Two more completions...

I know, I know, I've gotta work on this blogging thing... I've hopelessly inconsistant lately. In truth, it's been years since I kept a record of my daily actions - the last time I did, I was a teenager and it ceased when my mom found and read my diary and decided to pre-maturely give myself (and my boyfriend - can we up the mortification level to 11 out of 10 please?) the "sex-chat". Ever since, I've had trouble starting up writing about myself, even in a forum where I don't care what people read because I'm not writing anything too personal. But in my defence, I've been pretty sick with a cold lately and who really wants to read a sick and medicated person's ramblings? At least I'm not as bad as the "man-cold" where I cease functioning completely.

So I finished Tatty... this is part of the reason I got as sick as I did. I completely exhausted myself working on him until 3 am last Saturday morning, and then got up in 6 hours, and worked on him again for another 5 straight hours. I was destroyed afterwards, and then I still had to stay awake all day since J's parents came over for a belated birthday celebration. By about 7 pm, I was ready to just crash. My cake I made turned out okay, but my ganache did NOT work. Not sure if that's because my cream was about to expire, or because I over cooked it since I was distracted (and tired!). But it tasted good none the less and J never complains about my cooking. (lol - he is very smart that way...)

In the last week, despite being sick, I also managed to finish a square on another of my UFO's, a Forest Friends afghan from Stoney Creek Cross-Stitch magazine from 1994. I now have 3 of 11 squares complete (a squirrel, fox and possum) and am starting on image #4, which is a beaver. The patterns are definately showing their age though since I've found a couple of discontinued DMC threads which I've had to change since their "replacement" threads were also used in the piece. At least I haven't gotten too far in the piece to really show those colours have changed since the first two squares.

Square #3 - Possum

Other than that, not much to report, I'm one week closer to having part of my kitchen done. I'm hoping to have my counter installed in a week to two weeks now. Unfortunately it will only be done in half my kitchen since we'll be waiting on a cabinet to arrive until the end of march. I'm not impressed about that one, let me tell you. I ended up in a screaming match with the store for about an hour when I found that one out. I was also pretty peeved that they hadn't ordered my counter since I'd be having it installed by now if they had. When you spend 18g on a kitchen, you should be treated properly, not made to wait for 4 months for your kitchen install... just sayin'.

Work and Play

It's finished!! Woo!!

Despite multiple attempts by G to slow me down in my progress, I have finally finished the Pegasus picture. And it's an accomplishment to be proud of because I've been working on it off and on for 2 years. (I do have to stop sometimes and design my own pieces, of course!) But thank goodness another one of my UFOs is crossed off my list.

Only 15 left to go... okay fine, you caught me, 16, but I don't count that one since it's a needlepoint and I will probably go to my grave having it un-finished... I can't stand needlepoint. Not that I have any trouble with the technique, needlepoint itself isn't all that bad. However - printed canvas and I do not get along at all. I can't stand the indecision of it, is that stitch this colour or that colour, is this that green shade or this one... so "Wintry Wolves" by Sunset will probably sit in my UFO bin for the rest of my life. Hopefully the next time I do decide I'm crazy enough to work on it, a silverfish doesn't come running out of the bag at me (yes, this has happened - it's been a UFO for over 12 years now, I started it for J when he and I first started dating!) There is another needlepoint in my list but I'm not sure if I'll finish that one either. I just haven't made that decision yet. It was supposed to be a stocking for J, but I ended up stitching him that other one so I don't have a current purpose for it anymore.

I just started working on a Tatty Teddy piece as well, this one is for a birthday present, but I expect a  complete photo to go up on here shortly so I'm not going to bother taking an in-progress shot. It's working up fast and I might have been done minus that backstitching last night if I hadn't fallen asleep on the couch. (J woke me at quarter to 12 and sent me to bed.... normally I'm awake until 3 but I guess the late nights and early mornings finally caught up with me.)

