I Think I’m Broken

I’m far too tired to blog. I can’t get the thoughts flitting about my skull to stop long enough to congeal into somethink coherent. If they stop, they tend to fall down and die or flit right out one of my ears! I can be in the middle of a sentence and WHAM! The thought is gone. Buh-bye. See you later, if I’m lucky.

I had blood taken on Friday morning (finally; I’ve only had the prescription for two months) so maybe the results will yield something conclusive about why I’ve been so darned tired all of the time! I only have 1 more hour left at work and I feel like I’m barely going to make it. Good thing I stitched on my way in to work this morning because who knows if I’ll stay awake long enough to do any once I reach home! I’ve been burning through my vacation like crazy because I keep having to take a day off here and there so that I can succumb to this sleep monster that’s trying to gobble me up from the inside. I’m drowning in drowsiness.

Sleepy, sleepy, sleepy, sleepy…

Posted in Life in General | 7 Comments

Ugh!

I slept in until 2 PM this afternoon. I never do that. I’m in pain now, of course. So, I’ll report on weekend activities later. Maybe tomorrow. Check in again soon!

Posted in Life in General | Leave a comment

SBQ – To Glass or Not To Glass?

Today’s SBQ was suggested by Cathy and is:

When you get a project professionally framed do you get glass inserted into the frame? Why or why not?

Great question, Cathy! I’ll be curious to read the various answers to this one.

Personally, I have yet to get a piece professionally framed, for starters. I’ve always framed my own and I’ve always included glass because I want to keep the pieces clean and dust-free. I have arranged to have the memorial piece for Terry’s mom framed by a professional in Canada, but I won’t have her put the glass in because of the risk of serious damage in shipping. However, I will have my dad cut a piece of glass in one of his hardware stores to fit into the frame once it comes back.

I know that there are a lot of reasons why not to put glass into a piece, but my house is dusty and I would rather be cautious about where I place the piece than to have to worry about it getting dirty. Perhaps I will learn otherwise after reading other people’s answers, but for now, that is my feeling.

Posted in Stitching Blogger's Question | 2 Comments

Falling Off of the Wagon

I have been really good about not indulging in any Stash Enhancement eXpeditions lately. I had a couple of goals in that direction. One was to not purchase stash for 3 months at a time. This is an ongoing goal to allow me to still purchase new designs that catch my eye, but to work through my stash at the same time. The second one was to not purchase anything until I reached CATS in Hershey in September. This was to allow me to make some nice purchases as I see fit with relatively little guilt at the CATS market.

Now, allow me to clarify my title. There’s leaning away from the wagon, or even falling off of it, and then there is what I did…

After careful thought and deliberation, I gleefully lept from the wagon in a graceful swan dive, ending with an evil cackle, and flung myself under the wheels, allowing myself to be thoroughly trampled as I wallowed in the mud underneath like a happy little sow. 😉

I didn’t have a whole lot of choice in the matter, though. At least, not in my opinion. 😆 I’ve been determined for a while now to purchase all 4 of the seasonal hardanger tea tray/table linen kits from Lorri Birmingham. I already have the tea tray that I picked up from the Sudberry sale last August, but I kept putting off buying all of them because they were $25 a piece and I wanted to actually stitch the Autumn one that Terry’s parents bought me for Christmas before I bought the remaining three seasons. I would periodically check Nordic Needle to make sure they still had the kits in stock. Well, I see the Spring kit on eBay today go out to Nordic Needle, just out of curiosity, only to find that they no longer carry the Spring and Summer kits. PANIC!

So, now I needed to buy the Winter kit from Nordic Needle and the Spring kit that I found on eBay (for a VERY good price). But, I can’t just buy one thing, right? Hee-hee! The same eBay seller had listed a ton of different cross stitch items, so I picked up 5 other items while I was at it. The good news is that I only paid for the one item because I had a balance in my PayPal account from having sold this piece of jewelry to a gentleman in Sweden who saw it in my photo gallery:


Kite Cut Amethyst Necklace

Similarly, I added 8 other items to my Nordic Needle order. So, I’m feeling a little bit guilty, but I still have plenty of things on my wish list to pick up at CATS. I just have to make sure that I REALLY do not buy anything else in the meantime! 😀

On the dream front, nothing as spectacular as my dream on Monday night, but I have continued to have something interesting pop in every night since then.

Tuesday night, I dreamt about visiting a bunch of my paternal aunts and uncles whom I haven’t seen in over a decade. And then my biological father calls yesterday to remind me of a family get-together happening on Saturday, of which my conscious mind had completely forgotten (but apparently not my subconscious).

Last night, I dreamt that guys were up in the ceiling over Terry’s cubicle at work, working on the air handler and water poured into his cube. This morning, I get a message from my friend Mary saying that they need to schedule some time for Terry to work from home (or somewhere other than his cube) so that they can work in the ceiling overhead to get to the air handler.

I wonder what tonight’s dreams may bring?

Posted in Life in General, Stitching | 3 Comments

Dreamscapes

I debated over whether to journal or blog this entry. However, I wanted to make sure that I captured the details while they were fresh in my mind and I can type fast enough to nearly write my stream of consciousness, so here goes. If you think I’m a wierdo, please keep your negative comments to yourself. 😉

I had the most fascinating dream this morning. It may have been partially drug-induced, since I had a migraine building all night and barely slept for all of my tossing and turning, so I finally had to take a Maxalt (the big guns). Or maybe it was just a result of the relief of my mind at finally getting some sleep after the medicine kicked in. Or maybe it had nothing to do with any of that. Regardless, here is my dream, in as much detail as I can possibly muster. If you’re not interested, you can stop here. It may be a bit disjointed, but I’m just going to write as I remember the details without worrying too much about structure. I guess this is more for my benefit than for anyone else’s. 😆

There was a small child involved. Small enough that I could still pick them up and balance them on one hip, but large enough that it was a challenge to do so. I remember being surprised that I had a child because my husband and I aren’t planning to have children. The child was quite afraid of the basement in this house. So was I, as it turned out. Finally, though, the motherly instinct kicked in enough for me to become so angry about whatever was going on in the basement to trigger such fear in my child that I overcame my own fear. The door into the basement was on the outside of the house, approximately centered on one side, the long side. I unlocked the padlock, swung open the latch and opened the door. As I stood at the top of the steps, peering down, my fear started to rise again. The child was behind me, clinging to my legs and hiding somewhat. I think the child was a girl, but part of my mind says that it was initially a boy and may have changed during the course of the dream. I could sense unkind entities lurking down there and the longer I stood, immobilized by my own fear, the bolder they became. They started to come up the set of stairs towards me. I couldn’t actually see anything with my eyes, but my inner vision could distinctly visualize their negative energy growing closer. As they crept closer, I started to become angry. A rather large, lone, blue, 80’s style sneaker appeared in the middle of the stairs. It wasn’t there when I opened the door and I somehow knew that it was a manifestation from these malevolent entities. By the time they reach the middle of the stairs and were crossing the sneaker, my anger had reached the boiling point. I drew in a deep breath and with a powerful bellow, I said, “GET OUT!” The statement was long and carried such a force to it, not in volume but in the sheer power of breath and energy behind it, to force the entities backwards down the stairs and into the basement. I walked down the stairs towards them, alternating phrases like “get out” and “you are not welcome here” as I walked. While not as powerful as my initial statement, each word still carried vehemence and the strength of my conviction. Suddenly, an image popped into my mind as I was talking. I could visualize the drawing of a house, just a simple line drawing, not so simple as a stick figure-like representation, but not so detailed as to look specifically like this house, and yet it clearly represented this house. Around the house was an oval of burning light, almost like fire. It was strong and represented my protection of the house. I focused on the image as I continued to speak and walk across the basement towards the beings as they retreated further and further into the depths. The image then became very important to me. I felt as if I had to devote all of my energy to sustaining the ring of light around the house. At this point, I realized that I was dreaming, and yet the weight and importance of continuing to visualize this image grew stronger. I knew that I had to sustain the image for a certain period of time, regardless of the fact that it was a dream, in order to drive these unkind beings out of the house and keep them from returning. It was imperative that I do so. I repeated the visualization of the house and the ring of light surrounding it approximately 5 times. Then I ran back up the stairs, shut the door, closed the latch and slammed the padlock into place, closing it with a snap and a sense of triumph. I had this feeling that I was intentionally trapping the entities in the basement to be swallowed up, destroyed or otherwise banished by the light that I had created around the house. I don’t like to think that I would have consciously wanted to “kill” the beings, but I’m not sure what the exact result of that action would be. I only know that I had driven them from the house and created a safety net around it that would protect it for some time.

And that’s all I remember. I think the dream may have ended at that point. Some part of me is really excited about having had this dream and wants to share the experience. In fact, I’m waiting for my mom to call me back so that I can relate it to her and see what she thinks. I even kept repeating the sequence of events in my head as I slept further this morning in order to keep the details fresh in my mind and not lose anything. I’m sure I will keep tumbling it through my head and trying to pick out anything that may have been significant. Dr. Steve told me last night that I am much too hard on myself and that I need to care for the little girl inside of me who is still in such pain. Was the child me? Was I protecting myself? I think the house in which I spent the first 11 years of my life had an outside entrance on the side into the basement, in addition to an entrance inside. And, curiously enough, as I scan my memory banks, I cannot find a single recollection of what that basement looked like. I only remember the doors. Could there be something to this dream? Was there something in that basement that I was afraid of as a child? Who knows, but I’ll certainly be thinking about it.

Now I’m going to log off so that I don’t fry my poor, tired eyes and invite the migraine to revisit me after the medication wears off. I hope that all of you stuck in this heat wave stay cool and safe today!

