Almost forgot!

As crazy as things have been, I almost forgot to show you that I did FINALLY get Snow and Charming framed! I also got my Supernatural Exorcism framed, but I'll have to show that later. So, without further ado (and forgive the glare), I give to you, Snow and Charming!

The main mat is actually more of the color purple where my arms are and the inner color is a parchment like flesh-color that fit in well. Anyhoo, I'll try to remember to take a pic of the Exorcism one too (my brain barely works by the time I get home)...thankfully, I hung Snow and Charming at work, I just had to remember to take it in the hallway to get a pic so I didn't capture anything "delicate".

TA-DA!!

Well, after yet again another bad stitch week, I somehow managed to finish Snow and Charming! I didn't get the extra outlining done that I talked about doing, but that's OK...I've never done it before and all has been well. It was just a thought anyway. I left off here last week:

Here is the last finished row...55,728 stitches completed for a total of 282.15 hrs (geez, I gotta work on my speed!):

And after unscrolling, ironing to get out gridlines, here they are! They look so big, but it is only barely 8 x 10

I still need to wash them, re-iron, mount and take them somewhere for framing, but that will get done. Looks like I need to watch my stretching too because they are a bit crooked (but it was the fabric). If I take it to Joann, I make also take in my Supernatural Exorcism stitch to get it framed too...I doubt Hobby Lobby would touch it with a ten-foot pole and I have yet to find the perfect frame for it. I have actually mounted it on foam core, but in a way that doesn't support a mat. With the right frame, I don't think it will need one (I just don't have a picture of it mounted):

Since I finished so late last night, I didn't get to switch to anything else, but I did decide the "smartest" thing to do was to at least clear down the queue a bit and finish Rapunzel. I could technically whip her out in as little as a month or less, so she's my best option and will give me the time I need to decide what to do about Hook. I left off on her here back in July:

I started to load up Maleficent first, since I only have two rows left of her, but I ran across Rapunzel digging through the WIPs and knew she was the quicker option, but Maleficent might come next. I haven't worked on her since last February, but even with two rows left, that's two HAED rows of full-on dithering...at least two or three months of work, depending on how full the final row is:

I really like the thought of cutting down my WIPs (or maybe starting some new ones...I'm not sure which).

Weekly Stitching

Snow and Charming are coming along nicely, despite the fact that I didn't really have a good stitch week. But still, if all goes according to plan and I do OK this week, I should have them finished by the end of this week. I left off here last week:

And, despite the pain that Flickr has now become since the change-over to their new management (but I have WAY too many photos in there to switch to anything else, so I'm kind of stuck), I FINALLY managed to find where the new ones I put this week ended up and here is where I stopped Sunday night:

I'm excited to finish it and scared at the same time. Plus, I think I might, if I finish early, go around the border a couple of times with the outside color, just to have a little extra "padding" for framing. I just wish I had another Once realistic project to go to next! I guess I could technically make one, but then there is the whole copyright issue and I'm not sure I want to tackle that. I have LOVED every second of this project and I am eternally grateful to the wonderful person who gifted it to me, but finishing it means I have to make some serious decisions about rotations and how to redo Hook, or even if I want to...still on the fence about that one. Logic (and you guys) tell me that it would be best to switch to white fabric, but then I think about the edges of the project and when to know what is the edge white and what is fill-in background white and that's a lot of thinking. My whole thing with cross stitching is that I don't want to think about what I'm actually physically doing, that's the time my mind goes "elsewhere". As it is now, just filling in the white means there wouldn't be any thinking involved, but my goodness, how boring it would be just stitching all that white! I guess I could always see if I could cut down the background a bit:

But it would be cutting it close down by his right arm area:

I swear Hook didn't look white at all, which is why I picked the fabric I did so it would make it easier to stitch the white on. I had such a hard time with Night Wish's moon on that first row because I was stitching white-on-white and I had to stitch a little moon and then switch to something else because I kept getting bored. This is SOOO much more white than that!

I guess I can only focus on finishing Snow and Charming now and THEN see where I stand. I'm still in such a massive Once Upon A Time mood, I'm not sure I can go into a normal rotation without going directly to Hook or another Once project in my stash.

But speaking of stash, I did actually buy a new chart this week. It's from UnconventionalX on Etsy, who I've followed for a long time, but never actually bought anything from. It's called "The Blue Marble is So Fragile" by Borda Danut Adrian and it's very moi!

There is so much detail in this picture, it's amazing! There are actually a few more of that artist's patterns in their shop, but none fit me as well (and I've got to stop buying every single chart by an artist just because I have one and I like style but maybe not necessarily the piece).

Oh, and I failed to mention it, but quite a while ago, I bought another chart from MandarinksDesigns, Rumplestiltskin's dagger. It's not the typical type of pattern I would buy because I HATE it when the outlines go over half the stitches, but I couldn't help it considering the pattern (and the fact that Once charts are EXTREMELY rare). They really have some great patterns, but it's that whole "outline over stitches" thing that gets me. Typically, I fix those as I stitch, but it's such a struggle because then you are creating half or quarter stitches, I just don't like to bother (thinking+stitching=annoying). Besides, I think HAED's have spoiled me to just full stitches and I can't seem to do anything else anymore. But anyhoo, here is the pattern and I love how Belle's rose comes out the top of it:

There are a lot of great artists in DeviantArt (if you can muddle through all the semi-porn or bad stuff) who have done some amazing Once artwork and, if I hadn't gotten such a dismissive response from the Hook artist about Charming, I probably would send a message to a few of them and ask them to license out their work to Tilton or HAED or someone because they would make excellent stitch projects, but now I'm too chicken. There is a great series of holding hand pics of the Once couples from Sarah Mac Illustration that would make great cross stitch projects...here's the Hook and Emma one from her RedBubble store and then another great one is Svenja Gosen, who sells her stuff on Etsy too as well as RedBubble...it's just easier to find their RedBubble stores than find them on Etsy or DeviantArt for some reason (these are watermarked, so I think it's OK to post them, but if not, please let me know...friggin copyright laws!). Then again, I guess I could just learn digital art and do one myself and then turn it into a cross stitch project, but that's SOOO much work! It's much easier for someone else to let their work be commissioned out, especially when it's probably better than anything I could ever do anyway!

Weekly Stitching (I just LOVE typing those words!)

I did quite a bit of stitching this week. This was a very heavy confetti row, but I FINALLY made it through! I left off here last week:

And finally finished the row late Friday night for a total of 215.49 hrs so far which, ironically enough, about 150 or more of those hours were done in the month of January:

And here they are in their completeness up through row 3:

Saturday and Sunday were dedicated to starting and working on the final row, which isn't a full one, and doesn't have a lot of confetti (except for the far right side), so it should (hopefully) go quickly. I did, late Saturday night, start seeing Hidden Mickey's in there, which turned to Hidden Minnie's, and even spotted a Hidden Daisy next to the Hidden Minnie, but you decide for yourself if I was just getting delirious or actually seeing them...Daisy is on the left facing Minnie (or Mickey with two Mickeys between his ears) on the right:

But anyhow, despite the delirium of Saturday, I didn't take my Ritalin Sunday (which I often don't do on the weekends), and had a hard time focusing on Sunday. I spent the entire day trying to force myself to stitch, and as the day turned to night and the night wore on, it got harder and harder to keep stitching. My contacts started getting glazed over, I couldn't focus, but I just kept repeating to myself that I quit school for this, so I wasn't stopping. When I finally did quit because I was just too tired, I FINALLY figured out why...it was 11:45 pm! I have an alarm that reminds me to take my meds at 9:30 (if I take them any later, it makes it EXTREMELY difficult to get up the next morning and they still don't even kick in until midnight or so) and, at some point, I must have turned off the alarm, but I surely don't remember doing that, let alone it going off in the first place. My contacts are gas perms and hard, so that explains the haze I was trying to see through. No frickin wonder I was tired! Looks like I got my stitching mojo back in spades when I stitch through alarms and hazy vision!

