I'm not quite awake, but wanted to say "hi"

I thought I would start off today's post with a status photo of the Patriotic Quaker Hearts I have been stitching. Both are freebies as noted in the prior post(s) (sorry, just a little lazy this morning to link the blog with the word "freebie"). The heart on top was the freebie for 2009 and the one on the bottom, which is the one I just finished last night, is the freebie from 2010. As you can see, this year's heart is a little larger than the prior years, so the border I am satin stitching isn't going to match up...but I do have another idea to finish it - I will show you when it is done, I do enjoy creating as I stitch. Just to let you know, I am stitching these on 28ct evenweave fabric.

As soon as I finish stitching the Patriotic Hearts, I will probably wait to "finish it"  until I complete the stitching of the ornament I am stitching for the Ornament swap...deadline to mail is the end of July...and do all the "finishings" at one time.

Ahhh...I am sorry that I sound so out of it. We are at the tail end of a crazy routine that consists of getting up and exercising before heading off to work...getting home and preparing all the snacks and recovery foods for my 2 sons who are participating in a summer hockey clinic...then driving to the clinic and hanging around the rink until they are done. Both DH and I have been driving down there separately because Matthew's (younger son) age group goes from 5-8 and Robert's (older son) age group goes from 6-9 - thus, we have been taking turns doing the "early" and "late" shifts. And, as I mentioned before, we have a little commute that adds on about 45 minutes each way. The rink also has a fitness room that faces one of the rinks, which I went in and used the treadmill last night. I had a good workout, but it made it difficult to get up and jump on my stationary bike this morning for my routine morning spin. So, I am a little draggy this morning. But the end of this hockey clinic is in sight...and we will have a break for a little over a week before the next clinic starts :)

We are coming up to a holiday weekend here in the US...Independence Day or the 4th of July (how do you refer to this holiday?). Do you have any plans? It will be a 4 day weekend for our family - no community day camp, no hockey clinics or practices, no work. We do have some ideas in mind, like driving to one of the many beaches on the California coast and/or going to the Alameda County Fair which is close by. So we are going to put some thought and plans together in the next couple of days and then be ready to go. And, I am sure that we will find ourselves vegging at home too - so I hope to get in adequate amount of stitching done :)

Well, don't want to bore you too much with my sleepy ramblings. So, I will let you go with just a few more words to think about:

Whatever our individual troubles and challenges may be, it’s important to pause every now and then to appreciate all that we have, on every level. We need to literally “count our blessings,” give thanks for them, allow ourselves to enjoy them, and relish the experience of prosperity we already have.

On that note, I will let you go and wish you a wonderful Wednesday!

Remember to Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

Friday Fotos

So, as mentioned in yesterday's post, the fire department is doing the seasonal controlled burns on the hills across the street from our house. Above is the scene I see when I drive home - if I didn't know what was going on, it would be a very scary scene! From these photos you can see how brown and dry our hills get after the spring rains are over. When we moved here, the real estate representative said: "This area of California has 2 seasons: green and brown." Well, we are in the brown season right now...the only green areas are ones that are sprinkled by water daily. Below are some photos of the firemen setting a new area on fire...

In the last two photos, you can see the firemen walking up and down the row of fire, watching it closely. All around the area are fire trucks representing the different counties around the East Bay area. The skies have been quiet the last two days - the firefighting helicopters and planes haven't been around since Tuesday. They actually picked a good week to do this drill, for it has cooled off here (from high 80s over the weekend to a cool mid 70s) and the fog bank has arrived this morning from San Francisco adding moisture to the air as well.

While at the rink last night, I did manage to get a start on the 2010 Patriotic Quaker Heart (freebie) I also spoke about in yesterday's post. Here is a snapshot of my progress (the 2010 heart is the start below the finished - 2009 - heart):

Not very far...I know...but it is a start! I am hoping that I calculated the center point of the 2010 heart "correctly" so that both hearts line up and I can continue the blue/red satin stitched border around it. Thought I could finish this off as a pillow, maybe - or try my hand at a flat fold. First, I just need to sit my butt down long enough and finish it!

Thank goodness it is Friday! I am going to into work today (Friday is typically my day off - but I took Monday off this week instead), but there is no hockey clinic this evening - so we all will be able to relax at home this evening. I was thinking about cooking a nice meal for this evening so that we could sit down at the table together as a family...but we will see how I feel later this afternoon. The schedule of working, coming home, preparing pre-skate meals for the boys to eat at home, organizing post-skate recovery foods to take to the rink for the boys to consume after they skate and then the driving to and from the rink...well, by Friday I am pooped and ready to veg!

Have a nice Friday and weekend! Remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often!

Lisa

It is Thursday and...

the weekend is right around the corner? There hasn't been a lot of earth shattering things going on here in my household, so I really didn't know how to start of today's posting - so I went for the obvious. After returning home from Minnesota, I was blessed that I was able to change my day off to Monday (and work on Friday) - using the day to catch up. Laundry, grocery store, organize the kids for their day camps, update the family activity calendar - by mid-afternoon things seemed under control.

Weeks activities at the Household....
This is the "official" first week of summer around here and the "official" first week that DH is playing Mr. Mom in the mornings while I am at work (fyi...I work out of the house from 9am-1pm). They seem to have created a routine of morning activities that include breakfast, practicing their hockey shots in the garage, taking the dog for a walk, Robert has been working on his AP English Summer assignment and then they all eat lunch around noon so that DH can take them to their community camp. When I get home in the afternoon, I have a little time to do a few household jobs before the hockey clinic routine starts up. We have one more week of this intense hockey clinic the boys are attending - a week off - and then they will participate in one more right before tryouts take place. Hard to believe that they will be trying out for next year's season the middle of July ---- but that is how it goes around here.

Controlled Burns...
With the first day of summer arriving, the "controlled burns" have been taking place on the hills surrounding our house. Controlled burns are fires set by the fire department - which they set and put out. These fires serve 2 purposes. The first, is to burn off all the dead grass in a contolled environment so that when the hottest summer months come to the valley where I live, uncontolled fires don't start up. The second reason, these fires serve as training opportunities for the fire departments from all over the county and Bay Area. On Tuesday afternoon, when I got home from work - not only was there grey smoke streaming into the air from a controlled fire, but we had several firefighting airplanes and helicopters flying around the hill and our house. For a while it sounded like we were in a war zone with all the fly-bys. Last year the controlled burns didn't take place because of all the wild fires taking place in the state of California...many of the firefighters from our county were called upon to help out all over the state - so, it is a good sign that the controlled burns are occuring.

Stitching Projects in the Backpack...
While I have dragged by stitching projects to the rink to work on during the clinic, I just haven't had the patience to focus on any of them. My stitching projects in my backpack include: MW, the Christmas ornament for the swap and the 4th of July Quaker Heart from 2009. Did you know that there was a 2010 design of the 'freebie' Patriotic Heart? I found out by reading another blog. If you are interested in checking out the 2010 version and stitching it 'click' HERE. So, now I will add this pattern to my stitching projects that go with me to the rink. Maybe I will stitch the 2010 design and then I can show you all the Patriotic Quaker hearts I have stitched recently.

Oh, yea...Sara, the organizer of the Friendship Sampler RR, sent out an email asking for updates. All of the RRs have made it home with the exception of mine...which is the way it should be, due to the MIS-HAP of my original start back in Feb. 2009 (my second start didn't get re-introduced into the mailing cycle of the RRs until mid-summer 2009). I did hear from the women in The Netherlands and it sounds like my RR has been stitched on by all three who live there and should be ready to cross the pond back to the US. Once it lands on American soil, it shouldn't take too much longer to be stitched and then back home. I am estimating about mid-July or the beginning of August. When mine is home...the Friendship Sampler RR comes to a close. I will keep you updated on the status of this.

In Closing...

Thank you for visiting today. It is always theraputic to write a post for me...so if you made it to the end of my ramblings I appreciate your patience :)

I hope you have a great day and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often!

Lisa

Weekend Recap

Eat....

Sleep...

Hockey...

Repeat!

That is how the rest of the trip to Minnesota went. After all family and friend visiting the first part of the trip, Thursday afternoon we headed up to the hotel to check in and get ready for a weekend of hockey. The first game wasn't until 10am on Friday, followed by a second game at 3:00pm...then there were 2 games on Saturday. Sunday we had a guaranteed 1 game in the morning and a second if we found ourselves in 1st or 2nd place. However, the boys only won 1 game out of the 5. They had a lot of opportunities to score in all the games and probably could have won 3 out of the 5, but they just couldn't put "the biscuit in the basket" (for non-hockey fans, that means put the puck in goal).

Given the fact that we were a summer team made up of ("bantam-level" aged: 13-14 years old) kids with varying of skill levels, several who haven't skated together before, and only had 4 practices we did fine - we definitely could have done better...but I think that it was a good experience to take this group of boys up to Minnesota to play some good hockey.

After our last game on Sunday morning, we went back to the hotel to shower & pack up and headed to the Mall of America. The largest indoor mall in America that has an amusement park inside.

Another hockey mom and I gave the boys some money and let them run "amuck" for a few hours before we had to head off to the airport to head back home to California.

We got back home around 1:30am, so there is definite catching up that needs to be done to get ready for the week ahead...even though it is already Monday.

I did make a little head way on my Ornament I am stitching for the Ornament Swap. This one has a mail due date of the end of July, so I definitely will be able to make that without having any problems.

Thank you for visiting and reading...I have some blog reading to catch up on!

Take care and remember...Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Family and Friends and Fierce Weather

Hello from the warm-muggy state of Minnesota. Robert (older son) and I came into town yesterday afternoon for a hockey tournament that starts tomorrow morning. We spent the extra day and a half visiting with family and friends. Last night we stayed over at my sister (my middle sister...I am the oldest of 3 girls) & brother-in-law's house, which gave us some quality time to visit. My BIL fixed some incredible bbq chicken, steak and hot link sausages. It was good eatin'! After dinner, we took a ride to visit my other sister (the youngest) and her family - they were getting ready to leave for a family vacation, so this was the only opportunity we would to visit with them. The youngest sister has 2 kids - a boy and a girl, who thought it was really "cool" to play catch with their older cousin

So, while the focus was on visiting with family yesterday...today it was friends. First up - I met with some girl friends who I went to high school with and haven't seen since we graduated Edina High School in 1986. We had a very nice time, talking about what we had done since we graduation, how we met our husbands and about our kids. I guess I should thank facebook for giving me the opportunity to track down "old" schoolmates and the chance to meet up with them when I get into town. :)

Afterwards, I did head back to my sister's house to pack up my stuff while waiting for Robert to get back...BIL took Robert for out for a "real man's breakfast"---> pancakes. Tasty! Once back and the car packed, we drove to meet up with another girl friend...one I have been friends with for over 30 years and whom I talk to weekly . She and I took a walk around a lake while Robert played with her 14 year old son.

My friend and I were pregnate at the same time, both having boys about 4 months apart. We have a photo of the two boys when they were just a few months old (unfotunately I don't have access to that photo right now), but here they are 14 years later. It is amazing to think that my friend and I met eachother when we were 14...and now here we are with 14 year old kids...yikes!

Robert and I left her house around 3pm and started to make our way to the hotel we are staying at..however, we had a couple of stops to make. First, was a drive by our old house (the one we left to move to California 6.5 years ago). It is always fun to see how the neighborhood has changed and to see how the old house looks. We did see the Red Maple was still growing in the front yard...I think that we planted that tree for a Father's day about 10 year ago .

The other stop was for Chinese appetizers at:

Robert's faborite Chinese restaurant in Minnesota.

Then it was time to get on the road to the hotel before rush hour traffic...which is where we are now. We have settled and an are in search for an Italian place to carbo load before tomorrow's games (Robert is...I will be looking for some green leafy food). Then later this evening...much later, I will be driving down to the airport to pick up some of the teammates. Due to the rough weather here - we are actually experiencing some tornado watches and warnings - planes have delayed. The plane with about 4 players and the coach have been delayed from a 8:30 landing to midnight. I just hope that they have a smooth flight and are able to make it in.

Wll...best to get going to feed the hockey player! Until next time:

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

First week of summer vacation

With the boys out of school, I guess you can say that summer vacation has started. Nevertheless, with DH home, I will be able to keep my "normal" routine of getting up in the mornings, working out and then going into work...leaving Mr. Mom home with the boys in the morning. In summers past, when DH was working, I would flip my work hours to afternoon while the boys attended an afternoon summer camp. The boys will still attend an afternoon camp, which starts up in a few weeks...so I guess I will get those afternoons to spend with my DH :)

This week brings some travelling before those summer camps start. Robert (older son) and I will be leaving in a couple of days, heading to Minnesota. He is on a summer hockey team who will be playing in a tournament there. We are actually going in a few days early to spend some time with one of my sisters and her family...the rest of my family is on vacation in South Carolina and are "bummed" as they will miss us when we get to town. I am also trying to set up some "get togethers" with old high school mates (I grew up in MN) whom I have re-connected with via Facebook.

On the stitching side of things...I finished the other patriotic heart (didn't have time to take a photo of it this morning, but will try to do that soon) and started on my Ornament Swap exchange. The next exchange for this group is due to be mailed the end of July, so I thought since MW was kind of taking a nap that I would get a start on this exchange so that I didn't feel the need to rush it. It also makes it easier to pack small stitching projects for a plane ride than larger one.

Did you notice the subtle changes to the look of my blog? Blogger has come up with new design templates as well as an advanced way to change the look and feel of the blog. They even have 3 column layouts...which I tried and it just didn't look right; I probably need to play around with some of the font sizes and column sizes more if I want to go with 3 columns. Anyway, as I was searching through the pre-created background designs I found the one that had watermelons...and that is one fruit I eat a lot of! I love watermelon! At our local grocery store I have become known as the "watermelon lady" for I don't walk out of there without at least 2-3 large watermelons. And I have been known to help customers choose watermelons while standing in the produce section - I thumb the watermelon and listen for that hollow sound, then pick it up to make sure that it feels slightly heavy.

Well...enough rambling for today. Hope you have a great week! Remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often! Lisa

A very special days ends with proud parents!

(Warning...this post will be photo heavy and the author will be bragging :)  )

Graduation...or promotion, which is what they tend to call it for these age groups...Day had finally arrived yesterday. It was a day that DH and I enjoyed watching both of our sons be awarded for their hard work and efforts! The first event was in the morning, was when Matthew was promoted from elementary school (5th grade).

The multi-purpose room was decorated in the school colors of yellow, green and white and definitely set the stage for a festive and grand event. At 9am the 5th graders filed in the doorway and sat down in anticipation.

After the Principal's welcome and several student speeches about their most memorable moments of 5th grade, it was time to acknowledge some of the scholars. The Presidential Academic "Gold" Award is given to the students who have achieved 90% or better in all their studies...and we were definitely proud when Matthew's name was called!

When all the awards were given out, it was time for the 5th grade to present the school with their class gift. The school mascot is the Green Gator - so after a few of the kids put on their green gator hats, the curtains on the stage parted to show their gift...

A Green Gator Mascot costume. I think that the 2010 5th grade class certainly left their mark behind :) After the gift presentation, it was time for each teacher to present the Promotion Certificates to their own students. Afterwards, we enjoyed watching the Now 6th graders...the new middle schoolers...walk out of the gym! How exciting!

Mrs. McGovern even posed with one last photo with Matthew, before the kids went to change into their "play" clothes so that they could play a game of kick ball against their 5th grade teachers - a tradition at Green Elementary!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One ceremony down...one to go. After a quick bite of lunch, it was time for head to Robert's middle school for his ceremony.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The ceremony for the middle school was also held in their gym - but with a few more students, the room was packed...and very warm! But the excitement and energy filled the room!

AT 2pm, the (approx) 140 students filed into the gym and took their seats facing the stage filled with representatives from the school district board, the superintendent, principal, asst. principals and a selection of middle school teachers.

(in the middle is Robert in his white shirt, tie and black pants)

Once seated, the Pledge was said and then the middle school Glee club came to the front to sing the Star Spangled Banner (after-which we all wanted to yell: "Let's play hockey", but remembered that we not at a hockey game).

Once all the formalities were completed (the Principal's welcome and all the speeches from the superintendent, 8th grade ambassador, student body president, etc) it was time acknowledge the Valedictorians...which were the students who received a 4.0 every quarter throughout middle school.

And Robert's name was called!

Robert was 1 of 7 kids out of his graduating class (of approximately 140 students) who achieved a 4.0 for every quarter throughout middle school...that is 12 quarters of straight A's! Not only is that a wonderful accomplishment...but when you factor in all the late night hockey practices, missing school for hockey tournament travel and then juggling hockey/track at the end of the school years - well, he definitely deserves this award acknowledging his hard work, time management and effort!

When the award ceremony was complete, it was time for each student to be called up to receive their Certificate of Promotion...before filing out the gym as a "High Schooler".

Wow...how exciting. With a smile from ear to ear...the proud mother was ready to go out to celebrate! But before we did leave for an early celebratory supper, we ran home to take a few photos:

Ending with photos of the boys with their proud father and their proud mother...we headed out to celebrate with an early meal, a stop at the hockey shop to purchase a new stick for Matthew and then dessert at a yummy ice cream place, before settling in for the evening. It was a wonderful day!

Thank you for visiting - especially if you made it all the way down to the bottom of this post!

Remember...Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa 

Patriotic Heart...and the pending ending of school

Well, I finished the Patriotic "freebie" I wrote about a couple of days ago. The fabric I stitched it on is 28ct white evenweave (trust me, the fabric is white, I took the photo without the flash. With the flash, the photos looked too washed out and I wanted to make sure that I captured the richness of the thread colors) - stitching 2 over 2, using various of overdyed threads. It is a fun and quick project to stitch up...now I just need to decide on it's finish.

In the mean time, I decided to stitch it again, to see what it would look like, using the Needle Necessities #2152 (the overdyed that goes from blue to red...with a little purple in between...it is the color I used for the satin-stitched border of the big heart)...

...and I wanted to see what the design would look like when stitched 1-over-1 on 28ct even weave. Sometimes, when I find a simple, easy, quick pattern to stitch - I tend to get carried away - trying different colors, types of thread...just different ways to stitch the one pattern. I guess I am doing it with the Patriotic heart right now.

Do you ever experiement like this? Take a pattern that is quick/easy and see what it looks like with different colors, different kinds of floss, stitched on different sizes of fabric?

While I haven't put MW in hibernation, I just needed some pattern to get lost with - to let my "creative juices" flow, yet also allow me to stitch w/o too much thought in order to escape and/or meditate...and this is the perfect pattern for that. It also travels well, as the boys continue to go to their 4-day-a-week hockey clinic in the evenings. And even playing 'tag-team' with DH (one of us takes Matthew who has the early times of 5-8 and the other will take Robert who skates the later times of 6-9) it still makes for long evenings. Tonight, though, I will be down at the rink for both of the kids' skates, for DH is going to meet up with some friends.

The boys have 2 more days of school....or at least they will be attending the school for some activities, the education portion has been completed for sometime and these tend to be days where they show up and get to hang out with their school buddies. It isn't a "bad" thing...but after receiving a letter from the district stating Matthew was being labeled as "truant" because of 3 "unexcused" absences due to his participating in hockey tournaments (I followed procedure of calling the school's absentee line to let them know he would be gone and the honest reason for his absences - but unless he is absent due to sickness, it is an unexcused absence) I become a little upset at the non-instructional time they spend during few weeks of school. It all comes down to the money - for the school secretary told me that "for every day that the child is not in their seat when the bell rings, we loose $36".  Ok, I get the money thing - but at least provide some education to the kids for the duration of the school year instead of using the last few weeks to: go bowling, have school swim parties, enjoy an all day recess, practice for the promotion/graduation ceremony continuously, spend the day cleaning the rooms, allowing the kids to run around and sign yearbooks, etc. I am sorry, I didn't mean to go on about this - and I definitely don't want to sound like I am upset at the teachers or even the secretary who delivered the message...it is just that the whole school system is messed up.

Well...anyway, the school year is just about over. Today Matthew & his 5th grade classmates go bowling and then have a picnic lunch before getting out of school around 12:30. Robert - he wasn't sure what they were suppose to be doing today; he also gets out of school early. Tomorrow is graduation for both - Matthew from 5th (elementary school) and Robert from 8th (middle school). Thank goodness that they are at different times. I am sure that I will have photos to share.

Well, thank you for visiting and sticking with this long winded post. Hope you have a great Thursday!

Remember....Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa 

The happiest people don't have the best of everything.

They just make the best of everything.

A garage sale...and MW update

Well, it has been a while since I have posted and this is the reason...prepping for our garage sale that we had yesterday. Over the last few weeks, DH and I have been cleaning out our closet and our garage trying to clean out some of the clutter that we have accumulated since we moved to CA over 6 years ago (last time we did this type of cleaning was when we moved...as we were packing boxes...it is amazing how much clutter we did have and how good it feels when it is gone). Some of the items we knew wouldn't sell, we immediately dontated to an organization. The garage sale was organized by a real estate representative who did all the ad placements, put up the sale signs and even brought a half a dozen donuts to each of the garge sale paticipants (yummy)...all we had to do was put out the merchandise, price it and sell it. After 4.5 hours, we did make some money and didn't have too much to pack up for another donation :)

The garage sale was a fun experience for the whole family! DH enjoyed the haggling with some of the early customers who were looking for deals...Robert (older son) enjoyed keeping track of what sold and at what price (thus keeping a tally on the total amount we made)...and Matthew (younger son) loved dancing with the garage sale sign at the end of our street. We had a lot of comments regarding our "dancing sign"!

"Some garage sales had bright balloons marking their location...but a cute smiling young man really caught my attention." said one lady.

"I know that you don't have any old cookie jars because I asked that nice little boy...but there was something about the sparkle in his eyes that told me that I still needed to check out what you were offering." said another.

Matthew really knew how to bring in the traffic :)

When it was all over and things were cleaned off, I sat down to cool off and stitch for a while. I was able to finish up a motif on MW - which I am very excited about because it was very tedious. I think I like the more geometric ones that I can just stitch mindlessly, allowing for a rhythem of stitching and some meditation time. Anyway...here is what my MW looks like:

And this is the spot...the flower-like motif...that I finished up:

You might have noticed that I have not stitched any of the initals...I am debating whether to stitch the initials as per the pattern, making it more true to a "reproduction" of the "original" or stitch initals or names of my family. I will probably continue to think/debate on this while I stitch it - for it is something that I can definitely leave until last :)

Now that I am done with the flower-like, tedious motif and on to an easier geometric one...I have decided to take a little break from MW and stitch a quick design...Quaker Style Patriotic Heart Freebie. Here is a photo of what the design looks like - but note, this is not mine (I did started stitching it, but forgot to take a picture of it before starting this post. I will post a photo of it when I am done).

I stitched mine on 28ct white evenweave...so I will probably need to use an ecru color instead of white so that the design will show up...but oh well, it is a fun and quick stitch; something that I needed right now :)

hope everyone is having a good weekend!

remember...live, love, laugh and stitch often!

Lisa

Happy June!

Can you believe that it is June already...the 6th month of the year...the year is 1/2 over...the holidays will be hear in less than 6 months - Yikes. This month brings the last days of school for the boys and graduation for each one: Robert will finish 8th grade/middle school - graduate and will start high school next year; Matthew will finish 5th grade/elementary school - graduate and will start middle school next year. They have this week to "suffer" through (meaning finals and any last minute papers or projects) and next week it is "just fun with school friends" (meaning they have end of the year activities - Robert goes to an amusement park and Matthew goes bowling) - then it all concludes with separate graduation ceremonies on Friday, June 11...I am sure that I will have stories and photos to share after this event.

Stitching News....

I saw on the Ornament Swap 2010 Blog that Lori received the ornament I stitched for her. I stitched an ornament from the Christmas Ornament edition of Just CrossStitch (I think that it was the 2007 edition...don't have that information right in front of me right now). It is a SamSarah design - I used 28ct evenweave fabric and used DMC thread called for. Lori received some beautiful ornaments...you will have to go to the post she wrote yesterday on the Ornament Swap blog to see her photos. 

I did make some time to put some stitches in MW over the long weekend, but the motif I am working on has been a little tedious for me...and my focus has been on:

1 - Preparing for the upcoming Garage Sale

Over the last several weeks, DH and I have been going through our closet and the garage - taking needed time to "weed" through all the stuff we have accumulated since we moved here over 6 years ago. Boy! The stuff certainly grew over the years. Now that we have determined which stuff we wanted to keep...which stuff was garage sale material...which stuff was donatable...and which stuff was just plain trash...it seems that our closet has grown in size and our garage can actually fit 2 cars :) The garage sale is Saturday, June 5...so yesterday I spent some time organizing it and pricing it. Friday DH said that he was going to get some tables to put up and I will put the finishing touches on it...before the garage door is thrown open to the public.

2 - Finishing the Garden

With all the weeding and pruning complete, it was time to check all the sprinklers and attack the flower bed...which was our duty on Sunday. DH got all the sprinkler heads tested and determined that we only needed to replace 2 this year - not too bad. So during our trip to Lowes, he got his sprinkler supplies and I went over to the gardening section and picked out 2 nice tomato plants, as well as 2 strawberry plants to add to our strawberry bed. In the afternoon, I had those 4 plants in the garden and the drippers all arranged. We don't plant a lot of produce in the backyard...just enough to feel like we do :) The last task of summer preparation of our garden, is cleaning out the humming bird feeder and putting out fresh nectar. I have a recipe (1 cup of sugar to 4 cups of water) that I use and our local hummingbird residents seem to enjoy it.

3 - Homework Task Master

That is right...over the weekend homework was being done in our house. It seems that weekend homework has been a part of Robert's schedule since he started 8th grade. But that is coming to an end, as mentioned above. He had to prepare for 3 finals, which he is taking today, and start writing a 5 paragraph paper which isn't due until a week from today (so I guess he will have homework next weekend as well).

Lastly, my mind seem to be preoccupied at some points about DH being at home now that he is finished with his previous job and is looking for the next endeavor. It is going to be very strange...odd...weird...going off to my part-time job in the morning and leaving him in the house...and then coming back home around 1pm to find him in the house. It is not a bad thing necessarily - having him at home - but it will be something that I will have to get use to until he finds the next job.

Well - still hard to believe that it is June. I hope that you all enter into the month with much happiness and health...and remember to:

Love, Live, Laugh and Stitch Often! Lisa