Hello folks, as I promised, I'm trying to blog more often. (And NOT succeeding either, lol.) At least for now, I'm good. I've been busy, but I'm taking a few minutes for a study break to blog. (It will probably take several study breaks to write it all, but hey, might as well get started today, even if I don't finish till tomorrow. Heck, my last blog was so long, I started it on Saturday afternoon, and finished it late on Tuesday night!!!) I guess I'll start with school again, as it's the current important thing for me. (Actually, there is one thing more important, but I'm holding that back for now. It makes me smile, though, so I will share with you in a little bit.) I'm still getting straight As, so that is great. I have a grade coming (soon, I hope) for my test on Friday in Computer Applications and another for my midterm which I took on Tuesday the ninth. He told us that he would have midterms graded by the next class, which is in three and a half hours. (Still no grades up. I've been checking every day.) Who knows when he'll get them done. As for my other class, he told us yesterday he finished up exams late Sunday night, and would be putting the grades in sometime on Tuesday. He's never been as late as my other professor, so I trust that they'll be up today sometime. I'm eager to see my grade on both. (They should both be A+, but I'm hoping for perfect scores, sooooooooo...) I know, I know, overachiever. I am, and I freely admit it. (Tora called me that on my last blog, and I totally admit to it. But she's an overachiever too, so :p, lol.) Anyways, on to more fun things. There are two wonderful things I'm going to tell you about, but I'll pace myself so the excitement doesn't get to be too much, lol.
The first exciting thing is... Well, some background first. My mom went to a Breast Cancer fundraiser on Sunday. You could enter raffles for all kinds of baskets. She entered for a couple, but put most of her tickets in on the one with (are you ready for this) a pair of tickets to... (Drumroll please)... The Bengals vs Dallas game. And she WON!!!!!!!!!!!! She's not a Bengals fan, but she knows how much of a fan I am, so she put in for the tickets for me. I was so excited Sunday when I found out. I was all thrilled about the whole thing. For a while... Then, after I called her on Monday morning, I realized... The tickets to the Bengals game are for the same day that our winter concert is scheduled. Feast of Carols has one concert Saturday night, one concert Sunday afternoon, and one concert Sunday night. To go to the game, I would have to miss the concert Sunday afternoon. I'm willing to do that, as long as he doesn't flunk me. I really badly want to go to the game, though. So if it just drops me down from an A to a B, I'm okay with that. And he seems to be a nice guy, so I'm hoping he'll be willing to work with me on this. Plus, it's not like she bought the tickets and could change them to another game, ya know? So I asked Amy to go with me. (She's not a huge football fan, but she's savvy and I enjoy her company, so it's all good.) I really thought hard about asking Dani to go with me, but she's planning to come in during Rosa's visit, and I didn't want to ask her to come in twice within a few months of each other, plus there are other things as well. Amy's already planning to come to the concert, so we could go up together and she could meet up with David and Aunt Carol and mom at the theater, and then we're going out to dinner afterwards. And if I took Dani, she'd have to go to the airport instead of dinner, and the whole point of everyone going to the concert in the evening was so that we could go to dinner, so that would be bad. And I really don't want to deliver her to the airport for a late flight (concert over at six, get to dinner at six thirty or seven, get finished at eight or eight thirty, get to the airport at nine thirty or ten, flight leaves at eleven thirty or later...) She would get in in the middle of the night, and someone would have to pick her up from the airport... It just wouldn't work, although I would love to go to the game with her. So Amy and I are going, and I know we're gonna have fun. I have two Bengals blankets to bring, and I'm gonna wear a pair of long johns, jeans, and sweatpants on my bottom and a short sleeved T, a long sleeved T, a sweatshirt (all Bengals of course), and a heavy coat. So I'll need to bring a bag with me so I can change clothes, and put all my layers in it. (No hardship as I have several Bengals bags I can bring, lol. Yes, I AM obsessed.) I'm so excited about the whole thing, and now I can hardly wait for December to come. Mom should have the tickets on Wed or Thurs, and we can check and make sure it WAS Dallas, and see where the seats are. Since we don't know who donated them, they could be anywhere in the stadium. First row (season ticket holder donation), last row (random pair of tickets) or anywhere in between. So we'll have to see what the tickets say, and then I'll talk to Mike about it. I really hope he doesn't object too strongly to me missing the one concert. I suppose if I have to, I could drop the class, but I really don't want to. I'll just have to see how it goes. But I'm going to that game. It's been twenty years since I've been able to go to a game, and I've been so good the last few years, I deserve a treat. I even finished Jesus, and that deserves a treat (I had one picked out, but it will have to wait for something else. Maybe when I graduate). So yay for mom (she spent twenty dollars of which sixteen went on the Bengals basket) and yay for me. (Mom doesn't like football enough to go to see a game. Especially not in December, when it could be miserably cold. I totally do, and I know how to bundle up. I am sooooooooooooo ready.) So that's my one good news. The other is even more exciting (only because I'm impatient and I have to wait for the Bengals game), but you have to wait for after the stitchy stuff for it. Stitching is up next.
For stitchy prowess, I don't have much. (At first I didn't, but since so much time has gone by since I started this, I have lots more.) Honestly, I hardly had time last week what with studying for my midterm exam the first part of the week and my Excel test the second part of the week. I had my exam on Friday, so I did get to stitch some Friday night. And then I got an hour or two in on Saturday. I worked on Desert Landscapes Mandala this week, and I've only done a few colors in part nine, which is the border around the whole thing. 
I started with the browns at school on Friday. I studied hard Wed and Thursday, so I didn't feel that I needed to study Friday before class. Also, I do all of the assignments in the book, even the ten projects that aren't assigned. I get a lot of practice that way, and I feel like I know what I'm doing and can pass the test well. I got a ninety eight on the last one, out of a hundred, and I hope I did as well on this one. I had some trouble getting started with this part though. I hadn't printed it off yet, so I had to do that on Friday morning (Monday I overslept, and got there just in time for class). Then, I had to take it off the Q-snap twice while waiting for the shuttle. When I finished up part eight, I left the Q on around that part. So I pulled it all off, positioned it so I could start at the top left corner of the piece, and put it back on. Then, I realized there was no point of reference. It just started, without anything in the frame to tell me where to start. So I had to pull it off again, and move it into the center of the piece on the top, since there IS a reference point there. (Yes Dear must have been standing on the puter again last night, as there are random sevens throughout this paragraph. If I missed one, I'm sorry. It's just a little hello from Yes Dear!) Then I was finally able to get started.
I do have a little bit of progress on my ornie too. (I'm showing the final piccy of the ornie, as I've finished it in between now and writing this.) 
It's coming along, but not very quickly. I have done less stitching on Wed since I started school (and I've had to frog this several times), so it's not coming along as quickly as I'd hoped it would. I don't think I have a chance at getting the ornies all done for Christmas now. I still have four to do after this one, sooooooo… I really wanted to pick up the 2012 JCS ornie issue, but I had just bought all those ornie kits and I convinced myself not to. Now I wish I had, lol. Not that there is anything specific in it that I want, but I like to have LOTS of options. I will get some work in on Rosa's ornie today too. Maybe she and I could stitch together for a while. That would be nice. She works most of the time on Noah, since she wants to get caught up to me, and I work on whatever that day's project is. Makes her feel better about catching up, and me feel better cause I love to get together and stitch. I am loving the colors in this. They're really deep and rich, and you can't exactly get a feel for that in the photo. Definitely worth the money for the overdyed floss.
This week is Impossible Love, and I did take a piccy of it, even though I've hardly done anything on it. 
Last time, I really didn't get into it, so I didn't know how this time was gonna work out. I'm not totally into it, but I did manage to get done with the ten by ten row I was working on. Since I did, I took a piccy. I just love the colors in this one too. Peachy, pinky, orangey colors to simulate sunrise, sort of. (The sun is actually fairly high in the sky to have the sky be those colors, but it is still very pretty, so…) On Friday, I'll get a start on the next row of ten by tens. I need to put in a grid line, but that's no big deal. It shouldn't take me long at all. And then I'll be ready to start again. I'm hoping starting a new row will help me feel excited about it again. I really didn't on Monday, but maybe starting new will help me get that feeling back. We will see how it goes!
And I have more projects since I wrote this. I was going to do a two week blog entry, but it got lost in the shuffle. Here it is three weeks after I started it, and the darned entry is still not finished!!!!!! Anyways, last week was Rosa and I don't have a piccy of it. I didn't get much done. I started, slowly, on the Bullion Knots. They are easier than I thought to do, but harder to place. So I'm pulling out the ones I already did, cause they don't look quite right. (They're placed funny. I followed my instincts, and I should have followed Vicki's design, lol. I'm not creative enough to just make a rose!!!) So no piccy of that this week. I have a possible cheat on the Bullion Knots. A lady in my EGA group told me that she does hers the hard way. You come up and go down where you normally would, but instead of leaving a loop and wrapping around the second time you come up, you pull taut and then come back up and start looping around it that way. You're actually wrapping the floss around the layer of floss you already laid down, instead of wrapping around the needle and pulling through. Vicki tried the cheat and said it works, but it takes forever!!! I think if I can get the placement right, I'll easily be able to make the roses. So we'll see how it goes. (Considering I've been dreading them for a while, they're not near as bad as I thought they'd be. Score one for Vicki who said they're fairly easy.) Also, she "shared" something with me the other day. She saw a child in a stitchy shop the other day. Eight to ten range of age or so. And she said, "I love blanket stitch because it's so easy to do." I was flummoxed. I simply can't get mine to turn out right, no matter what I do. I told Vicki that I'm just sad, lol. If eight to ten year olds can do, I should be able to do it too, lol. SAD!!!
I also worked on a couple of other things. (I uploaded the current piccy of the ornie, instead of the one I was going to upload.) I worked on both Noah's Sub and Time To Go over the last few weeks. I forgot (because I'm a dork) that I planned to work on the ornies on Thursday as well as Wednesday. I thought I might have a chance at getting them done, but then when I went shopping with mom (she wasn't sure how to find the mall), I took Noah. (I'm too tired to go take another photo, and I can't find the one I already took in my pictures file, so we're gonna hold off on a photo of Noah. After all, it's five AM, and I need to get some sleep tonight!!!) He's looking cute, of course. I did a couple of stitches on the zebra (Literally, I did two stitches in light gray, then went back to the bands of the sky). Then I worked on a big band of the sky at the top. It's 3742, I think. It looks kind of brownish next to the other purples. I'm hoping it will blend better when I get it finished. But we'll have to see. I've seen things that look awful when you put them in look great when all the colors are in, and I'm hoping that happens in this case (Jesus's spray on tan (thanks for that giggle Claudette) is what I'm thinking of.) I think it's just a wait and see thing now. I'll be ticked if I have to pull it all out cause I don't like it though…
And Time To Go is actually coming along quite nicely. 
I have a Tuesday night class. I have to be there at six and so I usually leave at five in case there's traffic. I generally get there at five twenty or five thirty, and I sit there and wait the rest of the time. So I take my stitching, and work on it while I wait. I've finished up the first two pages on it, and am working on the third. You can almost see the candle that's providing the light in this case. And in the row of ten by tens that I'm working now, you get to see the beginning of her wing. She's so pretty. I love the chart, although I would never do it for myself. Too overtly sexy. I like the sexiness to be very subtle. Not falling out of her bustier in your face, lol. But he's a man, and you know how they are!!!
I also got some work in on Country Bloomers. 
It's looking good. I got quite a bit of the new pair done, almost one whole leg. And it's solid stitching, so I put a lot of stitches in it. I love that shade of blue. I think it may be my fave color in the whole piece. I got quite a bit done on it at my brother's house that Saturday. I went out to his house cause he was having a big bonfire. He is a great host, and he loves to have people over. He invited a bunch of folks over. I went over early. (It was actually at my dad's old house, which my brother now owns.) I got there about four, but no one else got there till about six. It was just David, Amy, Amy's friend Abby, and myself. The dog wasn't there, because he gets all het up and wants to follow everyone everywhere. He has to keep track of his people. David and Amy (and quite a few other people) stayed the night there, so they could drink. I left at about seven or seven thirty, cause I was dogsitting at his other house, lol. I got there around eight or a little bit after, gave the dog his pill, and settled in for an evening of stitching. We had a good time, as always. So I got a lot done (both at the party and afterwards).
And the next project gets the award for quickest project ever, lol. 
