Spare Time

I must have sat down at least 4 times to do this post. Not that there’s anything earth-shaking quilty or knit wise to share .. but Kyle did have his Grade 8 graduation and he turned 14 – since I posted last. Dictionary.com gives the definition of spare time as:

spare time

noun
1. time available for hobbies and other activities that you enjoy
2. time that is free from duties or responsibilities [syn: free time]

Yeah well .. it just doesn’t exist really for me .. This current shift is rather brutal. I thought it would be a great shift – sleep in a bit, get home a wee bit later, spend some time with Reg, go to bed and start my day again .. the reality of it is, I’ve been sleeping until 12:00 – 12:30 most days, I actually saw the sunrise a few times this week (It was beautiful BUT …) and if it wasn’t for school being out for the summer, I wouldn’t even see Kyle .. as for spending time with Reg?? Well he’s tired when I get home, and the hour or so of tv that we watch together is him watching thru his eyelids **sigh Reality really does bite sometimes :\. I thought I would only have to endure this for one month – but no … I have this shift until the end of July .. bloody hell. The ONLY good thing about this shift is that I have Sunday off .. that means that someone is home when Kyle comes back from his dad’s every other weekend .. I have managed to see the fireflies .. twice .. so I guess that’s a good thing .. ah well .. only 3 more weeks to endure, then pray God I can get a decent shift. And that i have SOME energy left after work to want to hand sew or knit .. I really miss having a life of sorts …

CLick to see more pics

Kyle’s graduation was absolutely great! Of course I cried when they processed in, but it was a still a wonderful thing to see my baby – all grown up and dressed smartly in a suit move along in the world to high school. It really was a nice mass that Fr Matt did and Kyle did the reading as well .. every kid in his class got to do something during the service. Click on his pretty face to see pics from Mass and the dinner afterwards .. Kyle did get the Technology Award .. He wanted the Sports award and Music award, but he has a few issues with arguing with his coaches (I’m speaking from experience here) and not taking direction well .. He prolly did deserve them, but if he wants to carve his own way in life, he’s going to have to learn to do what is expected and make his tracks bright and bold while towing the line .. I’m sure he’ll figure it out sooner or later 😉 I have faith in him .. He did get a grown up present though .. we got him a cell phone .. it’s pay as you go with 2500 text messages – he has to buy his own cards and keep track of his time .. his original plan was 250 text messages like mine, but after 6 days he was near to going over it :O So they removed his 250 package and added 2500 package with no penalty! Thank God!

CLick to see more pics

The next huge milestone was a week later .. my little darling turned 14!! WOW … amazing how fast the time flew by .. and I’m not just saying this as a clich&#233 either. It bloody well FLEW!! crash zip zoom bang I can remember just after he turned 12 that he was an inch taller than me (now that’s just wrong on so many levels! Now here he is going into high school .. the bugger is going to be wanting to learn to drive in 2 years!! Nevermind me not being ready for it .. what about the rest of the world??? LOL But we had a nice family get together, with cake and hamburgers (dinner was his choice) It was a nice time, he opened his present from Reg and I and then my dad got him a bike .. so the bugger made out like bandit .. cell phone, video game and a new bike :O Good thing I only have one!!

Lately Reg and I have rented the series Lost. We are just about to start Disc 6 for Season 3 .. Needless to say it’s been interesting and rather addicting too .. I’ve not gotten much reading done lately .. just mindless clicking and a few pages here and there .. The good news is – I’ll have my 90 days in about 8 days or so, so that’s good news .. And this has really been the only month that I’ve truly struggled with time .. so I think this shift is just my nemesis right now ..

Hope everyone is doing great and I miss your posts and emails! I’ve not deleted my emails and i’ll catch up on blog reading sooner or later .. preferably sooner!

Hope you all had a great July 4th and Canada Day!!!

Life gets busy

Right now that feels like the understatement of the century! It’s been a bit since I’ve done anything that I feel is worthwhile blogging. Lately all I seem to do is work and mindless clicking on facebook after work. I’ve not really been to inclined to even hand sew after work to do my bindings as I just want to veg and do mindless sit still stuff .. But that’s all right .. I know that I’ll feel the urge and then jump all over it like I normally do 😀

I do have some quilty stuff to share tho ..
Remember this quilt? I entered it into a contest to be the pattern cover for the National Quilters Day Mystery Hunt by Anilee Creations. Well I finally heard the other day .. No I didn’t win, BUT, what they are doing is going to publish a book with the pattern and the quilts that everyone made .. isn’t that cool! I’m just rather awestruck by it all!! I just have to supply the backing and the binding. Since this quilt is so feminine, I think I’ll do some hand dyed yellow for the backing and see what I can come up with for the binding .. maybe more of the same?? Not sure as this was a scrappy quilt, and am unlikely to have anymore of my lighter colours kicking around .. or even the darks that I used .. so I’ll have to lay it out and fiddle with fabrics … ohhhh ahhhh playing with fabric!!! Sweet There’s 7 quilts that are going to be included .. not sure if these were the runner ups or everyone that entered a top – either way .. I think it’s awesome!

For the past month, my days off usually consisted of rain .. so my back veggie garden didn’t get worked on at all! I sure didn’t feel like playing in mud puddles on my day off, that’s for sure! Poor thing … not sure if I am going to plant anything in there .. but I’m not going to leave it weed choked which it seriously was But before I was even going to consider tackling this, my front garden needed just a few more things done to it before I would be happy. As it stood, the 8 o’clock’s i had planted from seed were coming up nicely, mum’s lilies are about to bloom and my goldmun speria is all flowered. I needed a border flower so I picked up some light purple (yes I said purple .. shock surprise), and wanted to lay some cedar mulch down. Happy happy joy joy .. I got that done today 😀 😀 Yup that made me VERY pleased to say the least.

Now for the back .. while reg did the ribs on the grill, I started to yank out the weeds in the back .. Reg jumped in and helped too! Thank God for small mercies! heh .. and course we saved some for Kyle too 😉 This was supposed to be his job 2 weeks ago and for some strange reason (known only to a teenage mind), it just didn’t get done .. so I put him to work 😀 Muhahahahahah – Doesn’t he just look THRILLED! He’s a bit left to do, but he’s got the rest of the week to do it.

So I’ve managed to get a lot done today, including watching Kyle’s baseball game too … oh and they won .. I’ve not a clue how they managed it, but they did .. woo hooo … so now I get to watch my garden fill out and bloom with dark purple, (gee there’s purple again!!), light purple, dark pink, white and yellow (mum’s lilies) I think that it’s going to look GREAT when it’s finally all in bloom and growing nicely. Curse this stupid weather .. today was the first ‘hot’ day we’ve really had and it was a great to work outside in it .. and of course ‘something’ is growing and driving my allergies to distraction – so while our summer appears to have started about 5 weeks later, I’m sure hoping that the fall and winter start later as well .. I LOVE spring and summer and am seriously starting to feel like I’m being robbed 😉

Fast Paced Few Weeks

Baptism - Oct 29, 1995

It’s been a week since my last blog post .. esh that almost sounds like the beginning of Confession!! Maybe I have Church in the forefront of my mind today (and for the past week), because Kyle had his Sacrament of Confirmation today 😀 It’s hard to believe that 13 years (almost 14 – June 29^th is his bday), have gone by. But they have. I’ve gotten older (not necessarily matured) and have some gray hairs to prove as well as the extra weight :). This pic is of Kyle’s Baptism on the day he turned 4 months old. Probably my most favourite pic of him ever! Granted there are a few other’s that come close – a pic of him in a sleeper, his Communion pic where he wore his first suit carrying the host up at the beginning of service, and and and LOL … I won’t bore you with them … but I am doing a lot of looking back today and remembering some of his milestones (perfectly natural of course). I realized just after he turned 12, that he was taller than me (and I was wearing ball spikes which add 1 – 2″ to your height), and he shot up several inches in 2 moth period after that too!

He went shopping with my dad to get his suit as I had to work and he picked this out by himself! That kids got a great sense of what colours work for him and what doesn’t. I had to snap a pic of him while his face was still clean and clothing unwrinkled 🙂 He is a boy still afterall no matter how grown up he looks! And boy he cleans up pretty nice me thinks … granted I am biased – but I’m supposed to be.

My Aunt Alexis agreed to be his sponsor for his Confirmation and her and Uncle Rick agreed to brave the border. My two cousins had to work, but that’s okay .. this was during the week for most people … (not me as this is my Saturday) and it is hard to get this time off – especially our repressed economy with the jobs being the way they are. As for his Confirmation itself, Bishop LaRoque led the service and performed the Sacrament for Kyle and the other Candidates. Normally it would be Bishop Fabro (I know I spelt that wrong), but he was unable to attend. The church was full with all the candidates and their guests attending. Granted the service was more contemporary, but with this being a youth-orientated event, it would be. It was still a wonderful service and a great joy to see Kyle Confirmed. Of course I took a million pictures, but am only putting a few here for you …

Reg, Kyle, Myself

Kyle, Bishop LaRoque

Aunt Alexis, Kyle, Uncle Rick

Kyle’s Confirmation

You can see the rest of the pictures on my Picassa Web Album

It’s been getting easier at work .. I’ve had to make a few changes to the routine that I started with. We use a lot of tools to diagnose issues with customer’s services. By the time I log into my desktop, then our tool desktop, and then all the tools that we use, a good 15 min has passed and I wasn’t answering calls at the start of my shift, but rather 10 mins in or so. I’ve found that I start the day feeling rushed as I’m logging into every tool and WAITING for it to load, so instead of leaving 30 mins before my shift starts, I’m getting to work 30 mins before my shift starts. That way I’m not so rushed and can start my day in a better state of mind.

Come the nite, my brain is fried and total mush.  Amazing how tiring it is concentrating and figure out and fix the weirdness (The Joys of Tech Support ;)) .. my latest battle cry (even at work) is, “Oh look!!! A shiny thing!”

Unread List Mail

After I get home from work, anything that requires some minimal amount of concentration from me gets avoided or put off until I can concentrate on it – I’m not sure I could tie my shoes at that point!  Sure there’s the AM, but I basically leave myself enough time to have coffee, eat, pack my lunch and get ready for work .. so that means my email is starting to pile up a wee bit .. I’m seriously thinking mass delete – but we’ll see ..

Work IS getting easier as I’ve learned to quickly fix issues and what needs to be done to fix them .. I just have to get my call time down a bit. I’m sure I’ll strike a balance soon .. I’ve not worked on my kitty quilt binding for the past few days .. nor is my back garden in yet (then again, I’ve not bought the plants either!!) maybe tomorrow (today?). I’m having to stay up wayyyyy past my new pumpkin time as Kyle needs to be up around 4:45am (25 mins from now – oh and Kyle’s up now (@@)).  Now I just have to call my dad. Kyle is going to be performing in a yearly concert at Canada’s Wonderland .. then they let them loose on the park LOL .. but he needs to be at the school (of course not his) by 5:15 as the bus leaves at 5:30am, we leave here around 5am :S .. so – Ky and my dad need to be up around 4:45 – and guess who’s doing the waking!! pfft .. i’m bloody tired, it’s been a long day – I just don’t hope I sleep to late after getting back from getting him on the bus.

So that’s about it – mostly all about Kyle LOL – but that’s as it should be today with all the milestones he’s coming up to … Confirmation, Grade 8 trip, 50 million other trips (we wonder if he even has any classes he has to attend now!), Grade 8 graduation, his bday and that’s all between now and the end of June! So it’ll be a wee bit chaotic and hectic here for a bit .. but hey .. that’s okay .. at least he’s enjoying every day with total abandon 🙂

Busy Weekend

Wow but it was busy this weekend .. didn’t get done what I wanted to get done as Reg wanted to go shopping in the states, but that’s okay .. we won’t be heading back for another month .. and Man O Man did we walk into some PHENOMENAL sales!! Could NOT believe it .. so it was good that we did go.

Didn’t get a stitch of quilting done (well I did draw ONE line for the planet patchwork mystery on clue #3), but did finish Kyle’s balaclava last nite. This pic shows it with me using the provisional cast-on that I thought of while working on Reg’s plowhat.

Kyle’s mood improved since I posted this and he agreed to modeling his new hat for me.  I think that this will be more than warm enough for him during the walks home from basketball practice afterschool.  Doesn’t look to shabby it in either, even if I do have a biased opinion – hey I’m mum .. so I’m entitled

heh .. the dog just cracked me up last nite .. I see this view of her first and wonder “What on Earth??” .. she tends to lay under the footrests on the couch when she’s chewing on something like her rawhide or treats that she wants to
hoard all to herself .. but I didn’t hear any chewing and I hadn’t given her a treat .. so I look at the other end of the ‘tunnel’ and she’s just laying there .. sorry – I just had to share that .. it was just way to cute .. this 70lb dog laying under a footrest LOLOLOL

We did raid barnes & Noble and borders .. and I actually managed to get 2 of the books I really wanted to get .. I got my paws on “Scarpetta” by Patricia Cornwell, and “Cross Country” by James Patterson, These 2 books were “gotta haves” for me. I did also pick up “The Good Guy” by Dean Koontz, and “The Alibi Man” by Tami Hoag. I’ve not read a book by her a quite a bit, so this will be a nice side trip for me.  I “MIGHT” have enough reading material for a while now .. I hope

The biggest reason we headed into borders and Barnes & Noble was to hunt down a Vogue Knitting magazine (fall Issue) called Smitten with Mittens .. I can get it from the publisher at $9.99 but the original cover price is $6.99. It’s not used on amazon.com – yet – but I did find it on ebay and have less than 24hrs to find out if I’ll get sniped at the end of this and not ‘win’ the magazine. If I do lose this auction, does anyone have it?? I’m willing to purchase, trade etc for it .. but let’s see if I get the auction first – 1 day is all that’s left on it ..

Oh do you remember back in December when I posted that a friend of mine was doing “Charms for Charity” on her site? Well if you can believe this, I’ve actually won the second drawing!! How cool is that! Michele has mailed them to me, but they’ve not landed in my mail box yet .. I will definitely share with you when I do.

So I’ve some plans of things to work on .. The planet patchwork big fan mystery, quilting the spinner quilt (huge deadline on this), then starting some new socks. As I said before .. the beginning of this year will be for finishes and I’m actually pretty excited about it .. but nothing will really be in gear until after I return from Guelph on the 12th

Merry Christmas; update

It’s been a quiet day compared to what the past week has been like .. no sewing – just some last minute shopping and wrapping and wrapping and wrapping and wrapping ..

But before I get into that part .. just a little update on how I’m doing after last nite’s tumbled down my basement stairs . . I’ve bruises that are coming up …my right shoulder is tender as well as a few other places – I can feel where I hit the steps on my left foot as I walk .. But I’m battered and bruised – but nothing appears to be broken or sprained – so it’s all good .. God was watching over me on that slip – he had to have been

I was able to do some shopping tonite as I’ve mentioned – gift tags and the present that didn’t get here on time for Reg .. I’m not going to scream about it as it was a crap shoot anyways .. so not a big deal – we were out for a few hours and I did okay 🙂 .. I was walking gingerly by the time I got home, but I was still walking and all my moving parts appeared to be moving okay – so that’s good .. I’m just sore and using ibuprofen and tylenol

Wonked

Unwonked

I did unwonk Matthew’s quilt – this looks sooo much better .. but didn’t do Erica’s .. her’s wasn’t as near as bad as Matthew’s (and this was when I tumbed downthe stairs), so I opted to just let it go .. Matthew’s was the most important as his was going on a relatively ‘flat’ wall and there’s no way this was flat not even flat-ish .. but the difference between before unwonking and after is just HUGE ..You can really see the difference at the bottom, and the left and right sides near the bottom – It’s like a pancake at this point compared to where it started.  I just have to do labels for these and wrap them .. I’ve had enough and Reg is sleeping – oh yeah .. I’m designated wrapper in this house – but I put my foot down on wrapping my own gifts – LOL

We are going to do a Russian Christmas here this year. For several reasons .. Kyle ordered a gift for me and while it came in, due to a miscommunication between him and my dad (shock bloody surprise), he didn’t get out to the mall to get it. Reg’s gift didn’t arrive on time (still not here either – altho my book is :/). The spinner quilt isn’t done either – so on January 7^th, everyone will get the rest of their gifts …

Here’s wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a fantastic holiday with family and friends. Blessings to you and your loved ones on this most precious of days – The celebration of the Birth of Christ!

Saturday Stuff

So far nothing quilt related done today, but the house is done (!!) Kyle finished setting up our village before he took off with my dad again for the afternoon for shopping and left me to do the rest of the clean-up – that’s okay .. it likely would have been a case of me having to get him back to do it again and again .. and I really didn’t want to deal with that :\. heh – while I was downloading the pics from my camera, I noticed that he had taken this pic of himself with the camera this am – I had mentioned to him earlier that I wished I had got a pic of him in his new duds 🙂 To bad he didn’t smile ..

Ooops he’s back and looks like it didn’t go well .. I rather figured it wouldn’t as my dad’s in a mood .. but normally Kyle doesn’t get the brunt of it .. poor guy!

I had meant to post a pic that I manage to get of Shadow the other day but had forgotten about it .. I wasn’t going to at that point, but last nite as I was just finishing up emails, I hear this tinkle, tinkle of tree ornaments .. here I am thinking that Shad was playing with the ornaments and out I go to get her away from the tree .. Next thing I see is this cat launching out of my tree – the wee fiend had climbed the tree again. This pic was taken after Reg had set the tree up for me while I was at work that year. Last year and this year, she didn’t have a chance to roost in it as we decorated it right away .. My darling little Princess Hiss .. gotta love cats. I might have to get a power bar behind the tree so I can put their ‘basket’ there so they can look out the front window – I’m thinking that that was her plan.

Here’s the job that Kyle did for our village .. altho I can see that the tissue paper isn’t going to last, that is right in the path of the kitty highway .. and there is glitter on the tissue paper which is likely going to end up all over the floor.

Well I’m tired, but a goal is to get something cmas giftee related accomplished today .. so piecing erica’s back or picking matthews backing and basting his quilt .. something – anything ..

Oh and yes, the crud is still around – today is stuffiness and a headache .. (**sigh)

Hope you’re getting stuff accomplished today 😀 AHA .. I need to package up some stuff for mailing – so I’ll do that as I need to make boxes for 2 of the things I’m shipping.