Whistle While You Work

So I've rejoined the land of the working, sigh... I'd planned on coming back Monday but was completely wiped out, jaw was fine, other parts of me were not happy with the drugs dumped in my system though.

We had a wonderful weekend at mom and dad's. Friday we took it easy and simply went to market for lunch where Alex got his Kurt's sausage fix (and snuck a little of dad's schnitzel). Saturday dad picked up a case of lobsters. My son who's normally not afraid of anything was not touching them for more than 2 seconds with the tip of his finger. They were soooo yummy! Of course he had a bad sinus headache all day so that might have contributed it. At noon he was at his completely wound up stage and not accepting that if he just rested he'd feel better. Thankfully he did pass out from exhaustion eventually and was up an hour later a bright as a button all over again.

Sunday I packed the van in the morning, worked a little bit more on the Mirabilia 2006 Cherub and then we all headed to lunch at Pizza Delight. The local restaurant had been renovated and Alex LOVED the grill your own garlic bread gimmick, although by the end of the meal we were all ready to grill our waitress. The donairs were awesome as usual though ;)

The drive home was stressful yet again. We got stuck behind some morons that insisted on travelling slowly together but tailgating so you weren't quite sure if car 2 was going to pull out and pass, meanwhile I'm stuck behind them in a vehicle that should only be permitted to pass one vehicle at at time when not on a 4 lane with some jerk driving an 18 wheeler and right on my tail for 45 minutes. When did dumb and dumber leave the highway, right before the actual dedicated passing lane. I could have screamed! I was not feeling too hot already and the tense drive had me completely wiped.

Yesterday I recoup'd at home. I stitched a little bit more on my cherub and hung out with Alex, doing a little unpacking here and there but nothing that required alot of effort. At 6 Alex was ready for openning night of vacation bible school. He was a bit intrepid at first but when he saw the setup (kind of Indiana Jones themed) and the minister's daughter had asked him to sit with him (they're beaver buddies) he was off to the races. He was soo animated when I picked him up which was very nice to see, and bonus, it was at the church just around the corner from the house. He's there all week so Matt and I will actually have a whole 10 hours of the house to ourselves. Oh my!! ;)

Back from the Oral Surgeon

So, I'm back from the Oral Surgeon none too worse for the wear. I had my lower wisdom teeth out 5 years ago and finally decided to go back and get the upper ones out. They radiate with pain whenever I have a migraine and I'm sick and tired of second guessing if it's a sign they're rotten and they had descended so much that part of the root was exposed on one with was fun at times. Of course I read up on the possible complications and was pretty blah about the fact that they were much more difficult to extract after 25 when the bone thickens, I'm just shy of 30 and I was feeling old. Then there was the whole possibility of a perferated sinus, like I need any other problems with that.

So we arrived on time. I won't go see the idiot who holds a license in our city, I know over a dozen people that have been to him and he's rough and has the manner of a frozen tv dinner filled with grissle (I had the pleasure of listening to him after Matt's surgery a couple months ago and he can take that as sealing his fate). Plus he's known to push laughing gas instead of going under, and he only handles general anesthetic, my surgeon 2.75 hours away does conscious sedation a nice memory free happy ground. We arrived there on time and it took forever to do the paper work, sigh...I'm an anxious person when I'm NOT having surgery my BP was through the roof if I had to guess. Then it was back logged so I got in an hour and a half later, sigh... NOT fun considering I'd been fasting for over 12 hours because getting up at 5 wouldn't have been fun, 6:30 would have been doable had I'd have known. So I got plenty of stitching done in the waiting area but only brought in one colour as I wasn't expecting to be there THAT long. The nurse was nice, I explained my concerns as I did have two memories from the last surgery, flashes really but still I wanted to be good and out. So she topped off my IV with some Valium and I had no recollection of anything, although I must be hard to put out. It usually takes 30 seconds and I had counted past that++ waiting. I woke up very alert considering the times I had my flashes I was on less and was dopey well into the evening. The teeth were a very easy extraction and didn't even need stitches, woo hoo ( again memories of hauling out the stitch that wouldn't dessolve, yuck). We headed to Tim's and I had the challenge of trying to drink an iced cappuccino with no straw with a frozen upper lip fun!

So now it's past midnight, my only nap was one to take advantage of the day off of work ;) I do feel weaker than normal and am going to take it easy until at least Sunday, maybe Monday (the last time my teeth were fine by Monday but my tummy was not on the high doeses of ibuprofen and I do NOT respond to Tylenol). So far no swelling so that's great, not that I had much last time considering they were completely sideways. Apparently after 5 years they now hand out drugs for swelling, great! It's also helped my asthma cough I've been dealing with, bonus! *note to self bring up the fact my inhaler prescription is out next time I see the doctor*. So far so good, thanks for all of the well wishes guys :)

Twenty, Twenty One, Twenty Two, Twenty Three and Twenty Four

Ok...so I've been a little busy... I apologize for any crooked pics but it's late

Happy Hoppers ~ Lizzie KateBeware of Cat! ~ Lizzie Kate
Family Medley ~ Heart In Hand

Joyful Christmas ~ Shepherd's Bush

Tina's Stocking ~ Shepherd's Bush

For Lack Of A Better Title: Tuesday

Day two at the office, blah...

Ok, maybe it shouldn't be too blah considering it's only a 3 day work week for me (there's gotta be at least one benefit from having two wisdom teeth removed) but still. Work that was supposed to be done by others so I could continue did not appear on my desk while I was away so it makes the days a bit long and said people are on vacation this week.

As for stitching I finished the cross stitching the letters in on SB's Joyful Christmas last night during Doctor Who. A couple of weeks ago Alex was tidying up his mess when it came on and was instantly sold on the show so that's our one family show. Last night he didn't want to take a shower between 7:30 and 8 for fear he would miss the beginning. We don't watch alot of tv so having one of the shows that we actually watch being watched by all members of the family is kind of nice.

As for pictures they should be up later this week when Joyful Christmas is complete. I need to do some mass ironing and don't want to take the pics before then. Fear not Cathey...I'm not fibbing on my numbers :P

Back for Now :)

I'm back from vacation, sigh...

The week just never seems long enough, vacation is gone and it's almost the middle of the last month of summer, depressing++

We had a wonderful week away from the hustle and bustle of our life here in the city. We didn't HAVE to be anywhere or HAVE to do anything and that was pure bliss. We commenced the week by driving up in a blistering wind storm, apparently there were some F1 tornados along the way but we missed them. The drive was tiring, between one set of towns we had an antique car in front of us and a beat up truck travelling with it slowly, the passing lanes are short and the mini van is a pig, needless to say I was relieved when they pulled off. Then we had some little old ladies haul out in front of us and then drove 30 through town...well until I laid on the horn and motioned it was a 50 zone and there was a back log of about 20 cars. Finally we got rid of the slow people (and I'm not a fast driver) got ready to set the cruise control and the heaven's openned up, sigh.

The rest of the week was full of activities, but at a leisurely pace :) We got a tour of our friend's new house (I'm sooo snagging his girlfriend to arrange my furniture), the boys went golfing, mom and I went to check out the nursery close outs, I saw a grand total of 4 movies (Bourne Ultimatum, Underdog-which was actually a cute family film, The Simpsons and Daddy Day Camp), went to the local beach, played some frisbee, swam in the pool a couple of times, checked out the Napan Agricultural fair and of course, had our girls day in Moncton. I think I was pretty good, considering I don't really do alot of shopping anymore. I picked up some back to school supplies at Costco, found a pair of jeans I actually liked at Roots, was very good in Michael's considering I only picked up one little figurine for my christmas village, and did a little bending at the LNS. I've had the urge to do a big piece for quite awhile now and when I walked in there was Mirabilia's Lady of the Mist sitting there on a beautiful lavender. I was sold when Charlotte told me it was in a frame available from Michael's for 30 something as really, that's part of the reason Guardian Angel is still a WIP, the wiggle room for framing that would do the piece justice is fleeting. So I ended up walking out with it kitted, one of Shannon's Heart In Hand 'pooping birds', a new piece of fabric for Three Kings with 3 skeins of the same dyelot and the fabric for Giggles In The Snow (girl). That was my one little exception I'd made in the 50 project challenge woo hoo.

Stitching wise it was a very productive week. I attached the button to LK's Happy Hoppers so it's officially done now, LK's Beware of Cat is now also complete as is Heart In Hand's Family Medley and SB's Tina's Stocking. I stitched SB's Joyful Christmas as far as possible until my Sheep's Silk arrived (which was waiting for me when I walked back in the door) and got a very productive start on my FREX entry for the year Mirabilia's 2006 Cherub. As for reading I only openned my book the two times I went to the gym, however Janet Evanovich's Two for the Dough is now complete, bring on book three :)

Celebration

Wow, wasn't expecting to see this yet when I drove in to pick Alex up from daycare :)

New House

Two More Sleeps!

Yay, only 2 more sleeps until we hit the road for vacation! I can't wait!!! My head is already in permanent vacation mode. Yesterday did not help, we had a 'team building' golfing activity in the afternoon (goodness only knows where that's leading, I'm a bit skeptic on the motives). I had fun. As long as it's a scramble I'm up for golf, I don't want to know what my score would be normally. After golf I rushed over to pick up Alex as golfing got out an hour later than expected, I felt really bad about being late. Alex and I gassed up the van for Friday (sure today they imply gas prices are going down), picked up some buns and bbq'd :) After that it was off to the lake. I'd picked up some Diego goggles on clearance and Alex wanted to try them out. We ended up swimming until 8:30. Matt arrived home shortly after we did with his special edition 300 DVD. I was too chicken to see it in the theatres incase it was gory. So after I got the VCR set to tape the finale of Shaq's big challenge and my stitching in order we were watching away. :)

The movie actually turned out pretty good. I think I was annoying Matt having my Ott light on though. Normally it's not an issue but on dark movies the reflection is just out of place. Tonight I'm going to mow our front lawn if the weather permits, maybe even the back too if I can convince Matt to take Alex to the lake, otherwise the back will have to wait. I'm not giving up prime swimming weather for the boy for a lawn, but if someone else can take him I'll mow ;) Hopefully after a nice shower I'll be able to start packing for the weekend and get a little bit of stitching in ;)

Wet and Wild Fun!

