Surgery darwing near

HOME LIFE
Well, surgery is Tuesday! I have a pre-op on Monday I have to go do and then Tuesday is the day. My husband keeps teasing me that he's going to have a week's vacation full of peace and quiet because I won't be able to talk (tonsillectomy). I joked that I'd be using flashcards to wave in front of his face when I want ice cream. Then he started saying he's not giving me a pen or paper either! LOL In reality, he'll spoil me rotten and make sure I have anything I need including things I haven't thought about yet.

One of the boys is misbehaving at school for the last 2 weeks (the one with ADHD). The teacher says he's turning in homework assignments late and is very defiant and talking back. He's actuing similar here at home too. The only thing I could think of was that his biological mother came to visit last weekend. Every time we have these kinds of problems. Every single time! Usually it lasts the week prior to the visit and 1-2 weeks after. Fun times....NOT!

Would you believe I did get the Wii I was talking about? On Sunday morning I got up before the crack of dawn and headed off to Toys R Us. They opened at 8am and I got there right around 6:30 and there was already a line. I joked to the guy in front of me "What there's only 4 or something!" They came out just before 7am and told us there were 21. Guess what number I was....yeah, you guessed it, number 22! So I immediately hopped in the truck and drove to Best Buy, the other place that was supposed to have more. There were only 6 people in line (probably because they opened at 10am and it was just before 7am). So I got in line...did I tell you it was 6 degrees outside?! AND the store opened at 10am?!?!?! Oh yes, I froze my ass off! Thankfully there was some sweethearted lady whose daughter was waiting in line and she drove her SUV up and turned the heat up high and let everyone alternate getting in to thaw out while people held our places in line. I was pretty proud of myself, I only took a 10 minute break at the halfway mark in there and then grabbed the blanket in my truck and stood outside freezing for the rest of the time!

About an hour left from the store opening, I was thinking I was insane...WHY on earth, did I think this was a good idea!? I couldn't see the joy on my kids' face anymore. The only thing on my mind was how blue my lips must have been and how loud the chattering of my teeth were and how I couldn't feel my toes anymore! But once I entered that store with my ticket in hand, I felt victorious! I told my mother I didn't care if they liked it or not, what a coup to have the hottest toy in town!! LOL I'm sure they'll love it though :)

MILITARY LIFE
Did I tell you my husband made rank? It was effective December 1st! YAY!! It was exciting because of the pay raise that will come with it. He'll have increased responsibility too I'm sure.

Every year I usually make some chex mix and cookies for him to take into his shop. Of course the last couple of years, he was in a smaller shop, but now he's in a larger one. I don't know if the small tub I usually send in will last more than 3 hours! The good thing is that the shop chief he has now is the same one he had in his previous shop. This man is a good and kind man. He's like a big teddy bear. When my husband deployed last year, the shop chief lived just down the street and he'd stop when passing by and ask if everything was ok and he'd bring his kids over to mow my lawn. He's such a sweetheart. I told him that my boys could do the lawn, but he wanted to do it. He was so very nice. I want to have them over for dinner as a thank you (almost a year later) but his wife is having some health issues :( I hope she'll be feeling better soon so we can do it! Meanwhile this weekend I'm going to try to bake my chex mix and cookies so he can take them in on Monday because after that, he'll be off for a couple of weeks home with me while I recover.

He got approved to have eye surgery so we'll be taking a quick trip down to Colorado to have that done in January. I think he'll be happy not to have to wear his glasses anymore. I still think it's crappy that they'll do it, but we have to pay for the trip down there because that's the only doctor the military will pay for. I understand it's an elective surgery, but why couldn't they cover something here in town then?!

Most likely DH is on the list to deploy next summer, so they want him to do it now so that he's not on the non-deployable list (Non-deployable for 4 months after the surgery) by that time. I'm NOT looking forward to another deployment so soon. What makes me mad is that this will have been the SECOND time in 3 years that he's been on the deployment that is gone over Christmas. I wish he'd go on the January one. I mean, he'd miss our youngest son's birthday, our anniversary, Valentine's Day, and my birthday, but when he goes on the one in the summer he misses our oldest's birthday (which he's missed about 3 times in the last 4 years), Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, etcetera. I guess when you look at it, no time is really a good time unless they started doing a March to September trip or something! I'd hate him being gone during the summer though. The boys are handful enough when school's out. *shudder* We'll just wait and see what happens. In this life, you never know if you'll even BE HERE by then, particularly when he made rank!

