Weird On Wednesday

It's Wednesday. What better day to get this weirdness over with? Mom says I'm not weird. She pointed out that the things I'm calling weird are "just the things that make you an interesting individual." Hmmmm... Thanks Mom! Let's hope that in this case, weird really does translate into interesting.

Here they are, six weird things about me:

1. I'm afraid of knives. I manage to cook and cut up food, but if we're working in the kitchen together I can't watch you use a knife. If you plan to walk across the room carrying a knife, I need to be notified ahead of time. Not in writing; just yell "SHARP" before you venture away from the counter with a knife in your hand. While we eat I won't watch you cut the food on your plate. I'll be studying the weave of the tablecloth or perhaps concentrating on safely cutting my own food. Knives. My stomach knots just thinking about them.


2. I'm also afraid of some of the small appliances in my kitchen. For instance, I will not use the blender, aka electronic whirling knives. I owned a mini food processor (aka electronic whirling knives with attachments) for years but never actually plugged it in. I can't think about sharp things anymore. So I won't. We're done here. Moving on to #3...


3. My car is 10 years old and while it is cute as the dickens, it is very basic. It has a manual transmission and I LOVE it. I'd be happy to never drive an automatic again. My car has air conditioning, but otherwise no bells or whistles. No power windows, no power locks, nothing like that. I'd love to keep this car running forever. It's the perfect Toadlilymobile. And it will hold a nice load of lumber.


4. Mark and I are big U2 fans. We love the movie Rattle and Hum. We've watched it hundreds of times and basically have it memorized. Our everyday conversation is sprinkled with Rattle and Hum-isms. Where's the glory in that?


5. When I eat I think "thermal" - that is, I look at everything on my plate and decide which items will get cold the quickest and I eat those first. The items most likely to stay warm will be eaten last. This means I eat all of my fries first, then eat the burger/sandwich. The burger has a nice bun for a jacket, it's not getting cold any time soon. The fries start getting cold the second they come out of the fryer. Given a choice, I will always eat my salad last. It started life cold and it will still be there waiting for me when the hot food is gone.


6. I have a lot of lyrics to songs stuck in my head. Joy thinks this is weird. Apparently I can sing along with more songs than the average person. What can I say? Rock the catbox.

I realize after weeks of waiting, this list of weird things really is a big letdown. I think Mom is right. I'm weird, but in a completely normal way. How's that for twisty?

In stitching news, have you joined the Friends Gather BB over on Yuku? You should! There are SALs, challenges, and all sorts of interesting things to talk about. I love reading blogs but it is nice to have a collective place where we can meet and chat more directly. Thanks Becky for bringing the board back! This past weekend Vonna moderated our first Stitch-A-Thon. I worked on a project that is a gift for Mom's birthday. I can't share it for a day or two, but I will say it involved a finishing technique that was brand new for me. I finished the sewing tonight, and I think it turned out ok.

My next task is to get my ornament exchange kits pulled together and in the mail. I should have had them ready Monday night for Rainbow Stitchers but alas I didn't quite make it. Christi and Sandy had theirs ready on Monday, and they are fantastic kits! I'm not sure mine are going to quite measure up. I'll be working on them tomorrow.

This week is the My Home Town SAL on Legacy and I've been busy with other things. I'll get the ornament kits wrapped up in time to start the Christmas Ornament SAL over the weekend. MHT may get shuffled to next week. I am eager to work on it, but the timing has been all wrong lately. I could have worked on it Monday night at Rainbow but it is on 36 ct fabric and the lighting at McDonald's just isn't that great.

I've been trying to stay current with my blog reading, but I must confess my commenting leaves something to be desired. Sometimes I just want to read and read and soak in all of that stitching blog goodness. Ahhhhh.... Several of you commented about my class from Rockome with the eight ways to make a cross stitch. Sorry the picture wasn't clickable. Basically it just shows starting the stitch from all 4 of the different corners, and crossing the stitch with the base/top stitch going opposite ways. Eek, that isn't a good explanation, is it? Maybe I better try again with the camera instead of the scanner. I should add that each stitch is completed as you go, not the continental method of stitching a row across and crossing them on the return trip.

A note for Adana, my dear I can only dream of having my Queen sampler done at this point! I had such grandiose ideas for it and didn't follow through. Now there is no time to enter it in the show this year. I can't wait to see yours in person! I received my show booklet today and I've been drooling over some of the class projects. Maybe I can hit the lottery between now and June.

I'll wrap this up with a picture. I made the discovery last week that I have a major error on my Spring Snapperland project. I counted something wrong in the border and based on that I didn't stitch the squares big enough. I didn't catch any of it until I had most of the "big stuff" stitched in the first square.

I've since fixed the squares but I will wait (and wait) to decide what to do with the first design. It wouldn't be too hard to fudge. After all, it is only one stitch too high in the box. I could lose a row of roof (or chimney) and add a bit of path at the bottom. I'm just not sure I can look at it forever knowing that it is "wrong". Weird, huh?