A Tired...But Proud Dragon!!

Ever since Bethany started “helping” me with the groceries on Wednesday mornings, I have had a little pact with myself (and with her). Before I go anywhere near the store, I get an hour’s workout in at St. Patrick’s Family Centre where we have a family membership. For the past 2 years, it has been a one hour aerobics class of step and sweat, while Bethany plays with other “workout orphans” under the watchful eye of Brenda, the incredible lady hired by the centre for parents who want to get fit.

After Christmas, I decided that my body was just a little too used to the type of workout I’d been doing (and occasionally teaching)... so I decided to take a 10 week session of adult swimming lessons. Just another way to exercise... right??

Wow! I discovered that some of my muscles didn’t get used in aerobics... that doing laps of crawl is much harder than doing step routines and that somewhere along the line after I finished taking swimming lessons, I stopped trying to breathe on my left side during crawl and just stuck to my right. The first two weeks, as I struggled with bilateral breathing and not trying to drink half the pool, I felt like I was that awkward kid again who was never good at sports. By the time I finished 2 laps of the pool, my arms felt like lead and I had no style or form what-so-ever. But... I was certainly getting a more intense workout than I had been in a while! I was even learning how to do the Back Crawl... which I had never mastered at all during my Red Cross Swim lessons over 30 years ago.

Today was our “evaluation” session since the program wraps up next week. I managed to do 100 meters of crawl ( 6 full pool lengths) , 100 meters of back crawl, 50 meters of breast stroke, 50 meters of elementary backstroke and then an endurance swim of 324 meters (18 pool lengths and one more length than I needed to because I hated ending up at the “odd” end of the pool and had to swim back to the tester anyway). To cap it all off we did sculling and treaded water for 5 minutes. I feel like I have used more muscles in my body than I knew I had, but I am also very proud of myself. I won’t know for sure until next week, but I think that will put me at Level 10 swimming!

As I was showering, I wished for a moment that I could travel back in time to put my hands on the shoulders of that little girl who was convinced she had absolutely NO athletic ability at all. Would I hug her and tell her that she needed to just stick with it until she built up some muscle and endurance?? Would I have discovered a jock side to my personality and actually played sports or just enjoyed being fit for fun??

We humans only dance through time one way. I know that when I would come home discouraged at how poorly I did in any sport or attempt to do something physical, I would almost always pick up a pencil and start to draw... or lose myself in the magic of a good fantasy novel. Would I have been as creative if I hadn’t spent so much time drawing??

What I understand now, at long last, is that learning anything takes practice and time. Yes, there will always be cases where there is raw talent and ability... but if it is not honed or given a chance to be used, natural talent won’t make that much difference compared to persistence. I should have seen that, even though I might never have chosen a career as an athlete, I could have still enjoyed being active as I do now. I know that is why I make sure than both girls have the chance to move and learn skills while they are young and as they grow.

I won’t ever be a champion swimmer... I certainly didn’t break any speed records in the pool... but I am a VERY proud dragon tonight!!

Making that First X...

I had several e-mails today from new stitchers (YAY!) that had picked up one or more of our patterns to stitch... but one of them wasn’t even sure how to make that first X. It brought back memories of my own stitching beginnings...

A male, colour-blind friend of ours taught both Nick and I how to stitch. I love telling that to people and watching their faces! Tim teaches high school biology and loves anything with flowers, whales or birds. He worked on some beautiful Cross Wing Collection designs, lovely huge florals or humming bird designs and lots of whales. The fact that he sees most of the design in shades of grey, with only hints of colour, does nothing to detract from his enjoyment of the hobby. As Nick once said “After a day of teaching, it is nice to work on something that doesn’t talk back to you and stays done!”

It was sifting through Tim and Anne’s magazine stash that I found the Lori Birmingham design that made my fingers itch to try this stitching stuff, even though I was still a bit unsure of how much fun it could be to make the same type of stitch over and over again. Ok... so I was horribly wrong and totally underestimated how addictive that little X would be!!

Off I went to our local craft store. I didn’t even know that such a thing as a NEEDLEWORK store existed!! I walked in with the magazine and asked the sales lady for something called “Mushroom Lugana”. She smiled and asked me how long I had been stitching. When I explained that this was my first piece... she looked a bit troubled and suggested that perhaps I might like to buy a small fridge magnet kit to stitch first.

I know that she was trying to be helpful.... I also know that I was very lucky to have someone sit down with me and get me started like Tim and Anne did. Cross stitch can be learned all on your own, particularly with all the helpful information out there on the Internet... but it helps to see someone doing it or to know that you have someone to turn to when you have questions. I don’t think that “beginners” should have to start on simple designs. Maybe not pulled thread and specialty stitches on 32 count linen right away... but if you find that image that makes your fingers “itch to stitch” ... I think you will be far more likely to stick with something because you care about that picture. If I had run into problems on the fridge magnet... or gotten bored... I am sure it would have ended up in a drawer somewhere. Then I might never have gotten hooked on just “doing one more area to see how that colour looks”... or started to see pictures in my head that were made up of little floss Xs instead of line drawings and watercolour paint.

Isn’t it funny the twists and turns that our lives take. Sometimes we only see the pattern as we start to look back at the design behind us.

Growing Up Doesn’t Mean Having All The Answers...

I was going to write about something else entirely... my dislike of getting receipts together for tax time. Even though I keep a fairly good system, there is always a pile that appears AFTER I get everything in, so this year I am rechecking all the corners of my office where stuff might be lurking... but tonight’s episode of Joan of Arcadia contained a scene that I just loved - because now I can see it from the parent’s perspective.

Joan’s Mom finally admits that she’s been grumpy because she’d been having trouble sleeping, worrying about her new teaching job. Joan says something about thinking grown-ups had all the answers and her Mom replies that there are just more questions.

I can SO remember that feeling of looking at the grown-ups and thinking that it would be nice to have all the “control” and all of the answers. Erin is beginning to question rules and bedtimes, wanting more of the privileges yet balking at also accepting greater responsibilities... and it is like looking back in time! Funny how your perspective changes.

My definition of OLD keeps changing... especially as my own age creeps up into the category I could once barely imagine being. I think mine will always be about 30 - 40 years older than my own age, so I won’t start to worry until there aren’t too many 130 year olds around to compare myself to!

If I am to truly learn and grow as a person, then I hope that I always have more questions than answers. Maybe if my children see me still willing to ask and adventure, their own quests won’t seem as scary...

The Pride Factor...

Cross Stitchers are a proud bunch. It’s funny how that word has come to have a negative meaning in so many ways. To call someone proud is to imply that they are boastful or somehow full of themselves. “Proud as a Peacock” isn’t a compliment... and yet today was one of those days when I wish that more of the world had the kind of pride that stitchers do.

Remember when things were built to last? Remember when most of the world actually took pride in a job well done and not that it was done as quickly and as cheaply as possible... or with as little effort and expense as you could get away with?

Trying to teach my girls to take pride in the things they do, even the smallest of tasks felt like a foreign concept today. From the knock off/copyright infringements that a local store was selling as “the real thing” to trying to explain to Erin why something should be neat and readable as well as just “done”...to hearing a friend complain about a new purchase that is already falling apart after a few months.... I spent most of the day wondering if most people are really proud of the work that they do anymore?

Cross stitchers are proud... the GOOD kind of proud. I look at so many of the beautiful pieces, made up of so many careful stitches and I know that they still take pride in something that they love. I once explained to an interviewer that when you are working on a piece for someone as a gift, you can’t help but think about that person and the fond memories that you have or the feelings you have for that individual. Each stitch becomes like a tiny prayer or wish... and if you look at how many stitches make up some of the pieces given as gifts... that is a LOT of “I LOVE YOUs”!

I read a book a few years ago about a female artist who went to live among the Amish for a summer. Though she knew that she would never be a part of their culture and world, she still came away from her stay with an incredible respect of how they lived their faith in almost every moment of the day. Any task, however menial, was worth doing properly and beautifully. While I doubt I will ever jump for joy at how well I have dusted or scrubbed... I still felt an echo of what the author was trying to convey ... whatever you do, it is worth doing to the best of YOUR ability (not to measure up against some impossible standard but to the best of your ability on that given day at that moment) and to rejoice that you are ABLE to do it.

I think that more of the world needs to take PRIDE in what they do and learn from stitchers or other creative souls.

Reliving Wonderful Memories Amid the Cold....

Last March Break, when we went to Disney, I started a tradition for our family. I keep a “Doodle Diary” in my small sketchbooks when I am at trade shows sometimes... little cartoon snippets of the days and events. I began a new Family Doodle Diary for our trip to Disney and it was something that the girls loved to read and reread over the past year. The second entry in that special Doodle Diary was this year’s trip to Myrtle Beach and I am just getting caught up on the entry for Saturday (our traveling home day) tonight.

While they have been pouring through all of the pages, last Wednesday is certainly one of my longest doodle entries... and also their favourite to review. I wish that I had had blog access down there to share all my excitement the following day instead of almost a week later, but the thrill still remains. Thanks to Diane Merlock who attended the retreat and her husband, Randy, we were ROYALLY treated to an evening of enchantment and magic at MEDIEVAL TIMES in Myrtle Beach. It was truly an evening that none of my family will ever forget!

For those of you who have never heard of this franchise, the premise is a fantasy-lover’s dream come true. You drive up and park in front of a castle (I am told they are each a bit different) and cross into a world of wonder. The girls were a bit afraid of the two guards at the front door until a lovely wench called them “princesses” and led us into the ticketing area where we had our photos snapped, got our seating assignment and crowns to help us identify which knight we would be cheering for at the tournament. We then walked into a Great Room, complete with murals, banners, gift shop and bar areas amid suits of armour and tapestries. My girls looked ready to burst... and I could feel the “perma-grin” setting in on my face, just like the first day at Disney. Erin, being at that gruesomely curious age, just had to take a tour of the Dungeon and torture equipment with Nick. Bethany went along to prove she “wasn’t a baby”, but my Mom, John and I decided to quench our thirst at the bar. I also spied a wonderful stuffed dragon that I just HAD to add to my collection! The girls were in the midst of telling me all about the torture equipment when the Master of the Hunt wandered by in wonderful leather armour with a REAL falcon on his arm! Every so often, the trumpets would sound and the Chancellor (with a wonderful voice that could melt honey) would announce the evenings details. Diane had warned me that something special lay ahead... but you can imagine my surprise when I was called forward to kneel before the King and be knighted a Lady of the Realm!! Talk about fun!! Obviously word had spread about how heroically I defended Teresa, Queen of the Borders, in Nashville!!

The King and his lovely daughter (who was dressed in finery that had both my girls drooling to play dress-up) retired to the dining hall and the Chancellor began to tell which groups could enter after them. When he asked us to show our enthusiasm, our yellow & red group let out a mighty roar (thanks in part to Nick’s loud bass and my two girls trying to scream their heads off) that earned us the respect of the realm and the chance to enter the hall third. Had I had my full voice instead of a croak, we might have entered even sooner!

Not only would our seats have made a hockey fan jealous (center ice), the girls were thrilled to find pennants to wave at all our places. This did cause a few moments of concern for eye-poking and nostril twanging until they got settled in their chairs, somewhat puzzled at the large oval of sand that lay before us. “Where is the screen?” Bethany asked me in one of those loud, little kid whispers. I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself. Was she ever in for a surprise!! Our serving wench treated them like little princesses and explained that they would be eating the whole meal with their hands... can you imagine the grin on their faces?? Then the show started and every single one of us was swept away into a world of chivalry and honour. The story was far more intricate and riveting that I had even dreamed it could be... the sight and sounds of swords clashing and lances shattering as horse and knight thundered towards each other was SO inspiring that it made my fingers want to twitch and sketch.

We cheered ourselves almost hoarse (well, I was already there!) encouraging our wonderful knight...I could see the stars begin to twinkle in both my daughters eyes as they got caught up in the pageantry of this hero on a horse. When our knight kissed one of the flowers and tossed it to Erin, I saw that first glimpse of hero worship that will no doubt cross her face many times in the years ahead for movie stars, singers and cute boys. Not that much later in the evening, our knight won a token from the fair princess and galloped back to Bethany where he lowered his lance to let her slide the token off. Her eyes were the size of dinner plates... and shinning with the excitement and magic of it all. She is taking the “scarf” (which our knight autographed after the performance) to Show and Tell at daycare this Friday and only grudgingly let it out of her sight for Erin to take it in on Monday to show her friends.

There are just TOO MANY wonderful memories from that evening... from Bethany saying “Look, Mommy! The horses are tap dancing!” when the four horses and knights do some fancy footwork.... and reassuring her that the “dragon meat” (chicken) is not a GOOD dragon that we are eating...to the sigh of contentment from the back of the van as Erin whispers “My friends are not going to believe it when I tell them about this!”

I smiled into the darkness... reluctant to let that magic go and come back into this century. That feeling still lingers almost a full week later.

Thank you Diane and Randy for giving us all such wonderful memories and surpassing our expectations of what Medieval Times are all about!!

I’m Back... and Still In Awe of the Determination of Stitchers...

We’re back from Myrtle Beach feeling rested, ready to take on our routine again.... and surrounded by piles of laundry and e-mail!! I shivered most of the day after the nice weather last week and the chance to wear a t-shirt and shorts most days.

It didn’t start out that way. We left Bangor on the 26 of February not knowing that we were flying into some pretty fierce “weather”. Luckily our flight path took us through Atlanta that got 3 inches or so of snow instead of Charlotte that got over a foot!! We know how to deal with that up here in Canada... but they just aren’t equipped to handle Mother Nature dumping that much white stuff on them. One flight out of Cincinnati was “scrubbed” but we made it on a later flight and still managed to hook up with my Mom and John in Atlanta then just had to get through a bit of wicked wind to land in Myrtle Beach. All of our bags arrived safely and we checked into the resort.

Sarah from the Lazy Daisy, our host for the event, and Teresa Wentzler made it down by supper time, but Teresa’s luggage did not. I also learned that Karen Weaver from Black Swan had had to turn back in the horrid weather... so it began to look as if I would be teaching FIRST instead of last... and my voice was showing the strain of the past month’s workload. Would it hold out?? I also began to worry how many stitchers would make it to the event... but I never should have doubted!!

The next morning as we gathered and shared our storm stories of convoys through the snow and sleet or arriving early and sleeping in cars until check-in time, I was humbled and amazed to discover that all but one stitcher had made it... and she showed up by noon!!

A more tenacious, dedicated bunch of stitchers I have yet to meet... and they were such darn fun to spend time with too. I doubt that all of us would have tried so hard, or faced such traveling conditions for any other event. Friends and colleagues couldn’t understand the determination to drive through all that icky stuff “just to sit and stitch”.. but it is so much more than that!! (Isn’t it??)

This was the chance for fellowship and fiber fondling... for restoring creative batteries and sharing a love of a craft that remains hard to put into words.

To the women of Myrtle Beach 2004... thank you for all the memories, the laughter, the hugs, the feedback and the fun. When “Summer’s Magic” comes out in print, your heroic efforts to get to this event will be remembered in my dedication... because you inspire me!!

Off to the Beach... so Hold Those E-mails! The Dragon Has Flown the Coop!

I meant to write a blog entry last night, but this Milk assignment has actually kept me flying until now, just an hour before we are due to get on the road to drive to Bangor, Maine. Yeeeeeesh! I am sure that when the cheque arrives in the mail 45 days from now, this weariness will be a distant memory, but I am just getting TOO OLD to pull more than 2 late nights in a row!

I have no idea about accessing e-mail while I am down there, so I worry about the box overflowing, but hey... there is only so much you can do. If anyone reading this hears of people asking about me on the boards and why I am not answering... feel free to enlighten them! To all those whom I am going to see in just a few days, I can’t wait to meet you in person.

I can’t wait to go teach, get inspired and get rested!! Blogging can wait until the beaching is done!!

Looking Forward To The Great Escape...

About 48 hours from now I will be in a motel room trying to convince my kids to go to sleep because we’ll have to catch an early flight the next day. This time they get to come along and have discovered the perks of Mommy being a cross stitch designer. They get to come to Myrtle Beach again for the wonderful Lazy Daisy retreat! While some may think that there are warmer destinations for March Break... I know that even if the locals find it cold, it WILL be warmer than here and there WILL be less snow!!

The fact that Bethany has been on some heavy duty antibiotics since Saturday for a sinus and ear infection that produced a really high fever has somewhat tempered my excitement until tonight when she seemed to be getting better... enough to DEMAND that I play “Go Fish” with her instead of just lying there listlessly on the couch.

As much as I love sharing my thoughts with everyone here in the blog... and answering all the e-mails everyday to keep in touch with stitchers all around the world, this dragon is VERY much looking forward to getting away from it all and basking once the retreat is done for some pure family time!

Say It Isn’t Snow.....

The alarm went off at 5:15 am this morning because Nick knew that it would take a while to snowblow the driveway. The city plow had made 2 passes down our street last night JUST as we were heading up to bed. Since the winds were still almost 100 km/ hour, Nick decided to just leave it until the morning. I’ll admit to being just a wee bit glad to be the one on “radio duty” as I took over the whole toasty warm bed and listened for the weather. It reported a final snowfall count of 62 cm, just over 2 feet, but Halifax and parts of Nova Scotia set a record for a single day’s snowfall in their area with almost 3 feet!! As the machine chugged and paused, chugged and paused outside, I heard them cancel school again for the day. The roads were still being plowed and most of the school parking lots hadn’t yet been touched. With the sidewalks buried and most side roads to one lane, there also weren’t too many safe places for kids to wait for the school bus! I slid out of bed and flashed the outdoor light to get Nick’s attention, but he decided to soldier on and finish the job. It took almost 90 minutes. For most of the lower driveway, the snow was drifted more than a foot taller than the snowblower, so he had to first break things up with a shovel and then snowblow it. The left side of the driveway has snow banks taller than either of us, so the snow also has to be blown to the right or it tends to fly back in your face.

As the sun rose, the temperature did too. It was actually a lovely day and so, in true motherly fashion (and in desperate need of some time to organize my day) I turned both kids out in the snow of our backyard with their dad who was clearing off the deck so that our “emergency exit” is available. Things went smoothly until Bethany decided to clamber up on the snow pile ON the deck next to the shoveled path... and fell off of it face first onto the hard, bare deck. Those two top teeth that were a bit loose are now VERY loose and she still has a bit of a fat lip tonight. At the time, the sight of blood and the jar on her already sensitive teeth were enough to send her into a howling frenzy. Mommy and her ice pack sprang into action.

By lunchtime, I had sorted out which new orders needed photos and got my negatives together. We also had to pick up the 9 boxes of Runekeeper books that were still at the printer’s, so off the family went in the car!! I bribed my children with the promise of lunch at Wendy’s... because Bethany thought a Frosty would feel good on her sore “tooths”. We picked up the boxes, dropped off the cow proofs (yes, proofs not poops!) to Milk Maritime for the corrections to the English layouts then headed down to the self-store only to discover that they were still in the process of clearing a 3 foot high drift from the front of our unit. We helped shovel out our door and opened it, only to discover a disaster!! The high winds had somehow found a way to force a LOT of snow into our unit!! Three or four open boxes of leaflets were filled with almost a quarter inch of snow and in the corners near the door, there was enough snow to have really puddled if we’d never discovered before a thaw hit. Nick and I used the car scraper brushes to sweep out the area, sorted out the open boxes, shook most of the snow off and brought 3 boxes home to sort through and remove any damaged product... but it was about half and hour of heavy box tossing.

By the time we got home mid-afternoon, errands now complete, Nick was starting to fade. I sent him up for a nap and brought the girls down to the playroom next to my office in the hopes of getting all the packages for the post office sorted. By 4:30, I told Erin to wake her father in an emergency and left them playing while I did the post office run up the narrow back streets of our subdivision. At least 75% of what I wanted to get shipped today got up there in time... so that ‘s pretty good.

Tonight is date night... so the computer stays off and I get to spend time with my husband. Since he was still yawning a bit at supper, it may actually be more of a bet to see who can not fall asleep in the other’s presence... especially since the NEXT storm is supposed to hit tomorrow afternoon!! Say it isn’t SO!!

Of Blizzards and Small Successes!

We knew the storm was coming. All the channels told us so. With the sun shining and a beautiful sunset last night, it was hard to believe that something so fierce was bearing down on us... but by 5 am, the winds began to howl and the snow was falling fast and furious. Since then, we have huddled in our nice cozy home and just stayed put. Almost everything around town has been canceled. Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, who are being hit even harder than us, have declared states of Emergency and all of the plows have been taken off the roads. We haven’t even seen across the street for most of the day, let alone seen any signs of plows or snowblowers. I think everyone is just waiting for it to let up before they go out to do anything about it. After all, why exert yourself with the 100 km an hour winds are going to blow it all back in. We can’t get out our side door because the snow is up to MY armpit (that would be over the heads of some of my shorter friends!) and yet the front door and steps are completely bare!

The site I mentioned in yesterday’s blog has taken down ALL of the albums where they had patterns for download and has just left up the ones that are for trade, so I think that in this case it might have just been a stitcher who didn’t know any better... but to think that there are digital files out there that could still resurface (unless they did delete them completely) is still a sobering thought.

One of the biggest dangers about getting such files “for free” is that most of the time, the quality of the scans is so poor, it would actually be very hard and not at all relaxing to stitch from the charts that those files would print out as. Yet, if a person thinks “since I got a copy for free, I don’t need to buy one”... they never pick up a copy until the time comes for them to stitch it. Then, when they want to get a clear copy at a local shop, there may be the risk that the designer or those charts are no longer available... because the designer has moved on to something else.

I am SO humbled by the many cyberhugs that filled my e-mail box today (thank you everyone!!) and it was indeed a reminder of how many HONEST stitchers there are out there. In reading over last night’s blog, I can hear the frustration in my tone and the discouragement... but I cringe at the thought that it also sounded a bit whiny. Such is the nature of capturing a moment and its feelings in time. One of the whole reasons that I wanted to start this blog was to provide a peek into the real life of a designer.. with all its joys and frustrations. Last night, I had indeed stomped up to Nick and said “You know what... I think I will just finish off my next big dragon, release it as DD-80 and just stop there! “ Yet this morning, as I woke for the second time (we got to go back to sleep once we heard the schools were canceled!) the idea for a new design was already swirling around in my brain....

I am done printing covers for my chart packs and the two English files for my Milk Maritime projects are done, so I am going to go up and stitch on a Bent Creek design for a bit tonight. It is a perfect night for stitching and I want to relax with someone else’s design in my hands for fun!

I Just Don’t Get It... But It Makes Me Want To Cry!

Thank goodness for eagle -eyed stitchers... but it is also so hard to open e-mail and find out that something of mine has been posted to a Russian site again. I spent the day working on both Milk Maritime projects, meeting with my client this afternoon after a very late night last night building the files. She really liked the “look” for these pieces and while we do need to make a few changes, I can basically get the English version squared away tomorrow so that then I can do a “save as” and start working on the French versions. Since New Brunswick is Canada’s only Bilingual province (Quebec is Unilingual French), we have to have both versions for the school system when these newsletters go out. Since I had my thoughts on cows all day, I had no idea that half a world away, someone in Sweden was sharing one of my patterns on a Russian site for any and all who visit there.

I just don’t get it.... Do people really not see it as stealing? Do they think that I have unlimited funds to draw on or that my salary is similar to a famous author or recording artist?? To put a pattern down on a scanner, break it down into electronic sections and to post it (on a site or in a group) is basically to slap the designer who spent all those hours designing it in the face. It is to rip something to shreds in front of their face and make them wonder why they took the time to share that unique vision and inspiration with the world.

Even as I spoke with someone today in the bank lineup, trying to explain what it is that I do... I thought “most people just don’t understand.” When it comes right down to it, I take an idea and nail it down onto paper. I happen to create an image with thread instead of paint, and then make detailed instructions so that other people can have the fun of watching the same image grow beneath their needles... or take my suggestions and have fun creating something that is not only partly mine, but something uniquely their own. So WHY should something I work to create then spend my money to produce as a pattern, carry inventories of in my self-store and pay printing bills for be so EASY for them to STEAL?????

I’ve had such fun releasing my latest designs in Nashville and running around with a sword... but tonight, as I think about how I may have to spend money on legal fees instead of a trip to see my brother this summer overseas... I wonder if I won’t be moving back into illustration more when Bethany starts school in the fall. At least then, if a project gets “shared” without my consent, it will be the publisher taking on the battles instead of me putting our family’s money on the line!!!

I Love It When A Cheque Arrives On Time!

Maybe it is a carry-over from those bygone days at University when mail was so important. Once a day there was that trek to the mail room when you opened your box... just to see if there was mail from anyone back home. I know that at Mount Allison, one of the highlights was seeing that bright orange “PARCEL” slip that meant you might have a care package with some FOOD in it!!! On days when there was no mail, some of us often waived the little metal door back and forth just to circulate the air in there in the hopes that the next day would bring something instead of just empty box.

I am still like that at my postal box or when I stick my nose out in the freezing cold to reach inside our brass mailbox. I think longingly of the mail slot in my grandparents door where you could hear the mail hit the foyer floor each day with a satisfying slither. I am sure it was also a bit drafty, but not as bad as having to open the whole door and let out the warmth!!

I had the pleasure of getting a long-awaited cheque in the mail today for an order than Nick and I batched and shipped to one of our US distributors back in December. They in turn shipped the product to the chain store they deal with in early January and Net 30 after that date, mail us our cheque! The nice thing about this order was that it was from a press run that I had already paid for, so THIS cheque is able to help cover the Runekeeper Saga I finally had printed and just released in Nashville. To have this cheque arrive a full week before my invoice is due is a nice change from the juggling and balancing I sometimes have to do!

Now if only there was a parcel slip with the possibility of some Kraft Dinner or cookies from my Nanny...

Of Cows and Cold... Of Robots and Reorders...

Well, I know that life was going to be a bit crazy between Nashville and Myrtle Beach... but I didn’t imagine quite how much! Luckily I don’t have any more outdoor photos to do because the temperature has plunged back down to the horrid “take your breath away” cold. I’m actually in the middle of cows again with two projects for Milk Maritime. It is fun drawing the mascot Moo-moo or this time even a glass with a cape and good biceps, but working on complex projects in a short time span means losing a bit of precious sleep hours.. . which is hard now that the high of the trade show has worn off.

Bethany is still quite the shadow, as if she worries I will take off again without notice. She knows that we all go together to Myrtle Beach... but is still very clingy. Erin has a project due at the end of the week. She has had to build a robot with her parents (not functional... unless you want to have moving parts) and we’ve had great fun making a circuit board out of wires and cheerios or wrapping wire around chopsticks to get a good coil. We found some cool kitchen gadgets for hands and are hoping to borrow a neighbour’s garage to spray the whole thing silver by Wednesday... but her classmates keep bragging about their walkie-talkie insides or remote control car legs. I tried to explain that mostly girl toys around the house means not a lot of parts to incorporate.... but it is quite amazing to watch how competitive everyone is getting just in Grade 3!! Sigh! What ever happened to just being proud when you did YOUR best???

It is also very satisfying to get reorders from shops that attended Nashville already! It adds to the blur of the week but in a happy way. I am aware of growing pains as every now and then the company gets beyond what I can comfortably handle myself. Once Bethany is in school this coming fall, I shall see which of my graphics clients I truly want to keep and assess everything else as I also get back into more freelance illustration projects.

For now, I put my nose to the cow grindstone and dream of slightly warmer temperatures... it can’t possibly be THIS cold in Myrtle Beach, so any extra warmth will be a welcome change!!

Ahhh... The Joys of Being a One Dragon Show....

It’s almost 1 am here on Friday the 13th and I just got all my updates sent over for my website. Entering all the addresses of the shops that ordered from me in Nashville (so that stitchers know where to get their claws on our two special sample designs) has made me almost cross-eyed, but it was fun to also put up the picture of me with a SWORD!! It was so COOL to wear one all weekend, even if it was heavy enough to give me a new appreciation of what real warriors had to lug around.

Nick and I decided to switch our “date night” to tomorrow night anyway, so I slogged on with my HTML code and got the first one in my Generosity/Elemental dragons up on the site. After getting so much feedback from stitchers all over the world, I figured that the honour system would work best rather than forcing people to give to just one charity. I tried to also include some ideas of how people could help/contribute in non-financial ways... so we shall see what stitchers think.

Earlier tonight we had some friends of ours over for pizza and so that all our kids (and the Big Kids too) could watch Lion King 1 1/2 to see if it was worth buying. After being SO disappointed with STITCH when it came out directly to DVD, I vowed we’d always rent one first to see. I laughed harder than I did at some of the antics in Nashville!! The DVD was HILARIOUS!!! Watching Nick twitch when Timone started to hum “It’s a Small World” was priceless. He and I got stuck for over 25 minutes in the finale of that ride when we went together about 10 years ago and the song is a joke/form of torture for him. I also thought that a Riverdancing warthog was worth anything they might charge for my own copy, so the girls have decided that would make a much better Valentine’s present for me than roses which “go all mushy after days and days”! Such thoughtful children!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!!!

Back and getting into the swing of things...

Well, this is actually the first quiet moment I have had since leaving for the show in Nashville to gather my thoughts together.... sorry to my friends and even my sister who called to find out if I had actually made it back in one piece... since there was no blog to check!!

The show itself was SUCH fun!! I had a local seamstress make up a grey leather/suede vest for me to wear with my long black jeans and high black boots. An absolute angel in the USA (thanks Jeffery/Mr. Tink!) brought me a sword that he uses when teaching theater combat. It weighs as much as a real sword, but it isn’t edged. Many of the actors have to wear it on their backs and draw it that way... but I have such long legs that I wore it at my hip! It was SOOOOoooooo Cool to swagger around with a sword all weekend and raise a few eyebrows. I think some shop owners were even worried that my 2 Dollar Store tattoos were real!! I am definitely more cut out to be a warrior than a princess!!

I taught a class to shops on how to teach Illustrative Blackwork to stitchers, which was great fun, and spent the rest of the weekend either selling designs or hanging out with some of the zaniest people in the industry. One of the things that makes attending market so special is the fact that I get to build friendships with the stores who carry my designs instead of just business relationships. 18 of us taking over a traditional room at a sushi restaurant was a lot of fun too. I did discover that my legs just don’t collapse that far under the itty-bitty, low tables. I just stuck my feet straight out and tickled Connor’s armpits all evening. This was also the first time I really had a chance to see a bit of Nashville, including the Country Music Hall of Fame and “the Mother Church of Country”.

Standing for most of the weekend and then a long layover in Toronto before getting squished by the passenger in front of me putting the chair back certainly took its toll. I got home to feet that had almost no ankles left showing on the inside of my feet and strange bruising which have luckily returned to normal now.

The girls had a wonderful time getting stranded at their Grammy and Papa’s in the snowstorm that hit Moncton Friday night after Nick ran them down. His training session on the Saturday was canceled, but the roads were so tricky down near where his Mom lives that she just told him to stay put and kept them a second night. They had a blast!! Bethany and Erin pounced on me as soon as they woke up on Tuesday morning and I think they have been my shadows every waking moment since then. At least the next trip we do is as a family!!

Now that I am back, the Milk Maritime cows will keep me busy with 2 big projects while I get the extra orders shipped out and the last 2 of the new designs to my distributors. I was SO nervous about the reaction to the Runekeeper Saga, since it is the first mix of story and stitching that I know of on this scale, but the reaction was very positive. Most shops told me that they really appreciated my efforts to produce a quality product and still keep the price reasonable.

We had SO much fun, that I am already planning some more magic and mayhem for the Nashville show next year, but right now I need to pay attention to closer deadlines such as getting my Dragon of Fire up on the website tomorrow and getting things done before I teach in Myrtle Beach on the 27th!!

It IS good to be back in my own bed and have my “cave” to hide it to get stuff done!

Ready or Not.....

Actually, I do feel ready for the show in Nashville, but the leaving is always hard. I worry that I will have forgotten or misplaced something important... I have a hard time when my oldest child goes to be in tears saying “But Mommy... what if something happens to you?” ... I know I will miss my husband and worry for him, even though he is SO capable when it comes to taking care of our daughters.

Mingled with all of this is also the excitement of knowing that I will be with colleagues and friends whom I admire... showing off designs that I have worked very hard to bring to life... and getting inspired by new colours, new ideas, new trends and just plain being away.

I thought I would have time for something much more lucid... but I want to check over everything and then spend some time with Nick!

What a Difference A Few Degrees Make!!!

For the first time since Christmas, the weather outside was actually bearable today. Bethany’s daycare took the kids outside twice because, with the sun out and very little wind, it was a perfect day to let them play in the snow! Of course all of her stuff came home soaked, but she fell asleep early!!

I am more or less under control for Nashville, though my printer ran out of a colour ink cartridge last night and Nick had the van today. I just hunkered down and got my last bits of computer stuff done as well as rough packing the totes to see how I will balance out the weight. The hardest part of this show in Nashville is trying to make sure you have enough stuff to sell. I can’t always tell which design with sell better than others or what you might run out of... yet I can’t bring everything but the kitchen sink. Weight restrictions play havoc going down, so I try to make sure all the leaflets and chartpacks are spread out between the 3 cases. Thank goodness Jo from X’s & Oh’s is driving down! She is going to bring along 2 boxes that I shipped to her earlier this month.

Tomorrow is the last fitting for my costume for Nashville too, as well as my “run around and pick up all those last minute things” day. I am pretty notorious about losing tickets and passports (there is a pair of expired passports hidden somewhere in our house that we “tucked somewhere safe” 8 years ago and still haven’t found!) so I leave them with the travel agent until the last possible moment. Thank goodness e-tickets are making it easier for people like me to just show up with their ID!

I spoke to a few shops down in that area who are driving in on Thursday and the forecast may be iffy... I think it is still to far out to tell if there will be “weather” playing havoc, but as Europe learned last week, you just can’t plan for some things. My Mom had to spend and extra day in Switzerland with my brother and his family when the Geneva airport closed due to severe snow!

It’s funny how, in this modern era, we try to overcome the weather and make it adapt to our “business as usual” instead of being more flexible the way our ancestors were. Winter storms or blazing summer heat were a signal to slow down or rest a bit... now we just turn up the heat or the air conditioner and keep on going!

I am always so nervous and excited before a show like this. It is partly because I am putting things I have created on display... and no matter how confident you may feel about something, I think that anyone who is creative (or becomes a parent... or falls in love... or faces a great challenge) understands that there may be risk or rejection. It is also a very exciting time because I get to meet my “colleagues” and talk shop. So much of my designing or daily work is done without people here in town who really understand what I do... so it is great fun to have others to share, brainstorm and just plain goof around with.

I’d better go over my lists for tomorrow and make sure they are up to date!

Where We Choose To Stitch....

I’m probably not the only one that has a “nest” to stitch in... that comfy spot where I like to curl up with all of my tools and stash close at hand... my throne of stitching, so to speak. Yet in the past week, I have had bits of stitching along with me at various meetings and events since I am trying to cram every possible moment before Nashville into being as productive as possible. (It also ensures that I might show up with some fingernails too... if I don’t keep shattering them when I lug boxes around.)

The Illustrative Blackwork is attracting the most attention... partly because it is a cool way of making pictures with just backstitching. Using braid also seems to get people asking questions about how to stitch with the sparkly stuff.

It made me stop and think. How often have I seen people knitting on the bus or train?? At meetings and events where parents are waiting for their kids to finish up activities?? This fall, it was seeing stitchers who had taken classes from me stitching with something called “Boa” that got me re-hooked on knitting. Instead of making those cotton dishcloths on car trips, I was suddenly taking one evening a week to make up scarves as Christmas presents. Each time I saw a new colour combination in the Boa, Eyelash or Fun Fur wool, I had to pick up a ball or two just to make another scarf. I hope they are still in vogue next year, because I still have a few left to knit and two in reserve all ready to go.

Many of us get together with other stitchers... but it is when we take out stitching out to other places that someone else might see what we are doing and decide to try it themselves. I remember reading about Wayne Brady actually knitting on his show a few months ago, or how it made the news that Survivor Winner Ethan’s mom owned a knitting shop.... and I wonder if sometimes that is why one craft becomes more trendy than another. People SEE others doing it and realize that it’s not that hard!!

Just this week, a friend of mine who had introduced a colleague to cross stitch, took her new convert to the local LNS here in town. Do you remember when you first discovered that there could be a shop JUST for needlework??? I remember feeling like a kid in a candy store!!!

One of the things that I still love MOST about any type of craft... at the end of my time (be it a meeting or just watching some TV to unwind) I have something to SHOW for my time.... something I have been able to create.

If I have time.... amid all the preparations for Nashville, I am going to go out and buy a design by some OTHER designer... so that I can have fun stitching something that ISN’T mine! Maybe along the way, I will inspire someone else to pick up a needle and have this much fun!

A Week Until Nashville... and the Panic is Under Control...

I should be careful about saying that, especially since I had a crazy Nashville dream last night. Remember in high school when you would dream that you showed up to the wrong room for an exam... or showed up after the test was over etc.? Last night I dreamt that I was in the hotel down in Nashville, looking around my suite, only to realize that not only had I not brought one of my trunks full of models... but I’d somehow flown all the way down without noticing that my second trunk... and my helper from Moncton, Terri, weren’t there either!! LOL! Like I would EVER have left the airport in Moncton without her or my stuff. In the dream however, I was racing around trying to find a phone to see if Nick could put the trunks on a bus....

Other than crazy dreams, I am actually feeling further ahead than I expected to be. I am running the roads today now that Erin is back at school and Bethany is at daycare today. I have to pick up all the photo paper to print off my covers for 2 design (and ink cartridges too), get my order form in so that they can make NCRs and save me from fumbling with messy sheets of carbon paper all weekend, shoot one more photo outside in the not as bitter cold as earlier in the week, develop that film, scan in the photo and print those covers before my helpers arrive tomorrow night for a massive “batching” party once the girls are in bed. My Nanny was right. “Many hands make light work!”

Another One Bites The Dust... OR Of Weekends and Wind Chills...

Take your pick. Either of these titles could have applied to my blog today. The weekend was fun but bitterly cold. I got outside for one more photo shoot and took the kids out for a much needed run around the yard. Erin even helped balance the still slightly mangled box against a leveled off snowdrift since, after the last dump of 30 cm of snow, there wasn’t really enough space to set up a chair and sit the box on it as I usually do.

Sunday afternoon we took the girls to their first hockey game as the Moncton Wildcats played the PEI Rockets. One of our best friends has a son who has just started hockey and all of the players from the Timbits tournament (this is going to take some explaining to those who don’t know Tim Horton donuts... they sell a little round bit that looks like the bit from the hole of the donut... They are very small, just like most of these 7 to 9 year old hockey players... so the name has that “Cute” factor going for it) got to parade around the ice between the 2nd and 3rd periods. So off we went to show our support. We actually ended up having a lot of fun!! I did notice that Hockey has gotten a bit more aggressive since the days when I used to watch the Montreal Canadian at the Forum. My dad delivered the babies of Guy Lafleur and Larry Robinson, so we got some pretty good tickets every now and then. Nick also pointed out that at the level we were watching, the players are still developing their skills and trying to catch the eyes of any scouts who happened to be watching.... but we were right behind the boards and all of us jumped a bit when the players would get smashed into the Plexiglas right in front of you!!

This morning, we woke to a wind chill warning of -41... lay there waiting for them to cancel school again... but exams are on at the highschool level and so the “powers that be” must have decided that, although the safety of the students was a priority for 3 days two weeks ago, it wasn’t today. Why they didn’t just close the K-8 schools and let the older kids still write their exams is beyond me, but a nice neighbour drove Erin up to the bus along with their own kids so that she and I didn’t have to freeze. Nick had left early with the van and dropped Bethany off at daycare. Such are the occasional trials of being a one car family in subzero weather.

I got down to work and motored through some of the charting/layout/proofing I still had to do for Nashville with my CDs blazing away in the background. Sometimes I like to work to the purr of the computers, but this was a “blast the tunes” kind of day... perhaps because I am warmer when I tap my toes.

But.... the phone rang at 11:30 and a very tearful Erin on the phone told me that her tummy was REALLY hurting. I asked her to be brave until dismissal time and bring home her work, but when Nick called 10 minutes later and told me that he had no lunch duty, we decided that he’d pick her up and swing her home.

She was pretty pale by the time she made it home, so I have cleared my meetings from tomorrow morning’s schedule. I think the poor thing has Nick’s flu.... and I am going to keep washing my entire body with antibacterial soap or Detol!!

I HATE GERMS!!!!!

Panic Attacks and Husbands with Flu...

Tigger doesn’t look good green! Poor Nick came home from his meetings at lunch looking very washed out and feeling icky, so I made him some hot soup and tucked him into bed for a nap.... then Barb called (You know I’d mention you sooner or later!!!) to see how everything was. She’ll be one of my two helpers at the show in Nashville, trying to keep this bouncy dragon sane!! I was fine until she mentioned that 2 weeks from today, we’d be setting up in the hotel room and then I just felt half of my brain cells try to turn to mush!

Where has the time gone??? It seemed like only yesterday, I was getting back from the show in Toronto and the Nashville deadlines were months away!! Actually, when I take a deep breath and look around me, things are actually further ahead than this time last year... but the perfectionist in me keeps measuring things by some impossible scale of wanting to have my trunks already packed in the basement ready to go with all the right items and leaflets and models safely tucked inside!

Hah!

The one thing I can say is that I really like all of the designs that I am taking.... that I can’t wait to see reactions to the RuneKeeper model and book (just like the fun of seeing people react to “Not Forgotten” this time last year) and that I will get to hang around with some of my favourite people in the industry. At least that is what I keep telling myself every time my brain tries to turn to mush and I think “Remind me... WHY am I doing this???”

Because even with all the panic attacks, to-do-lists and late nights that the next 14 days may hold, I still like what I do!

Where is January Going??

I can’t believe that it is Wednesday already. Actually, I can! Monday was indeed a snowstorm and there was this one little circle of the province where Mother Nature dumped more than 30 cm of snow... can you guess where?? Moncton!! It was so funny to see our city shown as this little circle on the Weather Channel while the announcer was talking about one city getting double the snow of anywhere else in the storm!! So the kids and Nick were home for a 4th day!!

This time, having finished RuneKeeper in the wee hours of the morning, I called a courier company and got THEM to drive the horrible roads to get the CD to the printer... then I played with my kids and took it easy. The only problem was that our snow blower decided to conk out, so when a neighbour came to help, we decided to team up for supper and let our kids play... It was fun, but Tuesday I was very glad to have a quiet house again.

I got the Iris proofs (colour proofs) of RuneKeeper yesterday and went in to colour calibrate the front image. My monitor is not as accurate as the ones the printers use and I found the cover photo looked a little too Magenta for my tastes, so we played with that and now I am getting really excited about seeing the final product. The “bluelines” (prints made from the actual negatives) are home with me to proof tonight, and then it is a go. Wheee!!

I had meetings and errands all day until Nick called me on the cellphone to say he wasn’t feeling well. I think he’s getting a brush of the flu that has been going through his school and wiping out all the teachers that didn’t get their flu shots. Nick got his, so I am sure he won’t be down and out for long... but since he is in meetings all tomorrow, he wanted to get some rest tonight.

I checked e-mail and found 3 orders that have to ship out tomorrow, so it is off to Staples to get the charts that I don’t have in stock copied for batching.... I can’t believe it is the 21st already???!!!

Half a world away doesn’t seem so far tonight...

I guess, since the clock struck midnight here over half an hour ago, that I should say this morning instead of tonight... but I am far to giddy with the fact that everything is now burned to CD for the RuneKeeper Saga and ready to go off to the printer’s in about 7 hours.

The snow for the snowstorm that is supposed to hit us overnight and into the day has already started and the three Aries in the household were performing various forms of the snow dance before bed. Schools have been closed since last Wednesday morning due to the extreme cold... so will snow be the cause of yet another cancellation?? Time will tell. At least this time I won’t be hiding in the basement while my saint of a husband plays with the kids on the other floor like Friday!

One of the real reasons that I feel so giddy and finally confidant about getting RuneKeeper off to be printed is that my sister Laurie, a far more talented writer herself, has done an amazingly deft and thorough job of sifting through the .pdf files that I sent to her over the weekend... and even called me from Japan to go through the corrections! Just hearing her voice as we tweaked a few things and caught a whole bunch of typos was reassuring and made it feel as if she were far closer than half a world away. One of the many blessings I count in my life is the fact that my relationships with both my siblings have that ability to transcend time and distance. After hanging up with her, I felt as close as if we had been sitting together chatting over a mug of tea. I only hope that Erin and Bethany know the joys of having a sister become a true friend. (See... I did warn you that I might write about you in my blog, Laurie!)

So as the snow falls quietly outside my office window and I gather my papers together as well as my thoughts, Tokyo and my sister’s smile don’t seem so far away. Thank you, Laurie!!

An End In Sight???

We woke up to the news that schools in all of New Brunswick, and many businesses too, were closed due to -44 degree temperatures with the wind chill. So Nick and I went back to sleep. Unfortunately when Bethany woke up and crawled into join us, she was burning up with a fever. We got an appointment with our doctor as soon as her office opened and bundled the whole family out into the cold. It looks like it is either Strep Throat or a bad case of Tonsillitis, so she is on medication now but still feeling very “sooky”. We got one piece to the framers and the negatives to Black’s then “mall ratted” until they were ready.

We got home to discover that we’d missed the redelivery of the banding I needed from Purolator by about 6 minutes (it had slipped my mind in the rush to get Bethy to the doctor) so poor Nick braved the cold later to fetch it from the depot across town once the truck reported back in.

It looks as if it will warm up by tomorrow (or should I say this morning???) and that schools may reopen. I’m not sure that having Bethany home sick while I try to meet my printer deadline will be easy... which is why I am still not in bed yet, but we shall just see. If tomorrow is dreadful, or she needs me more, then the files will have to wait until first thing Monday morning. You just do what you gotta do.

I’d better get myself to bed now... so that I can proof check all the inside materials with some sleep behind me. The alarm goes off in about 6 hours.....

Trapped...but relatively warm...

Nick and I woke up when the alarm went off to realize how much the wind was howling outside and how cold it felt beyond the confines of our duvet. Sure enough, the radio announced that schools in much of the province were closed today... not so much for the paltry snow we received overnight.. but because with the high winds, the temperature was the equivalent of -41 degrees!

Nick was the only one who ventured out at all for a brief foray to the grocery store to pick up some essentials. I found various activities from play dough to Polly Pockets and Harry Potter Lego to amuse the girls while I got some work done on the computer. I didn’t even bother to try going across town to Black’s with my Runekeeper negatives. That will have to wait until Friday now since Nick needs the car tomorrow for a Vice-Principal’s meeting. If the outer cover files have to wait until Monday for the printer, so be it. They won’t be doing much with the other files on Friday unless I have them there when they open!

Brrrr! It has gotten even colder outside and the wind is howling beyond the office window. I am so glad to be in a relatively new and well insulated house!! Nick has been making dinner upstairs and it smells heavenly, so this dragon is going to crawl out of her computer cave and see what is on the menu!

Sometimes I HATE making decisions!!!!!

Well, I’d love to say that after all of the torture shooting Runekeeper in the bitter cold yesterday that the photos knocked my socks off... but I can’t. I was using the tail end of a roll of film from indoor holiday shots. When a film is processed, the machine usually takes an average reading and exposure for the roll, then some can calibrate each image a bit from there.

It’s not that they are bad... I just need to go in and spend some time with the girls at the photo lab to alter the image ( a bit more magenta... a bit less density....) The real problem is in how much of the model I am going to show. I love the framing and matting on this piece. I know that when shop owners see it “in person” they are going to say “Wow”...but none of the photos that show the full frame really do it justice yet (I may change my mind when I play with the colour a bit and have them print it as a 5 x 7)! The one exposure that really draws me tonight (under my horrid kitchen lighting) is the one where I zoomed into the piece and shot a “close-up” that just covers the stitching and the cut edges of the mat around it... but ignores the frame and our DD fabric.

So, I did the really mature thing and indulged in a 5 minute pity party where I had my little rant “I wish it hadn’t been so cold out! I wish I’d been making these decisions 3 weeks ago because now I feel like my back is against the wall and I hate to settle for anything less than being thrilled with something.... I wish I had people to delegate stuff to....”

Then, I picked myself up off the couch and made some toast and a warm mug of tea to curl my claws around. I always try to eat the elephant one bite at a time.... I will play with the image at Black’s tomorrow to see if I can come up with a version that I really like.... and if not, then I will decide from there. After all, the files don’t have to be to the printer for 36 hours... and Nashville is only 23 days away...

Deep Breath.... Think of a Happy Place..... (I just want to go claw something!!!!)

You Do What Has To Be Done...

I will ALWAYS LOVE my husband.... but right now I HATE him!! He called around 9 am to let me know that the sun was indeed out (my basement office doesn’t have very big windows... but I had already guessed that) and that the temperature was holding steady at -18 degrees Celsius. For the first time in just over a week, there was NO wind to kick the -33 degree wind chill into effect. So, I bundled up in my winter woolies and headed out to our little shed to find my photo shoot box. This is a large cardboard box that once held the “Excersaucer” we bought for Erin when she was a baby... so that tells you I’ve had it for at least 8 years.... but it is big enough and sturdy enough cardboard to pin my fabric to and then put the models up for a photo shoot on one of our kitchen chairs out on the back deck.

This time, however, there was a problem getting to the box. Not only were all the recently removed Christmas decoration and artificial tree boxes between me and my goal. the giant Mickey shaped wading pool, a wicker basket of empty plastic storage containers, the screens from the windows and the patio furniture had been piled up around the box in the farthest, darkest corner of the shed. With a sigh, I began to move boxes. Have you ever played Jenga or Pickup sticks?? Have you ever spent time trying to untangle a skein or Rayon or Flower Thread?? It seemed that somehow most of the summer stuff had shifted in the cold, sliding down to trap my poor box against the back wall. In order to even get to it and move it in any way, I had to first clear through the debris field. I’d forgotten that I still knew some Greek swear words..... but they all came back to me. After almost half an hour, I finally got a path cleared to my box and managed to wrestle it free (by now I had lost the feeling in my fingertips and toes) only to discover that it had been severely crushed on the side I liked to use by the weight of all the stuff!

I came in to the house to thaw a tiny bit, box and tripod in tow. I stumbled down to the basement to iron the Dragon Fabric (just peek at any of our model shots and you’ll know which one I mean) since I keep it folded in a cupboard when not in use. I was so cold that I even contemplated ironing some warmth back into my fingers! Not really, but the warm fabric sure felt good under my fingertips. Then, grabbing the model and fabric, I raced back upstairs.... only to discover that the sun was now hidden behind cloud cover!!!!!

I could have cried. Nick chose that minute to call about a file I had e-mailed to him and I was almost in tears of frustration. He took the brunt of it VERY well (poor guy!) and told me that perhaps things would clear up soon since it was still sunny over at his school. I hung up and then remembered that he works in the direction the clouds seemed to be moving towards... so maybe they hadn’t reached him yet??

With a deep breath, I pinned the fabric to the one remaining side of the box that was intact, put my winter woolies back on and headed out onto our back deck. Taking a deep breath in the shed hadn’t been too bad. Out in the open, you could feel the air trying to freeze you on the way in until body heat won... I set everything up to start taking my pictures, cloud covered sun or not. While sunlight makes the braid sparkle nicely, any full spectrum light is much better than indoor light for colours anyway... and all the white snow reflecting around should help to brighten the piece anyway. So I began to shoot the last 9 pictures on my roll of film from the holidays. The story does have a happy ending after all. The sun came out briefly for the last 3 frames... just enough to add a bit of sparkle, I hope.

So I will run these over to our photo place tonight (or as soon as Nick gets home with the car) and see if any of them are crisp enough to scan in once I get a 5 x 7 made. Since Runekeeper is being printed as a book, I want the cover image to be as crisp and clear as possible... which would normally mean shooting an image on a larger format or high end digital camera. I have called a few studios and know what kind of money I am in for if these don’t turn out, but at least this way I will have TRIED....

After a warm mug of tea and some toast, my fingers and toes have thawed enough to type this. Being a designer means sometimes doing whatever it takes to get a quality product out to stitchers... and I am sure that many of my fellow designers have their own collection of horror stories. I’m just glad that today’s had a happy ending!!

Back in the swing of things...

This morning was the first Saturday morning back in our usual routine of getting up and out the door by 8:15 to head for Saint Pat’s Family Center. I wasn’t teaching the Circuit Training class this week, so I got my workout in first while Nick waited with the girls until they headed into the pool at 9:00 am. Bethany came out at 9:30 and showered with me and we managed to get the hair partly fluffed dry with the blow dryer before Erin came out at 9:45. They both headed into gymnastics at 10 for an hour while Nick went up to take the circuit class from Denise while I watched the girls in the gym and worked on some stitching. By 11:30, everyone in the family had had at least one workout and everyone’s hair was clean too!!

The only thing is... it is FREEEEEEEEZING out. I don’t think my fingers have been warm at all this week unless I have them wrapped around a mug of tea! Even my stitching feels slower than usual.. thank GOODNESS for quick model stitchers like Dani, Beth and Juls... or I would be in a TOTAL panic!!

I’m off to speak with a seamstress this afternoon because I have decided to get a little help with my costume for Nashville... My sewing machine is being a bit temperamental and as Nick said the other day “how much is your time and sanity worth??” Sometimes trying to do everything yourself just isn’t worth it.... so we’ll see what she quotes and then I can decide

Fire and Ice...

It is SO ironic that as I am putting the finishing touches on the first of my elemental dragons... Fire... and have been looking at ways to use these charts to help others around the world, that a disaster should hit so close to home. Late Monday afternoon, one of my fellow “bus stop moms” came home to find her parents herding her boys out of the house as flames began to burst from the roof line. Somehow something smoldered in their chimney and, despite the fire department coming once to check the house, burst into flames later in the day. Most of the upper floor and attic are totally destroyed, and there is quite a bit of water damage elsewhere. Since all 5 of them moved in with her brother’s family, whose home is even closer to ours than hers, many of us took up food, spare clothing etc. What else can you do when tragedy hits but respond as a community? Isn’t this what I hope my neighbours would do for me if something happened at our house?

Today, the temperatures have plunged into Wind Chill warnings and bitter cold. I don’t think that I have had warm hands or toes since I first crawled out of bed. Tomorrow is supposed to be even more bitterly cold, but after that... I hope things warm up a bit for a photo shoot... If not, I will be finding a studio space to rent or hiring a professional to shoot the Runekeeper model..

I’ve enjoyed the feedback from stitchers about how to best use the Elemental Dragons for charity purposes. I really feel the need to somehow encourage people to not only enjoy what they are stitching, but also think about how they could also help others in tiny ways. Imagine that each one of us helping one another is like one more tiny X added to a design that makes the world a better place instead of an X that has to be “frogged” (Rip-it,-Rip-it).

Since so many stitchers outside North America pointed out how hard it is to find truly International organizations (like the Red Cross), I think I have come up with a solution that works for me. When each elemental dragon is posted, I will put a list of ideas for places to donate on the website... but then let each stitchers decide for themselves. I’m not going to try to “force” people to be generous. I also know that there will be some stitchers who choose not to donate anything to any cause, but I think that will be better than making it a chart which can only be obtained with a contribution. Somehow that will make the chart even more tempting to those who continue to abuse copyrights and share or post patterns illegally. I’m working on the wording that will appear on the chart itself, but I think there will be room in there to put down some ideas of causes.

I can remember looking at a campfire this summer and thinking just how beautiful and terrible Fire can be.... that something to bring warmth, cook food, act as a beacon in the darkness (that scene in Return of the King where the beacon fires were being lit game me goosebumps!!) and much more can also destroy...

Ahhh.....Back To Just Me and My Thoughts...

It was a wonderful and relaxing holiday season... which is probably why I posted so few blogs... I was just too busy having fun with my family! But as much fun as it was not to wake up to an alarm clock or be tied to much of a schedule, I am still glad to have the house back to being quiet and getting some work done.

I really wonder if I could work in an office anymore. I have become accustomed to the silence behind the clatter of keyboard and mouse, the soft tunes I might tuck on in the background when I am designing and just being able to get lost in my work.

With Nashville only a month away, it is hard not to give in to panic as my “to do” list grows, but I learned long ago to eat that elephant in small bites... so I just concentrate on getting things done one at a time!!

