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!