Carnival Fun

What do you do when you ask mama if you can get a goldfish bowl and a goldfish to go along with it and she says no? You go to the school carnival, play the fish bowl toss and when one? What can she possibly say then? Stinkers. The funny thing is, it's not an easy game to play. And not all bowls have fish in them. It just so happens when my two went to play they both landed themselves a new fish bowl with a fish. How nice that they offer prizes that are living. What's 2 more to the zoo I'm already living in!




We had a really great time at the school carnival today! It was nothing like any school carnival we'd ever been to, that's for sure! It's been raining all day so everything was indoors. The games were set up in the classrooms on both floors. The gym was filled with a moonbounce and a few other large inflatable games. The library was where the cake walk was. In the cafeteria they were making cotton candy as well as other carnival yummies. They were also putting people in jail and making them sing there way back out. They had carnival music playing on the loud speaker. It was really neat and felt very "carnivalish" unlike things we'd been to at there school in TX. Joshua scored a cake on his first try at the cake walk. He came home with a yummy apple cranberry cake. Can you believe for the bargain price of 3 tickets you can get your hair painted this lovely shade of blue? And for 2 you can get a pumpkin painted on your face.















And you think you can out smart Cassie with the old switcharoo do ya? Nope!



Before all was said and done I ended up carrying my purse, an umbrella, a cake, a bag of candy, and a fish in a bowl. We had a really good time.



Mike's coming home tomorrow so we'll be picking him up at the airport. We're leaving early so we can make a quick detour over to the Pentagon to see the Memorial. If we have time we might swing over to the National Zoo to say hi to the pandas. I found out yesterday that the 33rd annual Marine Corps Marathon is tomorrow so hopefully it won't be too hard to get in and out. I seem to always pick the best days for these outings of mine.




I just received a really great exchange package in the mail from Mo! She stitched Brightneedle's Hatz Boutique for me and made it in to a lovely pinkeep! I love the pins in this! I'm thinking she must have made them. They're just so pretty! I love the hand dyed fabric she used to stitch it on too. She also sent a long a couple of Halloween bags for the kids and 2 Cadbury candy bars which are long gone. Thanks so much for the fun package, Mo! My camera's rebelling. It refused to take good pictures of this piece .

Playing with firemen & other stuff

I'm in a good mood tonight people. What a really good and productive day I've had! Except for the part where I had to drive Mike to the train station at 5 this morning. That didn't thrill me too much. Not only because it was 5, but because it was 5 and I was driving him there so he could take the train to Washington and catch a plane to Dallas. I wanted to go too. I really really wanted to go. I'll be going soon enough but alone. I really wanted us to go together. The upside is by going alone I only have to accommodate me. I'll be having a long slumber party with my BFF.

Today I have accomplished the following:

1. Drove Mike to the train station.

2. Went shopping for extra blankets for the winter and warmer pj's for everyone. We didn't need extra blankets in TX and I figured out rather quickly last year that we'd need them here. Both kids outgrew their winter jammies from last year.

3. Picked up tickets for another political rally for Monday. Yep. That's right. I'm going again. This time it's coming to Fredericksburg so I have to drive a whole 15 minutes. The park it's to be held at is a less than a 5 minute drive from the cross stitch shop. That works out well doesn't it...I think Mike might be coming with me. If not, that's ok too. I have friends going. I love these things.

4. Baked a batch of Halloween cupcakes for the cake walk for the school carnival on Saturday.I had more than I needed so I let the kids decorate what was left to keep. You want to see their handy work you say? Ok.

5. Stopped by Homespun Elegance in search of the perfect heart charm or button for a little project I'm working on. I knew she'd have just what I needed.

6. Went to a Cub Scout Den meeting. This one was at the new fire station. Everyone had a blast and I secretly wanted to put on one of those fire suits.

Cassie had a good week too. She just found out she's been selected to be on the yearbook staff and she's really excited about that. She's in charge of the layout and design. I know she's looking forward to working on it. I was on the yearbook staff when I was her age and have really nice memories of it.

If you have a pet who is in need of medication for a long period of time or for the rest of their life, I would encourage you visit 1800petmeds. They SO rock! I've seen the commercial on TV for them several times and it just occured to me late last night to check them out. You remember I told you a while back that my Pomeranian has congestive heart failure? She's on medicine for the rest of her life and I pay $23.80 for a 12 day supply. I went on over to Pet Meds and ordered a whole month supply for over $2.00 less than what I pay for a 12 day supply at the vet and that's even with shipping! The thing is if it's a med that requires a prescription they have to contact your vet and they have to release the prescription. I was worried they wouldn't do it but they did! I'm about as happy as a pig in slop about that.

