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 .....

Going offline

I'll be offline shortly for four days.  Going interstate with a conference for the rest of the week and then spending the weekend with Alison.

All packed for the morning when I will leave fresh litter and lots of food and water for Trubs.  One of the women at work has offered to look in on Trubs a couple of times, but seeing as I've only known her a couple of weeks I thought it best to leave out enough supplies for Trubs just in case.

I've also washed, ironed, tidied etc so when I get home that Sunday night I only need to collapse in bed. I'll be home on Sunday too late for the 'puter so I'll be online again Monday after work.

Enjoy yourselves for the next few days and don't do anything I wouldn't do.

Thank you Claire

I received the sweetest parcel from Claire in today's mail ....

A most gorgeous frog fob !!!

A great fridge magnet!

A beautiful tiny kit I will take with me over the weekend.

A sooooo cute pair of socks !!!  Definitely wearing those this weekend!

Finally but by no means least a gorgeous book on Hardangar - definitely some projects in there I want to do as soon as I finish Mariann's teaching piece :)

More pics here.

Bad Hilary !!!!

Hilary RAKed me !!!  She said she was just going to send a couple of skeins of floss as a housewarming present.

She sent me FIFTY skeins of floss and a HUGE piece of Silkweavers opalescent fabric !!!!

12 Weeks
10 Gentle Arts
7 Dragon Floss
6 Dinky Dyes
3 Belle Soie
2 Crescent Colours
2 Kays Kullors
2 Carrie'sCreations
1 Six Strand Sweets
1 Sugared Almonds
1 Kates Kloths
1 Olde Willow Stitchery
1 Silk 'n Colors
1 Waterlillies

This is too much generosity!  'm going to kit up whatever charts I can and then I'm going to RAK out the rest of these threads!  I definitely want to share the love for these threads! 

Is that OK Hilary?

Oh Great!

Stephen is now sending house-pornography photos to my cat ....

http://mfrost.typepad.com/cute_overload/2008/10/post-1.html

I'm going to have to listen to her whine for a week now !!!!

Hugs and good night all .....

Spring Cleaning

There's something indefinable but so visceral about stripping the bed and putting away the winter doona (comforter) and pulling out the summer bedspread instead.

As you can see the supervisor and bed tester was on hand to ensure that quality standards were maintained.  I really pity those of you who don't have such QA personnel on hand!

So I got a little inspired today.  I've tidied every room in the house and cleaned the front and back yards.  Even attacked the ivy in the front yard!

About to have a late lunch and then do the floors and of course the ironing tonight (what would Sunday night be without the ironing pile ....)

Have uploaded five new pics in Trouble's album and also put up a couple of shots of the Front Yard and Back Yard.

No stitching today ....

EDITED: Trubs no longer loves this house as much as she did.  The dreaded Vacuum Cleaner Monster has found her!

I've been spot vacuuming here and there but today is the first day that I completely thoroughly vacuumed every room in the house!  Then I mopped too!

I'd better lie down until this sudden attack of cleaning passes.

Hugs all

New Home - Back Yard

Again there's height to these plants assisting in providing more visual privacy.

And that is the back gate into the communal car area. And yes I have to push past the plants to get there.

Not as pretty as the front - need to consider what if anything I want to do with it. Frankly I wont be here long, so not sure if I should expend much more energy over keeping it clean and tidy.

New Home - Front Yard

Pic taken standing in doorway to house :) I really need to find somewhere else to put the bins .....

Front yard at the new place.

19 October 2008

Positives

I've been whinging and whining a lot lately.

This morning as I lay in my comfy bed in my lovely bedroom, with a cat purring against me and surrounded by the tangible expressions of affection from my friends and loved ones, I starting thinking about all the good things in my life:

• I have a partner who loves me, my flaws and all, and repeatedly tells me that he wants to marry me and grow old with me.
• Even though I've recently moved, I have friends and family scattered across Australia and across the world.  As long as I have my phone with me, I am never alone.
  
• In this new city I have friends of my partner, that I am hoping to become friends with in my own right, rather than being tolerated because I'm their friend's partner :)
  
• I have a long-term companion cat that is intelligent and eloquent "Its feeding time, shouldn't you be thinking about getting yourself some dinner too?"
  
• I have a well-paying job that holds sufficient challenge to get me out of bed each morning and make me feel like I am earning my wages.
  
• I am financially independent. Although my take home pay is not quite what I expected, it is enough to cover all of my costs, afford me a decent (not decadent) lifestyle and my long term debts will be paid out in two years.  If my situation improves they will be paid out earlier :)
  
• I am emotionally independent.  I enjoy my own company.  I don't feel the need to be "on" or surrounded by people at all times to shield me from myself.  I'm comfortable with me.  And there are mights where I love just having me, the cat , my stitching and a good DVD.
• Stephen taught me the art of people watching.  I enjoy going out to restaurants by myself and watching the people around me.  Its surprisingly a lot of fun and insightful as to other people live. 
• I love my little apartment - it is beautiful with the high exposed beam ceilings, it feel larger and more airy than it is.  It is my sanctuary and I feel at peace within her.
  
• I love the new city I'm in.  I'm getting used to its quirks and look forward to spending years exploring its cultural and gastronomical diversities.
  

Yep I have life pretty good.  Best of all, I have a cat in my lap and who I'm about to disturb, for breakfast this morning is waffles.

Yes I found gluten-free waffles which I 'm dressing with organic full cream and real Canadian organic Maple Syrup .....

Life is good.

Comic

Hey I just found a webcomic that seems to be all about me :) :) :) :)

No Room for Magic

Read from the first strip :)

Please pass the cheese

Yes I'm whining - feel free to ignore.

One of the aspects of my Myers Briggs personality test is that I get easily irritated when others refuse to take decisive action.

Another aspect is that I must be more aware that change can be far more difficult for other people than myself.

Although about as accurate as Astrology - I think these two statements do apply to me.  And they both apply in situations at work and at home at the moment.  That's why I'm whining here instead of at the people I really want to whine at.
,.
Also today is the funeral.  My supervisor's secretary suicided from depression last Friday.  We got the news mid-morning Monday.  As the only person in the office who hasn't known her for at least 10 years I had to keep the office running this week and represent the section at various meetings etc that my supervisor wasn't up to attending,.  I was also being the rock in the office for all the girls to come to as I would supply tissues and a shoulder. 

I only knew her and worked along side her for three weeks, but it was enough to feel some grief.  I just do my crying at home.  Its easier on everyone this way.

Oh well - whining time over - time to get my shoes on and remember how many debts I still have to pay off.

Mel's choice for 2009 RR

Which of these projects do you want to work on the most next year?

Seasons of the Trees by Rosewood Manor

 

 1

Historical Dress Sampler by Pako

 

 2

Beautie Spotte by Long Dog

 

 1

OK I can't choose I just can't choose.

Pictures of these designs are here.

Moving in

I hate moving!

New place in Victoria. A couple of snapshots after I unearthed the camera while unpacking.

September 2008.

Mel's Sunday Update

Wow its been a while since I did one of these.

Lets see - I've been working on BoInk.  I'm now two sections completed ahead of the rest of you and I have finally outlined the rest of the border.  Hope to spend some time filling in the border this afternoon.  Allowable pics here.

I have recently had two new finishes.  One is a gift and the other is Black Beauty.  Hope to get both Black Beauty and Something in Red framed soon.  Pics here.

I've updated the pictures of my Round Robin that's been going around.  Dragons have been stitched by Laura, Sisu, Lyne, Mariann and Claire.  Its now off to Denise, Karen and then Kay to finish off before coming home.  The ladies have done some fabulous stitching on this one - some great personalisation of threads at times too. Pics here.

I've received some gorgeous presents recently.  Held-over birthday presents and house warming presents.  Pics here.

Also for those interested, I've uploaded more pictures of Trouble, Hemingway, Alison's mob, my farewell from the old job and the last pics of the wildlife around my old home..  I've also started a new album and included some pics of the moving in ....

I think that's all for now.  I went stash diving this week and now have sooo many projects screaming at me I don't know which one to start first !!!  I'll get some more done on BoInk I think.  I'm starting to smell the finish coming, so another few weeks and it should be done. Maybe by the end of the month .....  then next start will definitely be Mariann's gift to me!

