Procrastination and Sad News

What is it about deadlines that makes you want to do anything other than what you should be doing? I've always been a procrastinator. I was much better managing it as a teenager though. While the teacher would talk about US Politics, I would be sitting in the back sneak reading trashy romance novels. Then I would stay up, cram what I needed to and turned in my assignments on time. Nowadays, I seem to procrastinate and then never catch up. I know this will kick me in the booty later. But I couldn't resist. Thinking about my upcoming birthday made me think of the best month ever...October...because not only is that my birthday month...it's Halloween and pumpkins and leaves changing colors and crisp air and the pumpkin festival and fun, fun decorations. October is the most wonderful time of the year! Ok, most people think that's reserved for Christmas but I just *love* October! So I dug out Boo Club as my travel project to see if maybe I can finish it before Halloween. I don't know about finish-finishing but at least have it finished. I started this at lunch yesterday and just couldn't put it down and finished off "Brew".
Not the best picture but I couldn't resist sharing! Next up is Monster. Not sure how much I'll get done since I either have lunch plans or short lunches the rest of the week. I *really* need to work on my on black stitching. It's kind of hard to see on black but I must prevail. That will be my focus during the long weekend.

I have tons to share but haven't gotten around to taking pictures and the darkness is not conducive to my camera. So I'll be back with that but probably not til the weekend.

As for the sad news, my sister called me today to tell me that her FIL passed away today. Since she and my BIL have been married for 21 years now, Grandpa Glenn was often talked about. I would see him on my trips to Texas as they were always family related affairs and spent the occasional holiday with him at my sisters. I thought I would get to maybe spend this Thanksgiving with him but he had suffered a stroke a couple of months ago and hadn't been doing so well. I know that he's at peace and free of pain and despite the sadness we all may feel, he is in a better place. During times of sorrow, I always tell people to hang onto the happy memories because they will see us through and the person who passed wouldn't want us to be sad. I remember when my niece and nephew were younger, Grandpa Glenn would make the long drive from his town to my sister's for family functions. He had his truck stashed with candy and boy did the kids know it. Creamsicle flavored Lifesavers. I wonder if they even make those anymore. The kids loved them and Grandpa Glenn sure knew to be stocked in preparation for the sugar high the kids looked forward to. If you can spare a kind word for my sister and her family as they go through this tough transition, that would be appreciated. Grandpa Glenn was a wonderful husband, father and grandfather and he will be missed.

Until next time...and on a much happier note. I promise.

Mixed Emotions

I'm feeling rather melancholy today. Hormones...wouldn't you know it. They kind of have the tendency to throw me off every once in a while. That plus I had to tell a seemingly nice guy that I was more interested in being his friend and not his date/girlfriend. I don't even know how I got swept into this whole dating scenario to begin with. I thought it was a friend thing in the beginning. I kind of wonder if I did the right thing. I told him that if we did this dating thing, it would have to be slow...because you know...my whole life recently imploded. Recent bad breakup, still sad, still finding myself, feeling skittish, trust has been banged up...yadda, yadda, yadda. He seemed to understand. He's a nice guy...with octopus hands. *sigh* Octopus hands that I wasn't ready to deal with. Maybe I wouldn't mind so much if I was feeling crazy sparks but I wasn't. I just wanted to get to know him and see where things went but mainly...we seemed to enjoy the same things. It was nice to have someone to do the city things I enjoy that I have no one else to go with but apparently, it's dating or nothing. I haven't heard from him since I told him how I felt. So now I feel bad.

And I'm thinking about my birthday which is quickly approaching. I turn the big 3-5. I may just end up having a mid-30's crisis. I've been trying to figure out what I will end up doing. It won't be anything big seeing as my social circle has greatly diminished and I haven't got very many friends here anymore. I don't have a special someone who will take me out to a romantic dinner. And so I'm debating if I just go off and drive myself somewhere for the weekend and have a solo getaway. It's tempting but I am doing all this travel this Fall to begin with and should be saving the money for my trips. Maybe I will just take myself away for the day...hang out with Snoopy and the Gang and visit a winery.

Despite feeling sad, I had a good day yesterday. I helped out at a work event and it was a gorgeous day...perfect time to be out in the sunshine. I had to check IDs since it was an alcohol fueled event and some of the ladies grumbled that they had to show ID. I commiserated with them and told them that I hate being carded too. And one lady goes, "oh yea, you're getting carded and you're only 25!" I had to tell the lady I was really 35 (almost) but being mistaken for 25 made me smile the rest of the day. After doing my time at the event, I met up with a friend for dinner and Eat, Pray, Love. The movie seemed very slow-paced to me but it was enjoyable. I enjoyed the Italy segment the best and of course, Jeffrey Dean Morgan. How come I can't find a cute Jeffrey Dean Morgan look-a-like here?!

I have a happy dance to share. I try to juggle projects but deep down to my core, I'm a one- project kinda gal. It gets kind of boring for the readership so I try to change it up. But with the internet frustrations, I couldn't move away from Simple Joys and I decided to just push through and finish it so I could move onto obligation stitching. This was a little hard since I found a mistake where the three rose flowers are in the bottom portion. I had to frog the last flower and "Simple Life" since I had added extra stitches where there shouldn't have been and it was too far over to the right.

LHN Simple Joys
CC Bean Sprout, Caterpillar, Plum Paisley, Tiny Vine; GAST Schoolhouse Red; WDW Tiger's Eye
32 count Wichelt Platinum

I'm debating whether to leave in my initials or not. They kind of stick out. I'm happy to have finished it and I like my Schoolhouse Red substitution which really brightened the piece up. I'd like to try a box top finish with this piece. That will be a ways off since I don't have a box or any materials for the finishing but that's what I envisioned the whole time I was stitching on Simple Joys.

I have more to show...like my new HUGE recliner...but this is enough chatter for one day. I'll be back with that and my start on obligation stitching.

Hope everyone had a happy weekend!

Until next time...

Holy Cow!

It's hot here! Someone please send in the fog cuz I am dying! I know the rest of the US has been in a heatwave for months and I've been pretty much spared from any extreme weather the entire summer but between today and yesterday, I am really wishing my building was air conditioned!

Because of the heat, I'm not feeling the most talkative. So I'm going to try and keep this short. Ha! I haven't progressed to my next project because I ran into another bout of network connectivity issues. Get this...that AT&T guy...didn't hook up my router correctly and I was basically stealing wireless from my neighbor and thinking everything was hunky dory. Until I realized I didn't have the Tivo hooked up to my router since it had been reset and everything crashed! I thought it was the Tivo and after going through a few scenarios of plugging things into the wrong places, I figured out that the repair guy plugged the ethernet into the wrong whatchamacallit. What would have taken any reasonably tech-savvy person 5 minutes to figure out only took me like 3 days. Annoying! But...I figured it out on my own so go me!

I can't start new things when my head is spinning in frustration to begin with so Simple Joys has gotten more attention. Here's my latest progress pic.
There has been certain frustrations with Simple Joys. First was the Bean Sprout being sickly (remember?), then my Tiny Vine is kind of light but I went with it anyways and then my Raspberry was sickly too! Only 6 colors in this design and I had issues with half of them! Every skein of Raspberry I came across had a little too much brown in it which made the flowers look like they were burnt by the sun...definitely not happy flowers. I didn't have anything to substitute with so I stopped by the local shop and picked up GAST Schoolhouse Red for the flowers which I think is more magenta than red but maybe that's just me. I like it much better! I'm almost done with the center and then just have the border to do. I am hoping I have enough Bean Sprout to get me through the border...

Then there's my TUSAL update. My jar is getting quite full! The greens and pinks at the top are from Simple Joys.
I missed the New Moon but at least I made the Full Moon....it's a beautiful one out there tonight.

That's about it for me tonight...hope everyone had a nice weekend and is staying cool!

Until next time...

*Sigh*

Take a lesson from me. It's much easier to work on your travel project when you actually put the pattern in the project bag with it! So instead of stitching at lunch, I went to Joann's and tried to remember what DMC color I was missing. I hope I picked the right one! Only time will tell...you know...once I get home and figure out where I put the blasted pattern in the first place!

Nothing very exciting to tell. Stitching has been slow and because I can't see very well on the black during the day (?!), I've been holding off until I have a good stretch of time with tons of light. I figure that between the Ott and the Mighty Bright...I'll be ok. Now to find the time! Oh time...where are you?!

The week has consisted of gym stuff. I worked out with a trainer on Monday. About 20 minutes into it, I told him I was going to hate him by the end of the hour. His response? Good, then I've done my job. *sigh* Today, I can finally walk, lift my arms and get up without feeling about 90. Despite feeling sore, I went to yoga last night. Oof...yoga kicked my ass. Whoever thinks yoga isn't really a workout...needs to try yoga. And apparently, the yoga I'm doing. It's not even Bikram...if I did that, they'd need to call the ambulance on me and with my luck, it would be the short un-hot guy who'd have to resusitate me and I'd be traumatized for life.

Today, I got the call from Jill that my pieces are ready! Yay...can't wait! Since I am late on my niece's Sweet Sixteen (it was Wednesday...happy Birthday to Cristina!), I'm having her send Letter C straight to my sister. *Karen!* are you reading this? You need to take photos right away or I'll have a blog riot on my hands! The other piece sadly won't get to be unveiled until October. I know, I know...don't hate. Just think, there's a cool unveiling happening in October! The suspense...OMG!

And even more suspense? I'll be back with an update on Simple Joys and my TUSAL. Be back soon!

Until next time...

p.s. Almost forgot to mention I added a few charts to my sale blog...

Thank You Internets!

I am back to running order no thanks to AT&T. Multiple phone calls, got the run around, had to take time off work and deal with service repair on a Friday evening. Uh, not my idea of fun!

The service guy was a piece of work! He pulled my wires out of the phone box insisting it was inside wiring until the apartment manager made him do a retest. Then he said it was my modem that was causing the failure which I would have accepted if I hadn't realized people couldn't even reach me on my home line. It was interesting how he couldn't answer my "if it was the modem, than why would that be causing a fast busy on the house line. No one can get through to me!" So I played the stupid girl. Mr. Repair Man, I don't know how my internet is connected. I don't know where I'm supposed to plug that in. Friends always help me with this stuff but they're not around right now. If he's going to play stupid with me and not admit AT&T was at fault...then I can play the stupid game and act like a dumb clueless broad. This act paid off. He gave me a new modem, installed it and fixed my security settings. Took a frigging hour and a half! At least *I* didn't have to do it. When he finally left, he admitted that it was the outside wiring plus a faulty modem that caused the problem. Nice that he had to go rip out perfectly good wiring out of the phone box. Geez!

Not much else to report. I haven't started on my on black project yet because the whole internet thing set me into a frustrated rage every night. I'd spend all my stitching time trying to get the internet up without any luck. When I did stitch, it was on Simple Joys just because it was easier...and not on black. So, I hope to make a better start on that this week. I'll show a progress pick on Simple Joys soon.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Until next time...

No Internet

After days of fighting with my home internet, I admit defeat. This may be why it's been taking me an hour to upload photos for blogging lately! Things will be a little quiet on the FogCity Dweller front while I succumb to the torture of calling AT&T to see what is wrong. I have the feeling they'll tell me I have to get a new modem and do a re-install blah de blah *insert nerdy technical speak I do not understand here*. I hate computers! Why is it that things go on the fritz when the nerdy technical guy in your life disappears...without fail!?

All I want is to play on my computer and stitch...not deal with computer mumbo jumbo.

*sigh*

*photo copyright @popbytes.com

Mr. Postman

Mr. Postman was very kind this week and brought me some wonderful mail! First up with the scissor frog I won from Deb's giveaway. I was so excited to win this giveaway! I've been searching for a frog for a while without any luck. I figured I was destined to be frog-less. Well, of the glass variety...those stitching ones still attack once in a while! Deb was kind enough to include some goodies as well...scissors, a strawberry and some tweezers. It will all come in very handy! I had to run around collecting all my scissors and I've put them all in the frog for the photo. Once I include Deb's scissors, I only have 2 free slots left! Who knew I had so many scissors?! I do have to say thank you to everyone who left a congratulatory comment on Deb's post. It gave me many warm fuzzies to read how many people were rooting for me during my "low" period and were happy that I won. You guys are the best blogging buddies! Deb, thank you so much for hosting a terrific giveaway!
Then I received a package from Marjorie. I won her blog giveaway a little while back and even forgot I won so this was a nice surprise to find in my mailbox. Marjorie stitched up a cute pumpkin pillow which I know is a JBW design. She also included some charts, purple fat quarters of fabric, pins, ribbon, buttons and rickrack. Lots of fun stuff! Thanks so much Marjorie!

***

Other things on the stitching front...I realized I forgot to put up a photo of my stash acquisition from NiaH last week.
After my last post, my sister emailed me and said that all she saw was a brown house and that didn't classify as "color". Hey!! I think goldenrod and brown are colors! So maybe this will make her happier. I didn't get to stitch too much last week because I re-caught my cold and was down for the count for a couple of days. Missed the gym and everything. But I stitched my little heart out yesterday and I think I don't want to see any green for a while.
The funny thing is that I started with a different skein of Bean Sprout and it was more yellow than green and the grass was looking sickly. Mind you, lots of grass in California looks sickly because we're always in some form of drought and the sun dries out the grass but that wasn't really the look I was going for. So I looked in my stash and I had 3 (!!) other skeins of Bean Sprout in varying shades of green. How did I end up with so many skeins of one color!? I have to take a little break from Simple Joys so I can do some obligation stitching.

Here is my fabric/floss toss for what I'm about to start! Black fabric! I hope I don't go blind...err...blind-er than I already am. The one good thing about black...all colors go with it!
Hopefully, I can make a decent start tomorrow. I think my right wrist needs a break...I've either been doing too much stitching/typing or I've been twisting it weird in my sleep which I am sometimes prone to do. It's a tad painful. Ow!

I've also been going through my stash and trying to weed out the items I know I won't stitch or already stitched and don't have any need for anymore. I created a stash sale blog years ago and then never put anything on it. Yea, I know, weird. I just posted some OOP kits that I bought in my college/post-college years and then never got around to stitching. My tastes have changed since then. If you like kits, please take a look at my sale blog! They are almost all OOP and hard to find through Google. I'll be adding charts soon.

As for this weekend...the key word is lazyness. Or maybe less busy than normal? I dragged myself out to a happy hour on Friday that was a combination of fun, awkward and intimidating. It's always hard walking into a group of 60 people that you don't know and just be social but I found my niche and hit it off with a handful of people...and that was nice and worth the awkward and uncomfortable aspects of the night. Those being dealing with quasi-stalker and familiar faces I recognize from the online dating world. Um...all just kind of weird. This weekend, my neighborhood's been overrun by it's annual festival so I've been hiding out avoiding the crowds. I did go check it out yesterday to check out the vendors and eat lunch! Tonight I'm looking forward to dinner out with a couple of girlfriends. All pretty quiet and lowkey.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far!

Until next time...

Bring on the Color!

A couple of the comments on my last post made me laugh! I thought I'd share them. I was definitely in a gloomy funk the weekend before last and am feeling brighter.

KarenV said: Start something new, woman! and

LisaD said: We definitely have to get some color in your life...black, grey and fog - oh my!

Karen, I love your conviction and the whimsical Wizard of Oz twist that Lisa relayed. Both of the comments remind me of my sister, whose also a KarenV. My sister has always been this bright colorful person who wears red, teal and magenta more than she wears black. She is the optimist in the family along with my dad. Then there's me who loves fog and wears black, grey and denim the majority of the time. When I wear color, I think there have actually been gasps of astonishment. Yea, really! I wear more color now but I was borderline goth in my college/post-college years. I'm a pessimist. Surprise! Like you guys haven't figured that out already! My mother is the Queen of Pessimists. A couple of weeks ago, my sister told me I was like our mom! I think I died a little inside. Like mom...wonderful! The goal of the year was to be more positive in my thinking. It's hard when things have been crumbling around me but that's still the goal. I know I'm lucky and can recite all the reasons why...now I just need to act that way.

