STITCHIN SCHOOLMARM

New Framed Pieces

2012-02-12T10:25:00.000-08:00

So it look as if I have been away for quite some time. I don't know where the time goes for me, but obviously it has been flying by. I recently had two pieces framed and added to my walls at home. They are hanging in my kitchen, but after looking at them hanging there for the past four days I have come to the conclusion that I might need to paint the kitchen so the stitching will match better.

I haven't made much progress on my latest stitching project. It seems as if something is always in the way. Dan went to NH to help his aunt celebrate her 90th birthday earlier in the month, at the same time he was gone we were getting tile in our kitchen and utility area, so the entire house was in disarray while he was gone. Then I just couldn't seem to get in the mood to stitch anything. I have been reading a lot here lately. Last weekend, of course we had the super bowl and, well I treat that as some sort of national holiday. So Saturday, Jonathon and I went to Tulsa and ran around. We went to the Silver Needle's super bowl sale, and SAMS. I got some great new stash and Jonathon got himself a new Patriots t-shirt. And at SAM's let's just say that should we have a monumental blizzard, or aramgeddon we are prepared. Sunday was a day of cleaning and cooking in preparation for the big game, so it was a no stitchin day, then Monday was back to work and Dan was off again to a school in Grand Island, Nebraska. I had conferences two nights last week, a doctor's appointment, and I had to run to Hobby Lobby to get my stitching picked up. Now we are bumping up against the NCLB testing and my kiddos start this Wednesday and test until Friday. This year 91.7% of them have to pass the test or we will be "on improvement". So right now my hands are itchy and swollen, and I am thinking it is my usual outbreak of State Assessment hives. This time of year I usually get them on the soles of my feet, in my hair, and on the palms of my hands. Needless to say it is hard to stitch while on a steady diet of Benadryl. And what the heck happened to winter?

So there you have it, your update from the funny farm.

A New Year, A New Start

2012-01-10T13:11:00.000-08:00

Greetings, to all the blog readers out there in blog land. A new year brings new cross stitch starts, right? Here is the cross-stitch I am currently working on, it is another Prairie Schooler design. I like it because it is simple and fast. I have several patterns kitted up and put together for the new year.

I don't actually have any resolutions for the new year other than I am going to try and do what I enjoy and take care of myself. I have found that I have been in the middle of a lot of drama this past year, friend wise. Most of it deals with their kids and my kid and I am frankly sick of it all. Funny thing about all of this is that our kids are not even friends, but it seems we just keep getting drug into stuff. So I have decided that I am going to do the things I enjoy and be me. I teach middle school all day and I do not really have time for it with my friends. She said, he said types of situations are starting to really get in my way and I have to find some peace for myself.

We had a wonderful Christmas at our house. I think everyone went out their way to find thoughtful gifts for one another and everyone was happy. Our Christmas day plans were to have my mom and Dan's dad for lunch. However, at the last minute Dan's sister and two boys came to town, and his brother and his family weren't leaving until after lunch, so our dinner crowd was about double the size we planned on, but I think everyone had a great time. Lots of food, visiting and pictures. That is what the holidays are about right?

I have embarked into another hobby and although I am enjoying it quite a bit, I am not as proficient at it as I would like to be. It is quilting. The first quilt took much ripping out, but in the end I felt that it turned out very cute, even though it was just a simple nine patch quilt. It is at the quilter's now being quilted. I have another one started, but I am taking this one slowly, so that I will not repeat the mistakes on the first quilt. Any way that is the hope.

We are home today because the boy is not feeling well. I really needed a mental health day myself. So we have been hanging out- watching television, reading and whatnot. I can't believe I am actually enjoying these books I am reading, but I do like them--The Brides of Amish Country series. They are so unlike most of the books I read. I am either reading nonfiction, something about teaching, or reading a book to see if it is fit for my students to read.

V is for Vadalia and F is for FINISHED!

2011-12-23T17:13:00.000-08:00

Yep, the letter V was the last one I finished on this lovely creation this afternoon! I am hoping to make a trip to Hobby Lobby next week to get this and my Bent Creek Farmer's row framed.

I do believe that we are ready for Christmas. I have said I was done shopping three times to only not be quite done. At this time I think that I am really done! I am enjoying some free time at home. In fact the only time I have been out of the house today was to go to ARBY's with the boy.

Wishing you all the merriest of Christmases and the happiest new year!
God Bless Us Everyone!

It's Been Awhile....

2011-12-18T07:45:00.000-08:00

So I just realized that it has been almost a month since my last post. Life has been busy here. We had basketball tryouts (didn't make the team), band concert, cinnnamon roll baking, Christmas shopping, Thanksgiving, and the finishing of stocking number 26 (I think), laundry, housecleaning, and just a variety of every day activities like work to attend to.

I have three more days of work until the big break begins, and Jonathon has four days left. He and Dan will be traveling to Kansas City on Christmas Eve with two friends to watch the Chiefs vs. Raiders game. Dan is a Raiders fan, and Jonathon is a fan of going anywhere. They also had to good fortune of getting tickets to a K-State game earlier this season. These tickets came with special passes that allowed them to go down on the field during the game. Jonathon loved that as K-State scored a touchdown in the end zone near where they were standing.

I on the other have started trying my hand at quilting. I have to say it is not going quite so well, I will make a quilt because everyone keeps doubting me. But seriously, that is stressful for me to sit down at a sewing machine and trying to sew. I am also getting ready to finish my veggie alphabet so I can get my last two stitching project framed. Then I am on to stocking number 27.

I hope all of you have your shopping done and are ready to start a new year. Have a holly jolly Christmas.

Second Place in Our Age Group

2011-11-21T17:20:00.001-08:00

We ran in the hospital foundation's annual 5k this past weekend. I use the term we, but the only thing I did was take pictures of the boy running. He placed second in his age group with his buddy taking first.

I have started stocking number 26, but haven't really made a lot of progress on it as of this time. It seems as if the holidays have consumed most of my time. I finally set down and got most of my shopping finished and a large majority of it is winging its way to us.

I am hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year. I don't really have a firm plan for what I am cooking. I still have to generate my shopping list and get that taken care of. I do have the turkey bought, so I guess that is a start. I am thinking I will go to the grocery store after the parent basketball meeting tomorrow night. I don't know why the coach plans a meeting for 5:30 the night kids get out of school for the break. It seems to me that a lot of people would be traveling at that time, but what do I know.

I am off here for now wishing all of the the happiest of Thanksgivings. Eat, drink and stitch!

Number 25 Is In the Books!

2011-11-07T08:55:00.000-08:00

So here is the finished product for young mister Drake. It will be delivered to his Grandma JoJo this afternoon if the rain lets up.

It is a gloomy, rainy, fall day here in Kansas. Jonathon has been a bit under the weather. He keeps saying his stomach is nauseous, so we are staying home and resting up. I could be using this day to do something constructive, but I doubt that is going to happen, as it is turning out to be a great day for stitching. Maybe I get number 26 started because it should be done by Christmas as that baby is already here also.

Not much has been happening, just work, and home stuff. Soccer has ended for the season. I have to say I am ready for a break to not have to do anything. I have a pretty good idea of what I am giving everyone for Christmas, and hope to wrap that up either the Friday after Thanksgiving or the Wednesday before.

Have a great week!

Number 25 and Counting

2011-10-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

...Nope, didn't just have birthday number 25, didn't lose 25 pounds, didn't win 25 million dollars in the lottery, either. Just started cross-stitching my 25th shepherd's Bush stocking, for quite a cutie pie named Drake. I will be starting number 26 soon, and after Christmas I will be starting number 27. I now have stockings in 5 states! The other pic is of the progress I have made on my fall abc's from Prairie Schooler.

This week I had inservice on Thursday and the day off on Friday so I thoroughly enjoy the time away from work and I enjoyed the extra time to stitch. Thursday our inservice ended early so that was a nice bonus. On Friday I took Jon and some friends to the Neewollah carnival to ride some rides and basically twirl themselves into oblivion. I must be getting old because I sat on the steps of a nearby building and just watched the rides run and got a headache from them going in circles. I am pretty sure it didn't bother any of them because they ate like horses afterwards.

Other than laundry that seems to be my life in a nutshell. We are getting ready to do some remodeling on the house. Replacing windows and doing some repair and fixing up in the bathroom. I don't why anyone including my husband and the contractor think November is a good time to do this. I am thinking it should be short and sweet process, otherwise I probably won't be very sweet about it.

Hope all my East Coast friends are enjoying their snowfall. I know many of you are without power and what not, but I do love my snow. Hope you get lots of stitching done while it snows.

Technical Difficulties

2011-10-16T09:50:00.000-07:00

.....so we have had few technical difficulties here. Last Sunday a wayward squirrel got into a transformer line and we lost electricity for about an hour. When the electricity came on we didn't have internet, the modem bit the dirt in the process of the electricity coming off and on. It wasn't until Wednesday that we got a new modem. I had parent-teacher conferences, so it wasn't until late Wednesday night we got everything hooked back up.

Between work, soccer, Jon's school stuff, and Dan's work schedule things around here have been hectic. Below is a picture of my progress on the Farmer's Alphabet by Prairie Schooler. As you can see the progress it ever so slight. I am down to the last nine squares.

My plans for the day was to finish these last 9 squares, but alas Dan has announced that he is planning to stay home today! Why the man can't find a hobby is beyond me! I mean can't he go outside and nail something together? make ships in a bottle? rake leaves? just do something!

I am anticipating a trip to Hobby Lobby in the near future when I get this finished. I hope they are having a good deal on frames. I still have the Farmer's Row from Bent Creek to frame, so when I get both of these framed I will have totally gorgeous kitchen decor, if I do say so myself.

After this project it is back to the stockings. I now have three to get done! These people are reproducing faster than I can stitch. I am hoping to have two of them done by Christmas, so you can tell what I plan on doing between now and then. One of the babies won't make an appearance until next March, so I have some time with that one, but the other two are already here!

It is good to be back online and enjoying all of your lovely blogs and stitching. When I can pull myself away from blog reading I plan to have many new projects to show you!

Have a wonderful week!
Tammy

Back to School

2011-09-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

So it is time for back to school for everyone. I started back shortly before Labor Day. It seems this year started off in a bit of a hurry and scurry. I finally feel caught up enough that I can come home, relax, and stitch. For a few days I was continually bringing stuff home to work on in the evening. That is one of the nice things about lots of our things being on the computer. This way I can get some things done at home. I guess I am a gluten for punishment, as I took on another supplementary position. This time it is NCA co-chair. The other gal I will be working with is really easy to get along with, so it should all be good. I have to say that so far I have had a wonderful time with this year's students. They seem to be a very pleasant bunch, as well as an extrememly active bunch. They have been working really hard for me.

I have been stitching on my Prairie Schooler ABC piece. I need to get it finished because I now have three more Shepherd's Bush stockings to stitch. Those babies and weddings just keep coming. This will give me something to do at soccer practice, pep band night at the middle school football games etc.

Normally, this wouldn't be a boring post without pictures, just a boring post. I brought the battery charger for my camera home from our Branson trip. When I was unpacking my big Vera bag, I handed the battery charger to Jonathon and said put this with the rest of my camera stuff. The battery was stone-cold dead and I went to get the charger, it was no where to be found. I looked and looked. I asked Jonathon what he did with it and he look at me like I was asking him in Chinese. He didn't remember me asking him to do anything with it, yadda, yadda, yadda. You know middle school minds just don't work like the rest of the world's brains. Anyway, I ordered another one from Amazon. About an hour later I was hanging up the phone and there it was behind a picture frame. Why he put it there I don't have a clue. So, right now the battery is charging and the Amazon order has been canceled.

Our weather has finally cooled off and we had rain off and on all day yesterday. I am so ready for fall and winter I can hardly contain myself.

Until next week.... happy stitching.

Bigfoot and the Summer of the Growth Spurt

2011-08-21T17:22:00.000-07:00

Here are pics of my latest finish and my new project. The first is Countryside Row by Bent Creek and the project that I am currently working on is the newest alphabet from Prairie Schooler. I know the PS alphabet will be gorgeous when it is finished because the colors all laid together are very striking, they are rich fall colors. Both of these will be proudly displayed in my kitchen once they are completed and framed.

So the summer has come to a close and J started middle school on Friday. I hope the next six years don't go as fast as the first seven years of school did. Why? Because instead of sitting in my car feeling all nervous and strange watching him walk off with his buddy to middle school. I will be standing in the middle of the street watching him drive off to college.

Sixth grade started off at 84 pounds and 4'9" tall. Now we stand at a little over
5'3" and wear a size 9.5 men's size soccer shoe. We have a deep voice to go with all of this. I keep wondering where my kid is!

So I have approximately three days left before I return to work, I plan on doing a little bit of cleaning and a lot of stitching.

Okay, well I must say goodbye I am off to watch the Jersey Housewives!

Home

2011-07-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

We just returned home from a short vacation to Branson, Missouri. We took a friend of J's with us and did Branson tween stuff for two entire days. We went to Silver Dollar City, Whitewater, rode the Ducks, Titanic museum, mini golf, go-karts etc. etc.
So everyday we ate breakfast at a little place called the Waffle House, not to confused with the big black and yellow chain. This is a little privately owned place, very clean, good old-fashioned service--you know the where the waitress brings you your drink and your food, then comes and clears the table for you. So yesterday morning the waitress tells us that Barry Williams, aka Greg Brady, had just left. He is in town for the month, performing I presume, and he comes in about every day some time between 8 and 9. That is why we ate there, I was banking on going in there and meeting Greg Brady! I was so excited, about as excited as I would have been if I had heard Donny Osmond was performing with his brothers and singing "Puppy Love". I spent all day yesterday singing what I could remember of Sunshine Day, and We're Gonna Keep On, Keep On,(which, I still remember some of the dance moves from that song)... and of course the theme song. I mean seriously don't you remember Friday television as a kid, The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, and before them Family Affair? Those were the days! Imagine my disappointment when I got there this morning and he didn't show up! J and his buddy asked, "How will you know he's here?" Seriously?

Anywhoose, since this is supposed to be a stitching blog, and not the Greg Brady Fan Club Blog, I would like to report that I also visited Cecilia's Samplers Needlework Shop. It was a charming little place on the Shepherd of the Hill's Expressway. They had a very well stocked little store with lots of selection in patterns, fabric, and threads. I will say that it was a little hard to find. It is located by a rather large Phillip's 66 station. The reason I say it is hard to find is the sign faces towards the convenient store and not the road. But all in all it was a nice shop.

Well, I will stop there, I have tons of laundry, and ice chests full of stuff to deal with as well as a great need for a nap.

Stitchin' Under the Heat Dome

2011-07-20T19:31:00.000-07:00

There is no possible way for a person in our part of the world to be comfortable and cool these days. At 8:54 pm this evening it was still 95 degrees outside, the only person loving it was Murphy the Dog! She had a grand time on her evening walk around the neighborhood, me not so much! So, to beat the heat I have been cleaning a little here and there with the fans and AC going. I have been doing some stitching too.....

I finished these two kits while watching the "trial". Now I am busily stitching away on Bent Creek's Countryside Row or something to that effect. I am slowly coming down the homestretch of my summer vacation. I don't know about everyone else, but daytime television is awful nowadays. I think that is why I have been semi bored this summer vacation, that and the fact that I don't go outside unless there is a national emergency or we are out of diet Pepsi, because I have an extreme aversion to sweating buckets, and wearing a bra in this weather. Hope this didn't offend anyone or was TMI, but it is the truth, no matter how ugly!

A couple weeks ago Jonathon went to the country club pool with a friend to swim. Then he came home thinking it would be nice if we would join the country club-- I told him to run it by his dad. Like he has a chance of that happening, but anyway on with the story--He had a little cut on each of his big toes from the bottom of the pool, so says he, but the next morning he had two huge blisters on his toes from standing on the cement around the pool. Most people would have moved to a towel or got back in the pool, but not him. See they were playing a game and throwing balls at each other as they dove off the diving board and it was his turn to stand on the cement and nail his buddies with the balls. The sacrifices of youth!

So, I am getting ready to head back upstairs and start on my stitching while I catch the latest episode of Toddler and Tiaras. I thank God every Wednesday night that my mother didn't try to make a pageant queen out of me. My other new show that I love to watch is My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, I don't think I would have made a good gypsy either, those three hundred pound dresses would make me sweat,and I believe we have already covered that topic.

Have a wonderful week, stay cool, and may many happy, carefree, stitching hours come your way.

So Excited!!!!!!

2011-07-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

So I got up this morning with a mission---first to go renew my driver's license. This was a necessity since it was about to expire. I was scared to death to take the eye test, but I passed it easily. I am glad they didn't make me cross-stitch without my magnifiers! Then I came home gathered up the troops and headed off to Hobby Lobby to pick up the project above. Let me tell you it looks wonderful hanging in my living room.

Our summer is rolling along here! Baseball season is over and done with. We are now in the next phase, which includes my birthday and Dan's, a 30 year class reunion, a family reunion, two classes for me, and a short vacation.

Hope you are all keeping cool and getting lots of stitches in here and there!

Summer Stuff

2011-06-21T11:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of J at bat this season. He is now over 5 feet tall, it is hard to believe. He has outgrown all of his jeans and his shorts this summer. He is really enjoying this baseball season. They have only won one game, but he is having fun playing this year. It is amazing the progress that his team has made this season. The coach, as I said before, is sort of old school, and expects them to listen and follow directions. He really isn't about winning, just playing good ball. Last night he took all of their shirts back at the end of the game to put their names on them. He made them win a game before they earned their name on a shirt, I guess I never thought much about having their names on their shirts, but this coach has made it a sort of rite of passage. Plus, he is pretty funny he gives the kids these nicknames--he calls one kid "Cupcake". This kid wore a shirt one night to practice that said something about cupcakes. At the game one night this kid was telling the others in the field what to do and the coach yelled out, "Cupcake, you just worry about pitching and I will do the coaching."

I took my flag to be framed this morning I am kind of worried about how it will looked when I get it back. It was terribly wrinkled. I put it in the dryer, and I ironed and ironed it. It used overdyed thread, not the newer colorfast version, so I couldn't use steam on it. I don't use a hoop or q-snap when I stitch so it was really wrinkled. I did manage to get the design part ironed, so I hoping when they stretch it, it is smooth. The girls at the Hobby Lobby where I take it always seem to do a really good job, so I am remaining hopeful. Of course it took a huge frame to frame it. I have already warned J that he will lose he coveted spot over the entertainment center for the flag. His pic will have to go some place else.

I have been getting bakish here lately. I have been making cookie dough for the freezer for those days when somebody wants a quick snack. The altar Society at church is having a bake sale on July 3rd, so I will be baking some cinnamon rolls for the occasion.

Well, I am off to go through my cross-stitch basket and find my next project. I do have two Shepherd's Bush stockings to do this summer, we are having a another population boom!

See you around, until next time happy stitching!

Sunday Progress

2011-06-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

You will have to excuse the poor picture quality, but this is my progress on One Nation thus far. It is really an easy stitch, just time consuming. I am looking forward to stitching something with more colors. I am thinking if I can get one row a day done, then in the next week I should have a finished project. The size of this is huge and I think I am suing a smaller count fabric than the model on the pattern cover. While I stitch I keep looking around the living room/dining room area to see where this might hang when I am finished.

Not much has been going here at casa de Stitchin Schoolmarm. J is in full swing with baseball. His coach is an older guy, who has no children playing, he is sort of old school. Jonathon seems to really like him, he makes them do push ups for not following directions and listening. The first couple of practices there were a lot of push ups going on, now not so many.

Dan has been working for a local farmer since January and has been really busy lately. J and I just hang out at home and enjoy the quiet time of summer. We hardly see Dan, except to come home in the evening to eat a bite and then shower and go to bed. He really likes his new job, so I guess that is all that matters.

Murphy the wonder dog is still being Murphy--out of one thing and into two. I think she is secretly jealous of my stitching. She keeps putting her nose between my hand and the fabric until I put my stitching down and pet her. I tell Jonathon every day that his dog is way more trouble than he ever was as a toddler. She is always barking at anything that moves outside, but this morning we put her in the backyard. Another bigger dog down the block started barking and she hightailed it to the door with her tail between her legs whimpering to get in. She obviously isn't as brave as she claims to be.

The weather has been really warm for this part of June. We got outside and planted some flowers the other day and got the front yard spruced up a bit. Of course we are still on a list to get a roof due to hailstorms in our area, so I had to be careful about where I planted things.

So have a great week!

Thank you.....

2011-05-30T14:45:00.001-07:00

/

I am sure that by now all of you out there in bloggerville has heard about the tornado that hit the Joplin area 8 days ago. This tragedy hit pretty close to home for my hometown as a family from there lost loved ones in the storm. You may have heard or read about them on the news--it was a young father, who recently joined the National Guard, and his son and daughter. They were trying to get home when the storm hit and ran into the Home Depot to take shelter. As you probably know the store was completely annihilated in the storm, the father and two small children did not survive.

We went to the rosary yesterday and as we arrived we were greeted with the Patriot Guard standing in front of the funeral home, to protect the family in case of protesters. I am sure many of you know who/what I am referring to, however, I refuse to call them by the name of their organization, because frankly they are worthy of that courtesy. They did not make it into the town of Joplin that day, as rumor has it. Supposedly they stopped outside of Joplin at truck stop where truckers immediately blocked them in so they couldn't leave.

The above photos are of the Patriot Guard meeting up in my hometown to make a wall to protect the family in the event any one not wanted showed up. Many of these men and women are war vets themselves and some of them are just ordinary people who love to ride their motorcycles. Either way their service to our men and women in the armed forces is appreciated. And seeing all of those flags whipping in the wind bring a tear to my eye.

Please remember these people and my friends in your prayers.
God Bless America!

Framed Pieces

2011-05-30T14:41:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of pictures of my latest framed pieces. One is the memorial sampler, and the other a Prairie Schooler design. Sorry for the bad pictures, but just know they look nice hanging on my walls.

A New Start

2011-05-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

...so here is my second start of the year. It is ONE NATION, and I believe that it is by By Gone Stitches. If you haven't seen this before, it is a truly unique pattern. There are of course fifty stars that I am almost done stitching. Then each of the rows on the flag are the names of all the fifty states in the order they entered the Union. The picture on the front of the pattern doesn't truly do the pattern justice. The red and blue are much brighter and vibrant. I actually find doing these stars sort of relaxing. It is just the same pattern over and over and easy to do. When I come home in the evening right before bed I sit down and stitch a few stars.

I hope all of you had a happy Easter and that E.Bunny paid you a visit. J is now at the age where he really isn't that interested in coloring eggs and that sort of thing, so we skipped that this year. Instead of cooking up a big lunch for four or so people we decided to go to a local restaurant and eat. The food was fabulous and every one got something they wanted. Of course, J ordered his standard chicken strips. He is not very adventurous when it comes to eating.

We have had a lot of rainy weather here, and two hail storms to keep things interesting. We are on a list with a local roofer to get a new roof from the first hail storm. Then on Easter Sunday evening all of the sudden it sounded like a herd of stampeding cattle on our roof and we had ping pong ball sized hail. I was glad we had not already got our new roof.

So Friday morning I got up at 3 am to watch Will and Kate get married. I tried to cross-stitch, but I ended up ripping out more than I actually got right. I thought it was a beautiful wedding. I know some people think it is ridiculous and what not, but I enjoyed watching it.

We have approximately 25 days of school left in the school year. I am ready to be out even though I have several workshops and what not to attend. It will be nice to have some time off. J is busy with spring soccer and has started baseball practice, so we are keeping busy with his schedule.

Hope all of you have a wonderful week, and that you keep yourself in stitches!

First Finish of 2011

2011-04-10T09:06:00.001-07:00

I finished this last night about midnight. I have always loved ths poem and when I saw this on another blog I knew I had to stitch it. My dad has been gone for almost 22 years and I miss him more every day. I wish he had lived long enough to walk me down the aisle, see me get a Master's degree, and see his first grandson. He was my biggest supporter and cheerleader!

FREEBIES

2011-03-25T14:02:00.000-07:00

So today we went to Tulsa and I, of course stopped by the Silver Needle. They had a big tub of their book grab bags for $5. I saw two patterns in the front of two bags I wanted. Since both of those patterns were marked for $6 and $8 I got two bags.
I have taken out the patterns that I want. If anyone would like any of the following from the list, leave a comment and I will mail them to you.

Lynn's Prints--The Bluebird Quilt
Heritage Stitchcraft-- Flower Panels (geraniums)
Sew To Be Seem Designs-- Silent Thoughts
Bask Designs-- August Ribbons
Thistle Threads-- Dutch Sampler Triolgy
Homespun Samplar--Dear Daughter
Marie Suarez--Friends

First come, first serve. If no one wants them they will probably be tossed in the Goodwill Donation rubbermaid.

Tammy

Spring Break

2011-03-21T23:14:00.000-07:00

So even though it is spring break there isn't a lot going on around here. We are just hanging out at home and trying to get a few things done. We finally got the yard cleaned up-- I don't know what kind of tree we have in our front yard but it drops those little stickery balls. They were everywhere! We ended up with about seven of the large garbage bags (5 of them contractor bags) full. They took quite awhile to rake up, but Jonathon and my mom helped. We also clipped off the dead parts of my mums and cleaned out the flower beds. One area of the yard had some of the weed blocker fabric down with mulch on it, and it always seemed damp and we have mosquitoes around the porch area pretty bad in the summer so we took all of that up. We still need to clean out the window wells of the basement windows.

I also went to the greenhouse and bought several containers of the creeping phlox for the flower bed in the front of the house. This way I won't have to go through and plant stuff every year. That will save me a bunch of money. I will still plant some big pots with different varieties of flowers in them. And I still have my rusty old wheelbarrow to plant some flowers in-- since Dan is going to be working for an area farmer from now on I just felt the need to simply things outside as much as possible because I will probably have to do the bulk of the yard work with summer.

Tomorrow we are going to start on the inside of the house and get some things organized and some cleaning done, I don't think it will take long if I just get in gear and get started. Wednesday I plan on cleaning out the freezer in the garage because we will be getting a beef soon. I still need to paint some bookshelves for Jonathon's room and clean up my rocking chairs that I sit on the front porch. Hopefully, getting all of these projects done over spring break will allow us to get through until the end of school easily--since we have band concert, spring soccer and beginning of baseball, baseball skills night, my school track meet, McTeacher night, etc. etc.

I have got some stitching done on my memorial sampler. Hopefully it will be finished this week and ready for framing the near future. We are going shopping one day this week, just not sure which one.

Jonathon is getting ready for his twelfth birthday. I think he is going to have a sleepover again. I sure wish his birthday coincided with Will and Kate's wedding since I will probably be up all night that night anyway watching the wedding.

Until next week have a good one!

Oh What a Week!

2011-02-25T19:52:00.000-08:00

Not a lot of stitching has been going on this week or last week and quite possibly the week before. This week we had parent teacher conferences. This meant working until 8 Monday night and 7 Wednesday night. Monday night we were notified that a student who was dealing with a chronic illness had passed. Then we made up a snow day on our conference day off. So to say it has been a lonnnnnnnnnng week is an understatement.

Some days my job makes me laugh, some days is exasperates me. This week we have had a little of all both. We are currently reading a novel, which takes place in the late
1950's. It is about a teen age girl getting who is on the list of student to integrate Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The first time I taught this novel I downloaded several songs that was mentioned in the book and throughout the book I have been playing these songs for them. When I play the music I always ask them if they want to dance. Being as cool as my students are they look at me like I have grown a second head. Today between classes I left the music playing while I ran to the restroom. When I came back in my room on the way to my desk, the class clown asked me a question. I replied, "I don't know, do you wanna dance?" The entire class started laughing. He stood up and announced everyone owed him a million dollars because he bet the class a million dollars that I would say that.

We are back in the midst of the cold and flu season here. J has been home with a slight fever, headache, and sore throat today. He has been home a couple of times here recently with the same symptoms, some kids are gone as many as five days, but he just has it a day or two at a time. Hopefully, he is not going to get it as badly as some of the others.

We had a major milestone here on Valentine's Day. J's last party of elementary school. As one dad said walking out of the building it is a sad and happy day all at once. I have to agree. I just don't know if I am ready to spend all day with middle schoolers and live with one at the same time.

Next week, my kiddos take the state reading assessment. I am sure there won't be a lot of stitching going on next week either.

Until we meet again have a wonderful week.

The Big Clean Up

2011-02-06T10:25:00.001-08:00

The day after the big snow, Dan the Man came to town to clear some parking lots for his boss and then spent several hours clearing some driveways. Nothing makes people like you more than when you show up and clean their driveways. One of the neighbors is about my mom's age and lives alone, so he added her to the list of clean up. I spent some time both days chauffeuring my mom here and there on errands. Nothing spells emergency like my mom not having her powerball ticket! I think she also needed some cigarettes, but just would not admit that to me. We ended up with three days out of school. We are supposed to get more snow next week, but every television station and the computer all say something different. Who knows what will happen next?

I spent a lrage portion of time stitching, and the picture above is my progress. Jonathon and I also spent some time cleaning up here and there around the house.

Have a great week, and enjoy the super bowl!

1/2 a Blizzard

2011-02-01T06:48:00.000-08:00

...so this is the view out my front window this morning. All weekend we had temps in the 60's and were under a winter weather alert the entire time. Yesterday we were upgraded to a winter storm warning and later a blizzard warning. We have wind chills in the negative numbers, winds 20 to 30 mph, with gusts up to 40 mph. Although this is nothing compare to what some of my blogging friends have seen this winter, it is pretty bad for our parts of the world. J's school canceled for the next two days before school got out yesterday. My school is taking it a day at a time. A small school district to the south let out early yesterday and cut the electricity to trim tree limbs away from the power lines. I think this is supposed to last until the wee hours of the morning, that is why I titled the post 1/2 a blizzard. Yesterday on the way home I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some Diet Pepsi and it was absolute pandemonium. I didn't even want to try and brave Wal-Mart! A friend went to Wal-Mart and said people were grabbing milk as fast as they put it on the shelf and they were out of eggs completely. I didn't notice the grocery store being out of much except potatoes.
And, of course, all of you know what this means....stitching time! WooHoo!

Winter Storm Watch

2011-01-30T09:43:00.000-08:00

...aka SNOW DAY WATCH, yep, we are supposed to be getting some nasty weather. But, you know I am not holding my breath because the weathermen in these here parts do not really seem to be accurate. The above pic was what it took to get a snow day week before last, granted it wasn't much, but there was a layer of ice under that snow, which made driving treacherous. Of course, I got up at 5:30 that morning, so I could leave early if the roads were dicey. I turned on the television and saw I was out, but not Jonathon. Well, in a matter of minutes phones started ringing right and left. Both of our districts use school reach automated calls. I forgot that since Dan and I aren't ever home during the day I listed our house phone and cell phones. For about an hour between my district and Jonathon's district all I got done was answer the phone.

The picture below is of the progress I have made on my latest stitching project. It is going along quite smoothly, I do need to order some more thread. The pattern was very good about listing how many skeins you needed of each color, but I didn't take into consideration that I was doing my sampler on a larger count.

Anyway, I am loving the way this is turning out. It is really pretty.

The school I work in is currently undergoing major renovations, while we are having school in the building. It has been an adventure to say the very least, noisy, dusty, fire drills that last an hour, people moving to different classrooms. Last week renovations were completed on the third floor of the building. I got my new permanent classroom. It is big and roomy, more outlets than I could possibly need,
storage space. In the past week, we moved every office, but the nurses, and one complete grade level, and approximately half of two other grade levels. Two complete grade levels moved their lockers--approximately 200 tweens at a time. Long story short--We survived, it went quite smoothly. I am now on the third floor of the building. Let me tell you nothing lets you know that you are hopelessly out of shape like going up three flights of stairs a couple of times a day.

