ITS DONE!!! ITS DONE ITS DONE ITS DONE !!!!

And its not midnight yet !!! YES!!! Its done!

OK so I thought this might have been a bit touch and go - but Livres Chat Rouge is finished, washed, ironed, scanned and put away to await the framers.

Claire, do you want to borrow my chart?

Had a lovely few hours at work today - then bought a few DVDs, ordered some Vietnamese food, finished the novel I was reading and am having a nice homebody evening in with the cat :)

And you know what - I feel content and happy!

HAPPY NEW YEARS ALL !!!! I hope 2007 is a better happy relaxed and more profitable year for you all !!!

Clothes! Why do people buy me clothes ????

Finally visited Paul and his mum after work today - to find out that they bought me clothes for Christmas. WHY ??? what part of "Don't buy me any Christmas presents" and "NEVER buy me clothes!" is ambiguous ????

Why do people feel the need to change us to what they want us to be ??? I was quite happily dressed in all black work clothes at the library - but no - they needed to dress me up in a hideous top that shows every roll of fat on my torso and three quarter length cargo pants in beige.

Beige? I wear black and jewel tone colours. ONLY that is all - ever! Even my jeans are black or faded black !!!!

Why do people need to change me ?????

{sigh}

Stitching and movies

Boy talk about a quiet relaxing vege-out day !!!!

This afternoon I put on the tape Diane gave me and finally watched Deuce Bigalow - and you were right the gratuitous arse shot just before the end was well worth watching !!!!

As was the episode of New Tricks you left on the front of the tape :)

While having this veg out afternoon I finished stitching my kitty. Time for some food and then off to backstitch the kitty. Hoping to get this finished and the border started tonight. I'm working all weekend and want this finished by midnight Sunday :)

POST EDITED AT 6:15PM TO INCLUDE PIC OF ALL KITTY BACKSTITCHING COMPLETED.

You can't tell huh? Not much difference between the pics :)

Making dinner now - will start the border after food and yes Diane I did chart the first two corners already :)

Telecommunications - the Dark Ages!

Ok its 10:15 the next morning, I have spoken to Council and a few more telecommunications companies including the dreaded Telstra - this is the monopolizing company on all telecommunications infrastructure in Australia.

There is no more cable. If you have it great - if you don't then tough there's no more going to be laid anywhere in Australia. Cable is exposed - it uses overhead power lines - according to Australian regulations since 2005 all communications must now be underground. So cable is a defunct technology here. So what technology do we have:

ADSL via telephone lines. My lines are too old and crappy and I'm too far away from the exchange so my signal loss rate is too high. Telstra will not give me a ballpark timing on when my exchange is to be ungraded or even *if* it is on the books to be upgraded any time in the next few years ...

ADSL2 via telephone lines. Faster and more versatile than cable. Same restrictions as ADSL - IF i can't get ADSL then I wont be able to get the ADSL2 network either. I not only need my exchange to be upgraded - I need a new one installed - if I'm too far away the upgrading wont make any difference - I need a new exchange installed closer to me - and as this is not a growing suburb, that will not happen.

Wireless technology - the Australian government is paying certain companies subsidies to get wireless technology into areas that cannot get ADSL. I spoke to the company who has the contract for my area - I'm in a black spot. I;m too close to the transmitter and thus on the wrong angle to receive it - and there are too many trees in the way.

3G network - this is Telstra's new wireless via satellite technology. They will be using it to replace the CDMA network in outback Australia. It was primarily for mobile phones, but you can also get internet, VOIP, mobile TV etc all through this - its the latest thing. Its also $150 per month with a download (and upload combined) limit of 3 gig per month.

Standard ADSL at the same speeds is $35 per month with a 20 gig per month download limit.

Other satellite technology: $3500 installation of a 1.5 metre sat dish on the roof and $150 per month ongoing costs with a limit of 1 gig per month.

So I'm just going to have to cool my heels on Torchwood and Dr Who and wait for them to come to free to air six months after they've been screened in the UK and look on sci-fi channel - see the programs I'm missing and buy them on DVD - usually direct from US or UK.

And if anyone wants to ring me on my home telephone they will need to ring three times consecutively to knock me off the net before they can talk to me.

That's the way life is and I can't change it while I'm in this house.

Off to look up a few DVD sales sites to see if I can buy Cleopatra 2025 or Dexter Season 1 in a box set .....

I'm peeved !!!

I'm beyond peeved! I'm downright frustrated and furious !!!!!!

I can't get Pay TV !! Four weeks after I signed up and checked it all out and was assured that they put the satellites on pole homes all the time, they know my street and I'm in a great area for it, the installation guy comes out - spends 1 minute looking at my house, says "sorry you can't get a signal here, I'll tell the office!"

Apparently the satellite these guys use is near the horizon - so I have too many trees in the way! Trees in the way of a satellite signal ??????? I live on the edge of a goddamn nature reserve!! I told them this at the time !!! The installation guys says "oh yes this area is notorious - I don't know why they keep signing you guys up - you can't get a signal here".

OK what about cable in a few years??? Nope - never! Your Local Council has banned the telecommunications companies from laying cable in your city.

Guess what this means??? Not only no pay TV ever! But also no broadband ever! No sat signal, I'm in a black spot area for the wireless towers and the telephone lines in this suburb are old and crappy.

I can never get a good TV signal - I can never get digital TV - I can never get any form of Internet access except dial-up.

I'm beyond peeved! I ate my one and only Christmas chocolate.

Inside my home

Wildlife around home

This folder will contain pics of birds and animals that I see around my home :)

Having a great time :)

Had a great day yesterday - did some food shopping and went to the movies and then sat up late chatting with mum last night.

Checked the Post Office this morning and guess what had arrived - the fabric for the *third* start of TW's The Castle :) Naomi must have been really really on the ball :) So I'll be starting along with everyone else on 1st Jan - its just that I will be starting from scratch {again} !!!!

So a quiet afternoon this afternoon watching the cricket, doing some stitching and waiting for the Foxtel installation man to arrive so I can watch cable TV :) (well satellite TV to be accurate).

Why do I have to go back to work - ever ????

What American accent do you have ....

Well It appears us Aussies are actually from New York - who would have guessed .... Does this mean I'd be understood if I ever visited the place?

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Northeast Judging by how you talk you are probably from north Jersey, New York City, Connecticut or Rhode Island. Chances are, if you are from New York City (and not those other places) people would probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The West
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

The Day of endless Backstitching

Well mum and I had a great Christmas Day - had a leisurely breakfast followed by playing with all of our new toys Santa gave us - I got a Digital Camera YAYYYY!!!! Followed by a hot baked dinner for lunch ( it was cool enough to actually want a hot meal for the first Christmas Day in my living memory!) followed by putting all the washing up through the dishwasher (gotta love having enough dishes that you can use the dishwasher) followed by an afternoon of watching DVDs and stitching :) A cold dinner of cold meats and salads, quickly cleaned away and more stitching and conversation until bed. I think I can honestly say that this Christmas with just mum and myself around has been the most enjoyable Christmas ever! My family does not get along and reducing the stress by not having others here really made soooo much difference - and it sounds like everyone else in the family had good days where they were too! So all in all a great time.

Even if I did spend the entire stitching time doing nothing but backstitching the books on Livres Chat Rouge - and can you tell the difference ????? noooooo ! Oh well its done now - time to start the kitty after breakfast!

Its now Boxing Day morning - I thought I would blog before giving the house a quick tidy and then stitching while waiting for friends to arrive - expect seven people around to join mum and I for lunch :)

Hope everyone else had a stress free enjoyable day yesterday too !!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

here are the lyrics to two "Australian" Christmas Carols :)

SIX WHITE BOOMERS

Early on one Christmas Day, a Joey Kanga-roo

Was far from home and lost in a great big zoo

Mummy, where's my mummy, they've taken her a-way

We'll help you find your mummy son, hop on the sleigh

[Verse:]

Up beside the bag of toys, little Joey hopped

But they had'nt gone far when Santa stopped

Un-harnessed all the reindeer and Joey wondered why

Then he heard a far off booming in the sky

[Chorus:]

Six white boomers, snow white boomers

Racing Santa Claus through the blazing sun

Six white boomers, snow white boomers

.. On his Aus-tra-lian run

Pretty soon old Santa began to feel the heat

Took his fur-lined boots off to cool his feet

Into one popped Joey, feeling quite OK

While those old man kangaroos kept pulling on the sleigh

Joey said to Santa, Santa, what about the toys

Aren't you giving some to these girls and boys

They've all got their presents son, we were here last night

This trip is an extra trip, Joey's special flight

Soon the sleigh was flashing past, right over Marble Bar

Slow down there, cried Santa, it can't be far

Come up on my lap son, and have a look around

There she is, that's mummy, bounding up and down

Well that's the bestest Christmas treat that Joey ever had

Curled up in mother's pouch all snug and glad

The last they saw was Santa headed northward from the sun

The only year the boomers worked a double run


JINGLE BELLS - AUSSIE STYLE !!

Dashing through the
bush

In a rusty Holden Ute

Kicking up the dust

Esky in the boot

Kelpie by my side

Singing Christmas songs

It's summer time and I am in

My singlet, shorts & thongs

CHORUS:

OH, JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS

JINGLE ALL THE WAY

CHRISTMAS IN AUSTRALIA

ON A SCORCHING SUMMER'S DAY

JINGLE BELLS, JINGLE BELLS

CHRISTMAS TIME IS BEAUT

OH WHAT FUN IT IS TO RIDE

IN A RUSTY HOLDEN UTE

Engine's getting hot

Dodge the kangaroos

Swaggy climbs aboard

He is welcome too

All the family is there

Sitting by the pool

Christmas day, the Aussie way

By the barbecue!

CHORUS

Come the afternoon

Grandpa has a doze

The kids and uncle Bruce

Are swimming in their clothes

The time comes round to go

We take a family snap

Then pack the car and all shoot through

Before the washing up

Mel's Sunday Update - Xmas Eve

Gosh we've been busy busy busy! Saturday I spent the morning working (ah blessed overtime) and then we went straight from there to Newcastle to a family do where mum caught up with a lot of her siblings and I caught up with a few of my cousins and met for the first time their partners and children !!! Some of which were nearly teenagers!!!

Got home very very late last night.

This morning was a leisurely breakfast and some fun with the digital camera (see Home and gardens album) followed by a systematic destruction of every corner nook and cranny of my home. To no avail. My TW Dragon re-start is just not here. He just didn't seem to make it over in the house move 4 months ago. I'll re-order some more fabric from Stitches 'n Spice when they reopen in the New Year - so this joint-listmum for the SAL will be a late starter !!!!

To cheer ourselves up this afternoon - we spent the afternoon listening to the blessed rain and stitching. As can be seen (both here and in the Livres Chat Rouge album) I finished the stack of books this afternoon. Off to start the backstitching around the stack of books now ....

Mum also started a new piece and I might be able to take pics of it later - she's too busy stitching now :)

MERRY XMAS EVE EVERYBODY !!!!!!!

OK pics of mum's stitching is now up in her album :)

Friday and photos

Guess what Trouble was doing while Mum and I were playing with her digital camera this afternoon ?????

Having lots of fun taking all those photos I've beens struggling to get with my 35mm. Will post more in my photo albums tomorrow ...

Hugs all and hope you are having as much fun as we are !!!!!!

Gardens and yard

Some sort of succulent with its flower in my back garden.

This album contains pics of my front and back yards around my house and sometimes the neighbours.

Just a quick note

to say Merry Christmas to you all.

Its 6:45am and mum arrives in under three hours. She'll be here until next Wed or Thurs and then Dad will turn up after mum leaves, probably later the same day {sigh} and then he's here until probably Monday 8th Jan when I go back to work.

So with both parents around for the next few weeks I doubt I'll be online as regularly as I have been lately.

OK off to go and check the mail and fight the bank before mum gets here. I'm hoping the bank will allow me to redraw some excess monies I'd paid on my car loan. That stupid {insert about 2 minutes of the foulest language you know here} at work "forgot" to sign off on my last two weeks worth of overtime - so I literally don't have enough money to pay my bills on Monday - let alone buy food for the next week (including anything extra for Xmas Day).

I know I've run myself close to the bone financially this month, but I've never had my overtime held up before - never had to have this {insert tangential rant for another two minutes} insisting on seeing and signing my overtime forms before sending them to payroll before now either.

Livres Chat Rouge - Anagram Diffusion

I first saw and fell in love with this design during the May 2006 Online Needlework Show. I had to have it, so I ordered it !!!

Long story short version, my entire order finally came into my hands on 15 Dec 2006. Yep last Friday, seven months after it was ordered !!!!

I still felt a love for this design - after all it does combine my two favourite elements - cats and books :) and I love the elegant simplicity of it. I'm sure there's a technical art term for this style - but I can't recall it off the top of my head right now.

Anyway I collected the floss (DMC 498) and the white 32 ct Belfast linen both from Spotlight over the weekend. Due to ill health today I sat down tonight and just stitched for fur hours straight. Here's my first pic :)

Also noticed the border pattern on the front cover is *not* charted properly on the inside - the corner treatments are *not* included int he chart at all!!!! Should be pretty simple to chart myself - but it will add time.

My brand new stitching rotation experiment (I've never had a rotation before) is due to start on 1 January and this is not included int he first month's worth of stitching, so I want to get as much done as possible between now and then - I've got a few evenings to myself so I should go close to getting it done by the end of the year ....

What a tiring day

Well what can I say - today was supposed to be my last day of work before the holidays. Woke up feeling blah from my "monthlies" God I hate euphemisms. Felt really off-colour and called in sick to work and made a doctors appointment. Had breakfast, showered and got stuck into the craft room. Spent the next 5 or so hours curled up on the lounge in a fetal position wishing I could vomit. Thinking Oh God do I have appendicitis!

Nope. According to the doc I have either a viral intestinal bug that's going around or a mild case of food poisoning. But the symptoms of course were exacerbated by similar symptoms occurring simply because I am of the female gender - coincidence - just very very bad timing.

I hate it when Loki laughs at me !!!!

All in all not a good day. Oh late this afternoon after the docs appointment, I went to get Meowy Christmas back from the framers but they had screwed it up. didn't use a spacer and the fabric was pressed against the glass with the area with the beads dimpled inwards crushing the backing board. I explained what I wanted and they promised to fix it. Surprised me that they didn't automatically understand this as they assured me they regularly frame lots of cross stitch and tapestries! We will see - its a new framer for me and I think I might be continuing to go to my current one even though he's now a pain to get to and slow !!!

Tonight I gave up on the world and sat and stitched. Started Lives Chat Rouge - details in next blog post. Its now 11:30pm and the very old Invaders From Mars movie has just started - I soooo *love* old 1940s and 50s sci-fi and horror movies !!! But I'm tired - going to bed and sleeping off today's illness as soon as these pics load up.

Oh other news I learned today:
Definitely no broadband! None - never. The cable coming out from the exchange is substandard. And Telstra does not have it on their list of priorities - General feeling is that they will never upgrade the line until they are forced to by an act of nature (ie earthquake).

Went past the post office today .... it was empty :( :( Well at least there were no bills - that's a good thing).. I already know exactly how much I have to pay out of tomorrows pay packet on bills. Its going to be a tight budget between now and late January ....

hugs all and goodnight shortly

OH MY GOD !!!!! I am sooo spoiled !!!!!

Oh my - I was actually speechless for a good 10 minutes, just looking and fondling with my jaw dropped on the ground !!!!

I think my first coherent thought was: "Look at all this stuff - I don't deserve all of this - oh my god !!!!!!!!"

I received a Christmas present from our very own Natalie! Not an exchange, or anything organised - simply a present.

As you can see in the pics she sent me:

4 large pieces of Silkweaver fabric (Terra Cotta, Starquest, Wandering Ivy and a pink limited edition)
1 Blue Wing 28 ct Jobelan
1 14 ct Clay/Bark aida fabric

2 absolutely gorgeous Gloriana threads (I love Monet's Pond and Bellagio has been my absolute favourite since Midi 1)

4 beautiful Thread Gatherer Silk 'n Colors (Windwhistle Cottage, Autumn on the Cape, Autumn Twilight and Acorn Woods)

and 16 DMC threads !!!!!!!!!!


I love it all !!!!!!

I'm just utterly completely gobsmacked !!!!!

Which of Santa's Reindeer are you ??

Which of Santa's Reindeer are you? Cupid Like Cupid you know how to spread love. You have a place in your heart for everyone and are always there with a hug or a kiss Find out which of Santa's Reindeer you are at Quizopolis.com

Well so much for my bah humbug-ism this year - its been shot *RIGHT* out the window!

Tee Hee

Just have to show off the new background - one more day of work and then I'm off on holidays for three weeks - yayyyy!

One of my favourite comics

Catharsis gets it right sometimes ....

Its getting closer

And I'm running out of time ....

OK lets see have all the bookshelves together now (I hate buying flat pack furniture). BOught one more this morning and that's up now too. Still need to go and un box the fiction - will get to that after I rest and blog for a bit.

Shopping:

all present shopping now done except for mum's. Will order her animal over the phone on Monday morning - she was too late in getting her list to me yesterday and they only work Mon-Fri in the adoptananimal section. Oh I don't have Jenna's either. Figured mum can help me out with that next week.

To get to this stage I did a marathon shop Thursday night. Met some friends from work for coffee after 4pm and chatted and ate and drank coffee for a couple of hours before we went our separate ways and shopping. during the evening I had my wallet pinched. I deliberately did not take a bag with me, but instead had my wallet in one trouser pocket and my mobile and car keys in the other. I still got pick-pocketed in the crowd between one shop and the next. Didn't feel a thing! Did *not* feel it happen.

I felt sooo sick. While I was backtracking through the shops I had browsed in - someone had handed it in at Muffin-break (I had bought two gluten free muffins). I got my wallet back! Intact - except for a $20 that was pinched. I had $35 in notes and when I got it back there was only $15 in it. I suppose they thought it was a finders fee ??? No idea.

I'm keeping a very close eye on all of my bank accounts in case they took the numbers. I don't want to cancel and get new cards reissued as I have too many purchases outstanding still - I internet shopped quite a few presents this year :)

Cleaning:

Ooh lots still to do. I've put together all bookcases, purchased another one this morning and put it together too. all the DVDs are now up in a case. I've un-boxed what non-fiction will fit in the three cases I have up. I'm about to un-box what fiction will fit in their three cases I have up now. I'll still be able to store the excess boxes full until after Xmas and buy a few more bookcases in January sometime.

Hector has a home and he's looking quite good - not out of place or in the way. All other standard domestic cleaning is being kept up with - kitchen, bathroom, washing etc. I hope to have the spare bedroom/fiction library usable by tonight and I'll get stuck into my craft room tomorrow.

Still no sign of Dragski.

Hugs all - I'd better get back to it :)

Stitching-related exchanges and presents 2006

A very beautiful variegated Dinky Dyes floss from Debbie via the BAPXS Card exchange.

Just pictures of the wonderful stitching-related presents I am receiving Christmas 2006

A different sort of Christmas present ....

Had a long frustrating phone call with mum today - don't get me wrong I love my mum - but neither of us could think of a Christmas present for her that she really wants - thats not just me buying something for her simply so I can say I've done so. Some useless piece of junk she'll feel guilty about wanting to offload ....

Then I came home to the following in my mailbox http://www.abc.net.au/science/features/greenxmas/

So for Christmas this year mum is getting an adoption of an animal in the Victoria zoo. Here's their adopt an animal page, http://www.awhc.zoo.org.au/Get%20Involved/Adopt%20an%20Animal.aspx

and here's a list of the animals you can choose from ..... http://www.zoo.org.au/sponsorship/animaladoptlist.htm

Cute huh ??

Birthdays ?????????

Ok Guys and Gals - I'm getting ready for 2008 {grin}

So - when are your birthdays? I'll stick your birthdays in my events links and see if I can get it to send me reminders a week or so in advance .......


Let me know - you might actually get a card or something that year :)

What you expect me to be this organised for 2007 ????

Hey Claire, should we put something like this on BAPXS - or am I getting ahead of myself again ?

Hugs
Mel.

Meowy Christmas - Finished ready for framing

Finally - after many distractions and much tiredness - she's finished! She's even washed, ironed and ready for framing.


For those that can't see the pic here, its also in my KBK album and my finished album :)

I spent hours last night trying and trying to get the French knots to actually work - not to slide through the holes, not to be "weird lumpy things". Nothing worked - they looked horrible.

Tonight as soon as I got home from work, I removed them all (all four I had managed to make and hold) and I did the lot in beads instead. I'm tired so I kinda free-handed the bead placement and it shows {LOL}

The pattern has the French Knot placement on sides and in between stitches - and that's hard to do on Aida so I decided to wing it and make my piece unique :)

Hopefully by the time I get enough sleep that I'm not chronically tired and I can actually see how bad the bead placement is, I'll also have it framed and will then be too lazy to want to do them again :)

OK off to make dinner and continue with the house cleaning - actually seeing as I have the ironing board out - that might be tonight's chore ....

Teegs and DK

OK I have no idea how to PM more than one person at a time and I wanted to contact both of you and I don;t have both emails here at work - so sending a blog and allowing *only* you two to see it - seemed to be the best way.

Diane, Teegs has been reading a Mercedes Lackey alternate universe series set during the end of the reign of Henry VIII and she's been txting me, asking about the language used.

I suggest she talks to you - as you have as good a grasp on the language as I do (if not better) and you actually *do* read Lackey !!!!

Any chance you could email / PM / txt Teegs?  Its a conversation for you two I think ...

I don't know about your network but I'm with Vodaphone and international txt messages cost the same as local ones for me.

Hugs to you both.

 

All posted! (mostly)

To paraphrase Marvin:

"Post Office, don't talk to me about post office".

Weill I've now posted off all international and domestic cards, gifts and swaps. In the last two days between packaging materials and actual postal costs I've spent over $200 at the post office.

No - that does *not* include purchasing the actual cards and goodies that were posted!

Pity Ramen noodles contain gluten :) Looks like boiled rice for me until Wednesday :) Nah its not *quite* that bad but there's no more Christmas shopping being done now until next weekend (I need my pay on Wednesday before I can even consider food, decorations, a tree etc).

So its house cleaning for a couple of hours, braving the Post Office for one final parcel this afternoon (now I have the address - thank you!) and then a quiet shopping-free few days .... might even get some stitching done ?????

Look out Christmas - here comes Mel !!!!

Yes I am organised! I am ready! I can take on this holiday and win !!!!

{ahem}

What a day ......
* I have a list of everyone I'm buying gifts for.
* All items to be purchased via the net have been ordered.
* All international gifts and cards are selected bought wrapped boxed addressed with appropriate customs information and waiting to go to the post office in the morning ()except for one and I'm still waiting on someone here to supply me with her address HINT HINT)
* ALL Christmas cards to family and friends have been written, enveloped, addressed and stamped. Half have been posted, the rest will go out int he morning.
* All the soaps for both soap swaps have been tidied up, edged cleaned up, packaged, labelled wrapped and name carded (for the Christmas swap) boxed up and all forms correct to go in the post tomorrow.
* Half of the BAPXS card exchanges went int he mail today - the rest will posted out tomorrow morning.

Well all of that - including a trip to the post office to purchase appropriate packing materials and customs forms and a trip to the supermarket for last minute package additions and other Christmas gifts .... I guess I had a productive day :)

All I have left is to purchase the gifts that I need to walk into a local shop for. And these are for people I will be seeing either Xmas Day or Boxing Day. Oh and I still need to purchase some decorations and a tree and some food and do all the attendant bits like decorating cooking etc.

What else happened today?

The telecommunications technician came out this morning as I've still been having intermittent problems with my phone line. He ended up replacing the whole cable from the street to the house - quite a feat considering I live half way up a hill. He reckons that the cable most probably was broken in a few places - not snapped all the way through but one of the lines might have had a few tiny breaks in the wire - causing the intermittent drop out of the line I was experiencing. He also believes this may contribute to why I haven't been able to get broadband ... so I spoke to my telecommunications company and they said to call again in a week (long story involving the myriad of telelcommmunications companies that have monopolies on certain parts of our network) and they would retest the line for me.

So I'm being cautiously optimistic.

Oh and last night?

Last night I was soooooo peeved! Because its non-ratings time, the television networks in their infinite wisdom decided to cancel airing both Bones and Stargate Atlantis. Bones only had two more episodes until he end of the season !!! And Atlantis had only just begun - they've only shown three episodes !!!!!

SO in retaliation, I finally did it last night - I finally joined the unwashed masses and bought pay TV. We *just* started getting the sci-fi channel here in Australia on 1 Dec. Mum has it and she's been ringing me up and telling me all about these shows she's been watching - and sooo many of them I've been saying "Ooooh I always wanted to see that" or "I've heard so much about that from my overseas friends" but the clincher is that they also have a station called UK TV which shows Dr Who and Torchwood (early next year) and from July 2007 they will be airing them at the same time they are in the UK.

UKTV and the Scifi channel are on the same plan (so no extra cost) and they have a deal going at the moment in my area for free installation as long as you sign up before Xmas.

Well I signed up - but I wont be getting it installed until 28 Dec. Apparently a few other people earlier in the day decided it was too good an offer to pass up too!

Mind you, I did better than other people, another couple in the same shop signing up at the same time I was (with a different sales assistant) got told they couldn't be connected before 5 January. At least I get mine on *before* Dad comes to visit. Oh and for the first month you get *all* of the channels free - so Dad can channel surf to his hearts content for sport and other items I don't tend to be interested in (and wont be paying for).

Sooo tired - its a little after 9:30pm here - might go stitch for a while and thence to bed.

The Reincarnation Quiz

Quizzes Quizzes and more quizzes - hey this is fun!  oh and I seem to have full functionality on the site back again!!

 

Except I can't post the code for the results page.  Oh well, here's the text anyway:

You were a REVOLUTIONARY WARRIOR.

You were the leader of a new era, the kind of person who brought about the new and different ages and spawned new ways of living. YOu fought in these kind of upheavals or led great armies to great things. our name is often forgotten; you are probably a martyr.  You may have been:

Joan of Arc
The Samurai Ghost
Carl Marx
George Washington

Meowy Christmas

A quick progress pic of where I'm up to in this little Christmas stitch. Should have it finished by Sunday. Should ....

Once again multiply has decided I don't need to insert pics into my blog (or paragraphs) and I don't need to see more than three lines of any draft {sigh} So pics are here: http://gothtigger.multiply.com/photos/album/24

What Egyptian Star Sign are you ?

Horus Sparkling personality, intense will, intelligent, understanding, impatient to exert influence. Colors: male: red carmine, female: gold Compatible Signs: Bastet, Geb Dates: Apr 20 - May 7, Aug 12 - Aug 19 Role: God of the pharaoh Appearance: Form of a falcon-headed man, wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt Sacred Animal: falcon What is Your Egyptian Zodiac Sign? Designed by CyberWarlock of Warlock's Quizzles and Quandaries

Wow that's the first time ever I haven't come out as Bastet! OK I accept being a Sky God and having the first Pharaoh's style themselves after me :)

Almost autumn - and Marc's first design

Hmm I happen to have here Carrie's latest thread "Almost Autumn". For those who can't see this pic, look in my photo album here.

