October TUSAL and a birthday

So much for posting any summer TUSALs, but here's October!  I really have been stitching, but for whatever reason it just doesn't look that way.

 

I found this pic on the internet, but couldn't find out where it originated from to give credit.  Nathan saw it and now wants one... we'll see!

 

Sunday was my Dad's birthday so we went to visit for the day.  I thought he was 74, but I gave him an extra year by mistake. 

 His friend gave him a garden gnome that has a motion sensor and speaks when activated.  Cute, but one can only hear it so many times!  Here's a few of the things he says -

"Let's shake hands... just kidding!"
"Hey you, no you're not crazy, I am talking to you"
"Psst... Is the coast clear? That flipping dog thinks I am a hydrant!"
"I see London, I see France, oh dear, I see someone's underpants"
"You know what they say? There's no place like gnome"

 

Here's our group family photo - we can't leave the house until Dad takes enough pictures to drive the boys crazy!

 

PUMPKINS for Cathey!

This post is to celebrate Cathey's blogoversary and her love of pumpkins - my kind of gal!  What better way is there to get into the pumpkin spirit by checking out all the posts dedicated to her via Daffycat.

Wishing you all the best, Cathey, I hope you have a very special day today enjoying all the pumpkins.  Continued prayers to your health and strength for each day.

 

Pink Pumpkins for the cure

 

 

I knew this was missing something... a little pumpkin!



Hugs and stitches, Astrid

Finally, a Finish!!!

It only took me all summer, but I finally finished March... with a little help from my friends!

 

Of course I had to change some of the colours, I didn't like the brown and green lettering so I chose the purple and blue, more spring like.  I also had to include the Welsh Dragon since St. David's Day is March 1st.

 

Later today I need to ransack look through my stash to start April's garden.  I hope I can find it in all these boxes, wish me luck!

The boys have been keeping us busy with the gmen playing football and Nathan starting Cub Scouts.  The gmen's team have won two out of three games, big improvement from last year!

 DH and Nathan got to go camping in the rain on Saturday and Nathan loved it!  When they came back home on Sunday, he wanted to set up the tent so he could sleep in it again.  Darn, too bad it was a school night!

 

Zipline Footage and Moving Fun

Finally, here it is, the Travel Channel Ziprider at Icy Strait Point. 

 

Check us out at 00:15 minutes, we're the ones going down into the clouds!

 

Then check us out at 1:22 minutes, we're standing at the back of the line, I'm wearing my pink hooded jacket and the gmen are in front of me.  Not sure why this one came later, we were in line waiting to go down!



Pic of us going downnnnnn

The reason I haven't been reading blogs, writing blogs or stitching?  We FINALLY moved!
Nothing like having friends come over to help pack and move us out.  I think these two were having way too much fun, all I heard was laughing!

 

Two of the gmen's friends helped us too, doesn't hurt to have four football players moving furniture and boxes! 

Caravan of vehicles full of our goodies.

Now the rest of the fun begins, unloading.


We've settled in, but still have lots some boxes to go through.  We've even had a visitor come say hello.

Ming wishing she could go out and play.

 

I've actually been able to stitch in the evening while watching Army Wives on Netflix on my phone.  We moved in on the 1st and Comcast was scheduled to come that afternoon.  They actually came early and ready to set us up, only to find out that the house wasn't wired for Comcast, only Verizon.  Bummer!  To make a long story short, Comcast came and put the wires in and then didn't come back when they told me they were coming.  I found out we were never scheduled and someone would call me back ASAP.  That was Thursday early afternoon and I'm still waiting.  In the meantime, Verizon came today and set us up which was great, but then found out we don't get BBC America.  WHAT?!  We would get it only if we downgrade and lose channels or upgrade and pay more.  Not a happy camper at the moment.  Really wish there was a third option, both of their customer service sucks!  And that was the shortened version!

Zipping on Down the Line, Literally!

While on our awesome vacation to Alaska this summer, one of the stops on the cruise was to Icy Strait Point in Hoonah.  I loved that all the shops there were Alaskan owned and operated.  The soaps in the soap shop smelled amazing, I wanted to buy every one!

We got to see more totem poles, I really liked this one.

One of the other things we saw was this zip line station waaaay up the mountain.

There was a waiting area at the bottom, where I was taking pictures of the people coming down and they looked like they were having fun!

So even before the beer started, Kelly started having us "placing bets" on which rider would come down first.  Six come down at a time and we were there a while!

 

It looked like so much fun, five of us decided to go! 

After about a 1/2 hour ride to the top, and after being told to walk about five minutes down the dirt road (watch out for bears!), this is what it looked like once we got up there.

FYI, it's about 5,330 feet long, about a 1,300 foot vertical drop, 60+ mph speed, 300 feet highest point from the ground and a 1.5 minutes ride of your life!  Ready?  Now let's go have some fun!

This is what we saw looking down.  I don't know what's worse, not knowing what's down there or seeing how high you are.  Don't forget, I DON'T LIKE HEIGHTS! 

The gmen ready to go...

This is supposedly a camera crew from the Travel Channel.  They said something would be aired this month, but I haven't found anything yet. 

Getting strapped in.

What we looked like from the bottom, just coming out of the clouds.

There we go!!!

Lucky me, I came in first.

Now I would love to say I have a video of my trip down, but because I chose to wear the stupid goggles so I wouldn't lose my glasses, I didn't push the button properly to record it!  Oh well, I guess that means we'll just have to go back.

This is a blurry picture from our trip down, Meghan had her phone a rolling!  Coming out of the clouds was so cool, everything just appeared right in front of you.  That's our ship on the left.

For someone who doesn't like heights, I've been on a zip twice and I'm ready for my next trip!  I know there are zip line places near us, there just might be an afternoon of fun coming up soon.  Or maybe I should just take another balloon ride?

Travelling Pattern Winner and Lots of Houses!

I know Wednesday has come and gone, but I did actually get a winner for the travelling pattern, it's just taken me this long to post it!  Between packing up the house and football, it's been just a little crazy around here.  Anyway, Nathan helped me pick and it was DJ!  I promise this wasn't planned, because she happened to be coming over the following day and I was able to give it to her then.

 

I wish I had looked at everyone's finished piece before starting mine, I think I changed the colour of the writing at least three times!  I think the fabric I chose made some of the floss seem very dull so I wanted to brighten it up a bit.

As a side note, I did send out emails to all of the stitchers to ask if it was okay to post their finished picture and link.  Everyone said yes, except those that never responded.  For those that didn't respond, I still posted their picture with the link to their blog.  So now I'm wondering, is that really an okay thing to do as long as you're giving them the credit by linking to their blog?  I know I don't have a problem with someone posting my pieces as long as it's linked to me, but what about everyone else?  Thoughts?
So, if I have messed up anyone's link or picture, please let me know so I can correct it.  Or, if you'd rather not have your picture and link shown, I'll remove it.

AND... here we go, almost thirty "Count your Blessings" from Shakespear's Peddler.  

 

Astrid, that's me!

Carolyn 

 

Cucki

 

Sharon

March Ann

 

Mary

Erica

McKenna

 Lindsay

 



 Cath

 

Lynn

Ariadne

Kathy 

 

 

Dani 

Julie 

Kate

Christine

 

 

 Kath

Unfortunately no picture or email to ask, hasn't blogged since Dec. '12.

 

 Michelle

No picture on her blog, haven't received a response from my email yet.

 

Lesleyanne

Sally

 

Mouse

Jo

Erin

Lynda

Nataly

Terri

Patty

Karen

And the wonderful stitcher who started it all, Daffycat!

 

Thanks so much Daffycat/Sharon for making this a fun project!  I hope everyone has enjoyed looked at all many ways this has been stitched, I love how each one is unique.  I'm looking forward to seeing it move on and stitched again and again... 
Get busy DJ, I want to see what you come up with! xox