What a wonderful day!

Logan

Marie

Katie

Ryan

Christmas at our house was the best ever this year! Both boys really were aware of what was going on. This is the first time that Logan participated in opening presents on his own. Last year we had them in their respective areas and gave them gifts and allowed them to open at the same time and I just grabbed pics after it was done. This year, something told me we needed to do one present at a time. Of course, the old video recorder wasn't working as the battery was so dead, there was no resuscitating it. I had my handy little digital camera on from the time we started until the last gift was unwrapped and the battery died right after that! I didn't even have enough juice to take pictures when my Mom got here a few hours later. I took pictures as they were unwrapping so I probably ended up with five to six pictures per gift. LOL

Back to Logan, he surprised me by grabbing the very first gift and ripping the paper. He was what I'd call a "neat ripper". He'd pull a piece of paper off, throw it on the floor and move on to the next area until the entire gift was done. (Later he handed each piece to me or Marie so it wouldn't make a mess!) It was such a sight! Last year it was like pulling teeth to get him to unwrap. I had to help him the entire time and after a few presents I had Marie open them for him. What a difference a year makes!

Ryan was into unwrapping this year too and for a three year old, he did pretty good. You could tell he has sensory issues by the way he'd start flicking his fingers if the paper didn't come off quick enough. (Got stuck to his fingers, what a sight it was when the tape got stuck to him!!LOL) He loved all his Thomas the Train toys and all of Logan's too! He was really getting into it by the end and reached over the gate and grabbed a gift and started ripping it open. I was laughing so hard I almost dropped the camera. Logan didn't mind it at all, by that time, he was OVER the whole scene and just wanted to play with his Learn Through Music. Yeah, that toy was from three years ago and he had it in his lap or by his side the ENTIRE TIME. He serenaded us with different music for the entire time. He liked his new toys and had them neatly placed around his area but would always go back to playing with his old toy.

The girls had a blast opening gifts. Katie was loving all the Barbie's she received and Marie loved her new Video Now player with the mini DVD's that she got to play on it. Of course, she also loved Katie's Barbie guitar and had Katie playing with that as soon as it was out of the box. I think Marie was more concerned with Katie getting to open all her stuff then she was about her own things. What a great big sister she is; they may fight like little wildcats but they really love each other! Oh and what a treat we had!!! Logan was singing some Christmas carols; Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Feliz Navidad. Of course, you couldn't understand all the words but some came out clear as day and he had the tunes to each song down to a science. I've tried to get him on tape but you know how that goes! Every time I get near him with the camera he stops singing. What a little character he is, hamming it up UNTIL the camera is on him.

Merry Christmas!

I've been very lax with keeping my blog up-to-date lately but after the holidays I promise to get back to my weekly posts. (if not more!)

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year! I hope that everyone gets to spend the holidays with family and friends and that you get to rest a little too. We are staying home and are going to have a wonderful time. Once the kids open up all the gifts from Santa (or bags of coal which ever they receive) we will relax in our jammies watching movies and playing with the new toys. Dinner will be chili and cornbread with some sandwiches, YUMMO! The hardest part of the meal will be the chopping of the onion then browning it and the meat.

Have a wonderful night tonight and day tomorrow!!

Oops!

Katie was helping me clean but decided she was too tired to finish!

It looks like Ryan is counting for Hide-and-Seek but he's asleep!

I had to get to get this picture; usually this little guy is almost naked when he hits the door after school. Shoes, socks and shirts come off as soon as the door is shut. I think he hates all clothes except for pants and I'm not too sure sometimes about them. LOL

I have been stitching just not a lot these past couple of weeks so I don't have any pictures to show. I'll take a quick shot later and post it soon. I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post. My how time flies when you're having fun! It also doesn't help that any time I try to sit down to do a post Ryan decides that he wants to snuggle with Mommy.

I still haven't put up the Christmas decorations yet. I know, very bad Mommy!! I was thinking about it yesterday when hubby was home but he decided to put up the light fixtures in the kids rooms. Since I'd been waiting on that for almost four years I wasn't about to say no! I did start today to go through all their current toys and weed out what they don't play with or have outgrown. I have quite a big bundle that will be offered up to a local freecycle group today after I finish going through everything. That's the first step in preparing for Christmas in this house; weed through to make room for new. I also need to clear out a space for the tree and redo the infant gates. Yes, even though my youngest will be three in February I still have infant gates in place and will continue to until they stop tearing up my books and everything else! I have to get back in that area and pull stuff (garage here we come!!) so I can vaccum in preparation for our tree which I'm bound and determined will go up tomorrow. I want to get as much as I can done before the older two get home so that we can start putting the ornaments up on the tree together. I always loved that part of decorating as a child; listening to carols, drinking hot cocoa and just having fun with the family.

I believe we are completely done with the shopping for the family so after the decorating comes the wrapping of presents. I so don't want to do what I did last year and sit on the floor for hours while I wrapped all the gifts. Who am I kidding, I got so tired by the third hour I picked items and just slapped some stickers with their names on them and had DH put them under the tree. The kids had a ball unwrapping gifts but also loved being able to see some so truly it didn't matter. Since hubby's family didn't wrap things from Santa we have compromised and wrap half so I can live with that.

Tagged!

I was tagged by Meari.

Here are the rules:

*Find the 6th folder in your photos folder and then the 6th photo in it.

* Pray that you remember the details ;)

* Post it on your blog

*Tag 5 others, leave a comment to let them know they’ve been tagged.

Okay, the 6th folder only has two pictures in it (for Logan's PEC book; a picture of a book I made for him for his therapy)

So here is the 6th picture in my 7th folder:

Logan and Katie in the pool July of 2007. Marie was in there too but for some reason I couldn't get my camera to include her. Bad Mommy!! I have since figured out the camera and include all children in the area when taking a pic LOL!

I tag Heather, Carolyn, Henderica, Kelly and Beth.

Some pics and an update of sorts

See, I told you there are too many great patterns in this magazine!

Here is the free pattern that someone announced in a newsletter. You can find the design here. Look at Victoriana, then under Freebies.

Here is The Prairie Schooler, Inc. Snowy Night pattern from the JCS Christmas Ornament Magazine for 2008

Here is the Scandinavian Stitches Norweigan Reindeer from the same magazine. (Just need to finish both now!!)

It's been rather crazy around this house this last month. I was started awake yesterday by DH asking if Logan had any bread left. Logan is on the GF/CF diet and it's not always easy finding things that he will eat but bread is one thing he absolutely loves. He loves his PB toast and boy you'd better never run out of bread or PB! I jumped out of bed to go searching (very groggily I might add) for his bread. We order it from Amazon once a month and I supplement with homemade between orders. This month he hasn't really been very receptive to the store bought so we decided to skip the next shipment and wouldn't you know it was all gone! I had to think quick (still more than half asleep) and decided to make some homemade waffles for him. The whole time I'm doing this he's standing there giving me the "Logan Look".

He's standing there in his jammie bottoms, no shirt and his blanket wrapped around his neck/head fuming at me. Good thing the recipe is easy to follow or I'd have been in BIG trouble. Once his first waffles were done, he was happy again and I could make some much needed coffee. (if I weren't afraid of needles I'd have set up an I.V. and just went for the vein shot of caffeine) I then had to throw all the ingredients in the bread machine (wonderful WONDERFUL invention!!) so he could have some fresh bread later on. The boy proceeded to eat three or four waffles and snack on other stuff. Once the bread was done, he was eyeing it saying "I want peanut butter toast, please, thank you, OKAY!" He ended up eating two pieces and a piece of cinnamon toast too. He's obviously having a growing spurt. I'm just thankful he's eating as some days he just picks at his food.

I hate days like that. The good thing was I just continued from there and washed all the clothes (towels will be done today) and did dishes, mopped the dining room floor and vaccumed everything. (had to mop the floor because he let me know he wasn't happy being made to wait for his food by playing in his chocolate milk on the chair and floor) Not two hours later the playroom was demolished and the food crumbs from their snacks and lunch were all over the place. Why do I bother, I ask myself this question a lot. LOL

Another awesome giveaway!

Come check out Chiloe's blog to see what she is giving away. While you're there, drop her a line to wish her a belated birthday. I wish I had found her blog sooner so I could have wished her a Happy Birthday on the actual day!

I will be back in a little while to post a picture of my small finish from last week and my current small project. I had a great weekend; DH and I were able to go out for date night after all. We had a lovely dinner and then walked around Barnes & Nobles for a while. I found the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments issue and of course bought it! I had tried to find this at a bookstore closer to us but couldn't find it so I'm glad we decided to stop and walk around before heading back home on Saturday. The current small project I'm working on is an ornament from that magazine and I've got some sticky notes marking the other pages I want to do as well. (Imagine what it looks like with neon pink sticky notes sticking out all over!)

This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.

The rules to follow are :

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2) Pass the award to other 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment.

Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award. Thanks goes out to Debbie for considering me as a recipiant of your award!! I love reading her blog and I think you will too, so when you have a free minute go check it out.

Here are a few of the blogs that I choose for this award are:

Kelly - who is always making me smile or laugh with her posts.

At the Honeysuckle Tree

Carolyn

Shari

Cheryl
Kathy

Miss Deborah - a true inspiration

Mylene

Some pics

Stitched this in one night! Join Tonia's group so you can join in on her January SAL!! You can purchase her awesome charts from this group too so come on and join us all!!!

I worked on this for a week and loved doing it! This is from Brook's group which has a lot of great designs too!

Thank you for this award!!

The rules for acceptance of the award are as follows:

1. Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award based on their creativity, design, interesting material and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each winner has to show the award and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

Congratulations to the following: I know it says to please pass the award on to others but I just want these ladies to know how much I enjoy reading their blogs. They don't have to pass the award forward just know someone out in "blog land" loves to read your blogs!
BW
Michelle
Dawn
Sharon
Beth

Awesome giveaway!

Please take a second to check this out! Leelou is having an awesome giveaway!!! WOW! I know, I know, it's supposed to take you directly to her site from the picture but my brain is fried so I had to do it the "old fashioned" way. Sorry folks, I had a hum dinger of a headache and had to take something and now I'm very tired but still trying to get through all the stuff I wanted to get done today.

A little Mommy time

I started a quick Halloween pattern that I think my girls will love once it's completed. Hubby took the camera to the game tonight so maybe tomorrow I will be able to get a shot of it. Then again, maybe not. The kids are home from school for a teacher duty day so who knows what will get accomplished as we have two therapies scheduled for the afternoon.

For some reason, I woke up early this morning. It was one of those times where you know you aren't going to be able to fall back to sleep so why bother. I decided to take some much needed me time and just sit and read. About 30 minutes later, little man Ryan started calling me. "Mommy?" "Mommy, where are you?" I, of course, ran to get him before he woke the rest of the house and we snuggled in my recliner for about an hour. He wasn't fully awake so, with his eyes closed, he said, "I love you Mommy!" (I think my heart melted; nothing like hearing your little ones tell you they love you!) He then put his head on my shoulder and just snuggled right up and fell asleep in my arms. I was able to sit there and enjoy just holding my little snuggle bug and thinking about my baby growing into a little boy right before my eyes. I swear it was just yesterday when I brought him home from the hospital and now he's almost three! He's my constant companion; it's almost 11:30 and the other three are fast asleep. Daddy won't be home until much later so we get some more quality time tonight. It's times like these that make me so thankful that I can spend all my time with them. He just dropped something on his little knee and is requesting a kiss for his boo boo so I will sign off for now. Hope everyone is having a nice restful sleep!

Monday update

4 Season SAL - Spring and Summer done!

ILCS - Halloween SAL

Here is the Halloween SAL finish from this past weekend. I also completed the Summer part of the 4 Season SAL. Now on to the Fall and Winter parts! I also need to start on the newest ILCS SAL after I get the fabric size I need and decide on the color or colors.

I'm surprised I have been able to get much done in the last week or so as all of us came down with a nice head/chest cold again. This time DH also came down with it but the eldest did not. Oh how I wish that she did get the little head cold rather than what she woke up with yesterday! She is now blocked in her room and the bathroom and not allowed out under any circumstances. She has the stomach bug that I hope is just something she ate but I don't think that is it and with everyone run down still because of the head/chest thing I'm just praying we don't get this other nastiness too. OY!

Katie is now 100% potty trained even though Mommy is chicken and puts her in a diaper at night. I was going to stop doing that this past weekend but with everything going on I thought the heck with it! She hasn't had an accident in about a week now so it's a done deal. I didn't think this would ever happen so I should be doing a big happy dance but I'm just too tired to do it. I'm wiggling around in the desk chair so that will have to be the happy dance for now. LOL

The boys are still not sleeping through the night although I can't blame them with this bug. Logan (KNOCK ON WOOD) has slept on the couch and not come to get me for the past two nights. I was going to let out a whoop of joy yesterday until DH told me that he came in to snuggle with him instead. Due to Marie's illness I've had to take Katie in the boys room and have her sleep in Ryan's bed. To alleviate any problems I've just slept in there with them through the night which hasn't made for much REM sleep for me lately. One day in the not so distant future, I will look back at this episode in my life and laugh but right now; not much laughing going on.

I've tried to stay up to watch the ALCS games and last night wasn't easy at all. I did fall asleep twice; Katie and Logan fell asleep with me but not Ryan. I woke up in time to watch the last inning of game 7 between Tampa and Boston. What a game and what an ending! I was able to prop my eyes open long enough to watch them give the MVP award to Tampa's Matt Garza. I'm so glad that he won it. He was so relaxed right before the game. He had me cracking up when they panned over to the dugout and there he was with his IPOD on and just jamming to his Tupoc. For a second there, after he took the mound I thought he still had his IPOD on but then realized he had some cotton in his ears to block out all the noise from their fan's cowbells. We still have the cowbell from when DH went to the regular season game against the Red Sox (which they won!) Thankfully hubby didn't put it back together and ring it throughout the game. I would have had to grab some ear plugs and leave the children with him to deal with. LOL

Here's hoping that this week gets better soon so I can get some much needed sleep. I have a full week with the therapies which were rescheduled, a few teacher conferences and Ryan's school transition to deal with as well. Calgon take me away NOW!!!!!!!!!! LOL Hope everyone has a great week.

Framed!

Almost finished product

I found a frame while cleaning out the bedroom last night and decided to attempt to frame DH Astros project. I still need to do a little bit to it because as I was taking this picture I noticed that there is a teeny wrinkle in the top of the fabric. I think I need to cut it down just a little then glue/tape it to the cardboard back. I finished this in August and here it is October so I thought I'd put a picture of what it should look like when I'm done. Of course, the picture is crooked because I had to fight to get a picture where the flash wasn't reflecting off the glass back at me so this was as good as I could get.

Another update

Latest pic of 4 Season SAL

I've had lots of time to sit and stitch this week due to potty training Katie. Since she was terrified of the potty I had to pull the little potty out and have it in the playroom so she could sit and watch a movie. It took an entire week to get her comfortable enough to where she would actually go more than a drop or two. She would get on and off every five minutes all day! She's still doing that but we've moved on to the big girl potty in the bathroom so not sure how much time that will leave to stitch. The bribing her with a toy really worked!

She really loves Logan's speech therapist Cheryl so that is how I'm getting her to go on the big girl potty now. (That and I've promised to take her to Target to buy her something when she accomplishes it! $1.00 bins here we come!!) Yesterday she went both one and two in the big potty so I'm hoping the end is near. Actually, I'm praying it's near because she is still doing the get off the potty and two to three minutes later getting right back on. My hands are so raw and sore from washing them so many times. Every time she gets near it I have to wash my hands and hers so at least this will teach her to wash her hands after every use. It's time to get her crayons and coloring book out (GREAT distraction from the potty every two minutes!) Now if I could just get the boys to sleep through the night!!!!!

Finally...a stitching update!

Spring is almost complete!

The first of the four season SAL is almost completed. I had a few moments of OH NO! I think I'm going to have to frog the entire border but I found that it's good now. Well, I should just say it's as good as it gets because somehow I ended up with four rows on the left side between the border and the actual stitching and five rows on the right side. Rather than pull ALL of the stitching out and starting again, I will leave as is and just enjoy what I've done. I really like how this one is coming along and can't wait to start the Summer part as it has flip flops (which are my favorite summer foot attire!!)

For news on the home front, Katie is now successfully going pee pee in the potty about 75% of the time which is a major improvement! We finally got her comfortable just sitting on the potty and it finally just happened that she went more than a drop or two. I'd been promising her a special toy if she could go several times in a day without messing and when she did, I gave it to her. She liked it until I pushed the button and it made all sorts of movements and music. She informed me that she didn't like it as it was too loud and to turn it off NOW! LOL

Ryan and Logan are finally almost back to 100% with very little (if any) coughing so now I get to start Ryan back on his eating therapy again. Yeah! I think he does better every day but just in small steps so I'm very happy to be back on the therapy. Logan is now requesting what he wants by actually saying, "I want milk or juice! Of course, his milk sounds like mulk but hey, I know what he's saying.

Marie had a ball for her birthday yesterday as a friend came to spend the night. It was very unexpected as her family had an emergency so we took her in and she ended up staying all night. The girls had a ball; watching movies, playing games and pigging out on popcorn and other snacks. Marie didn't sleep much the night before or last night so tonight she should sleep like a baby, if she doesn't crash for a nap before that! Tonight, we will have the whole cake and unwrapping the rest of her gifts so it's like she's having two birthdays. (Yeah, I don't think she minds having two full days of special Marie fun!)

Update

Still no time to stitch this week but I'm hoping for some much needed down time tomorrow before the kids get out on half a day. I really want to finish the first of the 4 Season SAL that I started so I can move on and start something that Tonia over at OakHaven Design Group gave us today. I love this time of year even if the weather doesn't exactly feel like Autumn right now. (It's in the high 80's and the humidity is up there too) I love her designs and I really wanted to be able to do the Mystery SAL that she had but I knew there was no way to get it done along with everything else. (Crying) So now I can at least stitch the new chart for Halloween that she has given all members of the group. Thanks Tonia!

My Mom came through her procedure with no problems because they couldn't find a block. Of course, I found out that if the artery isn't over 70% blocked this particular procedure won't see it. She's doing much better and has been really good about not smoking so they are letting her come home this afternoon. She will have to go back again next month for another procedure that will hopefully find the area that is giving her so many problems.

The kids and I went back up today and hung around until after 1:00 hoping to take her home. The nurse came in and said the doctor has to see her and will not be at the hospital until after 4:00 so she's stuck there. I made another trip to her place for some clothes so she can be comfortable while waiting. The kids were so bored that one of the lovely nurses came in and made them balloons from the gloves that they use. Good Lord but the kids had such a ball with those stupid ugly things! They were easier for the kids to play with as they could grab the fingers and throw them at each other. (not to mention running up and down her room.) I think Mom was almost happy to see us leave so she could sit in peace and quiet.

Somehow I managed to get up, shower, get lunches made, diaper and toy bag packed, kids off to school, other kids in the car and head to see Mom with NO COFFEE! I didn't get the first bit of coffee until after 2:00 when we were on our way home. It's almost two hours later and I still feel the need for some more so as soon as the older two get here it's time for more coffee and some baking for Logan. Hopefully tonight while the baseball game is on I can get some stitching done.

Update - sort of

No new update pictures of my Seasons SAL but I did work on it a little bit these past couple of weeks. Not as much as I'd like to have but at least I put a couple of rows into it. The kids are almost done with the cold. I believe that Katie got it again as she was almost done with it the first time. Everyone else is feeling better so that's a plus.

