This and that for a hectic day

Well, I started the day off by forgetting to bring back the laptop and projector. I sat it by the door but I was tired and on autopilot and forgot it. Normally this would have been fine, but we had to use a cord from the plasma screen in the conference room for the projector since the original one wasn't working, and we had to hook it back up today for a 11AM meeting. So, I drove back home to get it. While I was driving back to work my oil light came on so I bought some oil and put it in. When I got back to work (about an hour or so after I left work) I promptly dropped my bottle of Diet Coke on the ground. I onlly half-assedly had the top on so it squirted everywhere. It's 2PM now and my lunch is ending, but things have been OK since the Diet Coke incident, anyway. Oy.

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Forgot to mention Tim's brother's dog. She's very cute. I asked him what breed she is and in all seriousness he says, "She's a pure-bred Jack Assle." LOL! She's a 5-month-old Beagle and Jack Russell mix. Dog people probably are going "Oh. My. God." at THAT combination. She's adorable, but an absolute nut.

Busy day yesterday

If I could I'd take today off and do absolutely nothing. We had our big Quota Buster kick-off meeting yesterday. It actually went very well, thank goodness! For about 5 minutes when I was setting up the laptops and projector I about had a heart attack because I couldn't find our presentation, nor the keynote speaker's presentatation, which I KNEW I had put on the laptop the day before. Well, duh -- the day before I'd signed on with the generic info and it didn't work right for me yesterday so I signed on with my own info, which of course brings up a different desktop. I always save them to the laptop desktop so they are easily found, so I couldn't easily find them when I signed on different -- how ironic is that? The funny thing is that my horoscope actually said something about not reacting too quickly to things or I may be seen as temperamental. So, I actually took that to heart, tried to calm down a bit and did a search, then I realized what had happened and it was good. One of my coworkers came up to ask me something and I apparently had a look on my face because she asked me if everything was OK. I told her I was having a problem finding the presentation and her eyes just about bugged out LOL! I said, "Yeah, just fire me now before I have to tell Harris!" Luckily, I calmed my self down so that I never had to tell Harris a thing.

Speaking of Harris, one thing that happened yesterday was pretty funny. I had the computer/projector all set up and focused. He was fussing around with the remote and pushing buttons, looking for the laser pointer feature. He pushed a button that totally zoomed in and you could only then see part of the presentation on the screen. Well, he turned and gave me a look like a little kid gives his mom when he knows he did something he wasn't supposed to. My Business Manager was sitting there and was dying when he did that -- he knew he was in trouble LOL! He found the button again and fixed it with no problems, but I thought it was humorous.

On a different note, I got a call from Tim about 6AM yesterday that his clutch went out on him right after he got on I476. I had to find the card with the tow truck information on it (don't ask me why he didn't have it in his wallet but in a wallet he doesn't carry) and he was waiting until about 9AM. They towed it back to the apartment and he pretty much slept the rest of the day. Can't say as I blame him, that sort of thing takes the energy right out of you. He's going to end up junking it, although it pains him to do so as he loves that little car. It's a 1989 Honda Civic with lots of miles and he knows it makes sense, but it upsets him. In the meantime, he's driving his brother's extra car that he's selling Tim for $1500, and is allowing him to send him money each month. It's a Dodge Intrepid and is a nice car. Tim likes it OK but prefers smaller cars so this will take some getting used to.

I just felt really bad that of all the days for that to happen it was yesterday when I had no way to go hel him. If it had been a normal work day I could have worked something out, but I had to go help set up for this meeting and get there at 7AM and half the stuff we were putting on the tables were in my car. I must have apologized 10 times about it yesterday to Tim, who doesn't understand why I keep apologizing for it LOL! I know if the tables were turned he would have found a way to help me, so I guess that's why I felt bad. I just couldn't think of a way. However, I did skip the cocktail hour and dinner we had as part of the work function last night so that I could come home and take him down to Delaware to pick up the Dodge, so I guess I made up for it. I was really looking forward to that cocktail hour, too :)

Chatelaine Designs

I've been drooling over these beautiful designs for about a year now, especially the gardens. She keeps adding to the list and they are just amazing and if I don't start soon I'll never catch up. Nor sure how I'll finish those and all my Mirabilias, but I'll figure something out.

So, I've decided that when I go to CATS if I spend money on nothing else it will be those. I remember seeing one of two there last year, so we'll see. I think I'm also going to pick up at least one Northern Pine Designs and probably some of those Bent Creek rows. I'm normally not a fan of the "primitive" stitching look, but a lot of the Bent Creek stuff is cute. I loved that little cat I stitched not too long ago and many of the rows are pretty cute and are an excuse for me to buy some more specialty flosses, which I can also buy at CATS. I'll have to watch prices though -- if I can get stuff cheaper online than at the show I will if it's nothing I need right away. Sometimes items are cheaper at shows sometimes not, gotta watch these things.

The Entity in Elevator No. 2

Does this sound like a strange horror movie? No, it's what is living in my office building.

I've been working here over a year now. About the first or second week I came here somebody apparently got sick on Elevator No. 2. So, they ended up taking the carpet out of all the elevators. They actually look much nicer this way, with beautiful black and white marbley tile. However, that stink is still in this elevator a year later. Now, I know it gets cleaned on a regular basis but I don't know what the heck is up.

Not only that, but this is always the elevator that acts up. It's one of four elevators, one of which isn't as nice because it's the freight elevator. We aren't really supposed to use it but sometimes we do. A week ago it was down for about a week because it was shimmeying a bit. One time I was in it and the computer display went off and I had no idea if I was even still moving because it's a quiet elevator. When it stopped I thought I might now be in another dimension LOL! There's just always weird stuff going on in there.

