Was this a bad week?

It's literally getting to where I can't tell anymore. I did find out that the trailer park people are going to charge WAY too much for new skirting and a new deck, so that's off the table. And the pups were both quiet this week, so I'm taking my ups on that front. Stitching-wise though, I did make a significant amount of progress...for the three days I stitched. I started one of the new WIP's on Tuesday, Amour et Vengeance by Dailen Ogden, charted by GeckoRouge.

Surprisingly, I got 4616 stitches done (out of 183,366) and made it to 2.52% done in just 15.45 hrs! Yeah, even I'm impressed by that, but it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm just stitching one color and it's all block. This pattern is dithered, I'm just not there yet. And, this is probably the first time ever I've focused on just one color at a time. I can't say it will last throughout the entire project, especially when I get out the "frame" area, but it's obviously working for me so far:

I was already waining last night and wanting to switch to something else (namely Belle of Bonaventure), but I'm not sure it will hold by tonight. I don't think any other project is going to give me this much progress this quickly. I still haven't gotten my new stand stuff (I need to check on that), so A Discovery of Witches still can't be started, but I still have two left to go, Kitchen Fun and Monet's Garden Path. Kitchen Fun is an easy kit, but the Yiota's kit is turning out to be more difficult than I initially anticipated. The chart is on an extra large size of legal paper, so I scanned it in and shrunk it, but then I realized that the shrunk version was too small to read. Markup-RXP didn't read it too well either, so I'm left with reading the original papers, but those are too big to work with as I stitch. They are way bigger than the whole project (even on the scroll rods). I guess I could always copy it on regular paper and run over a bit on the edges to make up the difference, but that's a whole lot of work with no guarantee it will do any better. I've put Garden Path by the wayside for now until my brain can get around the big paper.

I've been staying off of pattern sites and Etsy for needle minders, but I inadvertantly got a "craving" for a pattern (or a series of patterns, I should say), while watching FlossTube. There are a series of Hogwarts Library scenes for various Hogwarts Professors (Magonagall, Snape, Trelawney, Dumbledore and Lockhart...so far) and I'm trying hard to keep myself from buying them. They aren't cheap, $18 a piece, and I'm not sure how often the Cross Stitch Studio (the designer that has the best ones) has sales. There are actually a lot of people doing Snape's Library on FlossTube, but I saw one person doing Magonagall's and I liked it, so I went in search. When I examined all the patterns, I realized I like Dumbledore's the best, so that's probably what I'll start with if (or probably when) I get them. Here is what it is via the CCS website:

I've kept myself in check on these because: a) they are not small and I have enough big patterns to last five livetimes doing nothing but stitching; and b) I don't have the money to throw around for the pattern, let alone the fabric, MORE scroll rods, and even more thread. Ugh. Let's see how long I hold out (place your bets now)!

Not the best week, but...

Stitch-wise, it wasn't a bad week, it was just the rest of the world that fell apart, but more on that later. I did actually progress with The Bride Doll Making (I really need to make sure I do that title right, half the time I say "Dollmaker" which is the artist's name, but you guys know what I mean). I left off last time here:

I worked on her for three days, although each day I did less and less. I got another 1566 stitches in an additional 9.02 hrs, for a total of 47,583/107,269 stitches, which is 44.36% and a total of 248.63 hrs.

I moved on to a new start, the 40 year-old kit, The English Garden. I remember why I never started it (I was scared of the 18ct fabric, which is hilarious now), but I don't remember why I purchased it in the first place because it's not my style. Maybe it was a gift? I really don't remember, but here is what it will look like:

I had replaced the fabric with another 18ct but, my goodness, is the new fabric stiff! Since the threads aren't labeled with their DMC numbers, I'm a bit SOL on those if I run out (other than just trying to color match them). I also can't give you a total percentage or how many stitches I have left. Since it was from a kit, and the pattern was one long sheet of pattern (and not the only of my new starts that is that way), I can't trust that Markup-RXP has the correct number of stitches total. I'll know if Markup-RXP got it right or not by the end of the project. So, I'm going to do this one like so: I did 3466 stitches in two days and in a total of 16.18 hrs.

It was weird working on a kit again, but I'm glad there were no half or quarter stitches. There will be some backstitching, but not a lot, so I'm not worried about it.

On Sunday, I started another new start, Strangely Lonely, artist Jasmine Becket Griffith and charted by HAED.

This is my absolute favorite piece of artwork by JBG, probably because I feel a kinship to this picture. But stitching it started out rough. Firstly, I got about 350 stitches in and realized I hadn't gridded it properly. I took the total measurements, split them in half in both directions, found the middle of the fabric, and counted away. I wasn't considering the fact that the first page would start at the beginning of a 10 block and not in the middle.

It took way longer to frog the stitches than it did to; a) stitch it originally and b) restitch it. Numerous times I almost just stopped altogether. The culmination of everything else from the week was really dragging me down, but I continued on. I got 1159/273,150 stitches done, which is 0.42% and I put in 6.35 hrs (I did keep the first stitching time included in that, but not the frogging). Here is where I stopped last night:

I'm not sure what will happen this week stitch-wise. Strangely Lonely is in a weird place, so I'm not feeling it, but I know I will eventually if I get through this rough patch.

On the home front, the boys went to the vet for their 6 month check-up and shots on Thursday. The news wasn't great (to say the least). Bug needs his teeth cleaned (which isn't cheap), but he's only 11 so it can still be done. Bam's can't be cleaned because he's 15, and they desperately need to be cleaned. Bam, my beautiful baby boy...his heart murmur is starting to affect his kidneys and liver and his counts were elevated. They put him on the medicine that Zander was on for years, so we'll see how it goes. Back in the day, they also told me that Zander didn't have long to live when he was 5 and he lived to 11, but with Bam being 15, they told me to "prepare myself" (although I'm trying to stay positive). Plus, Zander was sick his whole life and Bam never really has been other than being blind now. Bam also has a knee that sounds like one of mine, all gravel, which explains why he's been walking like a car drifting on sand. To make it all worse, their bill (not including the future teeth cleaning) was almost $1000 for 15 minutes worth of interaction on a 9lb and 17lb pup? Really? Bam was a bit put out by the time we got home, and me hovering over him didn't help. He got so aggrevated, he wouldn't sit in my lap, he sat in his bed, but he did stare at the chair, even when I wasn't in it and I could tell he wanted up. Stubborness is a trait that runs in our family though, so he camped in the bed all weekend!

And, if that wasn't enough, I've been having issues with the skirting around my trailer since we have high winds almost constantly now, so, once we got home from the vet, I was checking it and found something really disturbing.

I'm pretty sure it's been almost a year since I looked at that spot, but I don't remember any burn marks (and I think I would had the same reaction I had this time had I saw it before). Also, considering this is also about one foot from the incoming natural gas pipe, I wasn't feeling too good about it. So, Thursday night, I barely slept at all and I called my electrician first thing. He wasn't going to come out because he said it wasn't anything he recognized as electrical and I needed to talk to the trailer park people and find out what that was. I let work know I would be late and they just told me to take a vacation day (which I'm glad I agreed, I needed it). Once the trailer park maintenance came out, he said it was an old cable box that wasn't connected anymore and the burn marks looked old and were probably burned into the pipe piece before they placed it there to make a dent for the box. I wasn't happy with that answer, but what could I do? I had two separate "specialists" telling me it was nothing and the burn mark does look old.

But I also had a long discussion with the park people about getting my skirting replaced and potentially my deck (depending on how much the skirting costs). My deck is about like a surfboard now, you never know if it's just going to slide and collapse on itself with every step on it.

There are a lot of repairs that need to be done on that trailer, but I really don't want to invest the money in it, especially when the park owner (who lives in Texas) could sell it to a developer at any time and then we'll all be homeless (the entire neighborhood now is nothing but cookie cutter subdivisions). I was told when we moved my trailer here (almost 30 years ago now), that it wouldn't survive another move. And land here is so expensive (and exclusive as to where trailers can even go), I would be out of luck even if I could move it. But there is no way I could afford a house now, even if I had to move, so I just sit and wait for doomsday. But I figure if I keep the outside looking good, maybe they will leave me alone for now. They don't need to know what the inside looks like, right? If I'm about to get swamped with vet bills, the house can wait.

I kept waiting for that third terrible thing to happen (bad things come in threes), but it hasn't happened yet, so I'm on hyper-alert waiting for #3, because it's coming. Here's hoping that it's only two bad things, for the first time ever in my life!

Stitching ups and downs

I've had my good days and bad days stitching since my last post. I was moving along on Alice and the B's, but I have since switched four times (but more on that in a bit). I left off last post here:

And, after another 2876 stitches and 12.75 hours, I stopped Sat the 15th. I'm at 186,830 stitches out of 329,175 total, which is 56.76% complete. The lack of dithering makes stitching this one a breeze, I'm just in a weird area of the picture and don't care for it (which is odd because faces are kind of my thing, it has to be the colors). I left off here last post:

I know I had planned to finish the row, but I was getting so bored with it and I decided if I didn't switch, I would quit stitching again.

So about mid-day on the 22nd, I switched to The Bride Dollmaker by Medusa Dollmaker (a GeckoRouge kit). It was one I started in Jul of 2017, before my stay at the "Hotel California", so she's had ups and downs of her own. I left off on her back in Nov of 2023 here:

As a side note, the level of dirt that accumulates on these things is just horrible, so please ignore. It will get stitched over eventually.

After a sparce week of stitching, days on and days off, I got 2563 stitches done in 16.17 hours, which is a total of 46,024 stitches out of 107,269 and 42.91%. I stopped last Friday here:

I wasn't feeling the dithering on this one (you guys know how I feel about dithering and the fit I threw when HAED switched to that method of charting, but that's an old fight best given up now because it can't be changed). I love the picture, I just don't care for the charting method. It will be great once it's finished.

I decided to switch again to Snow White (a non-dithered HAED retired pattern) by Jessica Clark when I got up last Saturday (I didn't even get up until 3, so weird weekend all around). It was one of my 2016 New Year's starts, so it's been hanging around for a while. I also left off on her in Nov of 2023 at the second row finish here:

And very quickly remembered why I don't like this one...crappy fabric. By Sunday the 23rd (the next day), I was just done. I did a measly 10.23 hrs and finished 1318 stitches (which is shameful). That leaves me at 42,769 stitches total out of 69,374 and 61.65%. I could probably finish this one easily by the end of the year if I could stand the fabric, but I just can't take it for long periods of time. I still don't know why I didn't restart it from the get-go. Maybe I didn't have spare fabric? Oh well, again, a dead fight. I did manage to cover a chili stain from like 5 years ago, so not all bad. I am more worried about the dirt on this one since there is so much blank area that's part of the picture, but anyhoo, another dead subject. I left off here (which looks like more than it is):

By this point, I was struggling and debating quitting again. I think my mind was just in a weird place last week.

I took Sunday night off and started again yesterday with Harry Potter US Bookcovers by Fox and Teacup Designs. This one was one of my Leap Year starts in Feb 2024 and I stopped here that same month:

Since I decided to switch later last night (I wasn't going to stitch at all), I only got 5.1 hrs in and 1508 stitches. It was slow at first, but I picked up once I had literally done almost 2/3 of a page! That's not as great as it sounds because they are weirdly formatted pages and probably only equal about 1/3 of a large-charted HAED. So, even though it was just one night, that makes a total of 8231 stitches out of 121,975, or 6.75%. I'd like to finish the row this week (which is another 2 1/3 pages), but I'm taking it one day at a time. This isn't dithered and the fabric is the pre-gridded 28ct evenweave, so I can't use those excuses on this one. It will probably just be boredom that stops me. Last night, I stopped here:

I'm not sure where the rest of the week is going to take me, but I guess time will tell. My "change every Sunday" policy is obviously going out the window (for now), but whatever I have to do to keep interested, that's what I'll do. I have also decided to change my 55's on my stitching from 55 total stitches on every project to 5500. I think that's an easily obtainable goal at this pace, at least on most projects, probably not the UFO's though. I said I would pull UFO's back out too, but those may stay at 55 stitches total. They are, afterall, UFO'ed for a reason. For right now, one day at a stitchy time for me!

More Stitching...well, I'm trying anyway

I've been trying very hard to not spend any extraneous money. It hasn't been easy, but I've been focusing all my energy on paying off my vacation so I can then focus all my money on this stupid hvac. My water heater is now making strange noises, but I'm trying my hardest to ignore that.

I think my stitchy bug has come back though, finally! I've been watching a LOT of FlossTube and I've got some more stitching done, although I am having some serious issues with my ADHD. All I think about all day at work is stitch, stitch, stitch and, as long as that's the first thing I sit down and do when I walk in the door, I'm good for a while. But the first time I get up to do something else, or if I get distracted for a few minutes and set it down then BAM! I can't make myself pick it back up again. Sometimes that means I've stitched for 10 minutes, sometimes an hour, but usually no more than. Or, even worse, I spend all day daydreaming about stitching, only to get distracted right when I get home long enough that I end up just vegging on the couch and not stitching at all! It's kind of ridiculous sometimes, especially when a lot of the time I'm actually watching FlossTube for the motivation, but I can't bring myself to pick up my stitching! I'm trying hard to get my ADHD under control right now, but it's just been allowed to run wild for so long, it's like trying to tame an unruly teenager.

Needless to say, I did work more on The Bride Dollmaking, although I didn't get much done. If the amount of time I spend thinking about her translated to stitching time, I would have gotten the row done. But for now, I left off here:

And I got just a bit further here:

I was enjoying the project, but by Friday night after skipping another night of stitching (after an entire day of stitchy daydreams, and a lengthy conversation with a new coworker about my "love" of stitching and showing off my WIPs...I mean seriously, how is that NOT motivation?), I decided maybe I needed to switch it up and try another one, so Saturday morning I whipped out Snow White by Jessica Clark (back to a HAED, more comfortable territory for me) and had much better luck. I apparently havent't stitched on her since Jan 2021, and left off here:

And I faired far better this weekend, I averaged about five hours a day on Sat and Sun, so she ended up here by Sun night:

Snow White was always a pattern that I loved, but it was the fabric that sucked on this one, so it's been horrible to stitch since day 1. The co-worker I mentioned earlier was really excited about this one, which in turn got me excited about it, which is why I chose to go back to it. I was expecting problems but, to be honest, other than being able to tell the fabric was different than Bride's, it seemed OK his time around. Either it's because I'm not used to stitching and I just can't tell the fabric is a pain, or I've softened in my old age. But as of now, as long as I'm stitching, I don't care!

I don't have a non-Apple tablet, so I can't use Pattern Keeper, and frankly, I'm not going to buy a non-Apple tablet just for an app. I did try the free version of Markup R-XP on The Bride and spent a bit too much time at work getting caught up to where I was up to now. And yes, while it was nice to see all the percentages of where I was, what I done, and what I had left, the extra work just wasn't worth it in the end. When I do typically use apps, I use HoursTracker to keep up with my time and EZPDF reader to find hidden stitches (on the HAEDs at least), but I'm still very much a paper chart girl. I print them off on a lighter cardstock that is sturdy enough for everyday use for a couple of years, but not too heavy and thick to take up a lot of space. I use color pencils to mark my progress and that works for me. As someone who works in I.T., I know that you can't trust I.T. exclusively. I can just picture marking dozens of pages and then the app crashed or the pad does and whoosh! All gone! My system works for me and I just don't see the need to throw out percentages and stitch counts, while cool, in the end it doesn't really matter unless you have a FlossTube channel I guess.

And, of course, despite the spending moratorium, there were a couple of things that slipped under that radar. First and foremost, my stitch lap stand that I love so much is on its last legs and now that I live on the couch instead of my recliner, it's all just very awkward anyway position-wise. I broke down and ordered a K's Creation floor stand. I hate I had to spend that much money, but I'm wasting a LOT of time trying to keep my frame in the stand (it keeps falling out), adjusting myself because the whole setup is just weird, etc. I may have to go back to the chair anyway, but at least the new stand (whenever it comes in), will hold my project secure no matter where I'm at. I debated a Lowery or something else, but by the time I added all the extra things I would need for it to work on the couch, the K's ended up cheaper (although not by much) and it's coming from the States, so I don't have to worry about waiting months for something that is going to inevitibly get stuck in customs (story of my life).

I also took advantage of the HAED 50% off sale, but I only had one item in my wishlist (well, the same item twice in two different versions), so that wasn't a big deal. There are technically two versions of this pattern, one without the quotes from famous writers and one without and, initially, I had both in my wishlist, but in the end, I decided the one with quotes is more "me", so that's the one I went with and deleted the other one. It's Bountiful Bookshelf by Aimee Stewart. I have quite a few of those bookshelves, and I always get the supersized, max color versions, so I'll probably NEVER stitch them (because there isn't enough lifetime for one, let alone all the ones I own), but here we are...

I also purchases about four patterns from Vivsters (a seller on Etsy that I found through a FlossTuber). I initially just looked at some patterns and wishlisted them, but they almost immediately sent me a coupon, so I thought, "why not?". The all look fairly easy and my mind immediately went to some nice hand-dyed fabric and silk thread (I'm already thinking big again). This one is Quaker Tiles-Gemstone Forest

Quaker Tiles-Black on White (and just now I realized it's the same exact pattern as Gemstone, but I'm so horrible at color conversion, I don't even mind because I would screw it up if I tried to change this out to just black by myself...and yes, even I could screw that up!

Moroccan Lanterns, because I just LOVE Moroccan lanterns...I have dozens of them all over the house. I actually like a lot of Moroccan decor, but another story for another day.

And last, a really quick and small stitch, All Hallows Eve-Pumpkins

As I was sorting these new stash photos, I realized that there were also four other new projects that I bought quite some time ago that I apparently never mentioned! So let me show you those as well since I'm on a roll. I have no clue when I bought these, but it had to be some time in 2022, because I'm fairly sure I haven't bought anything since then. There are only four, and three are Aimee Stewarts (shock...I seem to really only buy Jasmine Becket-Griffith and Aimee Stewart), but there was one by Joanne Rowland called Toffee. Part of me really hates the thought of stitching all that brown (reminds me the giant Jesus head), but I just LOVE the thought of a Highland Coo above my couch!

There was one Max Color Super-Size bookshelf from Aimee, The Grand Library

And the other two where the Life Is An Open Book series, one for London and one for Paris (both are both MC/SS, of course, because I'm a glutton for punishment):

And that's it for now! We'll see how I get along stitching on Snow. I'm not ready to enter any stitch-alongs or anything yet, but I'm working on it. I need to see if I can keep up the momentum first.

More Stitching and other stuff

Okay, so I know I said "no negativity", but can I just say that I HATE that Blogger made us switch to their "new" platform? Either I'm forced to use outdated "Compose view" or I'm stuck with semi-writing code "HTML View" just to make a new paragraph! Bad form Google!!

Now, on with the good stuff...I left off with Dollmaker here:

And, I finished the second row, I'm 217.97 hrs in, and here she is!

I spent my B-day watching YouTube. I made myself a roast with all the trimmings and also a Pavlova:

It was my first time making a Pavlova, but I think it turned out OK...it certainly tasted amazing, although it didn't keep very well and I had to throw a lot of it out. Miranda, I'm not. My Sister also got me my Disney watch I REALLY wanted, but wouldn't dare spend that much money on myself! I wish she hadn't, but she did.

Once I got done with Dollmaker, I went back to Maleficent (I was feeling in the mood to finish rows. I left off on her back in April of this year:

And, as of now, I'm here, so not much progress:

Oh, and I forgot to mention it, but a few weeks ago, I got a couple new Once patterns, including this AH-MA-ZING one from WitchyKitt Designs, who are quickly becoming my new favorite designer (oh, and in the process of getting this link, I see she already has another new Once pattern I'm gonna have to get!):

And that's about it! Still nothing else to report on the positive side. But maybe I'll get there soon!

Stitching and promises

Well, I guess you guys might have been wondering why I've been silent for so long...I've made myself a promise that I won't be posting anything negative anymore about how "horrible" my life is so, until I have something positive to say, I won't post. Hence, the silence. I've had nothing positive to say! I still don't, but I did actually stitch this weekend for the first time since July, so I thought I'd share that. I'm still not sure what made me decide to stitch, but I guess It doesn't matter! I left off on the Bride Dollmaker here back on July 26th:

And, since it has been a while, my hands started cramping pretty bad by yesterday afternoon and I didn't get that far, but I did pretty well for such a long time out, and I made it here:

If I keep going this week, I should have the row finished by this weekend! I'll let you guys know if I continue on.

Speaking of, Sunday, the 27th, will be my 50th Birthday. (No exclamation point for a reason there...the excitement I felt in January is long gone now). I had taken off work from this Friday to the following Monday (Oct 5th), because I was planning either a massive road trip, or a Disneyland/Santa Monica trip, but I guess that's out of the question now (no negativity...), so I will be taking off around my birthday and skirting into work at random on the rest of the days. I'm afraid that much time at home would be too dangerous for me right now anyway. And, since that's all the positive news I have, I'll leave it there! I'm not sure if I'll post again before my Birthday, but if I don't, happy B-day to me and I'll make sure to let you guys know whatever cake I bake myself. I ordered some Ruby Cacao chips (my newest obsession), but I'm not sure they will make it in by the weekend, so I may go with Pavlova. We'll see.

Pitiful stitching with no excuses other than laziness!

It's been a couple of weeks since I stitched anything, I left off on The Bride Dollmaker here:

Granted, the first few days of that time were spent worrying about Bam, but he's had his teeth cleaned and, although we're still playing the "I'm not going to eat unless you hand-feed me" (a trap which I'm still falling into), he's doing MUCH better. Ever since then though, I think that, between the miserableness of work (which I should be grateful that I still have a job when so many don't) and the horribleness of the world (when I live in the most protective bubble ever), I just feel like doing absolutely nothing but watching YouTube (excluding Wednesday night's Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D., where I lament over their lack of Fitz, which puts me in an even bigger funk). I just can't bring myself to stitch at all anymore and I have no excuse. If I didn't have such a stupidly cheerful demeanor most times (could that be med related?), I'd say I was depressed. But I don't feel depressed. I just hate my job, hate my surroundings, hate everything happening in the world and feel helpless to fix it, and just want to go home and shut my brain off. But otherwise, I love my pups, my stuff, love watching various YouTuber's do their thing, and am anxiously awaiting the moment when I can do my ninja warrior road trips again (I want to beat my 34 hours straight record), although there is no telling when travel will be safe again (or when I will feel safe traveling, a completely different animal).

I decided this weekend to change my blaa mood, and I did, sort of. Saturday, I stitched all of an hour, and Sunday, all of 10 minutes! Shameful! But needless to say, I made it to here:

Again, SHAMEFUL! Saturday was all YouTube, Sunday was more of a "trying to do stuff" day, like laundry and cleaning, but never really doing anything day, because I just ended up watching Kissing Booth 2 (which meant I had to watch the first one again...wasn't a fan of the second one, so I had to watch both the To All The Boys again to even it out), then I just watched YouTube till I fell asleep with laundry in both the dryer and washer (yea me for tonight).

Sucky Stitching, but I have my reasons

For the 4th of July week prior, I didn't stitch because I had the worst week ever at work! It seems like, here lately, work keeps getting worse, but each level of "worse" is different. It's not certain situations that keep getting worse, it's new levels of problems, new issues, new doctors coming on, software problems, just random things hitting me from areas that I'm not used too...random chaos, and I don't like, nor function, well in chaos. So, with the holiday weekend and the three days off, I spent them doing something I apparently haven't done very well for quite a while...I cleaned my house! It took me almost all of the three days, and I could barely move for most of the week afterwards. But I did manage some stitching late on that Sunday. It sucked. But I left off last time here:

And barely made it to here because my hands were shaking from the cleaning:

Last week wasn't any better at work...it was a different level of worse. A whole new set of problems, each completely different than the previous week, but the previous weeks issues were all still piled up. Considering that a lot of my problems stem from the company I considered leaving here for, I don't regret my decision not to quit and move to California, but still, I'm getting too old to deal with some of these issues. It's just too much for one person.

On top of that stress, I've started to notice an issue with Bam, and I'm almost scared to mention it, but towards the middle of the week, he stopped wanting to eat. He would eat if I hand-fed him, which I know Zander used to do back in the day to play me and I don't want to start that trend if Bam is playing me, but since he is a rescue, and I don't know his real age, and it's obvious he is getting old, it's worrying me, so hand feeding it was. Then he got to the point by the end of the week where he wouldn't even accept that. He would eat his Dentabones and Pupperonis, but not his food, so I switched to boiled chicken and rice and hamburger meat, which he would eat if I hand-fed it to him, but usually not all of it. He's drinking fine, he's bathroom-ing fine, he's playing fine. His teeth seem OK, he doesn't grunt or groan when I squeeze across his torso, his heart is not loud, I've checked his dew claws and they are fine, no growing in, but I can't figure it out no matter how much I poke and prod at him.

I debated just taking him up to the vet on Saturday, but he seemed better then, so I didn't. By Sunday, I regretted that, so I called them this morning and they are supposed to call me back. He is getting a haircut on Tuesday and it is SWELTERING here, but he's always inside and, although I keep it warmer than most, my dogs have always been as cold-natured as I am, so they have never minded. Maybe now, he does mind. Once he gets his hair cut, maybe he'll go back to normal. But best to take him to the vet, spend a couple of hundred and have some tests run just to find out he's a big faker, than to keep worrying and find out that something is seriously wrong and I did nothing. Then again, I'm terrified there is something wrong. I'm definitely not ready to lose him. I knew taking on a rescue was a risk...they thought he was 5, but they didn't really know, he could have been older or younger. I've already had him for 7 years, so either way, he's a senior dog, especially for a pure bred Shih-Tzu. If it's something serious like cancer, I can't afford those treatments like my Sister could, so what am I going to do? I've had to put one down and I've watched one die horribly in front of me, I don't think I can do either again...sorry, I just can't think about that right now. Moving on...

But, once again, just on Sunday, I did stitch some, when I wasn't waking Bam up to check on him, so here is a bit more progress:

I'm going to keep working on the Bride until I finish this row, I'm determined on that, but at this rate, it could take me forever! I have to get back to stitching on the regular again. When it comes to work, I have to leave it at work, and Bam, well, one step at a time...vet first, then worry. Total face of a faker, right?

I have seemingly become a weekend stitcher only...and even that is becoming sporatic

Darn my stupid paint-by-numbers app! All day at work, all I want to do is go home and stitch, but once I get there, all I do is PBN on my iPad! I did manage to switch out Faces 167, I really just wasn't into her, so the rotation is back at the beginning with The Bride Doll Making (or Dollmaker, depending on which part of the paperwork you look at). 

I only started stitching on her Saturday, so again, this is ONLY two days worth of work (so don't get excited), but I will say, I felt much better stitching her than I've felt about stitching in general for a long time. I would just end up taking a break and say, "well, just one PBN..." and four hours later, I'd still be doing them. 

Anyway, I left off on The Bride back in January of this year (I've actually circled a rotation in the same year, that's an accomplishment I haven't done in years in itself, so yea me on that one!):

And I got a lot filled in, considering it was barely two days:

Forgive the shadow, Bam decided to look over my shoulder at that exact moment and I was too lazy to take another picture.  I'm going to try harder to focus on stitching this week than PBN.  I want to try to "spring clean" this three-day holiday weekend coming up, so that might cut stitching out a bit.  I'm REALLY close to finishing her row, so I'd like to get that done.

Speaking of paint-by-number apps, when I got my new iPad, that wasn't my intention for its main use. I had all these ideas in my head of starting to draw again, using it for writing up docs, and many other things. Which meant I needed an Apple Pencil as well. Considering I bought the newer iPad, it meant I had to had the 2nd Gen version of the Pencil (I didn't get the 12" iPad, so I can only use the 2nd Gen). I was MORE than hesitant about spending that much money on a pencil, especially after the iPad purchase, after all, there are several good alternatives on the market. But, if I wanted to draw, I needed the Apple Pencil for the haptic touch capabilities. If I wanted to draw a thick or thin line, the Pencil was a must. 

In the first week of having the pencil, I treated it with kid gloves because the case I ordered hadn't come in (and still hasn't). The iPad stayed in the box to protect it, as did the Pencil. But I ended up getting a cheap alternative of a case just so I could quit with the box scenario because it was getting on my nerves. This case had a holder for the pencil. The VERY FIRST MORNING after I walked the literal three feet from the couch to the chair to put my iPad back in my laptop before I went into the bathroom to get ready for work, the pencil must have slipped from it's hole because, in the 16 minutes it takes me to get ready for work (shower, hair washing, makeup, etc...I have it down to an art), it had become the most expensive dog toy on the planet!

My boys chew up NOTHING! I'm not sure if it was a message of "hey Mom, quit with the painting and pay attention to us!", I'm not sure if they just thought it tasted good or what, but $148 with tax and shipping went down the drain after five days of ownership!! 

I did have to buy a cheap $30 replacement (because I was lost without a pencil now) but it was very quickly apparent it wasn't going to cut it. So, against my better judgement, I ordered yet another Apple Pencil. This one gets babied more than the pups! For the record, I have also fallen asleep with the $30 in my hand and it has fallen in the floor (more than once, as well as gotten lost in the couch), but has NEVER been touched. I guess you can say my boys have taste! 

On another spending front, I FINALLY got Regina's Apple Bowls from her Once Upon A Time office! I barely took them out of the box other than to inspect them and, in the box they shall live until I get a "real house" where they shall be the showcase of my kitchen, but for now, here is the best view of them I can give you:

 

They are huge and gorgeous and I love them!  I need to find good quality fake apples, because I don't typically eat apples (well, green ones, but I don't necessarily want Zelena vibes in my house!).

I still can't stand the new Blogger format.  I spend more time switching between Compose mode and HTML (which I prefer, but the layout won't set right, so I have to go to Compose to fix)...what a pain!