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!