Her Drama-ness

Wow, it has been exactly 7 months since my last post! Well, I'm still here, although very very much inactive. The second half of last year was incredibly hectic that I barely had enough time for sleep, let alone doing the things I loved: stitching, reading, blogging. What's that thing they say about the tree falling in the forest, I wonder if the same applies to a stitcher: if there's no time to stitch, can it still be considered a hobby? When I could catch a breather, I didn't have the energy or motivation to blog as I knew I couldn't keep up, and as much as I loved reading other blogs and catching up with what was going on in other people's lives and all the latest stitchy conquests, I was just out of gas. Which is a shame, because I peek in now and then, and what I see is always so amazing and I wish I could be an active part of all your blogs with my regular visits and comments. Thank you to those who have thought of me and keep dropping by to see if I have updated, I'm so sorry to have stayed away until now, and even so, I won't be able to blog regularly, but I'm here, and I will try to say hello now and again. Please know that I think of all of you and visit when I can, even though I'm a silent lurker. If you want to, feel free to e-mail me, I definitely have more time for e-mails than blogging because I can at least sneak those in while at work! *grin*

So, what's new with me? Nothing much, really. I'm still chugging along with my health and exercise regime, although it has taken a serious hit since the Christmas break with lots of pigging out while I was overseas for work and a holiday. I'm resuming with it though, so hopefully I will reach my goal -- if only I can resist all the bad stuff! As for wedding plans, we still hope for a wedding in September, although we're fast approaching it and we still are being absolute slackers and haven't done much. I'm sure we'll get there once we start panicking although I sure hope it doesn't get to that stage! I still haven't fully settled in with my new role at work but I think it's a matter of mindset and getting out of my comfort zone, and I will get there eventually.

I also started a book blog. I know what you're thinking, she can barely keep up with one, and now she's starting another? Is the woman mad or what?! My book blog is purely for sharing what I think about the books I read. Unlike stitching, reading is something that I can keep up with, although not as much as I would like to. A book is easy for me bring around anywhere, although I know the dedicated stitchers will probably say the same about their projects. When I joined BookCrossing, I picked up the habit of putting in journal entries for books I read and I would like to continue that for books that aren't registered on BookCrossing. By no means am I a book reviewer, I just share what I think, regardless of popular opinion. There aren't many books on there yet, but feel free to visit: A Rainbow of Books.

Before I go, I will leave you with a picture of my RR (from two years ago, and still not complete!) with my square finished. Well, technically it's still missing my signature, but at least the square is all stitched. It's not something I did recently, I think I finished it somewhere between August and October last year? I had hoped to only share it after I've signed it, and I said I would do it last year, but here we are in 2008 and it's still at where I've left it. Hopefully I'll get to the signature and the middle section sometime this year. To my RR mates, Harmien, Annemarie and Mady, aren't I the most pathetic RR partner ever?! I don't know if my RR mates will read this but I promise, I will e-mail a picture of a complete RR one of these days, even if it only comes years later!


Well, that's it from me, and hopefully it won't be another 7 months before I check in next. I hope it has been a great start to the year for all of you and I wish everyone well for 2008!

Posted by Leeny at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments

It's not going to be a very useful clock, LOL, but it sure does look good! At least to me anyway, I really like it. And I can take partial credit for it because I helped to stick the vinyl on the canvas, hee hee. Most likely this will be hanging above the TV, or maybe above our floating DVD shelves, we'll figure it out eventually. Anyways, here's a photo of MY clock (I've decided everything in the house belongs to ME! *grin*), just ignore my wilted flowers in the background. It's time for fresh ones, methinks!

