FINISHED!

I've finished Dragon of Spirit by Dragon Dreams. I had to order the speciality threads and they came really quickly. Can't beat 123stitch.com for quick service! I started stitching it again and got it finished!

I've also picked up another piece that I've put down for a while. It's by White Willow Stitching and is called Garden Child. The picture isn't the greatest. I didn't take time to iron out the wrinkles - no point as it's going right back in the q-snap frame again.

I worked on it a little yesterday while I watched my new DVD Waking the Dead Season 4. It's a British crime series - I watch it when I go home sometimes and I love it. I'm going to get a bit more done while I'm watching some of the stuff on the DVR. I worked today - long morning, always is on Sundays. This piece is black and white and there are a lot of colour changes so it's slow going. I'm going to pick out a quick piece to get done so I don't get discourgaed. It helps writing it down and posting pictures so I keep myself motivated.

Great....not...

So Wednesday is one of my days off. My plan was the usual - trip to buy groceries, clean house - then I was going to work on my Mum's calendar.

Understand - this was supposed to be a Christmas gift and it is almost February and I haven't got it done yet. I've been sending her one for years now. As she's in England and I'm in the states she doesn't see my kids too often. So one year (before I worked full time) I decided to start making her this calendar of all the things we got up to during the year. This was a lot easier when the kids were smaller and we did things as a family and went places different seasons of the year. It's not so easy when we're all going every which way and the once-smiling kids ready to have their pictures taken at any opportunity are now surly teenagers who would rather not pose for Mum with her camera. The only one remotely interested in having their picture taken is my teenage daughter (that probably explains why most of the pages have her pic on them).

I gathered together some pictures, have the calendar all ready to go and start to sort out the layout. I don't have enough pictures. I swear I had more but they've all disappeared and I can't find them anywhere. Easy enough to solve - I have more pictures on my new camera and I just bought some picture paper. I print them off, start to work on the layout again and find that I'm smearing something black over the nice white pages. Great. The pictures I've printed off are malting! All of them! I can't use any of them.

Back to the drawing board. I went online, uploaded the pics to an album and Walmart and have to go pick up the pics. If only it would stop snowing so I can go get them.

Can you tell I'm a procrastinator? Perhaps she'll have it by mid-Feb...

Groan...ouch...

Got a tummy bug :(

Groan...I'm such a wimp. Made it through the day at work and am now in my comfy chair. At some point I have to do the usual housework and I want to go on the treadmill (when the kids are safely off at uni). Somehow I don't relish the thought of them watching their overweight mother huffing and puffing on the treadmill. Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit. I'd still rather do it in private.

On a side note - how does someone use 1000 text messages in a 3 week period? I feel so old sometimes! My eighteen year old apparently has run out of text messages. I changed the plan over to unlimited. He's got plenty of talk minutes left but no texts (which apparently are more important).

Okay I'm going to try posting a pic of my dragon. Don't expect a lot - still looks like a blob to me. I pulled out my new camera to take a pic. Thinking perhaps learning how to properly use the darn thing might be a good goal. Think I'll check into classes. Maybe...

Another day...

I was tempted not to write at all as my life is really...well, uneventful. Spent money today and actually bought nothing for myself. I actually walked away from Barnes and Nobles without buying any books - a miracle in my case. I have too many books, lots that I need to find the time to read. Glad I actually resisted as when I got home I had a couple packages from Ebay. One contained my copy of Laurell K. Hamilton's soon-to-be-released Anita Blake book Flirt. Can't wait to read it.

I did stitch on the dragon today, but still no picture. Too damn lazy to take one actually. Besides it still looks nothing more than a blob of colour. Not sure when I'll get it finished. I thought it would be a quick stitch and it would - if I had all I needed to stitch it. Got started and realised that it calls for some metallic braid of some kind. Sigh. I'll have to dig deep in my stash and see if I can find any substitute.

Well...I did say I had trouble keeping a journal!

I'm such a procrastinator. I managed one day before I slipped and didn't write. Not that there was much to write about. Well, I didn't claim to have a fun-filled life.

I still haven't made a decision regarding a goal. I have smaller ones - one of which is trying to lose some weight. I ended up buying my MIL's treadmill (which she admittedly used less than five times) and have been using it every day. I make sure I get on it as soon as I come home from work otherwise if I sit down I won't get back up again. I got my DD to download some podcasts onto my MP3 player so I can listen while I walk. My fav has to be BBC Radio One's Chris Moyles show. The guy is hilariously funny.

I did some stitching on my piece - not really enough to post a pic. Hopefully I'll get one up my next post. I do have a webshots album of some older stitching.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/112201470BUqBLE?vhost=home-and-garden


Hope that works. Still new to this stuff. Determined to post tomorrow. Have a day off work so should be easier.

First Post - 20th January 2010

First post of a new blog. It's actually my first blog. I thought it might be interesting to write one. I'm one of those people who always say they're going to start a journal and end up writing for a few days and then it all seems to stop. I seem to spend an awful lot of time on the computer (too much if you ask the family) so maybe this one will stick.



The point of this blog - I'm turning the big 4-0 this year. One hundred and nineteen days until the big day. Should I be running away, screaming, dreading the day or looking forward to it? ~sigh~ Not quite sure yet. Some days I feel like running away from life now.

So, as of today, I am 39, married, 3 kids (20,18,16), full time job, one dog, one cat and hobbies I don't really have time for. I'll probably write about cross stitching (a hobby), reading (something I do to escape life) and life (my uneventful one).

Not sure what I quite expect of this. Not sure what I expect when I hit forty. Turning thirty wasn't too bad. Thirty was the year I finally got my driver's licence. It was THE THING I really wanted to accomplish that year. A goal. I was trying to think of something I wanted to do before I turn forty. A goal. Haven't thought of one yet.

About the driving thing. I didn't have an aversion to driving, I hadn't failed the test again and again or had a bad scare and couldn't bring myself to get in the car again (although there was that one time I was practicing and hit something). It was just something I had never really thought about doing. I grew up in England and came to the states when I married my hubby. I would probably still be riding the bus quite happily if I was in England still.

I'll have to think on that goal for forty. Have to keep in mind I'm almost forty, overweight and don't like the cold at all.

Closing now - above stated cat is bugging to come sit on my lap.

Sharon