More Black Belt Stitching Wizard Stuff

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Last Exchange Has Arrived!

 Exchange from Shannon

About a week ago my last exchange arrived in the post, it took awhile to get here.  As all good Canadians know the minute any mail hits our border it comes off of the plane/truck and immediately goes onto dog sled.  At that time we didn't have much snow, and that really slows the poor dogs down!  The dogs did us proud, and Shannon's exchange arrived before Christmas!  She sent me this adorable gingerbread man ornament and fabulous goodies!

Zeus is playing with the candy cane on the bed

 Zeus managed to abscond with the plastic candy cane tree ornament.  I have since removed the string, she seems to like to play with it!  Who am I not to indulge my... I mean Todd's cat (I've been joking that she's his Christmas gift this year since she clearly adores her!).

This is what the roads looked like at the intersection in my Little Village
(that's one of two churches in my Little Village)

Oh my goodness!  What a couple of days its been!!!  In the last two weeks of school leading up to the Christmas break we've had three yes THREE snow days!  Sadly snow days don't mean that I get to stay home too.  As school board employees we are supposed to do our best to make it into our school, if not report to the nearest school.  For me, that's the school I work at.  The first two snow days I made it into the school with little trouble.  This Friday, was not the case we had a lot of snow... and I mean A LOT!  I'm not afraid to drive in the snow, or bad weather... to a point.  Well for the first time in many, many, many years the road conditions forced me to turn around!  The highway I travel was not only snow covered (I can deal with that) but beneath that was pitted ice, it was worse than driving on a poorly maintained dirt road!  In my wee car it was a little scary.  To even drive down to the next exit, turn around and come back home took me over 30 minutes!  My drive from my house to work is normally about 20!!  I'm ashamed to say I missed the last day at work before the holidays... I make it in most snow days when other people don't.

Our long driveway after we cleared it for the 4th time today!

The snow started during the night on Thursday, went all day Friday and into the night.  Todd was a sweetie and got up super early to clear the driveway for me so I could try to go to work on Friday.  To keep up the accumulation of snow, we shoveled THREE times that day!  Once was Todd on his own, the second time I helped, and the third time I did it on my own (took over 2 hours).    After that we gave up, decided we didn't need to get out and decided to clear it out for the fourth time today.  Of course we woke up to light snow... again.  Todd was not impressed he was outside for HOURS and I even went out and helped him for about 80 minutes.  I think we're going to have to do a little more shoveling tomorrow, Christmas Eve so that the family can come over.  All said and done, we received about 44 cm of snow!  That's longer that your kid's school ruler (standard 30 cm)!  Not only did we have to deal with snow, but our power flickered several times on Friday morning and went out for a few hours while I was shoveling the drive.

The Accolade pages 1-4

I did make good use of the day, despite spending a couple of hours shoveling wet, heavy snow I did manage to stitch as well.  I finished up page FOUR on The Accolade (not a HEAD by the way)!  So that's 4/12 pages done and I've made a wee start on page 5 yesterday.

Snowflake 1 Freebie
Stitched on 28ct Antique White Jubilee
Stitched with Carrie's Creations Blue Dreams

I've decided to slow down on The Accolade for a little while and work on a few "other things".  What those other things are, I don't know.  I will still continue to do a 10x10 block on The Accolade each day if I can, but I won't be working on it for hours at a time like I have for the last month and a half.  Yesterday this freebie took my fancy.  I did the finishing on it today, I whip stitched it together adding beads every other stitch.

So I am now off of work for TWO WEEKS!  I intend to spend a lot of it, on my behind stitching!  There will be a few visits with friends, lunches out, and maybe a movie or two.  Right now I just want to stitch!

20 comments:

Bonnie Brown said...

That is a lot of snow! We still have don't have any, but have had lots and lots of rain!
I only have until the 2nd off, but also hope to get some stitching done.

EvalinaMaria said...

Congrats on the lovely exchange! For sure you're having white Christmas... All the best!

Anonymous said...

The snow pictures are so pretty, even IF the snow is a big pain in the patooty!

Have fun with your time off! I'm sure we'll see lots of progress pictures on the blog.

Merry Christmas!

valerie said...

Cute exchange! Love the snowflake ornie your stitched and Accolade is really looking great! All that snow sounds scary. I have no idea what I would do with shoveling and driving. I become whiny and a hermit in normal rain. lol Merry Christmas Dani!

cucki said...

Congrats on the lovely exchange..
Merry Christmas dear x

Mouse said...

so glad the exchange got there :) and wow that is a lot of snow ... at least you tried to get in ....
love the accolade its coming on lovely and your little ornament is gorgeous .... hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a very merry stitchy new year ...
love mouse xxxxx

Cath said...

Merry Christmas , enjoy your time off and lots of stitching .X

Christine said...

Lovely exchange and I adore the picture of Zeus with the candy cane!
You've certainly had a lot of snow. Stay warm and have a very happy Christmas

Ann at Beadlework. said...

I think you deserve time to sit and stitch after all that hard work. I know what it's like after the winter we had two years ago when the snow just kept coming and eventually there was nowhere to put the shoveled snow.I think it's the main reason I don't like snow at all, it causes so much disruption.

Brigitte said...

Shoveling heavy wet snow is the worst. We had the same two weeks ago and it went up to nearly half a meter. Now you should look outside today - every thing has melted away, there are just the heaps along the streets left. It's like a spring day today. No white Christmas here but I don't mind.
Happy Christmas to you!

Catherine said...

So glad you stayed safe! Loved seeing your snow pics, as all we have had so far is rain and wind. Although, three days is a bit much all together.
Have a wonderful Christmas!

Jackie's Stitches said...

Two weeks off sounds heavenly! The snow looks beautiful but sounds like loads of work. Wishing you a safe and happy holiday!

Vickie said...

I would say you and Todd got a lot of exercise in!!
Enjoy your time off.
A Blessed, Merry Christmas to you.

Annie said...

So much snow! Maybe more if a White Xmas than you bargained for, but it doeslook pretty. Enjoy your break and have a wonderful holiday!

Emma/Itzy said...

Two weeks, oh I do envy you :D Have a great Christmas x

Kathy A. said...

Great exchange Dani.
I think Leo is tired of the snow now
Look forward to seeing you over the holidays.

Chris said...

Merry Christmas Dani!
I hope that you have a wonderful holiday break.
All the ornaments are lovely and I enjoyed seeing your big snow so much!
Hugs to Zeus.

Lesleyanne said...

A lovely exchange. Great progress on Accolade and your finish is gorgeous. You have had a LOT of snow. Merry Christmas. Have a great two weeks and I hope you manage to get a lot of stitching in.

Linda said...

Great stitching and I love the snow pics.

Merry Christmas
Linda

Nic said...

Ooh, love all that snow. Not sure about the shovelling though.
All good pics - the stiching and the snow