You will never believe what happened at the LNS superbowl sale today!
I went just to use my $20 gift card so I was sticking to stuff on my list. I found a nice pink fabric for Savannah's Curtsey (Vintage Linen's Alabaster) but with the sale price, I was $3 short so I was looking at other stuff with my planner out and DH was talking to some lady about photos. And it turns out the lady is the real owner of Stitching Stations parent company and she wants him to bring his advertising portfolio by and she saw me comparing patterns to my planner and asked what it was and I showed her the inventory and she saw my 2 pages of Just Nan and asked if I'd ever been in a Just Nan class and I told her no so she went in the back room and pulled out 4 Just Nan class projects and just gave them to me. She said she couldn't sell them because they're class projects...[i]stops to take a breath[/i]...and they're fantastic. I got halfway home and made DH turn around so I could buy the silk to start Diamond Bouquet. And while I was there I met this cool girl named Heather who kinda looks like an elf with long white hair and blue eyes and she was buying Romeo and Juliet by TW and Mermaid. She said that she sometimes checks the board but hasn't registered before but she likes the idea of Vegas and meeting TW so she may stop by the BB again and even sign up this time which would make 6 of us from Utah. But anyway I got the Soie d'Alger for Diamond Bouquet ($2.56 a skein sale price) and I was all excited to start it but then when I got home, I realized that I didn't have an lavender fabric to do it on and I couldn't find anything that fit so I was kind of bummed but then I remembered that Silkweaver is having the 9x12 cuts sale and those are the perfect size and I'm doing more ornaments this year anyway so I went and ordered 10 of those and asked if Tracy would please make sure that one of the randoms was a lavendar (even though I know its supposed to be random) so I may be able to start Diamond Bouquet on Wednesday or Thursday when the fabric gets here. Of course this does throw my rotation off since February was supposed to be the 2nd ornament and then Price of Freedom (which is also silk so a lot of fun to work on but DB looks like it will go really quick but then so did PoF. [i]stops to breathe again and realizes that those that are listening have their jaws hanging open and the other creatures have given up trying to follow this ramble and have gone back to what they were doing.[/i]
Sorry, didn't mean to go on so long.
[i]slinks off to a stitching chair to start O Christmas Tree.[/i]
I've been surfing blogs lately. There are some weird things out there. There are some really informative ones like the Red Tigress's Lair, there are some that are obviously by teens, there are some just plain sick ones, countered by some ultra religious ones and I've learned more about fetishes than I wished to know. I do wonder what happened to the guy that was posting as if he was Captain Kangeroo now that the Captain died.
and there are some like mine, not about anything in particular and all about nothing in general, those are the fun ones to me. Slices us peoples lives, slivers that bring us closer to a global community. Who would have known that I have something in common with a woman in India or a young man in Tokyo?
[b][i]If you have accomplished all that you have planned for yourself, you have not planned enough.
- Edward Everett Hale, Unitarian Clergyman, Writer[/i][/b] There are overachievers, underachievers and everybody else. Just what is it that keeps most people in the pack. A failure to look beyond right now? Dwelling on yesterday? The belief that they have been dealt this hand in life and there is nothing that they could do to change it? Who started the belief that it's wrong to fight against fate? Look how many myths deal with it. If you're smart and courageous you can outwit the fates and change your destiny. If you're careless, you can lose even what you had. But what if you don't believe in fate? What is the excuse then for not doing more? Do we not believe in ourselves? Do we buy the argument that some religions sell that it is better to be poor and humble? What's wrong with rich and humble? King David was rich, Solomon was wealthy, and Job was wealthy before his trials. But then we have the New Testament scripture that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the Needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. I understood the Eye of the Needle to be a rock formation that a camel had to be hobbled in order to bring it through. Thus the parable takes on the meaning of a rich man humbling himself before God in order to reach the Kingdom of Heaven. But not even on a financial front, why don't we do more? Why do we waste time surfing the net when we could be doing something constructive, or sitting in front of the TV complaining that there is nothing good to watch. Turn it off and do something. I've heard it said that reading is better than watching TV but if you're reading mindless entertainment, is it any better? So why don’t we try to achieve more? Is it the general theory of Chaos? It takes more effort and energy to keep from sliding into decline. It’s easier to ignore that we could be better. Complaining is easier than complimenting. It’s easier to be a gnu or a sheep than a lion. I, for one, am tired of being part of the flock. I’m fighting Chaos rather than accepting it. Race you to the top?
