Well, I finished Firefly Lane AND the sequel Fly Away. I enjoyed Firefly Lane very much, getting so engrossed in the characters that I had no shame bawling my eyes out while waiting for Zac’s sweet & sour pork the other night. Fly Away not so much, but it had a redemption theme which I do like.

In the turbulent summer of 1974, Kate Mularkey has accepted her place at the bottom of the eighth-grade social food chain. Then, to her amazement, the “coolest girl in the world” moves in across the street and wants to be her friend. Tully Hart seems to have it all—beauty, brains, ambition. On the surface they are as opposite as two people can be: Kate, doomed to be forever uncool, with a loving family who mortifies her at every turn. Tully, steeped in glamour and mystery, but with a secret that is destroying her. They make a pact to be best friends forever; by summer’s end they’ve become TullyandKate. Inseparable. 

I have a bestie like this. We’ve been apart for a long time, but as she’s moving to Auckland very soon I hope we can slide straight back into that easy friendship.

Stitching-wise, I haven’t done a lot this week. I woke on Monday feeling quite dissatisfied with things, and decided that I was going to change. So I hauled a$$ & went to the base early to start.

Now, I used to swim competitively. I went to meets all over, and secondary school nationals a couple of times. I thought I’d slide back in – oh no. But I managed 4 lengths (of a 25m pool!) before everything turned to jelly. And once I was back at work, I rang the local Jenny Craig office and got a same-day appointment (no room to chicken out, right?). Turns out that mentally I’m ready for this. Ready to turn around my health spiral. It took 6 months of being out of the yes-I’ll-volunteer cycle to get myself to this point. I wonder if in a few months I’ll be able to give up the headache pills? Look for an activity/weight loss update Monday – if I don’t post it, YELL at me. Please keep me accountable!

So I’ve managed maybe half-a-dozen threads at work, and a couple of hours on Mermaids at home. And as today is the first, I am rotating out from Mermaids to Persephone for a week. My only issue with her is that she is on the big stand so can’t go to league with me tomorrow. But a limited time period might help me get some progress on that skirt – the carrot being that I plan to switch out to Raven Queen next Friday. Then Arezzo, and lastly nine days back on Mermaids – or maybe 7, with the 2 days of the weekend doing something new? We’ll see what happens!

For the Smalls SAL, I finished a Mill Hill kit (Fireflies) and have two Holly ornaments ready for beading, and another two Berry ornaments being stitched. I decided to stitch a second of each of these on Darine 14ct plastic canvas, not only so I have a set to keep, I’m feeling like I get more value for money. These kits are not cheap here in NZ  – roughly $18 for fireflies and $14 for the Christmas Jewel series, each! I also finished the Bunny kit from Cross Stitcher magazine – he’s going to stay as is, without the ribbon, and become my massive needle minder.

Hope you all have a fun-filled weekend with your family & friends!