Thursday 31 May 2007

You may be a procrastinator if...

    ...It takes three years to remove your ex-spouse's surname from your apartment's name tag.
Actually I thought that I don't own a suitable screw driver, but I was wrong - I realised some time ago (when I had to do some plumbing) that I have one with interchangeable ends and that one of the ends was small enough.
So, it took three years to plan - and one minute to screw the tag off, edit the names and screw the tag back to its place... But well planned is half done, right?

It has been time of development lately, in emotional, personal, spiritual and, by the looks of it, even in professional level.
It seems to me that good things are beginning to happen in certain areas of my life, and, some parts of me don't think it's a coincidence as good things began to happen after I made the decision (maybe I should begin to refer to it as The Decision...) to take a break and concentrate on important things.

Goal check


As it is last day of May it's time for a goal check.
To clarify my markings strike and green equal a success. Orange is for "put some work to said piece, but not enough for a success", and red goes, as you guess, for a failure.

Goals for May were:

  1. Finish Monochromatic Exchange and send it to $PERSON. Done
  2. Stitch one model. Done - with 'honours': three stitched, two finished.
  3. Stitch Angi's gift. Yup!
  4. Send 4th part of Birthday Thread Exchange. Done
  5. Participate Stitch-A-Thon 18th - 20h of May. Goal: 3/4 of Loy's page four. Done, stitched only ~50% though.
  6. Make an illustrated tutorial about my needleroll finishing method on Periphaeria's site. (This will probably move to be June's goal, but anyway...)
  7. Play around with chanda_m's PIF piece.
Goals for June are...
  1. Stitch Summer Dragon on Leslie's RR. (Send-out is July 1st.)
  2. Participate Stitch-A-Thon, stitch rest of Loy's page four.
  3. Make one surprise gift.
  4. Finish the models for July launch and make them ready for print.
  5. Finish and mail Angi's gift.
  6. See about that needleroll tutorial.
I keep the list short for now as I prefer to overdo my goals...

Wednesday 30 May 2007

This day seems to be filled with entries, eh?

As Her Highness has got a bad habit to sleep on my laptop (it's warm and feels nice against her tummy, I presume) I had to reorganize my life a bit: Periphaeria is in my bedroom and my personal stash is more or less in the living room.

I have been playing around with the thought of buying a convertible sofa to my bedroom for a while and now, when my working space moved here, I really see the need. I could arrange the furniture in completely another manner if there were no need to note that I need to have room for a 120 cm x 200 cm matress (I despise sleeping in smaller matresses even when I sleep alone - admittedly it has felt a bit cramped since I slept a month in Wolfie's huge bed *grin*).
Even more so as my bedroom is small and its "layout" not very well designed (two whole walls, on opposite sides. The other two have either window or closets on them).

After some window shopping at Ikea's site I have three (el cheapo) candidates:

  1. Solsta (Oh, I love the colour! That would go well with my bedroom curtains... (pair 1. black with colourful leaves, pair 2. burgundy) )
  2. Grankulla Massum (This is nice to sit on, I know (or maybe it was N. who was nice to sit on on this..).)
  3. - ' ' - Munkarp (a bit expensive though, and I am not sure do I really need matress that thick - and I could always buy that thicker matress later if I buy Massum now...)
My luck is that my back loves hard matresses (that is why I need to replace my old one, its springs have got old and don't support me very well) and that it's not very picky in general on what it sleeps on (as long as it is not all soft and thick enough to provide some padding between hard place and my pelvis).

In addition to this plan I have been thinking of buying two curtain rails/ rods, removing the door from between vestibule and hall (Firstly, I don't see the point of having both vestibule and hall in two room apartment, I'd rather had tad bigger bedroom or living room), sew a curtain to cover the sight from door's window inside the apartment (directly to my living room!) and buy one of those beaded curtains on the other side so I can choose between two visibility options (as I rather enjoy the fact that my apartment has very few doors and lots of natural light I prefer not to close the doorway completely).
And then, finally, after only *grin* seven years (crikey, I have lived here 25% of my whole life!), get a mirror in the vestibule (there's only one whole wall in the hall and I have my router base on that wall) and small coat rack.

Hmm... We were talking about a trip to Ikea #1 with my mother some time ago (because she lives close to it (ok, I live close to Ikea #2, but it's not very accessible for a person who relies on public transport)... I think I have an excuse here...

SBQ: Needles


Today's

Stitching Bloggers' Question

was suggested Kathryn and is:
How many needles do you use during a project? Have you ever loaded up a needle for every color? Do you use a new needle for every project or recycle your favorite needle?
I use only one needle per project unless I lose it or it becomes too tarnished to flow smoothly through the fabric (and at that point the needle usually becomes an allergy trigger (even I am not officially allergic to it) as when the coating is off the nickel comes out to play).
As I see it, parking sounds like a good idea in theory, but at this moment I don't see myself doing it as I am way too short-tempered for that. I would just lose my nerves and become to hate the whole project. But I am not saying I couldn't try it, in far distant future.
I don't have favourite needle, and as I see needles just as tools I don't attach any sentimental value to them. When the needle becomes tarnished (and that happens with every brand (excluding platinum needles), even with Piecemakers) I throw it away and take new one. Though, when it comes to platinum needles I usually just lose them somewhere because I have never met a platinum needle which have become tarnished, even in my acidy hands.

Foto Pherrets: Week 74

Our word for the week is: Peace.

This is from Wát Pho, which is extremely peaceful place (even with all the tourists). You even have time to stop and photoshoot the flowers. *grin*

Tuesday 29 May 2007

I rant because I can and because I feel like it

  1. I woke up with slashing pain on my right side.
  2. I woke up due the pain.
  3. I only slept three hours.
  4. When I got to living room HH slept on my laptop (she has one of her cranky days..).
  5. I am still in pain, and most likely reason for it is... Maestro, can I have some drum roll?... Gallbladder attack (that is the term we use).
My right kidney hurts.

I'm seeing the doctor at 11:00.

ETA: Yup, apparently it was my gallbladder. For now they let it be, next time they'll ultrasound it.

Various links.


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Cat addict, me?!


I just emptied my camera's memory card and checked how many files I have in my 'Cats' folder: 952 pictures... How long I have had the camera? Six or seven months?

Anyway... as I am not showing you what I have been stitching today I'll provide you some cat pictures (that was surprising, wasn't it?). (Leena, the last one is for you. *grin* (As you see he is naturally rubbery.))

  

Old Lady has shown some surprising sides lately. In the afternoon she was angry at me because I didn't give her ear drops right after her antibiotics (as I usually do, and she didn't stop complaining before I gave her the drops. After that she was one happy cat and dozed off for her regularly scheduled afternoon nap (picture 2.)).
And when I came home later she was laying on my desk (she knows she's not allowed to do it) and she had opened Windows Media Player, put this thing on mute and opened my bank's online banking portal to new browser window...
Apparently she wanted to listen some music, but I don't get it how she had got WMP open... I have disabled the darned thing and use completely other software(s) for music and other media.

Maybe I come home some day and she's using YIM and listening music through my Last.FM application... (One of the cats already knows how to use IRC...)

Sunday 27 May 2007

Sparky has a wall!


The pumpkin on the right is modified. In the pattern said pumpkin frowns and taking the base idea behind this design and the general look of it I really couldn't understand a frowning pumpkin...
So, I opened my designing software and played a bit. I like this version of The Pumpkin much better. (Notice the cat on the crock!)

In addition to stitching...

... and taking care of Her Highness my weekend contained reading one book, a book which demanded to come home with me Wednesday (when I spent time in book store while waiting HH's operation to be over) despite its price (14,90€ which is way more than I usually pay for any book) and which wanted to be read as soon as possible, even though it actually had nothing I hadn't already knew in it. The book was "Antisemitism in Finland 1918- 1946" (its slightly modified version from a thesis).
One of those books everyone should read. (It saddens me that large percentage of the noisiest anti-semites were highly educated... and notable percentage of them were priests.)

If you are as interested of little tidbits of information as I am you may find it curious that one of Nazi Germany's "allies" had Jewish soldiers (and a field synagogue) during WWII: that country is Finland.
Nazis asked Finns to surrender our Jewish population, but prime minister of that time (J.W. Rangell) answered to Heinrich Himmler's request: "Wir haben keine Judenfrage". That was only time during the whole war when this topic was discussed.

Considering the facts we all know about Europe during WWII that is a real curiosity, and only few know about it.

Link of interest:

    Jews in Finland during WWII

Stitcher reads quotes...

"It's a dangerous business going out your front door." (J.R.R. Tolkien) and stitcher adds "... - rather stay at home and stitch."

Unconscious Mutterings


Week 225

I say ... and you think ... ?

