Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Long time, no post!

But I'm here, my mum has gone back to Australia, the kids have gone back to school and things are slowly getting back to normal! After a little slump (which seems to be becoming a tradition!) I'm also stitching again - yay! Not quite on my usual regular basis but I'm getting there :)

I had a great visit with mum - despite the loads of shopping we did I think she has gone back relaxed and well rested, with promises to come back again soon!

My fingers are almost back to normal but unfortunately the ganglion cyst has come back. It is not bothering me so I am just going to leave it.

I had a lovely little surprise in the mail recently - I received the most wonderful scissor fob from Carol for my birthday! She stitched the centre square of Chatelaine's Medieval Town Mandala for me - I love it! I was gifted a new pair of embroidery scissors from a friend here so my new fob has found a home already :) I haven't been able to take a decent photo of them this morning to show you but Carol has a lovely pic of the fob on her blog. You may need to scroll down a few entries though!

Caitlin had a bike on her Christmas/birthday list last year and unfortunately Santa nor the Birthday Fairy had room in their sacks to bring her one, and of course, we haven't heard the end of it - lol!! So, last Friday we all jumped in the truck and headed down to the bike shop. Let's just say it proved to be a rather expensive afternoon out!!! All four of us came away with new bikes plus helmets, head lamps, tail lights, a lock and a pump!! It took two trips to bring all four home (we could only fit two in at a time) - thankfully the bike shop wasn't that far away.

While the kids and I were riding around the neighbourhood trying them out, Ken decided to become Tim the Toolman and build a bike shelter :). A very good job he did of it too. The bikes definitely need some sort of protection, particularly during the summer months.

This is the time of year to be out riding and walking - by April it will be starting to get too hot - so on Sunday the kids and I rode to and from school and have every day this week ... well, except for today!

When I went downstairs this morning at some ungodly hour to go and walk the dog, I discovered it had just started to rain! We had been having some lovely sunny days recently so it was a bit surprising. Consequently the dog didn't get her walk and I drove the kids to school instead of biking! It also happened to be the rescheduled Sports Day for the lower Elementary School today as well - the original one scheduled for December had to be cancelled because of rain!! What a disappointment for the kids. The upper Elementary School's Sports Day is scheduled for tomorrow - hopefully the rain will have passed and it will be able to go ahead as planned. Maybe the little ones who missed out today could join in some of the activities tomorrow.

Because it is such a wet and dreary day I decided to stay in and stitch :) I wasn't really in the mood for over one stitching so I took my current HAED project off my floorstand and went rummaging through my WIPs in search of Drawn Thread's An Open Heart. I didn't find it (must be in a cupboard upstairs) but I did come across my Lanarte Arabian Woman and Night WIPs :)



I decided on Arabian Woman - it would be nice to have her finished and framed and on a wall while I'm still living in the Middle East - lol!!! I must say it feels rather weird stitching over two again - the stitches are HUGE - lol!!

I can't remember when I started this - probably just before we left Australia to move here - so roughly 18 months ago.

This is how much I stitched before packing it away in the moving box ...


Let's see how far I get before my over one stitching starts calling me again :)

Monday, January 01, 2007

Happy New Year!

Sorry I've been remiss in posting - it was my birthday a couple of days ago (one of those ones ending with a zero) and as a birthday surprise my dearest husband organised for my mum to visit! I had no idea until I was woken by everyone singing Happy Birthday at 6.40am. I hadn't even heard Ken leave for the airport!

Mum is only here for a week so we are making the most of our time with her. One of my birthday gifts was a spa treatment for both mum and I which we had today. It was wonderful and certainly something my mum needed. She's been having a time of it with my step-dad and his health in recent months and was in desperate need for a break away.

Anyway, may 2007 bring you all peace, health and happiness!