Diving for $$

Our house guests went back home yesterday *sniff*. Every time my family leaves from visiting I just feel blah for the next day or so. We had a really great time while they were here, especially at the beach. I thought for sure that we'd be stuck in traffic for a while, but to my surprise we didn't get stuck once. It was a really nice drive. This was the first time they had gone to Virginia Beach and the first time my Grandmother had even been to Virginia. The beach was really busy and the waves were tolerable unlike the monsters we encountered in July when Bertha was swirling around in the Atlantic. Joshua spent a lot of his time digging in the sand and building things. Except for this one time when he was trying to bury himself. That hole needs to be a little bit bigger! LOL!





Cassie spent a lot of her time looking for crabs and other animals. If you really know her or have read her blog then you know that she loves crabs as pets. While in the water a man picked up a crab and threw it back out in to the ocean. I was taking lots of pictures and just happened to snap this one of her giving him a seriously dirty look. She was very upset that he threw it instead of gently placing it back in the water. I tell ya, this picture says a thousand words lol! That's my dad and brother in the background. They knew what
she was thinking before she even said it lol!


Here's Grandma.


As for me, I spent quite a bit of time looking for animals for Cassie. That hunt ended abruptly when I saw a $5 dollar bill coming in with the waves. Now I don't dive for much but I will dive for money! LOL!

One thing I did learn with having a house full of 8 people is that I need to get some more pillows and some beach towels. 8 people going to the beach= 8 towels. The same number of people taking a shower when we get home from the beach is another 8 towels. That's a lot of towels for 1 day!

I REALLY wanted to go parasailing this time but didn't get to so I'm DEFINITELY going to next summer :). I've wanted to do that for a really long time.

No Vacancy

You know what's worse than having to go grocery shopping? Having to go grocery shopping in the pouring rain. It's always fine and dandy until it gets to the part where you have to unload everything from the buggy to the car. It's easy to hold an umbrella and unload the bags but not so easy when you have to pick up that 18 lb. bag of dog food. What's even more fun is when the wind starts blowing. That'll get ya nice and wet. Me thinks I should've worn a wetsuit to the grocery store because when I got back I was all sorts of wet. Of course now that I'm home the rain has stopped. Go figure.



When I got home I walked up the stairs to find my little black monster having a siesta in my chair. How comfy does she look? It's a perfect day for laying around. Not for me though. I really doubt those clothes are going to fold themselves :).




I'm SO excited!! I'm trying to get everything done today because I've got visitors all weekend! My brother will be here late tomorrow evening and then on Saturday my mom, dad, and grandmother will be here. YAY! So all sleeping places have been spoken for, for this weekend. Speaking of which, if you intend on visiting us at any time, you might want to reserve your spot asap because we're booking up fast :). We're all going to Virginia Beach on Sunday and they're super excited about that because they've never been. I'm not quite as excited as they are because of the traffic. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to going but I know what to expect going to the beach on a holiday weekend. They were warned! They still want to go though so go we shall. I hope they have patience because we might be crawling on the interstate for a while LOL!




I did the finishing on a piece I stitched for a birthday exchange yesterday and LOVE LOVE LOVE it. In fact, I think I like this better than just about anything else I've stitched for an exchange. And I've been in a bazillion exchanges. It could just be me but I think it's soooo pretty. Nah...it's not just me...Cassie said so too and is quite surprised I'm not keeping it...lol! No pic until after Sept. 20th because that's when her birthday is.



I'm off...lot's to do before my guests arrive :).

Bye Bye Summer

I know it's not officially over for about another month or so, but as far as I'm concerned when school starts back it's done. I only wish they would've started after Labor Day like a lot of the surrounding counties instead of today. They were both really excited to go. I'm happy to report that they LOVE their teachers and they can't wait to go back tomorrow. It also helped I'm sure that Cassie ended up in the same class as her best friend and several of her other friends. I think someone had a helping hand in that. It wasn't me! They like school up here so much more than they did in Texas. I'm excited about that. I really want them to like it.

Cassie had been asking me about making a blog for a while so we did that last week. If you'd like to see the ramblings of an almost 11 year old, you may see them here.

Saturday evening Mike, Joshua, and I went over to our neighbor's house for a crab feast. I do not feast on any type of sea creature but didn't want to be a party pooper so tagged along to visit. They have a crab feast every year and several of the neighbors come over. I really like these neighbors and go over to visit with often. I can't go over there unless I'm hungry though. She NEVER lets me leave without either eating something there or taking something home with me. She's a little comedian so I especially like going over when I'm missing my family because she can really get me laughing :). Back to the crab feast.... They had large tables in the garage covered with newspaper with tons of crabs on it. When the pile dwindled down, there were boxes more that they added. Pretty disgusting if you ask me but I'm sure you seafood eaters probably think it looks divine lol. I know Mike and Joshua had a great time. Cassie is a crab advocate. She loves them as animals, not food. She refused to come with us so we left her at home lol. We were only 2 doors down so I thought we'd cut her a break this time. Joshua liked cracking the crabs a little too much I think...lol. He also insisted that he join everyone else (except me) and eat some. I'm thinking he mostly did that to irritate his sister because it's the first thing he said to her when we got back home lol. Here's a pic of my funny friend with her feast of crabs lol.

As for stitching, I've done a bit but not a whole whole lot. I spent most of last week playing with the kids while Mike was in Alabama. I did manage to stitch a Halloween piece piece for a Halloween exchange while I watched the Olympics. I can't post a pic of that right now but I can post one of a couple of ornaments I finished from the Sweetheart Tree. They're the Candy Cane Heart from the monthly heart series. I'm actually working on a third one too. They're going to be gifts for a few friends here. I really like this piece and have actually stitched it before for myself. I don't intend on buying the sterling silver candy cane charms for them though so need to find a suitable substitute. You can see in the middle there where the candy cane is supposed to be. I figure I'll finish the third one and then go hunting for a charm or treasure for them.

A good end to a bad week

I've had better weeks. Last week was just not good. To kick the week off, on Monday I took Princess to the vet. She has had a cough for a while and it wasn't getting any better so I took her in to get some medicine. I knew going in they'd probably want to do some x-rays but I wasn't ready for what they were going to tell me. She's starting to go in to heart failure. Her heart is very enlarged and is causing her trachea to collapse. She also has fluid in her lungs. All of which is the reason for the cough. They gave me 2 different kinds of medicine for her which seems to be helping a little. She still has the cough but it's not near as bad. They told me the medicine has been known to prolong their life for an extra year or two but sometimes it doesn't at all. I'll just keep my fingers crossed and hope I can hang on to her a while longer. That news had me nice and depressed for a few days. I know they don't live forever, but still. Knowing that doesn't make it hurt any less.

3 days after that we got a call and found out Mike's grandmother has lung cancer and it's already made it's way in to her lymph nodes. She has an appt. with an oncologist on Tuesday so I'll be waiting to hear what they have to say. I wish I could do something for her.

I feel like I was sulking all week. Luckily I had Saturday to look forward to. My friend Laura from Richmond came in to town and I picked her up early yesterday morning for a fun day out. We went to Washington to the DAR Museum to see the needlework samplers they had on exhibit. My 2 favorites were both Quaker samplers. One of which was stitched in 1798. I believe it said the girl that stitched it was 11. They did an excellent job of preserving that piece. Most of the samplers were stitched before the Civil War which I find extremely fascinating. Nearly all of the pieces were stitched by girls aged 9 to around 14, most being on the younger side. We really enjoyed looking at all of the pretty pieces. After we left the museum we took a nice walk down to the Vietnam War Memorial, then around the Lincoln Memorial, back around the World War II Memorial, around the Washington Monument, and then back to the car. It was a perfect day to go. The weather was beautiful and I think most of the tourists went home :). We got in and got a parking spot quickly and got out quickly as well. After we left we headed to Alexandria. We ate lunch at a nice little taco place and then headed over to In Stitches to do some shopping and drooling. We had a really really great day and I'll be looking forward to our next outing. It was a really nice way to end a cruddy week. I really needed to get away.

Mike's leaving on Tuesday to work in Alabama for a few days so I'll be spending this last week before school starts hanging out with the kids.

I did receive a really great package in the mail last week. I participated in a scavenger hunt exchange in my group and my goodies arrived. We were all to choose 7 words and then our partner was to send 1 item for each word we chose. Here's a pick of the goodies that Marilynne sent me. My words were:

1. Pineapple

2. Crab

3. Poppy

4. Ghost

5. Bird
6. Baking

7. Handkerchief

I think I've mentioned several times that there's a place called Central Park in Fredericksburg where I do a lot of my shopping. There's an Outback Steakhouse in there and there's a really large pond behind it that's always filled with tons of ducks and geese. Before my bad week started I took the kids with a loaf of bread so they could feed them. They had so much fun that I took them back a couple of days after that so Mike could see them too. I got a lot of really great pics so will end my post for today with some nice goose and duck pictures for ya. They had the best time and those animals are fearless. It was during our excursion that I found out that some geese are psycho and mean ones hiss.

Shorter than usual

I haven't really felt like posting lately. Mostly because I don't feel like fighting anyone for the computer. Besides, when I finally do get it, I can't be left alone for 1/2 hour to do anything.

We went to my parents last Thursday and got back on Monday. We had a really great time although that family reunion left a lot to be desired. Most of the people I had hoped would come didn't. I did get to see my grandmother and my two favorite uncles though. Out of 25 cousins only 2 came. It was mostly extended family.

