I smell Baseball

I have this itch to watch some baseball. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Opening Day is April 1st. I used to go to baseball games all the time when I lived in Iowa but I haven't been to one in a long time and I miss that. I have made it one of my goals for this summer to go to as many baseball games as I can. It doesn't matter to me what league or what level.

I have finished my 45th row on the afghan. YAY!! I have made it to a wrap level or a big dresser scarf size. This is definitely my largest project yet and if I can pull it off, A-dolly is just going to flip over it. I just truck away at it. It's a good project to work on while you are couch potato-ing like me.

Aunt D mailed me some of her infamous sugar cookies to me for Easter. I can't wait. they are probably my favorite cookie, with or without the decadent frosting. I did the dishes today. My kitchen is skank free.

Today was a sunshiney day today. that was nice. my sinuses appreciate it.

Weekend Update

My lawn looks like shit. It has rained hard almost every day this past week and the previous owners had never heard of weedkiller so my lawn looks like yuck. Every time I try calling the lawn service the line is busy because every one in town needs their lawn mowed. Seriously.

I took off work a couple hours early. Since everyone is out of town this week I needed to be able to make my last tuition payment of the semester. I don't mail them in because I spread the love over the month, because of commuting I have to have a very flexible gas budget. Things have been stressful the last few days, there was a glitch in my parent's moving process but everyone is fine now and back on track. Since I was downtown, i went to the library because i needed free entertainment. They actually had some new knitting and crafty books that I had been interested in but not enough to buy, so I checked all of them out. Then I came home and did laundry. tomorrow I have to tackle dishes. I can't stand dishes in the sink, even though my sister and i always rinse them off.

It started to pour rain this evening so I decided to stay in. I ended up watching an old favorite, Reality Bites. I really identify with that movie but in a positive way. When that was over, I was channel surfing and found Paula's Party. The theme was cheese. She started off with macaroni and cheese that had 6 DIFFERENT KINDS IN IT!!!! I love her. Some day I hope to make a pilgrimage down to Savannah and eat at Lady and Sons. Did i mention that mac and cheese is like my favorite? It's in my top 3 three foods that I will eat.

Somehow in the midst of this, I was able to add on a few rows to the afghan. I am now up to 42 rows I believe. Crocheting an afghan is the perfect project for yucky rainy weather. I also started work on my photo collage of my doggies. I need to print some pics off at Wal-mart before I can finish it. I am lazy with my digital camera. I also need to print off the pic cd of baby K that my aunt D sent me. The creative juices are flowing this weekend I guess.

The Thunder Rolls

So we are having massive thunderstorms. No tornados yet, Sunshine, so you better not be doing your tornado dance! My dad stopped by our house today and gave me money to hire someone to mow the lawn until we get the lawnmower situation resolved. he is coming back next weekend so we might work on that then.

My sister is at a convention so I am all by myself this weekend. This should be interesting. I would like to imagine one major fiesta, but I need to become very close to my accounting text books. I have this tendency not to become a serious student until after spring break (last week). LOL.

I have not made any more progress on the afghan. It has been a wild week, with school and closing the books at work, so I didn't have any more time to work on it. I plan on working on it a lot this weekend during my homework breaks.

April is National Poetry Month. yay! I can't wait. So, because of this, i leave you with a little quote from one of my all time favorite poets, Emily Dickinson:

"If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain"

One is the Lonliest Number

This is definitely a pity post. My parents pack up almost 9 years of their lives in Oklahoma and head out to their new place in the Carolinas. My sister is leaving tomorrow for a science teachers convention in St. Louis which is where my dad is from. she is going to stay with my dad's sister and our teenage boy cousins who are on spring break and have promised to teach her how to play guitar on their Wii when she is not at the convention. I think she's going to see our grandparents too while she's there because she doesn't come back until late Sunday night. So I am all by myself for the rest of the week + weekend. I'm hoping that I will see my parents one more time because I have scored the infamous push mower and we still have our garage door openers to their garage. My mom says not to worry, i don't need to come to the house because the moving vans will be all parked up that they will take care of it all and yes they know I have the night class that i can't skip on wednesdays. I just want to be able to check it off my mental list. I don't like the anticipation part especially when it concerns major life changing events. I'm worried about the doggies traveling on the plane too because they have never done that before. I'm a first born can't you tell? Classic Type A worrier.

On the plus side, I've scored some major victories at work and I am almost caught up with homework. I almost fell asleep in Governmental accounting because my teacher was rambling again about fiduciary funds and about how his son bought him the coolest blue tie for his birthday last week. randomness, eh?

On the yarn front, I am almost done with row 36 on the afghan. That is really awesome because I am using an H hook, and the stitches are all half double crochet. I'm really glad I didn't decide to use my F hook, that would've taken my until A-dolly was in kindergarten to finish.

