Girlie Night!

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

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

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

Oh Pumpkin Head...

First off, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

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

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

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

I've Been Tagged

I've been tagged by Faith Ann!

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

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

Game On

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Did the Alarm Really Go Off?

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

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

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

2007 Stitching Goals

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

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

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

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

Not Quite the Finishing Weekend Planned

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

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

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

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

TGIF!

Well, after all the excitement in the morning yesterday everything kind of fizzled (thankfully). We went to Ringo's to celebrate Steven's birthday which was low key (and yummy). He's not the one to want a big public spectacle for his birthday. After we retreated back to my house and served up his ice cream cake and gifts. Alex now thinks he too needs a battery charger as Steven got one for his MP3 player. Alex also informed us that he thinks he should have an 'I-Pot', pot nor Ipod, he's getting neither...maybe an IDog for christmas. He also did a birthday dance for Steven, my goodness that boy loves to dance. I told him I had the movie Grease and they did alot of dancing in it, to which he responded 'Is it something like Highschool Musical??'My I'm getting old ;)

After all of the festivities Steven headed home and I got Alex ready for bed. I was just about to stitch again when mom arrived home, we talked for a bit and then watched Survivor/CSI, neither of which I've watched lately. I almost finished one of the ornaments I was working on (still trying to come up with a sub for GAST Buttercrunch) and prepped the fabric to stitch the second one :) Matt called from the camp and they sounded like they were having a really good time, at least from the bits and pieces I could hear where the cellphone was breaking up.

This morning Alex was anxiously pacing waiting for mom and Jazz to get up, he never usually jumps up when his alarm goes off. We said our goodbyes and headed to work and school. I received a picture of Matt's moose at noon, it looks like we'll have LOTS of meat ;)

This weekend is low on the planned scale, I'm going to pick up some of our no name stuff and a birthday gift for the party Alex got invited to this weekend (hooray...not) on my way past the superstore and head home. Either my lack of sleep every night but last or the cold I'm coming down with have zapped my energy (and who knows, there maybe an attractive male waiting at home ;)). I think most of this weekend will be revolving around doing the actual finishing on some projects. I have three that need to be laced and two ornaments I'd like to start making into ravioli pillows. I suspect lots of time will be spent in the craft room :)

Happy Birthday Steven!!

Happy Birthday little brother! Last night we all went out to Boston Pizza (well with the exception of Matt and Dad who were prepping for the moose hunt) and it was bittersweet. We got to celebrate Steven's birthday and say bon voyage to Patrick who we won't see for at least a year. During this time Patrick reminded me of the story of 'my' reaction to my new little brother. I really wanted a sister, and came home from school to find my aunt there and no mom. My aunt was very excited to tell me I had a new little brother to which I promptly started jumping up and down, mad, saying I wanted a sister and ran to my room. He turned out alright though (after the initial disappointment, which I made up for by dressing him in little girl clothes when I had a chance). ;)

Alex was on much better behavior than this time last year and was colouring (what?? My son??) a picture for Steven's birthday asking for Steven's input on all of the colours. He even coloured in the lines!! My goodness, his new teacher must be like the Ann Sullivan for boys with social adjustment issues!!

After Alex was in bed, I chatted a wee bit with Matt online. I was so relieved to see he'd made it to the Miramichi. He wasn't coming through our city to get there, instead taking a glorified dirt road they like to call a highway which is infested with deer and moose, at dusk, which has no stores or anything for at least an hour, trees close to the road...a wife's worst nightmare! Just to save some time, argghh... Anyway, he arrived safe and sound and was getting ready for his 4 am wake up call (I'm curious to see how dad would get him out of bed at that hour)

***Update-just had a call from one very excited Matt and he got his bull***

In other news...Organic Veggies are expensive! 57+ dollars for two organic carrots expensive. I heard my security chimes go off a number of times and my computer booting up early this morning when Patrick was supposed to be getting ready for his flight back to Ottawa. So where I was awake I figured I'd go out and say goodbye one last time. Apparently Patrick had pulled two carrots from mom's garden to take back to Ottawa, and decided 4 in the morning was a good time to take the tops off (to take up less space in his carry on) and put them in the composter. When he came back he found the car locked and the keys inside... So...the two carrots cost 57$ to get the car unlocked (it wasn't my car and the spare is in Miramichi...dad in the woods) and goodness only knows what to send his luggage back to Ottawa. Ouch. Nothing like making a grand exit!