I think this might work as an alternative to the DMC for Marc's Fire Flower design - which can be seen here. Now Marc's design is all in reds and golds, but I wonder if the green in this might give it a new flavour completely .... and the colours here aren't *that* dark - so they would still look outstanding on the black!

Thoughts anyone?

Things to do at work when you are bored .......

Get all of your fellow workmates and members of the general public in the library at the time to try the following:

While sitting in a chair, lift your right foot off
the floor and make clockwise circles with it. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your
right hand.

Now try and stop your foot from changing direction on you ..........

Soooo Hot!

God its hot - so hot. We were over 40 degrees today (over 100F) and its now just after midnight and its still over 30 degrees .... I can't stitch in this weather - I can't move in this weather - all I can do is sit in the dark and hope the cool air will come.

I'm off for a cool shower to sluice off the sweat and then off to bed.

Dear Santa,
Please send some cool winds and rain :) Oh and lots of stash and books - oh and no bills for a while OK? Oh and don't forget the broadband connection!

Hugs
Mel

What Tarot card are you?

Thought this sounded cute :) The results surprised me a little .... Anyone else want to play?

You are Strength

Courage, strength, fortitude. Power not arrested in the act of judgement, but passing on to further action, sometimes obstinacy.

This is a card of courage and
energy. It represents both the Lion's hot, roaring energy, and the
Maiden's steadfast will. The innocent Maiden is unafraid, undaunted,
and indomitable. In some cards she opens the lion's mouth, in others
she shuts it. Either way, she proves that inner strength is more
powerful than raw physical strength. That forces can be controlled and
used to score a victory is very close to the message of the Chariot,
which might be why, in some decks, it is Justice that is card 8 instead
of Strength. With strength you can control not only the situation, but
yourself. It is a card about anger and impulse management, about
creative answers, leadership and maintaining one's personal honor. It
can also stand for a steadfast friend.

She's done! She's done she's done she's done !!!!!!

Rhiannon is finished!  Picture is here, in the finished album and in the Rhiannon photo album!

Noooo - the chart strikes again!

Ok I've finished Rhiannon all bar the beading ...

I've added the red beads on ..... all going well - looks stunning ....

I go to add the gold bugle beads - they are too big !!!!

The chart definitely calls for medium gold bugle beads but that's wrong - only the small ones will fit, and wouldn't you know, I don't have small gold bugle beads - oh well off to the shops later this morning!

I'll do a few rows on Cirque while waiting for Paul to stir out of bed ....

Oh pics later - I'm attempting to {cough} Episode one of Torchwood for the next 13 hours ....

Long day

Well last night was the library staff dinner - due to a completely amazingly stupid error of judgement I ended up sitting next to the bozo who is wrecking all the good work I did int he library for the past 12 months - and opposite the library services manager and his mistress. He's the f'wit that has no empathy or care for any of staff except for the new young 20-something on his other side who he spent the night chatting up !!!

A few times I wanted to feign illness and escape but I didn't! I ate very very little - I felt sick to the stomach by the horrible self-serving lies coming out of both men's mouths and after the food I escaped up to the other end of the table where my friends were. Spent the rest of the night in fantastic company discussing servers, library specific software, the works of Naomi Novik and the origins of human evolution on earth.

Got home around 10:30pm, checked emails and went to bed - dragged myself out of bed long enough to scour the website Claire listed as a retail source of JAR threads - they also had a number of specials so I searched their site and made some good bargains on some kreinik threads etc and then right at the end while I was checking out they added $18.00 US postage !!!!!

For floss !!!!!! no way.

So I cancelled everything and went to work. Long dreary day - hot and I missed mist of the cricket. We held a book sale and there was so much of it I was giving away a whole box of books for 50 cents :) The sale had been ongoing for three days and anything that wasn't sold by COB today was going in the bin - so after lunch I started offering amazing discounts and deals - take as much as you want - we'll do a deal, how much money do you have ??? Oh yeah no worries 50 cents a box .....

Most of the good stuff had already been picked over in the past couple of days but I still found and brought home a full boxful myself - Paul turned up an hour before close and he still brought home a half box....

After work we went food shopping and then detoured on the way home and found a fantastic gluten-free organic health food supermarket!!!! And for a change their prices were competitive with the large supermarkets - they had gluten-free brands I had never seen before at reasonable prices. And 90-% of the stock was also organic - they have everything from canned food to fresh produce to meat to vegetarian meat substitutes to cleaning products to cosmetics - such a fantastic shop. DK they even have biodegradable disposable nappies !!!!

Anyway I was so hot and tired when we finally got home that I stripped off my work clothes, cracked open a beer and flopped down. Two hours later I'm on my fourth beer, I'm pleasantly buzzed, I've just emailed JAR threads directly to find a price and availability of the threads needed for "Is it my eyes"

I also put an order in with Wyndham Needlework's for fabric for: "Black Beauty or something in red", "why is it?" and "friendship tree" .......

Whoops dinner just got served, with my 5th beer ..... back soon .....

Oooh yummm - homemade falafel kebab wraps ..... first attempt and very yummy ... very very yummy !!!!!!

OK where was I - OK yeah I left work went shopping, found a fantastic new store came home, got changed drank beer, went internet shopping, drank more beer, Paul cooked us dinner, drank more beer ..... yep that's about it. Oh and we've listened to CD's by Wolfmother and my favourite Living End greatest hits and their cover album which is cool - their version of U2's Sunday bloody Sunday is better than the original! !!! My favourite band ever - hard rock meets punk - a Melbourne group - love these boys !!!!!

Feeling pretty good right now ..... Except I'm not sure - I feel drunk but I think this post was pretty much coherent and I did fancy things like look up internet sites and add links so I can drink a sixth beer if I feel like it over dessert ...... hmmm and I'm not sure I should be allowed access to my credit card and internet shopping while inebriated .....

OK gotta go now - obviously no stitching will be done tonight.... off to fall asleep during an episode or three of Beast Machines ....

What do I do next?

When I finish Rhiannon, what should I do next?

Go back to Mystery IX

 

 3

Work on a different WIP (if you are passionate please leave a reply indicating *which* WIP)

 

 1

Start a brand new piece (if you are passionate please leave a reply indicating *which* design)

 

 3

OK, Frishawn has spurred me on and I thought I'd try out the poll function on this site :)

Soooo please enter the poll - it closes Sunday morning Australian time - (ie when I finish Rhiannon).

Rhiannon - almost there

Well all of the stitching is done. She's washed and ironed. All I need to do is to add the beads and I'm done.

Gosh I'm feeling good about this :)

I'm working all day tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday and going out for dinner tomorrow night and having visitors around Saturday night - so the beads will hopefully go on Sunday morning and then she will be complete and ready for the framers.

Updated can pic can be seen here or in my Rhiannon album.

WIP - Faience

The Castle by Teresa Wentzler.

SAL for BAPXSCastle group

Previous Round Robins

Both of these motifs - the round one was sooo much fun!

Paradise Lost
by Long Dog Samplers

2006. The first part of this album is from a 12 person International Round Robin that was supposed to go for 12 months. My project was finally returned after 24 months and I was one of the lucky ones.

2007 - 2008. The second section of this album is a new UFO RR I'm in with some friends, starting with Claire's piece.

WIP - Henry VIII and his 6 wives

Mark Hickmott's New Stitches magazine - Issue 6

This is a series of charts listed in early issues of Mary Hickmott's New Stitches magazine.

WIP - Dutch Beauty

'n Hollabdsche Schone anno 1790 (english name: Dutch Beauty). Permin of Copenhagen.

'n Hollandsche Schone anno 1790
(English name: Dutch Beauty)
Permin of Copenhagen.

WIP - Chatelaine Midi Mystery 1

A six month mystery bu Martina Weber - this ran Jul-Dec 2005. Yes I'm finishing it off in 2007.

WIP - Cirque des Cercles

Inkcircles design

WIP - Chatelaine Mystery IX

Soaping again - disaster looms!

Morning all,

I'm in a couple of soap swaps - I got back into the soaping mood a month or so ago and a couple of swaps were just starting so of course I stuck my hand up and said I'd join in - even though I need more soap at the moment like a hole in the head. I still have over a year's supply of soap!

anyway - I joined two swaps one was a fruit and veg which I made up a few weeks ago and posted about here. The other was the Christmas swap ....

This morning while unpacking some of my soaping supply stuff and finding homes for it all (yes I know I moved house 8 weeks ago - I'm still unpacking OK!) I found these moulds which I had forgotten I had bought.

I pulled out some forgotten melt and pour and melted it and added some gold glitter and then using a paintbrush tried to fill in the bell clappers. Didn't work, the M&P just clogged up the brushes and didn't transfer into the mould. So I got a bright idea and grabbed my supply of pipettes and I slowly used a pipette to suck up the liquid M&P and transfer it into the moulds. This worked relatively well - made a heap of mess and I needed to use 6 different pipettes before I I had finished. Oh well.

I poured the left over gold speckled M&P into star-shaped ice cube trays.

Then I washed everything up and started again, melting some more M&P and adding red glitter for the bow - I decided the gold glitter hadn't given enough oomph so I added some red colourant with the red glitter. I then Used the pipette system to fill in the bows. Maybe because I had a better idea of what I was doing or maybe the colourant changed the consistency, I don't know - but that facet passed by easily - using only one pipette and a few minutes!

I poured the rest of the red coloured M&P into heart-shaped ice cube trays.

After both of these had hardened in the moulds, I got a clean brush and
using my fingernails and the brush I broke away and cleaned up all of
the spilled areas where the M&P had dripped or run into the areas
of the mould I didn't want it to.

I then washed everything up and made a half batch of real soap - the recipe was the same one I had been using recently of equal parts coconut oil, lard, macadamia nut oil and rice bran oil - with the correct amount of lye and almost the full amount of water.

I decided to scent this soap with a Dragonsblood fragrance blend. The particular one I have does discolour soap to a tan shade, so I thought I would add the scent to this batch, colour it green and simply fill in the rest of the raised areas - the bells.

Well I melted the oils, prepared the lye, mixed the two together, added the colourant Chromium green oxide, (that's the colour name - it doesn't contain Chromium!) and started blending. I didn't measure the colourant powder - I simply tipped some in - instead of pastel green - it had gone a lurid shade of teal. Oh well. Mixed it until a light trace - pouring custard in consistency and then I tried to pour it into the right parts of the moulds.

Part way through pouring I realised I had forgotten to add the scent! Oh well.

I had some left over soap so I added a bit of the scent, mixed it again, and then poured that into some heart shaped moulds I had. I then popped the red M&P hearts out of the ice-cube trays and pushed one of these into the centres of the green fresh soap hearts.

Now fresh soap does still contain a bit of lye - so it is quite caustic and not good for you. That's why they always tell you to wear gloves while soaping.

I went back to my fancy bell creations, and using a tissue in my bare hands I wiped out the moulds and excess soap so the green just sat inside the bells like I wanted it to.

Then I washed everything up all over again and made a second half batch of the soap. This was going to remain uncoloured so it would be an ivory colour and that would be the plinth the bells would sit on - ie the rest of the soap bar. Well it was supposed to be ivory - I had forgotten to add the Dragonsblood to the green batch so I would need to add it to this batch so the plinth was going to be tan instead of ivory. Oh well.

I started pouring my oils in together and realised that I didn't have enough macadamia nut oil - so I dragged out my apricot oil instead and used that to top up the mac nut oil portion of my recipe. While the oils were melting I went online and sent this new mix of oils through a lye calculator, adjusted my lye amounts accordingly and added the lye and water together. This was to be the simplest of everything I had done today - just make the soap, add the scent and pour it into the moulds until they are full. Simple!

I mixed the oils and lye solution and started blending - it immediately traced into chunky custard! I don;t know why? Maybe it was a touch hotter than last batch,maybe it was the apricot oil I don't know. I put down the stick blender and grabbed a wooden spoon and beat the lumpy mess into submission and then added the scent. I then glopped the mix into the moulds. This was incredibly frustrating - because it had all the physical characteristics of cold lumpy custard. As I glopped it in, the glop would just sit there. I eventually gave up and using my bare hands I squished the damn things into the moulds. I moved some over loaded ones to lesser crowded ones and by the end I had done some repetitive swearing and I had just enough of the mix to three-quarter fill all 15 moulds. I figured that was good enough. I immediately covered them with cling wrap - then put them all under some towels for insulation and washed my hands - thoroughly!

Soaping usually takes me 20 minutes if I'm all set up - up to an hour if I'm not. This little burst of creativity took me four hours! I've repeatedly washed my hands and I'll have to moisturise them regularly over the next week or so and I've had a spot of lunch while I've typed up this missive.

Now its after 3:30pm, I've not done much else today (besides ordering some Piecemaker needles and some ThreadHeaven) and I still have to wash up and clean up after that last part of the soap making.

The things I do when I let my creativity get in the way of my better judgement. Now I just hope that when I release these soaps out of the moulds in 2 days time, that they actually come out in one piece - and that the layers do not separate ..... I'll post pics if they *do* turn out OK :)

Tired now! Off to clean up, moisturise and then I might do some stitching - or the cleaning I was planning on doing - not sure which .... need chocolate to fortify myself first.


Green soap recipe:
125 gm Coconut Oil

125 gm Lard
125 gm Macadamia nut oil
125 gm Rice Bran Oil

70 gm lye

140 ml water
Chromium oxide green colourant powder

Base soap recipe:
83 gms Apricot Kernel oil
120 gm Coconut Oil
122 gm Lard
45 gm Macadamia nut oil
130 gm Rice Bran Oil
68gm lye
130 ml water


2% Brambleberry Dragonsblood Fragrance oil

Hey what happened ???

I seem to have lost that lovely background/theme I was using and I now also have GoogleAds running down the right hand side - where there weren't any before ......

