Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Furbaby hell …

5 August, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

I could shoot Daniel, is all I can say! Before the boys left (when I came to pick up the keys), I met kitty Sean and all seemed well – we hit it off, and he seemed to be a very friendly kitty. Jason (Daniel’s partner) said, though, that Daniel teaches and encourages him to hiss … but so far I hadn’t seen it for myself … until later on into my first night here!

Sean likes to not just sit on your knee, but to lay sprawled right UP your body, with his head on your chest, and his paws (and claws) sitting right on your neck or shoulder … I was trying to read my book, so moved him slightly so I could get to turn my page comfortably, and he turned around and hissed … I nearly died! I have to admit at that close quarters it freaked me out a bit … then he crawled up onto the top of the sofa behind my head and continued hissing at me hmmm. I have to admit, I didn’t let him sit back on me again that night, and just sat forward on the sofa hunched over, as his hissing made me feel uncomfortable.

Last night I came into the computer room, and he followed me in and jumped up on the desk – when I tried to move the mouse out of the way he started hissing again … after a few minutes I have to say I got sick of the hissing and I shooed him out of the room and shut the door on him! He spent the next half hour jumping up and hanging off the door handle meeowing his head off – so I let him in again only to have him start the whole rigmarole over again. In the end I got fed up and went through to the bedroom to have my shower and an early night to read my book in bed …

Tonight I have to admit my patience is wearing a tiny bit thin with him … he’s been hissing at me all night – I’ve filled his food bowl up with biscuits, checked he has water, checked his litter tray doesn’t need cleaning, and held both outside doors open to see if he wants to go out … no response to anything, except more bl**dy hissing. When I went to take the rubbish bin out to the kerb I left the wire screen open to see if he pops outside, and he eventually did … so outside he remains for an hour or so while I get some peace and quiet and he gets some much-needed fresh air!

It’s really disheartening – I adore animals, and I’ve housesat for two lots of kitty families before (2 belonging to my friend Rox, and 3 belonging to my best friend’s family), and at no time have I ever had any problems with them. I was sooo looking forward to having some furbaby company, but this lot have got serious psychological issues!!!

I have to say, as well, that it’s really taking the edge off the fun of housesitting too – I hate to think I’ve got a full 4 weeks of this hissing lark left … Daniel has a helluva lot to answer for, the mongrel 😦

I have to admit I got so fed up last night I started looking online at rental properties – considering whether I can get a smaller 1-bedroom place somewhere, or a 2-bedroom place a bit further out of town, that’s cheaper than what I was living in before. Maybe the next place’s animals won’t be feral like this lot, and maybe I’ll get back to enjoying it a bit – but at the moment the shine has definitely been removed, and I’m dreading walking in the door here … mind you, I’m also on early shifts which might be affecting my mood 😦

I was tempted to pick up some stitching yesterday, but I don’t think sitting in the lounge with the cat having a hissing fit is going to be particularly conducive to any quality stitching … oh well, at least my book is a huge one and will keep me out of trouble in the bedroom for a few more nights/weeks 😉

Anyway, nothing else to report – just felt like getting that off my chest before I let the feral one back in again …

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

No longer missing in action …

3 August, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Actually, I’m not entirely sure how much time I’ll be spending online – I’ve just logged on to a ‘normal’ PC at my new housesitting job, and there are 1400 unread feeds in my feed reader … yikes!!

This is just a really really quick post to let you know I’m in the land of the living – I didn’t have any internet connection at all in Seaford, and have only just arrived in the latest place today so haven’t tried to plug in my laptop and modem yet … Daniel has kindly set me up as a new account user on his PC so I can at least access the internet – I can read my emails through a webmail server, but it won’t let me reply for some strange reason. It will take me a while to catch up anyway, whichever way I manage to get it working … In the meantime if you need to reach me for anything, it might be wise to send to my work address.

I still have 5 more Photo Hunt posts sitting ready to go in the future (I love, love, love that facility of WordPress) … but I guess that means I’ll have to start snapping away again at the end of the month. I took a walk one day last week on the beach at Frankston in the freezing cold and took some photos – plus I took a few photos of the kitties at Ali’s place … they’re ‘interesting’ personalities to put it mildly …

Hugo, the male, is exceptionally territorial and doesn’t like anyone in ‘his’ home other than Ali, so he was a challenge in himself – Alice is the total opposite and runs and hides if someone new enters the house … although she jumped up next to me the other night and actually let me stroke her briefly, which was lovely. She’s a real sweetheart, and I wonder if she would come out of her shell a bit more if Hugo wasn’t such a bossy breeches!

My new ‘home’ has Sean living here … and he’s totally different again – another black and white male moggy, he’s spent the last hour following me around the house, and craving attention and cuddles the entire time … yup, we’re getting along just fine! 😀

No stitching to show – I haven’t had the inclination to pick up a needle whatsoever of late … I’m hoping to get a spot of finishing done while I’m here at Daniel’s, but don’t hold your breath haha. Instead I’ve been watching a TV series on DVD with Ali about a UK Chef called “Return of the Chef” – it’s been wonderful to watch, although now I want to watch the French series as well later in the month. I’ve also been reading – and I’m almost finished with “The Memorykeeper’s Daughter” – normally not my usual reading style, but I have to say I’m really loving reading it, and can’t wait to see how it all ends …

Anyway, time to pop out and get some bread and milk, and work out what to sleep in tonight … Daniel was aware I have my own sheets etc for the bed, but he’s kindly taken the duvet inner away so I have a bare mattress … and I left my duvet inner in storage, thinking I don’t need it ho-hum. It took me over an hour to drive from the storage unit to here with no traffic, so it’s not an option to head back over there again, as it’ll be closed before I get home again. Luckily I’ve packed a sleeping bag in the boot of the car ‘just in case’ or for when I’m washing the bedding at the end of a housesit etc … I guess it’ll be coming in extremely handy this week!!

Rightio, off I trot to starting thinking about dinner for both Sean and I … then it’s time to snuggle up in the lounge with the TV on, and a kitty keeping me warm while I finish my book! 😉

I hope to catch up on all your blogs throughout the coming fortnight (there’s too much to read in just one week, me thinks!)

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Needlerolls, Works in Progress

Final piccies of Elwood

24 July, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

When I was cleaning out the last remaining boxes of ‘stuff’ for storage, I came across the following on a CD – which is great ‘cos I had to format my compact flashcard and thought I’d lost them all! These were my final shots of my apartment in Elwood before I moved out … I miss the flat just a tiny bit, but I sure don’t miss those cracks or the window that wouldn’t close! I wonder if they’ve manged to get new tenants into it yet or done the work on the building? Oh well, all power to them … Here goes with the photos:

You probably can’t tell from this photo, but the window sill is actually buckled – the left hand side tilts upwards, and the right hand side tilts down … just goes to show how much the building is moving I guess …

This is what we found behind the bookcase – all of these cracks were much more impressive (and scary) in real life … this one explains the vertical crack all along the wall, we could finally see the source!

Talking of photos, I thought I’d share my storage space with you, so you can see how packed to the gunnels it is … I still have one more box, plus my sewing machine, plus a small suitcase to go in there tomorrow … miracles still DO happen, don’t they? LOL.

On a slightly ‘down’ note, I’ve had the disappointing news a few weeks ago that the housesitting agency I was going to be doing housesitting jobs for has closed their doors for at least the next year … ho-hum. I’ve heard bad things about some other agencies where you just don’t get work, so I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do now … The guy I was going to housesit for has a daughter who runs an online agency, so I’ll probably sign up for that one – not sure how much business it’ll generate, though. If not, I guess I’ll have to start thinking about moving into a new place again closer to Christmas. At this stage I have jobs pretty much right up until the start of November – after that I’m up in the air quite a bit. I’m going to put an ad up on the noticeboard at work to see if that generates any more business (at this stage all my housesitting jobs have come from my fellow colleagues on the Hotline). I guess my first job now, though, will be to get $3,000 in a kitty behind me just in case I need to move into somewhere new … at least I still have housesitting until my laptop’s paid off phew! 🙂

Rightio, time to get up and start the official house cleaning … and packing my suitcase etc. The food bags are already packed with leftover groceries (I’ve been very lax about cooking while I’ve been here, so there’s plenty of tins etc left) – and my stitching is pretty much packed up … just one more bag of ‘stuff’ to finish sorting out and everything’s ready. It will be nice to have a free night tonight to just kick back and relax knowing all the housework is already done.

I have to admit I had a slight panic yesterday when I came home from the storage unit to find one of the cars missing from the driveway – thankfully I called Sal’s Mum and found out her Dad had come to pick up the car for picking them up from the airport … phew! I’m sure they’ve got the days wrong, though, as I’ve got it in my diary that they’re coming home tomorrow, not today … I guess if they’re not home by lunchtime today I’ll know I’m right. I’ve got the table in the kitchen already laid out ready for them with their piles of mail and the bills I’ve paid for them, plus a vase of flowers, bread and milk, and a bottle of red wine sitting ready with two wine glasses and the corkscrew, plus a welcome home note – hopefully they’ll appreciate it when they arrive … I just hope all my housesitting jobs won’t expect it haha 😛

Anyway, time to start the day … I’m not sure after tomorrow what sort of reception I’ll have for my internet connection – I’m moving to Seaford on the fringe of Melbourne’s outer suburbs, and unsure whether Unwired’s coverage reaches out there or not … if not I’ll be out of action for just under two weeks until I move out to Ringwood (where I’ll be for 4 weeks). Mind you this week the reception here has been appalling, so an improvement would be fantastic! I’ve been trying to post this for well over an hour now, but the stupid reception keeps dropping out hmmm.

In the meantime, have a great week everyone! 😀

I’ll leave you with my latest WIP – the photo is appalling, and half the wording has to be frogged due to stupid mistake, but I’m over halfway with this needleroll …

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Stash

Note to self … and oops … Stash!!

20 July, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Note to self …

“Do NOT watch Big Brother again this week until their weekly task is completed, finished, done and dusted, all over red rover!! If you DO watch Big Brother your heart will begin pounding as though it will burst out of your chest, and you will have cold sweats, crawling skin, and general heeby-jeebies for hours afterwards … just like you did last night!!!”

What am I waffling on about?? Well, I switched the TV on for the first time this week last night to watch Big Brother … only to be confronted by bl**dy great visions of arachnids (ie Huntsman and wolf spiders etc … and if you feel keen please go Google their names yourself, ‘cos I don’t feel like having their piccies sitting on my computer screen right now) as full as life filling the TV screen – I nearly died there and then on the spot! It’s been a long time since I had to put my hands up to cover my face from what is on TV, but I just couldn’t bear to watch it anymore. I ended up turning away and just listening to it … their task this week is to enter the ‘spider enclosure’ of which they reckon there are at least 50 bl**dy great spiders in there, and they have to catch some as part of their task. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it again!! Aaaaarghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, that brings me to something else I’ve been meaning to blog about, and keep forgetting – the good news is that I’ve finally booked in to see a therapist towards the end of August (a hypnotherapy doctor) about my severe arachnaphobia. It sounds like I may need more than one session, and at $230 a pop that’s not great, but if it works it’ll be worth every red cent!! The great thing about not paying rent right now is that it’s giving me chance to do something I’ve wanted to do for a while now, and just couldn’t afford it … this is going to be soooooo worth it if it works!!!