In stitching news I have a new happy dance which I'll share later. I dug out some murano and started two ornaments that are going to be gifts this Christmas. I'm still debating which one I'm going to do for Alex's teacher. What a relief this year is in that department. Last year Alex had two or three TA's in his kindergarten which put stitching something out...so we went with chocolates. Stitching from stash and frigging with the sewing machine will definitely be funner than having to figure out something for that many people. :)

Catching Up

We had a wonderful weekend with mom, dad and my brothers. It helped brighten my spirits although I'm not going to kid myself and believe this isn't something I should talk to my doctor about. It was kind of bittersweet where it was the last full family get together for the next year and a half with Patrick heading off for his Cuso appointment in Bolivia and then his backpacking adventure. We headed to Kings Landing despite the rain and it was really neat. One of the big highlights for me was when we went to the 'general store' and over on one side of the room was antiques you could ask about and there was a china set that was identical to one of the teacups I'd brought home from Gram's and have on display. I was amazed when they said they were manufactured in Austria between 1880-90 to 1915. Alex was incredibly good throughout the trip, considering we were there in the rain for 4 hours! One Alexism that arose...he was walking ahead and slipped, apparently when mom asked him ok he said 'yes', then got his serious voice on 'well it was meant to be, it was to teach me that I shouldn't run when it's slippery out', apparently he went on and on about the consequence of his action and that he should learn from it ;) We had a wonderful dinner at MacGinnis Landing and Matt took me out to see Invincible where he couldn't find a sitter for my birthday. It wasn't cold out but I was sooo excited about my new wool coat I wore it to the show anyway ;)

Sunday we had a wonderful little brunch and then chatted for awhile before our company left. I was beginning to think Alex was going to leave with them. I spent the remainder of the afternoon catching up on Eureka and stitching. Well... I've learned Alex has quite the french vocabulary... I was running around the house doing some errands while the water was running for Alex's bath and he was undressing. One of my passes past the bathroom I see this little boy in the buff with his butt stuck out going 'derr-i-ere' *slaps butt* 'derr-i-ere'. I dropped the clothes I was laughing soo hard. I was really excited about Desperate Housewives and it didn't disappoint. I'd debated going to bed at 10 but it was soo worth staying up for.

Last night was hectic in preparation for our Epicure party. I was a little worried that it wouldn't be successful but it was great. We had the unit leader and she was just sooo much more informative than our original consultant. There was soo much to taste! One big hit that in the catalogue didn't look like much was the hot buttered rum, it was divine on popcorn!! I loved the maple whiskey dip and was so glad that I could get the chocolate for that at half off. I had a really good time. After we were done sampling I let the boys clean up, apparently my son LOVES to dip. He was very good throughout the party.

Tonight should be quiet, I'm going to do a little stitching and that's all that's on the schedule (besides running another load of dishes through the dishwasher). Matt leaves for hunting tomorrow, we'll definitely miss him!!

Twenty Nine

Wow, for a day of 'nothing' it sure ended up a busy birthday. I tried to sleep in but couldn't (more on that in another blog) so I went with Matt when he drove Alex to school. The principal was VERY upbeat when Alex walked out and Alex actually looked straight at him, pleasantly and said good morning to him (he used to slink by). The prinicipal then commented on how great he's been doing this year and that he's heard nothing but great things from the staff about him this year, I almost cried I was so happy. What a difference a change in curriculum, separating him from some kids that together are atomic, and a new teacher can make.

