Once Upon a Weekend...

Ever have one of those weekends that you wished you could rewind and just sleep through instead?  Yeah, whatever could go wrong this weekend, DID.  Among some minor things, I don't know how many times I had a bit of a mistake on the stitching and had to unstitch... that's no fun for any of us to realize our small imperfections, but we know that we can't live knowing that mistake would be in our work, even if others wouldn't.  The weekend was filled with eventful incidents, among them my daughter possibly either dislocating her shoulder or fracturing her collarbone and my 12-year-old son getting sick in the car.  At this point, both are feeling much better, thank God.

It doesn't hold a candle to those over on the East Coast.  My thoughts and prayers have been with you all this weekend.  The hubby and I have kept tuned in to the news and can't believe the damage done.  I hope that as waters recede and more and more survey the damage, it is done with care and safety to your person above all else.

On a good note this weekend, I did stumble onto a couple of prizes at garage sales.  I picked up a Minnie Mouse for my daughter for $1.00.  How awesome to find this, the one toy I desperately wanted to get her at Disney and couldn't see paying the $20.00 at the gift stores for this little stuffed Minnie.  So that was quite the find!  I'm also pleased that I managed to find a couple of cross stitch charts for a quarter each:

They're charts for somewhat larger projects -- 13 x 10 inches and 12.25 x 10 inches -- and I'd prefer kits, but they're cute, and I couldn't pass up a quarter!  If nothing else, maybe they'll make some cute little gifts in Christmas cards this year for some favorite stitchy friends.

I also found another project of a different breed, something brand new that I've never done before.  It is a full kit, a felt Christmas stocking kit.  I'm not sure when I'll begin this as I already have so much in progress, but some day.... I certainly have the patience, so I'll try my hand at it:

I haven't yet decided which child it will be for, and if it turns out, it will have to be equal, so I'll have to buy two more suitable for the other two, naturally! 

Last, but certainly not least, I had a finish today!  I finally finished the two little monkeys for my friend's baby's nursery.  Her baby shower is on Sept. 18, so I have plenty of time to get a frame and get it wrapped up and ready to go for her along with the other couple of things I have to go with it.  I'm sure she'll be quite pleased!

Now to decide what's next.... I have several projects in the works already and should do one of those.  I have another friend expecting and have a pattern picked out for her that I'd like to do, but until I get to the store for thread, I think I'll have to satisfy myself with a current WIP.  I'm thinking possibly Noah's Ark Christmas -- over on the right is a WIP picture.

Vacations and stitches and news... oh my!

First and foremost comes the stitching news -- here's the current progress on the monkeys for my friend.  I best get it done, too... I've discovered that her shower is on September 18, so it needs to be ready to roll!  They're coming along, taking shape.  I had to do some major unstitching the other night when I wasn't paying attention and accidentally added an extra small row of seven whole stitches.  Amazing how bad a little mistake can throw you off like that.  All is in order now!  Hoping to finish my current color tonight (DMC 435) during America's Got Talent.

Which brings me to my next topic:  my favorite summer show, America's Got Talent.  Tonight is the big wild card show.  SO excited to see Seth Grabel (magician) have another chance and hope he gets through this time!  Sending out some good vibes for the Summerwind Skippers, too.

Saturday we got home from a wonderful vacation to sunny Florida.  We spent a few days at the beach and then went on to Orlando and soaked up the sunshine (and some rain) at Sea World and Disney.  We had two days at each, one extremely hot and one rainy at each park.  Everyone had a blast, and my littlest, not even 8 months old yet, was so good riding around in the heat in a stroller for the better part of a day.  On our last day at Disney, we were at Disney Hollywood Studios where I experienced the scariest ride of my life:  the Twilight Zone's Tower of Terror.  Literally thought I was gonna die lol...

Here's the view that we saw as this horrible invention launched us up an elevator chute and then let us drop again before doing it again and again.  I'm still not sure how I managed to get a photo.  I imagine I gripped my camera in fear and accidentally hit the button haha... what you don't see is me screaming like a banshee.  In all seriousness, it was like an elevator shaft inside what was supposed to be an old abandoned motel.  The elevator doors at the height of this shaft in the Tower of Terror would open, so all you could see was this and it made it feel like you were launched out of the ceiling... I've never been so scared.  Would I do it again?  Yep! haha

Me with my darling kids and Mickey Mouse from Fantasia!  My daughter was overjoyed to finally meet Mickey.  This was towards the end of the day, our last day at Disney.  She ran right up to him and gave him a huge hug.

Next is the ornies I received back from my partners in our Christmas in July exchange.  They'll look lovely on our tree this year!

Last, but not least, we made an offer on a house today.  Our littlest was a surprise to us, so we've been getting tighter and tighter in our current home.  The one we found is just on the edge of our small town and gives us a country feel and has a huge yard for the kids to play in.  Keep your fingers crossed for us, please!

That's all for now -- happy stitchin' everyone!