Phew!

We've just spent a fantastic weekend in PA with our friends Bob and Sue. We did too much, ate way too much and had a great time. I'll post a longer update soon. Then tonight we picked up my Phoenix from the framers!



The Phoenix
Dracolair Creations



...and updating the saga of the poor confused tulips, here they are post ice/snow/sleet storm this past week. They're still alive and hanging in there!

Frog Prince QS Update

I finally got some more stitching time this weekend, and look what I've accomplished. The detail coming out is phenomenal. I'm loving seeing this grow. To see the last updated photo, click here...

Finally a proposal that makes sense

This group has the right idea. I love it. In summary, it's a legal bill proposing that if people want to say that homosexuals can't marry because they cannot procreate independantly and that procreation is the purpose of marriage, then all married people *must* procreate. Within 3 years of marriage. I guess Brian and I are really up the creek though. We must not be truly married. We've been married 11+ years and still haven't procreated.

Superbowl Sunday

I *LOVE* Superbowl Sunday.
And I *LOATHE* watching football.

So why do I love it? For the commercials? Nope, although I did get through the full 4 hrs in about 45 mins to watch them. Some were funny, but none were anything special. I did particularly like the Blockbuster one though. Even rewound it to watch it again. To see if I won the office pool? Nope, yet again I was off by one box this year (it's random and really cool since you don't need to follow sports to win, and every year I've been off by one box...). The halftime show? Nope, but Prince was pretty good. And holy rain! Congrats to the camera folks who did a wonderful job at keeping the camera lenses clear.

Nope. None of the above. I love it because of the Annual Superbowl Sunday Sale and Show at my LNS. Brian was a wonderful husband and drove me, Jen and Carrie to CrossStitch Unlimited in NJ for the day. We met up with Tina and Joanna and their husbands once we arrived. Brian and Jon (Joanna's hubby) gleefully abandoned us to go to the gaming store. It was great to see the cross stitch store so packed full of people. And I do mean packed! I spent the least of the three of us on stitching supplies, but I also arranged the framing for Phoenix. Ouch. But worth it. I'll be heading back to NJ to pick it up for the 24th of Feb. I did pick up a pattern for the trip to London and Paris, and I'm having to work very hard not to start it now. I'm dying to start it! But I specifically wanted something without a lot of colour changes that would be easier to take while travelling. Everyone found something to stitch. Afterwards, of course, was Mastori's for a late lunch. And it was awesome as always. Lots of talk, gaming stories, character build discussions and the best line goes to Jon: "I think we're freaking out the mundanes". It was fun seeing the looks on the faces of some of the people around us. Good food, good friends and great conversation. Who could ask for anything more? The drive back was fine overall. Something was going on with the Belt Parkway, so we took the BQE. Good bit of off the cuff navigation if I do say so myself. And home 12 hours after leaving feeling full and satisfied. Another great Superbowl Sunday.

Funniest YouTube Video in a while

Courtesy of Sven's blog...

Trip Decision Made!

We're going to be in London and Paris in March!


I can't wait. I can't wait to show Brian some of the wonderful things I've seen and done in London. I can't wait to meet up with friends there. But mostly, for me, I can't wait to actually make it to Paris. Over the years I've had 4 trips cancelled, keep your fingers crossed for me that this one is the charm! We'll have four nights in London, then take the "Chunnel" (Eurostar Tunnel Train) to Paris for 4 nights before flying back, ironically with a layover in London! I'm sure this blog will have many, many more posts as we get closer to the trip!

I've been tagged!

I think this is the first time I've actually been tagged, not volunteered to be tagged! Heather tagged me to list six weird things about myself. Here goes:

1. I have 7 tattoos, and didn't know I had gotten them until 2 years later. Even Brian hadn't seen them!
2. My right hand is significantly larger than my left. Like by more than half an inch!
3. The day I got my worst concussion I didn't hit my head. As Brian likes to put it "You're so dangerous you fall on your ass and give yourself a concussion".
4. I'm near sighted in one eye and far sighted in the other.
5. I LOVE english muffins with jam and cheese. Sounds disgusting, I know. I told Brian so for years before breaking down and trying his one day when starving hungry.
6. My favourite food in the world is Kraft Dinner. Not mac and cheese, it has to be Kraft Dinner!


That was harder to write than I would have thought! I tag Kari, Allura and Clioratha!

Decisions decisions

We have to make the most wonderful of hard decisions. Long story short, I sold some stock options for work. We've paid off all our debt (except the car) and we're going to take a big vacation this year. And now we're just trying to finalize where. So, who votes what? Options A and B will cost about the same, while C and D are increasing in cost...

Option A: Hawaii
Pro: gorgeous scenery
Con: I burn through a 50 sunscreen in an hour, plus I'm not really keen on beach life or swimwear...

Option B: Paris and London
Pro: I've had 4 trips to Paris cancelled and am determined to finally make it there one day. Plus, I love London and would love to show Brian some of the neat things I've found there.
Con: I've had 4 trips to Paris cancelled. That's not a good track record... And the tour that would have had us in Paris on Valentine's Day is full (no surprise there...)

Option C: Paris, London and Rome
Pro: Add in one other city I'd love to go see. Take a slightly longer trip.
Con: Adds over $1000US for two days in Rome. Is Rome really worth it?

Option D: Blow all our money
Pro: probably 2+ weeks touring through much of Western Europe. See lots of places all in one trip. Trip of a lifetime!
Con: Cost. We're leaning away from this one on the basis that we should save some of the money...



So, what do you all think? Was there anywhere you went that you loved or hated?

Finally!!!

Photo by Deirdre Elliott (Cellphone)


We have snow, at least a little bit! We still haven't had a day where the temperature didn't get above freezing (and very few where it dropped below), so I don't expect it to last long, but we had snow! And there's more forecast for tonight, with a cold (below freezing) day forecasted for tomorrow. So I might get to see snow for two days in a row. How pathetic am I that the thing I miss most is the snow?

It Figures!

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Dishcloth Cotton.You are a very hard worker, most at home when you're at home. You are thrifty and seemingly born to clean. You are considered to be a Plain Jane, but you are too practical to notice.
Take this quiz!








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Lets see if this works...

I've wanted to change hosting my blog to my website for a while now, but I like how Blogger works. Really like it. And can't be bothered to change over to using some other system. So when I logged in this morning and Blogger conveniently now supports using them to post a blog on a custom domain...
We'll see if it will work. For now posts will still show here (they'd better!), and eventually I'll have to switch everyone over to blog.xvart.com . That address should be live now, but will likely take a little while to propagate through the internet.

Quick Happy Dance

I finished a quick project last night,but it's a gift, so I can't post a photo yet. Nikki, get me your address!!!! :) I just wanted to post it so I can keep track of it.

Quick Update

These are my tulips as of when I came home from work today. It's the middle of January. This is insane! However, we're supposed to go from our high of 60F today to a high of 22F on Wednesday, so I'm hoping they'll die down and still bloom in spring. Wish me luck!


And an updated photo of FrogPrince from the weekend's SAL. It's coming quite quickly, and I'm entranced by the subtle detail that emerges in it.

RRROOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR

A certain author needs to be chastised.
How *dare* he end a book in the middle of a battle, where you know you only know half the strategy and you know he's got tricks up his sleeve.
GRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr


And I was in bed early to finish the book and relax and hopefully get to sleep early.
So much for that. The (mostly) good news for me is that the next book comes out in April (I'd received this paperback for Christmas, thanks Mo!). And if I really want to yell at him, he'll be in the city on the 24th. I think I might just have to go...

GGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

Phoenix Finished!

Phoenix
Dracolair Designs
Unknown Zweigart hand dyed fabric

The @$^@$%$%@$%@^@#!$@ backstitching on this was a nightmare. The backstitch was charted on separate pages and was mostly done in long stitch, and didn't correspond well to grid intersections. It took forever and drove me batty while I was working on it. I should have finished it well before the end of 2006, but I didn't. I just couldn't force myself to work on it. But now it's done and it looks gorgeous. And I did discover how nice Kreinik's cord is to work with. Next up: finishing Frog Prince and bringing back out Fantasy Triptych. I'll have to find something simple to work on as well as both of those are very colour change intensive.

Nudge accepted! :)

Okay, so I really suck sometimes about updating this blog. Thanks for the nudge Heather. I've been meaning to, but I just never seem to get to it. Our Christmas vacation was very busy, and quite short. We had three days home in Cambridge and then two in Sudbury. We saw all the family. 'Nuff said for now. We did get to meet my "little" brother's girlfriend's family, at his invitation. Which he regretted... it was great! Hey John, is that lawnchair falling? I was sick before we left to go home with some sort of sore throat/laryngitis/sinus bug. Then, on Christmas Eve, I picked up quite a nasty stomach bug. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling up to much. I still haven't thrown the throat/sinus/lungs bug, so I'm off to the Dr's tomorrow if she'll have me. We came home in time for New Year's, which was spent quietly just the two of us relaxing. We needed it. We'd spent the last 5 weekends out of state or out of country. I really need to learn how to slow down sometimes in life and not accept so many obligations.
On the stitching front, below is the current photo of Frog Prince. I finished the backstitching on Phoenix finally on Saturday, but Blogger doesn't want to let me add another photo so I'll have to do that as a separate post.
I have lots more, but an even bigger desire for sleep....zzzzzzzzzzzzz......

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!