In a stitching slump

Well, after going great guns for a week, my stitching exploits have dwindled to a big fat "zero" ... I managed to get a few stitches put into Chatelaine's Egyptian Garden, but ended up with a migraine trying to see the holes in the 32-count hand-dyed Opalescent Lugana - the air was turning blue while I was trying to stitch over-one! In the end, I've decided it's just not worth the heartache ... and have decided to opt for getting the 32-count belfast linen instead - not sure what I'll use this lugana for, but I'm sure something will come to mind eventually - hopefully something with very little stitching, and lots of background showing haha ... hmmmm, something in blackwork, perhaps???

Part of my slump has to do with my work shifts this week. Unfortunately (or fortunately, in some cases) I work for a call centre, which is open 24 hours, 7 days a week. There are some horrendous hours, but it has its benefits, such as driving home in 5am traffic ... sheer bliss! This week I'm on what I think is the worst shift, for some reason - 6pm to 2am. I'm not sure what it is about it, but I find myself extremely tired during the day, and not sleeping properly, and I don't have the energy to get up and do 'things' before I go to work. Mind you, it's a full moon at the moment, and the callers have been a bit 'feral' at times - people are really cranky with you, and it takes its toll on your by the end of 8 hours. I'm on the Supervisor Hotline at the moment, where we have to take escalated complaint calls from our staff, and for some reason when the full moon hits the complaints are much more irrational and time-consuming, not to mention draining! Oh well, it's paying the bills ... and luckily I only have one more 6pm-2am shift to do for the week, then I have one day of 3-11pm then 2 days off. It will be sheer bliss to only work a 5-day week this week, as it's mostly 6 or 7 days straight on our roster.

I have to say I haven't posted for a while - but yesterday I must say I felt really positive about life in general. Can't explain why, but I just felt 'at one with the world'. I recently moved out of a negative flatting situation, into a flat on my own, and am loving it most of the time. Where I have moved to is just a short 10 minute walk to the beach front, where I can make the most of the walking track and get some exercise in before or after work (or at least that's the plan haha). Unfortunately of late the weather here in Melbourne has been shocking, but yesterday there were blue skies and no gale force winds, so I donned the walking shoes and made an effort to get moving. Here is a photo of 'my' beach - I find it really calming to walk by the ocean ... yesterday it reminded me why I was overjoyed to move to this area :-) Well, better hit the hay - almost 4am and tiredness is settling in finally ... fingers crossed for a better night's sleep tonight, as I want to attend the Embroiderers Guild exhibit tomorrow before work ... anyway, here's the beach ...