when I find a really interesting thing to blog about and then SOMEONE ELSE who will NOT remain nameless (ANDREW PETER HELSBY the SWINE) goes and beats me to blogging about it.
I was going to blog about this interesting book that I found out about (from a scrapper's blog that I read) called No one cares what you had for lunch by Margaret Mason
She's written in a very readable style and broken the book up into three sections -- 15 minutes, 30 minutes and 1 hr +.... so that if you only have 15 minutes to sit and blog you can take one of the ideas from that first section and run with it, or if you have 30 mins etc. She has really gotten me to think about why I am posting... and even more so about *what* I am actually posting... In the last section of the book she's quite good about encouraging the inner writer in all of us to be stretched and to be intentional in what we write -- otherwise the internet is going to be (and perhaps is already?) flooded with things that aren't important... or even entertaining.
I started my blog so that friends and family could keep an eye out and see what I've been up to and what's going on in my life -- but as you will notice... there have been large gaps in my posts -- and some of that is because this blog has become a bit more than just a newsy update. I have wanted it to be something deeper -- more of a journal of what I'm feeling etc. -- but much of the things that have been happening in the gaps are too personal to post on here... those things belong in a journal where they are mine alone.
That is one thing that she didn't really address in the book -- the privacy issue -- one of the blogs that she points you to (she gives several examples throughout the book) is a blog about sharing yourself completely, awkward warts and all. I could never do that. She never touched upon how people feel secret power to be cruel and make comments they would never in a million years have said aloud to another person -- all because they are behind the shield of a monitor, possibly thousands of miles away.
So for now I will continue to plod on -- and if/when you see gaps -- email me -- sometimes I need to be asked in order to share what kinds of things are going on in my heart.
My youngest brother Brian and his cutie wife Ali are the proud parents of big sister Mia and new baby Kathleen Elise Ciarochi -- born this morning around 6:01 central standard time -- weighing in around 7 lbs 2 oz. and measuring 19 inches. Momma and baby are doing really well.
I'll post a picture of the lil cutie -- baby Kate -- as soon as the flippin' web server will let me!! arrrgggggghhh.
take down the Christmas tree ornaments....
I'm already a bit blue today -- but they needed to come down (I've been procrastinating on this one for a week and a bit already) -- and today I went to Target and got a couple of plastic storage boxes for the Christmas stuff -- so I did it as fast as I could without breaking anything, to minimize the sadness....
:( :( :(
This is from http://christaw-justme.blogspot.com/ -- a blog I found this morning by reading the message boards on http://www.twopeasinabucket.com
{2006 in review}
1. What did you do in 2006 that you had never done before? I went on a cruise with my husband to the Caribbean!
2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions and will you make more for 2007? Although I am a huge fan of planning -- I didn't make any resolutions b/c I'm notorious (like everyone!) for not keeping them.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Yes -- my cousin Elise had a baby boy in June.
4. Did anyone close to you die? No
5. What countries did you visit? Jamaica, Grand Cayman Islands, Mexico
6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006? a baby!!! :)
7. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Not so much a date as two separate weeks -- first the week we were on the cruise, it was amazing -- we had such a great time together! and second -- the wedding I went to in July with my family -- got to spend time with both sides of my parent's families and just really remember sitting around laughing and just loving those people and feeling very thankful for all the blessings -- watching the little ones play and watching the grownups interact with them.
8.What was your biggest achievement of the year? Getting the house ready for when Andy's parents came from England for a week and a half visit at Thanksgiving!!!
9. What was your biggest struggle? Getting the house ready for when Andy's parents came from England for a week and a half visit at Thanksgiving!!! *grin* also -- quitting a job that I both loved and hated at the same time
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I got a virus while on the cruise (not fun) but it wasn't too bad -- also got a sinus infection/cold/chest infection thing right before Christmas :(
11. What was the best thing you bought? all my scrapbooking goodies while I still had my discount
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? My husband -- just for how he loves me so much -- when I stop and think about it, it almost overwhelms me how cool that is.
13. Whose behavior appalled you? the actions of the company where I used to work -- how they would treat their employees, and what they required of the employees for paying them $5.15 an hour!!
14. Where did most of your money go? bills, scrapbooking stuff -- one of the reasons I quit the job -- was spending about 25% more than I was making in the store!!
15.excited about this year? Hoping to get pregnant -- and being excited for all the women around me who are pregnant!! at the end of 2006, NINE close friends/family/friends from church were pregnant...
16. What song will always remind you of 2006? The Buckeyes FIGHT SONG!!! Go BUCKS!! Even though we lost the Championship game -- we still had such a tremendous season!!!
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: much happier, nicer or richer? Definitely happier. More aware of all the good things in my life -- and I'm more thankful!
18. What do you wish you had done more of? Cook and eat better -- started an exercise routine
19. What do you wish you had done less of? Work and therefore have a messy home and eat out constantly
20. Did you fall in love in 2006? I'd already fallen -- but this year for some reason it definitely deepened... man, I'm LUCKY!
21. What was your favorite TV program? CSI (the original), Dancing with the Stars (YAY EMMITT!!)
22. What was the best book you read this year? oy vey -- I read probably 100+ books last year... ummm nope -- can't pick a favorite...
23. What was your greatest musical discovery? the group Ok No -- and their amazing treadmill video on YouTube!! Also -- the Evolution of Dance -- and Rob Paravonian's Pachelbel's Rant (can you tell i discovered youtube this year!!)
24. What did you want and get? a wishblade (didn't get it) to get pregnant (didn't get pregnant yet!)
25. What was your favorite film of the year? yikes -- again -- so many movies... recently saw Facing the Giants -- loved it -- recommend it to everyone!
26. What did you do on your birthday and how old did you turn? Worked all day -- got surprised by a new awesome friend Kim with balloons, cake and presents!! Then went over to good friends house and they cooked a really yummy (hot!) curry dinner for us -- fab time!! I turned 34
27. What one thing would have made your year more satisfying? I wish my brothers and their families lived nearby
28. How would you describe your personal fashion statement this year? I'm totally a casual girl -- jeans and my Buckeyes sweatshirt...
29. What kept you sane? Spending time with friends and family and especially my rock-solid hubby. I'm the roller-coaster emotional turmoil of a mess, and he's solid and calm and keeps me anchored to life.
30. What celebrity did you fancy the most? eeek -- ummm I dunno -- no idea.
31. What political issue stirred you the most? not really into politics -- but sure wish the war was over.
32. Who did you miss? My Nana -- it was weird being at two family weddings this year without her :(
33. Who were the best new people you met this year? The folks I used to work with -- and Kim and Astrid and Tina and Elisa
33. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned this year. To really watch my mouth and not say things just to make others laugh because they might be interpreted the wrong way and hurt the ones I love.
you should see me right now.
i can barely type because just now Baz decided that he needed cuddles... NOW.
So he jumps up on the chair next to me -- which is really there for that purpose -- so he and Frankie and Winston can sit with me when I'm working on the pc -- and he starts to chirp and purr and head-butt my elbow... so I begin to pet him -- only that isn't enough.... he kind of throws himself forward with his front paws up, so that he's half-climbing me (owwwwwch).
So I then have to either pick him up and let him sit where he likes to sit (up on my shoulder, with his front paws hanging over onto my back and this body being held up by my left arm -- (imagine how babies like to be held, so they can see over your shoulder) -- and if my left arm gets tired (which it inevitably does, because he weighs a TON) and lowers even just a touch, his claws dig in and he tries to pull himself up higher. owwwwwwww!!
The funniest thing is that he'd sit up there all day if I let him (if I could hold his weight up that long!!)... crazy cat.
okay -- the library system doesn't have the title for the new book in yet...
I'm pretty sure it will be called Inkdeath... based on something that happened in the story... just a hunch...
but this is a mental note to myself to try again in a few months to see if it's called that...
One fab thing from that book I just finished --- is that she puts a quote from another book, poem, or play at the head of each chapter, and each quote is actually related to what will be happening in that particular chapter.... the quotes are from all over the world, and from all different styles of writing.
Two quotes in particular struck me -- I think mainly because of my other love - scrapbooking...
The first one I have heard before but didn't know where it came from... and in Inkspell it is listed as being a Chinese proverb --
"The strongest memory is weaker than the palest ink."
One of the best reasons to scrapbook -- because even if you didn't use acid free papers or any other extreme archival efforts... your memories would last 500 times longer than your memory! (especially if you are like me, and already forgetting things at age 34!!)
The other quote is actually from the text itself... the main character, a girl called Meggie, is a book lover and is looking over her favorite books (she keeps them in a box and takes them with her everywhere she goes) --
"How well worn they all were... "Isn't it odd how much fatter a book gets when you've read it several times?" Mo (her father) had said when, on Meggie's last birthday, they were looking at all her dear old books again. "As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells... and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there, too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like a pressed flower.... both strange and familiar." "
When I read that it kind of sent chills up my spine -- because I have experienced that, re-reading a book I read when I was much younger, and kind of feeling time go backwards, remembering some of the feelings, thoughts, smells and sounds from that time... very amazing.
I sure have -- and one of them is a sequel to a book I loved -- and both are actually kids books...
