That flew by

My family came to visit for Christmas and before I knew it they were gone again. I can't believe how fast that went by! My mom & dad got here last Friday. My brother was already here, he came before they did. I had a really good time showing him around before they came. Just like me, he loves the historical part of downtown Fredericksburg. I was really excited when I woke up Friday morning because I knew it would only be a matter of hours before I'd get to hug my mama. I was thrilled when I called them that morning to find out that they had left nearly 2 hours earlier than they had planned. I waited for her on the front porch and I know on the inside I was jumping up and down like a 5 year old. I didn't realize just how much I did miss her until I saw her. Funny how that is really. I don't think you really know how much you love someone until there not around as much or at all. When she got here she had furbabies in tow. One of which loved to be in this position most of the time. Before they got here I knew my mom had a lot of shopping to do. It hadn't even been 2 weeks since she had moved and she had a list of things she wanted to buy for her new house. She was here a whole hour before we headed out. I didn't think I was ever gonna get her out of Burlington Coat Factory. Geez! That woman can spend with the best of them! LOL! After we finally left there, we headed for the mall where we spent the next 2-3 hours. The mall we had back in Texas was rather small and seriously lacking so she was really fascinated with this one. It's REALLY large and for whatever reason, they're expanding. They'd better print up maps when they do. If it gets any bigger I might need one. We got back home pretty late and made our plan for the next day. Saturday morning we got up and headed over to Super Target. She loves Target and had never been in a Super Target. Once I got her in, I realized I might need some horses to pull her back out. After 2 hours I pointed out that if we spent too much more time in Target then we might not be able to go downtown. That got her attention quick so off we went. I should have been spending more time watching the road while I was driving but couldn't help paying more attention to her face when she saw all the things I've tried to describe to her on the phone. When we got downtown and she saw all of those shops and I saw how thrilled she was I knew we'd be there a while. We went to several shops but her 2 favorites were the Fudge Factory and Everything Cross Stitch (Me too!!). When we went to the stitching shop we noticed a sign that said all of the clearance merchandise was now 75% off. We were there a reeeeally long time. Neither one of us tried to hurry the other along there...lol. We both left with some really great goodies and I'm thinking maybe I should go back..lol. After we left we headed over to the Confederate Cemetery. She'd never been to anything like it and was really wanting to go. After we left there she wanted to stop back by Burlington's to pick up something she saw the day before. After that we stopped by the market to pick everything up for Christmas dinner. We had our dinner on Christmas Eve since they had to leave on Christmas day. We brought everything home and unloaded it. Stayed for about and hour and a half and left again. This time I took her to Central Park since we hadn't been yet. I knew she was gonna love it there! You can find just about anything you want in Central Park. We got home late again but when we did we found some time to make some sugar cookies. On Sunday we had a lot of presents to wrap so we did that. My mom wanted to go out again when we were done. I felt bad that Mike and the kids hadn't gone with us before so they came this time. My dad had to go back to WV for a day because he had to work. My brother went with him to keep him company. We went to eat lunch, then she wanted to go back downtown. We did that and then she wanted to go back to Central Park. After that we came back home and she made me some yummy chicken and dumplins for dinner. YUMMY! My dad and brother got back late that night. On Monday morning we got up and starting preparing things for dinner. After my Thanksgiving adventure, I was SO happy that she was there to help. Everything was really yummy and now I've decided if she can't come to me for the holidays, then I'm going to her :). That night we opened our gifts. As hard as I tried, I just couldn't seem to get that angel finished that I started to stitch for her. I really felt bad because I always have an angel for her for Christmas. I told her I had it, it would just be a little late. I did have a framed piece I stitched for her though. It's a piece from Blackbird's Peppermint & Holly book called Dear Mother. Cassie had a stitched gift for her too. She stitched a little Lizzie Kate piece. She did the stitching and I did the finishing for her. I hated for the night to be over because I knew they were leaving in the morning. Santa came and they watched them play with their goodies for a while, then off they went. I hated for her to go but at least she's only a 4.5 hour drive now. I can't wait until we get to go see them. There's a ski resort nearby and I'm looking forward to taking the kids sledding and tubing. They got a couple of Target gift cards for Christmas so yesterday I took them to buy snow suits and other snow gear. The first 3 day weekend they have from school after Winter break, I'm taking them up there. I think there's one coming up in a few weeks. We'll probably spend a lot of school holidays up there. I'd better go. This turned out a lot longer than I planned. Mike's mom is coming on Saturday so I've got a lot to do. She's flying in to Reagan so we'll probably spend a nice portion of the day in D.C. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday :)

I love my mail man

He left a fantastic box on my front porch today. I got really excited when I saw the return address. It was from my good stitching buddy, Rachel. I knew when I saw that the package was from her that there would probably be some yummy goodies inside. I was right!

Rachel makes the bestest candy in the whole world! Inside the box was a pretty tin filled with "oh I so want to eat the entire box of you" yummy candy! She made a nice bag of brittle AND my favorites...her yummy yummy caramels! I was thinking while I was eating (LOL!) that Rachel could very well be one of the most talented people I know. She has 2 jobs, she's a fantastic candy maker, baker, cook, cross stitcher, jewelry maker, knitter, card maker, I know there's more...lol. In fact, I'd be surprised if there was something Rachel couldn't do...lol. She's a really great pal and I'm glad she's one of mine. Merry Christmas, Rachel!!

Everything's good here, we're getting ready for my parents to arrive on Friday. My brother's visiting and will be here until Christmas Day when he'll go back with my parents. I'm planning to take him in to downtown Fredericksburg tomorrow. He still has some Christmas shopping to do so we'll be doing that as well. I'm SO glad that my family is on my side of the country now! Hopefully I'll have time to pop in every now and then while they're here. If not, we hope you all have a very Merry Christmas! I know I will cause I'll be with my Mama!

My two are anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival. Me too, I wrote him a note the other day and left it on the kitchen table telling him I want new floors for Christmas. I asked Cassie to give it to Mike to mail for me. LOL!

Counting down....

The days until I get to see my mom! Only 6! YAY! I can't believe it's been over 2 months since I've seen her. I never would've thought I'd be happy that she now lives 4 hours from me. It's funny how when you've had the same routine for most of your life that when something big changes you wonder how you'll get through it. If you would've asked me 2 years ago if I thought I'd ever live away from my family I would've told you no. If you would've told me my parents would live 4 hours away from me some day, I would've told you it was too far. My mother would've said the same thing. After 2 months of being 23 hours apart, those 4 hours seem like nothing. I can get to her within hours now if I need to. I feel a lot better now that they've moved. I've never had to separate myself from anyone really so that move was extremely hard. For a while I've felt pretty alone up here but I'm happy to say that I'm starting to not feel like that so much any more. My brother's on his way to see me and then my parents will get here on Friday. They'll stay until Christmas Day and then they'll have to head back in the afternoon. I can't wait till they get here. I have so many things that I want to show my mom. Mike's mom will be flying in to visit for a bit on Dec.29th.

