Category Archives: me

Flosstube & Know Your Needleworker tag

Posted in me, You Can Quote ME by

I’ve made a Flosstube video! It’s very short, around 10 minutes so very easy to watch. They take a while to upload, tho! Click here & get ready to mock my accent 🙂

I’ve covered the Tag and also my current WIPs. Here’s the tag details, but I didn’t read this verbatim so there’s a little difference:

Where do you live?

I live in Auckland, New Zealand. It’s the major city of the North Island.

What do you do for a living?

I am the Vendor Manager for a large retail network – we sell homewares in two chains and sporting goods in the other.

Do you have any other hobbies other than cross stitch?

I love reading – my gran introduced me to books at a very young age. Sometimes it’s a struggle to put the book down, but I haven’t got into the habit of being able to process an audio book & stitch at the same time. I can get away with multi-tasking with podcasts tho.

Do you have any kids?

Yes, we have four, ranging from our beautiful girl who is 21 down to the three boys, 16, 13 & lastly anyone following me on Instagram will know Mase-the-Ace, who is 6.

Do you have any pets?

Several tropical fish. My favourites are my two Port Hoplo catfish; Tubbs used to be in the tank behind me when I worked in the Animates support office, and I was luckily able to take him when he needed rehoming. There was a chiclid incident. I’m never getting those things, but Tubbs does party tricks for food and loves to rest on my hand when I’m doing the tank maintenance.

What is your favourite movie?

I still love Sixteen Candles, and Ten Things I Hate About You (I’m a sucker for clever Shakespeare adaptations). Recently I’ve gone onto meds for frequent headaches so I have been avoiding the movies.

What are your favourite tv shows?

Always NCIS (the original, not the spin offs). Banshee – I know, completely not me but I started watching as a Kiwi is the main actor & got hooked. I like BBC dramas & get very, very annoyed with sitcoms that have a laugh track – Big Bang would be the exception to that rule. Family-wise we watch quiz shows together and yell the answers at the TV.

What is your favourite music genre?

I listen to pretty much anything except hair/heavy metal & classical. My iPod in my office has all sorts of stuff from the last 20 years so when I throw it on shuffle it can surprise – or embarrass me. Note to self: take The Exponents “Erotic” off shuffle…

What is your favourite book?

I am a book slut. I’ll read just about anything and will go thru 4-6 books a week. Re-read favourites are Sandra Boynton (poetry & humour for the little ones), Jane Austen, JRR Tolkien, Elizabeth Goudge (think Little White Horse but she has far more range than just that one), CS Lewis, JK Rowling, etc etc. It’s a long list. And I would totally recommend Mary S Lovell if you’re into biographies.

What one word describes you best?

Eclectic, I guess.

alarm bells

Posted in me, work by

It’s Tuesday over here and I am hungover. Totally hungover – I took the migraine tablets as soon as I got home then again at around 9pm last night. Hit the snooze button multiple times. Stayed in the shower. Put on about 70 kajillion layers of makeup to hide the hangover look (didn’t work, waste of bloody time) and was still the first to work.

I tell you, finding an open front door and no alarm set is a real wake up call.

WIP Wednesday – the tooth version

Posted in cross stitch, family, grateful, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett by

So yeah, I get that most people reading expect that I’ll post progress weekly. But today I have a story for y’all first.

My day began the normal way; I even managed to watch one of Katie the Stash Queen’s vids while I stitched. Went to work (why can’t people drive normally the first fog dayđźš”). Got a head start on next week, as I completed all the reports needed for my boss’ supplier meetings (this is rather than stressing Monday when I go back to work). Drove home. Still foggy. Took Mase to the EMERGENCY dentist.

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This is the new look for the next (up to) 2 years. His dad is already making hillbillies jokes; I think the lisp is adorable.

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He doesn't want you too see this!

Oh. I got heaps of progress on Persephone too. Four days in a row of carving out stitch time.

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I’m determined to work around that creepy hand so I can backstitch it this weekend! I have the next two days off so planning lots of stitch time.

Stitch MAYnia begins

Posted in cross stitch, me, Mirabilia, Nora Corbett by

You may have heard of a variant of Stitch MAYnia somewhere on the Web. Facebook or Instagram or YouTube. The standard version is a new start for the first fifteen days (don’t ask me why, IDK) or a madder version with 31 starts.

For me, it’ll be a little slower. I aim to stitch a little everyday so my planner doesn’t have the word “nil” in any blocks this month. Tame isn’t it?

Here’s my starting point for Persephone. I’m into the vast thread chewing skirt, and I think the daily IG photos will help keep momentum as much as a daily stitch. Fingers crossed!

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April Fools

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Wow. April Fools already (thanks for the birthday cake, Google. Lame.) It’s not even 7 and I’ve let myself get wound up about a few things already. I should stop reading Stuff (news site) feeds so early.Or I’m the fool.

Firstly it was the university study saying that people liking or using “pseudo-intellectual quotes” were more likely to be less intelligent – verbally, numerically, and fluidly – than those who don’t. It also found those people are more likely to have strong religious backgrounds, and to believe in conspiracy theories and the paranormal.

chewie Huh. I happen to think that no matter your IQ (and mine is pretty damn high, thankyouverymuch) you can find some quote/image/inspiration to match your current mood or jolt you into a new one. Hope you enjoy the one I picked for today!

 

Then there was the woman trying to compare her second divorce to that of Billie Piper. Again, huh. Unless she was in that marriage, nofreakingway is it the same. I came out of that one thinking that all the author wanted really is sympathy, some to pat her on the head and say it’s OK, you’re not a failure, everything will work out. And that’s true, as long as you take one of the aforementioned inspirational quote journeys and use your mistakes to move forward.

Lastly tho I did smile at the Young Noah/Audio Adrenaline song. It’s lovely. Yay for LifeFM when I’m driving to work in the dark!

Long Way to Go exemplifies three moments in the lives of three individuals. First the life of a young person struggling to find purpose and meaning in their existence. Secondly someone who has overcome the pressures of life and found peace and joy in God. Thirdly God himself who is reaching out to both people calling them to continue down the long road to redemption, forgiveness, and most importantly His presence. The way may be long but the reward is freedom from the stress and grief of their past and to walk into incredible visions and dreams of a meaningful future.
– Young Noah

If you want to listen to the song there’s a link here: http://genius.com/Young-noah-long-way-to-go-lyrics

WIP Thursday

Posted in cross stitch, me, Mirabilia by

This is becoming a habit! I intended to post yesterday, but a migraine got in the way. I gave myself permission to doze the day away and not feel guilt about letting the little things go – & we ended up with Chinese takeout for dinner too. Today I feel much, much better.

Instagram followers will know that I pulled Persephone out of isolation this week. I’ve gone from this to that, nearly completed the annoying jellyfish on the LHS. After those suckers I will get onto the dress conversion:

and adding to my feeling of wellbeing, I quit facebook. On my phone at least, which means that I can only get to the stupid thing if I log on with my personal laptop. Which I use maybe once a month now, so I’m freeeeeeee!

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Liebster

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liebster-award1

https://sleepykittystitches.wordpress.com/ nominated me for this award. I can’t think of any new blogs I’m following but I thought I’d answer the questions  🙂

#5 – Questions for My Nominees

Where/How did you learn the things you blog about? Stitching is something both my grandmothers thought all girls should know; not being sexist but I guess both were worried about my practical skills, given that I always had my head in a book!

What’s your favorite/most memorable vacation? I still remember Bali very vividly, especially the Elephant Rescue Centre.

What’s the weirdest dream you’ve had recently? I was looking out a house window at the sea – yet this particular house is nowhere near the sea. & hubby had undergone a lot of surgery. It was creepy.

What are you watching lately? Flosstube vids on YouTube & as hubby is watching Ray Donovan I think I need to go back to the start. OOH – I watched Becoming Jane on Saturday and four episodes of Death in Paradise yesterday while stitching. Jane wasn’t so bad, really.

If you had to be reincarnated as an animal, what would you be? Not an ant. Or a spider. Or a cow.

What do you like to learn about (in school or in life)? History. I love even my fictional reads to have an historical element e.g. be accurate even if it’s a modern setting.

Growing up, what were your favorite toys to play with as a child? Not sure I’m a grown-up yet! Altho I do pay the bills…I still love Lego, & I have three of my childhood soft toys.

Wish one thing to come true this year, what would it be? For my headaches to be gone without needing to take meds! I’d sacrifice that tho if someone could work out how to shut Trump up (without killing him). Now that’s a scary dream, and I’m not even American.

Would you rather visit the world 100 years into the past or 100 years into the future? Past. The future looks a bit scary TBH.

What makes you antsy if you haven’t done it in a while? (What relaxes you?) I need to be alone, completely alone, every once in a while. Which is hard to achieve with three boys at home!

What would you do if you did not have to work? (If you pick travel, be specific!) I think I’d still work, at least to stay connected with the outside world. I like to help, so possibly something with community vibes. That didn’t involve weeding.

Now that you’ve got to the end, how about something I find funny? The sub-heading in Chris Rattue’s column today “How do you absolve a problem like Maria?”

Try saying that without the song in your head! You’re welcome.

WIP Wednesday

Posted in grateful, me, travel by

Confession: I have no stitching to show you. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Despite what I thought, I didn’t have the urge to stitch while we drove nor any downtime, so London looks exactly the same as it did last Wednesday.

But what I do have to show you is my favourite part of the trip. Despite family being all over the South Island, I’d never been to Moeraki and I leant (just a little) on Simon to stop.

Love it. In a lot of ways it reminded me of my Bethells, windswept and open (just more crowded). It was a good recharge-the-soul spot. I was told as a child that these were the floats on Maui’s fishing nets, but the below legend makes far more sense. In any case, I’ll be back.

This was written about them in 1966:

MOERAKI BOULDERS

The Moeraki Boulders are situated on Koekohe Beach at a place named Kumara, midway between Hampden and Moeraki townships in North Otago. Access to them is gained by a small one-way side road, 1 mile north along the main road from Hillgrove railway station. The boulders are grey-coloured septarian concretions, which have been eroded out by wave action from the cliffs of soft, black mudstone that back the beach. In places, partially exposed concretions can be seen in the cliffs. They originally formed on the sea floor when the mudstone was accumulating during the early Tertiary period some 60 million years ago. The largest concretions are traversed by cracks, filled by yellow calcite. In some the upper part is worn away; only a shell remains, looking like discarded segments of orange peel. The concretions weigh several tons and are up to 12 ft in circumference. Similar concretions are known on the north-facing foreshore of Shag Point, some 12 miles further south, but these are derived from older (upper Cretaceous) mudstone.

According to Maori legend, the origin of the boulders dates from the loss of the Arai-te-uru, one of the large sailing canoes that came from distant Hawaiki. On her quest south for the precious greenstone, the canoe was wrecked near Shag Point (Matakaea). The reef which today extends seawards is the canoe’s petrified hull, while close by, in the shape of a prominent rock, stands the petrified body of her commander. Strewn along the beach are the boulders which represent the eel baskets, calabashes, and kumaras washed ashore from the wreck. The name Moeraki (Moerangi) means “drowsy day”.

by Alexander Russell Mutch, B.SC., A.O.S.M., New Zealand Geological Survey, Dunedin.

So there’s a row, then a few separated out and more emerging from the cliffs. The outer surface really does look like concrete, but they are so different on the inside. I took a shot of Si next to the row – that one on his far right is the far left in the top shot. These things are massive (he’s 6ft).

Yep, I’m going back.

 

WIP Wednesday

Posted in cross stitch, grateful, me, Project Life, travel by

Wow. After six nights of the N drug I am feeling so much better. It’s amazing how productive I can be without that constant drag feeling & mental fog. The humid weather may have disappeared for a while too, which is adding to my overall feeling of goodness.

The Project Life app is FINALLY available on android. Finally. I had my first page in minutes of downloading the app, true to the promise. As I don’t have any games on my phone (I’m so disciplined, lol) I can see that this might be my “what shall I do for the next five minutes” app. This is using the Kraft kit, one of the freebies:
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Stitching-wise I am still working on Afternoon in London. I’ve finalised the threads I am using & that makes it faster. There’s been a couple of days where I didn’t do any work on it, but the last two mornings I’ve woken refreshed at five so snuck in half an hour before leaving for work (I do bring it to work but don’t often stitch at lunch, as Sarah & I walk usually) & as usual on any project, some visible progress enables more progress 🙂  plus I also want to do Paris.
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Si & I are going away this weekend – five days! – & I hope to finish while we’re driving. I may have to pack a second project just in case. I will more-than-likely be social media free for that time, so have fun everyone! See you in a week!

February WIPocalypse

Posted in cross stitch, grateful, me, WIPocalypse by

WIPocalypse is hosted by Mel at her blog http://measi.net/measiblog/ – or you can click on the icon on the right 🙂

Question of the Month: If you have any of your pieces on display in your home which attracts the most plaudits?

I don’t actually have anything of my own on permanent display at home, just the ones I pull out at Christmas for the tree. I have lots waiting to be framed, and ornies made for me in exchanges, but the pieces I have had framed are displayed in other people’s houses. All anyone can see in my house is whichever WIP is currently on the scroll frames! Right now, that’s Persephone and my new start, Afternoon in London by Country Cottage Needleworks. This is after two evenings:

363e59ad9083b6f297924642bd6ec158At work I am teaching Kimberley to stitch! Her grandma loves pigs, but is sadly very ill and heading to hospice soon. Kim wanted to do something to honour her grandma – learn a craft her grandma loves to make something very personal. She chose this wee design  & I kitted it up for her. We had a session on Tuesday and I had multiple people tell me how cute it was to see her working away during her breaks! Love sharing life skills.

 

As for myself, I had a follow up with the GP yesterday, as I’m in week 3 of this low level headache. Something to *woot!* about – my iron levels are 36. That’s thirty-freaking-six, peeps. It’s not been that high since I was a newbie teenager working at MedLab. And I am now trialling Nortriptyline on a half-dose as a preventer. Apparently it’s an anti-depressant/stop-smoking agent in full dose 25mg – but I’m on the baby 10mg. I took it at 8pm and was snoring by 9pm. This morning I woke at 2, went to the bathroom then straight back to sleep. No anxious dreams. I do feel a little hung-over which apparently is a side-effect for a week or so but even that is less than the headache. Things look good, today!

I have lots and lots of smalls to share later on in the week too. Happy today.