This is just so true :)

Subject: How to make a woman happy

It's not difficult to make a woman happy. A man only needs to be:

1. a friend
2. a companion
3. a lover
4. a brother
5. a father
6. a master
7. a chef
8. an electrician
9. a carpenter
10. a plumber
11. a mechanic
12. a decorator
13. a stylist
14. a sexologist
15. a gynecologist
16. a psychologist
17. a pest exterminator
18. a psychiatrist
19. a healer
20. a good listener
21. an organizer
22. a good father
23. very clean
24. sympathetic
25. athletic
26. warm
27. attentive
28. gallant
29. intelligent
30. funny
31. creative
32. tender
33. strong
34. understanding
35. tolerant
36. prudent
37. ambitious
38. capable
39. courageous
40. determined
41. true
42. dependable
43. passionate
44. compassionate

WITHOUT FORGETTING TO:
45. give her compliments regularly
46. love shopping
47. be honest
48. be very rich
49. not stress her out
50. not look at other girls

AND AT THE SAME TIME, YOU MUST ALSO:
51. give her lots of attention
52. give her lots of time, especially time for herself
53. give her lots of space, never worrying about where
she goes

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT:
54. Never to forget:
* birthdays
* anniversaries
* arrangements she makes



HOW TO MAKE A MAN HAPPY
1. Show up naked
2. Bring food

Paper art

Have a look here, the guy is amazing :)

http://www.oncotton.co.uk/peter/index.html

Prairie Schooler witch

Here is the piece I stitched and finished for my partner in the PS group last month, oops, time flies by, it was in August. I am so delayed in posting my recent finishes and WIPs.
I loved that piece. I used a LE fabric from Silkweaver and my choice of overdyes, and the finishing was done using a piece of styrofoam and hand-dyed hemp string. It took me a whole evening to assemble it but I was very proud of the result.
In return, I received the most adorable little cube from Teresa D. with a PS owl. The cube is a real sweetie and a joy to look at! I`ll post a photo tomorrow, it is now too dark to get a good shot. Other than this, I am back to Warsaw after my > two Norwegian months and unhappy. Last week-end I travelled to attend my aunt's 70th birthday, she invited about 20 persons of family and closest friends for lunch+coffee to a nearby restaurant, the food was great, the atmosphere relaxing. I brought back Toska the cat queen, the 3h trip in train with her went very well.

When it comes to my WIPs: I just need to do about 6 squares (I think) on the afghan for H. I stopped working on it when I left Norway. I am now working on the French Alphabet Sampler - I finally received it, the store owner sent it to Poland despite swearing 1) she would remember to send to Norway back in July 2) that she did not send to Poland. She did. I am so upset by the way she handled this order. Also, when I asked for help thinking she could get another copy from the designer (because we assumed the one she had sent had got lost), she promised help but I never heard from her since. Beware if you ever plan to order this expensive sampler, make extra sure this is handled better than it went with me.
Thus, I won't able to finish it in time for H's 50th birthday in November. No way. It is 411x411, and I chose to do it 1 over 2 on a SW 40 ct. linen (Cameo is the color). It goes extremely slow.
If I had known, I wouldn't have ordered it this year. I'm trying very hard to work fast on it, so I am not stitching anything else.

You'll notice this post is unhappy, it just shows the way I feel recently. Everything is just plain wrong around, in all possible aspects in my life, and for the first time in my life, I just don't see a way out. Some things have gone too far, and I can't get help from anywhere, anyone. I feel terribly lonely these days. Most of the week I have sleep problems, oh well, hopefully one day this will solved somehow.

H.'s birthday is in 6 weeks, I still have no idea if I'll go, for money reasons. On the other hand, we'll maybe spend Christmas together away from the families this year.

You know. Families can be great. But sometimes they aren't. And today also brought an unexpected quarrel on the phone with my brother over the last family issue. I know I am oversensitive and I shouldn't feel guilty even when he tried to make me feel bad. But in the middle of that particular family problem, I am upset that instead of offering help and understanding, once again all he does it making it all so much, much worse for me. Okay, fine, I am so tired of all these conflicts that I took the plunge and made a decision: no, we won't go and visit them in Switzerland next month if we attend the concert in Zurich. At my age I am tired of feeling guilty all the time, I want to react and do things the way I feel they should be handled.

The only reason I am not deleting what I wrote, even it it sounds so upsetting, is that I want to remember this week and all last month.

I'll cross my own fingers for a better period... Sometimes I just don't feel for living, and knowing me and my optimistic nature, this is pretty serious LOL!

Funny basket

A town in Poland has just entered the Guiness World Records book for the biggest woven basket in the world. To me it looks weird like in an enchanted world... :)

We're almost done with renewing the laundry room. Will post a picture when we're finished.

On the xstitch side, I have worked a lot on the afghan.

Just a few days now till I fly back to Warsaw. It'll be a busy week trying to pack clever, Norwegian (the budget airlines) allow only a limited number of kgs of luggage. We already have the ticket for Happy. Poor doggie, how will he get used again to my small flat? I also talked to my aunt on the phone, Toska-the-cat-queen seems to have gotten used to the garden and sleeping outdoor. Now both of them will get back to the tiny, tiny flat....

Physical work

Heh. I suggested we renovate the laundry room at level -1, which you go through to go to the bathroom. Dozens of years ago (the house is from the 1930-ties, but it has been growing by bits here and there - with no plan, obviously), someone squeezed a tiny -and only- bathroom at level -1. It's not very comfortable to have to go there all the time with all the stairs, and it's also extremely small, so H. is planning on developing the WC near the entrance door at level zero this fall/next spring to turn it into a big, comfortable bathroom. I was surprised when he accepted my suggestion to renew the laundry room; he wasn't planning on working on there before some time. As I wrote earlier, he listens to my suggestions and agrees to some of my ideas after some thinking time LOL! Not that all my ideas are good, far from that. Most require lots of money and that is something we're missing at the moment. Here in Norway people do most of work inside/outside their houses by themselves and with the help of friends. Not like in Poland, where I think most people just pay for the services of a building team. But also - whatever they do, Norwegians use a long time on it, and do it very detailed and neat. In Poland I'd venture to say the result is rarely good and works need to be redone within a short time. How come Polish building workers are praised elsewhere in Europe for the quality of their work but that in their own country they're too lazy to deliver a good job? Pfffff! ;-)
Anyway. That laundry room, like most rooms in this house, hasn't been touched for at least 30-40 years. Yes, years. And H.'s mother loved to pick impossible colors. In the case of the laundry room - dark grey on walls, dark grey on ceiling, dark grey on the floor. Makes for a lovely atmosphere! :-)
We're putting antique vanilla on the walls, white on the ceiling and light grey on the floor. In a year or two the floor will be redone with floor heating and tiles, but now we're doing emergency work :)
Actually we're doing it quite detailed and it'll take us a week or 10 days to have it done. Plenty of holes to fill in, surfaces to smoothen etc.
There are moments when I am so pooped that I ask H. why I had the wonderful idea of renewing this room? LOL
I am leaving in less than 2 weeks and it'll be wonderful to have done at least that room plus a lot of small sorting and cleaning here and there, (re)planting plants in the garden etc.
I can't wait to see that room clean, shining and full of light, I just can't!

On the picture, you can see the color of the walls and how damaged they were. Not anymore like this! :) Hakon was ordering a pizza yesterday... and the pink heart post-it is where I put down the phone number to Peppes Pizza for him, it's the biggest Norwegian pizza chain. BTW, what does a large pizza cost in the US? Here it amounts to 40 usd about, plus the delivery. In Poland that would make 4 large pizzas at least and the delivery is free. I toldya, Norwegians are nuts! LOL

Progress on The Spring Thaw Afghan

Here's what it looked yesterday! Still haven't got my order from the US, so I keep on working on the afghan. Not that I enjoy working on it, mind you. But if I can't finish and give H. his personnalized sampler in November because the order is lost, well, then he'll get the afghan and... hmmm... to be totally honest I am sure he'll love it much much much more than the sampler LOL!