Well, it's been a hot weekend that's for certain! Friday night we had a quick dinner and headed to Starlite lake to cool off. It was Matt's first trip to the lake and even he was in splashing around with his water babies ;) We didn't stay as long as we normally would have as we had early morning plans that we hadn't told Alex about. When we returned home it was stiffling on the main level so we headed downstairs where it was pure bliss. Thankfully we have a family room (albeit with a tiny tv) and two bedrooms, so we were camped out down there. I picked up my stitching while Matt introduced me to Big Trouble in Little China, I just wasn't into it. Stitching a boring border on LK's Happy Hoppers was much more exciting! :P We retired as soon as it finished and hoped and prayed the weather cooperated with our little surprise.

We woke up to sunshine Saturday, sooner than we were expecting as one of the alarms wasn't shut off upstairs, woops. I made some sandwiches and proceeded to wake Alex up and tell him we were headed to Magic Mountain in Moncton. I don't think a shot of adrenaline would have gotten him out of bed nearly as fast. I'd packed the night before so it was breakfast and out the door for us.

Alex packed and strapped in as we backed down the driveway.

We arrived in Moncton at about 10:30 and the place was already hopping. We groaned at the sight of the line ups at the enterance but then spotted the express line for those who had bought their tickets online...like me :) We quickly rented a locker and a double inner tube and were off for some fun. Alex's first stop, The Tornado! It's an inner tube waterslide that you need to be over 48 inches tall to ride, and finally this summer he was. When we reached the end of the slide it something straight out of The Incredibles, Alex was pumping his fists, hopping up and down yelling "That was totally wicked". Forget the other slides that's where he was going for the rest of the day. Matt and I got on one of the 'boring' slides each but the line ups were long. We also did the Pro Racer (head first, eek), myself twice. Alex and I did the Lazy River while Matt read and we spent alot of our time in the wave pool which Alex enjoyed even more now that he can swim. Alex tried two slides that Matt and I just have no luck with, I think they'd be fun slides if you were only 100 lbs, anymore and it's just way too much momentum for us. Alex loved them, he even did the Bullet which I equate to the beginner's Kamikazee, one of the huge straight drop slides. Been there, done that, have the wedgie to prove it :P

Crowds!

The Best Wave in the Wave Pool

From Left To Right: The Tornadoe, The Pro Racer and the Kamikazee

At 4 we decided to call it a day. We weren't waiting around an hour to get on slides and we'd been thoroughly water logged in the wave pool. So we cleaned up and headed to Montana's :) It was really yummy! Alex loved the dessert best of all!

We made a couple stops to some shops around town while our food digested and ran into quite a few people from home who also made Moncton their choice to spend the weekend. ;) After picking up a few things we were back on the road and headed for home. We lugged Alex in and put him to bed fully clothed, lugged everything else in and collapsed ourselves after a totally awesome adventure :)

Satellite Maps are Cool

Just an idea of how close we are to our subdivision's lake (we are the little black square). Close enough to go but far enough away not to be bothered by anyone that goes (and easily forget about it sometimes).

A Boogie Board is a shorter, wider surf board like apparatus. It's generally used for body boarding, the same thing as surfing but laying down. Right now the most we're doing is towing Alex around on it and shoving him off into the lake (he always comes back though ;)) I'm looking forward to trying it out at my parents house where they get some waves from boats that go by or in the Northumberland Strait where you get some real waves. No Honolulu or anything but enough to play in :)

Got Thread?

Woo Hoo! Did you hear my squeals??? My threads finally came in for the 4.5 WIPS (4 of which have been completely held up waiting for said threads) Of course I'd promised Alex to take him to the lake in our subdivision for a swim after supper so all projects had to wait. We've been at the house 4 summers now and Wednesday was the first day we'd actually remembered that there was a lake in our subdivision for our use. It's deeper in the subdivision than our house so we just don't think about it. Much better than treking all the way across the river that's for certain! It's a man made lake as well so I don't think there are any fishies present to scare the bejumpin's out of me either. I bought a boogie board for Alex earlier in the week and he had a blast on it. This time I brought my bathing suit instead of just wading into my shorts. Of course the day that I'm PMS'd + swollen from the heat (ack...I had preggie feet) and not feeling all that fit don't I run into people I know when I'm in a bathing suit, horror! We didn't leave the lake until the sun started going down. We came back all refreshed and poor Matt was all sweaty finishing off Harry Potter inside the house. :P

I played with my new threads for awhile and absolutely love the colours. Where I didn't have much time to stitch before bed I picked up the piece that had the least amount of stitching required and should be able to finish that up at lunch today (unless it's not humid enough outside to impede my walking), then maybe I can finish up Heart In Hand's Family Medley :) Tomorrow I think we're packing up early and heading to Magic Mountain in Moncton for some fun on the waterslides :) I really hope the weather cooperates. Last year Alex was just under the 4ft requirement for one of the funnest slides there, a tube slide (although he could go down the one on the foam crazy carpet head first...yeah that makes sense) and he was determined this year to grow enough to go on the Tornado so getting there this year has been a must, just trying to coordinate a weekend that is nice, we're all in town and no one has been on call has been a challenge, sigh... So here's hoping the weather's nice tomorrow!!!

Do I Speak Greek?

I'm beginning to think so. At first it was fun keeping score at how often Quizno's would attempt to put tomatoes on my sub instead of the onions I asked for. We started to keep count, and also try the other outlets around town...well we stopped counting at 30 mess ups. If I didn't love their turky bacon guacamole so much I'd gladly cut my ties but right now they are the only place that serve anything with avacado :( Today it was "tomatoes and onions on that", "could I have onions and black olives please" "sure" 10 seconds later "was that tomatoes or onions" "onions" "so that was onions that you didn't want on it" "no I want onions and black olives on it" /le sigh

Book Worm

Well, my book pick up timing and my media boycott for the weekend let me read The Deathly Hallows without some mean spirited ninny ruining it for me (or even just some person talking in passing, had that happen with a movie we'd been planning to rent once). I decided to stay home eventhough Matt's golfing buddies were staying there for the night on Friday instead of going to pick up my book at midnight. With my luck I'd have had someone leak some internet spoiler or be person 50 in line and have person 8 flip to the back of a book and say "Harry..........". 8 am worked much better for me, there were about a dozen parents either the same age or older than me, otherwise you'd have probably seen me yelling 'Crucio' to anyone that leaked ;) I was happy to see I was right on pretty much everything Matt and I had debated about the ending and will only say that'll be a VERY long time before I ever let Alex read that book. I'm used to reading adult mysteries so anything with a death total over one is high by my standards.

Saturday however was mostly spent doing inventory at the mini home. If I wasn't decluttering minded before I DEFINITELY am now. Not that there was clutter but I guess you don't realize how much you have until you have to throw it away. It was really difficult seeing all of the posessions being dragged out one by one. Miraculously one bag of baby keepsakes survived, almost all of the pictures survived, scrapbooks survived (I love Creative Memories but their protection system fails when there is water involved, three sided page protectors are DEFINITELY the way to go). I managed to salvage one of the ballerina's I'd stitched for the girls years ago, I even got the soot out of it :) Now to remount it! I don't think I've ever needed a bath as badly as I did when I got home. I washed my hands, grabbed my housecoat, peeled my clothes directly into the washer then soaked in every pretty smelling bath product I own. Now, some observations that hopefully you'll never need...

• Photos really are best stored in those photo boxes, those things were as dry as a bone coming out, albums got humid (although the pictures could be saved, just ALOT more work). Plastic systems melt even when not on fire and well, chances is if your storage system is actually on fire you're going to lose them anyway.
• Three sided page protectors for scrapbooking is a must for scrapbooking!
• I know they're but ugly but wire closet shelves (and even shoe racks at the bottom) are THE way to go. A week later everything was still damp from the hoses, drawing the water away from your possessions ups their chances of being salvageable
• Close your doors! I know we've probaby all heard it before, but you could be like me and live with a 'who wants to return from vacation to a stuffy house'. The center bedroom's occupant was out with friends at the time of the fire and had her door closed. The center room really only had smoke/water damage. I'm not going to say it was pretty but it was in much better shape than the living room that was at the opposite end of the house from the start of the fire. Most of the salvageable belongings came from that room.
• Do inventory and keep your records off site. Update them at birthday's and holidays. This will save you alot of heartache later
• Videotape your house at least once a year. New Years Day is a great
  time to do this, if you're like us and put your presents away that day
  

Ok, So Being Only 14% Classy Isn't So Bad...

Your Score: Katharine Hepburn

You scored 23% grit, 33% wit, 42% flair, and 14% class!

You are the fabulously quirky and independent woman of character. You go your own way, follow your own drummer, take your own lead. You stand head and shoulders next to your partner, but you are perfectly willing and able to stand alone. Others might be more classically beautiful or conventionally woman-like, but you possess a more fundamental common sense and off-kilter charm, making interesting men fall at your feet. You can pick them up or leave them there as you see fit. You share the screen with the likes of Spencer Tracy and Cary Grant, thinking men who like strong women.

Link: The Classic Dames Test written by gidgetgoes on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Rise of the Phoenix

Seeing as I had no daycare today I decided to make myself useful. First off, a call to Harvey's studio. The girls had yearbooks from this year and miraculously, the masters are still on file and are being reprinted for them. Second, a trip around to a couple of stores to make a 'pick me up' basket. We managed to find some really good sales and picked up a Bratz doll, a Polly Pocket and a Littlest Pet Shop Digi pet for the girls (oh and a book), a book for Tracy's husband, some scrapbooking basics and yarn for crocheting for Tracy and a Kong-like thingie and a rawhide for the dog. It was one of those miracle trips where everything was on sale, oh and we found a nice wicker basket to put it in. We then headed down to the house and it was a media circus, sigh... Alot of the early groups were focussing on the lack of hydrants and not the needs of the family and by the time an outlet showed up trying to help everyone was burnt out. I had to choke back tears when we were looking at the damage from the outside. This was somewhere my son practically grew up, I think he may even have more hours logged in that house than here (we only moved into Casa Cote 3 years ago so yes...our child doesn't live in daycare). Seeing the house decimated in the back and all boarded up was just horrible. Although somehow the pug flag that was mounted on the corner of the house was surprisingly untouched. There were alot of donations and it was just amazing to hear of the generosity of the community especially where there's no official organized outlet for donations. Stories like that warm my heart.

Alex has been wanting a playdate forever so it was the perfect time to have one of the girls over. We tried out a little diner near here for a quick lunch and then the kids moved through both levels of the house...what we bought the house in the first place for. The point of having a playroom was to actually have enough room for kids to play :) After that the kids hit the back yard and bounced back and forth between the swings and the pool...yay for mowing the lawn with a bagless mower. There was lots of skimming involved after but my goodness the sounds and squeals of delight made it all worth it. I was parked in my observant but not interfering spot on the deck making up an organized book to help sort everything out for insurance. I think I'll definitely be taking notes from this and video taping the contents of the house, taking inventory and backing up our important information offsite.

Tomorrow it's back to work for the day, I wonder if they missed me? ;)

Snow Fall

Snow Fall - Shepherd' Bush Kit

Holmes on Homes

If only he would come visit....I just had my own slightly less beefy version running around the house this weekend. My golly we got a tonne of stuff done, the ceiling fan that we brought from the apartment is finally installed in the computer room (which gets mighty toasty with two pcs) after 3 years, the doors got new hardward (again yay, after three years I can finally open the front door from the outside), the door stop for the bathroom was finally installed (again 3 years in the coming) and we installed a new shower head after my reliable super saver head I've had since university (not counting the years on that one) decided it would rather spray more water out the sides than at us. I did squeeze some stitching in here and there, I have Shepherd Bush's Joyful Christmas stitched as far as it can go until my threads come in. Now to figure out what else to work on unless I drop by the office and pick up the stocking that I forgot there Friday. As for our house, it's looking mighty good with some suble updates, however all of those we hold dear were not quite as lucky.

This morning I was having a really good dream when Matt came in with the phone for me. Seeing it was 8 o'clock and most people fear waking me I knew something was up. Tracy was on the other line and if I had any sleep left in my head it was quickly shocked out with 'the house burnt'. I've been pretty teary all day at the thought of such a wonderful family losing everything. Alex temporarily being displaced from daycare was one of the last things on my mind. Thankfully they're ok, the dog and hamster are safe but sadly the cats hid. I'd grown quite fond of the coon cat who loved to lay 'road kill' position when I'd show up or who'd jump his big old frame over the baby gate with the greatest of ease. Where my schedule doesn't allow for a dog and my furniture would never survive a cat I live vicariously through my friends. It just breaks my heart thinking of all that they've lost, all of the precious memories, momentos, toys for the kids and even crafting (scrapbooking) material. I know, low on the list of things but when I'm stressed that's my 'therapy' and I imagine it's the same. Matt and I thankfully have a bit of play with our schedules so I'm home with Alex tomorrow and more than likely Wednesday when we can hopefully come up with something thoughtful to do. Please remember them in your prayers. Katie

Looking Up

Well, last night I managed to retrieve the 'doubles' bag and had 4-5 814's in there. I brought them up and compared them with the 2 that I purchased under the OTT light. I had one that definitely worked...however in the excitement of confirming one the bad two got mixed in and somewhere in all of it a bad one hopped into my lunch time stitching bag :( So, I decided to shelve the project until after my vacation, surely my threads for three almost finished WIPs should be arriving any moment now. Thanks for all of the offers to look, I just might take some of you up on it when I unshelve the project after my August vacation. At that time I'm going to give my eyes a break looking at the skeins and just label a scrap piece of fabric and stitch some test strips. On the skein the difference is very subtle, even under the OTT light but stitch with it and whoa baby! Even DH could see it although he thought the only reason was because I mentioned the dyelot issue and thought I should shelve my anal retentiveness instead of the project ;)

So...once said package arrives I should be able to knock off Heart In Hand's Family Medley (2 colours), Lizzie Kate's Happy Hoppers Pocketbook Kit (1 colour) and Lizzie Kate's Beware of Cat Pocketbook (3 colours) in a matter of days. Really that should keep me occupied enough NOT to think about the DMC dyelot from 'h' 'e' 'double hockey sticks' right?

First Time for Everything

Well...Three Kings WAS progressing nicely. I ran out of thread last night and dropped by the sewing shop here, picked up two skeins of 814, stitched at lunch and it's the first time I've encountered a dyelot issue! I'm going to check the other store in town as there's just too much done to tear out, sigh...

Happy Hump Day

Did you ever have one of those weeks where no matter how much you slept, you were still sleepy. That's what this morning feels like! I've been getting my 8 hours of sleep a night but I think this dreary weather has zapped my batteries.

Last night I went for my 40 minute run at the gym. I had my Janet Evanovich book with me so it made the run go by quite quickly. On the way out I picked up some additional energy saver lights which should just about complete replacing the old ones in the house as they were on sale and dropped by the garden center scoring a new ruby wygelia bush on clearance. It's sad to see the garden centers closing up, especially so early in the summer but I'm more that happy to take some of their plants off of their hands ;)

Supper was another success. We've been trying out some new recipes now that we're back to consciously eating better. Sunday was To Stir With Love from Crazy Plates, my only substitution was bamboo shoots for the red pepper which was approved by the 7 year old critic. The following evening we had Square Dancin Salmon from Looneyspoons which was such a big hit with Alex he wanted it for breakfast. Last night was Honey Lime chicken from www.aimeesadventures.com, yum. I've decided to put Matt to task on days he works at home for prepping supper, why should I have to do all of the cooking when he's home earlier right?

After a nice family walk and settling Alex into bed we parked on the couch and I stitched away at Imaginatings Three Kings. It's actually working up quite fast. I don't know how all of those brave souls would stitch it in varigated thread, I think that would drive me batty ;) However I did run out of the DMC I was using so I'll have to pop into the overpriced sewing shop downtown on my break this morning. When on earth are we getting out Michaels???

Here There and Everywhere

That's what the last week has felt like. Hence the lack of blogging. Wednesday the boys got a clean bill of dental health from their dentist, picked up the insurance cheques, deposited them and had someone back into the Corolla, le sigh. Thankfully the boys are ok and the car is driveable, the passenger fender is kaput and prohibits the door from openning. Thankfully the car was off so the other driver is 100% at fault. However that hasn't meant that we don't hear from the collision people. They'd really like it not to go through insurance, which I can understand but Matt can't exactly catch the bus to Florenceville the three days it's going to take to replace it either. Repairs they're ok on where the boyfriend works at a collision center, rental not so hot. Oh well.

This weekend was a nice weekend at home. I almost said relaxing but when I look back at how much work we got done I can't really say that ;) Matt got caught up on laundry, the house got tidied up and the suitcases were put away. I snuck in some stitching time in between spurts and finished my Shepherd's Bush Snow Fall needleroll (well minus the finishing) Saturday evening during The Fountain (which I just can't bring myself to recommend no matter how much I like Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz). Saturday evening we had a nice family picnic (yum Quizno's) at the wading pool. Alex swam away until his teeth were chattering. I'm soo glad I invested (a whole 4 dollars) in the pirate pull over towel. It kept him warm and was nice and private for changing him into some dry clothes.

Sunday we did a little more cleaning, I did all of the prep for this week's healthy meals after groceries and then we had a family outing to see Transformers :) I was pleasantly surprised with the movie, I think my expectations were pretty low going in as the new cartoon series completely murders the concept. The highlight for Alex? The segment of The Simpson's Movie trailer that featured 'Spiderpig' good grief. He was still rolling around laughing way into the next trailer. Transformers has to be second on my list of favorite movies of 2007, Die Hard is going to be hard to beat at that ;) That just leaves Harry Potter, The Bourne Ultimatum and maybe The Simpson's Movie on my list....I think ;)

There's No Place Like Home

It's good to be home :)

Last week was a bit out of the norm. Matt had some extra vacation days where Christmas got a bit messed up so the boys headed up to the inlaws Wednesday morning. This equated to me having the house to myself for two days before I joined them Friday ;) Wednesday was really fun. Faith Ann, Cathey and I had a girls night out! Dinner at our favorite chinese restaurant in town (even with the AC on the fritz) and Johnny Depp, how can one go wrong :) Thursday mom joined me at my little oasis. We had a wonderful dinner with my brother at the Diplomat and then went house hunting, not for me of course ;)

I had taken Friday off as a flex day so mom and I headed down for a downtown for a wonderful breakfast at Cora's, my spinach and cheddar crepe was delicious. We then took a walk around downtown and checked out a couple of shops, mainly Think Play! and the Urban Almanac, which has all of the cool cooking and houseware gadgets. After a quick trip to the coop it was time to say goodbye and meet up with Matt and Alex.

