Incoherent Scribblings

So, you know that rotation plan I had last week? Well, it went well until I got back to “Celtic Spring” and then I got stuck in the golden swirls of Mae’s dress.

As promised, I finished the stitching for the Biscornu Exchange. I haven’t done the finishing just yet, because I am currently contemplating the colors for the hand stitching. The biscornu has two colors and I am trying to decide between using just one color to stitch the biscornu’s sides together and using both colors in a clever fashion. This week’s plan includes finishing the biscornu.

I also started “Romantic Stitcher” last week. I only stitched on it for about an hour and a half, which resulted in it looking like a light gray blob on a piece of “barley” fabric. However, a few things have already been discovered relating to “Romantic Stitcher.”

First off, Isabelle so kindly suggested that I name my stitcher Renée. I had been contemplating calling her that, but she just doesn’t feel like a “Renée” to me. Instead, I thought it might be fun to do a play on the title of the pattern and call her “Roma.” But fortunately for her, I just didn’t think that the poor lady would like to be named after a tomato. Then I noticed that there are also roses in the scene and thought she might like to be named after a flower, so I chose Rosa. From now on, when I talk about “Rosa” I am talking about my “Romantic Stitcher.”

Secondly, when I was visiting Dawn I realized that she had five bobbin boxes to my four. When I asked her why she had more than me she pointed out that she also had the DMC “100s.” I have never come across a chart that called for the DMC 100’s, so I never bothered to buy any.

Well, you guessed it: “Romantic Stitcher” calls for 151 and 168. Apparently Dawn sent me a few because I did discover that I had 168, but not 151… And I needed 151. I set Rosa aside until I can pick up those colors and after those two steps in my rotation, I started working on “Celtic Spring” again.

By the end of that day I could see the end of the front part of Mae’s dress. I then decided that I would focus on that area until I finished it. And, as you can see by the progress scan, I did too. (That’s right I said “scan!” I am using my sister’s old scanner until I move.)

As I said, this week I plan to do the finishing for the biscornu. However, as far as actual cross stitching goes, I will start “Poet’s Heart” later this evening or tomorrow. After that, it is back to “Celtic Spring” because I am ready to predict a Happy Dance Day for Mae: No later than March 11, 2007.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my marital status lately. What exactly am I? Married? Divorced? Separated? Single?

My marriage is over and has been for many months now, but legally I am still married. I have to wait until I meet state residency requirements before I can file for divorce in the United States and in Iowa you have to be a resident of the state for a year prior to filing. However, residency requirements vary from state to state, so if I move to another state soon I may have to wait even longer to get divorced.

Divorce: The term doesn’t have as many negative connotations as it once did and I have even read that once-divorced people can be in high demand since they have “proven” that they are able to commit, but I don’t like it.

I can understand people that refer to themselves as divorced, especially if there are children involved, but I dislike the word “divorce” for unconventional reasons: I do not now, nor have I ever liked the idea of being identified by my marital status… whatever it may be. By the time I was in my teens I refused to be called Miss and apart from the fact that I will never change my surname, I will never accept the title Mrs. for any reason. In my opinion, my marital status is private information and unless I choose to share it with you it is none of your business.

I suppose separated is probably the most accurate term, but I don’t like it either. If I hear that someone is “separated” it indicates to me that the person thinks that he or she needs some space and may eventually reconcile with his or her partner. In my case that it absolutely not true because, in my mind, my relationship with A. ended the moment I boarded the plane for the U.S.

For all practical purposes I guess consider myself single because in some ways it is like I was never married in America. Though we got married in the States, A. and I only lived together as husband and wife for approximately six weeks before we flew off to Europe. We never filed taxes together, we never bought a car together, we never signed a lease together, we never had a bank account together, or any of those things that married people do or have together in modern-day America.

The situation is complicated and I suppose in some ways it doesn’t really matter what I say, but when I meet new people or reconnect with old acquaintances I just don’t feel like any answer I give is honest right now.