I'm reminded of The Beast from a Seinfeld episode, where the smell went from the car to anyone who was in it. Luckily, this isn't that bad, but it always seems to be the elevator that goes up to the 9th floor.

Various meanderings

Why is it that I'm the only one who replaces toilet paper in this place? I'm not the only one who uses it, why am I the only one who always ends up having to buy it?

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I don't know why I continue to visit a certain board that just ticks me off more than anything else. Most of the people are fine, but a few spew such hatred toward things they don't understand that I really should just stop going there -- and no, I'm not talking about any stitching board. I took a break from the board and thought it would be OK to go back, but I was wrong. Oh well, my posts there were largely ignored anyway, so it's not a big loss, and I can see many of the peole there I like in other places. I will never understand the animosity some people have for those who are different from them -- religion, sexuality, whatever. I have the feeling this same person would be totally against my relationship with Tim, he just doesn't say so.

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I'm watching Thirteen Ghosts again. It's a gruesome movie, but I like it more than I thought I would. I always feel bad for Dad, though. That part where that one ghost (the Jackal) takes his daughter and he's trying to fight to get her back while she's getting all scratched up -- it just makes me cringe. The girl is probably supposed to be 18ish but she turns into a little girl crying for her daddy, and I certainly don't blame her. Just seeing the poor guy trying to fight something he can't see while seeing his daughter getting hurt like that -- well, it just is heartwrenching to me. If I had a kid and somebody hurt her, I'd probably go nuts and hunt the person down. Yes, another reason for me not to have them LOL!

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What is it about "quiet time" that people can't understand? Because we have so many agents now, our Business Manager has instituted quiet time for us until 10:30AM. This means that we are not supposed to be disturbed until then, and we are allowed to ignore emails and the phone until then. Now, I won't answer my phone or listen to voice mails until that time, but I tend to answer my emails as soon as I get them. I keep thinking this will help foster the idea that it's best to contact me via email, as I've been trying to get them to do for some time now. Yes, I'm probably fooling myself.

Anyway, most people are fine about this, but as it is in all workplaces, there are a few who think the rules don't apply to them. The worst one is one of the managers and is a very nice guy, and I think he thinks that since we like him that he can do this. I mean, everybody has emergencies once in a while, and that's different. But almost every day he comes back and bothers us about something that could have easily waited, or that is an emergency due to his lack of planning. What's worse is that since he's a manager, his agents will pick up on this behavior. As it is, he tells them things that aren't accurate and then we are the ones who have to fix the mess -- like telling new agents they get $200 to send out a mailing when they first arrive. Uh no. We send out 200 PIECES and it's something I print for them. There's a HUGE difference between sending out 200 pieces at $.37 and $200 in mailings. He's very involved with the special needs community and does great things, but it's gotten to the point where my patience is running thin and I don't care how great a guy he is, he needs to respect our time. I think the Business Manager is going to talk to him about it, but I'm not sure that he'll ever get it.

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The weather here this week is going to be atrocious. They said it's going to feel like 110 tomorrow (heat index). Blech! Guess when I get home from work tomorrow I'll be sitting in front of the fans and not moving a muscle. Luckily, it looks like it will be wonderful on Thursday, except for a thunderstorm. Even if it's overcast all day, I'll take that and 82 degrees over this crap any day LOL! Have I mentioned that I'm really looking forward to autumn?

Debating, debating...

I keep going back and forth about some beautiful mermaids I recently discovered. They are taken from artwork by Selina Fenech and I call the Elemental Mermaids, although the appropriate title is Art Nouveau Mermaids. Heaven and Earth Designs has them available as charts for stitching. So, some stitching options I came up with are:

1. Stitch as-is on white fabric. This would leave the Nouveau part blank (white) and I'd also be stitching all that beautiful but tedious background.

2. Stitch on fabric made for these mermaids. This would eliminate the need to stitch the background but would also mean I'd have to stitch a lot of white to keep the Nouveau design.

3. Stitch on the special fabric and to heck with the Nouveau part, since I'm not a huge Nouveau fan anyway and just love these mermaids.

Then I went to look at some WIPS of the mermaids and am debating if I really want to stitch them or just buy the prints. Lazy, huh? This is the first time any of these sort of designs have really called to me. When I looked at the WIPs (which are stunning!), I realized that no matter what I choose the stitched version is always going to be a little fuzzy simply because it's a different medium than the original artwork. I've never done any of the computer-generated charts made from artwork because of this reason. I tried one once but the confetti stitches drove me crazy and I didn't get far before I changed my mind and used the fabric for something else. I know, it's probaby heresy for me to say that, but it's the truth :)

So, I THINK I'm just going to buy the 8.5 x 11 prints and get them framed, but I haven't completely decided yet. In the meantime, there are plenty of Mirabilia mermaids and other charts to keep me happy while I make up my mind.

Saw "Batman Begins" last night

I though it was pretty good. I'm looking forward to it coming out on DVD so I can enjoy it when my eyes aren't as tired. I think some people were probably upset after seeing it because, according to my resident comicbook guru Tim, this was closer to the comic than the first Batman movie was. In this movie the person who killed the Waynes isn't Jack Napier but a street person who is desparate. So, in that manner it goes against the first Michael Keaton movie.

Anyway, I enjoyed it, but we were reminded again why we usually only go to Midnight shows. Why do people feel they must bring very small children (age 3-4ish) to a late night movie that is PG-13 and scary? I really don't understand it. Luckily this person wasn't near me but I could hear her talk to her child in a normal voice all the way from the other side of the theater. Maybe I'm just a bitter childfree person, but growing up my parents went out every weekend and hired a babysitter for us. When they DID take us with them, it was a treat and we were expected to behave, and my parents NEVER took us to movies that were way beyond us. I don't know why some people today feel they cannot ever leave their kids at home without scarring them or something.

Finally, a FL meme

Ok, last one -- I promise. I figured I should cover all areas where I have lived.

You Know You're From Florida When...

You own at least five pairs of flip flops I was an odd one, but I never had flip flops. I don't like them, but I had a pair of Dr. Scholl's I wore out. You know someone who's been struck by lightning No, but it sure does happen a lot down there. You're more scared of the freaks who live down the street than gators Most definitely! Your backyard is sometimes a swamp Actually the house across from us was on a lake that sometimes got a bit swampy, so it's close. You're officially sick of Disney Have you been reading my blog? LOL! You shrug off hurricane warnings Sometimes. We wouldn't ignore them but we paid attention to how things were going. You've been permanently blinded by fat men in speedos It's tough, I tell ya. There are only two seasons - hot and hotter Ain't that the truth! You've drank a flaming alligator. Never had one, but I love the flaming hurricanes. You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Florida. Yes, but I bet I could come up with more. We'll see what I can think of later. Too burnt out from the week now.

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Another "You Know You're From" meme

I was going to to the one for Upstate NY, but it was more about the area north of NYC, and didn't include the western part of the state. Typical. So, I chose the Rochester meme, since that was the closest city to us, even though it was over an hour away.

You Know You're From Rochester, NY When...

The only thing at the annual May Lilac Festival is snow. Very true! The worst four-letter word you could say is "Fuji". LOL! Took me a minute. Yes, the Kodak people don't like that, do they? You can't swim at the beach. Never swam in Rochester. You thought that you had figured out that alternate-parking thing, but wind up with a ticket anyway. Don't know about that, but my uncle probably does (he lives there). Toronto is about 70 miles away, but it takes four hours to get there. That's the truth. Used to take forever to get there. The name "Greater Rochester International Airport" is bigger than the airport itself. Yep! There's an 800 number to report a pothole in the road. Didn't know that. You know that a "Can of Worms" is not something that you take fishing. Your baby's first word is "Wegmans". Yes, avoid that traffic jam-up at all costs! Wegmans are great! Wish we had some here. You ask lifetime residents where the George Eastman House is, but they don't know either. Neat place though. I still have a beautiful watercolor poster of it in my hallway. In a city where it snows at least 90 inches a year, they build a new sports stadium with no roof on it. LOL! It can be 70 degrees one day, below freezing the next, and you think nothing of it. Yep. Your mother is buying outfits to wear to Wegmans. Don't know about that... Your low-fat diet is never low enough to exclude an Abbott's custard. Missed out on those. You order a white hot and a pop, and the counterman knows what you're talking about. Yes, I grew up saying pop and when I moved to FL I got odd looks. You can travel from Egypt to Greece in about a half-hour by car. My grandfather was born in Egypt, my sister went to law school in Ithaca, and we lived in Jerusalem. We are indeed world travelers :) D&C is a newspaper, not a medical procedure. Yep, good ol' Democrat and Chronicle. Better than the Penn Yan Express, also known as the Penn Yan Distress. There are no hamburgers, only ground steak. Yep. You can go to any mall on a Saturday and see at least 5 people you either work with, went to school with or dated. The malls were far enough from Penn Yan (where I lived) that we only went on special occasions. A musical comes to town 10 years after its Broadway premier and the entire town goes nuts! Yep! You awaken from a deep sleep, look at the clock and see that it's 6:00, but you have no idea whether it's AM or PM. This is true, especially in the cold months. When 18+ inches of snow falls overnight, but you never thought of NOT going to work. Yep. I remember there had to be huge amounts of snow on the ground for school to be canceled. You are perplexed when friends from other cities come to visit and want to "see the sights". Ha. There are some interesting things in Rochester, I think. In winter if the temperature hits 45 degrees and the sun comes out, people walk around downtown wearing shades and no jackets. Definitely! There are places at the poles that seem to get more sunlight during the winter months than we do. Yes. Wegmans is somewhere to go on a Friday night, for entertainment. Never did that. You know who Vinnie and Angelo are. No. You define summer as three months of bad sledding. No, but that's pretty funny. You think that people from Pennsylvania have an accent. True, and it goes both ways. Halloween is snowed out with great regularity. I remember several Halloweens where there was snow on the ground, almost always on Thanksgiving. You have experienced frostbite and sunburn in the same week. Never had frostbite, but grape-tying season would be strange. Half the change in your pocket is Canadian, eh. Lots of Candian money in the area. Your idea of a seven-course meal is a six pack of Genny and a bucket of Buffalo wings. Good ol' Genesee beer. Never drank it but my dad did. You believe that "down south" means Maryland. Yes. Your snowmobile, lawn mower and fishing boat all have big block Chevy engines. We didn't own any of those things (we had a guy mow our lawn). We had tractors and farm equipment instead -- like grape harvesters. You can compare Nick Tahoe's garbage plate to at least 3 other knock-offs in competing restaurants. Not familiar with it. You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Rochester, NY. I get most of them, but I didn't live in Rochester and when I lived there it was 20 years ago, so cut me a little slack :)

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You Know You're From Philadelphia When...