I've had a really busy week. I had planned on doing a lot of Christmas shopping while Cassie and I were in New York. Since we didn't I had to do it all this week. I'm telling you, I spent a good 3 hours wrapping gifts yesterday. I'm SO glad that it's done. It seemed to be never ending this year. I'm sure it's just me. I'm having a hard time getting in the Christmassy mood. I'm used to doing a lot of baking and shopping with my mom around the holidays. I thought about her a lot while I was out by myself this week. I'm looking forward to doing some shopping with her next weekend. I don't really have anything left to buy but I know she she does. Hopefully the weather will be good. It seems like every time my dad comes to visit he brings the rain with him. I don't mind the rain but I hope he leaves the ice and snow in West Virginia. They live up in the mountains so they seem to get a lot of it. I can't wait to take the kids up there. We'll definately be doing a lot of sledding, tubing, ect....

I'm off....I'm stitching something for my mom for Christmas and I really must get it done :).

I know you've been wondering

Several people have emailed me asking how our trip to New York City went. I guess I should've posted before now but here's the thing....I was taught if I didn't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all. I know there are a lot of NYC lovers out there, unfortunately I'm not one of them. I'm really disappointed to say that! I really like big cities! At first I thought I'd blame it on the time of year that we went, but I honestly am not sure that I'd like it much any other time either. I know a few people who have been and said they loved it but I have to wonder if they experienced it like we did. I mean, did they actually walk along the streets of NYC?? My first (and BIGGEST!!) mistake was not listening to my friends who told me to take a cab and not the subway. Lesson learned. If you ever go in to NYC DON'T take the subway. Frankly, I'm surprised we made it out alive. We took it once and footed our way the rest of the time. If we would've tried taking a cab back, we would've missed our bus. That traffic was just not moving. I'm not gonna re-live the whole day, we'll just talk about the good stuff. We headed over to Rockafellar Center so Cassie could see the Christmas Tree. We were both really surprised when we got there. They make it look a LOT bigger on TV than it actually is in person. Don't get me wrong, it's big. Just not as big as it looked on TV when they lit it. After that we crossed the way over to the window at Studio 1A where they tape the Today Show. That was REALLY neat! I've been a big fan for a long time and loved gazing in the windows. Too bad it wasn't a week day, then maybe I could've gotten a glimpse of Ann or Matt :). After we left there, we crossed back over to get our tickets for the NBC Studio tour. The tour lasted about an hour and was pretty neat. I've been in studios before and mostly went so Cassie could see. We got to go in to the studio where they tape Saturday Night Live and then the studio where they tape Late Night with Conan Obrien. Boy, is that studio small! The stage is tiny...I was really surprised. They seem to make everything look bigger on TV. Honestly, that pretty much sums up our fun for the day. We didn't do any shopping because we couldn't. Most places we tried to go to had a very long wait to get in. I guess we could have bought some souvenirs at those little souvenir stands. We don't love NYC though so we just kept on walking...lol. We did see the Empire State Building, Radio City Music Hall, went in to the Trump Tower, walked down 5th Ave., and back up Broadway. Although we didn't have as great of a time as we had hoped, I'm still glad we went. We got to spend the entire day alone together. Since I was a little girl I've always wondered what New York City is like. Now I know and neither Cassie or I have any desire to go back...lol. There were SO many people there that everyone was smushed together on the sidewalk scurrying along like a pack of penguins. I've never seen anything like it and hope I never do again. You remember all those times I said that one of these days I'm going to Macy's Thanksgiving parade and to the New Year's Eve bash in Times Square? Scratch that.....that's not ever gonna happen...lol. I can definately mark NYC off of my list of places to go. It's just way too much for me.

Off to New York!

Cassie and I are getting ready for our little outing to New York City tomorrow. She's SO excited!! We've got her backpack all packed up and ready to go. Our tentative plan is to sleep on the bus so we'll be ready to hit the streets when we get there. The bus will drop us off at Macy's in Herald Square and then we're heading for Rockafellar Center where we have tickets for the 1:45 tour of NBC Studios! I'm REALLY excited about that! Afterwards we plan to roam around and find the Christmas Tree. After we've finished up in Rockafellar Center we hope to head up to Times Square and browse around at FAO Schwarz, and I do emphasize browse...lol. We have some other things on our list but we'll see how much time we have before we plan on anything else. I've got my camera batteries charging so we'll be sure to take lots of pics :).

I'm also excited to report that my parents house is packed up in a moving truck and everyone is is relocating as we speak to West Virginia! They should arrive on Sunday. I hope to see her next weekend, if not then definately the weekend after that.

You kids play nice! When I get back I'll have lots of things to tell, I'm sure :)

Fiiiiinally finished

I finished up all of those ornaments that I was finishing for someone today! YAY!! Some of them took a little longer than I thought. I like finishing, I just hope I don't get another batch this big. Of course I like the money but finishing 17 in such a short amount of time wasn't the easiest of things. Aren't they great? I LOVE the 12 Days of Christmas ornies from The Prairie Schooler. Those Charland snowflakes turned out really pretty, HOWEVER whoever painted the berries on the snowflakes (or at least these 3) didn't do a very good job, IMO. She stitched these on the exact fabric the chart called for and I even made the circles smaller than they said to, and it still covered the berries up. It looked to me like someone was in a really big hurry when they painted the berries on the snowflakes. They definately don't look the same finished up as they do in the magazine, even though the directions were followed. Even before I added the cording (which is very small) you still couldn't see them. I added red pins to where the berries were supposed to be and I think they look really pretty. In fact, I like the pins better than the painted on berries. The good thing about finishing this large haul of ornies is that I'll be able to use that money when Cassie and I go to New York City on Saturday :). Speaking of that...

I think our first stop on Saturday is going to be the NBC Experience Store. I really want to go on that Studio tour so as long as we are able, we're going! I'm REALLY excited about that so hopefully it'll work out :).

I'm off already. Mike only works untill 11 tomorrow so after I take the kids to school I've got to drive to D.C. to get him. I should get there early but that's fine with me...it gives me time to explore :). Let's just keep our fingers crossed that with my GPS I'll make it there ok. Of course I have to take I-95 to get there....right now that's one of my least favorite places to be. You have to experience it to fully understand...lol. Did I mention there's a snow advisory out for that area tomorrow? LOL.

Hum de dum....

I would have loved to have posted on Monday, however our modem went out and the Comcast people weren't in too big of a hurry to fix it. Boy, rocket scientists they are. I was on the phone for nearly an hour with a woman who said she was nearly positive we needed a new modem. It took a couple of days for them to get here. When they finally did, it took 4 techs and 3 hours for them to figure out it needed a new modem. Something's just not right about that. Especially since I told the brainiacs as soon as the first one arrived that the woman said it was probably the modem. It even said it on his work order. Speaking of geniuses....that brings to my trip to Hell-Mart the other day. I had to run in to get dog food and decided to swing by the fabric dept. to see if they had any cute Christmas prints. I found a really cute one of some little snowman faces and thought I'd get a bit of it to use for ornaments. I take the fabric to the counter and as for a 1/4 yard of it. The woman looked at me perplexed for a bit and after a long pause asked me to show her were 1/4 was on the measuring stick. Are you kidding me?! Maybe I should have cut it. Where do they find these people?!

It's been a while since I posted, not because I didn't want to but because my modem wasn't happy and wouldn't let me get online. I had noticed before it quit that it was moving reeeeeally sllllllllowly. I'll try to recap the week right quick.

My birthday was fairly good. The first half was great but I spent part of the afternoon in urgent care with Joshua. He ended up getting a really bad ear infection, poor thing. I hate it when he gets those. I did make it to both stitching shops to spend my gift certificates before that when he was feeling ok. I know this is long but there are some who are interested so here's the list of goodies I came home with:

Here's what I got from the GC my best friend got me:
Just Nan- Merry Old Elf
Blackbird- Easter Parade (I LOVE that bunny!)
Blackbird- Home of the Brave
JBW- Merry Miniatures I
A pair of stork tweezers...I've wanted a pair of these for a long time
4 skeins of Gast

Cassie was with me so I got her a couple of things too...a little kit of a cat with a bird on it's head and a little chart called Washington D.C. Christmas.

Here's what I got with the GC from Juli, Marilynne, and Ming-
3 skeins of Weeks
4 skeins of Gast
32 ct. Lambswool linen 32 ct. Belfast linen
32 ct. Ivory linen
32 ct. Antique White Belfast
32 ct. Antique Tan linen
JBW- Holiday Ornamentals
JBW- Bless the USA
Samplers & Such Quaker Mini Treats
The Prairie Schooler- Garden Gloves
The Prairie Schooler- D*E*F
Blackbird Designs- Souvenirs of Summer...I've been wanting this book for a while. And another chart for Cassie...a map of Washington D.C.

Pretty great haul, huh?! I would be stitching on something from my new loot now but I've been busy busy doing some finishing this week. When I went in to the shop, Celeste handed me a piece of paper with a woman's name and number on it. She said she wanted me to finish some ornaments for her so I gave her a buzz. She took her goodies to the shop and I picked them up. I knew she had several but I was surprised to find 17. WOW. That's a lot...lol. I've spent a nice portion of the week working on them. I'm not too far from being done. I was hoping to be done tomorrow but it might be Saturday. Cassie and I are going to New York City in just over a week and I'd love to have the $$ from finishing these ornies for some Christmas shopping :). Next time she asks me to finish ornies for her I should probably ask her how many...lol.

I could've done without that

One thing that I didn't care to hear on Thanksgiving was gunfire. I know deer hunting season just started but it never occured to me that people would be hunting in the forest behind us. I'm certain that they weren't close to the houses but every time I heard a shot it sounded like it was right outside our door. I was talking to my mother on the phone and she could even here it. Apparently hunting is a popular thing to do on Thanksgiving because we sure heard a lot of gunfire. That was disturbing...lol. Thankfully it stopped before we had dinner. Speaking of Thanksgiving dinner.....

This was the first time I've ever cooked a Thanksgiving dinner. Was I excited to do so? Pffffttt...NO! I love to cook but I do not enjoy cooking poultry. Nor do I enjoy cooking 20 different things to go with the blasted turkey that I won't even be eating. I've never been a fan of turkey and always chose the ham over it. If there's no ham available, then I just load up on sides. Everyone else was excited though and this was the first year that it's only been the 4 of us so I sucked up and here's what was on our menu: turkey, dressing, ham, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, peas, crushed cranberries and raspberries, glazed apples, boiled eggs, dinner rolls, and apple pie. Everything came out really well thanks to my unlimited long distance plan. I called my mother and she helped with everything as I was doing it...lol. It's a good thing she reminded me to pull that junk out of the turkey because I'm sure I would have forgotten it. I really hope that was a one time thing and that we'll be with my parents for every other Thanksgiving. I really missed my mom's cooking yesterday.

We ate an early dinner and I wanted to get the day over with because I found myself really missing my family and friends. I have been missing them a lot but missed them a lot more yesterday. To pass the time I decided to pull out our Christmas things so we put up our tree. The kids love it and now I don't have to listen to them ask me every day when we're gonna do it. I feel like such a scrooge this year. This is the first time in about 20 years that I didn't get to go shopping with my mom the day after Thanksgiving. I'm trying not to sulk in it and be thankful that I have a mom that I can see. Maybe not as often as I want but better some than not at all.

A couple of days ago Joshua lost another tooth. This was one of his top front teeth so now he's a little snaggle tooth.

Tomorrow's my birthday and normally I don't get to overly excited about it. I am excited this time though because I've received 2 large gift certificates for 2 different needlework shops that I'll be spending. One of them is in Alexandria and I'm looking forward to making the trip. We may head in to D.C. afterwards depending on if I take all day or not in the shop. I NEVER spend large amounts in my shopping trips to buy stitching goodies so I'm really looking forward to it :). In fact, I must go so I can make my list :).

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know I'm a few hours early, but close enough. I'm trying to figure out where the past week went. It seems like the entire thing just flew by. I didn't realize it had been a whole week since I posted....boy do I have a lot of catching up to do. Let's start with last Saturday.....

I had the honor of meeting one of my online stitching friends! Her name is Laura and she lives in Richmond. Richmond is only about 55 miles from here so I'm hoping to get to see her often. I met her at Everything Cross Stitch in Downtown Fredericksburg. Those are my new stomping grounds so if there's ever a time you can't find me, check in the Historical District...I'm bound to be there somewhere or close by...lol. We spent quite a while in the shop and we both did a bit of shopping. Afterwards, we went to her car to take the goodies she purchased. When we got there she said she had something for me. She pulled out a box that had the prettiest little birthday cake in it! I REALLY appreciated that cake! My mother brings me one on my birthday every year and this will be the first one she's not able to. Laura had remembered me posting this before so she brought one to me. It was incredibly sweet and really meant a lot to me. Thanks again, Laura! We visited several little shop while we were there and had lunch at a nice little Italian Restaurant. After we ate lunch we went to that vintage style candy store that I've spoken of before. We got ourselves a piece of fudge and sat outside and talked until it was time to go back home. We had a really good day and I'm looking forward to doing it again :).

Speaking of my birthday, I've gotten some really great gifts in the mail from friends the past couple of days. 3 of my stitching friends from Canada all chipped in and got me a really generous gift certificate for that fabulous needlework shop in Alexandria called "In Stitches". Mike asked me at the beginning of the week what I wanted to do on my birthday and I told him I couldn't think of anything. Now I know one thing I'll be doing is going to that shop to spend my gift certificate! Thanks again for the great gift, girls! I really appreciate it and I'll be sure to post a pic of my haul when I get back :). Speaking of gift certificates.....

I received another package in the mail today from my best friend, Nealy. Inside the package was yet another, FANTASTIC gift certificate! This one is for Everything Cross Stitch aka: my new stomping grounds...lol. She added a note saying that Celeste said if I come in on my birthday I'll get an extra 20% off. My new plan...we're going downtown to Everything Cross Stitch on Saturday and THEN we're driving to In Stitches in Alexandria LOL! Why spend so much time at 2 shops you ask? Well, I can think of 3 good reasons:

1. If I go to Everything Cross Stitch on Sat. I get an extra 20% off

2. In Stitches is having an after Thanksgiving sale where everything there is 20% off

3. It's my b-day and I can do whatever I want, and what I want is to spend the entire day at 2 needlework shops. I bet that's the last time Mike asks me what I want to do LOL!!

Back to my package from my best friend, in addition to the wonderful gift certificate she sent (thanks buddy!) she also sent me something else that made me cry for a nice little bit. I miss her SO much! She lost her grandmother last month in a terrible car accident. In the card that she sent me she said that she and her cousins were going through her grandmother's jewelry picking out what they each wanted. She came across a bracelet of her Momom's and said that she wanted me to have it. It's a beautiful bracelet and is one of the most special gifts that anyone's ever given me. Thank you my friend, I'll treasure it always.

I've been trying to get myself out of the house and in to some things where I can meet some new friends. I have a few things lined up but did find one thing that interested me so off I went. I joined the Kenmore Stiching Guild and went to my first meeting yesterday. They meet at Kenmore Plantation on the third Tuesday of every month. I'll be doing some volunteering there every now and again. There's going to be a needlework exhibit and competition in May and I'm really looking forward to that. Not only will I get to participate in running the whole thing, I'll also be stitching some pieces to sell in the gift shop. There are pieces that have been designed specifically for this. The money that is raised from the sale of the pieces will go to support the George Washington Fredericksburg Foundation. My goal is to stitch one a week. They're smallish pieces so this should be pretty doable. I really love history and love the fact that I'm right smack in the middle of all of this stuff. I can't wait to see the Christmas Trees in both New York City and in D.C. this year. Who would've thought I'd ever see them at all.....

Yesterday Joshua had a Thanksgiving feast at school. He was just SO cute!!! I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom...look at that face! Don't those big baby blues just make your heart melt?! I know they sure do mine..I think he knows that too...lol.

My forest is no longer green. It's been raining leaves for days. Can you believe a month ago these trees were green? They sure are pretty! I really do need to get a rake. I nearly lost my little dogs in them...lol.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope it goes by fast. This is my first Thanksgiving without any family and I've found myself feeling quite blue about that. I am however looking forward to my big shopping trips for stitching goodies on Saturday :).

Decisions Decisions

The house we have here in Virginia is nearly twice the size of the house we had in Texas. It's definately roomy and I don't have near enough to fill it up. Right now most of the lower level is pretty empty. I have a lot of ideas about what I might want to do with each of the rooms down here but I keep changing my mind from one thing to another. We need new floors down here but we're gonna have to wait on those for a while. I want to have new carpet put down in our bedroom and the little room off of our bedroom and then a wood laminate put down in the rest of the rooms down here. I'd really like to have wood floors down here but they're SO expensive. We had a wood laminate put down in our first house and I liked it. I didn't like taking care of it but it was pretty. You don't want to know what's on the floors down here now...uggghhhhh. I don't really want to go buy any furniture for down here until we finish painting and get the floors done. There isn't a thing I could pick out that would match what's down here now and I wouldn't want to anyway. It's just SO ugly! I'm really funny about things not matching...it drives me nuts. Now if I had an extra $10,000.00 laying around, I could make it look fabulous down here...lol. I love the upstairs and can't stand the downstairs. I think it'll look much better when we (Mike) finish painting. So long as the weather cooperates tomorrow I'm on a hunt for a few sets of new curtains and new bedding for our bed. It's supposed to get cold tomorrow and it's supposed to rain all day. I don't mind going out in the rain but I do mind getting on I-95 in it. I-95 is a very scary place to be....lol. I really should make my way to a grocery store too. It's looking kind of bare in there. My favorite place to grocery shop is about 20 minutes away. There is a Hell-Mart about 5 miles away but you'd have to drag me in kicking and screaming. You have no idea how much I dislike that store. There's one about 20 minutes away that's not near as bad. I love the Super Target here and prefer to shop there where it's not as busy and the people who work and shop there are semi friendly.

Yesterday was my best friend's birthday. I hope you had a fantastic day, pal! I'm bummed that I'm not there, but you know my heart is always with you. I stitched a piece for her for her birthday from Black Bird Designs. It's called Forget Me Not and is from their Tokens of Friendship book. I made it in to a flat fold for her. I really miss her....and the rest of my friends and family. Honestly though, that's really all I miss. I love the east coast...I just wish I could've brought everyone with me. The good news is I'm expecting lots of visitors. Bummer though that my mom won't be here for my birthday. Every year she pops over bright and early with a pretty store bought birthday cake. I don't ask for much for my birthday but I do want a cake. I don't think anyone should go without having a cake for their birthday. It doesn't matter if it's homemade or store bought but everyone needs a cake.

And now she's 10

WOW! It seems like I just had her yesterday! Where does the time go? If you would've asked me 2 years ago wher I'd be today, I certainly wouldn't have told you here. Since we've only been here a short time and she hasn't had a chance to really make any friends, we had our own little party for her. It lasted most of the weekend really. I've noticed that about birthdays around here. We rarely ever celebrate in just one day. We celebrate them over several days. Our birthday festivities started with a day trip to D.C. on Saturday.

Not my most brilliant idea. UGGGHHHH! My head hurts just thinking about it. Ya know how every now and then you get an idea in your head which may not be the best idea? It's then that you need your friends to step in and tell you it might not be the most brilliant thing you've ever come up with. Well, I'm sad to say you guys failed me this time! LOL!!! It completely slipped my mind that this was Veterans Day weekend! I remebered though when we were passing by the US Capitol and nearly every street in the entire area was closed to traffic. Only thing was it was too late to turn back LOL! It took over an hour and a half to find a place to park but once we did everything was really great. Security certainly was tight though. First, we took the kids to the National Aquarium. They really liked it. I liked it ok, but it wasn't really what I was expecting. I thought there would be more to see and some more interesting things as well. We did get to meet a couple of little alligators named Crunchy and Munchy though. After that, we headed out and walked around the Monument. I was supposed to get tickets ahead of time for us to go up to the top of it but it completely slipped my mind. Of course by the time we got there they were all gone. Oh well...we'll catch it next time. If any of you ever plan on visiting the D.C. area, you'd better plan on staying a good week. There are so many things to do and see. Cassie also wanted to go to the National Museum of Natural History. That was fine with me until we got there and I realized that every other tourist in D.C. was in there too. Trying to keep warm I presume. There was enough body heat in that place to start a fire. We did a walk through of everything and spent a little extra time looking at the gems since that was her favorite part. **Note to self** Never ever ever go back to D.C. on Veterans Day weekend, Memorial Day weekend, or the 4th of July. Ya just wouldn't believe it...it was madness I tell ya...lol. We did have a lot of fun though and I really do love walking around in the middle of D.C.

Cassie has already opened up her b-day presents. I made a not for her saying that I'm taking her to New York City on the 8th of next month and she's SO excited! Me too!! I can't hardly wait :)

Now we have earrings

Cassie was pretty set on getting her ears pierced today so we headed down to the mall after school. Now she has pretty little sparkly multi-colored flowers in her ears. It wasn't near as bad as she thought it would be. I think it hurt her dad more than it hurt her...lol. She loves them and can't wait until her 6 weeks is up so she can go earring shopping.

I went back to the horrid DMV this morning to get a Virginia Driver's license. I actually went twice. The first time I walked in and right back out because there were no empty seats and the line was out the door. The second time I went I still had to wait well over an hour. According to the people around me, that's not a long wait at all and it's far worse on Saturdays and Mondays. It's done anyway and I'm really glad. They kept my TX license and it didn't even occur to me until I left that they didn't give it back. I can't imagine what they'd need it ofr. Back in TX when you go to get your new license or to get one renewed they print out a temporary license for you on a piece of thick white paper. Here you wait about 10 minutes and they have the real deal for ya...no waiting. I was really surprised that I got it today. I figured I'd have to wait 4-6 weeks for it.

After I left the DMV I headed over to a little shop called Homespun Elegance that I had been wanting to go to. What a neat little shop that was! I got to meet Sandra Sullivan which was a pleasure. I thought she was a really nice lady, as was the other lady working in the shop. I believe her name was Kathy. She was really sweet. They both invited me to their open house this weekend and Kathy even invited me to church. They had a lot of neat little things in that shop and I plan on going back very soon to pick up a few little things for Christmas gifts. Sandra told me that they're planning to have a punchneedle class as well as a needle felting class in the spring. I'm really looking forward to going to those. I'm especially curious about needle felting.

I'd better head off and get busy. We're spending the day in D.C. tomorrow and I really don't like coming back home to a messy house so I need to do a bit of tidying up. I hope you all have a super weekend!!

It's a go!

I asked Mike this morning if Cassie and I could go on that day trip to New York City on the 8th of next month and he said yes! YAY! I'm SO excited!! I've always wanted to go and am thrilled that I'm doing it with Cassie. After Missy posted that she went on a trip similar with her mom and still remembers it, I knew I really needed to take her. Not just for her but for me too. I can't wait to see the city all decked out for Christmas! I'm so glad I went to make our reservations today. When I got there, there were only 4 spots left. We'll be leaving at 5 a.m. on the 8th and should be back about midnight that night. I haven't told her that we're going yet. I'm gonna write her a letter and give it to her on her birthday saying that we're going and when. I'm gonna tie a little bow around it and give it to her. She's gonna be SO thrilled!!! I can't wait to see that Christmas tree in Rockefellar Center. I know I'll be taking tons of pics while we're there.

I tell ya, they don't make it easy for ya to get a new license here! Going to the DMV here is like a nightmare! I called ahead of time to see what all I needed before I went. Ok...my birth certificate, SS card, marriage license (what the?!), and proof of residence. After I wait in line for 30 minutes just to get my number for the next line, the grouch working behind the desk informed me that she could not accept the birth certificate I brought. It was one of those the give you at the hospital with the footprints and such..I didn't take the original because it's in a very fragile state and is falling apart...I've used the other my entire life in Texas with no problems. Of course I'm playing a whole other ballgame up here. Nothing seems to be easy. Ok fine. She then said that my proof of residence won't do. Why the heck not?! It's a water bill. Yes, a water bill that only has Mike's name on it. So. You have our marriage license right in front of ya proving we're married. Nope...won't do. So now I have to go back tomorrow. But first I have to find a proof of residence with my name on it. It looks like when Mike set everything up here he only did it in his name. I'm really doubting they'll accept proof from a piece of mail from one of my beloved stitching friends or from that package I received today from an ebay win...lol! Funny thing is, Mike thinks he's going tomorrow too. Nope....well, you can but you won't be leaving with a license. He doesn't have his original birth certificate so he's gonna have to send off for it. He'll be really happy to hear that. LOL! So I figure while I'm there I'll go ahead and register our vehicles. Get this...I had everything I needed except for the mileage on Mike's car so they wouldn't let me do it. Hmmmph. Hopefully I can get it all done tomorrow.

BRRRR!!!!!

I guess it wouldn't seem like it's that cold to some of you, especially those of you who have spent the last couple of days having snowball fights but I'm freezing my bum off! My Texas blood is not used to this..let's see.....it's 32 degrees! I've just realized that I really need to see about getting some cold weather clothes. My jeans and short sleeved shirts here just aren't cutting it. Nor are my thin little short sleeved jammies. I need fire...I can't believe there's no fireplace in this big house.


I really should be in bed but this is the first opportunity I've had to spend much time on here the past week. My dad's visiting again and has been here since last Friday, yay! We've spent a lot of time doing fun things. On Saturday we went to a fall festival right down the road and had a really good time. The kids got to ride horses, play games, and we even got to go on a hayride. It was our first one and the kids thought it was really cool. Today my dad and I spent most of the day out shopping while the kids were at school. Cassie's 10th birthday is on Monday and I had a couple more things to pick up for her. We also did a bit of Christmas shopping which was really nice. We both found things we wanted to get the kids and I figured they's probably be hard to find if I waited until all the other Christmas shoppers got out and about. We had a really good day and it was nice to have someone to do something with instead of going alone. Speaking of Cassie's birthday, when we asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday she said she wanted to go back to D.C. That's pretty easy to accomodate so we'll be going back this Saturday. Our first order of business is to go to the National Aquarium and our second is to go to the National Museum of Natural History. She also told me she wants to get her ears pierced for her birthday. Perfectly fine with me, I mean she will be 10. Mike's not too thrilled about it and has tried to talk her out of it. Not gonna happen though, she's pretty set on it. More so since we went to the mall the other day and she saw a pair of Hannah Montana earrings that she's dying to have. We'll probably make the trip back to the mall for her big event either Friday after school or Sunday afternoon. Mike said if she does get them pierced not to tell him because he doesn't wanna know. Ok, I won't tell ya...I'll let ya see for yourself when she's prancing around with those Hannah Montana hoops sparkling in the sunlight...LOL!
OHHHH!! Guess what?! My mom called my dad this evening and someone made an offer on their house and they accepted it! YAY!! So long as everything goes through, my mom and brother will be leaving Texas for West Virginia on Dec. 7th. I'm SO happy that I'll be spending Christmas with my family. I'm not sure yet if they'll be coming here or if we'll be going there. I don't really care so long as I'm able to be with my mom. I can't believe it's been a month since I've seen her.

I believe I mentioned in a post a couple of months ago that Cassie REALLY wants to visit New York. So do I, I've never been. I got a little community magazine in the mail yesterday and sort of tossed it aside. I was cleaning up tonight and was fixing to throw it out but decided to flip through it before I did. When I got to the back of the book I noticed a couple of pages from the Parks & Rec. Dept. that said trips on it when I saw something like this..... For the bargain price of $60, on Dec.8th I can go to New York City and shop till I drop...well until 6 p.m. anyways...lol. The bus leaves here at 5 a.m. and is scheduled to arive back here at 12:30 a.m. I really want to go and I want to take Cassie with me. How much fun would that be for the two of us to go do a little Christmas shopping in New York City?! And the best part, I wouldn't have to drive! LOL! The bus would get us there and then if need be, on the subway we go. I don't usually do things like this but I figure why the heck not? I think it would be fantastic for the two of us to do this together. And what better time could you go than when the city is all decorated for Christmas? Of course I haven't talked to Mike about it yet so we'll see. My birthday is in a couple of weeks though and what better gift to give me than the gift of shopping till I drop in New York City? Hey...I'm down with window shopping...we can window shop till we drop...LOL!

