Sun's Bright, It's in the 40's and we have a new model....

Since it's not the 14th yet, I'm still stitching for Valentine's Day and I have one project one day away from finishing and I do have one completed.  Sara asked me to do something that wasn't all hearts, hugs and kisses and she chose "V" is for Valentine, which is part of the Alphabet series from Heartstring Samplery. 

At first I was going to do it over one on 28 ct. because I had a round frame that if painted would be perfect.  But in searching through my private bins for 28 count I came across an afghan piece of fabric which is approximately 14 threads per inch and it fit perfectly in one of the blocks, so I used that and it made the cutest little pillow, which measures 8" x 7 3/4".  It was an easy stitch, even though it was over one because the threads are so fat...yes they are fat.   While this would have been an easy finish using the sewing machine....when I started to use it I got an error message and still haven't figured out what to do about it so I had to hand stitch the finish.  And that kept me from finishing my lace heart...oh, well tonights free so I should get it done.  For the past week I've been working with Michael on his homework after school; seems they brought back vocabulary and to be honest even I had to look up a couple of the words.  Needless to say, I use very few of the words he had to learn, but I'm a firm believer that vocabulary should be improved upon and taught through 12th grade, so I was pleased it's back in the curriculum.  And since the test was on Friday I told him he had to be at my house everynight after school, Monday thru Thursday.  I thought it was going rather well until last night when he had a breakdown and informed me he didn't remember anything.  But I had done my homework and I had worksheets, flash cards and computer tests for him to take.  By the time he left he had a smile on his face and felt better about the whole thing and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he gets through this  unscathed.  Poor kid, he just defeats himself before he even sees the test.  He is exactly like his mother except she always thought she got by with A's even if they weren't.  Crying was not her problem.  Michael panics, and needs affirmation to get through it.  At home I can say, Michael you know this...think about what we've talked about, etc., and he'll pull it out.  I'm not sure if they would let me sit beside him in school and use the same tactic...it might distract the other students, damn it.  It's painful to watch.