I heart Malabrigo

So I was just going to edit today's earlier post and add on, but my experience with Malabrigo was so amazing that I thought it deserved its own post.

I went to Loops today because I needed a skein of yarn for the Swap on a Budget swap on ravelry. I had read a post earlier in the week saying that they had received a shipment of Malabrigo. For those of you that possibly live under a tree, Malabrigo is this AMAZING pure merino wool from Uruguay. This was my first time to see and touch it in person. IT IS SOOOOOO SOFT!!!!I bought one skein in this bright royal blue for my swap spoilee and one skein of black to make the bag I liked in my new crochet book. The colors are so bright and vibrant and amazing. the price wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but I am definitely glad I was able to buy this in store and not online. I love how the name rolls of my tongue too. I was in yarn heaven.I just stood there staring at it like it was some jewel, I was completely drawn to it. If I wasn't buying a Coach purse this coming week I think I would have bought a hell of a lot more of Malabrigo.

then I bought two balls of Berroco Comfort DK in color #2813. this is Rainbow Brite colored and I was so drawn to the colors that I had to buy some.

I started a lime green dishcloth this afternoon and I finished color three on the stripy shawl and started color #4. I am really impressed with my color changing abilities.

I bought A-dolly's birthday present at Michaels today and I bought Knit-Aid, bitch magazine, and An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor. The Knit-Aid book is by Vickie Howell and it is really awesome! It is going to be really handy. The Patrick Taylor's book is supposed to be my plane book but I imagine I will be reading it before then.

Anyways, I came in on target for my budget so I am stoked. In fact, I think I was a tad under. YAY FOR ME!!!!

All in all, it was a pretty successful day. I felt the need to do a lot of this stuff this weekend since things are going to be really crazy with the whole move thing and this was my last free weekend.

Scarfy Scarves

I have made three scarves this week. Two for the GLBT Inclusion Project and one for L at the request of her mother. L's scarf is a rainbow fun fur scarf because she likes to play dress up with them. The GLBT Inclusion scarves are made out of one skein each of Red Heart Mexicana. I mailed them off this morning. I felted the doggie bed this morning. The Bernat felting wool definitely felts up more then the Lion Wool did but I am really pleased with how both beds turned out.

My sister is at work this morning so I am waiting for her to get off work and then we are going shopping in Tulsa. I am stoked because we are going to Barnes and Noble. I could go there every single day and still get excited. I have made a shopping list so that I can stay focused. LOL. I need to find a good book to read on the plane and I need some yarn. Maybe I should say that I want some more yarn.

Anyways, I am really really really excited because I get to see Sunshine and we get to play hooky from work! It is going to be a blast.

On my ipod: After Tonight by Justin Nozuka

Lol. I will probably add to this post after I get back from T-Town to tell ya'll how bad I was.

80 degrees and still playing with wool

How come when it is like 80 degrees outside all I want to do is crochet with WOOL? My sister and I are trying to resist the air conditioner for as long as possible (especially with all the hot/cool weather we have had recently) so we have not turned on the air conditioner yet in the house. I should be making little cotton dishcloths instead of planning out my next felting projects. I went to town on the dog bed and now I am halfway done with the last side. I am not sure if I will finish tonight or not. The cat bed is dry now and it looks really awesome with and without the sides folded down. The sides are folded down in the original pattern but I strayed from the pattern and added a final row of fun fur as the trim because it is a cat bed and it needed some flair and a little kick of color. My next projects are going to be felted purses from the crochet book I bought yesterday.

I thought about taking a picture of my stash, but I decided not to because it all fits in one of those orange plastic tubs so it doesn't really look that impressive. I was looking through it today to take inventory of it because I am in some more swaps on Ravelry. You have to fill out all these questionnaires about what you like or collect or use. it takes me forever to fill these out because i don't have a LYS in town so I don't really have fancy taste. Even if I went on a yarn buying spree, I would still have plenty of space for it even in the new apartment.

I dropped my sister off at the library this afternoon and came home with five books. One poetry book, two crafty books, one earthy book and one autobiography.

I am proud of myself because I actually did my online homework this morning instead of waiting until the very last minute tonight like I normally do. This is a good thing because my tv shows FINALLY RETURN this week. YAY!!!!

5 PM Update: I finished the dog bed! Kind of. It is all finished and seamed together except for the felting part. Our laundry is all done so I don't have anything to felt it with. it looks cool but I think it will look better once it is felted because it will stand up better. I used almost five balls. there is a tiny bit left from ball 5 of the Bernat Felting Wool. This yarn only has 84 yards compared to the 158 yards per ball of Lion Wool that I used for the cat bed which I ended up using 3 balls and a little bit of fun fur to make.

F is for French and Felting

It was like 75 degrees today. Yesterday morning it was a breezy 50. I wish the weather would level out a little because it is driving my allergies crazy. I am very proud of myself because I finished the cat bed for Sunshine's cat today. It is drying on top of a box to keep its shape. It turned out better than I could have imagined. Now that it is finished, I have started the side piece for the dog bed version. I am using a bulkier wool for the dog bed so it might crochet a little faster but I don't know. I have been having issues sitting still long enough to crochet.

My movie streak continues. Last night I finally watched Into the Wild. I wish I could live that simply. Loved the book, the soundtrack and the movie. That rarely happens.In between films I have been watching Sex in the City Season 2 and tonight's movie is Paris, Je T'Aaime. Yes, they speak French in this movie and it is really fast but I am resisting turning on the English captions because I think they distract from the movie and the French language sounds really pretty.

I bought the book The Chicks with Sticks Guide to Crochet. I don't really need another how-to book but this one had some really cool patterns that I want to try someday. Plus, I really liked the layout of the book too. I found a couple of things for my spoilee in the Swap on A Budget (through Ravelry) which is a good thing. I made very good use of the 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby this week.

These last couple of weekends have been fairly laid back and quiet which might possibly be a good thing because I know the month of May is going to be like a total tornado.

It Smells Like Dead Worms

Yes, it ended up raining again today. This time it waited until i was driving through Talala on my way to Owasso. My audit class didn't meet today and since i had already worked my hours, I decided to go straight to Owasso from work (therefore conserving gas). Normally I park and walk to all the stores but I ended up driving from store to store since it was raining so hard. Old Navy turned out to be a bust. I made my final attempt to buy a pair of flip flops for my sister but since her feet are completely flat, their new flip flop design doesn't work for her. anyways, I can't wear this pair because it is a size ten so she is just going to have to deal.

Next stop was Tar-Jay. I ended up buying Juno on DVD with screenplay and bonus digital copy. Then I bought boring stuff like Flat Earth Chips and paper towels and allergy medicine. Last stop was Hobby Lobby where I bought two more skeins of the Bernat Felting wool to finish the dog bed and a couple of things for the Swap on a Budget swap.

I came home and ended up stopping at wal-mart. I made the stupid mistake of trying to buy frozen pizza two days after everyone and their dog had a payday. I ended up getting the Juno soundtrack for $9 and Sex in the City Season 2 for $19.99 with a voucher for a free ticket to see the movie. This was the only season that I wasn't able to buy during the infamous Christmas sale. So, I will be watching that this weekend and definitely watching Juno again. I watched it as soon as I came home and I just love it. It feels like I spent a boatload of money, but I really didn't. Everything WAS PLANNED!!!!

Anyways, Sunshine, I would just like to let you know that you are the cheese to my macaroni. WINK WINK!!! I hope that you have fun on your band trips this weekend and by the time you come back I will be finished with the bed for your cat.

When I Come Around

The whole relocation thing is very exciting but it is really, really annoying. the paperwork won't be finished until sometime later this week or early next week and until it is finalized I can't buy plane tickets or seriously apply for an apartment. did I mention that I have to be there May 19th? LOL. I know that everything will work itself out but it just might drive me crazy in the meantime.

To top it off, there is all this family drama going on and none of it involves me but I get to hear about it all from everyone and they are all edgy.

All that aside, I am on the last side of Sunshine's cat bed. Once this side is done then I can stitch it all together, add the trim and then I get to felt it, which I think is the super fun part. I will definitely finish it this weekend if not a tad bit earlier. I am using black wool and I crochet slower with black yarn because we have no overhead lighting in our living room, so it makes it harder to see the stitches. I know, i know, I should buy a giant lamp but anyone that knows me right now knows that I really don't care about decorating stuff and I like the darkness.

Once I finish the cat bed, I will start working on the dog bed but I might have to buy more yarn for that because the pattern technically called for 6 balls of Bernat Felting yarn and my hobby lobby only had three in the color i wanted. The base piece took an entire skein so I don't think two skeins are going to do the sides. We will see. Hopefully they will get some more in because I don't want to have to drive to Owasso for it since gas decided to jump up to 3.19 this week and I am trying to conserve gas because of my soul-sucking commute that I will have until the end of May.

Anyways, tomorrow is pay day so after class I am going to the big box store to buy Juno on DVD and I am really excited about that. I did download new singles by Alanis Morrisette and Madonna this week, but I have found myself listening to Dookie-era Green Day. Grunge/alternative music is probably my most personal favorite type of music, if I was forced to pick just one type. Lord only knows what will end up on my ipod.

Hooks and Books

I finished the base for Sunshine's Cat bed today and I just started the second side while watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations Ireland episode on my Mac.He cracks me up and I lost track of the number of pints of Guinness he consumed during the episode.
Funny story about the felted boxes aka the doggie and cat beds. Since the actual pattern name is felted box, I assumed prior to seeing the pattern instructions, it would either be crocheted in the round or I would be making each individual piece and then seaming them together. So I made the base pieces for each bed and then I was going to start on the side pieces and I hit a wall. I was so confused, I had to call my Mommy and read the ENTIRE pattern to her out loud over the telly phone. It turns out that essentially you are making a scarf like piece that wraps around the base piece and then you fold the top down a little to give it a rolled look. Well, that is not what it sounded like when I originally read the pattern, so thank God for Mom's tech support. I don't usually make stuff from a pattern and this is probably one of the reasons why. These are going to turn out really awesome though, especially once they have been felted.

