i’ve missed you!

When I started unpacking and putting things away on Thursday, I apparently scooped up my camera cable and was unable to upload any photos. Yikes! I looked everywhere – without success – and was seriously contemplating ripping open the trash bags to see if Arden had thrown it away (he’s at that age) when Niek magicked it up. I’d (very rationally) put it away with all the cords and cables that I’d unpacked that go to the Wii, stereo, etc, etc. Hooray for Niek!! So now I can visit with you and share some pictures. What would you like to see first? Some recent baking adventures? Let’s just say that if I weren’t me but were a local baker instead, I’d be my best customer.

Some helpful links for both you and me: the oatmeal bread recipe is here and the oat bran recipe comes from a library book titled Home Baking. The muffins and sourdough pictured are from recipes I’ve linked to before.

Or maybe you’d like to skip straight to a cute picture of Arden? Well, here he is at Denny’s, socking away a large portion of a Grand Slam Jr and showing off his extra chin(s). (Ignore those runny eyes of his – we’ve been sharing a head cold.)

The only problem (IMHO) with cute-Arden-pictures is that it’s impossible to stop at just one. Sort of like salt & vinegar kettle chips. So here are some shots of Arden helping me with the unpacking. So far, we’ve managed to unpack and put away everything from the kitchen and almost all the books for the library.

And Niek promptly unpacked the piano and piano stool. Check out our little Piano Man.

I guess we covered the cute-pictures-of-Arden category, LOL! Maybe you came over looking for different baby pictures? Maybe … a feather baby? Oh my gosh, look who’s joined the ranks of Chateau Chaos! Please meet Rico, a green-cheeked Conure of about 1 1/2. Rico’s not had the easiest path in life (till now!) and we are actually his fourth home so he does have a few issues to work out – principally, he has a thing against men because of an abusive male in his first home. Despite some pretty nasty bites, Niek continues to try to befriend the little green vampire parrot. Rico has no problems with women and he & I have bonded straight off. (Okay, he nips me, too, but hasn’t broken the skin since the first day.)

(Not the most flattering photo, but hey, I have a bird on my head!)

But perhaps you came looking for stitching-related pictures. I mean, that is supposed to be what this blog is mainly about, right? Uh-oh. I have been so busy playing chauffeur, unpacking boxes, being both baker and best customer, and filling a few other roles, that very little stitching has been done. My Viceroy is still only half done (and I actually plan to finish it today – am I funny, or what?!) but I did receive a stashy package from Wyndham Needleworks. In my defence, they are having their winter sale and I only purchased sale items. Plus, I have a plan for these beauties.

Whew, it was great to catch up with you. No doubt I’ve failed to cover several other fun happenings here at Chateau Chaos (like finally meeting Dawn!) but that’s what you get with all this chaos! Thanks for visiting with me! I’m going to go put my camera cord away in the right place now.

unplugged

Hey everyone! Just to let you know, we are in Maine – happy as can be, too! – but we don’t yet have an internet connection. I’ll be properly in touch with everyone after we’re hooked up on 6 January. Till then, wishing you all the very best!

waving ‘bye

Oh my heavens, it’s our last day in Gouda! We started off with a 9 am appointment at the notary to get some legal stuff settled, and then rushed over to the supermarket to get some diapers. While Niek took the animals to the place where they’re fitted for their shipping crates, I took the kids to the vet to ensure that the furbabies’  paperwork is in order and there won’t be any unexpected hold-ups when Niek leaves next week. Then I came home and quickly put the last stitches in this, which will be Arden’s 2009 ornament from me. The design is part two from Praiseworthy Stitches’ My First Christmas. (Does anyone out there have parts one and three? ) I’ve stitched it over one (except the border, which would’ve been stitched over four) on 36 ct cream linen from Vikki Clayton using WDW and GAST fibers.

I will need to double check all the suitcases, pick up an extra asthma inhaler from the pharmacy, return library books and pay any outstanding fines, and that sort of busywork, but overall it is a remarkably uncluttered day.

Here’s Arden saying goodbye. See you on the other side of the ocean!

tucking in the ends

I remember longing to have perfect backs when I was fairly new to cross stitching. It seemed like when I could do that, I would finally know I’d arrived - you know, become more than just a wannabe stitcher. LOL. My backs are usually pretty neat now, although I never reached the level where my backs could actually be mistaken for the fronts. (And guess what? I don’t care anymore. LOL!)

My True Love Gave To Me freebie from The Sampler Girl
(slightly altered; will put date or initials in blank corner)
stitched on 36 ct HDF cream
GAST Pine and Pomegranate, WDW Whiskey
(cool frame from picnik.com)

But what I’m actually referring to is the tying up of loose ends before our rapidly-approaching departure. One big change will be my email address – what a silly thing to cause such a lot of work! But I used my email address as my user name and contact for almost EVERYTHING I do online (and I have to admit that I do a lot online!). I think I’ve managed to switch everything over to my gmail address, and I’d like to remind anyone who emails me that they will need to make the switch. To keep it simple, my Blogger profile now has an ‘email’ link that you can refer to.

Another big loose end that Niek tied up or tucked under last night was resurrecting my ‘puter, which I’m now calling Lazarus. Yep, he managed to extract nearly all the “lost” information and transfer it to our external backup. Then he magically wiped the Dell clean and then painstakingly re-installed everything. Some things might be missing or might be in a different place but it’ll sort itself out. This should mean that I will have online access after our move. Not at the rental house (it’s taking forever to get that arranged because the house has never been wired for cable) but through the various free hotspots around town where you can get a free internet connection. So … hopefully we’ll be able to stay in contact from next week through the New Year. Hooray!

I’ve visited with several dear friends and family members and said goodbye the best I can (I am really bad at this!). The suitcases are mostly packed. Things are about as orderly as possible and I’m hoping for timely flight connections and clear weather when we arrive in Maine. For those worried about our warmth, the kids will be bundled up to the best of my ability. Shopping trips for real winter boots will be necessary after our arrival, but we have plenty of jackets, scarves, hats & mittens.

friday fun with annemarie

Waaaayyy back a bunch of years ago, when I first got back into stitching and was looking for some inspiration I came across Annemarie’s online gallery. She was so wonderful about sharing information with me, encouraging me, and just being all-around fabulous … and yet, I think nearly two years went by before we actually met face-to-face. We’ve been fortunate enough to see a fair bit of one another in the years since then, and it will be difficult to accept the fact that we won’t be able to see each other so easily in the upcoming years. But … you know when friends are really true friends of the heart, distance just doesn’t matter. I know that’s how it’ll be for Annemarie and me. After all, we were already friends long before we first got together IRL, so why should an ocean between us make a dent in our friendship?

We even got a little bit of stitching done while she was here. I could admire the lovely BBD sampler she’s working on for her parents and I put the last couple of stitches into a small design I was making for one of my aunts. Actually, I’ve now managed to stitch something for each of my Mom’s sisters – kinda surprised myself with that. I won’t be able to do the finish-finishing till I’m in the US (no finishing supplies) but I should still have them done in time for Christmas. Not too bad for a last-minute thought. Of course now I feel a little guilty that I can’t make something for ALL the wonderful family and friends who deserve a handmade gift, but heck, there are only so many hours in the day, right?

For Aunt Kathy, who’ll be picking us up and housing us that first night in Maine, I stitched a lighthouse design from a Dimensions kit. Didn’t like the kit, but did like the design. Kathy collects lighthouses.

For Aunt Joyce, who’ll also meet us at the airport and help us find our way to our rental house, I stitched this sweetie designed by Niky’s Creations and called simply Yo-Yo #3. Aunt Joyce has a doll collection, and this was the closest I could come to a doll from the designs I didn’t ship.

For Aunt Cindy, who I hope will help me become a better Dog Mommy to Lola in the future, I stitched this too-cute design from Blue Whale Designs called Santa’s Parade. Cindy loves all animals, and knows more about animals than pretty much anyone I’ve ever met. (Lola has a few persistent behavioral problems that I’m pretty much stumped by and I hope a fresh perspective will help out.)

At the moment I’m stitching a Christmas ornament for Niek. And then … it’s a good thing I’ll be stuck on a plane because I’ll be pretty much out of stuff to stitch! LOL!

The kids have had their last day of school and said goodbye to everyone. I’ve been so touched by how sweet some of their classmates are, and by how much the kids are liked by their friends and teachers. Rowen’s party was yesterday afternoon and was as fun as Nick’s. Max’s was Thursday morning, but parents and cameras were banned at his request. Gotta respect their privacy … but I wish I’d been able to peek in.

in which i say a sad goodbye to conny

This morning I braved one of my  last Dutch traffic jams to spend an hour traversing a distance normally covered in a tad over 20 minutes to visit one of my dearest friends here in the Netherlands. While the traffic inched forward through the rain, I enjoyed a trip down Memory Lane remembering my first meeting with Conny - I’d purchased something from her on eBay and wanted to pick it up in person rather than having it posted. That very first time, something clicked and rather than just picking up a pattern and leaving, I enjoyed at least half an hour of chit-chat with her and we quickly became good friends. She’s also friends with the kids, all of whom have been to her house at one point or another and all of whom have been spoiled by her sweet generosity.

Although I had to go empty-handed because the gift I’d ordered for her seems to have disappeared into a black hole, Conny certainly didn’t let me go empty-handed. As if the treasure (Sampler Girl design, btw) she stitched for me weren’t enough, she also bought me a wonderful collection of antique samplers (with patterns!) and some fun finishing goodies. Saying goodbye was difficult, but we managed to do it dry-eyed. Barely. Thank you, Conny!

nick says goodbye

Today was Nick’s goodbye party at school, and boy was it fun! One teacher had made a wonderful photo collage of all the kids, another made a DVD of all the kids talking about Nick as if they were being interviewed, and the third had arranged a special dance show (performed by classmates). Nick and Arden got to sit up in front for the party and truly felt like big shots. I hope Rowen’s party on Thursday is as entertaining! (Max doesn’t want me showing up at his with my camera, boo hoo.) Here are a few of my favorite photos from the party.

resurfacing, with lots to share

Oh, what a week it’s been! Nearly everyone here at Chateau Chaos came down with a stomach bug and some of us still aren’t feeling 100% but we’re all at least feeling better than we did.

Because life doesn’t stop just because you feel awful, a lot was going on during our Sick Week.

The international movers came and took all our good stuff away. (Ugh, I lost the picture of Arden amidst the boxes!)

I finished and posted my Christmas exchange (and my partner has received it). The stitching part of the exchange was pretty skimpy because I just didn’t have any decent finishing  materials and my creativity had fled the scene, so I tried to make up for it by packing in lots of other goodies. Chris assures me she’s happy with it, but I always have such performance anxiety with these things! (This is the Vautier freebie I mentioned recently, btw, stitched in HDF Gandy Dancer silk on HDF 36 ct linen.)

I finished a UFO. This darling design, Fair, Kind, True,  is by Deborah of Midsummer Night Designs. I’ve stitched it on a high count of Lakeside Linens Tallahassee Teal using Paper Roses premium silk by Vikki Clayton. I suspect it will reappear around our wedding anniversary in May, hopefully transformed into something lovely.

I also finished A Winter’s Nap by Erica Michaels. I had to make a few changes to the suggested colors, as they didn’t show up on this ivory banding. The banding was a total PITA to work with and I’m not satisfied with the coverage, although in the end it doesn’t look as bad as I’d feared it would.

And I finished Beth Twist’s adorable A Partrige, A Pare & A Turtledove design. I converted the called-for DMC to HDF silks and stitched it on 36 ct Cream HDF linen. I also corrected the spelling because the deliberate misspelling glared out at me and detracted from my enjoyment of the design. I love this one and plan to keep it.

And last but far from least, we celebrated pakjesavond. It was a quieter affair than usual with fewer gifts, less noise, and Max’s absence was keenly felt, but we had fun anyway.

To catch up on mundane matters, my computer is d-e-a-d. Niek’s taking it work to try to salvage the lost data, but it’s a serious PITA because of course I don’t know all my passwords, usernames, etc. and emailing is a nightmare from Niek’s PC. I haven’t spent much time online due to the frustration of nothing working like I want it to, and of course because I’ve felt sort of craptastic all week.

Niek’s work visa came in and he’s now able to enter the US. He’s booked tickets for himself and the pets and will arrive in time for Christmas. Hooray!

The upcoming week will be filled with the kids’ going-away parties for school and extra-curricular groups, and I’ll hopefully see a last couple of friends (fingers crossed!). I’m cheating and buying treats for the kids’ parties, but I figure this one time it’s okay not to go homemade all the way.

Thanks so much for stopping in to visit with me!

the last day of nablopomo

Thanks for sticking with me this month. To avoid navel gazing (a translation of a great Dutch term for excessive and pointless introspection), I like to participate in NaBloPoMo during November (which can be a bit of a dreary month for me otherwise).

When November began, there were so many uncertainties about our move to Maine and all too often when something became certain, there was a negative attached to the newfound knowledge. There were a few times when I really wondered if we would be able to go through with it. But we’ve soldiered on and decided to continue with our crazy plan even though it means the loss of a lot of stability and security (and more than a few bucks, too). In two weeks and one day, the kids and I will be on a plane … I really can’t express how wonderful the thought feels.

Since going public with our decision to move, a lot of people have told me how obvious my ‘homesickness’  was to them, which I found really surprising. I thought I’d done quite a masterful job of keeping my feelings to myself. And for the record, homesickness really isn’t the right word choice. After nearly 13 years here full-time and 5 years part-time before that, I feel that homesickness is something that I struggled with my first year or two here. Since then, I’ve done my best to settle in like any other Dutch person (albeit a short one with a strong accent, LOL). I think what I feel is the certainty that after many years of trying, I’m simply not in the place that’s right for me. Some people, I believe, belong in certain places and just can’t thrive elsewhere. Like plants that require specific bacteria in the soil or something.

December will be a crazy month. The movers come on Wednesday and after they leave, we’ll be camping out in our own house until we leave. And then we’ll be camping out in our rental house, LOL! I’ll post updates when I can but there will likely be a break of a week or two right around the move itself when you’ll just have to Watch This Space as the advertisements say.

While we do still have some time together, I’m very interested in hearing your opinions regarding a name change. When I began the blog, I deliberately misspelled mainly to reflect my connection to Maine and to let readers know that although the blog was primarily about stitching, it was also a way for me to stay connected to my family in America. It will still be a blog about stitching and family, but as I will be in Maine, it seems that a name change would be in order. What do you think? And what would you suggest? I can’t make a contest of it because (1) all my stash is packed and I don’t have any gifts to give the winner and, (2) I’m not sure I actually will change the name. But I’ve been thinking about it and I’d like to hear your input.

As I type this, Niek’s working on my laptop, which seems to have finally succumbed. I can’t get anything but The Blue Screen of Death. Keep your fingers crossed that he can revive the old beast long enough to last me 2 more weeks.

silent sunday

Actually, it’s never silent at Chateau Chaos, but this Sunday morning it feels sort of silent. The kids all did chores this morning (don’t faint!) and are now quietly playing in their rooms. Arden’s enjoying watching a DVD of Elmo’s World. I’m feeling kind of thoughtful about this being one of my last Sundays in the Netherlands. It’s a weird thought. Later today we are going to our niece’s 11th birthday party and it’s kind of funny because her birthday party was the first ‘big family thing’ I went to when Niek and I got together. And now it’ll be the last one before we move. Is Father Time having a bit of a joke with us?

Whatever your Sunday holds, I hope it makes you happy in your heart.