The Simple Life

I was doing some hunting around for release dates for Alex's new 'love it' series Captain Underpants and I came across this gem at the end of the author's comic version of his life:

I swear, I'm going to see about having that printed on a shirt!! Sometimes you can just have enough of educator's flip outs over any behavior that isn't perfect and not be a 'neglectful' parent who doesn't care. It should be ok to support our children with their homework but let them make a mistake without people presuming that we could care less. It should be a right to take back family time and let our kids be kids after the recommended 10 minutes of homework per grade level and not feel like we're setting our children up for failure. With the number of commercials now that promote the message 'Just be' it would be nice if we could revert back to simpler times when children were allowed to 'just be'!

A Wedding Meme

1. Where / how did you meet?We met at a Computer Science Beer Garden, he thought I was dating my roommate (obviously male)
2. How long have you known each other?9 years
3. How long after you met did you start dating?After running a couple back ground checks on him we were dating within a month
4. How long did you date before you were engaged?6 years, 5 months, 6 days
5. How long was your engagement?8 months 24 days
6. How long have you been married?21 months 8 days
7. What is your anniversary?May 20th
8. How many people came to your wedding reception?60+
9. What kind of cake did you serve?Irish Cream fondant cake with wild berry butter cream
10. Where was your wedding?Fredericton, NB
11. What did you serve for the meal?Wild Mushroom Ragout on puff pastry, Turkey dinner, chocolate mousse cake
12. How many people were in your bridal party?3
13. Are you still friends with them all?I hope so!
14. Did your spouse cry during the ceremony?bah!I don't think I've ever seen him cry
15. Most special moment of your wedding day?I can’t think of any thing that was more special that anything else. Although I did like it when our son joined our first dance
16. Any funny moments?Definitely. A certain groom didn't listen to where he was supposed to get dressed and when we arrived at the hotel my matron of honor kicked him and her husband out...when we got upstairs we found her husband's pants and she had to run after him. Then there was the misfiring of the champagne on our way to the picture site...I think my poor matron of honor is still deaf.
17. Any big disasters?Waking up VERY sick
18. Where did you go on your honeymoon?Still planning it
19. How long were you gone?I'll let you know when we go
20. If you were to do your wedding over, what would you change?Not a thing, although maybe I would have gotten a pick of our get away vehicle
21. What side of the bed do you sleep on?Left
22. What size is your bed?Queen-Just like me :P
23. Greatest strength as a couple?We are polar opposites so we've got everything covered
24. Greatest challenge as a couple?Division of duties
25. Who literally pays the bills?I do, then I bill him
26. What is your song?We played Amazed by Lonestar at our wedding. Although I Love You Then I Hate You may have been more appropriate :P
27. What did you dance your first dance to?At our wedding Amazed, at a club Believe by Cher
28. Describe your wedding dress.White, double beaded spaghetti straps, train, organza wrapped at the waist in the front openning over a smattering of crystal beads. Simple and whimsy
29. What kind of flowers did you have at your wedding?NO CARNATIONS! Other than that the ladies had white Callalillies, DH had a double mini callalilly pinned to him and the rest of the men had red roses.
30. Are your wedding bands engraved?No, mine is an eternity band and it's next to impossible with the channeled diamonds

Are We There Yet??

Thank goodness March break is around the corner! I think I used up all of my fun time on Cathey's Pink Party Saturday :)

Alex got home safe and sound from a trip to Matt's parent's shortly after I arrived home from the party. He had Thursday and Friday off of school so I had suggested that he could go up with Matt to work, meet his grandmother and spend the night and come back with Matt the next day. However the words 'next day' were completely LOST on someone, he must have tuned me out in shock after I even suggested the issue. Thankfully it was Baiden Powell day at church and he had to be back by Sunday at least. I figured it was a short visit, that didn't involve us having to drive all the way up there and me ending up with a migraine, it scored some brownie points with DH and it should relieve the 'we're not coming for Easter' blow ;) Alex informed me that he only cried 3 times, so I guess we'll hold off for another year on a full week of summer camp. However we have been looking at a 'mini' camp that only runs two nights for him to try out.

This week has just been a nightmare, Alex's snowpants didn't come back from his visit which involved having to stalk the SMT station. He forgot his homework at school Tuesday and due to a snowday yesterday and beaver's tonight goodness knows when he's going to study for his spelling test. DH has been on the lazy side and it's NOT the week I need to have to spend extra time picking up his slack, especially where this has NOT been the funnest week in the office, arghh...

However there is a small silver lining ;) Avoidance of those who drive me nuts has led to a bit more stitching and definitely reading time. I was soo relieved when I got to putting the first colour into the top of the border and both sides matched up on Miss Vicki. I'm really hoping I can wrap her up over the March break. Then maybe I'll be able to stitch up Bent Creek's Easter Snapper in time for Easter.

Speaking of March break, what's on the agenda?:

-Finish touching up paint in craft room
-Sanding headboard for craft room (as I have to return the sander)
-Hopefully move Alex's play bins down to the play room to free up some closet space
-Disassemble change table
-Stitch
-Family Trip to the Clay Cafe
-See The Waterhorse at the toonie movies
-See The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything at the toonie movies
-Head to the Miramichi
-Read :)

Fired!

Well not me but my plate :) Here it is back from the kiln

Got A Plan Stan?

Omigosh, I think I finally have some idea just what I want to stitch this year! It's not that I don't have the bug but last year was soo goal oriented with the completion of the family set of
stockings that I seemed to be going through a commitment rebellion of sorts.

So here it goes so far...
1) Victorian Christmas Eve by Nora Corbett (heading in the home stretch)
2) Pumpkin Hill by Shepherd's Bush (seeing as I started it the night I forgot Miss Vicki)
3) Far Far Away by Shepherd's Bush (started last year while waiting for Miss Vicki's fabric)
4) Crescent Dreams by Mirabilia/Nora Corbett
5) Toss up between A Dragon's Garden or Fairytale Sampler by Dragon Dreams (Alex's Christmas present)
6) Ornaments!!!
7) 1/3 of Snowman Trio
8) Easter and Halloween Snappers by Bent Creek

Now that's the list for now although it leaves plenty of room for other projects. One I'd really like to do would be MLI's Isabelle's Garden although Firefly Fairies, or even finishing Guardian Angel would be neat as well.

Crafty Photo Session

Nora Corbett's Victorian Christmas Eve ~ aka Miss VickiCeramic dragon painted for Alex

Alex's new pencil holder for his homework space. Painted by one Alex Côté :)

Confessions of a Negligent Blogger

Omigosh, it's been how long?? I guess it's just been one of those months. Since I last blogged Matt had a week of on call work that disrupted my sleep to no end. I figure I don't get bonus pay for the phone waking me up so the next rotation one of us is sleeping elsewhere! Mom and dad had an extended visit due to the snowstorm but it did make for a nice relaxed celebration of her *number censored* birthday. By wednesday all of the excitement and the cold Alex had been
harboring caught up with me and now I'm stuck with a miserable cold :(

Needless to say however all of the downtime has led to a bit more stitching (progress pic coming soon) and alot of reading. If someone had told me this time last year that I'd be picking up a new book series in the summer and be pretty much done all 16 books this time last year I would have laughed at them. Now I'm trying to go between what books to read next. I'm halfway through Sue Graton's Kinsey Milhone series which I really like, I have a new Laura Childs scrapbook mystery to read (but that'll be quick), Monica Ferris' latest paperback stitching adventure or maybe I'll try out the new Joanne Fluke book I picked up the other day. Say what people will about Walmart but if they're going to offer new books to me at 6 dollars and change I'm in ;)
In our Miss 'Vicki' SAL I have digital scrapbooking to thank for letting me pull ahead a little (perhaps). I really like working on this piece and can't wait until the main stitching is done so I can stitch in the whisper and play with the beads. After that I have a number of potential projects but goodness only knows what'll be next ;) 2008 is plan free year, maybe a gift here and there but otherwise I'm plan free....maybe because I desperately need a weekend of finishing!!

On the family side of things Alex continues to grow up before our eyes. This weekends revelation? He no longer wants characters on his underwear!! Omigosh, I think I was his age when I finally got to the US and got a pair of Underoo's as Canada seemed to be lacking in the cool underwear department. I mean years of Saturday morning cartoons brainwashed me into thinking they were a must ;) Mind you it's probably cheaper this way but still, not nearly as much fun. Part of my time this past couple of weeks has also been alotted to creating a new book blog for Alex. I kind of wanted a 'check out' spot to send friends and family to if they ever wanted to pick him up something without having to do a mental inventory of what books he likes and has everytime, I have it over on my sidebar to actually catch a glimpse at what I was doing. This weekend we also went over to Faith Ann's DS' pirate party yesterday which Alex is still talking about, if I didn't know how exhausted she was I'd hire her as my next party planner ;)

Deja Vu

Wasn't I just posting about visits from the tooth fairy??

Alex pre-tooth loss ;)

A Little Update

Victorian Christmas Eve - Nora Corbett Progress as of Feb 3/08

Smile

Ack! I came home Monday to a gap toothed smile ;) There are alot of things that you learn to handle when you're a mom, give me stinky diapers, give me vomit but loose teeth gross me out, Here's hoping the adult teeth come in as nicely placed as his baby ones were *crosses fingers* Well, it's finally time I shared my progress on Miss Vicki. I apologize for the picture quality but it was a bit rushed. Apparently in my backstitching blitz yesterday I forgot to do her mouth, eek! She'll be perfect once the white is in her fur but where it's whisper I'd like to do that last. Sigh... Here's hoping the border goes smoothly after the two big green sections are done. I really can't wait to get back to the ribbon.

Yesterday Faith Ann asked a very interesting question. Assuming I had no WIPS what five projects would I start guilt free.

1) Heirloom Nativity - Victoria's Sampler (need pattern, thread packs and fabric)
2) Toy Gatherer - Shepherd's Bush (need kit)
3) Lady of the Mist - Mirabilia (kitted)
4) Santa's Magic - Mirabilia (need kreiniks)
5) Touching the Autumn Sky - Mirabilia (maybe need fabric)

The one I see starting first is Touching the Autumn Sky, I'm still getting warmed back up to doing large pieces and it would be perfect. Plus I have the pattern and threads in my stash, although I'm thinking about ordering something from Silkweaver for it ;) A close #6 would have been A Dragon's Garden by Dragon Dreams but I'm still trying to decide what colour I'd like to stitch it on. It would be perfect in Alex's room!! I'm curious, what would your 5 guilt free starts be?? :)

Lost and Found

Well last night was day two of working out at home and it worked out well. Alex really enjoys doing his homework in our family room and his toys downstairs are getting ALOT more attention now. I like that I'm still getting my workout in but by the time I'm done Alex is also done his homework, it is definitely condusive to more family time.

After Alex was in bed I did a little surfing then Matt and I had a nice night curled up on the couch watching one of our seasons of tv shoes that we got for Christmas and Vicki made her grand appearance. She's coming along slowly but surely, the ruffle at the bottom of her coat definitely doesn't stitch up as fast as her coat did. After that thoug I can't see the border taking as much time. Atleast with the ribbon it divides it up into mini goals :) I really can't wait to get to put the whisper in beads on, I think she's going to be very pretty :)

In other big news, I feel like a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I got Alex tickets to the Backyardigans as part of my mommy/son christmas gift, it was to be a mommy son night and we're heading there with Faith Ann and her DS. I put them where I thought was a safe place, one that wouldn't end up bringing the tickets on the Grand Falls leg of the trip. Well...I've been looking for them ever since we got back! Thankfully because they're internet tickets they can be reprinted otherwise I was looking at praying for available seats and shelling out more money. Hooray! Now I can look forward to our 'date night' again :)

Love These

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

Cross Stitch Designs by Barbara Ana

A New Year, A New Look

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

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

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

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

Four!

The "Four" Tag...

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

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

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

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

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

4 PEOPLE WHO EMAIL ME REGULARILY
Faith Ann
Cathey
Shannon
Mom

4 FAVOURITE FOODS
Mexican
Chinese
Popcorn
Fish and chips


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


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

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

Morning Has Broken

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

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


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

A Moment of Silence

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

Rest in Peace Phantoms

Happy New Year

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

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

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

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

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

Merry Christmas From The Elves

Merry Christmas from the cutest elves on the block!

The Stockings Were Hung...

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

Walking in a Warp Speed Winter Wonderland

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

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

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

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