Only 2 more days until the "Big" Day...according the the boys. There are only 2 more drawers on the Snowman advent chest of drawers left for the boys to open and get their pieces of chocolate. I think that we are about ready for Santa's visit. We got the cookies made on Sunday, the tree has been decorated for a couple of weeks and the boys finally sat down and typed out their letters of "desires" to Santa.

I thought I would take this opportunity to show off some old ornaments that I made at one time in my life...

This little sled is one that I made when I was a girl scout.

I remember when I was a Brownie and then I flew to to be a full fledged Girl Scout...and selling all those cookies.

On the back is the date 1977. Boy that was a long time ago!

These two are little felt ornaments that were made at my grandparents house. The kitty is one that I made and the other, a little mouse under a mushroom, I think my sister made it. We would go to my grandparents' house for Christmas and my grandmother would have all these little things in their basement to keep us busy.

The next two, I made when I was married and lived in New Orleans (circa 1993). A co-worker stitched me an ornament with Santa and finished it in a wooden hoop...so, I felt that DH needed one as well as our cat Chester.

So, those are some of the ornaments we have in our tree; and on top we have a homemade angel - one that Matthew made when he was in a Christian pre-school. Don't you just love the styrofoam cup angel?

Well, that is a little look at what is on our tree, in addition to the ornaments from the exchanges I participated in during 2009. Lots of memories!

Today, just like the last few days this week, we have been vegging at home in the morning and dealing with hockey practices in the evening. DH's office shut down at 2 for the holidays today, so he came home in time for an afternoon nap and a quick computer football game with Robert (older son).

This morning I was able to put some more stitches in MW and got the 4th motif completed. Here is a quick photo of it to show my progress:

It looks so danty - stitching with 1 strand over 2 on 40 ct fabric. I love it. The scissors in the photo were in a "box of treasures" my grandmother sent me. A friend of hers, who did a lot of needlework, past away and her daughter was going through all of her things. She invited my grandmother over to look through her needlework stash...long story-short, my grandmother came home with 4 boxes of needlework "stash" and picked out some of the "best" for me, which I received on Monday (I will probably have some giveaways after the first of the year). Anyway, these Gingher scissors were in the box. I cleaned them up, as they were tarnished and had some rust, attached the special fob from CindyMae and have been using them.

Well, it is time for me to leave you right now. But before I leave I wanted to show you what I got today from Trader Joes (a specialty, organic grocery store):

Do you know what this is? It is a stalk of Brussel sprouts. I looked at this and knew that I needed to bring this home. I never knew how Brussel sprouts grew - I do now. I will probably take the sprouts off the stalk tomorrow and steam them for one of our family holiday dinners. I don't think that the kids will eat them, but you never know.

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

Lisa

MW update in a quick "fly by" posting

Thought I would do a quick post this afternoon and upload a picture of my status on MW. While I started out with a conversion (from the DMC to GAST) staying somewhat true to the colors, I have decided that I didn't like some of the conversions and some of there just didn't work with the color of my fab...so as I stitch I have been changing up some of the colors. I am enjoying stitching on this, though! In fact, while I did say that this would be a "at home" project...I purchased a large plastic zipper pouch so that it transported to the rinks with ease, so I have also been working on it a little while at the hockey rinks. 

Robert (older son) is at the rink this morning - DH took him...Matthew (younger son) has practice later today.

Friday, the boys finished up school for the year, getting out early for their start of the holiday break. DH came home early and we went to see the new movie Avatar in 3D. It really was a fun movie that I recommend if you are looking for an adventure/fantasy movie with a lot of special effect. I really liked it...in fact we all did, as long as DH didn't put too much of a political slant on some of the story lines :) It was a nice start for our holiday break.

Tomorrow, the boys and I will just veg out at home until time for hockey practice in the evening. Most of my prepping for Santa is done. Still need to make the Special Santa Krinkle Cookies, which I will either do today or tomorrow. Santa is still a very popular person for my 13yr old and 10 yr old, so we continue to feed that popularity (does that make sense?). Little by little elves have delivered things to the house (aka mailmen & FedEx) and hopefully the wrapping elves will visit throughout the week and not wait until the last minute to make an appearance - for that usually causes too much stress on Christmas Eve :)

Well, just wanted to stop by and say "hi"

Take care everyone and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often

Lisa

Still here and ready to share...

This weeks seems to be going by quickly - can't believe that my last post was last Friday; but it is holiday season and hockey season, so life has been a little crazy here in Durst Manor.

First (lets get a little hockey out of the way), last weekend was very trying for me - the mom/the wife. Robert (older son) participated in a special tryout, which was based on & for individual efforts vs. for a team (which to save you all from boredom, I will not try to explain the opportunity he was tryout for - just note that it was for a great opportunity, which he will have an opportunity to tryout for next year). Based on my note in the parenthesis, you probably guessed that he didn't get picked; however, he did get chosen as an "alternate" (to "fill a spot" if someone should not be able to go to the next round of tryouts the end of January).Let's just say that I had two sets of hurt male egos in my house - my upset child and my angry husband. After time and much consoling both, the house finally got to a "managable" level of emotion late Sunday evening. However, there really wasn't anyone here to console me so I did a little tear shed after everyone went to bed. I realized for the first time, that my children are getting to the age where things might not go their way and they will be sad, disappointed and "hurt"...the kind of "hurt" I will not be able to put a bandaid on it and "kiss & make better". This was a great learning and growing opportunity for us all.

Now for some "Show and Tell"....
I received an email from Heather saying that she received the ornament I stitched for her - for our personal ornament exchange; so without further ado, here is the ornament:

Lizzie Kate's "Chill Out"

Fabric: Lt. Blue Jobelean 28ct (?)

Thread: noted Gentle Arts or substitutions from stash

Stitched 1 over 1

(Heather posted a comment about how some designers seem to be creating designs that seem too large to be hung on the tree...so I decided to stitch 1 over 1 so that it would be "ornament size" LOL)

And...on the same day that Heather received mine, I received hers (perfect timing don't you think)

 

I tore into the package as quick as I could...isn't it adorable. It brought JOY to me and my Christmas tree! I love it! There is something special about hanging ornaments when they are handmade, especially from special stitching blogging friends!!!!

And here is a photo of both Heathers and Anglea P's ornaments I received for our personal ornament exchange hanging on my Christmas tree. Arn't they awesome!

I am so lucky and grateful for having participated with these women in an ornament exchange. Thank you!

One more day of work for me (I am off until January 4th, when the boys go back to school) and 1-1/2 days for the boys (they get out of school Friday at noon)...and then the holidays will really feel like they are here!

Thank you all for visiting. Hope your week is going well. Just remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!
Lisa

It is Friday...ya-hoo!

I am sooooooooo glad it is Friday (when is one not glad, I suppose)! Fridays are my day off of work, so I look forward to the peace and quiet I get in the morning with the boys are in school and DH is at work.
This is my "ME" time!
So aside from catching up on my minutes of spinning and getting the laundry done, I have been reading and commenting on blogs and thought I would post another update...and yes, I can show a finish.

Last night I put in the last few stitches of my heart on Deborah's Friendship RR.

Deborah decided to follow the DMC colors for this design...and coordinated with her very soft fabric, it looks beautiful! I will be taking it to the post office a little later today in order to get it in the mail to Karen.

Hope everyone's Friday is going well! Take care and remember to 

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often! 

Lisa

One Christmas Ornament Exchange Landed...

I heard from Angela P from Hooked on Stitches and she received the ornament I stitched for her...so I now get to show you one of the ornaments I was working on . This particular one is a Lizzie Kate Desgins "Deck the Halls" which I stitched 1 over 1 on 28ct light blue Linen (Jobelean?), using most of the Sampler Thread color called for (or similar colors from my stash if I didn't have the exact one). I used a 3" wooden hoop to finish it off, covering the hoop with green ruffles to look like a wreath...trying to keep with the "Deck the Halls" theme.

This week seems to have crept by slowly...thank goodness it is Thursday, which is like a Friday to me because I don't work tomorrow (Ya-hoo and "me" day). Yesterday I took Robert (older son) to the doctor because his cough he has had for several days seemed to be getting worse. Found out that it is bronchitis, for which we got some antibiotics. While in the dr. office, Robert got measured and he is officially as tall as me...and probably will surpass me very soon. Anyway...due to the outcome of the dr visit, we decided to keep him home from hockey practice (this was the first practice he has missed in a very long time) and he was able to get into bed around 8:30pm versus midnight if he went to practice (they had a late Wednesday night practice from 8:30-10pm...given that we live about 45 minutes from the rink and allowing time to switch out from hockey gear to street wear and then shower when arriving at home, it would have been very late).

Well, I won't keep you any longer - for I appreciate your visit and hope you do come again!

