Reality and Televisions

A lot of my fellow stitchers are rejecting reality today as a result of the usual February yuckiness that occurs on the various BB's. I certainly can appreciate that. I hate it when people leave the BB's; I love that there are people on the stitching boards that can be so very different but at least have stitching in common. I hate seeing turmoil and problems and though I often get curious about what is going on at some point or another, deep down I prefer to be ignorant. Not knowing what has happened doesn't shield you from the outcome though. Even if I don't know the details, I still know that people I care about aren't there anymore and it just plain sucks.

So I'm on board with the rejecting reality thing, with the exception of my new television. I'll keep that part of my reality, thanks! DH and I bought a 32" Aquos LCD TV over the weekend and it is absolutely divine. Of course it was largely used this weekend to view Nascar, golf, and college basketball. I got about 30 minutes with it and LOTR though and I'm looking forward to more...

With a few exceptions I'm actually pretty happy with my reality. I would of course like to be fabulously wealthy so I could leisurely travel the world and stitch whatever I wanted. But aside from the online strife and deluge of rain, February wasn't so bad for me. I'm finally conquering my anxiety without medication and life is pretty good. Now if I could just solve a couple design problems at work then things would really be great.

I sure am hoping that the end of the month brings some peace to the online stitching community. Yes everyone has differences, and never will everyone agree on an issue (especially those controversial ones) but let's try to focus on what brought us together, what we have in common: stitching. I have a goal this year: I will sincerely try to not post anything that will hurt someone else. I will try to only be kind and constructive. It's easy to say things online that one wouldn't say in person; there is a certain inherent level of detachment.

So that's my take on reality. This time next week I'll be getting ready to go to San Francisco for four days for a wonderful business trip. I can't wait! I'll keep that part of reality too!

I have beads!

Yay! When I got home from work last night my little box from Fire Mountain Gems was waiting for me. I am a very happy customer and have already placed a new order this morning for the Delica sample cards. I can't wait for them to arrive! Most of the beads I chose were extremely good matches. There were a few that were pretty off from the Mill Hill colors, but will be close enough. I started beading last night; I am really hoping to have Cottage Garden Fairy done in the next few days. Or in the next week. It depends on how much stitching (beading) time I get.

I've been trying to go to the gym more frequently so I didn't even stitch last night until about 9:40 since I went last night (yay! second time this week!). I had such a hard time tearing myself away from it at 11:20 but I knew I'd be tired today (I am). I'd really like to lose another 10-15 pounds to go with the 20 I lost last year. Oh yeah, and be in decent shape when we go to Mammoth next month. I've been trying to add some yoga and pilates to the workout mix to improve my balance. I figure that should be helpful for skiing, right?

Nothing much is going on here. Work is good; I'm very close to making some things work in my latest design and I'm looking forward to the Embedded Systems Conference next month. Three whole nights in a fancy hotel in downtown San Francisco...it sounds divine. I know I'll miss Jay and Luke, but every once in awhile it's nice to be away for a few days or have a few days home alone.

Well, that's about it for today. I'm going out to lunch with a couple co-workers to my favorite Thai restaurant. I *love* Thai food. The lunches are kind of big though so hopefully I can force myself to the gym tonight again.

What a Rainy Three Day Weekend

Normally I love having three day weekends. While I did still prefer having yesterday off over working, it was the third consecutive day that I was home with Luke. I picked the absolute rainiest part of yesterday to go to the grocery store with said 4 year old. Of course half an hour after we got home it cleared up for a little while. According to the news last night we have had more rain this year than Seattle. Seattle!! Hello, this is San Diego. I don't mind rain so much, but I don't pay three times what is a reasonable cost of living to have *weather*.

It was on okay weekend, rain aside. Luke was going crazy by yesterday, begging to go to the playground (which we did not do, I mean really, everything was soaked!). So we played with his new Play-Doh kitchen for several hours. I don't think my floors will ever be truly free of Play-Doh.

I did pick out yarn for the CAL on the Wagon (CAL = Crochet-A-Long). I even managed to whip up the first four squares but I'll have to re-do the second one. My tension on the Half Double Crochet is pitiful.

Well the delivery man called from the furniture store; my new Entertainment Center will be arriving at my home in half an hour. Yay!! Time to head home and clean out the living room somewhat.

I am a Bead Snob

This already came up at the Wagon today, so it seems like a reasonable thing about which to blog. Last night I started beading Cottage Garden Fairy. I was so excited to have the stitching done and finally begin beading...until I actually started beading. CGF calls for Mill Hill beads, which I have since decided I hate. I've used them before, but not so many so close together on 32 count hand-dyed (and therefore smaller than 32) linen. I like to put my beads on with a full x so that they sit straight up and down as opposed to slanted. There wasn't enough room to attach the Mill Hills like that, so they are stitched on with a single /. And they *still* don't really fit.

I got fed up today and decided to try my best at a Delica conversion using pictures and a conversion list online. I don't know how close the colors will be, but I should know in a few days (I hope) when my very first order from Fire Mountain Gems arrives. I picked 2-3 colors for some of the ones that didn't have a clear conversion. I really hope they work out!

We don't have any big plans this weekend. It's a three day weekend so I think I'll start working on part 2 of Mystery 8 since I'll be waiting for beads. I'm planning to do a very thorough house cleaning this weekend: bathrooms, vacuuming, kitchen, everything. I hate cleaning but I hate having a dirty home too. I bought an entertainment center for the living room a few weeks ago and it will be delivered Tuesday. I can't wait!! We've had all of our videos, etc in boxes on the living room floor for a year and a half now.

I think we're going to go to Mammoth at the end of March after all. I'm going to San Francisco on business the 7th-10th otherwise we'd go sooner. I'm really looking forward to skiing again now that I've finally had a good experience and it looks like the kid class is really good. It had better be for what they're charging!

If anyone is reading this I hope you have a lovely weekend. :)

Just Another Wednesday

I finally got the blogrolling thing worked out. I haven't added everyone to it yet but it's a start. I remember when various people on the cross stitch bb's would start a blog and then post about spending hours fiddling with it. I have to be honest, I didn't get it then. I do now! And I haven't even done anything particular to really personalize mine yet. Like I *really* needed something else to distract me.

Since stitching is what got me into the blogging world, I think it's appropriate to write a little bit about my stitching. My mom taught me how to cross stitch when I was 10. We have a complicated relationship, but needlework at least is one thing we have in common. She makes the most gorgeous quilts; that's something I'd like to pick up someday. Well, I stitching here and there throughout high school, but didn't stitch much in college until the summer before my senior year. I found a little LNS here in San Diego: Stitchcraft Store. I discovered the joy of stitching on linen and quickly learned that there were other fibers out there besides DMC. I sure was hooked. When I got pregnant with Luke the following spring I really started stitching with a vengeance. It took awhile before I started posting on any of the bb's but I lurked for quite awhile and was awed by the online stitching community. I never knew that this hobby that I loved had such depth to it.

I currently stitch 1-3 hours each evening; 1 if I go to the gym (like last night), 3 if it's not a gym night. I even have a website with my stitching photos, though I really need to add some updated wip pics for several of them. Here is the link if anyone is interested: http://www.stitchers-gallery.com/jill/ I have a couple more nights of stitching on Mirabilia's Cottage Garden Fairy and then I'll be ready to add beads. I can't wait to finish it! Last year I started adding more wips and my finishing suffered dramatically. I really do want to finish everything I've started (and start everything I own) but there are just so many beautiful patterns out there and not enough time!

Well at least I've found a little niche where there are people who understand. As an engineer most of my co-workers are male and they absolutely do not "get" stitching. They all know that it's an integral part of me, and smile and nod, but it's not something I can talk about much IRL. I remember talking to one of my co-workers as I was finishing the beading on Mystery VI (Chatelaine). He asked if I glued the beads on. Horror!!

Skiing with a four year old

Wow first of all I can't believe I have comments!! You all are so nice. Someday I'll figure out the blogrolling thing and make a list too. I've got an account at blogrolling, or blogroller, whatever the one everyone else is using. I haven't figured out where to put the code in my template though. Hopefully I'll get it figured out soon.

So as the title says, I went skiing this weekend with my four year old, Luke. I feel a little background is in order at this point. Prior to this weekend I had tried skiing twice and snowboarding three times. Though my husband coined a term specifically for me: snow assing, since that is really where I spent the bulk of my time when attempting to snowboard. He's one of those annoying people that can pick up anything physical extremely quickly. It's so unfair.

Well this time I decided to stop being so cheap and took a lesson. Luke and I took a one hour private lesson while Jay was off doing some crazy black diamond run or something, I'm sure. Luke did alright at first; our instructor had us each put one ski on to get used to it. He did alright until the first time he fell and then we had a major meltdown. I'm sure it didn't help that he had been so excited he only got six hours of sleep. Miraculously Jay appeared halfway through the lesson as we're trying to figure out what to do with Luke. He said that he could picture what was going on and figured he'd better come help. Thank goodness for that!! I managed to get about half an hour of one on one instruction, and I can turn and stop now without falling. Yay!

My friend Elaine came with us; she really is a better friend than I deserve. She doesn't ski or board but she wanted to come and she watched Luke while Jay and I did a few runs. Somehow she managed to get him back on skis; really she is amazing. Well Jay and I ended up at the top of the mountain and took a blue run down that ended up being a terrain park. That was really not cool. I got ran over by a snowboarder and fell several times. Once I ended up on my back with my skis pointing up towards the peak. Somehow I lived and got back onto a green run. We spent some time with Luke after that. Jay and I got him to really ski; it was the coolest thing.

So now I want to go again, but it is so darned expensive. I think next time we're going to pay the extra $$ and go to Mammoth. Luke said he wants to try snowboarding now and they do kid classes at Mammoth starting at age 4. We were at Mtn. High and they don't do kid boarding lessons until age 7. It was a lot closer though; only a 2 hour drive instead of 6.

The only real complaint I have is that people are disgusting. We got back to the parking lot and most of the cars around us were gone but there was so much garbage left behind. There was a trash can about 10 yards away, but apparently the people parked around us were unable to figure out how to walk there. Amazing, really, since they managed to walk to the lodge and ski or board all day. Elaine and I spent a few minutes carting garbage to the trash can while Jay was re-packing the car. It's frustrating because I try to set a good example to Luke and then he sees such blatant disregard for other people like that. He was the one that pointed out all the trash so it seemed like the right thing to do. It just upsets me that there are so many people that don't give a damn. I'll bet they are the same kinds of people that park in the red zone at preschool (but that's another rant).

Well I guess that's enough rambling for now! I really want to get the bloggrolling thing figured out; maybe I'll take another look at it today. I was pretty worn out yesterday when I was first trying it.

My very first post

I can't believe I'm really writing this, but since Terri at the Wagon said I was obligated last night, I guess it's finally time. I've toyed with the idea of having a blog for ages now; it seems everyone on the stitching boards has one these days! I don't know that I have anything particularly interesting to say. I imagine I'll mostly be ranting about work or my 4 year old's antics. Or of course talking about my stitching since that is what has gotten me into this in the first place.

So a little about me, I guess. My name is Jill and I'm 26 years old. My husband's name is Jay and we have a wonderful 4 year old son named Luke. We live in San Diego, CA where I work as an electrical engineer and he works as the tournament coordinator at a local golf course. He may actually become a teaching pro someday; we'll see. I've been cross stitching since I was 10 and I have enough projects to last several lifetimes. I love to travel and hope to go everywhere and see everything...someday.

I guess that's enough for a first post. It's not terribly interesting but at least it's a start.