That’s all I wanted to say really … still not really in blogging mood yet – and still have more packing up to do, so time to go do it before I settle in for the night. At least it was my final 5am shift today so I get an extra 2 hours sleep in tomorrow woohoo!! I only have 4 sleeps left here, so I also need to start thinking of getting the bedding etc washed and ironed and all the rest of the housework done. I only have my 8am shift tomorrow, then an overnight shift on Sunday (9pm-5am), then I’m on days off for 4 days yippee 😀

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Updated to add … I also forgot to mention that I got stash in the mail today!! Yes, that’s right I’m on the 50 project challenge, and I’m not allowed to buy any charts … if you don’t tell anyone, I won’t! Well, I was rebellious two weeks ago and ordered a couple of things before I go back on my stash diet again. The only thing that made me do it is that I was really keen to get Just Nan’s Queen’s Bluebird Box, and I saw it was out of stock already at one of the ONS’s … I figure if I was ever going to get it, now was the time. As it is I’ve missed out on my all-time favourite Au Fil de Reves designs because they’re no longer in print after dickering for a couple of years whether to fork out and buy the kits … so I wasn’t gonna do the same thing this time! (In actual fact I splurged and ordered two of the AFDR kits from Criss Cross Row in a panic as soon as I heard the news they were going out of print, but they’ve never sent the goods, and are not replying to my emails – and my order went through in February hmmm.) I’ve only bought the chart and finishing kit for the Bluebird box (doncha just LUV that little blue bird?? LOL), ‘cos I couldn’t justify the extra money to buy the silk kit … I may just have to see which colours are needed and buy a few at a time, as well as raiding my existing stash … I have to say I think US$75 for the silk kit that is just “cut to the correct length” is pretty exorbitant … it’d be interesting to see how much it would work out to buy a full skein of each hmmm…

Of course I had to justify the cost of postage for the Just Nan box, and also bought the Trick or Treat Box by Just Nan as well … won’t they look cute in a cabinet together?? Yeah, yeah, OK, I’m just justifying to myself it was a good buy! haha. Oops I just remembered the Just Nan Octagonal Peacock needlecase is also on back order, so I’d better go add another 4 (not 3) charts to my 50 project challenge. Hmmm, maybe I should just give up now!! 😉

The 4th thing I bought was something I’ve been yearning for dearly for a few years as well – I ordered it two years ago from SB&B, but they refunded my money for that chart, and I assumed it was because it was no longer available or in print (they never contact me and let me know why … I just got a PayPal receipt saying you’ve been given money back!) – I’ve been searching Ebay for a while to no avail … and one day recently I stumbled across their website, and saw they take orders directly … and I’m now the very proud owner of this chart, Gazelle, by Simply Old-Fashioned. I also received a 15% off voucher for the next 10 purchases from them, and a very personalised packaging and note … I have to say I was very very impressed with their service! I can now stitch this one to be a matching pair with my ‘giraffe’ that I’ve already stitched (it’s actually the Zebra chart, but for some reason I always thought it was a giraffe … can you say blonde and mentally challenged?? LOL). Here’s the new chart, and my stitched ‘giraffe’:

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

The Walls of Jericho came tumbling down…

18 July, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Well, maybe not the Walls of Jericho, but definitely a dining chair! I took the first load of boxes etc over to the storage unit, only to put one box into the space and have a dining chair come flying down from above!! B*gger!! I didn’t get hurt at all, and it seems that the chair is still in one piece, but it poses a bit more of a challenge now to get everything into storage. While I had everything neatly laid out, I’ve now had to balance the dining chair in a space where there should be NO dining chair … that space was nicely allocated to about 4 more storage boxes … mutter mutter mutter. Unfortunately I can’t reach to put the stupid chair back where it was before (although if there’s any possibility of it moving again, it probably isn’t wise anyway). It will be interesting to see how I manage to get the rest of the goodies into that tiny wee gap that’s left, ‘cos there’s still my computer to go in, 4-5 boxes of stitching stuff, my sewing machine, and duvet inners … haha, I’m laughing out loud just thinking about how it’s all going to fit it! If I wasn’t so delirious with sleep deprivation I’d probably be quite miffed 😉

Anyway, time to head out into the bitter cold again … I very stupidly left my shopping bag with my wallet in it at work (duh!!), and I asked a lady who lives about 10 minutes drive away to bring it home with her – I’ll just have time to pop round and pick it up, come home and jump in the shower, and get tucked up in bed. The ducted heated has been cranked up all afternoon to soothe the chills (6C yesterday during the day … woohoo LOL) so the room will be lovely and warm when I get home again {{sigh of contentment}}. Talking of which, I’d better run …

Food, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Where did the weekend go??

8 July, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

I actually started posting yesterday, and managed to write the following, before falling asleep at the computer:

“I didn’t think this day would ever arrive … boy oh boy it’s been an interesting week. Work has really kept me on my toes this week, and I’ve hardly had time to breathe inbetween shifts 😦

Karma jumped up and bit me last night … I was joking that I would have a migraine starting at 9pm (it was 6.30pm when I was joking), as the one person I detest working with started at 9pm – he drives everyone on the Hotline crazy, and having to work with him up until 2am is seriously insane 😦 Anyway, it was a pretty stressful night with yet more dramas with people stuck at overseas airports … and by the time 9pm came I did indeed have a splitting headache – yep, karma’s a bitch! 😉

Today I’ve felt so grotty I didn’t get out of bed until 6.30pm (I actually woke up at 2pm yikes) – I just lay in bed with the laptop and fixing up my Outlook contacts and RAK Registry information. I finally surfaced to reheat some of the Thai Green Curry I made yesterday, ‘cos my headache was returning … and I still feel like death warmed up. I think it’ll be an early night for me – especially as I have 4 hours overtime at 5pm tomorrow as well (sucker for punishment, I know).

I’ve just managed to take some piccies on the camera of the goodies I received this week – unfortunately it’s night-time so the piccies didn’t come out too great, but they’ll have to do for now.”

So much for seeing much of the day yesterday! While I was in the middle of typing up my post, I fell asleep! Today was as bad, because I woke up again at midnight last night, and couldn’t get back to sleep until almost 5am again hmmm. I surfaced from sleep at noon today, only to doze off again until 2pm, and have the most dreadful headache that just won’t shift 😦 It means I’ve called in to cancel my overtime, which I’m very unhappy about 😦

I also had big plans to join in with the Xmas ornie FAL this weekend, and had my ornies out ready to go … only to realise my batting is in storage, and it’s now too late to pop up the road to buy some more. Oh well, I may sit and cut up the matboard instead in readiness for finishing them off. Mind you, it probably doesn’t make that much sense finishing them yet, while I’m housesitting, as they’ll take up more room in storage in their finished state than if they’re nice and flat and unfinished … hmmm, that’s food for thought!

Anyway, without further ado, as I don’t want to spend much time on the PC as it’s not helping my headache at all, I want to show you the well overdue piccies from my mailbox during the last week.

First up is the most amazing parcel of goodies from my northern twin, Jenna – she really outdid herself this time! Not only did she send my first ever LHN/CC thread pack (which I’ve been dying to try – and the thread colours really don’t show up well in their online advertising – they’re scrummy in real life) … this one is the Blueberries one … but Jenna also sent a hardanger suncatcher she made herself. Isn’t it the most gorgeous, exquisite thing? – and so perfectly stitched. Unfortunately I couldn’t get a really good photo of it in the dark surroundings. Not only that, though, but she also sent a wooden needlecase – how awesome is that too? And it fits perfectly on a keyring, so it will be a case of “have needles, will travel”. Thanks so much again Jenna for your wonderful, perfect gifts – I adore everything, my friend {{hugs}}.

Next up I need to thank Karen for sending along her Moon Watchers chart that she recently stitched. I loved watching this one being stitched, and now it will be getting kitted up ready for a future stitching session of my own. Thanks again Karen for sharing this chart – you’re a real sweetie! How could I resist stitching blue birds?? 😀

Last, but not least, here is a piccie of something I gifted myself compliments of the Bay of Evil … I’ve been avoiding Ebay like the plague since my financial downturn prior to Christmas, but I let myself loose on it again a couple of weeks ago when I needed to buy some Christmas fabric for a prize pool we’re offering over on the Focus on Finishing blog this weekend (Spotlight and other stores here don’t have any in stock until later in the year boohoo). Anyway, these are the pieces I managed to pick up …

For Mum: Llet me know if you want 1/2 of the Snowman one (that’s the one I was telling you about) – and I also bought you one of the green one with stockings etc on the bottom left, and the middle one at the bottom with the wee cardinals on it.

The fabric on the far left is to finally do the backing of Vicki’s cot quilt I found as a UFO recently – I thought the bright colours would make a nice backing, as the colours match the main part of the quilt. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough fabric for sale to fit the entire back, so I might have to find some plain blue to do a border around the edges. I’ll have to wait and see once I’ve put the quilt back together again to see how it all measures up. Although now I’ve gone back to look at the quilt photo, I’m having second thoughts … and think maybe I should buy some plain homespun cotton instead for the backing … oh b*gger …

Rightio, time to put the PC away for the night I think – Mum’s about to phone for a catch-up, so I’ll go and put the heating on and settle down for the night. Not sure if my head will manage a bit of stitching tonight … I always know it’s a bad headache when it stops me from stitching! 😉

Ooh, before I forget, though, this photo is for Mum as well … this is the poster they’ve got of me in the main office – see what I mean when I say it’s almost life size?? I’ve finally got used to seeing it now … only 6 more months left and it’ll hopefully be taken down … phew! If I had $1 for every time I’ve heard “gee, Anne, you’re a STAR!”, I could retire early!! 😉

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

RAK Registry and technology

5 July, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a really quick post to say I think I’ve finally fixed the display issues on the blog. I finally reached the WP support guys again, and I’ve had to change the template to allow all the pages to display on the screen (this was only a recent problem I noticed) – I’ve also had to combine pairs of letters so I can allow the I and M pages to display. Anyway, hopefully everything is now ticking along nicely again, and I can get back to keeping it updated more regularly. I almost thought I was going to have to revert to Blogger again yikes …

Technology at home is slooooowly getting sorted. I’ve had email woes ever since I’ve bought the new laptop (still haven’t managed to copy over my old emails yet, but I haven’t quite given up hope … I’m making one more attempt this weekend before I throw in the towel). Yesterday I went out and bought a Microsoft Office 2007 package … and bless their hearts at Dick Smith Electronics, I was able to buy the Academic upgrade version – a saving of almost $400 woohoo!! 😀

Anyway, at 3am I got home from work and loaded everything up, but Outlook still wouldn’t load up (my trial version I got with the laptop wouldn’t either, but I thought the full bought version would fix all my ills) … well finally I’ve just sat for almost 2 hours fixing up the settings, and I’ve managed to get to get it up and running and the accounts set up etc … that’s a HUGE achievement and cause for celebration, ‘cos I have to admit I’ve been giving the PC a wide berth overall as I’ve been sick of it not working. The Windows Calendar would never work for me either (none of the reminders ever worked, and I got an error message every time I opened up the program) … but today I worked out how to import my calendar over into Outlook, so fingers crossed that will resolve itself shortly as well 😀

The one thing that didn’t copy across as well was all my contacts – after taking all the time to set them all up again into Windows Mail, it hasn’t quite come through with all the info intact, so that’s another day in the future re-setting up the missing ‘bits’ (thankfully it’s not too much that’s missing), and I can set up my email group again for the RAK Registry (that way I can send any admin emails to everyone in one hit without having to select every single member from my contacts list … soooo much easier, and oh boy did I miss that in Windows Mail).

Work has been really really busy – thanks to security threats at Heathrow, I got in 4 hours overtime from 11pm-3am on Tuesday, and I’ve been thriving on the curly issues that have been thrown at me in the wee small hours of my shift. I’ve been enjoying chatting to Moscow and Frankfurt airport managers trying to resolve an issue (geez, I wish I could tell you all THAT story, it’s a doozie … and it kept us highly entertained for the last two nights haha). The flow-on effects of Heathrow are still keeping us on our toes days later … it’s making the shift going very very fast, although it’s meant not a single stitch has been put into my stitching. Fingers crossed tonight is a bit quieter, and I get chance to put a few stitches in – that’s the only benefit in my eyes of the 6pm or 9pm shifts, they’re the only ones I can pull my stitching out occasionally.

I’ll leave you with a teaser … I received some incredible mail today but I’ve been laying in bed all morning trying to fix my technical problems, and I’ve just remembered it (that’s what happens when you get in at 3am!) … I don’t have time to take a photo, as I need to get cracking for work (I think I may be running a bit late now too, oops) – and I didn’t get chance to email the senders last night at work, so once I’ve done that, I’ll try to remember to post a piccie tomorrow some time. But I have to say “it’s awesome!!” 😀

(Also, sorry if there are any spelling/grammatical errors, as I don’t have time to check it … gotta run sorry!)

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Short post about ‘nothing’

25 June, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

This really is just a very very short post … I just felt like sharing how wonderful I’ve been feeling this week 🙂 On the whole I feel as though I’ve got more energy than I’ve had for quite some time (possibly to do with the fun I’ve been having kitting up stitching projects, but probably more to do with the fact I’ve been living in a stable home environment without stress for a couple of weeks now!) 😀

At work I’ve been very pro-active with a few projects and initiating some improvements and workgroups, and I’ve been getting great feedback from both my colleagues and supervisors alike for it … that always makes you feel good too. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the mental energy to go out of my way to take on extra projects etc at work, and it feels wonderful to have the motivation for it right now.

While it’s still a bit unsettling to a certain extent not having a full-time living situation, it feels wonderful so far to be out of that dreary flat in Elwood, and for now I’m basking in the warmth of feeling ‘safe and secure’. This payday will be the first one I have ‘free’ from rent (every other payday will still be spent on credit card bills as usual), and I have 5 hours overtime this week to help fill the coffers a bit more. I have two biggish expenses coming up … both very selfish ones … a new Microsoft Office software package (I’m seriously “over” my current issues regarding that and figure a new up-to-date version will solve all my ills), and a Tom-Tom GPS for when I’m housesitting all over Melbourne. After that my plans are to gradually whittle down my credit card debts and have less monthly outgoings on a regular basis … beyond that who knows, but I have to admit a new car would be deliriously wonderful ;P (that won’t be for quite some time, though!)

Anyway, I just wanted to post while I’m feeling very positive tonight … now it’s time to head back into the lounge and pick up my stitching for an hour or so (I picked up 2 hours overtime tonight, so I’m home late) … no kitting up for me tonight, it’s time for Karen’s RR to take centre stage again 😀

Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Round Robins, Works in Progress

Sing-along … “Vanilla Ice Ice Baby…”

25 June, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

I don’t know about the Vanilla part, but there was plenty of the “ice ice, baby” this morning when I got up … I woke up totally cocooned in my duvet this morning, and had to get the hosepipe out to blast the ice from my windscreen before I could drive to work … bloomin’ heck it’s freezing!!! Thank goodness I’m outta that flat, or you might have been chipping the ice off my body for a week! 😉

I’ve been a big neglectful of my computer over the last few days, as I’ve been ready to throw it out the window … not so much the laptop itself, but the associated problems of transferring files and doing jobs that are normally plain and simple on my old PC, but for some reason now require the braincells of a rocket scientist 😦 Hence last Wednesday I walked away from it and refused to do any more transferring until I was in a better frame of mind …

Thanks Ally for the link to the Vista tip site – I’m still having problems transferring my emails across, but I haven’t given up hope just yet … I am also having problems, though, with my old version of Outlook running on this machine (basically it won’t work) – and it won’t let me re-download all the security patches etc … I thought I’d be clever and download the 60 day trial of Office 2007, but even that version won’t play ball with Outlook, so for now I’m waving the white flag and conceding defeat until I’m ready to start tackling it again in a week or so’s time.

Now, where’s my draft email that I started drafting up a blog post last week …?? Aha, here we go … off to do a job of cut and paste, and a bit of editing, then I’ll finish up with the latest update of the week’s events (which are pretty few and far between) …

It’s been a while since I blogged (because the Photo Hunt was created an entire month ago now, I can’t claim the fame for blogging about that recently), and it’s been an interesting week overall. I’ve been on some mixed shifts, and it tired me out somewhat last week … I did have a huge highlight of the week when I received some wonderful squishy mail 🙂

Nicki sent me a RAK that totally blew me away! I received one of the charts on my wishlist, “Blessed with Happiness box” by The Cat’s Whiskers … Nicki thought the wording on the box were perfectly suited to my recent life dramas, and I’d have to agree I love the sentiments behind it 🙂 But not only that, Nicki also sent me the fabric, Dinky Dyes silks, Kreinik Blending Filament and Mill Hill beads to kit it up … WOW!!! My jaw was seriously sitting on the floor for quite a while … thank you Nicki from the bottom of my heart 😀 My apologies it’s taken me so long to blog about it (I’ll explain why soon).

In fact it was Nicki’s generosity that finally geared me up me get my A into G and have a ‘stitchy weekend’ … I have to admit no stitches were actually done, but I dragged out the boxes of stitching goodies that I’d brought with me that all needed to be sorted out before going back into storage, and I’ve spent the entire weekend (well, my version of a weekend anyway – it was actually Thu/Fri) cutting up fabrics for dozens and dozens of projects. Each project is in it’s own sealed plastic bag with the chart and fabric, and all I have to do now is to kit up with the threads (which is what I’ve been doing for the last 2 nights). Then they’ll all sit in 2-3 boxes in storage ready for me to dip my hands in when I need something new to stitch.

Unfortunately with housesitting I don’t have the space and flexibility to travel with my full rotation, so I’m going to become a one-at-a-time stitcher. I plan to have one project with me that’s a larger/more complex project (such as Bordeaux Sampler and Winter Queen etc), with a couple of smaller projects such as a needlebook or needleroll to break it up a bit. That way I should only have to travel with one set of scrollbars and one of Q-snaps. I’m lucky at the moment in that I’m only a short drive away from my storage unit (it’s literally within 10 minutes drive from home) … but with future housesitting jobs I won’t have that luxury (for those who know Melbourne well, my upcoming jobs vary from Ringwood, to Airport West, to Seaford, to a ‘mystery location’). If nothing else, it’ll show me different parts of Melbourne I haven’t seen before! 😉

Rightio, back to my scheduled yapping, now I’ve edited that draft …

The only stitching I’ve been doing has been a few stitches into KarenV’s Quaker RR – this is due to be mailed in less than a week’s time so I thought I’d better get cracking on it. I just have one large motif plus one tiny one and my initials, so it shouldn’t take much longer to finish whatsoever 🙂 Unfortunately my very bad photo doesn’t do this beauty justice at all!

Unfortunately my car woes have continued to my new place (mutter mutter mutter) … the dashboard light stopped working the night I drove Mum home after the big ‘move’, but I promptly forgot about it until I had to start driving in the dark again about two weeks ago. I called Ace mobile mechanics (and yes, I’m giving their name for a reason) who did the original job, and asked if I could organise for Nick to come out to fix it during my days off. He ended up cancelling on the scheduled day due to being stuck on a job, but eventually came round on Friday. You may remember I got seriously duped and taken for a ride when I got my clutch replaced, well this time I stuck up for myself big time! When he turned up he said he’d brought the dimmer switch, and it’d be just over $53 to install it. Um, since when did we discuss installing a dimmer switch?? Apparently I was told if the job didn’t work with the normal switch he installed, then I would need to get the dimmer switch … Um, actually Nick no that’s not correct – the conversation we actually had was that you gave me a choice on the night – if I preferred to have the dimmer switch (which the car is usually installed with as factory standard), then he’d have to order it in … but I could use a normal switch which could be installed immediately, the problem being that you couldn’t then dim the light and the dashboard would be brightly lit all the time the lights were on. No problem, I say, as I never use the dimmer switch anyway, so please feel free to use what you have to hand …

On completion of the job he tells me that if I change my mind and would rather have the dimmer switch, all I had to do was to call up and tell them, and they’d come round and install it – the only thing I’d have to pay for would be the parts themselves as the labour would be covered under the current job. Now THAT is not a conversation I had in my mind or with an imaginary party during a dreaming session … admittedly I was under stress at the time, but I remember that conversation very lucidly and clearly, and it certainly isn’t something I could have made up.

So, going back to Friday’s conversation … Nick says I’ll just work out what the final cost will be for you – rightio, that’ll be $120-something. Picture me turning purple, and just managing to mutter “I beg your pardon??” – where the hell does the extra money come from?? Oh, he says, that’s the cost of the labour … Yep, you got it, Mt St Annie erupted in the middle of the driveway – I repeated the conversation we had, but he declared he never would have said that blah blah blah. Let’s just say I politely told him to take his dimmer switch away and remove himself from the property because he wasn’t getting another red cent from me! I said I’d rather pay for someone else to come and do the job properly and he was a disgusting fraud … (phew!!)

Then I took the keys, locked up my car, and walked inside … and phoned Ace up to make a formal complaint about him, and tell them how downright angry and ropeable I was. I’m sorry to say it, but as a female I’m sick to death of being taken for granted by bl**dy mechanics and thieves. I may be female, but I no longer have “stupid” tattooed on my forehead … mutter mutter mutter. Anyway, let’s just say the matter has yet to be resolved, as it turns out Nick hasn’t handed in his invoice for the old job yet, and apparently he would have remarked it with comments (I wish I knew where my copy was, as it’s now buried in storage somewhere hmmm) – hopefully I should hear back tomorrow from the General Manager. Mt St Annie is still simmering under the surface depending on the outcome … I have to admit, though, when Nick was playing around with the wires when he first arrived and was looking at the car, I think it might just have been a loose wire, as it’s been working fine ever since (for the last two nights anyway) – so with any luck it won’t be necessary to see his ugly mug on my doorstep again 😦 Karma is gonna get you one day, you big fraud!!

Wow, that was one HUGE vent off my chest … it’s amazing what a good moan does for you 😉 Now it’s time to settle in for bedtime – my hotwater bottle is sitting at my feet so hopefully that’ll make it easier to doze off to sleep. It’s dreadful that the only place I can find a good connection for the internet modem is here in the bedroom – bless my laptop, it’s wonderful sitting up in bed doing my computing, it’s so much warmer 😉

Actually, the other reason I’ve been lax in posting is that I’ve refused to post until I could post my piccies of both Nicki’s RAK and Karen’s RR, and for some reason every way I’ve tried to download from my CompactFlash card I’ve had to give up. Every time I tried to load up a card reader (I bought a new one 1 1/2 weeks ago as my laptop doesn’t support that card type – the one thing I miss from my PC), and the system froze up and didn’t acknowledge the drive. Then Mum sent my old one from home, and that wasn’t working either … I finally gave up and started up my old PC and tried to download my ‘old way’, but it wouldn’t acknowledge it either. Well, tonight I finally fixed it … I ended up formatting the drive, and wiping everything off my card (losing all the photos in the process, but them’s the breaks), but I can FINALLY upload photos either from my camera directly or from the card reader … it seems the problem all along with the flash card itself 😦 I think it got corrupted during the data transfer cabling, as I’d forgotten and left it sitting in the PC cardreader at the time … but “it’s all good” now yippee!!

Rightio, I really MUST get off to bed, or I’ll be a cranky camper tomorrow 😉 Hope you are all having a good week – I look forward to reading your blogs soon! 😀

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Quilting, Works in Progress

I’m Baaaack … !!!

17 June, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

[Please note this was actually written up 3 whole days ago, but I’m not going to edit it any further … my connection died after just over an hour or so, and I’ve only just managed to get a connection back again hmmm. With any luck I’ll be able to upload the photos this time round before it dies yet again …]

And I have to say I’m a LOT chirpier than I was the last time I wrote a week ago! 😀 What I didn’t tell you in my last looong post is that I had a small melt-down at work the day after I finished moving. I had to pick up a few extra items that I just couldn’t cram into the car on the last night, and just put them on the back seat for the day, and when I got to work I managed 2 whole hours before my whole body started reacting … the only way I can describe it is that it’s as if it went into shock … I started getting the shakes, and my mind just couldn’t concentrate on anything – I think it was finally reacting to the fact that it was “all over”, and a release from all the immense tension and stress I’d been under. I think it’s amazing how much your body can cope with when it has to, but I guess it all has to give way at some time or another, and that day was mine!

Today, though, I’m much much brighter. I’m settled nicely into housesitting and today is my 3rd day of a 3-day break. The first day was spent doing exciting things like doing the laundry ‘cos I’d run out of clothes already (underclothes anyway), and doing a few chores that I needed to do like getting a few more boxes for parcelling the final bundles of storage stuff into (which is still not sorted out, but I’ve got 5 weeks left to get it done by LOL). I also got my new cordless mouse replaced, and picked up a cheap card reader that fits into the USB port, so hopefully I should be able to get photos uploaded soon (I have a couple to add to this post, so we’ll soon see if it works! …) [edited to add that the card reader just keeps freezing my PC up, so it’s getting returned for a refund – luckily I still have my old PC set up on the table, so I’ve uploaded my photos to disk while I can] … as well as spending more money!

I’ve been struggling with one pair of jeans ever since I’ve had them, as it’s too tight in the waist, and I have to leave the top button open (it’s got a button fly), but I always end up with tummy pains by the end of the day. Anyway, I finally decided ‘enough was enough’ and I splurged on some new jeans from Target, plus two new (blue haha) long-sleeve T-shirts that are more ‘trendy’. Yes, there are a few new changes on the Shacks homefront, all for the better. Next month will see new lingerie being bought as well … crikey, will there be no stopping me now? LOL. I won’t know myself soon!! 😉

Yesterday the entire day (and I mean the ENTIRE day to 2am!!) was spent transferring files from my old PC to my laptop – the contacts folders didn’t copy across at all properly, so I had to update those which took hours, plus for some reason Outlook won’t run at all on this PC, and the Help section doesn’t help much at all, as it says Outlook is now phased out with Windows Mail taking over from Outlook Express hmmm – for love nor money I can’t copy across any of my emails at all from my old PC … not one single one of the 4000+ emails sitting in there (yes, you’re right, that’s ridiculous … and a good chance to “cull”). So, if I’m missing sending anyone an email reply from before I moved I’m really sorry, but it’s likely you might have to re-email me again, as it’s a bit overwhelming ploughing through the files hmmm (especially as I have no way of printing them or re-emailing them to myself as both modem/printer are now in storage).

