Hello again!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their families/friends.  We had a wonderful weekend.  We started off by going to my oldest brother's house on Christmas eve for a few hours.  Logan and DH had to stay home as Logan started running a temp that morning.  We missed them but still had a good time.  I have to say, not traveling on Christmas or Christmas Eve is a good idea.  I couldn't believe how many people were still shopping at 5:00 p.m. when we finished up and headed home.  There were so many cars out in the lots and on the road that it took a little longer than usual to get to the highway. lol

Christmas Day we had my other brother and his son over for dinner and presents.  It was a great day with fun visiting, playing games on the new Wii and good food.  We made a roast which we finished up last night by having BBQ beef sandwiches. Yummo!

No stitching for me for the past week or so but that's okay.  Soon I will have more time to do that again.... I hope. lol  Today it's back to work again (if I have any to do lol) and finish up cleaning up from the presents.   Wish me luck with the cleaning!  lol

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 Behind the presents is one of my favorite Christmas displays.  My Santa and Reindeer but alas, it's hidden. lol

 The other side of the tree and somewhere in there is my snowglobe collection. lol

 One of Ryan's favorite new toys.  Imaginext Gorilla Mountain or something like that. 

 Kaitlyn and her Ni Hao playset.

Marie and her new PS2.

My poor big boy was so sick on Christmas.  He didn't play with much that day but he's feeling better now and making up for lost time. lol

Tried to get Logan, my brother and nephew in a picture but as you can see, both boys decided they didn't like the idea. lol

One of my absolutely favorite memories from this holiday.  The boys sitting watching a movie together and then giving hugs. 

Another great giveaway but hurry!!!

Check out New England Stitcher's Retreat's great giveaway but hurry, she's going to pull a name on the 22nd I believe!

Another great giveaway!

Check out Mel's blog to see what she is giving away for her 200th follower milestone!

So much fun!

Oh Joy from 2010 JCS Christmas magazine 

Another 2010 JCS ornament 

Prairie Schooler Freebie 

Snowflakes by LHN

Here are the promised progress pics of the ornaments and my Snowflakes by LHN.  I have more stitched on the LHN but as I took the picture that morning and then stitched that night I don't have a more updated picture.  I haven't been able to sit down to stitch at all this week but, today I am going to get a serious case of stitchers butt. lol

The three kids are now well and going to school and Ms. Katie who was able to avoid getting sick these past three weeks has finally succumbed to it and is home with me again today.  What a month with the germs this has been!  I'm just thankful that everyone else (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!) is better and back to school.  I've been working and taking care of the sick little ones and I have to say that is no fun and way beyond stressful. lol   I've been working so late each night because you can't get much done in between getting meds, food, blankies and just snuggling with them when they are feeling poorly.  I decided to skip work today and just take some time to get the house in order, throw some soup in the crock pot, hit the store for some yogurt and ice cream for Katie's sore throat and then get the serious case of stitchers butt this afternoon. lol

The weather has been cold for us here in sunny Florida.  It hasn't got above 55 degrees since Monday I think.  Today it's 59 but it's cloudy and rainy.  Yuck!  I'm enjoying the cooler weather but I could do without the rain while it's slightly cooler.  I don't mind rain when it's warm out but when the wind is out of the north and cold, you can keep the rain, please and thank you. lol

We did manage to get the Christmas decorations out of the attic but alas, they are now sitting stacked against my sliding glass doors in the living room.  Tomorrow come Hell or high water (as my Mom used to say) the tree will get decorated and all the inside decorations will be put up.  I will post a picture or two if I'm not too exhausted after I get them all up.  Now, it's time to fold some clothes and get to work on the serious stitchers butt. ;)

Have a great weekend everyone!

A pretty wonderful giveaway!

Check out Jennifer's giveaway over at Feathers in the Nest.  What a wonderful giveaway!  Go over there and put your name in the hat!!!

I'm here!

I'm still here....really....I am!!!

I've been busy with work, taking care of the kids, getting ready and then having a yard sale, taking care of the kids, cleaning the house etc. etc. etc.  It's been crazier than normal around here lately but for the most part it's been fun.  Well, most of it has anyways.  The kids have all been sick except for one (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!) at least twice in the last three weeks.  What the heck is up with that??  Every time I get them well and back in school, I turn around within two days have someone else home with me.  Jeepers!

I got tired of the ornaments or at least I found something else to stitch that grabbed my eye.  I don't have an pictures yet but I will get to them soon I hope. lol  I started on LHN Snowflakes and I'm loving it!  I have been doing a lot of frogging though but even with that, I'm still loving the stitching and can't wait to finish it.  I should have started from the middle and worked my way out so that the outer band would have been easier to stitch.  lol  I'm stitching it on 32 count linen that I purchased along with the pattern for it from 123stitch.  I've done some stitching over two in the past and didn't like it.  Now, however, I'm loving it!!!  Weird, I know!  I seem to relax more when stitching over two which might be the cause of all the frogging (that and trying to watch a movie at the same time lol)  I actually started this while watching The Christmas Carol for the first time this year.  The new one with Jim Carrey.  Love it! 

I've also been busy trying to clean up the playroom and move things around so I can start putting up the Christmas decorations up.  That's always a fun time.....hmmmm.....wellllll, they sure look pretty when I'm done. lol  We finally broke down and purchased a new DVD player on Black Friday.  They were cheap so we bought two.  I know, you're thinking why in the world would you buy two???  One word......LOGAN!  He destroys them so we had to figure out how to get it in the playroom high enough where he couldn't climb to get to it.  (and still I didn't trust that he won't find a way to get to it so I urged DH to pick up the 2nd one just in case)  Heck, at $19.99 each they were a heck of a deal, right??  All day Saturday I cleaned and moved things around so DH could do his magic and move the shelf over and up so the kids could sit in the playroom and watch their movies.  Crack me up, but the whole time they had to watch movies in the living room Logan wanted to watch Christmas Carol or Toy Story 2.  I have had my fill of both......maybe.....ok, I've had my fill of TS2 at least lol.

I gave up on the notion of getting the tree and decorations up yesterday as I was too tired from all the cleaning, cooking and playing nursemaid to the kids all week.  I'm going to do all that decorating next Saturday.  It will take all day so maybe I will have DH get all the boxes down on Thursday and I will do everything except for decorat the tree on Friday.  Hmmmm, we shall see. lol

Well, I've bent your ear long enough.  I can't put off doing the dishes any longer...that and the stupid washer is already done with the load of laundry. lol  Hope everyone has a wonderful week and next post I hope to have some pics to show you of the other ornaments I finished and a progress pic of Snowflakes!

Another great giveaway!

Go check out Terri's giveaway and check out her blog while you're at it.  I especially like the picture she posted showing what a friend did with their pumpkins this year.  Sooo funny!!!

Progress pics

 My second ornament from the 2010 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Magazine

 My first ornament that took forever to complete. lol



Here is the third one.  I think I'm on a roll now!!  

Here is the one I'm currently working on.  I do believe that my stitching MOJO is now back!

More awesome giveaways!

Go here for Teresa's awesome giveaway.  While there, check out here beautiful stitching too!

Check out Terri's Spooktacular Halloween giveaway!  Check out her beautiful Halloween (and other) stitching while you're dropping by her blog.

I stitched!!!!!

ROFLMBO!  I finally sat down last night and stitched while watching the Phillies beat the Reds.  Sorry to see the Reds get swept but I have soft spot in my heart for the Phillies.  Love Roy Oswald and Brad Lidge as they are both former Houston Astros players.

I stitched for about a 45 minutes but then little man decided he wanted to snuggle and who am I to deny such a cute little guy??  I have to say it felt good to stitch and I believe (fingers and toes crossed this time) that maybe my MOJO is really REALLY back this time.  I can't take a picture of it yet as I need to get other pictures off the camera first.  I hope to do that by Wednesday and then I can get a picture post on here.

Hope everyone is having a great start to the new week.  I know, I can't believe it either!!  I'm posting again and it's more than once a month or once every 6 weeks. lol

And another great giveaway!

Checky out Alyssa's great giveaway!  Wait!  On second thought, don't do that because I want to win. lol  ;)

Thanks to all the lovely ladies with these awesome giveaways!

Another great giveaway!

Check this out!!!  Name will be drawn on Halloween for these great gifts from Sarah.  Woo Hoo!!

An evening at the Cole house

Some conversation from the Cole children when they think Mommy is distracted

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, LOGAN PUT IT DOWN!!!!!

C'mon Kaitlyn, you can get out of timeout now, Mommy said so.  - REALLY??? I don't recall speaking but maybe I was thinking it and he read my mind. ;)

GO! Get OUT of my room I'm trying TO DO MY HOMEWORK!!!

C'mon, COME ON KAITLYN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shut up Ryan!  Get out of my room!

Vroom! Vroom!  

NO! His name is Ferdinand! You said Ferdinana!

SHUSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

COME ON KAITLYN! 

I don't want to play anymore Ryan!

Get BACK here!

Yes you do!  PLEASE, come play with me!

COME ON!

STOP! 

KAITLAWWWWWNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This is what Ryan resorts to when he's mad and he wants her to pay attention to him.

