Happy blogoversary to me !!!!!!!!

Yep, someone just turned 2 today !!!! It all started on january 24 th 2007. I always wanted to start a cross stitch diary (even before I knew the blogs existed). It started here. The first person who stopped to leave me a comment was Ana ( I think she never came back though ) . Esteban was a baby : here. My first finished piece on this blog was my Winnie and Lumpy. So it's been two years since I started to share my life with you. I really enjoy writing almost everyday.

Blogs are a great way to make friends online everywhere in the world. You now have became a part of my daily life. I sometimes think of you at different moments of my life. For instance, if I see something about Frank Sinatra, I think about Kendra, snow makes me think (and grin) about Meari. Disneyland? Debbi ! Lanarte? Marie! Holland? Barbara! Weight loss? Dani! Exercise? Faith Ann! Panda? tkdquintmom! and I could go on and on

So, two years. I thought: should I do a giveaway or not? I love giveaways. I think they are fun for the one who does it and the ones who enter. So yes, I'm going to do one but I'm going to open it ONLY to the persons who have commented in the past (my first giveaway not included). Why? Because I want to thank you all. Thank you for bearing with me, thank you for supporting me when I feel down, thank you for cheering me up when I need it the most, thank you for being my friend wherever you are in the world. I really appreciate each of your comments, probably more than you think. I know you all have a busy life and it makes me happy when you stop by to drop me a line. Sometimes, I think "what for? " and then I read your comments and I think my blog and life may interest you and I come back blogging about my stitching and my boring life. I really want this gift to go to someone who really appreciate my blog (and maybe me ?) If I could I'll send a gift to everybody but I can't so please, enter my giveaway if you want to win a gift chosen by me. You have until tuesday to enter !!!

Thanks for letting me know I was not the only one who got divorced without any warnings. Yvonne wrote me I should ask for some kind of support. She's right: we should ALL get stash support (our emotional schock deserves that, right? ) !!! Sandrine was sweet enough to adopt me yesterday so I'm back to 49 followers, isn't she sweet? She is going to have a Mme la Fée SAL in march so I'll give you the link to her blog soon for all the Mme la fée fans around here.

Another petal is coming to life:

Thank again for taking the time to stop by and don't forget to enter my giveaway !!!

Someone divorced me

and I don't even know who . I had 49 followers yesterday morning and when I checked in the afternoon, I was down to 48. So who divorced me while I was eating?

Thanks for your comment on exercising and weight loss. I know I'm going for a long haul and the main goal is to be heathly and not so much to loose weight (but it will be great if I can fit in my pre pregnancy jeans )

Pierre came back from school with a fever. He was cold and he threw himself on the couch with a blanket as soon as he was home. I guess he got Emma's virus. He's going to skip sport tomorrow( oh, too bad: we're going to miss school on saturday ).

Talking about tomorrow: my brother and his family are coming tomorrow. I'm going to see my niece and nephew and Emma is very excited !!!!

Chasing the sales is fun but the sales are not great this year even though they said on TV there will be a lot of 70 to 80 %. Yeah, well I saw a lot of 30 to 50 % so it's rather disapointing. Sales finishes on febuary 10 th so I don't expect any new great sales ... Among the great sale, I found another pair of converse and this time, I got them for 75 % off !!! And I also got Emma the roller blades she really really wanted !!! Here is a pic of her joy:

And here the important pic of the day (I am now working on the orange petals.) :

I have a migraine so I'm going to try to stitch and relax watching Bones on TV ... or I may sleep early !!!

Wednesday in january !

Thanks for your comments and advices about my non weight loss. You are so nice to support me when I feel like a failure . I'll keep doing it anyway. I just need to tell myself I'm doing something good for my health. I didn't exercise on monday because my shoulder was still painful and yesterday I was out of the house all day long. I went chasing the sales so I walked a lot (I'll take that as an exercise, right? ) But today, I was a good girl and did a proper exercise. I cheated on Denise Austin , who was so proud of me, with Leslie Sansone who keeps telling me I will never regret exercising (she's right, I think) !!! I love her DVD: it's very easy to follow! I'll weight myself again in two weeks I guess. I'm afraid to be disappointed again with almost no weight loss ... I'm going to keep focussing on my measurement tough Will you believe that today I was able to do 20 push-ups : not the real ones, the ones with the knees but still: it's hard to believe !!!

Here is a new pics of my fuchsia; not the greatest picture but you'll see I'm still working on those pink/purple petals - click to enlarge.

Thanks again for stopping by!!!

It's all about willpower !!!

