It’s about that time…

Recap of November Stitching Goals

Finish the Alyssum Scissor Case into the actual scissor case ~  uh, no…totally forgot about it 

Stitch on And They Sinned on Sundays ~ uh, no again, only one…I just haven’t felt like working on this one for some reason

Continue stitching on Circus of Circles by Ink Circles ~ uh, well….no

Continue stitching on Bent Creek’s monthly snappers: Finish stitching September Brings and border ~  YES!  And I started October Curls

Pick, stitch and finish an ornie for LNS ornie exchange ~ Since the LNS is closing, there won’t be an exchange.  :0(

So I managed to stitch on only one of my goals and that is it.  I just haven’t been in the mood much of the last two months, very slow progress being made around here.  The last week has been the most I have actually stitched, so perhaps the slump is over.  We shall see…

I have been thinking about the Christmas Dinner Menu the last few days.  The other day I pulled out my red menu folder.  When I first started hosting the family Christmas Dinner, I got a plain red school folder with three binder clips and put some page protectors in it.  Once I decided what I wanted to make for dinner from my various cook books, I typed them up, printed them out and put them in the folder.  When my mother-in-law saw it, she made fun of me, but I have kept this folder adding recipes that I want to try since I add something new every year and pulling out others.  It works for me and all my recipes are together for the big day so that I don’t have to go searching for them or have half a dozen cook books out taking up what little space I have available in my galley kitchen.  This year I am adding the Best Ever Corn Casserole.  It will stay in the red folder…I am already sure on this.

I need to decide what appetizers to serve when my in-laws come for hubby’s side of the family gathering.  I would much prefer one celebration, but a couple of years ago my MIL decided she didn’t like sharing the holidays with my side of the family and started doing a separate thing.  Basically we gather at either my BIL or here, exchange gifts and then go out for dinner on MIL.  Last year we met here and are again this year as well since we are about half between MIL and BIL.  I adore my SIL and always look forward to see and spending time with her. 

We have had a busy day.  After dropping Hannah off at school, Sean and I decided it was time to do the leaves.  So we head outside but can’t get the leaf blower to start.  We get out both the racks and get to it.  Two hours later we had the back & front yards done.  We are both already planning for the soreness to set in.  Mine will be in my shoulder and elbow joints.  But it is done and shouldn’t have to be done again…this year, except for a few strays.

We had to pick up Hannah a hour early from school to head over to the doctor’s office for her flu shot.  Then to the vet’s office for pick up some much needed and some not as needed depending on the dog it was for, heartworm and flea/tick stuff.  We went out to dinner and then to Best Buy.  Sean has been insisting for a while that I was in great need of a new laptop.  The one I have is only three hours old but he found a great deal on a new Gateway that has built in webcam.  He is going to set it up tomorrow which means that I really should be saving what I need from this one.  But I will wait until next week sometime.  No hurry really.  And yes, it is part of my Christmas but he isn’t making me wait. 

Lots to do this month…get the house cleaned and ready for company, put up and decorated the tree, send out the Christmas cards, wrap gifts, and a dozen or so other things that I am sure I will remember later.  I picked up our cards at Wal-mart the other day.  I decided to do a double photo card…a picture of the three of us in NYC and a picture of Hannah from her Princess make-over when we were in Disney in October.  I like them but Hannah said it wasn’t "Christmas-y" enough. 

Off to stitch…finally!

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Wednesday’s writings

Lets see…lets see…what have I been up to the last few days.  I have been stitching.  I finally finished the September Brings Snapper and I am making progress on October Curls.  I am almost done with Christmas shopping.  Hannah’s last thing came on Monday and I ordered a few things for Sean that I am waiting on.  Dogs are doing well…behaving mostly anyway. :0)  Kitty is happy as can be right now because Hannah is sleeping in my room right now which means she is snuggled up with her.  Sean and I watched Knocked Up on DVD.  Pretty funny movie.  We have I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry & Waitress to watch this weekend.  Sean will be home tomorrow and hopefully won’t have to work while he is home. 

Now I am ready for bed….I need and want sleep and lots of it.  But I must wait a few more minutes to take Daisy out or she will be up even earlier than her usual time between 6 am – 7 am.  She is my little four legged alarm clock.

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Aren’t they all beautiful?

 My gorgeous niece, Angelina, her husband Daniel and their beautiful son, my great-nephew, Mathew.  They are such a beautiful family and I can’t wait to see them again.

