Life's a Dance

Yes, I've been a very negligent blogger. I've come to realize I was suffering from some burnout. Alex being super busy with some afterschool activities (4 nights a week) combined with a husband being highly in demand at work and some new health weirdness just made my free nights a wipe fest. What down time I'd usually use for stitching was replaced with some catching up on Facebook and even that was cut down somewhat keeping up with the crappy hand life has been treating our friends. we're praying that two of our close friends have happy endings to two very rough pregnancies. We're praying that two of our university pals find peace and balance as they part from their 11 year relationship. And finally we pray for strength, painfree days and peace for a former coworker who's soon to be 4 year old daughter will sadly lose her battle with the monster that is cancer (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mariannewilson).

All of that being said, I've just been too drained to stitch at night, especially the last one. Part of me feels like whipping off a princess piece or attempting to organize a quilt but I fear it would be too late and when I think about a memory quilt...would it have the same theme or is there something else I can do? I thought I would be stitching some baby pieces but with everything up in the air with one I just can't motivate myself to do anything. So what to work on? I'm too tired to decide.

Things are turning around though at the homestead, we knock off one of Alex's activities this week, and the other (that consumes 2 nights a week) in two weeks time. There's stitchy night tonight which will be good. I've also gotten to see my family twice over the last two weeks after a winter induced hiatus that was far too long. Mathieu and I also celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary yesterday. Oh, and during my time at home during the flood I finally managed to SEW something! I tried my hand at my first chenille scarf, I'll definitely have to upload the picture of it after I get some batteries for the camera :)

Until then...

Water Water Everywhere

I had planned on writing a nice post about our wonderful girls getaway to Maine when I got back Sunday but I figured we'd be coming back to a drier area instead of an increasing flood. I have been soo distracted at work, thankfully our home is far away from the flood zone but my office is downtown and well, when it starts to cover the streets you begin to wonder... So I thought I'd share a couple pics, eventhough I think you really have to know the area to realize just how much water is truly covering it. It's been surreal having local schools closed and well...even the office. Thank goodness I can work from home.

Behind my office, three streets up from the river

The cosway to where the walking trail is that I usually jog on

Road and On ramp to the bridge covered
The Green where we had a number of our wedding photos

Where Oh Where,

Did the weekend go? I just wanted to crash and burn Friday. I got out for my power walk at lunch, did some head shots for an upcoming promotional campaign at work on my break (now if that's not motivation to lose weight I don't know what is), picked up the van from it's tire change and servicing, picked up the remaining groceries, cooked supper and then was back out the door with the boys for swimming. Matt came along and we decided to go walking, although I've come to find he's not as fast...and we happened to run into one of our old university friends who lived in the neighborhood we were walking in. It was kind of nice getting caught up without Alex hiding behind us or wanting to get the show on the road. After the lesson was over it was auto bedtime for the boy (the timing of the lesson is perfect for a shower and change into pjs at the Y) and we flaked on the couch with some Stargate and stitching.

Wednesday I started Willy from Stitchy Kitty's Snowman Trio and I adore him. I decided to go DMC for him instead of the variegated option mostly because I don't find it adds to the project that much. The only place I could have seen benefiting from it is his scarf but I'm more than happy with it. That's the one change in my stitching that surprises me the most I guess. There was a time where everything had to be EXACTLY as charted...and really this got to be expensive, especially for pieces where it wasn't noticeable, and it just takes a bit more time to individually stitch each one. Not to mention that around here the threads don't seem to be nearly as variegated as the models which is quite frustrating. I now use a little more discretion using it mainly in pieces that are either going to a)stay in our house, b) have big blocks of colour c) require a multicolor variegated d) is a sampler or e) quaker'ish/country/LK patterns. That being said, I can't wait for my Simple Stitches Nativity to come in.

Saturday we were up fairly early and headed to the city's farmer's market for some sausages, orange juice, local blueberry wine and lox. Somewhere along the ride to pick up a new button for Matt's pants and the low fat crackers and cream cheese to go with our little feast the week's activities wore me down and I retreated for a 4.5 hour nap. After that we packed up my stitching and Matt updated his pod casts and we headed to McDonald's. I'm not big on the place so my WW points were saved for the wine and crackers. Alex had a blast in the new playground and was drenched when we took him home. He was quickly sent to bed and we cracked open our little treat, stitched and watched Patriot Games for the hundredth time (we're really exciting)

Sunday was busy as well. There were Christmas lights to bring in, taxes to do, a van to vacuum, sheets to wash, painting and reading sessions with Alex and an Usborne party to go to :) I was pretty good and stuck mainly to my list. I got one extra book for Alex for his birthday which he'll love and that qualified me to pick up two math practice books half price (which we've been looking for) so that was good. Somehow in all of the craziness I managed to get the majority of Willy's scarf stitched along with his face and scarf. I think I'll be sleeping the entire way to our girlie getaway this weekend ;)

Do You Ever...

Have the feeling the week is never going to end? Welcome to my world. Alex schedule just got a little more hectic lately with Karate and swimming in the mix. We've adjusted quite well after prepping for a couple of weeks. So...when you have
-follow up trip to the doctor
-vehicle maintenance
-field trip
-parent teacher
-stitch night
Fall on on the same week, look out ;)

Stitching night was fun. Alot of the girls were pretty hyped up about retreat, although Cathey, Faith Ann and I are opting for a get away next weekend instead. The way this week has been I think I'd be sleeping and not enjoying it anyway. I got a start on Stitchy Kitty's Snowman Trio last night which works up surprisingly fast considering I was gabbing more than stitching ;) I was pretty impressed with how much of the hat was stitched considering. Although I pretty much collapsed in bed upon arriving home!!

What's up this weekend? Nothing...well at least not on Saturday as I need a real day off. Unless of course Matt's motivated to put up the new lights in the kitchen. Sunday I have an Usborne party to go to. I looked over the catalogue and am going in with a firm list of books for the moment, one baby shower gift and two for Alex's birthday Although I plan to sit back and gather lots of information for private orders throughout the year. ;)

Life Is Full Of Meetings And Partings

Life is sprinkled with a handful of profound moments. One that sticks in my mind was while I was being driven home by my husband after finding out my grandmother had passed away. I was looking out the window in my distracted grief ridden state and there were people leaving their offices for the day, people gathering groceries and other out walking their dogs. Eventhough my world had stopped, millions of people in the world were travelling full speed ahead completely unaware of my misery and the realization that someday my life would go forward again, eventhough significantly altered was as calming as it was profound.

We had a wonderful day yesterday. We prepared Matt a birthday breakfast before work. I went walking at lunch to get some decorations and Matt arrived home to streamers balloons and two red head blowing horns at him the second he walked in the door. He loved his cards and gifts from near and far and once that wrapped up we headed out for a delicious meal at Jungle Jim's. We ended the festivities with ice cream cake (not my fave but I wasn't the birthday boy). Matt unfortunately had a trans Atlantic work call to deal with after Alex was in bed so I hopped on the internet to find out a dear stitching friend's world had 'stopped'. It made me reflect on that car ride and how we'd been hurtling forward oblivious to what had been happening all day. While we were celebrating the anniversary of one of our family entering a world the day will forever be marked for another as when their loved one left the world and for millions of others, it's was just another day.

Needless to say this morning's break involved finding a sympathy card for Tracy (of Fiddlestitch Cottage) which I find difficult. I just can't bring myself to buy a 'deep' card. It's not that I didn't appreciate any I've recieved in the past. I try to find one that expresses to that the recipient that we're thinking about them, the ones left to mourn. I find it frustrating that so many focus on either the specific loss or the 'freedom' of being deceased. However, I did manage to find 'old faithful' and am contemplating either buying the remaining stock or incorporating the following verse into handmade cards.

"Please remember, in your sorrow,
you have many friends who care.
You're someone very special,
and you're thought about in prayer."

You're in our thoughts and prayers Tracy

Happy Birthday Hubby

Although it's been insanely busy here, I'll take a moment to wish my DH Matt a great big happy 35th birthday!! :)

Nothing Makes You Feel Old Like...

'The reunion comes 20 years after the release of the group's multi-platinum album, "Hanging Tough." '

20 years, ack!!!!!!

Now to figure out how to get to one of the concerts ;)

Last night was the first night I actually got to sit down and do some stitching all week. It's just been 'one of those weeks'. Hopefully if all goes smoothly the Easter Snapper will be complete this weekend and I can move on to a couple of other potential projects :)

However it will be a busy weekend around the house. Some old friends of ours are visiting from Moncton so we're going out to dinner this evening. Then there is the air exchanger to finish installing and the new light fixtures to put up. On top of that there are some prep things to do for Matt's birthday and dinner prep to do to make next week run smoothly. Alex starts Karate lessons two nights a week (although this session we're only committing to going once a week) and swimming so were' going to be busy for the next couple of months. Our slow cooker had better not go on the fritz ;)

April Fools

I wish! Our e-mail has been down since 11. I'm beginning to feel pretty cut off from the world!

April Showers

Wow, is it April already? March just seemed to go by in a blur!! I had intended to get back to blogging like I was, however there were just a number of things happen post post that had me bitter or negative (holiday plans, work, school, you name it) and I was afraid any minor post would turn into a big tirade. So now that most of that has blown over, here I am ;)

We enjoyed our first Easter in our own home this year and that was wonderful. It was soo much fun hiding eggs and being able to put them where ever I pleased. It was nice to be able to go to our own church and then come home and actually relax. Previous years we've travelled and that side of the family insists on throwing a big (although rapidly shrinking) party at the location we're staying so there's no time to rest and usually we end up helping out. Instead I threw a turkey in the oven and sat back all day and had one of our groomsmen's families come over for the afternoon. We offered turkey but they had their eye on a 'big city' restaurant supper and I don't blame them. I know I enjoy restaurants that we don't have around here when I travel as well. So...we had a quiet turkey dinner that was scrumptious, did the bare minimal clean up and laid back and relaxed. Woot!

Stitching wise I've been working on Bent Creek's Easter Snapper. Back at Christmas I'd been aiming for it to be up in the house before the holiday however our discussion on where we were spending our holidays went in someone's ear and out the other and this lead to another back and forth argument and really killed any interest in the 'festive' part of the holiday. Thankfully things worked out in the end, the 'party' was moved to a date and time we couldn't attend and the second I had word of that I pulled the project out, knowing it wouldn't be finished but it was still fun to work on that weekend. Sadly there's been an attack of the frog that's set back progress a bit :(

Other things keeping us busy have been Alex's big swim up to Cubs and a bunch of home improvement projects. We've been a little stir crazy with the amount of snow still on the ground and that's been a big motivator in fixing some things in the house. First off is our lack of an air exchanger. When we bought the house we knew we needed to put a new one in (the old broken one wasn't even in the house) so you can imagine my shock when I'm minding my own business looking at mirros and Matt flies through the isle looking for the car keys because he's got a whole new system by the door of the store. Matt also go the light over my kitchen sink replaced, why on earth the original owners put in a florescent that hung down under the canopy is beyond me.
So that left the three lights in the kitchen/dining area as the last of the original 'yuck' light fixtures and miraculously...Canadian Tire had the replacement set I'd been eyeing on sale. So installation of the new Venmar started Saturday, however as with all home improvement projects it didn't go as planned, eventhough we bought the same system the piping and vents had become bigger so again to CT to buy a reciprocating saw to cut through some floor boards and the exterior of the house...so sadly no light installation this past weekend. Instead I have a new control panel hooked up that is smaller than the old one...so the hall could use some paint, and my basement looks like something out of funhouse with all the things hanging not yet hooked up to the system. On the bright side, the china cabinet had to be moved to install the new vent which then made it possible to center. I've been wanting to hand a picture over it (Bent Creek's Wedding Row) but never felt it was worth taking all of the crystal and stuff out to move it, and it would look odd without the china cabinet centered.

So as you can see, this hasn't left much time for blogging. Although April is looking like a more 'open' month than March with only a girlie road trip to look forward to ;)
Until next time...

It's Getting Chilli

Well actually it's getting warmer but Chilli's Gift by Stitchy Kitty is now complete!

Chilli's Gift - Stitchy Kitty on SMF Ares

But just in case you were wondering, we've still got a tonne of snow!

Stick A Fork In It!

Just like my vacation Miss Vicki is now DONE!

Victorian Christmas Eve - Nora Corbett

Like any good vacation I've been AWOL most of the week and loving it. I'm almost afraid to log into my e-mail, the most I've been doing online is glancing at my Facebook page this week ;). I don't usually completely disconnect for such an extended period of time but March break seems to be the one week of the year set aside for doing so.

This year Matt actually took the break off with Alex and I so there was alot of vegging around the house, minus the couple hours of paint touch ups I did in the craft room. We took Alex to two of the toonie movies playing, The Waterhorse and The Pirates That Don't Do Anything. Both of them were worth more than the price of admission. The other toonie movies we'd already seen so we didn't venture out of the house Wednesday at all. While we were at the mall we took advantage of the children's booksale at Chapters and found some additional deals on clothing at The Children's Place, my ultimate favorite kids clothing store.

Thursday Alex and I packed up the van and headed to the Miramichi. Since then I've been relaxing quite comfortably here, stitching without the normal distractions of our household, learning to put up moldings, heading to the gym and just zoning out :) The plan is to return to Hanwell today but that will depend greatly on the condition of the roads later this afternoon and the weather. Right now the weather has settled down from last night's storm but the roads are still pretty bad. So in the mean time I'll have to do the toss up between the next project and settle in to rewatch The Goonies with Alex :)

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