Sunday, November 26, 2006

What I did for my long weekend

After braving the malls later on Friday morning (I was *not* going at 5am!), I sat down to watch the first Harry Potter movie...


And then the second HP movie...


And then The Italian Job...


And then I decided I should catch up on some of my TV viewing on the DVR. So I watched Battlestar Gallactica and NCIS.


Saturday morning I went out and found a dress for the company holiday with Jen. I'll post photos of it later, blogger is choking already, but I do love it. I came home and watched CSI, Survivor and Numbers.


Then came Firewall...


Followed by some Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report.


Sunday morning brought with it the extended edition of Fellowship of the Ring.


Time for second breakfasts (half way through the movie)


And finally, just as the Fellowship ended:


Mirabilia's Christmas Elf Fairy
Minus the wings to make her just "The Christmas Elf"


I did a lot more than just that this weekend (including 4 hrs of walking) but this is what I most wanted to show. I've needed a weekend just to flake out!

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Run for the hills!

The apocalypse is coming! The end of the world is nigh!

I am sitting here in complete shock. We've gotten our lease renewal paperwork in the mail today. Are you sitting down? Really, seriously, sit down. Remember my past posts about the insane cost of living on Long Island? The "$260,000 Low Income specials" for the new condo's down the road? The insanity that is our life, and my luck. Now, are you ready? Our rent is going DOWN! The impossible has come to pass. It's only by $14/month, but still. This is just not right! The last time we got a lease renewal notice here on LI, the increase was $130. (And thus why we moved to the current apartment instead of paying it...)

But what's the catch, you ask? You knew there had to be a catch, right? There is, and it's not one I'm concerned with. We'll have to start paying towards our heat. And it's individually metered per apartment. They put the meters in over the summer. We haven't had ours turned on yet... Our downstairs neighbour keeps his cranked up so high we've been averaging 75 in here in the evening. Even if we do have to pay for some of it, they're estimating $65/month. I'm sure we'll be below that. Our monthly water bill is less than half of what they estimated.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Owww....

I know physiotherapy is going to hurt sometimes. I know this and accept it. But does it have to make it so I can't do anything I want to do to relax? Overall it has helped tremendously. But now I've screwed it all up and set my progress back, and I'm not allowed to do anything. Even (most of) my job. Life will be interesting at work this week. I basically am not permitted to do anything that involves bending my neck. No reading, no games, minimal computer (if I'm careful), and above all, no stitching. I'm going nuts with boredom!

Sorry to post such a downer, I just needed to complain somewhere. I'll be off restrictions (hopefully) for Saturday morning. Wish me luck!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Well, I'm just not making my goal of posting every day

But I've seen some cool things lately! I volunteered at B's blog for this meme, which was very interesting to actually do!

Comment to this message and I will assign you a letter of the alphabet. Then go to your journal and post a list of 10 words that begin with this letter and what they mean to you.

I was assigned the letter C, so here goes:

1. Canadian. It's a big part of who I am, and living in the US for 7 years hasn't changed that.
2. Chocolate. It's also a big part of who I am. And not in a good way. ;P
3. Charity. Something I'm making a more conscious effort to exemplify.
4. Crafty. If I didn't have to work, I'd happily spend all my time doing many, many, many crafts.
5. Chelsea Buns. My first real dog. With a wonderful heart and a huge back. We used to ride her! And hooked her up to the sled to pull for us!
6. Choices. Something I've made many of. Several of which I never would have dreamed of.
7. Chinese food. One of my favourites to eat out. Unfortunately, I'm not very adventurous with it. And I miss egg rolls as we had them in Canada. They're just not the same here and I can't seem to find the wraps to make my own! (Not that they ever turned out as good since I won't deep fry them at home...)
8. Computer geek. I grew up with them long before it was common (thanks mom!) and have always enjoyed tinkering with them. Now that I've switched over to the dark side though, there is much less tinkering required. I love that I can just turn it on, add whatever new stuff I want and have it work! Macs rule!
9. Compulsive spender. I'm working on getting a handle on this, but it is still something I have to pay attention to.
10. Change. The one constant in my life.

And, for something stitchy...

I WANT to stitch this!!! The pattern is from Heaven and Earth Designs, and the artist is Jonathon Earl Bowser. Wow! Oh wow!
Yipes! I'm rather afraid what the chart would look like, but I want to do this!

Sunday, November 12, 2006

MURP!!!!!!



As you can see above, I've been working on Mirabilia's Christmas Elf. All was going along splendidly. Until this afternoon. When I realized that apparently the piece is supposed to be stitched with two threads. Which the instructions don't say. And I only realized when I went to add the next colour and realized it was a blend.

So now, I have to make a decision, and I thought I'd ask my readers what they suggest. The way I see it, I have three choices.

1) Restart (I do think there is enough thread)
2) Continue stitching using two threads for the blend and one for everything else. This will make the blend (which is already an odd mixture) stand out more.
3) Stitch the section with the blend using only one of the two threads. This will leave a section that looks like it really doesn't blend well.


So what does everyone think?

Whoops!

Looks like I missed yesterday's post. And for all I didn't actually do much! Maybe I was distracted by my tulips...



We hosted gaming Friday night and Saturday morning, but the afternoon slot on Saturday ended up cancelled. Instead, we sucked Johnny into the Firefly universe! I like turning friends onto new cool stuff. I discovered I was missing episodes of Firefly, so today I went out and remedied this. Then I sat down to continue the Firefly marathon and stitch. (More on that in another post). I also include a bonus photo of Madison from Hallowe'en.

Friday, November 10, 2006

News both Good and Scary

Brian talked to a good friend today. Which was great, because I’d been thinking of him lately, and meaning to call him. I just hadn’t. No true reason other than procrastination. And I don’t know which of the several email addresses I have for him are the right one. And given that most of them end in .mil , I didn’t want to get the wrong one. He’s a good friend we met through gaming. He’s happy and healthy and enjoying life. He’s heading to a gaming con this weekend in North Carolina. I wish I could go. He’s also a Marine. And he ships back to Iraq in about a month. I’m so thankful that Brian called him today, so he knows we’re thinking of him. I could never do what he does. I’m terrified for him. But I’m intensely proud of him for doing it. He’d hang his head and go humble if he heard me say it, but it’s true. He’d chosen the Marines as a career before 9/11. He’s been over there for several tours already. I *think* this’ll be number four. He says “it’s just what I do”. But it is much more than that. He has some very strong views on the war in Iraq. And about Bush. When asked on a security questionaire if he’d ever done anything in an attempt to overthrow the government, he answered “Yes, I voted”. Yet he goes. He *volunteers* to go back. And works hard. To protect the others. To try to stay safe himself. And most of all, to help.
Help.
Help make life better.
Help the other soldiers he’s deployed with, and for the ‘regular’ people over there.
Help people who don’t all want his help. Some do. Some don’t. He helps them all.
Help.

So Thank you Thorin. Know you have our support. You and everyone else over there.


Oh, and Plan A is to not die. There had better not be a Plan B.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

UUUUuuuuggghhhh!

So far today I've been poked, prodded, squished, stuck and x-rayed. Nothing big, nothing to worry about (actually, it was mostly just routine stuff). The x-rays were a further attempt to figure out what is going on with my back/ribs. The physio is going well, but there is a section of my back that just won't stay un-spasmed. But, on the positive side, I think I've finally beaten this bug I've had for the last 10 days. Of course, this is the day I finally managed to actually get to the Dr.'s... And with any luck I'll get all my work done for the week tomorrow and get Mr. Impatient off my back. I only had 2 phone calls and one lab visit from him today! (That I know of, I did sneak off for the Dr. appointment in the middle of the morning and sneak out early to go get the x-rays...) I don't think I'm going to get any stitching done tonight, because I'm finally feeling good enough to get on my new treadmill, but Christmas Elf is coming along really well and the backstitch on The Phoenix is coming!

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Mwaahahahahahaaa

I've initiated another woman into the fold. We are now up to (up to) 6 women for weekly Stitch'n'Bitch. Some nights I wonder how Brian puts up with us. He's very patient. And now that Eric or Joe have started coming over for some of them he can't just run out to the Y! ;p (And the Y membership is going to be cancelled early next year anyways!)

I was about to sign this post Heather the evil, but apparently I'm good...

"It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time." ~Tallulah Bankhead, actress (1903-1968)

Thanks Jen, I like the quote!

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

If I had a million dollars...



I'd go see BNL again in a heartbeat! The concert last night rocked. We had so much fun. I'm employing the thumper rule on the opening band, but in their defense, it had to be hard for them. I don't think the main level was more than 15% full when they went on. And at Radio City, that's a lot of empty seats! They started the show off on a great number, played for two hours solid, did two encores (including a fabulous "Tomorrow" from Annie) and brought the house down. We headed out and, with a little help, made the earlier train home! As a result, I was a good girl and went to work today, much to my wishes otherwise.
I've survived my day, but all I want to do now is collapse. And numnuts at work bugging me, at lunch time, about his samples and why wasn't I done them yet nearly got an earful! I was good, and polite, but did, in no uncertain terms, inform him that he should be grateful I was there working on his stuff at all!


Transportation things learned:
The 4:15 train has a LONG wait at Jamaica. Switch to the express once you get there!
It's a nice quick walk up to Radio City, not bad at all. And it would make a great way to burn off energy after the concert, if there wasn't a train to catch

If you get into a cab late at night in Manhattan and tell the cabbie you're trying to make a train at Penn Station, make sure you:
a) buckle up
b) hold on tight
c) tip the cabbie well when he gets you there with five minutes to spare!

Monday, November 06, 2006

BNL tonight!

The concert starts at 8 tonight, so we're headed in on the 4:15 train, so I had to be at work REALLY early this morning. Thus, the quick and abbreviated blogging from work. There is, unfortunately, a gap in the train schedule right at the time where it seems I always want more trains. From 4:15, the next train doesn't leave until 7ish. And with an 80 minute train ride... well, at least I should be done work early for the day. Brian's starting to get really into the spirit of going for this concert too, and it's so much fun to see him this jazzed up about something. No specific dinner plans, which means probably Bubba Gumps again. I don't mind though, Brian loves it and I have no problem with it. I promise a full report tomorrow. I've taken the day off work as we won't be getting home until *really* late at night, and I don't handle lack of sleep very well. Add in that I'm still sick as a dog, and I'm very glad I did take the day off. I probably would have called in sick today except if you take a sick day immediately before or after a vacation day you have to get a doctor's note, which I don't have a problem with except for the fact that my doctor (who is awesome) isn't open on Mondays. That's about all the cold-drug-induced rambling I have for now, here's hoping I make it through the concert!



Bonus Quiz, and this one I agree with!
You Belong in Fall

Intelligent, introspective, and quite expressive at times...
You appreciate the changes in color, climate, and mood that fall brings
Whether you're carving wacky pumpkins or taking long drives, autumn is a favorite time of year for you

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Well, to finish up last night's post

Before I left NG, I did take advantage of the 20% off sale for D&D stuff at NG and picked up a bunch of minis from the new set. When I got home (earlier than expected) there was room for me at the LG table that was just getting started at our place. So I even got to play. It was a fun little adventure, and diplomacy actually was really useful for once! John did a good job of running it given that all of us were having fun, just not necessarily with the mod! I'm sick as a dog (it started yesterday afternoon), so I have no exciting plans for today. Maybe some stitching and a movie, but that'll be the extent of it. Tomorrow is the Barenaked Ladies concert (I can't wait!), and I'm off work Tuesday.

Phew! What a day...

I went into the city today to help out with Worldwide Dungeons and Dragons day, and it was a lot of fun. I was the first one in to NG in the morning, so I got to be the first one to read the adventure. It was your basic quick dungeon crawl, with some cool badguys. It also used the new dungeon tiles, which I hadn't had a chance to play with yet. FOr a while it looked like we wouldn't have much turnout and I got ready to run the mod for the other judges. Just as I was getting ready to go, in walks a family/friends group of 8 players! And so we were off. I ran the special adventure for the dad and three kids, and Chris, one of our other DM's. And so the day went. We were consistently busy all day. Just as Rich and I were leaving to go back to NG, a whole other group walked it! Really cool was that for the judges, you got to keep the mini's for the adventure and the dungeon tiles. Including the Hellcat which I'd seen the artist's representations on line and thought would be really cool. It was!

Updated: Apparently I fell asleep with the laptop in my lap last night, so this post was supposed to be for yesterday. Does it still count towards posting every day?

Friday, November 03, 2006

Bonus Quizes

You Are 69% New Jersey!

You are definitely Jersey. Well done, my friend. You are most likely from this great state, and you fit right in. Odds are, you love being Jersey!

How New Jersey Are You?
Create a Quiz




and

You are 26% NOT New Jersey

Your score is on the low end, meaning you aren't so un-New Jersey. You are probably from the state or share quite a kinship with it. Hey, nothing wrong with that, right?

How Un-New Jersey Are You?



I'm terrified. If this is what living in the state for less than two years does to you, what does that say about me and New York? We've now lived here officially for over five years...

Another great mail day!

More stash came today by mail. The fabric I had ordered from Stab and Stash arrived this afternoon. And it is gorgeous! I am so thrilled. As a thank you for my patience with her percieved delay, Tammy included a one-off piece of bonus fabric that is also stunning and I'll have to find something suitable to do on it. I say "percieved delay" because the fabrics are hand dyed when you order them, so they should take up to 10 days or so to create before being mailed. Tammy emailed me just five days after I placed the order to apologize for the delay! I was floored, I hadn't even expected them to ship yet. Talk about pre-emptive customer service! I'm really pleased with her and with the fabrics.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Sort of cheating...

What American accent do you have?
Your Result: North Central
 

"North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.

The West
 
The Midland
 
Boston
 
The Inland North
 
The South
 
Philadelphia
 
The Northeast
 
What American accent do you have?
Take More Quizzes



You paid attention during 86% of high school!
 

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school diploma?
Make a Quiz



I'm still suffering from post-flu-shot gunk, but hopefully by tomorrow it will be better. Jess is over tonight for a mini SnB, and Brian's being an awesome hubby and running to the grocery store for ice cream for us. He really does spoil me rotten!

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Pinch and a Punch

For the first of the month!

Stitching recap:
Finished Maiden panel of Fantasy Triptych
Finished stitching on Phoenix (working, sloooowwwllllyyy on backstitching)
Didn't work on Frog Prince
Did work a lot on travel/gaming snowman sampler
Got package sent to England (more details once it's received)


Goals for November:
Finish Phoenix (including all metallics and beads, yes, Joanna, there are both!)
Work on Frog Prince
Work on Chrismas Elf (my reward stitching for Phoenix's backstitching. The chart for the bs is separate from the regular pattern and horrible to try to work from. Every hour I do on Phoenix gets me an hour on CE)
Decide if I like linen enough to commit to doing a series of Mirabilia's patterns on linen. I generally really don't like how loose it is to work on. I did, however get several cashel linens in my Silkweaver trick or treat bag that look like I would have no problem working on them. I will post a photo sometime soon, but I got really lucky with it. I love all five of the fabrics I recieved!

Sunday, October 29, 2006

The Phoenix




Dracolair's The Phoenix
All stitching complete
All backstitching unstarted

I can't wait until it's completely finished! The weather yesterday was a complete bust, as expected, so I spent it all inside and most of it stitching. Rob and Michelle came over in the afternoon for a few hours to visit. It was nice to just sit around and talk with people. And to get the update on their wedding plans and fun like that. Between Friday night, most of Saturday and about 4 hours today, I've finished all the regular stitching on Phoenix. I soooo want to start on the backstitch, but we've got a birthday party for a friend this afternoon. At a restaurant in the same mall as IKEA. Therefore, it's a moral imperative that I arrive early and can make a stop at IKEA! I've been really good and haven't bought anything there in months! Well, except for the nice wooden hangers for the coat closet, now that we actually have a coat closet, but they were a necesity and a quick in-grab-out. Not a wonder through.

Maize Maze

As promised, here are photos from our day out at the corn maze last weekend. Was it really only last weekend?! Man time flies!

Ummm... which way from here?


Zee bunny makes a break for freeeeeeeeeedommmmmmmm!!!!!!!! He had escaped his cage and tried to blend in and hide with his friends the Roosters


The roosters were actually quite beautiful, something I had never expected. They weren't hiding the escapee though, and ran the other way from him.


There was this beautiful flower on a weed. No idea what it actually was, but it was present in several places, and stunningly beautiful.


We had great weather for the day. It was partly cloudy, and mostly just a murky overcast. It gave great ambience to the fields and you weren't quite sure if it was going to turn to a damp mist, adding to the impetus to find your way out.


As we were getting close to getting all our map pieces, the sun came out from behind the clouds. Because it was quite late in the afternoon, it was coming down at a significant angle, mostly illuminating the corn stalks but not the sky. It was a very intriguing light effect. I never managed to capture it exactly, but this was the closest I got.



All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend and afternoon and I highly recommend it!

Friday, October 27, 2006

RAK!

I've been RAK'd! Heather in England sent me a gorgeous stitching magazine (with a project I'm itching to start...) and some wonderful chocolate. Including the new mint Cadbury bars. Yum! Thank you so much Heather for sending me such a wonderful surprise! It really brightened my day.

In other news, my treadmill was delivered yesterday! I've been wanting to buy one since before we moved into this apartment, so I'm happy to finally have it. Here's to a big increase in my mileage! On the Walk to Rivendell front, I really need to update my ticker. I made it to Rivendell (458 miles) on Tuesday morning! Now I'm headed out again on the next portion of the journey, and should see much quicker progress now that I can get some in in the mornings before work.

We have no special plans for this weekend. I still want to get out on a good leaf walk, but we're running out of time on that. There is a furious wind storm expected here all weekend (gusts up to 60 mph (95 km/h)) and I suspect by the time it's done late Sunday there might not be that many beautiful leaves left. We had planned to do it last weekend, but went to the corn maze instead. And had so much fun doing it that I won't mind too badly if we don't make a leaf walk this year. I might invite the regular group to come over for a game night and home made lasagna Saturday night, or I might just decide to have a quiet weekend in with Brian. I've certainly got lots of stitching to work on, and need to break in the new treadmill.

On the stitching front, I've been a bad girl. A very bad girl. I think I might have to go "on the wagon". I couldn't resist buying one of the fabrics at Stab and Stash and have a project in mind for it. I also broke down and purchased one from Silkweaver. As it turns out I didn't remotely like the colour when it arrived, so I went to their website to see what would have to be done to return it (if possible). Great, easy return instructions! And they've got Hallowe'en trick-or-treat bags. So I broke down and bought one. I'll have 5 random hand dyed fabrics coming my way shortly. I can't wait to see what I've got! Add to that that I broke down and bought Mirabilia's Autumn in my Garden when I had to call CrossStitch Unlimited for the Kreiniks for Phoenix, and, well... I've been a very bad girl. But in my own defense, I've still managed to remain not signed up to Silkweaver's "Fabric of the Month" club! That's something, isn't it?

And the best news of all is something I haven't really mentioned much about on my blog. My sister has spent the last three years in an UGLY custody battle, which is now settled. In Bonnie's words "I got everything I wanted and then some". I am so happy for her now that this is fully done. No more appeals, no more attempts to change the agreement. Go Bonnie and Madison!

Monday, October 23, 2006

Corn Mazes rock!

On the recommendation of a friend, we went out and toured a corn maze yesterday afternoon. (Thanks Matt!) It was an absolute blast, and a great way to spend a fall afternoon. If there's one near you I whole heartedly recommend it. Ours was in a two acre corn field and had a really cool setup. The maze itself was designed to look like a three masted schooner from above, and you had to find 9 mailboxes while going through the maze to get your map to get out of the maze. Along the way there were a lot of dead ends, and a bunch of them had clues to a crossword puzzle. The crossword puzzle in turn had a bunch of shaded letters that were a word jumble for the final clue for how to get out of the maze. The weather was beautiful (cool enough that you wanted a jacket, but not cold) and the sky was mostly cloudy, so I'm hoping some of the photos turned out as cool as they looked when I took them.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

This week's SBQ

I've been answering these lately on one of my mailing lists, and figured I should paste a copy here too!

Which way do you stitch, i.e. do you stitch /// followed by \\\ on top, or the other way around \\\ followed by ///? Are you left- or right-handed and do you think that this affects the way that you stitch?

For me it depends entirely on the piece, and on where I'm starting it. I can stitch either way, and will often rotate a piece in 90 degree increments to get it into a comfortable working position for the section I'm working on. By default, I'd guess I'm a /// then \\\ stitcher. I know once when I offered to teach a beginner's class at my old guild some of the ladies were horrified (and actually filed a protest) because I had the students starting out going \\\ because it was the easiest way to show them where to start stitching on that little piece. I was asked to provide references that either way was acceptable so long as they all went the same way (which I did, out of the guild's own library) and still had people complain. I was so ashamed to be part of that guild and never offered to teach again.

Because I rotate as I go and don't have a presumed preferred orientation, handedness really doesn't seem to apply to me. It's where I start a piece that will have the biggest effect on stitch direction. I never seem to start in the very center of a piece, but where I do start depends on the design itself. I like to start with a little bit of a single colour stitching to set up a 'reference point'. Sometimes this is in the middle of the fabric, since that's *really* easy to find, and sometimes it's along one edge/corner of the design. Then I usually measure out my border allowance (and then measure again..) then start along a corner or the middle of an edge. On Fantasy Triptych I actually did the border itself first because there *was* no other solid section to do! Which direction the stitches are formed in seems to depend on the shape of the area I'm starting stitching with. I'm rather (ahem) uptight about trying to make sure stitches are formed so the needle is coming up into empty fabric and the needle is going down into the holes that already have stitching through them. It's not always possible, but as much as it is I try to follow this. I think it makes the stitches look better and I seem to have less problems with fuzzies on the top of the piece.

Phew! Was that a long enough answer?

Quick Photo Update

I finally got a photo of the finished first panel of Fantasy Triptych uploaded! She's now been put away until I finish Phoenix, and I should have a significant update photo on that soon. I've ordered the last of the specialties I need for it, and will be finished the majority of the regular stitching this weekend ('though I'm not sure about all those feathers!).



My Percy before he went to the groomers last week...


And after...



And this time he was used as a "training cat". I know the poor cat has to be "not quite right" to have lived happily with us for all these years, but the dude is so okay with being shaved he is now being used for training! Percy-dude, have some cat dignity!

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Playtests are fun

especially when they involve some interesting moral decisions for the players, but when they make Sam take 4 hrs to run a mod, wow!  I'm looking forward to the mod coming out and seeing other's reactions to it.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  
And I threw 41 pennies at Helen!  {giggle, giggle}  She ordered something online for me and their tax estimater was off by a bit, so when she emailed me to let me know, she said I owed her 41 cents and she wanted it all in bright shiny new pennies.  The best part was her laugh when she finally realized why I was throwing pennies at her.  She's had a very bad week and it was good to see her just release some of it by laughing like that.
Nothing exciting planned for today.  Jen's coming over with her computer for us to attempt to de-virus (have I mentioned I love my macs?), then we're going to go out for a nice walk to see the fall leaves.

Friday, October 13, 2006

I have a new toy



Courtesy of some expiring stock options at work. I forsee a large number of changes to my blog in the future, including probably a move since I should be able to use iWeb to produce my own blog and host it on my website. Who knows, maybe even the website will get updated once in a while that way! Nothing much else happening though. Work is insane, and I've only had a little time to play with the new toy. I'd say I'll dig into it this weekend, but I know I won't have time then either. On the fun front, I have a date tonight with Brian, and he has no clue what we'll be doing. Other than that the date will start with me in physiotherapy for 45 minutes! Ah the joys of a one car household!

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Stitching Update

Hello, hello! Well, I've managed to actually get all three of my stitching goals accomplished, and it's not even the middle of the month! I finished the first section of Fantasy Triptych, I've put the tail on the Phoenix, and I've managed to work some more on Frog Prince. I was very good and put FT away once I was done with it and photographed it. I then spent the rest of the evening getting ready to work on Phoenix, and tonight I stitched. And boy did I stitch! No photo yet because I want to stun everyone with the amount I got done tomorrow night for stitch-n-bitch tomorrow night. Apparently, my computer and camera don't want to get along, so I don't have a photo to show. I PROMISE to upload it as soon as I can convince the things to talk to each other!

Nothing exciting happened over the weekend. I did go to NJ for a game, but it was pretty bad, and then we spent Sunday at home and quiet and got caught up on TV. I still haven't made up my mind about the new Dr. Who. But it's early yet, so I'll give it a while.

Now, if only I could get my walking jump started!

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Oh My!




And I won't even get to see her in person until Christmas at the earliest! Becky and Sue did a phenomenal job choosing the framing, and the mat work is why I'm more than happy to send my pieces home to Canada to my old framer and let them do what they want!

Droooooooolllllll.......

Monday, October 02, 2006

Busy fun, quiet weekend!

Stitching Goals

September recap:
Finished all of Maiden panel except face (over 1)
Didn't work on the Phoenix
Did work on Frog Prince


October Goals:
Finish maiden panel including backstitch
Work on Frog Prince
Work on Phoenix
Don't start anything new!



Saturday was wonderful. We hosted a birthday bbq for our friend Gabe, and got a chance to better get to know his new boyfriend David. It was a wonderful quiet evening spent playing cards, eating good food and talking with fun people. I need to do things like that more often! So Gabe, when are you coming out again!

Sunday we went to the Yankees-Blue Jays game in the city. We had a blast! The photos below show the progress of the afternoon!

Okay, so blogger won't co-operate and post my photos, but the Jays won! The game didn't matter in regards to the post season so everyone was just out to have a good time. Then we followed it up with dinner at Bubba Gump's before catching the train home.

We even made it home in time for me to watch my Formula One race. It was quite a race and I'm glad I watched it before picking up my news headlines this morning which would have ruined it for me!

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Lots of stuff...

First:
Cute Quiz...







What type of Fae are you?


Second:
Updated Stitching Photos:

Frog Prince before Wednesday night's stichalong:



Frog Prince after:


Fantasy Triptych update:




Third:
Monday night was a little interesting for us as evidenced by this photo:

We came home from the YMCA after our workout Monday night to find 5 police cars, an ambulance and the Crime Scene van parked in our corner of the lot. They were here for the apartment two down from us, but I still don't know why! And yes, it is killing me with curiosity. Especially since I saw an official vehicle with a Caduceus on it leaving at about 1am. The flashing lights stopped by about 3am, and I called in sick on Tuesday so I could sleep! We've seen the neighbours who live there since with no visible trauma, and I haven't had a chance to see our property manager to find out what happened! Maybe Saturday I'll go pay the rent in person.


And finally, a photo from Tom and Teresa's wedding...

Monday, September 25, 2006

Wohoo!!!

You Are Cookie Monster

Misunderstood as a primal monster, you're a true hedonist with a huge sweet tooth.

You are usually feeling: Hungry. Cookies are preferred, but you'll eat anything if cookies aren't around.

You are famous for: Your slightly crazy eyes and usual way of speaking

How you life your life: In the moment. "Me want COOKIE!"

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Silly Quiz with no real surprise :)

You Are Incredibly Logical

Move over Spock - you're the new master of logic
You think rationally, clearly, and quickly.
A seasoned problem solver, your mind is like a computer!

Friday, September 22, 2006

Madison's First Day at School

Photo shamelessly stolen from my sister's blog.
Go Madison!

Monday, September 18, 2006

Yet another catch-up post

So...
life still hasn't slowed down for us one bit. I have taken next weekend to stay at home and loaf around. Brian keeps trying to plan stuff for the weekend, but I'm putting my foot down! Photos will come, but not tonight.

We went down to NJ to the shore one a few weekends back to see our friends Bob and Sue and their family. We had a great time even if I forgot my camera. The shore was gorgeous and soothing. I think I might want to see about getting reservations at a B&B there for a weekend next summer. My back, however, was not up for it. Between the 6+ hr car drive (don't you love traffic!?!) and the strange bed, my back locked up pretty badly.

Labour Day weekend we were gaming all day Saturday and then on Monday Jeff was in to visit. He's Brian's best friend's older brother and someone I only knew a little bit back in Cambridge. We had a great day out though. We finally went and did the Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. Then we took our time and walked back up town. I finally went to Ground Zero. For the longest time I just wasn't ready to go and see it. Brian still isn't and waited in a nearby park for us. Then we kept walking, straight up Broadway. It's really a neat way to see the city. We eventually gave into one person's tired feet and hailed a cab up the last 25 blocks to Time's Square. And it wasn't even my feet! I've gotten really god and enjoy walking so much now when I have good shoes. We had dinner at Bubba Gump's. Brian and I both love that place too much!

The weekend after that we went home to Canada for Tom and Teresa's wedding. We had an absolutely great time, the wedding went off with a hitch, and the day was wonderful. It was really neat to get to meet Tish's sons (and someday I'll have to learn to spell her name right). I haven't seen her since well before we left Sudbury. Brian was a big hit with the kids at the reception as usual! Tish wanted us to move home so he could be their babysitter!

Then this past weekend, we had a wonderful day on Saturday at Derek's place for his going away BBQ. He's moving to Arkansas and it should be good for him, but we'll all miss him. Brian and I finally got to play in "Derek's World". It certainly was a unique experience, and one I'd love to have again. Partway through the drive there our "check engine" light came on in the car. It was also on for the whole drive back from Westchester County. Because of this, we decided to cancel our plans on Sunday. We had planned to go to the Rennaissance Faire in South Jersey to see the jousting and it would have been a great day, the weather was lovely. We did go out to the grocery store in the afternoon, and on the way back (part way home), the light went out. It hasn't come back on with my drive to work today, so I have no idea what's going on with it. We'll have them take a look the next time it's in for regular service.

I finally got a little more stitching done on Sunday and would be stitching now, but I'm writing this instead! I NEED to make more time for myself to do my 'recharge' activities. I also need to get back into the Y habit. Hopefully now that it's fall and there are things slightly more interesting on the boob tube I'll find it less of a chore. I need to find something to keep my brain occupied while walking on the treadmill or I just won't do it. It's too easy to find excuses not to go.

Work has exploded in ways I can't talk about online, but lets just say that I'm working a lot of long hours at the microscope, which my back isn't liking, but physiotherapy is helping. It just takes more time out from what little "me' time I had.

Oh! And on a side note, I've passed 1000 visitors since I set up the tracker! Thanks folks! I never would have believed my ramblings would be of interest to anywhere this many people.

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Stitching Goals

For September:
Finish Dragoncow for Gill
Finish panel in TW Fantasy Triptych
Don't start on new panel of TW-FT
Work on Phoenix
Not buy any more eBay patterns...

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Lets see if I can make Blogger Choke Again...

Well, we've been swamped! We haven't had just a quiet weekend at home since June. Most recently, Becky came to visit, the next weekend I had to make a presentation to FDNY in Harlem, and then we were invited to friends' place down at the Jersey shore. This weekend we've got a friend coming in from the UK, and the weekend after that we'll be in Ottawa for Tom's wedding. In the meantime, my back has gotten significantly worse from when we were home, but I am in physiotherapy for it. Work has gone insane (ie my "6" samples for microscopy this week have blosssomed to 168. UGH!!

The following photos are all out of order in the random-Blogger-upload fashion, but I'll put what they are beneath each one.




Becky and I in Fort Tyron Park outside the Cloisters (a beautiful Medieval museum in the Bronx)




Lemon Lips! (AKA Jen playing pool)




Johnny as we were all out at Applebys while Becky was here.




Brian where he belongs.




There were a lot of beautiful flowers in the gardens at the Cloisters so I played with my macro setting on the new camera.




More flowers (I'd love to know what they are if anyone reading can identify them).




Inside a courtyard at the Cloisters.




Naughty Monkey!




Brian relax and happy. Nice to see that!




The nave (?) at the Cloisters.




We had gorgeous weather the day we went up to the Cloisters. Shhh... don't tell Becky's mom, but we even took the subway! :)




Brian, Becky and Heather!





A typical photo of Becky.




The entrance to the Cloisters




Absolutely gorgeous weather.




Brian managed this incredible photograph of the lightning during a storm recently.




The Killer Bunny shown at Spamalot during intermission. We went for our wedding anniversary and had a blast.




Brian and Madison from our trip home (and my dad hiding in the back).




When we get a storm, it REALLY rains!




Presenting the Firehouse Angel. This was an internet RoundRobin project of a design done to commemorate the events of 9/11. It was stitched by over 20 stitchers in (at least) 3 countries, each working on a section at a time. I worked on the purple of the skirt when I had her. Since I live so close, I got to be the one to go in and present her to the FDNY. It was done at a firehouse in Harlem (I took Brian to Harlem!) and we were given two incredible honours by the firefighters. Firstly, we were treated to lunch at the firehouse (which is something few outsiders are invited to do), and secondly, they put the firehouse on diversion while we were there. This means that another firehouse had to cover all their calls as well as their own. I couldn't believe they would do that for us. I was astounded by the honour of it.



Well... did it choke yet????