I'm off...my busy busy day is catching up with me. I don't believe I'll have any trouble sleeping tonight and since Mike's not here I can sleep like a starfish if I so desire.

Palin Rally

Cassie and I went to the Road to Victory with Sarah Palin rally in Richmond yesterday and had SO much fun! The gates opened at 11 and the program started at 2. We got there about 10:30. It took about an hour to get through security. The event was held at the Richmond International Raceway. Originally it had been planned that it would be at a much smaller venue but the ticket demand quadrupled what they thought it would be so they moved it. I'm glad we got there when we did! we had to wait for a really long time for the program to start but we got a really great seat. All of these people didn't. And why did we? Cause my daughter's mom rocks, that's why!


When we first got to the bleachers I asked a nice man working if we were to sit wherever we wanted. He said yes but whispered to us that if he were us he'd sit right next to this sectioned off area of the bleachers because that's where the important people were sitting. Turns out he was right! We also got to see the motorcade coming in which was super cool! We had the best time and I'm so glad we went. Afterwards we tried to get Sarah's autograph but there was a pack of crazy men pushing us out of the way. I'm not sure why. Surely they didn't think the Secret Service would let them get too terribly close to her. Cassie did manage to get Hank Williams Jr.'s autograph. Enjoy the pictures! The guy in the white shirt is her husband. Hank Williams JR. is wearing the Redskins jersey. I've found some press pictures that we're in but I can't post them on my blog.

Stinkin people and their stinkin signs....




















Hank Williams JR.

We'll take 2 please!

I'm really excited to announce that on Monday Cassie and I will be hopping over to Richmond and attending the Road to Victory Rally with Sarah Palin! We're both REALLY excited about that! I'm excited to see Palin but more excited that I have the opportunity to take Cassie to something like this. I picked our tickets up on Thursday. I've not ever been to anything like this before so am not sure how early we should get there. The doors open at 11 and the program starts at 2. I had a look at McCain's website a bit ago for rally info and am glad I did. I noticed that both the venue and the time were changed. If we would've showed up at the other place that would've been a bad thing. I would've been an unhappy puppy. Cassie's planned her outfit down to the earrings and the necklace. I'm hoping I can get some really good pictures. I'm really looking forward to doing this with her.

I finally finished up attaching those patches to Joshua's Cub Scout shirt just a few hours before he needed to wear it. I busted out with my sewing machine and got them on much quicker. Piece of cake. Well, not really but quicker than hand anyway. Much much quicker. He was really excited to put it on.

I finished stitching a small piece last night. It's that new cute little Christmas Purse from JBW Designs. How cute is that?! I stitched it in Cranberry Sampler Threads. It came with a charm but I didn't use it because I don't really like it. I take that back...the charm is fine, I just don't think I like it on the piece.

Speaking of stitching I'm pleased to report that a model I stitched a couple of weeks ago has just been released so I can show it to you. I bring you "All About Halloween" from HE. See the fun kitty pillow? I stitched him. He was a lot of fun to stitch. He's a nice sized cat stitched on 10 ct. fabric. I think some mini kitties stitched on a higher count would be really cute.

A Year Later

While folding clothes this morning and thinking about what all we've done this past year and what we hope to do in the next year, I realized it was exactly a year ago today that we moved from Texas to Virginia. I try not to think back on that day too often because my heart was in a million pieces. When we left town I had my handkerchief in hand and I pretty much held on to it for the 2.5 days we were driving. I remember feeling at that time and for some time after that the world was coming to an end. I couldn't imagine myself across the country and away from my friends and family. Separation and change are very hard things! I know now though that moving up here was the best thing for us. I also know that my parents and brother moving to WV was the best thing for them. We LOVE LOVE LOVE it up here and now that we've been here for a year it would be hard to imagine living there again. Sometimes I lay in bed at night and close my eyes and try to remember little things like what our backyard in TX looked like because sometimes I feel like I'm starting to forget. Change is always hard and that move was by far the hardest thing I've ever done but now that we're here and have been for about a year, I'm really glad we did. I can't believe the year flew by so quickly. On the other hand, it seems like we've been here forever.