I met Eleni and Angela for lunch which was really nice. Since I've changed my hours at work I don't get to go out for lunch anymore (although that's a blessing on the pocketbook). I dropped off the bottles and headed home for 3 hours of stitching and Eureka. The boys took me out for dinner at Boston Pizza and we got the waiter that I filed a complaint about a couple months back, much more friendly this time!! There was a bit of a wait but still really good. I was stuffed by the time they brought my birthday brownie! The boys 'bought' me an IPOD shuffle for my birthday (hooray), I just have to go in when the new ones are released and decide if I like the new model or old one better. They gave me the option of upgrading to the Nano but do I really need a display, it's not like I can't organize my songs in Itunes and when I plan on using it (car, running) it's not like I'm searching around for a particular song. I received some beautiful cards from Tracy and Lisa which both touched different parts of my soul that needed a little 'up' yesterday, and lots of internet wishes on the stitching boards, e-mail and WoW boards :)

To be truthful I woke up crying yesterday, I found the whole 29 number hard to deal with. The closer I get to 30, the more I feel like I fail. Sometimes I just feel 'isolated' when it comes to our parenting. None of our friends had as short a period as we did being d.i.n.k's (dual income no kids), ours was in the negative. I sometimes feel like I'm not as good a mother as I can't afford to do all the great things that even I got to experience with my parents (who I firmly believe walk on water) and get frustrated at some of the debt accumulated when we do 'keep up'. Then I get mad at myself for not being grateful for what I do have, our health, a roof over our heads, two boys that love me very much, great friends and parents that love, support and help us so much I'd never be able to repay them. 2006 has been a very rough year to adjust to and getting closer to 30 it's just a bit overwhelming sometimes.

Now enough self pity! Anyone else have the new JCS ornament issue?? I've been staring at mine fondly ;) I can list off at least 20 projects I want to do, but I'm going to be a good girl and do it only from stash and actually learn to substitute ;) I need to locate my fuzzy stuff so I can finish my DD ornament. :)

Adios Ants!

Well, our squatters were kicked to the curb last night ;)

This spring we had some ants sneak their way into the house and when we did everything to kill the ones outside and I mean everything (and suceeded), we'd still spot one or two in our kitchen here and there. Well...last night I couldn't find the rice and went hunting under our poorly laid out cupboard which never got 'organized' when we moved into the house. Well I found where the buggers had been living, in a bag of icing sugar that got pushed way to the back corner from neglect after we started eating healthy. Usually sugar is kept in big tupperware containers but somehow this missed getting put in. I swear, if the bag had been flat it would have looked like an ant farm. I was soo grossed out. It was triple bagged and put in the dumpster! The cupboards are sooo my next project after the craft room!

Does anyone have any awesome chicken noodle soup recipes?? Alex comes home everyday and raves about this girl in his class's father's soup (I do hope the poor dear is getting something to eat herself). I can't have some 'dude' making better food than me now can I??? ;)

Yay, I finally got to stitch at lunch!! One of my Mill Hill Santa's is parked at my desk. I was beginning to feel like I'd never get to stitch again! *ok a little too overdramatic there ;)* I'll lose Thursday's lunch though, I need to renew my stupid drivers license. Happy birthday...give us 60 dollars >:( At least I confirmed that there is in deed childminding at the gym tonight so I can go to Jam! Already the pants are starting to feel looser :) It's amazing what 3 lbs either way can do to your mindset!

NB Has Spoken!

Oh my...there was no stitching for me last night, I was just too wound up!! It was election night and I find that truly fascinating...yes I'm a very dull person. I had the opportunity to have the excitement of politics introduced in my elementary years when one of my classmates/friends father's threw his hat into the ring for premier and literally was one of the most influential atlantic canadian politicians of the twentieth century imo, needless to say when the stars aligned and he turned down the federal leadership it lead to some serious moping ;) Equally as riled up was DH who also has a political upbringing, and very proud of his grandfather's accomplishments as an MLA. Yes, we're both techie semi introverts but it's just so interesting...and we were pretty pleased with the results ;)

I talked to mom on the phone for a bit last night and did my flylady 15 on the craft room. I'd started the endeavor when it was looking like my brother wouldn't be visiting after all for my birthday, then came the very welcome announcement that he was coming back east so things have been in high gear ever since :)

I'm really looking forward to this weekend and a trip up to King's Landing. Tonight is fairly laid back looking so hopefully I'll be stitching. I have Jam at 5 but after that I'm as free as a bird (besides that 15 minutes of cleaning). Tomorrow is stitchy night and I can't wait! All of the fair entries should be there, along with some new finishes and most of the faces that were missing over the summer should be back. Hooray!

Busy As A Bee

Ack...another relatively non stitchy weekend :(

Friday after Body Pump and all the usual mommy stuff I did get some stitching in my Summer's Magic Dragons. The sandcastle isn't a 'vast' feeling to stitch as I thought it would be. I know when I stitched my PM God Bless Our Home the castle felt like it took forever!

Saturday was Alex's first day at gym and swim, which from an adult point of view almost turned into a stitching session. The first person I saw was Nancy (who used to own a little LNS out by our house) and soon we were joined by Michelle. Alex loved the gym part, and one of the little boys from his class was there too! It was nice to see him forging some relations with a non possesive non girl for once ;) They played freeze tag and did an obstacle course, which he really liked. Only one small incident and that was when Alex's knoggin came in contact with a little boys mouth :( A complete freak accident but my heart sunk when I heard crying and recognized the little voice saying how sorry he was.

They didn't get much swimming in this session as they spent most of their half hour sorting the kids. There was one wickedly snotty couple in front of us that temporarily had me doubting our choice in swim programs, but really after having one of those step back moments to realize that Alex was having a blast and THAT is what was important I felt a bit better. As I was changing Alex I heard a familiar voice and saw Eleni and Callie about to get ready, she looked soooo cute in her little pink outfit (lord help any daughter we might have ;)) Then we went out to say hello to Jackson and saw Faith Ann and her DS getting ready :) It was a big stitchy reunion (and I did get a chance to work on my Summer's Magic while I was there ;))

Alex conned his way into dropping by market on the way to groceries, now I remember why we make it a point to go early!! It was insane. We grabbed our sausages (having to settle for honey garlic as the hot italians were going to be another 10 minutes...and it was too hot and packed to stay). He was very good while we got groceries...and we picked out his new snowsuit while we were there too. One less thing to worry about. We made a quick trip into Walmart to look for some more track pants for him and a new swim suit, the elastic in the waist of his must have dissintegrated as the poor boy kept having to haul them up. Scored a great deal on some loud hawaiin trunks but no luck on the track pants :( Lots of 4's and 6's, but no 5's. I picked up the last pair of 5's at the superstore too so that's out. I really don't like gym pants, especially the ones with the elastic bottoms so finding clothes for physed/gym and swim has been a challenge ;) As for the remainder of Saturday it was mostly spent resorting the craft room and mowing the front lawn!

Sunday I finally got to the point that I could swap the desks just before BodyJam. Jam was soo much fun and sooo many calories were burnt! I then stayed for Pump, ouch! A very good combination but my clothes reaked at the end and my calves were tender. I've been my own drill sargeant lately so does it come as any surprise that after waiting for Matt to help me move the desks for a half hour that I went ahead and did them myself?? My calves are thanking me for that now. I installed some new hardware on the desk and it looks great. Now to finish sorting all of the stuff into it ;)

Confession: Since the wedding I put several lbs back on, my regular gym drive only went about 5 times all summer and our travel schedule threw my classes out of whack. combine that with the loss of stress of having to fit into a dress and being too tired to cook healthy, things were a little more snug than usual. Well...after yesterday 3 of those lbs are gone, woo hoo! I've started paying attention to what we cook again, changed my work schedule so I leave early enough that I can do the gym and not get home any later than usual (so I only have myself to blame if I don't get there) and travelling has slowed down again :) Now back to onward and lighter ;)

The 'Secret' Project

Now to wait for the embellishment pack to arrive.  I finally convinced Matt to go outside and mow the remainder of the lawn, giving me a little time to post my finish ;)

Count Down Until NB Votes: 3 days

Well, NB...if you've had any question in your mind who NOT to vote for I'd love to point out this lovely little nugget of ineffective governing >:(

Jazzy Wakeup Call

Holy smokes! Talk about a wake up!!! I head into work about a half hour early, which really isn't all that unreasonable considering the lack of free parking spaces and leave work early to beat rush hour traffic to head to the gym. I usually turn the lights on in our section I'm so early...so you can imagine my surprise when I walked into the building with my tea half asleep to a big crowd and some really kickin' music. Thankfully the Jazz and Blues Festival only runs a week or my system would be in total shock!!

~On The Stitch Side~

Now that the 'secret project' is complete and begging to have it's picture taken, I'm back on rotation. Right now I have one of Mill Hill's Santa's (Mandolin Santa to be precise) as my breaktime project at work, DD's Summer's Magic Tue-Sat and Mirabilia's Guardian Angel Sun-Mon. Summer's Magic is working up pretty quick which suits me just fine, although I don't think I'll be finishing them by the end of this 'summer'.

I've been putting my flylady 15 in still on the craft room It's actually looking worse than when I started, but now almost everything is sorted and ready be put in the closet or desk. I'm really hoping to get some lacing done on two pics this weekend. I finally ordered a frame for SB's Witches Moon this week. She patiently sat downstairs last year through Halloween but this year she demands to be on display ;)

~Back To School~

Tuesday we got to meet Alex's teacher who seems like a very sweet lady. I was pleased to see that his class is one of the ones fitted with the amplification systems so children in the back hear the teacher just as clearly as if they were in front...but Alex is in front anyway which I believe is the best place for him. I think I've figured out why the VP has such a problem with us, during her little speal before we actually got to see the teachers she started going on about this lecture coming to town on The Pampered Child Syndrome...So to attempt to smooth over this relation I requested the book that's a parenting resource. I think she sees Alex as her next rehabilitation project or something.

I'm hoping that there's one nugget of advice in it that the book that's useful, so far I really don't see how it pertains to us anymore...of course Alex isn't the same kid who'd come from a small daycare and had to adapt under the public school system's scrutiny to such big groups while dealing with issues such as marriage in the family, death in the family and a mom searching for second opinions during some breast cancer screening. How we parent has also changed in the last year, holidays are a big affair, but we no longer go overboard, he earns his book allowance by doing chores and he has responsibilities (not slave labor...putting his dishes in the dishwasher). The only thing I read last night was recognizing when they're trying to wear you down to get what they want. We started seeing this last year and now if he starts to ask again after we say "No" to something we ask him what No means.

~BB Reading~

Have you ever read a thread on a BB that just gets you going?? Yes the subject hit a little close to home, a babyshower for an unwed mother and yes the girl was 13 instead of 22 but still...
It really made me think of how we parent and what we would do. It doesn't fall in the clear cut, yep go ahead and send your kid to it category but trying to put a positive spin on the situation it's a great chance to talk to your kids and have them see first hand how unglorified parenting can be, no matter at what age. Some women replied that it wouldn't be very christian to let a teen attend, did they miss the part where Jesus lived amoungst sinners and invited them to his table?? In the case where your child is the attendee it also gives them a chance to be supportive in a time of their lives when they can be completely selfish (and I know ALL about being a selfish teen). Finally...I've checked the thesaurus and attendance does NOT equl condoning. Would I let my teen go to a friends funeral for driving drunk, yes, do I condone the circumstances that lead to it No? Why on earth be so judgemental on the other end of life's spectrum?

Phew...feel much better with that off my chest

~Weekend Plans~

Alex is VERY excited to start gym and swim, which is sooo much cheaper than the Beaver's program we registered him in on Wednesday. If one of the gentlemen I work with wasn't there and I didn't have him in tow I would have went home to reconsider! I'm hoping to get the lawn mowed (yes mine doesn't realize it's fall and it should stop growing) and the desks swapped between the play room and my craft room. I've cleaned up the desk we received from my uncle and yes...Mr Clean Magic Erasers can remove 10+ year old crayon marks without damaging the wood....I've also learned it takes those dreadful black scuff marks off of Alex's Little People too!! :)

Body Jam and Pump are on the schedule for Sunday. I've really missed my workout routine over August, my body definitely needs some work before our Dominican honeymoon in February!! Besides that and some more cleaning we should have a pretty peaceful weekend as next weekend should be wild and fun...I only turn 29 once right?? :) Then the next weekend Alex and I are on our own as Matt's going moose hunting, I'm kind of looking forward to some mommy son time :)

And in there I should have plenty of time to sit on the new couch and stitch, yippee!!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Dancing...In Secret ;)

~Stitching News~

Hooray, after some marathon stitching last night and a bit on break 'secret project' is finally done! Big happy dance!! Now I can get back on rotation with Summer's Magic and Guardian Angel ;) Last night I did my Flylady 15 minutes in the craft room. I took a big bag that had been a catch all for unbobbined DMC's and sorted them based on hundreds. I got those put in the appropriate 'duplicate' ziplocs (for now) and tidied up some stuff that didn't belong in the room. Along the way what did I find?? More unwound thread. I guess I'll put them in a pile while I go through the rest of the room and then do another big sort and then inventory ;) I also located my pattern for Terri's Stocking, which will be mine, and made a shopping list of DMC Perle's that I required where I was putting an order into an ONS sale. We can't get them here in town anymore, or atleast until Michael's opens...of course then and only then does one have the urge to do Shepherd's Bush patterns which alot surprisingly are on that coarse linen!

I also ordered some goodies for my birthday, like Heart In Hand's Family Medley and the corresponding button pack and Bent Creek's Wedding Row. The Wedding Row has about three potential locations in the house, the Family Medley will be going by the door (where my two bunnies have been since Easter where I can't find the picks that go back there!). I'd like to have the Family Medley up throughout the year and then have the seasonal medley's rotate on a slot slightly lower beside it. I also got my SB Witches Moon out of the basement to take to the framer's at lunch. It's been done for almost a year now...it should get a chance to hang up for the big holiday ;)

~Back to School~

Oh my, last night I openned Alex's backpack to check out his first homework assignment of the year and almost cried...tears of Joy! There were two duotangs, so I was scared, but the first was a true godsend. There in writing was the homework expectation for the year 10-15 minutes per grade level (which wasn't the case with the first week of school last year, read and do interpretive drawings of poetry...yeah my kindergarten boy could handle that...in 3 hours) and there was the WHOLE week's assignments, now I can go to the gym guilt free and also know when days are going to be a bit longer. Having a 6 year old has enough 'surprises' let alone the mega amounts of homework he was being dumped with last year. And there was a note saying that if for any reason homework was incomplete to write a note. I only did that once last year and felt like I was a bad parent for giving him a pass once so he could play outside with some kids for once...and that wasn't without doing a half hour of homework before hand! Tonight it's meet the teacher night and I should be able to recognize Alex's as she'll be walking on water ;)

~In The Kitchen~

Do you ever have those flashes of brilliance...one that would make life alot easier?? Since we've been getting BACK on the flylady wagon and getting ready for our annual turkey dinner it struck me that maybe we could be applying the same approach we do to that dinner to throughout the week. At Thanksgiving Matt has the potatoes all peeled and cubed when he has time on Saturday and they sit in the fridge in water until we need him. The bread is all made and cubed for the dressing, onions chopped at our leisure and all in the fridge waiting until show time. Even the spices are premeasured out and ready to go. I think I scare people when they show up and my hair isn't sticking straight up and the kitchen isn't a disaster. Well...back to the other 364 days of the year. Why wouldn't that work for everyday. So last night I set aside 15 minutes for chopping, measuring and prepping and now I have tonight's and tomorrow's suppers taken care of and no mess to worry about for the next two nights. Now if we do a little bit here and there over the weekends suppers should be even smoother! We do choose healthy and if possible low maintenance recipes but even this should make things easier ;) I'm looking forward to our baked ziti tonight :)

~Simple Things To Make One Happy~

We live just outside city limits and for some odd reason they think it's appropriate to ask us to recycle but only pick up our stuff once a month...so you can imagine what our bins look like after a month. In the last year the city has put a couple of depot's up for apartment dwellers but none of which were on our route, until now. I was so excited when it clicked that I could drop my recycling off while Alex went to Gym and Swim, no more piles in the basement and really...if we were doing that we could go down to ONE container instead of two huge ones. I must be getting old and boring to have some revelation like that be soo exciting ;)

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?