I really wanted to do some stitching tonight while watching the game but I don't think I should chance it while they are fighting so much.  Believe it or not, this has been about three minutes of VERY loud conversation.  Imagine what would happen if I sat here longer. lol

I'm off to supervise the homework Queen  and the fighting trio.  Hope to get some stitching done and if I do, I will post a progress picture but I have to warn you....... don't hold your breath. ;)

EDITED:  In case you were wondering, the children finally calmed down.  Marie did, in fact, finish her project but it was very late. lol  I never did get to sit and stitch as the final child went to bed at 10:20 (yes, that is when Marie a/k/a "THE PROCRASTINATOR" finished her school project.)  Maybe today/tonight but by the time I actually have time to sit I may not feel like doing it.  Anyone ever have that problem???? ;)

An awesome giveaway for Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

Check out Nataly's wonderful giveaway for Breast Cancer Awareness month.  I hope I'm lucky enough to win, if not, I know whomever does win it will absolutely love it!!!

Progress pic

Here it is and yes I started over way too close to the left side.  I'm hoping that I can figure out a cute way to finish it.  Maybe that's why I am having a hard time getting it stitched.; it was a nice thought! lol

Oops, I did it again!

Time has been getting away from me so much this past year.  I can't seem to get on here and post like I want once a week.  I'm lucky to do once a month.  SIGH* hanging my head in shame.

Nope, stiching mojo didn't last long at all.  It has been over a month and I'm still not done with my Christmas ornament.  I have no idea what my problem is anymore.  I just don't seem to want to pick up any stitching.  I pick it up and put a few stitches in and then realize that I'm just not into it and put it right back where I found it.  There are such lovely projects that I had wanted to start and finish but nothing is catching my fancy. 

I've started back on the flat belly diet again.  It was so great to lose the weight last year and not gain ALL of it back.  I did gain some but nowhere near as bad.  I'm about 7 pounds away from hitting my lowest weight from last year so I think I may be able to stick to it this time.  I believe that since we started after the school schedules are now pretty much a done deal that I will have a much better chance of keeping on it then I did last year.  I do know that I will not be denying myself the coffee this time around though.  I'm a coffee girl, there is no denying it so I just might as well face it.  I am only allowing myself a cup a day.  It's better to indulge a little then go hog wild and completely blow it, don't you think??  I'm over the initial four day hump where I did deny myself coffee and just knew that I have to figure out a way to add it in or this diet is done. lol 

I've also had some "woman" issues as of late which is probably not helping the diet or the stitching mojo. lol  I think I'm hitting the pre-menopause stage.  Is anyone else going through that in their early forties????  I'm crankier than cranky, tired all the time (that's normal anymore lol) having two visits from Aunt Flo this month which didn't help.  Emotions are on a roller coaster which is so much fun when you have little ones. lol  I did find some lovely stuff that will hopefully be helping me with most of this but I have to wait until 14 days after the "last" day to begin.  Fine, but, can I count from the first one or do I have to start 14 days form the second one???? ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!  How appropriate can it be that I feel this way and it's close to Halloween???!!! ROFLMBO

I will attempt to get a progress shot of my ornament.  It is almost done just going to take forever to finish it at the rate I'm going.  I usually love this time of year and stitching all of the lovely Halloween goodies that are available.  Nope, not this year!  GOD, please help me to get back to my stitching as it's what keeps me from going completely looney!! ;)

An update of sorts

I have finally (I think!) got my stitching mojo back.  At least a little bit anyway. lol   I received my Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments mag in the mail this past week and was drooling over all the lovelies.  I finally sat down last night and closed my eyes and picked one to start.  You know what I mean ladies, it's almost impossible to choose which one you like the best so you can stitch it first so I just opened the mag with my eyes closed and slapped my hand down.  There you go, purely scientific way of choosing. lol  Not much to show as the children weren't ready for bed but were wanting to cuddle so I spent maybe about 30 minutes on it.  When I have more progress to show I will take a pic and post it here.

It's been a crazy few weeks getting back into a routine with the kids and school but I have to say I'm loving it!  I do miss them but I cherish my time to get the house clean, the laundry done, work done and have a little bit of me time too.  lol  By the time the bus gets here with the first two, I realize just how much I've missed my little people and I enjoy the afternoon snuggling and getting everyone to get their homework done.  I wish I could say it was all enjoyable but for those of you with more than one child, you know what I mean.  They still fight but it seems easier to referee now that school takes them away from each other during the day.

