I only worked on this a couple of days, but got the top row of circles done. The skein I started this with turned out to be a bit different than the ones I ordered later. I like the later ones better -- they are much more vibrant with lovely shades of blue and no brown. Hopefully the difference won't impact the final piece too much.

Cirque des Cercles
Ink Circles
Full cross over two on 32 count Silkweaver Precious Metals Reflections Lugana with two strands of Thread Gatherer Silk N Colors Kaleidoscope floss
22% complete

It seems like I had to wait forever to get this one started! I decided on Silkweaver Starquest on 25 count opalescent Lugana. The fabric isn't quite what I expected, but then it never really is anyway. Regardless, the fabric is beautiful and the design should look fantastic on it. I haven't decided for sure yet whether I'm going to stitch the dragonflies. Probably not, but seeing how I'm so fickle anyway that could easily change!

Dragon Skies
Heaven and Earth Designs
Original artwork by Selena Fenech
Full cross, one over one on 25 count Silkweaver Reflections Starquest Lugana
9% complete

Link to chart

The girls and I had a lovely Christmas. My son decided to spend the holiday with my parents - a bit of a disappointment to me, but then again it was nice not having to listen to him yell and complain the last couple of days. Everything irritates him and he doesn't hesitate to let us know. It is incredibly annoying.

The girls were very happy with what they received. Which in turn makes me very happy! The little one played, the older one also played and then went out for a bit with her un-boyfriend, and I napped and stitched. A very pleasant and relaxing day. Today I shall straighten up the mess!

I have once again been a bit neglectful about posting my WIPs.

First I did some work on Frog Prince. Between being sick and Christmas stuff taking up my time, I didn't get much done. And most of that was black. Which was actually good since I wasn't feeling well enough to do much concentrating!

Frog Prince
Heaven and Earth Designs
Original artwork by Scott Gustafson
Full cross, one over one on 28 count bone Lugana
4% complete

Link to chart

I also worked on Fairy Moon. Only for a couple of days, though, since I really wanted to get started on Dragon Skies!

Fairy Moon
Mirabilia
Full cross, one over two on 28 count Blues Cashel linen dyed by Sugar Maple Fabrics
44% complete

I've loved this since the first time I saw it. Such lovely blues!

Jewel of the Sea
Heaven and Earth Designs
Original artwork by Jessica Galbreth
Full cross, one over one on 25 count antique white Lugana
1% complete

Link to chart

I discovered yesterday that my son managed to infect our computer with some new virus, packed.morphine.d. There doesn't seem to be much information about it yet, so I have no clue what it's going to do. So far the only problem we've had is a pop-up from the virus detector whenever we try to use Windows to open a folder. I'm hoping that's all the problem we'll have -- since I go days without ever doing that. And I didn't have a problem today when I opened the printer to clean the print head. Although, that could be an ominous sign in itself! Regardless, I backed up all the cross stitch patterns I have on my hard drive. Which goes to show how crazy I am, since that is all I backed up (other than my budget, Christmas list, and rotation files). If I could get my stupid DVD burner to work I'd start burning the 8 years or so of pictures I have.

Pictures!

Morning Dew
Bucilla Kit designed by Barbara Baatz
14 count kit Aida
41% complete

Martyr's
Heaven and Earth Designs
Original artwork by Tracy Butler
Full cross, one over one on 28 count bone Lugana
6% complete

Link to chart

Boy am I glad this one is finished! A plague of frogs and myriad mistakes, including a doozy that I made within the first 100 stitches and didn't discover until way past the point of no return. Nevertheless, the design is still mighty pretty. So here it is in all it's imperfect glory.

Quaker Garden
Blackbird Designs
One over two on 40 count Garden State Java by R&R Productions with Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Art threads
Started February 21, 2007 ----- Finished December 5, 2007

And I will never work with Weeks Dye Works threads again. I had to use incredibly short (about 6 inches) lengths and still had trouble with the thread shredding.

