request and a watched pot

The request
My Blogiversary is coming...


Here's my wish:
I was hoping anyone who reads here could post, just that once, a quick "Hi" on my anniversary day. I would really love to hear from everyone, even the quiet ones. If you want to say more, even better, but a quick hi would be great.
Thank you
~~~~~~

You know how they say, "A watched pot never boils"? Well by "giving up" today we got two things we were waiting for.
Item one was my camera. I was told Saturday when I bought it, that it would arrive either Monday or Wednesday. When I checked the status Sunday and Monday it stated that it was due to arrive Friday, the 28th. That's after Christmas folks. I really thought I would at least have it the day after.

Item two- Hubby's rechargeable battery for his tool and light set through Sears. They were out of them last Wednesday. So I got a raincheck for it. I really hoped they would call before Christmas. I called this morning, speaking of which, did you know they don't open until 9am? And the girl answered the phone to tell me that I had 8 more minutes! Hee hee. Well she took my number, and when I called back about a half hour later (funny she didn't call me back?) they looked and said it wasn't there and they had no idea when it would be.

So we decided to go out as a family and spend some of our gift cards.
We returned a few hours later having hit Toys'R Us, WalMart and Hannaford with piles of groceries and bags of Legos and DVDs in hand -there it was, a Staples box sitting right in front of the door in the freezing rain covered in plastic (thank you UPS).
We came in and started unloading. Checked the caller ID, yup, Sears called. And we were across the street from them when we were shopping!
See, as soon as I gave up, they "happened".

I LOVE my camera!

A dash of SBQ

From December 19- The SBQ by Kathryn and is:

Have you ever helped anyone else learn to stitch? Have you ever helped anyone learn a new stitch or technique?
Yes! I taught a few people this summer! I sat down with 4 kids, T., J., M., and S. (my DD) and did a basic pattern of Yin Yang.
I don't think I have ever shown anyone a new stitch or technique. *headscratch



This week's SBQ is:

Did you receive any stitching-related gifts for the holidays?
I was about to say no, but I got a cute cross stitch Christmas mouse pattern booklet for Christmas from my MIL. She also gave me a huge stack of yarns too! I know the SBQs are geared to cross stitch, but, stash is stash!

present time!

On Saturday:
I have been wrestling with my digital camera on and off for sometime now. It's a 1.3 megapixel camera with very little zoom. I bought it for a deal a couple years ago and it has served me well for what I paid for it. Right now I can take pics but can't load them into the computer, which is rather pointless and only happened about 2 days ago.
Hubby asked me to go shopping with him for my present. I was supposed to be baking all day for presents for a get-together today and for the neighbors and said as such. He asked again. I had a feeling it was for a camera since he had said I might want to go with him because I might want something specific. The only specific things that he won't or can't get for me are computer related. So I knew it was something "fun".
The kids told me on a 1, 2, 3 count what it was.....
Hmm, stay home and bake or go get a new camera? I grabbed my coat!
We struck off with sale flyers in hand.
Not long after that I have a Sony on its way to me (we didn't buy it there nor at that price). They were sold out in store and it's being sent to my home. It came with a 1GB card for free. Bonus!
So now I am expecting a new camera at my door either tomorrow or the day after Christmas.
I was planning on saving for a new camera this year anyways. I had planned on using any gift cards and such to get it between my birthday and Christmas. I love the ones I have seen that take video, and zoom so nicely. Plus now I will be able to get nice shots of the falling snow, and have the snow show!
Thank you DH.
:)
Oh and I made a double batch of ginger molasses cookies later on that evening. Yum!



**************
Today we went to my sister's house for a Christmas celebration. It was a nice get-together with my Dad, Stepmom, Sister, her four kids and Fiance, my DH, DS, DD and I.
We nibbled on turkey wraps and BLT's, veggies with dip, fruit with yogurt dip and cookies. Yummy! The kids were happy, noisy and fun. The adults were about the same I guess!
It was nice day.

Tomorrow, Christmas Eve, will be quiet in preparation of the next day.
On Christmas Day my MIL, FIL and BIL come up and we eat and exchange gifts. The gifts normally take quite a while. We don't have turkey or ham as most do, we usually have cold cut sandwiches with veggies, olives and pickles. That way anyone who is hungry can eat when they feel like it.
I will see my Mom and Stepdad once they return from a trip out-of-state to visit with my Aunt T.


Merry Christmas everyone!

snowy

See the orange part? That's us.
School will probably be canceled tomorrow.
I still have to wrap stuff!
Ugh, so wish I had another week until Christmas!

Um, okay.....

You'll die from a Heart Attack during Sex.

Your a lover not a fighter but sadly, in the act of making love your heart will stop. But what a way to go.

'How will you die?' at QuizGalaxy.com

The last thread

WOOT! And a huge thank you to Paula D who saved the day with a link to Fibers and Threads an online shop in New Hampshire who just happened to have the Indian Summer!!!!!!!!
So for a whopping $2 and no shipping I will have the last color of thread on the way to me so I can stitch the "Seasons" San Man Originals freebie pattern I have been dying to stitch for ages (it's way down at the bottom of that linked page) ...... Well once the bookmark for the way overdo exchange is done and sent. I know better than to do anything until that one is done.
The remainder of the needed threads is on the way by now too I think, thanks to KnittyKitty. I am paying her back with cash.

knitting lego machine!

Knitting lego machine!
One of the coolest things I have seens in a while!

Stitcher's Corner

Look what I found!
There is a local brick and mortar cross stitch shop in Maine! This is after years of Googling and scouring the yellow pages with next to nothing coming up!
I was looking on the Olde Willow Threads site for retailers, which led me to a site which led me to a site (-you know how that goes) which brought me to Stitcher's Corner. :)
Located in Wiscasset (okay still an hour away or so for me) it's locally owned by a stitcher. Very small town feel from what I can tell, which is a plus! To have a business owner who stitches and knows what you are talking about! *goldmine*
I talked for some time with her on the phone. No she doesn't have Olde Willow, and since retail sales are slow, bad economy that it is, she probably won't offer it any time soon. Can't blame her there, she says that when she stocks a product like thread, she will order the whole line.
Look at the stuff she has! Oh my, I think there will be an afternoon trip sometime soon. She even carries some fabric cut right there!!!! But until then I can call the toll-free number and order away!
Maybe KnittyKitty will come with me....... Quality girl time!



Oh and I am looking for #015 Indian Summer in Olde Willow. I shudder to think I may have to place an order online where the shipping costs more than the thread! Just for one piece of thread!
If anyone knows of a place near them or with good shipping prices on Indian Summer, could you drop me a comment here?

Tree time

I am decorating the tree (finally). The kids always want to help but they don't realize- I am traveling down memory lane. Holding each ornament, thinking where we were when we had it before. How I held some of them, with a toddler underfoot, or..... *sigh, this is what Christmas is all about!
They will add the final touches tomorrow, as they do every year, after Mommy has had a chance with a trip down memory lane....

Mystery SAL

Pamela Kellogg is having a Valentine Cross Stitch Mystery Stitch-Along. I am betting from what I saw of the Christmas Mystery SAL that this one will be wonderful as well!
It starts in early January!
I am thinking about signing up. I have bought several of her things through Etsy... *Thinking* (Wonder if I could sort of "early Bday" myself)

Very funny!

Sadistic laugh (*clickety).

pretty day

I was taking this picture and could hear the cardinal in the bushes to the right. The branches are covered with snow still and my zoom just can't get him well enough - unless you want to try and find the little red speck. But in person it is gorgeous, better than my camera can capture.

Mom's Letter to Santa

(taken from an EMS poster)

Dear Santa,

I've been a good mom all year. I've fed, cleaned and cuddled my children on demand, visited the doctor's office more than my doctor, sold sixty-two cases of candy bars to raise money to plant a shade tree on the school playground.
I was hoping you could spread my list out over several Christmases, since I had to write this letter with my son's red crayon, on the back of a receipt in the laundry room between cycles, and who knows when I'll find anymore free time in the next 18 years.
Here are my Christmas wishes:

I'd like a pair of legs that don't ache (in any color, except purple,which I already have) and arms that don't hurt or flap in the breeze; but are strong enough to pull my screaming child out of the candy aisle in the grocery store.

I'd also like a waist, since I lost mine somewhere in the seventh month of my last pregnancy.

If you're hauling big ticket items this year I'd like fingerprint resistant windows and a radio that only plays adult music; a television that doesn't broadcast any programs containing talking animals; and a refrigerator with a secret compartment behind the crisper where I can hide to talk on the phone.

On the practical side, I could use a talking doll that says, "Yes, Mommy" to boost my parental confidence, along with two kids who don't fight and three pairs of jeans that will zip all the way up without the use of power tools.

I could also use a recording of Tibetan monks chanting "Don't eat in the living room" and "Take your hands off your brother ," because my voice seems to be just out of my children's hearing range and can only be heard by the dog.
If it's too late to find any of these products, I'd settle for enough time to brush my teeth and comb my hair in the same morning , or the luxury of eating food warmer than room temperature without it being served in a Styrofoam container.

If you don't mind, I could also use a few Christmas miracles to brighten the holiday season. Would it be too much trouble to declare ketchup a vegetable? It will clear my conscience immensely. It would be helpful if you could coerce my children to help around the house without demanding payment as if they were the bosses of an organized crime family.

Well, Santa, the buzzer on the dryer is ringing and my son saw my feet under the laundry room door. I think he wants his crayon back.

Have a safe trip and remember to leave your wet boots by the door and come in and dry off so you don't catch cold. Help yourself to cookies on the table but don't eat too many or leave crumbs on the carpet.

Yours Always, MOM...!
P.S. One more thing...you can cancel all my request s if you can keep my children young enough to believe in Santa.

Stash update

Things have been added to my stash over the last month or so. Either by online store sales, swaps, RAK and the like. Now for your viewing pleasure. I am having stash amnesia, I don't know what I mentioned and when so I may repeat myself. Ah well.

Jenna contacted me that she had a stack of DMC rayons that she wouldn't be using and asked if I'd like them. *grins, I said yes. So love the rayons. They are a pain to work with. They sort of jump when you use them but they look and feel soooo nice.

Cobweb Corner had a sale for the Rudolph booklet I can't get around here and had been wanting for over a year. Couldn't pass that up!


This is the Mill Hill Kit I mentioned earlier. Love it!

I have given my Etsy account a little exercise too, snagging Pamela Kellogg's Christmas Biscornu and Seasonal Blackwork Biscornu designs. (Boy, she mails fast too! :) )




I received some Six Strand Sweets threads from Tonya on the San Man forum. It was a contest item. I was the lucky poster! They are colors with names like "Witches Brew", "Candy Corn" or "Grape Slushy". They are gorgeous! Not sure which is my favorite.

And lastly, my San Man November & December wishlist post for more SSS threads was granted by a few kind ladies there. I can hardly wait for them to arrive! It's so kind of them to do such a thing for me! I will post pics of those as soon as they arrive.

White stuff

The snow started Sunday night and stopped for a short time this morning. This was taken about 10 minutes ago. I wish I had one of those digital cameras that took video too, it looks so pretty coming down. The still camera never shows the falling snow very well.
Surprisingly there was no delay in starting school this morning. Many towns canceled or delayed today too. But not ours. So the kids hopped on to the bus encased in fresh snow from playing in the snowbanks while waiting for the bus to arrive.
Now the kids are really going to be nuts in anticipation for Christmas!

My son went in to school today. It will be his first full day of school in over a month. Running 10 miles up to go and get him/drop him off everyday has been brutal on the schedule (and gas tank). Not to mention hard on him. We had him alternate most days , ride in on the bus in the morning and I would get him at 11:30 one day, then drop him off at 11:30 and have him ride home on the bus the others. That way he wouldn't keep missing the same classes.
Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts for my DS.

I have Pamela Kellogg's Christmas Biscornu pattern (only one of them left there btw!). I am dying to stitch it up! But I have to rake the snow off the roof, shovel a bit, tackle some housework and decorate the tree. Oh to have more hours in the day!