The freezer ...... (don't read at mealtimes)

Monday night - at midnight, after posting my first night's stitching on FF, I turned everything off preparing to go to bed and then thought, "Oh what the hey - I'll just stitch that little border around the edge - it'll look better!"

So there I am sitting in the quiet and the stillness with only my lamp lights on doing a bit of stitching and revelling in the quiet. I hear a sound on the very edge of hearing - a whirring sound that cuts out out after a few seconds, a minute later I hear it again. Hmmm did I leave one of the stove elements on just the teeniest bit ...... no they're firmly off - so's the oven and grill. The fridge ???? No its fine - thank the gods!!!! Hmmm can't tell where the noise is coming from - oh well - clean out the cat litter and off to bed I'm already an hour over my bedtime ...

As I'm cleaning the cat litter I hear the noise again - its here in the laundry..... not the washing machine, not the dryer - all that's left is the freezer, I'll lift the lid .....


The freezer was firmly plugged in, it had just given up the ghost - I was discussing with mum last night and she thinks it might have been around 27 years old - it was a hand-me-down of a hand-me-down. And in the hot weather it just gave out. As it is a large chest freezer that is bust high on me, I don't use it much - it mainly had three quarters of a sheep cut into three pieces only. My dad gives me huge chunks of meat forgetting that there's only me - and there's only so much meat I can eat at one time....

Oh there were also some freezer bottles, some oils and fats for my soaping - but those three hunks of dead animal were the main problem - oh and the half a foot of blood and melted ice and goodness knows what else sloshing around the bottom .....

I didn;t attempt anything else that night - it was nearly 1am - I just slammed the lid shut unplugged it from the wall, opened the window and went to bed.

Got up yesterday morning, readied myself for work, got out a few bags, and prepared to open the freezer - I looked at my work clothes I was wearing , I looked at my watch, I wussed out and went to work.

Worked 8am - 6pm. Got my housebound customers organised for the next week and avoided story time! After work I went shopping for morning tea supplies .... I don't drink tea or coffee at work, I don't consume the milk and I can't eat the bikkies - why was *I* in charge of the morning tea fund???

Got home at 7pm. Readied the bags. Informed the neighbour. Opened all the doors and windows int he house. Wrapped an old tea towel round my nose and mouth. OK braced myself. Opened the freezer and shoved the warm gooey slimy rotting *smelly* (oh I'm gagging just remembering it) hunks into bags and them into more bags and then I threw them into the bottom of the fridge freezer and slammed the door. I slammed the lid down on the chest freezer and ran out on the balcony for a few deep breaths and lots and lots of retching ... it took me a few goes to get everything out of the freezer.

My logic went thusly .... the bins don't get emptied until Thursday. To get the garbage to the bins, I need to carry them down in my car. I wasn't carrying that god-awful smelly mess in my car and having that smell in my car and any vomit I might add to it - not to mention the council can fine me for leaving such smelly garbage out there for days.

I hauled the freezer outside. Tipped out the blood and melted ice mess onto the garden. Washed it in with a few buckets of fresh water. Washed out the freezer with a few buckets of fresh water - righted it - put in a few buckets of hot soapy water and half a bottle of eucalyptus essential oil and slammed the lid again.

Came back inside, mopped the laundry floor with hot soapy water and eucalyptus oil. The freezer hadn;t leaked, but the smell had permeated. I then went for a shower to get the stink off me and afterwards washed the clothes I had been wearing.

Feeling sooo much better about the whole thing - and proud of myself for getting through it .... I fed the cat. Then I opened the fridge... slammed the door again doubled over and retched ont he kitchen floor for a few minutes.

The smell had permeated through all the plastic I had wrapped it in, through the freezer and then up into the fridge and infected the whole fridge. I did what any person would do - I rang my mum !!!!

Mum and I went through it again with 20 20 hindsight and decided that given the circumstances, I probably did the best thing possible - with the slight alteration of getting everything out of the fridge first next time !!!!!

I did open the fridge again on mum's suggestion and turned the thermometer waaay down in the hopes it would cool the stuff quicker. I haven't touched the fridge door since.

Its now the next morning. It was a hot night - not getting under 30 degrees Celsius the whole night! So it was a hot sticky night. I slept badly because of that and because instead of locking the house up tight, as is my wont, I left *all* the doors and windows open (I kept the security screen doors shut and locked though - I'm not that stupid).

