Tuesday, May 29, 2007

May Memories, week 4

I did work on Blackwork Band Sampler this week, although I didn't get that much done. I'm working on a point de reprise section, so my work consisted of four-sided stitch, cutting, and binding threads together. I'm almost done with the binding, then I should be able to start weaving. After that's done, I'll actually have something to show.

This was a fun class, and is the one after which Teresa and Jill and I started to hang out. Although I had seen Teresa before in one of Rae's classes, we had not really met. I sat near her in this class, and afterwards, Jill came by to meet up with her because it was dinnertime. We were all staying in the conference hotel--me by myself, with no car. I had eaten dinner the night before in the hotel's Italian (and only) restaurant, and it was pricey and not that great. Living in a downtown area where there are many restaurants within walking distance, I had expected the same in Winston-Salem, but it was not so. I was stranded facing another night of bland expensive pasta. As Jill and Teresa discussed where they were going to eat, I watched them with giant, wistful puppy-dog eyes. They decided to take pity on me, so they hauled me along with them. At some point Teresa asked, "What do you want to eat?" I replied, "Cow!" (I was in major need of protein at that point in the day...I'd probably been in class non-stop since 8am.) This began my tradition, when I am particularly hungry, of bellowing, "Somebody cow me!" We found a place similar to golden corral or Sizzler, where you could order steak but also partake of the vast food bar. They were low on customers that night, which I'm sure is why the manager (or whoever he was) took us on a guided tour of the various "stations". "Over here we have soups," he'd say, which was ridiculously obvious given the vats with soup ladles sticking out of them. However, I cannot fault the food or the cleanliness of the place. It was a great meal, I got cow, and I made some great friends that I am priviledged still put up with me to this day.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Movie Meme

Name your all-time top five favorite movies.
Are you kidding?? That's like asking me to name my top five all-time favorite meals!! Maybe I could do top five in each category.... OK. For the purposes of this meme, I will try.
  • The Princess Bride

  • Singing in the Rain

  • The Gay Divorcee

  • A Little Princess

  • Sense & Sensibility (Emma Thompson version)

  • Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

  • The Incredibles

  • The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

  • The Matrix

  • Signs

OK. That's 10. That's really the best I can do. I had to cut out a bunch of winners to do that (Holiday Inn, Bringing Up Baby, The Emperor's New Groove, The Sound of Music, The Music Man....)

What’s your favorite movie line?
It's probably, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." (The Princess Bride) Or possibly, "Peach preserves! Say, I really go for those! Why, they're great with.... Or even plain!" from Holiday Inn, and it's all in Fred Astaire's delivery. But the one I probably say the most is "Stay on target...stay on target!" (That's Episode IV, in case you didn't know.)

Who’s your favorite movie character?
Erm...that's a tough one. I don't tend to have favorite characters outside the context of the movie. I'll go with my favorite Disney character...Meeko. =)

What movie do you love that most people hate?
I have no idea. I do love Treasure Planet, and that didn't do very well in the theater. Most people just haven't seen it, though. Same with Atlantis.

What movie do you hate that most people love?
Citzen Kane. Please, people, it's so obvious what Rosebud is at the beginning. Also, Shrek. I was totally done when Fiona made the bird explode.

What was the last movie you saw?
In the theater, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

What’s your least favorite movie ever?
The Piano. As in, you couldn't pay me to see it again. We were supposed to be going with another couple, who told us, "Hey, we like you guys and we never do anything. Let's go see a movie right now." Er...OK...and against my better judgment, we decided on this one. On the way to the theater, though, they decided they needed to "talk about their relationship" and ditched us. We spent the whole movie wondering what had happened, and the only reason we didn't walk out of this horrible flick is that we didn't want to abandon them.

What one movie have you seen that you would never ever watch again?
Didn't I just answer this one? LOL! I'm trying to think of a movie I liked that I won't watch again. Ah, I've got it. The Ring. Best opening of a suspense/horror flick, ever. (Not that I see that many.) But I wouldn't watch it again.

What was the last DVD you saw?
Curse of the Golden Flower.

What was the first DVD you remember buying?
The real question is, do I even remember ever buying a DVD?? Usually that's DH's job. In the early days I would order them from Amazon, so that doesn't really make a real impression, either. I'm going to say Wallace & Gromit's Adventures.

What actor/actress would you like to look like?
Well, DH likes brunettes (go figure =), so I'll stick with brunettes, although I personally think Nicole Kidman, Grace Kelly and Kate Winslett are gorgeous. I wouldn't mind looking like Jennifer Garner. She's not too "showy", but she's got a nice willowy figure (which I'll never have...). Or Julia Roberts...she's beautiful. Oooo! I've got it! Anne Hathaway! She's so pretty!

What classic movie have you never seen?
When Harry Met Sally. I'm putting this one, not because I think it's necessarily a "classic," but because people always look at me like I've grown another head when I say I haven't seen it. I also haven't seen Jerry McGuire.

What song would you choose to be the theme song to the movie of your life story?
Now this is an interesting question. I would like it to be "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" because I'd like people to praise God from seeing His work through me. But I'm a long way off from that.

What’s your favorite movie genre?
Musicals! Or action/adventure/kung fu!

Who’s your favorite actor/actress?
For current actors/actresses, I really like Jim Carrey, though not when he does the Ace Ventura type stuff. Loved him in The Majestic. On the actress side, I love Geena Davis and Julia Roberts.

Realistically, my favorite actor is probably Cary Grant, followed closely by Fred Astaire, Gene Kelley and Donald O'Connor. And my favorite actress, Judy Garland. Or Olivia de Haviland. Or Rita Hayworth....

What actor/actress do you refuse to see their movies?
Colin Farrell. I find him to be a revolting individual, so I can't enjoy anything he's in. I also dislike Russell Crowe intensely; I think the only movie I've seen that he's been in is A Beautiful Mind.

What genre would you choose not to watch?
Horror/gross-out comedies.

What’s your favorite theater concession combo?
Junior Mints! No drink...don't want to have to leave during a vital plot point, LOL!

Front row, Back row, Side Seats, Aisle or center?
Center, first or second row of upper area in stadium seating. Which is pretty much all there is around here. If for some reason it's a smaller theater, wherever I'm looking slightly up at the screen but not too much.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

What am I doing here again?

We have a contractor at work. He's actually very nice, but I don't find him that competent. The questions that he's asked me so far have seemed like questions he should be answering himself...as in, Isn't this your job??

I'll try to explain the question he asked me in the non-geekiest terms possible. He is helping us set up an identity management (IDM) solution. In layman's terms, that means that someday, our users will not have to log in to every single application they use...once for Windows, once for email, once for each database, once for this application, once for that application, etc. They'll just log in to Windows, and everything else will "know" who they are. So anyway, he is setting up a connection between our current database of user information and the IDM solution. He has to call something to create a user, kind of like this (bear with me, you're going to see some pseudocode here!):

String firstName = "Heather";
String lastName = "Lott";
String password = "myPassword";
Statement statement = "insert into user(?, ?, ?)";
statement.setPlaceholder(firstName);
statement.setPlaceholder(lastName);
statement.setPlaceholder(encrypt(password));


Pretty simple, right? Everything's in a variable, and the password is encrypted before it's set (that's what the "encrypt()" around the password variable does). So he comes to my desk because the sample code I gave him (above), once he's modified it to use the connector stuff, is throwing an error, and he thinks the error is coming from my method (the encrypt()). The error is

Error near string [PASSWORD]

Now, he's getting the name and password out of a Map rather than setting them in variables (don't freak out, non-techies!! A Map is just a way to refer to things by their name! It's like going to the library and saying, "I want the book labeled 'First Name'"...then you are given the book and can see what information is inside.) Here's how he modified the code:

Statement statement = "insert into user(?, ?, ?)";
statement.setPlaceholder(myMap.get("FIRST_NAME"));
statement.setPlaceholder(myMap.get("LAST_NAME"));
statement.setPlaceholder(encrypt(PASSWORD));


Stay with me, non-geekies...anytime you have a String, it's in double-quotes. Anything NOT in double-quotes is assumed to be a variable.

Now, anyone see why he might get an error near PASSWORD??? There's no variable named PASSWORD!!! Hel-LO! Please turn on your brain! Or have some protein!! Do you even know how to program??

For the non-geeky, that last line should be

statement.setPlaceholder(encrypt(myMap.get("PASSWORD")));

Did any non-geekies understand me??? =)

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Limp-through

Last night we had another walk-through of the new place. I took some new pictures, which I hope to post tomorrow...but tomorrow's going to be a busy day, so it may be Friday. Yesterday was kind of miserable...we were supposed to meet the architects at 6:30. I didn't leave work 'til about 5:45, picked DH up at 6, and we didn't get home until almost 7. We ran in the loft and trucked over to the new place, me still in my black linen pants from work (a fabulous outfit for a walk-through in a drywall-dust-covered venue). We didn't finish until 9:30 (which is when we ate dinner...I was nearly dead by then).

Things still are beautiful, but it's hard to tell because they're still covered in filth. I almost fell over when one of the architects told us they were planning on "broom cleaning" the place before they handed it over to us. That's going to have to be one killer broom!

The good: The deck is sealed and gorgeous, the new tile we got for the laundry closet/downstairs closet is in and looks great, the kitchen counter has been finished and is fabulous, the bathroom vessels sinks no longer wobble, our bedroom fan is like a hurricane, the pocket door hardware rocks (none of those annoying flippy latches like I had growing up) and the "window seats" are the coolest thing ever. The bad: A bunch of stuff was "extra" that I didn't think would be (like painting brick vs. sealing it??), still lotttttts of stuff to repaint, and I would guess maybe 1/4 of the punch list was done and a new punch list was created that has 2/3 more things on it. Also, no good solution on the stairs (the good news is that the architect thinks that the price of replacing our "homemade" stairs with real stair parts is about 10 times less than what DH thought). The ugly: There's still plastic over some third-floor windows, there's nasty scratches on my pretty bamboo floors, and the kitchen floor sticks out over the stairs coming up to the second floor. I seem to be the only human on earth who thinks this is ugly, though.

Tonight we get to put little sticky notes by all the scratches on the bamboo floors (and, I am going to sticky all the stairs that are chipped/splintering). Hopefully I can get some exterior shots while it's still light out!

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

May Memories, week 3

Even less got done this week...I'm so frustrated with She Maketh Fine Linen...I hate picky little projects where I'm changing threads every five stitches. I'm going to switch to Blackwork Band Sampler, even though I did not meet my goal of finishing the stitching on the thimble keep. It seems like a chore every time I think of working on it, and stitching shouldn't be like that.

Of course, the real reason that I didn't get that much done is that we've been playing the Halo 3 Beta every chance we get. And the one movie we sat down to watch, Curse of the Golden Flower, was subtitled...impossible to stitch and watch!

Friday, May 18, 2007

Choo choo

Today we're looking to the left of the kitchen (that's on the right side, in case you don't recognize the faucet) at the entertainment center, bookshelves, a window that looks over the tracks (6 sets behind our place) and the pantry (which has not been painted in this picture).
trackWindows
We have another walk-through on Monday night. Hopefully more pictures then!! They want to close quickly, because I think their construction loan is coming due. But we want them to be DONE before we close...so it should be interesting. Anyway, here's one more pic, looking out the door to the (rainy) deck atop the third floor, where I'd rather be sitting right now. =)
deckView

Knit list

Meme from Thermalgal...

Bold for stuff you've done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you're not planning on doing.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn (Heather says: Schwunh??)
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater (in progress...)
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with bananafiber yarn (Heather says: Double Schwunh??)
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting (Heather says: I have no idea what this is...)
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn (Heather says: in progress...thanks to my friend Jean!)
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street) (Heather says: Triple Schwunh???)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments (Heather says: nope, but I did design a purse)
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book (Heather says: bwahahahah...)
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money (Heather says: double bwahahahah...)
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding (Heather says: In the South? Are you NUTS?)
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies...)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items)on two circulars
Olympic knitting!
Knitting with someone elses handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living (Heather says: Triple bwahahahah...)
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks (Heather says: tooo scary...)
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting (Heather says: what's that mean??)
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching (Heather says: sort of...)
Long Tail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO (Heather says: don't know what this is, either)
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine (Heather says: I think they all may be in progress...)
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting (Heather says: not sure what this is...)
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho (Heather says: I crocheted one...not sure if that counts...)
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public
Button holes

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Flying by the seat of your pants

This article about fruit flies was linked from Scott Adams's blog: "Study hints that fruit flies have free will". In case you don't care to read it, the title should be enough.

Schwunh? My first thought was, "What the heck else would they have other than free will? A teeny fruit fly dictator that tells them what to do? Or is this a study done by a conspiracy theorist who believes that the Commies have implanted microchips in the fruit flies that make them all take up suicide missions diving into the eyes of good Capitalists?" Well, as it turns out, the debate is whether fruit flies are simply reacting to external stimuli, acting "completely randomly" or have the free will. (The article seems to ignore that there could be some overlap between reacting to external stimuli and having free will. Can't I decide whether or not to react to some external stimuli? Also, the scientists ignored that it would be experimentally impossible to differntiate between purposeful and unconscious reaction. How do you test whether or not I "meant" to do it?? Especially if I'm a fruit fly??)

My second thought was, "Isn't this more a theological question? Scientists actually get money to study this???" Then logic kicked in and I realized what the real problem with the study is.

For a moment, let's leave aside questions of determinism vs. randomness vs. free will. How is gluing a fruit fly to a hook a good way to study whether or not they have free will? The article stated that the scientists wanted to "remove all the stimuli which could trigger a response". HEL-LO! I think having a copper hook glued to you so you can't move is a pretty big stimulus!!! Can't you just hear the teeny, tiny buzzing: "Aaaaahhh! GetitoffmeGetitoffmeGetitoffme!!" Where was the control group of fruit flies that didn't have hardware attached to them?

The scientists hypothesized "...if fruit flies were simply reactive robots entirely determined by their environment, in completely featureless rooms they should move completely randomly". Again, copper hook = "feature". Especially if I'm glued to it. And does that hypothesis seem dumb to anyone else? If they are completely "reactive", wouldn't they not move at all in the absence of stimuli? They'd have nothing to react to!

Now comes my favorite bit of the article:
A plethora of increasingly sophisticated computer analyses revealed that the way the flies turned back and forth over time was far from random. Instead, there appeared to be "a function in the fly brain which evolved to generate spontaneous variations in the behavior," Sugihara said.

"Spontaneous variations," apparently, are vastly different than "randomness." And this "evolution" of the function also was completely unprovoked by external stimuli, I guess. The article goes on to state that the variations are consistent with a mathematical formula that is found lots of places in nature...among them, how these "dumb" animals search for food. Intelligent design, anyone? But anyway, I would really like to see the analyses that one would run on fly wings flapping. 'Cause that's all the little buggers could do: flap and "attempt" to turn.

I'm going to start trying to work the phrase "plethora of increasingly sophisticated computer analyses" into my daily work-day repertoire.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Mother Mayhem

The great thing about being married and having both your family and your spouse's family live in the same town as you, is that it's easy to get together with them. This is also, as you can imagine, the worst thing about it. "Holiday" weekends become an around-the-town visiting spree, and instead of getting two days to relax, you get zero. But it's usually fun stuff, nonetheless.

Friday night we actually spent with friends at the Aquarium for "Jazz Journeys". The Aquarium was open until 10, and there were very few people there, so we got some great views of tanks that are otherwise pretty crowded. We spent way more time looking at the fishes than actually listening to the jazz (fine with me ;). The water in the "big tank" was remarkably clear, and we got to see all four of the wobbegongs! One of them was even swimming around (I've never seen that). One of the volunteers showed us a video of the arawana (that's how they spell it at the Aquarium) in the River Scout section jumping about 10 feet in the air! The downside was that most of the mammals were asleep, and I didn't get to see my favorites, the leafy sea dragons. We peered through the fence at the new World of Coke (DH was drawn by the giant glowing Coke bottle, as he always is). I'm kind of excited about the coffee shop (or, for me, tea shop) on property...I just hope they have the cocoas like in Toronto.

Saturday DH had a Session meeting early, then we grabbed sandwiches (and cookies) from our local Italian grocery store and drove out to see his parents for Mother's Day. After touring their backyard garden, we drove out to the State Botanical Garden in Athens. It's really gorgeous! Very different from the Atlanta Botanical Garden...it's mostly outdoor stuff, and I found the outdoor plants very well labeled (a weakness of the ATL garden's outdoor areas, IMO). Also, it's free. =) Too bad it's so close to U(sic)GA. Unfortunately, it started raining about 45 minutes after we got there, so we didn't get to walk any of the trails. That was probably just as well, because I was already starting to suffer from my lack of sleep and the stress of riding in the car with DH's dad at the wheel.... We rounded out the evening with a few rousing hands of Big Two.

Sunday was an early day for us, as DH was running sound for worship and I was singing. I did get to play the djembe again, but Julia was on shaker duty, so it was an easy week. After the service and bidding adieu to our lovely church administrator (*sniff!*), we grabbed some flowers (a lovely pink and white hydrangea; wish I'd thought to take a picture...I've never seen that color before) and rushed off to my parents'. My dad was supposedly cooking lunch for my mom and all the other mothers (my three sisters...I only count as a godmother =). What this really meant was that Dad cooked a couple pork loins (and there was some pork and sauerkraut...I'm not sure if he was responsible for that or not) and heated some green beans, while my three sisters brought side dishes, bread and dessert. Because I'm the baby, I can still get away with showing up and assembling the salads at the last minute. =) I really do like to cook! But I don't think my dad thinks I can cook...that's another story for another day. The best was the dessert my oldest sister created. It had a thin layer of chocolate cake, covered with Moose Tracks ice cream, then a layer of chocolate Cool Whip mixed with peanut butter, topped with chopped Oreo cookies and mini peanut butter cups. YUM!!!! I had a great time gabbing with my nieces and nephews and playing "Countdown" (best I can tell, we play a weird variant of Seven Up, Seven Down, with knocking, but the bids don't have to "work"). I actually came in second in the second game, which is astonishing for me. It's one of the few games I enjoy that I'm not that great at.

When we finally got home, we collapsed on the couch and watched "Zathura", which I highly recommend. I was a little ambivalent towards it at the beginning, because it seemed like a sad rehash of "Jumanji" (which, to be honest, I've never seen). However, I didn't realize that they are both taken from books by Chris VanAlsburg. The interview with him on the DVD is great...basically, at the end of Jumanji they give the game to two kids, Walter and Danny, who "are always starting puzzles and never finishing them". Jumanji was an old, double-sided game board, and on the back is Zathura. In the movie, the game board is this really cool "tin toy" type of board, and they don't address the tie-in to Jumanji. But I love the game board design so much, I don't care at all. The two boy actors are just great. And, as a bonus, MOST of the effects are practical rather than digital. PLUS, Frank Oz as a robot!! It doesn't get much better than that. =)

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Now we're cooking...

kitchen Today's loft picture is the kitchen. I'm posting this one today because earlier I was fixing lunch and thought delightedly of how much counter space I'm going to have in the new place!! As you can see, the fridge has just been moved in. The counter ("Tranquility" by Corian) has yet to be sanded (and cleaned...yuck!). You can barely tell it's got a slight green cast to it, again due to the rainy day. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. When you're looking at a little 2x2" piece of Corian, it's hard to envision how the variations and little chips in the mix will look on a big piece. But there are lots of them (which is what I wanted). And look at that sexy faucet!! Why is it sexy? Because the sprayer is integrated into the faucet itself and not a little separate cheapy plastic thing! (BTW, I'm using "sexy" in the geeky context here...in which case it means, "a piece of innovation that's exciting and a must-have". It's the ultimate technological compliment.)

To the extreme right, you can see a bit of one of our huge 6x9' (actuall 9'5") windows. There are three on the second and third floors (we're on the second right now). You can also see the weensiest bit of the stairs to the third floor. If you look at the cabinets (by Thomasville), you can see the reeded glass inserts on three of them. And you can see where the missing cabinet door would go.

May Memories, week 2

For week two, I decided to work on Catherine Theron's Quaker Sewing Case. Teresa and I had originally started a stitch-along (SAL) on it last October after ASG. Unfortunately, it fell by the wayside...I did complete October-December's installments, but didn't finish January's once the monthly themes started. I have been working on the outside of the case (which is Florentine worked in wool) on the way to work off and on, so January's installment of that is done.
This week, I decided to work on January's "over one" installment: the pocket. And here is what I have to show for my week! Kind of pathetic. Although, I really didn't have that much time to work on it, and Sunday and Monday I worked on She Maketh Fine Linen instead. I don't have that much to show for that, either! Two over-one initials and four stacked herringbone cartouches. To make matters worse, I was going to get out Magical Night today, and I'm now pretty sure all the fibers and the chart for it are boxed away. *sigh* To substitute, I'm either going to work more on Blackwork Band Sampler or work on Wedding Sampler or even possibly what I think is actually my oldest existing WIP: Summer Carousel Horse. I know I was working on it in college, because it was barely saved when my room in the sorority house flooded. That's a great story....

Monday, May 14, 2007

Finally...

It's a picture of our new place! I'm going to post more in the coming days. This is really just a taste...more of a "mood" picture...since it's a little blurry.
bathroom
This is the "master bath". It was taken on a rainy day, so the tiles look much grayer than they actually are. I wish DH had taken a picture of the shower...it just looks awesome. The vessel sinks are translucent green glass, and the countertop is Corian "Beach Glass"...it's a nice pale bluey-green (think DMC 504, but a little grayer =). Those lovely lights are from West Elm. We had some from IKEA, but the architect actually decided that they looked crappy compared to all the nice fixtures we picked out. (The master bath in the other unit is much more...spartan than ours. And not in a good, Halo-kind-of-a-way. More in an institutional-way. You pick the institution.)

Doncha love the light coming in the window?? Maybe that will help me wake up in the morning. Nah....

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

May Memories, week 1

The first project I worked on for May Memories is a piece called "Autumn Jewels".
autumnJewels
I picked it because I know that I took this piece as a class at my very first Spirit of Cross Stitch Festival. It's also the first class I ever had with Rae Iverson. And if I remember correctly, it was the first class I took at the festival. I was a little nervous about going into the class. Although I'd been stitching for years, I was very young compared to the majority of stitchers (at least as far as I knew...I now know that's a somewhat erroneous assumption). I was "only" 27 at the time. Also, I didn't know what all the fancy stitches in the class description were..."Rococco stitch"..."Double V"..."Detached Buttonhole"! That sounded scary! Of course, I was taking the class to learn, but I was a completely self-taught stitcher and this was my first class experience...I was sure that all the other people in the class would be very experienced and I'd look like an idiot (one of my biggest fears).

I walked into the class with some trepidation, and then I learned that there was only one other student in the class! So Rae sat down with us and taught us stitches and we laughed and gabbed and had a great time. I've now been to many, many classes and attended Rae's A Stitchers' Gathering for like seven years! I think that the first year Rae squeezed me in over the limit somehow...and I'm eternally grateful! Because of that, I've formed some wonderful friendships and had so many good times.

So, a great piece for May Memories!!

Extremely High

Last night on the news I heard that the pollen count was 149, which is rated "Extremely High" on whatever the pollen scale is. This reminded me of about a month ago, when the pollen count was 5,269 (seriously)...and it was also rated "Extremely High". I'm not sure how the divisions in this scale were determined, but it seems that if we rated earthquakes with it, the disturbances caused by the San Francisco quake of 1906 and my upstairs neighbor (whom we have affectionately nicknamed "Stomper") making a milkshake at 5:43 this morning would both be ranked "Extremely High". I do suffer from some allergies, but they're not that bad. I think maybe allergy sufferers should recalibrate the scale. It would speak more to how to achieve a level of normal function:
  • No Medication Necessary

  • Over the Counter Meds

  • Prescription Meds

  • Don't Make Plans that Require Thought

  • For the Love of God, Don't Go Outside!

