Keebles World

I keep trying, but something is blocking me from being able to stitch...be it work, be it work-related headaches, be it worrying about the next school semester, or just be it my OCD with Once (which is ironic considering I'm stitching a Once stitch), I just can't bring myself to work on Snow and Charming. Most nights I've been getting home so late, I have no energy for anything but staring at the TV. But I did get two more days in last week. I left off here last week: And I cleared out most all of the blue and started on their hair again: I does kind of look like a lot of work, but considering it's such a small project, it really isn't much at all. I could probably easily finish the row in a week, if I had a week of regular stitching time. I would really like to finish at least the first row before classes start back up again. Maybe this week I'll knock it out. I'm technically "supposed" to be on vacation from Christmas to New Years, bu...

I had all these fantastic stitch plans last week which, of course, work ruined magnificently! They must have secretly decided, that since I'm not in school this month, I need to "make up" for all the hours I missed (technically, since I never dropped below 50 hours per week, I don't think one could say I missed anything), so I've been working my hind-end off and, by the time I got home, I had no energy to stitch. But I did get some done Saturday. I ended up with a headache on Sunday, so unfortunately, nothing to report there. So here is where I left off last week: And, as paltry as it is, here is Saturday's progress: Here's hoping this week will be better. I don't have many weeks left before school starts back up again and I'd like to at least have row 1 finished. But speaking of school, my programming teacher is still M.I.A., but someone else graded the final, it got dropped from 100 pts to 90 pts (not sure why), and I got a 67.8 on i...

Yes, you read that title correctly, I stitched this weekend, although not much! I also didn't finish working on my new blog either, but with school out now, it was the first weekend in forever I didn't have to spend the the entire weekend on a stupid computer in the first place! But I also didn't spend it cleaning either. I think I just needed a "decompression" weekend. But anyhoo, last time, I left off on Snow and Charming with just a touch: And got a bit deeper into it. I was getting bored with the blue, so I hopped around a bit, but I figured I'd get back into the blue just to keep it cleaner. I also took my Once needle minder off of Hook for this project and bought a new one for Hook...a swan. Very apropos, I thought. And once I got caught up on my new-found YouTube Once Upon A Time Response obsession, I was able to stop watching OUAT for quite a while this weekend (although not completely). I haven't been able to do that all semester. I...

I've decided to jump on the "new theme" bandwagon and give them a try.  It's BEYOND time I upgraded anyway...I just have to tweak a few things to get them the way I like them.  Honestly, I was going to change my background picture to something similar to what I had, but the blue forest reminds me of Once, so I'm not too much in a hurry to fix it, at least not now! So stay tuned, things they are a'changin while I'm on school break!  Oh, and if anyone has any ideas, doesn't like anything (you CAN'T hurt my feelings, so be honest), or actually likes it, let me know!  I'm all ears!

I am done for the semester! I managed to get through English II with an "almost" perfect score. She docked me on my final paper because of citations, but I still had a 99.6 average, so it didn't hurt there. Programming was a whole other ball of wax. Our teacher got sick last week and still hasn't graded our last two bonus points, so I'm not sure how much of my A is there, but our final was today and I blew through the first three pages like a pro, but the last three problems, the ones that counted the most points, were complete Greek! It wasn't something we had ever covered and, if I had to guess, I'd say someone else had to finish the test for her and didn't know what level we were at. No one that I knew of in the class, even the brilliant ones with perfect scores, could work those problems, so we'll see how it goes. If our teacher gets better and grades the test, it might save us and I might manage to keep that A after all, but if anoth...

I've been looking forward to Thanksgiving break for a while, even with double work duty, just to have time off school. What I didn't count on was loving it too much! Yes, I did work my butt off at work with double shifts, but I went home and did "normal" things. I watched TV (well, OK, I do that every night anyway, but without doing homework at the same time), I rarely turned on my computer at home, and I even started my new stitch project! I did finish my last three English assignments, so technically, I'm finished with that class for the semester. I just have to turn them in as they are due and I can finish the semester focusing solely on programming, my hard class. I am worried about my final paper because it was supposed to be 3-5 pages and I couldn't get it below 7 (shock, I know, me being overly-wordy). I rewrote the paper five times, from five different points of view, and each one ended up exactly 7 pages. My topic was the backlash against the...

But not in the way you might think. I have one last test this Friday in programming, then Thanksgiving break. Thanksgiving "break" itself isn't a real break because I have to work double shifts at work that week (always have) because a certain transcriptionist takes off that week and I have to cover my job and hers (lucky me...one of these days I'm gonna say no to this extra crap, but right now, I'm the only one who can do every job in the building). But I should maybe be able to stitch some during Thanksgiving week...maybe. Then, there is one final week of school after that, and then the week of finals and the fall semester is over. I'll have a few weeks of Christmas break (maybe more stitching), and then here we go again! I am still barely holding on to that A in programming, so even if I bomb the next test and the final, I can still clear a C in the class, which will still allow me to pass on to the next programming class, but I hate that I can't...

I have spent four days trying to get my programming homework to work (still not there yet). My Sister is in Disney World right now having an amazing time and I'm dealing with my sucky life between school and job wishing I was with her. I dealt with freaking out puppies this morning because it's storming and I trudged through the rain to get to work fighting stupid drivers. Once I got to work and went across the street to the hospital, I got a full Bridget Jones splash (twice) and am now soaked to the bone. Once I got settled in my office to my year-round Halloween decor, I got hit with a realization that broke my heart...today IS Halloween and I COMPLETELY FORGOT!! ME! I am Lydia Deetz, Wednesday Addams, and most of the Sanderson Sisters rolled into one (although lately I've been more Sarah in the brain department), but I forgot Halloween! I'm pretty sure in the more obscure books of the Bible there are passages that say that when Keebs forgets Halloween, it...

"Believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing". Oh, the wisdom that is Mary Margaret Blanchard on Once Upon A Time. I try...I try so hard every single day. At every turn there is obstacle after obstacle and I don't understand why. If school is my right path, why are stones being thrown at me all the friggin time? Not a single step of this has been easy and yet I keep taking the rocks to the head. The day of my last post, about four hours after it actually, my English teacher had a stroke. She's doing better, but she won't be back. I hate that. We weren't getting along, but I really admired her and I felt I was learning so much from her about myself and I felt that my writing was getting better. I miss her. Class has been on hold for two weeks. We got a new professor this week and she's one of those that doesn't care and just wants us to get through the rest of the semester with busy work. Yes, I should be...

I'm not sure how you guys do it...home, work, school, life, etc. I can barely handle work and school. I'm struggling with both to the point that I'm almost ready to just give up on school altogether. My grades are still good (for now), but that could change at the drop of a hat. Of course I'm going to keep going, I only have five weeks of the term left, but I think I've reached that feared "boredom" point I knew I would hit. It was all new and exciting at first, now it's a struggle and a drudge, so I don't want to do it anymore. Typical Asper behavior. And it's almost time to register for next semester and I'll have to start all over again. Oh joy. Programming started out with her not explaining things well and dumping tons of homework on us that I couldn't figure out how to do. Now, she's walking us through everything step-by-step with her doing the work and giving us no homework, so I don't know how to work anything...

Last week was bad all around. Work sucked (but what else is new on that front, right?). I had an English assignment I couldn't get right and programming went from third grade to masters level overnight (or so I thought). Needless to say, I debated quitting school over the weekend. In English, we had to read an essay and then answer some questions about it. I wrote it up twice, trying to prove that we agreed that he made his point and that he showed opposing points properly (like the book was asking), but I totally disagreed and thought he failed miserably. Finally, by Friday night (I normally have my papers uploaded by mid-week at the latest), I re-wrote the entire thing a third time, basically saying what I thought instead of what I felt the book wanted me to say. Needless to say, after sending an apologetic email with the submission (which I was terrified over), I still got a perfect grade and good comments, so I guess I worried on that over nothing. Lesson learned - go ...

