I'm Back!

I'm back and feeling better at last.
First, a stitchy update then all the details about my health.

Way back last year I received a travelling pattern - Summer Splendor by LHN.
We were in the middle of renovation hell so I pulled threads and chose fabric and put it in a safe place.  Then I couldn't find it again until I had unpacked all my sewing room boxes after the new carpet was laid.
I picked it up on January 1st and started, but the weather turned horrible and we had a heatwave.  Next I was running around like a headless chook trying to get everything organized for our Canadian holiday.  Fine, I thought, we get back at the end of January, the kids go back to school and I will get it knocked over within a week.
2 months later, here is my progress photo.  I picked it up last weekend and hope to finish this weekend.

Sorry for the poor quality photo - I took this on my phone and it was a rainy day.
When it is finished I will do a separate post and see who would like to have a chance to do this next.


To say I haven't been well is probably an understatement.  I woke up in the early hours of the morning we left Whistler (January 26 - Australia Day) with a terribly sore throat, headache and runny nose.  Great, I've caught a cold, so dosed myself up with painkillers and antihistamines.  I had a bit of trouble clearing my ears on both flights but managed to get a fair bit of sleep.  Got home Tuesday morning and had a busy few days with the start of school for both kids.  Took myself to the Dr that Friday as it felt like I was getting bronchitis - sore throat, painful chest and coughing.  By the weekend the cough was much worse and I was getting up in the middle of the night needing to sit upright for several hours, coughing and choking for breath then feeling like I was going to be sick, then crawling back to bed exhausted at 4am for another few hours sleeep.  After about 4 weeks of that I improved enough to realize this wasn't an ordinary cough and took myself back to the dr.  He agreed that it sounded like whooping cough and ran some blood tests but they came back negative.  The cough lasted another few weeks and was set off by talking, laughing, changes in temperature and standing up.  Even when the cough stopped I was tired all the time.  If I went out to get a few groceries I would feel like I had been hit by a truck and would need to rest for an hour or so after.
I am feeling much better now, the cough has gone and the fatigue and fuzzy head haven't been a problem for over a week.  DH was the only other one who got it and he was about 2 weeks behind me so he is still getting better.  Whatever it was, it was a nasty bug and left me with no energy to do anything but the essentials - food, laundry, kids to and from school.

DD has had a rough time lately as well.  About 3 weeks ago I came home after dropping DH at the airport and found DD buddy taping her little toe and calmly saying she thought it was broken.  Bike + bare feet + speed + cutting corners in the garden = clipping the garden edging.  I was feeling rather ordinary so waited a day then took her to the hospital ER the next afternoon.  Yes, it was broken, they showed her how to tape it up, gave her some crutches and told her to use them for a week or two. I was fine with that as she has a fair bit of walking to do at high school.   No netball for 4 weeks.  Only problem is that now I have to drive her to and from school everyday as the bus drop off is at the bottom of a steep hill and the school is at the top.
Just over a week later I got a call from her school.  It was a wet morning and her crutch had slipped, she had twisted her good ankle and the swelling wasn't going down.  Result - one sprained ankle.  No netball for at least 4 weeks.  She had to stay home for a few days until she could walk well enough to get around!  The toe still hurts a bit but the sprained ankle is pain free when she walks.  She is going to try a slow jog this weekend.  She has missed the first 3 games of the netball winter season but there is a 3 week break over the Easter holidays so she will be right to play after that.

Well done if you have managed to read all that.  I'm excited to be stitching again.
Have to go and feed my family before they complain too much.

On Holiday

We have a few more days here in Whistler, Canada. The weather has been lovely - no snow and sunny most days. Today was a rest day after skiing every day for the previous 6 days. Yesterday afternoon we skied from the Roundhouse near the top of the mountain down to the village - 1200m vertical drop. It took us an hour and a half on the easiest green runs. I'm snow plowing slowly down the steeper sections but I'm having a great time. Tomorrow is our last day skiing and I hope my left knee lasts the day. I hurt it here 3 years ago and it's getting a bit sore and stiff. DS is skiing behind me to pick up the pieces if I crash - he tells me I'll go better if I ski faster and not worry so much about staying in control!

The trip over was pretty good. Landed in LA and cleared security and customs and was waiting at the lounge for my Vancouver flight within 90 minutes. The kids and I met DH at Vancouver airport and got the bus to Whistler. How long did it take you ask? From leaving home to checking in at the hotel at Whistler was 26 hours. With the time difference we arrived at Whistler 8 hours after we left. Always feels strange arriving in LA before we leave home! However, on the way home we lose a day, leave Sunday midday and arrive home Tuesday morning. The kids start the new school year on Wednesday morning.

Stitching from Stash is going well. I haven't spent any money this year, but I've only stitched a little at the beginning of the month. It was very hot before we left for our holiday and I was getting ready to go away and preparing for the new school year. I didn't bring any stitching with me on holiday but the light in the hotel room isn't good enough for stitching anyway. I'm looking forward to having more time next month.