It turned out to be a very stitchy weekend. I have my Heart In Hand Family Medley stitched as far as it can go until I can get the white for the sheep/sail/fence and the red for the boat, less than an hour of stitching once it arrives. I was also in a hurry on Friday and just grabbed one of my kits in case I finished the medley and ended up stitching Lizzie Kate's Happy Hoppers with the exception of the butternut squash required for the border. I guess that was my feeble attempt to try to catch up to Cathey ;)

I was soo tempted to beg to go to Presque Isle when I heard Faith Ann was going there but we forgot Alex's birth certificate at home :( I would have loved to have gone to Ruby Tuesdays and picked up some sugar free jello. Instead we went to the John Caldwell alumni breakfast Saturday morning and checked out Live Free or Die Hard Saturday night, which was hands down the best movie I've seen this year. Sunday consisted of the parade, which Faith Ann describes perfectly, a trip to the Grand Sault for my favorite normal pizza (can't beat Boston Pizza's Spicy Perogie or Desperado though) and a trip to a 'carnival' followed by a smidgeon of fireworks (I've been spoiled by the fireworks shows in the city).

Monday we packed up and headed home. The weather would go from sunny to down pour ever other kilometer which led to a little hyperventilating on my part. We had a quick lunch in Woodstock and then it was back to our big white box :) I unpacked a little and headed out to wash off my van. I checked the movie times and Ratatouille was starting at a very convenient time so Alex and I hopped in the van and checked that out, we loved it! The Pixar short at the beginning had Alex in stitches long into the openning credits ;) After we got home I got brave and decided to mow the front lawn, sure enough it started to rain about 60% through but I trudged along, sigh. After getting Alex to bed and having a nice warm shower I curled up and stitched til bedtime :)

We Interrupt Your Normal Stitching Gossip For This Important Message

District 18 School Bus Petition
http://www.district18schoolbus.com
Elementary school students in the Fredericton area have always been able to take a school bus to their after school day care, even if it is outside of their school zone.

What is the point of educating our daughters? District 18 has gone on long enough with their discriminating policies that make it almost impossible for women who persue a higher education to be a productive member of the work force. Ignoring the crucial link between their system and the afterschool programs is not just ignorant, it is discriminatory. When push comes to shove it's a disproportionate amount of women who end up picking up their children, how many employers are going to accept mother's leaving work every day at 2 pm?

Have they even assessed the environmental impact of that many parents driving unnessary kilometers? Is carpooling an option? I think you can take Ontario's legislation that children need to be in booster seats until the age of 9 as a firm no. Think of the logistics of shuffling carseats, such a move puts our children in grave danger.

Regardless of your location I ask that you please sign this petition and stand up for the children of Fredericton and say NO to discrimination. Please forward this to as many people as possible as together we can make a difference.

Katie

Nineteen!

Shepherd's Bush - Bethlehem Christmas

Another One Bites The Dust

Weekends are short enough, yard sales make them much shorter I've come go discover ;) Eleni and I spent alot of time Friday getting ready but I can't complain, got some exercise and some venting in and that always helps ;) I guess we're kind of spoiled in IT, it's hard to justify working for so much less an hour when you figure it all out but I'm still ahead. It's soo weird what people buy, things I expected to go quick were still there, things I was thinking I'd have to turf went. The rest I've been dividing and conquering, posting some online for sale, planning what charity to give what to, and what pawn shop type of stores to visit ;) The difference in the basement was already quite noticeable which was nice. Sure that meant with the extra space I could pull out more stuff to sort so it's no cleaner, but it's stuff I actually use.

It's been a week for big change in the house. We walked away from our 'together' hobby, WoW so I now suddenly have more stitching time. At the moment, it's just a summer break where we're going to be away alot and have alot of work to do around the house. So over the weekend I finished what I could of SB's Bethlehem Christamas until I see Cathey again and pick up my thread. Then I began to re-sort my stitching supplies and found my fabric for Heart In Hands Family Medley which is working up quickly.

This weekend also marked the back on the fitness track start. I got two Body Pump classes in, woo hoo! I also made some tentative movie plans where the boys will be out of town this week, what a change ;)

Stitchy Night!

Woot, last night was stitchy night. After the week I've been having I sure did appreciate it. I've also been off of going for the last three months due to a number of circumstances. It was fun to see some of the girls again, albeit a select few due to the summer wind down. It was nice to get caught up on all of the projects as well. I'm completely sold on Leera's choid of fabric for Imaginating's Three Kings, a gorgeous mushroom metallic with a rich plum thread. Now if only I could figure out where I'd have enough space to put another Christmas piece. I plugged away at SB's Bethlehem Christmas which I'm really liking, not to mention it's an uber fast stitch!

Faith Ann and I arrived home earlier than usual but still refreshed. I could stand to have some time home too ;) Matt and I popped in Mr and Mrs Smith and I finished the bottom charted section of my piece, now I just have from the Angel to the right to stitch, shouldn't be long at all :) I've gotta say, that's one of my all time favorite movies, there are just soo many lines from it that I begin to think the screenwriter had a webcam in our house or something. We didn't make it all the way until the end as it was getting late but had a good laugh in the meantime.

Lol, I woke up and couldn't believe it was sunny. I know most people wish for that but it's soccer night and with the flurry of activity associated with the last week of school a night off guilt free would be nice, and rain would provide that. It really was odd making Alex's last lunch of the school year this morning. They're having a teddy bear picnic (which I found out at the time I normally leave the house as the note was stuck in his lunch bag), so I had to find a teddy for him to bring, label it (I REALLY don't like the idea of sending toys to school) and find a towel, yay.

Bits and Bites

We had yet another busy weekend. This time around Matt and I golfed with my Division at work Friday evening. Thankfully it was a scramble or I'd still be there. Saturday we went to meet up with Faith Ann and her son to watch the dad's play softball. Poor Matt ended up injured :( The boys however had a blast and I think it was my final trip into Frank's for lunch before the new location opens. Needless to say it was a bit weird being in that neck of the woods and not detouring to my grandmother's house. Where Matt couldn't compute we decided to rend a movie, of course I walk in the door with the movie and Patriot Games was starting on tv. I stitched and watched that and then put our movie in, ack, subtitles. Not what one wants to see at 12:00!

Sunday was very low key. Alex and I picked up some KFC for Matt where he couldn't go out as planned. Poor guy. While we were at the mall I went into SportChek gung ho to bring home some new burgundy mary jane Crocs but came out with some chocolate and cotton candy colored Croc Cleo's. Mylanta they're comfy! Alex went to Toys R Us to spend his birthday gift card, a trip that HAD to happen after playing with one of of Faith Ann's little guy's neat toys ;) However the item must have been sold out as we scoured the place. Instead Alex got these cute little mini star wars figures and really, he plays with those a bit more and in the long term will get much more play value, I think the novelty of Venom's exploding head would wear thin quite rapidly. Matt had already received his gift of a new hat and shirt (which came with his 24 'man flowers')

Yesterday was the dreaded car inspection, which thankfully was pretty cheap considering I had an oil change too. I was ticked at myself though. When I had my tires changed another garage broke a bolt and were supposed to replace it free of charge. It wasn't in stock so they'd call me when it was in. I COMPLETELY forgot about this, or I should say anytime I would remember was when I was in the middle of a highway somewhere not near a phone. So that was 10$, grr... Nothing big in the grand scheme of things but still grrr.... Matt had rented A Night In The Museum as he hadn't seen it so I plugged away a little more at SB's Bethlehem Christmas before the nightly routine.

Today, is looking great. Alex and I have a lunch date ;) His school has a shine only family picnic and it's shining. Where else could I go for lunch with a drink and dessert with Alex for 4.00$ total ;) I have my stitching packed just in case. Tonight is going to be front lawn mowing though followed with some stability ball exercises. Yay...

I Hate Minor Hockey

There...I said it.

There was a time when I used to enjoy watching the sport but now the only excitement it generates is when one of the pro-Cdn teams makes it to the playoffs and it's more excitement in the revenue it generates, but again that's any sports team. Last night we had to sit through yet another meeting and yet another vote on supporting rinks that the city has already gone ahead and built and if we want to pay more for them. What a load of dog dung that was, we've already said no. So instead of listenning to that they offered up a couple more selected 'sports' with minimal user fees 10-15 dollar range to try to sell an extra tax so the hockey parents wouldn't have to fork out 600+ in user fees. I'm sorry, minor hockey imho is a sport for the priviledged and really I DON'T feel sorry for people that have to pay out. 300+ in registration and another 200-400 for gear, I'm supposed to want to help people with that when the amount they want to up my taxes is the registration for MY non hockey playing son's swimming lessons which are not covered? I have yet to figure out what is so great about hockey. Growing up I played basketball and when we were ranked at the top of the province and hockey a solid last we always had to do our own fundraising while they were given new uniforms. The school bought a new van, we got the old one and when we did get the new one after that team had it for a couple weeks, the old van was looking in better shape. I watch my sister in law with her two boys in the program, they're NEVER home and rarely together as a FAMILY. My nephew was about 8 for our wedding last May and they couldn't come to our wedding, on a long weekend, due to hockey....in May.... erm, yeah. Frankly I like sports that have a set season, not two seasons that equate to the whole year. Don't even get me started about the fact that the last two years there have been tournaments on the Easter weekend. Yeesh, I online game on top of stitching and all 'guild' activities were cancelled for the Christian holiday, online gamers are NOT the ones you'd expect to have more family values. Sure, there were the bleeding heart parents of hockey there, do I really feel sorry for you when your robbing my son of what he likes to do after you're forking out 500+ already. IMHO Hockey is a sport for a well to do one child family, the odd schedules, driving, $$ are just too much to juggle and still be strong family unit with any additional children. There are soo many other choices (football, soccer, swimming, basketball, martial arts, fencing, baseball, volleyball, raquetball, badminton, gofling, gymnastics, orientering, hiking, biking, kayaking, water polo, ultimate frisbee, rugby, cheerleading) that it just disgusts me how much money and time gets invested in a program that hopes to push out another Sydney Crosby. And with that I'll end my rant.

We had a really fun family weekend. Friday night we went to the Bucket Club and shot some mini golf with Alex, followed by a quick trip to the driving range. Saturday we lived outside, playing and reading books in the beautiful sunshine until it was time to get the boys to the barber for a haircut. Alex was beginning to look like a wooly mammoth. While they were getting their trims I found a replacement for my burning bush that died over the winter, wooo hoo. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get one near the same size as the one I was replacing but I managed to find one at Walmart. Sunday we headed to Yoho Lake for Alex's end of year Beaver party. It was soo much fun. Just the right amount of children were there and there was lots of outdoor play and the kids got to try out Kayaking. Alex enjoyed getting out for a swim and didn't want to leave, even if he was falling asleep the whole drive home ;)

I've been trying to decide on my next project. I think it'll be Bethlehem Christamas by SB. The buttons and fabric arrived from my one little stash purchase (25% off and a crazy Canadian dollar, I'm sticking to my no new patterns though until 50 are complete). I've been good, passing up the drawers I could use in my craft room as well as an elliptical for now so I thought I deserved a little 20 break :) Lately though I've been on a reading kick and it's just one of those activities that is not possible to do at the same time. I can now say I'm on the last of my borrowed Scrapbooking mysteries and then it'll be on to putting a dent in my own book collection (although with Sins and Needles coming out on paperback next month as well as the new HP my Sue Grafton's may have to wait just a little bit longer ;))

Presenting Bent Creek's Wedding Row

Eighteen

Wow, I actually finished something. It feels so few and far between lately. The end of May always seems to zoom right on by, mother's day/anniversary/anniversary of moving into the big white box/dad's birthday Alex's birthday. Needless to say, very busy. However, I didn't have much left to finish on my Bent Creek Wedding Row so I managed to squeeze it in this weekend while winding down from the party. I planned on posting the pic last night but a migraine had other plans *le sigh*.

The birthday party went very well. I found out that metallic candles do not blow out and that pinatas do take much longer to break open than one would believe. It was nice to finally have children over to the house, with a huge playroom and a huge backyard it sometimes just feels empty with only one little guy running around it. I can't say I didn't like hearing compliments on our yard either, it's the one thing that placates any issues we come across with the house. We had a wonderful dinner with our groomsmen and his family at Boston Pizza. Alex asked us about 5 times if we had reminded our server that it was his birthday, he wasn't disappointed when they came to sing to him. One of Mike's little guys is the same age and immediately asked if he could come for his birthday ;) At the end of the day the best part was Alex cuddling up and saying "Thanks for the best pirate party ever mom".

Due to the whirlwind of activities on Saturday we skipped our annual trek to the theatre and moved it to Sunday. It was soo hard walking past Johnny Depp and going to Shrek. It was funny but missed that 'spark' from the other two. The weather was absolutely gorgeous when we got home so Alex and I headed out for some reading, stitching and sleeping outside. How could one resist??

Pictures From The Miramichi Trip

Alex at the beach

Writing in the sand

Dad and Jazz

Arghhh

Could you hear me scream last night? The screws finally arrived for Alex's storage bins, I finish steps 1 and 2 of the installation, get to the third and final step and I have two left handed sides!!!! Let's just say Battat got a polite earful this morning about the quality control of their packaging and a new one is on it's way. So I have this beautiful half rack sitting in the middle of my living room at the moment, arghhh!

To top it off last night was busy and downright frustrating. It finally cleared up and I was uber excited to plant some seeds...only to discover the shed key was missing. I got the homework finished and started on the shelf and well...we already know that frustration. Then we rushed down to swimming and did a little more work on Bent Creek's Wedding Row, saw one of the parents that has yet to RSVP to Alex's party and didn't have a chance to ask her as she was on her cell, arghh...After that we drove out to Eleni's to unload the goodies we cleared out from mom and dad's and we both had a chance to vent for a bit ;) After that I took Alex home and put him to bed, I was just zonked. I think I was in bed by 10.

Of course, it's nice today and the lawn is huge yet again so I'll be missing pump and heading directly home to mow. After that I'm hoping to lace Alex's Lost Dragon Sampler. I finally got around to ordering the frame yesterday and figured I'd lace it and give it to him that way, it's not like Summer's Magic didn't sit there framed for a couple weeks before I got it up on the wall anyway ;)

One of THOSE Nights

Yesterday was one of those evenings that goes by in a blur! Alex had a meltdown when I picked him up, yay... We get home and I realize the meal I was going to prepare required rice, which wasn't cooked so I had to use some damage control skills and turn the cooked chicken into burritos (without an ounce of sour cream to spare). That was combined with juggling homework, unloading the dishwasher and getting someone ready for Beaver's. After dropping Alex and the carseat off at Beaver's I headed to Eleni's to pick up my charm pack for Harry's Stocking (ie:Alex's) and discussed the yard sale we decided to hold together. I can't wait to get rid of a bunch of stuff. Then it was off to do groceries. Wanna say busy night? I was pooped by the time I got home. I didn't even have the energy to put the charms on Alex's stocking :( Mom arrived shortly after nine from her night out so we stayed up and chatted for awhile, then I headed to bed. Wasn't really in the mood to get out of bed but someone was a little excited about the rare treat of picking up Eggo's last night. Although he completely dessecrated them with cheese whiz and pepper, claiming it was a delecacy, eww...

Mower Power

Omigosh, it worked, it worked! Never thought I'd be soo excited about a lawnmower running. Last year we had soo many problems with it and $$$ in repairs because a particular male household member did not winterize the beast (yes a properly cared for Honda will last 15 years) and where I didn't know the date he supposedly winterized it I was a bit afraid. So after work I was off and mowing my 1.25 acre lot by Katie power (thank GOD part of that is a small forrest). Although being a 15 year old machine it vibrates a bit more and my hands were too sore to stitch :( The critters have played more tricks on my gardens, breaking one of my lillies :( and planting my daffodils in STRANGE spots (Under a pine tree in the middle of the back yard??).

I've been pretty run down lately, Alex's schedule was busy enough without the culminated stress from school and all the year end stuff. Factor in planning a pirate party and some days I'm looking at setting up an IV line of caffeine! Although a weekend trip to the Miramichi should recharge those batteries ;)

We had a pretty exciting mail day yesterday! No it wasn't the screws finally arriving for the bins (after a pretty ticked off phone call I found out they were shipped yesterday), it was a really cool post card from overseas. Thanks!! Alex has claimed it as his own and now wants to go there for vacation, he can dream on ;) I'm going to have to scrap book the around the world cards, they're just too neat ;)

Some Completed Pics :)

Well, I was a little worn out the last week but am still kicking. Here are the latest finishes and framed pieces (oh and my pretty Mother's Day flowers ;))

Summer's Magic By Dragon Dreams

Girlfriends Forever by Janlynn

Harry's (Alex's) Stocking by Shepherd's Bush (until I get the charms on)

Mother's Day Flowers for me ;)

I'm Back!

Wow, long time no blog! Last week was kind of nuts. I came home one day to the bookshelf finally assembled for Alex's room but the rest of the room looked like a bomb had gone off. Apparently assembly was as far as my dear hubby goes towards organizing, even the old change table was still in there! I had started to tackle the closet too the day before so the room was a real mess! Somehow I managed to pull it together before anyone arrived at the house and his room looks more like a big boy room than the cluttered playroom look it had been going for. Miraculously to achieve this I hardly threw anything out, only a Hot Wheels garage we'd picked up at a yard sale went as I was sooo tired of fixing it.

Mom, Dad and Patrick arrived Friday evening. It was nice to have some company. We had a nice family trip to the market Saturday morning and visited my great aunt in the afternoon. Matt and I even got out to see Spiderman 3 Saturday night. Neither of us could remember the last time we'd been to an adult movie together besides maybe my birthday in September. Sunday was a day for farewell's, we had a nice dinner at the Snooty Fox and then took Patrick to the airport. Alex was really working mom and dad pretty hard to retire soon ;)

Did I stitch any this weekend? Maybe a bit at the airport. However I did finally frame Alex's Dragon Dream's Summer's Magic Dragons and thankfully that darn spot isn't noticeable (it passed Cathey's inspection) so what I must have been seeing was wrinklage or something. I promise I'll take a pic as soon as I recharge my batteries ;)

Seventeen

Hooray! Alex's stocking is now officially stitched! Now to wait for the charms to come in and I'll be finishing up a storm. My dear hubby's reaction to the stocking, 'it's too pink!' I'll admit, I was a bit surprised when what looked like a rich red in the picture turned out to be a deep mulberry shade but I'm sure once I put the deep green piping around it, it'll be balanced out. So, what's next? I should finish the wee little bit that's left on The Wedding Row but it's just not calling to me at the moment. I'd like to stitch SB's Joyful Christmas but I wouldn't be able to start that until I tidy up the craft room a bit more. So, it's looking like I'll start ornament 1 or 6 on my goal list for the year SB's Snow Fall Roll :) It will be a really quick stitch by the looks of it, plus needlerolls are just plain fun.

Last night was the usual hectic Monday, although with Matt still home recovering but feeling good enough for a short trip here or there I was able to squeeze in a run at the gym before I had to take Alex to swimming lessons. When we returned I started filling the bins so they'd be ready the second the stand is assembled. I'm impressed with just how much they actually hold. Between that and the book shelf I'm not going to recognize his room shortly ;)

Five Hundred Millilitres

Woot! The stocks of Faith Ann's craft room have saved me the agonizing wait for my threads to come in :) Sure, this is probably the only project I'll ever work on that requires the Perle cottons that aren't in the 'magical selection' that non stitching shops carry and it's not just one, it's 3. I figured if I was going to have to order supplies I'd pick up a couple buttons for some upcoming projects. Well, I panicked when one store claimed that Mill Hill was discontinuing carrying the Debbie Mumm buttons! I've had the fabric for 4 years for SB's Joyful Christmas and finally tracked down the thread for the lettering last year and it would be a sin not to be able to get the buttons. Thankfully when I called Because You Count they had them instock with only one substitution but the difference is hardly noticeable (and it's also a Debbie Mumm). Hooray! Depending on the speed/activities of the weekend I should be able to finish Alex's stocking now!

The 'Bring a Friend' night to Beaver's went well. I didn't realize that it wasn't at the church and it involved hiking. If it was just Alex I might have contemplated accepting the amount of supervision but his little friend is extremely allergic to peanuts so thank goodness I had my old sneakers in the trunk or trudging through the woods would not have been fun in my crocs! 20+ 5-7 year olds for 1.5 hours, well I was exhausted Wednesday night!

Thursday was quiet. Alex and I planted some additional seeds and bulbs to start inside. He's really quite taken with gardenning. One of these days I expect to find him outside digging up my back yard so he can 'live off the land' with a market booth in the front. He's very entrepreneurial. I simple trip to the fish and chips shop has him thinking he's going to go get a fishing license and sell fish to them ;)

I also learned yesterday that a 6 year old's bladder can hold 500ml! What a mommy moment that was! I arrived to pick him up and he went to take off for the bathroom, but it was occupied. I was thinking that I could make it to Tim Horton's but he was just dancing. Thankfully I a)went to the gym and brought bottled water and b) have tinted windows in the van. Imagine my shock as the bottle was filled! There's one for the books.

I planned on doing a walk yesterday at lunch but when I got across the pedway my trail was completely flooded! The water was stil rising and moving much too fast for me to skirt around it so I headed back to my desk to stitch :) I'd planned on working more on the stocking last night but I managed to leave the pattern book here at the office, le sigh...

On The Mend

Yay! All went smoothly with Matt's surgery. What a relief. I was prepared to pick up someone that looked like they'd been run over by a truck but he was as handsome as ever. Mind you checking out wasn't nearly as smooth. I was called to pick him up at noon and the doctor didn't get around to seeing him until 4. Thank goodness I brought my stitching! I almost stitched the entire train on Alex's stocking while I was waiting. I'll be soo glad when the 3 threads I require come in for that!

Tonight is bring a friend to beaver's night and Alex is bringing his friend Adam. I'm soo glad we found someone that was able to go with him. He has such a hard time making friends, let alone finding one with a schedule that'll fit that night it was a blessing when mom and dad visited last Beaver night (the other date for bring a friend night). Bullying has become a real BIG issue for Alex too and it breaks my heart. He is a very sweet young boy and to hear how much he's relentlessly picked on is just appauling. We've been working with his teacher to have it curbed but unfortunately she can't watch over him the entire school day although the lord knows she tries. It's hard to communicate to him that eventhough his frustrated responses are more than justified, they just make him an even bigger target. He is one of the highest achievers in his class yet he's frequently told he's stupid by two of his classmates and threatened with violence by the little manipulative wench that gave him the black eye. It took all of my control not to unleash a tirade when I saw her but again, I'm an adult and not a bully like she. Thank goodness we get rid of her come middle school...4 years and 2 months to go! Really, if I had help transporting him to afterschool care I would transfer him in a heartbeat.

If You Want Something Done Right...

Do it yourself. Yes, you'd think I'd have learned that by now but apparently I'm stubborn. Saturday I get up and tell Matt I'm going to head out to put the tires in the van as I have an 8am appointment, but he tells me he'll do it for me so I took a shower instead. Imagine my surprise when I get out 20 minutes before I'm supposed to be 10+minutes away and he's still in bed >:( I end up getting to the garage 5-10 minutes late and took a nice walk while they changed the tires. Thankfully I took the bottles back and noticed my back tire was really low. I was looking at it some more and noticed it was really worn looking too, weird as I just bought new all seasons. Then I looked at the tire a little more, it was the old tire that couldn't be patched that we hadn't thrown out!!! Thankfully the bottle depot wasn't far from the garage as by the time I explained what had happened and called Matt to get the proper tire brough immediately, it was flat.

Alex stayed with me and watched them change the tire. I had to stop at the grocery store for a couple of things on the way home and that led us past a display of seeds. Well one thing led to another so Alex and I ended up on a little side trip to get some bulbs and other planting supplies to start some indoors :) We went out for a family lunch instead of supper at Kingswood, pizza and an enormous playclimber made Alex's day. I got plenty of stitching in considering they misplaced our order. After that Matt was on the hunt for some building materials to make a stand for his old monitor and a trip to pick up his new LCD. Apparently he needs something 'to do' when he's on post-op leave. I found a cheap copy of The Never Ending Story while Matt was purchasing the monitor and picked it up. Sunday I sat down with my stitching, popped that in and watched Alex become completely fascinated with it. Sure, the effects definitely weren't as cool as when I'd seen it as a child but it was so neat to see him completely taken with it. :)
This week is totally out of whack. Matt's surgery is tomorrow and for the next week or so he's not going out in public so I've got alot of running around to do, yay!

On The Road Again

Well, I'm back on the road. Thankfully it wasn't the wiper motor, just something else stripped so the largest expense was replacing the two extremely long wiper blades. I think I can refit all of Matt's Corolla's blades for less than the cost of ONE of mine. Still, it was money that I wasn't looking to fork out, sigh. I did have a good chuckle on the way home though. To begin, the van I drive was my grandparents. My grandfather was a lover of all things Plymouth and was 'notorious' for getting annoyed with his wiper blades (or so he'd say ;)) when a car hit 2-3 years, would go to replace them and come home with a new car. So last night I'm driving home and the rain started to taper off just when I got to the second last intersection and the new ones started to squeak. I'm frigging with them trying to get a speed where they won't do it, curse to myself after spending $$ on them and look up and see Fairview and immediately giggled at the memory and how many times that had happened over the decades. Little things like that bring a smile to my face. At least I could explain this one to Matt, something I couldn't on Good Friday. I'm usually stressed out when holidays roll around, really besides Christmas I'm tired of travelling. I'm very much on the intimate but elegant side of things very much like my wedding reception. Every holiday I'd call my grandmother sometime around it where we weren't going to be home to wish her a happy something or other and usually to gripe about travelling and the ongoing issues. It was only on Good Friday that I realize that on every single holiday since we lost her there has been some force of nature to change our travel plans and cut extended stays short :) Torrential rain last Good Friday, Blizzard on Boxing Day, Blizzard on this Good Friday all days where we normally travel. I think everyone has a notion of what goes on in heaven but I find comfort in the notion that it's been pointed out upstairs that I could use some divine intervention ;)

Last night I was dog tired. Vehicle troubles really stress me out, it's really not the paying for it that does it. It's the impromptu nature and being stripped of my independance. I couldn't bring myself to cook so after retrieving Matt's car from the garage (yes his was there too...and lol, his parents car that's temporarily parked at our house should be...it was that kind of day) so we went to quizno's. After we got home, finished makeshift homework as Alex left his at school and put him to bed I got to work on his stocking again. This one is working up soo much faster than the previous two. Maybe it's the lack of random flowers and specks or checker board patterns in the main character, I don't know ;)

When It Rains...It Pours

Why Me? Seriously do I not deserve to have one gosh darn me moment? Case in point, van hits 70000km on the way home yesterday, get up this morning, driver's side windshield wiper NOT working. But instead of just staying not working it decides to half spring to life bending the good arm and breaking at least on of the blades. How on God's green earth I'm supposed to get it over to the shop in the middle of a noreaster that will not go away, I do not know. DH was still home and drove us, told me to call the shop and get back to him. 2 hours later I track him down, he'd taken his own car in the shop. In the mean time I'm thinking was he in an accident, did I knock the phone cord loose (due to 7 years of trying to get it through certain people's heads that there are inappropriate times to call the house we only ever have one ringer on on one of the cordless phones)? I was seriously debating booking a conference room and just sobbing. I've been working hard and cutting back debt and take one friggin weekend to spend a little money on me (50% of expenditures were 'family' deductibles) and this happens. People wonder why I don't venture far from my house. I'm a walking Friday the 13th! I should probably look into renting a large shop vac or something as you know it's going to flood or something at this rate!

