New Year's Eve

Well it is New Year's Eve and I am high on second hand paint fumes. See, it started out so simple. Our carpet in our formal rooms is old and nasty, so my parents decided to have hardwood floors installed like they did in the family room. They aren't going to be a perfect match because the company that makes the wood that we put in the family room is now defunct. Most people also can't afford to do more than 1 or 2 rooms at a time. Well, so we've spent a lot of time cleaning out all the big heavy furniture and taking off the baseboards. Since the baseboards still have the original 15/16 year old paint on them, it was decided that we should repaint them, cause it would look better with the new floors. Hence the paint fumes that make me feel shitty. I think the installers are scheduled to come the day we all go back to work, so i'm sure mom is trilled to have to deal with the dogs by herself.

I also made 18 bottlecap magnets today and finished my january letter for the Charlie swap. The partners for the RENT swap have been posted but we haven't received preference info yet, which is driving some of the others crazy, but i'm cool with it. I finished watching That 70s Show Season 3 today and started on Dukes of Hazzard Season 4. I really don't want to go back to work yet either. I'm enjoying this vacation thing aside from the family driving me crazy as usual part. I was going to attempt some minor sewing projects but the machines are not accessible due to the fact that they have been shoved in the corner to make room for all of the relocated furniture from the other rooms.

Obviously I don't have any hot plans for New Years Eve, but I'm not the only one. My sis is baby sitting her friend's two little girls so they can go party. She has already called me because the stove is messed up somehow and it took 1 hour and 10 mins to cook regular mac and cheese. The stove was turned up and everything, so who knows what was going on.

One of my Xmas presents came in the mail today. It is an 18 piece Crafter's tool set in hot pink. I like the fact because it's designed for crafters, the tools are more compact in size, so I can handle them a lot easier then those big ass hammers that weigh like 10 pounds. I like pretty things too. Hot pink just makes everything better. So does Hello Kitty. I found Hello Kitty pop tarts at Wal-Mart and I let out a tiny little squeal that caused my sister to disown me temporarily. These are even better then the Disney Princess ones, cause they have little sprinkles on them in the shape of Hello Kitty's head!!!!

Those Damn Resolutions...

I'm just making them because later on this year, it will be really funny to look at them and see if I accomplished any of them.

Resolutions 2006

1. Get off my ass and back on the exercise bike again
2. Stick to my budget better. Like as in quit buying crap that I "need" and focus more on what I have already
3. Possibly go on a date with a guy that is not a troll or a pervert
4. Make something cool with my fancy knitting machine
5. Go on a little road trip that doesn't involve visiting relations
6. Find better storage solutions for my room
7. Get kick ass speakers for my ipod since my real stereo has died and gone to heaven
8. Read more books
9. Get a social life
10. Finish what I start

Where Do I Even Begin?

I made it back safe and sound. I am happy to report that while the dogs are looking a little scruffy, the house did not turn into a piss palace while we were gone. For a shopping report and craft update, check out my Flickr blog because I posted a ton of evidence pics from the trip and pre trip photos as well. I am tired of food and shopping and my mom listening to the same Irish cds over and over so f ing loud that it compromised my ipod enjoyment. Family time is fun---NOT!!!!! It really wasn't that bad and I did have a lot of fun. I got to shop with my best friend from preschool. She informed me that everybody from the old gang is married now and has or is working on kiddies. We are the two lone rangers. She has law school, so what's my excuse? Oh yeah, general pickiness and hobbies that don't typically attract straight men. Oh well. As long as I have yarn, I will knit on. I will probably spend the rest of the holiday doing laundry although I absolutely have to have to get an oil change for my car tomorrow, otherwise it might explode and/or burst into flames. I also need to clean it because I had a strawberry Fanta explode all over me and the backseat on our way home today. Lovely is all I have to say about that.

Twas the Night Before Iowa

and not a single person was packing except little Shoegirl who was in a quandry over what yarn to take. It is a ten hour drive to my aunt's house in God's country a.k.a. Iowa (otherwise known as the birthplace of Shoegirl). I have Spanky my ipod all set to go. He is a white 15 GB 2nd or 3rd? generation and right now I have 1.4 days of music stored on him which = 2.03 GB or 544 songs and podcasts ( knitting ones of course). I have my tolietries gathered up and most of my clothes and tundra gear packed.

Christmas eve my dad got McDonalds for us and we went to midnight mass where we preceded to get high on the incense fumes. We opened up presents before mass. I got a ton of pants from my mom and socks. I am officially old now. My dvd collection has also expanded and I got a new winter coat (lightweight) and some other random stuff.

Tomorrow is the big trek up north. I get to see my best bud from preschool and we are going shopping!!!! My 2nd favorite pasttime. When my sister and I were buying film on sale at Walgreens I found a lion brand scarf kit that is f-ing red! It is going to be my Rose Bowl scarf. I have also updated my Flickr blog because A pointed out that I have apparently not updated it in forever.

Anyhoo, I will return on the evening of the 29th. Merry Christmas and Good Luck Sunshine!

just a thought

So apparently, if i don't want to pay full retail price for a new cell phone from my provider, i have to wait until April 20, 2006 which is the earliest I can renew because that is 4 mos before my contract expires. So with great disappointment, i will suck it up and tough it out because i will not pay $300 for a nice phone.

I am now officially on holiday shutdown. yay....several glorious days without accounting or having to think.

Today is supposed to be a craftathon. We will see how much I get done. lol...I shouldn't be too distracted by shopping me cause I am experiencing shopping boredom right now. Who have ever thought I would be saying that.

It is so hot outside. It looks like it will make it into the upper 50s today. My last QAF book arrived last night and I devoured it. There are three novels about the show and they act as prequels to the series. It has explained a lot of things about the characters and how they all met each other. So yeah, as usual I read my vacation books before the trip. Typical for me.

My mom finally finished wrapping the Xmas presents. I will let you know how many of them were actually surprises for me.

LESS THAN A WEEK UNTIL THE ROSE BOWL!!!!!!

I bought a handheld!!

cordless vaccum that is. A little silver dirt devil scorpion that is 6 volt so that I can vaccum under my bed without having to use like 16 attachments. I also bought a tan leather Levi's purse on sale for 11.55 at Goody's. I was having issues with big black leather purse cause the straps wouldn't stay on my shoulder and stuff would slide all over the place in it.

On friday, I am going to try and upgrade my POS phone. the volume on it is not existent and the silver finish is all chipped off and i've had it for nearly 2 years so I think that it's been well used. But if they don't have any sexy Motorola flip phones then I'm holding out. Cause I will not own any other brand of cell phone.

So i was naughty and read the two QAF novels that arrived in the mail yesterday. I just couldn't wait until my trip--plus i'm afraid one of my relatives would find it and give me the spiel about being a 25 year old spinister. Novel 3 should arrive in the mail tomorrow according to the little package tracker.

According to my tailor, Mr. Baa, I have knitted 10 inches on my mom's scarf to match her hat. Thank God this wasn't intended to be a Xmas present.

Work has been crazy in a good week. When we come back from Xmas vacay, it will be the "Month end closing" which means lots of $$ overtime for me.

That is all for tonight's broadcast of Evening Edition. Rock on ya'll.

What's Going on

What's rocking my ipod(and making my butt shake)---"Gold Digger" by the well-dressed Kanye West
What's on the needles---Lion Brand Homespun "Colonial"--which means it's dark blue with gold flecks in it and it's on its way to becoming my mom's hat
Accessory of the day---my measuring tape shaped like a little white sheep

Well, my sis and I survived shopping in T-town and Owasso. It wasn't too bad in the stores but there were some assholes in the parking lots. Barnes and Noble was after my heart, they had 20% selected knitting books + my 10% member discount = one happy Shoegirl. At Tar-jay I got a movie for my mom and this other movie that I had on VHS but it was kind of crapping out so I found it on dvd there. My sis and i bought matching shirts at Old Navy that say "Frost Bite Me" on them in gold stitching. We thought it was hilarious, I think my mom thinks we're freaks. My parents just now started doing their online shopping today. I don't know where I got my shopping genes from cause it sure as hell wasn't from them. I really didn't buy that much today.

My sunday night shows are repeats tonight, so i might actually get something done tonight. LOL. I did vaccum my room today. I have wrapped a ton of presents this weekend too, so that should count for something.

Holiday-itis

So i am a total lightweight now. I went to Chili's with S. and R. (S's bro that invited himself). R. kept looking at my boobs the whole time and I ordered a Tropical Sunrise. Very great drink chuck full of likker. However, the waitress put a straw in it and that is a bad thing cause I slurped it up due to the straw + annoyance factor of a dork looking at my boobs. Yes they are big, but they are not for sale! Anyways, I ended up with a really bad buzz for like an hour, but I decided that I will blame it on the straw factor.