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

Jack Frost visits Northern California

Here is the view from our house of Mt. Diablo. This was taken this morning - so while there is still some snow on the mount, there was just a little more yesterday after the Californian "snow-storm". Around our house, we didn't get any "sticking" snow, mainly it stuck at the higher levels. However, there were some cities that did see just enough to make mini-snowmen.

This morning, the story was the cold temperatures...getting down into the 20s. So over night, a visit from Jack Frost, left a blanket of hard frost...which covered not only all the grassy areas around our house but on our roses in our backyard...it really looked beautiful, the roses with a little sparkle this morning.

Nevertheless, I did find one "thing" who was really put off by Jack Frost's visit...

Buzzy, our backyard Humming bird - he was furious! For the frigid temps didn't play kindly with his food:

By the time I got home from work, the temps were between 45-50 degrees and Buzzy's food had melted. One of my co-workers suggested that I bring in the feeder every night during this cold snap. We'll see...just what I need to do, add another "to do" to my "plate of responsibilities".

Well, hope your Tuesday brought you much love and warmth! Take care and thank you for visiting.

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

The weather out side is frightful...

Wow, did the rain come down last night. Several times I was woken up by it as it hit the windows...but I did manage to get myself out of bed (30 minutes later than I wanted to) and on the exercise bike this morning. I am waiting for it to get light outside so I can see what it is doing out there. The weather forcasters are saying that we might have gotten snow in the lower elevations (below 1000ft...we live around 343ft) - but since it is in the low 30s, I am sure that we will see some snow in the high hills that surround us where we live. We have one large hill (over 3849 feet) named Mt. Diablo that will get snow during the winter rainy season when it is cold enough - that is when this area really reminds me of Colorado (without the large quantity of snow). I will try to get some photo of the area if there is any snow to be seen.

Yesterday I posted the winner of my 1st blog give-away...Bev. Congrats!

WEEKEND and HOCKEY REPORT

I hope your weekend was good. I seemed to have had the blahs, feeling a little achy and not quite myself. There seem to be a lot of crud going around right now...and not just H1N1 (news reports are saying that reported cases are going down). Matthew (younger son and my "Vanna White" yesterday when he pulled the give-away name out of the Hockey Helmet), had 2 hockey games over the weekend and his team won both. So they are still in first place for the league games. Robert (older son) just had a practice on Sunday...otherwise he spent most of Saturday doing weekend homework.

WEEKEND and BLOGGING BUDDIES

While at the rink for a game on Saturday, I knew that one of my blogging buddies (Branlaadee) lived in that area. So I left a comment on her blog and she was kind enough to drop by the rink.  It is so funny how we all identify each other - for I arrived first and was sitting at one of the tables, visiting with some of the other hockey moms, when Branlaadee walked up with her plastic zipper stitching pouch...looking for the "universal sign" of a fellow stitcher...another zipper stitching pouch.

We spent time chatting - getting to know each other. It is so cool to meet other stitching and blogging buddies. I hope that we are able to find sometime and meet again...this time in a place that is conducive to stitching and chatting :)

WEEKEND and STITCHING REPORT

Saturday I spent a good amount of the day stitching on MW and here is my progress so far:

I was able to get in a few stitches yesterday, but didn't get the 1st motif completed as I had hoped. Since this will probably just remain an @ HOME PROJECT, I will be taking Deborah's Friendship RR and other little projects to the rink tonight as Robert's team has practice.

Thank you for stopping by - I hope you have a great week! Remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often! Lisa

And the winner is...

Yesterday was the last day to enter into my 1st blog-oversary celebration give-away - which was a $20 gift certificate to www.123stitch.com. So, as promised, the winner will be drawn and announced today.


All the names were printed out from the post on November 28 --- there were 20 entries in all --- folded up and mixed up in the lucky hockey helmet. So, before leaving for his hockey game, I got Matthew (youngest son) to assist with picking the name out of the helmet.


 

Matthew, all dressed in his hockey team warm up, put his hand in the helmet and chose....

Drum Roll, please

 

Bev

I will be emailing you soon to get your information. Thank you all who entered. Take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often! Lisa

It is Friday --- show and tell day.

Well it is Friday...December 4th and it looks like the holiday season is going full blast. The boys have started opening their chocolate advent calendars. They each have their own and then we have a special one which they share (one opening a door on the even days and the other taking the odd days). This is a tradition that we have had for quite awhile - they developed the odd/even tradition on their own.

Now that I got my exchange Christmas ornaments in the mail...and I am in between Friendship Sampler RRs (another is on its way here)...I have worked a finish and started another ornament...and put a couple of stitches in MW.

Here is my finish:

Fabric: R&R Linen 32ct Royal Blue

Freebie (forgot what website)

This is the back (nothing exciting, just thought I would post it)

I am not sure what I am going to do with this yet...but wanted to show it off because I do like the way it turned out as I feel that I am still practicing my "finishing" techniques. I guess that "finishing" is just like everything else..."a work in progress" and something that needs to be "practiced", right?

And now a new ornament start...

 

From the Just CrossStitch 2009 Ornament Edition

Fabric: 32ct Linen (was white, but blue food coloring turned it rose)

Floss: so far DMC Varigated #115

Again, not sure what I will do with this once it is complete, but because MW is so big to travel with I needed something little to work on when I sit at the hockey rinks so I wiped out my magazine and started this. Thank goodness I tote around a huge backpack with some cross-stitch magazines, accessories, floss, fabric, etc. A Hockey mom always has to be ready to stitch!

I did put some stitches in MW last night while watching The Office with DH, but nothing to really show at this time. After reading some of the comments posted on other websites regarding MW in the early summer, when this was really "popular" to stitch, there was a debate whether to stitch it as per the pattern offered or to "fix" it because many of the motifs are not symmetrical. Well, I have decided to stitch "as is"...unless I can "fix" the design without having to do any redrawing. Let's just say the whole symmetry issue can drive one batty. But I am determined to finish this project!

Well...that is all for today. I am enjoying my day at home without DH or kids...which will change a little later when school lets out. Take care all...and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often - Lisa

 Happy December Everyone!

It is hard to believe that it is December already...but I guess we need to...BELIEVE that is. It is that time of the year to "believe in" and have "faith". The holiday time can be a good time for some and a difficult time for others. I hope that many of you can find a little bit of magic during this month to BELIEVE. For me, as mentioned many times, Holiday=Hockey tournaments, so while we do put up some holiday decoration (for both Chanukkah and Christmas...we are a dual holiday family) and enjoy the traditions & celebrations (8-days of Chanukkah due to the generocity of my side of the family and Christmas due to our own family traditions and DH's side of the family) much of the end of December will  be spent in a hockey rink.

 Well...last night I got to do a couple of Happy Dances!!! 

I finished the 2 ornaments I was struggling to finish. Unfortunately I cannot show them to you as they are for some personal exchanges.I plan on making a trip to the post office today after work so that I can get the ornaments and the RR in the mail before the Christmas rush starts to affect travel time.

Well...that is all for today! Have a good Tuesday and remember:

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often! Lisa

Don't forget to sign up for my Blogoversary Give-away...go to the bottom of the November 28th post to read about it and enter if you are interested in a $20 gift certificate to www.123stitch.com.

Thanksgiving break over....Championship Hockey games sadly ends in tears

Monday is here and the long Thanksgiving break is over. As my older son, Robert, said "when you have things to do and have fun doing them, time off from school goes by fast." Just wait until he gets even older, for time just seems to fly all the time!

Looking back, the break was fast. It was a very good one...there was time for relaxing (the boys got to enjoy a couple of sleep-in and pj-days), a time to get some things done (like the dentist and haircuts), a time for the family to be together (enjoyed the movie Fantastic Mr. Fox and a nice family-sit-down meal on Thanksgiving), it was a time for dad-son bonding and mother "me" time (having the house to myself a couple to times to exercise and stitch) and, of course, it was a time for hockey.

Speaking of hockey...you knew I had to work that in, right?...Matthew's (younger son) team made it to the Championship yesterday and it was a nail biter! At the end of the regulation time the score was 3-3 (Matthew got the first goal for his team in this game); because it was a Championship game it couldn't stay with a tie, so we went to the first Overtime. In the 1st OT, the teams play 4 on 4 (during regulation the teams play 5 on 5) for a 5 minute period. Matthew's team played hard & strong and got many chances to score, but the goalie for the opposing team just got in the way (LOL). In fact, both goalies continued to stop pucks from going in for both teams. After the 5 minute OT, the score was still tied 3-3...so we went to a 2nd OT. Not only was the excitement building, but you could see a lot of proud parent faces as all the kids played tough. This was the second game for both teams (they each had to wake up around 4 in the morning to play in the semis which started at 6:15am and this Championship game was at 11:30...so not a lot of time in between for rest).

For the 2nd OT, the teams only had 3 players out for a 3 on 3. Matthew was out and had 2 awesome breakaway chances, but just couldn't get the puck around the goalie...and just when he was going to the bench to allow another teammate go out for a shift, the other team had the puck...skated around our defense...and scored. In the last 53.7 seconds of the 2nd OT, the other team scored and won 4-3.  It was a heartbreaker for our boys. DH and I could tell that there were tears in Matthew's eyes. We knew that he would be upset about not being able to score during the OTs with his many breakaways.

During the ride home, we did let him feel his saddness, his anger...but after awhile, it was time to let him know how proud we were of him. Matthew played awesome for the whole tournament! He was consistent in the amount of energy, drive and passion for every game (in the past there were games that he was strong and then there were those games he would look like he was still at home in bed...but not this weekend). He really has stepped up to a new level in his hockey play and in a leadership role with the team. Yea, it would have been nice for him to have sunk one of those attempts during the OTs...yes, it would have been cool to be the "hero" of them game as Matthew said he wanted to be...but it didn't happen. He worked hard...the team worked hard...the game could have gone either way, but the other team won. Congratulation to the Santa Clara Blackhawks (the other team)...and congrats to the Tri-Valley Blue Devils - both teams played well and were great examples of what youth sports should be like!

The best way to get over a loss is to rake a pile of leaves and jump in!

(Matthew with Flat Lizzie - from cousin Lizzie in Minnesota)

Ok...proud momma done talking hockey! Now for a little update on MW. While I started MW on Saturday and stitched one thread's worth, I had a visit from Mr. Frog. My start was with 2 strands over 2 on a 40ct Lakeside Linen Maple Syrup. For a while I was enjoying the thickness of the design, but then it started to get a little complicated to see the holes and then the stitches just started to look "junky". I was getting that gut feeling that meant "I hate this project....this is not fun....I quit." So, Mr. Frog came...rip-it, rip-it, rip-it. I started over with 1 strand over 2 and the results are much better.

 So there is my 2nd MW start with 1 strand of Rhubarb over 2. Now I am on a roll, right?

Well, time to get going. Take care everyone and have a nice Monday and a good week. And Remember:

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often! Lisa

Don't forget to sign up for my Blogoversary Give-away...go to the bottom of the November 28th post to read about it and enter if you are interested in a $20 gift certificate to www.123stitch.com.

An apology...A Finish...An Weekend Hockey Update and a Blogoversary Giveaway

The title says it all, so let me start off with the apology! This goes out to Valerie of FogcityDweller...

"Valerie, my dear MW SAL partner, I didn't get a start on my MW as planned yesterday. I did spend Thursday evening, after our T-giving grilled meal, and got everything organized...just felt that I needed to get Sara's Friendship RR stitched so that I could get that in the mail in order to keep the RR's moving (as we are getting close to finishing it up)."

A Finish...Sara's Friendship RR
This week the mailperson delivered Sara's RR, and since many group members are getting antsy to finish this RR (as per "original" plan all the RR's should have been home by now).  I don't blame them, for I am anxious to get mine home and finished too (especially since I had to start over mid-way through) but life seems to get in the way of "orignial" plans most of the time. After getting all my MW supplies set up, I pulled out Sara's RR, picked my color and started to stitch my heart. I chose Threadworx Overdyed Floss #10342, which reminded me of the Fall colors on the trees outside right now (sorry about the blurry photo).

And here is the status of Sara's RR...

Now that it is completed I will be able to get it in the mail on Monday to the next person (Karen in AZ). Oh, yah...I have also finished stitching all the Christmas Ornaments for the couple of exchanges, but for some reason I have been fighting with my sewing machine during the finishing process...so I have taken a break from those; but will get back to them tomorrow evening probably (depending on what I need to do in preparation for back to school and work).

Weekend Hockey and Thanksgiving

As in some of my earlier posts, Thanksgiving holiday means hockey (the Regional Silver Sticks in San Jose, CA). Only Matthew's (youngest son) team is playing in this tournament. They have played 3 games as of this posting and have won all three. They have a game this evening and then probably the Semi-Finals & Champs (we hope) tomorrow. While most of the team families haven't been too keen on the schedule, due to having 3 very early morning games, it actually worked out nice for Thanksgiving. With a game at 8am, we were able to be back home for a noon Thanksgiving meal. Ours wasn't the traditional meal, for I each member of my family of 4 picked the protein of their choice out of the freezer (I had ordered a combo meat package from Omaha Steaks last month...pork steak, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, sole) and we fired up the grill. Aside from the proteins we had the mashed potatoes/gravy, Durst noodles, steamed green beans, mashed butternut squash and salad. Perfect size without any leftovers.

After awhile, with only us here in town, we have become grateful whenever we all are in town as we travel so much with both boys' travel hockey teams. It is a priceless moment when we can all sit down as a family at the table and have a meal - so even if we don't have a "traditional" turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, we have a wonderful Thanksgiving meal as a family. (Hopefully that all makes sense).

A Blogoversary Celebration and Giveaway

Happy Blog-o-versay to me...Happy Blog-o-versary to me!

Sorry, I just had to toot my own horn...LOL.

Today is my 1 year Blogoversary! Last October I found the blog community; spent a little over a month reading and commenting and finally on November 28, 2008 decided to start my own. Since then I have posted 179 times and have a following of 32 people. I have joined an RR with a group of wonderful women who I have come to know through their mailings and emailings. I have participated in the Year-Long Prairie Schooler Exchange and the Lizzie Kate Exchange, as well as several personal exchanges. I have met so many wonderful people by blogging and reading their blogs...now I cannot imagine my life without!

To celebrate and to show my appreciation, I have decided to host a Give-a-way....

And the Give-away prize is...

Drum Roll Please...

A $20 Gift Certificate to www.123stitch.com  

 To enter, just leave your name and email address in the comment section of this post only. If you want, you can spread the news, but it is not a requirement. I will let the sign ups go from now until Saturday, December 5. I will have one of my hockey playing sons pick the winner on Sunday, December 6 before they go to hockey practice.

Take care all...thank you for your support over the year and I am looking forward to our jouney together in the years to come!

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

And it is now Tuesday...

Thank you for the comments about the boys and the bummer outcome of the games...AND about my exchange piece. Stitcheranon brought up a good point about using negative reinforcement (referring to embarrassing the team by not allowing them to change out of their uniforms and having to parade through the rink and then through the hotel). While this might not have been the best way to handle this - especially when all the boys don't necessarily get equal ice time; not all the boys are disrespectful to the coaches; not all the boys have their heads in the clouds (or thinking about playing some computer game vs. the hockey game going on)...sitting the kids who weren't mentally present for the game and/or not listening to the coaches wasn't working, which is why I believe that the drastic measure was taken - "punish" the whole team. Personally, given the activities of the evening/post-punishment (which was a team meal at Famous Dave's BBQ) - I would have used the meat/cheese/bread we had in the coolers in the bus and made sandwiches for them to eat together in the lobby of the hotel and then sent them all straight to their rooms/to bed...I guess that is why I am not a coach.

I still don't have any stitching to show due to them all being either exchanges gifts of special projects - so I apologize for not being able to share anything like that. But I was able to get some stitching done yesterday while the boys were playing outside and my banana bread was in the oven.

We had a lot of banana's supplied for the hockey weekend (close to 20 pounds) - and even though the boys did eat a fair amount, there was still a lot left. I took home about 2 doz bananas. In that banana collection, there were about 8 bananas that were "good" bananas to eat, the rest were screaming to be made into banana bread. So I took out my big ol' mixer and whipped up 4 batches or 12 loaves. I kept 3 and was able to give out 7 at practice last night and I am hoping that DH will take the last few into work to share. I usually whip up banana bread once a month because we have a lot of bananas in our house hold as they are the recovery food for my boys for after their hockey practices/games. However whenever we have a few days w/o any hockey, sometimes they start to go bad and it becomes banana bread time. Here is the recipe if you are interested:

 Hockey Monkey Banana Bread

3 bananas mashed (about 2 cups)

1-1/2 cups of sugar 

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

1/4 cup of milk

dash of baking soda

dash of baking powder

1TBS cinnamon (I don't measure, just usually dump some in)

dash ginger

dash nutmeg

1-1/2 cup of flour

Directions: Mash bananas and set aside. Measure out flour, baking soda and baking powder and set aside. Mix everything else up in a big mixing bowl. Taking turns, add a portion of the bananas and mix gently...add a portion of the flour mixture and mix...add a portion of the bananas and mix...add a portion of flour and mix...add the remaining bananas and mix...add the last of the flour and mix. The key to this bread, as I have found out, is the adding the flour and bananas little at a time and not mixing much at that point. You want to make sure that it all gets mixed up, but you don't want to over beat the batter after all the flour is added. Put the dough in greased bread loaf pans and put in a 350 degree oven for about an hour.

Well, I should go and get a few things done around the house...like sit and stitch. So at this time I will leave you with this...

just for today I will notice things that I will be thankful for...

Like the early morning walks that DH and I take together.

Like having this week with my boys at home.

Like the community I have built here in California and the blogging community on-line

Be grateful simply for being alive.  When you are grateful for life, pure and simple, your life becomes one you can be grateful for.  That may strike you as circular or even backward logic, but your attitude really does have an effect on how things work out.  When you can’t change your life any other way, you can still change your attitude.  When you do, your life changes.  You find more chances to love, and you will be surprised to see how much more love is returned to you.

Bernie Siegel

 May your Tuesday be filled with much love and happiness and remember to...
Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often! Lisa

 

Home from LA and the Hockey Weekend...and a finish to share.

I am hope for the Hockey Weekend in LA. Going down there as  'team' on a bus wasn't too bad...just got a little long last night, when we were all ready to be home. Friday night, we stopped mid-way and pulled out all the food that was brought (bread, meats, cheeses, fruit, veggies, chips, cookies) and had a little picnic on a grassy area by a gas station/convenience store. It worked out really nice. We arrived into Long Beach (southern California) around 10:30 that evening (only making it a 6.5 hour trip...not bad at all). Along the way, we were treated to the basic adolenscent movies...Wedding Crashers, America Pie, etc. Definitely brought back memories of youth group retreats - and Porky's was considered the "bad" movie at the time.

Regarding the hockey games...well the boys didn't do so well. They got shut out (0-11 and 0-12) against one of the top Bantam AAA teams in the nation and lost the third game (3-2) against a team that they probably should have beat. After the 3-2 loss, the coaches were so upset at them and "embarassed", that they felt it was important for the kids to feel that shame. So right after the game, the boys were only allowed to take off their hockey skates and then, in full gear, marched out of the locker room with their bags and sticks...single file throught the hockey rink and right to the bus. Where they had to sit, in gear (gloves & helmet too) in silence until they reached the hotel. It was so quiet on that bus, that us parents were also quiet and felt like we were also being punished. Oh well...did they learn anything? I don't know - for that evening we took them all to dinner at Famous Dave's BBQ (which was a very nice meal) and then they played that 0-12 loss game on Sunday morning.

So that was the extent of the hockey weekend. I did try and take out several different stitching projects I had - one WIP and one new one...but the bus was so bumpy at times, that I decided that it wasn't worth "trying" to work on these, because I had the feeling that I was in the wrong holes the entire time...and I don't need any frog visits during Thanksgiving! So, I decided to work on my ornament exchanges this week when I was back and on less shaker ground! So Angela P and Heather...your ornaments are getting close to being done...I definitely will have them in the mail before December 1!!!

If you made it this far on this "boring" post, your reward is coming. Even though I haven't heard from my L*K 2nd Round exchange partner, I have received permission from the organizers to show what I stitched, finished, and sent...back on October 31. "Gather a Harvest of Love" on 32ct linen using the threads called for.

I did enjoy stitching and finishing it...I hope that it did arrive there and my partner does like it. I have no bad feelings what-so-ever - because I enjoy stitching and finishing...and I have signed up for Round 3 of L*K exchange too!

The boys are already off for the Thanksgiving week. We will probably do our grocery shopping today...for I just hate when the store gets crowded. And, as it is only day one we are already having some attitude issues...gotta love those boys. LOL.

Well...time to sign off. Hope everyone's weekend was good.

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

It is Friday...T minus 4 hours until I board the bus for LA

Friday is here...the rain storm is here...and in 2-1/2 hours I will go pick up Robert (older son) from school so that he can get into his Jr. Sharks "travel clothing" (they are required to wear a warm up suit and a Jr. Shark black polo when they travel to a game/tournament; which he will also wear all weekend) and then we will head down to San Jose Ice Rink to board the chartered bus. In the back will be the 20 hockey players and the front will contain the 2 coaches and 15 parents. We have organized a "potluck" sandwich/snack dinner which the kids will [hopefully] enjoy in route to Souther Cal. It should be interesting to see how 20 teenage boys create their own sandwiches as the bus is moving...but, at this point, once I board that bus, I plan to be "off duty!" My team manager responsibilites this weekend only consist of making sure that the scoresheets get our roster stitcker and I get my copy after the game is played...other wise I only plan on being a lazy parent


For the bus ride, I have brought the Christmas Ornament Exchanges I have been working on and then kitted up a couple of other tenative projects. The Ornament I am currently working on, I have been stitching 1 over 1 on a 28ct evenweave - so I am not sure if this is something I will be able to do on the bus. I have a little stitching light that attaches to my hoop/Q-snaps, which I just purchased because I knew that it would be dark on the way down tonight. If I can't stitch on the exchanges, I can pull out one of the kitted gifts projects to work on.


Well...just thought I would wish you all a happy weekend just incase I am not able to post anything over the weekend. Take care and remember:

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch...OFTEN!

Lisa

It is Thursday...the night off!

It is Thursday and this evening we have NOTHING to do! YaHoo! No hockey practice to organize carpools...or hockey practice to go to. And dinner is basically made - Matthew's class had their heritage feast (something that is tradition at the elementary schools around here right before Thanksgiving vacation) and I made Irish Stew. This was the ending to a Heritage Project that was started a couple of weeks ago, consisting of a Q&A session with a relative, a 5 paragraph paper using the Q&As, a recipe that signifies the heritage of the family member highlighted, the visual photo board (which I wrote about in the November 13th post)...and then the feast. My MIL was the family member who Matthew interviewed and she wrote that Irish Stew, which typically is made with lamb meat, was made with beef and fresh veggies from the farm yard when she was growing up.So, I got some stewing beef, carrots, potatoes, onions and some beef gravy and threw it all in a crockpot with a little water for some extra moisture. This morning, I took some out so that Robert (older son) could have some for dinner...and that was a good thing because Matthew's class really enjoyed it and it was all gone!

Well, it will be nice to have this night off! I am hoping to stitch a little, as it has been a couple of days...or I might just go to bed early.

Hope you all have a nice evening. Until tomorrow, remember...

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

It is Wednesday...where has the week gone?

Boy, has it been a busy week - and it is only Wednesday...or...e-gad, it is already Wednesday! DH has been very busy at work with early morning meeting and late night projects, so I have been heading up the hockey activities full time this week. In a "normal" week, he comes home and takes Matthew (younger son) to his practices on Monday and Wednesday and I just have to coordinate Robert's (older son) schedule. However this week, it is double time, which really wears me out. So my nice warm bed has a tendency to hold me captive in the mornings, not allowing me to get out and get in my morning spins on the bike. But I fought back today and got this ol' body out and on the bike at 5:45am...at least I will get in a partial work out.

Anyway, this is the last week of school for the boys and work for me until after Thanksgiving Vacation. Because they have all next week off, I took the week off too. But first, before I even think of Thanksgiving and next week...I have to get through this weekend first.

This weekend Robert (older son) and his hockey team are going down to LA to play 3 games against 2 of the teams who are in their "league". We are leaving on Friday afternoon...on a bus...with the 20 players on his team....and the 2 coaches...and 15 other parents. Typically it will take us about 5-6 hours in a car - I expect this bus ride to take at least 8 hours. We will not be at the hotel until midnight. Looking forward to sitting in a bus for 8 hours - being out numbered by teenage boys. They will play 2 games on Saturday and 1 game Sunday morning, when we will board the bus after that and head home. Looking at the weater forcast, which is playing in the background as I type this, we are expecting showers and wind...oh, boy!

Oh, ya...while I don't have any stitching to show yet because I am working on some exchanges, I thought I would share with you another blog: Flat Lizzie's Adventures in California. My niece in Minnesota, who is in 2nd grade, has read the book Flat Stanley and is doing the famous activity associated with this book. Just incase you aren't familiar with this...the class reads this book about a little boy who was flattened and climbs in an envelope, is mailed and goes all over the world. So, the kids have to create a "Flat Stanley" of themselves and send it to a friend or family member who lives outside their state. Those who receive this "Flat Stanley" are asked to teach about their family & state they live in by showing and writing about "Flat Stanley's" adventures. So, I decided to blog about "Flat Lizzie's" Adventures in California...as well as send some fun samples of California to my niece to share with her class (ex. Ghiridelli chocolates, sourdough bread, fresh lemons off our tree, etc.). Then, when all the "Flat Stanley's" arrive back in the classroom, the kids locate where each had an adventure. It is a fun project for both the class and the people who are involved in the adventure.

Well...got to go. Hope your week is going well. Remember...Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often! Lisa