Back to a regular schedule?

Hello friends! Goodness it’s been touch and go here. I was making good progress on several things…in stitching, and in life, I thought, but it’s been pretty wild around here! I have started a home decluttering project. I really need to do this. We have lived in our home for 13 years now and have accumulated a lot more than we’ve gotten rid of. That happens with 5 kids and many ages and stages, interests, and activities. But it is time to let go of things, clear our space, eliminate stress from “stuff.” So I am working on that. I am trying to be good about using my “free” time for this. We are also moving kids around in the bedroom set up we have to accommodate their growing needs. That’s a lot of work! But I have stitched a bit too. My main good stitching progress had been on the Sampler of Stitches. Here’s how it looks…

Pretty good work, right? I thought I might even finish it in July! But then we went on a spontaneous vacation! We went to Florida! We went to Disney World! It was SO fun, and my kids who range from ages 5 up to 15, all had a blast. I didn’t want to take a big project. I brought 3 little projects. I only worked on one, that was a berry from Blackbird Designs’ “Deck the Halls” booklet. I started with the one I liked best, Christmas Cactus.

I finished it on the plane rides and the 2 hours downtime I had in the hotel on our “day off” (I walked over 50 miles in 5 days, it was an exhausting trip! We needed a day off!)

We got home, and suddenly everyone was back in school. That is always a busy time. I started my second favorite berry, the Sugar Plums one. Here it is so far…

But I didn’t get too far before…we went and adopted a couple kittens! Since Kiwi died 2 years ago, I have needed a little break from pets. But this summer we were ready to have cats again! Here are our little girls. They do not have names yet. They are still learning to get along as they were from 2 different foster families at the cat rescue that cared for them. We’ve tried out lots of names and none have stuck yet. I will update you. But aren’t they cute?!?

So, there’s not a lot of stitching happening over here. I am kitten proofing areas of the house that need it, in addition to the decluttering effort, and oh my, there is NO regular schedule as there should be when school gets into the swing of things! It’s all good though.