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.

Oh for Pete's sake...I did my homework

So after dinner I told Cassie she needed to get started on her homework. Shortly after that she walks in with a piece of notebook paper and a pencil and hands it to me along with a note from her spelling teacher saying that part of her homework was to give a parent a spelling test using this weeks words. Pffffft! Excuse me but my turn is over. If I wanted homework I'd be taking college classes. LOL! It wasn't a quick list of 10 either. There were 40 of those suckers on there! Like I don't have enough to do right now. Thanks, teach! LOL! If she sends home another note like that before we move, I might have to send one right back..lol. Sheesh...

I had a really nice lunch today with my mother in law and Mike's Grandma. We went to Samari of Tokyo. It's a Hibachi style Japanese restaurant and it's SO good! I'm gonna go back with my best freind either the end of this week or next. I love watching those guys cook the food. It's such fun to watch. I'll see his Mom and Grandma again on Sunday. They're having a going away picnic for us so that should be lots of fun.

I did get a few more boxes packed this morning. It seems like I have boxes everywhere. I've been able to pack everything ok up until today. I can't seem to find a good box to put Mike's Paw Paw's flag from his funeral in. It's in one of those flag cases and every time I think I have a box for it it ends up not working. I'll just have to keep looking I guess. There's gotta be one somewhere around here that will work. It's been a long day and I still have lots to do so until we meet again..........