Someone asked about my stitching area. So here is my little corner. I have a horrible time keeping boys and cats off my chair. My son continuously torments me about it. He plans on having friends over on his 18th birthday and has informed me that every single one of them is going to SIT IN MY CHAIR (naked -- which rather frightened my daughter). On the bright side, with all the hoopla over the chair, he forgets how annoyed I get when he TOUCHS my STITCHING.

So I bought it and started it!

QS Day Dreaming Mermaid
Heaven and Earth Designs
Original artwork by Ching-Chou Kuik
Full cross, one over one on 25 count antique white Lugana
14% complete

Link to chart

This one is a lot of fun! I really didn't want to put it up, but it's time to move on. Next up is Quaker Garden. I'm hoping to finish it, but we'll see how that goes.

Revelation
Heaven and Earth Designs
Original artwork by Selena Fenech
Full cross, one over one on 25 count cream Lugana
4% complete

I probably would have gotten more done if I hadn't wasted 2 days on trying to tent stitch! I don't know why I keep experimenting with fabric -- I always end up back with the 25 count Lugana (and I've also found 28 count to be tolerable).

On a non-stitching note. Why is it so hard to find something in the US to do jigsaw puzzles on that doesn't require you to roll it up? I ordered a Puzzle Center from Bits and Pieces and I was quite excited to get it. Now I see they are unavailable and if the charge to my credit card is any indication, they didn't send me one. I'm bummed.

A bummer since I thought I'd be able to progress twice as fast on my HAEDs. I restarted Revelation, tent stitched on Monaco, and found that my stitching was becoming distorted. Definitely not as "crisp" when compared to what I had previously done on the 25 count Lugana. Oh, well. It probably would work just fine -- who's going to be scrutinizing my stitching anyway? But I just couldn't find it in me to accept it. So I am once again back to 25 count Lugana as my favorite for over one. Fortunately I was able to cancel the 1.75 yards of Monaco I had ordered and get some of the Lugana instead!

My birthday is coming up and I'm thinking of gifting myself with QS Day Dreaming Mermaid. And starting her as well. It actually works out perfectly since I'm rotating my projects in reverse alphabetical order and the next up after Revelation is Quaker Garden. So "Quick Stitch" would come right before that, right?

I'm so pathetic -- I picked out 21 projects to rotate in the hopes of seeing some progress and now I am fighting with myself to NOT add any more (all new starts which makes it even worse!). Yesterday I added Pale Rose, Calling the Crows, Beauty and the Beast (Gibson), and Isabella. An hour later I came to my senses and removed them. I'm fighting a losing battle though. I fear it's only a matter of time until I'm back up to 60 active WIPs!

And I wonder why everyone I know thinks I'm crazy?

First off, I have a picture of the completed Memorial Sampler. This will probably be my only finish for 2008!

Memorial Sampler
Midsummer Night Designs
Stitched on 40 count flax Newcastle linen with recommended GAST, WDW, and DMC thread.
Started 9/28/07 ----- Finished 10/19/07

Next, here is an updated on Sea of Roses:

Sea of Roses
Heaven and Earth Designs
Original artwork by Selena Fenech
Full cross, one over one on 25 count Strawberry Sparkle lugana (hand-dyed by Silkweaver)
30% complete

Link to chart

And finally, here is my start on Rose. Nothing but background at this point.

Rose
Heaven and Earth Designs
Original artwork by Rachel Anderson
Tent stitch, two over one on 28 count antique white Monaco
2% complete

Link to chart

Next up is Revelation, which I will be restarting on Monaco.

Labels: Memorial Sampler, Rose, Sea of Roses

I got my first opportunity to really play with my new camera during the high school's performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor. My son played Master Ford (and was outstanding, I might add).

The camera is quite fast, so I was able to take a lot of pictures (over 500 the first night!). Good thing too, because a lot of them came out like this:

I experimented with the settings and find that I can get rid of the blurring by using a higher ISO. However the quality of the photo is not as good -- lots and lots of noise! So there's a trade-off there between getting more clear images or taking a chance that the subject will stay still long enough! Still I'm quite happy with the camera's performance.

All of those photos were taken from my seat in the front row. The zoom is incredible -- harder to get a clear image but when you do it's worth it!

And now for my favorite thing. Movies! I don't know how they will look if I can figure out how to get them on a DVD, but I think they look pretty good from a hand-held digital camera.

Song of the Dead
Heaven and Earth Designs
Original artwork by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law
Full cross, one over one on 25 count antique white Lugana
15% complete

Link to chart

I got an incredible amount done on this in 4 days, averaging 788 stitches a day! Every single one of them a work day. Only having to work with about ten colors with about 75% black probably helped!

Now I'm off to work on Sea of Roses.

A bit delayed, but here is my progress on Taj Mahal. I misread one of the symbols in the trees on the left hand side and had moved on before I realized what I had done. I used a gray NPI instead of the called for Dinky Dyes yellow-green. Oops! I decided not to frog it, since it looked just fine to me, and simply made the same "mistake" on the other tree. I did use the correct color on the trees in the right hand side.

I am loving the colors in this one and am thinking of monochrome designs I can stitch with some of the overdyes I've grown particularly fond of!

I got the new camera today! I'm quite pleased with the picture of my stitching. The colors are pretty true to life and at full size you can see the individual stitches (click on thumbnail below to see). Hurray! No more trying to stitch larger images together!

Tower of Stony Wood
Heaven and Earth Designs
Original artwork by Kinko Craft
Full cross, one over one on 25 count DMC evenweave
22% complete

Isn't his skull just lovely?

Next up is Taj Mahal.

I really didn't want to stop working on this one, seeing the details in the black and white image develop is fascinating. So I worked on her twice as long as I was "supposed" to. She is 21% complete now.

Victory
Heaven and Earth Designs
Original artwork by Selena Fenech
Full cross, one over one on 25 count Rumbles of Thunder lugana by Pol Stitches

Next up is The Tower at Stony Wood.

Child Support Enforcement tracked down the ex and a wage attachment was ordered two weeks ago. So I should start receiving that again pretty soon. I wonder, though. What does an employer think when they get a wage attachment showing a person owes the equivalent of two years back child support? Probably they don't even pay attention, but it certainly would make me wonder about the reliability of the person I just hired.

OMG! Am I insane? Why did I switch my TV to Verizon? Well, because it would be cheaper. HA! I got my bill today and they are charging me $19 more than they are supposed to. PLUS they charged me $9.99 activation on the broadband that I already had. Payable in installments, so who knows how much they are going to sock me for over the upcoming bills. The activation fee is in addition to the $69 early termination fee they also charged me when I bundled the broadband. Which they took out of my checking account and didn't bother to put back. Supposedly they are giving me a credit for that on my next bill. Plus $10 off for the next 6 months for my aggravation. We'll see.

Now I have to call them again, endure their terrible automated answering system, and be transferred to at least three people before I end up with someone who can actually help me. GAH!! What I want to know is, how many people don't check their phone bills and so are totally not being charged what they contracted for. I tell you what, since I'm now stuck with them for two years I'm going to make sure I get my $27/month discount! GAH!! Again!

I was rather disappointed with the results of my Ebay auctions. My own fault for listing the items so low to start. Which has always worked out fine in the past. It's been awhile since I've Ebayed, though, and I guess I should have thought about the economy. Not so many people buying cross stitch charts when they can't afford to buy food! Ah, well. Some people got some very good deals and so I'm trying to be happy for them! Besides I believe I raised enough for the camera, so it's all good.

And when I get the camera I will post a picture of Memorial Sampler, which I finished last weekend. Hooray! A finish for 2007! I'm now working on Selena Fenech's Victory. She is so much fun too stitch!

I am so annoyed and feeling a bit beaten once again. I need a propane fill up, so I called my gas company. I've had to pay in advance for the last three years (thanks to you know who demolishing my credit) and finally got put on a budget plan this year. I've gotten two statements, both of which said I didn't have to pay anything. So the first one I didn't, but I sent a payment in on the second because I knew I needed gas and I wanted to make sure I had enough money on account. Now I find out from my gas company that the statements said I didn't owe anything because of the credit and their billing system sees that and thinks I don't -- but I am in fact 3 months behind on the budget. So, I have to send in another $135 by the end of October to stay on the budget and then $270 in November. Which I could probably manage. But she then told me I'd still have to call them when I needed a fill up! The whole point of the budget was so I could get automatic deliveries (I thought) and wouldn't have to monitor my usage (which I'm not always diligent about which resulted in running out of gas last year). But now I think why bother? I could come up with $405 by the end of November or just pay $400 in December when I need the next deliver. I don't know why this bothers me so much, but it does.

And my f!!!!!! cat peed on the floor AGAIN. I hate to do it, but I'm psyching myself up to take her to the SPCA. I know they'll euthanize her, but I'm so tired of her NEVER using the litter box. I even took over litter box duties, so I know the box is clean, and spent over $30 on "cat-attract" litter. I'm going to try one more litter box and if she won't use it then I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get rid of her. Oh, and, this is a behavioral thing, not physical.

I am suffering from WIP overload. When I'm finished with Memorial Sampler, I'm planning on starting a new rotation since my old one kind of went to pot over the summer. But I'm stuck between continuing along the same lines as before -- with all 60+ WIPs in the rotation -- or picking 12 to 15 projects and work on them exclusively. I like idea number 2 because I'd be able to see some real progress on those selected few. The down side is that most of my projects will still take years to complete and so I'd be stuck with those until finished. And I wouldn't be able to start new stuff! So I'm stuck. I still have a while to decide, but it's been keeping me up at night.

My second dilemma is what fabric to stitch Dragon Skies on. I've decided not to stitch the background and I think I've got my choices narrowed down to:


Silkweaver Chasescape, Silkweaver Starquest, Sugar Maple Eye of the Storm
Sugar Maple Forget Me Knots, Polstitches Imagination, Heaven Lee Snowy Nights

It's so hard because hand dyed fabrics never look the same as they do on the computer screen! At the moment I'm kind of leaning toward Starquest. I've seen several other pictures of the fabric and it seems pretty true to the scan on Silkweaver's site. Of course, that could change at any moment. I really like Imagination, it looks like a dawn sky to me. But I'm reluctant because I don't know if the actual fabric looks so cloud like.

Last night I did another experiment with tent stitching on Monaco. This is the ladybug from Rose. There are over 40 colors in this tiny 30 x 23 stitch section! Coverage is very good and there are no predominant slanted lines, so I think I'll be doing more projects this way. Helps with dilemma #1 since I'll be able to stitch HAEDs twice as fast.







Since I was scanning, I also did another project I worked on in September. Here is Martyr's. I originally started this Jobelan and then restarted on 28 count bone Lugana.










I also scanned my progress on Memorial Sampler. However, I was not able to get the two halves of the scan to line up correctly. But I did crop a portion. I just love this parrot. He's so cute! And now I think it's time to put him back on the scrolls and get cracking.

Labels: Dragon Skies, Martyrs, Memorial Sampler

Made the final payment on my trailer! Woo hoo! Now I can really start thinking about getting rid of this dump with the ever-increasing lot rent and get a real house! Plus I made another final payment on my student loan. Not so woo hoo. I printed everything out this time so I have proof that I paid the pay off amount. The next couple of weeks are going to be extremely tight, but after that I'll be solvent. I'll still have to budget carefully, but at least my income will cover my expenses and I won't have to bite my nails waiting for child support to buy food and other necessities.

I finally got the pictures from my camera, so I can post some of the things I've been working on during the last month. This actually isn't everything. I didn't get pictures of everything because my camera doesn't seem to want to power up and I've been too lazy to scan anything.

I've decided I really hate stitching HAEDs on Jobelan, so I'm going to restart those. Here is Salamander, which I restarted on 25 count Baby Lotion Lugana.

Over Labor Day weekend I got an incredible urge to work on something pink. So I started Sea of Roses -- which is actually one of the first HAEDs I purchased. I'm leaving out the background and am stitching her on 25 count Strawberry Sparkle Reflections Lugana from Silkweaver. The stuff is not easy to stitch on, but I sure do love the sparkle!

Before I got the pink urge, I felt like stitching some nice, relaxing blue. So I worked on Storykeeper.
And last, but not least, I got some more done on Heaven Above. I think I've changed my mind about this sampler, though. I love the design and actually purchased the chart prior to my brother's death. But the more I work on it, the more uneasy I am about giving it to my sister-in-law. Particularly after talking to my mom. She's probably going to be the one getting it framed and then give it as a Christmas gift. I certainly feel more comfortable with that. So today I'm going to start on The Memorial Sampler, which is the one my mom liked. The plan is to keep working on it until it's finished, since I need to have it done by Thanksgiving. We'll see how well that goes!

And now for some pictures of my lovely children. Here is my son and his girlfriend as Mr. and Mrs. Beaver in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I was very disappointed with the pictures I got. Most of them were blurry, because the shutter stays open too long with no flash. Or overexposed because of the stage lighting. One of the first things I'm going to purchase when I'm solvent is a new camera. I've already got it picked out -- since my kids are so involved with theater I'm getting one with a 12x zoom. I can't wait!

The production itself was fabulous.

And here is a picture of my daughter, following in her mom's footsteps!
Quite a picture intensive post! I hope it didn't cause any one's computer to go into fits. I will try not to wait so long before my next update!!

Sometimes I just want to give up. I checked my student loan account so I could see the lovely zero balance and according to them I still owe $9. So the 10 day payoff amount is a great big fat lie. And of course the people in India who do the customer support can't do anything about it -- I don't think she was even able to pull any more information up about my account than I can (which only shows current amount due and payments made, nothing about how much was due last month -- which should clearly show that I paid the total amount due). I know $10 is no big deal, but it’s the idea of the thing. Silly, I know, but I just want to cry.

I finally got through to Verizon and got my account re-enabled. Obviously since my template is once again working correctly.

You may recall a while ago a lovely person (who I thank again!) sent me a HAED gift certificate. I was very happy to have it yesterday when I discovered Selena Fenech's Dragon Skies had finally been released. I've been waiting for it and I wouldn't have been able to purchase it without the gift certificate. Thank you, thank you!!

I was going to start it last night but after seeing the amount of white used in the design (the top pages are almost entirely white and Kreinik 032!), I decided I'd go insane trying to stitch it on the antique white lugana I planned to use. I have a fat quarter of Lavender Bliss and I almost used that, but good sense got the better of me and I decided a one inch margin on the left and right would really be pushing it! So I'll need to order a fat half, which will have to wait a bit. Ah, well. Waiting probably won't kill me.

I have to admit I was a bit disappointed with the chart itself. I can't see how all that white (with bits of 032) is going to translate into the top portion of the imagine. It's very delicate, but there is some color and definition. So I think I'll just skip the first 60 rows (which are 99% white).

Labels: Dragon Skies

My account with Verizon doesn't seem to be working. Which is where I have the style sheet for my template. I imagine it has something to do with cancelling my service temporarily in order to get the phone and internet on one account. I've got the same id and my connection is working but my e-mail and web pages have been suspended. Lovely. After the struggle getting my phone to work I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Do I really want to get my TV service with them?

Made the last payment on my student loan! One more thing to pay off and then my income will be enough to cover expenses and I won't have to depend on unreliable child support. Hooray!!

I read the first Harry Potter book when it first came out and had no desire to continue on with the series. After watching the fourth movie I started thinking maybe I should give it another shot, but seeing how I've got close to 100 books in my "too read" pile I never did. Then my younger sister and I got into a conversation about the books and she really thought I should read them and then I saw people finishing the final book and saying only "wow" and I figured I really had to find out what the big deal really was. So I bought all 7 books in one go and started reading as soon as I received them. By the fourth book I was totally engrossed and spent most of my time immersed. I finished the final book early this afternoon and I have to say -- wow. I'm no good at analyzing what I read and so I am not sure what grabbed me, but -- wow.

I did get some stitching done when I wasn't reading. I stuck with The Tower at Stony Wood because I didn't want to take the time to switch to another project. Here's the most recent progress picture:

I was so surprised to open my e-mail this morning and discover a kind soul and fellow Delawarian had sent me a HAED gift certificate. Thank you! Thank you! I was so touched I almost started to cry -- if I was home I would have! It certainly lifted my spirits after another trying week.

Fortunately, the almost-manic state I was in seems to have passed, which is very fortunate since I had my arraignment in Truancy Court on Wednesday. Before going in I asked my God to help me do whatever I needed to in order to make everything okay. And once again she was there for me -- I ended up pleading guilty (which I was certainly not intending to do!) -- basically, she has to go to school but if she does miss a day, I have to send a note in the next day with the reason. If I do that, the case is closed and the record is expunged. I don't even have to pay a fine. Of course, I'm going to have to steel myself when she says she's not feeling well and make her go anyway.

I didn't seem to get very much done on First Flight.



I'm using a full stitch (1 over 1) on 25 count lambswool Jobelan for this one. I have again strayed from my plans and have decided to work on Tower at Stony Wood before moving on to Heaven Above. I don't know why I'm so reluctant to work on that, it is really a lovely design. I intend to have a mostly stitching weekend, so hopefully I'll have a good bit to show on Monday!

I've been having a horrible time with being on edge lately. My cross stitch has suffered because I've spent much of my time looking for a replacement cell phone for a phone that works perfectly fine. Which I am also highly annoyed about. I've once again reworked my rotation -- I'm not sure how much of that has to do with my unreasonably amped up psyche. I really think it's the anti-depressant med, I feel like I was doing so much better not taking anything. I'm going to give it at least two weeks and if I'm still feeling like this I'll take it up with my doctor.

So, during this time, I've decided that working on the same project every other time is simply not going to work. I think I have stitcher's ADD -- nothing holds my attention for too long. But then that may have something to do with WIP overload and serial starteritis. I still want to get at least Heaven Above done before Thanksgiving and I have not yet given up on the idea of a focus piece, so I've decided to try this:

1. My Choice
2. My Choice
3. Heaven Above
4. Tower at Stony Wood

For slot #1 I worked on Rose Tinted. Which continues to look like a bunch of big red blobs.

For slot #2 I'm working on First Flight, which is a HAED design with artwork by Lisa Victoria.

Labels: Rose Tinted

I'm afraid I got bored of her fairly quickly, but for what it's worth, here is an updated picture:

And I hope I don't have another like it anytime soon! First I've been stressing over the whole truancy thing. My son's girlfriend's mother is an attorney who works for one of the state courts so I asked her about it on Monday. The basic idea I got from her was that the schools don't really have to adhere to code. I tried to contact the visiting teacher, but of course she's off for the summer. I even went so far as to call her on her cell phone (which required guessing at the last number since it got cut off when copied -- and yes, it turned out to be 9). I left a message. Perhaps the whole mess will be a blessing in disguise. Maybe I'll finally get some help from the school to actually solve the problem!

Plus on Saturday I learned that my cell phone provider has filed for bankruptcy. A big bummer since I have to do prepaid (although I don't know if I'd have a contract even if I could) and the provider was excellent -- 10 cents a minute and cheap web access. I think I've finally got that all ironed out -- the per minute rate is actually better and minutes are good for 160 days. No web access, though. And it's still possible my phone will be deactivated by Verizon. A big annoying mess. But on the plus side, I finally managed to get the phone in my house working on my new account. Which was active as of 6/15. I had to take time off work only to discover the repair man had already been there and didn't even need to get into the house. Because the FIOS just had to be hooked into the phone line EXACTLY as I told them. More than once.

I did get through most of the first page of Heaven Above, though.

Wednesday morning I saw my doctor. I finally got the blood work he had requested over a year ago done and I am "on my way" to being diabetic, my cholesterol is high, I might or might not have an infection, and my blood count might be low. Basically, I'm either really sick or just one of those people who is a bit outside the normal parameters. I was chastised for quitting the Paxil, but he agrees that perhaps it was keeping me too sedated. So he put me on Wellbutin. I told him I felt much better without the drugs, but I guess he didn't totally believe me. Ah, well. I'll try to remember to take the stuff and it's 1/2 of the normal dose, so maybe it'll be enough to take the edge off without shutting me down.

And now I'm tired of reliving the whole thing. There's more, but those are the highlights. Let's leave it at that! I'm going to start work on Angel of Cross Stitch. Here's a picture of what I have completed so far. Not much. I hope those wrinkles in the fabric haven't become permanent. It has been a very long time since I've worked on her. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to handle the threads for her. Normally, I put all the threads on Lo-Ran cards (or something similar), but I'd need 9 cards for this project! Hmmm... must ponder...

Yes, I do believe I have lost my mind.

2,500 more stitches on The Tower of Stony Wood. The picture doesn't come close to doing it justice.



I've decided to work a bit more on Heaven Above rather than starting Memorial Sampler.

Labels: Tower of Stony Wood

Bureaucracy chaps my ass. I got a summons today that I am being charged for failure to send my child to school for 17 days between 9/11/06 and 6/5/07. What?? I am so beyond annoyed. The schools can't manage to hire competent teachers, but they do have a full time "visiting teacher" whose sole responsibility is to check on students' attendance, harrass parents at work, and send letters. And then wait an entire month after school is over to file a criminal complaint?

I will be the first to admit that I've had trouble getting my daughter to school and I'm frequently late. My own attendance at work is pretty bad. I am well aware it's a problem and I'm dealing with it the best I can. A lot of it has to do with my mental state and the lack of a support network. Quitting the Paxil (almost, I'm still taking about two pills a week, and am going to talk to my doctor when I see him next week), has helped tremendously. I haven't had to call in sick because I couldn't get out of bed for over a month! Which is good, because it had started to become a bi-weekly thing.

Now that I've vented a bit of my annoyance, let me get on to the legal aspect.

I am being charged with a violation of DE Code 14, Section 2702(a)(2) which states:

§ 2702. Compulsory attendance requirements; evaluation of readiness [Effective until fulfillment of the contingencies in 75 Del. Laws, c. 440, § 8]

(a) Except as otherwise provided, the following provisions are applicable to school attendance in this State:

(2) Every person who has legal custody, guardianship of the person, or legal control of a student, including any person acting as a caregiver pursuant to the provisions of § 202(f) of this title, who is enrolled in a public school of this State shall send the student to the school each day of the minimum school term and to any academic improvement activities required by § 153 of this title.

Okay, quite vague really. Then we have this:

(d) The following provisions shall be applicable in regard to statewide minimum mandatory attendance requirements in each school year for children in grades K through 5.

(1) Following the 10th day of unexcused absence by a student, the school shall immediately notify the parent(s) or guardian and a visiting teacher for the district shall visit the student's home;

(2) Following the 15th day of unexcused absence by a student, the student's parent(s) or guardian shall be notified by certified mail to appear at the school within 10 days of notification for a conference and counseling;

(3) Following the 30th day of unexcused absence by a student, the school shall refer the case for prosecution;

(f) If contacted by the school pursuant to paragraph (d)(2) of this section, each parent or guardian of a student shall sign a contract with the district agreeing they will make every reasonable effort to:

(1) Have their child or children abide by the school code of conduct;

(2) Make certain their child attends school regularly; and

(3) Provide written documentation for the reasons for any absence.

So what I want to know is, since state code says the school shall refer the case for prosecution after the 30th day of absence, can I even be charged? And also does it matter that the school didn't follow the procedures listed above? The school district has it's own attendance policy, which doesn't follow the above at all. Their policy uses denial of credit as a penalty. But my daughter passed and I never received anything other than the "you're so bad" letters and phone calls at work. The bad attendance hasn't affected her grades -- she finished the year with straight A's.

So now I'm going to go take her to see Shrek the Third and try to forget about this nonsense.

Here's my start on Heaven Above.



After trying three different fabrics that I had on hand, I settled on the 40 count Lakeside Linens Examplar that I had originally started the Days of Advent Sampler on. It's darker than I'd like, but I just couldn't afford to spend any more. The colors show up quite nicely and that's really the most important thing.

Labels: Heaven Above

I'm going to stitch memorial samplers for my sister-in-law and my parents and I'm hoping to have them finished by Christmas. Since the chance of me working on a single project until it is done is pretty slim, I've decided to change my rotation. It will now work like this:

1. Heaven Above
2. The Tower at Stoney Wood
3. Memorial Sampler
4. My choice

Labels: Rotational Theory

Fortunately, the report of my father's death was greatly exaggerated. He's alive and doing well, all things considered. The weekend was difficult, but we all got through it. I was able to spend some time talking to each of my other brothers and sisters, which doesn't usually happen amidst the hub-bub of my infrequent visits to my parents' house. I've learned that I need to really make an effort to join in the family celebrations. I do not want to lose another sibling only to learn what a fantastic person I never really got to know.

I'm being totally flaking and decided to stop working on Days of Advent Sampler and move on to the next item in my rotation. Here's what I got done:


The colors do look brighter on the lighter fabric. Which is good. I decided to stop because I reordered the threads from the "05" dye lot that the way-off blue skein came from and I didn't feel like stitching around blank spots.

I got another shock today when I read my brother's obituary and see my father named the "late Thomas... ". I'm sure it's a big whopper of a mistake since I got an e-mail from my dad yesterday that he wrote around 4:30 p.m. No one is answering at their house, but I talked to my sister and she hasn't heard anything. Still, a wee bit disconcerting. Although I imagine the ribbing that will ensue may help ease things on Friday.

Labels: Days of Advent Sampler

Thank you for the condolences. Even though a day has gone by, I don't think the full impact has hit me. I'm dreading the funeral because that will make it all real. I'm the oldest of eight children and it's been a while since all of us were together. It is going to be horrible being with everyone and know that he will never be with us again. And even though I don't keep up with my siblings (that is my mother's job!), I love them all dearly. And I hate that he's gone.

I've started back on my rotation where I left off when I started The Tower at Stoney Wood and have been stitching on Pirate and Mermaid since Saturday night. Working on it yesterday was very soothing.


I started working up the web page for it, but then I decided it was taking too much effort and put it aside. I may get it up in the next couple of days though.

I didn't work on it for the full four days because I'm running out of 210 and I started to get ansty. I'm going to restart the Days of Advent Sampler, since I don't like the fabric, and am hoping to get the Adam and Eve block done by Wednesday. It's silly, but it seems important that I finish up with the rotation slot before I leave. And then I'll take Quaker Garden with me when I go up to my folks. Out of order, but it's small, easy, and I won't have to worry about running out of threads while I'm there. I think I might be fixating on this a little bit...

My brother had a fatal car accident yesterday evening. We weren't close and it's kind of sad that I'm not even sure how old he was. 36 maybe? He was always different from the rest of us, in today's world he would have certainly been labeled ADHD. We used to call him Matt the Rat. He drove me crazy when we were kids, he was a rascal but he was also generous and kind. Another brother pointed out that he went the way he would have wanted -- driving a Corvette. For whatever reason, he's in a better place now. I grieve for his wife and three step-sons.

And I have an update of The Tower and Stony Wood. I did manage to get all the way across yesterday.

Labels: Tower of Stony Wood