Back from Trick-or-Treating

We got back from trick or treating a little while ago and everyone's in bed so I have a few minutes to post some pics. We had a really great time! We went over to our realtor's house for pizza and then went trick or treating her subdivision. I figured that she probably lived in a really nice house but oh my goodness!!! She is doing VERY VERY well as a realtor apparently LOL! The entire area was beautiful and some of the houses were really decked out for Halloween and looked like realy haunted houses. It was really really neat! I really like her and she's only a few years older than me. I'm looking forward to getting together with them again. I hope everyone who went out tonight had a good time.

Could someone pull the "I'm from TX" sign off my back?

Good grief you'd think we came from another country. It seems like everyone's waiting for me to open the back gate so they can see if some horses and cows run out. My next order of business: see about getting my Virginia plates for my vehicles and getting a VA driver's license. I went to the store earlier and had to show my license when I paid out. The cashier looked at me puzzled as if she was wondering where my cowgirl hat, boots, and 5 inch belt buckle were. It wouldn't have surprised me if she was looking out the door when I left the store to see if I hopped on a horse to ride back home. Good grief...lol. The same thing happened when the kids started school. Apparently everyone was really fascinated that the kids came from Texas. These people must not get out of Virginia much. I've actually spent a lot of time feeling like and alien around here. I'm starting to get the swing of things. Some of the things I'm used to are just non existent here ie: my fav. restaurants and grocery stores. Even certain brands of food I bought back at home. Oh well...what can you do...just deal with what you have. Boy have I been yanked out of my comfort zone. Humph. I have managed to try to get out and about. I can get myself to everything I need to get to now. I can get to downtown Fredericksburg with my eyes closed. That's my favorite place to be....and not just because the stitching shop is there although it does help...lol. I still haven't really made any friends yet but hopefully that'll change soon. I haven't gone to any of the stitching nights at the shop because Mike's been getting home too late for me to go. They're having a lock in, in Dec. so I'm hoping to sign up for that. I think I have to by Nov. 7th or something. I'm also gonna join the Kenmore Stitchery Guild. They meet once a month at Kenmore, a Georgian- style mansion that was owned by George Washington's sister. I've talked on the phone a bit with the gal about the guild and she seems really nice. The best part is, they meet for a couple of hours during the day while Mike's at work and the kids are at school so I don't have to worry about them. Speaking of the kids and school...

They started this week and it's definately not the same as it is in Texas! There are some things that I'm really not happy about. Back in Texas, parents were welcome to sit in on any class they'd like at any time. We were also welcome to volunteer in the class and help the teacher with whatever they might need. At this school, parents are not allowed in the classrooms and are not supposed to walk their kids in to the school. They told me I can walk them in this week but not after that. No, I don't think so. They're going through big changes right now and I'm thinking that if it makes them feel better for me to walk them in to the school then I will. If they have a problem with me walking in to the school then they're more than welcome to walk with us. I tell ya...if they say one more thing to me about the kids riding the bus....apparently they discourage parents from picking their kids up at school and they want every child to ride the bus. That's good and great but I'm available to pick them up and they want me to pick them up so by golly, I'm picking them up! Get this....this is what I have to do in order to pick them up. There's a set of doors located near the gym. I walk in the doors and there are 2 people right inside. I have to show my I.D., write down my personal info, and then in exchange they give me a ticket for each kid. When the bell rings the kids go to the gym. I have to go to the door, hand in my tickets, and then they bring me the kids. Can ya believe that?! Talk about tight security! We're not THAT close to D.C. I still can't get over this deal where they don't want me coming in to the school...like that's gonna happen. That really really bothers me.

Happy Halloween! Our relator called a few days ago and invited us over tonight. I'm really glad she did because I had no idea where to take the kids. We're gonna eat with them and she's got goodies for the kids and then we're gonna take the kids trick or treating. She's only got 1 child and he just turned 4 months old so I doubt they'll be going for candy but I'm betting she's gonna dress him up and take him out for fun :). This is definately the place to be for Halloween! They have all kinds of things going on and have had for the last week or so. We haven't done much but will next year. I really wanted to take the kids to Boo at the Zoo in D.C. but didn't find out about it until it was sold out. We'll definately have to do that next year.

It's raining leaves

It's SO pretty here in the fall! The leaves are turning on all of the trees and they've been falling like crazy today. The wind has been blowing a lot and when it does the trees sound like a big waterfall. If I had a hammock and a big blanket I'd go out back for a nap...lol. It's starting to get cold here. I hope I can cope with that well...lol.

My dad left yesterday morning and we had a really nice visit. The kids had a great time with him and I was sad to see him go :(. I took him to do a lot of touristy things. I took him through the battlefield here as well as the one in Fredericksburg. I also took him to all of those neat shops downtown and we also went to the Fredericksburg National Cemetery as well as to the Confederate Cemetery. He really likes downtown Fredericksburg and I know my mom will too. I can't wait till she makes her way up here too. We spent one day in D.C. and had a really good time. Our first stop was the Pentagon because he really wanted to see it. We walked around the outside of it until we got to the site where they're building the memorial. They're building it right in front of the site where the plane crashed in to it. It looks like it's gonna be a fantastic memorial and I'm excited that we'll be able to go see it once it's finished. After we left the Pentagon we went to Arlington National Cemetery. We didn't stay too terribly long because I wanted to spare the kids legs for all the walking they'd be doing in D.C. LOL. They did get to see where JFK was buried and thought it was really neat that he has an eternal flame burning at his gravesite. After we left the cemetery we had lunch and then headed in to D.C. Our first stop was the White House. First I took them to the back of it and then we walked (forever!) to see the front. I know they all loved it and I loved seeing their faces when they saw it. Poor Joshua...bless his little heart....he thought he was gonna get to go say hi to President Bush...lol. They got to see a lot of other neat things while we were there. We ran out of time because there's SO much to do but we'll definately be going back soon. It's less than an hour away which is doable pretty much any time. I'm really looking forward to the next time we have visitors. At first I was thinking of getting another bed and making a guest bedroom but since we have 2 living areas I think instead I'm gonna see about getting a sleeper sofa instead. That'll work out much better I think. That's not set in stone though. I could change my mind again..lol. Actually, I have enough rooms here to get a sleeper sofa for this other living area and I could still put a full/queen size bed in this other room....hmmmm.

Yesterday morning we went back in to downtown Fredericksburg. I REALLY love it down there! They were having a ghoul and goblin walk for kids so they could get dressed up in costumes and parade around downtown. I used them as a good excuse to go so I could stop by the stitching shop and pick up some thread while we were there...lol. It rained SO much here for 3 days and it was really wet and muddy out so they decided to wear their costumes from last year instead of their ones for this year.

Oh, guess what?! So I really...no I REALLY despise the oven that's in this house! The temp is WAY the heck off! I LOVE to bake and it's driving me nuts! I tell ya, this oven has been here since this house was built. I'm a really good baker but I can't bake jack in this oven and have it come out right which is ruining my livelihood...lol. We went to Lowe's last night to get some paint for the lower level in the house (and primer...still trying to figure out what moron out there would paint their walls black! I've been depressed since I got here and I totally blame the paint downstairs...lol!) and Mike bought me a new oven! YAY!! I'm so excited!!! It's got a glass top just like my old one and it's going to be delivered tomorrow :). I love baking and making things when it starts to get cold out. I think I might make some fudge tonight. We went to a candy shop in Fredericksburg with my dad last week and they has really yummy fudge. It's $10.99 a pound though. I make yummy fudge too so I'll be making a few pounds for a lot less..lol. Now, when you think of a pound of fudge I bet you think you get half a pan or so. Nope..lol. Fudge is heavy and it doesn't take much to make a pound. I saw that when my dad bought himself a square..lol.

Gifts are good

Especially when they come on days you're not feeling so great. There have been a lot of those lately but today was exceptionally cruddy. I hope that the people I'll meet here in the future are nicer than the ones I've dealt with thus far. With the exception of the gals at Everything Cross Stitch, of course. They're really nice as is most everybody I've talked to in downtown Fredericksburg. Drive about 8 miles back towards where we live and it's a whole other story. Hopefully I've just managed to stumble across a bad bunch and it'll get better soon. Texas might not be really really pretty but at least the people are really friendly which is a lot more than I can say for the grouch mongers I've dealt with lately. Kinda makes me wanna get a sleeping bag and just camp out in downtown Fredericksburg. Anyway, I got a really fun package in the mail today from my very good stitching friend, Rachel! She has many talents which include stitching, beading, card making, baking, cooking, candy making (Hey Rach, you making some more of that candy this winter like ya sent me for Christmas last year *hint hint* LOL!), and knitting. She knitted up a really neat Halloween scarf for me! I just love it and think it'll look really cute with a black top or sweater. She made one for herself as well so now we'll be matching :). She also sent a long a really fun book of Halloween projects. There are a lot of neat things to make and I'm looking forward to making something with the kids. There are some really neat ghosties and a really fun mummy in there. Thanks again for the goodies, Rachel!

A few days ago I received a couple of other packages. The first one is from Kathy, another stitching friend of mine. She is also a knitter and she knitted up 2 really pretty scarves for me using a paw print pattern. She made one using blue yarn and the other using a pretty purple which Cassie is coveting LOL! I love them both and appreciate the time she took to knit them for me :). Thanks again for the beautiful scarves, Kathy!

I also received my package from a Halloween exchange that I participated in through one of my yahoo groups. My package came from Jackie in Australia and as you can see from the pic, she sent along all sorts of goodies. The piece she stitched for me was from Raise the Roof Designs and is called Witchy Washy. She had it made in to a really fun flat fold. It's a really fun design and Cassie thinks the bra on the line is hilarious. LOL! Thanks for the fun Halloween package, Jackie :). I've also received other gifts in the mail from friends and even though I've not listed everything here, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for thinking of me. I really appreciate it and it's made being away from my friends and family a little easier on days that I'm not feeling so great. It's always nice to find something in your mailbox that you're not expecting that's not a bill...lol. I've also received a couple of gift certificates for the stitching shop, one of which has already been put to good use and one that I'm saving for a bit.

On to another little treasured gift. Cassie usually needs help when she's stitching on something at one point or another but she managed to stitch this little ladybug for me without me even knowing. How sweet was that?! There were a couple of times last week that I thought she was stitching but she seemed to be really sneaky about it. I thought it was really sweet and think I'll make it in to a scissor fob. I had some money left on one of my gift certificates so I took her down to the shop to get a little something and she picked out a little Lizzie Kate chart to stitch for her best friend for Christmas.

My dad's coming to see me tomorrow so I might not post for a few days. I think he's supposed to be here late in the afternoon. If he gets here early enough and isn't too tired I'm hoping to take him in to downtown Fredericksburg to see the shops and the battlefields. We have a battlefield really close to our house too so I'm sure I'll take him to that one too. There's also a Confederate cemetery a few blocks or so away. I think on Wednesday I'm taking him in to D.C. He's never been and I think it's super cool that I'm gonna be able to take him somewhere that he's always wanted to take me. I think we're gonna start out at the Lincoln Memorial then head to the Vietnam War Memorial. Hopefully we can get there early enough to get tickets to go up to the top of the Washington Monument. I'm also planning to take him to see the White House, the US Capitol, the National Archives, and then the National Museum of Natural History. Hopefully the next time I post I'll have some pics of our adventures to share :)

So now I'm a Virginian

Who would have ever thought that?! We're here and have been for 9 days now. I don't even want to get in to the move down here. I really think God's helping my block that from my mind...LOL! If I said it was uneventful I'd be lying so we'll just leave it at that...lol. I think we were doing pretty good until Mike almost drove the 26 foot long Penske moving truck with a trailer towing one of our vehicles along with our daughter in the passengers seat off a mountain but we won't get in to that...lol. No sense at all in bringing up bad memories now is there? LOL! Ultimately we made it here alive. I wondered about 5 or 6 times if we would though. A time or two because I wondered if we'd ring each other's necks at the next rest stop...lol. Driving over 1,400 miles with kids and animals in tow is definately not the most fun thing I've ever done. Nor is driving behind your spouse who's driving a huge moving truck carrying everything you own in it......and following the GPS that he insisted on putting in his truck which in the end took him through some back roads which were not meant for moving trucks. Oh, and he also took the atlas with him too. So we're driving through a place about an hour or so from here called Charlottesville right and I'm supposed to follow him. Well, he's going say...I don't know 55 or so. I'm following along at 55 and notice a speed limit sign for something like 35 when I pass a street and notice a cop pulled in right behind me so I had to slow way down. I think he saw my Texas tags and wanted to give me a ticket because he kept following me. I tried to call Mike on my cell because I noticed he was getting really far ahead of me and I didn't want to miss a turn...you know...since he had the atlas and the GPS (why both?!?!) so I didn't know where the heck I was going and what do ya know....I can't get a signal on my phone in this little town. Imagine that. I couldn't speed up either because those cops were right on my tail. It finally really ticked me off so I pulled in to someone's driveway until they passed. I finally got back on the road thinking I'd catch up with them until I get to a little place called Gordonsville and wouldn't ya know the road splits off threee different ways and Mike was nowhere to be found (with my baby in the truck!). Why yes I was ticked since you were wondering for several reasons...lol.

A. Mike had the GPS
B. Mike had the atlas
C. I couldn't get a cell phone signal
D. Those cops that were bored caused me serious issues...lol.
E.. Mike didn't even notice I wasn't behind him. Joshua had to tell him when they were over 10 miles away from me! LOL!

After putting in a collect call to my parents I did mange to eventually find them and I was speechless for a while. That was one of those times that it was best to not talk at all..LOL! Gosh...and I said I wasn't gonna bring up bad memories...lol. Moving along...

We did finally get to the house and I was disappointed to see that the previous owners didn't bother cleaning anything so I started with that. I was up after midnight the night before we left cleaning for the new people. I didn't expect it to be spotless but grief. THe kids love the house. It's a whole lot bigger than our house in Texas was. They love that it has stairs and the first thing they did was grab their slinky to see if it really did climb down them..lol. The poor dogs..and poor me...lol. Walter is a very overweight Dachsund and he can't climb them so I have to carry his chubby body up them and down them. You have to go down a lot of stairs to get in to the backyard so that stinks. Sally gets up and down them just fine. Poor Dollie, bless her little heart. She's scared to death of them. I think she thinks she can fly because she just dives off the top step. Luckily I've been there to catch her a lot but she has taken a couple of tumbles. I have to really watch her because I don't want her to hurt herslef. If I go downstairs she just hangs her paws and head over the top step looking at me like "what about me mom". LOL! Here's a pic I took of the front of our house. Here are a couple of pics I took of the forest. This is what I see when I walk out on to our deck. It's so pretty and when the wind blows the leaves sound like a waterfall. I love that we have a gate back there that we can open and walk in to the forest.










I still haven't made my way out too much. The two places I can get are Wal-Mart and downtown Fredericksburg. The reason I know how to get there is because that's where Everything Cross Stitch is. LOL! Thanks to a couple of people giving me gift certificates I've already been up there a couple of times. The owner already calls me by name when I first come in :). She remembered me from my visit there when Mike & I were house hunting the first of Sept. She's really nice and is the first person that I've met here besides our realtor. I'm looking forward to going to some of the stitching get togethers at the shop. I really love downtown. It's very pretty. I love the entire historical district. They've got some really neat and unusual shops down there and I'm looking forward to doing some Christmas shopping at some of them. There's a vintage candy store that I think is really neat. It kind of reminds me of that candy store on the first Willy Wonka movie. I do wonder if I'll ever find my way around this place....it's definately nothing like Texas. As for making friends, I really have a hard time doing that. I've never had a lot of friends but the friends I do have are good friends. I'm really just not all that social. Not that I don't want to be, it's just when someone's right in front of me and I don't know them at all I have a hard time starting up a convo with them.

I'm doing fairly well. I'm missing my mother and best friend something horrible though :(. My best friend's grandparents were ina horrible car accident last Sunday that killed her grandmother. It's just been eating me up that I'm not there :(. I was there for years and years and she didn't need me for anything like that and then right when I leave..*sigh*.

I still have a lot to tell but it's getting a little late. The Comcast guy just finally got here today to hook up our high speed internet. I tried dial up for a couple of days but that was so not working. I have no good feelings about dial up LOL! Having to re-connect 5 times just to get a single email out is just not my cup of tea..lol.

Before I go.....

I know it's been a while since I posted last but I've just been so busy. Emotionally I'm completly drained. Poor Cassie, bless her little heart. She's just so sad. Today was their last day of school. I gave her a hankie to put in her pocket this morning. I waited for her outside of her classroom door and when she came out her little eyes were so puffy and her hankie was all wet. I've walked her in to her room the past couple of mornings since she's been feeling so bad. I wished yesterday that I hadn't though. When I walked in, her best friend through her arms around my waist, laid her head on my chest, and begged me not to take her away :(. She started to tear up and then Cassie walked over and started to. Shortly after another little girl walked up and threw her arms around them. I'm in the middle all the while. Now that was heartbreaking :(. I've tried to make her feel better but I'm not sure that I can. I've been horribly sad about moving away from my BF of..let's see...forever.... and I know that nobody's been able to make me feel better. I just wish we could fast forward a week because this past one has been incredibly hard and what stinks is, we've not even gotten to the hardest goodbyes yet. We closed opn both houses yesterday so the one here in Texas is officially somebody elses and the one in Virginia is officially ours. We had to rent back our house here for a few days. I have no idea when we'll have an internet connection so I don't know when I'll be back. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks but we'll see what happens. For those of you who pray, I would greatly appreciate any prayers you can offer up for us to get through this. It's a lot harder than I thought it would be. I know kids bounce back quick but it's breaking my heart to see Cassie so sad. We're leaving early Monday morning and plan to be at our new house by lunch on Wednesday. It's almost a 1,500 mile drive so we thought it would be better to break it up rather than to do so much driving in a short period of time...especially for the kids and the animals. Now let's see if I can get through the next hour without needing my hankie, shall we? There's a huge moving truck sitting in front of the house so I guess I really should go finish packing. Until we meet again.....

Jennifer

I got presents!!

Here lately I've been dreading checking the mail. I've not gotten anything interesting in a while. Mostly just bills and things associated with moving...most of them bills...LOL. I have however been anxiously checking the mail every day because I'm participating in a designer exchange in one of my yahoo groups and have been expecting my package. In this exchange each person was to select a designer and the person stitching for them was to stitch something for them from the designer of their choosing. We had this exchange before and it was a lot of fun! This time the designer I chose was The Drawn Thread. I'm happy to report it came today and it's fantastic!! My package came from Marilynne in Canada and she stitched a fantastic piece for me called For the Birds. She made it in to a wonderful let's see...I'm gonna call it a stitching case. She did a fantastic job with the finishing! It has 2 pockets in it for holding stitching goodies and also has a page to hold needles.When I opened it, it was filled with several little gifts. Some were wrapped and some were not. I had a really great time opening the ones that were. It felt like Christmas..lol! First I opened up a cute little scissor fob she stitched for me using the peacock from the front of the stitching case. I'm so glad she sent me one of these, I just recently mentioned my lack of (and need for!) stitched scissor fobs and am thrilled to add this one to my collection. The next package I opened was a package of John James Gold Plated Petite needles. I LOVE gold plated needles and really appreciate these! Next was a little round blue tape measure. This will definately come in handy. There were also 2 other gifts that were in the case unwrapped and heldby little ribbons. First was a clover cutter, I'm thrilled to have this and it will definately come in handy the next time I have to fly. I really got tired of listening to people gripe about them allowing me to have scissors on the plane but them not being allowed to bring in umbrellas, hat boxes, and other things. Last but certainly not least is one of my favorite things! Marilynne sent me a Star De-Tailor! YAY!! I have wanted one of these for the longest time!! Thanks so much for wonderful stitched gifts Marilynne, and for all of the thoughtful little gifts you sent along too. They are appreciated more than you know! Especially during this somewhat (VERY!) eventful time in my life.

I did spend a while packing today. I think I've gotten a lot done and there really isn't a ton more to do. At least I don't think there is. I've pretty well packed most of the things in the closets and everything's been taken off the walls. A lot of what's left are things that we'll be using. I've packed some things in the kids rooms but not everything. I didn't want them to freak out on me. Mike still has to get all of our Christmas stuff out of the attic. I think there are some other things up there too but I'm not sure. It's been a while since I had a look. I'm spending part of the day tomorrow out with my best friend so the packing will have to wait until I get back :). Cassie's best friend is coming over tomorrow night for one last sleepover. There's no school on Friday this week so after tomorrow they'll only have 5 days left of school.