Hooray Meme~!

From Becca's blog.

If you were a ____, what would you be?

A vegetable - a tomato...because people treat them like vegetables...but they are actually fruits! They are stealth fruits. I like that. Stealth fruity.
An animal - a horse. They can work hard and be helpful, or they can be wild and untamed. All depends.
A fruit - A peach. Ripe and juicy. :-))
A color - Ocean blue
A household object - Fly swatter
An article of clothing - socks
A Drink - some flavor of Snapple
A famous person - Oprah. She's very very rich and very inspiring.
A Film Character - I already am Sally from "When Harry Met Sally" -- just listen to me order in a restaurant!
A Cartoon Character - I am not big on the cartoons these days.
A Car -some kind Aston Martin Roadster. Cute, zippy, expensive.
A city - Chicago. My hometown.
A country - Canada. It's LIKE the US, but no one wants to invade them. LOL
A Mythical Creature - The Tooth Fairy. She leaves money, everyone loves that.
A chocolate bar - Anything from Belgium.
A book - The Book of Job.
A sport - Volleyball
A word - Onomatopoeia
One of your family - I am -- I am me.
One of your friends - Wendy. I want to be tall and thin. Just once.

my dad is in the hospital. again.

My brother called me Sunday to tell me that Dad is back in the hospital. For several hours on Thursday, Dad again had shooting chest pains that felt like a heart attack. He tried waiting to see if they would go away, but they did not. Eating or drinking anything brought on pain and nausea. So he took himself back to the hospital again (no 911 call/ambulance ride this time, as far as I know).

I spoke to the resident on duty this morning, and Dad has had some tests but they still don't know the problem. He has another test scheduled for tomorrow. They will be looking at his spleen and liver to be sure they are functioning properly.

If you have a minute, poor Dad is very bored in the hospital with nothing to do but watch soap operas on TV. You can call him and say hello, or visit. He is at St Mary of Nazareth on West Division in Chicago.

I did not do much this weekend. Saturday I came in to work along with the rest of my department. I was here until after midnight. This program has only a week to get out the door and to the printer. Very late, I spent some time on the phone with a friend who has been going through some marital problems, while I got my work done. He felt a little sorry for me, being at work at midnight on a Saturday, but I told him that I love my job and that what I do is fun for me (I would rather do this than be at home cleaning my bathroom or watching TV). On a Saturday night at work, I can play my music as loud as I want, take my shoes off, talk on my phone to friends, and check my email while I get a jump start on next week. It's private, I don't have to fight for the color printer with 20 other people sending in print jobs, and the servers work very fast because no one else is on them. So it's all good.

Unfortunately, staying up so late on Saturday wiped me out on Sunday. I slept until after 3 pm, then got up to go grocery shopping, came home, and fell asleep on the couch again. Other than hemorraging money at my local SuperTarget, not much else happened.

I have put aside my current BAP, "Maiden Hair" by Bucilla. I have been working on this pattern since October, only taking a one weekend break to do a small Mill Hill bell pull project for Christmas. I have finished stitching about 90% of it from the orange butterfly at her crown to just above the blue butterfly. I have finished almost all of the blue butterfly stitching and have been working on the rest of the pattern to the left and right of that butterfly. But 4 months on the same project is boring. So I switched to a small Mill Hill bell pull kit, "Willow Gate" from the Garden Gates collection, that my friend Marcy sent me.

In November, I took a quick weekend break from Maiden Hair and did a Mill Hill Christmas bell pull kit that had been a gift from my 2005 Secret Santa, Erica: Noel Medley from the Holiday Mini Bell Pulls collection. I didn't think I would like this project, since I had hated beadwork so far. But I really enjoyed it a lot, and the finished project is just adorable. I especially liked that all the materials were included so the project actually could be finished, right then, and put on display. No framing or sewing machine needed. I also loved that the beading and small Mill Hill treasures give the final project a three-dimensional quality.

I then looked online and found a whole slew of similar beadwork projects on the Silver Needle site. I immediately ordered two more Christmas kits, and my friend Marcy had this Garden Gate as well as another Christmas kit laying around that she said she would never do, so she kindly mailed them to me. Then my 2006 Secret Santa, Anita, sent me several of the mini beaded pin kits this year. I am not much into pins but I think I can glue on magnets and make refrigerator magnets out of them.

So far on Willow Garden, I have finished all the brown of the tree branches, and some of the green tree leaves. It will only take me a little while to finish it, and then I can put it on display for spring. And that blue ribbon is my favorite color, as you can tell from the color of my couch in the Noel bell pull photo above.

