2012 WIPocalypse

I finally decided to join the WIPocalypse challenge! Most of it has been carried over from last year's Crazy Janurary Challenge....I'm gonna finish this thing if it's the last thing I do! Okay, maybe that was a bit dramatic.

Here are my WIPs!

#1- The Bookshelf- LHN

#2- Catch the Wind- Butternut Road

#3- Peggy's Cove- Stoney Creek Collection

#4- Pincushion- XCalibre Counted Blackwork

#5- Once Upon a Tree Sampler- Jeanette Douglas Designs

#6- A Frosty Feast- Crossed Wing Collection

#7- Plants of the Southwest

#8- Flower Vignette

#9- Ink Circles (I don't have one picked out yet....but I've really been itching to try one)

So, that's that! Let the stitching begin!

Turkey, Deconstructed

Step 1: 2 blondes and a brunette try to figure out how to cook a turkey for the very first time (my 2 cousins, and myself LOL)

Step 2: One very cold blonde (me) wants to heat the house up because she's freezing, and decides to make soup from the leftover turkey. She proceeds to pick the carcass apart.

Step 3: She gets hungry during the stock-making process and finds a giant box of Smarties from Christmas. She eats them, is too full for soup, and passes out into a Smartie Coma.

Step 4: She comes inside from shovelling the driveway the next day and heats up the soup.

So there you have....turkey, deconstructed.

2011 In Review

As 2011 is coming to a close in just a few short days, I've started thinking about the past year and what I've accomplished. I've also started thinking about what challenges in stitching and in life I'd like to work on in the coming year.

So I dragged myself a whole year back in blogging to check out my 2011 resolutions. They included:

1. Complete the Crazy January Challenge
2. Wash my car more often
3. Run a half marathon
4. Be more organized
5. Be more grateful

I'm happy to be able to say that I did run a half marathon (YEAHHHH), I washed my care once or twice, which was more than it had been washed the year before, I moved into a house which forced me to become a little bit more organized (although this one could still use work), and being more grateful is an ongoing practice that I've been working at all year.

I'm glad that I decided to use this blog as a way of tracking the books I read as well (see "Books Read in 2011" page) and am happy with the outcome- 18 books. That's more than one a month, plus work, school and running....so, that's an accomplishment for 2011!

As for the Crazy January Challenge....well....let's just say that because of it, I'm not joining the WIPocalypse hahaha! I did finish a few pieces that I was very happy with, including "Zippity-do-da" and the German Shepherd. I also made significant progress on "Catch the Wind" and "The Bookshelf" which I hope to finish in the coming year.

I'll be back on New Year's Day with my new list of resolutions to work on in 2012!

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVERYONE!!!!!!

Merry Christmas Eve!

It's Christmas Eve!!! Woohoo!!! Well, I've been abandoned. My Dad and I have a standing tradition to go out for breakfast on Christmas Eve, but I got up at 6:30 this morning to discover that he had left an hour earlier to go to the city to shop. Crazy, he is. Hopefully he makes it back in one piece so that I can proceed to kill him for ditching breakfast LOL!

I'm taking this free time to catch up on blogs instead, which is just as good. I also thought I'd share a couple Christmas pictures!

I forgot my laptop at my house, so all I have are pics of my parents' house. I'll have to share my tree with you all after Christmas :-)

What's on for me today? Not much. I'm going to clean up a bit for my Mom, hit the couch and read. Oh, and watch The Help! Holly got it for me for Christmas, and I was supposed to watch it last night but I fell asleep while my Mom was watching Coronation Street LOL....then church tonight!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Ta-Daaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!

For those of you who have been following the bookshelf saga, they're totally finished, and loaded with books! Thank goodness!

My December Goal....

Is not very ambitious, BUT I think it's definately do-able! I'm notorious for setting goals and challenges up for myself and not finishing them. I've been like that ever since I was a little kid...my parents still make fun of me for being that way. I have a need to "go big or go home" because let me tell ya, the times that I actually DO finish one of these big goals, it feels awesome.

I'm sitting here at the museum with not much work to do today. It's very quiet....George and I are on our side-by-side computers. I can see that he's making notes from a WWII book...he's a retired university professor. I, for once, don't have any school work to do and I'm in between books (I just finished The Help, by the way- READ IT...I can't stress that enough, it's amazing).....so I've been catching up on all of your blogs for the past 2 hours.

It's been fantastic to see what you've all been up to! Sooo much good Christmasey stitching is happening out there! I recently finished Lizzie Kate's "Feelin' Festive" and made it into an ornament. This was my first ever attempt at "finishing" and it turned out really well. I was in such a rush to send it off to my friend Lizy in Texas as a Christmas present that I totally forgot to take a picture of it. But it did inspire me to stitch smaller projects but to actually put an effort into finishing them with backings, fabrics, ribbons and buttons.

So, my December stitching goal isn't huge, and hopefully I can actually motivate myself to get it done in time for Christmas. Here it is.....

I'm going to finish stitching "Once Upon a Tree" from last year, and actually finish it with fabric and ribbon (no picture, sorry....I'm not on my computer)

AND I'm going to start and finish this piece, from Chez Elisa:

Cute, right?! I'll keep you all updated on my progress of this classy piece!

On Second Thought.......

No need for a husband! Thanks Robin LOL!!! After 5 greulling hours and an entire container of fudge eaten....here's the result!

I Need a Husband

Can you guess what's wrong with this picture?

I'll give you a couple of hints. First, the free weight you see is being used as a hammer.

The little plastic bag is filled with pieces that I have no clue what to do with.

The directions are WRONG (I swear!!!)

Oh yeah, and the 2 pieces are actually supposed to be one tall bookshelf. Hmmmmm.......



Ornament Exchange!

My friend Lizy over at http://lizymorales.blogspot.com sent me this beautiful Christmas present! An adorable snowman ornament, a cute change purse, and a card! Thanks Lizy, I LOVE it!!

Beans and Greens!

Sooo for those of you interested, this is my new favourite recipe!

Beans and Greens

4 cups chicken or veggie stock
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
3/4 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
1 clove of garlic
2 cups red kidney beans
2 cups navy beans
2 cups chopped spinach, kale, and swiss chard
2 cups chopped chicken breast (optional)

Combine the stock, onion, quinoa, oregano, garlic and bay leaf in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients and let cook together for 30 minutes or so, or until most of the liquid is absorbed.

YUM-O!

Awww Grandma!

My friends always like to tease me and call me "Grandma" because of my grandmotherly ways. I like to stay in and cross-stitch on Friday nights rather than go out partying...I wear a lot of sweaters (haha), and carry a "grandma bag"....a large purse with everything under the sun in it. There are many other things contributing to this as well, but I'll keep the list brief.

So imagine my surprise when I had to switch into a new group with my personal trainer because of a scheduling problem and ended up in a group with 3 older ladies...some of whom actually are grandmas. The first say I thought "sure, this figures." But it's actually really fun....they're soooo funny!

They're so funny that I often tell them that they'll be the subject of my blog post that day. And I always go home intending to write about whatever hilarious thing they said but I always forget....but not this time!

Last week, the trainer, also named Jodie, said "ya know what the best cure for mastitis is? Rosehip tea."

Ethel ( ? because I suck at names): Yeah...you can just slather it right on there......I just thought I'd add that in....you know....for your blog.

A Crazy January Challenge Finish...Say Whaaat?!

Here it is folks, a Crazy January Challenge Finish! Can you believe it??

Don't!!!

Holly stitched over half of it for me :-)

You're Getting Sleepy....Verrrryyyy Sleeeepppyyyyy

My roommate and I went to a psychic fair today! It was an....interesting (?) experience, you could say. I'm not really sure why we went. I heard about it on the radio and mentioned it in casual conversation, and she wanted to go. So, off we went!

We went to a lecture on hypnosis and the speaker was amazing. I can't even remember her name...how awful is that?! Anyways, she was really funny, and had the most amazing voice that really just got inside of you, ya know?

She led us all in a relaxation hypnosis which was a really cool experience. As I went deeper into it and I could feel myself literally sinking out of my body. Like....my head was there, but I could see myself moving lower, yet my head was staying in the same place. I know, it doesn't really made much sense.