Today the older two had to start with a new bus as the other route was too full.  Last week wasn't any fun as we had problems with our a/c on Labor Day.  We ended up taking the kids out for a ride once we finally got that stupid thing working again so we could all relax and get cool.  Logan loved it so much that when it came time to go to school the next day, he threw a major fit about getting on the bus.  Thankfully, by Friday, he was a little calmer and today was nothing.  Here I was dreading trying to get him on the bus, let alone a new driver and aide and he just walked right up, said Hi and climbed the stairs.  That boy amazes me just about everyday with something new or unexpected. lol

I've been reading and playing with the DS to take my mind off the stitching slump.  I have a confession to make though;I couldn't finish reading Jodi Picoult's book.  I tried and tried but I just couldn't make myself read more than a few chapters.  It has nothing to do with the story being boring or bad, I've heard other people say they love it.  I just couldnt' get past the first few chapters that go into detail about the daily trials of having a child with Aspergers or Autism.  I live it myself daily so to see it in print and to know what I have to look forward to was just too much for me.  Maybe someday I will pick it back up and be able to read it but for me, right now, I can't do it.  Pathetic I know but I know my limitations with certain things and I'm okay with it.  Now, if I could just figure out my limitations with say chocolate or coffee, life would truly be perfect. lol

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday.  I am off to sit and stitch for a little while before work gets delivered for the day.  That is another part of my routine that I've just added, I get to clean and take care of the house as soon as the kids leave and then I give myself an hour or so of stitching time so that if I don't get a chance to stitch at night, at least I've stitched some that day. 

Happy Monday!

First Day of School and Other Stuff

A BEAUTIFUL RAK from Lei. She sent this to me in July and I've finally gotten around to posting a picture of this beautiful handmade pin cushion she made for me. Thank you again Lei!!!!

I finished the first page of the bird but I still need to go back and fix the trees on the left. Since I messed that up, I haven't wanted to look at it because I know I have quite a bit of frogging to do.

Here is the older project that I found in a box in the garage. Yes, we've been here for five years but I still hadn't unpacked all the boxes. lol. I had finished the pink dinosaur and started on the purple. So, when I found these, I promptly finished the purple and started in on the green. I figured I'd go ahead and make one for each of the kids. Of course, I didn't have all the floss needed to finish the fourth so that one is on hold.

I had the pattern for LHN Little Neighborhood for some time. I had pulled all the floss and the fabric and had it sitting in my to do pile. I decided when I didn't have the floss to finish the dinosaurs and didn't have the gumption to frog the Rainforests that I would start this. I'm loving doing this one. Still, I haven't had time or energy to sit and stitch in a couple of weeks. Now that school has started I have a feeling it's going to take another couple of weeks for the routine to settle back down before I can find the energy to stitch still. lol

We had an exciting first day of school. The bus for Marie and Logan was late, about 30 minutes and considering it was the first day of school, that was nothing. They made it to school an hour late but so did quite a few other children. lol Ryan and Katie's bus never made it by our house in the morning. What made it worse was that Mommy called transportation and gave them the WRONG bus number when asking where it was and that bus had broken down. Later on when I called back, the woman had to correct me on the bus number which made us both cackle like a bunch of hyenas. I made her feel so much better since she had such a crazy morning. I'm glad I was able to help her with some comic relief. lol The little ones finally got to school by 11:15 lol. What a morning we had!! The afternoon went much smoother and once everyone was home safe and sound and talking non-stop all at the same time, I was finally able to relax. lol

Today was a much smoother transition. The buses were only 15 minutes late this morning. Ryan wasn't as excited about riding this morning as Katie won't be going back until Thursday. The school systems here do a staggered Kindergarten start. The first three days are done by last name and on the fourth day, they all get to come back to school. Katie had a wonderful day yesterday, even though she missed over two hours. She came home on the bus and didn't stop chattering about what a great day she had until after dinner.

I know she was excited because when she got home, I checked her lunch box and found that she took four bites out of her sandwich and drank her juice. She did find enough room in her excited tummy to eat some cheese its for snack time but that was it. Needless to say she never stopped eating once she got home last night. lol Ryan didn't drink his bottle at all until he got home yesterday afternoon! Woo Hoo!!!! I had sent two applejuice boxes in with his lunch and they were both gone so maybe (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!) he's over the bottle during the day.

Logan's teacher situation got taken care of and he was back in with his awesome teacher from last year. He had a GREAT day and came home in the best mood!!!! Marie also had a wonderful day. The big 6th grader switches classes for every subject this year and she loved it! It's getting her prepared for middle school next year so I can't wait to see how she much she likes it once they start giving out homework. lol I'm still on the hunt for some of the school supplies she needs. I will have to make a run to Staples later today or tomorrow morning for the last thing she needs and send in the last of it all tomorrow. Can you believe it has taken three trips in her backpack to get all her school supplies into her classes??? The girl carries an adult size backpack too. Her poor back!! lol

Another new week and not much to show

I did fix the boo boo I made on my Rainforest's design but then haven't had the energy or time to stitch since then. I've looked at it longingly a couple of times but the brain and eyes were too tired and I believe I may have finally learned my lesson about stitching while brain dead, errr I mean tired.

