At the beginning of 2006, I had four projects started: Toys And Games Room Stocking, Avatar, Skeleton Crew, and Dragons By The Fire. I did finish Skeleton Crew. The others are still waiting for me to get around to them. I also started and finished five Mother's Wisdom charts, twenty Christmas ornaments, (four Dragon Dreams, twelve Lizzie Kates, two Cross Eyed Kats, one Raise The Roof, and one Monsterbubbles, for an exchange), five shop models, eleven designer models (released as four charts, one hasn't been released yet), four for gifts or exchanges, and twelve for myself or my family. I also started, but haven't finished, In Every Nest and Persian Iris Garden.
The totals: I started the year with four projects, I started another fifty-eight, and finished fifty-seven, ending the year with five works in progress.
My goals for 2007 are pretty simple. I want to finish (in no particular order) Toys And Games Room, Avatar, Dragons By The Fire, In Every Nest, and Persian Iris Garden. I also want to start and finish Brittercup's Antarctic Penguins: Penguin Family for Darin. If I finish Persian Iris Garden, I will start another Chatelaine. I'm not sure yet whether it will be Taj Mahal or St. Petersburg, but probably the latter. When/if I finish both stockings and the wizard, I want to start Merlin And Aurthur for Jymi. I also want to participate is The Castle SAL, every weekend when possible.
Speaking of The Castle, here's what I got done on the first day! All twenty stitches of it. I only managed to get in a few minutes, obviously. The picture on the right is to better show the fabric. It's 28 ct. Crystal Mercedes Cashel linen from Picture This Plus.My goals for December were to finish the model. Plus start, finish, and ornamentify the new Dragon Dreams Christmyth ornament, sew Grandmother's butterflies into pillows, pick a project to stick with until it's finished, and kit up The Castle for the stitch along on New Year's.
The model's finished, along with the Wyvern. I had issues with the sewing machine, so the pillows didn't get made. They did get yelled at, though. I'm working on part three of Persian Iris Garden, but I'm switching when I finish this part. I did get The Castle all ready to go.
My goals for this month are to participate in The Castle SAL every Saturday and the Teresa Wentzler SAL every Monday, finish part three, and then pick another project.I babysat my sister's kids Friday, and afterword, since we both needed to drive up to Charlotte, we decided to ride together. She had to stop by her husband's theater, because they were getting ready for a big fancy New Year's party, and he needed to try on his tux jacket. We all went shopping, first for Leon's tux stuff, then to spend the gift card Jymi gave me for Old Navy. On the way home, Kathy was telling me about the party. They had senators secretaries calling trying to get tickets! They were all sold out very quickly. Then she asked me what Jymi and I had planned. Jymi and I usually just hang out and watch a movie. She asked if I wanted to work at the party, since it paid ten dollars an hour, with ten hours guaranteed. She said it would just be bussing tables, and making sure everyone had champagne for the toast at midnight. Jymi and I talked about it, and I decided to do it.
Saturday, she kept the kids, so Jymi and I could go to dinner and a movie. It was good for both of us, to help keep us up late, so we'd be ready to stay up late the next night. She was working, too. So we had a nice dinner at Olive Garden, and then we went to see Casino Royale. Jymi's a big Bond fan. I enjoy them every once in a while, because I have to be willing to be bored for an hour before they get interesting. I did enjoy it though. It was nice to have some quiet time together. We had to wait an hour for a table at dinner, so we had some time to just talk.
Kathy picked me up at about three, Sunday. We had to drop her kids off at our mom's, and then drive up to Charlotte. At five we had the meeting, where everyone was assigned jobs and told the rules. Leon told us, "This is going to be a very high class crowd. So if you see any having sex in the auditoriums or using cocaine in the bathroom, to let me or one of the other managers know immediately." That kinda freaked me out, but I have to admit it didn't really surprise me. I didn't want to be the one to find someone using drugs. I was assigned to coat check with two other people, and once the rush had died down, I was to go inside and bus tables. I was the only person assigned to coat check who actually showed up there once the people started coming in. That was fine with me though. If I had to stay outside all night hanging people's coats and giving them green bracelets (to tell who was over twenty-one, so the bartender wouldn't have to worry about IDs), that meant I wouldn't have to worry about to "high class" people with drugs in the bathroom.
They had a photographer to take pictures of everyone as they came in, and also to get some candid shots. There were quite a few with Leon (one here and here), and a couple of me (here and here), but Kathy managed to not get her picture taken. At least not that I've found. If you want to see more, go the calender, December 2006, Ballantyne Village New Year's party. They have several groups.
They even had fake paparazzi to take pictures and scream when the people came in. At first Kathy or Leon would come out every hours or so and ask how I was doing. I'd ask them to get me a Sprite (the soda, beer, and wine were free, but I don't drink much), and told them I was fine. Kathy told me on the way home that she had been worried about me because they had alot of assholes upstairs, where she was helping with one of the pay bars. We didn't really have much to deal with. Around eleven, we had a few groups of teenagers show up and ask what the cover charge was. We had to explain that this was not a club and all the tickets were sold out. One tried to steal one of the green bracelets, but the bouncer saw him take and kicked his butt back out. They stopped checking on me at eleven. They had to get the champagne toast ready, and clean up the mess the drunks were making.
After midnight, everyone started to leave. I didn't know I'd get tips for bringing people their coats, but I made $25. We also had to hand out papers with the numbers of the cab companies, and make sure nobody left with alcoholic drinks. There was another girl who'd been taking tickets before midnight to help give the coats back and pass out papers. Right after midnight we had a small problem. A woman had gotten champagne dumped on her from one of the balconies, and was very upset and wanted her money back. We found her a manager to talk to, and then she came and yelled at us some more. I understand why she was upset, but we couldn't do anymore for her than we already had. We took her name and number, and one of the managers will take care of it when they had more time.
Around one, we did have the one and only real asshole. I saw a girl in tears talking to the police officer, and her boyfriend walking away angrily. From what I gathered, he had hit her just before coming out. He then yelled at the police officer. He started to leave, but then the police officer told him to go. Of course if it was what the officer wanted, he couldn't do it, and he tried to come back up. The officer stood in his way, and the man tried to throw him down the stairs. After that he was arrested. Everyone kept saying how stupid the girl was for not wanting him to go to jail. I didn't think of it that way, though. I felt so bad for her, knowing she was going back to a man (and I use the VERY loosely) who treats her so badly. She will spend so much time in pain over him, and she may never get out of that destructive relationship. He was the only one who acted like asshole out where we were, and I didn't have to deal with it. Thank goodness!
All the customers were gone by about two, and then we had to clean up all the broken balloons and glasses. We were supposed to be there until three, but it was closer to four when we finished. I got to take home a peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake, and some balloons for the boys.
Kathy drove me home, and it was about 4:45 by the time I got to bed. Jymi was sweet and let me sleep until 1:30. Then he made me stay up for the rest of the day, because he knew if I went back to sleep, I wouldn't sleep that night. He was very sweet, watching the Absolutely Fabulous marathon I'd recorded the day before, even though he doesn't really like it, because he knew I'd stay awake to see it. He enjoys it, and laughs, but it's not something he'd watch of his own free will. It wasn't until both boys and Jymi had all gone to bed (at 11:30) that I got to start my Castle. Of course, I didn't get much done, since I had to find the right size Q-Snaps, the book, the middle of the fabric, and by then I only had time to get one length of thread before it was no longer New Year's.
I hope everyone had a happy New Year, and have a great 2007!
Labels: Family, Goals, Holidays, Movies, Persian Iris Garden, The Castle, Work
Wow, your Persian Garden is striking! Just lovely!