Quirky Musings

Mysterious Disappearances

2007-06-26T12:57:00.000-05:00

I think the evil blogging gnomes have taken upon themselves to clean up around here. I posted last week before I left for the weekend and even checked to make sure it posted and it did. Then I came back and I have no bio or description and 2 blog posts are missing. Surely gnomes are to blame. Any insight?

Nothing new going on here. Still looking for a job. Still working on the giant Ugly ghan and the argyle sock. Hope to have new pics soon.

Portland Pics

2007-06-11T23:05:00.000-05:00

Finally, here are some of the pics from our amazing Portland Trip over Memorial Day Weekend.

We flew into Portland and went that day to the Japanese Gardens and the Rose Garden.
We stayed in Portland then started our way up the Coast. We started out at Tillamook then worked our way up.

This is one of the cool rock formations on the coast. I don't remember the name of it but it was beautiful.

We found this cool winery, Nehalam Bay Winery, on the way and stopped for a tasting. It was quirky and fun and we had a great time. Tasting wine. It was maybe not noon yet. But the coolest wineries are on the side of highways in the most random places. Like the one we found on the way to Durango last year.

On to Seaside, where I discovered Coastal Yarns and got some delicious STR.
We walked out onto the beach and had a great view of Haystack Rock (the one that was in the Goonies).

Saw this cool sideways tree at the edge of a cliff at Ecola State Park near Seaside.
The park was in The Goonies too, where the Fratelli's place was.

Another coast shot from Ecola:

And we finally made it to Astoria, where we stayed Saturday night.
Most of The Goonies was filmed there. Here's the Goonies House:

Astoria was great. It was scenic and beautiful and had a very small town feel.
We stayed at the amazing Cannery Pier hotel, built at the base of a huge bridge over the Columbia River. It is one of the coolest places I have ever stayed.
We also got to make it to their Sunday Farmer's Market - about 3 blocks of artisans and little food booths. We had some amazing steamer clams with garlic butter and some huge barbequed oysters and some delicious quesadillas. I also got a cool pottery mug and some great soap. It was great fun although it was about 3 degrees and spitting rain.

We were driving around Sunday and couldn't decide where to go - we drove to Mt. St. Helen's but they said there was a very limited view so we turned around and decided to head up to Seattle since we were just a few hours away.

They have by far the coolest outdoor market. We didn't have long, since it was Sunday things closed shortly after we got there but we had about 30 minutes to look around.

And there was a beautiful rainbow on the way back from Seattle.

We headed back to Portland and stayed Sunday night and had a great lunch Monday at this delicious Cuban resturaunt. I would highly recommend it.

It was such a great trip. I forgot how beautiful the Pac NW is. Can't wait to go back!

7 Random Things

2007-06-10T01:03:00.000-05:00

I was tagged by Yasmin for this fun Meme. Always obliging to spill more quirky facts about myself, here goes...

1. I hate for my food to touch. I don't like the tastes to blend. I also eat things one at a time in order of which tastes worst cold.
2. When eating candies with different flavors (like Skittles or Starburst), I separate the colors and eat all of one color at a time.
3. I can't go to sleep with socks on.
4. I have never been stung by a bee or had a reaction to Poison Ivy.
5. I have this keen ability to memorize song lyrics. I can hear a song (occasionally an album) just a few times and remember all the words forever.
6. I love movies and quote random lines all the time. Sometimes people catch the references and think I'm witty and clever. Sometimes I just get odd stares.
7. I hate being early for things. I am chronically late. Partially to avoid that really awkward time when you get somewhere and then have 10 minutes to sit there pretending to be busy while waiting for something to start. My ideal time is right on the dot.

Okay, there you have it...7 more weird things about me. Because they just don't come out often enough.

On the Versatility of Sheep...

2007-06-05T21:48:00.000-05:00

Off for the Weekend

2007-05-31T15:49:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to say I'm off to the Kerrville Music Festival down by San Antonio, TX. Yeah, I'm so excited. Today was my last day at work so the Battle of the Wills is over and I'm on my way. Things ended amicably and I hate to move on but I know I need to.
We fly out tonight (a friend from work and her good friend) and get to stay until late Monday. We are camping out and I really can't wait for a nice relaxing weekend.
Hope everyone else has a great weekend too!

Flower Shots

2007-05-29T22:06:00.001-05:00

We had a chance to visit the Japanese Gardens/ Rose Garden in Portland. Most of the roses hadn't bloomed out yet but the ones that had were amazing.

The ferns there were so gorgeous. I won't bore you with the countless fern pictures I took but I just think they are so amazing and tiny and beautiful.
I can't believe the plants they can grow there. We saw numerous rhododendrons that were huge and gorgeous.
These calla lilies were growing in someone's yard in Cannon Beach. There were a ton of them and they were all huge.

These poppies were also in Cannon Beach growing along the sidewalk. They were even prettier in person.

Quick Update and Finger Quiz

2007-05-29T21:49:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to say I don't have much to report...
Things have been pretty boring around here. I went home last weekend for Father's Day and had a great time with my family. I met up with a friend from High School who I haven't seen in about 7 years. It was so great to see her again.
Not getting much knitting done, just mostly trying to catch up on stuff around the house.
Still looking for a job, I don't even have any great prospects but hopefully something will come up.
Hopefully I'll have something fun to report soon!

Oh, I did find a cool site for bookworms: www.librarything.com
You can create a searchable catalog of the books you own, get recommendations based on your tastes, and chat with others who read the same stuff. I've had a lot of fun with it.

Here's a cute quiz I found somewhere - Is there any better finger to be, really?

You Are the Middle Finger

A bit fragile and dependent on your friends, you're not nearly as hostile as you seem.
You are balanced, easy to get along with, and quite serious.
However, you can get angry and fed up with those around you. And you aren't afraid to show it!

You get along well with: The Index Finger

Socks and Trip Goods

2007-05-29T21:25:00.000-05:00

I got some quality knitting time on the trip and thought I'd finally start Knit Pick's Almost Argyle Socks. I'm using Knit Picks Gloss - 70% Merino, 30% Silk and it is amazing. I love working with it. And the fit of the socks is spot on. I'm almost finished with the first one.

And there was even time on the Oregon trip for a little yarn shopping.
We stopped at Yarn Garden in Portland - a really cool yarn store about 3 store fronts wide in an old downtown section of Portland. And there's the cutest little tea bar/ snack place connected to it. This is the first time I have seen Koigu in real life and I thought I'd indulge.

When we were in Cannon Beach on Saturday, we stopped at Coastal Yarns and I got a skein of Socks that Rock. That was my first time to see that stuff in real life too. It's so soft and squishy! They also had some really great pieces made up and I found this great lace scarf pattern made with Kidsilk. If I make it through the current lace pattern I might give it a shot.

And the shot of the other goods:
We found this cool winery, Nehalam Bay, on the way up the Orgeon Coast. They had mostly fruit wines and I was sure they would be dreadful and syrupy sweet but they were all really great.
The mug and soap we got at this awesome Farmer's Market in Astoria. It was about three blocks wide and there were all kinds of artists and food booths. We had a ton of fresh seafood and other delicious goodness.

We also squeezed in a trip to Trader Joe's in Portland but the pics of those goods weren't too interesting. I got a bunch of snap pea crisps and some cool bathroom stuff. Oh, and Mexican Hot Chocolate.
It's definitely the best grocery store ever. I really hope our state will change it's stupid liquor laws soon (we don't allow wine in our grocery stores) so we can get cool stores like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.

Trip to the Mountains

2007-05-24T20:29:00.000-05:00

Here are the pictures from our recent camping trip to the Wichita Mountains in Southern OK. It is so beautiful there. We really enjoyed the time away.

The wildflowers were blooming and gorgeous:

And there was some great wildlife. We saw all kinds of stuff.
We don't have many lizards like this around here, we usually just see the tiny skinny ones.
We did see (kind of, it was at night at the campground) a tarantula.

This rattlesnake was sunning on a rock almost right on the trail. He was extremely docile, didn't even rattle. So cool! I haven't seen one outside of the zoo before.

It was a great trip. They have Longhorns, Buffalo, a little Prarie Dog town (those things freak me out, they carry Monkey Pox you know) and lots of deer.

It was so great to get away and spend time in nature.

Yes, There is Knitting

2007-05-24T20:09:00.000-05:00

Just a little bit though...

After organizing all my yarn and realizing I own more acrylic yarn that one girl should ever have, I embarked on a stash busting mission. The random stripy blanket.

Not my best work ever but I'm getting rid of a lot of stash. And it's kinda growing on me.

And I've been trying my hand at lace but not having the greatest results.
It's the Lace Leaf Shawl from Fiber Trends (love this pattern!).

Bad picture, the yarn is a deep cranberry.

I think I just need to rip it out and start over with a bigger needle. I can't hardly see the lace pattern at all. I don't do much lace work but I'm assuming you should be able to see the holes a little bit before blocking?

Have a trip coming up this weekend and I really hope to get some knitting time in.

Haven't had much time lately what with all the drama at work and all. It's not getting much better and I'm about to give up. I'm in this field to help people and make a difference and I refuse to have to fight a coworker to do so. End of soapbox. Everyone in authority knows how I feel so it will resolve soon one way or the other.

Quick Update

2007-05-07T23:22:00.000-05:00

So sorry for the Shiraz-induced, grammatically horrific blabbering about my former life. Seriously, it was bad. I had to at least edit it up a bit.

On a happier note, things have been going well. Last week at work was incredibly stressful and my boss and I got into it (and I gave her huge benefit of the doubt due to the heart attack and all- I can't believe she was even back at work.) It was bad and I seriously considered leaving the agency. Terrible things were said (not on my part) that can't be taken back but I love the agency and I'm all about the mission and I will do whatever I can, within reason, to make it work. Things were aired that have needed to be aired for a while and things seem much better this week.

I also took off Thursday and Friday to just chill. I got a massage Thursday from this great massage therapist my friend found (which happens to be right next door to a yarn shop!) and then Friday we left to go camping and hiking in the Wichita Mountains down by Lawton. The weather was beautiful and the hiking was great. We also saw all kinds of wildlife. Pics to come! After hiking Saturday, we went to the quirky and fabulous Meers Restaurant and ate a rediculously disgusting amount of delicious burgers, assorted fried appetizers, and topped it off with a huge bowl of cherry cobbler and homemade ice cream.

On the knitting front, I've finally decided to brave true lace work! I bought the Fiber Trends Lace Leaf Shawl pattern months ago and often look at it in admiration but thought it was still above my skill. And attention level. But it's going - I just finished my first pattern repeat and, although I had to rip out more rows than I knitted to get the count right, I'm finally in a good rythym. I've just learned if it doesn't come naturally I can't force it and just have to put it down and come back later. Pics of that soon too, promise...

Oh, and my grandma turned 80 a week ago last Saturday. Most of the extended family got together and got a clubhouse at Remington Park to celebrate. My grandma loves the races and has really fond memories of going to horse races all over when my grandpa was still with her. We had a great time. My grandma is 80 but she is spunky as ever. I'm so glad we could all enjoy it with her.
She also let me know recently that she was supposed to go on a cruise with a friend (it's a group thing and my parents are going too) up through Boston and Portland, Maine and Newfoundland. Her friend backed out and she asked me to be her roomate. I'm really excited. I feel really blessed to have this opportunity to take this trip with her.

Remembering Columbine

2007-04-16T21:28:00.000-05:00

Wow, such strong memories come up in such strange places.

Today before lunch I heard about the tragedy at Virginia Tech. I couldn't help, as much as I tried, but be pulled to the place both emotionally and physically, where I was in 1998 when the Columbine shootings happened. In 1998, I was trapped in a terrible marriage to a man "in the minstry" at a "Christian" church just south of Atlanta, GA. We had been working with a youth group there, about 30 miles south of Atlanta, when the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Co occurred.

I remember realizing around that time that my marriage was falling apart, and seeing that double image of me being 1000 miles from home and watching that haunting image of a dad so far away reaching out and meeting his eighhteen year old daughter in his open arms. I was slowly realizing that things would never be the same, noticing at the same time that the man whom I had chosen to share my life with was this incredible fraud.

The day I was sitting at home watching the Columbine details on CNN, I was also realizing how much my husband at the time was using me. I had just answered a phone call from one of the sweetest of our church members, who was also the mother of one of our Youth Group members. She aparently was inquiring as to why my current husband would have missed out on some recent activities, and was also double checking his excuse on missing out on some events because I had had a recent breast exam which had resulted in further investigation in the form of a biopsy then a surgical procedure. I concurred that recently I had an annual exam in which a tumor had been found. The OB/GYN, whom I am sure, had prescribed to the Cover Your Ass Annual Magazine, had felt that a biopsy was in order. I was 20 years old and 10000 miles away from home. The church member had fallen for a manipulative scheme by the pastor of our church and had resulted, along with a slew of other good reasons, in my then husband being fired. I had really wanted to stay in the area, because I knew that moving back would be the fall of him as I knew him, but I resigned and moved back home. I proceded to enroll back in school, then subsequently work two jobs as he slowly submitted to a downhill spiral.

Last year, one of the students in the youth group, where I spent a year, tried to contact me. He lived a thousand miles away and he and his now wife were traveling through and he took the time to stop and put a note under the door of my parents' small business (he knew this only because he came home with us one holiday.
I was so embarrased or whatever that I didn't even respond back. I felt like such a horrible person but that was such a terrible time in my life and I know one day I may reach out to him and he will probably understand.

After my marriage was over, I was at a crossroads and not at all sure which way to go. I had moved to a town about an hour away to finish my education. I have since met a man whom I love and respect, whom I have chosen to live my current life with. I have finished my degree program and graduated from college.
I, even this year, was offered the choice of running a very successful non-profit agency for which I work. My current boss's husband called me to inform me that last night she had a heart attack. She had been treated and would soon be realeased.

Although I have moved on and now live life in which I know I make a difference, I can't help but feel the similarities of these situations. Today I was easily, eight years later, automatially drawn to that dramatic day in 1998 where my heart will always be.

My heart and thoughts are with all the victims and survivors and their families in Blacksburg.
If you're interested, Mosaic Yarn Shop in Blacksburg has started collecting 8" knitted and crocheted squares to make comfortghans for those affected by the tragedy.
Find out more info at the Mosaic Yarn Shop Blog.

The Name Game

2007-04-15T22:45:00.000-05:00

Saw this on Sue's blog.
Here's how to play: everything must start with the first letter of your name.

Your Name: Tandi
Famous Artist/Musician/Band: Tesla
3 letter word: Try
Street name: Teakwood
Color: Turquoise
Vehicle: Toyota Tacoma
TV Show: The Sopranos
State/City: Tulsa/Tennessee
Boy Name: Thomas
Girl Name: Tara
Alcoholic Drink: Tom Collins
Occupation: Therapist
Flower: Tulip
Celebrity: Topher Grayson
Famous Leader: Theodore Roosevelt
Toy: Top
Animal: Turtle
Food: Tetrazini
Something found in a kitchen: Toaster
Reason for Being Late: Tire flat
Something You Throw Away: Trash?
Cartoon Character: Thomas the Tank Engine
Type of desert: Tiramisu (MY Favorite)

Finally, Something Worth Blogging About...

2007-04-10T19:18:00.000-05:00

Okay, it's nothing great but I have finally finished a little something fiber-y. I had to rush out the door Friday morning and get it in the mail, with just enough time to grab a crappy pic with bad lighting. My aunt just had a little girl three weeks ago and I found a cute layette at Target to go with the bolero.

It's the Baby Bolero pattern from One Skein made with Blue Sky Cotton (love this stuff!) in Shell.

We had a great Easter. We went to my husband's home town about 3 hours away and stayed with his family. Our neice and nephew were there and Kev's Grandma who lives in Kansas and we rarely ever see. We had a good time and some great food. I swear I gain one pound for every day we spend there.

And in home-y news, I finally got the back junk room, AKA Yarntopia, conquered and somewhat organized. My husband and family now affectionately call it the Little Yarn Store. I wanted to post before/after photos but I just couldn't bear to photograph that giant mound of crap on the bed. Here is a flash of my stash from last Nove mber. It mostly stayed in those bins. And piled on the bed. And under the bed. And in the closet.

Here is the new and improved craft room:

The second pic is a closer shot of the craft table. It's better if you picture it without all the crap around it, still have some work to do. I also got 2 gigantic bookshelves moved out of our bedroom. I wasn't a huge fan of my massive mess of books in the bedroom.

In this compilation of all the mini-stashes, I realized I have more acrylic than one girl should ever have accumulated...

Which I have slowly been turning into these...

6 inch and 12 inch squares to send to Heartmade Blessings. Man, it's a slow process.

And how on earth does someone come to obtain this much Lion Brand Homespun?
Eleven whole skeins of random colors and many random scraps. Gorgeous colors. I have to come up with something for them. I know it's cheap and it's acrylic but I really like it.

I feel so much better now that it's all organized. And my sis and brother in law and my parents came up the weekend before last and they could all sleep in beds! Woo!
Much more destashing to do, I hope to get rid of some of the yarn that I don't think I'll use and make room for more! And I also have some books to offer.

Exciting Quiz

2007-04-07T22:38:00.001-05:00

You are The Empress
Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.
The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents, beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.
The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

What's Going On....

2007-03-13T18:43:00.000-05:00

I saw this on Sue's blog and thought it looked fun...

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion:

You have high extroversion.
You are outgoing and engaging, with both strangers and friends.
You truly enjoy being with people and bring energy into any situation.
Enthusiastic and fun, you're the first to say "let's go!"

Conscientiousness:

You have low conscientiousness.
Impulsive and off the wall, you don't take life too seriously.
Unfortunately, you sometimes end up regretting your snap decisions.
Overall, you tend to lack focus, and it's difficult for you to get important things done.

Agreeableness:

You have medium agreeableness.
You're generally a friendly and trusting person.
But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism.
Saw this on Sue's blog and thought it looked fun...

You get along well with others, as long as they play fair.

Neuroticism:

You have low neuroticism.
You are very emotionally stable and mentally together.
Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly.
Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure.

Openness to experience:

Your openness to new experiences is high.
In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas.
You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits.
A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

The Five Factor Personality Test

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted last. There just hasn't been much exciting going on lately. I haven't had much desire to knit anything but I have several things started.

We have seen some good concerts lately - went the week before last to see Shooter Jennings (Waylon Jennings son) at the Wormy Dog in OKC. Then I got the flu and was down for four days. Ugh

This past weekend we went to Dallas to see Lucinda Williams at the Granada in Greenville. That was such a great concert.

That's all that's going on here.

Exciting Tuesday Post

2007-02-13T21:04:00.000-06:00

I found the coolest yarn-sharing site around:

www.destash.blogspot.com

Once members, fiber hoarders can post the yarns they would like to sell or trade, and bid on ones that interest them. Such a cool idea!

Nothing exciting going on here- still freezing and we had two earthquakes yesterday. It's been the craziest weather year.

Warming Up the Workplace

2007-02-11T22:13:00.000-06:00

As we have an large amount of Aquariuses at work, I have been busy.
The first is a fellow knitter so I knew she would appreciate something intricate and thought I would try my hand at lacework.

Pattern: Persnickety Knitter's Zig Zag Scarf
Yarn: Cascade Sierra, almost 2 skeins
Still can't figure out how to hyperlink from my Mac.
This pattern is beautiful and was very easy to follow.

Sorry for the sideways pictures, they were straight when I imported them, I swear!

This one is for the co-worker in the Kayne photo shoot below. It's a simple rib made with Bernat Soft Boucle but I really like how it turned out.

My husband and I went to Dallas this weekend for an early Valentine's trip away and I got to sneak in a trip to the Woolie Ewe in Plano. I didn't find any yarn I can't live without but I did get the Fiber Trends Leaf Lace Shawl pattern I've been eyeing for a while. And the Knit Picks Gloss yarn I just got will be great for it. It's merino/silk so it should give it a nice drape. I just have to get a few more hanks of it.

Look What My Friend Found at Wal Mart!

2007-02-11T22:04:00.000-06:00

Please pardon the horrible pictures. Surely there's some other way to get pictures from your fancy picture cell phone to your blog other than taking a separate picture of it but, hey, it works...

It's Kayne from Project Runway! This is my very sweet co worker and we had gone out on Thurs. for another co worker's birthday and then the pictured co worker had to leave for Wal Mart so we continued celebrating, then about an hour later I got a call from her saying "Imstillatwalmartandkaynefromprojectrunwayishereandwhatshouldido?" So I convinced her to just walk on up to the fabric section and say hi. She did and said he was super nice and her 13 year old was with her and thought it was the coolest thing! Kayne is from around here but I haven't seen him. She told him the whole office watched the show and was rooting for him and he said to tell us all hi and that he has a new shoe line coming out in April. Exciting!

You Know You're From Oklahoma If...

2007-02-04T21:47:00.000-06:00

This is too funny! Saw it on Sue's Blog.

You Know You're From Oklahoma When...

You say ya'll ... many times a day.

Bedlam is a BIG deal.

You can tell when it's tornado weather.

When you drive through a neighborhood anyone out walking will smile and wave at you.

You've worn flip flops in the winter

You have stopped to let a family of deer cross the road.

You thought the twister ride at Universal Studios wasn't windy enough.

You know who your neighbors are, how many children they have, and when one of them gets married or graduates.

There are at least 2 to 3 Sonics, McDonalds, and Little Ceasars in your town

You've been off roading - many times

You or someone you know was born, raised and still lives in the same town.

You know that Miami, Oklahoma and Miami, Florida are pronounced two different ways.

You plan events around football games.

You are a Cowboy or Sooners fan.

You learned how to do country and western dances at school.

A tornado warning siren is your signal to go out in the yard and look for a funnel.

You can properly pronounce Eufaula, Gotebo, Okemah and Chickasha.

You can remember the name of the last state legislator to introduce a bill involving castration, and he didn't mean farm animals.

You know exactly what calf fries are, and eat them anyway.

You think that people who complain about the wind in other states are sissies.

It doesn't bother you to use an airport named for a man who died in an airplane crash.

You have owned at least one belt buckle bigger than your fist.

A bad traffic jam involves two cars staring each other down at a four-way stop, each determined to be the most polite and let the other go first.

It doesn't seem odd to see the term "chicken fried chicken" on a menu.

You save all your life for your dream vacation, and use it to go to the OU/Texas game.

It doesn't seem peculiar if your sweetie says "I'm going in to town for something" even though you live in town.

You don't turn on the news until 20 minutes past the hour, because that's the only thing you care about anyway.

Your quarterback is hurt and it is the top story on the six o'clock news.

You keep track of the grain and hog futures on the radio.

You don't buy all your vegetables at the grocery store.

You go to the State Fair for your only vacation.

You get up at 5:30 A.M. and go to the coffee shop, where the waitress never asks what you would like. She already knows.

You are on a first name basis with the county sheriff.

You know what the "Sea of Red and White" is.

You think that using the elevator involves a corn truck.

You can drive 80 mph on a two-lane dirt road with one hand, but driving 45 mph on a four-lane expressway in a city scares you to death.

You use manure on your grass instead of Weed and Feed.

Your nearest neighbor is in the next zip code.

You know the difference between fee corn and sweet corn... while it's still on the stalk.

You wear cowboy boots to church.

You know that everything goes better with Ranch.

You learned how to shoot a gun before you learned how to multiply.

"You wanna Coke?"
"Yeah."
"What kind?"
"Dr. Pepper."

You know what "Orange Power" and "Crimson & Cream" means.

You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Oklahoma.

Get Your Own "You Know You're From" Meme Here

More cool things for your blog at
Blogthings

Its So Cold...

2007-02-01T21:51:00.000-06:00

How cold is it?

They cancelled Tornado Alley Rollergirls. Oh yes they did.

It's freezing again and snowed beautiful fluffy flakes for most of the day.
I hope to make it to knitting group tonight but didn't get out of work until late.
I have no knitting news to report (again.)

Peace out.

2007-01-28T15:57:00.000-06:00

I got the greatest package in the mail from my SP9 pal, Jill in NC of jilliansknits.blogspot.com

She sent the greatest local sock yarn in a pretty purple/jewel tone colorway and some beautiful post cards of the area where she is from and some delicious Dark Hershey's Kisses which may of may not have arrived half eaten.
I've had such fun this round getting to know Jill and my SP Pal-ee. I'm so glad I tried it out.

I also finally got my Knit Picks order (it took 9 days in the post to get it here!) But it was so worth it.

I got the Options set I have been eyeing for a while and also ordered some Gloss merino/silk yarn. It is absolutely amazing. Soft and squishy and will make a great pair of socks. I think those might become Knit Picks Argyle socks.

Last weekend I took off work the Friday before and Monday after and went with my mom to the big Dallas Floral Market (mom owns a flower shop in the town where I grew up.) Market is huge and this year they added a giant cash and carry section where there were scads of vendors with inexpensive jewelery and accessories and things. We found some great deals (cashmere scarves for $10 each!) and got to eat at some great places there.

I also managed to squeeze in a trip to my favorite yarn store down there, The Shabby Sheep. We have friends who are having twin girls soon and I need to get on the ball and whip out a few blankets. I got this book because there are some really cool crocheted blankets in there. Although I listened for the first time to the CraftBorg podcast (www.craftborg.com) - Rosemary (www.rosemarywaits.com) is in my knitting group and is uber talented and funny- and Julie from the show (www.persinable.blogspot.com) was talking about this Feather and Fan blanket she just made with Bamboozle yarn and it's sounding awefully tempting... I was hoping to make it to Carol's Knitting Studio today but with all the cleaning and lazing I ran out of time.
And the vest pattern is a Blue Sky made with their cotton (love that stuff!)

Kev's been out of town this weekend and some of last week - after I'd committed to going to Dallas with mom, Kev's friend invited us up to stay at their Ski Lodge in Snowmass and ski there with him. He said he's had an awesome time, the house is amazing and they are doing X Games in Aspen right now just down the street. Lucky!

Not much knitting progress to report. Still working on my Hourglass Sweater in Cotton Fleece and the sleeves are not cooperating. They keep coming out huge.
That's actually all I've started right now. But I did rip out the brown socks because they were just too big so I'll have to redo them and I'm still working on the self striping socks for my mom.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Greetings from Iceland

2007-01-15T19:47:00.000-06:00

It's a balmy 19 here in the Sooner State. We got almost 2 inches of ice in a storm this weekend and everything is crazy slick. And our office was one of the nine establishments in town who decided to open today. I didnt' get any pictures, but Susan has some great ones on her blog:

http://www.susinok.com/?p=416

We just stayed in this weekend and got some cleaning done - braved the weather and went to some friends' house to have soup and play games. Fun!

I've decided to pick up the guitar again and have been noisily trying to play again. It's not pretty but I really enjoy it.

Didn't get enough knitting done to warrant pictures though. I did make a scarf for a co-workers birthday that's coming up. And I haven't made too much progress on the Hourglass Sweater but I hope to get some done this week.

I did just order a set of Knit Picks Options! Can't wait to get them! And I ordered some Gloss Sock Yarn.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

World's Longest Post

2007-01-07T17:28:00.000-06:00

Wow, the holidays flew by. We got to spend a lot of time with Kev's family and mine (we both had the whole week off between Christmas and New Year's and it was great.) We got to spend Christmas with the neice and nephew, the only kids left on both sides and it was a blast. Then we spent New Year's with my family and came back and I caught a bad cold from my sister so I've been down for a day or two. I actually took off on Friday. I didn't even knit or surf, I just laid on the couch all day...

Well, I'll get on to the world's longest post, as I have a ton (obviously) to update.

First of all, a huge thanks to my SP9 Secret Pal! This round has been so much fun. The pic below is the last package she sent- the Knit Picks yarn is already my second successful pair of socks! And the other hank is soon to become another pair.
I really appreciate everything SP!

And here is a picture of the Furry Boss Scarf I made for our Secret Santa at work:
(Couldn't find a better model.)

Here are the socks I made with the Knit Picks yarn sent by SP. My first try with self striping yarn. It's addictive. It really made it go by faster because I kept waiting for it to change. And it was easier to make them both the same because I just stopped at an obvious color change spot.
The pattern is "Simple Stockinette" from Just Knit Socks.
I knit them on Size 2 Double Points. Really want to learn on 2 circs.

I think using Safari on my Mac screwed up the choices on Blogger. I only have HTML option on posts (can't change picture format) and don't have the option of inserting a hyperlink. I may try installing Mozilla to see if that works better.

Here's my (almost) completed Brea Bag from Berroco. I finally learned to succesfully cable and love it!

I found great fabric for lining, I just have to learn how to line a bag... And finish my little booboo where I sewed the gussest flush to the top of the bag instead of leaving room for the handles. I think I can just knit another section and sew it on.
Then I need to find handles. Like I said, almost done...

My new Fearless Fiber yarn in Smoke Colorway also soon to become a pair of socks (maybe Jaywalkers?)

Some Lion Brand Self Striping Sock yarn my mom picked out when I was home. I think I may use the same simple stockinette pattern I used for the Knit Picks yarn.

The loot from Carol's Sheep Shed Studio:
More Wildfoote sock yarn (love the brownish soft jazz colorway) and some Cotton Fleece that's in the process of becoming a sweater (pics below)

New knitting books my Sister in Law got me for Christmas:

There's so much I want to make in these!
I started out with an hourglass sweater out of the Cotton Fleece I got at Carol's. I'm just a few inches away from seperating for the yoke. Hopefully things are going well... Haven't tried it on yet to check the fit, will do that soon.
Cotton Fleece always makes for messy stockinette for me. Hopefully it will steam out.

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Randomness

2006-12-19T18:39:00.000-06:00

I don't really have anything to post about, just thought I'd pop in and say I'm still alive.

Here's a cool quiz I borrowed from Vik:

You Are an Angel

A truly giving soul, you understand the spirit of Christmas.

What Christmas Ornament Are You?

And check out this hillarious video I just saw advertised on TV: (Yes, it's real)
http://www.catfishgrabblers.com/
The video I saw was called "Girls Gone Grabbling."
For those non-rednecks among us, grabbling or noodling as it is more commonly known, is an Okie pasttime among only the most country Okies. It involves sticking your hands into random holes in rivers or lakes and trying to get a catfish to bite your fist so you can pull it out. Oh yes it is. And not in nice clear, black water either. In red muddy, gross water. Where you run the risk of ramming your fist into a beaver or a water moccasin.

Funny story about that, when I was in college my roomate and I and a few friends were sitting around on a Sunday evening with nothing to watch on the television set and this show came on PBS called "Okie Noodling." We were so caught up in the hillariousness and also redneckedness of it all that we watched about thirty minutes of it then SOMEONE CAME ON THAT I KNOW! He is actually in Wikepedia on this page under "Noodling as a Sport" highlighting his appearance on David Letterman:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noodling
He was the janitor at my cousin's elementary school and he married my dance teacher's assistant and he did construction and props for a play I was in at a community theater.

Here's the Okie Noodling Site (you know you want to get one of those tank tops):
http://www.okienoodling.com/

No, I have never been noodling.

Told you this post was random!

We did Secret Santa this week at work and due to swift personnel changes, I got my boss and she knew I had her and she knew I knit so she asked me to knit her a scarf. I was thinking Cinnibar from MagKnits or something cool and intricately cabled. I actually went to Michael's Sunday to get some Paton's wool but I got 2 different (barely) colors. So we were running some errands the other day and she had to go to Hobby Lobby so I told her she could just pick out the yarn she liked (she gave me really random coat colors.) So we're walking through the yarn and as I'm heading straight to the wool, she stops. AT THE FUN FUR. Oh yes she did. And picked out the 17 shades of bright colored, glittery fun fur. I could hear my needles at home cringing. But I paired it with a strand of black acrylic and knitted it on Size 17 Needles and it wasn't nearly as hideous as I thought it would be. It actually turned out kinda cool for fun fur.

I got the sweetest second package from my SP 9 Pal. She sent this great merino sock yarn in black, pink and grey shades and also some Knit Picks self-striping sock yarn that I've been looking at and some delicious chocolates and a "Chocolate Christmas" book with a ton of cool recipes and a Knitter's Journal.
Thanks Secret Pal! You've made this round so much fun!

Pics soon, I promise.
I'm still learning with the new Mac Book and can't figure out how to insert links instead of the whole web address.
Hopefully that will soon change!

Weekend Update

2006-12-10T21:26:00.000-06:00

Wow, how has a week gone by? And how is it seriously about two weeks from Christmas?
We have had such a relaxing weekend. Saturday we got some shopping done (almost totally finished!) then just relaxed and went to dinner and today I got most of our gifts wrapped and did a little cleaning. It's so nice to have a whole weekend with nothing planned!

Oh, and I got the best early Christmas gift ever! A new Mac Book! I've been playing around with it and reading up on how exactly it works (this is my first Mac). But I'm really liking it. Over the break I hope to have time to set up a new blog with Dot Mac.

On the knitting front, I'm cabling! Wahoo! Thanks to the nifty little tools my Secret Pal sent! (Still need to post a pic of the beautiful Berroco Ultra Alpaca she sent in the last package). Also need to get pics posted of my cabling progress. I wanted to tonight but Blogger is not cooperating.
And I'm almost finished with the Brea bag. Berroco has such cool bag patterns out. I just need to finish the gusset and sew it up and line it (never lined anything before).
We'll be at the in-laws for quite a stay over Christmas so hopefully I'll have some quality knitting time.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

First Sock Pictures!

2006-12-02T21:18:00.000-06:00

Finally, here is a pic of my first pair of knitted socks. I had two bad starts on different patterns but ended up sticking with these.

