Monthly Archives: June 2015

Yay, it’s Monday

Posted in family, grateful, league, Mirabilia by

As in, this weekend was a killer! I’ve come back to work for a holiday 🙂

On Saturday Zac was injured in his league game. The person tackling him bent his fingers back, and the result is a broken 5th proximal phalanx – or the first bone of his right little finger. He’s casted just to protect him from knocking it around but as it’s the championship series already, this is probably the end of his league season both for the club and for school. Neither of us are impressed, but it’s an accident. I can let you know that the White Cross A&E has a better selection of kids’ reading at St Lukes, with better magazines at Henderson. Should have had my eReader with me!

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On Sunday we went out to Pakuranga league club for the delayed Under 6 Gala. We only had the minimum number of players but I had a ball. These six are a great group of kids, and the family groups are funny & genuine. A big change from last year! We didn’t win the Best & Fairest trophy but I think they gained a lot of confidence & I was proud of how they played.

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So as a result, not one stitch in any WIP, which is a worry as I have to post my NZ RR this Friday. I can see some late nights in my future! And rather stupidly, I have TWO copies of a Mira on the way, as I thought one online shop had forgotten my order…so if anyone wants a copy of Mermaids of the Deep, please email me. Sale or Swap for one I don’t have is fine 🙂

Also for fellow stitchers, Chiara raises some interesting points: https://thegreytail.wordpress.com/2015/06/26/real-stitchers-dont-steal/

High 5 for Friday!

Posted in family, grateful, High Five For Friday by

High Five

LISTENING: to TobyMac, Olly Murs, TayTay (can’t get away from her!), Ministry of Sound – iPod is on shuffle today.

READING: The Gamble by Kristen Ashley and Empress Dowager Cixi by Jung Chang. I know virtually nothing about Chinese history, so it’s interesting. I keep having to text Wenjie to ask how to pronounce things tho! Cixi – She Sea. You’ve learnt something today too.

gamble Cixi

PINNING: far too much! Kitchen tables made from old wooden doors, cross stitch stuff, One Little Word stuff – or stealing it from other blogs.

broken fence

CRAFTING: only seven sleeps before I need to post my NZ RR piece. Haven’t sorted out the signature panels yet!

DOING: Procrastinating about work, finally updating my job description and “just in case I get hit by a bus or win Lotto” manual. It will feel good once I’ve completed it. Or so I keep telling myself!

CELEBRATING: I brought a skirt yesterday (I know). It is a design I’ve wanted for a while but couldn’t find (I know). It was on sale (I know). There was another 30% off (I KNOW!). I must have got one of the last as it’s no longer on their website, but there are still some lovely things at www.maxshop.com

SPOILING SIMON: I’m picking up some new footy boots for him today. Coincidently it’s at a Rebel right opposite Ribbon Rose. Score!

LOSING COUNT: Of the ammt of times I have touched my kids this week. Was so grumpy at B this morning but I am grateful that I can be grumpy at him. Does that make sense? Besides, it was mildly satisfying this morning to whack on his bedroom light and strip the covers off at 6am – offset the feelings I had when looking at the kitchen!

LOSING COUNT PART II: Yes, this is more than 5. So what?

You Can Quote Me & a Smalls check-in

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As always, YCQM reflects some portion of my One Little Word for 2015, Serenity. This week’s it’s a new-to-me scripture. It’s helping. I hate that for Farrah, life has to go on in its little routines but life is going to be so different.

tears are prayers

For the Smalls check-in, I decided again to use my round robin piece (she was only 12-13hours all up, but an hour of that would have been the lettering).  This is Mediterranean Mermaid (my friend Lynne calls her “Jug”, as she is normally carrying an amphore). I chose this piece as I have the whole thing kitted up and stitch it at hospital each time Mase is admitted. I haven’t stitched on the big piece all year! Winning!

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It’s nearly time to send out the first set of our NZXS Facebook groups RR’s. Pretty excited to see what I will stitch, as the three others in my group have some very different tastes J It will be nice to do something completely out of the norm (Angela is as big a Halloween freak as I am Christmas) but surprise! I am still on a Nora kick so my piece is the four faces, in a 50*50 square. From left to right they are intended to be:

  • Spring Queen

    spring

    spring

  • Garden Verses

    garden verses

    garden verses

  • Damask Roses

    damask roses

    damask roses

  • Peony Garden md111lg

Verses looks wrong – so far the suggestions from the FB Mira, Mira page range from Sabrina, Elizabeth, Persephone (my big WIP, I’ve already ruled her out), Roses of Provence (love her but don’t own her yet), Florentina (I don’t like her face, she looks sneaky & sly! But I love the cat. I posted to Nora that I’d stitch a whole series based on that cat), Lady of the Mist (love her too! But still to own & I think only with Stargazer, Rose of Sharon and maybe Mother’s Bliss in a series) or Villa Mirabilia.  I’m going to ask Zeb if she has Provence, and if I can “borrow” that portion.

florentina

florentina

ROP

Roses of Provence

elizabeth

elizabeth

hera

Lady Hera

sabrina

sabrina

mist

Lady of the Mist

The centre plant is the rose bush from Damask Roses, but I converted the leaves to make a bit brighter. The charted colours just washed out on the confederate grey fabric.

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This:

Posted in family, friends, grateful, OLW by

I spent a good portion of last night just watching my children. Bran didn’t know for a bit that I was grieving, but he picked up on the sadness and was so gentle. He stayed up with Simon and I, just relaxing (they watched Lewis while I read & surfed comments others had made on Farrah’s FB posts) then when I got back up, I found he’d spent 30 min or so just sitting beside Z in this room, calming Z down as he is nervous about the Interzone Rugby tournament today.

This is what Farrah won’t experience again. And that makes me well up again.

“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others”

Pericles (Greek Statesman, c 420BC)

Charlie

Charlie

I’ve decided that I will be making a donation to the local Cystic Fibrosis organisation in Charlie’s name.

http://cfnz.org.nz/you-can-help-2/

If you’re in the States and you wish to donate, or to understand more about the disease, we think Charlie’s chapter was likely the Houston one, or you can donate at Walgrens until the end of June.

Texas Gulf Coast Chapter – Houston
50 Briar Hollow Lane
Suite 250E
Houston, TX  77027
p: (713) 621-0006
Email: texas-gulf@cff.org
Contact: Executive Director: Ms. Sissy Boyd

Here’s a bit of a teary story as to why the disease is also known as 65 Roses: http://www.cff.org/aboutCFFoundation/About65Roses/

the semicolon project

Eloquent and graceful; this is a must-read

heatherparrie94's avatarhpwritesblogs

FullSizeRender-1FullSizeRender Today I went to a tattoo artist, and for $60 I let a man with a giant Jesus-tattoo on his head ink a semi-colon onto my wrist where it will stay until the day I die. By now, enough people have started asking questions that it made sense for me to start talking, and talking about things that aren’t particularly easy.

We’ll start here: a semi-colon is a place in a sentence where the author has the decision to stop with a period, but chooses not to. A semi-colon is a reminder to pause and then keep going. 

In April I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety. By the beginning of May I was popping anti-depressents every morning with a breakfast I could barely stomach. In June, I had to leave a job I’d wanted since I first set foot on this campus as an incoming freshmen because of my mental…

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WIP Wednesday

Posted in family, me, Mirabilia, round robin, Smalls SAL by

So I screwed myself over when I said I’d possibly have a finish by now. The whole family has had one bug after another (I’m hoping that B’s vomiting last night is due to something he and he alone ate!) and I didn’t pick this up for three days. Still hoping to have a finish by next Wed, the Smalls check in date.

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I also fell in love with the new Mira release, the Raven Queen. She’s on order now.

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I did Mase’s reading with him last night (he usually does this with Grandma). He’s reading early chapter & nonfiction already!

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