This morning I had to make an emergency run to wal-mart for more dryer sheets and some girly stuff. I really didn't want to go to Wal-Mart, but they are the cheapest place in town and we don't have a Target here. I was doing okay until I got in line and the cashier started scanning my stuff. She kind of had a surly dispostion and I really just wanted to get the hell out of there. She said some really rude things to me and if there weren't small children in line behind me I would have told her to go f-ck herself because I didn't ask her to talk to me and be all judgemental about my purchases (they were g-rated for the record).

So after that disaster, i decided to head to my little sanctuary, otherwise known as my local library. I checked out The Namesake and the Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. Her latest book ( i forget the title) wasn't on the shelves but I imagine that there is a big waiting list for it. Anyways, it took me forever to find them because someone had incorrectly shelved them in the midst of the "Left Behind" book series which I avoid like the plague. I had read The Namesake back when it first came out in 2003 but I hadn't read the Interpreter of Maladies which is her Pulitzer Prize winning collection of short stories. Since I had recently watched the movie adaptation of The Namesake, I wanted to re-read the book because I had noticed some subtle plot changes in the movie version but the movie basically follows the book. Jhumpa Lahiri has quickly become one of my new favorite authors.

I came back from the library and popped in Season 3 of Sex in the City (in preparation for the movie out May 30th) and spent the rest of the day in my big purple recliner reading and crocheting. I also watched a lot of Food Network shows. My idea of a good day off.

This week should be fun. Juno comes out on DVD which is also the series finale of Rob & Big (one of my guilty pleasures, i love sk8r bois). Work is kind of crazy but I don't have to work overtime, so I could care less.

Projects Galore

Yesterday I bought some felting wool and I finally found a copy of the Bernat Fun Felting leaflet so I am all set for a felting frenzy this weekend. I couldn't help myself and I have already started making the Felted Box aka the cute doggie bed. I think I have crochet ADD right now because I technically have three WIPs right now.

Today I was naughty and bought the Yarn Harlot's new book, the eco issue of Knit 1 and the latest issue of Rachael Ray's magazine. Oh, I almost forgot, I bought Jack Prelutsky's new book "Pizza,Pigs and Poetry: How to Write A Poem." Jack Prelutsky was one of the first poets that I discovered as a young book worm.

I have almost finished the base of the felted doggie bed. I am using Bernat Felting Natural Wool in New Iris and I think the color looks like the Gulf of Mexico. Lots of blues and aquas. I think tomorrow I might start working on the kitty bed. I like the felted box pattern so much that I am going to use that one for the kitty bed too. The kitty bed is going to be black with a red accent.

I am happy to report that my sewing machine manual and spare bobbins arrived from Mom's house today. I will add that to my project queue now. LOL. as if I need another craft project. The May issue of Esquire also arrived, so it was a very good Mailbox day.

I don't really have any plans for this week other than to lounge around and have crafty time.

Singers and Shawls, Oh MY!!!

I kind of feel like I'm in Seattle or something. We had Glorious Sunshine all weekend and then this morning, I wake up to a thunder and lightning show that continued on my commute. I ended up taking an 1 1/2 nap this evening which is unheard of. My sister apparently checked to see if I was still alive and I didn't even flinch. As a result, I am pretty wired right now and wide awake! WOOT!!!

So last night I went to A the co-worker's house to see if we could figure out the sewing machine that I got from my Mom when she moved. Mom had the manual there so we didn't have a picture to look at and apparently this machine is slightly high tech because it has an automatic bobbin winder thingy and we couldn't figure out how to trip it. Well, we ended up going to A's mom's house and we all determined we were going to need a picture, so I ended up using her sewing machine to finally finish Sunshine's bag. Anyways, My mom is so tickled pink that I am busting out the sewing machine that she is sending me the manual and the spare bobbins.

I started stripe three on the stripy shawl and I think I have found the pattern that I like for the felted cat bed. I think I will attempt the cat bed this weekend. I haven't crocheted in the round in awhile so this could be interesting. I can do it, I just choose not to because it requires counting and use of stitch markers if I want it to end up looking right. I think it will look fierce when it is finished.

On My Ipod: Panic at the Disco and The Breeders (special thanks to The Breeders for putting out an awesome record!)

Stuff

My poor Subaru. She has hauled 9 big black trash bags full o junk to the local Goodwill and only three of those were my sister's. There is another give away pile which is old toys that are going to little L up in KC. That is basically what I have been doing this weekend since it was nice weather. for some reason, nice weather peps me up and makes sorting and cleaning go faster.

I did walk to the post office to mail off a swap package for the Going Green swap and then i went back to the library. I picked up Ellie Krieger's new cookbook which has some nice recipes in it (with the nutritional breakdown) and I think they are not as complicated as some of the Top Chef recipes but still cool. I am never making panini in the Hello Kitty waffle maker again. It is a bitch to clean because you can't take it apart. L's mom A is supposed to keep her eye out for a cheap panini style thing. i looked at similar things here at the Wal-mart and I was not impressed. Plus, A cooks all the time and is cheap, so i know she will come up with some good options. Trisha Yearwood has also released a new cookbook that looks interesting.

While I was doing all that sorting, I came across my stash of yarn that I got for Christmas and found enough colors to make a striped shawl since I am going for fast and easy projects right now. I am please to say that my knitting basket and big orange yarn tub are only half fun. The wine box is full but those are mainly one skein specialty yarns that I have received in various swaps. I could fit it all in the orange tub if I wanted to.

Anyways, I got to read a sample chapter from Augusten Burroughs' new memoir about his father. I am on the e-mail list so they sent us a link to read the chapter and Tegan from Tegan & Sara wrote a song called His love that plays on the website for the book that sounds really cool. The book is called A Wolf at the Table and it comes out April 29th. I am lucky because some of my favorite authors are releasing new books this summer. I started reading Book Page at my library and that has really helped me find new books to read while I am waiting for the other books to come out.

My sister is spending the afternoon at the library grading papers so I am going to crochet on the striped shawl and watch Sideways because my sister hates that movie and I love it.

One last thing! They are opening an IKEA in Charlotte this Spring/Summer so I will end up being close to an IKEA after all.

Books and Booze

On my quest to discover food, I made panini for dinner tonight. I used wheat bread, hickory smoked turkey, hard salami and American cheese. I am sans the George grill and I lack a panini press so I squished them using the Hello Kitty Waffle Maker. It heats it up really nice but it makes the panini kinda goofy looking. I also discovered that it is a bitch to clean afterwards. For dessert, I had a low fat strawberry yogurt from Stoneyfield Farm. Yummy. Hopefully it doesn't make me sick, because I don't agree with dairy very well but I love dairy products (especially cheese and ice cream separately).

I have decided to keep the hat as is. the more I wore it the more it kind of grew on me once I decided that it looked like spilt Kool-Aid. Plus, my sister hates the colors, so that makes me like it more.

My sister's copy of Kurt Vonnegut's posthumous work Armageddon in Retrospect arrived today. I read several pages of it while she was at the gym this evening. There are more of his drawings, an intro by his son and the speech he was supposed to give but didn't because he died two weeks before the speech. I am a huge fan of his essays and of his work in general. He is one of the few authors that I consistently read over and over and one of the few that my sister and I jointly love.

Prior to the arrival of Vonnegut, I checked out Dress Your Family in Corderoy and Denim by David Sedaris, who is another one of my favorite authors. I can't wait for his new book to come out in June. Sometimes people ask me how I have the time to read so much and for me, I make the time. I read right before I go to bed every night even if it is just a couple of pages. It winds me down and it is relaxing. Reading a book is like a mental vitamin, only tastier.

I am supposed to be sorting through my crap, but I am not motivated at all. I just want to lay on the couch and read. I bought the puffin classics editions of The Wizard of Oz and The Secret Garden. I also want to read Bridge to Terabithia again. I was very naughty and bought the April issue of Food & Wine, which I have lovingly dubbed "the booze issue" because it features America's Best Wines. I am still working on the liking wine thing. Right now my favorite wine is Beringer's White ZInfandel. Lol. It is like $7-11 depending on the bottle size.

C is for Crazy

Okay, this has week has been a little crazy. Sunday started off good. Sunshine made Eggs in a Hole from the Top Chef cookbook and we paired it with banana slices and bacon (i am hopelessly addicted to bacon, it is my favorite part of breakfast). Then we spent the majority of the day lounging around and watching Make Me a Supermodel. I heart Perry and I need Ronnie to take me clothes shopping. the prayer shawl is finished now except for the fringe part. I made myself a hat with the Reynolds Smile yarn that I bought in Joplin on Saturday, but the colors didn't stripe like I thought they were going to so I might rip it all out and use a different pattern.

It has been rainy and wet and misty all week and so my allergies are driving me crazy and I just want to chill on the couch with an epic novel.

The big news is that I found out where I am transfering to at the end of May. I get to go to North Carolina, to a suburb of Raleigh. I am excited because it is a promotion and there is so many things to do and see in that state, that I can't wait to start the adventure. I am sad about ditching my sister and Sunshine though. I plan on bribing them to come visit with plane tickets. Yes, I have already looked up yarn shops!

As a result, I will be spending this weekend consolidating all my stuff and getting rid of whatever i don't want or need. I forsee several trips to goodwill in the next month.

P is for Poetry and Panini

Just a reminder that April is just around the corner and April is National Poetry Month. Poets.org is my all time favorite site for finding a good poem and they have tons of things you can do to celebrate. Right now I am currently on an Emily Dickinson kick.

I was really naughty today. I bought a copy of Living Like Ed so I wouldn't have to keep checking it out and I bought the Top Chef Cookbook. Sunshine and I made a panini recipe for dinner today from it but we modified because there is just some stuff that is hard to find around here or we just don't like it. We don't have a panini press so we stuck them in the good old George Foreman grill which worked out just fine. The paninis turned out great. They are really easy and you have so many variations you can do depending on what you want to use.

We had lunch at the Red Onion Cafe and as we were walking to the cafe I saw a yarn store. Hot damn! I must have some kind of yarn radar. It is called The Needle Niche and it is really cool. It is a small store but it is full of yarn, and that is what counts. I bought a skein of Reynolds Smile yarn and an Addi I hook. They had a lot of Mission Falls and Rowan there which was really hard to pass up but since I bought two books this morning, I had to restrain myself a little. Lunch was good and so was the yarn.

I have just tied on my 4th or 5th skein for the shawl that I started earlier this week.I have purchased 7 skeins total, but I kind of lost track of how many I have left. I will have to check my portable stash. I still have a ways to go, but I am getting a lot closer. I just really love using this yarn. It is so soft and pretty. I might have to use this again when I have a good coupon. $3.99 seems cheap but it's not extremely cheap considering these skeins only have 103 yards. I will definitely have to post pics when I finish. I am still debating about whether or not I should put fringe on or not.

Hopefully our warm weather comes back soon. I like seeing the sun every once in awhile.

Songs of the Day:
Last Request - Paolo Nutini
Breakable - Ingrid Michaelson

Highway Bound

Here I am again. I think Sunshine's house might be by unofficial vacation home. For some reason I woke up at 6:30 am this morning wide awake. So here I am, typing away. Last night we went to Chik-fil-a and it turned out to be crazy family night. It was Friday night and the kids were swarming all over the play place and everything. We probably should have gone through the drive through but we weren't thinking clearly. See, Sunshine is a gentlemen and he lets me pick and I have the most unrefined taste ever and I just love their tiny chicken nuggets and the waffle fries and their ice cubes. Anyways, I told him I was done with picking eating establishments this weekend.

Then we did our usual stop at Target. I bought more flavor packets for my water. Someone at work had accidently got a mountain dew instead of a pepsi in the vending machine yesterday so they gave it to me and I still haven't finished drinking it yet. It is my all time favorite beverage but since I have really cut out the pop and junk I have noticed that I am really sensitive to the taste of sugar. It's a very strange thing.

Next, I made us go back to Michaels. I had bought some Bernat Natural Blends Cashmere in Snow for a prayer shawl that I am making for one of my cousin's hospice patients. I made the mistake of buying three skeins (103 yards) each. Luckily, Michaels still had some left in the same dye lot so I bought four more just to be on the safe side. I just started skein three before I went to bed last night. It is so soft because of the 5% Cashmere but it doesn't fuzz, which is good. The color is so pure white that it reminds me of angel's wings. I am not really into praying, so I recite poetry in my head as I am crocheting because poetry is just as equally moving and thoughtful and April is National Poetry Month so I thought it was highly appropriate. I am making a lot of progress on it, but I don't know if I will finish it or not this weekend.

The final stop was at Office Depot. I ended up buying this really cool sketchbook which is a cross between a sketch book and a five star notebook. It's made by Mead. I keep running out of journals which is funny since I blog and hand journal but my hand journals are becoming more like art journals so I consider it to be two different things.

The Big Weekend Finale

So Saturday we did a little shopping in Joplin and visited the genealogy room at the library. I used my big coupon at Michaels and then we were walking out of the store and Sunshine asks if I can make him a felted case for TomTom his GPS. I didn't mind but I was like why didn't you say something in the store and then he was like well my ideas aren't always timed right. Well, I wasn't worried because we were going to make a quick jaunt to Pittsburg to look up something at their library. The trip to Pittsburg was kind of a disaster. The genealogy room is closed on the weekends and the yarn store moved locations and we didn't know until after the fact. The food was good though.

Then we came back and it was cleaning-palooza time since Sunshine was hosting Easter for his family. We installed the mail box, and overhauled the kitchen cabinets so that they were nice and organized. Somewhere in the midst of it I managed to make and felt a prototype TomTom case. I have since finished the actual case and a matching cell phone case. I also finished and stitched up sunshine's plarn bag and like the other plarn bag, I need to make handles for it.

Easter was fun. i drove home early Easter morning and worked on the felting projects and some misc. stuff. Tuesday I bought a new pair of pink low-top Chuck Taylors. they are so pretty and they brighten up my otherwise all black wardrobe. I haven't bought a pair in ages.

I have been reading a lot too. The new issues of Spin, Vogue, Vogue Knitting and Interweave Crochet are all excellent. I am in love with the book Living like Ed, which is Ed Begley Jr.'s new book on "going green." I think i am going to have to order my own copy because this is a 7 day only library book since it just came out.

I bought used copies of Waitress and The Namesake on dvd. Seeing Waitress over Christmas break was one the highlights and I love the book The Namesake and I have a secret crush on Kal Penn (hello, Kumar!) and Jacinda Barrett from the Real World is in and she was one of my favorites. Now I just have to find the time to watch them. I might end up watching them tomorrow night after class and my little stop at the library. On the upside, I turned in my online homework tonight and it's not due until Sunday! YAY for me not procrastinating!!!

The Big Weekend Part 2

Okay, so I intended to post about this sooner but life has been busy with work and class. Friday was the big Arkansas day. We kicked off the day with a quickie to Wal-Mart where Sunshine bought a TomTom GPS for his car and I bought some really fantastic Neutrogena fast-absorbing hand cream. This lotion is a crafty girl's dream and it is not slimy or greasy but still has the Neutrogena healing powers. I was a little skeptical about whether or not this GPS thing would work, but we were going all over the boonies in Arkansas and without the GPS, we would have probably been lost out in the hills or something.

Our first stop was in Bentonville, where i conned him into taking me to the Wal-Mart Museum. I am a museum wh*re. I was so excited you couldn't smack the dorky grin off me. One half of the museum is dedicated to the Walton family and the other half is dedicated to the history of the Wal-Mart empire. Everyone was so nice there and I ended up buying a tote bag there as a souvenir that I would later use to carry all my yarn around in.

Next stop was the Bentonville Public Libary. THIS LIBRARY IS SO AMAZING!!!!!! It is modern and shiny and new. There is a coffee shop when you walk in. The genealogy room is amazing and has the coolest photocopier! I was in love and really didn't want to leave this library. Anyways, we made some huge progress on Sunshine's family tree. I definitely am adding this library to my top fives (and I am really picky about this).

Our next stop on the trip was hand written onto the itinerary by moi. I happened to know from a previous trip that there was a Barnes and Noble in Rogers which is like next door to Bentonville. Sunshine is such a great best friend that he went along with it. I used another coupon to buy another sock knitting book and I found a little book for my Mom. Before the trip to BN, we stopped and had lunch at the Atlanta Bread Co. which was really good.

After that, we did some cemetary research. I saw pretty clear spring water that was so nice I took a picture. We passed through Gravette and then Southwest City, Mo. At some point we ended up at Grand Lake and we played the penny slots at the Wyandotte Casino and ate dinner there.

I have no clue how many miles we traveled on Friday, but it was a blast and I even had some crafty time on the road. We came back home and were happily lounging on the couch when E and R pulled up with the Party Van (their mini-van). They took us out for drinks at a local beverage establishment which was fun because I hadn't ever met E and R before.

The Big Weekend Part 1

I'm a bad blogger. I didn't realize I was going to have so much to talk about this weekend so I didn't post as I went along. Oops. So now, I have to post this in parts and hope to hell that I remember everything that I did. I would make Sunshine post all this but he only posts like twice a year,

The big weekend started off on Thursday after work. I crawled in the Subaru and hit the road. I lucked out because it was late Thursday afternoon, so the traffic wasn't too bad. I dropped off my yarn stash and then Sunshine and I headed over to Joplin for shopping and dinner. We went to Target and Hobby Lobby. I had coupons to everywhere and Hobby Lobby had knitting and crochet accessories 40% off. I forgot exactly what I bought at Hobby Lobby and what I bought at Michaels, so I will stick in a stash photo in the post somewhere.I did buy a skein of Wool-Ease thick and quick raspberry that I ended up using up this weekend so I just had a little tiny bit leftover. We had dinner at Charlie's Chicken which was really good. I am in love with their mashed potatoes and the chicken chunks.


Anyways, we arrive back at Sunshine's house and we walk in and I just bust out laughing in the midst of the horror. I had brought Sunshine's plarn bag with me in the hopes of working on it while we were hanging out. I keep the loose loops I have made in a little Starbucks paper sack and just grab a few to loop on as I go, I find it to be easier then having a huge plarn ball unrolling all over the place. Well, moi forgot about THE CAT and just left the sack on the table with some other stuff I had brought in. THE CAT had knocked the bag off the table and dumped it out on the floor and was rolling in it like it was a million dollars. I should have been really mad, but it was so hilarious that I couldn't be mad.



While I was away, my package from RH swap on Ravelry arrived. I finally got to see it this morning after I got home and it was so awesome. I honestly say that I love every single thing in it. I will post more about this on the RH board on Ravelry.

Anyways, I will post part 2 later on which will cover the Arkansas adventure on Friday. I had so much freaking fun this weekend, I know I will end up leaving stuff out. THANK SO MUCH SUNSHINE!!! It was an awesome adventure and I can't possibly thank you enough for it. You definitely deserve the title of my number one best friend.

Twas The Eve of St. Patrick's Day

and I should be in bed because I am the unfortunate soul that has to go to work tomorrow while my sister is on Spring Break. I am on Spring Break from college but not from work. I just have Good Friday off from work and that's it.

I am so close to finishing Sunshine's bag. I bought bobbins and thread for my sewing machine that Mommy gifted me when I left but I forgot to get the manual from her so that I would know how to thread it because I need to use it to finish up two little projects. I might end up begging A the co-worker to show me how. I haven't had to thread a sewing machine in ages.

I went a little loom crazy this weekend and made three kids hats and two infant/preemie hats. ALL OUT OF MY STASH YARN!!! Whoop! Whoop! I have a few odd balls of left over yarn that I decided I just needed to stop being lazy and whip them up into hats. I think they were leftover from some adult hats I made last year or something. Does this mean I can buy some more yarn this weekend?

Sis and I watched August Rush and Bridge to Terabithia this weekend. August Rush is awesome. I love all the lead actors and I wish I had a stylist that would mousse my curly hair every day so it would look like Keri Russell's. The music was fantastic too. Bridge to Terabithia is even more of a tear jerker than the book was. We had to read it in elementary school (like 5th grade?) and it ended up being an all time favorite of my sis and I. I love the chucks that Leslie wears in the movie. Between those chucks and the I love Chucks group on Ravelry, I am really itching to get a new pair of Chucks. It has been way too long since I have bought a pair.

So tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. I am going to wear my special pink and green shamrock socks to work with my green and navy striped shirt and navy blue little sweater. It might just turn out to be a preppy day.

I feel all wound up and I am not sure why. Maybe it is because it is a short week and I get to have fun lots of fun this coming weekend. I have no clue really. I think I am stoked because since I am sticking to my almost-no pop diet, I allowed myself to order some chapstick (and three complementary samples) from Kiehl's, which I am seriously stoked about. Also, Mom sent us a box that is supposed to come on Tuesday and I am on Spring Break so I don't have to go to boring Auditing class.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a Happy St. Patrick's Day tomorrow! Don't spike your coffee with Bailey's until after 5pm! I'm just kidding...

Soo True...

What Melissa Means

You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated. You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want. You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way! You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong. You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know. You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Sunny Days, please stay.

I should really be in bed because I have this awful time getting up in the morning right now but I just don't feel tired right now. My mind is just lit up like a light bulb and I can't even blame it on pop and candy because I hardly consume any of it anymore and I think it actually gives me a little more energy now that I have made it over the hurdle. My poor little Starbucks tumbler gets filled up with water now and a little Crystal Light every once in awhile.

So next week is Spring Break, but I still have to work all week except for Good Friday, so that kind of blows. On the upside, I wrote 1 1/2 out of 3 of my auditing papers and the first one isn't even due until April 9th. It is part of my conscious effort to stop putting off things, especially things that really don't take much time once I sit down and focus. I might go to Owasso on Friday for something to do because we will be in town for Easter. I don't know. Gas prices suck right now so it makes me hesitant to do extra driving but at the same time, I feel like I should at least go some place since I don't have many days off throughout the year. We will see, I still have a few days to figure it out.

Sunshine's bag is 3/4 done. I made massive progress while watching Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp and Celebrity Rehab: The Reunion Show.

I am loving the warmer weather this week, I just wish I could see the sun during the day but my department doesn't have any windows. I hope we don't get a ton of rain. I just got rid of the hacker's cough and got my allergies back to maintainable levels and rain = mold which is bad for me.

I talked to my mom again this week. It always amazes my sister that I can talk to my mom on the phone for over an hour just about yarn or knitting or crafties. We bounce ideas off of each other like new yarns and patterns and I love hearing her knitting group and quilter's guild stories.

Speaking of yarn, Hobby Lobby had some Red Heart Bright and Lofty on sale for $1.99 so I bought this really bright neon red skein. It's downstairs so I don't know the colorway but it is going to make some kick ass hats. Bright and Lofty is really nice and warm and good for cold-weather hats. I might make a hat with it this weekend, we will see what all I can get done this weekend.

Books and Sleuths

Last night I finally finished reading Daniel Tammet's book Born on A Blue Day. It was really good. I am trying to get back into the habit of reading a little bit each night before I go to bed. Now I am going to start In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. My sister has managed to go 8 weeks without pop and has discovered that candy tastes gross now. I have not quit pop but I probably have less than 5 a week which is a huge victory for me. I'm not quiting caffeine but the excess sugar stuff. I feel thinner and a little healthier. Now that I am rapidly approaching 30 I am trying to un-do all the damage I did while in my early twenties. LOL. I use eye cream now! This coming from a girl who uses Burt's Bees as her main make-up staple. Seriously though, it helps.

My sister bought Nancy Drew on DVD today and we watched it after I came home from my boring audit class. That movie is so much fun, I love her clothes, her loafers and her little detective bag and of course, the little blue roadster. It just brings back fond memories of sitting in my room reading all the Nancy Drew books.

I have been working on Sunshine's plarn bag some more. I think I am at the halfway point at least but I am too lazy to go downstairs and measure it up against plarn bag #1 that still needs its handles attached. I think I am becoming a semi-pro at crocheting with plarn. I will recommend that you use some high quality hand lotion when you work with plarn because I think it drys my hands out.

I will confess to rocking out to Enrique Iglesias in the car on my way to work this morning. Daylight Savings Time is kicking my ass in the morning so i need some peppy club music to keep me awake especially now that I am not sucking down the pop. I also like to sing along to The Moldy Peaches and Flogging Molly. You never know what you will hear when you get into my car.

We have another damn potluck at work tomorrow so I am cheating and bringing Milano cookies. I can only eat so much potato salad.

Craftapalooza Time.

I received some money today from the Easter Bunny otherwise known as Grandma, so I allowed myself to buy a couple of things. I finally bought a used copy of the movie Once. It is really good. The music is fantastic, I should probably download the soundtrack, it would definitely improve the sucktacular commute.

I was able to find the right material to make the handles for the plarn bag #1. I can't really describe it further until after it has been finished and received by my swap buddy. I am currently in three swaps and one Top Chef pool.

Sunshine, you will be please to know that I have started your bag. It is currently 7 inches tall. I go by inches not rows, because I suck at row counting, so I just use my trusty sheep tape measure to gauge everything. My sister finally broke down and bought Seasons 1 & 2 of Rob and Big, so that is what I have been watching for a huge chunk of the day. I think it is highly appropriate since Sunshine is the person who introduced me to this show. It makes me want to skateboard. i haven't done that since high school. LOL. I love the fact that it's about best friends and their antics and Meaty and Mini are sooo cute. I wish we could have pets in the townhouse.

I have been reading Kristin Nicholas' new book Kristin Knits. The colors are so bright and lively, this is definitely book for crappy winter weather. My mother went to Michaels today and ended up buying two books that I have been wanting forever. One is a leaflet on sock knitting and the other one is Isela Phelps' Loom Knitting Primer. She had a coupon so she thought she would see what they were like. Then she mentioned them on the phone today and i was like SO JEALOUS...This is the crappy part about us living on opposite ends of the world. I think she might be mailing them out to me.there is an earflap hat that I really want to make. She laughed when I asked her for plastic bags for Easter.

I purchased a new journal at hobby lobby today. My current one is almost out. I slacked off on the writing these last two weeks while I had the plague. This one is a $2 sketchbook, spiral bound with thicker paper (for my sharpies)and it's 9 by 12 so i can do more cut and paste work in it. Cutting up magazines and making collages was my favorite activity in preschool. I like cutting up fashion magazines like Vogue the best.

It is very quiet tonight since my sister is in Stilly for the weekend. I went to the library today to pick up some books to pass the time.

Still Here

I am almost over the Plague otherwise known as the really bad cough/cold that I had. It would probably have helped if I would have taken off a day or two but I didn't cause I am stubborn like that. The sickness was so bad that i didn't want to eat, shop or even knit or crochet really. All i worked on was making more plarn and I did crochet a condom amulet out of some of the Vickie Howell Love yarn that I had leftover. I think I am going to finish plarn bag one, start the plarn bag for Sunshine and hopefully start the socks up again. I also have some yucky homework that I need to do before Sunday night too.

My sis and I bought The Tin Man on dvd at Wal-Mart tonight. I was also naughty and bought the new issue of Knit Simple. I plan on watching it while my sister visits some old college friends in Stilly on Saturday. I think it will be a good backdrop for my craftpalooza weekend. It is kind of strange because I will be staying home this weekend and I won't have Sunshine around. I have been spoiled rotten by his visits the last two weekends in a row.

Today is my mom's birthday, so I listened to Flogging Molly on my commute. I think they are a perfect combo of my mom's love of Irish music and my love of punk rock.

Cough Cough Cough Cough

Cough Cough Hack Hack. That would be the loop from this weekend. I think I'm on the turn around, but there is only so much cough syrup I can take and still function. I need one of those little biohazard shirts to wear as a warning for people. I try to be good and hold my coughs in or cough away from people. I hope I didn't give my cough back to Sunshine because he just got over a similar thing. I think I'm starting to feel better but right now it is hard to really tell.

So Sunshine decided to spontaneoulsy come down to visit Friday evening. YAY! We had a lot of fun. He fixed our dryer vent that was blowing down into the wall (scary!!!) so now our clothes dry a lot better. The best part is that he installed the new replacement lock on my hope chest. It was my mom's old hope chest and I primarily use it as a window seat and storage for my journals, bad poetry and ex boyfriend momentos. Anyways, during the break-in, the lock was broken and the lovely people at Lane sent me a nice replacement lock. I think my mom will be relieved now that the hope chest was fixed.

We did a little shopping on Saturday in town. I know I'm sick when I don't feel like power shopping so we just stayed in town. Sunshine is working on his genealogy right now and he got a giant sack of clippings from a relative so we spent most of the Saturday afternoon sorting out the obituaries from the bible verse clippings and Dear Abby articles. I think we found several gems in the bag and he bought a couple of nice looking storage boxes to keep them in. Then we went to Garfields and Sunshine got to have his mudslide finally (they blend theirs which I think makes it taste better). Then we went to American Eagle and Sunshine bought a new pea coat and two shirts which were all on clearance. The pea coat was under $40 which is insane and it matches his favorite shoes better.

Sadly, Sunshine had to leave early this morning so that he could make it home for his Mom's birthday party. My sister won't admit to it but she had fun too. She even made scrambled eggs for Sunshine yesterday morning and she never does that. Ooh--I almost forgot, Sunshine and I split a black bottom cupcake at Starbucks yesterday. Basically it is a chocolate cupcake with cream cheese filling in the center and it is soooo good and one of the few things this weekend that I could actually taste.

I did get a tiny bit of crafting done this weekend. I stitched up the sides of the bag I am making for the Going Green Swap. I need to cut up a few more bags so that I have enough plarn for the handles. I think I might have agreed to make one for Sunshine too but I have to get bags from him first because I seriously have like two bags left. the only reason why I might have enough to finish the handles is because I have the bags from our shopping this weekend. If I have any left over, then I will put it towards the one for Sunshine. The nice thing about plarn bags is that they are pretty sturdy and it's a good recycling project and they look cool. The key to making plarn is having a good pair of sharp scissors. It will speed up the process and your pieces will be more even for the plarn. I will post pics when it's finished and my partner receives it because I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

I actually had a really productive weekend but I am way too lazy to blog about any of it. After all the darn rain this week, the sun finally peaked out. I think I am going to have to get a SAD lamp to sit under because it bothers me not seeing the sun shine for a few days and I think I am during a lighter shade of pale if that is possible. My nose is congested but my ear is still okay for now.

I am over 50% done with my bag for the Going Green Ravelry swap. I need to add more loops on to my plarn ball because I just have a few rows left and then I will need to stitch on the handles and lace up the sides. I thought about using something else to stitch up the sides to add something different to it but I haven't found anything yet, so we will see. If all else fails, I will just use more plarn.

Once I am done with my plarn project, I am getting serious and attacking the socks project. i want to learn how to make socks that look cool so that i can wear them with my low top Chucks.

Hell has finally froze over. the factory manager has agreed to let us wear jeans this Friday as a Relay for Life Fundraiser. Since I don't have any jeans that aren't worn out, I sent my little sister on a mission to the GAP to find me a pair and she actually did and they fit and they are the right size and wash. I am really stoked because every time I go they are either out or I end up with some wonky pair that doesn't fit so I have to return it.

I have been re-reading my David Sedaris books and I am in the midst of reading Born on a Blue Day by David Tamment which is really good. I found a hardback copy of it on the BN bargain books rack so I was excited since our library was closed the whole weekend plus today for president's day and i was book deprived.

Happy Valentine's Day!

So VD is tomorrow and most people would be dreading it but for some sicko reason it is one of my favorite holidays. I have auditing class tomorrow but maybe it will be short or he will cancel it. Once I get home, I am going to eat Cheerios and watch the movie Across the Universe. For the record, Across the Universe, When I'm 64 and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds are my all-time favorite Beatles songs.

Now that I am hooked on the Crystal Light Citrus Splash flavor packets, I have only had two Mountain Dews this week. folks, that is almost unheard of, however i will state for the record that this kind of Crystal Light does have a lot of caffeine in it, so that is why I am still happy and not experiencing caffeine withdrawal shakes right now. I am not trying to quit pop on purpose but my sister is quitting pop and hasn't had any since last Wednesday so I am trying to be supportive and not drink a lot of it around her cause i figure it is probably good if i can cut back a little.

The bag I am crocheting out of plarn for the Going Green swap on Ravelry is coming along awesome. I am close to half-way done, so I think I deserve an A + for that. However, I get an F minus in sock knitting. I haven't done any actual hand knitting in quite awhile and then I got this crazy idea to learn how to knit socks. I watched videoclips and read online tutorials and a couple of books and I attempted to cast on and somehow in the midst of it all, I ended up with some kind of yarn mess and possibly forgot how to knit even. I honestly don't know what happened. It was so bad, I frogged it and stuck all the stuff in a big ziploc bag and hid it under my bed. :( I know that at some point I will be able to knit fantastic, glorious socks, however, I think I need some remedial knitting lessons. It was bad. Anyways, I gave up and went back to crocheting the plastic bag. For some reason, crochet comes effortlessly to me and I really don't know why.

Anyways, I hope everyone has an awesome Valentine's Day tomorrow, full of lots of yarn, love and mudslides in no particular order.

Ice, Ice, Baby!

I woke up this morning with an ear infection and freezing rain. I left for work even with the ear infection and then got north of town and turned around because freezing rain started and there were reports of an inch of ice on the ground in the county where I work, so I turned around and came home. I just get tired of having my commute take 3 plus hours to get to work when it should only take 45 minutes because I get halfway there and find out that it is worse than I expected on the other side of the border. It is only Feb 10th and this is the fourth day this month where I have either had snow or ice or both to deal with and this ear infection is the last straw. I've had chronic ear infections all my life, so getting one this weekend was the last straw. I still have medicine from the last time so I put some of that in and if it doesn't clear up then I am going to drag my ass in to the doctor's office.

So what does a girl do when she has a yucky day outside and a yucky ear infection? Well, I am going to curl up on the couch and read my sock knitting books and listen to Amy Winehouse on my laptop. No ear buds with my ear infection. That would not be cool. I don't think I am going to cast on the socks yet, I might wait until this afternoon.

I did have a good weekend though. Yesterday afternoon it was warm enough to walk to the library so my sister and I walked over there and I checked out Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski which was a National Book Award Finalist. It seems like it has a mystery/thriller element to it but just from reading the back cover, I think it is going to be different than anything else I have read in those genres.

Monologues, Mudslides and Major Stash Envy

I went to see the Vagina Monologues performed at my alma mater last night and it was great. Before the show, I went out to eat with a couple of English professors, so I finally got my mudslide but I forgot that this restaurant makes shitty mudslides so I made a vow never to order a mudslide unless I was eating at Applebees because I am convinced that theirs are the best. The one I had didn't have any whipped cream! Anyways, after the show, I went back to the professor's house that I was staying at and she is a knitter and was showing me all the yarn stashed around the house. WOW. I thought I had died and gone to yarn heaven. She has the good stuff, and I got to touch and see it all, including some really pretty Ozarka Handspun and some Manos de Uruguay. Then she mentions to me that there is a yarn store downtown, so before I left today I made a little "yarn stop" because it was on the way to Starbucks. It's a year old and has a pretty decent but small selection of yarn. The best thing about it was that I bought three Addi hooks for 4.85 each. I about squealed, because I had never found a local store that sells these so I have to order them online and end up paying close to $7 a hook before shipping. Sadly, they only had three left otherwise I might have blown my yarn budget for the rest of the month. I also picked up a Magic Loop leaflet and two skeins of yarn.



Then, when I got home, my Knit Picks order had arrived! This included two size 2 Harmony circulars, and Cat Bordhi's book Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles. I am stoked about this because I plan on learning how to knit socks this year.



As you can see, there was a little bit of stash excitement this weekend. When I got back, I did manage to shovel out all the dead leaves that the previous renter left behind. I would have done it sooner, but this was the first warm day we had since Monday. It was a good thing I bagged it all up because it was in like stage one of composting. EWWWWW...

I got a silver one!

the little town that I work in had an 80 gb silver ipod classic, so I bought it. I was tired of driving around looking for one and all that jazz, and once that I looked at it out of the box, the silver is more of a subtle sparkly silver and it matches Mackie my powerbook and then I just knew in my heart that my search was over and this one was the ipod that was meant to be.

I named her Elphaba, after my favorite character in Wicked the Musical and I just can't believe the differences between her and Spanky my 3rd generation ipod. Wow. It's sort of like going from the Original Nintendo to the Wii. I just love love love it!!!!! I am happy to report that I am nowhere near close to filling it up, but give me a year and we will see. The sound, the color and all the cutesy features are great for this little music buff.

It might have taken me a couple years, but I finally got my video ipod and I couldn't be happier!!!!

Yucky Weather

I am just asking for one week where I can drive to work without snow, thunderstorms or ice. Luckily, the snow and ice this morning melted off before I drove home this evening.

On the ipod search, good news. There is a small town on my way to my alma mater that has TWO of the ipods that I want. If they are all gone on Friday, then I am just going to break down and order online through Apple and get something cool engraved on it. I guess we will see what kind of mood I am in on Friday. The first ipod cozy turned out so wide I could almost stick my foot in it, so I started a new one and measured it with A the co worker's ipod and it fits so this one should work. all ipods need a nice warm cozy. I think I will name my new ipod Elphaba.

My sister replaced our Sony DVD/VCR that was stolen today. In celebration, I purchased a copy of The Jane Austen Book Club on DVD. I loved the book and I love the movie.

I have been watching a lot of Rob and Big on Mtv lately. they are best friends and they make me laugh. I am guilty of downloading several of their episodes on itunes. I think 1.99 is a steal considering how much they make me laugh.

Waiting for my ipod

So we got insurance check number 1 last night and I was thinking that I could go out an buy my 80gb black ipod classic (video), the ipod that I have finally decided on. WRONG!!!!! Every Wal-mart and target within a two hour radius of me is either out of stock or has limited availability (does that mean they only have one left?).

It will probably be at least a week before I can get one which is okay because I am going back to my alma mater this weekend for a showing of the Vagina Monologues (i was in the first production held at my school). It will be fun, cause I can wear whatever I want to, the money goes to an awesome cause, and I will be able to see a bunch of my old college friends. I checked and their Wal-Mart is currently out of stock too. My Wal-mart has a silver one, but I refuse to buy any more all silver colored electronics because the silver chips off really bad or it looks dingy after awhile. Anyways, since I have to hold onto my ipod money, I am making a new ipod cozy for it out of the Vickie Howell yarn that I bought this past weekend. I am about half-way done, and there is a possibilty that I might finish it tonight.

It's so Pretty!