Kiera (KiKi), my beautiful God-daughter…she is just to sweet!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family.  I really enjoyed seeing my niece and her family, but it was much to short of a visit.  I really can’t wait to see them again.  I hope it won’t be to long before I do.  They are hoping to go back to Texas for Christmas, but I told them that if they weren’t able to that we would love for them to spend it with us.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

My, my! Where has the time gone?  I have been busy with daily life, doing laundry, taking care of dogs, volunteering at school, running errands, that sort of stuff.  I have been stitching a little but still not to much. 

The last two months have been very bad stitching-wise.  I guess now that my friend is telling people, it would be okay to say, that part of the reason for my lack of stitching the last month is because my friend will be closing the LNS sometime next month.  It makes me very sad but she is okay with it now, so I am just going to have to get there too.  Thankfully we have been friends for years and will be for many more even if we don’t have the shop to stitch and chat weekly.  We are planning on getting together to stitch still.

Today we went to the movies and saw Enchanted.  It is very good.  Lots of laughs and sweet.  I felt really good after the movie was over.  Can’t wait to see it again and buy this one on DVD.

Tomorrow we are heading out early to my parents house for Thanksgiving.  I am looking forward to it with the exception of the dogs.  There will be lots of people there and at least one other dog, so they will be loud and wild.  Okay that is normal dog behavior, but my parents house is small, and there will be eight adults and two children who will on occasion get freaked out with the dog play.  Oh, well it is only once a year.  Seeing family and sharing a great meal will make it worth it. 

My niece that I haven’t seen since she was three who is now married with a child that is almost one will be at my parents for the holiday and I am thrilled to see her again.  I am looking forward to spending time with her and her family. 

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for some many things that it is hard to know where to begin, so here are a few… Sean, Hannah, my parents, our pets (yes, even tho they drive me nuts…and I am not just talking about the pets LOL), my friends, our home, our health, stitching, books, chocolate, and seeing my niece and great-nephew on this wonderful (and over-looked) holiday.

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Sunday…Is the weekend really over?

Not to much has been going on the last few days.  Thursday Sean came home from his overnight away.  That was the highlight of the day.  He decided to take off Friday so after dropping Hannah at school and JoJo at the groomer’s we head to Panera for bagels…yes, we are addicted to the place.  We then came home to take care of Daisy Mae and feed her an early lunch. 

Sean was in need of some "winter" style shirts so we headed to the mall.  I helped him pick out a couple of shirts, then managed to get a sweater and couple pairs of jeans for myself.  :0)  We then headed to the pet store to get a couple of new toys for the pups.  Daisy destroys everything.  We had this bone shaped toy made from tire that we thought would last her awhile.  After picking up JoJo and Hannah we went out for dinner then home.  We gave the dogs the new toys and Daisy went to work on the tire bone…within 15 minutes she had the top corner shredded off.  Sean cleaned up a lot of it and we took it way from her.  I decided that I was going to take it back to the store.  Then a few hours later…Daisy was throwing up with chucks of tire in it.  She throw up several times and by the last time there wasn’t any more tire.  She seemed fine after that and since, but I have been worried and keeping my eye on her. 

Saturday Hannah had a birthday party to attend at Chuck E Cheese.  Hannah had a blast even though we had to leave after the two hours.  Sean picked her up so that I could head over to the LNS.  I stitched a little, chatted a lot and brought up some Needle Neccessities.   Now to find projects to use them.  I started to watch The Wizard of Oz last night but fell asleep with Daisy Mae snuggled up with me. 

Today has been a normal Sunday…first church, then Panera (I did say we were addicted!), a quick stop at Wal-mart for some Drano, then home.  Hannah played with some toys while Sean watched football and I watched some shows on TiVo.  I eventually had to cook dinner.  I made Wings (thanks to the Pioneer Woman’s wonderful blog) and Corn Casserole.  Yummy.  This is the second time I have made the Wings and they are so good.  I didn’t even know I liked Wings but I can’t get enough of them…so good.  Now I am watching a couple more shows on TiVo, trying to get it cleared off, and plan on stitching some soon. 

Tomorrow Hannah goes back to school, but Sean is off due to today being Veterans Day.  I am so grateful to the men and women who serve and have served in our country’s military.  It is a wonderful thing they do to provide the rest of us with freedom. 

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Wednesday’s Chronicle

Today was busy.  The PTA fund raiser items were delivered to the school today and since it was food items they needed to be picked up by the parents today.  So a couple other PTA volunteers, board members and myself were up at the school to help distribute it.  Hannah was well behaved, we did have a couple of small issues due to her being a little tired but considering she was bored and all I am pretty proud of her.  First she got her homework done right away while waiting and then  waited with little complaint.  I wasn’t as organized as usual and forgot to bring her something to occupy herself with once her homework was done. 

We had to leave for a bit to drop off the items to my friends at stitch night & get something to eat.  Then headed back to the school to help more.  The PTA meeting was also tonight but I ended up not actually attending that in order to help man the fund raiser pick up.  Finally, the PTA VP, who is also my friend, told me to go ahead home with Hannah.  Poor thing really didn’t want to be there but since Sean is out of town, there wasn’t another option.  I was very happy to come home to two clean doggie crates. 

Oh, I got to meet my friend Symya’s hubby to be tonight.  Her ring is beautiful!  And since I know she reads this blog and I would like to say again how happy I am for her.  :0)  It was also really good to see her tonight since I haven’t in awhile.

Not stitching today, but I am hoping to remedy that tomorrow.

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Tuesday’s Tales

Not much happening today.  I volunteered at Hannah’s school today then went grocery shopping.  That has been about it besides taking care of the dogs, picking up Hannah after school, making dinner. 

Sean is going to be away a couple of nights a week for about the next six months.  He called from work to talk to me about it before making the decision to do this.  I am not overjoyed with it, but I will manage.  It will be a little stressful knowing that he won’t be coming home to take the over some of the duties of parenting Hannah…and the dogs, but like I told him I will do what needs to be done to support him.  We will work it out and deal with it.  He isn’t totally happy about it either, as we are quite lucky in that we like spending time together both as a couple and family, so when we aren’t together, we really miss each other. 

Tomorrow is going to be such a long day.  Tomorrow is the pick up for our school fundraiser, so I will be at the school helping out with that, then running down to the LNS for a short time (stitch night) and to drop of items from the fundraiser to my friends, then back to the school for PTA meeting…all with Hannah, so I will have to find time to make sure she gets her homework done and feed her.  I feel sorry for the dogs because they will be home alone most of the afternoon and evening. Poor things. 

Sean will be gone overnight for work tomorrow which is why the dogs will be alone and Hannah forced to hang with me.  I might have to break down and get her McDonald’s for dinner.  I hate to do that and try to limit the number of times a month we allow her to get it.  It’s the fries as yummy as they are, they are the worst for you.  I haven’t had one this year because the are so bad and I am pretty proud of myself for it. 

Off to stitch for a few minutes before heading to bed.

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Smells Yummy

Today is laundry day….Yay! for Mondays…not.  But what has to be done has to be done.  I have a couple loads started and hope to finish it all today.  Right now the house smells yummy because I am also baking some Banana Chocolate Chip bread.  I can’t wait until it is finished.  I am also watching the last disc of Supernatural Season 2 while stitching a little.  I am hoping to get the September Brings snapper done this week.  It is going to be a busy Wednesday so I have to take advantage of every moment I can and get a few stitches done here and there. 

We had a nice weekend.  Saturday I got my nails done before we headed off to see Sean’s brother and family.  We went out to dinner and to see "The Bee Movie".  It was pretty funny.  Hannah liked it even though she said she didn’t want to see it.  Yesterday after church I went down to the LNS to stitch a bit with my friend but as usual, I chatted more than I stitched.  LOL

Off to take the bread out, change the loads of laundry and feed the puppy…she still acts like she isn’t getting enough to eat.

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No school today

Hannah didn’t have school today…teacher work day.  Report cards will be coming out soon. Keeping fingers crossed.

So Sean decided to take the day off.  We went out for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel…french toast, yummy!  Then we headed off to Build A Bear at the mall about 30 minutes from us for the last of the Seasonal Bears…Winter.   Hannah named this last one…Snowflake.  We walked around the mall for a bit before heading back to our own mall so that I could exchange some pants I bought last weekend.  I am sort of short and my slacks have to be petite for length, so last weekend when I got some corduroys I bought the petites…had to take them back for the regulars because they needed to be about an inch longer.  Though the regulars could stand to be a quarter inch shorter.  Just goes to show…pants I need to try on before buying.  Then we came home to enjoy the rest of the afternoon together watching Spiderman 3 on DVD.   Sean went back out to pick up dinner and came home with a beautiful necklace and earring set for me…for no reason.  He is so wonderful.

Tomorrow we are heading to PA to visit Sean’s brother and his family.  Hannah is so excited to see her cousin…she just adores him. 

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November Stitching Goals

I am wondering if I should continue with the goals since I haven’t really been doing well with them lately.  But here goes…

Finish the Alyssum Scissor Case into the actual scissor case ~  

Stitch on And They Sinned on Sundays ~

Continue stitching on Circus of Circles by Ink Circles ~

Continue stitching on Bent Creek’s monthly snappers: Finish stitching September Brings and border ~ 

Pick, stitch and finish an ornie for LNS ornie exchange ~

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