It's Alive!

My head cold is much better; but every time I sat on the couch, I tended to snuggle under the afghan(s) and zonk out- I did have my stitching tote beside me more than once, but I never had the energy to open it.
Evening stitching time is now going to be shortened- I'm trying to NOT get to the barn until after 7:30 to avoid conflicts with AssFace people. I suppose I could stitch before I go to the barn, that may work.
I finally realize why my parents retired to Florida: it's too damn cold here!! They made their decision to move and bought a house in 1978 or '79, and did the move in 1981 after my younger brother graduated high school. This of course occurred after the oil crisis, and then the DUM-DUM-DUM.... Blizzard of '78 (all you NEw Englanders now of which I speak- the 30th anniversary was last week, replete with TV specials and Boston Globe inserts). I'm so fed up with being cold all the time- my thermostat is set for 63 at night and 65 during the day. I supplement with the wood stove, but I can't start that until I'm in for the night, which will now be later because of asshats at the barn. I just want WARM!

Remember this?

I finally broke out this thing at lunch today:

I have to say, this piece of fabric is the main reason why I try to stitch only on Jobelan. It's done over one, and the fabric has a very soft hand, like it's been washed & tumbled dry. The threads aren't tight to each other, so if I'm not careful with my tension, the floss will slide under a fabric thread, and I have to pick it back into place. Jobelan (and maybe there's a comparable fabric to it with the same qualities) seems to have sizing; it's stiffer, and the threads are "tight". It's a consistent, regular weave, too, with little to no slubs, like "natural" linens.

This piece is a Cashel, and mayube it WAS washed & dried in the coloring process. I'm too lazy to go look at the packet to see who made it. Plus there's a Tony's Pizza for one odoriferizing the joint and I'm starting to drool all over the keyboard.

Sniff!...Sigh... Cough...

Gotta a headcold, so I opted not to go to S & B tonight and spread the germs. We were going to have birthday cake for Jean, too! Oh well, I suppose being able to fit into my pants would be a postive to that negative.
The AssFace boy at the barn who likes to give me trouble was at it again last night:
He was at ringside while his "buddies" from the other barn rode around when I entered. There was a private lesson ending, and a pre-teen exercising a pony while her mom, a trainer, watched. One of the "buddies" finishes & starts walking her horse out to cool off, and the other starts warming his horse up, and I heard him say he hadn't jumped yet. He's polite, and calls out where he's going:"Inside" or "outside" or"red+ black cross rail", etc., so I stay out of his way, and he stays out of mine. 10 minutes or so go by, and he's letting the AF boy get on his horse, who starts cantering, either direction, getting used to the horse. He's not near me-which is fine.
I'm minding my own business going around the perimeter of the ring, walk, trot, canter, very predictable. I reverse and repeat. Now I've started cantering, and I'm 2/3 of the way around the ring, and on the opposite side of the ring I hear the AF boy cantering towards me, and based on the rules I've been taught, (the same rules he's been taught mind you), I ride on the "inner" loop of the ring, and he rides to the outer wall- my left shoulder faces his left shoulder "Left-to-Left" is the rule. So I'm coming around a jump and all of a sudden, he's going over the jump, right in front of me, and instead of going straight or bending right away from me, he turns towards me, so I have to yank back on Ax's mouth as hard as I can to stop/steer her left to avoid colliding with this other horse. I let the F-bombs fly, and he never even apologizes, as if!
Then he gets on his cell & calls someone- probably his mommy to report that I yelled & swore at him, becuase that's his M.O.
So now I have to look forward to his bitch on wheels troll of a mother getting up in my face. I'm going to tell her to bite me and walk away.
Never annoy a PMS-ing Premenopausal woman with a head cold. I'm just warning you.

If Wishes Were Horses...

beggars would ride, as my mom always said.

Therapy

Here's what i stitched during the game last night:

And here's what I got done at work today (at lunch of course!):

I'm having menopausally-warped PMS- I was very anxious about going up to ride tonight- dreading it, in fact. I ended up having a nice ride (as usual!) I came home ready to bawl my eyes out, being lonely, wanting to stitch, NEEDING to get some exercise & not having time, bored with work, but being too busy to be bored, wicked anxious about bills and money; I was totally pissed with Chicken last night because she wouldn't go to the bathroom,; I've been SO exhausted I could scream and if only I wasn't so tired, I could up early & jog, and if I could just get up & jog, I would stop being so tired. What a conundrum! I just want to say "F%&k this" about everything, and hop in the car & drive out to the west coast somewhere (never been, but hey- it's my nervous breakdown), and then remember my "anniversary trip" back to Ireland, and I REALLY want to live there, not just go back. Which brings up money woes again.....oh and did i mention my horrendous chocolate cravings?? There is not enough dark chocolate on the face of this planet to satisfy my lust for chocolate right now.

Did we see these ones yet? This was on the way back from Kenmare:

My boys came up short :(

I'm sure some of you may have noticed the lack of any pre-SuperBowl references last week...

I give full credit and blame for the loss on Boston's dufus mayor Mumbles, who boastfully and stupidly divulged his plans for the "Parade" last Monday. He totally jinxed The Patriots. I'm sure come re-election (is it next year?), this poor display of judgment will factor heavily in the voter's tallies.

I didn't want to talk about the game at all in an effort to do my part in un-doing any hex or curse the football gods may have placed on the team. Alas and alack, it was not to be. I do give high props to the Giants defense- I was SO hoping someone would break that Tuck guy's leg, before he broke Tom's, but he played, his whole team played, PLAYED with heart, a hard-fought battle and won. Kudos to them.

And what was Belicheck thinking when he opted not to go for that field goal on 4th-and-was it 12? He's not going to forgive himself that one for the rest of his life.

I managed some stitching and will post pictures forthwith. Now let's get on with things and put this bad, depressing chapter behind us all.

Bricks & Mortar...

More FOS:

It was kind of slow going, and the color changes for the masonry occurred a bit further apart than I like to skip stitches, but still too close together to end & re-start the thread. There are 3 different floss colors in there, and I haven't got the rhythm down yet, so I had to refer to the chart every 4 stitches. PAH! And the right side of this house is finished on another page, so what you see continues a bit more to the right.

More stash:

The chart is self-explanatory; the fabric is 40 ct. "Exclusive blend #4". It has a slight over dye effect, but it's a nice buttery yellow. I'm not sure what I'll be using it for, but I know I have several Want-To-Starts that would look nice on this color. I like the chart, but really only got it because I've been itching to stitch something from BBD- like from the book I got last year. Even just the alphabet sampler. People have been discussing rotations, but my scatter brain just can't wrap aound more than one large-ish project and one or two small projects at a time. Plus I absolutely HATE not having all the floss in my kitted project, and having to steal colors from one kit to the next and then not returning it. And that's because I'm cheap and don't want to buy more than one skein of floss at a time (unless the design callss for more).

So anyway, my OCD says to finish the Xmas biscornu, and then ...Ahem... remember the Wish ornament? I need to finish that, and then I can pick a couple of new smalls. ANd then finish FOS.

Oh, and I did get all my tax, FAFSA & CssProfile stuff done. I can file my taxes when I get one last document from BU. It seems they mail out the 1098's on January 31st. Oh- I mean, their "outside source" mails them out on the 31st. I told the student accounts girl that they should tell their "outside source" that I'm supposed to have the document in my hot little hands by the 31st- by law. "TEE-Hee!" she replied, "Well I don't control that."

No I wouldn't think so.