It's lovely to be woken in the middle of the night by the 10 year old saying, "I've just thrown up and I missed the toilet." You roll over to ask DH to go take care of it but you notice he's dashing for the master bath, and you can hear that at least he hit the toilet. So you put the 10 year old to bed and go look at the kids bathroom and decide that Someone must love you because most of it is centered on a rug that can be wrapped up and thrown in the washer. While you're wiping up the backsplash, the youngest comes in and misses the toilet but at least gets it all in the tub. At that point you clean him up and put him in bed with the 10 year old so they can share a bucket if they need. After finishing the bathroom you go back to the bedroom to find that DH is still having trouble. The girls are both fine and you thank God that there weren't enough ribs for everyone at dinner last night (and that you didn't cook them DH did).
Shop hopping with WhizGidget is always a blast. She taught me that bead shops are dangerous places and she has a new business idea that she is working on. We also looked at the sites with the possibility of what we would do if we had a TWBBGTG here. There is a chocolate shop next to a Needlepoint store which is across the street from a Yarn shop and another Needlepoint store. We could end the day at Gardner Village where there is a LNS, a quilt shop, a candy store, a jewelry store, a scrapbook shop, a reception center and a restaurant. This years get together is in Las Vegas and we should be ready to announce the location in a few days. I did really good at the LNS's I picked up mainly stuff for other people it was the bead shop that was dangerous and where I spent the most money.
The work out Wednesday was great but I haven't been able to move my right tricep since Thursday morning. Makes stitching (which I'm not supposed to be doing with my wrist) really hard.
But on the bright side, I made a color copy with my Epson Scanner/Printer last night!
I've exercised 4 days in a row and 3 of those were even at the gym. I went so far as to meet with a personal trainer today who was blown away that this old, flabby lady (relatively speaking when you look at the pixie sticks who exercise at 5 pm) can front press 50+ pounds and be disappointed that it wasn't more (leg press was 90). So along with my new found love of aerobic exercise, I now have a toning routine. And the one thing that I really learned today - I've been doing crunches wrong. I instinctively knew I had been doing them wrong, I just needed some one to tell me what it was I was doing wrong. I also discovered that 30 done right burns in the right places a lot more than 100 done wrong (which burned in the back of my thighs not my abdomen). On the not positive note, I picked up a month's supply of Zocor samples from my doctor. I think I'm going to stick to the eat less, exercise more routine for 3 months first. (I see WhizGidget in 60 hours!!!)
P.S. Karen - I worked on your triceps before I did mine, boy are you going to be sore in the morning!
Once upon a time, I wrote really well. At least well enough to win awards and get published. Then I ran out of uplifting topics and started trash writing about filth and my ability to write left. Then life got in the way and I lost the desire to write. Now I have the desire and I'm finding I have to work for the ability. In the past, words flowed, grammar and spelling just happened. Now I'm struggling to continue thoughts without running out into tangents. I'm going to have to work to regain the talent. I recently read that the ultimate way to acheive is to do nothing for yourself and everything for others (The Millionaire's Secrets by Mark Fi something he wrote the book Instant Millionaire which I haven't read).
So is re-developing my writing talent an appropriate goal? Is it something worth striving for? Am I doing it for me or is it helping others somehow? How is it helping others?
Once upon a time, my dream was to publish a book. I even have several half finished. Then I lost interest in writing. Now I have story ideas hitting me left and right and I've lost the patience to put it all together. The Laws of Success state that Concentration is an essential ingredient. I need to work on developing that aspect of my character. Sorry, lost my train of thought, I think I'll go stitch before heading to bed (yes, I'm not supposed to be but if I can do it while wearing the wrist brace then I'm not moving it wrong, right?)
Sometimes you're just in a mood to finish something, anything. That's where quilting is a nice hobby. Last night while backing up the system, I made a quilt top, finished preparing the backing fabric and took pictures of it to be posted to the gallery. All in under two hours. Now I know this is different with more complicated patterns but it doesn't take much to throw together an easy quilt.
You know it's time to redo the closet when you take out a skirt you once considered a power skirt, and before wearing it you have to use the lint roller to remove the line of dust.
I'm reading a great book right now. I realize I should be cleaning the house for when WhizGidget and her DH get here but I'm going to take my book and a bubblebath. So nothing really profound tonight.
Except to tell you all that my favorite part of Return of the King was (as Ixy put it) when Aragorn glomped Arwen.
