Final Countdown to the end of the school year

Like it matters!  lol!  Two of our kids are taking summer classes.

Monday I had jury duty.  I brought along my Kindle and finished The Girl Who Played with Fire while sitting there and downloaded The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. ( I love instant gratification!)  I came close but didn't get picked for the jury.

Thursday was another big day at our house because DS got his braces off.  (I read more sitting in the waiting room.  It was a good week for reading.)

There was another band concert last night.  This one called Band-o-Rama where every school band that "feeds" into our high school bands and our high school bands played fun music.  Some bands had costumed characters that went along with the theme of the music and cavorted around.  It's always a fun concert.

This am I spent 5 hours helping measure the kids for next year's badly needed new marching uniforms and loading coolers with pop and bottled water to prepare for the concession stand for next week's graduation.

We're also plodding along preparing for DS's Eagle ceremony.  Next week-end will be fun but very busy.  I'm sure it will fly by.

On the stitching front, I made a bit more progress on LHN's Family Sampler:

I also picked up another little wip, LK's Ride a Bike.  This one will be for my DD who enjoys long distance bicycling.  I hope to finish it as a little doorknob hanger. 

I hope everyone has a great week!

Stitching in the month of Mayhem

Thanks for reading and commenting on my blog.

I made a bit of progress on LHN's Family Sampler and also thought I finished a little sal piece...until I looked at the picture and realized I was a little "off" on part of it.  That sneaky frog!  It won't take long to fix and since I'll be here by myself tonight, I hope to fix it then.

We had a storm come through here last night and here's the surprise I found backing out of my driveway this am.  Luckily the tree fell at just the best possible place and no damage was done to the neighbor's house and nobody was hurt.

 The month of May is always crazy with all of the end of the school year activities and this one is no different.  A friend of mine came up with the term Mayhem to describe it...and she's right.

  Last night was the final band concert for DS.  This is Honor Band year for his band in which they have 3 chances to perform their concert pieces and then the directors choose the best performances for each piece and then submit the recordings for judging on the state level.  The "nailed it" last night as far as I was concerned.  I hope the judges agree.

They performed last Sat. in Austin for another competition.  (As many years as I've had kids in band, I can't keep all the competitions straight.)  T came home saying they won 28 medals and dropped one on the kitchen table.  I assumed it was a medal they gave all the kids for competing but thought it was a lot nicer thn past competitions medals were.  I found out yesterday that he won an individual percussion medal and that his name is somewhere on a state (TX) music site for winning it.  (I'll have to do some digging to find out exactly what it means.)  He played a pretty "cool" timpani part on one of their pieces.  (I call it when he goes crazy on the timpani.) and I suspect that's where the judges noticed him.

There are a few more tests and activities yet to come for him/us.

Our DS attending UT has a big paper to turn in today and he'll be coming home for bit until summer session starts.  (Both he and our HS DS will be taking college classes this summer.  They count as dual credit for our HS DS.)

Everyone have a great week!  Happy Mother's Day!

Friday Show n Tell

Thanks for all the nice comments about my stitching picture on the "header".  I'm a sucker for projects with personalization and this is one of my favorites that I've stitched.  It took a while for me to frame it and after I finally did, I wondered what took me so long. 

I have 2 finishes to show this week, the PS Woodland Santa (I want to stitch at least one more from that leaflet...someday) and a little cupcake freebie from The Floss Box.  I'm in a yahoo group in which we stitch and exchange themed blocks throughout the year.  That's what inspired the cupcake stitching.

Without further ado:

The colors in the PS one are pretty typical for me to stitch.  The cupcake one is "out of my box" but I love how bright and colorful this project is.  As small and easy as this one was, there sure was a lot of color changes...a few stitches of this, a few stitches of that, etc.

I just started a new model for LHN so can't show that until it's released but I also started another themed block.  I chose an old PS freebie for the garden flower theme:

I also just barely started Quaker Gone Tropic (another sal I'm in) by Michelle Ink only I'm using colors from Ink Circles' Hawaiian Mandal Sampler.  I'd like to stitch both and liked the brighter colors better.  Reminds me of all the bright flowers we saw in HI.  (I'm SO ready to go back but who knows when we ever will get to go.)

In the "patting myself on the back" file, my walking buddy and I completed our whole 5 days' walking by doing 4 1/2 miles all 5 days this week.  (We'd increased our distance from 3 miles to 4 1/2 but b/c of either weather or scheduling reasons this is the first week we've gotten to do all 5 days with the increased distance.)  Don't be too impressed.  It's flat as a pancake here so not a big physical challenge.  lol!

Busy but fun week coming up.  Today's baking day for me to prepare for tomorrow's band activities.  I'm working in the Judges' Hospitality Room setting up this afternoon and then being there all day tomorrow.  We'll be dining on chili at the chili supper tomorrow evening followed by a band concert.  After that's over, I'll get DS and me prepared for the band trip to Disneyworld. 

Thanks for reading my blog and I hope everyone has a fantaastic weekend!

Finally Friday!

I love Monday holidays!  I seem to "pay" for them though b/c I spend the rest of the week "discombobulated" and SO ready for the weekend.  lol!

One of the reasons I'm feeling tired is I had to be out 3 evenings this week, 2 meetings and a (longer than usual for some reason) choir practice...or maybe it's b/c of the cloudy skies we've had this week.

 I'm (figure)heading a team that is busy planning a hospitality room (breakfast, gallons of coffee, lunch, drinks, and snacks) for the judges of the upcoming (next week) band solo/ensemble contest that our band hosts.  It's a good team and I anticipate that our part will go smoothly.

