS 2004Christmas Joy Angel Stitchin'

JCS 2003

Best of Intentions

Last night I had alot of intentions, I intended on taking some pictures of the finished ornaments..I'd intended to go stitch with the girl's, but with a head cold that's been draining I decided reluctantly to 'save my spoons' and listened to mom's advice and 'went to my room'...well it wasn't really my room, it was the couch and I dozed in and out of Doogal last night. The sniffles and sneezes are interrrupting my sleep though...or maybe it was just the anticipation of Matt's interview today.

I was a little more mobile after 9 and I stitched some on Little By Little's Don't Peek (JCS ornament issue), which I started 2 years ago and my tastes have changed quite a bit so I find it a bit of a struggle to stay motivated on doing it, but it seems a shame to just leave it where it's half done.

This weekend is another 'non travelling' weekend and besides a hair appointment and pump I don't really have any reason to leave the house (unless we decide to take Alex to Woolastock to the water slides) so my idea of relaxing this weekend would include

• 
  Finishing one CC Holiday Mitten
• 
  Ornamentifying NN's Holiday Hardanger and The Sweetheart Tree's Merry Christmas bellpull
• 
  Ornamentifying at least one of Paw Prints Penguin Hugs, Dragon Dreams Peace, Dragon Dreams Not A Creature Was Stirring, Lizzie Kate's Holiday Mitten, Sampler's and Such's The Holly and The Ivy or Winter Wheat...I'm leaning towards Not A Creature Was Stirring though ;)

Mini Monday Milestones

Oh my! I came home from a Body Pump, Body Jam and grocery run to Alex with a big closed mouth smile on his face...which made me suspect as to what the boys were up to while I was gone. Sure enough when he smiled again I noticed the gap where his baby tooth had been loose...I can't believe he lost his first tooth (and am so glad I wasn't there for it, it makes me squeamish!!).

Yes...so Sunday was busy. Some of the girls at the gym were doing there certication videos this weekends for Body Jam, the new Les Mills program to be offered at the gym. I got an exclusive invite to Friday's but couldn't juggle Alex as the child minding is on summer hours. So Sunday I wasn't surprised that I was approached again about sticking around for another certification video. I, myself have veen interested in getting certified to teach and where it was the regional coordinator doing her video I thought it would be prudent to stay (and I was really curious about what the new class was about). Well, after shimmying and shaking for an hour I was in love...and had a couple new dance moves too boot ;) But let me tell you...between that and a new Body Pump release I'm pretty darn stiff today.

Saturday we didn't end up going to the lake. Matt's on a boycott of all extra activities associated with his work. Apparently he asked descretely for a reference...which didn't end up being discrete and going all the way up the directoral chain and HR stating that it is against company policy to give references. What a load of crap, that's a great way to keep your project managers, literally trapping them. Anyway, this has Matt stressed out about his interview with the department of education tomorrow *fingers crossed*. It would be so nice to have him working in the same town...let alone on the same street. Not that he isn't overqualified for the position, but the fact that it's a bilingual position is definitely helping his chances. So while Matt spent the day brushing up his ASP knowledge I put the finishing touches on Angel Stitchin's Christmas Joy and Paw Prints Penguin Hugs, laced and framed by Dragon Dreams Imagination Creation and ironed some ornaments to prep for a finishing frenzy this coming weekend. It was pretty muggy so Alex and I headed to the movies to see Monster House (and gave Matt some quiet studying time). It was a pretty good movie. After Alex and I picked up some wedding pics I'd ordered in the morning and some light fixtures to replace our living room entryway and hall lights and ran into an old friend from highschool on the way out of walmart. Why oh why is it that when I finally run into someone I haven't seen in years do I never think to exchange contact info??

Today I'm feeling pretty rotten...I either have an allergy or some sort of cold. I've got the itchy watery eyes and have been sneezing for the last 12 hours...on top of getting little sleep as Matt's pager went off at 4...then he didn't remember to turn his alarm off...then when I finally got back to sleep he showed up to turn it off (already done) and woke me up again...not a good start to the day. If we didn't have a self imposed deadline of Friday for this build's reporting I seriously would have taken a sick day today...which I may still do at lunch if I wrap up.