Plus, I had waited around all day on those retards so we could go eat because R. lost his drivers license and he wanted to cash his paycheck today (he doesn't have a bank account). After tearing apart the house for two hours, they decided that S. would just have to cash it for him on Monday. Plus, R. went to Chili's in his pajama pants and a skanky looking cheap ass polo shirt and S. was wearing shorts and one of those knit shirts that always make guy's nipples show. I know it wasn't S.'s fault, but his family annoys the piss out of me. Plus, S. keeps trying to get me to move out with him and I absolutely refuse because he is a complete slob and his circus freak family would try to move in with us. Can you tell that I have holiday-itis?

On the shopping front, I get a big fat F for not finding work clothes or shoes. I did get a brand new set of Knifty Knitters at Hobby Lobby on sale for like around $5. I also bought some girly stationary too.

Sis keeps conning me into wrapping presents for her. My mom bought me a nice pair of khaki trousers but i hate the fact that they come up over my belly button. My mom has also conned me into making her a hat for our Iowa trip because she says if she tried to make one right now, she would never get it done because of all the projects she's working on.

As soon as my machine knitting books get here, I'm going to apply my slacker self and actually make something on my machine other than a giant square.

Miss you Sunshine! I hope you survived commencement.

Yule time

Holiday shopping is getting sucky. I had to go to Wal-mart to get my $5 gift for the chinese gift exchange at work tomorrow and to buy something for the potluck. People were ramming my big ass with carts and being just nasty. Plus, I had to help my mom find the DVDs that my sister and I wanted for Christmas, because when she went to buy them this afternoon, the electronics guy could only help her find one. After some digging, I found them. That aisle looked like it had been hit by a tornado.

I got paid today, and to celebrate I spent $50 on books at Amazon.com so I would have stuff read to read on my ride home to God's country, otherwise known as Iowa. Note to Sunshine, three of them would make good bedtime stories for you.

I would write more tonight, but i have to go help my sister with her holiday party crap.

I just want a hard lemonade

I could really go for a 6 pack of Mike's Hard Lemonade (or any of the other flavors). It would just be really great. It's not that I'm stressed or bummed about something, I just want something nice to take the edge off and transport me away from the everyday doldrums. I don't even remember the last time I have drank because I live in a dry house and I think i'm too old to hide it under my bed. Plus, I tend to crave booze more when the weather is drippy like it has been this evening.

Work is okay. It was a little annoying today because some people had played hooky on friday and monday so they dumped two days worth of crap for me to do for them today. Lovely. They are nice people but would some organization kill them? It would really help the newbie out. i'm supposed to bring something to the Christmas party, which would be fine, except I HATE COOKING and shopping for cheater food for parties. I'm just not a foodie and I don't like Chinese Food Thursdays. Honestly, I really do like my job. It's just that I'm adjusting from working a long string of sucky jobs so I'm going through an adjustment phase.

I don't really have anything exciting to report on the craft front. It's hard to start a new project when I don't get home from work until like 6:30 pm CT on average.

Possible weekend projects:
Sock Monkey named Mr. Jingles
more bottlecap magnets
a hat or two
petting my yarn


Cool Song of the Moment--"You're Beautiful" by James Blount (love the squeaky voice).

Ten Things About my day

1.Stupid gas is 2.09 (which is high for OK!) and it also the week that i gave my sis gas money for her trip to dallas and I have to drive carpool this week...i still have gas money, but it's just the irony of it all.
2. I got my Ziploc doodad swap 3 stuff (sock monkey socks and pea soup fuzzy yarn to mention the big stuff).
3. My book order arrived at sis' school but she left the books in her office.
4. All my favorite shows are going to be in reruns now that I have more time to watch tv.
5. A. got her big ass box from me in the mail today and she was excited and liked the stuff for little A
6. I got to talk to a sweet guy on the phone today who is one of our Ireland vendors.
7. Somebody laid a spring of mistletoe on my keyboard at work today. V.interesting...
8. My new preppy $14 gray GAP trousers actually fit my big butt
9. i ate two disney princess pop tarts today (yes, sunshine you have to try them--you can get them at wal-mart, and they are some kind of unidentifiable berry flavor)
10. i want to make kool-aid dyed yarn, but i need to buy some white colored wool this weekend. oh darn, an excuse to buy more yarn. how did that idea get into my pretty little head?

I'm Melting, I'm Melting!