My parents have a fire pit down on their property so my dad started a fire so the kids could roast hot dogs and marshmallows. I think this was their favorite part of the whole trip. We had a lot of fun doing that! Isn't it pretty down there?

I didn't do too much stitching this week but I did finish up another Christmas ornament. This one was in the 2007 JCS Christmas ornie issue. It's the ornie from Homespun Elegance. I can't remember what it's called and I don't dare go upstairs to get it because the little people are up there and the second they see me they'll want something. Isn't it pretty? I love the little crown charms and they were very inexpensive.

I decided yesterday that I need to take up rag quilting so as soon as I can venture off and buy some fabric, I plan to start on one of those.

To be 10 again

Wouldn't that be fun? I can't tell you how happy I am that Cassie loves it up here so much. She seems to be so much happier here than she was in Texas. I know it's because she has a lot more opportunities here and she gets to do so much more. Her little corner of the world seems to be pretty bright here lately. Mine would be too I think if I were 10 1/2 and:

Just finished my very first knitting project. She took an enrichment class at school in February after school and learned to knit. She started a scarf in the classes but didn't finish it because she wanted hers to be longer than what it was when the class ended. She put it away for a long time and finally decided to last week to finish it. Here she is modeling her very first scarf! Thank goodness they provided her with websites that have video tutorials if they got stuck. I know nothing of knitting so would be no help. They do have a knitting shop here called Knitter's Cottage that offers workshops for knitters who get stuck on projects and I'm sure I'll be taking her in for those. She also wants to learn to make socks so I'm sure we'll be signing her up for a class as soon as she has a few more scarves under her belt. I told her once she finished this scarf that I'd buy her some new yarn. She held me to it too. As soon as this was done she was ready to go to the store where she picked up a nice bright pink yarn. Her first order of business.....one of her Webkinz needed a scarf. I bring you Cassandra the love puppy with her new scarf. Doesn't she just look divine? After that was finished she started on another pink scarf. I do believe she said that this one will be for me. I'll be anxiously awaiting it's completion!

Then there's the new Miley Cyrus CD that she just picked up with the money she had been saving. What's even better? With the purchase of the CD you get a free 60 day membership to mileyworld.com. I wasn't too terribly thrilled with the fact that I still had to give my CC #. I know it won't be billed but I also know how these things work. They just hope you'll miss canceling before that time so they can bill you for the next year. Little do they know I'm crossing off the days on my calendar so they're not getting me, no siree. Now if she wants to save her money and pay for it herself, that we can do.

On top of that her best friend's coming over for a sleepover tonight. Learning a new hobby, getting a new CD, joining a fan club of my favorite singer in the whole world, and having a sleepover with my BF sure sound like great fun to me! If she could manage to score tickets to see The Jonas Brothers in concert tomorrow night in Baltimore, I do believe her world would be perfect.

Hanging around

We spent so much time out and about when Mike's mom was here that I decided to spend most of the past week at home. We did venture out a couple of days. We spent one full day out shopping for things for school before everything got picked over. I can't believe school starts back in a month. It seems like they just got out. We've stayed pretty busy all Summer and it's going by way too fast for me. I wish I could slow it down a bit. I also can't believe how much was on their lists for this year. According to said list, Joshua needs 50 pencils and Cassie needs 40. I did not buy that many. I'll get more later if they need them but I'm having a hard time believing they'll use that many. They must anticipate them losing a lot of them or something.

I did get to spend some time stitching but can't show pics of anything I stitched. Some are gifts and then I had the pleasure of stitching a model for a local designer. I was really excited about that and am looking forward to stitching more for her in the future. I can't hardly wait until the chart comes out so I can point and say "Oh! Oh! I stitched that!" :). It wasn't a large piece but I was really happy to stitch it.

Yesterday we took the kids to a beachy area on the Rappahannock River that we recently discovered. We spent most of the afternoon swimming in the river. That's the same river that George Washington swam in when he was a boy. Don't believe me? Okie dokie, go here and read for yourself :). There were a lot of people swimming and tubing in the river which quickly made me decide that I need to get one of those tubes too. The water was pretty clear and the current where we were at wasn't bad at all. The water was flowing but it was pretty shallow where we were at. I wasn't however amused with the big signs that say "This river can kill" that were scattered about along with the number of people who have drowned since the 70's. I guess you can't underestimate the power of a flowing river. We had so much fun and I know we'll be spending a lot more time there this Summer since it's only a hop, skip, & a jump away. I wish we would've noticed that area a little sooner.

I don't have too much planned for the first of this week. We're leaving late Thursday for my family reunion so I'll be doing some things to get ready for that.