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.