Weekend gratitude

I can't believe that November is almost done and that December is upon us!

I'm pleased, though, with the fact that I was able to keep up with my Attitude of Gratitude all month long. Here are my grateful moments for this weekend...

Saturday, November 27th: getting things done

With working and volunteering with the boys' choirs this week, if feels like I haven't had much time at home to get things done. Yesterday, however, I managed to:

Take the kids to KidsZone and have coffee with a friend.
Go to My Scrap Shoppe.
Go to Walmart & pick up my "test" Xmas card photo (glad I tested it-- it didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped.)
Go to Fabricland.
Go to Superstore and return some snowpants. I also wanted to pick up a red plaid skirt that I saw there for Sage. I had a hard time finding it, but then finally located it on the clearance rack. It had been $16 and was marked down to $6.97!
Stop at Spense Bros.
Go to the Quilter's Den.
Drop off something at a friend's house.
Clean the basement (including my scrap and computer area.)
Do some laundry.
Whew, what a busy, but productive day!

Sunday, November 28th: my new kitchen helper





Austin has been enjoying helping me in the kitchen lately. He's helped with supper a few times and today, he helped me get a start on my Christmas baking. We made Butter Crunch and Mini-chip snowball cookies .

What are you thankful for this weekend?

Five for Friday

1. There's no school for my kids today.
2. I didn't realize this when the high school called a couple of weeks ago and asked me to sub today. So I'll be working while they hang out with their dad.
3. I'm looking forward to scrapbooking with some friends this evening at my church (& using the MSS December kit tonight when I do.)
4. I posted another Fall Sketch & layout on the MSS blog today. It's Sketch 103 from Pencil Lines. Here's the layout I made with it, using my new Maya Road stamps:



5. This week, I've been thankful for....

Tuesday, November 23rd: Going along with Jonah's class to Choral Fest in Winnipeg.

Wednesday, November 24th: Going along with Austin's class to Choral Fest in Winnipeg.

Thursday, November 25th: For the three great report cards my kids brought home this week.

Friday, November 26th: See #3 at the top of this post.

Thanks for looking!

Yorkton 2010

This past weekend, we drove to Yorkton for the Prairie Fire Taekwondo tournament. This was our second year competing there (first for Jonah & Sage).



A quick group picture before the tournament started. (Check out Jonah's tuque head!)



Sage, practising her pattern. Look at the focused expression on face-- love it!



Sage & Cameron.



Sage doing her pattern.



Austin doing his pattern. There were three rings set up for patterns. I had to run between Ring 1 & Ring 3 to take pictures of Sage & Austin, as they were competing at almost the exact same time! (That was my warm up! LOL!)



There was a bit of confusion with Sage's group for medals. She ended up getting third place (a bronze medal), but we're thinking she should have gotten the silver. Oh well.

Jonah also came in third place in his group.



The two bronze medal winners!



And we were so thrilled-- Austin won a silver medal for his patterns!



He was really pleased.



The three medal winners.



After the kids were done their patterns, the second batch was called-- it was my turn to compete.



I won first place in my group, taking home a gold medal. :)



With patterns completed, it was time for the sparring (a boys only thing this year for our family, as Sage & I both chose not to spar.)



I LOVE this photo of Jonah & Austin. Austin wanted to give Jonah a hug and some advice before Jonah's sparring match.



Another good photo!

Unfortunately, Jonah's sparring didn't go too well. He lost his first match and lost some of his confidence. Then in his second match, he hurt his knee and stopped sparring. So, he came in fourth place.



In this tournament, if there was four people in a group competing, they gave out two bronze medals, which was nice.



Austin did really well with the sparring. He won his first match 13 to 5, which was so great for him!

His second match didn't go as well, as he lost 15 to 0, which discouraged him a bit.



He pulled himself together and did really well during his third match. It was really close, but he lost 9 to 6.



So, he won a bronze medal, coming in third place.



We were all really proud of how well he did.

Attitude of Gratitude:

Friday, November 19th: Safety for our trip to Yorkton

Saturday, November 20th: That everyone did so well at the tournament (& no one got hurt)

Sunday, November 21st: For a safe trip home.

Monday, November 22nd: For a great phone conversation with a wonderful friend.

Thanks for looking!

"My name is Leigh....

... and I'm a brad-aholic."

"Hi, Leigh!"

It began innocently enough. Picking up a package of coordinating decorative brads with some patterned paper at my LSS. But then one package became two, and two became four and before I knew it.... I was out of control.

I had so many that it was hard to sort through them all when selecting one (or more) for a layout.

I needed help.

Not in stopping from buying them. No, no. I don't think that is necessary at all.

No, I needed help with storing them.



Because this just wasn't working for me anymore.

So I grabbed a square piece of corrugated cardboard that was 12"x12" and drew lines on it horizontally and vertically spacing the lines at 1". (In hindsight, I probably could have done this even at 3/4" and fit more brads.)



Then with my trusty anywhere hole punch and hammer, I punched holes where the lines intersected.



121 times.



Then, I took all of my brads out of their packages and placed them in the holes, trying to keep manufacturers' lines together.



(Truth be told, I couldn't fit all of them on there, so I kept a couple in their packages.)

To store my new system, I just slip it in front of my Patterned Paper Storage system and I'm good to go.



And my attitude of gratitude posts...

November 16th: my knowledge of sewing

This came in very handy as I subbed in the Home Ec. department and could actually be helpful to the students with their sewing projects. Now if only I could be as helpful in Physics....

November 17th: the internet

For social networking, shopping looking up information and getting inspired, it is just such a fabulous tool.

November 18th: a day to get caught up

Not that laundry and cleaning are fun, but my goal is to get those things done this morning and then work on Sage's quilt this afternoon.

Now I'm off to accomplish my tasks...
Thanks for looking!

Some finds....

.... that I wanted to share.

1. The MSS Gallery is looking very inspiring after the online crop this past weekend.

2. I'm not sure if it's from subbing in the home ec department this week, by I was looking Above All Fabrics and found some cool projects I'd like to make. Like these aprons that would be fun to make with this fabric & this fabric. There were also some cute clothes that would be fun to make for Sage. Like this reversible skirt or this top, but I would probably choose some fabric like this or this, because she loves pink.

3. We are huge FoxTrot fans in our house (well, not Cameron or Sage), but Austin, Jonah & I love to read it. There is a FoxTrot website where you can read past strips.

4. Jessica Sprague is offering a free class on her website. I'm not sure if I'll sign up or not. It's just such a busy time of year....

5. We found out tonight that we all passed our tae kwon do tests on Friday night.



Sage & Jonah got promoted to yellow stripe. Austin got his red belt and I got my black stripe. (This is my attitude of gratitude for November 15th.)

Thanks for looking!

Scenes....

....from our taekwondo promotion test on Friday evening. (Photos courtesy of Cameron.)


Warming up and catching up with my friend, Evelyn from the Carman club.


After a warm up and introduction of the testing committee, the group of highest ranking belts was called up. This was my group, along with 4 others, including Austin's best friend, Soren. The first time we went up, we were assigned kicks and patterns.


Then Sage's group was called up. (Isn't she adorable?)
Here, she's doing one of her patterns.


And doing some non-contact sparring.


And stretching. Again, adorable.


Cameron took this one of Elliot, myself, Beth & Evelyn sitting on the floor in between our testing times. Not sure why I like it, but I do.


More groups of white belts. (We have lots of white belts testing in the fall.)
Jonah doing one of his patterns.
He was such a leader in his group-- he made me very proud!


The second time my group was called up, we were asked to kick targets.
This was my turn roundhouse....


... followed by a back spin kick.


Then a shuffle back with two roundhouses.


(After my test, I asked Cameron how I looked, when I tested. He replied: "Scary." Looking at these pictures, I can see why!)


Jonah & Sage cuddling while they watched the test.


After all of the white belts & yellow belts were done, they called up Austin's group.
Here he is sparring (or just about to start, from the looks of it.)


And Austin doing his pattern. He did so great at his patterns-- I was very proud!


Each group was assigned knuckle push-ups. For the white belts, they were given between 1 to 6, I think, depending on their age. As the belt levels go up, so do the number of knuckle push-ups. The yellow & green belts testing in Austin's group got I think 15. The blue belts/red stripes were given 100!

I was so proud of Austin (& the rest of his group) how they just said: "Yes, sir!" and started doing them. What great determination and effort! (The testing committee stopped them around 30 or so, but I was really impressed!)

The third (& final time) my group was called up, we were assigned to break two boards consecutively. I chose to break mine with a back spin kick and then a reverse knife hand. Unfortunately, the photos Cameron took were blurry. But I broke them, so I was very happy! (It is such a rush!)


Austin's best friend, Soren, setting up to break a board at the test.


Soren breaking his board with a step behind side kick.


After the board breaking, we were asked to perform our test pattern for the testing committee. Then we were given 20 knuckle push ups to do. And that was it!

At the end of the test, they present three awards to the students. One is "improved". Another is "most improved." And the third is "Best Manner."


My friend, Beth, was given the award for Best Manner (the highest award presented at the test!)


Beth, her husband Greg (a 3rd degree black belt) & their son, Cordell.


Beth & me. I've so enjoyed training with Beth. She's such a great person!


Sage & me. So proud of how hard she tries in class.

And for my attitude of gratitude...

November 13th: our promotion test

That everyone did well. That Beth won an award. That we could go out afterwards to DQ to celebrate. Just a great night all around.

November 14th: that the new pair of wool pants I threw in the washer and dryer (oops!) came out fine.

Thanks for looking!