The townhouse looks a lot better now. Sunshine was able to come down this weekend and we were able to find nice looking cheap curtains for my bedroom at Super Target that are a ruby/cranberry red. My sister found curtains for the living room that are a light french blue with suiting stripes and then some brown curtains with gold-esque suiting stripes which really tame down the bright orange counter tops. Sunshine is my handy man for sure. He fixed our front storm door, the porch lights, the vent filter, my light fixture on my ceiling fan and he hung up all the curtains in the house. It helps that he is tall and quite handy with a screw driver. Thank-you!!!!

It wasn't all work though. The three of us headed south to T-town and went to Super Target, the mall, Barnes and Noble and Loops. I bought my curtains at Super Target and a heart hand towel for my bathroom. I didn't buy anything at the mall. However, I did go to the Apple store there and I pre-shopped for our insurance money that is coming this week. At Barnes and Noble I was a good girl and I only bought two magazines and one of them was something I was picking up for a co-worker. I was even good at Loops. I bought two yarn nail files, a Laurel Hill size J hook and a skein of Vickie Howell Love in "June and Johnny" which is of course, jet black. It's a bamboo silk blend, that is so soft, I just want to hold it. i did pet some Tilli Thomas yarn that has the crystals in it. i also looked at their Louisa Harding yarn that is made out of sari ribbon. So many pretty colors. I just love yarn. all kinds and colors and weights.

Anways, I had a fantastic weekend, the house is looking even better and things are getting A LOT BETTER!!!! YAY!!!! It might be Super Bowl Sunday, but I can tell you for sure that I won't be watching the Super Bowl. Most likely playing on my mac or with a new project.

Blogger's Silent Poetry Reading

This is the 3rd annual Blogger's Silent Poetry Reading and I think it's the first time I have participated, although poetry is always in my heart every day. I present to you, a link to one of my all time favorite poems, "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop. The first and final stanzas are my favorite.

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15212

I also like "Hope is the thing with feathers" by Emily Dickinson. Her poetry never ceases to inspire me or comfort me.

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19729

This is another poem I can practically recite by memory, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by W.B. Yeats. I like to imagine that I am visiting when ever I am having a difficult day.

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15529

One last poem, in honor of forthcoming Valentine's Day, "somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond" by e.e. cummings

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15401

Close your eyes, imagine and enjoy my little silent poetry reading.

Socks

I was slightly naughty this weekend and ordered two pairs of circular needles and a Cat Bordhi book so that I can learn how to knit socks. I need a portable project and I need something to hold my interest. Since I discovered that it is impossible to find two pairs of circular needles in the same size small enough to knit socks with in my town, I did what anyone in my situation would do and ordered it all through Knit Picks. I got the Harmony wood fixed circulars. I prefer wood to metal and I don't think I'm responsible enough yet to have interchangeable circulars yet. Especially when I keep having to move, I would be upset if I lost a piece! Anyways, this will be my first online order since the move, so hopefully it goes smoothly. It's a small enough package, they should be able to just shove it in the door or through the mail slot.

I'm excited because Sunshine is coming to visit this weekend and we are going shopping with my sister in T-town. I put myself on an allowance for this trip, but if my current trend continues, I have either had problems finding what i am looking for or it doesn't work/fit right and I end up returning it, so I should be okay.

My knees are still killing me from the stairs and all the moving this weekend. Unfortunately for them, it is really hard for me to be imobile long enough to give them a rest unless I am sleeping.

Mission Accomplished!!

We are officially moved all in one day! It only took five chicks and one dude! My sis and I are really lucky to have awesome co-workers. I took us all out to the Pizza Hut downtown as a thank-you and we ended up with the most perfectly cooked pizza and breadsticks. We still have some leftovers in the fridge. Mackie and I are online again and the only issue we have is that the cold water hook-up in the utility room has a leak but we called the property manager and she is sending a plumber over on Monday. My new room is so big is makes my double wide futon look like a twin bed even when it is folded flat. I can put like all my furniture in there and still have loads of floor space to sprawl.

I love my new closet. All my clothes and coats don't even fill up half of one side. I am still working on unpacking. Our first project this morning was finding the power strip so that we could plug in the router and the printer.

Somehow in the midst of all the crazy, I snuck away to have lunch with S from Tempted Yarns. Seriously, she is one of the coolest chicks ever! We had been messaging back and forth on Ravelry for weeks and finally had the chance to meet. She is going to teach me how to knit socks and probably a ton of other stuff. Her yarn is gorgeous in person too. I definitely came away with a good dose of knitting inspiration which is good because I am in between projects. Once I unbury my yarn stash I am definitely going to start a new project.

Hitch Up the Wagon, Ya'll!

That title sounds really cheesy, but too bad because it is the truth. We are moving to the new townhouse on Saturday. My sister and I have recruited some of our co-workers to help us move. I recruited some man muscle by bribing them with pizza and beer. The beer will only be distributed after all furniture and boxes have been delivered to the townhouse. I can't help it if I am a control freak. A the co-worker came over this evening to help me pack up the kitchen. We have enough cups and plates for a family of ten, but most of the kitchen crap is actually my sisters. I am only really guilty of my est. 60+ Eskimo Joe's cups in a variety of colors. Anyways, A the co-worker is a super packer and we had that all packed up in about 1 1/2 hours. It seems to me that we are basically down to the odds and ends stuff that you just throw in the back of your car or in a laundry basket.

We still don't have our mail. The post office is blaming it on the Monday holiday and claims that we should have it tomorrow. I just want my stupid paycheck that was mailed to me so that I have some cash flow again.

I am excited about Saturday, it's just a little nerve wracking thinking about the logistics of it all. I just have to relax a little and trust that somehow it will all work out. My sister has to play hooky tomorrow so that we can get the utilities turned on over there. Half the places insist on someone being there which makes sense but if they won't come out past 2pm how in the hell are working people supposed to be there? Hence, my sister taking a personal day.

Anyways, I'm really tired from everything that has been going on, but I thought I would give a little update. Crafty news probably won't occur until sometime after Saturday.

EDIT TO ADD: I just found out that Apple has released a HOT PINK NANO VIDEO!!!! OMG I have died and gone to electronics heaven. This might be the one I pick. I heart hot pink soooo much.

Weekend Update

After a trying day on Friday,I must say I am having a fantastic weekend. I have spent the weekend at my best friend Sunshine's house for some much needed R & R. When I got here, my shoulders had so much tension in them that made it really uncomfortable to do much of anything without taking some Rapid Release Tylenol. I am happy to report that the tension has left and even with a couple of drama calls from my sister I still feel more relaxed then I have felt since before the robbery. I'm not really sure what it is but Sunshine has this quality about him that just makes everything crappy going on seem less crappy. Even when he makes me watch scary movies like Joy Ride, it's still not as scary as it would be if I was by myself or with my scaredy-cat sister.

Anyways, before I describe my shopping trip, I have to give Sunshine a BIG THANK YOU FOR EVERTHING that he has done for me this weekend. Did I mention that he gave me the coolest presents ever? When he was in Chicago he was fortunate enough to see one of our all-time favorite musicals, Wicked and he brought me back not only the fancy tour program, but he book me a copy of the Wicked Grimmarie(sp?) which gives all the behind the scenes info about Wicked the Musical and it is just an awesome book. It's the kind of book that you put on your coffee table and every one picks it up to start looking at it. Wicked is coming to Kansas City and we are going to try and get tickets.

The shopping. Well since my sister and I are moving into the new townhouse this weekend and my stupid paychecks are still being mailed to me, I have been on a semi-strict shopping budget. I did get a new pair of Clover bamboo straight needles (size 10 1/2), one skein of chocolate taupe LB Cotton-Ease, an issue of Simply Knitting (British) and the first book that Wally Lamb did with his writing group from the York Correctional Institute. Sunshine bought a really cool new laptop bag (his current one is pretty beat-up) that is kind of like the new one that my dad bought my sister for her new laptop. I want to get one that is a similar size and slim like theirs but I don't want the exact same one and I need a different color scheme as in not black. I don't like to buy black laptop bags because everyone gets black ones and I wear enough black clothes without adding to it. While I was at Books-A-Million, I did read through the new Anticraft book and it has some really sweet patterns in it that I could and would actually make, so after I have moved and etc., this will be ordered.

I have made three child-sized hats on my knifty knitter (red loom) this weekend from some LB Homespun and RH Supersaver that is from my stash.

Happy Birthday to baby L! She's turning two today and I can't believe it and I'm sure that her A her mother can't believe it either. L is a sweet little girl and a very well-behaved child (which is quite rare these days).

Songs on my itunes:

Closer by Joshua Radin
What If You by Joshua Radin

These songs are so beautiful and were brought to my attention by Sunshine. So of course, I listened, got hooked on the melody and then proceeded to download them through itunes. For statistical purposes, What If You is the 409th song I have downloaded since purchasing my Mac Powerbook (Mackie) in March 2006. Yes, I am contributing to Steve Jobs' retirement fund very heavyily, but the Apple folks have always given me superior customer service and provided me with products that are pretty, functional and low maintenance.

Setting Forth

I have been on a roll today. I got all the vacuuming, dishes, laundry and recycling done. I returned my sister's book to the library for her and walked out three books that had been on my "to-read" list for a long time. I saw the movie No Reservations, which is so good!!! I will definitely be watching it again. I even watched the series finale of Sex in the City (I am counting the days until the movie comes out).

I am excited because the PACK IS BACK!!! My all-time favorite football player Brett Farve and the boys won the big game at Lambeau Field and the snow was falling and it was just so pretty....His wife's new book was one of the books that I checked out at the library today.

I also found the world's most perfect Valentine's Day card for Sunshine today at Walgreen's. I am so proud of myself because it is one of the coolest cards I have found in awhile and it just really describes us perfectly.

Tomorrow the big Masterpiece season kicks off on PBS and I am so excited because they are doing "The Complete Jane Austen." Six of the movies based on her books and one Jane Austen biography movie. The first one they are showing is Persuasion. I am really excited about this because one of my goals this year is to read all of her novels, so this series could not occur at a more perfect time. Plus, my cousin gave me the BN complete Jane Austen edition which is really heavy, but it is handy to have them all in one book. I printed off the teacher's guide and the Jane Austen bookmark from the Masterpiece site too. I am stoked.

More book talk. These are the three books I checked out today:
1. Slash - the audiobiography by Slash (Velvet Revolver and Guns n Roses guitarist amongst other accomplishments). He was one of my musical idols growing up.
2. Don't bet against me! - Deanna Favre's new book about her life and overcoming breast cancer. I love stories that inspire and talk about overcoming the odds.
3. Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain- written by Oliver Sachs, who wrote Awakenings (remember the movie version with Robin Williams?) I am a total sucker for music and books about music. This book looks like it will be really good.

I know it seems odd to be checking out books when I haven't read the ones I received for Christmas yet, but my library is a really nice library and they order a lot of new books and since there are apparently a lot of readers in my town, sometimes there is a long wait list to read some of the more popular books, so if I see it on the shelf, I check it out. Plus, I like to save the ones I buy for trips because that way I don't have to worry about losing a library book or racking up a fine if I don't make it back in time.

I did download the Into the Wild soundtrack last night and yet again, Eddie Vedder has provided me with hours of blissful music. It's a good cd to chill to.

I did sleep in until 8:34 am today, so I am really proud of myself because I am one of those sickos that functions on 6 hours asleep every day except on the weekends when I might get 7 or 8. I did get my oil changed. Sunshine would be so proud of me. I took my Mac and my new issue of Vogue Knitting which was a good thing because I sat there for over an hour. They are always busy on Saturday mornings and you pretty much have to get there when they open or else you will sit there forever. I just had my external door lock re-keyed, but that key is at the bank because I am lazy and just use my keyless remote. I watched the mechanic go outside to get my car, and he didn't click the remote right so my car didn't unlock, so he tried using my ignition key (which no longer unlocks the door) and that didn't work so he came inside and got me and I had to tell him the abridged version of my sob story and then I unlocked the car with my keyless. My car is low-tech and you have to hit the remote twice until you hear a click. No clickie, no unlockie. This dude was really embarrassed, but there's no way he could have known my car's quirks. anyways, my car received some new oil and a clean bill of health, so I am happy about that.

Our new back door (all metal) is supposed to be installed on Monday and my sister talked to State Farm on Friday and we should hear back in about a week on the results of our claim. The bank stuff is resolved but the payroll dept at work screwed up and left off my holiday pay for New Years which annoys me because I could use that money and I have email confirmation from them that my holiday pay was supposed to be on that check. So that's what I will have to straighten out on Monday. Things are starting to get back to normal. We are making the best of a really shitty situation and the messiest stuff has been taken care of.

On the yarn front, I started another hat using RH Lipstick. It is a multi with red, magenta, and purple in it. It kind of makes me think of Valentine's Day. I organized all my new yarn into two 1 ft tall totes and my antique Budweiser wooden crate (it has a hinge lid that is really handy). One of these days I will enter it all into Ravelry, but that will happen later on because I am tired of taking inventory right now.

All in all, it has been a quiet yet productive day. My sister is in Dallas and since I haven't received any phone calls since she arrived I am assuming that she is busy having the time of her life. Which is good, she needs a little break and some fun.

Driving Around in Circles

Not literally, but it seems like it. I have been to T-town twice in the last two days plus my regular commute to KS. I plan on staying in town this weekend with my yarn and some Eddie Vedder music (as in the Into the Wild soundtrack). I might also watch some of my dvds that I got for Christmas, I don't know for sure. I have some cleaning chores that i want to tackle while my sister is away. It is easier to clean when she is gone because then I don't have to clean around her and her piles of papers. LOL. I am also going to try really really hard to get an oil change Saturday morning so that my car likes me. I am "slightly" over on the mileage sticker. Oops. I am really bad about that but in my defense, I drive an average of 70 miles a day, so that adds up faster then it would for most people, but they are mostly highway miles so that is good.

My box of yarn that my Mom gave me for Christmas arrived this week. I am really stoked because now I can start working on my Vanna afghan again. We will see, I have a really low energy level now so I find it hard to focus my attention on things.


Songs of the Week: Guaranteed by Eddie Vedder

P.S. Sunshine, I'm sending a rainbow your way.

Another Week

Last week when I came back to Oklahoma, it was a butt-numbing 20 degrees in the mornings. Today it was in the low 70s and we had to turn the heat off in January and turn on a couple of ceiling fans. How crazy is that? My sister and I managed to clean up a little today. I took the Christmas tree down and cleaned up a bunch of scuff marks on the walls with a Magic Eraser. We shredded a bunch of stuff and the rest is a manageable pile that I think I am just going to take to work and use their industrial sized shredder if I have some spare time. LOL.

I made three child's sized hats on my knifty knitter since they didn't steal those. I think what happened is that my "notions bag" was inside of my brand new Green Day tote bag that I had found on clearance at Wal-Mart for $5 before Christmas. So they must have just carried the whole thing off. One hat is hot pink (in honor of the L-Word Season 5 premiere) and the other two hats are RH Zebra (black/white/gray) and RH Mexicana (primary colors). In the spirit of finishing things this year, all three hats already have their ends woven in.

We ordered pizza tonight and ended up with Pepperoni Sauce Pizza. I am not sure what they did with the cheese, but it wasn't on our pizza for sure.

I'm not really sure where the weekend went. I feel like I accomplished a lot of things but I know that there is a whole lot more I wanted to accomplish.

In Rainbows

I heart Radiohead. I have been just hanging out and listening to their latest cd In Rainbows and I just love love love it. The hyper sneezing seems to have slowed down so I was able to get like 10 hours of sleep last night. I didn't wake up until after 9 am this morning which is unheard of for me. I am one of those freaks that naturally wakes up at 7am or so. For some reason though, my fever is back and I have been really sluggish all day, so I just went out this morning for a brief Kleenex run. I love the ones with lotion. they are the best. I used my Christmas gift card from Aunt E since my new debit card hasn't arrived yet.

Sadly, I realized today that one very important thing was missing. I had this little zip top Dickies case that I had bought a couple of months ago to keep my hooks and needles and scissors and such in. THOSE FUCKERS STOLE IT!!!! My Brittanys, my Addis, my Chibi darning needles and all my Titanium sewing scissors are all gone. I've been so sick and at work non stop since I got back and didn't even thinking about crocheting or knitting until this afternoon and I looked through everything for it and it was all gone. All I have left are my plastic knitting needles and some of my old Susan Bates crochet hooks (which is just not the same!!!). Totally ripped the wound right open. I was so upset that I called my Mommy. The irony is that I got a TON OF YARN for Christmas. I know it's replaceable and everything, but I don't feel like I can have nice things anymore, because they could be taken away from me again and I hate having both of those feelings but I can't help it.

My yarn is supposed to arrive on Tuesday. Mom had to mail it to me because there was no way it was all going to fit in my suitcase especially with all the stuff that Aunt E sent us for Christmas. Thank God she sent the presents to my parent's house.

I haven't read hardly anything this week other than some magazines. It's hard to concentrate when you are sick and I've been really distracted this week so I would doubt I would remember what I actually read anyways. LOL.

All the Small Things

Okay, so since I am up sneezing like crazy and I went to bed at 8:30 pm and am now awake mostly to the sneezing part, it sounds like a good time for an update. Our cars are getting re-keyed and the keyless entry stuff re-programmed. My Subaru is going to be the cheapest because I only have one external door lock and I don't have a microchip key, unlike my sister's Honda which has multiple external door locks and a microchip key. Tomorrow my sister will be filing our renter's insurance claim and following up with the police to get the police report. I also managed to get a start on straightening out all the bank stuff but having to change my direct deposit really sucks when I get paid weekly because they might have to mail a check to me and sometimes I don't end up getting it until Saturday and they haven't been delivering the mail lately until like late.

Somehow I managed to make it through my first day back at work but it really sucked because of my runny nose and uncontrollable sneezing that seems to be a result of all that congestion I had last weekend. Oh joy. I want my 60 degree weather back. I left for work at 6am Wed and it was like 19 degrees! Yuck!

I don't think I mentioned this but my Mom did teach me how to make the blocks for the crochet afghan that I had mentioned like back in November-ish. It's using 8 colors of her new Vanna's Choice yarn from Lion Brand and it's a variation on a granny square with the center of the square being a round of cluster stitches. The cluster stitches turned out to be a lot easier once I was able to watch my Mom making the stitch. Their directions aren't really geared towards newbies or people that really suck at reading patterns, but it was one of their free online patterns, and it's working out now that my Mom decoded it for me. I do better with charts which is funny because a lot of people think that is harder.

I think I mentioned that I saw the movie P.S. I Love You while out in the Carolinas (I am obviously very scatter-brained right now. Anyways, before I left I went to the Best Buy by my parent's house and bought the soundtrack. Shocking! I haven't technically purchased a cd since Fergie's solo album that I bought in late June. Anyways, it was so worth paying the insane Best Buy price because there are a lot of Irish bands on the soundtrack including one of my favorites, Flogging Molly. Irish music is actually really soothing to me. I can honestly say that I actually listen to all of the songs in the car which is not something I normally do.

Things are starting to put themselves back together slowly. I will be really glad when I can get back to my normal work schedule next week and maybe some normalcy. I'm going into work early this week so that I can leave early to go do all of the stuff that isn't open later in the evening.

I thought about doing a music recap of what I liked best but then I read the latest issue of Blender magazine (with Fergie on the cover) and I actually agree with their choices (as voted by their readers). They listed Umbrella by Rihanna as the Song of the Year, and anyone who has heard that song knows how catchy it is and probably secretly hums the chorus while sitting in their cubicle. I have mixed thoughts on reading Blender. It seems like every other issue is good but I do like their music trivia and this issue also did a piece on Led Zeppelin which made me very happy because I am a big fan of their music.

