Monday Pup-Terrorist Update and a Name Change?

My little rioter is quiet today, but I went to great lengths to make it so. The new, 41 inch tall gate, all metal with 2 1/2 inch-spaced bars (which is screwed into the door frame) is installed. I think I mentioned to Jo that I have to stop buying things that require two people to install, they are killing me now that I'm older (shout out to Serendipitious Stitching, fyi, whose blog constantly reminds me what a sucky stitcher I am!!). But anyway, Bam definitely ain't gettin' through that! I also left the TV on today. I HATE doing that, but I thought maybe the noise would keep him quiet. It has. He has slept all day like the baby monster he is.

To be on the safe side, although I've found no evidence of it, I put out mouse traps (far away from my little demon's reach), just in case. At the very least, if it is a mouse, I can stop a problem before it get's worse.

I wish I could say I punished him greatly, but not unlike a "certain" violent protestor who refused to eat and demanded he be served organic food (which he is now getting...thanks to the American taxpayers), Bam sat in my lap all weekend long, sleeping like a baby most of the time, or demanding to be petted when it suited him. I, of course, gave in to his every whim (as I complained left and right that we are paying for this idiot to get organic food...just send him to a prison that grows their own veggies and *poof* instant organics and no taxpayer dollars wasted!). Oh well, at least no taxpayer's dollars were wasted in the belly scratching of Bam this weekend, so I guess he's off the hook!

But it also meant that I got absolutely no stitching done this week. Between all the figuring out why all the violence was happening (both in the nation's Capitol and in my own house), cleaning up messes and trying to prevent new ones (to apparently no avail), and worrying I'd killed both my kids with my deversionary tactics, "suffering" through a weekend of holding my little terrorist didn't end up being so bad afterall, stitching or not.

On to item #2, I've been thinking a lot about my possible expansion into YouTube, my Blog's name and my name (yes, I know the name of my blog is not "grammatically correct", it should be Keebles's World, hence the questioning...but I always thought that was just WAY too many S's and I hated it, hence my grammatically incorrect blog title). My nickname has been Keebles as long as I can remember (and yes again, as sad as it is, I gave that nickname to myself...it wasn't easy growing up Asper, technically, one of my dozens of imaginary gnome-like childhood friends gave it to me, but that's a different story for another day). I obviously don't want to use my real name for safety reasons, I rarely use it here (although some of you know it since it's tied to my email and some of you are my friends). And I'm getting off track again...

I was thinking of still using Keebles, but in a different way. If it's mainly going to be travel, with some stitching, maybe occasional vlogging, and maybe occasional mental health issues (which might make up the vlog aspect), I was thinking "Keebles in the World" or "Keebles vs the World" or simply "Keebles vs World", but I'm not sure I like any of those, although, since traveling is always a constant struggle, it seems like the name should reflect that. I may end up doing separate channels for my travel and stitching (if my stitching picks back up) and my stitching channel could stay "Keebles World" or maybe that could be my vlog channel, so that might conflict with the travel or be confusing, so maybe Keebles Stitches for the stitching? I own the domain for KeeblesWorld (did you guys know if you put in keeblesworld.com, it will bring you here?), but I can always buy new ones to match whatever name change I choose, but short and sweet is always better.

What do you guys think? Whatever I change it to, I probably should be under the umbrella of one brand, so I need to pick something there too (Keebles by itself is already taken, I think it's a Japanese game or something). It's about time I utilize my domain (or whatever new one I go with) and build a "real" website anyway, so I can link in my blog, actually start using my Instagram (I have never posted a single picture on it, I only use it to see certain stars Instagram stuff), and maybe rejoin Twitter since they seem to have come to their senses about making sure hate speech is not promoted on their site (although they still have a ways to go). I still won't touch Facebook (yes, I know Instagram is Facebook...for now...the government is working on that, so it's only a matter of time, I justify it that way). In the future maybe I could create merch and I'd need a platform to sell it (can you imagine a Terrorist Bam-Duck Room Insurrectionist shirt?). Of course I'd have to do Patreon too...if I want to end up doing this full time, I'll have to build up enough of a base so that I'm making enough money to quit my job, and starting up on YouTube won't do that.

Speaking of, I've thought a lot about things recently because of my therapist...work vs disability, why do those have to be my only two options? Why can YouTube be my third? I know that not working and going on disability would be bad for me. It would put me in a MUCH worse financial state and keep me locked up in the house worse than I am now, so my mental issues would only tumble worse. But if I managed to "make it" on YouTube (and I'm not talking huge, but "just enough"), I could afford to quit, still make money, and travel around, seeing everything I've never seen before or things I haven't seen since I was a kid (well, as much as I can from a car window or whenever I can muster the courage to get out of the car)! Mentally, this could honestly be so MUCH better for me in the long run since I wouldn't have to deal with people at work, although I don't know how well I'll deal with the "people" side of YouTube. I already have issues with leaving comments on other people's videos, how am I going to deal with comments on my own videos? I do well here in the blog world because it's small and I know you guys after all these years...YouTube is a vile swamp of nastiness I'm not sure I'm ready for, but that's a worry for another day.

Part of me would like to do a reaction channel as well, but since I don't watch any shows but shows I've watched hundreds of times, that won't work. If I could get others to watch my shows, I could do that kind of reaction (although there are dozens of "my so-and-so watches with me" channels), but attached to the last COVID-19 relief bill was a little hidden "gem" called the CASE Act, which could ruin the business of reactioners forever (and for the record, I used to follow the EFF YEARS ago when downloading music was a big deal, but they have gotten a bit too milliant for my tastes lately, except in this case, no pun intended). Anyway, until these details get worked out, this isn't a good time for me to be dipping my toes in THAT swamp!

Besides, I'm also aware that the average time it takes to build up a YouTube channel is at least three years anyway, so that's three years of double duty of working a full-time job and YouTube'ing on the side. I have a REALLY short attention span guys, I'm surprised I'm still blogging after all this time! I have a lot of things to learn with video editing and filming. I have to get a new camera and some equipment too...there is a lot to go into this BEFORE I can even start!

One thing at a time...deciding on a name should be my first step! Any ideas? Give me anything you've got for any channel or just my brand...travel, stitching, or should I stick with my current blog name and just brand myself with it? They always say you should have at least two channels, in case you get hacked or one gets taken down, so should this just be my vlogging channel to match my blog and should I have separate travel and stitching channels? I'll take anything you've got guys!

An insurrectionist in my own house!

On Monday, I went to work as I do every other weekday, but I came home to a sight...Bam had jumped the baby gate and was staring at me from inside the duck room! In the seven years he has been mine, this has NEVER happened! I couldn't figure it out to save my life! He didn't tear anything up, he didn't have an "accident", he was just sitting there with those big Shih-Tzu eyes like he was the most innocent thing in the world. Satan spawn!

On Monday night, I raised the gate high enough that he couldn't get under it, but tall enough that he couldn't jump over it. It was tight enough on the door that he also couldn't push it up. Well, apparently he can flatten himself out like a creature with no ribcage, because he DID crawl underneath it! He apparently did try to get back out by eating through the baby gate, but he couldn't make a big enough hole (or he hurt himself, I'm not sure which). Come Tuesday night when I arrived home, it was the same sight...that cute puppy face staring at me from inside my duck room, nothing Disney harmed, nothing soiled, although the baby gate had a gigantic hole in it.

Keep in mind, in all the years I've had both my "kids", neither one of them has ever stepped foot in that room, even when I'm in there. It's like they know it's mommy's space with mommy's stuff and they are not allowed. I have never punished them or scared them from it, they just "knew better" somehow. Even in other parts of the house where Disney items are, they don't touch them. They somehow know the difference. My Sister has gotten them Disney dog toys and they don't play with them because they think they are "mommy's toys"...they are literally THAT smart!

So Tuesday night, I first taped up the hole in the gate with duct tape, I put boxes in the doorway and put the baby gate on top of the boxes, but I felt like the boxes weren't heavy enough and he could push through them, so I put a flat piece of cardboard in front of the whole setup, a 12 pack of Cokes in front of it to hold it in place, and put another box on top of one of the under boxes and (here's the stupidity on my part), and a bag of Snow Melt on the other box...barrier complete. I'd like to say "in my defense" before defending my use of the Snow Melt, but using a caustic chemical was a stupid move in any scenario. I honestly didn't think he would get through the cardboard, let alone the boxes!

Well, my friends, the bugger moved the 12 pack of Cokes (keep in mind we're talking about a 9lb Shih-Tzu here), tore down the cardboard, ate through the baby gate AGAIN, ate through the bag of Snow Melt and this was the scene when I got home (since it's dark in there, you may, or may not, see his "not so" innocent face looking away in shame from inside):

I had to call the vet because I was afraid I had killed him! I also didn't know how much Bugs had eaten of it too, so I could have killed both of them! You'll notice that about 1/3 of the actual 50lb bag is missing (there wasn't that much actual Melt left in the bag, maybe a half gallon, but the bag itself was literally eaten alive!). After a 45 minute phone conversation with the vet, who just said, "well, if they aren't throwing up or seizing, you should be good, but call us if they do"...gee, thanks. When I let him out, he drank a LOT of water and ate some food, but then, I got this "glamor shot" of a totally innocent demonic hell spawn, although you might notice that Bugs looks either terrified or guilty, I'm not sure which. I'm beginning to think that Bam got Bugs to do the dirty work for him (because Bugs is bigger) and Bugs KNOWS he's the guilty party and he's afraid I'll figure him out (although, like I'd EVER punish him with anything more than words, but poor little guy has a bad history, so he's constantly afraid...sometimes when I raise my voice on the phone it scares him, so I have to be careful).

So, yet again, I start to fortify the room (after a purchase on Amazon of a METAL and VERY tall baby gate). This time, I did the box and gate duo once more (after I retaped it AGAIN), added the cardboard back and reinforced it with all the Cokes I had in reserve.

But I was afraid he might pull the cases of Coke down on top of him, so I started fortifying it more with a piece of plywood, a table, the vacuum on top of the table (because they are BOTH terrified of the vacuum and I had it out to clean up the mess...I hadn't yet mopped the floor, hence it's dirtiness, so please forgive that), and a HUGE bag of books on the other corner of the table just to balance it out. So when I left for work this morning, this was my Home Alone moment (and yes, that's Bam's coat on the closet door handle, isn't it adorable?):

But alas, from the moment I arrived at work, I turned on the volume to my home camera (which I rarely ever do), and it was this constant stream of barking and clawing. Bugs, on the other hand, was just sitting on the couch, watching like it was his favorite TV show. I wondered if I had a mouse (but, upon occasion, that's happened before and they've never cared), I wondered if someone was knocking on that front window, I wondered if Bam was really going crazy, I just didn't know what was happening! I can remotely access my alarm, and turning it off and on would distract him for a while, but then he would just go back to that doorway and start up again.

At 10:30 this morning (I had an 11 o'clock meeting and getting through this town is a NIGHTMARE), I heard him screaming and took off in a panic home. I found him waiting at the door with Bugs when I opened it and thankfully not in the duck room, but the bag of books were scattered all over the floor and half of the cardboard flat box was eaten. He must have pulled the books down on top of himself. Once I checked him over and made sure nothing was broken (I think it was just his pride, but I've been checking throughout the day), I leashed him up, and this has been where he's lived all day today, sitting on my desk, in front of my keyboard, impeding my work (but I did, somehow, make the meeting with three minutes to spare):

I checked outside to make sure there were no human (or animal tracks) around that front window, but nada. I checked last night for mouse droppings, but again, nada. Thankfully, his new metal prison bars has arrived and I will spray the door frame down with cayenne water tonight (in case he tries to eat his way through it next) to prevent further insurrection. Once I'm sure he can't get in and my duck room is once again secure, I'll put a couple of mouse traps. I didn't want to put any up today in case he did get in...we dodged a bullet with the Snow Melt and books, the mouse traps might have been strike three, but I've also ordered more cameras so maybe I can find out why he's suddenly so fixated on my duck room!

I've tried to explain to him that we are Democrats and we don't stage coups. It's Donald F. Duck's room, not Donald J. Trump's. Granted, Bam does have cataracts, so I also tried to explain that DD's orange beak is not the same as DT's orange face. I showed him that there are no Confederate flags in our house, nor do we support the Confederacy in any way other than as a historical point of reference for what NOT to do and as a marker for the tremendous loss of life incurred during that war. I still don't think he understood me, but he somehow gets that Disney stuff is off limits? Hmmm...his selective education might be a warning sign of more impending incursions! All jokes aside though, I'm just grateful he wasn't hurt and I need to figure out why he just HAS to get in that room! More news to follow!

