Weekend Plans

*Edited to add Credits. Thanks, Erin!*
I plan to put some hours in the 'Angel of Love' and do a couple of Digi LO's. I did two LOs last night. I'm trying to come up with a plan to carry on both stitching and digi-scrapping more or less regularly. I think stitching 3 nights a week, and scrapbooking the rest of the time is going to be enough. I already stitched 2 nights this week, and scrapbooked only 1 night. Wish I had more hours in the day to dedicate to this stuff. Ofcourse, the nights I cook and clean, I can't do much else.

Weekends should usually be free if we keep the house relatively clean throughout the week, which is the plan. I make the beds in the morning after getting up, wipe down the bathroom counters after using, same with the kitchen counter and stovetop. I'm trying to get back into the habit of keeping everything back in it's place again. When we had our Townhouse for sale this summer, we practiced this and the house was always neat and clean, ready to show off to anyone who might call 10 minutes ahead. No major cleaning on the weekends. That is the plan. We'll see how far we go. If I can't handle it all by myself, I'll get the cleaning maids to come in once a month. After Mehul was born, I kept the maid service to come in bi-weekly since I couldn't do much, and Girish was already taking care of a lot of things. Worked perfectly :)

My last night's LOs

Mehul in the New Kitchen

Credits:
Everything from Diamante Designs. Envy Paper Pack and Envy Elements On sale today.

Childhood

Credits:
Everything from Diamante Designs. Watercolor Doodles and The Necessities Collection - Note It.

I got it!

Well, I decided to check this coat out yesterday while going back home. I picked Mehul up from the daycare and went to Kohl's. Yes, this is from Kohl's. I don't normally shop there, but I had to look at this coat. I figured, it's worth a look.

I'm wearing it today LOL It's really beautiful. The photo doesn't show the back, which has more embroidery and a built-in belt. It's really cute. I had to go one size up on this. It doesn't have any give. When I tried it on, a lady who was passing by complimented how beautiful the coat was. And then, Mehul said "Nice, Mama". His first compliment to his mama :)

I also got some stuff for Mehul. I can't find the track suit pants online, but they are OshKosh. The Jacket is also OshKosh and has a removable vest. These Big Chill overpants will be so useful in snow. Most of their winterwear is on sale. I think I'll be going back there again :)

Nothing Exciting going on

It has gotten rather cold this week here. I have to drop our overcoats at the drycleaner's. I also need to wash our other jackets. Every year, I buy atleast one new coat/jacket. This year, I'm thinking of getting one with some sort of embroidery. I saw some on a site when a stitching friend mentioned it. It would be great to wear over my Salwar Kameez or Sari. I normally avoid wearing these dresses in winter, but if I had a pretty jacket, sure. Something like this would work. I could even wear this over jeans or other pants.



Stitching. Yes, I have started stitching again. Yay for me. I picked up the 'Angel of Love' to renew my love of stitching. Here is a WIP Picture from ages ago. Not much done after this. I have to also update my webshots album. I have started a bunch of new projects, and completed some.

Scrapping. I'm still scrapping. In fact, I am downloading some new goodies by Diamante Designs (Lori) today. Speaking of that, Lori has a secret! She'll announce it soon :) The new stuff is To Die For. Trust me.

I never gave an update on Mehul's Transition. He is doing great. He took the new class like a champ. No tears from him or me. Yay. The new class is also a lot more fun, because they get to rotate the classrooms. Computer room, Library, Gym, Coconut Theatre. Oh my. He has a lot of fun there. No more Buggy rides, though. They are only for Toddlers. I'm sure he misses them!

This morning, I was supposed to drop Mehul off at the daycare. DH has been taking him for a few days, but I'm generally the one to do that. DH and Mehul got out of the house, and I came out a little later. Mehul said Bye Bye and started to go toward DH's car. I said, "No, Mehul, you're coming with me." He made such a bad face. Started wailing and saying "Nooooo. Nemo" and went with DH. Sigh. Yes, I know I only have a small car and no DVD player. Guys know their cars LOL

Tired

The party went very, very well :) Couldn't have been better. Everyone LOVED the food. They said it was like 'Wedding Food' which is the best compliment anyone could get! Everything was done on time, and I even had some time to relax before the guests started arriving. But, somehow we had postponed wrapping up the party favor gifts long enough that there wasn't enough time to do that in the end. That's okay, the kids care less about the packing, and more about the stuff ;) BTW, we decided to get the age appropriate puzzle cards for the kids.

I have never received so many compliments on my cooking {blush} I was ecstatic. About 25 people attended, but there was way too much food. My friend M stayed back and helped me clean up afterwards, which was great. We were so busy enjoying the party, we forgot to take pictures! Our regular camera backup friend, N, had to leave early and we didn't think of giving someone else the camera LOL We did get pictures of the cake cutting.

Okay, now that you're sick of hearing about the party, no more party talk until the next month ;) Today I stayed home to rest. I'm exhausted. There is enough food in the freezer for a week, which is great since I can't stand any more cooking LOL

I might do a LO today, or pick up stitching. Or, I might organize my stitching stash.

Happy Diwali!

Today is Diwali. I usually make a Rangoli and put up the lights outside, but this year I can't. I'm busy preparing for the party tomorrow. Plus, I don't know where the lights are. We'll put them up on Christmas :)

We're Online

We got the phoneline. Finally! My home is no longer an Internet, Phone Free Retreat! LOL.