Today is Wednesday. The plan for tonight is to take the hopefully frozen messes out into the car and then into the bin (and cross my fingers they don't thaw out again overnight). Clean out the contents of the fridge and freezer and I expect most if not all will also be joining the mess in the garbage. Then I will turn the fridge off, clean it out thoroughly, wipe it over with vanilla and then leave it open and airing for the next 24 hours and then on Friday, close it, turn it back on, and then restock by the weekend.

I might even feel like breakfast by the time I get to work today - goddess knows I didn't eat anything last night! Oh that stench !!!

Fire Flower SAL - started

OK here's my first night's stitching on this one.   Fire Flower album.

Its a great design to stitch - the design elements really seem to flow from one element to the next - just load up the needle and keep going !!!! Marvellous!

Black takes a while to get used to again .... but once I got my eye in, it just stitched up so easily!

So wish I could stay home tomorrow and work on this some more ... but now my eyes are sore and I'm tired and I'm off to bed. Hope everyone else has had a great day!

Mel's Sunday update

Good morning all,

We as you know it was Cirque's turn in my rotation - however seeing as catherine was sooo close to being finished I was naughty and spent the first couple of night finishing her off.

So Catherine is now finished, washed iron and ready for framing. I also took the time while I had the ironing board out and I washed ironed and readied for framing Valour (a blackwork piece) I had finished last year. So I have a few pieces waiting on framing money now :)

I finally got back to Cirque and got a few stitches into her. It was a hell week at work so once again (as it becoming usual this year) most of the stitching was done in the latter part of the week (Thursday and Friday nights). But every stitch helps.

Pics of Catherine and Valour in my finished album. Pic of Catherine also in her own album. Pic of Cirque in its own album.

Ready to start Fire Flower tomorrow - as long as the chart arrives in the mail! Tracy shipped it 10 days ago, so it should be here soon .....

I'm off to work again for the afternoon ......

Readers ???

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Stop the presses !!!! A librarian is classed a dedicated reader !!!! Astounding!!! News at 11:00 ....

Pressie from Claire

Hey Donna - pics are in the 2007 RAKs and Presents album.

Wow what a gorgeous present - full of lovely little gifts !!!! Opening the box and lifting each item out separately was sooo much fun!!!!

The box contained:

a glass snowflake ornament for Hector
an amethyst and silver ring (WOW)
a seaside treasures thread (for cross stitch addiction chart)
a length of red ribbon with red pom poms - so cute!
a lovely handmade and hand stencilled card!
two tiny little fabric and sequined covered blank books
a large square of silk (handkerchief?)
two Dr Who BC Radio audio books
four separate lengths of bookmark fabric !!!!!
a lovely mother-of-pearl looking handled pen
a beautiful dinky-dyes embroidery scissors
lovely cross-stitch of friendship.

Oh wow !!!!!!!! The cross stitch is fabulous! I'm certainly going to frame that and hang it up where I can see it always!

The hand stencilled card is beautiful! There is soo much work that went into it - that will be kept for all time.

The ring was totally unexpected! and it just fits on my ring finger too !!!! Might wear it to work and scare my work mates - "yes this is from my ... ummm ... friend Claire - from England ...." Ooooh evil Mel !!!

The little books are sooo cute too! and I'm certainly going to have to use the bookmark material to send a pressie in return !!!!!










And England just lost to NZ in the cricket (literally 10 seconds ago) so I'm to stitch on Cirque and try out my new scissors while watching Hogfather !!!!!!!! 

Oh wow - what a gorgeous set of presents !!!!!  I'm in heaven !!!!!

More proof I'm a raving loony!

My pirate name is:

Mad Ethel Kidd

Every pirate is a little bit crazy. You, though, are more than just a little bit. Even though you're not always the traditional swaggering gallant, your steadiness and planning make you a fine, reliable pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

I got a pressie !!!

I got a box in the mail today .....

 

Can't wait until I get home to open it ....

 

Its from England ...........

 

<doing a Snoopy Dance around the library>

Happy Mel

Six bottles of beer in the fridge
Six bottles of beer
Have a stinking hot day
With no air-con at work
Four bottles of beer in the fridge........

Mel's Sunday update

Hi all, Sunday evening here - worked all weekend seeing as I had a migraine earlier this week. It was a good weekend to work considering the changes going on right now with data migration of the library software. Not to mention the welcome financial relief of the overtime money :)

Anyway I worked on Midi Mystery in the last few days and finished section 4. I had started this and done most of the cross stitching, but I still had all of the backstitch, specialty stitches and beads to attach - so still quite a bit of work.

Nate - you got this one finished ion time didn't you back at Christmas 2005?

Anyway when it was finished, instead of going onto part 5, I decided to make a bit of a change and spend a couple of days working on my ELTWIP Catherine of Aragon. No pics of Catherine, but she has a face now.

Back to Cirque des Cercles tomorrow - after we see whether the data conversion this weekend worked and whether we have a viable working database tomorrow at work :)

Movie Quizzes

I just loved both of these - so had to put a copy in my own blog :)

Melissa Hicks's Random Movie Quote: 'I can't go all my life waiting to catch you between husbands.' - Rhett Butler, Gone with the Wind Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Story of my life - all the good ones are taken !!! Conversely enough I hated this movie - probably would enjoy it more now - but was definitely anti-soppy-romance for many many years!

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Yes I love it !!!! And from one of my favourite directors !!! Ohhh this one is perfect!

UFOs and ELTWIPs

Long term outstanding projects thats may or may not ever get finished.

Poll - what piece do you want to work on?

OK ladies - choose a piece to work on .....

Gather Ye Rosebuds (aida)

 

 2

When I am an old Woman (aida)

 

 0

Fantasy RR (evenweave)

 

 0

One or more Henry VIII's wives (evenweave)

 

 1

Something completly new - not an existing WIP

 

 0

See pics of pieces in the UFOs and ELTWIPs album :)

I'll send whatever one polls the highest - and I'm sending straight to Laura on 1 March.

hugs
Mel.

Dictionary quizzes

Melissa Hicks's synonym -- crazy (... as in crazed!) 'What is your synonym?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Anyone care to disagree? Anyone at all ????

Melissa Hicks -- [adjective]: Pretentiously academian 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Wow! I've done this one five times now and this is the first time that it didn't equate me with a kangaroo !!!!!!!

Health ...

Since I got home from work last night I've had a severe headache. This morning added in a fever and upset tummy. So I spent most of today in the quiet dullness of my bed and lounge until I realised that this wasn't going to get any better on its own. Mum convinced me to get up and get to a doctor.

It turns out I have a migraine. I also have a few muscles out in my neck which have sent referred pain up into my head. So two different sets of headache which were also causing the other issues. The doc gave me some strong painkillers and muscle relaxants which are helping (after all I can and type up this blog). However the pain meds are sending me waves of dizziness and nausea. So I'm off back to the lounge for the rest of the evening.

Sorry if I haven't responded to anything you've been expecting today guys !!!

Has anything been posted on the BAPXS list about Colleen's Tara?

More Quizzes

Melissa Hicks's Amazing Mental Ability ... You can divide by zero (Remember ... with great power comes great responsibility!) 'What is your Amazing Mental Ability?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Hey give me enough chocolate or alcohol and I can I can divide anything by zero !!!

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Ooooh probably too close to the bone on this one .... this may well be my actually epitaph!

Through Song... Your significant other will write you a song to express just how much they don't like you Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Well that's different - haven't had that one before !!!!

Oooooh Pressies - CHOCOLATE !!!!!!

Oooh what a lovely way to start a week!!! After yet another dreary start to another expected dreary week at my dreary job, I went past the post office this morning and found a box from Mariann !!!!

I checked the customs form (ain't I a stinker) and it said chocolate .... so I popped it into the fridge at work instead of leaving int in a hot car all day.

At lunch I couldn't resist so I opened the present - not only did it contain chocolate - it contained a *lot* of chocolate - five different types !!!! I'm in chocolate heaven !!!!!

After I opened and sampled the Lindt Hazelnut (test one: dreary work lunch conditions - passed!) I managed to see past to read the gorgeous card, smile at the charts and ohh and ahhh at the linen !!!!

The charts are of Swiss cows because as the card says "they are essential to give us the wonderful milk that goes into the chocolate!"

The card is a beautiful snow-laden Winter landscape. I'm going to leave this out on display so I can look at it in hot weather and dream.

Finally the linen - packing material to fill up the box apparently !!!!! yeah right !!!! I only it up and had a good look at it when I got home tonight - its a gorgeous light blue mottled to white 28 ct Cashel linen limited edition from Heaven Lee Creations. If I ever need to do yet another restart on TW's the Castle, I already have the perfect material now !!!!!!

What a gorgeous present!!! THANK YOU MARIANN !!!!!!!

I'm leaving the Villars chocolate to last ..... diet - what diet - what are you talking about - I don't know that word .... must be a foreign language .....

