Short and Sweet

I had a great day today helping Kara again at her Pride of Dakota show. It was a bit slower today than yesterday, which was unfortunate for Kara, but it was fun "catching up" nonetheless. Thanks for giving me a reason to get out of the house this weekend Kara!

Because I was gone all day, I don't have too much to blog about. The kids and Scott seemed to have had a good day. They brought Kara and I a frappucino from Starbucks this afternoon, which was very thoughtful and tastey.

We have a busy week ahead. I finally sat down tonight to "study" my upcoming schedule of events and we have something going on every night of the week this week. Tomorrow Gage has his school Christmas concert, Tuesday is gymnastics for Emma and our monthly Cub Scout den meeting, Wednesday night is practice for the upcoming Christmas program at church, Thursday we have a Daisy Scout meeting and Friday will be our last swimming lessons of this session/year. Whew! That wears me out just thinking about it! I better get to bed so I can get some rest and get energized for the upcoming week!

The Incredible Hulk?

I spent the day downtown at the Civic Center with Kara, at her craft booth, at the Pride of Dakota Show. I enjoyed getting to "catch up" on things since she's been on vacation for the past week. They announced at the end of the show that there were over 5,000 people who attended! It was very busy most of the day and then kind of fizzled out towards the end, which is kind of how those things always go. Kara did pretty well and I'm anxious to help her out again tomorrow. I saw LOTS of people I knew and several from the school. I was surprised that they all seemed to know me, which I'm sure is because I've been working in the library.

The kids had a good day with Scott. Gage is completely shot. He even looks tired! We started reading bedtime stories at 6pm and I'm sure he was out like a light before 7p. Emma seemed way hyper when I got home and I don't know if it's because she really was, or if it was because I was away from her long enough today to actually see how she normally acts? Scott stopped by at the show after he dropped Gage and Emma off at a birthday party and brought us lunch. It's amazing how good chicken nuggets can taste! :-) He wanted to bring something better, but I told him it needed to be something fast, easy and not messy!

Tonight at the supper table Gage was whispering something to Scott. I have no idea why, but Gage has decided he wants to color his hair blue. He later changed his mind to green. Scott had told him that I would have to make that decision! Thanks Scott! I don't know if he has seen someone with their hair a funky color or what, but I think I may let him do it? I want him to always know he doesn't have to be afraid to ask us things like that, and to prevent him from going out on his own and choosing to do something stupid like that, but more permanent, like a nose-ring or something like that. I guess a nose-ring can be removed, but I just pray he never goes out and does that sort of thing without talking to us first. I think he'll realize after he dyes his hair a different color, that it's not quite as "glamorous" as he might think? Since school pictures have already been taken, I don't have to worry about that. I suppose I'll have to make up my mind, soon, if we should take a family picture this year or not. I certainly don't want him to have green hair for something like that! Here's a little glimpse of what he looks like in green!

This summer when we went to the zoo with Kara, while Emma and Jadyn were at Daisy Day Camp, she was showing me one of the color changing features she has on her camera and she turned Gage green because he wanted to look like the Incredible Hulk.

His hair has some green coloring as well. He's still pretty darned cute, green skin/hair or not! :-)

Grand Central Station

Apparently my prayers for good weather during my hour of Meals on Wheels deliveries wasn't loud enough? Just before I left, it started snowing like crazy and when I was on my way to the hospital to pick up the meals, it really started coming down. I was so nervous about the roads and getting the meals to everyone safely! I really think I stress out too much about these things. I think I had all of the meals delivered in an hour, so it wasn't too bad, but I did have a hard time finding 2 of the places. The frustrating part is that I've been to both of these places before, so you can imagine how difficult it was for me the first time!! I am guessing that Route 4 is the toughest route, which is the one I continue to get. I was the 2nd person to pick up coolers at the hospital and the last one to get them back. Hopefully Scott will be in town next Friday so he can help me out. Just as I delivered the last meal, it stopped snowing. Wouldn't you know it?

I went straight to the school after finishing the meal route and helped pack up the book fair. Sounds like it was a successful event! I know they got a nice check from me! :-)

The kids had swimming lessons late this afternoon and right after that, I took Gage to his friend's house for a playdate. He also got to eat supper with them so he was very excited about that. Emma was quite bummed, so we went to eat supper at McDonald's (her choice of course!). We came home and watched the Grinch until Gage came home. They both made it to bed around 8:30, so Scott will have fun with them tomorrow!

Tomorrow, and Sunday, I am going to help my friend, Kara, at her Pride of Dakota craft show. She makes such beautiful jewelry and I enjoy helping her out when I can. It will also be nice to get away from the house since Scott's been gone the past several days.

It's been like Grand Central Station here today. Tomorrow night is Scout Day with the Dakota Wizards and several kids from our Pack bought tickets. Last night the Cubmaster brought the tickets over, unannounced, to ask me if I wouldn't mind keeping them and having everyone come get them from me. Of course I told him I would. I made sure to ask him to send me an email of the list of who ordered what, and how many and the amount they owed for the tickets. He did send me that list, but I didn't receive the email they sent out to everyone telling them to come here to get the tickets. It would have been nice to know what everyone was told about when to pick them up at our house, so I could actually be here. One guy showed up at our house this morning, just before lunch, to pick up tickets and I had no idea who he was. I guess it was a good thing he had on his military uniform that had his name plastered on his chest! Anyway, we've had about 7 different people stopping to pick up their tickets and have about 7 more that need to! The game is tomorrow night, so I'm getting a little nervous about having so many yet in my possession. I guess we may end up going to the game afterall, if there are still tickets that haven't been picked up by tomorrow night!

I attempted to donate plasma this morning at Biolife, but they refused me because my pulse was too high. Hmmm..........I wonder if all the stress I'm under had anything to do with that? I hope they'll let me donate in the morning so I can get more money earned to pay off this big t.v. sitting in the living room!

Have a great weekend!

The Washington Post

There has been a guy from The Washington Post who has been contacting Scott quite frequently lately. He must be writing an article, and has been needing Scott's input. He called the house today and asked for Scott, and when I told him he was traveling for work, he asked if I was a "duck person". I said, "Uh, I guess maybe, by default?" He then started asking me where the ducks are coming from when they are migrating north, "Central America, and maybe California" he states. I said, "Well, yeah, I would guess some are coming from Central America, but I wasn't sure about California, but probably yes." Then he asked me what it looked like. I reply, "You mean when they are being hunted?" He says, "When they are migrating through, what do they look like?" I decided I better stop while I was ahead (although I probably wasn't) because I would sure hate for some idiotic quote to end up being published in The Washington Post, supposedly coming from Scott. I told him that he probably should talk to the expert on that! I told him he needed to call Scott's cell, which he said he already had and left a voicemail. I told him I would be sure to let Scott know he was trying to get in touch with him. I called Scott immediately to let him know this guy was trying to call him, and Scott figured he thought he was calling him at work? I'll bet he thinks that's one stupid person working for DU! LOL!

Tomorrow I am scheduled to deliver Meals on Wheels over the lunch hour. I know, I know! I said after my last experience ,that I would NEVER do that again! You know what they say, "Never say never!" I thought when I signed up that Scott would be in town and able to help me. I should know not to ever count on that! Anyway, pray with me that they haven't screwed up again and mailed me the wrong route/addresses. I have gone onto MapQuest and printed out all of the maps I need. I know 4 of the 6 addresses as this is the route I had last year when it got messed up. I will be delivering the same route next Friday as well. I only signed up for 2 days this time, because I figured if there was another mix-up, at least I would only have 2 terribly stressful days! I'm a bit hesitant now after last years' experience. I sure wish Emily was here to go with me again! Emily and the gang helped us deliver the meals after we had so much trouble that first day. It went much better with help! Thanks Em! I am also praying that the weather cooperates tomorrow!

Last night the kids stayed up until 8pm because Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was on at 7p. I wish those darned shows would come on earlier in the evening so we could watch them AND get the kids to bed on time. Gage was getting irritable Tuesday evening because they had stayed up until 8p the night before watching Shrek the Halls and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, so I'm expecting some crankiness later this afternoon!

This morning I got up early, and got the kids up early, so we could get ready and be at the school when the Pastries with Parents started, so we could eat our donuts quickly and get upstairs to help with the book fair. The kids were very excited that I said we could drive the car to school this morning! It was quite chilly and I had to take time out to shovel the driveway before we left. I think this was our first time to actually take the car to school? As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I gave Gage and Emma paper and pencils to go around and write down their "wish list". Emma's list was pretty darned cute. She had written several books down and there was someone else's handwriting on the paper, so she must have asked someone for help. She was very excited that she got to ride with Mrs. Sand, the school secretary at Corpus Christi, for 1 block as she was headed to work. I asked Mrs. Sand if she wouldn't mind taking Emma to school with her, since we were quite busy at the book fair. She was happy to do it and I was very appreciative! I sure am envious of all the families who have relatives that live close by who are able to help with things like that. I hope they realize how fortunate they are and don't take the help they get for granted. We are very fortunate to have so many great friends who are willing to help out when we need it, however. I don't ask for help very often, but when i do, I am SO THANKFUL to receive it!

Orthodontics

Today Gage had his 6-month follow-up appointment with Dr. Warford to see if he needs to get started on orthodontic care. The tooth he was concerned about not coming in, is, so that is a good thing! Gage has a crossbite that needs corrected. Isn't he so lucky to have gotten that from me! Thankfully he doesn't have the underbite to go along with it! To correct the crossbite, they will need to widen Gage's palate. They took impressions today and will be making an appliance (just like the one I had) to be placed in his mouth to widen his palate. With luck on our side, it is possible that he won't need to have anything else, like full-blown braces, until his teenage years, if at all. Unfortunately, it is still a chunk of change that I wish we didn't have to part with. The palate expander will be ready to be put in sometime in January, so thankfully the new flex year will be available to help make payments. Because my treatment was a "rapid palate expansion", and Gage's will be slow, over time, he will not end up with the gap I had, THANK GOODNESS! We are eventually going to have to do the same thing for Emma, so I guess we might as well get used to it.


If anyone is wanting to learn how to do the blanket stitch, I found a blog with directions on how to do it. They were very simple to follow, and I am nearly done stitching on Emma's stocking! I'm excited with the progress I am making! Now, if I can just keep it up!

Today after I took Gage back to school after his orthodontist appointment, I ran down to the mall to go to Hallmark and Target. I got a little bit of Christmas shopping done while I was there. When I was leaving Target, I was putting my cart back where they belong inside the store and just as I was taking my bags out of the cart, a lady was coming up to put her stuff into the cart. She hesitated a second and then asked me, "Did this cart cost you alot of money?" I replied, "Yes! It did!" She took her things and put them into a different cart. I thought that was pretty funny and had a nice chuckle as I was leaving the store. I wonder if the new cart cost her any more money than mine cost me? HA HA!

It just started snowing as I was on my way home from the mall, and within the hour, when it was time for me to go get Gage and Emma from school, it really picked up! When I was leaving the house, my neighbor Bonnie, asked me if I wanted a ride, as she was going to pick up Erik and Hallie. I didn't hesitate and jumped right in! By the time we got to the school it was snowing so hard that it was very low visibility. Unfortunately Bonnie had to stay and work at the book fair that's going on at the school, so we weren't able to bum a ride home with her. Let me tell you, it was a miserable walk home and driving today would have been a good idea! It was like the Little House on the Prairie blizzard all over again! At least I was dressed appropriately as far as wearing a parka and stocking hat. I wasn't very smart in the shoe department, however. I had my slip-on shoes on and they were full of snow by the time we got home. My feet were frozen and cramping because the snow clumped up and it was like I was walking on half a snowball! OUCH! I learned my lesson and you can bet that I will be wearing my snowboots tomorrow!

We have Pastries with Parents in the morning. Mrs. Schmidt, the librarian at Northridge, asked me if I wouldn't mind working during the book fair in the morning, as they have been shorthanded. I told her I would be happy to do it, so we plan to leave early in the morning, eat our donuts and then go upstairs to work the book fair. I am going to give Gage and Emma a pencil and paper and have them make a list of the books they would like. I'm sure they will have fun doing that. They were writing their lists for Santa after school today and Emma was really enjoying that. I assured her that Santa would NOT be getting all of the things she had listed. She seemed okay with that. The reason she got started on her list is because when I was at Target, I had picked up some of the items I needed for the giving tree at church, and this particular child asked for bubble bath. I bought 3 different bottles of fun bubble bath and a container of tablets that change the color of the water. Emma said she wanted to have them and I told her that they were for the giving tree at church and if she wanted some, she would have to write them down on her Christmas list. She promptly got herself a pencil and paper and copied the words down onto her list, along with all of the bubble baths that I had gotten. :-) So, I think she will enjoy doing that at the book fair tomorrow, since this will be her first time to get to check the books out! Hopefully it won't be too congested with people and they will be able to make their lists.

Christmas stocking

Several years ago (like around 13 years ago) my sister Kysa made me a Christmas stocking as my Christmas gift. I LOVED the stocking! So much, in fact, that I had to make one for Scott so we both had one. The name across the top is cross-stitched, and thankfully she still had the book that this pattern was in, so I was able to make Scott's just like mine.

How cute is this stocking? Thanks Kysa!

Here is a close up of the detail that she added to the cat.

Scott's stocking turned out pretty cute and I decided that one day I would make these stockings for my kids.

Apparently I didn't know how to do the blanket stitch when I did this stocking (or else I just figured this stitch would be easier). I believe when I made this stocking, I also cross-stitched Dustin's name, so he too, could have a stocking. I think I may have even cross-stitched Kysa's and Ted's names as well. I remember we had quite an assembly line of stockings being made. Did I cross-stitch all of those for you Kysa, or did you do it?

About 4 years later, Gage was born, and 9 months after that, Colton was born. They too, had to have stockings. I cross-stitched both Gage and Colton's names, as well as my other niece and nephew, Janey and Noah's names to make more stockings. Kysa and I again had an assembly line of stockings going. At this point, I decided that I should get several more ready, with the applique design fused on, so that I would be "ready" when I had another baby.

We made a few snowmen and a few Teddy Bears sitting in front of a Christmas tree, and I made a couple of angels as well.

Five years ago, when Emma was born, I decided I needed to get her stocking ready for her first Christmas. Well, several years had passed and I was no longer "in to cross-stitching", so it took ALOT of effort to get it started. I think I maybe had the "E" done, and that was as far as I had gotten. It's quite possible that I didn't get it started at all. It's amazing me at how much I am not remembering here! I do remember using a nylon stocking for Emma's first Christmas stocking. Nice. It sure fit alot of stuff in it though!

Another year passed and I was still needing to make Emma's stocking. Again, I did not get her name cross-stitched as I had planned. After that Christmas, it came up in casual conversation, with my friend Sherry, that I did not yet have Emma's stocking cross-stitched, and I also had not completed her birth announcement cross-stitch. I had made a big mistake when Colton was born, and had already "pre-made" a cross-stitch to have when I had another baby, but decided I should give it to Colton, since I had made cross-stitches for all of my other nieces and nephews (minus Ryan and Sara, as I was too young for that when they were born). I thought at the time, that I would have plenty of time to make another one. I didn't count on the fact that I was going to be burned out on cross-stitching and that when a baby is around, things like that don't get accomplished.

Anyway, I somehow talked Sherry in to seeing if her mother-in-law would finish Emma's birth announcement for me, and also finish her stocking letters. You don't know how excited I was when she said "Yes" and how much more excited I was when they were finished!! I am so grateful for her completing them, because they would still not be finished if she hadn't done them for me.

Okay, so that is 2 years ago. After about 1 year, I did finally get the cross-stitch framed and is hanging in Emma's room; however, I did not get the stocking finished. I decided that all of the "extras" that I made were too boyish, and I didn't like the fabric I used to make the angel's dress, so I wanted to make a new one. That year I ended up safety pinning Emma's name over my name on my stocking so she would have one. I refused to buy one, because I knew that if I did, I would never get the project completed.

Well, another year goes by, and Emma's name ended up safety pinned to my stocking again. Last year I was determined to get it done before Christmas, but all I had accomplished was buying the supplies to do it.

Last week, when we were putting up all of the Christmas decorations, I was reminded that Emma still has no Christmas stocking. This is going to be her 6th Christmas for Pete's sake! I decided the other day that I have no more excuses. Now that the kids are in school all day, I would use my free time to get this darned stocking made, especially now that Emma is old enough to know that she needs a stocking like the rest of us!

Yesterday I searched the internet for free applique patterns. I was excited with what I was finding, and I finally stumbled upon a very cute angel that I decided I was going to use for Emma's stocking. Yesterday afternoon I worked on getting the templates made and dug out a container of fabric to get the pattern cut out. I have such a hard time making decisions, it irritates me to death. Finally, today I finished picking out the fabric I wanted to use, and then cut out the front panel of the stocking. I wasn't sure I liked it, so I thought I would post it on my blog and ask your opinion.

I'm not sure I like the green fabric for the front panel of the stocking. What do you think? Is it too busy? I ended up ironing the pieces onto the stocking, because I just need to get the dumb thing finished, but now I'm wondering if I should go find some nice blue, Christmasy-type fabric, and cut out another angel. What do you think I should do? Keep this one, or find something different?

Here's a close-up of the angel pattern. Now, what I need to do is the blanket stitch around the different pieces, but I don't remember how to do that. Does anyone know how to do the blanket stitch? If so, can you give me some instructions? I plan to put a button right in the middle of the heart since all of the other stockings have buttons on them. I need to do something to the halo to make it actually look like a halo and not just wild, yellow hair! Maybe I could blanket stitch that in a metallic gold DMC floss to make it more halo-ey? I think black seed beads for the eyes would look cute too. Do you have any other ideas for embellishing? (Nothing too difficult, or it will end up not getting done AGAIN!)

Today when Emma came home from school, I had her stocking finished to this point and she is SO EXCITED! Out of the blue tonight she said, "Mom, thank you for making my angel stocking!" That made it all worth it! I just have to keep going on it and get it done before Christmas.

Maybe someday, when I am bored stiff, looking for something to do, when the kids are grown and out of the house, I will finish up the rest of those stockings for grandchildren? LOL!

Who would think I could make a post this long about a Christmas stocking? I'm quite sure my audience is snoring!

All over the place

This post is probably going to be all over the place.

First of all, I just think parents should really think about what they are naming their children and the ramifications that a name may play in their lives. Tonight when we were watching the news, they were announcing a fatal car crash here in North Dakota and because of this man's name, Scott and I burst out laughing. It's certainly not a laughing matter, but why in the world would you name your child Locke Smith? PLEASE! Think about it! I'm sure this man led a life of being teased because of his name.

Neither Gage or Emma mentioned anything today about having found their Christmas lists. I think they may have bought into my telling them it was just a list of ideas. (Well, until Christmas arrives and they open exactly what they read on the list!) Maybe they will have forgotten about that by then? I had some good suggestions given to me by Mom and Kara, about what to do about it, so I may go that direction with it if anything else comes up.

Tomorrow is Pastries with Parents at Emma's school. They have a book fair going on at school and each day this week, a group of kids gets to bring their parents to school to eat donuts and shop for books. They split the school up by the first letter of their last name, so Gage will be in the last group this week. I think since it's just the Kindergarteners at Corpus Christi, all of the kindergarten parents can come tomorrow. Unfortunately it will be Pastries with Parent tomorrow for Emma and Thursday for Gage because Scott will be out of town for work. He missed it last year too. Maybe he won't have to travel next year?

I spent the day at home doing laundry. I only left the house to take the kids to school and pick them up. I guess I should have gotten out today, because it's going to get colder all week and we'll be having some snow all week according to the weatherman. We were needing some more of that cold weather and snow! It will be nice and frigid for Kara to arrive back in town Friday after spending a week in Mexico.

Gage went to his special reading class at school today (I think it was his first time) and brought home a book about Helen Keller. He told the teacher that he was interested in her, so they looked for some Helen Keller books. What great timing, as I had Scott pick up 2 books at B&N last night "Who Is Helen Keller?" and "Who is Elvis Presley?" He's been asking for the Elvis Presley book for several weeks now, so decided we better get it before I forget. Hopefully he'll still want to read the Helen Keller book after he finishes this book he brought home today.

The kids are really getting excited about Christmas. Emma noticed right away this morning that there was a new present under the tree. She commented on it and I told her not to get too excited because it was for Grandma Pipi! I won't be putting many presents under the tree for them until closer to Christmas. Or at least I'll have to keep the number for each of them even. I remember going through all of the presents under the tree and separating them into piles and whoever had the most did a lot of bragging, and the one with the least did alot of whining. I suppose I will prevent alot of fights by keeping it even, or having none under the tree at all. It's also good leverage to have on them to make them behave. Isn't that terrible of me?