And I'm down again...

Last week sucked. This week ain't much better so far. This country is in turmoil and I am EXTREMELY disgusted. So, when it comes to stitching, it just wasn't in my heart to do it. I stitched one day (Sunday) and only for about three hours. It was more fill-in work in areas that aren't really noticeable. Here is where I left off last time:

And here is the pitiful show:

I wish I could say I will do better the rest of this week (or even this weekend), but considering the threats made against, not only our national seat, but our state governments as well, I will probably be more glued to my screen than anything else (with chairs against my doors). Supposedly it is going to start again on the 17th through the Inaguration on the 20th. I'm terrified of the behavior of my fellow countrymen last week, it was domestic terrorism, pure and simple, so I am truely fearful of what will happen next week. I don't often go much into politics, but I am really scared for our future.

There are rumors that there are two teachers from my own town who were on the Capitol steps. Neither of which have been repremanded, they are teaching kids right now. Several of my co-workers are talking about going to either Little Rock (our state capitol) or even Washington next week (or have family members who are). So, even now, I have to be careful what I say, even to the people I work with, because I am putting my life in danger by just saying anything against these terrorists publicly. Good thing this is my only social media outlet (and no one I know around here care about cross stitching)! Right now, I speak to NO ONE at work, other than my intern. I wish I could say I'm just being paranoid and I've joked on this blog about the "rednecks" for years, but I literally am surrounded by the EXACT kind of people who were all over the Capitol Building. It's not any easier when I go home to the trailer park. I REALLY have to work harder to get out of there!

And yes, there is a LOT of talk about another civil war around here. When that topic first came up, I laughed out loud. Now, I don't. I don't own a gun, don't believe in guns, and have no survival skills whatsoever, so any civil war is the end for me. Honestly, I don't think they can pull it off and I think if the idiot, who just got impeached (again), would be honest with people and admit he's been lying since day one, 95% of them would back off and crawl back in their holes. The 5% of the militia-type groups who have always been around (the white suppremacists-types) will probably never go away. That's a matter for future governments to take them down. Yes, I knew I was surrounded by rascists and homophobics, but they were always quiet about it. Now, with the current climate, they feel like it's OK to be vocal about it. Their behavior has NEVER been OK, but I'd rather them be quiet than screaming from the mountaintops!

Oh well, there is also nothing I can do about any of this, other than try my best to protect me and my own and hope, to all that is holy, that next week goes off without a hitch and is quiet. In the long run, let's just all hope that the 45th get's the absolute WORST punishment anyone can get (as well as his family, his lawyers, and all his lackies that helped him) and doesn't get to live out a happy life paid for by the taxpayers. What we need to be focusing on, is the pandemic that is killing more and more people every single day, not some crazy, orange-faced baffoon and now his gang of terrorists that are growing by the second. Soapbox dismount.

Stitching Progress (yep, you read that right!)

Yep, I stitched this weekend! Not a lot, maybe a total of nine or ten hours over the three-day holiday, but it's more than I've stitched in forever, and certainly for days in a row! I left off on Snow on December 30th here:

And, slowly but surely, she's moving along bit by bit:

Other than that, nothing new to report! Therapy last week was kind of useless and a waste of time (I'm not sure why we got off on the tangent we did, but oh well, at least I didn't leave it upset, just worn out as per usual), so again, nothing new to report. Maybe this will be 2021, nice and quiet (and yes, I'm aware I just jinxed it!).

Stitching - A Year End Review (Shameful, Pic Heavy, & SUPER Long!)

Yeah, I'm not even sure why I'm bothering with doing a stitch review, especially since my stitching SUCKED this year, but I'm "calling" it motivation for 2021! But first, let's start with ORTs. You can tell how my stitching has declined since Hotel California compared to all the other year's before it, and even how much its declined even since last year (this was my worst year ever). So, here they all are together (sorry for the glare):

Here's paultry 2020 (and maybe the glare helps here...it makes it look fuller than it actually is, but trust me, it's just sad):

When it comes to stitching itself, I apparently didn't do an hourly "the road so far" count last year again (I seem to remember being mad at myself for not doing that last year either). So NOW I'm going to mark where I'm at now and at least I'll have a total for how much I stitched this year! I'll just go through each project one at a time, show where I ended last year and where I am now, so bear with me, this might be long! For fabric types and sizes, to at least "try" to keep this short, those are listed under their titles under my WIPS tab, so I won't relist it all here. I'm going to start with Jasmine Becket-Griffith's Faces of Faery 167, a HAED (because it's the first in my Flickr album, and no other reason), and I'll go down the Flickr album line until we get finished! I left off Faces on June 23, 2019 here:

I stitched on it for THREE DAYS this year (sad) and ended here on June 21st, 2020 and I'm now at a total of 29.53:

Addict2CrossStitch's Everest was a project I kitted up in 2017 along with a lot of the other ones, but apparently I never started it.

I started it on January 12th of this year, stopped by the 18th of January (and apparently haven't touched it since...it's REALLY wide). It's a really nice project to stitch, I was really enjoying it and I've stood on that bridge in Animal Kingdom dozens of times, so it's also a great memory trigger, so I'm not sure what my problem is other than being a lazy stitcher. Anyhoo, here is where I made it after 26.53 hrs total:

Now we come to my love/hate relationship with Hook by Tilton Crafts. As much as I love this design (and I know there is a whole set of these to match), black and white projects are definitely NOT for me! Apparently my relationship with this is so troubled, I hadn't touched it since March 5th, 2018!

For about a week in May, I tried again, but on the 25th, I stopped again and haven't picked it up since. I stopped at 52.2 hrs in total and I'll try harder this year to at least finish the first row (which is a whole bunch of the white background with just a little more of his head and hair).

GeckoRouge's The Bride Dollmaking (or Dollmaker, I call her different things) is probably one of projects I worked the most on (which isn't saying much). I left off on her December 31st, 2019:

And she was the project I started right back on Jan 1 and hopped back to throughout the year. I finished Row 2 Sept 25th for a total time of 217.97 hrs so far. Whether or not I'll get row 3 done this year remains to be seen. As much as I love this design, I will say, considering the cost of this kit, I am a tiny bit disappointed in the loss of detail from the original picture to the project. Part of me wishes it was either bigger or had more colors to bring out the details that are in the original artwork, but oh well, I still love it, here you go:

Neni Designs (I believe she calls herself something different now, but her shop is the same on Etsy) Happy Haunts. This "should" have been a quick stitch, like Lilo and Stitch was. It hasn't been. For some reason, I just can't get into it. I left off April 29th of last year:

And, as before, I worked on it exactly three days this year, ending on March 29th, finishing at a total of 102.25 hrs so far (pitiful). This should have been a finish, again, oh well:

Ah, the joy that is Annya Kai's Maleficent by HAED (and yes, I call it that because my pattern says that...I bought it literally the day it came out, and it IS Maleficent, not "Evil Queen"...I get copyrights, but if they are gonna rename for copyrights, get your Disney villains straight! I find it offensive they picked that title...ok, rant over). Maleficent got the most love of the year because I REALLY wanted to finish her. I failed. I didn't even finish row 6. But I got close and then row 7 is only a partial row, so maybe this will be her last year (but I'm not counting my chickens). I left off on her on July 7th of last year:

And, on November 8th, I just couldn't go any further on that row, but I ended at 722.72 hrs total, which is one of my highest hour counts as well (although I don't think it's my highest). Plus, when you get to the bottom, and your not in the faces or the "cool" parts, it is pretty boring.

