Progress and a giveaway (very long)

I'm having a giveaway, whoo hoo!!!!

It's a My Memories digital scrapbooking software giveaway. I have two copies, but I may give one to my cousin's wife if she's interested. I won a copy before I got the email from Liz about giving away my own copy. So I told her I only needed one copy to give away, and she sent me the mail with two copies. (One to review, and one to give away.) She said it's a form letter, so I should give away both, or give one to a family member and one to a blogger. So I called my cousin Jeff's wife, and left her a message. If she wants it, I'll give it to her. If not, I'll be giving away another one, lol. So let me review it for you first, then I'll get to the details.

It's awesome software. The digital scrapbooking software has so many uses. I actually made a scrapbook from my trip to England. I'm not done with it yet, as I still have many things to add. First off, though, I did pages of pics, and it leaves you text areas to add your title and description on each page. So you can do it all with your own explanations. The software is easy to use, at least, it was for me. I did some pages of my own design, but I haven't posted them anywhere yet. The pages from England are here. That is the first page, and if you want to look at the following pages, you just click next up at the top. You can view the pics I used in the album by clicking the title of the album (Trip to England) at the top of the page, right above next. It was fun to do, and really fun to go through all the pages and styles it comes with. There were background papers for everything included in the original. And there are a ton of freebies on the site, here. This was so much fun to play with. I totally enjoyed it. Some of the kits they have are free, and some of them are at a small cost. (Most that I've seen are only six dollars, which is not a lot.) Also, there are all kinds of things you can add to the pages. Shapes, text, word art, photos, and embellishments are just a few. You can add fancy scrolls or ribbons or bows or whatever. You can create your own pages, or use the stripes and houndstooth and dots and and and... There are so many pages to choose from, and they all come with the original digital scrapbooking software. I sure had a great time playing with this. I need to make up a book for both Vin and Yes Dear too. I have a ton of pics of both of them. (More of Yes Dear than of Vin, but I have quite a few of him too.) Anyways, the software was fun to play with, and so easy to use. I did have some trouble figuring out where the pics were, lol. I finally realized, after going through all the My Memories digital scrapbooking software folders, that I needed to export the pages to a folder so I could use them. Duh!!! But that was the only real problem I had. Well, at first, it was a little overwhelming. So many options were there, and I wanted to use them all at once. It was wonderful though, and I thoroughly recommend it for anyone who likes to scrapbook digitally.

And now for some pics. I'm still using pic Monkey to edit my pics because I only have one pic per "page", and I don't want to make a collage just yet. I'll get around to it though, trust me, lol. So, progress pics, and I have a lot. I'll start up with the first pic, and go from there.

Since I didn't post a pic of Beach Romance last time, that's where I'll start. I didn't get an amazing amount done on it, but I made decent progress. I haven't been stitching as much with the two new chars on Two Moons. She looks pretty though... It's coming along nicely. I really like the way her feet look, in comparison to her dress. It's got some funny (to me) colors in it. It's sandy, and it should be all whites and creams and light lavenders for the shadows. Not that it doesn't have all of those in it. It does. But it also has sandy colors in it. Weird, if you ask me. Still, it's coming along nicely.

And then comes Time To Go. I actually got some colors done that you can see this time, whoo hoo!!!! You can actually see colors now, yay!!! That big lump that looks like all black is actually two shades of color. Black (310) and very dark brown (3371, I think). They blend so well, you can't tell the difference. But now you can finally see something. And it's all brown, ugh. Freak, if you read this, just know that I really love you to be doing all this ugly brown for you!!! I'm happy to at least be able to tell a difference in the colors now, though, so I'm happy to be doing brown, lol.

The next lovely up is a truly adorable pic. It has three of my ornies on it, although a couple of them are wrinkled. (Yes, I'll need to iron them, carefully.) Aren't they all just so cute!!! I love the way they all look. My newest is the one all the way to the right, Frosty Friends. I love the little bird (which I kept forgetting I had to do, lol), and the snowman is adorable too. I may keep it for myself, or I may give it to mom. She'll get two ornies this year, if I give it to her. Let It Snow, all the way to the left, is hers too, but she doesn't know that. If I give this one to mom, I'll definitely be stitching this again for me. It's too cute not too. Here it is up close. As you can see in the close up, I used Kreinick BF for the snow under him. It's 032, Pearl. It has some nice glitter to it, but you can hardly see it in the pic. Next week, instead of starting a new ornie, I'm going to work on water for my quilt piece. Julie and I were all set to argue over who finished it, when I sort of said, "Hey, there's enough for both of us. Why don't you do the continents, and I'll do the water." And she agreed with me. I think the water would be numbing for her, but I'll enjoy doing the same color over and over and over. It goes quickly that way. I can hardly wait for Wed to roll around.

Next up is my fave project, Noah's Sub. It's still going right along. I laughed at myself the other day, cause I was talking out loud to myself, and wondering what a person would think. (Do six, skip two, do three, skip one, do two, skip two, do four.)I was hoping to get more done, but the PC called to me. New chars, new chars... And I was distracted. (In my defense, the new chars are way fun to play with. So it's not totally my fault.) Anyways, on to the pic. You can see the last two bands I've been working on are advancing slowly. And, I just have to share this cause it's too funny. I looked at the piccy of Noah's Sub the other day, and my previous dilemma was so off, lol. I was wondering if I should do the fish or the giraffe, if you remember. However, it wasn't a fish or a giraffe. It was an orca and a zebra, lol. I only had the outlines to go on, though, and the zebra is quite a bit higher than the orca. (Also, the first color in the orca is dark blue, so you can see how that made me think fish rather than killer whale.) I didn't take into account that the animals on top of the sub are all higher than the water. Yes, I know, silly woman, but I didn't take it into account. I started on the orca, and totally messed it up, lol. I not only put it in the wrong place, but I skipped a section too. So it's in the wrong place, and it's too short!! Geez, get a clue, right??? But I'll get him right on the second try!!! And he's too cute, too. I had a blast looking at the pics, and trying to pair up the animals that weren't standing right next to their mate. I can't hardly wait to get into the meat of it!!!

And last up is my rotation piece for this week, which didn't get a lot of work. It just wasn't calling to me, for one reason. And I had to frog on it for another. It wasn't a big frog, but it irked me just the same. I did get it all frogged and replaced, but no way to I make goal, even my revised goal. It's a bust this week, lol. I don't know why it's not calling to me, but it's not. Maybe next time. Here's the first fox, almost finished. I'm SALing this with Evalina on Blogspot, so it's unlikely I'll put it away and pull something else out. If this continues (if I'm not feeling it for the next three times I work on it) then I'll make it a UFO for a while, and pull out Lust. She's screaming at me, but she's way down the UFO list. Since this isn't a finish, though, the rules don't apply. I can pull anything I want, lol. We'll see how it goes.

And now for the giveaway rules. There aren't many. First up, to enter you need to be a follower. Second, to enter you must go to the My Memories site and look through the kits and pages available. Tell me which kit or page layout you want to get. (It's to give me ideas.) If you like the pics I did, and can't wait to get your own, or if you want and don't win the giveaway, you can buy it at a ten dollar discount with the code STMMMS50966. This code also gives you a ten dollar gift card to use in their store, so you can buy some more backgrounds and pages. It's a great deal if you like to scrapbook. And you can use the code at any time. So if you wait a week after the giveaway is over, and then decide you really want it, you can get it. It's great to play with, and I hope you all will enter and that the winner enjoys it as much as I did!! I hope you all have a great night, and a wonderful weekend (what's left of it). Good luck to everyone who enters. (And no, this is NOT my two hundred followers giveaway. That will come later.)

Progress and Dogsitting

It was a full weekend, and I have so much to show you all. I dogsat for David Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday. I also watered the garden there. It was okay. Hot for the two days I was there, but I only went out early in the morning or late at night, so that was okay.

The dog was both hilarious and gross by turns. First, I had him outside in the early morning. (I had a nasty nightmare on Friday, and got up after two hours sleep. I was up for several hours, then went back to bed. But because of that, and the stress it put on me, I slept until three AM. So I was all off kilter.) Anyways, we're sitting outside. I've watered the garden and am sitting in the garage stitching by the garage light. And I keep looking up to check on the dog, who is sitting at the edge of the driveway. And finally, I noticed it. He's sitting there, watching the squirrels, with a six inch long slimy string of drool hanging out of his mouth. (He can be a real Hootch sometimes.) So he's drooling over the squirrels. I swear to you, he eats every day. Good dog food, the expensive kind. I have no idea what the drool was all about. I went in and got my phone, took a pic, and sent it off to David. It was gross. Then I wiped his face off and threw the toilet paper in the garbage. YUCK!!!! And then he was also funny. He was laying on the loveseat, snoring away, when all of a sudden, the rabbit he was chasing got the jump on him. (Or so I assume.) He started barking in his sleep, lol. It was soooooooo funny. I was cracking up. I gently woke him up, in case it was bad for his heart, and he looked at me like, "What???" It was too cute. For a big dog, they were little barks.

And it was so nice to come home. I don't mind dogsitting, I really don't. But the dog is much more demanding than YD is. Or maybe he's just demanding in a different way. He has to go out more, for one. He's always up my butt for another. He comes up to be petted about every half hour. And he follows me everywhere, which I should be used to with YD. But sixty pounds of dog is a lot different than six unobtrusive pounds of cat, ya know?!? And of course, I came through the door having been gone all day Sat and all day so far Sunday, and she's all, "Meow, meow, meow, meow..." To infinity, and you get the idea. She needs attention, and I'm trying to pet her and put all my stuff down and get unpacked... It might not seem like a lot, but it FEELS hectic. I'll be so glad to sleep in my own bed though. That just makes my day when I come home.

I had Frederick the Literate out this week. I didn't do much on it on Monday, as I was outside at night. It made it difficult. It was a dark floss on dark fabby at night, and it was slow going. It was hard to see the holes. I made up for it Friday and Saturday, though. I wanted to get his "tail" done (It was his foot hanging down, not his tail), and I got really close. I got the bottom part done, then started on the black. Except I started it at the top, and not the bottom. If it wasn't for that, I would have made goal. And even though I didn't, I'm happy with him anyways. Here he is!I did get QUITE a bit done on him at David's house, so it's all good. I've almost got his haunch done, which is impressive. The black looks really, idk, black to me. It's extra dark, lol. I like how it looks though, so it's not something I want to change.

And next up (or previous, depending on how you look at it), is Noah's Sub. I didn't get a lot done on this because I was subject to a frog attack of large proportions. I had to pull out about a hundred stitches. I was going along on the sky, and I realized I should be over the fish by then. So I decided since it was just sky, I would fudge it. But it turned out the fish was in the wrong place. So I pulled out all the sky that was wrong (cause it would be in the way of the fish), and started putting it back in. When I finish this band of sky, I need to go back and pull out part of the fish, and fix him. So not a lot of progress, but it's looking good.I'm hoping to finish this particular band up on Thursday, when I next work on it. If it's cool enough in the evening, I will. I'm going through lantern oil like crazy though. It's too hot to go out during the day. I can't breathe, and YD only stays out for a few minutes, then goes back in the house. So I try, now that it's hot out, to take her out late at night. At two AM, it's in the low seventies, high sixties. Perfect weather. Not too hot, not too cool, and if she wants to sit on my lap, it doesn't make me sweat!!

Next up is my ornie for this week, Frosty Friends (Mosey and Me). It's coming along well. I got a goodly amount done on it this week. I finished up his body, and then did his glove and his shoe, almost. (I have two rows of darker brown to do for the bottom of his shoe, and it's done.) I didn't have a lot of time, for some reason that I can't fathom now. I did something with mom... Went to Barbara, maybe. She's my therapist. Mom is making the rounds with me, trying to get on the same page I'm on. I'm trying to convince her that school would be a good thing. So far, I'm not sure if it's working. I get the impression that she doesn't think I can do it. I'm hoping she'll change her mind, but... Anyways, not much ornie time till late at night.As you can see, he's looking adorable. I love this ornie. I have to finish up his shoe, do his sock, and put the little bluebird on his foot, and it's done. Oh, and some bsing too. Hopefully, next time I'll finish him. Then I don't know what I"ll do. I think I only have floss bought for one more ornie, and then I have to go shopping.

And last, but certainly never least, I have a couple of pics of YD to share. As you can see in the first one, she loves to lay in my stitching chair. Even when there are already things in it. In this case, she's actually lying on some of the Noah's Sub fabby, and the new piece from Julie. Oh, that's right, I'm gonna work on that on Wed for a while. I'm doing the blue of the water, and she's gonna do the continents. I had totally forgotten about that. Anyways, that's what she's laying on.And in the second pic, she's showing off her rather strange form. She laid like that for an hour. To me, it looks like she's ready to get up and do something, but she didn't. She just laid there, in this strange position, for forever. It doesn't looks comfy to me, lol.She is obviously a law unto herself, lol. And awwww, isn't she just so cute!!!