Well, the snow all melted yesterday cause it got up into the 40s. I dropped off the hats for the Mitten Tree today, so now I'm just going to be making them for next year. I signed up to be in the Rent swap on Craftster. That will be awesome, plus the swap doesn't send out until the beginning of February so that will be perfect for my working chick schedule. I shipped out on the Ziploc Doodad swap 3 this week and my partner shipped on Friday so I'm curious to see what she sends. I hope it's stuff I can use. I've been wrapping up Christmas presents. I sent a box to A yesterday that weighed $20. It had christmas and baby stuff in it so her christmas wouldn't suck. I have to finish a hat today so I can mail the box for the wichita group tomorrow along with the package for Sunshine (and kitty too). I will also be mailing out my Xmas cards too. I've been making bottle cap magnets this weekend too. You put things in a bottle cap and then fill it with resin, attach magnet to the back and you have some cool magnets for the fridge or whatever. I made three yesterday and they are really cool looking. My sister is going to flip when she sees them. I got one in a swap and we thought it was the coolest thing ever and wanted to try it, but didn't know how. Then I was at Hastings and found a Klutz book/kit on it and it was 30% off!!! The angel of crafting was smiling down on me for sure.

I heart Sweaters

So it was like 15 degrees outside on my way home from Kansas. I love cold weather and being able to wear merino wool sweaters and cordoroys without sweating to death. The only things I don't like are dry skin and stupid people that can't drive in snowy weather. I think so far we out 1 inch out of the predicted 10 inches of snow tonight. The diversity group potluck was today and this chick brought macaroni and cheese but with corn mixed in. I thought I had died and gone to heaven, it was so good. Who knew two of my favorite things could taste so good together. I also got this really cute tiny stuffed snowman that came with a tiny bottle of lotion. How cute. Friday is the Sisterhood potluck--more food and presents. Not much else going on, I just wanted to talk about snow. yay..!

Insanity of my life

My bank mergered with another bank. What a pain in the ass! I have to make my mom call and find out whether or not this is going to screw up my direct deposited paycheck or my online bill payments. Yuck yuck yuck.
The new job is still fine, I'm getting new responsibilities and my brain says that it doesn't want to work anymore, especially when it's like butt freezing cold inside and outside.
I've been invited to join the Sisterhood and the Diversity groups at work. They are both excuses for potlucks and presents. lol...I'm joining only cause "i want to fit in" and they would take it personal if i didn't. I kinda miss clubs too, I was always in a bazillion at school. These people are nice, so it should be fun in a work kinda way.

I got Sunshine's commencement announcement in the mail today. yay for sunshine, you made it up another rung on the ladder of life. I'm going to keep in it my big leather AE journal where i stash all important documents.

I sent off my Ziploc Craftdoodad 3 swap today. Yesterday I got letter no. 2 in the Charlie swap. I'm jealous of my Charlie cause she lives in Ohio where they have the 4th season known as Winter and she got lots of snow already. LUCKY!!!

I bought Little House on the Prairie Season 9 (the final one) on dvd today. I am a HUGE FAN of Little House. Mom read the entire series of the books while I was in the womb. I have been to the homes in Independence, KS and Mansfield, MO. I'm going to have to order the rest online because wal-mart only has 8 and 9 in the store--shelf space you know. This will be my entertainment this weekend since little sis is ditching me to take certification tests in Dallas and I have no friends to hang out with here except for S and he is usually working on the weekends. Plus, I will need viewing entertainment for my christmas crafting and card writing.

Holla-days

Well, I went on my big Christmas shopping expedition. I think I got like 95% done, which is good because I don't usually shop for it all at once, so it seemed like I spent a lot but I didn't cause like 80% of it was on sale. Still don't have a present for dad yet, but the man is impossible to shop for. I even wrapped everything I bought today. Martha would be so proud. I also found rawhide doggy treats in the dolla bin at tar-jay, and my picky little poochies ACTUALLY ATE THEM! I was pleasantly shocked.

Shopping for work clothes was a big fat bust. Busty chicks like moi can not wear bohemian wear that is so popular without running the risk of acheiving the maternity look. Plus, some of the stuff that is in the so-called careerwear section, there is no way in hell I could wear to work. Seriously, who gets to wear trouser capris to work? I didn't even attempt to go bra shopping, that is a hell unto itself. I did find two afterwork shirts.

i finished my sister's recess hat today. I do highly recommend the Peppermint Mocha at Starbucks because it doesn't taste like coffee that much. My neighbor across the street has three light up crosses on his roof (laying flat on the roof). We have a light up nativity but it's a little more friendlier looking. People in my neighborhood actually hire decorators to put up their outdoor lighting displays along with the indoor granduer. Not my family--we still practice authentic Christmas ala A Christmas Story and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Did I mention that my little Daisy almost electrocuted herself by biting those lights that people fork into the ground? She's okay, but we think she got a little buzz cause she jumped up into the air.