Back in the Saddle Again

It has been a very long time since I have updated my blog. I almost thought of just deleting it but I knew there would come a time when I would want to return.

Lots has happened and it would take many posts to update you all on my life. I have missed reading everyone's blogs and have been trying to catch up in the last few days.

Since my last post, my stitching mojo was completely gone. Gasp...stitching felt like a chore instead of the joy you are supposed to get. When I started frogging more than stitching all got put away. In the past week or so, I am getting the itch to get back to it. There are a lot of reasons but the most important is that sometime in the next 6 weeks, my new kitchen will be complete or at least functional. DH has drywalled the room and is now spackling it so it can be painted.

Our cabinets are ordered and should be here in the next 2 weeks or so. I still need to buy the appliances but I have picked them out so it is a matter of going to the right store for the best deal. We bought the tiles for the floor so things are moving and moving fast. I am loving that I am now seeing the room that it will be as opposed to this big empty space that reminded me of a barn. We also need to pick out paint and the tile for the backsplash. But that shouldn't be too hard. It means a trip to either Home Depot or Lowes or both. :)

Some time between now and the weekend, I will pull out a WIP (Chef's Wardrobe) so it will be ready to hang in the new kitchen. I guess that is where the mojo is starting to return. And it helps that the weather is colder and I am tired of just watching t.v. or getting on the computer at night.

We are all doing well and the holidays were wonderful. The kids are doing well in school and DS's adjustment to high school is pretty much on a good path with just a couple of bumps here and there. Much better than a few months ago when I was living with rose colored glasses on. LOL He is now getting excited about going to the "Snow Ball" on Friday evening. Yes it is another dance and yes, I will be a nervous wreck that night.

During the Christmas season, DS was in his school's concert. What a beautiful concert it was. It was the Band and the Chorus and I never heard such beautiful music and heard such beautiful voices. It really put Christmas into perspective.

He is loving school and the activities he is involved in. He is turning into a great young man. I always knew he would as he was a great baby, toddler, child, and so on. I just wish sometimes that he wasn't such a TEENAGER. Oy, the attitude he gives us sometimes.

DD is doing exceptionally well. This past Fall, her class completed the DARE program. They had to write an essay at the end of the program. Unknown to DH and myself, DD won the essay contest out of the entire 5th grade. Her class had one boy and one girl win the essay. Hers was much better than the boy that won in her class. About a week or two before the closing ceremony, DD's teacher kept asking me if we were attending. "Of course" was my reply. At the last minute it looked like DH was not going to be able to make it. But that was still okay and DD was fine with it. The teacher kept saying to me to "try" to see if DH could make it. I never knew about the essay contest UNTIL the actual ceremony. In the end DH was there but left before the medal ceremony. Again, we had no idea and he had to get back to work. I was shocked and surprised when they had her go up to the sergeant to get her medal. I was crying and I don't think I stopped til after I picked her up from school that day.

Then to make matters even better, that same week, she was chosen from the 5th grade choir to sing cantor at First Friday Mass on January 4. I never heard "Joy to the World", "Christ has died (sung during Eucharistic Prayer) and the Great Amen sound so beautiful. I am tearing up now just remembering that day at Mass which was probably the best Mass I ever attended.

Since then we have cleaned up from the holidays, made a mess with the existing kitchen (I have no sink or dishwasher and have to use the laundry room tub for dishes) but everything is starting to fall into place and we see the light at the end of the tunnel

With any luck, I will pull out my stitching later and will take joy in those stitches I stitch. I also hope to update more on here. I need to take pictures but can't find the camera (half of the contents of my cabinets are in the living room) and hopefully I will have some pictures to share with you very soon.

I hope you all have a great day and keep warm if you are in my part of the world where it is very VERY cold and we are expecting a wintry mess a/k/a snow, sleet, rain later today.