One of THOSE Nights

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

Mower Power

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

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

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

Some Completed Pics :)

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

Summer's Magic By Dragon Dreams

Girlfriends Forever by Janlynn

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

Mother's Day Flowers for me ;)

I'm Back!

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

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

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

Seventeen

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

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

Five Hundred Millilitres

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

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

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

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

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

On The Mend

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

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

If You Want Something Done Right...

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

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

On The Road Again

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

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

When It Rains...It Pours

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

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

In The Meadow We Can Build A Snowman

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

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

Fingers crossed for better weather!

Tidbits

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

Happy Birthday Honey!

Happy Birthday Matt!

Love,

Your Redheads :)

Happy Easter

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

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

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

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

No Regrets

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

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

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

Welcome To The Family Circus

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

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

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

Here, There and Everywhere

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

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

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

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

NB Petition

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

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

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

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

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

Out Damn Spot! Out I Say!

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

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

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

Here it is...

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

Be Prepared

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

Moving Along

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

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

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

Ding

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

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

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

Sittin By The Dock of the Bay....Wasting Time

Yes...I'm still alive ;) This week has really been a big break from just about everything and it's been wonderful. There's not much to show for an entire week off, not even a Miramichi trip :(, but sometimes that's actually a good thing. I've just been going flat out for so long that it's been nice catching up on movies, building legos and Christmas shop :P Yes, Christmas shopping!! Chapters has had a wonderful sale with Children's and Adolescent books on 20% off, so I stocked up on a couple hardcover Magic Treehouse books for Alex's birthday and Christmas and picked up Eragon and Eldest for Matt. I think a Flat Stanley book snuck it's way in there too ;) I also picked up a Cranium game for Alex for 9$ at Toys R Us and some Bionical (or however you spell that) on sale too. Tried my hardest to get one of those friggin bin systems but every single one of them had a damaged right panel!! I swear I'm going to pick one up in the states (after triple checking one) and willingly pay the duty! Oye...

Alex and I have been taking advantage of the toonie movies that Empire theatres had over the break, mainly Christmas/Jan movies and it was nice because it was sooo hectic then (and there's not alot of extra leisure money) at that time anyway. We both LOVED Eragon (Matt had seen it before Christmas) and were completely enchated by Arthur and the Invisibles, Happily N'ever After just fell short after seeing those to (but for Alex and I to go for 4$ we were still ahead of renting at Blockbuster). We also ventured out to Frenchies in Oromocto one day (it's amazing how kids think visiting a town 10 minutes or so from the city is a cool trip). As usual I didn't find anything I liked but found some new denim shorts for Alex, a Children's place tank top and some frog shirt that he had to have for 'Creeker' days. We found Matt an awesome Old Navy dress shirt which surprisingly he didn't turn his nose up at and some books for the boy.

As for stitching Summer's Magic is in backstitch mode :) I might get it finished after swimming this afternoon. I would have loved to take Alex to rec swim a bit more but chlorine and my 'winter' skin do NOT agree. See, I really haven't been up to much at all ;)

Almost There

Woot! Just a couple more hours and I'm off for a week of pizza, movies, Star Wars Lego Wars, swimming and other fun stuff with Alex!

Last night we headed out to the Coop for one of their big specials week. They had Dockers on sale so even Matt was in tow. Help nice, but it also jacked up the grocery bill. I never buy oreo cookies, yuck! I picked up a new Columbia rain coat for me (first in over 10 years, essential for the block and a quarter walk from the parking lot to work!) for 29, Alex got a new hoodie for 6.99 and Matt finally got some new pants and some dress shirts, but paid while we were grocery shopping so I didn't see his total. We came home pretty tired though and just had a bowl of ice cream and vegged. Alex was super excited that I'd allowed him to pick out some 'fruit gummy thingies' for next week that normally are not allowed in the house. Seriously, between
Halloween, Easter, Valentine's and Christmas there's enough of that stuff around ;)

I was really excited yesterday to see that the theatre is bringing back some of the movies we missed during the holiday season (Eragon especially) for the toonie matinees. Guess that'll suck up two afternoons next week (Happily N'ever After is on the list). Alex also wants to learn to stitch. I picked up some aida (in disguise so no one would see me ;)) for him to fiddle with. He's convinced he's going to stitch a dragon! I also found a Carebear movie in the bargain bin at the grocery store so we have that too. I'm probably going to bring up his art table for the week so we can just lay our projects out, like the nifty ones Santa brought, and work on them as we please. I had been hoping to go up to the Miramichi but the reno/work/weather doesn't look like it'll cooperate for more than a day trip so this will actually be one of the longest stretches that it's just been Alex and I at home in awhile. Alex has been saving his Toys R Us giftcard for this week to have something new and exciting to play with, we'll probably stop by there Monday on our way to the movies :)

As for stitching next week, I'm hoping to plug away at it during any down time :) I'd ideally like to finish sorting out some materials in the craft room so we can start the renovations on it. I'd like to get the wall painted before someone thinks about redoing it again. The wall in that room was a cheat installation by the previous owner, no biggie unless you want to put power on that wall which I've talked myself out of. I was steaming when I heard mentions of the FIL taking a look at it, he's known to start something and take forever to finish, but thankfully the forgetfulness factor kicked in and they left without looking at it ;)

Here's hoping the weather stays decent despite the forecast. I really need my haircut tomorrow or I'm going to start looking like cousin it!

March!