You punctuate every sentence with, "You know" at least twice. Well, I only do it once, and not every sentence :) You want olive oil, not mayonnaise on your "hoagie". I don't put either on my hoagie, I use mustard. You hate the Redskins Don't give a darn, really. You hate Dallas. I don't hate them, but I am not fond of them. You realize that your favorite dessert is "wooder ice". You mean "water ice?" I like it, but I don't pronounce it like that. You find yourself using "yo" and "youse guys" when talking long-distance to family members. Never, but I still use the "ya'll" I acquired from living in FL for 10 years. You know how to spell Schuylkill. Got me there. You pronounce ACME "ACK-A-ME". Uh, no. You think that $2,500 a year for insurance on a 1977 Toyota Corolla is a bargain. Uh, no. You find youself at a nice restaurant thinking "I wonder if they have cheese steaks?" Again -- uh, no. You sleep soundly through gunfire and ambulance sirens. Sirens, yes -- considering I live on a road that is the main thoroughfare for every emergency vehicle in Delaware County, it seems. Gunfire I rarely hear where I am except sometimes on holidays when people are stupid and shoot into the air. You visit New York and are impressed by how clean it is. I rarely visit NY. Not my thing. You can't eat french fries without Cheese Whiz. Only ketchup, please. You call sprinkles on top of your ice cream cone "jimmies". Never -- I call them sprinkles, but I don't eat them anyway. You don't think Wawa sounds funny. True. I don't think twice about saying this and I sometimes get weird looks when I'm in other parts of the country. You snub a cheese steak that isn't on an Amoroso roll. I rarely eat them, but those Amoroso rolls are divine! Your parents, brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles all live on the same block. Hah! I'm the only family member in over 100 miles. You know who Jim O'Brien is and how he died. Nope! You can't imagine lunch without a Tastycake. They're good, but I go through many days without them. Personally, I prefer Hostess or Dolly Madison. You're still not sure about Jerry Penacolli. No clue. A vacation at the Jersey shore (pronounced "Down the shoore") is better than going to an island (there's more stuff to do, plus you know everybody.) I rarely go to the shore as I was spoiled by FL Gulf Coast beaches. You know where to find the Rocky statue. Yes, unfortunately. You know that only tourists go to Geno's, Pat's and Jim's for authentic cheese steaks. Actually, their steaks are pretty good. You only go if you're drunk and it's 3:00 a.m. Uh, no -- I'm rarely drunk and if I was I wouldn't be driving anywhere. You can make a cheese steak and you've never been taught Nope. You've never been to the Liberty Bell, or the only time you were there was on a class trip in third grade. Close -- went with my friend and her son as a chaperone on his field trip. You know what and where "Boathouse Row" is Yes, and it's lovely all lit up at Christmas time, reflecting off the river. You will buy a pretzel from anyone, anywhere without even thinking of where it was - or where his hands have been. Uh, no. You can't imagine a breakfast without scrapple. Never had the stuff, never will. You don't know what a sub is, but you think they are trying to describe an imitation HOAGIE. Same difference to me. You aren't a bandwagon Sixers fan?you loved them when they sucked, and before they had A.I. Don't really care either way. You go to The Gallery or South Street in the summer time just to chill. Nope. I've been to The Gallery when I had to take the train from that station, but I avoid South Street. You have the pizza place on speed dial. No, but I have the number memorized. You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Philadelphia. I get most of them but probably won't be passing them on.

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Scale hasn't budged...

But I'm not surprised. My eating has been off for the last week or so. I do great at work, then come home and don't eat right. Part of it is that without a/c this place is hot enough and there's no way I'm heating up the place more by turning on the oven or stove. I need to get some stuff that I can microwave but isn't high in sodium/preservatives, etc. In the meantime, we've either been ordering out or eating sandwiches. If I was good I'd order salads, which I sometimes do, but the pizza gets me more often than it should. Damn pizza! I need to get to the store and get some hot weather food.

I received my order from The Tea Guys yesterday. Yippee! I ordered some herbal and green tea that contained mint as it's supposed to help with headaches. I'm really trying to avoid taking as much Motrin as I have been but I need something to help with these headaches I get from the weather changes and other issues. I also have some feverfew on order from another place but it hasn't come in yet. In my Tea Guys order I also had this cool 12oz cup that comes witn an infuser so I just pour in half the water, put the tea in the infuser, fill with the rest of the water, and put on the top and let it steep for about 5 minutes. Yummy! This will be going with me to work but of course I had to try it out last night. Tim likes it so I'll have to get at least one more for the house so he has one, possibly one for me at the house, too. He drinks a lot of tea, which is so much better than all the coffee he was drinking that was affecting his acid reflux.

I recently discovered a great site about headaches and ways to deal with them. This is the most useful information I've ever seen in one place and have also subscribed to their newsletter. I was just explaining to someone yesterday when I get headaches from TMJ, and there it was -- mentioned in my newsletter. Lately my headaches have been more weather-related than anything else, and there's some helpful info there. That's how I found the site, actually. I was looking for what natural remedies I could use to help lessen the impact of the headaches on my daily life and I found more information there, and in normal English, than I've been able to find anywhere else. If you suffer from any sort of chronic headache, take a look at the site.

I'm really not in that bad a mood :)

Reading my last few journal entries, it probably looks like I've been in a terrible mood for the last week or so. I really haven't, but I've just chosen to take out some of my irritations on my blog a bit more than usual. This heat doesn't help, either. It's not so much the heat but the humidity. I REALLY am looking forward to autumn, my favorite time of the year.

My parents were here over the weekend, which is always interesting. They were in NY visiting Grandma and for my mom's highschool reunion. So, they came by Sunday night, stayed all day Monday and left early Tuesday morning. Now that I don't have the foldout they stayed at a Motel 6, which was better for them anyway since I don't have a/c. They also didn't have the dog, so the cat was happy about that.

We went out toward Lancaster and did some antiquing in Bird-in-Hand, Paradise and Strasburg. We also went to the railroad museum in Strasburg. It was very interesting, but the enclosed area where the trains were was not climate-controlled, and that plus the paint smell really got to me and I had to go in after a while and look at some other things. I had never been there, so am glad I went. I bought a little book about Chessie the kitty and am going to read that soon. I remember hearing a little about her but wanted to know more, since she became such an icon for a time.

I'm working more on my Christmas Flourishes and will scan her in today so I can have my WIP picture back. I didn't want to put in the last one because I've made about 13 hours' worth of progress since then. I tried scanning her the other day but couldn't get that computer working right (different than my computer). It's working OK now so shouldn't be a problem.

I was really spoiled at work for about 2 weeks. My friend Karri was temping there, so she was covering the phones for the two hours I usually do, plus she posted the outgoing mail. It was nice to actually have a full day to get my work done, as opposed to the 2.5 hours less I usually get. Now I'm back to the normal routine and it sucks! For all the work piled on me, they still expect me to do that extra stuff. For the most part I don't mind, but don't expect me to be able to get a million things done in a day when I have to be at a different desk/computer answering phones. That computer doesn't have a lot of the software I use so I'm kind of in a bind when I'm there. My hope is that they decide to hire Karri permanent part-time, which is perfect for her as well. I mean, we have one less person than we did this time last year, and we have maybe 20 more agents. Plus, I'm doing almost all marketing and no new business, so the two ladies who needed help with new business really didn't get any when they hired me. I put in applications a few times a week when needed, and my covering the phones and doing the mail allows them to have more time to do what they need, so that counts into it, but still... we need help back there. A support staff of 4 people plus a receptionist for about 100 agents is a bit under what is needed, and we're starting to get a bit irritated about it.

How DARE you not absolutely love DisneyLand/World!

Oh. My. God. What the hell is wrong with people? At another board someone asked the prices to get into DisneyLand. After a few posts, a woman stated that for her and her family the price wasn't worth it. Well, then the easily-offended start mouthing off. One basically gave a "non-offer" of free passes to DisneyWorld (Orlando) and was offended that the woman had dissed her DH's employer. She really hadn't, just said it wasn't worth it for her family to go. Then you have people saying, "It's the same cost as any other vacation. Why isn't it worth it?" Then another says she just can't understand why anyone would think it wasn't worth it, but then again if a person had never gone there they wouldn't know what they were missing.

For Christ's sake! Is it no anti-American or something to not like to visit Disney? I lived near Orlando for 10 goddamn years and couldn't wait to get the hell out and away from The Mouse! I went sometimes in high school as my best friend at the time was a character and got us great deals. I just never thought it was the biggest deal in the world, never will.

I'd much rather spend my money traveling Civil War Battlefields or renting a nice cottage on a lake somewhere then deal with that. Why is that such a big deal to some, and they act like if we don't like Disney that we are somehow offending the American way of life or something?

I guess I have an attitude today

I try not to and I work very hard here, but there's only so much crap a person can take. I normally take my lunch at my desk and float around on the boards and blogs. I rarely go into the lunchroom because there's an older gentlemen who "works" here but mostly just drives everyone crazy and I don't want to deal with him in the lunchroom when I need a break. I have a sign that says "Mindy is at Lunch" that usually helps, but for some reason there are a few people who think it doesn't apply to them. I need to start making them stick to it, but then I get overridden by my boss. She's a lovely lady but sometimes I think we let too much get by back here and let people get away with too much crap, then we are nutso. So, my "lunch" turned into a working lunch. I was printing a large project and knew I'd have to get up and deal with that a few times, but this was ridiculous. So, I better be able to get that hour back in another way. If I was salary it would be different, but I'm hourly and don't get what I'm worth to begin with.

That was probably totally incoherent, but I need to post quickly and am just ticked off. I try to have a good attitude but this is getting ridiculous. We are a support staff of four people for about 100 agents, plus I do a loto of stuff for the President as well.

No, I don't dye my hair

I hear people talk about hair color and often the "her hair is too dark for her light skin" thing comes up. Many people ASSume that just because a person is light-skinned she should automatically be a blonde or redhead. Well, my hair is dark brown, almost black. In fact, when I was younger it was so black it had that blue-black sheen to it. I've never colored my hair in my life. I'm also so pale that I'm practically transparent. I actually like the color of my hair and am not going to change it because some people think that it's impossible to have dark hair and pale skin. "It doesn't look natural." Lady, it's as natural as it gets, and where the heck do you get off talking about what looks natural when your two-toned hair needs a fix-up?

That is all :)

Next!

So, I just looked back at my StRIP list and see that when I finish the 1998 cherub and Waiting for Ships I can start Deepest Love, another lovely Mirabilia mermaid. Cool! I need to check that I have all the beads and treasures and order them over time, but that means that after this 10-hour rotation on Christmas Flourishes (stitched 6 of it so far) I may start Deepest Love. We'll see, I may stitch on some other projects in the meantime, but I think I deserve a start after so many small and large finishes in the last few months :)

Waiting For Ships Finished!

Can't write much now, but wanted to post her. Stitching took me about 70 hours, beading about 11. I really love the look of her on this fabric -- so worth the money for the beads and treasures :)

And hey -- my sidebar is back to normal, YAY! I was going to try something but since somebody (already forgot who) told me they had the same problem and theirs went back to normal on its own, I figured I'd see what happens. Glad I left it alone.

Objectifying women

So, most of us know that women don't like to be treated as objects. We want to be treated like people with feelings, thoughts, opinions, etc. We always seem to blame men for treating women like objects, but lately I've been seeing women do a fine job of it on their own.

For one, you have women who think that we are only put on this earth to be a wife and/or mother. They treat those of us who do not want children as beneath them, jealous of them, inhuman, abnormal, etc. I don't believe that we are here only as breeding vessels, or as cleaning units for men. Add to that the women who argue all the time about being a SAHM or a WOHM and it gets better. Why does it matter if a mother wants to stay home with the kids or wants/needs to work for a living? Do what is best for you and clam it!

The other thing I've noticed quite a bit is on the childfree sites I visit. There's this underlying current that if a woman "lets herself go" that it's understandable if the man cheats on her. It's almost like some thin women figure that women like me are just objects who are there to please my man. When I gain weight, I should expect that he finds "what he needs" somewhere else. I don't get this? This comes from the same people who get so ticked off about my first point about women being used only for childbearing, then they do the same thing to women who are overweight. If a woman gains weight, chances are she still has the same thoughts, sense of humor and other qualities she had before. If people get married simply because they like the looks of each other, that's pretty stupid to begin with. Of course, it's OK for men to gain weight by sitting on the sofa drinking bear and watching TV all night, right? Sure, that's fine. But if a woman gains weight she's considered subhuman, ugly, worthless and lazy.

It really disgusts me how nasty women can be to each other. I guess "disgust" is my theme of the last few days, but it's been on my mind.

Disgusted

I don't know what disgusts me more, the attack on London or the attitude of some Americans on how to deal with it. I haven't heard such ideas from any Brits, but have from Americans.

The idea? Pull our troops and civilians out of the Middle East and destroy the entire region. The reasoning? "Yes, some innocent people will die, but innocent people have already died." That's right. We should just go in and act the way the terrorist do, and kill many times over the innocent people they have killed. That will really show them how wrong they are about us wonderful "civilized" people, huh?

I know this attitude exists, but it still exasperates me. I guess this is one way for us to solve our oil/gas problems, hmmmm? If we destroy all the people but not the oil fields, our problems are solved! So what if some innocent people die. We're Christian, therefor we are right and the Muslims can all die, doesn't matter if they are involved in terrorism or not, right?

After all there aren't terrorists in any other areas of the world, just there. Oh, there are some in England? Well, guess we better bomb the hell out of England, too. While we're at it, why don't we bomb those Canadians. Yeah, we're getting sick of their anti-American sentiment and we better get rid of them because they are evil. Guess we better bomb some of our own states, too. Since the men responsible for the 9/11 attacks learned to fly in Florida, guess we should bomb that state, too. Wait a minute, that won't work. The President's brother is down there. Well, we'll just make sure we get him and his family out first.

I got me a Gimli!

Isn't he cute? Thanks to Stitchingmom (Cindy) who brought my attention to it on her board! Some of you may know that my signature on EZBoards has a quote of his from The Two Towers: "I'm wasted on cross country. We dwarves are natural sprinters. Very dangerous over short distances." I've loved this quote from the first time I heard it because... that's me! I'm short and a bit loud and opinionated like Gimli, although I think I have more tact. I'm also a good sprinter but not so good with long distances, and I can be very protective of people or animals I care about. I completely felt for him when he was running cross country with those two long-legged types. Even as a relatively fast walker, it's hard for a shortie to keep up with the tall people who want to go speeding about.

My heart hurts

While driving to work this morning I heard the news about the explosions in London. I don't know what to say. I feel horrible for my friends across the sea. I think I handled 9/11 better than this, at least before I saw the pictures later in the day. Just listening to the news reports on the radio that day didn't give me the full effect. So now I'm sitting here at my desk with some Coke to settle my stomach. I'm not scared for my own safety, at least not any more than on a normal day. I'm just upset and feel bad, and I have that heavy feeling in my stomach and chest. Maybe it's because I am have so many online friends from England and I feel for them.

I also feel bad that I feel worse about this than some other things that happened in the past in other countries that were worse in terms of damage and loss of life. As horrible as that tsunami was a few months back, I feel worse about this. Loss of life was considerably less in London. Do I feel worse because this was an act of man, not of God? I don't know, but I feel guilty about it, which is stupid. The whole thing is stupid.

I think part of the reason I feel so bad is because this week saw such joy when London was named as the 2012 Olympic city, and now this. Maybe that's one of the reasons London was targeted, but I doubt it was the only reason, nor the main reason.

I'm so sorry this has happened.

Cherub and Waiting for Ships

Ok, here's the Mirabilia 1998 Cherub. I stitched him on blue evenweave. When he's stretched properly the harp strings look better than in the picture. Now that I think of it, maybe I need to take those off. This is for the AQP and I can see a baby getting tangled in those and they won't look tight on an afghan either. Will have to see about that.




Here's my Waiting for Ships after seventy hours. All I need to do now is the beading. I'm looking forward to at least getting the hair beading done. As she is now she looks like she's been the victim of some tragic farm accident.

GRRRR!

For some reason my settings seemed to have changed, although I didn't touch them. My sidebar is now all the way at the bottom. I'm going to try to figure this out, but I know others have had some weird problems lately, too.

Waiting for Ships stitching done!

I've finished the stitching on WFS and now need to add the beads. I hope to finish the beadwork by the end of the week, end of next weekend at the latest. I always seem to do this -- have a few finishes at once then go a while before another. I try to work out my rotation so that things are more even, but it always seems to get twisted around this way. Not a biggie -- a finish is a finish!

I hope to remember to take the cherub and WFS with me tomorrow to work so that I can scan them at lunch :)

Mirabilia Cherub finished!

I don't have a picture yet, but I finished the 1998 cherub last night, the one with the harp. It's for the Angel Quilt Project so I will be sending it off soon. I haven't stitched anything for them in a long time so it feels good to give them something again.

Now I'm working on Waiting for Ships. I think I can finish the stitching today, but I doubt I can finish the beading. The beading on these things always takes a lot longer than I can predict, and she has a lot of them. I'm looking forward to seeing her finished.

Updated StRIP list

Here's my original, made back in August, 2004:

1. Finish L&L1990 freebie and L&L 2002 freebie, Start Drawn Thread mini bellpull
Both are finished, bellpull not yet started

2. Finish Christmas Jewel and Crystal Chandelier, Start Dracolair purple dragon
Again, Jewel will be finished quicky once I find it

3. Finish L&L 2000 angel and the Mirabilia Cherub (I started both for AQP), Start another cherub for the AQP
Got rid of first two because on Aida, almost finished with replacement cherub

4. Finish Santa in Fur (odd man out), Start poinsettia ornament
Santa almost finished, may not start poinsettia ornament

5. Finish I Shall Wear Purple and Spring in the Air, Start Dragon Dreams "Why Hoard Gold?"
Haven't worked much on either of these in months

6. Finish Guardian Angel and Deco Spirits, Start Celtic Spring
Deco Spirits is done, Guardian Angel about half done

7. Finish Dragon of the Winter Moon and Sweet Dreams Santa, Start Waiting for Ships
Dragon of Winter Moon is done, Sweet Dreams Santa is progressing but slowly, moved WFS to another set

8. Finish Rose Arbor and Christmas Flourishes, Start Santa's Magic
Rose Arbor finished, Christmas Flourishes almost done, started WFS instead of Santa's Magic because I had fabric for WFS

9. Finish Liberty Sampler and Angel of the New Dawn, Start Secret Santa
Haven't worked on these in months, Secret Santa moved to another set, will instead start Scent of Old Roses

10. Finish Angel of the Sea and Spring Queen, Start Summer Queen
Haven't worked on these in months, will be starting Winter Queen instead

11. Finish TW Welcome (I will only have one TW in my rotation at once), Start Millennium
Haven't worked on these in months, no fabric for Millennium, will start Strawberry Summer instead

12. Finish Lady of the Flag and Angel of Love, Start Maidens of the Seasons I & II (will be together on one piece of fabric)
Haven't worked on these in months, no fabric for the Maidens, will start Alpine Garden instead

13. Finish Sleeping Beauty (odd man out and large), Start Fairy Idyll
Haven't worked on this in months, no fabric for Idyll, will start Grape Arbour Sampler instead

14. Finish Earth Dragon (odd man out and large), Start Titanic kit
Haven't worked on this in months, not using Aida with Titanic kit, will start Far Away by Shepherd's Bush instead


Here's the updated version. Some things have been changed because I'm trying to stitch from my stash and I do not have fabric for some of the designs above. It makes more sense for me to do it this way, for now.

1. Small Santa and DT mini bellpull > Start Christmas Cat (Holiday Cats booklet)

2. Finish Dracolair purple dragon > Start L&L's Secret Santa

3. Finish Waiting for Ships and 1998 Cherub > Start Mirabilia's Deepest Love

4. Finish I Shall Wear Purple and Spring in the Air > Start Dragon Dreams' Why Hoard Gold?

5. Finish Guardian Angel > Start Celtic Spring

6. Finish Sweet Dreams Santa > Start Joan Elliott's Autumn Angel

7. Finish Liberty Sampler and Angel of the New Dawn > Start Mirabilia's Scent of Old Roses

8. Finish Angel of the Sea and Spring Queen > Start Mirabilia's Winter Queen

9. Finish TW English Garden Welcome > Start Just Nan's Strawberry Summer

10. Finish Lady of the Flag and Angel of Love > Start Drawn Thread's Alpine Garden

11. Finish Sleeping Beauty > Start Sweetheart Tree's Grape Arbour Sampler

12. Finish Earth Dragon > Start Shepherd's Bush's Far Away

2005 Stitching Goals Revisited

We were discussing how we are doing with our 2005 goals at one of my stitching boards. I posted that I thought I was doing OK but I honestly haven't checked those goals in some time. So officially:

My 2005 Goals:

Finish L&L 1990 freebie, start Drawn Thread mini bellpull
Progress: Freebie is finished, mini bellpull hasn't been started and may be put off for next year. This isn't a biggie to me since the main idea was to finish the angel that was in progress.

Finish Christmas Jewel and Crystal Chandelier, start Dracolair purple dragon
Progress: I still can't find the "safe place" I stashed Christmas Jewel! It's here somewhere and only needs about 10 stitches done in Kreinik then the beads added. Cyrstal Chandelier is finished and the dragon has been started.

Finish angel and cherub started for AQP, start another cherub
Progress: I'm giving away the started angel because it's stitched on Aida and after trying I can no longer comfortably stitch on Aida. It's just not fun for me and I found a woman who will take it. I had only put in about 20 stitches on the cherub, also on Aida, so I tossed it. I am almost done with the replacement, the 1998 Mirabilia Cherub on a lovely light blue evenweave. I'm so glad I made the decision to not keep going on the Aida design and start the new one. I may even finish it this weekend.

Finish small Santa, start poinsettia ornament
Progress: This is close to being finished and will definitely be finished by the end of the year. I haven't started the poinsettia ornament, and may not because I've already stitched about 20 ornaments for the year.

Finish Guardian Angel, start Celtic Spring
Progress: Haven't worked on her for some time, but she's about half done. I believe I can finish her by the end of the year, and then I will definitely be starting Celtic Spring.

Finish Dragon of Winter Moon and Sweet Dreams Santa, start Waiting for Ships
Progress: Winter Moon was finished soon after I made this list. Sweet Dreams Santa is coming along slowly, and is a questionable finish for 2005. He will be much farther along than at the end of 2005, at any rate. I changed some of my StRIP list around some time back and started Waiting for Ships already -- heck, it's almost finished LOL! So, instead I will start Joan Elliott's Autumn Angel when this Santa is finished.