I've slipped into an alternative reality haven't I?

 

I'm an Auntie again

I got a call from my mum at 11:30pm last night. My sister had just given birth to an 8 pound something baby boy. They have named him Jeremiah John.

My mum was present to witness the birth so she is very very happy!

So anyone know of any Beatrix Potter Jeremiah Bullfrog patterns I should be now purchasing ?

Hugs
Mel.

Mel's Day

Well I've had a wonderful day since leaving work last night. I came home and made soap again - some nice guest soaps to give away as Christmas presents to coworkers, family, friends etc in my favourite fragrance.

And a really really good recipe too - very rich and decadent using coconut oil, lard, rice bran oil and macadamia nut oil. It should feel like you are washing your body in silk! Scented silk :)

Then I spoilt myself and had pancakes for tea. I mean honestly, who cares about weight issues *all* the time:) then watch some Bones and then off for an early night in bed.

the neighbours from hell were evicted last Monday !!!! i only found out about it yesterday! Oh I had the best night's sleep last night! No banging around - I was the last one in the street to turn my lights out - I slept through until after 7am this morning! No being woken up by one f'wit calling out from the car-park to the other one who was still in bed - or honking his horn for 1/2 an hour at 5:30am! I knew they were quiet the last couple of days but they sometimes do that when the cops have been around - but no they are gone !!!!!! GONE !!!!! The owner (their mother !!!!) got the POlice to come around and forcibly remove them and their belongings from the property while we were all at work on Monday !!!!!

This morning was a leisurely sleep in followed by checking my email and I received an email from the owner of FantaCat designs saying she was sorry and replacement charts would be sent out to me. she didn't mention anything about being contacted or not from my business owner who sold me the charts. So that was encouraging! She also asked me again about Rhiannon - she didn't seem to understand the problem I had with the chart that I emailed her about in July. well lets see, what problem is there with "The chart doesn't match the cover picture - can you ask the designer to look over the chart and re-chart the area above the ear so that it matches the cover picture.

Anyway I got tired of the whole thing this morning after I had emailed her, so I sat down with an enlarged print out of the cover pic and the chart and I re-charted the darn thing myself. Then I got out Rhiannon and some black floss and I restitched that area based on my guestimations of where the chart should go - I redid the stitching three times, but I was finally happy with it, and altered the chart correctly.

I've sent scans of the problem area and my proposed solutions to FantaCat designs so now I'll wait and see what her response is.

After that I was really really tempted just to keep going on Rhiannon, but I knew this was my only day off and I needed to get things done, so I put it all away and went down to the local shopping centre. I got my hair re-cut and coloured. Given that ai have a job interview on Monday I needed to get that attended to!

Then I spoilt myself with some lunch at the food court. I took my mobile phone into a repairer and got the battery replaced so it now actually works! My mobile has been (ummm well erratic is an understatement) for about 4 weeks now! Then I went and explored the options for pay TV so I could watch the cricket this summer and decided it would be a waste of my money really - pity.

Then I went to Bras 'n Things and spent a voucher I had on a new set of lingerie. And then just for the heck of it I went into Games Wizard and asked them about old style turn-based role-playing computer games. I remember in the late eighties doing all of the Ultima scenarios, and spin-offs like Martian Dream etc. Bards Tale, Space Quest - you name it. Unfortunately there's not much of that style being made these days - and those that are not turn-based single-player games - they are the online MMORGS. And I'm just sooo not into those!

Anyway I finally got a sales assistant of my own vintage who actually remembered the types of games I was discussing and he pointed out a copy of the box set of the Baldur's Gate series. Very similar to what I played but these were made only 5 years ago or so - and they were int he cheap bin - so I bought the whole boxed set for under $20 Yay!!!

Then I started the grocery shopping but by the time I bought the bird food, the at food and breakfast supplies I was running out of room in the basket, and ptrpbably money in the bank so I left it at that - still spent over $50. Then I dropped into the health food store and bought a new brand of gluten free hamburger buns - wholemeal. Going to try them out by making myself a hamburger tonight. Oh and I also bought some alphabet shapes gluten-free pasta! They are sooooo cute !!!!!! I'm going to surprise my mum with alphabet soup when she next visits

Then came home, put everything away and decided to install Baldur's Gate I. I've just realised its getting dark..... I've stopped for now - so I thought I would blog about my utterly fantastic day!

And now I'm off to make dinner and start the domestic duties that I should have been doing all day instead of charting corrections to cross stitch designs, shopping and playing computer games .....

Sometimes its really really nice to indulge yourself !!!!

Mood: Relaxed and happy!

Jobs

{whimper}

I just got a phone call from UTS - the job app I put in 10 days ago.

I'm scheduled for an interview next Monday morning at 10:30am.

OH GODDESS!!!  Help me mummy!

I'm alternating between Snoopy Dances of joy and bowel-wrenching terror !!!!

Cirque des Cercles

I seem to be working on this one in dribs and drabs in between other projects, rather than doing a solid week's stitching so I"m finding it difficult to decide when to put up updates, but well it looks sufficiently further on than the last pic so here it is :

Ot you can view my Webshots.

Hugs all

Stitching stuff

Well gee - not much of that happening lately :)

I spent most of yesterday putting my threads and beads into Organised Expressions and then caught up on my Bones and Stargate watching. I did hold Cirque in my hand while doing that, but not much stitching got done.

DK came for a visit today to do some stitching - bit instead we chatted, discussed hoops versus lap frames, checked out my new stash (its now germ free) and then went out for lunch and shopping. Still a very good day and it was great to catch up with her in person :)

We'll need to plan a stitching day where we sit and stitch soon. Oh DK did lend me a scroll frame for Mystery IX - so I can continue work on it now - it was simply getting far too big and unwieldy in the hoop - and I couldn't work on it for more than a few minutes at a time before my hand hurt from holding it. so I'll move that onto the scroll frame and get a move back on that tonight.

I'm running way behind on Mystery IX now - I'm still ont he first corner of the stitching on Part 9 and Part 11 has just been released! I refuse to look at Part 11 until I finish part 9 - gee I wonder how long *that* resolve will last :0

Oh and DK did help me count them up - I have 9 WIPs/UFOs. Only 9 and they slated in my rotation starting next year - I wont get all 9 done, but they are organised into the rotation so that I wont feel guilty about them :)

Oh and I've decided I need to start Cirque again - I just *adore* what Marc did with his! See link here! Except that I think it's upside down in this pic

Hugs all - hope your last two days have been as pleasant as mine - I'm off to work tomorrow for 6 days straight!

I Soaped !!!

Well OK this wont be of much interest to most of you :)

My other hobby is hand making soap and related items like creams lotions shampoo etc - except that I haven't done a darn thing on this hobby all year. A few weeks ago I rejoined a couple of soaping lists and joined in on a swap that was just beginning. The theme of the swap was fruit or vegetable. The soap had to include some part of a fruit or vegetable in it. I could have simply pulled out my soaping journal and made my triple lemon (uses lemon juice instead of water, lemon essential oil and grated lemon rind) but I thought I would try something completely different. So I chose Celery!

