Still stitching...

I just finished a beautiful project this weekend while we were visiting Wenatchee. It is for my ANG Master Teacher project so, of course, I can't show a picture. :) It's called "Arabesque"...

I've been writing instructions, working on stuff around the house, and just doing a bit of traveling.

Victoria had a swim meet a couple of weekends ago in Pasco and did great. She's still about 10 seconds away from having a Bronze standard swimming time but she's trying! She finishes every race and does great in her relays. She's thrilled that this week is her last week of ballet for the year.

Today Madeline and I went to the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Director's Choice today. It was ok... I have mixed feelings about it. I loved the Balanchine / Stravinsky piece, Symphony in C I believe. Just smooth and so well done. The other pieces were just ok for me though. Also we were sitting next to an awful woman in the audience. She never learned her manners about how to behave in a crowd! I haven't resubscribed for this upcoming year but we will go see Coppelia for sure.

Travis is doing great - other moms will understand how thrilled I am that he weaned this last month *and* potty trained! Hurrah! I've been pregnant, nursing, or changing diapers for the last nine years and five months so I finally feel that my children are getting easier! Yippee skippy! :)

I'm headed to the Doctor later this week to get my neck and shoulder checked out again. It doesn't hurt as bad as when I first tore the rotator cuff in fall 2007 but it hurts. I keep thinking it will get better and it's just not.

Anyway, back to working on the MTP stuff. I have one more art class to take this year and just have to get instructions written. :)

What a week...

It's been a busy, and tiring week. I have boxes of stuff to list on eBay. My house is a big mess. I've done pretty much no stitching, sewing, quilting etc. But that's ok! We had a friend come visit from Germany (stayed at a hotel) so we spent Sunday and Monday with her.

Monday night at swimming Victoria started feeling ill. She was sick Tuesday through Thursday and started feeling better on Friday. Saturday morning she had a swim meet... she did great for being so newly recovered and finished all her races. We popped into the Quilter's Anonymous show for about an hour on the way home and then I napped the evening away.

Today I took Madeline to the Broadway Festival at Pacific Northwest Ballet. I loved Carousel, Slaughter on Fifth Avenue, and Take Five. I wasn't thrilled with West Side Story.

Right now I'm watching Kings and am about to go clean up the kitchen. My darling mother-in-law gets here Tuesday and there is a lot to do before then. :)

Just an update...

I've been moderately busy... nothing out of the ordinary, just day-to-day life.

Last Thursday I did take the girls and we went down to the Seattle Asian Art Museum to see the "Garden and Cosmos" exhibit. It was beautiful and interesting and inspiring... everything that I love in art. The girls, hmm, not so interested. It is a large exhibit and while they did behave well they were more interested in the handsets to walk around and listen to the docent recording. Yes, that is educational, but it doesn't mean that they looked at the paintings for very long.

Victoria is doing a report on Mongolia for our homeschool World Geography Fair. It was originally supposed to be tonight but due to the snow is postponed until next month. She picked Mongolia, by the way. :)

Friday in the afternoon I drove down to Maple Valley to meet up with Denise, the wonder organizer, and pick up a van full of rubber stamps and craft stuff to list on eBay. I'm about 30% through. There's a lot of stamps!

I did get out on Sunday and plant more bulbs. I had two bags of fall bulbs that I put in the back yard. My plan last fall was to rip out the old weed block, remulch, split my hostas from the front yard and put some in the back, and add some evergreens along the fence. Unfortunately, I didn't get around to any of that - my yard was lucky it got any bulbs in the ground at all. So Sunday I went out and ripped out the old weed block, shoveled the mulch smooth again, and planted those last fall bulbs. I also had some new bulbs I bought at Costco on Saturday - giant canna lilies that went in the front yard so we'll see how those look. Should be fun!

A series of small calamities...

Nothing huge, just all bothersome.

Monday the girls usually have gymnastics in the mid-day. This is a class I arrange at a local gymnastics center for our homeschool group. We have between 14-17 kids each week. It's pretty fun, usually. They get to see their friends, work on gymnastics, and the Mom's chat. The coaching hasn't been the greatest lately and I've been disappointed - I could let them run around for free in the yard - I'm paying money so they can learn bars and balance beam and floor routines. Monday was the kicker though when the teacher canceled the class with no notice and then left when asked to come down and explain. There was a meet going on at another gym so the owner and office manager weren't there to intercede.

I did finally speak to the gym owner today and we will have a new coach next Monday. I'm giving it another week and in the meantime have been looking around at other gyms. There is another one out in Snohomish that we are going to try next week and we may end up going there. We'll see. It's been very stressful to discuss this with the 9 parents in the class and with the gym.

