Home & Family TO BE FIXED – Page 9

Christmas Ornaments, Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Stash, Works in Progress

Yay, I have a car that locks!

2 April, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

What a relief that is to finally have a car with locking functionality once again – my heart’s been skipping a beat every time I walk out of the apartment block and the work carpark to see if my car is still there!

Anyhoo, a bit of tweaking with the electrics, a major service overhaul with 2 new ‘belts’ and a CV cover, and 4 brand spanking new tyres … and $1100 later … and my car is like a new model all over again. I still think it’s a heap of scrap metal, but at least it’s more pleasurable to drive now! LOL.

The joy of being stuck at the mechanics 1 1/2 hours away from home, and being in the middle of an industrial area, means nothing to do but sit on a chair in the corner of a wee office, listen to an audiobook until the iPod battery runs out, and do a teensy bit of stitching … doesn’t get much better than that really (OK, if we’re to be totally truthful, I guess sitting in my own stitching recliner in front of Supernatural on TV with a glass of vino to help keep down the internal humidity would be better … but hey, beggars can’t be choosers!).

I managed to quickly dive into the Craft Depot at Pennant Hills seeing as I wasn’t very far away on the way home, and picked up a couple of fabrics … and lo and behold the weather may change tomorrow, so expect snow and blizzards … I came out with a couple of finishing fabrics and not a single ONE was blue!!! {{swoon}}

Anyway, enough waffling … time to go sit in front of the TV and catch up on this week’s programmes with that well-earned glass of vino … I’ll leave you with today’s tiny bit of stitching effort (sorry, I forgot to use the flash, so it’s a crappy dark photo that even the editing software doesn’t want to play with!).

In fact, before I sit in front of the TV I think I’ll drag out my EGA Correspondence class booklets – I’m getting a serious urge to start something that is “new” and that will teach me something … or perhaps I should drag out one of my old WIP’s with challenging stitches on them … hmmm, decisions, decisions … 😉

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

I’m officially on holiday now …

2 April, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

I walked in the door at 11.30pm tonight from work … I won’t get started with the story of that … let’s just say I’ve been taking on a lot more of the project I’ve been working on due to the absence of the Manager, and I’ll say no more than that!

Anyway, I’m now officially on annual leave (although I’ve said to one of the big, big managers during a 10pm phone call tonight (!!) that I’ll go in for a couple of hours on Saturday to deal with some outstanding issues from the USA) …

I may/may not be online after the weekend, as I’ll be leaving my flatmate to cope without me as I’ll be heading offshore for a week or so in sunny Auckland, New Zealand …

Right now, I’d better head off to bed as it’s after midnight now, and I have to be up at 6am to drive my car 1 1/2 hours away to my mechanic to spend some more money on that heap of scrap metal … ho-hum 😦

I just have to keep reminding myself, I’M ON HOLIDAY … WOOHOO!!! 😀

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, supernatural

The BIG News!!!

16 March, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Well, it’s been a whirlwind of stress, long hours, and low emotions over the last month or so at work … but it all came to a head in a good way this week … and the news was deserving of a bottle of bubbly being cracked open tonight!!

champagne

My lovely flatmate had the day off work today, so she spent the day shopping her little heart out, then came home and cooked us a wonderful roast beef dinner, and bought a celebratory bottle of Jansz sparkling wine to officially celebrate my news …

And the news is …

that I have finally been given a permanent job here in Sydney!!!

While at times over the last two months I have doubted my sanity in actually doing this job, I am on the whole happier in Sydney than I was in Melbourne – even though I have made some close friendships in Melbourne, Sydney sees me feeling more “settled” … I’m absolutely thrilled and over the moon that I don’t have it hanging over my head anymore that I may have to go through the drama of moving all over again (or looking for another job just to stay in Sydney).

On another positive, I love living with my new flatmate – even though I’m 15 years her senior, we have a lot in common … we enjoy a glass of wine every now and then on a work night evening, and are both HUGE Supernatural fans. Our favourite pastime when we’re actually home is to sit in front of the TV with a bottle of wine, or glass of something else, with a Supernatural DVD on TV … I’m now stitching in the lounge again and loving it (when I get chance to stitch), rather than sitting in my bedroom and stitching in there. We are getting out and about socially a lot more, and mixing with more and more people from work socially, so all-in-all life is good, even with all the stresses and dramas of work 😀

This last weekend we did 8 hours at work on Saturday, then came home and showered (well I did, ‘cos I was the lucky one in the shower first – poor Katie was in the shower when we had a town-wide power/gas blackout so the poor thing didn’t last in there long in the freezing cold). It was interesting putting make-up on in the half-dark bathroom! Anyway, I digress … we went to the Marconi Club out at Bossley Park to see a Spanish play called the Open Couple – it was hilarious to watch. A friend of ours knows the actors and band that perform in it, and we had a good night out. Unfortunately there was a huge thunderstorm that killed their brand new Macbook with a power surge, so we were without subtitles for most of the first half, but the second half saw a new laptop arrive and we could follow the storyline properly. It was a really fun show … we just might have to go to see it again so I can know what all the first half was about (although we’ll either have to fly to Brisbane or drive to Canberra to see it now)!!

fave-wallpaper-supernatural

Actually, talking of Supernatural … it’s absolutely killing Katie and I while we’re waiting for Supernatural to return to our TV screens. All stupid Channel Ten can confirm is that it will return later in the year!!! What the …?!!!!! We only got as far as episode 8 (Wishful Thinking) before it stopped … and the US is already up to episode 15!!! We’ve started discussing trying to find download copies somewhere on the ‘net so we can catch up – although we have a limited download quota, so it may not be an option. I don’t think we can survive until “later in the year”! In fact Katie and I are such hard-core fans, we’re off to the Convention here in Sydney next month … a huge, huge splurge, but it will be awesome to see the stars in the flesh. (Note to self – remember to take bib for excessive drooling!!!) We can’t wait!! And Channel Ten, you are off the Christmas card list – Bah Humbug to you!! 😛

Anyway, that’s my news for now … it’s time now to hit the hay for the night. Katie and I are off to Fernwood gym tomorrow night to ask about prices and class timetables etc, as we’re thinking of joining up together. As we car pool to/from work, it will give us added motivation if we both go to the gym. We started walking in the mornings a week or so ago, which was great … and knowing I now have a permanent job means I have a new-found spring in my step this afternoon!! 😀

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Speedy internet service

12 February, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a quick note before I tuck myself in for the night to say “YIPPEE!!!!!!!” – I bought a new modem/router off Ebay this week and it arrived tonight(thank heavens for Visa!) … 1 1/2 hours later and I’m the proud new owner of a super fast, super beautiful internet connection. I can’t believe how much faster my connection is – pages are loading up really fast in my feed reader, and I’m not making as many typos (I think) here typing this as my internet page is actually keeping up with my fingers at the speed they’re typing … ah, sheer bliss!!!

And on that note I’d really better get to sleep … I was at work until 8.30pm again tonight, and have a phone hook-up with Tuscon, Los Angeles and Auckland first thing in the morning (that’s how every Friday morning starts for me at the moment), so I’d better get some shut-eye so I’m semi-awake for the call (especially as I’m the project lead from our end hmmm).

I’ll be sleeping with a huge grin on my face tonight … partly because of the modem/router … partly because the Chiropractor untwisted my neck tonight so I feel more ‘centred’ … and partly because I managed to track down an old friend of the male persuasion in Melbourne, who I used to have a bit of a crush on (and no, that doesn’t mean there’s romance brewing … although that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t love him to come and visit Sydney for a weekend haha). One of the few times in life that my Mum likes someone and so do I … you don’t need three guesses to work out who I’m talking about Mum!!! haha.

Rightio, time to sleep … happy sleep tonight after being stressed out to the max all week with work … happy sleep … happy sleep (do you think I’ve talked myself into it? haha).

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Changing of the Guard

24 January, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

As you may/may not have noticed, there is no Photo Hunt entry from me today … I’ve been working 11 hour days this week on the days when I haven’t had chiro appointments, and been too tired to forward date a post for today … then today has been spent up at the crack of dawn (does 8am count as the crack of dawn? I think so for a Saturday! LOL) helping my flatmate Lisa pack up her belongings ready for her drive back down to Melbourne.

I just have one thing to ask … why on earth should the world decide it must have a 43C day today??? I have spent most of the day living in a pool of sweat – heaving boxes and cases and bags of goodness knows what down to the ground floor from a third floor apartment in such sweltering heat was quite frankly diabolical, and something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy! To top that off as I waved a teary goodbye to my beautiful friend and now “ex”-flatmate, I had to pick up my “new” flatmate and load up the car with all her stuff … nothing like having a 15 minute cross-over between removals! Must say, though, we did one load of carrying stuff upstairs for Katie, and left the rest in the garage to do tomorrow … Instead we headed off to Ikea to plan our flat’s new furniture (in particular Katie’s room) – it was worth the trip to spend a few hours in the air conditioning, and gave our carpet time to dry (we got carpet cleaners in this morning too).

As for me now, I’ve just put the desk fan on and I’m about to crawl under the sheet in bed in front of that beloved fan … and I’m going to sleep the sleep of angels – what’s betting I don’t even remember my head hitting the pillow? 😉

Food, Friends & Family, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Lisa’s final farewell dinner

18 January, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Katie and I put on a final farewell dinner for Lisa last night, and it was absolutely wonderful if I say so myself! We’d discussed having crayfish months ago (aka Rock Lobster), and I said I’d treat us for the final meal … yesterday morning I took a trip out to the Sydney Fish Markets for the first time (and fell in love with them while I was there – I think I’ll be going there once a month to buy fresh fish!), and cried at the price tag, then cried again as they got yanked out of the tank and put into a bag with their litte tails still flapping … yikes …

Anyway, the shop put them out of their misery and sliced them into halves for me, and I picked up a fresh whole snapper to keep them company, along with a couple of tuna steaks. I will definitely be living on bread and jam for the month of February (or at least until next payday) ‘cos the bank balance was emptied out hmmm, but a promise is a promise. Katie made Pannecotta for dessert (which I’ve never had before) – oh boy it was scrummy!

We took some photos of the evening’s menus, so thought I’d share it (sorry Mum, I know you’re sitting there as green as a shamrock with jealousy! haha).

First of all we take some fresh crafish/rock lobster, and slice them in half…

Then we sprinkle with cayenne pepper and a dash of sea salt, and baste with a marinade made from garlic, oil, lemon juice and brandy. Eventually, after a couple of extra bastings during cooking, they’ll come out looking like this…

Add a bit of potato slice bake (which unfortunatey looks like it’s mashed in this photo!), and add a basic tossed salad, and you have a scrummy meal that will have you sighing with satisfaction for hours afterwards. Katie was ooh’ing and ahh’ing for ages, saying her taste buds were in ecstasy as every element of the meal was amazing – thanks Katie, that’s a huge compliment 🙂

We had great fun at the end all trying to get into the crayfish legs for that final little fleshy morsel hiding in there – lots of giggles and cursing abounded LOL. We even cleared and set the dining table for dinner … it was lovely eating all together … it’s only taken us 12 months to use it! LOL.

Afterwards Katie was sent into the kitchen to finish off the preparations of her Pannecotta desserts – and this is the result … how beautiful do they look? And they tasted just as beautiful! 🙂

We ended the night by finishing off my Christmas present of chocolate port … just enough left in the bottle to half fill three glasses for the Three Musketeers … and here’s Katie’s self-portrait of us all at the end of the meal while we were sampling our ports.

All in all a really wonderful night – we’re going to miss my flatmate Lisa a LOT … both at work and at home. She will definitely be missed, bless her.

We were supposed to all be going to Manly for lunch today with other friends of Lisa’s for their farewell lunch, but I’ve woken up with my throat being worse, and heading to my chest, so I’ve decided to sit here with a mug of Lemsip and have pulled out of the festivities. I figure it’s probably wiser for me to have a day sat around home vegetating than being a social butterfly and sharing my bugs further. Never mind, I still have wonderful memories from last night to keep me warm and cosy today … I might even get some more stitching done! 😀

Canvaswork, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Orna Willis, Stash

All choked up

17 January, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

I have to say a HUGE thanks to the ladies who have offered me spare copies of the JCS ornie issues after I confirmed my loss. I am incredibly touched and humbled by your kindness, and I have to say I got a bit choked up when I was responding by email today. Words can’t express how grateful I feel … my ornie issues have always been some of my most treasured stitching possessions, so it will be awesome to have some of the copies available again to stitch from.

To top off that kindness, I also just received a comment on my previous blog post that I am the winner of Orna’s January Giveaway on her blog, so that lump in my throat just got an awful lot bigger (and separate to the current razor blade burning from my virus!). If you don’t know Orna Willis, she is one of my favourite canvaswork designers – her designs are exquisite. I love her use of bright and contemporary colours, and have a couple of designs kitted up ready for stitching. I look forward to receiving my new prize, as I think it will look absolutely stunning stitched up 😀

orna-willis-prize-giveaway

Here are my fave pieces yet to be stitched (I don’t actually own the last two though … yet):

And of course there’s the one piece I’ve already stitched – “Dena”, which I just adore to death! 😀

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Dodgey Bros R Us

16 January, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Alas, my worst fears have come to pass … it appears the one missing box that never got delivered by Dodgey Bros R Us (aka every bad filthy name under the sun you can think of … and I can think of many!) when I moved to Sydney contained some very precious items. To be honest, I think I’ve almost purposefully not checked the final two boxes for this long because I didn’t want my fears to become reality … but the time came when I just couldn’t put off the task any longer … and my fears were well founded 😦

What has me so upset, I hear you ask? Could it be a couple of bars of gold bullion I’ve been squirrelling away for my retirement? Perhaps a winning Lotto ticket that still has to be cashed? Perhaps a personalised signed photo of Tony Curtis (don’t ask! LOL), or the front door key to Jensen Ackles’ home? No, it’s much much worse than that! Unfortunately almost my entire collection of JCS Christmas Ornie magazines were in that box {heavy sigh}. It’s taken me ages to get almost the entire collection together – the only one I was missing was 1999 … but alas it appears now I’m missing every one barring the 2007 and 2008 issues 😦

Luckily I’d got really organised before I placed my belongings into storage and took working copies of a fair few designs, so I can still stitch some, but it’s really heartbreaking to lose them! I think I ‘may’ have my 2005 edition floating around in my stitching bags as well, and my Mum (sweetheart that she is) has offered to give me back the copies that I’d originally bought for her, so I may be able to replace one or two of the missing issues.

Anyway, I just had to share my woes with people who understand my despair …

Now, if I could just find those house keys to Jensen’s place that would help to ease the burden … ;P

jensen20sexy1

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Works in Progress

Still around …

15 January, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Just not getting much stitching done. I was at work until 8.30pm last night, and that’s likely to continue off and on throughout the next 6 weeks at work thanks to this lovely project of mine, and it’ll be made worse next Friday when 2 of my colleagues leave and my boss goes on 2 weeks leave. How on earth they allowed annual leave during a time when we have such a massive project happening and so short-staffed I just don’t know!!!

Next Friday I also say goodbye to my flatmate Lisa as she heads off on her big drive to return to Melbourne on Saturday morning. It’s all very sad really as we’ve become really good friends over the last few months especially. Can’t blame her, though …

As for me, I’ve been battling health issues – I put my neck out last Friday and went to a Chiropractor … my X-ray results yesterday showed that my spine is quite a bit out of alignment in areas, and is responsible for many of my health issues. It also showed arthritis starting to form in my neck and lower back, which would explain a lot as well. So, $1000 later (thank goodness for Visa!!) and I’m signed up for 23 chiro sessions to hopefully reverse the arthritic degeneration and get me back on track. I can’t say I enjoyed the bone-crunching session yesterday, albeit brief, the sound absolutely does my head in {shuddering}. I think for my own health it is really important that I do this, especially after seeing how badly my spine was misaligned in the X-rays. On top of that I picked up Katie’s viral infection over the weekend and have had a throat like I’m swallowing razorblades – between that and my neck on Sunday night my sleep was non-existent, so I ended up taking Monday off to catch up. I’m still blocked up and have a sore throat, but not quite so bad … although it does make it harder to concentrate at work etc 😦

Unfortunately with all of Lisa’s farewells we’ve been organising, along with her birthday a week ago, and Christmas, and now a huge chiro bill, things will most definitely be a bit tight financially for a while now … I guess my own birthday will be a very low key one this year now, and my original plans are thrown out the window – time to put the thinking cap on again! Hmmm …

Geez I’m just one big bundle of joy right now. Time to cheer up and show some stitching … Since I woke up at 5.30am yesterday I caught up on a bit of TV viewing and managed to make a start on the Quaker Swan Case that I’ve had sitting around kitted up forever – not much to show yet, but it’s definitely a start 🙂

