Snow, again...

I am really disliking snow the older I get.

Last night I picked up the Royal Santa again. I am working on the present box at the top of the design. Another stitcher e-mailed me this link to the Nutcracker Santa and he is just wonderful. So now I don't know which one I want more, the Nutcracker or the Wreath Santa. I would be thrilled with either.

Of course, I'm not getting either. For about the same price, a little less actually, Brad and I are getting new interior doors for the house. Yay! What great Valentine's presents for each other! :) We're buying white 6 panel doors and getting them milled so the bevel and the cutouts for the hardware will all be completed. I am truly excited. Of course, I'll have to paint them and Brad will hang them but it's still great.

Madeline and Travis were playing hide and go seek yesterday. We have a small house and there are not many places to hide, especially when your sibling counts to ten as fast as they can and are running after you before you've had a chance to climb onto the washer [again]. Victoria, dear Victoria, slammed her door on her brothers hand this time. Brad took the door off the hinges and it will stay off until the new ones come. Her new handle will lock so she can read in peace without the smaller ones coming in to bother her. It's just going to be a button lock - she does need some quiet time without people underfoot and if that means a lock it's fine. I'd rather she was in her room hiding out reading than in the only other rooms that lock, the bathrooms.

This snow is going to kill my new bulbs.

When we first moved in the pine trees were big, but not THAT big. They've all really grown. Some of my full-sun areas are now part shade. I'm planning on expanding out the back beds again this spring as well as laying down some pavers on the side of the house. I also need to either replace the side fence or add taller posts so I can have a trellis at the top for the expanding clematis.

My parents are coming up for a quick visit over the weekend. In the meantime we have a visit to the childrens museum planned, parent homeschool meeting tonight, homeschool Valentine's party tomorrow, ballet, swimming, nothing on Thursday for the kids but I have guild that evening, and Friday we're to go ice skating with the homeschool group. Whoo! At some point in there (probably Thursday) I have a couple things for finishing and then I have to make some fabric car-headrest/DVD player covers for my dad so he can take them home with them. Very exciting.

The Everyday Table Topper quilt...

This is what sharp points *should* look like. :)



This is a Moda fabric collection, called "Tranquility", and the pattern is "The Everyday Table Topper" from Charmed and Dangerous.

I pieced and quilted this this evening and hand stitched the binding. Very fun! Right now it's displayed on an end table in the living room. I store some of my finished quilts folded up on the below shelf.

Victoria's room repainting...

I haven't had time to post this yet... Since we've been here in this house for five years it's been needing repainting / heavy touchups.

I repainted all the baseboards last month, earlier this year I repainted Madeline's room, and of course the constant touch-up on the main living area. I repainted Victoria's room earlier this month. I let Victoria pick the paint colors for her room (with a bit of guidance) and together we picked out a wallpaper border and new curtain for the window. It looks lovely, very grown up, and it's not baby pink any longer! The cross-stitch bunnies and flowers were in her old room.

First snow of winter...

It does make everything look lovely for a few hours.



Then the children get out there and you end up with lots of pathways, tumbledown snowmen, and strips of green grass. They enjoy it though! The roads on Monday were awful - very icy with people going to fast. I've really glad I have new tires on my van! The girls are still doing gymnastics and are enjoying it a lot.

I'm still here...

Winter has settled in over the Seattle area. Rain, rain, more rain. This has been a very wet summer, fall, and hey, winter is looking like a lot of rain!

I've been busy listing stuff on eBay:

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/burgundyelephant

There is a professional organizer in the area. She calls me when she has needlework to sell for her clients and usually I swing by and pick it up. This last batch, she had to deliver, as it wouldn't have fit in my van. So, some is listed and more is coming.

The children are doing very well, albeit Travis is coming down with something. He started sounding wheezy on Wednesday afternoon, that night wasn't the best, last night was pretty bad, so tonight will probably be terrible. The third night of croup is always the worst but then they get better. He's such a healthy child aside from RSV as a baby and the yearly croup.

Victoria is keeping up with her lessons and both girls have settled into ballet. Madeline has a new swim teacher and she's wonderful - hopefully she'll pass trout sometime this year! She's been in level three for over a year now.

I have gotten some stuff done around the house. I fixed the patch on the back wall and Brad hung the curtains. I bought a new hook rack for the red bathroom and Brad hung it. We don't have a towel rack in there now but we never used it - this way they can hang their robes and it will look nice. I also painted all the baseboards and touched up the paint but it already needs to be touched up again.

We've been listening to Alice in Wonderland and now Through the Looking Glass. We just finished Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. It was very cute and OH MY it actually taught Victoria why she shouldn't talk back. I was amazed, as that wasn't my intention behind reading the book! Victoria finished reading the Harry Potter series last night. She was thrilled and was laughing out loud at the ending. Up next for her "fun reading" is Madeline L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time series, which I'd picked up at Costco. I've been reading voraciously the last few weeks to get away from the weather. I read the Sookie Stackhouse Dead Until Dark series, Twilight and Breaking Dawn, a bunch of romance novels (whoo whoo) and am now reading The Root of Wild Madder, which is about the persian rug industry. There are rug dealers in downtown Seattle so after I finish that one I'm going to take Victoria down there and look at them closely now that I know more about them.

Yesterday we went to the Burke Museum at University of Washington. The girls had a great time and it was a lot of fun. Lots of homeschoolers there. Since Travis is ill he stayed home with Brad. The girls helped work on a button blanket and put together wildlife puzzles, aside from looking at all the exhibits.

I haven't been stitching lately - I need to finish my stocking and I have a few things that need finishing. Off I go!

Grand ideas...

This post could also be called “It’s on my list”. In an effort to keep organized (and stop forgetting stuff) I have a mid-sized spiral notebook with divided sections and an elastic band closure. This book is “my list”. I keep my calendar in Outlook, which transfers into my phone, so the list is to write stuff down that I need to do but not necessarily right this minute.

Any time someone says something like “Hey, you need to mow the lawn.” or “Wow, when are you going to have Diana clean the back glass door?” or “Did you schedule the kids for swimming yet?” or “Did you mail my car tab renewal?” I can simply say “It’s on my list.” This doesn’t mean it will get done that day, or that week, or in some cases, ever. BUT, I have written it down and released it from my mind and it now is something I can plan towards. (Thanks to Brad for all those helpful suggestions above, by the way.)

Occasionally I rewrite the list as items have been crossed off to keep it clear and focused. I did this last night. Some examples:

Finish spackle and paint back patch by door
Clean playroom. Repaint small bedrooms.
Look for girl’s choir for Victoria
Call insurance co and see if they mailed check
Mail Brad car emission and tag check
Check dates for ANG Milwaukee, plan route

You can see how important some and how some of them likely won’t be finished until we sell the house in oh, three years. Mainly repainting anything. What’s the point when it’s just going to end up covered in fresh chips and crayon scribbles?

Also in my book I keep a list of finishing as I receive it and when they want it back. This list changes fairly often but it helps to keep things there at a glance so I don’t miss people’s deadlines.

Lastly in my book is an ongoing list with little design scribbles for new needlework designs that I want to complete. All of my recent work has been for the Master Teacher Program so there will be quite the update to my website when I finish in three years! :-)

Today we’re off to pick marionberries. I picked 20 pounds of blueberries last week and hopefully will get lots of marionberries this week! Blackberries should be ready in another few weeks. Very exciting. After that I’m helping a neighbor plan out two new garden beds and also do some decluttering. Very exciting.