A quick non-stitching question for you folks that have the music player on your blog. Is it me, or do you lose songs off your player? I've just noticed that another two songs have totally disappeared off of it again. Where do they go?? Is there a song heaven for those tired and old (not so old in terms of when they were released) worn out songs??

The good reason (is there ever a good reason not to have stitching time??) is that DH and I have been doing some DIY home improvements to help the ol' pocketbook survive the Florida summer heat. Several windows and shades (and window film) later we now have an almost perfectly cool home without running the old A/C lower than 76. Trust me, this is quite an improvement! I believe that we may have finally gotten rid of the disgusting $280 monthly summer electric bill. (Please, oh please let that be true!!!)

Logan is going to be a nudist when he gets older. He strips everything off as soon as he hits the door after school. I even have to fight to keep his diaper on him. Speaking of which, it's been a fun week of taking him to the potty every 30 minutes but it seems to be working. He's not completely potty trained, he does go on the potty during those times but he still goes in the pull-ups even after being taken. It's a start! Ryan however, as of last night, is offically potty trained!! Woo Hoo!!! He's been insisting on wearing a diaper each night but for quite a while it's been dry. Last night, I had him wear his underwear with his plastic pants and nothing!!! I'm sure he'll want to continue doing that but I have no problem with the pastic pants. He can wear them for a little longer and then I think he'll be a big boy and give them up too.

A new week

I finally got some stitching time in last night on my Rainforests project but I think I may have been too tired when I started it. First, I just have to know, have any of you looked at the pattern, knew which symbol you were stitching but, for some unknown reason, went on to the next symbol but stayed in the same color?????? Yup, you guessed it! I did just that last night. When it was time to go from the c to the z I realized in the middle of my stitching I had gone cross eyed or something and started stitching the z. I needed to frog almost everything I had done up to that point and let me tell you I almost threw it across the room. DH heard my muttering and was giving me the eye so I calmly bit down on my tongue and proceeded to go to another area on the pattern and worked with a totally different color. Not the smartest thing considering what I had just done but all turned out well with that particular color.

Let's see, I did get Katie registered for Kindergarten at her zoned school and filled out the paperwork to request a transfer to Ryan's school. Keeping fingers and toes crossed that we get approved. It will be impossible to go to three different school at the same starting time. Logan ended up being pretty good on the bus toward the end of the year so I didn't have to take him much but I can't see having Ryan get on a bus by himself next year for school. If they don't get to go to the same school it's going to be another hard year of transporting. I'm hoping that they will allow Katie on the bus with Ryan so that I won't have to make two trips to school. Heck, only two will be a breeze but still, I think I'd rather Ryan mature a little and be more independent to a point.

I still need to get my license reniewed. I will be calling for an appointment for next week. There goes my appointment for my mani/pedi. My DH was so very sweet and bought a spa package deal for me to go check out a new place. They were doing a promotion where you can get so much for a small fee. We all know that you can walk in the door with your certificate but it's hard to walk away without a few extras. lol I only have until the end of October to use this certificate so I'm going to have to drag (yeah right!) myself to the shop at least four times between now and then. I'm really looking forward to the haircut! I've been going to Fantastic Sam's lately because it's less expensive and so much more convenient but let me tell you, the quality of the cut is not so great. I'm a bit surprised by that because I've been to another one south of us before and was always satisfied. You just never know I guess.

Still working and attempting to keep caught up with all my chores while entertaining the kids. Still working on our schedule but I think I have one down finally! Going to do a second run on it today to see if it will work as well as yesterday and then "By George I think I've got it!!!" Woo Hoo!!! Only thirteen more days until summer school starts and will have to rework the schedule again but I think I can handle that!

She's alive!!!!!!!!!!!!

A new book that I'm trying to read. It's about a boy/teen with autism.

Current project that I've been trying to work on for what seems forever. I did get to stitch about 20 mins the other night.

2010 Finish

Still not much stitching going on as my carpel tunnel is making it almost impossible to get any stitching done. I'm working on it. I have a couple of wrist braces that someone told me would work if I sleep in them. I use the wrist compression gloves during the day while working as much as I can as well.

I'm also back into working out. I've finally figured out that coffee isn't cuttin' it for my energy boost anymore. I took the bull by the horns last night and went out into our home gym and worked out for about 30 minutes last night. Sad, but true, that is all I could manage for the first time in months. I have been cutting the lawn every week but my DH is too helpful and we work on that together so not much of a workout. I'm not sure if I like that or not! lol Good that he's so sweet and helps out but there goes my guaranteed workout. lol

The kids have been pretty well behaved all things considered. We have somewhat of a routine going on each day. As soon as my work is delivered we try to get outside and get some fun time in the sun for about an hour (with loads of sunscreen on). After that it's time for lunch and then time for Mommy to get work done. After that I try to get the house picked up, dishes done and laundry started.

Vonna a/k/a The Twisted Stitcher gave me some great advice that I plan on implementing starting tomorrow morning. Going to make myself lists for every half hour of things that need to get done and check off as I get them done. This will be especially helpful with Logan's potty training. I need to review the Potty Training book for Autistic children again today so I can get all that I can from these intense sessions. We were doing so-so on the pt during the year but I let it get away from me for these almost two weeks of no school. Can't let that happen or we'll never get the boy trained.

Still so much to do to get ready for school next year. I still haven't made it to the school to get Katie registered for Kindergarten for next year. I have all the paperwork so there really is no excuse. Ok there is, I finally got the final paperwork together on the last day of school after getting Katie picked up. Now, I either take all four with me to fill out the paperwork or I wait until Thursday when DH is home and go by myself. Hmmmm, I wonder which I will choose?!?!

We have ventured out a few times with all four of us to the store. I have to bribe Logan with McDonald's french fries so he'll keep his clothes on while we are in public. I have to say, it hasn't been as stressful as it could have been. Logan is the best behaved out of the four and that says a lot. lol I'm even considering an attempt at taking them to the beach by myself. I'll let you know if /when I get that suicidal. The thought of how to get Katie/Ryan to the bathroom while dragging Logan kicking and screaming from the ocean has kept me from attempting it so far. lol I'll figure it out, hopefully before school gets back in session.

I also have to get my driver's license reniewed this year. Our state changed their paperwork requirements this year. Now, you need your birth certificate, ss #, two proofs of address, your first born son and a quart of blood. Okay, you don't need the last two but seriously, I've been driving for over 20 years so why in the heck do they need my birth certificate now???? I can see for all new drivers requiring all the extra paperwork not to mention the whopping $48.00 fee but for us old timers?!?!?! Really????!!! Of course, par for the course with me, I coudlnt' find my bc even though Mom insists she game it to me. I spent two weeks attempting to locate it and finally had to order it. A disgusting $45.00 later, I will have a certified copy in about a week. I could have paid less than half this but it would have taken about three months to get a copy, if I was lucky. I'm sure Mom or I will locate the original bc any day now. Especially as the money as come out of my account already and certified copy has been shipped. lol

A little funny to brighten up your day

I've added a few songs to my player today. The very first song is one I heard for the first time in a long time today. I finally figured out what Ryan has been singing for the past couple of months. He would start shaking his butt and sing "apple bottom jean jean boots with the fur, the fur!" For the life of me I could not figure out what/where he got this from..... until today that is. I'm not sure where he heard it but one place could be from the television. We watch a lot of TampaBay Rays games. They play a part of this song everytime Willie Aybar comes up to bat when they have home games. Ryan picks up things after hearing them one time so....

Things that make you go hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

UPDATE: Katie informed me that Marie taught Ryan this little ditty which explains the butt shaking a little bit better. I've never seen Aybar shakin' his tush to the music when he's been up to bat so......

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

I only have to finish the right book border and the bottom border and this is completed!

Here is my monthly SAL from Oakhaven Designs for February. Now I need to post a pic at the group page and request March so I can try to get caught up!

No, the sky isn't falling but I am posting to my blog for the second time within the same month so something is wrong somewhere! lol

I'm in the process of cleaning, doing laundry and trying to get some much needed and deserved stitching time in this week. I've decided that I need my work schedule to be Monday, Wednesday and Friday (or at least two days but with a break in between) as I need the rest of the week to keep up with the messes the kids always make. Today, Ryan is home again with pink eye. I was able to get some drops in his eyes last night and again this morning. Not too sure how this morning's faired with his major fit but I don't see any nasty goo coming out so maybe tomorrow he can go back to school. Shhhhhhhh! That means all four kids will be back in school at the SAME TIME! Gasp!!!! Quick, someone knock on wood!!! Cross toes and fingers too while you're at it, unless your stitching and then just cross both sets of toes for me!!

I did get the playroom cleaned and everything put away and I set up our other cable box in there for the kids to be able to watch Nick Jr, their new favorite channel. I actually hooked everything up correctly and finally figured out which channel to have it on and programmed that stupid remote they give you. That felt like I had accomplished a major feat today, let me tell you!!!! I don't mind them watching Nick Jr as it's all preschool which means learning all the time. PBS Kids and Nick Jr are our favorite kids channels. I do allow them to watch Disney channel but only the smaller kids shows. By the time Marie gets home she wants to watch the tween stuff but I have to say no because she has a load of homework to do. Does anyone remember fifth grade??? Did we really have ALL that homework to do too????

Well, I need to actually get some laundry folded before I can get some stitching time in so I'd better get to those baskets. It's not like the little buggers are going to fold themselves is it??!!

It's April already

and I haven't posted since the beginning of March. What have I been doing for all that time you ask??? Welllll, let me see. The kids are still fighting the allergies, we had some great friends in for a two week visit and the kids had spring break. We had a great time during spring break visiting with the Parker's. We hit the beach one day and had a BBQ at the house on another day. Of course, again this year someone got sick on Easter Sunday. Katie was running a fever on Easter and came down with a wonderful case of pink eye in both eyes! She then shared the fever with Ryan and he was out until yesterday and she was out all week. So much for a break after the break for Mom. Anyone with children knows that mothers can't be sick but always end up catching something because the little ones just can't keep from sneezing or coughing in your face at least ten times while they are sick. So yes, I ended up with the lovely gunk again too. I will be so glad when Katie starts Kindergarten in the fall because the getting sick everytime you turn around phase should be over by now. That's the only downside to never having your child in daycare. They don't build up the immunities until they start school. Things will get better!

What am I doing right now you ask..... (DEEP sigh) I'm listening to my four wonderful well behaved children (COUGH, CHOKE, COUGH COUGH!) fight with each other yet again. I just heard someone call someone else a poopy head. I guess I should be happy it wasn't any worse than that right??? LOL All in all, they do get along fairly well and they totally surprised me when they behaved like (almost!) little angels when we had visitors. I really wish I could have kept little Lucy here with us as they never fought when she was here.

Really, the past couple of weeks (month) haven't been as bad as all that. I did finish my February part of the SAL and I am almost done with my LHN The Bookshelf as well. So, see I did find time to stitch with all that going on. Not only those two projects but I actually spent about 45 minutes trying to finishthe Autumn part of a SAL that was supposed to be done two or more years ago. Yeah, I'm slow but what's that old saying??? Something about being slow and steady always wins the race????

I still have no pictures to show any of the progress because my new camera is acting weird (Operatior error no doubt!) and for some reason I can't load or e-mail anything I pull from it. I'm sure I need to go in and tell it to save the pictures smaller but...... I would have to find the directions and then find time to sit and read it without falling asleep. That may take awhile. Perhaps I will just pull out the old camera and use it rather than wait for the year 3000 and me to figure out the newer camera. I need to get a picture of February so I can get March unless I've already missed that deadline. Hope not!

Howdy y'all!

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, I swear!! I did however, lose complete track of time. I can't believe that I haven't blogged in almost two months. Whew!

Let's see, hmmm, what's been happening here. Well, I've been ordering as much work as I can and still keeping up with the cleaning etc. (Okay, it's a struggle but I do have the house nice and clean at least once a week lol) My wrists have been hurting so much that I've not even looked at any stitching in about a month. Sad to say that I think I'm now in the worst stitching slump ever. Hopefully, the winter weather will go away as that only makes things worse and I can get back to stitching a little each day. I'm still struggling to finish my February piece for the SAL at OakHaven Designs group. I hope to have that done sometime this weekend so I can get started on March.

The kids have been sick off and on for the past month with all sorts of bugs. Marie's allergies have been so bad that we had to take her to the doctor and she now has a nebulizer for breathing treatments. In sunny Florida, we don't get the normal winter weather (well not the good stuff that kills all the germs). We get cold weather for a couple of days and then some nice warm days. All this does is make the pollen go completely crazy and 90% of the people end up with allergies so bad that they can hardly function. Marie has been suffering from this off and on for years but this year it went from bad to completely off the charts. Now, with the help of the nebulizer, she can finally breathe and cough up all that gunk that settles in her lungs. Poor baby couldn't get it out of her head or lungs and was downright miserable for a while.

Katie is fighting some bug this week that starts off with a low grade fever. It then becomes a nice (NOT!) mid to high grade fever with a headache and nausea to boot. Lovely way to spend the week. The worst part was that the fever would only show up in the evening. The next morning she would feel fine and want to go to school. Apparently, both aides in Ryan's class have this bug and another little guy went home with it the other day. Thankfully,KNOCK ON WOOD, he hasn't come down with it yet and I hope it stays that way.

I'm so far behind in my blogging that I still need to post pictures of Christmas, Katie's birthday, Ryan's birthday and I know there is something I've missed in between all of that too! Hopefully I can get a picture of the one or two finishes I had in December and then a progress picture of the SAL so you can see I did really stitch a little this year. LOL

Hope everyone is having a great week and that the winter weather is finally trying to head back home. We're having a cooler than normal Bike Week but it could wind down with a nice warm weekend. (At least, that is what I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed for anyway!)

It does get cold in sunny Florida!

If you get your magnifyer out, you can see what is left of one of Marie's "snow" balls. lol The grass looks white from the snow but it's just dead. Poor grass!

That white stuff that looks like dandruff on the wood here, is what we Floridians call snow.

I was almost too late, there was a lot more white stuff on this slide. In this picture it looks like sand from the sandbox. ROFLMBO

Here is all that is left of their snow after they made four snowballs and threw them at each other. Okay, mostly they were thrown at me but since the only one with good aim is 11, I only got hit once. lol

Ohhhh the weather outside is frightful!

Gotcha! No, really, it is white stuff coming out of the sky but you can barely see it. It's more sleet than snow but hey, who cares! The kids and I just got back in from playing in it. There's nothing really on the ground that you can see unless you count the stuff that the tent collected. The girls had a mini snowball (ok, ice ball) fight. They grabbed the little bit of white stuff that had collected on the tent I threw outside the day before in a cleaning fit. I watched while they ran around the yard looking up at the sky. They had their mouths open trying to collect some white snow/sleet on their tongues. They are saying that this is supposed to stick around for another two hours but the temp is around 35 so I believe our chances of more snow are gone.

I didn't think to grab my camera to show you the tiny amount of white stuff that had accumulated. Sorry about that, now I guess it will be another 22 years before I get another chance to take a picture. lol By then, I'll hopefully have some grandkids and my kids will be the ones outside freezing their butts off in their jammies and slippers. Oh, I could go out back and take a picture of the slide so you can see I'm not telling a big whopper of a story but you will have to wait until I can get warm again. Sorry, this New England girl's blood has thinned out so much that I can't stand being in the 35 degree weather for very long anymore. Remember when we had a Christmas where the windchill was at -40????? I'd freeze instantly in that kind of weather now. lol I'll go out in a minute and get some pics of our "snow" and post them for you to laugh at with me.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Now that I have your attention, this post has nothing to do with the title but I wanted to see if you were paying attention. LOL

Okay, it's been a while since I've posted and I'd like to apologize. Life tends to get in the way more than not around here. I've been busy working, taking care of the kids, getting the house ready for Christmas (and the cleaning up from it) and getting the kids back to school. Not to mention a few of us have got some nasty little cold that just will not let go. To be totally honest, my head congestion has been around since I put the Christmas tree up. All that dust stirred up a nasty allergy attack that continued into a nasty bug. Now little Katie has it and can't go to school. They had two weeks off for their Christmas/winter break and she still can't go back. Poor little girl! She's so sad that she can't go see her friends but she sounds like a bullfrog when ever she coughs or tries to talk.

Our normal winter weather has flown the coop. We've had nasty cold for the past several days. We've also had windchill advisories for the past two days and it looks like they will be here for the next couple of mornings too. It's pretty sad when sunny Florida can't get past 50 during the day. I don't think we even got close to it on Sunday and Monday lol. They are saying we may make it there tomorrow or Thursday but by Friday and Saturday it's back down into the 40's again. Now, if we could just have some snow in the evening, after DH gets home from work so the kids could go out to play for about five minutes. I can't get Ryan to keep on a hat or mittens. Logan will wear the hat and mittens but the shoes and socks keep coming off. Katie and Marie are the only sane children in this house. lol If it snows, they are the only ones going out to play in it from the looks of it. I really have seen snow in Florida, but it's been about 20 plus years since I did. lol

Work was absolutely crazy for the last two weeks of the year and now it's slower than slow. I was hoping to get a nice rhythm going so I could put some money away for January Santa sales but..... Hopefully it will pick up again soon. Now I have the time to sit down and stitch or get the house cleaned, the laundry caught up and the dishes done. Yeah, I'd rather be stitching lol. If I could just get my finger healed completely then I could actually get some done. My one finger keeps splitting near the nail. First one side, then the other, then back to the first side. I can't stitch because it's so sore but it also bleeds and leaks too. Go figure! I've been trying to put neosporin on with a bandaid covering it each night just so I can work the next day. Now there's a thought, if I don't have work then maybe my finger will heal quicker. lol

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year!