Finish Rose Arbour and Christmas Flourishes, Start Santa's Magic
Progress: Rose Arbour is finished, Christmas Flourishes is close and will definitely be finished by the end of the year. Now that I'm stitching from my stash and trying not to buy anything new, I changed the start. I don't have the fabric for Santa's Magic, so instead started Waiting for Ships a little early. It was intended for when I finished both of these. As long as all three are done by the end of the year, I think it's great! One is already done, the other two are very close.

Finish Sleeping Beauty, start Fairy
Progress: Sad to say, but it's doubtful this will be finished by 2006. In my original goals I had noted that this was my last goal and if any didn't make it, this one wouldn't. It's still possible, but doubtful. I haven't worked on her in months.

Make one ornament each month
Progress: As you can see from an earlier post, I have met more than my quota of ornaments for the year already, so I have reached this goal and gone beyond.

So, for the most part I'm very happy with my progress this year. Making this list has helped to keep me focused, but no so much that I'm not willing to make some changes as long as I still am finishing projects. I have also updated my StRIP list but will put that in the next post.

Stitching Blogger Questions

Fell behind on these the last few weeks:

1. When starting a new project, do you start in the middle? If you do, once you’ve worked down to the bottom, do you turn your chart and fabric around so that you are stitching the top section downwards again or do you just stitch upwards from the middle?
I usually start at the left corner or at the top center. It depends on the design, too. I stitch a lot of "people" (fairies, mermaids, ladies, etc.) and I always like to finish the face and hair as soon as I can, so sometimes I start in the middle and work a little line up to the top if I'm not sure if my measurements are correct.

2. Are there any types of designs that you won’t stitch?
I really am not fond of Precious Moments and I haven't learned Hardanger yet. I don't like a lot of the more primitive designs, but some of them have grown on me. I recently stitched a Bent Creek design I really liked (EduCATed) and some others, and the Lizzie Kate Flip-It Blocks have caught my eye. For the most part, I hate to say I'll NEVER stitch a certain type of design.

3. Do you feel the need to stitch a design from a specific designer just to say that you’ve experienced stitching one of their designs?
No. I like a lot of different types of designs and different designers, but in the end I stitch what I want, not because somebody thinks I must. There are many samlers out there that I think are beautiful but there's no way I'm stitching them because they wouldn't be fun for me to stitch -- and that's what it's all about.

Sunday Brunch

Yes, it's late. I haven't done any of my blogging questions for a while and saw these and liked the questions.

1) Are you currently married or involved with a significant other? Give specifics and length of time that you have been with that person.
Tim and I have been living together for over six years now. One of these days we're going to go down to city hall or something and make it legal. In the meantime, I don't want to make my debts his problem.

2) Where did you meet your significant other? At a Christmas party when I was dating another guy. Don't get any ideas -- I met him there but nothing more! Months later after Ed and I had broken things off my friend who had the party invited Tim and I both over to play board games with her and her husband after I said I'd remembered him and thought he was funny. Tim and I went to a movie about a week later (Analyze This) and that was it :)


3) What is your anniversary or special day of ANY kind and what did you do on that day with your significant other?
March 6 is the anniversary of our first date.

4) What is the nicest thing that a person that you are or have been involved with has done for you?
Mainly, there are things I KNOW Tim would buy if he was on his own and instead he spends money on me for my birthday or "just because" or gives me extra money if he thinks I'm low on gas money or something.

5) Do you have a special song or movie or place with your significant other? Describe.
"Nothing Else Matters" from Metallica. Tim is black, I am not. The song is about trusting in each other and not playing the games others play and not giving a damn what they think. It seems to describe us pretty well.

My ornaments

Well, I seem to have gotten the ornaments out of my system. Here they are, half-assed scanned, in their pillows that Ames made. I will probably end up adding some metallics and beads to some and not others, but I really like how they turned up and am happy I was able to just come up with a few designs on the fly like that.

OK, I get it -- people are upset with Tom Cruise

My God! Every board I go to he seems to be the main topic of discussion. Some boards have more than one thread going on about him. If you are so sick of him, why do you keep bringing it up? LOL!

I don't agree with what he says, for the most part. I do agree that medication is overused, but that doesn't mean that there aren't many people out there who really DO have a problem and need it. My brother is one of these and always has been. My mom tried natural foods with no preservatives or additives, she tried no sugar, lots of other things before putting him on Ritalin as a kid. Even as an adult he's been trying non-medicated ways of controlling his hyperactivity, what they now call ADD I guess. He's had tests done that show his brain simply does not work the same way a "normal" brain does.

People will probably think I'm nuts, but I also find it believable that somewhere in the vastness of space, of which we've seen only a miniscule part, there is intelligent life. That doesn't mean I think that aliens are inside out bodies or that they've been here or are here, etc. It means that I DO think it's a bit arrogant to think that it's impossible that nowhere out there is something else.

The thing that gets me is how people think that since he's a celebrity he shouldn't be allowed to express his opinions. His opinions are getting him into trouble and there are probably many who will boycott his movie because of them, and that's certainly their right. I just don't get the "he shouldn't say that because a lot of people will take him at his word." Well, isn't that THEIR fault? I refuse to blame a celebrity or sports star for saying something that people decide just to belive and follow because the celebrity or sports star is famous. Jeesh! Think for yourselves, people! I also don't agree with so many famous people getting ripped apart if they aren't perfect because they are "role models." That's crap! Parents need to start being their kids' role models and raise them rather than letting the famous role models on TV do it! (Disclaimer: I know a lot of parents are not like this, but we all know it happens.)

Tom Cruise has every right to his opinion, and the public has every right to disagree with him by taking their money elsewhere. If people are going to just sit there and decide that it Tom Cruise says it -- or Oprah says it, or whomever says it -- it must be true, then they deserve what they get.