He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, while he who has one enemy shall meet him everywhere.  Ralph Waldo Emerson

Recently a good friend returned to ezboard.  I was excited to see her back but it became apparent that the prejudice that caused her to be chased from the boards in the first place is still going strong and still led by the same person. Now to be honest, my political opinions are nowhere close to my friends but I understand where her feelings come from and why they are leading her in the direction she's gone.  And there are those just as passionate on the other side.  Personally, I've never trusted the government to be a creditable source of information.  I don't trust most of the media outlets either.  Now, friends of mine in the military with friends stationed in the areas, those are sources that I trust.  For most debates though, anecdotal evidence is usually dismissed. My personal opinion, occupation should be as conquerors not as peacekeepers, I'm an imperialist in a politically correct age. 

The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun.  R. Buckminister Fuller 

It's easy to see why Teresa wanted the BB to be stitching only at times like this when feelings run high.  It seems that stitchers just can’t discuss differences of opinion nicely any more.  Of course, it's also interesting to watch the moderators on other boards doing exactly what they accused the TWBB moderators of doing.  Anyone else missing a thread they posted on recently *snark*?

There was a great quote about life yesterday but I didn't copy it down, I figured it would be up there later.  Goes to show me not to procrastinate, huh?

I'm having trouble getting the image to show so you'll have to live with a link.

HERALD

Here is my finished Herald, my kids are calling me a power stitcher although I didn't finish him as fast as several others did.

Okay, I'm feeling a lot better now.  Today the teacher that I didn't think I got off on the right foot with called.  She was concerned that DS#2 was coming home upset.  Seems they were playing a running game and he was over-exerting himself to the point that she was afraid he was going to have an asthma attack (He's not asthmatic but she didn't know that).  He was furious that she pulled him out of the game.  She said that he held his temper very well but she could tell he was upset.

We had a great talk.  She said it's obvious that he has a learning disorder.  She doesn't understand why the school hasn't done more for him.  I told her about the resource teacher that hated us because we wouldn't medicate him for ADD.  I have 4 doctors that say he isn't ADD.  She said that she could see quite well that he isn't ADD.  He concentrates wonderfully well when he's interested and he stays in his seat when he's excited.  She's figured out that he misbehaves when he's confused and has been trying to give him some one on one time or asking him to draw for a minute until she has time to help him.  I think I love this teacher.  She's put him up front near the board and is writing down directions with numbers. 

She still doesn't have a school email box yet, but she took down my email so that she can send me one as soon as it's up and working. 

In the morning, I skipped breakfast in order to go up and open the stitching suite.  I left the room about 5 minutes before Julie Norton’s class.  Julie is an absolute hoot as a teacher and I learned some new things that I put to use right away.  My stitching still isn’t as flawless as Julie’s but I have a goal to aim for now.  I did buy one of her patterns too.  It’s called Elizabeth.  It’s on my list to start but right now, it will wait until after some of the other Vegas projects.  Ixy sat in on the class but she sat with WG and not me.

After class, we headed back to the stitching suite to start the carpooling over to Stitcher’s Paradise.  Laurel’s mom offered to drive. So we were all able to go over in one group.  Well almost all of us.  I forgot to swing by to get Rita (blarneyrose) and Julie before we left.  After about an hour in the shop, Margaret (who had put most of her stuff on hold on Friday) and Ixy (who bought Dragon Dreams Why Hoard Gold) were done shopping so I took them back to the hotel and picked up Rita and Julie.  On the way back to the shop, DH called me.  He found a tripod that he’s been searching for and it was $250 less than it’s been running on eBay.  He suggested that I get myself a big present to compensate for all my work and for not complaining that he put the tripod on the credit card.

Stitcher’s Paradise had two Dragon Dreams canvases.  One was a beautiful blue pillow with a dragon.  The other was a red dragon that is supposed to be a doorstop.  I have a beagle, if I used it as a doorstop it would not exist.  I did get the red canvas though.  Between that and the supplies for the freebie bookmark and dragon, I ended up with the 3^rd largest ticket at Stitcher’s Paradise.  (Margaret was first, Dagmar 2^nd, me 3^rd, Teresa 4^th, a Vegas local 5^th, PennyIn 6^th)  Teresa went on a silk binge for those that are wondering.  So, basically, Saturday was group S.E.X. with a famous designer and it involved a lot of silk, some beads, dragons, and over 10 people.  (Let’s see how the search engines like that sentence?)   When we got back to the hotel, WG and I went over the survey replies and figured out who won what awards.  We had three people that we had to be creative with and, if we did the job right, those three don’t know who they are.  At dinner we presented Teresa with an ice dragon sculpture as a thank you gift.  After dinner we went to get a group picture in front of the hotel.  We had to position everyone in the driveway between taxis leaving.  DH hasn’t developed the pictures yet but as soon as they’re done, I’ll get them scanned and sent to TW and WG.  After that, we went up to the stitching suite for the gift bag exchange.  If I had finished this report earlier, I would probably remember what was said that had me laughing so hard I nearly had an accident.  I do remember Lisa saying that Spot had been in the box that she got.  Then Margaret stepped on the Spot box.  Just goes to show, when Lisa gets around many stitchers, Spot shows up and gets damaged.  Margaret and I actually locked the door about 11:45 Saturday night.  But DH and I went out to the hot tub and I still didn’t get to sleep until 2 am.

Sunday, Ixy and I went to breakfast with the stitchers group (the boys stayed home and had granola bars and juice).  We all woke up late and tried to reach everyone, we didn’t get an answer at Dee’s room, and Penny’s line was busy.  After breakfast, we went back up to the stitching suite and I insulted Sharon’s scissors (they were in great shape but even though they are my favorite Solingen steel, the tips weren’t sharp and there was either a nick in the lower blade or something sticky on them).  The tips of Dagmar’s scissors weren’t sharp either.  Anyway we decided that most of us are scissor sluts, and Dagmar is our new pimp.  It was here that we also got the picture of Margaret bowing at the feet of the original Stashinite goddesses.  It just seemed appropriate at the time.  After closing up the stitching suite, and paying for it, I went to Margaret’s room and left hardanger poopies (as Julie taught us to call them) all over her floor.  I did finish the Winter Rose ornament that I was designing as my original entry for the state fair (except for the beads, I didn’t have a beading needle with me).  It hit me that in the last 2 years I’ve designed 8 ornaments.  Teresa is responsible for my branching out in that area too.  My first self-designed ornament was an advanced whitework ornament to go with the freebies that she gave us in PA.  I asked Teresa if she was going to do an advanced whitework ornament.  She said that problem was in writing the instructions.

About 3 pm, DH insisted that he needed some time with me so we headed to dinner and shopping.  By 8 pm we were back to the hotel and out in the hot tub again.

Monday, we checked out of the hotel and headed to the gas station to fill up.  At the gas station we let the boys pick out drinks.  All 3 kids picked orange juice.  DS#2 said that he wasn’t hungry he just wanted juice.  I don’t know why the warning bells didn’t go off right then.  He’s always hungry.  Anyway out on the freeway, I started working on the Celtic bookmark freebie that Teresa gave us.  I was quite a bit into it by the time we hit Mesquite.  At that time, DS#2 leaned forward and lost his orange juice.  The good news is that it didn’t hit my stitching.  The bad news is that Ixy and DH and DS#2 all ended up changing clothes at the side of the road.  At least the truck didn’t stink.  I’m also very grateful that Margaret gave me the last of her water jug.  It came in very handy. I’m also grateful that my DH always travels with towels. 

Anyway, I’m looking forward to 2006 – the requirements for that location is that someone must verify the venues in person and it must have interesting stuff for DH to go photograph.  An international airport would be helpful.

I don’t know why I paid to go to a party to see people who didn’t know me or ignored me most of my high school career.  At least that’s what I thought when I got up early on Saturday and went to take care of a tenant’s water problem.  I started feeling better when I arrived at the reunion and the woman at the desk whom I barely recognized said, “You don’t need a name tag, you look exactly the same.”

I found myself looking at more and more nametags. I wasn’t recognizing anyone except Matt Bagley and Andy Boyce; they looked exactly the same.  It was interesting finding out what people were doing, and how many were still in touch with each other.  I haven’t talked to anyone from my high school in years and I found it rather nice to touch base with people.  DH found it interesting that I only knew one or two of the women and most of the men.  Let’s face it; in high school, I didn’t talk makeup, hair, boys, and shopping.  And with the addition of children, that seems to be all the women still talk about.  Well Lori Nixon is an exception.  She graduated 2^nd in the class, works in the biotech industry and climbs mountains for a hobby.  Listening to her, I felt really inadequate.  Listening to people talk, I realize that compared to most of those I went to school with, I’ve done nothing since high school.  I have a college degree, but I did more outside of the classroom in social situations than I did in school.  College was the first place where I had a social life.  I certainly didn’t have one in high school.

I did find it ironic that the editor of the paper, who made fun of me for enrolling at BYU, now teaches Political Science there.  Of course, he finds it hilarious that I don’t write about politics and women’s issues anymore.  I just look at it as eventually we all grow up.  After all, to quote Otto Von Bismarck, “If one isn’t a socialist at 20 he has no heart, but if he isn’t a capitalist by 30, he has no brain.”  (I have a personal corollary that adds, or has very rich parents but we won’t get into the socialist by guilt today.).

But then again, I do write about women’s issues.  I write about stitching, family, work, and things that effect me.  I’m a woman and these are my issues.  They aren’t earth shattering or of national or international importance but they effect me, and who knows maybe it’s the little things that matter in the long run.  At least that’s what my husband said as we were leaving.  “Dear, I don’t think you realize just how important you were to people, you were the one who said, “Hi!” to folks that others didn’t speak too.”

Friday morning I joined Margaret and the others for breakfast.  I sat with WhizGidget and her kids.  After they ate, the kids became restless so we left and headed to my room to perform introductions.  (I ate at the restaurant, my kids had granola and breakfast bars with juice and milk upstairs).  DS#1 was a little disappointed that WG’s girls weren’t his age but he got over it.  Especially the way that B latched onto him.  I had promised Ixy that we would go back to school shopping with someone other than me to give fashion advice.  The 3 of us headed to the mall next to the hotel for some heavy duty shopping.  At Hot Topic, we found some great deals – Ixy’s favorite T-Shirt read "I’m out of my mind, feel free to leave a message."  WhizGidget found a happy bunny shirt that read, “Make the stupid people stop talking.”  We also found one for WG that read, “I would rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not.”  They just didn’t have it in her size.  We also found a store called MISAKO, but didn’t get a picture of it for Ripplemis.

While we were at the mall, Margaret called and wondered where we were.  I reminded her that I had told her last night I was taking Ixy back to school shopping.  She told me that they were going to grab a cab to Stitcher’s Paradise.   

When we got back from back to school shopping, housekeeping hadn’t been able to fix the place where they had spilled carpet shampoo the previous day and they left the bathmat on it (DH put it there so the kids didn’t track soap all over.) and gave us a new bathmat.  My DH and WG’s DH had taken the kids somewhere.  I got my stitching stuff out and ready to take upstairs (I had the room number for the stitching suite, just not the keys).  They weren’t ready for us to check into the room so WG and I went down to Julie Norton’s room and and met Julie and Rita (blarneyrose).  Both of those ladies are a total riot.  Whizgidget said, “Yes, ma’am” when Rita asked her a question and that led to an interesting discussion on the perception of age.  Rita is waiting for some clerk to say, “Let me help you, dear.”  At that point, she will know that she is old, or at least ready for the purple outfit with the red hat.  Julie’s work is absolutely beautiful.  But Julie hasn’t figured out how to hit REPLY, on Ezboard. Actually, she can hit reply, she’s just afraid that they will ask for her weight in the profile portion so she hasn’t registered.  Both she and Rita were working on projects when we got there and we looked through the trunk show, on her hardanger, you can’t tell what is the front and what is the back unless you know to look for the 4/6 on the back.

 After viewing the trunk show, I went downstairs and got 5 keys for room 1570 (forgot to  count myself to make 6 people on the committee), and went upstairs to open the suite.  I had wanted to have a committee meeting to discuss who would be in the suite at what times and flesh out activities a bit more.  But the whole committee wasn’t there (Annette still hadn’t arrived) and Debi (Jaramar) was there.  So Debi got to sit in on the realization that no one would be in the suite during the Friday dinner hour.  Annette and Teresa would be at dinner, Ann and I would be at dinner, Mel/Lisa had plans and Margaret was going to Thunder Down Under. We decided to post a notice that a pajama party was starting at 10:30 and just have the last person out of the suite close the door.  Ann and I decided to go to dinner early so that we would be back shortly after the late group left for Thunder down Under.  We went to Hard Rock Café.  I hadn’t seen our children interacting together because the Dad’s had taken them for a long walk on the Strip.  A and DS#2 were best buds.  They’re the same age.  B had linked up with DS#1.  

As an aside, I should explain that little girls adore DS#1.  We’ve been getting telephone calls from girls since he was 6.  He, luckily, is clueless to their attraction to him.  He will be one of those guys in Junior high that every girl calls for the homework assignment and he will still be clueless.  I knew he had struck again when B who is normally very shy, kissed him during dinner.  I had a pig sandwich, A and DS#2 had mac and cheese, (DS#1 finished A’s since she was full and he was still hungry.) 

I got back and went up to the stitching suite with my kids.  DS#1 was working on the birth sampler he designed for his teacher and DS#2 finished the green on the top row of his Shepherd’s Bush First Stitches kit (USA).  Ixy was working on an anime character ornament that she was making for a friend.  I continued working on my Ornament RR.  The boys were sent downstairs before people started to trickle back.  Rita and Julie came up and talked awhile, they didn’t feel that they could stay up late enough to party with us. 

Party it was too.  Sally (swsheridan) had her modified Tradewinds, Laurel (Paculina) had her incredible chess board, Annette had her Emerald Mermaid, and Allie (Alliestitches) had a beautiful letter that she was working on.  She also had a picture from Thunder Down Under and Debi had one of those too. Debi also had an incredible over one face that looked more like a painting than stitching.  It was unbelievable.  Margaret presented Lisa with a glass from those that went to Thunder Down Under.  It has the Thunder Boys on it.  During the show and tell, Katie (KTCatt) and Ixy just kept stitching away.  Dagmar had her pictures from her wedding and Margaret and I were up until 1:30 am looking through them.  After walking Dagmar to the Stardust, it was 2 am by the time Margaret and I got home.  I think though that the funniest thing that happened to me that night was as I was working on my ornament from the exchange, I was having trouble with the metallic and I must have growled or something.  Someone asked me what was wrong and I said, Stupid metallic.  Teresa heard that and asked what it was, I spit out DMC.  Teresa got a pretend shocked look on her face and said, “Stasha, you said a bad word.”  Umm, maybe I’ve been too vociferous over my dislike of Anchor’s competitor?

Leaving the office at 9:30 can through a cramp in the routine, it took me until 1 am to unwind enough to go to bed.

Well my Vegas trip started in 2000 when Edie invited me to a GTG in Pennsylvania.  That was the original get together committee but we all got busy and it didn't come together, part of the problem was deciding on a venue. It was here that we got Stretch and the Freebie ornaments on the TWdesignworks page.  Several attempts at a world wide BB GTG were tried after that but they didn’t come together.

 In May of 2003, I contacted Teresa and asked if she was willing to come to a world wide get together, something like PA but open to everyone not just a select few.  She said that if I did it, she would come.  Picking a venue became the next issue.  I wanted something close to me so I could make the arrangements but something that was touristy so people could bring their families and not be bored.  Salt Lake City is a stitcher’s mecca with multiple shops but it seems that even the 2002 Olympics didn’t dispel the reputation for being backwards and people I felt out said that they weren’t interested in visiting my mountains even if there are 5 LNS’s within an hour of each other. Vegas is the nearest tourist trap to my house so Vegas became the venue.

 The next step was finding someone to help with travel arrangements.  Does anyone remember the request from the Evil Plot Fairy for help finding a travel agent? Yep, I asked her to post (although I don’t know who she is, I used ezboard to reach her).  Since it was stirring up so much of the incrowd/outcrowd sentiment, I went ahead a posted the announcement over in the GTG forum.  The other reason was that Annette, who contacted the plot fairy about being the travel agent, was having trouble getting a hotel to give us prices without an approximate count.  By the way, Excalibur wasn’t interested in talking to us.  That seemed the perfect venue but they wouldn’t return either my or Annette’s calls.  During this time, Ann’s job was to keep me sane and reining me in so that I didn’t plan CATS without having the budget or connections that they have.  Ann, Karen, and Cat kept reminding me this is a SLUMBER PARTY not a convention.

In December the idea for a directory came about and Taneya volunteered to spearhead that.  Would everyone that was in Vegas please verify they’re signed up there?

By January, Frontier and Aladdin were the only hotels that had given us rates.  I picked the lower rates and Annette posted the information.  Margaret came on at this time as the T-Shirt committee member and she began working with TW on the design.

By May, we had 3 rooms booked.  One of which was mine.  I began worrying that this was going to be another party where nobody came (I’m good at throwing those.)  We only got the free hospitality suite if we had 25 rooms booked.  So, I begin panicking.  Ann calms me down again and reminds me that we have until July, she hasn’t booked her room yet, Teresa’s isn’t booked yet and it will turn out; after all, people have until July 9 to book rooms.  Lisa volunteers to take the gift bags on so there is one less thing for me to worry about. (By the way, Allie’s gift bag had the best chocolate, and Julie didn’t share).  Speaking of Julie, it was during spring that Julie Norton contacted me and asked if she could do a class and a trunk show.  I had no clue who she was until I read Monica Ferris’s Cutwork – It’s Julie’s pattern in the back of that book.

