My Stitchalong

I know that I've told this story before, but if you can just bear with me? Several years ago MJ's Aunt J gave me all of her stitching things. She was having trouble with her hands and her eyes were not as good as they used to be, all effects from the diabetes that she suffered from. When she gave me this big Rubbermaid container filled with stuff I started going through it immediately. I found in there a kit by Dimensions that she said was the one thing in the whole box she wished she had been able to finish. I made it for her birthday in June, 2009 and she was very happy to have it. Sadly, Aunt J passed away last August. Aunt J had three sons, none of whom were very nice to her while she was alive, which made the ones who loved her angry. After her funeral I asked her oldest son if I could have the angel back. Truthfully, I didn't want her sons to have it. I know that's mean, but they would not have appreciated it anyway and I doubt that it would have brought them an...

AC Moore called me late yesterday afternoon to tell me that my custom framing was in and ready for pick up: I love when I get framed pieces home. They make me so happy.

I know that in many parts of the country school is already out for the year, but here on Long Island we have two weeks of school left. Obviously, the kids are ready for the beginning of summer and just trying to get them to pay attention can be pretty difficult. As this is M's first year in middle school it is also the first year that he has final exams his subjects to deal with. While he's looking forward to summer vacation, I think he wishes he could skip right to the vacation part without having to do the whole finals thing. However, he is a straight A student I have no doubt that the finals will be as easy for him as all of the other tests he taken this year. For Z, today was one of the things that the kids look forward to all year: field day! They scheduled in on a half day, although why the kids need to have a half day of school this late in the school year is beyond me. Since he was going to be home, we made special mom and Z plans for the afternoon. We had an ice cream ...

MJ's birthday was last week. Unfortunately, on his actual birthday we had lots of running around with the kids to do, so there was no birthday celebration on that day, but this weekend I had his parents, brother and sister-in-law over for a birthday barbecue . One of the projects that I have undertaken in the last few months is to teach M how to cook. For the most part, it's been simple things so far: tacos, pasta, chili. Yesterday I had him helping me man the grill. He looks pretty good standing there. He was happy to get to learn how to use the grill and to spend some time with me while we cooked his dad's birthday dinner. Luckily, it was a nice day for grilling! Hopefully, somewhere in my future a daughter-in-law will be happy with the lessons that I gave him all those years ago! Other projects are getting some attention, too. I finished the first of the Disney squares for the baby quilt: Mickey was supposed to have a pink border all around, but when I started it, I ...