A clean dog, a visit to the eye doctor and a soon to be 14 year old

Today was my day off from work and it was pretty relaxing. Although I get a few things done. First up, was to take Bruno to the groomers. He is an outdoor dog. Our house has a nice set up, for Bruno has an indoor place inside our garage where he sleeps and eats and then there is a door to the backyard where he does his...."thing". We take him out for walks/runs, but haven't let him into the house since we moved here because he is a big dog and has a tendency to chew things. But, as the vet always says when we visit, "My, Bruno, you are a happy dog aren't you?" And I think he is. Next week he gets to see the vet to get his yearly check up and rabies shot.

Yesterday, Robert (older son) and I went to get our eyes checked by the eye doctor. I do this once a year, as I am very near-sighted and my eyes seem to continue to get worse (but I did find out that they haven't changed in the last year, which is a good thing!). However, we found out that Robert was slightly near-sighted so it was time to get him glasses, which he will only have to wear to see the whiteboard (remember when it was a blackboard or referred to as the chalkboard?). Poor kid, I guess he got my "eye genes", for when I was in 8th grade my eyes started to change and I got my first pair of glasses. After his exam, he tried on several designs of glasses and settled on a pair that he like and feels that he will be able to put on in school without feeling to embarrassed (I took a photo with my camera in the store...I think he looks "smart" in those, don't you).

And speaking of Robert, his birthday is Monday...and he will turn 14. Fourteen years old...OMG! It is hard to believe that I will be a mother of a 14 year old. I am sure that I will post a memory of the day he was born as I always get sappy on the birthdays of my sons!

On the stitching side of my life, I did take some time to stitch on a L*K exchange today, but don't have anything that I am able to show you...I am sorry, but know that you will understand.

Well...time to get the boys ready for bed. Tomorrow Matthew (younger son) had a hockey game in the early afternoon. So I bid you "good-night" and remember...Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often! Lisa

One more hockey rambling...and a photo of current WIP

Your attitude is your choice. It always is. We live in an age that has developed the art of shifting blame to very high levels, and sometimes we get caught upin that same tendency. "Well, if you had my job you wouldn't be so positive.""If you had my kids, you wouldn't feel so good." "If only my boss were different,
I could be a positive person." In other words, "My bad attitude is not my fault!" The truth is, however, your attitude and mine are always our choice. No matter how bad things are, no one can force you to have a bad attitude if you don't want to. Now that should come as really good news because it says our attitudes don't have to be victims of our circumstances or of other people. We choose our responses.
Mary Whelchel

I thought that saying was very fitting this morning. Yesterday, when the AAA hockey team was posted, Robert saw that his name was not on the list and 3 of his former teammates made the team. He was disappointed and DH & I were too. But, we know that he did his very, very best - there wasn't anything that he could have done better...as we say "leave it all on the ice," which he did. He just didn't have the height, strength, "top-notch" skills or the experience that the majority of the 2nd year bantams had. Throughout the afternoon yesterday, I could tell that he was bummed...he wasn't sure what to do with himself yesterday. Not that he was underfoot, but he did "plop" himself down by me and watch me xstitch...and then when that grew old, he "plopped" himself down by DH and watch him play a computer game. He talked about his feelings and went over the whole tryout skates (looking for something to be critical of - for he is his worse critic - but he just couldn't find anything that he did wrong. He knows where he has to improve, but knows that he didn't do anything wrong...as there is a difference, which he has figured out). There was no one to blame - not even himself - it just happened, he just didn't make the team based on the rest of the kids who tried out (38 skaters trying out for 18 spots).

He processed it all afternoon and into the evening, and by the time he was ready for bed, he was ready for AA tryouts (too bad that those don't follow immediately after so that we could get this over with!). I am so proud of him...he got hurt on Friday night and dealt with it (doing what needed to do that evening) and was able to got back on the ice Saturday morning and Sunday morning....he skated hard and battled for the puck and a spot for the team each and every opportunity...it just wasn't meant to be. He has come to terms with it over night and is now ready to go again next weekend. Robert, I love you and proud of the way you are maturing. These opportunities to deal with disappointment are a step to maturing to a young man - which you are doing a great job of. And one last note...to my wonderful DH, we dealt with the scary moment of Friday night and the disappointment of the outcome together very well - I love you very much and would be lost without you by my side!

Ok...enough of my Hockey Ramblings...on to the things that you all are more interested in reading (hopefully you have reached this point!). To reward you for suffering through the first part, here is a photo of one of the things I am working on (sorry for the blurry photo...it was a rushed shot). This is from L*K "It's a Girl Thing". I am planning to use this as part of a little gift for one of my sisters for a holiday gift in December. The stitching of this is just about done. I have been stitching on 28ct evenweave - one over one - using the colors/thread it called for plus making a x-stitch border using Threadworks. In addition, I have been stitching another model for CindyMae (from CindyMae Designs). The mailperson should be delivering the next round of RRs to me, which I hope to receive in the next day or two.

Hope everyone is doing well. Thank you for sticking with me during this weekend of ramblings. Hope your week brings much love and sunshine!

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

Finishes for Friday!

I can't believe that it is Friday already...I am glad that it is, but it seems like it went kind of fast. It is the kind of week where I got things done, but I can't really remember what I did do. Have you ever had one of those weeks?

Last week I passed out the Teacher Appreciate packets to Matthew's 4th grade class, instructing them to show them to their parents and accomplish the things I asked for (likea thank you letter for each of their teachers, to paste a picture of a themselves on a paper star and add some $ if they wanted to participate in a class gift) and then bring it back to school on Tuesday 4/28. This week I have been collecting the completed packets - out of the class of 27, I am still missing 9. Next week is teacher appreciate week, so I hope to make contact with the families who haven't responded to make sure that I, at least, get their child's thank you notes to put in the Teacher Appreciation books. This is a project that I have been doing for each of my sons' classes since my oldest was in day-care (so about 13 years). Basically I xstitch a design for a front cover and bind all of the children's notes in a handmade book. The teachers love it, because it is special notes from their students bound beautifully (if I say so myself). So, speaking of these books, I put the finishing touches on the front covers (this year Matthew has 2 teachers who have been "job sharing"). Here is the finished products:


















They are the same Lizzie*Kate design - however the one on the left was stitched on white 28ct evenweave and the one on the right was stitched on 22ct hand-dyed aida.

The other big project we have been dealing with at home is Robert's (7th grader) medi-evil period project. There were several options to choose from and he decided to make a Knight's
Helmet...because no one else was...because it sounded challenging. And it was and still is! Basically, he used a baseball cap (with the brim cut off) and fitted cardboard around it and then used plaster rolls to make it hard...and then painting it metallic silver. It is coming along, but he is upset that it didn't look like the picture he printed off from the computer. Yes, there are probably better ways that we could have done it (like maybe putting the plaster over a balloon to make more of a round top)...but working with a stubborn 13-year old, let's just say that this is the best it is going to be unless we started over. I find it really hard as a mother to know when I cross the line to "take over" a project and when I should sit back and "let go", allowing the child to do it. Anyway, I think given the material he is working with and the guidence to finish it, he will receive a good grade. I can't believe that the teacher would hand out a bad grade because the model doesn't represent the photo "exactally". Well, he/we have to get this finished up over the weekend to turn in on Monday.

Well, I hope everyone is having a good Friday! Remember to live, laugh, love...and keep stitching! Lisa