I ended Sunday night here:

I tried yet another way to break my Once habit, by listening to a Once podcast that was created as the show was running. It's funny and frustrating at the same time because they are sometimes so far off base with their theories, but again, they are watching technically in "real time". But even back then, I think I could figure things out better than these guys did! I do like how they take screen shots and over-analyze every single scene so they are pointing things out that even I've never noticed, but then again, they fail to notice what is right in front of them (like the fact that there is a Hidden Mickey in every single episode as well as other characters...I'm personally still trying to find all those Hidden Mickey's myself). I stopped listening on Saturday because they pissed me off too much by calling Graham "he who must not be named" because they don't like him (who hates Jamie Dornan?) and they hate Hook too. Granted, Hook started out bad, but they haven't ever mentioned the chemistry between Emma and Hook. Granted, as Hook would say, his intentions were less than noble, but still, sparks were flying left and right between those two and these podcast guys can't even see it. I also wonder who these podcast people are, because there are a lot of pop culture references that they are completely missing in the show (that their "live" callers and forum members point out for them but they still don't understand them) and they pull out a lot of Biblical references (which is so NOT a Once type thing, despite the overall positive notes of hope throughout the show), so I think it's probably good I don't continue on. So, in the end, all it did was push me back into watching Once, OCD unbroken. Oh well, maybe I'll find something else that will distract me. I still have the reaction videos on YouTube (although those only come out every couple of weeks). At least for now, watching Once Upon A Time over and over is my zen at the end of a rough day until another show comes along.

Weekly Stitching (a regular stitching post...yea!!)

This was one of those weeks that I stitched like crazy (other than the two days I had a migraine), but I seemed to get no where. It's the reason why I'm glad I take pictures every night, or else I could never see the progress sometimes! Last week I left off here:

This has been a rough row...lots of confetti, but I still hope to finish it this week and move on to the final (and short) row next week and hopefully be finished in a couple of weeks. And, despite all the work I put in this week, I only made it to here last night:

I want to finish this project before I start back into a normal stitching rotation. I'm not really sure why, I just feel like it's what I need to do. And I'm also still not sure I don't want to finish DoNa's Rapunzel before moving on to a rotation...that WAS the plan back when I left off on her last July (when I tried so desperately to force myself to stitch). I left off on her just beginning row 2:

But, then again, I'm also still completely obsessed with Once Upon A Time, so there is always Hook which I barely got started on. And I still have to make a decision on whether to continue with the same fabric or switch over to white so I don't have to actually stitch all the white background...that was either ambitious on my part, or stupid. I guess right now I'm still deciding. It would look better stitched, but I am lazy (and have more WIPs and stash than lifetimes, so it might be better to switch now before I get too far in):

Decisions, decisions...I seem to be riddled with them lately! But Hook might be better served in a rotation anyway, so there is that.

But I have managed, at least for a few days, to break my Once viewing habits. I started watching MI-5 again over on Hulu (Spooks for all my Brit friends) and it's amazing how that show has held up over the years, despite it's age, and how socially relevant it still is! I missed my beloved Adam Carter and, although I haven't gotten to the Lucas North years yet, I'm prepared for that heartbreak (I am too much like Tom to get emotionally attached to him). For anyone who hasn't ever watched the show, I highly recommend it, although, I feel I should warn you, don't get attached to anyone...they often die horrible, painful, brutal, gut-wrenchingly, sob-worthy deaths. But just about every single British actor has been on that show at some point, and you might even see someone you didn't remember being on there (an Avenger or two maybe and definitely an Austen man, maybe a Hobbit or Potter alum, even a Oncer or two...just trust me, you will recognize someone!).

School and Stitching, Stitching and School

Well, I went to classes, and they actually weren't so bad. Technically, they went pretty well, but then again, it WAS only the first week. I settled into to Precalculus a bit TOO well, which either means I'm gonna ace that class, or I'm going to get TOO comfortable and stop trying and then my grades will drop.

Programming, at least so far, has been a bit rough, but I knew that was coming. She started on Monday with assigning us 45 vocabulary definitions to memorize by Wednesday, only 5 of which was on the quiz. Not nice. Same this week and, apparently, same every week. She likes her vocab. And C++ is a strange programming language. I don't get seven lines of code and two lines of execution just to say "Hello World!" when, in Python, it was just one line and run. The logic of all of that extra crap will be hard for me to deal with. I was a nervous wreck by the end of lab, but that's nothing new. I had that same issue last semester.

But what didn't go well was the fact that my daily annoying little dull headaches have started back...the ones that started way before I got diagnosed with my migraines. I stopped by my doctor's office and, like everyone else, they think it's just because I'm not used to getting up early and they will fade as I get adjusted, but I think they are wrong. I am NOT a morning person, never have been, never will be. This is now week 2 and the headaches are still here.

I should have studied and done my homework this weekend, but instead, when my head wasn't pounding, I stitched. I kept saying I would only stitch for a few hours, then work on homework, but I do have control issues and when I start something, it's hard for me to stop. I said I would only stitch on Saturday, but the first thing I started Sunday morning with Snow and Charming again with the intention of homework come Sunday night, but again, it was an all-day event and by Sunday night, by head was hurting bad enough, I even had to stop stitching. Thank goodness Monday is a school holiday, so at least I can get my homework done tonight (hopefully). I left off here last week on the Charmings:

And obviously, with an all-weekend headache and only two days of stitching, I didn't get very far, but I figure every little bit counts, so here's where I ended up:

If I can manage some self control (somehow) and some weekend stitching (with some homework built in), maybe I can finish the Charmings come the end of the semester. We'll see.

But this whole headache thing has got me wondering again why I'm putting myself through all this. If I would have had a working printer at home Sunday night, I would have just printed off the University Withdrawal form, filled it out and emailed it back it in one whack. Luckily, I got a text from my school friend and she talked me out of it (temporarily), but I'm still considering it today. I have to make my decision soon before my loan money hits my account (I guess that's the ONLY good thing about the government shut down...it's delayed financial aid payments, but still, this whole situation is BEYOND ridiculous, all over a bloody wall...let it go Biff!).

I also had a couple conversations with my advisor about changing majors...she doesn't want me to. She thinks I'm where I'm supposed to be. My disability officer agrees and she even thinks that I'm just scared with doing things outside of my comfort zone, even though I usually always succeed and she gave me the "lecture" about how stepping outside that zone is worth it because it proves my abilities are strong when I do succeed. But what I had to explain to her is yes, that is true, but the discomfort and sometimes physical and mental torment that it takes for me to get through it to that success is often not worth the benefits of the reward and I often don't even want to deal with the reward afterwards because it was such an ordeal to obtain. For me, at least, the benefits don't outweigh the struggle. I'm not sure she understood that.

So right now, I'm not sure what to do. I guess I'll go home, do homework, go to class tomorrow, and see how it goes. Get up Wednesday and do the same. Maybe, before I know it, it will be May and I'll have the summer off to REALLY think about what I want to do. But then again, an entire summer off might not be a good idea, but since I have to pay for summer classes out of pocket, and I need new tires and possibly new brakes...classes are out of the question. Here's hoping this doesn't end up another semester of whiny blog posts, but rather good school news and still cross stitch posts, eh?

Row 2 finish!!!

First off, thank you to everyone for your support as always. I did make a pros and cons list, but what it all boils down to is what I want and what I need. I don't want to go through the struggle of this education, but I need it. I can't ever make a pros list for things I "need". There is just no motivation for needs, but if this was something I wanted, I could write and epic novel's length list. Which is why, despite all the odds, I'm going to at least give school a few weeks. Worse comes to worse, I'm only out a couple of hundred bucks and have struggled through a couple weeks of extreme stress (it wouldn't be the first time). If I make it, then I'll be the better for it and I guess I'll go through the same discussion come next semester, and the one after that, and the one after that and maybe, if I keep it up, I'll eventually graduate and I'll won't have to do this anymore!

But, on the stitching front, I'm hoping I will still be able to manage to stitch this semester, although I'm not counting on it...I sure as heck didn't have time last semester and this one will probably have more work to it, so we'll just have to see. I left off here last week:

And I worked my butt off this week to finish the second row, which I managed to do late Saturday night at 142.78 hrs in:

And both pages together:

Obviously, the bottom two pages are going to be boring as sin because there is no faces or fun parts, but I still started on row 3 anyway, just to avoid dealing with all the things I needed to do to prepare for Monday morning (which, as of 7:39 pm on Sunday night, I still haven't obviously done). But alas I stopped here:

Again, since I'm leaving off at a weird place, maybe that will be enough to keep me going on this project during the semester. I have a bad habit of only being able to focus on one thing at a time, so either I'll make time for stitching in my free non-homework time, I'll not work on school stuff because I'll be stitching (like I ended up doing at the end of last semester with watching Once...which I'm still doing by the way), or I'll continue my bad Once habit and do nothing but sit and stare at the TV. Who knows how this early morning school schedule will affect me. I'm not the typical person that, if I get up earlier, I'll go to bed earlier. Wake time matters not in my world. I could still stay up all night given the chance and could sleep all day given equal opportunity. Wake time only affects my mood (as work shall soon experience...HA!).

Oh well, guess I'd better start doing all the prep work I've been delaying...or I'll continue to watch Once. Not sure yet!

New Year's Stitching-Will I make row 2 before school starts?

That is the question, now isn't it? I don't think I'm going to make row 2, but I've got one more full week and a weekend to try, so I'm going to give it my best shot. I left off here last week:

And managed to barely make it here by the end of last night:

This second row is proving quite difficult with all the confetti. I got tired of all the blue (again), so I hopped into facial territory and, as of now, it's a bit on the scary side (especially Snow's face), but considering how the top row worked itself out, I'm sure this one will too. I'm still holding on to that never-waving Snow White hope though!

My Supernatural plans to distract me from Once lasted all of three days. Ever watch a show and notice an actor that you never noticed before, but is now someone you know and you are now like "oh yeah, THAT'S where I know them from"? I knew that Ruby/Red had an episode role in a later season of Supernatural, but it was teenage Lily that threw me off course in S2E2 and got me craving Once again, especially since I left once Once only three episodes from the Lily intro (and Lily's adoptive father also played a demon in a later season of Supernatural, so there is that too). I tried hard to avoid going back to Once and went back to Sabrina first, but she was young Emma and I got distracted again. Then, since Colin O'Donoghue's newish movie is on Netflix, What Still Remains, I thought I'd watch that, but not to give any spoilers, but I don't like him as a character like that (and seeing him kiss ANYONE but Jennifer Morrison just doesn't work for me). I knew him before Once because of a horror movie called The Rite (which is also on Netlix now), but he was a priest in that movie, so no kissing. But something else I noticed, I thought that maybe he got a nosejob after The Rite because his nose was smaller in Once, but in What Still Remains, it was bigger again, and then it occurred to me that apparently guyliner makes a man's nose look smaller! Go figure! Not that I mind the size of Colin's nose in any circumstances, I just found it an interesting tidbit! I hate when actors get typecast, but I'm afraid Colin will henceforth and forever be Captain Hook.

So, alas, I gave in, and am back to watching Once. Since I just finished the Frozen half-season and started the Heroes and Villains half, then we are in Hook and Emma romance territory from now to the end of season 6, which means it will distract from stitching quite a bit. Then it will be Hades half season, followed by Gideon and marriage and final battle and separate 7th season, and then classes start next Monday. Ugh. 8am classes. I'm really gonna regret that decision, but I guarantee that by the time this semester is over with, my job will NEVER ask me to take an 8am class again! I am NOT a morning person and they will NOT be able to live with me for the next five months if I have to get up two hours earlier...so, the next five months might suck, but at least I will never have to go through it again!

