Love These

Well, I've seen Barbara Ana's freebies at cyberstitchers for awhile now and love them, and need to figure out how to clone myself to do them all. Now I see some of her other designs that I adore (I think it's the bright colours that draw me to them) are for sale so I guess they'll be on on 'what to buy' list when I'm done my 50 projects. I really need to update my total ;)

Cross Stitch Designs by Barbara Ana

A New Year, A New Look

Well out with the old template in with the new! I don't know why I waited so long to change! Definitely much easier to add new things to the blog with the new template editor. Maybe my reluctance to change is a sign I really am getting older ;)

We had a low key but busy weekend. With the freezing rain we weren't going anywhere Friday or very early Saturday. This involved quite a bit of vegging and still frantically searching for Alex's Backyardigans tickets :( I had a hair appointment in the afternoon to look forward to and the boys were going out themselves to take care of Alex's mop so I did a bit of decluttering. At least the items made it to the bag even if the boys somehow did not make it to Value Village. I've done my share now they can do something! I met them at the mall and ended up being early so I checked out the awesome sale at The Children's Place. Alex has snowpants for at least the next year if not two after I picked up 2 pairs at 8.50'ish. I ended up kicking myself and making a second trip so in total I got 2 pairs of snowpants, one pair of cargo pants that roll up (really neat) into shorts, a fooler golf shirt, a rugby shirt, a gorgeous knit sweater, a genuine leather belt and cozy but heavy weight cotton jammies for 76$ after tax. Yay, a big chunk of his back to school shopping is taken care of. There's nothing like getting top notch and preppy clothing for cheaper than discount store prices ;)

Where we had both vehicles at the mall and were heading home we decided to try out a restaurant just past the ramps to turn off to head to our place via the TCH. Needless to say Alex was very excited about the place as it had gallows and free pool. The service was great and the food was standard but good pub fare. Not the fanciest place but we had fun and the fact it was named after a bit of New Brunswick history it wasn't a bad alternative to the usual dinner rut. After supper I rushed and got together the DMC I missed kitting up for Vicki, grabbed a kit and some fabric to show Faith Ann then jaunted around the subdivisions to her house ;) It was a whole lot of fun sitting back and stitching, playing Wii and investigating the Cricut machine. Although me being me got there and forgot Vicki at home so I have yet another WIP, this time my Pumpkin Hill kit from SB. :P

Sunday we stayed in, it was too cold! Matt assembled my new Nordic Track Elliptical and I did some organizing/labelling with my new label maker that I got for a steal after Christmas. I love it! I also made the boys these for all of their hard efforts constructing my fitness equipment :)

Four!

The "Four" Tag...

4 JOBS I HAVE HAD
Babysitter
Tim Horton's Coffee Girl
'Playground'/Summer Camp leader
Office Assistant

4 MOVIES I WATCH OVER AND OVER
I'll just include the adult ones as they have no Alex influence
Mr and Mrs Smith
Star Wars
The Holiday
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves

4 PLACES I HAVE BEEN
North Conway, NH
Charlottetown, PEI
Toronto, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario

4PLACES I HAVE LIVED
Miramichi, NB
Moncton, NB
Wolfvile, NS
Fredericton, NB

4TV SHOWS I WATCH
Heroes
Smallville
Doctor Who
Holmes on Homes

4 PEOPLE WHO EMAIL ME REGULARILY
Faith Ann
Cathey
Shannon
Mom

4 FAVOURITE FOODS
Mexican
Chinese
Popcorn
Fish and chips


4 PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE
Home
Miramichi Home
Disney World
Because You Count


4 THINGS I LOOK FORWARD TO
Vacation
Christmas
Days off with Alex
Stitchy nights

4 PEOPLE TO TAG
anyone who feels like doing a meme :)

Morning Has Broken

Well...that moment of silence lasted a bit longer than expected. I'd start to write something and it would be a page long rant about how tactless the news outlets have been over the bans of 15 passenger vans before the families and friends even had a chance to bury their loved ones. There's a time and a place for everything and that side of the coverage reaked of those hobious people that start itemizing and claiming posessions before the deceased is even in the ground. My heart ached all week thinking about the proper side of the story, every day there seemed to be one more little detail in the local coverage that would bring a set of fresh tears. Alex and I wore our black and red Wednesday and needless to say I'm a bit more drained than usual this week.

However...the week has had it's bright moments :) Including stitchy night!!! There weren't as many girls there this time around but Faith Ann and I were there with bells on (hehe, I even picked up my firt christmas gift for 2008 on the way down. Due to the late return home from the holidays I was zapped when I came back to work so I fell into the rut a bit sooner than expected so I was more than happy to stay there even as the girls dwindled out. 'Vicki' is coming along beautifully. I'm finally onto the blue ruffle in her skirt but I see in all of the Christmas excitement I didn't notice the small but crucial second column of colours so I need to make a trip to the craft room to update my project box, yippee!


This weekend thankfully isn't too busy. Matt should be putting my elliptical together, and depending on how I feel I'm going to touch up the paint in the craft room, which will probably be delayed to next weekend. There's a trip to the spa for a haircut planned for Saturday afternoon and then a girl's evening Saturday with some stitching and Wii :) Other than trying out my elliptical my butt is going to alternate between my pc seat and my reclining couch :)

A Moment of Silence

Words cannot begin to describe the impact of this tragedy on the baskeball community, the city of Bathurst and New Brunswick as a whole

Rest in Peace Phantoms

Happy New Year

I hope you all had a merry christmas and a happy new year!

We had a lovely Christmas. From the second we arrived safely on the Miramichi I was having SEVERE second doubts about spending Christmas at our house this year. I absolutely love it there. A beautiful real tree, a cozy fireplace and of course sleeping in the same bed I had every christmas in my memory. Alex was soo fun to watch this Christmas. However all great things come to an end and we had to make the second leg of our trip. We got to spend some time with our new sister in law but the preparation for 'the party' and some snowstorms had me crawling the walls. It was also affirmation that with my migraines and over sensitive hearing that I'll never be able to live in an open concept home. Due to a snowstorm we arrived home late new year's eve and at some point standing in a 3 ft snowbank loaded to the brim with Christmas presents and a house with no food before me that giving up my 'perfect' Christmas wasn't going to be so bad after all. Trying to explain just how much travelling exhausts me seemed to be lost. 'Just cut back on the cooking and decorating'. You know what? I LIKE doing that part, I'd like nothing more than to sit back after Christmas dinner, enjoy my tree and enjoy all of the stuff stashed away in the freezer until new years and have people come to us for a nice dinner or something instead of us travelling all over the province. I want to sit in my new PJ's, reclined in one of the most comfortable chairs known to man with my Ott light and stitch while Alex plays with his new toys and be more than ready to put them away New Year's day. Mind you I need my parents Christmas morning though ;)

In between our trips to Miramichi and Grand Falls we dropped by the house to drop off some of our presents and waiting in the mail was the fabric for 'Vicki' ie: Victorian Christmas Eve by Mirabilia. Well, let's just say she saw alot of stitching time when we were at the inlaws. Mind you I was visited by the Frog! In other stitching news I think my stitched gifts went over pretty well this year. I stitched my parents SB stockings to match our set and Tracy got Lizzie Kate's 'Only Dull Women Have Immaculate Homes'.

By the time new years day rolled around I was exhausted, hence the blogging hiatus. We'd just gotten the driveway cleaned out when our neighbors skiied by to inform us of another incoming storm, Yuck! It's a good thing I had a couple days off to help shovel, put away gifts, catch up on laundry and dismantle the Christmas decorations, again more exhaustion.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend, I'll finally be able to try out my Christmas presents!! Matt got me an elliptical for Christmas where Alex's ever changing demands just don't make the gym as feasible as it once was and I'm going to make a stew in my new Pressure Cooker from mom and dad, needless to say I'm VERY excited!!

Merry Christmas From The Elves

Merry Christmas from the cutest elves on the block!

The Stockings Were Hung...

Hooray, I'm done 'necessary' sewing for the year ;)

Walking in a Warp Speed Winter Wonderland

No matter how organized you are it seems the holidays puts things on warp speed regardless. Thankfully dinner has been premade and in the freezer, we're at cookie overflow and the only time the mixer comes out is when I'm stressed and in need of a diversion (cookies never 'fail', you don't have to frog them, they don't jam up and have bobbin issues on the last part of sewing, perfect)

Santa has thankfully been preserved for this year. Three days after the church incident there were presents under the tree that I'd wrapped for some other people and Alex thought Santa had been by while he's been asleep, phew! In just one week we'll be getting ready to head up to Mom and dad's where I can finally relax and just do some crafty stuff with Alex ;)

Stitching has taken a small hit in the last week, I'm plugging away at Knotted Pine's santa from this years JCS slowly but surely but we've had school concerts to go to, inlaw company on the weekend, stockings to sew, cookie exchanges to bake for, parcels and cards to mail and parties to look forward to. Thankfully it's stitchy night tonight :) I can park my worries and veg.

Alex's school concert was wonderful. He looked so GQ up there in his Old Navy plaid button down and CP cords :) Apparently this is probably the last year I'll get to buy him cool clothes for it as he wants to be in the boys choir and they wear plain white shirts, black bowties, an NB plaid scarf and black pants. I suppose I could buy him a funky argyle sweater for when he sings with his class though ;) The concert had the usual frustrations, I showed up 40 minutes before it started to get a decent seat, and they dwindled pretty darn quickly, the SAHM mother's came in early and 'reserved' seats for their lazy a** husbands who waltz out of work 5 minutes before the show to their perfect seats while people that actually make an effort are forced to stand. I mean they had 300 programs printed for the first show and they were gone 20 minutes before the concert. Then there's the morons who rush the center and stand there so no one behind them can see. I had to army crawl and sit on the floor so I could see and get a video of Alex's performance. Matt couldn't make it and when I was telling him about it his opinion was very true, to the point but I don't know how it would ever fly. They need to do something about the 'extra's'. I think banning them is a bit absurd, I mean Alex would love it if my parents could come once in awhile but you see people bringing an 8 person entourage of uncles, aunts, grandparents and it quickly becomes out of control and parents can't even see their own kids. The situation either needs to be addressed or they need to look at having an additional show besides the two that they already do. Oye.

Catch the Spirit

Yes...I'm alive ;)

This past week has been busy++. Alex was off of school for 3 days due to parent teacher meetings and professional development so I had a nice 5 day weekend with lots of mommy son time. We did some crafts (Alex's first use of a glue gun), played some games, baked alot of cookies and continued to decorate for the holidays. We ventured out to an old fashioned christmas tree decorating party at the local independant bookstore and froze our butts off waiting for the parade on Saturday. At the end of our little vacation Alex and I lugged all of the tree decorations upstairs and made up quite a few appetizers to have a family tree decorating party.

The rest of the week went by in a blur. There were stockings to prep for sewing (Alex is getting very anxious for his to be sewn), guests to prepare for and an awesome dinner party/stitch night to look forward to. I had a wonderful time at Faith Ann's, Cathey's account of the evening sums it all up in her blog ;)

Saturday we headed to Alex's Christmas bazarre at the school and were joined by mom and dad there later in the morning. What a great time! Apparently it's quite popular as even the Premier (equivalent to a governor for my friends south of the border) was there for awhile. Alex was really excited, it was the first year he won at the cake walk. Matt was even more excited where it was a black forest cake ;) Saturday afternoon mom and I headed to the coop to do a little shopping and then we had a nice family dinner with Swiss Chalet. We were all kind of zonked so the Jesse Stone tv movie hit the spot.

Sunday we headed off to church where it was the first Sunday in advent. Sunday school was interesting, about 5 minutes before the kids were scheduled to come back one girl came back in wailing, poor dear. When Alex returned he said he didn't really like Sunday school as one kid said 'Santa isn't real'. I reminded him that he was a good boy and asked him if there was ever a year that didn't have presents under the tree and he seemed satisfied with the notion that Santa only comes to good boys and girls and children that make others cry wouldn't be on the list. It's the best I could do in the middle of the service. I know that some day he'll figure it out on his own and probably carry it along with him like I did one day seeking out the confirmation that the physical entity doesn't exist but still have the spirit of giving. I know there are more and more 'realists' in the world that don't start the Santa tradition for a number of reasons (don't believe in lying to their children, or want them to be thankful to the right people). However, imo, kids have to grow up way too fast as it is and deserve that magic. It's nice when people say thank you and are grateful but it's not in the spirit of giving to be looking for it or looking to have it reciprocated. The best thing about Christmas morning for me now is watching Alex get super excited about a present, and the icing on the cake is hearing him call out his thanks to Santa, even though he is no where to be seen.

Mom and I checked out an open house in the afternoon and then did a little bit of shopping. Apparently alot of boys size 6x-7 are getting pj's for Christmas as they were pretty hard to find ;) I also picked up my two Christmas movies I budgetted in for this year, a 'Muppet Christmas Carol' to replace my very worn out VHS and Home Alone 2 where Alex loves the first one. After supper last nigth Alex and I watched that until bedtime and our sides hurt from laughing so much, surprising after his new obsession with Shrek the Halls ;) Needless to say I'm really enjoying being 'done' all of the preparation for Christmas and now just sitting back and enjoying the show (even it it means a little less stitching that usual)

My Daemon

Movin' Right Along

Well this weekend's trip to attend a bowmaking and a centerpiece seminar was pretty fun. Mind you I could invest a whole lot of money in centerpiece making supplies...I could definitely use more tables to display them on first ;) Faith Ann and I also browsed over the hundreds of lovely ornaments and decorations. I settled on a set of three baking themed gingerbread bells, a gingerbread cook for my kitchen, a beautiful glass bon bon and two sparkly ornaments. Another highlight of the weekend? The discovery that the uptown dollar store now takes debit ;)

Sunday was relatively quiet. I started on batch two of the Christmas cookies, brought the non tree decorations upstairs and decorated as well as adding the remaining lights to the trees outside. Even the village made an appearance. I can't wait to light everything up Dec 1st :) Mind you I STILL cannot find the lights I bought 2 years ago to go around our front door. My husband thought we needed some colour so I got a garland set to intertwine with some greenery at an after christmas sale. I haven't seen them in two years of searching! Oye.

Apparently I was a bit pooped from the whole weekend and after about a half hour of listening to nostalgic Christmas tunes and sleepily looking at the decorations Monday night I retired at 8pm.

Tuesday, Faith Ann and I braved the crowds at the annual Coop sale, mind you everywhere you turned there was someone you knew. We even came across Eleni and her DH while we cut through the parking lot. Flats of coke for 3.99, Butter 1.20 off, family blocks of cheese 3.**, how could I pass up that? I normally do my groceries either in advance of that week or elsewhere but I usually pick the best sale items and stock up++. Mind you it wasn't truly that bad, sure it was hard to navigate a cart at times but the main line was moving quite quickly I thought. We were express though. I try to get there before they let the reciprocal shoppers in myself ;)
Again no stitching that night either. I've been attempting to be disciplined and actually sew up my stockings before starting something new. I'm really hoping that I can get it done this weekend when I have a 5 day holiday (Alex is off of school). Speaking of stitching, this was the first official year I put stitching stuff on my christmas list, yippee ;)

Girlie Time

This week has been awesome for getting in some time with friends. Sometimes its just what a girl needs. It's been nice to have someone to walk with at lunch since Eleni moved down the hill. Thursday we checked out the local Christmas craft fair and here's what I got (the first two are for my favorite little boy scout Alex :))

Tomorrow Faith Ann and I and maybe my ta ta tassle twin are heading over to Green Village for a bow making seminar, maybe a centerpiece one, some ice cream and some tax free shopping in their gorgeous ornament section ;). The seminar could suck but it's free and getting together with friends is just good for the soul :)

My pictures of the craft room didn't turn out (some weird ghosting issue) and I need to do a couple touch ups but the initial reno pics are coming soon ;) And just in case you might think I haven't had time to stitch this week here's my latest finish :P

It'll probably be my last finish for another week or two. I'm attempting to be a good girl and finish sewing the stockings, and y'all know how much I love to sew :P

Primed!

Well, almost done. Today was the first day I ever picked up a roller and I must say I'm pretty happy with my craft room so far. For anyone that has seen or heard me b*tch about my craft room they'd know that the 'wonderful' people that lived here before were hockey fans (a sport I abhore...hey, if you're a basketball player you'd understand why). They 'tastfully', right, took red and blue paint and had cheap looking hand painted Go Habs Go! He Shoots He Scores, I love Hockey *vomit* in red and blue all over the room. Do you know how hard it is to prime over 'custom' jobs, oye! Anyway, the offensive words are getting closer to white but I've had to resand a couple of places that the custom jobs paint was a bit thicker and after a couple coats of primer I could see it raised. Depending on how I feel tomorrow I may just head to Home Depot and pick up the paint I picked out Shortgrass Prairie by Behr.

While I wait for the primary coat of primer to dry and the spots I ended up sanding and in one case patching to dry again I'll be taking advantage of the gorgeous weather and putting out our Christmas lights. As for stitching it's been kind of on the backburner while I prepare the glorious room dedicated to crafting ;) It had to be done some time and the three day weekend seemed like an excellent opportunity :)

A Weekend of Happy Dancing

Well, I did spend a good chunk of Saturday shopping ;) However we were without power for a good 7+ hours today thanks to catching the tail end of Hurricane Noel so there was plenty of stitching on top of checking out the 'Bee Movie' to go somewhere with food and heat.

So here's what's been accomplished bringing this year's total to 29:

The Decorator ~ Full Circle Designs JCS Ornament Issue 07

Three Kings ~ Imaginating

Where Does The Time Go?

It feels like eons since I blogged. It really sucks that I no longer have access at break time or lunch to do it but oh well. Life has been hectic. Alex is a Halloween freak! So much that he got in a spot of trouble with his teacher this week that was rather stressful. It's hard to assure someone else that he hasn't joined some satanic cult or something and will be back to himself by monday once the holiday is out of his system. I had some nice phone messages and e-mails expecting me to drop my job and head straight to the school. I've always stood behind the school and whatever means they see fit to discipline the children there, although I do wish they'd get the big picture and take care of ALL parties involved. Anyway, I have medical tests coming up, medical and dental appointments so really my luxury to leave the office just isn't there. I've delegated the task to Matt.

Halloween was fun, although exhausting. I think we trick or treated on and off for just under 3 hours. The first 2'ish were with Alex's friends so there was the mob mentality going on. Otherwise we'd have been home after the first time his costume caused a wedgie ;) Then we had to save face with our neighbors and visit them, I think they buy candy just for him as he always gets an "I was wondering when you'd get here" when he shows up at the door. Although this had me lugging stuff in the cold for all of this time and I passed out pretty much when Alex did. The next day I was exhausted and promptly went to bed at nine only to wake up at 5:30 with some extreme vertigo which I had never experienced before. Needless to say in was quite unnerving and an unneeded addition to my other symptoms that require the tests at the hospital and such. Sigh

However, I did get some stitching in somewhere over the last couple of days. I finished The Decorator today at lunch from this years JCS and will take a picture as soon as I get it ironed. That should give me enough time this weekend to finish off three kings as well. :)

So speaking of pictures, here's some of my little trick or treater (on various nights)

Caveman for the beaver party

A warlock for our sole trick or treaters

Our haunted crayon

Photo Status

Things have been a little hectic with Halloween quickly approaching. Here's some pictures to tide you over until I can write something decent ;)

Progress on Three Kings
Wedding Row back from the framers
and a finish... Robert's Stocking

The Golden Compass

I can hardly wait!!

Picture Day

Hmmm...here's Alex's school pic proofs. I kind of like the smirk myself

What Jane Austen Heroine are you?

:: L I Z Z Y ::

You are Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! You are intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. You have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find yourself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of silliness. You take great pleasure in many things. You are proficient in nearly all of them, though you will never own it. Lest you seem too perfect, you have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves you very ill indeed.

Take the Quiz here!