Back to Monday, after getting home from gymnastics (or lack of) Victoria slammed Madeline's hand in the bedroom door. It was very swollen with cuts across two of the knuckles. I called the pediatrician's office. Even though Victoria has been there and Travis has been there, Madeline has not. Therefore I couldn't talk to a nurse and the next appointment wasn't until Thursday. They recommended the Walk-In Clinic. I suppose I should either A. schedule Madeline for a well-child visit (because she hasn't been seriously sick, in, oh YEARS) or B. find a new pediatrician whose front desk isn't a guard station to the nurses. I do like the pediatrician so when we're off Cobra I'll go with A. I just hate having to pay money to hear my kid is healthy, you know? Just so I can get on the books and be allowed to talk to a nurse.

At the walk in clinic they did do X-rays since the cuts were right across the knuckles and they were all swollen. She is fine and the growth plates appear undamaged. I still remember the horrible story from The Friend magazine as a child about the kid who damaged his growth plates and had a child-sized hand for the rest of his life. (No offence to any people with little hands, it's just not something I would wish on my child, both Madeline with the little hand and Victoria knowing that she'd caused it.)

Later that evening I decided to go ahead and start updated my "Needlework: Stitch to Finish" book. I've been planning on distributing it in eBook format. (Don't get excited). It turns out the Word file on my computer is NOT the final file. At some point during the horrible time last spring that I call the Great Triple Crash of '08 I opened and looked through my book document and said "yep, that's the right one" but didn't scroll through the last 3o pages. Basically it's missing about 100 pages of information off the final version that was printed. And it was in color, so it's not like I could just scan a printed book to recreate the file.

The same "false" final backup was on our desktop and Brad's computer.

On Tuesday morning I went to the safe deposit box because I *knew* there was a final copy of the book on a CD/DVD in there, created before all the crashes. Well, the fucking CD won't open in Vista. I could *try* and pay a data recovery service but I'm looking at a minimum of $50 to upwards of $400 to *try* and recover the file from the CD. When opened in XP it wants me to format the disc.

Sigh. Many tears last night and I just went to bed around 8 p.m. Today I'm irritated but I have a greater sense of peace about it. Yes, it was an awesome book. It really was. I'm sad that it is gone and I'm mad because I went to the trouble of backing it up - it's the whole reason we have a safe deposit box. I was mad at myself because I didn't, somehow, keep the final file. Anyway, I could go on and on but I learned long ago that one just has to sometime let stuff go.




***
Today was a better day. We did lessons and I took Victoria to ballet and Madeline, Travis and I went to the store and she bought a little puzzle book and some spangle trim. I'm going to quilt a bit tonight and finish my color drawing the the MTP section I'm working on.

Life marching onwards...

I've been busy, but not overwhelmingly so. Just the continued shedule after a nice break for the holidays. The girls have their few activities - Victoria will "graduate" from speech therapy this week - yay! Madeline will continue onwards and will go for one hour instead of 45 minutes.

We've been consistent with their lessons as well so that keeps us busy. We started a Logic program with Victoria this week; she thinks it's "fun" and I suppose it would be. Like the child needs more lessons in how to argue.

I've been doing a bit more odds and ends for people. This week I made curtains for a neighbors' living room and I've been doing some Outlook work for another person. I like the odds and ends - they get me out of the house and bring in some small income. I have a few finishing projects I need to get completed and I'm hoping my Master Teacher stuff will get back soon so I can get stitching on that. I have another line drawing I need to submit as well....

We went to the zoo today and it was *supposed* to be in the low 50's. It was absolutely frigid. Bleh. Better cold than snow, though! The animals were out and about but we went through the insect and reptile houses where it was nice and warm.

Yesterday was book report lunch. Madeline showed her bead fusing craft that she made. Victoria presented a two-page report about Bill and Hillary Clinton. She did a great job. She loves to learn about the US Presidents and devours pretty much any biography at the library. I'm thrilled that they gave them their own [large] section. She also likes to read about the first ladies and of course leaders from other countries or from history, ie Constantine, etc.

I went to a presentation on Tuesday night about homeschooling through high school and how, in addition to the bookwork done with textbooks or in science classes, you keep track of the time and effort your child spends on independent interests. Therefore since Victoria spends at least 5 hours a week reading about the presidents after 8 months I could say she earned 1 credit on U.S. Politics. ;-) Studying the Egyptians for months at a time like Madeline does would be Ancient Egyptian History. It was a fun presentation - of course some of the laws will be varied slightly by the time we get to that stage but in truth she will need a transcript in, oh 7 years. She's over half way there! ;-)

Anyway, tonight I have a headache so I'm going to play Playmobil with the kids and perhaps stitch a bit later. Tomorrow I'm going to a client's house to help her type and format a personal cookbook. Fun! :)

Happy Christmas!

