Elfinlady's Forest

I'm a homeschool mom!

2009-11-22T10:27:00.003-05:00

Well, it was a long time coming, but we finally made the decision. The ElvenDude is being withdrawn from public school and will be homeschooled now.

We decided to go the online school route. Keystone National Middle School is the one we chose. This morning I used their online system to enroll him in their 7th grade program. As soon as the schools open again after Thanksgiving, I can submit the paperwork and it will all be nice and legal.

Yesterday we purchased him a brand new MacBook to use for his courses. It isn't technically his yet. His grades have been very poor this year, and he has to show improvement. Lots of improvement. If he does well, at the end of 7th grade, it will be his. Otherwise, he gets our old Dell laptop, and the MacBook is confiscated for his sister's use.

ElvenPrincess is staying in public school for now. She is doing well. I'd like to have her in homeschool as well. We are waiting to see how it works out with ElvenDude. If all goes well, she will be homeschooled in the next school year.

Here's ElvenDude with his new shiny:

The Sweatpants Saga

2009-10-19T08:22:00.001-04:00

I needed new sweats for the winter. I grabbed a pair of Hanes womens small. Once home, I discovered that they were much too big. Next I tried girls XL, which fit but I didn't like the tapered leg. So I got a pair of boys XL without trying them on. Dumb move. Those were too big as well. Passed them on to P. Purchased boys large sweatpants. This time I tried them on in the store, and they fit. So I pulled them out to wear Saturday, and they were too small! The darn things shrank in the wash!

Dug out the XL's I gave P, and they apparently also shrank in the wash, because they fit perfectly now. So back to Target for more sweats for me this morning. Getting pants that fit should not be this much trouble!

Oh, and I suspect the women's small I started with did shrink as well, just not enough to make them fit.

Summer Recap- July so far

2009-07-12T10:16:00.004-04:00

The first couple of days of July, ElvenPrincess was finishing up art camp.

July 3rd we went out to dinner and had an experience that's funny now, but at the time, totally was not. We were eating at the Flying Biscuit Cafe, and I ordered the scrambled tofu, which I eat there quite often. This time, the dish had too much sauce, or seasoning, or something. I could not eat it. When our waiter eventually (very eventually!) checked on us, I told him it was overly seasoned. His response? "I hope it's edible anyway," and he wandered off again. I did finally get some food I could eat, but his attitude blew me away.

July fourth, we went to Medieval Times to celebrate. Last time we went, they had just changed the show, and we weren't terribly impressed. They've got it down pat now, and it was excellent. We had a great time, and our knight chose the ElvenPrincess as his Queen of Love and Beauty. She got to pull a sash off his lance, and she had her picture taken (it was later sold to us, of course, lol!).

July 6-10 ElvenDude had Fort Building camp in the afternoons. ElvenPrincess had a three day art class at the Foxtale Book Shop. Ballet lessons for Princess and Hip Hop lessons for Dude on Monday and Thursday.

Friday Elvendude had a sleepover in the fort he helped build. When I picked him up Saturday morning, I found he'd sprained his ankle pretty badly. Of course, nobody in charge had seen fit to notify me, sigh. Once I had him home, we managed to get him comfortable and get the swelling in his ankle down. He slept most of the day, since he hadn't managed much sleep Friday night due to the pain.

Saturday evening DD and I went to a free concert held in the little park downtown. ElvenLord and ElvenDude were both crashed out and didn't want to go. We had a pretty good time. It was Princess's first concert, and there was free face painting, and a bouncy castle, and I bought her a Pink Panther ice cream bar. She seemed to enjoy the music too.

Books read in July so far:

Briar's Book- Tamora Pierce
Austinland- Shannon Hale (this book was AWFUL!)
The Mysterious Benedict Society- Trenton Lee Stewart
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey- Trenton Lee Stewart

Summer Recap- June

2009-07-12T07:30:00.002-04:00

Wow, I can't believe we're halfway through July already. I had intended to blog every day or two to keep up with what we were doing. So much for that plan! So, here's a quick rundown.

ElvenPrincess and I did one more day of Book and Cook, with a Felicity the American Girl doll theme. We made raspberry flummery, queen cakes, and we squeezed in the strawberry jam that we didn't make on Moose Muffin day.

June 8-12 was ballet camp for ElvenPrincess, and Curator Camp at the History Center for ElvenDude. 15th-19th was Camp Cosmos for Princess and Camp CSI for Dude. No swim during those two weeks.

June 22-26 was Flavors of America camp for Princess and sign language class for Dude. Back to swim lessons as well. On June 27, ElvenPrincess earned her senior brown belt in Tai Kwon Do. She's giving it up now though, in order to concentrate on dance.

And June 29-July 3 was Camp Imagine art camp for ElvenPrincess.

Books read in June (Just a list this time, no comments)

Realms of the Gods- Tamora Pierce
Doomed Queens- Kris Waldherr
Unexpected Magic- Diana Wynne Jones
Goose Girl- Shannon Hale
Enna Burning- Shannon Hale
River Secrets- Shannon Hale
Witch Way to the Mall- Esther Friesner
The Book of a Thousand Days- Shannon Hale
Nobody's Princess- Esther Friesner
Nobody's Prize- Esther Friesner
First Test- Tamora Pierce (re-read)
Page- Tamora Pierce (re-read)
Squire- Tamora Pierce (re-read)
Lady Knight- Tamora Pierce
Sandry's Book- Tamora Pierce
Tris's Book- Tamora Pierce
Daja's Book- Tamora Pierce

Summer Fun/Book and Cook Day 3

2009-06-03T18:25:00.001-04:00

Another busy day. Today we saw a community theater production of The Princess and the Pea. It was quite different, since they had several princesses in a contest to see who would marry the prince. In the end, most of them decided they would rather go to college instead! The one who ended up marrying the prince had already been to college. :D ElvenPrincess is doing a drama camp based around this play in July, so it was nice for her to get to see it.

We also did a trip to Build A Bear today. This will probably be a recurring trip over the summer, since there are several stuffies that DD has her eye on. Today's choice was the brand new Sparkly Snow Leopard. Sparkly because there are little bits of shiny thread (mylar?) in her fur.

ElvenPrincess Plays with Dr. Snowy

By the time we were done with that, we had to pick up ElvenDude from camp and rush to swim. After swim, supper and bed. Whew!

Our book of the day was, of course, the Princess and the Pea. Our recipes were Polkadot Pea Soup and Minty Pea pops. The pea pops are a frozen treat made with cream cheese, sugar, peppermint flavoring, and green peas. They must have been pretty good, the kids each ate two! The soup wasn't as popular, I think the seasonings weren't quite right.

Summer Fun/Book and Cook Day 2

2009-06-02T19:46:00.001-04:00

After dropping off ElvenDude at chess camp, ElvenPrincess and I went to the dentist's office to make appointments for cleanings. They were booked pretty solid, and so were we, so home we headed with the promise that we'd be called if they could work us in on our available dates.

ElvenPrincess told me yesterday that her sneakers were hurting her feet, so we pulled up the stride rite website and were looking at shoes, when my phone rang. We could both get our cleanings right away if we could come back, so back we went to the dentist.

After cleanings, we were off to Stride Rite for shoes. She immediately fell in love with a pair and didn't even look at any others. They were on sale even!

They are pink and shiny, of course she wanted them!

So we concluded that quickly, and had time to go home and freshen up a bit before our reservation for tea at our local tea room.

I only had a salad, but the Princess got the Mad Hatter's Children's Tea. It comes with fruit juice or hot chocolate, and she chose the hot chocolate.

Tea done, we went to the library (again!), as she'd finished 10 books for the summer reading program and earned a certificate and her name on the bulletin board. After that, Foxtale Books to pick up the copy of The Princess and the Pea we'd ordered, and then to buy ingredients for our book and cook session.

Our book today was Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones. Since Skippy is a Siamese Cat who imagines he is a chihuahua who hangs out with a gang of Mexican chihuahuas, our cooking theme was Mexican.

We made Flan, from a mix, and put it to set in the fridge.

Carefully stirring the flan on the stove

After swim lessons, we fixed quesadillas, both black bean and chicken, for supper. The quesadillas and flan were a big hit, and I've already had requests (more like demands, lol) that we have flan again soon!

Finished quesadilla and flan

Summer Fun

2009-06-01T20:49:00.000-04:00

The ElvenDude has chess camp this week Mon-Thurs 9-5. The ElvenPrincess is free this week, so we are doing fun things, and a home cooking and reading camp I have dubbed Book and Cook (yeah, lame I know). We read a book each day and then make recipes relating to the book.

Today's book was If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Numeroff. Our recipe was strawberry muffins. We were supposed to make jam as well, but I bought the wrong kind of pectin for freezer jam. We will try it tomorrow, perhaps.

Measuring ingredients

Stirring the batter

Muffins!

Today's field trips: Library, storytime at the bookstore, lunch at Canyon's Burgers.

Books Read in May

2009-06-01T20:28:00.000-04:00

1. Chalice by Robin McKinley- New, unsuitable Master and Chalice must heal the land from the abuses of former Master and Chalice while dealing with higher ups trying to unseat them. I always enjoy McKinley's work, but I don't think she'll ever write anything I'll love as much as I did Beauty.

2. The Language of Bees by Laurie R King- Russell and Holmes search for the missing wife and child of Holmes's son. Then the son disappears as well, and the wife turns up dead...

3. Ghost Dogs of the South- Yet another ghost story book.

4. Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce- I read her Alanna of Trebond books when I was a teen, and adored them. Also read most of the Keladry series as an adult. This book follows Alanna's daughter Aly on her adventures. She is captured as a slave. A god is involved, and Aly functions as a protector and spy for the family that owns her. The two elder daughters are half raka, the native people, and half luarin, the ruling conquerers. They are also royal on both sides of their family. They are thus set to fulfill a prophecy about a twice royal queen...

5. Beka Cooper Terrier by Tamora Pierce- Yeah, I'm on a Tamora Pierce kick, and loving it. :D This one chronicles the adventures of Beka, ancestress of George Cooper (former king of thieves and husband of Alanna). She is a trainee in the City Guard. Puppies, the trainees are called, as the full guards are Dogs. Beka talks to crows and whirlwinds, and uses their help in her quest to find a child murderer.

6. Beka Cooper Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce- Beka is back, this time chasing counterfeiters.

7. Young Warriors edited by Tamora Pierce and Josepha Sherman- Exactly what it sounds like, stories of young warriors. Enjoyable, but no one story stands out in my memory.

8. Trickster's Queen by Tamora Pierce- Conclusion of Aly's tale. Helping the Trickster retake the Copper Isles.

10. Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce- The first book of Daine's tale. Daine has lost her mother and never knew her father. Her natural ability with animals gets her hired on with the Queen's Riders of Tortall assisting their horsemistress. Daine has wild magic, as opposed to the Gift, which is the source of her bond with animals. Numair Salmalin takes her on as a pupil. But Immortals have once again been released into the mortal world from the Divine Realms...

11. Wolf Speaker by Tamora Pierce- Book two of Daine's tale. Daine travels to Dunlath Valley to aid a wolf pack that once saved her life, and discovers that the lord and lady of Dunlath intend to rebel against the crown.

12. Emperor Mage by Tamora Pierce- Book Three of Daine's tale. Daine and Numair along with various other important people travel to Carthak to negotiate a peace treaty. Of course, the Carthaki emperor is not really interested in peace...

It's May!

2009-05-08T08:21:00.002-04:00

And it has been for awhile!

I've been reading quite a bit, and doing a fair amount of stitching too. And of course buying stash.

In fact, since I skipped Guilt Free January, I've declared May Madness. It is also shaping up to be Mirabilia May, since most of the stuff I've purchased/want to start is Mira. I started Winter White Santa late on the evening of the first. No more starts yet, but Venetian Opulence and La Nouveau Sampler are all ready to go. I bought Emerald Mermaid and Shimmering Mermaid yesterday, but I had to order fabric for them, so depending on how long it takes, they may not be May starts. I'd meant to buy the Rose pixie to stitch for DD, but I forgot to grab it. I did get Country Cottage's Princess Parade and Little Ballerinas for her, and I may start one of those today. Am also contemplating fabric for TW's Tracery Dragons.

Books read in April:

1. A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon-- Now I'm waiting for Echo in the Bone to come out in September.

2. Best Ghost Tales of South Carolina by Terrance Zepke- Picked this up while on vacation. An okay book, but I didn't really enjoy the author's style.

3. Dave Barry's History of the Millennium (so far)- Pure fluff. Dave always makes me giggle. Basically his Year in Review columns from 2000-2007.

4. The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt- I grabbed this without realizing it was steampunk. At least so says a review blurb on the back. I wouldn't know steampunk if it walked up and bit me. Orphans on the run from murderers save the world. I really liked this book, and I'm eagerly waiting for the sequel to come out in July.

5. White House Ladies by Webb Garrison- brief bios of First Ladies. Not all of the First Ladies were included.

6. The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir- Obviously, a bio of the first Queen Elizabeth. I enjoy Weir's writing style, and liked the book.

7. Death's Daughter by Amber Benson- I grabbed this one because it sounded vaguely amusing. I didn't expect much out of it, since it's by an actor turned author. It isn't great art, but it was entertaining, and if there's a sequel I'll buy it. Calliope Reaper Jones is Death's daughter, and she has to take over his job while trying to discover who kidnapped him.

8. Walking Across Egypt by Clyde Edgerton- Old southern woman meddles in the life of a juvenile delinquent.

Spring Break- Friday the tenth

2009-04-22T14:58:00.004-04:00

DH had Friday off, and we headed out fairly early after again taking advantage of the hotel's breakfast.

First stop on the way home: Kings Mountain Park again. We arrived just behind several busloads of schoolchildren. They had an outside program before coming into the visitor center though, so we zipped through the museum answering questions, and played with old fashioned toys in peace. We went outside for a bit where a ranger was giving the schoolkids a demonstration of loading a period rifle.

We decided we really didn't want to do the trail again, so we headed back inside and turned in the junior ranger paperwork. Each kid got a plastic badge, a certificate, and a water bottle.

Back on the road, we headed for Greenville. Right outside the park, I managed to get this picture. It amused me, since we live in Cherokee County GA.