I've started pulling the blankets and the long jammies back out. The nights have been cold! The mornings have been too. I've noticed the past couple of days that the leaves are starting to turn on the trees. I love it when they turn orange and red. I'll be looking forward to posting pics of them as soon as they turn. It's so beautiful up here in the fall. I'll also be looking forward to the deer coming around again. I've not seen any around here since last February.

Gimme a Break, Man

Besides God, my family, friends, and country, somewhere in the line of things I love would be my needle. I did love my needle but right now I despise the shiny little tool. Those patches are thick! I have to have the patches sewn on to Joshua's Cub Scout uniform by Thursday. I've never had any trouble with needle and thread until now, although I've never attempted to sew on patches. Maybe it's just me being particular but these things are a pain in the butt to sew on! I don't know if I'm using the wrong kind of needle or what but there has to be an easier way. I spent well over an hour sewing on one patch which is just unheard of. I still have 7 more to go *sigh*. I love his council patch btw, very cool. It has the Jefferson Memorial on it with Cherry Blossoms around the Tidal Basin. Super neat little patch. I'll take a picture of it if I ever get the bloody thing sewn on. If you're an accomplished patch sewer on-er I would greatly appreciate any suggestions you might have of a quicker and easier way to get these things on within the next 2 days.

I got word that the Halloween package that I sent for the Halloween exchange in one of my groups was received so I can post a pic of the stitched pieces now. I sent to Gaby in Germany. I stitched a really fun Jack-O-Lantern for her from the Prairie Schooler's Prairie Year Rounds book and made it in to a treat bag. I really liked stitching this piece. It was a nice change to stitch on the black fabric. I love that candy corn fabric. I also made a pinkeep for her using the witch from the Prairie Schooler's When Witches Go Riding chart. It's an obsession, I know. When I sign up for exchanges I just can't seem to get away from the Prairie Schooler charts.

I think I mentioned a couple of months back that Mike's Grandma has lung cancer. She was in the hospital for a little while recently. When she first went to an oncologist she told him she didn't want to know what her prognosis was. She also has heart problems so I worry about her a lot. Mike really wants to see her and I do too. It looks like he might be making a trip to Texas in a couple of weeks to do so and I might be going shortly after he gets back. That's the stinky thing about not having any family nearby. If the kids weren't in school it wouldn't be an issue, I could load them and the dogs up and take them to WV to my parents house. We're still thinking on what we're going to do. I know he's going but I'm not 100% sure I am just yet.

Houseguests and Creepy Things

No connection between the two :). Mike's dad and his wife came in on Thursday for a visit and left early early early this morning. We had a really nice visit and I know the kids wish they could have stayed longer. Friday we took them on a tour of the historic part of Fredericksburg. We didn't have enough time to see everything so will have to catch more of it next time. We had lunch had this really neat Irish Pub called The Blarney Stone and afterwards headed down to the Fudge Factory for dessert. Yummo. I love that candy shop. I know I've said this before, it reminds me of the candy store on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. While walking downtown, I saw my first policeman on a horse. I've been downtown tons of times and this is the first time I've seen one on a horse. Pretty neat. After we picked the kids up from school we went back down town again to this really neat place that was all decked out for Halloween. They wanted to take the kids to pick out pumpkins. I saw this place from the street last year and then again the other day but had never stopped in until then. They had the neatest Halloween displays set up. I really liked the little graveyard!

I had a pretty busy week. I spent a lot of it getting ready for our visitors but did skip out on Wednesday for a last minute trip to Richmond with my friend, Juli. She wanted to go shopping and I was happy to tag along since I hadn't really seen anything in Richmond yet. We went to a big outdoor mall called the Short Pump Town Center. We ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory YUM! I highly recommend the Grilled Chicken Avocado Club. Before we left the mall we went back again to get some cheesecake to go. Yum again. I highly recommend the Pecan Caramel Turtle cheesecake. At least I think that's what it was called. I would've felt bad about eating it except the nice man behind the counter assured us that he sucked the calories out of it :).

I didn't do much stitching the past week but I did manage to get an ornament stitched out of the new JCS Christmas ornament issue. I stitched the Norwegian Reindeer from Scandinavian Stitches. I stitched him in Raspberry Parfait Sampler threads. He was a really quick stitch. It took me 3 evenings but I only had a bit of time each sitting. I'm hoping to start on a birthday gift tonight.