The children have had a great day. We had a nice dinner yesterday and they went to bed around 10 p.m. Brad and I stayed up and watched Disturbia, some Hallmark movie, The Family Christmas, I think, and also I watched The Dish. I love the Dish. All my reality TV and celeb updates (that I shouldn't care about but are funny) in 23 snarky minutes.

After we were sure that they were asleep we set out all the presents that have been in the corner of the garage, and also stuffed the stockings. We went to bed around 2-ish.

Alarm goes off at 8 and no kids are awake! I felt sure that they would be up before us... We made coffee and read until they got up around 9. They were thrilled with their presents. Each child received lovely gifts and lots of fun things to play with. Madeline and Victoria traded a few things. ;-)

Hallie and Greg arrived around 11. They played with the kidlets, opened a few gifts, and we had a lovely lunch. They are so good with the kids (which is good, because they get them if Brad and I both kick the bucket). Travis was thrilled to give Greg lots of fake shots with his fake Doctor kit. I found that particularly ironic.

After they left I read some more... the kids are playing and I think Brad is dozing on the couch. It was a long night! We're having leftovers for dinner and I am NOT going shopping tomorrow. We have at least a foot of snow on the ground and it's going to take forever to melt. My poor plants! I'm wondering how many years of this "unusually cold weather" we will have before Sunset starts changing people's zone recommendations for planting.

Happy Birthday, Madeline!

I'm sorry Travis took a swipe off the frosting before you got a chance to blow out the candle!

The sun is shining! The sun is shining!

So I should probably go out and rake leaves. Instead I'm going to do the dishes, go to the gym, do homeschool lessons with the kids, and work on some needlework finishing. Maybe the weather will hold...

I finished the stitching on my Christmas stocking. I'll finish it into a stocking in the next couple of weeks. This week was busy. We went up to Vancouver on Monday and saw the Aquarium there in Stanley park. Then we drove over and saw Brad's grandmother inthe nursing home. She looked really lovely and healthy. The girls were well behaved and Travis behaved like a small child in a nursing home. (Lots of running, spilling water, loud talking.)

Wednesday our homeschool group went to a glass studio. The older children did glass blowing and the younger children made a tile with glass to be fused. Both Victoria and Madeline made a fused tile. Victoria's art is incredibly unique. She considers herself an artist and truly, her work stands out. I can look at a dozen (or 30) pieces and spot Victoria's work. This held true at the glass fusing!

After the studio we went up to Madame Fifi's teahouse and had lunch. All the kids were very well behaved and the girls enjoyed having their own table with their friends.

We then drove down to Bellevue for ballet. I stopped on the way to buy Victoria a pair of pants (three is not enough for winter) and then to ballet. After ballet a quick stop for dinner at the grocery store deli and then on to swimming. They did great at swimming - Madeline has finally crossed the hump she's been stuck at and is now improving again. I talked to the swim team coach and we've scheduled a try-out for Victoria for swim team. She would start in January if she gets on.

After we got home the kids bathed and I photographed a bunch more ebay auctions. I sent out invoices for sold things (which I'll mail tomorrow). We watched a show (Chuck) and then went to bed and read (Angela Knight book) and fell asleep around 1 a.m. I was totally wiped out. TOO busy of a day.

So, from this I've learned that ballet, dinner, and swimming on every Wednesday are fine, because we do that every week and it's ok. But tacking on the extra stuff ahead was just too much. It was a one-time thing, and was a great deal of fun, but just too much. It's the same reason I don't like to travel with kids... they just can't go and go and go, and if you're there visiting you want to see everything anyway, right?

Anyway, time to head to the gym! :)

I'm still here...

Winter has settled in over the Seattle area. Rain, rain, more rain. This has been a very wet summer, fall, and hey, winter is looking like a lot of rain!

I've been busy listing stuff on eBay:

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/burgundyelephant

There is a professional organizer in the area. She calls me when she has needlework to sell for her clients and usually I swing by and pick it up. This last batch, she had to deliver, as it wouldn't have fit in my van. So, some is listed and more is coming.

The children are doing very well, albeit Travis is coming down with something. He started sounding wheezy on Wednesday afternoon, that night wasn't the best, last night was pretty bad, so tonight will probably be terrible. The third night of croup is always the worst but then they get better. He's such a healthy child aside from RSV as a baby and the yearly croup.

Victoria is keeping up with her lessons and both girls have settled into ballet. Madeline has a new swim teacher and she's wonderful - hopefully she'll pass trout sometime this year! She's been in level three for over a year now.

I have gotten some stuff done around the house. I fixed the patch on the back wall and Brad hung the curtains. I bought a new hook rack for the red bathroom and Brad hung it. We don't have a towel rack in there now but we never used it - this way they can hang their robes and it will look nice. I also painted all the baseboards and touched up the paint but it already needs to be touched up again.

We've been listening to Alice in Wonderland and now Through the Looking Glass. We just finished Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. It was very cute and OH MY it actually taught Victoria why she shouldn't talk back. I was amazed, as that wasn't my intention behind reading the book! Victoria finished reading the Harry Potter series last night. She was thrilled and was laughing out loud at the ending. Up next for her "fun reading" is Madeline L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time series, which I'd picked up at Costco. I've been reading voraciously the last few weeks to get away from the weather. I read the Sookie Stackhouse Dead Until Dark series, Twilight and Breaking Dawn, a bunch of romance novels (whoo whoo) and am now reading The Root of Wild Madder, which is about the persian rug industry. There are rug dealers in downtown Seattle so after I finish that one I'm going to take Victoria down there and look at them closely now that I know more about them.

Yesterday we went to the Burke Museum at University of Washington. The girls had a great time and it was a lot of fun. Lots of homeschoolers there. Since Travis is ill he stayed home with Brad. The girls helped work on a button blanket and put together wildlife puzzles, aside from looking at all the exhibits.

I haven't been stitching lately - I need to finish my stocking and I have a few things that need finishing. Off I go!

Book Report Lunch...

Thursday was book report lunch for our homeschool group. Victoria did her report on Susan B. Anthony and Madeline did hers on Grover Cleveland.

Now, keep in mind Victoria is almost eight, so her report was a collection of sentences like "Lots of Susan's speeches were written by her friend, Elizabeth Stanton." and "Susan fought to free the slaves." and "She was a teacher and noticed that men were paid more money."

Madeline is almost five, so her report was basically "These are the Presidents of the United States. Grover Cleveland was President when he was young and here he is when he was old." Of course, then she wanted to show everyone every single picture, which is very common when they're a young presenter.

They both enjoyed getting applause.

Me? I'm feeling bleh. I'm not dealing well with the end to our summer season here (what summer?) and I feel like I need to lose 15 pounds. I've been having insomnia. Which would be fine if I was getting stuff done, but laying in bed wide awake isn't helping anyone. :-(

Life Marches On...

I’m starting to worry that my gladioli aren’t going to bloom this year. It would be very disappointing. *Everything* was late blooming, so I won’t be surprised. Just disappointed. The hydrangeas are blooming right now and they are lovely. The Scotchmallow looked great for about a week until the monsters in the yard stripped all three plants of their blooms. My lilies were lovely…. until stripped of their blooms.

Maybe the glads have already flowered and were just stripped before I got a chance to see them.

The girls start ballet today. Madeline is really looking forward to it. Victoria, not so much. It’s mainly because she is such a chatterbox (she comes by it honestly) and she doesn’t like not being able to talk for an hour. Madeline, I think, will have no problem being silent for an hour. I bought them both new tights yesterday. Victoria’s new leotard should be there to pick up and I’m crossing my fingers that it will fit. The girls are required to wear a certain color based on age. Last year Victoria’s was white and this year it is red. Madeline’s is white. Why on earth they put the little ones in white is beyond me.

With the first of the month I am back to stitching on Twister. I finished row 1 of the border and am halfway through row 2. My Fellow level materials for the Master Teacher program came yesterday - whew! This will be a busy year. Two new designs for submission to seminar, one to submit to the chapter project book, as well as things on continuing education. I’ve learned the important thing with the MTP is to NOT procrastinate. I’ll put it in a usable checklist this week and get going.

School's Starting...

Most of the school districts here start up school again on Wednesday. I am looking forward to it very much! All of the museums and parks will go back to being calm and peaceful. ;-) We have some fun things planned for this upcoming year. Victoria is continuing with her ballet and Madeline will be starting ballet at the same time and location. They are also both continuing with swimming and gymnastics. Our homeschool group has park days planned through September, and in October will start back up with book report lunch and Lego club. There are also the monthly free museum days that are always very interesting. We saw a great Lincoln exhibit this last year. I’m looking forward to wandering through museums and having a relaxing picnic before browsing the used bookstores…

I read the Harry Potter series, by the way. Victoria finished up the Lemony Snicket books and told me she wanted to read Harry Potter next. I bought them all at Half Priced Books and read them in about two weeks. They were pretty fun and although some of the volumes were dark (the teacher torturing Harry with the horrid quill was painful to even read) I think since it all turns out in the end it will be fine. Light at the end of the tunnel and all that. Victoria is now on the third one and other than needing help with the names the first time, she’s doing great. I will probably wait until she is done with the series, and maybe for when the last movie is about to come out, before we watch the movies. We saw a bumbersticker at gymnastics the other day that said “Republicans for Voldemort”. What a timely opportunity to explain parody, pop culture, and politics in one fell swoop!

Kidlets are fighting so alas, I must go. Today is the last day of summer swim classes (5x a week in two week sets for a total of 30 lessons) and then regular 2x a week lessons start in two weeks. Whee!