Sunday, March 27, 2005

Bah!

I just typed out a lovely long post ... and lost it ... I'll be back later to try again!

Sunday, March 06, 2005

How observant are you?

If you're really observant, you'll notice that when I put my times down for the last few days that I didn't stitch on the Lighthouse Kit until Sunday - Saturday I couldn't stand it anymore, and it's a SAL weekend on the Mirabilia Board ... so I finally started Sleeping Beauty. I DO need to work out when to stitch on this kit, and stick to it. Maybe on a Tuesday, as that is one day I get quite a lot of stitching time, so I would make reasonable progress on a weekly basis ... but then I know what I'm like, Tuesday will come and I won't want to put down whatever I'm enjoying stitching on!

Meanwhile - a couple of pictures -

My one (instead of two) ornament finish for February -



and an updated picture of the Lighthouse Kit ... which is actually called "Setting Sail" -



Once I have finished that side (with the wall, lighthouse, greenery) I will be about half way - the other half has a big sail boat and lots of sky and water - I'm hoping that will be a quicker, less fiddly half. It's not really that I dislike stitching it, more that it's for someone else, so therefore an obligation, and I'm conscious that I "should" be stitching on it all the time.

I think that's all the stitchy news!

In life - I've lost 7.1kg after 7 weeks on Weight Watchers, so I'm pretty happy, I've still got another 3.0kg before I hit the weight I got to last year when I did it ... and then promptly put most (but not all!) of it back on. My clothes are looser and I'm feeling 10x better about myself though - which is the main thing! I've got another 0.5kg, which I will hopefully get to this Friday, and I will be at my first personal goal - and my "treat" for that is to get some artificial nails ... so hopefully this time next week I'll be planning when to do that! The big thing that is helping this time is having a walking buddy - we are walking twice a week (the mornings that Charlotte is in daycare), we do the "big" block - which is nearly 10km, it takes us 1.5hr, so no matter what happens during the rest of the week I know I get two really good walks in. It's hard some mornings knowing that I should be at home working and I'm going to have to fit that work in some other time (like this morning - Sunday - I'm planning on getting through most of it so I can go conscious free tomorrow), but it's worth it. My next personal goal is another 5kg loss - at that time I'm going to book a weekend away ... ALONE :) ... so I can sleep, read, walk, stitch ... whatever - with no interruptions, etc - I KNOW I'll work hard towards that goal :)

Familywise ...

David (13.5yo) is doing wonderfully at highschool - he is in the extension class, he hates that they do a lot of the "extending" through homework, and that none of his good friends are in his classes, but he is doing better than I thought he would, I thought he would struggle, but he really isn't - he is doing the homework, albeit not to a standard he is capable of! and managing the class work with no problems at all. I wish he'd keep his room tidy etc etc ... but he's doing okay :)

Josh (10.5yo) has started flute lessons last week and loved it, we've hired him a flute and he is a very proud little boy. Being a very different child to his two sporty, social, boyish, brothers we have to work hard to make sure his needs are catered for ... and this seems to have done the trick. He loves his new teacher this year who seems to be very in tune with him, which is wonderful.

Cameron (9.0yo) is Cameron LOL ... they did the team announcements for his soccer team about a week ago and he was a very happy little boy. He's also doing wonderfully at school, he has his dream teacher - she is very very sport, very driven - she also runs the sports side of the school, so as you can imagine our little sport mad boy, who is also pretty darn clever, is in heaven LOL

Rhiannon (6.0yo) is busy being a little girl - she's been playing cricket this year, with the starting grade, a mostly skills entry thing - most of them are boys (I think about 30 boys, 3 girls) - but she bowls and bats better than most of them anyway (having three older brothers definitely comes as an advantage) - she's also still doing her gymnastics and is training for their first competition in (I think) about a months time. She has a wee hic-up a few weeks ago when she burst into tears a couple of times (very unlike her) and said she was tired, still not sure what the problem really was, she'd had an ear infection which I think was probably part of it, and they've been working hard on "conditioning" this year, which I think is harder work too ... she still wants DH or I to stay for the whole lesson (1.5hrs, twice a week) ... but is definitely happier.

Charlotte (3.0yo) is being busy being a mini-Cameron, she's actually settled down a lot this year, I don't feel like tearing out my hair at the end of each day! She's a very busy little thing ... loves her gymnastics (once a week), mostly loves daycare ... just hates the noise - given that she is the youngest of five it really does prove personality has a lot to do with their personal quirks, she doesn't like a lot of people around her, and doesn't like a lot of noise.

All in all everyone is well and happy - which is always a good thing :)

Okay ... off to tidy up my desk and get through some of the basic soccer admin things, set up how I want registrations to run next weekend ... some baking ... and then hopefully a few hours stitching!

Tuesday - 0.0hrs
Wednesday - Lighthouse - 3.0hrs
Thursday - Lighthouse - 1.5hrs
Friday - Lighthouse - 2.0hrs
Saturday - Sleeping Beauty - 4.0hrs

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

March Goals

I'm trying hard to make these realistic, March is such a busy month for me!

Carry on working on the Lighthouse Kit until end of Sunday
1st section of Sleeping Beauty
Stitchers Haven RR
2nd section of The Kiss
Xmas Mystery
... and maybe if I have time - start Petal Fairy :)

So what's been happening?

I just seem to be busy, busy, busy ... I suppose that IS to be expected though.

I did take David and Cameron to the one-day cricket match yesterday, it was a good day and I feel a lot more relaxed and less stressed today - I must have needed a day off even more than I realised. Of course NZ lost miserably - the Australians (as much as I hate to admit it) are way to good for us.

Stitching wise I'm itching to stitch so many things and just don't have enough hours in the day, anybody got a few hours to spare me on a daily basis?

It's soccer registration time in March - so I expect my stitching time will be even less - especially for the week after the two registration days ... but it pays the bills ;)

Oh! and how could I forget - I got my birthday gift from our stitching group tonight, none other than the beautiful Petal Fairy ... I had an inkling that I would be getting just that so ordered the fabric a couple of weeks ago - Kiwi Illusions Pipi, from Countrystitch. It's going to take some major willpower not to start it before I finish off a couple of other things first!

Off to make my March goals now :)

February Round-Up

February Goals -

Birds RR - Done! (6.0hrs)
Memories RR - Done! (9.0hrs)
Set up new Mini RR - Done! (17.0hrs)
20hrs Lighthouse Kit - (7.0hrs)
1st part of Sleeping Beauty
1st part of The Kiss - Done! (25hrs)
Ornament 1 - Done! (4.0hrs)
Ornament 2 Xmas Mystery - Part 2 - Partly done (6.5hrs)

Total Hours = 74.5hrs = 2.66hrs/day

Not nearly as much as January - it seems to have been a busy month here!

Time-Keeping

Thursday - Xmas Mystery - 1hr
Friday - Ornament - 1hr
Saturday - Ornament -3.0hr, Lighthouse 1.5hr
Sunday - Lighthouse - 4.0hr
Monday - Lighthouse - 1.5hr