Last night was the most bitterly freezing night I think I’ve ever endured sleeping in Melbourne … I do have to say I miss my electric blanket dearly, and even with two duvets on the bed last night I still couldn’t get warm – tonight if it’s the same I’m going to be sleeping in my trackpant bottoms with my long-sleeved thermals on … and I really do have to find that hot water bottle I brought with me somewhere! 😉 I did have another rather large splurge, though, which is a winter weight duvet that has half of it made of wool, which is a lot warmer but thinner so it’ll take much less room in the car when travelling … I should be able to find room for the old one by throwing it on top of the storage boxes 😉

Today I’ve finally succumbed to signing up to the Unwired network, so I can access my emails and internet at home. I’ve managed to find a position sat at the breakfast bench in the granny flat that gets an OK reception, so here I am online again 😀 I don’t have an ‘unlimited’ account, so I probably won’t be spending as much time online as I used to, but it’s wonderful to know that I can jump online and do my internet banking etc without having to trek halfway around Melbourne to an internet cafe (although admittedly I think the closest one to here is in Carnegie, about 15 mins drive away). The weather’s been dreadful over the last couple of days, so it’s hasn’t inspired me to leave home at all, never mind to go internet cafe shopping.

As to what else I’ve been up to … not much in the stitching department, that’s for sure! I’ve managed to get a bit of Bordeaux done, and I’m concentrating on that now until it’s finished – after that’s done, I’m not sure which project to work on next. I have to say that Snapperville is screaming quite loudly to me right now as a new start (followed by Winter Snapperland once I work out which fabric to use) – then I should be concentrating on one of my WIP’s again, and that’s likely to be either Stitching Leporello or the Pyramid Etui … but I reserve the right to change my mind on a whim 😉 I’ve been spending my time reading more than stitching this last week, and managed to finally finish reading Warlock by Wilbur Smith … not as good as some of his books, but I really enjoy the historical content of his Egyptian series … and I have Quest, the 4th in the series, on Audible ready to listen to at my leisure (another pain is that I’ve had to save all my Audible books to disk to be able to play them on the new laptop – for some reason the files didn’t copy across too well).

I haven’t unrolled the scrollbars on Bordeaux since I worked on it the other night, so you’ll just have to imagine the previous band – the light in here isn’t fantastically conducive to over-one stitching, so I gave band #6 a rest, and I’ve been working on band #7 instead to have a break. Only a couple more weeks will see this finished, me thinks 🙂

While I was packing up the spare bedroom to go into storage, I have to say I was quite disgusted with myself for the state of the following UFO’s … I started going to quilting classes quite a number of years ago (at least 7 anyway), and did an applique quilt class – I wasn’t thrilled with the project we did, but I figured it would teach me the basics of applique quilting. Anyway, it was all machine appliqued using Vliesofix, and I couldn’t believe how close I’d come to finishing this off before putting it to one side! Needless to say I’ve brought it with me, along with my new sewing machine (that cheapo one that I managed to pick up before we did the big move), so I can finally get it finished – all it has to have done is the binding finished, and even that’s almost 3/4 stitched on!!! {hanging head in shame …}

Next up is the first patchwork project I attempted after trying the applique class – this was from a craft magazine and was supposed to be for a cot quilt … well, I thought it had turned out to be too big, so Mum kindly unpicked the sides for me to make it smaller, then it’s sat there ever since as I thought I might as well just leave it bigger so it will get more use as the child recipient gets older (don’t even go there and ask which child this was for as a baby, and what age he is now!! LOL) … so now I need to unpick the borders again and restitch it all together, then it’s ready for the backing and to be quilted (let’s just say the backing fabric I originally had ordered got stuck with the cancelled freight services after September 11 … yup, you get the idea about how old this is!!).

Lucky last for the quilting UFO’s, here’s a bag I started from yet another class project … I panicked when I saw the diagram of how it’s all got to go together, as I’ve lost my confidence with machine sewing, then I was thrilled and disgusted at the same time when I opened all the pieces out and realised I’d already stitched the pockets etc into the bag pieces, and yet again it just pretty much as to be stitched together and have the seams bound … yep, my head is almost on my knees now from hanging in shame … yikes! 😉 This bag is designed to be a “quilting bag” where you keep your cutting board and rotary cutter etc in … I have to admit I’m quite proud of myself that I managed to get all the little pockets etc on so nicely … but I wonder how on earth I ever managed it! (I’m such a finishing wuss these days, it’s not funny!!) Goodness knows where all the gung-ho confidence has disappeared to where finishing is concerned!! Eventually, though, this bag will be an actual bag, complete with two big outside pockets (not pictured), and it’s supposed to have dowling rods as handles (although I may substitute something else for handles, I’m not too sure yet).

So, my challenge once I’ve sorted out my PC issues (which is now pretty much just the email issue) is to sit down one day on my days off and become friends with my sewing machine and get some of these items actually finished!

I also have something else to share as well, from a recent visit to a beautiful stitching pal’s home … but I’ll do a separate post so it doesn’t get lost in this one (and I’ve been waffling on for ages as it is!! – can’t you tell I’ve been without a chatting outlet for a while? LOL).

In the meantime, I’ll close this post in saying it feels fantastic to be out of my old flat – things are hopefully on the up and up on the homefront … I’ve just heard I’ve got the OK for another 4 weeks housesitting from 4 August, which means I’ll just have a one-week stay out in Seaford between the two housesitting jobs, and I may have another 4 weeks straight after that, which is in Seaford itself … and both these later two jobs have furbabies … I’m going to be in 7th heaven – Daniel has one kitty who is really smoochy apparently, and Ali has two kitties that are admittedly not smoochy, but it’ll still be great to be around kitties again yippee!! 😀 [Plus I also now may have another short stint for a lady at work with a dog … woohoo!!]