It was a neat experience.....we didn't get any psychic readings done, but it was a cool afternoon anyways.

Photo Phriday!

Yep, I know...it's a stretch. But it's dark out and I wanna sleep....

One of the garden centre ladies at work was on the news the other night talking about her idea to fill the empty fields along the Highway of Heroes with poppies. That would be sooo amazing...I can't even imagine.

Lest We Forget.



I've Run Out Of Ideas...Sooo.....

I felt that I had to steal this little literature-related questionnaire from the Stitch Bitch. I suppose one might say it was fate. I was out for a run last night and my running partner rambled for an hour and a half about how I always pick out the best books for him to read and he wanted to know how, exactly I did it...and on and on. Which was tricky to answer because a) I dont have an answer to that other than luck, reccommendations, and maybe I was trained as an english major to know just by looking at the cover whether it'll be good or not (haha right!), and b) we were involved in a long-distance route with an extreme number of hills...so I couldn't breathe, let alone talk!!!!


1. One book that changed your life?I don't think I could pinpoint just one....A Million Little Pieces was life-changing in many ways....it opened my eyes to things going on in the world that I had no clue about. But Northanger Abbey is the book that fuelled my love for literature. And The Shack....it really made me think about things.

2. One book you have read more than once? Jane Eyre and Little Women

3. One book you would want on a desert island? Just.....one? Really?

4. One book that made you laugh? I Am Ozzy

5. One book that made you cry? Of Mice and Men. It's so hearbreakingly sad, it kills me.

6. One book you wish you'd written? Memoirs of a Geisha....beautiful

7. One book you wish had never been written? Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad...I read it in first year intro english and I didn't get it! I still don't.

8. One book you are currently reading? Shantaram

9. One book you have been meaning to read? The Pillars of the Earth. I bought it 4 years ago and it's still sitting there, staring at me. Anna Karenina also...I tried once and failed terribly.

Feelin' Festive!

I've seriously gotta stop falling asleep on the couch. This post is for yesterday...LOL!

This is how far I've gotten on my first Christmas ornament of the year!

"You're Going on the DVP!!!"

*This is my post for yesterday, because I fell asleep on the couch before getting around to blogging*

Yesterday I took my brother's girlfriend Amanda shopping at Ikea. It was her birthday a couple weeks ago, and when I asked what she wanted she said she wanted me to take her to Ikea because she really wanted to see what it was like. Now, driving on the 401 isn't exactly my idea of a good time, but I caved, because I love her. It went well...until...I thought I was merging into the collectors, but was actually getting onto the DVP...not cool! I had to speed through 4 lanes of traffic to get back to where I needed to be :-S but lived!

Our trip was successful. I bought her a coffee table and a big stuffed golden retriever, because she thought it looked a lot like her puppy Reimer.

As for me...well...let's just say they had their new Christmas collection out and in full display. Combine that with the fact that I just bought my first home and don't have any holiday decorations, and you get my car filled with lights and snowflakes.

Wilmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finally got around to putting my Halloween pictures on my computer this afternoon....my friends and I dressed up as the Flintstones for the "Halloween Howl" at running! We didn't win best costume, but it was super-fun...we made them ourselves!

Erin, Kasey, Mags, Me and Hollie!
AKA Barney, Betty, Dino, Wilma and Fred LOL!

Puppies!!

There's only a month left until my puppy will be born! I'm getting really excited, and I even got to go visit the puppy parents this past weekend. They're Shiloh Shepherds, and absolutely amazing. Here are a couple of pics from my visit...

Zeus, the father

Envy, the mother



A few of you seemed really interested in my nutrition tips from the lecture I went to yesterday....so I'll offer another one today! Don't be afraid of fat. As long as it's good fat, it's necessary. Did you know that if you eat a carrot on its own you're getting tons of Beta Carotene, and you should be getting lots of Vitamin A too. But Vitamin A is fat soluble and can only be absorbed by the body if you eat it with a fat! Interesting!!

The Mystery of the Banana

Bananas. I love em! I think they're the perfect energy food and I've been known to consume them in ridiculous amounts.

But did you know......

.....that bananas can deplete your Vitamin D levels? This is especially dangerous to us Canadians who don't get nearly enough Vitamin D in the winter months. How, you ask? Well.....bananas are high in potassium and sugar, which tricks our bodies into thinking it's the summer, a time when Vitamin D isn't as necessary, so our bodies don't hold onto the D that we do have, thinking it's readily available.

Cool, eh? Apparently eating seasonally is very important. I went to a nutrition lecture tonight and it was really interesting, and made a lot of sense. The name of the lecture was "The Secret to Warding Off the Winter Blues" and gave lots of tips on how to eat in order to keep your body functioning happily and healthily, even when it's     -30 out and sunlight and warmth are scarce.

NaBloPoMo!

It's National Blog Posting Month!! I have to thank Dani over at http://tkdchick.blogspot.com/ for bringing this to my attention this afternoon! The idea is to post every day...sooooo get ready for daily ramblings!! Woohoo!

I started stitching my first Christmas ornament today....I joined Becky's Christmas Ornament Challenge over at Becky Bee's Stitching Hive...it'll help me get ornaments done to give away as gifts this year :-)

More to come tomorrow!

A Snuggie and A Half-Marathon!

Hey! You'll never guess what I found at the local cross-stitch store today! A Q-Snap SNUGGIE!!!

Cool, eh??

Onto another topic....this weekend was really important for me...I accomplished one of my biggest goals- I ran a half-marathon! My friends and I ran the Scotiabank Waterfront Half-Marathon on Sunday and it was amazing!! Did any of you hear about the 100 year old whow as running the full marathon? We saw him walk past us while we were waiting outside of our hotel, that was really cool.

Kasey and I ran the whole race together and crossed the finish line together, which was just soooo amazing. Erin2 twisted her foot in a streetcar rail and had to drop out around 10k....and I then spent the rest of the day in the ER with her...luckily nothing was broken.

Here are a couple of pics!

We may look a little haggard, but after running 21.1k, we're both still standing!!



I'm Working On.....

The Bookshelf by LHN.........

Thanks for all your comments about my Christmas dilemma! I think it's a unanimous decision.....I'm stitchin' presents!!!

Decisions, Decisions!

Hello there my stitchy friends!

As I'm sure you're all aware, Christmas is just around the corner! I had this oh so brilliant thought come to me last night while sitting around lamenting the benefits of saving money, that I would cut back on Christmas presents this year. Instead of buying everyone and their dog a present, I thought I'd make some instead! A little basket of homemade jam...made my yours truly of course, a little packet of cookies perhaps, or crackers to go with the jam (now there's a thought!), maybe a little decorative spreading knife or some such thing, and....wait for it......a stitched ornament!!!

The issue at hand is this: I have far too much stitching on the go as it is...see: Crazy January Challenge: Jodie's Epic Failure. So...do I continue on with the Challenge that will never end, or take a little break and stitch some ornaments? Oh dear, what a dilemma!

I'm BACK!!!

Well, true to my "pattern," it's fall, and I'm back at my stitching! I think it's become clear that I won't complete my Crazy January Challenge...but who knows what could happen! Perhaps I'll just have to extend it another year and keep at it.

I wanted to show you all my new stitching chair...I bought a house, am all moved in, and finally have a chair and a window, two things my old basement apartment was seriously lacking. Here it is!

I'm working on The Bookshelf by LHN right now and I'm making pretty good progress on it. I'm hoping to have it finished soonishly to put up in my "library," the room with all of my bookshelves.

I hope you're all well, I'll be getting around to your blogs later in the week :-)

Where Have I Beeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnn?!?!?!?!

Not stitching much, unfortunately.

I think I recognize a pattern here haha! The same thing happened last summer....I dropped off the face of the planet sometime around mid-June, then resurfaced in September.

I've been working a lot, packing a lot, getting ready to move (2 weeks!), shopping for furniture, more packing, running, cottaging....trying to spend some time with my parents...and looking forward to my holidays! (2 weeks from today!!! Let the stitching commence!!!!)

Erin, Todd and I taught another clinic...this is our goal race

My relatives came to visit....

Holly and Ted renewed their vows....

Reimer learned to swim....

I hung out with Dad and Cooper..

...went to visit the Johnny billboard....

...and Cait posed infront of the giant Toonie!



...that's where I've been!

A New House and a Puppy!

Phew....after this post I'll have you all caught up on the last month! What a crazy time for work (TOO many hours!) and running (TOO many kilometers) and housework (NEVER enough time!) haha!

So....exciting news! My brother and I bought a house together!!!!!! We split evenly on a raised bungalow with separate entrances. He'll live in the walk-out basement with Amanda and Reimer, and I'll live in the upper part! We don't move until Sept. 1st....but I'm so so so excited! I'm really glad that we thought of this option and were able to do it civilly and with the help of our parents, and find something we could all decide on. After living in a basement apartment underneath a couple of 75 year olds who (although I love them dearly) sometimes drive me nuts...this is a HUGE deal for me :-) Here it is!

And, even more exciting, is that assuming all goes as planned, I'm getting a puppy in the fall!!!!! I fell in love with the Shiloh Shepherd breed and I CAN'T WAIT to have one! Any name suggestions? I'm pretty set on Finn for a male dog....full name being Finnigan of course, but I'll call him Finn. Still open to suggestions though. And of course, if his personality dictates a different name, I won't be totally set on Finn. Maybe Roxy for a girl? Not sure. Here's a pic...just a random Shiloh from google images LOL!

In The Shower With Justin Bieber!

Justin Bieber Weekend 2011

What an occasion!! Justin Bieber was so excited about Cait turning 11 that he hopped in the shower with us!!!!!

Some of you might remember last year's Twilight Weekend 2010 to celebrate Cait's 10th birthday. Well.....last weekend was Bieber Weekend, and it was an AWESOME time!!!!

Holly, Cait, Tomi and I headed to the cottage Friday after work, had Chinese food...yummmmy!! Then cranked the Bieb!

The weather was perfect...sunny and hot. We spent most of it outside...the girls swimming....me occasionally swimming, and Holly and I on the deck with the puppies Miley and Maddie!

We also made Bieber concert t-shirts (obviously!!!!), watched his movie, painted our nails with nail polish from Bieb's "One Less Lonely Girl" collection, drank out of 3D Bieber cups, had a silly string fight.....and then made some Smores, for good measure. It was a fantastic weekend!!!!! Pics..... :-)

Cait, the Bieb, and Tomi!

Cait helping me with my sparkles!

Cait and Tomi investigating the island that appeared!

All of us with our Bieb shirts on!

Me and my chicklets :-)

The Huron Shores Rotary Race!

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to run in a really great race, and one that supported a charity that's really important to me.

Erin and I took off around 6pm Friday night and headed for Southampton, the town my Grandpa lives in, to run in the Huron Shores Rotary 10k Saturday morning. I had been up since 4am working, and....long story short, we ended up lost at 11:30pm in a town with no gas stations or convenience stores, then I hallucinated people on bikes (turned out to be a stop sign), and then, around 1am, we ended up at my Grandpas, and I will forever be made fun of for getting lost on the way to somewhere I've driven to a hundred million times.

Saturday started off pretty shaky with extreme thunderstorms and torrential downpours. We headed down to the main street anyways since we had no way to listen to the news to find out if it was cancelled, since the power was out! It was postponed for a half hour, someone had seen a tornado, and nobody could figure out what to wear....it was cold, but would it be humid along the shoreline? Would it keep raining? Should we wear the shirts they handed out?

Anyways, it turned out to be an awesome race....it ran along the shore of Lake Huron and was breathtaking. It was my most challenging race to date...my stomach was not impressed with something I had eaten the day before, but we both had a great time.

More importantly, the race raised $14,000 for mammogram machines for the hospital. I ran this race for my Grandma who passed away 9 years ago at only 59, and if the hospital had had those machines back then, she might still be here. So...YAY for such a successful event!! Here are some pics :-)

Me, Erin, and our ponchos LOL

Trying to Stay Warm

Erin Finishing....only 20 seconds away from breaking 1 hour!

Me finishing!

With my Grandpa :-)