Looking beyond the 'regular' and 'routine'

We know most days will be regular days.

Our lives will include some highlight days that stay with us forever, like family celebrations or personal triumphs, but almost every day this year will be a regular day, with nothing particularly astounding about it.

Yet within these regular days are many opportunities for enjoyment, many of which we don’t even think about or really appreciate.

Take a moment every day to think about the simple pleasures of your daily life.

~David Niven

This morning, in my inbox, I received my spiritual quotations for Monday from http://www.livingfully.com/ and the above quote from David Niven "hit home". I had just started surfing through facebook to see what everyone was up too and then started surfing through blogs. I saw that I hadn't updated my postings since Friday and thought to myself:

"Well, we really didn't do anything out of the ordinary...do those who read my blog find me boring if I write about my 'regular' days?"

But during my 'regular' days this weekend there were many blessings and pleasures - situations that I would like to remember and share with you if you are willing to read...

Saturday I worked at store #2 - worked with one of our employees who is still learning how to make the arrangements, as well as working on her courage to answer the phones and take orders. She has been an employee at the store since we opened on June 15 and has yet to answer the phone & take an order...that is until Saturday. She answered the phone, talked to the customer to find out what they were interested in ordering and processed her first order. "Now," as she said, "that I actually completed my first order over the phone, it isn't as bad as I thought it would be." I was very excited for her, because it does take some time to get use to talking to customers over the phone while working through the ordering system on the computer. She did it and I was there to witness...a moment in a 'regular' day, but an accomplishment for our employee which is exciting!

Sunday I worked at store #1 - giving DH not only a day off, but time to hang with our sons down in San Jose while Matthew (younger son) finished up the last day of tryouts. Since DH has been working 7 days a week - from open to close of the stores he hasn't had much opportunity to "hang with the boys" and watch them skate. He was a proud father as he watched Matthew take the ice and perform a wonderful tryout - showing that his hockey skills are at a much higher level this tryout summer than last. Matthew made the PeeWee 99 AAA team again this year and is very excited - and we are very proud of him! Being down at a hockey rink is part of a 'regular' day for our family...but Matthew had an awesome tryout, made the high level team again this year - he skated and passed at a higher level than in years passed...and DH & Robert were down there all together to enjoy the moment.
 
During the busy weekends we experience in our household - balancing the hockey activities and the business - we did find those moments this weekend, to bring out a board game so that the family can play together...found a movie on TV where the family could take time and enjoy good entertainment together. It is those moments, during the 'regular' evenings, that are precious and priceless.
 

It is those little moments -

the triumphs, the accomplishments the few moments together -

that should be recognized, appreciated...

as the simple pleasures of life!

 

"Happiness is enjoying the realities of life as well as the frivolities of life"

~Edward G Bulwer-Lytton

 

Ok, now as promised...while I didn't get an opportunity to sit my bottom down and stitch over the weekend, I wanted to make sure to get a photo of the little bit of progress I have made on Family Sampler since I picked up this project again a week ago (after I finished the Pineapple pillow)...

 

Here is the whole sampler..
the new part added since the last posting of Family Sampler is the alphabet on the bottom

Here is a close up of the alphabet on the bottom of the Family Sampler - the part I just finished stitching.
The "W, X, Y and Z" will be stitched below...soon.

Well, my friends...enjoy the little moments in your 'regular' day today and throughout the week. Until next time, remember...

 

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

The middle

Mid-way through May...hard to believe. So busy. Wishing that life would just stand still for a while; not really looking for that 25th or 26th hour in a day, for the fear that it, too, would be scheduled or used for something besides what I would like to do. I knew that May would be busy - boys are finishing up with school, school track team but adding a spring hockey clinic; *The Business* successfully made it through Mother's Day but focus needs to switch to getting store #2 ready for opening mid-June; organization of the trade show for my other job is just about complete but I will need to travel for a few days to make sure that it is all set up correctly.

I have been able to find a little time...or should I say: "I have been able to 'make' time"...to get in exercise and to stitch. Two things that are important to my health - mental, emotional and physical health.

The blurry photo is a new start I have made this week (couldn't get a good shot of it this morning, I do apologize). While it looks like grass, it will eventually be the top of a pineapple. I was surfing through all my "freebies" and saw this, which made me think of one of our wonderful employees who cuts the pineapple and basically puts the beginning touches to all the arrangements.
However as I start this, I remember that I do need to get back to the ornament for the swap that is due in the mail at the end of the month. If I remember correctly, I did get a good start on it last month; probably just need to put a few more stitches in it and then finish it off. Mmmm, let's see I could probably fit it in this week.

Actually tomorrow looks promising...Robert (older son) doesn't have anything after school for he is done with school track now...and Matthew (younger son) just has track, but I don't need to take him anywhere or for the most part pick him up because the school is close to the house. Sorry...just brainstorming.

If it is time to go off topic...I do have to say that it looks like it will be a beautiful day here. The weather stations have been threating clouds, cool weather, rain, thunderstorms and snow up in the Sierras near Tahoe all weekend. But I think that we snuck away without any of that weather getting in the way of our weekend. I see the bright sun coming up over the hills and hitting the tree out my window like a spot light. The blue of the sky is vivid without any clouds over head. Hopefully I will find time to get out and enjoy it.

I hope that you find time to enjoy life - whether it is indoors with stitching in hand, at the dinner table with your loved ones our outdoors enjoying nature. Take care and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa 

Sunday...gotta dip the strawberries and arrange the fruit

Up and in action on this Sunday morning. It is close to 6am and the sun isn't even up yet (doesn't it start rearing it's glowing head earlier now that it is May?). Well, I am up...a little later than I wanted to be, but I just need to remind myself of the important things:

• I did get up
• I did get time on the stationary bike
• I did get in a good sweaty workout

It use to be a lot easier to get out of bed consistantly at 4:30am in order to get in my workout before all the boys needed to get up and before the day really, truely begun. However, I find as I continue to age and continue to get busier and busier, the harder it is to keep my 4:30am appointment with the stationary bike. So I am practicing feeling good and grateful about anytime that I can get in a good spin before the sun comes up.

Well, enough about that...I am up early on Sunday because DH scheduled an early morning pick up for a 12 count chocolate covered strawberry box...for 8:30am and we don't open up until 10am on Sundays. Oh, well...it is our own business so we can basically schedule just about anything. And in retail or anytype of customer service operation you want to please the customer to the best of your ability...right? So, I will go in and get that order completed and get a start on the other orders for the day. Since DH and the boys are going up to our "soon-to-be" new store today to start getting things cleaned up and in place, I will be the one doing the deliveries at our current store. So, it will be good to be in their earlier to create the arrangements that need to be delivered allowing me to load up the car when our employee comes in at 10am and start delivering.

On the stitching side of life...I found a Christmas Ornament patter to stitch for Angela of our Ornament Swap group. As Jayne  commented, "...good luck on the hunt for an ornament because there are so many out there" and I needed it as I skimmed through all my back issues of the Just CrossStitch Ornament previews and special editions that dated back 10 years+...and then I surfed through all the back issues of the Gift of CrossStitching e-magazines that I have saved on a special external hard drive. After narrowing the choices down to 5, I picked a very fun, whimsical one and started to stitch it on Friday evening while watching the San Jose Sharks play the Detroit Red Wings for the 1st game of the 2nd playoff round in the march to the Stanley Cup. I got pretty far too...and then worked on it some more yesterday morning before I went into work @ *The Store*. I am hoping to finish it and get. it out to Angela early, so I can continue stitching on the Family Sampler...also, May is going to start getting busy.

May...did I just type May? Wow, Happy May Day! Today is the 1st of May already. We are 5 months into this year...ugh? Why does time seem to go so fast?

As the calendar page turns to the month of May I will participate in:

• May 8  -  Mother's Day next weekend - another busy holiday for us at *The Store*
• May 14 - A trip to LA for a hockey weekend for Robert (older son)
• May 22 - Trade show for my other job in LA the end of May
• May 24 - A birthday celebration for Matthew (younger son) who is turning 12
• May 26 - A visit from my parents around Memorial Day

Lots of good stuff...just busy/crazy again :) Well, my friends time to finish up here, take a deep breath and then get ready to dip the strawberries. Until next time, remember:

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

Another holiday in the books

It is Tuesday already, hard to believe that it has been almost a week since my last post. But things got a little busy here as we got closer to the weekend, which I spent in *The Store* assisting with all the chocolate dipping that needed to be done for all the arrangements that were ordered for the Easter weekend. Over 300 pineapple bunnies were dipped in chocolate, along with strawberries, apples and bananas over the weekend.

This was one of the more popular arrangements that we created over the weekend, but most were ordered with 1/2 of the strawberries dipped in chocolate too. I am sure that there were a lot of beautiful Easter brunch buffets :) Now it is time to gear up for Mother's Day!!!

Yesterday the boys had the day off of school - which was nice because I used it as a "catch up" day...got caught up on the laundry, got caught up on my exercise, got caught up on my napping and the boys got caught up on their homework they had during the long weekend. In addition, Matthew (younger son) got phase 1 of his braces on - just on the top teeth right now. They are planning to put braces on the bottom in about 6 months for they are waiting for the rest of his baby teeth to come out. By the evening, he was getting a little soreness and I am sure today when he wakes up his mouth will be a little uncomfortable. I remember those days, but at least he only has the top ones to deal with right now. But I am sure that there will be a lot of macaroni-n-cheese and chocolate milk shakes made over the next few days as his teeth begin to move.

Today it is back to the routine of school-work-afterschool track practices-evening hockey practices. Which sounds good to me right now.

On the stitching front...I got some more done on Family Sampler while sitting in the ortho office yesterday. It was enough time to get the strawberry row completed and move down to the Alphabet. I will get a little more done and then post a progress photo later in the week. I need to start looking for an ornament idea to stitch for Angela in the Ornament Swap group. She is the May recipient. I started looking through the Christmas issues of all the stitching magazines, but nothing jumped out at me yet. I will look a little more in hopes to start this weekend.

Three more days until the royal wedding...I am planning to get up and watch it, are you?

Well...take care my friends, time to go and get ready to really start the day! Until next time...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch Often

Lisa

Sharing on a Saturday

Up and going on this Saturday morning. Getting in my workout as well as a planned morning run with Robert (there is no "official" track practice at the school this weekend, but each child is suppose to run a total of 12 miles today and tomorrow - so after a discussion about where he can & can't go by himself due to worries of traffic and such, he said that he would run with me) before I go into *The Store* to work - this has become a routine lately, going in on Saturdays so that DH can take some time off from the store. His plan was to use today to get taxes done, something that he needed to put serious/uninterrupted time on...but was told before bed that he is planning to come in. Oh, well, I have learned not to argue.

Anyway...as promised, I wanted to share where I am with Family Sampler...the last time I posted a progress photo, this is where I was:

Progress on Family Sampler - Mid March

And here is where I am now...

Progress on Family Sampler - April 1

While I have found...and made...some time to sit & stitch, it doesn't look like I will be able finish stitching it before April 7 - my 20th wedding anniversary. But I will get it done! I love this design!

Spring Vacation has started for the boys. It will be nice to have sometime off from school and homework. We don't have much planned - but hope to find sometime for some quality family time.

Well, that is about all from here. Hope that you all have a wonderful weekend. Until next time...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

I am still here, just awfully busy (I guess that is normal for me, right?)

In the stitching part of my life...
First, lets talk about stitching and some new stash I got from Valerie-FogCity Dweller. On Friday, I got home and there was a package in the mail; I guess that I was a runner up for a give-a-way she ran last May...but I didn't remember, so it was like getting a Christmas present or a Birthday present :) What did I get, you ask...well, first I should apologize that I can't take any photos because my camera is out of batteries and I was going to "borrow" some photos from stitching websites, but I can't find the patterns she sent. So, I will have to describe them:

By Shepherd's Bush...Scissor Fob pattern - "A,B,C...All is fine". I know that Valerie was a lucky duck who went to a retreat in Utah and visited the Shepherd's Bush store. This pattern is one that she had completed and passed it onto me so I can also stitch it.

By The Drawn Thread...Garden Recipe pattern/kit.

"Bits & Pieces - A Stitcher's Journal" From Blackbirds Designs, Barb Adams & Alma Allen...this is a little spiral bound journal that contains photos of Barb & Alma's quilts and other designs; and lots of space to keep track of all my projects!

Vikki Clayton hand dyed thread - Blueberry soup and Garnet.

Thank you so much Valerie, you made my day on Friday! I love all my new stash!!!

Continuing on the stitching theme...I had some ample time on Friday, when I was sitting at Speedy Oil Change, to get in some stitching on the ornament I am making for Sharon from the Ornament Swap group. It is coming along nicely, and if I didn't have plans for this I probably would be finishing it off and keeping it for myself. I am hoping that I can finish this up because Family Sampler is calling my name, but I don't want to be late getting Sharon's ornament in the mail for I felt bad about being late with Lori's. I don't want to be known in the exchange groups as Late :(