Posted by Leeny at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments

After 5 weeks of hard work doing this 'Weekend Warriors' thing at the gym, I have only lost half a kilo! *sob* Isn't that sad?! My trainer also took other measurements and I have lost a total of 5cm, which is like negligible! Sigh, I was in Sydney on Monday and Tuesday for a business planning workshop, I really shouldn't have pigged out at the buffet! LOL. Oh well, who knows if it would have made a significant difference, but I guess ultimately, at least losing something is better than nothing, or an increase! *gasp* I guess I was hoping for a little bit more as I thought I had lost 2kg when I checked a couple of weeks ago, or maybe I was cross-eyed! I'm not actually too disappointed as I'm still pretty proud of myself for putting in all this effort, but compared to those weight loss programs on TV, it seems rather pathetic! I know it's unrealistic to do such a comparison, but it would definitely be pretty cool to see a 5kg loss! Anyways, I will keep plugging along, hopefully I will see more results at the end of 12 weeks!

I do have an update on my Monsterbubbles freebie, 'Home', but I actually haven't stitched on it in ages. Most of the latest progress came about from stitching during the men's French Open final (I was hoping Federer would win, but alas!), which was a couple of weeks ago. I haven't stitched since then but I'm sure I will get back to it eventually. If not soon, at least during the 2nd week of July as I have another stitchy date with my friends! Anyway, here's the latest WIP pic:


I have more pictures to share with you! Firstly, looky at my pretty fruit bowl -- きれい！ My very clever, artistic and talented Terrence created this gorgeous design, had it cut out of vinyl with adhesive backing and stuck it on our plain red fruit bowl (actually a salad bowl, but it works for us!) that we just bought yesterday, and VOILA! I really love it, it's so pretttteeeee :) The corner of our coffee table is also decorated in a similar style, and Terrence is in the midst of designing a clock that will be hung above our TV. I'll share the photos when the clock is done! He's just waiting for the vinyl he's ordered to come in. In the meantime, check out our fruit bowl and the coffee table!


Before I go, let me leave you with one of my favourite websites at the moment. The pictures with their crazy captions never fail to make me chuckle and hopefully you will get a few laughs too! Go on, you can has cheezburger too! Don't raise your eyebrows at me, you'll get it once you see the website: http://icanhascheezburger.com/, hee hee....

Posted by Leeny at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Comments

Before I continue, I just want to thank everyone who has visited and left comments. I don't have a popular blog so I don't get a lot of comments, but I do relish whatever I get, so thank you to those who have dropped me a message! :) Of course, my thanks to those who have visited too -- don't be shy, say hello! Hee hee...

Anyways, I have managed to do more stitching, so that has been great. Still not close to finishing yet but I reckon I have made good progress. The only thing is, it's going to be off-centre! *sob* I assumed the specified stitch count (74w x 69h) would be right and I didn't count on the chart to be sure. I guess I should have, but I don't think I have ever come across a chart where the stitch count provided was wrong! And this has to be one of the rare times where I don't start stitching from the middle and started from a corner. So yeah, the right stitch count should have been 72w x 67h, which makes all of my calculations wrong and I didn't realise until I had done a fair bit. It's not a huge disaster, it's just a little lop-sided with the left looking pretty cramped compared to the right. This totally goes against my anal-retentiveness where everything has to be just right, but the desire to NOT want to frog is stronger, so this stays! LOL. It's okay, I will get over it, hopefully when the whole thing is finished, it won't look too bad.



Alrighty, that's it from me, just a quick one from me today. Bubbye! :)

Posted by Leeny at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments

Firstly, I have some great news to share. My grandmother had her check-up with the doctors recently and we received excellent news. My grandma had two tumours, one of which is now gone! Of course, there is no guarantee that it won't come back, but this was really the best outcome possible as the doctors were hoping for precisely that to happen through the radiotherapy and chemo sessions. The other tumour that is in the rectum wall is still there, but that one the doctors were always planning to remove through surgery. I'm not too sure when the operation is scheduled, my sister said that the doctors still plan to keep monitoring my grandmother's condition before going ahead. But still, this is really really fantastic stuff and we couldn't be more pleased. It was definitely nice to have some uplifting news.