I spent the day at the hospital with my Mom yesterday and will go back this morning after I get the two older ones off to school. Mom has been keeping a lot from me lately so I was in for a very rude awakening yesterday when I got to the hospital. Seems she has a blockage in her heart and will have something done today to find it and try to fix it. Of course, she's terrified of the procedure and threw a hissy fit yesterday. Even snuck her cigs in the bathroom for a smoke. I warned her about that but she wanted me to go get some things from her place and when I got back they'd been giving her all HELL about it.

She almost signed herself out but the doctor got on the phone with me to explain that if she left that would be it. They might not get to her in time to save her the next episode she had. They wouldn't let me walk her outside to have a smoke as her oxygen level is dangerous, so they gave her a sedative instead. Thank god for I.V. and sedatives! I stayed with her until my oldest brother got home from his Air Force National Guard week. My other brother was driving a truck to Houston this weekend and was supposed to fly back yesterday. When I called him he was in Louisiana and I thought he was driving back. Oh no, that wasn't it. He was still trying to drive there! Poor guy had four flat tires and had a hard time finding someone who had tires for the truck. On top of that, he's sick and had to hear me tell him about Mom so I know I made his day worse.

What a day I had! It got much better the minute I walked in the door to hear my little ones say Mommy you're home! I received lots of hugs and kisses and got to settle everyone into bed for the night. That was a nice homecoming after such a crappy day. Today should be another interesting episode but since I will have Ryan and Katie it will help keep me from worrying too much as I will be chasing them around the waiting room!

SAL update

Ryan; nap time but too tired to go lay down on the bed

ILCS - Part 1 of the SAL

I'm 99.9% done with the first part of the ILCS Halloween SAL. I only need to add the three (or was it four) french knots. I do hate them little buggers but I did find a instruction blog that makes it very easy to do. I just have to find it again!! I have saved so many different blogs and cross stitch sites to my favorites that now I have to organize them.

I haven't done any stitching in a few days and it doesn't look like I will be getting to do much anytime soon. All the kids are sick with the head/chest cold. Marie started sneezing on Sunday but I thought it was just allergies. Ryan and Logan woke up with it Monday in their chest to where they sounded like a frog every time they coughed. Katie woke up with it today and between all of their sneezing and coughing in my face, I've now caught it too. No one is running a fever thankfully and the two oldest are feeling well enough to go to school today so at least I will only have the two littlest ones. Now if I can just get them to want to play instead of climb up in my lap all day I might get something accomplished.

Labor Day Weekend

SPRING of the 4 Season SAL

My girls playing dress up

• I finally started the 4 Season SAL from one of my groups and I have to say it's a great feeling! I've been a little nervous about starting it as I started at a corner rather than the middle. I've done quite a bit of frogging but I've enjoyed stitching it. I love the set of four seasons that Helga designed. I can't wait to finish it and have it framed. I see a small oops already and will go back to fix it when I'm done. I'm not sure I counted correctly with the border so I don't want to mess with it again until I finish the design. I have a feeling I will have more room on bottom of the design then the top. At least I can pull the border out and re do it (again!) and it will look good. This will also help me when I do the next pattern as I'll have it written down.
• I also realized that I love to start new projects! Big surprise, I think most people like to start new projects. I remember way back in the day (over 10 years ago) I would work on several projects and at the very end just put them down and not finish. Around Christmas I would go back to all my unfinished projects and quickly finish them, have them framed and give them all away as gifts. I just wish I had taken pictures of all my finishes! I only gave them to family and I know that they weren't appreciated as much as I had hoped so I'm not sure if they even still have them. Some of the patterns I loved and would love to do again to keep for me this time around. That's another project I can add to my list of to do's.
• Step 1: organize my stash and find all patterns from completed projects. (already started organizing so that's a plus!)
• Step 2: decide which ones I really want for myself and add them to my stitching to do list.
  
  

A stitchy update

Halloween SAL from ILCS

Under the Sea

I haven't been able to finish Under the Sea because when I pulled the thread originally I didn't think to make sure the back stitch colors were part of the regular stitch colors. Nope, they weren't so I had hubby stop at Michael's and pick me up what I had missed. In the meantime, I went ahead and started the new ILCS SAL which just so happens to be for Halloween. I'm having fun with this one as the colors are so pretty and I've not finished much of anything for Halloween in years. I'm still going to start that other SAL but I've been trying to get my fabric figured out so I don't make a boo boo. I've never started anywhere other than the center before so these two SAL's made me a little nervous. I'm going to be the little stitcher that could..... I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.....

This week has been a little hectic because it's like starting the school year all over again. Last week the kids went on Monday and Tuesday but then were off the rest of the week because of the storm. This week I added another thing to the mix with Logan's therapy session at the hospital on Tuesday morning. I skipped it last week because I figured it would be too crazy with school just starting back up. Who knew what kind of week we would end up having and with him missing last week I really didn't feel we could skip another week. It will probably be another couple of weeks before the school gets their stuff together enough to start their speech therapy so he needs all the help he can get. Thankfully, hubby took Monday and Tuesday off this week so Monday morning's therapy was a little easier and I only took the two older kids to therapy yesterday. A lot less work to do with only two of the four. I think by next week things will have settled down to a nice routine or at least I hope so.

I've been keeping busy getting caught up on the cleaning and laundry that I couldn't get to last week. I'm really glad I waited until Marie was in school before cleaning her room. I found a load of laundry; clean and dirty thrown together in a toy box. In that same toy box I found a little kitchen play toy full of beach sand. I have no idea why and I don't want to know but I immediately threw all the clothes in the hamper and just kept right on cleaning. Three hours later her room was clean and there is more space to play now. (one huge box full of garbage to take out to the road on Friday but at least it's clean and we didn't fight so it was a good day!)

The other award; Thank you!

Here are the rules:

1. Only five people allowed.

2. 4 of them have to be dedicated followers of your blog (hmmm that is somewhat hard as I don't have a lot of dedicated followers) and 1 has to be new and live in another part of the world.

3. You have to link back to who gave you the award. Thanks so much Beth! I love your blog and am a faithful reader!!

So to honor some fellow bloggers, my nominees for this award are:

Sharon

Heather

Meari

Kelly

Petra

Logan - update on new "phrase"

Okay, I just had to update you all on what Logan was trying to say. For those of you who don't know, Logan is my 6 year old autistic son who doesn't speak that well at all. In my previous post I had mentioned he was saying something that sounded like make it good. I thought that can't possibly be what he's saying as he's holding the spoon up to look at himself. Wellllll.....

He's trying to say microphone when talking about the spoon. He's trying to sing Shania Twain's I'm Gonna Getcha Good! There is a spot at the end of the song where she sings make it good too so he's trying to say microphone (spoon) and he was singing some words with her. Once we figured it out we put the CD on and I helped him hold the big spoon up in front of his mouth. There were quite a few words that he was singing that you could understand and it was the most hysterical thing I've seen/heard in a long time! We've been having a blast with him ever since so I think it's time to break out that ole' karioke machine and see how he does!

A quick update

Can you say stir crazy?? The kids have been off of school since Wednesday due to the tropical storm. The first two days it was supposed to hit us and be extremely windy and wet but of course mother nature had her own ideas. They were calling for school to be open today but at 11:00 last night we received the call with the recorded message saying no school for Friday. The rain and wind hit during the wee hours of the morning and it hasn't let up much since then. I've been trying to keep the kids from climbing the way for two of the three days but it hasn't been easy. They want to go to school or go outside but neither is an option today.

Logan has a new saying that I'm still trying to figure out. He's been going into my utensil drawer and taking all my teaspoons (and not tablespoons too) and saying what sounds like, "make it good." Now I know that isn't what he's really saying but I'm stumped on what he's actually trying to convey. He smiles and looks at the spoon to see himself upside down and then turns his head as much as he can to try to see himself upside right. I turn the spoon around so he can see himself on the back upside right but he just turns it back around and we start all over again. I've given up and am now letting him just line the spoons up. I will eventually figure out what he's trying to say. It will hit me like a ton of bricks later and I'll feel like a complete idiot that I couldn't figure it out sooner.

Here's the latest shot of my progress on under the sea. I've had a chance to work on it for an hour or so each day so I'm happy. I'm almost done; just have to finish the last ivy, the little bit of half stitches and then I can finish the backstitch and have another finish. I tried to pull the floss for a couple of different biscornu's but found I don't have a complete set of floss for any biscornue I have patterns for so I think it's time to start the one 4 Seasons SAL that I've been trying to start for a while. I have another SAL (Halloween) that will be starting September 1st so I'd like to have a good start on the first SAL so I can work on both. I should be able to work on both a little bit each night or at least I hope so. (I'd really like to actually do a SAL at the same time as other people rather than finish way way way later!!)

Another award, Thank you!

This is a new award.

The rules of the award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.

2. Link the person you received your award from.

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4. Put links of those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you’ve nominated

Gosh, this is hard as I love all the blogs I read. I received another award so I'm going to give a few here and a few there. Here goes, I’m nominating the few for an I love your blog award:

Mylene

Jenn

Janaina

Dawn

An Update from sunny Florida....

Progress on under the sea. I'm really close to a finish again with the under the sea project. I think that is why I picked it back up instead of jumping into the Four Season SAL. I'm really happy with that fact as I will have two finishes in August!

I've been busy getting everything ready for school to start and then doing the cleaning once the older two started school. Of course, it's hurricane season here in Florida and there is a tropical storm hitting an hour or two south of us now. I have been running around getting the yard picked up and ready for this storm but it has surprised them in its movement so I may have wasted my time. Right now I'm just happy that we may get lucky and miss out on it. Earlier this morning I would have been a little more irritated. Right around the time I stepped on the hardware for our blinds that sits in the garage and then dropped the outdoor toybox on my toe; yes, on the same foot. I tell ya', I have some gosh awful luck when it comes to my feet. I can laugh about it now but earlier I was limping around and muttering under my breath.

I've cleaned out the playroom and almost finished my laundry so now maybe I can sit down and get closer to that sea finish. I'm just going to tell myself that tonight it might be really nasty weather and the lights may go out. With no lights, how can I possibly stitch?!?! 'Course, I still have to do the dishes but I can do them in the dark, right?!?! :o/

Finally..... A FINISH!

Taaa Daaa; a finish!

I can't believe it! I'm finally finished with the Astros project for the hubby from the kids. Now to get it to Michael's and have it framed. Well, that could take another while to get accomplished but I'm just happy to be done.

I've started on the Under the Sea project again and was on such a roll I didn't want to put it down to start the SAL from one of my groups. I know, I know; I said I wanted to get it started and it didn't matter about the sea project. I was finished with the Astros project late one evening and the game was still on and rather than take the time to pull all the materials I just grabbed up the sea project and jumped back in. It was going so well that I didn't want to put it back down because I'm in sight of the light at the end of the tunnel (finish!) Of course, life always gets in the way with four little ones. I've not touched any stitching in about a week now as next week school starts back up. YEAH!

I've had to go through all the new school clothes and get the older two to try them on. Okay, just Marie as Logan didn't stand still long enough to try anything on. I was lucky to get him still long enough to hold a shirt up to him to see if it was too big. Marie was patient and stood still through it all. (It has something to do with new clothes and being impatient to see all her school friends again after a long summer!) I washed a mound or two of clothes and put off putting them away because that was another fun project. Pull all the clothes out of their dresser to see what still fits and what had to be put away for their smaller siblings. I have a bag of clothes from Katie's dresser to give away and the rest is put away for them.

I'm hoping to get some sit down time today to work on the sea project and to pull out the materials for the SAL. I'm also thinking I might like a small project that would/should be a quick finish. I received a birthday freebie biscornu pattern from one of my groups and I've been itching to give it a try. They say they are easy to make and once you do one you'll want to do a lot more. I guess it just depends on my mood on the day I finally get to sit down and start something new. It might have to wait until next week after the major fall cleaning happens when the older kids are back in school. I will keep you posted and get a picture of the sea on here.

What a great birthday!

I had a wonderful 40th birthday yesterday! We got up early to take the kids to the beach. After the beach, we hurried home to bathe/shower and get the house cleaned up for the sitters to come. They watched all four kids while hubby and I headed out to watch a movie. We had been to a movie a couple of months back and agreed that when the new Batman movie came out we wanted to see it on the giant screen. I'd since heard that there were some gory parts and that it was very dark so I wasn't too sure about going. I thought it was a great Batman movie! I think Christian Bale is now tied for my favorite Batman! As for Heath Ledger; he was unbelievably scary as the joker. He deserves some award for his acting in this movie.

We headed out to Carraba's for dinner after the movie. It was hard deciding where I wanted to go for dinner but I finally decided that everytime we go to Carraba's, the food is really good. I had the best, melt-in-your-mouth steak. Of course, I couldn't get through the day without a little mishap. On the way to our table, we passed another table where the waiter had been kneeling down to talk to the people. As I walked by, he jumped up and accidently stomped on my foot. The good thing was it was the other foot that was in good shape. I fell trying to walk out the door the other day and pulled some muscles in my left foot/leg. Thankfully, he stomped on the right foot so it only throbbed for a little while. I was chuckling throughout the meal, thinking about how gracefull I was for the first 40 years and that I was hoping the next 40 would be a little more gracefull and a little less painful.

