Finishing up the hockey tournament...

Well, it is the last day of the hockey tournament in Florida - as things go, it is by this time that I am tired and ready to be home. We were up early this morning in order to be at the rink by 6am for a 7:10am game. Unforturnately, Matthew and his team lost that game...they have lost all their games :( We are at the rink right now waiting for the 6th and final game...the game where the 5th place team plays the 6th place team for the rights to be the team "officially" in last place. As per routine, we have to be at the rink an hour and fifteen minutes before game time so I have time to sit in the bar/grill that over looks the rink and blog.

I know that it sounds sad that this team loses many...most...of their games. But as another hockeymom and I were discussing over dinner last night, the majority of the players still come off the ice with a smile on their face, they get out of  bed at 4:30am looking forward to play that game. Yes, there are a few who are ready to quit; but the majority are having a good time and also developing the skills they need to continue to the next level. Looking at the kids, those who have the negative attitude seem to have parents with negative attitudes - they have a hard time understanding the coach's philosophy of developing the kids, their hockey skills, stamina and strategies to improve. "They just don't get it" and then they complain that little Johnny isn't on the first line, being placed on the special teams or getting his fair share of ice time. Little Johnny hears his parents takes and feels their negative vibes, inherits it and brings it into the locker room and their own life. However, those parents who do "get it" tend to have kids who are positive and are able to deal with the losses as a learning lesson.

Anyway...Matthew and the team have just taken the ice for warmups, so I better sign off and get prepared to watch.

Take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa 

Hello from Florida

Well, Matthew and I are in Florida. Left yesterday on Virgin America - nonstop from CA to FL...close to 6 hours, half of which we dealt with turbulance (over the southern Rockies) and so we had to stay in our seats with our seatbelts fasten. While bumpy airplane rides are never fun, what was worse was sitting in the middle between a grumpy man on the aisle who didn't like to let us out to go to the bathroom (he made faces at me when I got up that read how inconvienced and annoyed he was). And then there was the man who sat on the window side of me who blew his nose, coughed continuously and finally had to excuse himself to the restroom to throw up (yes aisle man was perturbed he had to move to let sick man out-I wanted to yell, "hey dude, you better move or window boy is going to hurle on you). Where was Matthew (younger son)? His seat was behind me, I waited too long to make the reservations and not only did I pay more for the flight but also couldn't get us seats together.

Oh, well, we got to Florida safe and sound...all of our luggage made it, too.

Today Matthew's team played 2 games and unfortunately lost both. It was a bummer but I did get in some stitching time because we have to be at the rink an hour and fifteen minutes before game time so that the players have time to warm up, dress in their hockey gear and to give the coach time to talk with them. This is one of the best opportunities I have during these weekends to stitch. So, I have taken out my Family Sampler and have been able to complete lots of leaves...I think that I have one or two more above the house to finish up before I move onto something else and some other color (good thing because I am getting a little sick of pea pod and khaki green).

Well, just thought I would check in with all of you - when I get back home I will take a photo of the status of Family Sampler.

Take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often!

Lisa

Bags are packed and we're set to go (again)

Many of us miss out on life’s big prizes.

 The Pulitzer. The Nobel. Oscars. Tonys. Emmys.

But we’re all eligible for life’s small pleasures.

A kiss behind the ear.

A four-pound bass.

A full moon.

 An empty parking space.

A crackling fire.

A great meal.

A glorious sunset.

Hot soup.

Don’t fret about copping life’s grand awards.

Enjoy its tiny delights. There are plenty for all of us.

~from an advertisement

Well...T minus 15 hours and Matthew & I are off to Florida for the weekend for a hockey tournament - - hockey in Florida? It does sound strange, although reading some of the Hockey magazines the boys have around the house I have been pretty amazed at all the areas in the US where youth hockey takes place: Louisiana, Alabama, New Mexico.

It has been a crazy day though, so I will be looking forward to getting on the plane and relaxing over the weekend. As the team manager of my older son, Robert's, team there were some last minute things to get done today and mailed out to get the team credentialed for the District Championships in March. So, just as I was scrambling around trying to get the team's notebook up-to-date, I also had some work things to get squared away before I left for the weekend...and then there was packing for our trip. I know that is sounds daunting and many of you comment on all the things that goes on in my life...but you know, somehow it all gets done as life continued to tick-on. We all do it, don't we?

But - the hockey bag is packed...the stick bag is packed...the suitcase is packed and my backpack with: the Ornament Swap Ornament, Family Sampler, Mary Wigham, LHN Monthly samplers and small travel scissors is all packed up...I am ready!

Until next post - take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

And so we start a new week...

How was your weekend? Mine was pretty good - not much of a restful one as the boys had a lot of hockey; but at least it was here at home. Matthew (younger son) had morning practices both Saturday and Sunday...Robert (older son) had a game Saturday night (tied 2-2) and Sunday morning (tied 2-2). Looking back at the two days, I guess I did get in a couple of naps and some "sit-n-stitch" time, so it wasn't all that crazy :) I also enjoyed the 70 degree days - too a 3.4 mile jog with Robert on Friday afternoon and a 4.0 mile one by myself yesterday afternoon. It was pure joy!

In my last post I spoke about starting the ornament for the ornament swap over - I did find another cute design to stitch for Lori's ornament on Friday evening and was able to make time to work on it throughout the weekend. It is almost complete, just needs a few more trinkets, then to be finished, packaged and sent before the end of the week. It would be nice to get it in the mail before Thursday, as I am leaving on another hockey trip - this time with Matthew.

We are leaving Thursday morning for Florida. Booked us on a non-stop from here to there...taking in account the 3 hours difference between California on the west coast and Florida on the east coast, it will be about a 6 hour flight...ugh. Well, either a lot of stitching time or napping time, something to pass the time quickly.

With all the traveling we..."I"...have been doing with the boys lately, I will be glad when the hockey season comes to an end; or at least all the travelling is over. I know that DH would go, but with *The Business* still new to us and his full-time job, it is hard for him to feel comfortable enough to leave. I am sure that the time will come when he will start traveling with the boys again to their hockey tournaments, but after all the miles I have put in the sky lately, that time couldn't get here quick enough! Don't get me wrong, the time I spend with the boys during these weekends is priceless, but I just need a couple of weekend strung together where I am home enjoying all the craziness here in my own house!

Oh, well, enough rambling for one post. I will bid you "good-bye" at this time, until the next time - take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

It is Friday - Yahoo! - but I am in search for patience!

It is Friday and the weather here in Northern California is beautiful! Between 60-70 degrees...sunny...little misty & foggy up in the hills, but perfect below.The boys had a 1/2 day of school today due to end of the 1st semester - they just got home and are eating lunch while vegging out in front of the computer playing "World of Warcraft".

Me? Well, since I slept in, I am just now getting on the stationary bike to get in my daily spin...yes, spinning indoors on this beautiful day as my bike needs a little work before I could go out and ride and I just don't have patience to deal with it. But, by spinning in doors I can multi-task...up date my blog, read yours, catch up on facebook and other computer related activities.

As promised, here is a photo of where Family Sampler stands:

I have been working on the vine of leaves above the house...as you see the tree on the left is still missing it's leaves, but I haven't had patience to do them...something about loosing patience lately seems to be a reoccurring theme. Did you come to that conclusion too?

Well, I better find some patience soon so I can work on the ornament I need to finish for Lori for the Ornament Swap...and I am thinking about starting over because I don't like the way the item I am stitching is looking on the dark fabic. I like the design...and I like it on the dark denim fabric, but my "x's" are looking horrible and everytime I look at it I become embarrassed; too embarrassed to finish it and send it to someone. I have another thought/idea of a fun ornament to make for Lori so I will probably start on it tonight and over the weekend. That is the plan!

That is about all from here...until next time, take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often!

Lisa

I'm still here

Hi all...I am still here, just trying to catch my breathe! As per last post, I was leaving for Dallas, Texas with Robert and his hockey team for a tournament over MLK weekend. We left last Friday afternoon and got back Monday evening. It was a nice weekend. The boys played 5 games (won 3 - lost 2) - played ok. They should have played in the championship game, but just didn't seem to show up or play like they had the desire to win in the semi final game. Oh, well...aside from the hockey, the boys enjoyed some good BBQ (you can't go to Texas without eating BBQ, ya know?) and celebrated a birthday of one of their teammates.