My walking buddy and I took 4 4 1/2 mile walks and 1 3-miler this week.  We're becoming addicted;  I really miss it when we can't walk for whatever reason.  We'd been doing 3 milers for quite some time and decided that after the holidays we'd increase our mileage.  We both agree that aside from the extra time it takes, we're glad to be walking more.  It's so flat here, it's not much of a challenge.  lol!  This week's weather fluctuated a bit.  We had a couple of mornings where we bundled up in layers and then a few more mornings where we worked up a sweat and swatted skeeters.



It's going to be a busy few weeks!  In addition to the contest next Sat., the band also holds it's chili supper fundraiser (including a silent auction).  During the supper, serveral of the jazz bands play and we wrap up the evening with a band concert.  Shortly after that is the Disney trip, and the weekend after that is the Belled Dance.  (DS was invited last Sat. via a cake-gram.)

I've been stitching mostly on LHN's Family Sampler and PS Woodland Santa this week.  I put a few stitches in Quaker Gone Tropic but not enough for a picture yet.  I seem to be on the home stretch of the PS so maybe I'll have a finish pic next time.  (or maybe not.....I will probably have another model to work on next week too.)

Thank you all for reading my posts and for the nice comments.

A week of stitching, etc.

I seem to have startitis.  I'm working on LHN's Family Sampler (in a remembrance sal), a PS Woodland Santa, a cupcake (freebie from The Floss Box for a block exchange), and today received my floss for Quaker Gone Tropic (another sal).  I'd really like to start LK's Six Fat Men (received the overdyes I ordered for that too.) but maybe should finish something first.  I'm still waiting on a friend to receive an ornament I sent before posting the pic which is my last 2011 finish.  I sure hope it didn't get lost in the mail.

My walking buddy and I decided to increase our mileage so we're up to 4 1/2 miles.  We can hardly tell the difference except that it takes more time than doing the 3 miles.

One DS just finished his last HS final for the semester and I just sent another DS back off to college today. 

I'm helping tomorrow at a bake sale for DS's HS band and also helping in a committee for a judges hospitality room for an upcoming solo/ensemble contest.  Shortly after that, I accompany DS's band on their trip to Disneyworld.  Never a dull moment around here!

I hope everyone has a great week.

A Little Progress

I've had very little stitching time because of  band but did manage to make a little progress on Lizzie Kate's Harvest Blessings.  I'm really enjoying using my new StitchMate stand;  I believe I'm actually stitching a little faster on it than when I'm using Qsnaps (the big ones, anyway).

Previous progress:

The band did very well last night.  They played the first movement and most of the second of their show.  TS (or whatever it's classified as now) Lee slightly lowered our temps and has provided us with an almost steady breeze which really helped.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday weekend.  

Checking in

I'm stitching a model for CCN so I can't talk about what I'm stitching...except to say that I know you'll like it.

My foot is a lot better.  I reached a milestone in the past few days.  I can now tolerate wearing shoes on that foot and even went out yesterday to run errands wearing shoes.  Yes!!!!!  I still have a bit to go to be back to normal (well, my foot, anyway) but I'm pleased with my current progress.

Since I can't talk about stitching, I'll talk a little about reading.  I LOVE reading a good book.  I just finished one, The Devil in the White City  by Erik Larson.  It's about the Chicago World's Fair, the people and the development/building of it, it's "run", some of the developments introduced at this fair (like the Ferris Wheel), and also some side stories about other things going on about that same time including a serial killer.  The author has a great talent for telling the historical story and making it seem like a good novel.  (I was told there's a name for that writing style but the person telling me didn't remember what that name was.  If you know, I'd love for you to tell me.) 

I also read another of his books, Isaac's Storm  about the 1900 Galveston hurricane.  Unfortunately I read it shortly before moving to the Texas Gulf coast.  It scared the bejeebers out of me.  Larson has at least a couple other books out and I plan to look for them.

Someone in my SS class was talking about a book he's reading, Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer which I'm currently reading.   I remembered the title and author without looking it up.  This is significant because the book is about human memory....about the capacity of humans to remember things, how many of us forget things, about how memories are formed and retrieved, and about "mental athletes".  It could be a rather dry subject but the author makes it interesting...at least most of the time.

I love hearig about what others are reading...and recommendations for good books.

Soon both my stitching and reading will be taking a "back seat".  DS's band will be starting band camp the first week of Aug. and since I volunteer with them nearly every day.......  It's very rewarding though and they're a great group of kids  I also enjoy working with the other adults.  I'm just never ready for band to start yet.  lol!

May Mayhem winding down

End of the School Year activities are winding down.  Saturday I attended Tony's gf's senior piano recital (wonderful!) and Tony's recital the follwoing day.  I'm amazed by the kids' talent but even more blown away that they play these challenging pieces by memory.

I took a few pics of T at the piano after the recital.

I worked the final marching band boot camp Tuesday night and missed the NCIS season finale. Thank goodness for On Demand!

Last night was Band-o-Rama where all the bands from 6th grade through HS play some fun music.  Some of them include costumes and kids (and directors) hamming it up.  T's band played La Cucarrcho;  many of the kids wore Mexican hats, etc., some bug antennae (including T), and the director wore a cockroach costume.  Towards the end of the piece one of the kids chased him and sprayed him with "bug spray" and the director fell on his back and started waving his "legs" in the air as he "died".  Cute!

Other excitement for the week was that we had our roof replaced.  No leaks yet but it's time.  It's hard writing out that check and I can't excitedly tell friends to drive by to admire the new roof but it feels good to have this done, esp. before hurricane season.

Hopefully T finishes up his Eagle project Sat.

On the stitching front, I'm working on a model so not much personal stitching.  I did get a bit done in my Novalee and Beds of Roses pieces.  I'm itching to start CCN's Red, White, and Bloom but I need to finish something first and gather up the materials.

Until next time, Happy Stitching!