Woot, February's behind us...I hope ;) Last night I managed to keep up my resolve and go to Newbody. I just have not been that overly motivated to go to the gym lately. I do fit in some workouts at home but I'm probably down to 2-3 classes a week. It was a really good class and I worked up quite a good sweat. I returned home and showered while Alex was out at Beavers. You'd think I would have been motivated to finish the cross stitching portion of the dragons but no, that wasn't the case. After a bowl of popcorn with my favorite beaver I found myself in the Outlands of Azeroth with my hubby ;)

Well now that it's officially March I guess its time to review my stitching goals that I set last year

• Shepherd's Bush Terri's Stocking (for me) (Finished)
• Fiddlestitch Cottage Winter Teapot (Finished)
• Fiddlestitch Cottage Spring Teapot (90%)
• Dragon Dreams Lost Dragon Sampler (for Alex) (Finished)
• Finish Dragon Dreams Summer's Magic (95%)
• Finish Lavender and Lace's In The Arms Of An Angel (this will probably go to work on status as I'd like to stitch Alex's stocking)
• Leisure Arts In The Life Of A Child (2%)
• 6 ornaments (0)
• Finish Mirabilia's Guardian Angel
• Finish SB's Baby Bug Ball (65%)
• Work on Lavender and Lace's The Wedding

Next week I'm off so I'll probably get to do a little more stitching than usual. Alex really wants to learn to stitch so I'll have an excuse to get all of my stuff out :) He really wants to stitch a dragon and I think I have a dragonlet freebie that'll be easy enough for him to do after he masters making his x's. He LOVED the time I let him play with my mill hill beads. They do some big hundredth day of school thing in February and this year we didn't just send 100 of something in (last year was pennies, pretty cheap), it had to be divided in noticeable groups of 10. So, Alex made a little bracelet of mill hill beads. It's soo pretty :) Plus it was a really good activity to work on his fine motor skills. Tonight, no big plans. I'd like to head out to the coop where it's a sale week and Saturday will be insane. I'm hoping to finish stitching the sand at lunch today which should be doable ;)

I'll end this with a new Alex'ism. To begin Alex really wants a digital camera, so Santa has a whole year to price compare/match the Fisher Price camera. However that doesn't mean he still doesn't want a chance to play with mine. I was at the computer uploading some pictures when he came in the room and said, pointing at the camera and without skipping a beat 'Mom, when you get old and die can I have this?' Great! I've got a will chaser already :P

Latest Progress

Farewell February

Well, soo much for a quiet February ;) At first glance the only thing we had on it was mom's birthday, which we were definitely looking forward to celebrating, then it all snow balled. Birthday party one weekend, sleigh ride another, and just when I thought I was going to get a breather we had company this past weekend. Talk about a wipe out! Thank goodness next week is March break!

I have been sneaking some stitching in here and there, finishing mom's teapot and getting very close to a finish on Dragon Dream's Summer's Magic Dragons for Alex's room. Not nearly as much as I'd like mind you but some none the less! After much talk with Matt I did scale back some of my social engagements for awhile. I mean this is month two and the most we've done with the craft room reno is get a quote on some electrical! For all intensive purposes it isn't even 'busy' season yet!

We have March break pretty open at the moment, depending on the status of the Miramichi reno we might get a day trip in, or maybe a daytrip to Moncton and the rest I'm trying to set up some playdates on. Alex and I have a lunch date one afternoon at Luna Pizza and maybe we'll make that a library day too. :) He does want to learn how to cross stitch so maybe we'll finally get a chance to do that as well :)

Fat Tuesday

Oh my, I was all set to do some major stitching last night with Doctor Who and Heroes but the 'unexpected' element of sci fi didn't allow for much concentrating. Not to spoil the ending of the show but of my good lord! Ok, we all cried in Titanic (although there are probably some bb trolls out there who laughed) but it's the same old , someone dies stuff but I was teary for the last half hour of the show, even the 'valentine forgetter' cracked just a little. However in between DW and Heroes I did work a little more on the last dragon's tail and fixed some previous boo boos :)

Speaking of Valentine's, what I forgot to mention in all of my wallowing was that Alex loved his little gift. The night before I set out his card, a bag of cinnamon hearts, a new Magic Treehouse book and a Teen Titan's Comic book (special valentine's edition). He was sooo excited about his first comic book! It permanantly sits at the table and he thumbs through it at ever meal (or at least until I put it in his room again tonight). Woot! So that'll make one different thing I can add to his stocking at Christmas. We went grocery shopping about two days after and he saw the stand that's at the coop (he'd never noticed it before) and boy was he trying hard to convince me to buy him another. I haven't been complimented, loved, offered so much help around the house in a long time ;)

Today's kind of a blah day, so I imagine I'll be doing some stitching. Out of all the days of the year Shrove Tuesday is the one that was Alex's and my special date night with my grandmother (Alex even got to go once with my grandfather). Alex isn't big on pancakes and Matt doesn't get home in time for any of the church suppers so I have no date :( I guess I will get to Bodypump after all and make some at home.

Sleigh Bells Ring

Oh my goodness, is it March Break yet? I was really looking forward to a downtime weekend this coming weekend but unfortunately that got scheduled out from under me, hopefully it'll snow HARD! I don't mind company but February has just been a flat out month and it's not my parents that are visiting, they're easy to take care of and one weekend off would be really swell! It's hard to build a case when the next weekend is March Break and a dead zone though. It's just an extension to the exhaustion.

I convinced Matt to take Alex to Gym and Swim Saturday, I just couldn't deal with the headache that's become. There is a 'problem child' in that session to begin with. He's physically all over the other boys and there's rarely anything done about him, meanwhile his mother's flapping her trap about how unstrict the schools are now a days...I have to sit and put my iPod on to drown her out and not rip into her. Anyway, Alex worked very hard with his Pappy over Christmas and his swimming improved 10 fold. He was assessed at the beginning of the term and went right up to the max level of the group. Unfortunately that meant being grouped with the demon spawn. The second class Alex had done EVERYTHING they were supposed to without whining and did it better than the rest of his class and was peacefully treading water when hell child swam up and kicked him in the stomach hard enough to push him back through the water. Alex sat out and had dry heaves when I got him to the change room. The next session? They put Alex down to a beginner level because he didn't look comfortable, well if you'd been paying attention Barbie you'd have seen why he was in pain. It's been a big fight ever since to move him back up. I'm sooo frustrated. He loves swimming but he's frustrated at having to sit back and blow bubbles when he can swim widths of the pool. I'm not a competitive mom, if he can't do something he can't but how do you empirically measure 'comfortable'?? He's not learning and he's no longer having fun with lesssons and justifiably so and this is OUR hard earned money going into the program. I'm really conflicted as a consumer I'd be asking for a refund by now but really, I'd be taking lessons away from Alex and then he's punished yet again. Sigh...

While the boys were gone I did some fiddly much neglected house work, like washing the valances and cleaning the blinds (dark blinds nice, dust magnets though). I stripped the guest bed and put in more loads of laundry. I even cleaned off some of the grimy prints on the walls. It was nice cleaning and not having the two of them behind me messing something else up! I got their stuff out and ready for the sleigh ride and put on a snack for the quick transition from swim to sleigh. The beaver sleigh ride was fun, although my back is paying for it ;) The potluck was fun but a bit awkward. We're a suburb's troop which equates to no other 29 year old mothers, Matt who's just shy of 34 is probably one of the closest in age to me (but there are at least some there that are his age!) so I really feel out of place. In the city there'd be younger families still in apartments and such but not in the burb's (although I'd have more mother's like the gym and swim mom's so maybe it's better just to be uncomfortable than completely frustrated). The kids had a grand time at the lodge especially since there'd been a birthday party just before we got in and they left all of the balloons. I made Alex one popular kid by teaching him about static electricity and what you could do with that and the balloon!

Sunday I got a little more stitching in (did some Saturday while catching up on Stargate) and tidied up more of my stitching stuff upstairs for transport down to the craft room. No more loose hand dyed's to sort out, hooray! Alex was pretty excited to see my summer dragons, knowing that they'll be for his room whenever they're framed. He and I are still suffering from the aftermath of our bug, decreased appetite and generally just wishywashy so it was a quiet day. I did have to buy another of the nifty 'crafting tackle box' I'd picked up last week, the first was confiscated for tidying up the ninja turtles. Now that they have a place they're played with ALOT more.

Tonight should be stitchy, the Doctor Who season finale's on as well as Heros (well not the season finale of that one), good night to sit and stitch :)

Valentine's Sucks

Oh my, long time no blog! Combine a fun family weekend with the re-emergence of Norwalk and I guess that's what we get ;)

We had a really nice birthday celebration with Mom Saturday, chinese for lunch and mexican for supper, followed by an irish cream chocolate cake and boiled frosting! Wrap that up with The Illusionist and some Epicure Three Onion Dip mix and I think her birthday went well ;) Alex ended up sick by Sunday though, sigh.

I've been stitching away at Summer's Magic. I think I'd like to have that WIP wrapped up before going back on rotation, although I'll be parking an ornament here at my desk for lunch hours. I should be able to post a progress pic tonight.

Valentine's was not romantic. Matt and I both ended up with Alex's bug although I didn't realize how bad I was feeling until I got to the office. When I decided to leave I went to take the elevator for once, pressed the button and boom...the power went off! I took the stairs down to the main level and the automated parking was out as well! Thankfully the security guard was able to get the gate open or they were going to have to assign a janitor to me! I spent the rest of the day in bed miserable, combine feeling rotten with no valentine card and you can imagine my state. What is so GD hard about picking up a card? It's not like they don't come out the day after Christmas. I don't need to to be extravagent, I just want a damn card. It may be cold outside but my shoulder's alot colder!

Yesterday was another storm day, I was still too sick and weak to do anything so I was in bed. Sigh if I hadn't have been so sick I might have been in the position to finish my dragon's this weekend. Oh well!

Sweet Sixteen

Well, here's what I've been working on for the past week quietly as it was for mom's birthday. Presenting the Winter Teapot by Fiddlestitch Cottage :)


Just 34 more projects to go before I can pick up another couple of charts ;)

Still Kickin!

Yes, it's true! I'm still kicking. I've been sidelined quite a bit this week though! Saturday was crazy. I was going to take Alex to Gym and Swim but saw he was a bit whiny due to the Beaver sleepover so I brought him home to rest, avoiding the potential nuclear situation of whiny kid with G&S bully. It had snowed the previous night and with the crazy winds the drive out to the birthday party was extremely stressful. We cut through a subdivision instead of taking a main road which saved 10-15 minutes but I was regretting it the whole way down to the old highway, however the old highway was in worse shape due to the blowing snow than the subdivision road! I didn't kick myself for long. Where the party was 2 hours and I was minutes away from Cathey's I finally went to see her gorgeous home :) Cathey got to see my stocking first hand and I started a new little project. Those 2 hours really flew by. The drive back to the house was no better (although it seemed faster where I was confident of where I was going!) and I ended up arriving with an extreme migraine.

Sunday we had a very quiet family day. I was kind of moping around the house as it was the sad realization that it has been a year since I last hugged my grandmother so I really wanted to be home with the boys and enjoy the family I have as you can never take that for granted. Also, until the gym settles down I've rearranged the schedule to avoid going there on the weekend until I can essentially arrive for class and leave again, being there super early to secure a slot and not actually working out while I'm waiting is not worth missing that family time! We had our little superbowl party that evening and I resisted all of the Superbowl sales!!

Tuesday was crappy, for me anyway. I've been at odds with how the project I'm on has been run for awhile. All of the little bottlenecks in the system result in big delays by the time they arrive at my desk. Now combine this with a meeting that cut our flex time back when my area of the project has no reason for it and suggest overtime when we spend half our week in meetings...I swear I think there are meetings to discuss if someone should be able to pee...and I wasn't a happy camper. Matt arrived home with a nice raise so I guess our day balanced out...however that didn't deter a second round of the migraine and I was out for the count Wednesday.

Thursday was exciting, stitching exciting and not the Office Space moment I had with the consultant on this project ;) I got word that a very exciting project that I'd discussed with Tracy of Fiddlestitch Cottage is going to be available to the public very shortly. It was kind of a brain child that involved a permutation of one of Tracy's existing patterns for a very awesome charity project, it would be like whomever suggested changing Giggles in the Snow to Giggles in the Leaves or Giggles in the Sand seeing the light of day AND benefiting a very dear charity close to one's heart. I'll leave it at that, but I'm really excited!!! This is as close as I'll ever get to designing, unless of course I'm ever called off the benches of model stitchers and it's just neat. I can't wait to share the details!!

Today is a day for rememberance, I can still picture the events of last year in slow motion as if they happened hours before. I remember being brought to tears in training over at Polar Bear in the middle of the morning out of the blue, the huge feeling that I should find some of my family at the hospital, running into Reverend Lovejoy (not really his name but ask my bridesmaids, he conjures up images of Rev Lovejoy off of the Simpsons) and knowing deep down that something was truly out of sorts coming off the elevator and walking into a room of someone that looked very sick, not deceased as I was soon to find out. It didn't matter how many times I'd told Matt that I really thought the doctor's were missing something all along, it was still a huge shock. It's been a year since the first time I've had to deliver that sort of news to someone as unsuspecting as myself. It was probably only on that day that I would end up coming home late after picking dad up from the airport and not cry myself silly in frustration that my entire house was covered in vomit! Who knew a little boy's stomach could hold that much?? I was almost greatful to have something to take my mind of the days events no matter how gross it was ;) We miss you Grammie...

Tomorrow though is a day of celebration! Mom turns 39 again ;) Alex is super psyched for their visit. He helped me bake a cake last night and tonight we get to frost it, we have reservations at our favorite Mexican restaurant and the rest will remain a mystery mom if you're reading :P

In closing I thought I'd quote this little ditty I found on MSNBC. I don't claim to condone anything that people do to wind up in the tabloids however this sadly speaks volumes about our society.

"The level of meanness in our current society isn’t exactly a news bulletin, but this is brutal. When someone like Anna Nicole Smith goes, with all her baggage and scandalous exploits, it says a lot more about the people who dump on her dead body than it does about the woman herself."
~Michael Ventre MSNBC

Finish 15 :)

So here it is, minus the charms until Alex's is finished. Presenting MY stocking :)

Tori's Stocking by Shepherd's Bush

Buy Milk!

Just a friendly reminder NB'ers that milk goes up 5 cents a litre tomorrow, you'll see me trying to find two bags tonight with an expiry date off in the future ;)

Poor Alex, last night when we got home he openned our mailbox and was delighted to see a baggie with a magazine in it, his Chickadee subscription...or so we thought. He took another look at and said it was a mistake and it wasn't his. I thought it was just the coupons/ads that come with it blocking the view. He was pretty disappointed. While making supper I openned the bag to get the coupons out and it was in French! His birthday subscription had been changed to something age appropriate for a French raised child, not one that has been in Immersion for 5 months. The thought nice, but he really can't enjoy it for a couple of years and in the meantime no Chickadee. So now we either have to have it refunded and resubscribe to Chickadee or move it to something more language appropriate for him. Thank goodness mom had sent him a Twisted Whiskers e-card, that made his day :)

As for stitching, there has been some progress in the stocking. The last bit is the annoying stitch here in this colour, stitch there in that colour kind of deal. Compound that with the excitement of a new game and the daily chores and well...it's taking awhile :( I'm really looking forward to Friday though, I'll be able to kick back and stitch. I may even rent a movie and eat some chinese food while I'm at it (the boys are away). Although of course if I had company that would be just as great as I'm not too picky ;)

Six Weird Things

I've been tagged by Carolyn :)

Six weird things that you didn't know about me...
1. I sleep with a fan on, even in the dead of winter
2. Apparently my husband thinks it's scandelous that I can't name a single song that was put out by Pink Floyd. If he could read this he'd be proud that I didn't had 'some group' in front of PF.
3. The subject of teeth completely grosses me out. I have to send Alex to his father to have his mouth checked when he claims he has loose teeth. YUCK
4. I generally do not eat vegetables that start with C - carrots, corn, cauliflower, celery unless they're hidden in a casserole
5. I hate it when my food touches, especially when food has an 'over contact' period with a condiment. Fries must be dipped, NO condiments on my burger as it makes the bun soggy, cranberry sauce should NOT contact the turkey...you name it ;)

Long Time No Blog

What have I been up to?? Well, there are very few that would understand ;) It involved the need to obliterate things on the computer with a redheaded warlock. Between the on going saga of little miss fists, DH's workload and a consultant that seriously ticks me off, stitching by myself was NOT going to be very productive.

Friday we received an e-mail about a team meeting, said team meeting involves our flex time and over time because we have a consultant that is used to snapping her fingers to get things done at their old job. Said consultant has tonnes of work resources available but their time is extremely mismanaged and we should give up our flex time and family time due to their failures?? I have never been so irrate in a very long time. I could go on and on about how cold (suggested someone would come back early from bereavement leave to meet with our COTS provider), unprofessional (three status meetings in a week? Having someone come in on a day off for the third status meeting of the week for a total of 15 minutes) and two faced ('the schedule is flexible next week' meanwhile their whining to the director about us saying the department is too flexible with us), but that would be exhausting. Needless to say I went straight home Friday and relaxed with my family.

Saturday was busy. Alex and I had gym and swim in the morning. He did really well avoiding a real PITA kid. Due to a staffing issue we've had the director taking care of the gym portion and she really takes no flack off this kid, great :) But at the pool he's a holy terror, the second the instructors backs are turned he's hitting, kicking and shoving. Alex stayed clear of him this week but did end up kicked in the stomach by him when they were actually in the pool. Matt suggesting bring the camera in next week and showing the instructors the video footage of what this kid is up to. Saturday was also heart breaking. Alex has made real strides in behaving with other children. Common sense is finally kicking in so he gets up and leaves when someone is bothering him which was half of his problem. It's heartbreaking though to see a child who's 'reputation' is tarnished by how they behaved in kindergarten (case in point, another teacher automatically put him on 'the wall' when he was punched after an accidental slip). I was standing out at the pool while Alex was lined up waiting for the other kids to arrive and an 8ish year old boy looked and said 'oh look there's bad Alex'. :( I wonder how many years of good behavior will make up for the adjustment of public kindergarten. I know if we have another child we'll be paying the money for private kindergarten.

Sunday was a family day, we finished Alex's latest Magic Treehouse book, played Uno, toasted bagels and after I took a break to go to BodyCombat we went sliding! Well, I think I'll have to have my old three ski brought over as it was a HUGE hit. We let him go down on his own on his old sled but he really wanted to try the three ski (there was one left in the woods when the previous owners of our house moved out). Matt and Alex wiped out the first time but the second they made it to the bottom of the hill which is a great distance off. Then it was my turn. Oye, scary. One hurtles down the hill when their sled is over double the weight with both of us on it than the last time I ever went sliding! Alex was squealing in delight in the front, I was shreiking in terror in the back ;) I was convinced we were going to go airborne with every bump. Let alone the second time I braved going down and Matt said Alex could drive. He's sooo not getting his license when he's 16!!! We were all pretty sore after an hour and a half and headed home after a quick stop for a treat :)

I did manage to get a little stitching in though, the row of hearts and sheep is almost done so then it's just the vine and my name to stitch in. Piece of cake :)

A Letter of Truth

Well, well, well....little Miss 'give boys black eyes' finally confessed that Alex had indeed accidentally slipped and in the process came into contact with Miss Fist-a-cuffs who punched him and told the teacher that he had hit her, failing to note both that she'd punched him to the teacher, sitter and daycare provider until this week. She says she was mad that he didn't say sorry for his accident, but gee at 29 if someone's immediate reaction to me slipping and falling, then punching me out and filing a lawsuit (or adult version of telling the teacher) I really don't think I would be too apt to say I was sorry either. What concerns me even more is that Alex is so beaten down by the school system and the not being a 'tattletale' that his kindergarten teacher forced on him that he feels that telling the whole truth will just be seen as a lie and just end him up in more trouble. I had to teach Alex something I never thought I'd have to, how to completely ignore someone. He's been told in the past to stay away from Miss Fist and apparently when he tells her he can't play with her she threatens to tell the teacher he's being mean and he's the one that usually ends up in trouble. I mean when I took him to our family doctor to have him initially assessed for ADD after 15 minutes of talking to him she asked me who this 'Miss Manipulative' is and if there was any way to separate them, he attention was perfectly fine but he was just too overloaded with her nonsense and couldn't cope. Sigh, this is only grade one... at least she can't enter Frenchi Immersion until grade 6 so they'll be in separate classrooms until at least high school :)

Stitching wise it's been a very slow week, this little drama has taken on a life of it's own and has been wearing me out. I have everything but the tree trunks now stitched on the bottom of the sock and have started the sheep at the top. I'm really hoping to get some additional stitching in this weekend but it looks like it'll probably be another busy one, sigh... Gym and swim to go to , groceries to pick up, birthday presents to pick out...I may just skip the insane lines for Body Pump Sunday and go straight to Body Combat which doesn't require people to be there 20 minutes in advance. I really hate Januaries at the gym!

Let it Snow!

Yay, my stocking saw the light of day again :) It didn't this weekend that's for certain. I was experiencing a bit of 'new game-itis'

Back to the weekend. Well after not having a winter since 2004 it finally arrived Friday. The drive to Eleni's going away lunch was interesting to say the least. We ended up downstairs in the booth section as the cook for upstairs couldn't make it in. Oh well, I still had my donair AND it was on special! On the way back to work I deemed it a necessary day to splurge on the parking lot instead of heading to the parking lot, trudging through over a foot of snow to work and back and cleaning off the van again. Of course this wasn't without incident ;) This building has automated parking. Needless to say I was a bit worried when the power started to flicker 5 minutes before I was supposed to go and the ticket machine is electronic! In this state of panic I managed to leave my cross stitch bag at the office, noticing the second I approved the transaction so I had 10 minutes to get to the 5th floor and back down, start the van and get to the gate. No pressure or anything ;)

The boys were out shovelling and playing in the snow when I arrived so I could make it partially in the driveway. Alex and I geared up and headed out to our sliding hill to beat it down. After we were thoroughly soaked we trudged back to the house threw all of our stuff in the dryer and made some tacos :)

We woke up to a winter wonderland. I wanted to go sliding but I only got one foot out the door before the wind made me think otherwise. Matt and I cleaned a path for the van so I could take Alex to gym and swim and he didn't disappoint! My timid little guy from September was gone and he was swimming back and forth across the pool, even once in the deep end. He was even jumping off the blocks. Normally I stitch during lessons as he was in the shallow end but this was just too darn interesting ;) He was also a very good helper when we went grocery shopping after so I treated him to a bagel. Plain with butter he requested. Of course by the time we left he was hooked on my onion bagel with light vegetable cream cheese.

