Save The Cheerleader, Save The World!

Ok...there is no cheerleader, just a Heroes addict and that tag line is just too cool to not use just once in the blog. After yesterday I plugged into the last 30 minutes of Heroes that I taped Monday to wind down..... why?? well...

The relief that my breast incident was an isolated occurance quickly turned into anger with the fact that the first surgeon is even allowed to practice medicine in the country. What is competitent about not reading a patients file before suggesting surgery and not being honest about that surgery. I came prepared with my questions, will it affect breast feeding later on...no. Well how the heck would losing a quarter of ones breast not (oh and that 1/4 was not the small amount discussed, I only saw that when I saw my file). Let alone his comments that I'd be able to go 'topless' after without anyone noticing a scar, tactless jerk. Between that and my desire to line up a whole bunch of people concerning another incident and have them explain the continual questions of my 6 year old honestly, well it was one of those days where the Dixie Chicks I'm Not Ready to Make Nice got alot of playtime.

Work went well yesterday, we had an interesting meeting on how the department's plan to move our apps to the .NET framework, then I plugged away at yet another 'standards' change to the reports I've been developing. It would be soo nice if Crystal had a way of safely applying Templates to predeveloped reports. By the time 4:20 rolled around (had some flex time to make up due to migraine day) I was ready to go home and pack up for stitchy night.

The one hiccup in that plan was picking up a child that did NOT want to go home and was being a brat for the x-consecutive pickup who wanted to quit beavers thinking he could stay and play in the meantime and continually ran his mouth until I had to put on the serious voice (which I hate using), try to find a politically correct way to say stop talking, and marched him to the car. Arghhh... There was one serious conversation in the car on the way home concerning this behavior. He was then good, doing his homework promptly, handing over the halloween treats for the night and eating. He got ready for Beavers and I packed up my stitching stuff and headed to his investure. Well...that was not the proud glowing mother moment I was expecting, three times I caught his arm going up and when the leader didn't say anything the third time I had to discretely make my way up and warn him that if he did it again he'd go straight home. Worse, the kids that he was having issues with weren't only one of the leaders kids, it was one of my coworkers...so then he tilted his halo and sat their stoically. Then came the actual investure of his group (which is all on video). While the other kids had one hand on the Canada Flag and the other in the beaver hand symbol my son was continually grabbing his butt. It was up to the parents to put their kerchiefs on and when I went to do that I heard "mommy, I pooped my pants". If the floor could have openned up at that point I would have been pretty appreciative. Thankfully it was only some questionable gas but just the thought of having to walk past a room full of parents to take poopy underwear out for lack of better words sucked!

Needless to say when 6:45 came around I was out that door like a shot to pick up Faith Ann and let Matt take over!! I was never so relieved to get to stitchy night!! What an exciting evening, there were a number of pick me ups, hugs and wonderful news, an expectant stitcher :) I vicariously live through people starting families ;) I tried out a pattern to see if it would be narrow enough to make into a needleroll for Alex's bazarre but that was a no go...so now it'll just look nice framed in my house (or mom's) and went back to stitching on my Jeanette Douglas needleroll, I'm getting pretty anxious to put up my Christmas tree. I can't even put into words how nice it was to unwind with some pretty awesome women for 3 hours!! Then when I got home I had a chance to open my mail and there was the letter Matt wrote for me at our marriage prep weekend, timing couldn't have been more perfect ;)

Today I'm FINALLY going to get back to the gym woot! I'm going to check out the christmas craft fair at lunch which should be fun :) Now for something completely off ranting ;)

The rules:
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

1) Not Ready to Make Nice by The Dixie Chicks
2) I Belong to You by Anastacia and some dude ;) Body Track's Current Cool Down, and it makes me want to go home Friday nights and pretend we're not having tacos and instead light some candles, crack open a bottle of wine and have a romantic dinner...like lobster tails
3) Fly Me To the Moon by Frank Sinatra, Body Jam's Current Cool Down, this should be played after the dream dinner for dancing ;)
4) All I Can Do by Chantal Kreviazuk
5) Simply Irresistable by Robert Palmer, yet again another Body Pump Track, squats this time
6) Man Eater by Nelly Furtado, thanks to last weeks Desperate Housewives promo
7) Pretty Vegas by INXS, Body Pump's current Shoulder Track

Got iPod?

Yeah, long time no blog :) Friday night we headed out to pick up my iPod Shuffle as it was FINALLY release day. Well, I walked right past them they're sooo tiny, they're smaller than the pictures on the web. I was playing with it all Friday night!! I'm so glad we didn't wait to pick it up as we got the second last one at the futureshop.

Saturday, I loaded the van and connected the iPod for our trip to the Miramichi. It was soo nice to finally have current music in the van (which has a tape deck...and my old stereo does not like disks burnt with iTunes). Alex's only request was that I load Sesame Street's Hot Hot Dance Songs so he could do the Macarena ;) The trip was uneventful, besides almost mowing down some people, I understand people were going to the rememberance day ceremonies but parking on both sides of the road unexpectedly in a 90 zone and then walking two abreast with their backs to traffic....where's Darwin when you need him??

We had a nice visit home. The dog was a bit jealous of Alex and would try to eat the ninja turtles, even if they were in the box. I guess he was trying to discourage having to share dad with Alex for a whole week like our last visit ;) I got some stitching, relaxing and catching up in. My lost dragon samper is almost done, if I could find my Havana silk and I finished my Mill Hill Mandolin Santa.

Monday we headed back in the rain and fog, leaving is miserable enough without the weather adding to it. Yesterday I was home with a Migraine, which was a blessing in disguise as I got to keep an eye on the basement as we had a real freak rainstorm, there was water everywhere but thankfully the basement stayed dry. I did do some manual sump pumping before supper and took out about 10 loads of water from the storm drain in a big canner pot, what a workout. I could practically vacuum/dump/vacuum/dump, head up the stairs, head back down the steps, dump water return and repeat in my sleep. It's only on a day like that that one realizes how many steps you do in a raised ranch house :)

In my good news Monday, I don't need to go for a biopsy, woot! Just monitoring and a list of 'if this happens call'. It takes sooo long for a second opinion in Canada but it was worth it, the doctor I saw in the breast clinic was going to take 1/4 of my breast for biopsy, which wasn't the amount he disclosed with me, but I did find out when I saw my file >:( My lovely surgeon who reminds me of Monica from Friends, said while that would take out anything suspicious, we don't do mastectomies to reduce our risks. I should ask that jack a** if he'd like to have a 1/4 of his testicals removed to make sure nothing was wrong with them for nothing. After sleeping off my migraine I put up the Christmas Village and started to do some of the Christmas decorating, poor DH was caught a bit off guard when he got home ;)

Tonight's stitchy night, I can't believe it's been a month already!!

It's Friday! Friday! Fri-DAY!

Thanks for all of the positive feedback on my little mental health awareness plug, it's nice to know I'm not the only one :) It's hard sometimes to try to describe it in a way that doesn't make you sound self centered. I know my limits and there are days/situations where I cannot put up with people's bs and removing myself from them isn't being self centered, sulky or always getting my way. If lancing the brain was possible, painless and not life threatenning sure we could monitor it like diabetics can their blood sugar but it's not really a viable option.

Yesterday was one of those days, the work day that never ends!! I went for a run at the gym and finished reading Embroidered Truths in the car while I waited for Alex to finish playing with his friends, I wasn't in any mood to put up with "but I'm not done having fun yet". Not that he gets away with this normally, but it's not like I wasn't 10 pages away from finishing a book ;) So now I've read all of the Monica Ferris paperbacks, woot! I wonder when Sins and Needles is coming out in paperback, or if I can drop enough hints for Matt to pick it up in hardcover...yeah right!! So now it's onto the Scrapbooking Mystery series.

My Mandolin Santa was almost finished yesterday but I forgot my beads at home so I couldn't finish that part at lunch, instead I worked on my Lost Dragon Sampler which is working up remarkably fast. I also met up with Eleni and did a small stash exchange and got a little girl hug from Callie :) In the evening I finished doing my DMC inventory, now to set aside some time next week to wind!! ;)

This weekend Alex and I (and maybe Matt) are heading to the Miramichi Saturday morning, I can't believe it's been 3 months since I've gotten home :( Alex of course is VERY excited at this development (and mad at me for not going right after work, but if Matt doesn't go I don't want to be on the highway alone after dark). I'm hoping to attach the mustache to Mandolin Santa and quite possibly finishing the Lost Dragon Sampler this weekend, we'll have to see ;)

Sweet Retreat

Retreat was awesome, Cathey pretty much summed up our fun escapades on her blog ;) Retreat was great in other ways too. 550.75 was raised for breast cancer with our basket draw, I don't know how much came from the kits for cancer draw on top of that. I wish there was someway though that we could encourage a mental health dialog along with it. I'd catch pieces of conversation here and there and while it was comforting to know that you aren't alone it would be nice if we could celebrate being depression/anxiety/bipolar survivors as much as we celebrate surviving physical ailments. I've found great strength in the mantra "depression is not a flaw in character, it is a flaw in chemistry" this time around. It helps having a doctor this time that truly monitors my condition and just doesn't prescribe an open prescription, although I don't think I've had as many doctor's appointments since I was pregnant! It's taking a bit of getting used to ;) I'm slowly accepting the fact that it truly is a chemistry problem and something that will be a condition that just doesn't magically go away. Alchoholics do not continually drink 24/7 and those who suffer from depression do not mope around 24/7 either, although I could give a whole list of warning signs that are very easily ignored and written off as something else. So there's my open dialogue for the day, I'm still me, I still run around with my ta-ta tassle twin, I still put whoopie cushions under people's seats, I still have my very black sense of humor, I'm still a wonderful mother and loving wife and now I'm finally being responsible and seeking treatment.

Ok...there was my mental healt awareness plug (or should it even be classified as mental, that screwed up chemistry affects your entire body)...anyway...back to retreat. As for my part I stitched away Friday night and Saturday Morning on the Hope needleroll. I kind of like doing them for the exchange too to work the kinks out before mine goes on my anal retentive tree, especially when it involves samplers as diagramming does not always represent the space the stitches actually take up. I also enjoyed my Laura Secord truffles, pumpkin spice and caramel apple are divine!!!

After a lunch with the Dragon I settled into hem stitching and mylanta the afternoon went fast!! There was an incident with the fireplace that ended up smoking up the place temporarily, quite ironic where the dragon herself was in the center of it ;) I finished my piece and waited for a friend to bring in her sewing machine. I then hummed and hawed if I'd do The Lost Dragon Sampler or Mirabilia's Christmas Elf Fairy and The Lost Dragon Sampler won, who could resist those bright colours?!? Saturday evening we just got silly, Cathey and I changed into our matching jammies and donned our tassles ;) This cut into stitching time but garnered some much needed laughs.

I was sad to see Sunday come around, I could have stayed another week! The exchange was a bit disappointing, there's always 2 or 3 people that don't put that much effort into their stitching (not that I'm a stitching snob) and when the retreat numbers are down they show up a bit more. For me personally, if I'm going to stitch something to exchange I stick on the safe side, plus I try to stitch something that promotes a Canadian Designer (ok the first was a G&P but I customized it to have the camp name on it). But really the best part of the exchange isn't the ornament I receive, it's hearing people vying for YOUR ornament when they're in the dinner line, that is truly rewarding knowing your stitching will be appreciated. The other little downer was the fact that a couple of the leaflets Cathey and I were selling off went 'missing'. What was truly odd about it was they were ones that at least I couldn't understand people taking when there were Lizzie Kate's in my stash...although a reference to Shannon's Heart In Hand 'pooping bird's' quickly wiped that notion away ;)

This week has been a little hectic. Groceries weren't picked up on the weekend so Monday was shot, I've been buying/arranging installation of some studded tires, Beavers and a kid with ear wax issues...oh and trying to organize my floss finally. I'm just about finished another Mill Hill Santa...woot! Now to just find some down time to wrap the remaining presents I picked up in Moncton, it feels really good to be 90% done Christmas shopping!!

