More Cross Stitch

As you can see from my past posts, I've been doing more cross stitching.  Part of the reason is that I started following the Stitching Daze blog a year or so ago.  She has so many projects underway with more kits coming in every day, that it inspired me to take my stitching out and work on it again.  Plus it's a good project to do in the livingroom when Russell is home.

I started this one at the very end of January and it took about 2.5 weeks to finish, but only because I didn't work on it every day.  I had it on Facebook less than a half hour when one of my friends asked if she could buy it!! 

I know I featured this one before, but I finally got it framed.  Painted a plain wood frame in light blue and added some of the blingy keys I made right before the Superbowl that were inspired by the Seahawks colours.  I also had an old charm (with the old logo that contains a less angry-looking bird) so I put that on the frame too.  Another thing....not one person noticed that in the original photo, I put the wrong Roman numerals for Superbowl 48.  I had it as 47.  Rather than rip the entire row out, I shimmied in the 'I' to make it XLVIII.

This was a free pattern that was shown in just regular red, but I decided to use my varigated red floss instead.

My friend Bev pinned this adorable owl design on Pinterest, so I made it in about 2 hours.

I made them both into cards.

So many projects!  So little time!

Wordless Wednesday

One Of These Things Is Not Like the Others.....

Ever since I was in my early teens, I've always managed to 'buck the trend' when it came to popular TV shows, movies, music, etc.  My cousin Diane has pointed it out a few times.  "You were always different and I'm not sure if you do it on purpose or what."  I don't do it on purpose...at least not consciously.  I mean seriously...being an only child and having all the focus on me really made me want to be a part of the scenery, not get more attention.   But looking back over the years, I have a track record of being 'over here', while the vast majority is 'over there'.  

Let's take TV shows.  Big Bang Theory has been on since like 2008, and I only recently discovered it due to reruns. Same thing with Modern Family.  Now I watch them to death, just like I do with Friends, King of Queens, Frasier, LOSVU, NCIS and the first 5 seasons of Criminal Intent.  Russell started watching reruns of Criminal Minds and I like that one too.  But I have never seen any of these shows in their debut seasons, and I never remember to watch the new shows in prime time. I rarely ever watch a new network show in the fall season, and I think the last ones I watched when they debuted were Friends & Frasier.  If I'm not watching those, I'm looking for a good documentary.  I'm not even into movies!  I can't carry on a single conversation about popular movies that everyone else is going to see.  If I see it, it's usually months or years later on cable.  I haven't even seen the last Harry Potter movie yet.

This is also extremely apparent when I am reading my Facebook newsfeed.  Everyone was into Breaking Bad. Everyone is into Walking Dead and Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones.  I've never seen a single episode of any of those shows and my interest isn't piqued in the slightest bit either.  The other night there was a Beatles special celebrating 50 years.  I. Hate. The Beatles.  Cannot stand them.  I used to love them but their music, and other 'classic rock' is so overplayed that I'm all, 'blah blah blah...BORING!!!!' Everyone loves the Beatles. I feel like a traitor to my generation not liking them (except for the movie Yellow Submarine). People look at me like I have six heads when I say, 'If I never hear Lennon's Imagine again it'll be too soon' (That said, I do like #9 Dream by him).

Sports?  Same thing.  Everyone's into baseball and the Red Sox, but try as I might, I cannot conjure up any interest whatsoever.  I used to love it....went to lots of Tacoma Rainiers games about 10 years ago.  I followed the Seattle Mariners pretty closely back then, then I got bored with it. What am I watching during baseball season?  Canadian Football League games, during the rare times that they air (Go BC Lions!).   During the fall season, I see my local friends rooting for the Patriots and I'm out there all 'Go Seahawks or 49ers'.  Or just not watching any NFL on TV because the teams don't interest me. Hockey?  Yeah I like the Vancouver Canucks.  That doesn't go over real well in Bruins country.  