Pattern: Classy Slip-Up from Knit Socks!
Yarn: Fearless Fibers Merino Superwash in Thoroughbred colorway
The yarn was great to work with. It's super soft and has just enough give.
Can't wait to get more of her yarn... I really like the Smoke colorway
My guage was right on but the pattern came out huge! (Had this problem with another pattern in this book.)
The socks are really bunchy around the ankles. I adjusted the length of the heel flap on the second sock but it still feels pretty big.
I read on a blog that machine washing and drying really softens up superwash and shrinks it a bit so I tried that and it did make them fit a bit better. And made them really soft.

Closer look at pattern:
(An attempt, at least.)
How are socks so incredibly difficult to photograph?

Can't decide what to make next! I have a little something I'd like to make for my SP 9 pal and I still want to conquer the Brea bag but first I need to sit down and figure out cables.

I've also been lurking on the Red Sweater KAL and reading up on Susan's sweater progress and am itching to make a sweater.
Or more socks.

We had a big snow storm come in Wed. night and the clinic was closed Wednesday and Thursday! So we're enjoying a relaxing 4 day weekend. Been watching movies, knitting, sitting around, cleaning a bit. Even did a bit of shopping today. It's been very nice. Tomorrow the plan is to get the Christmas garb out and start decorating.

Here's a picture from the ski trip:
The weather couldn't have been better while we were there, 40's to 50's most days and one day we even hit some mild snow flurries.
And the last picture is a bouquet of Anthuriums my mom made for a wedding shower a few weekends ago. They don't usually have that white vein down the middle- I thought they were just stunning. Mom and Dad have a flower shop in the town where I grew up and Mom does amazing work.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Updates (It's Been A While)

2006-11-28T20:13:00.000-06:00

Yes, I'm still alive. So much for rallying up to post regularly. Ugh, things have been so crazy busy.
Did I mention the agency director left at the end of October and I suddenly found myself interim director? Most of November was a huge whirlwind. But we have a new director and she's awesome and all fired up and I'm really excited. And some other things that have needed to happen for a while might be in motion. All in all, I think we're headed in a great direction.

On the fiber front, I FINISHED MY FIRST PAIR OF SOCKS!!! But they're not turning out for crap in pictures tonight so I'll wait until they look better. It only took me three unsuccessful attempts (and patterns) before succeeding. But I'm done! And they're cool! Sock knitting is so much better than I thought it would be!

And I got the sweetest package from my SP 9 Pal. It was the greatest Berroco Alpaca yarn and all the fixin's to start cabling and some yummy chocolate. Thanks Secret Pal!
This round has been so much fun.

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend- in leiu of a family affair we went snow skiing in Breckenridge, CO. It was beautiful and we went with friends we didn't know incredibly well and had a great time. Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving...

A Beautiful Fall Road Trip

2006-10-30T12:57:00.000-06:00

Since we had a whole free weekend, we decided to checkout the Talimena Scenic Drive in Southeastern Oklahoma. We'd heard it is beautiful in the fall when the leaves are changing.

I actually was able to leave work early on Friday so we left about noon and made it to Poteau.
When we were checking into a hotel room, we found out we had made it just in time for the annual Poteau Balloonfest. The lady at the hotel also informed us that there was a real-sized fair too, like the one at the state fair, not just with kiddie rides and stuff. Too funny! So we went Friday night to check it out but it was freezing and windy so they didn't do the balloon glow show and there were about five people there riding the full-size rides.

We did get to check out the World's Tallest Hill:

(The view from the top- it was really hazy)

We found this gorgeous waterfall up near the hill:

We got up early Saturday to head off to Talihina to start the scenic drive:

Kev went into the woods to take a few shots and came back with a friend:
(This actually happened twice!) I'd never seen a Walkingstick up close before.
And I took a hasty shot because I was afraid it was going to jump on my face.
Did you know they can fly? Freaky little creatures.
And we were off. The whole trip looked like this and prettier...

We got to the end of the Byway in Mena, Arkansas and couldn't decide what to do.
We saw that Hot Springs, AR was just about an hour away and headed there.
It was such a gorgeous little mountain town. My batteries ran out of my camera so I don't have pictures. We stayed at the Arlington Hotel and got to bathe in the hot springs at the spa there. I've never been in natural hot springs before- it was amazing.

We also found a cool little stone store on the way to Hot Springs called the Crystal Seen. I got some neat crystals and an amethist. We talked to the lady there for about an hour- she was very cool and knowledgeable.

This was a gorgeous lake on the drive back:
All in all, it was a great trip. I love spontaneous weekend trip.
I have some fibery pics to post soon!

The Recent Reading Binge

2006-10-21T11:24:00.000-05:00

So over the vacation I had a lot of reading time...

Why did I bother even making a book list? I keep finding all these great books I left off (and reading them instead.)

Here are a few of the books that I've recently read/finished:

The Alchemist by Paul Cuehlo:
My boss told me I should read this and I really thought I wouldn't like it. I was pleasantly surprised. The book is about a Spanish shephard who deserts the path his parents had in mind for him and decides to become a shephard in order to see the world and chooses to give up everything to chase his dream of finding hidden treasure. The general theme of the story revolves around finding and following your Personal Legacy. The shephard goes on to meet various people who help him fulfill his Personal Legacy.
I wasn't sure if I like this or not through most of the book but at the end I really believed in what the story was saying and found it very encouraging. I would definitely recommend it if you like this type of book. It really challenges you to think about your goals and dreams and the simple fact that you're either pursuing them or ignoring them.

The Zahir, also by Paul Cuelho:
This book follows a man who is obsessed with his extranged wife who disappeared with no signs of struggle. The theme of this book is finding the true nature of love in the world and follows the main character as down his path of discovering the nature of love. I really liked this book. It took me a while to read; I found it was best to me to read a bit then walk away then come back later, instead of veraciously finishing like normal. This book is very rich and passionate and challenges many of the accepted "truths" we believe about love in our society and in this generation. I would also recommend this book.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd:
This was a fairly well-written book following 14 year old Lily, whose Mom was killed when Lily was small. Lily lived since then with her abusive father under the care of her nanny, Rosaline. The book is set in the Deep South in 1963 and when Rosaline lashes out at some pompous white men on her way to register to vote, Lily decides to skip town and follow the only clues to her mother's life that she left behind for Lily. The search leads her to Tiburon, South Carolina where she finds August, May and June- three sisters who she knows have some connection to her mother.
I enjoyed this book and the characters were very loveable. The writing style was very simple and I had the overall feeling that things just worked out a little to easily. On the upside, I learned a lot I didn't know about bees.

The Bang Bang Club: Snapshots From a Hidden War:
This book is written by a South African conflict-journalist and follows the lives of himself and four of his colleagues as they risk everything to cover the brutality of South African aparheid in the early 1990's. It follows just a few of the tragedies of that time with brutal honesty and includes several prize winning photos that helped draw attention to the horrid conditions. It also chronicles with brutal honesty the effect this job had one the four of them. The author was shot twice while covering the conflicts. One of the team was killed during a conflict and another couldn't handle the stress of the job in combination with the stress in his life and committed suicide.
I would highly recommend this book. My knowledge of this terrible time was very minimal and I gained great insight through this book as to the cause and effect of apartheid.

Dispatches From the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival by Anderson Cooper
Yes, the Anderson Cooper
I'm still not sure how I feel about this book. It seems especially fluffy since I read it after Bang Bang Club. I know that the media has it's place, I just hate to see people at their lowest exploited by uber-wealthy professionals searching each disaster area like vultures looking for the prize- the most heinous shot in the area in order to boost ratings.
This book covers some of Cooper's life (His mom is Gloria Vanderbuilt), the loss of his father at a young age, and the loss of his brother in his early twenties. It also describes how he got his start in journalism- on his own with a home video camera covering a foreign war.
Cooper honestly relates his coverage of tusnami victims in Asia, Hurricane Katrina survivors, as well as several wars, while interweaving stories of the loss and tragedy he's dealth with in his own life.
I know it's never safe judging motives, but I can't help but think that through his brutal honesty of things like finding the most grisly scenes that will "relay best onto TV" and searching through starving African shantee towns to find the very sickest baby, his editor felt it necessary to weave in more emotion to make Cooper seem more human.
This book was good in the fact that it gives a first-hand account of an observer in the most horrid conflicts we've seen in the last 5 years. Unless you have a soft spot for CNN journalists.

An Embarrasing Stash Flash

2006-10-11T22:28:00.000-05:00

Back from Cancun- it was such a great trip. A bit rainy but we had a lot of fun. I've never stayed anywhere that was all-inclusive before, that's the best way to stay! Decided Saturday that maybe consuming large quantities of guacamole, ceviche, flan and margaritas/mojitos wasn't the best idea.
We did go one day to Xel Ha, this big natural water park, where there was some awesome snorkeling (it normally freaks me out but the fish were so cool it was worth it.) There were also submerged caves and cliffs to jump off and a huge buffet that was included in the price.
Then we went to Tulum, to see the Mayan ruins. It was amazing. And the beach and water there were absolutely beautiful. I'll post pictures soon!

(Blogger thought all that first part should be one huge link. Oh well, at least I could load my pictures.)

But for now, I'll post pics of my embarrasingly unorganized stash. I finally got it all organized at least by fiber types into containers. Here is the big nasty mess:
And I thought if I'd post some of my WIP's it would motivate me to finish...
This is a tank from Cool Crochet:

Here are some highlights from my stash that I'm not quite sure what to do with:

Some Debbie Bliss Merino DK I got on major sale in Tokyo (Haven't decided what to do with it yet, maybe some wristwarmers?):

This is as far as my sock-making got... I just can't find the right pattern or get motivated enough to give it a shot. I'm thinking about maybe taking a class. The whole task just seems so daunting right now, what with the whole knitting with toothpicks bit and language I mostly don't understand.

Some Lustersheen I got to make a shrug from a Leisure Arts booklet (ala Erica's fabulous one here and here) but couldn't figure out the first part of:

Some Cascade wool/cotton I got on sale last year at SWAK that I also haven't decided what to do with: (thought it might be a nice tank but I don't quite have enough.)

I got this also on sale at the yarn store in Norman last year before it closed but I also don't have any ideas of what to do with it.

Another sale buy. I love this yarn but I don't quite have enough to do anything I want. Any ideas?

I just love this stuff. It's cheap and acrylic-y but for some reason I really like the look and feel of it. I'm close to having enought to make a blanket out of it from this book.

Let me know if you have some brilliant ideas for these, I'm stuck on most of them.

Now the stash is all organized and at least packed away in the back room in tubs.
I bought some cubicle-things and baskets to better organize it all but I haven't had a chance to put it together yet. Eventually the spare room will actually look like a craft space.
Hopefully I'll have pictures of that to show soon!

Secret Pal 9 Questions

2006-10-08T20:45:00.000-05:00

I am so excited to be a part of SP 9. This is my first of the SP swaps and I'm really looking forward to it. Here are my answers to the SP questions:

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I really like alpaca, soft cottons, and most wool. I'm not a big fan of novelty, furry, or ribbon yarn.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
My hooks are in this little cloth eyeglass case I got in Japan and my needles just get stuck in my BagSmith bag.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I've been knitting for about a year, but I've been crocheting for about five or so (learned when I was a kid but picked it again as an adult.)
I learned to knit with a good friend at a class at Gourmet Yarns in OKC.
I'd say I'm beginner to intermediate.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
No

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.)
In bath products, I like mostly natural scents: Rain, Lavendar and other earthy scents
For candles I really like wintery scents, like cinnamon, other spices, and cranberry.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
I love all things sweet, especially chocolate, white and dark are my favorites.
I have jaw problems and can't eat any candy that's too chewy or crunchy.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I crochet and sew (quilt a little bit), but that's about it. There's a lot more I'd like to do but I don't have time.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I can play MP3's, I have an MP3 player in my new car. I also have an Ipod.
I have really eclectic taste in music. I mostly like mellow 70's, lots of 80's, some country, some alternative and indy rock. I mostly like mellow/acoustic sounds.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I mostly like earthy colors, also like deep reds and deeper blues and purples and some soft pinks. I don't like most yellows or oranges.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I'm married, no kids or pets

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I do wear scarves, hats sometimes, no mittens or ponchos (but I've really been wanting to try out some fingerless gloves.)

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
Baby blankets and scarves have been my favorites, but I'd really like to branch out and try more clothing items and socks.

13. What are you knitting right now?
Still re-working Mom's Green Gable but there are several things I want to start.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts? Yes I love them.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Circulars. I love Addi's the most, also like Bamboo and some cheap plasticky ones called Balene. I'm not a huge fan of aluminum.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yes, I have a winder and it was such a great purchase. I don't have a swift but I haven't really needed one so far.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
Ooh, I haven't dug in that pile in a while. I think I have a baby blanket in there that I started crocheting about 3 years ago.

18. What is your favorite holiday?
Thanksgiving and Christmas. I love being together with family, with all the celebrating and traditions and jovial craziness.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Yes, I collect cool wine glasses and handmade pottery coffee mugs.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I don't subscribe to any knitting magazines. I haven't really kept up with the new knitting books so none come to mind.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I'd like to learn entrelec and lace knitting. I also need to learn to cable, I was looking at the Lion Brand Cabled Arm Cosies pattern to learn cables and make some fingerless gloves.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I haven't tried knitting socks yet but I really want to, I just don't quite know where to start.
My foot is 10 inches long and about 9 inches around the middle of my foot.
I wear a size 9 regular shoe.

23. When is your birthday?
September 18

The Rest of the Destin Pics and Hasta La Vista!

2006-10-02T23:47:00.000-05:00

So here are the rest of the good pictures from the family vacation to Destin. The place was absolutely beautiful and a great place for family vacation. We stayed close to the SanDestin side and there was always a ton of stuff to do. We stayed on the water and spent most of the time on the beach (the 7 and 4 year old neice and nephew were loving it) and ate some wonderful seafood.

The top shot and the one below was from a great resturaunt, Captain Dave's on the Gulf.

The first night there, we ate at a seafood/pub place called McGuire's and watched the sunset while the bagpipes were playing Amazing Grace to "tuck the sun in bed." It was really cool.

Somehow I was convinced (Krispy Kremes were involved) to go check out the sunrise under the Destin Bridge. It was amazing.

This was that same morning and I was mesmerized by this group of about 11 hermit crabs doing this wierd dance where when the water serged in, they would all gang up on one crab then with the next surge they did it again to a different one.

All in all, it was a really great trip. The weather was beautiful, the beaches were the sandiest white I have seen in the states.

Speaking of which, we found a really great deal on a trip to Cancun and leave tomorrow. We're going with our friends who are pregnant with twins and I'm looking forward to a great trip.
Been brushing up on the Espanol. Ha!

In knitting news, I am addicted to multidirectional knitting. I found an old pattern, the Multidirectional Scarf, (from a link and gorgeous pic on Tracy's Blog) and I'm loving it! I dug out some Noro Kureyon that Wendy gave me in the CV Secret Pal swap last year and it's gorgeous. The colors are amazing. Will post pics soon.

Summer Vacation

2006-09-24T14:33:00.000-05:00

Here are some pics from the trip in June to Destin with the in-laws:

We stayed in a condo right on the water. This was our view:

Ugh, that's all for now. Freakin blogger. I do have a few others to share...

Missed My Own Blogaversary!

2006-09-21T23:08:00.000-05:00

I'm such a bad blogger! One year ago yesterday I started this here fine piece of cyber show off. One year and 35 posts later, here we are! I've had so much fun and met so many cool people.
Thanks everyone who reads and posts comments, it's been such a fun ride!
I think this calls for a good dessert....

Maybe a Little Outgoing...

2006-09-21T23:03:00.000-05:00

Found this cool quiz on Deneen's blog...

My Personality


Neuroticism	54
Extraversion	93
Openness To Experience	86
Agreeableness	56
Conscientiousness	13

Test Yourself Compare Yourself View Full Report
Find your soulmate / pysch twin

Xanga, MySpace Quizzes and MySpace Layouts by Pulseware Survey Software

Fun! Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

Much Partying and Dessert...

2006-09-18T20:15:00.000-05:00

Today's the big 2-8 and it wasn't too bad for a Monday. Work went well, it actually wasn't super chaotic and crazy and one certain staff member apologized for being a heinous witch last week. My co-worker brought cupcakes (Little Mermaid, I'm not sure why) and we all went out to lunch.

The whole fam dam came up yesterday, actually Mom came up early and we went shopping then everybody else came up and we went to dinner on Lake Hefner at Bahama Breeze. Ymmmm.

Actually, it started last Thursday when I went out with the girls at work to this awesome Brazillian place in Midtown OKC with some awesome Caprinnhias. And some really delicious flan.

Saturday we had a wedding for some friends of my husband's from college. It was Episcopalian so the wedding was pretty long but the reception was awesome. There was a great band there, The Rounders, who we actually accidentally ended up sitting with at dinner. They were very cool and I really love their music. Kev got me 2 of their CDs for my birthday. It's kinda Jim Morrison meets Eddie Vedder with a little Bluesy Bluegrass mixed in.
All in all, a really fun time. And a super fun crowd for a bunch of engineers.

Tonight Kev and I went out to a new Italian place for dinner and had this awesome Lobster Ravioli and Tiramisu (Dessert #2). And for dessert dessert my husband got me an awesome Boston Cream Cake. Love me some birthday!

Movie Review: The Last Kiss

I loved this movie. I am a huge fan of Zack Braff. It was really funny, a bit depressing and a bit super frustrating but all in all I really liked it.

Still have photos to update, either Blogger's not cooperating or I can't find my USB key.

I Pledge Allegiance To This Blog

2006-09-10T09:56:00.000-05:00

Okay, seriously, to say that I've sucked at blogging this summer is a severe understatement. As I approach my first blogaversary (It's been a great 32 posts, everyone!) this is the perfect time to either crap or get off the pot. I channelled by grandma's energy for that one.

Seriously, I either need to start updating this frequently or stop all together. I love it when things are going smoothly and not incredibly busy. I'm looking at joining Secret Pal 9, which requires at least weekly updating on your blog, and that would be a great encouragement. There is no reason why I can't keep it going smoothly. I love keeping up with all my other blog friends and I would really miss it if I stopped. So I'm starting over. More to come, I promise.

Things are going very well for me, work is still going great. I still really like the people I work with and I know the agency is always making a difference. I'm in the process of hiring some new employees, my first time to do that- I'm kinda diggin it.
Friday we had a community-wide day of caring where businesses offer to donate their employees for a day to help out with work that needs to be done at local non-profits. It went really well but I think I pulled a little somethin in my back.

We've been taking it easy this weekend, went to this awesome Greek place, Zorba's, in OKC then to some new stores I love to go birthday shopping (it's coming right up!) then went to Lake Hefner for the sunset. Then we came home. Today we have a whole lot of cleaning planned and a ton of stuff to catch up on.

Last weekend for the holiday we went to the Galveston area to Surfside Beach with a bunch of my husband's friends from college. The couple we rode down with just found out they are pregnant with twins! It is so sweet!
It's amazing how much time has changed, they've been doing this for four years now and when it started everybody partied like rock stars and went to bed at sunrise and woke up at noon. Now we all go to bed by midnight so most of us can get up at sunrise and run on the beach or ride bikes. We are all much more mellow now. But it was a blast. Not too hot and the beach was beautiful. My cousin from Houston even came up and hung out for a bit. All in all, a great time.

On the crafty front.... I got nothing. But it's sure to pick up soon. I love knitting in the fall. I am close to finishing my Green Gable for my mom (first try was in May) and hope to give it to her soon before it's too cool to wear it!

I've found some new TV shows I'm crazy about. Did anybody catch Kyle XY on ABC Family? I discounted it because, well, it was ABC family, but Kev Tivo'd a marathon when the first season was over and we've been watching it and we're hooked.
I'm also loving Project Runway on Bravo! It is down to the wire! Got to root for the Norman boy, Kayne! (Even though his stuff is a bit too over the top for me).

That's all for now! I'll update soon, I promise...

What Bumper Sticker Should Be On Your Car

2006-07-29T22:45:00.000-05:00

Your Bumper Sticker Should Be

What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?

What Bumper Sticker Should Be On Your Car?

The Summer in Review

2006-07-24T20:33:00.000-05:00

Whew, what a summer! It has just flown by, with work and we've taken some fun vacations.

The first week of June, for my in-laws' 40th anniversary, we all went to Destin, Florida. It was absolutely beautiful. And not too hot either. We had so much fun and ate some awesome seafood. My sister and brother in law and 7 year old neice and 4 year old nephew also went. It was so much fun with the kids.

Ugh, freaking Blogger won't upload pics right now. Details at ten.

Over the weekend of July 4th, we went on my first backpacking trip! It was much more fun than I thought it would be. We went outside of Durango, CO (actually close to Silverton) to Ice Lake Basin - (the guy on that website has some awesome pictures). The packs were so heavy and I wasn't sure I could make it up the last leg but it was so worth it. The wildflowers were in full bloom and there were waterfalls everywhere. It was breathtaking. I'll give more details when I can upload pictures.

Had a great weekend this past one. A friend of my husband's who we haven't gotten to hang out with for quite a while came up from Houston and we got to spend the weekend together. He flew up and on Sunday we wen't flying. It was so much fun, I've never flown in a little plane like that before. It was amazing.
We also went to see Clerks 2. It was hilarious. Raunchy but oh so funny. And they re-wrote Jay and Silent Bob's characters, I heard because Jason Muse (Jay) is sober now so they took out the heavy drug influence (sorta). With as much as sequels usually suck, I was very impressed.

On the needles, I'm still re-working Mom's Green Gable (for about the 5th time). Hopefully this one will turn out better.
I did have to take a little break and make some DW Dishcloths. I love that pattern.

I also had a chance recently to clean out all the crap in the spare room, much of which was yarn. I have pics of that too. I could make squares all day for weeks and still have a bunch of stinking acrylic yarn left from my new to fiber days when I apparently feared some drastic yarn shortage. It's bad. But I did have some good stuff and even a project I forgot about. I'll share when Blogger cooperates. And I have so many things I want to make! If I can just get these Green Gables done!

One Word

2006-06-17T17:11:00.000-05:00

I saw this on Deneen's blog and thought it was pretty cool:

Please leave a one-word comment that you think best describes me--it can only be one word long.
Then copy and paste this into your blog so I may leave a comment about you.
This is not so much about fishing for compliments as it is an exercise showing how hard it is to use just one word to describe someone!
When I try, I keep thinking up phrases or at the least, two words. Give it a try & I'll do the same for you if you're so inclined. :)

Can't believe (again) it's been so long since I posted last!
I spent last week in Destin, Florida with my husband and his family. It was such a beautiful place. I have a ton of pics to share, I just don't have them uploaded yet.
Then I got back to work with 3 days to finish planning a big open house event and had that on Thursday. It was so much fun! I'm still loving it there. They do such a great, needed service.
I was exhausted after that and, actually, came in to work super tired on Friday and a co-worker said good morning and asked if I was hung over. Happy Friday to you too.
Anyhoo, still working on Green (Purple) Gable #2.
That's about all that's going on here.

Sunsets and Puppies

2006-05-31T21:53:00.000-05:00

Nothing crafty to post, just thought I 'd share this pic I caught at Lake Hefner last weekend after we went to dinner with some friends.
And a quick shot of my sister's new puppy. She is so cute and she has the best temperament. She's a bit of a spaz but she will probably calm down some. She's a Boston Terrier and she is so smart!

I found out some really disheartening news last night. I was watching a Tivo'd episode of Everwood and noticed that next week will be the SERIES FINALE!! WTF? I haven't even had time to prepare myself. I love that show! And now they're leaving?! Damn you, WB.
I'd boycott it if I didn't love Gilmore Girls and One Tree Hill and Related. But I'm not happy about it. And I'm still pissed at them for cancelling The Mountain.

Green Gables Galore and some RAOK Goodness...

2006-05-30T21:18:00.000-05:00

First things first, I got the coolest package this week from Vik in Argentina. It is the coolest cotton collection. The one in the front looks hand spun and hand dyed and is incredibly soft. Vik also included a cute postcard and some really great pamphlets about Argentina. Thanks so much Vik, that was really thoughtful!
I didn't have a clue when I started searching out patterns and things online what this would blossom into. I have made so many friends online and learned so many valuable things that I never would have without this experience. Who knew!?

Okay, so I caught a fever. Green Gable fever. On top is the first one I did, which I hadn't quite finished when I decided to make one for my mom for her birthday. The fit seemed great but I blocked it and it expanded like crazy. Don't be fooled by the pic, it's all bunchy in the back.
And the second shot shows how wonky I made the lace part. I will be redoing this soon.

Sorry about the bra shots. The second one I did for my mom, I decided to do the small size (34) since the 36 came out huge post-blocking. No dice. This is teensy and the armholes are too high. I read on the GG Knit Along (once I was in the middle of the body portion) that the small size actually needs 8 lace repeats. Oops. That would have been about right. So I'll be ripping this one out too. I also didn't like in the first one that there were two decrease rows together. It made little bunchy pockets on both sides. So I separated them on the second one and did 4 decreases, 5 rows apart, then added several increases the same way.
I also saw a cute one on the KAL with an edging of lace instead of ribbing. May try that too.

Things are still going great with work. Still working out some kinks, but I love the girls I am working with.
Oh, and did I mention we are going on vacation soon? We get to go with my husbands parents, my brother and sister in law and neice and nephew to Florida! Can't wait, we rarely ever get to spend time together without a ton of stuff going on and we'll actually have time to hang out. And the kids are 7 and 3 and so much fun. I'm really excited.

Just a Random Mix...

2006-05-20T12:14:00.000-05:00

Well, things are finally settling down. My first two weeks on the new job were a whirlwind but it has been so much fun. This is exactly what I have wanted to do, it was just a process of elimination finding that out. I really like my boss and there are lots of exciting new options for the agency to grow. It started out in a garage and this year will celebrate 20 years of service. Last year the clinic provided medical assistance to over 2000 residents. It sounds like I'll mostly be doing administrative stuff and assisting the Executive Director and doing mostly funding/PR stuff.
I really like the other people I'm working with, although there has been some tension between the people who are leaving (4 different positions in a short time, due to school and schedule changes) and the new ones, but it's nothing compared to the last job. I haven't been yelled at by a prominent former city official or subpeona'd yet, I'm a happy girl.
It's nice to work where people come voluntarily, this is the first time I've worked somewhere like that since I worked retail right after high school. They are much nicer when they aren't forced into using your services!

On the fiber front, I finished a Green Gable (pics to come) and it fit great. Then I blocked it. I made it longer than the pattern said but after I blocked it, the fit was way too long and too wide across the bust. I've started another for my mom for her birthday and I'm doing it in the smaller size. If it turns out well, I'll redo mine. I also joined the Green Gable Knit Along. It's very cool to see everyone's finished sweaters. Mom's birthday is next week and I'm not even to the sleeves yet, so I'd better get a move on.

Bookish stuff:
I just finished Hypocrite in a Poufy White Dress. This book was so great. She has such a great, witty writing style. I hate that it ended! It was clever and touching but honest and incredibly funny. If you like those types of memoirs I would highly recommend it.
I also finished Memoirs of a Geisha quite a while back. It was also a great story. I'm not usually a big fan of historical fiction, but I loved this book. I would also recommend it. I saw the movie too but the book was much better.

We're just hanging out this morning, got up and grabbed some breakfast and went to the Farmer's Market then washed the cars and came back home. We're just sitting here watching Tivo'd episodes of Going Tribal. That show is so cool. Right now he is hunting crocodile with a tribe in Ethiopia.
We have a wedding to go to later today in Tulsa then we're staying with the in-laws tonight.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Some time off...

2006-05-07T21:16:00.000-05:00

Wow, so much has happened since I posted last. My last day at work was the 29th. Saying goodbye to everyone was harder than I thought it would be, but I am still very sure it was the right decision to make.

And things actually came through in the new job department. I was afraid it would take forever to find a new job that I wanted, but it worked out just right. I was off all week last week and had a chance to get some work done around the house and catch up on everything a bit. The week before I had been offered a position with an adoption agency but just wasn't sure I liked everything about the job. It was contract work and would be a lot of driving. I had almost decided to take it, then I had one interview which I totally spaz'd on with an adolescent residential facility (substance abuse/mental health). They lost me in the interview when they asked if I had any training restraining children. Woah... too direct care for me. Honestly, I got so nervous after that, I don't know why. But they offered me that position, amazingly enough.
Then I had an interview with an agency I had applied for quite a while before. It's with a non-profit health care clinic here in Norman and it's 8-5 and no overtime. I was so excited, but I knew they were interviewing a lot of applicants. They called last Thursday and said I got the job and could I start Monday! I am really excited, it's exactly what I've wanted to do. And no more commuting. Yeah!

A Few Finished Objects

2006-05-07T20:58:00.000-05:00

First, a great shot of a small business I caught a while back on the way to a job interview in South OKC. I just couldn't resist. I was driving so the pic is not the best, but hilarious nonetheless. Can you see the small print in the sign that says "Same Day Service?"

The first blanket was made for some friends of ours who are due soon. I used Yarn Bee Luscious for the body and Yarn Bee (something else, can't remember what) for the border.

The final two are, finally, my 63 SQUARES GHAN!!! I've been working on this thing since November and it took over a month to join the thing. But I was so glad when I was finished! I love how it turned out. Thanks so much to the girls in the Crochetville CAL for all the support. It was fun, girls!

In other fibery news, I gave in and got the Green Gable pattern. Everyone is making one and I thought it would be a good segway into knitting wearables. A quick trip to Carol's for some Cotton Fleece and I was well on my way. I am now almost done! Wahoo! Just have a few rows of ribbing around the body and finishing on the sleeves and I'll be done.

But Wait, There's More

2006-04-12T21:33:00.000-05:00

Just saw this cool Wikipedia Meme on Good Yarns.

The Wikipedia Game:
Search for your birthday. Post 3 events, 2 births, 1 death.

September 18

3 Events:

1928 - Walt Disney's "Mickey Mouse" trademark application is granted.
1976 - Wild Cherry single "Play That Funky Music" reaches Number 1 on the charts.
2001 - First mailing of anthrax letters from Trenton, New Jersey in the 2001 anthrax attacks.

2 Births:

1971 - Lance Armstrong, American cyclist
1971 - Jada Pinkett Smith, American model and actress

1 Death:

1970 - Jimi Hendrix, American musician (b. 1942)

C'Mon, you know you want to do it.....

Looks Like I'm Back on the Market...

2006-04-12T21:09:00.000-05:00

The job market, that is.

The week we got back from Durango, some crap went down at work that I was not at all comfortable with and resulted in my submitting my thirty days notice. The toughest part was making the decision, but now I feel like a huge weight has been lifted. I felt like it was starting to take over every part of my life. I partly hate to leave, I love most of the people I work with, and I really hated to leave without something else lined out, but I know it was the right decision. I really hope to find someting closer to home (speaking of which, I have some hilarious pics from my redneck drive home) and hopefully working with kids. We'll see what unfolds.

On the hooks...

I've been finishing things like crazy. Two things this week. I think that's a record.

I FINALLY FINISHED THE BEAST!!! The 63 Squares ghan is finally done and it looks awesome. It was the wierdest thing, when I finally finished my two month joining process, I almost wanted to make another one it turned out so well! Don't have pics of it yet but hope to get some good ones to post soon.

Now I can start joining the squares I have for a blanket for Squares for Survivors.

Also finished a baby blanket for our friends in Dallas who are due soon with a baby girl. Finally found a good pattern for some Yarn Bee yarn Kim gave me because she didn't like working with it. It was boucle and plush and hard to find a good pattern for.

My Crochetville Secret Pal surprised me with some of Deneen's awesome Shea Buttah in Lavender. It is the greatest stuff! I have had the sweetest secret pal, she has sent me some beautiful e-cards and I might have an idea who she is... She sent an e-card today saying my reveal pack is on the way! Can't wait!

And I had a total brain dump and somehow thought that the pal round lasted until the end of May instead of the end of April. I had high aspirations of doing something cool for my SP, but my aspirations may be too lofty. I really hope to get it finished (well, okay, started) soon.

Durango

2006-04-12T20:09:00.000-05:00

What is it about road trips that make them seem so much greater in theory (the road part, not the trip part, I'm always game for a trip to about anywhere.) It was a great trip but got off to a rocky start...

We were on the road about 5 hours, made it to NM when we heard that it had snowed earlier in the day there and there were tons of wrecks on I-40 and they had SHUT DOWN THE INTERSTATE due to wrecks/black ice. Yup, I said they shut the whole thing down, from Tucumcari, NM almost to Albuquerque. So we stopped off in Tucumcari, not sure what to do, and let me tell you, that is not a happenin place. Although we had a great peace of chocolate pie at the little diner there. They ended up keeping the interstate closed until the next morning, so we lost the room we had booked in Albuquerque and had to get another room in Tucumcari. And eat at the delicious Pizza Hut Italian Bistro, where we found out through the trucker grapevine that WILLY NELSON was also stranded, only in Santa Rosa, a few miles up the road! Always a day late...

But we did have time to surf while we were stranded in scenic Tucumcari and I happened to look for a Trader Joe's in Albuquerque and it turns out one had just opened there two weeks before. So we went on a shopping spree. And since we were driving a big SUV, we had plenty of room to stock up on goodies. I hoarded five bags of Snap Pea Crisps, or as I call them, nature's Cheetos, which may or may not all be gone now. I swear, we lost a few bags in the car or something on the way home.

But the next morning we were off and even stopped by the coolest little winery between Albuquerque and Durango.

It was the Ponderosa Winery in Jemez and the guy there (the Kenny Rogers lookalike I'm cheesin' it up with in the top pic) couldn't have been nicer or more knowledgeable. Really, he was so nice. So were his seven dogs.

We drove a little ways down the road and saw this cool little church. There's more info about the church and the winery on this site.

The second day we were there, we decided to drive up north of Durango to a little mountain town past Silverton called Ouray. There were a bunch of neat little shops and stuff, and the best little chocolate shop called Mouse's that had some of the best truffles I've ever had.

Then on the way back we saw (when this nice biker pointed them out) that we had just passed several big horned sheep. So we turned around and went back and they crossed the road and this one just climbed up a rock and posed for me. At one point, I was about 5 feet away from him and I subconsciosly started searching my brain for any random show I might have seen on the Discovery Channel about when Mountain Goats Attack. I luckily averted any dangerous sheep mauling.

Above are some scenery shots from the drive back to Durango.

We got up on Saturday and took a ride on the Durango Silverton Narrow Guage Railroad. It was a neat experience (for about 30 minutes.) It ended up taking 5 hours to get halfway to Silverton and back. I would highly recommend it if you like to sit on your butt bouncing around for 5 hours while cruising by at about 5 miles per hour. We did see some amazing scenery...
After bouncing around for 5 hours, we headed to this really cool store called Yarn. They had a great selection of yarn and books and the neatest little tea bar. I left with lots of tea. Good stuff.
Didn't get to do some of the stuff we wanted, though, like visit Trimble Hot Springs that our hotel was just a few miles away from. Or this neat little store called Honeyville (when we checked out the website on the way home, we were kicking ourselves.) They sold meade, for pete's sake!
Then we headed home. The ride home was much less eventful. But we drove the whole way (about 12 hours) and it seemed so much longer. And the ever-prepared road-trippers that we are, we forgot to bring any CDs. How is it no matter where you are and what kind of crappy reception you get, there is always a golden oldies and classic country station?

All in all, it was a pretty fun trip.

On the Road Again...

2006-03-21T21:13:00.000-06:00

Off to Durango tomorrow for a business/road trip. We are driving tomorrow to Albuquerque and staying the night then driving Thursday morning to Durango (about 3 hours.) Looks like it's snowing like crazy in sporadic places, so we'll see how it turns out. May be a long drive. But I'm really excited, I love Colorado and it sounds like there's a lot of cool stuff to do in Durango.

Found a really cool looking yarn store in downtown Durango called Yarn! that we really want to visit. Looks like there's a tea bar and a cool yarn selection, might be fun.

We are also going to ride on the Durango/Silverton Railroad and visit these hot springs. Sounds fun, I've never been to natural hot springs before.

Trying to pack and decide what projects to take... Haven't decided yet. I started a scarf, simple garter/yarn over pattern out of chunky Wool Ease. I really want to make a summer tank, looking at possibly Soleil from Knitty. I just saw Erica's blog today (dangerous, by the way, she makes gorgeous stuff very quickly) and she has started a really cute version of it. I actually bought several skeins of Paton's grace then I swatched it, it came out grossly off measure (22 stitches, 33 rows should have been 4" square but was more like 3 x 5.) So I'm not sure what the solution is, if the yarn's just not right for it or what. Any advice, seasoned knitters?

More Tokyo...

2006-03-20T21:57:00.000-06:00

Just as I'm sure you were hoping to see,
MORE TOKYO!!!
I just realized reading back over yesterday's post that it must have sounded incredibly stupid to those of you who are somewhat familiar with Japanese culture and religion. So please pardon this, the (once) Baptist white Girl's pictorial guide to Tokyo.

The pictures today are of the fish market at Tsukiji. Let me tell ya, they love their tuna.
The big frozen fish on the left had just come in from the coast of Ireland and were worth about $20,000 each! The fresh ones, which were chilled, were worth twice that. It was such an amazing site, a whole building of wall to wall fish.

This pic is the actual auction, you can see the auctioneer in the back with his hand up.

There was another whole building of rows and rows of vendors selling all kinds of sea life. The aisles were so tiny I could barely turn around with my backpack on and people were whizzing by us carrying tons of boxes and riding little carts.

Just a bit of the vendors' fare, there was stuff crawling all over the place! It was really amazing to see, quite overwhelming at 6AM.

So we took a break and went to the rows of restuarants behind these buildings and had sushi and chicken yakatori for breakfast. Mmm....

That's all for now before Blogger snatches more pictures back.

The octapus were really cute, you just have to
take my word for it

P.S. Thanks Sue, you're brilliant! The pics worked much better that way.
I thought...
Ugh, they looked fine until they went up and now I try to change things and they disappear. It took an hour for this gorgeous spread!

Finally, Tokyo Pictures

2006-03-19T18:03:00.000-06:00

Okay, I think I figured it out. Blogger just doesn't like pictures to go where there are already words. Hopefully this will work...
The first pic on the left was the view from our hotel room. We were on the 34th floor of the Hotel New Hankyu in Tsukiji. The rooms started on the 32nd floor and under that was mostly businesses and in the first floor there was a 7-11 and Starbucks.
The picture on the right is of Ginza, a high-end shopping district. This picture doesn't even come close to doing it justice, most streets were so bright and busy they gave Vegas a run for it's money. This is the area where the 5 story Sony building was.

Our first full day there, we went to the Meiji-Jingu shrine in Harajuku.
This is a tori, a big archway symbolizing the entrance to a shrine. You can see the tiny people for scale, this thing was huge!
The next picture (I have better shots of these) is the first stop for worshippers before going into the temple. The little dippers are used to pour water onto hands and into the mouths of worshippers for purity before entering the
temple to pray.

It was Sunday and we just happened to catch a wedding ceremony (not sure exactly what part of the ceremony this was).

Harajuku is also the place where teenagers get together on Sundays and dress in really elaborate, goth-like costumes and stand around in this area off the street. Pretty interesting...

Hope you've enjoyed these, Blogger has cooperated for quite a while and I don't want to push my luck.

The Joys of Adulthood

2006-03-18T21:21:00.000-06:00

I was so excited to finally have a weekend with nothing to do. How dull is that?

I realized last night, Friday night, at 11:30PM, I was sitting on the couch in my sweats, knitting away, having a Gilmore Girls marathon of all of this season's episodes that I've had to record because I've been working Tues. nights, and I was utterly content. It was almost blissful.
And it's been raining (yes, rain!) most of the weekend, which makes it easier to just relax and enjoy things. I think I heard on the news this week that the last time we had a 1/4 inch of consecutive rainfall was January, and the last time we had a 1/2 inch was last October! Anyway, enough about OK weather patterns...

I finished a rolled brimmed hat last night with Noro Kureyon (love that stuff!) that I got in Tokyo and hoped to get some fingerless gloves done with it too but the double points I have are too long and just flop around so I'll have to find some that work.

Finally have some travel pictures ready to post, hope to get them loaded soon.
And, Blogger isn't letting me load them. I should get to try again tomorrow.

I'm Ba-ack!

2006-03-13T19:53:00.000-06:00

Okay, I've been back for two weeks and I've just been too busy and lazy to post.

Tokyo Stuff:
Japan was absolutely amazing. As you probably guessed, I also don't have pictures downloaded yet but I got some great ones. Tokyo was so cool, I have never seen so much organized chaos in my life.
We were at one subway station in Shibuya, where one million people travel in and out of every day. And we crossed an intersection there where about 1,500 people cross every time the light changes.
Everything there was so clean and everyone was quiet and very respectful. There weren't even a lot of people chatting on cell phones (really, anywhere) and the subway was almost always really quiet, even when it was packed.
Businesses and people there couldn't have made things any easier for tourists (especially ones that stood out like sore thumbs and only spoke enough Japanese to order basic food and ask for the toilets. And say please and thank you. And excuse me.) Most restaurants had a glass case out front with a huge selection of dishes of food made entirely of plastic, but were all perfect replicas of the dish. So if we didn't know how to say what we wanted they'd just take us outside and have us point to the food we wanted. That worked out well every night except one when I thought I was getting a big plate of rice and chicken. They brought it out and it was jiggly. Turns out it was tofu. Jiggly tofu. I took a big bite of it before I realized. It was not yummy.
The food was so good. We had the best gyoza (little pork-filled, fried dumplings). And when we went to the fish market we had sushi and yakitori for breakfast. And met the nicest Japanese guy who gave us Japanese lessons. We got some hilarious pictures with him.
We got to go to this cool hangout in Harajuku where a lot of high school students get together on Sundays and dress up in these funky, elaborate goth costumes (Kev got some great pictures of that).
One of my favorite places was Kamakura, with the big Buddha statue. It was the coolest place. Got some great pictures there too.
But I won't blabber on and on about it, I'll try to break it up. But I can't wait to share everything.

More TMJ Stuff:
Got back from Tokyo and had a week to catch up at work and recover, then my husband and I went to Dallas weekend before last to see a TMJD surgeon who came highly recommended. I had to jump through a thousand hoops to get in, but he took a lot of time and explained exactly what was wrong and why my jaw wasn't working.
He said we have two options:
1) This artificial ligament called a Mytec Anchor, which they pin to the bone and wrap it around so it holds the disc in place, but he didn't know if the disc would ever be able to function like it should. He said there was about a 60% chance that it would be successful and the cost is about $60,000.
2.) A complete joint replacement on both sides with titanium prosetetics, called TMJ Concepts, which you can see on their website if you scroll down. Freaky looking. The procedure would involve amputating the condyle and removing the disc and the little crook up close to the ear that it all fits into and replacing it all with titanium pieces. He said there was a 90% chance that I would be pain free with almost full function (the joints don't move side to side, other than that they move like normal joints.) Oh, and estimated cost= $90,000.
Holy crap. The shock has worn off, I definitely wasn't thinking they would want to cut off part of my face! Things have been really bad the last two years and for most of the past year I've been on a very soft diet and in a lot of pain.
I meet with my dentist tomorrow and I hope we can discuss it and go from there. I have no clue what insurance will even cover.

Family Stuff:
My little sister is getting married! (Did I say that already?) I'm really excited for her. She's planning an outdoor wedding in August. She and Mom and I went to Dallas this past weekend to pick out a dress. And (this is so her) she liked the second one she tried on. Of two. And it comes with a little matching set with bridesmaid dresses and everything. It was good to spend the weekend with them, we don't get to do that much anymore. Have pics of that too I hope to post soon.

On the hooks:
Still joining the 63 squares ghan. I'm quite possibly the world's slowest joiner. I think people have joined the crochet along and finished since I have been joining squares, I swear. But I finally have a free weekend, after, like, seven weekends crammed full of plans, so I hope to get some work done on it then. I'd love to finish.

Crochetville's new round of Secret Pals started this month, I was so excited I got to join. My secret pal is someone I don't know very well but I'm learning more about her and have exciting things planned for her. And my secret to me pal has been really kind, I've gotten some sweet e-cards and emails from her.

More to come later this week....

I'm Leavin On A Jet Plane...

2006-02-16T22:01:00.000-06:00

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

Off tomorrow to Tokyo! I am so excited. We have a lot of cool stuff planned and a lot of time to just fill in cool stuff to do while we're there.
We're probably taking a day trip to Kamakura to see the Great Buddha statue:

We're staying close to the well known Tsukiji Fish Market, which looks really cool:

(Photos borrowed from Lonely Planet's website.)
We also plan on visiting a public bath, and of course, a huge craft/yarn store.
Thanks, Bridzie, for your help with that!

On the crochet front, I FINISHED MY 63 SQUARES!!!!!
Just the squares, still have to join them and do the border, but I'm so close! I'll have to finish it when I get back.

Ooh, I caught the tail end of a Smiley's sale last night and ordered Lion Brand Chenille Thick & Quick for $1.99 a skein!! Couldn't believe that, I think normal retail is $7.99 and I've had an eye out for it for a cool blanket Sue did around Christmas posted here on her blog from 48 Hour Afghans. It's made with an N hook too, hopefully it will go pretty quickly. The color selection was minimal so I went with Eucalyptus.

So it's final, I'm not taking any yarn work with me. But at least that way I'll do some reading.
I'm taking Hypocrite in a Poufy White Dress, Bell Jar, and Memoirs of a Geisha. Hopefully I can knock them all out and get to cross a few off my 50 books list, as I've not done as well as anticipated on that.

I'll leave you with this hilarious work story I heard today as I've laughed about it everytime it crossed my mind today.
Oh, in darker news, the Smart Guy who works Downstairs is leaving. We'll miss his smartness. He seriously knows about everything.
So I was talking to him this morning and he shared this story about a former Downstairs employee, who we'll call Don: Apparently, on Don's second day of the job there, he was apparently playing his music pretty loud and singing along (small space, everybody close together) so Smart Guy listened closer to what Don was blaring and it was Xanadu! Yes, Olivia Newton John's Xanadu. Another funny side note, for extra income, Don worked as a DJ!!! This is a, I don't know, 40-ish man! Jammin out to Xanadu at the office in front of everyone. Smart guy said he even had the imaginary mic action going on when he thought no one was really paying attention.
Okay, it was funnier in person and I think the humor totally didn't translate when I wrote it out.

I just have to leave you with this precious knitted gem from You Knit What?, one of my favorite blogs I look forward to checking every day. I haven't felt the urge to share until now...

Because nothing says I love you like a red-eyed
TV Static bear!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Yarn Store Reviews

2006-02-08T21:43:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I've been to a few yarn stores in the places where I've traveled recently on business and thought I'd share my thoughts on them.

This summer, I spent a week in Salt Lake City attending a chemical dependency seminar. I was astounded by how beautiful Salt Lake City was. But I also had to miss my 2nd anniversary, so my husband came up for the weekend and we hiked around the mountains. It was really beautiful, we had a great time. There was still a ton of snow on the ground and it was June!
I had a few hours the day my husband came in from the airport so I checked out a few local yarn stores.

Utah Stores:
The first was the Unraveled Sheep in Sandy (no website and wish I would have taken pics.) I spoke for a while with the owner, who was incredibly knowledgeable and friendly. The store wasn't set up incredibly well, it just didn't seem really inviting and they had a pretty small selection, but if I lived closer I would definitely go back. They carried mostly the high-end basics, Berroco and Rowan and such, and had lots of books and patterns.
The owner actually saw the list of other local yarn stores I had written out and told me which ones she would recommend stopping by, I thought that was pretty cool.

My next stop was The Wool Cabin in SLC (also no website). This place was cool and earthy but a little too granola-y for me. I hadn't worked much with wool and, as the name indicates, that's mostly what they had. They were also huge on socks which I hadn't started yet so I didn't pay too much attention but they did have a huge selection of sock yarns. The store was very well laid out and it was very active and everyone there was very friendly.

I saved the best for last and stopped by Soul Spun Yarns in SLC next. This is absolutely my favorite yarn store. The owner wasn't even there, but the store had a very cool chic-but-not-snobby vibe that few stores have. There were tons of knitted and crocheted items, both from magazines and books and free patterns online, which I thought was really cool. There were a lot of cool yarns there that I hadn't seen before and they were all displayed really well. All the yarns, for the most part, were divided into color (check out the website, it shows the cool setup of the store and has a free pattern), which I thought was a cool approach that most stores don't use. And there was a bigger crochet emphasis than I have seen at any other local yarn shop. I would highly recommend stopping by if you're in the area, even if it's a bit of a drive I think it would be worth it. I really wish I lived closer.

Atlanta:
I was in Norcross north of Atlanta on business last October. I didn't have much time and remembered how nasty Atlanta traffic was so I only checked out one store:
Why Knot Knit in Buckhead, GA. This was a neat little store, tucked in a loft in artsy Buckhead. I thought the store was set up really well. There was a table where a few ladies were sitting around knitting and the store was broken up into different sections. There were quite a few sample knitted items, which I always like to see. She also carried a lot of cool yarn lines I hadn't seen before, because we are seriously yarn deprived in Oklahoma, like Blue Sky Alpaca (picked up some Organic Cotton which I love love love) and Manos del Uruguay, which I also like a lot.
The owner was nice but scattered and wasn't extremely helpful. Overall, it was a great experience and I'd definitely go back.
Ooh, and if you're there you have to go to Basil's Mediteranean Cafe just down the street for dinner.

I was also just in the Portland, OR area in December but had no time for a yarn store visit. I heard that there are several cool ones, there, though. I heard from the locals that The Yarn Garden is cool and has a huge selection. I also heard that Mabel's Cafe and Knittery was a lot of fun.

And the local stores, which I am slowly discovering because they are few and far between in our seriously fiber deprived state. So far I've been to a whopping four stores, one of which just closed, and I'm not sure there are many more in the state...

Gourmet Yarn Company was one of the first local yarn stores I visited. It's a fun little store tucked in a sprawling shopping complex in north Oklahoma City. It's pretty spacious for a yarn store and doesn't carry a huge selection but they display what they carry pretty well and the staff is always super friendly and helpful and now knows me by name ('cause sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name.) Cheesy, sorry. I learned to knit through classes there and had an absolutely awesome knitting teacher, Jeff (I think), who could not have been more patient and less condescending. They have monthly knit-ins and even knitting retreats, which I haven't yet been able to make. They also offer quite a few classes.

Carol's Knitting Studio (no website) is a new yarn store on the south side of Oklahoma City on Penn. south of 89th. I just love this little store! The owner, Carol, could not be any more friendly and is very good at entertaining husbands. She has scads of sock yarns and some cool stuff you don't see very often, like Buffalo yarn. There are a lot of handmade things to display the yarns they have and I hear they offer a lot of cool classes.

I finally got to visit Sealed With a Kiss in Guthrie, OK, about an hour north of Oklahoma City but entirely worth the drive. This is the largest yarn store I have been in next to The Woolie Ewe in Plano. It is very well laid out and the staff is incredibly friendly and helpful. They offer a lot of great classes and fun knitty activities and have a huge selection of books and patterns.
Guthrie is a really neat town, too, it's fun just to walk around their downtown area. And there's a great resturaunt close by called Granny Had One that makes the best soul food around.

That's all for now, hopefully I'll be able to add more soon!

What's Going On...

2006-02-07T21:48:00.000-06:00

Wow, it's been a while since I posted last.
Lots of updates...
First, the weekend before last I made it by our local yarn store, Luff Needlecrafts, which is about to go out of business, which I absolutely hate. It's actually the first time I had been in the store and I got to talk a while to the owner. I hate that we're losing it, she seemed really cool and it's the only yarn store I know of in my town.
But, everything left in the store was 60% off so I got some really cool bargains.
All these patterns were less than $2!

And I found some really cool yarns that I haven't used before. The fuscia one is Trina by Adrienne Vittadini (merino wool/microfiber/cashmere).
The tan one is 100% polyamid Boboli and the olive is Rowan cotton tape.
I have summer tops envisioned for all of them.
I wanted to do Tempting from Knitty.com and even gave it a shot (see below) but I'd be cutting it really close yardage wise.

So I made it through, like, 6" of Tempting before I realized I suck at ribbing. Seriously.
There were a few ribs where I purled where I should have knitted and I didn't think it would

be that big of a deal but when I'd gotten pretty far it looked aweful. So I'll be trying a summer top next.

Made it to the Sit n Stitch the Thursday before last and it was great to see everyone. We even had a few new people. It's so fun to get to know everyone and get to fondle their yarn and see what everyone's up to and how patterns I've been eyeing look in real life.
Missed the meeting last Thursday because we were getting ready to go to Dallas for the weekend but I hope to make it this week.

Oh, and one of the girls from the knitting group arranged for us all to be able to go to the spinning guild tonight and several people were going to bring their wheels for us to see. And I had to work, ugh. I hate when work interferes with my hobbies. Hopefully somebody took good pics.

So we went to Dallas for the weekend and I was so excited, I finally got to check out The Woolie Ewe in Plano. I have to say, it was the biggest local yarn store I have ever been in. They had a ton of stock. But I was not at all impressed with the customer service. I probably just caught them on a bad day, but it was by far the worst atmosphere of any yarn store I have been in. To me, part of the whole experience is that small business, friendly atmosphere that makes local yarn stores what they are.

I've been to some really cool yarn stores on business trips across the country. I need to post about them all soon, I think that's so much fun.

Then I got to go to one of my favorite yarn stores, The Shabby Sheep in Dallas. It's so fun and warm, there are always people there knitting and the owner is always incredibly nice and helpful.
But I didn't buy anything either place.
My yarn allowance is pretty slim and I didn't see anything I couldn't live without... but I was shopping for when I do replenish the yarn fund.

And we got to go to one of my favorite places in Dallas, Half Price Books. I really love that place. It's huge, we could spend hours there. And have. All the books are used and really cheap and you can find the coolest stuff there.

I finally found the perfect project for my brown Manos, a little clutch similar to one I saw in 25 Bags to Knit. I'm happy with the way it's turning out, just can't get the embroidered flowers to work out. Just need to line it and I'll be done! Hope to have pics soon.

And I finally laid the 63 Squares out in my dining room, still with 7 holes in it. I was thinking that would be inspiration, hopefully I'll get it finished and have pics soon.

A few Quizzes

2006-01-24T20:16:00.000-06:00

Okay, a ton, I've been storing them up...

So apparently, like, last year, I was tagged with this cool quiz from Lori :

A. Seven things to do before I die:
1. Become a mother
2. Go to Greece
3. Take off a year and just travel
4. Have something I've written published
5. Learn at least one other language and have an extended chance to use it
6. Earn a Master's Degree
7. Own a pet

B. Seven things I cannot do:
1. Dance. Unless you count line dancing.
2. Snorkle (well, I can, but it freaks me out)
3. Hide my emotions well
4. Listen to that annoying girl from Laguna Beach talk
5. Sing well in public
6. Golf
7. Make running look good

C. Seven things that attract me to...
1. My husband... His genuine honesty and genuine kindness and willingness to accept me for
me.
2. My career field... The constant challenge and occasional reward
3. Travel... The chance to experience different cultures and traditions
4. Reading... The amazing ability of books to take me to a completely different place
5. My family... Your zany energy and love of life
6. Knitting/Crochet... The meditational quality of the art of creating something
7. Children... Their interesting ways of looking at the world

D. Seven things I say most often...
1. Are you kidding me?
2. F---er (in traffic, it's a hellish commute, ya'll)
3. Bite me
4. Does that make sense?
5. This is Tandi (at work)
6. Love you
7. Can't think of something else.

E. Seven books (or genres or topics) I love:
1. Everything by Nicholas Evans
2. Stories of normal people overcoming adversity
3. True Crime, especially related to abnormal psychology
4. Addiction
5. Books questioning our societal norms
6. Native American history/issues
7. Cultural studies

F. Seven movies I watch over and over again (or would if I had time)
1. Shawshank Redemption
2. Forrest Gump
3. Dirty Dancing
4. When Harry Met Sally
5. Beautiful Girls
6. Legends of the Fall
7. Sleepless in Seattle

And here is the 4 Meme, the short version, I was tagged by Celeste:

Four jobs you have had:
1. Florist
2. Child Social Worker
3. Case Manager in the addiction field
4. Teaching parenting classes to teen moms and pregnant teens

Four places you have lived:
1. Outside Atlanta, GA
2. 2 towns in OK

Four vacations you have taken:
1. Europe Tour- London, Paris, Marseilles, Prague, Munich
2. Africa- Namibia and South Africa
3. Key West, FL
4. Seattle, WA

4 Vehicles you have owned:
1. 69 Nova, pea green, my first car which I paid $800 cash for.
2. 90 Mustang
3. 92 cherry red Plymouth Laser, which came to be known as the Coke Can. Ooh, not like that...
because it was little and seemed to be made of tin.
4. A sensible 98 Saturn

This one is just wierd, it's really accurate for me, I think.

I took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test!

"Wants to make a favorable impression and be reward..."

Click here to read the rest of the results.

Your Heart Is Orange

Love equals unbridled happiness for you. You enjoy the wild ride of falling in love.
And while the ride is fun for a while, you always get off once the thrill is gone.

Your flirting style: Hyper

Your lucky first date: Anything you need your passport for!

Your dream lover: Is both daring and well grounded

What you bring to relationships: Energy

What Color Heart Do You Have?

You Are 30 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe.

13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world.

20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences.

30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more!

40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

Some Cool Stuff From Africa

2006-01-24T19:33:00.000-06:00

I know, 3 posts in a row, you're probably thinking somebody hijacked my blog (would that actually be called blogjacking?) but no, it's definitely me.

Just realized I haven't shown many of the cool things we found in Africa, so here are a few of my favorites...

The first, on the left, is a big piece of malachite that we found at a little street market in Windhoek, Namibia. I don't remember the name of the little stone in the middle but it's really cool and also from Namibia. And the last one is a soapstone carving (the outside is the raw soapstone and the inside part is carved and polished.) We found that at this huge outside tradmarket in Cape Town, South Africa. I was told it the piece is dancing flames.

The second picture, on the right, we also found at the same market in Cape Town. You can't see it well, but it's a huge doily in about #10 thread. I think we paid about $12 for it.

The last picture is of a weaving Kevin brought back the last time he was there. I was so jealous, he actually got to tour the craft district in Windhoek and happened into this store where they make these from scratch. He said there was a really nice lady there who walked him through the process from the raw wool to the final product. The whole thing sounded so cool. Here's a link to a site with some pictures of the place, but it's in German. I think.

Thanks so much to everyone for the comments about my book list. I'll try to keep things updated as I finish them. I normally read voraciously on vacation, so hopefully I'll get some knocked out pretty quickly in the next month.

Oh, and if you ever thought you had the worst boss ever, you really need to read this post from Crazy Aunt Purl. It will definitely go in my list of random stories that I somehow always tell at inappropriate times.

50 Books

2006-01-23T20:28:00.000-06:00

I saw this on several blogs a few weeks ago and thought it was pretty cool. I have reading ADD and tend to start about 5 books at once so I thought this would help me keep track of my book list.

1. Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World : A Novel by Haruki Murakami
2. Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami
3. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Noam Chomsky
4. Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy
5. A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present by Howard Zinn
6. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong
by James Loewzh
7. The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe
8. Everything You Know is Wrong by Russ Kick
9. The Lucifer Principle: A scientific Expedition into the Forces of History
by Howard Bloom
10. The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition by Caroline Alexander
11. Necessary Illusions: Thought control in Democratic Societies by Noam Chomsky
12. The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson
13. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Phillip Dick
14. The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman
15. The Tender Bar : A Memoir - J.R. Moehringer
16. On Beauty - Zadie Smith
17. Night - Elie Wiesel
18. Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life - Amy Krouse Rosenthal
19. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer
20. The Glass Castle : A Memoir - Jeannette Walls
21. Saturday - Ian McEwan
22. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
23. On Bullshit - Harry G. Frankfurt
24. Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini - Mark Leyner
25. A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander) - Diana Gabaldon
26. The Closers - Michael Connelly
27. Mother-Daughter Wisdom : Creating a Legacy of Physical and Emotional Health - Christiane Northrup
28. Fat Girl : A True Story - Judith Moore
29. Bad Girl : Confessions of a Teenage Delinquent - Abigail Vona;
30. If I Knew Then - Amy Fisher
31. Hypocrite in a Poufy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman
32. Julie and Julia : 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen -- by Julie Powell
33. Yarn Harlot : The Secret Life of a Knitter -- by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
34. The Knitting Way: A Guide to Spiritual Self Discovery by Linda T. Skolnik
35. Knitting Yarns And Spinning Tales: A Knitter’s Stash Of Wit And Wisdom
by Kari Cornell
36. Gandhi An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth -- by M.K.Gandhi
37. Long Walk to Freedom : The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela Tag: by Nelson Mandela
38. Dry : A Memoir -- by Augusten Burroughs
39. Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything -- by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner; Roughcut
40. Crimes Against Logic -- by Jamie Whyte
41. The Know-It-All : One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World -- by A. J. Jacobs
42. An Underground Education : The Unauthorized and Outrageous Supplement to Everything You Thought You Knew About Art, Sex, Business, Crime, Science, Medicine, and Other Fields of Human by Richard Zacks
43. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
44. YOU: The Owner's Manual : An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger by Michael F. Roizen, Mehmet Oz
45. Memoirs of a Geisha: A Novel by Arthur Golden
46. Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux -- by John G. Neihardt
47. The Divide -- by Nicholas Evans;
48. The Road Less Traveled, 25th Anniversary Edition : A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth -- by M. Scott Peck
49. Me Talk Pretty One Day -- David Sedaris
50. One more I thought of at work that I can't think of now.

So there it is.

I am currently reading Black Elk Speaks and Memoirs of a Geisha.

I hope to have these finished by the end of this year, but that's over a book a week so I may not make it. And the first part of the list were recommended by the super smart guy at work, so I may not even be able to get through some of those. But I'll give it my best shot.

I'll keep you posted on the progress!

Time For The Weekly Post...

2006-01-22T18:38:00.000-06:00

Well, here it is, the weekly post... Things have been so crazy lately, I really hope to have more time soon to post more often. So this will be a monstrous post as I have much to catch up on.

First, since Blogger never lets me put things where I want them, is the moss stitch scarf I knitted, like, last year, with the awesome Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk I got at the Shabby Sheep in Dallas. You probably remember it, as it was only about 2 posts ago...
I am so happy with the way this turned out. It is so soft.

And, sorry these pics really suck, but here are a few pics of my 63 squares for the longest afghan ever. Okay, it's the only one I've ever made, but it seems like it will never end. I've joined the 63 Squares Crochet Along at Crochetville, and everyone there has been immensely helpful and encouraging.

And I did end up going to that huge sale last Saturday... Went with my friend from work to Sealed With a Kiss and everything in the store was 25% off. It was so much fun. Ran into several ladies from the new Sit n Stitch and scored some awesome stash additions...
3 skeins of Cascade Palace cotton/wool on clearance for about $2.50 each! And that awesome blueish stuff is angora that was also about $2.50 each. Also got some new Addi Turbo's and some double points (details in a minute) that I finally mastered! We also ran into Susan while we were there and chatted with her for a while at the store, then went on to an awesome resturaunt called Granny Had One. Best soul food I've had in a while. I had the calorie conscious meatloaf and was in heaven! I forgot the camera but Susan has some pictures on her blog (in all our Saturday morning glory.) We had so much fun with her. She's actually the one that started the Sit n Stitch.

And finally, a pic of MY FIRST KNITTED HAT! I had been eyeing Crazy Aunt Purl's Roll Brimmed Hat recipe (gotta love a knitting recipe that includes Robert Mondavi Shiraz in the ingredients list- for the dpn's, of course) for a while and finally decided to give it a shot. Also, I needed something to do with that awesome Blue Sky Organic Cotton I got at Why Knot Knit in Atlanta. Oh, and I found a local shop last week that carries it! I was really freaked out by the double point needles, but they weren't bad at all. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!

This week was so incredibly crazy at work. My boss came in for a few days from Portland, and we got to hang out some but mostly do some stuff I have not been looking forward to. Spent one day testifying on some really crappy stuff, spent the next addressing issues with clients that seriously needed to be addressed but did not go over well. Working in the substance abuse field (and with healthcare professionals at that) has proven to be one of the most challenging things I have ever done. But I am so thankful of the opportunities I have had because I have learned far more than I ever thought possible. And done more things than I honestly thought I was capable of. My boss flew out on Thursday evening and I was so exhausted I went home and went to bed. And missed the Sit n Stitch. That's how tired I was.

Then I got up Friday and had a horrid meeting with a group of people who should have been much more professional than they were. I was astounded at the lack of immaturity. I wish I could tell you more.

Then I had an MRI done on my TM joints so I can finally make an appointment with the surgeon in Dallas about trying to get my jaw fixed. But things have been a bit better lately, my new specialist is trying several different things and I'm feeling more encouraged than I have in a while.

Then I got up Saturday and ran a mile. Outside. In an actual organized fun (okay, so the 5K and 10K were the organized one and we just kinda skipped along behind) but I ran it and I finished. Good thing I carbed up all week in preperation! I think I'm close to being ready to run a 5K, that is so exciting!

My sister in law came up on Friday with our 3 year old nephew and 7 year old niece and spent the weekend. We had so much fun, took them to a Natural History Museum Saturday then to Incredible Pizza. That place is unbelievable, it's like Vegas for kids. Then today we layed around most of the day. It's been a great weekend.

Ketchup

2006-01-14T00:47:00.000-06:00

How can it be so long since I last posted? I'm thinking surely I typed a few in there that somehow got lost.... Anywho, I have lots of catching up to do, hopefully I'll have some time this weekend to update things. I really need to get some links or something on this naked blog.

I had to work last weekend and this week was crazy at work. But I did make the new Sit n Stitch on Thursday at Borders and it was so much fun. There were 13 or so of us there! It's so great to meet people as fiber crazy as myself. My friend from work came and 2 ladies from my husband's work came and we all gabbed and stitched and had a great time. Susan put the whole thing together and did a great job. Can't wait to see things continue to grow!

On the hooks, I finished #50 of my 63 squares ghan and will hopefully be done soon, the thing seems to never end.
I had started a scarf out of the Blue Sky Organic Cotton I've had for a while (that's the thing about really nice yarn, there's so much pressure on finding exactly the right project for it.)
I did a cluster braid/cabled look in crochet and it was not working out well so I've decided to scrap that and try to knit my first hat. I'm using Crazy Aunt Purl's Roll Brimmed Hat Pattern.
I think it's going well so far, although I can't really tell if it's too big or not, hope to find out soon.
I want to make a warm scarf to take with us to Tokyo (Apparently it's going to be, like, in the 30's while we're there).
Then I think I will try knitting a sweater. I haven't decided which one yet, but when I was talking to Susan last weekend she suggested one from Cosmic Pluto's blog, a simple raglan sweater. Either that or Tempting from knitty, or actually a variation more like this. Ooh, while you're there, you'll have to check out the rest of her FO's. Her site, Progress, is really cool, I love her crocheted clothing items, she is really talented.
There were two ladies at the meeting Thursday working on the Darrell Waltrip Dishcloth and it looked so cool, I really want to give it a shot when I've finished everything I have started.

I finally did it, after saying I would for months, I got up this morning at 5:40Am and went to the gym before work with my friend from work. And it wasn't nearly as heinous as I was expecting. There were actually quite a few people there that early, I was shocked. But I did it, I survived, and I may try to do it again, who knows.

I heard at the Sit n Stich Thursday that there's a big sale at the huge yarn store here I haven't gotten to go to yet so a friend and I are taking a little road trip tomorrow. Apparently everything in the store is 25% off, woohoo!

Sit N Stitch Crasher and We're Goin to Tokyo!!!

2006-01-05T20:14:00.000-06:00

So I have this uncanny ability to accidentally listen in on other people's conversations. Even when I am having my own with someone else. I was in Border's tonight sitting in the cafe with my husband accidentally listening to a couple who met a guy for the first time there and trying to figure out what they were talking about (I think it had something to do with photography and the Apaches and ghosts in the Southern part of the state where Geronimo was kept in prison) when I heard two ladies talk about knitting. I talked to my husband for a minute then I looked back and there were 4, all knitting. As a sidenote, I have been looking for a local stitching group for a year with no luck. They looked like the super friendly types so I strolled over it turns out this was their first meeting night and they plan to meet weekly. I am so excited.

My good friend at work, my travel buddy, lost her dad on Sunday. It was totally unexpected and we went to the funeral Tues. and I feel so incredibly sorry for her loss and I know I can't say or do anything to make it better.

My husband was surfing the other night and happened to find insanely cheap tickets to Tokyo. We've wanted to go to Japan for a long time, not necessarily Tokyo alone, but it was so reasonable we couldn't pass it up. So we booked the tickets and we go mid February. I am so excited! There are so many cool things we want to do while we're there, like visit a traditional public bath, some temples, try some awesome food. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

I'm up to square #42 on my 63 squares afghan so hopefully I'll have it done soon to show.

Resolutions

2005-12-31T14:20:00.000-06:00

So I'm at the in-laws and had a chance to surf and thought I would make a quick resolution post because I was so inspired by Crazy Aunt Purl's. I always admire list-maker types, but I am definitely not that type of a thinker, so I shall do my best:

2006 Resolutions:

Health Wise:
1. Eat better (or drink better, depending on jaw state, which recently has sucked. Sidenote: I am at my in-laws and my mother in law is one of the best cooks ever and I have to drink Boost and eat soup. Bitch session over).
1a. Bring lunch to work at least twice a week.
2. Go to the gym at least three times a week. The gym I go to by my work (the YMCA because I like to keep it real) has a steam room which is a great incentive for me to actually go.
3. Continue training and run a 5K.

Hobby Wise:
1. Read at least one book that I wouldn't normally read.
2. Finish a big crochet project, like an afghan.
3. Knit or crochet an article of clothing that I will actually wear.
4. Do more Random Acts of Kindness.
5. Blog more regularly.

Other:
1. Make more time for friends and family.
2. Determine to be happy with whatever life dishes out.
3. Don't be so sensitive in general and concerned about others.
4. Learn to more easily accept people as they are.
5. Be more organized.

We have a fun evening of margaritas and Nickelodeon planned. Should be entertaining!

Happy New Year!

2005-12-30T11:09:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post before heading off to the in-laws this weekend. I'm excited, it's been so long since we've seen everyone. We're having our Christmas with them this weekend too, it's always so much more fun with kiddos around! (Neice and nephew who are 7 and 3).
I just finished square #26 of my 63 Squares afghan and hope to get quite a few more out this weekend.
Everyone have a happy and safe New Year!

Trip Pics Try #72

2005-12-27T19:23:00.000-06:00

Okay, I won't try to write this time after I post pics because apparently it causes some mass confusion and my whole explorer shuts down. The first pic is Multnomah Falls, just north of the airport area in Portland. The rest were taken in Willamette Valley in the Winelands. The scenery shot is the view from Penner-Ash. The third is Mount Hood at sunset, and the last is just a gorgeous sunset we caught on the way back from Willamette Valley.
I won't try to push my luck and write anymore.

Trip Pics

2005-12-27T19:07:00.000-06:00

None too soon, here are some pics from my Portland trip:
First, because I can't get Blogger to cooperate and wanted this last but after my elevteenth post this is how it will be, is the best little knitting nest in the world. It's at the house of the lady we stayed with (yes, this was a business trip, long story that could possibly get me fired if I talk about how weird the concept is).
Okay, looks like this is all that will post. Ugh, but this was one of my favorite parts! Complete with the cat! Wish I could re-creat this at home.

Oh, Joyous Friday...

2005-12-22T22:35:00.000-06:00

Means I'm off work for four whole days (well, still on call but don't have to go to work). I am so excited. And I finally have a few pics to post of some sweet packages I've received recently.

Thanks so much to Melly, my holiday swap partner from Crochetville who sent this package:
2 cute hats, some purple mohair-like yarn, blue/gold thread, a fuzzy black and white scarf, and some bath confetti.
Thank you Melly!

I've been participating in the Christmas Wish List at Crochetville, all who wanted to participate posted a list then saw others' wishes they could fill and the fun begins...

I received this thoughtful package from Sue, with the most thoughtful gifts! There are four skeins of Homespun, the gorgeous ribbon pinecone she made herself, some delicious Chai mix from Trader Joe's (Love that Store!) and that precious Willow Tree ornament. Thanks so much Sue, you're the best!

I have also received another Christmas Wish List surprise from Cristin in FL but I don't have a pic to post yet for it. She sent some yummy teas, a tin of Adagio tea, 3 packets of different Chai teas, Sugar Plum Spice tea, cute Snowman hand towels and a bar of glycerin snowman soap and some mint Hershey's kisses. Thank you so much Cristin!

This whole month has been so crazy buzy, I can't believe it is almost Christmas.
We had an excellent time in Vegas. We went with a couple that we know and a couple that they knew and had an absolute blast. You never know how things will go with several couples together but it was so fun. We walked our legs off, saw some great shows (Second City Improv was by far the most fun). Also took in an IMAX show, Wild Safari (3D), which honestly was not that great. And we ate at some of the best places. We stayed at the Luxor, got a really great deal, and ate at their awesome buffet the first night. I'm still on mostly soup but I enjoyed it vicariously and made up for my portion at the dessert bar! We also ate at a great Italian place, Battista's Hole in the Wall, which I would highly recommend. It's not really close to anything else but is worth the trip.

Also had a great time in Portland. We got to see Multnomah Falls and eat at the lodge there. We were going to go to Mount Hood to Timberline Lodge where the movie The Shining was filmed but the weather up there was too bad to drive in. Our last day there we got to tour some of the Wineries at Willamette Valley. It was absolutely gorgeous there. I was so excited, we got to tour Erath, one of my favorite Pinor Noirs, and several other really cool wineries. And they were a lot nicer there than they were in Temecula, CA last year. We had so much fun. And we got to go to Trader Joe's, the best grocery/specialty store ever. I had to take some files out there in a suitcase so I had a whole empty suitcase to fill with Trader Joe's stuff. They have the best things there, and it's all pretty cheap! I found my new favorite snack, Snap Pea Crisps. And got some great Chai mix and gnocchi and other yummy goods. Can't wait for one to come to my town!

I've had a great day off, slept in then braved the post office and the mall and got my shopping done. We will leave tomorrow to go to my parents' for Christmas, can't wait to see everyone again. If I don't get to post tomorrow, hope everyone has a great holiday!

On the hooks, I'm currently making a cable-type scarf out of the cream Blue Sky organic cotton
I got in Dallas. It's a pattern from 63 Afghan Squares book and it's turning out okay.

Have to get more pics posted soon, of Cristin's package and some snowflakes I finished and the moss stitch scarf in Alpaca silk I finished last week.

And here is a quiz I found on Cristin's blog...

You Have a Sanguine Temperament

You are an optimistic person who is easily content.
You enjoy casual, light tasks - never wanting to delve too deep into anything.
A bit fickle, it's easy for you to change plans or paths when presented with something better.

You enjoy all of the great things life has to offer - food, friends, and fun.
A great talker, you can keep the conversation going for hours.
You are optimistic and sure of your success. If you fail, you don't worry about it too much.

At your worst, you are vain. You are obsessed with your own attractiveness.
A horrible flirt, you tend to jump into love affairs and relationship drama easily.
You're very jealous - which just magnifies the craziness around you.

What Temperment Are You?

Very interesting, I've been reading an excellent book about these temperaments. The book is called Personality Plus by Florence Littauer. This is my favorite personality profiling book. I've really enjoyed it and would highly recommend it.

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

I'm One of Those People...

2005-12-13T20:01:00.000-06:00

You know, the ones who start a blog not having a clue how much free time you don't have, then only checks in every couple of months to say "I'm still alive, here's what I've done..."

So I've been crazy busy since the last post, went to Portland Wed. through Sat. We worked hard but got to see a lot of cool sights. Pics to come, I promise.

On the hooking front, I finished a knitted moss stitch scarf out of the yummy Debbie Bliss Alpaca yarn I got in Dallas. It is so soft and warm!
I've finished a few more squares for my 63 squares blanket, I think I'm on #17. Hope to get pics of that to post soon too.

Have much more to update, hope to get to post tomorrow too.
My husband and I are leaving Thurs. for Vegas with some friends. I am so excited!

Project Pics

2005-12-04T20:34:00.000-06:00

Finally, pics of th e things I have been working on and finishing...

This one is a variation of Deneen's Marvelous Fulled Bag. I just made it a round larger and carried a Front Post Double Crochet in the blue stripe.

In the bag is the brown Manos that I can't decide what to do with.

The other pic is my find at The Shabby Sheep in Dallas. 3 skeins of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk which I'm attempting a moss stich scarf out of and 2 skeins of cream Blue Sky Organic Cotton that I haven't decided what to do with.

I am so happy with how this turned out! It's my first knitted object (besides this humongous red dishcloth but that was ugly so it doesn't count). It's Crazy Aunt Purl's Magic Scarf with Noro Kureyon (my new love!). I tried to get a close-up of the checkerboard pattern, hope it shows up.

Had a great weekend, finally talked my husband into putting Christmas lights up (only took 3 years!) and put the tree up and did some cleaning. This will be a short week at work, I leave for Portland on business with a co-worker who is a lot of fun to travel with. I love Portland and don't get to go to the home office of my company too often.

Weekend Report

2005-11-28T19:54:00.000-06:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I really enjoyed the long break, had a great time at my parents', and ate way too much. Everybody was pleasant and it was really good to see my extended family.
Kevin came in from Africa on Saturday and I drove to Dallas to pick him up. His flight was delayed so I had time to stop by a cool yarn store called The Shabby Sheep in Dallas close to the West End. It was such a cool little store in a bungalow type home with different yarns in each room. The people were really friendly and there were people just sitting around knitting. I chose that one because I fell in love with this Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton that I saw in Atlanta at Why Knot Knit and Shabby Sheep was the only store in Dallas that carries it. So I got 2 skeins of that, and also saw this amazing Noro Kureyon colorway yarn (I'm about to finish that and it's turning out fabulous, looks much harder than it is- I'm also working on one with the Manos I got in Atlanta), and I had seen a really cool knitted checkerboard scarf that Crazy Aunt Purl made, so I got 3 skeins of that and found some really cool knitting needles, Addi Turbo, in circulars because I hadn't tried those before. And I also got 3 skeins of the amazing Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in a soft, aqua color.
It was so good to see Kevin, we really enjoyed having some time to ourselves in Dallas before heading back. We got some Christmas shopping done and went to a big outlet mall close to the airport before we left.

A few more quizzes and Happy Thanksgiving!

2005-11-22T20:28:00.000-06:00

Your World View

You are a happy, well-balanced person who likes people and is liked by others.
You question whether many conventional views on morality are valid under all circumstances.
You are essentially a content person.

Sometimes, you consider yourself a little superior.
You are moral by your own standards.
You believe that morality is what best suits the occasion.

What Is Your World View?

Your Birthdate: September 18

You are a cohesive force - able to bring many people together for a common cause.
You tend to excel in work situations, but you also facilitate a lot of social gatherings too.
Beyond being a good leader, you are good at inspiring others.
You also keep your powerful emotions in check - you know when to emote and when to repress.

Your strength: Emotional maturity beyond your years

Your weakness: Wearing yourself down with too many responsibilities

Your power color: Crimson red

Your power symbol: Snowflake

Your power month: September

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Here's a bit more information I'm sure you were dying to know about me.
I'm heading back home tomorrow to spend the holiday with my family. I'm missing my husband like crazy. And it's been a wild week.

I've had problems with my TMJs for about as long as I can remember. Things had gotten worse lately, had surgery last May and things aren't much better and I was told Mon. by my specialist that there is some pathogenic organism in my joint breaking it down, that he could see the progression over the last year from the x-rays. So now I'm completely torn with what to do.

I've made an appointment to get a second opinion (my current specialist wants to inject antibiotics in my joints not even knowing what kind of "organism" it is that is present by doing blood tests or anything) and he said that any kind of surgery will only make it worse. And if we let it go the joint could almost be destroyed in a year or two.

So I called to get a copy of my records and it will cost about 200 DOLLARS! to get a copy of my paper file and x-rays. That is such a crock! How are they allowed to do that?

I did some research today and it seems somewhat common for bacterial presence and TMJD to go hand in hand. There is a lot of research coming out of Baylor, so I could go down there if I need to for a consult. But what a shock, I was blindsided by this enews and it is crazy not having my husband here or being able to talk to him.

So enough for the most depressing post yet, have a great holiday!

Creepy Hispanic Guy to the Rescue

2005-11-20T21:47:00.000-06:00

How is it that Desperate Housewives has trance-inducing powers? The show is so cheesy and dumb, but when it's on the TV I have to watch it. So note to self, next time you get in the car of a known convicted felon, check to make sure there are door handles and a window turner thingie. But it all turned out well.

Had a pretty good weekend. My husband left yesterday for Africa again (didn't mean for those to come so close together). Went to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert last night, it was absolutely phenomenal. I wasn't sure I would really enjoyed but they are some incredibly talented musicians.

Spent the day today cooking stuff for work tomorrow, we're having a big pot luck lunch. I made some gingersnaps and pumpkin dip and pecan pie. So far it looks like it all turned out okay. I actually enjoyed doing the domestic thing.

I finished another of Deneen's felted bags in chocolate and blue. But I made it a bit bigger and used a different stitch for the accent color. Will show pics as soon as I can figure out how to load the pics on the camera my husband didn't take.

All Bagged Out...

2005-11-17T19:02:00.000-06:00

Here are a few other finished projects. The top is the Marvelous Felted Tote. The color didn't show up that great in the pic but it is a pretty deep burgandy color of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes. I made it in about an hour and it felted really quickly and evenly.
I want to make another one soon with more of the Knit Picks stash.

The second, in all its wonky glory, was an attempt at the Felted Tote from the latest Family Circle Easy Crochet. It was easy to make but about a jillion rows of single crochet. And for some reason, it got all twisty when it was felting and the tab and handles moved and are now way off center.
Thanks for looking!

See, I Do Finish Things...

2005-11-16T22:02:00.001-06:00

Finally, some pics of finished stuff. Okay, they're all pretty small, but still.
Can't get the pics to move where I want so here they are.
I finished the baby blanket a while ago and the squares were for a few comfortghans.
I got my swap squares in the mail today so I should have pics of them to post, oh about two months from now.
I still have pics of the special felted tote I finished a while ago that I need to upload.
I am still working on the 63 squares ghan, still have 9 done.
Did finish Deneen's Marvelous Felted Tote (love that bag!) Will hopefully post pics of that soon.
Ooh, when I was in Atlanta I got to run in to Why Knot Knit in Buckhead (love that place and wish I could move it here) and found some fabulous chocolatey Manos del Uruguay that I'm attempting to knit into a scarf.
Also got to fondle some Blue Sky Organic Cotton, that stuff is amazing. Wish I would have bought some now. We don't have a retailer in the state that sells it and I can't find it as easily on the net as I thought I'd be able to.

Things have been pretty uneventful. Had another presentation last week for work and then on Monday and I didn't break out in hives or spontaneously combust. But thanks to Crazy Aunt Purl, the phrase "Don't say porn" just kept repeating in my head (See the 9/15 post). She really cracks me up. So does this site.

Book Reviews

2005-11-14T15:01:00.000-06:00

Nope, still no new pics to post. New pics, just none ready to post.
So here are a few book reviews of some books I have read in the past month or so:

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
This is a beautifully written story of a party in South America that was raided by a group of terrorists. The story follows the goup of people who are left as hostages in the house, along with the lives of the terrorists who invaded, and chronicles their lives both before and during the incident. And maybe after, but you have to read to find that part out.
I am a huge fan of Ann Patchett's writing style. She has the ability to make the plainest things poignant. She always develops amazing characters and does an excellent job of showing character transformation throughout the story.
I picked this book up several times in bookstores this summer to buy, but was turned off by the quick review because it didn't seem like my kind of book.
I would highly recommend this book.
Oh, and last summer when my husband and I were on a train from Prague to Munich, we sat across the isle from Joey Pants and he was reading this book.
(and in case you were wondering, no he can't sing, so you don't need to waste your time watching that crappy VH1 show. Why don't they just give it to that hot guy
from One Tree Hill and call it good?)

Patron Saint of Liars by Ann Patchett
So when I find an author I really like, I tend to read everything they have written that I can get my hands on.
I was not dissapointed with this book.
This is the story of a woman who marries young and realizes when she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant that she has misinterpreted several signs in her life and winds up at a home for unwed mothers. The story is broken into three narratives, each broken up into a different section, and each picking up where the other left off. I don't normally like the effect this gives, but it really works in this story.
This is another well-written story with a divine sense of grace and healing. It has the same powerfully plain feel that Bel Canto had, but the story couldn't be much more different. I would highly recommend this.

Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
This is another book I have picked up several times at book stores and put back thinking it might not hold my interest. I am not a huge sci-fi fan and I couldn't tell if this was really about time travel or if was one of those books that makes painful attempts to seem like it is about something like time travel, when really it is a bad case of some horrid mental health condition.
The plot seems questionable: the main character can only remember the future and the story chronicles his love for a woman that doesn't share the same affliction. But Niffenegger artfully weaves this tell of a bizarre but strong relationship between two people that on some levels connect from the beginning, and on other levels have extreme difficulty connecting.
I feel that the characters were very well developed and melded together in a way that didn't seem a bit artificial.
It is a love story but it is also much more. My husband read it and liked it and he normally shoves aside anything of this sort. I would highly recommend this book.
(Another side note, this is the book that Joey Pants's wife was reading on that same train ride. Apparently the Pants have great taste in books.)

Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy
I picked this up because I wanted a short, mindless read for a long flight. It met my expectations. I am not a huge fan of Maeve Binchy, I just have little interest in what she normally writes about.
This story is set in a Greek island and starts with several people who happen to be in a local restraunt when a small boat catches on fire and several people are killed. The story follows the people as their lives weave in and out and their stories slowly unfold. The story is pretty campy, but the characters were somewhat loveable, and yes, there is a little romance action.
I would recommend this if you have a long afternoon and absolutely nothing else to do. Otherwise, not so much.

The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
This book is along the lines of DaVinci Code, but not nearly as well written. It is fast-paced, but goes way too smoothly to be even a bit realistic.
The story is about a man who is searching for meaning in his life and several events cause him to leave his job and search for this mysterious manuscript that describes nine insights which are key to the world evolving into a new age, more spiritual, environment.
I do believe that the crux of the book, the nine insights, do ring true and I think if everyone shared similar views the world would be a much more peaceful place.
I gained from this a sense that every being in the world puts off energy and our interactions always involve either the sharing of or the sucking of the energy of others and we alone determine which way it will go.
That said, I could have gotten that message out of a one page blurb describing each of the insights.

Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
This book is the memoir of a disturbed childhood from the perspective of an adult who lives through it and has the ability to laugh about it. The book is raw and presented in a child-like way, just stating the facts around this crazy family he grew up with and not interjecting much psychobabble or passing judgment. It is a warped coming of age story.
I was simultaneously laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes and disgusted by everything the author went through as a child. Overall, I would call this a story of perserverance.
I found this book hard to read at times (because of the content, not the writing style), but I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone who isn't bothered by this sort of story. I definitely want to read his next book, Dry.

The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer
This book had so much potential: a recent college graduate in a stale relationship when her boyfriend dives off a pier and becomes paralized. It all goes downhill from there. Carrie, the main character, whimsically picks up and leaves town for a prolonged period, just doing nothing but not really depressed or anything, then floats through a few more decisions that make no sense (and not in a good way). The characters are all one deminsional and not too interesting.
I'd skip this and just watch the Lifetime movie if you really want to find out the ending.

Currently reading:
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
Natural Cures They Don't Want You to Know About

Plan to read:
Salt: A World History (c'mon, it sounds really good, read the description)
The Divide by Nicholas Evans, one of my favorite authors
Black Elk Speaks
The Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck

I had a lovely weekend- I was in Atlanta for a conference in the woods in a room with no TV. It was kinda peaceful, kinda creepy, but the conference speakers were good and I got a lot of crocheting done.

I recently started the 63 Squares Afghan from Leisure Arts. I thought this would be a good way to learn some new stitches. Couldn't decide on color so I picked black, tan, and cream in Caron Simply Soft. That stuff is so soft, when I was winding it on Thurs. before I left it just kept launching off the yarn winder. Took a good three tries to get it to stay put. I finished squares 1-8 and 10 for that. Hope to get more done tonight.

Got my Knit Picks yarn in last week, so I have lots of Wool of the Andes and some sock yarn.
I've started the Button Top Socks, my first attempt at socks, from Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet and started a felted tote last night.

Hope to get some pics up soon! As soon as my husband shows his technically challenged wife how to get pics from the digi to the computer (yup, it's that bad).

Africa Pics

2005-11-09T16:07:00.000-06:00

I still haven't gotten a chance to upload new project pics, but I thought I'd post a few travel pics. These are from my trip with my husband in August to Africa.
The first pics are in Namibia, the country just north of South Africa, where we stayed on a game farm. The top one was one of the two pet lions on the farm. They were in a huge fenced cage and we could hear them roaring at night. The next is some purple-eared waxbills on the game farm and the last is a beautiful sunset in Namibia.
The next two were in Cape Town, South Africa. The fourth was taken on top of Table Mountain looking down on the city.
And the last is my favorite- of the Winelands outside of Cape Town. It was beautiful there.
Can't wait to go back!

A few Quizzes...

2005-11-01T14:32:00.000-06:00

You Are A Lily

You are a nurturer and all around natural therapist.
People see you as their rock. And they are able to depend on you.
You are a soothing influence. You can make people feel better with a few words.
Your caring has more of an impact than even you realize.

What Flower Are You?

WooHoo! Just successfully learned how to post a quiz!
But I would hardly consider myself a lily...

You are Mohair.
You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with
others, doing your share without being too
weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely
refuse to change your position once it is set,
but that's okay since you are good at covering
up your mistakes.

What kind of yarn are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Mmm... Mohair!

People Say the Stupidest Things

2005-10-31T21:57:00.000-06:00

So I went to my hometown, a whopping hour drive, on Saturday for my friend's twins' second birthday party (they are just too cute by the way). I went down early so I could have lunch with my mom and sis and her boyfriend, who we really like.
So we're eating lunch and in comes this lady who I had gone to church with since I was, like, 8 and she came over and said hi and gave me this awkward hug leaning across my mom in the booth, then we exchanged pleasantries and she sat down at her table. We were walking out and I said in passing it was nice to see her and she looked at me and said, Honey you look so good. Why thanks, I say, and she then says something to the tune of, "You just looked so aweful the last time we saw you, we could tell your whole countenance was just destroyed" and I just stood there nodding, thinking, WTH? and she kept going and going about how they were really worried about me and it seems I am doing better and she hopes I am happy. Seriously, how could that even get past the brain to mouth filter as approved?
So some details, the last time I had seen her was the tail end of a really bad marriage which ended even worse, and it sucked and I almost wanted to scrunch up one eye and say, "what the hell are you thinking saying that? Thanks, I didn't realize that I worried you so much at the lowest point of my life but I really appreciate you bringing it up."
Sheesh. Makes me really miss the church crowd I grew up with. Not.

On a happier note, I finished three squares I was working on for a comfortghan and will mail them off soon, pics to come.
I also finished felting my FCEC Tote and it came out all wierd. Everything looked fine when I sewed the handles and flap on and somehow in the washer it must've gotten all twisty because now they are way off center. Will post pic soon and see if anyone has any quick fix idea.
Holiday Swap started today at Crochetville and I can't wait to get started!

Had a really great weekend, just crocheted a lot and cleaned a little and relaxed.
Oh, I also finished a baby ghan out of 6 inch squares and something cool I may give to my pal.

Happy Halloween!

Finally the WEEKEND!

2005-10-29T01:47:00.000-05:00

I am so glad this week is over. It was crazy busy at work, I had two presentations and several cases to testify for. I would seriously rather have a yearly exam and a root canal at the same time than speak in public. I don't know what it is, I can practice and practice but it always turns out that Me + Stage = Instant Spaz. Have another in a few weeks, hopefully it will be better.

I have several more pics to post soon. I recently finished some comfortghan squares and my FCEC Felted Tote is felting as we speak. I really enjoyed it. Just placed an order on Knit Picks for more wool and plan to do more totes soon. I also got some sock yarn to try some socks from a pattern in Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet. It will be my first shot at socks.

I also recently got Crochet With Wire and can't wait to try it out. Hobby Lobby had all their bead items half off last week so I'm all stocked up, just need to get started.

100 Things...

2005-10-24T17:31:00.000-05:00

Well, as we all know, you just can't have a blog without the cumpulsory 100 Things List.

Without further ado, 100 things about me:
1. I am a virgo.
2. My favorite color is red.
3. I work in the counseling field.
4. I have a Bachelor's degree in Sociology.
5. I hate when I tell people that and they act like I didn't have to work for it. I actually chose it because the social work school at the college I went to sucked and I could tailor this more towards counseling.
6. I love chocolate.
7. I have no personal pictures in my office, I'm not sure why.
8. My dream job would be travel writing.
9. I have been to Israel, England, France, Chech Republic, Germany, Namibia and South Africa.
10. I am the oldest child.
11. I have one younger sister.
12. I am the daughter of a recovering alcoholic.
13. My mom is my best friend.
14. I was raised Southern Baptist.
15. I am no longer a big proponent of organized religion.
16. I am not at all athletic.
17. I try to excercise but it is seriously like pulling teeth.
18. I would love to run a 5K eventually. Right now I run for 3 minutes and feel like I am about to die so that would be a HUGE feat.
19. My favorite dessert is Tiramisu.
20. I have always had a passion for reading.
21. I am currently reading "The Dive from Claussen's Pier." It's not my favorite. It's a good story, but mostly a depressing Lifetime-esque book.
22. I find the following celebrities oddly attractive: Drew Carey, Johnny Knoxville, Will Farrell.
23. I love to sing in the car, I mean really embarrasing, belt it all out singing.
24. Whose Line Is It Anyway is my "instantly lift my mood" show.
25. If I were to pick anywhere (within reason) to live and family weren't a factor, I would pick somewhere in Colorado.
26. I love to snow ski.
27. I enjoy hiking.
28. Someday I would like to sky dive.
29. I actually like Mondays.
30. I over-analyze everything.
31. I love the snow.
33. I don't have kids but would like to someday.
34. I love small town festivals.
35. In the well-spoken words of a co-worker, I am a sugar ho.
36. One day I would like to travel to Greece.
37. I just learned to knit in September.
38. So far I have knitted a dish cloth (which turned out huge, by the way.)
39. I don't remember ever believing in Santa Clause.
40. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
41. I'm not a big fan of any sport.
42. I watch way too much TV.
43. I consistenly watch Everwood, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, Real World, Related and Medium.
44. I have watched Real World since the first season.
45. I liked reality TV before it was about winning crap, when it was just about reality. Sort of.
46. My first car was a 1969 Nova.
47. I am not a very organized person.
48. As Julia said it best in Pretty Woman, "I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal."
49. Most of the time finishing what I start is like pulling teeth.
50 I'm a fan of Dr. Phil.
51. I am against Fundamentalist anything.
52. I would consider myself a spiritual person.
53. Fall is my favorite season.
54. I don't have any tatoos.
55. I think they are kinda cool.
56. I grew up within a 5 mile radius to most of my extended family on both sides.
57. I lived in the same house from the time I was born until I was 19.
58. I have a newfound obsession for yarn.
59. Sometimes I am too nice for my own good.
60. I was the president of my senior class in high school.
61. I don't regularly keep up with anyone I graduated with.
62. I have always excelled at English.
63. I've always sucked at science and math.
64. find true crime and studies of anti-social personalities very interesting.
65. Both of my grandmothers are still living and I feel blessed to have a good relationship with them.
66. I am married to one of the kindest, most genuine guys I have ever known.
67. I actively participated in the drama programs in junior high and high school.
68. I was in two plays at our local community theater.
69. My husband still says I am a drama queen.
70. I would now rather have a root canal than speak in public.
71. I almost didn't accept my current position because it involved public speaking.
72. I can't believe there are blockbuster TV shows/films capitalizing on the war in Iraq. I hear the argument that it might help raise public awareness of how things could be for those honorably serving our country, but I am totally against Hollywood making money off the fictionalization of what will probably be the most traumatic time in millions of lives.
73. My sister and I have always been complete opposites, and although we have always stayed in touch, I feel that our relationship has now reached a new level of closeness. I feel blessed to have her as a sister.
74. I love nature.
75. I feel incredibly serene in the mountains.
76. I learned how to drive a standard shift car when my dad surprised me with an old mustang and subsequently got so frustrated he just told me to take it on my own and teach myself (he is normally very patient with me) so I picked up two friends and we just drove all jerkily through town until I got the hang of it.
77. I enjoy cooking but don't do it very often.
78. My husband is so picky to cook for we usually end up eating out.
79. I drive about 1.5 hours to work and back every day.
80. I can't wear yellow.
81. Casinos bore me.
82. It repulsed me at first, but I can't help but admire the artistic ingenuity of the creators of Southpark. That show cracks me up, they so wittily address the flaws in our societal thinking.
83. I love writing papers, it's like art to me.
84. I am a terrible driver. I don't have accidents, I just make everyone with me really nervous. 85. But they don't understand I have everything under control.
86. I am convinced I could live on carbs alone.
87. I would love to spend a year in another country.
88. I hate wearing shoes.
89. I wish make-up wasn't the social norm for females.
90. I heart yoga.
91. My favorite flower is the iris.
92. Two of my favorite contemporary bands are Better Than Ezra and Barenaked Ladies.
93. My favorite live show was Miss Saigon.
94. Les Miserables in London was a very close second.
95. The best concert I have seen is Billy Joel/Elton John.
96. Crochet is the first craft I have stayed interested in for a prolonged period.
97. One day I would love to have something I have written published.
98. I have to cover my head when I sleep.
99. I always have to be covered with something to sleep, even if it's really warm out.
100. I find stupid comedy amusing and therapeutic.

Square Pics

2005-10-23T17:46:00.000-05:00

These are the squares I did for the Blue Squares Too square swap at Crochetville. Most of them came from patterns out of the 200 Crochet Blocks book.
I love crocheting squares, that's how I got started crocheting again after learning with my great grandmother when I was a kid.
Well, I actually got started with scarves from LB Homespun. I loved those things and I swear I made about 10 of them. After I had started crocheting again, I saw a news article about a local AIDS patient who had recently started a charity called Northwinds Afghan Project crocheting 12" squares for lapghans for inpatient AIDS victims. I have worked with them since and that led me to other charities and to other crochet projects. And to the love of a hobby that borders on obsession.
As soon as I get it cleaned up enough to post, I'll show pics of my yarn stash. It definitely pales in comparison to others, but I'm quite proud of it. If only my husband shared the same view.

Felted Hook Case

2005-10-23T17:25:00.000-05:00

Here are some pics of my first shot at felting, a felted hook case following the schematics posted by PJ at Crochetville. I used Cascade Palace Yarn that I picked up this summer at one of my favorite yarn stores, Soul Spun Yarns in Salt Lake City.
The pockets in the middle are perfect for small scissors and pins and stitch markers, etc.
The top came out kind of floppy, though, I'd try to correct that if I did it again.

I am so glad I tried felting. I really want to give it another shot. I have the yarn for the Felted Tote from Family Circle Easy Crochet in a cool deep rust color with blue. Read about the CAL here. But I am making myself finish most of what I have started before I start that.

Well, look at me go. So it's not so hard after all! And a HUGE thanks to Lori for her blog help.

Finally, a Post

2005-10-23T17:02:00.000-05:00

So this blogging deal is off to a great start. I had no idea until I set up a blog what a total technical moron I am. Because there's so much pressure to impress my one reader (Hi, Mom!). I finally got my husband to show me how to post pics and it was the one night out of, like, the whole year that Blogger was down for maintenance. So I think I have an idea of how these things go now, at least enough to make more than one post a month.

Hope to get some pics posted soon.

This is Only a Test...

2005-09-20T20:36:00.000-05:00

So here it is, my new blog. Just testing with the first post. More to come...