I am a cartoon....

I had been doing so well: A few weeks ago, I exercised every day, saw some weight go down. I felt great.

On a Tuesday morning I was leaving for work, the kids wanted to wave goodbye so I opened the blinds on the front window. Their cute little faces peering out, I took a step and thought, "life is pretty good." Unfortunately, I put my foot down on a patch of ice and slipped so that both feet flew out in front of me and I slammed against the concrete steps, then bounced to the sidewalk. I must have looked like a cartoon.

Everyone asked me later if time slowed down for me--nope, it was lightning fast until the moment I landed and could not stand up for several minutes while I waited for my body to stop feeling jarred from the direct hit my spine took. I am certain that parts of me went "SPROINNNNNNG" and those parts are not meant to sproing, under any circumstances.

As I sat there, in the cold, trying to breathe, I could only think, "Gosh, I hope the kids aren't scared or freaking out.'

And inside the house this is what happened.

My eight year old daughter calmly walked to the kitchen (which overlooks the backyard only) and said, "Daddy. Mommy fell down." Then she walked away.

My husband called after her, "Did she get up?"

Angie strolls back, "Huh?"

"Did she get up?"

Angie replied thoughtfully, "I'll go check." And wanders back to the living room.

She returns and casually says, "No. She's still on the ground."

At which point my husband races past her, flings the front door open, and starts to slip on the same patch of ice that brought me down. Fortunately, he catches himself or we would have had a pile of parents outside, in the cold, at the foot of the steps, and two kids alone inside.

At least Angie maintains her composure in the face of actual adversity.

For a few days afterwards, various parts of my body were in excruciating pain, from which I gather my nervous system was sending mayday signals randomly. And I learned that when you hit your spine, acetaminophen is too wimpy to handle the pain. I am okay. I had a mildly scary 24 hours in which my doctor thought I had fractured my spine and would need cement injected into the vertebrae. Fortunately, it's just a bad bruise.

The down side is that the gains I had been making stopped completely because I did not feel up to exercising. My doctor said that I could expect to be in a lot of pain for at least six weeks. Two weeks later, I'm managing a few sit ups, but I'm hesitant to yoga at the moment. If I'm really lucky, and Kian wakes from his nap soon, maybe we'll go to the gym. Maybe not.

I like cartoons, but I would really prefer not to be one!

Being greedy.

If you like me, even just a little bit, could you please go to this nifty blog and post a comment that I sent you ( Holley at anotherwip.blogspot.com ). I promise I'll do the same for you if you like.

I seriously desire this fabric line in the worst way and I am trying to be so very good with our move hopefully happening by the end of this month. My clicky finger has added it to many online baskets only to be unceremoniously dumped when another inspection/insurance/tithe to the realty company has appeared.

I'd ask dear hubby to do it, but he would probably ask me how I would fit in sewing on the new fabric if I won when I still have piles of fabric laying around.

Silly man.

I so rarely do this....

I wanted to say never, but that would be wrong because obviously I'm doing it now or I wouldn't be posting about it. And it happens from time to time. I'm pretty certain I've written about it here.

I had a really rough day. We were told yesterday at work that we were moving today (not Friday or Monday as we had been led to believe). That launched everyone into an insane flurry of packing in two buildings. Then the movers arrived and moaned and complained (that isn't on my list to move. I don't know why, I told them it needed to be moved). My current understanding is that my stuff is in the other building, in the wrong spots (we didn't know where to put it. uhhh. the big freaking note I put on it didn't help?).

Imagine the ensuing drama and chaos typical of a move.

Then imagine: it's being coordinated by the government.

Then imagine that your husband is calling you with a few snafus in the whole home buying process (one of which turned out okay as a government reg was rewritten).

Then imagine that you are also trying to plan a retirement party for your assistant. That party being held tomorrow.

Then imagine you are still trying to do your job, because it must be done, although your office (soon to be your office no more) is in disarray and the monitor is over there, the printer is here and watch out, don't step on the keyboard and then people keep walking into your room to talk to you while you do your job....

Thud.

You can stop imagining--I think that is quite enough.

And now it is a few hours later and I'm home.

So that tall glass of chocolate milk and Bailey's Irish Creme prepared by my loving hubby is empty.

And I'm going to quilt! {insert evil laugh here}

Taking a break for some frivolity

I haven't had a meme in ages. So I saw this one and thought it would be cute (and fast)

Five Things Found in Your *Bag/Purse:

1. Kleenex
2. post it notes with lines
3. lip balm
4. crayons
5. inhaler

Five Favorite things in your room (total stretch because our bedroom is fairly spartan):

1. my husband (thought he is in the kitchen right now)
2. children's books
3. my books
4. our bed
5. pillows

Five Things you have always wanted to do:

1. own a craft store
2. become a published author (and a good one at that)
3. make more of my own clothes
4. Be a good mom and wife
5. Have a superhero ability to heal people (well it didn't say that the things had to be realistic)

Five things you are currently into:

1. Quilting and stitching (must justify the huge piles of craft supplies)
2. house hunting (offer made, seller accepted, waiting for the bank [to which the seller still owes $] to approve the sale--all body parts crossed at this time)
3. Keeping the girl occupied so she causes less mischief
4. furniture hunting
5. Family & Home & Friends

In the extremely bad news department, my brother's fiance/wife had her last radiation treatment and was sent home from the hospital a few weeks ago. She was given only about two weeks and has outlasted that, but my parents called yesterday to say that my brother had called them out to the house as she was failing fast. When I called, she was sleeping. Yesterday I wasn't a particularly good wife or mom--my mood was a bit snapish. Well maybe more than a bit.

Chas's grandmother has returned to the hospital with additional heart problems. She was hoping to go to the rehab center so she was a little upset.

There are some major changes at work and I have to wrap up as much as I can before my job shifts in no more than two months.

Our plates and cups are overflowing.

Things I honestly thought I'd never hear myself say.....

"No! We are not signing up for 'Man Caves.'"

Really.

I itch, therefore I feel a bit grumbly

Well the shrimp was lovely. Chas and Angie decided to have a treat so shrimp it was. Very tasty, prepared all sorts of ways, each just as yummy as the other.

That was Friday night, following a seminar at which I was a main speaker.

Saturday Morning I woke up, drove to some errands, glanced at my arms and noticed red bumps appearing.

Sigh.

Got worse, took the generic benadryl we have and felt slightly better.

Sunday, still red and itchy. Drove to see lots of homes with a realtor (More about that later). In and out of houses and the car. Hot, red and itchy. Arrived home, desperate for more benadryl, discover that our package expired in September of last year! (And our calamine lotion expired in 2005).

Today, go to work. Heavy docket. Red and itchy. Somewhat grumpy.

Call doctor. Make an appointment for the end of the day. The Doctor says, "So was that shrimp good? Are you done with Shrimp now?" She decides that the best course of action is a shot. In my posterior. The nurse makes me stay after for a bit to make sure there are no cross reactions. I reassure him and wander home. I also take one of the Claritin samples, but don't take two as recommended by the Dr. because I'm worried about side effects--but really do I want know exactly how much more red, itchy and swollen I could get?

I am now itchy, blotchy, grumpy and red. I don't think the edge has been taken off. The shot takes 24 hours to really kick in. Can't stitch. Want to stitch. Can't focus enough to stitch. I hope the treatment works, because this is excruciating.

Darn, delicious, delectable shrimp.

Popping up, err in, err, over?

Hello again.

I can't promise I'll be posting more regularly, but I'll try. I've been very busy trying to find a house, not getting calls back form lenders, trips to the er and an mri, unexpected dental work for Angie, I did some self defense and Tae Kwon Do classes--loved it but had to give it up temporarily for financial reasons, had some very stressful times at work, Chas had some stressful news too and we're gearing up for the end of the school year. That splat you heard was me collapsing in a puddle of exhaustion.

I had a friend and her family over on Saturday (and if you like animal stories you should read about her adventures with Zip--it is amazing and touching). She mentioned that she hadn't seen any wips in a while. So I'm going to try to post wips soon. All my wips--yes all of them. Perhaps I'll shame myself into completing one. No shame isn't the right idea. Perhaps I'll motivate my serial starter self to complete something so that I can start something else. I plan to do it by designer: Chatelaine, HAED, Teresa Wentzler, The Sampler Girl and Everything Else. Doesn't that just give you something to look forward too? And as you and I scan the far outdated wips list on the sidebar, we all realize what a monumental task this will be. But at least it will be fun and pretty.

Since the First Grade Quilt has been finished and my most recent Love Quilt Square sent in, I have happily stitched on all sorts of projects. I've dug out some old favorites for the sheer pleasure of stitching. I've stitched on the Frog Prince and Bedtime Stories, on the Tree of Hope and Hope Perches. It has been fun.

I'm hoping to work on a few quilts this summer. Angie got her first big girl bed--so she'll get a twin size story quilt. I need to obtain some fabric (believe it or not) with mermaids in addition to what I have. I wouldn't mind some wizards and witches too. We are in a bit of a budget crunch, so I don't know if I'll be able to do it soon, but I'll just work with what I have first. I also want to make a napping or wall sized story quilt for Angie's first grade teacher who has been wonderful. I'll try to have it done for the first day of school so Angie can give it to her next year. I also need to do a quilt for my clerk who is retiring. Of course she picked colors I don't usually have so I don't know how I'll manage that by August, but we'll see. It will be Love Beads by FunQuilts and I'll need reds, yellows and blues. I have some blues, but not much of the others. I have some fabric, but I don't think it is enough to to a full size quilt for her bed--she may just have to be satisfied with one for napping.

And to leave you with a random thought:

I was mentioning to Chas that if we won the lottery (and I mean a really big lottery), I would have my own cable channel. And then when my favorite shows are cancelled, I would obtain them and put them on my channel so that I (and everyone else) could continue to watch new episodes of excellent shows (or even my guilty pleasures) instead of hoping for a dvd.

To date, my dream channel would have:

Farscape
Firefly
Journeyman
Pushing Daisies
Life
The Class
The Adventures of Brisco County Junior
Space Above and Beyond
Babylon 5
Earth 2
Deep Space 9

Oh there are others that are escaping me right now, but you get the point. What would you air on your channel?

Sounds like my kind of place...

I just found this link at the Dinky Dyes BB. I will be very interested to see what happens when it opens.

I'm at a bit of a loss tonight. The kids are in bed. I was in the mood to play Civilization with the discs I bought at a closing Circuit City, but I discovered that I bought the expansion pack which will be really cool, when I actually own the game it expands. {sigh}

I should work on the first grade quilt for a bit (lots of cutting to do), but I kind of want to cross stitch. But I don't know which project is calling me.

I'll go cut for a while and if the kids stay down, maybe I'll find a small project to stitch.

And a query for you quilters: Do you always pre-wash your fabrics? I know I should, but our basement is so cold. If you do, do you throw the fabrics in the dryer?

Post in which I explain what happened this time....

So we went to my Mom's for Thanksgiving this year. Had a nice time. My oldest brother and his girlfriend came over Thursday evening--she's still doing well. My middle brother brought his family over from the Dayton area Friday night.

We returned home Saturday so that we could accomplish somethings and we could generally recover. After mostly unpacking I turned to my computer and pressed the giant "on" button.

Lights flashed, there were some whirring noises, then it fizzled to silence. I tried again with the same result.

Without warning, my computer was gone.

So, new computer jumped to the top of the must get items and I received an unexpected Christmas present early. Sort of. All the components shipped separately and the actual computer arrived earlier this week. Chas and I were under a strict deadline on another matter, so today was the day for the new computer to be assembled. After I cleaned the debris laden area surrounding my computer desk that is.

Several hours later, it is done.

And it is beautiful. {insert contented sigh here}

So that is what happened, this time.

Gratuitous Self-Recognition

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!!

I'm thirty-nine today.

Seriously.

Autumn?????

I can relate to this post so well.

Especially now that we're under a severe weather alert and anticipating lake effect snow, which will go over me and plop down about two miles inland, but it is very windy and cold right by the lake. We already have a large branch down in our front yard.

I seem to remember Autumn lasting longer.

Pretty Word Cloud

Very pretty. I am amused by some of the juxtapositions ("really, just, need" and "started, finish"). I love the colors--it makes me think of fall.

I really wish I could figure out how to create a similar word cloud for my labels. I've looked around the internet, but I can't seem to find what I envision in my head. I'll need to spend some time sorting out the code.

I have scads of blog tweaking to do: deleting links, adding new favorites, blinkies, posts, photos....

Of course I don't seem to have enough time to tinker with the blog lately. Maybe on another day.

I don't know what to do with myself...

Chas is taking the kids to the grocery store and leaving me here.

Do I stitch? Or grid? What wip should I touch?

Do I try to be productive and tidy and vacuum?

Yes, I laughed at that last one too.

Nerd Meme

What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Literature Nerd   Does sitting by a nice cozy fire, with a cup of hot tea/chocolate, and a book you can read for hours even when your eyes grow red and dry and you look sort of scary sitting there with your insomniac appearance? Then you fit this category perfectly! You love the power of the written word and it's eloquence; and you may like to read/write poetry or novels. You contribute to the smart people of today's society, however you can probably be overly-critical of works. It's okay. I understand.
Musician
Drama Nerd
Social Nerd
Gamer/Computer Nerd
Artistic Nerd
Science/Math Nerd
Anime Nerd
What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace

I can't say that I'm surprised by the results.

I actually have thoughts and things i want to post, but I have no time.

Because I Need Some Frivolity

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Literate Good Citizen
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Well That's Nice

The Recipe For Holley

3 parts Understanding 2 parts Attractiveness 1 part Pizzazz Splash of Beauty Finish off with a little umbrella and straw

What's" the Recipe for Your Personality?

You know what's really exciting? All the buttons have vanished in my compose a post Blogger page. I can hover over empty spaces and see a little tag, but I've got nothing but blank spots and a big white box in which to type.

Guess who needs to re-boot her computer!

Lurk No More, Reader, Lurk No More

According to Tanya, it is National Delurk Day/Week.

Any lurkers here who feel like saying "Hi!' in honor of this momentous and festive day/week?

Lots of Little Pictures

I managed some quick scanning today! Still no photo of Midi yet though (sorry). I don't think I've posted photos since early November so you can go to the Ornie Blog and see my November ornaments (December will have to wait for my digital camera though). Here you can see my Progress on the HAED Challenge project after the November SAL. Just a tiny bit of progress in the upper right corner. I took a break from it in December so that I could finish Midi and work on ornaments. I think I was a bit burned out on the colors, which are similar to Midi, and are prevalent in QS Frog Prince 3. All the same, what you see is the result of 11 months of SAL participation. I'm hoping to complete another 2 and a half pages for 2008. It should be a little easier once I finish page two, which is a bit complicated.

The remaining scans are from my new WIPs, discussed yesterday. No new starts yesterday--Saturdays are tremendously busy for Chas. Although he works from home, he is glued to his computer and the t.v. all day (and yes, he truly loves his job) so I am busy chasing and entertaining the kids--fun, but very little stitching time for me.

This is Hope Perches. It was the first new project of this year because I wanted to start with some hope. I am using Thread Gatherer silks instead of the recommended fibers on 32 Count Pussywillow Lugana by Sugar Maple Fabrics (SMF). I hope Tanya doesn't mind the substitutions. It's even prettier in real life and I feel happy just stitching it.

Next is Colored Pencils which is being stitched on 32 count Daffodil Lugana by SMF. This will be a teacher gift for Angie's kindergarten teacher. On the first day of school, her teacher mentioned that her favorite color is yellow so searched my stash for a nice yellow to use instead of the cream linen that came with the kit. I am using the Danish Flower Thread that came in the kit and it stitches nicely. Then again, I am one of those strange people who really loves perle threads, whether silk or cotton or something else. I'm excited about how I'm going to finish it which helps me stay motivated--it is a little dull stitching the same shape over and over again (the design is twelve differently colored pencils arranged horizontally and vertically).

This is the start of Have a Cup of Cheer. The fabric is a lovely piece from a Dinky Dye limited edition pack. It's very cheerful on it's own and I found some festive skeins of Six Strand Sweets since it is a choose your own design. I mentioned frogging it and starting over on a different fabric, but on second thought, I think I like how this looks. Any thoughts? The fabric color is fairly true, but the cotton threads are a bit brighter in reality. I'm not sure how I will finish it, or even if I can finish it in time for the competition, but this is another one that just makes me happy to stitch.

