Measi's Musings

Archive for May, 2005

I’m okay– just going through bouts of insanity and then resulting apathy toward anything. Meh.

I mentioned my exhaustion to Erich last night, and he agreed that it’s just been such a wild couple months that it’s catching up to both of us. I’ve noticed myself being a lot more testy lately with everyone. A lot of it is because I’m on an autopilot schedule whenever I can take advantage of a mental break, and woe to anyone who decides to interrupt that routine.

I don’t mean to, though. *sigh*

I forsee a couple days of solid sleeping/lounging once we’re at the house next month.

ohmygodwemoveinnextmonth

So very strange. It’s such a different preparation than an apartment move. And contrary to my mom’s belief that I hate change, I really don’t feel it this time. I feel excitement. I’m a bit afraid about the enormous responsibility, but it’s far overpowered by the desire to get in there and make the next step forward in my life.

On completely unrelated house stuff- Erich found out from Anna (who sold us the house) that we have a mated pair of cardinals living in the yard. So a bird feeder and bird seed are now added to this summer’s list of stuff to buy at the gardening shop. We went by Home Depot on Sunday, after helping get my old bed over to her new space in an off-campus apartment. That was a win-win situation– she needed a bed. We needed to figure out where the hell we were going to store it, since Jason hadn’t taken it with him.

One big thing done. Everything else in storage can be taken down via Jeep and car to the house and put in the basement (and cut back our movers fees).

Anyway… back to Home Depot. I wanted to go there to price vanity tops and sinks, since we’re going to have to replace the bathroom sink fairly quickly. The bowl is cracked and just starting to leak. Might as well take care of that right away and get it over with as one of our personal projects. We found a few styles that were very nice, just to give us ideas. We looked around for replacement doors for the garage, but missed the weather-protected doors that weren’t designed for front door use… so we still need to find that.

And before we left, we took a walk through the garden section, just to see what was there. Lots of little trees that were relatively inexpensive. Both of us loved the Japanese Maples– they had different varieties with green and red leaves. I priced some lilacs, since getting some pretty bushes to hide our neighbor’s chain link fence is one of my top yard-related priorities. We relaxed for a while on a covered garden swing (which I have to admit is very tempting…). And we got some ideas. The yard, granted, isn’t really on the top of the list. Other than reseeding the grass and perhaps starting said lilacs along the back, I don’t see us doing a lot with the yard this first year. We need to see what’s growing in the yard, first.

Like, for example, the large patch of Lily of the Valley that’s along the front and Florida room wall. I definitely don’t want to tear those up, and my mom was thrilled when she saw those, given that it’s her birth flower.

So much to do… so many new daydreams to indulge in…

I’m loving this. I really am.

So after Home Depot, we headed home. I saw a large white swan in the lake next to the Home Depot, surrounded by a cluster of Canadian Geese. They were fairly far off from my sight, though, so I don’t know if it’s the male or female. I’m scared shitless of swans, having some bad encounters with them at my mom’s in California, so I’d be keeping my distance anyway. On the way home, we saw a mated pair of Canadian Geese (they’re everywhere) with six little goslings waddling behind. Hopefully they’ll survive, however– the parents picked a hell of a shitty spot to nest– in the grassy ring in the center of the highway cloverleaf. Erich nearly hit them as they were trying to cross the highway on-ramp to another unpaved section that contained a runoff-formed pond.

Off to another crazy day at the other place I’m moving. Hopefully I can get my normal work under control so I can focus on purging paper for the rest of the week here at the office…

1. What’s the last concert you attended? Prince, at the FleetCenter, last August.

2. Who is the best live performer you’ve ever seen? Hands down, U2 in ’97. The Popmart tour was absolutely wild.

3. You can invite 2 artists to your house, but they must sing together. Who are they and what one song will they sing? Well, it’s not possible now… but I’d choose Billy Joel and Ray Charles. “My Baby Grand” is just one of those curl up and listen to in the evening songs. (and hell, I’d love to hear it live in my new living room).

4. Pick one to see: ABBA, Jimmy Buffet or Kenny Chesney? ABBA. Good tunes, dancing all night– can’t beat it. Jimmy Buffett and Kenny Chesney are okay, but the wacky weedus is a bit too prevalent at the first (been there, done that), and I grew up with the country music crowd. Not my thing.

5. Friday Freebie: Tell us anything you want about music! It’s not a big focus right now with everything going on in my life, but music has always been a part of my life. From learning six instruments, to joining Tau Beta Sigma, to dance classes for thirteen years.

Courtesy of

Now running to complete insanity for the day… I’ll write an entry either late tonight or sometime tomorrow.

Because coordinating two moves and being the webmaster for JournalCon isn’t enough on my plate right now… heh…

Mom’s visit this past weekend opened up some issues and discussion on the wedding… and I have things that need to be done sooner than later.

The first being a quick speed-up of organizing MY side of the wedding party.
The second being that we’ll have to get the basic reservations done sooner than my original thought of mid-August, and probably starting that in late June before we even have the house up and running completely.

Quick backstory– in early March, Erich and I went to Pennsylvania to attend my grandpa’s 80′s birthday party.. On the day we were leaving, Mom had everyone over for brunch, and I decided to pull Marya, my 9-year-old (going on 18) cousin, aside for a moment to ask her whether she’d be more comfortable as a flower girl or a bridesmaid.

I asked this because two of her sisters are going to play the roles of flower girls, and Marya’s so tiny that even at her age, she could fit in the same category. But mentally, I know that Marya tends to want to be a bit more grown up– I wanted to leave it up to her, and then I could tell Erich how many women/girls were on my side, so he could think of who he wanted to stand with him.

Said question was asked very close to when we left PA. I don’t recall if my cousin Katie was even THERE that day. But we were in the eat-and-get-going rush, and I didn’t mention anything to Katie at that time, since I didn’t have the wedding party pinned down.

But I KNEW where I wanted her to stand (and probably so do my readers by now).

Remember– this is early March.

Fast forward two weeks later – a house gets thrown unexpectedly in the picture and takes over all wedding plans completely, putting them on hold and literally in the back of my mind.

Okay… now that the backstory is in place…

Erich, Mom and I are on our way to Sears on Sunday to look at appliances. Mom’s very worried about the condition of the stove in the house because Anna (who sold us the house) mentioned she was having trouble with the oven knob. And unlike Erich and I, Mom can’t live with the rather dated avacado fridge and stove that are in the house… so she wants to go appliance hunting, and has talked to my dad, who also responded “ew.” to the color, and they’re going halvsies on this.

(*shrug* sure… because we’re going to be stupid enough to complain or say no in this situation)

Mom mentions that my Aunt Gail has approached her recently- apparently Marya (being nine) went and started getting a bit boastful to Katie (who I hadn’t approached yet), and Katie’s feelings were very hurt because she thought she was being snubbed.

*forehead slap*

I should have seen this coming, by the way. It’s my own damn fault. Marya, being the eldest child of the the baby daughter, has been THE prize grandchild. I might have been the first grandchild, but I grew up 2,500 miles away. Katie was the first-born to be raised there, and had the grandparents all to herself for many years… but once Marya arrived, Katie really got shoved out of the picture and didn’t know how to cope with it. It might be stupid or petty, but I can understand Katie’s point of view on this because in many ways, her irritation with it is VERY valid, and has shown up at moments that just are not right (i.e. grandma’s death). But I don’t notice unless I’m around both of them at the same time and something comes up, simply because I’m not living there.

So well, shit. I don’t want Katie’s feelings to be hurt. I didn’t intend them to be hurt. I was just asking Marya her preference because I was trying to get rid of issues and questions before I started formally asking people. And then a house got in the way. I tell Mom that I promise to give Katie a call this week and apologize and explain things to her.

And then on my way over to the World’s Largest Dungeon game on Monday night after work, I realize that I really need to just get my entire side of the wedding party decided and ask them. So there’s no more of these miscommunications. It was already partially decided anyway, so on the way to the game, I formalized my side of the party, allowing for some flexibility depending on what Erich wanted to do.

Mind you– I’m leaving Erich’s completely up to him, with only one request– that my brother be a groomsman. I know that Scott was very hurt when my dad didn’t ask him to be his best man for his 2nd wedding (and they had no extended bridal party– just the maid of honor and best man). For me to snub him would be entirely wrong. It’s not appropriate for Scott to be Erich’s best man, since he doesn’t know him beyond one meeting. But still…

So I mention that to Erich, and he’s putting together his side of the party.

And now I need to make that phone call to Katie, to apologize, explain what REALLY was intended that day, and formally ask her (and call Vicky regarding Marya, Elizabeth, and Clarissa’s roles… so there’s no more confusion there). And given her role, it affects the wedding date– because Katie’s starting college in the fall, and I want to make sure that there aren’t conflicts with her finals in college, since we’re planning a May wedding.

THAT is one of the projects for this Saturday.

Researching wedding officiants, reception halls, etc. is the other.

Oh yeah, and actually picking a date.

One of these days, you know… I might want to get around to that little detail.

Gah.

I’m having a very difficult, emotional day today and really don’t want to talk about it because I’ll start crying again. So instead, I’m going to post craft pictures and talk about something that doesn’t involve chewing me out because I don’t think in the same mindset as males do.

*sigh*

Anyway… onto my work over the past two months or so… my rotation’s been going much slower due to the house purchase, but I have managed to get through three spots on my rotation since early March…

(I had trouble with the camera and fabric here– hopefully I can fix it in Photoshop later…)

Egyptian Sampler, restarted. I put about 20 hours into this to catch it back up to roughly where it was before I realized my fabric size fuckup back in January. The new fabric is 28 count antique tea-dyed *unevenweave* linen from a great little stitch shop in Plymouth, Mass. It was a bit tricky at first to start stitching since the squares are slightly uneven, but I’m liking how the uneven stitches give it even more of an authentic “ancient” look.

This will, by the way, look like this when it’s done.

The Castle, after another 10 hour rotation. I’m working on the bottom, developing the rocky cliff below the castle. It’s not the greatest photo, but taking a full picture of the work at this point is much better than focusing just on the rocks at the bottom, which are a bit of a mottled brown, grey, and green mess. My prior updates are here.

In a couple weeks, I’ll do another backstitching rotation on this. During that, I’ll finish outlining the dragon’s head, anything left on the castle, and the small wing.

If all goes well, I’m still hoping to have this finished by the end of the summer. But the house restorations will really determine that.

I just finished my rotation on this tonight, working through hours of white on white stitching (UGH!). I’ve had to make some corrections for miscounts, but so far I’m going to be okay. I’m not sure where my head was when I started this pattern because there have been miscounts all over. This rotation wound up being a lot of ripping old stitches… but I did make a good deal of progress over last time.

Anyway.. there are my stitching updates. Hopefully I’ll have another set before the end of the month to share. After that, stuff needs to get packed up for a good portion of June…

I won $400 playing Let it Ride last night at Foxwoods.

Gotta love getting a flush when you’re almost out of chips. That made my night.

And we found the PENNY slots at Foxwoods last night– those could get a person into serious trouble.

1. If you could be famous for 15 minutes, what would the headline read?

“Woman does death-defying triple flip while twisting ankle.”

No. Really. It would. I can’t fathom getting a headline for anything other than an amazingly stupid crash out on my bum ankle.

2. Do you think fame would change you?

It probably would in the short term– I’m sure it would go to my head for a while. But hopefully after a while, my sense of reason would kick back in and kick the shit out of me.

3. Has your name ever appeared in the newspaper? ..what for?

Yes– a couple plays in high school, honor rolls, and two “slice of life” photos in my childhood (a kindergarten play– I was dashing as Smokey the Bear, I must say… and a piano recital in one of the local shopping centers)

4. Would you like to be famous for *more* than 15 minutes?

I think two or three days would be fun, bewildering, and a fascinating experience. After that, my anxiety would make it pure hell… and want it to end.

5. If you could perform one act of Good while you were famous, what would it be?

If I only get one act of good, I’d want it to be a simple one– I’d want to donate the platelets that I donate every month, and give the recipient(s) a HUGE hug.

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