And to the right, the picture shows what the sampler will look like, one day ;-)

If you find it absolutly kitschy, I do agree with you!!! :) :) :)

I'll explain: several hears ago, while we were hiking in the mountains around Zakopane (my old aunt was with us that day), we met a bear mummy with two cubs. The most adorable little creature you can imagine. No stuffed toy will ever recreate that sweetness LOL! I won't venture into a long description now, but the whole experience was life-threatening - actually there aren't that many people in the world who survived a meeting with a bear mother with 2-months old cubs and extremely scary. The bad side to it is that I now tend to be very afraid in the wild nature even when I don't show it. Before that, it didn't occur to me that animals can do harm to me unless I do something very stupid. Now I know that meeting an animal is not always funny, especially when it is accompanied by its young kids. In Norway, I think no human was hurt by a bear since 50 years at least. Or more :) In Poland, each year takes its toll. Our bears are used to people, to getting and finding food at villages and towns, and there are even places where it often happens that people can't get to their cars at the parking because a bear is sleeping on the engine because it's nicely warm! Of course, this only happens in the mountains in the south of the country. And people meet and see bears regularly. I've even heard of a case where a bear was regularly taking food from a trash bin for years and the day when the owner lady decided to stop putting it there, the bear forced its way trough the door and destroyed all the inside of the house, including ovens and other permanent equipment, with one slam of the paw. The poor lady had escaped to the upper floor and called rescues. Here in Norway bears avoid people and seeing one is an event of its own.
The point I am trying to make is that when I saw this chart, I almost shouted :-). It shows the scene where we met the bear mom almost identically to the way it happened, including the view in the background. The only wrong element is the eagle - unless there was one and we didn't see it LOL!

I know that when H. sees the finished afghan, he might not believe his eyes!! :-) I can't wait to see his reaction!!! Well, then we'll have to find a place to hang that "thing" - it's not exactly something I would hang in my living-room! ROTFL

Prairie Schooler 2006 Santa (kit)

I finished it 3 weeks ago, in just a few evenings. It's okay, but I am not fond of it. I wanted to stitch it as a companion piece to last year's kit, and I like the 2006 version a lot more, but I can't help it - I don't like when the fabric shows through the stitches. My mistake - I should have used the threads from the kit but picked my own fabric, in lower count. Oh well. It'll land in the "finished" pile till I put it into the priority pile of finished pieces to frame.
Still raining today. I observed an unhappy squirrel jump from tree to tree (I didn't know they can "fly" like this!) while I was working this morning and I can't keep wondering - is this the same squirrel I see all the time in the garden, or its partner, or a totally different one? :-) One of those questions one will never get an answer to. LOL!
H. is back from work. After dinner we'll attack the laundry room on level -1. Today we'll be sorting and throwing out stuff, then over the coming week we'll be cleaning and scraping the floor, then painting. I still don't know how I managed to have H. want to do this room now because he has his own little plan when it comes to renewing this old house (it'll take a century, I'm afraid) and most of the elements of this genious plan are not things I can discuss! :) :) :)
That said, I learned that instead of forcing my ideas on him, it's better if I say my opinion (many times, insisting voice LOL!) and he says NO, then the next day he comes to me to say he thought it over and yes, we can do it the way I suggested. And that I was right, of course, but that he needs time to process the idea :-)
Very often this involves getting rid of smthg he loves, but which is awfully old and useless. We often pack these jewels up to the other garbage-house.
Small victories :)

Three more weeks in Norway. We bought my ticket back with Happy. Poor doggie, one more trip aboard the monster (aka a plane in human-speak). I know he'll be okay, I just hate thinking of him alone before the departure and then in the luggage section of the plane. Speaking of him, I wonder how he'll adapt to my tiny flat in Warsaw. Here, at H.'s place, he wants to be out in the garden permanently LOL! He's such a jewel... we can't believe how lucky we were to pick this "model" from the shelter last year. He's the most affectionate, the most clever, the most wonderful dog one can dream of. Only "bad" side - he's not very much into defending us or the house, much too friendly for that. Last week we ordered pizza on a very busy afternoon and the delivering person was just delighted with that lovely doggie... which means that basically we can forget about having him guard the house. Ah, also almost each time we're back and he was left alone in the house, we arrive with the car (loud noise), we walk to the door (noise), we open the door (more noise) and still no dog! Sometimes he then runs down the stairs waving his tail madly, but sometimes H. manages to go to the upper floor in silence just to find him snoring on one of the beds... :)
I realize I haven't been blogging much lately but I must say I can't manage to get into a routine day here... Each day brings either work, or walks, or travels, or cleaning, or stitching, and I just don't seem to be able to respond to emails. I am sure that will change as soon as I am back home.

On the topic of cross-stitch, the news are upsetting. Okay, I finished the new Prairie Schooler kit 3 weeks ago but I don't like it that much. The sad thing is that two packages seem to be lost on the way from the US to Norway. One is the bookmark my partner stitched for me and the other an over 200 usd value order - the French Alphabet Sampler and Gloriana silks for it. Money is on the low side this year and time is running. I can't afford paying again for the supplies at this moment, even if I get the sampler chart sent to me again, I won't be able to complete it in time for H.'s birthday. And that was the whole point. I am soooooo upset. I don't even know if it's the store that's cheated on me or if that package is really lost, but since the bookmark from Christina hasn't arrived either after a whole month, I have reasons to think both envelopes have been stolen - somewhere. I got an order from Amy/DSL okay, and fabric from Silkweaver for the sampler as well. So what happened? :( :( :(
The good side of the story is that I got a lot done on the Spring Thaw afghan for H. I first hated every stitch I put in. I found it hard to handle the voluminous fabric, I found it heavy on my knees and uncomfortable in every way to stitch. I started working on it early this year and left it aside. There was even a moment when I thought it would become an UFO. Then I decided to bring it here for as The Summer Project and I am almost done with the 2nd row of five! I'll upload a photo tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be ready in time for Christmas!

Oh, and I have tons of photos to upload. We stayed 10 days in the wilderness, same place as every year, in the wonderful cottage we love so much. We extended the stay by two days in another small cabin and made wonderful walks. For me a 7-hour fast walk in this difficult region was not smthg I would expect I can do, but I did that and more, and I can't wait till next year to repeat that experience. Needless to say I was barely able to walk the next day LOL!
Unfortunately Happy had a hip problem because of that, he couldn't walk at all and woke us up in the night crying, I spent a sleepless night trying to comfort him but he was just soooo sad... H. had his heart broken just looking at him. We brought doggie to the vet as soon as it opened in the morning and he got a shot after being examined. Some muscle inflammation most probably, nothing more serious - but painful. Followed by 8 days of pills. Yeah, Norway is the most expensive country in the world, and I experienced that once more... Vets are unaffordable! The check and the injection cost us around 100 usd. Just that!!! Without the medecine. Norwegians are nuts. Then we thought - how much would we have to pay if the case was *serious*? Geee.

My Norwegian is improving. On Friday I met H.'s mother on my way to the food shop. She lives in the house next to us, we're just separated by a small road where cars are not allowed to drive. We managed to communicate for about half an hour, which was an exploit for me! Last year I only understood a small percentage of her talking, and this time I manage to understand most of it! And as she doesn't understand English at all (a very rare thing for people in Norway, but she's from an older generation), I was very proud of me. She questioned me about lost of private stuff related to H. and I, but she really wasn't nosy, I didn't feel it that way. And she said "You know I would love to have you as my daughter-in-law, don't you?" I was soooo shocked I made her repeat it because I wasn't sure I understood it right!! But yes, she said that and lots of lovely things too, and this was a very stressing talk for me because of the language barrier (I was almost reading her lips so much I was concentrating on trying to understand as much as possible) but also this was probably the most lovely things a girl can dream to hear from her partner's mother! I am so happy she likes me... Because she's not the easiest person on Earth and things could have been very different.

I need to get up in 5 hours to do a text I haven't even started during the week-end, stupid me, so stay tuned for more babbling tomorrow! LOL

Nite nite...

Recent finishes...

Time to start being up to date with uploading my finishes, heh? So, today, I am showing two of my recent finishes: all the 2006 LKs I finished till now and the first of six Vermillion "Woodland ornaments" - which proved to be much more work than I thought but still, even if I find the colors a bit weird, it looks lovely. I like it.

Finally in Norway

Yup. Finally here! :-)

Happy the happy dog and I took the plane on Friday to Oslo. Huge stress for me and lesser for him, I guess. H. arrived just for one day to help with Happy and the luggage - he wanted so, and I didn't say no ;-) We also thought that the procedure at the customs at Gardermoen airport might prove problem-free if he is with me. It would have been problem-free if I were alone, but that we didn't actually expect!
At Warsaw's airport, we checked in and sent the luggage, but left his transporter at the check-in and were allowed to go out with him and come back 30 minutes before the departure. This was the last flight that evening so when we came back, the departure hall was empty with just a few people waiting for us at the desk, at the x-ray and the passport checking booth.
I was so relieved to see he was fine. He was soooo happy to see us and moving his tail madly in the transporter (I bought a big one so he would be very comfortable) but we only let him go out outside the airport.
The customs officer did a fast check on his EU-pet passport, all the vaccins, worm treatment, rabbies antibodies results from the laboratory etc., and then read his microchip (implanted on the neck) and compared the number with the one in the passport. Fast and easy. When I think that the procedure to bring him in took many months and cost a small hell.... (sigh). But now he has it all ready including the expensive laboratory checks and the transporter and if I am careful enough to revaccinate him against rabbies within 365 days, these all were one-time expenses. I will be careful! :)
Happy is so happy here. So different from Warsaw's downtown concrete environment. Here he has a garden, fresh air and well, he is a happy dog. At the same time last year, he was still an unloved, poor dog at the shelter, and now he is a little spoiled butt!
I have prepared all data and other stuff to be able to work normally from here and I should soon be "operational".
And from tomorrow on, I should be able to answer all the private emails I didn't have time for before the big travel. So if you're reading this, please know you'll soon get an answer :-)
The weather is nice, not too hot, and tomorrow I will have a walk in the forest in the afternoon if work allows. H. is usually back from work between 4 and 6 pm
Diet: slow progress but I am sticking to it. A lost year, as I call it - but I intend to be significantly "smaller" by Christmas 2006. Or I'll get nuts! LOL

Happy Friday

Indeed. Couldn`t wait more because of my summer away so got a visit to the dentist. Usual fear of pain etc., because of what I thought was an *enormous* hole to fix. Quite the contrary - the big hole proved an easy superficial thing, on the other hand the dentist found other things to treat, but we'll take care of that after the summer. No pain either. I am lucky to live just two houses away from the most modern clinic in town and this time, I had the pleasure of discovering a new electronic system that steers all the process of making an anti-pain injection. It lasts very long, I'd say something lioke a minute and a half, but the pain - if at all - only happened at one moment and was just a tiny, tiny fragment of what it usually is with a conventional needle. I almost asked to have all my teeth fixed today! And the doctor is a real love, a very beautiful young woman so honestly, I can't wait to go back there in September!
Then the bank refused a loan to buy a new laptop and I certainly can't afford the one I want at the moment, so bye-bye, dreams....
The package stuck at the customs still wasn't delivered today, this is getting just nuts after all this time. They informed me that they had sent it already but I couln't know when. One day...
Currently adding more and more items to my list of stuff to bring to Norway and getting a litte bit anxious, won't I forget anything? Two months is loooong!
Told Happy that he's taking the plane in two weeks but I don't think he was impressed. Lucky doggie. One year ago he was still spending the summer in the shelter, unloved, poor, with dozens and dozens of bigger dogs who were after him. He must now rank amont the most spoiled little doggies on earth! :-)
Happy week-end, everyone! Today's picture is of a little Santa from a small UK kit I received from Angi last Christmas and which I stitched not long ago.

Prairie Schooler bookmark

I just received an email from Christina, my partner that she received my bookmark and that she likes it so I am delighted :-) . This was a PS stitched bookmark exchange in our Prairie Schooler group
I usually stitch small stitches or generally over one, but I felt for experimenting. As usual I changed colors to my choice of overdyes and used a piece of 25 ct. raw linen. That gave it a fine, rustic look even if the bookmark itself is a bit bigger thatI would like it.
So happy that Christina liked it :-) Itè's always a challenge to stitch something that will suit somebody else's taste! :-)

Back home from Poznan

... after 4 days spent at my aunt, grandma and Co. Lovely time. My grandma is 97,5 and doing fine... an amazing person. We celebrated her namesday and made it as nice for her as possible. My aunt suggested I bring Toska the cat queen to her for the summer and I did. She put one condition: I had to promise I won't take another cat in the fall (I was considering doing so). She's absolutely right, I am very blocked when it comes to travelling. However, when I think that for a few years I had a big dog and a medium dog in this small flat, I personally think that with Happy (small dog) and Toska, there's room enough for one or even two cats more. Now if I did that, my family would think I have officially lost my mind. The only problem is that Toska didn't feel good in the pets' pension and she can stay home alone a couple of days, but when it comes to longer travelling, it would be insane to travel to Poznan on the train with two cats and ask my 70 y.o. aunt to take care of them. She is a pet lover but there are some limits ;-)
Okay, so Toska is there. My aunt already has one *huge* female hunting dog, one small god-knows-what dog and two female cats. Toska is okay with the dogs, she's not impressed, barely sees them and they behave the same. However my aunt told me on the phone today that she started to dominate and 1) one of the cats has to hide constantly 2) the other, an ex-wild cat, is not showing up or when she shows upshe doesn't enter the house. I heard in her voice that she's not very happy with that but she won't say so. I honestly there's nothing to worry about for the moment. The only thing I worry about *terribly* is that Toska was a home cat who never went out. Seing the world was a first experience. She was a little bit anxious the first day but the next, she was already making small expeditions in the huge garden. Unfortunately, she tends to go in the direction of the road - and there's permanently a heavy trafic. If she goes there, she's dead. The third day, the neighbor to the left found her in their house (gulp!) and a moment later, I found her slightly scared in their garden, close to the road. Problem is that their son, in the house to the right, has some sort of huge firm with trucks going in and out all the day long. She goes there, she's dead too. It will be hard to wait over two months now worrying like something. I LOVE THAT CAT, with all her humors, bad temper and all!
, Now, even my aunt says that's a clever kitty. She opens doors easily, so she goes in and out of rooms whether you like it or not. And she comes running very fast when I call her by her name.
She has changed a lot since I brought her from the shelter (where she's only been for 2 months) but she's still not a "warm" cat and she probably never be. But I love her just the way she is! She never ever came on my knees by herself but she started to come to sleep and to get hugged tightly in the mornings. And she purrs then... She's a highly temperamental nature but I miss her sooooooo much :-)
The special cargo pet cage for Happy will be delivered in the morning, I just had to pay over 200 usd for it! ^$#%#^%#%$# It's now only two weeks and four days till the big travel.
Money is still a big issue. I am in a huge stress and this is the reason why I am not active on my groups. These problems are really eating me from the inside. That should be solved by the end of the summer, but in the meantime, I am in deep pooh-pooh. And the tax office wants a huge sum *now*, a sum I don' have and won't have any time soon. And I don't know what to do. I got a big payment today but I need to pay many, many smaller bills tomorrow.
So now real vacation for us both this year. We would love to take at least 10 days off in August and drive 6 hours to the place in the wilderness where we go each year in Norway but with Norwegian prices, I can't let H. pay for us both this time with all the expenses he has this year. Still trying to find a solution because I will feel a little bit like on holidays while there, but he absolutely needs a moment to relax totally this summer. I will be working normally while at his place, but when there will be less work during the week days, I plan to go walking alone with Happy in the woods, bike, have walks around, take the commute train to Oslo and discover the region anyway. H. will do his best to have week-ends free so we can spend them together in the nature but Monday to Friday, he usually is home no earlier than 6 pm because of tons of little things and shopping for food if needed. I hate it and I wish he could be home eralier, but then I realize I am lucky to work from home and that my lifestyle is not a normal one in the working world LOL.
Diet gone to the loo, if you want to know how to add 9 pounds (4 kgs) in 4 days, ask me. I was at minus 12,5 kgs, I am at minus 8,5, but I will start afresh tomorrow morning. It is better then it was, but I need to go on and on... This time, I will win the battle.

Seldom happens that I fall so much in love with a pattern that I have to have it complete with the special frame. This one Hinzeit - Christmas Past has to land home as well when I get rich.... ROFTL I'll only get it when I can afford the frame, because I think it complements it so well... :-)
And the Crows Row , that one too.... I loooove it!
Oooooh, and the Best friends, I want it, I want it too!!!

(end of Thursday xstitch dreams) LOL

Wasn't it Monday when I promised myself to stop getting new stash? Yeah right! :-)

How can anyone resist the new additions, heh?

New charts

So many new patterns released after Market... I see Vermillion published their cat and dog angels freebies in a leaflet, one day when I get rich LOL I should buy it... definitely.. :-) The reason? One of the dogs is a cocker angel, and it looks just like the one we had when I was a teenager. He was a gorgeous white cocker with only rust ears and a small spot on the back, otherwise he was all white, and very beautiful... The one designed by Vermillion looks just like him.

