I'll finish her this time!

Last summer I ordered the Halloween Fairy limited edition kit from Mirabilia along with a couple of stitching gal pals of mine. We decided to have a SAL every week and had planned on having her finished for last Halloween. For those of you who don't stitch, SAL means stitch-a-long. We pick a piece to stitch and then we all decide on a day of the week to stitch it. In this case Rachel liked the sound of Fairy Fridays so Friday it was...lol. We all got distracted with other things though so she didn't finished. We decided to get her finished up for this Halloween so last night was the first night we picked her up again. I didn't get a ton done on her but I did stitch on her for a little while. Here's what she's looking like thus far. The other girls decided to toss the fabric that came in the kit and use something hand dyed that they already had in their stash. I didn't really have anything that would work, and since I like natural fabric anyway, I decided to stick with it. I was wanting something hand dyed that had shades of orange in it. I've heard from several people that there's not enough of the green in the kit to stitch her wings. I'll have to order another skein which is a bit annoying considering this is a $50 kit! I really like this fairy but seriously doubt that I'll buy another one of these kits. I think they're far too pricey for what they are. I do however hope to order one of their new Pixie charts to stitch for my mom for Christmas. I'm leaning towards Ivy- http://www.stitchesnthings.com/detail.cfm?ID=18330 Isn't she pretty? She's not as big as those other Mirabilia pieces and I don't think she'd take too terribly long to stitch. I've packed my fairy away until next Friday and plan to stitch on that Checkered Liberty kit that Rachel sent me tonight.

I didn't steal them, I saved them!

So we spent the evening out and on our way back home tonight we stopped off at my parent's house for a few minutes. When we were leaving my dad walked us out. He always walks out with us when we come over. Their neighbors have a pretty little apple tree in the front yard right by my parent's driveway. This tree had hundreds of pretty green apples on it and tons more that were on the ground. These people have lived there for a couple of years and I've never seen them pick apples. Actually, I've only seen them a few times. I think they're hermits. Anyway, my dad was talking about how most of the apples just fall to the ground and rot because they don't pick them. I'm surprised really because apples aren't cheap. When we left, we were driving along and I mentioned what a shame it was that all of those apples would go to waste. When Mike got to the end of the street I asked him to turn around and go back to parents house. He asked me why and I told him I needed some of those apples....LOL! See, I wasn't stealing the apples, I was saving the apples from their unfortunate demise should they be left there to fall to the ground and rot or worse be eaten by some ugly bugs. It was already dark out so nobody would see me anyway. Or at least that's what I thought until I noticed the flash from a camera! My husband was taking pictures of me "saving" the apples! Can you believe that?! He insisted I put it on my blog or he was going to. Lord knows what he would have typed up to go with it so here it is....lol. Thank goodness it's dark....I can't be indentified...lol!It's not like I saved that many...only 9. I didn't have a bag so I loaded them up in my purse. If I would've been wearing a dress I could've been like Julia Robert's in Sleeping with the Enemy...lol! Apparently while I was apple picking my kids were in the car laughing hysterically for whatever reason....lol. Apparently they got a huge kick out of me stuffing the apples in my purse and an even bigger kick out of Mike taking pictures of the whole thing. I explained to them that I was only picking apples from the branches that were hanging over in to their grandparents yard, technically making the apples my parents apples and they said I could have them. That wasn't entirely accurate but I'd never want them to think I was stealing something because I wasn't. I maintain that I was saving them..LOL.

I don't know if many of you have watched the national news lately but we've gotten TONS of rain over the past few weeks. We've had some serious problems with flooding. I was actually worried for a couple of days that the water was going to make it's way inside the house. We had very heavy rain at at one point our back yard disappearead. It looked like a lake. There are several areas in town that have had to be evacuated. There are some very expensive houses located in low areas and the water is swallowing them up. We went out looking this evening and couldn't get down in to that are but we did go by the Wichita River and you wouldn't believe it! They said the river is going to continue to rise until Sunday morning. Not good! I took all of these pictures between 7 & 8 tonight. The water is just fixing to come up on Interstate 44. It's just crazy! I'm betting if they've not closed it by now they're fixing too. Look at that overpass! That water is covering alot of street area! Talk about scary! Now this hotel here is located right by the river...well...now I guess it's in the river :0. We saw them evacuating people by little boats. The van you see here is in the higher level of the hotel parking lot. There's supposed to be an on ramp in this last picture but the river swallowed that up too. :o. I can't believe how much it's rained the past several weeks! And I really can't believe a lot of people are losing their homes because of it. The bad thing is we have very good chances of rain for the next few days. Luckily we don't live anywhere near the river. We did see several houses along one end of the river and the river was literally in their backyards. It reminds me of some of those pictures I saw on TV of Hurricane Katrina. According to the news, a state of emergency has been declared for Wichita Falls. If you want to see aerial photos, you can see them on my fav. local TV stations site here: http://www.kauz.com/ Enough of the depressing stuff, I'm off now to see if I can make a pie or something out of the apples I saved...LOL!

Cruising around town

The kids and I spent most of the day out running around. It poured rain nearly the entire day yesterday so we were stuck inside. I still can't believe how much rain we've been getting! And I really can't beleive it's almost July and it hasn't reached 100 yet! I'm really glad but surprised! It's only in the 80's today :). We stopped by Mike's work this morning and took him doughnuts. He forgot his coffee when he went to work so we were gonna take it to him and figured we'd might as well get him doughnuts to go along with it :). After we left the post office, we headed for the library. The kids have been wanting to check out some books and I found a couple that I needed. See my previous post for the subject I was looking for...lol. I found some really great books. One of which was very age appropriate for Cassie and we can read it together. There are some very inappropriate books out there in my opinion!! They say this book is for ages 4-8 and Cassie's 9 1/2..BULL! LOL! I don't recommend this book...I know...I read most of the book at the library with what I'm sure was a sheer look of terror on my face....a woman that worked at the library even asked me if I was doing ok. No....no I'm not doing ok...lol. http://www.amazon.com/Where-Did-Come-Peter-Mayle/dp/0818402539/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-0363963-2632114?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182982085&sr=1-1

They had this at the library and OMG! LOL! It's illustrated like a kids book with cartoonish looking illustrations and goes in to explicit detail (and pictures!) of where you came from and how you got there....not good! LOL! It had the mom and dad in the bath tub, in the bed, said what they were doing in the bed, and excuse me I have a problem with this one....it described feelings while having sex...even an orgasm...what?!?!?!?!?. They don't need to know that! In fact, if they must know anything they need to think it's horrible so they won't want to do it! Ever! LOL! Crazy book/author/illustrator...LOL! I felt like the book encouraged sex. I thought it was gonna give general information...sheesh...lol. After we left the library I took them to McDonald's for lunch. After that we went to rent a movie for them and then we went to the bookstore. I was emailing a friend of mine the other day and she reminded me of the Judy Blume books most of us read when were younger. In particular a book called "Are you there God? It's me Margaret". I had completly forgotten about that book but remembered how much I loved Judy Blume's books. I picked it up for Cassie while we were at the bookstore. I guess I could have checked it out but the only copy they had at the library was falling apart and I thought this would be a good book to keep. I got Joshua a new phonics book to help with his reading. We had a couple of other errands to run and then came back home a bit ago.

I've decided that I need to learn how to either knit or crochet. Some of my stitching friends knit and have been talking about it quite a bit lately and it's driving me nuts that I don't know how. I don't know why...lol. We have a yarn shop here called The Yarn Palette. I called them a few minutes ago and they offer classes. I'm thinking I just may have to sign up for one. I want to learn to make some scarves and ponchos. It just looks so darn complicated.

I'm off to figure out what we're having for dinner...

Oh no! He did not just say that!!

Ugggggggggggggggghhhhhhhh.....oh no...no no no no no....I just got back from taking the kids for their annual check-ups. They're both growing like weeds and will be a lot taller than me..lol. They get that from my dad and brother. So we're sitting there and...ugghhhhhh....I don't know if I even want to replay it in my head again....anyway, when Cassie's exam was about over he brought up periods. Well I quickly pointed out that we haven't had that discussion yet so he wouldn't say anything else and I could do it at my earliest (or not! LOL) convenience. He pointed out that I should soon because he thinks her "time" may not be too far off. He couldn't just let it go...nnnnooooooo....he looked at Cassie and said something to the effect of "When little girls get older their bodies change and they start to have a period (OMG!) and your mom will talk to you about all of that soon". OH NO! He did not just say that!!!! Thanks for nothin doc! You dingbat! Don't you know when you plant something in a kids head like that they're gonna bug the crap out of me until I explain it?! I was hoping for a little more time here! You are so coming off my Christmas card list..LOL! I did order a book on half.com a few months ago about how to have "the discussion" so my intentions are good I just didn't think it was necessary quite yet! I was just telling my friend Jodi while I was in Chicago that I bought the book and needed to read it. She & I were browsing at the American Girl store when I found a book for girls about their bodies but I didn't get it because I didn't think it was needed yet! Thanks a lot doc! Ever since we left your office I've been asked questions like "So when you grow hair in places which parts do you shave and which parts do you not?" OMG!!! Thanks so much for turning my nice pleasant uneventful day in to a super freaked out eventful one! Like the whole bra incident wasn't enough for one year.....Oh my head......I don't think I'm gonna be able to stitch for a while...I guess I need to read that book....ugggghhhhhhhhhhh. I do love their doctor though...he's been our pediatrician since Cassie was born. I just don't like him a whole lot today...LOL! And just to top the visit off Joshua was due for his second dose of that Hep. A vaccine. I always try to take them out to pick out a little something special after they have shots. I don't really know if I'm doing it for them or to make me feel better...lol. He had been saving his money up for a new Webkinz and was just about $2 short so I gave him the rest and took him to pick one out afterwards. He cried all the way to the shop but he somehow miraculously recovered after he saw the display filled with new Webkinz. I think he was milking it a bit, whatcha think? LOL :). I've got to run...Mike gets off work in a half hour and he's taking us out to dinner. I'm too distraught to cook....hehehehe.

I know what I want for my birthday!

Usually every year my family asks me what I want for my birthday and Christmas. I always rack my brain but rarely ever come up with anything as I don't really need anything. Well, I know what I want this year! I plan (hope) to make 2 flights next year so the perfect gift for me would be American Airlines gift cards! What better gift could you give me than the gift of travel?! ROFLOL!!! You can find them at- www.aa.com Click on products & gifts and then click on gift cards. It's as easy as pie! LOL! Moving along...lol.

We went to church this morning and I bumped in to someone that I was friends with in junior high. That was really neat. I can't believe she'd recognize me after so many years but she did. I didn't recognize her at all until she told me her name. We exchanged phone numbers so hopefully I'll get to chat with her more soon. Speaking of phones...I'm pretty annoyed. Our phone hasn't been working since Thursday. I called SBC and they tested the line and said they'd need to send someone out to repair it. I thought for sure they'd do that by the weekend! They'd better be here tomorrow or I'm gonna have to put on my angry eyes. There's no excuse for them taking so long to get here. Tomorrow will be the 5th day I've been without a phone. I'm calling them back tomorrow and am insisting that they credit my account for the days I didn't have service. MY DSL is working fine so I'm betting something's loose in the main box or something. I don't really care what it is I just wish they'd hurry up and fix it. Back to church, I still don't know what I think of that one. The kids love it & they have a really great children's program. It's the biggest church in town though and thousands of people go there. So, I wonder if we should still go there since the kids love it, or go somewhere smaller where the children's program isn't as great...hmmm....

The kids both have their yearly check-ups tomorrow afternoon. I'm not sure but I *think* Joshua has to have a second round of a vaccination he had last time. I really hate that! There didn't use to be 2 doses...Cassie only had 1 but for some reason someone in Texas decided there needed to be a second dose....*sigh*. I think it's unnecessary..I mean if Cassie only needed one and every other kid in 2nd grade and up only needed 1, then why the heck do they need 2 now? Maybe they'll forget...lol.

Mike and I watched Freedom Writers tonight. Really great movie! I highly recommend it. We watched Ghost Riders the other night...I wasn't too impressed with that one. I should head to bed I guess....I decided today that I wanna lose 10 pounds so I'm really in the mood to run....lol.

Shopping

I'm happy to report that I don't feel blah today like I was feeling the rest of the week. I went out this morning by myself and did a little shopping. That always makes a girl feel better :). I found the cutest shirt at Khol's and picked it up. Isn't it great? I love that little pink belt that it came with. Too cute! They had it in 2 other colors so I'm really proud of myself that I only bought this one. I have a really bad habit of finding a style of a shirt that I really like and buying it in every color...LOL! I haven't done that in a while so I am getting better. I'd say it's been a good..I don't know, 3 months or so since I've done that...lol. (I take that back...I did do it this morning but with a different top..I'll get to that in a minute..lol.) It's only because I have a hard time finding tops that I really really like. Well, I take that back....I'm sure a few of you have encountered this a time or two...you find a top somewhere that looks fantastic on the hanger but when you try it on...ewwwwww......lol. It's rather annoying. I don't ever buy a clothing item without trying it on. I just can't. Different brands fit differently. Like let's take New York & Co. I like shopping there because their clothes run bigger so I can buy a smaller size..LOL! Same with Old Navy. I could go somewhere else like Sears or Penney's though and wear a whole different size. It's really screwy. And if I buy a button up shirt I have to buy an even bigger size to get it buttoned over my chest. And I don't think my chest is all that big, I just think they don't make these button up shirts very roomy up top. I also found a cute denim skirt that was on sale for 70% off....I didn't really need another denim skirt but it was so darn cheap..lol. I also picked up a really cute dark blue top...I'm ashamed to say I have the same top in black with white polka dots and red with white polka dots...lol. You would've bought it too though! It was 80% off so I got it for $4.00. I really do need to try to make an effort to not buy the same shirt in multiple colors...lol. I think I had a really good shopping trip..I got the denim skirt, the blue top, and the brown polka dotted top with the pink belt up top, all for $35.00. Gosh, I love Khol's....lol.

I think I'm slowly climbing out of my stitching slump too. I started that Checkered Liberty kit last night that I received from Rachel yesterday. This is the first time I've had the pleasure of stitching on gingham fabric. It's gonna look really great once it's finished! I'm hoping to finish it this week so I can display it for this 4th of July. I'll most likely make it in to a flat fold. Boy I bet ya didn't see that coming, did ya? LOL!

Great mail day!

I participated in an exchange in one of my yahoo groups and received my exchange package from Rachel today! She stitched a wonderful Bent Creek Patriotic piece for me and framed it! I love the piece and am thrilled to have it as this is the only patriotic piece I have to display for the 4th. I hated to email her to tell her I had received it because I had to tell her the glass she had mounted the stitching on was shattered so I was gonna have to re-mount it on mat board. She had that thing wrapped very very well so I'm really surprised that it was broken. I'm betting at some point on it's journey it ended up underneath some heavy packages and got crushed. I'm still surprised though because she had it wrapped so well. She was telling me a while back that she mounts her stitching on the glass that comes in the frames instead of matboard. She does this so she won't have to cut mat board for it and she doesn't like glass covering her stitched pieces anyway so she'd might as well put the glass to good use :). Luckily I have plenty of mat board on hand so I was able to re-mount it and frame it quickly. I love the red frame she picked out for it! She stitched this piece on 40 ct. fabric. My poor sad eyes would never let me stitch on a count so small...LOL! Besides the wonderful stitched piece she sent me, she also sent me a wonderful kit from M Designs called Checkered Liberty...this is a really great kit! I plan to start it soon...I LOVE the gingham fabric that it came with and am really looking forward to stitching it :). She also sent me a skein of Weeks in Independance Day and Old Glory...really great colors! I especially like the Old Glory :). She also made me a wonderful pair of patriotic earrings! Rachel's in to beading and is very very good at it! I love long earrings and they're perfect! They have a pretty red star on them with 3 blue crystals dangling from them. Thanks so much for such a wonderful package, Rachel! My new framed flag is proudly being displayed in the living room :).

Her package came on a really good day. I've been feeling blah since I got back from Chicago. Mike's been applying for jobs when he has time for a while now. Unfortunately the hiring process for things he's been applying for take a really long time. I really wish it would just be done. I was actually a little depressed to be coming back to Texas after my trip. I've lived here since I was 5 and I'm just ready to go somewhere else. Don't get me wrong, I'd never want to live in Chicago, it's just that I've been to several different places and well....Texas is just Texas to me these days. I'm still hoping that whatever he gets will be close to the ocean. I'd be happy as a pig in slop if I lived near the ocean :). I hated to leave Florida last summer because I love the ocean so much and I hated to leave Chicago because Lake Michigan reminded me of the ocean. Of course all of this feeling blah could totally be related to PMS and I may be all better in a few days...LOL!

We're not going on a vacation together this summer because we're saving up for a big one next summer. Our tentative plan is to go on a cruise. I REALLY want to go on that Disney cruise but it's pretty expensive. I guess it's not so bad to do the 3 or 4 day cruise but when you take in to account that we have to fly in to Orlando it is. After the 23 hour drive from hell to Orlando last summer, that'll NEVER happen again...LOL! I wish Mike could take time off in December! You can cruise really cheap in November and December! Postal employees here (or could be anywhere for that matter, I'm not sure) aren't allowed to take any time off in December. If he could, we could go when the kids are out for winter break. We're hoping to cruise to Mexico I think. Wherever we do decide to cruise to, the plan is to leave from Port Canaveral so we can spend a night on Cocoa Beach again. My heart belongs to the ocean...I hope when we're old we can retire at Cocoa Beach :).

I've got to finish folding the laundry. When Mike gets home from work we're gonna watch Ghost Rider :).

Bad storms

Last night when Mike got home from work he was telling me about a really large storm that was fixing to move through Oklahoma City. It was moving south but I thought for sure it would dissipate before it made it to us as it usually does. This time it didn't! We were woken up just after 2 this morning by really high winds. We have large trees, one right behind our bedroom and I though for sure it was coming down. From the inside of the house you could hear poles, trees, and tree limbs snapping. We turned the news on and the highest recorded wind speed was 94 mph! We only lost power for a minute but over 16,000 people in town lost it and didn't get it back. As of this afternoon there are still 12,000 people with out it. Unfortunately most of the people in our families are in that 12,000. I'm hoping my parents will bring their little dogs over here and stop by for dinner. My mother's very upset as her items in her freezer are starting to thaw. She called the electric people back to ask how much longer they thought it might be and they said it could be up to 48 hrs. :(. That's not fun at all in Texas in the summer. Mike had my camera out earlier and snapped a few pics of what the wind did to some trees. Most people around here have spent the day cleaning up. Luckily we just have a lot of broken limbs. I noticed our privacy fence is leaning and I think Mike needs to go check the roof to make sure our shingles are intact. I really hope so. I don't feel like the hassle of filing a claim. A lot of trees fell on cars. I'm really glad we didn't have to deal with that. What a pain that would have been.

Part 2

Let's see...so I left off at the end of our second day so let's start on the third, shall we?

On Saturday we got up early so we could get ready to make yet another journey on that EL train. This time we were headed for The Museum of Science & Industry. This ride seemed to be exceptionally long and I was getting rather irritated that it was going unbelievably slow this time because we had timed tickets and had to be on the U-505 at 11:00! We left plenty early enough the train was just going much slower than usual. We had to switch from the train to a bus that would take us right to the museum. I really liked that drive because we rode all along Lake Shore Drive which is right by Lake Michigan. When we did finally get to the museum we had to practically run to get to that submarine. When we did get to the point where we needed to be with tickets in hand, we only had about 5 minutes to spare. Talk about cutting it close! It was then that they informed us they were running behind and it would be about another 20 minutes...pfffttt....all that running I did was for nothing...lol. While we waited we looked around at the outside of the sub and looked at the other exhibits surrounding it. My dad wanted to take this pic of me in front of this really big gun. No, I did not plan on wearing the camo top for the occassion, it just happened to be what I pulled out of my suitcase that morning...LOL. It was finally our turn to go on the tour inside of the sub. That was very neat! I'm all in to history and thought it was super cool to be inside of it. the thing is just huge!!! I thought the kitchen was really cool. After we left the sub exhibit we gandered around until I came upon a really cool chick hatchery exhibit. That was really neat! I hung out for quite some time and got to watch 2 chicks hatch. I think that was one of my favorite parts of the museum :). We had tickets to pasrticipate in the 1:30 CSI experience. I was really looking forward to this but have to say I was really disappointed. I didn't think it was worth the $14.00 for the ticket. It was nothing like I expected it to be. I'm sure a lot of people really liked it, I just wasn't one of those people...LOL. We did a lot more exploring after that and found some pretty neat things including this giant heart...lol. That was a pretty neat heart! You could hear it beating from a long ways away...LOL. I looked for the body slices because I really wanted to see them but just couldn't find them. I know I probably passed them I did find a real set of lungs which was pretty gross...lol. The exhibit was showing you what lungs look like that have inhaled a lot of polluted air and smoke. If you would've seen these lungs and you smoke, I'm certain you'd quit!! They were very very dark and just looked horrible. Poor poor lungs. I tried to not go to the prenatal exhibit when I came close to it but I just couldn't help it. I was far too curious to not go look. There were a lot of babies starting from a fertilized egg all the way to a 37 week old fetus. I thought it was very interesting although incredibly sad. It didn't occur to me until I was looking at them that it might bother me a little since I've miscarried before. I guess I could've done without knowing what mine looked like when I lost it. Seeing the 37 week old baby was really shocking. Moving right along....I really liked seeing the exhibit of ships from the past. That was pretty neat. While we were there we saw a whole community of Amish people! That was soooooooo cool! I had never seen Amish people in person before! They look just like they do on TV! LOL! It didn't occur to me that they might not want me taking a pic of them but I found that out really quick! LOL! I snapped a pic of them thinking they didn't see me until I heard about 40 gasps. Out of respect for them I deleted the pic so no pic of the Amish people to share....lol. I really had a good time at the museum, but honestly I think I would have enjoyed the Field Museum more. We each picked things we wanted to do while we were there and this wasn't my pick. My favorite parts were the U-505, the chick hatchery, and the Amish people even though they weren't an exhibit...LOL. I did quite a bit of shopping in the store in the museum and then we left. I'm telling you the second we got off the bus in downtown it started pouring. There wasn't even a chance of rain when I looked at the weather. We headed back to the hotel since I looked like a long haired wet dog...lol. I knew my dad was really exhausted. We had him all over that city and we were mostly on foot. I don't mind the walking at all but we climbed so many stairs my calves were killing me. We got back to the hotel and my dad just crashed...lol. My brother and I found another Giordano's close to the hotel so we went back there for our last night's dinner. We got another deep dish pizza but this time I also ordered some Brushetta and it was sooooooooooo good!!! I found a recipe and thing I'm gonna try making some of it for my mom. After dinner we came back to the hotel and I started to pack all of the goodies up that I bought for everyone. We got up early the next morning and headed to O'Hare to catch our flight out. I thought it was a lot quicker getting through security and such at O'Hare than it was at DFW. Our plane was really late getting there though but we were only a little late departing. They told us that somehow our flight got overbooked and they were giving $200 travel vouchers to anyone who would give up their seat and take a flight leaving 4 hours later. I'm wishing that I would have taken that. I'm ready to go somewhere agin.....lol. The flight back was pretty rough. We flew through several storms and it was pretty turbulant. The plane dropped quite a bit on one occasion and scared the terror out of me. I was really happy when we landed until the captain came on and told us we'd be on the holding pad for at least 45 minutes. He said there was a major power outage at DFW that morning which ended up causing huge delays in take offs and landings. We had to wait in line for our turn to pull up to our gate. I was so sick of being on the plane at this point I nearly told him to just let me out and I'd walk the rest of the way...lol. We still had to make the 2 hour drive back home and I was really worn out from the whole weekend. We finally got off the plane and then had to wait forever for our luggage. We finally got home in the evening. The kids were waiting out front for me and were both really happy that I was home. My sweet husband had the entire house cleaned and had also done all the laundry so I wouldn't have to do anything when I got home :). It was a really good trip and it was really nice to get away and I'm really glad I got to spend so much time with my dad :). I've decided flying isn't that bad after all and is so much better than driving. I got my airline ticket on Priceline and got such a great deal that I definately plan on using them the next time I plan on flying which hopefully isn't too long from now :).

I'm home!!! Part 1

This is going to be very very long so if you only have a few minutes you might want to read this when you have a little more time..LOL. I got back from Chicago yesterday evening! I'm glad to be home although I do wish I could've stayed a couple more days. I really wanted to go to to the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, and the Lincoln Park Zoo but there just wasn't any time left. I did get to do and see a lot of things that I wanted to. I know Mike and the kids would really like those things I wanted to do but didn't so we'll probably head up there together some time. I have a lot to tell and a lot of pictures, so here goes!

I left home for Chicago at 4:00 a.m. on Thursday. We got in to DFW with no problem. It was too early for very much traffic so we got there at about 6:20. Security in the airport wasn't what I expected it to be. I was really happy we got through it pretty quickly. I was fine until we got to the airport and then my tummy worked it's self in to knots. I actually ended up making myself sick and ended up in the restroom for a while :(. Good thing I didn't eat much of anything. Our flight was right on time and uneventful, thank goodness. I didn't stitch on anything on the flight because my eyes were glued to the window :). The flight was exactly 2 hours long. We arrived in Chicago just before 11:00 a.m. As soon as we arrived at O'Hare and got our luggage we caught the shuttle to our hotel. We checked in, took our bags to our room, and were all set to head downtown! I was sooooooo excited! There were so many things I wanted to see and we still had a whole day ahead of us to do it....or so I thought. I did not realize how far we were from downtown. Chicago is huge! We each got 3 day CTA passes for the busses and the EL train. It took us 45 minutes to get from our hotel to downtown on that horrible EL train...uggggghhhhh. I don't mind the 45 minutes but I do on that EL train! There were about 15 stops between our hotel and where we needed to get off. It seemed like I spent way too much time on that thing. I really wish they would have chosen a hotel closer to downtown. The EL isn't completely horrible I don't guess but the stations are, in my opinion. One time when I was meeting my dad and brother somewhere and I had to wander through a station alone I felt like I was in a bad movie...LOL! Anyway, we got downtown and the first thing I looked for was the Sears Tower. You can't miss it!!! My brother wanted to eat at Giordano's and as luck would have it there was one right across the street from the Sears Tower :). So we ate lunch at Giordano's and wow was that some deep dish pizza! I couldn't even finish 2 slices and I was stuffed! After we ate we went up to the Sears Tower Skydeck. I LOVED it! I loved being able to see the whole city. My favorite view was of Lake Michigan. It reminded me of being at the ocean because you can't see where it ends :). I took this pic from the Skydeck. Isn't it beautiful?! Downtown Chicago is definately not like any place I've ever been. It's very fast and loud and those are the most horn honkinest people I have ever seen! If they even think you're gonna step out on to the street when they're driving they honk at you! I heard more horns honk in the 3 days I was there than in my entire lifetime here! LOL! I saw a cab almost take out 6 people...sheesh...In case you're wondering if I got honked at yes I did but I couldn't tell you how many times because I lost count...LOL! Anyway, after we finished up at the Sears Tower we took off on foot and headed for Buckingham fountain. It was a beautiful fountain and I especially loved being there because I could see Lake Michigan from where we were at. After we finished up there we headed over to Millenium Park. When we got there I found a huge bean! LOL! Check out this bean! Isn't it cool?! You can see your reflection in it! I wonder how they made that?! And how much it cost them to do so..LOL! I looked and looked and couldn't find a seam in the bean..LOL! It was a really fun thing to see :). After we left the bean we headed towards Michigan Ave. so I could find that Hershey store :). On the way I found the new Trump tower that's being built. That was really neat! I don't know if you can tell in the pics but there are Trump banners all around the bottom of the building. After looking at the Trump building I noticed the Chicago Tribune Tower. I was really excited to see that! I was wondering where it was before I stumbled upon it :). We continued on until we got to Michigan Ave. and found the Hershey's store. What a neat place! I bought some gifts and got a snack from the bakery for my dad and I to share. That was a yummy cupcake and the singing baker was a lot of fun too. After we left Hershey's we were pretty tired so we made the never ending EL train ride back to the hotel and called it a night. At least my dad & I did. I was really looking forward to Friday. My dad and brother were going to Cubs game and my stitching friend Jodi was driving down from Wisconsin to see me :). Her birthday is in a few weeks so when she arrived I gave her gifts to her. I stitched a piece from Blackbird's With Needle and Thread book called "My Pink House" and made it in to a flat fold. For some reason the pinks came out really bright in the pic. They're really a lot softer in person. I also made a pincushion for her from the "Victorian Needles & Pins" chart from the same book. This one was a bugger to finish but I think it turned out nice. The pic is a bit blurry I think. My mom is in to playing with beads so she made the pins for her. After Jodi opened her b-day gifts we caught the EL train and headed for downtown for lunch. We ate at The Cheescake Factory in the lower level of the Hancock Tower. We ordered 2 sandwiches and split them as well as a piece of turtle cheescake. Those sandwiches and that cheescake were both REALLY yummy! I asked the waiter to take a pic of us while we were there.

After we finished up with lunch we wandered around downtown for a bit. We had a really great time and I look forward to seeing her again :). After finishing up with Jodi I caught up with my dad and brother. My brother was set on having dinner at Mike Ditka's so we headed over there. Mike Ditka's wife was sitting at the bar near us sipping on wine so that was pretty neat. I sipped on a soda while my brother and dad had dinner. I was still stuffed from lunch. As a matter of fact, I didn't eat anything else the reast of the day because I was so stuffed! I don't know that I would have ordered anything anyway. My brother's steak dinner cost $49.00. I just can't justify spending that much on one dinner....lol. I think the only time I'd make an exception is for an aniversary dinner. After dinner we headed down to the Navy Pier and took a cruise on Lake Michigan. That was very cool! I got to see my first lighthouse while we were on our cruise. As you can see in the pic our captain obviously wasn't too eager to set sail. What a grouch he was! LOL!

I did a little bit of shopping while we were there and then we headed back to our hotel. Downtown Chicago is a very interesting place to be at night especially if you're on foot..lol. Ok, kids this is to be continued. I've been typing and uploading for a long while but still have lots to tell so I'll add a part 2 when I have time. I'm working at the flower shop the rest of this week so will post the other half as soon as I can. I'm baking bread and it's about done so I must scamper off :)

Packing my bags!

This time tomorrow, I'll be getting ready to hop on a plane for Chicago! I think I've got just about everything ready. The suitcase I'm taking is bigger than I need but that's so I have plenty of room to bring lots of goodies back :). I've got my batteries for my camera charging and plan to take loads of pictures. I should have quite a bit to post when I get back :). I'm quite a bit less than thrilled about getting up at 2:30 in the morning to drive to Dallas. Hopefully there will be a Starbuck's on the way....lol. Even if there is, I'm kind of doubting they'll be open during our drive time. We'll see. I still have a lot to do so better get to it. I promised Joshua I'd make them a chocolate cake before I left and I need to get the house cleaned. Think good thoughts for me for a nice on time & uneventful flight :).

I can finally post some pics

I just got an email from a stitching friend saying she received her gift so I can FINALLY post pictures! I've really been anxious to post these. I stitched "A Present to my Friend" from Blackbird Designs. This chart came from their "Tokens of Friendship" book. I finished it in to a flat fold. If I remember correctly, the finished size of the flat fold ended up being about 7 1/2" x 9 1/4". I think it turned out really great!












It looks like we've had a change of plans tomorrow and won't be going to Oklahoma City after all. I'm a little disappointed that I won't be paying The Cross Stitch Haven a visit, but on the other hand am relieved that we're not making the trip. I'm leaving for Chicago at 4:00 Thursday morning and don't want to be scrambling on Wednesday to get everything done. We're gonna do some other fun things in town tomorrow instead. I did pull out my luggage earlier and have started sorting out my clothing choices and such. I've decided my carry on bag isn't big enough so I need to do some creative rearranging...lol. Since I'm not going to the needlework shop I'd better go dig through my goodies and find a good stitching project to take along :).

My little guy and his cherry pie

I really like to bake but one thing I don't bake (or at least haven't tried to make) are home made pies. My parents and brother like pies. Especially cherry pies. I've never like cherries and neither does Mike. Joshua likes them though. He had a piece of cherry pie at my parents house on Thanksgiving and decided he loves them. He asked me yesterday if I'd make him one and when I told him that mommy doesn't like cherry pies, he asked me for the phone so he could call his Memaw. He called her and worked his magic so this afternoon he got a special delivery. His very own little home made cherry pie. How happy does he look to have his own pie?!

It looks like we're driving up to Oklahoma City on Tuesday. We're gonna take the kids to the Omniplex Science Museum http://www.omniplex.org/index.htm Afterwards I want to stop back by the OKC Memorial. We didn't have much time the last time we went and I'd like to go inside the memorial museum. Since we are making the trip you know what that means don't you?! Yep! We're making a slight detour over to The Cross Stitch Haven! LOL! My good excuse for this visit is I need something new to stitch in the airport and on the plane. You don't expect a girl to stitch something she already has do ya?! LOL!

Looking for Buffalo

And I found one! Several actually but here's a pretty good pic of one. I actually had a pic of one much closer but it turned out blurry. We saw him on the side of the street so I had Mike pull over so I could click a pic. I climbed over Mike to take it and the Buffalo started towards the car so Mike took off darnit! That would've been a really close picture!
We drove up to the Wichita Mountains for the day. Everyone had fun but it was so hot! We saw a lot of buffalo and some deer. We saw some really cool bugs too. Here are some really neat butterflies we saw that don't seem to mind people too much. There were several of them by a really pretty little lake. I really like that lake because the water's crystal clear. you can see all of the little fish and everything really clearly just by walking along the edge. The lake that we live by is just the opposite. It looks really dirty. I'm really not much of a nature girl at all. I don't mind going for walks or bike rides by the lake or even going up to the mountains once or twice a year but that about covers it. I'm not in to camping or anything of the like. We went and ate lunch at the Meers restaurant that I mentioned in my last post. Check out the size of this burger! No, I didn't eat the whole thing for those of you who are wondering...LOL! That place is always busy. We had to wait about 45 min. for a table and then another 45 for our food.

Cassie's sleepover with her friend went well last night. They didn't seem to want to go to sleep though. Boy, there's a shocker! LOL! Little girls are grouchy in the morning when they didn't get much sleep. Pretty dramatic too. Not my fault....I told ya to go to sleep...lol. I'm sleepy too. I stayed up until I knew they were sleeping just make sure they weren't up to anything...lol.

Sleepovers

Cassie's got a friend staying over tonight. She should be here in just about 2o minutes so I thought I'd pop on here for a few minutes while I'm thinking clearly..lol. Little girls are loud at night. Especially 9 year old little girls. Or maybe it's just all of them. They think we can't hear them in her room snickering late at night but we can. Have you ever noticed they giggle about everything? Even things that aren't funny. Ya ask them what they're laughing about and they just can't tell ya....lol. I hope they go to sleep at a decent hour because Cassie's not sleeping in tomorrow...lol. I think we're driving up to the Wichita Mountains tomorrow. Mike's been wanting to go eat at the Meers Store. You wouldn't beleive the size of the hamburgers there. They're close to the size of a dinner plate. They have to cut it in to quarters so you can pick it up to eat it..lol. I think the high tomorrow is only supposed to be 89 so it'll be a good day to go up there.
I took the kids Father's Day shopping today. Cassie had fun but Joshua just tolerated it. He really dislikes shopping unless he's shopping for himself...lol. We got their Father's Day gifts for Mike all wrapped up and put away in Cassie's room. I'll be in Chicago Father's Day morning so I'll have to call and remind her of that the day before. We didn't do much else other than that today. Just ran a few errands and then came back home. I cleaned a lot but the kids mostly just hung out. Since I've finished stitching on all of my commitments and such I'm gonna go dig through my stash and see what looks interesting to start on tonight. That Blackbird book is calling my name again. I've really been in to stitching their pieces the past month or two. I've definately gotten my money's worth out of that book. Good thing too because it wasn't cheap..lol. I still need to kit up something to stitch in the airport and on the plane next week. I might go do that here in a bit as well. I still can't beleive there aren't any needlework shops in Chicago. Apparently there are some in the suburbs but I don't have the time to go searching for them. Oh well. Maybe on my next trip..lol. I think I'm pretty well over freaking out about flying. I mean I'm gonna do it so no sense in going batty over it. I've never been to Chicago and haven't looked at a map of where O'Hare is so let's just hope when my plane lands it's not too terribly close to Lake Michigan..lol. Well I better go...the doorbell's ringing....boy, she's right on time...let the fun begin..lol.

Boy, did I procrastinate on this one.....

I finished up stitching on a round robin today. I've had it for quite some time and should've finished it a long while ago. I really don't have a good reason for not finishing it sooner. There just always seemed to be other gifts and things to stitch. It belongs to a good stitching friend of mine and I don't think she minded too much. At least if she did she didn't tell me...lol. Anyway, it's really beautiful and I know she's gonna love it once she gets it back. All it needs is a house stitched in the center and then there's some beading to be done. It still needs a pair of snails as well. I stitched a portion of the bottom left. She's gonna add thesnails for me as they require french knots and I don't know how to do those. I've tried to teach myself with no luck. I know how to do every other stitch under the sun except for french knots. It's a mystery to me as to why I can't do them. When they're required in something I'm stitching I usually use beads instead. I have quite a collection of Mill Hill beads so finding the right color isn't much of a problem.

I want to do something fun with the kids tomorrow but I don't know what. I was thinking of taking them to that new penguin movie. I think it's called Surf's Up. I still want to see the new Pirates movie too. I noticed Harry Potter starts July 11th. I know we'll see that one....at least Mike & I will. I've noticed previews for a rat movie opening the end of this month that looks pretty funny. The kids both want to see that one. I've noticed that every summer they put the really great movies out. Joshua wants to see that new Fantastic 4 movie but I'm not sure what that one's rated. They said something today about wanting to go fishing. They're gonna have to wait for Mike on that one. I don't eat fish and I don't catch them...I just have them for pets..LOL. We've taken them fishing before. They even have their own poles. They think it's great fun to put a worm on a hook. For the most part I just watch the birds or stare at the water..LOL.

Boy it got hot quick!

Up until now we had a really mild start to the summer. It had only been in the 70's-80's for the past few weeks and when the rain stopped it jumped up to the 90's. I believe the high on Thursday is supposed to be 98...yuk! I like 9o fine but it's just not much fun when it gets to be 100 or higher. I see lots of swimming coming in the near future. It's a good thing too..I really need a tan. I usually go to the tanning salon a month before summer starts but I didn't get to it this year. I was so busy with other things it just slipped my mind. We had a pretty good day today. The kids spent a few hours this morning at their grandparent's house so I went out alone and got some things done. I had a lot to do and get it done much quicker when I'm alone :). After I picked them up I bought tickets for myself, my brother, and my dad for The Museum of Science & Industry. Here's a link to their site if you'd like to see what I'll be doing on the 16th while we're in Chicago :) http://www.msichicago.org/index.html I'm really excited about going there! I also got tickets for the ne CSI exhibit...that should be very cool! I also got tickets for the U-505 submarine exhibit. I know my dad and brother really looking forward to that one. The CSI thing was my pick but I know my dad's gonna love it. I bought all of his tickets..they're his Father's Day gift from me :). I wanted to get tickets to see Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs in Omnimax but figured I should wait until we do the other things and see how much time we have left. I'm betting there won't be any time for that after we see all of the other things. I really don't believe I'd care to see the exhibit of the body slices though. I'm really not in to that kind of thing...lol. Another thing I'm really excited about is Hershey's Chicago! Anyone who knows me knows that I support the chocolate industry! LOL!

Tournament night and jumpin for joy

Tonight was Joshua's last ball game of the season. It was the first day of tournaments and they didn't win so that does it for this season. The tournaments were supposed to be last week but it rained so much they had to cancel and reschedule all of the games. Speaking of that blasted rain, they so should not have had our regular parking area open! There's a big grassy parking area by the t-ball fields where we always park. Usually when it's really wet and muddy they block it off and we have to park in parking lot by the larger fields and just walk to ours. Well it wasn't blocked off so I went on in and there was no problem..until I left! These stinkin cars parked right behind me and at an angel in front of me so the only way I could get out was to turn left...well wouldn't you know it, I get to a big muddy sink hole! I was so not gonna get stuck in that so to make a long story short my poor Santa Fe is covered in mud..LOL! It was either floor it and go or get stuck....there are sticks and branches all stuck to it. It looks like I went mudding for fun..lol. Oh well...off to the car wash I go tomorrow..lol. Anyway, back to his game. You know what I don't like about tournaments? All of the parents that come and act like morons. Let's take this guy who has a kid on the team. I don't like him and haven't since I met him. He's very arrogant. He got ticked off because a kid (maybe even his kid I couldn't tell) didn't catch the ball so he kicked the fence to the dugout. It kinda made me wanna go kick him...lol. I think someone needs to remind him that his kid is only 5 years old. Their end of season party was last night. It was at a really cool indoor party place here called Jump for Joy. It's so neat! They have these gigantic inflatable slides and things...very very cool! If I would've had my socks with me (socks are required to play) I so would've been sliding with them! LOL! We're gonna take them back next week during their open jump time before I leave for Chicago and I'll definately have my socks in tow! LOL! Look here at how much fun they were having. This slide that they're on is not the big slide. The big one was huge! After they played they ate pizza, cupcakes, and then received their tropies. Here's a pic of Joshua and his coach. This is the first trophy that he's gotten and he's thrilled to have it.

Dodging Bullets

Every year for Christmas my dad goes on a hunt to find something really interesting for Joshua. Something that'll scare me, crawl towards me, ect...This past Christmas it was something to shoot at me. He bought him a tank. A tank with little pellets that you load up and with the push of a button on a remote control they come shooting out (really quickly!). It stays in it's box when it's not being played with. As soon as he comes walking in with the box the dogs scramble to look for a safe place where they won't become the target of yet another attack. I spent a little while making sure I wasn't gonna be the target of a surprise attack as well. I have to wonder if my dad buys him these things because he thinks it's a great gift, or if he gets a kick out of knowing I'll be the target of an attack. I think that's exactly it because when he opens these sort of gifts I notice my dad lauging quietly in a corner...lol.

This has been a really good weekend! Well most of it anyway....I think I've been fighting off a stomach bug so have felt icky on and off this afternoon. Yesterday I finished up that gift for my stitching pal, Jodi that I'm meeting up with in Chicago. I wish I could post a pic of it here, I just LOVE it! I'll have to wait until after I get back from my trip though since she pops in here once in a while :). Tonight I finished stitching a Blackbird piece for another stitching buddy. This was the piece that I ran out of thread on. It arrived in yesterday's mail so I was able to get it finished up. I can't post a pic of it either until she receives it. I'll have lots of pics to post after my trip! My mom and I went out and did some shopping this afternoon. I picked up 2 really cute shirts at the mall and then we gandered over to Target. I got some things I needed for my trip there as well as a really cute necklace that was on clearance for something like $3 and another pair of flip flops. Speaking of shirts I've had some emails asking me if I translated the French on that shirt I bought a couple of weeks ago. Nope, I haven't. Sadly the poor thing was still in the bag until about 5 minutes ago..lol. It says Vivre Plus and Amoure Plus on it. Translate it if you wish...lol. At least I think it's French. The only thing I know about French and Italian is that they sound pretty...lol.

Chasing rainbows & flight restrictions

We had some really great thunderstorms this evening. I know some people don't like them but I alsways have. I love watching the clouds, especially when they turn really dark. I love lightening shows too. I don't ever wish for tornadoes but I find the whole severe weather thing really fascinating. Except for when it comes in the middle of the night and scares me clean out of my skin..lol. That happened last night. The thunder was so loud the house shook and sent me scrambling across the house because I just knew Joshua was gonna meet me half way. It looks like we're gonna have a repeat of last night so I'm not in a huge hurry to get to bed :). After it stopped raining this evening, we found 2 really pretty rainbows out back. If I'm not mistaken, I believe this was the first time that Joshua has gotten to see a big rainbow. Cassie thought it was really neat that there were 2 of them. Forget the rainbows, I want the pots of gold at the end of them :). I'm also staying up a little later tonight because I'm trying to finish up a gift for a friend. This gift is for the friend of mine that I'm meeting in Chicago in a couple of weeks. Her birthday is the beginning of July but I thought it would be much more fun to give it to her in person instead of mailing it. I'm thinking that I'm going to put her gift in my carry on bag on the plane. If I don't and put it in my suitcase, it'll be my fine luck that they'll lose it. Speaking of checking in your bags, I went to American Airlines website so I could get a list of restrictions on what you can/can't have in your carry on bag and your checked bag. When I got there, there was a link to TSA's website where you can find restrictions. After reading all of it, I'm a little concerned...lol. Get this, I can't have a bottle of perfume or hand cream in my carry on that's over 3 ounces but I can bring a screwdriver so long as it's not over 7 inches long. I have a slight problem with that...lol. You wouldn't believe some of the things they'll let you bring in your checked bag. Frankly, I'm shocked! I'm sorry but I just don't see what someone needs with an ice pick, a hatchet, or an ax in their checked bag! There is something very wrong with these restrictions..LOL! You can't bring pepper spray with you but by golly you can bring your hatchet! Good grief....I may have to bring my screwdriver with me just so I can feel safe on that plane...LOL.

On another note, did you hear about that new theme park they're opening at Universal Studios in Orlando in 2009?! It's a Harry Potter theme park called "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" and will be located in Universal's Islands of Adventure. We're definately gonna have to go back for that! We went to both Universal parks last summer and had a blast. It would've been a lot more fun if Joshua would've been a little older so I know next time will be even better. He did love the whole Jurassic Park thing. He thought it was incredibly cool that he got to see a baby dino hatch from an egg...LOL.