Although the Me moment was pretty fantabulous! We literally shopped until we dropped Saturday, from openning until they kicked us out of Borders at 11! I've never been to a Joann's and maybe that's a good thing or I'd seriously take up quilting in a heartbeat. I'd also never been to an Olive Garden and my portabello ravioli was divine! I loved looking over all the foods we can't get up here in Canada and I came back a hero. I found Cookie Crisp, neon coloured scooby doo Mott's applsauce, Trix yogurt. Yep, Alex thought I was cool! I took advantage of older book prices (it was only recently that they updated the Cdn issue price to reflect the strong dollar). Although, I finally understand why gals on ther 123board are so hard on Walmart! I bought Alex Spider Spud in Brewer for close to 10$, walk into the one in Bangor not 12 hours later and there it is for 8.08$. I took my receipt to customer service and had this witchy person say she wouldn't give me the difference because it would mess up the store inventory? WTF? I don't know how many times I go to any of the ones here in NB and have no problem returning, getting a price matched, etc. Anyway, I had to retrieve him from the car, wait in line again, return him to another rude person who refused to override the price to mark it properly so I had to go back to the toy dept, get another one, wait in another line and have yet another rude person ring me through. Lovely. Did I ever get to 'take a walk in their shoes' during that experience! I even got some stitching in. I took a break from that last 60 minutes of the Wedding Row to start Alex's Stocking (SB's Harry's Stocking). I really love working on those stockings, they're just soo relaxing (and a break from Hand dyed threads is always welcome).

In The Meadow We Can Build A Snowman

I'm beginning to think I'll be taking off my snow tires on the 30th at this rate, yuck! More snow falling again today (hello, this time last year our flooding had subsided)
The Wedding Row is close to being finished, woo hoo! I don't plan on taking it with me to the states tomorrow. Instead I'll be wild and crazy and bring a new project! Last night was a bit more hectic than planned. Since Christmas I've been checking the Canadian Tire site for a sale on the bookshelf we wanted to get Alex, of course wouldn't I spot it two days before I'm supposed to go away and of course isn't the money for it in an account that that has a 'transfer period' (but heck interest is fab so do I normally care) so I did some fancy money shifting and picked up one. I dunno about Canadian Tire, love the store but I really don't like how they NEVER have their high quality sales items out on the shelf (or at least at our location). Anytime I've bought something that was a really good sale on an item over 100$ the only way I get it is by going to the customer service desk and requesting a rain cheque. Should people really need to do that?

What will I be up to tonight. Packing! Not that there's much to do, but I'm hoping I can locate my fabric so I can start Alex's stocking tomorrow. I find working on those SB stockings soo relaxing and I'm really looking forward so seeing all three of them together :)

Fingers crossed for better weather!

Tidbits

• Two proud mommy moments this weekend. One was seeing how excited Alex was when we got to show his extended cousins his Kid Canada DVD. The other, well each guest that would show up at his grandmother's party sent him darting to his room. He'd return with HIS stash of easter eggs and offered them to whomever came in.
• Matt's birthday dinner at Swiss Chalet went off without a hitch. Although there's no freebies Alex did convince them to sing to Matt, much to his alarm
• I finally caught Mean Girls on tv, oh my gosh that movie cracked me up. Even Matt watched the whole thing. So many highschool memories ;)
• I finished stitching the swirlies and blue letters on The Wedding Row, now if only that husband of mine would choose what form he'd like used for his name...

Happy Birthday Honey!

Happy Birthday Matt!

Love,

Your Redheads :)

Happy Easter

Well, we arrived safe and sound a day later than planned but that's A-Ok with me ;) After a freak snow storm Thursday we decided to play it safe with the flurries and stay home. This gave me some time to straighten up some stuff in the house finally (hooray) and do laundry. Not to pat my own back but I'm very good at keeping up...however there's one bottle neck in the system, my DH who's supposed to be putting the clothes away. It's felt like my son's underwear drawer has been the basket in the computer room for the last month. I'm not about to go buy another basket as we already have two and that doesn't seem to help so there does occasionally tend to be a back up because lugging clothes downstairs with no basket is just no fun I'm seriously thinking of installing some sort of chute at the bottom of that closet when we re floor as it is above the laundry room!

Anyway, we had a late start Saturday. Someone was mad at moi for not getting him up sooner than 9 and hadn't 'picked up the slack' from the chores that were supposed to be done the night before. Truthfully I didn't feel the slightest bit guilty, sure maybe it was a bit witchy but doing two big family parties in 24 hours needed my full energy load. The wedding party was nice. Pierre is one of my favorite relatives of DH. Although the 'reaction' to my nice chic tunic top was not what I was expecting! Sure I gained back about 8-10 of the lbs I lost for the wedding but I wasn't in the house for more than 2 minutes when I saw two of his cousins trying to figure out if I was pregnant. I wanted to run screaming and burn my top! Instead I did the next best thing, grabbed the nearest glass of champagne and downed it :P Alex had fun playing with everyone and was excited to tell them about his Kid Canada experience, although the 5 hour stay took it's toll on both of us. Was my reception and dance even that long?

Sunday started with it's usual egg hunting festivities. Alex was over the moon with his new Holey Soles and books. There was no whining about no toys, hooray! Although combine his cold with my lack of energy and I was a bad Christian and stayed home. With two parties and not being able to get out of the one today as it was at the inlaws something had to give. The party actually turned out small a) because everyone was tuckered out and b) I'm not the only one with the urge to get out of things. There was talk of Matt's brother coming home at Christmas and a wedding party then but I stuck to my guns, the only reason we were down was because I get Christmas. I hate being a bitch but that's been the plan for the last 7 years and until I can convince people to come to my house for Christmas or we have a second child IT STAYS!

I have been plugging away here and there on The Wedding Row (from hell)! I swear I've had to redo three letters so far, with sampler threads *collective sighs* It kind of kills the motivation. No doubt that it'll be a gorgeous addition to our house next month but it's not my kind of 'fun' stitching. Of course when I was packing do you think I could find the fabric for Alex's stocking? I'll probably trip over it the second I return but definitely there Saturday! I think the Easter Bunny was hiding it ;) Hope you're all having a wonderful Easter!!

No Regrets

Well, I can officially say I have no regrets about opting for some American shopping trips as opposed to going to spring retreat this year. The retreat letter came yesterday and although I figured due to the supreme court ruling there would be taxes involved, a 10$ bump in the camp fee made it pretty expensive to do twice a year. Cathey and I had mentioned that some of our patterns that we brought for sale had gone missing last year but by no means did we want or ask for sales of items to be ended. Last fall I was kind of in a financial rut and really, that was my meal ticket to go. My rut was my own doing combined with a load of bad luck and without meaning to sound snobby I work in the IT industry, generally finances aren't usually an issue for us so I feel sympathy for those who budget much more strictly than I do :( I don't know, spring doesn't get me as motivated to go either. I don't know if it's the mud, the fact that I find picking a decent exchange piece hard to do without a holiday or the shorter time frame in between them but it's not on my priority list. Mainly I look forward to farting around Moncton with Cathey and sure there's stitching but I'm just as happy showing up on her doorstep ;)

Last night was still a bit hectic. I'd made arrangements to pick up my epicure order after the gym before Matt changed his work at home day. The equaled only a 25 minute run at the gym, only a brief visit with Tracy :( and rushing Alex home for Beavers. Thank goodness Beavers is only a stone's through away from the house but after all that was said and done I got a load of laundry in, a little tidying done and was in bed thumbing through ornament issues of Just Cross Stitch by 10 :)

I did however make some progress on the Wedding Row yesterday at lunch and should have a chance to take a picture this evening :)

Welcome To The Family Circus

If life has to be one big juggling act, can I please leave the circus for smaller things?? ;) Last night by the time I left work I had soo many things thrown into an already chaotic attempt to achieve balance I couldn't think straight and skipped the gym. With school, activities, etc we aren't people that head to the mall every evening, in fact we're there maybe two times a month at the most and it's on weekends. So...throw in 'btw we're invited to a wedding party Saturday' and a phone call late Monday night from the MIL looking for software when DH has bumped up our departure date to Friday. Arghh!!! I already had beavers and groceries to juggle in there too. That was almost manageable, I could do that Wednesday but NO someone who shares in the driving Wednesday worked at home yesterday >:( Try as I might, it's still not possible to be at BOTH ends of the city at the same time. Then factor in the fact that DH won't pin down a return time nor will anyone divulge the travel plans for his parents I was pretty annoyed. I needed to know if I had to clean if they planned on staying over, etc. The prospect of having company two minutes after we return that are not my easy going parents just got the best of me. My MBTI didn't show that I was a strong J for nothing ;) Normally I'd have dug my heals in the ground about Sunday night but Easter Monday is DH's birthday (although the thought of taking two vehicles did cross my mind).

I really hope next year we can spend Easter at home, Alex is only going to believe in the big bunny for so long and I'd like to do our thing ONE year at our house at least. Unfortunately Easter sits on the other side of the scale from Christmas at my parents and after 30 years of spending Christmas with them I've gotten quite accustomed to it. I wonder if I can pay off my brothers to convince them to come to my place instead ;) Although maybe if the pace of Easter was slower I'd feel different. Christmas at mom and dad's is a big but intimate affair. Easter leaves us beat and over exposed. For the past several years there's been a party the day before with DH's huge family, this year the wedding party, but there have been baby showers, etc in the past. Alex is usually extremely wound up all evening as he's not used to this either and usually has high expectations of having his grandparents to himself so from the second we get home I'm on damage control. Wake up Sunday and it's the egg hunt...followed by breakfast, and a trip to church then kiss quiet time goodbye as it's prep for another party that'll end up going until 6-7. This year though I'm going to approach DH about getting some of that prep work done ahead of schedule when Alex is sleeping the night before and then pray it's sunny the next day so Alex and I can go play something outside.

