Thanks for the support & more about me.

I just want to thank those of you who either posted a comment or emailed me about yesterday’s entry. It’s always nice to know there are others out there who are cheering me in in my journey.

Here are a couple of fun things for today’s entry since the one yesterday was kind of heavy. I may come back later though and post some more, but right now I’m getting ready to spend the next 3 or 4 hours stitching and watching the World Series.

Which flock do you follow?

I got this next part in an email, but I though it was pretty cool and decided to post my responses here as well. Most were just fun questions, but a couple of them really gave me pause to think, too.

Getting to know me:

1. What is your occupation? Senior Network Systems Support
2. Do you like banana sandwiches? Hmmm…can’t say I’ve ever had one
3. What are you listening to right now? Just the whir of the fan in my laptop, but about to turn on the Tennessee-Alabama football game
4. What was the last thing you ate? low-sugar chewy granola bar
5. Do you wish on stars? No
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Some shade of red
7. How is the weather right now? Cloudy
8. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Receptionist at the hair salon
9. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yes, very much! Ramona rocks!!
10. How old are you today? 41
11. Favorite drink? Close call between coffee and Diet Coke
12. Favorite sports to watch? Football or Baseball, but I also watch some basketball and hockey.
13. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes
14. Do you wear contacts or glasses? Glasses
15. Pets? None at the moment
16. Favorite month? Any that include a paid holiday from work
17. Favorite food? Golden Spoon frozen yogurt *yummy*
18. What was the last movie you watched? Taking Lives
19. Favorite day of the year? I can’t really say that I have one.
20. What do you do to vent anger? Sadly, I usually either eat or shop
21. What was your favorite toy as a child? Mr. Stubs (the stuffed monkey I slept with)
22. Fall or Spring? Spring
23. Hugs or Kisses? Either, but preferably both
24. Cherry or Blueberry? Cherry
25. Do you want your friends to email you back? Of course!
26. Who is most likely to respond? Tracy, Dotti, or Anna
27. Who is the least likely to respond? Probably one of the guys
28. Living arrangements? Alone
29. When was the last time you cried? Last night
30. What is on the floor of your closet? carpeting Actually, shoes and storage containers holding my crafting supplies
31. Who is the friend you have had the longest? Of friends I regularly communicate with, it would be Mia. We’ve been friends since 1988. Of friends that I still keep in touch with, albeit very infrequently, it would be Sherry. We’ve been friends since 2nd grade.
32. What did you do last night? Watched TV, played games at Pogo.com, and read
33. What inspires you? Volunteering
34. What are you afraid of? Looking back on my life at the end and realizing I just existed and never did any of the things I dream of doing before I die.
35. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Veggie burger w/cheese
36. Favorite car? One that’s paid for, which mine isn’t. I will say though that I think the Saturn Sky looks VERY cool.
37. Favorite dog breed? I don’t really have one, but my friend Terri has an Italian Greyhound that is really a neat dog.
38. Number of keys on your key ring? I have 2 different key rings. On the daily use ring, there are 3 keys. On the secondary ring, there are 3 other keys, but not ones I use very often.
39. How many years at your current job? 8 years, which is the exact same time I was at my previous job.
40. Favorite day of the week? Saturday or Sunday, I guess
41. How many states have you lived in, list them? 2 - Tennessee and California
42. How many cities have you lived in, list them? 8: Lynchburg, TN; Nashville, TN; Tullahoma, TN; Lynchburg, TN (again); Murfreesboro, TN; Nashville, TN (again); Ashland City, TN; Nashville, TN (again); Huntington Beach, CA; Westminster, CA; Anaheim, CA.

Happy Stitching!

Please Bear with Me…

I’m not sure how many of you who read this blog are aware, but I am a recovering bulimic. I spent many years of my youth, and into my early 30’s, actively bulimic. As of this year, I’ve been purge-free for about seven and a half years.

Lately, I have noticed, however, that my thoughts seem to be going into dangerous territory. My eating goes from being practically perfect one day to being a borderline binge on the next. I’m so tired of the struggle, but realize it’s something with which I will have to face for the rest of my life.

In an effort to get my thoughts back on track and to begin losing the weight I’ve gained over the last year and half, I’m going back through and working the exercises from some of my recovery materials. I will be putting those exercises here in my blog. I considered starting a separate blog for these entries. I decided that I’ve already spent enough of my life separating and compartmentalizing myself. This is my blog. This is who I am. This is my struggle. I will try to remember to mark such posts as (NSR) in the title to indicate that it is not stitching related. This way, if you are not interested in reading them, you can just skip my entry for that day.

So, here is exercise #1 from the workbook:

Who Am I?
(List 10 “I am” things about yourself.)

Introduction of Melissa, a.k.a. the SoCal Stitcher

1. I am a 41-year old woman.
2. I am compassionate.
3. I am an extremely loyal friend.
4. I am a person who loves to laugh.
5. I am an “all or nothing” person which leads to much stress in my life.
6. I am a prisoner inside a body that I hate horribly.
7. I am a very positive person with everything but my own life.
8. I am a recovering bulimic.
9. I am a creative person who enjoys stitching and making handmade greeting cards.
10. I am a failure.

Ok, before my friends start sending me emails about #10, yes, I do realize I am in no way a failure in all areas of my life. In this particular area relating to weight loss though, I feel like a complete and utter failure. I was more than 70% of the way to my goal weight 2 years ago, but I’ve regained enough weight that now I’m just under halfway to my goal weight.

This is the one area of my life on which I simply cannot seem to get a handle. My eating is directly connected to my emotions on all levels. I eat when I’m happy, sad, lonely, in love, rejected, angry, etc. I just have to figure this out and get it right. I can’t keep riding this roller coaster of losing weight and then gaining it back. I’ve done this once before after a fairly substantial weight loss (around 60 pounds) and ended up gaining it all back PLUS some. Right now, I’ve still managed to keep a lot off, even though I have regained quite a bit. I just want to stop that regain train on the tracks before it derails me any further.

If you’ve read this far, you must either really care about me or you’re really bored. Either way, thanks for listening to me ramble.

Happy Stitching!

100% British?!

I am?!?!?!

Jolly good, wot! Anyone for tennis? That’ll be ten ponies, guv. You’re the epitome of everything that is english. Yey Hoist that Union Jack!

How British are you?

this quiz was made by alanna

Hmmm…I can almost sense my Irish ancestors turning in their graves!

Far too long …

since I posted an update. I got very caught up in the baseball playoffs. I attended games here in Anaheim during both the American League Divisional Series against the Yankees, and during the American League Championship Series against the White Sox. I was REALLY hope the Angels would make it to the World Series as I also had tickets for that, but alas, it was not to be. So, now I’ll be pulling for the White Sox during the World Series. I would be great to see them win again after waiting more than a lifetime since their last win.

I do have a couple of updated WIP progress pics. Most of my stitching time of late has been spent on either Rosemarkie (Long Dog Samplers) or Celtic Christmas (Lavendar and Lace). Here are the latest pics taken this evening:

Rosemarkie:

Celtic Christmas:

Yes, I’m clearly on a red kick lately!

Happy Stitching!

The “A” List - October 3, 2005

From The “A” List:

The term “disposable income” is commonly used to identify any monies left over after the “essentials” have been taken care of each month. The same idea could be applied to time - what’s left over after the essentials: sleep, work, family demands.

So, how do you spend your “disposable time?”

Between working full time and going to school part time, I don’t have nearly as much disposable time as I would like. I don’t really consider my stitching time as disposable time, as it is necessary for my sanity. Generally speaking, my disposable time is spent chatting with my friends or playing games online (Sudoku or Pogo, for the most part). Another area that occupies a great deal of my disposable time is spent watching sports, espcially baseball & football.

Speaking of football, I didn’t get nearly as much watched over the weekend as I would have liked. Normally, most of the day on Saturday is spent watching college football. However, I chose to forego that most of Saturday this past weekend. I really wanted to watch the Tennessee/Ole Miss game. It was tape delayed here in Los Angeles until 5:30pm. In order to not know the outcome of the game prior to watching it, that meant no college ball earlier in the day so I could avoid seeing the score flashed on the screen.

Sunday also proved to not be much of a football watching day either as I woke up fighting a cold. I did watch the Eagles/Chiefs game Sunday morning. By the time the afternoon game rolled around, I found myself napping more than watching football.

I didn’t get in that much stitching time over the weekend. I worked on a couple of smalls, but didn’t get any time in on my BAPs. I hope to get in some time on them this week, but I’m just not sure how much I’ll get done. Tonight will be Monday Night Foodball. Tomorrow night I have a ticket to go to the American League Divisional Series to watch the Angels beat the Yankees. On Wednesday night, I will be working late on a migration project at work. So, the first time I will likely have a chance for any good stitching time will be on Thursday evening while I’m watching Survivor and The Apprentice.

Well, I guess that’s it for now. Happy Stitching!