Stitcher's Christmas

Here you can see Trubs and Abby in quintessential poses.  Today Trubs was up on the ironing board and looking a little freaked at my stitching frog (keeps the mistakes at bay).  Last night, while I was cleaning away all of the present wrapping paraphernalia Abby decided to get into the recycling bag and help me shred it all :)

In my 2009 Finishes album are pics of the two presents I stitched, framed and sent out this year.  Unfortunately the whole album was corrupted so I've spent a few hours tracking down the original photographs and recreating this album.  The biggest hassle was that I lost all the comments people had made throughout the year.

In my Christmas 2009 folder you can see all the stitching-related goodies I unwrapped on Christmas morning.  I really am a very lucky Tigger to have such generous friends.  I've already spent time going through my stash and trying to kit up each of the charts ... eating the chocolate .... eyeing off the small projects ....

I hope everyone here had a great Christmas and I look forward to 2010 to be bigger and better than ever.  Just as long as I get some time and energy away from work, after all I have all these new projects to work on :)

Abby with Play Box

With a sale on, we decided that Christmas has come early for the cats. They have fresh dry food, new collars, new identity tags, new squishy toys and two pieces of furniture.

One is a tall cat tree (with sisal for scratching and sleeping platforms at a range of heights) and the other is a play box for Abby.

Here is video I shot of Abby's first meeting of the play box. It has two furry mice dangling from the ceiling inside the box.

Merry Catmass

We went on a bit of a goose chase today hunting down non-existent plastic bags for a reorganisation of my thread filing system, but on the way home we stopped by our local pet supply store.

We love this store: it has a huge range, very friendly staff and assists local cat and dog rescue associations.

With a sale on, we decided that Christmas has come early for the cats.  They have fresh dry food, new collars, new identity tags, new squishy toys and two pieces of furniture.

One is a tall cat tree (with sisal for scratching and sleeping platforms at a range of heights) and the other is a play box for Abby.

Here is video I shot of Abby's first meeting of the play box.  It has two furry mice dangling from the ceiling inside the box.

Life Update

Just a small update for those who are interested :)

In the end I'm not moving for a few months.  I literally cannot find anything suitable cheaper than where we currently are and at least here, Stephen was still paying most of the bills.

Stephen is currently unemployed. His last contract ended last Friday.  There's nothing on the horizon for him here.  He is flying out to Singapore next Tuesday for a job interview and he has applications in for Melbourne.

I'm enjoying the technical side of my job but I still don't suffer fools gladly. This is something I need to work on :) At least I do most of my venting on Twitter instead of allowing it to show at work in front of the customers or colleagues.  Although there are a few colleagues who seem to think I'm a good listener and use my when they need to vent aloud or as a sounding board for ideas.  Ironically I'm pretty good at keeping team morale up.  I use the old adage "you can't be angry when you're laughing" to deal with most issues.

I was told yesterday "I can't believe you've been here such a short time Mel, the place just isn't the same without you"  which was nice.

I've also had meeting with management on going full time for three months next year to work on more special projects.  I've also got an expression of Interest in with Curtin University for 6-12 month contracts starting next Feb-Mar.  If I could pick up one of the 12 month contracts at my usual rate of pay (instead of the pittance I'm getting now) move to a cheaper place and then spend the 12 months clearing out all the extraneous guff I'm carrying about I should be perfectly set to afford to move back to Sydney or Melbourne when the contract runs out in early/mid 2011. The employment opportunities in Syd/Melb would have improved by then too.

On a personal front, I'm slowly starting to professionally network more and meet a few people outside of work or at least through work.  I'm starting to go to more conferences and professional events and chatting with other librarians.  Also through Janine's stitching group I'm starting to make some friends there so I'm not a social hermit :)

I'm going out to a property in the Perth Hills for Christmas lunch. Clara, a friend for work collects all the "orphans" at her place for lunch and she insists that there are some people coming who I will really get along with so some new friendships might come out of that.

Boxing Day is supposed to be hideously hot or hideously cold with massive storms, depending on which weather service you listen to.  If its the former I'm spending the day at the cinemas even if it means watching 4-5 movies back to back.  Thankfully there are lots on that I'm interesting in going to :)

The Monday public holiday I'm spending at Janine's shop with some of the other stitching girls. So that looks like fun :) And Tuesday I go back to work.  The library is only closed for the public holidays.

I have no plans for New Years Eve, but then I never have any plans for New Years Eve.  I'm not a big party girl so I'm always more than happy to spend that one at home with the cats :)

So I wont be alone on Christmas Day (this apparently is a big deal to some people) and I am getting out and about and I am deriving satisfaction from my work.

So all in all, I think the stage is set for a good 2010.  Not at all what I envisaged this time last year .... but well life is in the journey right?

Mel's Sunday Update

Wow a BIG update from me this time!

Presents Out
I have stitched two presents this year.  Both for friends who read my blog so I wont be putting up pictures until after the presents have been opened.

I took both pieces to the Grand Opening of the Colours Down Under bricks and mortar store yesterday and one was snapped up to put on the wall.  I had to apologise and snatch it back to post to my friend.  I think I might be stitching a second copy of that chart up. Pictures of the new store are here.

I have sent out a few non-stitched gifts and a few more Christmas cards to friends, so crossed fingers they all arrive in time.

Other stitching
On Halloween this year Tracy Horner of Inkcircles designs made available the chart, Four in the Bush.  As she suggested here I am stitching this with Carrie's Threads: Soot, Peach, Pina Colada, Dried Sage, and Garnet.

I'm using Carrie's silks! I'm loving these silks! They are the easiest threads I have ever stitched with! They glide through the fabric and no tangles or knots. These are the threads you have dreamed about !!!!  Anyway WIP pictures are here.

Presents In
I have received and opened my first Christmas present this year and by sheer coincidence it is from Tracy!  I purchased Reindeer Games: The Huddle and the Celtic Cat notecards from Tracy last month. When Parcel number 2 finally arrived (parcel number 1 is still lost somewhere) it contained all of these goodies:

• A Beautiful handmade card - stunning!
  
• A "Practice Safe Hex" badge {snicker} Will wear this to work!
  
• A beautiful red and silver heart fob (so beautiful!)
  
• The Inkcircles chart: Smell of Sulfur (my favourite)
• Some gorgeous Carries Threads in *my* sorts of colours: Epiphany, Jewel of the Nile, Wildfire, Thanksgiving, Green and Wild Orchid!
• Inkcircles chart: Mother Maya (which I am tempted to stitch in Wildfire!)
• Inkcircles chart Celtic Beasties: Christmas ... or Knot (one of my all-time favourite charts)
• Inkcircles chart Much Heralded Sampler (which includes all the medieval motifs I adore!)
• And finally some MEL chocolate (90% bitter) It must have been made for me LOL!

Thank you so much Tracy! This is completely unexpected and just like you to be so generous! Thank you so much my friend!

Picture of this treasure trove is here.


Wow lots of things happening. How's everyone else's last couple of weeks been?

Yes I had to include an obligatory photo of Abby!  Trubs was sensibly away from the sun in this near 100oF heat!  Multiply wont let me just upload a pic to a blog entry at the moment, so there's a series of five *action shots* added to Abby's folder.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

OK latest meme!

Stolen from a few friends in LiveJournal:

If I came with a warning label, what would it say?

(if you want to play along, post this on your own blog please so I can comment on you :)  If you trust me .... )

Christmas 2009

I purchased Reindeer Games: The Huddle and the Celtic Cat notecards from Tracy last month. When Parcel number 2 finally arrived (parcel number 1 is still lost somehwere) it contained all of these goodies!

A Beautiful handmade card, A "Practice Safe Hex" badge
A beautiful red and silver heart fob
The Inkcircles chart: Smell of Sulfur
Some gorgeous Carries Threads in *my* sorts of colours: Epiphany, Jewel of the Nile, Wildfire, Thanksgiving, Green and Wild Orchid!
Inkcircles chart: Mother Maya (which I am tempted to stitch in Wildfire!)
Inkcircles Celtic Beasties: Christmas ... or Knot (one of my all-time favourite charts)
Inkcircles Much Heralded Sampler (which includes all the medieval motifs I adore!)
And finally some MEL chocolate (90% bitter) I can't wait to try it!!!!

Thank you so much Tracy! This is completely unexpected and just like you to be so generous! Thank you so much my friend!

Presents cards etc that are stitching related or from stitching friends for Christmas 2009.

Colours Down Under Grand Opening

Janine standing in front of her store.

Saturday 12 December 2009

Colours Down Under opened a bricks and mortar shop. No-one besides Janine and Marilyn would be in the photos! Onver a dozen people in the shop, hiding behind me as took each picture!

http://www.coloursdownunder.com.au/shop/

There is still little bits of refining to do - but the shop looks excellent! Very welcoming and I could sit in there all day and fondle threads and stitch!

Janine's Blog tell more: http://coloursdownunder.blogspot.com/2009/12/here-tis.html

Four in the Bush

Four in the Bush
Inkcircles Designs

Inkcircles Halloween freebie chart. Found here: http://inkcircles.blogspot.com/2009/10/four-in-bush.html

Stitched with Carries silks: Soot, Peach, Pina Colada, Dried Sage, and Garnet.

As suggested here: http://inkcircles.blogspot.com/2009/11/mel-flashes-her-bloomers-in-public.html

What do I stitch now?

What should I stitch on this week?

A Liz Turner Diehl kit - shop model for Colours Down Under

 

 14

Wicked by Lavender Wings

 

 3

Bah Humbug by Needle Picks

 

 2

The Hardanger project Mariann gave me for my birthday (yes I've found it in the unpacking)

 

 3

One of my numerous ELTWIPS? If so, which one?

 

 2

Any other project you've been waiting for me to start ot get on with?

 

 1

Now that I've finished Vienna Ball and my Christmas gift stitching for the year I'm at a bit of a loss on what to work on next ....

I have some Inkcircles charts/floss/threads that I'm waiting on to arrive in the mail so in the meantime what should I stitch on now?

Need help with a work document

I work at a public library system for a local council.  I have been asked to write an induction booklet for all new library staff.  Corporate have a whole slew of induction documentation that goes out to all new employees, but I have been asked to write a complementary booklet for library staff specifically.

So, I've included:

• A brief blurb on the Council and a graphic of what area is serviced by which library.
• A list of all library branches, their address, phone numbers and opening hours.
• A list of specialist library staff and their contact details
• A graphic of the corporate structure and where the library services fits within that
• A graphic of the library internal hierarchy and the names of all library staff and where they fit. (included here will be the name of the new staff member - a nice touch I thought)
• A discussion of the unique arrangements of two of our branches that double as school libraries as well as public libraries
• A discussion of the unique arrangement WA public libraries have with their State Library (that is different to anything else I've ever worked at).
• A brief discussion and appropriate links for all legislation we work under and how each legislation pertains to public libraries - I was told to include this, I would not have thought to do it.
• A copy of the induction checklist which lists all the things the supervisor needs to tell the staff or give the staff on their first day (ie locker keys, desk, login codes, where the toilets are etc)
• Same for day 2, first week and first fortnight.
• A blurb about mandatory corporate induction training and how to apply for it.
• A blurb about other optional training available and who to discuss this with.
• A brief rundown on the Dewey Decimal System
• A list and explanation of commonly used jargon in the library.  Both general library terms, and acronyms specific to this individual organisation.
• A copy of the corporate policy on how to answer the telephone
• A copy of the IT written instructions on how to set up access to email, intranet etc for the first time.

Is there anything else, you as a new staff member would want included?

Remember this is for library staff specifically, so all general info like Payroll, working conditions etc is covered by the Corporate documents.  I have included some corporate documents here - but I think its material that is not easy for a staff member to find and important for them to know quickly.

Thanks

Mel's Sunday Update

Yes I am definitely blond now :)

In stitching news, I finally got the updated pictures in the Vienna Ball album. Stephen took the photos as his camera is better than mine.  I think he captured the beads and crystals quite well.

I've also stitched up a small Christmas gift for a friend. I'm unsure of my choice of fabric for this one, so I took it to the stitching get-together today.  The girls said it looks fine, just a little subtle.  They think it will look fine once it has been framed. Now to find a framer :)

Other news, my local online store Colours Down Under is opening a bricks and mortar store. A few of us lucky ones got to tour the newly acquired premises yesterday.  What a fabulous ambiance!  Can't wait for Janine to put pictures up when the shop is open for business.  Its in a complex with a motel, a restaurant and two cafes - so we're already talking Friday night stitch-ins, Sunday get-togethers and whole weekend stitching retreats!  I'm so excited !!!!!

Best YouTube Clip - EVAH!!!!

The FULL Muppet cast doing Bohemian Rapsody!

The embed didn't work.

Here's the direct link!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY

Vienna Ball in all her glory :)

I'll try to take some better pics later, but here is a first photo of Vienna Ball completely finished. Its slightly out of focus but you can ceertainly see the beads.  Feel free to make the pic larger to look closer, but I do warn it is slightly out of focus ...

Life Update

I've been a bit quiet lately and thought I'd send an update of how things are going.

I've been trying to adjust to the new situation. Even though Stephen and I are not in a relationship anymore we still share a house (rental lease isn't finished until April next year).

Given the huge discrepancy in our incomes, Stephen is still paying most of the joint bills. Most of my meagre wages go towards my personal bills (loans, insurances etc) and paying back the money we borrowed from mum and Debbie.

Stephen's current contract (which he hates) finishes in 10 days.  The only contracts he applied for are in Melbourne and Singapore.  What this means for the cats and I? Well that depends on the length of contract.

If its a short term contract he will leave his stuff here and apparently help supplement the rent. I'll have to obviously pick up the rest of the bills, water, electricity, etc. Then apparently, Stephen will be back in March and then we pack up our respective stuffs, him off to wherever and I'll stay in Perth.  Frankly I just can't afford to move anywhere else.

Stephen (as I now know) has a track record of moving on and leaving those he has left behind to pack and forward his stuff for him.  He hates Perth, he currently hates me, hates the cats and hates his life.  Once he leaves I cannot see him ever returning. Nor, (now knowing his fiscal responsibilities or lack thereof) do I really expect any assistance with the rent and bills once he leaves.

But frankly, with the situation as it is at the moment, I can't wait until he goes.  He's stressed over the finances and wants to leave Perth so badly, that he's taking all the stress out on me and the cats (though not physically yet).  When he leaves he will be happier; I'll be going deeper into debt but happier, and the cats will be happier.

Mel's Sunday Update

Just a quick post ... I had to do a mini happy dance.  All the cross stitching and back stitching on Vienna Ball is complete.

Now to start the beading .....

Well alright, now to bed.  Beading after work tomorrow.....

Feeling discombobulated

Went to the doc this morning for my annual checkup and Contraceptive Pill script renewal.

Today the doc said no.

Apparently because I get migraines with auras (flashing lights in front of my eyes) and my age, The Pill is strongly contra-indicated as I'm up for a 60% chance of a stroke or deep vein thombosis.

She did renew my script for a month, and gave me some literature, so now I need to explore options and see what else I can do to keep my periods regular and reduce the severity of both bleeding and cramping.

The actual contraceptive side of things is sooo irelevant its laughable .... so why am I sitting here crying my heart out?

Mel's Sunday Update

I've been a quiet on the stitching front, well I've been a bit quiet all around I guess.  I've picked up some additional hours at work what with it coming into the holiday season so I've been working flat out and mostly too tired to stitch when I get home.  Part 11 of Vienna Ball was also a lot larger than I expected (never make assumptions).

So for a few weeks there I gave up on Vienna Ball entirely and stitched two smalls.  Jewel by Moonflower Needleart and Morale by Sue Hillis.  Both are in my finished album.

Then back to Vienna Ball.  I finally, last night, finished Part 11.  Pics in the Vienna Ball album.

Now to make dinner and then settle in to start Part 12 (the last Part!!!!!!) of Vienna Ball.

One Word Challenge

(From Jazzmanic)

Everyone else is........Lets see how honest Multiply friends are...leave a ONE WORD comment that you think best describes me. It can be only one word. No more. Then copy and paste this on your page so I may leave one word about you.......ok, GO!!!

For those in Australia

Libraries Rebuild with Books 24-31 October 2009

 

Rebuilding with Books for libraries starts tomorrow with dozens of libraries representing every state and territory taking part in the fundraising to buy book vouchers for people who lost their homes in the Victorian bushfires. Over the next eight days there will be free dress days in WA, book sales in Victoria, South Australia, ACT and the Northern Territory, morning teas in Tasmania and cup cake days in NSW.

 

For further information visitwww.alia.org.au/disasterrecovery 

Pancake Musings

While cooking pancakes for a leisurely brunch I was thinking about deep things. What am I doing? Why am I doing it .....

I had the following thoughts:

• My job (librarian) is so easy in this data-rich world, why am I expecting a highly paid salary for it?
• Why do most of my colleagues make such a balls-up of an essentially easy set of tasks?
• Librarianship is a field that is still dominated by an old-fashioned stereotype. Libraries are serene temples where librarians read all day and tell people to shush.
• Modern librarians have no time to read. We encourage children to laugh and play.  A modern libraries a cross between a creche, a coffee house, an internet cafe, a bookstore and a drop-in shelter.
• Librarianship as a career is attracts introverted people who love the old fashioned stereotype.
• Librarianship as a career needs extroverted people who can deal with any person at any time in any situation.
• Every person who works in a library (especially a public library, a specialist library, or a small library) spend at least 50% of their time selling or promoting their products.

To succeed as a modern librarian, you need to be able to communicate positively to anyone at any time. You need to put a positive spin on every conversation. You need to recognise the importance of every communication.

This is not a career for people who want to hide in stacks and say Shhh! a lot.  These misguided souls are lost.

What do they do about it? What do we do about it?

Me - I'm off to eat those pancakes .... and think some more ...

Mel's Sunday update

Had a bad case of the blahs this week so I sat and stitched for longer than I usually do during the week. Activities requiring more energy were left undone.

The good news is this meant that I have finished two hearts on Sisu's RR.

Claire's Heart
My Heart

I told Claire I would finish her heart for her, as Claire has been unwell and then I stitched up a heart for myself.  I confess I did chose an easier heart for myself, but even I was astonished (and a little guilty) about how fast it stitched up!  Anyway this is ready to go into the post for Laura this week.  Or probably next week (might have to wait for pay day).

I attended a stitching gathering at Colours Down Under yesterday with Janine, Cathy, Diane, Susan and Marilyn.  They are a great bunch of ladies who have made me feel welcome and part of the group.  I was told my work on Vienna Ball had convinced Diane to purchase the chart and kit :)

In return, Diane was working on Passione Ricamo's The Night.  Watching her stitch this up (she beads as she goes) and Susan's progress on Mirabilia's Petal Fairy has convinced me to start a new project.  Not sure which one yet, but after lunch this afternoon I'm going through my stash and starting either a Nora Corbett Pixie Couture or a Passione Ricamo design.

Its often said, but still rings true, so many cover pictures of designs just don't do justice to seeing the item being stitched.

Janine showed us her *cough* thirty something *cough* WIPs, so I do not feel guilty about starting another project :) :) :)

As can be seen by the above picture of "Spaceman Spiff" the operation didn't affect Abby at all!  I spent most of the week worrying that she was rupturing her stitches because she was running full-pelt everywhere and stretching and leaping.  Took her to the vets this morning to have her stitches out and the vet said she was healing fine. So all is good.  However as soon as we returned home, sans collar, Spaceman Spiff has turned into Speedy Gonzales and is zooming around, getting in and out of tight little spaces BECAUSE SHE CAN!

Just watching her makes me smile, and Trubs very grumpy :)

Mel's Sunday update

Well I had a somewhat productive week this week :) :)

Staying at home with a recuperating kitty, I managed to finish off Part 10 of Vienna Ball.  I am now finally completely up to date with this Chatelaine project. I am absurdly proud of myself!

Vienna Ball Part 10.
Vienna Ball whole progress to date.

While sorting through projects to sell, (I need some cash - long story) I found an old travel project I haven't worked on in over 12 months.  Once I started working on it, I remembered why this one was put away - I had done three and a half letters, and every one had mistakes in it !!!!! I fixed all the mistakes and finished off another two and half letters. Not bad for a couple of days work while cuddling a sooky kitty.

Excellence album.

Also this week, Sisu's RR arrived.  I hope to get stuck into it this coming week.

As can be seen in the picture above, Abby was neutered this week.  I am sooo glad, we've managed to sleep dutring the nights again, without being woken by male cats caterwauling all hours of the darkness .... and don't get me started on how bad the house stank from all of the male cats marking "their" territories via every entrance ..

It is over now and Abby is recuperating nicely.

Mel's Sunday update

Well I got through another part on Vienna Ball this week.  Its now September and I'm now working on September's part! Woot!

I haven't stitched anything else for months, but I'm finally back up to date-ish on this one :)

Total progress at end of Part 9 here.
Part 9 closeup here.

Hope everyone had a great week!

Today's Good Point: 1 September 2009.