DH's birthday is April 11, and while we were driving, he suddenly announced he wanted to eat ribs at Sticky Fingers in Greenville for his birthday. Worked for me. When we made it to Greenville, we again stopped by Mast General Store, and picked up a few items. Then we headed to Sticky Fingers. As I had suspected, there was nothing on the menu I could eat, but everyone else enjoyed their meals. DH and DS both had ribs, a whole rack and a half rack respectively. DD had a barbecue sandwich, and a couple of DH's ribs.

Then it was back on the road for the final leg back home. We made it in around 5:30. DH immediately took a nap. After about an hour he woke up, and since I wasn't able to eat anything at lunch, we hopped in the car to go to my favorite burger place, which happens to sell yummy portabella mushroom sandwiches. We'd barely made it out of the driveway though, when the emergency siren went off. Back home, into the basement, and turn on the tv. Tornadoes had been sighted. In fact, our area was apparently supercell central! Finally at around 7:30, it was deemed safe to go out, and we headed for the restaurant again. I half expected us to be the only ones in the place, but other people crazy enough to go out were there too.

I got my portabella sandwich and sweet potato fries, a nice ending to spring break.

Spring Break- Thursday the Ninth

2009-04-22T10:08:00.006-04:00

Thursday morning we were all tired. We weren't sure what we wanted to do. It was our last day in Charlotte. Midmorning, the kids decided they wanted to go to Discovery Place again rather than drive half an hour to see the Latta Plantation. That suited me fine, since I wouldn't need to drive, so that's what we did.

On the way there, we ran into a big promotion for milk drinking. DD got a banana smoothie and her picture taken with the Quik Bunny. DS passed on both counts.

We got to Discovery Place to discover it crowded with school groups. No problem. We thought about seeing an Imax movie, but DD was the only one who really wanted to see Fly Me to the Moon, so we passed. She did get her face painted for free, though. I thought it looked really nice.

The kids played with the Gizmotron and the air cannon thing some more before we left. I purchased DD a Discovery Place tshirt. DS didn't find anything he wanted. In fact, he didn't get many things all week, so I took him to Starbucks and bought him a frappuccino. He loves them, and rarely gets one. He looked at the menu and told me he wanted a Grande Caramel frappuccino. Then he asked me what venti meant. I told him it was large. He sadly said, "I can't have one of those, can I?" Of course I got it for him, and he was surprised at how big it was. He did drink it all though.

After getting DS his drink, we wandered over to the Settlers Cemetery. That was stop 20 on our aborted walking tour, and was near the First Presbyterian Church, stop 21, so we ended up seeing all but 3 of our stops.

The cemetery is the oldest in Charlotte. City founder Thomas Polk is buried there. It's a park now. This is part of the cemetery with the Presbyterian church in the background.

Back to the hotel for an afternoon chilling out watching tv, reading, napping, and working on the junior ranger badge from Kings Mountain.

That evening, I persuaded DH to take us back to Brixx for one more meal before we left town.

These things are all over Seventh Street Station. Touch them and they light up and make noise.

After yummy pizza, we went to Uno for dessert to end the evening.

Spring Break- Wednesday the Eighth

2009-04-22T09:59:00.003-04:00

Wednesday we intended to see the Fire Museum, which was walking distance from the hotel. We found it, but it appeared to be closed, with lots of construction going on around it. It was very early, so we went to hang out in the Visitors Center and look at brochures until 10 when the Museum of Craft and Design opened. I'd decided I wanted to buy the book of the Bruce Metcalf exhibit.

We got the book, and picked up another hat for DH. The kids then wanted to go to Discovery Place again, so we did that for a bit. Then we went to Kinkos to make some copies before heading back to the hotel to meet DH for lunch.

In the afternoon, we took the car and drove out the the Reed Goldmine. They didn't take credit cards, and I'd forgotten to get cash, so the kids didn't get to do the gold panning. We did see the movie and go on the tour though. This is looking up a mine shaft. Fifty feet straight up.

Dinner was sloppy joes at the hotel. Zuchinni, tomatoes, and onions for me.

Spring Break- Tuesday the Seventh

2009-04-22T06:29:00.009-04:00

Tuesday was free admissions to both Mint Museums, the Museum of Craft and Design from 10-2, and the Museum of Art from 5-9.

So our first stop that morning was the Mint Museum of Craft and Design. We saw some interesting things, including an exhibit of Israeli pottery, but our hands down favorite was the Bruce Metcalf exhibit.

After that, it was lunchtime, and after lunch we set out in the car for the Charlotte Museum of History. I wasn't expecting a lot, so I was surprised at how big it is.

We saw quite a bit of nifty stuff, including an exhibit on mining. I think this whale tooth scrimshaw was my favorite. It has George III on front and a ship on the back.

Oh, and we found Queen Charlotte again. She was marking the ladies room. King George guarded the mens. :D

We took the guided tour of the Hezekiah Alexander Homesite. The house was built in 1774. It was your standard tour of a historical home. I love those, though!

I didn't get a shot of the house itself, but I did get a picture of a sampler dated 1799.

Our next stop was the Charlotte Nature Museum. It's owned/run/whatever by the same people as Discovery Place, so we were expecting something really good. We were very disappointed. It just wasn't much. A few animals and such. There was a small butterfly house, but we only saw 3 butterflies. Perhaps it was just the wrong time of year for them. We did get to see some cocoons that were obviously about to hatch, shaking quite a bit. That was sort of nifty. And the kids got to pretend to be praying mantises.

We got done with the Nature Museum so quickly that we still had quite a bit of time to kill before picking up DH to go to the Art Museum. We decided to try to find the Trolley museum. The address in our GPS turned out to be outdated, and we found where the trolley museum used to be. All was not lost, though, since right there was Tea Rex Teahouse.

It was a chilly day, so we went in. I had a cup of Earl Grey, and the kids had hot chocolate. Rather than being a proper tearoom, this place is more like Starbucks, but geared to tea rather than coffee. It was okay, but I thought it was rather overpriced. DS liked the Mexican cocoa he had though, so we bought a canister of the mix to take home.

Then we consulted the GPS again and found a Walmart. We made a run for chewing gum, soda, and a notebook and crayons so DD could journal our trip. She really enjoys doing that, and had left her journal at home.

By then it was time to pick up DH, and we grabbed him and headed for the Mint Museum of Art. I was surprised that they actually allow photography of some exhibits, although some are off limits. Here's DD pretending to be a happy statue.

There was a great exhibit from the New Orleans art museum that we really enjoyed, and an exhibit of Andy Warhol's western art. I really loved his paintings of Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill.

We made a stop by the museum shop to make a few purchases. A hat for DS, a flip book of Degas's little dancer for DD, a Queen Charlotte ornament for me. Then we headed out to find dinner.

We found the Brixx pizza I'd wanted to go to on Sunday night. It turned out to be right next to the Seventh Street Station the kids and I had seen yesterday, but on the other side of the building.

I was thrilled to discover that they had soy cheese available for the pizzas. I ordered a veggie one with the soy cheese. I didn't think I'd eat the whole thing, but I gave DH one piece to try and inhaled the rest. It was seriously GOOD. DH enjoyed his food so well he ordered a pizza to go to have for lunch the next day.

Then back to the hotel and to bed.

Spring Break- Monday the 6th part two

2009-04-21T08:54:00.003-04:00

After lunch, we went on a self guided walking tour. Stop number one was the Bank of America Stadium, which was right across the street from our hotel. We followed the tour through parks, statues, and notable buildings. It wasn't actually on the tour, but we found a really nice statue of Queen Charlotte.

The Levine Museum of the New South was on our map, and we visited it when we arrived there. It had a couple of nice exhibits, but overall we weren't impressed. I think maybe it just wasn't our kind of museum. After the museum, we found Seventh Street Station and ImaginOn right there. At this point, DS complained of the foot he had injured a few weeks previously hurting, so we abandoned the tour to head back to the hotel. We'd made it to #14 out of 21. Number 19 was Discovery Place where we'd spent the morning, and Number 18 was St. Peter's Episcopal Church right next to Discovery Place, so we'd seen those too.

Luckily, we were able to catch a trolley part of the way back to the hotel again. When we got off at the stop, who should we see but DH outside of the building he works in, taking a break! The kids yelled, "There's Daddy!", and sure enough, it was. We spoke to him for a minute, then walked the remaining couple of blocks back. DS spent the remainder of the afternoon watching tv and resting his foot. DD had a nap!

Supper was courtesy of the hotel, and bedtime was fairly early. We were all tired!

Spring Break- Monday the 6th part one

2009-04-17T05:17:00.013-04:00

After breakfasting with DH and seeing him off to work, we hung around the hotel room for a bit until the Visitors Center opened. All the stuff we planned to do was walking distance, so we left the car in the garage.

At the Visitors Center we picked up a map for a walking tour of downtown, browsed around, and then headed for Discovery Place, the local kids' museum. DS was concerned that it wouldn't be of interest to him, but he needn't have worried. I think this was both kids favorite place in Charlotte.

They had a circus exhibit going on. Very cool, costumes to try on, juggling items to try, pretend strong man weights to lift. They also had a person demonstrating juggling, but we never really managed to catch him. AND, they had a high wire and an acrobatic bungee thing to try! DD was too small to do either, although she was old enough, and DS was too chicken. I was scared, but I wanted to do the high wire. I assigned DS to take pictures so I could prove to DH that I'd done it. I was strapped in a safety harness, of course, and the guy sending people out at the top told me I could do stuff like bounce, walk backward, turn in circles, etc. I wasn't brave enough for any of that, I just crossed over and then came back. But it was fun, and I'm glad I did it!

This machine was their favorite thing at Discovery Place. It's called the Gizmotron, and it moves little plastic pellets around. DS told me it's meant to represent a mining operation, or something to that effect, but I'm not sure. They had to be pried away to go see other things.

DS also liked this a lot. You pump up the air pressure and try to shoot the balls into the nets. It was part of the circus exhibit, using the same principles as the human cannonball.

While DS was shooting balls, DD rode in the Air Chair, which used air pressure to raise the chair up a couple of yards or so. When the pressure was released, the chair gently returned to the ground. We also did tin foil sculptures, virtual sports in front of a blue screen, and made colorful shadows.

The dinosaur exhibit was fun to look at. There were about five or six models, plus a steamy pond thing.

We walked through the mini rainforest, and then headed downstairs.

Downstairs was a small aquarium. In this area we also found information on some historic ships, such as the Monitor and the Hunley. There was a weather area with a tornado thingy you could climb in, and a setup to put you on tv in a weather report.

Electromagnets and some fun exercise type machines that used air pressure to move balls and such finished off the museum. There was also a play area for preschool kids, and an Imax theater, but we didn't see a movie.

We did see a not very good educational puppet show back over in the aquarium area. Of course, I am used to the high quality productions of our Center for Puppetry Arts, so that probably colored my opinion of it.

It was lunchtime by now, so back to the hotel. We got a lift part of the way from the free trolley.

Spring Break- Saturday and Sunday the 4th and 5th

2009-04-15T09:46:00.013-04:00

In my last post I said we were going to head out on Sunday morning. Well, we decided to leave that afternoon instead, spend the night in Greenville, and get an early start on the things we wanted to do there. So we hopped in the car, and off we went!

We stopped for dinner at Ruby Tuesday on the way. DS looks like he's having fun.

We arrived in Greenville around 7ish, checked in, and then ran to the Barnes and Noble across the street from the hotel. Our objective was a Mice On Main book. I wanted to read it to DD before we hunted the mice the next morning. We found that with help from a really nice employee, and I also scored a book of South Carolina ghost stories.

Afterwards, DH got in a little work.

We got up early Sunday, ate breakfast courtesy of the hotel, and went to search for the Mice On Main. We knew the first one was on the fountain in front of the Hyatt. It's the daddy mouse, Marvin, reading Goodnight Moon.

We had a great time finding the other eight. The hardest to find was Teeny Tiny Millie. We knew approximately where she was, and that she was up high, and I still thought we'd never locate her. DH was the one who finally spotted her, but I'm not telling where, LOL!

After finding all the mice, we continued on down the street to Falls Park. On the way, we discovered a tenth, unadvertised mouse. He is at the feet of the statue of Nathaniel Greene.

We enjoyed walking around the park and seeing the falls. The suspension bridge didn't even freak me out too much until I looked out across the falls. Then it was time to get off.

After the falls, we headed over to the Greenville Zoo. We got there about half an hour before they opened, but that was okay, because there was a nice playground right outside, and the kids got to burn off some energy.

We enjoyed the zoo a lot more than I expected to, honestly. It's very different from Zoo Atlanta in that most of the animals are much closer and easier to see, or at least it seemed that way. I was even able to get pics of DD with her favorite zoo animal, the giraffe. We are thinking about another Charlotte trip this summer, and if that happens, we will surely stop by the Greenville Zoo again.

After the zoo, we went back to Main Street to go to Mast General store for Mice on Main tshirts. We purchased DD a pink one. DS and I both wanted green, which they didn't have in our size. The general store was a fun place to browse, though. We also went to the toy store next door, O.P. Taylor's. There are cool toy soldiers out front.

Lunch was at the Atlanta Bread Company. Afterwards, I ran back to the toy store, since DD wanted to use her allowance money to purchase a set of Playmobil Pandas she'd seen there. Meanwhile, DH made a few calls to other stores that carried the Mice tshirts to try to locate green ones for DS and me. When I returned, he had discovered that the general store was the only place that carries adult sizes. I decided to suck it up and went to buy myself a pink one, the only color in my size. DS is also an adult medium, and he for obvious reasons declined. While I was purchasing the shirt, I also grabbed a sunhat I'd seen on our first trip in, that I thought I'd need walking around Charlotte. I only ended up wearing it one day, but I love it, and I'll get a lot of use out of it this summer.

Shopping done, we headed out of Greenville. Our destination was Kings Mountain National Military Park. The park is right at the border of South and North Carolina. It's a Revolutionary War battlefield. We watched the video about the park history, then headed out on the battlefield trail. It's 1.5 miles long, but mostly an easy walk. The uphill bits were a bit tough. There are many markers, monuments, and plaques to see along the way. This is the major one.

We purchased a couple of items in the gift shop, and got a Junior Ranger booklet for the kids to work on. We didn't have time to complete all the activities that afternoon, so we made plans to stop again on our way home.

Onward to Charlotte, only about 40 miles from the park!

We arrived at the Marriott Residence Inn, right at downtown Charlotte, unloaded the car, and began to debate where to eat. After a bit of internet research, I chose Brixx pizza. DH voted for Uno Chicago Grill, basically another pizza place. He theoretically knew where it was, and wasn't sure of the location of Brixx. So Uno it was. DH didn't know the location as well as he thought, but we found it after a bit of wandering. I was going to have veggie pizza, but it turned out I couldn't eat it due to cheese in the crust. I had a bowl of veggie soup instead, which was pretty good. Dessert was incredible, though. The kids each had a mini dessert to themselves, one a brownie sundae and one an apple crumble. DH and I shared this:

Yes, that is a giant peanut butter cup with ice cream. Yum! After dinner, we made a grocery run, so that we'd hopefully eat out a bit less. Then to bed.

Stitching and books

2009-04-04T09:42:00.002-04:00

I've actually been stitching this past month! I finished the first half of Lizzie Kate's Boo Club (waiting on the rest of the charts to be released now), Lizzie Kate's March Flip It Stamp, Lizzie Kate's Think Spring, and Lizzie Kate's Balanced Diet boxer kit. Yep I was on a Lizzie Kate kick, LOL. I also have worked on Stargazer and Bent Creek's Swirly Sampler.

I've been keeping up with my Project 365 too. I haven't yet missed a day taking a picture. I did go for most of March without posting them, but I'm now caught up through yesterday (April 3).

As for March's books, I didn't quite finish the Outlander series. I only fell one short though! So March's books read 1-4 were Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, and The Fiery Cross, all by Diana Gabaldon. Since that is several thousand pages worth of books, I don't think I did so badly.

Tomorrow we are heading off to spend Spring Break in Charlotte, NC with a brief stop of a few hours in Greenville, SC on the way.

Snow!

2009-03-01T14:51:00.002-05:00

Yep, it snowed here today. Came down pretty good for about an hour, or maybe a little more. It's drizzling rain now, so I expect that will melt off all the snow. The kids are a little disappointed. They were hoping school would be canceled tomorrow. Also they wanted to play in the snow.

I can't believe it's March already. February flew by. I stitched just a little. I'm mostly through with a pinkeep exchange piece, which is good, since the mailing date is March 9. I started Quaker Bat by The Workbasket. I did aquire more stash, including the first three Halloween double flips by Lizzie Kate. I may make a start on that today.

DD has been stitching more than me. She finished French Country Rabbit by JBW and made a tiny start on French Country Cat. She is really liking the French Country series. They are small, cute, and mostly use one color of thread, and so are easy for her.

She took a kids beginning needlepoint class at our local store yesterday and had a blast. She was a bit younger than the two other girls, but that didn't hold her back. The teacher said she did very well, and specifically commented on her good tension. She has been buzzing right along on the fish that was her class piece. The two of us are going to take a punchneedle class that will be offered in April. It's not specifically geared toward kids, but I asked if it would be appropriate to bring her, and it turns out kids are more than welcome. :) I am trying to get DS to go too, but he really doesn't seem interested, which is okay. Sometimes he seems to want to do stitchy things, but mostly not. I just make sure to offer it to him.

DS did start tap dance lessons this month. I wasn't sure about it, but seeing how much he enjoys it, I'm glad we decided to do it. He may not participate in the recital dance at the end of the year since he started too late. The school director, tap teacher, DS and I all agreed to take a wait and see approach on this.

I did a lot more reading than stitching this month. Here's the list for February, it's long.

1. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris-- I finally started reading this series. It falls into the category I think of as "fluff mysteries". Entertaining, easy to read, sometimes humorous. I enjoyed it, and will probably read the whole series. Gotta love telepaths, shapeshifters, and vampires. I think my favorite character may be Eric.

2. Innocent Traitor by Allison Weir-- Historical fiction by an author of many factual historical books. Follows the life of Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days Queen. Tudor England is probably my favorite historical period. I quite liked this book, and will eventually read her other historical novel dealing with Elizabeth Tudor. And of course will continue to read her factual books.

3. Fatal Drop: True Tales from the Chicago Gallows by William Griffith-- Another book from the Weird Chicago folks. Obviously this book isn't for everyone, being about the history of hangings in Chicago. Interesting from a historical standpoint, and I learned a bit more about Chicago history. A worthwhile read if you aren't put off by the subject matter.

4. The Purrfect Murder by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown-- Another fluff mystery, this one involving cats and dogs rather than supernatural critters. The latest in the Mrs. Murphy series.

5. The Snow Queen by Mercedes Lackey-- The latest in Misty's Fairy Godmother series, this one is mostly based off Anderson's Snow Queen story, as one might guess. Bits of other legends creep in too, of course. Not my favorite of Lackey's work, but a nice enjoyable read.

6. Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress XXIII edited by Elisabeth Waters-- When Marion passed away, Elisabeth took up editing the long running Sword and Sorceress series, which is exactly what it sounds like, short stories featuring female fighters and magic users. Many returning authors, and good solid stories. Sword and Sorceress is always worth reading.

7. Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade-- I started reading this short series because of DH. Lord John is a minor character in the Outlander series of books, which he listened to on audio. He mentioned the Lord John character to me, and he sounded interesting, so I picked up the first of the Lord John books a couple of months ago. Got the urge to read more this month, and this is the second of the series. Lord John deals with his mother's wedding, old rumors/accusations against his late father, war, and a ahem, "forbidden affair".

8. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris-- The second of the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries. More fluffy supernatural goodness.

9. Lord John and the Hand of Devils by Diana Gabaldon-- The last of the Lord John books, though I understand there is another in the works. Three short stories/novellas, two of which were previously published elsewhere. I hadn't read them, and so was happy to have them all in one place. Lord John has dealings with the notorious Hellfire club, an alleged succubus, and an inquiry into the explosion of a cannon on a battlefield.

10. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon-- This is DH's fault. I'd never read this series, thinking it couldn't really be that good. As I wrote above, he listened to it on audio and really liked it. After I was done with Lord John, I realized I liked her work and gave in and read Outlander. And I am hooked. I will soon be starting Dragonfly in Amber, and may well do my best to finish off the series in March.

11. Coraline by Neil Gaiman-- While the kids were out of school for "winter break" in Feb. I took them to see Coraline in 3D. DD loved it, DS and I were less than impressed. It wasn't bad, really, we just didn't think it was that good. Certainly not worth what it cost to see it in the theater. Afterwards, I ran across the book used and picked it up to see if it was any better than the movie. Still not impressed. Sorry all you Coraline fans, I just don't like this one.

12. Fortune's Fool by Mercedes Lackey-- Another in the Fairy Godmother series, this one dealing with seventh sons, fortunate fools, sea kings and their daughters, and Jinn. Even a bit of Japanese stuff at the very beginning.

13. The Haunted South by Nancy Roberts-- Two volumes in one. Sadly neither is very good, or even good at all. Roberts collects local/regional ghost stories. I think this must have been early work of hers, as I've liked other books by her.

Books read in January

2009-02-06T20:11:00.003-05:00

I'd like to keep track of what I'm reading this year, so here we go with the first installment.

1. Dead Travel Fast- Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula by Eric Nuzum-- This is by a man on a quest to understand the vampire phenomenon. It's pretty much his journal of the quest. It wasn't quite what I expected, though I'm not sure what I did expect it to be. Not a bad book, but not quite satisfying.

2. Foolishly Forgotten Americans by Michael Farquhar-- A look at the lives of thirty Americans most of us have never heard of. I enjoyed this one, and found myself wishing some of the chapters were a bit longer or more in depth. That's okay, it's a good jumping off place for more research on my own.

3. Four Queens- The Provencal sisters who ruled Europe by Nancy Goldstone- I loved this book. The history of four sisters from Provence in the 1200s. One became Queen of England, one Queen of France, one Queen of the Romans (wife of the Holy Roman Emperor), and one Queen of Sicily. This ties for my favorite of this group of books with Weird Chicago.

4. Weird Chicago by Troy Taylor, Adam Selzer, and Ken Melvoin-Berg-- A history of Chicago's odd bits. Ghosts, gangsters, murders, fires, all that sort of stuff. This one plays to my love of folklore and ghosts as well as my enjoyment of history. Lots of information packed into it.

5. Crowned in a Far Country by Princess Michael of Kent-- Brief histories of 8 highborn women who left their own countries to marry princes. Not a bad book, but I was a bit disappointed because I didn't like it as well as her earlier book, Cupid and the King.

How I spent my Saturday

2009-02-05T09:45:00.002-05:00

Ok, Thursday is a bit late to be blogging about Saturday, but I was lazy. And my Saturday was cool.

My Dad came up to spend the day with us, but not at home.

Our first stop was the King Tut exhibit at the Civic Center. We already had our tickets, and it was pretty early in the day, so no waiting in line. Lots of stuff to see. The coffin of Thutmose's cat, and gorgeous jewelry are a couple that stick in my mind. There was one bracelet there that belonged to a princess that didn't look like it would fit my seven year old! It was tiny. The exhibit is fairly large. Their website said to allow 60 to 90 minutes, and it took us an hour and a half just about exactly, not counting time spent in the gift shop. We didn't see the movie they were showing, as it was an extra charge, and we didn't have time.

When we left there, we headed to Ted's Montana Grill for lunch. My Dad had never been, and we like it because I can get a yummy veggie plate, and the meat eaters have lots of choices. The kids and DH had various forms of bison. My dad wasn't sure he'd like bison, so he had a regular beef burger. We all had onion rings, the huge hand battered kind, so many in fact that we ended up taking a lot of them home! My dad always but always wears a cap, and we got him a furry one with bison horns on it. :D

After lunch, it was off to the High Museum to see the Terracotta Warriors. This exhibit wasn't as large as the Egyptian one, but it blew us away. When you walk into the gallery where the warriors are, it is a total WOW! moment. If any of you have the opportunity to see this, I definitely recommend it. After we were done with that exhibit, we checked out the current (and final) exhibit of things from the Louvre. By the time we reached the end of that one, it was five o'clock and the museum was closing. It was time to go home.

I have to say, both exhibits were great, and are worth seeing, but all of us thought the Terracotta Warriors was the better one.

Here's a slideshow of photos I took that day. No photos were allowed in the exhibits themselves, of course.

Family 2009

So much for that resolution!

2009-01-27T20:46:00.004-05:00

I had planned to try to post every couple of days. Oops! Maybe I can do better from now on. As promised, here are pictures of my Britty Kitty finish, and progress on Mayan Mystery.

The progress on Mayan Mystery is really small. I did all of that the first week of January. I had the fifth motif in the row finished too. Then I discovered I was one stitch off, and had to rip it out. I had noticed that the last motif was one space closer to its neighbor than all the rest of them, and I got that right. However, I had accidentally put one of the other ones a space to close. So if I leave 6 spaces instead of 5 before the last one, it should come out right. Ripping it out sort of demoralized me though, and I haven't touched any stitching since. I'm about ready to get back to it though.

I've started Project 365. The idea is to take a photo every day for 365 consecutive days. I have three photos up so far. The photos are at Elfinlady's Photos. I'm having fun with it so far, and I'm hoping I stick with it!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T19:51:00.002-05:00

I had planned to stay at home today, but that didn't quite happen. I ended up doing a lot of shopping (mostly for food) and returning the too small bike DD got for the correct size.

I did manage my first stitching finish of 2009, Brittercup Designs Trick or Kitty Treat. I also made the first stitching start of 2009, Cross Eyed Kat's Mayan Mystery. Not much done on it, I spent so much time deciding what to start that I only had a few minutes to stitch! :P DH has the scanner, so pics to come tomorrow.

Now I am off to tuck DD into bed, shower, and relax with one of my new books.

Year End Catch-Up

2008-12-31T20:28:00.003-05:00

First of all, DH is working again. It is a temporary type job with no benefits, but it is money coming in and we are thankful for it. He is having interviews, and hopefully should have a permanent job soon.

We had a fairly nice holiday this year. The kids got lots of toys, of course.

DD had enough gift money from relatives that she was able to trade in her gameboy and get a DS instead, as well as a couple of games for it. Gamestop had a deal of $40 off a DS if you traded in your old DS or Gameboy. She's very happy with her upgrade! :) Her favorite game seems to be Cooking Mama.

DS got a new mountain bike, which he absolutely loves.

For DH, I purchased a t-shirt related to SQL code, the Mama Mia dvd, and I stitched him TW's Celtic Cross. The kids got him a Dr. Who sonic screwdriver. I think that was his favorite.

I received books. Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir, Four Queens by Nancy Goldstone, Dead Travel Fast by Eric Nuzum, and Foolishly Forgotten Americans by Michael Farquhar. I also received cash from my parents. I purchased three more books, Crowned in a Far Country by Princess Michael of Kent, Weird Chicago by Troy Taylor, Adam Selzer (I know Adam!), and Ken Melvoin-Berg, and Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress 22, edited by Elisabeth Waters. I also bought a new robe, as mine really needed replacing. I still have a bit left to play with too.

I had a bit of a stitching slump, but I managed to break out of it in time for two last finishes of 2008. The aforementioned Celtic Cross and Shepherd's Bush Mermaid Sampler.

Tonight we went out to dinner at Ted's Montana Grill. The kids both had bison. DS had a burger, and DD the meatloaf. Both liked it, and cleaned their plates. :) I had a veggie plate, and everything was very good. DH had a fish sandwich, and he said his was excellent as well. I also had two Montana Margaritas (yum!), and we all shared a Kahlua Fudge Brownie for dessert.

Otherwise, we are celebrating the new year by staying quietly at home. Happy New Year everyone!

Well, that was unexpected

2008-11-15T14:41:00.001-05:00

DH was laid off from his job yesterday. Vibes for him finding a new job quickly are appreciated!

Halloween Happy Dances and Haunted Houses

2008-10-09T07:51:00.007-04:00

We have been busy with Halloweeny things. I have finished Mirabilia's Halloween Fairy from the Sept issue of Cross Stitch and Needlework, and also a small Mill Hill kit, Moonlight Ghost.

On Tuesday, the kids made Cocoa Krispies haunted houses from this kit. DS's House: DD's house: I

What Part of Fall am I?

2008-09-29T07:08:00.001-04:00

You Are Apple Cider

Smooth and comforting. But downright nasty when cold.

What Part of Fall Are You?

The nasty when cold part is definitely accurate!

Pottery Painting

2008-09-18T19:27:00.004-04:00

Fun times continued today as I decided on the spur of the moment to try paint your own pottery. We'd never done it before. I checked the place's website, and we hopped in the car and drove over, only to find them closed today. It would have been nice for them to mention that on their website, rather than their calendar saying business as usual!

Well, this is the metro area, and there is always somewhere else to go. So I got back on the computer, and found the Clay Cafe in Roswell. They serve desserts and coffee as well as doing the pottery. We didn't try any today, but I may indulge when I pick the stuff up on Tuesday. They even offered a 10% off coupon on their website, and they were OPEN. DS painted a football helmet shaped magnet, DD painted a jack o lantern on a flower shaped saucer, and I painted a wizard's hat. I had not intended to paint anything, but that hat was just too tempting.

Tomorrow we celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day, and Saturday we're going to the local nature center for a nature print t-shirt workshop. Sunday is a quiet day with nothing scheduled before the kids go back to school on Monday.

Build a Bear and Earrings, Plus Weekend Fun-- Picture Heavy!

2008-09-17T17:35:00.006-04:00

The kids are out of school for fall break this week. Monday and Tuesday passed quietly, so today I elected to do something fun. We went to Michaels to pick up pirate related crafts for Talk Like a Pirate Day, which is coming up on Friday. I had also decided to take them to Build a Bear.

On the way over, DD began once again making noises about wanting her ears pierced. She does this every so often, but has been too scared to go through with it. Today she mentioned specifically that she wanted butterfly earrings. I told her that first earrings are mostly little balls, and that I'd take her to Claire's at the mall and she could see the piercing earrings and the nice lady would tell her all about what it was like to get ear piercing. She liked this idea.

So, having obtained our piratey goodness at Michael's, we headed on to the mall. Claire's was our first stop. The very nice saleslady told her that it didn't hurt very much at all, and showed her the earrings. She saw a pair she liked, little pink crystal flowers, but she still wasn't convinced she wanted to go through with it, so we headed downstairs to Build a Bear. DD selected the Pumpkin Fun Kitty (I want one of these myself!), and DS selected the Pawsome Panda. Stuffing, fluffing, and dressing ensued.

Stuffing Pawsome Panda

Fluffing Pumpkin Fun Kitty

Pirate Kitty!

Baseball Bear!

Once we were through, I consulted with DD about the ear piercing. She really wanted the earrings, but she was scared. I told her she could sit in my lap, and that made her happy, so back to Claire's we went. We had to wait a bit, as only the one person was working, but DD was patient. While we were waiting, I explained to her how the piercing gun worked, and exactly what would happen. She was very brave. She cried a bit when the first was done, but didn't flinch at all, and there were no problems with doing the second either. By the time the lady was done cleaning her ears with antiseptic, she was feeling much better. She's complained a bit of them being sore, but she knew to expect that for a few days.

In old news, last Saturday we went to a Lowes Build and Grow clinic, and the kids built pirate ships.

Sunday we attended a singalong screening of the Muppet Movie at the Center for Puppetry Arts. That turned out to be a blast. Everyone got a goody bag (contents pictured below), and each thing was a prop to be used at a certain point in the movie. For example, we waved the plastic forks when Fozzie and Kermit turned left at the fork in the road, and the straw was for when Miss Piggy and Kermit drank champagne with a straw. It was much funner than any of us expected it to be.

I am hoping in the next few days to finish my Trick or Treat fairy, and to turn the Brightneedle piece DD just finished into a hanging, so there may be more pics soon.

Happy Birthday Mei Lan

2008-09-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, we attended a birthday party for a panda. It was the second birthday of Mei Lan, Zoo Atlanta's panda cub. Of course, she is no longer the baby, as on August 30, her mother Lun Lun birthed a little boy.

We all had a panda cookie, which had the unfortunate effect of turning our lips black. There was also a cake on display.

DD colored a Happy 2nd birthday Mei Lan picture, which a zoo volunteer folded into a fan for her.

Mei Lan had her own "cake" which was sort of like a big popsicle.

Today, I'm planning to stitch, and bake a cake and some cookies, with the aid of the new Kitchenaid mixer that recently came to live in my house.

Happy Dance!

2008-09-05T13:51:00.003-04:00

I finished this about a month ago, but never posted a pic. Took it to be finished at the Needled Canvas last week, and it came back superfast! It's Lizzie Kate's Ghouls Night Out.

Happy Birthday DD!

2008-08-09T19:13:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was DD's seventh birthday. When she got home from school, I took her to get a mini manicure. She chose glitter polish.

When that was done, we stopped by the grocery store to get her a birthday balloon and cake. She picked Black Forest, yum. Then home to open presents. She received the Fancy Nancy Posh Puppy that was her most wanted item, among other things.

After supper, cake!

This morning was the main event, a trip to the American Girl Bistro. Mia the doll accompanied us, and even had her own menu.

Cheesy eggs and bacon with strawberry milk for brunch. The rest of us had eggs benedict, french toast, and blueberry pancakes.

The waitresses brought a special birthday dessert and sang Happy Birthday. There was a goody bag too.

Yummy ice cream!

Here are DD and Mia in their new matching American Girl Atlanta t-shirts.

This afternoon, PawPaw brought gifts, including Lincoln Logs.

Here's the frontier outpost all put together. Mom helped a little, LOL.

Happy seventh birthday DD!

What a summer!

2008-08-04T07:24:00.002-04:00

Whew! We stayed really busy this summer.

First, as soon as the kids were out of school, we took a trip to Savannah. We all had a great time, and we hope to go back soon.

After that, it was two weeks of summer camp for the kids. First camp at the Atlanta History Center, about the history of the Atlanta area. Then ballet camp for DD and guitar camp for DS.

We attended the Roswell Storytelling Festival for one evening, and definitely plan to return next year, this time better prepared. We didn't realize that we could bring coolers, and ended up paying a huge price for not that great food.

So that was June, although I'm sure I've forgotten some things.

July 4th we drove down to spend time with my Dad and have a cookout.

The second week of July was a second week of History Center camp for DD, this one about the settlers and Native Americans of early Georgia. DS was supposed to be able to do fun things with me that week, such as going to the zoo and the aquarium, but since he wouldn't clean his room like I had been asking him to for two weeks, he missed out on most of this. He actually managed to get it clean by Thursday night, after his father intervened. So on Friday DH and I took him to Fernbank to see the Polar Bears and Penguins exhibit. We also had lunch out and discovered a new restaurant we really liked, the Crescent Moon Cafe in Decatur.

I think we mostly stayed home and rested the third week of July. Oh wait, the 18th was my birthday. We went out to lunch at Cafe Sunflower, a popular vegetarian restaurant that I'd somehow managed to never go to. It was okay, but I don't think we're in a hurry to go back. We'd intended to make a daytrip to Macon to go to the museum and LNS there on the 19th, but we didn't get ourselves ready in time to make the long trip, so on the spur of the moment, we decided to go to Medieval Times instead, since they were running a promotion with a free kid's ticket for every adult ticket you bought.

We had a blast! They did keep us wandering the bar/gift shop area for quite a long time before seating us. The food was much better than we expected (I was able to get a vegetarian meal!) and so was the show. We are planning to go back for DS's birthday in October.

The fourth week was History Center camp for DS, all about the Olympics. Since DD's room was clean, she got to do all the nifty stuff DS missed out on.

On Monday, we went to the zoo. DD finally got to see the giraffes. Every other time we've been this year, they were off display. We saw the warthog baby, and video of the new lion cubs. We made the rounds of the zoo pretty quickly. Most of the animals were sleeping or hiding. We rode the train and the carousel, and then headed off for lunch. We drove over to Decatur to the Crescent Moon, and after that visited Fernbank. We even managed to squeeze in one of their animal encounters before we had to leave to pick up DS.

Tuesday, we went to the aquarium. We were working on earning their Deepo badge for Brownie Scouts. We managed to complete all the activities for that, yay! Now I just have to sew it on her vest along with the million other patches she earned this summer. After we were done at the aquarium we took a walk through Centennial Olympic Park. Then a snack, and we went to the children's museum. I have to say I wasn't overly impressed with it. I certainly don't think it was worth the admission price, but DD had a good time, if a little rushed, since we had to pick up DS.

Wednesday we chilled out at home. Thursday I was going to take her to see Nanny McPhee at the free summer movie, but she said she'd rather go home to relax on the floor and watch Scooby Doo, so that's what we did. Friday was back to the zoo, since DD wanted to go again.

That Saturday, we went to the aquarium again, this time with DH, DS, and my father. We also went to Ikea (we'd never been before) and bought a cabinet for my stitching room. I ended up with a bigger one than I'd planned, but that's good, because now I can remove stuff from the bookcase I've been using, and it can be a bookcase again.

After much pulling apart, epoxy-ing, and a bit of swearing, the cabinet is put together and in place. Pics after I have everything moved in and set up.

Yesterday we went to a show at the Center for Puppetry Arts. Afterwards there was a question and answer session with the puppeteer, and he talked about what it's like being a puppeteer. At the end, he invited us up onstage to see what it looks like back where the puppeteer is. Very cool.

This morning, I put the kids on the bus for their first day of school. They are both excited to go back.

The excitement isn't over, though. Friday is DD's birthday. Instead of a party, we are taking her to the American Girl Bistro for brunch on Saturday. On Sunday my father is coming to see her and we're all going to Fernbank again for their Sunday Snow Day activities.

More Finishes

2008-04-26T09:05:00.002-04:00

Finished up Georgia Needleroll and Quaker Mouse this week. I know the pattern for the needleroll has been hanging around for awhile, because it was designed by a worker at a LNS I haven't shopped at for two or three years.

Whew! What a week!

2008-04-14T10:59:00.002-04:00

It was Spring Break week for the kids. I already wrote about our Sunday trip to the zoo. Monday and Tuesday were pretty much laid back stay at home sort of days.

On Wednesday, the whole family drove to Cartersville to see the Etowah Indian Mounds. After we toured the mounds, we went to the Cartersville Welcome Center and then the Bartow County History Center. The kids had a blast there doing a scavenger hunt through their museum, but unfortunately I forgot to take pics.

Thursday I took the kids to the Atlanta History Center. We took the tours of the Tullie Smith Farm and the Swan House, and we breezed through most of the exhibits before heading to Johnny Rocket's for lunch and then home.

Friday was DH's birthday, and we went out for a nice breakfast at J. Christopher's. After that we looked around the Roswell Welcome Center (right next to the restaurant) for a few minutes, and then headed home.

Saturday morning DD and I departed for a Girl Scout camping trip. The girls got to ride in paddleboats, and participate in Pet a Pony, which is learning basic grooming of the horse and then getting to be lead round a ring on a horse. We stayed overnight in a cabin, and had a hike the next morning before heading for home.

So that was our busy spring break. Here's a slideshow of some of our pics.

Spring Break 2008

Happy Dances and the Zoo

2008-04-08T14:34:00.003-04:00

I've had a couple of happy dances since I last posted.

Shepherd's Bush Trick or Treat

Mill Hill Rockin' Rudolph

Sunday we went to the zoo. We had a pretty good time. DD was disappointed that the giraffes were off exhibit. We did get to see the new naked mole rat exhibit, though. Here are a few pics. Unfortunately, I didn't get any of the pandas.

Naked Mole Rats sleeping.
Red Panda
Meerkats
Warthogs. The warthogs are expecting babies this month.

Wishing Sheep, Bewitched Kitty, and Zoo

2008-03-31T21:31:00.003-04:00

I have two final finishes for March, Shepherd's Bush Wishing Sheep and Mill Hill Bewitched Kitty. The pic of the kitty is pretty blurry, I don't think my scanner liked all the beads.

So for March I had nine finishes. I think that's a personal record! I also finished Listen and Learn on Lizzie Kate's Living With Charm, and I'm almost done with Believe. And waaaay back at the beginning of the month, I made a small start on Mirabilia's Halloween Fairy.

I'm not going to set goals for April, but I'm hoping for a few more finishes. :)

I didn't blog about it at the time, but Wednesday, DD's class went on a field trip to the zoo. I wasn't chosen to be a chaperon (nearly every parent in the class volunteered), but I drove myself and met them there. Their bus ended up being 30 minutes late picking them up, and then they got stuck in traffic so I'd been waiting nearly an hour by the time they finally made it. They had about an hour and forty five minutes to see the animals before they had to eat lunch and head back to school. They broke into small groups, each with a chaperon. DD's group managed to see just about everything they wanted to see. We started with the pandas, which were in the back, and worked our way back to the front. We missed the petting zoo, kangaroos, and tortises, and we skipped the reptile house, but we saw most everything else. Since we have a zoo membership, we'll be returning soon for a slightly less rushed visit, and to see the naked mole rat exhibit opening in April.

On The Hunt

2008-03-25T14:29:00.001-04:00

Finished Brittercup Designs On the Hunt today. Alas, this one was not a UFO. I started it Friday after finishing Celtic Heart. I've now finished 10 projects out of 25 for my challenge.

Celtic Heart

2008-03-21T12:40:00.002-04:00

Finished M Designs Celtic Heart. It's from the August 2004 Just Cross Stitch, although I believe she released it as a chart later. I started this in July 2004 (started almost as soon as I bought the magazine), so I'm glad to finally have it finished!

2008 Easter Dragonlet

2008-03-16T15:13:00.002-04:00

I made a couple of color changes on him that I'm not sure I like, but overall I'm happy with how he came out.

Have You Any Wool?

2008-03-14T21:58:00.002-04:00

This is a SamSarah freebie I started last year and then put away because I didn't like some of the colors. I pulled it out today and finished it up, changing the colors to suit me.

I've been working on my Lizzie Kate too. I finished Listen and Learn. I'll post a progress pic once I've finished Believe and Care.

Leaping Cat Happy Dance

2008-03-12T06:38:00.002-04:00

I don't even like this one much any more, but I finished it up to get it out of the WIP pile. All those little apples and leaves were a pain.

Next up is the next few words on my Lizzie Kate Double Flip it project. I know I'm not supposed to be buying charts, but we were able to name exceptions when taking the challenge, and mine were magazines (which I buy really rarely anyway) and the remaining LK Double Flips, since I was on auto for them and need them to finish the project.

Fairy Tale Sampler finished

2008-03-08T20:53:00.002-05:00

The 25 project challenge seems to really be helping me, I'm speeding through a lot of projects I had fairly close to being done. Here's Fairy Tale Sampler.

Little Witch finished!

2008-03-05T12:12:00.001-05:00

I finished her up much faster than I expected to!

Three Happy Dances

2008-03-01T08:45:00.002-05:00

I've finished three pieces in the last few days. Spring Fairy on Wednesday, Celeste on Thursday, and Fang on Friday. Here they are. Sorry the pics are a bit blurry.

I've joined the 25 project challenge, to finish 25 projects before I buy any new charts, and these are my first three. I did the 10 project challenge awhile back, so we'll see if I can make it to 25 this time. :) I did also stitch on Labyrinth just a bit, a few needle's worth.

So for March, my goals are:
Finish the dragon band on Fairy Tale Sampler
Finish Shepherd's Bush's Little Witch
Stitch at least a bit on Leaping Cat

Stitching Update

2008-02-21T14:20:00.004-05:00

I've finished my goals for Fairytale Sampler and Stormbringer. Here's what they look like now.

Right now I'm stitching on Easter Fairy, and I've pulled out Labyrinth to put in a little time on it before the end of the month and meet that goal.

Update on Goals

2008-02-05T12:34:00.000-05:00

I did finish Dance of the Summer Solstice, on January 30. :)

I didn't quite finish the first four bits of Living With Charm in January, but I did finish up on Feb. 1.

My goals for Feb are:

1. Finish the castle band on Fairy Tale Sampler
2. Finish the left hand border on Stormbringer
3. Work on Labyrinth

Good Grief People, Take No For an Answer!

2008-01-27T16:44:00.000-05:00

I went out on a grocery run this afternoon. DS was playing at J's house while I was gone. This is the same destructive J I've posted about awhile back. DS doesn't play with him very often anymore, partly because we're busy with activities, and partly because I don't think J is a very good person for him to play with.

Well, apparently just before I got home, J wanted DS to go to a church playground with him. DH, for various reasons, said no, and DS came home. Right after I got home, J came to the door THREE TIMES trying to get DS to go to the playground with him. C'mon people, no means no.

I'm just as happy DH said no. It's late afternoon, almost supper time, and then time to get ready for school tomorrow. And I don't really want DS to go anywhere near a church with these people. Over the summer, I allowed him to go to friends night at J's vacation bible school. From what DS said, they gave him a hard sell on accepting Jesus, then a few months later J told him it was a good thing he went to bible school, because now he'll go to heaven, when he was going to the bad place before!

Aargh!

2008-01-26T15:32:00.000-05:00

I've finished the stitching on Summer Solstice, only the beading is left. However, I discovered that the beads I bought for her are mill hill petites. The recommended fabric was 32 count, and I stitched her on 28. When I bought/started her, I was pretty new to stitching, and it didn't occur to me that I might want regular seed beads for the 28 count.

I tried the petites, and I don't like the way they look, so I'll probably be making a trip to the LNS tomorrow or Monday to buy the regular size mill hills.

My order arrived from Needlecraft Corner a few days ago. I've already finished Dream, and I'm working on Love, which should be finished today. That leaves Remember and Give, and these stitch up pretty quickly, so if I get my beads, I should still be on track to complete my goals by the end of the month.

GAFilk: Thursday

2008-01-10T23:03:00.000-05:00

Tonight I ran a load of consuite supplies down to the hotel. I was there a bit early, and got most of it unloaded into our storage room before I saw any of the rest of the concom.

Hung around a bit, and discovered I had lost my cell phone. Oh joy!

Finally made it home around 9:30 and called to report my phone missing and have it locked. I'm going to check with the front desk again tomorrow to see if anyone turned it in.

Tomorrow I head down to the hotel to stay until Sunday.

I almost think I have too much stash!

2008-01-09T23:48:00.000-05:00

I know I have way too many WIPs. I didn't realize how much stuff I have until I started trying to get it organized. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm getting closer. I have a huge pile of patterns to go through and file, and three boxes of threads and various supplies to go through and organize, but that can wait until after GAFilk. Right now I'm just happy the room doesn't look like a disaster area anymore.

Nifty thing I learned

2008-01-08T20:48:00.000-05:00

Last night while reading, I discovered that in the Bronze Age in Britain, swords were cast in stone molds. Puts a whole new light on pulling a sword from a stone...

Aaargh!

2008-01-07T20:48:00.001-05:00

The kids go back to school tomorrow, and I just discovered I neglected to buy food for their lunches. No big deal, they can buy lunch at school, but it was annoying.

Ran a few errands today. Bought aspen shavings and rats for the snakes. Looked for a jewelry box, but couldn't find one I liked.

I have Summer Solstice out and on the qsnaps now, and I've located the threads for her. Haven't actually sat down and stitched on her, but I'm hoping to tomorrow. Am also cleaning and organizing my stitching room, since MIL is coming.

Not much going on today

2008-01-06T21:45:00.000-05:00

I had the final pre con meeting for GAFilk. Will probably start the food buying tomorrow.

We played a game of Munchkin, and a game of Munchkin Bites. After the kids were in bed, DH and I played a game of Munchkin without the Go Up a Level cards to see how that affected game play. The answer turned out to be not much. He was wondering if the game would take longer without those cards, and the answer is no. In fact, the game we played was a very quick one.

Not sure what we're doing tomorrow. DH will be going in to the office I assume. The kids don't go back to school until Tuesday, so they'll be at home. We do have ballet class in the afternoon though.

Eep!

2008-01-05T20:22:00.000-05:00

Less than a week until GAFilk! I still have to do all the shopping for the consuite.

That's also the weekend my MIL is visiting. We planned it that way on purpose, so I'm not home while she's here. I need to figure out how to handle the meals though, so the family isn't relying on her to cook.

An update on my weight: I've lost about 37 pounds since October. The formal dress I'll wear to the opening ceremonies of GAFilk is actually rather loose on me! :)

Yay, a new baby!

2008-01-04T21:49:00.000-05:00

No, not mine! Ginny had a little boy. No pics yet, or word on his name.

Stitching Goals: January

2008-01-03T19:55:00.000-05:00

I always set stitching goals at the beginning of the year, and I generally lose sight of them over the months, or change my mind. So this year, I'm going to set my goals on a monthly basis, or as I complete a goal. So for January, the goals are:

1. Finish Dance of the Summer Solstice. She really needs only a few hours stitching more, plus beading. I can knock her out pretty quick, I think.

2. Assuming I get my order from Needlecraft Corner in time (waiting on threads) complete the first four words of Lizzie Kate's new Double Flip series. I plan to stitch them all together on one piece of fabric as a banner, but will probably leave off the border.

Munchkin

2008-01-02T20:51:00.000-05:00

Munchkin was one of DH's gifts. It was an impulse buy from the games section of Barnes and Noble.

It took him a couple of days to open it, but once he did we discovered we really like it. We've played at least one game a day, usually multiple games.The whole family plays, though to be honest, it's probably slightly inappropriate for kids. Nothing too horrible, though, and the kids love playing it as much as DH and I.

We are addicted. We looked up the local comics and games store, and have purchased the Clerical Error expansion for Munchkin, as well as Munchkin Bites, Munchkin Bites 2: Pants Macabre, and Munchkin Dice.

But at least we're having fun!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T22:41:00.000-05:00

2007 wasn't bad, but I hope 2008 will be better. Here's my first start and finish of the new year.

My First Needlepoint, plus a small rant

2007-12-05T07:36:00.000-05:00

I'd been having a bit of a stitching slump, and a needlepoint store near me was having a sale on their painted canvases, so I decided to try something new. I ended up enjoying it a lot. :) Here is March North Wind by Pat Thode.

I'm now working on a Pooh stocking in needlepoint. Hard part of that is finding the right colors for pooh.

Today's rant is brought to you by my DD's room mother at school. I got an email last night asking all the parents to chip in $20-25 for a crystal vase as a holiday gift for the teacher. Maybe I'm just behind the times, but I find that a bit excessive. I can afford the $20, but I'm betting at least a few parents in the class really can't afford that much. Especially if you have more than one child needing to buy teacher gifts. My son has four different teachers, 8 if you count specials and gifted teacher. Am I going to be asked to spend that much on each of them? Adds up fast.

I think though, what peeves me the most is being told that this is what's happening, pony up the money, rather than being able to choose a gift myself, or choose not to send a gift. I guess I just don't like other people telling me what to do, LOL.

Officially dieting!

2007-10-07T15:07:00.000-04:00

I officially started my diet Friday. Am doing the Medifast plan, which is working for DH. Basically I eat 5 of their diet meals plus one healthy "Lean and Green" meal each day. I'm hoping to see some progress soon.

2007-10-01T08:23:00.000-04:00

Whew! I have had an eventful few days.

Thursday- Finally made up my mind to try the Medifast diet that is working for DH (and would work better if he actually stuck to the diet!), and ordered the food. Was hoping to start today (Oct 1) but the food hasn't arrived yet. (Thought they shipped 2 day, apparently not).

Friday- Had decided to take up bike riding again (for the first time since childhood) in my quest to lose weight and get a little fitter. DH and I go out for breakfast (Waffle House for the last time before I start my diet!), and then to the bike store downtown. We accomplish breakfast, but on the way to look at bikes, car loses power and simply will not go. DH coasts it into a parking lot. Tow truck is called. Tow truck driver has his wife with him, and mutters something about it being illegal to take two people. That sounds weird, but not wanting to deal with it, I decide to walk home (about 3 miles). DH goes with car to garage. Plan is for me to get his car from home and pick him up, but he decides to walk home from the garage, and I meet him at the entrance of our subdivision as I am driving to pick him up.

Diagnosis on car is that it needs a new fuel pump. Okay.

Kids return home from school. A bit later, I take kids to their Tae Kwon Do class. Pick up hot dogs for supper, return home. Power is out. Husband gone, left message that he was walking to garage since power is out at home. Call his cell, he has only made it out of subdivision. Pick up husband, pick up kids from TKD. Check on car. Still a couple of hours before repair is done. Go home, drag out camping stove, cook hot dogs. DH goes out to buy cigarettes (yuck! he needs to quit!). Stays gone much too long. Try to call him twice, turns out his phone was not working properly. Phone rings, figure it is about the car, but fail to answer before caller hangs up. DH arrives home just then. Go to garage to find out about car.

Oh joy, car is still not fixed. New fuel pump is installed, but car still not firing. They are checking all the connections and stuff. Car will not be ready before tomorrow.

Back home, power still out. Light candles and lamps. Convince DD it is okay to go to sleep without a nightlight.
Finally, at 10:30, power comes back on.

Saturday- Nutcracker practice for the kids. DS is in it this year as well, since he has just started Irish dancing lessons. He's had two lessons so far. DD is a mouse again, DS is a soldier.

After practice, head into downtown for Fall Festival. D'oh! It's next weekend, I made a mistake! Oops! Go to bike shop we never made it to yesterday. Don't like the bikes they have, and consider them overpriced. Go home and research bikes more on the internet. Reluctantly decide if I want a good bike, I will have to pay about 3 times as much as I had originally planned. Discover Electra bikes and fall in love.

Go to pick up car. Turns out the fuel pump they put in was bad, and they had to get another. Car works now.

Later in the afternoon, attempt to visit another bike shop that turns out to be no longer there. Then rush to a bike shop that carries Electra bikes before it closes so I can have a look at them. Bike shop doesn't have the one most liked, but does have my second choice. I try it out, and it comes home with me. Shop was willing to special order my first choice, but couldn't guarantee they could lower the seat on that one enough for me to be comfortable on it.

Sunday- Mostly quiet. Bought bike helmet and gloves. Now I just have to get my balance and confidence back, since I am sure I am quite a funny sight on the bike at the moment!

BTW, this is the bike I got.

I'm tired

2007-09-11T20:19:00.000-04:00

I just spent the day at the hospital. No one worry, it wasn't anything life threatening.

Last Tuesday, I discovered that my darling son had inserted a small plastic coin from a Playmobil pirate set into his left ear. Mind, this isn't the first time he's done this. A year ago, it was a small piece of craft foam, and I thought he'd learned his lesson with that. The foam I was able to remove with tweezers. This coin, I couldn't. We also had no success in rinsing it out with water. It was just too big and too firmly stuck.

Thursday then was doctor day. First thing in the morning, we saw the cardiologist for our final appointment, yay! They gave him a clean bill of health and turned him loose. Then we drove straight over to the pediatrician to have them look at his ear. The doctor there was unable to remove the coin either, and she referred us to an ear, nose, and throat specialist.

So Thursday afternoon, I picked up DD from the bus and took her to Irish dance class, and DH took DS to the ENT. As it turned out, the coin was lodged quite firmly against DS's eardrum, and caused him to thrash around in pain whenever it was touched. So the ENT was unable to remove it in his office, and scheduled us for a hospital procedure, so DS could be sedated.

So today, I kept DS and DD (because I didn't expect to be back before school let out) out of school, and to the hospital we went. Our procedure was scheduled for 12:30, and we needed to be there two hours in advance. We arrived at 10:28, right on time. The quickly got the paperwork done and got us back to a room. The nurses took his vitals, a nice lady came and showed him pictures of the operating room and showed him the kind of mask they'd use for the sleepy gas. Then around noon, we learned that the partner of DS's doctor was sick, so DS's doctor had a double load of patients and was running late. Thankfully I'd brought toys and coloring books for DD, and we were able to watch videos on the tv.

I had put off getting lunch for DD for a long time, hoping to wait until DS was taken to the operating room, but with the delay, the nurse finally told me to go get food in the cafeteria and bring it back to the room. So around 1:45 we finally made our way to get food, and in the 20 or so minutes we were gone, we missed the doctor's pre op visit. Pretty much all he did was mark which ear was the problem, though.

Finally at 2:45, DS was wheeled to the OR. He was gone approximately 45 minutes. Shortly before they brought him back, the doctor stopped by and gave me a jar containing the plastic coin. He told me it was lodged in so deeply he almost couldn't get it out. I have no idea what would have been the next step if he'd been unable to shift it!

DS was returned to the room about 3:30, still pretty doped up. The nurse brought him some Sprite to drink when he woke up, and kindly brought some for DD too. We gradually got him to come around and have some Sprite. It was 5:30 though before he was fully recovered and ready to go. So we left the hospital and went right into rush hour traffic. It wasn't too terribly bad though. On the way, DS spit up all the Sprite he had drunk. That was a known side effect of anesthesia though, so we were prepared with a barf bag.

After that he was fine, and proceeded to wolf down several little packages of saltines and two bacon egg and cheese wraps and an order of hashbrowns at Waffle House, and he kept it down. I was just too tired to cook after the day at the hospital, plus I have a slight cold making me feel bad. The kids didn't mind at all, though, LOL!

I shouldn't be surprised that DS was so hungry, since he hadn't been able to eat anything since last night.

So we are finally home now, and the kids are in bed. School tomorrow for both of them, a Brownie meeting after school for DD, and then signups for the Nutcracker at her dance school. Busy, busy, busy, always!

Oh, as an afterthought, the state of the stitching. I know I mentioned possible dragon and sheep happy dances a few posts ago, but I had little time to stitch for awhile, and now they've been set aside for a bit. I've started Stargazer for the contest on the Mirabila BB. I'm trying to finish her by December 1st, and I have a pretty good start.

My husband would beg to differ...

2007-08-24T14:34:00.000-04:00

How evil are you?

DD's Birthday Party

2007-07-28T16:03:00.000-04:00

DD's birthday party was today at a local park playground. She won't turn 6 until August 8th, but that date is quite close to back to school, so I elected to have her party early.

When I went out to pick up her cake this morning, I discovered it was raining. This caused me to say a few bad words. Thankfully, we had rented the pavilion at the playground, and after I got the cake home, I made a mad dash to Wal-Mart to get activities for them, since they wouldn't be able to play on the playground. I already had foam crowns for them to decorate, and I grabbed foam wands as well, and posterboard to make a "pin the star on the wand" game, and some coloring books.

I wasn't sure if anyone besides the grandparents would actually show up since the rain was coming down pretty hard, but we only had one little girl missing. The crowns and wands were a big hit, and we never even touched the other stuff. Lesson to remember: If it involves glitter glue, little girls will love it.

DD received some very nice presents, and money from grandparents to use for an American Girl doll outfit. We are getting an American Girl Boutique and Bistro at our mall opening in August, and DD asked for an American Girl doll for her birthday. So the gift she had from us today was just a token one, and I will take her to buy the doll and have a meal in the Bistro when the place opens.

The party ran a little over time, but I think all the girls had a good time, and DD told me it was a great party. :)

Sheepy Dances, Birthday, and Playing Catch Up

2007-07-18T17:23:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to me, I'm 33 today. Also happy blog birthday. I started this blog 3 years ago on July 12.

I have two sheepy happy dances from last week. First is Shepherds Bush Fa La La, second is Shepherds Bush Thankful Sheep. I changed the fabric color on Fa La La.

Look for other sheepy dances soon, and hopefully a dragon dance.

It's been awhile since I posted anything. DD has taken up Tae Kwon Do, and has already earned her yellow belt, which is one step up from the beginner belt of white. DS is now a red belt.

DD's birthday is coming up. She's invited a bunch of little girls from ballet and irish class. This will be the first time she's had a party with her friends coming. We're having it at the playground of a local park, from 10:00-11:00 am. That way, they get to play before it gets too hot. And due to the timing, I shouldn't have to worry about feeding them a meal. I'll have the cake, and maybe some chips or other snacks. Of course, I'll also have lots of drinks! I'm thinking those kool aid drinks that come in the individual plastic bottles, capri suns, and bottles of water. I haven't planned many activities for them, since I figure they'll mostly want to play on the playground. I'm a little nervous, since I've never planned a party like this before!

Framed Once Upon a Time

2007-06-13T15:33:00.000-04:00

I just got a picture of the finished piece from Jill Rensel. I love it!

Pictures!

2007-04-25T12:56:00.000-04:00

This is DS at performing at his TKD belt test.

DS and Friend wearing their newly earned brown tip belts, and DD holding the board that DS broke.

Baby Robins. Not the best pic, but you can see that they're starting to get their feathers. I think they're about a week old now.

New Purse! This is all Annette's fault. She posted about receiving a purse in this fabric for her birthday. I followed the link she posted and went "Aww, lookit the cute liddle elephants!". So now I am the owner of my first Vera Bradley piece, the Betsy style and Pink Elephant print. I intend to soon aquire the Miller to match, since that thing is awesome!

And finally, here is my Once Upon a Time, finished by Missy in the UFO RR. I plan to send her to Jill Rensel for framing. I've emailed Jill but not heard back yet. I'm going to give it a few more days, and then call her.

Baby Robins!

2007-04-19T08:36:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, I noticed that a bird had built a nest in the bushes by our front porch. You could walk out on the porch and look right into the nest. I thought it was an odd place for a nest, but didn't think much more about it.

Then a week ago Monday, when I took the kids out to go to the school bus, we startled a bird off the nest. I looked, and there were two robins eggs in the nest, no mistaking that color blue! Then later that morning, there were four eggs.

We started using the garage door so Mama Robin could sit on her eggs in peace. Yesterday afternoon I went and peeked in the nest, and there were four baby robins. :) The pic I have only shows three, but there are four there.

In stitching news, I joined a UFO RR, and I just got word that my UFO has been finished. Yay!

Happy Dance and Stash

2007-02-26T20:44:00.000-05:00

I finished up Quaker Swan tonight. I intend to eventually stitch a black one to go with it.

A few days ago, I found out one of my local Hobby Lobbies had nearly all their cross stitch charts on clearance for less than a dollar. Of course I took advantage! Here's my haul:

X-Plore Africa-Stephanie Seabrook Hedgepath/Jeanette Crews Design
Pretty as a Princess- Gloria and Pat
The Kingdom Sampler- Dragon Dreams
Love- Calico Crossroads
Griffin Kitten- X's & Oh's
For Amelia Wherever She May Go- Dimples Designs
Liberty- Birds of a Feather
Winter Wonder- Dragon Dreams
Castles by the Sea- TW Designworks
Cherished Teddies 46 Sports and Occupations- Gloria and Pat
For Every Little Princess and Her Prince- Alma Lynne
Endangered Young'uns- Gloria and Pat

The Gloria and Pat stuff isn't my usual cup of tea, but DD loves princesses, and the teddy book has a ballerina chart for her as well.

And of course I had to splurge a bit and order some stuff from the Nashville Market. My Pawprints order came today: Cross Eyed Kat's Mayan Mystery, Triangularity, and Maze, and Brittercup's A Touch of the Wilderness.
I'm still expecting a order from Needlecraft Corner: Snow Princess Palace, The Old West, Quaker Cat and Mouse, and some supplies to stitch these charts, and from Village Mountian Stitchery, The Trilogy's Secret Egg Hunt and more supplies. And fabric from Picture This Plus, as well as the new Firewing pattern, Snow.

And, I just won Teresa Wentzler's Christmas Ornaments pattern on Ebay!

Naughty me, no more stash for a long time now, LOL!

Mexico Pictures

2007-02-18T17:46:00.000-05:00

Me in front of our hotel

The observatory at Chichen Itza

A rather bad picture of me on the sacred ball court at Chichen Itza

Rob on the sacred ball court

Rob and I in front of the Temple of Kukulcan, also known as El Castillo, at Chichen Itza

Back from Mexico

2007-02-13T08:29:00.000-05:00

DH and I flew out Friday morning and got back home around 9 or so last night.

The trip was an award he won from his company for being national consultant of the quarter. All the winners for the year got this trip, so I got to meet some of DH's coworkers. Most were from Minnesota, which is where the company is based.

Everything was absolutely free. The airfare, the hotel, any meals eaten at the hotel, unlimited bar at the hotel, etc, etc. Basically, the only thing we paid for was souvenirs, and the trip we took to see Chichen Itza. And since the company gave each couple $200 spending money, our trip to Chichen Itza was really paid for by them as well.

This is the hotel where we stayed: The Royal Playa Del Carmen. As I mentioned, we had the all inclusive package, which meant pretty much everything except the spa services was free. DH even got a free massage, that the hotel gave him because they had to downgrade our room from what we were supposed to have.

We got to Playa del Carmen about 3 Friday afternoon, just at check in time. Got settled into the hotel, and wandered around checking it out. At 7, we had a dinner (only required activity all weekend) with the other members of our group. That ended up going on until 11 or so, and then we crashed.

Saturday we mostly vegged out. Did a little window shopping on the main tourist shopping street, 5th Avenue, which was one block from the hotel. Then DH had his massage, while I read in the hotel bar and waited on him.

After that, DH wanted to do the beach. I'm not a big beach person, but I went out there with him for awhile. I didn't go in the water, I sat on the beach and read my book for maybe 45 minutes or an hour. I then went in because I'd forgotten to pack sunscreen and I didn't want to burn. DH stayed on the beach with his book.

I headed back to our room and filled up the jacuzzi (yep, had our own private one in our room). I found Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on the tv, so I jacuzzied, read, and occasionally paid attention to Harry Potter until DH came in a couple hours later. Then he had a turn in the jacuzzi, and we went to dinner. After dinner, we headed back to 5th Avenue, which was much, much better at night. I bought a small Mexican Amber pin carved in the shape of a butterfly.

Sunday was our trip to Chichen Itza. It was a bloody long bus ride, about three hours each way. We left at 8 am and didn't get back until 8 pm. The tour also took us to a cenote (water filled sinkhole) where you could swim if you wanted. We didn't. Then lunch at a buffet, and finally to Chichen Itza. We spent three hours there, the first two with our tour guide, and then one to look around on our own. I think we saw everything except the sacred cenote there. I really enjoyed the site, but I could have done without the long bus ride! I think my favorite of the buildings was the observatory, which was also the only one you could climb. DH liked seeing the sacred ball court.

When we finally made it back to our hotel, it was past time for dinner. We met a couple of people from our group in the restaurant, and sat with them. After dinner, we headed back to 5th Avenue to get tshirts and a piece of amber for DH. We managed to get the tshirts, but the amber place was closed.

Sunday morning was time to leave. Our shuttle to the airport left at 10:50, which was late enough that we had time to run back and get Rob the amber he wanted, as the place opened at 10. We got his amber, and sat for a few minutes in the hotel VIP Lounge before we had to be in the lobby to catch our shuttle.

We were a bit worried, as check in at the airport took so long, but our flight was delayed 20 minutes, so I even had time to buy DD a doll and DS a ceramic cowboy with a cowboy scene in his tummy before we had to board.
Unfortunately, our connecting flight in Miami was NOT delayed, and retrieving our luggage took so long that we nearly missed the flight. One more minute, and we would have. But we made it, and even touched down in Atlanta early. And today, my dad, who was keeping the kids, brings them home.

Now, I am off to find breakfast, as due to our flight schedule, I haven't had anything other than snacks since breafast yesterday!

Another HD

2007-02-04T10:59:00.000-05:00

elfinlady

Samhain sabbat hanger by The Enchanted Needle. This was an old UFO.

Happy Groundhog Day!

2007-02-02T17:13:00.000-05:00

General Beau Lee did not see his shadow, so spring should be on the way.

Here's my latest finish, Bent Creek's Ground Hog Day! freebie. I've been meaning to stitch it for a few years, and I finally got around to it. That makes 10 finishes without buying any charts (well, a couple of magazines, but they were on my exceptions list), and concludes my challenge. I'm not planning on buying anything until the Nashville Market, though, and I should have at least one more finish by then, so the grand total isn't in yet. :)

elfinlady

Quaker Rabbit finished!

2007-01-31T09:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I finished Quaker Rabbit by The Workbasket. It's stitched on Wood Violet Jobelan with Orange Blossom Waterlilies. Now I have only one more to go to complete my 10 project challenge. Yay!

elfinlady

New dryer, and stitching

2007-01-16T12:42:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted here about my recent woes with major appliances. The dryer for months now has been squeaking. Still drying clothes fine, but squeaking. Started out as a tiny squeak, and escalated into a screech that it made the whole time it was running.

Then, the dishwasher sprang a leak in a hose. Of course, we didn't find out about this until the floor started buckling up. :( The dishwasher turned out to be a quick fix, all it needed was a hose, and it was fine. The floor is not fine, but I guess we'll fix it soon.

DH was pretty sure he knew what was wrong with the dryer, so we bought parts to fix it. $70 of parts later, the thing was a little better, but still screeched. DH just said, "I give up," and told me to buy a new dryer. We were going to get a Maytag Neptune to match the washer we bought back in May, but discovered that Maytag doesn't make that one anymore. So, since Lowes had Whirlpool appliances on sale, I am now the proud owner of a Whirlpool Duet dryer. And I've learned a lesson. Always buy the washer and dryer as a set, even if you think you don't need both.

Stitching Update: I've made some good progress on Isis Sophia. Was a little naughty and started Sue Page's ballerina from issue 45 of Cross Stitch Gold. It will be for DD, of course. I also managed to aquire the Festive issue of A Needle Pulling Thread, which has a Dragon Dreams Dust Bunny ornament in it, so I intend to start (and hopefully finish!) that soon.

I didn't meet all my goals from last January, but I did manage a few of them. And I finished off a couple of UFOs so I'm pretty happy with what I accomplished. Some ideas of what I'd like to do this year:

Finish Isis Sophia
Work on Sue Page Ballerina (ideally this would get finished, but I'm not holding my breath!)
Dust Bunny ornie
Finish Dance of the Summer Solstice (this one is so close to being done it's not funny)
Finish Quaker Bunny
Stitch 2 Quaker Swans, one white, one black
Work on Tradewinds
Do the 2 Tinkerbell kits from Christmas
Finish Blackwork Princess
Work on Mythic 1
Finish Stormbringer

Whew!

2007-01-10T11:41:00.000-05:00

I've been quiet lately because of a combination of busy-ness and lack of an internet connection. The busy has slacked off some, and DH got the internet fixed, so here I am.

I've finished three more projects, which can be seen in my webshots album here.

GaFilk went pretty well. I had a lot of help hauling in the food and sodas this year. I was anxious a bit as a former friend was coming, but she pretty much left me alone. She also managed to make herself the talk of the convention Saturday afternoon, but like Forrest Gump, that's all I'm gonna say about that.

Some of my highlights of the con include having my fuzzy pajama pants petted by Becca Leathers, and making Rob Wynne laugh by telling him Wesley's mommy never told him about sex, and he didn't find out about it until he met Ashley Judd. And no, I don't expect most people to understand that last one. :)

I picked up many cds from Juanita, some replacing ancient tapes. They have already been ripped to my Zune. Likewise the Heather Alexander cds I bought from Michael. I also picked up a few books from Larry and Sally, one of them a Sally recommendation. I'm looking forward to reading it.

I planned pretty well and almost all the food got eaten, so all I had to haul home Sunday afternoon was the equipment and the new year decorations from the opening ceremonies.

Monday I still had the kids, as they didn't go back to school until Tuesday morning, so the day was spent resting and playing with them.

Tuesday I did a lot of running around. Took DH's car in for an oil change, went to the dr for my depo shot, ran by Harry's Farmers Market since they are practically right next to the doctor, and then to the post office to apply for a passport, and put a rush on it. Cancun in Feburary!

Tuesday evening, I received word that a friend whom we had all just seen at GaFilk had passed away suddenly Tuesday morning. Rest in Peace, Dave. You will be missed. I will always treasure the button you gave me last year, and it is on my desk clipped to Irv Koch's kittyhawk.

A Nice Holiday

2006-12-25T20:17:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a nice holiday. Mine was pretty decent, for a change from the last two years.

My mother and her husband visited yesterday, to give the kids their gifts. She gave DS a Spiderman track for hot wheels type cars, which is probably his favorite gift. Spiderman shoots the cars at Doc Ock, and if they hit him just right in the chest, he falls over. DD's gift was a pink and purple leap pad, which she thinks is great.

I was up at 5:30 this morning, just because I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Kids were up at about 5:45, but I convinced them to let DH sleep until just after six. After he was awake, we went downstairs to see the presents.

The kids really cleaned up this year, and they both loved their gifts. DS especially was happy to get Lego Star Wars for his gameboy. DD got Dora's World Adventure, and played the game straight through to the end quickly.

DH got two seasons of Lost on DVD, and a replacement for a cookbook he loaned out and never got back several years ago, among other things.

My loot includes a Zune (microsoft version of an ipod, pretty much), two Tinker Bell cross stitch kits, Dangermouse seasons 1 & 2 dvd set, and several books.

After presents, we went for breakfast at Waffle House. A couple of hours after that my dad and grandmother came up to visit and exchange gifts. They stayed for a few hours, and then headed home.

A little while after they left, I started poking around looking at movie showtimes, and we decided to go see Charlotte's Web. It was much better than I expected it to be. DH liked it, and I was afraid he'd be bored. I think I still like the cartoon version best, but this one is definitely worth seeing, at least in my opinion.

After that, home for supper, and then the kids played until bedtime.

All in all, a very good holiday. Nobody (including me!) had a meltdown, and I think everybody enjoyed the day.

Another Happy Dance

2006-11-26T10:00:00.000-05:00

On Thanksgiving, I finished up Dragon Dreams Illustrative Blackwork Fantasy. It's stitched on Silkweaver's Purple Quartz Jobelan with Amythest Waterlilies.

by elfinlady

Car is fixed again

2006-11-14T13:23:00.000-05:00

It was indeed the starter that was the problem. So now the car is driveable, at least until the next time something goes wrong.

DH and I have decided that this is the last time we're fixing the car, so we are going to start looking around for a decent used car to replace it.

In better news, I have a happy dance. Saturday night I finished up The Workbasket's Quaker Reindeer. It's thier ornament from the 2006 JCS Ornament Issue.

by elfinlady

Not Again!

2006-11-13T21:07:00.000-05:00

I took DS to Cub Scouts tonight, and when we came out afterward my car wouldn't start. It just made sort of a growling noise.

I called DH, and luckily he was home, so he came and picked us up. We aren't sure what's wrong with the car, but we suspect the starter. We do know it will have to be towed. What we are debating now is if it is worth fixing it, or if it's time to junk it. We really can't afford a new car right now, but we can't keep pouring money into this one either. :( And right now DH has a really long commute to work, so me dropping him off and keeping the car isn't an option. Sigh.

I guess it will all work out. We need to talk to my dad and grandmother about it tomorrow, since it is actually my grandmother's car.

Grr, this irritates me

2006-11-10T08:24:00.000-05:00

I was looking over DS's student planner this morning, and signing it, as I am supposed to do every day, since that is how the teachers communicate with the parents. I'd forgotten to look at it for a couple of days, and saw a note that on Wednesday, he didn't have a pencil.

I asked him about it, since he should have at least 8 or 10 pencils at school, if not more. He told me that his mechanical pencil broke, and none of his wooden ones were sharpened. The teacher doesn't let them sharpen pencils during the day because it's annoying. Let me repeat that in case you missed it: THE TEACHER DOESN'T LET THEM SHARPEN PENCILS DURING THE DAY BECAUSE IT'S ANNOYING!

How dumb is that? It is a classroom, pencils will need to be sharpened sometimes. So DS got a note sent home not because he didn't have a pencil, but because he didn't have a sharpened pencil. And why am I even hearing about this? I admit DS is a problem student, and has done some really stupid things in school that needed my attention, but a broken pencil is not something I need to punish him for, or even talk to him about. Pencils break and need to be sharpened, deal with it. I'm not telling him he did wrong for needing to sharpen a pencil, for crying out loud.

When I was in school, if we didn't have a pencil, we borrowed one from another student or the teacher, and life went on. Nobody freaked out if we had to sharpen a pencil in the middle of the day, and none of the teachers felt the need to write notes to our parents about us not having pencils, or paper, or whatever.

I am starting to be frustrated with the school. Like I said, DS can be a problem student, but when he gets in trouble for small stuff like this, and for picking his nose on the bus (yeah, it's gross, but little boys do that), it sort of clouds the times when he does something that does really need to be addressed. I mean, they are giving needing to sharpen a pencil the same status as not having done his homework. Good Grief.

I have contemplated calling the school to complain about this, but I don't know that it would do any good. I have given DS a little pencil sharpener to keep with him, so hopefully that will solve the problem.

Just what I would want my tax dollars spent on...

2006-11-07T15:16:00.000-05:00

Mattresses for Cows

Fifth of November

2006-11-05T20:23:00.000-05:00

Remember remember the 5th of November,
The Gunpowder, Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes Night

Peter Pan and Princess Jasmine

2006-11-01T08:43:00.000-05:00

A Finish, A Finish!

2006-10-13T07:49:00.000-04:00

It seems like so long since I've had a happy dance. Last night I finished up Lost Dragon Sampler by Dragon Dreams. This is for my DD, and is on the Wood Violet Jobelan she picked out. I think I may eventually stitch this again for my DS, and for myself, but not for awhile, LOL!

by elfinlady

I'm not sure what's up next. Maybe I'll work on Illustrative Blackwork Fantasy (this one is nearly done), or one of the Workbasket's Quaker animals, or an ornament from the JCS ornie issue.

Valerie got me!

2006-10-02T15:23:00.000-04:00

Here are the rules:
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they're not any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

Unified Field Theory--Jordin Kare
Broken Goddess--written by Nancy Louise Freeman, sung by Leslie Fish
Darkness--Jordin Kare
Black Widows in the Privy--written by Heather Rose Jones, sung by Julia Ecklar
The Mary Ellen Carter--Stan Rogers
Witch of Westmorland--Written by Archie Fisher, sung by Heather Alexander
March of Cambreadth--Heather Alexander

I'm pretty sure everybody I know has already been tagged, so I'm skipping that part.

Back Home

2006-09-04T09:11:00.000-04:00

We're back from our weekend away. We had a great time in Nashville!

We drove up Saturday afternoon/evening, arriving about 8:30 Central Time.

The next morning, we headed out for a full day of sightseeing. First, we headed for the Parthenon. It was pretty amazing to see from the outside, but the most impressive thing was the statue of Athena. She is 41 feet, 10 inches tall!

Next up was the Adventure Science Center, a science museum geared towards kids. DD and DS loved it. It was all very hands on and fun for them. We spent about an hour and a half there. On the way out, DD got a small stuffed monkey in the gift shop that she carried with her for the rest of the trip. DS got a tiny T Rex skeleton to put together, which has already lost one of it's arms, LOL.

We spent less time at the science center than we expected, so we were early getting to the Thomas event. It was suggested to arrive 1 hour before your train ride started. We had planned to be 2 hours early, and ended up being 3! We arrived around noon, and our train ride was scheduled for 3. It turned out to be a good thing, though, because there was so much to do there. We played in the imagination tent, got temporary tattoos (DD still has her Thomas one), bounced in the bouncy thing, and had a picture taken with Sir Topham Hatt. Then we had lunch. After that, we took a picture with Thomas, did a storytime, and then another storytime. By then, 2 1/2 hours had gone by, and it was time to line up for our train ride. The ride itself was kind of anticlimatic. Actually, it was pretty boring, no nice scenery or anything, and at one point we saw profane graffiti, which I thought they could have cleaned off if they were going to be bringing trainloads of children through! DD enjoyed knowing she was riding behind Thomas, though. After our ride, we hit the gift shop, but didn't buy anything.

Since we had done all the cool stuff before our train ride, afterwards I still had time to run to an LNS. I was a little disappointed since they were out of several patterns that I wanted. Apparently CATS last week had cleaned them out. I did get a few things though, all older. I bought a carousel lion by Douglas Designs, Swan Repose by the Workbasket, Just Nan Butterfly Welcome, and Imaginating You Are What You Eat. I also picked up two skiens of Porcelain Sampler Threads that were on sale. I'll use that for Lizzie Kate's Girls Night Out.

Right next to the LNS was a gyro place, so we had supper there. I was able to get falafel, so that was okay with me. Then back to the hotel. DH and the kids fell asleep pretty quickly, but I sat up for awhile and stitched on my new start (Bad Cris!), which is a Heaven and Earth Designs Quick stitch called Handful. I've never tried to stitch one of these before, so we'll see how I like it.

Sunday morning we left the hotel early to head home. We decided on the spur of the moment to do Ruby Falls and Rock City on our way. I didn't care much for the walking through the cave part of Ruby Falls, but it was worth it to see the falls. I didn't expect to be impressed, but I was. It was totally amazing.

Rock City was okay, the kids really enjoyed the Fairyland Caverns. DH enjoyed the walk, and seeing the rocks and plants. The kids got rock pencils they can take to school and enjoy.

We finally made it home around 7:30 last night. We all enjoyed the trip, but I think we were all equally glad to be home!

Four Shots!

2006-08-29T14:27:00.000-04:00

That's how many DD got, and she was so brave, and didn't cry at all. I was so proud of her. I kept her home from school for the rest of the day in case she had a reaction to the shots, but she seems to be fine.

I never blogged about our trip to Fernbank. We went on August 12, to catch their exhibit on chocolate before it ended. Even DH enjoyed that exhibit, and he had not expected to. We saw how chocolate is made, starting with the cacao pods. We learned about the Mayans and Aztecs using cacao beans as money, and lots of other stuff. There was a little activity area for the kids. DD colored a cacao pod, then opened it up and colored the beans inside. Both kids made a Mayan headband.

I didn't care for the Walk Through Time in Georgia exhibit, which mostly consisted of taxidermied (is that a word?) animals. DD didn't like it either, but DH and DS loved it.

The children's discovery rooms were great, with one for the little kids and one for the older ones. DD got to play chameleon, feed "worms" to baby birds, fish for magnetic fish, and more. In the older kids room, DS and DD did net fishing, and a few other things. We really rushed these rooms, and the exhibit on the five senses as we were in a hurry to finish and get to the planetarium for a show. Since we have a membership, we plan to go back soon and do the third floor much more thouroughly. Probably after they open the exhibit on Ancient Rome at the end of September.

I almost forgot the dinosaurs! Fernbank has Argentinosaurus and Gigantosaurus.

My stitching has been going fairly well, except for Once Upon a Time. Right now, I really don't enjoy working on her, so I'm pulling her out of my rotation. I would love to have her finished, but right now it ain't happenin'. I'm plugging away on Happy Camper for DS as a travel project, and I've started Labyrinth.

Car and Teeth Update: My teeth are all fixed now, no more fillings, crowns, or root canals needed, yay! My car, which as some of you know, has been slowly dying for awhile, has been sort of healed. I discovered Wednesday that my right front tire was shredded. The treads were coming away from the tire. So Thursday it went for a new set of tires. Mechanic advised me that a bearing in the wheel needed replacing, or new tire would be shredded as well. So Friday it went in for that work. I asked them to also check it out to see why it had been stalling out on me at red lights, etc. Well, the check out didn't get done, so they told me to bring it back on the weekend and they'd look at it at no charge. So Sunday, back to the mechanic we went. When I picked up the car late in the afternoon, was told it was only a hose that was disintigrating, and they had replaced it at no charge. :) I was a bit shocked, since I had fully expected to pay for any work.

Now the car no longer pulls to the right, and drives much farther without stalling, but it does still stall out. They did tell me I need to change the spark plugs. I have no idea if that will help, but we're going to change them, and if that doesn't help, back to have them look at the car again.

Friday, we are leaving for Nashville to see the science museum and ride Thomas. I had planned to go to an LNS while there, but I think I've scrapped that plan. We'll spend an extra hour at the science museum instead.

Ebay Woes

2006-08-29T07:54:00.000-04:00

Aaargh! I have used Ebay for 6 years with no problems, and then yesterday, I get two ebay related problems in the same day.