Speaking of which when it comes to action-packed, Alice and The Bouguereau Princesses by Jasmine Becket-Griffith (another HAED). It's a massively HUGE project, my largest yet and it's hard to tell how big it is from the pictures. It's going to cost a FORTUNE to get framed! I worked on them quite a bit as well (although, again, that's not saying much this year). I left off here April 21st of last year:

But because it's so big, no matter how much progress I have, you can't tell it. I left off on November 29th for a full total of 737.62 hrs (another high one):

Now, the bane of my existence, Suteki by Aimee Stewart (can you tell I like HAED's?). I haven't touched her since November 27th of 2017! And that was probably more of a HUGE thank you to my Sister for taking care of me during my stay in Hotel California, but I could't stick with it. This project is a gift to her and, if I ever finish it, I know she'll love it (and I'll be SOOO happy to see the back of it), but it's also kind of weird how those really painful pieces tend to be the most genuine gifts (like the giant Jesus head I gave my now-passed Grandmother...I HATED that project and I still hate brown, but she loved it more than any other gift she ever received). But I have to finish it to make it a gift! So here is where we left off:

What little I did stitch this year, actually wasn't that bad as it has been in the past. For now, I'm at 179.28 hrs and that's high for this project, but it's also the most confetti-heavy project I've ever done. It's horrendous! If my OCD could stand all the hanging thread, it would be great for parking, but I just can't do it. So here we are now (again, only three days work, but better than nothing):

Jessica Clark's Snow White is a retired HAED that I'm glad I got a chance to get. She is a great artist and it's a shame they don't have her design's licensed anymore. I love this art (although I DEFINITELY picked the wrong fabric). I haven't touched Snow since November 12th, 2017, probably because it's one of the two projects because I worked on while my Grandmother was in hospice:

I worked on her a lot in January, but just started back in December (and December 30th was it's last hit). For now, I'm still working on her, so she'll be where I'll be until I get ready to switch. So, for the end of 2020, she's at 157.52 hrs total. Anyway, here's where she stopped:

Speaking of hospice, the other project was another HAED, Annie Rodrigue's Night Wish, which hasn't been touched since November 24th, 2017 at it's row finish:

I started hard on her in January of this year, but by February 19th of this year, I guess I forgot about her, because I haven't touched her since. Maybe she should come up after Snow. So far, she's at 184.63 hrs total. I probably have mentioned it before, but I got this project because it's all purple, but it's more pinky purple than blue purple (which is MY purple), so, for me, it's kind of disappointing. Maybe that's why I'm having trouble with her. She's still beautiful, but I wish she was more bluish. Oh well:

HAED's Sleepy Hollow Mural by Lewis T. Johnston was "supposed" to be my first Q-Snap project. It didn't take me long to realize I HATE Q-Snaps. I've used rods for so long, I'm just not built for anything else. It's probably why I haven't touched Sleepy Hollow since December 20th, 2017:

On May 10th of this year, I put it on rods, and suddenly, I was just very happy with it! Granted, I only stitched on it for four days, but I made a lot of progress (although you can't tell it from the Q-Snaps to the rods). For what little I've done, the 140.22 hrs seems like a lot, but it was because I was fighting with the Q-Snaps so much. Now, that number won't grow as much. It's a horizontal piece, so it's still very awkward to work on, but give me rods any day!

Then there are the three that I refuse to call UFO's, but I guess that's what they are. They are so old, I wasn't keeping time when I started these. Tartan B (which I haven't touched since Dec 23rd, 2017 (and would't take me but a couple days to finish it, but I swear it's like working on the biggest HAED ever and I make NO progress after HOURS of work!):

A Summer Ball, a project I don't know why I hate, but I do...I haven't touched since January 5th, 2015!

And lastly, Disney World's 25th Anniversary (which is just funny considering 2021 is Disney World's 50th Anniversary). This project is hard for me because of the dark fabric. I have to use a lightbox, which gives me a headache, so it's just too much. I haven't touched it since May 23rd, 2015. I will finish it, but who knows when!

For the record, I forgot to mention that during HAED's last 50% off sale, I cleared my wishlist completely. Three projects by Aimee Stewart, Beach Combers Bounty, A Pirates Life and the Super Size, Max Color Oasis.

It's been a while since HAED has had anything new I've wanted, so I've been wanted to clear that list for a while. Now it's done. Unless they come out with something great from Jasmine, I'm probably not going to be buying anymore from them. I just prefer the non-dithered style they used to do (and I have more stash than life).

Speaking of though, most of you guys do seem to think that starting a new project might help, and my mind has been stewing over this. The one project that has been digging at me is this one and there is a matching Heroes and Villains Book as well:

Time will tell if I start it, but I think I've rambled on enough! That was my 2020! Sad, I know, but here's to a MUCH better 2021!!