What a huge disappointment this morning when I weighted myself: after two weeks of exercising, I lost only one pound ! ( 500gr) Two weeks of effort for a single pound (a little pound ...) I don't know if I should find some relief by eating chocolate or if I should just trash my scale ??? I did loose half a centimeter around each of my thighs and one centimeter and a half around my hip. (my waist thought it will be a great idea to stay exactly the same as two weeks ago ) I started my new exercise video: walk awxay the pounds with the belt (still haven't find the other one - had to order a new one ... ) Well, I think I hurt my shoulder with the belt and one of my knee is not cooperating very well either ... I hope it won't last too long as I don't want to quit exercising. I don't know when the motivation will come back if I quit just now ... It seems I'm motivated but my body is not ... yet? Anyway, let's try to stay positive: I like the way my upper arms feel and you should squeeze my butt: it's definitely firmer

Thanks for your new nice messages during the week end. Steb and Emma are doing much better. About Steb's future surgery. I've been living day by day for five years now (since Pierre gor sick) and I don't think it is a good thing ... I know Steb's surgery is not a serious one and that he needs it for his future. It's just that it is hard for me now to think we have to go through another hospital stay. I understand it is hard to understand as we went through a lot of things for Pierre. Maybe that's why it is so hard. It's hard to explain ...

I made good progress on my fuchsia. I probably stitched all the stitches on 2 over 2 and left AGAIN the 1/2 for the last ... After I'm done with this pink tones, I'll move on to orange ones. And you won't be surprised that I'm keeping the "fun" green for the end ... (imagine the fun : green thread on one over two - better eat some chocolate first )

My first interview !

I saw that one on Cathy's blog so I asked her to go ahead and interview me! I'll be very happy to interview you as well !!! Should be fun, don't you think so?

1. If you want to participate, leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.” (And your e-mail address if I don't already have it, please.)

2. I will respond by e-mailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

So here we go:

1. What is your favorite thing about each of your children?

Pierre: You all know each of my three kids have some sort of medical problems but Pierre got the worst package so he's really special to us as he already survived two serious illnesses. Pierre is also the one who has the most difficult character of the three so it's often a challenge to handle him as we need to be firm without stressing him too much ( so hard to do ...) What I like about him is that he knows how to say sorry when he did something wrong.

Emma: she's a sweet little girl who loves learning new things, who has started to compose some music. She's always in a good mood and she's a real sunshine for the whole family.

Steb: He's funny boy, a little stubborn, very calm. He has a love for chocolate. He goes to brush his teeth by himself (without us asking, begging) and prepare Pierre and Emma's tooth brushes.

2. Where was your favorite place to live and why?

My favorite place to live? Maybe Santa Fe in New Mexico (USA). I lived there for a year and met Chuy over there. I especially love the mountains: the tree colors were so amazing during the fall season. They also had the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. I love travelling anyway and would love to travel around the world !!!

3. If you had a day all to yourself and money was not an option, what would you do, and who would you include (if anyone)?

I think I will go to the spa for a whole day of pampering with one of my friends. I'm sure we'll have a great day laughing !!! But that's just a dream as money is an option

4. Who is your favorite Author and what is your favorite book (they don't have to be related)?

That's a tough one as I have to choose between reading and stitching and I haven't read for a long time ... One of my favorite author is still a french writer: Emile Zola (19 th century). I don't have a favorite book but I like the 19 th century in literature.

5. Are you ticklish?

Don't even think about it !!!

Last night I slept really really bad. Actualy I fell asleep at 4 am I think I was stressed out with what happened to Steb at school and was worried because we had to wake him up every three hours. Chuy was not working today so he took care of the kids on the morning and I slept until 10.30 ! It took a while for me to feel awake. In the afternoon, Emma asked me if I will exercise: I fell like a slug so I prefered to sit in my couch and stitch (something I almost never do in the afternoon as I feel guilty to not do something house related ... )

I almost forgot to go and pick Pierre up from school ... oops ( I was really concentrating on my stitching ....) Chuy woke up from his nap and said it was aleardy 4.30 pm. We rushed to the school and when we came back I noticed Steb was running a fever. I think he gor Emma's virus (his tummy hurts too). He's like me: he can run a fever and we don't really notice it because the fever doesn't affect him too much. Here are my sick babies: the girl feeling soooooooooooo cold and the boy recovering from the stitching session playing the Nintendo DS.

Thanks a lot for your kind words about Steb's trip to the ER. I did it good there (understand I didn't cry, not like I did when Pierre went to the ER last april) but I still don't know how I will be able to schedule his surgery when he will turn 5. If someone knows how I could prepare myself for that, let me know.

My fuchsia are growing steadily: