Saved by Silk

Hey All...

Not in the most talkative mood but I thought I would blog really quick. The weekend was a complete drag because *the boy* was sick ALL weekend. I don't know what is up with this guy but he seems to be sick every other weekend and it's no fun. Not to mention the whining and the inability to do anything else when he's feeling bad...I don't really want to deal with it on my days off that are so few and far between. Maybe that makes me cold-hearted but sheesh...after a year of broken leg and everything else, I just want a break already! And we had such nice weekend plans. Plus, you know, he just started a job! He's supposed to be able-bodied and ready to work...especially after a 2 year hiatus. This is just ridiculous!

But anyways, you guys aren't here to listen to me rail on about *the boy* and think I'm a meanie. Stitching...that's what you're here for! I dragged my bum to the LNS this weekend and picked up the silk and it was pretty much a dead on match! Yay! Initially, I thought it was a little brighter than the original but the variation made it blend well. Since *the boy* was sick, I stitched my little heart out. Stitch, stitch, stitch! I would have finished this gift Sunday night but I was unfocused and burnt out on all the red. But I finished Monday night and am sending it to Deb so see if she can work her magic on it. OMGosh, I hope so. I feel pretty darn proud that I managed to finish this up in one month. A short month too and the finished dimensions are 8" x 18". Proves that if I focus, I can really be a fast stitcher when I want to be!

Here are a couple more sneak peeks...
Ignore the boy hair...I don't know how it got there...
I'll reveal it in its entirety once it's been received by the recipient.

For now, I am going to enjoy a couple of low-key days stitching on Boo Club. I'm behind now since I didn't stitch on it at all in February. I'd like to get 2 more sections stitched before I set it aside again. I still have 2 more gifts to stitch and my blogoversary is rapidly approaching and I would like to stitch something up for that as well for a giveaway. So Mary will have to wait a little longer. I swear, she yells at me everyday!

Thanks for everyone's suggestions on the "running out of silk" issue. They were useful for the future. I'm just happy it all worked out this time around.

Until next time...

Thanks and a Question

Thanks for all the nice compliments and comments on my Snapper Year! Wow! I'm so overwhelmed! That was almost as much as my blog anniversary giveaway last year! I am really happy with them. Thank you, thank you. I did get all annoyed over it this past weekend though because my apartment manager, who is a nice helpful guy, is also an opinionated "I am right" type of guy and he convinced *the boy* that where I wanted it hung was not a good spot. So when I got home on Saturday, it was still not hung and still isn't today. I don't really think I have to justify where I put things in my own apartment. So, I'm kind of annoyed. Mind you, I've been cranky and punchy for the past week as well because...it's just that time of the month. Fact of the matter is, I have plans for most of the walls in my apartment...I'm just slow in making the reality happen. I will probably get it all perfect and then have to move! Oh wait...positive thinking...got to think positive. =D

So onto my question. As most of you know, I'm diligently working on a gift and it's really all I've been working on because I've been very deadline conscious about it. My goal is/was the end of this month but I know that's unlikely now. I mean...there's only two nights and two days of stitching time left! I'm about 85% done with it which is very good but I am rapidly running out of silk! Oh noes! I definitely do not have enough to complete the project. I saw this coming and went to my LNS and ordered more silk because the LNS was out of stock. The silk has come in and I'm planning on stopping by on Saturday to pick it up but I am worried that the new silk/dye lot will be noticeable different. Really, I'm kind of freaked out. Has anyone had any experience of one skein of Gloriana being completely different from another?

I was wondering if anyone out in blogland has the same color silk in the same dyelot in their stash that isn't spoken for any particular project. I know this is a long shot but then I know I've done everything I can other than call every needlework shop in America. I'm crazy but not that crazy. So I'm looking for a skein of Gloriana silk in Cranberry (color #062), Lot T37/3289. If you have one, please let me know. Please, please, please...it's for a special gift! I can exchange for another skein of Cranberry or another color, trade for something else or just pay outright. If not, I'll just wish really hard that those skeins waiting for me at the LNS are a close match.

I'll come back to share some stitching, whether sneak peeks or otherwise, over the weekend. For now, I'm off to stitch until I run out of silk!

Thanks for the comments and looking in your stash...

Until next time...

Tease

As promised, I've returned with show and tell but am being a tease and only showing one of the two pieces I got framed by Jill. I probably should have mentioned that these are not extravaganzas like the Letter G I got framed. In fact, after I received Letter G, I emailed Jill gushing over her talent and then asked if she could do "simple". She said she could and to send whatever I wanted framed to her. So I did! I decided to send on my Bent Creek Snapper Year and Plum Street Samplers Christmas Tea.

Here's Christmas Tea:
I liked how the model looked so much on the pattern that I wanted to frame it exactly as pictured. That was harder than I thought though because Jill didn't have any moulding that matched the one in the photo and I couldn't find it online anywhere.

Then out of the blue, I received an email from Sharon Crescent about some old duplicate magazines I was unloading that I posted on a message board and lo and behold...we traded! Yay! I was so happy! Off went the frame to Jill and ta-da! I'm quite pleased with it and I haven't even seen it in person! The package came Monday but since the housecleaner was coming today, I didn't want to make a mess or have things in her way of cleaning. Yea, I know...I'm weird.

This was stitched with the recommended fibers but I changed the color of fabric to Lakeside Linens Tundra because I liked the silvery-blue effect.

I'll come back with Snapper Year. *The boy* is playing photographer and this piece is very hard to capture due to it's size. So...I'll be back! :)

Snapper Year Reveal!

Ugh, *the boy* is a bad photographer! He falls asleep in the middle of his photo shoot! I had to steal the camera and try to pick the best photos. Seeing as I leave early and get home late, it's practically impossible for me to take photos of anything during the week. Here are the best photos of the now framed Snapper Year! (all photos should be clickable!)

Wannabe artistic side angle with lots of glare
And close up of frame detailThis piece is really hard to photograph and show it the justice it deserves. It's just so big and now that it's framed, it measures 12" x 47". It was a huge, huge box that got delivered and I was very happy I didn't have to drag that box up my three flight of stairs. Thank goodness for apartment managers! lol

I LOVE it though! I originally told Jill I was looking for a colorful frame...but she emailed me with this moulding choice saying that it just seemed meant to be what with the leaves and swirls that matched the leaves and swirls in the stitched border. I had to agree and I am so glad that I did! The warm cocoa tones in the frame really brought out the warm "caffe latte" tones of the linen in person. I am so happy to have this sucker stitched and framed. Now the task to hang it...I have to rig things with fishing line and moulding hooks so I don't make holes in the plaster walls. It's challenging...I think Ill have the apartment manager do it while *the boy* is around...they can both talk each others ears off and I can keep stitching!

Thanks for all the nice comments on Christmas Tea!! I am really loving it! I was going to put it in my bookcase with a little japanese tea set I have but *the boy* is trying to convince me to hang it in the dining room because of the "come to my table" reference in the piece. I can't decide so for now, I've left it on the chair near me so I can enjoy it. Decisions are not my forte!

I am feeling rather glum. Why is it that when you have big plans with your money, other things come up?! In my case, I'm seriously shopping for a new sofa and snuggler. As I suspected, I owe taxes but I owe 60% more than I anticipated! I have no idea why and am considering making an appointment with an accountant to understand and make sure I set up my W-4 correctly so this doesn't happen again for this tax year. Then, on the way home from Valentine's Day dinner, *the boy* goes "uh-oh, the check engine light came on". I am hypervigilant about the car since it's old and my only way of getting around. After some research, we came up with three possible scenarios of what was wrong and took it to the mechanic. Of course, of the three issues, the car has the most serious and expensive problem! I suppose that's the risk when driving a 13 year old car. After being without a car for two days, the part is now on order and the car will go back to the mechanic next week. Between the taxes and the car repair, I am out the amount of money I would have used to buy the sofa and snuggler. You know what that means...no new furniture for a little while. Argh! It's hard to fulfill the positive thinking goal when your car and Uncle Sam are sucking you dry! Wah! I'm going to go drown my sorrows in stitching. Thank goodness I have enough stash to pull be through this dry slump!

Okiedoke, hope everyone is having a good week!

Until next time...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

I did not have huge expectations for Valentine's Day this year as *the boy* is still technically unemployed and isn't due his first paycheck until mid-March and he is scraping pennies since his unemployment ran out months ago and EDD is slow on appeals. That's ok. We're going out to a nice dinner thanks to a gift certificate he bought at half-price months and months ago and that's fine by me.

We wakes up *way* before me. This morning, when I got up and went to the front room, I bypassed the kitchen and saw a bouquet of roses, card and small box of chocolates on my dining table. I did a double take and asked how he managed to sneak that stuff in! He snuck clothes into the hallway closet last night and woke up at 7am. While I was sleeping, he snuck into the hallway to change and snuck out of the house and walked to the nearby grocery store! I'm surprised I slept through it all but most nights I sleep with earplugs. What a sneaky boy! He says there were loads of guys out trying to pick out flowers and cards too. Hmmm....
He also said he'll be stuck eating tuna this week! haha Good thing we have a stocked pantry. Neither of us will starve! After slowly waking up, *the boy* made me a pancake breakfast and we headed to Costco. Normally, I need a valium (joking) before or after any Costco run but it was very quiet there today...although I got the usual sticker shock at the register.

It's also time to report on my TUSAL. Here's my jar modeling with our cards.
and a rather dark close-up...notice all the red threads!
I've been gift stitching every spare moment I have. I'm only about 40% done with it but I'm enjoying the process thus far. I'm only showing sneak peeks because the recipient peeks here every so often.
Hope everyone enjoys their day!

Until next time...

P.S. I'm sitting on pins and needles waiting for my delivery from Jill Rensel scheduled for tomorrow. I'll be sure to share my framing soon. So excited!!

The House That I Built

So I'm back a day later that I thought. Let me tell you something...furniture shopping is really tiring!

Friday, we ordered chinese delivery and I stitched my little heart out. I built this house.
This is a sneak peek of part of the gift I am stitching. I think it's cute! The windows need to be backstitched but I am holding off on that until I finish all the cross stitches because I am fearful I'll run out of the Gloriana I am using and all the stores near me are out and let's not even get on the topic of dye-lots, etc. I hope I make it to the end! Hmmm...looking at this pic, I realize I missed a stitch...

Saturday, I made my pitstop at NiaH and had my list with all the fabric, threads, accessories and charts I was looking for and sadly, almost everything I wanted was out of stock! I walked away with this small collection.
Some black belfast for some ornies I will be making later in the year, some WDW for another project I plan to start late Summer and the dowel I think I will be using for the end result of the gift I am making.

And the kicker is that while I was shopping, *the boy* said he was going to go for a walk and I had to remind him not to walk far since we'd do more walking. So I shopped and was pretty much done fast but he hadn't come back yet and so I did more circles around the shop and he still didn't show up. I checked out and you know where I found him?! Asleep in the car!? We'd have gotten a move-on sooner if I had known that! *sigh*

The we hit four furniture shops. We sat down and got up like a million times and by the end of the day, I couldn't bear to get up one more time and was a log on the futon for a good part of the evening. *The boy* fell asleep the minute we got back home and he laid down. How does he do that?! The only times I nap is when I'm sick or incredibly exhausted! I think I am set on a Lane Snuggler and a Flexsteel sofa. I was disappointed to find out Lane doesn't really manufacture Snuggler and stationary sofa combos hence the mixing and matching. I still have more shops and research to do but that's the road I'm headed.

Sunday, I headed out for girly pampering and while I was at Hallmark picking up the month's selections of cards, I came across a display of Peanuts paraphernalia celebrating their 60th Anniversary and came across this cute little trinket. There were 4 to choose from and even though I wanted all of them, this one made me laugh out loud! It has a place of honor in the bookcase.
OK, this is getting pretty long but I have a couple of other things to share.

First off, thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a comment and share in our happiness. *The boy* came by and read all the comments and says thank you for the congratulations and good thoughts. I think he realizes that there were really people everywhere who were rooting for him and us and you all have been a great support system over the past year. For reals! He's also very happy I didn't chuck him off the balcony. haha He doesn't start until the Monday after next as they conclude his background and get things set up for him. His position is an entirely new one...not him replacing someone.

Second, Hillery pointed out I didn't share I am the new moderator to the Mary Wigham USA SAL blog. I didn't want to take away to *the boy's* news. So I'm the new moderator and I'm hoping to get everyone all excited to stitch on their Mary's and share. Of course, I do this transition when I am solely gift stitching and Mary is yelling at me every night. What a contradiction, right?! I am stitching as fast as I can on these gifts so I can return to my Mary. I can't wait! I hope everyone is stitching on their Marys! And if you want to join in on the fun, there's one spot left and I can start up a waiting list if anyone is interested! Just email me and let me know.

Thanks for sticking with me and this long post. I better peel off...I need to draw up *the boy's* to do list (taking full advantage of the time before he starts working full days) and figure out if I owe Uncle Sam and money or he owes me. I betcha...I owe him! And if I can stitch a little bit, that will really round out the day.

Until next time...

Huge News!!

I have wonderful news to share after a week and a half absence.

1. *The boy* and I went to the doctor's yesterday for his follow up appointment. After waiting for two hours in the eclectic waiting room of a county-run hospital, we were finally ushered into the exam room. *The boy* was nervous and anxious and basically driving me crazy as I reassured him it was highly unlikely they'd say he'd need another surgery if he was actually walking around without pain at this point. We finally heard the news we wanted and needed to hear. After one year and fifteen days, *the boy's* leg is finally 100% healed!!

Frickin' about time! Oh, did I say that out loud?

2. After three weeks and one day, *the boy* was offered a job...with a company that will pay well...and one he really, really, really was hoping to work for. I just got home, heard the news and we had a champagne toast. I'll be happily drunk by the end of the night! He's accepted the offer. Now to hear when his official 1st day of work will be.

Can I say frickin' about time again? Yea, really!!

These two things are huge! I really think that things will slowly get better and times will get happier. It's hard to be in a relationship with someone who is disabled and unemployed. Now he's completely fine and employed and we can do fun stuff like nice dinners out, weekend trips, theater and all that stuff that money buys.

The last couple of weeks have been rough. *The boy's* been sick and anxious and freaking out...a total pain in the ass. He's been driving me nuts. One more week and I may have thrown him off my little balcony. For reals!

I'll come back with some stitching photos. I figure if I snap sneak peeks of the gift I'm making for my sister, it'll be ok. I can't stand not sharing!

This weekend will be the Superbowl sale at NiaH, furniture shopping and Superbowl stitching...uh watching. Oh who am I kidding, stitching with the occasional "huh, what happened!?".

On the furniture shopping, I came across a chair and a half recliner. OMG! I want one! Does anyone have one? They are sometimes called Snugglers or Cuddlers but it's a huge recliner with room for two people. *The boy* and I fit in one so it'll be nice for movie watching and cuddling and would be my primary stitching spot. If you have one, would love to hear about it.

I'll be back later this weekend with show and tell.

Enjoy the weekend...and for you mid-westerners and east coasters...watch out for the snowstorms! Stay warm and cozy!

Until next time...

*Grumble, Grumble*

Hey everyone! Hope you all had a nice weekend. It was damp and rainy in the Bay Area after 7 straight days of rain. We had a one day reprieve and it started to rain again yesterday. After so much rain and dampness, I'm feeling a little "'eh".

Nothing new or exciting going on. I spent the little stitching time I had last week working on the border for the Boo Club. I ripped out the orange and stitched the yellow and then the black and white checkerboard. I'll stitch the border as I go even though that backfired on me the last time. It just seems that it would be more time effective that way. Boo Club is being put away until late February.
This past weekend was busy. busy. Lots of cleaning being done and yet, the apartment still looks like a tornado hit it BUT the big, huge closet that I used as an "office" because it is that big, is clean and empty and I finally put a storage rack in there and I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! Since I have wireless and use a laptop, I no longer need an office. I just need a shelf to put my router, modem and printer. The laptop pretty much resides under the futon. I plan on putting all my storage in that room, including my stitching cabinet, and will probably still have half the closet free for other stuff! It feels great to unload stuff. I've shredded about 5 bags of documents, about 4 bags of recycling and am giving away a desk and office chair for free to whomever wants my good junk. If it wasn't raining, it would have been at the curb already with the Free sign but alas, rain, rain and more rain.

I went phone shopping and got a new Blackberry phone and am learning how to use a smartphone. Honestly, sometimes, the phone is smarter than me and my geeky-techie coworkers are all excited because they can bbm me. Um, I don't even know what that means. I get a lesson from one of them tomorrow. I am happy with the phone so far! Here comes new, organized walking around Valerie who hopefully won't have a bunch of post-its and to-do's falling out of her purse. To be honest, the salesfolks at Verizon are lucky I found a phone I liked because after waiting for months for the iPhone rumors to come true...to no avail...and being stuck with the most craptastic phone out there that happens to have a defective jack...I'd have gone postal and on a long rant about how they are doing a disservice to their customers by having excellent service but a poor phone selection and how all their customers want an iPhone so make it happen already!! But I think the BB Curve8530 and I will get along great!

I've also decided I have to start shopping for adult (like grown-up...not stripper poles...poor choice of words there) furniture especially in light of my recent back issues. I'll be 35 this year and I think it's time for a real sofa (not futon) and some matching bedroom furniture. Slightly nerve-wracking since I think the biggest purchase I've made was my mattress set and work has been having it's fair share of budgetary problems and all I know is that I am safe until July. So I'm starting small and focusing on a new sofa with chair/ottoman or streamlined recliner. I went to my first shop on Saturday, walked in and promptly remembered that I should have measured before going shopping. Ummm...oops! I think this shopping for furniture experiment will take a while. It would also help if I finished my closet project before introducing more stuff into my apartment!

Everything else was ok. *The boy* felt sick and was drivingme nuts with his lack of help with my closet project and the noisy downstairs neighbors made me so berserk that I took to banging on the floor with a mop...and they banged back. One day, I will go down there and give them a piece of my mind. They are more inconsiderate than partying college students. Remember these folks are in their 40's! Oh, and I made a small start on my sister's gift who sometimes peeks on my blog so no photos until it's received.

So there has been lots of grumbling and not very much positive attitude. Shame on me! But I have one more grumble. Laural always seems to have the inside scoop on soon to be released designs and Nora Corbett's Letter V, W and X are being released! I *hate* the letter V! I don't like the thin brown left side and the thick green right side, the vine or the fairy just kind of standing there. Really disappointed.
But I really like the W and a part of me thinks that maybe, just maybe, I'll just pick one half of the W and stitch half (so it's a V) along with the fairy.
Eh, something to think about for later. Hope everyone is staying warm and dry!

Until next time...

Rainy Days

What a wet and dreary day it is today! I'm supposed to be at the parentals right now but *the boy* had a meeting and the rain is coming down pretty steadily. I'm nice and let him borrow my car and I'll see the parentals a little later. Lots of laundry to do and I'm sure the folks think I've forgotten all about them. Truth be told, with it being all rainy, I'd much rather stay at home in my jammies than drive on slick roads and wrestle with laundry.

This has been a rather strange week. After my workout on Monday, I came home and organized more of the mess. At the end of the night, I went to stand up and felt a lot of pain in my lower back. It was late and I went to sleep and was fine sleeping but when I went to get up in the morning to get ready for work, I really couldn't. I'd thrown out my back and called in sick to work for three days. I pretty much spent that time lying about drugged up on Flexeril and sleeping at the drop of a pin! It wouldn't have been so bad if I could actually stitch but it's hard to stitch when you're flat on your back. Trust me...I tried. So *the boy* played nursemaid and I just tried to get better. I felt ok enough to go to work on Friday but was still pretty stiff and couldn't stand for long periods of time. By the end of Friday, I had dinner and fell asleep only to wake up the next morning. The medication the doctor gave me makes me very, very sleepy and unmotivated. Today is the first day I am trying to make do without the medication. I feel pretty much back to normal so I hope this is the end of me and my aching back! I've got way too much to do!

Saturday, I decided to start my L*K Boo Club. My intention is to do one block per month and be done at the end of the year but I'd love to finish it by Halloween if some free time opens up mid-year. I finished "Spooky".
I was so excited to start that I didn't really read the border directions. I'll be frogging out the orange and doing it yellow as charted. I assumed they were still blocks if you did them all on one long piece of fabric but they aren't. Oopsie! I'm stitching this on 32 count BOAF Meadowlark with the recommended overdyeds.

It's also time to TUSAL reporting. Here's my jar posing with some funky orchids *the boy* brought home the other day.

And here is a close-up. You can see some of the orange from Boo Club, purple for a gift I'm making and below that are Mary Wiham orts.
I feel like I've gotten lots of stitching done this month by looking at my orts jar!

Well, better get that dirty laundry together...

Until next time...

Busy, Busy!

Hiya, folks! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! I had a nice one and it was super nice to have *the boy* back. He's walking all normal...no cane...no crutches...I have the feeling this next doctor's appointment will be his last.

Saturday, we went for a little walk around the city, got a slice of Sicilian pizza at Golden Boy and came back home. We heard about the 6.5 earthquake up near Eureka and that got *the boy* all in gear to prepare in case we get a big one over here. *The boy* is all hypervigilant about earthquakes since he's East Coast. Since I'm SF Bay Area...I've dealt with this stuff my entire life! I kind of take it in stride although I have to say that the little 4.2 we had on Thursday was a little jarring. I think because it was about 30 miles away so that one was close. Now we're stocked up on water, easy to prepare food, candles and batteries. I'm due to report to work asap after any earthquake so I'll be taken care of through city resources assuming I am unhurt and able to get to work. The rest of the evening, I just stitched on a gift which is taking me a little longer to do than I thought. Isn't that always the case?! This working 40 hours a week and working out after work really cuts into my stitching time.

Sunday, *the boy* was busy cooking and I was busy running errands before we met up again to see Up in the Air. What a great movie! I thought it was well done and it had it's funny moments and sentimental ones as well. The rest of the afternoon and evening, I organized, cleared out some recycling, met one scary, hairy spider *the boy* had to deal with while I went screaming into the other room and managed to break my shredder. Ugh! This cleaning business is dangerously scary and time consuming!! And you know what?! My apartment is still trashed! But I am seeing a faint light at the end of the tunnel.

So folks, there is more cleaning to be had and I'll continue to be a bit distant. Now that *the boy* is back, he can help me out a little with this whole closet(s) project. I haven't been stitching much and what I have done has been gift stitching and I've come to realize that all the gift recipients are readers so no sneak peeks. Stitching photos will be scarce until April. I know! So boring! But I do plan on doing Boo Club as a monthy year-long project so I better get started on that first one. I can't even remember what it is!

So hang in there with me. I'm still reading and commenting when I can and will be going through my stash soon for a sale because the pile is teetering on top of my stash cabinet. Living in an apartment, I have a corner dedicated to stash...one day...one day, I'll have a stitching room but I know I have some charts and kits that might be happier in a new home so stay tuned.

Until next time...

A Couple of Lessons

Hey Everybody...Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a nice start so far. Mine has been nice but busy, busy! Oof! I even freaked out that I hadn't updated the blog for over a week and then looked and saw it's only been four days. Apparently I'm cramming in two days worth of stuff into one so I feel like all this time has passed.

So, let's see...what have I done? I've thought about stitching and cleaning a lot...oh and organizing stash. Yet none of that has actually come to be. I had a yummy breakfast with Claire at Maverick and a nice walk around the Mission District while enjoying a bright and sunny day in January. Amazing! I also went to my first "Guild" meeting and had a lot of fun and met some really nice and friendly ladies (Hi!).

I got two more motifs done on Mary and started on a third. The white motif is the only one I'm kind of on the fence about. I think it photographs well but the coverage isn't very good with just one strand of Shaker White. I know 2 strands will be way too much so I'm trying to talk myself into the whole "it looks dainty" belief.
I sadly have to put Mary aside for a little bit so I can make a dent in some gifts. *sob* I'm loving Mary and don't want to stitch on anything else!

I've been keeping busy organizing my walk-in closet which was supposed to be a task for last January...as in a year ago! Time to face the ugliness. Since I'm knee deep in paperwork (literally in some spots of my living room), stitching has taken a backseat the last couple of days.

I do have a couple of lessons.

1. Don't throw your paperwork and bills in a box saying you'll organize it next week, next month or next year because the next thing you know, you've got 7 years of paperwork accumulated and it will take you days, maybe weeks to get things straightened out! I'd show you a picture but am too ashamed!

2. If you're an online dater and sign up for a random site, half set up your profile and forget about it because you "don't get it"...someone will find you years later when you least expect it and because a handful of times, you used your online dating email on a part of the internets, they will find your blog. Be diligent! Eff! I feel like I've lost a little of my anonymity and I've been in a relationship for almost a year and a half! I've no interest in dating or anything. Dealing with *the boy* is enough thank you very much!

Speaking of *the boy*, he comes back on Friday. He's got a couple of job leads and we're starting out the year being positive and hopeful. This absence has been particularly hard...over the holidays and the longest one yet. I've warned him he's got a growing "honey-do" list and how I want to go see a chick flick and he's been accepting of everything I've thrown at him. He's already tired of shoveling snow. Methinks I have the upperhand! If he gets out of hand, I'll just threaten to banish him to the frozen tundra of the East Coast! I suppose that's my wild card.

Posts may be scarce in the next week or so with the cleaning and *the boy* being back in town. Stitching will be limited and some of the gift stitching can't be shown on the blog. But I'll be back to at least run my mouth a little bit.

Until next time...

A Year in Review

January 1st and it's time to take a look at last year's goals and make some new ones...I hope everyone had a fun NYE. I stayed home, watched CSI, stitched and talked on the phone with *the boy* a few times. I had hoped to have fun, wear my party dress type of plans but maybe 2010 will allow that.

Now onto the review...

2009 Personal Goals

~Lose 10 pounds and keep them off --umm, no!
~Be out of debt in 2009...for reals this time --YES!!!
~Purchase a new laptop --YES...still wish I had a Mac but my PC does a fine job.
~Maintain workouts...yoga, stretching and walking --Not really...
~Learn how to sew...enroll in class(es)--YES!

2009 Stitching Goals

~Quaker Friendship Round Robin --Completed and at the finisher
~Peppermint Twist SAL --No, not even started but used a part of the design to make a floss tag that made lots of people laugh
~2009 Christmas Challenge - 12 finished ornaments by the end of the year--Sadly, no.
~Bent Creek Snappers - July through December--done and at the framer
~Trick or Treat Fairy -Mirabilia--Not started
~Fairy Moon - Mirabilia --kind of started (50 stitches) but not really
~4 exchanges/gifts --2 exchanges, 7 gifts
~Keep better track of my finished projects for blogging--the sidebar says I stitched 27 items. Woot! 25 were stitched and 2 were knitted. I still need to keep better track though. I have my journal and may try to set up a online photo journal this year.

Now it's time to reflect on the year to come...

2010 Personal Goals

~Be more positive and happy. This is my number 1 goal. The rest will be icing on the cake.
~Lose those 10 pounds and exercise regularly.
~Save money towards big purchases

2010 Stitching Goals

~Stitch from stash...I can do it...I know I can!
~Continue to limit exchanges (2-4)
~BAPS for me: Mary Wigham, Fairy Moon and L*K Boo Club
~Gifts: Newton, Bless This House, Letter C
~Stitch 12 Christmas ornaments

I think this is manageable! :)

Until next time...

Happy New Year!

The Motherload!

A couple of weeks ago, I signed up for a Christmas giveaway that Danielle was hosting on her blog. She mentioned she would send the winner a handstitched ornament and I love ornies. Well, on Christmas Day, I was the lucky winner. Yay me!! Hearing I won was a great Christmas present.

Fast forward to Tuesday of this week...I open my apartment door and there on the floor is this huge package. Hmmm...what's that? So I open it and it's the giveaway package from Danielle! Holy cow...I hit the motherload! I was only expecting the ornie and maybe one or two small things. Danielle sent me so much stuff...I seriously felt like a 5 year old on Christmas morning. Here are a few photos...I piled stuff into the photos so it wasn't so photo-heavy.

Lots of past JCS ornie issues, Prairie Schooler, The Drawn Thread, Waxing Moon Designs to name a few...
And more charts....
And these were the things that made me *squee* out loud like a 5 year old...even though I was the only one home!

PS Ornie hand-stitched by Danielle...this is the design from November's (I think) GoS issue plus a bunch of overdyed threads! I've died and gone to heaven!!
And my absolute favorite charts out of the whole stack!
Thank you, thank you, thank you Danielle!

Wow...I'm still kind of speechless. I've been incredibly lucky in blogland this year. I've won 2 huge giveaways, a threads giveaway and an ornie giveaway this year. I have more stash than I know what to do with now...and after winning Danielle's giveaway, I am going to challenge myself to only stitch from stash this year. This will be hard because you are all enablers with the wonderful projects you work on that I may have not noticed otherwise but I am going to try really hard. *The boy* doesn't think I can do it but I think I can. There are a few things I will allow myself though:

~black fabric because I haven't any and just acquired the perfect pattern for ornie gifts for the women in my family next Christmas.
~beads for finishing ornies
~ribbon/trim for ornies or smalls
~BOAF Dashing pattern should I ever come across it
~Nora Corbett Letter V assuming she releases it and I like it

So the last 4 are *ifs* but the black fabric is a must!

We'll see how things go...I think I can, I think I can, I think I can! lol

Reflections

A couple of days ago, I stumbled on this post on Laurie's (Aunt Purl) blog about reflecting and her new year's resolutions. Since that day, it's like my brain has been in overdrive and can't calm down. I've been reflecting on this past year, the things I need to do, the things I'd like to do, what I hope 2010 will be like. It's hard because obviously, I'm no psychic and all I can account for is the past and not the future. I can plan for things but that doesn't mean they will happen. I can only hope for the best. And sweet God, do I hope for the best this year. If 2010 is anything like this year, I'll be checking myself into a mental ward by the end of it.

Laurie said that she is going to try to "come from a place of yes". This spoke to me because the things she said rang true for me. I'm naturally a snarky, sarcastic person which a lot of people may consider negative or complaining. Since this year was particularly terrible with *the boy's* attack, the disappearance of his friends, becoming a caretaker 4 months into a new relationship for an injury that took 10.5 months to heal, being nervous about my job security for the entire year and looking after elderly parents without the help or support of my siblings, I have become quite angry and resentful. I am happiest when I am at home and stitching...basically leading a hermit-like lifestyle of pjs, stitching, tv and takeout. The snarky and sarcastic is me...it will not go away but the anger and resentment has to go away and I can't live my life cooped up in my apartment no matter how much I would love to. There's work and parents to deal with and friends to see and lots of fun things outside of my four walls and I need to find a way to enjoy things again despite people cutting you off when you're driving, or cutting in front of you in the coffee line or just the general level of stupidity that you encounter on a daily basis. It's all a part of life. These little things get to me...and they shouldn't. And so I will try to find ways to be a little more positive and a little more happy and a little more smiley and reclaim a little of the happiness I lost this past year. It will still involve a ton of stitching and tv...and reaching out to both real-life and stitchy friends...and getting back into yoga. It will involve taking deep cleansing breathes and muttering "Serenity now!!" under my breath when I'm about to have a fit. And if you're any sort of Seinfeld fan, you'll understand this. And I say it because it's so ridiculous, it makes me laugh and the upset feelings go away. All I want is a little serenity.

So I think my personal goals this year will be pretty simple. Come from the place of yes...be happy....enjoy life...embrace old friends and new alike. But I will still be saying no! lol I haven't completely lost it. But I will try very hard to not sweat the small stuff.

I really think that everything else will be icing on the cake.

I do have to mention that I wouldn't have made it through this year without my supportive and wonderful friends and readers. At the beginning of this year...maybe I had 30 subscribers. And back then...I wondered who was reading my rambling posts. At the end of this year, I have almost 100! Wow! That amazes me! Thank you so much for all the support, kind comments and friendship you have given to me over the year. I can't find the words to express my gratitude but please know that it truly warms my heart.

I wish you and yours a happy and joyous 2010!

My Needle is Flying!

I've been pretty close to being a hermit this weekend...which has been very productive on the stitchy front! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was relatively painless. I had Christmas lunch with my folks and made my excuses once my brother came to visit. He didn't say Merry Christmas to me, greet me in any brotherly manner or get me a gift. I pretty much called it for this year. I'm very glad I didn't waste my time getting him one. I, at least. had the good manners to wish him a Merry Christmas. I've pretty much been planted on the futon watching bad tv all weekend. Life could be a lot worse!! lol

The only reason I left my apartment was to go to NiaH to buy fabric for some major projects I need to get done in 2010...aka gift stitching. I was very indecisive and I'm surprised Mary didn't strangle me but in the end, I'm really happy with my fabric choices. Lisa even stopped by and we had a mini stitch-in and chat. We even pulled out our Marys to compare. It was nice! Until it was time to head home. We left in the middle of a rain storm and I white knuckled it all the way home!

Today, I ran the usual errands...grocery store, bank, gas station and other little stops and have been lazy the rest of the day. I finally made it to motif#5 on my MW. My goal was to have 4 motifs stitched by the end of the weekend and I've succeeded!
I had to change out the yellow motif. I originally stitched it in WDW Whiskey but the varigation wasn't showing up too well so I ripped it and did it over in GAST Gold Leaf. I'm happy with it! I think I will get a good amount of motif #5 done tonight. Then I have to decide what I will do. I have to get a start on gift stitching but I only want to be stitching on Mary! What to do...what to do!? I had hoped to make a NYD start on Fairy Moon but I don't think it's realistic right now. I have the feeling I will have to switch gears to gifts this week.

Last week, I was obsessed with getting a Christmas cactus. I've seen so many pretty ones in blogland...all sorts of colors. I've managed to kill the plants that *the boy* bought before he left. I asked for a Violet and he brought back some finicky little things instead. Ugh...dead. So I needed to replace with something nice. I can't kill a cactus though! After stops to three different shops, I finally found one. They only had a fushia-red but I took what I could! Here it is sitting with Christmas Fairy. Ignore the junk in the background. I'm stitching...not cleaning!! The blooms are starting to open on the plant and it's looking very happy and un-dead. My kind of plant! :)

Tomorrow is back to work for me. Thankfully, it's a short week. Yay!!

Until next time...

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas to all my wonderful blog friends and readers. I so appreciate that you stop by and listen to my ramblings in my little corner of blogland. Thank you for all your wonderful advice, support and comments!

Christmas Meme

I saw this meme on a couple of blogs now so I thought it would be fun to play!

Eggnog or hot chocolate? Egg nog...spiked with brandy. I am probably the only person who doesn't like hot chocolate!

Does Santa wrap the presents or leave them open under the tree? I'm scrooge-y but not that scrooge-y! I wrap the presents.

Colored lights on a tree or white? Colored...and blinky. They have to twinkle and blink!

Do you hang mistletoe? Yes.

When do you put your decorations up? The weekend after Thanksgiving...usually. As a kid, the tree would be bought Thanksgiving weekend and taken down New Years Day. I'm still within that realm assuming I'm in the christmas spirit and getting a real tree.

What is your favorite holiday dish? Stuffing

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Nope...Christmas Day reveal.

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Twinkly lights, ball ornies and any other ones that are cute and fun. Twinkly star topper. My fiber optic tree is too frail to hold up the star topper so I have an old fashioned tree topper from the 50's for that one.

Snow: love it or hate it? Snow? What's that? The fluffy white stuff that I see on the tv? It looks fun but people tell me all these horror stories about it that I don't know what to think!

Can you ice skate? Oh yea, I can ice skate on my rear end! I have this problem that the moment I stand up on anything that it supposed to make me look graceful and roll or glide about, I fall down. I am the epitome of graceful!

What is your favorite holiday dessert? Warm apple and pear crisp with vanilla ice cream.

What is your favorite holiday tradition? Christmas Caroling Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve

Candy canes: yum or yuck? Yum. Love!

Favorite Christmas show? I'm opting for christmas movie and naming Love Actually.

Find a Little Joy

It doesn't really feel like Christmas this year. Mind you, I'm being a Scrooge, my folks are being scrooges and so are some of my co-workers. We probably aren't helping each other get into the Christmas Spirit being all Scrooge-y. I've always found it hard to deal with the holidays for reasons I discussed around Thanksgiving.

But I still find some joy...holiday movies like The Holiday, Love Actually and Miracle on 34th Street. Netflix will be bringing me A Charlie Brown Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life and The Bells of St. Mary this week to enjoy.

The holiday cds. Just this year, I finally bought White Christmas by Bing Crosby. My parents had the LP and when I was a kid...think 6 or 7...I would lug my Fisher Price record player all over the house, find a record, put it in my player and lie down on the carpet and listen. During Christmas, as a kid, I'd play Bing all the time. It's time to reminisce a little. He'll be crooning to me this year.

Christmas treats like the abundance of fudge, cookies and chocolate. Tomorrow is the holiday potluck at work and I am going to try to make these peppermint brownie bites. I love candy canes and incorporating that into dessert...bring it! I hope they turn out ok! If they bomb, I have a box of Peppermint JoeJoe's from Trader Joe's in case of emergency. Mmmm.....peppermint creme oreos! Yum!

Christmas lights...I love looking at them. It's the main reason I risked my neck climbing into the depths of the closet to dig out my tree. Blinky twinkly lights are my favorite thing!

And stitching...must stitch to prevent loss of sanity. Mary Wigham saw a little more action last night as I set aside an hour to stitch. Still on that massive motif though. I'll devote a little more to her tonight in between baking and then must make a start in my PIF this week. I heard from *the boy* that my little package arrived. In it was one of the ornaments I made last week. One went to my friend Kelly and the other to *the boy's* mom. I still have two waiting to be finished but those I'll just save for next year. The training I have invested in *the boy* must be working as he sent me the photo below without any other prompting. It's a Christmas miracle!! lol

Joy freebie by Lilybet Designs
32 count Antique Ivory Belfast
Recommended GAST and DMC

I wish I had had time to do a beaded edge but I was quickly running out of time and didn't really have any beads that matched. So, simple finish...the backside has the same border as the front side. Uh...so can you tell that *the boy's* family is at least part-Irish. The shamrock and the leprachan cracks me up!

I'll be blogging through Christmas since I don't have any concrete plans. Visiting the folks, avoiding the brother and stitching to my hearts' content while listening to holiday music and watching holiday movies while in the glow of my twinkling little fake tree. But for those of you disconnecting during the holidays, I'd like to take the opportunity to wish you and yours a marvelous holiday. Merry Christmas....Feliz Navidad...Joyeux Noel.
Snoopy say Merry Christmas too...

Until next time...

MW Update

Just a quick post today. Super tired and can't believe tomorrow is a workday...again! A lot of the weekend was devoted to laundry, organizing, tidying, finally packing away the Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations (yes, really) and digging out my Christmas stuff. I do have to say that I was very spoiled by having a real tree last year because I now realize that my little fake tree is puny! But I like the whole fiber optic effect. Since I wasn't even going to deal with Christmas, digging out the tree and setting it up is a huge accomplishment. Yay me! I don't feel like putting ornaments on it though. It looks nice with the lights, fiber optic and the tree topper.

I did have time yesterday to work on Mary Wigham. I am SALing with Lisa and you should check out hers...she's made great progress so far. As for me...I am a slowpoke! But see Lisa...I'm stitching! lol I do think I have finally mastered two-handed stitching so things may speed up. I've never stitched two-handed before. My left hand is pretty weak so I think I figured out the jabbing motion I need to do to get the needle into the right spot. Here's a terrible photo I took early this morning while it was dark and grey. I'm rarely home during daylight hours and my photography suffers even more in the winter.
I am using 40 count Lakeside Linens Fawn. It's a much darker color than I'm used to but I think my eyes are slowly adjusting. Another thing is that this feels like a higher count fabric to me than 40 count! I had no problems with the 40 count Tundra for Christmas Tea but the weave seems so tight on this piece of linen. I think that's part of the reason I'm being such a slowpoke too. I am using a conversion so graciously created and given by Katrina! Thanks Katrina!! It's a little revised from her original release. I'll list it here for anyone curious:

Blanc - GAST Shaker White
Ecru - GAST Lambswool
225 - CC Dulce de Leche
310 - WDW Charcoal
352 - WDW Red Pear
356 - WDW Baked Apple
407 - GAST Woodrose
433 - WDW Chestnut
435 - WDW Pecan
519 - CC Deep Fennel
725 - WDW Whiskey Edited 12/24: Changed to GAST Gold Leaf
739 - GAST Flax
746 - GAST Straw Bonnet
927 - WDW Dove
930 - GAST Brethen Blue
934 - WDW Juniper
963 - CC Rosy Glow
966 - GAST Grape Leaf
3052 - WDW Kudzu
3768 - WDW Teal Frost
3822 - WDW Huneysuckle
3855 - WDW Straw
3857 - CC Red Currant

The motif I am currently working on is being stitched in WDW Baked Apple. I am hoping that by this time next weekend, I'll have finished this motif and have moved onto another. I also stitched a little on Newton but am still stitching with white. Once I've moved into another color, I'll take a photo.

Until next time...

Craptastic Photos!

*sigh* It's really hard to take good photos when the weather is gray and the lighting isn't very good at night or in the office so bear with me. The camera operator is also a little under-trained as well! lol

First up is my last update for 2009 on my TUSAL. I managed to fill the jar up a little more in between Christmas Tea and the ornies I was making. The photo is overflashed but I liked how the ort colors stood out more because of it.
I'm planning on putting these orts into a baggie and most likely incorporating them into ornie stuffing. I'll use the same jar for 2010 and start anew! This is a fun no-stress SAL. Yoyo is taking sign-ups and you can join an anytime. You just need to go and sign up here.

As you may have guessed, I bailed on working out on my own and went and got a manicure. I picked OPI Crimson Carol because it's just obnoxiously glitterly and people stop me on the street to comment on the color. I mean look...I couldn't even get a good picture because the glitter was causing glare from the glitter in the polish! It's my cover into *appearing* like I'm in the Christmas spirit. I love red polish though so it's fun!
And I did watch Four Christmases but I don't think it was all that great. I got distracted around scene 16 and so by scene 21...I was all...where'd Vince Vaughn go?! So I have to re-watch that a little bit so I can understand what I missed. Yea...seriously...attention span of a jackrabbit.

Today has been a day at work. You know it's a day when I'm telling people I'm going back into private industry and looking for a job tomorrow! *sigh* If only things were so easy! My friend Claire and her munchkin met me for lunch today and she handed me a goodie back and another treat. She said it was a stocking stuffer type thing. We always agree to not give presents and to just try to spend more time with each other. When I got to my desk, I opened up the extra and found this...
Claire knows I love Snoopy (just not pumpkin ones). So here's Snoopy and Woodstock. The outfit Snoopy is wearing is a hint to what side of public industry I work in. It's not as fun and filled with hot, stud-like men as you may think...like seriously.

Well...I'll be back in a couple of days. I'm not going anywhere but there's lots of cleaning to be done and SAL stitching to do. Hopefully...I'l have some cool things to share on Sunday.

Enjoy the weekend!

Until next time...

I'm Still Here...

just a frazzled trying to be into the Christmas spirit tired-ass scrooge-ette! Not to mention that the posting everyday for NaBloPoMo was HARD so I am taking a little blog vacation.

Thanks for all the kind comments on the Letter G reveal. She's on her way to the other coast so it can slowly makes it's way to Italy where *the boy's* niece lives. I have the feeling the niece is too small to really appreciate it all but her mom, who's also a G, will probably be surprised and super happy. My sister saw the big reveal too and she's asked that I do the C for my niece so that will be added to the assembly line in the new year. She'll be sent to Jill and will become my niece's Sweet Sixteen gift. My sister also asked me for "something red that can be put in the kitchen". Ummm...yea, I have no idea what that can be. Sounds like I'm be working my fingers to the bone between her requests, my BAPs and trying to do at least an ornament a month.

I've come to realize that I just don't have enough hours to the day and I've either become a very slow stitcher or just pile too much on myself and I get stressed out over something that almost always makes me happy and relaxes me. But when I have deadlines, self-impossed deadlines, I get frazzled and stressed out. Case in point would be my brilliant idea to make four ornaments at the last minute so that I can send off. They were tiny ornaments...cute...no frill. Easy peasy. Yet...omg, it seemed to take me forever and in the end, I only finish-finished two of the four. Last night, I decided not to finish the other two because I really just had to get the packages in the mail. Even *the boy* was telling me it was ok to not do it because I was obviously not enjoying the process. He got a good deal of "ugh, you called me and I'm in the middle of blahdeblah". I swear that guy has the worst timing about things. You know, wait and wait and then decide to heat up dinner and the phone rings right when I'm going to take my first bite. *sigh* So I finished two ornaments and didn't take a picture. One went to Kelly my wonderful massuese and friend. The other to *the boy's* mom. I gave him explicite instructions to take a picture of it on their tree and sent it to me to share. I'm a little bummed I couldn't get the other two done but I'll be ahead for next year now.

In the process, my apartment seems to have upchucked all over the place so I'll be spending lots of my free time the next couple of days getting things back in order. It quite embarrassing how messy it's gotten!! Maybe if I get motivated enough, I'll drag the little fiber optic tree out of the closet and set it up.

So no wonderful pictures to show. I've watched some movies though. On Sunday, I watched Everybody's Fine with a friend. We thought it was a comedy but people...that is one sad, slow movie! If your curious about it, wait til it's on video and make sure you have some tissue nearby! It seemed slow to me but it did have some heartwarming scenes. Then that evening, I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on video because my apartment manager lent it to me. When this came out, I had no interest in watching it. It sounded weird and was anti-Brad Pitt. But since it was literally handed to me, I said why not! It was a wonderful film. Seriously...rent it! It captured my attention up to the 2-hour mark and I have the attention span of a jackrabbit with movies. And even at the two hour mark, I wanted to see how things turned out. The acting, makeup, wardrobe and storyline were all superb. You'll have to devote 2.5 hours to watch this but it's seriously time well spent.

I've been a little lax with my exercise routine despite seemingly eating my weight in cookies and chocolate! I ellipticaled twice last week and then went to 25 stores and shopped til I dropped on Friday so I'm counting that as a workout too. This week...nothing so far and my exercise partner is taking today off to have a boozefest so I am debating between working out alone or getting a manicure. You tell me what sounds like a better choice! lol I'm thinking manicure and a lovely relaxing evening watching Four Christmases. Reviews don't look so hot on imdb so I'll let you know what I think.

This is longer than I anticipated and I applaud you if you've reached the end of this. I'll be back soon to post about my TUSAL...final photo of 2009! Besides the cleaning, I'm hoping to put a few stitches in Newton, Mary and start a PIF.

Until next time...

Photos, Photos!

OMGosh...aren't you glad I'm not subjecting you guys to another pictureless post?! I rushed home at lunchtime today to heat up soup, take pictures and load them into blogger!

First up is my Plum Street Samplers Christmas Tea finish. This fabric seems difficult to photograph...or it might me the intense gray dreariness of the day but I tried! The fabric is really a blue-ish gray color.

Plum Street Samplers Christmas Tea
Lakeside Linens 40ct. Tundra
Recommended Belle Soie

The funny thing about Christmas Tea is that it's charted for Cranberry where there are little spaces in the letters but the model photo does not have the Cranberry spots stitched within the letters. I saw some photos stitched as charted and I decided I liked the model more so I went without. That's part of the reason why I also went with Lakeside Linens Tundra. The model photo looks like it's stitched on a blue-gray color but the color linen recommended (which I can't remember the name of right now) is actually a green color. It's always so interesting how the camera and lighting can really change the look of things.

Over the last week, I received some lovely goodies in the mail. Staci sent me a cut of some "Staci-dyed" linen. That was so nice of her! I was very touched to receive a goodie from her and I can't wait to figure out what to stitch on it. I just love the color and the mottling! I was also lucky to receive an "honorable mention" on Ruth's blog from a giveaway she was hosting and she sent me these lovely threads. She included some GAST, WDW, Belle Soie and Threadworx. All the colors are great and I actually didn't have any of these colors!

On Tuesday, I rushed home anticipating and worried about my Jill Rensel package. When I walked through the door of my apartment, the package was safely sitting there, waiting for my arrival. Whew! All I can say is that Jill is a fabulous framer and I may just have to start sending her all my projects that require framing from now on! She does such a good job and is so sweet! Letter G came out fabulous and just what I wanted! I'm kind of sad my name doesn't start with a G so I can keep it for myself. I'll let the pictures do all the talking. They are all clickable! These photos actually show a truer color of the fabric too...a soft pale yellow.



I am thinking about getting my Snapper Year and Christmas Tea out for her for framing. I'll be simple with those...just a frame since I don't think they require matting or anything fancy. Now time to pack up Letter G and get her on her way to her new home.

Until next time....

Lunchtime

I'm lucky enough to live very close to work and many days, I just drive home at lunchtime, eat lunch and then drive back to work.

Today, I went home for lunch because I wanted to pack my gymbag and take some pictures of my finished Christmas Tea and the nice gifties that arrived in the mail.

So I went home...ate lunch...packed my gymbag...checked email and blogs...watched some Crossing Jordan and stitched a few stitches...and came back to work.

I'm sitting here remembering that I didn't take any photos! So welcome to another photo-less post. Shoot!

Hmmmm....and I just checked my UPS tracking for my Jill Rensel package and it says they left it at the front door despite clear instructions to have my apartment manager sign for it so he could put it in my apartment. So...slightly panicking! OMG...I am dashing home after work to make sure it's safe! Screw ellipticalling!!

It's funny how my previous post generated some funny and not so funny stories. Beth mentioned kids in her comment and I realized I didn't even touch on the single mom that lives below me TWO floors down. She has two kids...one full-time daughter and a half-time son. When the son is visiting with his mom, I can hear the yelling and insane running back and forth two stories up. I have no idea what the running is about but with hardwood floors and high ceilings...the racket travels! Apparently, sister and brother don't get along very well.

Maybe Thursday, I can share photos...it's the next time I can head home for lunch and take daytime photos. I'll try not to subject you to craptastic nighttime shots.

Hope everyone is having a good week and keeping warm. I am freezing my buns off here in SF but I guess I shouldn't complain...all we get is chill and rain. Some saw snow nearby and that's a rarity. I have never seen snow in SF my 34 years. The first thing to happen when I get home...besides hugging my Jill Rensel Package and tearing it open...is turning on the heaters and putting the kettle on. Brrr!!!

Until next time...

Apartment Living

Are you ready for a rant? Ugh! Apartment living can be so frustrating at times. This weekend...all I wanted was a quiet, lazy, stay in my jammies and watch bad tv while stitching type of weekend.

When I want quiet...I *really* want quiet. But my neighbors weren't cooperating.

Saturday was the guy across the hall blaring Joan Jett around 8pm. Like BLARING!!! There is an apartment between us and I could hear the lyrics perfectly! I feel bad for the girl who lives between us. How can she deal?! I'd be having a nervous breakdown! Dude, turn down the music! Now, I love Joan Jett but I don't appreciate being forced to listen to her when I want to watch Criminal Minds and actually listen to the tv show. At least he has the sense to turn the music off at 10pm.

Now the people below me are the worst. They've been bad since I moved in and I complained about them three years ago. They are almost as inconsiderate as the college girls I lived above at my old place. I'd be more forgiving if they were college aged instead of the married 30=40 something married couple that they actually are. They've been playing two-beat bassy music all weekend. You know, the kind of music that is migraine-inducing. As I shuffled off to bed at 2am (yes, very late), they proceeded to head to the bedroom as well and have a loud argument/discussion which made me bang on the floor a few times and then resort to earplugs. Living here, I am completely dependant on earplugs because 1. they are loud, irritating night owls and 2. the dude snores so loud you can probably hear him on the East Coast! They drive me insane. In the 4 years I've lived here, I've never said anything to them since this is a consequence of apartment living but today, I had it! The loud music at 330pm was driving me insane. I couldn't escape it. Every room...bassy music. My head was starting to hurt. I wrote them a note, slipped it under their door, came upstairs, hopped into the shower and when I came out...silence. It was beautiful! They'll probably be loud and annoying tomorrow but I'm glad I "said" something. I'm way too shy to knock on their door and tell them off but oh, how I want to! I'd like to give the dude a brochure for a sleep clinic because seriously....can you hear him over there? He is fricking loud! He'll wake me up in the middle of the night and I'm not even in the same room!

My neighbors drive me insane! I love my apartment though. It's beautiful and when my neighbors aren't driving me batty by being loud, it's seriously my sanctuary. Arches, french doors, hardwood floors, high ceilings, loads of closet space...it's beautiful. But I sometimes daydream about moving to a little cottage or duplex to minimize the number of neighbors and hence noise but that would cost me at least $400 a month more than my rent now and well, that's a lot. So...I guess for now...I'll buy stock in earplugs and Excedrine Migraine. It's cheaper.

Fricking neighbors!!

Stitching has been successful though. I finished Christmas Tea and organized my meager collection of DMC. I also got some lovely christmas surprises in the mail and even got complimented on my obnoxious glitter red nail polish. So it was not a loss! It's late, dark and rainy tonight and I won't even try to take pictures. I'll save them for next time.

I'm off to try my hand at a couple christmas ornies for last minute presents. Better go make my fabric selection!

Until next time...

Challenges

I've been away from the blog for a couple of days, trying to take on a couple of new challenges.

November was all about NaBloPoMo and seeing if I could do that and I did! Pat on the back for me!

December is about another personal challenge. You may remember that I was complaining about being winded just climbing up my three flights of stairs. Something that didn't faze me before. 50 stairs up...50 stairs down. The down part is easy...it's the up part that is hard. This year, I've been completely lax about fitness and working out and staying/getting into shape. All I want is to have energy and lose 10 pounds. 15 pounds...I'd be over the moon. I'm pretty height/weight proportionate but could use more muscle tone over jiggly tone. I started very slow at just 1x per week the last two weeks of November. 20 minutes on the elliptical to start. First week...20 minutes...felt like dying. Holy cow...so out of shape! Second week...25 minutes...legs felt like jello and I thought I might fall down the stairs. This week, 25 minutes and I'm ok. I hate working out! I don't mind the elliptical or walking though. I figured the elliptical during the winter is the best bet since it's pitchblack by the time I leave work and if I'm going to exercise, it's best to get it over right after work. There is a small workout room in my building at work so I don't even go outside. If I do...it's over. I make excuses...it's dark, it's cold, I need to do errands, I need to stitch...I need to do anything other than work out!

So Tuesday, Wednesday and today, I've done the elliptical. It helps that my coworker is using the room too so I feel like I have support and he can stand my whining. As much as I don't like working out, it's nice to see I ellipticaled (I know that isn't a word!) for 1.5 miles and burned 180 calories in 25 minutes. I think those numbers are the only thing that get me through it. I'm hoping for 3x ellipticaling during the week and one good walk on the weekend. The goal is to be able to do more time at a higher level but for now, I will take my 25 minutes at Level 2. One day, I'll get to Level 8 and I better have buns and thighs of steel by that point so help me!

Second challenge...is trying to figure out how to meet new people and make new friends. Always a new challenge when you're no longer in school or a public transportation commuter. I also work in an organization full of men with egos as big as a 747. Ummm...so work friends are minimal. If you have suggestions of how to meet new folks, send them my way. Many of my friends are now scattered all over the states, married and are starting families, planning to start having families soon or just so in the throes of new love...it's sightly disgusting. I am looking forward to being more involved with two local stitching groups in the new year and am excited about that but stitching isn't everything (omg, did I just say that!?).

Third challenge...for being in a scrooge - bah humbug mood about the holidays...I am suddenly obsessed about christmas ornaments having seen so many folks stitching such beautiful creations this season. I must have ornaments! So I will challenge myself to an ornament a month at least. I'd love to do two. But one at least while working on my two BAPs for 2010...Mary Wigham and Fairy Moon. I might even start ornaments this weekend since I decided to not feel guilty about my sewing class and lack of vest. Screw sewing...Viva la stitching! Of course, this will only happen if I ass-plant on the futon. I always say I will and end of squandering away precious stitching time on things like errands and laundry and cleaning! But I am hopeful that I will have 12 new ornaments to decorate the tree I envision myself putting up next year.

Since I've been ellipticaling and catching up on chores after work, stitching has been minimal. I've stitched most of the snowflakes on Christmas Tea and can probably finish it by tomorrow night or Saturday for sure.

Well, I know I've been rambling...I had wanted to put up a picture that Jill Rensel sent me of my framed Letter G but I can't figure out how to save it as a picture file so I sent it to *the boy* which usually means it may never get done. But he did it and turned it into the size of a quarter! *sigh* It's truly beautiful but the big reveal may have to wait until I receive it and can take a picture of my own. I'm so excited! I wish I could share it!!

Until next time...