WIPs as of July 15th

See previous post for background info on my Sunflowers project. The stitches on the far right were those made by Mother before she passed away. I stupidly trimmed the fabric way too close. I wish I could have centered the design so that these would be with the center flower. Not sure what I'll do to accomplish  that, but they WILL be on the finished piece. There are only a few stitches here and there to complete it, but  I've been thinking I may instead just leave it as it is now, not quite completed. Just like my Mother's life.

When I set Sunflowers aside, I started up Lizzie Kate's ABC's of Aging Artfully. I'd bought the kit some time ago but couldn't decide what fabric to use.  This is Wedgewood blue, and I like it. With full crosses only it could go pretty fast if I didn't have to complete each stitch one at a time because of the overdyed threads. Until last night, I hadn't stitched on this since early June.

I hastily grabbed the "Bless This Nest" kit at Walmart to take with me to San Antonio in mid-June, but ended up taking ABC's instead - though I never took it out of the suitcase. I began stitching this end of June. Why I'm spending time even working on it I'm not sure as I not sure I'll ever finish it. I had a horrible time trying to sort some of the greens and I still have 3 strands of some green leftover that may or may not even go with the kit. I knew when I started should substitute an evenweave for the 14ct Aida because it is chock full of 1/2 and 1/4 stitches. Yet I didn't. Not sure why. Last night I FINALLY got around to setting it aside to finish ABC's of Aging instead - a much better use of my stitching time.

There is simply not enough space on Blogspot to accommodate ALL the WIP's I've got in my stash, some going back almost 3 decades. Some I lost interest. Some the reason for stitching long since disappeared or was outright rebuffed, and even if completed would have no home to go to. 

Nonetheless, I've had Prairie Schooler's Birds and Berries kitted up since last fall to work on, but haven't yet, I have a LONG overdue wedding sampler to design and stitch for my DD and SIL, who will celebrate their THIRD anniversary in a couple of months, and because they are BIG Halloween people, I recently bought Whooo's There to stitch for them as well.  It would help if my eyesight were a LOT better and I wasn't the slowest stitcher in the entire world!!

Another unexpected honor

Arlington Volunteer of the Month

Was just made aware by the Office of Emergency Management, in a simple "FYI" email with the just the link. Not complaining, mind you, but, uh, don't they let people know in advance or at least with a phone call? I wonder what, if anything, comes next, and wish I had a decent "publicity" photo. What an emotional roller coaster this past month has been.

New Sampler Girl Freebie

Reading with Jane - a chart listing Jane Austen books; check out Tanya's other designs as well!

RIP Sweet Little Smidge

I have had an emotionally intense weekend after finding a 7 or 8 week old feral kitten laying under my bedroom window late Friday. I did post about him on FB and the 123MB, and you can read a bit more about him under his photo on Webshots. But I am so emotionally drained by the loss and experience I no longer want to go into details other than say I tried my best, I so hope that what I did didn't make him worse rather than better, that he died while being held by someone who truly cared for and already loved him dearly, and that others who found out about him cared very much as well. Smidge did not die frightened, alone and anonymous. He was beloved, and he has a forever name.

RIP, dear swet little Smidge. I will miss you.

OFFICIAL Press Release re Award

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 2, 2012

 

Arlington Fire Department Volunteer Awarded State Honor 

Linda McMillen, an Arlington Fire Department Office of Emergency Management Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteer, was awarded the second annual Jack Colley Award for Volunteerism last month at the annual Texas Unites Citizen Corps/Volunteers Organizations Active in Disaster Conference.  The award was presented by Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, and Penny Redington, executive director of the Texas Association of Regional Councils.

The award honors an outstanding volunteer who exhibits leadership, dedication, self-sacrifice and service to the State of Texas in the field of emergency management. This statewide recognition is the highest honor presented to a volunteer by the state’s Citizen Corps Program.

McMillen has been instrumental to the success of the Arlington CERT program since 2007. During her time with the CERT program, she has participated in numerous training classes, exercises and emergency responses. McMillen was vital to the response following the April 3 tornadoes through the organization of more than 40 volunteers to support the Arlington Emergency Operations Center and the city’s Tornado Recovery Center.  She also participates in several monthly tests of the outdoor warning system and represents the Arlington EOC on the Tarrant County RACES radio net.  McMillen has volunteered in many special events and EOC activations, including the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, Super Bowl XLV and a full-scale exercise at Cowboys Stadium.

The Jack Colley Leadership Award was established in honor of Jack Colley, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management from 1998-2010, for his unwavering support, dedication, and service to the citizens of Texas during times of crises and for his outstanding leadership in the profession of emergency management. The award is given annually to recognize the outstanding leadership and service of a Citizen Corps volunteer.

 

Media Contact:

Rebecca Rodriguez

Manager | Office of Communication

817.459.6412             

rebecca.rodriguez@arlingtontx.gov  

Rebecca Rodriguez

Marketing Communications Manager | Office of Communication

 

101 West Abram Street, Arlington, TX 76010 | P.O. Box 90231 MS 01-0370, Arlington, TX 7600-3231

office: 817.459.6412 email: Rebecca.Rodriguez@arlingtontx.gov

 

************

And with that I expect that my 15 minutes of fame are officially over. July 4th I served as Net Control for a couple of dozen radio operators staged along the big Arlington 4th of July Parade Route. Except for a couple of minor medical issues and one stalled vehicle, everything was totally and completely uneventful. Just the way we like it. My computer has been on the fritz again, so wishing everyone a BELATED Happy 4th!

Received 2012 Jack Colley Leadership Award !!

This may be as "official" as it gets, so I am reposting my previous post about receiving this astonishing recognition! Here is a link to an article posted on the City of Arlington website.

I was and remain deeply humbled and incredibly honored that as a member of Arlington CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) to have been nominated by the Arlington Office of Emergency Management for this Award. I was absolutely stunned when I learned that I had been selected to receive the 2012 Jack Colley Citizen Corps Leadership Award for volunteerism (related to disaster preparedness and/or response) in the State of Texas. “This statewide recognition is the highest honor bestowed upon a council or volunteer by the state's Citizen Corps Council,” said Julie Martinez, Texas Citizen Corps manager. "This Award was established in honor of Jack Colley, who served as director of the Texas Division of Emergency Management for more than a decade before his death in 2010."

I was presented with a plaque in honor of Jack Colley, an official Flag of the State of Texas that had been flown over the State Capitol a few days before (with accompanying certificate that also has my name on it, albeit misspelled). My name will be added to a permanent plaque kept at the Texas Citizen Corps headquarters in Austin.

Receiving Award from Steve McCraw, Director of the Texas 

Department  of Public Safety, and Penny Redington, Executive Director

of the Texas Association of Regional Councils.

With Matt Feryan, Emergency Management Planner.  

Arlington Office of Emergency Management

L to R: Asst. Chief David Carroll - Fire Rescue Support Div; Matt Feryan - OEM
Irish Hancock - Administrator Office of Emergency Management, Me and
Arlington Fire Chief Don Crowson 

From the email sent to CERT members:

Linda McMillen, an Arlington Fire Department Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteer, was awarded the second annual Jack Colley Award for Volunteerism last week in San Antonio. The prestigious Jack Colley Award honors an outstanding volunteer who exhibits leadership, dedication, self-sacrifice and service to the State of Texas in the field of emergency management, attributes personified by the late Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Jack Colley. This state-wide recognition is the highest honor bestowed upon a volunteer by the state's Citizen Corps Program. The award was presented by the Director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Steve McCraw, and Texas Association of Regional Councils Executive Director, Penny Redington, at the annual Texas Unites Citizen Corps/VOAD Conference on June 15. 

Award Description

The Jack Colley Leadership Award was established in honor of Jack Colley, Chief, Texas Division of Emergency Management, 1998 – 2010, for his unwavering support, dedication, and service to the citizens of Texas during times of crises; and for his outstanding leadership in the profession of emergency management. The award is given annually in his honor to recognize the outstanding leadership and service of a Citizen Corps volunteer.

Narrative from the award submission:

Since 2007, Ms. McMillen has been instrumental to the success of the Arlington CERT program and the Arlington Office of Emergency Management. Throughout her time with the CERT program Linda has participated in numerous trainings, exercises and emergency responses. Most recently, Linda was vital to the response following the April 3, 2012 EF-2 tornado that impacted the cities of Kennedale and Arlington. Her efforts organized the response of over 40 volunteers to support the Arlington Emergency Operations Center and the City’s Tornado Recovery Center. In total, Linda volunteered approximately 90 hours in a ten-day period to ensure a streamlined process of CERT volunteer management. Linda also regularly manages the ham radio net for Arlington’s monthly outdoor warning system test. Each month, Linda dedicates time to organize and assign volunteer radio operators to observe and report the status of the siren system. Additionally, Linda regularly responds to severe weather warnings and represents the Arlington EOC on the Tarrant County RACES radio net. Linda has been involved with major special event and natural disaster EOC activations which has included the NBA All-Star game, Super Bowl 45, Cotton Bowl, World Series, Tropical Storm Hermine and the April 2012 Tornado. Furthermore, Linda has participated in every major exercise sponsored by the City of Arlington which has included a full-scale exercise at the new Cowboy’s Stadium, a functional EOC exercise in preparation of Super Bowl 45 and numerous drills, tabletops and workshops in support of the Arlington Office of Emergency Management.

I remain totally overwhelmed and am still trying to wrap my mind around it. I truly did not expect this. Awards are not the reason I do volunteer work. I wanted to be active in the community and hopefully might add something productive and positive along the way. I have the time, and I get a great deal of personal satisfaction doing the things I get to do. I'm happy and gratified just to receive honest thank yous and the privilege of being allowed to continue to assist as I can. This .... this is overwhelming and I'm still trying to digest just how prestigious and just how high an honor it is.

My sincere and profound thank yous to the Texas Citizen Corps Council - their staff and representatives, the State of Texas Emergency Managment, Texas VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters), the City of Arlington Fire Department and the Office of Emergency Management for being so honored. Again, I am deeply humbled and incredibly honored to have received the 2012 Jack Colley Leadership Award.

ABC's of Aging Artfully - Lizzie Kate

Part of my current project on 28ct Wedgewood Lugana. I've completed almost all of the first 3 lines.  "e" is charted for "eat chocolate." I'm allergic so I may substitute  "eat ice cream" if it will fit. I debated about fabric color and have decided I quite like the blue! The LNS owner advised I would need a full fat quarter. Nope. Just 1/2 that. Instead of wasting all that extra fabric, I'm utilizing a 2-1/4" allowance, which is more than enough for framing purposes. I would have preferred chart only, but it only comes as a kit with 4 skeins of CC Caterpillar, and 1 skein of each of the other colors (of which maybe 1/4 is actually used), plus some DMC white and an aqua. Except for the Caterpillar (which is a mix similar to 3371 with 898), I would have preferred to use same or similar CC's I already have on hand, and definitely didn't need the white or aqua. Still I liked it enough to buy.

PS:  Click here for some simple Patriotic and 4th of July designs and ideas!

As if I hadn't had to replace

Pixma MX372

computer and A/C in the last month, my 13-1/2 month old 4-In-1 Epson Workforce 520 printer jammed and flat quit working last week. This makes the 3rd printer in the last 5 years that has jammed to death. Thank goodness I had purchased a 2-year extended warranty on the Epson, even though that cost 1/3 the price of the printer but turned out to be about the same the cost as only 1 of the 2 required black ink cartridges - a pretty sore issue for MANY REASONS including the fact it used 3 or 4 times the amount of ink of any printer I have ever owned. And that despite the fact I printed almost exclusively in black draft mode and never in color. To be honest, while it had some nice features (all totally unrelated to printing), I despised the thing and am glad to be legitimately rid of it.

The first time I had had to replace BOTH black cartridges to the tune of about $40 (only $20 less than the initial cost of the printer including ink, and shockingly far too soon considering how little printing I actually do these days (none in color, and still those cartridges are all but empty) I started thinking about replacing the whole !#@!@## thing. But I hadn't gotten that far as I still had a smidge of ink left. Still I was on the verge of having to replace 2 blacks and 3 color cartridges to the tune of $90-$100. New printer, including ink - about $65.  Took Epson back to Frye's expecting Repair Dept to spend a couple of minutes removing tiny piece of still jammed paper I couldn't see at home. Instead they didn't even look at it and sent me back to Customer Service to have it replaced. Really? Long story short, I finally agreed to swap Epson for the Canon Pixma the warranty would approve of, however, IT would only come with a 30-day warranty - which I expressed considerable polite concern and polite consternation about. In the end, however, they replaced the Epson with the Canon and I paid $21 for a new 2-year extended warranty. I felt like I got a good deal, and I'm hoping when I get everything attached and plugged in it works. The  drive to Frye's is a real hassle.

I'm hoping I haven't been snookered on ink usage and cost yet again. It's utterly ludicrous and an environmental disgrace. Printers have fallen to amazingly low prices. The cost of ink, however, has skyrocketed. It's less expensive to toss the printer into a land fill and buy a new one than shell out thick wads of cash for a new round of ink!