In my other facets of life...
Hockey continues to keep us busy. Matthew's (younger son) team is up to 4 practices a week as they get ready for a couple of hockey weekends in March. The 2nd week of March, they travel to LA to play a Czech Republic team and the Jr. King PeeWees...the 3rd week it is off to Arizona for a tournament. Robert's (older son) team is trying to make up for all the practices we have paid for but haven't had (this is a sore subject for all the parents regarding the club dues we pay and the lack of ice time the team gets) as they gear up for the Pacific District Championship which is this coming weekend. Starting Thursday, teams from Alaska and Washington, as well as one from Southern California come to San Jose for districts. Our club is hosting the event, which means...yes, I did volunteer...I have been busy helping get ready for the event. As a member of the district tournament committee, I have volunteered to help with admissions and getting together all the badges for the teams as well as the admissions tickets. It isn't a cumbersome job, just had to deal with printers and graphic designers to create the team passes...but it is almost done, which is a good thing for we have to have them ready for the team managers/coaches' meeting this Wednesday.

Then there is life at *The Store*...unfortunately after Valentine's Day several people just didn't work out and left, so we are a little short handed right now (anyone out there looking for a little work?) And I think that DH is wearing down by working there from open to close 7 days a week. So, I have been put on the schedule to work on Saturdays and go in when I can in the afternoons to help out. On one hand I love being there and helping out - but on the other, there are times that having our own business feels more like a burden. I hope that we are able to get in some more help soon!

Other everyday issues...well, the washer is fixed; but my car is now making a horrible noise, so now I have to figure out when I can squeeze in time to take it to the dealership so they can take a look at it. It is always something, isn't it?!?!?

Well - life might seems crazy here, but we all seem to work together - DH, Robert, Matthew and I - in order to get things done. That is what is important!

I hope that things are going well with you and yours...until next time...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa

Somedays look the same

I'm up and spinning on this dark and rainy Wednesday morning. At 3:45am, the only thing on the tv to view is a repeat of the Jay Leno show...but the morning Early Today show will be on in 15 minutes. My days piseem to be running together during this Winter Break, with only little variations here and there...and I am just trying to keep focused on the "now" while trying to put a little planning of the future into the day.

The typical days I have experienced so far consist of getting up (hopefully early enough to get in my "drug of  choice" of a 2 hour-sweat-producing-stationary bike sping), showering & dressing, jumping in the car and heading over to *The Business* with DH. While he works on printing off any last minute orders for the day, I get the kitchen area ready to produce fruit arrangements and prep the strawberries (which are used in the arrangement plain or dipped in chocolate). Soon, our wonderful employees come in and start prepping the other fruit - melons, pineapple, grapes, apples, and oranges. Soon, there becomes a fruity chocolate aroma in the kitchen. Once the fruit is prepped, enough to make the number of arrangments for the morning, all the work stations are cleaned off and set up for production. Around 10am, the magic begins with hope that the mornings orders are wrapped and in the refrigerator quickly so that the drivers can begin their part.

The last few days, I have been able to put in morning hours until about 10am, then I have raced home to get the boys ready for a day of hockey clinic and practices. They have been pretty good about getting themselves up, fed and packed up before I get home. Then it is off to the rink for about 5-6 hours.

I have read some of my friend's posts about their kids getting out of school for the Winter Break, and within a few hours complain that they are bored...I guess I am blessed with all the activity as my kids don't have enough time to complain...and, while they are actually loving all their hockey activities & not being able to sleep in...they are welcoming Christmas Eve as a day "without" hockey so they can sleep in and have a "pajama" day. I am sure that with all the activities, a "pajama day" will feel good for them!

It is a crazy schedule, which many of you have commented on...and I am getting tired...and wish that I could have a day at home to clean the house and get caught up on all those things that I typically do when the boys' have school off and we are home. But, it doesn't look like I will have much of a chance for that this break. And I do need to find sometime to make the Chocolate Krinkle cookies that are tradition in our household - it is the cookie that we leave out for Santa. Maybe I will be able to get that done this evening after we get back from the rink????

Some exciting news on the stitching front...as you know I received my Friendship Sampler RR back around the first of November. However, since there was one more RR member that needed to stitch her heart on it, so I sent it out to her last week...and guess what...it arrived back here on Monday...it now is complete with every members' heart stitched on it. FINALLY, after almost two years - the RR started with the first round on February 15, 2009 - my RR is home; the last one to make the journey back! It is beautiful...I promise to get a photo of it posted very, very soon!

Well, that is it from rainy California! Hopefully Santa has an umbrella, 'cuz it looks like it will be a rainy Christmas here in California1

Take care, my friends, and remember...

Live, Love, Laugh and Stitch often!

Lisa