I should do this for a living!

From my day job. This is the metal skin going up. Then the windows will be going in. The site is right next to the Expressway going into Boston.

For the Engineers out there…

I came across a story about a company in China planning on building a 220 story building, which would be the tallest in the world, in 90 days. That would be at the rate of 5 floors per day. They’re using pre-fab modular units, and not counting the time it takes to construct those, just the actual time on site.

I know how much time and coordination it takes just to build a three story building, and what kind of mistakes happen that have to be corrected along the way. If they meet their deadline, there’s not enough money in the world that would get me to go into that building!

From work today….

On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 11:06 AM:

From me to daughter: “I just want to take an aluminum baseball bat to a co-worker’s face. I think I’m PMS-ing, as well trying to fend off said co-worker’s head cold”

From daughter to me: “yikes...what is he doing?”

From me to daughter: On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 11:09 :

“Nothing much except EXISTING”

From daughter to me: “lol  is everyone I know on the same cycle? what gives?”

Mind you- my only “co-worker” is my boss, a fact of which my daughter is totally aware. Good thing I’ve been working there for 30 years and could resist the urge to give in to violence.

Sunday Stuff…

Worked at the barn Friday, Saturday, & Sunday morning and afternoons. Had a small side job to do Friday morning as well, and then a call to help out my HVAC engineer friend Saturday morning. Here’s my progress on Beacon House:

It doesn’t look like much, just more snow infill, but I did 2 birds over one (the 2 darker blue ones):

 

Today, I tried to recreate Deborah’s ort “jar” from memory:

Looking back at Deb’s, I see I need to use a narrower seam allowance, plus make it a tiny bit bigger overall, and a larger radius on the arc on the points. Oh, and maybe be a little neater when I double-sew seams….

Day Late and a Dollar Short….

as usual, King Friday!

I wish someone had said something earlier in the week:

Digging out….

I’m alive!

I have been stitching a little, too:

my alternate December ornament:

This is Rosewood Manor’s “Victorian Lace Snowflake” from the 2007 JCS ornament issue with DMC……..crap! where did my thread go???? on some kind of antique white even weave. And here’s my January ornament:

Heart in Hand’s “Wee Santa 2010” on a 28 ct. Dirty Linen with suggested threads. This is one of my presents from Em & DB.

I also resumed my Quaker Halloween, but alas and alack, no picture today (I don’t feel like it!)

It hasn’t been very conducive blogging-wise lately. I’ve been fretting about the mess my house is in, but I took care of a lot of it by finally getting sick of my Xmas stuff being up and finally putting it all away Saturday. The mess made me not have a good place for photos. Plus Chickie keeps wanting to go out a soon as I start something, be it cooking, cleaning, typing, napping; you name it, I start to do it, and she needs to go out. She’s had a few accidents in the peeing department. So when I get an inkling that she needs to go, we GO! (Not that she’s good at giving hints either- I think she’s reading Stewie’s blogs over at the Spinster’s.)  Other  than that, she’s well on the mend, although the vet neglected to sign the spay certificate, which means I have to stop there one day after work so I can get my reduced-fee dog license. Here she is bring guilty:

Here’s a picture of Aslan:

He loves to hang out under the lamp. He hasn’t figured out that the fluorescents don’t emit heat like the incandescent. I’ve been giving him a spoonful or so of Chicken’s canned dog food (a new post-surgical development) twice a day to try to put some weight on him. He loves it!

I made a big pot of chili Saturday, and had it cooking in the oven while I packed things away. It came out very yummy!

My local town rebels and I have been keeping tabs on our town government still, just to keep them honest. It seems like they routinely have pertinent issues on their various agenda that require our vigilance.

More snow for Wednesday. My boss has already said the words “snow day”! YAY! Of course. it’s all dependant on those wicked awesome meteorologists. So accurate, dont’cha know.

I want Winter back!!!!!

There’s not enough fan-age in my house to keep things cool. I have 2 going in the living room- one on a stand that rotates back & forth, and a box fan sitting on the floor that I point entirely in my direction. That makes things almost tolerable. My downstairs windows face the wrong direction to catch any breezes. I can get my upstairs cooler than my down, just because my windows are situated such that I can get some cross ventilation.

