Monthly Goals

February's Goals

1. Finish the next section for the Sampler Mystery - done!
2. Finish another section on the Any Designer Band Sampler RR - done!
3. Finish another section on the Mirabilia RR- done!
4. Do another square on Katie's blanket - er nope.

Optional
1. Stitch some on Alhambra Garden - yep
2. Stitch some on Emma's Garden - yep
3. Do the quilt square for Autumn - yep
4. If I get to everything on this list I might start Mother's Tree. :) - nope

I think I did pretty good with February's goals. I didn't do my square on Katie's blanket though. I could have started it last night after I finished my Mira RR section, but I just didn't feel like it - instead I started a really small design from Just Nan that will fit into a small heart-shaped boxtop. I'll probably finish that up tonight as it is really a quick small thing. I'm just really hating that blanket, but know I have to finish it since I've done one for every other child in the family - Katie needs one too. UGH. So now I'm going to do two in March to stay on track to finish the darn thing.

March Goals

1. Part 3 of Chatelaine Sampler Mystery II
2. Another section on the Any Designer Band Sampler RR
3. Two squares on Katie's blanket

If I have more time
1. Stitch some on my Hardanger Table Runner (finish the blanket stitch!)
2. Stitch some on Angel of Summer
3. Start Mother's Tree

I've been bitten by the RR bug again!

Somehow over the past year or so I've gotten myself involved in 4 Round Robins. I've known about RRs for years but was never very interested until I got involved in the Stitcher's Lane RR at the beginning of 2005. That one is now finishing up, as is the open-themed RR I joined next. I'm also involved in a Band Sampler RR and even moderating a Mirabilia RR. After I started the Mirabilia RR I said to myself that I was going to cool it with the RRs for awhile - mostly because I was scared of overcommitting myself. HA! That lasted all of a few months.

I got this great idea for doing a Round Robin of Foldable Books like the ones the Designing Ladies did for 2006. I posted about it on The Worldwide Round Robins board only to discover that a few others had some good ideas for RRs too! So now I could potentially be joining three more RRs! The other two besides the foldable books are RRs for Fancy Letters (monogram type) and Just Nan. Autumn did a JN theme for the open-themed RR and it looked so nice I really wished I had a JN RR. So I HAVE to be in that one. At least all my stitching is done for the Stitchers Lane RR and the open-themed RR. So if we can stagger the start dates a bit maybe I won't have more than 3 or 4 on the go at once. Even if I do though, I'm excited about them and I've discovered I have a lot of fun picking out what to stitch for others and it lets me excersice a bit of creativity which I really like. I'm not talented enough to draw or design my own stuff, but I can usually manipulate the real designer's stuff into a unique and fun project. Round Robins seem to give me the opportunity to do that. :)

Beginning to function again

Yikes, it has been a long time since I was that sick. I managed to get through the rest of the day at work yesterday somehow. I'm just so glad I haven't been placed at a client site yet, so all that was really expected of me was to sit at my desk and not fall out of my chair. I did have to sit through one hour meeting about an upcoming asignment that I'm working on today and just making it through that one hour focusing and engaging was really challenging. And there was no slacking cause it was just three of us in a room, the other two bringing me up to speed on the project. If I had been just one iota more sleepy I'd have just closed my eyes mid sentence and fallen asleep right there.

It only got worse when I got home cause I arrive two hours before DH and of course Katie is still mega-clingy during that time cause she is still adjusting to the daycare. I managed to feed her a microwave hotdog and Alex cooked his own dinner also in the microwave. I fell asleep on the couch and asked Alex to come out in the living room and watch his afternoon cartoons and make sure Katie doesn't hang herself from the rafters. She just sat and climbed on me while I slept and I was too tired to care. DH saved me when he came home and took over Katie and her clinginess, thank God.

I felt a bit better around 9pm after the kids were all in bed so I had some bread. Apparently a mistake as I was up again at 3am with the stomach cramps just like the night before. Somehow I managed to sleep through them much better this time around. When I'd wake up hurting I'd just roll over and fall back to sleep. I guess I was just too tired to care that my stomach was in knots.

Today I'm much less sleepy, but the stomach is still a little woozy. I cautiously ate a bit of cereal for breakfast and had some water at my desk instead of coffee or hot choc. My stomach is still cramping some, but not nearly as much as yesterday, so hopefully I'm turning the corner. I actually got to do real work this morning - diving into the assignment the meeting was for yesterday. It feels good to be productive.

Stitching wise I got quite a bit done over the weekend on Karen's Mira RR. I wasn't able to do anything last night because of being sick, but I'm hoping I'll get in a few hours tonight provided I continue to feel better. I'm stitching a portion of "Baby Boat" which is a really nice pattern but one I might not ever get to if I was going to do the whole thing. I hope Karen likes it when it is done. :)

Sleep, who needs Sleep?

Apparently I do. I'm so tired this morning. After a pretty uneventful weekend I went to bed last night without suspecting anything was amiss. I awoke at 3:10am to terrible stomach cramps. I don't know if it was something I ate or a bug, but I downed some Pepto and tried to go back to sleep, but really only managed to snooze a bit between trips to the bathroom and more doses of Pepto. Yuck, I hate being sick like that. Around about 5:30am Katie starts crying. Normally when she does this at night it is because she's kicked off her covers and she's cold. She was actually up two times earlier in the night for that reason and I was able to cover her back up and get back in bed. At 5:30 though there was just no consoling her, and normal wake-up time is 6:30am at our house. At first I was afraid she had whatever was making my stomach upset. I gave her some Mylicon drops and tried to go back to sleep on the couch with her ( she wouldn't let me leave her without howling ). She kept saying she had to go potty, but when I'd take her she wouldn't go. Not very amusing that early in the morning let me tell you! But I figured she was having those stomach cramps I was having and that was making her think she had to go.

Finally she started calling for Alex and Daddy and it became clear she just wanted to get up for the day. I think she was asking to go potty cause that is the first thing we always do in our morning routine. About this time she started asking for crackers too. She was hungry! I remembered that she hadn't really eaten dinner last night cause she wanted to just eat rolls and I let her have one, but wouldn't let her have any more until she ate some other stuff on her plate. She chose to just not eat anything else - so of course she was starving! As soon as I gave her some breakfast she was back to her old self. I'm just glad she doesn't have whatever stomach ailment I have cause it is nasty!

I made it into work, but I'm bone tired, and my stomach still hasn't settled down all the way. I don't think it is a bug though, cause no one else has it. All I can think is that maybe when I cooked the chicken for dinner last night I somehow didn't wash my hands after handling the raw meat and contaminated myself. I'm usually very good about stuff like that, but it is the only thing that explains why no one else is sick.

Alhambra Garden

A quick progress pic of Alhambra Garden. Seems like I can stitch and stitch on that piece and not see much progress. I did finally get to make the outline for the outermost corner on one side though, so I'm at least taking up a little more real estate on the fabric. I got tired of Alhambra Garden while waiting for the next Mira RR piece to arrive so I started Autumn's cow quilt square last night. Of course, the Mira RR arrived today. I'll probably still knock out the quilt square first since it is so easy and quick. :)

Katie got mad when I was taking the picture of Alhambra Garden - she wanted me to take her picture too. Of course that doesn't mean she'll smile - just got this wacky face. Silly Girl!

SNOW

UGH. That is what I get for commenting on all those easterners blogs about how pretty the snow looked. We got our own dumping last night and this morning. My bosses were nice enough to tell me to go home this morning at about 10:45am due to the weather. In retrospect probably not the smartest thing, since it was the peak of the storm at the time. I would have been better off waiting an hour or two for the worst to blow over before heading home. Anyway, I went and it was the worst driving conditions I've ever been in. It was white-out conditions and unfortunately the tires on my little old dodge neon are not that new. I was white-knuckling it and going slow and cautious all the way home. Somehow I made the ususal 35 min drive in about one hour, which I would have thought would be a very optomistic estimate. I picked up Katie at the daycare on my way home since I didn't want to drive any more in the snow than necessary and I was going right by the daycare on my way home. I got home just in time for lunch and her nap. Then I spent the next two hours shoveling the driveway while she napped so DH won't have to do it when he gets home tonight and so that I'd be able to get back out of the driveway to get Alex from school which miraculously was still on today. Of course about the time I finished the plow came through. ARGH. Okay, I knew that was going to happen and of course it was necessary, but then I had to shovel a lot of really heavy snow from the end of the driveway so that I could get out to go get Alex from school. And all of the snow was wet and heavy, but I had to get it cleared cause it is supposed to be really cold tomorrow and all that wet snow would be iced down and impossible to remove if I didn't do it now. My back and arms are now killing me! No extra stitching time for me on this snowday! Maybe tonight after a hot shower!

An Ordeal

UGH! I had all these plans to take care of some volunteer work I'm doing for Alex's school, get Katie to the DRs office to catch up on her shots, and get home in time to make dinner. HA!

I left work a bit early with the approval of the boss only to get in my car and realize that the battery was dead because *smarty pants me* left the lights on this morning. What a feeling of dread realizing I needed to go back in and beg a jump off these people (who are really very nice!) I just met this past week. I *hate* hate, hate when I make a fool of myself in front of people I'm still getting to know.

Anyway, one nice man who started the same day as me offered to help me jump the car, only between the two of us we couldn't figure it out, rocket scientists that we are. Yeah, we knew red was positive, black negative and how to attach to the battery and such, but we were having zero luck. Finally we had to give up and when I went back in and told the receptionist my dilemna she knew just who to call. Soon our office computer network guru showed up and went out to take a look. Turned out we were stupidly trying to ground the negative charge on the stalled car on plastic instead of metal. DUH! Started right up after he tried it the right way. Thankfully I was then able to start home only an hour and a half after I was supposed to leave.

I managed to call Alex's school during all of this and have him walk the mile home. He knows there is a hidden key and where it is, but couldn't find it. So by the time I had picked up Katie and gotten home he had been outside for an entire hour, including the walk. I felt so terrible for him, and he looked so worried and then relieved when I finally drove up. I went and got Little Caesar's for dinner as all that just sent me too far over the edge for making dinner. Alex really likes that place and I was figuring he could use a little treat about now.

So now I have to do the volunteer stuff tomorrow while I'm on my way to my interview and I had to reschedule Katie's doctor appt, which wouldn't be such a big deal except that she is behind on her shots now cause we were without medical insurance for awhile when I wasn't working.

I am going to sleep good tonight. I'm just glad we are all home safe and fed. I need to go stitch and relax now!

Emma's Garden

Managed to get some good progress in on Emma's Garden this last week. I think she is going to be relatively quick to finish. I did her face, hair and some of the boquet this time.

I'm doing really well on my Feb. goals, just have to get some time in on Alhambra Garden and finish my Mira RR section for the month in order to meet them all. I'm thinking I might try to also squeeze in another square on Katie's blanket and the square for Autumn's cow quilt this month too, but we'll see that might be a bit too ambitious. The Mira RR tends to take awhile.

I have an interview for work on Tuesday, so I'm already stressing about that. Since the job is consulting, we have to sometimes interview for our placements and since this will be my first I really want to do well. I've been able to do a little clearance shopping at Kohl's and I've updated my business wardrobe a bit which was really nice. Not much else going on...

A Small Round Robin HD

With all the activity surrounding Sean and I both getting new jobs this week, I've only had a little bit of time to stitch. I did manage to finish my section on Lisa's RR for the Any Designer Band Sampler RR. I did the bottom portion starting with the acorns. :)

Day 2

Today was a good day. :) At work I busied myself familiarizing myself with a new-to-me software package that I'll likely be using for several assignments. It was an easy self-tutorial that took up most of my time at work today. The rest of the time was spent in "get-to-know-you" meetings with the sales group that will be trying to market my skills to various companies. (The job is in consulting.)

Katie did much better today. Her teacher said that she cried a lot less today and that she seemed to be more interested in playing with the other kids. The main problem is that she isn't used to all the other children and she gets overwhelmed at times. They have been dealing with that by just picking her up and holding her for a bit when she seems overwhelmed until she calms down. So far, so good and I'm glad that they are being attentive and understanding to the situation. My boss has also been really understanding asking how things are going with her and making sure I know not to be afraid to ask to leave early or whatever for family needs. You can't get much more understanding than that.

DH also seems to be liking his new job. He was worried about having to work a 12hr on call schedule once a week, but it seems they have nixed that idea. (The dept. he is in is in the process of restructuring, so the gameplan is sort of in flux right now.) He has his own office, which he never had before so he is sort of excited about that.