Enabling Alert

Here's one of the gorgeous pieces on the show and tell table. I wasn't big on the Prairie Schooler Santa's until I saw this....

Retreat Pics

A retreat update will follow after a good night's sleep, and figuring out how to summarize an awesome and much needed weekend away!!

But seeing as I won't be able to upload in the morning here are the pics before I head to bed:

Tracy of Fiddlestitch Cottage, myself and Cathey The Flamingo Girls from the South ;)

Cathey and I...and yes there's a story behind this...

My retreat finish by Jeanette Douglas for the ornament exchange, Cathey's 'winnings' are to the left.

Multiplication

Well, I'm beginning to believe the deer are multiplying or involved in some top secret cloning, we've gone from one to to two but now three deer. It was pretty exciting to see three of them on one of our neighbors front lawns, but it made the remainder of the drive a bit nerve wracking as they took off in the direction of our house and I was worried they'd run out in front of the van.

Well tonight wasn't as big a packing success as I had hoped, but I did get some more charts ready to attempt to sell at retreat and some pieces of hand dyed that I'm lacking vision for... ;) Now as promised some pictures...


Alex headed to the Beaver Halloween Party

His latest school pic

A picture before the Halloween festivities

One pooped clown, his deflated pumpkin mother (really I don't usually look that bad but I was too tired to even fix the pony tail) and our pumpkin :)

Trick or Treat

I'm back... The weekend was pretty busy, fun, but busy. Mom and dad were over for a visit Friday evening. Alex was pacing around the picture window from 8 o'clock until they arrived. He tried to convince mom that she should read the Magic Treehouse book to him until 10 o'clock but that didn't work ;)

Saturday we had a nice family brunch and then dad, Alex and I headed to gym and swim. He was soo excited to have his pappy come see his 'new' pool. As much as we loved the facilities at the Northside pool we weren't overly impressed with some of the instructors and found the number of different age groups in the pool distracting. His new pool is older but the fun distractions are gone so he can focus on lessons, the instructors (although there's a mumbler) are great, it's only kids his age in the pool and he can move around level wise if he completes it before the time frame is up. He found getting stuck for 8 weeks at the other pool annoying. After we returned we cleaned up and went to Boston Pizza with mom and dad, that restaurant is Alex's absolute favorite. Being stuffed and tired I napped for the remainder of the afternoon.

Sunday we enjoyed our extra hour of sleep. I got caught up on some Smallville and Desperate Housewives episodes and skipped class due to a cold and the birthday party Alex was invited to and while he was out I had my first trick or treater ever ;) (Matt usually gives out the treats). Faith Ann was by with her DS who was too cute. Then I proceeded to wrap Alex's Christmas gifts and got about half of them done before it was time to pick him up again. Sunday night was divided between cleaning up after a turkey dinner (yum), stitching and playing some computer with Matt, woot!

Monday I took an official sick day, it's not something I do normally but sneezing for 5 minutes straight had me convinced I'd either make people sick or be very distracting. I vegged most of the day. I tried to sleep but was woken up by Rogers, although we finally asked to be removed from the list (they've been calling for weeks but we always seem to be in the telemarket cue), then I had an e-mail that had me a little concerned. I was a good girl though and didn't move too far from the couch. Before I went to pick up Alex I did wrap a couple more of his gifts, anything left to wrap is small, a dvd and some xbox games. What a relief. Matt was having a good laugh at me Sunday, here I was wrapping gifts (and almost done) and he hasn't even thought of what to go shopping for, we're sooo different. I had a stitchy happy dance too...although dancing was more of rolling around on the recliner ;)

