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Perhaps I just feel tired after being up so early today, I don’t know … but I have to say the last week has been a struggle financially – I think having the dinner party etc recently has been an extra drain on the finances, not to mention that stupid parking fine, and I thought I was doing OK, but then the electricity bill came in, and my bank account basically went down to having $10 spending money for the next 5 days … hmmm. Fraze asked me to come into the city to have dinner with him last night, and I had to turn him down, as I simply couldn’t afford it. I said to Mum on the phone I don’t even have bread or milk in at the moment oops. That’s not to say I don’t have any food in the house … thankfully I have some frozen pumpkin soup and chicken breasts/meat etc in, and plenty of pantry items to get a meal thrown together, but it’s been an interesting few days. Today I went out and bought milk and yogurt for my breakfast muesli, and emptied out the bank account in its entirety. I got creative last night and made my own bread in the breadmaker, as I have plenty of flour etc on hand, which made a lovely accompaniment to the pumpkin soup 😀

All-in-all, it wouldn’t be too bad … I do occasionally have a month where I’ll struggle financially, then the next one makes up for it and it all evens out. I’d managed to save up a wee bit of money behind me as a backup, but of course that ended up being spent on our Hong Kong trip. Anyway, what tripped me out is that I just received a letter from my real estate agent saying the landlord had requested a rent increase, and basically I have 60 days notice before it takes effect. I’m a bit peeved because when I talked about getting a cat he asked if I would be staying long-term, I’d said as long as he didn’t increase the rent, I’d be staying … he replied not to worry he definitely wouldn’t be doing that 😦 OK, admittedly, he’s only asking for an extra $5 a week, which is only $20-25 a month, but it’s all still an extra expense, particularly with weeks like this one when I’m down to my last $10 until pay day!! That’s the main reason for the title of this post … hmmm.

The way I’m going, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get the money together to see my best friend in Sydney … I might end up having to make a snap decision during that final week, to see if there’s enough money in the kitty left over for it. It will be really disappointing, that’s for sure, but then again there’s no point getting myself into more financial ruin by going if I really can’t afford it.

It also means I’ve been considering other areas where I’m just going to have to cut back. Like a few of my fellow bloggers, I’d dearly love to send Christmas and birthday gifts to my fave online pals, and I’d already been planning a few things, but I’m realising I just can’t realistically do it financially … my gifts this next year are going to have to be quite meagre, as every time I make a financial cutback I’m offsetting any benefits by spending extra money on gifts and postage, and I just seem to be running in circles and not getting anywhere in the case of reducing debt. As much as I adore buying for gifts (and I really have loved doing it this year for my online pals), I have to be realistic about it and make some changes … and it breaks my heart to have to think that way. I guess having that small rent increase arrive has given me food for thought … and that food is giving me indigestion!!

Sorry this is such a depressing post …

On a more positive note, thanks for all your comments – I knew that little sneak preview would make you think my latest gift stitching was Sweetheart Tree … it’s actually a Calico Crossroads sampler 🙂

It’s Wednesday (aka Friday in my little world today), and I’m ever so happy 😉

Haven’t touched a needle in a few days now, and I’m itching to get a bit done, as well do a bit more housekeeping with my stitching stash – I’ve got so many charts not sorted into subjects in my folders etc, that it’s getting totally out of control, and I need some sort of order back again. The other day I bought some plastic ‘envelope’ folders, and put all of my rotation WIP’s into them, in order of stitching in a plastic tub, so every time I finish one rotation it goes to the back of the pile and I’m ready to just pick up the next one. In each of the folders I have my stitched piece if it’s small, my chart and working copy, and all the threads in flossaway bags in numerical order on metal rings … hence the reason I haven’t done any stitching recently haha. Typical of me, though, I can always find something else to fill my time rather than those things I really should be doing LOL.

In my semi-cranky mood yesterday, I decided to cheer myself up with a taste of my childhood … literally. For the first time I finally made myself a double batch of Doreen’s Apricot Slice – Doreen is my best friend’s Mum, and my adopted second Mum, and at many outings with the family Doreen would make this apricot slice … it always reminds me of those wonderful fun times of my youth. In fact Doreen’s kitchen was always filled with yummy home-baked goodies when you visited. I asked Vicki to send me the recipe a little while ago, and gave it a go. It’s not quite the same, as we don’t have Round Wine biscuits here, so I tried using Marie biscuits and they seem to have a bit more crunch to it … next time I think I’ll try plain Arrowroot biscuits, either that or get Mum to bring some in her red cross parcel/suitcase when she comes over haha. The guys at work will love me forever for making a double batch, as that means I’m taking a pile of it into work for them to munch on today too 😀 Here’s a small sampling of the pile …

I’m happy to say my order that I was moaning about yesterday has been shipped, even though there is apparently a glitch with PayPal and I still haven’t got an invoice, but I feel very grateful it has finally been resolved. It’s unusual for me to fly off the handle, and to blog about it, but perhaps we can put it down to hormones as ‘that time of the month’ is about to hit any day now, and I’m feeling a mix of emotions this week hmmm.

Anyway, time to get ready for work – I have a normal shift of 12noon to 8pm today, then two days off woohoo (I’m trying not to think about the shifts next week, it’s too depressing LOL). I’m hoping to have something stitching-related to show you by the end of the weekend 🙂

OK, OK, for everyone else it’s Wednesday tomorrow … but for me it’s Friday in that it’s the last day of this week’s working week – I have Thu/Fri off before going back into work on Saturday … and a very very bad weekend to be working 5am shifts – why? I hear you ask (I wondered what those voices in my head were!!) … this weekend the clocks go forward (yay, I love daylight saving), but it means instead of having to wake up at my normal 4am, it will actually be 3am (not yay, in fact a BIG boooooo!). I think I’m going to be totally wrecked … ooh, ooh, I just had a brainwave as I was typing this – I still have a couple of ‘luv your work’ awards that I could cash in, then I could come home an hour early and just have a 7-hour day … hmmm, food for thought …

Can I just take a brief moment to have a mini rant … you might want to skip this bit … I’ve just sent a grumpy email of complaint to a certain online store in the US, one who’s infamous for having things on backorder for months (say no more). Anyway, I’d pre-ordered the JCS Xmas ornie issue through them, as I can never find it in Melbourne (although now I know Dragonfly Dreams carries it, it’s likely I’ll pay the imported price and buy locally from now on) – we added a number of items to the list that Mum needed, and asked for it to be held until the JCS issue comes in to combine postage (that was on 1Sep) … of course it’s still got items on back order even now … anyway on speaking to Mum we decided to add a couple more items to the list (namely Flossaway bags), which meant we’d have to have two shipment parcels … not a problem. At the time I also requested an additional one or two items be added to the first shipment for the scissor fob exchange I’m sending … gave a list of items that would be options, and just asked for something that was in stock to be sent. Well, on 10Oct I was asked if I’d like to receive shipment on the first parcel, to which I replied yes, and could I make sure the exchange goodies were in there too, and please send the invoice so I can pay it immediately … today is 24Oct and to date I still have not received a single response, and certainly no invoice – I’ve sent two other chaser emails, as I was worried about the mailing dates, and still heard nothing. I very very rarely complain in writing … but today I finally put my fingers to the keyboard. I don’t even mind greatly if the goods couldn’t be shipped in time to meet my deadline, but I would have liked an acknowledgement and advice to that extent so I could have made other arrangements. As it is, it is now too late, and I’ll likely have to send two parcels over the oceans, but it’s left a rather bitter taste in my mouth that’s for sure! They were quick enough to send my monthly bits invoice (but I presume that’s automated), but I have to admit it’s still sitting unactioned in my inbox while I decide what to do with that. OK, my rant is now officially over … phew! 😉

That feels better getting that off my chest … now I can move on and go back to my happy existence and regular scheduled programming haha … BTW, did I tell you it’s Friday tomorrow??? See, that put a smile back on my face again hahaha.

Update to my rant … I’ve just heard back from the infamous ONS – apparently an invoice was sent 11Oct, which I never received, and due to personal reasons no-one has been actioning emails in the office … it’s been sitting waiting to be shipped upon payment since 11Oct – geesh, I wish I’d known about this two weeks ago!! As I just replied, I’ve always always paid immediately on receipt of any invoices, perhaps that should have rung alarm bells, and if someone could have just scanned through emails for those that are relevant … OK, I’m just going to stop ranting now and try to let it slide … maybe I need to drag out my old yoga tape LOL.

I was just sat here reflecting how life has changed since I began blogging … all in a positive way, of course! I feel so much more confident in my stitching, and within myself, and it’s been wonderful sharing the trials and tribulations of my newfound online pals, and sharing those of my own with people who think the same way.

When planning holidays and breaks away, I immediately wonder if there are any bloggers in the area I could meet up with and put a face to the name … the world has become a much smaller and friendlier place to live in 🙂

Having the blogging outlet has helped give me relief from a bad day, and I often sit here at home feeling a sense of peace with life itself. I thank those of you who have become part of my new smaller world, and am very grateful to have met you {{hugs}}.

I recently looked at my counter here and saw it hit the 20,000 mark, and marvel at how many of you come back for more to read my drivel every week, but feel grateful that you do come back and provide such wonderful support and friendship.

That’s all I wanted to post about tonight … I was just sitting here thinking how ‘at one with the world’ I feel, even though I had a tough start to the working day today, and wanted to say a heartfelt thanks 😀

To my online pals … I salute you!! 😀

I can finally say I’ve picked up one of my exemptions from the 50 Project Challenge – at last my local newsagent near work had the World of XSing magazine in stock with the Michael Powell Greek scene in it … I absolutely ADORE all things Greek with those beautiful blues in them, so this design is most definitely on the “must stitch” list. It will go well with the Greek paintings I bought in Greece that I have framed up (with some more still to be framed yet).

On the stitching front, I didn’t manage to get much done on my Snowman needleroll over the last two nights … on my 2nd night of doggoes it was a bit busier, so I only managed to get a tiny bit done – and I realised on adding the backstitching that the right-hand snowman is one stitch too far over on the right … seeing as I’d already had to frog-stitch that one twice already, and I’d already completed it, I’ve decided to just leave it where it is, and just have to adjust the lettering by one stitch above it. I bet if I didn’t say anything, no-one would notice 😉 Last night would have been a good stitching night again, but I was just too tired to concentrate on it, so gave stitching a miss. I’ve only been getting 5-6 hours sleep each time during the day (and waking up every 1-2 hours), so last night that caught up with me. Of course, as is always the case, today I manage to sleep a full 8 hours and didn’t get out of bed until 3pm, which means it’ll be hard to get back into the routine for sleeping tonight … that’s the only thing I hate about night shift, recovering after it – otherwise I could do that shift permanently, I really enjoy it 😀 (very sad, I know! LOL)

I think tonight I’ll try to get this little needleroll finished off, then tomorrow I need to pop out and buy some pearl cottons ready to start my gifts this week, before coming home to settle in and stitch up my scissor fob exchange piece. I’m a bit worried that the ‘extra’ I’ve ordered from SB&B isn’t going to arrive in time for posting, but I guess there’s still just over a week left (fingers crossed).

On the good note, though, Karen has shipped most of the threads I’ve been wanting for a canvaswork piece, so that’ll slot straight into my rotation as soon as Pacific Pohutukawa is finished woohoo 😀 These threads have been on order for quite some time now, as they had to be ordered in through the distributor – but as soon as I’ve finished that piece, the chart can head it’s way over to Tannia for her to stitch it 😀

And on that note I’ll sign off for the night and settle in with the Snowman needleroll for a few hours while listening to a new audiobook I’ve got – A Darkness More Than Night by Michael Connelly. The reason I have this is Cathy’s fault … she mentioned Audible on her blog, and the price seemed very reasonable, so yesterday I thought I’d give it a trial run. They just so happened to have a 50% sale off Michael Connelly books, so I bought two (for the same it’d cost just for one normal paperback these days), as well as The Cold Moon by Jeffrey Deaver as my ‘free’ gift for joining up. That’ll keep me out of trouble this week on my days off 😉 It’ll be a nice change from DVD watching, and they have a wonderful selection of audiobooks to download (even for us Aussies) compared to what’s available at my local library 😀

The sad thing is that I could probably add a few to this list as well from personal experience … haha. Nothing stitching-related to chat about, so you get some call centre enquiries (joke) that I got in an email … gave me a giggle! 😀

Thomas Cook Travel
Customer: “I’ve been ringing 0700 2300 for two days and can’t get through to enquiries, can you help?”.
Operator: “Where did you get that number from, sir?”.
Customer: “It was on the door to the Travel Centre”.
Operator: “Sir, they are our opening hours”.

Samsung Electronics
Caller: “Can you give me the telephone number for Jack?”
Operator: “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t understand who you are talking about”.
Caller: “On page 1, section 5, of the user guide it clearly states that I need to unplug the fax machine from the AC wall socket and telephone Jack before cleaning. Now, can you give me the number for Jack?”
Operator: “I think you mean the telephone point on the wall”.

Royal Automobile Club Motoring Services
Caller: “Does your European Breakdown Policy cover me when I am travelling in Australia?”
Operator: ” Doesn’t the product give you a clue?”

Directory Enquiries 1
Caller: “I’d like the number of the Argoed Fish Bar in Cardiff please”.
Operator: “I’m sorry, there’s no listing. Is the spelling correct?”
Caller: “Well, it used to be called the Bargoed Fish Bar but the ‘B’ fell off”.

Directory Enquiries 2
Then there was the caller who asked for a knitwear company in Woven.
Operator: “Woven? Are you sure?”
Caller: “Yes. That’s what it says on the label; Woven in Scotland “.

Technical support…. England
Caller: “I deleted a file from my PC last week and I have just realised that I need it. If I turn my system clock back two weeks will I have my file back again?”.

I’ve managed to do about 15 hours work on The Dratteds since I last took a progress piccie, and I’m starting to see the final deadline a lot closer now … I chopped off all of my highlighted parts of my working copy, and I’m surprised how little is now left. I think I’ll meet my self-imposed deadline and see this finished within the next two months 🙂 Here’s the progress to date, with a before and after piccie from when I last took a photo:
Before:

After:

When Sharon saw this piece in real life, she was surprised how big it was – it’s 234 stitches wide x 150 stitches high … I have to admit, though, it looks pretty gorgeous stitched up, even though it’s a nightmare to stitch with all those greys. I’ll be quite sad to eventually see these Dratteds leave home.

This week it isn’t a great stitching roster, so not much will be done until possibly next week, when I need to concentrate on my scissor fob exchange.

The snow has been falling on my little Winter RR block, and the trees have blossomed up out of the ground, despite the drop in wintry temperature 😉 As you can see, I’ve managed to get a few more stitches done on this piece before I head off to work (I’m about to leave any minute now). Today is Friday, and for me it actually IS Friday, which means my weekend off is a real weekend again for two weeks in a row yippee 🙂 My plans this weekend are to do absolutely nothing but relax with a needle in hand … I hope to get this Winter RR block finished, and anything other than that is a bonus.

Next week is a tough week for me, with a mix of shifts … starting with 11am-7pm for two days, I then move to 1pm-9pm for one day, then a 3pm-11pm for 1 day, finishing with 3 days of 9pm-5am … yep, another week of 7 days straight. I then have 4 days off, but I’m usually a zombie after my night shifts and don’t anticipate much happening those days except perhaps a bit of stitching … maybe 😉

And on that note, off to work I go 😀

I almost forgot … for Barbara – that red is just DMC 304 … it’s pretty scrummy 😀

I’ve decided to be a responsible stitcher, and not touch The Dratteds until I’ve finished one of my stitching commitments for this month – instead for the last two days I’ve been putting a few stitches into Lynn’s RR block before going to work. I’ve chosen the Winter block as I just love wintry/Christmas scenes, and love the richness of the red in the house. I probably should have stitched the Spring block, seeing as that’s the season we’re currently in down here, but the Winter one appealed to me more stitching-wise. I’m hoping to get the final stitches put into this one by the end of the weekend, ready for posting at the end of the month.

After that I just have my scissor fob exchange commitment (and I still haven’t decided on a design yet), then I’m free to stitch what I feel like … namely the Dratteds, along with an ornament or two and the monthly needleroll SAL. The poor Dratteds have been severely neglected for the last month or so – can’t wait to get moving on them again … ‘cos when they’re all finished I’m moving Egyptian Garden Mandala into their position as my focus piece, and I really can’t wait to get that back into my rotation.

Not much to chat on about today, so it’s just a short post – time to jump in the shower and start getting ready for work … geez it feels good to just have a 5-day week for a change, yippee!! 😀