Special Birthday Weekend

Last weekend I was invited to a very special birthday weekend with a wonderful friend of mine.  She was turning a magic number and invited 13 of her friends, all the way from grade school, college, work, and through having children.  I fell into the having children group, her son and the gmen went to day care/preschool together.

Here we are crossing over the Bay Bridge.

The beach was just a block away from the house - it was beautiful!

We were far enough away from the boardwalk that "our" beach was pretty empty except for some birds.

This is looking at the house from the beach.

Her awesome husband rented the "Purple House" in Bethany Beach for us to stay in, Friday to Sunday.  It was fantastic!

On Saturday morning, she arranged for a class from a personal trainer.  I know I should have joined in, but then who would have taken the pictures?!

Before

Starting

Finishing - they did it!

Cute dogs playing in the freezing cold water!  I know it's freezing because I actually walked in there barefoot.

I didn't know anyone except the birthday girl, so I was thrilled to meet, ride with, and room with, a fellow crafter!  She likes to knit and she looked online and found a knitting/stitching store in Bethany.  I knew there was one in Ocean City, but thrilled to find one here.

 She found a beautiful pattern and yarn to knit a sweater, and I found some stitching.

I really hope I don't have this one already, but I love it!

I don't think I've ever seen this one before, this is great.  I love the fabric and I'm hoping I can still find it.

Then I found this for $1, perfect for Halloween!

Here is the piece I finally finished for her, I had everyone sign it instead of stitching their names.  On the sides are the two kinds of wine she likes, but she needs to have a glass or two first in order to actually read them!  It's the only way I could fit them in.

I tried to get the wine frame, but it wasn't there so I chose the sun instead.  It actually worked out better since we were at the beach and we had an absolutely beautiful sunny day on Saturday. 

Many thanks to DJ for helping me frame this - she worked her magic again!

I thought the round window at the house looked like the Minion's glass, so here they are together!

Very sad to leave the Eastern Shore, we really had a roaring good time!

SHINE fm Sharathon

This was my second year helping out at the SHINE fm Sharathon, and once again it didn't disappoint.  This is the Christian radio station I love!

I came for part of the day on Tuesday, most of the day on Wednesday and then after picking up the boys and throwing some food their way, I went back.  

This is us in the phone centre, waiting for calls.  You can see me taking the picture, I'm sitting in the "hot seat", #1 - that's the busiest phone!  I got to meet more amazing people, those who volunteer like me and those who work behind the scenes at the station.  

Being able to answer the phone is truly amazing.  I feel so blessed to speak to fellow listeners and hear their stories.  This year I actually wrote down some of the prayer requests so I could continue to pray for them.

For the first time ever, one lovely woman asked ME what I would like prayer for!  How awesome is that?!

Then there are those who offer what they can - A volunteer offered his time because he's waiting for his job to start, the little sisters who donated $1 and $5, those who couldn't donate but others donated in their honour, how wonderful!

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  2 Corinthians 9:7.

In addition to answering the phones, some of us were also writing thank you cards/postcards to those who donated.  I get to go back tomorrow to finish that up - yeah!  And here's a special shout out to Vicki and Tina who organised the scheduling for the Sharathon - great job!

Here's the morning crew - Dave, Tracey and Mike, doing their thing.

After the morning show, Mike must be been bored!

Here I am "on the air", NOT!  I was writing cards and took the opportunity to fake it!  Although when my godfather in Britain saw this when I posted it on fb, he thought I'd gotten a new job!  My Dad called me the next morning after receiving an email from him and wanted to know why they weren't told!

Wednesday night, goodnight.

Goodnight Baltimore!

Unfortunately, I could only help out those two days but it continued until Friday.  The best news?  In the last 60 seconds, they reached their goal!  Here's to another year with many more to come.

And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.  

1 Chronicles 29:13.

The strangest place you've ever...

Stitched?!

Spur of the moment - I needed a pedicure because I'm going away for a girls birthday weekend at the beach.  I'm hoping it will be nice enough to walk in the sand so I needed the toes to look pretty just in case!  BRING ON SUMMER!

But I'm working on a joint gift and really needed to stitch, so I though I would kill two birds with one stone.  (Can't show it since you never know who might be looking!)

The salon had no music to listen to because their xm radio was broken.  So I got to listen to my station, 95.1 SHINE fm, on my phone.  They are doing their annual Sharathon and I got to listen and see how they're doing.  I helped out yesterday and the day before, and I loved it!  That adventure will be my next posting...

ANYWAY, where's the strangest place you've ever stitched?

Why Demo?

Why did we demo the house?  Many reasons - 

It was paid for several years ago, so it saved us buying a piece of property.

We like the lot and the location, but we've outgrown it.  Garrett had a makeshift "bedroom" in the basement, but no bathroom there.

The family room and front room were way too narrow.

It needed work, like a new roof to start with.

I had originally suggested adding to it, but DH was tired of the old, used brick and wanted to start new - how can I argue with that?!

We had some wonderful times and memories there, with lots of pictures to prove it!  The gmen were only six months old when we moved in, hard to believe they'll be 16 next month.  

I was the only one of the family that watched it come down, I took pictures and recorded it for DH and the boys.  My best friend growing up, Tara, was sweet enough to come and join me to keep me company.  My wonderful neighbour, Margo, joined us for a little bit too.  It was exciting, but scary and sad at the same time.  It didn't really hit me until that evening after I got home.  I was emotionally, mentally, and physically drained.  I didn't think it would hit me that hard, but it did.  DH and the boys?  Destruction, they were excited!  

My girlfriend, Kari, wrote this beautifully - 

"Just think of all the new memories you will make in your brand new home! :)  And also you must remember that your home is wherever Paul and your 3 boys are... the old home although having lots of wonderful memories for you is only the shell that you and your family made those memories in.  I know it is emotional and of course you have the emotional connections to the old house, but just try to remember this time is just a stepping stone for the next wonderful memories that will be made!  Love you!"

Thank you, dear Kari, I really needed that.

As of Tuesday, we finally received our building permit!

If you'd like to follow our journey, please let me know so I can send you an invite to a private "blog". 

Fun stuff!

 Thanks for the input on my last post, I think I'm going to skip the mat and buy the frame that goes with it.

So instead of having the ladies sign the mat, they can sign the frame instead.  That's the plan... at least for now.

February and March (so far) has been pretty busy around here - from getting our house taken down...

making Welsh cakes for St. David's Day... 

making my first King Cake for Mardi Gras... 

to enjoying a visit from my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. 

Ending on a funny, I told Nathan I liked his snow angel and he said, "That's not a snow angel, Griffin pushed me!"

One more - we received a food bag to fill from the Boy Scouts, at our empty lot!

Got any ideas?

So one of my girlfriend's is celebrating her 50th birthday next month.  There's a group of us going to the beach in Delaware for a weekend to celebrate.

There will be wine involved, but I'm sure it won't be quite like this! 

My thought for a birthday gift was to stitch this, but to also include the ladies coming, the date, the beach, and the wine she likes.  I thought I would add it to the outside of the border.  I won't be using this frame since it won't fit if I do that, but maybe use a beach theme.

Anything thoughts as to how?  Backstitch or block?  Same style, something different?  Just on top and bottom, or include the sides?

And other ideas or suggestions would be appreciated! 

Grow Your Blog Winner and more love

I had some help picking out the winner...

Lucky DebraKay!  I'll send you an email soon to find out where you'd like your gift certificate from - you must have a favourite quilting shop perhaps?

Thanks to those of you who left comments, I wish you all could have won!

Here are Max and Ming showing some love on Valentine's Day.  I think he's whispering sweet nothings in her ear!

 DH and I don't really "do" Valentine's Day, that should really be an everyday occurrence!  But we do make each other a card, I get flowers of some kind, and I make him the iced sugar cookies he loves.  Extra bonus, he made dinner for the family!  He chose burrito pie and it was wonderful.

These are the "secret" flowers I received - he got them after a meeting for work.  The "I can't tell you anything" kind of meeting.  I'm not asking, just enjoying!

Today we went to visit with Nana before she takes a break from all this snow and heads to Florida.  This is the second scarf I've made her, the first one was stolen when she went to a doctors appointment, can you believe it?!  I wonder what that person will say when someone asks where they got it - Oh, I just picked it up somewhere!

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

Friends are kisses blown to us by angels ~ Author Unknown

I hope you have lots of kisses in your life!

Sweetheart Jo has once again organized the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop.  Head over to her blog to see the other stitchy pieces!

This is the picture I received, isn't it lovely?  Please, let me/us know who stitched this sweet piece!

I know this is seven years old, but we're still feeling the love!

Wishing you a hug filled day, today and every day.

Snow Fun!

It started snowing here yesterday evening, with the prediction of anywhere from 6-12".  School was cancelled for Thursday and DH planned on staying home too, wahoo!

So at midnight I thought we should go for a little walk in the snow.  It was so quiet and peaceful, just us and the snow.

It was really coming down and it made everything look so pretty.

And hey, look, Christmas Valentine lights!  I knew it was a good idea to keep them on!

Last night DH and the gmen brought over the snow blower from the other house, good thing!  He loves playing with his toy and helped out the neighbours too.  When measured, we got about 13" with more to come.  

It rained/sleeted for a while this afternoon, but now it's snowing again.  Here are our kitty cat prints in the once cleared front step.

On a stitchy note - I've had this pattern for ages and love it.  I know I won't get it done in time for this season, but there's always next year!

THROWBACK THURSDAY

Our gmen at 10 months old, just precious!  Best baby "sled" ever!

Nathan used it eight years later when he was three months old.
Now it's just a laundry basket - no more babies!

I hope wherever you are, you are dry and warm.

The Growing of the Blogs has begun!

"A friend may be waiting behind a stranger's face."
~ Maya Angelou

Thanks to Vicki @ 2 Bags Full, for organizing this Grow Your Blog party!  
 

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Astrid, and I love dragons!  And mermaids!  And cats!  And polar bears!  And that's it... for now!

My DH and I have been married for 18.5 years, together for 23+.  We have identical twin boys, the gmen, who are almost 16 and are just learning how to drive - very scary!  Nathan is our seven year old and keeps us all on our toes.  Our furbabies are Ming and Max, and they are very loved!  We are in the process of rebuilding our home, but that's another "blog".

I was born in Wales, but moved to the States with my parents and older brother when I was two years old.  Thus, the love of dragons!  Growing up, we would travel to Germany (Mom's family) and Great Britain (Dad's family and friends) every two years for the summer and a couple of times I went on my own.  The last time I was in Wales was for my Pop's funeral, about ten years ago.  I know things have changed, but I would love to take my family there one of these days!

This blog was originally supposed to be just about stitching, but then I found more "stuff" to write about!  I'm hoping to get my mojo back to start this little guy from HAED.  I just got some new fabric today, I didn't like what I originally used - luckily it was only a few lines.  The artist is Randal Spangler and he's supposed to be at a craft show I'm hoping to go to tomorrow, too cool!  (Really, it's been freezing here!)

My latest big finish was my Trick or Treat Fairy, I just need to get her framed.

So even though this isn't a requirement, I will be having a give-a-way.  What you ask?  I have no idea!  But I do have a great LNS nearby, I'm sure I can find something fun.  And if you're not a stitcher?  No worries, I'm sure I can find something else just for you.  Just leave me a comment telling me your favourite dessert.  Why?  Because I want to know if I'm missing something good!  I would have to say my favourite is lemon meringue pie, yum.  
The winner will be picked on February 15th - along with all the other blogs participating.  Be sure to check them all out!  I can't promise I'll be able to look at all the blogs this weekend, but I'll definitely start.