WORK
Just finishing up the last few orders before I shut down for my surgery and recovery. I finished up Delights today and the last 2 will ship out in the morning. I have one order that came in this morning and it's a small one, so I went ahead and cut it up. I'll finish that up tomorrow as well as a second large piece to another order and ship those out Monday and then I'm done. I have a few birthday orders that will ship out while I'm recovering, but I spent today putting those together so they just need to be put in envelopes and shipped. That should be easy enough.

STITCHING
Ahhh, my sanity keeper! Since I finished up that Breast Cancer Mandala, I felt like I would be ok to start something new. I pulled out two that I was anxious to start. One is Crystal Roses by Just Nan and the other is Air Force by Hinzeit for my husband. Then for some reason, I went and picked up my Moon Fairy Spirit by Passione Ricamo and started stitching. I'm glad I did because it's one I haven't touched for months and months because that moon is so daunting! But she's looking good!

I watched Disturbia today while stitching. That's a great movie! Great psychological thriller and funny too. I thought it might be a bloody slasher movie but it wasn't.

Well, that's all for today!

December 1st!!!

Whoops! A whole month and half slipped by and I didn't notice. Things have been busy after the sale in October! Then the holidays have snuck up on us as well and now it's already December 1st. I really can't believe it.

I have been stitching on My Pride and Joy trying to get that one finished up. It's supposed to be a gift for my Mother in Law, but it's really difficult for me to stitch on. I think it's one of those projects that just isn't normally to my tastes and that seems to make it harder! I haven't snapped a picture though of it because she visits my message board, so I was afraid to post any pics!

Over Thanksgiving weekend, my mother flew to Colorado to visit my aunt and grandmother and I was able to pull out my Breast Cancer Mandala by Ink Circles that I was doing for her and get a lot done on it! I was shocked, but once I got going on it, it really cruised right by. I got so much done on Sunday and Monday that I didn't want to put it down! I ended up finishing it Thursday night I think. It is stitched on Enchanted Fabrics Lugana Royalty Flair. It is stitched using the suggested Carrie's Creation Threads.

Here was the last picture available as of August 2007:



Then here's the finished pinkeep version as of Thursday night:

(FRONT)


(BACK)


I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I gave it to my mother that night. I could have saved it for Christmas, but I already have a Christmas gift for her and she walked in unexpectedly and I frantically hid it, so she knew something was going on anyway.

I put a couple of stitches into a new piece...which I really shouldn't have done considering how many WIPs I still have to finish up! I want to stitch something for my husband, a patriotic piece. I've been feeling that way lately, particularly because he just gained a rank. On Friday afternoon, we went out to the base and he and 5 others had their stripes tacked on. We got to punch his arm where they go on. It was pretty fun! Then on the way home, I picked up his uniform at the sewing place just off base with his new stripes on! The jacket has been sitting on the dining room chair all weekend and every time he walks by it, he pets it...I KID YOU NOT! It's funny and cute to see him do that. It's very well deserved (but I'm not prejudiced, am I? LOL)

I found this new blog that's done by military spouses and it's hilarious. I read it and I laugh so hard I cry...literally cry. The writers are full of wit and it's all about those military things that go on with us who are left behind. There's always the joke about when your spouse deploys, EVERYTHING breaks down. Luckily, I haven't had that happen yet. My hubby deployed once while we were dating and then deployed again September 2006 through this past February. It was a difficult time with the boys and I. And then I was crazy enough to purchase a house and MOVE...not only while he was deployed, but NINE DAYS BEFORE CHRISTAMS! Yeah, that's insanity! I barely got the tree up (and we had to forgo the lights and other decorations because I didn't have the energy left) last year!

So I was reading this blog and I saw this T shirt they have that shows a woman flexing her muscles and it says, "Dependent MY ASS!" I MUST have one of these shirts! I want to find where they're sold or if someone can make one, because that is a fantastic shirt!

One of the funniest things they had in this blog was a Best Performance for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard. They were all great, and I'm really not prejudiced when saying the Air Force one was the best! Watch this:



Well, it's just before 11pm and I have to sneak out to the stores tomorrow to see if I can get a Wii for my boys for Christmas. I found 2 places that will have one at open tomorrow, so I'm planning on getting there early and hopefully there will be no line! I'm off to bed!