It's Alive! (Sorta)

I am alive, I promise. Or this is a zombie typing right now. Take your pick. Real life is just really intruding right now.

Now to quickly check my email and get back to non-computer work.

Sorry.

Busy week and a great site!

This is the first time I've had to really play on the computer since Monday. I worked overnight Tuesday and Wednesday, my regular schedule Friday, had a wedding Saturday and slept most of the other hours except for a few where I got together with some friends on Friday night.


Basically, this post is about a new site I found thanks to a fellow member on the Tall, Dark and Wickedly Handsome group I belong to. It's a book swap service. You pay $1.59 postage and mail a paperback that you have posted to a person that has requested it. You get credit and can then request a book from someone else. They pay the postage and mail it to you. So, for $1.59 you get a new (used) book. How cool is that? I've already mailed two and received two. I'm liking this. The books I've marked for future trade are all OOP and necessary to complete an author collection! Anyway, the website's address is this:

http://www.paperbackswap.com/

If you are an avid reader, check it out. If not, but you still have books to get rid of, you might want to look at this page on their site:

http://www.paperbackswap.com/misc/hurricane_katrina/index.php

Cheers!

Well, today I turn thirty years old. Actually, I've been thirty since 4:10PM.

Funny, I don't feel older. Not really.

I guess I should take stock of the things I still want to do with my life. This list is in a tentative order, except for the first three. I think they are the most vital and I must accomplish them.

1. Lose 100 pounds (at least) and get back down to a size 12. (And stay there for the rest of my life!)
2. Go back to college and get my degrees in History and Library Science. Once I get them and get a decent career I can go back for another degree like Anthropology.
3. This isn't really one I want to do, it's more like I have to: Learn how to drive a car so I can get my motorcycle license and a scooter. A motorcycle would be preferable, but a scooter would be sufficient for my purposes.
4. Learn how to speak ASL, German and Latin.
5. Have something published, even if it's just my stitching patterns.
6. Visit Ireland, England, Germany and Egypt (Along with every other country in the world and Antarctica! I'll just list those four as the major goals right now.)
7. Learn how to fly a small plane.
8. Learn sky- and scuba diving.
9. Get a cat and some frogs.
10. I guess I should add the old standard of a long-term boyfriend/husband and adopting kids even though I'm not sure they really are one of my life-long goals.

Anyway, one, two and three must be accomplished within a year. The rest I have time for. Four depends on number two. Seven and eight are contingent on number three, unfortunately. Number ten, well, if I get around to it, then I get around to it. Five, six and nine, well, they'll happen in time.

Stitching Addiction

Besides books, music and genealogy, I have one more addiction. I love stitching - specifically cross-stitch. I'm fascinated by the play of the colors of the threads and how using only the simplest of passes by a needle a work of art is formed. Here is an example of one of my desgins. There are many more, of course. I just haven't stitched most of them.

Also, here's a Blackwork Celtic Cross I designed and stitched for Mom. I just have to frame it. I'm including a detail picture of the stitches that make up the cross and circle. I'm sorry they're a little blurry. I've never had the steadiest hand with a camera.

Taxis

While surfing for information about a date for my history blog, I came across this blog: New York Hack. Well, actually I was taking a break from searching and reading Peter's blog. This one is written by a young woman who drives a taxi in NYC. It's good. Some of the stuff that happens to her is simply absurd. Check it out.

Pictures from Memorial Day Weekend

Relatives and friends paying visits. The first picture is of our cousin and his fiancee. They used to date as kids but married others. Now they've hooked up again! Talk about cool. Grandma's in the middle.

The brunette with Mom is her friend from high school. They are planning a reunion for Central High Class of 1971. (If you graduated from or know anyone who graduated from Central High School in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1971, email me.)

A cool carved head at the front of the Rockwell Museum. Just for shits and giggles I got a closer pic. It's not quite shooting up his nostrils.

Inuit sculptures with artwork on the walls. The serpentine sculpture is of a narwhal. The painting in the middle is of a creation story. The group of sculptures are also made of serpentine, except for the little rockpile one. I forget what it was made of.


Mom and Grandma on the way out of the museum. It was a nice trip. LOL. I actually got a butt shot of them before this, but have been threatened if I show it. It's actually a sweet picture of two old broads (nyah nyah, Mom) walking together. Maybe I'll smuggle it on here one day.