No time to say "Hello. Goodbye".......

I'm late (as always..... I excel in that area) sending all my Christmas gifts. I'm still cranking out sweaters for my Dad. The sweaters for Grandma and Co. were finished before Christmas, but I neglected to send them out, mainly because it involved going to the post office. I'm no good with standing in lines right now (being sick and all) and am trying to devise a plan to figure out how many stamps will be needed for this package. I don't think you can even do that anymore, but if all else fails I'll send hubby to the post office with the packages. The baby blanket is being revised. It's finished except for putting fleece on the back (obviously my weaving in technique leaves something to be desired). Once finished I couldn't stomach all the little tails left on the back and figured a piece of fleece will hide it all nicely with a blanket stitch and personalization to liven things up.
I'm thinking about getting yarn to make stockings for next year for the kids so that they can have special stockings that are all their own. After reading the dying techniques on Knitty I'm excited to give Kool-Aid a whirl. It'll make just the right colors. I'm frantically looking for the extra skein of bare DK that I have somewhere. I'm thinking about banging out a hat for my other nephew before sending out the package with the baby blanket. Still working like mad on the socks and trying to get them done before it's soooooooo past Christmas that they don't even qualify as Christmas gifts anymore (I think I may already be at that point). As soon as I'm done with all that I will start my gifts for next year. I'm going to have to if I want them done and shipped by Christmas. I suck. 

Snow on Guam

The seasonal snow has arrived at all the malls. We've spent many a night there so the kids can dance in it. We've done the Santa thing and all the shopping is done. The Christmas tree looks great even if my house is really dirty. So sad. It's really, really dirty. I've been sick since Thanksgiving (yes, still) and I've been trying to keep up with everything, but have been failing miserably. I don't like it and it just makes me feel sicker..... if that makes any sense. I was feeling okay yesterday and was primed to clean house today, but when I got up this morning I was struck down again. I was able to clean a little last night and I am grateful for that. I go back to the doctor on Friday and I am going to request that CT that she has offered on several occasions only to have me talk myself out of it. I'm not allowed to talk myself out of it this time. Hopefully they can schedule it soon and find nothing so that I can stop worrying about it. That's why I have talked myself out of it....... because I'm afraid of what they'll find, but if they find nothing the question then becomes..... well what is wrong? I like to think it's all in my head. Close your eyes and pretend it's all a bad dream...... that's how I get by (thank you, Jack).

In other news I finished all my little sweaters (here are some of them) and I'm almost done whip stitching the baby blanket together and then I can send it off tomorrow (hope they like it). Oh yeah, I forgot to tell about the cool ornament that I found. My hubby was looking at Precious Moments (he's a collector) and I looked over and saw this little beauty. I squealed and jumped up and down and did the happy dance in front of several people. "She's knitting.... look she's knitting with her little knitting needles! That's so mine!" I cried and immediately carried my little knitter to the register and bought her.

Knitting Update

I have been knitting my butt off. Well.... my arms. At least I was until I got sick, even then I was still trying to knit between bathroom runs (that sounds worse then I thought it would and is a bad pun). Ah, well..... fact of life, everyone gets sick from time to time. I've been sick for seven days! I'm feeling better and only have been feeling sick later in the day, but now I have a swollen lymph node in my underarm and it's bad enough that I'm typing with only my left hand because my right arm is painful and useless. It feels like it's starting to get better though and I'm hoping to resume knitting. All my knitting probably made it worse because my arms were sore to begin with. Anyways. I'm working on several things at once and the fear is creeping in because I'm pretty sure I have bitten off more then I can chew. That and my husband bestowed a gift on me that is the bane of knitting. A Nintendo DS. 

I must admit I've been trying harder to get Link to the end of the Phantom Hourglass game then I have been trying to get everything done. I also bought a book. I Am Legend. I didn't even know it was a book until I was searching on iTunes and happened to see it in the audiobooks section. The preview grabbed my attention and I would have bought the audiobook, but I thought I could read it faster. Maybe I should have bought the audiobook because I could have listened to it while knitting, but I love reading and it seemed like such a lazy cheat to listen to it. It's just not the same as a book in your hands and the adventure in the words on the page that you get lost in.
The gifts that I have on my list are 10-12 mini sweater ornaments, 6 pairs of socks and one baby blanket. The socks are proving to be the most time consuming. In the two weeks since I got my yarn I have only finished one sock and am halfway through a second one (that doesn't match.... it's a different pair). I have spent most of my time working on the baby blanket. It's is the Circle of Friends baby blanket from Last Minute Knitted Gifts by the owner of PurlSoho (a great book to have.... lots of good things to knit).

I hand dyed the yarn myself because I couldn't afford the 14 skeins of Rowan Wool Cotton. Instead I went with KnitPIcks Bare DK weight superwash merino wool and the Jaquard Acid Dyes that they also sell. It was easier then I thought it would be and I only have one skein that didn't come out the way I really wanted, but it will work. I also decided to go with blue instead of the two purples that they use (in fact it's the light blue skein that was less then up to par). A few of the skeins are variegated, but I'm okay with that because it gives it a handmade look. If you like the variegations in hand dyed yarns then you know where I'm coming from. The orange came out variegated as well as the maroon, but I had to mix brown and red for that one and there are a few spots the red grabbed stronger then the brown. The orange is a single powder (no mixing needed), but for whatever reason came out variegated. Maybe I'll presoak my yarn a little longer and squeeze more to remove the bubbles and see if that works better next time around. The light blue came out variegated too, but I was using the same dye as for the dark blue and used just 1/4 of a tsp to try and make it lighter, but then it started looking dark so I pulled it. Where the yarn was tied with string there are sections of really light blue and a little white. I had another skein that I could have used and tried again, but decided I could be happy with what I have (stop being such a perfectionist..... I'm trying). I have three and a half out of seven panels done and am confident I will finish before deadline to ship.
The socks...... are a different story. All the sock are from Charmed Knits: Projects for fans of Harry Potter by Alison Hansel and are the House Socks. I'm doing the narrow stripes version and am doing one pair of each of the four houses. Another pair follows Harry's Sock from Dobby's collection (starting on pg.100). I like this sock because it's the first time I've made a hell like this one. It requires wrapping to form the heel instead of the sl1, K1 then pick up and K heel that I'm used to doing. A little more challenging, but the end result is a little cleaner and more like the socks you buy.
The last are the mini sweater ornaments which I'm taking the pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, but for a set I'm doing them in the colors and with the lettering of the Weasley Sweaters from Charmed Knits. Those are really quick knits that I can finish all in a day or two so my only real concerns are the socks, but I have resolved that if I can't finish them in time that everyone will get the mini sweaters for Christmas and I'll send the socks later. So not a real big emergency, but it would be nice to be able to give the socks on Christmas.

Why Life is Unfair

Because the only son of a single mother gets Hodgkin's disease. It was found only because they did a routine blood test for WIC. It's already spread to his spleen, liver and one lung. He's only one and a half. That puts me in mind to only have two words for cancer....... but I can't put them here because my grandma reads this blog.

Taming of the Shrew

I was watching reruns of Angel at around midnight when I heard this loud screeching noise. I thought the cat was trying to scale one of the windows with her claws, but then it continued until it became this eery sound that seemed to be unnatural. I went to investigate with knitting needle in one hand (makes a handy weapon in a pinch) and a phone in the other. My cat was at the base of the stairs interested in whatever was making the sound and as I reached the bottom of the stairs I saw whatever it was had a tail. I assumed she had cornered a gecko and it was now chirping its little head off out of fright. I shooed the cat away and moved my daughter's backpack and there was this smell and I saw something furry. Not a gecko!!! I had a rat as pet growing up as well as mice, gerbils and the like so it didn't scare me, but I was startled to find something other then a gecko in my house (I was however very grateful that it wasn't a cockroach or some hideous bug). It was kind of stinky so I thought maybe a muskrat, but it was mouse size and had a pointy nose and small almost nonexistent eyes. I opened the front door (which it just happened to be near) and shooed it out with a broom. It shot straight outside, much to my relief and amazement. Very delighted that I didn't have to chase a scurrying creature around trying to get it out the front door. Talking to other people and looking on the internet led me to the Musk Shrew. Musk obviously explains the smell and I found out that they use echolocation like bats and dolphins, hence the high pitched eery screeching noise. After going to bed I heard another chirp later. I'm hoping there's not a nest down there in that pile of things that I need to pick up. It's right at the front door where we dump everything and I clean it about once every two weeks so it couldn't have been there long if it has set up a nest. I just hope that it hasn't. I'm scared I'm going to find baby shrews and then I'll feel guilt for chasing off their mommy. It was that or the cat was going to dispose of her and I don't need to find tiny, furry dead mammals in my home left as presents by my kitty kitty. How did it get in is the question so that I can keep more from entering. It may have just snuck inside the door along with us or it came in through a hole. No reason to worry though unless I start seeing more of them. They sure are loud little things, I'll give them that. And stinky too. If I was the cat I wouldn't have messed with it after it started letting off that smell. It wasn't that bad, but I'm considerably bigger and wasn't down on it's level. I'm sure it's more pungent to a cat or other predator.
Hubby comes home today!!!! The boat pulled in this morning around 10, but, of course, they won't let anyone go because they have to muster first....... for 14 hours. I hate this command. If you are thinking of joining the ranks of the Frank Cable, just don't. It might be fine if you're a single sailor, but if you have a family and especially if you are in engineering, JUST DON'T. We've been here almost a year and my hubby just started getting his weekends off. Most of the time he would only get Sunday off (unless he had duty) and during the weekday he leaves at 5-6 in the morning and doesn't get home until after 8 pm most nights. Which would be fine if the US Navy paid overtime because we'd be swimming in money and I would have no complaints. The kids hardly ever get to spend time with daddy and if they get little time I get even less. The CO wonders why the divorce rate on the Cable is so high, well there's your problem. Better organization and leadership is needed and being able to eat meal is a RIGHT not a PRIVILEGE as the higher ups would like you to believe. No use in complaining. There's even a rumor floating around that a wife complained and her husband was given more hours. They also say that the Captain (not our current one) was responsible for the boiler explosion that took two lives last year because he gave the order to light anyways (even though someone said there was a leak) because there was a delegate onboard. Everyone has their conspiracy theories, but there's that chance that it could be true. Who knows, I might get my hubby in trouble just by writing this..... if I thought anyone actually read my blog. Really people, you can leave comments. It's okay.

Holiday Season

I'm gearing up for it. As an adult it's just not the same as it was when I was a kid. The excitement is almost all gone. The only thing that I can think of when I look ahead to putting up the tree is how much work it's going to be and the hassle of taking it down. I think I should just throw myself into it and do all the decorating, baking and other activities that my mom and I used to do. A lot of the non excitement comes from the fact that we won't see family this year. I get excited and in the mood to make and bake when I know that family is coming. We're having friends for Thanksgiving and that has my brain clicking along about what I'm going to make, how the house is going to look and all that jazz. Christmas..... not so much, but I'm trying. The kids and I made snowflakes for their Christmas tree yesterday. Twenty total. I have also been looking into other projects as well. I have a whole load of knitting to do. This past payday saw me spending almost $100 on yarn. Not really a big deal since I'm going to get about 20 gifts out of it all and I am completely out of yarn. I know there are other knitters out there who spend more then that every month and I haven't bought any yarn for several months now. I am excited about that. Waiting for a package of yarn is always exciting. I have another order that I have to place and have sent for my sister in law. I'm very excited because she's having a baby. This will be her first baby, but it's not her first pregnancy so this is a really big deal. When I met my hubby she was pregnant and she lost the baby at about 5-6 months. She was pregnant again about a year later and again she went into labor early. She had to watch as her son struggled for breath and then he passed on when they tried to give him oxygen. His lungs weren't strong enough and collapsed. I always felt really bad because both times I got pregnant soon after and had two healthy babies. I might as well have kicked her in the stomach while she was down. And I can't imagine how much it must have hurt to lose those babies. Luckily no problems with this pregnancy and she's almost ready to have him and we're all excited. Hubby was looking for baby gifts before he left and when I got to thinking about it I realized I could make something. After running it by him he seems excited about it and now I need to buy more yarn. Not a big deal, but to be honest I don't know exactly when she's due and I want to have it done in time for her to welcome the little one home with. I'll be making a blankie and hopefully some socks, a hat, and a teddy bear. The big question is should I make it white or different colors. One hides stains and the other you could bleach or set out in the sun if it got a stain on it. Knowing baby stains I'm inclined to go with color because formula stains don't like to bleach out. Sigh. I'll figure it out :-)

Halloween and Disney

A few weeks ago my kids got their Halloween costumes and I let them try them on. Of course they have been begging me ever since to let them wear them. Charlie chose the Incredibles as his costume and Lola settled on Jasmine as her final choice. They both look cute, but Charlie looks especially cute in his. He runs around pretending that he's shooting beams from his hands and is ready to "rescue" mommy from the evil Serabi (our cat who is not as keen on the whole imagination thing).
Last week I broke down and cut off my hair. It was down past my shoulder blades, but it's so darn hot and humid here that it was impossible to do anything other then stick it in a ponytail. Actually a half ponytail where you pull it through only halfway so that the ends are still caught in the elastic. I was prepared to GI Jane my hair off in my own bathroom but the hubby said no to the idea so I found myself at the hair dressers. I got a layered bob that's just below my ears. Quite a bit shorter then it was and a shock for all the people here that have never seen me with short hair before. It caused quite a stir. At least it was the good kind. I got a lot of squeals and "Oh, it's sooooooooo cute. I'm going to do that with my hair." No, really. Please don't, thank you. I like the fact that I'm different then the rest of the mommy's that come to pick their kids up. Good thing they don't really have the stones to actually get their hair chopped off. Charlie got in my lap several times last week and said "I like your hair mommy. It's so pretty" as he would run his hands over my new short do.
Hubby left on a cruise last week to Japan. He was excited because they had told everyone that they would get liberty to site see around Tokyo. I've been wanting to go to Tokyo since we got out here. I figure since we're out here we might as well go because it'll never be cheaper. I always touted it as a good vacation for all of us because we could take the kids to Tokyo Disneyland. The hubby kept saying that he wasn't sure that he really wanted to go to Tokyo Disney because it's not the same as Disney World, but as soon as he was going to Tokyo with work all of a sudden he's excited and wanting to go to Disney. So much so that as soon as they got there the higher ups announced a whole load of drills and instruction time that would take up their liberty and so now the hubby's "really mad" that he's not going to get to go to Disney. What a turd. All this time he hasn't shown a bit of interest in all my talk of Disney in Tokyo but as soon as he gets to go he's talking all about it like it was the best idea HE ever had. I still love him though and figure that this will be a good opportunity because then when we all go then at least one of us will already be familiar with the way things are there.

Talofofo Falls

I know I took longer then I had said that I would on posting pictures, but here they are in full, beautiful color. Our trip to Talofofo. For anyone that has never been (I'm guessing that's a large majority of earth's population since most people don't even know that a place called Guam even exists) Talofofo Park is a small place. I would say that we wasted $25 seeing as we were only there for about thirty minutes, but the train and cave were closed (I'm guessing it's off season at the park) and the beauty was well worth the money as was the cute dog that traveled with us in our cable car, Puppy (no really that was her name). She rode with us both there and back. I don't know why she chose to ride with us, but it kind of makes you feel special.

Talofofo Park contains what else but the Talofofo Falls. As you ride in the cable car you reach a point where the land falls away and you are greeted by a beautiful vista of jungle and falls.

The cable car takes you down to the #1 Falls where you follow a slippery rock trail down to #2 Falls. The scenery is beautiful and you feel as if you are on an excursion through an Asian forest..... minus the animals.

You then cross a wobbly bridge reminescent of Indiana Jones and hike up a hill (steep) to the Guam History Museum.

From there you can hike to Yokoi's Cave (although we weren't aware of that at the time and missed out on seeing it) or take the small seat tram to the cave. Yokoi was a Japanese soilder who hide after the US showed up on Guam to liberate it during World War II. He was there with two other soilders and they lived there for several years. Both of the other men died and Yokoi was left alone there in hiding under the belief that the war was still going on and in fear of becoming a POW. He stayed in there from the time World War II was over in 1944 until he was discovered in the 1970's (I think it was 1971).Twenty something years living in a cave. That takes determination...... of not getting caught. I believe that the cave in the park is actually a replica of the original and not the actual site where Yokoi and his two comrades hid out.
From the Museum you can walk a little ways up and you come to #1 Falls which has a lagoon that was rumoured a good swimming hole, but we saw a sign stating no swimming. We saw pictures of people swimming in there back when they dedicated the cave for Yokoi, but it seems today that swimming is no longer permitted. We don't know why.
Another wobbly bridge brings you two tiny alcoves that house many Buddha statues. The first one has a medium sized Buddha surrounded by many tiny Buddhas. The second has a slightly larger Buddha surrounded again by tinier Buddhas. There is a lot of coinage in there so I'm guessing Japanese and other Asian or Buddhist tourists throw coins in there for good luck or to have a prayer granted.
Climb up another slippery rock slope and you are back at the cable car to take the ride back up to the entrance. At the entrance there is a train that is open most days to ride around the park (it was closed when we went) as well as a haunted house (that also seemed to be closed). We went on a Saturday and fully expected everything to be open, but tourist season is probably over with the recent start of school and ending of the summer. It'll pick back up around Christmas time when all the Asian travelers look to escape the cooler climate.
We had fun but would have gotten more of our money's worth if everything had been open. At least we got the discounted rate reserved for those who are in the military and locals which is half of the actual price. Although I must say that there are plenty of places that share the same beauty here on island and are free or at least as close to free as you can get. A guided Boonie Stomp only costs $2 to go on and after 10 of them you get a free Parks and Recreation Boonie Stomping tee shirt. You can take the hikes on your own for free, but for two dollars it's worth it to travel with a group and have an experienced guide to point things out to you. It's just about the only thing on island that's a steal. The only other that I can think of would be the Chamorran Village on Wednesday night. It's such a big event that the locals come every Wednesday to ride th canival rides, check out the market shops and kiosks and to get the second best deal on Guam, barbeque. All the best barbeque vendors cme to the Village every Wednesday night and cook up some really great food. You get three side which can vary from vendor to vendor but usually include local favorite, red rice, Philipino pancit and any number of vegetables. You can walk away with a huge plate that will feed you for a few meals for only $6. Also walking around the Village you can meet all kinds of people from all over Asia as well as mingle with the locals who are very hospitable and love to share their culture. My friend Amanda and I went out one night and were offered a sampling of Sweet Tube (normally $1 a glass). I liked it but she didn't. It's a fermented drink made from the sap of the coconut tree. This particular concoction was only 1% alcohol because of the location of where it was sold. Beware other Sweet Tuba around the island as it can have a powerful kick. Only sample if you have a designated driver. For reals.
At the village there was also a fruit vendor. We were checking out what she had and we saw a strange spiny fruit. A man buying some explained to us that it was called Laguna in native Chamorran (I don't know if the spelling is right, but the pronuciation sounded like how I spelled it here) and that it was like their form of ice cream. He gave us one and told us to take it home and put it in the refrigerator overnight and then eat it the next day. It contains small black seeds (like a watermelon) that you have to pick out and is a little on the stringy side, but the taste is that of a slightly sour peach. A treat for anyone from the American south as there are few peaches (actually none) on island (that I have seen anyways).
Hmmmm. Reading this it sounds like a travel book. That's amusing and a little creepy.
:-)

A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words, But I'll Try To Keep it To Less Than That

I went out and bought a camera. I finally broke down and did it. I'm sure that I will find my other camera sometime later this week because that's how it goes. I have planned that if I find my other camera that my Hubby will inherit it so that he can take photos while he's out in Australia, Japan, Singapore, Russia, or any of these other places the ship takes him. I'm looking to get a new video camera for my next big purchase. I was just going to buy a new recharger (Hubby lost the one we had), but now they have all those video cameras that are digital where I can upload video straight from the camera AND you don't need DVDs or video tapes because it stores everything digitally. I need to try and get all my old home movies put onto one DVD (that's all I have for both of my kids...... 1 DVD worth) so that I can stop worrying about the enevitable destruction of the video tapes that will occur one day. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.
Anyways, back to the camera. So, photos will be posted sometime soon. In fact probably tomorrow since we are planning on going to Talofofo and that is a great oppourtunity for family photos as well as great scenic shots of Guam. Right now I just can't wait until my hubby gets home. The ship is in they just have to let him go (which probably will be right before I get ready to lay down for the night). I don't like this command and I don't know of anyone else on the ship that does either. I'm sure that the single sailor's enjoy it, but for those with families it has proven to be a living hell. They need more time off. Eighteen hour days, six days a week while in dock is just ridiculous AND when they get ready to go out to sea, my hubby has to leave a few days earlier to help them light off. While lighting off he's not allowed to come home so he's gone for a few days longer then everyone else's husband's. It stinks and then on top of that the last thing that he wants to do when he gets home is anything productive so he spends most of his time on the computer and not with the kids. I don't worry about myself, but the kids have not been able to spend good quality time with Daddy and that is sad. Sigh. Only a few more years and then we're out of here. I just keep telling myself that. Guam is great but the command........ not so much. Only a few more years..... only a few more years..... only a few more years...... there's no place like home.... there's no place like home.... there's no place like home.

Long Time, No Sea

It's been a looooooong time since I last posted. It took me two weeks to heal from that sunburn and it just stopped itching last week. It's still red and scarred in some places. Lola started school so that has kept me busy with just having something to do during the day. She's a walker so we get to walk her to and from school everyday. Not always great because we seem to be in monsoon season here. It rains everyday and most of the time it's so hard you might as well be walking under a waterfall. You're out there two seconds and you're soaked through. It's pretty bad but also fun at the same time. My son has had plenty of fun splashing in puddles and getting completely soaked. I have to throw the clothes in the wash so that it can spin them dry enough to go into the dryer. Today is such a day which may be why I am lingering on the fact.
A trip to the doctor yesterday for a routine checkup and I find myself being put on meds for ADD again. As I filled out the evaluation form I had to laugh because all the things that I had written off as "mommy brain" was actually my ADD. I can't finish anything, I go into a room for something and instantly forget why I'm there at least four times a day and most of the time I can't find anything that I need because I can't remember where I put it to begin with. Sigh. I'm grateful that the doctor asked me if I wanted to go back on it because I know that it'll help me get my work done and give me the motivation that I've been lacking (the ability to follow through that I have also been lacking) and I might actually get back to work and/or to school. I'm also hopeful that it might help me lose weight because dieting and exercise are not doing anything. Six months of exercising everyday and watching what I eat and I swear my shorts are getting tighter. It makes no sense. And it's more frustrating then I could ever begin to tell you. I haven't really been knitting anything. Lack of funds has stopped me from being able to buy yarn, but I'm hoping to pick up some sock yarn and start on some things for Christmas. I want to send a few gifts home to family to let them know that I'm thinking of them, but all I can manage on these time constraints are small ornaments and socks. But they are really cute ornaments. Stockings and a tiny sweater as well as a whole set of Weasley sweater ornaments that I'm sending a group of people that will really get a kick out of them. Between now and Thanksgiving I'm going to buy some yarn here and some yarn there and finish out my projects so that I can mail them by the first of December all wrapped and ready for under the tree at their respective places. I hope everyone likes them. Hopefully I'll finish and remember to send them out. I've been really bad about remembering here lately. I forgot to call my dad on his birthday and then I felt guilt and still didn't call him. I forgot Father's Day too. I could make the excuse that it's the day difference but that doesn't seem like a good enough excuse, but I think that's what the problem is. I forget by the next day (most of the time I forget five minutes later).
I have been working on a diaper bag for my friend that will be felted and have a tiny Eeyore silhouette on it. Her baby's only two months old now ( I need to work faster) and she has four other diaper bags (good Lord how many do you need?) but I promised and this will be personalized. I have found that I am allergic to straight wool. I do okay with merino, but the little particles flying off the wool as I knit are making me sneeze and itch so I can only work on so much at a time before I have to set it aside for a few days. I plowed through a good chunk of it yesterday, but am paying the price today. I know some people break out on their hands and I'm glad I'm not one of those people, but I think I may have to lay off the wool from now on.
The Hubby is out to sea right now, but should be home by tomorrow. They're slotted to go out in October for a week and then go out again for almost a month right before Thanksgiving, although they may be gone for Thanksgiving as well. We wives have a plan to get together and fry a turkey and make all the fixings even if they aren't here, but if they are here we will spend time with our own families. They probably won't be here for Halloween either. Lola is going to be Jasmine and Charlie wants to be Dash. Charlie likes the going and getting candy part of Halloween, but he doesn't like all the decorations. Going to the commissary is always fun because they have these bags that are orange with faces that when you stuff them they are pumpkins. They have a bunch stuffed and hanging throughout the store. They also have a huge skeleton with a cape hanging in the frozen food section that send him into screams of terror everytime. Going to the Home Store is even better because they have those blow up lawn decorations that are huge. Charlie freaks out everytime. It's funny, but ridiculous at the same time and we're trying to explain to him that they aren't real. I think that ride on Haunted Mansion when we went to DisneyWorld a year and a half ago may have scarred him. I rented the movie and he watched it. I also got him to watch the DVD extras where they show the making of the film and he got to see that there were just skinny guys in the zombie suits. He walked around telling everyone that zombies aren't real and that they're just actors all day that day. I'm hoping that sticks in his head and he starts to realize that Halloween is just for fun.

Five Days and Counting

Bad, bad week. The sunburn that I complained about last post is still very very red and very very painful. I finally had to go to the doctor and get something a little stronger then extra strength Tylenol just in order to get some sleep. Finally it seems to be taking a turn towards getting better. My legs are fine and were fine two days after the bur, but my back is what hurts. It not only hurts, but I found myself shivering 24/7 for the first two days and wanting to puke. Sleep was impossible and finding any position that was semi comfortable was also impossible. Last night it looked as though it was starting to blister. Thanks to the pain meds I was able to actually put on a shirt and go out in public. As I was standing in line at the NEX it felt like my neck was sweating and I ran my hand around the perimeter of my neck and then up to just under my ear when I felt fluid running down my neck and chest. What the heck was my first reaction and I pulled my hand away to find it covered in what looked like water. I gave my hubby a purplexed look and he checked me over and informed me that I had burst thousands of tiny blisters all around my neck. Sweet. I shrugged. After all it looked like water. We went to lunch and I started getting tiny shooting pains....... like someone was sticking my back with tiny needles...... and then started feeling something running down my back. That didn't look like water and so far I have messed up four shirts today. Gross. But the pain seems to have ebbed since so the blisters forming seem to have been the extension of my pain. Bad news is I have to go out tomorrow and I'm hoping I will have stopped oozing by then, but I don't think it's going to happen. Ah well. My own fault for not using sunscreen on my back. May you all learn from my mistake. I have never had a sunburn this bad and never will again unless I throw myself into a fire. I have learned my lesson thank you very much. I hope you have learned my lesson too........ because it was not only gross, but extremely painful as well.
In other news, I have started the Architect Scarf from Welcome to the Knit Cafe (one of my favorite books!). My mom mailed some yarn that I bought before leaving the states and had left at her house. Five different colors, one skien each.......... what am I going to do with them? Then I realized they were the same colors as those used in the Architect Scarf. They are bolder colors, but same color palette. Perfect! I love working a scarf on size 11 needles. Scarves are just satisfying in the fact that they work up fast and you really only need one to last you the rest of your life (so if I make you a scarf it should be the only scarf that you ever use again for the rest of your life.......... woooohahahahahahhha). I'm also using the rest of the linen/ cotton tape that I have left after making the blouson and am making a short sleeved shrug. It's just like the blouson except open in the front and worked back and forth. I'm supposed to be making a diaper bag for Amanda, but fear has halted my progress. I realized I have just enough to make the bag and not enough for a swatch to felt to see how much it shrinks. I think I'll just have to get over it and make sure that it's 3-5 inches bigger then what I think will work and hope for the best. If it doesn't shrink down that much then she'll just have a little bigger bag, but if it does then it'll be just right. I hope.

Where the Heart Is

As part of my 50th blog I thought I might impart some wisdom. I know that on the 100th you write 100 things about yourself so for my 50th I'll share a few lessons that I've learned all in the past few days.
The first that I learned is that sitting in your house for a week straight will make you feel isolated and in a blah (hince the last post). You need to get out and get some sun daily so that you get your daily ration of vitamin D which will help you not feel so much like Gollum. That having been said the second lesson is this........ limit your time in the sun when you are inches away from the equator. Especially if you come from somewhere considerably above or below the equator. Five hours in the sun without sunscreen will leave you feeling stupid and in serious pain. I put sunscreen on my face and arms, but neglected the white parts of myself...... why, I will never really understand. My back and my legs are the same shade as a lobster and my skin is so swollen and painful that I'm afraid moving too fast in the wrong direction will cause it to split open which is both a painful and extremely disturbing thought.
My third lesson is this: I have come to understand why families have a tendency to lose touch when they move away. Being so far from family I find it hard to call everyone and keep in touch. Part of the reason is the time difference...... I am, after all, half a world away. The other reason is that it is painful. Daily I am reminded of what I miss about "home" and daily I am reminded that I miss my family. That is hard enough on it's own. Even harder is hearing their voices and being able to see their faces in my mind as I hear them talk and their surroundings........ the places that I miss..... the "home" that I miss. I find myself wanting to break down and cry after getting off the phone because I know that I won't see them any time soon and that I couldn't even if I wanted to. That may not be the reason for everyone, but I know that's the reason for me. More then anything I want my family to know that daily I wish I could see them and daily I miss them and think about how much I love them. The only thing that keeps me going is hearing my mom in my mind saying "Think of this as an adventure. You've always wanted to travel and now you are. Enjoy this time and embrace it." So I will enjoy it and try to see everything that I can so that I always have these memories, but "home" is where my heart is.

In A Blah

I've spent the last few weeks in a blah. I don't know how else to describe it. Serious trouble sleeping. I'm writing this at five in the morning after staying up the night before and all day. I'm tired, but can't sleep to save my life. And I'm mad. Yeah I said it! I'm freakin' mad!!!! I don't really know why or who, but I'm mad!
Hubby keeps staying at work late which isn't his fault but I feel it should be. It's one thing to have him gone because then I don't rely on him to be there at all. When he's here I expect him home at a reasonable time so that I can go do something for myself (so I don't crack while he is gone from lack of me time). When he doesn't come home until after 8:30 pm and everything closes at 9pm that puts a dent in my plans. He had duty on my birthday. Again not his fault, but it ticked me off. I feel like when he is home he spends hours and hours on the computer..... in a seperate room....... it's like he's not even home. I would just prefer not to have to rely on someone else so maybe I will just stop relying on him for anything and then I can't get mad. Too bad it doesn't work that way and if it did it would probably kill my marriage.
I've also been sick again. Tired and unable to sleep. All my muscles hurt like I've been spending my days in an all day boot camp. And I've lost my appetite. I'm hungry. My stomach hurts, but I just don't want to eat. I feel like I drank way too much water. At the same time I would swear that I've gained weight around my midsection. It's swollen or something. I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and hopefully I'll get some answers. I've been testing my thyroid every year since I was 18 because I was tired all the time so this has been ongoing and getting progressively worse. Watch it just be stress. Maybe I just need a vacation or three. Decompress. They say to exercise, but I'm not getting enough to eat or sleep for that. There's no way. I don't have a scale but I would swear I've gained more weight. It's getting ridiculous. I think that's part of my blah. I'm kind of scared to go and get checked out. What if they do find something? What if they don't find anything and they just tell me that I'm crazy stressed? Which is worse because I can't decide? I haven't even been knitting. GASP!!!!!!!! The end is nigh!!!!

Miracles

Everytime I start to really question my beliefs as far as God is concerned, something happens that makes me believe even stronger then I did the day before. Today something like that happened. Growing up I went to church and was filled with faith and belief that God existed. I often times had dreams where someone (either an angel or Jesus) would sit and talk with me and would tell me that something was going to happen. After those dreams I would wake and remember in vivid detail everything and those dreams always felt so real. Then the thing that they had said would happen happened. When I became a legal adult I left the church partially because I couldn't stand the hypocrisy and bigotry that Christians showed towards people. Christ's message had always been about love and acceptance, but my fellow churchgoers talked about others behind their backs or didn't accept them because they had a blemish on their record. My other reasons were anger at a difficult situation (I still don't know if I was angry at the people involved, myself, or God on that one) and like most Christian teens found the world to be different then the little Christian bubble that I had been living in until then. Everything had been black and white and now suddenly everything turned grey. Every once and a while I still get a dream telling me about what's to come...... just not as often as before which I can understand because I don't converse with God daily and had begun to wonder if He existed or if we just believe so that we feel we're part of something bigger. I remember one time when I was deep in the trenches of trying to figure out the existence of God he sent me a quirky miracle that made me believe. My hubby and I took the kids to Barnes and Nobles in Hilton Head (which was about 30 minutes from our house at the time). We got there and got the kids out of the car and locked all the doors....... only to realize that the car was still running. I had left the keys in the ignition and locked the whole thing up. At the time I laughed because we had at least gotten the kids out. I knew it would take about thirty minutes to get someone to come out and pop the lock and we didn't have the money to pay for the service so we were in kind of a bind. For once I didn't panic and thought we could go into Barnes and Nobles and call around and maybe see if the police still jimmied cars. There was a guy on a ladder working on the doors at the entrance of the bookstore so I decided to ask him "Hey do you know if cops will still come out to jimmy a car because we locked our keys in the car and it's still running?" He replied "No they don't........ but I'm a locksmith." He jumped down off of his ladder and had our car open within five minutes and even made us a spare key for no charge. How crazy is that?
Nowadays if I pray to God it's regarding someone else. My sister-in-law found out she was pregnant. She already has a 13 year old son, was getting ready to start her career and was recently diagnosed with diabetes. If she were to go through with the pregnancy it could really hurt her health because she couldn't get her blood sugar under control and she was wrestling with the decision of whether or not to get an abortion. She didn't want to but she was afraid for her health as well. Last night I just said to God "I don't even know what the right answer here is. If you can find a way to make it work........" Today He made it work. She went in for a few day stint in the hospital to try and get her blood sugar under control and when they did the ultrasound the baby's heart was no longer beating. She had miscarried. Now that may not seem like a miracle to most people, but God took back a baby to heaven and eased the mind and body of my sister-in-law who doesn't have that gut wrenching decision to have to make anymore. He made it work.

Miles to Go Before I Sleep....... Miles to Go Before I......

I feel like it should be October. I don't know why. Maybe because when we got here it felt like March and if you count the seven months that we've been here it adds up to, funny enough, October.That and I've been really cold here lately. For the past month or so I have been hot and sweating inside all the time (maybe it's hot flashes...... ha ha ha). But for the past two or three days I've been freezing my nubs off. My feet and hands are SO cold and all I can think to do is knit a stocking cap for my head out of the Rowan Calmer that I have. I thought about knitting socks from it, but I can't find all of my US 2 needles. I am so freakin' cold I have goosebumps up and down my arms and I'm wearing my Tink hoodie and flannel flamingo pants. By the way if anyone ever comes across a pair of pajama pants with a flamingo print please by a pair for me in XL because I love this pair, but I have had them for about 10 years now. I keep waiting for them to fall apart, but they have yet to show any signs of wear..... still it would be nice to have a backup pair. Don't you just love it when you have that piece of clothing that you just LOVE and it is so comfortable and if it ever gets a hole or becomes unwearable you will cry and mourn as if you had just lost a close friend? I sigh and think back to my Creeds tee, flannel shirt and cordouroy pants (I found those at the thrift store for $1.95 already broken in!!!).
Still plugging away on the blouson. I may be saying that everytime I blog until my first born leaves elementary school (starting Kindergarten this year). I started a stocking cap in the Rowan Calmer. I had to frog it though because I think I want to go with a smaller gauge and it was about five or ten sts shy of actually fitting my big head. I'm going to make that Alpaca Hoodie for my hubby that I found in Knitting With Balls as well as some socks for Christmas gifts unless people just don't want them. I'm not really that keen on socks........ until I knit myself a pair and I have to say that I wear them around the house just to lounge in and keep my toes warm. They are so comfortable that I completely changed my mindset towards socks. Can't wait to get cracking on my first Buffyverse sweater. I think I've set my mind to making the pink boat mock turtle neck because it was the first one that ever caught my eye and make me think "Wow, they really wear some neat sweater's on Buffy." Whatever..... anyways the point (besides the fact that I'm a dork with too much time on my hands...... at least I'm not inventing Calculus in my spare moments) is that I have a lot of knitting to try to squeeze into between getting Lola ready for her first year of school, putting Charlie into part time daycare, possibly getting a part time job or taking some classes, and being generally more active so that these don't become the last few years of my life in which I sat around and only knit 24/7.
A lot on my plate, but it'll be more interesting and fulfilling then sittin' around!

What to do? What to do?

I was in a daze today. I literally did not know what to do with myself. I don't know if it's because of all the excitement of the past few weeks now suddenly being over or if I am in a slight state of mourning. Perhaps a little of both? I feel like this is the end of an era, but really it's not because there are two more movies that have yet to come out that will keep the Harry Potter spirit alive. That and I can read the books again any time that I want to. But there will be no more surprises and no more anticipation. I finally sat down and knitted for a little while which is something that I haven't been doing the last week or so. I tried to finish the Gryffindor scarf bag before the book was released. I did, but then frogged the flap because I knitted it in St st and it was curling too much. I now have it almost finished with just a few more rows to go and have fixed the problem by starting and ending each edge with three sts in garter so that it stays flat. Can't wait to get birthday money. I am so psyched to buy more yarn and get cracking on Christmas projects as well as my first Buffyverse sweater. I still haven't decided which one I'm going to try first, but I think it may be the Willow overlay in yellow and orange. It caught my eye the most along with the boat mock turtleneck in hot pink. I'm drawn to the color even though I rarely wear color myself.
Trying to hang on to money here in Guam is like trying to hang onto a feather in typhoon winds. It's proving to be quite difficult because everything that you would normally do is twice as much as you're used to and everything costs money. Whether you're going to a movie, or driving around the island because gas costs money and you can't really walk or bike anywhere here. You can, but you may as well jump out into the middle of the road and let them get it over and done with hitting you. Gas is creeping up to $4 a gallon and with no freeways and just stop and go traffic, a trip to the GPO (closest mall) takes about thirty minutes..... only twenty if you miss all the red lights. I need a hobby. Something more physically demanding then knitting because my legs are just itching for some serious movement. I feel like a caged animal and all I want to do is get out and run. *sigh*
I will work through it though and things will get better. Being more active will benefit and give me something fun and free to do. Being lazy is expensive.

Deathly Hallows, no spoilers

It was great! There was only one death that I kind of expected, but didn't really want that occured (actually three). The rest came as par for the course of war. But there was one death that shocked me because I hadn't even contemplated it and it made me cry. My question of "what's up with the goat?" from seeing OOTP was answered (to much glee and laughter)....... and as a final note I have to say " You go Mrs. Weasley!" Chalk one up for all the mothers out there.

Must See Movies

If you need something to......... Holy Hera!!!!! My house is shaking...... Woooooo! That was a long one. Didn't really shake (at least upstairs) but it made the house sound really loud with the rumbling and the....... well rumbling. We haven't had an earthquake in a while and that was a good one. I'd say a five or six. I think it really shook the downstairs because it freaked the kids out and they were downstairs. Normally they don't even notice them.
Anyways..... good summer movies to pass the day time while I'm reading Harry Potter and you're still waiting for it to come out in your fellow bookstore (sorry I couldn't resist with the mocking). Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix....... a definite must see for the Harry Potter fan. It was a good one. BUT, I have to say that my favorite movie to date this summer is Transformers. Shia LeBouf was so cute and his dialogue kept me laughing. The action was AWESOME!!!! I can not stress that enough. AWESOME!!!!!! I left the theatre quiet because if I started talking about the movie I was going to start jumping up and down like a kid screaming to everyone about how AWESOME that movie was. I wanted to burst out of my skin, I was so psyched after seeing that movie. AWESOME!!!! Did I mention it was AWESOME!!!!!? I was an occassional watcher of the cartoon when I was a kid so a die hard fan may love it, but then again they may hate it...... being the biggest critique as well as fan. The special effects were just...... WOW, and the humor was great.
Twelve more hours for Harry Potter. They don't have any midnight madness for the bookstores here, otherwise I would only have four more hours and I'd be jumping out of my skin in excitement. As it is right now my stomach is all butterfly...er.....y. Yeah.... something like that. I have my scarf bag that I made and I'm going to carry my book home in it :-)
Still plugging away on the blouson. That 10 inches of St st is kicking my butt. Lots of sts in St st in the round. It's taking forever. I'm averaging a row or two a day. I'm ready to start something new and might make a hat out of the Rowan Calmer that I have even though it's not really my color...... I've never been one for lavender. It's official name is Tinkerbell and I think that's the only reason why it's endearing to me in any way. If I wind up not using it it'll make a great hat for Lola when we go to Tokyo....... if we get to go to Tokyo ( I really want to go to Tokyo!!!!!). I have yet to be able to save money since we have gotten here. It's really difficult, but we're not struggling. It's more about just staying at home and not going out so much, but it's hard to when it's so beautiful outside. You wind up on the other side of the island using up all your gas and having to buy lunch. We need a cooler.

I'm A Dork

Okay, all you family members out there can now leave comments. The reason you couldn't before is because it was set to allow only memebers of blogspot to do so. I had to change the setting to allow anyone to leave comments, hince the reason why doofus me took 4 months to figure that out (all the while sitting here wondering why no one was posting comments...... "Now why don't he write").
I wish I could continue the dork theme and say that I found my camera sitting out in the open on a table and that I had been looking at it everytime I passed it all this time, but no luck there. And if that were true I'd be seeing a neurologist and getting a CAT scan. I'm sure I will find it in the last place that I look..... hopefuly sometime before I give up and buy a new one.
Now I just have to figure out how to send a video to everyone via e-mail. I found some cute ones that I took using my digital camera (the one that the gnome's are holding for ransom). Watching them I realized how much my little girl has grown. There's a really funny one involving my son, his birthday cake and his fear of open flames.
I've been thinking a lot about my house and what I want to do with it and I think I'm going to be rearranging a few rooms. My hubby will finally get a room for himself. Actually it'll be a kind of everything room because the exercise equipment will be in there and I think the kids will be going in there to watch TV. Why do I even have a living room? I never use it or sit in it because it's just too open for me. Hubby says it's for when people come over, but no one ever comes over and would you really want them to? We have white couches and two toddlers so guess what, the white couches aren't really that white anymore. Speaking of which I found out today that Lola's teacher will be coming to our house before school starts. Well actually I already knew that, but I figured it was so that she could meet Lola on her turf so that she would feel more comfortable on the first day of school. Talking to the other parents though it seems that they do a thorough search of your house. What are they now, social services? That and over half of her school supply list is comprised of things that only the teacher is going to be using. Isn't that what we pay taxes for? This is a military DOD school. Shouldn't they provide all that stuff and keep their noses out of my life? I'll be darned if I let them have a tour of my upstairs. They can check out the downstairs, but that's it. No peaking in mine or my kid's rooms. In fact I'm really starting to consider home schooling. Once I buy everything on this school supply list I'll have enough to open my own school. I don't have anything to hide, but I don't like people snooping in my things, trying to find something wrong with the way I live my life and raise my children. It's bad enough that you can't even disipline your kids without wondering if someone's going to call social services on you. There's a reason why kids who only get time outs still get in trouble and a reason why most kids now a days have no respect for adults or other people....... because they don't know what consequences are. There are consequences for picking on someone bigger then you and in the real world it can get you hospitalized or killed. You have to have a healthy respect for these kinds of things. For my kids not doing what they're told gets them one swat on the leg or they get something taken away that they really like. Soon a swat on the leg will be illegal too. You shouldn't upset your kids or make them unhappy in any way is what we are generally saying and that's just crap because that's the real world. You can't do whatever you want to do and you can't have everything no matter how much you just believe in it. If you don't teach them that and prepare them so that they can fight through that and really accomplish their goals then there will be someone else out there that doesn't care about them or the law that will be more then happy to show them. And that never ends in sunshine and roses. I'll climb off my soapbox now.

If I Ever Find That Gnome.....

..... you know, the one that stole my camera...... I'm going to kick his lil' gnome butt. There are so many things that I want to take pictures of and post on this blog as well as on MySpace and it kills me everytime I post another blog and have no pictures to accompany. Especially of my knitting because you can't see some of the cool things that I'm working on. I just finished a Gryffindor scarf bag that's big enough to hold the hardcover version of any Harry Potter book. Once the book craze is gone it'll work great to carry all my things when I go to the movies. One more day for me and then I shall know all the secrets of Harry Potter..... or at least all the secrets that JK lets us know. I was looking around on Mugglenet and they promised not to post spoilers, but I found that they post the links to them as well as putting them on the site where you have to highlight them if you want to read them. That's the same as posting spoilers in my mind. I'm keeping an open mind because I won't really know anything until I get to read the book. I pre ordered it, but realized that I won't get the book until several days afterwards and I would really be pissed if some ass went walking around the day after with a tee that says something like "Hermione dies on pg 503" and then I would have to jump him and beat the crap out of him (I don't know if Hermione dies in the final book or not..... I hope not because I have hopes for her and Ron). They did that with the sixth book and it really ticked me off even though I finished reading it before leaving my house and finding the sad truth, but it made me mad for all those that hadn't gotten that far into the book yet...... like the ten year old that started crying after she read the crapsters tee. One more day and I'll be up in the bookstore buying a book that I have already bought so that someone doesn't ruin it for me. That entire day will be spent reading and I'm hoping I'll have it done in a few hours.

Breathe me

This song explains how I felt as a child and even moreso when I was 17. How I felt inside during that time..... a feeling that visits me in the night sometimes just to see if it can still make me cry.

Breathe Me by Sia

Help I have done it again
I have been here many times before
Hurt myself again today
And the worst part is there's no one else to blame
Be my friend
Hold me
Wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small and needy
Warm me up and breathe me
Ouch I have lost myself again
Lost myself and I am no where to be found
Yes I think that I might break
Lost myself again and I feel unsafe
Be my friend
Hold me
Wrap me up
Unfold me
I am small and needy
Warm me up and Breathe me


By the way...... it can.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

Just one more week and the Harry Potter book will be out. I'm really excited to see how everything ends. My friend brought me a whole bag full of sweaters from Airman's Attic. It's a store here where you're allowed to take thirty items for free. With the winter clothes you can take as many as you want which is great when you run out of yarn and have no money. I just have to figure out how to deconstruct the sweaters without losing too much of the yarn. I've never done it before, but it's probably just like constructing..... only backwards (wait while I state something even more obvious). I finally got my cable back on and am as bored as ever because there is nothing on and I've gotten used to not watching all the crap. I never realized how much mindless dribble is on TV until I had to go a few months without it. There are a few shows worth watching and I always like HGTV and the Food Network....... probably because so and so didn't sleep with howdawhat's girl, who also slept with so and so's ex, who is hot for and almost kissed whodidoodle last week while drunk at the megawitch's annual party of all the cool kids to which lame-o-nerdicous wasn't invited. Yeah, that's probably why.
I can't wait for the hubby to get home. I'm so ready to get out and do something on my own......... I mean with my hubby. No not really. I mean on my own. I can't wait to get out to a movie or the beach without having to hold my kids by the back of their shirts so they're not running in the aisles or worrying about them drowning. I'll be able to relax at the beach and sleep in the sun and get burned all over my body..... just the front. Ah, good times...... good times.

MAGIC

My skin has finally returned to semi normal...... something I had been afraid to post because if I say something it's likely to find it amusing to go haywire again. Either it's back to normal or I have just moved past caring which is a huge possibility at this point. I'm just very over it and ready to move onto things that are fun. Itching.... not fun, hence my wanting to move on. Everything else is back in order and I only have one more bill to have everything complete and back on track. Then it'll just be a matter of getting the Saab repaired and back on the road for the hubby to drive and all will be 100%. Better than because we didn't have two cars before.
I was feeling very Harry Potterish today and pulled out some old yarn that I used to make my sister a very long (VERY LONG) Gryffindor scarf two Christmases ago and decided to make a skinny Gryffindor scarf for my kids to wear to the movie. It has since been frogged and turned into a bag that is designed like the scarves from movies 3 and 4 and is big enough to hold a hardback version of any Harry Potter book. I wish I could find my camera and take pictures. Oh, God bless the day I find my camera because my blog will be so much more colorful. I would take the pics with the camera attached to the laptop, but that requires holding the laptop at weird angles and taking about a hundred pictures before getting one that's lined up right and lighted well enough to see that it's more then just a blob of fabric. I did it a few times, but tire of it very quickly. If only I had my camera...... all the sights you would see. I was out driving the other day, pining for my camera. I really don't know where it could have disappeared to. I think gnomes stole it. They would have had to because it truly did vanish into thin air. On the vanishing camera trick I have everyone from Penn and Teller to David Blaine beat! Although Penn and Teller could tell me how I did the trick and therefore reveal where my camera now lay.
Still making my Christmas list. It seems to grow as I think of more and more people that I don't want to leave out of the handmade knits circle. Alas I will have to trim the list because I do not knit that fast nor do I have that kind of time to devote. It would take me every hour of everyday and I would have to knit fast enough to set the wool on fire. I'm keeping to little projects that only take a few days and hopefully I will get done for everyone who made my first list and maybe for a few more who made my second, much longer list. We shall see.
Oh, I almost forgot...... Tuesday I went to the GPO (local mall) and they had Christmas decorations outside. At first I thought maybe I had joined the ranks of Rip Van Winkle and had slept longer then I thought because it's hard to tell here in the season of perpetual summer. Later that night I took the kids to a movie at the GPO and when we came outside it was snowing. I really thought I had lost my mind at that point. All those nights of wishful thinking since we got here had finally cracked my brain. It was like being in a dream. It was dark outside and they had lights up and you could see the snow drifting past the lights and accumulating on the ground. Then I had a second of fear where I thought maybe hell had finally frozen over and I was never going to read the last Harry Potter book because the world was about to end. Just a second though. Then I realized that it was the same "snow" they had in the mall during Christmas. It was foam...... which I must say makes a very realistic snow. It was very magical. The kids and I then went to the bookstore and tried a few things off their new menus where everything is named after something from a Harry Potter book. We had the Polyjuice Potion and Mrs Weasley's Berry Trifle. The Potion was a bit too sweet, but I can't wait to have another trifle and try the Gryffindor Latte.

