March Madness.......

No, I'm not talking about Basketball! :) LOL The Boyer family household is entering the spring season which always seems to have lots going on and not enough time to do it. Thankfully I am walking again at this point but another surgery is right around the corner in April so I'll be back to square one again for a while.
Boy Scouts is going wonderfully for Ray and I am so glad we chose the Troop 873. The Scoutmaster has been extremely understanding and is working very hard with Ray to help him with growing into the troop. The weekend after Blue and Gold, was Ray's first camping trip which initially he was certain he would handle on his own with no problem. The night before he was to leave, he was completely adamant Mom had to go with him. Well, after getting him ready and driving to the location to meet up with the other boys, Ray was excited and as I explained to him, I would not be able to go hiking for the 2.9 miles with a full pack. I did drop by later that night as promised to check in on him and while he tried to talk me into staying, I managed to convince him that all would be well. I was told he slept well that night, at least one of us did; the other one (me) tossed and turned while laying awake listening for the phone call that never came. I'm not sure who was happier with this major accomplishment of an overnight stay, him or me. Also he is learning how to swim thanks to his Scoutmaster who works with Ray and another boy from the troop on Tuesday nights.

Ray also performed within the last few weeks in the North County Middle School Music Gala which consisted of several elementary schools pulling together students in the music programs to perform together on a middle school level.

Becky is very involved in several clubs within the school, most notably the SeaPerch club which builds and operates remote operated vehicles. Becky and her girlfriend has built their own SeaPerch which is being in a Regional competition in April. This is such a cool program for kids interested in science and technology to learn and apply themselves to a very fascinating activity. Currently they are meeting at a pool weekly to perform sea trials and overall the entire club is going to have an entry in the Nationals held in Virginia.

In addition, Becky performed at her school's Showcase Night a couple week's ago on her violin. She performed in the Anne Arundel County Solo and Ensemble Festival this past Saturday and scored the highest ranking for her solo. While Becky was extremely nervous, she pulled herself together and did a wonderful job at both opportunities. She earned a medal which she is very proud of and Mom is too. On top of all of this, she is also participating in her school's Green Club and is learning and working on making the campus more environmentally friendly.

Stitching wise, there has been a frenzy of activity in the household on the ladies. I have bypassed the 10000+ mark on the Musician and falling in love with this piece more and more. While I am within 30+ stitches from the bottom of the design, you can see this piece is quite large and I still have 2-3 inches to add to the right of the design and then the border to add yet. I am trying to set goals for myself on both of my stitching projects to keep myself motivated and also on track to finishing this piece sometime within the year and also to make enough progress for Innocent Guardian to be a finish in 2013. Innocent Guardian is slowly growing and the one bunny head is now sticking out of the pocket at the top of the stitching I have completed. Almost 4000 stitches have been completed on this piece and the colors are very rich and beautiful.

The Musician
Total completed 10,126 stitches
Only 12,500 more stitches to go, then beading and krenik!

Innocent Guardian
Total stitches completed: 3,774

Finally, I have to thank Berly for presenting me with the Liebster Award for my blogging efforts. Thanks for thinking of me when you were deciding who to bestow such an honor to Berly, you made my day when I read your post on my blog the other day!

Liebster is a German word, meaning favorite, dearest or beloved, and the Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other, newer bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to spread the word and help the new(er)bies gain wider recognition. The award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting:

1. Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to award the Liebster to.

2. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.

3. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.

4. Share five random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

Ok, the bloggers that I am giving this award to are:

Kim's Northwood Discoveries - I love reading the Kim's blog; it is one of my favorite blogs that I read and probably the one which motivated me to start my adventures in blogland. She is an accomplished quilter and cross stitcher and owns two of the cutest pugs you will ever see, Stewie and Rodger. Go Packers! http://upnorthxstitching.blogspot.com

Sue's Stitching, Reading and Family Bloghttp://noahstitcher5.blogspot.com/

Tea and Stitches - CJ is a wonderfully talented, lovely lady who I have been in several Yahoo groups with over the years. She is as lovely inside as well as outside and you can tell after starting to read her blog that she is always on the go! http://tea-n-stitches.blogspot.com/

The Pumpkin Patch Stitcher - While Marjorie is almost to the 200 followers mark, I have to say she has an amazing blog. This is one very busy lady and someone I can relate to with how dedicated she is to her kids. She is participating in the WIPocalypse this year and so she is stitching, stitching, stitching...... http://atwistedstitcher.blogspot.com

Tickled Pink in Stitches - DJ is truly an inspiration for us all with how gracefully she has handled some very trying situations in her life and can stay so positive. She is also participating in a Crazy January 2012 challenge and her stitching is divine. http://tickledpinkinstitches.blogspot.com

Now the five things about me......... let's see where do we start!
1. I'm a L-E-F-T-Y...... oh so very, very left-handed, left footed... as left dominate as a person can be. Of course, with going through all the therapy the doctors have encouraged me to lead with my right foot but not me. However, my true 'stupid human trick' is that I write and letter upside down and backwards from right to left. Yes, I will admit that if I was born in the 1600's, I would have been burned at the stake for such a bizarre skill.

2. When I was growing up I was painfully shy. Yes, it is true..... I always felt like I was on the outside looking in and wishing I could just go up to someone and join in on a conversation, meet new people and fit in. While I still have moments of doubt of whether I fit in, I am no longer a shy, withdrawn person. I enjoy being somewhat assertive and making people laugh.

3. My hair has been long since I was in 6th grade. When I was very young, my Mom kept my hair cut extremely short in the classic 70's bowl cut from the time I was 3 until I made it through elementary school. When she deemed me old enough to care for it myself, I let me hair grow and grow and it is usually worn past my shoulder blades at the least. I dedicate hair to Lock of Love which creates wigs for children with cancer treatments.

4. I am a wee-bit Pennsylvania Dutch. My great Grandmother was Dunkard which is a old German-Pennsylvania similar to the Amish and Mennonites.

5. I enjoy inventing new things while cooking and have no qualms about creating something on my own or changing a recipe to my liking. My most successful story regarding this is my homemade Amaretto BBQ sauce. My secret??? Just start mixing all kind ingredients together and remember, the worst thing that can happen is it will need to be thrown in the trashcan if it is a complete failure.

Until next time, keep your stitchin' and knittin' needles moving, spend time with family and friends, but most of all, enjoy life! :)