Party

Party prep is in progress. I have done some dishes and will do a couple more more today. Rest will be done tomorrow. The items that are prepared, or bought_and_need_no _prep are in silver.

Starters
Small Samosa/Chutney
Sausage
BelPuri
Nachos/Salsa
Jaljira
Dry Fruits Tray
Paneer w/ Chalmasala

Kids Menu
Chowmein

Main Course
Shahi Paneer
Chicken Makhani (Take out)
Bhartha
Chole
Raita w/ Bhalle
Tricolor Rice
Roti
Crunchy Salad
Papad

Dessert
Nemo Cake!
Kheer
Icecream

Drinks
Sprite
Diet Coke
Whiskey
White Wine
Red Wine
Beer
Tea

The 10 Stitching Projects Challenge

I am having the itch to start stitching again. I have abandoned it for more than 2 years. Right before DS was born, I was stitching Victoria Sampler's Gazebo Roses. I remember sitting on the Tennis Court, stitching, while DH and his 3 friends played Tennis. I was around 7 months pregnant with Mehul. Ah, all the free time we used to have! August 2004 - We had just moved into our Townhouse - our first house. We had a handle on everything, from jobs to cleaning and organizing the house, to home improvement. We had so much time to plan and do things. We had time for hobbies! Poor DH hasn't played Tennis since Mehul was born.

After Mehul turned One, I quit my job and stayed home to take care of him. I was home for about 7-8 months. Very few people know this, but I was offered to work from home, part time, flex hours by my Program Manager. I took it but wasn't sure how it was going to work. Afterall, we were not going to send Mehul to daycare, even part-time. That was the whole point of me staying home! Anyhow, they hired me, I became an employee, but the *work* never actually materialized. My supervisor wasn't too keen on this to begin with. After a few rounds of playing tag, I stopped caring.

I've digressed enough. Point of this is I didn't stitch much even when I was home. I did finish a gift for a dear friend. I'll post it here (soon)! Now, I am going to get back to stitching. After the party, I'm taking out my needles.

The 10 Project Challenge is to not make any new purchases until the project you've listed are finished. I have modified it to not make any new starts. That is a big one for me. I never finish what I start. So, here is my list. Until these are finished, I won't make another start.
Oh, BTW, DigiScrapping is totally exempt from this LOL. I am allowed to scrap all I want. And buy both stitching and scrapping stash. That is a big motivator for me if I start to feel blah!

Here they are, in no particular order:
1.TW Heart Sampler
2.TW Tradewinds
3.TW Harvest Sampler
4.Victoria Sampler Gazebo Roses
5.EMS Frog Baby
6.EMS Bumble Bee Baby
7.The small Chatelaine Sampler I had started..
8.Fanta Cat Desings Gypsy Allure
9. Angel of Love - Completed April, 2008
10. Peacock Tapstry

I will update the remaining three here. A link to this post will be added to my sidebar.

House update and a LO

We are nicely settling in. I'll do a review of the current state:

Lower Level

All the furniture has been assembled. This includes the Dining Room, Family Room, and Home Office Furniture. 80% of the Kitchen Cabinets have been loaded. The Fridge is 100% done. LOL. That's the one thing that doesn't need more work.
There is clutter in the Family Room and the Kitchen Island, but I guess that will be a continuous effort! The pretty curtains we got custom made in India have been hung. The curtains were 3-part ~ Main curtain, embroidered sheer that goes behind it, and swag (or, valance). We have only hung the main curtains for now. There is no time to start hanging the sheers before the party! In the Townhouse, we had only installed the main curtains and the sheers without the swags. It looked perfectly well without them. I think the swags would make the room look too formal, and I don't want that. Not in the Family Room! We will have to buy more curtains for Living and Dining Rooms on our next trip.

Upper Level

The Master Bedroom furniture has been assembled. There is no decoration on the walls yet. No curtains either. We are thinking of putting up some temporary paper shades until we can decide what window treatments we want.
The Guest Bedroom furniture has been done too. Only Mehul's room is furniture-less. We have his crib, but he never sleeps in it so there is no point in putting it. Except for aesthetic value LOL I guess we'll assemble the crib and furnish it cutely again. 4th Bedroom is completely empty.
The closets are still a big mess. I have hung 70% of our clothes, but the rest are in a big pile :o Mehul's are still in a pile too. I did some laundry yesterday in the new washer/dryer. Happy to report they work pretty well. Since the laundry is on the top floor, we were concerned about the noise. But the appliances we bought were with noise cancellation and were recommended for top level. I actually wanted to buy the bigger size ones, which would wash a king-sized Comfortor (which we don't own, but might in future LOL). The sales rep and Girish were pretty amused by this reasoning. I think it's perfectly reasonable LOL.

Party

The party is on. Currently, we have about 5 families coming (besides us). I have to start preparing the stuff today. I did the shopping for a lot of the stuff yesterday, so I won't be held up. I also soaked the Chickpeas to make Kabuli Chana side yesterday. One chutney is done, another will be done today. But, I'll have to keep most of the work for Saturday and Sunday. Oh, and I have taken the day off on Monday so I can recuperate nicely from all the work LOL.

Here is a LO I did of our new house.

H is for House

Credits:
Everything except the Key is from Miki Ferkul. Ribbon, Letter, Envelope, Tie, Eyelets, Tag, Alpha, and Papers from her Emergency Scrapside Kit available at SBB.
Arrow from her Punk Boy kit available at SBE.
I have changed the stamp a bit by adding the Paisely from Miki's What I Want BCA kit!
Key is from Maya.