On the way home for dinner, hubby stopped by the grocery store to pick up what I thought was a piece of cake that we'd share when we got home. He is good! He went looking for the single pieces and when he couldn't find one he liked he went over to the bakery counter like he was going to ask for more. Of course, he'd ordered a big cake and had it decorated! He was smart though and didn't listen to them when they suggested going with the black theme. It was lovely; purple, pink and blue flowers with white frosting. Good man, my husband! We shared the cake with the kids and the sitters so thankfully, I won't have too many calories to worry about for the next couple of days.

I received flowers, a new watch, a set of books that I'd been ogling for months, a beautiful John Wayne piece that is part of a collectors edition, a pen set that I'd been telling him I would love to have some day, more books and more flowers. I had the best birthday and it made turning 40 enjoyable instead of dreadful!

Another Astro's Update

Not the best update picture but it will have to do for today. As you can see, I'm almost done with it! I'm taking every available ten minute spot that comes up through out the day to stitch so I can get this done and to Michael's to be framed. I hope that the next update shot will actually be a finish and then a final framed shot.

Next up on the agenda is to get back to the under the ocean project that I started back in April or May and also to start on the SAL from wXSw which everyone else has finished by now. Better late than never is my new motto. There are a few other SAL's that I wanted to do but just knew there would be no way to get anywhere near starting until way way after everyone else finished. At least with the Season SAL I am starting a couple of days after the fourth (and last) pattern became available to stitch. My goal for this week: finish the Astros and move on to working on the SAL (if I can pick up on the ocean, great, but if not; no biggie)

Three more weeks (FROM today) school starts back up so I will have less craziness during the day and maybe can get back to stitching when the little one naps. That's if he will get back to napping at a normal time. Currently, he naps from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 or later which means he stays up as late as we do and then continues to talk/play after being put to bed. It's gotten so bad that for the past several weeks, we've gotten into the schedule of hubby taking littlest man into bed to get him to lay down and fall asleep while I get the oldest boy to fall asleep. He refuses to go to sleep without Mommy sitting or laying down on the other end of his couch. Nine times out of ten, I fall asleep before he does to wake up about and hour or so later with the video screen blue and him sound asleep with his blanket thrown over his head. I creep out of the playroom and stumble to the bedroom to put littlest man to bed. The cutest thing awaits me most nights. The buzz saws competing for noise level when I hit the bedroom. I believe that I can give them a run for their money but I'm not sure who is worse between littlest man (Ryan) and hubby!

Funny story about snoring. A couple of years ago (and minus two of the four kids) hubby told me he wanted me to listen to something he had taped. After listening for a few minutes I had to ask; "What in the he&%*is that noise??" to which he started laughing and replied, "that's you snoring honey!" Good thing I can laugh at myself because that sound was enough to wake the livng dead! When I was in labor with my 2nd little guy and trying to nap a little bit before heading to the hospital, my Mom woke me up saying, "I can't TAKE THAT NOISE anymore!" I thought it must be just because I'm pregnant and/or in labor. Hmmm, I don't think so!

Thank you!

I was the lucky recipient of the Brilliante Weblog, given to me by Meari. Thank you so much Meari!

Here are the rules for the award:

1) Put the logo on your blog;

2) Add a link to the person who awarded you.

3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4) Add links to those blogs on yours

5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

Here are some bloggers I think are "brilliante" too:

Beth - Crossed Purposes

Suzanne - Musings of a SAHM Cross Stitching Addict

Rene' - Rene' la Frog's Ramblings

Kelly - Amethyst Lady

Kathy - Kathy's Stitching Blog

Michelle - Ozarks sew n' sews

Heather - Heather's Crafting Hideaway

I hope you enjoy reading these blogs as much as I do!

Another Astros's Update

Not much more done as I've been busy with the little one this past week but I did get to put a few stitches in last night before they got fussy. We were able to watch most of the Home Run Derby but I missed out on the final match because Logan said Go to bed, Goodnight! and started screaming. It would have been a perfect match up if Lance Berkman had been able to go up against Josh Hamilton but the outcome was good. Josh broke some records but tired himself out too much (28 homeruns in the first session WOW!) and the underdog won. I was happy as long as none of their picks won but I would have been estatic if Berkman could have been there in the final. Oh well at least he and Tejada will be playing tonight in the All Star Game so it's going to be another fun night of baseball! I'm hoping that next year we get to take our vacation to Houston to see some games at the ballpark.

Topic of the week for June 30th

What is your favorite holiday and why??

Hmmm that is a tough one for me. I love Christmas because I have little ones and they get soooo excited when Santa comes. I love all the good food and all the pretty decorations. I also love Thanksgiving because it's a day where DH can stay home with us and just relax. Most times my family spends it home by ourselves so I don't have to cook a turkey I can do something else fun. I think I made a nice chili dinner this past year as no one came over as they all had plans elsewere. I did miss the turkey leftovers and all the other good next day leftovers so I think I will go back to making the turkey with all the trimmings this year!

When you were a kid what was your favorite holiday and why??

That is easy and it's not going to be what you would think! I loved LOVED the 4th of July! We lived on a lake in a small town in Connecticut. Although fireworks were frowned upon they never pushed the issue. The neighbors would order all sorts of good fireworks and set them off on their "raft" on the lake in front of their house. We'd sit outside with a little bonfire going and roast marshmellows, put a huge watermelon in the lake to get cold and make home made ice cream. OH the great times we had, especially the time they thought they had dropped a match on the raft where all the fire works were! My brother and the neighbor's son were in long pants and long sleeved shirts (it was a cool wet day!) when it happend. My brother freaked and dove into the water fully clothed and the neighbor jumped into the boat that was tied to the raft. What a hoot it was when they realized the match went out before it ever got near the fireworks! I'm not sure which is remembered with more glee; the fireworks display or the soggy teenagers lighting them!

Another Update

Here is the latest update on the Astros project for DH. I was able to stitch quite a bit on Sunday and a little bit here and there this week. It's getting there slowly. I'd like to be able to pick up the ocean project that I'd been working on and start on the 4 Seasons SAL from one of my groups but I have to get this done! I'm not allowing myself to touch anything else until I get this darn thing finished and then to the framers. I would frame it myself (I did some years back) but I want this to be perfect so he can hang it in his office at the resort. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm getting excited just knowing that I can start another project and continue on with the other start I did a month or so ago.

The one group that I'm in was doing the topic of the week which was a lot of fun but the owner has so much on her plate that she is asking someone to take over the group. A couple of us volunteered and even volunteered to just moderate for her if she wanted to keep it herself. I'd hate to see that group go away. I'm looking forward to the topic of week starting back up again and may think of a few myself just so I don't get the withdrawels from it!!