First, a seller I bought a magazine from emailed me asking for more money for postage, since she underestimated how much it would cost. Now, I already paid what she had asked for postage in the auction, and it is against ebay policy for a seller to ask for more money after an auction has ended. So I declined to pay the extra. Hey, I've eaten postage before, when I underestimated it, and if the postage fee in the auction had been set to $6.10 instead of $3.85, I would not have bid. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to pay for the seller's mistake. And is she ever not happy about it!

Also yesterday, I received an unasked for refund from a seller I had bought a book from. The email from Paypal stated that per thier policy, I was being refunded, since the book was backordered. Fine. Then, I get an email from ebay telling me that this seller has filed a dispute with them saying that I never paid for the item. *Bangs Head* I responded to the dispute with the date I paid, and the text of the refund note. I'm not taking a black mark just because the seller wants their listing fees back. I haven't heard anything else about this one yet.

I have more stuff to write, after I take DD to the doctor for her checkup. Later!

I'm Still Alive, Really!

2006-08-17T11:49:00.000-04:00

I just haven't felt much like blogging lately.

The kids are back in school now.

DD's party was okay, she got lots of stuff she wanted.

I went to the dentist this morning for a cleaning. And I have an appointment to get my last three cavities filled, and then my mouth is all fixed up, yay!

I haven't been doing very much stitching lately. I need to get on the ball though. I have several charts (including some I just ordered) that I'd like to work into my rotation, but to do that, I need to finish something. Dance of the Summer Solstice is almost done, and I can probably finish her up this rotation if I actually stitch on her instead of just staring at her all week.

We're going to take a mini vacation Labor Day weekend and head up to Nashville for A Day Out With Thomas. While we're there, I'm going to hit a LNS of course, and we're going to AdventureSci. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'm going to have time to meet up with any Nashville stitchers while I'm there, since my Saturday is booked solid. Hmmm, though, maybe brunch on Sunday would be possible...

Busy, Busy, Busy

2006-07-13T14:25:00.000-04:00

I've been running all over with the kids lately.

Saturday DD and I went to see Hello Kitty at Barnes and Noble.

Sunday we went to Build a Bear. They have a Hello Kitty, which of course DD wanted. It was originally supposed to be an early birthday gift, but DS wanted to make an animal too (I'd thought he was too old to be interested), so I've filed the trip under "fun summer activity" instead.

DD got the Hello Kitty and dressed it in Hello Kitty pajamas and Hello Kitty slippers. It is so cute! DS made a bunny and dressed it in a martial arts outfit. He calls it Tae Kwon Do Bunny. :)

Monday it was back to Barnes and Noble for an author reading and signing with Brad Strickland. He has written some pirate books that DS likes. We got the last in the pirate series, and the first in the new series he's writing, plus DS took his other two pirate books to be autographed. I really enjoyed Mr. Strickland's talk, he had some hilarious stories. He was really great with the kids too.

Tuesday was ballet and irish dance, part of the normal schedule.

Wednesday I went out to finish buying DD's birthday gifts.

That brings us up to today, when I found out that DH's relatives are coming down for DD's birthday, and that will probably necessitate having the party a week earlier than I had planned. As a matter of fact, the party will now probably be July 29, the day of the GSFL GTG. So, I am planning the party to be about 10 am, so I can still make the GTG in the afternoon.

And I had to run out this morning to buy goodie bag stuff, since we are going to have more kids at the party instead of just grandparents. Now I am all set for the party, I just need DH to talk to his relatives and confirm the date for me, and then I can advise my family and order the cake.

Tomorrow I will probably take the kids to pick blueberries at the local pick your own place.

Stitching Status: I'm on the second slot of round 3 of my rotation, Once Upon a Time. It is slow stitching on her, but I am making a little progress. My current "travel project" is Easter Fairy, and she is going pretty quickly. :) My travel project is supposed to be Quaker Rabbit, but my Orange Blossom Waterlilies has been taken by the Borrowers, so that piece is on hold until the new skein I ordered comes in.

Next up is supposed to be Scaredy Cats by Lizzie Kate, but if my threads I ordered come in time, I'm going to replace it with Happy Camper by Raise the Roof Designs, from the current issue of Just Cross Stitch. I hadn't seen the magazine when I planned this round of my rotation, and I want to get this piece stitched for DS to comemorate him going away to camp for the first time. He leaves on Sunday morning to go to Boy Scout camp, and will be home Wednesday afternoon.

I've aquired a new hobby as well. I've started scrapbooking. I've only done three pages so far, but I'm pretty pleased with them. They aren't great art, or terribly creative, but they are prettier than just sticking the photos in an album, and that's all I require. I have plans for a few more pages, but I need to order the papers and things for them.

Good Day Today

2006-07-01T21:18:00.000-04:00

I have finished my back to school shopping, and school doesn't start for another month! I shall not have to fight all the last minute back to school shoppers this year. :)

I bought most of the kids supplies earlier this week, and boy, you would not believe the sheer amount of crayons and glue sticks the school wants a kindergartener to have!

Today, we bought shoes (Stride Rite had a clearance sale whoohoo!), lunch bags, and backpacks. I also got the new shirt DS needs for Cub Scout camp, and the mouthpiece and cup he needs to be on the TKD sparring team. There is more equipment, but the Master advised me to wait and see if he sticks with it before investing in anything expensive.

My Hide and Seek print arrived today too, and I took it to be framed. I'm pretty happy with my choice, and I can't wait to get it back.

Around 5, picked up DH from work and went out to dinner. Afterwards, got a new mouse for my computer (the right click button on mine broke), and picked up a gift to put away for DD's birthday next month.

She has been wanting a gameboy for quite awhile, and we found a bundle of a pink gameboy advance sp, a Disney Princess game, and a Dora the Explorer game. And these are the exact games she has been wanting. So I managed to buy it without her knowing, and her major birthday gift is taken care of! :) I am a little worried that she might have problems playing the games (she will be turning 5), but I doubt Dora the Explorer appeals to kids much older than her, so hopefully it will be easy for her to play. I know she'll be thrilled when she opens it up!

I need to go and grab her party supplies soon. She waffled between having a Barbie party or a Dora the Explorer party, and then suddenly decided that she wanted Hello Kitty. So a Hello Kitty party it will be.

Stitchingwise, I made a lot of progress on Dance of the Summer Solstice in the last week. I'm hoping to finish it next rotation. Last night at TKD, I started the Ants Towel in the current issue of Cross Stitcher. I was hoping to finish it up today, but I spent hardly any time at home, so it will be finished tomorrow. I have all the ants stitched, I just need to backstitch on their little legs and feelers.

Round three of my rotation starts Monday, and I still haven't decided what will replace Firebird. I'll go through my pieces tomorrow and decide. Maybe something small for a quick finish.

Another Happy Dance

2006-06-25T18:56:00.000-04:00

I sat down this weekend and finished up Betty Broomstick by Lizzie Kate. This one has been a UFO since 2001, when it came out. At the GTG I hosted a couple of weeks ago, Kirsten was stitching on a Lizzie Kate design, which inspired me to pull this one back out. I've been using it as a travel project for the last couple of weeks, and it was finally so close to being done that I just sat down and finished it off.

Pic is in my webshots: Betty Broomstick.

Happy Dancing

2006-06-23T20:43:00.000-04:00

I just finished up Firebird by !?Who Knew?!. Picture can be seen here.

Yay, my rotation is working! I've finished something in both rounds so far. I'm almost done with round two, just one more project to work on. I've added a "travel project" into the mix as well. I spend a lot of time sitting at Tae Kwon Do and dance lessons, and most of my rotation projects are too big and complicated to lug along, so I've been taking a small, simple project to work on while away from home.

So, one more week, and then on to round 3. I'm not sure yet what I'll replace Firebird with, I need to give it some thought.

Stitching Slump

2006-05-20T07:52:00.000-04:00

I've been in a stitching slump ever since I finished Triple Goddess. It's not that I don't like the project I'm supposed to be stitching on, I just haven't felt like stitching at all. This is freebie weekend on the Needle and Thread BB, so I think I'll try stitching a freebie to get me going again, and then see if I can pick up with my rotation.

The screen for the snake aquarium did finally arrive undamaged, on the third try.

DD graduated from Pre K. She has a diploma and everything. :) One more week of school left for the kids before the end of the year. Then there's DD's ballet recital.

DD and DS are going to continue with ballet and tae kwon do respectively during the summer. The ballet school offers summer lessons, yay, and tkd was year round anyhow. DS is set to belt test mid june, so hopefully he will move up to green belt from orange. DD is also adding Irish Dance for the summer, and we are planning to continue with it in the fall, so today after ballet lessons we are going to get her Irish dancing shoes.

Not much else going on here at the moment.

A Happy Dance

2006-05-07T08:20:00.000-04:00

My rotation is already working. Last night, I finished up Triple Goddess by Enchanted Needle. There's a pic here. There's a button that goes on it, but I'm not going to attach that until I'm ready to frame it.

Today I'm going to work on Fairy Moon a little for the Mirabilia SAL, and tomorrow Firebird is up. I'm not likely to finish that one this rotation, but probably next time.

The Continuing Saga of the Aquarium Screen

2006-05-03T06:54:00.000-04:00

Well, as y'all know, the company that makes the screen for our snake aquarium was going to send us a new one after UPS busted the first one. Yesterday it occured to me that it had been almost two weeks, and the screen still hadn't arrived. So DH called them up, and found out that the screen had been delivered, but refused, on April 27. Now, I'm the only one at home during the day, and I sure didn't refuse it. Hmm. Well, they decided to try sending the screen to us one more time.

While we were at lunch, we got a call from the customer service person. Seems she'd checked out the returned box, and it was damaged, just like the first one. So we're guessing that UPS returned this one without even delivering it. I guess they marked it refused so they didn't have to say, hey, we screwed up. Again! We aren't terribly happy with UPS at the moment, and I guess the company probably isn't either.

So now we are waiting for the third screen, and we'll see if UPS manages to get this one here undamaged.

As for stitching, I've started a rotation. This is my second week of it, and so far, so good. I have four pieces in the rotation, and I'm stitching on them each for a week at a time, Monday-Friday. Weekends are "free time" to stitch on whatever I feel like, or to participate in SALs. My four pieces are Isis Sophia, Triple Goddess, Firebird, and Dance of the Summer Solstice. This rotation format worked well for me a few years ago, so I am hoping I can make it work again.

It seems to be my week for broken things...

2006-04-19T11:40:00.000-04:00

UPS delivered our new screen lid for our snake aquarium today. Just dropped it on the porch and left instead of ringing the bell like they usually do. I'd seen the truck park in front of my yard, so I went to grab the package, and discovered why the UPS man ran off without ringing. Despite the 4 big red and white FRAGILE stickers on it, the box was bent all up. In fact, it was no longer flat, it was curved! I opened up the box, and sure enough, one side of the screen was smashed all in. No possible way to fix it that I can see.

After debating briefly whether to call UPS or the aquarium company, I decided on the company. There was a little note in the package telling me to call customer service if I had a problem, and this certainly qualified. Also, I think the sender has to make the claim with UPS insurance, though I could be wrong about that. I figured they'd tell me if I needed to call UPS, I needed to order a new screen anyway, and I thought they might like to know UPS is smashing their shipments all to hell.

Apparently I was wrong about that. As soon as I told customer service that UPS smashed up my shipment, she asked, "Why are you calling us?". Um, you sent me a package that didn't arrive in usable condition. I thought you might like to know this. What I actually said was, "I thought the sender had to make a claim on the package. Do I need to call UPS?" Well, the phone person went to speak to her supervisor, and they decided to just send me another screen. But she made sure to tell me that this was UPS's fault. I said that I knew that, and that I was willing to call UPS if I needed too. No, they would just send me a new screen to save me the hassle. Which is fine, but I got the impression that they weren't happy that I called them about this.

I am sure they think I am a awful, demanding customer, but that's okay, 'cause I'm not really impressed with their customer service skills.

Cooled off a bit now

2006-04-18T18:36:00.000-04:00

I've had a few minutes to cool off, and I've decided it's not worth my time to be pissed over this. I shouldn't have asked for the money for the sword, even though Destructo J broke it while misusing it, and it was brand new. As I said though, I wouldn't have asked for reimbursement had I not been asked to replace the old toy gun that DS broke.

I'm not too worried about the situation at the bus stop anymore, I figure if J's mom really wanted to ask for money for the slide, she'd have called me about it. If I do get asked, I'll just explain my point of view, and not part with any cash.

Good things did happen today. I keep meaning to join in on the Walk to Rivendell BB, but life keeps getting in the way. Today I bought a Leslie Sansone walking video, and I really liked it. :) Now, if I can just stay motivated to keep doing it. :)

Now, I am off to a meeting about Cub Scout summer camp. It will be the first time DS goes to an overnight camp!

Really pissed at the neighbors!

2006-04-18T17:15:00.000-04:00

We went to the Ren Fest on Sunday. We had a great time, but unfortunately that's not what this post is about.

While we were there, DS got two wooden swords. Two, so he could play with his friends. I made it clear to DS that the swords were only for hitting together, not for hitting the trees, random things, etc. He says he explained this to J, the neighbor he often plays with. Today he came home with one of the swords broken. J broke it by hitting the ground with it. I sent him back over to ask for the money the sword cost.

Now for the backstory: A couple of years ago, DS and J broke a slide belonging to J's family by hitting it with a baseball bat. We offered to pay a share of replacing the slide, but J's mom wasn't too concerned about it. Nobody ever let us know how much the slide would cost to replace, or tell us how much we'd owe towards it. Note that we OFFERED TO PAY, and were not taken up on it. Another time, during play, a toy gun belonging to J was broken, and we were asked to pay for it, which I did.

I would not have thought of asking for the sword replaced, had I not been asked to pay for the toy gun, which wasn't even new, as the sword was. And J's mom sent DS home to tell me that we hadn't paid for the slide yet! So I am pretty well pissed off right now. And I have to see this kid and his dad at the bus stop in the morning. If dad asks me for money for the slide, I'll probably tell him exactly what I think. And I am not forking over money for a slide at this late date. Grr.