Mindy Memories

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Tim and I actually went out last night

Between his crazy schedule and the weeks he was mostly living as his mom's while she was recovering from knee replacement surgery, Tim and I haven't done much together in months. Last night we went out to dinner and a movie and had a great time. We went to Red Lobster, which can be a good or bad experience, but last night was very good. I got a yummy salmon and shrimp dinner. I always forget that they slather everything with butter, but I usually don't so once in a while won't kill me. :)

We saw "The Departed" at the 10:30 showing so that we weren't dealing with the barely-17 crowd that can get annoying in such movies. Sorry to those teens who don't act like idiots, but you know what I'm talking about. It was a great movie, but not for anyone who is sensitive to obnoxious language and violence. After all, it is a Martin Scorsese film and is Rated R, so I really shouldn't have to say that. There weren't any little kids at the movie, either, dragged there by parents to freak out over the blood, so that was good. I feel really bad for kids that get dragged to these types of movies because of selfish parents, but if I'm paying $9.50 for a movie I'm also ticked if I can't enjoy the movie because of it.

So, it was a great evening. We had debated between watching this or "The Prestige." I still want to see "The Prestige" but I think we made a good choice last night.

Labels:

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Sometimes I do really stupid stuff

I'm dogsitting at my friend's house over the weekend. I was going to watch one of her zillions of DVDs and put it into the DVD player, but it wouldn't play. Then I couldn't eject it or turn the player off. The DVD player is high, about where my eyes are, and I think there was a DVD in there that I didn't see before putting in the other one. So, I tried to fix it but I think I made it worse. Looks like I'll have to buy a new one for her. Guess that will be coming out of yesterday's paycheck.

Of course, she doesn't have a cheapo one like I do. No, she has a Toshiba VCR/DVD combo. I may go out this afternoon or this evening and buy it just so when they come home tomorrow it's already here. It's possible she or her husband can get it to work. Even so, it probably won't last as long as it should so I may as well pay up. At least if I buy a replacement before they get home it will ease the blow when I tell them about it.

The weird thing is that something like this happened last time I dogsat, but it was me who couldn't open the drawer because one of the kids had done the same thing I just did. We're good friends so it's not like I'll be banished or never allowed to dogsit again, but yeesh!

Labels:

Thursday, October 19, 2006

On comparing pain

Had a lot going on the last few weeks. I'm not going to put it all down on "paper" now, but wanted to post here. Nothing bad going on, just busy.

My question today is: Why do we tend to compare our pain and suffering to others and think that nobody could possibly feel as bad as we do when we lose someone we care about?

This came up on one of the childfree boards I visit. There was a discussion about how some people really lose it over an early miscarriage. Many people don't understand that. I do to a point, but since I'm not a kid person and don't want any, I really can't completely comprehend it. However, for the person who loses a baby, it can be very painful. Even though she didn't have the child and "know" it, doesn't mean she didn't have ideas and hopes for the child, hopes that were instantly dashed. It's painful.

Then another person said she couldn't understand how people can go to pieces over losing their grandparent who is 80+. Perhaps this person wasn't close or didn't know her grandparents, but when my grandmother died in her 70s it was very hard, and it's going to be hard when my still-living grandmother dies. She's in her 90s and has gone downhill quite a bit in the last few months and it's sad for me to see.

When we lose someone, whether it's a child, spouse, brother, parent, grandparent, uncle, friend, pet -- whatever -- it hurts. I hate it when people get into the "I hurt worse than you" crap because it completely disregards the feelings of the person who supposedly is supposed to be over it. There's no time limit to these things. My grandmother died in 1989 when I was 18. I moved on, got over it, etc. However, I often find myself thinking if she would be proud of me, what she would say to me, if she'd still call me a "dumb bunny" if I did something stupid (lol), and I wonder if she's looking down on me and approving of me. I'm sure that sounds really corny, but it's true.

So please, next time your childless friend is heartbroken because her cat died, don't tell her to get over it a few days later because it was "just a cat." If your friend miscarries, don't tell her to get over it the next week because "it wasn't even really a baby yet." A little compassion can go a long way sometimes.

Labels:

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Looking over 2006 goals

Somehow, over at The Wagon the thread started in December for 2006 stitching goals came to the top. I looked through it and saw my post last December. I don't even know if it matches what I wrote here, but I'm pretty sure it did. I'm just too lazy to go back and look right now. :)

According to The Wagon, my goals for 2006 are:


2006 Finishes
2 ornaments per month (average)
Sleeping Beauty (Mirabilia)
Deepest Love (Mirabilia)
Lady of the Flag (Mirabilia)
Angel of Love (L&L)
mini bellpull (Drawn Thread)
Ouroborus (Dracolair)

2006 "Wishes for Finishes" These are my long shot finishing goals for the year.
I Shall Wear Purple (Lanarte -- my color conversion)
Liberty Sampler (Hester's Needle)
Angel of the New Dawn (Mirabilia)

2006 Starts
Misty Morning Vineyard (Chatelaine)
Garden Verses (Mirabilia)
Scent of Old Roses (Mirabilia)


My Progress as of 10/5/06

2006 Actual Finishes
Finished 13 ornaments in the last week (they're small), probably won't need more
Finished Deepest Love (Mirabilia)
Finished Lady of the Flag (Mirabilia)

Closing in on Angel of Love

Ouroborus and Sleeping Beauty finished in 2006? Bwhahahahaha!

Mini bellpull can go either way, is pretty simple.


2006 "Wishes for Finishes" These are my long shot finishing goals for the year.
I Shall Wear Purple (Lanarte -- my color conversion) - probably not
Liberty Sampler (Hester's Needle) - probably not
Angel of the New Dawn (Mirabilia) - possible

2006 Starts I had no problem starting all of these, plus Mermaid of the Pearls.
Misty Morning Vineyard (Chatelaine)
Garden Verses (Mirabilia)
Scent of Old Roses (Mirabilia)

Labels:

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Hershey CATS

Well, got back from CATS on Saturday. I was enjoying the rest of my long weekend off and wasn't online much. I also had Monday off because we get Jewish holidays off -- love that!

For the most part, I really enjoyed CATS and Karri and I are planning to make it an annual event. That being said, I hope that the vendor situation is different next year. The first year I went (2004) there were so many vendors that I couldn't take it all in the first day and had to look at the rest the next day. Last year there were fewer vendors but still many. This year it was very noticeable that there were fewer vendors -- about a whole row was gone. They tried to mask it by giving us more table space, but I could tell. After I went through I kept circling around, thinking I'd missed a row somewhere. I hadn't. Apparently, there is a new rule that if a vendor signs a contract to go to one CATS they have to sign up for all of them. So, some simply didn't attend, like that great thread shop (I think it's actually called "The Thread Shoppe" but not sure) that is always there. I was soooo looking forward to spending some money there. Thank goodness Picture This Plus was there so I at least got some fabric that I wanted.

The other side of this is that the place was very crowded. There was about the same amount of people (I'm guessing) as usual but we were concentrated in a smaller area than before, so it was difficult to get around and people were waiting in line for an hour or longer. I got in Thursday night and bought most of my stuff that night. I went back on Friday but it was so crowded that I could barely move, let alone actually get to where I could see anything. I expected The Silver Needle and Picture This Plus to be mobbed, but everything was. So, after about 10 minutes of that I had decided that I wasn't going to buy anything more and spent the rest of the day stitching on a big comfy sofa and chairs outside the main hall. Karri and I spent the afternoon stitching with three sisters we met there. I cannot recall their names and I don't think they visit the boards, but we had a lot of fun talking about movies and Harry Potter.

So, although the market was disappointing, I still had a very good time and Karri and I are already planning to go next year. I think we're going to try to stay in the lodge next year. It's more expensive but so much easier and more comfy.

I did buy some nice things, though. I bought hand-dyed fabric for Passione Ricamo's Moon Fairy Spirit and the three Mirabilia LE fairy kits. I also bought some Caron Waterlillies at Sunflower Samplings, as they were selling them for $2.75 each, and I bought Gloucester Grapes - Colors from Simply Old-Fashioned. I could have bought everything in her booth that I don't already have. I really like her designs and some of them are very unique.

I was going to post more, but I started this at lunch and had to come back later and have forgotten what else I was going to say, lol. I'm sure I'll remember eventually.

Labels: , ,