Sept 19/09

I have been stitching on some ornaments all week and they will be posted when I have finished stitching all six! They are not that big and take on average one evening to stitch each one. The other night as I was dropping threads into my ort jar, I realized that the jar is starting to overflow so I decided to photograph it for posterity before I throw out its contents. How does everyone else deal with their threads? Do you pile them up beside you while you stitch and then promptly throw them out when you stitching session is over? Do you have a little container that you keep like I do and empty when full? Just curious.

My friend Janet stopped by the pharmacy yesterday to thank me for the breast cancer card I sent her this week. She said that it was nice to get something in the mail that was not a bill! She starts her chemo regimen in just over a week and is going through 8 cycles in two months time. Her mother and her 2 sisters are glued to her side so she has strong family support and I told her that I will do whatever I can to make things easier for her at the drugstore. I felt so bad that I had to tell her that her copayment for one of her drugs will total around $4 000 for this chemo cycle. Yup, that is her COPAYMENT. Even in the land of Medicare, becoming sick can be very expensive. Anyhow, the main point of this paragraph is that we should all make an effort to reach out to those around us. Even the small effort of mailing a card to let someone know that we are thinking about them in good times and in bad can mean so much.

Here is a little miracle for you all. I announced the other day that Hayes the kitty was gone. The other cats had gone into mourning and Hayes was gone longer than she had ever been before. Last night, I had gone into the city to do some shopping. When I came home, I was greeted by one of the other cats. Then, I heard Hayes' meow behind me. I was in shock for hours because I really had thought that she was dead. She is two pounds lighter (and probably ate her weight last night!) and her eyes are a terrible mess, but she claimed her spot on my pillow last night and has not left my side since she came home. She is terribly thin and has no fat on her whatsoever. Stroking her back makes me shiver because her spine is so prominent now. She was gone for 19 days this time.

Sept 13/09 part deux

I just finished the back stitching on the Bear card and assembled both cards! They are kits from a company called Design Works Crafts. I picked them up for a song when the Lewiscraft store in Saint John was closing out. At the time, I think I bought 10 or 12 of them and these are the last two cards! A few more things completed and done for Christmas and a few less things sitting in my stash!

Sept 13/09

Here is my breast cancer card. The design is found in JCS October 2009. I stitched it on a 28 count scrap of linen and inserted it into a card frame that I found at Michaels in the sale bin a while ago. I did not have DMC899 so I used DMC 894 for the word "Cure". Now, to get it into the mail to my friend to let her know that I am thinking of and praying for her.

Sept 12/09

No piccies to post today so far. After I come home from shopping and have a chance to stitch a bit this evening, I should have some photos of two Christmas cards that I have been working on this week. Then, I plan to stitch a breast cancer card that reads "Faith, Hope, Cure" for a woman who grew up next door to me and who has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. Her cancer is in the milk duct. In my job, I deal with people everyday who have cancer, but this hits a little too close to home. She and I used to make mud pies together in her front yard and sit together on the school bus. She and her sister were the first two friends I made at age 4.5 years when I moved to New Brunswick.

Life truly is a precious gift and the days where everything is going well and our health is intact are rare gifts that we should treasure. A 80 year old woman taught me a saying the other day which I can not remember verbatim, but it was essentially that if you are feeling bothered by old age, remember that there are those who will never reach old age.

Sept. 10/09

This Daydreams kit was bought and stitched for a friend of mine as a joke. One day, I was at work and ran into this friend. He has lots of bird feeders so I told him that I had recently been seeing a cardinal at my bird feeder. Cardinals are not a common bird to this area, but this past winter/spring there were a couple of pairs seen in the area and I was blessed with one of them! Now, what I know about birds and their names is really not worth knowing, but it was bien evident even to a bird dummy like me that the bright red bird at my feeder was a cardinal. My friend asked me, "Was it a male or a female? Males are brighter than females." Now, he just happened to realize at that moment that he was surrounded by three women who all burst out laughing when he said that! We all said variations of "Oh really?!!" while we were laughing! Then, he tried to dig himself out of that gender landmine hole, much to our great amusement. The hole just kept getting bigger no matter what he said and we women just kept laughing harder and harder. We knew full well that he was referring to the colour of the cardinal feathers and not the intelligence levels of males and females!

My friend's wife called the store a few days later and I happened to answer. She said to me, "Now Virginia, could you not give my husband such a hard time when he comes in!" as she burst out laughing. He had gone home and told the story to her much to her great amusement as well! He has also gone on to amuse his extended family with the story as well. So, when I saw this kit in the Mary Maxim catalogue recently, I could not help myself! I am off this morning to sneak it into his mailbox. He will know immediately who it is from!

Sept 8/09

Not much stitching to show as I just spent a 3 day holiday in a little village called Cocagne on the southeastern shore of New Brunswick. The sea air and quiet of the area had me catching up on sleep when I was not reading! I devoured "The girl who played with fire" by Stieg Larsson and made a big dent in "The Australian Trilogy" by Bryce Courtenay. The inn was lovely, but I was the only guest there for 2 of the 3 nights which was a bit spooky. On the other hand, I was not disturbed by other people so I could blissfully sleep and laze about! My room was the best bedroom in terms of the view as I could see the ocean out of the window and the patio door.

One afternoon, I drove to the Irving Eco Centre just outside of Bouctouche. The dunes and the boardwalk were gorgeous!

I have only seen a few blue herons in my lifetime in the part of the province where I live. Blue herons nest in the Bouctouche region and this is one of several that I saw in the marshes there.


Some very sad news to report. My long time stitching companion, Hayes the kitty, has gone to the happy mousing grounds. She used to spend her evenings either curled up beside me or behind me on the back of the couch while I stitched. She is known to go walkabout for several days at a time, but she left home over a week ago and not one sign of her has been seen by me or any of the neighbours. The other two cats suddenly became very clingy and needy a day after she left which is unusual behaviour for them when she goes walkabout so I am 99.9% sure that she has passed away. She has not been well for a while with a 6-7 pound weight loss in the past year, but she was still as cantankerous and full of character as always despite the arthritis that was slowing her down a bit. I know that they can not live forever and that she would leave me sooner rather than later, but I was kinda' hoping for much later. I have 15 years of great memories so the tears are tempered with smiles as I remember all of her little quirks and attitudes. I had many nicknames for her that sum her up: Fat Cat, Fuzzybutt, the Punkinator, Mrep Mrep (her meow was kind of bizarre), Chumba (short for "big fat chubby cat"), Miss Moo and more recently, The Old Lady.

Sept 2/09

Not much stitching to show just yet although I am working on 2 Christmas card kits that I found in my basket beside the couch. Gabby was being helpful last night as I was surfing the net. In this photo, she was letting me know that her ears needed scratching. A few minutes before, she was sleeping with her head on my hand that was moving the mouse around. Annoying, yet adorable at the same time!

Aug 30/09

This weekend my cats have been amusing me with the weird spots they using as sleeping spots. Apparently, sleeping on top of the kitty litter box is comfy:

and so is wedging oneself into the shoe box that used to contain papers in the end table in the living room:

Last night, the other cat was sleeping on the back of the couch with her head on my shoulder while I was watching movies and cross stitching. That was before she decided to sleep on my pillow in bed. Unfortunately, my head was also using that pillow and now I have a stiff neck!

Aug 28/09

The first of my Ebay purchases has arrived. My mother likes Nativity scenes so I would like to stitch this one up for her some day. There is one more booklet called "The Shepherds" which has a shepherd, some sheep and the angel who calls them to Bethlehem.


Still working away at the Teresa Wentzler booklet of celtic knot bookmarks. Here are 2 more of them that I finished as recently as last night.

Another gorgeous day here! Yesterday I had lunch at the Vintage Bistro here in Hampton and then toured Credo project which is a memorial to John Peters Humphrey, the man who wrote the UN Declaration of Human Rights. It was a very fitting place to visit as over lunch Victoria, a past Rotary exchange student from France, and I were talking about human rights issues in countries that we have each visited. We are so fortunate to live in peace and freedom here in Canada. So fortunate.

Aug 25/09

Meet "Heartfelt Harvey" from the JCS 2008 ornament issue, designed by Imaginating Inc.. I did not have enough thread in my mystery thread box to stitch the design in its intended redwork style so I played around with the thread and fabric colours to end up with this finished ornament! The blogs all seem to be pretty quiet these days. My visitor count is way down and I see that few people have been posting to the Ornament SAL. Perhaps once the cooler weather hits the Northern Hemisphere, more people will come indoors and have more time for blogs.

Aug 23/09

Now I remember why I avoid Ebay. There are 5 more patterns coming my way. Well,there is always my next life time or perhaps the one after that to stitch these ones! I am bidding on 2 more and thinking about 2 more. The selection is smaller this time of year, but it makes it easier to look through. There are also fewer bidders, it would seem, so I have managed to win more auctions at lower prices.

Good thing my youngest brother does not read this. He would just roll his eyes if he knew I had just bought more patterns just like he did the other day when he came over to help me move my desktop. He looked around the room and announced that I have become just like Mom with my rooms full of stuff that I will never use. Ahem! Mom no longer does crafts, but she hangs onto the stuff where as I still stitch like a maniac!

Aug 22/09

The other night while I was sitting out on my deck, enjoying the summer weather that has finally come to this region of the country, I looked down to see this:


She freaks me out when she lays like this because I always have to check to make sure that she is still breathing as I think that she looks dead!

Once I ascertained that the cat was still alive, I tucked into this:


The tomatoes are the result of my first foray into vegetable gardening. I am inordinately proud of them as they are my first produce. As I chowed down, I thought about where I can grow more vegetables next year in my yard. Variables I have to consider: areas that get full sun that are not under the two clotheslines that cut across the corner of my property, that are not likely to be trampled by the neighbours kids (we do not have fences so 5 yards all open onto each other) and what I would to grow!

I have been working on some more bookmarks by Teresa Wentzler in the evenings because I would like to finish that set of projects. One of my little obsessions is to clear things out so when it comes to cross-stitch, that means using up as much thread as I can. I know that this sounds weird, but I actually get excited when I finish a skein while working on a project and have to go fish another one out of my enormous skein stash. Eight years ago or so, the drugstore I work at was clearing out the inventory from its venture into craft supplies so I bought up the DMC floss. Hey! It cost me about 20 cents a skein so at $1 000 later you can well imagine how many skeins I have in my craft room......I have made a dent in the stash over the years in between friends needing a skein, giving bags of skeins away to charity auctions and all of the stitching I do. Part of my obsessiveness stems from the fact that I am mulling over the idea of building a small cottage style house on my country property and all of my stuff has to fit into that house along with my three cats and the dog that I want to have when I move there. This little side line is related to the TW introductory sentence in that I have used up several skeins of thread in stitching all of the bookmarks in the booklet and a couple of pieces of fabric from my fabric stash!

Aug 18/09

These photos could be called "Variations on a theme" I suppose. I stitched up all four of the kits that I bought called "Kindness", but discovered on the first kit that there was not enough green so I dug out my mystery thread box. Does any one else keep threads from kits and such just in case or am I the only one? Most serious stitchers probably do not use kits so perhaps that is a dumb question. I am such a "could be useful someday" kind of person although I try to keep a lid on keeping stuff just because. Anyhow, each piece is slightly different in the stems. These little kits have come in handy as one finished piece is now in British Columbia and another one will be going to Cuba this week with a professor friend who comes here from Cuba every summer to teach.

Aug 17/09

I was checking out the Christmas Ornament SAL blog that I post to and I was very pleased to see that the designer of the last ornament I had stitched complimented me on my ornament! How awesome is that?! Thanks to Brooke Nolan for designing "Elf In a Box" and for her kind words!

Aug 11/09

This little cutie will be winging its way to Fort St John, British Columbia tomorrow with my friend Dave to share with his family. He was home to NB for a week and we met for a big greasy feed at the local diner this morning which is where I took this photo. I have 4 of this same kit so it will be variations on a theme of green for the next while as the kits do not have enough green in them so I am playing around with the stem colours.

Aug 9/09

Summer has finally arrived here on the East Coast of Canada! I spent the afternoon out in the woods, clearing poplars and birch trees from around my apple orchard. The woods are really wet for this time of year, but the mosquitoes were mercifully held at bay by the insect repellent.



And another shot of the orchard.


Yesterday was so beautiful and sunny that I went to St Martins to sit by the ocean and read "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell. The sun shining on my face, the waves whispering and crashing against the rocks, few people on the beach.....Heaven!

Aug 8/09

I stole these questions from this blog just for fun:

1)Why do you stitch?

I have always done handwork of some sort ever since I can remember. It is a way of life for me to make stuff.


2) On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being least important and 10 being most important what is your cross stitch passion level?

10 does not even begin to describe my passion for stitching.


3)If you're only option for cross stitch supplies and patterns happened to be the major chain craft stores would you just walk away from the little X? Kiss it goodbye?

Nope. That is pretty much my only option at the moment. Fortunately, my stash is so big at the moment that I do not have to rely on the chain stores for materials.



4)Also are you so passionate about cross stitch that if indeed your only option was the major chain craft stores, would that inspire you to create your own cross stitch pieces because you have to stitch and you've stitched your way through the whole of Dimensions catalog--because you must stitch and the thought of life without a relationship with the little X leaves you feeling empty?

I am stitching on mosquito netting at the moment to add cuffs to a bargain jacket I bought a while ago. Need I say more?


5)Finally what do the cross stitch magazines on the market offer you? Do they relate to you as a cross stitcher? Do you look at them and think to yourself, who do they think buys this magazine? I guess what I'm asking, when you see the current cross stitch magazines do they make you feel like they know their readers or do you find it's more of the same? What could they do to be ambassadors for the art of cross stitch other than putting a sampler on the cover with "F-U" on it? What are we missing on a PR level that could change the opinion of cross stitch itself?

I think that cross stitch magazines have come a long way from the cutesy (*gag*) country style patterns that used to predominate to the more artistic and varied styles of patterns that I see now in the magazines I come across. I still buy alot of magazines, mostly for inspiration as I have a couple of life times of patterns already at home. Do the magazines represent me as a reader? Sometimes. How can magazines change the opinion of cross stitch itself? Perhaps more smalls and more tutorials and techniques for current stitchers to share their skills and passions. I have never joined a stitch and bitch group because I can not fit one more activity into my schedule, but my blog reading fulfills that part of me that wishes to socialize with other stitchers because I can see what they are stitching and get a glimpse into their lives.



6) And finally, finally, do you do other crafts and if so what are they and why do they pull you away from cross stitch?

I dabble in other crafts from time to time, but my "talents" lie in cross stitch. All the other crafts went by the wayside once I discovered the little x twenty years ago.

Aug 6/09

The Iris HAED is underway! I decided to bite the bullet the other night and start a big project. Plus, I needed the space on my cluttered desk so the material pile had to be moved. My eyes are probably going to lose a few years of usefulness as I am stitching over one on 28 count. Thank heavens for the natural lamp that my mom bought me several years ago.

Well, it is a beautiful sunny day here and I am not scheduled to work today so once the laundry gets hung out, I am off to sit by a friend's pool and soak up the few rays we have had shine us this summer!

Aug 3/09

Because I have not been able to find the motivation to start working on some of my big projects, I am still concentrating on smalls. This ornament is from the JCS July/August issue in the ornament preview section. The design is called "Elf in the Box", designed by Brooke Nolan of Brooke's Books. I stitched it up in the evenings after work this past weekend on mystery cloth and with mystery threads. The little ornaments that the elf is holding are supposed to be stitched on perforated paper which I dislike working with so I used some of my little decorating snowflakes that I have in my stash instead.

July 31/09

Sigh. Working on a long weekend here in New Brunswick! The weather is looking like it might be some what kind of maybe nice for all of those people who are off for the weekend. We need a reprieve from all of the rain we have been getting for the past month or more. Happy New Brunswick Day!

July 28/09

My little nephews started to blow out the candles on MY birthday cake before I had even managed to take a deep breath! The family had an early celebration for me last weekend with lobster. Yum! My cousin was in town with her son (one of the candle-blower-outers!) to visit before she moves to Burkina Faso next month so it made my birthday extra special.


I finally picked up a needle and stitched something last night. This design is from a Provo Craft kit that I bought at a closing out sale for less than $5. The kit even included scissors and a needle threader so it is was a great bargain and the design is rather cute. One of my friends has a birthday this week so I stitched this up for her.

July 21/09

Unfortunately, I did not manage to buy any of the gorgeous fabrics I saw in the Black Market in Darkhan because of time and the need for a local to tell me what is the good stuff! I did come home with this little felted piece as a memento of the Darkhan Habitat office. The affiliate sold these instead of t-shirts like the other affiliates I have visited (El Salvador and the Dominican Republic). I also bought a cross stitch kit of wild horses that I will get to stitching one of these days. The woman who sold it to me was so kind. She took the kit apart to show me that all of the pieces were there and she made sure that I knew how to stitch!

Stitching is on the back burner for me these days as I re-adjust to being home, my cousin is coming to visit this week before she moves to Burkina Faso with her son, and I have to complete my professional continuing education ASAP because I put it off for so long! I did manage to pull the majority of the weeds out of my gloriously flowering flower beds and my tomato plants are coming along nicely. The deer have found my hostas and lilies, much to my dismay, but the vandals who have been roaming my neighbourhood had left me alone. The vandals thought it was funny to loosen the bolts on a neighbour's truck tire and to paint swastikas on the main street of the neighbourhood. Honestly, it is too bad that they do not invest their efforts in good works instead of senseless activities like this.

July 17/09 (I think!)

Hey all! Just back from my Habitat for Humanity trip to Mongolia. Here are some of the pictures!

Galaa needed to be strict to maintain order on the construction site.


Inside a ger at Amarbayasgalant Monastery.




The two homeowners in front of our handiwork. Sorry for the sideways pictures. I will try to fix that when my brain and body are back in the same time zone again!


The team, the Habitat workers and the homeowners. The smiles and hugs say it all.

June 27/09

Sitting here in Seoul at 5am after a long 13 hour flight on Korean Air from JFK. I slept alot and I had really nice seatmates so the flight was as pleasant as it can be for being on a plane for over 14 hours. Passed the H1N1 check with flying colours and am now waiting for the (free) shower rooms to open up so I can freshen up before spending the day in Seoul with a friend who teaches English here in Korea. Then, this evening it is on to Ulan Bataar!!

냐ㅜㅊㄷ ㅑ 므 녀초 ㅁ 애가, ㅑ ㅗㅁㅍㄷ ㅠㄷ두 ㅗㅁ퍄ㅜㅎ ㅣㅐㅅㄴ ㅐㄹ 려ㅜ 쟈소 솓 ㅣ무혐ㅎㄷ ㅏ됴 ㅐㅜ 소ㅑㄴ ㅏ됴ㅠㅐㄱㅁㅇ. I just wrote that I am having lots of fun with the language key on this keyboard! That is the Korean one and there is a chinese one as well, but it is not being as much fun for me! I am starting to get really excited about all of this!

June 24/09

One more sleep and I am off to Mongolia with Habitat for Humanity! I am so freaked out that I am calm. I have done everything I can to get ready for this trip and now things are out of my hands. What will happen will happen and all I can do is go along for the ride. I will be taking some stitching with me to work on during the long flights and layovers and I look forward to checking out Mongolian textiles.
Bon voyage!

June 22/09

In between packing for my trip to Mongolia and finalizing details, I have been doing some stitching to de-stress! A few months ago, I found a black jacket on sale at a discount store for $10. The only things wrong with it were a button that needed to be sewed back on and the belted cuffs were missing (the loops are there at the wrists, but the belts were missing). A designer in one of my design books had designs done on mosquito netting so I went to the hardware store last week and bought some. I am using 4 strands of DMC 501 with a motif from the book in the picture. The plan is to blanket stitch the edges together, but I have yet to figure out how I will finish the cuff as I want to do it in such a way that I can easily remove and re-attach the cuff for laundry purposes. Mosquito netting, who knew?!

June 11/09

Oh my goodness! In 2 weeks time, I will be loading my bags in the car and heading out to Bangor to start the long air journey to Mongolia. What have I gotten myself into? My to-do list is slowly being chipped away and the days are flying by. It is hard to believe that this time last year I was just home from my last Habitat trip to the Dominican Republic and beginning to think about where I was going to go next. Mongolia, eh? Who knew?

June 9/09

With three cats ruling the shack, one never knows where one might find one! Penelope was making my wardrobe selections that day!


So many of my friends are putting in vegetable gardens these days. Part of it is probably a reaction to industrial agriculture and the generic-ness of our food these days and part of the movement is to recapture the memories of our youth. Most everyone around here in rural New Brunswick had vegetable gardens when I was a kid thirty or so years ago. These tomato plants are the extent of my efforts this year since I will be away to Mongolia for 3 weeks.


Finally, but definitely not least, I have finished the stitching portion of three Teresa Wentzler bookmarks. The finishing will have to wait until I get home later this summer.

June 1/09

Hmmmm....I am a technological dork. When I went to show my co-workers what I had accomplished this weekend, I realized that I only uploaded one photo of the two bibs that I stitched this weekend. Here is the second one!

May 31/09

Yesterday was a rainy, grey day so I rented some movies, downloaded these patterns from the Michaels website and stitched up these bibs as part of my campaign to reduce my stash! No babies in sight for me or any of my friends at the moment, but one never knows!

May 28/09

Nothing too exciting to post about at the moment besides the usual craziness of my life. I have my tickets booked to Mongolia in June and am now trying to finalize all the rest of the details for the trip. There are some personal things that are in great flux for me at the moment. Who knows what the next few months will bring for me!
My next big cross stitch project is going to be QS Iris. I recently repainted my living room with Benjamin Moore's Desert Mauve so a few accessories that used to match Louisbourg Green do not go so well with the new colour, one of them being a mirror with a green leafy designed frame. In its place, I plan to hang the new cross stitch when I finish it in the next 6 months or so. The colours of the threads are so beautiful that I can not wait to start working on it, but I need to finish the Teresa Wentzler bookmarks I started as I have a golden rule to only work on one stitching project at a time.

May 24/09

This stitch was a quick and easy Dimensions kit that my best friend gave me for Christmas. We have commiserated and laughed over many a cup of coffee over the years! I am working on some small projects like this one and some bookmarks as I try to decide what to stitch for my living room. The room has just been repainted and some of the decorations no longer work with the new colour so I was trying to think of a cross stitch picture that could replace the mirror that is hanging in there now. I think that a design called "QS Iris" that I bought from HAED may just do the trick.

May 17/09 Part II

Mom lent me her camera so here is a piccie of the finished stocking!

May 17/09

The lens on my camera is causing me trouble so unfortunately I have no pictures of the stocking I have been stitching for my mother. What a moment that was to put in the last stitch and to be able to think about the next stocking!

I have been doing some reading in the past week or so about the Middle East and Haiti. Jared Cohen has written a compelling book about the youth of the Middle East in a book called "Children of Jihad". Once again, I was struck by how the people he met were "just folks". They want the same things that we do here in Canada and the US: good living conditions, friends, to enjoy life, education and employment and to live life without repression and fear. He looks below the hysteria of media reports and takes the time to really understand the people. "On That Day Everybody Ate" by Margaret Trost follows the journey she made after the death of her husband to find herself and how she founded an organization called What if?. It is haunting to me how children are starving to death on our literal doorstep. Haiti is not that far away from the US and yet unfortunate historical events like the US-led embargo of Haiti after the successful slave revolution have led Haiti to the disaster that is happening there now. The US was still engaged in slavery at the time and did not want Haiti to succeed post revolution because it might have inspired the American slaves.
I just took a look at my Kiva account and I see that I am inching closer towards my goal of having enough loans repaid each month that I can start a new loan. I currently have ten loans on the go and about $15 was repaid this month from five of them so I am $10 shy of starting another loan. My only criticism of Kiva is that I have not been able to find any loans for women who are single parents. Having watched my mom raise a family of four kids with no help of any kind from my dad has given me an inside look at how hard it can be even here in Canada.
So, hopefully my camera will sort itself out or I will remember to borrow my mom's camera to take photos of the completed stocking. I hope that my Canadian readers are enjoying their Victoria Day long weekend!

May 9/09

I was looking for some books on Chapters Indigo a few weeks ago and checked out the cross stitch books to make up the order to $39 to get the free shipping deal. This heart comes from a book called "Stitch Graffiti" by Heather Holland-Daley that caught my eye while ordering from Chapters. She included an alphabet at the back of the book so I decided to add the word "dream". I used her photo as a guideline for the colours as I used up more skeins from my odds and ends box.

Hmmmm.....so I did not accepted to grad school for September. I had applied to some universities to do a Masters in International Development Studies, but was not successful. There has been a little struggle going on in my head these past few months as I grappled with the fact that I may not get accepted (this was before the rejection letters came in the mail) and about whether this is the path I want to follow or not. These thoughts are still there although the figuring out the life plan thing is pushed into the background until I finish the Habitat trip to Mongolia. Who knows where I will end up? I certainly do not!

May 1/09

I finished these ornaments last night. Sorry that the photos are so dark, but it is grey and rainy here and I could not wait to post the photos! The ornaments are double-sided.
Side 1:

Side 2:

They are stitched on 14 count Aida that has silver threads woven into it. The silver gives it a snowy sparkly effect. The threads are from my miscellaneous box so no two ornaments are fully alike because I was playing around with the colours and most times, I only had enough to stitch just one ornament. The designer is Alma Lynne and the designs are from a booklet called "Snow Folks at Home".

April 30/09

Spring has sprung and I wanted to get a picture of this crocus before the deer find it! The crocus is not the first flower to make its appearance in my gardens, but I was too sick the past two weeks to get a photo of the snowdrops who were the first brave little flowers to show themselves this year! Winter has finally let go of us here in Eastern Canada. Mind you, it is only April yet so it could snow again, but I am defiant with my sunglasses and flip flops!

I just heard on the news that a Rotary Group Study Exchange member in Nigeria who was recently kidnapped has been released. I participated in the GSE in 2004 to Adelaide, Australia and had the time of my life! Being a participant renewed my commitment to the Rotary Youth Exchange program which I facilitate within my Rotary club. Getting know other cultures and languages is so very important to bridge the gaps that occur and to build solidarity. So glad to hear that this kidnapping has been resolved.

My Mongolia trip is still ticking along. If anyone is interested in joining me or any of the other teams, check out my link! I am still looking for team members for my team which is stressing me out a little bit, but I have all my digits crossed that it will be achieved.

May 1/09 I am such a dolt. That is a daffodil, not a crocus! Thanks Christine!

Apr 24/09

This picture is the end result of my personal Earth Day project. Last weekend when I was out walking, I was horrified to see three small nearby brooks so choked with garbage. These brooks feed into the huge river and marsh system that surround this town. The marsh is several thousand hectares in size. After a little thought, I decided to remove one bag full of garbage from each brook as my own gesture to recognize the importance of this planet that nurtures and sustains us so this is what I found last night minus the tire that was too full of mud and water for me to drag home, but at least it is no longer in the brook! At first, I was kind of embarrassed to be seen covered in mud and picking garbage as all those cars drove by, but then I decided to be proud of the fact that I at least was doing something about the mess that we are creating. Passersby probably thought that I was nuts, but I feel so much better about the fact that those waterways are just a little less choked with garbage.

Apr 18/09

Whew! My research paper on microfinance has been emailed and the bibliography just went in. My prof very kindly let me send in the bibliography separately because I have been too sick to get things done this past week. Now, I need to focus on my pharmacy education programs before I decide about taking an on-line course that interests me.....

Just as an aside. I have just emailed in the bibliography which I pieced together while hanging out at the Red Whale Cafe because they have a wi-fi connection that I needed to access some of the necessary information. Now, I am sitting here writing this blog entry as I listen to a couple who are on a first date. Eavesdropping is so evil, but it is so delicious! They met on a dating website and she is sitting here giving him every reason to run away screaming as she details all of her "complications". I kind of suspect that this may be a first and last date, but who knows, maybe I have a front row seat to a "happily-ever-after"!

Well, onto burgers on the BBQ and getting the new clothesline up to replace the old one which is falling apart. If I still have enough energy before it gets dark, I may pull on the rubber boots and clean out the garbage in my brook.

April 15/09

Wowza! I did not realize how many ornaments I had stitched in the past few weeks! There are quite a few of them. I still have 3 more blanks sitting in the pile to complete before I start on the back stitching and finishing. My scrap floss box has been reduced enough that it is no longer a struggle to snap the box closed and I have used up a good sized piece of cloth to make these ornaments. Now, if I could just reduce the junk in the rest of the house in such a fun and relaxing manner.

The wreath raffle for Relay for Life is going well. So many customers of my pharmacy have bought tickets and given me lovely compliments on the piece. I am thrilled to share my passion and to raise money to fight cancer!

Tonight has been a "talk on the phone" night. I interviewed another candidate for the Habitat trip to Mongolia and talked with two local friends who are quite keen on the trip as well. The applicants are all so interesting and motivated that I can not wait to meet them all in Ulan Bataar and hang out with them for a couple of weeks. Having those 3 great convos. makes up for how miserable I am feeling with bronchitis at the moment. My throat, lungs and ribs hurt from coughing and expectorating so much. The antibiotics are starting to kick in, but my poor body is running on empty. Oh well, it is just bronchitis and I will be as good as new in a few days.

April 12/09

Happy Easter to everyone! I woke up to see snow on the ground...grumble, grumble. Things could be worse though I suppose. No war, no natural disaster, no man made disaster, just snow.

I am not a particularly churchy kind of person anymore but I always do pause on Easter to think about its significance and importance in the Christian church. The ideals of forgiveness and love are so important to me. I truly am blessed in my life on every level. There are so many good people in my life and who have re-entered my life recently. The love that surrounds me nourishes me and allows me the opportunity to follow my dreams and crazy flights of adventure. This morning while I was doing a reading-out-loud review of my paper on microfinance that is due on Friday, I was also mulling over how to share my good fortune besides the obvious of spending the afternoon with my family as we eat a delicious feed of turkey prepared by my brother. I did not buy any Easter candy treats to share with the family this year so I decided to place two more Kiva loans in place of the treats. I chose a Palestinian family in Hebron because of the ongoing difficulties in that region and a family in Samoa because of a Paul Theroux book I read last fall. In a minute here, I will print out the profiles and share them with my family over dinner.

Now if I could only magically get rid of this nasty bronchitis, things would be even better for me!

Apr 4/09

My snowman ornament project has been coming along nicely. I have 3.5 more to cross stitch before I start the back stitching and assembly. My focus needs to be redirected to the research paper that I am doing on microfinance which is due on April 14th. To that end, I am searching the Internet for criticisms of microfinance institutions like Kiva to round out some of my thoughts before opening up the laptop and writing today. While I was beginning my search, I logged into my Kiva account and realized that I had not donated to any African borrowers when I had started my first round of loans. My initial loan was disbursed to Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Lebanon. Recently, enough of the loans were paid back that I could make another loan to a borrower in Pakistan. Today, I added Senegal and Mongolia. So, for US$150 I have hopefully made a difference for seven families around the world. I am well aware of the criticisms of microfinance and its limitations, but I am also well aware that many of these people would not be able to access credit otherwise. Here in Canada, we can so easily access credit cards and lines of credit to keep our households and businesses going when there is a downturn in income. We have social safety nets to catch us when we stumble or need help. So many people in the world do not have these opportunities.

Mar 31/09

Here is a picture of my work in progress. They are from a Jeannette Crew book called "Snow Folks". I am using my scrap thread box to stitch them so each "twin" is slightly different from the other although that may be hard to see in this photo. These designs are quick and easy which is great for my little brain that is exhausted at the end of the day when I fall on the couch and dig out the stitching.

In the meantime, I am working the same number of hours of work, but we have less overlap of pharmacists so my workload is higher because I am usually the only pharmacist on duty. My boss has been trying to help out by covering breaks and lunches so that I can get a few minutes to myself in an 8-hour shift, but some days that does not happen and my only moments of peace are when I hide out in the bathroom! Unfortunately, I think that some anxiety and depression are being triggered so I am trying to take good care of myself to avoid falling into that hole.

At the same time, I am beginning the overhaul of my research paper on microfinance whose final draft is due on April 14th. I was feeling rather blocked and overwhelmed about re-working 20 pages of stuff, but have hit on a technique that seems to work for me. I am writing a short document in a conversational style as if I was explaining over coffee what my paper is about. This style is helping to identify the important bits and the story I want to tell in my paper.

My remaining waking moments have been spent contacting, interviewing and reviewing potential team members for my Habitat for Humanity trip to Mongolia. Things are going well so far and have chatted with some really great people.

I know that I get bored if I do not have several big projects on the go, but I should do more thinking about the scheduling of these things. The paper is due April 14, car inspection is due in April, my Rotary club has a fundraiser on May 2, I leave for Mongolia on June 25, I work full time..........No wonder I am just wanting to curl up in bed and pull the covers over my head.

Mar 27/09

No pictures to post today although I may post some later on the Christmas ornaments I have in progress. My main focus in life at the moment is supposed to be a research paper which is due in a few weeks. The first draft did go in a few weeks ago and it was ripped apart/discussed during Monday's class. I have spent the week digesting the comments, mostly because I did not have time to even open up the document again what with working 7 days in a row since we are short staffed again at work. Family issues have reared their ugly head so time has been spent dealing with those things. On the plus side, my Thursday night curling team won the league last night. My brain has been so out of focus that I did not know we were playing the championship game until friends of mine playing the game beside us told me. I thought that they were pulling my leg until I asked one of the men on my team. You can imagine my surprise when we ended up winning the game and we were named league champions. Life is its usual chaos here in my little corner of the world although I see the sun is shining from vantage point here at a window at the university library.

March 15/09

My stitching has been replaced by all of those notes that Hayes is sleeping on top of. This paper on microfinance and poverty has to be emailed in by Wednesday at 9am, but I have pretty much over-researched and written the bulk of it. Now, I am writing the introduction and the conclusion while fine tuning my arguments and writing style. My problem is editing.....there are so many things that I could write about because this is such a huge topic. Being focused and clear are proving difficult for me.

Mar 4/09

OK, so this is not the straightest photo I have ever taken! I was trying to move the cat out of the way at the same time after having to sweep up the cat litter that gets tracked EVERYWHERE in this house by the 3 furry ones. Anyhow, back to the cross stitch. This kit is a Daydreams one that I bought in Connecticut this summer. It was on mark down because it was missing most of its bits, but I had the cloth for stitching and stitched the design using the picture on the box as the pattern. To clip it all together, I "borrowed" document clips from work and slid them on before unhooking the silver bits that act as levers for the clips. A bit utilitarian, but the clips work and one more thing has been finished in the big pile of stuff in my craft room! I am chipping away at organizing and reducing my cross stitch and craft stash so that it is not completely overwhelming if I ever get accepted to grad school. Packing and moving all of the stuff would be a daunting task, to say the least!

Mar 3/09

Yesterday, I was showing my boss the framed "Wreath of All Seasons" when he made a comment that got me thinking. He was surprised that I had the patience to do cross stitch which got me to thinking about me and my personality and how it can surprise people to find out that someone is a cross stitcher. Then, I got to thinking, well what does a cross stitcher look like so here I am!

Don't mind the fat lip, I bit the inside of my lip yesterday and it is swelling to historic proportions!