Hook's progress

For someone not stitching much (pretty much only on the weekends), I'm making pretty good progress, especially on the projects I claim to hate so much! I left off on Hook here last week:

And, as much as I was dreading the white, I couldn't stop once I started! I was only going to do two rows this week and move back to his head, but two rows turned into two more, which turned into "well, I'm already halfway down", which turned into, "well, there's only a couple more rows left" and, before I knew it, I had all the left side of the white done!

It also meant that, instead of the two days I had "planned" for the white, I ended up spending almost the entire holiday on it, which also meant that there was barely any time left for his head. Plus, by the time I got to his head, I was just tired of him, so I'm thinking it's time to move on again, but that will depend on how I feel when I get home tonight. Because of all the white, my arm is also incredibly sore. Those side bars are long, so I have to reach in weird ways to get to both the top and, the deeper I go to the inside, to the middle of the canvas. I think I need to switch just to give my arm a break (and not to break my arm!).

I also had to buy a new iPad this week. The one I had was several years old, was owned by the lab, and was giving out on me really quickly. I didn't want to get in a situation where I lost it because I have a LOT of important cross stitch (and game) information on there. My boss told me over a year ago to get a new one, but I didn't and, now that things aren't in a good place for us, I don't want to ask for a new one, I only use it for personal reasons anyway (unlike my laptop), and I really don't like feeling guilty that I only use it for personal reasons, so I splurged. "Supposedly", once this whole mess is over with and the grant money we got clears an expiration hurtle, I'm going to get that so-called bonus I was promised all those months ago for doing all that work on building that new computer system, so I dipped into my savings with that potential (I'll believe it when I see it) bonus money in mind. In true "me" fashion, of course I went for the best, but I'm starting to want to get into digital art myself (if I can't find good art to turn into cross stitch patterns, I'll just learn to create my own!), so I need the tools to do so! But also, since it was so last minute, I don't have a case (and they are incredibly hard to find for the new models...took me forever and it's going to take a while to come in) and I had to order a pencil online because they didn't have one in the stores. Normally, with a purchase like this, I have the case and even the screen protector before I even start talking to AT&T. For now, I'm still carrying it around in the box to keep it safe. It also means it will be on my phone bill now instead of the company's...that will take some getting used to!

I wish it was the only "bad" thing I did this week, but it wasn't. I've already ordered more masks than one person will ever need (I just think it will be a way of life from now on, especially in the medical field), which isn't cheap if you're ordering specialized Disney masks, but because food is going up exponentially in price as well, instead of buying less of it, I seem to be buying more (and eating more as well). I'm not sure why. To make matters worse, I also broke down and bought my "Regina bowls"...for anyone that has watched Once Upon A Time, you probably know what I'm talking about, the coral white bowls that Regina ALWAYS kept apples in. She had one in her office and one in her house and you would be hard-pressed to find a single screen shot of Regina's office where you don't see that apple bowl. I've wanted those bowls for-ev-ah...they will go with the decor of my new house (you know, the house I'll NEVER be able to afford because I keep buying things to go in it and charging up my credit cards so I can never afford said house?). This particular decor I'm calling "Once Upon A Time Chic"....subtle nods to the show without being overt, little touches here and there, but the piece-de-resistance has ALWAYS been those apple bowls. For a long time, Amazon has been out of stock and I thought I'd lost the chance to get them, but they got more in and, although they went rather quickly, I got the very last one. I wish I could say they were cheap (they weren't), but oh well. At least they aren't the version Pier One used to carry! Bloody hell, they were proud of those! Maybe someday, my bowls will sit on the desk/table/whatever of the room I decide to make Regina-themed (or maybe they will stay in the box with all the other "future house" decorations that seem to now be cluttering up my Duck Room more than it's already cluttered!).

This is also a HUGE week because, not only is it the final season premiere of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but we are also going to launch Americans into space this week from American soil for the first time in almost 10 years! That's pretty frickin cool! I'm not sure what I'm more worried about, Shield killing off Fitz, or how the Dragon capsule will perform with real humans aboard (I'm only half kidding about the Fitz versus real humans there, fyi). I think the Falcon 9 has already proven itself as a stable rocket, but the capsule itself...ugh. I am old enough to remember the Challenger disaster as well as numerous other launch failures and I know what a delicate procedure it is, but I also know the future of space flight depends on them nailing this. I've watched every launch that SpaceX has done so far and watched the progression of each iteration of the Falcon line, so I'm pretty excited about it and I think it will be OK, but you never know. If we ever want to get to the Moon again or even to Mars, we have to get this this first trial right (if not perfect). Coincidentally, both the launch and Shield happen on the same day. I'm going to be useless on Wednesday (which I just realized is TOMORROW)!

Which reminds me of another rant...why aren't there any good (or just ANY) Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. cross stitch patterns out there? Granted, there isn't even a lot of good fan art out there, but still. You got promo posters, there is actual comic material to pull from, Disney itself sells fan art, so I know there is some material out there that someone could make a cross stitch pattern from! Is it because it's mainly considered a "guy's show" and it's hard to find patterns for the guy genre of stuff? But it's also Marvel, so that should count as any gender, right? I've had a lot of people tell me they are surprised that someone like me (aka, a girl), likes AOS. There is nothing masculine about Shield to me, it's all about the characters and it has one of the best couple ships on TV...that is totally a girl thing, right? Or do guys ship too? I choose reactioners on YouTube first by a) if you're a guy, I want to see you watch Once and b) if you're a girl, I want to see you watch Shield. I might cross those paths if I really like the reactor on what brought me to their channel, but I come for the gender mashup...I like seeing guys enjoy Once and girls enjoying Shield just because I think both of those shows are often stereotyped and I don't think they should be.

But anyway, have a good week, watch the sky on Wednesday, and keep your fingers crossed for my beloved Fitz! He only has to make it for 13 episodes (and I guess Jemma needs to make it with him, there is no Fitz without Simmons). Stay safe everyone!