That's it for me today, folks. I have to get to bed soon. I've been up since five AM, and it's now nine PM. Tired!!!! I hope you're all having a great night, and next time, I'll have a giveaway. Stay tuned!!

School choices and dogsitting

I'm still wrestling with school, although it's in the background a bit now.  I'm trying to decide if I want to take a full degree program, or just a few classes to get me up to speed.  Both have their pros and cons, and I'm gonna lay them out here.  I'm going to create my first HTML tables, and we'll see how I do, lol.  They're more complex than images or links or lists, so I'm hoping to get them right, but we'll see.

Pros and Cons of Going Back to School for a Degree
Pros	Cons
I'll have a degree, which will make it easier to get a job>	It takes longer than just taking a few classes, and will keep me out of the job market for longer.
It will give me a larger base of knowledge than just a few classes.	If I start a degree problem, and don't finish, it looks bad.
It makes more jobs available to me than just a few classes would.	It may make me over qualified for what I want to do, making it harder to get a job.
It proves to employers I can handle the longer haul, and I'm not just there for the short term
I get coop experience, which helps employers see that I'm qualified for whatever job I apply for.	It's more expensive than just taking a few classes, so I'll owe more.
Job placement assistance is available to me.

Pros and Cons of Going Back to School for a Few Classes Only
Pros	Cons
It lets employers know I can handle the structure of a work environment after being on disability for such a long time.	I don't have a degree at the end of my education.
It gives me a good background in Help Desk functions, which makes training me easier.	Not finishing a degree program could leave employers to wonder if I can truly hack it over the long haul.
It's cheaper than a full degree program	It gives no coop experience.
	There is no job placement assistance without a degree program.

If you can think of anything I've not thought of, please feel free to enter it in the comments section. I'm aware that I'm not the best critical thinker, and therefore may have missed something important. Thanks for everyone who leaves a comment (even if it's just an opinion on what I should do). I welcome your thoughts, especially when I'm struggling with such an issue.

I have some dogsitting coming up too. My brother is going up to his parents-in-law's place for the weekend (with Amy, of course), and then the next weekend, they're going up to the parents' farm so Amy can spend some time with a childhood friend who's home from Arizona for a short vacation. I'm not sure which weekends they are though. I know there are two of them, but when I can't remember. I have the dates written down... Somewhere. So that'll be fun, and lots of stitching time. Maybe even a walk, if the weather cools down enough. We'll have to see how it goes. Today wasn't too bad. It got up to eighty nine outside, but in here it was much cooler. I'm not sure why. I had the AC on last night while I was in here, but I turned it off when I went to bed. It's just now starting to creep up a little bit in here. According to Google's weather add on, it's eighty one outside, but I was cooler when it was eighty nine out there. Weird... It's like the heat is just now coming in. Anyways, hope you've all had a good week so far. Happy hump day!! (And pretty please, leave me a comment about my schooling pros and cons. I'd really appreciate it.)

An apology and (eventually) IHSW

I'm trying out some new html tags, and this is a test run to see if they work.  Just ignore this part of the post, in it's entirety.

 

That's right, I am apologizing.  I'm not following anyone's blog this week.  I have more pressing things on my mind.  I'm trying (and I thought I was doing pretty well till last night) to learn to write coding.  HTML coding, to be precise.  I was talking about career options with Tora, and my needs.  I explained that there are two reasons I want to take classes.  One is that I've been on disability since oh six.  I need something behind me to prove I can cut it now when I couldn't before.  If I can do classes, that looks better on my resume.  Also, I don't feel like I can jump in the pool and swim.  I need to take some background courses to get me up to speed.  And I was saying that I don't know much of anything about programming and writing code.  I can't even write HTML code.  And she gave me a great website for learning html code.  It's called Webmonkey.com, and it's great.  It even gives you a cheat sheet so you can look things up quickly and easily.  I'm trying it out on this post.  Hopefully, it will work out better than it did last night.

And now the images, I hope.  We'll see if I can get them to work this time.  I'm not sure if GIF images work, or if I have to use jpeg.  But we're about to find out!!  Or maybe not.  All three of my images are jpegs.  But I couldn't get them to work properly last night, and I'm afraid in a fit of pique, I erased my whole entry, and deleted everything I had written.  But I'm gonna give it a shot, as soon as I check what I've done so far.  (Eventually, I'll have images in here.  I promise.)

Okay, here we go with the hard stuff.  Images.  I had no problems with my images on blogspot (I have several things on my sidebar that I wrote in HTML.  They're all gorgeous, of course.  I did my rotation pieces in html, so that I could add bigger pics.  The ones Blogspot wanted to add were tiny.  So I used the html for bigger images, and it worked.  So now we're gonna see if I can add images here too.  And maybe even caption them.  (I think I've guessed how to caption them, but we'll see, won't we!!)  First image up is Rosa for me.  I've done the whole trellis on mine already, and I think it's looking good.  I haven't got nearly as much work in on Rosa's Rosa.  I did have to frog, refrog, and rerefrog mine, so I have a lot more time in on it with not much to show.  (I think I frogged out the Kloster blocks five times before I tried moving on.  And I had to pull out most of the trellis once, and all of the star stitches.)  And here is Rosa's Rosa.  I have all the Klosters done around the edges, now I need to fill in the trellis and star stitches.  I totally worked on it all day Saturday.  I put in something like seven hours of stitches on it.  It was the first day I was allowed to stitch after not stitching for three days, and I had a goal to make.  I DID make it, btw.  Whoo hoo!!

And I also worked for a few hours on the lovely wedding sampler for David and Amy.  Beach Romance (Janlynn) is coming along well.    I like the way it's looking.  I put in some more sand, and parts of her dress.  I hope it keeps coming along like this.  I may actually finish it within a year.  We'll see (and now I've jinxed it, lol).  If you're reading this, Amy, don't count on it, lol.  I'm terrible on a deadline!!!

That's all for me tonight, or should I say this morning.  I can't sleep, so here I am writing code.  Well, hopefully it will work and you'll see what I want you to see.  Have a wonderful day, y'all, and I hope you have a great week too!!

Eleven Things Activity (Thanks Jo)

     Okay, Jo has tagged me with the eleven things um...  Thing?  I want to say eleven things giveaway, but that's not quite right either, since it's not a giveaway.  I have to paste the rules, so here they are:  


The Rules:

• Post these rules.
• You must post 11 random things about yourself.
• Answer the questions set for you in their post.
• Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
• Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people.

So first, eleven random things about me.  (This is gonna be really difficult, lol.)

1.)  I have trouble sleeping if I don't have at least one foot hanging off the bed.  I have no idea why.  I just do.

2.)  I was adopted at age two weeks.  I have one brother and one sister, both of who were born naturally to  my parents.

3.)  I almost drowned a duckling when I was a child.  I put him in the pool to swim not knowing that they can't swim as babes.  I couldn't jump in and get him out, so I had to get a parent to do it.  They were PISSED at me.

4.)  I used to dress my cat (Smokey) in doll clothes when I was a child.  She did NOT like it.

5.)  I'm an animal person.  I like them all.  Well, almost all.  Regular cockroaches are not fun.  (The Madagascarian Hissing ones are cool though.)  Don't like wasps or bees or anything in that family.  Don't kill them, but don't like them.  Not a fan of flies.  Otherwise, I'm good.  Every thing else is cool.

6.)  When I was young, about eight or so, I went out to suntan with my cousin Lee Ann.  She gave me her extra sunglasses cause it was hard to read with the sun being so bright.   A few minutes later, I looked at my arm and said, "Look how dark I've gotten already," in a shocked voice.  She laughed and told me to take off the sunglasses.  It was too funny.

7.)  I'm a huge fan of the Resident Evil games.  I have Zero, One, Two, Three, Four, Code Veronica X, and I really want to get Five.  I need to get a XBox 360 for Five though, and I haven't yet.

8.)  I'm a terrible packrat.  I save almost anything that's not broken.  Cause I may be able to use it later on down the road.  Sometimes, I even DO use it.

9.)  I'm a huge Twilight fan.  For a while, I read nothing but those four books, over and over and over.  (More than twenty six times in a row, y'all.  Now you understand why I have a diagnosis of OCD, lol.)  After twenty six, I lost count.

10.)  I'm a huge chocolate fan.  Except Mocha, and that's only cause I don't like coffee.  Chocolate ice cream, cakes, cupcakes, chocolate candies, you name it, I've tried it.  Yum!!!

11.)  I have severe sleep apnea.  (Sleep apnea is a disease where the sides of your bronchial tubes relax so much that they close off your throat, making it impossible for you to breathe.  No O2 gets to your lungs at all.  After a few seconds of no air, your body wakes up almost (you don't remember it), and you take a deep breath and fall back asleep.)  In my sleep study, I was waking up...  (Unbelievable)  Fifty five and a half times per hour.  PER HOUR!!!  Almost once per minute.  No wonder I was always tired!!!

Now here are the questions for Jo.

1. Watch the film first or read the book first?  I prefer to see the movie first.  That way, the book still has enough in it to make me interested.  If I read the book first, then I get pissy with the things the movie changed, lol.


2. Which book would you most like to see made into a film?  Oooooh, that's a tough one.  I would like to see lots of books made into movies...  I think it would be cool to see The Last Dragonlord.  It's a great story about beings that are basically weredragons.  They can change forms.  It's a great book!!


3. Who would play you in the story of your life?  I honestly have no idea.  I would like to say Julia Roberts, but with my luck, it'd be Lindsy Lohan, lol.


4. What was the first live band you saw?  Well, if you wanna be technical about it, the first live band I saw was Son Rise.  They used to give free concerts and sing at my church.  The first famous band I saw was...  Van Halen, I think.  I hurt my knee that day, and I was on crutches, but I was determined to go.  It was a blast, and totally worth it!!


5. Who is the most famous person you have ever met?  (I've only met two famous personages, so I'm gonna list them both here.)  Uncle Al, giggle.  He was a host of a kids TV show when I was about four.  We went and met him and got our pic taken with him.  There were about forty kids and Uncle Al.  My brother and I loved that show.  The other famous person is Santa.  (He's by far the most famous person I've ever met, lol.)


6. Did you embarrass yourself by blushing/clamming up, saying something stupid?  Of course not, lol.  I was little, so I didn't really say anything at all.  As an adult, I probably would.  I'm much less sure of myself now.


7. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner or Breakfast, Dinner and Tea?  or some other random names for your meals?  None of the above.  Dinner.  I only eat one meal per day.  So I just call it dinner, whenever I happen to eat it.


8. Does your family have a word for something which no-one else in the world uses?  Sort of.  At least, I've never heard anyone else use it.  It's an obvious word, though, so if I use it, the person I'm talking to grasps the meaning immediately.  It's a whatchamacallit word.  My aunt started it.  It's whosiwhatsit.  (Pronounced who Z what's it.)


9. What is the worst job you've ever done?  I don't know if Jo meant paid or unpaid, but the worst job I've ever done was picking up the apples.  It was awful.  We had a flowering crab apple tree in the front yard when I was little.  Except the darned thing kept fruiting as well.  It was supposed to flower and that's it.  We had fruit everywhere.  And little tiny apples would fall off and they'd lay there and rot.  Someone had to pick them up before my brother cut the grass, and since my sister is allergic to bees, it always ended up being me.  I can't tell you how many times I got stung picking up those darned apples.  Awful!!!!


10. How did you get out of doing it?  I didn't, lol.  I wish I could have.  They smelled, and the bees were nasty...  I remember once, at age ten or so, I came downstairs, sleepwalking, and told my parents, "The apples are falling, the apples are falling, and I have to pick them all up," and then went back to bed.  They thought it was funny, but for me the apples were traumatic.


11. What is the theme song to your life?  Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen.  I've had more problems because of my darned disease.  I get tired of fighting it, but I'm too stubborn to give up, so here I am.  And it's hopefully going to get better soon.


Now I have to tag eleven people, and ask them eleven questions.  (Yes, this IS a long entry.  Since I can't stitch, I have to fill my time somehow.)


1.)  Thea of Gizzimomo's Stitchy Place because I really like her style, and want to hear her answers.


2.)  Vicky L of Nutmegger Stitcher's Works, because she's a nice lady.


3.)  Kaye over at Kitten Stitching, because I'm interested in hearing her answers.


4.)  Megan over at Stitchings of an Army Wife, because now that's she's graduated, she has plenty of time.  Also because I have nothing but the greatest respect for the sacrifices she and her hubby are making.


5.)  Rachael, over at Come Stitch With Me just because she's a nice person.


6.)  Joysze at Random Ramblings because I know she'll participate.


7.)  Cheryl at Stitching My First Heaven And Earth Designs and Other Cross Stitch, because I want to hear her answers.


8.)  Tammy of I Want To Do One More Stitch because I think she'll have fun with it. 


9.)  Shelleen over at Queen Stitcher because I like her.


10.)  Alicia of The Crafty Princess because I love her stuff, and her header pic  is absolutely gorgeous!!


11.)  Claudette (I think) of BAP Attack because she's my funniest follower.


I hope you'll all participate, because it's fun to learn things about our friends and I love all of your blogs (among others).  Now for the eleven questions you'll have to answer.  Some will be easy, some harder.


1.)  Chocolate, Vanilla, or Strawberry?  (If none of these are acceptable, you must choose a flavor that is!)


2.)  If you could meet any famous person, living or dead, and ask them one question (ONLY ONE), who would it be and what would you ask them?


3.)  What's the hardest thing you've ever done and why was it so difficult?


4.)  Who did you look up to as a child, and do you still look up to them today?  (This can be a parent, a rock star, an athelete, whatever.  You can also list multiple people.)


5.)  List the pros and cons (for you, keep it personal) of what you do for a living.  If you could go back and do it again, would you do the same thing, or change it?  What would you change it to, and why?


6.)  What's your favorite meal?  (You can say anything in response to this, including dinner, breakfast, tea, lunch, etc.  It can be your fave meal of the day, or meatloaf and mashers.  Up to you.)


7.)  What's your favorite way to communicate your ideas to others?  How often to you partake of this method of communication?


8.)  What's the nicest thing you've ever done for someone you don't know?


9.)  What's the number one problem with the world today?


10.)  Do you like technology, or are you one of those people that only puts up with it when they have to?  (By tech, I don't only mean computers.  I mean smart phones and HDTV and digital radio and iPods and everything.)


11.)  If you could have one perfect day, who would you see and what would you do?  (Get descriptive here people.  Write a paragraph or two.)


     I know some of these are hard questions, but I like to know what makes people tick.  So PLEASE participate, and answer the questions as well as you can.  Now, I'm off to leave comments.  Have fun everyone!!!

I'm being tortured. Really.

     Multiply just ate my whole blog entry.  It was my own fault.  I accidentally went to another page, and I lost it all, Wahhhhhhh...  Maybe it's just not my night, lol.  I'm gonna start with some other things, and leave my torture for last this time.  Maybe it will be better luck, lol.  (Yes, I know you're all dying of curiosity.  Suffer, lol.)  You can always skip to the end, then read up!

     As many of you remember,  I have bipolar disorder.  I'm gonna talk for a few minutes about that, very candidly.  If you're not interested in my disease, skip it.  It's not like anyone will know, lol.  Okay, bipolar.  Think PMS times a thousand.  Moody, irritable, unable to concentrate on anything for more than a few minues, wild mood swings, speed brain (you don't have enough time to get one sentence out before you're saying something else on a totally different subject.  Conversations are wild and wooley, because in the middle of a sentence about what you got at the grocery store, you have to say that you appreciate you dad coaching your soccer team as a child), and some other symptoms I don't wanna get into.  I've had problems all my life.  I've struggled and struggled to be what I wanted, failing time after time after time after time.  I had no friends till high school.  There was another outcast in grade school, but she and I just hung on the playground.  She was, um, permissive.  She smoked, drank, and screwed around in the eighth grade.  I wasn't interested in falling into that trap, so I stayed out of it.  We were just friends (if you want to call it that) at school.  We didn't have a lot in common, but still, we weren't totally alone either.  I was teased, and bullied, and I was just plain weird.  (In a lot of ways, I still feel like that misfit child that didn't fit in anywhere.  But I have friends now, good ones, so I don't totally feel like that.)  I've been on lots of different drugs for the bipolar.  Depakote (a HONKING dose that did very little for me).  Abilify, which helped with the mood swings but made the ADD worse.  On that, I had a twenty minute attention span.  No shit.  Couldn't finish anything.  Had to switch from one activity to another constantly.  Then, about a year ago, Dr. Neibur tried the right cocktail of drugs.  Geodon for the mood swings and speedy brain (it's an anti-psychotic and it slows my brain down to normal speed) and Effexor for my antidepressant.  It's off label use is AADD (which I've been tagged with also).  And all of a sudden, hallelujah, I could think!!!  I'm a totally different person on the meds.  I can hold a conversation.  I can think a thought without hurrying on to the next one.  I can function fairly normally.  I've honestly been waiting for the other shoe to drop.  I've been waiting to have an allergic reaction or find out it's damaging my liver or something awful.  It hasn't happened.  So now I'm a high functioning idiot.  (I don't say that in a bad way.  I just haven't been trained at anything.)  I have very few marketable job skills.  And I have a hunger to do something with my life, besides waste it.  I want to work for my income.  I want to feel like I'm useful, like I have a purpose.  I want to be responsible for myself, pay my own bills, and not have to worry about whether Social Security is gonna fail.  I'm tired of being on the public dole, and NOW I can do something about it.  Finally, I've decided that I'm not the type of person that can exist this way.  I like to have all the stitching time, but I'd rather work.  So I've been researching degree programs at the local colleges.  I have earmarked several for further study.  I need to see if I can harness my exceptional brain power, and get it right this time.  (IQ is 142, which is in the genius range.  I'm not just bragging about exceptional.  I'm really smart, which got me through high school.  I could never organize my thoughts, so I did poorly.  But I have an almost eiditic memory.  I read it once, and usually I remember it.  With the exception of dates.  So now I need to see if I can harness that ability and put it to work for me.)  So these are the degree programs I'm looking at.  (Yes, as a matter of fact, I DO consider my computer a toy.)  University of Cincinnati ~ Computer Support Technology, Computer Systems Support Technology, or Infomation Technology.  Cincinnati State ~  PC Support and Administration, Business Information Systems Technology, Network Administration Technology, and possibly Computer Repair Certificate.  The last isn't a degree, but I have to look at all the options.  It's not tops on my list.  It's actually last.  But I'm looking at everything that encompasses what I want to do.  I have a sort of sixth sense about electronics.  When my computer (for whatever reason) stopped popping up the autoplay window when I plugged my camera in, I opened up Computer and Pictures.  I made a new folder in Pictures (right click, go to new, click folder, easy peasy) and opened up my camera's memory card in the computer window.  I highlighted all the pics, and dragged and dropped into the new folder.  No problem.  Never had training, just wondered if it would work.  I was pleased when it did.  I'm not great at problem solving, but I have good instincts.  I can do most things without help, and I'm mostly self taught.  Generally, I get a new program and start right clicking it to see what the options are.  That's how I learned to save an image from the web to my computer.  Right click gives you the option to Save Image As...  It will be hard for me at first, I'm sure.  I'm used to having all the time I need to do what needs to be done.  I know I won't be blogging (or reading or stitching or playing) as much either.  But it's worth it to me to feel like I'm doing something useful.  Paying my bills and paying my taxes and doing what needs to be done.  So now I need to go through the curriculum and see what classes go with what programs.  I may even decide to take some electives.  I would love to learn Spanish and Physics.  I did great in Calculus my first semester in college.  (I was manic the whole time, but I did great.)  So we'll see how things go.  I will, of course, keep you all updated on my search for meaning.

     And now the quick piccy I have.  It's pitiful.  I hardly got anything done on my ornie Wed. 

 I took it with me to the doc's office, and that's where the torture started.  I've been having this problem with my arm.  I don't think I mentioned it yet.  Numbness and tingling on the bottom of my arm, in almost a straight line from the elbow to the wrist on the underside only.  No problems with the top half of my lower arm.  It's contained to a very small area.  And then at the top of my arm at the same time, there's a pain on the outside of my arm.  It's about two inches down from my shoulder.  It hurts, not bad, but enough so I notice it.  For someone with a high tolerance for pain, that's a bad thing.  So I went in to see her.  Without tests, she's guessing tendonitis.  She asked me to stop stitching for a week, y'all.  I must have looked horrified, cause she immediately changed it to three days, lol.  So I can't stitch till Saturday.  Which just throws my rotation all off.  I'll never make goal now.  And it's making it worse, so I suspect it's the computer that's making it hurt.  I can't remember it ever hurting when I stitched, but if it is the PC, then I'm in trouble.  All my friends are in there, except Julie.  I talk to her on the phone.  But Rosa and I usually talk on msgr, and the rest of my friends are through emails and blogs.  We'll see what she says when I go back in.  She's also got me on Naproxen, an anti-inflammatory, twice a day.  Hopefully it will help it.  I'm afraid of a pinched nerve in my shoulder or neck.  My neck has always been bad, but Medicare doesn't cover chiropractic.  So I'm just SOL.  So I'll definitely be picking up my needle and thread on Saturday.  It's been hell not being able to stitch!!!  I keep wanting to.  I've taken Yes Dear out on the balcony to read a couple of times, just so she gets some outside time.  (Yesterday, she saw two raccoons, and had no idea if they were another animal or what.  Her little head cocked over to the side, and she watched with rapt attention.  It was too funny.)  I keep telling myself the only reason I want to stitch so bad is because I can't, lol.  It's not helping!!!!

     And some more torture.  This time inflicted by Julie and MY MOM (of all people).  As I told you earlier, Julie started a secret project for me.  It's been revealed by Rosa.  (And I think Julie may still be mad about that.)  I was thrilled to hear it.  And of course, I wanted to be a part of it.  I don't know, I just do.  So I emailed the lady that had the quilt squares, and we finally got together and I gave her my address.  (I don't mean we got together irl, I mean in cyberspace.)  She told me she would email me when she sent it, and she emailed me yesterday.  So I got it today.  I promised Julie I wouldn't look at it till it's all made up.  So I took it over to mom's house today.  Since she didn't have to work, she was there to open it.  She opened it and found three bags of things.  One bag was squares for my quilt, one bag was squares for Yes Dear's quilt (that made me squee), and one bag was the unfinished centerpiece.  I told everyone that I would do some work on the centerpiece, and then give it to Julie to finish, since she wants to work on it.  So mom's in her sewing room, and I'm around the corner (NOT PEEKING), and what do I hear?  "Awwwwww, how cute is this...  Ooooooooh, that's darling..."  I was like, REALLY???  If I can't see it, I don't wanna hear how cute it is, lol.  It was awful.  I wanted to see soooooooo bad (and you know how I am about curiosity), and I promised!!!  Awful.  Just awful.  I told mom to put them away, and hide them from me.  She will, I'm sure.  So I have the centerpiece, and the design (designed by my good friend, Vicki (India's mom, Vicki)).  I hope to work on it on Weds.  I think I'm gonna finish my ornie next Wed, and then I'll work on this for a couple of months.  We'll see how much I get done.  Since it's the globe, there is a LOT of blue in it.  I love the shade though, so it shouldn't bother me.  I told Julie I would do the blue, and leave the interesting stuff (the continents) for her.  I don't mind doing so much of one color.  So yay that I have it.  Whoo hoo!!!

     And lastly, I want to leave you with a piccy of my darling.  She had moved the pillow out of her way (because she can, lol) and was sleeping on the couch. 

 Isn't she just a cutie!!  Have a good night all, I'm off to bed.  Thanks for all the comments, and followings and all that good stuff.  Your support means the world to me.  Good night!!

Progress and dogsitting

     I dogsat this weekend again.  Just Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday earlier in the day.  I left David's house about three or so.  Threeish, lol.  It was fun, of course.  Reese hissed and growled at me every time she saw me, and when I offered her the tea to sniff, she smacked the crap out of it.  And the brush.  Butters sheds like crazy (handsful come off her, literally.  Every pet produces thirty to forty hairs.  It's ridiculous), so I got the brush out to brush her instead.  I thought (wrongly) that it would cut back on the amount of hair on the rug and my hand.  I put three or four good sized handsful in the garbage, and she was still shedding like crazy.  So I offered the brush to Reese.  Y'all, she knocked it out of my hand and three to four feet across the room.  That is one pissed off cat!!!!!  Amy told me she doesn't like to be brushed like Butters does when I finally got ahold of her.  I was like, "No kidding," because Reese made it REALLY obvious.  IDK why she doesn't like me.  She hated me on sight.  And usually animals like me.  She's the only animal I haven't had love me.  Heck, I can walk up and pet strays most times.  But Reese hates me with a passion.  (I told Amy she's a demon in a cat's body.  It was too funny.)

     The dog was very good.  I took him out late on Saturday night.  The neighbor's were all making fools of themselves.  I don't know how many there were, but they were drunk and getting loud.  Vin badly wanted to bark at them, but when I shushed him the second time, he stopped and was very good after that.  I think they were playing cornhole, cause I could hear the smack of the bean bags hitting the boards.  I sat and stitched (and frogged, ugh) for quite a while.  We were out from about one thirty till three.  He likes to be outside, but he can't handle the heat.  So I take him out at night, and he gets his quota of fresh air without having a seizure or something.  So it's all good.

