The Black Friday Report

It wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be. And why do all the retailers think it is cool to make jeans skinny cut? It only looks good if you weight ten pounds. Old Navy had 50% jeans yesterday and since I desperately need a new pair, I bought a pair for $15 dollars.They would be perfect except for the fact that the leg is skinny bootcut. this pair was the only style that had the least amount of "skinny cut." walgreen's had 16 load Tide for $1.99 so my sister and i each bought the limit. It is really a good deal especially when it's just the two of us and we don't have a ton of laundry. I bought a book at Waldenbooks and read it yesterday evening. It is called P.S. I love you by Cecelia Ahren. It's really good and was just turned into a movie recently. I had Border bucks so I was able to get it and a reversible tote and two things of Bertie Botts jelly beans all for $12. I had $5 in Border bucks and a 25% off coupon to help me out.

My sister and I were so bored yesterday afternoon that once the madness died down we drove to Owasso to visit Target and Old Navy. At old navy I bought the above mentioned jeans plus a really adorable shirt for baby L. At Target I bought Sense and Sensibility on DVD for only $5!!! I also bought a little cat toy for Sunshine's cat, a dipping fork set for my aunt and hello kitty socks for L. At Hastings I found a book for baby K (not on sale) and at Bath and Body works I had a spend $10 get free lotion coupon so i bought lotion for cousin A and my friend M. I also got a snowman hand soap thing for my secret sister at work.

I did send off my last little Secret Pal 11 Reveal box and my favorite place box. I hope they like them. My Christmas gift shopping is slowly dwindling down which is good. I wish my aunt would call or email so I would know what they hell is going on with the Kansas City trip.

The Thanksgiving pot roast was a success. I took a picture to send to my mom so she would know that we didn't eat frozen pizza for Thanksgiving dinner.

We got a little snow this morning but it was so wet and wimpy it had melted away by 8 am this morning. It's in the 40s now so it is slightly warmer then it had been earlier this week.

TV this weekend really sucks. We ended up watching Sense and Sensibility this morning. Our library is closed for the whole weekend so I can' t even go there to check books out.

I started a scrap afghan this weekend and hated it so it and the chevron afghan both took a trip to the frog pond. I am in a crafty funk right now or something.

Thanks and Giving

A quick update and then I will share my thanks and giving list with ya'll. On the yarn front, I bought the yarn for the Vanna's Choice afghan and then realized that I can't make a cluster stitch for shit. So, that project is shelved until I can visit Mommy the crochet guru over Christmas break. Since I needed a project, I started an afghan using the striped chervon stitch in my Vogue Knitting Stitchionary 4: Crochet book. I am going to use blue, purple and chocolate with the intention of having a small afghan to decorate my hope chest with. I finished the first stripe (two rows of purple) and I am going to start the next stripe. I also finally bought a copy of the Yarn Harlot's latest book and it is really funny.

i was able to get some Christmas presents but I feel really behind because M and A the co worker have almost all of their shopping done and so do a lot of my co-workers. i do have my final secret pal box and my favorite place swap box ready to mail out this weekend.

In honor of my sister and I's first thanksgiving by ourselves, I present to thee my Thanks and Giving List

1. I am thankful for my favorite shows on tv and pray that the writer's strike ends soon for the sake of those affected by the strike
2. I am thankful for the Foo Fighters. i was reminded last weekend of how much I love their music and I really like their song Home on their new album because it is so peaceful and not what you would expect from a typical Foo song.
3. Iam grateful for my Mac. My connection to the big world and it is refreshing to have a computer that I don't have to call tech support for.
4. Thanks to all my swap pals and swap hostesses. i have had some really good swap experiences this year.
5. I am thankful for A and Sunshine, my BFFs. You guys continue to keep me sane and entertained on a daily basis.
6. Even though my parents are far away and I can't spend Thanksgiving with them this year, I am grateful for their newfound happiness in the Carolinas.
7. I am thankful for the 79 cent Mountain Dew I purchased at Kmart this morning. It is one of my joys in life.
8. I am grateful for my job which allows me to afford school and my yarn and music stashes.

happy tofurky day, ya'll!

At the Dawn's Early Light

I am up way too early for a Saturday morning but I am like WIDE AWAKE! I am trying to be super quiet because I had a change of plans and ended up going to Sunshine's for the weekend and I don't want to wake him up. I am really glad that this coming week is only a three day work week for me. this last week was a mad house. Since we are in a new fiscal year at work, i had to load all of this new information in the system and it was a process I had never done before so it was a really busy week for me. it should be interesting though because half of the department is going to be gone for the whole week so hopefully it will not be too crazy.

I did finish baby L's afghan this week. There is just a couple of ends i need to weave in at the ends but other than that, it is basically done. It is strange not having an afghan in the works but i don't have all the yarn that I need to start the next project. It is an 8 color granny square that has sort of a star variation in the middle. It uses Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice yarn. I have two of the colors but I need a couple more before I can actually attempt to make a block. It might end up becoming one of those projects that I work on with my mother while I am in the Carolinas for Christmas. She is my knitting and crocheting and all things crafty guru. I miss her a lot.

My copy of Vogue Stitchionary 4 Crochet came in the mail this week. I LOVE IT!!!! I don't have a lot of stitch reference books and this one has charts for all the stitched up blocks. I know a lot of people are anti chart, but it really helps me figure out the turns and how the block as a whole is going to look. I still need the words, but i think charts help me a lot when it is something new and complicated for me. I am really glad that I brought it with me this weekend. I also got the new issues of Knit Simple and Interweave Knits but I didn't bring them with me cause I was attempting to pack light. LOL.

From Where You Are

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUNSHINE!!!!!

Twenty-five years ago, my best friend was born. See, I can get away with saying that because I turned 27 in September. I thought I would write a little birthday post for him because he's been sick lately and it's not fun to be sick on your birthday. I'm at a loss for words to say this year because you have accomplished so many things since last November and we've even managed to squeeze in an adventure or two. I think there are four memories that really stand out from the past year.

1. Remember the time we stayed up late and I had way too much to drink and we decided to go shopping in Arkansas the next day? I just remember looking out the window at all the pretty trees and wishing that I could hurl out the window but I had so much fun.

2. Remember when we stayed at the Price Tower the weekend before the big flood hit? It's nice having someone to talk to about art and architecture with.

3. I only had the chance to see the band march once this season but what I did see was amazing. They have improved so much and I know they will continue to improve. All your hard work and effort really shows.

4. Did you really have to mention Krispy Kremes on the way to Dallas? My sister still gives me shit about that story. LOL... We had so much fun though! You are my favorite person to go on road trips with hands down. Hopefully I will have a shiny new ipod by the next time we see each other.

Hopefully this post makes you smile a little. rest up, because when you are feeling better we are totally celebrating your birthday!

Monday Monday

I'm a little less stuffier today than I was when the weekend started but I am dragging ass. I think I might be experiencing some sort of caffeine withdrawal because I quit drinking pop at work so now I only drink pop on the weekends or in the evenings at home. There were some people burning their fields off on my way home and all that smoke screws up my allergies. I'm just glad that it's allergies though.

I did tie on skein 6 for L's afghan this weekend. I had a lot of stuff I was thinking about this weekend so I ended up crocheting like a madwoman. Plus, I would like to give it to her for Christmas and I told myself that I couldn't start another afghan until I finished this one. there is a variation on a granny square that I would like to make that uses Vanna White's new yarn line from Lion Brand. i like my afghans to be machine washable and I really liked the colors they used in it, kind of like muted primary colors of sorts.

I sat through a three hour workshop at work today. the only reason why I stayed awake was because i was sitting right next to the controller and the person giving the workshop is a really important financial analyst in my division so I was trying to soak up all of his knowledge but it was really hard because I can't crochet at work and so it's hard for me to sit through something like that and stay still and focused.

I started reading a book about Hunter S. Thompson. It's like little oral histories by his friends and family which is edited by Jann Wenner and another guy from Rolling Stone magazine. While Hunter's style of writing might be sometimes off the wall, i really do enjoy reading his works. I like to challenge my brain with ideas that are totally outside of my box.

Stuffy Nose

Yup that's me. Warm.cold.warm.cold weather has screwed up my allergies again and I am all stuffed up. as a result, i don't really feel like doing much of anything. I did go to the library because one of the books I had reserved was available. i ended up reading it in one setting. It was Look Me in the Eye which is a memoir by John Elder Robison, who also happens to be the older brother of Augusten Burroughs. It was excellent, i love a good memoir.

I have been working on L's blanket today and watching old episodes of Christy. My favorite part about watching that show was the smokey mountain scenery.

My father called to inform me that he had finally purchased our plane tickets to spend christmas with them. I have no idea what we will do, but I am looking forward to playing with my beloved little doggies and crafty time with my mommy.

I also managed to send off box number two to my Secret Pal 11. I can't wait until she gets it, I hope she likes it. Now I just have to work on the Favorite Place swap. I think that is going to require a trip to Tulsa.

Where did all the time go?

We might have gained an hour due to the Daylight Savings thing this weekend, but I have no idea where in the hell all my time went this weekend. I did go to the rubber stamping party last night. it was actually a lot of fun. We made a thank-you card and a happy birthday card. I'm still trying to decide what all I want to order. The little catalog is 1/2 inch thick and has all the crafty items I would ever need aside from the yarn catagory.
the check engine light decided to turn off this morning on my way to walgreens to get the Sunday paper, so the oil change and my alternative mix cd that I made saturday night must have done the trick. I'm just glad that I don't have to go to Tulsa to have the light reset. YAY!!!!!!
I also finished the second hat for L yesterday and I made more progress on her blankie this evening. I didn't count the row number but i will lay it out after I finish this skein to see if it is big enough or if I need to tie on the last skein. I am halfway through skein five now.
I am kinda in a vegetating mood this weekend. time changes always screw up my eat/sleep routine.

Check Engine Lights and Leftover Candy

We did not get one single solitary trick or treater on Halloween. Co-Worker J has agreed to eat all of my vanilla tootsie rolls and my Dots because my sister and I won't eat those. I am going to make hat #2 for L with some multi-colored yarn that I bought at the Ben Franklin going out of business in Belle Plaine sale while I was back in Iowa.
Last night in the middle of my commute home my evil little Check Engine light came on. Out of nowhere. My Subaru was completely happy. All I did differently was top off my tank with gas on my way into work this morning and I was a few miles over on my oil change, but my car wasn't making noises or omitting or leaking anything.It's not quite 5 years old and in really good shape. Since my Dad is still in China, I called Mom and she said that when we first got the Subarus the Check engine light would come on if the gas cap wasn't on perfect so they would have to take it in and have the little light turned off. So, out of supreme guilt, I got up this morning and took my Subaru into the swanky oil change place. The light is still on but according to the manual, it could take several trips before the light would come off or I would have to have it reset. So I might be making a trip to Broken Arrow next weekend to have them turn the little light off. Insert eye roll here.
Anyways, I am still planning on going to co-worker J's wife's rubber stamping demonstration party because we are going to make two special occasion cards and I think it sounds fun. co-worker A is going with me, so that way we will know some people because co-worker J and his wife just moved here in June.
My sister had cleaned the whole entire house while I was getting my oil changed and at the grocery store. I about fainted from the shear bliss and joy of coming home to having all her crap cleaned up AND all of the dishes done. Sunshine would totally understand this.