Friday Updates!

FOOTBALL:
Let's just start it off with saying :GEAUX TIGERS! Although it wasn't a very pretty game last night and we didn't exactly look like the #2 team in the country, we did shut out Mississippi State. Considering that the opener was a conference game, it's a pretty good way to start. But there is a lot of room for improvement and that is of course going to be the case when you have lost 4 major players, gained 3 new offensive coaches and a new quarterback.

CROSS STITCH PATTERN SALE:
If you love to cross stitch, like I do, you may want to check out www.heavenandearthdesigns.com. They are having a Labor Day sale thru Monday, 25% off all patterns. I have already indulged in purchasing some patterns myself. I did try to be good though realizing that Christmas is coming and I have presents to purchase!

HODGE PODGE:
Ok, so not much more to report. I will be posting another update on my current project, Amore, this weekend. I have actually gotten quite a bit done!

This weekned is going to be about resting, rejuvenating, and completing projects around the apartment. If I can't be where I want to be this weekend (Virginia) then I will do whatever I want, which is NOTHING! LOL!

Plus there is plenty of football to be watched and I need to keep an eye on the scores. All the girls from work, well, I guess that should be co-workers as we now have a male working with us, have set up a little football pool. No money was involved but the prize at the end is a lunch. Every one pays for the winner's lunch! That should be fun!

Look for the updates on my cross stitch projects coming this weekend!

First Tooth

I just had to share this picture. This is my cute niece Marly Grace, today, on her first day of First Grade. She lost her very first tooth today.

Oh, yeah, that's Parker, her brother, giving her "horns"! LOL!

Monday Hodge Podge

Summer TV:

Ok, I have to admit the selection of television shows worth watching this summer was sorely lacking! However, there was one show that I genuinely enjoyed watching every Sunday night. No, it wasn't the Girls Next Door! It was Army Wives. I don't know what it was about the show but I looked forward to it each and every week. Last night was the season finale. Of course, like any season finale it left you with a cliff hanger. But instead of the literal "big bang", it went out with you wondering if there was a "bang!" If you haven't watched the show, I highly suggest that you catch it on re-runs.

Cross Stitch:
Multi-projects. I've been noticing on more and more boards and forums that stitchers seem to have more than one project going at a time. I'm not quite sure how that would work. If I don't focus on one project at a time and finish it before starting a new one, I would think that it would never get done. It takes me long enough to do one, let alone two or three. If you have any thoughts or suggestions on how to handle this, please feel free to comment!

Another WIP:

This one is called In the Blue. It's a project I am working on for myself but have put to the side so that I can finish my Christmas presents up. If and when I finish it, it will the first project I have ever kept for myself!

Amore Storykeep

This is my first project from Heaven and Earth Designs! It is going to eventually be a bookmark for my friend Joy for Christmas. (No she doesn't read my blog! LOL) As soon as I am finished with this one I will start the second one for my other friend Celestine! Hopefully I will get them both done in time for Christmas!

BEAUTIFUL!

Or rather: HANDSOME!

Isn't my baby just so pretty? He spent the day at the groomer getting all spruced up! He's not too happy with me for sending him there as you can tell by his "pity me" look.

Christmas

I know. I'm insane. I've already started thinking about Christmas presents. Luckily it coincides with my hobby of cross stitching. I've become very involved in my cross stitching. I've discovered a very excellent source of patterns at Heaven and Earth Designs and I have recently discovered the world of hand dyed fabrics. I just purchased a fabric for a project that a friend asked me to do for her.

Back to Christmas. I am currently working on a bookmarker, or storykeep, from HAED for my friend Joy. The pattern design is Amore. I purchased this past weekend my 2nd storykeep of Iris Keeper. This one will be for Celestine. I am very confident that I will be able to get them completed in time for Christmas. That would be two Christmas presents completed!

Monday Blues

Today was definitely a Monday. It was not the way that one would want to start the beginning of one's work week. Hopefully things were so bad today that it can only get better.

Started the morning off by getting an email from a managing partner that there was a company meeting at 8:30 am. Quite early in the morning. Most people aren't even there. Those who are in the office file into the traning room to find out that the HR Manager had passed away this weekend. She was quite young, only 46 or 47, so this was extremely sad.

I was supposed to be getting 18 binders ready to be shipped in the afternoon for a board meeting in Texas on Thursday. Of course my boss had not yet given me final approval for the contents because he hadn't looked at it. Even though he had had a sample binder since last Wednesday. Stressful? Just a little bit.

Around 10:15 this morning the power went out in the office. Followed by the fire alarm going off. So we all grabbed our purses (yes, I work with all women in my department, we just left our boss, the man)and headed down the stairs. See, we work on the 9th floor. There are 10 in the building. Needless to say it was a long way down and we got stopped at the 5th floor. Come to find out, a transformer had blown and caught on fire. For some reason, this had triggered the fire alarm even though it wasn't anywhere near our building. So after wasting between 30 to 45 minutes, we were allowed back in.

The rest of my afternoon was spent making copies, putting binders together and packing the boxes to be shipped. In between that, two co-workers, who are sisters, found out that a cousin had passed away. It seemed as though the bad news just didn't stop coming!

Because I am so paranoid about whether or not the packages will get to the board meeting in time, I took the boxes my self to the shipping company. Come to find out, that the boxes we had used aren't suggested and that the tape we used isn't either. The customer service rep was nice enough though to say that she would tape it up herself in the back and took them. Thank goodness I had taken them myself!

I'm just hoping that the rest of the day is quiet. Hopefully the week can only get better!

What Book Got You Hooked?

I got this from Blog Happy, who got this from Dear Author.

Like Blog Happy, I've bolded the one's that I've read:

Nancy Drew by Carolyn Keene
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey
Go, Dog, Go! by P. D. Eastman
Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman
Curious George by Margret and H. A. Rey
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper and Loren Long
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Dick and Jane by William H. Elson
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
The Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
The Black Stallion by Walter Farley
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling
Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Hardy Boys by Franklin W. Dixon
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
The Baby-sitters Club by Ann M. Martin
Horton Hears A Who by Dr. Seuss
Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs
Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty MacDonald
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
The Bible
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary

Houston and new family

This weekend I took off for Houston. I hadn't been there since New Year's. It was a good visit. I brought Parker his birthday gifts. He will be five in a week and a half. I spent Friday afternoon playing Legos with him. He said he would have preferred we watch Nascar but since it wasn't on, playing Legos was the next best thing. LOL! My little man! How fast he is growing up!

Saturday we spent the day at Splashtown. We rode the waterslides, took a trip around the Lazy River, played in the wave pool and then went over to the kiddie area and played some more. It was a good day for water and sun! It actually did not rain! As can be seen by my very red face and back! But it felt good to be out there!

I came home Sunday. That was rough. The kids asked me to stay. To move over to Houston so that I could be closer. Their dad, my best friend, offered me a place to live and some assistance with bills while I tried to find a job. It is definitely something that I will have to consider!

My sister bought a new hamster today! My nephew, Louis. Why a hamster? I have no clue. She had one as a child but wasn't that attached to it. When I asked her why she got a pet, she said it was so she had something to look at and take care of. I told her I could have gotten her a video game for the computer that did the same thing! Anyway, here are some pictures of my new newphew and his comfy home: