Happy belated Memorial Day

     To all my US friends.  (And happy non holiday Monday to my other friends, lol.)  I had a decent Memorial Day weekend.  Mostly stayed home and did my thing.  Stitched, blogged, frogged, read, played, and emailed.  It was nice.  Mom invited me over for a cookout Sunday night, and I said I would go, even though I really didn't want to.  Well, I guess she was afraid I would back out, and she mentioned that to Shannon while David was out working on mom's yard.  So David called about two minutes after they left and invited himself and Shannon to dinner.  Mom called and told me that, and sort of insinuated that I didn't have to come since they were.  So then I had to explain to her that with my depression levels, I don't want to go anywhere.  That doesn't mean that a.) I won't, b.)  I won't enjoy myself after I get there, and c.) it isn't good for me to get out and socialize for a change.  I had a pretty good time, although by the time we got to eat, I was starving.  I ate my "dinner" at about two PM on Saturday.  Sunday night, we ate around nine thirty.  So I went thirty one and a half hours with no food.  STARVING!!!!  I usually only eat once a day, and since I knew I would be eating at mom's house, I didn't make a meal on Sunday afternoon.  Then I got over there and the problems began...
     First, David didn't think he'd get there till seven or seven thirty cause he still had to cut and trim his yard and his neighbor's yard (She's old and lives alone and her kids are all far away, so he's nice and does her yardwork.  In return, she lets him store stuff in her garage.  Fair trade, right).  Then he called and said eight or eight thirty.  Then mom and I started the grill, and it wouldn't go above low.  David said it has a bubble or something in it, and we need to blow it out.  I know, bad choice of words with a propane grill, but you know... 
     So I follow his instructions.  Turn it all off (gas, burners, grill, the whole enchilada), wait one minute, turn it all on, wait four seconds, then ignite.  I couldn't get it to ignite.  I waited and waited but it wouldn't catch, and after ten or twelve seconds, I got nervous and quit.  He arrived at nine thirty (Cathy and Jim stopped by, unannounced, to get his pressure washer and then needed a lesson in how to use it so they don't lose any body parts) and grilled the burgers and brauts.  Mom had taken the corn and the veggie skewers in to do them on the stove by this time.  It was all good.  I had two helpings of veggie skewers (cherry tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, onion (I skipped the onion, ick), red peppers, yellow peppers, and mushrooms with Italian dressing for a marinade.  I had two helping of potato salad.  I had two brauts, a hamburger, and an ear of corn.  She made some stuff to brush on the corn, but we both thought it had too much lime juice.  Other than the corn, it was all really good. 
     I said a prayer for all servicemen, past and present this weekend, including both my grandfathers.  My paternal grandfather served in the European theater of WWII, and my maternal grandfather served in the Japanese theater.  They're both long dead and gone, one in 1988 of lung cancer and the other in 2002 from a heart attack.  I've been thinking a lot of my dad too, this Memorial day.  He didn't serve as he was blind in one eye, but he's gone and it's still fairly recent.  So he's been on my mind as well.  I have a chart, created for me by my friend Rosa W.  It's got his tomatoes on it (up until he couldn't, he grew his own tomatoes) and a boxer that is just dead on Vin except Vin has a teeny bit of white on his chin.  I'm sure I can change it!!  That's one of the projects I'll be doing in my rotation.  Thanks a million to Rosa, who also designed my F you.  Both of them are lovely charts!!
     I can't sleep this morning.  I talked to Vicki for a little bit, and she waved and said hi to India for me.  India gave me a full body wave back, lol.  She's so enthusiastic.  And cute as can be!!!!!  Of course, I've only seen pics, so I don't know if she's as cute in person.  (I would assume she is, though.  Cause she's right up there with teddy bears and doggie eyes in her photos.)  We haven't told her yet that I'm making her something.  It's a surprise!  Of course, I had to frog it again this morning, so God knows when it will get done.  Still, for as many fractionals as it has, I'm doing great to have only frogged it twice.  Will get that part put back in, then I'll go back to filling in the last little bits on the meerkat.  I should start the kitten in the next couple of days, I think.  Unless (crossing my fingers) I find another mistake.  That's all that's going on here today, so I'm heading back for bed.  Hope you have a great day!!

New Acquisitions

     I found the cutest pair of scissors the other day.  I found it through a blog I follow.  They're stork scissors, and they're beautiful colors.  I love them!!!  Here's a pic.  I think they're darling.  I got them from Anita's Little Stitches, at www.anitalittlestitches.com.  Shipping was really quick.  I got them in three days!  There was a twenty dollar minimum, so I bought the third pair, the tiny little purple snips.  I like all three pairs, and they're resting in the bag Julie got me for Christmas and gave me in April.  (It's so much more fun to see the person and give them their gift.  I was thrilled, and I'm sure she could see that!)  Here's a pic of the little bag.  Isnt' it cute!!!
I just love it.  Of course, it has the Bengals logo on it, so of course I love it.  I use it for notions.  I have all my needles and scissors and glasses in it.  It fits nicely in my stitching bag, so it's perfect.  There is a little bit of color bleeding though, and that's my fault.  I had to wash it (hand washed it, since I didn't want to throw it in with my clothes) when I had the vomiting problem.  I didn't notice the bleeding till it was all dry, and then there was nothing I could do about it.  But I still love it.  Julie knows me so well, lol.  Rosa keeps saying she's gonna get me a Tom Brady jersey (he plays for those who shall not be named).  I keep telling her that's fine with me.  If she wants to waste her eighty five dollars, I'll take it and burn it in effigy.  I'll actually enjoy it too, lol.  I think she gets that I'm serious though, because although she keeps threatening, she hasn't done it.  I was thinking, the last time she threatened it, I'll do it at one of my brother's bonfires.  Make it a ritual.  We can burn it in the firepit, and I'll have someone take video of it.  Wouldn't that be great!
     I went through my kits today to get out the ones I want to start (namely Achoo and Fredrick the Literate).  I also found (oh yay) some new fabbies.  I got them from my friend Dawn up in Columbus.  There's a little Silkweaver solo that will be perfect for Marguerite!  It's a gorgeous shade of purple.  I want to use my CC Hunter on it.  I think it will look really good!  I still have to floss toss it though.  Here's the pic of the fabby by itself though.  Isn't it pretty?!?  Dawn gave me several pieces that she's decided she won't use, and I love all the colors.  Two purples, a blue, an aqua, a burgundy, and a pink.  Lovely!!  I'll have to find a place to put them as my fabby drawer in the other room is full of other luscious hand dyed fabbies from Dawn, lol.  I'm really enjoying this starting a rotation thing.  I love to organize projects (but not my house as a whole, go figure).  I've got the floss and fabby ready to go for Fredrick.  Floss bags labeled, fabby dyed, good to go.  Achoo and In Her Garden are kits, so I have fabby and floss for them.  I just need to get the floss bags so I can get them labeled and sorted.  Impossible Love and Country Bloomers are charts, so I need to stop in to Hobby Lobby and get the floss.  I also, duh, need to get fabby for Impossible Love.  I don't think I have a piece big enough.  At least it will be plain white, so not hard to shop for.  123stitch, here I come!
     Otherwise, not much going on here today.  I'm a little put out that I didn't get to sleep until eight this morning and then woke at eleven.  I couldn't go back to sleep.  I'm tired, but not sleepy.  So, of course, I'm taking pics, lol.  My camera has been so busy lately!  I'm gonna go check the laundry, then start doing emails again.  Hope everyone is having a great day!!

     I've uploaded pics of the Meerkat ~ Mere Cat piece so far.  This is, of course, after the frogging.  It's coming along well.  Tonight I didn't seem to have any problem motivating to work on the white on white, and so I've gotten a good bit of the belly done.  Pics are here.  I went ahead and took it with flash (you can't really see any of the white) and without (you can see most of the white).  We're keeping it a secret from India though.
     I went about buying some things I needed for my rotation.  I'm really lazy (I know, it's a fault) but I don't feel like taking something off the Q snap every week or every other week.  So I borrowed some money from my mom (who can be a pushover) and bought myself two hundred floss bags and ten sets of Q snaps, eight eight inch and two six inch.  The six inch ones are for Monopoly (On this, I'll switch to an eight when I get to the center, but the blocks around the outside are good with just a six) and Achoo.  Achoo was a gift from Patty and Savvy, but although I wanted to start it, I've been trying not to start too much.  I've given up on that, and if I have twenty pieces in my rotation, oh well.  I need to get fabby for Marguerite too.  I want to get something hand dyed, so I'll be looking at Polstitches and Silkweavers.  Maybe a couple of others.  Then comes the fun part.  I get to pick floss!!!  Well, I guess with the variegated fabbies, it will all be fun.  Usually I use boring white fabby cause it's hard to tell if the floss will match the fabby from the pics.  But this time, I'm willing to take a chance that something in my couple of hundred skeins of variegated floss will match the fabby.  Especially as I tend to pick shades of green, blue, pink, and purple.  Those are my fave colors.  Now I just need to get floss to fill those floss bags.
     Last but not least, here is a piccy of In Her Garden, the piece (well, one of them, anyways) that started this whole thing!  Love the shawl, which,unfortunately, is already done.  Grrr..  Here is the pic of the front: 

And here is what has been done (very nicely) so far:

A burning desire

     I really want to start a couple of new things.  Badly.  A while back, my friend Kay had this thing about showing me her new knickers.  Brand new, never been worn, but I feel funny about seeing another woman's underwear, ya know?  So I kept saying no.  She, being as contrary as she is, decided she was going to flash them at me every time we were on webcam.  So she'd pull it up a little bit so an inch was showing above her pants, and she'd flash me.  (She even got Claire to pull up her skirt one day and flash me, lol. Kay is nothing if not determined!!!)  There were several messages about it passed on Multiply or the groups (I can't remember which.)  This brought it to Chris's attention.  Chris is awesome, but she likes to tease me.  So she sent me a chart called Country Bloomers.  It's a woman hanging her long undies (circa 1900) on the clothes line.  I had to laugh my butt off at that, because it's really funny.  So I've been wanting to start that for a while.  I also wanted to start Frederick the Literate, the first of Charles Wysocki's charts that I have.  It's a Dimensions chart, so lots of colors (some symbols in pink, others in blue, others in black, which can be a real pain in the butt for me).  And I have quite a few other pieces started too.  So I'm thinking I may just work up a rotation, and see if I can remember to change them out once a week or every two weeks.  My HAEDs will be in there, and my Chat will be in there, as well as several other things I have in progress.
     What brought this to a head is that (Oh, and I have Achoo that I want to start too.  So that'll go in the rotation as well) I got a kit today from Meg.  It's beautiful.  It's a Dimension's Gold kit.  It's called In Her Garden.  It's a lovely woman with a beautiful shawl in her garden.  Meg, who's a really nice lady, got it from a friend who did about a hundred and fifty stitches (give or take) and decided it was too much for her.  So she gave it to Meg, but Meg is all about all things Russian (she's the one I mentioned my love of Saint Basil's too, which got me that beautiful Monster Chart of St. Basil's in the snow).  So she passed it on to me, and it took about two days to get from NH to here!!!  Wow, USPS was awesome in this case!  I also have another chart coming that I want to start.  It's a pair of Siamese cats.  Ylva, who is a pretty good friend of mine in the UK, just finished it and offered to send me the chart.  Of course, I accepted that.  I'll pay both ladies postage of course.  I need to email Meg about that, actually... 
     So, here's my question to all of you who have a rotation:  How do you set up your rotation?  Is it one page per project, one week, one month, one thousand stitches?  How do you keep track of what project is up?  I'm thinking I'll do two weeks per project, and then switch, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep good track of my projects that way.  Since I don't work, the days blend together for me.  And are there any tips you can give me for things to do or not do to make this easier on me?  TIA for anyone who can give me any advice at all.  I've only done a rotation once, and it didn't work out for me, so I'm hoping this time it will.
     Also, I have uploaded another video of Yes Dear playing.  She's not playing hard (and she knows she's being filmed, so she doesn't play for long), but it's still kinda cute.  You can see it here.  Hope all of you in blogland are having a good day today.  Now I'm off to read some more blogs!!
     Oh, and one more note...  Thanks to Karen R.  She posted today about her MTM framed by Jill Rensel, who does really great custom mats and frames.  I want her to frame my Chat, as I'm dedicating it to my dad.  I did a whole heck of a lot of the work at his house, so I thought that would be fitting.  I needed to contact her, and Karen posted a link to her blog on Blogspot today.  I left her a comment, and I hope to hear back from her soon.  So, thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU Karen.  Your blog was so timely!!!

A quick update

     I've been busy with the camera today.  I took pics of my flowers for this year.  I'd call it my garden, but I just have pots...  Anyways, I have pink Celosia and purple Petunias everywhere on my balcony.  The Morning Glories are just starting to vine so no flowers on them yet.  They're slow starters this year.  You can see the flowers here.  I didn't want to upload so many piccys to my blog, so I started an album for them.  The two really big pots on the front porch have only been planted for a couple of days, so they're not doing really well yet.  And I have another pic of Yes Dear, this time sitting on her scratcher.  You can see it here.  I hope you're all having a very nice day.  It's pretty here.  Sunny and about eighty degrees.  A little warm, but not so much that I can't breathe!!

A long update

     I'm sure this will be a long post, as I haven't posted in a while.  It's been a week or so, and I have been busy.  And not busy on some other things on the other hand, which I'll explain.  I stitched last Saturday, and then I didn't stitch again till yesterday, a full week.  There are several reasons for that.  Firstly, and most importantly, I'm working white on white, which I HATE!!!  I'm working on the meerkat, and his chest and throat and head have a lot of white on them.  At first, I thought, I'll tackle it all now.  Then I started doing it and realized how much I hate it.  Then I had to frog it(reason number two).  UGH!!!  (I put a half stitch in the wrong place, and just as I was thinking I was doing so well with the fractionals, BAM.  Don't get me wrong, I like fractionals, but I still occasionally mess them up.)  It was difficult, especially as I couldn't see where the top thread of the x was and where the bottom thread was.  One of the strands I pulled out couldn't be used again, and the other one could.  (I learned from the first one, lol.)  So I pulled it all out Friday night late (or Sat morning early, depending on your point of view) and put it aside for what turned out to be a week.  Finally, I made myself pick it up and redo some of the white.  Then I did some of the other colors.  It will work better for me that way.  No pic yet, as I just haven't taken one.
     Then mom and I went shopping on Wednesday.  She wanted to get me a hamper for my bedroom (because for some reason, the laundry basket isn't good enough to put my clothes in).  I also ended up getting a bookcase (almost six foot tall by three feet wide by eighteen inches deep), cat treats, a skillet (my  Teflon is coming off), a backscrubber (mine bit the dust last week), and pasta salad.  Oh, and curtain rods and brackets for them.  I put together the bookcase (easily and with no mistakes, I think dad was helping me) and I've put some of my books on it.  I left enough room at the bottom for my big photo albums and scrapbook (which I need to put together).  The smaller bookcase I had in it's place is still sitting in the living room as I'm deciding what table I want out on the back balcony.  The other one will go to goodwill, and then there will be room for the bookcase in there.
     Then, on Friday, I ran errands alone.  I went to the pharmacy, the grocery store, the post office, Game Stop (I have/had a GameCube from them that broke during the warranty period and I had to get it replaced).  I also got a new game, Eternal Darkness:  Sanity's Requiem.  The guy at the shop recommended it to me since I like the survival horror genre.  He said, and I quote, "The game never stops fing with you," and I was like, okay.  When certain monsters get close, you start hallucinating.  Well, your char does.  And the game messes with you in other ways.  The other day, I was fighting and got a blue screen of death message.  I was, understandably, ticked off.  I put down the controller and went to reset the game, and suddenly my char is under attack again.  I ran for the controller, but was dead before I got there.  It was not funny atm, but it sure is now.  And then I was playing last night, and there was a fly on the screen.  I kept trying to swat it, but it wasn't working.  Then there was suddenly a thick covering of them, and I figured out it was the game.  It was funny.  So I really like it.  Plus it has twelve playable chars, and that's fun.
     Yes Dear has a new toy.  The bookcase box is open at both ends as I had to hold it on an angle and push from the other end to get the wood out.  So she is using it like a tunnel.  I've found her in there several times, and she always comes out as soon as I find her, lol.  It's funny, it's like once I figure out where she is, then it's no fun to hide in there anymore!!  She's so silly.
     Also, my friend Julie M. has joined this new site.  It's called Varolo.  It's a new method of advertising for advertisers who are tired of people TiVoing or DVRing their TV shows and then skipping the commercials.  You can join up and watch ads.  It shows you ads that you chose to see (you choose your "channels" and it shows you ads from those channels).  When you rate the add at the end, you get ten points.  For each ad you watch, you get a jackpot entry, and your "sponsor" gets paid.  It seems to be legit.  If anyone wants to join, I'd love to have you.  You can go here.  And thanks to anyone who's interested and joins me.  The whole site is very informative.  If you go to help and look at the questions about getting paid, there is a very good ten minute video that explains the process and how you can make money from watching ads.
     And last, but certainly not least, I've bought a new chart this month (another HAED, I wish they'd stop having sales!!!) and I have another slated for next month.  This months chart is Luna and you can see it here.  And the one for next month was sort of an accident, lol.  I mentioned on one of my groups (IntricateXS) that I liked St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow.  And several charts were suggested to me.  This summer/fall I'm going to pick up White Nights in St. Petersburg (Martina Rosenberg).  This next month, though, I'm going to get a different St. Basil's chart.  You can see it here.  I think it's gorgeous.  I have too many new patterns.  I think I need to do a rotation.  Maybe I'll get some more eight inch Q snaps, and put all my rotation pieces on one, so I can switch back and forth easily.
     And speaking of stitching, I almost forgot this little tidbit.  I was talking to my friend Christy, on Chocoholic Cross Stitchers, and I mentioned how badly I hate Jesus.  And I explained about the horrible, scratchy linen and all the brown.  I also said that someday, I'd finish it as it's for my mom.  So Christy mentioned that she had a Jesus too, and maybe we should do a SAL.  And I'm all for a SAL, so I said yes.  So I have to dig the horrible thing out and work on it on Sundays.  (And if I forgot for a Sunday, then I'll work on it that Monday, cause I really do need to get it done before my mom dies or goes in a home or something.)
     So that's what I've been up to.  Hope everyone is having a good day.  I'll take pics next time, I promise!!!

YD in the corner

     I have a silly girl today.  She put herself in the corner, lol.  I don't know why, but she crawled herself into a very tight spot and laid down to rest there.  I have a great piccy of her in her corner.  You can see it here.
     I started on the meerkat the day after I finished up DGM, but I don't have a lot done.  Just as I was thinking it was going well (and fast, because I didn't think it would with so many fractionals), I discovered that I put a half stitch in the wrong place.  And because the first row was off, the second and third rows were off too.  I ended up frogging more than I stitched that day!!!  So now I've gotten it back to the point where I'm ready to stitch again.  Well, sort of.  First, I have to get the little bit of floss I frogged out secured.  It should be fairly easy to do, and then I'll be ready to stitch it in the right place!!
     I went up to Excel Monday, only to be told (after a half an hour drive) that my housing specialist had changed my file on Friday that I only needed to send in some paperwork.  I asked why, and was told that she didn't notate the file as to why, and she wasn't in that day for me to ask her.  I was quite upset.  That's a lot of gas to be using (an hour round trip) for a completely unnecessary trip.  So I went downtown and got the paperwork they required (a statement from Department of Human Services that I don't get anything (food stamps, cash, etc) from them).  Now they should be sending me my lease to sign.  I hope.  And when I asked, I was told that I don't have to go back up (we'll see how long that lasts) and that it will be retroactive to  my move in date.  So they'll send my landlord a big, fat check, and he'll cut me a big fat check.  It will just go into my savings, so nothing fun from it.  But still, I'll have it if I need it, which I don't right now.  Have it, I mean, not need it.  So that's what's up with me.

A real panel finish

     I finished the landscape panel for part seven.  I don't like the color palette too much (too much brown and yellow), but I like the way it looks.  I have uploaded photos, of course.  You can see the detail photo here, and the whole thing is here.  It was quick to do the bsing.  I did it all in about an hour.  I made a substitution on part of it though.  Most of the one side cacti are blue, and the others are a brown.  The floss for bsing was supposed to be Silk 'n' Colors  Pond Scum, which is a very light green.  For the blue cacti, I used it, as it shows up against the blue.  But for the brown cacti, I used Camouflage.  It shows up better against the brown.  Enjoy the pics, and I'm off to bed.  Will start the meerkat piece tomorrow!!  Whoo hoo!!

A finish (sort of) but no piccy yet

     I finally got to stitch today.  I was so happy to do so.  I figured I haven't vomited in a couple of days, so I should be safe.  Also, I kept regular food down for two days, so I'm good.  (As a precaution, I didn't eat before I stitched, lol.  You know, JIC!!)  So I finished up the cross stitching on the first part of part seven while listening to Pandora.  I felt so much better when I started stitching.  It's been since Thursday sometime!!!  I finished up the cross stitching on the landscape panel.  Now I have to do the backstitching, and I'll take a piccy.  There's a lot of bsing, but it goes pretty fast, so I may have a new pic tonight if things go right.  Well, early morning tomorrow, lol.
     I got a great new pic of Yes Dear today.  She has a box.  At the old house, I unloaded something and left the box on my desk.  She knocked it down on the floor, pushed it under her chair, and laid in it.  It was so funny.  So I brought it with us, and put it back under her chair.  She's a perfect fit for it, cause she's so small.  So I took her pic today, and you can see it here. 
     Also, I have a recommendation.  For those of you that like saucy chicken salad, Arby's has a really good one.  It's got chicken, mayo, apples, grapes, pecans, and celery in it, but no onions, yay!!!  I just had a wrap and it was delicious.  They also have a sandwich, and I'm sure it's good too.
     I got my deposit back from my old apartment today.  Part of the reason it's so late is that I forgot to give them my new addy.  Duh, I know.  I also forgot to give them the mailbox key at first.  But I remedied that, so they gave me back my whole deposit.  I've never given them any reason to distrust me, but the wife (whom I don't like as she ripped out half of my garden) kind of pissed me off.  I called to give them my new addy, and she answered the phone.  And I told her why I was calling.  She asked me (dumb b*&^h) how much my deposit was when I moved in.  I told her it was $440.  She was like, "Okay, as soon as I look up the paperwork, I'll mail it out."  I was a little bit ticked.  Like I'm gonna lie to her, you know?  So she looked it up and sent out a check (for $440) to Julie Nemis.  I was like, OMG, she can't even get close to spelling my name right.  Nemitz.  You'd think, seeing it on the check every month, would do it, but no.  Not Sandy.  But mom pointed out that the bank knows me, so they'll probably cash it anyways.  I hope so.  I would hate to have to call her up again and tell her she spelled my name way wrong.
     Oh, and one last YD story.  I was sitting on my chair the other day, being miserable and reading between vomits, when Yes Dear suddenly decided she must comfort me, IMMEDIATELY!!!!!!!  She happened to be sitting on her scratcher at the time, and so she jumped on my chest from the top.  (It's six foot, one inch or something like that!)  I went, "Oooof," (loudly) and she dug her claws in so she wouldn't slide down my chest and off onto the floor.  I have some very interesting scratches on my breasts and belly from it.  I was like, "Next time, come down the scratcher till you're lvl with me, then jump over."  She, of course, just looked at me like, "eh, whatever," lol.  She's done that before when I'm not in the chair and run right into the arm of it (yes, she takes after me in dorkiness.)  But I still love her, lol.
     Hope you're all having a good evening.  I'm gonna check the blogs and then do some bsing!!

A repost from Tina's blog

Tina over at "The World According to Me" posted this earlier. This is powerful, and scary, and sad as all get out.  It made me cry, and if you have a heart, it will make you cry too.

You Can't Keep your Pet? Really??
-by a shelter director.

Our society needs a huge "Wake-up" call.
As a shelter manager, I am going to share
a little insight with you all...
a "view from the inside" - if you will.
First off, any of you whom have surrendered a pet
to a shelter or humane society should be made to work
in the "back" of an animal shelter - for just ONE DAY.
Maybe if you saw the life drain from those sad,
lost, confused eyes, you'd stop flagging the ads on here
and help these animals find homes.
That puppy you just dropped off will most-likely end up
in my shelter when it's no longer a cute little puppy anymore.
Just so you know, there's a 90% chance that your dog will never
walk out back out, once entered in to the shelter system...
Purebred or not!
About 25% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays"
that come into a shelter are purebred dogs.
The most common excuses:
"We're moving and can't take our dog (or cat)."
Really? Where are you moving to that doesn't allow pets?
Or they say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would".
How big did you think a German Shepherd would get?
"We don't have time for her".
Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs!
"She's tearing up our yard".
How about making her a part of your family?
"We just don't want to have to stress about finding
a place for her & we know she'll get adopted,
she's a good dog".
Odds are, your pet won't get adopted
& how stressful do you think it is for your pet?

Did you know...
Your pet has 72 hours to find a new family
from the moment you drop it off?
Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full
and your dog/cat manages to stay completely healthy.
If it sniffles, it is euthanized.
Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room
with other barking & crying animals.
It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps.
It will be depressed and will cry constantly for you.
If your pet is lucky, there will be enough volunteers in that day
to take him/her for a walk.
If not, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food
slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of it's pen
with a high-powered hose.
If your dog is big, black or any of the "Bully" breeds
(pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when
you walked it through the front door.
If your cat is scared and doesn't act friendly enough,
or if it catches a cold (which most of them 'do'),
it will be put to sleep.
Those dogs & cats just don't get adopted.
In most cases, it doesn't matter how 'sweet' or 'well behaved' they are.
If your pet doesn't get adopted within it's 72 hours
and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed.
If the shelter isn't full and your pet is good enough,
and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution,
but not for long.
Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are
destroyed for showing aggression.
Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment.
If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it
will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be
destroyed because the shelter gets paid a fee to euthanize each animal and
making money is better than spending money to take this animal to the vet.
Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a
perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down".

First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash.
They always look like they think they are going for a walk...
happy, wagging their tails...
until they get to "The Room",
every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when they get to the door.
It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there.
It's strange, but it happens with every one of them.
Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 shelter workers,
depending on the size and how freaked out they are.
Then a shelter worker who we call a "euthanasia tech (not a vet)"
finds a vein in the front leg and injects a lethal dose of the "pink stuff".
Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerks.
I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood...
the yelps and screams are deafening.
They all don't just "go to sleep", sometimes they spasm for a while,
gasp for air and defecate on themselves.
You see, shelters are trying to make money to pay employee pay checks
and then, there's the board of directors...
who need to be paid too!
Consequently, corners are cut, & we don't spend our funds to
tranquilize the animal before injecting them with the lethal drug,
we just put the burning lethal drug in their vein and let them suffer until dead.
If it were not a business for profit, we'd do it humanely and hire a
licensed vet do this procedure.
That way, the animal would be sedated or tranquilized and THEN euthanized.
But to do this procedure correctly would only cost more money...
so we don't necessarily do what is right for the animal,
we do what's expedient so we can continue to make a buck!
Shelters do not have to have a vet perform their euthanasia procedures.
Oftentimes, they are untrained personnel administering lethal injections.
So... that employee may take 50 pokes with a needle and 3 hours to get inside the vein.
In the end, your pet's corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer,
usually in the back of the building with all of the other animals that were killed.
There they will sit until being picked up like garbage.

What happens next? Cremated?
Taken to the dump?
Rendered into pet food?
Or used for schools to dissect and experiment on?
You'll never know and it probably won't even cross your mind.
After all, it was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right?!
I hope that those of you who still have a beating heart and have read this
are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head.
I deal with this everyday.
I hate my job, I hate that it exists &
I hate that it will always be there unless you people make changes
and start educating yourselves, your children, the public.
Do the research, do your homework, and know exactly
what you are getting into before getting a pet.
These shelters and humane societies exist because people just do not care about animals anymore.
And PLEASE stop breeding!
Animals were not intended to be disposable but somehow that is what they've become.

For those of you that care---
please repost this to at least one other Craigslist in another City/State.

 

Animals don't understand a bad economy.

Something to think about.

When will the misery end?!?

     Okay, I freely admit it.  Today (and yesterday too) I'm miserable.  Absolutely miserable.  I'm sick.  IDK what's wrong with me, but I'm praying it goes away soon.  It started Thursday morning (afternoon) when I got up.  I had a horrible scratchy sore throat.  Not knives in the back of my throat, but pretty bad.  I went out at about midnight, and got myself two McDoubles and a large Coke as I really wasn't up to cooking.  An hour later at one o'clock (and with absolutely no warning at all!!) I started projectile vomiting all over my PC.  (Yes, picture me sitting there at two AM with a paper towel and a knife trying to get the keyboard cleaned up.  I really wish they had made the rows even both horizontally and vertically.  Then, still with my trusty knife, I used a Clorox wipe to clean down between the keys.  I was surprised at how much hair there was in it for a thing that Yes Dear doesn't lay on.  I finally quit vomiting around seven AM, after my third (yes, you read that right, third) bath.  I have this issue with feeling yucky when I'm sick.  It keeps the fever down, and it makes me feel cleaner.  Just brushing doesn't do it for me, lol.
     I finally fell asleep today around three.  But first, I talked to mom for an hour (two half hour conversations) and Julie for an hour (all at once).  Julie was not quite with it this morning (apparently she called before she had enough coffee to make her coherent) because, as we were talking about something, she used the words much more better.  All together, meaning much better.  I was like OMG, MUCH MORE BETTER?!?  I had to laugh, even though I felt so sick.  It's always funny to me when someone that intelligent says something like that.  I told her I'm never gonna let her forget it, lol.
     Anyways, that's what's going on with me today.  I'm hoping it's just a combo of a really bad cold, and my sinuses dripping (running, actually) down into my stomach.  As much snot as is in my stomach, it's no wonder I'm feeling sick.  I hope y'all are having a much better night than I am.  Maybe I'll get to stitch again tomorrow!!

My boring life

     Not a lot has been going on here the last couple of days.  I've never been so grateful to get a check as I was this month.  I bought myself a ring this month, and forgot about it, so by the time I got on and looked at my bank account, I had barely enough money to last me till the end of the month.  It was quite ugly.   So I got my check today, and I knew I had an appt with Heather, my case manager.  So after I got up, I went down to the gas station (cause I have a tendency to leave at the last minute, and I needed gas very badly).  I put forty seven dollars in the tank.  OMG, gas here is $4.19 a gallon.  Ohio is in the top five for gas prices, and I don't understand why.  It's not like we typically have a high cost of living, ya know?!?  So, ugh.  And I paid back a loan from mom too.  And put money in my savings.  No fun purchases for me this month...
     Heather made me mad too.  I have a subsidy for housing.  I only get 980 a month to live on, and I can't afford full rent.  So this month, since I moved in so fast, I paid the full rent with the expectation that my landlord would refund me money when he got the subsidy check.  I've been waiting and waiting, but it hasn't come.  So finally, on Friday, I called Heather and asked her to get an update for me, so I would know what they were waiting on.  I had to use my car insurance money to pay the rent, and I REALLY need it back if I'm gonna pay my car insurance in June.  So I go in, and she's got paperwork from Excel.  They needed my move in date, and instead of calling me last Tuesday, when she got it, she waiting till I came in today to find out.  So we got that figured out, and (truthfully) I was a little bit ticked that she didn't call me right away.  So she's trying to decipher the other paperwork she got (there were two papers, one requesting the move in date, and another she couldn't figure out).  Megan (the Excel liaison) came in while we were talking.  She had seen me come back, and new we were working on Excel stuff.  So Heather told her what was going on, she called her contact, and came back to tell me that I have to go in to the office to sign paperwork.  So now I'm really pissed.  I asked Heather, before I even moved, if I had to go into the office (as I had a letter requesting my presence) and she told me I didn't have to.  I understand that she didn't know, but I've been waiting on Excel and they've been waiting on me.  So I have to pay the full month's rent again this month, and I will eventually get a refund.  I'm not a happy camper today, let me tell.  All I have to say is, it had better be retroactive to April second, when I moved in here.  I'll be up the creek without a paddle if it's not.
     I got a goodly amount of stitching done this week as I had no gas or money and therefore couldn't go anywhere.  I have to go to the grocery tomorrow, and to the Petsmart up the street.  Yes Dear's cardboard scratcher has disappeared, and she badly needs a new one and to stop scratching on my couch!!!  I hope all's well for all of you tucked up in your beds tonight!!!

Scotchguard

     Someone (Christy from Chocoholic Cross Stitchers) suggested I Scotchguard my fabby as part of my pre~stitching ritual.  I've never done it, nor had I ever considered it.  I mentioned I was a little bit nervous about my spot clean at the end of DGM, as I don't want to get any of the non~colorfast threads wet.  So she suggested Scotchguard.  So my question is this:  have any of you done this, and did it help?  Do you have any tips to make the process go faster or easier (I don't know anything about it but that it is supposed to keep textiles from staining)?  If I get something on it, do I need to clean it immediately, or can I wait till the end and spot clean as usual?  TIA for any info you can give me!!!

     I get regular updates from the ASPCA about things that are going on in the animal world.  And this one is distressing to me, so I wanted to post it here on my blog.  If anyone is in Missouri, and can email, write, or call the governor, I strongly urge you to do so.

 

3. Missouri Legislature Passes Governor-Backed Puppy Mill Compromise

We’ve been updating News Alert readers since last summer about our efforts to pass common-sense, humane reforms for large-scale, commercial dog breeders in Missouri, the Puppy Mill Capital of America. On Election Day 2010, the state’s citizens approved Proposition B, the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act—and animal lovers around the country rejoiced! Unfortunately, Prop B’s victory was just the beginning of what has become a long, drawn-out saga of might against right. In a startling development last Monday, April 18, the Missouri Department of Agriculture, representatives from the dog breeding industry, and a few agriculture special-interest groups and local animal welfare groups announced a so-called “compromise” agreement on puppy mill reform. Legislators tacked the language onto an unrelated agriculture tax bill as a last-minute amendment, and both chambers passed it on Wednesday, April 27. Governor Nixon, who played a part in arranging the compromise agreement, is expected to sign it into law.
“The ASPCA was not part of the negotiations and does not support the agreement,” says Cori Menkin, ASPCA Senior Director of Legislative Initiatives. “The language crafted by the participating groups is far from an actual compromise—instead, it guts many of the core provisions to protect dogs in commercial breeding facilities passed by voters last November.”
The agreement, which will nullify Prop B, allows the stacking of cages, leaves temperature, exercise and veterinary care requirements unenforceable, allows female dogs to be bred at every heat cycle with no rest between litters, and places no limit on the number of dogs a breeder may keep. Most significantly, it does not set specific standards, but defers to those set by the Missouri Department of Agriculture—which is free to change or lower these standards at will.
The ASPCA is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure the will of the voters is honored; to that end, we are poring over new language to determine our next steps. We are far from defeated, and the movement to protect thousands of dogs in Missouri’s puppy mills is not over! You can help by continuing to spread the word—please share this article via Facebook and Twitter.

About my problem

     Never mind, I fixed it.  I figured out that it was a problem with my email program not recognizing links, and not a problem with the emails themselves.  So I went to their website, and figured out how to fix it.  Geez, I feel dumb for not figuring it out right away, lol.

I have a problem

     Okay, I'm having a blogspot problem, and I"m wondering if anyone can help me with it.  I generally subscribe to email updates for each post that I comment on.  It used to be that I could click on the links in that email to link back to the post itself in case I wanted to answer a comment.  Now, all of a sudden, instead of being able to click the link, it's different.  When I try to click a link, I get a little pop up to share on Facebook.  I'm not on Facebook, and I don't want to be.  I don't know what's caused this.  Has anyone else had this problem, and do you know how to fix it?  TIA for any info you can provide!!!

Royal Mail

     Vicki, I know you're shocked, but the Royal Mail was quick this week.  I've already got my kit for Meerkat ~ Mere Cat.  It came in the mail today, and it came with a catalog (of course) of wonderful things that I really want.  Heritage also included another kit, and it's adorable!  It's so cute I had to post a piccy of it here.  It's called Just Charlie (another of Margaret Sherry's creations) and here it is.  Isn't he cute?  I think he's darling, and I need to put him away before I start him too, lol.     I've been working a lot on the landscape panel of DGM.  It's coming along well.  I have the whole sky done already (a lot of my 180 stitches the other day were sky) and I'm working on two other colors now.  One's a DMC grey that represents the mountains in the distance, and the other is Pond Scum which represents the plants in the foreground.  I've been doing emails and blogs when I first get up (interspersed with reading whatever book I'm working on that day) until I'm finished on the computer.  Then I switch back and forth between reading and stitching. 
     When I was up at Julie's house the other day, she introduced me to Pandora.  It's a site where you enter a song, artist, group, or genre and Pandora plays songs by that artist or group or whatever.  Then, after the first song, it looks for similar songs to play.  It's come up with some interesting connections.  I have Rascal Flatts's I Won't Let Go in my head, so I put in Rascal Flatts.  It played several songs I like that are similar.  Then it started getting wonky.  It played an Aerosmith tune, and then Daughtry, and then some Jamaican type song (I can't remember what they call that type of music, darnit).  Regge, that's it!!!  So it was a little weird.  But since my local internet radio station is on the fritz, it's better than nothing!
     I got a fairly good video of Yes Dear playing the other day.  Usually, when she's playing, I point the camera at her and she sits there forever.  She did for a few seconds on this one, but then she hunkered down and started stalking the poor twisty tie again.  If anyone wants to see her being cute, you can look here.
     It's raining here again.  I was supposed to go to Sam's Club with mom today (I don't have my own account there), but I had a bad night last night.  I couldn't sleep, partly because of the bad thunderstorms we had.  Every time I was drifting off, the thunder would crash.  And on one of my groups, Chocohalic Cross Stitchers, I was talking about dad.  So I was laying there, thinking of him.  Not good.  I thought myself into an upset stomach, and had trouble sleeping because of that too.  I finally fell asleep a little bit after eight, and mom called at ten to two to tell me she was done at the doctor's office, and could I meet her at Sam's.  So I begged off.  We're gonna go tomorrow instead.
     I hope the rain stops soon, and everyone who's having weather problems (flooding, tornadoes, severe thunderstorms) has my prayers.  I hope God will watch over you all.  Now I'm off to stitch some more, and I hope you're all sound asleep in your beds!

Happy Easter again!

     We had a pretty good Easter day today.  Mom was doing dinner.  So I set my alarm to get up at two and called her to ask if I could help her and what time she wanted me to come over.  She said nothing I could do and between six and six thirty.  I got there about six twenty and was the first one there (I was surprised my brother didn't beat me there).  Cathy and Jim got there about half an hour later, and David fifteen minutes after them.  Mom made ham (salty ham, none of that sweet stuff, ick!), au gratin potatoes, asparagus, green beens, potato cake (basically, potato chunks with bacon cooked in a cake pan and turned upside down onto a plate), and fresh bread.  It was delicious.  For desert we had apple dumplings with your choice of vanilla bean ice cream or vanilla sauce or strawberry ruhbarb puree (??? she tried to make pie filling, but it wouldn't gel enough to be pie filling, and looked like she pureed it) over ice cream.  I had both.  Everything was delicious.  And David's girlfriend, Shannon, sent flowers for Cathy, Mom, I, and my cousin Beth.  They're Gerber Daisies.  (Cathy was thrilled with the red one, mom and Beth got yellow, and I got white.  Thank God Shannon remembered I hate yellow, lol.)  It is gorgeous.  I came home with some leftover ham and bread, and the pasta salad we got from Bridgetown Finer Meats.  Mom didn't like it nearly as much as I did.  I also had a few chocolates as mom had a whole assortment.  I tried to resist, but I couldn't help myself.  So I ate lots of green things for dinner.  I think that cancels the extra calories out, lol.  I hope everyone else had a wonderful day!!!

I've been busy today, and Happy Easter

Apr 23, '11 12:54 AM for everyone

     I've been doing blogs today.  I think I must have signed up for a hundred new ones on my blogspot account, lol.  I was checking out the blogs that Nancy M follows, and I'm now following the stitchy ones, which is most of them.  Thanks Nancy, for the help, lol.  After doing blogs for several hours, I decided to talk to Tora.  I said hi, and her first words to me were, "Did you get your ring?"  I was like, hmmm...  I haven't checked the mail in a couple of days, let me go check.  So out into the hallway I went to find that there was a very ripped up package for me.  I came back inside hoping my ring was in it.  It was, and I love it.  It's so gorgeous.  It's called Garden Party ring, and it's the first one that's called to me in a while.  Here's the pics.  And the other piccy is a plaque that my cousin got me.  She knows how I am.  My mom keeps saying she's gonna come over and clean up  my house to her satisfaction, and I keep telling her no, because I'll never find anything again, lol.  It's an ongoing argument between us.  She came over on Friday and almost all we did was argue.  She wants me to throw mementos away, and I refuse to do it.  So then she gets all huffy at me... 
     We had a fun afternoon today though.  Well, sort of (except for the rain).  We went to get dinner at a local place.  It's called Bridgetown Finer Meats, and it's actually an old fashioned deli.  My dad found out, years ago, that they have the best fish sandwiches on Fridays during lent.  So he encouraged mom and I to go, and last year, mom picked up sandwiches for us and we all ate at dad's house.  It was fun, but weird.  (It always felt strange to have my parents together after the divorce.)  So mom and I went alone this year.  When I left home, it was nice, but about three minutes from mom's house, it started to pour down rain.  She ran out to the car.  "Can you see in this???"  I was like, of course.  So off we went.  It's about a fifteen to twenty minute drive and it took over half an hour.  Wind, rain, it was terrible.  We got back to mom's house and ate.  Delicious!!!  We also had pasta salad, mac and cheese, and asparagus.  We finished up the dishes, and then I got out her (very slow) laptop to show her the new HAED I just bought.  (Of course, I didn't tell her I'd already bought it.  Just that I wanted it.  She has a problem with me buying new charts as I'm so SABLE.)  Then she had me get into her email and read them to her while she scrubbed potatoes.  (She apparently feels the need to scrub the skin right off.)  After that, I left.  I took my stitching bag, but didn't even open it.  I wanted to get home in time to get some lilacs from the very large bush next door.  They're sitting on my PC and they smell soooooo good.  I love lilacs.  Then I spent the rest of the evening looking at more blogs.  I'm almost done now, yay!!  I hope you're all tucked up nice in your bed, dreaming of Spring Spheres, lol.  (If you haven't heard, a school in Seattle renamed Easter Eggs Spring Spheres.  IDK why, as they're not spherical at all.  Silly people!!)  Anyways, happy Easter, all.  HAGN!!

Smoking needle

     I decided to watch a movie and stitch today, and boy did I get a lot done.  It was a movie I had never seen before, so I didn't think I would.  I watched Stealth, which I thought was quite good.  And, get this, I got over a hundred and twenty stitches into DGM.  I was so impressed.  This is smoking needles for me.  I usually get in a hundred stitches a day, and it's only five thirty here.  Whoo hoo!!!!

I'm so bad

     And so good, lol.  I bought two more charts during the HAED fifty percent off sale (this is the bad).  I know, I know, but I just couldn't resist.  I got one by Nene Thomas called Frost Moon.  You can see it here.  And the other is by a new artist named Kayomi Harai.  The chart is Rocky Adventure, and you can see it here.  I'm not even close to ready to start either of them.  But you know how it goes.  How often does HAED have fifty percent off?!?
     And tonight I've been writing up a court document (and this is the good).  A friend is involved in an eviction case against a tenant.  Said tenant wrote up a long complaint about her and her hubby.  So she gave me the info about each charge, and I meticulously went through and rebutted them.  It was kinda fun.  My OCD loved it.  I just sent the document off to her so she can print it up before court in the morning.  I didn't know she had court today when I started it.  But Rosa happened to be available today, and I wanted her input.  Together, we are lethal!!!!  So now I'm off to get my bath.  I need a good night's sleep.  Last night the tornado sirens kept going off.  It was quite nerve wracking.  So hopefully a relaxing soak and a good book will get me all ready for bed.  Hope y'all are having a good sleep, and will wake rested and ready to go tomorrow!!!

A strange dream

     I remember, when we were kids, David and I (and then Cathy) had lots of puzzles.  I like jigsaw puzzles, but I haven't done one in years.  (YD also likes jigsaw puzzles, but she likes to take the pieces away and eat them, so I don't even try with her around.)  Anyways, we had those hard puzzles.  I don't know what they were made of, but it was like thin drywall.  The pieces were stiff and unbending (yes, I know you're not supposed to bend the pieces.  Again, YD likes to play with them) and painted to match each other so you could put them together.  IDK what they're made out of.  I don't think they were wood, at least not all of them.  Anyways, we had lots of them.  I only remember one (awake) and it was cute.  The scene was a forest scene on top, but when you took the pieces out, there were animals hiding in the forest.  Bunnies, chipmunks, birds, squirrels, even a fox kit.  I had a dream about that and other puzzles, but I can't remember anything about any of the others.  I remembered them in my dream though.  So here's the dream.
     I was ill at first.  As you all know, I'm weird.  I have this thing that I do when I'm overtired and can't sleep.  It's an audio hallucination.  I know it's a hallucination, but it still keeps me up.  I'm laying there, trying to sleep, and there's this sound in the background.  It's barely there, just the sound of a gentle breeze through the trees.  Then, in about half a second, it jumps in volume to the sound of a chainsaw being used.  It's horribly loud.  Wakes me right up.  And it happens over and over.  So I'm sleeping tonight, but I'm dreaming that I can't sleep and I'm having this horrible auditory hallucination.  And it keeps waking me up, over and over, in my dream.  Finally, it goes away, and suddenly, I'm an adult, trying to put the puzzles together.  And every time I go to put a piece in, my mom tries to take it away from me and do it herself.  It was so frustrating, it woke me up.  Weird...  So now I'm up and can't go back to sleep.  I think I'll stitch for a bit.  Hope everyone else is sacked out in dreamland!!!!

Another Ye Olde Cross Stitchery Update

     When this all first came down, I also sent an email to Heritage to let them know what was going on.  They sent an email back and told me to let them know the outcome of the situation and the complaint with the BBB.  So I sent them a message after the complaint was closed and asked them to use their influence to make YOCS do the right thing and send me my materials.  Instead, they offered to send them to me themselves.  I was surprised to say the least, but grateful and a little upset.  I feel bad that Heritage has to make right something that was not their fault.  And I told them that.  It's not their responsibility, IMHO.  But as I can't afford to kit it up right now myself, I accepted their offer.  I have been quite impressed with them.  They have been interested and helpful all the way through.  I may never buy from YOCS again, but Heritage definitely gets a thumbs up from me!!!
     In other news, I talked to Julie M last night, and she already has in 850 + stitches on Story Keeper.  I am all ready to start DGM part seven, but yesterday I kept reading during breaks as I haven't set up the DVD player yet.  And breaks are short and movies are long, so I didn't want to start and then have to keep stopping after fifteen or twenty minutes.  So I've not started part seven.  I will do it today, as I've gotten most of the stuff put away where it belongs.  I have very little left to do, thank God!!!!
      Not much else going on here.  I'm almost done unpacking and putting away, and I keep that thought in the front of my mind.  I'm all caught up on emails from my trip and the move, and I'm also all through my back log on Incredimail.  So I'm downloading emails again, which I like.  I totally like the functionality of IM versus roadrunner webmail.  Lots of things that I don't have to do on IM that I do have to do on RRWM.  For example, I can't choose how my mails display on RRWM.  In IM, I can.  In RRWM, I have to always delete the cc to the person who sent in the mail so they don't get one copy from the group and one from me directly.  And, weirdly, when I click reply in RRWM, the cursor goes to the search box, not to the reply area.  It's weird.  Anyways, I hope you're all having a great day.  Now I'm off to do some more emails!!

Stitcher's Helper

     I got to sit and watch TV and stitch tonight.  I still haven't found my DVD player's AV cord, so I had to watch on the VCR.  LOL, I didn't realize till I tried to turn it on that the TV wasn't plugged in.  And I moved in on the second, lol.  Geez.  So I got it all plugged up and put in my Jason X.  It's funny and engaging, and I watch it several times a year.  I just sat and stitched for an hour and a half almost (I had to take some of that time to take piccys!!!  So yes, I have pics.  I finished up part six of DGM tonight, with YD sitting right there to help me.  Here she is in all her cuteness: 

     Piccys, for those who want to see them, are here (Scorpion panel) and here (full project).  I will be starting part seven tomorrow, if mom will let me.  She's coming over to help me with the last few boxes and getting the stuff tossed hither and yon organized.  Wish her luck!!
     I forgot, I have another piccy to show.  While I was shopping with Julie in Columbus, I found the cutest little pen.  I picked it up for only a dollar.  Yes Dear thinks she has appropriated it for herself, but it's mine, all MINE!!!  Here's a pic:  Isn't it just the cutest thing?  Thanks Jules, for taking me shopping!!

Ye Olde Cross Stitchery Update

I got a message from the BBB, and I'm just outraged by it.  This is what they sent me:

Dear Julie Nemitz :

This message is in regard to your complaint submitted on 3/18/2011 12:00:00 AM against Ye Olde Cross Stitchery.  Your complaint was assigned ID 8537475.

The BBB, in reviewing the complaint that you submitted to us about Ye Olde Cross Stitchery, has closed the case.  The outcome of this complaint will be included in the business's Reliability Report for 3 years. 

If you wish to further pursue the issue, you might contact a legal advisor or the Attorney General's office.  Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us - we are happy to assist you. 

Regards,

Kelly Nolan
The Better Business Bureau

     There was a little sidebar that said the company made a good faith effort to resolve the claim.  By what means did they do this?!?  They did nothing but say they have a no returns policy.  I have clear false advertising, and I even sent in a picture of what the stupid kit said.  I've emailed the BBB for clarification, but I'm so disappointed.  I would never have bought it if I thought it was just the chart.  To make matters worse, I looked up Ye Olde Cross Stitchery to see what their review said about the complaint, and it's not even listed!!!  Fat lot of good they did me.