This is going to be my last new post here.

A friend set up this site for me when the hosting company was running an introduction offer – 2 years of completely free hosting. He wanted to set up an online store, selling cross stitch and Stephen King novels. Hence the domain name. But we drifted apart soon after, leaving me with a site and no idea of what to do with it. I already had a Blogger site at the time. But then Blogger started having issues, and I realized that I could put up a blog here and either import the Blogger entries when it finally let me in again or just start fresh. I found a free piece of software online that would allow me to self-publish rather than go through a service and went to town. I must have eventually figured out how to import, because there’s entries from 2003 that say that that pictures were uploaded to Webshots.

Anyway, the two years of free time ran out, and by then I was pretty well entrenched here. But I was posting a little of everything in the same place, and I was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable having my attempts at dieting documented along side my cross stitch stuff along side anything else I happened to feel like posting. I signed up for a page on LiveJournal so I could put all that more personal stuff behind a log-in wall and have some semblance of control over who had access.

My hosting package hasn’t increased in price since the free time ran out, but the package no longer exists. I can’t even change my billing date without losing my grandfathered status. And while it’s not a lot of money on a monthly basis (even though it’s billed quarterly, which feels like more of a hit) my financial status is such that I could be putting that money to much better use elsewhere. I also haven’t had as much time for crafts as I used to, so I haven’t had much reason to post here.

I believe my package expires on December 1, 2012. I will not be renewing. I don’t know if any of my data will be available after that date for any amount of time. I’m going to spend the next 2 months copying posts to my LiveJournal, signing up for an account with a free picture hosting company and re-uploading images there, and editing links. I’ll probably manually delete files from here as I go so I can keep track of what’s been changed.

I’ll still be reading and commenting on your various blogs. I’m not going away. Times have changed and I need to change with them. I love you all!

I seriously haven’t posted since February? Oy.

First, status pic on my 13th Article of Faith project:

Last time I posted, I was struggling with a crochet pattern for a baby blanket. I ended up ripping that completely out and reusing the yarn. I found a baby blanket in a fairly simple DC-chain repeat at a nearby resale shop, so I bought the blanket to use as a pattern. I wasn’t paying enough attention when I made my initial chain, though, and it ended up being about 60″ wide. Good thing I had enough of the yarn to also make it 45″ long. I figure now that it’s not just a baby blanket, it’s something that the little squirt can keep with her for most of her life. I’ll post a picture after it’s washed.

I also started a new blanket based on the same pattern but tweaked somewhat…. and worked 6 inches of it while watching The Avengers. Yes, in a darkened theater. This is why I like working in double crochet so much.

I haven’t touched any of my BAPs and am coming to realize that those two goals simply aren’t going to happen. What was I thinking, setting a goal to finish Nordic Needle Rose and then a week later saying I was going to make Starry Night my focus?

Although there really isn’t much to round up LOL

Status as of 2/29/12 on We Seek After These Things, which is my Thirteenth Article of Faith piece that I bought at Shepherd’s Bush in Ogden UT when we were out there last spring. And since I’ve never posted a picture of this before….. All of the birds and flowers on that (currently) top row and all of the vertical stripe are February progress. The horizontal lines, beehive, and all of that lower panel were done previously.

I also started a crocheted baby blanket that totally was not working out with the given instructions. Ripped that out and then started fumbling around with an adaptation based roughly off their directions but using the same cluster stitch as I used in those seven-sided, worked-in-rounds blankets. That’s working better but still not great. It’s essentially worked on a diagonal, starting at a point and increasing every row until the worked edge is as long as I want the hypotenuse to be, then decreasing to get back to a point on the other side. I don’t quite have a right angle going, and I’m not sure that any amount of stretching and blocking will make it happen. I’m probably going to end up ripping that one out too and trying again. So, clearly no photographic evidence of my crocheting this month.

I got rid of all of my Lion Brand Homespun yarn. I decided that I really did not working with it, and I knew of two ladies in the ward who would appreciate it because of their own financial limitations. That was actually a lot of fun. Buggie and I dropped Mini off at church for her young women’s activity, then stopped at McDonalds for a large Diet Coke to give to one of the two ladies with her box full of yarn. It turned out that she wasn’t home yet from having had oral surgery that day. So a box of fluffy yarn and a jumbo Diet Coke were the perfect prescription. We left them on a bench outside her front door with no note or anything. She posted a picture of it to Facebook and tagged me in it, and my sister made a potentially snarky remark about recognizing some of it. Well yeah. Some did come from her when she moved out of her apartment. I never promised I personally would use it, just that I would make sure it would be well used. And both recipients knew they were getting pass-alongs. Anyway, it’s nice getting rid of stuff sometimes. Especially when you know it’ll be appreciated by the recipient.

Mini’s much the same. We recently had to go out and get her re-measured for undergarments again. It’s been only about 6 months since my mother took her to some high-priced place in a nearby town and spent a small fortune on two bras, and then I went and bought another half dozen online for less than she’d paid for one. But one of Mini’s medications has a known side-effect of gynecomastia – breast development in male patients. I’m sure this isn’t actually limited to male patients, but simply more obvious in guys who don’t normally develop breasts. I’m reasonably certain that if someone were to compare breast sizes of female patients taking this medication to their immediate family members, they would see a significant number of patients with much larger bra sizes than their siblings or mothers.

Buggie has been a babysitting dervish this month. If I actually bothered to keep track (or if I asked her, since I know she did), I could probably count on one hand the number of days off she’s had in February that weren’t Sundays. I’m tired out just hearing about it LOL.

This is Nauvoo Sunstone, designed by The Posy Collection. I purchased it in Nauvoo, IL, when we stopped on our way out to Utah and Idaho in March 2011. The designer does not have any chart information on her website other than to say that she designs pieces for historical sites and that the kits are only available at those locations. Which is a bit of a bummer because I would have liked to see what else she has available without doing a ton of traveling…. even if it meant knowing I would need to travel to acquire.

This is stitched on 14 ct. mushroom Jobelan with DMC flosses. The finished size is approximately 7″ wide by 4.25″ tall. The kit came with pre-cut DMC and Aida. And anyone who knows me well also knows how much I despise Aida. I haven’t been keeping track of when I start projects or how long I spend on them anymore. But I do know I was working on it the night I was at church for the swap n save drop-off even though I had been called to the Primary by then, because I remember being frustrated that my highlighter walked off while I was helping someone bring in boxes.

The next traveling project will be the Thirteenth Article of Faith sampler that I bought at Shepherd’s Bush in Ogden, UT.

I’m not officially participating in the WIPocalypse, but I am going to knock out a few of these buggers.

• Starry Night – started October 2004, 2 pages of 15 complete, approximately 14%
• Nordic Needle Rose – started September 2004, 3+ pages of 6 complete, approximately 60%
• Autumn Sunset Sampler – started June 2005, 1.5 of 4 pages complete, approximately 30%
• Nauvoo Sunstone – started April 2011, finished size  6×6, approximately 50%
• We Seek After These Things – started July 2011, finished size 8.5×7, approximately 5%
• crocheted scarf
• ummmm….

I’m sure there’s more. There just has to be LOL. If and when I find more, I’ll add them to the list.

I’m surprised to see that Nordic Needle Rose is actually my oldest WIP. I was sure that Starry was. And what was I thinking starting two big pieces so close together? Sheesh.

The scarves (and sometimes baby blankets) only get worked on during church. I listen better when I can do something with my hands, and these sorts of projects don’t require consulting a pattern to distract me. I get funny looks on occasion from people who don’t normally sit near me, and once a visitor decided to confront me about it.  When I was able to show the visitor and her member friends that I got more out of the talks than they did, they backed off, and I think word spread a bit LOL.

My goals for 2012 are to have 12 actual cross-stitch finishes (Nauvoo Sunstone will definitely be one of those), plus some undetermined number of crochet finishes, and to complete page 3 of Starry Night. I think I’m going to keep Starry on the stand all year rather than switch out at some point. But if I manage to finish page 4 as well, I might decide to swap.

By invoking my own particular brand of convoluted logic that involves cross stitching, self-imposed and therefore largely irrelevant deadlines, and some wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff, I hereby declare that page 2 of Starry Night is a 2011 finish LOL

2 pages complete…. out of 15. The ritual chart burnination will take place tomorrow. It’s too wet and blech to be firing up the grill tonight, and Buggie likes to participate in the burnination for some reason.

About that last post being the last of the year, that is…

Did some reorganizing last night and came across a cross stitch project that was just waiting for its beads, so I went ahead and finished it off.

This is Serenity Sampler by The Sweetheart Tree. It was a limited edition kit put out in 2005, I don’t know when I bought it or started working on it, but I’m reasonably sure it’s been waiting for me to finish it since before I left the downtown firm in late 2008, based on where I found it. Finished size is about 5×7, lots of specialty stitches in this.

And then I started and finished this one last night as well:

This one is by Tor Rhuann Designs, and this piece is the 2011 Christmas freebie. Finished size is roughly 3" across, I have no idea how I’m going to finish this off, being a hexagon.

I may be doing this a bit early, but I’m reasonably sure I won’t be able to get back here before next weekend anyway. And with my track record, probably quite a bit later than that.

So my 2011 goals were:

For 2011, I’m going to keep it simple again. Continue to lose weight (and again, I’m not setting a goal number, that seems to actually jinx me), work on building my food storage to a 3 month supply level in all categories, and finish Lady of the Flag. Uh oh. Did I just say that?

I don’t have anything documented showing how much I weighed last year. So I don’t know whether I managed to lose weight over the course of the year. I do know that I’ve lost weight in the last couple months, but I also suspect that I gained weight before doing so, based on the way clothes have been fitting.

Food storage – I may not be quite at a full 3 months across teh board, but it’s really close if not there yet. I”m calling it a win. I got a pressure canner for Christmas last year (well, technically I got gift cards that I used to buy the canner LOL), and I’ve been processing meats at least once a month. I keep about a 3 month supply of chunked chicken, chunked beef roast, seasoned taco filling, homemade barbecue sauce, and most recently, homemade turkey soup from Thanksgiving leftovers. I’m not canning stuff like fruits and veggies, largely because the things I want to can (in order to free up freezer space, mostly) don’t hold up well, but also because we don’t eat a whole lot of them anyway. Also, I acquired a bunch of can organizers and completely reorganized the main pantry so I could figure out exactly what I do have and how much more I need.

Lady of the Flag – complete! I haven’t framed her yet, that’s going to be insanely expensive. But she’s done!

So let’s see… what am I going to do for 2012?

- Going back to school. Really. I’m going to get my paralegal certification, which is an Associates in Applied Sciences. It’ll take me about 3 years because I can only go to school part time, but this is going to happen.
- Finish Nordic Needle Rose
- Finish Nauvoo Sunstone
- Start and finish at least one baby blanket (this seems small, but consider that the only time I’m able to sit and crochet without guilt is during sacrament meeting on Sundays, and even then only if it’s something simple that doesn’t require consulting with a written pattern)

The days just keep slipping out from under me. Oy.

Buggie’s almost finished with her first term of college. She comes home in a week and a half, even though a large part of her does not want to. She’s met a boy out there. Well, sort of. She’s in Idaho. He’s in Utah. They met online, and I think they’re meeting in person this weekend because he’s going to be in her town (or a nearby one, perhaps) for a family event. I also know that she loves the independence, the scenery, the overall vibe, the quiet. So it’s not just the boy.

Speaking of college, I’m getting ready to go back to college myself. I’m going to get my paralegal certification, which is an associate’s level degree. The local community college is certified by the American Bar Association and is a heck of a lot less expensive than the online self study programs friends have referred me to. I’ve got my application for financial aid already in progress, and I’m planning to register for either 2 or 3 of the prerequisite classes for the spring term, which starts in January. Yeah, just a few weeks away. Yikes.

Mini’s doing well. Still making steady progress at school, still straddling the line between little girl interests and wanting to be all grown up. She’s very recently decided that she wants to be baptised, so we’re also getting together with friends from the ward on Saturday mornings to go through the missionary discussions and prepare her for that.

I finished a crochet baby blanket in October. I’m still slowly working on the Nauvoo sunstone piece, and I’ve been crocheting hats during church rather than starting a new blanket. I wish I had money to get a mannequin head (or styrofoam form, whatever) and room to store it, so I could effectively block and shape these hats when they’re done. But I need to be weeding out stuff, not adding more.

Speaking of adding more stuff… my sister recently lost her job. She’s breaking her lease and moving in with our aunt because her landlord is not as understanding and accommodating as mine is. She just gave me a box full of yarns and another box of Ball jars. And if I can figure out how the heck to get them home, I’m also getting her Billy bookcases, which will replace the Walmart bookcases I currently have in my bedroom that have less capacity. I’m already in the process of ripping all of my DVD movies to digital files so I can put the actual movies into storage somewhere and not damage the discs further, so the tentative plan there is to put the Billy cases where my DVD racks currently sit, move my food storage and paperbacks out of the bedroom onto those shelves, and rearrange my bedroom to take advantage of the now-bare inside wall without a baseboard heater.

I also finally finished reading the books that have been published to date in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. Yes, I know GRRM is still working on them. With the TV show on HBO, though, I decided to go ahead and get started anyway. While working my way through those, though, I realized just how much slower I read on my Sony Touch than I do on hardcopy. I had to renew the library loan on each book…. three times on Dance. The e-book loans are only 2 weeks instead of 3, but still. Three renewals means I needed at least 7 weeks to get through it. Sadly, there isn’t going to be much time for entertainment reading for a while after school begins.

Whoa. Has it seriously been six months since I’ve posted here?

I’ve had all kinds of craziness going on around here, although looking back now it doesn’t seem like so much. Maybe just because the day-to-day insanity gets hidden in the rear-view mirror.

Buggie’s doing the pre-college thing now. We traveled to Utah and Idaho during spring break to check out the schools she was accepted to, and she decided on BYU-Idaho as a result of those tours. She graduated high school with honors (which is absolutely no surprise at all to anyone that knows her). She received a maximum grant from Pell and was offered a couple Stafford loans as well. She may have to get a job out there to help with living expenses, but we’ll see.

Mini’s emotional status has been stabilizing and we’re working to wean her down on her meds. She broke a tooth on the playground during summer school, which we had to get bonded. It looks great, and it’s caused her to be more aware of the need to brush her teeth regularly, which has been an ongoing problem. She’ll be in 8th grade when school starts back up. Five more years before I have to figure out whether college is for her, and what options are available.

I’ve been at my job for about 16 months. Finally in the last week, we were able to file our initial documents on the few properties remaining out of the massive batch that was why I was hired in the first place. Sadly, the ones we couldn’t file on are dead in the water for one reason or another. The client thought they had a half million in accounts payable owed, we’re down to about 75 thousand. Yes, the client is looking into a malpractice suit against the attorney that started all this work.

Meanwhile, at church, I’ve been called to be the secretary to the children’s program. I’m working with about 60 kids, and at the time I was called, I knew the names of maybe 10% of that number. It’s been about 3 months and I’m definitely getting better with names, I’m probably up to 20-25%.

Yes, I’m still crafting, but not as much as I would like. I’m still plugging away at Nordic Needle Rose periodically. I’ve been working on a crocheted baby blanket at church, only about an hour a week. I haven’t touched the sewing machine in months, but I really need to get back to that as well.