Yesterday was a flurry of activity, in the morning I prepped some dip for our potluck and loaded the car with everything we'd need for trick or treating (we trick or treat with Alex's friends directly from work). My little clown was VERY excited to be out (pictures will follow this evening hopefully). After doing the circuit with his friends we visited Faith Ann's (his gummy vampire/frankenstein head is now his most treasured posession ;)) and Alex wanted to move in and after being wound up all day wasn't the most cooperative kid. Sigh. We dropped by the house to pick up Matt and found out we had three trick or treaters (a new record!!) and then headed to his cousin's house. Down on our cul-de-sac I saw a deer, Matt then insisted it was a dog, but as we got closer he concluded it was in fact a small doe. Alex compromised and said it was a dog dressed up as a deer for halloween ;) We finally got to meet Taylor, Matt's cousin's daughter and then returned home to head around our block. I know I complain about the ding bats on one side of us but the rest of our neighbors are very nice people. We even went to our house's 'twin' on the street (it's not often you see a raised ranch on the street, let alone two of them). Although the interior layout isn't like ours at all, I definitely like our living room better ;). I washed my poor little clown when he got home, his happy makeup was looking kind of sad by 8:30, he had a treat and then passed out. I checked the rest of his candy, reclined on the couch until the end of 30 Rock and then rolled into bed too, a 15 hour day is hard on a girl!!

I was going to do groceries tonight but the boys will be in town when I'm gone so I think I'm going to stop being a martyr and ask them to do them for once while I'm away this weekend. The point of a retreat is a break, not to stress myself out about being away before the fact. Now I'll get to prep for retreat instead ;)

Through The Eyes of a Child

There are alot of things that are interesting to hear about from a child's point of view. Mostly this year we've been hearing Alex's view on death with the loss of my grandmother and one of his classmates, however lately the topic of discussion has been money. He's fascinated by credit cards, but hasn't quite come to grips that it's not a shopping spree on a card, and that it can take time to pay off debt, which even the best of us end up dealing with once and awhile. We bought him the first 3 Magic Treehouse books but took a look at the library and found that they have alot of the ones that he isn't getting for Christmas. So I went over yesterday and retrieved a beat up copy of Tonight On The Titanic. When I gave it to him after school he was very excited, but I explained that we had to give it back when we were done, which upset him some. He has visions of owning the entire collection...Anyway, then he started asking questions between the difference between a credit card and a library card. I explained that the library card could only be used at the one spot and that it was a loan, credit cards you had to pay money to to continue using. He pondered over that for a bit and informed me "Mom, it was really good of you to use the library card. Save your credit card for important things....like toys for me" *smacks head*

Last night was relaxing, I was curled up on the couch and stitching for most of the evening as whatever bug I'd had had completely zapped the life out of me. It was nice to make so much progress ;) I also cleaned the bedding for the guest room downstairs and tidied up a little. All and all a very productive night.

Alex is very excited mom and dad are coming down before they fly out tomorrow (and mommy too). This weekend should be pretty busy, gym and swim tomorrow, birthday party Saturday, a pumpkin to carve AND a turkey to roast :) Who could turn down cheap turkey and a week of easy leftovers?? :)

Doe, Two Deer, Two Female Deer

Well, when I went to get my quesadilla out of the toaster oven after helping Alex with his homework I was NOT expecting to see a small doe out munching at the base of one of my lilac bushes. Alex thought it was really neat to watch it eat and we followed it through the house as it made it's way back over where they jump our fence...but first peeing on my lawn :( Alex and I made a costume compromise. He was very overwhelmed (in a good way) when mom dropped off the tickle trunk of costumes that used to be mine and my brother's, he wanted to wear them ALL at halloween. I got him to try on my old clown costume and it JUST fits so I've been after him to postpone the crayon costume. So last night we compromised, he could wear one of the crayon costumes to the Beaver Halloween party if he would wear the clown suit halloween.

Where we have company this weekend I decided to get the groceries after dropping Alex off instead of on Saturday. Although this required a quick trip back to the house to drop the seat off to Matt. I was extra vigilent about looking for deer, nada. I hopped out of the van, put the seat in the Corolla reversed down the driveway and there was an even bigger doe outside munching on one of the lilacs out front, where on earth did they come from??

Groceries was uneventful, I even managed to price winter tires in that time period ;) Turkey's were on sale so guess what we got, now I don't have to worry about cooking much all next week (very good where I'm leaving Friday and Alex and I won't be home for supper Tuesday, lots of leftovers for poor Matt). I didn't get to watch my taped Desperate Housewives as planned BUT I did get to stitch through LOST and Criminal Minds, sweet. Although CM is past my bedtime so I literally flopped into bed, no reading for me last night!!

Tonight should be a fairly stitchy night, and I should be able to get caught up on my taped shows a little. I have some tidying to do when I get home and that's about it for my 'duties' and Matt's raiding tonight so I can just veg by myself on the couch :)

Removing the Blinders

Yesterday was just one of those days, not very stitchy at all. We had a branch meeting at work, which was actually interesting this time around. I didn't realize some people in the branch had been involved in Hurricane Katrina cleanup and the Malawi project. The lady who spent two week in New Orleans in January had a tonne of pictures that were quite frightening, especially considering that was 5 months after and from what her volunteer friends say hasn't improved much since. It is amazing how much news coverage or lack there of skews our vision of the world. Gee from what bits and pieces I've heard on the news it was only positive, like this section reopenning...I knew things probably weren't fully dealt with but wow, they aren't even half way there, or at least not the every day working people like our family. Anyway, due to the meeting I lost my stitchy break time, sigh. That kind of set the pace for the day.

I did get a little stitching done at lunch and was all set to have a stitchy night at home, until I headed to the gym and read for a half hour while running. Now I'm really into the book ;) Oh my goodness, that curiosity phase that I thought Alex skipped showed up last night. We were kind of skeptical when Alex actually stayed in the bathroom long enough for a good tooth brushing (usually we have to send him back in), then Matt noticed something on his sleeve....my lipstick, thankfully not my good Aveda... It was a good thing Matt could be stern as I was trying not to laugh at how silly he looked with his lips colours 5 times bigger than Angelina Jolie's ;) After that incident Matt and I watched 30 Rock (which I just love) and I retreated to bed to read some more.

Tonight is Alex's big Beaver's Halloween party, needless to say he's pretty excited. Matt's signed up for some computing so that'll leave me to get caught up on some shows and stitch tonight, yippee!!

An A-MAZE-ing Weekend

Well, the weekend sure flew by quickly! Did I make as much stitching progress as I intended, heck no!

Saturday started off as usual, load kid in van, drive to gym and swim (and yes Faith Ann, I'm exactly with you on the sibling situation). I was waiting in the change room for Alex when the instructor came in, apparently he'd slipped and bumped his head and was playing it up for all it was worth. I appreciate their concern but when you have children yourself you do run down the checklist for signs of more than just a bump fairly quickly and know when they're playing up how mad/hurt they are. I'm the mother of a future Oscar nominee. An accident report later we headed to my brother's apartment to drop off some goodies. Alex wanted to move in so he could play with the cat. This went as far as informing me I could pick him up on the way back from groceries, needless to say I left with a pouty kid. The Coop was insane++ Apparently it was a sale week, I really need to watch out for those and move my grocery day when all of the out of townies aren't there! On the way out I noticed a flyer looking for part time help for the week of their massive annual sale next month. Am I crazy for even considering picking up a shift or two? I mean I do alot of the school all year round, it would be nice if some of my extra time gave me money and it's only a one week commitment and that's not guarenteeing shifts every evening. Having a little extra cash to put studs on the future winter tire purchase would be nice. Matt's gormet meal was a trip to the Esso for chicken, but at least we got a family movie to watch. We were pleasantly surprised with Zanthura, it wasn't a cheap Jumanji rip off, actually I liked it better. Alex LOVED it, the aliens scared him the first night but he was laughing the second time. The movie sealed off any notion of being cremated as yet another 'grandma's urn' was decimated ;)

Sunday Matt got up at a normal time so we watched Heroes together to get caught up. I LOVE the show but it's not a good stitchy show at all, and won't be until the Japanese character learns some more english so I don't have to read the subtitles ;) I made the boys a quick meal of nachos and left over tacos (guess who had the tacos) and headed to Body Jam/Body Pump. Needless to say I was pretty tired when I got home and in desperate need of a shower. After that refreshment though I was all set to go to the halloween maze and Green Village and happy to be getting rid of some 'oops' pickups that have been cluttering my cupboards for the food bank :) We tried a new dish for supper, Mexican Potato Casserole from www.aimeesadventures.com, which Matt really enjoyed. I did too but would have liked some help with the cutting. After Alex was in bed I ended up 'raiding' with Matt's guild which was actually exciting, especially where they finally completed an instance they've been trying all week. I used to laugh at gamer's but my, they put alot of thought into the tactics behind these things ;)