Today I am printing out covers for A Dragon’s Tea Party on one Mac while I polish up the final layout for our Runekeeper Saga on the main computer. Even though the press bill on this one is going to be on the edge of my comfort zone, putting together a beautiful book with story and stitching is quite fun. The framed piece looks so wonderful and I can’t wait to have a sunny, non-windy day (without the -22 wind chill today) to photograph the piece on our back deck. Sunlight really does bring out the sparkle in the braid the way you can’t do unless you have LOTS of studio lights. Photos never really do the model justice, but at least you can try to make it as close as possible. One of the thrills that I had stitching other designers patterns was that it always looked SO much better in real life than in the photo, so you had that joy of falling in love with the design that your fingers were itching to stitch all over again!

REFLECTIONS RATHER THAN RESOLUTIONS...

Having my Mom and Stepfather, John, here for the tail end of the Christmas Holidays has been wonderful!! I thought that Bethany was going to explode on Tuesday as she kept asking (from about 11 am onwards) “Is it night yet? Are we getting closer to supper when they come here? Is it soon?”

Last night, spending New Year’s Eve in our own home surrounded by board games, great food and good music was also heavenly. Both my mother and I took time to write down our thoughts. She makes up a list of the highs and lows of the year that has just been while pouring through her date book. Being FAR less organized than she is, I love to spend my New Year’s Eve journal entry writing down my thoughts on the year that is coming to a close.... what things I have enjoyed most, what I am thankful for... and then the entry always seems to turn towards what my hopes and dreams are for the year ahead. Not RESOLUTIONS ... those always seem to be a checklist of tasks that most of us cannot keep without a lot of hard work. I like to think of dreams and goals to strive for rather than a list of tasks to do. While they may often have the same end results (staying healthy, getting regular physical exercise etc.) I am far more comfortable with this way of setting them out.

Today has been a busy one getting the website ready for 2004, including reactivating the samples page which has been black for an entire year. I find writing code VERY hard on the head... but at least Mom and John have been a wonderful source of distraction!!! Best of all, I heard from both my Brother and Sister by phone/e-mail despite each of them being on opposite sides of the world from me... one in Switzerland and the other in Tokyo! What a nice treat!!

Happy New Year everyone... may you have fun thinking about your own dreams and goals for the year ahead!!

The Joy of Getting Lost in Something...

Vacations are all about not watching the clock... right? I guess today counted... sort of. There were still work related things to take care of, a run to the post office in hopes of finding some fabric that is still lost in transit from the USA (no luck) and mailing out one piece that got lost in the mess of my office when we cleaned up the kitchen... There was also the hilarious scene of filling out an International waybill for the courier on my knees in the kitchen right as the fish sticks needed to come out of the oven and my kids were fighting over a new toy...

The courier guy was very patient. I’d run out of International waybills and only discovered it as I tried to get my 2 box shipment of that nice distributor order ready to go off tonight. (Isn’t that always the way... you find out that you are missing something when you need it most... like halfway through a recipe??) So here I was filling out the waybill from him... only to discover that it was one of the older type without the secondary labels for multiple box shipments! Down I run to the fax machine and put the waybill through on “copy” which we then stuff into another sticky pouch for the second box. Nick was racing around saving the fish sticks from certain cremation and trying to negotiate a cessation of the hostilities between our two daughters that did not require the establishment of a Neutral Zone....

Sometimes, I wish that I did have a loading dock, a shipping department and a cute guy Friday (actually... I DO have that last one...but he has his own career too!) until I have to do a late night commute from work that only involves walking up two flights of stairs.

Amid all this chaos... there were two fun escapes. The first was a good Nora Roberts book, the first in a new trilogy, which I inhaled today between e-mail downloads, bathroom breaks and a nice, hot bath this morning... (being a speed reader helps, except that it means the fun is over sooner) and also the Animal Crossing game that our kids got for Christmas has turned out to be quite addictive for Mommy and Daddy too! LOL!

Getting lost in something totally fun and unjustifiable really does make me feel like I am taking time off... even in little spurts!

Happy Holiday Thoughts...

Here’s what I tried to post on Christmas Eve....

Well... the blog and website are updated... my duet at church tonight went well and neither of my kids self-destructed during the family service. Many of us burst into giggles during the children’s moment when one little girl insisted that there were elephants and giraffes in the manger because her story book said so...

We have to be up early to get the turkey in the oven... so this dragon is heading off to bed. I hope that peace prevails... that generosity outweighs commercialism... that compassion exceeds judgment... and that we never forget to have that flicker of hope in the dark of the night.

Merry Christmas!


Hiding from Boxing Day Sales.....

It was magical just spending Christmas in our own home at our own pace this year! We had fun and even some giggles when Nick found THREE lumps of pretend coal that Erin had stuffed in his stocking. The poor guy just kept saying...”I haven’t been THAT bad!!” We had some very dear friends for the holiday meal since their family has jumped from 2 kids to 4 with the additions of twins. They are 9 months old now and often crawling in opposite directions, so we invited the whole family to join us for a turkey feast. It was merry chaos indeed for all of us.

Yesterday we went down to Nick’s Mother and Step-Father’s Bed and Breakfast (closed now for the season) for another wonderful meal. We had a great time and left in the evening amid big, fat, fluffy flakes of snow falling from the sky. This morning there is just a dusting of new snow... which my kids love a lot more than the rain, so we are going to go for a walk in the nearby woods this afternoon. We had a quiet morning that was spent at HOME rather than fighting crowds at the malls. I didn’t see anything I wanted badly enough to play “body hockey” with total strangers over!

Tonight we are having a friend of the girls over for a sleep over, so the only message we will do is to head out for some snacks and maybe movies or Nintendo games to play tonight....

I’m going to put off working until Monday, except for folding some leaflets. I am enjoying this break!

Happy Holiday Thoughts...

Well... the blog and website are updated... my duet at church tonight went well and neither of my kids self-destructed during the family service. Many of us burst into giggles during the children’s moment when one little girl insisted that there were elephants and giraffes in the manger because her story book said so...

We have to be up early to get the turkey in the oven... so this dragon is heading off to bed. I hope that peace prevails... that generosity outweighs commercialism... that compassion exceeds judgment... and that we never forget to have that flicker of hope in the dark of the night.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holiday Thoughts...

Well... the blog and website are updated... my duet at church tonight went well and neither of my kids self-destructed during the family service. Many of us burst into giggles during the children’s moment when one little girl insisted that there were elephants and giraffes in the manger because her story book said so...

We have to be up early to get the turkey in the oven... so this dragon is heading off to bed. I hope that peace prevails... that generosity outweighs commercialism... that compassion exceeds judgment... and that we never forget to have that flicker of hope in the dark of the night.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Holiday Thoughts...

Well... the blog and website are updated... my duet at church tonight went well and neither of my kids self-destructed during the family service. Many of us burst into giggles during the children’s moment when one little girl insisted that there were elephants and giraffes in the manger because her story book said so...

We have to be up early to get the turkey in the oven... so this dragon is heading off to bed. I hope that peace prevails... that generosity outweighs commercialism... that compassion exceeds judgment... and that we never forget to have that flicker of hope in the dark of the night.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cookies and Christmas....Rain??

I was the only one who had to get up and out to work this morning for a meeting, but Nick was SO kind... he took the girls with him to pick up the last few groceries we need before Christmas. Somehow Bethany managed to spill grape juice on herself TWICE before they came to get me, but the laundry is done now.

This afternoon we iced many dozens of cookies when one of our best friends, Karen, came over with her son (and our godson) Ben for a madcap lunch and cookie icing session. The kids ate them as fast as they could decorate them at first... but then their blood sugar probably peaked so we have some truly creative cookies to leave out for Santa and enjoy ourselves!

Nick snuck off for a workout and called from the framers to tell me that the Runekeeper piece I am releasing at the show in Nashville in February looks “TOTALLY AWESOME” and that my framers had outdone themselves this time... so I can’t wait to see it when he gets home. I’d picked out a frame that I’ve wanted to use for years.... but always worried it wouldn’t travel to trade shows well. I plan to just package the heck out of this one and not have it move around more than necessary. Many of my frames will need to be replaced in the next few years because they take so much more banging than a piece that just hangs on the wall... Ah well... that’s why it is a business deduction ...right??

They are calling for rain tonight and tomorrow night... so that doesn’t feel very Christmassy, but it shouldn’t be enough to melt the snow away completely. I am very much looking forward to celebrating Christmas in our own house this year, especially the serenity of Christmas Eve and then the excitement and chaos of Christmas Morning. The girls have already asked that their Dad make them Happy Face Pancakes and that I make the scrambled eggs.

The only task left on my list for tonight or tomorrow is to tuck two more sample charts up on the site as a final Christmas gift to all those dragon loving stitchers out there. Then I am going to take a few days off from even blogging and just spend some quality time with those I love.

May the holidays be a time of unexpected joys and thoughtful gratitude for all that we DO have... for everyone out there who reads this Dragon’s Musings

I Know Why Some Animals Eat Their Young.....

Well... it is the first true day of Christmas Vacation and I am already wishing I could shove my daughters out the door to school and daycare! Yesterday was a wonderful day, so perhaps this is some barometric abnormality... biorhythms... planetary alignment... or just two girls who have forgotten how to get along with each other for more than a weekend. I even considered shipping Erin off to La-La Land to help Linn Skinner with her book binding... but she's probably drive her crazy too!

Of course the fact that I had parcels to ship and family errands to run had nothing to do with it...right? They even fought about which restaurant we were going to eat at as a treat for lunch!!

Some parent somewhere must have had a day like this and been the first to invent the “Let’s see who can be quiet the longest in the car” game. Nick spoke almost right away... and then made me laugh out loud by saying in his wonderful French “Je pense... c’est pourquoi quelques des animaux mangent leurs petits!” Which is supposed to be “I think this is why some animals eat their young”... but the grammar was cute enough to make me giggle.

Sometimes raising responsible kids is just such a challenge! I have pretty good kids, but it is having the patience to teach them coping behaviours and proper boundaries instead of just doing what they want all the time. I’ve been reading an excellent book on the subject which is helping me not react emotionally to everything, especially Bethany’s new hissy fits or sudden “my legs won’t work any more” or “my body isn’t feeling well... I have a headache!” whenever she is asked to do something she doesn’t want to do. This morning she was complaining that her fingers were too stiff to put the crayons back in the box and that I should do it. (I thought to myself “Do I have Crayon Maid written on my forehead??”) I just firmly told her that she had to be responsible for cleaning up what she had been using... but then explained that I used to play a game when I was putting crayons away as a little girl. I pretended that the box was their cave and that I was tucking the colours away for the night. Before she knew it, she was wishing the purples “Good Night” and putting the colours away. I can still remember doing every trick from playing “beat the clock” to singing songs as I did tasks I hated. By turning them into games, it made it more bearable. Perhaps I should apply that to tidying my office!

Sigh! There.... it is amazing what a few moments of quiet head space will do to restore my sanity. No wonder my Mom would have a nap and send us each off for Quiet Time on weekend afternoons. She was probably ready to shove us out the door too!!

I can hear the occasional clunk of Lego on the hardwood floor upstairs and they play Harry Potter Lego, and my gingerbread dough for gingerbread men tomorrow with my girls and my godson should be just about ready to come out of the fridge.... Only 3 1/2 hours until they are asleep!!

Lord of the Rings Afterglow...

Here it is almost 24 hours after seeing Return of the King, the last Lord of the Rings movie, and I am still in absolute amazement of how well crafted the whole trilogy was and how far movie making technology has jumped since I saw Star Wars on the big screen at 13 and really BELIEVED I’d been on other worlds!

Going out to a movie has become a rare treat in our household... it’s just too expensive to do unless it is a movie that we REALLY want to see. Baby sitters run about 25 to 30 dollars for supper and putting the kids to bed, especially on a Friday night right before Christmas... Tickets were $10.25 each and the food was another $12.00.... but oh, this was worth every penny!! I sat spellbound through most of the movie until I had to watch Nick’s shoulder for all the spider scenes and some of the cliff or Gondor over the wall shots triggered that vertigo/lemming feeling, but I just sat in awe as incredible directing, camera angles, close-ups, lighting, dialogue (staying true to some great Tolkein lines), special effects and some truly awesome actors combined to make a magical ride. I blubbered like an idiot for most of the end too... Goodbyes always do that to me.

Most of all, I love the intricate blend of humour and wisdom in the face of impossible odds that Tolkein and many of the great fantasy writers are able to share with us. To never give up... to do what is right even though it may not be easy or safe... to be loyal to your friends.. to speak out against insanity and injustice... to face down the monsters....to hope against impossible odds... and to know that death is just the beginning of a new adventure.

Tolkein made the world a whole lot richer with his imagination... and Peter Jackson has certainly created a legacy of his own with this trilogy. It makes me realize that when you strive to do your very best, in whatever creative endeavor you undertake, rather than just trying to make as much money, as quickly as you can, it really shows... and I think it will stand the test of time.

I can still remember one young artist that was the buzz of the New York art scene when I was studying Fine Arts at Mount Allison back in 1986. Everyone was calling him the next great thing in Modern Art and claiming that his paintings would be worth triple their incredible prices by the end of the 20th century... He’s still considered to be a talented artist, but there is far less hype about his work now. Was it partly marketing and hype? Should you buy a piece of art because someone tells you it will be a good investment... or because it speaks to you or moves you in some way??

I guess that whatever I chose to spend my money on... I want to feel like it was worth it.

Watching Legolas surf down that trunk... or Gandalf’s face as he comforted a hobbit... it was indeed worth it! (Now if only I could get those scuttling spider sounds out of my head!!)

Mostly Set For The Holidays....

Well, this is my last quiet day at home for a while... kind of bittersweet, but also exciting. Both girls skipped out of the house today to give their gifts to their teachers. We also handed the morning bus driver a tin of mixed holiday baking that 5 Moms had put together while the 6th & 7th bought the Tim Horton’s Gift Certificates. It was a lot more practical to all work together than duplicate our efforts by each getting little gifts. Bethany also took 8 little Santa Pins that I painted for all the workers at her daycare, but she is VERY much looking forward to the 2 week break to “stay home with Mommy...... and Daddy!”

I’m actually making headway in cleaning up older e-mail messages and sorting out the piles of paperwork and receipts that have slowly been taking over every surface in my office since the girls had chicken pox. I sometimes think that the piles multiply like Dust Bunnies overnight. This is one of those times that I miss being an “employee” with just my own little division and tasks to follow instead of having to do it all. I am so much more of the creative type than the organized, know-where-everything-is type... and yet I also HATE to not know where something is when I need it in a hurry! Filing paperwork and keeping things straight makes me feel like a kid who needs to clean their room - I don’t like doing it, but there is that sense of satisfaction when everything looks ordered. Maybe in 2004, I can actually keep things that way!! (LOL!)

I have a few more Christmas presents to finish making as well, but those are enjoyable... and then there are the stocking stuffer fun things to pick up next week. I am actually REALLY looking forward to not traveling ANYWHERE this Christmas. It will be Bethany’s first Christmas at home and she is almost 5!! With far flung families, it seems as if we’ve always been traveling during the holidays... so this will be a welcome break not to have to worry about storm delays, lost luggage etc.

Just 4 more hours to get my work done and then Nick and I are off to see the last Lord of the Rings movie tonight. Yay!!

Tell Mother Nature she can... hmmm well....

Ok... I KNOW that when I first moved to the Maritimes, they used to say that if you didn’t like the weather, you should just wait a bit...but this is just plain silly! We woke up this morning to find that the temperature had soared to well above freezing and that more than an inch of rain had fallen overnight!! Those snowy roads that haven’t been properly plowed since Monday’s snowstorm are now puddly, slushy, slippery channels of cold, grey slush. As Erin and I walked up to the bus stop in the driving rain, I discovered that some of the puddles were far deeper than they appeared. Since I was wearing my ankle high winter boots instead of my mid calf ones.... this caused the dragon to do some pretty funny leaps! I also changed my socks as soon as I got home and made myself a hot mug of tea to wrap my claws around.... but I don’t think I have been warm since. By tonight everything is supposed to freeze again into nice hard slippery puddles... so I’m going to chip at any ice left on the driveway after lunch.

I’ve spent the morning trying to archive older e-mail, catch up on stuff I missed, and find the floor of my office which seems to have disappeared in the past few weeks. Nick and the girls are very excited about tomorrow being the last day of school and the start of Christmas break.... but I am trying to be as productive as possible in the next 48 hours ... as I savour the peaceful silence of the empty house!

Of Pageants & Surprise Guests, Stalled Vans, Big Orders and Bigger Biceps...

Well... I really shouldn’t have gotten so stressed over those gingerbread houses (though I laughed my way through the article in the January Canadian Living about a Mom whose experience was almost the same) because the three families had a GREAT time decorating the three houses I put together on Friday night from the kits. I did make my OWN Royal icing, because the goopy stuff in the kit wouldn’t work at all.

Saturday was marvelous fun except for our van suddenly deciding to stop dead in its tracks at only 18 months and 36,000 km. Nick got it towed to the dealer who was just as baffled until later this morning when after a few hours in their toasty warm service bay, it started like a charm. Perhaps something got clogged or frozen in the fuel line... so we shall see.

Sunday was the day of our Christmas Pageant during the service at church. Erin and Bethany were both angels with “real” feathery wings... but the highlight of the morning for them was when Nick’s Mother and Stepfather appeared to sit in the second row!! My girls just beamed through the service and then insisted on taking their grandparents out to lunch at their favourite restaurant.

I came home to find a very nice order from one of our distributors on the fax machine as well. Nick was even smiling because it was for our process colour leaflets instead of the chartpacks and he prefers to fold rather than collate and stuff bags. The weather warnings for another massive snowstorm were also out, so we went to bed not knowing what the morning would hold and Christmas parcels to ship out overseas...

When we woke up at 6 am to catch the headlines, we learned that schools were closed all across the province, despite the fact that not a flake was falling. Since the girls were still asleep and Nick was able to doze off again, I got up and headed down to the computer. In icky weather, I love the fact that my commute is only two flights of stairs. I worked until the girls got up at 7:30... and by 8 am the flakes were really starting to fly, but there was only about and inch or so on the roads. We decided to load the parcels in our borrowed vehicle and race up to the post office before the weather got worse..... but I was 26th in line!!! Apparently all the other procrastinators out there with parcels to mail had the same idea. Nick is still teasing me that the boxes are probably all sitting at the airport unable to move... but at least I am not tripping over the boxes in MY house.

So... do I want anther snow day with my family tomorrow and have my morning meeting canceled?? Do I want to have them all get out from underfoot since they will be home over the Christmas Break and I will no doubt miss my ability to work at my own pace in a nice quiet house?? I think that for once, I will just let Mother Nature do whatever it is she has up her sleeve and not stress about it. Since I cannot push a button and stop a snow storm... there’s not much point in getting all worked up about it.... especially since it will be such a great bicep workout!!