Trick or Treat

Ah, that time of year that is all about scary things and chocolate. Awesome.

This year at work we decided to dress up. This is the first time since I started working there that we've done it but we certainly had fun.

Here is the group shot: I think the zombie librarian was the best of the lot...


And here I am dressed up as Athena. I even went so far as to paint my toe nails. Yikes.




Mom is here this weekend for our yearly girl's weekend while Dad is off trying to kill Bambie (which he never does). So far we've managed to shop, eat and bug the cat. Hopefully there will be stitching tomorrow... after I finish changing all the clocks.

Party til you drop

I love weekends like this. It's nutty getting things going but once they are....so worth it!

This weekend Rebecca kindly hosted a stitching weekend. She shipped the kids off to her parents and her husband found other places to be during the day and we kinda took over the house.

Dani and I headed down Friday night, where Bonnie and Lynn joined us for an evening of stitching.

In the morning, we were joined by Barb, Judi, Beatrice, Kathy, and Trista. We spent the day stitching, talking and laughing. It was such fun!!











Sunday it was a much smaller group, the same as Friday night with the addition of Trista and Rebecca's mother-in-law.

It was kinda sad to leave but the real world has to be faced. But man, did we have fun - even if it did tire us out, right Dani?












I managed to get Aunt Sue's Christmas ornament done:












Friends (Flip-it) Christmas Blessings with charm
c. Lizzie Kate
on 32 ct. mushroom lugana with DMC floss


And a bunch done on Earthdancer.











Thanks Rebecca for a wonderful weekend.

Is that a blob?

After a weekend of doing every thing but I finally got to do some stitching tonight. I know I was shocked as well.

I've been working away at a few projects of non stitching variety. Shadow isn't pleased with me at all either; last night she decided to get pay back by waking me up at 2 in the morning. I was so not impressed.

Tonight I decided that Swans needed to see the light of day seeing it hasn't in awhile. More blob like sky. Why did I pick this and is it too late to change my mind?? It didn't want to photograph for some reason. It's that annoying white fabric in the dark right?






Hopefully I'll be able to get myself organized enough to get some stitching in tomorrow as well....

Happy Turkey Day

I've been off enjoying a long weekend. I was off Friday so Thursday I headed off to see the parents.

We had a lazy Friday including the latest Bruce Willis flick and dinner out. Saturday Mom and I went shopping before going home to watch season one of Sanctuary. A good way to spend a day.

Sunday my aunt and cousins joined us for a big turkey dinner. We all ate too much, which is a given for holiday meals.

Today it was back to the apartment to get ready for the work week. At least it's a short week.



While sitting around bugging Dad I also got some done on Earthdancer. I so like this new fabric.

Now I must make nice with Shadow...

Pink and White

Today was the CIBC Run for the Cure in support of Breast Cancer Research. While I'm not able to run they had a section for people to walk so I signed up to go.

Dani, Todd (her partner) and I all got up at the crack of dawn to head to the run site. There were lots of people, somewhere between 8500 and 10000 men, women, children and animals to run or walk the 5km route.

Dani and Todd left me with the walkers and headed up to the runners area. After a stretch session lead by a man in pink fuzzy boots and a tutu we were off. It took about 5 minutes to get to the start line, and then a bit before I was able to settle into a good pace.


Here's a bit of the crowd waiting to start...

52 minutes later I arrived at the finish line and the fun task of finding people in a large crowd. Prearranged meeting spots are the BEST, and really a must at something like this.


Thanks Dani and Todd both for their encouragement.

After our hard work we went off to breakfast, which was excellent.



This afternoon I did a bunch of stuff around the apartment that are boring. I actually had to run out and get something, and while I was shopping I found a copy of this year's Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issue. I've been stalking the bookstore for it and when I really wasn't looking for it there it was. I haven't had a look at it yet though.

Oh, I got some stitching done yesterday. Once again on Giggles. He looks so odd with half an arm and now pieces of a leg. The poor boy!!

Was that a frog?

I have been so bad at getting stitching time in this week.

I really didn't get any real done that I could share.

Today after I spent half the day running around town after a trip to the gym, I pulled out Giggles only to discovered the frogs had visited. Things are back to where they were and it's all systems go again.



Also, news from away... the parents adopted this little kitty from the local animal shelter. She's four months old. Mom says she's little in size but is already learning how to rule the roost. Welcome to the family Kaylee.

It's been a long road

This post is totally NOT stitching related (you’ve been warned…)

Tonight it's been officially a year since I started what I hope to be a life change. By changing not only certain ways I was thinking but also other choices the overall plan is to address the weight issue that has plagued me for as long as I can remember. The biggest step in this was joining Weight Watchers, and have been using their on line system and of course the gym.

Here's a picture of me from August 2008:













And here is one from this August:














Yup, that's about 70 pounds less of me.

I'll admit I went on maintenance for part of the summer, I wanted to see for myself that I could keep off what I had lost. I've fallen into that trap before, lose then real life makes you gain it back. I feel that I can maintain what I've done. I'm about ready to start up again, right after I pick a final goal weight. The huge change is for the first time in about nineteen years I am no longer obese but "merely" overweight. Yes, there was a happy dance over that one.

I'm also happy to say that all the "fitness" goals I had have been met. Walking Curl Road in under an hour, doing 50 sit ups all at once and walking from Dominion station to home. It's not a lot but last year I didn't think I'd do it all.


One last thing: no one does something like this alone –

So I want to thank the girls at work for their support – and encouraging me when I didn't want to go to the gym

The parents (do I need to say why??)

And most importantly:

Dani for being my cheerleader, for helping me figure out what to eat, for being my personal shopper, for all the encouragement when I couldn't see the change and all the other things I’m too lazy to type out….I couldn't have made it this far without you (as always)