I am also rethinking my whole summer school plans. I thought I wouldn't be able to go back if I was on break that long, but considering how short Christmas break was, I'm not sure summer will hurt me that much. I think I might need some "normal" time again. We'll see if I can even come up with the money to go to summer school since I have to pay for it out of pocket.

Oh, which reminds me...my missing programming teacher is alive! She emailed me thanking me for the well-wishes and said she'd see me in the spring! Then she managed to get on to me for stitching instead of studying my book for next semester, so she's obviously feeling better. Yes, I probably "should" be studying for next semester like she suggested, but I'm pretty sure that my next programming class is going to suck, I'm going to struggle through it, and I'm not in that big a hurry to deal with it until I absolutely half to. I want to stitch right now and not deal with it. It is, after all, my vacation, and I intent to enjoy it. Besides, I'm pretty sure my next programming teacher already doesn't like me, so what difference does it make. This is my deciding class on whether I stay in this program or change majors, and I'm pretty sure a major change is settling in the back of my brain as a very real possibility. We'll see I guess! I just hate that between programming and precalc, there won't be stitching time. Ugh.

Final Year-End Stitching

I held off on my weekly post since it was just one extra day before the end of the year. I left off last week here:

FINALLY finished row 1 for a total of 77.92 hrs (which is quite shameful for a three page row, but I guess acceptable considering how long it has been since I've stitched):

And decided that "operation row 2" is a go for the final two weeks of school break. Why not at least try to get in another row before the spring semester starts up again, right? So on New Years Eve, at 11:58, I stopped here:

It's a pretty lofty goal, but I figure that's my 2019 overall goal...loftiness! To be honest, up close it's not very pretty, but from just a short distance, I'm surprised at the level of detail that is coming through on this. I did find the original picture of the Snow and Charming art, which led me to a Hook and Emma that would make a matching set if I charted it myself, but then there would be continuity issues unless I recharted Snow and Charming too and I'm not willing to do that, especially since it was a gift. But it did make me realize that digital art is really not that difficult, if you know how to use Photoshop, so it's not like I can't find another pair of pics of the two couples and make a matching pattern set and chart it up if the mood strikes me. Besides, I have enough WIPs going right now as it is.

TUSAL-wise, this has also been the worst ORT year since I've been keeping up with it, but it goes to show how little stitching I did this year. Compared to all the years since 2012, it's pitiful! Next new years goal...stitch more, school or not!


I made the comment at work on Monday (another one of my "vacation days"), that hopefully 2019 will be better than 2018, but I got to thinking about it tonight, as I was stitching and watching NASA TV for the Ultima Thule pass by and something kind of occurred to me...2018 wasn't that bad, especially compared to 2017! Yeah, worked sucked, but it's getting better (and hopefully will get a LOT better once the bad doc is gone), I started back to school and (at least so far) am doing pretty good for an old lady, I didn't have any major medical problems this year, and my mental health, despite still being of the major hermit status, is still on the mend although I'll never be the person I was before my visit to Hotel California. The more I thought about it, 2018 is probably one of the best years I've had in a long time, even if it maybe didn't feel like it most days. It was a quiet year and I haven't had a lot of those.

I did take a break from Once last week to watch Sabrina (my that show is DARK!) and also got caught up on Riverdale (well, Netflix caught up, which means through season 2) and now I'm back to Supernatural to see if I can break the Once habit, which I figure will be back in full-swing once school starts back, but I'm OK with that. Whatever it takes. This semester is gonna suck, but it's also going to determine whether I stay in this major or switch to something else. I am curious to know if I'm just really bad at programming, bad at math, or I just had a bad teacher last semester. Might be a combination of all three...guess we'll find out soon enough! No matter which computer major I switch to, I have to suffer through Structured Programming anyway, so it's a burden I have to bear. And I still have a couple of science basics left that could distract me for a few semesters until I make up my mind anyway, so all my options are still wide open!

But anyway, I hope everyone has a happy New Year and that all your hopes and dreams come true this year! I think we could all use a happy one!

