Monday, March 24, 2008

Quick AND cute...



Quick cos it was all backstitch using only two colours; cute cos it's 3 little bears by Andree Langhorn, from Cross Stitcher Feb08 issue.

That's the designer that created both Bears on Balloons and the Dandelion Bear that I stitched last year. Stitched on 16ct aida band, in one day! Has to be a record for me, LOL

Easter finish

I realised that if I didn't get my act together I wouldn't have a finish for March. I've been stitching, but on my Challenge piece (Owl). It's just on half done now :)
So picked out a kit (Disney by Anchor) and made a deal with myself to start and finish it during the Easter break.
And waddya know? Here it is, finished!

Plus, thanks to a sewing day on Good Friday with BFF Sarah, Jess now has one new pair of trousers, a new pair of bike pants for gym and another pair altered to fit better.

Happy Easter everyone

Monday, March 17, 2008

4 x 4 Relay

I've been tagged by my dear blogging friend Floss, and here's the list:

Four movies I'd watch again (own nearly all of them now, so I do - often, LOL)
The Hunt for Red October
The Da Vinci Code
Fried Green Tomatoes
Baghdad Cafe




Four places I've lived (haven't been out of Auckland, how insular)
Mangere East
Pt Chevalier
Birkenhead
Onehunga


Four TV shows I watch:

Bones
Grand Design
Myth Busters
U Choose (on C4)




Four places I've been:
Phoenix, Arizona
Brisbane, Australia
York, England
Florence, Italy


Four things I love to eat:
chocolate
fresh sweetcorn on the cob
fresh cherries in season
my mum's home made pink iced buns that have raspberry in the middle

Four places I'd rather be:
here at home, but without the need to earn money...
somewhere in NZ other than Auckland
a Club Med type resort
New York, visiting my list mommy dearest (yahoo group 2much XS)

Four things to look forward to:
Easter! loooong weekend with chocolate, LOL
watching my girls growing up
paying off the mortgage one day
seeing what tomorrow's sunrise looks like (this morning's was pretty)




Four people to tag:
Aly - Kiwi Brodeuse
Sarah - a stitch in time
Rene - Rene la Frog's Ramblings
Rowyn - stitcher under a long white cloud

I'd tag some others, but they don't blog.

:)

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Thinking about next year already...

WTF, why? I hear you ask.
Well, where we live there are 3 ok primary schools within walking distance. However, there are no intermediates or high schools. The schools we are in zone for require a bus ride. One could walk to them, but a new harbour crossing of some description is in the near future and pre-construction work has already started making the walk a tad iffy. And would take well over an hour. Not that the bus ride will be any quicker given Auckland's traffic woes, and said harbour crossing is one of the bottlenecks (hence the new one in the works).
Anyhoo, given that attending intermediate/ high school will require travel of some sort and that Jess does NOT want to see half the kids from her year ever again, we are investigating schools other than those we are in zone for. Some of these schools are processing their enrolments for 2009 over the next 4-5 weeks - hence our needing to think about next year already as this is Jess' last year at primary school.
So we attended one open day today, and there's another next Wednesday. We'll apply to both schools, and then wait and see. If they turn us down, then the next two schools on the list tend to process their enrolments late in Term 2, leaving time (should that fail) to enrol at the in zone school late in Term 3.
I have no real preference for any of the four. The first two are good schools in not so convenient locations but are Y7-13, requiring no change of school at Y9 as with the second two. The second two are good schools in relatively convenient locations (one is near gym, the other near ballet). Jess knows girls already at 3 of the four schools so is comfortable either way.
Ultimate result?
Really big after-school activity logistics juggling next January when having two girls at two completely disparate locations kicks in...

Monday, March 3, 2008

Let the torture begin....

Jess came home with her copy of the music for her L4 floor routine (they get a choice of 3). I'm going to have to learn to tune it out as, bless her, she does a run through every morning of both her floor and her beam routine for this year's comps.
She's had some real confidence issues over the last year, but she's stuck it out and is actually starting to look forward to mid-May and the first comp of the 2008 season. I just hope she makes it onto a team as TriStar have 16 (!) L4s this season - up from 5 during last year. Jess didn't compete in the end last year for a myriad of reasons (loong story, don't ask).
I think I might have to borrow a pair of DH's ear plugs....

Saturday, March 1, 2008

1st Anniversary

It is March 2008, and looking back, I see that I started this blog in March 2007.

A year, wow.

I've learned a l0t, done some stitching along the way and have a set of blogs I visit regularly. I've also gained some friends (waving at Floss, Aly, Cameo et al), whose well being I care about.
To sound a tad schmultzy, I feel my life has widened and been enriched.

So thanks blogspot.com, and here's to another year
:)