It December???

This was our beautiful fall tree last Wednesday, November 30...before the 50-80 mile winds attacked it.

I am still in denial - it can't be December already...can it? It is hard to believe! But I guess since the boys got out their advent chocolate candy calendars, the holidays are getting closer.

Last Wednesday, I had a rare day off and enjoyed a nice 7.5 mile jog. The trees around the neighborhood were filled with colorful leaves, the sun was shinning a nice 50-60 degree temperature, the sky was blue and the grass green. In most places in the US, this wouldn't be a typical "winter" day but for here it is pretty standard this time of the year. HOWEVER, that was Wednesday...

Since then, the Santa Anna winds have been howling anywhere between 50-80 or 90 miles an hour. All of those beautiful crimson, orange and yellow leaves are no longer on the trees - they are on the ground and in my garage (we forgot to close the garage door the other night and the darn leaves found there way in there). Nevertheless, the temps still hover around the mid-50s and the sun it shiny bright - so I can't complain!

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Ok...you all know the saying: "what goes around, comes around"? Well, I lived it on Thursday evening/Friday morning.

You remember those big school projects you would get and the due date would be a few weeks to a month out. The ones that would take some work and the teacher gave you all the time in the world to do it. So much time, in fact, that there wasn't any reason to start right away. The kind of projects you would set aside for the first week, then take the time to plan for the second week and then the night before the due date you and one of your parents, who would be very angry & have a sneer on their face, would stay up all night to complete it together. Well...

Matthew, my younger son, received a project a week before the Thanksgiving break that wasn't due until Friday, December 2. Decided that he wouldn't start it until the break, because he know that he would have a lot of time to research, write and draw since both DH and I would be at the stores working. Thanksgiving break comes...he works on the cover of the project and then writes down the outline of what he will research.. He develops the plan that he will work on 3 pages a day...the project is an ABC book of Ancient China...and therefore be able to get the project done during the T-giving break and not have to worry about it the week it is due (which is always a good idea because of all the other homework he has which he juggles with hockey practices).

Well...every day I would get home from the stores and was greeted by Matthew, who was still in his pjs playing a computer game. I would ask, "did you work on your project?" and he would respond, "no, not today, I will put some work into it tomorrow. I have a new strategy, starting tomorrow I will do 4 letters a day and will still be done before the end of the break." The next day - new strategy 5 letters a day...and the next was 6 letters a day.

Bottomline and to shorten the story...Thursday evening DH and I were up with Matthew "helping" him to get the project done. Working on the last 13 letters...we finished the project at 2:30am.

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We have a lot of hockey this weekend...surprised? Matthew has a couple of league games today, both kids have practice tomorrow morning and Sunday evening Robert will be playing his first high school hockey game. High school hockey is new here in California - all the hockey is played representing a club. Robert's team is made up of 10-12 kids with various of hockey playing levels. It should be fun to watch and exciting for him to show off his hockey skills to all his schoolmates who know of his passion for hockey, but have never seen him play.

Well...I don't want to bore you any more. I am hoping to have some status photos of Family Sampler soon. Keep your fingers crossed!

Until next time...remember,

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

November 9...and 10

Well, I kind of missed a day - but if I blog about yesterday and today does it count as blogging both? :)

I am playing "single" mom again this week as DH is on the East Coast for the corporate training for *The Business* this week. This is the last week of official training, at least out of town...I think that someone from corporate comes in to work with us, but not totally sure. Anyway, it has been busy as Robert (older son) has added wrestling to his sporting activities - something to do after school when he doesn't have hockey. Just hoping that the wrestling coach understands that he will not be able to make every practice and/or every wrestling match if Robert has a hockey practice or activity. We shall see.

Yesterday, at Matthew's school (younger son) they had their monthly assembly where they discuss the character trait of the month, as well as announce the students of the month and acknowledge the student who exemplifies the designated character trait - the Integrity in Action Award. Each teacher in the school nominates one student from their class(es) for the student of the month...thus, there were 50 kids who were called up to receive the October Student of the Month certificate as well as a Student of the Month pencil...Matthew was nominated by his Science Teacher.

In addition to being 1 of the 50 Students of the Month, Matthew was chosen as the student who exemplifies the October character trait: Responsible. Again, nominated by his science teacher, it was pointed out that: "Matthew was a responsible student who turned in all his homework on time, was never late to class, and when traveling for his hockey tournaments made sure to approach each teacher ahead of time to inquire what he would be missing so that he would be able to keep up with his classes."  For this acknowledgment, Matthew received a special t-shirt and a certificate.

 

I guess Matthew had a feeling that he was going to be nominated as a Student of the Month, but didn't' know that he was going to be the one receiving the Integrity in Action award too. It was very exciting! Congratulations Matthew...mom & dad are very proud of you!

Yesterday, when I needed to leave and pick up Robert from school I couldn't get out of my driveway:

our neighborhood turkey herd was walking down our street and hanging out on my driveway. Don't they understand that Thanksgiving is around the corner? You have to admit - it is a little strange to have these birds just walking around and living nearby. We found several places on the main street where they cross, for there are little turkey prints on the concrete....I wonder if we need to contact the city to put up some "Turkey Crossing" signs around the neighborhood?

This morning I woke up a little later than I like, but instead of getting on the stationary bike I sat down and did a little early morning cross-stitching on Family Sampler...not enough for a photo posting, but hopefully soon. Tonight is a night without hockey obligations, so I am hoping to sit and stitch tonight so that I have something to show you soon. I know that many of you visit for the stitching, so I apologize that I haven't done much show and tell...I will soon.

Well, I will not bore you anymore. I will sign off with a few snippets of fall for you...and then bid you good-bye until tomorrow. Take care and remember....

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

Sunday - Happiness is...

...the beginning of a new month, homemade costumes, Trick or Treating in the light of the full moon, a Friday afternoon walk, and carving pumpkins with my boys.

Happy November everyone! Hard to believe that we have 2 more months of 2009 left. I hope everyone had a good and safe Halloween. It was a really strange one this year, for it seems that there weren't too many people out "Trick or Treating". I took the boys out about 7pm and we found many houses put out a bowl a candy and left a note saying - "please take one and leave some for others...Trick or Treat." Either they didn't want to be bothered or just weren't home. And even the amount of decorated houses were less than in years past...maybe the economic demons tried to take some of the fun out of the holiday? Well, we didn't decorate either...and we also decided to go with the homemade costumes (let me introduce to you: the ghost of Christmas in the Bob the Builder sheet - the influence for this was Charlie Brown's homemade ghost costume; and on the right, we have either Huck Finn, Tom Sawyer or Famous Amos - your choice).

Nevertheless, we did have a nice time walking around the neighborhood, in the light of the full moon and 70 degree weather. Perfect trick or treating temperature! (BTW...I also find it funny that my boys work so hard to make as many houses as possible to get candy, of which they don't eat and we end up sharing with our co-workers)

Speaking of nice temperatures, I thought I would share with you what our fall looks like here in California. We have 2 seasons. In the late sping/summer time, our trees have green leaves and the hills and grassy areas are brown. In the fall/wintertime, the trees start to turn colors and eventually drop their leaves, while the hills and grassy areas turn green. Seems a little backwards, doesn't it? On Friday afternoon, I walked to pick up the boys from school and took photos with my phone's camera of the scenery:

It was a beautiful warm Friday and the walk really did wonders for my mood - the warm sun warmed my soul and the lavendar and newly blossoming fall flowers smelled wonderful. I also decided to bring the dog along, for I knew the walk would do him good too!

When we got home, the boys threw their backpacks in their rooms while I prepped the kitchen table for pumpkin carving. I cut the main hole in the bottom of the squash, because we use a light bulb to illuminate good ol' jack. The boys took turns scraping out the "yuck" and the "goop", as well as separating out the seeds to bake in the oven. The design for the pumpkin was created by my older son and, again, the influence was Charlie Brown (unfortunately I didn't get a picture).

They had a good time getting the goop out and drawing the design on the pumpkin. When they were finished, the cookies I was baking were out of the oven. So while they snacked on those, I carved the face out. It was a great Friday afternoon.

On a stitching note...Saturday I was able to put the last stitch in my L*K design and then finish the "finish" and even got it in the mail...so I made the deadline of November 1 for this round of L*K exchange! Yahoo! Now I am frantically working on 2 models for CindyMae, who, by the way, has a "booth" in the Needle Show Retail (which is going on November 5-8). If you register, you can actually place orders directly with the designers. 

Thank you for visiting and have a nice Sunday! 

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