Secondly, I cut my hair on Friday! I went through a phase where I would only cut my hair once a year when I was back in Singapore because I could never find a hairdresser in Melbourne that I liked. Then, my friend, Miho, recommended a place to me, and the guy was pretty good; at least I didn't feel like crying when I walked out. LOL. Okay, that's being a tad dramatic, but you get what I mean. Anyways, the last few times I've been there, I've just been getting a bob haircut, which is fine but getting a bit boring. So this time, I said I want something different and I got it! I'm still getting used to it because I haven't had a fringe for ages, but it's growing on me and I like it! So yep, that's me, with my round face and all, but hopefully it will get sharper with all the exercise that I'm doing! Muahahaha... For some reason, my hair looks really flat in the photo, but oh well, you get the idea. (^_^)

Lastly, I managed to get some stitching in yesterday! I had another craft night with my friends, and this time there were 6 of us (and Licorice the cat) so that was good fun! Three of us stitched, one was knitting, another was beading and the last was drawing. I didn't work on the LHN piece that I was previously stitching but decided to get started on my own part of my RR, which should have been done yonks ago. I didn't get much done, but it's a good start and it feels good to be stitching again! Anyways, it's a Monsterbubbles freebie called 'Home' and suits my theme perfectly. Hopefully I will finish it soon, here's where I'm up to at the moment:


Anyway, that's it from me. Before the weekend totally disappears, I better get some laundry done! Till next time!

Posted by Leeny at 2:59 PM | Permalink | Comments

This is one of my favourite songs at the moment. I also like the remix version that features Timbaland. I would love the piano sheet music for this, it would be so cool!

Posted by Leeny at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments

So yesterday, I had Japanese class. I actually enjoyed last night's class the most so far because we were covering time, which I only vaguely remember, so it felt like I was learning something new. Anyway, we have been getting homework sheets for the last two weeks so when the class ended without us getting anything, I just asked if there would be anything for us to do this week. Now, the teacher knows that I've learnt Japanese before so she knows that I can handle the slightly more difficult stuff (which is probably still only kindergarten-level stuff anyway) so she said she can give me some sheets to do, but she would only be giving it to me. And then this guy sitting behind me goes something like this, "Go on, teacher's pet." OMG! Am I back in high school or what?! That was just so juvenile. And this coming from a guy who has got to be at least in his 50s. Yeesh. And here I thought I was doing a language course for adults. ばか。

And my neck is hurting from doing crunches at the gym both on Monday and Tuesday. It's actually sore to touch! At least my stomach hurts too, so I know it wasn't just my neck that was doing all the work.

Okay, ranting is now over.

Posted by Leeny at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments

Oops, I left out a couple of things from my previous post. Firstly, when I returned from Singapore, my RR was waiting for me at the office. All three ladies -- Mady, Harmien and Annemarie -- did a spectacular job on my RR, I couldn't have been happier. No pictures yet, because shockingly, my own part on it isn't complete yet! LOL. So yeah, I'll get to it, hopefully soon, and when I'm ready, I will post up some pictures!

But anyway, that's not the main point. When Annemarie mailed my RR home to me, she included the most lovely gift ever. I did send her and the others a note to say that I had received my RR and to thank her for the gift, but I never shared about it on my blog. You may have already seen it on Annemarie's blog, but I think it's still necessary to post it here to express my thanks and to say how much I do love it! An Annemarie floss fob original and I was lucky enough to receive one. So once again, a big thank you to you, Annemarie, so sorry I couldn't give it the reaction it deserved when I first received it!

The other thing that I forgot is that I purchased the most adorable needlework magnets from The Silver Needle! I have been wanting to get more magnets but somehow just never got round to it. Then I saw that The Silver Needle had the cutest magnets and I just had to place an order. Currently, they are just decorating my fridge at the moment, but I am sure I will be putting them to good use soon! Although, I reckon the 'Break in Case of Emergency' one will probably be used for decorative purposes only! Anyway, here's a pic of the ones that I got:


Okie dokes, that's it from me. I'm off to make some pumpkin soup -- I don't want to be boastful, but I love my homemade pumpkin soup and it's the perfect remedy for such a cold Melbourne day!

Posted by Leeny at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments