NOPE...NOT GONNA DO IT

The big black ughs are still upon me, Dearies, but I simply refuse to give in to them. I just don't know what's wrong with me, but I am decidedly not myself and have not been so for quite a little bit. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but I've had enough of this thankyouverymuch, and am moving on.

I did manage to stitch a bit last evening, but alas, do not have a progress picture for you. I also brought Hoity Toity with me to the d-chair today instead of Plum Pudding, so we'll see if I can make some good progress on it this week.

I hope that your Monday is off to a good start and that the week ahead if full of fun. What 'cha got cookin'?

SUNDAY

SATURDAY

FRIDAY

This is next up, Dearies. It's Flowery Alphabet by La-D-Da, and I'm stitching it on a lovely piece of linen from Picture This Plus. I'm unsure of the color, but I bet I documented it somewhere on this here blog when I initially started it. For threads, I am using silks from stash in lovely greens and pinks. I know that the alphabet itself is going to blend into the background quite a bit, but that is kind of the look I'm going for...a tone on tone effect.

I am, unfortunately, still quite a bit under the weather, but I did come to dialysis today. Apparently there is a flu that is going around the pod, but staying home for more than a day or two really isn't an option. I was fortunate in that I only had a minimal weight gain even though I missed treatment Wednesday, but that's not a habit I want to keep.

No big plans for the weekend...just lots of rest and Mass on Saturday.  I believe that it is supposed to be in the 60's on Sunday, so maybe a walk in the sunshine will be in order.

I hope that you have had a lovely week and that the weekend ahead is full of fun for you! Come tell me all about it...what you're stitching, reading, eating, and doing. You know me...I'm Gladys Kravitz when it comes to peeking into your lives, Dearies!

THURSDAY

The Gilded Cage

Carriage House Samplings

28ct Heroic from Picture This Plus

WDW and DMC

WEDNESDAY

I'm home with the ughs today, Dearies. Nothing too serious, but I have a fever and don't want to risk passing whatever this is to my podmates. Some sleep and rest will put me to rights again, I'm sure, so no worries.

Thank you for your feedback on my "finish". I am going to let it sit for a bit until I can figure out what I want to do. At the moment I am leaning toward sticking it in the big box under the bed and calling it finished until I decide differently if/when I finally frame the darn thing.

(Does anybody else have a big box of shame under their bed? At last glance, I think there are several dozen pieces in there that have been stitched, but await final finishing. I'm almost afraid to do an exact count, because I think it exceeds one hundred.)

(It would be cheaper to buy a frame shop, I think, than it would to actually get them framed!)

After my Happy Dance, I fished through my WiP basket and pulled another Oldie but Goodie:

This is The Gilded Cage by Carriage House Samplings, and I am stitching this on a lovely piece of Picture This Plus linen in Heroic and my own color conversion. It's a little bit autumnal, but there is so little left to go, I might as well finish it.

(And put it in the big box under the bed.)

Before I go, can you all please settle a bet/argument I'm having with JB? I say that it is dangerous to put wooden items into the dishwasher because they can fall onto the heating element and catch fire (which I have personally experienced). He says I'm nuts.  What say yous, please?

OK...time to crawl back into the big girl sleigh bed.  I hope you have a happy and peaceful day today! Do something fun and come tell me all about it!

TUESDAY

What do you think, Dearies?  There are squiggles charted for above the letters on top, but I think those are the ones that were too busy. I do like the squiggles below, but am not sure if this somehow looks unbalanced?

Either way....there are big WOOHOOs coming from Hoosierville tonight!

MONDAY

I guess I stitched more that I realized this weekend, Dearies! Now, the decision to be made is whether or not I add the light blue squiggles in the background. There is a part of me that thinks it might be too much, but the other part of me thinks that the squiggles might be what I liked best about this design in the first place.

I also played with my planner yesterday, which was a nice change of pace from scribbling appointments on scraps of paper and forgetting about them. As you can see...a very quiet week ahead for Yours Truly, so I am hoping for peace and quiet to prevail.

Happy Monday to one and all! I hope your week is full of everything that makes your heart sing! Come tell me all about it!

