The Romancechick Speaks

Just called a magazine I’ve been getting for years, but haven’t received for several months. The subscription is supposed to run out in July this year so I called to find out why I hadn’t gotten any for the last few months. First, they couldn’t find me in the system, but they found another woman in my zip code with my name but a different address. However, they had no record of me, my account number, nothing. Here I stand with June 2009 in my hand with an address label on it and the woman on the phone is puzzled. She even got a copy of that issue just to be sure I was calling the right magazine. At this point, I’d begun to doubt that I was although the publishing info from the old one matched the issue I bought at the store today!

Finally, she put me on hold for a couple of minutes and came back and said, “Okay, would you like me to send you the back issues you’ve missed or extend your subscription because your last issue will be mailed in a few weeks?” I told her I want the back issues (it’s a cross stitch magazine) and I’ll renew it online.

Then I asked if she could tell me what had happened.

“The system changed your address.”

Hmm…I’m wondering if someone found my magazine by accident and changed the address to “steal” my subscription!

Anyway, I don’t know how the “system” changed my address any other way.

Just an interesting event in my day.

How’s your day going?

I’ve listed a bunch of my old cross stitch magazines and books on ebay. I may be doing more things later as I try to declutter and clean up my sewing/craft area.

My ebay name is romarite if you’d like to take a look. If you want something, let me know you read my blog and I will take 10% off your purchase.

I threw my back out, somehow, on Saturday, and today is the first day I’ve actually felt like doing anything. There are still some twinges in my back and right hip, but I can walk around and do some housework. I even cooked dinner tonight.

Whenever I get over one of these things, illness or something that keeps me out of commission for awhile, I always come back feeling all “nesty” like I have to clea everything and get everything back in order. Of course, it takes more than one day, and one day when I’m not 100%, to show any progress, but I did get a load of laundry done and cleared off the clutter from the kitchen table and got some work done for my writers’ group.

We’re teaching Natural Family Planning tomorrow night, so I have to get the dining table cleared of all my stamping stuff and the little penninsula in the kitchen cleared of the accumulated junk.

WRITING UPDATE:

Chapter Six of Sword & Illusion has been edited. Still plugging away. My chiropractor read Attack of the Queen and it dying for the second one, so I really need to get moving.

I’m working through First Draft in 30 Days with a new book, Gingerbread Hearts. I’m not sure I completely understand everything she’s suggesting, but I’m giving it a shot and we’ll see what happens.

KNITTING UPDATE:

No pictures as the Girl has the camera and apparently is keeping it hostage. I’ll get it back after the weekend. I’m still working on a pair of worsted weight cabled socks. I’m not sure I like the way the first one turned out, but I’ll finish them and wear them around the house. I put the first one on and it did keep my foot warm, so that’s all that’s necessary.

I’m making a hat for the husband. He said this morning that he has about a mile walk from where he has to park to get to his office and even though it’s Louisiana, it’s been pretty cold around here in the mornings, especially.

CROSS STITCH:

I’ve been working on the Boy’s Christmas stocking, but I lost my reading glasses and the linen is such a close weave it’s hopeless to try to stitch without them. I really need to make a new appointment at the eye doctor for both me and the Girl. We had one last week but my fever was back and I felt miserable.

Yesterday was not a great day here. I mean, I wasn’t feeling bad or anything, just wasn’t motivated to do anything – housework-wise. I did work on the slipper socks I’m making for Noah. I was attempting this cool thing of knitting two socks at once on double pointed needles and had actually been doing well until I realized that I’d crossed the yarns back a ways. Sigh. I just ripped the whole thing out and found a different, simpler pattern and am knitting them one at a time. I like the idea of getting two of them done at once. I definitely have second sock syndrome – reluctance to cast on a new sock of the same pattern because you are ready for a new challenge – but kniting them both at once was so slow. I couldn’t really get into a rhythm where I didn’t have to watch my knitting all the time. That’s one of the things I love about knitting is that I can do it without looking most of the time, unlike cross stitch, which pretty much requires me to keep my eyes on it. Knitting is so much easier to take to things like bowling practice or the car pool line.

Along that topic, I ordered myself some more hand dyed yarn from Etsy. It’s become my favorite place for sock yarn. That yarn can get a little expensive, but I feel so good knowing I’m supporting a small business person or an artist doing what she loves.

I have two skeins of hand dyed yarn I haven’t used yet, but things, financially, are going well for us and I can afford a little luxury for myself once in a while.

Noah and I stayed while Juliette had bowling practice. It was actually nice. There is an arcade near by where I sat and Noah spent most of the time playing in the arcade without any money. He just enjoyed playing with the machines. I worked on a pair of socks for me, made out of one of those skeins of hand dyed yarn.

I don’t know, yet, what the holidays did to my weight. I had all kinds of intentions of going to the gym last week and this, but between the inlaws here (and the eating out that goes with that) and Steve being ill and unable to care for Noah and me being ill and tired and really unable to work out, things just didn’t happen the way I planned.

I was reading Lazy Daisy’s weight loss blog this morning and realized that my reluctance to get on the scale at Weight Watchers on Monday is silly. No matter what happens, it doesn’t affect who I am as a person nor in the eyes of God. He loves me no matter what. Why is that so hard to keep hold of?

I can start over every day – both in my weight loss journey and my Flying – as long as I wake up each day.

HEALTH UPDATE:

Started the day feeling better but by afternoon I was tired and had little energy so I took it easy.

WRITING UPDATE:

Rewriting Chapter Five of Sword & Illusion, should be finished tonight. I’m adding a battle scene tonight. My editor (read: husband) thinks I shy away from battle scenes, which are essential in fantasy novels. I think he’s right because I’ve recently realized that I don’t want to hurt my characters or really make things tough for them.

THOUSAND GIFTS #6

97. I got a very nice phone call from my chiropractor. She bought a copy of Attack of the Queen right before Christmas and she called today to say that she’d finished it and said it was too short and read too fast. She even quizzed me a little on the next one, like when is it coming out! I am still writing it, so I guess I’d better go faster.

98. Last night as I was in the kitchen getting ready to shut the house down for the night and talking to my darling husband, Noah played the first line of Joy to the World on the piano! Apparently, Steve and his mother taught him out to do it and he remembers. Today he was asking me what comes next.

99. I got the craft tote I ordered from Joann’s online with the gift card my mother sent me for Christmas. I love it and it will work perfectly for my cross stitch just as I’d hoped and I ended up with five plastic storage boxes that I can use for something else.

100. I’m learning how to knit two socks at the same time on double pointed needles. I’m making a pair for Noah because he is usually running around the house either barefoot or in school socks. He needs some kind of slipper thing, so this experiment is for him.

101. I returned all the library books today, so that’s off my mind.

102. Juliette’s bowling coach is going to have the drug test paper for me to sign tomorow. Juliette had brought one home but in the midst of the holidays we lost it so I emailed her coach and it’ll be okay.

103. Juliette’s feeling better with her cold today. She was even in that euphoric mood she gets into after a migraine or illness. It’s fun but annoying when it happens at bedtime.

104. When Juliette was 6 years old, we moved to Germany. There’s a TV show there (I think it started when it was EAST Germany) called the Sandmann. It comes on EVERY NIGHT at 7:50 pm. Every kid in Germany knows Sandmann. It’s so hard to explain to Americans. He’s little animated guy (like an elf in Rudolph – that kind of animation) who is the Sandman. He goes to a bunch of little kids who sing a song that it’s not bedtime yet. They watch a cartoon or too, then he sings that they’ve had fun but it’s time for bed and he throws sand at them (magic, glittery sand, you get it) and all the kids in the country know it’s bed time at 8 because Sandmann is over. Today Juliette found that you can see Sandmann and some of our favorite cartoon characters from his visits on youtube.com.

105. I taped a bunch of Firefly episodes on the DVR so they’re mine to watch whenever I want!!

I’m going to take a bath now and got to bed. More news tomorrow!

My newest craft obsession is knitting socks. Here is a pair I’ve made to be slipper socks for a Christmas gift for a relative.

I’m not sure they are exactly the same, but as they’re just to wear around the house, I’m pretty proud of them!