Hope you all have a warm, cozy, week with lots of stitching to keep your fingers busy!

Framing Sale!!!!

2011-01-15T15:08:00.000-08:00

.... The week after Christmas Hobby Lobby of course had a framing sale and I took advantage of it. I was sick that week with a sinus infection, but I wasn't so sick I couldn't take advantage of the sale.

Everyone is back to school and back to work. Jonathon and I have MLK day off and I am so happy! It seems as if we can't catch a snowstorm or any type of winter weather to get a snow day, so I guess we have to be happy with what we are actually given.

We had a little scare here the 23rd of December. Dan lost his job. We knew this was coming eventually, but two days before Christmas was not quite when we wanted it to happen. Long story short the road construction hasn't won a bid on a new job for the last nine months and the job here is just about wrapped up. being low man on the totem pole, well... He does now have another job working for a local farmer that his family has known for years. He is really happy to be back in the agricultural community. Me, not so much. This time there won't be the debt and what not on our shoulders, he will be farming without the risks, but... it means long hours during the spring, summer, and fall when Jonathon and I are free. It means never being able to make plans unless it rains etc. I guess in the end all that matters is he is happy and has a job.

I have been stitching the Memorial Sampler from Midsummer Night Designs. I have a sort of a problem with this though. There is a rather long rectangular area where you put "Beloved ....." Well, I intend to put "Beloved father of Tammy," but that is going to leave a lot of blank space. I had a baby brother, who was stillborn, so here is my question would it be appropriate to put Beloved father of Tammy and John Patrick--or just deal with the blank space in another way?

Have a wonderful week, and if like me you get Monday off, I hope your extra day is great!

Last Finish of 2010

2010-12-31T13:58:00.001-08:00

This is my last finish of the year 2010 for me. I just finished it an hour or so ago. Once I finally sat down to stitching again I already had this kitted up, so Pumpkins For Sale by LHN is what I decided to stitch!

I have been sick this vacation with a sinus infection, and finally got some meds yesterday. Mostly this last week I have been just lying around the house. I am feeling so much better! Today when I woke up I needed to make a Wal-Mart run to get some snacks for Jonathon's sleepover tonight, when I came home he and I went downstairs to conquer the basement mess. The living room area needed to be cleaned up and the storage room weeded out. It did not take long when we where working together, but while we were cleaning out I found a rubbermaid full of craft stuff and this was what I found...

I had forgot all about doing these! I guess I will need to find some way to get all of these finished.

Speaking of finishing projects Hobby Lobby had a framing sale this week, so I drug myself down there Wednesday to take three projects to have framed. Then I promptly came home and made a doctor's appointment.

All in all I have the Christmas stuff 99% stowed away, a clean storage room, a clean living room in the basement, so I am pretty happy with my vacation. We still have the dreaded toy room and Jonathon's bedroom to go through, but that is for another day. I have a lot of things to drop off at the shed. A church near our home has a little shed that is unlocked and people can drop off clothes and other things there, they go through them and use them as they see fit.

I hope you all have a wonderful new year. We will celebrating at home as Jonathon is having three friends over to spend the night!

Christmas

2010-12-27T12:18:00.001-08:00

This is a photo of the church that we attend. The parish always does a wonderful job of decorating for holidays such as Christmas and Easter. Every year we have a Christmas Eve Mass as we share a priest with the neighboring town. We always have a wonderful Mass with beautiful music. For a small parish we have some wonderfully talented musicians.

Here is the boy and his little dachshund, Murphy. Murphy got quite an assortment of doggy toys for Christmas. She was truly excited by all of them and was just like a kid when opening her presents, in true childlike fashion she liked the bows, paper, and boxes best of all.

The man of the house got an emergency weather radio. This is what you get someone when you can not think of another thing to get them. At first he didn't know what it was, which surprised me. When he found out he loved it! We have been listening to weather reports non stop. It really does not take too much to keep this guy happy!

Well, Christmas has come and gone for another year. We still have the decorations up and all, this year for Christmas I got some new Vera Bradley things in Very Berry Paisley. On the day after Thanksgiving my mom got me some things from the Vera Bradley store in Grapevine, Texas. She included the free tote she got in my box, and lo and behold my cousin Kathy sent me a cosmetic bag in the same pattern! I also got a sore throat, earache, fever, etc. I have spent most of today laying on the couch with my blanket. I finally came to the conclusion I wouldn't feel any worse up doing some things here and there than I do lying around.

I am going to spend the next day or so cleaning out drawers and other places in our house. I will either make a large deposit at our local thrift shop or drop it all off at Goodwill when I go to Hobby Lobby later this week. We just have so much stuff clothes wise. You don't make that much having a rummage sale, so I figure if you just give them away at least someone is getting some good out of them. I can always find someone to take Jonathon's hand-me-downs off my hands. We are also going to clean out some toys from the toy room and find a good home for them. I am sure that there are some daycare or pre schools that could use them. I probably should have done that before Christmas, but every time I open that door and look in I end just closing it and walking away.

Have a wonderful week.

From My House To Yours

2010-12-24T21:27:00.001-08:00

May your Christmas be merry and blessed, full of family, food, laughter and love. May your new year be prosperous and fulfilling, and most of all, my your hands stitch many beautiful treasures that will fill your hours with pleasure!

I Am...

2010-12-19T13:00:00.000-08:00

as you can see one of the world's messiest cooks. This is just the beginning of marathon cinnamon roll making yesterday. I started at 11 in the morning and got done about 5. I still have cookies to bake for school on Wednesday, as the student council needs about 800 cookies for that day, and we have a luncheon on Tuesday that I need to cook something for. Then I have to make a treat for whichever class has the highest percentage of students with their AR goal. Last weekend I made five cream cheese filled pumpkin rolls, not one of them came out of the pan in one piece! In fact, the one we ended up eating I had to put together like a jigsaw puzzle! I am tired of cooking! So tonight is sandwiches and chips!

We are skipping the church's covered dish dinner tonight. We had breakfast at church this morning. I really just want to sit and do nothing. Last night the three of us all went to basement and watched Christmas With The Kranks, I finally bought the DVD this year. I love that movie! I couldn't believe in all the times I have watched it on TV that Dan said he had never seen it. I just love the scene where Jamie Lee Curtis chases that canned ham across the parking lot and it gets ran over by a semi! I know it will probably never be considered a cinematic classic, but I think it does prove a point that we get so wrapped up in the idea of what Christmas is about, instead of just enjoying the season.

Wednesday Christmas break starts, so if you are looking for me on Thursday I will be on the end of the couch with an icy diet coke, stitching and watching my soaps. My Christmas is never complete unless I am there when the Horton's put their ornaments on the tree. I know silly, huh? When I was a little kid my grandma babysat us and she watched that soap, so the Horton's and I have had Christmas for about 40+ years!

Have a super week! See you soon!

Applesauce Cake In a Jar

2010-12-05T15:12:00.000-08:00

Yes, ladies and gentlemen the Stitchin Schoolmarm does bake from time to time. This little project makes wonderful Christmas gifts and gives your home a nice spicy smell of Christmas while baking. I am trying to channel my inner pioneer woman and show you some baking pics, however, in my efforts to just get this project done I did not take pictures of the entire procedure, but perhaps the recipe below will help explain.

Here is my oh-so-serious model holding up the final product!

See how easily it slides out of the jar!

Slicing for eating! The best part!

I got this from a friend, who got her copy from a friend. You will need wide mouth canning jars with rings and flats as you will seal the bread in the jar as if you were canning.

2/3 cup shortening (I use butter flavor Crisco)
2 2/3 cups of sugar
4 eggs
2 cups of applesauce (I don't think it matters if you use sweetened or unsweetened)
3 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cloves
2/3 cups of water
2 tsp soda
2/3 cups nuts (optional)
8- 1-pint wide mouth canning jars

Cream shortening with sugar. Beat in eggs, applesauce and water. Sift dry ingredients together. Blend in dry ingredients into the applesauce mixture. Pour into well- greased jars, filling 1/2 go 2/3 full. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes. Remove 1 jar at a time, wipe seal edge clean, and put on dry canning lid and ring. If the cake has risen higher than the jar slice off the top of the cake and seal. Screw the ring on tightly. Sit upside down to cool. Put a little fabric cap and ribbon on the top and give as a tasty Christmas gift.

I have found that if you butter the jar instead of using Pam it makes the cake look a little prettier. I usually melt the butter and then coat the inside of the jar with a silicone pastry brush. Also the fatter and squattier(if that is a word) wide mouth canning jars work better in the oven, and are easier to balance on your oven racks. You shouldn't try to bake this on a baking sheet as it doesn't turn out as well as the baking sheet interferes with the heat distribution. Caution husbands and children not to run and make heavy footsteps in the area of the oven. Shut the oven door gently and try to avoid the temptation to keep opening the oven door to check until they are almost done. It could potentially spell disaster, trust me on that one.

Next up for baking this holiday season is Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls and red velvet cake, along with cream cheese filled pumpkin rolls!
Have a wonderful week.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T16:19:00.000-08:00

We went to Dallas to visit my cousin and his family for the Thanksgiving holiday. We had tons of fun, eating, shopping, eating, going to the see the Cowboys play the Saints, eating, hanging out, visiting, reminicising, eating some more. My cousin's wife is the ultimate hostess always making sure everyone is comfortable and having a good time and not ever being hungry. She probably cooked enough to feed the Duggar family!

The picture above is of all three of us and Jackson outside the new Cowboys stadium. What a fun place to be! Those Saints's fans were quite a bunch to be around. They were always in groups chanting "Who dat!" Even though the Saints came out on top I was happy to just be there hanging out for the afternoon!

I got to go to the Vera Bradley store in Grapevine, another really neat place, but with a very long line.

We are down to fifteen days now before Christmas vacation from school. I have all the gifts bought but one and some stocking stuffers. Next I need to concentrate on our church clothes for Christmas Eve Mass, and some other church events coming up in the near future.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Evan's (Charles') Stocking

2010-11-12T14:22:00.000-08:00

So here it is--Evan's stocking. Yes, I have finally managed to finish a stitching project. It took a while as life seems to always throw a twist or turn into my plans along the way. Last week was our final city rec soccer game. We won first place in our division and were undefeated.

I have a crocheting project to finish and then a scrapbook. After that it will be back to stitching, I already have a project to start and I am anxiously awaiting the opportunity to get it started.

Today has been terrible weather wise. It had literally poured all day long. I had a workshop out of town I was attending, and the weather added about an hour's driving time. It is still raining and a cold front is supposed to move in later tonight. While I am all for cooler weather, I didn't really like driving in the rain today. At times I could hardly see where I was going, and even though I had on my car lights as it was fairly dark out for the middle of day, the lights only served to help other drivers see me on the road.

I am off to go and work on my crocheting project, my goal is to get this one finished by the end of the weekend.

Oh What a Day

2010-11-03T15:21:00.000-07:00

So we have finally got a slow down of activities and I have been able to stitch a little bit here and there. I can see the end of the stocking that I am currently stitching on coming closer everyday. We have one soccer game left and then we will be free of activities for quite a awhile and for that I am very happy. We also have some fun Thanksgiving activities coming up here in a few weeks.

The school year is flying by and if there are many more days like today, well that is a very good thing. I came home today a little bit wore out and not much of a happy camper. Sometimes I think I care too much. Jonathon called on the way home and wanted to know if he could go over and start playing x-box. When he was told that no he could not he could go home and do his homework, that didn't go over well. I had to make it clear to him, that I was really about to the top of my tank with disrespectful kids, bad attitudes, and hateful tones of voice, so he was treading dangerously tonight, and I was in no mood to negotiate x-box playtime extensions at the moment.

The band at school today got the opportunity to go to a nearby city and hear their symphony orchestra play. Jonathon said that he liked it and had a good time, so I was happy to hear that. It never hurts to experience new things.

The one thing that has made me pretty happy here recently is the new television. This television gets some channels our old one didn't. Last Saturday I watched Alias Smith and Jones, Wagon Train, and today Adam 12. It can't get any better then Major Adams, Flint McCullough and Malloy and Reed. And if you are too young to know what I am talking about--have pity and don't tell me!

Have a great week.

Stitchin' Pics

2010-10-01T14:58:00.000-07:00

These first two pics are of my newly framed pieces. Thanks to a custom frame sale at Hobby Lobby and a 40% off internet coupon.

And we have Reese's (Mary's) Shepherd Bush's stocking. She still needs a bow for her little ponytail, but we will get that before it wings it's way across the Pacific. I still have one more to do before this is mailed though. And right now I would like to say thanks to both Reese and Evan's mothers for not using any i's or l's in their names. It certainly makes centering the name a whole lot easier!

Now I am off to laundry, housework, a weekend of soccer games and hopefully some stithing!

Another Stocking Finished

2010-09-26T08:47:00.000-07:00

Finally a another stitching project finished. I have one of the two Shepherd's Bush stockings I need to make finished. I will post a picture of it later this week. I have ironed it once, but since I don't use a hoop or q-snaps when I stitch it is pretty wrinkled.

Today we are off to our second soccer game of the weekend. Jonathon is playing with two teams this fall. Sadly, I have turned into one of those mothers I swore to never be--running from game to game, town to town. Fortunately we only have to travel two times, so it should not be too bad. The rest of the games are here in town. I guess that if this is what he wants to do, we will do it until he doesn't want to do it. It is better than sitting in front of the television playing x-box all weekend. But I sure am going to miss my Sunday afternoon football games and naps

School is in full swing for both of us now and Dan is still working road construction. I have a really good bunch of kids so far this year, hopefully that is still my opinion in May. Not starting until September feels kind of funny.

Jonathon is doing well in sixth grade, although, I have to say that I am less than impressed with the teachers this year. It seems that of the six three are very unorganized. Several parents have looked at the grades online to find their kids have a failing grade only to contact the teachers and look through the papers that have been handed back to find the paper graded a week or so ago, and the teacher just didn't record it. So right now we have a rubbermaid in the kitchen where all graded and returned papers go. I really think that if you can't keep track any better than that you should keep a hard copy grade book and put them on the computer from that. I have seen an improvement in this, however, because I think several parents have been e-mailing and complaining.

Fall is certainly in the air and feels so good! It is very nice and cool outside and I have to say I am looking forward to sitting out this afternoon at the game. Last weekend the sun was bright and the temps high and we played two games. Needless to say Dan and I came home looking like a couple of lobsters. He didn't wear a hat and the poor guy's bald spot was burned to a crisp!

Fall weather has me ready to start some vegetable beef soup and chili in the crock pots for a quick evening meal during the week. Last night we had chicken and noodles with mashed potatoes and bread fresh from the oven. Jonathon's friend is spending the weekend and Jonathon asked why I only cook awesome food when he is here. Here I thought I was a pretty awesome cook all the time, but I guess I am not!

Hope you all have a happy Monday and a great week.

Back to the Grind

2010-09-07T15:18:00.000-07:00

So here we are in Stitchin Schoolmarm land with no stitching pics to show. I have been stitching, just don't have any proof of it to show you. We are both back to school and work right now. Jonathon is holding his own in sixth grade, while he is still at the elementary school for sixth grade it has been sort of a cultural shock. Gone are the teachers who mommy you along and you meet the teachers who expect you to be responsible and take care of stuff on your own. We have had a few bumps along the way here and there, but for the most part he does okay.

I seem to have some really nice kids this year. I suppose I too will have some bumps along the way, but seriously I am quite impressed with my students so far. This year brings some interesting changes for me though, I found out today that I will be team teaching with one of our special ed teachers the first hour of the day. I am sure this will have some growing pains along the way, but probably some learning opportunities. You can generally learn some tricks by watching another teacher here and there. The only downside of this is that with paras in the room, and attendant care workers there will four adults to 15 kids. I am not sure how that will all pan out in the long run.

The picture above although a bit dark is of Jonathon, his buddy Eric and former NFL Viking Cris Carter. To tell you the truth I was way more excited about Jonathon getting a chance to have his pic taken with Mr. Carter than he was, but what can I say I love football. Anyway, he has been in our fine little town the last two weekends to watch his son play for the local community college team. The son originally played for Ohio State as a freshman, but due to grades and rumor has it off the field problems he landed here. Anyway, you know me and my propensity for ...ummm I guess lack of a better term to hunt people down, it took me all four quarters to find him. He was very polite when asked for a picture with the kids. Thank goodness for I phones.

Until next time, have a wonderful week.

Home of a Needleworker

2010-08-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

So it has been awhile since I updated my blog. My latest finish was Home of a Needleworker by LHN. It took me a little longer than I expected it would. I had several things around the house that I wanted to get done. I cleaned out drawers, went through Jonathon's clothes for hand me downs, and basically did several things that were big cleaning or organizing projects that needed to be done, and had been put off for quite awhile. That is one reason I was not stitching...The photo below is another reason. This little fellow came and spent a night and most of two days with us, he brought along his dad, sister, and grandma. We had a really nice visit and I totally fell in love with this little guy. He is five and no longer afraid of the dark according to him. He is so onery it is unbelieveable. I have always had a soft spot in my heart for onery little boys. Fortunately for me my mom's side of the family seems to only have that kind. I wanted to practice taking photos so I took him, his dad,sister, and Jonathon out to local tourist attraction to take some pics. I had to buy this kid a happy meal from McDonald's to get him to cooperate with me. He is proof that the apple didn't fall far from the tree this time around. When his dad was little my mom took him to have his pictures taken. His mom dressed him in Big Bird pants. Well, Will (aka the dad) was very mad because he hated those pants. The guy sat him down on this little fake log and put an outdoor scene behind him and asked if he could smile for the camera. Will replied very seriously, "I can, but I am not going to." and true to his word he is not smiling in any of those pictures. To get Will's son to smile, well we had to promise to go to McDonald's and Jonathon had to keep putting bunny ears on people.

Now for the cross-stitch project--this was a really simple stitch up. When I had the opportunity to sit and stitch for a period of time I got quite a bit done. I didn't have room to put both my first and last name as they were too long for the space, so I put my first and middle name on it. At first I thought it looked rather drab, but as you add the different shades of green and browns it actually turned out to be very striking.

Right now, we are enjoying joyously cool weather. The past two weeks we have had horribly hot weather. Last night it finally cooled down. I don't expect the hot weather is over, but it is a relief for a day or two.

Have a great week!

O' Holy Night

2010-07-30T10:58:00.000-07:00

So here is my latest finish. This pattern worked up quite quickly as I started on the top section and finished each one completely before moving on to the next. The one thing I think would have made it better was if the fabric the shop sent was a little lighter in color. They knew what I was going to stitch on it, but I don't suppose that they can help the dye lot of their fabrics. I can't take all the credit for this one being finished so quickly, I have to give some credit to Discovery Channel. Their marathons of the Deadliest Catch gave me many hours of stitching. My new start is LHN Home of a Needleworker. It seems to be stitching up quite fast. I am not sure what will be next. I did break my promise to myself the other day and ordered yet more patterns.

Summer continues to roll on here. Jonathon starts scool in approximately two and one half weeks. I don't go back until August 27 and our kids come on September 1. It sort of seems surreal that the end of July is here and I am not rushing around getting stuff finished because school is getting started. We are slowly getting back in the groove of school like activities. We have a two day soccer camp next week and relatives coming to visit. The relatives at least makes me clean up the house really well.

I had a birthday recently and my mom bought me this smaller three drawer cabinet that is sort of ornate with the wood carvings on the front. You know you have too much cross-stitch stuff when the two biggest drawers only held your fabric. Thank you Silkweaver's FOMC.

Have I ever told you what a wonderful son I have? Last night I was sitting at the kitchen table thinking about finances and other stuff, feeling quite glum. He asked what was wrong and I told him I felt bad that he didn't get to do anything fun this summmer. He hugged me and said, "but I got to spend time with you."

I have several projects lined up for the next couple of days. I want to scrub the front of my kitchen cabinets with Murphy's Oil Soap, and clean out my closet, and the garage. Then there will be the bathrooms, basement, and bedding, vacuuming, mopping etc. for the company. I cleaned out all of Jonathon's drawers the other day and got the clothes out that he can no longer wear out for the hand me down tote. I also need to get some school stuff I bought organized, and finish a scrapbook, so I can put that stuff back where it belongs.

Have a wonderful weekend if you can in this heat.

FIRST PLACE!

2010-07-13T08:32:00.001-07:00

Liberty Lane

2010-07-10T23:13:00.000-07:00

Here is my latest cross-stitch finish. Liberty Lane by Country Cottage Needleworks. Sorry for the blurry photo, but at 1:30 am I guess perfection is hard to achieve. If you ever look at the pattern you will notice that I didn't do all the decorative stitching at the bottom by the words, because after a late night of stitching I noticed that my words were way off. There was no way I was going to rip them out, so I thought it would look best with just the words there.

The next photos are of Jonathon shooting some fireworks off in our front yard. I often wonder what sort of memories he will grow up with of the holidays. When I was growing we always had big family Christmases and 4th's, with grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. It just seems that no one wants to do those sort of things any longer. Begin an only child his memories are going to be of very small holiday celebrations.

He may have nightmares of this 4th, however. First of all it rained, so when the rains stopped we managed to get the night works shot. We had very few and frankly, Jonathon had shot off so many little fireworks in the days before he had really lost interest. He is really very safe with the fireworks and calm about doing them and for that I am thankful. Needless to say not everyone is... I just don't think it is safe to let a five year old run around with a punk and allowing them to shoot off mortars without adult supervision. Let me also say I don't think adult supervision could be classified as sitting in the driveway watching this happen. That really sums up our evening of the 4th. No, I am not just a cranky, pre-menopausal, grouch, I just want everyone to have the same ten fingers, toes, etc. that they started the holiday evening with. Okay, there you have my rant. I don't think said parents read my blog and if they do that is fine with me because if they didn't get the message on the 4th then reading it here probably won't strike a chord either.

So here we are enjoying dinner on the 4th before the big shooting of the fireworks began. We had red velvet cupcakes, pulled pork sandwiches, fried potatoes, and jalapeno poppers. As you can see my husband is quite a healthy eater.

Tomorrow Jonathon and I are going to lunch with two of my students from last year. Jonathon is very excited to meet these students. They are from Iraq and two very nice young boys. Jonathon has heard many stories about them, and one time last year they wrote his name in Arabic and included a Muslim prayer written in Arabic and sent it to him. We are picking them up for lunch and some catching up.

We should finish our last ballgame Monday night. We had three make-up games due to rain. At first we, meaning hopeful parents, thought they wouldn't have to make them because they like the season to end before All-Stars start. But we are making them up. One mother said it was because in this age group they give out trophies for first, second, and third places. I was looking at the schedule and it looks pretty even to me, maybe there will three first place teams.

America

2010-06-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

Here is my second finish of the summer. It is titled "America" by LHN. I am not sure what I will start next, Lord knows I have several choices what with all the stash I have bought in the last eighteen months.

Summer is slowly winding it's way through June for us. Our next big event is the annual July 1 shoot 'em up with our friend Christopher. July 1 is the day that they start selling fireworks in our fair city. Every year on July 1, (after Jonathon's dentist appt.) I take Christopher and him to the fireworks stand. They come home and spend hours in the front yard shooting "stuff". The other night at the ballgame Christopher's mom said he had already told her that on July 1 he was coming to our house.

I have tried through the years to make my house a fun place, full of snacks for kids to hang out. It was all part of my master plan for the teenage years, which are quickly approaching. If our house becomes the hangout, then I won't be wondering where my kid is, and hopefully I will know what he is doing. Dan and I really enjoy Jonathon's friends and having them around the house.

We have two double headers this week then our baseball season will be finished. I am ready, although I must say our evenings at the ballpark are quite enjoyable for us as a family. I only wish the bleachers weren't so hard! And I am one of the lucky ones with a lot of padding.

Here's to a great weekend for everyone. Try to stay cool.

Brave Hearts Finished

2010-06-18T16:05:00.001-07:00

I finished this piece two days ago. It is Brave Hearts by LHN. I have currently started America by LHN. I guess this post demonstrates the dangers of stitching blogs-- you see, therefore, you think you must stitch. I am trying my hardest this summer to stitch up some of the things I have bought and my WIP's. I have decided with the exception of thread I am buying anymore stitchy supplies until I have stitched those I bought this past year.

We had a double header Wednesday night. We won 1 and lost the other. Jonathon did really well, he did manage to get on base a couple of times. The neighbor kid aka Batman was also playing t-ball at the next game over, so between games mom and I went down and watched him bat. Of course when we got there he was busy in the dugout filling his ball glove with water. I asked what he was doing and he said--"Filling this up with water."

The weather here has been very hot and humid, so that is giving me lots of time to sit and stitch. Of course if you could see my house right now, well, it looks like I have been spending a lot of time sitting and stitching.

Murphy got her stitches out this morning at the vet's and she weighs a whooping 10 pounds. I had to laugh my cousin's daughter had a baby this morning and Murphy only outweighs the baby by 1 pound 2 ounces.

Here's to everyone having a safe and wonderful Father's Day weekend.

News From the Homefront

2010-06-16T08:56:00.000-07:00

Well, summer is in full swing here, or I should say summer is trying to be in full swing. We had four inches of rain Sunday night which canceled more baseball games. We should be like halfway through our schedule and here we have only played one game.
We have been spending time outside in the evening practicing our batting. One of his coaches recommended that we get an old tire and have him stand on it while batting, thus teaching him to keep his feet still and helping with balance. We also went and got this broomstick type bat and really small woffle balls, which are supposed to help. I don't know how much this has all helped, but we are definitely having fun with the practice and getting in a lot of family time without the x-box or the computer.

Of course no practice would be complete without Murphy the Diva lying right in the middle of everything relaxing.

I am busily stitching on my newest LHN design that I do not know the name of. It is almost finished and if I got off of the computer for one little bit it would probably be done. The design has the verse telling about the colors of the flag and what they mean. I am also currently crocheting an afghan for a Christmas gift.

Jonathon has had the summer bug that is going around. One day he had a fever of 101.7 and then it stayed low grade for the next couple of days. He was signed up to do a 5k that Saturday. When Saturday morning came around he said he wanted to participate, I think he wanted to run because he and a friend has signed up together. Wellllllll, that turned out not to be a good idea. It was very hot and humid that morning and he definitely wasn't up to running 3+ miles. He walked most of it- crossed the finish line- asked to go to McDonald's for breakfast-came home took a shower and laid on the couch the rest of the day.

Battle Hymn of the Republic

2010-06-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

I'm baaaaaaack! I finally got around to finishing the BHotR, after several months of putting it off. So here you go. I am back where I started having a bunch of stuff backed up to frame, but hopefully HL will have some specials this summer.

School ended for both Jonathon and I the week before Memorial Day. I really enjoyed my students this year. Every year at the end of the year I "make" them write thank you notes--only we call them letters of gratitude- to two adults in the building for helping them get through middle school. It doesn't have to be a teacher necessairly, but just an adult who has made a connection to them. I always go through them sorting them and making sure they don't say something rude or inappropriate and have to redo the assignment. As usual there is always one that sticks out in your mind. This year one male student wrote a letter to the science teacher and I literally laughed out loud when I read it. The science teacher shows a video of a birth. One line in his letter referred to the video, and it went something like-- I will never forget the video of the live birth, that image is burned into my mind forever!

Jonathon did very well in school as usual. He participated in the school spelling bee this year and got 4th place with 46 kids participating. He tried out in his classroom, but then got stage fright and didn't want to do it, but I made him anyway and he was happy that he did. He also received rewards for his performance on the Kansas State Assessments.

Right now, he is busy with baseball and planning to run a 5K tomorrow with his friend. He also got x-box live last weekend. I resisted and resisted before finally giving in, so far, it has worked out okay, but he is spending way too much time playing video games! Of course I haven't been here a lot lately as I have had meetings with work, running here and there with my mom and getting some things taken care of. Next Monday and Tuesday should be the end of that.

Dan's work has picked up again after a long, slow winter. He worked twelve hours today, which will be nice on the checkbook balance.

I have started a LHN pattern, and of course I can't remember the name for the life of me. I am looking forward to be able to stitch and read stitching blogs and basically getting caught up this summer. I have been spending some time everyday getting some house project underway.

Have a great week and I hope life keeps you in stitches!

God Bless Those Who Serve.....

2010-05-31T18:29:00.000-07:00

so that we may enjoy the freedoms given us by our forefathers.

Sad Goodbyes and Happy Hellos

2010-05-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

My aunt passed this last week after a nine month battle from lung cancer. Although we were all sad to not have her with us, we were also happy that her suffering had ended and she was no longer in pain. Her funeral was held on Thursday, and afterwards we all went to her house for lunch and visited for the remainder of the afternoon. Several of my cousins, whom we had not seen in years were there, hence the title Sad Goodbyes and Happy Hellos. I thought I would share some family pics and stories that made us laugh through the years.

My mom was one of six--my grandparents had seven kids in a nine-ten year time span. One child died as an infant. In old pictures of the six they often reminded us of the television show the little rascals. In some pictures they actually had a dog with a black ring around one eye just like the little rascals. Two of the most popular stories they always talk about is the peanut butter jelly sandwich saga,and the arson of my grandpa's only set of work clothes. My mother had the sandwich made on one slice of bread holding it on the palm of her hand, when Uncle Charlie smacked the underside of her hand flipping the sandwich onto Grandma's newly painted kitchen ceiling. They knew they were in trouble if they got caught. So to get the sandwich down they decided to get the broom and try to sweep it down. You can imagine how well that worked, just as you can probably imagine what happened when they were caught!

You can also probably imagine what it was like trying to provide for six kids at the tail end of the depression and beginning of WWII. My grandpa had one pair of work clothes and my grandmother used to soak them in white gasoline to get the oil out of them before washing them. One particular evening she soaked them and proceeded to hang them on the clothesline to dry before washing them. My Uncle Bob loved to play with fire and went to the trash burner, where ofcourse, trash was burning. Not able to resist the temptation he got a stick and poked around in the fire until he came up with a flame on the end of the stick. As he was running around the yard, He ran by the clothes line and he "accidentally" set the work clothes on fire. When my grandma came out of the house the only thing left on the clothes line was four charred clothes pins.

Below is a pic of my mom and her four remaining siblings.

Those are just a couple of the stories we laughed about that day. There are many more ofcourse. My aunt lived next door to my grandparents old place, so before everyone headed off to where they needed to be we wandered over that way had a photo of all the cousins in attendance taken in front of the old barn. The barn where my grandpa raised rabbits, next to his chicken coop, and near the garden spot where he always planted over a hundred tomatoe plants each summer.

Excited for May

2010-04-30T14:05:00.000-07:00

May 27th that is. Yep! that is the last day for the kiddos at my school and I will be so happy to watch them march off to high school. They went for their two hour orientation today and all they could talk about upon their return was the food in the cafetria. I can see that the experience was really effective for them.

Not much has been going on in our household. I did make an executive decision here about fifteen minutes ago-- the house can stay dirty because I am taking the weekend off and stitching. I have been trying every night to come home and work on the house and get something done, but just decided that I was tired and wasn't going to do anything this weekend. So there!

My poor little aunt weighing less than 70 pounds still hangs on, so that ofcourse has been a huge concern for me as she is my mother's closet sibling in age. Being an only child I will never know what it means to lose a sibling, which makes it equally hard to deal with. I believe my mother and aunt are what many people refer to as "Irish twins". They will both be 66 for about two weeks from the last of May to the first of June.

I am so looking forward to the months of vacation and having the time to stitch and get things organized around here. I have tons of stitching projects I would like to get done, but I also see tons of new stuff that I can't wait to buy and stitch up.

I am going to check out a new stitching store at the end of May called Hearts Desire in Wichita. Memorial Day Weekend my mother, Jonathon and I will be going to Wichita to attend the ordination of a family friend as new priest in our diocese. I am kind of excited to get to go and be a part of this as I have never been to an ordination before.

... and just so this wouldn't be one long ugly post with no photos here is one of my guy and his dog. I have a love/hate relationship with this dog, and sometimes I still can't believe I let them talk me into having a dog, in the house to boot! I was never one of those animal lover type people, but I am learning, slowly but surely, to become one. She doesn't chew so much anymore, but she is ten times more trouble than Jonathon was as a baby and toddler. I think it would have been easier to have another kid, then get a dog.

Hope everyone has a nice relaxing weekend, with lots of sunshine and warm weather.

The Reasons I Am Not Stitching.....

2010-04-12T15:41:00.001-07:00

Saturday after soccer we went to "Ravens for the Cure" to run the 5K. He did fine running the race , but didn't place. Their age group divisions were pretty broad, but after playing forward, mid-fielder, etc during the soccer he was pretty wiped before he started.

We began our day about 8:45 where he played in a soccer game with some of his peeps. Check out the colors on these uniforms. WOW! And yes, that is my kid with his mouth wide open! I am absolutely positive he gets that from his dad.

This is a scene from the sleepover last Thursday. They are becoming less and less tolerant of me, my camera, and my big ideas for cute pictures. I made them do this particular shot about four times before I got the one I wanted. Someday they will appreciate me. I look at it this way, I am working on graduation presents for the year 2017.

Of course add to that two yards to mow, Murphy the wonder dog, and baseball is starting. It seems that once school gets out we go through about a two week period where we are just happy to stay home and enjoy being home.

My last two thoughts are things that have been on my mind here recently and I thought I should share them with you. My friend Sara became an aunt for the first time Sunday night about 9 to a beautiful little girl named Macy, weighing in at 7 pounds 10 ounces. So of course congrats to Sara and her family. Macy, you will have a lot of fun with that crazy gal for an aunt. I was getting tickled, she started texting about 3 she was so excited. The last text before the birth was about 6 where she was quick to point out that the baby would at least wait until after The Amazing Race was over. I told her to take a deep cleansing breath and find her focal point!

The other thought is if you have the time or inkling please remember my aunt, who in her last stages of lung cancer. As much as we don't want her to leave her earthly home we also don't want her to suffer. We could use all the prayers we could get right now. She is my mom's next younger sister, in fact at the end of May they are the same age for about 2 weeks, needless to say her children, grandchildren, siblings and extended family are very saddened by this.

Have a great week!

Eleven Years Ago....

2010-04-02T17:27:00.000-07:00

Eleven years ago today Jonathon was born-weighing in at 10 pounds 15.5 ounces and 22.5 inches long. It is hard to believe that it has been that long, as the old saying goes it seems like only yesterday. We spent five years trying to conceive on our own and another five going to the doctor, so he was a true work in progress. When he was born he was, of course, the biggest baby in the nursery. In fact they had to go out and buy different diapers for him because the newborn diapers the hospital had were too little. When we first brought him home I wasn't quite sure what to do with him and now I am not sure what exactly to do without him.

We had a sleepover last night with four friends. It was one of those years that he couldn't exactly decide what he wanted to do, in the end we picked the sleep over. I was up at 3 am and they were still going strong, Dan got up at 5 to get ready for work and they were awake, but when he left at 6 they were all asleep. We got him a netbook for this birthday. I haven't really been a fan of him being on the computer as the location in our house isn't that great for keeping up with a kid. This way he can be in the living room with us while he is online.

In fact I am using the little thing right now. Our dear little dog has been on a chewing spree lately. Twice she chewed the phone cord going to the computer and then the other day she chewed the cord going to the keyboard--hence no blog updates for a long time.

I have been stitching on the LHN Battle Hymn and have it mostly done. I really like the muted colors used in this design. I have the flowers at the bottom to do and some on the top. The pattern is working up quite fast. I have a lot done considering I haven't been stitching that much.

We only have a measly 39 days of classes left. Although this count does not include weekends. Then let the marathon stitching begin.

A Spring Break Finish

2010-03-21T19:23:00.001-07:00

Well, not a lot happened on spring break for us, but I did manage to finish the Prairie Schooler July pattern. I was pretty pleased with the way this one turned out, although I don't really care for that gigantic bluebird on the top. I also started the LHN Battle Hymn pattern and am about 75% of the way done with this.

I got lots done around the house, cleaning, tidying up, etc. Jonathon spent the week just hanging out at home and going to soccer practice. Sometimes it is good to just relax.

We, of course like most of the Midwest got about a foot of snow on the first day of spring. It is almost melted though and didn't last long. I couldn't believe how green the grass underneath the snow was, I don't remember it being that green on Friday.

Have a great week.

Impatiently Waiting

2010-03-08T14:30:00.000-08:00

Spring Break and major stitching time is right around the corner and I honestly can hardly wait. The kids at school are getting the spring fever buzz in anticipation for the big break. When they get this way all common sense goes out the door in a flash. Case in point--today one of them swallowed a pop tab. Mom had to come and get said child take them to the emergency room for x-rays. We don't have pop at school and generally don't allow it on the premises unless a teacher brings it for a reward. So you see the weeklong break can not come soon enough. God only knows what they will eat or ________ (let your imagination run free..)

Jonathon and I have some very simple plans-- we are going to hang out at home and do whatever we feel like when we feel like doing it. I bought myself a little present for spring break. Everyone has been laughing at me for it, but I got myself a collection of all of the Walton movies to watch. I can't wait for Saturday so I can get out my stitching and sit back and enjoy.

I don't have any stitching pics or updates to show as I spent most of last week trying to keep my knee propped up so the swelling from being on my feet all day would go down somewhat.

This weekend I my father-in-law turned 85. We had a celebration for him in the little town not far from where he was born and raised. Several old friends and family stopped by to wish him well and a good time was had by all. This is a picture of my husband, his siblings and their dad that was taken that day.

Stitching Update...

2010-02-28T12:40:00.000-08:00

Here's a pic of my progress on the Prairie Schooler July pattern. I haven't got as much done as I would have liked. It finally dawned on me when I was stitching them, that the little stars and curly cues above the house are fireworks. I am a sharp one! I took two personal days on Thursday and Friday. I managed to get quite a lot done Thursday evening and Friday morning/afternoon before my unfortunate accident.

I guess perhaps I should rename this blog the Klutzy Stitcher. I picked Jonathon up after school in Friday. I was so tired when we got home I laid down on the couch and dozed off. My mom called me and I jumped up to get the phone and noticed the clock said 4:30 I thought in my sleepy stupor that I had forgotten to pick up Jonathon, so I ran towards the phone. I don't know what exactly happened but I fell and fell hard My knee is all swollen up, my arm and shoulder are banged up and my thumb on my stitching hand is jammed and swollen. Then yesterday I had to take the car to Joplin for a factory recall, (Dan had to work) and I really didn't want to reschedule, plus I needed to go to Sam's and stock up on some stuff. So Jonathon helped me hobble around Sam's and load stuff in and out of the cart. I am sure if I had just rescheduled the car appointment my knee would look wonderful or at least better, but I didn't reschedule. I am trying to keep a good eye on it though and take aspirin everyday after the last time I fell and that began the whole blood clot in the arm debacle. My schedule and checkbook really can't manage that again.

I also started kitting up several different cross stitch projects. Most of them are small and shouldn't take too long for me to get done, and someday I hope to get back of Lady Liberty and my Stoney Creek schoolhouse.

We are officially on the countdown for Spring Break here, even the neighbor kid aka Batman knows what Spring Break means and he is only in kindergarten.

Have a great week.

A Wrinkly Report

2010-02-14T16:47:00.000-08:00

This is my newsest project start the July pattern from Prairie Schooler. As you can tell I did not iron it before I took the picture, hence the title of my post. I started it a couple of weeks ago after I finished the Lizzie Kate pattern. This is going quite smoothly, those old lady magnifying glasses do wonders. Who would have ever thought that being able to see would make stitching so much easier??

We have been busy here at mi casa. Jonathon is playing basketball, which hasn't been that much fun so far. Remember those try-outs we have to insure parity in the league--well, one team is a traveling type situation and generally has beat every one by at least 40 plus points. We have played them in both games we have had so far. I just told Jonathon that now we were done with them and things would get better. Of course after the first quarter our boys just kind of went through the motions in both games. Besides that whoever said life was fair??? and if they did well, they were obviously lying.

I had conferences last week for two nights, then I had Friday off. I spent the day or most of it at Jon's school volunteering with the RIF program and helping with the Valentine party. I had never got to do RIF and I must say I was quite impressed with the whole affair, each child got a free book. I had a ball looking at all the different books. I kept thinking I should have taken in my notebook and wrote down titles. I use a lot of lower level children's books in my English class to introduce basic concepts, then move up to our level. In the afternoon we had the valentine's parties for each class. What a difference a good teacher in control of their class makes. Every one was so well-behaved and mannerly. They were a great group. I brought those little bottles of pop for their drinks and they really liked that.

My Valentines took me out Saturday night to the Tavern to eat. The meal was delicious as usual and we had a good time. There was a local doctor there with their sweetheart. I assume they recently got engaged, because some friends came in to surprise them, I really got a chuckle over what happened next. In the excitement of everything the doctor, their Valentine, and friends took off, leaving with out paying their bar bill. In our small town it is kind of like Cheers--where everybody knows your name. You could tell the hostess was majorily miffed, she called the manager over and was talking and waving her arms and pointing. She went to bathroom and looked for the doctor.

I also have to chime with the Spinster Stitcher's comments on the newscaster and their predictions of upcoming snowstorms, causing a general panic and people running amuck to stock up on things. That has happened twice here lately. Both times they were predicting somewhere near a foot of snow, possible power loss etc. and we got zip, nada, NOTHING! That is why I refuse to get all excited anymore. I mean seriously with all the modern technology???

This week we begin state testing here in the Sunflower State, I must say that I am totally looking forward to getting in that computer lab the end of this week and getting the whole thing behind us. My kiddos are ready and hopefully eager to get it done!

Have a great week!

Update Coming Soon...

2010-02-10T18:38:00.000-08:00

when I get life by the horns and not the other way around. I have been doing a very little stitching, but after this weekend I hope things slow down to the speed limit at least.

Have a great Thursday!

Old Pieces, Newly Framed

2010-01-29T15:08:00.000-08:00

First off, here we are working on that New Year's resolution to help others packing bags of supplies to be donated and sent to Haiti. Jonathon did these at home and I took them to work, my homeroom turned in about 30 bags total.

Here we have the Shepherd's Bush Nativity that I stitched years ago and just recently had framed. Next Christmas this will make its big debut. I wish you could see the frame better, it looks really nice. The frame has some gold around the inside edges, which is why I didn't have this piece matted.

This is also a Shepherd's Bush piece, but of course I don't have a clue what the name of it is. This piece has character! LOL If you look at the upper left corner you will see the colors have bled somewhat. This pattern called for overdyed thread, which was just becoming the rage back in those days (for me anyway). Long story short--three year olds holding a chicken leg near cross-stitch done in overdyed threads isn't a really good idea. Now granted the small greasy smudge his little finger left probably would not have even shown, but this hysterical mom ran to faucet to clean if off. I knew the thread wasn't colorfast, but for some reason I thought I could wash that small spot and not get the rest of it wet. Live and learn--to keep your cross-stitch put away when you aren't stitching.

Have a great week!

Not Much

2010-01-26T14:31:00.001-08:00

Well, there isn't a whole lot going on here to post about. I did start a new stitching project, it the Prairie Schooler July pattern. I was moving right along on the whole thing until two things happened. 1) Murphy, the wonder dog chewed up all of the thread I was using at the current time, and 2) Dan became convinced that he was ill, so ill in fact that he could not take Jonathon to basketball practice. He has a cold and stuffy nose. I won't even mention the times I have had a cold and stuffy nose and went to work! Nope, I won't even go there! So needless to say I didn't stitch last night. Plus I did something I swore that I wasn't ever going to do in a hundred million years--I bought a pair of those magnifying glasses. Now I guess I am officially on my way to becoming a future senior citizen. But I guess at least I can see what I am stitching.

So there you have it, my life in paragraph. Hope the excitement doesn't cause too many problems.

Have a great week.

1st Finish of the New Year

2010-01-17T13:11:00.001-08:00

This afternoon while watching my Cowboys get trounced by Favre and the Vikings I finished Lizzie Kate's the ABC of Life. I really grew to love this pattern as I worked on it. At first I wasn't really impressed with the colors and you did a lot of stitching in brown, but as the whole thing emerged I thought the colors really complimented each other. Right now I am letting it hang for a few days to try and relax the remaining wrinkles. I don't use a hoop or a q-snap when I stitch so my stitching gets pretty wrinkled in the process. I ironed it good today, now I will let gravity work on it for awhile. I now will go back to my Shepherd's Bush "O' Holy Night".

I took two pieces to be framed last weekend and was quite happy when I walked into Hobby Lobby to find ready made open back frames 50% off as well as custom frames. When I left I felt like I had got the bargain of the year. I did these years ago when I was a SAHM. One of them is a SB Nativity Scene. Next year we will have a nativity on display. I always feel like a heathen when the priest talks about people who decorate, but don't have a nativity scene. That is one thing I am trying to do is get all of those finishes framed little by little. These should be ready next week and then I can take the ABC's to be framed.

I can't believe tomorrow is the 18th of January. Talk about time flying. I also think it is kind of odd that in the last month between Christmas vacation and snow days I have only worked eight days. That kind of sporadic working in the field of teaching doesn't do much for the motivation of either the teachers or students.

Have a great week!

The Year of 2010

2010-01-03T09:39:00.000-08:00

It seems everyone else's blogs are talking about their plans or resolutions for the new year. I always make ny resolutions with the best of intentions, but never seem to go very far in keeping them. The main resolution I have this year is to work on being healthier. Of course I chose this one for many reasons, I am only 46 years old, but every month I go to the pharmacy and pick up a bunch of prescriptions for myself and frankly I am too young to be doing this. I need to be able to run around and do things with my ten year old son and not be a couch potato. I need to be able to take him up the street this spring and have batting practice with him to help him out when he starts baseball. I need to be able to play catch with him. I also need to be able to take him to an amusement park and actually ride the rides with him. So that is the main number one goal this year.

I have others of course, like learning the relax. Not always having to be running here or there. I have tried working on this the past two weeks when I have been on vacation. I have tried to stay put and just enjoy the time and use it productively. Usually I have plans to go here and there while on vacation, then when it time to go back to work I am exhausted and wonder how those two weeks flew by so fast! I actually thought of this when we were on vacation in Chicago last year. When I go on vacation I like to be going and moving, usually our vacation are two or three days and I like to see everything I can in that time. I spend days making itineraries, making sure that we use every single solitary minute of the time we have. I have friend and they always have these nice relaxing vacations at the lake and they come home so at ease and happy. I usually come home from vacation wanting a vacation. So this year I going to learn to take the time to stop and smell the roses so to speak.

The last resolution I have is to do more for others. It occured to me when I asked Jonathon to set down and make a Christmas list this year and he couldn't think of a single thing to put on it, that we had gone over the edge. So this year he and I are going to work on doing things to help others. One of our first projects is to make things for the church bazaar coming up in October. It is a start and I have a few more ideas, and we will see how those work out.

Today we have basketball "try-outs". That is the term they use although the kids aren't actually trying out. It is more of a skills assessment to try and keep the teams somewhat even and competitive with one another. I am sort of wondering if it will be canceled because we got more snow and freezing rain last night.

Stitching pictures will be coming soon. I have been working hard on Lizzie's Kate ABC of Life and can feel my first finish of 2010 coming soon. And I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Silver Needle order!

Have a great week.

YooHoo! Calling all Stitchers!

2009-12-30T10:55:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for a way to spend your Christmas cash the Silver Needle is having their annual New Year's Eve Sale. Go to their website and check out the details. I know I will be up and on the computer for the 6 AM CST time baragains!

Christmas Travelers...

2009-12-27T11:38:00.000-08:00

Saturday afternoon we had visitors that we were expecting then some extra. We were very excited to see our cousins, aunt, and sister for my mom. One group was heading back to Texas after being in Kansas for the holidays and the other was heading to Kansas for the holidays. It just so happened that they all stopped at our house around the same time. It is truly a wonderful surprise to get to see family at Christmas. The teens that live in Texas year round were delighted to see the snow, so we of course had to venture out and take some pictures. The little guy in the front is so cute, I wish I could have kept him, but they wouldn't let me! He is four and absolutely onery and adorable!

A Very Vera Christmas

2009-12-25T15:20:00.000-08:00

It was the day before Christmas when all through the house you could hear the sleet hitting the windows and the north winds howling. Thank goodness there was no mouse (that I am aware of...) The stockings were hung on the shelves with care. I was getting ready for a much needed shower, so I could wash my hair. When what to my wondering eyes should appear a big white Fed Ex truck without any reindeer. The Fed Ex guy dashed to door with a big box that said "Handle With Care" shoved the package in the door and ran off like he had seen a bear. Okay enough of the trying to rhyme words...the jist of this here story is I had the most fabulous VERA Christmas. The box was from Hawaii, where later last night my uncle reported that they had turned on their air conditioner. Inside the box was a huge Vera Bradley tote that will look quite lovely on my arm when my cross -stitch and I go out and about! My cross-stitch and I are rarely separated. It also had a shirt for Jonathon. All I can say is this--Christina and Kathy I was totally blown away and love the bag. Really you shouldn't have!

Later we went to my mom's to open gifts and she got me a VERA purse and cosmetic bag, and then this morning at home Dan got me a VERA purse and some matching acessories! I am in hog heaven. I can't wait to carry them all and show them off!

So I am going to leave all of you to go upstairs and try out my new stitching lamp, that my husband also got me!

The photo below is of the scene outside my door. Yesterday we had high winds and sleet all day and snow throughout the night. If you didn't have anywhere to go it was the perfect Christmas Eve scene complete with one of my favorite Christmas movies "Christmas With the Kranks!"

Have a wonderful Christmas evening, I am off to stitch and watch "Home Alone" for the umpteenth time.

Merry Christmas To All

2009-12-24T06:01:00.001-08:00

To all of our family and friends our wish for you is a safe, happy, and wonderful holiday season.
Merry Christmas!

Tis the Season

2009-12-19T08:35:00.000-08:00

... to be busy! My vacation officially started at 3:00pm yesterday. Jonathon gets out in two days. Of course I don't think we will actually have a day to relax until maybe Wednesday. I still have a couple of baking things to do possibly. I was going to bake cinnamon rolls for his teacher, but I am sooooooooo tired of baking. So maybe I will just go and look for a really nice gift for her instead. Tonight we have church bingo and I have been cooking like a madwoman for that--I have 4 pies made, turkey salad for sandwiches, and a pot of ham and beans. Tomorrow is the church dinner, then Monday is the cup stacking tournament that Jonathon qualified for at school.

So yesterday everyone that met their AR goal earned a trip to the movies. We went to see Blindside with Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw. What a great movie! If you haven't had the chance to see it yet you should. Some people might get the idea that it is a football movie, but really it isn't--it is about family. I think it really shows what living your faith truly means. Not everyone has it in them to do what the Tuohy's did, but everyone can do something and trust me from a teacher's perspective there are a lot of Michael Oher's in the world. You just never know when that one little act of kindness will change someone's life. I was worried that the kids would think it was corny or whatever, but they didn't they cheered out loud in parts and clapped in others and some even cried.

Have a wonderful week.

Where's the Stitching?

2009-12-13T15:56:00.000-08:00

So I suppose that all of you wondering what happened to the stitching on this blog. I am wondering if I will ever have the time to sit down and put needle and thread to fabric. I think it would be fair to say that my stitching progress or lack is all to be blamed on Pioneer Woman. I hope she is happy with herself about this! See, I used to make a bunch of "stuff" for Christmas and then take them to friends and family. But, then Sara got me hooked on Pioneer Woman. I found her cinnamon roll recipe, and decided that for once and all I was going to learn how to bake a decent cinnamon roll. Her recipe is so tasty and easy! Making them and giving them away makes me feel like a celebrity, as people carry on so about them.

This week I felt like the little engine that kept saying "I think I can, I think I can!" First off, I have had this sinus thing going on this week, I don't know if it is the common cold or something else, but I am pretty sure that Friday I ran a temp most of the day. Second, I had just a few little odds and ends to pick up here and there for Christmas, so I ran to Bartlesville to get that done Saturday. Jonathon was going to stay at a friend's house and then at the last minute decided to go. I actually was kind of excited he decided to go as he and I don't ever seem to get much time just the two of us. It was a wonderful time, he was foul Al the entire time. We were looking for dress shoes for him to wear to his band concert and Christmas Eve Mass. He is at the size where he can wear a very small men's size and they don't really carry a selection in boy's sizes that big. Well, they also don't carry very many men's shoes in that small of a size. So while the trip was productive it wasn't especially pleasant. The third reason I haven't got much stitching done is this.....

I decided that this year I was going to spend more time and effort in appreciating those who did nice things for me and reciprocate that kindness in some way. Early Saturday morning I started batch one. These weren't too bad as most of the recipients showed up at my door and picked them up. I cleaned up the kitchen from batch one and took off shopping, then came home to mix up batches two and three....

Here they are cooling on the kitchen table. After kitchen clean up part duex. My mom says I cook like my Grandma Hawkins, we were both very messy. Of course, Dan was none to happy to hear me say no I haven't cooked dinner, and no there are no cinnamon rolls here for you to eat. And truly, I didn't care. I shoved some money at him told him to go to Subway and get us dinner. "Our" cinnamon rolls finally got out of the oven at 10:15 pm.

This morning I got up early for Mass and tied pretty bows on all of them to make them look more "present-like". I even made a bow for the guy that lives at the farm! My mom's friend called and offered to adopt me if my mom ever wanted to get rid of me. She had eaten three of hers, but was going to start pacing herself with the rest. She better be careful what she wishes for!

I took one of the bigger pans to my aunt Artie. Artie has made me plenty of cinnamon rolls throughout the years. She also has taken on the planning of three fairly large family reunions. Every family has one person that leads that pack and on my dad's side of the family she is the go-to gal. Well, when my dad was alive every time Artie would bake cinnamon rolls my dad would show up at her house. believe me when he showed up he ate his fair share and then some. She didn't call and tell him, somehow he just knew she was baking them that day. He either had an spy on the inside, ESP, or the smeller of a bloodhound. Today she said eating them made her think of him so I guess that made my day yesterday very worthwhile. And I hope to not see another cinnamon until next Monday rolls around, when I start again.

Have a happy, stress-free, Christmas preparing week!

Holiday Home Tour IV

2009-12-06T14:00:00.000-08:00

This is my last tree and picture, I promise. The tree in this picture has only red, gold, and ecru decorations on it. The gold decorations are another set from my mother. Now, at this point in time you must be thinking my mom buys a lot of Christmas decorations, and you are right. Last year she came to my house Thanksgiving weekend and I was sitting on the couch guzzling Diet Coke and sweating profusely, because my back was killing me and I needed a decorating breather. Afterall a fat girl can only run up and down the basement stairs so many times in one day carrying stuff before it becomes a medical emergency. She looks around and says "you know you could just put up one tree, you don't have to put them all over the house." Christmas Eve came and we are at her house opening gifts, I rarely get anything that I haven't gone with her to pick out, but there was one present that I had no idea what was in the box. I opened it up and it was a set of Christmas ornaments! Next year, I will probably put up another tree with Dan's growing set of K-state ornaments, guess who has been buying those?

On the stitching front I started a new SB's pattern to take a little break from the Lizzie Kate Abc's of Life. Ofcourse with all of these trees up my lamps are not in their usual position and I have trouble stitching in the bad lighting, but I am doing it anyway. Bad lighting is one thing to deal with, but having a dog that constantly thinks she has to sit on your lap is quite another, so needless to say I might have to move my base of operations from the corner of the couch to the kitchen table, or perhaps start up some covert stitching operations where the dog isn't for the foreseeable future.

Holiday Home Tour III

2009-12-05T07:07:00.000-08:00

The last picture is from the parade last night. Of course I love anything with a flag, last year the local refinery had their community response vehicle in the parade with this huge flag and then they had their big flood light shining on it. I was really hoping that they would have it again this year and they did. I actually had my camera with me this year. On a dark cold night in real life it is a stunning sight. The light they have shining on it is so bright the street lights go out when they pass them on the parade route. This year I tired to take a photo of it, I didn't do a very good job, but here it is anyway.

The picture above is of another small tree. Every year my mom gives us these snowmen with our names on them and they are so small they get lost in the shuffle on the big tree, so this year we got the little guys a tree of their own.

Below is our big Christmas tree with all snowmen. When Jonathon was born I tried to start collecting decorations that were more kid-like and came up with snowmen. Every year I try to add an ornament or two to this tree.

Lastly, have you heard the song "Cryin' For Me" by Toby Keith? It is a beautiful song, and will probably make you cry. I saw the video this morning and when I got home from a donut run I came straight downstairs and downloaded it. The song is about Wayman Tisdale. Tisdale was a stand out basketball player for OU back in the eighties. He went on the play in the pros. When he retired from the NBA his music career in jazz began and he made quite a name for himself. Last year Tisdale died after a long battle with cancer. This is a song Toby Keith wrote about missing his friend. Check it out.

Have a great weekend, and may your days be merry.

Holiday Home Tour Day II

2009-12-04T19:57:00.001-08:00

This a picture of the float Jon and his buddy rode on in the local Christmas Parade tonight. He is in the car that says the word POLAR on the side. This picture has absolutely nothing to do with my home decorations, but I thought I would share it with you. It was a very cold evening, but watching the parade was quite enjoyable. My friend Sara and I sat in the car and watched most of it from there and visited.

This is one of my small trees. It actually only has eight decorations. They are part of a set my mom got me for Christmas last year. They are egg shaped and each one plays a Christmas carol when they are opened. Next year I will try to add a few more things to this one to make it a little more interesting.

The last picture is of a stitched piece that I put out every year. I know that it was done approximately ten years ago. It is a Shepherd's Bush pattern. I have several SB pieces that I stitched through years, but have never had framed. Hopefully I can work on that throughout the next year.

So this concludes today's tour. I hope all of you are enjoying the season and your preparations are going smoothly. I think at this point aside from baking I am good to go.

Holiday Home Tour

2009-12-03T16:13:00.001-08:00

Welcome to my home! I thought this would be a great time to show my Christmas decorations for the year 2009. Hopefully everyday for the next several days I will show you my different trees ranging from small to large. I put up six of them this year. First off this is my little Dallas Cowboy Christmas tree complete with Troy and Emmitt. Maybe this year when Tony Romo goes on sale for 75% off at the local Hallmark shop I will add him to next year's tree. But my heart will always belong to Troy. Before I bought one of those little trees that you stick in a pot I used my Troy Aikman jersey for a tree skirt.

This a picture of our Shepherd's Bush stockings that I made the year Jonathon was "in progress". I hang one up for my mom every year since she celebrates with us. As you can see they are not necessarily hung by the chimney, but by the built-in bookcase. I usually display all of the Christmas cards we receive on the blank spaces in the shelves. We have got a few so far, but hopefully by Christmas we will have several to put on display.

These are my stand up Santa's. I made these years ago before Jonathon, (isn't it odd when you have kids you start to divide your life into before and after?) each of these were made with different speciality threads. Some have wool, a suede like thread, alpaca wool, cashmere threads. People always see these and say "you should sell these!" I just have to laugh because they have no idea how much I have invested in these things. The one in the middle, with the little snowman beside him I like to affectionately call Charlie. Charlie was my mom's oldest brother. My dad died the week after I was engaged and Charlie walked me down the aisle four months later. He did a fine job as the night before he had on the job training with his own daughter. Charlie was killed when a transformer at work exploded and burned him badly. He lived 13 days and I spent many a late night that June stitching because I couldn't sleep. Several tears were shed while stitching this one. Every year when I pull this one out I send a little mental thought and hello to Charlie. As anyone who stitches knows it is great therapy for what ails you physically and spiritually.

See you tomorrow!

From Our House To Yours--Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T11:42:00.000-08:00

Here's wishing everyone a blessed Thanksgiving filled with food, family, and fun.

What am I thankful for...

1. My husband, who puts up with Jonathon and I and all of our crazy ideas!

2. My wonderful son,who's just an overall good kid that continues to amaze me and fill me with pride everyday.

3. For my mom, not only does she work tirelessly to help me everyday, she also tries to help others who need it.

4. For all my friends that surround me rather in person or cyberspace.

5. I am very thankful that in this economy my husband found a decent job.

6. My co-workers, who work everyday to try to and shape the lives of the budding young adults we work with. Some times we succeed and most of the time we don't, but we all keep trying every day.

7. For the opportunity afforded me this past September to see all of my dad's brothers and sisters. And the chance to get reacquainted with cousins I hadn't seen in years.

8. For my students at school, who are responsible for probably 80% of the stress in my everyday life, but they also enrich my life. They make me laugh, sometimes they make me sad and exasperated. Then there are the times they teach me something (usually not some thing I ever wanted to learn). But I love 'em.

9. I am especially thankful after everything that has happened to us in the last two years we have persevered as a family. My friend's husband (hi Paul) told me at last year's parish covered dish dinner--"This isn't the worst thing that can happen to you, you will get past it." He was right, we aren't quite there, but everything is getting smaller in the rear view mirror.

10. For technology- advancements in medical science that is helping my aunt and has given my SIL a chance to see her four year grow up. For this computer who lets me meet new people everyday on my blog and for helping to keep in touch with others. Without the Internet I probably wouldn't get quite the friendly wave from the UPS guy every time he sees me (that's not always a good thing), but I wouldn't have the opportunity to know some great people I do. It has also allowed me to get to know several of my family members I never see a little better.

Now it is your turn. What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving?

A New Family Member

2009-11-23T18:25:00.000-08:00

Meet Murphy our new family addition. She came to live with us yesterday afternoon via a family friend. Last night was interesting to say the least--Dan snoring on one side of me like a freight train and the dog "sleeping" in the bathroom carrying on like no body's business. It was sort of like having your newborn home the first night. You just want to sleep and they don't. So tomorrow night we are off to Petsmart to get the little lady something to sleep in. I think tonight she is going to bunk with Jonny in his room since she will lay and sleep quietly as long as she is with a human. So Spinster Stitcher maybe Murphy and Stewey can become pen pals.

Anywhoose tomorrow is my Friday and then I have a busy weekend coming up, but I will have a stitching pic believe it or not! And..... I have only had to rip this out one time so far, pretty good considering the last time I started this it ended up in the trash.

Have a great week and a happy Thanksgiving.

A Small Amount of Progress

2009-11-18T16:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I have restarted the Lizzie Kate ABC's of Life pattern. I haven't got much done, but here is a glimpse of what is finished. I am taking it slow this time, not trying to hurry and make stupid mistakes again.

I haven't had a lot of time to sit and stitch here lately as it seems that life has been zipping by at record pace. Everytime I think I have a free weekend ahead, I don't. This coming weekend we have church bingo, and Jonathon is running in his first ever 5K race. I am excited to see him try this. He really seems to enjoy participating sports and I try to be supportive of the efforts and keep him encouraged.

I spent the day at home today as I had a doctor's appointment and had to have some fasting blood work done. While I was there I got both the flu shots offered. I guess I should be good for the rest of the flu season. Different sicknesses have been rampant in both my school and Jonathon's, so I feel fortunate that we have managed to avoid everything thus far.

I was going to do a lot of stitching today, but decided that I should really use the extra time to work on some holiday chores needing to be started. I made 4 pumpkin rolls with cream cheese filling. I think I will probably make some more as these make nice gifts, especially on the spur of the moment. They freeze really well and people love them.

We are having Thanksgiving dinner at our house. I don't know who or how many will be here, but I do know that no one will leave hungry. Hopefully, my Cowboys will eek out a victory that day.

Until next time, have a great week and stay healthy and safe.

Soccer, Pioneer Woman Etc.

2009-11-08T14:37:00.000-08:00

First off the pics at the top-- We have Jon displaying his trophy that he won this morning along with all of his teammates. We captured the soccer championship for our league. This is the first time we have been on two championship teams in one year. We are on a roll.

The second picture is of him in his Halloween costume. Once again we chose an Army costume. Maybe someday he really will be a three star general, who knows?

As far a stitching pics go, well sit back because I have a sad story to tell you. I threw the project in the trash. Please note I have only done this once before in all the time I have been stitching. I was working on the Lizzie Kate ABC's of life. I don't know what in the world was wrong with me, but obviously I wasn't in the right mind to stitch or I had temporairly gone blind. I kept having to rip out and then Friday I found the real mistake, not the one I had been ripping out over and over. To make everything correct in the end would have been a major overhaul. So I just said some things that I can't print here because this is a family type blog rated G and they would not be appropriate. I have started again and will soon order myself some Cocoa Bean overdyed thread to replace nearly half of the kit's thread I ripped out over and over again and will be well on my way. Since I only have two letters done currently and the fact that were done in the half lit skating rink I decided to wait on the picture until I truly have something to show for my efforts.

Now on to my really big news. I saw Pioneer Woman! I also saw Marlboro Man, Betsy, Mike, and Baby Eliot. My buddy and fellow stalker friend, Sara, went to her cookbook signing in T-town last Tuesday night. We had a great time, ate some great food, laughed a lot all of which improved my general mental health over 100%. By the time we arrived at the book signing, like five to ten minutes late she had already sold out of her cookbooks, but hey we got to get a peek at her in real life and she did a little question and answer, so we were satisfied. Of course, my camera battery was dead, so we used Sara's camera and she is having trouble with something about getting them to me and I can't remember what the problem was, so someday I will post my pics here for you to see.

We are fast approaching the holidays and I am making plans. I got a couple of Christmas gifts bought this weekend and have been thinking of Christmas baking. I always have bigger plans than the possible time, but I guess that's alright.

Have a great week, and stay healthy. The flu bug is something awful around these parts right now.

Coming Soon.....

2009-10-30T15:26:00.001-07:00

a stitching update with a picture. As soon as my eysight returns to normal after my recent addiction to Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook. It is an ugly addiction, I just played for like an hour. I have no idea where my kid is, or how the baked potatoes I should have put in the oven an hour ago are going to get cooked, if I don't get off of this computer and go to the kitchen.

Stay tuned, or not????

Not A Lot of Stitching....

2009-10-20T18:21:00.000-07:00

going on here. Just trying to get through the week and have things caught up for the weekends. The flu has hit Jon's school pretty bad this week. 151 were gone yesterday and 168 were absent today, that doesn't include teachers. So we are also trying to keep everyone well.

Anyway, this really hasn't bothered our attendance that much where I work. We seem to keep dodging the bullet somehow.

I do have an order coming from the Silver Needle. I would go and look at the site and think I didn't need anything I have enough, but finally I just said what the heck! and ordered it anyway.

Have a great week!

It's Neverending

2009-10-12T14:54:00.000-07:00

I guess that is how I would describe life right now. It seems that we just run from one thing to another and then another. It finally got to the point that I stayed home from the football game Saturday just so I could be home. That doesn't happen very often. One of my favorite things to do is watch football and jump and scream like crazy--I don't care if it is in my living room or at an actual game. At times this has become an embarassing habit or mine for my husband and son to endure, but they are eventually getting used to it. It tends to make my mother down right mad at times, though, especially when we are on the phone and I scream bloody murder over something that happened. Anyway I digress from the subject at hand. We have just been busy and I am tired of it.

Jonathon had two sleepovers this weekend on Friday and Saturday nights, he did have a good time, but last night he didn't make it past 8:15 before he was hitting the hay.

I started a new stitching project, I tried to find the official name of it on the Silver Needle website so I didn't have to run upstairs and look, but I didn't see it one the sight. It is a Lizzie Kate pattern, one of the ABC patterns, not the Christmas one though. I hate going to the Silver Needle site, it always ends up costing me money. I see things I can't possibly live without. If you only knew how many unstitched things I have in my house I could not live without. One of these days though I am going to have it all stitched up. When I am about 125 years old I will have it done.

And, just so ou know I am going to be a Great Aunt for the second time either late tonight or sometime tomorrrow morning.

So on that note I will leave all of you to have a wonderful, happy week.

Aiden's Stocking

2009-10-04T16:52:00.001-07:00

Here it is-dramatic pause- the finished product. Shelby and Aiden's stockings should be winging their way across the Pacific no later than Wednesday. They can pick them up at Grandpa and Grandma's house.

All of you have a great week.

Corn Maze Adventures

2009-10-03T15:01:00.001-07:00

Getting started.

Which way do we go????

Corny and his pal Niblet. It isn't easy talking to ten year "cool" boys in to doing a photo like this, I did forget to mention I was putting it on the web for all to the world to see.

We headed up this afternoon to check out the corn maze. Both boys thought it was quite fun. I went through it for the short route and when we got to the end of that I took the first exit. They stayed in there and made it all the way to the other end taking the longer route. I was amazed at how well they did, they really worked together. When they came to a fork one would check out one direction, and then other would go the opposite way. Then they would figure out which way they needed to go. I kept thinking they would make good competitors on the Amazing Race.

Anyway, the house is almost clean, the laundry is almost done. We are waiting for the pizza delivery man, then we are heading up to the stadium for an evening of football. Hopefully, a winning evening, but this year that is always iffy.

Hopefully, I will have finished stocking to show off here soon. Have a good week.

Shelby's Stocking

2009-09-27T18:56:00.000-07:00

Well, at long last a blog update. Here is a pic of the finished stocking. I am coming so close on the other stocking, but just not quite there yet. Hopefully, by the end of the week I will have the other stocking finished and ready to put in the mail at the beginning of next week.

Not much has been going on here in our neck of the woods, just work, school, and soccer. Jonathon's team is currently 2-1. They lost their first game on Saturday in overtime. Next week will be even busier with parent teacher conferences two nights, but the weekend will come around again.

I am ready to move on to a new project and let the stockings be until next fall, but we will see. The weather here has finally cleared and the rain seems to have gone away for awhile. My mums in the yard are loaded with blooms and should be gorgeous for the fall season. I can't believe how fast time is flying, it seems that we just started school and week before last was the midterm.

Jonathon finally decided what he wanted to be for Halloween, once again he has chosen an army man costume. He really never has been all that enthralled with the whole idea of Halloween. I think living in the country the first five years sort of burnt him out on the whole idea of trick or treating. Trick or treating when you live in the country involves lots of getting in and out of the car and time spent riding in a hot costume. We did the Kiddie Parade a couple of years when he was a toddler with my cousin's little boy, but after lugging Jonathon screaming at the top of his lungs practically the entire parade route, well Reid and I never really saw the joy in the whole adventure after that year. Least ways neither of us ever brought the idea up to one another again.

Well, I suppose I should get off of here and get things ready for another wild week.

Have a great week, and hope you get some stitching done!

Together Again

2009-09-13T18:27:00.000-07:00

Today for the first time in probably 40-50 years all of my dad's living siblings were together in the same place at the same time. My uncles from Hawaii and France finally made it to Cherryvale at the same time. This picture of them isn't the best, but they had a good time taking it and giggling like kids. It surely did make me miss dad today, thinking about how much he would have enjoyed being there with everyone.

I didn't get the stockings finished, only one is done and I will have a pic of it later this week. The second one is well on its way to being finished. So instead of winging their way across the Pacific with grandparents of the recipients, they will be going in the mail soon. And I have been informed that I need to keep stitching because there will be two more to add to the family roster in the near future.

Have a great week.

God Bless The USA

2009-09-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

I remember the events of 9-11 vividly. I was at home with a two year old. I turned on the TV right at the time the second plane flew into the towers. It seemed at the time that the entire world had gone mad. For awhile it seemed so surreal like it was happening to somewhere else in the world, not the US. We went to town to put gas in the car that afternoon. We were the only ones there and by the time we paid the police had been called to direct traffic. Just the uncertainty of the times made me nervous. Columbine happened 17 days after Jonathon was born and now this, I remember thinking--"what kind of world is my kid going to grow up in?"

The weekend after 9-11 when the NFL resumed their games we went to Dallas to see the Cowboys play the Chargers. It became more than just a Sunday afternoon getting to watch your favorite team play. Before the game they rolled out this flag held by the Dallas area firefighters, police, and EMS. The flag was a big as the football field. Martina McBride came out and started singing the national anthem. She actually had to stop her rendition a few bars in because the audience was singing also. She adjusted her singing to ours. I just remember not being able to sing because I was teary eyed just seeing the flag, hearing the people. They gave people hand held flags as they entered Texas Stadium. When the singing was over the Cowboy players burst through the tunnel with the first player carrying the flag. He was running so fast the flag was standing straight out behind him and the entire stadium was waving flags shouting USA! USA!

Now I look at the way things are going now and wonder why the American people can't stand up and support each other like we did during the OKC bombing and 9-11. We have people screaming at each other over health care, people not wanting their children be encouraged by our president to stay in school and become educated, congressmen disrespecting the highest office in our land. I hope today many Americans take the opportunity to be proud and remember what a great country we are and can be.

Hobby Lobby Stock Should Be Up....

2009-08-30T11:51:00.001-07:00

as I picked these up yesterday and paid the bill. At least they are not as outrageous as the guy I used to take my stitching to for framing. He would not frame stuff unless you bought the frame from him, and it got pretty pricey sometimes. Actually the smaller piece cost more to frame than the LH piece because I had to have a cutom frame made for this. I usually get the ready made open back frames when they are 50%off there and that helps keep the cost down.

The newest news from our house is fifth grade band has started. Jonathon is playing a trumpet, I hope I survive the experience. He hasn't taken it to school yet as Tuesday is the official day for needing your instruments. They did, however, learn how to properly hold an instrument the other day. He has been tooting his horn ever since. When I came home from work on Thursday he blew in it to show me how well he could do it. Later I was downstairs reading stitching blogs, I had started laundry, and I heard this god awful sound. My first thought was "What is wrong with the washing machine?" Then I realized that it was my son, Louis Armstrong Jr.

Ofcourse Friday he had a friend over for the night. I got home from work and saw that his friend has brought his trumpet also. I must admit that getting a motel room crossed my mind, but they were so busy with their legos that they never had time to toot.

Now I am off to the couch to finish my stocking, and I am not kidding!

Have a super week!

Did I Really Say I Was Ready to Go Back to Work?

2009-08-26T15:30:00.000-07:00

Well, here is the progress I have made on the current stocking. Not a lot of progress, it should be finished. The second week of September is my deadline for this stocking and another one as I don't want to mail these. If I have them done I can send them with their rightful (sort of) owners when we have a family reunion.

I also bought four gallons of paint to redo the living room/dining room area and I haven't even cracked the lids on them. I guess Labor Day weekend I will be painting and football gaming as the high school and community college both play at home that weekend.

It just seems that life has become oh so hectic here lately. We had open house last night, which I guess is a necessary thing, but hardly anyone ever shows up! Plus, we have to stand in front of the parents for ten minutes and tell them about our class. That is sort of nerve wracking. Not that I have any problems babbling on and on...but in the middle of the last group (we have six) I had my own private little summer right there on the spot. My hair was getting wet in the back, my shirt was sticking to me! I drove home with the air on high the entire way.

We also have church bingo again this weekend. It is only a few hours of volunteering on Saturday night, but you also have to bring a crock pot of something and pies and cakes for the concession stand, so it really turns into an all evening Friday/all morning Saturday thing. The car has to be taken to Joplin for the first oil change. Jonathon has soccer practice Friday night and then again Saturday morning. My house is filthy, in case your wondering. I know I said I was ready to get back into a routine, but I wondering--is it too late to change my mind???

BTW I do have some wonderful kiddos this year, they make my day!

Have a great week!

The First Day of the 20th Year

2009-08-17T18:40:00.000-07:00

I can't hardly believe that one! That is how many years I have been teaching school. I have 68 little wonders, although they aren't that little. Today was one of the calmest first days I can remember at the middle school. As much as I was ready to go back to school and get some sort of routine started I really dread the whole rat race of things starting again. You know school, meetings, soccer practice, homework. There really isn't enough time in the day. It isn't as if we over schedule because the only activity Jonathon does during the fall is soccer.

I have been busy getting last minute things done to start the school year. I have every one's doctor appointments caught up and finished. I have been stitching on a stocking and should have a pic of my progress soon. Right now I am ripping out some of what I did last night. Usually I would say one stitch off doesn't really matter, but since this is in the row directly below where the name will be I decided that I should probably get it right.

Jonathon has meet the teacher Wednesday night and he starts school on Thursday. He had his annual back to school sleepover on Friday night. Not a peep of sleep was had until about 6:30 am Saturday, however, when I got up and saw all the snacks they had eaten in the course of the night a big sugar crash was bound to happen. Once one went to sleep they all seemed to drop off pretty fast.

Have a great week.

Looking for Pioneer Woman

2009-08-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

Last year my friend Sara was telling me about this blog that she read on a regular basis called Pioneer Woman. I went there one evening and was hooked. I would love to provide the link, but you all know that I am technically challenged and I don't know how to do that. Anyway, back to the story, reading PW's blog became a daily event. I think sometimes I know more about her four punks, her brother Mike, Pesky Tim, beautiful Missy, and Cowboy Josh then some people I spend every day with. Anywhose.... she had posted about them participating in ranch rodeos. Well, she doesn't really live that far from me, probably about 100 miles give or take, but in our fair city this is fair and rodeo week. This week one of the featured attractions was a ranch rodeo. I called the fair board office and asked if a ranch of her name was listed among the participants. There was one, even though the first name was wrong Sara and I decided it must be a typo. That is when we lost common sense and went on a hunt for PW at the arena.

Sara was in her pajamas, cooking pork chops, mashed potatoes, and doing laundry. I was frying some potatoes and chicken legs. My mom finished watching my dinner. I put on some decent looking clothes, Sara turned off the pork chops and mashed potatoes. We headed off to the arena cameras in tow to find her. Well, we got there and it was hot, major hot. It turned out it wasn't her ranch, but a family member's ranch. This is according to my former fifth grader Wendy's dad. I interrogated him like a NY detective (a skill every middle school teacher possesses) to find out which family member's ranch was participating.

At this point in time, we decide that it hotter than hot and we are going home. I am sweating in places that I don't normally sweat in. We get to the car and I can't find my car keys. I am thinking that Dan is going to kill me if he has to drive out there and bring me keys. I had heard them say they had lost car keys turned in and luckily they were mine.

I wouldn't want all of you to think I go off hunting people down on a regular basis, but she is pretty awesome and I really wanted to see her and say, "I love your blog! My family love your cinnamon rolls, and jalapenos filled with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon and thrown on the grill." Seriously, the only other time I did something like this was in high school. I was in Wichita, Kansas at the Pizza Hut next to the Hilton Hotel, at CYO convention when a girl came in a said Billy Joel kissed her cheek and he is standing in front of the hotel. My friend Cindy and I jumped up (me in my brand new clogs that I had just bought at the mall), and took off running. I chased him across the parking lot through the hotel lobby and out the back door to get his autograph. Really I promise that 99% of the time I am a normal sane human who loves to spend her days stitching .

Have a great week.

LHN Heart of America

2009-08-05T14:02:00.000-07:00

This is my latest stitching finish. It is the LHN Heart of America. I had to change the colors on the words for this project because my linen was not dark enough to contrast with the white thread the pattern used. At first I tried to the use the blue found in the flag, I told myself when I started in that color no matter what it looked like I wasn't going to rip it out. But after getting a few letters of the word "freedom" done I could tell it was going to look awful, so I did rip it and decided to use the gold. The gold wasn't near as bold and garish looking and I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

Today is our twentieth wedding anniversary, and it has been a busy day. Jonathon and I had to get up at 5 am to get my mom to the eye doctor. It wasn't too bad as we were back home by 10. Then I totally forgot that today was one of the enrollment days for school, so I ran up and got him enrolled in fifth grade. Tonight we are going out to eat at a local steakhouse. Not that going out to eat is that big of a deal as we do it all the time, but for some reason that is what we always do to celebrate. Then tomorrow it is up and at it to take my mom back for her follow up appointment. I might stop at Hobby Lobby and see about getting Heart of America framed and the Stars and Stripes Forever that I did earlier in the year. Then I absolutely have to get to my school and get some work done in my classroom. I can't believe that I have not been there yet this summer. I guess I will plan on that for tomorrow afternoon. Friday I have to take the car to Joplin in the afternoon and that night we are babysitting the neighbor kid so his parents can go to a concert. Monday Jonathon has an appointment to get his immunizations updated, so time is running out. I like to go into my first three days of meetings and whatnot with all of my stuff already done, then I am not stressed out about everything that is not done.

Okay, I will stop there as I feel like a babbling idiot, and the more I think about everything going on in the next week the more frantic I feel!

Have a good week.

Keep Quiet or Not??

2009-08-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

This is an opinion poll. Say you find out something that could be dangerous for someone else's child--teenager. Do you tell or not? Would you want someone to tell you?

Bored

2009-08-02T18:33:00.001-07:00

That sort of describes my mood here today. I have almost finished the Heart of America cross-stitch project. But mostly we haven't been doing a lot. I mean when the biggest thing you have to look forward to is Jon & Kate Plus Eight returning to the airwaves, well,it shows just how pitiful your life has become.

Last Friday Jonathon and I headed out for a day of shopping and got some wall decorations for the kitchen. While I liked everything we got, it was 50% off, I don't know... somehow when I walk in the kitchen the wall decor looks LARGE! I need to get paint and start painting the living room, but just haven't had to gumption to get started there. To top things off the service engine soon light is on in the new car. I suppose there is a trip to Joplin in my near future, like tomorrow, and two trips to Bartlesville this week with my mom.

Jonathon is having yet another sleepover. His bestest friend is off with his family for a week, and Jonathon doesn't quite know what to do with himself. He wanted to have a friend over, but just didn't know what to do. I had to remind him that he has more than one friend.

We are also in the process of planning a back to school sleepover. He has three friends down to invite. I plan on having it on the same weekend that we work bingo at the church, this way I will get everything over with at one time. Then hopefully we will be at the point of getting back into a routine of some sorts.

I will probably have pictures up soon of my completed Heart of America.

Have a good week.

My New Vera B. Bags

2009-07-28T19:16:00.001-07:00

I actually celebrated my birthday when we were in Chicago. My mom didn't give me my present, which was money, until we came home. She knew I would probably spend it at the LEGO store on Jonny if she gave it to me in Chicago. I took the opportunity to enhance my Vera Bradley "collection" by adding the large tic tac tote, and backpack in the retiring pattern Frankly Scarlett. I also got myself a couple of little things. I didn't need much in the line of accessories because I already had a purse in this pattern and most of the matching stuff.

We have not been doing much since returning home from vacation. Yesterday we painted the kitchen. That may sound like a huge project, but there isn't a lot of wall space in there to paint. I had good help with the project. Jonathon spackled the nail holes while I taped off the trimming. Then while I trimmed he rolled the paint on for me. He is pretty good help for a ten year old boy.

When we bought this house the original owners had just repainted the entire inside and everything is white or off-white. We just aren't a family that can live in an off-white or white house. My plan is eventually to get the inside repainted some different colors. The kitchen color was not exactly what I expected (one of my former fifth graders mixed it for me, could that be why? Revenge for a b in spelling?), but once I get some things hung around it will tone the color down some.

Today I finally got some stitching in as I have been busy with little projects here and there. I finished straightening the garage up and doing what I thought was needed there. I also got my vocabulary folders for my next year kids all put together and assembled one sleepless night.

Next week will be a hectic week as well. My mom is having a cataract removed and that will be a couple of days of appointments, Jonathon needs to be enrolled in school then, and he also has a doctor's appointment to update some immunizations. By then it will be back to work for me.

Have a great week.

DARN IT!!!!

2009-07-22T21:19:00.000-07:00

I decided to do Jonathon's ten year scrapbook online, I think I already discussed this. I spent two hours working on our vacation and did not hit save when I closed and it is ALL GONE! What was I thinking?

Honey, We're Home!

2009-07-20T20:33:00.001-07:00

We just returned from our Chicago trip. I am only going to upload these pics, because in all I have about 200 and it is just too hard to choose them. This one was a favorite. It is of a lighthouse on Lake Michigan. It was taken during a sunset cruise on the lake Saturday night.
Now of course if you ask Jonny he would say this was the highlight of his trip, the Lego Store, he is making a little gift in this picture to take home to his friend.

We did a lot while we were there and the kids had many new experiences and maybe someday when Jonathon grows up he will know that there is a big wide world out there and he can go places and do things besides living in SE Kansas. We took city transportation, taxis and things that we don't have the opportunity to do around here. We went to the Hancock Observatory, the Museum of Science and Industry, the aquarium, and Navy Pier, they played on Ohio Street beach for a brief while, and of course spent time on Michigan Avenue, enjoyed a water taxi ride and sunset cruise on Lake Michigan. They saw the different versions of artwork featured, the street performers and enjoyed the shops on Michigan Avenue. We went to Fannie May's candy store and ate hand-dipped chocolates.

When we went to the pool at our hotel we could see the Hancock Tower on one side of us and the Sear Tower on the other side. We also had the unique "experience" of being in the city the day the name of the Sears Tower offically changed to Willis Tower.

It did feel good to sleep in my own bed last night, though it took me awhile to wind back down. I must say that I really needed the vacation to help get things in back in some sort of perspective. We haven't had good summers the past two years, in fact the past two summers were downright mind boggling stressful with the flood, losing income, Dan's parents losing everything they had, and everyone being switched around and sharing living space, added to that the chronic illnesses both of his parents were dealing with during the '07 flood. In '08 everything finally fell in like a house of cards with the farming operation, so this vacation was a good break for all of us. Even though we loved the trip we are ready to be home again.

Tomorrow I have to get busy cleaning the place up and getting things back in order, then I am starting to stitch again.

Have a great week.

How To Beat A Heat Wave

2009-07-15T13:15:00.001-07:00

We have had some pretty hot temps in Kansas this year. During June we had several triple digit days and the past week we have had them almost every day. Jonathon and his buddy spent most of the day Monday sacked out in the recliner in the basement playing video games and watching TV. They certainly looked relaxed when I sneaked down the stairs to get a picture of them.

I, on the other hand have been hibernating and stitching the days away. I have finished stocking number 4, and started the fifth one this year (the nineteenth in the total lineup), and worked for a couple of days on the LH Heart of America.

Have a great week.

Newly Framed Prairie Schooler

2009-07-11T17:51:00.000-07:00

I picked this up at Hobby Lobby on Friday afternoon. Now I just have to wait until Thanksgiving to display it.

Have a great Sunday.

The Almost Stocking..

2009-07-08T11:46:00.000-07:00

Well, stocking number 4 is at an official standstill until the UPS man shows up with my order from the Silver Needle. As you can see there is just a little bit left to do and as soon as I get the missing thread it will be finished.

From the second picture you can tell that I am making very little progress on the LHN Heart of America design, but I guess a little progress is better than none.

I took my Prairie Schooler Thanksgiving piece to Hobby Lobby last week to have it framed. I didn't have mats put on it since it already had a border. Their pre-made frames were 50% off, so it didn't cost a lot to get it framed. It should be ready later this week.

I hope all of you are having a great week after the 4th.

Fourth of July Photos

2009-07-05T19:42:00.000-07:00

Most of Dan's family was home for the fourth, well, actually all of the sisters and brothers made it at some point in the weekend, just at different times. We enjoyed eating lunch at Jack's Place in Liberty. That is a place you actually have to eat at to enjoy. We spent time at the farm shooting fireworks, grilling out at our house, shooting more fireworks, and Sunday evening Aunt Heather whipped everyone three times in the ever popular basketball game of PIG.

In the middle of all of this I did manage to make an order to the Silver Needle to get my thread along with fabric and charms to make two more stockings for two surprise recipients. I am kind of picky about who I cross-stitch for, it has to be someone I know will appreciate it and I think this will be the case.

Jonny and Abby

Our nephew Wyatt.

Our niece Kelley, her significant other James and their son Jameson.
James recently graduated from Yale and will attend law school in the fall.

Our neice Kimber and her husband Luis. They are expecting their first little one in October. Kimber, Wyatt, and Kelley are brothers and sisters. Their other brother Tyler did not make the trip with them.

Our nephew John.

Home Remedy for the 4th

2009-07-01T16:19:00.000-07:00

I had to share this sure fire home remedy for those little burns you get when shooting fireworks. We use this all the time when we get small burns around the house. It is BALMEX, which to mothers of young ones is diaper rash cream. Case in point the picture above--burn sustained from some mishap while trying to blow bark off the tree with a firecracker. A little of the diaper rash medicine and the stinging is gone and the burn is no longer "hurting". The only reason the wound merits a band aid is because what self-respecting kid of this age would want to be seen in public with baby butt cream on his finger.

I am not proclaiming this is good for major burns, like you might get from the flamethrower made of two-liter bottles and marshmallow gun the above victim has on his back. I suspect this would even work for sunburns, although I haven't tried it because I never stay in the sun long enough to get a sunburn. I do, however, promise the first person I spy with a sunburn I will smear some of this on and let you know the results.

Have a great 4th if I don't talk to you before then!

Stitching Emergency!

2009-06-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

I was all set to take a picture of my progress the last few days on stocking number 4 and would you believe that I ran out of the main color?!? I am taking my mother over by Joplin tomorrow to a smoke shop (she said she was quitting after the first of the year...I said I was losing weight, I guess neither of us is very dedicated), so I could pick some up there at Hobby Lobby, but I have a better idea. I will order it from the Silver Needle. I can not just order one little skein of thread that would be crazy, so I might just have to break down and order some other stuff to make it worth my while.

Not much has happened here this weekend. I think Jonathon is secretly trying to set the world record for the most sleepovers in a year. He is on his third consecutive night of having someone spend the night tonight. Thankfully, he has really nice friends, so 99% of the time it not a problem. I do think that I am probably the most gullible mom of the whole bunch, because I am always taking them to Sonic or Blockbuster at 11 pm.

This past week certainly has had me thinking. Michael Jackson's death makes me think of Elvis Presley's death. I remember I was in eighth grade, my grandmother had just had surgery that very day to remove a benign tumor from her brain. My mom was in Wichita with her and I was staying at home with my dad. My dad was stationed in Germany in the army the same time Elvis served in the army. I can remember him telling me that he distinctively remembers Elvis coming to their base twice to shop in the PX (?) My dad was never interested enough to go and try to see him either time. I would have been there in a flash with my camera in tow. Of course when Elvis died you did not have the media you have today. I think it is sort of sad that the media is already writing stories about the custody battles they "think" will happen, etc.

Today Jonathon, Abby, and his friend Christopher were sitting at the table eating pizza and started talking about the Michael Jackson videos that had seen on TV and before I knew it they were all up doing MJ dance moves. It just struck me as kind of funny that they were even paying attention to them on television and that the three of them probably had never seen a Michael Jackson video until this week.
I remember watching them on American Bandstand, one show had a clip of them from American Bandstand and I sat there thinking about the fact that I most likely watched that the very first time it was televised.

I can not believe that the July 4th is upon us already. It doesn't seem possible really. We did get a slight break in the weather today, I think the temp was in the high eighties.

Since I don't have a stitching pic to share I thought you might enjoy this one.

UNDEFEATED 12 & 0!!

2009-06-24T18:48:00.001-07:00

A Future Engineer & Progress Pic

2009-06-24T08:26:00.001-07:00

I think have talked about Jonathon being a big fan of anything Army and World War II. Earlier this month my dining room floor was the scene of the D-day invasion. He sat down and made several boats without any sort of Lego instructions and put his Lego men in them and used his K-nex to make things on the beach. Next he spent several hours off and on with his digital camera making a stop motion video of the whole D-Day invasion. It was fairly interesting watching a 10 year old do all of this.

The above picture is his latest creation that he made on his own which is a Lego helicopter. I often times look at the things he enjoys doing and wonder where this will lead in the future. Right now I am thinking engineer...but then again he is totally intrigued with the video making, so really who knows. I am thinking of getting him a digital video camera for Christmas. The other day he asked if they had classes in high school where you learned how to do animation on the computer.

Our neighborhood has turned into a war zone of it own lately. Not like the Hatfields and McCoys, but there are weapons involved. The weapons of choice in our neighborhood are water balloons, super soakers and garden hoses. One really has to be careful stepping out the front door. The hot weather has brought on a frenzy of water fights with friends, and the constant running of the garden hose. Not only is the garden hose running, we have the laundry factor- lots of towels and wet clothes. I dread to see our water bill, but as with everything there is an upside I don't have to go in the heat outside and water my flowers they get watered by default.

Here is my progress on stocking number 4. Hopefully in the next couple of days I will get a lot more done and start getting to the end of this project.

Have a good one!

Roasting Away...

2009-06-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

No, sorry I am not cooking anything, but the heat here is something awful right now! With the heat index it feels like 105 outside. It isn't too bad if you are outside and not moving around, but if you have to do anything WOW! I went to Wal-Mart and got a new fan, one of those oscillating tower fans, besides the air conditioner and ceiling fan I need more air moving around.

I was all prepared to show you a picture of the stocking progress that I am making on the last stocking, but the camera battery died. This is a stocking that I also did in the last three, so it is really a repeat.

Tomorrow night is our last ballgame of the season, a make up game from earlier in the month. Sometimes I start to doubt the whole concept of sports for kids. Really I haven't noticed on the whole a lot of poor sportsmanship, but it seems to just take one to set my blood to boiling. It seems to me that the kids don't really mind winning or losing this year they just go with the flow and are happy to be out there with their buddies. Most of the competition is more of a friendly nature, like cousins pitching to each other, best friends tagging each other out, you know that sort of thing. The problem is the adults. Case in point- at swimming lessons this morning one mom remarked to me that she certainly hoped our team lost tomorrow and our perfect season would be ruined. I told her not to count on that because our team is pretty determined. What I really wanted to say was something along the lines of her being a petty, jealous lady who needed to get a life, but with many different adjectives, nouns, and verbs added. However, if I did that then I would not have a family type blog. Another grandparent sits behind homeplate and when the opposing team bats he keeps yelling SWING! Then there is the psycho guy who will never be allowed to coach again, being fired from a volunteer job should be a clue to all of you readers, every game we have several rec officials there just to monitor his behavior. I guess the good news is this too shall pass and that will probably be about 7:30 tomorrow for me.

When we came home from the ball game last night I stayed up until about 3 am and did up all the laundry. I like to stay up late and do housework when the rest of the house is sleeping, I don't know why. I am thankful when I do stay up late that we have cable tv because really I am tired of hearing about North Korea, Iran, Jon and Kate, Casey Anthony and Chris Brown. At least, there is always Roseanne reruns on Nick@Nite.

Until next time, have a great week and happy stitching.