Finally, if the other projects make me happy to stitch, this one makes me delirious with joy. It's Polar Lights by Chatelaine. The scan is a little dark and I couldn't tinker with it to get it right, so just imagine this, only a little lighter. I have had the chart for over a year and the fabric for over two years and I've slowly been acquiring the supplies. I'm still missing a few Weeks Dye Works, but I was so eager to start this now I figured that it wouldn't matter--I only need some of the darker blues and purples and I will have everything thing except the Mill Hill Treasures. The Fabric is SMF Shimmering Lilac Lane and in real life it is perfect. I am a little worried about the creases, but I'll just do my best to fix them. I'm sure that once I spend some quality time stitching on it, the creases will disappear.

I may not be able to start anything new until tomorrow, but I have two projects bagged up for my lunch break. Thanks to Janet, I have a more coherent diagram for the nun stitch, but I'm still not sure how it will work for the Autumn bellpull. I also have a Purple Passion in a Bag (thanks to a trade with Nicki last year) lined up and found a great diagram for a palestrina knot and I'm eager to try it. I'm also thinking about starting Graceful Lady for my Mom because it has far less backstitching and color changes than the Japanese Angel, which is lovely, but frustrating. Finally, I hesitate to say this because I may jinx myself, but I'm thinking about starting Paradigm Lost by Long Dog. I wanted to stitch it on 36 count, but I don't have any. Then I hit upon a color scheme I think will be great and I have some 32 count linen that will work. I toyed with the idea of doing it over one, but it would be too small. I just don't know what I will do. I may do floss tosses and post some more pictures, or I may just dive right in.

I don't have any unstarted Chatelaine Mandalas or I would start one (I'm awful I know). I think the only other Chatelaines unstarted are the Stitching Leporello, the Japanese Octoganal Box, the Illuminated Medieval Manuscript,Christmas Mystery 3 and Midis 2 and 3. No wait, I'm wrong: I have St. Petersburg unstarted, but I missing most of the supplies and I'm in Mystery XI, but I only have a few fibers. I'd love to start the Leporello, but I don't have enough fabric. I could start the JOB because I have everything I need, but I'm not sure it would be so satisfying to stitch all those black boxes. Not sure what I will do but I think I will allow myself one more Chatelaine start in addition to Autumn. Goodness I have a lot of Chatelaines.

Janet has asked a few times for my secret. I don't have one except that I do try to stitch whenever I can and I try to stitch for even a few minutes each day. Sometimes I feel like I'm going at a snails pace (at some point I will show you my plodding progress on the crane medallion in JG), but at least it is some progress.

Is anyone else stating the new year with new starts? I highly encourage you to start something new. I love that moment when the project actually starts. It is a wonderful feeling and the time away from current WIPS makes them feel fresh and new again too.

Contemplating a Guilt-Free January...

I'm trying to be oh so good and not purchase any new charts this year.

So I think my guilt free January will involve new starts. Serial starter me did not actually start any big projects last year so I may just go wild and start bunches of things. Bunches.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wishing You a Happy New Year

I know that it is already 2008 in most of the world, but I just wanted to say thanks for reading and commenting here. I'm amazed and pleased that you stop by my blog.

I hope that 2008 is kind to you and is filled with more hope than despair.

Kian is on my lap as I type this, chattering away and clearly intent on making a break from Mommy's lap. Chas is washing dishes and Angie is attempting to finish dinner so that we can introduce Kian to our Family New Year's Tradition--Watching The Jungle Book (animated). Singing and cavorting around the living room are involved. It's a cozy good time.

Just forfun, here is a little glimpse of me, created by my husband in meez. I added an anklet, which you can't see, but pleases me because I know it is there. I think only three people (including Chas) reading this blog have actually seen me in person, so you must trust me when I tell you that this is a reasonably good representation of me, as close as any animated gif will be. I was tempted to add the floor length Winter Goddess robe (in purple), but I couldn't stop giggling--even animated me can't quite pull that off. The black leather international spy top was right out as well. So here you have simply me:

Wishing you peace, joy, love, hope, happiness and other good things in the new year.