Guess you guys knew this one was coming and I'll try really hard not to dwell too much on the similarities to the Twilight series or the whole fan fiction issue (although it's probably gonna creep up once or twice). I should give a bit of backstory here. I do read romance novels, although, if you would have asked me that question 20 years ago, I would have probably been appalled at the very fact you asked me. I didn't start reading them until after my divorce and was very anti-the-genre before then. One could argue that Jane Austen is "romance" but, in my eyes, that is CLASSIC literature and NOT up for discussion. The romance novels I do read, don't usually go in the direction of the BDSM or overtly sexual type. I am still a prude, after all. It's one of the reasons why I like young adult novels. I didn't start with the books though, I started with the Unrated versions of the three Fifty movies and I could immediately see that scene after sc...

I finished off my first school week (and supposed work vacation) with mixed emotions and spent most of today sleeping off two Imitrex shots for my new routine "end of week" migraine. Friday, during another social call to my English Professor (she really is extraordinary), I let slip about my little "hospital visit" and how school came out of that. I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut, but she is very easy to talk to. It did leave last October a bit too fresh on my brain by Friday night though. There is a reason why "everything happens for a reason" is one of my mantras. In the middle of reading the second Fifty book while watching Eclipse on Friday night (I'm getting a bit too good at simultaneous movie-watching and book-reading), a startling realization hit me like the proverbial clacker against a gigantic brass plate. For those who haven't read the Fifty books (I'll try not to get too spoiler-y, but this wasn't in the m...

I have been HORRIBLE at keeping up with everyone else's blogs, a fact I hope to rectify this weekend. You guys have been so amazing and supportive for me, and I have totally sucked at checking back with you guys to see what's going on with you (and Linda, you have been in my thoughts). Despite being on "vacation" this week, I've still managed to clock about five hours per day at work. I've also been on campus more than I will typically be, doing various side things that needed to be done (more on that in a minute). And, as much as I hate to admit it, the OCD force is still strong in this poor creature, to the point that I'm doing homework while movies of various Twilight/Fifty versions are running in the background. I think part of me knew that the OCD would not stop once school started, but I was hopeful. On the school front, I'm a bit confused about the programming class. Day 1 was a "hi, here is the syllabus, bye", kind of day. D...

May I cordially introduce Keebs...college student extraordinaire!! After a SEVERE panic attack on Sunday (the worse I have had since leaving the "hospital" and even worse than Saturday), I decided to watch Infinity War, which has been sitting on my kitchen counter for a week. A co-worker told me how "good" it was and how much "I'd love it" and how it was "the best Avenger's movie ever". Well, he lied. He KNEW how I'd react to that ending (and I won't give you spoilers, but I started bawling five minutes in and was scream bawling by the very end). I texted him the nastiest text and he told me to watch it again because it gets better the second time...well, it DIDN'T! Needless to say, my nerves were completely in check all day (other than the five minutes before class when I was backed into a corner and completely surrounded by smelly 19 year-olds), because all I could see was Captain America saying "oh my God"...

I've been trying every OCD trick to stay distracted. My Twilight obsession has now progressed on to Fifty Shades of Grey...a series I swore I'd NEVER touch with a ten foot pole, strictly on it's fan fiction-status alone. And yet, I'm still watching the seconds, minutes, hours, days fly by faster and faster to Monday, my first day back in college in 15 years and they are getting worse and worse with each passing moment. I've spent the entire day reading every single Twilight book and then every single Fifty book (my reading skills are getting speedier...at least one positive outcome from all this), I've watched the Fifty movies, and now, at 10:30 pm, I'm on New Moon. Yeah, I got up REALLY early this morning (more on that in a moment) and yet, even with my eyes darting from TV to book to clock, Saturday has lasted all of 5 minutes. I can imagine Sunday will take all of one, but I also figure there will be no stop between the two days...even if I take my...

So, just to start, here's a look at my tree as the two, mine and the ones my parents planted, are now fighting for control: Sorry for the close proximity...I tend to find that my 35mm fixed lens tends to work better in the car for movement pics, so I was kind of locked as to position. But they are both growing back well, although not as tall as I would like. My town at 2am...Southerner's aren't much for staying out late: I am NOT a fan of driving in Alabama, which is odd because most people around here would say they hate and are scared of Mississippi. I actually like driving in Mississippi and feel safer there. I took the straight Alabama way so I could get there quicker instead of my usual Mississippi to coast road. But with Alabama, at least on the interstate, this is usually all I ever see: And, if the fog does actually clear, more of the same of this: I did see this sign...so I did get a "Twilight" moment during the trip...my favorite Cullen/Hal...

Well, I don't have a Books vs Movies post this week because I went to the coast this week...by MYSELF!! It's the first time I've done that since my "hospital" stay and I had the best time ever! I went to Port St. Joe and down to Cape San Blas. It was also the last so-called port of call of the Gulf that I've not been to. From Bay St. Louis to Alligator Point, there is no where else on the Gulf coast plate that I can go via car that I haven't already been to at least once in my life. That's both sad and rather gratifying. I guess, since some of those places I went as a kid with adults might not count (like Alligator Point), I could revisit as an adult alone, but still, the entire gulf has been covered now. I will say, Cape San Blas is now my new favorite place though. It was beautiful and serene and I felt more peaceful there than I have in a very long time, so maybe I've finally found that perfect "get away". Pictures will foll...

This one will be short and sweet, just because I think this one is a no-brainer, but maybe you guys can offer me a different opinion. I should also say that I'm only talking about the first seven books and the first eight movies...I haven't seen or read any since (I'm a bit afraid of stirring up another old obsession, which is why I haven't bought any of the new series). There will NEVER been an ensemble cast like there was in these movies...honestly, it was the best of the best of British actors. Even the ones with tiny roles (like David Tennant or Robert Pattinson...nudge nudge) managed to explode on the screen, and hold their own even with the amazing genius that will forever be Alan Rickman. I think the movies would be too hard for me to watch now because of Alan's loss and I kind of hate that. But...and, here it comes, even as fabulous as the movies are, they can't even come close to comparing to the books. There is just too information left out of ...

When I initially said that 90% of the time, I prefer the books to the movies, I thought I meant it, but considering my first choice of topics was Twilight and, at least this go-round, I prefer the movies to the books, it got me to thinking about all the movies I prefer over the books, and I did come up with quite a list, so I guess it's easy to say which direction this post is going to fall pretty quickly. I should probably also start by saying I despise Nicholas Sparks. I am a romantic that likes happy endings and that man likes to give you the best love story ever, and then kill one of them off. It's sadistic. I know he has a lot of fans, but I just don't get it. There are two movies of his I own...obviously I ADORE A Walk To Remember , but I also like the The Notebook (which I won't watch past a certain point towards the end...I'm sure those who have seen it know which part I mean, but I also don't watch it much anyway, it's just too hard). I jus...

In my whole application process with disability services, I had to apply for tutoring services as well. I didn't want to, but I had no choice. It required tax information as well as an autobiographical statement (that was supposed to be 100 words or less, mine was over 700...I'm 47, what did they expect?), so it took me a while to get it together, but once I did, I had to take it to a location I wasn't fond of...the library. I remember when they built the "new" library (that is now 25 or so years old), and I didn't like going in it then, it has bad juju vibes, but I digress. When I took the app up there, I got lost, had to ask someone for directions, still got lost, had to ask someone else who ended up manually walking me to the door, so by the time I got out of there, I was near panic attack mode. That was the closest I've come to a full-blown panic attack through this entire process. That was back in March or so and I never heard anything from the...

Obviously, I haven't even come close to running the course of this particular obsession yet (dag-nab-it). In an effort to change things up so that I'm not repeating the same behaviors (at least I have given up on looking for the ticket stubs...they will surface again, probably during the next wave), this weekend I watched the movies in French, watched the DVD's with all the special features including the commentary (which I HATE because I can't stand talking over a movie, but then I decided that my new TV is too good for DVDs, so I ended up ordering the Blu-Rays, thus, spending more money...again), and I started reading the books out loud. Funnily enough, I can read all six in a day easily, but out loud, I barely made it through the first three (and by three, I'm counting Midnight Sun in there, so basically two and a half). I found that interesting. I used to read Austen out loud to Zander all the time because either he loved my horrible fake British accent, or...