And, while in Texas, Robert and I got to visit with some family - my mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law and some  cousins. Always nice when you can combine hockey travel with family visits. I can't say that we spent a lot of time with family, as I was one of the team van drivers, but we were grateful for the time we did have together.

I did get some stitching in over the weekend. I tried to work on the ornament exchange project, but the dark fabric frustrated me too much to stitch on the plane, so I took out Family Sampler and made some nice progress on this over the weekend. However, now at home and the ornament exchange mail date looming in the near future, I will have to put away Family Sampler until the ornament is complete and in the mail. I will try and get a photo posted of Family Sampler in the next couple of days.

The end of the first semester is here and both, Robert and Matthew, are in test phase with a 1/2 day of school this Friday. I am sure both will do well.

Hope all is going well with you...I look forward to catching up with all my blog reading!

Take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

In the air again...

Well, the bags are almost packed...AGAIN...for another hockey tournament weekend. This time Robert's team is flying off to Dallas, Texas - and I am going, too. I will be one of the van drivers, shuttling the team around. Should be fun and a good tournament; although we will be missing a few players due to injury and school finals. But the team should be ok.

Not much else to really report today. I haven't been able to sit and stitch as much as I would like to the last few days (however with a 3 hour plane ride, I should be able to make some good progress on my ornament for the Ornament Swap); it is just when ever a get an opportunity to sit, I would rather stare at the tv if I am at home or visit with another parent if I am at the hockey rink. I guess that I am kind of back in the winter dull-drums right now and need a way to snap out of it.

Oh, well...best to sign off then ramble on! So, my blog friends, enjoy your day and weekend if I am not able to post and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often

(I guess I need to take a little of my own advice),

Lisa

6:30am on 1-11-11...the new 15 year old in the Traditional Birthday Hat getting ready to blow out his candle on his Eggo waffles.

So, as per yesterday's posting, my older son turned 15 - and in my tribute to him, I thought I did an amazing job posting photos which would not embarrass him (and thank you everyone for your nice birthday wishes for him). So of course today I had to post the photo of the birthday boy with the traditional birthday hat on that I force everyone to wear on their birthday morning. So the photo above is of Robert, who just woke up at 6:30am on his birthday, wearing the birthday hat, getting ready to blow out his candle on top of his Eggo Waffles :) With a schedule as busy as ours, we use opportunities like breakfast, to do family birthday celebrations. Other than that, the only other thing he chose to do for his birthday was to "skip" wrestling practice at school so that he could skate along side of his brother - at Matthew's team's hockey practice last night. Matthew's coach loves having some of the older boys come on the ice with his teams, so he welcomed Robert. It is fun to see the boys skate together...makes this hockey mom proud :)

Not much else to report at this time...I have been able to put a few stitches on an ornament I am stitching for the January recipient of our Ornament Swap 2011 group - Lori.  I am stitching the design on a denim blue colored linen, which I think is a 38ct. Have you ever stitched on darker fabric that has a small count...I find it challenging; sometimes it is hard to see the holes I am suppose to put the needle in. But I like the way that the design shows up on this color and I hope that Lori finds enjoyment in it...just need to get the stitching done and the ornament finished before the end of the month!

Tomorrow I will need to get my stitching bag packed up and swap out the my favorite scissors for the travel ones, for on Friday I will be boarding a plane headed for Dallas, Texas with Robert and his team for another hockey tournament. This is the first of two trips this month - Dallas with Robert this weekend and then Coral Springs, Florida with Matthew the end of the month. Any stitchers out there in these areas that want to get together and stitch at the rink with me while watching the hockey games?

Any...time to get going and be productive! Hope you are having a good week...remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often!

Lisa

15 Years Ago Today...my how time flies!

It is hard to believe that I am a mother of a 15 year old...or I will be at 11:30pm CDT (or 9:30am pacific time where I live now). Yep, Robert turns 15 years old today!

On January 10, 1996 - an ultrasound allowed the doctor to estimate that you were going to be somewhere between 8 pounds and 12 pounds, something that we were concerned about due to my size. So the decision was made...it was time for you to be born!

 

January 11, 1996 - 11:30pm...after 15 hours you finally entered the world...all 21 inches and 9 pounds 2 oz! It was an incredible moment! Daddy and I just couldn't believe that you were here, that you were part of our lives - lives that seemed to have changed that very day - a new chapter.

You were such a good baby...ate when you were suppose to, slept when you were suppose to, etc. However, you weren't one for napping in your bed...maybe that was because Daddy and I spoiled you. For, when it was nap time in the afternoons, you could be found snuggled up against either Daddy or I on the couch. Hey we didn't mind at all - but I am not sure the daycare was going to comply with our napping set up :)

We took you everywhere with us...to dinners in fancy restaruants (many times we would sit you right on the table in your carseat, where you would doze off while Daddy and I would enjoy our 3-course meal)...to the office on the weekends (you would nap on a little blanket in the corner on the floor in my office). We also took you on all our summer trips, which mainly consisted of driving from Minnesota, ending up in Colorado - fishing, hiking, 4-wheel driving, going on adventures. We had lots of good times and made many memories!

Happy...easy going...active...intuative...honest...loving...thoughtful...caring...

A JOY!

It is hard to believe how fast these fifteen years have gone by. You have grown up so much, learned so much, accomplished so much...but your life is just beginning, there is so much to see, explore, learn about and experience. I wish all the best for you as you continue your journey through life -

Health & Happiness,

Love & Laughter

I love you Robert - Happy 15th Birthday!

MOM

A - B - C - D...come play a long with me

I saw this on Cole's Blog and thought I would play along.
ABC's of me...


A - Age: 43 - may look it, but don't feel like it
B - Bed size: King
C - Chore you hate: just about anything that has to do with cleaning the house; but I do enjoy laundry for some odd reason.
D - Dog's name: Bruno for short (Bruno "hat trick" is his formal name - he was named after Andrew Brunette #15 on the Minnesota Wild NHL team)
E - Essential start of the day item: a sweat induced spin on my stationary bike
F - Favorite color: blue
G - Gold or Silver: gold
H - Height: 5'3"
I - Instruments you play: I turn on the radio, does that count?
J - Job: Marketing and Commuications
K - Kids: Two boys - boy do they keep us busy!
L - Living arrangements: house with DH and 2 boys and 1 dog (all males - ugh!)
M - Music you love: Depends on who is in my car at the time
N - Nicknames: Sasa
O - Overnight hospital stay at hospital: Gall Bladder, 2 kids
P - Pet Peeve: Group meals when the bill is split evenly
Q - Quote from a movie: "Tomorrow is another day..."
R - Right handed or left: Right
S - Siblings: Two younger sisters
T - Time you wake up: suppose to get out of bed at 4:30am so that I can get my exercising done for the day, but someday I find the bed too comfortable to get out of!
U - Underwear: no comment;)
V - Vegetable you dislike: I don't think there is one
W - Workout Style: 2 hours in the morning on the stationary bike with my laptop on the reading stand so that I can check my emails, facebook and blog; sometimes I also hit the treadmil in the fitness room at the hockey rink...it overlooks the ice Matthew skates on Monday nights.
X - X-rays you've had: dental, wrist, abdomen...somedays I think that I need my head x-rayed :)
Y - Yummy food you make: watermelon (I buy it and cut and eat it)
Z - The best place to visit: H_O_M_E...as I travel too much and would love just to have a few days/nights to be home!
...and now you know my ABC's, won't you play along with me? If you do, leave me a comment so I can come and learn a little bit more about you too :)

Well, not much going on here on this gloomy Saturday in January. Went in for my yearly eye exam - my eyes have gotten slightly more nearsited, but not enough to change my prescription...and my vision close up is perfect! Which I knew as I stitch on 36-40ct with no problems! And speaking of stitching, I am going to finish up this post and my 2 hour stationary spin quickly so that I can sit on my bottom and get some stitching in today!

Until next time...remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often!
Lisa

End of the week

Finish each day and be done with it.

You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can.

Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

It is Friday -

yahoo! And it has been a long, long time since I have had a Friday off...off of work, off without children in the house, off without any expectation from others to do "their things".

I can't report that I have done too much relaxing or anything really exciting - but I did sleep in until 6:30am (by mistake, as I didn't hear my 4:30am exercise call), I did go into *The Store* at 9:00am (I had an appointment with an advertising guy for DH & I need to start making our marketing plans for *Our Business*), I did go home at 9:30am and clean the bottom floor of our house (something that has needed to be done for quite awhile) and at 12:30pm, I was able to veg out on the stationary bike for a couple of hours while catching up on facebook, emails, reading/commenting on blogs and writing this new post.

Thank you -

I was so excited to read the comments on my last post - for thanks to all the offers to add hearts to my Friendship Sampler. I will be emailing those of you who offered to get your snail mail...what a fun way to complete this project :)

Last night -

I had to take Matthew (younger son) down to the hockey rink, but not for ice practice...his team was scheduled for "off-ice" conditioning. It is one of those things which I know is necessary for him to do and to be there to do, but it is hard to swallow the driving to and from the rink for the hour activitiy (it took almost an hour to get to the rink last night and 45 minutes to get home). However, once at the rink, I used my time wisely. I decided to sit in my car and stitch on Family Sampler...so with the car engine off and the battery on so that I could listen to the radio and turn on the over head light, I stitched...

I stitched for a little over an hour, while Matthew was out in the parking lot with his team - running ladders, jumping on big truck tires, shooting into a hockey net, etc. Just as they started to pick up the equipment to help their coach put everything away...the radio died and the overhead light went out...the car battery was dead. Yikes! Thank goodness that many of the hockey dads were out watching their kids, for I was able to catch their attention to "jump my car" to "give it the spark of life" again. It didn't take much to revive it, and we were on our way back home. How embarrassing :) Next time I decide to stitch in my car, I will bring one of those little battery operated stitching lights and use my ipod & headphones!

BTW...I was only able to stitch that floating leaf above the house in that time period. I was going to stitch the leaves on the tree, to the left of the house, but I realized that I never stitched all the branches...and the over head light in the car really doesn't give enough light to see very well. Oh, well...at least I was able to put the needle to the thread for a bit last night!

Well, my friends, time to end this for the day. Take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

Opt-ing out and UN-subscribing

YOU HAVE MAIL...

Has your email inbox become like your 'snail-mail-box'...filled with junk email? While I do actually get a lot of my communication from family and friends via email, much of the other stuff has been sale-emails, advertisement-emails, junk-emails...basically unwanted clutter. So, for the last 5 days I have been going through all my emails (carefully, for I make sure that none of it is viral) and "clicking" on the unsubscribe or opt-out button. Little by little, my inbox has had fewer "unopened" notices from the companies I do not wish to hear from in the last few days; but it is interesting to note how many times it takes to go through the unsubscribe process for some companies. While they claim it takes 10 days for the request to take place, they continue to litter your box with more ads - so I continue to go through the unsubscribe process again & again in hopes that I finally do not hear from them.

Stitching Update...
Well, aside from that minor new year's resolution of cleaning up my inbox clutter, I don't have much to report on my Stitching. Yet, while I was able to stitch on a few leaves onto the left-hand side tree of my Family Sampler while at the hockey rink on Tuesday evening, it isn't enough to show at this time. I am hoping to get some time today or tomorrow so that I have some progress to "show and tell".

Speaking about stitching and my goals...in a comment on my last post, Julie said that she would be willing to stitch a heart on my sampler...and she has the pattern. I was kind of thinking of asking some of you if you would be interested in helping me finish - the thought about having a piece of needlework with stitches from my RR group and many of you...well, it would be priceless...but I felt funny about it...anyway, Julie I would be honored to send my Friendship Sampler out to you so that you can add to a heart. Thank you so much for offering - I will get it in the mail today or tomorrow. If anyone else out there would like to help, let me know.

Last night's activity...

Last night, the hockey carpool was driving, so I was able to have a hockey free evening...however, due to one of our employees having to take the night off, DH asked if I could come in after dropping Robert off at the carpool pick up location, which is very close to *The Store*. When I first got there, there was an arrangement that needed to be made so DH could get it delievered before 7pm, it was...

Once it was made and wrapped, he left. With no more orders to produce for the day, I busied myself with the clean up procedure so that the kitchen would be ready for Thursday morning. There wasn't much to clean up, except for empting the trash, sweeping up and mopping the floor. Once done, my thoughts turned to the condition of our house...I wish my house was as clean as the kitchen in *The Store*. Oh, well...I know that if I wasn't at *The Store* I would have planted myself on the couch and stitched, so nothing would have been getting cleaned up last night :)

Tonight - I will be back at the rink with Matthew who has "dryland" or, also known as "off-ice" conditioning, with his team. They do some running, pushups, jumping rope and other conditioning activities outside in the parking lot of the rink. Thank goodness we live in California - even though the temps have been a little chilly (we have been waking up to temps in the 30s and heavy frost on the green hills; it does warm up to the low 50s by the afternoon), there isn't too many places where you could do outdoor activities in January at night without wearing heavy winter outer ware.

Well, that is enough for today my friends. I hope that the first week of the new year has been going well for you. Until next time...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often,

Lisa

PS...Melanie R, do you have a blog for I would love to read it...please let me know.

 Who can tell the value of a smile? It costs the giver nothing, but is beyond price to the erring and relenting, the sad and cheerless, the lost and forsaken. It disarms malice, subdues temper, turns hatred to love, revenge to kindness, and paves the darkest paths with gems of sunlight. A smile on the brow betrays a kind heart, a pleasant friend, an affectionate brother, a dutiful son, a happy husband. It adds a charm to beauty, it decorates the face of the deformed, and makes a lovely woman resemble an angel in paradise.

~Tryon Edwards

Update from the Mundane Life...

The first day back to "normal routine" seemed to go well. The boys' first day back at school after the holidays seemed to go without any problems - not that I expected any as they both enjoy school and have a good base of friends. My day back at my job went well too, just spent some time on cleaning up my desk from last year and started in on the 2011 budget for my department passed to me by my boss and my boss's boss - spreading out the monies throughout the calendar year. DH worked at *The Store*, finishing all the accounting things to close out 2010 and start gearing up for Valentine's Day business.

To continue with the mundane paragraph of life...afterschool, I took Robert to the eye doctor. Last year he received his first pair of glasses as his eyes are starting to get nearsighted - and while they really hadn't changed this visit, we did decide to start him with some contacts. Sports glasses or goggles were something that he didn't want to wear, and we have a feeling that he hasn't seen the hockey puck very clearly - so contacts were in order hoping that this helps with his receiving a pass and perhaps scoring as well :)

In the evening, it was to the rink I went with Matthew for his Monday late evening ice practice. The coach ran a really good practice last night, so good that Matthew was very fired up after it! Scoring during the scrimmages, getting compliments from coach during one of the skill drills - he got in the car and just chatted for the whole 45 minute drive home. I learned all about the drills: how he did and how several other of his teammates did; I learned about who he eats lunch with and what they do when they are done eating; I  learned that they changed desks in his history class and who he sits by now; we went over what he liked about his winter vacation and the LA hockey tournament; he talked about working at *The Store* and our employees...he was a "Chatty Kathy" for the entire drive home and as soon as we pulled in the garage he repeated the whole conversation for DH. It is fun when he gets in these moods for I know that everything is "great".

Stitching update...

As soon as I posted my goals yesterday, turned off the computer, and started to pack my huge backpack that I carry all over with me (it is packed with my latest stitching project and a couple of others, a few magazines and other things...let's just say that I am always prepared to go to the rink or jump on a plane), I realized that I did forget one other project that I will need to finish this year - the Friendship Sampler RR that contains stitched hearts from all the women in the RR group and is now home, ready for me to stitch the last few hearts and finish it. So, on to the list it goes. I know going public with a "goal list" is the kiss of death, but it is something that I will always see and will to my best to work toward completing.

Although, yesterday wasn't a good day for stitching - to much running around; and even though I was at the rink, where I tend to do a lot of my needlework, I spent a good hour of that time in the fitness room on the treadmill. Tonight I am down at the rink longer as both boys have practice, so I can do my fitness routine there for the first hour and reward myself the last hour and a half with some stitching...how does that sound?

Well, I hope that I didn't bore you too bad.

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

Lisa

Back to the routine

Today the boys go back to school...and I go back to my job...and the evening hockey practices start back up. The "normal" daily routine begins for the first time of the new year.

It has been a nice holiday break - busy - but very nice. Lots of good quality family time, when we could work it in, and a wonderful time spent with my boys in LA.

As the new year begins, I have been working on some minor changes to my blog design...basically getting rid of the old...and setting my stitching goals for 2011. There are a couple different Challenges out there as per what I have read on many of your blogs. My personal challenge, which I have noted right on the heading of my blog so that I can see it every time I log in is to:

1. Finish Family Sampler by LHN - which I began in November (WIP)
2. Finish Mary Wigham - which was begun in November 2009 (WIP)
3. Finish Hockey Rivalry - which I began 3 years ago and have considered it a UFO
4. Begin and finish the Monthly Samplers by LHN - there is per each month, thus 12 in all.

So there are my 15 projects that I would like to work on and complete - while intermingling it with the 2011 Ornament Exchange Group ornaments. So, there you are...I have made my public announcement of my projects...now I just need to figure out how to sit by butt down and get them done :)

Hope your day is wonderful!
Take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often!

Lisa

CRASH...

So...

1. take two boys - ages 11.5 and almost 15
2. tell them that they have a great opportunity to stay home and have a pajama day
3. give them a little time and they will begin to get "antsy"
4. provide a day without rain, a hockey net, 2 hockey sticks and a street ball
5. let them go out and play

after a while, when some of their energy has been spent and their patience (aka 'brotherly love') has waned...

a orange street ball flies through the air and breaks the front window of our house. Well, I guess I know what Robert is getting for his 15th birthday in 9 days.

Grilling our way into 2011...

"1-1-11"

Happy New Year friends and family!

I hope everyone rung in the New Year in a fun and safe fashion. Our celebration was nice and quiet and...at home! I needed that day to just be...and just catch up. I did get a lot done, not as much as I hoped to, but did manage to get all the laundry from the LA trip washed and put away; the Christmas tree & ornaments have been put away and the faux needles vacuumed up; bills and hockey forms have been filled out/paid/mailed; the house has been re-stocked with food and the boys were able to catch up on some sleep. And I even got to sit and stitch for a while...took out Family Sampler and put in about 30 stitches before taking a nap. Just one more thing that has to get done and that is make airline reservations for Matthew's hockey tournament that is coming up at the end of the month (probably will be "punished" with higher priced tickets due to procrastinating).

Last night, I fired up the grill and threw on some burgers and hot links per a request from the boys who were tired of pasta & coffee-maker hot dogs. Any time that I can get Matthew to eat some form of protein, I typically change it. The meat was done cooking around 6:15pm, tried to time it so that DH could catch the end of the meal for he was at *The Store* all day and was due home around 7:15pm.

When the boys were threw, the charcol was perfect for marshmallow roasting...not your typical winter-backyard activity...I know. But one of the Christmas presents the family got was a hot chocolate-s'more kit, which I thought would be fun to do on New Year's Eve.

We got out the kabob skewers and the boys went out into the backyard to roast their marshmallows...



Robert, who actually finished up his dinner first, got to try his hand at roasting the first marshmallow over the flames. He didn't do too bad...just scorched the top slightly, forgetting to brown the sides...



but it didn't matter what the marshmallow looked like, or that it wasn't quite as "smooshy" as it could have been - for there is nothing like smashing the gooey sweet thing between a piece of milk chocolate and 2 graham crackers.

Once Matthew finished up his dinner, he joined his brother in the fun. Something about sticking something in a flame that always excites boys...have you even noticed that? Anyway, Matthew was having more fun roasting than he did eating the s'mores or the roasted marshmallows...and after feeding DH everything he cooked, it was time for Matthew to give up his right to skewer any more marshmallows. (BTW...if you ever run out of graham crackers and chocolate bars, Chips Ahoy cookies work just as well).

After the kitchen was cleaned up, we all retired to our TV room upstairs - the boys had their traditional chocolate milkshakes while we watched the NY's ball drop on Time Square...at 9pm our time before heading off to bed around 9:30pm.

Nice to have a little family time, as that seems to have been scarce around the holidays this year - so I will take whatever I can :)

I hope your New Year's celebrations were full of fun, love, happiness and memories. Take care my friends and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

By the way...Plum Street Sampler has a freebie - Hares' New Year - it looks great!