A very good friend recently said to me: "keep looking around and find the good things in each day, and each bend in the road.".

Today is the first day of Spring.

Today's good thing is the seasons and the renewal of life. We don't really have winter here, but with all of the constant rain over the last month all of the flowers are out.  Seeing multi-hued tulips, daffodils and jonquils in the florists today.  Seeing all the native wildflowers in the gardens around home and work.

Just a reminder that no matter how bad things seem, the planet goes on. Everything else ont he planet provides beauty, food and fertilization every year, irregardless of what goes on in our lives and hearts.

Mel's Sunday Update (on Monday)

What with working yesterday, I completely forgot to post this ...

Our insane attack kitteh currently has cabin fever.  At aged 4/5 months she has come on heat.  The vets wont neuter her while she is on heat or at the moment anyway because she is too small.  The only answer has been to lock her inside the house for two weeks or risk her getting pregnant.  Every entrance to our home (doors and windows) have all been sprayed by multiple male cats .... we are under siege!  (without Steven Segal!)

So for the latter part of last week and I suspect the next 10 days I wont get any stitching done.  The kitten simply goes feral when I pick it up and she has actually stripped the needle from the floss and carried the needle off, (while I'm trying to catch her) too many times already.

Pause while I clean up and change clothes.  Eating coco pops, blogging and fending off bored attack kitty at the same time is a dangerous occupation.

Anyway, in the earlier part of last week I did manage to finish off Part 7 of Vienna Ball.  The peacock.

Album here.
Peacock here.

Hugs
Mel.

Today's Good Point: 26 Aug 2009.

A very good friend recently said to me: "keep looking around and find the good things in each day, and each bend in the road.".

I'm going to do this daily to focus on the positives in life.

Today's Good Thing?  My friends!  I have an incredibly generous, tolerant, sassy, classy, intelligent, patient and thoughtful group of friends!  I love each and every one of you.

Thank you!

Life stuff

Things here have been a bit rocky as one might expect from two independent people moving in together away from all of their family and friends.

It culminated a month ago with with a shouting match (us) and tears (mine) and decisions were made for the sake of the relationship i.e. that I would continue to work part time and do all the housework, post office, dry cleaning etc, unless I am offered a job at a high enough rate that I can contribute half of the joint expenses. We also decided it would be best to move back to Melbourne when the lease on this house expires next May.

During that time I asked Stephen if he still loved me or did he want me to move out. He didn't answer me, but things seemed to be getting along better after that.  We were working better, we were spending more time together etc.

Mum visited for a week and my birthday was a great day when all three of us played board games and card games and wii games together. As soon as mum went home, things went back to the bad old ways with Stephen doing his own thing every night and not even sitting with me during dinner.

Then he finally admitted that when we move back Eastside he wants us to move separately.  He believes we don't work well living together. He also admitted that he fell out of love with me a long time ago, even before I moved over here.  He suggested I move over here as he felt it was his responsibility to look after me financially.  He felt he was the reason I moved to Melbourne so he felt obligated when the Melbourne job fell through.  Even though his feelings towards me had changed, he felt he could not break off the engagement when I had just lost my job.

I don't think the relationship has been given a proper chance. He made his mind up before I even got here. We haven't been intimate, not even hugs and kisses since I've been here.  He's always had excuses.  It makes so much sense now.

I asked him if he wanted to give the relationship a proper chance, a second go now that we are both here and both getting used to living with one another. I asked why he fell out of love with me? Is it something I can work on? He still has not answered any of these questions.

So because he felt obligated, we are in masses of debt, I am over the other side of the country with very few friends and no family, and I can't see a way home without incurring more and more debt.

I know grieving for a broken relationship takes five steps.  I seem to be stuck at "if I had known the truth I would have made so many decisions differently" and of course the self-pitying "why aren't I good enough for anyone to love?"

Between next week and Christmas I'll be putting most of my stash up for sale on eBay. Closer to moving time I will have a yard sale and try to sell most of my furniture and I will sell my car at that time for whatever I can get for it.

Any other suggestions for raising cash and reducing the amount of stuff to carry back?

I'll basically be moving back to my mum's with my cat, my bed and a couple of suitcases.  And starting over.  Welcome to being 38 Mel.

Just figured you guys would want to know.  Also you might have some practical ideas :)

Mel's Sunday Update

Morning all,  Well I finally managed a little stitching time this week, and finished off the lamppost in Vienna Ball.  That's seven parts done now :) 

Album here.
Close-up of lamppost here.

Hope everyone has a good week this week.

Mel's Sunday Update

Yes for a second week in a row I have a stitching update :) :)

{Looks up - no ... no the sky isn't falling in just yet ....}

Lets see this week I'm back to working part time but then I'm also doing all the cooking, cleaning, running to the vets, getting the car registered in this state etc etc so my days are as full and certainly more draining than if I'd just been sitting at a desk full time.

But even then, these other things still have to be done, so I'm grateful for any stitching time even if it is only at night :)

I was invited to a Saturday get together at Colours Down Under yesterday.  There were six of us there and great amusement, merriment, stashing and a little stitching was had by all. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and plan to attend next month's gathering too :)

I used the time there to get a significant portion of Vienna Ball Part 6 completed.  Starting Part 7 tonight I hope.

I also stashed a little. I deliberately didn't go into the shop and just looked at what was brought by others to the table we were stitching around.  As it was I still brought home:

• Passione Ricamo Serendipity Fay
• Passione Ricamo Over the Rainbow
• Passione Ricamo Calipso
• Mirabilia Bluebell
• Mirabilia Magnolia

Hmmm - yes well.  Its my birthday next week ... I'm allowed to :)

Oh speaking of which, my mum is flying over to visit me for a week!  I"m so excited!  Mum flies in on Wednesday night after work and flies out again next Wednesday morning.

Guess I'll be spending Tuesday morning getting the house ready for visitors.

Other than that, I hope everyone else had a great week and some relaxation .....

I'm off to drool at the Polstitches site - I think I like the fabrics for the Passione Ricamo designs as much as the actual designwork ......

Gluten-free thoughts

I've just started reading "Gluten Free Girl" by Shauna James Ahern.  I've been a devotee of her website for a while.

In the books she specifically addresses the issue of people like me who "cheat" and has "just a bite" of gluten-containing foods ....  

She says "The ability to shift to living gluten-free takes a psychological shift. It is a shift that must happen, however.  How many people spend years mooning over the man who broke up with them, still wishing he was the one? Think of gluten as an abusive boyfriend."

She also talks about the tiredness and listlessness a lot of people experience when eating gluten.  Thinking about it, we eat junk food when I'm too tired to cook.  I'm too tired to cook in part, because I keep ingesting these foods.

This may be a vicious circle ....

I'm going to cook some of the recipes out of her book.  Only problem is anyone know where I can source sorghum flour or Pomegranate Molasses?  Some of the most delicious sounding recipes have ingredients that I just can't source at my local supermarket :(

But isn't that always the way and isn't that part of why I think they sound delish? Because they are flavour sensations I haven't tried before?

Hmm - more good food thoughts ....

Food for Thought

This afternoon while grocery shopping at our local store, Ballajura IGA, my partner and had a bad customer service experience.  This has given me thought for how this relates to other workplaces and other situations.

I have food intolerances so we went looking for a specific brand of frozen food we knew was gluten free.  I found three packets.  The use-by dates were:

• 19 December 2008
• 11 January 2009
• 24 March 2009.

Today is the 2 August 2009.  I looked through the speciality gluten-free frozen  section and found almost all of the products in there were past their use-by dates by at least five months, some almost a year out of date.

My partner took a selection of these up to the service counter and informed the manager of what we had found.  The Manager's reaction was, to paraphrase "So they are out of date? So what?"

We have had concerns about that particular store before.  One of the freezer units is known to be faulty and the ice cream is regularly frozen and thawed repeatedly while still in the store.  When I brought the second tub back, I was given a refund by one of the staff without a murmur.  She informed me that this happens regularly and all the staff and their families know to buy their ice cream at a different store.

Today was the tipping point for us.  We are considering informing the relevant authorities tomorrow of what we found and we have decided never to return to that store.  If anyone asks, we will be quite open as to why we have made this decision. As a customer, today's incident and the manager's lack of care or consideration was the tipping for us.

As people earning a wage, we are often on the other end of this scenario.  Just about all people who earn a wage have customers.  Some deal directly with members of the public.  Others have "back room" or support roles for the front counter people.  In this case, the front counter staff *are* your customers.  For those in IT support, your customers are the rest of the organisation.

How do your customer service skills shape up?  How would you have handled today's issue if you were that manager?  Would you, as a manager, have allowed the procedures to get to the point where those issues arose?  Finally, how would you fix it?

On a smaller level, when dealing with a client who has issues, how do you recognise when the client has reached the tipping point of finally acting; of voting with their feet, of boycotting your store or products or just spreading ill feeling towards you and your section?

How can you determine when the client or customer will let things ride and when they finally make a stand?  I have found over the years that it is the body language and the general attitude of the customer service representative that determines the level of the customer's reaction.

We decided today that "enough was enough" because the manager patently did not care that his store was selling out of date and potentially dangerous goods.

How does this relate to your workplace?  If your section screwed up, is it really that "weakening of power" for you to apologise and give assurances that steps will be taken to investigate the matter?  Is acknowledging a error really going to leave you open to a lawsuit? Is brushing off a client because you don't care about your business really the right thing to do?  Is this really how you earn your wages?

Is there any job, where you as the manager are too busy and too important to acknowledge when customers raise issues with you?

A few years ago I worked as a Branch Manager for a public library service in another state.  I had regular customers who would bypass their local branch to come to mine.  This was a combination of the respective layouts of both buildings and the customer service attitudes displayed by staff in both branches. 

In my branch the large print fiction was located near the entrance to the library and all my staff would go out of their way to assist elderly customers in finding the next book in a series or books from authors who write like their favourites etc etc.

In the other building, the large print fiction was held up the back of the building and staff were encouraged to leave the fiction readers to their own devices.

The end result is my large print fiction circulated 200% more than the other branch.  I had to go and collect "my" large print back back every couple of months because their customers would borrow the books from my branch but return the items to the closer branch.  The returns bin was at the front of the building and there was no staff interaction required.

I'm not an expert in customer service.  I've just worked in this sector for long enough that I can recognise where blatant ignoring of customer issues will damage the reputation of your section or your company.  Is your ego, your pride, your negligence of your customers, really important enough to let your business suffer?

Life, the universe etc

So what's been happening lately?

Well first Trubs.  My dear sweet grumpy old lady has had reasons for her grumpiness.  She went under anaesthetic the other day and had X-rays taken.  She has arthritis in her elbows.  Said arthritis is actually *worse* that the arthritis in her knee joints that we have been treating for the last couple of years.

While she was under they took various blood tests, cleaned her teeth and did everything they could think of that would need doing sometime in the next little while so they wouldn't have to put her under again.  Apparently this is a very risky procedure for cats of her age and they don't want to do it more times than necessary.

She is now on an oral liquid pain killer each evening.  And will be until the temperatures warm up.  After that we can administer it on an "as needs" basis.  We are also giving her Cartrophen booster injections every three months instead of just the yearly set she had been getting. 

We are also looking into heat pads for her basket such as this and adding more fish oil and possibly glucosamine into her diet.  As she is only 14 years old, the vet says the arthritis will move into her feet and toe joints as time goes on, so we are looking at long term strategies to help her cope.

Just having the oral painkillers on a daily basis is definitely helping.  She was moving more freely in the sunshine this afternoon and is much less grumpy towards us and Abby so we think she must have been in considerable pain this winter.

I'm very glad we changed vets :) This one has a much more sympathetic outlook on long term management whereas the previous vets were just, well we've given her the yearly shots, you should expect elderly cats to have aches and pains!

We spent this afternoon out in the warm sun with both Trouble and Abby playing in the overgrown backyard.  Stephen took some photos which have been uploaded to his flickr account here.

Abby is growing well and is at times a little terror and at other times is a poster kitten for adorableness.  She is at various times named Abby, Polly, Insane Attack Kitteh, Psycho Kitteh .....  See Stephen's pics, she is growing up so fast :)


In other news, I've not been looking after myself the way I should and my weight has ballooned out to nearly 100kg (216 lbs).  Before I moved to Western Australia I had dropped my weight to 83kg (183 lbs).  I've also been a bit too lax on the gluten front.  Stephen eats a lot of gluten containing products in his daily intake (as normal people do) and I've been adding in "just a bite" here and there too many times.  This culminated in a massive digestive attack while we were out a restaurant last night and may also explain the dry scaly patches and rosacea on my face and neck since moving here.

To test this out, I'm going completely and utterly strictly gluten-free for the month of August and see if it improves overall energy, happiness levels, weight management and skin health.

No other news to report. We're getting along OK here and finally slowly settling into routines so things should start looking up sometime soon.

Mel's Sunday Update

Yes I have actually been stitching!!  It took throwing in a part time job *and* getting the flu to do so - but I have finally been stitching.

I stitched up a segment on Lyne's RR And a Forest Grew.  I basically did a hodge podge of motifs to finish off page two and do all of page three up to the surrounding for the wording.

Close up of motifs including mine:
Progress on Lyne's RR as it was posted onwards:

I also finally finished Part 5 on Vienna Ball.  This was a simple piece of six shades of grey with just a touch of backstitching around the vases, but it took me all month to find the time to get it done.  I finished it 2 hours before Part 9 was released :)

Part 5 Close up
Whole piece at the end of Part 5.

And that's it for this week.  Hope everyone else had a productive week stitching.

Interview Question

How would YOU answer this question ??

You and your partner have a weekend getaway planned that requires you leave town as soon as you finish work dead on 5pm Friday. 4:55pm Friday a customer comes in with an urgent request.  You are working alone.  What do you do?

The codacil being: would you ruin your weekend away with your partner/family to answer this query?

This was asked in a library context, but would this apply to your job or other situation?  How would you answer it?

I'll give my answer later {grin}

Mel's Sunday Update

Well no stitching update this week.  One measly hour of stitching in the whole week does not constitute an update.

I did however read a few good books, watch the Torchwood week of specials and assist in getting the house ready for our first rental inspection today.

We discovered on Saturday that the local generic craft store is going out of business.  I'm not all that surprised.  I've had offices bigger than that shop and yet they still tried to cater to the cross stitch, tapestry, quilting, bear making, scrap booking, knitting and children's craft hobbists.

Their cross stitch section comprised overpriced DMC and a half a dozen charts each from Told in the Garden, Mirabilia and Heaven & Earth.  With everything 20% off for the clearance sale, their prices are now approaching other small business prices.

I just don't see how they expected to make this work.  They do not carry anything that isn't already carried at a much much cheaper price by our large franchise stores Lincrafts and Spotlight (our version of Walmart).

Janine at ColoursDownUnder has cheaper prices than this little store and a heck of a better range.  If you are going to compete with the big guys, you have to either match on price or have a wider selection that is not carried by the bigger stores.  This little shop did neither.

Yet they blamed their failure on location - they didn't get enough foot traffic through that particular suburban shopping centre.

Anyway one good thing was that Mr S really liked a HAED chart he saw there so we are now proud owners of a copy of a HAED Quick Stitch, Rain Dragon by Lisa Victoria.  See picture above.

So no stitching this week, but a small amount of stashing was done.  I'm picking up some 25ct evenweave for this chart from Janine tonight. 

Hope everyone else had a good week.

Mel's Sunday Update

Well for a while there it looked like I wouldn't make a Sunday update yet again :)

I've been far too exhausted after work and haven't done any stitching week nights for nearly a month now.  However I put in some dedicated effort this week and I do indeed have an update - YAY!!

Mariann's RR
I have *finally* gotten my bit done on Mariann's RR.  This is a beautiful project and I only wish I could have done more on it.  It will be posted out to Laura tomorrow.

BTW - Happy Birthday Laura !!!!!

Vienna Ball
Many of you on Twitter would have heard my wailing and gnashing of teeth ion the backstitching on this part.  However Part 4 is now completely finished.  I'm not entirely happy with it - and I am deeply unhappy with my individual backstitches in some places, so please don't look too closely :(  The best thing I can say is - its done.  Onto Part 5.


Present from Kay
As can seen in the pic above, I received a fantastic gift in the mail Friday!  Thank you so much Kay !!!!   Kay sent:

• a lovely beanie frog (which Mr S thinks is soooo cute)
• a luxurious pair of thermal gloves which are soooo warm!
• a gorgeous stitched bookmark - I adore the sentiment!
• two great pieces of hand dyed fabric!  I have so many ideas for those fabrics already!

Thanks so much Kay !!!!!

Work Situation

Morning all,

I'll try to keep this brief for a change :) I know most of my posts like this end up as a long whinging pity-party diatribe :)

I applied for lots of jobs over here before landing the one I currently have. Many of the universities and government departments over here have an additional rider on their rejection letters that I haven't seen before.  It says in effect "you were deemed worthy of being employed by our institution and we will keep you in mind when something new comes up".

A few weeks ago I landed a part time role in a public library as a skills librarian.  I love my job!  I love writing the Induction manual for new staff, questioning unwritten ground rules and practices that vary from branch to branch.  I've been at it three weeks and I'm having a ball.  I'm even coping with Teh Public most of the time :)

Working a part time job full time for the last few weeks has been very tiring and is affecting our home life. But we need the money.

Friday morning I received a phone call from the University of Western Australia. They have a Librarian 1 job available, and would like to offer it to me before advertising in the media.

I declined stating that I just started a part time position in another organisation and would feel it unethical to quit on them so soon after starting.  The UWA rep said she would speak to the area concerned and see if they would accept me as a part time in this role. She collected my current available hours and hung up.

I emailed my supervisor and the Library Manager of the current position and informed them that I had just been contacted by UWA with a full-time job offer.  I then asked them both how they felt I was working out, and was I heading the position in the way they wanted, or were they starting to think they should have gone with another candidate. Basically I was trying to give them a way out in case they were unhappy with me.

There were a few closed door meetings during the day and at the end of the day the Library Manager offered me a new fulltime position within the organisation.

So now my options are:

Stay where I am:

• Pay: $26/hr for 19 hrs per week ( plus whatever else I can cadge)
• Job: Skills librarian - love it!
• Location: Altone Park - out of the way but great parking and great people.
• Other considerations: need more money and a flexible working environment.

New e-librarian position:

• Pay $26/hr for 38 hers per week (working a nine day fortnight)
• Job: e-Librarian - new area I have never done before, great learning opportunity
• Location: Midland - out of the way, crap parking, crap driving, not sure of the people.
• Other consideration: may have to go through formal application and thus may not even get the job!

UWA position:

• Pay $26/hr for 35 hrs per week (with flexibility - details unknown)
• Job: liasing with lecturers, could be fun or not depending on subject area
• Location: West Perth - great parking, close to Stephen's work and would reduce our communal commute by 1.5 hours each day.
• Other considerations: would be seen as a step down from other areas I've worked in academic libraries and could affect further promotions in the academic sector

Currently waiting to hear from:

UWA - is part time acceptable and what are the actual details of the position.
Public Library - will I be moved straight into the e-librarian position or do I need to apply?

Then decision to be made ......

For Claire and Rosanne

For obvious reasons.  One has sheep and strawberries (perfect for Claire to stitch during Wimbledon) and the other is a Pirate Queen :) :)

Designs official designations are:
Strawberries for Ewe by Midsummer Night Designs
Pirate Queen by Sue Hillis Designs

Yes we are still here ...

Sorry I've been quiet all week.  Started my new job on Monday and pretty much collapsed from exhaustion Monday night.

After four months of doing stuff at my own speed and relaxing and being a hermit and not dealing with people, I started a job at a public library; which involved dealing with Teh Public (tm) and a steep learning curve.

This week also involved dealing with a communal mindset that I am not part of - namely the only two topics of conversation at work are pregnancy and the local football teams.

So I've come home mentally exhausted all week.  Oh and instead of working part-time, I worked full-time this week, and will do so for the next three weeks.  I wanted the money and the convinced the Library Manager that it will assist my learning curve :)

So this is a situation of my making - buy I'm frankly too knackered each night to chat with you guys.  Hell, I'm too knackered to stitch or cook.  No stitching since last weekend :(

It will get better as I get used to the new routines.

In the meantime, here's an album of kitty pics that Stephen took over the last fortnight.

Cat Photos by Mr S

My nearest and dearest took these photos of our lovely two cats :)

Photos taken: 7-21 June 2009.

Q &A (meme from Sisu and others)

1. My Ex ..............is possibly still alive - who knows?
2. Maybe I should ................remove the word should from my vocabulary.  Either do or do not - no should.
3. I love .............the people I live with (yes my cats are people).
4. People would say that I'm .............human. Contradictory, confusing and loveable.
5. I don't understand why .............I can't have everything I want :)
6. When I wake up in the morning ...........I want to break Mr S's alarm.
7. I hate when ............I have failed at something.
8. Life is full of .............wonder and excitement.  Why do we revolved our lives around avoiding it all by requiring money?
9. My past is .............past, Gone. Wish the rest of the emotional baggage had gone with it.
10. I get annoyed by ..............people using advantages I don't have (looks, money, a motorbike in traffic)
11. Parties are fun, but not as fun as ...........spending time with my favourite people!
12. I wish life was not ..............so money-driven.
13. Dogs.............are frequently better people than their owners.
14. Cats.............make life better.
15. Tomorrow is .............not yet here. So deal with what is, not what is going to be.
16. I have low tolerance for.............. wilful stupidity.
17. If I had a million dollars..............I would pay off all the debts that make us feel shackled at the moment.
18. I'm totally terrified of ................my mum dying.
19. I'm so proud of ...............proving all the naysayers wrong :)
20. If you don't post this on your page, you are ...........not a meme lemming :)

How to have a successful visit ....

1. Email and say "hey I feel like coming to Perth for the long weekend and explore the city.  Mind if I crash at your place each night".  When you turn up up, allow your actions and manner indicate that what you really meant was "hey set aside three days of your lives and focus exclusively on my whims and desires".
   
   
2. When your host asks "are you allergic to anything, do you have food preferences" answer no.  Then reject every suggestion for dinner because it has something in it you don't like.
   
   
3. Never offer suggestions or ideas for where you want to go to explore the city.  You have arrived here, your hosts should arrange everything else for you.  Feel free to be critical of their suggestions and choices.
   
   
4. You have a three day weekend and as a full time employee you are being paid for the public holiday Monday.  Take no notice of the fact that it isn't a public holiday here.  Your host is a contractor and as such does not get paid unless he is actually at work. However, do be miffed if he goes to work on the Monday because your hosts need the money.  After all, you're still getting paid and you are gracing them with yiour presence. They should just suck up the financial loss because that's part of spending time with YOU.
   
   
5. Please remember to point out how everything here is more expensive and less urbane than your home town.  Argue every point with your hosts even though they have lived in both cities and can point out the positives of Perth.
   
   
6. In fact argue every point with your hosts, regardless if you have experienced the topic at hand or have any knowledge on the subject whatsoever.  You are correct in every single way at all times.
   
   
7. Whatever you do, don't take into account that your hosts are both older than you, have lived away from home, have been married and in many other ways have had much more experience in life's diversities than you do. Remember to ALWAYS one up them in any recitation of stories or anecdotes.  They could not have had life as bad as you have had.  Your Year 9 bus trip having to eat porridge one morning was definitely far worse than a camping trip of 1000 people your host had to cater for.
   
   
8. Ignore any anecdote (like the catering story) that is meant to be amusing. Ignore all attempts to get to admit anything you have ever done in your life has been positive.  Do not find anything amusing.  Do not ever admit you enjoyed anything.  At best use the word "interesting" if you cannot find anything specific to complain about.
   
   
9. If you go to the toilet and your hosts are discussing a different topic when you return (i.e. one of their parents is having severe life issues), it is your duty to talk over the top of this and return the conversation to you.  You after all are the guest and sole focus for the weekend.
   
   
10. You have the right to ignore everything your hosts do that isn't focused on you.  If one of the hosts is washing up and cleaning the kitchen on her own for over an hour (while the other one is doing emergency telecommuting) feel free to ignore them and play with the new kitten.  Although you are capable of handling a tea towel, never ever offer to help.
    
    
11. Even though a room has been emptied of boxes specifically for your visit (and you have been informed of this and told that it wont be the guest bedroom in future) feel free to lock the arthritic cat out of the only room in the house that gets the morning sun.  Do this every morning after telling your hosts how much you love cats.
    
    
12. Feel free to take over the TV at any point.  You have been informed that one of your hosts doesn't particularly like true crime shows.  Please select program that details how much bodies are mutilated from a bombed bus depending on their proximity to said bus.  You like the show and after al the host is merely washing up the dishes from the roast dinner the night before, she isn't focusing on you.
    
    
13. Remember to stand between your hosts at all times.  Whenever you are out at the markets or in a restaurant make sure you sit and stand and walk between your hosts.  After all we wouldn't want them to hug or kiss at any time.  In fact, your hosts are here to focus on you and therefore anything they say or do must involve you.  If one host is trying to show the other host a comment to a blog post, remember to put your head between the hosts and the screen so you can read it first.  Then dismiss the comment even though you have no context as you haven't read the blog post.
    
    
14. Finally, as you board the plane this morning, wonder why your trip wasn't as successful as you thought it was going to be ....

Abby

The newest member of the family. Joined us on 6 June 2009 at approx 7 weeks of age.

Interesting weekend

Well Abby has now joined the family.  She is totally fearless and as you can see, Trubs is keeping her distance but there's no outright hostility.  As soon as they agree on their boundaries and personal spots I think it should all work out fine.

Personally I think Abby should have been renamed Polly.  She loves sitting on my shoulder while I type or stitch.

Speaking of which, this weekend I also finished Part 3 of Vienna Ball.  I haven't included the beads or treasures.  I learned from Mystery IX and will leave them to the very last.

And that's the update :)  Off to open Mariann's RR and start it.

New Kitten

Here's Mr NTB and the new (and yet unnamed) member of the household.

You can see how she stole my heart in a single glance.

Mel's "What day is it?" Update

Well life has had its downs recently and now it has a few ups.

I've landed a part time role at my local library as a skills librarian - a training role.  This is quite different to anything I've been formally hired to do before so I'm actually looking forward to it.  I start on 15 June 2009.  Its only part time and very poorly paid, but any money is better than no money.

I've also been stitching a lot lately.  As the above pic shows, I have two main forms of therapy and I get depressed when I don't pay attention to both of them. 

I have updated my finished album.  I have three pieces finished so far this year and they are all Inkcircles designs.  This is pure serendipity!

I've finished my section on Claire's RR in our private round robin. 

I've finally finished Part 2 of Vienna Ball.  On the day that Part 7 is released!

But I'm making progress and life looks like it might be on the way up.  I even got half of my books unpacked and on the shelves yesterday.  Now just to get the unpacking fairies to unpack while I sleep so I can spend the last remaining week of unemployment stitching.  Unfortunately that is not likely :(

Black Bloomers Finished!

This is the new Black version of Inkcircles Bloomers chart.

Original colour scheme can be seen here.

Finished: 24 May 2009.

I'm very happy with how this came out, but I need to finish removing all the speciality fibre (i.e. cat hair as soon as I unpack my tweezers) .

Also I need a better camera to get a really good photo.  My beloved has offered to take some pics with his camera sometime soon.

Pics in finished album and WIP album.

Hugs
Mel.

Green on black

My favourite colour combo!

And yes I have now stitched all the green on Black Bloomers.

I've taken a break from unpacking and dedicated the last few days to stitching on Black Bloomers. The next update should be of a finish :) :)

In the meantime the unpacking and search for employment continue.  I have another job interview scheduled for tomorrow morning.  And then I MUST spend some time on Claire's RR.

We're still alive

For those not on Twitter:

• We are alive
• We have moved into a proper house
• Most of our stuff is here.  (*cough* 500 plus boxes *cough*)
• Trubs is home with us.
• We have net connection in the house.

I'm baaaaaack !!!!

Still unpacking boxes.  Still attending job interviews.  Still writing job applications.  Still whinging bitching and complaining :) :) :)

Life update (feel free to ignore)

In a nutshell:

Job: Still unemployed.

• Any jobs I apply for outside a library seems to be totally ignored.  Often not even sending me a "thanks for the application."
• Any job I apply for that I am overqualified for, I get a "thanks for the application" and then it falls into a black hole.
• The only good response I've been receiving is from jobs at the same level I was on.  This is good, but there are fewer jobs in this smaller area.  Also I have found out that my reputations from both UNSW (good) and RMIT (bad) have preceded me.  I am slowly learning which organisations will treat an application from me fairly, and which ones have already made up their minds :(
• I'm waiting back on a really good interview I attended last week from a really good University and I'm on tenterhooks.  I emailed them an hour ago and am watching the inbox desperately to find out one way or another.

Home: Tomorrow!
We sign the forms and take possession of a new rental house tomorrow.  Will take piccies and post soon.  We will be spending some time over there tomorrow working out where to put the varying pieces of furniture when they arrive .....

Moving IN

• Requires furniture.  Clothes.  Kitchen ware - you know - stuff.  The stuff that is in storage in Melbourne and we can't seem to get it from there to here.
• Originally Mr NTB planned to do a lot of te move on trade/barter but time after time, that fell through or the invoiced cost ended up being TEN TIMES the original quoted price.
• The last one had a cash component of $5000 which a very good friend so very kindly insisted on lending me at very short notice.  Which was fine until the final invoice came in at $20,000.
• This was yesterday!  They were supposed to collect our goods today!  We gave up on the barter/trade thing and  finally hired a Removals Broker yesterday.  He got cash only quotes for us averaging between $13K and $15K. We don't have that kind of cash .....
• We saw the bank this morning for a joint personal loan.  They appear unwillingly to lend us the money because of existing debts and I'm unemployed.  We'll find out tomorrow.

Other Things:

• I can't stitch well at the moment and I'm stressing because I can't get my two "obligation" pieces done.
• I have nothing to read because I don't know how to load new ebooks onto my reader using Mr NTB's equipment.
• I'm living on soup, bananas and chocolate because the kitchen in this apartment is useless and I can't afford to go out to a proper restaurant and I get sick eating junk food.  There are no GF convenience foods over here.  I have to eat suspect food whenever we eat out.  I'm so tired of mini gluten attacks that leave me feeling tired and washed out.
• My period is due and I'm feeling very hormonal.
• I miss Trubs sooooo much but I can't visit her.  When I visit it upsets her so much when I leave without her.  It takes her the better part of a day to calm down and it takes me nearly as long.
• The smallest two fingers on my right hand have been numb for a fortnight.  I have no feeling in them whatsoever and it extends part way into my forearm.  Sleeping badly on a bad bed.  I often wake up with my hands clenched and my whole body rigid with tension.  I'm not sleeping well because of the stress.

So no job.  We have a house but we can't afford to move into it. And Trubs is still in the cattery and I can't visit her and I feel so very miserable and I'm hinging all of my hopes on one phone call from Curtin University telling me I got the job and we can then get the loan and then get our stuff moved, and then Trubs out of the cattery and and and ......

So in the meantime its back to snacking on some chocolate, putting the washing in the dryer and seeing what other jobs I can put applications in for, while keeping an eye on the clock for my doctor's appointment at 3:30pm for my hand.

PS Mr NTB knows all of the above and he's stressing out over:

• Not being able to fix it all
• His work
• Money
• Seeing me like this
• Coping with someone else in his life/space

He's trying his best.  And none of this is his fault.

Dark Side of the Moon Designs

Been seeing this designer pop up on a few sites on the last few days. 

As most of you know I like this kind of stuff, so I thought I'd pop up a quick blog entry. 

I do not know the designer but she seems to be Australian ...

Both charts have been added to my lust lists for now.

Dark Side of the Moon Designs

Unhappy stitching news

The lighting at Mr NTB's place is not good enough for me to reliably stitch on black or stitch to a great enough degree of accuracy and uniformity on any other colour.

So Black Bloomers and Claire's Round Robin will be put to one side until we move and I can set up my usual stitching spot.

I hope this doesn't upset too many people - I just really feel embarrassed if I do a shoddy job on either of those projects.

I'll stitch on some of my own projects where uniformity and quality of work is not great :)

I'll hopefully get back to these in a couple of weeks .....

Inkheart

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Action & Adventure

Fantastic! Must see!

Mr NTB and I saw Inkheart last night.

Brendan Frasier (slurp!)
Jim Broadbent (one of my favourite character actors)
Helen Mirren (who we didn't recognise!)
and many slurpworthy others! (Dustfinger's fire eating scene!)

Great ensemble cast! Although some characters really stole some scenes (the ferret!) you couldn't really say that one actor outshone the rest.

It WAS a children's movie so many of the twists and the ending are highly predictable, but it was a very fun movie. A children's Princess Bride.

This will definitely be added the DVD Collection as soon as it is released!

Off to read the book series it was based on now.
http://www.corneliafunke.net/en/index.html

Resounding success?

A friend recently asked if I considered the move to the other side of the country to be with my fiance Mr NTB a resounding success?

Well yes.  We haven't killed each other yet or verbally expressed a desire to end the relationship.

Taking two people who live very different lifestyles, used to living on their own ...

• Put them in a tiny apartment where there is just no space for privacy.
• Make them live out of suitcases without their "stuff" around them.
• Remove the constant feline companion.
• Make these two people share one TV and one computer.
• Without a functioning kitchen.
• With only one of them earning an income.
• Oh and ratchet up the heat to over 30 degrees every day (90F)
• With no air conditioning.

Two weeks later we don't want to kill each other, and we don't want to end the relationship.  Indeed there are still obvious signs of affection.

Yes I'd call this a resounding success :)

Today's pic is of the new comforter (doona) and pillowcase set we bought while house hunting my first weekend here.  We also bought me an octopus.  A girl needs more than one octopus.

Stitching Update

Well I think I've finally managed to get my camera connected to Mr NTB's computer.  I can't edit or "clean up" the pics in any way so these are just raw photos.  Sorry.

First up is an update to Black Bloomers. 
Apologies for the amount of cat hair.  I don't have my lint brushes with me.  I'm loving the way this one is turning out.

Also update to Vienna Ball.
Yes I have the whole border finished. Finally.  Apparently the amount of teeth gritting and golem like behaviour has been increasing as this part of the project seemed never-ending :yes I will finish my precioussssss".

So - now do I go back to Black Bloomers, start on part 2 of Vienna Ball or start something else I have with me?  Or read a book?

Today's picture is one of the last ones I took of Trubs in the old house.  As you can see there are a number of strategically placed baskets around the room and she sleeps directly on the floor right in the middle of them all.  She's a cat.

Moscow WIP

Received an envelope from Vervaco today.  They sent the replacement threads for Moscow.

Pretty fast timing for a request sent to Belgium and then had to follow me all over Australia :)  But they have sent sufficient thread for me to finish the design.

As soon as I get it out of storage again .....