Otherwise my vice these days has been "Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure". One of the things I asked for at Christmas/ Yule time was a Nintendo 3DS with the new game for "Animal Crossing". A little bit of an addiction for me, but what can I say... I love the cutesy games. Well... the game hasn't come out in North America yet and they keep pushing back the release date... it was supposed to be late January but has now been pushed to May (maybe). But J and my mom decided to get me a 3DS anyways with the promise that when the game does come out, they'll get it for me. And my 3DS came with Super Mario and Spyro's Adventure. I've always liked Spyro, being that he's a cute little dragon (check the name up top...) but I've never been particularly good at the games. But this one, I actually am not too bad at playing... so I really enjoy it.

However - I do have to say. Seriously Nintendo? You're going to release a game, and while you're still selling the game, discontinue the characters that you need to buy to continue to play the game? I mean, this is completely a nerds game - because you have to buy these little collectable figurines which, when you place them on a special pedastal, will be "teleported" into your game as a playable character. Again, I love the dragons. I'm not too into the others but I would love to collect all the cute little dragons... and some of them are darn hard to find since they've been discontinued! I ended up ordering a ton through Amazon after my searches locally turned up with only a couple options. I gave up with the local searches after my local game store told me that the game's been discontinued and that they won't be getting anymore. (Totally depressing!) But you can still buy carrying bags and a new version of the game which only comes with 3 of the characters... not enough to complete the game.

Skylanders Toys

This is my current collection that I've managed to locally acquire, the ones on the right are from the Skylanders: Giants game, which are second edition which means they can (if they're included in the original software) be used for Spyro's Adventure. You can tell the difference because of the line of colour along the bottom. Exclusive Spyro's Adventure ones have green, and Giants 2nd edition have Orange. Giants 1st edition have blue, I think. It's amazing the things you learn. And it's scary how much this game ends up costing... each one of these little figures can cost up to $10. And all this for a free game that came with my 3DS... argh... the way they suck you in is just crazy!

So now I'm patiently waiting for my order to come in from Amazon with the new figurines. It's coming in three parts and 2 have already shipped to me, but when they arrive is the question. So I'm trying to stitch as quickly as I can to get everything done so I have a day or two when my shipments come in to just have some fun...

C'est la vie...

It's been a while since I posted and while I feel bad about that, it's been so busy the last week that I just haven't had time to think much less than try to figure out a post.

On Wednesday, the installer started on my new kitchen. Thank the gods that we have an installer and J isn't installing it all. It would have taken him weeks! And we had a kick-ass installer who was an absolute pro. He did an awesome job, and was very friendly and tolerant of my kids, more so than a lot of workers would have been. Unfortunately my kitchen is still not completed, it's going to take at least another 2 weeks, maybe 3. One of our cabinets was incorrect in size and needs to be changed out, so we need to wait for a new one to be made, and sent from Quebec. One thing I stressed, over everything else, was since my kitchen was so small to begin with, and is such a random shape/size, every available space needed to be filled. Well, this cabinet is only 15 inches wide with a 4 inch spacer to the wall. This was overly cautious because we could have had an 18" cabinet with a 1" spacer, no problem. Since I had stressed that point over and over again, the store will be fixing that, and giving me my 18" cabinet, but unfortunately we need to wait for that. There were also a couple items that were missing, and a couple things that had to be re-negotiated. So when the new items come in, the installer will return for a day to complete the job. However, since my counter is granite, I need to wait 2 - 3 weeks for that anyways, which means I do have the time. The counter measure guys came in on Friday so hopefully it will be 2 - 3 weeks from then and the cabinet will come in before that.

Valentine's day for me this year was a total bust... kinda crappy, but what can you do? J was planning to take me out for dinner and a movie.. however with no one to watch the kids for the night, everyone else being just too busy, I'm just a little S-O-L. The person I normally ask has no interest and the people J always asks aren't available until March 11th. It kind of defeats the purpose to go out a full month later. It's depressing to me because it's the second Valentine's in a row that nothing has happened - and since J and I haven't had a one-on-one date in over a year, I feel like "mom" more than "wife" most days. Not that being "mom" is a bad thing, trust me, I love that, but they always say you're supposed to try to keep the romance alive and the one-on-one is just as important. And in some ways I miss dating J. It's been so long since we spent some time together not talking about the kids. And I was looking forward to seeing the new "Die Hard" movie...

And G did it to me again this weekend... again, he got a hold of my pink highlighter and coloured on my Pegasus cross-stitch piece. He coloured all over the pattern mostly, but in some places he missed and this time, got it on the stitched part too. It cost me almost 6 hours of ripping out, and re-stitching. Again, Tide-to-Go saved my life, I recommend any stitching friends who read this - you need one of these just in case. It even worked on an area where I couldn't rip out the stitching and I prayed that it wouldn't bleach the threads - it didn't. I was so upset though... L tried so hard to make me smile, it was so sweet. I have managed to get a lot accomplished, there is barely any background left to stitch, and the pegasus is only missing a neck and head and a bit of one wing so it's just a matter of time now. It would be nice to be closer but again, c'est la vie. Eventually, right?

Busy, busy, busy!!

So we've been hard at work the last couple days just trying to get finished all the work that needs to be done in our kitchen. It's completely done, except for the final wall, which is the one behind the sink and stove, and the floor. Unfortunately, we need to completely re-run the plumbing and drain, and re-route some electrical for the dishwasher. This is slightly scaring us, because at 5 days until install, that adds a lot of work, and after that, we still have to prime, paint and lay the floor.

Stress for me is a little bit of a killer, I don't handle it very well at all... I have barely eaten in days. I force it on myself, but the desire just isn't there. But at this point I'm just trying to trust in J that he will get it finished. It's way more fun now too because I obviously no longer have a kitchen sink, so I'm washing all our dishes in the bathtub. (Great fun!)



On top of that, I'm so tired of looking at the Pegasus picture that I'm working on it incessantly during the hours we're not working on the kitchen. Tonight is no exception, I'm hard at work, even now working on it, trying to finish off the background and body of the Pegasus. I have other pictures I want to work on, and it's killing me to keep having to work on this one. I have a gift to make for a friend, a gift for another friend that I need done by March, and since it's been so cold, an afghan that's sat on the backburner (another UFO) for years now taken from some Stoney Creek Magazines from 1994. (Yes, I have patterns dating back to when I was 13... do you have a point? I have been stitching since I was 8.) The lower two pictures have already been done, and there is a third, a possum in progress. And of course, there`s my designs to consider as well, designs that I still need to work on. So many patterns, never enough time.


Image 1 from the Afghan

Image 2 from the Afghan

Still, that doesn`t mean there`s no time for other more pleasant pursuits. I`m an avid movie watcher. I love movies. And I mean, that, I adore them. I have a very large movie collection. It`s not huge, but that`s because I`m pretty discerning.



I love epics, like LOTR, Star Wars, etc. I like movies about serial killers, like "From Hell" or "Silence of the Lambs". I like the occasional romantic comedy, but it's not my usual go-to for movies. But I do have to admit that I love the tales from the past. Remember I mentioned in a previous post how I adore anything medieval? Tonight's choice is "Troy". Not only is filled with plenty of male eye-candy in armor, and most of them have long hair (one of my top priorities for a male, one who can pull off long hair and still look like a man.) But it dates back to a time when men were men, they were built the way they were built because their bodies were built for war, trained from childhood for hand-to-hand combat. And a time where, although women were property, they were cherished and treasured for their beauty and feminine skills. Lol, in those times, my talents with needlework and ability to sing would have made me an accomplished mate for a husband. I probably would have been too outspoken for decency though. ;)