They've got about 630some pages each, mind you -- but the pages are smaller (not paperback size). They're originally written in German and then translated into English. I came across the first book when I was working at Cheshire County Council's libraries -- got to take a tour of the two places that the book selection folks choose the books for the libraries from -- talk about awesome... I could have spent all day there!! It was fantastic -- we went with Claire to this really nice warehouse-y room and we got to pick children's books out for our libraries (at the time I was working at Crewe Library).
I remember going up and down the aisles (many of the books are newer titles, but they did have some new editions of older titles too) ... and seeing all these wonderful books -- I had a big trolley cart behind me to load up with my choices -- whohooo for shopping on someone else's dime!!!
And then I saw the cover -- the size attracted me too -- it's more of a square shape... and about three inches thick... with a magnificent red cover... and all kinds of fairies and things illustrated on it... and it was called "Inkheart".
One of the bonuses of being able to go to this place is that you are allowed to make up to 3 personal purchases at their discounted prices!!
Guess which book walked out in my own bag?? Yep -- Inkheart -- by Cornelia Funke.
So I was walking through Barnes & Noble a couple weeks ago and had a bit of deja vu -- saw the same shaped cover .... and similar fairies/doodlings -- but this cover is a dark navy blue... almost a black really... sure enough -- the sequel -- Inkspell by Cornelia Funke...
Soon as I got home I reserved it from the library -- to see if it was as good as the first -- I am often disappointed when I run out and buy a sequel of a book I adored only to get 20 pages in and realize that it isn't anywhere near as good as the first...
But this one held me captive just as the first one did -- and so for three mornings of this week I've been plowing through page after page, devouring it really... and just got to the "end" (not really an ending as there is a third book coming!)...
Now I'm off to go reserve it from the library... and to put Inkspell on my wish list for purchase!!
sorry about the huge long explanation folks -- but I seriously needed to get that off my chest.
I'm feeling a bit like a loser for having to do that -- but I realize that if I had kept on with it... it probably would have made me lose my eyesight quicker and would have eventually put me off stitching entirely -- it had begun to become a chore...
and when you find something that you truly treasure and adore becoming a chore... you need to do something about it!
The fabric will not go to waste... it can be cut (I will again keep the middle part just as I have the other times I went wrong) and will be used for other projects.
On a completely different note -- I am at last finishing Mia's scrapbook of "Things I Love" -- and in just typing that just then I realized that once Mom & Dad take that with them to Minnesota to give it to Bri & Ali & Mia.... there will be another addition to the family (Ali is due to have her second baby by the end of January) -- and the book will need an update. (insane laugh here)
There goes that sense of accomplishment right out the window.... *sigh* oh well!!
Know when to walk away.... know when to run...
Great song -- even greater advice really.
Just over 7 years ago Andy and I were in Christchurch, Dorset, England. It's a beautiful place -- I loved it from the first moment I saw it. It had special walking paths along a stream that were just magical in the moonlight and even prettier in the sunlight. The cathedral was stunning and the town was quaint and the people friendly. If we'd ever had to move within England -- that'd have been among my top 5 choices.
While in this beautiful place -- it became my hobby to find the local needlework shop and browse the patterns, threads etc. because I decided that during our first bit of marriage I wouldn't get a job right away -- I would get acclimated to the country, the weather, the people etc. I also decided that I really missed doing cross stitch.
So in the local shop in Christchurch, I found a beautiful kit (I never buy kits as a rule -- and guess what -- should have stuck to my rule!!) of a map of Britain. It was marked 55.00 pounds (i think?) but looked a little worn for wear -- many many ladies had picked it up, looked at it, flipped it over to see the back, tried to peek inside the packaging to what was inside... etc. Also the front cover belied the fact that it had at one point been in the front window and exposed to the sun. I spoke to Andy about purchasing it. He (smartly) asked me if I thought I would really finish it. I insisted vehemently that I would. And at that point (and up to about 2 hours ago) I really believed I would!!
So I got a scroll frame big enough to do it, and in the hotel room the next day while Andy was working in a nearby company, I started it. The kit came with linen, which I had never worked on before -- only aida cloth. Aida is the one which is more like squares with holes at the corners, whereas linen is just holes -- no visible boxes. When stitching on aida -- you go up the lower left hole, across the square/box and go down the upper right, then come up again in lower right corner and go across the square/box and down in the upper left, making an X (hence the name cross stitch) -- but with linen.... you have only the small holes, and you skip a hole for each stitch that you make... it's less complicated to demonstrate -- my point here being that stitching on linen is about 150% more difficult than on aida. So the fact that this is my first project on linen that I am attempting and the measured size of the piece (when finished) is 24 inches wide by 36 inches high -- is like saying that you can ride a bike, therefore you must immediately also know how to drive a stick-shift left-handedly.
But I gave it a good start, and did about 6 square inches of work, then another 4 inches, then discovered that I was off. But not only was I off -- I couldn't even work out where I'd made my mistake.
With any other piece of stitching, this probably wouldn't have been a problem. However, with a piece that large, and this being the middle of the piece, if I am off one single thread on one part, and can't work out how to compensate for it... it is only going to get worse and worse the further from the middle that I get.
So I stopped -- tried again (and failed) to figure out where I'd gone wrong. And then I put it away... started a different project and finished it (beautiful wedding sampler for my brother and a birth sampler for a friend's children) and continued like that, stitching on aida -- starting and finishing projects.
Every once in a while I would come back to the Britain in Stitches... look wistfully at it... sigh... and put it away again. Until one week I felt extremely ambitious, went to the needlework shop up in Bakewell (Wye Needlecraft -- best stitch shop in Derbyshire!!!) and got a piece of cream colored aida to begin the map again.
And I did -- I worried about the fact that I might run out of threads because of having started it before (being a kit you only get so much thread in each color) -- but nevertheless I began again.
And once again I went wrong... and once again I couldn't for the life of me figure out why or where.
As an aside -- in my defense -- the chart is made up of backstitched city and town names, and of little symbols for trees, mountains, rivers, etc. -- but the shining glory of the whole thing is the mini (and I do mean mini) cathedrals, village halls, castles, and other ancient landmarks. They have all been charted over one thread... and stitching that on aida just doesn't work well -- because you don't have the hole in the middle to go down into -- you have to physically force the needle through the middle of the square to stitch the buildings.
This time I had even begun to copy onto my own graph paper, the place names and the buildings -- to make it easier for me to see how to stitch them. I had an envelope of Place Names, one for Buildings in England, one for Buildings in Scotland, and one for the finished graph charts...
After I went wrong a second time, I kept the graph charts, and the giant blown up photocopies I had made of the original charts (heaven forbid that anybody try and stitch this thing from those originals -- they'd be blind by the second half hour!!!) and put it all into a bag for another attempt someday.
By this point I was really hooked on stitching and had made many new friends from the stitching shop in Sandbach and was even going to a weekly stitch & chat with other ladies...
There I learned some neat phrases for categorizing stitching --
stash -- items you own that are on your "to-do" list... you have purchased them in advance
WIPs -- works in progress...
UFOs -- un-finished objects...
Through the course of meeting with these ladies -- my stitching became much more adventurous. I gave linen another try -- completed a very small (5"x8" piece) which was very simple because it was solid stitching -- no counting across any gaps or anything more than 4 holes away. I found that I really liked the look of it -- and of the charts and samples that Sue had in her shop by the designers Mirabilia and Lavender and Lace... L&L is the mother and Mirabilia is her daughter (who ironically lives and designs in Columbus, OH!) -- beautiful ladies and fairies and queens and mermaids... beaded and metallic threaded and just amazing on linen...
So I picked out a chart that I really loved, bought a piece of linen to work her on, and began. I already by this point had most of the DMC thread collection -- and not long after this completed my collection (Andy got me the rest of the colors as a Christmas present -- in the US in a good sale they cost 5/$1 -- in the UK they don't go on sale and cost $1 each.)
I started the chart with the ladies' help and really loved stitching the "Rose of Sharon" -- finished her in about 9 months. She's beautiful. She's framed and hanging in the dining room.
That got me hooked completely and I was desperate to stitch another design -- this time I wanted one with beads and metallic threads -- so I picked "Angel of Love" -- who is amazing... the middle of her dress is a solid mass of beads and metallic threads. She took about the same amount of time -- even though I could stitch much faster by this point, she was that much more complicated and intricate that it took as long.
She is framed and on the living room wall. After her was "April's Blue Diamond" -- another lovely lady who only took 4 months (her dress is slim and there was not much to it so didn't take much time), and then the "Herb Gatherer" by Shepherd's Bush ... lastly "The Winter Queen" -- a beautiful lady facing the side with a crown of beads and fluffy white furry thread lining an intricate dress of about 3 shades of whites and at least 7 shades of blues. She took about 9 months too -- and again I stitched so much faster by then -- but she has a dress that is solid stitching about 19 inches across and the same high -- takes a while when you have a solid area like that.
All these ladies are on the wall in stunning frames.
All of this to say.... I am giving up on Britain in Stitches -- I picked it up a third time, got a new piece of linen, had a tremendously good start and got much much further than ever before, and yet here I am again -- off by one thread, (the mistakes were never in the same places) and once again, I can't for the life of me figure out where I went wrong. I kept rough track this time of how long I worked and what names or buildings I stitched on which day -- most of the days I spent at least 5 hours working on it, and only managed to do 4 or 5 names and 1 or 2 buildings.
Folks... for a stitcher who can stitch about an 1 1/2" square in an hour (which is pretty awesome) that is soooooooooooooo slow.
Not to mention that it was making my eyes cross trying to stitch over one thread and do backstitch on top of that!! Ay yay yay.
So rest in peace, my little map of Britain... I am not throwing you away... but I don't think I will be picking you up any time soon....
*if you listen carefully you can hear "Taps" being played in the background*
okay -- so I'm a little out of touch! Okay okay --- A LOT.
basically I've been going crazy.
pretty much.
I quit my job at the beginning on November (sooo glad!) and then after a week and a half of intense cleaning and organizing the house, Andy's folks arrived for a week and a half visit (including spending Thanksgiving day with my family). After they left, Ali and Mia had some issues catching flights back to Minnesota -- one day was delays, next night they missed the flight (long story). After that, I had to do more cleaning to try and get the house normal again -- well I started to do that anyhow...
I got sick on Friday the15th of Dec. and still have a lingering sniffle and cough. I was down and out for about 5 days and then Andy started to catch it -- he was off sick for the Thursday and Friday before Christmas.
We had a wonderful Christmas Eve at Adam & Steph's house! After church in the morning, we headed back with Adam & Steph (it was Adam's birthday) and ate some delicious chinese food and played with Adelyn (the ghetto-pony was born -- soo funny!!) and sadly had to leave at about 6:15 to go to the evening service.
Christmas day was nice -- we'd stayed up pretty late the night before talking and playing Albatross 18 (see my previous posts about being addicted to this and about how to sign up!!) and so it was the latest that I've ever slept in on Christmas day.... ever! 8:30! It was incredible.
Opened nice presents and then went over to Mom & Dad's house about 1pm for fondue and presents and mahjong. Had a wonderful time.
Then a sort of slow week, and last Friday we drove to Uniontown, PA for my cousin's wedding. The rehearsal dinner was nice -- had a nice time catching up with Aunt Anne and Uncle Dan. and then my Aunt Sandy cornered me for about 3 hours... eeeeeekh. *shiver* She was teaching me about acupressure... I don't get it. Nevermind! Interesting thing -- learned that night that my Aunts Maria and Anne both were sobbing at my wedding -- sobbing with joy... I totally didn't know! Too funny.
That night at the hotel some VERY INCONSIDERATE men were talking outside our door until about 5:30AM. I didn't call hotel front desk because I was afraid to wake Andy up and he didn't for fear of waking me up! Anyhoo -- not a lick of sleep for either of us. We went down for breakfast in the hotel restaurant and all the items on the breakfast buffet were cold.... yuck. So lost our appetites. We all (Mom, Dad, David, Andy & I) went to the graveyard and spent a minute or two visiting my Nana's gravesite. Then we grabbed lunch at Potter's -- nice bar and grill -- very smalltown feel to it.
The wedding was beautiful -- Shannon looked like a princess -- and Mike looked so handsome.
The reception was in Morgantown, WV -- only about 30 mins away -- at a very nice resort called Lakeview. The reception was fun -- we were at the Texas Ciarochis table -- had a nice time. Great bonding time with Elise and Matt & Amy and Jason. Elise and Matt's baby son Andrew is sooooo cute -- such a smily boy! We ended up leaving the reception pretty early on because we didn't sleep the night before and walked up to our room (cool idea having the guests stay where the reception is!) and fell promptly asleep around 9 and slept until about 7:30 or 8 the next morning. Only woke up a couple of times -- once by loud folks in the hall (but the sound didn't last) and one other time not sure why.
Breakfast at the resort was a gigantic buffet again but this time the food was not only hot, but delicious!! Real eggs (not powdered like at the previous hotel) and nice choices and a waffle iron! Yummm.
The drive back was nice -- on New Year's Eve -- not as rainy as I'd thought it was going to be given the forecasts! We left WV about 11:10 or 11:15, and got home about 3pm ish...
Stayed up to almost 12, didn't want to watch the "new year's rockin' eve" with Dick Clark because last year he looked so awful -- and his "co-host" was about as entertaining as a wet paper towel. So didn't want to subject myself to the misery again. Right before midnight went to bed... we're such rebels!!
So happy New Year all -- hope you all had a fun holiday and pray that God blesses you in 2007. Seek Him.