Baby Crocs

Yesterday my gym buddy decided she was going shopping instead of to the gym so I decided to get Alex a pair of Crocs halfway through the lunch hour. His sandals are on borderline need of replacement and the crocs he can wear into the fall so I invested in those instead (and skipped trying to find sandals his size so late in the shopping season). I'm just about to turn where the kids rack was and I was shocked to see Matt's cousin Alison there (they live somewhere near Poole Ontario...I can't remember exactly where their new house is). What are the chances?? Anyway I had a good chat with her and depending on their schedule they were thinking of dropping by in the evening.

So after work I picked Alex up in a hurry. I honestly didn't think they'd be able to make it, they're on a whirlwind trip around the maritimes and I'm guessing the grandparents were pretty lonesome for their two children but I cleaned JUST in case. Alex was content with a homemade pizza for supper and then we drove over to the soccer field...which we normally don't do but I wanted to be able to drive back quickly incase we had company. The bonus to this was I got to bring my comfy lawn chair instead of my fold out one and got to stitch through practice. The end is finally in site for my Angel Stitchin' Joy ornament, which for some reason I started back when the ornie issue came out in 2003 but never got past the chickadee.

We returned home and still no company, but I was quite happy vegging with a clean house. I went downstairs and stuffed and finished the ho ho ho box only to find my Kreinik ribbon was 1/16" instead of 1/8" so it'll have to wait until the moncton trip to be Tree ready ;)

Today, it's raining and the weekend isn't looking too promising (possibly the tail end of a hurricane)...cancelling our trip to Oromocto lake but after two weekends of travelling it's a welcome break...May actually get to see Monster House with Alex too ;) I'm hoping to finish putting furniture in it's places this weekend where we'll be home, although it'll depend on Matt's preparation schedule for his 'meeting' on Tuesday. Wish him luck ;)

Got Croc?

Yay, yesterday I bought my first pair of Crocs, and love them. My feet are always so warm that having shoes that stay cool is awesome. Although I'm still trying to figure out how people go bike riding with them, I tried last night when Alex went for his nightly ride and I found my pedals very uncomfortable (but they are kind of rugged looking), oh well...

Last night was super muggy. I got to be a good samaritan and help out a CTV reporter on the walk to the car as she was trying to cover the story of the Show The Truth rally they'd had and wasn't able to locate her camera man before the news broadcast. Luckily I walked along and had a pretty much identical height and build so she was able to use me to set up the camera for her solo report. Of course this was on one of the busiest streets in Fredericton during rush hour so I'm sure a bunch of people that I know drove by and were pretty darn relieved when they didn't see me on the news...as it's a subject I could rant on for hours. I got caught in a downpour going from the grocery store to the van after depositing some money (yeah...the bank is in the grocery store, who 'woulda thunk it' 10 years ago). Knowing I would get soaked running anyway I took the walk at a leisurely stroll, it was actually pretty refreshing. Thankfully the only things I had picked up in the store were water proof, a bag of fries for the boys and a Spud Trooper to go with Alex's Darth Tater (which he adores) for Christmas...yes, I do my Christmas shopping while it's a) available and b)preferably not at full price. Mathieu thinks this approach as cheap (but he's a slacker shopper), I prefer to view it as thinking about people year round, and looking for the perfect gift all year ;) Now to try to find Artoo Potatoo locally...

Speaking of Christmas, I'm finally ornamentifying! I've got 2 corners completed on my Ho Ho Ho box and the laced backstitching is actually quite easy, and alot less messy than gluing ;) Stitching the same design 6 times was a bit repetitive though. This whole exercise is a warm up for the holiday mittens :) Tonight is going to be hectic. Matt neglected to mention he was changing his schedule to accomodate a blood test so guess who has to take Alex to the summer reading program?? And it's stitchy night so I'm going to have to bring him along (which he doesn't mind at all...he's been to a stitch in before and thinks they're all great). Seeing as this means I'm missing Newbody again this week I informed him that he was taking over all library duty for the next month!

She's Back!

Yay, I'm back after a brief hiatus!! So what have I been up to??

Thursday: Mom came for a visit and we went over to the Gram's house for the last time :( Then we cheered ourselves up and went to The Devil Wears Prada which I really enjoyed++ I felt like channelling Meryl Streep's Miranda when dealing with the local Honda's small engine department. Week two of no mower and after a promise to have it up and running after a carburetor repair, which they missed in the summer tune up, the _________ hit the fan when they called back the next day and wanted another 100$ for an electrical component. After a 'Do or Darwin' argument with the service manager about how it wasn't a blank cheque for service we started dealing with the manager and they finally checked over the entire beast...with the component arriving tomorrow and being installed for free after this fiasco...myself (the lawn mower in the family) would have opted for a new push mower at CT but the other half is still holding out hope for the self propelled...arghhh...

Friday: I met mom for a wonderful lunch at McGinnis, I love going and splitting an order of nachos. There were a number of calls back and forth as Honda was supposed to put in a used component to get the mower running for the weekend but it blew too (I have a really strong feeling that it's not fixable), so instead of meeting mom and Steven at my house when I was to drop the mower off (I love having a van but hate being the 'delivery' person all the time) we met at Tracy's and started our Caravan to the Miramichi. Dad was out waiting on the deck when we pulled in and Alex pretty much flew out of the van and within the next 15 minutes I found myself at the beach. We relaxed/chatted stitched until about midnight, very nice

Saturday: Omigosh I slept in!! That was soo nice. Mom had some eggs and bacon on too, I'm not used to being spoiled ;) After lunch we got ready for a trip to the pool after mom went to work. Alex loved splashing around but should have had his supersuit on where we haven't had much of an opportunity to go to the pool lately (a session with that seems to reboost his confidence level). After a good hour and a half swim we headed home and vegged, me plugging away at the ornaments that had been awaiting dad's supply run to Moncton and the boys were playing Luxor. For supper we headed out to Estey's for some fish and chips, yum. I wasn't able to get tickets to the Irish Festival (which wasn't that big a disappointment, I really was more in the mood to visit after not being home for a visit since Christmas besides a brief stay over for Lisa's wedding) so dad and I rented The Legend of Zorro. It was an enjoyable rental, but I'm glad I didn't have to add babysitting and concessions on to see it! It was during Zorro that I finished the ornament

Sunday: Lazy day, I slept in big time, unintentionally, especially considering I'd been in bed by midnight. We planned on going to the pool after a lunch at Boston Pizza but it started to thunder in the distance so the boys decided to play on the beach and I decided to check out the clearance sales for clothes for our February trip to the Dominican. I bought my FIRST BIKINI!!! I'm no Cindy Crawford in it but it looks pretty good :) It'll be much better when I'm back to my normal routine at the gym which has been in a flux with summer vacations and reduced class times. Sadly enough the time came to leave. Alex wanted to stay there until I came back in 3 weeks to pick him up! I don't think he realizes how hard it is for me to leave too ;) We lucked out when gassing up a) there was a 'gas war'...which is odd considering the province is supposed to be regulated...and b) the guy ahead of me paid the wrong pump, mine and his bill was 10$ less, woo hoo. We dropped Steven off and proceeded home to unpack.

Monday: Muggy Muggy Muggy!! I only went for a 40 minute walk at lunch and felt gross! I picked up the groceries and a bunch of supplies for our trip to Oromocto lake Saturday. I didn't realize Matt had the windows still open when he left so the house was muggy :( I prepped the maple pork and sweet potato fries and then setup the rec room for dinner and a movie (Alex found our old VHS copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when we were at mom and dads) By the time the movie was done it had cooled down enough downstairs to be comfortable in front of a fan. By the time I went to bed I had more HoHoHo's stitched in on my box (that part is a pain) and I'm looking forward to hopefully being able to do the sewing tonight.

Tuesday: Yay, all caught up. There's nothing like a HUGE protest to wake you up in the morning. Good for them! I'm 100% behind their cause, and even if I wasn't there is absolutely no way such a 'business' should be allowed to set up shop in a public school's back yard. Tonight on the agenda?? Hopefully a run at the gym either at lunch and if not, after work (Matt's in town for bloodwork), then it'll be arriving home to dinner in the slow cooker, some time with the boys, followed by some stitching, woo hoo!!

Just Another Happy Dance

Sampler's And Such The Holly And The Ivy (JCS 2002 Ornament Issue)

Just a quick post to share my little happy dance as it's too hot/muggy to be upstairs to compute :)   I was hoping I could 'capture' the effect of the blending filament a bit better but it's just too hot to mess with the camera.  More on the awesome Miramichi weekend to follow ;)

Got Racoon?

First of all, thanks for the compliments on the nordic needle ornament :) I don't know what it is lately but ornaments are very appealing.

Barbara - You could definitely come over and play, we just need to figure out a much more efficient and cheaper system of transportation over to NB :)

Shannon -Yes...dad actually does go to the stitching shop for me. Right now we're without one where I live and he happens to do some work/meetings from time to time where the best stitching shop in Atlantic Canada is. A couple of years ago the girls from the shop dropped by my spot at retreat to tell me how much they enjoy his visits (I guess he hams up his lack of stitching knowledge ;)) What a saint ;)

Last night was busy++ Matt was late picking me up which was NOT a good start to the evening, especially since he was borrowing MY vehicle to fix the lawn mower. Then he took to most illogical, traffic ridden, km's of back tracking route to pick up Alex (I'm a 'I drive a V6, therefore every single traffic route is memorized based on a magical formula of km's, traffic lights, traffic patterns, speed and right turns to get the most of my gas', he's a 4 cylinder standard 'I'm not in a hurry so why bother' person...therefore I hate it when he drives my vehicle). After picking up Alex and him starting to head North when the house is SOUTH I asked him where on earth he was going he pulled over the vehicle and let me drive. After we got home and returned Honda's call (we drove past the dealership but did someone want to stop???) I got the burgers on for supper and then packed up Alex to take him to the summer reading program (in the most fuel efficient manner possible I might add). Thankfully my stitching was still in the car so I worked on my HoHoHo box while they read their stories.

After our trip to the library Alex and I headed to the Coop to check their supply of Holey Soles, as the store carry Crocs downtown only had girly colours (for Alex) and no mediums for me...no luck there either. So then we headed to Walmart to pick up my test set of wedding pics which I'm VERY happy with. I was worried when the ones we got back from the superstore were all over processed. We went in to have a peek at what they were clearing out in the garden center and somehow a hose reel like Matt has wanted was there (wasnt' there the other week when we actually had the gift cards on us). I picked that up, hooray! Next trip in I'll be getting some new light fixtures for our entry way and hall, double woo hoo!

I finished the stitching on my hohoho boxes after Alex went to bed, now to do the backstitching border, lettering and then assemble. It was muggy but I felt soo much better after a nice shower and went to bed. This morning I looked out and my hummingbird feeder was empty and covered in mud. It's been emptying alot faster and originally I thought it might be my neighbors brat messing with it as one of the yellow flowers was off it...and on the steps. I doubt any little hummingbird could do that. Well after some internet research I see it is quite possible that it wasn't the neighbors beast but a racoon....now to find a new place to hang it that I can actually still watch the birds! Anyone want a racoon??

Today mom's coming over for a visit and do some paper work for the sale of the house :( (well :( to the sale of the house, not to having a visitor, that's a :)++). Alex was sooo excited to hear we'd have a house guest!

Happy Dance Pic

Well...it's not ornamentified (thankfully only a seam here and there to make the ends pointy, and I'm debating restitching the bottom little motif...I was so hoping the variation in the thread would get closer to the dark it started off as. Nordic Needle's Hardanger Holiday Ornament from JCS 2004. I really should have taken the pic against a different surface to show off the doves eyes, although I'm sure they'll look pretty on the tree...Now back to stitching the Ho Ho Ho Ho box from that issue (and crossing my fingers that dad got into the stitchery shop in Moncton so I can finish my mitts!)

Another Evening...

Another evening another thunderstorm...

Last night was pretty low key, Alex and I went to the church strawberry supper and split a plate of food (the heat kills my appetite). It worked out well as it was a cold plate of ham and turkey, with a variety of salads, I'm not a ham person and Alex doesn't do turkey. I had a delicious strawberry shortcake for dessert and Alex got a home made ice cream, we then got a take out plate for Matt and headed home.

I got the lawn mower out just to see if it would run before it goes to the shop today...and of course it did...until I went past one of the evergreens out front and it pushed back the throttle and stalled it, never to start again. I was so ticked I almost cut down the tree. Yes, I realize it is the lawnmower that isn't functioning properly but that tree shouldn't be there, it's in the easement portion of the property so really it should go before we get attached (and it grows a big root for us to take out).

I went back inside and put Alex in the bath and started reorganizing my cross stitch supplies. They'd kind of gotten out of order lately for some reason (wedding perhaps). After I tracked down some loose bobbins, put Alex to bed and talked to mom on the phone for a bit I sat down, watched the lightening and finished stitching my Nordic Needle ornament from the 2004 JCS. The boys were running late this morning (Matt needed my van) so I didn't get a chance to upload it into blogger, sigh...

In other news it's looking like we won't need to ask the travel agent to put us in a separate part of the resort with we go to the Dominican in February, I guess we're the only ones from the grooms mother's side going. I guess it will be private after all ;) (although it's too bad for the groom, but after the lopsided numbers at our wedding, not a big shock).

Photo Finished

Well, here's some long overdue pics ;)

Alex celebrating Canada day (wearing his lama shirt Uncle Travelling Pat brought back from Peru...yeah we know how to show pride in our country ;))

Then of course there's him slipping and a sliding...and thank your lucky stars I'm BEHIND the camera...no one needs to see that ;)

Embracing My Inner Geek

I'm back!!! The highlight of the weekend, seeing Superman Returns, woo hoo!! I have always loved the story of Superman, and watch Smallville religiously as it's the back story I'm most interested in and the movie touched on my favorite parts of the story. The trailer had me embarassingly choked up with the archived Jor-El speech, so for anyone that's seen it they can just imagine how I was throughout the movie ;) I was totally embracing my inner geek ;) The theatre we went to is one of the last in the area which still has real butter instead of that goodness aweful butter flavored oil crap, so we could almost look over the fact that they wouldn't let Matt switch the medium pop for a medium slushy which is the same price, weird...

Alex got a slip and slide this weekend as well. It took about a day for him to figure out how to actually use it, not sliding on his knees and not climbing across it combat style. I took some pics which I'll post later, and spare you those of me in a bathing suit giving directions ;)

I did get some stitching in this weekend, I didn't bring Guardian Angel along as I knew I was in for some sporadic stitching so I brought my CC Mitten, but realized when packing that I didn't kit up the Kreinik and mill hill that I needed. So I brought along my Sampler's and Such The Holly and The Ivy from the 2002 JCS. I had a severe attack of the frogs, sigh, but now all of the outlining is done (it's a stained glass ornament), the berries stitched in and the holly leaves, now to wait for my SBB order so my WDW Ivy can come in and I can finish that part (and the mittens).

Last night we had a wicked thunder and lightening storm. It made the trip to the car a bit scary being able to see it come up the river (the car is a block and a half away from the office). Although by the time we left Tracy's it was cleared up enough that I put our 'family movie' night back on the schedule. Alex picked out Sky High, which Matt and I were just dreading watching...but I don't know who enjoyed it more, Alex or us ;) Matt was completely sold after he found out Bruce Campbell was in it ;) I started up another ornament I'd had kitted for awhile but never stitched (well I did start but had to toss the first after making a counting/cutting error) Nordic Needle's holiday Hardanger Ornament from the 2004 JCS. It feels so good to use up some of the kitted projects!! One of these days I'm going to actually physically kit up the materials (right now they're not really set aside for a project, just on their brand ring or in the floss or fabric box) so I can just grab and go.

