Therapy

It's hard when the brain and the body are at odds with one another. One wants to go out, meet people and have fun...anything to avoid the silence and the thinking. When it is entertained, it is much happier. The other is tired, worn out, sleepy and not feeling all that well. How can the brain and the body come to a compromise?

I've been feeling sick for the past week. Tired, achy, scratchy throat and coughing. And I've stayed that way all week. I wish I would either feel better or feel worse so I can then feel better. Since I felt beyond tired and germy, I canceled my weekend plans...much to the disappointment of my quasi-stalker, I'm sure. That pains me too because laying about not being able to do anything fun is not my thing. At least not yet. I can't handle that much time that leads to thinking which then leads to sadness which then leads to frustration.

I lasted to about 4pm before I got in the car and took a drive. I figured as long as I wasn't in contact with people, I wasn't infecting them and I had a sudden desire to be at the beach and breathe in some cold, foggy, salty ocean air. The ocean can make anyone feel better whether its bitterly cold Ocean Beach or the tropical sands of Miami. The weather difference between where I live and the beach was a good 15 degrees! I wish I could have taken pictures but it was just fog beyond fog. I was in my element. I walked about, watched the hang gliders, smiled at puppies, enviously saw folks swing dancing and wished I could join them. It was cleansing. Phase one of therapy for the day.

When I had my fill of the fog, I headed to North Beach to get phase two of therapy which translated to this:

Combo slice from Golden Boy
took 10 minutes to upload this photo and it's sideways...damn technology!!

and
Sacripantina Cake from Stella Pastry
Can I be adopted into this family?! Yum!!

After pizza and cake were gone, I settled in for a Glee marathon. If you didn't grow up as a choir girl who sometimes wished choir was more fun and there were more boys around, Glee can be annoying. I get that. But I love it! I only watched episodes here and there so Netflix is catching me up. Glee was phase three of therapy.

Therapy is sometimes needed especially when the online dating experience of the past week has been getting winked at by 50 and 60 year olds. Seriously...that's in the land of "being old enough to be my dad". I don't care how hot these guys think they are but there is no way I'd go there. Not even if they were millionairres and would write me in their will for a considerable fortune! And frankly, I'm not interested in a "sugar daddy" of any kind. But how did I become this old man magnet?! I'll take the single badge, thank you very much. Things seem particularly dry this go-round in singledom. I wish I could meet a fantastic straight man at the LNS! Somehow, I doubt that's going to happen.

But in the end, I'd be happy if I can meet more people to go out with on a Saturday night. *Everyone* I know is in a totally different place than me. Good for them but incredibly frustrating for me...more than I think they can even understand or remember. So busy trying to meet non-flaky friends too. It's all very busy and time-consuming and hard! Ugh!

*sigh* Someone please pass me the cake!

***

And now to the stitchy portion of the post. Stitching is therapy as well but it's hard to be productive when you get tired holding up your 8" qsnap. I mean, if I can't even hold that up, how am I supposed to hold myself up in yoga?! Class should be interesting this week. I've done some work on a class project for my crochet class. I still think that knitting is much easier than the crochet. I understand the stitches better but have a harder time fixing my mistakes in knitting. In crochet, I often wonder what I'm supposed to do but I do find it easier to go back and fix a mistake. For example, this project is a market bag. You can see I've done the bottom and am working on the lattice sides. The adjustable ring part was hard! 9DC in loop. What? I need a stitch not a loop...how do I double crochet in a loop?! Apparently, it can be done! After like 10 attempts. I'm about half way through the pattern.

(edited 7/27 to add WIP photos)

I'm keeping my new start a mystery for the time being. It sure doesn't look like much right now and between crocheting in grey and stitching in black, I'm getting all bummed out! I need color! So I am debating starting something new that has awesome color or just plugging along.

Since Blogger is being a diva, I'll leave this post here and come back to share more soon!

Hope everyone had a fun weekend!

Until next time...

TUSAL & Single-dom

I'm back...with my TUSAL status report! I had really wanted to post this picture because look at my new acquisition!
Last week, I went to a quirky shop near work. So quirky, that their hours of operations sign says "attempted". Yea, well on my two attempts, they weren't open. That kind of drives me nuts! As I was standing outside seeing if I could leave a message for *them* to call *me* when they decide to be open, the owner walked up and let me in. She had cute stuff! I went in seeing if they had a possible birthday gift for a friend but instead I found this owl vase for me. I love it! It's actually a pitcher but I think I'll be using it as a vase. Isn't it cool?

There's my TUSAL jar. I missed the new moon and then the computer ate my picture. I mean if it's not one thing, it's another. It's getting pretty full. Go me! I find that very impressive since I don't feel like I'm really stitching all that much.

Everything else is a-ok. I'm trying not to be a big whiner because in the grand scheme of things, I'm pretty lucky. In the last couple of weeks, I've encountered people who are unemployed or have serious medical conditions. If all I have to deal with is house-sitting, meeting new people and single-dom...then I'm better than most.

But I will whine about single-dom. It's funny how people have already been asking if I've been out on dates. I think it's a little soon but will admit I made my profiles active. Frustratingly, I completely erased one two years ago because I thought I had met *the one* and now I'm kicking myself since setting one of those things up is akin to, I don't know, something really drawn out and painful. Especially when you've got writer's block about yourself and are having a hard time expressing what you want. So far, it's all been painful and as I browse profiles, I really think that these medium is *not* going to work for me this time around. I'm casting my net in an empty lake.

I tell my married friends they are lucky they don't have to deal with being single business. I'm told married people have their own set of issues. I believe that but you are not dealing with the following:
~Guys that email you just to say hi (uh, can you say more to me than that?! Seriously, the email just says "hi")
~Guys that get upset with you because you don't have the IM function on (I hate IM!)
~ Guys that are ready for a long term relationship after being single for a year and a half and are so ready to find llluuuvvvvvv! (Dude, I'm so not there yet, didn't you read my profile?!)
~Guys that are only looking for a casual hook-up and by that, I don't mean a casual date to the coffee shop.
~Guys sending you winks (this is an online thing; not in real life) - it is the lazy man's way of getting attention. Wink, wink, I think you're cute...look at my profile and if you think I'm cute, you email me. For reals?! What is this...first grade? If guys think a girl is cute, they should send an email stating that or pull something out of the profile and talk about it. (ex: Oh I see you really like movies, I just saw **** and thought***, have you seen it? What are some of your favorites...my #1 is ***). Ahhh, something to talk about! After being the one with the balls the last go round (and uh, being the girl here), it'd be nice if guys would actually take a chance and write a sentence or two.
~Old guys...not old enough to be my dad or anything (cuz, you know...now I'm getting old) but enough to give me the ebbie jeebies.
~Some guy who you talked to years ago and then signs up for the same event as you. Ummm, awkward and kind of un-nerving.
~And have I mentioned that I can't even shop at my local grocery store because an ex works there. It's not as simple as that either. It involves me meeting him in the workplace, dating him, him being a cheater, me ending up being his boss, him being a poor performer and me having to fire him. Ten years later, he's at my neighborhood store. Joy! Seriously, what they say about dating where you work is true. But I can't say that in all seriousness since work is how I met my first love. Mr. Ex (not the first love) did all the grocery shopping. Now I have to grocery shop in the next town over. I know I can be an adult and suck it up and shop at my local store but I'd rather escape that drama altogether and grocery shop in peace when I finally get around to stocking my fridge.

There's more but now my head hurts from thinking about all this.

Well, shoot! I said I wasn't going to whine! Well, that was my whine for the week.

I'll come back soon. I actually figured out my crochet (finally!) AND started a new project. I'll share soon!

Until next time...

Fabric Frenzy

Thanks to everyone who voted on what fabric I should pick for Waiting for Ships. As you can see, the winner was Taupo!

Help Me Decide! What fabric should I pick for Waiting for Ships?
Country Stitch Taupo	45.7%	21
Polstitches Stormy Seas	41.3%	19
Country Stitch Lagoon	6.5%	3
Country Stitch Wintergreen	6.5%	3
total votes: 46
powered by blogpoll

It's funny how I went into things thinking Lagoon was the way to go but I was swayed by the popular vote. I usually resist the bandwagon but I am easily convinced in the arena of fabric and floss. I ended up ordering both Taupo and Stormy Seas because Missy Ann is a bad influence and posted a link to her Mediterranean Mermaid which of course, reminded me that I wanted to do that one too! I'm not sure what I will use for either project yet as I am not up to doing a floss toss yet but I tell you, I am in love with Stormy Seas and I may just do both of the mermaids on the same color! I've already decided that next year will have a heavy focus on Miras...starting with Fairy Moon. Yea, I say this all the time but it's happening once I get over my fear of dark fabric and using 3 skeins of white! There's a spot of honor waiting for her.

I've been fabric stashing like a crazy fiend...all with projects in mind. At this rate, I'll be busy well into my 40's just stitching on the projects for *these* fabbies. Forget the rest of my stash...that will take me into retirement! lol

Here are the recent fabbys to come through my mailbox!

From left to right (back row): SW Scattered Leaves (for Lilac), SW Golden Promises (for Taj Mahal), Polstitches Stormy Seas and CS Taupo (for Med Mermaid and/or Waiting for Ships).
(front row): CS Southern Star (for Stargazer) and then two small cuts that Staci rak'd me with. I had asked Staci for some beginning sock patterns and look what was in the envelope along with it! Thanks Staci!

I am in fabric heaven!

I've been stashing too...
Some LHNs that caught my attention. I bought the threads for Simple Joys which are beautiful colors! There's also some GAST that I received in a trade, some Silk N Colors for a mystery project I think I may start next over anything else and a beginning hardanger kit from GoS.

I finally managed to finish fright on my Boo Club. This took much longer than I thought. There were a lot of color changes not to mention the computer has been eating away at my crafting time. I need to stay away from it...it just sucks too much time!
Sorry for the crooked picture but you get the idea. I really love these designs but I can do without that border. I like the crispness of the black and white...it's just such a bore to do! Time to put this away for a bit and work on my mystery piece and be a good crochet student.

Oops...just lost the photo of my TUSAL update. Guess that will have to wait for another time. Darn computer!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I now I did...so glad I reigned myself in yesterday and just relaxed. No running around with packed plans and such.

Until next time...

Advantages...

There are certain advantages a girl has when she's broken up from her "likes to cook" boyfriend. She's sad, she's busy, she hates grocery shopping, dislikes cooking and frankly is too lazy or tired or sad to be figuring out meals. There's also the fact I am no longer being fed carb-heavy pasta meals multiple times a week. Most of the stuff in my fridge is questionable and if it wasn't for the farmer's market and Trader Joe's, I'd have already died from starvation. As it is, I've skipped a lot of meals in lieu of fruit, popcorn, cereal, etc. And because of that, I've lost weight. I know it's not the healthiest way to lose weight but I do manage 2 decent meals a day. I just end up forgoing dinner unless I actually have dinner plans. Not to mention that pasta/bread heavy diet I was eating was going straight to my lower half. I was being strangled by the "fat pants"

I've been thinking about shopping a lot. But each time I think about going to any specific store, I change my mind. I know I'm losing weight. I know I need new cute clothes. I hate finding clothes that are my style that still look cute and fashionable on me. I'm a fun tee/tank, cargo/capri wearing girl with colorful flipflops and hoodie type of girl. But despite losing weight, I know I'm on a see-saw with it until I commit to some sort of fitness regime. I'm still trying to decide and work out when/how often I can fit that into my schedule.

Today, I was running errands around the city and I had some free time on my hands before an appointment..wondering how to kill 35 minutes. When I saw a huge sign beckoning at me from a known retailer...50% additional off SALE items. Ah...one of my favorite words. SALE! It's not as good as my #1 word...CAKE! But I'll take sale any day so I went in. I still wasn't totally in the mood to try on clothes but I ended up seeing a pair of cute below knee cargos. The grey pair was in my usually strangling size and the pale blue pair was in my usual size. Guess what!? I walked out of there with the grey pair (which I liked better anyways) and they fit...comfortably! They are still on the edge but it's incentive to stay in this size and even better was they were only $20 with the whole sale thing! It was a nice feeling!

Now to figure out this fitness thing so I can get my $20 worth out of these cargos! lol Every class I have taken lately has been a total dud. I don't really like working out either but I think it will help my racing brain plus tire me out so I can actually sleep more than 4 hours a night. As you can imagine, 4 hours a night is not enough and I'm kind of a wreck running on caffeine and adrenaline.

As I sit and type, I'm starving! I slipped two meals today and probably should have eaten pasta for dinner instead of my scallop entree. What am I saying!? I don't need pasta! I can finally fit into all my size 10s. Finally! My wardrobe has increased tremendously now!

Sorry for the stream of consciousness email. If you here for stitching stuff...come back tomorrow. I need to take pictures to post!

What's Next?

What IS next? A lot of you have asked me that after I finished Letter C and the answer is *I have no idea!* Maybe you can help me decide. There's a ton of things I want to start but I know I don't want another BAP or Mira at the moment. My wip's have dwindled down to two and I don't want to add too many because I'm a very bad juggler! After going cross-eyed attaching the last bead on Letter C, I wanted something fun and easy. Boo Club is totally a no-brainer. As you can see, I already finished *pumpkin* and have started on *fright*. Once *fright* is done and I've caught up on the border, I'll put this away for a bit. It's about 2/3 of the way done.
Then there's Mary Wigham which totally has to come out of hibernation. I am a terrible moderator and have left the group abandoned! Time for me to calm down the screaming Mary and rally the troops. I'm still only on Part 1!

So what else to start? I have plenty to choose from at the moment! But the ones that are calling my name are Traveling Stitcher by LHN, Simple Joys by LHN and Cinderella Sampler by Willow Hill Samplings which I was supposed to start ages ago before the real drama hit the fan. So what would you start?

Decisions, decisions!

Hope everyone is having a nice start to the week...

Until next time...

Up For Adoption

A co-worker is packing up for a cross-country move. I think she's nuts! She actually wants to leave SF! But I understand why. She came to work earlier this week saying she had something for me. She called it "cross stitch". When I saw it, I told her it was needlepoint and not my thing but I could probably find a home for it. Her husband bought this for her and she had never needlepointed in her life. This is not a beginner project! OMG, it's huge! There are a few stitches in this but they can easily be taken out.

I am wondering if anyone would be interested in adopting this needlepoint canvas. It's currently on stretcher bars measuring 18"x24". Huge! It also comes with the threads pictured that were bought for this piece. There is a combination of DMC Perle, Impressions, JL Walsh silk and some unmarked, unknown tapestry wool (I think).

I am trying to save this from the trash and/or having in languish forgotten in some stash drawer. If anyone would seriously like to adopt this for the sake of actually stitching it up and transforming it into an actual stocking, I will gladly send this to you for the cost of postage and whatever method you'd like it sent. I don't suppose I can fold the canvas so I'll either need to buy a tube or if you'd like the bars, a box large enough. So those are things to consider. If more than one person is interested, I will draw a name in one week. That would mean any draw would be made on June 17th.

I hope this can find a good home. That would make my co-worker very happy...

Until next time...

Guess What!?!

By 730pm last night, I attached the final bead and stitched the last of the missing quarter stitches into Letter C. It's about frigging time! Sheesh! So without further ado, I present Letter C which is a Sweet Sixteen gift for my niece Cristina (there is no "h" in our spanish spelling). I hope she likes it! (click to biggify)

Letter C by Nora Corbett
32 count Waterlily Belfast w/ recommended Crescent Colors, Kreinik and Mill Hill Beads

I left the photo uncropped so you can see the color of the fabric a little better. Against the cream fabric chair(to the right), you can tell the fabric is a soft green in the photo above. I am so thankful this pattern didn't call for a ton of beads but they do really add to the piece. Letter C has a ton of fractional stitches. After backstitching, there were still 3 or 4 gaps so I had to go back and add some more quarter stitches to fill it in. Pain in the bum! Not to mention dealing with the YLI invisible thread. My eyes aren't what they used to but I was determined! lol

Letter C and another little giftie will be on it's way to Jill soon to see what kind of magic she can work. I am so excited to go back to selfish stitching! I only have one more committment for the year and it's a small and I figure I can start it August 1 and give myself the rest of July to do what I want. It will be a welcome reprieve after everything.