I have to admit, that my favourite actor in this movie, is not Brad Pitt, although I have to admit I do think the man is gorgeous, even now.. I don't even like the story of Helen and Paris, no, my favourite character in this movie is Hector for the way he treats his wife. He adores her. He is loyal to her in a time where cheating wasn't even considered cheating unless it was the woman doing it. He actually loves her and his son with all his heart and it's tragic the way he is killed. My heart breaks for his wife who adores him too, when she is forced to watch him die. In my wildest fantasies, I wonder what that would be like, to know that your mate is forced to go off to war and may never come home. It gives me a profound respect for the mates of modern-day soldiers who have to make that kind of sacrifice, and know that kind of feeling. I couldn't imagine how I'd feel if one day J never came home... It's not something I've ever really allowed myself to think about.

But still, it's nice sometimes to escape to another world, to a simpler time where I would miss showers and toilets and electricity, but romanticism and valor and honor were king. Lives were shorter back then, but I think people lived with more passion, with more joie de vivre than anyone nowadays because they knew they had less time to enjoy it.



A crazy weekend.

Well, it's been a few days since I last was able to post because apparently I like to injure myself. Last Wednesday, I was leaving the house and I fell down the steps and injured my right knee and ankle after landing 3 steps down on the side of my foot. Usually I'm pretty agile but I do have a tendency to hurt my ankles on a fairly regular basis. They've been my weak spot since I was a teenager. I have lost count of how many times I've sprained or strained them.

Then on Friday, I was cleaning up around the house and somehow managed to stab the back of my middle finger on my left hand with a very large, industrial box staple. I'm not sure how far in it went, but it was bleeding for a good 25 minutes, so probably pretty far in.

But the best was later that night, I apparently decided that since that finger was injured already, what did I need it for? So I decided to cut 1/3 of the way through with a bread knife. Yes. Sounds gross. It is. And don't worry, I will NOT be posting pictures. So for the last couple days, I could barely type, I couldn't do any heavy lifting, I couldn't even wash my own hair. Since I'm a very independant person, that was torture. And my darling husband had to do all that for me. Thankfully it's now mended enough that a single band-aid wrapped around protects it from damage and allows me to be able to do things again. I still need to be careful but at least it doesn't hurt anymore.

I'm hoping that the third time is a charm and that I'm done now. I can't deal with any more pain right now.

On a brighter note, my kitchen is finally getting installed! Yay! The cabinets arrived today. The installer called last week and asked to push up the install date to wednesday, but it's not doable because we still have to fix the wall behind the sink and let me tell you, it's one disgusting wall. So the install is set for next week, Wednesday. I love my house - when we first moved in, there were rooms after rooms and doors everywhere. But it's an older house, built in the mid 50's, and the biggest problem (or so we thought) was that it had last been decorated in the mid 70's. The walls in most of the rooms were pinks, brown, and yellow.

I mean, seriously? Who paints a room that colour? Blech... That was the first thing to go - the above room. My kitchen wasn't much better, it was a lighter yellow, with a fruit wallpaper border.... but the countertop was bright orange (another who does that? moment) as were all the handles on the cabinets. I am so happy that I'm not going to have to look at an orange counter-top anymore that I almost don't care that I'm not going to have the ability to wash dishes for a couple weeks. I will however get my dishwasher back in 8 days (yay!) so that should at least make it bearable until my new counter is installed. And my new kitchen is way more modern and has no trace of the old 70's colours! Woo! I will have a new kitchen sink which has a plug that works, I will have 12 drawers, not just 5. I will have 27 cabinets, not the 7 that I have been living with for weeks. I will get my bar in my family room with my bar stools that have sat un-used for over 2 years. My heart is starting to race with the excitement of having it all done the way I have wanted... and to finally have it happening... wow.

The other night we were going through pictures of our renovations and to look back, we've done a LOT since we moved in, but there's always more, and it's never done which drives me slightly crazy. I'm a neat freak, in the sense I need everything to be in it's place or I feel unsettled. So when things don't have a place, it drives me nuts. I'm so looking forward to everything having a home.