In other news, Matt was successfully drawn for his moose license. He'll definitely enjoy himself. Now to figure out what I'm going to do where Alex and I'll have the weekend to ourselves ;)

Another Sunny Soccer Day

Sigh...the mower still won't start consistently, what frustration when you were hoping to have your lawn mowed before you go away. Yes, you read it right, a trip this weekend. We'll be heading up north for a brief visit to Grand Falls to visit the inlaws. Although before we leave the mower is going to go back to the shop and there'll be a whole lotta complaining going on, what horrible service.

Anyway, last night after the lawn fiasco and making a pizza, Alex loaded up his wagon and we headed to the soccer field. I brought my mittens along to stitch on but I didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted, there was alot going on conversation wise. First off Alex saw his classmate that lost her brother last month and went over to talk to her before practice...I was sitting on pins and needles hoping he wouldn't make one of his '6 year old that's still getting ahold of the whole concept of death' comments. Then the family beside me started talking about french immersion and I started to feel a little better on my compromise between school location and the program. Then another mother was going around dropping the 'I'll have to look into other sports for my son where he can't play hockey next year' line an aweful lot.. We're personally against raising out taxes for another community's hockey rink program that we had no input in and have no intention of ever using.

As for tonight after pump I'm hoping to finish one mitten and see how finishing goes before I start the other...there's going to be a solo mitten for awhile ;) I'm hoping to pull out the dragons tonight but if not I'm sure I'll be doing some work on them tomorrow at some point...I'm hoping the Sunday portion of the visit is fairly quiet so I can work on my Guardian Angel. Who knows ??? Just expect a frazzled 'just had a whirlwind weekend' post Monday ;)

The Hump Day Report

Last night everything seemed to be on fast forward. Alex and I arrived home to rush through making a batch of 'hybrid' hamburgers and then we all packed up and headed to the library's summer reading program. We listened to the reading of two great mystery books (the whole theme is getting 'clued' in on your library), then they had some thumb print painting and vegetable stamping for the kids to do before they got their log books stamped and picked out some new books. Matt and I took turns during the painting to browse the books ourselves, I found a book of cross stitch ornaments that I know some of the stitchers in our group have used (in fact the exchange ornie I received from Lucy is out of that book). I'm so excited that I can now make the companion piece ;). Alex required a good scrubbing when we got home last night and I spent bath time cleaning the remainder of the bathroom as the MIL is coming over Saturday night.

After Alex was tucked in bed I finished the scotch stitching of one side of the mitten (the most involved mitten, as stitching around the little area where your initials/date are supposed to go is REALLY annoying). I was so excited to move onto stitching the front of the mitten when I noticed the only ball of perle cotton in my bag was white...I'd left my 3033 at work!! D'oh! I had enough left to get half the band done on the front of the mitten and that was it, sigh...although this did give me a chance to do some frogging on the Sampler's and Such ornament from the 2002 edition. I also did some more tidying up around the house so there wouldn't be a mad dash to do so Tonight/tomorrow.

This morning I put some dough in the bread maker for tonight's pizza, it's another busy day with soccer tonight. This time I'll at least have some projects ready ;)

'Hybrid Burgers'

1/2 lbs lean ground beef
1/2 lbs ground turkey/chicken
2 Tbsp minced onion
2 gloves garlic minced
1 Tbsp ketchup
1 tsp light worchestershire sauce *optional*
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp each cumin, salt, pepper
1 egg white

The recipe gives a yield of 4 but we find it makes 6 nice sized patties. I also make a second batch of meat for a later date and freeze (omitting the egg white until we use it) where ground poultry comes in 1lb packages.

The Thunder Rolls

Holy smokes, we had one wild thunderstorm last night!!! Of course the lightening started AFTER I was soundly asleep (I love to watch it). I woke up at three ready to growl at poor Matt for inconsiderately turning the hall light on when I realized that it was awefully loud and I was facing the exterior wall, it's hard to believe lightening could brighten the room more than our two lamps ever do!!...It was so close too. For awhile I could barely count between lightening and thunder. I had a hard time getting back to sleep, more so than usual as I had tornados on the brain. I still can't believe we had a confirmed F1 in the province.

