Incoherent Scribblings

Year in Review

As this is not only the last day of the year, but also the last day of Holidailies, and since I have had sort of an eventful year, I thought I would do a quick “Year in Review.”

January

After going for my first job interview, I visited Dawn and then broke up with The New Guy. I didn’t break up with The New Guy because I was at Dawn’s, rather because I had a lot of time to think during the drive from Arkansas. Of course, The New Guy’s behavior after I returned to Iowa didn’t make matters any better: In fact, it was really the proverbial nail in the coffin.

February

I spent a lot of time working on “Celtic Spring.” I was only working at the sheriff’s office part time, so once I had broken up with The New Guy I had a lot of time to stitch and that is exactly what I did!

March

I went on another job interview and visited some friends who just so happen to live where I was interviewing.

April

My step-dad was in a motorcycle accident on April 16, so I spent most of the month going to hospitals and doing “family stuff.” It was a stressful time: I found out that I didn’t get either of the jobs that I had applied for, but I was so busy with my family in some ways I was grateful. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to apply for jobs, so I inadvertently took a brief hiatus from job applications.

May

I began applying for jobs again and took a position as a full-time dispatcher on the graveyard shift. It was my 33rd birthday and went by quietly.

June

While working the graveyard shift, I began watching my 7 year old niece during her summer vacation. We had a wonderful summer and I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but by the end of the summer I was exhausted!

July

I celebrated my first Fourth of July in the States since 2002 and began getting responses from the last batch of job applications. Harley fell ill and Dolly entered my life.

August

I had three job interviews during the last week of July and the beginning of August. During this time, I was also suffering from a sinus infection that was mostly centered in my ears. My busy and unconventional summer had finally caught up with me: I was sick and because I had an ear infection, my flights were miserable. However, it was not all in vain: On August 25 I was finally offered a job as a librarian.

September

Harley had become ill again, so in addition to spending the beginning of the month getting ready to move, I was running her back and forth to the vet. In the middle of the month I packed up and along with my five cats, drove 1100 miles to Texas and my new job. Within two weeks, Harley had taken a severe turn for the worse and on the last day of the month crossed over to The Rainbow Bridge. I was devastated.

October

My new job was going along rather nicely and I was finally getting settled in. I acquired some sort of social life and started making friends and going out again. I went to a friend’s birthday party, attended a play, and spent more than one weekend night at the bar. At some point, I started seeing more of one particular guy.

November

I continued to see the one particular guy and began to feel like I was making good progress at my new job. I spent Thanksgiving at a friend’s house and enjoyed my break.

December

I made a commitment to participate in Holidailies and attempted to write every day. I did a pretty good job and only missed two days. I started taking pleasure in cooking again and I felt cozy in my little apartment even if it is a little sparse. I attended a Christmas potluck and a graduation party. At the last minute I decided to spend the end of the year at my “other” family’s, so the kitties and I hopped into the car and drove to Dawn’s!

2007 was a crazy transitory year, but in a very positive way. I am so thankful for the support my family gave me during this period and now that I am finally back on my feet I predict 2008 will be one of my best years ever.

Happy New Year Everyone!

26 Complete Projects

Today I stitched “Britty Christmas Kitty” over one on 28 count Lambswool Joblean from the 2005 JCS Ornament issue and with it I have completed my 26 Projects Challenge. I started with the 25 Project Challenge some time in December of last year, but upped the number of finishes by one in order to correct myself for purchasing a chart that I “accidentally” won on eBay.

I am very pleased that I took on the challenge not only because it achieved its original goal of making me stitch patterns in my stash, but also because it helped me to control my cross stitch purchases when I didn’t have a lot of money. In fact, I enjoyed the challenge so much that I am trying to figure out a way to continue it and still be able to purchase some stash. I may do something where I must complete X amount (5?) projects before I can purchase stash or where I limit the amount of charts, but not necessarily fabric, floss, or embellishments.

The only moan I have is that I had hoped that more of my large WIPs would end up on the list than actually did. However this is not the fault of the Project Challenge, rather my own sometimes erratic stitching behavior. Nevertheless, I enjoyed stitching the small and medium sized charts too and either way unstitched charts were eliminated from my stash.

Of course, now that I am gainfully employed and have successfully completed my Project Challenge, I plan to reward myself with a little SEX. I am not going to go overboard; in fact I think 1 chart for every 5 that I completed on the Project Challenge will be the rule and I will carefully consider what I buy because I don’t want to add a lot of charts to my stash that will not get stitched.

Woodland Joy

In an attempt to finish my 26 Project Challenge before the end of the year I decided to whip up this little freebie from Something in Common. Aren’t the little owls so cute? Stitched over one on 28 count Lambswool Joblean, “Woodland Joy” is about an inch and a half by an inch and a half. I plan to finish it as a fob, but not quite yet.

Now, let’s see what else I can do before the end of the year…

In the Tree

In the Tree
Originally uploaded by blondelibrarian

Just another gratuitous kitten picture…

As you can see, Dolly really loves Dawn’s Christmas Tree!

Winter Finish

Today with the finish of the winter cat from the Margaret Sherry patterns in the December 2007 issue of The Cross Stitcher, I have a semi-happy dance. Since these patterns easily stand alone, I could count today’s finish as 25 of my 26 Project Challenge. I decided to stitch all four cats together on the same fabric though so I am not counting this as a happy dance until I stitch all four. Nevertheless, here is the first one out of the four.

In addition to working a little bit on “Fairy Flora,” I now am completely finished with Outi’s belated birthday present. However, I am not mailing it until after I return to Texas because I am waiting on a little extra for her package. I am quite pleased with the way her present turned out. I just hope she likes it.