Save the Forest

For a few weeks now I've noticed a lot of noise far back behind our house. Mostly in the mornings. At the crack of dawn really. I wondered what it ways but didn't give it too much thought. That is until I saw some trucks way back behind our part of the forest. Mike went back their to see what they were doing. Turns out they're cutting down a portion of the forest to build more houses. Why oh why are they doing that?! I love this forest and their are more than enough houses for sale around here without building more. I'll never understand that. Thankfully this part of the forest is mine so they won't be cutting it down. The forest did go really far back and the kids loved going on little hikes through it. Not now. It's been cut down considerably. Not a good time to build houses, IMO.



Joshua started flag football lessons today and so far really likes it. It was really hot here today though so he didn't look so good when they finished. It was only 90 but the heat index was 100. He seemed to be oblivious to it though. He was having too much fun. Someone forgot to tell a couple of the kids that we're not playing tackle football.





















I finished stitching that autumn piece I was telling you about today! This one took a lot longer than I thought it would! I really love it though and hope to go frame shopping next week. I'll probably have to order one but I think I'll do the framing myself. I think it turned out really great and am looking forward to getting it up on the wall. I've done so much stitching for others lately, it was really nice to squeeze in something for me. Perfect timing to because I was given another model to stitch yesterday. In all it's glory, here's my Prairie Schooler Autumn Leaves piece stitched on 32 ct. Lambswool linen.



I think I know what one of my next seasonal pieces for me will be. A while back on a blog I saw where some girls were stitching ornaments from the Prairie Schooler's Twelve Days of Christmas chart and they were attaching them to a grapevine wreath. I love the idea of it and have only seen 1 picture of one that was half finished. This book is out of print and has been for a while. Lucky for me I found it back in May at In Stitches when Laura and I went to Mt. Vernon for a needlework exhibition. I do believe I'm going to see about making one of those wreaths for myself. I just have some other commitments and gifts to take care of first. I'm feeling very productive lately :).



Can you believe how much gas has gone up because of Ike?! I was really hoping to head up to Arlington to see the Pentagon Memorial until I saw that gas went up about .50 cents a gallon. I'll wait till it goes back down a bit. I watched the dedication of it on TV on the 11th. Something about someone playing bagpipes just does me in. I wasn't too teary eyed until that guy started playing them. It was a really nice dedication.



I'm off....the oldest was falling asleep down here, but woke up long enough to muffle out that her throat hurts and she needs motrin *sigh*.

Waiting for Fall

Fall has always been one of my favorite times of the year. When we lived in Texas it was the idea of Fall because we didn't have much of one really. That's what I love about being up here. There are four seasons instead of two. The leaves turn slowly on the trees before they fall. In Texas what's not dead turns fast and the trees there aren't like the trees here. We got here mid Oct. last year and the leaves had just started to turn. I'm anxiously awaiting for the official start of fall. In the meantime, I decided to unpack my Halloween and Fall stitched pieces to have ready to display when the time comes. It was then that I realized that I need to add to my collection of seasonal stitched pieces. I have a few for Halloween but didn't realize that I only have one piece for Fall. That's just disappointing considering it's one of my favorite times of year. For some reason I was thinking I was going to unpack all kinds of Fall pretties to display. Humph. In my quest to change that and add to my collection of Fall designs to display, I tossed everything else aside to start a new Autumn piece. It's Autumn Leaves from the Prairie Schooler. I've loved this chart since I got it. I especially love the verse. It's the piece on the left I'm stitching. I promised myself I wouldn't stitch on anything else until it's finished. It should be done this week. I got a great deal stitched on Saturday when Hanna was blowing through. Hopefully I'll find a really great frame for it soon after it's done. The next time I post I should have a pic of the finished piece to share.

Back to what I do have to display for Halloween and Fall.....I took a couple of pictures for you of what I have. Let's start with Halloween. First, my mummy. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this mummy. I stitched him about 4 years ago and made him in to a stand up. I really look forward to displaying him every year. The next one is a treat bag that I got in an exchange. I have to admit, when I received this I didn't know how to display it. My clever friend Laura told me that she sticks a can of something in hers to display it. I did just that and it displays nicely. I hope no one goes looking for that can of chicken noodle soup :). I also got the little jack-o-lantern pillow in an exchange. He's a fun little thing. The last piece is a flat fold that I received from Jackie in a Halloween exchange last year. I love this piece! It's called Witchy Washy from Raise the Roof Designs. Ya gotta love her Madonna looking swirly bra hanging on the line there..lol.

On to Fall....This is it. I have 1 piece to display. Not for long though because my needles are flyin! It's a pillow I received in an exchange from Lynne, a stitching friend of mine. I love this piece! She did a great job stitching and finishing it.

I've decided that I need to spend some more time stitching for me. I love the exchanges and things I join but I really need to stitch some of these charts I have. I can't just keep collecting them. I'm starting to feel guilty that I keep adding and not stitching what I already have. I'm gonna try to keep my purchases to just buying fabric and threads for the charts I already have. Let's see how that goes, shall we? LOL :).

I'm excited to say that in my endeavor to stitch more for myself that I've joined the Me, Myself, and I Neighborhood Round Robin. I'm really excited about that! I don't know what kind of neighborhood I'll have yet, but I'm leaning towards either a Prairie Schooler RR or a Liberty/Patriotic neighborhood. We'll see. I have lots of ideas swimming around! I'll put my architect hat back on soon and see what I come up with. I love the idea of this because there are no time restraints or commitments like traditional round robins.

I've been buying more bananas than usual lately, secretly hoping that some of them will overripe before they can finish them off. I found the BEST recipe for banana bread on All Recipes. I've made it several times and it turns out perfect every time. The only thing I do different is I had some cinnamon to the batter and once I mix everything together I also had a bit of milk to make that batter a little thinner. It's really good, the best banana bread that I've ever made. You can find the recipe here if you'd like to give it a whirl. I just finished baking a loaf. The best part of baking banana bread is that it makes the house smell soooooooo good :).

I'm off to do some housework. I have a date with a friend tomorrow so I'm trying to get everything done today. We were supposed to have lunch last Thursday but she had a run in with some poison ivy :o.

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.