*twitch*

Woweeee, I feel like I'm buzzing through the last of December. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas/First day of Chaunukah. Now for the New Year! I'm currently working on New Years cards that you may get the chance to see, one day. I totally got a huge haul this Christmas. The best part was having my dad visit from NH. Last night I redeamed one of my gifts, a gift certificate to Barnes & Nobles. What's really funny is that everyone in the family got one, just not from the same person. It just goes to show that we really love books in this family. I picked up two craft books,Bead Fantasies II and sew easy.
Tonight I'm going to experiment with Bead Fantasies. I want to make the Clover necklace for a friend and the crown for myself.

Today has been SUPER INSANE! I got to work to find that my computer had contracted 8 viruses while I was away. Apparently one wasn't enough. So then I tried to contact the admin people....who had ALL decided to go on vacation. After snagging the hubby to fix the problem remotely I found one admin tech working from home and reported the viruses, then proceeded to fix my machine with a little help from him and the hub. I feel...EMPOWERED! Yes, I rid my machine of an evil virus. I am...a geek. Embrace the dorkdome, work it, use it to your advantage. My blood hums with the knowledge that short of someone taking a sledgehammer to my machine....I can fix it. I am computer literate! And I'm Proud Of It! So yeah...next week, when I can't figure out why I can't get on the network and print (something I've never been able to do) and why I can't actually get Outlook to work on my machine (again, something I've never been able to do) I'll probably forget all about my innate talent with computers and let the admin guys handle it. Why? Well...because I'm lazy.

quick creative break

50s Christmas pattern,
originally uploaded by The Paper Doll.

I've been absolutely NOT productive, not crafty, and not sane for the past week and a half. But I did manage to create a couple background tiles in Paint to liven up my computer desktop. I wish I could string together a coherent paragraph or two but instead, I'll just convey my holiday sentiments.

Merry Christmas!
Happy Chanukah!
Happy New Year!

The dangers of IM at work

I've been super busy with work and family and holiday related things. Em has now made the transition from babysitter to pre-school and daycare combination. Today was her tour, tomorrow is her first full day. To celebrate I went shopping at Target (pronounced Tarjay for the frou frou in us) and got her a pre-school wardrobe, bookbag, lunch bag, snow boots and gloves. She was as psyched to recieve them as I was to buy them. She gasped in elated surprise when I dumped the contents of the shopping bags out onto her bed. It was the best response EVER! If only everyone were so psyched to recieve mundane, every day necesities.
So yeah, while I'm at work I'm connected to my peers and co-workers by IM. Far better to shoot off a quick message than get up from my desk and walk 10 feet to ask in person (yes...I really do do that, what's worse is that I message my supervisor, who sits directly across from me, because I don't want to have to catch his attention through his headphones). Unfortunately, it also allows me to socialize without the glowering, annoyed looks from irritated co-workers who've been interrupted by my incessant chattering. I try not to get distracted, really I do, but sometimes the conversations are seriously good, take this quote for one:

"mtsheetsie: years of therapy have not helped me yet
fLtYmKnZm: It tends to take a combination of therapy, meds and faith...take it from a pro, I know
mtsheetsie: ha
mtsheetsie: What if I have faith that my meds are my therapy?
mtsheetsie: but really i'm on the wrong scrip
fLtYmKnZm: LOL
fLtYmKnZm: Well done
fLtYmKnZm: thanks
mtsheetsie: knowledge is freedom, but it still doesn't help me understand why they have books in prison
fLtYmKnZm: LOL
mtsheetsie: bye for real!
fLtYmKnZm: l8r "

frantic and frazzled and yet....not

So...I'm running around like a lunatic half the day, and the other half I'm procrastinating like a pro. I'm not really sure how I manage this odd dichotomy of time consumption, but I do. It's like I go through the day at hyperspeed with jutter, shuddering stops, starts and pauses. During the pauses I might as well be insensate for the amount of nothingness I accomplish. My throttle is either jammed wide open or off, engine dead and cold, the gears between having been stripped smooth. I'd like to be able to just chill and do things slowly and get them done on time...or even ahead of schedule. But...yeah I doubt that's going to happen any time soon. Especially not with the Holiday season upon us. The cool thing is that I managed to finish another project that was floating around. I made a swag for one of the living room windows as a test. It looks pretty good so I'm going to go ahead and make the other one tonight. Maybe. If the couch doesn't lure me with it's siren song. Maybe I should move the sewing machine to the living room coffee table, that way I can sit on the couch, watch tv AND get some stuff done. Wow, wouldn't that be something?

See, I HAVE been productive

Ok so I promised that I'd post some of the pictures of some of the stuff I've been working on...so here it is. This is the Halloween wall hanging I made right before Haloween. Ok so made is an overstatement, I think I should perhaps say finish. I started on this about 2 years ago. I would always start working on it about 2 days before Halloween and of course not be able to finish it in time. This time I started it well into September and had it up in October. YAY. You can't see the little bats in the upper right hand block, but there are about three of them and they're adorable.

I also have some pictures of two of the little quilts I made, one is a lap/car quilt for Em and the other is a matching mini quilt for her dolls.
Holiday crafting is in full swing in my house and I have to say, I'm totally having a great time. I'm half way finished with the advent calendar I wanted to make Em (did I mention that I start projects a bit behind?) and a wall hanging for her room. I also have a wall hanging that I'm working on for the hallway. That one's nearly done as well. I keep those projects close to the couch so I can fiddle around while watching tv. I've been hooked on medical shows on TLC and DHC lately. I watch them voraciously, mostly because I'm so amazed by the human body's capacity to function despite major defects, be they genetic or caused by external influences. I can't wait to start nursing school next fall. It's gonna be great! I hope to focus on one of the three following fields: abnormal psychology, burn victims, or oncology.
I don't pick easy fields to focus on, because if it's not a challenge, I can't stay interested. When every day is a struggle to keep people breathing and hopeful, determined to live, that's when I'm happiest. Yeah the burnout rate is high in all of those fields, but I'm sure that if it's God's will, I'll excell.