November 19...It is Friday! It is Friday! Yahoo!

It is Friday...that means that the weekend is here!
It is Friday, Nov. 19...that means that I am getting ready to fly to Arizona with Matthew!
It is Friday, Nov. 19...that means Thanksgiving break begins (no school, time off of my job, 10 days to spend with the family).

It is nice that MY Thanksgiving break starts with a little weekend in Arizona...in a hotel where the housekeepers make the beds, straighten up the bathroom, take away the dirty towels and bring clean ones. It will be a short mental vacation, where I only have to make sure that Matthew eats well and gets to the rink on time (and since I am sharing a car with another family I don't even need to worry about driving); where I can show up at the rink and watch Matthew play (for I am not the team manager and therefore do not have any team responsiblities) and where I can pull out my stitching or a book because it is the weekend of my mental vacation :)

Honors Evening at Middle School...Congrats to Matthew!
Last night, was honors evening at Matthew's middle school. That is the night where the school honors the 3.0's and above. This year, with the new principal at the school, it was done much differently - more of a "free-for-all". For a comparison...when Robert (older son) was in middle school, The kids would line up in alphabetical order in 3 sections: (1) those with a 3.0-3.49, (2) those with a 3.5-3.99, and (3) those with a 4.0 had the honor of sitting on the stage. Each group was acknowledged by their achievement when handed their certificate.

THIS year, there was no stage...all the kids sat together on either side of a podium...in fact the 6th graders sat in such a way that girls were on one side of the podium and boys were on the other. When it came time to hand out the certificates, they were handed out in the order that the kids came through the door and checked in at the front desk...the school was so worried about having a child present when they called out the name, that the missed an opportunity to acknowledge the academic achievement of the kids. Well, I guess they did "half-a$$" explain that "if Academic Excellence is read before we announce the child's name, then they were a 4.0 student for 1st quarter".  Ok, so the first 50 kids that came up and received their certificate, there might have been some 4.0s in that group and the parents weren't aware of it.

I know...on an evening where my child was excited about his accomplishment of earning a 4.0, I shouldn't let the way the event was handled bum me out...but it is hard to; especially when so many teachers are upset about the way kids are handling homework - either turning it in late, not completed or not at all. So when you have kids that are conscientious about getting their homework complete and turned in (even if that means staying up late because they have hockey practice and don't get home until late). Make an example of those kids who are acomplishing the "basics" of school work; honor those kids who are taking school & their education seriously...maybe those who aren't will see these role models, know that it is achieveable and try for the goal of "Academic Excellence" next time. Oh, well, enough said...now for the official bragging photo:


Matthew receiving his certificate of Academic Excellence - a 4.0 1st quarter of 6th grade

 Mailperson left something in my mailbox...
February 15, 2009...the day 18 women from the US, Canada and The Netherlands, stitched the first heart and sent their sampler to the next person on the list...is basically over as far as this Round Robin is concerned. Yesterday, my Friendship Sampler came home for a brief visit (more on that in a moment).

My Friendship Sampler...94% complete

It is so exciting to have this here that I didn't even bother ironing it before I took the photo to show you all this lovely piece. Now, it is here only for a moment...the last woman to stitch her hear has a summer and a winter residence; and since I know that it would be ready to be mailed while she was in transition between the two places, I thought it best if it would come here and then I would send it out to her when she got settled in her winter place.  Pretty exciting to have it in my hands!

News from Robert and the Medicine Hat Hockey Hounds Tournament...
Robert and his team arrived safely on Wednesday evening in to Calgary. They were picked up by the Hilton Garden Inn airport shuttle service - the whole group at one time - and were greeted by a warm pizza buffet upon checking in. On Thursday morning, after enjoying the free breakfast, they all packed up and boarded the bus at 10:30am to start their 3 hour journey to Medicine Hat. Before checking into their hotel in MedHat, they stopped at Tim Hortons (where else would you stop when you go to Canada, eh?). Known for their doughnuts and coffee - Robert txt'd that he did enjoy a chocolate doughnut with his BLT and hot soup.

They got checked into the hotel and took time to get settled into their rooms (thank you Medicine Hat Lodge for arranging early check in) before they had to switch into their game day dress clothes (shirt, tie, dress pants, dress shoes) and head to the rink for their first game of the tournament...it was not a pretty one. They played a team called Nortre Dame, which I believe is a hockey team from a Canadian boarding school of the same name. The final score was 16-0...the San Jose Jr. Sharks were on the loosing end of the score. During a call to home, Robert said that the whole team didn't play well in the 1st...maybe it was due to being travel worn? But he also said that the whole team just didn't compete well with the team from Canada...for they were faster, strongers and took advantage of every mistake that the Jr. Sharks made (which was a lot).

Their next game is this morning and they are playing a team from Kamloops Canada. Good luck Sharks! Play hard!

Until next time...from Arizona...have a good Friday and remember -

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa