Felicitations and Salutations

Merry 25th December - whatever that means to you.

Apologies {yawn} for the brevity. I'm off to the airport shortly to collect M. Teddy tout nu.

Regardless of any religious affiliations, 25th December means I get to spend 10 days straight with my loved one.  And I'm quite OK with that :)

Hmmm driving to the airport on less than 4 hours sleep - is it love or masochism?

A Charlie Brown Christmas

As performed by the cast of Scrubs.

Needs Sound. Language is not always child-friendly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Of_mna-Rs&eurl=&feature=player_embedded

WTF ???

From the ABC newsletter emailed this afternoon:

"Doctor Who fans are in for a treat when ABC TV screens the highly anticipated 2008 Doctor Who Christmas Special on Sunday January 25 at 7.30pm, on ABC 1.  Doctor Who: The Next Doctor will screen in the UK on Christmas Day, December 25, and will then be fast-tracked via tardis to Australia. "

Fast tracked.  A whole month - 31 days - fast tracked ?????

Maybe 10 years ago?  Maybe even five years ago ?????

But in an era where we are bombarded with stupid shows like Desperate Housewives within DAYS after they air in the States - the Beeb and Aunty still can't manages anything less than a month.

Now I like my Who.  I'm not a fanatic - I don't have Who-related material all over my house nor can I recite entire episodes off by heart .... but I like my Who.  I especially like knowing "what's going to happen".

I *know* I will be receiving cryptic tweets and texts while it is being screen in the UK.   I know Australian friends who will be scanning Peer-to-Peer sites and You Tube within hours of it being screened.

And TV Executives are still heralding 31 days as fast tracked ....

Meh ...

Claire posts mystery blogs where we go and and comment and its organic ....

I wonder if I can post a "cheer me up blog" ??  Any bad jokes? Links to humorous pictures? Anything to get up out of the blahs ...

I'm at work - its three days before Christmas and I'm only here for my paycheck.  My good staff are on holidays and I am surrounded my naysayers and doom prophets and obstinate old biddies who wont do a lick of work and I have no backup from management to force them to pull their socks up.

Its so demoralising and my positivity techniques are just not working.

Any suggestions?  Aside from visualizing said team members becoming acquainted with the myriad of ways to die via interesting weaponry ....

Disemboweled by a spoon?
Having their brain eaten by Claire's slugs with 27,000 teeth ....

And Third One

Heh heh heh !!!

Snuck this one in under the radar didn't I

claireej

 

And this one

Also received a phone call from my Dad today.

"Joe's hanging on the wall"

I suspect this is Dad-speak for "thank you dear - I like him very much".

Phew - two presents received and well-liked.  Three to go :)
 

Present well received

I can post this here now.

Present has been received and apparently well liked.

I beleive hearing an 18 year old coffee addicted Goth Girl going Squee down a phone is a good sign.

I have also been told that I will die a painful death if I ever mention said Goth Girl did anything as un-Goth-like as going Squee ...

She loves the sentiment, the tombstone colouring and the over the top Gothic border.  This thing ending up freaking huge for a small present - its 50 x 65 x 7cm.

It apparently hanging up in her bedroom and she's texting all her friends about it and bemoaning the dead batteries in her camera.

I suspect I did good :) :)

The Power of the Library!

Walking down the local main street today, other people looked through me or didn't notice me at all.

Walking back in the opposite direction 20 minutes later with an armload of library books, I received nods and smiles from the same sets of people .....

I picked up:
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt
The latest JD Robb
The latest PD James and
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.

Now - do I continue making the house ready for guests or do I stop and read.

Decisions decisions .....

It is a truth universally acknowledged ...

Well alright its two truths that are pertinent to me that I always need reminding ....

* Housework is a heck of lot more fun when done to loud rock music

* I am soooo much less stressed in a clean and tidy environment.

This is a general statement about living quarters, kitchen and wok places.  It does not relate in any way to creative endeavors which must appease the Gods of Chaos before anything meaningful can be accomplished.

Living in a city

Up until now I have actively resisted living in a large city (well when Sydney is your only reference point - why wouldn't you).

In the last few months I have come to appreciate, with almost childlike glee some of the benefits of inner-city living.

I mean yes there's the "I can get to work in less than 15 minutes" but I'm talking the real fun stuff.

Walking home from work eating a home made gelati from a hole in the wall shop on the way.

Just walking up Lygon Street past all the outdoor cafes watching decor change and nodding with the waiters.

Being able to walked a few blocks closer into town and watch international bike riders do circuits of the Lygon City precinct one weekend.

Feeling the ambiance of walking through a crowd of people on a Thurday and Friday night, the crowd being relaxed and simply looking forward to a night of good food and good company.

Tonight while I was on the phone to a friend I heard Christmas Carols bring played by a brass band.  It was a couple of minutes after 7pm so I thought I had messed up at 2am this morning and set my alarm for 7pm instead of 7am.  No the music was coming from outside.

The Salvation Army was walking around the local streets busking.  Whenever they got a crowd they stopped and played a carol or two and then moved on.

At one point they stopped right at the end of my street.  I couldn't get to them without losing phone coverage :)  so I stood in my yard and watched them and both my friend on the other end of the phone and I listened to them.

I now feel more mellow and full of Christmas spirit than I have in years.

And I have had neither a drop to drink nor any companionship other than the cat.  

I love living here.

MUST READ Blog !!!

http://ursulav.livejournal.com/840106.html

No matter what else is going on I must read Ursula's blog every morning.  I usually have tears of laughter and insane giggling.  There is the occasional pathos and tears of sadness - but regardless. 

READ HER BLOG!  Put it on your RSS feed.  It will gladden your soul!

Oh and her artwork is awesome!  I need more money to buy more of it.
http://www.metalandmagic.com/index.php

Power to the Cookie !!!!

Lust List - Charts A-E

Dark Side of the Moon Designs
http://www.darksideofthemoon.com.au/

OK after 750 pictures in one album I finally broke Multiply. Lust List Charts are now spread over multiple albums :)

Note: Please do not ask me to send charts to you electronically; I respect and adhere to copyright laws, and in so doing, to send you an electronically reproduced chart would put me and you in violation of those laws.

Lust List - Charts F-M

Forever in my Heart
http://www.foreverinmyheart.com/index.htm

OK after 750 pictures in one album I finally broke Multiply. Lust List Charts are now spread over multiple albums :)

Note: Please do not ask me to send charts to you electronically; I respect and adhere to copyright laws, and in so doing, to send you an electronically reproduced chart would put me and you in violation of those laws.

Hey Karen !!!!

Is this Lucy ???

http://www.maniacworld.com/dog-having-a-blast-in-the-snow.html

Christmas - getting there

Finally have all the shopping done.  Everything to be posted has been wrapped and all bar one last box has been posted.  This box will be posted express post tomorrow. 

All that's left now is to wait for one present for S to turn up in the mail and to pick one up off lay-by for A tomorrow.  Wrap both and presents are finished.

Now onto making the house habitable for three people, decorating and buying food.

The above is a treat I bought myself while at the markets this evening.  I bought exactly what I needed to for presents and nothing more - except the treat :)  It is a gluten-free chocolate cake ad I have never seen a gf done up so prettily before.  It reminded me of illustrations out of old Enid Blyton books about fairy cakes and afternoon teas :)

I forgot my phone can take pictures so I brought the cake home through a crowded market then on a very crowded tram - so it got a bit squished.  Tasted delicious though.

Time for bed.

Romance Question

OK I *know* a lot of you read Romance ... so:

This comic has me intrigued:
http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1281

The actual books in question are here:
http://www.sandrahill.net/

So .... who's read them and what do you think?

Xmas 2008

Kay sent me such a cute cat card and a gorgeous Erte calendar!

Presents, cards, Zombie tree etc for Christmas 2008

When is a crisis a crisis?

As M. de Ours Nus is aware I've been battling a few mini-crises in the last couple of weeks.

1. My new iphone broke and I was informed it would take 4-6 weeks to fix.
2. My electricity was turned off last week because after 2.5 months my service provider had not connected my account.
3. One of my stitched projects came out a bit bigger than anticipated and the initial postage/courier quote was over $200.00

1. Was, thanks to an Apple retail store, fixed within 15 minutes the next day I had off work.
2. Was, thanks to the Energy and Water Ombudsman's office, reconnected at 8:30pm the next night.
3. Was, thanks to some advice from Australian Air Express, posted for $11.50.

So my crises have caused a slight panic and many many hours on the telephone getting the right advice and all is now well.  I kinda felt a bit silly about getting overwrought by such issues that were ultimately, resolved in a short period of time and quite to my satisfaction.

Then I get to work today. We have a whole of unit afternoon tea scheduled for this afternoon.  We meet, the manager tells us we did good, we eat.  Everyone brings a plate.

The place is in an uproar!  Person X bought their food instead of making it!  Persons P & Q both bought chocolate cakes !!!  This should have been planned better - there should have been a spreadsheet !!!!!

Huh?  I work on the assumption everyone brings what they themselves want to eat.  So if all 30 people turn up with packets of Tim Tams then I assume every one of those 30 people want to eat Tim Tams ....   How?  Why is this a crisis?

Do I need to give my section more work to do?  Less work?  Are they that overwrought with "Getting it RIGHT for Christmas (tm)"?

Hmmm - in the spirit of reducing overwroughtness this season I will no longer fret about Hector II the Zombie Christmas Tree.

Hector didn't make the transition interstate too well and most of his needles died.  He's been re-potted and fed fertilizer etc and he's starting to get new shoots.  Frankly he looks ghastly!  This is the very best picture I could take of him - all the other pics were worse.

But I'm not going to stress.  I'm not going to fret and compromise my principles and buy a cut tree.  Instead, on Christmas Eve I will bring Hector inside and pretty him up as best I can and laugh with my Christmas Day companions on how appropriate it is for us to be sharing a Zombie Christmas Tree.

I wonder if we could get Jonathan Coulton to write a song: Oh Zombie Tree, Oh Zombie Tree ...

WIP - Vienna Ball

Cover pic. Need to change the background fabric.

Group files started first of December 2008. Kit arrived early January. Thanks for help in fabric selection.

Mel's Sunday Update

Not much stitching at all done this week I'm afraid.  Busy at work, Christmas things, power outage and migraines all conspired against me :)

The only stitching I did this week was this cute little small.  After all of the gift stitching I thought I'd add one tiny piece in for myself.  I actually stitched just about all of this on Thursday afternoon/evening sitting in my front garden waiting for the electricity to come back on.

Good?  Is in my 2008 Finished Album.

Also in there are the framed versions of Coffin Buzz and Verdi.

Zoom in on Coffin Buzz - I am quite pleased how this monster came out.  It is huge by the way - 20" x 24".  I had no idea this little piece would frame up so big.

The framer was fast - he framed all four pieces within a week - but I left the other two pieces there until next payday so I can finish paying for them:)

Only other news is I'm now subscribed to this and Debbie so very kindly RAKed me with the kit minus the fabric.  Mariann - want to SAL with us on this one? 

This week I'm back to BoInk trying to stay ahead of the pack while getting through a full workweek, preparing the house for visitors and doing the last of the Christmas shopping .... arrrrgh!

Now back to your regularly scheduled serenity ....

Logistics - yer doin it wrong

The picture on the left is Verdi for my Dad.  Framed it comes in at around 8"x11".  Standard size for a gift.

The picture on the right is Coffin Buzz, a present for Jane.  This comes in at 5 times the size of a normal present.  Now I know I know I went overboard with framing but Jane is a coffee-addicted 18 year old Goth Girl and I deliberately went over the top with the frame and keeping the colours somber.

But this thing is HUGE!  Its 50cm x 63cm.  Or 19.5" x 24".  I took it to Australia Post and their response was to back away with admin speak for "no fucking way".

I think I'm going to need to courier this thing.

Now the framing of this little present did turn out to be one of only two expensive presents I bought this year ... but it just seems to get more expensive every time I think about it.

I think I need to think presents through more in future .....


Oh PS, better pictures are in Finished 2008 folder and are zoomable.

Tantrum - feel free to ignore

http://europeanxs.com/online.html

I WANTZ IT !!!!

OK I know I've put myself on a self-imposed stash diet ....

I missed seeing this one before and I REALLY want it.

Not buying the kit really hurts ....

I have the money this pay but it needs to go on other things to reduce my debts.

But I REALLY want this one.

Wonder if its too late to ask Santa for a Christmas present? (hmmm no chimney, no stocking ... no belief in anthropomorphic Coke advertisements - could be an issue!)

If any unexpected and therefore unbudgeted money comes through in the next few months - the cash is going on the kit for this.

I've broken my promise already by subscribing to the chart ....  I'll collect the chart pieces for now.

{pout}

Cat Porn .....

http://www.thecatshouse.com/index.htm

I am never showing this to Trubs ....

She'd probably go and hunt down a builder .....

Big Cats and Pumpkins

via my beloved's LJ:

http://nakedteddybears.livejournal.com/386214.html

Awww - this really made my day :)

Family

Yes I am an Auntie again apparently.

I sent a gift and it was very much "squee-ed" over.

Christmas presents sent for both offspring.  Auntie duties over for another year.

Meme - Scattergories

SCATTERGORIES. ..it's harder than it looks!  

Have fun -  COPY all , PASTE it in a new form, erase my answers, enter yours, send it on.  
Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things.. nothing made up!   
 
Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question. 
   

 

WHAT IS YOUR NAME:	Mel
BOY NAME	Matthew
4 LETTER WORD:	Mate!
GIRL NAME:	Melusina
OCCUPATION:	Mechanic
A COLOR:	Mauve
SOMETHING YOU WEAR:	Mittens
BEVERAGE:	Milk
FOOD:	Melon
SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM:	Masking Tape (what else do you hold light fittings together with)
A PLACE :	Melbourne, Australia {grin}
REASON FOR BEING LATE:	Making Out
SOMETHING YOU SHOUT:	MOVE!

  -its harder than you think!!

No - not really ....

This is ridiculous !!!

It's December. Why is it cold enough that I'm wearing a jacket to work and wishing for the umteenth million time that I had bought gloves this winter? I'm freezing and my hands feel like blocks of ice.

One for the crochet people

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17297175

Have a look at their other dolls too ....

I really need to get this pair - and send one up to Sean - whenever we discuss Mythbusters he takes Jamie's side and I'm with Adam :)

Phones AGAIN

Just heard from Dad.

His phone has died - so he's asked for my old one.  He doesn't know the saga of the new phone yet.  So I've cleaned out my old phone and I'm posting to him today.

PLEASE DELETE THE OLD PHONE NUMBER FROM YOUR LISTS!

Unless you WANT to talk to my Dad.

I can still receive txts and phone calls on my new phone - I just can't reply or ring out until tomorrow when it gets fixed.

Male dominated Retail

I wasn't going to blog about this but I just had to.

As some of you know I've been having hardware issues with my iphone.  We bought it Monday, the touchpad developed a dead strip on Friday and I've been trying to find where/how to get it fixed since Saturday.

We bought it at a retail outlet, not direct from the Telco.  This was a retail chain that both Mr Bears and I have used before on a regular basis and quite appreciated their levels of customer service.

When we bought the phone on Monday in Perth they were their usual wonderful service.  I flew home that day.

Friday I discovered that my touchpad was developing a dead zone, where the finger pressing wasn't working.  This went straight over the settings button and the keypad, so I couldn't text or type in new numbers etc etc.

On Saturday I went to a local outlet of the retail store and was told "you didn't buy from this outlet, we can't help you".

I went straight to my Telco's outlet, who told me they couldn't help me, I had to put all my enquiries through the retail outlet, as I didn't buy the phone direct from the Telco.

I came home, rang the Perth outlet.  The manager apologised and said he would find me a friendly Melbourne outlet and call me straight back.

Saturday came and went.  Monday came and went.  I rang three times in Tuesday, twice the Manager was not in yet, the third time he was in but informed me his computer network was down.  He would ring me as soon as it was back up.

Tuesday went.  Wednesday came and went.  I skipped lunch today because I was in back to back meetings, so I left early at 3pm and visited another outlet of this retail store.

Waited for over 30 minutes while the two lackeys couldn't help me - I had to talk to the manager apparently. He was too busy chatting up the just out of high school lollipops.  Every time I said "excuse me, I've been waiting here" I got a got a "you will wait. I will get to you".  I was patient.  I waited  and endured this treatment for another 20 mins.  Then I blasted him.  I completely told him exactly what I thought of him and the way he ran his store and the way he treated his customers.  He shrugged, turned his back on me, and continued chatting up the lollipops.

I seethed all the way home.  Rang the Head Office who listened and then said "we'll put your through to Melbourne Area Manager".  That's it. Not apology, no explanations, nothing.

I went through it all again with the local area Manager.  His only response was "well those are the only two stores on your side of town, which one do you want to return to?"  He also informed me that I needed to return the phone to them. They would post it to the Telco to check and fix and then it would be returned to me.  It would take 4-5 weeks and I would not be getting a replacement phone.

I hung up and rang my Telco.

The first operator could barely understand English and kept asking me to repeat myself, so I asked to speak to his supervisor. He hung up on me.

I rang back and got a different operator.  After to-ing and fro-ing for over 30 minutes, me pointing out that I've been a customer for over 10 years, I will be writing to the Telecommunications Ombudsman and the local news media, I was pushed up the chain to someone who told me that I should go to directly to an Apple authorised repairer.  This operator gave me his name and extension number, and he's waiving the contract costs for the time I am without a phone.

I rang a local Apple Authorised Repairer who informed me that he can repair and service every single Apple product except the iphone.  Apple will not let their authorised repairers repair or sell iphones in Australia.  This is an Apple US decision and he gave me Apple Australia's number so I could confirm this for myself.  He did offer to look at my iphone free of charge tomorrow morning  and at least determine for certain that my problem is a hardware issue.

I rang Apple Australia and went through to their iphone support centre. It transpires that all iphone purchasers in Australia automatically qualify for 90 free service direct from Apple.  Gee the Telco's never mention this !!!

He talked me through restoring factory settings on the handset and other limited diagnostics (difficult when I can't access half the buttons because of the dead zone - including the Settings button!)

He then determined it is definitely a hardware issue and made an appointment for me to see a Mac Genius (yes that is their official title) at the Apple Retail store on the other side of Melbourne on Friday morning.  They will test my phone and confirm the diagnosis and replace my phone free of charge then and there.

So I've gone from "Sorry can't help you" to "send it to Perth who will send it to the Telco and it will take 4-5 weeks" to "we'll have you back up and running within 15 minutes of you being able to visit the Apple store".

Now if I could just get over my unreasoning desire to castrate the managers of the retail outlets, I think everything would be fine.

Moral of this story:  Never go into an outlet of only male staff without a great looking woman beside you.

Fact -gathering information:  Every iphone purchaser in Australia is entitled to 90 days free iphone support direct from apple.  If your phone plays up within the first 90 days, ignore the telco and go straight to Apple!

It only took me 2.5 hours this afternoon, five days after the phone broke, four days after we bought it, to discover this.

Mel's Snday Update

I can't remember the last time I did one of these :)

Well in the past few weeks I've stitched four Christmas presents, finished one WIP and started another :)

Three of the Christmas finishes are Witches as Friends, Coffin Buzz and Giuseppe Verdi.  The WIP I finished was Is it My Eyes.  Pics of all of these are in my 2008 Finishes folder.

I discussed Is it my Eyes in the BAPXS Wednesday Wobble so it screamed at me until I finished it ...also has its own folder where you can see the progress towards the finish. Folder here.

The new start is Inkcircles Croakworth but I have no photos of this yet. I started it while interstate last weekend but I've only stitched two small motifs so far.  I'd call this my travel project but I don;t travel anymore :)

Cutrrently I'm stitching on an RR for Laura and hope to have my section finished by next week so she can receive it back before the end of the year.

After that I have one more Christmas present to stitch, my engagement stitching to finish, another few parts on BoInk to modelstitch, and the first section of my RR for next year.

Work?  Christmas? Sleep?  Who needs any of those things ....

Not mention hoping no other projects start screaming for attention ....

On and I'm not mentioning a certain pre-arranged swarm of spiders either  ....

Personal Stuff

Ok its time I faced up to some realities.

First up is finances.  If I want to start getting myself out of my current financial mess, I will have to look at my expenditures.  I cannot affect the major items like rent, but I can affect the "everything else".

I will not be able to attend The Great Get Together or visit Mariann next year.  I simply cannot afford to incur the further debt that International Travel would entail.  I apologise to everyone, and most especially to Mariann :(

In a similar vein I'm going on a stash diet.  From now until September 2009 I will be stitching from my stash. 

Similarly I'll be cutting back my RAKs and presents.  This is the one that hurts my pride and my ego the most.  But I know you are my friends and I know you understand.  Its myself I still have to convince. So I figure if I state it upfront, then I can't cheat or lie to myself.  Any and all RAKs and presents from here on in will be simply a card and a couple of skeins of floss or fabric or a chart (all from my stash). 

I'm not looking for sympathy, I just need to face my situation and start dealing with it. Not hiding from it, overspending and whinging like I have been :)

In an effort to address this further I have set up a new blog under ID Gothtigger2009.

In that blog I will be writing thoughts and ideas and progress towards my health.  Specifically starting with my finances and my body weight in an effort to start dealing with my depression.

Any of you are welcome to friend that blog if you want to read along, offer encouragement or even better some advice :)

I'm really really sorry I have to do this.

Geek Christams Cards

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/3531904/Christmas-and-holiday-cards-for-geeks-Top-11.html

I adore these!  The third image is definitely for me :)

What's scary is I understood and smiled at all of them .... and I'm *not* a Geek's Geek.

Again for the Knitters

You know the Cricket has hit a quiet period when the commentators start discussing the relative merits of cable stitched vests over machine made .....

I Can Has Beanbag!

Stephen posted me a couple of BeanBag covers a while ago with the comment, "set one of these up for Trubs - she'd love it".

So today while out I bought some beans and filled one Bean Bag.  Well alright I got it absolutely everywhere and I suspect I'll be finding stray beans for years .... 

Anyway finally I got it filled and the area cleaned up and I sat down back with my stitching.  It took less than 5 minutes before I could take this picture .....

When she gets up I'll rearrange the beans a little to make it more comfortable for her ....

TGIF !

I have been astonishingly productive today.

I am aware of this fact due to the number of people informing me how astonished they are!

• My office no longer resembled a bombsite.
• Noticeable progress on most projects has been made.
• Some possibly controversial suggestions/recommendations/actions have been accepted very positively.

Scared now.

Going home for a weekend of watching the cricket.  Couch Sloths Unite!

Hmmm ....

Guess which project I was stitching when I left to answer the phone.  Is this now an occupational hazard whenever I answer the phone to Mr N T Bears?

Fourth Present Finished

Everything to go to the framers is now completely finished.

there's still a fifth present to go - but that one doesn't need framing.

No pics as the intended recipient reads this blog.

For the Knitters .... again

http://www.thedevilspanties.com/d/20081124.html

Edited to include this one for the rest of us :)

http://www.thedevilspanties.com/d/20081117.html

Tagged

Well seeing as I've been tagged multiple times again - I figured I'd better join in :)

Here are the rules:

• Find the 6th folder in your photos folder and then the 6th photo in it.
• Pray that you remember the details ;)
• Post it on your blog
• Tag 5 others, leave a comment to let them know they’ve been tagged.

I think everyone has been tagged on this one - if you haven't then "Tag" you have been now!

Sixth folder for me is 2008 Finished Stitching.  Sixth photo is the framed Mayet I gave to Denise for Mother's Day back in May.

testing

My Week

Ever had weeks where you wish you could redo parts of them?

That's my week this week.

Maybe I should stitch this one up as a reminder to myself to think more before I act.

New Theme

Does this theme work?  Does it look better?

Third Present Finished

Stitched on white 28ct Cashel linen using recommended DMC threads.  Chart from an old 1990s Cross Stitch Australia magazine. 

This and the First Present need to go to the framer on Friday.

Time to see if I'm optimistic enough to start the fourth present ....

Second Present Finished

Stitched on Picture This "Echo" 28ct Cashel linen.

Stitched using recommended Crescent Colours threads.

Chart is from Moonflower Designs

Third present to be continued.

This one can wait until next pay day.  First and Third presents need to go to the framer on Friday.

Michel de Montaigne

Last week I threw out a quote I liked from a 16th Century Philosopher Michel de Montaigne.

When I play with my cat, who knows whether she is not amusing herself with me more than I with her. Michel de Montaigne

As is the way of life, today I read a blog entry providing more insights into Montaigne.

http://orweblog.oclc.org/archives/001792.html

Have a read - I love Lorcan's style - and shall definitely have to hunt down a biography of young Michel now .....

Curse of the Missing Floss

Not only did I have to wait nearly a week for a missing thread to turn up for Project 2 .... now I've just run out of DMC 3371 for project 3.

Hopefully I'll be able to pick some up on the way home from work on Thursday.

Christmas Day Food

I'm hosting Christmas this year.  Christmas Day will be spent with my beloved NakedTeddyBears and my best Real Life friend Alison and possibly some other friends dropping past.

So this is all new - none of the traditions I've been brought up with are required to be included.  We have a fantastic opportunity to create new traditions.

So what do you do in your house for Christmas Day?

What foods do you prepare?
What activities do you do?

If you were in the same situation - which of your traditions would you get rid of and why?
How would you prefer to spend your Day?

Most importantly:  What foods would you serve?

And for those in the Northern Climes:
What food would you serve if it was the middle of Summer?

Tagged??? WTF ????

OK it appears I got tagged by Mariann's friend Milly's friend Cherie.

Cherie do I even know you ????

Oh well this tagging thing is as you've seen on everyone's site is 6 random facts about me.  People who know me will understand why I've chosen these six quotations :) :) :)

1. I'm a woman of many moods and they all require chocolate. Forever in My Heart Cross Stitch Design
2. Librarians are the secret masters of the world They control information. Don't ever piss one off. Spider Robinson
3. There is nothing nobler or more admirable than when two people who see eye to eye keep house as man and wife, confounding their enemies and delighting their friends. Homer
4. When I play with my cat, who knows whether she is not amusing herself with me more than I with her. Michel de Montaigne
5. Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do. Mark Twain
6. I have eaten eight kinds of meats; I'm a true Renaissance man. Homer Simpson
   

First Present Finished

Stitched on Silkweavers "Boo" 28ct Cashel linen.

Lettering: Caron Wildflowers 074 "Storm Clouds"
Tombstone header and footer: Caron Waterlilies 011 "Pebbles"
Large Motifs: Kreinik #4 Very Fine Braid 001V Antique Silver
Small Motifs: Kreinik #4 Very Fine Braid 4002 Pixie Dust

Chart is a freebie from Plum Street Samplers:
http://plumstreetsamplers.typepad.com/plum_street_samplers/2008/07/index.html  {Scroll down to 25 July posting}

Threads and fabric were all my own choices. Click the Zoom In to see the sparklies :)

Second present waiting on one thread.
Third present started last night.

Twitter

I've been twittering for a while thanks to Claire and I mostly use it as another chat site between a couple of us or send out small group messages.

Yesterday however I noticed that Stephen Fry was on Twitter and allows anyone to "follow" him.  So I did.

Like anything technological, Mr Fry has taken to it like well ... me to chocolate. He is currently in Madagascar shooting an episode for a TV series that's a follow up to the book "Last Chance to See".  He is in the wilds of Madagascar with virtually no phone or internet reception, but he still manages to take pics on his phone and every now and them upload them via Twitter.

Last night he posted some gorgeous pics of Civet Cats and Baobab trees.  Along with some trademark wry comments :)

If you are on Twitter, I suggest you look up stephenfry and follow him.

2 New Items on My Amazon Wish-list

(This blog entry was automatically generated by Multiply's Wish-list Cross-posting feature.)

Below are items recently added to my Amazon wish-list. If you are familiar with anything below and have any comments or alternate suggestions, please leave a reply.

Click here to see my full and current wish-list.

---

The Graveyard Book Manufacturer: HarperCollins Price: $10.08 Learn More

---

Anathem Manufacturer: William Morrow Price: $14.94 Learn More

I shoulda stood in bed

And I didn't even mix carrot juice and radish juice ....*

Ever have one of those days?

• Went down to the basement to see progress on stocktake and got grease and oil all over my favourite white work shirt
• My dearly beloved monthly reminder of my status as viable female turned up in a flood in  the middle of a three hour webinar.**
• After cleaning up as best I could I went out to get supplies and lost a $20 note out of my pocket.  The last of my food money for the week .....
• Raided the rent money, bought supplies and bought lunch and I'm now back at my desk staring at my lunch thinking "I don't want to eat that".

There are some months that I really should be locked up for three days. 

If I really was an Evil Overlord all women would get three paid leave days per month.  Trust me its better on those around us that way.

I want to scream and yell and pound the walls in frustration, but being a professional at work, no-one knows there's anything different to normal.

Oh well - off to the next meeting in a couple of minutes.




* obligatory Bugs Bunny quote
** why menstruate when you can't provide viable eggs?  Stupid body!

Test Blog

Mel, just for you and me...I need a page I can put a reply or two on to see if it works ok.

One for the knitters .....

Or for those who can't see the picture:  http://comics.com/herman/?Page=1

Look for comic dated 2008-11-10.

On target

Wonder how many copies of tonight's User Friendly will be sent to the Australian Communications Minister ????

I'm in an alternate dimension ....

Outside in my little front courtyard I have a glass bowl of birdseed - trying to tempt birds to come into the area.

My cat is sunning herself out there in the garden.  Trubs goes orgasmic in pure sunlight.

There are birds coming to and from the food - not concerned in the slightest that there's a fully grown cat less than a metre away.

There's a fully grown cat, completely ignoring all the juicy plump pigeons that are landing less than a metre away from her ....

Yet if *I* walk past the front window or out the front door, the birds scatter and the cat stares at me accusingly.

This state has been ongoing for over two hours now .....

I think I'm obviously missing something that's going on in the natural world around me ......

Christmas Stitching

From a series of Composers charted in early Cross Stitch Australia magazine.

Finished 19 November 2008.

Christmas Presents this year. Works in progress.

Deadline = Motivation

On Wednesday for some insane reason I decided to stitch some presents for Christmas for some friends whom I had no idea what else to get for them.

Some panicking, raiding of stash, quickly repurchasing a missing   chart, not quite to quickly purchasing missing threads .... and I've made a start.

I'm doing Witches as Friends by Moonflower Designs for my Alison my real life best friend, and yes she is a Pagan and proud of it.

As this is a small stitch I have it mostly finished.  Just waiting for one skein of Crescent Colours Finley Gold to arrive in my mail box to finish off the broomstick's bristles.  Then this little one is done.

I'm doing Coffin Buzz by Plum Street Samplers for her daughter Jane.  Jane is an 18 year old Goth Girl who has a passion for high quality coffee.

This is the Halloween freebie by Plum Street Samplers and although it is a monochromatic piece, I've been having a play.  I'm stitching it on Silkweaver's Boo linen.  Using Caron wildflowers Storm Clouds for the lettering.  Using Caron Waterlillies Pebbles for the headstone header and footer and then probably two Kreinik #4 braids for the other bits and bobs.

Then I'm going to start another composer for my Dad, in the same series as the Mozart piece I did a few years ago....

Both of these are still WIPs and Dad's isn't even started - but I will get there.....

Just as long as they finished in time to find a framer NEXT SATURDAY there wont be any problems ......

My Kingdom for some needles

Caron Wildflowers are too thick to go through the eye of some John James petites size 28 needles.

My kingdom for some size 26 needles.

Or maybe just some more patience.

Off to stitch some more !

A day in the life of ...

Like any child, I always wondered if my life would make a good story - the answer is no.

The bits that aren't boring appear so contrived that I, as the reader, would have thrown the book against the wall*.

Take this morning as a case in point. I had a meeting a suburb away, so mindful of my desire to shed body fat and reduce my fuel budget, I walked there. I walked along a major arterial road for 30 minutes. About 10 minutes in, I noticed that I had overtaken one particular moving van three times. I was witnessing morning hour peak traffic for the first time. Every time a tram stopped, the cars had to stop. Every time the lights changed for a smaller road to feed in, the cars on the arterial road stopped.

Both times I mostly kept going because I was on the footpath and I could cross the smaller roads as soon as the cars moved on; I didn't have to wait for the lights to change. I actually started to pull ahead of the traffic at one point where I was one set of traffic lights in front of the moving van. He actually noticed this and was starting to exhibit signs of road rage and frustration. He went through two red lights just as I reached my destination.

The contrived portion of this story? My appointment was with Vic Roads - I now have a Victorian Drivers Licence.

This afternoon I was driving around in the middle of a storm. I learned that Victorian (or maybe just Melbourne) drivers have a different set of rules when its wet. It appears when it starts to rain, we ignore all the rules regarding right of way, traffic lights and when to pull out in front of other vehicles. You see in the wet it appears the only rule is get out my way or get hit. He with the cheapest car goes first.

I discovered today, I am no longer the terror of the highways I once was. I haven't been caught speeding in over 7 years. And compared to Melbourne drivers - I'm a yellow bellied coward!

I've become a responsible driver ..... even a sedate driver. My mum would be happy - if she believed it .....




* Actually I've only ever done this once. It was a murder mystery set in Ancient Rome and the writer described the banquet as containing brown sugar !!!!

We know Knitters like this ....

I swear that last panel is referring to Tracy's mum !!!

http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1267

My Only comment on the US election

http://www.pvponline.com/2008/11/04/smithjones-08/

Kindly forwarded to me by

nakedteddybears

 

OK life is back to normal!

Was talking with Alison on the phone this evening and asked her what she wanted for Christmas.  After the usual "you don't have to get me anything" she finally relented and said she'd LOVE something small stitched by me.

So I figured great - I'd always been meaning to stitch a version of this up for her.  I hunted high and low and found suitable fabric, and I still have all the threads from last time .... great.

THREE hours later and I still haven't found the chart.  Something tells me I may have given it away ....

So I figured I would do Fanta Cat's The Spirit Within instead.  I have the chart and I actually have the fabric!


I don't have ANY of the threads ....



{sigh}  Life is back to normal.

Wedding Dresses

Stephen sent me this LINK

with the comment: No. That's all I'm saying.


Do I dare admit that I actually like the red one ?????

You know these remind me of the dresses Sisu was hunting down for me to wear at the Great Get Together ......

Awwww ......

So cute - and even child friendly :)

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=VaM9mrnOMJo

Tell me you didn't have a smile on your face after watching that :)

Post Engagement Announcement

In the last couple of days, since Stephen and I announced our engagement, I have been shocked and hurt by the number of nasty people who have come out of the woodwork to attack us.

A recent ex of Stephen, a long term ex of his, my ex-husband and friends and sycophants of all of these. They have spewed bile, nastiness, guilt trips, attacks on our self esteem and just general snideness.

This has gotten me down - mainly because I was naive enough to think that our engagement had to do with us, not them.  I know Stephen is coping with this much better than I am; I've spent most of today in tears.

But I've come to realise, they're just indulging in Schadenfreude or something like it.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=2NUQ_oa3JSU

You Tube's not playing nicely with embeds tonight.

I'm off to bed - I hope you enjoy the video - yes there is a bad word or two for those with small children.

You've been tagged

Each blogger starts with 10 random facts/habits about themselves (current).
Bloggers who are tagged need to blog about their own 10 random facts/habits.
At the end of your blog, tag 10 people and list their names.
Don't forget to leave them a comment and tell them that they've been tagged and to read your blog .....

1. I'm scared stupid at the thought of sharing my house.  To the point where I'm having nightmares about it.
2. I impulse buy on Amazon sales and xstitch sales and then have no money left for food.
3. I DETEST owing money to family or friends.  I detest giving anybody the opportunity to try to guilt-trip me.
4. Chocolate is my comfort food and my addiction.  I eat it daily.
5. I decided when I was 5 years old that I would never have kids.  I haven't wavered from that in the 30 plus years since.
6. I've been a supervisor/team leader/Manager at work for over 10 years in various organisations. I still get knots in my stomach dealing with people and would prefer to work on my own.
7. I will be devastated when Trouble dies of old age.  I check on her every time I wake up during the night to make sure she is still with me and still breathing.
8. I suffer from depression and mild anxiety.  I have every since puberty.  I have only gotten close to actually committing suicide once.
9. I suffer incredible amounts of low self-esteem and really don't understand why people put up with me.
10 I cherish each and every one of my friends of family who can know these these things about me and still want to talk to me anyway :)


Hmm - well that ended up being more depressing than anything else - oh well. No point tagging - everyone in my network has probably already been tagged anyway.  Time to go read what other people have written - thanks Jim for the exercise :)

Mel's Sunday Update

Morning all,

Well as you know I'm now engaged :)  It seems so unexpectedly different now its "officially announced".  Scary even.

Anyway - as per expectations, I've been doing some engagement stitching.

A while ago I asked for help in transferring these colours:

DMC   334 Pale Indigo Blue
DMC 3042 Lilac
DMC 3053 Tweed Green
DMC 3779 Pale Terracotta

into hand dyed threads.   As there were large swatches of the same colour being used, I wanted a more mottled look to the background rather than the flat uniformity of DMC.

 As per some suggestions, I went directly to the source and contacted Carrie of Carrie's Creations.

The next day the seriously talented Tracy of Inkcircles visited Carrie and the pair of them came up with a couple of colour ranges for me to choose from; from a faithful rendition of the original pastels, to the "more Mel" palette to a funky Halloween combo.

As you can see from the picture above Stephen and I chose the "more Mel" colour palette :)

Amethyst
Sea Green
Lavender
Monarch

These threads arrived on Thursday in Tracy's RAK package :)  So this is why Tracy knew my news before everyone else :) :) :) :)

I've been stitching feverishly Thursday night, Friday night and all day yesterday to get all the cross stitches done.

I had one false start - I originally started this on the opalescent Silkweaver fabric fabric Wandering Ivy.  Unfortunately the pink was far too garish so I unpicked and started again on ordinary white Wichelt linen.

The backstitching was supposed to be done in DMC310 Perle 5.  Instead I chose to do it in three strands of Carrie's limited edition Dark Seaweed.

Unfortunately I don't think the wording stands out enough on the darker colours - so I am considering ripping out the part I had already done, and replacing it with something completely different - like perhaps a gold metallic?

I've left this to ponder on for a day or so and gone back to working on the border of BoInk instead ....

However as an aside, this has helped me kit up Croakworth!  Tracy RAKed me with Croakworth in the same package.  I've decided to do Croakworth on the Silkweaver Opalescent Wandering Ivy, stitched with predominantly Carrie's Limited edition Dark Seaweed, with touches of Sea Green.   Its all here together thanks to the engagement stitching.  Now just to hope that two skeins of Dark Seaweed on 2 over 2 on 32ct is enough to do all of Croakworth .....

Hmm I think I thus have my next project lined up too .... well after Mariann's Hardanger kit and .....

Nooo - not enough time ..... why do I need to go to work for 40 hours a week?  And housework - why does the housework need to be done?  And the washing and the cooking and ......

Engagement stitching

This is how I believe it would look on the wall and I just don't think there's enough colour difference. So I'm going to have to frog the Dark Seaweed and re stitch it. I was thinking perhaps a metallic gold?

For Better or For Worse
My Mark Designs

Joining In .....

I am a sheep .....

The Rules:
A.) Go to http://musicoutfitters.com/
B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs IN THE US of that year (the top link).
C.) Green the songs you like,  Red the ones you REALLY hate.

So I simplified the rules ..... anything not green or red I can't remember or don't care about or simply don't know.

I graduated High School (Secondary school, college, what have you) in 1989.

