Weekly NOT Stitching (again)

Contacts are still screwed up, so I had another week off stitching and it wasn't a good thing. I needed the stress relief last week and I had no outlet at all. It seems like ever since I told work about me going back to school, they have been riding me harder than ever. I think they are trying to push me to not go to school by trying to prove that I'm too busy at work, but what they are actually doing is helping me out the door quicker. I just don't have the energy to fight with them anymore.

The week may have sucked, but the weekend wasn't all bad. For the first time since my "bad" hospital stay, I went down to the coast (although I didn't go alone, a coworker went with me, but it's still a major achievement for me, so I'm counting it)!

We went to Gulfport first and, although I did take my real camera, I haven't uploaded the pictures yet, here's a quickie shot of my favorite kind of pic...my toes in the water (forgive the lack of pedicure):

And we ended up wandering all the way down to Gulf Breeze, so I once again got my piddies wet:

It was the first time I've been down there since adding Gabapentin and Topamax to my med regime and the 27 hours of driving really got to me this time. That, added to the cloudy contact issue (and the very heavy storms we had to drive through part of the way), meant I pretty much slept through Sunday, so it was an extremely short weekend.

This week, I'm trying to approach things differently at work (aka I'm hiding in my office from everyone) and, so far, so good, but it won't last. Tonight, I'm gonna find a way to stitch, cloudy contacts or not. Worse comes to worse, I'll go back to Rapunzel because I can work on that with my glasses and readers on top of them since it's 18ct.

Monday, the day of NO's, but one MAJOR positive

My contacts were better after sitting in the juice all weekend, but still no-go, which meant no stitching last night (but I really didn't feel like it anyway).

Went to the doctor to get my boosters, only I ended up having a 102 fever and full-blown bronchitis (I had no idea, I just thought my asthma was acting up and I had a scratchy throat), so they wouldn't do the shots (oh, and the visit cost $88, three more dollars than the whole ACT fiasco). And I still have to go back again after I'm better, which means another visit and more money!

I ended up mentioning something that was completely plausible in one of my work meetings that apparently I was supposed to keep my mouth shut about (a bit of warning would have been nice...I had no clue it was some big secret), so my boss spent the day bringing it up to anyone who would listen that I screwed the pooch. Yea me. Nothing like being made to feel like a worm when you already feel bad from bronchitis (that I really should have gone home for in the first place because I did have a fever and was contagious, but no, I'm too damn dedicated to my job to worry about my own health, so I came back to work instead of taking the week off that my doctor suggested, only to be a whipping post all day long).

Oh, and I'm back today, still with fever, and still doing my job, despite everything. The sooner I get my degree and get out of here the better.

But it wasn't all doom and gloom. The amazing Khristine gave me the best gift ever! You guys know how I've been complaining about the lack of Once Upon A Time cross stitch charts out there, especially with Snow and Charming, she found me a chart on Facebook that was perfect!

Look at that man's face! And all the purple! And the true love between those two! It's perfect! Khristine, you have no clue how much better you have made me feel! I'm gonna kit this one up soon and it's gonna be one of my 18 in '18. I can't wait to start it! It's not too big, it's 12x16 on 18ct, but I'll do it on 28ct, so it will be even smaller. There isn't a lot of color, but the detail looks pretty good. I can't believe I FINALLY have a Snow and Charming pattern!

It kind of goes with what I said in my last post, for all the despair in my life, I can always find that one ray of hope that completely wipes the slate clean. Khristine, you are my angel of the week!

Weekly Stitching

This is almost sad, but I'm going to post it anyway. In my defense, I had a REALLY bad week (as you guys know) and, on top of that, I've been having major contact issues. I can't stitch on 28ct without my contacts and readers. With my eye condition, glasses don't correct the problem...I'm not allowed to drive with them, I can't read with them by themselves (you wouldn't believe how big I have my screen blown up right now), and my eyes constantly water without my contacts in. But my contacts are also gas perms, which means they are tiny, but hard. So I can't sleep in them, and when they irritate, they REALLY irritate, so I'm taking a weekend break from them while they soak in the "heavy" juice. I had exactly one stitching day last week so I went from nada:

To a hair past nada:

Remember when I said that stitching all that white background wouldn't bother me? I think I might have lied. I also now know where the crappy fabric for Snow White came from...it's that tubed Charles Craft Monaco (because this is the same). Before I go any further, I need to decide (once my eyeballs get settled), whether or not I start again on a better piece of white Monaco (so I don't have to do the background), buy a better piece and start over, or just keep on keepin' on. It's not a heavily confetti'ed project like Snow, so maybe it won't be as bad. It's also a lot smaller than Snow, so that's a factor. Part of me considered just going back to Rapunzel (since I can see it with my glasses doubled up), but I guess with everything else going on this past week, maybe I just needed a break and some zone-out time with Sam and Dean.

I had a hard time picking a needle minder for this puppy too. I looked at swans (for Emma) and anything else related to Once, but in the end, I just went with the Once book that really doesn't look like THE book. I still kind of like it although I had to put a MUCH bigger magnet on the back, it came with the tiniest little heart one that wouldn't hold a needle, let alone the minder on the project.

And since I may have just offended the seller by criticizing their choice of magnets, I won't post a link to their store. They were great to deal with, I just don't think they build a strong enough needle minder.

I said I was going to ignore the 50% off HAED sale this week, but when I don't stitch, apparently I get bored very fast and I tend to spend money on stupid stuff, tax money that I was so proud I used to pay down on my credit cards (that didn't last long). Don't get me started on the crap I bought for my new laptop (like decals, a hard case, and little neat toys that I DON'T need). I like pimped out laptops, after all, I am a geek. I also have to break down and buy a new phone this week (the tax money is almost gone, so I'd better hurry), so I had to have swag for it too.

But back to the HAED sale. I wasn't too bad, I only bought two, but I think they are very aprapo for the way things have been going lately:
Despair by Rebecca Sinz:

And Hope, also by Rebecca Sinz:

I figure since I'm a walking symbol of both despair and hope, I will do these together and they will be a reminder of this time, even if I don't do them until years down the road. It was kind of the whole lesson in Once Upon A Time...to always have hope no matter how bad things get. They are not very Once'y, they are probably more Supernatural'y with the whole Angels thing, but I'm kind of trapped between the two worlds now anyway...loosing Once while binge watching SN for the third time in a row.

As far as school goes, I did manage a pretty in depth look at the Undergrad Bulletin on Friday and I still think I might be over my head with the BS in Computer Science. If I take well to the Physics though, I may add Physics as a minor which will help with my Astronomy aspirations. If I can't cut the CS but do good with Physics, I may just switch to either Computer I.T. or Physics by itself. I.T. is no different than what I do day to day now, I will just know more (and have that little piece of paper that will make sure I get the pay I deserve). Astronomy is still the goal (at least for now), but it will all be determined by my adeptness at physics...if I can't cut it, then dream over anyway. My school has two Astronomy courses...Intro to Space Science and Astronomy (which is a Physics class course, but doesn't count toward a physics degree for some reason, doesn't even count as a physics elective). But I do have options for the first time in my entire life. If all else fails, I still have all those "rotting" art classes that can go towards a computer design degree too. Yet more options.

Monday is "shot" day, and once that is sorted, then I've got to get an advisor and get the disabilities office to get me a tour of the campus (it has changed SOOO much since the last time I was there, I couldn't find my way to a bathroom!). Then the real planning for my future can begin! I should be a lot more scared than I am. I still think reality hasn't sunk in yet. Shots first and, since my GP is a total dick and I have like three major work meetings throughout the day too, I have the feeling tomorrow isn't going to be a good day either. But hey, in typical me fashion, here's hoping Tuesday works out!

Yet ANOTHER OMG update (is this getting old yet?)

Luckily, my shot record was NOT in the duck room closet, but in a secret area where I hide all my important documents, but, as per usual, there was a problem. Not even GOD could read the bloody thing! Seriously! (and yes, I say "seriously" a lot in person too). Apparently, handwriting wasn't big in the 70's, so I can now see what the girl at the college was talking about. I called my doctor's office and they said they would ask his nurse if she had time to try to interpret it and get her to call me, but I got tired of waiting (again, seriously, why are people sooo slow in the medical field? I work in the medical field and I'm not slow). I ended up just calling the health department in the county where I was born and she pulled my old records (although that too took an act of god for reasons I'll explain in a moment) and that record was even worse than my little card. She just recommended I have the stupid MMR shot over again since I'm 47 and my titer would be too low anyway, so I called my doctor back and set up that appointment (I need a tetanus since I step on dropped cross stitch needles all the time anyway and it's been a while, so...two birds, one stone).

Now, most of you guys know my first name is Keiley (pronounced Key-Lee). It was originally supposed to be spelled Keeley (as my baby book notations show) and sometimes mother even spelled it Keely (even she couldn't get it right I think). My original birth certificate spelled it "Keily", so my mother had to get a court order to get it changed (which, back then, cost $100). Well, even after the court order, they still got it wrong and my mother didn't have another $100, so Keiley stuck. I've had to deal with grammatical jokes and mispronunciations my entire life (hence Keebles or Keebs which is what almost everyone calls me). Well, because my shots were going on during a time of name changes, the lady at the health department couldn't find my shot records because she couldn't find it under any of the spellings listed above (and I meant to ask her what name she finally found it under, but by the time she did find it, I was stressed out enough and forgot). She did tell me she was lucky to find it at all, so I figured it was under a spelling not listed above (typical).

I always thought I saw MMR on my card, but now that I look at it, I can't see it. The only legible words on it are rubella and polio. On the back of the card is a checklist and mumps is not one of the items listed, so now I'm wondering if I ever did have the MMR (although I can't imagine I didn't because it wasn't an option not to get it back in the day). Considering the chicken scratch although the card, now I figure I made it this far in life because no one ever really looked at the card before, just made a copy and that was that. So if I haven't had it, then I definitely need it, but I still think I had it and now I have to pay for a doctors visit and shots. Yea me.

But, I did get some really good news today (which almost scares me to say it out loud (or type it) because it might get jinxed the way things are going). My work Macbook Pro is old (well, not that old, it's a 2012, but by my doctors standards, it's ancient...my personal Sony Vaio at home is WAY older, but it works like a brand new one, just no crappy Windows 10), so they decided to buy me a new Macbook Pro. I figured I'd be able to squeeze by with the minimum of specs, but no...they had me pimp that sucker out full throttle! It kind of made me sick to my stomach spending that much company money (especially since I'm partially going to be using it for school stuff to get out of here in the first place). I should also explain that work/personal is a fine line yet wide birth around here. As long as PHI (Personal Health Information) stays off it (and it does mine because I'm IT...that's only for my office desktop), then you can do just about anything with them (and trust me, most of the docs do). I do plan on retiring my Sony and using the Mac full time now (the old one never left my office except it went with me on vacation). I may have to swipe an old Windows 7 license from around here and Bootcamp it for my favorite programs from my Vaio that aren't Mac or W10 compatible. We'll see. OMG, I'm feeling sick again! So much money! I'm such a traitor! Think they'll let me take it when I go in about three years? Depreciation value and all, right? They DEFINITELY aren't getting my iPad back, company or not!

OMG - Update

You guys are not going to believe this, but after $85 of non-refundable testing and online training fees and three days of intense stress, I do not have to take the bloody test after all! I'm a total wreck! Seriously? She kept going on and on about the fact that I hadn't had English Comp 1 (which I did in 1988), so I pulled out my old transcripts (which took hours because I was looking in the Duck room closet and I had to move all kinds of junk to get to my file boxes, only to discover it was in my bedroom closet in my file cabinet, which took moving exactly two blankets to get to). I emailed them to her today hence the "oh, OK, you had English so never mind on the ACT test", like it was nothing! Seriously?

But for all my talk in the last post, sometimes I forget that a lot of you guys, oh friends of mine, are not from the States and don't know our crappy school system ways and I just blab on and on like you know what the heck I'm talking about! I figured I'd better give you an explanation of our stupid testing system, then an update of what is happening...sorry!

In the States we have to college/university admittance tests...either the SAT (which is usually for the "big" ivy-league type schools...short for Scholastic Aptitude Test) and ACT (which is for the little guys, like mine...short for American College Test). To get into college, you have to take one or the other (or both, depending on your sanity level).

I'm only gonna talk about the ACT, since I didn't have to take the SAT (although I could have, but that would be even crazier and I would have NEVER passed it!). The ACT tests your aptitude in Math, Science and English with multiple choice questions. There is also a reading section, but my school doesn't require it. The score level goes from 1 to 36, with 36 being a perfect score (and 1 meaning you might as well give it up). Each section is scored and you have to get an combined score of at least 19 (in my day it was 16), but if you don't get that high of a score in a section, then off to remedial classes you go. So, if you get a total of 23 overall and you get a 16 in English, then you have to take a remedial English course (which cost full price, but don't count toward your degree), then an intermediate one (same story), then the real one. So that's two classes at $1000 a piece that you take basically for nothing other than to get you to the real class (which also costs $1000). I had to do that the first time back in the 80's in Algebra (but now I'm not sure why because I have a copy of those scores and I had a 22 in Math. I emailed her about that too but she couldn't answer that one either.

Now she's hung up on my shot records. In the States, back in my day, we had a shot called MMR - Measles, Mumps and Rubella. It's plain as day on my shot record, but she doesn't get the concept of it. First she kept trying to say that I hadn't had my Measles shot...it's the first "M" toots. Now she's saying I haven't had my Mumps (aka the second "M"). So now I have to dig out my shot records (which, FYI, I think are in the Duck room closet so I have to dig all that crap out...again), and send them to her or I have to go get those shots again. Obviously I had them or I couldn't have gone to any school, be it primary, middle, high, or college, let alone worked in a lab for 25+ years. Whatcha wanna bet those shots cost $85 to get?

I have to laugh now or I'd be a panicked mess on the floor.

OMG

Tell me again I'm doing the right thing? I called the college today after I got an email saying that my FAFSA was approved but they had no application for me (which I did last week), and come to find out, I have been accepted, but they are holding my application because I have to retake the ACT! Seriously? It has literally been 30 years since I took that stupid test and I sucked at it back then!

So I went online, registered for the test (which cost me more money, of course, welcome to higher education), and now I have to study stuff I haven't thought about in 30 years so that I can take a test with a bunch of kids on April 14th. Yea me! And if I do badly on the test, I have to do remedial classes which you have to pay full price for, but which don't count toward your degree (so you're basically paying for nothing).

Granted, they are only looking at the English section on mine for some reason (not sure why), but I'm afraid the girl might have told me wrong so I feel like I have to study for the whole test just in case. Again, yea me.

I was holding off the panic until the fall, but I gotta tell you guys, my guts are in literal knots right now. Am I sure I can do this?

Weekly Stitching

I started DoNa's Rapunzel last Saturday at 5:00 pm and stopped last Sunday night here:

And I finished the row this Sunday night here:

I finished an ENTIRE ROW of a stitch project in a WEEK...four pages, 14" of fabric width! And there were two days I didn't stitch at all! Granted, it was 49.43 hrs of stitch work (which was just a few less hours than I worked at my job last week), but that's about average for me because I tend to stitch all weekend long. It helped that it's nothing but large blocks of color...no confetti, no dithering, barely any color switching at all, so it's probably not that great of an accomplishment, but I'm pretty proud, especially considering the mess at work this week and the stress of re-applying to school.

I don't know about you guys, but for some reason, when I stitch on my normal 28ct 1x1, I tend to go top to bottom with my rows when I have blocks of color. But when I do 18ct, 2x1, I tend to go bottom to top. For some reason, my stitches are cleaner going up on 18 and down on 28. Is that weird? I also forgot how much thread you waste with 2x1. My ORTs jar is already getting pretty full from the scraps. I've had to push them down twice already. But I'm trying to not knot on this project. I'm not sure why. I've always knotted and it's always been fine but, considering how block-y these colors are, I want the back to be clean. It will be my first clean back ever if I manage it, but so far, so good.

I had one day this past week when I just couldn't stitch because I was all bend out of shape over the school thing. I got my FAFSA app back and I got approved for my school loan, which I was TERRIFIED about! I figured I made too much money (although I'm not sure how because I barely make enough to live). I still haven't heard back from the school yet though. The odds of getting refused are like next to nil on that front...I left with a 3.6 gpa, even with an F on my record (long story) and I've been four times before, but I'm still a bit scared. I also am still scared I may have bit off more than I can chew with the BS instead of a BA in Computer Science, but I can't worry about that now either. I do know I made the right choice with Computer Science instead of Information Tech though. I do want a bit of a challenge and not more of what I do every single week day.

I signed back up for the Great Courses channel on Amazon Prime thinking that I could binge-watch all the physics, calculus, and chemistry stuff from now till the fall and maybe that will help. I watched the first episode of a physics class and really enjoyed it, by episode 2 I was tuning it out, and by episode 3, I was basically like, "oh hell no!", and that was that. I tried to watch several other courses, but, and I'm almost ashamed to admit this, I just restarted Supernatural (again). I'm definitely going to have to work on my school focus between now and then, especially since it probably means years without cross stitching (or very little of).

I tried to start binge-watching Once (for a reason I'll get to in a minute), but I can't because I can't stitch and watch Once at the same time. Once is NOT background noise and I need background noise while stitching. This is technically my 21st time of watching Supernatural (at least Season 1, each other season drops off a time since I watch them all in a row every time a new season comes out), so it's definitely background noise. It's still a fabulous show though.

The day I decided to re-apply for school, Once Upon A Time got officially cancelled. Granted, the new season has been hard to deal with, but it's still MY show, you know? It is very rare for me to find a show that speaks to me like Once did. I love a lot of shows, but they ain't Once. I'm the same about Miranda. And when a show that special ends, it's usually years before I find another one that makes me feel the same. I was lucky that Miranda and Once shared almost the same space in time, but the last time I had a show that meant this much to me, it was ER. The loss of Once will definitely leave a bigger hole than ER did though and at least when Miranda ended, I still had Once. Miranda ended on the best of notes though, so here's hoping Once does too, especially since they have time to finish it right.

So since I can't binge-watch Once, I'm going to start Hook next (I may be a broken record over this, but I'm still bummed over the lack of Charming). I was going to do Faces 167 first, but I need some Once in my life right now.

I'm hoping Etsy will go nuts and Once charts will start coming out like crazy. I have done FanGirl Stitches chart, I have CloudsFactory chart and a couple of other ones of the same type thing, but I want a realistic Once chart that has Charming and Snow in it. Something I don't have to do myself. Just because I have my own cross stitch software doesn't mean I want to use it. If I can buy a chart versus doing it myself, I will so buy one. It's probably why I'm broke.

Scary things ahead

I'm not sure what head space I'm in right now, but work must be more horrible than I thought it was. You guys know I've been talking for a while about going back to school, but talk and action are two separate worlds. Well, I called my college's disability office yesterday and talked to them for a while. I explained that I think a lot of the issues I had the first four times I tried college and failed was due to my Asperness (and money). They have all kinds of help for Aspers as well as scholarships and I felt so much better after talking to them that I not only started my online financial aid applications for THIS fall's semester, but I finished both the aid app and my readmission app to school this morning!

I may have made the wrong decision going with a BS in Computer Science instead of a BA (too much science courses...not my strong suit, but I change it later if need be, it's not like I haven't changed majors before), but I'm kind of freaking out right now!

I wanted to do this after all my credit card debt was paid off, but I kind of realized that I will probably never be out of credit card debt because I'm just a spender. The only way to change my life is to actually do something, so I did something today! It was a little step, I still have to get accepted for both the financial aid and school (although the school thing is just a formality) and work is going to have a FIT when I have to start leaving for classes (but it's in our personnel manual that they are flexible about that, so they have to let me), but hey, one step at a time! I haven't even told my boss what I did yet. I've mentioned it in passing as a possibility for 2019, but not a definite for 2018.

OMG! I'm going back to school...maybe...possibly! Where is my bottle of Xanax!

DoNa Sleeping Beauty Part Deux

Yes, I suck and I'm weak because I just broke down and bought the newer version of the chart:

I'm still changing dress colors and fairy colors, but anyone who wants the PDF to the original chart, I'm giving it away, so just message me and it's yours. If I have more than one request, then I'll draw for a winner. At least that way the original pattern won't go to waste.

DoNa Sleeping Beauty

One of the reasons I picked Rapunzel first was because there are things about my Sleeping Beauty that "bother" me.

I had always planned on changing her dress from pink to blue (make it blue!), but the fact that my pattern only has two fairies bothered me to no end. I have been debating forever how in the world (and where in the world) I could add another fairy to make it story line accurate. I also planned to change their dresses to green, pink, and blue (for accuracy, as well as their hair color), so that would also affect their placement with the background, but I'm HORRIBLE at changing patterns, nor do I like to change the work of others unless I feel it conflicts with the Disney way (which this one does too much compared to the others in the series).

All her other patterns are right: Snow White has seven dwarfs, Merida has three brother bears, etc., so why do I only have two fairies? I was actually going to post this conundrum at the bottom of Sunday's post and ask y'all's opinion, but I'm glad I waited.

I was scouring Etsy today (as I do everyday) and I happened across a new posting of DoNa's Sleeping Beauty pattern, only it had three fairies...when did that happen and how do I only have two? Does anyone else have this issue? Does anyone know when the third fairy magically appeared? I've tried messaging her in the past on Etsy (both for questions and complements) and have never gotten a response, so I doubt I'd have much luck asking her there. It would definitely be easier just to re-buy it versus trying to create a new fairy myself, but that's fairly annoying, even though it's only $6.50. It's more the principle of the thing versus the cost, but it would be easier than fighting about it or trying to modify my existing pattern. Did I just answer my own question? I kind of think I did, but I'm still kind of pissed about it. If she realized her mistake with two fairies, shouldn't she have sent out replacement patterns to all those that bought two two fairy version? I didn't even notice it at the time which I guess is my fault, so there you go, we're both to blame...maybe.

Well, at least on the positive side, I don't have to create a new fairy if I buy the newer version, right? But I am still changing some color schemes. Flora, Fauna and Merriweather must be honored and we all know how I feel about Aurora's blue dress versus the pink one.

Weekly Stitching and FINALLY relief!

After 10 long miserable days, by Friday afternoon I was FINALLY headache free. I'm not sure if it just gave up or if being back on Ritalin did it, and I'm not sure I care. It may have been the shock of finding out that our lot rent here at the trailer park is going up $50/mo starting next month! They have NEVER raised it THAT much! Plus, they haven't done anything to deserve it. My neighbors across the street have already moved out and more will follow. I've been here over 20+ years and it happens every rent increase...mass exodus. When I moved out here, the lot rent was $75 and now it's going to be $250 starting in March. My house payment was only $318. Just with the lot rent alone, I'd probably paid for a house already. It's kind of sad really. I still think I'm going to stay here and focus on the school path though (although I had my doubts for a while on Friday). I don't want to pay them this extra money, but I know a degree opens more doors, not just here, but elsewhere too. I can still build my house, but maybe I can do it somewhere else and not be stuck here anymore. I just hope I'm not too old. One step at a time though, get out of debt so I can get into more debt with school loans! Brilliant plan!

But enough of my whining, I left off here last week on Mal:

And ladies and gents...as of 5 pm on Saturday, I am able to give you row 5 in all its confetti hell, most of which I did finish Friday night!

And all together now for a total of 621.23 hrs:

Only a row and three-quarters of a row to go...but not right now. To be honest, I think I'm more proud of the background that actually Maleficent herself. It's going to be fabulous when it's finished and framed and I may spend more to get it done right with fancy double-matting and all!

I couldn't wait to start on DoNa's Rapunzel. It's been calling to me since I kitted it up. It's amazing how different charts stitch differently. I started immediately on Rapunzel after I finished Maleficent's row on Saturday, worked on her Sat and today, probably no faster or harder than usual, and I managed to finish a whole page and almost a full other one! All my fears about working on 18 projects in a year completely went away after this weekend...that is if I can keep up this pace. But anyway, from blank slate (which, FYI is the picture I always mean to take and never remember to do...yea Ritalin!):

and I'd say I'm about two-thirds in page 2:

Part of me feels like this should be outlined or something and, is it just me, or does the lantern in the middle look a bit like an IUD in a uterus? Have I been working in a lab too long? Funnily enough, these colors would have been great when I was 14, but I do feel like I'm stitching a birthday cake right now. Hopefully, once I get to the good stuff, it will work itself out, most projects do. At this pace, I could be done with the first row by next weekend, but I'm going to be conservative and say weekend after next just to be safe.

I am kicking myself for the cheap scroll rods and the even cheaper velcro strips I bought instead of my usual American Dreams frames. They are just SOOO expensive and I needed four of them! I'm having a hard time keeping tension in the fabric with these Hobby Lobby cheapies. What I wasted on the four I could have at least bought two AD's...maybe. Oh well, maybe I can slowly buy one at a time. Right now though, it's more important I buy one for Sleepy Hollow Mural and it's going to be expensive because it needs to be 36", then I'll worry about stocking up on 18"'ers.

Speaking of 18, it is VERY nice being able to stitch on 18ct again, even if it's just temporary. My contacts needed a break from me more than I needed a break from them...the joys of gas-perms. I still have to wear two pairs of readers on top of my glasses to see 18ct, but at least I can stitch on it without my contacts. There would be no way I could even begin to see 28ct triple glassed up. Why can't I get normal diseases? No, I have to get some mutated crazy astigmatism on steroids and eventually I'll need donor corneas and that fits the plot line of just about every horror movie ever!

I got some fabric for the glass project that was in the magazine...I'm still on the fence about doing it, but I do love the fabric! The picture doesn't do it justice...it's more purple and gray, but oh well.

I'm still not sure it's going to be one of my other five, but I still have 11 months left in the year to decide, right Jo?