Today actually feels balmy out, but it's probably about 35 degrees or so. Still that is better than 3 degrees!

I want to move this spring, as soon as I sell. I'll never see this sight again.

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Photo 1: Maiden Hair by Bucilla. From Needleartmania.com. LINK

Photo 2: Noel Medley by Mill Hill. From Sewandsew.co.uk. LINK

Photos 3 & 4: Salt Creek in winter. Hoffman Estates, IL. Taken by me. 15 Feb 2007.

News and Notes

Hello all --

I have had another blog for quite some time, but it's just about my scrapbooking. In the past couple of years I have heard from so many people that they love reading all about my adventures and getting my Christmas updates. So I thought I would use the free account I got with my new email address to keep far-flung friends apprised of what's the what with me.

Right now I am still at work, and it is very late. Work is crazy. It has been crazy for since I took lead on a program for the first time last summer, and it only gets busier as time goes on. Things will lighten up at the end of this February, but in the meantime, we all work long, hard hours to get our new Math program out the door. Once February is over I am told we begin working on a National program [right now we are doing state-specific versions for two huge accounts], but we have a few months to get that done. I am looking forward to some breathing space in the work arena.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and it was quite lovely here in Single Land. I received a beautiful card in the mail last weekend from my dearest friend, which made me laugh and tear up a bit. I love Good Mail. Then I came to work to find a heart-shaped box of chocolates sitting on my desk, from my boss. A nice surprise.

I worked a bit late last night and then headed to the Park Center to play volleyball. I love playing volleyball. It makes me happy. I could do it every day. I have modest goals for my volleyball playing. I want to have all my serves go over the net and place where I send them. If we can score a point on my serve, all the better, but I just want to serve correctly. I want to return all the serves that come my way when I play backcourt. I want to be involved in some plays with other team members, and do my part, as opposed to simply returning the ball over the net with one hit [too easy]. I want to set correctly when I play front center so my teammates can spike. I would love to be able to save a play [I did that last night a couple of times], to have some net game, and to be able to return a spiked ball, but those are not on my goal list. Whether we win or lose, if I can meet all my modest goals, I am extremely happy with my game.

Unfortunately, my serve was very off last night, but we did score one point in the second game on my serve. We lost the first 2 of 3 games, and the third was hotly contested. Finally we were at 25 - 24. And it was my serve. The whole chance for us to win even one game rested on me. This is not a happy feeling for me. I took my time, concentrated, served, it went over, and....SCORE! We won! Game point to us, and on my serve. That has never happened before. I drove home feeling happy and accomplished, on an endorphin high from all the exercise. I love volleyball.

For anyone who knew about my father's health problems, I am happy to report that he seems to be ok, and that it was not, as first thought, a heart attack. The doctors investigated and found no blockage. However, he did have a gall bladder infection, so perhaps it was that. After some time in the ICU he went home, and feels just fine now.

And for anyone who inquired into my dog's health, she also had bladder problems -- bladder stones, which I am told are a potential issue in dogs of her size/type. She has a special diet, takes a pill every day, and seems to be in no more pain.

I spent some time last weekend with Jake, who is 5-1/2 now. He stayed up late to wait for me to arrive, and we had a bit of a tickle/giggle fight on the couch in the playroom. He looks so much likeJoe, and he has dimples. He sang the entire ABC song for me, and can identify J as "his" letter. I am told he recently learned/is learning to write his first name. Exciting times for the cool little dude.

This weekend I have very few plans. It is cold here and snow is everywhere. I want to curl up in my couch indoors. I am watching a lot of "Doctor Who" on DVD from Netflix these days. Takes me back to high school. Saturday afternoon and evening I will be here working, along with most of my department. I want to clean my place up and get it on the market in March, so I can move back to Chicago this spring.

I also bought a dulcimer recently and am teaching myself to play.




It is SO much fun. I have learned 5 songs and am working on "Ode to Joy" by Beethoven. I have learned to play harmonies on different strings, and to sing while I play. Next I will work on chording. I enjoy making music, and making songs come out by reading tablature and using my hands correctly. Another favorite thing to do right now.

The days are getting longer and I have hope that spring is coming. Very early spring, March to April, is my very favorite time of year. Right now I am enmeshed in memopries, as this past year has seen a lot of 20 year anniversaries for me. Feb 13th was one. Feb 27th will be another. And then March 28th as well.

Don't know when I will get a chance to post more, but if you read this, leave a comment and say hello.