Last night I dropped over to my local shopping mall, bought an entire head of celery and took it around to the local juice bar and asked them to juice/liquefy it for me. They did. We ended up with around 500ml of liquidised celery. I also went into a supermarket and bought ground celery seed.

This afternoon after DK's wonderful visit,, I unpacked my soaping supplies and went for it.

I made one of my standard recipes:

250gm coconut oil
250gm lard
250gm olive oil
250gm Rice Bran Oil
136gm lye
250gm water (now celery juice)

Now soap is made in the following steps:

1. Melt all the oils fats together but keep the temps low - under 45 degrees Celsius - so that you can touch the outside of the pot with your hand and its warm, but not hot.

2. Mix the lye crystals into the water. Or in this case, celery juice. To minimise any adverse reactions keep this cool - do it in a water bath, or freeze your juice before pouring the lye crystals over.

3. When both mixtures are around room temp - pour the lye solution into the oils and start mixing. I use a stick blender to speed up production. When it starts to look like runny custard, stop and pour into your moulds. Insulate the moulds and leave for 48 hours. Then turn out onto a well ventilated rack and let harden for 4 weeks - put in the shower and enjoy.

Of course you must take appropriate precautions when using the lye solution because it is strong enough to burn, scar, blind etc. But when safety is observed, its just like mixing up a cake batter and popping it in the fridge :)

In this case, instead of using water, I used the celery juice. I also shook some of the ground celery seed into the bottom of the moulds - so hopefully there may be a dusting of celery seed on the top of the soap when it is un-moulded. I also mixed some of the ground celery seed through the oil mix to give the resultant soap some texture.

Hmmm - pity I only bought enough coconut oil for the swap batches ... I feel like making some more now .....

First update in a while

Hi all,



Multiply was playing up for a while so I couldn't post a journal entry - and
then life kinda got in the way (as per usual) but I've decided stuff it, I'm
not going to work today so I thought I'd try and get a journal entry done.



Hmm let’s see - Health - the doc is telling me to change jobs. She says that my
stress levels are mucking up my system. The blood and urine tests do not match
the severity of the symptoms I am experiencing. She says to change jobs and
speak to a counsellor and then come and see her in a month's time. Great!



Work - nuff said. I got in trouble yesterday and called a liar because I couldn’t
send an email out because my systems were down. All connectivity to my Branch
was out all day as they decided (without informing me) to take down the
telecommunications tower and play with it. It was supposed to take a couple of
hours - I believe it’s still not fixed now (24 hours later). The head of
Children's Services came out and abused me for not reading my emails (hellooo I
can’t access the network!!!) She then instructed me to send an email to a work
colleague (sure - when the network comes back up) Oh and don’t forget to read my
emails in future (riiight!)



Two hours later I was speaking to a colleague on the phone and asked which
branch I was supposed to be at this morning? The Head of Children's Services
overhead the conversation and tore strips off my colleague! Why is Melissa
ringing you, why isn't she checking her emails? I sent her an email telling her
where she was supposed to be! Why are *you* getting involved! Ummm maybe because
Mel can't read her emails today and I'm the Librarian in charge of rostering....



[Sigh] Of course you see it was one great big plot. My systems weren't down -
my staff and I *like* handwriting all incoming and outgoing bar codes, relying
on our memories to answer reference queries and generally being electronically
cut off from the world - what planet is this woman on !!!!



One of the neighbours up the street who have just moved in have a young baby -
and they couldn’t get the poor mite to sleep last night - it cried and screamed
from 2am until around 6:30am. So I have a screaming headache and no interest at
being at work. So I'm home all day.



Good news - lets see, umm I'm home all day! I submitted a fantastic job app for
a different job with a different organisation last week. DK was on the phone
with me for HOURS going through and correctly wording, grammar etc....



Oh and I went to a great party last weekend - well there weren't enough people
to make a real party so it was more a gathering of good friends and partners (9
of us in total) so it was a good night of swapping stories, munching out on
party food oh and we watched an Adamms Family movie - the last one I think with
the baby in it.



The theme of the night was Addams Family reunion - I didn't have any of my SC
stuff here and no Goth stuff so I bought a cheap now outfit at Millars. It is a
black skirt with a black and grey lace overlay, a black camisole and a see thru
jacket made only out of the black and grey lace.



I was told I only needed wings to look like an evil fairy. Considering I've put
on weight again - I'll take any nice compliments about clothes :) Apparently
there's a photo somewhere of me hugging and being hugged by a 6'3" guy
dressed in drag. It was the only photo of me that night that came out in focus
:) I'll drop a copy here when I can get one.



Stitching - well I finished Valour and put a few more stitches in Cirque - but
mainly this week, my threads from the Stitched From the Heart closing down sale
came in. I waited until they were 70% off and then I bought one of each thread
she still had in stock. There's weren't many - I think I got 5 Gentle Art
Sampler Threads, 3 Weeks dye works, but I did get over 50 skeins of DMC Perle 5
and about a dozen Mill Hill bead packets. The week before I got 115 skeins of
DMC cotton so it’s been a good haul for not much money. How did you go DK?



So for the past few nights I've finally hauled my copy of Organized Expressions
and I've slowly started adding my thread stash onto it. Anita inspired me, so
I'll start going through my stash and adding bits on as I go. It will be a
sloowwww process. I might do like Anita and send out a garage sale of items I've
ended up with but don't want. After DK and mum look through them that is :)



Today - today is probably going to be a disgustingly domestic day as I start to
unpack again. I haven’t unpacked any boxes in about 8 weeks - what with the
flu, depression, work anxiety etc, so I might go get my craft room unpacked - after
all I need to sew soon, and I need to make soap this weekend - I got inspired a
few weeks ago and rejoined my soaping lists and joined a swap - but then found
out it was using a technique I had never used before - oh well its all learning
- so I need to unpack my soaping supplies and get that made this weekend too. Actually
if I get enthused once I've started, I might make a few more batches to add
into Christmas stockings etc..... hmmmm....



Oh and I got my first month's fabric from the Silkweaver Fabric of the Month
club yesterday!!!! I'm in the opalescent one so I got an 18 x 27 Midas Touch
and a 13 x 18 Poltergeist. Pic below.



One and I received my door prizes from Lavender Wings from the Needlecraft Show
and I received Ocean's Daughter from Natalie!!! Thanks soooo much Nate! that
one is done on a fabric similar to the one I used for Paul's P and in the
*exact* same colour - Crescent Colours Bejewelled! So I could start that one on
existing supplies!!!!!!



Well that's about it for now - time go and get organised - I’ve had breakfast
and done yesterday's Sudoku. I've gotten addicted to Sudoku! That is solo sad! I
got the new Cross Stitch Collection magazine in the mail yesterday and after
flipping through it (the Christmas edition - but not my sort of Christmas
designs) I settled on the last page and did the Sudoku.



Hugs all and hope life is treating you all well....