Just a touch more stitching

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, but since I can't take vacation because there is no one to cover me, I will have to come in every day and work some...at least do my daily duties (because no one else can). I keep saying that they are going to be in trouble when I drop dead, but no one takes me seriously. There are things that only I can do and since they aren't major duties, they aren't in any manual, just in my head. Job security, yes, company security, not so much. Despite it all, I am quite loyal to this place (obviously, because I do put up with a lot), I just wish that the feeling was mutual.

But on a happier note, I'm not a Christmas person at all (Halloween is more my bag), but for those who are, I hope you enjoy your holiday and have a great time with your families! I plan to spend the day alone with my pups, stitching and watching Once. It probably sounds sad, but it makes me happy and that's all that matters. And I'm not big on spending time with my family anyway, at least 97% of them. For an Asper, Christmas was always my nightmare...all those people, food I hated, people staring at you while you opened presents and having to react to things you didn't want (and my mother was the WORST gift giver...still is). And because I came from a divorced family, as a child I had to go through it multiple times with parents, grandparents, my aunt...ugh. Now, I just don't participate at all, although my mother still asks every single year, just like Thanksgiving (another holiday I don't like because of the food). Home alone is best for me. It's just another day off work for me.

Stitched Again - But Don't Get Excited

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 it (yep, you read that right, I got a D on the final! I'm still not sure how THAT happened...I figured that whoever graded didn't give partial credit like she did). It dropped my G.P.A. down to an 89.0 (which is a B). But I knew I still had those two bonus point problems that weren't graded, so hope wasn't lost. They only got one graded before the cutoff, but it was enough to bring me back up to a 90.0 (which is back up to an A, thank goodness!). Granted, if the other bonus point problem would have been graded, it would have been higher (and it kind of makes me mad considering the hours we worked on that mess), but still, I'm not complaining, I got my two A's in the end!

Surprisingly, I did find out that my English teacher just nicked my paper on citations and not content. It's hard to make them understand that I am of a certain age and of a certain ilk and have acquired a certain amount of knowledge from life that came from reading, watching and absorbing. I didn't need any information for this paper from sources because it all came from my brain. She had trouble buying that, but it's true. I have more knowledge of animation than the average bear because I wanted to be one for half my life and I can talk technical details about Sleeping Beauty like nobody's business! I figured she'd have a field day on content considering my subject matter. I am an "old school" Disney princess girl after all and she's the middle type. But she even said I had some very valid points. I was shocked! I know a couple of you guys mentioned you might want to read it, just drop me a message and I'll send it to you (I don't mind, what am I gonna do with it now?), but just know you might get offended if you are a middle type Princess person and definitely is you are a "new style" Princess person...or maybe not. She mentioned she wasn't offended at all and that I was focused more on the Princes than the Princesses. I hadn't really realized I was going more in that direction until she pointed it out, but I guess she was kind of right.

I did come to a realization though, I was beginning to think that maybe I'm just not cut out for programming (and I thought I'd take to it like a duck to water), but I think it's because all we are programming are math problems. The "real world" isn't like that. I will NEVER understand why colleges don't teach "real world" situations. What good does it do to teach us how to program trig problems when we will NEVER use them? It is SOOOO frustrating! But I will know better next semester whether I stay in this program or switch majors to either C.I.T. (which is basically what I do for a living now) or maybe computer-aided design (where I could use some of my old art hours as electives and not lose them). Time will tell. I would love the design, but there is no money in it. I still have my science classes to get out of the way (my only remaining basics), well besides Oral Comm and apparently now Philosophy (I've always said I would be HORRIBLE in a Philosophy class because I'm too opinionated), so I might start working on getting those out of the way and take a "computer break" for a while to "think" about things and decide on the best path. The whole Astronomy thing was a nice idea, but at my age, it might be too lofty of a dream. And I do have to admit, I enjoyed the writing in English a HECK of a lot more than the computer stuff. That's not good when you are a Computer Science major (but it's not like I can do anything with an English degree, so there you go).

Stitch Progress

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 think my OCD must be stronger when I'm more stressed. And, considering my Programming teacher has gone MIA, I should be more stressed than ever. Our last two assignments (which were IMPORTANT bonus points that I desperately needed) and a really crap final still haven't been graded and the deadline for final grades to be posted is the 13th. My GPA for CompII is already listed. No responses to emails, no responses from department heads, no one will tell us what is going on or when (or if) we will get our grades for programming. Wonder if I'll get lucky and they will just go with the midterm grades...at least then I'll keep my A.

I did realize something though...one of my teachers had a stroke mid-semester and got replaced, the other got a mysterious illness and disappeared at the end of the semester and, as a side note, every single new coastal location I visited this year got wiped off the face of the Earth by a hurricane. I wonder what that says about me?

Oh well, maybe I'll have time to dink more with the blog next week.

Breaks are bad!

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 original Disney Princess Model and the lack of a Disney Prince Model and basically how I think both are really bad things. But you guys know how I feel about that. I'm old school. I like happily every after and true love and all that OG stuff. Ever since a certain actress/Disney princess herself, had her little Twitter rant about it (and another one flat out said she refuses to let her daughter watch Cinderella because she doesn't want her to learn that girls should wait around for a "rich prince to rescue them" - sorry, did she watch the same movie I did?), this comic has been making the rounds and I find it pretty apropos for the issue:

Granted, I get why parents want to teach their girls to be strong and independent, but still, what about the boys? What are we teaching them? That they are just side pieces or villains? They no longer need to slay the dragons or fight the monsters because the girls can do that themselves. They no longer are held to a certain honorable, chivalrous, valorous code, one worthy of a princess because they simply aren't needed anymore. And trust me, I've noticed the difference in the generations of boys since the trend started. And if you wanna exchange stone-throwing, didn't Anna fall in love in five minutes with a total villain who tried to kill her and her sister, and then fell in love the very next day with a total waste of space (cuteness aside)? Yeah, SUCH a better role model there. I will never understand why everyone thinks that movie is such a good role model for girls just because of that whole sisterly relationship...I can't be the only person in the world that noticed that it was Anna's bad decisions that caused all the problems in the first place. I sometimes wonder if the people who complain the most about the OG princesses have actually watched those movies since they were kids. But I digress and I can rant about this topic all day.

But doing "normal" things reminded me how much I miss my "normal" life. This whole school journey started for many reasons, but one of the main ones being because I hated my job so much, especially one doctor in particular who is now leaving the practice. Now that he's leaving and work is getting better, it makes me wonder why I'm putting myself through all this struggle. I have to go back to class today and my nerves are all wound up. I'm terrified like it's the first day. Breaks are bad things! It broke my routine and now I feel like I'm starting all over again. Christmas break will be even worse because, after it's over, I start all new classes. Then there is summer. There is no way I can not take summer classes now, I see that, or I will never go back in the fall. I knew I could scrape up enough money for one summer semester (because I didn't take out enough loans for summer, not knowing how school would go in the first place), but I don't know how I'll come up the funds for a second one too, but I have to find a way.

But anyhoo, stitch-wise, I went out last Friday night and got thread and started winding it afterwards, but I fell asleep. So, I got up Saturday, started winding again, and midday I fell asleep again and didn't wake up until Sunday! I think I must have just been catching up or something. But, by Sunday, all thread was wound, the fabric was stretched and gridded, and Snow and Charming:

Went from a blank canvas:

And started it's long week of a journey. Granted, I didn't get to work on it much, like I said, it was a rough work week, but 7.33 hrs in, I at least made it here by the end of the week:

Considering I haven't stitched on anything since about March, not bad for my return, if I do say so myself! I also thought I had a needle minder bought for this, so I guess I need to find one by Christmas break, since I probably won't have time to touch it again until then.

It's going to be small, about 7 x 10 on 28ct, and I'm still questioning the detail that the pattern promises, but I'm hopeful! It was originally supposed to be stitched on 18ct anyway, so that accounts for mine's tiny size, but I'm still a bit worried. I just wish I had a Emma and Hook to match, but that's OK. I'm just grateful for this gift and hopefully I can do it justice!