Sweet Georgia Brown

Wow, where did March go? Well, I guess I could answer that. Renos, travelling, then entertaining the inlaws and stress due to impending civil service cuts apparently wore me down enough to turn the cold that rocked our house and my office into full blown pneumonia. Eventhough I had no energy and had looked better, I don't think I'd do well on long term bedrest as the 5 days mandated by the doctor had me ready to crawl the walls. I got a little stitching in on SB's Into the Night, finished another ornament and mainly read...Matt rented me quite a few movies, and I think we firmly established what movies are and aren't my genre ;)

The two rooms we've been working on are nearing completion, hopefully this weekend they'll be done so I can truly have a 5 day break over the easter holiday. Then I can go back to organizing and purging my craft room :)

Last night we went for an early treat for Matt's upcoming birthday...a trip to see the Harlem Globetrotters! Needless to say they don't 'give' tickets away anymore. One middle of the road ticket alone was about what we paid for two courtside 20 years ago. Alex LOVED it! He's been begging us ever since to take him when they come again. Normally I wouldn't spend that much on an 'event' but when they only come around every 5-10 years...well he won't be a 'kid' then. Not that Matt and I weren't enjoying the show as much as the first time we saw it back in the late 80's :) This marked my 3rd time going and definitely not my last. This time around there was a really neat autograph sesssion that lasted 30 minutes and the kids could circulate around and get what signatures they wanted. Alex managed to get the entire team, the announcer and Globey the mascot with 2 minutes to spare. We also got this pic as a reminder of a really fun family evening!

March Break

Ahh...finally a day off. I didn't take the traditional March break off this year. We've been saving our vacation time for if/when we go down south so I just had my three flex days that I'd been banking. So...Alex got to do what he's always wanted to, head to his Grammie and Pappy's on his own. He's soo much better adjusted than I was at his age, or maybe I'm that terrible he wants to get away ;) When I called him Monday it was like 'mom...why are you calling', but I know he's having a good time. I'm hoping to join him tomorrow, weather and health permitting.

In his absense we've been getting the final preparations in for the last part of the reno 'push' for the two rooms we tore apart. My first day of vacation involved alot of choice words and painting. It reminded my of just how much I hate being 'hovered' over, it puts me in a little Ally McBeal kind of place where I can comically think of 'accidentally' head butting someone. Yes, I'm new to painting but my gawd, I don't need to be looked over >:( It does not bring out the best in me that's for certain ;)

After painting wrapped up for the evening I got to use up some of the excess paint and complete a little project I've been gathering materials for, and have had in my head for a little while. Alex has been wanting a dragon room, and while I've been stitching a number of them for that I kind of wanted something a little 'extra so I played around with some of my former scrapbooking materials and voila...now hopefully it's not too girly. At least it was a good excuse to use up some of the leftover paint from his room reno ;)

Pics

Alex's Belated Christmas gift:A paper ornament to be backed (hard to see with the reflection of the metallic though...):

My WIP:
One definitely in need of ironing...: And last but not least...my gorgeous exchange ornament from Shannon!!:

Starting Your Weekend Off With A Bang!

They say things come in threes...well, my beloved flat iron decided to die, I was greated with a piece of falling weather stripping Friday and when I returned home the boys had literally blown up the microwave, it probably wasn't the best day to have taken advantage of a super duper deal on a bed in a bag for the guestroom ;)

So we spent Friday checking out microwaves with what little time we had after basketball and it was discouraging. We're not big nukers, we nuke our lunches at work and our system for leftovers is pretty much, if it's nukeable, it's for lunches. The prices we were looking at for stainless steel was getting up near 200 for something we don't use too often. Then our first stop Saturday was Sears and that openned up the over the stove debate, which would be significantly more and involved changing the height of one/all of our cabinets, wiring, retrimming, painting and an appliance that is much bigger than our needs with a very big pricetag. Thankfully our next stop was HomeDepot (our new home away from home) and there was the baby, same brand as before, stainless steel and cheaper than any of the white ones we'd come across. Yay! But like any HomeDepot trip it turned into a, let's look at knobs, lets look at this or that. Thankfully there was also a mouldings seminar going on and Matt got to watch someone building the Boston headers I want to put on the doors :) Not as bad as some people were making it up to be :) So we left there with a microwave, knobs for the two doors we're replacing and handles for the closets. It's progress. I should also be transferring some pics that mom took of the rooms so far to the blog soon. :)