Monday the old Caris crew (Eleni and Angela) met at the house to stitch. Alex was very excited that a pregnant lady was coming to the house. It's so neat seeing everyone's progress. I pulled out my stocking and finished the row of hearts on the bottom. I was soo excited to hear there was going to be a floss run. I may just start Alex's stocking sooner than expected. Where I want to make a substantial cut in our debt this year having a stocking that can be finished without costing alot of money is VERY appealing, especially considering that I have about three or more pieces waiting to be framed already! I wonder if I can convince Matt that framing money makes a good gift?? :)

Black Eyes, Black Ice And Trying To Get In The Black

Yesterday started as a nice day but it was just one of those days that spiralled down hill at a rapid velocity. I made progress on my stocking at lunch, and had taken off another 2 lbs that I'd gained over the holidays. Then I picked Alex up...

I saw him playing with his little friends and I noticed his eye looked puffy. I just thought he must have had a late bedtime or something where I wasn't there to be mean mom and send him for 8 o'clock. When I got him to the van I got a good look at it, bruises! Now I treat a 6 year old's story with a grain of salt, I obviously wasn't there, according to him he slipped on some ice, banged heads with 'lucifer-a incarnate' from last year and before she ran to the teacher she punched him in the eye and he, and only he was the one who got in trouble. I don't even came if his end of the story wasn't as innocent, there's a whole lof of physical proof that it was more than a one sided battle. Needless to say I'll be making a phone call to the school when it's next in session (today's a storm day). Then Beaver's rescheduled their sleepover. Alex was disappointed and me too! I was looking forward to having the house to myself for a night ;)

For some ODD reason by the time the rage started to pass the Canadian HBP popped into my head, and I realized that when I switched jobs last year going from an auto RRSP deduction to a pension plan that my retirement savings now don't count towards said plan. For those unfamiliar with it, you can deduct from your RRSP's without penalty to put a downpayment on your first home, and repay that amount over 15 years. If you do not make your minimum payment after your second year (I forgot there was this clause, so my contribution last year reduced it anyway), you must count the difference as income. I was sooo mad at myself for not realizing this! Thankfully you can contribute the first three months of the year to it. When one is trying to get back in the black, it was kind of a mini set back. I'm proud of how much better budgetted I've become and seeing my personal debt load go down, but still, it killed the pat on the back feeling for sure.

Considering all of this I decided not to stitch last night for fear I'd screw something up! Instead I 'computed' ;)

Thank goodness Wednesday was stitchy night. We braved the cold and headed to Sobey's. It was a smaller crowd than usual but relaxing none the less. Faith Ann's Three Kings is gorgeous and Cathey's 'dog peeing on snowman' is a hoot :) It was nice to just escape. Faith Ann and I held the fort until closing as goodness only knows how much uninterrupted stitching time one can get at home ;) As you could see from the other week the stocking is really coming along. I got more stitched on it yesterday at lunch and it looks finishable for the weekend, especially considering the weather is supposed to be pretty yucky!

Today's highlight: Eleni's going away lunch!! Best wishes on her future endeavor ;)

Stitch Night Progress :)

Quick update with my latest progress pic (one of my New Years resolutions, post more progress!)

First Friends That Count Night of the Year :)

Woo hoo! It's stitchy night. My bags are packed and I'm ready to go conquer more of the stocking. Considering I've only had a small amount of time to work on it this week, there's actually quite a bit of progress since my last post :) The little village of houses is just about done, the row underneath it is done and the row of trees is started woo hoo!

It's a good night to get out of the house. We've been looking at things that need to be done before painting the craft room. Somewhere the fact that I've changed priorities on one particular item and don't want or need it was completely lost in translation to the individual who does the 'man talk'. The electrician was in last night to give a quote, something I was very scared about. We had my friend's carpenter husband look at it and when he said, the electrician will give you a quote, it won't be in the thousands, more like hundreds, that initial 'renovations never go under budget' creeped in my head. Seriously my Christmas gift was to make the room NICE for me, not to spend alot of money on. Removing the outlet from the quote knocks the hours down, materials down and really makes the other work quite cheap. Patching where some access points need to go, not fun but much better than the mess the outlet would make. Considering it was simply to plug in a 9 year old stereo it really isn't necessary.

It's been snowing and really cold here. The drive into work was a mess yesterday and definitely NOT good for my nerves. Ice = bad, not able to see the lines on top of that = even worse! Today, it's just cold. My eyelashes were starting to freeze together on the brief one block walk from the parking lot to the office. No fun at all!!

So after a not so fun week I'm definitely ready for some unwinding tonight :)

Woot! Stitching Progress

So, as promised although slightly late here's my stocking to date:

This weekend has been purposely quiet. We'd thought of making a trip to Matt's parents but he's just too tired from his job this week to travel. The only thing I've done besides my exercise classes and groceries is sleep and play with Alex. I'm hoping to get a little more done on her today before BodyPump and BodyCombat, but I'm also hoping to get the veggies chopped for this weeks dinners so who knows. Next weekend will be busy with a beaver sleepover, gym and swim starting back up and Matt taking a drywall ceiling course, woot! Ok, maybe not woot to the insanity which will ensue, but woot to the fact that the purpose of going to that course is to complete my craft room :)

On The Soapbox

*Highly opinionated, slightly religiously tied entry. If this isn't for you visit back in the afternoon for a stitching update*

I've had a number of questions on what this woman that ticks me off so badly does for a living. So, I'm answering it and giving my reasons. Normally, I'm not a judgemental person and am ok with people not sharing my opinion on any matter. I love God, but have friends that are atheists, buddists, agnostic, and probably others (no scientologists yet :P). Freedom of speech is a privelege most countries don't have and we're very fortunate in Canada to be able to express our opinions. I don't (or try not to) judge people on their opinions or what they have done, it's what they continue to do that irks me.

So back to the woman I cannot stand, her occupation: 'clinic' worker.