Now if I can get supper on the table and get some good stitching time in after Katie is in bed tonight all will be right with the world! :)

Day 1

Well today went as well as could be expected. The good news is I found out my boss is fine with me coming in early so that I can leave early and be home in time to pick up Alex from school. The bad news is that Katie looked so sad when I picked her up today. So listless... that is the only word I can think of to describe it. I picked her up when I walked in the door and it took a minute for it to register with her that it was really mama. She just had a blank stare on her face and her eyes were sort of puffy so I know she had been crying. The teachers said she was pretty fussy, but no more than to be expected for a first day of a kid who isn't used to daycare at all. I'm sure she'll adjust, I just felt like the worst mommy in the world. She seemed to bounce back okay though once I got her home.

DH said his first day went okay too - now we have to sort through all the benefit info and decide whose insurance we will use for medical, dental and vision. Joy.

Tomorrow is the big day.

If you've been following my blog or any of my posts on the stitching boards you probably know tomorrow is my first day of work at a new job. I'm so nervous - I haven't worked in about 16 months now and I worked my last job for more than 6 years. That makes about 8 years since I had a "first day on the job". Dh is also nervous as tomorrow is his first day at a new job too.

I'm also really nervous about how Katie is going to be a daycare. :( We had another trial run on Thursday morning, which went okay, but not as well as Tuesday's dry run. She was crying and screaming when I came to pick her up. The teacher said she had been pushed by one of the other kids and that is why she was crying and that it had just happened and that she was fine the rest of the time I was gone. I'm sure that is true, but Katie was clingy and cranky the rest of the day - like she didn't want me out of her sight. Then this morning at the church nursery she was also clingy for the Sunday nursery volunteer. She is always fine in nursery so all I can guess is that she senses that something is up and mommy is going to be leaving her more often and she doesn't like it.

Mostly I've been trying to block out my anxiety about it all by stitching and stitching and more stitching. I finished part 2 of the Chatelaine Sampler Mystery this evening. Next I'm going to be stitching Lisa's RR for the Any Designer Band Sampler RR. Here is a pic of the Sampler Mystery.

Ducks in a Row

Only 5 days til I start the new job. Such mixed feelings still swirling in my head, but I think I'm finally getting all my ducks in a row and preparations in place. We were lucky enough to get into Katie into our first choice of daycares. Yay! She already had a trial run for a few hours yesterday morning and she seemed to love the place. Didn't even look at me funny when I left her there. When I came back 2 hours later she was sitting at the little play table with all the other kids playing with playdough like she'd always been in daycare. I asked her if she had fun and she threw her arms in the air and shouted, "Yeah" with a big smile. The teachers both said she did fine and no problems. *sigh* I have to admit to feeling a little bad that she didn't even miss me, but I wasn't entirely surprised as she has always done fine for the hour at nursery at church on Sunday. I guess Monday when she has to have lunch and nap there we'll see. Probably the whole thing will be harder on me than on her and I guess that is the best that can be hoped for. She goes for another dry run tomorrow morning for another 2 hours - I just want her to be familiar with the place before I leave her for an entire day.

Figuring out what to do with Alex has been more problematic. It seems all his friends stay home for the hour or so after school before their moms/dads get home. I wouldn't necessarily have an issue with this for Alex if we lived closer to the school. He does really well for an hour or so on his own, it isn't a matter of him not being mature enough or responsible enough. His friends live within 3 - 4 blocks from school and we live more like a mile and a half from school. He can manage the walk if necessary, but I really don't want him doing it everyday especially in cold weather which is very common for WI. For the first week or two I should be able to get out of work in time to pick him up from school, from there we are going to play it by ear and see. Hopefully I'll be able to keep my schedule like that, but if not we may have to send him to the Y after school or possibly the after school program at Katie's daycare. We haven't been too enthused about doing that right away just because it seems most of the kids in those programs are 1st and 2nd graders and Alex is in 5th grade.

Other than the daycare issues I've been trying to get all the major tasks taken care of before I start back to work since my free time is going to be seriously affected. I got both the Federal and State taxes filed for the year and I've been working on giving the house a good cleaning. (It needs it!) I also want to complete some stitching goals before I start since I know I will have lots less stitching time. I started part 2 of the Sampler Mystery this morning and this part looks smaller than the first part which is good. No peacocks though - Martina had hinted this part would have peacocks, but it is just an inner border and some flowers. It's pretty though, so I won't complain. After I finish that I have to work on Lisa's RR for the Band Sampler RR. I have an idea of what I want to stitch though and those band samplers seem to go pretty quick for me. Hopefully I can have both done before I start work on Monday. We'll see - if not I should be pretty close.