      While we were out there, I was stitching on Country Bloomers 

(Jeremiah Junction).  I did pretty good until...  I realized that I can't count, lol.  (Not even small numbers, by God.  It's ridiculous, lol.)  I was supposed to go over two, down three.  Went over three down three.  Couldn't figure out how to fudge it as it was a symmetrical thing.  So I pulled out a whole bunch of stitches, because I had gotten more than halfway done with it.  I got most of them put back in, but they aren't all crossed, as you can see.  Still, I'm pleased with my progress.  I made my first goal on it, so I'm happy about that.  (I made two goals.  First I said the next pair of bloomers.  But I finished them on the second day.  So I added the jug and flowers underneath it too.  But after all that frogging, I didn't really feel like stitching, so I went to bed early.  I did get a lot done though, and so I'm happy with it.)  This week is Rosa.  I hope to finish up the lattice for the trellis and then start Rosa's project and get all the Kloster blocks done in it.  Wishing on a star, I think, but we'll see!!

     I told you about stitching with Rosa in my last blog entry.  Now you get to see the results on Noah's Sub 

(Stoney Creek).  I got a pretty good amount done.  I started the first color of the fish at the bottom of the page, as you can see.  Then I started working on another band.  Two actually.  This color spans two bands, and since they're only a couple of stitches apart, I'm doing them both.  The color I'm using is a single shade different from the color that's already there.  So I can't tell the difference without looking hard and having really good light.  Still, I like the combo, so it's all good.  As soon as I finish this band, I'll do another color on the fish.  Then I'll do another band.  I'll keep that up till either the bands are done, or the fish is done.  If the fish gets done first, then I'll move on to the giraffe.  I can do his head (most of it) in the same way.  Do a color, do a band, do a color, etc.  And Rosa has really been feeling better lately, so she's working on Noah on off days as well as Thursdays.  She really wants to get caught up.  I said for her not to feel bad about it, but she does.  Silly woman.  I'm still planning on using Thursday as a rotation day when I finish the first page until she gets caught up to me.  And maybe a little ahead.  We'll see.  And, on a slight side note, it felt really strange to cross some stitches on this project.  I did the fish, and those stitches are regular crosses.  It felt weird to cross them.  I've been doing the sky for so long, it's all been half stitches.  Strange, lol.

     And at David's house, I worked for several hours on Beach Romance

 (Janlynn).  It's coming along well.  It was all fill in that I did.  I filled in parts of the skirt, and then started working on the sand right under their feet.  (Or maybe it's water right under their feet.  It's a deep violet color, so it's reminiscent of shadows.  But I don't know if it's supposed to be water, or sand.  It's a pretty color though.)  I'm happy with the way it's coming along.  Since I'm only working on it one day per week, I'm not really making a goal.  I occasionally do make a day goal, but it's rare.  I need to give Amy my blog addy and let her look at progress piccys as I go.  Maybe I'll do that now...  Okay, called Amy and gave her my blog addy so she can check out the progress.  (I didn't think David would be interested, but I know Amy will be.  And whoops, cause I told her I'd probably have this blog up by ten thirty, and it's now two oh eight AM.  Sorry Amy!!!)

     I went to another EGA meeting tonight.  It was nice.  The ladies in my EGA chapter are all older, so I'm the baby of the group.  (One of them was talking about getting married in seventy two, and I laughed and said I was only a year old then.  They all groaned at me.  Baby of the group at forty, who woulda thunk it?!?)  The class for this meeting was a strawberry pincushion.  I declined because A it was crewelwork, and I don't do so well at that and B I don't use pincusions.  I do, however, use the arm of my chair, and the arm of Amy's chair when I'm at David's house.  I only use the arm of the chair occasionally though.  Maybe one time out of ten at Amy's and David's house, and one time in thirty at home.  Less, maybe.  I've been spending most of my stitching time out on the balcony with Yes Dear.  We're heading there after I finish editing my photos, and post this blog.  It's seventy one, and there's always a nice breeze out there.  Lovely!!  And now, I'm going to leave you with a series of collages of the things in my garden this year.  Hope you're all have a good night, and sleeping like babes.

     

A Little Progress, and Webcam Fun

     I had a fun morning, and no one is more surprised than me to hear me say that.  When I got up (at six am) and couldn't go back to sleep, I got up and IMed Rosa.  I told her that when she got on, she should IM me back.  (She has limited minutes now, so we can't talk on the phone like we used to.  So now I have to chat on msgr, which is a good thing cause I can chat and write or read blogs or do emails.  So it all works out okay.)  She IMed me back at about eight thirty, I think.  Okay, 9:11.  (I still have the msgr window up, lol.)  And she was talking to me, and we chatted for quite some time when I suddenly told her she HAD to go get Noah's Sub (Stoney Creek) so she could stitch with me for a bit.  And I got mine and she got hers, and we were stitching together, which is always fun, whether in real life or virtually.  And then, right out of the blue, she decided we needed to webcam.  Now, I'm not a big fan of webcam, because I don't like to look at myself.  (I feel a lot skinnier than I am, so I don't like to see myself as I really am.  Sad, I know, but the truth.)  But I webcammed with her.  It was fun.  She showed off her progress.  She's a lot further than I thought she was.  She had made a comment to me that she had done the first little bit up to the kite.  I took it to mean that she had worked the first few bands on the left side of the kite.  What she really meant was that she had worked the first few bands all the way across DOWN to the kite.  So I won't have as long as I thought I would to wait for her to catch up, which is nice.  And it was fun to see her.  Especially as I can't hear her, lol.  It was just nice.  Did my heart good to see her smile for a change.  Things have been tumultuous for her lately, so it's good to see her calm and smiling.  Thanks for the prayers that were said for her, as obviously they're helping!!

     And now I have a couple of progress pics.  My schedule has been crazy this week, so not much stitching was done on Tuesday or Wed.  Well, Tues, there was none done.  Just some more awful gridding.  Tedious, horrible, awful stuff!!!  It's done now for a while, though.  So that's good.  Next Tues I'll start with some more brown, oh fun.  And then I'll get to do some yellow, joy!!  (Can you hear the sarcasm in my voice???  For those who don't know, I hate yellow and brown.  They're my least favorite colors.  Ugh!!)  But as I keep telling myself, it's for someone I love, so I can handle it.  I CAN!!!  (The Little Engine That Could, lol.)  And there's lots of pretty blue and white in it too, so it's all good.  I've got it gridded over to the end of the first page if my calculations are correct.  No, I didn't look at the chart, I just tried to remember, lol.  We'll see how it works out!!!

     And then Wed I did get some progress, but not as much as I wanted.  

I worked on my ornie, Frosty Friends (Mosey and Me).  I did all of his face, including the carrot nose.  It's got a few three quarter stitches in it, so that was a little fun.  Just a little, though.  He's looking cute.  I did get some of his body done, but you can't really see it cause it's white on white.  (Actually, you can see it pretty good in the piccy, which surprises me.  I'm surprised you can see it so well.)  

     And then there's some progress from Monday on Country Bloomers, my rotation WIP for this week.  

(It's weird only working on things for a week.  I'm used to two weeks, so it's a little strange working on it for one week.  I have two days left to make my goal, and if nothing gets in the way (which I hope it won't), I'll make my goal easily.  My goal on this for the week was to finish another pair of bloomers.  As you can see in the pic, I've got them more than halfway done.  I finished up the pair of bloomers I hadn't quite finished last time (about a hundred and fifty stitches) and started on this pair.  They're coming right along!!  

     I went over to mom's house today.  She's been collecting things for me, for a while now.  (It's been over a month since I've been there, and she had a pile of things on the bed for me.)  She buys little things for me from her Avon lady or from Sam's and then reimburses herself.  (She has my checks.  I have a very, VERY bad habit of writing checks before the money is in the bank, and then they bounce.  Bad news, as I can't afford the bounced check fees.  So I gave them all to her.  She writes herself a check, and cashes it at her bank to reimburse herself for what she spends.  It works for us.)  So she had all kinds of little things.  And also, she gave me an old planter of hers, for my Celosia.  I didn't talk about that on my blog yet.  I was so excited the other day.  I've been watering out on the balcony almost every day when it doesn't rain.  And I kept looking at my little green pot and thinking to myself, "I need to weed that pot.  It's got lots of little weeds growing in it."  But I never got around to it.  And then, the other day, I looked into that little pot, and a Celosia is blooming.  It's a pretty plant.  Looks sort of like a feather duster.  Look here to see images.  It's a really pretty Salmon Pink color.  I was so excited, and then...  I started counting.  I have (are you ready for this) fourteen Celosia plants coming up in a six inch pot with two Verbena in it.  So I decided I needed to get another long planter for the Celosia.  I need to actually plant it, but I haven't yet.  Maybe tomorrow.  I will, of course, take a pic of it when it's all done.  I hope they all survive the transplant.  I have lots of dirt though, and the planter she gave me is pretty deep, so I'm confident that quite a few of them will survive it.  

     That's it for me today, folks.  Hope you're all having a great day!  Oh, and one more thing.  A big, HUGE thank you goes out to Karen.  She gave me the link to progress bars for my stitchy stuff in the comments to my last blog.  (I think I asked her about it in a comment on her blog.)  Thanks so much, Karen.  I know just enough about HTML code to change it to suit my needs.  (I changed one word.  One, lol.  The progress bar was intended for authors to use to show how many words they had written of how many they wanted to write.  I changed the wording from 1600/413,175 words to 1600/413,175 stitches.)  I put all my progress bars up this morning, under the pics of the projects they're for.  It's lovely to have them.  Now I need to remember to change them each week when I finish my rotation WIP.  (BTW, some of them are estimated.  For example, I'm about sixty percent done with Desert Landscapes, so I estimated how many stitches of how many stitches to get sixty percent.  The HAEDs were the easiest to do, cause they're being worked in rows of ten by tens.  So I can estimate better.  (I.E.  I've done two rows of eight ten by tens, and have halfway completed another.  Easy peasy.)  But there are several that are estimate.  I tried to estimate low.  I feel better that way, cause I feel like I've accomplished more when I'm done.)  So thanks to Karen, for the link.  If anyone else wants it, you can go here to get your own HTML code.  And, for those who are hopeless at HTML code, at the very end of your code is the word words.  If you place stitches in that spot, your code will say stitches.  And now, I really am out.  Later, y'all!!

WIPacolypse June

     Once again, it's time for the WIPacolypse post.  I've been very busy this month (well, actually last month), and I got a lot done.  I finished up almost all of part 8 on Desert Landscapes Mandala.  I also got in about seven hundred stitches on Impossible Love.  And I also worked, a little bit, on Midnight Hunting during this update period.  Plus my four SALs.  I finished an ornie, and started another.  Lucky me!!  Whoo hoo.  Here are the pics!

     SALs first, and some of these are new update pics.  First up is my pic of the new ornie I started.  (I'm gonna put all the pics in the center, because this post probably won't be as chatty as most, since I've already talked about all of this.)  I didn't get anything done on this the first day (one half stitch), but I really made up for it the second day.  It's gonna be so cute!!

     And here is the ornie I finished.  I hardly had anything left on it on the last day, but I was really tired, and just couldn't quite finish it.  When I picked it up that last day, I had about twenty backstitches to do, two Smyrnas, and one little lonely cross.  I think he turned out really well.  

     And then there's Beach Romance.  It's coming along well.  I got quite a bit done on her dress today, sitting on the balcony with Yes Dear.  I'm really enjoying this one, and I'm so pleased with my progress, both overall and for today.

     Next up is Time To Go.  I haven't had an update on that in a couple of weeks because I've been gridding again.  It's coming along nicely, and I'm enjoying it.  I'm still on the first page, but I've gotten into some different colors now, so that's fun.  Here she is:

     And the last SAL is Noah's Sub.  Rosa is all worried cause she's way behind me, but I'm gonna stop at the end of the first page to let her catch up.  And Julie hasn't even started it yet.  I haven't decided if I'm gonna wait for her too.  It would be nicer, but she doesn't stitch much cause she's busy beading.  

     Now on to my rotation pieces for this WIPacolypse period.  First up was Midnight Hunting.  Strangely enough, I had no problems with the fractional stitches.  The whole stitches drove me crazy though.  (And only the ones in nice, straight lines.  ARGH!!!)  Anyways, here he is, in all his gorgeous glory!

     Then there was Desert Landscapes Mandala, which I really got a LOT of work into.  I finished most of the first corner medallion, did the second and third medallions, and worked on part of the fourth.  I'm including a pic here of the finished medallion (I changed some of the colors, and really made it my own.  By accident, I swear!!) and the partial I'm working on.

    And lastly, Impossible Love.  I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but I decided at the last second (today, actually), that I'll only work on each project a week in this new rotation.  If I had decided yesterday, I would have put those last few stitches in it.  But I didn't, so I didn't do the normal last minute, I switch projects tomorrow push to get as much done as I can.  But here she is with very little done on her.  I did enjoy her though, so it's all good.

     And that's all for me tonight, folks.  Hope you've had a good night!!