Friday, May 4, 2007

Queen Me

I have been having trouble sleeping for a while. (For those that know me, you know that the worst possible thing I can suffer is lack of sleep, and the biggest sin DH can commit is not making sure I have enough sleep time available.) I'm not sure when it started, and the weird thing is that it's not consistent. So I can go along fine for a week or so, then *BAM*. I'm lying awake from 4:30 to 7:30 wondering why God doesn't love me. Because, of course, if He loved me, He would let me sleep. I'm not sure why it's His fault, exactly, except that He has everything under control (you know, Romans 8:28 and all that) and He supposedly loves me (John 3:16...come on, people, these are basics!! *sigh* I had to look up the John reference. For someone who grew up in a Baptist church, that's tired.) So why would He take away something I so desperately need?

My Reformed theological friends would say that, somehow, this is for His glory, 'cause everything is. Well, I don't know what they're smoking, because I'm sure not glorifying Him in this state. Dizzy, headachey, back-achey, eye-stinging, hazy, incomprehensibile days do not make me want to glorify God. Unless there's a "We Hate Heather Club" out there (and there may well be), I'm pretty sure no one else is glorifying Him because of it, either. (And hopefully my sleep would trump that kind of glory in God's eyes.)

You then might say that this is just "one of those things" that "just happens" and God's not really involved with it; He doesn't care one way or the other. I'm not really comfortable with that answer, either. Do I only attach God's hand to good things that happen to me? Am I being His PR rep to myself by picking and choosing what events I want Him to be associated with in my mind? Can my faith not stand a God that sometimes chastises or causes bad things to come into my life?

So now we are back to my suffering and the reason for it. And there is the heart of the problem. What's the reason for it? I can't see it. And I don't like bearing up under suffering for no reason. Because, of course, I am the best judge of what is a good and bad reason for something to happen. (Wow, where's the sarcasm font when I need it?)

I am generally a rule-follower. I learn from other people's mistakes (unlike my oldest sister, who says she can only learn from her own). Usually, if you tell me the rules, I will follow them gladly...with one exception. If there's a rule that 1) goes against something I want to do and 2) seems unjust, I may still follow it, but I will rant, rave and rail against it. And by "unjust", I mean that I can't see a good reason for it. Back to me being the ultimate judge here...I mean, I am omniscient and all. Oh, wait a minute...I'm not. Maybe someone else should be sitting on that throne that I put myself on.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

102%

Today is laundry day, and while sorting I picked up the shirt I wore to church on Sunday and read the content:

98% cotton
4% spandex

I felt good about my drumming Sunday morning, but I'm not sure I performed to the level of my clothing.

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

April Wrap Up...er, wrap up

So here were the grand plans for this month's stitching theme, which was again: April Wrap-Up - Finishing...whatever that means to you...be it finishing the stitching/knitting on something, or assembly of a stitched piece.

What I said:
  • Finish stitching ornaments for exchange YES!
  • Finish stitching Sapphire NO.
    I would have finished this if so much of my stitching stuff wasn't packed. I ran out of a metallic and couldn't find any more in the stuff that's not packed. Then I discovered I'd stitched a whole section with a silk instead of a different metallic (not that I have enough of that metallic to redo, either) and I totally lost heart.
  • Finish knitting Cornflower Mitts YES!
  • Finish Indigo Rose Pincushion NO.
    I did get it close...but again, I ran out of perle cotton in the kit and couldn't face trying to find more. I may do it tomorrow, though.
  • Finish Cubie Bwahahahahaaaaaaa...
    That would be a NO.

On the plus side, I also did finish a cute little cell phone case (well, it will be finished once I get around to buying a snap) and I laced (and re-laced) my Snowflake Nativity.

On to May Memories!!!

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