Long Time, No Blog...Again

Well its been a long time again since I blogged about anything, since I feel like I spend all my time in the car running here and there! So I'm going to start with a quick update on my life and stitching.

Life

DD's homeschooling is coming along well, and she is staying relatively up-to-date! However as a Jr. High student, she is desiring to be involved with everything! Her volleyball is going well and after last night's wins, her team is in contention for first place! Volleyball is a 4 day a week commitment through the end of October, so this is the majority of my running right now. Her choir class is also going well, and she is enjoying it too. I look forward to the end of volleyball season so she can attend all of her choir classes! Girl Scouts are also keeping her busy, as is her science co-op and student council through the co-op group! Fortunately science is on Fridays (our 1 non-busy day) and student council is only 1 Friday a month! She is thinking about trying to take on club volleyball after the regular season is over...she just now mentioned that one to me...ugh!

DS is bored to tears with 2nd grade, and I need to look into alternatives for him. I'm not sure I'm ready to homeschool him, due to the fact that I still have things I need to accomplish around here, before I am ready to take on that sort of time commitment, but I am starting to think that the local public school is not even a good temporary solution for him. I need to talk to DH about this before I make changes in his world though.

DH's job is still the same...long hours, no respect and no sign of improvements in sight. He has about 1 more year until he completes his MBA, and then hopefully he can find something better! I hope this year flies, since I'm getting tired of the junk that goes along with this job.

Stitching

I am still working on the wedding sampler for my BIL and his soon to be wife. Today, I am taking time off from housework, cub scouts etc...to work on this. I hope to have some real progress to show after today. The ornie for the ornament RR should be completed shortly, I just need to do the BS'ing and in order to do it properly, I want to look at the color photo (which I haven't carried with me when I've worked on it) to ensure I"m putting the cording in teh right spots only!

Other Thoughts (inspired by Annette's blog from September 15)

How big is your plate? My plate is too small, as it is limited by the number of hours in a day. I try to spend some time on kids, housework, DH and myself everyday. However the kids and housework seem to demand almost all of the plate. Then DH gets his sliver of the plate, and my time tends to get shoved off the edge, so it doesn't always happen. However, today, I am skipping housework, and cub scout demands as much as possible and taking time for my stitching. Of course, although this is me time, I will be working on obligation pieces that need to get completed, as deadlines are looming. I plan to post progress on the sampler tomorrow. I have quite a bit of it done, but need to get much further than I am right now! Wish me luck!

The Reasons for Being on The Wagon

Also known as the Vegas Stash Report! I promised to post this almost a month ago, but am still in denial regarding how much money I spent! Anyway I got:

From Stitcher's Paradise:

• Gingher scissors
• Scissors fob
• Stitch counter to match (one of my favorite tools)
• 3 packs of John James needles
• 7 pieces of fabric for the Ornament RR
• Charms and floss for the RR
• A VS heart kit for my Dimensions Trading Group July trade
• TW's The Minstrel
• TW's 12 Days of Christmas
• TW's Best of Christmas
• TW's Tea Scene
• TW's Celtic Knotwork Crosses
• TW's Holly and Ivy Sampler
• TW's Woodland Angel Stocking, fabric and specialty pack
• TW's Princess and the Dragon
• TW's Celestial Dragon
• TW's Floral Bellpull for my Mom (one of the few TW designs she'd even attempt
• TW's freebies (of course) The bookmark is kitted, and I hope Herald will get kitted (via gift certificate) for Christmas
• JCS 2003 Ornament Issue
• Legends of the Spellcasters
• Wee Beasties 5-7, the Dragonflies for DS the dragonfly fanatic
• Dragon Dreams Dani
• Sweetheart Tree's To Have and To Hold Bridal Sampler with specialty pack

All the TW's, of course are signed, poor Teresa, I wonder if she still has writers cramp dfrom that one!

From Julie Norton's class:

• I got the Scissors fob kit from class
• Plain and Simple Teadching Doily - kitted up
• A Cord Winder
• A pair of tweezers for Hardanger

From the gift bag exchange (I got Dagmar's bag):

• A small tote bag
• A hand towel
• Anchor floss
• A book of patterns for stitching on the towel

Once I get the wedding sampler I'm doing for my BIL done, I'm starting the towel Dagmar gave me, and my bookmark! I have been looking forward to these projects for a couple of weeks now, but have to get some obligation stuff done first! I also have to get cracking on that ornament, since the first mailing date is coming up. So if I don't blog for a few days, hopefully I'm stitching like crazy to get caught up to where I need to be!

Wagon Challenge

The Wagon is running a challenge from today until February 2005, and I am participating in it. Below is my pledge to stick to the challenge. Although I debated about making a couple of last minute commitments, such as the Secret Stitchers for this round, I managed to not do it. I do want to subscribe to the last two gemstone mysteries, and may try to con DH into buying them for me as an early Christmas present, at least the charts, the supplies I can get later, since I'm way behind on stitching the mysteries as well as everything else I have started. My primary reason for doing the challenge, is that I had already committed to abstinence after Vegas, and this is another way of supporting myself in achieving that commitment. I also thought it would be fun! So without further ado, here is my pledge!

I, Margaret, do solemnly promise, not to purchase anything between September 1, 2004 and February 2005. The exceptions to this promise are supplies needed for current WIPs ONLY, gifts and finishing of the wedding sampler that needs to be framed for a wedding on October 9. I do NOT promise to avoid starting anything new, as I have plenty of stash to start new projects, without purchasing anything. However, if it is a new start that requires more supplies, it must go into UFO status until the end of this challenge. I also pledge to support and encourage my fellow challengees in anyway that I can. This includes providing words of encouragement and participating in the games and challenges that are part of the challenge, or anything else that may be necessary to support other participants.

I will report monthly on how well I am doing with this challenge. I am looking forward to a fun way to stay on the Wagon and the games that Carleen has planned!