I knew it!!!!!

I did receive my package from Elegant Stitch today, FORWARDED from my previous address, just what I figured. I just thank god I received it, as it was a $90 order!!

I did e-mail Elegant Stitch to say I did receive the package and to please change my address in their computers.

Lesson learned~be extra careful when ordering online.

***Edited to add that Elegant Stitch e-mailed me back within five minutes of my e-mail and was profusely apologetic and changed my address in their computer immediately.

***Edited to also add the stash I bought, all SB kits: Fa La La, Spooky Sheep, Wish, Hunt, and Fright.

Perturbed...

I haven't written in a few days because, one, I have not been stitching (see below), and I have also been limiting my computer time, as I have issues with my arm and neck from working on the computer so much, and that's been flaring up. So, I've only been on the computer for work for the past couple of days.

I wasn't going to write about all that's about to follow, but then I thought what the hell, it's my blog. I don't normally like to complain a lot, as I am very thankful that I still have a job, a great apartment, heat, and food to eat, and tv to watch.

Anyway, on Tuesday I still had not received my order from Elegant Stitch, and I thought this was odd since I paid extra to have USPS Priority Mail shipping and I was told it was shipped out on Saturday. I e-mail and I'm told that someone at the last minute caught the fact that I changed credit cards on them since the last time I ordered, and that was the delay, and they are closed Sunday and Monday, and that the package did not go out until Tuesday. Okay. No problem. At least now I know. I did think it was a bit odd, though, that wouldn't you check the order form to see what credit card I was going to use? I only use my bank's Visa Check Card, and I switched banks just a month ago, but what if I had like five credit cards I use, and I was using a different one than the last time I ordered? Which, by the way, it has been a year or so since I've ordered something from Elegant Stitch, but more on that later.

So, Wednesday comes, no package. Okay. I think I know I'll have it Thursday. Thursday comes, no package. Meanwhile, because I normally don't keep a "stash" I am not stitching all of these days. I KNEW I should have gone to The Stitching Post on Super Bowl Sunday so I could have gotten an SB kit at 20 percent off, but I digress...

Friday comes, and STILL no package. That's it. I check the USPS website and see that if it was shipped Priority Mail, it should have taken only two days to reach me. That would have been Thursday.

Now, I know that every XS store known to man is at the Nashville Market until tomorrow, but I send an e-mail anyway asking if there's a tracking number. Maybe the weather has held up the package? As they're in California and I'm in Maryland, so it does have to travel all the way across the U.S. Meanwhile, I make a trip to The Stitching Post and buy Into The Night, and I've decided I'm going to start using the linen included in the kit. It's such a waste not to, and I put in about 30 stitches yesterday, and the linen is fine to stitch on. Oh, and I wound up buying another skein of the silk I was out of for Jingle at The Stitching Post, and I finished Jingle on Friday.

Saturday comes and no package. I'm just beside myself. Then I think, oh, no. I moved, back in July of 2008, to a city two hours away. The last time I ordered from Elegant Stitch I lived in that previous city. If my new credit card was not caught until the last minute, is it possible that they shipped the package to my old address, even though I wrote the new one on the order? Dear God, I hope not. So, I send another e-mail asking where did they ship it, and because it's the Nashville Market, I won't hear anything until Monday or Tuesday probably.

That happened to me before, shipping to the wrong address. I bought a XS kit on Ebay and even though my PayPal address was changed to the new address, the seller shipped the order to my old address because that's what was in her records for the last time I ordered, and luckily the person that lived there contacted me via e-mail, as my e-mail was on the order form, and they shipped the package to me at my new address. I don't get it. No matter what is in previous records, why would you not pay attention to what's on the order form?

Anyway, I am perusing Ebay yesterday to see what kind of SB kits are on there when I come across a kit that is normally $28 retail, but listed for $14.99, but has the wrong picture, and it's the same seller that I bought the Oh, Say kit from, and so I e-mail them to ask if that's really that kit because the picture is wrong, and I also ask how often they get SB kits, as it seems they get some good ones and at good prices.

Well, I get a response today saying, yes, that's the kit, and the seller had changed the picture to the right one, but also changed the price to $28. Then the seller proceeds to tell me that unfortunately I am on their blocked bidder list because when I left feedback for the Oh, Say kit, which was positive, the little stars you click on for shipping and communication and whatnot, I did not leave perfect feedback for the shipping and communication. The seller says even though they did explain that they had intermittent internet (which I don't remember that being the reason, just that they were out of town and that's why my questions weren't answered), but that the package was shipped within 24 hours, which it's been too long and I don't remember exactly, but possible, and that this seller cannot risk me leaving anything but perfect feedback.

To say I was appalled is an understatement. I have been on Ebay buying and selling since it started. I am SO done with Ebay now.

I seriously am considering solely supporting The Stitching Post for my XS business and just ordering whatever SB kits I want through them and just stitching other stuff in the meantime while I wait for them to come in, because at least when they do come in, I'm not waiting for them to be shipped to me. They will call me and I can go get them. I did send them an e-mail asking what's the average wait time when they order an SB kit.

Okay. I'm done now. Who needs a drink?

Tuesday Musings...

I see I am not alone in critical family members. Thank you for all of the kind comments to my post yesterday.

I did not get my order from Elegant Stitch yesterday. I really didn't think I would. I was more hoping I would. I figure I'll get it either today or tomorrow.

So, after I was finished with work, I hit the local Redbox and rented Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys. You cannot beat renting a movie for $1 a day. I love all of Tyler Perry's movies, especially Why Did I Get Married, Madea's Family Reunion, and Meet The Browns.

I also want to see Lakeview Terrace and Pride & Glory. I love Edward Norton and have seen almost everything he has been in.

Tonight is my weekly visit to Dad's to watch American Idol, so I don't know if any stitching will be done.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday.

A tiny rant...

This tiny rant today is non-stitching related. Yesterday was the monthly family get-together at my grandparents' house. My family on my mother's side is...I don't even know what to say. My grandparents have been married 55 years and argue about everything. If that's what marriage is like after 55 years, I'll stay single, thank you. My aunt is almost 60, about 300 pounds, and has not had the best taste in men. My uncle, who is 48, lives with the previously mentioned aunt, has been out of work for 7 months, my grandparents do his laundry for him and handle his money, practically doing everything for him. But I digress...

I went over my mother's to watch the Super Bowl after said dinner at my grandparents and she proceeds to tell me that while telling my grandmother earlier on about the Wii Fit they just got, and that I wouldn't step on it because maybe I did not want everyone knowing what my weight was, my grandmother proceeds to say something to the effect of oh, yeah, Danielle is big, she's really big. My mother was appalled and said she's not that big.

For the record, I am 5'4" and weigh 180. I wear a size 18. I would like to weigh 130. Between 130 and 140 is the ideal weight for my height. Yes, I know I am overweight. I don't consider myself big. I consider myself plump, chunky? I don't know. I think I carry my weight fairly well. And let me also say that no one on that side of my family is thin by any stretch of the imagination, so no one has any room to talk about anyone's weight. I just don't get why people feel the need to say stuff like that.

Do they think I don't know what I weigh? It's a struggle, every day. I love food. And not all of the good stuff either. But I have been succeeding at not eating too much junk as of late, and I have been exercising. It's taken me five years to put on the 50 pounds, so it's not going to come off right away.

Okay. Done with that. I just figured if I put it down in writing, then my brain can stop going over it. It's like writing your nastiest thoughts about someone on a piece of paper and then burning it. It's gone and done. No more thinking about it.

Sunday musings...

I want to thank everyone for the comments on Oh, Say. It's so nice to know there are some reading my blog and enjoying the finishes. And for me, I have been on quite a roll finishing so much in one month.

I did not realize that Oh, Say would be finished so quickly. I have nothing to stitch until my order from Elegant Stitch gets here, which I hope is Monday, but it may be Tuesday, since it was not mailed out until Saturday, but was mailed USPS Priority Mail, but I am in Maryland and Elegant Stitch is in California, all the way across the U.S.

And even though The Stitching Post is having a 20 percent off sale today and I could get a kit from there, I am low on funds, and hoping I win this off of Ebay in five days. It's Millenium Child, a shop exclusive Shepherd's Bush kit, and it comes with the handpainted mat by Jill Rensel. I checked Shepherd's Bush website for the retail price of the kit, and it's $26. My high bid is lower than that, as I hope to get a deal, what with the $5.00 shipping. Right now I'm the only bidder, but it's still got five days, and it seems the SB kits listed on Ebay always get more than one bid.

So, today I'm going to relax and frame Oh, Say, as I already had the frame for it.

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday. Go Steelers!!!

Oh, Say Complete!

Oh, Say is complete! A quick and fun stitch.

Jingle #4/Oh, Say #1

I ran out of the Dried Pink Roses silk, so this is as far as I was able to get on Jingle until my order from Elegant Stitch comes in, which should be Monday. I only have the rest of the inside border to stitch and it will be finished.


So, luckily I had Oh, Say on hand to start. Of course I am stitching it on 28 count Sandcastle Jobelan. And instead of using the pale yellow beads for the center of the flowers, I used some left over gold silk from another SB kit. I just didn't like the look of the beads.


Now, I have to tell you that I did say a few choice words yesterday when I realized I had stitched the sheep's head, tail, and three out of the four legs in the wrong color! The blue silk in this kit looks like gray to me, and the gray silk looks like black. So, I had to unpick all of that and restitch it. I only hope I now have enough of the blue silk to finish the kit.