Margaret started taking T-shirt orders in June.  We priced the T-shirts so that we covered the cost of the setup and the shirt with postage being extra.  Margaret offered to pick up any slack if we came up short.  The day before the order had to be placed; the printer told us that we were 7 shirts short of a price break.  So I ordered 3 for my kids and 1 as a trade for finishing with Carleen, and Ann ordered 2 for her kids, and Margaret threw in a couple extra to make the price break.  Margaret sold the extra shirts within days of placing the order and has a waiting list for those who wanted some but were too late to order.  But after the price break, we now had enough money to cover the cost of the stitching suite for one night.  I started to relax.

Then I got the information that we only had 12 rooms booked (2 of which were mine).  I panicked again; Ann, Karen, Cat, and Lisa calmed me down.  They pointed out that a smaller group would mean more one on one time with Teresa for all of us.  Then DH brought up what would happen if someone was ticked that this wasn’t CATS and decided to sue me. I had a new problem to worry about.

The second to last week of July, the claims supervisor quit.  Until they replace her I’m doing her job.  Then after that the other admin assistant for my executive quit so I’m doing her job too.  Then the office manager doesn’t bother looking at her calendar and tells one of the processors that she can take vacation the week that I already have off and one of the other processors has surgery scheduled.  So the OM comes to me and asks if I can reschedule my trip.  I just looked at her and said, “If you’ll contact the two guest speakers and the 50 people that have reserved their rooms?”  Okay, so I exaggerated but it got the point across.

Thursday morning we headed out to Vegas.  The kids slept all the way to Vegas with only 2 bathroom stops on the way.  We got there about 1 pm but our room wasn’t ready so we went and got lunch fixings and ate a picnic on the Frontier lawn and then checked into our room.  I figured this would be about the only time I would have to be down at the pool so I headed down there.  I had only been there a few minutes when Mel/Lisa (the conjoined twins) showed up.   Shortly after that we met up with Margaret and Sharon (faedragon) and had a pool party (but I was the only one in a swimsuit).

Dinner Thursday was finishing up the lunchmeat and cheese that were in the cooler.  Mel/Lisa showed up just before it was time to get Teresa from the airport and I was glad to have them along since I had never been to the Vegas airport before and I would have been lost.  Teresa was tired and just wanted to sleep so I dropped her at her room and went to Margaret’s to hang out.  On the ride back to the hotel, Teresa said that her DH would probably get along with my DH; I took that as a compliment.  Later in Margaret’s room, Laurel (Paculina) arrived and I have to say that she was probably the biggest surprise of the trip for me.  She is so quiet IRL and so animated on the BB, definitely a surprise.

I'm working on my Vegas report but it's really long.  In the meantime, when I got to work, there was no desk just paper everywhere.

I added two new inboxes but it's only temporary.  They did hire a new claims manager who starts on the 17th.  Hilary is the new admin asst that they hired while I was out.  And the person who is supposed to be assisting me with the claims supervisor's job decided that she wouldn't help unless they gave her more money.  Umm, Rule number 8 of the rules of Success - Do more than you get paid for.  Her attitude definitely turns me off from ever recommending her for promotion.

1. Make sure Margaret is there.

1a. Make sure to have a schedule for what committee members will be responsible for the stitching room so Margaret and I can have [u]some[/u] sleep.

2. Have an agenda ahead of time.

3. Have a live person verify the information the sales staff gives, when they say that a room fits 50 people make sure they aren't including the people standing in the closet and bathroom.

4. Bring better lighting.

5. Recharge cell phone before it dies.

6. Start pajama party, show and tell earlier.  Offer a door prize for people who show up in pajamas (like FaeDragon and Ixy) and a best jammie prize.

7. Bring Hardanger scissors so I don't have to use Dagmar's.

8. Don't give DS#2 orange juice before the long car ride home.

I'll be gone this week to the TWBBWWGTG - Teresa Wentzler Bulletin Board Get Together.  Just a thought for you while I'm gone...

I'm the kind of guy who wears his mind on his sleeve.  I have a habit of taking my shirt off.

Does that make him mindless?