December 12, 2015

This morning I woke up and spent the time before lunch reading The Tao of Pooh. I've got about forty pages left and plan on finishing it tomorrow. Then I can move on to the book I borrowed from the fifth grade teacher.

In one of the third grade classes the teacher handed out an activity to figure out how many gifts were given during the 12 Days of Christmas song. And how much it would all cost. I had some time today and it was an intriguing problem, so I figured it out. I created a table and included the sources of where I got prices. There were 364 gifts unless you count the pear trees and partridges separately, and then there are 376 gifts. I came to a total of $1,661,961.52. The vast majority of that total, 93.6%, came from the Maids a-Milking, which I figured as the yearly salary of a farmhand in Iowa. My favorite part was the Lords a-Leaping, which I calculated using the price of a ticket to see Lord of the Dance. During my research I discovered the song itself actually has a double meaning. I didn't actually read that far into it because there were several websites that had already calculated the price and I didn't want to risk a spoiler. From what little I saw, the real meaning of the song had to do with religion. Maybe publicly talking about whatever religious views was barred so they hid them in the song? Interesting.

This afternoon I did several tests to figure out the right sound levels for streaming. I also came up with a cool BRB screen that says “brb” using my Gimp cross stitch brush, and it has a slightly opaque background so you can still see my work area. I like it.

After dinner I did laundry and streamed myself cross stitch another owl. Not counting the prep work like measuring and cutting the cloth, and getting the string ready, it took almost three hours for me to make the tiny owl. That's pretty incredible. It's roughly one inch by an inch and a half. I powered through and finished it, though. Tomorrow I'll be able to wash it and possibly get it framed in the embroidery hoop. I washed my mom's today and pinned it out to dry. I'm still worried about it being just barely big enough on one side for the hoop. Hopefully I can get it to work. I imagine it being a pain in the butt trying to get it in the hoop but I'll find out tomorrow.

Now I'm going to go to bed because it is just after midnight and I am tired. At least I think I am. It might just be my eyes from staring at my cross stitch for three hours.