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!

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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

What Season Are You?

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?

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.

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!

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!