So when a dream is ripped out from under you how do you react? Do you go off an lick your wounds and disappear from the world or do you reassess and go charging off in a different direction? Maybe something different? I have to admit today I would like to go off and lick wounds but I don't have time to wallow. So, it's dust off, keep going, and look for a fork in the road so that I can branch off into a different direction. In the meantime, I'll just keep barrelling down this highway because I'm having fun, learning lots and I'll be able to apply it even if I can't use it on this idea. It's about time I became more cyber aware anyway considering that my job title is IT manager.
I used to play piano. I also played cello but that's another story. Well this week, the kids all decided that they wanted to bump up a level the amount of practicing that they were doing because DH pointed out where he was and what he was playing at their ages. Heaven help us if they aren't all at a lower level than the old man was. So they've all bumped it up and to set an example, he bought a guitar and is teaching himself to play (and playing DS#2's drums as well). This has resulted in DD wanting both an electric violin and a bass. DS#1 is just kicking it into high gear so that he can up his level is some of the competitions that he's going too. This brings me, the earless wonder, into the picture. With everyone working hard, why isn't the mother playing an instrument? Well I found a violin/piano piece that I think I could handle and sat down to play it. You know, if you don't sit down at the keyboard for 10 years, you get really really rusty. However, after an hour or so of scales, my wrists feel well enough to stitch. Who knows, maybe I could learn an easy concerto, just to say I've done it.
This morning I woke up and tried to pet the beagle in the bed with me. (Lying in between me and DH). The hand and arm responded but I couldn't tell you if the dog was warm or wet. I was not ready to wake up so I didn't think much of it and rolled over on the pillow. When I did get up, there was tingling in the palm and thumb but there usually is but it goes away by the time I'm done showering. It was still there a little but I started picking up the house and then went to work on [url=http://www.virtual-stitcher.c...]Noah's Ark[/url] and about 20 minutes into it, I can't hold the needle anymore. That's right the thumb and first two fingers of my left hand are totally numb. I start doing my carpal tunnel excercises and I manage to get to where I can pick up the needle for another 10 minutes. So my weekend of stitching looks like it will be in 10 to 15 minute increments with 30 to 45 minute breaks. If I was smart, I would put up all the stitching and just run quilt blocks through the sewing machine for the next 6 weeks. But no, I'm not that intelligent, I'll just wait for the lump in my palm to recede a bit (ice helps), sleep with the brace on for the next unforseeable future (yep, that's just so sexy in bed), and do my stitching in short increments only stopping when the pain gets to the point I can't or the numbness makes me drop the needle. No, I don't think I'll be going in to see the doctor. He'll just tell me the same thing - I've got overuse tendonitis, bordering on carpal tunnel. Quit doing all the things I love and rest. Yeah, sure; like I can rest without doing what I love. I'll just take care of it myself the way I've been doing for the last 10 years when it flares up. Although, I really wouldn't mind another steriod injection. That hurt for about 10 minutes then I was pain free for 3 years.
1.Get the new business up and running. 2.Live within my means a. Only use credit cards if the money is in the bank to pay it off. b. Put more money in the bank c. Don’t spend every penny of every paycheck d. Put money away for retirement in either 401K or IRA 3. Take better care of me a. Exercise weekly b. Take vitamins c. Eat less food, drink more water d. Do hair and makeup daily 4. Read scriptures daily 5. Take a class 6. Paint the bathrooms 7. Paint one of the kids bedrooms 8. Make stitching time weekly 9. Finish two large projects 10. Stick to the rotation
Do you re-evaluate where you are at the beginning of the year? Do you make resolutions or set goals? Every month I look at what I've accomplished and where I'm going. I went through several years of aimless wandering, stuck in a rut of job, home, job, home with no other goal beyond getting up in the morning and coming home at night. I've decided that I don't like living that way. It isn't really living it's more an existance. Animals exist, people have the ability to be more. I need to have a place that I'm headed I'm not a plow horse going through the daily grind with my head looking at my feet. For that reason, I have a top ten list now. The top ten things that I want to do with in the next 12 months. It makes it easier to set monthly and weekly goals and to set a daily task list. Now before you go thinking I'm an overachiever...well, I wasn't planning on talking about my dad. I'm just an everyday average person. My goals tend to be things like read with the kids, sort the laundry, don't beat in the heads of brainless co-workers that spend the afternoon outside your office talking about piercing body parts and why they would or wouldn't pierce there. But, it feels good to get up in the morning and know that you have something that needs to be done. Even if it's just take a long hot soak in a tub to get rid of some stress. It's also a lot easier to get to sleep knowing that I've written down all those things that I need to do in the morning and won't remember when I wake up. I know I should probably get with the computer age and get a PDA but I like the paper database I'm working with now. And, I don't have to worry about misfiling the big red book in my purse.