1. Look Away, Chicago
2. My Prerogative, Bobby Brown
3. Every Rose Has Its Thorn, Poison
4. Straight Up, Paula Abdul
5. Miss You Much, Janet Jackson
6. Cold Hearted, Paula Abdul
7. Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler
8. Girl You Know Its True, Milli Vanilli
9. Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird, Will To Power
10. Giving You The Best That I Got, Anita Baker
11. Right Here Waiting, Richard Marx
12. Waiting For A Star To Fall, Boy Meets Girl
13. Lost In Your Eyes, Debbie Gibson
14. Don't Wanna Lose You, Gloria Estefan
15. Heaven, Warrant
16. Girl I'm Gonna Miss You, Milli Vanilli
17. The Look, Roxette
18. She Drives Me Crazy, Fine Young Cannibals
19. On Our Own, Bobby Brown
20. Two Hearts, Phil Collins
21. Blame It On The Rain, Milli Vanilli
22. Listen To Your Heart, Roxette
23. I'll Be There For You, Bon Jovi
24. If You Don't Know Me By Now, Simply Red
25. Like A Prayer, Madonna
26. I'll Be Loving You (Forever), New Kids On The Block
27. How Can I Fall?, Breathe
28. Baby Don't Forget My Number, Milli Vanilli
29. Toy Solider, Martika
30. Forever Your Girl, Paula Abdul
31. The Living Years, Mike + the Mechanics
32. Eternal Flame, The Bangles
33. Wild Thing, Tone Loc
34. When I See You Smile, Bad English
35. If I Could Turn Back Time, Cher
36. Buffalo Stance, Neneh Cherry
37. When I'm With You, Sheriff
38. Don't Rush Me, Taylor Dayne
39. Born To Be My Baby, Bon Jovi
40. Good Thing, Fine Young Cannibals
41. The Lover In Me, Sheena Easton
42. Bust A Move, Young M.C.
43. Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Great White
44. Batdance, Prince
45. Rock On, Michael Damian
46. Real Lov, Jody Watley
47. Love Shack, B-52's
48. Every Little Step, Bobby Brown
49. Hangin' Tough, New Kids On The Block
50. My Heart Can't Tell You No, Rod Stewart
51. So Alive, Love and Rockets
52. You Got It (The Right Stuff), New Kids On The Block
53. Armageddon It, Def Leppard
54. Satisfied, Richard Marx
55. Express Yourself, Madonna
56. I Like It, Dino
57. Soldier Of Love, Donny Osmond
58. Sowing The Seeds Of Love, Tears For Fears
59. Cherish, Madonna
60. When The Children Cry, White Lion
61. 18 And Life, Skid Row
62. I Don't Want Your Love, Duran Duran
63. Second Chances, .38 Special
64. The Way You Love Me, Karyn White
65. Funky Cold Medina, Tone Loc
66. In Your Room, Bangles
67. Miss You Like Crazy, Natalie Cole
68. Love Song, Cure
69. Secret Rendesvous, Karyn White
70. Angel Eyes, Jeff Healey Band
71. Patience, Guns N' Roses
72. Walk On Water, Eddie Money
73. Cover Girl, New Kids On The Block
74. Welcom To The Jungle, Guns N' Roses
75. Shower Me With Your Love, Surface
76. Stand, R.E.M.
77. Close My Eyes Forever, Lita Ford
78. All This Time, Tiffany
79. After All, Cher and Peter Cetera
80. Roni, Bobby Brown
81. Love In An Elevator, Aerosmith
82. Lay Your Hands On Me, Bon Jovi
83. This Promise, When In Rome
84. What I Am, Edie Brickell and The New Bohemians
85. I Remember Holding You, Boys Club
86. Paradise City, Guns N' Roses
87. Iwanna Have Some Fun, Samantha Fox
88. She Wants To Dance With Me, Rick Astley
89. Dreamin', Vanessa Williams
90. It's No Crime, Babyface
91. Poison, Alice Cooper
92. This Time I Know It's For Real, Donna Summer
93. Smooth Criminal, Michael Jackson
94. Heavan Help Me, Deon Estus
95. Rock Wit'cha, Bobby Brown
96. Thinking Of You, Sa-fire
97. What You Don't Know, Expose
98. Surrender To Me, Ann Wilson and Robin Zander
99. The End Of The Innocence, Don Henley
100. Keep On Movin', Soul II Soul

Make sure you are sitting down

before you click on the LINK ....

Happy Halloween

http://soap-queen.blogspot.com/2008/10/tutorial-bubbles-from-crypt.html

you know I should buy the appropriate moulds and make some of these .....

Hmmm wedding favours?

Chocolate Frocks

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/gallery/0,26498,5035475-5007150-1,00.html

Link sent to me by

nakedteddybears

 to cheer me up after the last post.

Nooooooooooo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As long as he kisses Captain Jack on the way out .....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7698539.stm

Bad Tracy!

The very very sweet card says "here are a few goodies for you".

A few ????????????????????

Oh. My. God!

From her own talents we have:
Celtic Beasties: Halloween or Knot
Pizzazz
Croakworth !!!!

SQUEEEEEEEE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Also some gorgeous chocolate:
dark chocolate cocoa nib
milk chocolate wafer crisp
milk chocolate toffee

To quote Sylvester: Yumm - eee yum !!!!

From a friends de-stashing exercise she also sent me:
a cute seashorse!
Witches Stitches: Star Maiden
Kustom Krafts: Hell's Gatekeeper (is she telling me something here?)
CherryTree: Dragons' Treasure
Sarah May: Egyptian Queen

Oh my!  I am such a lucky girl !!!!  I think I do have a couple of the de-stashed charts in my stash already, so if I do, I will share these around to other lucky friends!

Which chart will I kit up first ?????  Ooooh no.  Better get BoInk finished first before Tracy decides to take all these back :) :) :)

AND YES there are better pictures here.

Feel good story for Monday Morning

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/world/americas/20burro.html

OK don't fall down ......

I know my reputation regarding the C-word ..... but this year I actually have to get organised and actually plan a budget.  Not being a cheapskate (well more than I have to be) but just so I can factor some into each pay as and when I can rather than just blowing out my credit cards as I have done previously.

{Yes yes I know - this is how normal people do it}.

So questions:

1. Mariann and Claire - are we doing the ex-BAPXS Christmas Card Exchange again this year?  Mariann are you happy to organise and check the list of participants to see if they all want to participate again?

2. Everyone - do you have a particular wish list or Amazon list that you want my attention directed to this year?

Yes I'm being blunt, but the success of Claire's audacity in just saying "here's my amazon.co.uk list" that made life easier for some of us and got Claire *exactly* what she wanted - well why not?

Lets use those wish lists people!    Which would be your favourite wish list for me to use?

{Deities only know that there's no way you're all getting handmade gifts this year - so direct me to the commercial sites}

Yes all of you - you responses and subsequent gift/card offerings will be ranked in terms of budgeting though - usual disclaimers regarding whims and "just because you want it aint mean you're gonna get it" still apply:) :)

Whinging Drama Queen

You know, sometimes there is an upside to being such a whinging whiny Drama Queen.

Between Alison's place and the shops is a very steep hill.  Going to the shops is fine - its downhill.

I was dreading coming back home.  Walking up towards the steep part I started composing a blog post in my head, a tableau of me lying face down in Alison's lounge-room, drooling because I don't have the energy to move, wishing I was dead .... perhaps a side issue in there about minutely examining the dust bunnies ... Jane and the dogs leaving me alone because they were laughing too hard to leap upon me in my time of vulnerability.

I was just trying to figure out where the cats fit into the scenario, when I looked around and realised I had completely walked the steep bit and was literally on the downward trip home.

I was breathing hard - but not excessively.  No signs I was about to throw up or have a heart attack.

You know there might just be something to this regular exercise business after all .....