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.