We had some delicious cupcakes at stitching last night, courtesy of our fearless leader, Deborah. Check out her pictures on her new blog, Cranberry Samplings. I must confess that I was the ONLY one who ate my 2 selections. (Hangs head in sheepish embarrassment). What can I say, I had my tiny ham sandwich way back at 11:30, and I was HUNGRY! I also did not have any supper once I was home. So there!

So Chicken was diagnosed with an acute allergic reaction to flea bites- it only takes one nibble and it sets off this huge chain reaction of itching, biting, irritation. So while I’ve never seen the evidence of fleas, nor did my previous vet, during this episode that has lasted since last August, the new vet’s opinion is that “This is SO.” He gave her a steroid injection, which I’m to follow up with 3 week’s worth of tablets, plus an oil to squirt on her food, plus a flea control spray for my house. I’m not sure about this vet, he didn’t really allow me any questions- he kept talking over me like a parent talking over a protesting child (even though I wasn’t protesting anything- EEERRRGGG!) I will defer my opinion of him when I see poor Chicken’s skin clear up and the itching subsides ENTIRELY. I was pleasantly surprised when the bill only came to $92, especially since I was provided with 3 take-home products, and she had an injection. This was a LOT less than the previous vet. I had to run home, drop Chickie off, and then run back up town to attend a Planning Board meeting, so I didn’t really even look at my bill until the following morning, which is when I realized they hadn’t charged me for the oil or the fogger. So maybe I’m too honest, but I respect vets, and all they do, and I wanted to maintain a good relationship with this one, in case he actually cures my dog’s problem, so I called & informed the secretary of her mistake, and offered her my credit card over the phone or I could stop in after work. “You can stop in this afternoon- no problem. Bye now”, she more or less says, but no thank you. ???? You’d think she’d be a little appreciative that I’d ‘fess up that she’d undercharged me by what ends up being $31 worth of products. Even after I go in, and pay, and she even explains to a co-worker that she “forgot to add this to her bill yesterday”, she still NEVER says thank you. Call me crazy, but I’d be so grateful that someone had the decency to correct my error in the customer’s favor, if I was in her shoes. Oh well. It must be that guilty catholic upbringing that I had, that she apparently didn’t.

Maybe I’ll post pix of Quaker Halloween later- I’m smoking along this week. My boss has instituted a “Fridays off” policy for the months of July & August. This is actually kind of tough for me- work-a-holic that I am. Plus it’s air conditioned there!

Happier days!

Cranky Pants….

I’ve not had a good night sleep in literally a year. I waken somewhere between 1 am and 3, then either stay awake until 4 or so, and/or fall back into disturbingly detailed (yes I remember them!) dreams until my alarm goes off at 5:15 am. Last night was no exception- I checked the clock at 2:23 am. I was hearing an annoying mechanical drone coming from off in the distance, that continued on the WHOLE FREEEKIN’ NIGHT. Sometimes I can hear the MBTA trains warming up at the train yard, but this wasn’t quite the same noise, plus, around 4 am, I DID hear the trains moving about from the train yard to the station, including the crossing bells, in addition to the drone. I seriously was SO close to getting in my car at 3:30 to drive around until I found the source of the noise, and then batter the culprit to death with my aluminum baseball bat. The noise was like a huge vacuum hum.  I have no idea how far away it actually was; the train yard is about 2 miles away, the train station about 3/4 of a mile.

ARRG!!!!I’m getting totally annoyed just remembering it! I was extremely cranky at work today. (And tired). My boss has been omnipresent in the office for 2 weeks straight. He’s had a head cold (poor snookums) and hasn’t gotten back to his gym schedule. We’ve gotten in a bunch of new jobs (YAY! Economy is doing something!), so I’ve been busy, but he keeps back-seat  drafting and today I was ready to whack him upside the head with a drafting scale. Gawd- I needed some chocolate!

The guacamoles presented me with this last night:

A new stitching bag! Just because! Monogrammed! And custom embroidered with a horse! It has a pocket on the opposite side for holding my chocolate or orts.

I worked on these last night at Jeanne’s:

and:

I made Salmon Cakes for my supper (and Diabetic boy). Here are 2 mooches:

Delilah (Shhh! Don’t tell her she’s getting fixed next week!)

And Chicken (with Delilah’s tail in front)

Stitch & Witch….

I wish I could sit & work on this all day until it was done:

But bosses have a way of returning to the office way too soon on a Friday afternoon!

Close up of the witch hat:

I can see I’ll have to do something with the tails on the back- they’re showing though this linen something  fierce!

Withdrawal…

No internet at all today at work. The Boss actually accepted an upgrade offer from a telemarketer for our phone/internet/FIOS. The caller identified himself as being from Verizon, but as it turns out, he was from a third party market. He assured my boss his static IP address (we run our own exchange server)(don’t ask me what that is- I just hear it referred to so often) would remain unchanged. Yeeeaaahhhh…riiiight. At 2:00 when he realized we had no connectivity, including email, he went ballistic, and basically pleaded with Verizon to re-set us back to what we had. Except that we had to have a new IP address, which then involved another phone call to his now defunct ISP, through whom all our mail is routed. If it all works tomorrow, it’ll be a blooming miracle!

So no Face book, no Drudge report, no blog-surfing, no email, no nuthing! But as it turns out, we’ve started 2 new big projects- a whole new building and a re-do of a previous job that hasn’t started yet. (not our fault- the doctors egos got in the way).

But anyway- here is progress on Quaker Halloween:

I love this stitch! I really want to swap it for the Gingerbread Cottage (which hasn’t been touched in 3 weeks!) for my “at-work “ project.

I had to make Em a tassel for her graduation Sunday, although the one she bought finally came in the mail today. Being crafty finally came in handy! I think I may have even impressed her with my mad tassel-skillz!

Here it is attached to her hat. Good enough for being in a crowd of several thousand graduates at BU. I don’t think she’ll stand out for having a home-made tassel!

I’m Back….

home in my own house. I’ve decided 10 days of barn sitting is just too much- 5 days is officially my limit. Chicken can’t believe I’m home to stay- she’s seen me in 45 or 90 minute increments and the past two nights she’s been home alone.

The only benefit of barn sitting has been all the stitching I’ve been able to do. I worked on PS Christmas Eve again a bit yesterday and today. I hope I’ll be able to find some time to work more on Garden- it’s such a fun piece to work on! And I’m sooooo close to the halfway point!

Jodi (my barn owner) had an awesome run at the World Appaloosa show in Texas: she got second place in the Two-Year-Old Western Pleasure Incentive class, FIRST in Open Two-Year-Old Snaffle Bit Western Pleasure Futurity and sixth in the Non-Pro/Youth Five & Under Western Pleasure Maturity. Here’s the Winner’s photo:

That’s Jodi in pink next to her horse- her trainer rode in the class. She won the use of the red 3-horse trailer for a year (i guess it’s kind of like the Stanley cup- you only “borrow” the trophy!) and that saddle is hers, plus some other things.

Here’s a photo from another show- this is her champion horse Mojito:

Well, I guess this qualifies as my first NaBloPoMo entry- I guess I should register! I hope I can keep up all month!

An Infrequent Tuesday Post

Didn't ride tonight; I was going to walk the Axester, but she had cut herself on the upper edge of her hoof, at the coronet band, which is like the quick on a fingernail. Instead of getting it all dirty in the indoor, I opted to let her chill out in her stall. I raked the track in the indoor then I came home and covered my firewood pile from the monsoons predicted for tomorrow, then started this post.

I worked a little on PS Xmas eve yesterday:

Best laid plans and all: I was going to stitch some more at lunch again today, except we had a new copier delivered to the office just before lunch, and my boss was hanging around. totally blew my lunch break.

I tried one of those hot-set jewels on a scrap of Aida:

It actually bonded surprisingly well. I'm very impressed with the idea; the heat tool crapped out after about 5 jewels though. I tried 2 additional sets of batteries and it wouldn't get warm anymore at all. I exchanged it for a different brand this afternoon that's a plug-in model with different tips. I have just ONE more jewel to attach to one of the wedding Snugglis, then those are finished. I'll try to get photos tomorrow (if I remember the camera!)

My gawd- this has turned into a real post! Time for some TV.

CCCRRRAAAPPP!!! (In a Scottish accent)

I've turned into such a slug of a blogger that I don't even bother to read my own blog anymore!!