Posted in Journey to Self-Discovery | 7 Comments

It’s Moving Day!

Today is my official moving day at work. They are moving all of corporate IT into another building. Yes, I’m moving from having a cozy two-person office all to myself, with a door that locks, a window to the outside and everything, back into a cubicle. Dilbert world, here I come! In fact, he’s sitting right here with me as I type. My beloved old mascot. 🙂

Fortunately, I’ve been slowly moving myself over for the last two weeks. I brought over my laptop docking station and my primary monitor Thursday afternoon, setup, verified that everything worked, went home and haven’t been in since. It’s a good thing, too, since apparently they were working in the ceiling over my cube on Friday and dropped a big pipe into my neighbor’s cube (fortunately, he wasn’t here, either). You can see where the metal ceiling tile holders are wrecked as a result. A friend said they were making so much noise that people around my cube had to move elsewhere in order to get their work done. Sheesh!

Anyway, I’m here, settled in and ready to go. Poor Terry’s cubicle was in pieces up until now because his cube is under where they need to access an air handler in the ceiling to replace a part that still hasn’t come in. So, happy moving day, here’s a big gaping hole in the ceiling over your cubicle! 😆 In general, I’m not feeling very welcome in this building. The actual cubicle accommodations are pretty nice, but there’s virtually no parking, limited amenities and we are generally being treated like outcasts who are extremely low on the totem pole because we don’t want to place any additional support burden on the surrounding buildings. Pshaw!

Hey, have I mentioned that I’m glad I already moved? The movers were apparently late in showing up this morning and most people’s belongings are packed away in crates that may not show up here until 2 PM due to the number of crates needing to be moved and other stops that need to be made.

Woohoo! I can sit here and relax because I am unaffected. Go me! 😉

Posted in Life in General | 3 Comments

July Exchange Finished!

I was up until the wee hours of the morning working on this. Despite having pulled a muscle in my Friday night and being in a lot of pain, I just couldn’t let this one go until it was done! Woke up and ran over to press it first thing (after letting the dog out, of course).

I did four scans of the piece, of which you’ll see the thumbnails below. Front, back, outside and inside. I will leave you with these photos as I promised myself a relaxing day for all of my hard work!


July Exchange Needlework Case (Front)

July Exchange Needlework Case (Back)

July Exchange Needlework Case (Outside)

July Exchange Needlework Case (Inside)

Posted in Stitching | 12 Comments

July Exchange Stitching Completed!

Oh yeah, that’s a big woohoo! I stitched the hardanger section today, washed the piece, ironed it, scanned it and have started to cut out the pieces for finishing. Here’s a scan of the finished stitching against a black background so you can see the hardanger more clearly. I have never stitched so many picots before – what a challenge for me! The recipient doesn’t read my blog, so I’m not bothering to block out the name. Hopefully, she won’t stumble across this. 😉



JEG Needlework Case Stitched

Also, here’s a quick peek at the beaded scissors fob that I put together last night. I didn’t have a lobster clasp and the scissors were inexpensive, so I just wired the beads straight to the scissors.



Beaded Scissors Fob

And now I’m off again. Back upstairs to work on the finishing some more, so I don’t have to do all of it tomorrow. With any luck, I can finish it tonight before I go to bed and then I can spend some time just stitching for the fun of it tomorrow!

Posted in Stitching | 1 Comment

Model Stitching

Well, I made a decision about the new model stitching project I’ve been approached about. The designer convinced me that it should be a quick stitch, so I’m going for it. It should hopefully be here next week and my deadline is August 25th. I’ll have to make sure that I either rotate it in amongst the other pieces I need to get done, or spend a week and just get it done and sent back out, once it arrives.

In other model stitching news, I received an email from Kristine Herber of Dragonfly Stitches today regarding the model that I recently stitched for her. The chartpack of which the design I stitched is a part is completed and ready to go out. She has taken a finished photo of the pieces for the chartpack and just put a copy of the chartpack into the mail for me, as well. The piece that I stitched is the green one at the top left.



For the Love of Celtics...

Posted in Stitching | 6 Comments

SBQ – Ch-ch-ch-changes

Today’s SBQ was suggested by Carol and is:

Since you started blogging, have you noticed any difference in your stitching habits? Tell us about them.

I don’t think I really have changed my habits, other than repeatedly considering a rotation plan and then abandoning the idea because it doesn’t work for me. I actually feel bad about the speed of my stitching by seeing how much others complete (especially Carol, who puts most of us to shame :lol:), but I can’t let it affect me. We all stitch for enjoyment and if I don’t have the same time to put into it as others, so be it.

Okay, so I thought of one thing. Being brought into the stitchers blogging world did open my eyes to hand-dyed fabrics, namely Silkweaver. I’ve gradually started to get bolder with my color choices. Gradually. 😉

Posted in Stitching Blogger's Question | 3 Comments