Materialism

I was chatting with a friend the other day and the topic of gifts came up.  Well considering how many birthdays are in October and then we have the big C-word shortly its not surprising the topic came up :) :)

{I gotta stop being friends with so many Librans and Scorpians}

Anyway the topic came up of passing on used or castoff items as gifts.  The question was centered around high end electronic equipment like Blackberry's, iphones, eBook readers.  Basically the question was, if you upgrade these, can you give the old one away as a gift?  And if so is it bad form to wrap it and give it a big present ie Birthday or Christmas.

My thoughts were of course its OK!  But then we all know I'm an exceedingly materialistic person and also I grew up in a cash-poor extended family where castoffs were a natural order of the day.

I think when I was growing up the only clothes that were not hand-me-downs or out of thrift shops were my Sunday Best and my school uniforms.

So to me it is natural to pass on cast-offs, especially expensive equipment.  If for example Stephen was up to upgrade his Blackberry and give me his old one as a Christmas present I would be delighted !!! (No that's not a hint honey!).  The way I see it, its an expensive gadget that I'd like but I could not ever justify the expense of buying one for myself.  So I see no problems there.

But am I out of touch with modern society?  If I did that to someone else, would I be sneered upon and treated as a social outcast, because I snobbishly passed on my castoffs instead of spending "real" money on a gift?

Curious to hear other people's point of view.

There are no wrong or right answers and no-one will be chastised for their opinion - I am just curious as to how others view this issue?  What would Dear Abby say?  {Besides "Hi Gibbs"}

On a smaller scale would the same opinions hold for say cross stitch charts?  I have some originals in my stash that I have opened and looked at but never stitched.  Is it OK to wrap them and send as a Christmas Present?  Or should they "just" be sent as a RAK?  What about used charts?  What's the current policy on the etiquette of sending them?  Big Present or RAK?  What about UFOs?

Look forward to seeing some opinions on this one - I am honestly really curious as I know there are many areas of life where I am out of step with current conventions .....

If you're happy and you know it .....

... you've just seen a Brendan Frasier movie :) :)

After stressing about my finances for weeks I finally had had enough today, put off a couple of bills until next pay and went shopping!

Presents for Mariann, Kay and Claire are finally paid for (they've all been arranged for a while). Another present for someone else is now at the framers.

I've had my hair done and fell asleep while waiting for the colour to go through.  This one is classed as a business expense.  Its hard to be an effective supervisor and attend high level committee meetings with a skunk stripe!

Food shopping has been done.

And finally I said to heck with it all and treated myself!

I went to the local Pankcake Parlour which has Buckwehat pancakes (Buckwheat depite the name is not a type of wheat at all and does not contain gluten) So I had the early bird dinner special - then I had dessert :)

Then I went and saw Joutrney to the Centre of the Earth 3D!

Yep with the 3D glasses on.  Over the top of my normal glasses.

Wow.

3D has come a loooooong way since the cardboard red and green cellophane things we had int he 1980s.

It was such a cooooooool movie !!! OK the 3D effects were awesome!  The CGI was awesome.  Brendan Frasier was .... Brendan Frasier!

The girlie in the pic saves their arses sooo often and is the most intelligent one of them all :)  Even if she is blonde and bounces well :)

OK OK the plot was predictable (even if you haven't read the book) and significant plot points were spelled out with a sledgehammer across the head so the 8 year olds could follow it.  But that's the nature of it - it *was* a film for the 8 year olds!

I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I've thoroughtly enjoyed my entire outing - including driving home in the dark for the first time since I arrived in Melbourne ....

All I need now are a few orgasms to finish off the night - but seeing as that isn't going to happen - I might go work on BoInk for a while ......

And start stressing over what I've done to my finances tomorrow.

RR for next year?

Long Dog

These are my options for next Year's RR

Mel's RR for Next Year

Which project do you want to stitch on?

Long Dog Beautie Spotte

 

 2

Inkcircles Garden Stars (only if Claire doesn't use this for her choice)

 

 1

Pako Historical Dress Sampler

 

 1

Long Dog Opus Magnussen

 

 1

Papillon Historic Mystery Sampler (via Gift of Stitching)

 

 0

Long Dog Sunne Spotte

 

 0

OK ladies,

What would you prefer to stitch on?

Going with Claire's Spotty Stars theme - I have chosen only Spot Samplers for 2009.

(therefore no TW or afghans or chatelaines)

Pictures of each of these projects are here.

Mum's Birthday 24 October.

OK, based on Claire's cheekiness - I'm going add some of my own ....

Most of you know my mum Denise.  Its her birthday this month and although she's been really quiet lately I *know* she would appreciate hearing from you guys.

Lord knows she's never going to receive even a card from anybody else - and if I attempt to send a large present or more than item - I will be skinned alive.

So for those of you who could afford it, I know mum would really really appreciate a birthday card with maybe a skein of floss in it.  (She *is* a flossaholic).

Denise Hicks
PO Box 2077
Bowning  NSW  2852
Australia

Financial Stuff

OK can someone explain to me what is going on in plain simple English?  I'm afraid I flunked Economics in High School (OK I didn't pass by very much which is the same thing in my book).

If I don't understand the whys of something then I tend to either hate it or ignore it.  The economy has gone into the ignore pile.

Now from my limited understanding, the following situation has occurred:

Some people (called Wall Street and US Sub Prime) played hard and loose and lost heaps and heaps of money.
This means that the US economy has no spare cash.
So their govt is putting more cash back into their system so that these companies have some pin money to play with.
What does this mean for the ordinary individual in the US?

OK so because the US Economy has no cash, they are not buying Australian goods.
SO, to entice the US economy to spend money that it doesn't have, the Australian dollar is devalued until such time as the US goes, hey yeah, lets spend some of our govt provided pin money on goods from these guys.
The Australian dollar a couple of months ago was 96 US cents.  Last night it was worth 62 US cents. And its still falling.

To me this means in the short term that buying cross stitch supplies and books direct from the US is becoming unaffordable and I have to cancel some Amazon pre-orders and  my Silkweavers fabric club.  I can probably cope with retaining my Down Sunshine Lane floss club.

The problem here is that the devalued dollar is devalued against every currency not just the US Dollar.  So everything that is imported into this country, clothes, books, manufactured items, food stuffs you name it - will be that much more expensive.

Where is the logic in some financial guys in another country losing all their cash, causing prices to rise for my goods and services because my govt thinks my dollar should be devalued so they guys, with no money, can buy our goods (with what? They have no money?)

Can someone explain this in simple English please?  Because I really do not understand why our financial system works the way it does.

Think this guy would adopt me ????

Or at least give me a job?

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/08/nerd-library-to-end.html

Da Da Dahhhhhhh !!!!!!

The impossible project is FINISHED !!!!!!!

The English Evil Wench !!!!!!

A parcel turned up in the mail yesterday and on the back of the envelope were the words "Sender: The Evil Wench".

Squeeeeee !!!!!!

A fabulous chart - which looks so much better in the flesh than on the net - I don't think this will anywhere as washed out as the screen shots look, *two* blocks of organic dark chocolate and a gorgeous card full of beautiful sentiments !!

I know I'm a chocoholic, there's point denying the fact, but I will cherish the card and the sentiments therein long after the chocolate is but a memory and the chart is stitched!

I only want three things today ....

1. A new digestive system
2. A full eight hours uninterrupted sleep
3. Death to all people who claim their products are gluten-free, when they are not.

Is that too much to ask for?

Random Thoughts

When we people stop telling me what we can't do and start telling me how we *can* do it!

How did such a plodder get to be the ILMS systems guru?  And why did he get so shirty at me when I picked up the ideas, went off on lateral thinking and suggested ways to improve his processes - all in under an hour?

Why when an anemic twit without an ounce of body fat on her complains of being cold, everyone else in the office has to check their air vents when the place is a really nice 23 degrees ....

Finally - when will somebody tell Jack Frost that its time to move to the Northern Hemisphere.  Either that or Melbourne is Hell - because it has certainly frozen over in the last couple of days.

Random thoughts for the day

When we people stop telling me what we can't do and start telling me how we *can* do it!