Update for week of June 16th

Here is the latest update shot of the Astros project that I've been working on for hubby. I had hoped to finish it in time for Father's Day but with the kids and me being sick for about a week that threw all my good intentions right out the window. I didn't get a chance to work on it at all yesterday as the kids were in rare form.

For some reason for the past week or so Katie has decided she is afraid of the dark. She will go to bed but will wake up right about the time we're ready to lay down. I have to go in her room, turn the light on and sit there until she falls asleep. She's done that to me every night for the past week. Thankfully yesterday I was able to keep her from taking a nap so she was very tired and didn't wake back up. She did however refuse to go to sleep until after 11:00. Logan was up and running around until around 12:30 a.m. That little stinker decided he was going to eat around 10:00; couldn't get him to eat anything at dinner time so what the heck right? He also has a new knickname; Sir Poop-A-Lot. I think yesterday's record was five dirty diapers for him (not to mention the other two!) We had just got the alarm set for the night and out he runs saying diaper. At least he's telling me right????!! Some days I feel like all I do is feed them and change poopy diapers.

Somewhat of an update

No stitching last week or weekend due to the head cold I received from my lovable Logan. He does love to share with his Mommy! Glasses don't sit comfortably on my nose when I'm all stuffed up so all I could do was look longingly at my projects and listen to Marie ask over and over and over to start her project.

No biggie; I'm hoping today to get some stitching time in after some cleanup and playtime with the kids. Since they are all home for the summer I'm also looking for something that will take my mind off the chaos that I have no control over. I can't go around picking up after them ever single second of the day so I do it once in the morning and once at night. If I try to do more I only drive myself insane so I need something to take my mind of that. Besides my stitching, does anyone have any recommendations????!!!

Progress for Astro's project

I actually have more done than this but I don't have a more updated shot. I have been able to get the A totally outlined even though I did spend some time ripping part of it back out because the very first stitch I put in was off by one. I'm now trying to finish the gold color then on to completely fill in the A. I don't think I'm going to get this done in time for it to be framed for Father's Day but I don't think Curtis is going to mind. He's been checking out my progress and helping with Ryan when I work on it. I try to stitch on it when the game is on each night but that doesn't always happen. Last night we forgot the game was on early so we missed the first hour of the game but thankfully we didn't miss anything good. I was able to start stitching around 9:30 so I stitched for a little over an hour. If I can get Marie started on her new project I'm hoping to make time (about an hour) each day to work on it while she works on hers. If I can get an hour during the day and whatever at night I might get it done a week after Father's Day.

I'm really excited about getting Marie going on a project. Last summer when I tried to teach her how to stitch she didn't quite grasp it and was very frustrated. She did her class project last week on how to stitch and she did a great job and was very happy. She's been bugging me every day to start the new project so if she behaves today and helps me clean out her disaster area, I mean room, then we can start tomorrow. I'll try to get the pictures I took of her for her project on here in the next day or so; she was so cute. I think this is the first class project that she's been very excited about all year!

Topic of the week for May 12th

Topic of the week: Which of these do you prefer to use when stitching? Why? Hoop frames, Q-snap frames, Laptop/Tabletop stand, Needlework Stand

This one is pretty easy for me as I've only used hoop frames and free hand. Currently, I have two projects sitting in hoop frames and one that I just started and am just holding in my hands. I've seen pictures of the Q-snap frames and would love to give them a try but don't want to spend a lot just to find out that I really am not comfortable using them. The Floor or laptop stands look like they would make it easier too but again..... I sit in my recliner with the foot rest up and have everything right next to me so I'm not sure if a laptop stand would be comfortable or not. I guess I should do a poll about these and see what everyone has to say.

On to stitching news.... I finally received the Astro's pattern in and was able to start it yesterday. Okay, here is a story about why you should NEVER assume anything. I was so excited to get the pattern that I quickly grabbed all the supplies and proceeded to cut my material to size. I didn't even think twice about cutting it; just added 4 inches to the total for the design size and started stitching. After a while I began to notice that I was going to be extremely close to my edge and thought uh oh did I read the design area wrong. No, I didn't but that is when I noticed that it didn't say what count of cloth was used. DUH! I should have picked up on that a little quicker but I have to chalk that up to being too excited to get Curtis' Father's Day present to stitch. I went back to this person's site and looked more carefully and sure enough it showed the stitch count and design size for several different count materials. The 14 count is what I am using and of course, that wasn't what they used. Oh well, I like the design so I can finish the part I started and keep it for myself. You know what they say about assuming right?! I think the only person looking like the derriere' here is me! Lesson learned.

Will attempt to take a picture of what I have done with the under the sea project and the new Astros' project and put it on here within the next day or so. (Notice I said attempt?!?!)

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. The only thing that could have made mine better was if I could have actually gone to see my Mom. With Logan being so sick for most of the week, I couldn't take the chance that I may carry the germs to her so we decided that I'd come visit her the following weekend. (AS long as none of the other children catch this horrible bug!)

I received my first gift about a week ago. Curtis bought be the Bronte sisters book collection! I can't wait to sink my teeth into those books! On Friday afternoon I received some beautiful tulips and a box of chocolates. I was nice and shared the chocolates with him but the flowers had to be put up on the window ledge in the kitchen because the kids kept trying to grab them to smell. Once the buds started opening I started enjoying the beautiful fragrance of tulips in my kitchen. I received the final Gilmore Girls season on DVD - now I have them all. I do love that show and really have missed it this year. Hopefully they will do a movie in a year or two to update us on the lives of this funny group. I also received the newest James Patterson book last week and of course, I read it. I believe that I read it during those nights when Logan wanted me with him but didn't want me to lay down. At least I was able to enjoy reading even if I was extremely groggy and irritable the next day! Curtis brought dinner home on Saturday and made us dinner last night. All in all, I'd say I was pretty darn spoiled for Mother's Day, wouldn't you??

I took some time last night after most of the children were settled for the night and got some stitching done. I hope to post an updated picture sometime tomorrow. Oh and I received the Astro's pattern so I can now start Curtis' Father's Day gift. At least, that's what I'm hoping I can get it done for, if not it's going to have to be his birthday gift. After I ordered this pattern I saw that this person had several other patterns for the Astro's so I'm going to be ordering from them again very shortly.

Topic of the week for May 5th

Okay, our topic for this week is: How did you choose the name of your blog and is there a special reason for it?