Presents & RAKs 2007

WOW!!!!! Five blocks of Swiss chocolate {drool} cross stitch charts of Swiss cows (because that's where Swiss cloclate comes from). A gorgeous scrummy piece of hand dyed light blue linen from Heavenly Creations abd a beautiful winter scene card :) Received 15 Jan 2007

Sunday update

Well it was a very very slow stitch week for me. Went back to work full
time after three weeks off and the depression grabbed hold as I turned
into the parking lot Monday morning. Managed to shake it but was
tired and disheartened all week - so most of this week's stitching was
accomplished yesterday afternoon :)



For the first time ever I'm actually daunted by the size of this
project, so I've decided to go back to the very beginning and work on
each page in sequence. So I went back to Page A and completely filled
in the border and all hanging parts of the motifs from the page below it,
and then the same to Page B etc .... so I did lots of little clean up
bits rather than one whole chunk. I should get a good chunk done on it
next month.

I've also took a few hours this afternoon and updated all of the pics in the Dutch Beauty album so that the pics reflect each page of the design as well as one whole big picture update. I'll just update the appropriate pictures each month.



Oh I did however do the whole spinning monkey motif for Tracy :)

Meh !!!

I awoke to a very foggy day today and my brain seems to have stayed that way!

Took the car back to the repairers and reported that yes they fixed a few things I hadn't been aware of, but they still didn't fix the problem I brought it to them for. They looked and looked and I argued and argued and finally they found it. It was the ball bearings in the wheel going - just like I'd been trying to tell them. It just that it was the ball bearings in the front wheels - not the back - my mistake. Anyway they have the car now, and will call me when they have the parts and have it fixed. Its costing $250 in parts plus labor. Can we say I'm hemorrhaging money right now??? And no overtime for the next two months !!!!!

No stash being bought - not even that scrummy M sampler by Gigi.

I'm slowly losing my TV reception for the free to air TV. The cricket is atrocious - I see a few seconds, it goes fuzzy for a few seconds then I lose it completely for five seconds or so and then the cycle repeats. The antenna guy came out this morning and informed me the antenna is fine. All equipment is fine, its just that the analog strength has decreased in the past six months and will continue to do so as the govt wants people to move to digital TV. The good news is that my antenna *is* digital compliant, so I simply need to purchase a set-top box and connect it up. $250-$350 plus installation. Later! I'll just keep watching DVDs for now.

Has somebody put a technology curse on me ????

Still waiting for the plumber to ring and tell me when he's coming to fix the toilet.

Got a little bit done on Dutch Beauty - started Tracy's spinning monkey.

Lily Munster is no more .....

Yvonne decarlo - the actress who played Lily Munster died yesterday at aged 84.

http://media-newswire.com/release_1040947.html
http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/yvonnedecarlo.html

Although this actress did so much more in her career and life, its in this role that I remember her. Lily Munster was one of my first role models - I always wanted the while skin and effortless grace not to mention the black hair and white streak. I *still* want the black hair and white streak :)

RIP Yvonne.

Your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

OH dear - why do I keep doing these ..... OK

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Lady Melissa the Crepuscular of Fiddlehope in the Marsh Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Crepsular ??? I'm off to find a dictionary ..... hmmm

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Excellency Mel the Complex of Studley Roger Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

ALRIGHT !!!! This is much more like it!!! OK where's the Roger ....... Mel goes hunting a studly man called Roger ...

New Hair

Always a cheer up when you get your hair recoloured. Also the photo shows me wearing my usual weekend attire of a T-shirt :) And the fact I desperately need a hair CUT - but hey one

Back to work properly tomorrow - at my branch with all the attendant problems sitting on my desk just waiting for me to walk through the door ... oh well - that's the way it goes ...

Hair pic also at: http://gothtigger.multiply.com/photos/photo/30/17 for Teegs :)

Hugs and goodnight all

Sunday Update

Well its only Sunday morning but seeing as I've spent all of my usual stitching time this morning on the computer - I doubt I'll get any more done today - so I'll posting my update :)

I've worked long and hard (for me) on this one all week and I've got it to just about where I was on the previous restart before I lost it :)

I'm working from the chart in the Cross Stitch Gold magazine and it does not have any overlap in the subsequent pages - so I got a little confused sometimes and needed to frog - so I've put guidelines in just so I know *exactly* where each section of the chart is supposed to end. It is also coincidentally the middle of the chart so you can see where I've been working. Time to change to the next WIP in my rotation - Dutch Beauty. http://gothtigger.multiply.com/photos/album/14

I'll probably find my missing restart now that I've done this much on this one :)

How Many of Me ???

One from Karen - and remember I don't even live in the US - I've never been there! Obviously some of my relatives in the dim dark past have though - lots of them !!!

692,927 with my first name and 206,978 with my surname !!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 478 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Which Deadly Sin Is Yours ??

Why does this not surprise me ???

Which Deadly Sin Is Yours? Lust You crave the pleasures of the body. Your lustful desires make you crave more of what you know is good. Find out your Deadly Sin at Quizopolis.com

Peaceful Evening

Ever had one of those times in your life when you had something enjoyable that slowly wasn't enjoyable - until you really didn't want to do it any longer, but even then you still did it anyway?

Well today after a long time I worked *why* I really didn't enjoy doing that thing anymore. So I stopped. And I've contacted the people involved and told them and posted back the stuff that was involved.

It was only a little thing - only taking up a few hours each week - but in the hours since I made the decision and acted on it, I've felt happy. Peaceful.

I just had my dinner/tea/night-time meal of grilled salmon steak with sauteed red capsicums (bell peppers to you heathens) and broccoli. I ate it out on my balcony, in the slowly gathering dusk, with the warm weather and cooling breeze and two cockatoos eating at the feeders station two feet from where I was sitting eating my meal.

I honestly believe that one of the most peaceful and zen meals I've ever had ....

Telecommunications - the latest update!

Well it appears all my phone calls and frustrations in the last few weeks might have actually got me somewhere ....

I just walked in the door from the shopping and my phone was ringing. It was my phone and email carrier AAPT. As they are aware of my ongoing difficulties with broadband, they are connecting a separate line for me free of charge. The technician will be out at my home on Thursday afternoon between 1 and 4 pm - would that be acceptable ?????

I will of course still have to pay the monthly servicing costs for the second line - but usually a second line costs you $299 for the technician and $59 connection. That's a lot of money!

OK so I will still be on dial-up and it will be slow, but it will be on a separate line, so I can just set up photos to upload and walk away, without hoping someone doesn't ring and knock off the connection. Or purposefully stay off the net because I'm expecting a phone call.

Well this was unexpected but very nice. Still not broadband, but the best I can get int he current situation. And the free connection is a complete surprise!

Call my cynical but I'll try to sock away the $358 before the end of the month anyway - just in case).

Well its been 24 hours and my diet (ahem new way of eating) is going well. Nutritionally balanced meals, no junk food (except for some chocolate that I unearthed in the fridge last night after cleaning it out!) so far so good.

I also made enough int he crock pit yesterday that I have three meals of leftovers for the freezer!

Mariann! You'll be proud of me!

When I went to start The Castle yet again yesterday afternoon, I went looking for the green between the rocks and the castle - as that is one of the few non-blended threads so I could start with a loop start and then have some stitches in place to run the blended threads under to start .....

Well I was out of that colour wasn't I! I knew I was going to start with the actual castle first so that's all the threads I pulled out of my stash before I started. So what to do ...

I used the pinhead stitch to start! First time ever! Now every start on this piece has been a pinhead start !!! Still not dexterous enough to do a pinhead finish, but I thought doing a pinhead start was worthy enough of a post!

See you can teach a new dog old tricks !!!!!

Well sometimes ... I stitched too late into the evening last night and I pulled the blended threads for one symbol and then used those to stitch a different symbol. Stitched three different sections of this symbol before realising my mistake and undoing it all ..... oh well!

Will get back to it this afternoon or evening. Need to do a bit more cleaning and a lot of food shopping first :)

My weight

OK obviously (because I'm still ranting about the clothes days after it happened) my weight is seriously bothering me again ...

{As an aside - do you know how hard it is to type when *someone* is swishing their tail across the keyboard constantly - hang on - she's demanding cuddles }

OK where was I - oh yes - I just weighed myself before my shower and I'm 91 kilos (200 lbs) - on a 5 ft 2 in frame. Definitely obese - not as bad as I have been - but not as good either (best was 2 years ago when I got down to 79 kilos)

Anyway - when you see my Sunday updates from now on - there will tucked away a little weight measurement - and I certainly hope that it will be going down as the year progresses. Its just like stitching - every little bit counts, even if it takes all year. All progress is good progress.

Sorry if this bores the pants off of you - you can ignore this post - it just helps me to put it "in writing" so to speak :)

OK off to tidy up, put some dinner/tea/night time meal in the Crockpot have some brunch and start stitching. Will be back online in a few hours ....