I wish my mom would be less like Chicken Little. Oh my Gosh, the sky is falling! Being the one whose been around the old folks the longest, I wonder if her negative thinking has rubbed off on me or are you just born that way. Just the other day, I talked to her on the phone and she told me to not go out after dark because the car might break down. *sigh* So I'm supposed to stay at home after dark because the car can break down and some rapist can come out of the bushes and attack me. She thinks this way. Ma, really...I can't live my life in fear! That's why we have cell phones and Gold AAA memberships and pepper spray! If she only knew I did so much online stuff...some things are better left unsaid.

It was always like this growing up. I was considered the difficult rebel child because I questioned every curfew. Curfew was at 10pm which as a teen/college student, was ridiculous. You can imagine the fighting. I wish my siblings had broken them in for me. If I left the house at 8pm to do something, I was repeatedly questioned. And having to go "oh my mom won't let me" when you're in college is you know...kind of lame...but sometimes, I was just too tired to fight. It definitely ruined my coolness factor. I think once she hit 75, mom mellowed out. Uhh, yea, that was only 5 years ago! If I still lived at home with the old folks, I'd have gone berserk by now.

***

Hmmm, got a little sidetracked there. Anyways, I pulled out something colorful to start and have been working on it all week. I probably didn't make the wisest choice of starting in the middle since it's not the most colorful area. I was too lazy to do the math to start at the border so the middle it is. I really like the goldenrod color of the house though. It feels like it's taking me forever to build this house.

I'm enjoying it since it's brainless. Very little counting once you build the foundation and I'm working on installing all the windows. After that, time to lay down the sod and plant some flowers. I figure I only have one more week to work on this before I have to move onto obligations. I have an ornament to stitch for the Attic Auction and also need to see if I can stitch up a little something for my mom's birthday. I also have to do the finishing on my blog giveaway gift from back in May...you know...when my life was imploding. Sharon and Lisa, I haven't forgotten. I'm still playing catch up on my stitching obligations.

Last week was all about getting back into yoga and finding a place that was reasonable and conducive to do so. I think I found it and did 2 classes. One relaxing (too relaxing; mind was a-racing) and the other was typical Hatha. The Hatha class kicked my ass...I was sore for 2 days afterwards! Apparently, I'm a tad (ok, a lot) out of shape. But I crashed and slept and I think this will help my sleep schedule and health tremendously. I'm actually excited about working out. Now to juggle the workouts and the social schedule. I think this will take a little finesse.

This weekend was a blur of busyness. Lots of errands and chores and there are still more chores to do. How did things get so messy?! There was great stuff though like seeing old friends and meeting their baby, crabcakes benedict at SeaSalt (new to me place...so yum!), the car show (see below) and getting together with new acquaintences. But the highlight was visiting NiaH at their new location and seeing the new digs. I got a tad lost going there because I thought I knew where it was and apparently not. The street just kind of sneaks by you! The ceiling in the new place is amazing! It took a little bit of time to find where the stuff was that I was looking for especially as I was able to find things in my sleep at the old space but things got found. I was good and only got a Mira pattern (like I need another!), a cut of BOAF fabric that is becoming almost extinct and a CHS tombie pattern. Not bad.

The best part of the trip was that I got to meet up with Lisa and Brandy! Yay! It was so nice to meet Brandy and see Lisa again. We shopped and then sat around and had a little Stitch 'n Bitch. It was so much fun! Time came when we had to part ways but maybe we can do it again sometime soon. Thanks Ladies! If anyone else lives in the Bay Area and wants to meet up at NiaH, drop me an email and let me know. I love meeting stitchy bloggers!

Online dating observations of the week: the old men leave you alone once you call them out on it and put a disclaimer on your profile telling them to not email/wink you. I can spot a juggler a mile away and just can't deal with it so I'm going to mellow out on even reading these profiles since I've established there isn't anyone I want to date. One guy emailed me saying he'd like to meet. I emailed him back inviting him to the car show (because what guy doesn't like cars?!) and he didn't even acknowledge my invitation. Umm, can you say rude?! Meeting was his idea! Considering we went to the same alma mater and we were practically forced into etiquette class...I think that's bad manners. I'm starting to think being single for life may be the way to go. I already have enough drama! I went to the car show anyways...should have taken photos instead of drooling all over the awesome cars!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Until next time...

(Is anyone else having problems loading photos into Blogger? It's taken me an hour just to load the one photo! Photo for the last post has been uploaded.)