  1. Dancer :: Dancer in the Dark (For My Pain...)
  2. Intellectual :: Stimulation
  3. Direct :: Debit
  4. Tolerate :: Approve
  5. Post :: -It
  6. Instinctive :: Inborn
  7. Brink :: Extinction
  8. Regain :: Return
  9. Repulsed :: Disgusted
  10. Distressed :: Anxious

Saturday 26 May 2007

Things that make you go Aww!^^

Livejournal is alive again... or is it?


OMG! It's alive! It's always good to complain a bit.

I have been wondering why I suffer from tightness in my larynx after I give HH her antibiotics. Guess twice why (the reason is *so* obvious that I am ashamed of not getting it before I read the safety instructions from the package... (Hint: I am allergic to penicillin. )).
The answer is simple: she is taking amoxillin which is one form of penicillin and I handle her tablets twice a day. Which I shouldn't do, being allergic to that stuff.
At least one thing is sure: I really am allergic to penicillin.

Booking Through Thursday

After a long, long break it's time for BTT...

Parlez vous?

    Do you have any foreign language books and if so can you (still) read them?
Noticing that English is a foreign language to me I can say that I have books in several foreign languages: English, Russian, Hungarian, Hebrew, Swedish are the ones which come to mind, there may be others too.
I am fluent enough in English, I can still read some Russian (but probably not enough to get the idea of any book). At this point I can read Hebrew, but won't understand most of the words (ie. I know the writing marks and know how they are read), so to read a book in Hebrew... not a chance. When it comes to Swedish I would probably understand most of it, but I have to admit that I dislike Swedish as a language. And Hungarian... I don't know it well enough (I still remember how to order two beers though *grin*).

Quotes

    "Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest."
    -- Isaac Asimov

    "Some people never go crazy. What truly horrible lives they must lead."
    -- Charles Bukowski

Just a test

For your entertainment: LJ has had server problems since Thursday, hence longer entries can't get through.

I'll be back when I can.

Wednesday 23 May 2007

Foto Pherrets: week 73


Our word for this week is: Brown

Brown frogs, rather obvious. (I took this in local zoo last year.)

(OMG, have I missed four weeks?!)

Another Old Lady update

Back from the vet, 160 € poorer (I have spent almost 400 euros to her ear during this month) and having one cat with a stitched ear sleeping in the bedroom. (Her ear swell really badly over night and when the vet see it she just checked HH quickly and sedated her for the operation.)
This vet was smart enough to take a sample from HH's ear canal and we have the possible reason for her ear problems: severe bacterial infection. (It took three vets to find it out!)
Which means that Old Lady will be taking antibiotics and antibiotic ear drops next three weeks. And I have to hope that her ear lobe won't get infected, as, according to the vet, it is quite likely in cases like this - even she is on antibiotics.

On 11th of June we will head back for stitch removal and recovery check (bye bye another 90-or-so euros).

Odd things

I heard that my way to express myself has been complimented by someone. O_o Which makes it (even) odd(er) is that I heard it from my mother... It's odd because we don't know same people - we do know same people, but we don't know same people.
Which means, as I obviously have fans (), that I will participate my first ever Pride in July. I think this calls for my "Attitude problem" shirt...
(It will be one interesting meeting/ conversation as I have certain rather interesting opinions (though only on the positive side) of the topic in question... )

Tuesday 22 May 2007

And there was much rejoicing!

Remember this?
Guess what bits_2_whole gave me as an early birthday gift?

...

...

I am sure you can guess...

...

...

Really...

...

...

I got a wireless USB adapter! Ladies, gentlemen and androgynes we are finally in Wi-fi time!

More exchanges!

I just heard that Simone has received her Monochromatic item, so here it comes (try to guess one of her favourite colours)!

 

Tidbits:

    Design: Quaker Medallion Strawberry Pinkeep by Blackbird Designs
    Published in: Just Cross Stitch's Christmas Ornaments 2006 issue.
    Fabric: Unknown 28 count hand-dyed pale green Belfast linen from Silkweaver.
    Floss: DMC 793
I try to avoid using glue in finishing, but as I was already late with this I followed the instruction and used glue for the leaves. If I had had more time I would have done the leaves differently (I have two possible ideas in mind for future reference), but still I am happy how this turned out - and Simone loves it and that is important. ^^

And as you see from the picture I also sent her some big glass beads and two skeins of DMC's Variations in shades of blue.

