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??