Last night we did end up doing the shopping though. I picked up some Holey Soles for Alex from 'Le Bunny' to go with his book (trying to depart from the toys :)) but by the time we got home I was exhausted. I reclined in my chair, turned on the Ott Lite and stitched while House was on. I'm really hoping to finish the wedding piece by the end of the weekend! Next weekend is looking much more promising, our trip to Maine!! I can't wait. I've got two girlie weekends coming up and I'm really looking forward to them! I'm hoping to be at the point of bringing along Alex's stocking though for the first girlie weekend and maybe a mill hill kit for the car. I'd better get organized ;)

Here, There and Everywhere

Long time no blog! We've been here there and everywhere lately!! Thursday we went to Alex's parent teacher conference. This was a bit different as it was student led, Alex sure enjoyed showing off. Friday was quiet, I picked up groceries and prepared for mom and dad's visit. The house had been in complete disarray and I was hoping to get it somewhat back to normal!

Saturday was busy. Swimming was a disaster! It was report card day and the last activity they did was a 'fun' on where they got to fish something off the bottom of the pool with the lifeguard hook. There were only 3 in Alex's class and after the first 2 went they'd 'run out of time' and had to distribute report cards. Well Alex was pretty upset. I think it's the fastest I've ever flown to the change room to get him out of there and calm him down. Only after about 10 minutes did anyone come looking for him (I actually met him flying into the change room so that's really comforting...). While he finished getting dressed after his shower the 'instructor' came to explain what had happened. At this point I calmly but very pointedly said "So you think it's right to let 2 kids have fun and then there wasn't enough 'time' for the third and final child? That's somehow fair?....Seriously you had 3 report cards to give out and your class was pulled out of the pool before the classes of 5 and 6 kids." At about this point I set my jaw, stuck my nose in the air, took the report card and went back to Alex. Normally, I'd be having a serious conversation with him about having a tantrum but this time it was taking all of my control not to make a scene with 'Barbie' so I sided with him a little. I had to laugh at his report card, anything that wasn't checked was things he missed during the weeks he was exiled to the beginner/intermediate class that they never bothered to revisit and there were other spots that have both the introduction&mastery skills listed and the mastery would be checked, but the intro not. I think one was a swim on back x meters, that was checked but swim on back using either arms or legs for <= the meters of the first wasn't. I didn't want him to pass, he has some confidence rebuilding to do after those screwed up weeks but still. I guess it doesn't give with my empirical measuring processes :)

We went to Shur Gain after to blow off some steam and pick up an Easter treat for Jazz. That made Alex instantly feel better. It's amazing how generous he wants to be when it's my money ;) Mom, Dad and Jazz arrived around lunch and Alex managed to sneak dad downstairs to 'teach him how to play computer'. I think next time mommy's going to pull the power supply out a week before hand ;) Mom and I checked out the home improvement stores. We had a lovely family dinner at Boston Pizza and then retired back to the house. Dad offered to babysit but I couldn't find a movie date ;) So we ended up watching The Notebook instead. I love that movie!
Sunday we headed to the Sugar Bush at King's Landing which was alot of fun. We had a wonderful breakfast then a nice dessert of 'tire' afterwards. The smell of them boiling the sap over the flames was marvelous. We even got to go on a wagon ride which Alex thought was fun :) Before mom and dad left we showed him Steven's Easter present, a racoon puppet in his own garbage can (my brother's spent almost a year studying them for some parasite featured on House). Alex informed them if Steven didn't want it, he'd take it ;) Even I had fun with it, he could wash his arm pits, do the 'You didn't see anything' from madagascar, count on his little fingers, you name it ;)

I did sneak some stitching in here and there over the last week but things have just been busy, that and I'm this close to finally finishing The Nanny Diaries :) This weekend should be fun, I've got a trip to the spa planned with my Christmas gift and we're going to take Alex to TMNT. Factor in his excitement of being on CBC this morning and he should be pretty much bouncing all the way to Easter :)

NB Petition

Ok...not my normal post but ticked off with your assessment sign here http://www.petitiononline.com/jas1967/petition.html

Painting my deck should not equal a 10,000$ bump in assessed value or I'm really in the wrong line of work!

It's a Bird....It's a Plane...

It's Super Alex! Let's just say after a relatively crappy week there was one happy little boy when I informed him that I received the e-mail from CBC saying he was chosen for their 'Superkid' slot Thursday March 29th after Tractor Tom (10 am). Essentially they take a picture morph the head on a cartoon superbody and have it fly across the screen announcing the child's name, what makes them super, etc. He saw this over the Christmas break and freaked, he though it was soo cool. So set your VCR/PVR's :) I know we'll have our 2 vcrs set and the WinTV card so we can hopefully burn it to DVD :) It's not everyday your child gets to rule over the CBC for a whole hour :) I guess I'm vicariously living out my wishes to be spotted just once in the magic mirror on Romper Room. I'm sure if it were still on their'd be a Katie spotted every week, but 70-80's name wasn't that common.

Last night I tidied up a little more, yay! I finished stitching in the word Love, if I'd actually sat down and stitched more I'd probably be almsot done the lettering. It's a pretty quick stitch. Tonight we have our parent teacher meeting at 7. This time it's a student lead session which should be interesting. At least Matt and I'll both be able to go and not have to juggle arrangements for Alex. There's no school tomorrow and the boys are having a boy day. They're apparently going to swing by the office to get some lunch and see the new cube :)

Out Damn Spot! Out I Say!

Omigosh, there is nothing worse than getting 'something' on your project!! My spoon broke free from my lunch bag and managed to get a spec of sesame oil from my won ton soup onto my Summer Dragons just before I finished it. So I took it home finished it and put it under boiling water with a little soap to get the grease to release. Been there done that so many times I knew the drill. Then it dried. I must have grabbed the moisturizing soap instead of the clear ivory and the small blotch that was on the visible part looked worse and the big blotch on the edge will was only the size of the dollop of soap oye! 3 washes later I can only see it or think I see it when I look really really hard ;) It may change how I frame it if I notice it once it's laced but we'll see. Thanks for all the comments!!

We've had a pretty quiet week. Alex is pretty depressed, they've gone all lab ratty on the kids again and he's only allowed to play with kids in his own grade and is having problems finding people to play with. Poor little guy.

Last night I started Wedding Row by Bent Creek. Ideally I'd like to have it ready for our anniversary but again, we'll see!

Here it is...

Sorry for the delay, there's a reason which I'll write about when I have an itty bitty bit more time. Let's just say "Out damn spot"

Be Prepared

The latest Happy Dance is drying and patiently awaiting it's glamour shot ;)

Moving Along

TGIF. I always find the first week back to work after a long break well, long. Thankfully there's a St Paddy's day potluck at lunch to break things up a bit. I decided to try out this. Hopefully it A) turns out and B) Managed NOT to get hair on it. I had it tied pinned and everything last night but I always worry that it's going to fall in or something.

Yesterday I got even closer to putting Summer's Magic in the 'Please Lace Me' pile. Maybe once that's done I'll be motivated enough to do the rest as well. I'm trying to decide if my next project will be Bent Creek's Wedding row or to finish up SB's Baby Bug Ball, decisions, decisions.
I was relieved last night to find our storm drain running. I kept telling someone that it wasn't collapsed but that with the lack of snow last year the frost had gotten down that far but did anyone want to believe me??? Not that I'm totally comfortable with the upcoming storm tonight but it is a relief knowing the water can be drained away from the house. One of these days, after the bedroom window is replaced I'm going to have to bite the bullet and put eavestrough on the back. The weeping tile isn't supposed to be doing that job as well!

Nothing much on the agenda for this weekend besides Alex's swimming lessons and a trip out for groceries. Just the way I like it! Have a great weekend!

Ding

Ack...just say no to property assessments!! Gee, our house went up 10 grand, I just about fell over. Guess I must have done a really good job painting the side deck :P Thankfully we're in a low tax zone so it didn't equate to too much ;) Speaking of being dinged, I was sooo ticked last night. I went to gas up and someone hit my gas door, there's a scratch on it and the paint is chipped over the door. It's been awhile since I filled up so I can't narrow down when it happened either :( This is the reason I probably will NEVER buy a new vehicle! Sigh...

Over the weekend we had a really nice impromptu lunch with Mom, Dad and Steven. It's a good thing it was impromptu as Alex was WIRED by the time we got there. He tried his darndest to strong arm them into a 'sleep over'. We arrived home and realized that we'd forgotten his hat there so I went down later in the afternoon to pick it up. While I was out on my own I snuck over to Discount framing and picked up an odd size frame for one of the 'please frame me' pieces downstairs and some Kreinik ribbon that was on 50% off for my Marbek Nativity. After that I dropped by Eleni's to pick up my BYC order. The poor store must think I'm shunning them or something, but I'm just using up the mounds of stash I've accumulated! We had a really nice chat (Matt thought I ran away). It was nice to do something unscheduled.

However it is nice to schedule some things :) Plans are in motion, date set, back up room reserved for a trip to the States instead of going to the annual spring retreat. I haven't been to the States in ages so I'm really looking forward to a trip to Maine, it'll make fall retreat even more special as well. I'm really excited to finally go to an AC Moore store and check out the groceries. Poor Alex hadn't heard of the Keebler elves until I mentioned them. Oh how I used to love their magic middle cookies!! They probably don't make them anymore with my luck, but finding all the neat 'other' cake mixes and stuff will still be fun. That used to be one of the highlights of our trips down there when I was young (well for me anyway). :) I'm sure there will be plenty of stitching in the hotel room when we're too stuffed to move from a trip to the Olive Garden ;)