Sorry about that. The boyfriend unit tends to communicate with his amore via the interwebs in the evening; he'll offer to log off so that I can log on to do my stuff, but by then I'm engrossed in must-see TV and any inclination to spend time staring at a computer has dwindled to non-existent proportions.

The pony has been good for me. Last week was tough because I was fighting off a head cold (successfully, I might add).

My boss gave me "permission" to "needlepoint" if I should choose, as we've slowed to a crawl here at work in architectural drafting-land. Since then, my free time has been spent reviewing shop drawings for doors & hardware for some 1oo doors, waiting for people to show up here for various reasons and my boss's wife has enlisted my graphic skillz (such as they are) in a small project that I'd just as soon NOT be part of. In other words, I haven't had a chance to stitch!

This past Saturday I did a lot of handyman stuff: changed the whole house water filter, added salt to the water softener system, purged the hot water heater, spread pesticide around the foundation of the house, mowed the lawn (2 + weeks' worth of growth!) made rotisserie chickens, rode the horse, bathed the dog, had keys made, grocery shopped...hhmmm.. I think that's about it. Just when I was about to sit down & stitch, the phone would ring or people would come home and need some dinner.

I have a little progress on PSChristmas Eve, but haven't had a chance to take a photo yet.

And that's a wrap. Pot roast in the crock pot waiting for me at home (providing it didn't burn my house down). "Wonderful Wednesday Wrecipe" contestant, I think....

TTFN

And Now, Back to Our Program...

Sorry- I've been barn sitting all weekend, well since Thursday. Lots of running back and forth from barn to home (and Chickie) and home to barn. But the silver lining was lots of stitching time!

I got a lot done on Garden Grew, except my camera batteries died, and I kept forgetting to get new ones when I stopped at home.

Anyway's, not enough time to make a proper post, and then the tropical humidity kicked in, making the prospect of turning on a hot, fire-breathing computer very unlikely for a tired poop shoveler.

I will try to do so tonight, although I should warn you my grass needs mowing (yet again! It really should be done every 6 days, but I'm lazy) and I know it's going to wipe me out. I'm already looking forward to the cool shower after.

TTFN

It's All in the Details....

So I pulled out my second March stocking at work Wednesday, and it suddenly dawned on me that I had teanspoded (OK! I'm leaving that- my fingers were supposed to be typing "transposed" and I was even looking at the keyboard. This is how bad my typing is!!!!)the colors. As Homer says, "DOH!"

So here's my restart:

I was curious why the clovers were a tad dried out looking.....

Can you find the differences between these 2 photos?

       

That's right....not too much.

Jeanne brought in yummy orange bars, or, well, orange cream cheese frosting with some cake underneath to hold it. MMMM-MMmmm-MMMM!  It was difficult restraining myself from flinging my body across the container to barricade them from everyone else.

I wasted LOTS of  work time browsing thru the Online Needlework Show today. I had Deb order me this and this.                                          

Then today I found this, all of these, this could be easily altered to be Axe, this designer, and a few more various designs by various designers. I also found all the answers to the scavenger hunt, because I'm awesome that way.

Stitching

I would have posted these earlier this weekend, but my hands seem to be very chapped or rough from being in water too much. I just didn't feel like touching fabric.

Garden Grew:

I got that pesky violet relocated to where it belongs, but not much else was accomplished.

BBD March Stocking:

I didn't get any time today to stitch- the farrier came at 9:00, and since I have to hold Ms. I-freek-on-the-cross-ties, and I had to discuss her foot; and then the vet was coming between 11 and 12, so I waited for her, for shots and to discuss the foot. The farrier says his gut is telling him it's a bruise; the vet thought it could be a combo of both bruise & abscess- "But if she doesn't improve by this weekend, you may want a couple of x-rays to rule out a fracture..." I had already discussed this option with Ernie and he concurred that she wouldn't be putting her full weight on her foot after only two days of soaking, and 4 doses of bute (one each feeding since Saturday PM) if it was a fracture. He was able to shoe both front feet, with her back sore foot on concrete, with no fidgety- pain issues. That took about a half hour, and she didn't budge the entire time. So the plan is to continue to soak until Saturday when Ernie comes again; cut back on the bute to once a day Wednesday & Thursday, and stop the bute on Friday, so Ernie can judge how well she's tolerating he pain. If he thinks she'll tolerate it, he can put her back shoes on, and I can continue to soak if necessary. Long story short: I didn't get to the office until 12:30- no lunch break. Which reminds me: I'm HUNGRY!

I'm So excited!

I got my fabric for "And A Garden Grew"- Zweigart linen "Autumn Blush". It's perfect- it looks like what was used on the cover model for the chart:

Based on Glenna's comments, I think I'll baste in some grid lines.  Sadly, I haven't had time to sit and finish that last red tree in Toil; and I just realized my boss might REALLY screw up my day tomorrow. Crap.

Snow Day # 39..

more snow today. Based on dire forecasts from yesterday, my boss & I made the executive decision to remain closed today. Of course when I cracked my eyes open at 7:15 this morning, it hadn't even started snowing yet.  Minor pang of guilt, beaten out of me by a little dog crawling all over my stomach wanting scratchies and a tinkle walk.

Here's my Toil & Trouble progress:

I'm hoping to at least finish that tallest tree today; I have bills to pay and the dreaded taxes to finish (I've been avoiding!! and procrastinating!!!) and Em need a new cell phone, so I have to waste countless hours on the phone figuring out how to do that (major logistics problem too boring to tell)and then my farrier is coming out this afternoon at 4:00.

I think I might be starting a new head cold- no heat Monday at the office again- it was 39 degrees at 8:00. My boss strolls in around 9:30 after his gym workout and gets the heat back on. It doesn't hit 66 degrees until almost 1:00. I had a little space heater but it only seems to warm the body part right in front of it. So my hips down to my calves were roasty, but my hands and feet were ice cubes. I knew I was too chilled for too long when I got home and went riding because I thought I felt warm. It was 15 degrees at the barn. ........Yeah riiiiiiggght!

Here's my home-dyed linen that's too small for "Garden Grew":

It's the fabric on the left- it started as a 40ct piece of "Bisque" linen. I dyed it twice in a bath of Pomegranate Pizzazz herbal tea. The other piece is a 40ct piece of "Ivory" linen for contrast. I like how it came out, but alas, it's about 4" too short to use. I ordered a new larger piece of already dyed fabric that hopefully I shall have soon. Glenna already started her sampler. I can't wait to start!

If at First You Don't Succeed,

GO shopping!

My electricity went out minutes before my alarm. Until it came back on, I had no water either (well pump), so no shower. Or light under which to shovel my driveway. So I curled back up under the covers.

Lights came back on about an hour later; I went out to see how much (more) snow we got last night. Another 6" or so (we got about 6" yesterday too), but the plows got the end of my driveway good. So an hour and a half later (and lots of cursing that I live on the right side of the road off the main street so I get ALL the snow dumped in the end of my driveway every storm), I'm able to hop in the shower. I drive up to work, very late at this point (10:00), but I figure I've given the plow guys at the office time to do their job. I slow down on my boss's street, and there's a 24" high by 4 or 5 foot deep plow wash blocking the driveway, and the driveway itself hasn't been touched. So no plow guys on MLK day I guess. No way I'm going to try to breach that snow bank in a Corolla. So I drive past and head to IKEA for the last day of their winter sale. Look:

All kinds of Xmas ornaments, plus 2 of those large black & white storage boxes, PLUS 6 rolls of silver/gold generic wrapping paper for less than $27!

Then I got my tax software and some paper at Staples and came home. I had my obligatory IKEA cinnamon bun with my coffee at home so I could share with Chickie.

Here's my snowy world:

I'll probably be cooped up doing tax returns, FAFSA & CSSProfile applications for financial aid (last ones for me, hopefully!), so I might not be blogging much until those are done.

Stay warm!

So Close!

I'm closing in on the end of Toil & Trouble- if I just sat down & actually stitched on it.

No heat at work this morning- 50 deg's at 8:00, dropping to 49. No propane. Delivery "before the end of business today". He gives me the word to go home (Yay! I can stitch!), just as I go down the stairs to leave, the propane truck shows up. Damn!

Now it's up to a balmy 52. It's supposed to be snowing at home, too. Perfect day to go home early on his dime.

Axe has a puffy back ankle. I think she strained it in the paddock.

She's walking on it, but it's warm and swollen. So no riding, as if I'd do that in zero degree weather!

Back to my shivering. It's hard to type in gloves.