Not an update

Today is an historic day for my little country! We now have a King, for the first time in 100 years. I'll admit, I had tears in my eyes when the new King and Queen and the former Queen, now Princess appeared on the balcony and the anthem was heard. It's the end of an era.
A couple of years ago I met the Princess (well we were eye to eye, and she said hello to me and I said hello back). I hope the new King will be a good King, good for the country. He is a smart man and has a smart wife, so I think the country will be well represented.

The ceremony is almost over now and I can go party! I work for the government so I always follow these kind of events with a lot of interest. Tonight I finally can have a good glass of wine or maybe even some Oranjebitter, a kind of liquor. 

Yesterday the first paycheck of the Mr. came in. As promised, he took me out for dinner. For the first time in a couple of years! I was so happy.
The last couple of weeks my body has been acting very weird. Almost two weeks ago I found two lumps in my neck. I had blood tests done but they showed nothing. The lumps are still there (but smaller) so now I have to wait another week before I can go back to the M.D.
I believe a lot of it has to do with stress. For three years I had to stay strong and now my body is letting go.
My hand has been acting up as well. I have had a lot of nightmares about free falling into the endless deep, which scares me a lot. Even though I hear a voice telling me "do not be scared, you are safe" I wake up afraid and from excruciating pain in my hand.
The Mr. is in great spirits and I am so happy to see him happy again! He's also taking care of me and that is a relief. I am not on my own anymore!

Needless to say I haven't done any stitching. I really don't know when I can pick it up again. I am sure I will not get bored, it gives me more time to explore other stitching blogs!

Untill next time!

Finally, Spring is here!!

We've been waiting a long time for Spring to arrive, but finally: it's here! It's hard to believe two weeks ago we still had snow. Now, the temperatures are lovely! There are lots of boats in the canals today, everybody is enjoying the sunshine.

I've been working hard on Train. I finished page 10 and 11 and am now working on page 20 and 21! Looking back, the confetti on page 10 wasn't too bad. I just worked block by block, filling the gaps. Funny, now I see the picture I finally see the face. I really don't see the face while working on it! The brilliance of a HAED I think!

I'm now working on the lower half of my frame and I am starting to feel my neck again. So, the timer is out again for the last pages!

Stitching on!

This picture was taken a few days ago. I love to see the books again and am a bit sad because these are the last books of Train I will stitch! On the other hand, I cannot wait to kit up another chart..

As you can see I've reached the magical mirror. It looks a bit like confetti horror so I've decided to stitch the books first. It is much faster (and I want to see results)!

I am also happy to report the Mr. has been offered a job! After such a long time we were a bit shocked by this news and still feel like we need to be pinched! If everything goes well he will start in April. Maybe, just maybe we can go on a summer vacation this year! I think this is what thrills us the most. But, like I said, we're still shocked. The Mr. has promised to take me out for dinner when the first pay check is in, I cannot wait!!

Page 20 and 31 finished!

In the past weeks I finished page 20 and 31 and have started page 10 and 11. Page 11 really is only 2 stitches wide and in my opinion could easily be printed on page 10. But maybe it's because the US page size is smaller than the European page size.
Stitching is going fine. I sometimes cheat a little and stitch longer than my timer tells me. So far, my hands work fine!

Seven hours of stitching will give...

this!

Every day I have been stitching for one hour. It's not going as fast as I would like but I am happy to work on this piece again!

I've also changed my stitching "work place". I used to sit on the couch, but I have now moved to the dining table and sit on a desk chair. I also only stitch with my right hand and hold my frame in my left. This seems to work, my right arm is now constantly moving instead of cramping up. I cannot wait to order my floor stand (I hope in a couple of months).

Some other great news: I weighed myself for the first time in 6 months and I was so happy to see that I've shed 10 pounds!! I now weigh as much as I did 10 years ago. I knew I had lost some because all my clothes were too big and lots of people were asking me if I lost some weight, but I didn't expect it to be this much. I think I've lost a total of 15 pounds in 2012. I haven't been dieting but have changed my attitude towards food. According to the Boyfriend I am more balanced now mentally so it might have something to do with it as well.

That's it for now. Have a great week and let's stitch some!

What an exciting day!!

At this very moment, my country is anxiously waiting for the speech of our Queen. Common belief is that she will anounce her abdication. In less than 30 minutes we will know. This would be the first abdication for me to witness and I am so excited! Whether I am happy with the new King, I don't know yet.


Last week was a dark week for me and the Boyfriend. We decided to let our beloved cat Ms Mikey go and went to the vet on Thursday where she died. Ofcourse being the feisty girl she was, she had to hiss at and hit the vet after the injection was given. It made me laugh through my tears. This ruined my chance of holding her while she was dying but we comforted her as best as we could. She was my baby and full of adventure and loved her humans. The last few days the only thing she wanted to do was to lie on my or Boyfriend's lap. She would hiss and growl if we only moved a muscle and in general she was feeling horrible, constantly asking with her eyes for our help. It was the hardest decision I have ever made in my life, but in my heart I know it was the right decision. My house is so empty when I come home every day. It's quiet and I hate it. We have decided however, not to bring a new cat into our family untill we live in another (bigger) house.

Bummed, but still an update

So, after the last update my sweet kitty got sick. We went to the vet who told us that kitty has a polyp in her nose, which is connected to a tumor. The tumor has been there for a while, since kitty has been sneezing and has fluids coming out of one eye for about six months now. The vet is able to operate her, but it will not help. Basically what we were told was: she's not getting better, it could go fast. We decided not to operate.

We were, but especially I was, devastated by this news. She's has been my baby and little friend for 7 years and I had such big dreams for her. All we can do now is to watch her health. The vet told us what to look for in order to see if it's time for her to go. Unfortunately my hand reacted to all this stress so my injury is back. Soooo this is where I ended last week: