What Have I Been Up To?

Posted on October 8, 2006 by Jenna Magee

Well, let’s see. I haven’t posted anything meaningful in several days, so…

I actually went in to work 3 days this week. I took Monday off to sell my first car, the beautiful Grand Am to my little sister. She is 21, graduated in August and is now looking for work as a qualified medical office assistant. My lovely 1995 Grand Am that only had one owner before me, has all of the paperwork including the original sales sticker, just over 41,000 miles on the odometer (yes, those are original miles) and fresh paint on portions of the trim that were suffering from age. Yep, she’s a cream puff. And my dad bought her from me as a graduation present to my sister. She seemed pretty overwhelmed when we went to get the title and tags transferred, so I suspect she’s still getting used to the idea of having her own car. Now she just needs to become familiar with the car and driving, in general.

Tuesday, I decided to work from home while Terry went in. I was actually quite effective. I sat out in the reading room, in a comfy recliner, with the bright sunlight streaming in the windows. Once I got over the hump, which for me is around 10:30 in the morning when I desperately want to go back to bed, I was in good shape.

The rest of the week was good, despite all of the issues I ran into. I think I’m starting to come up out of this depression a bit because I’m feeling a bit lighter than I had been.

Tonight, I fried up some bacon. Yummmmmmmmmmmm! I LOVE bacon. So much. Haven’t had it in a while and no one makes it super crunchy like I like it anyway, so we decided to have bacon and eggs for dinner. 🙂 That’s breakfast for dinner twice in a row, as we had waffles and sausage last night. Mmmmmmm.

On the stitching front, I finished Just Nan’s Be Witchy (the Hershey CATS special) on Friday night. It’s been my commute project all week and I just needed to add the beads on Friday. I will see if I can’t get it into the WhimZi frame that I purchased for it before I got to bed tonight so that I can take it to work tomorrow and hang it up in my cubicle. Otherwise, I’m working on Catherine-Michele’s Round Robin. I need to have it in the mail next Monday morning, so I have this week and next weekend to finish it. There are a lot of different colors in the piece, so the color changes are tedious. I also started on the Scissors Fob Exchange piece for the Robin’s Nest. It is my commute project from here on out and I’m hoping that it will go pretty quickly.

I just came in from painting some scissors. I had some spare, boring metal scissors laying around and some spare car paint, so I figured why not? I have three pairs drying overnight to see how they come out, but I think they’re mostly done. I may put a clear coat on them tomorrow as a finishing touch. I have one last pair outside drying in between coats. I’ll go out in a few minutes and put another coat on it. I’ll probably do this a couple more times on this pair before I call it a night.

I also made up a TON of little packages today, most of which will be winging their way to various destinations all over the world tomorrow morning. What doesn’t go out tomorrow will go out on Tuesday, barring any major problems. And now I’m off to put another coat on those scissors.

Posted in Life in General, Stitching | 10 Comments

RAK’ed Again!

Posted on October 6, 2006 by Jenna Magee

Oh goodness, two days in a row! I am feeling so spoiled, and it’s not even my birthday yet. 🙂

This time, I came home from a hard day at work to find a surprise in my mailbox from Singular Stitches. She and I had an online discussion about sock knitting a little while ago. I really admire her skills and enjoy seeing her beautiful, often delicate and lacy, creations come to life. When I asked her about needles and such, she asked for my address and said that the yarn fairy might pay a visit.

Of course, I forgot all about this discourse, so when I saw the package, I recognized the name of her town and thought, “What could this possibly be?” She outdid herself, of course, sending a set of double-pointed needles that are perfect for knitting socks and two skeins of a delightful yarn that will match nearly all of my dress pants for work, I think! She even handmade the card inside, which is just beautiful.

I’m nearly speechless from all of this kindness. Thank you so much! Now I just have to have you teach me how to actually knit the socks… 😉



Gift from Singular Stitches

Sorry for the dark photo. I used the flash, but it was getting ready to rain outside, so the lighting was very poor.

Posted in Life in General | 9 Comments

I’ve Been RAK’ed!

Posted on October 5, 2006 by Jenna Magee

I went out to get the mail, bring back the trash can, the recyclable bin and all of that fun stuff when I found a little bubble envelope hiding in my mailbox. It was from Cathy, but I wasn’t expecting anything. Hmmmm… now what could it possibly be?

She stitched the most gorgeous Hardanger suncatcher for me, with the klosters in a yummy pink and purple overdyed thread on a very delicate pink hardanger fabric. I had admired this design very much when she made one for Becky some time ago, so much so that Cathy was kind enough to write to the designer and receive permission to photocopy the chart for me since the book was out of print. Knowing that I’ve been down lately, Cathy stitched one up for me in my favorite colors.

Isn’t she an incredibly talented dear lady? Thank you so much, my sweet friend!



Gift from Cathy

Sorry about the flash!

Posted in Life in General, Stitching | 16 Comments

Have You Ever … ?

Posted on October 4, 2006 by Jenna Magee

Have you ever had one individual in your life who is just so incredibly unpleasant to deal with that it makes you almost physically ill? One with whom you have no choice but to work from time to time?

