Seven years ago

"Mom, please don't call me Luca!"
"Why? It's your middle name."
"Well, I don't like it!"
"What's the matter, honey? Does it mean something bad for you? Do I say Luca in a different tone than I say Tamara?"
"No, I just don't like it. I like Tamara. Call me Tamara every time you talk to me!"

The latest WIP

The latest project I started last week, it's a DMC kit from the Sarah Kay collection. It's called Cuddling Cat and the timing is very appropriate.

One day after I secretly started working on this, my daughter found and adopted a little kitten. It was born somewhere at a hidden corner of the factory where my dad works as a security guard. My mom and daughter visited him on his lunch break, and at that moment kitty and girl found each other and became best friends immediately.

Too bad the kitty is not an orange but a grey tabby, but I'm sure my baby will love this design anyway. But if anyone is aware of a cross stitch design of a blonde girl with a grey kitty, please let me know!

The first two scans of my progress on Cuddling Cat is below, I hope to work a great deal on it during the weekend and hopefully be done with most of the dress. I will let you know on Monday.

New challenge - 101 things in 1001 days

Stitchwise - what I want to stitch

1. Finish Garden Gate
2. Finish Ice Angel
3. Finish Deepest Love
4. Finish Magic Witch
5. Finish the Teacup RR (?/15)
6. Finish the Millenium Cats RR (5/13)
7. Finish the Birthday Flowers RR (5/12)
8. Finish the PIF exchange gifts (0/3)
9. Do at least 5 freebies (0/5)
10. Do at least 6 ornaments (0/6)
11. Stitch Gemstone Dragons (0/15)
12. Stitch Wildflower Trio
13. Finish Victorian Elegance
14. Stitch Matrix
15. Do the element ACEOs by Sara Butcher (0/4)
16. Get a subscription to at least one British x-stitch mag
17. Stitch Lady of the Mist
18. Stitch at least one Mirabilia Queen
19. Stitch Rose of Sharon
20. Stitch Villa Mirabilia
21. Stitch In the Arms of an Angel
22. Stitch a Stoney Creek design
23. Stitch a design from Susanna (Italian cs mag)
24. Stitch a design for a British mag

Homewise - what I must change at home

25. Organize my stash into boxes
26. Organize my bills into files
27. Purchase and put up new curtains
28. Purchase an extendable child bed
29. Make a patchwork cover for the couch
30. Make a wall cover with pockets
31. Sew covers for the chairs (0/2)
32. Learn to cook at least 5 more dishes (0/5)
33. Re-decorate the kitchen
34. Sell non-used books
35. Have a framed photo of every relative on our wall
36. Buy and install new bookshelves
37. Give or throw away junk I have been storing for years
38. Make all the containers from the corn flake boxes I have
39. Purchase and install matching set of lamps

Childwise - what I want to do for my baby girl

40. Take my baby to the Zoo
41. Take her to the fairground
42. Potty train her
43. Finish her height chart
44. Show her the sea
45. Take her to a ride on Chairlift in Buda (libegő)
46. Take her pony riding
47. Sew her two dollies (0/2)
48. Get her a pet
49. Arrange her a kiddie party
50. Build a snowman with her
51. Go sledge sliding with her
52. Watch fireworks with her
53. Make snow angels with her
54. Try to teach her swim
55. Take her to a national park
56. Braid her hair
57. Teach her English words
58. Take her stargazing
59. Teach her origami
60. Take her to the Dragon's Library
61. Get her a Disney classic on DVD, preferably Snow White or 101 Dalmatians
62. Create a scrapbook together
63. Teach her skating
64. Bake cookies together

Selfwise - what I want to do for myself

65. Stop tearing at my nails
66. Learn Spanish (intermediate level)
67. Learn quilting
68. Gain a few pounds
69. Get a small tattoo
70. Learn all the Japanese words I once knew
71. Go horseback riding
72. Go to a gym at least 10 times within a 3 month period (0/10)
73. Learn ballroom dancing
74. Dye my hair blonde
75. Get my birthmarks checked
76. Get my leg pain checked
77. See Venice
78. See Prague
79. Learn the spread eagle
80. Get pragnent
81. Eat vegetarian food twice a week for one month (0/9)
82. Dare to say "no" to something I really don't wanna do
83. Visit the dentist
84. Visit a wellness farm
85. Learn to belly-dance
86. Make friends with a female

Other - things that didn't fit into the categories above

87. Re-designing my blog
88. Learn using Photoshop really well
89. Plant a rose tree
90. Learn homepage designing
91. Reach lvl 70 with my main character on World of Warcraft (level 59)
92. Burn 10 CDs of important files (0/10)
93. Scan old family photos
94. Visit my grandparents' resting place
95. Write a poem
96. Draw my gown designs - at least 5 of them (0/5)
97. Read 5 foreign language books (0/5)
98. Get at least 2 board games (0/2)
99. Organize my digital photos
100. Buy a watch
101. Knit two pillowcases (0/2)

Magic number

I have turned 33 today. They say it is a magical age, a real turning point. I don't feel any different though.

My poor little baby girl is still full of spots. I found the first ones on her hand on Monday but I have mistaken them for mosquito bites. But at night she developed fever and been sleeping restlessly, often crying. Next morning she had even more spots. After waking she didn't have breakfast, just a bit of nursing and went right back to sleep another three hours. We visited the doctor who told us our baby had chicken pox. I was already suspecting that as the neighbour's kids had that illness two weeks ago. I tried to separate Tamara from them but it seems it was too late. Anyway, chicken pox is lurking in the body for three weeks before developing its symptoms, so we may never know when Tami got infected. Doesn't even matter.

We had a hard week, with no walks outside for any of the girls, lots of TV, lots of nursing, very little sleep. DH was with us on Tuesday, but been at work for the rest of the week. Unusually busy week at his workplace, but that is OK because we need the money. But I am more tired than ever. Tami is coming around nicely. Today she stopped growing more spots and the old ones are already beginning to dry off. She was amazingly disciplined in these past days. She really tried not to scratch. She did pick some of the spots but hopefully they won't leave a nasty mark. She is so pretty! I feel for her, some spots are really ugly, they must terribly itch.

Back to my birthday: I told my family and friends that I don't want to celebrate now. My baby is still sick and I am exhausted. Everyone agreed. I got some nice cards though and a great book from DH. It's Terry Pratchett's Masquerade and I love the Discworld books. I won't be reading it yet as I am still reading the Shogun. I also got DH's credit card to order myself a chart from Heaven and Earth Designs. I haven't been to that site for a while so now I just couldn't resist the temptation and bought two charts. :D Hey, it is my birthday after all! Anyway, I created a wish list too but I guess I will have to edit it. I should live for another 150 years to stitch them all!

Potted Paradise

Finally, it is that time of the year again! What time you ask? Well, that of gardening of course! I grew up in a small house with a huge garden. My late maternal grandma filled it with flowerbeds where she used to grow the most beautyfied flowers. There was barely any space for anything else, I could not walk the thin aisles between the flowerbeds without brushing leafs and petals. While I was little, several flowers grew much taller than I, especially the dahlias. And then, there were the huge rose trees, forming a fragrant arbour, and there were the lilacs, filling spring with the sweetest of pretty smells, and of course, the hyancinths.

Nowadays, that garden is much smaller. My grandparens have died, their son - my uncle - has built a small house. It is taking up half of the original garden. After grandma' passed away, no one really knew the little tips and tricks of keeping a garden healthy and beautyful. The flowers faded, dried and died. They were attacked and destroyed by various diseases and insects. The only thing left of what granma planted is the now huge tree-sized lilac. We still enjoy its smell in the spring and traditionally pick its flowers for the Mother's Day bouquet. My father now grows tomatoes and paprika and carrots in what's left of the garden. I give him some flower seeds and bulbs to plant. The only ones that last are the tulips. They're my favourites. I guess he grows them for me.

As for myself, living in a big city - I must do all my gardening in pots. As soon as March starts, I begin sorting my seeds and putting them in a cue based on their planned sowing time. This year was difficult though. We had health problems, mostly showing in my lack of energy. I also had some work to do, plus had some personal problems. But that is all over now. We wake up to the song of the blackbirds. We get sunshine every day. We are back on track. We even have a swallow couple above the house's staircase. They have moved in this spring. Tamara loves them. We see them regularly zigzagging through the yard, hunting for insects. We put out some leftover floss ends. Sometimes they grab it and incorporate it into their semi-finished nest. And best of all, this spring, I am not doing gardening by myself. Tamara joined me in the delightful action of getting jet black soil underneat the nails so deep that it cannot be removed without pain, as my sister refers to planting. That's OK for me though, and Tami doesn't seem to mind either. She also makes sure that every plant is soaked with water beyond belief, and so are her socks and shoes. That is also fine with me. It belongs to pot gardening on a concrete platform, I guess.

Oooh, yes. Here she is, when she's having fun. The cutest little baby girl in the Universe. For me, anyway. Also, she is the meanest slave-holder, unforgiving, impatient, violent. The slave, of course, is me. Hence the name of my blog. Whenever she asks for... correction, demands something, I have to obey, and do that immediately and keenly or I am in trouble. Sometimes she just screams, sometimes she hits me, but the cruelest punishment is when she starts to cry. It's not even loud, you know. Mostly she just stends there, looking at me, her cheeks turn red, the corners of her mouth start sinking deeper and deeper, her eyes full of accusation and complaint, looking straight at me, and suddenly overflowing with tears. Then, the corners of the mouth are so low, they pull down the lower lip, allowing her to drool and let out a heartbreaking moan. By this time I am usually filled with guilt and self-reproach. How can I be such a terrible mother? She is only 21 ms old, and I made her cry! Bad, bad mommy, me! So what if she wants to play with the digital camera? By the time I get here in my chain of thoughts, she cries "mommy-mommy-mommyyy", usually adding "aaoowww" for dramatic effect. She tends to overact, and this is my luck. It helps me to come to my senses. Even now, as I am writing it down, it fills me with shame, but to tell the truth, she makes me laugh every time she cries like this. She is so cute, so adorable, even when she's showing her worst side, that I cannot help but love her, marvel at her and laugh from the joy I get from having such a lovely, headstorng ruler. I grab her immediately and rock her in my arms until she stops crying and hugs me. And then, we are back to normal and life goes on. Still, she can do this to me every time, waking the guilt ever so ruthlessly, whenever I disobey.
Guess I should inform Amnesty International, really.
Well, what the heck. Slaves like me suffer this way all over the world every day, I guess. It is all in a day's work for mothers. Neverending service.
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