Sunday I scored a deal on a new digital camera. Mine went AWOL over the holidays and after tearing houses apart looking for it I bit the bullet and bought a new one. Missing pictures of my son is just not worth waiting out for it to show up. On the flip side the boys would love a camera to play around with and having one designated for camping and stuff isn't such a bad idea ;) So I should be able to post some pics of my finished projects for 2009 and a gorgeous exchange ornament really soon :)

My Own Worst Enemy

Is the week almost over?

I get up this morning, it's chilly, I put on my nice warm fuzzy green 'chenille' sweater. Love it to death but it sheds so I save it for cold days. I look great...until I go wash my hands in the florescent lights at the office and apparently one of the places it's shed? Boob level. What colour is my bra today, white. Can I throw my cardigan over it? No it's long. See? I don't need people to assist me in having a bad day, I can do it all on my own ;)

Kindness of Strangers

I must have taken a cue from Alex's Wish Upon a Star stitched piece as it worked! Monday, after a weekend of a head cold and a headache that came and went (at least it wasn't a migraine), I had no energy to deal with the snowstorm or getting my vehicle out. DH was in 'company man' mode and not dealing with the mess in the driveway, if he'd spent half as much attention the the driveway as he did the deck over the lunch hour I could of gotten out. >:( I seriously thought he was joking when he told me I should go shovel, I mean I'm home sick, I feel like crap, I'm not eating, it's not like I was doing anything I even like to do, but at 8 it still wasn't done. So I went out, and shovelled , I was so mad and frustrated I threw down the shovel at one point to take a deep breath and looked up. The area we live in has a beautiful unobscured view of the stars and they are particularly beautiful during the winter. Sure enough did I not see a shooting one? I'm not big on wishing but I did, not for the lotto, not for alot of things I'd like or want to change in my life, just a little help. I quit shovelling when I got the halfway point. Eventually Matt cleared out enough room for him to get out and I made it to work the next day, definitely not the nice recharge batteries kind of sick day that's for certain.

Tuesday was just a day in the crapper on pretty much every level, work sucked, marriage sucked, in fact as soon as I put everything in the washers I jammied up, curled up in bed and was chatting on the phone. DH comes in 20 minutes later and asks me if I'd paid someone to clear out the driveway as apparently there was a 4 wheeler plowing us out. Apparently a guy a street over saw me shovelling out the mailbox when I got home from work and noticed how narrow our driveway was (we can fit at least 5 car lengths, if not more so well...it's a long haul so the path was as skinny as possible), anyway, he was bored and decided to go play with his 4 wheeler. I almost burst into tears.

I guess some wishes do come true.

Baskets, Renos and Happy Dances

Hooray, after many weeks of practice, a team committed to getting the result and lots of cheering and clapping...Alex made his first basket in Friday's game!!! Championship wins, top scoring, or any other award I received in the 10+ years I played pale in comparison in how truly elated it was to watch him score in a house league game.

Things have been hectic around the house, hence my lack of blogging. Alex's little sick event before christmas required the removal of the floor in his room which was started over the holidays, and snowballed in my absence as my DH did not stick to the plan and removed mouldings with no intention of putting them back up and doorways as well. Throw in him thinking the two 'children's' rooms should have matching flooring and me wanting to paint One room...later snowballing into him wanting the current office painted as well....well it doesn't leave alot of time for anything too exciting. We did run into a bit of downtime after Alex went back to school, we couldn't very well fire up the mitre saw in the neighboring room after 7:30, plus the pc's were offline as we weren't clogging them up with dust. Oye! Through in some major decluttering and it's a wonder I finished Alex's dragon (DD's Wish Upon A Star)

So, as for the rooms they are now primed, painted, have new laminate replacing the carpet and updated switches, thermostats and recepticles, now they just lack doors and trim...and Matt has yet to install the new heater. I think I'm almost on a first name basis with the paint desk and Home Depot and the Electrical section at Kents, lol.

I'm still trying to decide on my next stitching project, restarting In The Arms of An Angel is looking very promising for 2009 but goodness only knows ;)

Tis The Season For Exchanging

After being completed for months I can finally share my Christmas exchange ornament as it's found it's way into it's intended home.

To add to our Christmas excitement, Wednesday Alex's Boys Choir performed at the Premier's Open House at Centennial Place. It was sooo nice. I'm seriously contemplating skipping his school concert next year and simply going to see him sing there. No crazy non working family members that show up hours+++++ in advance so their husbands can waltz in at the last minute for a front row seat for his lazy a** to compete with. It burns my biscuits that I make the effort to leave almost an hour early and still get stuck in the back. Anyway, I got to see Alex sing for 30 minutes without any competition for space or pictures (much better than an hour and maybe seeing him sing 3 times, now that he's in the choir). Then the boys were escorted up to the Premier's office to sing their rendition of Rudolph, and my son was just so darn cute he actually got a picture taken with the Premier himself.

It was honestly what I needed to brighten my Christmas spirit. It hit an all time low Tuesday. Shock doesn't even begin to describe what state I was in after I got the list of victim's in a fatal crash back home. I'm sitting there reading Facebook status's looking at the surname's and as mom's listing off their first names I was still sitting there hoping one of them was the survivor in the list. One was a neighbor, and was one of the involved parents that you sat back and admired, the one with the big wave and smile no matter where you passed him. Another was a classmate who would alway liven up any Church server's get together (think co ed alter 'boys') and youth group with his mischievious ways. He was one of the faces you'd expect to see at Christmas eve service no matter how old we ever got and just seemed to beam as his own family grew. While I didn't know the third personally, his wife was in my class and one of the sweetest people you could meet. It absolutely breaks my heart thinking of what she will go through with her two young daughters in the future. Six children left fatherless, two celebrating their first Christmas's without their fathers, sad just doesn't seem to cut it. :(

Deck the Halls...With Norwolk Virus

Oye, what a wild couple of days...well weeks it's been and the last two days have topped it off. We had our staff Christmas party Saturday evening and I woke up a little worse for the wear ;) However, that passed but later that evening I couldn't even look at supper, which was probably a good thing. Alex woke up Monday morning and was just dancing outside the bathroom door. He was in no state to be transported so it required staying home (which wasn't soo bad as I was queasy), he started to feel better but then I was up with him early+++ scrubbing floors, bedding, bathroom linens, you name it. Ewww... Sad thing is today was his christmas concert and he's been practicing for months with the boys choir. He was soo looking forward to singing and I was really looking forward to watching him. At least his choir sings next week at the Premier's open house so I'll be sneaking over to listen.

November? Now where did that go. I was dreading it, loathing the thought of 5 days of travelling back and forth to Sussex for work. With Matt's commuting situation I don't get alot of help around the house and getting back into town at dinner time was very draining, along with doing all of the other chores and running around. I had one weekend booked off to recoup but that quickly got snatched up with an unexpected cancer diagnosis (early) on the other side of the family and trying to be supportive of my other half even though that whole situation leaves me in some strange limbo. Throw in some Fifth's Disease, a Christmas Bazarre, attempting to get the house ready for Christmas, the whole nine yards and well, I'm pooped! However I did get to sneak away for one glorious day of stitching at Faith Ann's and as soon as I locate my camera's batteries I'll take a pic of my new pinkeep ornament. :)

Mini Finish

2008 Dragonlet - Dragon Dreams (Ornament Frame from Michael's)

Why So Serious?

Not that my trick or treater was The Joker, but his haunted warlock did channel a little batman ;) Happy Halloween

Working With What You've Got

Well, I 'finished' that LK ornament. I picked it, one because I had a frame it could go in and that could be ornamentified and 2, I didn't have time to kit anything this morning. So instead of spending the insane amount to have it like the ornament issue (stitch a gift 12.00 + LK buttons 2.50 US) I took my 40% coupon (6.99*.60) and grabbed some red buttons out of some package I picked up a couple years ago at Michael's and came up with....

Not too shabby, although this would have a whole lot more meaning if it where Alex's first stitched piece. Who knows, he should be able to learn and crank this out quite quickly :P Sadly I neglected to 'finish' Heartfelt Harvey, even missed ironing him this evening. A true sin considering there was a great deal of design behind him (If I attempted to chart redwork, it would be a blob, plain and simple ;)) So here he is...and hopefully will get some felt loving this weekend...

I have to lol as I surely to goodness thought these would come after quite a few others that I'd like to stitch ;) Thank goodness I have some vacation time to catch up on my priority list.

When They Think You're Away, The Deer Will Play

I do not live in the middle of no where, I live in a very populated subdivision (yes the yards are a bit bigger than city limits) but our end is also close to the main road. For some reason this does NOT deter deer from visiting our home. My hubby had a good chuckle this summer when I came home to two of them in the yard and boasted in the morning that they left my tulips alone only to return from work with not only the tulips mowed down, but the buggers took the bulbs. Well...imagine my surprise when I woke up from sleeping off a migraine monday, and decided to check on my son's science experiment in my kitchen window and there were two deer having an all you can eat buffet on my burning bush (of course when I'm in the process of restaining it!)

Caught Red Leafed!

Tell you're partner the lilac bush is not suitable cover

I see he's come out of hiding

That's right, don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya!

Move Along...

Please go visit Brenda across the way, I hear she has lots of delectable flowers to keep you busy

Just In Case There Was Any Doubt...

The LK ornament from this year's JCS CAN be stitched in less than a lunch hour (and I take a short one ;))

Upcoming Picture Alert

Hooray, I have my first finish out of this year's JCS all ready to be, well finished... Between the weather and some busy walking buddies, oh and a lack of motivation to go through my stash when there was a piece of white cloth sitting right on top, Heartfelt Harvey made an appearance this week. He was on my like list, maybe not near the top of the 'gotta do it now' list but one colour of thread and well, no serious stash diving was quite appealing ;) I can't wait to back him with red felt and finally get to try out my rotary pinking edger. No more attempting to line up the shears (plus it'll keep them sharp for actual sewing projects). Now I just need to fire up the camera and take a pic!

Nothing of great magnitude to report this week besides Alex bringing home his proofs for his school pics and they aren't too bad ;) The mailman was also nice to me this week and brough my SB Into The Night that I picked up when Traditional Stitches had their birthday sale and my new Turbo Jam Elite set arrived :) Now I have plenty of stuff to re-energize my weightloss plan :)

This weekend is thankfully low key. I'll be at Michael's at openning as my shelf is on sale...and when I checked yesterday there was only one left, then I plan on dropping by the church bazarre and maybe taking Alex to Science East where admission is free tomorrow. He absolutelyl LOVES it there, cool hands on science experiments all set in an old prison, complete with a couple prison bar doors left....and the old exercise grounds were converted into an outdoor playground complete with more fun exhibits. Really, every little eight year old boy's dream! Sunday's looking rainy so here's hoping we'll be hitting our crafting reserves ;)

We Made It!

Last week I was pretty, well for lack of a better term, blah! We really truly enjoyed ourselves at Boo at the Zoo in 07 and that was completely thrown up in the air by some people we don't see alot 'dropping in' on the day we'd be going. This lead to some tension. I'm on the once a year event plans only get cancelled for emergencies plan. Friday, I vented a bit and sent what my tentative agenda would have been if we went to Moncton to DH. It made alot of sense, weatherstrip windows in the morning with draft stop, leave because it stinks and let the air exhanger deal with it, look at pillows at Pier 1 (I'm no style diva but cranberry, forrest green and navy weren't doing anything for my couch, in cotton anyway), drop off a Christmas present, have supper and go to Boo at the Zoo. It was an effective and relatively cheap use of the day, I mean if we caulked at home we'd probably have been at the movies (spending the price of Boo admission + concessions), had supper, probably gone to some other activity which would have cost money and I'd have had to pay into the 'evil' Canada Post to get a gift sent. Concessions + postage almost covered our gas in the Corolla ;)

So, I laid out my master plan and avoided DH when I got home ;) He came to see me while I was working downstairs and asked how I was going to pull this off with the 'company'. I suggested he call to see what time of the day they planned on 'dropping by' because if it was early enough we still would have time to at least go to Boo...Well turns out there was in fact a change of plans so we ended up having Saturday to ourselves (my head could have done with sooner notification, tension is no fun!).

After visiting Faith Ann and our favorite Beaver at the Esso for apple day we started caulking windows and were out of the house at noon. I didn't find my pillows at Pier 1 after all, but found them bundled (sweet) at HomeSense. Of course on the way walking from one store to another did my DH not run into one of his friends? I mean for a guy that rarely goes out but he can run into someone he knows just about anywhere, restaurant in my parents home town, drive in theater in the middle of nowhere (seriously)? Sometimes I have to wonder ;). We quickly left there and zoomed over to my matron of honor/Alex's godmother's house to visit with her family and couldn't get over how much her little guy had grown since July. He definitely looks like 'someone' and not random infant A ;) Alex adored playing with him. He'd make such a doting big brother.

We didn't want to overstay our welcome (had infant, I know I appreciated short visits) and headed to Vito's as I've never eaten there before, the chain restaurants are always too big a lure for me ;) Yum! Then it was off to be creaped out by ghoulies, zombies and creepy clowns at Boo at the Zoo. It was nice to be out in the crisp fall air, getting some walking in AND revving our heartrates just a wee bit ;) After one of the Haunted Manor shows (music driven lights display and fireworks) we headed back to the car and back on the highway :)

Until Next Year Zoo...

Happy Happy Dancing

Hooray! I've got two more projects out of the way so I'm free and clear to play with the ornament issue :) I apologize for the dark pics, 5 minutes before we have to be out the door to catch the bus didn't leave alot of time to play with a camera who's batteries are on life support ;)

Britty Halloween Kitty - Brittercup DesignsHalloween Fairy aka:Haley - Mirabilia

Friends Shouldn't Let Friends...

Stitch over one!

What was I thinking? Sure the Trick or Kitty Treat ornament out of the Halloween JCS is adorable, but it has taken longer than Haley (who btw should be finished after Alex and I make a quick trip to Walmart and Michaels after work). Thankfully though I'm on the last part, the darn tail, so it might be done by the weekend ;)

Last night was stitchy night at our end of the woods. It was quite a busy evening as Matt had to work out of town due to the holiday and that left me running to get Alex to basketball and then home, drop him off grab my stitching stuff (which is easier said than done when there is the slight chance you could be 'done' before the end of the night) and back downtown. Good thing I had a 4 day weekend to rest up for the evening's marathon. :)

Speaking of the holiday we had a really nice Thanksgiving. Mom and dad arrived Saturday and shortly there after mom, Alex and I ventured out apple picking which was a blast. Alex nominated him self the official rotten apple cannon and mom played with Newton's law a couple of times :P We had a fairly quiet evening, doing a little dinner prep here and there (big turkey dinners do not need to be stressful!), shopped and put on our first family viewing with the new Plasma tv/Blu Ray. I <3 Iron Man.

Sunday was also fairly laid back, started the day with some eggs benedict, went to church and then put Tom in the oven after his traditional butter massage and salt rub. The house smelled divine. Later in the afternoon we were joined by Mathieu's mother and his grandmother which made him very happy. Dinner was perfect and we didn't move too much afterwards. Dad and Alex braved public swim after the inlaws headed home but we were content channel surfing ;)

Monday mom and dad headed out after a yummy breakfast at the Blue Canoe and we well...vegged. I had a nice long nap and then mowed out front lawn for the last time this season. It was so nice to have a vacation day where I didn't need to cook. The kids also had Tuesday off of school so I took a flex day to stay at home with the monkey. We had fun painting ceramic ornaments, reading and then hitting up the halloween maze at one of the local greenhouses. If only being a SAHM paid what my IT job does, sigh...

Ornament Issue Review...

P10-11
Blackbird Designs - not that the pattern itself wows me but it's a stocking ornament that looks like a real stocking
The Sweetheart Tree - would have to be framed
Cherished Stitches - On the fence, looks nice on the cover but this angle does nothing for me, nor do the tassles

P12-13 (Favorite Pages)
Val's Stuff - Definitely on the highest priority list
Samsarah - Right up there too
Primrose - Grows on you but the long appendages are a bit freaky

P14-15
The Victoria Sampler - LOVE IT!
Prairie Schooler -very cute, love the blues and reds
Elizabeth's Designs - changing some of the colours could help this
SB - Nothing about this calls to me remotely, maybe I'm too attached to the old series

P16-17
Full Circle Designs - Love it!
Jeannette Douglas - Very cute, I'm thinking maybe changing the wording on the 4 of this style and mounting them in a single mat alternating between tree and ornament. That frame would bend my branches
Nordic Needle - change in colours required, burgundy, forrest green and gold perhaps?
Cindy Valentine - again a change in colours would be a huge improvement here, maybe a light blue fabric with a monochromatic blue stitching and silver beads, or a white opalescent with Blue Lavender or Tropic Seas (Caron) with silver beads
SS with S - please give us something with some real stitching or give this slot to someone who really designs. Harsh yes I know, but I've seen some of the 'rejects' and it's just NOT FAIR!

P18-19
Imaginating - Will stitch this, just not on Aida, and probably dress up the wire hanger with some funky glass beads
Sue Hillis - Change fabric to a pretty mottled cafe au lait colour and change the stitching to cranberry or pine, I've never found white on red gives good coverage

P20-21
Wildflower Stitchery & More - There's just something about the whimsical nature of this one, both stitching and finishing that draws me in...as normally I'd prefer if my angel had hair :P
Prairie Moon - wish there was a little more variation than last years ornament but a set of these on the tree would be nice (when I get around to stitching the first one)

P22-23
LK - Well...it'll be a good piece to start my son off on stitching, and I can quickly finish it for him with a novelty fram from Michael's. Again though step it up!
Brightneedle - this series is cute but I usually limit myself up to stitching over one once a year and that allotment has been used up

P24-25
Cross Eyed Cricket - Don't have a clue as to what this has to do with Christmas, but it's cute
Loopy Lou Designs - Needs a darker mottled fabric to really make it pop

P26-27
Raise the Roof - too cute
Dragon Dreams - When don't I absolutely LOVE Jen's designs? Definitely Alex's ornament for the year.
Charland - Quick cutie
Heartstrings - Always loved their Santa's, just never seem to find the time to stitch them :(

P28-29
Kitty & Me - Gorgeous
Brittercup - Love it, but it'll have to wait as I think it would lose it's whimsy over 2 and I don't feel like stitching over one any time soon.

Ornament Issue ~ Hooray!

Hooray, I finally got my copy of the ornament issue today!! The poor guy at the magazine shop across from my office will be happy that I'm no longer stalking him ;) Initial reaction? The traditional 50/50, however I think that's more indicative of my slump than anything. That's pretty much been my general reaction all year to any new releases. I mean once your stash exceeds your life expectancy there comes a point where you're alot more choosey on what you do ;) Plus it cheeses me off to no end when some of the designs just don't step up to bat when there are many new designers that create beautiful works...and can't get a foot in the door. I mean I know that everyone's tastes are different but there is one ornament that's been in the issues twice...with no changes (thankfully not this years). There are some snowmen definitely on my list and of course a dragon for Alex :)