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