Quote of the day

    "Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness."
    -- Sigmund Freud
(By the way, it's not Livejournal which doesn't provide feed, but Bloglines which doesn't seem to find/ update the LJ feed. I was curious and checked my feed with Google's news aggregator. This might also explain why it seems to me that no one updates their LJ's anymore.)

Incoming exchange and Old Lady

I got mail from Julianne, and believe or not, this is my Monochromatic Exchange.

She decided to use this floss as it has three of the colours I listed under my favourites when signing up. She has finished my item as a heart shaped tin and its bottom (inside, duh) is padded so I can stick needle in there if necessary.
Beautiful, isn't it?

Old Lady

Good things happen to good people, but sometimes those happen also to a bit less good people. (Or maybe good things happen to good cats?)
My father and his significant other found a buyer for their apartment which means that I get some euros as an advance inheritance (he made a promise to me and my sister some time ago as our brother has got his share already) and my father promised to give me some of the promised amount in advance (actually I have already got some of it in advance for HH's second vet bill) now. This means that HH and I head to the vet in other part of the city tomorrow, she gets checked and probably vet draws some blood to check how HH's body is doing, ie. will she survive through the anesthesy (I think she does, as she has been anesthetised twice during last month and she's still alive and kicking), and we go through the options for her ear (I say: "operate it!"). After that we'll book another appointment, and the good thing... it should happen this week.
So, Old Lady needs to live in discomfort for a while, but only few days. (By the way, even she hates the sock she seems to be happier with it. She's not scratching her ear as much she used to and she seems to be able to concentrate on sleeping again.)

That extra money also means one thing: new clothes! (Which means sewing related happy dances in here as I have decided to rather spend my money on clothes which actually fit and which are of my preferred colour -> make them myself.)

And...

It's suprising how people get used to being lied to, and when someone tells them good truth they don't believe it.
I had a chat with mr. X. today and until now he had thought that I am kidding with the claim of having a crush on him. Or maybe I had it.. I am not sure, tenses are so difficult when it comes to things like this.

Maybe he'll learn to understand me a bit better now. (Excluding my taste for certain type of men...*grin*)

Monday 21 May 2007

Life in the geriatrics ward

Local vets are fully booked until next week so Her Highness has no other option than live in discomfort for a while - as she doesn't even apply as an emergency case because blood ear is not fatal, it's "just" annoying, and it is known to cure by itself with time (swelling presses bleeding vein shut).
If you have ever heard the sound cat's claws make while scratching plastic collar you know that I will be insane before next week...
But in better news, Neko, my old fellow with funtionality problems, seems to be getting better. He has been spotted destroying running around the apartment with Masa without any visible ataxia.
Neko has been on seaweed powder (which is actually a cat dental care product) + Carny's paté diet for a month now, and the fact that his physical and mental state has improved proves that he was malnutritioned for some odd reason. He just don't seem to be very interested of dry food anymore (he does eat it daily, but not enough) for reasons I can't fathom (Only reason I can think of is that he has lost some of his sense of smell as his teeth and gums seem to be ok).

ETA: I feel like Dr. Mengele now... but this should make her ear immobile.

Thousand and one use for socks, part I.

Changes in rotation

I got an idea: as Loy is progressing so well when I only work on it every 3rd weekend of every month why not to initiate that method to my rotation?
So, I change my rota a bit and work bigger projects on weekends and smaller projects (and models) during week.

The New Rota

Weekends:

Weekdays:
    Monday: Models
    Tuesday: Models
    Wednesday: Secrecy Day (ie. gifts, PIFs etc.)
    Thursday: Round Robin/ Futurecast
    Friday: two VERY belated gifts
If this doesn't work, it doesn't. If it does, even better.

May Stitch-A-Thon


One of this month's goals was: "Participate Stitch-A-Thon 18th - 20h of May. Goal: 3/4 of Loy's page four."
SAT was during this weekend and I managed to stitch only ~50% - which is good anyway as rest of Loy's pages are filled with shadings and take quite some counting (I had to frog darkest area of mother's arm once due slight mistake - I was one stitch off..). (And I was sleeping most of the weekend anyway.)

Sunday 20 May 2007

Unconscious Mutterings


Week 224

I say ... and you think ... ?

  1. Coastguard :: Baywatch (O_o)
  2. Buddies :: Bodies
  3. Nap :: Long
  4. Groan :: Moan
  5. Sitcom :: Bo-oring
  6. Reader :: - - -
  7. Heroes :: Aqua - Cartoon Heroes
  8. Amazing :: The Amazing Race (O_o)
  9. Woman :: Aretha Franklin - Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
  10. Don’t! :: Don't panic!

SBQ: The Ultimate Question


I decided to take a break from giving a hand (har, har ) to the mother in Loy (actually her hand is almost done, I am sewing her dress now) and answer to this week's

Stitching Bloggers' Question

which was suggested Juls and is:
If you could only stitch one more piece what would it be and why?
Gawd... but first project I could think of was Châtelaine's 'Taj Mahal'.
Why? I have loved it since I first saw it and it is huge, so, I could spend quite some time with my last project. (Poor firing squad!)

By the way, it seems to me that LJ has feeding problems so don't wonder if I don't seem to post...

Friday 18 May 2007

So...


... as monochromatic piece went on its merry way I have only two ongoing exchanges. And as the other one does not contain stitched items, just floss, I am actually almost done with my exchanges for the time being as Angi's Birthday Exchange piece lacks only finishing and it is ready to be sent to her - maybe with some additional goodies..?

After that I will take an exchange break (You see a pattern here? I take summer break from many things...) and I will really concentrate on P-I-Fs and VERY belated gifts. (chanda_m's piece is kitted already... better be, my deadline for these is in October.)

Old Lady

Her ear hasn't changed, but I am looking after her very carefully over the weekend. Though, the lobe may have got irritated because of HH's possible pollen allergy (she's producing yucky amounts of ear wax in her floppy ear at this moment... or maybe it's just the wax remover vet gave her. It really removes the wax..).

Help Jenna!


Now, I don't usually do these, but this is an exception: click here and help Jenna to get $10000 scholarship and strive for her dreams!

Thank you.

Greetings from the Land of Ouch


Monochromatic item is finished and ready to be mailed and my mother borrowed me some money so I can get HH to the vet if her ear looks bad tomorrow (if the vet has time - though there is another vet in the vicinity..). Money, which I will pay back when I can. Maybe I could transfer my ADSL bill to be paid in end of June instead of... whenever (it should come any day now) and pay some back to her.

Still, all this means that I have to think carefully every single thing I buy, every single thing I eat.

In the way it's good that I don't have much of an appetite at the moment. It's easier to eat cheap when you don't care of what you actually eat because you eat only just to keep on going.

On another matter

It's rather silly.
Few days ago I swore to myself that I won't be bothered by men before autumn and, of course, someone asked me out today.

No, I won't go. The guy was tediously boring. Which made it even worse was that he assumed that I can't see what he was after. I knew he'd ask me out sooner or later after his second sentence. (He also proved, once again, that most Finnish men just don't get me. They don't understand a word I say even we speak the same language.)

You know, this is the third time I swear I will stay away from men for some time... First time I met Dan two weeks after deciding staying single until I am 24 (I separated when I was still 24, by the way), and second time I met Wolfie about two weeks after swearing that I will stay single next six months. (Do you see a pattern here?)
Apparently I think that third time is a charm, and, it either proves my point or doesn't.

The reason which lead me to this is that dating game is too harsh for little me and I need some time to just sit at the bench and look at others playing it. Maybe gain few acquintances, maybe a friend or two on the way... And come back to the field when the evenings become chilly. Come back when I am sure, when I have strength. When I have lived whole summer alone, first one in a decade or so. (I am a habitual relationship person. I seem to always find someone when I really want, even if it's not good for me.)

This is also a decision of healing soul. I have got my monster dreams back, and in my case those are always a good sign. Last nights I have been hanging out with werewolves (I know where that leads to) and fighting with vampires. Vampires which aren't afraid of cross, but stumble away when you recite Shma. And I know what that is saying to me... (but, more about that elsewhere, later.)

But, I hadn't bought this if I didn't had no faith in remarrying some day. With whom and when is the open question.

Thursday 17 May 2007

Dam*it!


It seems to me that Her Highnesses ear lobe hangs a bit more again... I can't say is there fluid in it as its end has had little pocket of loose skin since her last vet visit.
So, I hope there isn't and it is all about her ear getting wonkier, but get prepapred to the possibility that there is fluid and she'll need to see the vet again- ie. I just withdrew all the funds from my PayPal account, but I am still few tens of euros short if her ear decides to swell again during this month.
Though this time I won't give her any chances to scratch her ear so there shouldn't be an inflammation if her ear ends up like a balloon again, which means that the vet can cut and stitch HH's ear lobe to prevent any future problems.

Guess who has a migraine because of this..?

Wednesday 16 May 2007

Stash >:)


Those dark blues have surprisingly purple shade in them, but, even though I like the colours, I don't see this stitched with them. Either shades of crimson or dark indigo and gold. (Crimson-gold combo would look fabulous on natural linen... Gosh, I really need a relationship! Why? So I can start this - any excuse is good enough. *giggle*)

In addition to this I got some highly secret stash which I can't show - or could, but what's one picture worth when you can't say anything about it?
Anyway, you will find it out sooner or later (should I add, again, no, I am not pregnant?) - actually I know exactly when, but I like to keep some secrets. *evil grin*

Now... more coffee and back to finishing my Monochromatic Exchange piece.
It's already late, and tomorrow is a public holiday, but I try to get it in mail in Friday - taking that I can stay awake long enough... (I could add rant about my local health center's lack of phone queue system and their idiotic one phone hour/ day policy, and, add an idea about online booking system for health services... We can already apply for several social benefits online (identification bases on our online banking codes), why can't we book GP appointments in the same way?)

Tuesday 15 May 2007

"Your installation was a success"


No, I did not reinstall myself, but XP - finally and have spent last two hours by downloading updates from M$, drivers from HP and all the softwares I need.
And I found accidentally better FTP client than my previous one was (and this one is freeware (SmartFTP works after trial period, but doesn't start every time) - though I am already considering a minor donation for the programmer as this is great!): FireFTP. (It has cute icon too. ^^)

Clean, simple, free and works in a browser... what else you need?

Monday 14 May 2007

Another Happy Dance

If I had been my normal self this would have been stitched days ago, but, nevertheless, we have a happy dance.

Now... I probably will head to take a nap and after it I really need to concentrate on the Monochromatic Exchange as the official mailing date was today and I haven't even finished it yet.
Which is understandable, noticing how sleepy I have been lately... For some reason this would be easier to cope with if it was in my psyche and not in my physique because when my psyche is healthy and my body fails I get really frustrated.

Sign of healthy psyche

... I adore my latest user picture.
Or maybe it is a sign of an unhealthy psyche, adoring yourself.

Sunday 13 May 2007

This-and-that and UM

Ask anyone and they will say that I am not a bit patriotic. Ask me and I say I am not a bit patriotic. (No, I don't think the fact that my grandfathers and their fathers have fought in several wars oblidges me to be patriotic - I have reason to believe that my Pa' (paternal grandfather) was pacifist because of Winter War and the Continuation War (both of these equal WWII). Anyway...)
But I have to say that now I understand it better... For reason or another I was deeply moved by Finland's opening video in Eurovision Song Contest (as some of you may remember we won ESC last year).
But still, it was about third time every when I have any kind of patriotic feelings (1995 Finland won Hockey World Championship (this year we have 50/50 chance) and 2006 we won ESC), so it doesn't make me a patriot.

But, on important things...

UM: Week 223

I say ... and you think ... ?

  1. Film :: Clip
  2. Dragon :: Round Robin
  3. Hunger :: Desire (*innocent cough*)
  4. Plucked :: Chicken
  5. Dissolving :: Water soluble
  6. Executive :: Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced Bouquet)
  7. Ridiculous :: My sleeping...
  8. Mist :: Night
  9. Minority :: Me
  10. Map :: Paper
Re-installation

Will probably happen tomorrow, or day after it, despite of my estimation, as I am still making off-site backup... Blah!

Yeah, I need bigger external hard drive for situations like this.

Saturday 12 May 2007

אֲנִי לְדוֹדִי וְדוֹדִי לִי aka. What's all this then?!


Could someone tell me why I got this odd, uncontrollable urge to buy this in last night?! (For those of you who don't read Hebrew: אֲנִי לְדוֹדִי וְדוֹדִי לִי equals 'Ani l'dodi v'dodi li' which equals 'I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine' (note to self: interesting little linky).)

[Digress] I have just got in the phase of actually enjoying being single and I have absolutely no one in my life. I am not even interested of anyone at this moment (it's simpler that way) and here I am buying a wedding sampler (which, admittedly, has been in my wish list for a while).
(... not to mention few other current "limitations".)

Have I lost my mind?!
First there was Something Blue... and now this... what's next? I begin to plan huge princess wedding just in case? (I am not princess wedding type at all (as you may have noticed) - if it would happen that I'd met a man who'd like to have big wedding I'd probably wear simple crimson dress (with corset, probably *evil grin*) or something... Do you know that traditionally Finnish wedding dresses were actually black?)[/Digress]

Now, my vision: stitched with shades of crimson, and little touch of gold (ie. metallics) on something completely different than 18 count aida, and I would modify the design a bit (ie. leave some parts unstitched).

Still... I don't understand why I had to get it now.

Friday 11 May 2007

SBQ: Choosing Exchanges


Today's

Stitching Bloggers' Question

was suggested by Ish and is:
How do you choose a project for an exchange? Do you pick solely on what you know of the taste of the recipient or are there other reasons you pick the piece you do?
It depends on
  1. Do I know the person, and if so, how well?
  2. How good wish list they have?
  3. How broad likes/ dislikes list they have?
  4. How many WIPs you can find from their blog (if they blog - I prefer stitching blogger exchanges as with them it's always easier to choose)?
Sometimes I choose the colour based on my recipient's blog colours, or if they have listed their favourite colours I choose according to them, and if it's obvious that my recipient likes certain style and I have suitable design/ I know suitable design (and I can afford to buy it) I will, of course, stitch it - taking that it strikes my stitching fancy at least a bit.
Of course there are moments when you can't deduce what your recipient might like. In those cases I try to choose something neutral (politically correct with generally liked colours) which I would like and just hope for the best.
When it comes to finishing the piece I go with either their wish list (Sometimes person's wish list reveals that they have blooming addiction for something), a hunch or what the design calls for.

Thursday 10 May 2007

It makes you wonder...

... my mother got asthma when she was about 31 (I have always said that she got asthma because of me, as she got sick after I was born). I am soon 28 and I am having shortness of breath when I walk.
I know I am in good physical condition and until recently I had no troubles to climb up the stairs with groceries or walk to the store and back. Some time ago I was still able to walk 2 kilometres in 20 minutes, when walking leisurely (I like to give myself some time to look at my surroundings and think), today... 4 kilometers and couple of errands (errands themselves took about 20 minutes) took almost two hours - and I was wasted when I got back home... My lungs felt, and still do, like they were imploding.

So, someone calls GP and makes an appointment - and, hopefully, this someone gets into tests.
Anyway, I need to get this-and-that for my allergy, bigger prescription for levocetirizine (it was meant for a year, it lasted less than six months), and, if GP is willing, something to help with my lungs. (You kind of need oxygen, m'kay?)

Computer problems

Either XP is crashing (my user profile at least) or it really is all about the fact that C drive is running short of space... HP has been acting up (losing and finding drivers, freezing up, losing my Quick launch icons) since yesterday, and I have spent my day taking backups and making list of softwares I need to install if I really go to the way of reinstalling from the scratch.
In theory, I could just reinstall system's partition (C:), but if it really is a space problem it wouldn't help in the end. (Oh well, maybe I could survive with few less music files on my laptop and give some more gigabytes to the system.)

When it rains, it pours, right?

Wednesday 9 May 2007

Under the weather


- literally. Air pressure has stayed low and I have been sleeping like a baby most of the day. Ngh. Though, at some point there was minor thunderstorm so I am living in hope that air pressure will get over 1000 hPa soon and I will get back to that phase where I actually stay awake 16 hours per day instead of sleeping 16 hours per day...
But, I am not only one who's tired:

That position just can't be comfortable. But then, Masa is a rubber cat and I do doubt sometimes that he has no spine at all...

On a brighter note...

I started Angi's birthday gift today... luscious silk on a delicious hand-dyed - and that is all I'll tell you for now.

Old lady update


New cat breed: Siamese half fold. Cute as a button. ^^
(She is still wearing the collar as her ear hasn't healed completely yet.)

"This version of snowprincipessa is not compatible with...


... low air pressure."

Which is, at this moment, 993.2 hPa.
How so I am not compatible with it? I woke up 8 am, had a four hour nap between 11 am and 3 pm, woke up, got coffee, went to store, came home, went to bed, slept almost four hours... I have been awake about 2½ hours and I am already wanting to go back to bed. (Now, just keep your thumbs up that I can stay awake tomorrow as I have loads of things to do.)

But, there was something good in this day too... Crescent Colours silks from One Star's Light came!

Beautiful, aren't they?