Hmmm, the name of my blog is Shut up and stitch! I guess you can say that I was a little disgusted with myself at that time as I hadn't stitched in over 10 years. I'd been wanting to get back to it but hadn't made any time to just sit down and stitch. For a couple of months I had been looking at my stash and telling myself that I was going to get started on the Thomas Kinkade kit that I had purchased two years before. Two months later I hadn't started it or any other project so I got a little upset with myself and just said, "Shut up and stitch already!"

I still have weeks where I don't get time to sit down and stitch but I at least have it all out and a corner near my recliner where most of it sits waiting for me to sit down and put in a few stitches. I've been away from it for a couple of weeks due to illnesses. First I got sick then the little ones and then the oldest came home with the stomach bug last week so that was another week shot. I'm hoping to set aside some time tonight to put a few stitches into the under the sea project. I'd love to get that finished as I'm waiting to receive the Houston Astros kit/pattern that I purchased on e-bay this past weekend. I have to jump right on that one as I want it completed and framed for hubby for Father's Day from the kids. He just recently had his office at work refurbished with all new furniture so some of the decorations that were in there before had to come out as they didn't go with the new color scheme. I know that once this project is finished and I have it framed that it will have a place of honor on the wall. Now, if I can just find the time "shut up and stitch!"

Topic of the week

Our topic for this week is to tell a little something about ourselves and add a picture as well. I just happen to have all my Mom's pictures that I'm hoping to scan into the computer and give out copies on DVD to the family so finding a picture wasn't hard. I didn't want to spend a whole lot of time looking through them because I've got to clean before Ryan's therapist gets here. I knew if I didn't get this done this morning I might miss this weeks topic.

This picture is of my two older brothers and me at our house in California. Now to the info about me as a child..... I was a tomboy when I was younger. I'd play cops and robbers and cowboys and indians with my brothers and the other boys on our street. I also didn't get along that great with my brothers but heaven forbid anyone try to pick on them. Yes they were older than me but I could give you a tongue lashing at the age of six or seven. I remember one time in particular; the neighbor was trying to start a fight with my oldest brother and I stood up to him. I got right up in his face and gave him a piece of my mind. I remember everyone started laughing and the fight never happened. The funny thing was no one gave my brother a hard time about his baby sister defending him; they all thought it was just a hoot that I could swear with the best of them. Yes that is all their fault too!!

Picture of the under the sea project

I didn't have all the thread needed to complete this project so my wonderful hubby ran into A.C. Moore the other day and grabbed me what I needed and an extra color too.

He volunteered to run in so we didn't have to drag the cranky toddlers into another store. My eyes have been acting up lately again so I mentioned that I needed to get some stronger reading glasses. He was near Sam's Club and ran in and grabbed two different types and brought them home to me. He wanted me to decide which I preferred and he would take the other pack back. He's such a wonderful man and yup he's a keeper; I think I'll keep him around for the next 50 or 60 years!!! LOL

Oooh more stitching time, can you believe it?!

I actually was able to get some stitching in this past week even though I have been fighting this nasty bug. The headache from a week ago this past weekend turned into the creeping crud. Of course, the kids also have it to an extent because no one will stay out of my face no matter what. Poor little Ryan sounded like a frog yesterday but still wanted to play for a while at least. His pictures were back so yesterday I took Marie and Katie with me to go pick them up.

It was a nice ride with the girls; both fell asleep on the ride so I had some quiet time for a little bit. When I left the house Ryan was just waking up from a short nap so I suggested that hubby pick him up and snuggle with him. It took us two hours from the time we left to the time we got back and little Ryan was still fast asleep in Daddy's arms. Oh what a cute pair they made. Poor Daddy's arm was falling asleep so I rescued him and snuggled with my little man. He woke up enough to say, "Me snuggle?" and promptly put his head on my shoulder and was snoring within a minute. There is nothing like a nice snuggle with your little ones!

Okay, back to the cross stitching now. In one of my previous postings I have a picture of a finish and someone asked who was the designer. I got it off the internet someone from one of the groups I'm in posted a link to her site for freebies. It's from anne-les-petities-croix. It was designed in January 2002 and it's listed as Grille 9" carre's on her site. I changed out a few colors because I didn't have what was listed but tried to get as close as possible to it. I'm now working on a freebie that I got from Michael's but I don't see a title for it. It's a pattern of a starfish with some other underwater things. I just needed something that I could stitch rather quickly so I could have the finish to boost my sad lack of finishes for 2008 (heck, my sad lack of finishes for 2007 for that matter!)

I've also been trying to find something from the Houston Astros to design for hubby and that hasn't been fun at all. I've tried to find a picture of the park to convert with my software but I don't think that's going to work until I get more proficient with it. I've also been trying to get their star logo with the Astros name but that's not converting well either. I know, I know it's the nut behind the computer that is causing that. I've only fooled around with the software a little bit since purchasing it and I know I need to get cracking so I'm comfortable with it. I had him print off the batting roster yesterday and was thinking maybe (please let me be able to at least design this!) designing the field with the names of each player in their appropriate area and if that works somehow get the logo on there too. I'd be happy with the field and names at this point but we shall see!

What is your favorite guilty pleasure?

This is from the cross stitch group I'm in that has a topic of the week. Hmmmmm, what is my favorite guilty pleasure??? I think I'd have to say sitting in a nice big bathtub full of bubbles with a scented candle burning, reading a good book with a nice cup of coffee or tea sitting on the edge of the tub and maybe a bar of chocolate to dunk into the hot beverage. I know, I know taking a bath shouldn't be a guilty pleasure, but at our house it's a little different. With four kids, two of whom are autistic it makes for little relaxation time. I rarely get to have a nice relaxing bath away from everyone. So when I get to it's absolute heaven; even though I hear the kids (whomever is still awake at that time) screaming for something. All the while Daddy pulls his hair out trying to keep them all happy while I have some nice down time.

I have to admit that when I do get to have a nice bubble bath (Calgon take me away!!! you know those moments) that I make the water as hot as I can stand it. Well, maybe a little hotter than that and then I sit in there until it's almost too cool to stand it. I try to do that but most times life has a way of butting in to my down time. I take these "guilty pleasures" whenever I can as it's my only time away from the kids.

This life also makes it hard to find time to stitch but I've decided that it's my only way to take the stress level down a notch or two. I'm trying to set aside some time each night to stitch whether I do that the entire time or just for a few minutes, as long as I have some time to stitch I'm happy. I had a humdinger of a headache last night (which is still here this morning on a smaller scale thank goodness!) so I knew I couldn't do any stitching especially not my Thomas Kinkade. I decided to find another smaller pattern that would be a quick finish. I had a hard time with that so I have probably four to six patterns to choose from when my head calms down to a duller roar sometime today. Thank goodness it's Sunday!