10 months

Another week has flown by. My weeks are busy. I go to various mums and tots groups on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, i work on a Wednesday and meet up with friends and their babies to swim most Fridays. I can't believe how quickly this year has gone. Caleb was 10months old on Wednesday. Here is my cheeky boy who's now nearly walking. He is a lot of fun!

Im back at work now one day a week. I hate where i work now. I work for a charity with only 5 people and its awful. There are a lot of lies, backstabbing, corruptness... it's shocking. I work for a boss who rarely shows up. I do the same job (and better in my opinion) as a guy with no experience but who is paid £10,000 more it. Its a corrupt place, full of injustices which could turn you into a bitter person if you didnt rise above it. Thankfully funding is nearing an end and changes are afoot, which will mean reapplying for jobs, but im glad. It's a scandal that the place can run as it is.

This week im off to a wedding down south. Im going on my own as Caleb wasn't invited and DH has work. 2 child-free nights in a beautiful hotel, with a gym, swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna! Bliss! Will be very strange being on my own and i'll miss my boys but i am really looking forward to it as well! I got a beautiful Karen Millen dress off ebay to wear to the wedding.

Ive finished and mailed 2 Christmas ornaments this weekend so i will be able to show pictures of them soon. Have a good week!

Not stitching

A few months ago i received this framed Caleb piece from my friend. Its basically letters and circles cut out of fabric and hand-sewn on to a larger piece of fabric. I have no desire to stitch at the moment and so ive decided to try something similar for my niece. I cut out the fabrics last night.

Im not going to frame it, i think i'll make it into a pillow. I'll wait and see how it looks once its all sewn on.

Ive stitched 3 Christmas ornies recently, for Clare, Kathy and Jill. Now i just need to do the finishing.

Stitching is good for your health

So according to a magazine im reading, clinical studies have shown that sewing can help to reduce the three key markers of stress - blood pressure, heart rate and perspiration. It's official then, stitching is good for your health!

With that in mind, i wish i had more time for it! Life is busy at the moment and the weeks fly by. As of last week, im back at work every Wednesday. Im also on a fitness kick at the moment too, back into running and going to a body combat class at least once a week. It feels good! These dark winter days can make you sluggish otherwise.

Very belated blogiversary gifts

These, im ashamed to say, are blogiversary prizes from me to Michele and Juls from January 2008! Yes, nearly two years ago LOL In my defence, i had 4 winners and i sent Staci's and Nicola's within the year but then i got pregnant and i developed an aversion to stitching for months and Juls and Michele's gifts got postponed...for a while :)

I sent Michele the heart pin cushion and other goodies which you can see on her blog. That little pillow was a labour of love. I started it the night i went into hospital to be induced. Then, after my horrendous labour, i couldnt look at the damn thing again, let alone stitch on it, for months. Look, i found proof, here's me trying to stitch on it back in those early sleep deprived days. It's on my knee!

When i did finally decide i could put that trauma behind me and stitch on it again, i finished it and decided i was going to make it a hanging ornie. Then my sewing machine chewed it up and i spent hours trying to salvage it. I finally made it into this little pincushion. I hope it stays together Michele! So, when i sent it to Michele i told her this story behind this little labour of love! I wonder, does anyone else have something they cant stitch on because of a time they associate it with?

There is no such story behind the gift i sent to Juls. Although i did actually finish the stitching on it a year ago, i just never got round to the finishing until now. I sent Juls a little notepad and a selection of tea bags to go with her gift.

So if i ever decide to do a blogiversary competition again, be warned, it could take years for gifts to arrive!

Big ship came to town

The largest, the tallest, the longest, the most expensive Oceanliner was in town yesterday. The Queen Mary 2. Apparently she is the length of 3 football pitches. That's long! We were actually just heading into town and had missed all the hype about her arrival so we weren't expecting this sight. I took this on my phone as we were driving past.

Been stitching up a storm recently and have 2 finishes but nothing i can share as its for people who read this blog.

Caleb turned 9 months on Sunday! This year has flown by, probably because i was in a sleep deprived haze those first few months LOL

*Warning, more boring blogging about chores*My chore rota is working a dream. Its making things more manageable. Like instead of "clean the bathroom" which is a big job, its all broken down. Yesterday i cleaned the toilet, today i cleaned the bath and shower, tomorrow the floor etc etc. I can do that! I skip quite a few things, especially if i have a busy day, but its been a good guide thats for sure.

Sick week

Thanks to everyone offering to Christmas exchange! Im so tempted to exchange with all of you, but you might be waiting a few years for your gifts so just went with the first few folk to comment. Thank-you all! Clare, if you read this, will you email me cherylthomas3000 at yahoo dot com. I hope to do more exchanges this way throughout next year.

So, what a week. Our thanksgiving meal was amazing. My friend Emily (a Canadian living here) cooked up a feast. The best meal ive had all year i swear! DH (also a Canadian living here) was glad to have a "proper" thanksgiving. Caleb was a bit grumpy though so i had to leave early. Then by the evening he had a high fever and we were starting to panic. Caleb has a bladder reflux (which we found out after his hospital stay back in May) which means that when he pees some goes back up to his Kidneys, putting him at constant risk of infection. He's on long term antibiotics but a fever is the first sign that something is wrong again. So we were worried! Anyway, we got an emergency doctors appointment Monday morning and he put him on a stronger antibiotic and we had to send off pee samples etc etc. We havent had those results back yet. Turns out he had a throat infection as well. He was so miserable all day Monday. Poor baby. Then on Tuesday DH got sick and was throwing up every hour for 12 hours. Today, DH is better and back at work and Caleb is good too. Phew. Here's my little cheeky monkey

Christmas Exchange anyone?

Dont worry Kathy, one of todays "chores" was "take time for a craft/hobby." Do you think i did much else on the list after that? Err, no!

Just to prove that this is a stitching blog and not the most boring blog-about-chores blog, i have a finish. My first since July! Bent Creek's "January Snows." As i've previously mentioned, i'm stitching all 12 months on one piece of linen. As the chart is second hand i don't have the snaps but i do plan on buying some little buttons, this one needs some on the snowman's tummy! I'll add them once i've bought some.

I was wondering if one person out there in blogland would be interested in a Christmas ornie exhange? Im not part of any exchange groups anymore so just thought i'd ask on here.

This weekend i've got a baby shower to go to tomorrow and then we will be celebrating Canadian thanksgiving on Sunday with a meal at our friends house. Happy Thanksgiving to all you Canadians!