 

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Happy New Year

Well, after the great renovations of 2013 I am back stitching.
Our new carpet was laid 2 weeks before Christmas.  I'm used to the colour now - the first week I thought I'd made a horrible mistake. It's a bit darker than the old carpet, but that is good because the cat has already vomited on it twice!  We are still unpacking boxes and will be for a while yet.  We still have no window coverings in any bedrooms, but I'm getting plantation shutters in my bedroom and the sewing room which will arrive early Feb.  The kids curtains will be organized around then as will their new beds. Photos below were taken with my phone.

dining area

lounge room

Great grandmother's travelling chest - initials on top

library nook

Stitching Plans for 2014

I've decided to join a few groups this year.  In no particular order they are:

Stitch from Stash 2014 

TUSAL

Turtle Trot 

Wipocalypse 2014

My stitching projects are listed below.

1. Summer Splendor - this is a travelling pattern I received in October and put in a safe place before the painters started.  Just found it again the other day!  Need to get cracking on this one.

2. Hypnotic

3. Romantic Rose Garden Mandala

4. Fall Mandala 

5. Snowy Pines LHN

6. Red House in Winter LHN

7. Winter Sheep LHN

8.Pear Tree LHN

9. Frosty Flakes LHN

10. Pirates Creed

Holidays

Kids are on school holidays until late January.  DD finished her last year of primary school last year and is going to a new school this year for grade 8.  She is 12 but is taller than me now (I'm 5'5")
DS is about to start his final year of high school and wants to do Mechanical Engineering at uni next year. He will be 17 in a few weeks.
We are going to Canada in 2 weeks for some skiing at Whistler again.  We were there 3 years ago.  DH has to go over to the US for work before so we are meeting him at Vancouver. We are due to get back home the day before the kids start school so the jet lag will be fun for them that first week!

I wouldn't mind some cooler weather right now.  Brisbane is forecast to reach 41C today. That's not much fun with no airconditioning, but we usually only get a few weeks of the really hot temps each year.  However, not much stitching happening with the heat.

I've been reorganizing in the sewing room - photos next post.
I'm off to peel some prawns for lunch - I picked up a frozen kilo from the parents in law on Christmas day and forgot about them until yesterday. Yum!

Stay warm/cool wherever you are.

TUSAL January 2014

I'm going to join the TUSAL run by Daffycat again this year.
See here for more information.

After not stitching for many months I picked up Summer Splendor by LHN and managed to stitch for a few hours on New Year's Day.  Not much, but it's a start.

Renovations

We started major renovations to our house at the end of June.
Tiles were ripped up and replaced, kitchen, laundry and 3 bathrooms were gutted and rebuilt.  Internal brick walls were removed/rebuilt in various rooms. Most of the contents were boxed up and stored in the garage. 
Every room has had some work done so far.  My bedroom has had the least work, but is used as a storage room. Luckily it is quite big as it currently contains the TV cabinet, oil heater, ironing board, sofa, old bathroom cabinet drawers, stepladder and vacuum cleaner, some boxes, bookcase, etc as well as the bed.
I sent the kids to their grandparents for the first 4 weeks until the new tiles were down.  The cat had to go to the cattery for this long as well. 

First day - discovered 2 layers of tiles

The builders split the work in 2 stages so we could continue living here.  Part 1 was the kitchen, laundry and main bathroom.  Part 2 was the remaining bathrooms.  The painting will be done when the renovations are complete and last will be the new carpet.

I've had some problems - the granite for the kitchen benchtop was cut 10mm too big for the sink but we've made do.  The oven didn't work and needed to be fixed.  The glass splashback had the holes for the rangehood cut incorrectly and needed to be redone, but looks fantastic now.

There is dust everywhere so my stitching is packed away.  There is no point getting it out until the painters have finished. 

Old kitchen, no tiles

 The 30yo old kitchen didn't look too bad but the benchtop was narrow, the cooktop was squeezed into a corner, the oven and dishwasher were on their last legs.  The tiles were getting drummy so we decided to replace them and discovered another layer of tiles underneath.

No kitchen, new tiles

New pantry

New kitchen

New kitchen

The new rangehood will be installed on Monday and electrical work should also be finished.  Still some more work to be done in the last 2 bathrooms.

DH has been travelling a lot during the renovations.  He has been home 1week out of the last 4, and is now half way into a 2 week trip to North America.  Two weeks ago he was in Taiwan/Singapore.  Kids have another week of school before the end of term break. 

I'm still reading blogs, just not managing to comment very often. 
I'm waiting impatiently until I can stitch again.

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Chart Winners

I'm back at last.  Sorry for the 2 week delay.  Everyone has been sick, starting with the kids,  but I'm feeling much better today.  We've had some computer problems as well, first with the internet, then I thought I'd killed the pc, but DH brought it back to life. 


So, onto the winners.  Not many entrants, but each chart went to a different winner.

Peppermint Twist - Sarah Beth

The Merry Skater - Carissa

That Kind of Stitcher - Cleejoow


If you could all email me your addresses I'll pop the relevant charts in the post to you.

I haven't done any stitching here for weeks and I'm missing it.  DH is going to Singapore tomorrow until Saturday so I'll try to pick up the needle again while he is gone.

Kitchen Renovations
I'm going to try to get most of the renovations done during the kids school holidays in June/July, but that means I have to have the kitchen appliances and tiles choosen by the end of next week, and a new front door settled on this week.  Yes, the front door needs replacing so we're going to do it with everything else.  Wish me luck.