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!

Miracle!!!!!

Finally a finish for 2008!

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Miracles do happen; I finished a project last night!! Okay, the true miracle is that for the past couple of days I've actually sat down and stitched. Finishes aren't hard when you actually do some stitching it's when you don't stitch that it makes finishes miracles. Have I lost you yet?!

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I've made myself take an hour each night to do some stitching. Okay, I will clarify that more. I set aside time later in the evening when I think I should be able to stitch. This week it's just worked out that I've been able to stitch between 20 and 40 minutes per night. Ryan fell out early last night because he didn't get but a five minute nap on the way home yesterday. By 8:30 he was falling asleep in my arms. The others were pretty tired too so I didn't have many major battles and was able to stitch while watching/listening to Forrest Gump. I love that movie but I've seen it so many times that I can stitch and listen and not miss any of it. Know what I mean?

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The funny part about this finish is that it took me several minutes before I realized that I was actually done with it. I had to look at it and at the pattern a couple of times before a lightbulb went off in my head. "Helllllooooo, you're done, get up and do a happy dance!" Body replied "Sorry brain too tired for that right now!" It's Friday so I'm off to finish up the laundry, vacuuming and the dreaded bathroom cleaning - YUCK!

No Housework Day!

On one of the cross stitch groups I am in we are having a "Topic of the week" which I think is pretty cool. Did anyone else know that today is a holiday?? It's No Housework Day and I love it!! Okay, I would if I could actually get away with not doing any housework but in reality anyone with children has no breaks from housework. It's Spring Break here so all the kids are home with me so the housework is twice the normal for the week.

Topic of the week is: What is your least favorite household chore? Hmmm, let me think about this for a little while. I hate most housework so that makes it a little harder to answer but not impossible. I think I'd have to say that I hate cleaning toilets and bathrooms in general. I have a box of hospital type rubber gloves that I use when I do the cleaning in the bathrooms. Even with the gloves, I wash my hands at least five times after I do the toilets and tubs/showers. I still feel like I've touched something and got germs on me. EEWWW!

Coming in a close second would have to be mopping the floors. We use the swifter wetjet and I've heard/read somewhere that the cleaner used is very bad for dogs and cats. (Which kind of tells me people too, don't ya' think?!) I still use the cleaner but then I go one step further. After the floor is dried I take my trusty older mop and a bucket of hot water and wash the floor all over again. I kill the germs first then I kill the germ killer. Some people may think it's a little overkill but I have small children who drop food on the floor and they firmly believe in the 24 hour rule (kind of like the 10 second rule for adults but more in tune with the kids attitudes) I sweep and vacuum twice a day in the areas where the kids are but let's be real, I can't get it all up so here's where the 24 hour rule comes into play!

Are we having fun yet??? I wonder if I will get a chance to sit down and actually get some cross stitching done today. Perhaps tonight when the ball game is on and the kids are somewhat settled for the night. I can only hope!