Today's a quiet day on the schedule, I'll be stitching away with Doctor Who and Justice tonight if all goes as planned ;)

Wreaths For Sale

For anyone in the area who puts a Christmas Wreath up, Alex's School is selling the following as their annual school fundraiser (and they're gorgeous, you can ask anyone who ordered them last year at these great prices)
-Traditional Wreath 12$
-Classical Wreath 10$
-Swags 8$
Pictures to follow. Delivery Date December 2, last day for orders November 3rd.

Well, last night wasn't much of a stitchy night. Matt and I had a 'date' to do some computing together so the time leading up until Alex's bedtime was pretty busy. I did get some stitching in over the noon hour though which did the trick.

Tonight should be quiet. Alex wants to watch a movie together with popcorn, supper's easy (tacos) so I should get some stitching in ;) Saturday has the usual crazy combo of gym and swim followed by groceries, although this Saturday we're adding in a delivery to my brother's house of some goodies my parents dropped off last week. Thankfully there are no birthday parties this weekend. I'm hoping to get some Christmas presents wrapped tonight so I can take the remaining boxes down to recycling while we're at gym and swim.

Sunday should be quiet besides Body Jam and Body Pump, maybe I'll get around to cleaning out one of the cupboards and doing a little more stitching ;)

Oh Deer!

Well, there have been traces of them for years, knocking over part of our fence, eating my hostas >:( but today was the first day I saw a deer on my street! Today's been one of the only fog free rain free days we've had in a while so seeing a 'cloud' caught my attention, sure enough it was a doe just standing in the bushes. I waited until it decided it was going to do, they aren't exactly the most intelligent creatures on earth. Why on earth they continue to come in our area I do not know. Our section of the subdivisions have been established for quite some time now. Anyway because she took her good old sweet time deciding where she was going to go Alex got to have a really good look at her and was pretty excited. He wanted to go home and call his pappy so they could go 'hunting', good grief. I guess it's time to have him watch Bambi, Brother Bear and The Fox and The Hound again ;)

Last night we arrived home and I had to get Alex's badges stuck on his beaver uniform. Thank goodness for heavy duty Therma Bond. I'll probably sew around them at some point but I just haven't felt up to it lately. I've discovered that it's a good idea when you're dropping your child off and your husband is picking them up to put a full inventory of what they're wearing, eventhough I did the raincoat was left behind but they went back for it ;) The boys went to check out IPod Shuffle stocks but they haven't been shipped yet. They did find a nice logitech headset for me for playing WoW though, it even has girlie colour "clips".

Stitching night was really fun. We had a paper embroidery class which was fun. It was also really neat to see Faith Ann's Blessings of Christmas afghan in person :) I didn't get any cross stitching done last night but it was really fun none the less. :)

Tonight should be relatively quiet, no extracurricular activities, just homework, a little stitching and a little computer :) I should really drop by the gym for a run on my way home as well (and finish another chapter or two of Embroidered Truths). Oh the weekend is getting soom much closer ;)

Avoiding the Itch

Ack... There is nothing more icky than hearing one of the kids you child knows has head lice. Just the thought of it makes me want to scratch ALL over. I mean the chances of contracting it yourself is just as great sitting in a nice high back cushioned chair in a restaurant or theatre but still, ick! We went into defensive mode and picked up a bath with menthol and tea tree oil shampoo just in case. All of the remaining children at the daycare have been screened and it vacuumed but still...those incubation periods are scary. Although if you have a cold my house was the place to be last night as that was all you could smell!! While Alex was soaking in the tub I bagged his stuffed animals just in case, I think this'll be a good opportunity to seperate out some of the baby stuffed animals and put them down in the playroom, it's amazing how much bigger his room looked without the whole zoo in there!

That whole garfuffle made last night very busy, and we also made our phone call to my brother before he flies to Bolivia today until March/April. After Alex was in bed I had lunches to make, laundry to do and then plunked my butt on the couch, reclined and stitched to Doctor Who and Justice. Doctor Who cracked me up last night towards the end. Matt moved his work at home day to today so I'm going to see about getting to Body Jam tonight as well as making a quick stop to pick up Over the Hedge and haggle over 5 dollars (thankfully the two stores are beside each other). Other than that it'll be stitching and catching up on some taped shows tonight for me ;)

Three Day Weekend!!

One has to love long weekends ;) I had a flex day that I'd planned on using the day after thanksgiving if mom and dad were able to stay down but used it on Friday instead and it was heavenly. I took Vanessa in for an oil and filter change after dropping Alex off for school and got right in so Matt came over for nothing, besides a trip to Tim Horton's while we waited. When I got home I hopped back in my jammies and watched Star Wars and Eureka and did some serious stitching reclined on the couch, sweet! At about 3 I cleaned up again and headed out to do some Christmas shopping. Well if Cathey thought she might come over Christmas morning to see Alex's IDog, I know she'll definitely be over with his final purchases, the two Star Wars Lego Wars games for the Xbox ;) Of course since I found them I found the one place I didn't think to price check them against has them 5$ cheaper each so I've gotta go back to get the guarentee. I also picked up a Cars version of Uno for his sock, and was tickled pink to find a Ninja Turtles Mega Blocks set on clearance. I had 'lego set' on his list but he's kind of at the age where he's inbetween lego phases so a 'theme' set with a mix of sizes was in order and he relates more to the NT's than the Harry Potter sets they had that were actual lego. What was even better was I'd cashed out my Visa points to pay for my half of the santa list ;) Now I just need to pick up stocking stuffers for him and Cars when it comes out on video and we're all set ;) I also picked up a little something for Matt in my travels. After that I picked up the groceries and Alex and headed home for a nice relaxing evening. Matt was transferring my level 60 Warcraft character to a different server (which had a backlog) so even the computer wasn't able to tear me away from stitching ;)

Saturday was busy. Thankfully we didn't have to go grocery shopping after swimming though ;) I started the new Patricia Ann ornament out of this years JCS as my big project was too busy for the ups and downs of gym and swim. Alex had a blast at the birthday party at Kingswood, I hung around for about 15 minutes and then went home to watch Kung Fu Hustle on the free preview the movie channel was having this weekend. Matt and I enjoyed it, although I guess it wouldn't be for everyone ;) I had a bit of a panic when I went to pick up Alex. All of the kids were in the birthday room except Alex, I was so worried. I didn't know that with their treat bags they had coins to play the games there so he'd snuck off to go check them out. We ended up staying another 45 minutes to use up his coins. :) Matt picked up some pizza and we watched another movie while Alex played dressup with the halloween costumes mom brought up on the holiday, then we all cuddled (stitched) on the couch and watched Ninja Turtles 2 (Alex inherited all of his uncles movies on the holiday too where it wouldn't be cost effective to take them over to Switzerland).

Sunday ended up being busy so I appreciated my lazy friday even more ;) After putting a load in the laundry, a moose roast in the slow cooker and sweeping I headed out for Body Jam and Body Pump (thankfully the boys raked while I was out). I was completely spent when I got home, so much that I passed out on the bed even though the sheets were in the wash. Alex ate his moose without realizing it wasn't beef, yippee!! I had a little bit but haven't had much of an appetite lately, which makes up for my lack of gym time last week ;) I also laced two pieces, my SB Witches Moon as the frame is in and Katie's Eggs, stitched by Cathey, which is now proudly displayed beside my china cabinet. I've felt bad about not getting it up sooner. First there was the spring flood which had the basement in chaos, then the wedding, then hunting for the perfect frame, then misplacing my glazier setter, etc... It looks so nice were it is now though :)

Today I'm hoping will be low key, supper's quick and easy to make and my end of the laundry is done. So here's hoping I'll be stitching away to Dr Who and Heroes tonight ;)

Santa's Unexpected Gift

And yes...it's the name of the ornament, not some subtle hint we're expecting.

It's too bad the pick doesn't show how cute the fuzzy stuff is (and sparkly). Stitched on SMF Golden Turret

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 :)