I started working only on ornies in November, to try and get them done for Christmas. I'm not sure if I'll make it or not, but I'm sure gonna try. (I just have to bucke down and do it. I'm tired of confetti though, so it's hard.) Anyways, I finished up Rosa's ornie on a Tuesday, and started Amy's ornie. That Tuesday night, I was looking (every freaking place I could think of) for the ornie pattern for David's and Amy's ornies, and I couldn't find it anywhere. There were still component boxes everywhere, and I decided to do a little cleaning and organizing. I worked for over two hours, y'all, and still hadn't found what I was looking for. I went through every cubby on my desk, twice. Finally, I found it (in a cubby, of course), and put it on my desk. I looked at the clock, and low and behold, it was after six. (My class starts at six.) So I decided, since he doesn't take attendance, and I was very comfortable with the subject matter, I was gonna skip the class that night. I wouldn't have gotten there with twenty minutes left anyways, so it was no big loss. And I went up to Hobby Lobby instead and got floss. I started the ornie that night, and finished it that Friday. I was so impressed with how quickly it got done, especially as there are quite a few fractional stitches in it. I did have some extra time that week though, for Thanksgiving break. That helped.
That's all the stitching I've got to show you. Now on to my other big news. I'm getting… A new computer!!!! My desktop is old and cranky, and it really doesn't deal well with Microsoft Office. Lots of Not Responding messages. It's a PITA. So I'm going to borrow some money from mom, and I got myself a new one. Well, sort of. It's not up and running yet, because I've done something wrong, I think. I bought the components for a new computer. I'm actually building it myself. I tried running it for the first time the other day, but it's not working. It makes a sort of hollow click sound when I press power, then nothing happens. So I need to figure out what's wrong with it. I'm gonna try it again in a little bit here. I'm backing up some files I did today (Carbonite Backup in the cloud), and then we'll hook it up and give it another go. Hopefully, it will work this time. I got some great, superb, amazing components too. It was expensive, but I would never have gotten such a great computer if I hadn't built it myself. Hopefully, I can figure out what's wrong with it on my own. I was so proud of myself for building it, and then it fizzled on me. So now I have to figure out what the problem is. (UPDATE: The problem is the motherboard. It's not POSTing (Power On Startup Test), and it should be. So I have to return the motherboard and get a new one. No wonder I can't get it to work!! It's still fun to build though. (Except for the CPU fan. That's horrible to get on. I hate it. I had to put it on, then I had to take it off to get the CPU part number, then I had to put it back on again. I have to press so hard my fingers get bruised!!! And now, I have to take everything off the motherboard, and get a new one to put everything back on. Which means I have to put the CPU fan on AGAIN!!! What a pita, lol. But still, I'm happy that I know enough to build one, so it's all good.) I'll definitely update you on how it goes when I get the new motherboard.)
And other updates. I'm finished with school except for one exam, on Tuesday night. Since I'm out, I'll probably be blogging more soon. I'll have lots of updates for you, including what happened Sunday (football game and Feast), but this is already way long, so I'm gonna end here, and I'll put up my pics for now. Then, in a few days, I'll come back and do a better update. Hope you all hagn, and sleep well tonight. (It's already almost one o'clock, geez. I've been studying for hours, lol.)
And I forgot one more thing. 
I have a couple of piccys of YD to share! I took them while she was sitting in my cubby. I pulled out my box of discs, looking for a startup disc for my computer. (I don't remember which one, lol. I have a lot of them.) And while I had it out, she noticed that there was space where there's not usually space. So she had to climb up there and see what was going on! (She may actually be nosier than I am. I'm not positive, as it's a bit of a toss up, but she may be.) I took a piccy of her taking up space, as she's very cute when she's being, well, cute, lol. And then I used the zoom and took a piccy of her cute little face. There is no body in it, just that cute little face. 
I think she's just adorable, but I'm slightly prejudiced, lol. I hope you love the piccy just as much as I do. I've added these and a few others to her album on Photobucket, so if you want to see the other new piccys, you can follow this link. And again, hagn. Thanks to all my blogger friends who've supported me throughout my first semester. It's been awesome of you to let me know you think I can do it. So thanks to everyone who left me a comment on my school posts, or said I think you can do it. You all really made my day!!!