How did such a plodder get to be the ILMS systems guru?  And why did he get so shirty at me when I picked up the ideas, went off on lateral thinking and suggested ways to improve his processes - all in under an hour?

Why when an anemic twit without an ounce of body fat on her complains of being cold, everyone else in the office has to check their air vents when the place is a really nice 23 degrees ....

Finally - when will somebody tell Jack Frost that its time to move to the Northern Hemisphere?  Either that or Melbourne is Hell - because it has certainly frozen over in the last couple of days.

Grrrr!

Have I mentioned lately how much I detest being forced to get up in the dark!

{insert Anti-Daylight Savings rant 4532}

Hand dyed floss help please?

I have a chart here that I will be stitching up in the very near future.

The chart is coded for DMC, but I want a bit more depth and texture to the piece, so could those who have a large stash of floss, or merely a more organised floss stash, please look through and see if you can convert these colours to Carries, or GAST or Weeks or even Dinky Dyes or Caron's or whatever gives more colour play than DMC does :)

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

For reasons that will become apparent in a few weeks, I am not naming which chart this is, and if you do guess it, please PM me privately ...

Thanks all !!!  I know some of you have sample swatches and so many of you have such a better colour sense than I do.  I don't just want a link to a list of net conversions, I am actually hoping someone will pull their threads and make sure all four converted colours work well together too:)

THANK YOU!

IMPORTANT - Myers Briggs

OK I need some help from those of you who know me the best ...

As part of the Leadership Learning Group work that we’re doing  over the next two months at work, each leader/manager was asked to complete a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) report.

We had to do self assessment and then do the actual test.  I ended up with a discrepancy between what I thought I was and what the test results say I am.

Now the results came back this afternoon and I have to decide which category I am before Monday morning as we are doing a all day meeting on the various personality types and we have to do role plays inside and outside of our own types.

Or the official version: A briefing session on the MBTI and the range of preference types will be held on Monday 6 October 2008.  This MBTI information will help us, as a group, to understand the diverse ways that we approach our work challenges, and how we best utilise and work with this diversity of preferences.


SO (regardless whether this is a load of stereotyping hogwash or not) I need to decide on which profile I am before Monday morning so I can best participate in the activities.

Can those of you who feel you know me enough to answer, please tell me which of the two you think fits my personality.  All of it, the good, the bad, the ugly.

INTJ
Have original minds and great drive for implementing their ideas and achieving their goals.  Quickly see the patterns in external events and develop long-range explanatory perspectives.  When committed, organize a job and carry it through.  Skeptical and independent, have high standards of competence and performance – for themselves and others.


ESTJ
Practical, realistic, matter-of-fact.  Decisive, quickly move to implement decisions.  Organize projects and people to get things done, focus on getting results in the most efficient way possible.  Take care of routine details.  Have a clear set of logical standards, systematically follow them and want others to also.  Forceful in implementing their plans.

So am I ESTJ or INTJ.  I deliberately have not said which I felt I was and which the results said I was.  At  least the trainer gives us the ability to choose - she is not a slave to the test results :)

Let me know please :) :)  All opinions welcome but I understand if you feel you do not know me enough to comment :)

UNSW Farewell

This was one of the main areas in the middle campus.

Photos taken at my farewell lunch and as I left work for the last time. August 2008.

Away from the Computer

Terry Pratchett's Nation arrived in the mail today.

I'll be online tomorrow night. I'm off to read now .....

Opinions

http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=1887

Everyone who knows me or reads enough of my blog (yes the stuff that is often locked away from the public) knows I'm opinionated on matters that I am passionate about.

My opinions are not always mainstream and some do make some of friends uncomfortable.  I like the fact that they remain my friends anyway - the same as I value their right to hold the opinions they have.

I found the above blog piece by John Scalzi a very interesting read - and something that is important I believe for all cross stitch designers and knitting designs and everyone who's income is affected by the thoughts of "Joe Public".

In some ways the attitudes and thoughts expressed while reading this blog will will be different by everyone who reads it - and I do encourage everyone who sells direct to the public to read it.

You do *not* have to agree with him - but it is definitely food for thought!