Music.  This is an area where I diverged from the popular culture starting in about 1980, and prior to that my fave band was the Electric Light Orchestra.  Even though they were popular with a few hits, I was over the top about my love for them and I also rarely listened to the hits.  If you look at my ELO mix tape, there's not one hit song on it.  'Livin Thing' or 'Evil Woman'?  I don't think so.  'Rockaria' and 'One Summer Dream'? Definitely.  You have no idea the amount of shit I took in high school for being into punk rock...and dressing like it.  When you go through my senior class yearbook, many of my class listed 'Punk' under their 'Dislikes'. Me?  I was voted Class Punk Rocker with my bff Liz.  Everyone else was rocking out to Van Halen (I do like them), REO Speedwagon, Journey, Bob Seger, etc. and I was listening to the Sex Pistols, Clash, Boomtown Rats, The Stranglers, The Damned...etc.  I love those bands as well as the new wave music I was listening to at that time, but the lyrics also made me really cynical at a really young age.  A lot of it...and the bands...taught me a 'who cares what other people think, don't be afraid to be yourself' attitude.  Some of the classmates that gave me shit about my individuality have since told me that they admired my ability to be myself back then when everyone else was just trying to fit in.  I didn't do it to call attention to myself at all...I did it cause I truly liked it.  I briefly returned to knowing more about pop culture from about 1983-1987, then I plunged into the world of the Grateful Dead, never to return.  But even during that time while everyone was falling all over themselves about Bowie and Duran Duran, my favourite band was Kajagoogoo.  Hardly popular beyond 'Too Shy'.   I think The Who is overrated.  That's not a popular view.  Nor my not thinking Eric Clapton is 'god'.  

Some of my friends are playing a game on FB where they have to guess what a photo is, and are given a bunch of letters to choose from.  They post the pics they don't know in order to get help from their friends.  I have yet to see a single picture from the 1990s that I can identify.  I have no memory of that decade in terms of what was popular in movies, music, culture or TV....except for Friends & Frasier, and the original Law & Order, which I only watched once reruns started to air.  I didn't get into the X Files till they were into Season 3 and only because Diane begged me to watch it and sent me some videotapes.  I was so immersed in the Grateful Dead scene till Jerry died in 1995, and after that only listened to classic rock radio stations.  I remember one spring day in 1994 when one of my coworkers said, 'Oh my god! Kurt Cobain killed himself!!!!'  I was like, 'Who?'  They were so taken aback at my lack of knowledge of Nirvana and the Seattle grunge scene.  You know when I finally got my Nirvana CD? About 10 years ago, and only because I heard 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' somewhere and liked it, but didn't even know who did it.  The only time I ever hear new music is in commercials.  Then I look it up online to see who it is and then find it on You Tube.  Songs that were popular on the radio years ago, and I'm finally discovering them.  

And the thing is....I want to like this stuff. I do.  I want to like a lot of the shows, movies and music that everyone loves, but I don't.  I've tried, but it's just like....'Meh'.  It kills me. It really makes me feel bad sometimes.  I can't join in on any of the conversations.

I'm not really sure if I can change at this late stage in my life....not sure if I want to because then I won't be true to myself.  So I guess I'll just have to go through life over here, while everyone else is over there.  

Steampunk Keys

More altered keys.  People really seem to love these.  I wasn't expecting the response to them, although it's greatly appreciated!!

That one on the far left is my fave and I just can't part with it.  It makes me think of college at St. Joe's but I'm not sure why. 

I found that padlock in one of my old jewelry boxes and the keys work so I added stuff to it.

E. Sandwich

Popped over to mom's and couldn't believe how much more snow she had at her house.  She has a regular plow guy.  He's running out of places to pile it.

Easily a foot of new snow.

Poor old cedars are so weighed down with heavy clumps.

Robins seem to be year round now because I've seen them all winter, yet no sign of spring.

This is in the CVS Parking lot in Forestdale.

Also in CVS parking lot.

Staaaaahp!!!!

Got hammered with another blizzard on the night of the 15th.  They were still unable to really get a read on the track of the storm, other than the fact that the Cape and coast would take the brunt of it.  We got stuck in the 6"-12" range.  