I have a 6 year old son and got married when he was 5 so obviously their 'services' aren't for me. But here is the foundation of why I feel this way:

• 
  Said clinic is set up in the backyard, literally of my son's future middle school. What's next, a methadone clinic beside his elementary school?? Seriously, we need better zoning around our children's places of education
• 
  The older I get the closer to home fertility struggles get. I watch extraordinary people attempt to start families and sympathize with their frustrations which are truly heartbreaking. I watch people spend thousads of dollars attempting to adopt out of country and struggle with invitro. It seems like a complete and total waste of life. For once instead of graphic pictures of what the procedure does I'd rather see the beautiful people I know/or of who'd love to be fortunate enough to have a child in their lives. It's just waste.
• 
  One of our offices floors is shared with ob/gyn's. I go to work early, I've seen countless girls go in, boyfriends in tow and days later I see them in the bathrooms/elevators after their post checkup alone and distraught. I honestly feel sorry for them. I've had friends that do not share my side of the fence, I can't name one of them that saved a relationship going this route. Men get off easy, when it comes down to it, they really didn't make that decision now did they?? Unexpected pregnancies are scary, I know, top that off with crazy hormones and I feel that our vulnerability is exploited.

Now I could go into all of the pro-life/pro-choice points, each side has it's valid arguments in a neutral forum. These are just my personal points for sitting on my side of the fence. My purpose is not to offend, just to explain why on top of not knowing just what the future holds for the size of our family and dealing on a daily basis that I feel incomplete without another child, that seeing this woman touches that very nerve.

Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Tuesday was Alex's first day back at school and my goodness, his book bag was full of goodies. One little girl made him up a gift bag with a decorated candy cane AND a 5$ book of Tim Horton's money and she's not even in his class, strange. I double checked the tag and it said Alex on it, guess he has a new admirer. There were also Christmas cards and a little pack of snowman soup from his teacher in his bookbag, impressive.

I worked on my stocking after Alex went to bed, he was quite zonked after a hard days work, and getting used to sleeping in. We're quite fortunate, he's very good at playing by himself and grabbing cheerios or a nutrigrain instead of getting us up (not that we ask or expect him to). It's coming along quite nicely, if only I could locate the perle cottons that came in during the Christmas rush :(

Wednesday was my first trip back to Newbody in AGES. The fall was just too hectic. It was nice to be back though. Very crowded but nice. The new instructor was fabulous, however one attendee that grates at every single ounce of my moral fibre showed up beside me. I really need to find a t-shirt that might make her clue in that she should find another spot. I'm sure she's a very nice woman, I just can't get over what she does for a living and although it sounds junior high 'ish, I just want MY space. The evening went by in a blur between beavers, a little stitching and a little computer and it was bedtime for me. We also got a notice that there's a beaver's sleep over next week, one of us won't be getting much sleep next Friday night.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to snag some progress pics tonight ;)

25 Signs You've Grown Up

1. Your houseplants are alive, and you can't smoke any of them.
2. Having sex in a twin bed is out of the question.
3. You keep more food than beer in the fridge.
4. 6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to bed.
5. You hear your favorite song in an elevator.
6. You watch the Weather Channel.
7. Your friends marry and divorce instead of "hook up" and "break up."
8. You go from 130 days of vacation time to 14.
9. Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as "dressed up."
10. You're the one calling the police because those %&@# kids next door won't turn down the stereo.
11. Older relatives feel comfortable telling sex jokes around you.
12. You don't know what time Taco Bell closes anymore.
13. Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up.
14. You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonald's leftovers.
15. Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt.
16. You take naps.
17. Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one.
18. Eating a basket of chicken wings at 3 AM would severely upset, rather than settle, your stomach.
19. You go to the drug store for ibuprofen and antacid, not condoms and pregnancy tests.
20. A $4.00 bottle of wine is no longer "pretty good crap."
21. You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time.
22. "I just can't drink the way I used to" replaces "I'm never going to drink that much again."
23. 90% of the time you spend in front of a computer is for real work.
24. You drink at home to save money before going to a bar.
25. When you find out your friend is pregnant you congratulate them instead of asking, "Oh crap what the hell happened?"

Bonus:

26: You read this entire list looking desperately for one sign that doesn't apply to you and can't find one to save your sorry old ass. Then you forward it to a bunch of old friends 'cause you know they'll enjoy it & do.
And now you know why I am forwarding this to you...

Well...there goes my high from being mistaken for a student! :(

I'm A Student

Not! But someone thought I looked young enough to be one today :) Where I'm turning 30 this year I had perma-grin after that. Mind you I'd just come from a two hour workout at the gym and was still in my yoga pants with my Roots backpack slung over my shoulder and white Columbia coat on instead of my nice black wool one but still, I don't feel like I look young enough for that ;) I should have picked the couple things I wanted up before class but was running a little behind and when I got back I think half the university students arrived back in town and had literally taken over the Superstore! I've never seen so many carts of Kraft Dinner and toilet paper EVER!

We had a fairly quiet weekend. One can't do much when they're tied up taking all of the Christmas decorations down. The last note of business is disassembling the mini tree which may or may not get done tonight. I did start reading The Nanny Diaries this weekend where I couldn't locate the book I had been reading and I did a little stitching on Teri's stocking (for me!!!). I can't wait to start back on the rotation this week. This weekend was off the rotation until the decorations came down as that's a major undertaking. It's amazing how much more room we have!!

Friday I had a really good mail day, something few and far between since I started the 50 project challenge. My fabric arrived for the Marbek Nativity AND my fabric for Alex's stocking and perle cotton's for my stocking arrived. I was a good girl and waited on ordering the charm packs until they're actually ready to have them attached. Alex also decided on what stocking he wanted. I was hoping he'd choose either Harry or Reed's which he did, Harry's. I was kind of looking forward to getting to use the hand dyed perle's again but when I saw how little checkering was in Harry's I was pretty excited. I also held off telling him until after he decided that Faith Ann's little guy also had Harry. Alex was pretty excited when he heard that they were both the same but I'm glad he made his own decision first :)

Tonight we're going to have a little date night at home, Smallville is unfortunately a rerun on ASN (why can't we have the CW so I can watch the new one) and Desperate Housewives is on later than I usually stay up so that's not in the way of renting a movie for 8 pm :) Movie and stitching, woot!! :)

Happy Birthday...

Faith Ann!!!

Woot, I'm up to 14 projects done for the 50 project challenge. I conferred with the girls this afternoon and where I didn't attach the charm's onto Matt's stocking until after it wasn't done, then I forgot that I'd stitched Raise The Roof's Arm and a Leg and I finished stitching Alex's Lost Dragon Sampler during My Super Ex Girlfriend (which the boys rented, not owning up to that ;)). One line isn't perfectly centered but I must have Amish roots somewhere to blame that on, isn't there supposed to be one mistake in a sampler as only God can be perfect?? I'm anal but not THAT anal ;) Alex will be pretty pleased when his birthday rolls around, and yes I do realize that it's just under 6 months away. I hate deadlines!! He's wanted some dragons for his room and was super pleased with his "Good Knight, Sleep Tight" piece. I was a little choked up when he told me he loved all the pictures I'd made for him and that he liked them better than ones you buy in a store. We'll see if he still wants a 2 foot square Precious Moments Noah's Ark when he's 17 though...

Arm and A Leg - Raise The Roof

Lost Dragon Sampler - Dragon Dreams

On Twelth Day of Christmas

I'll hopefully move past the 12 projects completed to 13 on the 50 project challenge :)

Woot, only 38 more projects to finish before I can buy a pattern again. Although I think the 50 project challenge puts things more in prospective than anything. I just have one band of illustrative blackwork to do on Alex's Lost Dragon Sampler and that will bring the total to 13 :) Even with the tree coming down this weekend I think it's more than doable to expect that to be completed.

To date here are the 50 Project Challenge finishes since early October when I officially commited (I should have committed in September when I was mulling it over then I'd already be down to 37)

Lizzie Kate - Here Comes Santa Claus
Brittercup Designs - Christmas Puppy
Brittercup Designs - Christmas Kitty
Dragon Dreams - Trick Or Treat
Jeanette Douglas - Hope Needleroll for me
Jeanette Douglas - Hope Needleroll for exchange
Lizzie Kate - Dear Santa, We've Got Cookies
Told In A Garden - Voice Of The Shepherd
Dragon Dreams - Christmas Bunny ornament
Dragon Dreams - Santa's Unexpected Gift
Mill Hill - Mandolin Santa
Lizzie Kate - Tis The Season

If I ever mention organizing my cupboards again someone please restrain me ;) What an ordeal that was although I am quite pleased with the end effect. I can now find all of my food, grocery shop a bit more efficiently :) Interesting finds included:

3 bottles of apple cider vinegar
5 boxes of lasagna noodles
and finding out that my counter tops were manufactured 2 years after our house was built....interesting :)

I'm finally starting to feel better although Matt now has the cold. I made it to the gym yesterday and surprisingly it wasn't that busy. I always hate going in January when people are there to burn off some cookies and that's it.

This morning the roads were nasty with a capital N. Only after I got to work did I hear that there weren't any salt or sand trucks out and people were advised to stay home until 9, sheesh. Here I was at work by 7:45 :( The walk to work was even worse. Hopefully this will all be out of the system by tomorrow. Alex and I have an exciting little trip to market and the library planned ;)

First Finish of 2007

Ok...well technically it was finished before New Years, but the actual finishing wrapped up today. I apologize for the background that washes it out, the table is in use (more on that to follow). Presenting Deck The Halls by Dragon Dreams, featured in the Holiday edition of A Needle Pulling Thread

New Year's Eve was pretty low key for us with both Matt and I battling colds. Not that we are ever up to anything overly exciting. Finding a sitter is too big a hassle and I kind of like spending it under the same roof as Alex, as I'm sure he WON'T want to be spending it with us in the next 10-12 years ;) Every year we let him stay up a little bit later than last and take part in a bit more of our little festivities. This was the first year we let him try the fondue. Not that he got to actually put things in the pot but he did get to assemble his fork and eat it when it was done. He also put a dent in some of the appetizers. After we went to bed we crashed on the couch with a beer and chips (and stitching ;)), turned on the CBC and mindlessly waited until 2007. We actually missed the countdown as one of the programs went until 12:07. Mind you I was only half awake as being reclined made drifting off easy on my sinuses ;) We're getting so old ;)

Today we didn't move too far from the living room. I'm actually starting to feel better. We casually ate appetizers on and off all day, watched some of our new movies (POTC Dead Man's Chest and Cars), Alex and Matt built two of the POTC Megablocks sets Alex received for Christmas and I even started tearing apart the kitchen. Out of all the things I try to hide in the house mess wise my cupboards have been number one since we moved in. When we moved to the house 2.5 years ago I had boxes labelled for what rooms they were supposed to go to, where were they when I finally finished packing/cleaning the little things at the apartment...All in the kitchen/dining room and for anyone that's been to our house they know it's the main artery (especially where we still need to fix the front doors handle ;)) Anyway, things got put away in a rush and combine that with poorly laid out cupboards (gorgeous on the outside but impractical until we put in some lazy susans) and you got the disaster that ours were. I have yet to look into a lazy susan but until then I'd like to scrub them down and at least group stuff in some logical fashion. Let's just say finding 3 bottles of apple cider vinegar really emphasises how disorganized they were ;) So if I meet any resolution in 2007 organizing those cupboards are priority 1!!

Now to finally get back to some stitching. I wonder if I can finish up Alex's Lost Dragon Sampler before I have to head back to work on Thursday??? :)

Wishing You A...

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