Life

I watched the trailer of sister keeper on Amazon and boy, that seems a tough movie ... I made the mistake to watch it with Emma next to me ... Big mistake : she asked : why are you crying mommy? Oh it's nothing Emma: your brother got leukemia and your baby brother stem's cells from his umbellical cord are stored in a blood bank just in case ... ( disclaimer: Steb is an happy accident which means we didn't plan on getting pregnant during Pierre's illness but it did happen ) I'd love to be able to see that movie because it's a very interesting topic but I will be able to watch it only if there is a happy ending ... Is there a happy ending? But even though it will be fine at the end, would I be strong enough to watch it without sobbing during the whole movie?

You remember my knee problem? Well, the doctor gave me an anti inflammatory medecine for the back of my knee that messed my stomach so I had to stop the medecine that was helping the pain behind my knee and now I had to get a medecine to heal my stomach ... I guess I now have to check which natural remedy I could take to help ... Do you know any?

I also took Emma to the doctor because the poor girl has a knee that cracks like an old chair ! We already went to the doc for the same reason and he had said, it will stop but it didn't and sometimes it hurts. She will have to have an X ray to see what's going on. A 9 years with a cracking knee is very weird ...

Chuy was expecting a package from one of his brother: it took two weeks to arrive ... (it's an important detail )

Oh a cereal box!

Nooo, I'm kidding. Look, there is a plastic bag inside : fresh (after 2 weeks?) chili peppers !!!

But what is under the bag? A tee shirt for a Texas deprived man ...

And some goodies for the kids:

But wait: who's missing? Who didn't get anything? Any idea? I'll say it's always the same person ...

Today, I went to spend the money that we patiently saved money for: the Wii ! We could have gotten it a long time ago but we chose to teach the kids patience. We decided to make them appreciate the gift, to show them that we don't always get what we want: sometimes we have to wait, sometimes we have to save money and sometimes we can't get what we want. If you are curious and want to see what we got for the whole family and what we got Emma, it's here !!! For obvious reasons (like a curious 9 yo) I couldn't add direct pictures to this post !!! She's going to be so excited by that gift !!! Oh! Our playing little device is in an unusual color ...

But maybe all you wanted to see was my stitching? Too late I know, it's always at the end of my post !!! I'm so predictible !!! I finished my three bird houses and now have started the frame: one bird is done.

See the detail:

Enjoy , it's friday !!! Have a great week end !!!

Wondering ...

Today, after uploading some pictures on my webshots photo album, I was wondering why some people downloaded like 12 pictures of my Pansy and Sweet Pea Work in Progress ... What do they do with them? Do they add them to their photo album and show my work as theirs? Do they try to make their own chart based on my WIP? This is a real mystery ...

I'm also wondering how people can raise little brat and be proud of them. Emma takes a tennis class every wednesdays and there is a little girl who's been a brat since day one. ( for an adult we would have used another word ) Every week, Emma tells me all about this child's behaviour : today hightlight? " No, I don't want to play with those useless players" For next week, I told Emma to tell her : if you are so good, why are you in the beginner class? I can picture very well the joy of her school teacher and the others students .... I'm glad the tennis teacher doesn't listen to her ...

Emma got her new violin today: she grew and needed the next violin size. It's a brand new violin ( we rent it at the music school) and the sound is much better ( thanks god !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ) but I'm wondering when she'll stop being excited and STOP playing right behind my ears to show me that violin sounds is SO much better ....

And now if you are wondering if I made some progress on my stitching ( even though I totally rocked again at bejeweled Blitz ) Here it is:

yes I did progress on my easy to stitch Lanarte !!! The last bird house is almost done and I'm going to continue with the frame which has three birds, a nest and some flowers. I don't think I'm going to stitch the name Marjolein Bastin under the bird houses: after all, she didn't stitch it !!! Just kidding !!!

Have a happy stitching day ( or evening ) !!!

Yes, I stitch !!!

The tittle is specially for Petra who thinks I don't stitch anymore because I rock at bejeweled Blitz : I got 284 800 today ; the players will appreciate the score !!! Petra:

I managed to get another good picture thanks to the rare rays of light we got this morning. As you can see, I did progress well and I'm still in love with my stitching.

I have a headache so I'm going to keep this entry short ! Keep stitching !!!

Fun !

Have you started your Christmas shopping? I did actually. I'm usually a more like a late shopper (who has to order her stuffs because her kids always want the most wanted toy of a the year ... ) I didn't go to any store: I just got a mail from my local Amazon that they had some sale and I got some toys for Steb for 50 % off !!! So I placed my order on tuesday and I got it this morning !!! Woohoo ! Love that company !!! Now, we'll need to remember where we hid the stuffs because it could end up like last year when we ( I ) lost Hannah Montana's wig for Emma ( that I had hidden in my fabrics bag ... ) What they really want for Christmas is the Wii and they are going to get it because we've been saving money since last juanuary! We are so lucky as the price went down just before Christmas !!! In my opinion, the Wii is still very expensive as you have to buy all these accessories which are not very cheap of course ...

I managed to take a good picture of my birdhouses: we had a nice sun in the morning, that didn't last unfortunately, but I think it's very close to what it looks like in real ! That project is so nice !!! I'm so happy to have chosen that one! I really think you will never be disapointed with a Lanarte.

I had to change my blog background because it simply disapeared one day ... I don't know why ... That one doesn't really suits me but I'm going to look for a Christmas one soon I also reduced the number of posts per page, I hope it's going to be easier for you to come to the blog. Please, tell me if you have any problem with my blog! Thanks !!!

Have a great week end

One done !

I finished one bird house last night. This one stiches so fast !!! The picture is not very good because I waited to take the photo and then the light was not good anymore. At least, you have an idea, right?

Are you ready for winter? We are trying to get ready by providing food for the birds. I hope to see some birds soon. Right now, they don't seem interested at all ...

Today we got a letter from one acquaintance (we can't really call him a friend). We met that couple four years ago. They are now divorcing and today, we got a letter from him asking us to sign a letter stating that he's a good father and not an abusing husband who scares his son like his wife accuse him ... We never know what really happen in a couple's life and we don't want to get involved and have to choose one side rather than another one ... Have you ever been involved in someone's divorce ? My mom helped one neighbor with whom she was friend and when they finally got divorced, she stopped talking to my mom ...

It's that time again

when I don't know if we should "celebrate" that date or not. Six years ago today, our world was turned upside down: Pierre was at the hospital with leukemia. I wrote about it last year: the story of a boy . You can click on the story of a boy if you are not familiar with his story. He finished his treatment in febuary 2006. It still feel like it was yesterday. I still get scared from time to time, especially if he gets weird bruises on his body or if he's more tired than usually. I do try rationality to explain why he's feeling tired or why he has bruises but my brain is not very friend with reationality. My brain best friend is fear and it's hard to control fear ... very hard. That's a date I can't forget and like he got sick during a holiday, it's even easier to remember ... but I don't need a special date to remember don't I ?

Even though he's fine now, he still struggles at school. This year, we also " celebrate" 10 years of speech therapy. Imagine 10 years ! I never imagined he will still go to speech therapy at 13 years old. He just finished some testing with the neuro psychologist in order to see if there are any progress with the therapy. It will take a while to get the results but she said she already saw some progress which is positive.

2004

2009

I am having lots of fun stitching my Lanarte !!! Why am I feeling I am making so much progress with it while I was stitching so slow on the banner?

I want to thank you for your birthday wishes and for having happily danced with me for my latest finish !!! You always make me smile !!! Thank you!

I did it again !

Yep, I finished my banner on saturday ! It's so nice to have another happy dance. It's not hard to have a happy dance so soon after the last one when you choose a small project AND when you don't correct your mistakes !!! So here it is:

Stitched on a 32 count blue Diamonds by Silkweaver. Too bad, I don't know how to finish it as a banner ...

So you may wonder (because we all know how curious you are !!! ), what's next ? I hesitated between three projects ( all Lanarte's) :

The kiss by Lanarte but that one is huge and I didn't want a big one this time.

The three bird houses: I like the hand dye fabric.

and Nesting box: I want to stitch that one but without the little birdies on the bottom. The only problem was the fabric: it's a linen and I hate linen. I didn't want to dig into my stash to find the right fabric (and yes there were lots of greens ... )

So what made me decide to stitch the three bird houses? My working copies were made a long time ago !!!

Here is the first pic of the first bird house I'm stitching on. As you can see, even though I ironed my fabric prior to stitch on it, we can still see the line in the middle ! If you know how to get rid of those lines, please let me know! Thanks !!! It's a Lanarte so it's a great pleasure to stitch !!! Large chart, barely any back stitches: after a Dimensions, it feels like heaven !!! And it makes me feel I stitch very fast as well.

On that picture, you can see the hand dye in the middle of the fabric.

Sunday was my birthday: I look terrible on the pictures so here is Emma bringing me my cake. I strawberry cake !!!

and the winner is .........

Once again we used the red bowl to serve as a bowl of destiny. Twenty six stitchers decided the last issue of the magazine de fil en aiguille was worth it and they decided to enter this giveaway. Emma was spending two days at a friend's so I had to find another innoncent hand and I pick: Steb!

So he tossed and tossed more (he could have gone for hours !!! ) He took his job very serioulsy !

Then I told him he needed to pick a paper (because I was ready to shoot a picture and also because I wanted to know where in the world the mag will go !!! ) And the innoncent boy picked ............

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K A R E N !

She doesn't have a blog but now, she has to start one so we can see the picture once she receives the magazine, right? !!! Karen is from Mexico and I'll remind you that's a half mexican boy who picked her so I wonder if there is not a secret connection between the two ??? ( Ahora dame tu direcion senorita )

I'm not done with my banner and I even added another mistake on the lower green leaf on the left ... oh well .. it's only the 5 th one ...

Halloween report

I hope you all had a great Halloween; ours went very well thanks to some good friends who came with us to celebrate it. One of Emma's friend stayed with us and she helped preparing the party. I had a total of 9 kids (one couldn't come). Unfortuntely, Halloween is less and less popular here but we decided to do it anyway because Pierre and Emma always celebrated it.

Of course, we decorated the house. Chuy put a bucket next to the bulb in order to have an orange atmosphere to the livivng room. I don't have lots of decorations to display but it was nice anyway.

We found the two garlands the morning of the party and Chuy put a giant spider web in the entrance .

A good friend greeted the guests:

We installed a new ring ( excuse the spider web - the maid had a week off! )

And we decorated the outside as well: I made the girls inflate the balloons . Our neighbors must have thought we are crazy but it was fun !!!

Then it was time to carve the pumpkin and I made my slaves the girls do it. As you can see on Emma's face: she enjoyed every minute of it !!! Her friend on the other end loved it !

Have you ever seen some bunny ears on a pumpkin?

Then I couldn't resist taking some pictures of my cuties outside:

And our guest arrived: we didn't mean to do it but all the costumes were a nice mix of black and orange. They were all very cute.

My friend did get a costume for herself and I took a picture of them on my stairs:

Then my neighbor ( you know the one who has a nice girlfriend ... ) was leaving and the kids rushed to his door to grab some candies:

Esteban did his own make-up: too cute !!!

We finally went trick or treating and the kids were very, I mean VERY excited !

I think I didn't feed those kids enough during snack time because they were so desesperate to have some candies ... We did get some odd stuffs: an old lady gave some coins (not enough for the 9 kids though) and a Hello kitty key chain ...

And a last picture with nine almost exhausted likds (why almost? because minutes later they were dancing in my living room ... )

And don't forget today is your last day to enter the giveaway !!!

Happy Halloween !!!

Don't forget that tomorrow is your last day to enter my giveaway for the french magazine! Enter here !!!

Here is my latest progress on my banner: I finished to stitch the two birdies at the bottom: I now have all the white and blue left and then I'll have to stitch the message inside the sign. I hope my mistake is not going to be a problem ... We'll see!!!

Tomorrow, I'll show you my Halloween pictures !!! Lots of fun !!!

it's time for ... a giveaway !!!!!!!!!!

As I promised you a while ago, here is the giveaway for the last issue of the magazine De Fil En Aiguille. You can see some pictures of the charts here. The rules are very simple: it's open to EVERYBODY, you have until sunday (my time) to enter and Emma will draw a name on Monday. Just enter your name on this post ONLY and please, add your email if your email is not linked to your blog or if you don't have a blog. You don't have to put a link on your blog but if you want to do it, feel free.

Good luck everybody !!!

Update !!!

On saturday, we celebrated Pierre and Chuy's birthdays (two october babies). Pierre turned 13 on october 7 th that makes him an official member of the teenager club. Already 13 yo ... Time flies ...

Steb was so happy when Pierre was opening his gifts. Mickey is not really apropriate for a 13 yo but I didn't have another wrapping paper. He got a MP3 player and now feels he belongs to the world !!! (then he took forever to figure out how to download some music to his player but this is a totally different story ... )

In this portrait, Pierre looks so grown up: I think that's what he could look like in some years from now. The kids are on vacations for a week and a half so we have to find some things to do. I bought two little clay items to paint. Emma got a little lady to paint and was very happy to paint it but almost at the end, the little lady fell off and broke. She was very disapointed and it was hard to stop her tears ...

Steb got a little car and he loved painting it (in blue and only in blue !!! )

So Halloween is around the corner and my kids are pretty excited. Emma decided it was time to have a Haloween snack time so she dressed the table all by herself (note that we don't have any table cloth yet: she used some of her blankets !) Will you believe I was crazy enough to invite some kids over for a Halloween party on saturday? ... I should have 9 kids (mine included ................... )

Mid october, we got our christmas toys catalogs. (this is soooooooo crazy) Pierre and Emma love to circle what they want so Steb had to do the same. He was so funny to watch.

I have three big mistakes in my stitching now but I won't frog it ... I only hope it won't be a problem when i'll have to stitch the Wecome message on the middle. Before my Facebook life, it would have been already finished ... I'm working on the second bird. The design is so cute but it's a Dimensions and those designs are often very pretty but a pain to stitch.

it's friday !!!

Yesterday I felt like it was already friday maybe because today was the last day before the kids are off from school for a week end a half. That also means I won't be doing my wednesday taxi chores for three weeks because we'll have a holiday on november 11 th (not a happy date for us but I'll take it !!! ) I love vacations !!!!

Yesterday I got a text message (yes, stores don't call you anymore, they text message you ... ) that our table was ready for pick up ! Great news as we were supposed to get it only on november 22 nd. Now I have two boxes in my living room. We checked the instructions sheets: four sheets, no words, funny pictograms (yes, I'll show you so we can share a good laugh !!!), should be lots of fun, right? Did I mention the assembling requires NO drill at all? Wonder if Chuy has noticed it yet ...

I'm still stitching on my banner but unfortunately, I made a mistake when I stitched the white frame. I don't know how I could made such a mistake but I did it and I'm not going to frog ! I think I can work around that mistake. I know the picture is not that great but the light was not the best today. I love the bow: backstitch make such a difference. I feel my progress is slow (I could blame all on jeweled Blitz on facebook ) but I noticed once again that I make slower progress on small pieces. You know how it is: you stitch 5 or 6 crosses and you have to change the color. That design is really pretty !!!

Have a great week end !!! Ours should be quiet (if nobody get kill during our assembling time ... ), we have two birthdays to celebrate though. Emma is at a friend house until sunday morning. Talking about Emma; we got her report card today: she's a straight A student !!! (but you know what I love the most about her? She actually does her homework willingly AND with a smile ! Priceless (if only Pierre could do the same ... )

New project

Our lastest project was to assemble ou armoire/wardrobe. Oh what the fun it is to assemble a piece of furniture with your spouse ... The joy of getting frustated, yelling at each others, getting arrested for attempting murder ( I swear: it was an accident : the screwdriver just flew to his head all by itself ... )

This is a before picture ( I didn't take a pic with the suitcases with our clothes inside: I want you keep a good image of myself !!! ) So here is the empty space:

And this is the kit we had. It felt like a Dimensions kit: lots of stuffs and us trying to figure out what was going to be with what...

Then we checked the manual: 26 pages: felt like a HAED chart suddendly ... And to make things easier (understand get the client crazy) , they decided to mix the instructions for the armoire with 2,3,4 or 5 doors ... So each time, you do something you have to make sure you are assembling what you bought and not another armoire ... ( that you didn't buy and could not complete anyway ... ) And of course, no a written words !!! That would be too easy: you have to guess looking at the pictograms ...

Here are two examples: First we had to put the rails for the drawers and literally guess where to put some screws ...

And I love that one:

Be careful caveman handyman, take your screwdriver, use your brain strenght BUT not a lot and please, please, put down the drill that is in your hand ! The engineers who create that manual know their customers: cavemen who are just waiting to play with their drills !!! Must be something with the sound ?

Of course, we made some mistakes like putting the rails the wrong way Could it be that the manual was not easy enough to understand ???

Anyway, the next day we realized our mistake

Look after some hours, we got some results !!! You may wonder: why an armoire? Easy: we don't have a walk in closet ( ) so we had to buy this armoire to store our clothes but look: you can also store your kids if they misbehave:

AND ... it also works for your husband !!! He bothers you? Store him in the armoire !!! ( perfect fit I shall say !!! )

We had another mistake that made my hubby quite happy deep down inside him.

One door had a problem: the little mechanism to close the door was not built the right way so someone had to use his drill special little toy !!!!

And miracle : tadaaaaaaaa

Assembling time : 2 days (we had to wait for the drawers glu to dry)

Yelling at each others: few

Nails broken : 2 (mine)

Happiness at the end: lots !!! I have an armoire !!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah !!!!!!!!!

Despite my facebook addiction, I do stitch a little bit (but less than before ... ) So I started a Dimensions banner that I find very cute. I have only the chart so I use a conversion to be able to use my DMC threads.

And here is my first progress picture: The birdie is so cute !!! (I'm stitching the backstitch along the way because they are lots of it ... )

Thanks for your warm response to my latest finish : you made my day ladies !!! And don't forget I'll have a giveaway very soon !!! So stay tuned !!!

It's getting cold so let's dance !!!!!!

You didn't think you'll have to get your disco ball out of your special closet so early, did you? Started on november 9 th 2008, I stitched on it everyday for 3 months then I gave up when the one over two light pink was almost all I had left to stitch ... Then I stitched other pieces (and finished them, yes I did ) and went back on the fucshia just recently then a miracle happened: I finished it in F I V E days. I know, I know what you think but I really couldn't get myself to pick up the needle and stitch on it ... Please, clik to enlarge

Details:


I decided that my floss had to be better organized because I used to keep my full set of DMC threads sorted by colors (because it's so beautiful that way ) but it's a pain each time you want to kit a new project )

So now, it looks like that: not so yummy, not beautiful anymore but it should make kitting a project much more easily !!!

I didn't stitch much those past days because I got addicted to a facebook game but that should change today !!!

Let's dance now !!! (it's really getting cold )