Last evening was quiet. Alex and I made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up some ground beef that was on sale, on our way there we passed the baby section. Alex took one look and turned to me with the most serious expression "when you get me a baby brother and sister you're going to have to start buying those *diapers* you know...and you're going to have to buy a potty". Guess I know where his baby priorities are...waste management ;)

I wasn't feeling too hot so I lounged around, made a crab quiche for Matt and roasted some pork souvlaki for Alex and sat down at the pc and looked up the Calico Crossroads Holly Mittens which are the next ornament I want to do...the one I searched high and low for a skein of perle cotton for the other night before soccer. Well...while I was on the internet, I read something that I can't believe I forgot! There's an error in that JCS, it's not perle 5 I needed (which I was thinking would be REALLY bulky), it was perle 8...so in a flash I was down stairs and in the drawer where my perle cotton balls hang out and voila, there it was...so no dragon or guardian angel progress (although I did finish the white part of her wing at lunch), it was on to the mittens. I've seen the set done once before and thought they were gorgeous and then a single mitten (without the crystal charms) was on the retreat exchange tree last year and I figured if two people could follow the instructions and finish it so could I ;) I'm getting really excited to put up the tree this year ;)

Canada Day Weekend

I love long weekends!! I had planned on doing a Canada Day post...that was before the parade though. Saturday we awoke to gorgeous weather and it was so nice, all of the stores were closed so there wasn't that feeling of...am I supposed to be doing something...besides enjoying the gorgeous weather. Alex and I chilled out down in the playroom, me with my Summer's Magic Dragons and him having a grand old time with his little people, especially now that there were obstacles for him to drive around (still hadn't gotten around to moving the last load of furniture from my grandmothers). In the afternoon, I mowed the beast of a lawn and Matt had a support call so he couldn't join us for the parade. The parade itself was pretty neat, a 'green' parade with no gas powered vehicles allowed (although they made an exception for the seniors float), it started to spit rain though just as it was starting so we headed under the nearby underpass and climbed up on the concrete a bit so we could see...however climbing up was easy...we weren't thinking of how to get down. I now know how cats get stuck up in trees ;) Anyway, I decided the easiest way to get Alex down was to walk across to the crushed rock and onto the grass. This involved navigating around some glass and having a very excited kid take off as the hong kong group was coming with the really cool dragons, and me turning to grab him and smacking my head on the underpass *OUCH*. I sat out the parade, which thankfully wasn't too long without the whole slew of floats and went home to have a nice nap. The fireworks were amazing this year, I don't know which was more wired, them or Alex (who was insisting we check the weather network on the hour to make sure it wasn't going to rain again). A full 20 minute show!! We had perfect timing and arrived just as they were getting started (although this meant walking past a whole lotta drunk people). By the end of it though the combination of the scrape and goose egg on my head and the 20 minutes of explosions gave me a large enough headache that I was tucking Alex in bed in my sleep.

Sunday rained...and rained...and rained some more! Which has the lawn now looking like it could use another good mowing!! It was muggy though so Alex and I were hanging around in the playroom again, more work on the guardian angel's wing ensued. It did clear up for a bit when we went out to meet the man buying our old stove and went out for supper, then I stitched and watched the lightening...much more fascinating than the summer reruns. And what may I ask is up with CBC only bringing back Dr Who in October, ack! That was our summer staple last year!!

Monday was absolutely gorgeous. I cleaned off a new dresser for the computer room while Alex watched Sesame Street and brought the drawers upstairs. After 11 though we were outside enjoying the weather. I cleaned out Alex's pool while the clothes dried on the line. After lunch he was ready to swim and I was ready to stitch poolside. Matt even put together my composter, woo hoo. I didn't finish the white on the wing like I'd hoped but I may just sneak some stitching in on it tonight to finish that off. I also got to go to Body Combat, which I normally don't get to do where Matt's not in town Monday's and where it's at 5 it makes juggling Alex impossible. We even got Alex's new 'castle' of a bed arranged last night when he was in the tub, it's higher than our bed where it's a box spring and mattress on a captains bed. He LOVES it though. Hope everyone had a safe and fun Canada Day weekend (or just weekend if it didn't apply) ;)