Celtic Christmas Progress

Sadly, I’ve no time for a proper blog entry as I need to be getting to bed. I did get in several hours of stitching over the weekend and thought I would post a quick progress pic.

This is Celtic Christmas (Lavendar & Lace) at 30 hours of stitching. Click on the thumbnail for a larger view.

Happy Stitching!

VENT!

I’m sorry, but I will forewarn you now that this is going to be a major VENT of an entry about how my day went yesterday. At least you have been forewarned …

Please explain to me, if one can, from where exactly did the whole concept of entitlement come from these days?! Why does it seem more & more that the younger generation feels that they are owed something for nothing?

Case in point … A 34-year old male who has for 4 consecutive days gone into his cubicle, propped his feet up onto his desk, and promptly feel asleep. When questioned as to just exactly WHY he was sleeping at work, his response was, “Look, I’ve worked hard and paid my dues to earn the right to come in, kick back, get my paycheck and go home.” WHAT?! Excuse me?!

1. You are only 34 years old and have only been in your current career field for 6 years. Exactly WHAT dues have you paid?

2. Even if you HAD “paid your dues”, what gives you the idea to think you’ve the right to get a paycheck without legitimately earning it by doing the work for which you are being paid? This is a JOB, not retirement!
3. Do you care so little for your fellow employees that it doesn’t botther you to slack off which causes them extra work because when people can’t reach you, they call them?

Yes, I admit I’m a few years older than this particular person, but not THAT much older. Where, in less than a decade’s difference of age, did a good work ethic get tossed out the window? Do people just not give a rat’s ass any longer as to their reputation and doing an honest day’s work for their pay?

I also realize that I cited only a single example, but I could give you many others. This is just the latest that has annoyed me to no end. It seems that everyone just wants to come into the office, goof off all day, yet bellow when they don’t get as big of a raise as they “deserve”. I’m sorry, but if you want a good raise, then get off your lazy ass and actually do some work!

And, for those wondering, I wrote the bulk of this entry last night at home and saved it as a draft. I have added my final comments and am posting it while on my lunch hour. I do try to limit my personal internet use to my lunch hour and breaks unless it’s an extremely slow day.

Now, for the second part of my vent for yesterday, I decided to be a bit proactive and get a jump on my taxes. I logged in to the Employee Self Service website and printed out a copy of my last statement of earnings of 2005. I then printed out the necessary forms and tax tables from both the IRS and the California State Franchise Tax Board websites and sharped my pencil to get to work.

It quickly became quite apparent that I was NOT going to be happy for long. By the time I reached the end of the federal form, I was rudely met with a tax liability of over $2000. Now, you may be asking yourself, “Why on earth would you have such a large tax liability?” Well, that’s where the vent comes in …

My ex was a lazy bastard who barely worked during our marriage. During our divorce settlement negotiations, it quickly became apparent that if he didn’t get exactly what he wanted in the settlement that he was going to make the divorce drag on for as long as humanly possible making my life as miserable as possible along the way. In an effort to just be done with him, I acquiesced on a great many points that, in retrospect, I wish I hadn’t. In an effort to get out of things as quickly and as easily as possible, I ended up spending over $10,000 on the divorce while he didn’t spend a single dime.

The story took a rather nasty turn when about 2 months after the divorce was final when he decided to “come clean”. He finally admitted, even though he protested loud and long during our divorce proceedings, that he had indeed been having an affair. Not only did he have one affair, he had MANY affairs and they had started even before we were actually married. So, not only did he basically use extortion tactics to get his way during the settlement negotiations, he then just made things worse by finding ways to purposefully hurt me even after the divorce was final.

So, now here I am nearly 2 years since we split up and I am, once again, getting hit in the face indirectly by this bastard! I guess I should be grateful that, as far as I know, this is the last thing I’ll have to deal with related to him. Initially I had thought about swallowing my pride to contact him about still filing a joint return for 2005 since we legally were still married for a few months of it, but from reading the IRS website, I learned that if you weren’t married on Dec. 31, then you weren’t married at all for the year. I can only imagine that this is for the IRS to get more taxes out of those of us in similar situations, but it’s very annoying. If I were able to file the return jointly, I would be getting nearly a $2800 REFUND instead of the current liability.

Ok, I guess I’ve ranted and vented long enough. I do believe this is probably the longest blog entry I’ve ever made, but I just had to get it all off my chest. Thankfully, tomorrow is a day off for me and I can forget about work for a while. I’m actually volunteering at a Women Build site for Habitat for Humanity Orange County tomorrow. I know that going to help someone else and do some volunteer work will help me get my focus off myself and to realize that life could be much worse for me. I really am fortunate to have a good job, a good place to live, and, best of all, wonderful friends who help keep me grounded.

Happy Stitching and peace to you all …

First 2006 Finish

I have my first finish for 2006. I finished it late Saturday afternoon. It’s Yule by Moonflower Designs. This is my second time stitching this design. It originally was kitted with piece of Picture This Plus fabric in their Yule shade. This version is stitched on 28-count Jamaica Sparkle opalescent Lugana from Silkweaver.

I also have a pic of my B is for Bunny work in progress. This kit is from The Sweetheart Tree and I love how cute it’s stitching up. Now that Yule is finished, this will be the small project in my current rotation.

Happy Stitching!

Rule of Four Meme

The Rule of Four Meme

I got tagged for this a few days ago, but I’m just now getting around to responding. Here goes …

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. Clown - Yes, I really did work as a clown
2. Marketing for a large Catholic hospital
3. Network Administrator for a major talent agency
4. Network Systems Support for a R&D center in the aerospace industry

Four movies I would watch over and over again:
1. Office Space
2. Forrest Gump
3. It’s a Wonderful Life
4. Pulp Fiction

Four places I have lived:
1. Lynchburg, Tennessee
2. Nashville, Tennessee
3. Huntington Beach, California
4. Anaheim, California

Four TV shows I love to watch:
1. Real Time with Bill Maher(when it’s on)
2. Survivor
3. The Daily Show
4. The Colbert Report

Four places I have been on vacation:
1. Boston, Massachusetts
2. New York, New York
3. Detroit, Michigan
4. Mazatlan, Mexico

Four websites I visit daily:
1. My custom page at Bloglines
2. Web SuKoku
3. PandaCam at the San Diego Zoo
4. Woot

Four of my favourite foods:
1. Morningstar Farms steak and chicken strips
2. Pad Thai
3. Golden Spoon frozen yogurt
4. Quaker Lower Sugar Chewy Peanut Butter Chunk Granola Bars

Four places I’d rather be right now:
1. Hawaii
2. Ireland
3. Australia
4. Detroit

Four people I am tagging:
I think pretty much everyone has done this already, so I’m not going to actually tag anyone. If you see it and haven’t already been tagged, feel free to play along.

Happy Stitching!

Good Stash Week!

I’ve not taken the opportunity to post earlier in the week as I’ve been very sick. I developed a bit of a cough a couple of weeks ago that just seemed to be getting progressively worse. I finally went to the doctor on Monday and found out I had a severe upper respiratory infection/border pneumonia. Thankfully, I seem to be on the upswing, even though I still have a long way to go.

On a good note, it’s been a GREAT wwk for me stash-wise. Between a purchase from a fellow stitcher and an order from on online shop, I’ve added the following charts to my stash:

In a Quaker Fashion (Abbey Lane Designs)
Quaker Sampler (The Workbasket)
Special Stitcher (Elizabeth’s Designs)
Anything is Possible (Blue Ribbon Designs)
Simple Little Quaker (Papillon Creations)
Bienvenue (Long Dog Samplers)

Yes, I am one happy stitcher! Now I just have to make myself continue working on the projects I’ve already started and finish at least one of those before starting one of these.

Happy Stitching!

Time Flies!

Wow! Where does the time go?! I can’t believe it’s been over a week since my last update. Of course, life has been busy over that time and I’ve had a fairly nasty cold, so I guess that explains it.

I had a GREAT time with my dear friend who came into town to visit. We did a lot of just hanging out which was awesome. We also both participated in the Orange County Half Marathon last Sunday. It was a cold, damp, and very foggy morning, but we went anyway. I’m sure that explains the subsequent cold/cough.

We also went down to the San Diego Zoo on Wednesday and saw the new Panda cub. To say she is adorable would be a vast understatement! We circled through the Panda exhibit at least a half dozen times. She was sleeping up a tree most of the morning,

but we did get to see her moving about and being curious some in the afternoon.

I will definitely be going back again.

As far as stitching, I haven’t really gotten much done lately. After my friend left, I was working some pretty long hours trying to get caught up at work and battling this cold. I did start B is for Bunny from The Sweetheart Tree. It is SUCH an adorable chart! I’ll try and post a pic later this week.

Happy Stitching!

Checking In…

Sorry for the long delay since my last update. I’ve been pretty busy this week in preparation for taking a few days off from work. As if that isn’t always bad enough on it’s own, add in the fact that I was in year-end reports hell on top of it. *sigh*

I did get in a new start for Guilt-Free January. I’ve started working on B is for Bunny by The Sweetheart Tree. It’s a fairly small piece, so I’m hoping to finish it fairly soon.

I almost have my first finish for 2006 done as well. I had hoped to finish the latest version of Yule as my last finish of 2005, but didn’t quite make it. I may try and finish it up this weekend while watching the football playoffs.

For those of you who are on the same stitching BBs as myself, I’ll probably be pretty scarce for the better part of the next week. I have a friend flying in later tonight for a visit and he doesn’t leave until Wednesday night. I’ll try and peek in every once in a while, if possible, but it also might not happen.

Have a great weekend and happy stitching!