Anyways, I think I am going to crawl back in bed and try to get a couple more hours of sleep before I have to go into work.

A Fresh Start

Since Sunshine created a bunch of new year's resolutions, I thought I should write a little something. I'm not making a defined list of resolutions. I just don't have th energy to do that right now and I'm tired of making lists. I guess my first goal right now is really getting over my allegry related sinus crap & congestion from hell (pine trees + mucho rain = mold = congestion from hell) and get all the insurance claims filed and my life straightened out again so that I feel secure again.

Normally I would be staying up late to watch the ball drop but since I'm sick and very sleep deprived and I fly back tomorrow, I doubt that will be happening. Luckily my flight is not extremely early in the morning so I have that on my side.

Holiday Disasters and Retail Therapy

I am still in the Carolinas, but I thought I would update since a bunch of stuff has happened. We made it there Sunday evening with a few delays but our longest delay was only around an hour so I consider that to be good. Christmas Eve was pretty uneventful. We went to Target and Books A Million and watched the movie Waitress on DVD (this movie is sooo good but unfortunately it belongs to my Mom).

Christmas day started out really good. I got a lot of yarn, DVDs, a LV wallet and a North Face windbreaker from my dad and some other little things. Then we decided to go see Charlie Wilson's War at the movie theater because now that we are adults, it has been a tradition for us to go see a movie on Christmas. well, we went to the correct theater, but instead of Charlie Wilson's War they messed up and showed Alvin and the Chipmunks instead. Cute movie, but not the same! The theater people were jerks and wouldn't switch the movies, so we opted to just watch Alvin and the Chipmunks.

The fun begins when we get back to my parents house. I had left my cell phone at home since you can't have them turned on at the theater. Well I get back and there is a voice mail from a number with the same area code as the town I live in. Turns out it was a police officer calling to tell us that a robbery had been reported at our house back there and he found a cell phone bill of mine and that's how he was able to call me. Who in the hell robs people on Christmas Day! We don't know every single thing they took but it looks like they mostly just grabbed our electronics and ran. I have no idea if they took any of my stuff. i am trying really hard to not to think about it because it is just upsetting when I don't know what they went through. I had my ipod shuffle, my Mac laptop and my digi camera with me here in the Carolinas. I had some electronic items at home, but the only thing I would be pissed about is my old ipod but ha ha to them because it has my name engraved on the back of it and I still have the damn receipt! I feel bad though because they stole my sister's desktop and her laptop and her dvd players and our big tv for sure. Luckily our landlord was in town still so he came over and boarded up the window and the door they broke and he was able to tell my sister some of the big things that was missing but honestly we are the only ones that are going to know what is gone for sure. At the end of the day, I am just a little mad and disturbed but I am really grateful that no one was at home or hurt at the time of the break in.

So what does a girl do when she has been given a shit sandwhich? Two things: Call her best friend Sunshine and engage in retail therapy. Sunshine is the only person that doesn't say stupid things in a crisis and never treats me like i'm helpless. Talking to him was a nice relief and plus I was curious to see how his Christmas break was going anyways.

The day after Christmas in between numerous phone calls, I managed to hit the sales at Target and I saw the movie P.S. I Love You. First, the movie. The movie is based on a book and follows the general plot but changes some of the locations,etc. I really love this movie and am definitely buying it on dvd the first day it comes out. To top it off, the soundtrack is kick ass. Any soundtrack that has Flogging Molly, the Pogues and James Blunt on it is going to score beaucoup points with me. As for Target, I got seasons 4, 5 and 6 part two of Sex in the City for 9.99 each! i have never seen them marked down this low!!! I about freaked when I saw it listed in the ad that morning. Then today, we went back to Target and I picked up Heroes Season 1 for $19 and I found a hidden copy of Sex in the City season 6 part one. Mom and Dad, aka Santa got me seasons 1 and 3, so now I am just missing season 2 and they also bought me Boston Legal Season 3.

You might think I'm nuts for buying all these dvds when all our dvd players were just stolen, but I still have Mackie so that's how I will be entertaining myself until we get our claim money from the Renter's Insurance (I CAN"T STRESS ENOUGH HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS IF YOU RENT!!!!) Then, since I just brought a tiny clutch purse with me, it was too small to put my brand new LV tri-fold wallet in it, so I hit the sales at the Aeropostale store by my parents house and found the cutest reversible cordoroy purse on sale for 9.99!!! So really, my retail therapy doesn't count as a buying spree because everything I bought was over 50% off and on special Christmas sale that only happens once a year.

It's in the upper 50s and 60s and it's so bright and sunny that it is really helping me with my winter of S.A.D. My mom bought me new knifty knitter looms (50% on sale at Michaels this week) so I have been chilling under the skylights making hats.

Anyways, I hope everyone is having a smashing holiday. I am still having a good holiday even though all that bad stuff happened. I baked 6 trays of cookies and one Holiday Funfetti cake and have done two loads of dishes so I guess I have been coping a little like Izzie Stevens-style but oh well. I also started reading Atonement by Ian McEwan and it is really good so far, especially if you love romantic epic novels like moi.

84 Song Playlist

Last night I created an 84 song playlist to load onto my Shuffle for my flight to Charlotte tomorrow. I think that should tide me over. Of course, my Mac will be with me. It is a ten day trip, so since I will be in the States the entire time, I totally plan on taking her and my digi cam. Apparently my dad is only going to be home for Christmas and Christmas Eve, but that's okay because I am honestly really going out there to see my beloved little Yorkies and my Mom. We plan on going to see a ton of movies and maybe a couple of little side trips. Who knows. I am fully confident that we will make our flights out there. I just checked weather.com and It looks good for us for the travel day. My mom has stockpiled yarn for me, and she says I can use her stash hooks while I am out there so I don't have to try and get mine through airport security. I would be really pissed if one of my Brittany hooks got trashed.

The Kansas City trip was a success. We got close to three inches of snow after we arrived, my sister and I were conned into sitting on Santa's lap, I got a new Starbucks mug, and we spent some glorious time at the 4 story Barnes and Noble. All my Christmas shopping is done. YAY! All my out of towners, received their presents and loved them.

I am almost done packing for Charlotte. I did the essential laundry last night, so I just have to pull a couple of shirts off the drying rack and I will be ready. I don't have ten casual shirts that I like, so i will do laundry at Mom's.

Hey Sunshine, have fun while I am gone. I expect updates while I am in Charlotte. I can't wait to see you in January.

Happy X-Mas, ya'll!!!

I'm Still Here, I promise

Work has been INSANE! The holidays are sucking my soul and I don't know where my time goes. Thank the Lord for bubble bath and the Foo Fighters because that is the only way I am getting through all of this in one piece. Did I mention that I fly out to the Carolinas on Sunday and I HAVE NO CLUE what to pack, other than my favorite jeans that I need my mommy to sew back together. I promise I will update more about my past week or so either Friday or Saturday. Hopefully, I will be a little more relaxed, but no promises on that.

the Ice Man Cometh

Well, this is officially day 2 of the freezing rain ice crap. it's not as bad as the ice storm that we had last January, but it still sucked. I did make it into work today though and back and my car and I are still in one piece. My sister just found out that school is cancelled again tomorrow so since she's a teacher, she's been at the house chillin' and grading papers.

My Secret Pal Gwen (the one I sent stuff to in SP 11) sent me a really sweet thank you box on Saturday. She sent me a hot pink scarf she knitted out of Rowan biggy print, a box of See's chocolates (yummy),a copy of the new Knit 1 issue, a Hello Kitty 2008 calendar (i needed one of these for at home!) and a nice card. Totally unexpected and completely appreciated.

I did go shopping in Owasso with some work friends on Saturday. this was pre-storm, it was just cool and gloomy. honestly, I didn't really see anything that I couldn't live without. I finished up one VIP gift that I will mail to someone as soon as this crappy weather goes away. I wrapped all my Christmas presents that I have purchased so far.I just have to get presents for my cousins and I am kind of waiting to see if the weather is going to clear up enough for us to go to Kansas City because Iowa is getting hammered with snow and ice right now, so it's a play it by ear thing.

I have made two hats with the cotton candy LB Homespun yarn that I bought at Hobby Lobby with my 40% off coupon in Owasso. I haven't really worked on the scarf lately.

My sis and I did catch Tin Man on the Sci Fi Channel and it was totally awesome. I really hope that they release it on DVD.

I have been reading the new Charles Schulz bio and Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris. Both are excellent reads. Holidays on Ice is one of my favorite holiday themed books, it's a collection of some of his holiday short stories and they are just really funny.

this post is for Sunshine, who complained that I hadn't updated lately. Insert eye roll here. I will update again later this week probably when I have more news.

Where Did All My Time Go?

Seriously? I have no idea what happened to the month of November. I finally realized this evening that it was December 1st and oh shit finals week starts on the 10th. Work is crazy because of the new projects I am working on. I just really love working on projects with no instructions and very little guidance. NOT!!!!!!!! Then my cousin calls to tell me that she was able to get the weekend of the 14th off so now my sister and I have to drive up to KC that weekend to meet them for our little Christmas celebration. Oh shit on that too.

On the upside, I knitted two baby hats today and half of a third. I finished reading Miranda July's latest short story book (i have forgotten the title and i am too lazy to look it up cause i just call it the bright yellow book because of the cover). Landlord installed oven #3 which is a brand new Whirlpool stovetop/oven and it is heaven on earth. we have already baked a frozen pizza and made two batches of chocolate chip cookies we were that excited.

A the co-worker and the wife of another co-worker and I are going to Owasso next weekend. however, I will probably like not be buying anything because I'm going to KC now.

We did get a Christmas tree this weekend. It looks really cute. We just got a 3 foot one to conserve space.

Anyways, it has been a very crazy weekend. I am very overwhelmed right now and I know things will get better, it's just until the holidays are over things are just going to be nuts for me.