I'm off to watch August Rush (Jonathan Rhys Meyer = drool) and either stitch, read or crochet. I have lots more to talk about but will save it for later.

Hope you're all enjoying the weekend!

Until next time...

Busy, Busy

"In times of great stress and adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive."

- Lee Iacocca

I opened up my inbox this morning and was greeted by this quote. I think I've embraced Lee's wise words wholeheartedly. I've been keeping busy, busy. So much so that I haven't got the energy to blog that much. I'm sure the lack of posts puts my dear sister in some distress that I'm lying dead somewhere or sulking. No worries...I'm so busy keeping my brain and body occupied.

It's been a month now since I've gone from a 2-person household down to one. To be honest, it kind of feels like longer. I spend my days less sad but still quite angry. I suppose it's all normal. To deflect those emotions, I pack my calendar. This past holiday weekend was a blur of activity. I spent a ton of time with Claire and little baby Andre. We had a family style dinner complete with SF drama of someone blocking a friend's neighbor's driveway which resulted in lots of standing around waiting for DPT and the tow truck to arrive to take the car away. Life in SF...people get frustrated looking for street parking and just park wherever they want. That ends up being a painful $300+ mistake! Sometimes...I just don't get people.

The next day was a lovely breakfast out with some shopping in my neighborhood before we went recliner shopping. I'm happy to say my head didn't explode from all the fabric choices! A lot of them were old-lady/old-man-ish and very unstylish. It made deciding pretty easy. I am hoping that when I see the recliner in real life, I am happy otherwise my head may explode for real! I hate deciding on little things that in the end cost a lot of money (i.e. fabric vs. entire chair). Then in the evening, I met up with a different friend and grabbed dinner and watched Gentlemen Prefer Blondes for the first time at the classic movie theater. What a fun movie! I am so glad I made it out there to see it on the big screen complete with wurlitzer performance before the show. Things like that make me very happy! I think I need to make a more conscious effort to go to the classic movie theater this summer. I mean, where else can you be entertained for 3-4 hours for $7. For the cost of the ticket, you can see either one movie or two (double feature) plus get a wurlitzer performance depending on the time you get there. Plus, a huge tub of popcorn and a huge soda will only run you $5 instead of your first-born like at the mainstream theater! It was a great day!

Sunday, Claire, Andre and I trekked to the Fillmore Festival. It's my favorite one out of all the ones put on throughout the summer. There's great jazz and this year, there was even a swing dance section with music, performances and lessons. It was fun to watch. I found a margarita booth and seeing as it was the 4th of July, I indulged greatly and was in need of a nap by the time I got home at 2pm. LOL I reconnected with an old friend on the phone and it was a nice and unexpected surprise! In the evening, I stopped by a friend's house for bbq with her and her family. I made sangria for the bbq and it was just a boozy day in celebration of our independence. My friend introduced me to True Blood and frankly...what a weird show! I know there's this whole vampire following but I don't think I can jump on that bandwagon.

The last day of my weekend was spent doing lots of laundry and stitching up a frenzy. I am *still* not done with Letter C! Ugh, I am so close though. I finished the cross stitching.

Now, it's onto the backstitching and the beading. I am so close, I can taste it! Since the picture above, I've completed about 2/3 of the backstitching. I think I will be finished by tomorrow...Friday at the latest. One can hope!

So I am keeping busy and trying to find the positive. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's hard and sometimes, it's unexpected.

One fun thing is that Deb is having a scissor frog giveaway. I want to win it!! I shouldn't be even telling you guys but I guess I'll do whatever I need to to increase my chance to win! lol

Until next time...