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!

It's been a while

We returned home a few days ago from spending almost 2 weeks "up North" visiting with friends and family.  We missed going back last year so it was great getting to see everyone again.  It was also great to escape the Texas coast heat and humidity for a while.

Unfortunately just before the trip I bashed my (bare) foot against a basket filled with magazines. (My parents didn't name me Grace for a reason.)  I went along my merry way and it started feeling better until I walked all over the airports on the return trip like nothing had happened.  Turns out I dislocated my (and possibly broke it).  For the most part I was doing what I should have (let's not talk about that 2 mile hike in flip flops).  It's a lot better now but I still can't tolerate a shoe.  Hopefully soon.

Timing of the trip was a little complicated since our older children who live in CA and GA didn't have as much time as we did yet both wanted to visit both sides of the family (OH and PA).  We spent a few days with my parents in OH, drove to PA where the kids flew in to meet us (on different days from one another), spent time with DH's side of the family enjoying wonderful Italian food and wine (and s'mores cooked over a fire pit in the back yard).  Then we drove the whole crew back for few more days in OH.

I also got to spend a day in Columbus to visit with my buddy, Renee.  We had so much fun and the day went by way too quickly.

I spent a lot of time enjoying the weather outside with my foot propped up and got to do some stitching too.  Here's some of my progress on:

Beds of Roses:

CCN's Red, White, and Bloom

Hopefully it won't be so long before I post another blog entry.  Happy July, everyone!

Happy Father's Day and catchup

Happy Father's Day!

Sorry for the silence but I've been working on a couple of models.  I finished the second one yesterday so I've started some personal stitching again....put a few more stitches in Beds of Roses, started CCN Red, White, and Bloom, and kitted up a couple of samplers.  (I've been craving starting another sampler lately.)  No pics yet, but hopefully soon.

I've always been rather klutzy.  Yesterday I stubbed my toe pretty badly and it's so swollen that I can't (at least don't dare) put a shoe on.  I'm trying to look at the positive...enforced sitting with my foot elevated so I just "have to" stitch today.  I'm hoping it will recover enough from my am walk tomorrow.

Since I last posted, I got a new phone.  I've joined the ranks of people with smart phones.  Mine's a droid and I'm still learning how to use it.  It's probably one of those things that I don't really need but once I use it a while, I'll figure that I can't live without it.  I think it will come in very handy especially when traveling. 

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!

I actually stitched some this week!

I'm mostly better from "the plague" or whatever I had.  Now DH has it...but he's starting to feel better already.

This week has flown by...in addition to all the wife and mom stuff, we've been in the process of getting bids to get our roof replaced.  Cha ching!!  We've reroofed before and I have to tell you that you should have a lot more fun showing off your new roof for all that $$ you spend to get it done.  I picked out the color yesterday.  They roofer we chose made a big deal out of suggesting the wife pick it out and told me how beautiful it would be.  I made a slight change but it's going to pretty much match what's up there now....just newer and less faded.  It will be good to have out of the way...esp. before hurricane season starts again.

Speaking of hurricanes, we finally got some rain yesterday.  It had been 2 months so we could use some more.

T and DH continue to work on T's Eagle project.  They're hoping to finish up in a couple more weekends.  We're ALL hoping they do.

In addition this weekend, T's gf has her senior piano recital.  (I think I'll go to this), T has his piano recital (I know I'll go to this) and DS returns home for the summer.

Now for some stitching:  I worked a bit this week on my bap (Village Square Sampler), Beds of Roses, a sal from the Novalee02 blog, and LHN's Liberty and Justice.

Also, Nikki at Country Cottage Needleworks just released a model I stitched for her.  You can see it here:

http://countrycottageneedleworks.blogspot.com/2011/05/button-button.html

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day out there to all the mothers and children of wonderful mothers.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  It's been rather busy around here with the end of the school year activities mounting up.  I accompanied my DS's band on their spring trip to Dallas last week.  The kids performed in a concert competition in a wonderful concert hall (smoked the competition).  The hall was gorgeous and the acoustics were fantastic.  In no particular order, we enjoyed dinner and some jousting at Midieval Nights (some of the girls---both teens and moms--swooned over some of the cute knights), dined at Hard Rock Cafe and had a rocking breakfast at House of Blues, toured the JFK (6th Floor) Museum, rode some roller coasters at Six Flags, and had a behind the scenes tour at Cowboy Stadium culminating with the kids being able to play some football and throw frisbees on the field.  Unfortunately one of our kids came down wrong on his ankle so we had an unscheduled visit by the EMS who took him to get checked out.  He's ok and now has quite a story to tell about his experience.

The weekend was cold and rainy and I couldn't yell at the kids for forgetting to pack/wear their jackets b/c guess who forgot to pack hers too.  lol!  Do you know how hard it is to find a hoodie at a TX amusement park?  Slim pickin's!  That's why DS and I have matching hoodies.  Poor kid!  I tried not to hang with him too much with our mother/son hoodies.  He was a good sport, though.  And...since another DS attends UT, these will come in handy another time.

The first band Boot Camp was Tuesday (I work those helping monitor the kids, pass out tyelnol, ice bags, etc. if needed, and directing traffic (so parents don't drive on the portion of the parking lot that serves as the "field".  That same night, our DS was initiated into National Honor Society.



My throat started hurting on the trip and I just couldn't seem to get my energy level back up.  Turns out I had a horrible cold or flu that really knocked me off my feet.  I'm feeling a lot better now but still pretty low-energy.  (I couldn't stitch for most of the week which is a big indication of how bad I felt.)

DS's band banquet was Friday night.  It's so convenient that he can drive himself to things like that now.  It would have been a golden opportunity for DH and me to go out to dinner but I only had an appetite for a bowl of soup.

This weekend DS and DH (and some other friendly Boy Scouts and a Scout dad) have been working on his Eagle project.  He's replacing 2 footbridges (feetbridge?) at a local Bird Observatory.  They ran into a glitch yesterday but have figured it out and got the frame for one of the bridges cemented in this afternoon.  I'd taken pizza over to "the crew" yesterday and lost my reading glasses.  I thought they were just gone but today DS found them for me.  He's joking that finding them is my mother's day gift.  Speaking of gifts....I've been offered a smart phone if I want it.  Since it's not really a necessity, I'm mulling over if I really want the extra montlhy fee on our phone plan...but I'm leaning towards getting it.

I've been stitching a bit the last couple of days...working more on my bap sampler and also started a seasonal sal piece where you get the next part by emailing a pic of the finished part to the designer.  I also started a sampler called Bed of Roses which is monochrome.  I'm using GAST Faded Roses for that one.

DS #2 has finals this coming week at college (and has a cold, darn it).  Potentially he could be home for the summer by next Sunday.  (Which means I have to clean my stuff out of his room this week.)

I hope to get time soon to "redecorate" my blog and maybe post some stitching progress pics.

A Sort of update

Sorry I haven't been updating much lately.  I'm working on a model lately so I can't really talk about what I'm stitching.  Also the end-of-the-school-year activities are revving up so I haven't had much stitching time.  Hopefully I can get some more stitching time done this week but with Easter coming up (and choir cantata Maundy Thursday), who knows.....

Yesterday was busy with DS's high school prom.  I sang with the choir at a memorial service for a dear friend so I didn't get to be there for the "send-off" and pics.  DH was assigned picture taking duty and he did pretty well.  I think the kids had a great time.