I do. And I have to say that it makes the prospect of going to work on a daily basis nearly unbearable recently, since I’ve been having to deal with this person for the past few weeks.

Today, things came to a head. I came in this morning to a nasty, ugly email from this person. Someone had very obviously gotten off to a rocky start today because the person has been insulting, rude and downright belligerent all day. I have had problems with this person off and on for years, but today was a day unlike any other. I was actually flabbergasted by their lack of professionality. I don’t know about you, but that makes the workplace a hostile environment for me.

I cannot, for the life of me, seem to convince this person that the portion of a specific process that is currently broken is actually their problem. I have proven that the process works in any number of different examples and environments and I am unable to fix the problem myself as the answer lies with a server over which I have no control. However, it seems to be impossible to convince this person to stop attacking my code and to start looking in their own backyard for the solution. I had a friendlier party in on the discussion last night, one who was willing to take my suggestions to heart as to how to fix the problem, but that person was stonewalled today by the Belligerent One.

For the love of pumpkins, people, STOP YELLING AT ME! Especially don’t decide to ride me and get ugly about everything else that you can find that might possibly be my problem because you are angry that this one isn’t fixed. The problem isn’t mine, it’s yours. I have done everything that I can to lead you in the right direction to find the solution, but I can only lead the horse to water; I cannot make it drink. And if you won’t drink, at least put your head in the water, take three deep breaths and have someone tell me when it’s over.

Sorry, that was mean. But it really is taking every ounce of my self-restraint not to tell this person to take a flying leap. People need to learn how to relax a little bit. Including myself.

Posted in Life in General | 16 Comments

CATS – S.E.X. and Gluttony

Posted on October 2, 2006 by Jenna Magee

At the CATS Market, I bought the following:

Sweetheart Tree – Irish Blessing Sampler – Leaflet and charms
Sweetheart Tree – Tudor Rose – Teenie Tweenie – Leaflet and charm
Sweetheart Tree – Pink Carnations – Kit

Just Nan – Be Witchy – Leaflet and Fabric (Hershey CATS Special)
Just Nan – Antique Copper Whimzi Frame with Spider
Just Nan – Peppermint Rose – Free with purchase

JBW Designs – Alphabet Wreath – Leaflet and charm
JBW Designs – Holiday Ornamentals – Leaflet and charms

The Cat’s Whiskers Design Studio – Shades of Blue Willow – An Oriental Trilogy No. 1 – Leaflet
The Cat’s Whiskers Design Studio – Fir Tree Mountain – An Oriental Trilogy No. 3 – Leaflet

Brittercup Designs – Britty Puppies — Leaflet and charms

Lorri Birmingham Designs – Blue Rose – Kit with teacup
Lorri Birmingham Designs – Butterflies and Hearts – Needleroll kit
Lorri Birmingham Designs – Cottage Heart Tin – Kit
Lorri Birmingham Designs – Joy of My Heart – Flatfold kit
Lorri Birmingham Designs – Crystal Pink Pincushion – Kit
Lorri Birmingham Designs – Lorri’s Needlework Ensemble – Kit (I have never seen this one before and I got the last one!)

I also bought a skein of GAST in Sweet Pea, a skein of WDW in Morris Blue, 3 or 4 skeins of Caron Waterlilies, 2 skeins of Dinky Dyes cottons, 1 skein of Dinky Dyes silk and a Dinky Dyes “oops pack” which contained several unmarked full and partial skeins of silks and cottons.

I’m afraid that I made rather a pig of myself at the market – going in 3 or 4 times total. It’s now time for me to jump on the 50 Projects bandwagon, methinks.

Posted in Stitching | 13 Comments

CATS Report

Posted on October 2, 2006 by Jenna Magee

Aaaah, let the good times roll. I’m still recovering from the whole CATS experience including the 4 hour drive back by way of my father-in-law’s house to pick up Phoebe, plus spending all day yesterday getting my first car ready to sell to my little sister tomorrow, so forgive me if I don’t go into excruciating detail.

First, as far as designers go, I love, Love, LOVE Lorri Birmingham and Sandra Vanosdall (The Sweetheart Tree). Lorri is a beautiful, elegant, lovely woman who is a wonderful, laid-back teacher and a very open, helpful person. Unfortunately, she is retiring. I’m so sad about this. Honestly, I’m still recovering from the news, as she has been my number 1 favorite designer for many years. Sandy is going to quickly step into that role, though. 😉 She is also a wonderful person who is very modest and open and seems to be surprised and flattered by the attention that she receives. I showed her my version of Enchantment with the deep purple and teal colors. She liked it so much that she wrote down the colors that I used and said that she wants to use that combination in a future design. I was flabbergasted! She and her husband were very, very nice and made a great working pair (just like Lorri and her husband).

Second, stitching bloggers are wonderful! 😀 I met Cathy, Patti, Nancy (Glory Bee), Leslie and Jo all on Friday. It was so very nice to meet all of them, as they are all delightful people. Meeting Cathy felt like reuniting with a good friend that you’ve known forever; we just clicked instantly. It’s nice to know that she feels the same way, so I don’t feel like a nutso. 😆 Patti is a sophisticated, nice, easy-going person and Nancy is extremely modest. I wouldn’t have known she was the designer behind Glory Bee if Cathy hadn’t let me know. Leslie was easy to talk to and fit right into the group and Jo was as nice and sweet as I thought she would be. I hope she doesn’t mind that I gave her a hug. 🙂

All in all, I was exhausted by lunchtime on Saturday and I’m sorry that I didn’t get to spend more time with all of my friends. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get together again sometime, at least some of us. It would be nice to be able to keep in touch with people offline.

I have just a couple of pictures, but haven’t downloaded them from Terry’s camera yet, so I will post them later.

Posted in Stitching | 7 Comments

October Stitching Goals

Posted on October 1, 2006 by Jenna Magee
  • Finish and send Catherine Michele’s RR
  • Start and Finish Scissors Fob Exchange Piece
  • Finish Stitching Bottom of Biscornu #1 for Christmas Gift for Mom
  • Work on Cathy’s RR
  • Work on Christmas Gift for Terry
  • Work on Heirloom Memories Sampler
  • Work on Chatelaine – Stitching Leporello
  • Start Christmas gift for Dad
  • Start Christmas gift for Mary
Posted in Stitching | 5 Comments

September Stitching Goals in Review

Posted on October 1, 2006 by Jenna Magee
  • 🙁 NO MORE STASH BUYING UNTIL CATS!
  • :mrgreen: Finish Blackwork Pieces into Biscornus
  • 🙁 Finish With My Needle – Strawberries So Faire
  • 🙁 Finish and Hand Over Catherine-Michele’s RR
  • 🙁 Work on Heirloom Memories Sampler
  • 🙁 Work on Chatelaine – Stitching Leporello
  • :mrgreen: Work on Christmas gift for Grandma – FINISHED!
  • 🙁 Start Christmas gift for Dad?

This month was a bit sparse. I did start a second biscornu design for my mom for Christmas and a gift for my husband. I’m sure I had to have done some other worthwhile stitching, too…. !

Posted in Stitching | 2 Comments

Escape From the Frogs

Posted on September 29, 2006 by Jenna Magee

Today’s SBQ was suggested by Sharon and is:

When you find yourself making a lot of mistakes in various stitching projects do you find it better to muddle your way through or do you take a brief break from stitching? If you do take a break, how long do you take?

Oh my goodness, yes I take a break! There’s no point in continuing on when you’re obviously either tired, having trouble counting/concentrating or whatever the problem is. I try not to wait too long before going back to it, though, or I’ll run the risk of it becoming a UFO. In fact, when I discovered that one of my UFOs had been started in the wrong place on specialty, printed fabric, I frogged all of the stitching and the next day, I started stitching in the right spot. I think it’s important not to allow yourself to be defeated and lose momentum, so the sooner you can pick it up and have some success with it, the better off you are!

Posted in Stitching Blogger's Question | 2 Comments

The Sad Truth About My Decline

Posted on September 27, 2006 by Jenna Magee

I haven’t told many people what’s been going on with me lately, but I guess I’m about to announce it to the world. I feel like I owe it to my readers to continue being open and honest because it seems to help us all. So, here is the sad truth: I’m not faring so well in my battle with depression. I’ve suspected it for a while, but it’s pretty much official now. I saw Dr. Steve last night and he thinks he’s going to change my diagnosis from disthymia (which was basically just off-kilter mood disorder) to major depression. He wants me to see a psychiatrist to see if my medications need to be changed.

I’m so frustrated, annoyed and sad about this that it’s not even funny. Terry is concerned that I’m going to put too much stock in the diagnosis and he’s partially right. But, in reality, I think it’s more just a validation of what I already knew was happening. I’m sliding down this slippery slope instead of clawing my way upwards. I was brutally honest with Dr. Steve last night. About everything. Not wanting to get out of bed. Not involving myself with anyone socially. Not calling people. Not talking to people. Sleeping a lot. Feeling listless, rudderless and directionless. Not wanting to do much of anything. Lessened libido. The whole nine yards.

Yes, I put up a good front when I go in to work and I don’t let on what’s really going on, but the truth is that I’m retreating from the world. And I JUST DON’T CARE. I’m going through the motions and that’s pretty much it.

Somewhere inside of me is this highly motivated, intelligent, strong woman who is raging at being unjustly locked up like this. I’m so irritated that after all of the break-throughs that I’ve had and the progress that I’ve made, here I am. Sitting on my behind at the bottom of the hill. Looking up at where I was and wondering how the heck I got down here.

I had a migraine this morning whose return I am still actively fighting. And my emotions are raw and unpleasant. I just want to break down and sob. And maybe I should because I might feel better after that release. I really hate feeling like this. I want to rend my breast in twain and just let out all of this junk that’s bottled up in my chest. All of the pain, frustration, anger and sadness. I want to scream, I want to rage, I want to roar, I want to cry, I want to hiss, I want to spit.

To use a word from Futurama that lets me feel like I’m swearing without actually doing so: CRAPSPACKLE!

Screw you, depression, and the horse you rode in on. GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

Posted in Journey to Self-Discovery | 26 Comments