Dog and Cat angels

What a lovely gift!

And what a surprise!!! I opened the door to the mailman today to discover an unexpected package from the US, from Judy K., a fellow stitcher from the Prairie Schooler group. I am waiting for Judy to tell me who the designer is. The Santa is finished so beautifully! It has a real fluffy beard and every detail is just so cute. As I often write, I am so sentimental about such lovely gifts... Some Christmas pieces stay around all the year long... and remind me of the person who send it to me.


Thank you so much, Judy! You really didn;t have to do all this because of a small (long forgotten) misunderstanding, but I appreciate it and ... I am so happy you wanted to do this for me!!
I will cherish that piece year after year and many will be the jealous eyes who will look at MY Santa! LOL

Not much more to say today... Errands and work.... The assignment for Thursday is a major PITA, it's a tax decision on... 35 pages... and not an easy one to translate.

Diet not good today, met my cousin's wife nearby and had some non-diet food. Not much but I am not happy with myself :-(

From Brooke Nolan's newsletter: The Gift of Stitching http://www.thegiftofstitching.com
Check this, you might like it. This is an online mazagine for cross stitchers, full of content, if you ask me. You can download May's issue for free and to subscribe, it's a whole plain one US dollar per issue = 12 usd per year of subscription. Currently considering the expense, because it's not much and it looks interesting. Interesting article about various overdyes.
In PDF (Acrobat) format. Easy and harder charts, a little bit of everything for everyone.
Happy reading!

In case you wondered what I am up to, since I am mostly silent on my groups and so late replying to emails... On that last thing, I am close to getting enough strenght to reply to everyone... though my guilt is reaching new peaks lately.
First and most important, I went on a diet on May 1st and have lost 11 kgs till now. It's still very far from what could be called an acceptable look and goal, but for the first time in my whole life, I am successful and I won't fail, that I already know. However, that takes all my mental strenght and energy, all my days are concentrated on the diet, and I where I fail, it's at keeping a regular contact with friends online. Therefore if you feel you like me a bit, I kindly ask you to be patient with me this year, I will be back to my normal self, it's just that I need to do THIS.
Second, work is still poor and money problems still the major topic of each day. However, I realize I am *not* doing everything I could to get more jobs, but hey, I am only human and losing weight really is what counts most this year. Being overweight made me depressed, tired, feeling hopeless... This had to change.
Third, I am almostat the end of the long procedure that will allow me to bring Happy on the plane with me to Norway for the summer. It's been an exmepsnive journey gathering all the tests and blood samples and results and checks and what else, but all that is left now is a pill against worms during the last 10 days before the travel and within 7 days after arrival, and buying a comfortable IATA-approved cage. Which also costs a small fortune but I can't skip that step. He won't be able to travel in the cabin but I am strongly hoping that with his general positive attitude to life, good health etc., the 4 hours (maximum) trauma will be fast forgotten. In those 4 ours, I count the 1h50 flight and the time between the check in and flying off, where we will be separated. I have done all I could so the Norwegian customs find all the papers okay.
Fourth, I am flying to Oslo on July 13th and returning Sept. 6th. Two months, two full months with my darling!
Fifth, we just bought expensive tickets for Pavarotti for Sept 5 in Oslo, a concert within what he called his Farewell Tournee. Yippeeeeeeee!
That will be all for today.... Time to relax a bit.

Okay, you just have to see this.
After our experience metting a mommy bear with two 2,5 months old cubs in the mountains in Zakopane, we became very interested on the topic of bears, bears meeting people, surviving a close encounter with a bear etc.
I just got this in my inbox. And see the photo with that (relatively) small cat down the tree!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5067912.stm

Now I know. Next time we're hiking in the Femundsmarka in Norway, I should bring Toska the Cat Queen with us! ROTFL
Speaking of whom, here's a photo of Maaaadam taken last week:

A new blog and a new journey

Okay, so I'm starting a new blog, moving from Yahoo 360. Actually I liked the previous one and the possibility it gave to see friend's new postings at a glance, but one thing always annoyed me: the small photos Yahoo allows to publish and only one per post. I am very loyal to my choices so if this one works well, it'll be a keeper! :-)