Snow day !!!!

Winter is here !!! We've been cold for some days now and I was not ready for it but the snow fell anyway !!! The kids were over the moon and ready very early to go outside to play in the snow. I have to admit I love to look at the snow but likemany people I hate driving ON the snow !!! ( No, I don't drive a convertible but the idea would be nice except in winter of course !!! )

Chuy took the kids to the park yesterday to have some snow fun and he brought those pictures to me. I still don't have snow boots and was stuck at home with my stitching ... Poor me !!!

The little hills in the wooded area are wonderful to slide.

Chuy doesn't know anything about camera settings and let it set on the beauty shot so here is my princess in a close up.

Nobody at the park meant free swing for Steb.

Another cute portrait of my baby ( he's going to turn 7 in march but still my sweet baby) .

Because I don't when the roads are covered with snow, a little cutie got to spend the day with his best friend today , aka: ME ! Lucky him !!! He can't resist snow ( he's been asking for snow since december actually ) so when Emma and Pierre were at school ( they went there walking) , he went outside to have more fun before it melt.

Like I had a free sunday afternoon, I made lots of progress in my autumn harvest. Honestly, I can't put it down and may end up neglecting my frontier in Pioneer trail ( I love that game ) I'm the kind of stitchers who is driven by the colors she uses. Also the Lanarte charts are so easy to read , it's a pleasure to grab my working copy and and stitch , stich the day away ...

Is it friday yet?

If you haven't entered my first Christmas giveaway yet, you should hurry up : it will end tomorrow at noon ( central time !!!). Enter here !

I haven't told you yet but you need to get your disco ball out of your closet because we have a happy dance !!!!!!!!!!!! I finished it a while ago actually: on friday night but haven't had time to show it to you because of my little sick people ... But here it is:

It was great to stitch like all the Lanartes ! It took me less than a month to stitch. Of course, it looks even better in real ! Now I have nothing left to stitch because I didn't have time to check what I could stitch next but I have a little idea : I hope I could show you tomorrow!

The reason why I didn't really stitch is there: two sick kids and one, Pierre, who got sicker than the other one. Because Pierre is in remission, he ended up having a blood test (which he didn't like at all even though he got more blood test in his life than most adult in their whole life.) The result was good but he was not better. I ended up being very very worry ... Only today he was able to go back to school but he told me he felt tired after a while. I tried to give him vitamins but he's so picky that it's hard to find the right drink to hide the taste of the vitamins. While he was sick, he took over the sofa and the other ones ( me included ) had to find another spot to watch TV or stitch ...

Look at how Blogger can be ironic: while Meari was fighting the snow in her driveway (and won the battle ) , Blogger thought it would be nice to match the word verifcation to her personal life:

Debi entered her dog to a Hallmark contest: please, help her to get this cute dog up on the votes ! I did already! Here is the cutie !!!

Thanks to everybody who have already entered the giveaway: I'm going to check the blogs of the persons who put the link on their blog ! I'm going to also prepare the names for the drawing so an innoncent hand can pick the winner !!! Please check your email tomorrow at the time the giveaway end so I can get your address and forward it to the company. Hope you get before Christmas !!!

Happy mail day - day two

I really have a happy mail week ! ( and I really enjoy it !)

Missy had contacted me to let me know she still had some leftover threads and she had decided to offer them to me for my birthday and she even added the Just Cross Stitch ornament issue. Of course, I was very excited to open the envelope and was very happy to see the goodies inside !!! Thank you very much Missy !!! I really love it and am so happy to have the magazine !!!

Another yellow envelope made its way to my house. Sharon sent me this nicely wrapped goody:

My missing thread for my Pansy! (I think that means I have to finish her now, right? ... ) Thank you very much Sharon !!! (you still need to answer my mail for the last details )

I also got this half kit (fabric is missing) from England. The seller wanted to overcharge me (again ... ) but I manage to have her reduce the postage ! I understand some sellers are very unhappy with the price od the sale on ebay but I think it's not fair to be overcharge ! It's a real beautiful design: Emma loves it !!!

Today, we went downtown to have my stitches remove ( it went smoothly , no face sprayed today !!! I think I may have a little scar but I can't really see myself the side of my face. )

We took advantage of being downtown to do a little shopping and look what I found, all because of Petra !!!

Look at this bag:

Which Santa do you prefer? Of course, we like the Texan one !!!

I managed to add two designs to my stitching last night: two feathers. I still have one feather lesft and a flower then finished one part of the blue frame. ( and check the back stitches I did not stitch yet. )

And remember during this holiday season, stay zen !!!

Playmobil brainteaser

It's been a tradition in our family to have a Playmobil advent calendar every year to countdown the days left until Christmas. This year, Grand'ma was late in buying the calendar so I got it only on monday night. We chose the police theme calendar because Playmobil didn't have a new Christmas calendar this year. I prefer the Christmas calendar but I didn't want the same one as last year.

I thought the assembling would be the same: boxes to attach to the large board. Wrong! They changed their system, probably to save some money because it was NOT easier for us to assembly the whole thing ...

This is how it is when you open the box: Nothing unusual at first.

Then the little nightmare starts: You see, this big cardboard is supposed to actually fit into the box ! And you can see, the box is much smaller than the cardboard ...

It took us (yes, we were two ... ) a while to figure out how it could fit ... Then a sudden light bulb lit up above my empty head and I got it !!! You are supposed to fold the board... It was NOT shown in the instructions booklet ( it would have been too easy I guess ... )

We thought the most difficult part was behind us and for the next step, we had a drawing in the booklet to show us how to do ! It could only go very fast from there ... WRONG !

This is the picture:

This is the cardboard: we knew we had to cut somewhere BUT when scissors are involved, you know you want to be sure of yourself because you won't have a second chance ...

It took us some brainstorming before another lightbulb lit again !!!

And tadaa: it fit ( that's when you are relieved you won't have to play with your tape to fix the mess you made ! )

Finished:

I really don't like their new system because they put tiny pieces in some cases and they could be hard to get. I also think the kids had more fun to grab each individual boxes and open them like little presents.

We also build the scene:

Esteban loves it: there is a jail on the side, in the police station.

Now that we know their new system, I do think you can spend less time than before assembling the whole calendar but I really think they should review and change their booklet. It was NOT clear at all ...

I have a happy mail week this week ( I'll show you more tomorrow):

I had won a giveaway on Petra's blog and it arrived in a fat envelope (that's the only time you enjoy fat !!!) :

Not only, the Christmas book was there and really beautiful ( full of amazing pictures of Christmas cookies ! Of course, I was hungry after checking the book ... ) She also added three notebooks for the kids ( that got stollen by a 9 yo girl ... ) Thank you very much Petra: I the book !

I got my first guest at my free bird restaurant today and I managed to take a picture from my living room. Enlarge if you want to see what kind of bird it is. I also saw two robins today.

Actually, they look a lot like the birds on my Lanarte!!! I finished to stitch the nest and one flower close to it. I think I still have two feathers and a flower left.