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