I Feel Ready to Go Back to School

I got my WOMBAT results. For those not in the know WOMBAT is a test on your knowledge on all things having to do with Harry Potter. On JK Rowling's official website she posts these tests every once and while. There have been three total. I missed the first two and was wondering how you play until I saw a post saying that the DO NOT DISTURB sign on the secret door was off and the third test was available to take if you could figure out how to open the door. I did and took the test which is the last and the hardest of all of them. You literally have to have read and know the subtle things about Harry Potter's world because they asked things that weren't in the book but you should be able to figure them out by just knowing how things work in Harry Potter's world. I must know it pretty good because I got an Exceeds Expectations on my results, something that surprised me because I really felt like I had no clue. What made this test even harder is that you could lose points for getting something wrong so I must have gotten most if not all of my answers right. I don't know what the highest grade is, but I'm guessing outstanding if they use the same grading scale as for the OWLS in Harry Potter. I'm such a dork and I know it.
I'm thinking I should have everyone send me money for this birthday since shipping anything is going to cost. At least with money it's only regular postage. That and I keep thinking about all the knitting supplies that I want to get along with some new clothes and shoes. My flip flops are coming apart and I've had my eye on this cute pair of sandals (very important to have in a warm climate). I thought about having people order the knitting stuff that I want, but I'm not even 100% sure about what project I want to start right now. There are so many that I'm anxious to cast on. Not to mention the whole Buffyverse set that I'm eager to get some yarn for and start reconstructing. I have come to the realization that the Buffyverse sweater reconstruction is going to take up years of my life because a sweater isn't cheap and while I did contemplate making them only big enough for my kids to fit into (use them as my models) it doesn't really help those adult knitters out there who maybe grew up watching Buffy like myself and would enjoy having one of those sweaters to fit themselves. I decided to make them big enough to fit an average sized woman and all that yarn can get pricey. I'm going to have to work it one at a time and slowly too because I've never done something this ambitious before, but I would feel like a chump if I give it up and back out. I can go with cheapy yarn and maybe I'll be able to eek out more then a couple every year along with everything else that I want to knit.
Currently I am knitting the short sleeve blouson from page 52 of the VOGUEknitting knit.1 summer 2007 Green Issue. It's a top down knit which I must say is a first and a pleasant experience for me. I was able to get to the waistband and bind off, finish the sleeves and then try on to see if it needed any adjustments. I found that I needed to add a few more rows in St st before decreasing for the empire waist, to allow for my larger then the norm bust. That's nice because knitting from the bottom up would have meant that I would have had to finish the entire shirt before trying it on and finding that my boobs did't fit into it. That would have ticked me off as I frogged over half of it to fix the problem. This way I only had to frog ten rows and I'm well on my way again. Sweet.
I bought the book Knitting with Balls by Michael del Vecchio and I'm excited to finally have some really nice gift ideas for men. It would be great if I could get my hubby to knit, but he's expressed no interest and that's fine, but still you dream. Maybe my son will want to learn. Either way I have some great patterns that I'm dying to knit. The Fisherman's Watchcap and Scarf Set would be a great Christmas gift as well as the Hiking Boot Socks and the Aran Laptop Cover. My brother-in-law requested wool socks once and I feel guilty because I never made them for him but these Hiking Socks would be an easy and quick knit on size 8 needles. Perfect for when he goes skiing. There's also a Hooded Alpaca Parka that I'm all set to knit for hubby, although I must confess that I'm sure I'm knitting it more for myself because I plan on stealing and using said Parka for me. Maybe I'll just make it for me and knit him the Argyle vest or the Aran Pullover. I wonder if he would like Knee Length Coat, but I'm guessing he wouldn't and I should probably stick to something simple and classic. I'm in the process of finding yarns to substitute since I'm unsure of how my skin would like alpaca (especially with everything here lately). I have plenty time to decide since I nor my hubby will need any sweaters anytime soon unless we decide to go to Tokyo in the winter. Which is a possibility. If I can get our passports. And save enough money. And get hotel reservations at the military hotel in Tokyo. And take a class in Japanese. And save enough money. And......... save enough money. Money is key. *sigh* So many things that I want to do....... if only I had a million dollars. Think of all the yarn I could buy with that! Actually I would buy a house in SC and a semi newer car for my hubby and then the rest could be split three ways between my kids: Charlie, Lola and yarn.

Allergy

The itching came back. I had to take my sorry butt back to the doctor again this week, two days after telling my friend that I thought this time the medicine was working and I might finally be rid of this infernal itching. I woke in the morning itchy all over my legs, arms and face. I took two Benadryl and headed to the doctor who proceeded to do nothing for me. Not that it mattered because by the time I saw her the Benadryl was in full swing and I was completely lucid and non itchy at that point. I was however hoping they might perform an allergy test because I would really like to know what is causing this. They keep telling me to elliminate things from my diet which is great advice if it were something simple like strawberries or nuts, but I'm thinking it might be eggs, milk, or soy and that stuff is in everything, sometimes under names that you wouldn't think were that ingredient. They need to at least send me to a nutritionist so that I can spot the hidden milk, eggs and soy in an ingredient label. I guess I could confine myself to a diet of only rice for a few weeks, but that really sounds pathetic when I could go in and have them stick me with needles and tell me " Oh, hey, you're allergic to such and such." Just my luck I'm allergic to all three. If I had to pick I think I would choose...... well I really can't choose. Milk is in all my favorite foods, including chocolate. I just found a new love for tofu and I'm pretty sure that there are eggs in all the best foods as well. Or maybe it's none of those and if that's the case I may never figure out what it is. All I know is that I'm really itchy again today and I'm sure that I didn't eat anything with all three of those things in it yesterday. Maybe I'm allergic to myself. Or as the doctor said "I think maybe your skin doesn't like Guam." Well thank you, but can we find a different reason and a solution. Like an ALLERGY TEST! Please, I'm tired of this and I'm just waiting for the day when my reaction becomes so bad I have my life pass before my eyes as my throat swells shut and I can't breathe. I can't afford that right now. I'm a single mom for all intents and purposes for the next few weeks until my hubby returns from his deployment. I can't be sick, or ill, or run down, or even the slightest bit tired. I just can't. Why can't anyone else see the importance of me being well for at least a few weeks. Throw me a friggin' bone!
In other news, Lola lost another tooth last night. The Tooth Fairy had to frantically search for dollar to put in place of said tooth, but was fortunate enough to find one stashed away which is good because otherwise the Tooth Fairy would have had to bum said dollar off of the Easter Bunny who lives two blocks away.

Hobbies

I found another hobby that I want to try. Well actually two. Kite boarding and scuba diving. I really want to learn to surf, but there's really only one good place to surf here and I'm sure they don't want a novice swimming up in there and ruining things. If I learn kite boarding though I have more places to learn without getting in other people's way AND when I go to learn surfing it'll be easier because I will have already learned balance on a board and built up the muscles needed. We're planning on San Diego as our next duty station and I'm hoping my sister is still into surfing because then she can maybe help me and we can surf together..... or kite board. I've been working out to build up the muscles needed for kite boarding so that it'll be easier and I'm planning on taking my first lessons in the "winter". Now if I can just figure out how to do all this and knit at the same time ;-)
I wish I could fix my elliptical machine. It works, but it makes a loud clacking noise that makes it annoying to use. While assembling it you have to have someone on each side tightening the handles at the same time with the same tension. Unless they're the same person they're not going to tighten with the same tension. My hubby, who can bench 300 lbs, is going to tighten a little tighter then myself, who can only bench 160lbs (I know.....impressive......I think.....how much can a normal woman bench?). Anyways, the point is, it's annoying and you can't use it early in the morning without waking the kids. Any mother will tell you they don't want their kids up when you're trying to get in exercise, a shower and breakfast made before they grace you with their wonderful energy.

Summerwear and Christmaswear

I'm still in the process of cataloging and picking which sweaters I'm going to recreate from the Buffyverse. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Willow has a yellow and orange mohair (or angora?) overlay that looks like it would be really neat to recreate. There were a lot more then I thought there were and I'm kind of in overwhelmed mode right now. Between that and making out my knitting Christmas list I'm up to my eyeballs in designs, yarn, needles, and lists. I'm also trying to work out how to knit and work out at the same time. If I work out as much as I knit I'll be as buff as..... well Buffy. I was also struck by inspiration. I've had a cone of a cotton/linen blend ribbon yarn and I had no idea what to do with it until I purchased the Summer issue of knit.1. There's a blouson knitted from the top down that looked like I could pull it off with this ribbon. That way I'll have a nice shirt for myself and get rid of this yarn that's been mocking me from the back corner of my knitting drawer.
To keep things simple I have decided that my mom and dad are the only ones getting big knit gifts this year. Everyone else will be getting hats, scarves or socks. As much as I would love to knit everyone a cardigan or sweater I just don't have the time or the money to do so.
I also have been thinking about what I want for my birthday. All knitting related of course. I'm quickly running out of all that yarn that I bought and I have so many projects that I want to get going and done. I also need new clothes. Not of the knitted variety but just your general everyday t-shirt. Don't know where to buy for them here though. Everything's so expensive and if I'm going to order off line I like to do so in one big shopping event so that I have minimal in the way of shipping. There are the local shops that I need to locate, but general wardrobe consists of long skirts and tees..... the local outfit of choice for women island wide. No MuMus! I have seen lots of them sold everywhere along with skirts and dresses which would be nice except in order to wear a skirt of any kind I need shorts underneath. For comfort and modesty purposes. I always feel like my butt is just hanging out in the wind whenever I wear a skirt. If I could find a pair of spankies with a little pocket that would be great. IDEA!!!!! Maybe I could knit some!!!. But first I need yarn and needles!
I dyed my hair. Just thought I would throw that in. Natural reddish blonde. I like it. I'm still getting used to it though. I haven't colored my hair in years and it shows. I'm going to have to redo it in a few weeks because I focused on my roots and should have used two bottles instead of one. The result is that it looks like my hair is growing back in natural reddish blonde. The ends are a little red, but there is a strip of hair (a horizontal strip) that is my original color. But I've been ponytailing it until I can fix it. It'll be okay. For the next dye job I'll focus more on the middle and ends and make sure that I have two bottles in case I need them. This will actually work to my advantage and keep me from getting hot roots. My hair has been growing like crazy and is back to the same length that is was before I cut four inches off of it about two months ago. ohhhh...... m&ms. I just found sitting next to me.

Welcome to Crazytown, next stop... Buffyverse

I've been blogging because I have no one to talk the ears off of. Another sleepless night, but at least the itching is going away and I'm sure I'll have no problem sleeping while we take the kids to see Surf's Up tomorrow. Crazytown placed me in the vicinity of Christmas town and I'm furiously making out my knitting itinerary for the Christmas season. What yarn I need for what project that I'm making for whom. Also while in a drug induced moment of inspiration last week I realized that the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer (of which I have all seasons except season 7..... I will have it soon.... oh yes, I will have it soon) has a vast array of sweaters that look absolutely fabulous. I probably never noticed this before because while on air I wasn't yet addicted to the knitting scene. I have already spotted several key sweaters that I think I will begin to design through close study, just as other people have done for Harry Potter and the like. Giles has several tweedy English style classics that would appeal to men, Willow's always sporting something artsy, and Buffy has the fashionable yet classic knits.......most of which are chunky and should knit up quickly and easily. There's one sweater in particular from the episode "Where the Wild Things Are" from season four. It's a chunky turtle neck in St st that has several lines of garter for interest. There is also a bright pink sweater (dubbed the cotton candy sweater by my thoughts) that is a boatneck, but then is a turtle neck and is very bright and pretty. There are also some white turtlenecked raglan sleeved sweaters that look very cozy as well. I shall begin work immediately and posts will follow soon. I'm focusing on Season 4 as of right now and will move on from there. I don't remember seeing many...... if any from the first season, but I'm sure there are and I'll get to those. Starting with season four will put the fashion more forward and keep us from horrid 90's fashion flashbacks, but if I find some nice classics I'll pass them along. Here's to you Joss Whedon and the clothing staff of the show that got me through the last year of high school and into the first year of my marriage. No one else that I knew watched Buffy or gave it a chance, but I could relate to the issues that she went through and that was Joss Whedon's goal. I'd say he did a fabulous job. I wonder if he'll ever come across this blog and if he does I hope that he likes that fact that I took an interest in something that other people might never have noticed. He probably doesn't care either way, but here's to Joss Whedon, Buffy and the Scoobies, knitting, the combination of all and steroids!

Steroids: round 2

Here I am hopping the bus to CrazyTown again. Another round of steroids and hopefully a resolution to the itch phenomenon. It might be the dog, it might be eggs, it might be that I'm allergic to my hubby. I hope it's not the dog because then it's going to be hard to go visit hubby's family since they all own dogs. It started really breaking out yesterday bad and I had a plate of eggs for breakfast with the kids Wednesday morning. In fact if I remember correctly I started getting itchy around afternoon time Wednesday. If not then it's hubby who came home on Wednesday evening. Something that he's bringing home from work.....which could be ANYTHING! Or it just could be ANYTHING! Maybe it is the dog because since I got home I've gotten itchier and itchier. It's something in this house! I'm itchier downstairs then upstairs though and the dog resides upstairs. I don't know. I JUST DON'T KNOW! And it's driving me crazy!!!!!!!!!! It's idiotic that you should suddenly develop an allergy to something as an adult. And if it's eggs I'm really screwed because some of the best foods have eggs in them......like eggs. Or maybe it's the cat. She resides downstairs most of the time.....hmmmmm...... I wouldn't mind getting rid of the cat, but the kids wouldn't like it. They love her. And I would have thought that I would have broken out way back when we got the cat. Maybe it's just dust. Okay I'm going to stop with the maybes because they're driving me batty. Off to bed so I can nap and stop itching for a little bit while I'm unconcious.

The Itch is Back

Elton John reference there for all you Elton John fans. But the itch is definitely back. I am freaked beyond belief and hating having to go back to the doctor. My car that I bought still isn't ready so they put me in a rental. The Guam bombest rental they could find.The check engine light is on and the door handle came off in the hubby's hand as he tried to enter the car. This car is one of the Tercels that they had for sale. I'm now forever grateful that they've taken the time to fix up the Camry as much as possible before releasing it to me and if they had handed me this Tercel for $3000 I would have handed it right back and be on a plane to Bali or Japan for a vacation right now. Surprisingly $3000 would not get me to CA either one way or round trip otherwise it would be there that I make my destination.
I was wrong in my posting before about the rainy season. The rainy season starts in July so the rain that we were seeing earlier is nothing. It seems funny that they let the kids out of school just in time for the rainy season. Happy summer vacation. Enjoy it indoors. Hopefully it won't be too bad and most of the rain will occur at night as I have read. We've been here all of the dry season and already almost had a typhoon. The rainy season is, of course, more prone to typhoons and I'm praying that this isn't the year for a super typhoon (or any year that we're here for that matter).
I guess at least it's a payday. That doesn't make the itch go away......in fact it doesn't even make it bearable at this point. You know what, I'm really starting to hate the ridiculousness that has become my life. I know it could be worse, but I also need a break at this point. I would settle for no itch, but I'm also tired of having to throw all my money away on rental cars because they can't fix my car or because they are continually repairing the other car that I have bought and paid for. I have other bills that need to be paid. Like the phone and the cable. It really sucks being stuck in the house with no vehicle or no money when you don't even have cable to make the time pass (no cable equals no tv period).
Well I'm off for the day to get money, see a doctor about some more steroids, and to hopefully get my car.....finally.

Passing

There is a blog that I read frequently, www.que-sarah-sarah.blogspot.com..... A woman named Sarah Toller who is living with melanoma. I just recently found her blog and have gained a new perspective on life by reading what it's like to live with cancer. All her dreams, being a mom in particular, were taken from her when cancer came knocking. She speaks very frankly and emotionally about how she always knew she was meant to be a mom and how she can't now because of cancer. She had been very sick as of late. Her hubby had been blogging for her since she was hospital bound and in and out of drug induced sleep. She died in the morning of the 12th of June stateside time. I never knew her, but I feel like I did and I cry for her. I hope she found peace.

I have NO witty title

Hubby is due home sometime today and I'm excited. Not because I'll get to see him, but because I'll get a break. And because I'll get to see him, but moreso because the kids will get to see him. They've been asking all week "Where is daddy?" It's going to really get old hearing that quesion everyday when they go away for a few months.
I've spent the last few days looking at going to Japan. I think that it would be nice for us as a family to go around Thanksgiving or Christmas. That way we can experience the cold and it'll feel more like the holidays. This year we're going to try for Southern California. I keep promising my dad that I'll come and visit, but every turn to try to get there has been hampered. I was going to try to fly space available, but came across the problem of how to get back since they only fly out around San Francisco. I would have to be able to have cheap lodging until I could get a flight out. Then I found out that they want you to have enough money to be able to buy tickets back. Well the cost of a one way ticket from there to here costs just as much (actually more) then a round way ticket from here to Southern California. If I had $5000 I would just buy the tickets and save myself the hassle. This all seems highly ludicrous since it would have been cheaper if I had flown out to see him while I still lived in the states. And did you know that it costs just as much if not more to fly to Hawaii from here. It seems ridiculous. Flying to Japan is $400-$500 and flying to Bali (which is further) is $400. Where do they come up with these prices? I guess they charge more for where everyone wants to go. Bali is another place I would love to go....... as well as Hong Kong and mainland China. The China trip would have to be a long one so I could see everything that I've always wanted to see. There is so much that I was hoping to see, but it looks like money is going to get in the way of that. I guess I should be grateful that I've made it halfway around the world from where I started. I've always wanted to see the world.....different places and different faces. There's so much to learn. Then there's also New Zealand and Australia that I'm tempted to see while I'm here as well. First thing I need is a passport ;-)