This picture cracks me up.  Confirmed Bumbles sighting in Buzzards Bay. Or, Bumbles Bay.  OK that's not really BBay.  

It started snowing early in the afternoon, so we got the generator all ready and ran the extension cord into the house.  They were saying it'd be a very wet and icy storm with lots of hurricane force gusts, so a larger chance of power outages.  We lucked out though, because Bourne didn't end up getting as much as Sandwich did.  They got 15", we got about 6".  I didn't even have to shovel my way out of the house!  When I took Pepper out at 3:00 AM, it was already over, and we woke up at 7 to a gorgeous morning.

We were already plowed, but I still had to clean off the car and shovel around it.

 It really is pretty when it's fresh.

Later in the day, the light got otherworldly.

Especially with the snowy trees against the sky.

This was later in the afternoon.  I was hoping for a nice, red sunset but not that night.

So. Sick. Of snow.

Winter Can Go Away Now.

Mercury Retrograde started up the beginning of February but it was already starting to build a few days before.  That's always fun.  Not.  

I am so goddamn sick and tired of snow and cold.  I am NOT adjusting well at all to these winters.  My electric bill is so expensive that I'm going to have just let the house get cold during the week and keep the heat way low.  Tired of this neverending winter.  Everyone's like, 'This is Massachusetts/New England, this is winter.'  Well I guess I got spoiled by mild winters on the left coast.  February in California is when all the trees start to bloom.  Washington is just rain with sunbreaks and 40-55.

Saw some disappointing news on my FB newsfeed the other day.  The Widgetbox application is closing at the end of March.  I have four of them here on my blog - the Penguins, Moon Phases, Clock and my hamster Buddy.  I am so bummed out.  Not only will they not be supporting the app, they are shutting them all down, so essentially they are killing my virtual pets.  Do any of you use widgets?

I was out walking Sagan out in the front yard so he could potty one day when I saw a grey streak charge at us.  Sagan got in front of me and the dog fight was on.  I was yelling and trying to get the dog to leave.  I somehow managed to get us both away from the dog and back in the house.  Russell had the TV on and didn't hear a thing.  He told me to call animal control and he'd try and find the owner.

It's a little smaller than Sagan and I could only assume it's some kind of pit bull mix.  And for the record, I am not anti-pitbull either.  The officer told me they had a complaint about that dog a few days before.  The owner did come over and apologized profusely and said she'd take care of it if Sagan was injured, which fortunately he wasn't.  We were both shaken up for awhile though....poor Sagan was whining and I had a wicked asthma attack.  Needless to say he got a special peanut butter cheese biscuit treat.

Got some more goodies!!!  Michelle sent me the pretty key chain on the right, and the soaps and beads are from my college pals Josh & Tracy!  

And I got this Valentines ATC from Angie!  She does beautiful collage and altered art work and I was so honoured to be among the recipients!!

In other news, keeping with the whole Mercury Retrograde thing, my computer decided it wasn't gonna boot up one night.  I was bereft.  Fortunately we have a friend, Glenn, who fixes computers for a living.  His company is High Performance PCs of Cape Cod.  I brought it over with the recovery discs and hovered like a nervous parent as Glenn got it up and running.  He asked me how much room was left on my hard drive, which isn't much.  He asked to see my photo files and he was horrified....HOR. I. FIED.  He said if my computer has been running slow (which it has), it's because there are way, way too many pictures on it. Even though I take a lot off onto flash drives, it's not enough.  He got me an external hard drive and I put all my pics on it.  I'm surprised that I still don't have much room on my hard drive despite dumping almost everything I had saved.  

Also, because I draft my blogs in advance, I am actually writing this on February 15.  We are about to get hit with another blizzard; it's already snowing heavily at 3:00 PM.  Yes we have a generator, but if my computer runs out of juice and needs to be restarted, and doesn't boot up again, I will be screwed.  Can't afford to replace it at this time.  I am hoping that it doesn't crap out on me, but if it does, that is why I haven't visited any blogs or been on Facebook.

With that, I leave you with a moon shot.