TAKE A LEAP

OPERATION KEEP GOING

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT: 112.5kg

THIS WEEK'S WEIGHT: 109.6kg

WEIGHT LOST THIS WEEK: 2.9kg

FIRST GOAL: 110kg
NEW GOAL: 108kg

THURSDAY...PHOOEY

Today just...sucked.

But when I went to Dr. Melfi, four baby deers came up to the bird feeder right outside the big floor to ceiling window to have a snack.

Four baby deers.

And the snow was softly falling and the baby deers were so close that I could almost reach out and pet them.

Baby deers.

And Dr. Melfi and I just sat there in lovely silence watching them, until it occurred to me that BabyDear was what I called Stewey and that he and I would watch the baby deers feed at our bird feeder at the house and I busted out into the ugly cry, hiccuped all over my old lady big top, and just let it...go.

Damn dog.

So now he's a baby deer.

As God is my witness, Dearies, I swear I am going to survive this.  I might survive it with a headache and a rash on my face (did you know that stress can cause a rash on your face and pain on your scalp?), but survive it I will.

(And no....for all of you diligent and lovely medical pros who will write to tell me that it might be shingles...I did go to the urgent care and it is not, thank God, the shingles.)

(Just me being me.)

(But the while rash and sore scalp thing is new, so I have THAT going for me, which is nice.)

Enough.

Tomorrow is a new day.

ASH WEDNESDAY

My view from the d-chair is beautiful today, Dearies, so I have nothing to complain about. We have about three inches of snow so far and are expecting a few more, I think, but it is, after all, February.

Thank you for all of your support and encouragement. My grump is still here in full force, and I'm starting to feel like the lady in the antidepressant commercial that holds the smiley face sign up in public. As far as anybody else knows, I'm delightful. Only you (and Dr. Melfi) know the real truth.

Today is Ash Wednesday, so that means I will attempt Mass this afternoon, and I spent the better part of yesterday contemplating what I am going to do with myself for the next 40 days. My initial plan was "40 salads in 40 days". The I thought about 40 minutes of exercise 4 days a week for 40 days. And then 40 stitchy projects in 40 days.

I think, though, that what I want to do is just be accountable.

What this means exactly has yet to reveal itself fully, but I think it means that I want to pay attention to what I eat, what I think, what I do, and what I spend. I'm not exactly tearing it up in any of those areas of my life, so I feel like if attention is paid I might come out of this feeling pretty good about things.

I have a very small life. It's small but filled with some big hard things, and I have not been very good at managing those things. And, because I'm me, this makes me resentful and angry with myself that I have allowed a lane switch and I'm messing about with things that are not in my purview.

Enough of that.

The big hard things need attention and all of the other stupid crap that has me spinning needs to be jettisoned. And if I can't do that, I need to come up with a plan as to how I will tame the other stupid crap once and for all and just be done with it.

So that's the plan for this particular spinster's Lenten observance, Dearies. Accountability.

If you participate, I hope your next 40 days are exactly what you want them to be.

Back to enjoying the view for now!

TUESDAY...OEY

I don't have one darn clue what's wrong with me, Dearies, but something is decidedly "off" and has been for quite some time. I am just not my normal happy-go-stupid-lucky little self, and the resulting black cloud is starting to wear on me.

It's not the Black Dog, exactly, but rather a feeling of unwell and frustration and gloom and doom that is very foreign. I'm mad and short-tempered and nasty-thinking, and that is most definitely NOT like me. 

In other words...I have a very healthy case of the mean reds instead of my normal blues.

But enough of that nonsense.  We have places to go and things to do today, and the world has enough problems without me feeling grumpy, right? I need to belt myself across the chops and utter a good old "Snap out of it!" a la Miss Cher Her Very Self in the Moonstruck and be done with it.

I came home from treatment (which...let's face it...is probably at least 74% of the problem), ate enough lasagna to sink a battleship, and then went to bed at 7:15. I tossed and turned for a few hours and got up at midnight to sit in the Happy Chair to stitch and read:

The funny thing is that I'm not even sure I like the stitchy piece, but I am more than halfway finished with it and am just pulling thread through fabric at this point. Before I knew it last night, I had completed the bottom alphabet and was thinking about moving on to the left side of the design, but I picked up the newly acquired library book instead and got a few pages into it.

So far, I think it will be a good story. I think I am probably in a bit of an Erin Morgenstern hangover since I just read the Starless Sea and The Night Circus (for the second time) back to back, and those are novels that...linger.

Maybe that's my problem? The fact that I am stuck in some magical place with gorgeous writing and fantastic characters and something unexpected around every corner in my brain, but my body is hauling itself through an endless loop of damn good, treatment, sleep, and too much food.

Oey...the way my head works drives me nuts sometimes.

In a few minutes I am going to get myself presentable to head to the salon to get a complimentary bang trim. If that doesn't make me feel better, nothing will. And, for extra good measure, I might hit the Starbucks drive-through for a little treat, even though it's not Friday and I haven't exactly earned it with my positively rotten attitude these last several days.

Hmmmm. Decisions, decisions.

I know that this is all going to pass, and that I need to take a breath and concentrate on all of the positives in my happy little life, but maybe a good old fashioned grump is what I need at the moment.

OK...fifteen minutes.  I'm going to go have a good grump for fifteen minutes and then we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming. Thank you for indulging me, Dearies. I hope your corner of the world is bright and cheerful today! Come tell me all about it!

MONDAY...

OK...THAT WAS DEFINITELY WORTH IT

My JB decided to switch things up a bit and announced that we would be going to 5:00 Mass, followed by dinner out at my choice of restaurants, so away we went.

It has been a while since I've attended Saturday Mass at the Basilica, and it has been even longer since I've heard the Notre Dame Women's Choir sing. They were quite good, and selected a pretty difficult selection of pieces to perform from Benjamin Britten's Missa Brevis...all very very beautiful and well done.

For dinner, I selected the Carrabba's because I knew my JB would like Italian, and I was hankering for a steak. They also have a special today, so as an added bonus we came away from the table with a nice big piece of lasagne for tomorrow!

Who could possibly be happier than I am at this moment?

I've started my new project...Erica Michaels Good Every Day and made decent progress while watching Ford vs. Ferrari:

As soon as I get my face washed, my pajamas on, and myself situated back in the Happy Chair, I'm going to get back to it.

Happy Saturday, Dearies! I might not blog tomorrow since I am going to try to have an iPad/phone free Sunday. (I read somewhere that it's supposed to be good for me.)

SATURDAY...

Would it be so wrong to just stay here until Monday morning?

NEXT UP...

WOOOOOHOOOOO!!

Shepherd's Bush

Heart Of My Heart

28ct Colour & Cotton jobelan in Cucumber

WDW and C&C threads

Oh, Dearies...this is just what the doctor ordered! I attached the buttons moments ago and then sat here and delighted in the feeling of having a finish....the first in a very long long time!

I'm going to call it a night now and think about something new. I seem to do well keeping Plum Pudding in my d-chair tote and working on a separate project here at home, so that is what I am going to continue to do.

Happy Thursday again! 

DAMN, DRAT, AND PHOOEY...

OK.

That's it.

I'm going back to bed and staying there until it's over.

My treatment yesterday was positively awful, and I came home wanting a hot bath, my Stewey, and my Mommie...in that order. Buzzy is just so very very sore and painful, and yesterday's added bonus were full body cramps that just about knocked me out. I lasted the full four hours, but really wish I just would have played hooky instead.

I did manage to make a nice dinner...Martin's crabcakes, rice, and a salad, but there's not much of the evening that I remember after that, unfortunately.

Oh well.

We'll just chalk that all up to an off day and move on, right, Dearies? I am living the mantra of "This too shall pass."

(It'll pass like a flaming kidney stone the size of a basketball, but it'll pass nonetheless.)

Today has dawned bright and sunny, but cold, so methinks I will just stay right here in the Happy Chair and stitch my little eyeballs out. I'm making slow progress on Plum Pudding at dialysis and the Shepherd's Bush piece here at home, so I have absolutely nothing to complain about.  I started watching the CNN documentary on The Windsors, so perhaps that will take me away from all of my spinster drama and make for a nice afternoon.

I hope your very own Thursday is wonderful and swell and utterly fantastic. Do something fun and come tell me all about it!