Goals, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

2008 Finishes and 2009 Goals

3 January, 200925 February, 2012 Anne S

Even though 36 finishes is a reasonable amount, it’s not as good as previous years, and I’ve had weeks when I’ve barely touched a needle. One of my 2009 goals is to rectify that by having some good old-fashioned “me” time at the end of each day where possible. As I’m about to delete my 2008 Finishes page, and rename it to 2009 Finishes, I thought I’d recap here what my finishes were:

Cathy Jean Designs – Fill With Love ornament
Shepherd’sBush – Shepherd’s Roll
Lizzie*Kate – Joy ornament
Little House Needleworks – Winter Wonderland
Little House Needleworks – Blueberries
Brittercup Designs – Poinsettia ornament
Shepherd’s Bush – Bee Fob
Just Nan – Another Girls Night Out
Lanarte – Seahorse Collage (Sea Life booklet)
Little House Needleworks – The Sampler Lady
Dragon Dreams – Checking It Twice ornament
Just Nan – Barnabee’s Bride
Twisted Oaks Designs – French Monogram III Tuffet
Just Nan – Beach Roses
Sue Hillis Designs – Spool Ornament
Twisted Oaks Designs – Christmas Tree ornament
Prairie Schooler – Duck (from In the Woods)
Freebie – Amitie/Friendship (www.romyeale.blogspot.com)
Melissa Dunajski – Waves (Gift of Stitching magazine)
Pauline’s Needlecraft – Picanini Can Can
Country Cottage Needleworks – Peace ornament
Lanarte – Fish Collage (from Sea Life booklet)
Sunflower Sampler – The Drawn Thread
The Cat’s Whiskers – Alyssum Scissor Pocket
Full Circle Designs – The Decorator ornament
Lanarte – Small Sea Life #2
Lanarte – Small Sea Life #1
Heart in Hand Needleart – Christmas Peace ornament
Val’s Stuff – A Merry Kitty Klaus ornament
Lizzie*Kate – Life’s a Stitch
Just Nan – Evening Star
The Drawn Thread – Garden Recipe
Country Cottage Needleworks – Home Sweet Home
Just Nan – Frightful
The Drawn Thread – Autumn Arbor
Calico Crossroads – Summer Grace

Unfortunately my monthly ornie stitching went out the door (along with all other stitching) when I reached the Garden Recipe project hurdle, and I never got my momentum back again. This year, though, I hope to pick up my monthly ornie stitching again, as they’re great for some relatively instant gratification. So, on to my goals for 2009 – not all of them stitching-related …

Stitching:

Complete some outstanding tutorials for Focus on Finishing Blog (try to complete one every 2 months)
Finish Mirabilia’s Winter Queen
Start Mirabilia’s Bluebeard’s Princess (Mirabella)
Start Mirabilia’s Enchanted Mermaid
Start and finish Mirabilia’s Halloween Fairy (magazine issue)
Finish at least two UFO’s
Complete a Quaker Friendship RR with some awesome online friends
Complete at least one Christmas ornie every month
Do the actual finishing of an item at least once every 2 months
Stitch at least 8-10 hours every week (trying to stitch for a minimum of 1/2 hour every week night if possible)
Continue with my rotation set up in 2008 (but do much better with it in 2009!!)

Sewing:

Make a tote bag
Make some pyjama pants
Start my BOTM patchwork/applique quilt (please note I didn’t say “finish”! LOL)

General:

Be more active with my favourite blogs in both reading and commenting more regularly again
Be more active with the Focus on Finishing blog
Continue with the 2009 Photo Hunt
Read the camera manuals for both my point-and-shoot and SLR cameras
Read my mobile phone manual and learn how to utilise its functions better
Learn how to use my coffee machine (ie cappuccinos etc)
Try one new recipe from my recipe/cocktail books every week
Lose at least 10-15kg in weight
Go walking for an hour a day 3-4 days a week
Visit Melbourne and catch up with friends not seen for over a year
Be a better friend by remembering birthdays and sending cards and gifts ON TIME (hanging head in shame)
Print off these goals and display at my computer desk to keep me on track!
Overall, HAVE FUN and enjoy whatever life throws at me this year 😀