I should go to bed. It sucks royal A getting up at 6 am and driving at least 40 minutes to work one way.

Sweetie darling!

I think I have finished at least two or three more rows since my last post but i'm not sure. I'm sleep and food deprived so I am making slow progress especially with the sore elbow thing going on. The Patternworks order finally came this week. I got my new addi hook, my first Koigu, the mitten loom and the book for my mom which she really likes.

I am glad it's the weekend. All the rain makes me sluggish and congested too so I feel like i'm in a little rain cloud. I did get the new issue of Bust and Marie Anoinette on dvd. I have to take my mom to Owasso this weekend so that we can go to Petsmart and find some airline approved pet carriers since my parents are taking the doggies on the plane with them for the first time and putting the outback on the moving truck. their house has a for sale sign in the yard now and the remodeling is done. it's all very strange. i don't want my little doggies to leave. stupid rental house.

My sister's eye muscle surgery went well. You can't really tell she had eye surgery unless you look in the corners of her eyes, then you see the redness. She can see but she can't really read yet because it strains her eyes and they are still adjusting. I bought her some Jackie O sunglasses.

ugly betty and grey's anatomy were good this week. henry the accountant is HOT. lol..My spring break is almost over and i'm not looking forward to going back to class but it will give me something to do.

14 Rows and a ton of Rain

It has been raining Seattle-style all of last night and today. This stinks when you have to go to work because it is cool/warm so my stupid windows try to fog up a bunch. At least it rained hard enough to wash the bird crap off my car. LOL. I made my travel arrangements for my trip to HQ next month. I get to stay a nice hotel in a room with two queen sized beds and I don't have to share!!!! -- because that's what the corporate travel people had to offer. I can dig that. This is one of the perks of corporate travel people. I am also earning frequent flyer miles too so that rocks. I am flying on a crop duster but it is one of my approved airlines and I don't connect through O'Hare so that is great.

I hung out at Mom's again tonight. I have completed row 14 on the Kiss afghan and now my right elbow is really tender because I think I have bad crochet posture.

Things are starting to calm down here and it's weird. I can't believe my "spring break" from school is almost over. All the heavy rain just makes me want to sleep and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I am even more congested than usual.

My Favorite Project

So for Secret Pal 10 we have been challenged to post about our favorite current project. Lucky for me, I just started a new project. See, Sunday night my little sister and I were sitting in our living room and we came to the realization that our parents are really moving away to the Carolinas and we can do whatever we want and nobody is going to find out because our relatives all live in Iowa or St. Louis for the most part. This is how we ended up watching Gene Simmons Family Jewels. Surprisingly enough he has a really normal family life. His kids are normal and not messed up like The Osbournes. Gene is one of my secret favorite rockers of all time. How can you not love him? Hello, the tongue. Anyways, I was watching the show and I have major problems just sitting still so I decided since I have all this newfound free time, I should embark on an epic project. I decided to use all of the bazillion skeins of Red Heart Supersaver Plum Pudding yarn to make A-dolly her very own pink and purple afghan because those are her favorite colors. She will be three in May and already has good taste. I am using my Addi F hook and half double crochet (my favorite stitch). It is 185 stitches wide because I just chained my wingspan. I am working on my tenth row which is awesome, I think. When the body is done I am going to make some kind of wavy border. She just brings me so much joy in the short time that I have known her so far and so I want her to have something that she can just wrap around her and feel the love in every stitch.

i know it's Red Heart but she is still little and so it needs to be sturdy and washable and when she's 26 and a half like me i will make her a giant Koigu afghan or something out of soy silk maybe. It would be really cool if I could finish it in time for her birthday at the end of May but it might not be finished until my birthday in September. LOL. It's highly appropriate that I started this afghan while watching Gene Simmons Family Jewels because I am the person that taught her to stick her tongue out like he does and I taught her how to dance like a rock star. I'm sure her Mom just loves me for that but A-dolly is just sooo cute when she does that.

I should also mention that this is the first afghan that I have ever made. I originally thought it was going to be a throw she could grow into (hee hee) but seeing my ten rows stretched out, It is probably going to be closer to twin size, which is okay too. Anyways, that is the story of my favorite project, the KISS afghan for A-dolly.

Lucky Girl

Things I am grateful for on this St. Patrick's Day:

1. The two skeins of SWTC Karoke I purchase today
2. Rebecca magazine in German
3. My Bailey's
4. my new LL Bean carry on bag
5. Mountain Dew
6. Soft batch chocolate chip cookies
7. Burt's Bees chapstick, all flavors.

I knitted one more hat this morning before our big trip to T-Town. Barnes and Noble is my happy place. I like to hang out with the knitting and crochet books and the magazine aisle. I did find state maps for NC and SC so that I won't get lost when I visit my parents new digs later this summer. I found this quirky little book on making felt stuffed animals and a book that has dog sweater patterns it--my favorite is the little baseball raglan shirt. daisy would look so cute in that. Super Target is my home improvement friend. They have little picture frame hanging stuff kits that A my coworker and I used to hang up the bulletin boards and big picture frames at my new place. The house looks more put together and A has this uncanny knack for hanging stuff up that is level on the first try with just using a pencil and a measuring tape. I don't have a level yet.

I am saluting my Irish heritage by drinking some of my mint chocolate Bailey's Irish cream that I bought around v-day. It is still fresh. I didn't have any chocy syrup or reddi whip to put in it but it was nice even with just milk mixed in. That was my treat to myself because I just spent over three hours at my parents house helping them move crap out to the garage. Stupid real estate people are coming over to the house tomorrow afternoon.

Erin Go Bragh!!!

Tales of An Ipod

So I'm attached to my ipod. Ever since I talked my co-worker friend into buying the video ipod (which she completely loves!) I have been bringing my beloved 3rd generation ipod (named Spanky) to work with me. We can have radios at work so we decided ipods are okay. anyways, usually i have this old ashtray that I found one day while cleaning out an old filing cabinet that I use as the home for my ipod, but today, i had a little cardigan on so I had it in my pocket when i was walking into work and an older lady saw the little white cord and asked me if i was using an insulin pump! I about died! I was like no, it's my ipod and she was like oh....yeah. um, i know what insulin pumps look like and the cords are totally different. I don't know it happened at like 7:30 am so I don't think either one of us were awake.

I totally aced my governmental accounting test tonight so that was awesome. It sounds like I will be flying to corporate headquarters next month to train some people so that will be cool because i will get to test out my LL Bean carry-on bag and see if it really fits under the seat.

I am stoked because this thursday there is a new episode of Grey's Anatomy and I have a test that night so I will get out early enough to see it live!! YAY! this is another reason why i can't wait until i can buy a video ipod. I think i will be able to fit it into May's budget since I won't have to make a tuition payment and my summer tuition will be super cheap since there is only one class that is offered this summer that I need. Grr...but i seriously need a break from class.

My sister and I are going to Tulsa this Saturday and I am totally conning her into letting me go to the fancy knitting store. Even though it is in the mid 70s now I still want to pet the wool!

Fun Times

I am still helping my parents out with the moving stuff on the weekends. I did make two more hats. I went shopping in owasso Saturday morning and it was a dud. I was hoping to find some khakis and new work shirts but there isn't really anything at Old Navy right now that says classic on it. I really need to order from like Eddie Bauer or a store like that but I would have to try on stuff first to see what my EB size and I didn't feel like dealing with Sat. traffic in tulsa. next weekend, my sister wants me to go to tulsa with her. She likes driving in Tulsa. More power to her. You don't have to ask me twice to go to Barnes and Noble with you.

Work is a ball of frustration. Job transitions and your controller getting fired aren't pleasant. I love the company I work for and I like the people I work with but things just kind of suck right now.

I have two accounting tests this week. that isn't fun either. Memorizing journal entries is hard. I don't memorize stuff very well unless it's like song lyrics or brands of yarn.

I did order a really handy carry-on bag from L.L.Bean this weekend as a present to myself. I needed something more practical since I will be doing a lot of airplane travel between my parent's move and the internship. Plus, the strap on my Adidas bag is going to crap and I've had it for almost three years, so I'm tired of it. The LL Bean bag has a padded strap and a little zipper pocket on top that i can stick my snacks and ticket in so i don't have to dig through my bag while sitting in the tiny airplane seat.

I am looking forward to my order from Patternworks arriving. I ordered the mitten loom, a new Addi hook size F, a knitting book as part of my mom's b-day present and a skein of KOIGU!!!!! How cool is that! Ever since I saw the episode of Shay Pendray's NeedleArts studio where she visits the Koigu shop and I saw how they hand dye the hanks of yarn, I fell in love with the coolness of it all. Now I understand why knitters go ape shit for it.

I know it sounds like I went on a shopping-palooza, but I did spend less then average for this paycheck. AND I PUT MORE MONEY IN SAVINGS!!! Reading Suze Orman's new book and seeing the special she made for it on PBS this week really helped me out a lot. Gold star for me.

We are supposed to get our Secret Pal 10 matches sometime this week. I am stoked because I had a really good experience with Secret Pal 9.

Hmm...Maybe the light at the end of the tunnel is coming back out. I just have to be patient. I suck at that. I am a total instant gratification girl.

Shout out to Sunshine. I am going to teleport you to my house so you can see all my little home improvement projects. I did gardening this weekend...Eewww dirrtyyy....And you can see my special neighbors that have a couch in their front yard that they sit on in lieu of lawn furniture. Lol...My neighborhood is nice and safe, it just has some weirdos.

Today's Special

just when life was stuck in a rut, Pearl Jam comes out with a new single that is on the soundtrack to Reign Over Me, the new Adam Sandler movie. Pearl Jam and I go way back to the teenage angst years. Eddie can emote.

They have also released old school Strawberry shortcake on DVD!!!! YIPPEEEEEE!!!!! the Pieman is still naughty! Um. what's up for this weekend? Studying for tests, helping with the move and some yarn time. I have a new Addi hook in size F on the way---i found a place that has it in stock and so i ordered it with the rest of my mom's b-day present. I also bought her Celtic Woman's dvd. My mom loves all things Irish, especially their music.

I also bought Suze Orman's latest book "Woman and Money". I have been waiting for her to write a book like this and I am really excited about it and will probably stay up all night reading it (or most of the night anyways). powerful women rock! She presents financial terms in a useful way that can easily be applied without having to really have any money.

This is a very random post of sorts. i just can't wait to make more hats. I have made this same design hundreds of times, but I never know what I am going to end up with depending on the yarn type and colors that I use.

A little Bit of Sunshine

Yesterday in the midst of all the chaos that composes my life right now, I had the pleasure of briefly talking to Sunshine. So I just wanted to give a little shout out to Sunshine, talking to you did make my day seem less frustrating. I'm still going to be stressed out and be congested from my allergies going haywire, but somehow that didn't seem to matter much after talking to you for a little bit. That's the best part of having a close friend like you, cause close friends make the messy parts of life seem better, even if they can't really do much, sometimes just knowing that someone is there to listen is enough.


I would also like to give a quick shout out to Becky in Iowa who sent me some really awesome yarn that arrived in the mail today just for leaving a comment on her blog. The yarn is even prettier then it was in the picture.

Boxing Up My Life

So my parents came back from the Carolinas yesterday and so today we went through more crap and moved more stuff out to the garage. My dad brought down the mystery boxes from the attic. We had not see some of this stuff since 1999!!!
The highlights include:

1. My black suede Adidas Superstars still in excellent condition, the leather stripes just need some polish. And I still can wear them!!! That just shows how little my feet have changed. Seriously, I think I have had the same shoe size since 7th grade. Too bad I can say that for my jean size or especially my bra size.
2. My silver Barbie corvette
3. My rainbow brite dolls
4. A box of Danielle Steel hardcovers which had been chewed up by the infamous squirrel that finally died in our garage the while the rest of my family was in Ireland for ten days!
5. A king size feather mattress/comforter from Eddie Bauer Home. It just needs fluffed up other than that it is mint condition. I scored this for Sunshine cause I think that he would like it and my bed is way too small for his.
6. My little purple Smurfs duffel bag
7. My Rose Petals Board Game

Can you tell yet that I was born in 1980? I have gone through two of the boxes that I brought over. Tomorrow when I get up, I am going to go through the rest of the stuff that I piled in the garage and try to consolidate a little. I'm sure my sister will love that. She is experiencing eternal PMS. She is just in a constant bad mood and totally avoiding anyting to do with family. I think I'm just chronically tired.

My mom's 55th birthday is on Tuesday. I told her that we need to start lying about my age cause I'm going to be 27 in september. 30 is a dirty number to me. I just can not believe that I am almost 30. What the hell happened? Everyone at work tells me to shut up cause I'm so young but hell they are all 50 or over in my department practically. When those ladies were my age they were on their 3rd kids and second husbands. Major moves and family changes seem to make me really think about shit like that.

My parents did get the house. This is the first time ever that I wasn't involved in the process. There will be a guest room, but my sister and I won't have rooms there. There is a pool for the families living in their subdivision. Target is less than 1 mile from their new house and my mom says that it's closer than the grocery stores and wal-mart. A part of me is really struggling with this transition because I feel like my family is being ripped away from me. For the last eight years in exile, we stuck together pretty close. It is going to be so strange not spending Saturday mornings sitting in the living room with my mom and the dogs, the two of us working on some craft projects or debating types of yarn or fabrics. I really hate the idea of not having our dogs around. It sounds stupid, but I spent a lot of time with them, and even though they don't talk to you they do provide significant companionship.

I am really happy for them and I know I will have many fun times and adventures going out to visit them. I just wish I wasn't going through school, major job transitions and this whole move all at the same time. It's kind of a lonely time right now.

Oh gag. I just realized this whole post is like watching Oprah or one of those Barbara Walters where she makes the person cry and sometimes cries with them. I really am okay, I am just have a lot of emotions running through me. I think the theme song for today's episode would be "Come Undone" by Duran Duran.