On the 4th Day of Christmas........

Basketball season started today for the kids. Razorbacks and Badgers (and yes, we've seen the honey badger video on YouTube). Back to hardcore studying once Christmas has passed. The eldest will be starting in on book reports and having to read things that she doesn't want to read. The youngest will be upgrading to bigger numbers and carrying the 1. These are the only things that I'm concerned we may shed tears over. I think I've gotten a good start on the business. I'm ironing out what I'm going to be making and selling as well as starting to compile cost lists and so forth. May have an Etsy store up and running by the start of the New Year. My next goal is a table at the Flea Market on weekends. There are some higher class people who would swear to me that that is not the place that I want to sell my items because that's not the kind of crowd you want to be selling to. 'Cuse me? You never know when there might be a business man in the crowd looking to market someone. That and the lower class is just as entitled to having something handmade and wonderful as the upper and middle class are (..... if not more so in most cases). I just have to keep telling myself that I can do this. I'm so good at starting things....... not so good at finishing. I would like to finish this and see it through to the beginning of a lucrative living. I would be happy if it just brought in a little extra money until I can get that creative career as an animator for a hit tv kids show. Sorry...... went off on that dream again. There's the other one where we all tour the country going from craft show to craft show in a gypsy caravan (or Tumbleweed House) and my kids find themselves a niche in the craft and art world. I'm rambling now. This is what happens when I don't get enough sleep. The Christmas tree looks nice though. Love the lights, every year.

It's Beginning to Look A lot Like.......

I try to save the insanity of Christmas for December only and not allow it to seep out into the rest of the year. Yeah right. I'm a knitter which means that my insanity level hits critical mass in September and stays there until the last gift is unwrapped. Then it begins again at the beginning of the New Year. See September is crunch time. Time when I have to figure out do I really have time to knit 14 more pairs of socks before Santa squeezes his fat arse down the chimney. Time when I wonder if I'm going to hell for that thought and time when I see if I can squeeze in more knitting without making my head explode. It never works out. Why? Because I am procrastinator and what I should have done in September I am now doing in December (good thing the list is short this year) along with trying out ideas for a little business I may be starting up soon (if I ever gear up the necessary confidence.... this is scary). Enjoy your Christmas and I'll enjoy the Nog.

Sour Apples

I have a Mac, but right now I can't use it so I'm stuck blogging to you from my hubs computer which...... I don't like. Not quite sure if or how I can load pictures to this thing and the track pad can be tempermental sometimes. Like when all it wants to do is enlarge or reduce the screen when what I WANT it to do is move the arrow to my point of interest. Son of a...... Then I have to turn it off and hope that it resets itself. Of course the hubs doesn't have this problem. I have a theory that computers can sense your feelings and will mess with you if they think they can get a few chuckles out of it. My Mac is currently a paperweight because the charger is not working. This is the third cord that I've gone through and I can't figure out why these things stop working. There are no discernable bite marks (I have a cat that likes to chew on cords) and all I can think is that it gets overloaded because I keep it plugged in even when I'm not using it. Anyone else having this problem with Apple chargers? And it doesn't help that you can't buy a generic one from Wal-Mart and they cost $100 to replace. This is the third one this year!!!! I don't have that kind of money. I happened to have the first two from previous Apple purchases and they did the same thing even though I had them for a long time before hand. One day they just stopped working. I'm getting a warranty on the next one if I can. It's gotta be the cat doing it and maybe she's just learned how to chew the cords without leaving damage. Don't know how. Or maybe the gnomes have stepped up their game and are coming after my cords now. I know they loved having my camera and were probably miffed when I took it back. Time to knit them another set of socks to distract them from messing with my electronics, lol. Christmas time is here and that means handmade gifts for everyone. I'm starting to like that better than buying. I think those that recieve the gifts like it better too because it's a one of a kind item and I took the time to make them something which I think makes them feel special. I really love it when kids ask me to make them something. It seems more special that way for me anyways. I had a request from a young cousin and I'm aiming to make sure that I have it for her by Christmas. After my last blog I went out of town for a few weeks and had no internet access. I loved every minute of it, but can't say that I didn't miss it. There are times when you just want to look something up or watch something and you think "No internet..... darn." My grandparents still have dial-up and it refused to connect the whole time I was there, but we still had Plants vs Zombies to play and lots of land to roam around. The kids loved it and I wish that we had a place with plenty of land for them to play on daily. I think they wouldn't miss tv and video games because that seemed to be the case while we were visiting and it brought back memories of good times when I was a kid. Coming home was like stuffing myself into a cave, but it's just not possible to let them play outside whenever where we live right now. Dear Santa, I would love a tranq gun for Christmas. I'm going to use it on my neighbors during times like right now. If I wanted to listen to your music I would have it blasting in my house as well. You notice that I don't. Thwip! Tranq them and turn it off and not have to worry about it for a few hours. Fighting in the hall? Thwip! Tranq dart to the rescue, no need for the police to solve a domestic disturbance. Yes, Santa, I want a tranq gun. I will be sure to get my darts back and no one need ever know that they've been tranqed. They can blame it on aliens. A non violent solution to all of life's little problems. I love it. I want it.

To Everything, Turn, Turn, Turn.......

My aunt asked if I blog and I had to admit that I had fallen off the wagon and have gotten to the point where I hardly ever blog. Some of that has to do with the fact that I love to have a lot of pictures in my blog and the last several seem to be pictureless. I think it made me lose my excitement for my blog. I'm going to try and do better, but I can't promise that I will succeed. I have this habit of trying something just to learn how to do it or to say that I did it (my mini bucket lists) and then stopping once I've got it. I'm into the learning process. BUT, being out of school has meant that I've had a lot of time to try new things and I've got several new crafts that I've taken up and successfully completed that I would like to share. That brings me to the second reason why I really don't blog anymore, who reads this thing? Hardly anyone ever comments. Does anyone out there really care about what I'm putting on this little slice of WWW? Sigh. I guess that not blogging is a surefire way of never getting anyone interested in my blog, but I just don't think that anything I have to say or any of my talents are impressive to anyone. Regardless, I think that I'm going to keep plugging away at this thing and see what happens. Actual craft posts are returning and there will be pictures (provided I don't lose my camera like I always seem to do right when I want to load my pics to the blog). I'm going to do it this time and not procrastinate and once I stop laughing at myself for even posting this sentence I'll be back with another post....... real soon (that's a shout out to Mark Crilley, lol).

Son of a Biscuit Eater!!!!!

Resolutions. Rereading I've realized that I am not going to get any of those resolutions done before the year is out...... and I. DON'T. CARE. Hubs got a job in his field of study so that when he finishes school in the Spring he can just keep working.... with a slight promotion. The kids are taking swimming lessons again this year and are learning more. I think their fears are starting to leave them and allowing them to actually learn. Doesn't hurt that we spent a week with the family and they were in the pool almost the whole time (hey, that was how we learned how to swim). I won't be finishing up my degree this year, but have had to go on hiatus until the hubs gets done. He's going to be working and going to school full time so there won't be any time left for me to try to puzzle in a class schedule. I can get into a pottery studio when he's not working though so I'm hoping to do that and keep going with my throwing. I was getting really good at making mugs and bowls. I would like to expand my abilities though. Not much knitting was getting done while I was in school, but I'm getting back into it as I've had the summer semester off. I went really ambitious and am knitting a big cotton blanket for the hubs. He loves them but all the ones that I find in the stores snag too easily and I thought it would be a great item for him to have. I'm starting to wonder if it's going to be big enough though. I'm nowhere close to finished and it may take me several more months before I'm even halfway there. In other areas, I've taken up an interest in some other crafts. A few of which are making paper beads (now I just need some Judikins Diamond finish), viking knitting and making art journals. The art journals are a long term project, but I'm thinking about prepping books for other people and selling them or making some. I don't know if it would be legal for me to use an altered hardback book if I'm going to be selling them. I took two books that I got from a thrift store. Both are the children classic hardbacks, one is Anne of Green Gables and the other is Huck Finn. They are rewritten for a child, but I read the originals as a child and have no problem altering these books that don't have the whole of my beloved classics. I've started by ripping out pages here and there, gluing them together to make them two pages thick, and gessoing the pages to cover up the words and pictures with a white wash effect. I will be posting pictures. I know I'm going to be up all night working on these again. I almost have the Anne one done and the Huck halfway. I took the hubs old sociology book that he couldn't sell back and started altering it for myself (the other two are for my kids). I really like that it has a fold out in the front cover and can't wait to decorate it with all my favorite things. I've also been thinking about the Renaissance festival coming up and would love to get a sewing machine and take a crack at making my own (simple) costume. Then maybe I could go further and make a Molly Weasley outfit for Halloween this year and complete a small dream that I've had for the past three or four Halloweens.

Resolutions

Some of the things that I hope to get done this year:

1. Finish up my degree in fine arts
2. lose about 30 lbs. This should be doable in a year's time right....?.......Right?
3. Be more active and healthy (this includes what I eat and both of these should help me with #2).
4. Blog more. I've been neglectful.
5. take up photography again. I was always good at it, might as well add it back to my list of things that I do well.
6. stay more organized....... I realize this may be a pipe dream
7. Knit a little everyday


That's it. Any more and my head might explode.

School started for me on Tuesday and I'm looking forward to this semester. It may all get cut short if the hubs gets that job in Boone and that would be okay too. A job is key in these times. Things don't look like they're getting any better any time soon and we're running out of resources.
Tuesday I found out that I most likely made it into the Raleigh art show. They pick four pieces from each school to showcase in their gallery. I'll know more next week. I would have known more today, but an infection has me crawling to the doctor. Same skin infection that I had a few weeks ago has come back and it hurts like a motha'! I'm hoping it's just a general staph infection and not MRSA. I'm on this medicine that lowers my immune system and I'm starting to seriously think about coming off of it. Problem is that all the meds that control my disease lower the immune system so it might not be an option, but I don't want to get something that could kill me either. So far it's been limited to my skin which is fairly harmless and hopefully it'll just be another round of antibiotics and I won't hear from this stupid thing again (cause it REALLY hurts).

Rough Times, but there's ALWAYS a light to be seen

With a new year comes hope that this year may be better than the last. Hubby's job in Mississippi got recended. I didn't even know that they could do something like that. At least they told us before we packed up and moved everything out or we would have been really in a bind. So we finished out the year in the same place. Not so bad except now the unemployment has run out and it doesn't look as if the job market is getting any better. I've been looking, he's been looking and nothing. I've been looking locally for the past 6 months and he's been looking everywhere for the past 3 years. Nada. This is crap. How are people supposed to make it? I have a dream about a plot of land, a cob house, chickens and a garden so that we could be more self sufficient and not so needful of the crappy green paper with dead men on it. It seems so absurd that we put so much value on colored paper, but we do and for most necessities you have to, that's the saddest thing of all. There was a time when people didn't need it at all and they got along on their ability to grow crops, raise animals and trading with their community. I'm hoping that my family can get back to a more basic living, but I need to have everyone onboard cause I can't run a homestead on my own. Regardless we need jobs before we can even begin to think in that direction anyways. I hope everyone that can would start trying their hand at growing their own crops a little at a time. There is satisfaction in doing for yourself.
My health seems to also be on a downswing. My resolution is to drop some weight to help with my arthritis. There's not much that I can do to stop the psoriasis that is slowly taking over my skin again especially when my doctors keep telling me everything is okay. I'm pretty sure the resurgence of my arthritis (more painful than it was before) and my skin breaking out is signaling that my medicine is no longer effective, but I can't get my doctor to see it. Maybe I need to be more forceful. I saw a rheumatologist who told me that I don't have arthritis and possibly that I didn't have psoriasis (until he saw my scalp). The first time I broke out I was told that it was a fungal infection or a reaction to something until it wouldn't go away so this is nothing new to me. Sometimes doctor's take some convincing. The rheumatologist couldn't explain what it was that I have that's causing my joints to hurt, but he was sure it wasn't arthritis. I have to disagree because the pain is the same that I had before I was put on the Humira and once I started taking it I stopped having the joint pain. It's been slowly coming back along with the breakouts and here lately it's becoming difficult to do things with my hands. He said that because I didn't have pitting in my nails and swollen fingers that it couldn't be psoratic arthritis. I have searched all over the internet and I can find no where that says that you have to have the pitting of the nails (which seems to actually be more of a symptom of the psoriasis, but only if you break out on your hands) and my fingers may not have been swollen right then, but that doesn't mean that they never are. There is a list of symptoms that all the sites give and it says that you have to have at least two of them to be considered for psoratic arthritis. I have five. I have another appointment in February and if I get the same from him then I'll get a second opinion. Hopefully we'll just move and I can see a new rheumatologist.
I'm keeping my swollen fingers together (can't cross them cause they hurt) that my hubby will get this job in the mountains. This is the third time he's gone there for an interview and they like him. There are only two other people in the running for it this time so it's looking like the odds are in our favor, but we're not really getting up hope until we find out for sure. We'll know before the end of the month so that's good. In the meantime I'm going back to school for another semester and I'm one more step towards getting my degree. I only have one more semester after this and I'll have it. I'm feeling a great sense of accomplishment as I get closer and closer.
All this school has left little time for knitting, but I tried to make up for it over the break. I finished a pair of socks for my Grandma (an urgent project cause I never know how much time is left in life). I don't have a picture of them, but I'm working on a red pair now for myself (that I'm very happy with and can't wait to have on my feet) for your viewing pleasure.

They're the Dead Simple Lace Socks from Wendy D. Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up
I love this book and I'm hoping to do a pair from each pattern in it. My Grandma's socks were the On Hold Socks and I'm hoping to start another pair in the Lacy Ribs Socks pattern out of some variegated Malabrigo that I have.
One really good thing that happened for me this year was this........

and this.......

Know what those are????? My art pieces in a GALLERY!!!!!!!!!! It was a student show, but I was still excited to have my work shown. My kids were mighty proud too and my daughter kept telling everyone that came in that her momma made those. I think she was more excited to tell people than I was.

I'm Freaking out on the Inside

Just found out today that my hubby got a job in Mississippi. Okay. We have to be there by October 11th. I need to throw up.

There are pros and cons to this. We'll be further away from family, we have to quickly pack and move with two kids and I'm not going to be able to finish my classes for this semester. Those are the cons. The pros are that my DH will finally have a job after 3 years of searching, medical benefits should we lose our military when he goes for his disability review, we get to see new places AND we'll only be one hour away from New Orleans (a place I've always wanted to go, but have never had the chance). But first there's moving. There's that urge to puke again.

Summer break! Two weeks of..... nothing. Summer semester is starting on Monday and I'm excited. I'm only taking two classes, English (literature based research) and Painting 1. It'll be a quick semester (only eight weeks) and then the real summer break begins. I'm excited about the painting class. I've have paintings that I've made, but I'm wanting to learn more about color theory and how to blend so that I can have shadows and realism in my paintings (all my other paintings are of the surreal type). I'm excited about the English class too, but you can only get so excited when you know that there are essays and research papers involved. Still haven't gotten into knitting anything. I pick up something every once and awhile, but the urge really isn't there. GASP! I know. I feel hurt by the thought that I may never want to knit again and then reality hits and I laugh hysterically knowing that addictions always come back to bite you in the bum (it's my only addiction and a healthy one at that so I can't complain).
For my next summer break I want a vacation of Phineas and Ferb proportions. Building a rocket, fighting a mummy, or climbing up the Effiel Tower. Discovering something that doesn't exist, or giving a monkey a shower (yep, it had to be done). You know, THAT kind of summer. The kind I used to have as a kid. I'm looking into getting some camping gear and taking the kids out into nature and the look on their face when I tell them that they need to dig a hole before they DOO that (ha ha ha!).
Someone needs to come up with a snoring cure. BEFORE I beat my husband to a pulp in an attempt to get him to stop. Just sayin'

Future's lookin' so Bright!!!!!!

First sunburn of the season. It hurts so good. It's been too hot to knit and I'm back to school as well so the knitting seems to be going on hiatus. I have to rip back and make the skinny clapotis longer as soon as I finish making a small bag from the same yarn. I needed to make sure that I have enough yarn for the bag, but now I'm thinking I might look for something different to make the little bag out of. I have been more inspired to draw lately and I think that I'm going to try to get in a few art classes stating Fall semester and build up a portfolio that I can have on hand. I'm still toying with the tattoo artist idea. If I can get my foot in the door it would so be worth it, but it's finding someone to train you that becomes the problem. That and I need a little more training in the art department (I think) before I start putting permanent ink on people's skin. I'm trying really hard to find my niche and I'm starting to think that learning to work on cars wouldn't be such a bad idea if my whole "life as an artist" doesn't pan out. I don't know what to do with myself. Time to find some new knitting projects to project the CALM again.

The Earth Moved and the Water Washed Away

I'm saddened by the events that took place in Japan. An 8.9 earthquake and then a tsunami just a few minutes later while the terror was still pulsing through their veins. What a double finger flick from Mother Nature. As I watch the videos of the earthquake I can feel a rush of fear in my chest as I remember with clarity the seven pointer that I experienced in Guam. It started out gentle rolling and then all of a sudden BOOM! I can only think that it would be like being in a box, set on a nervous giant's knee. It wasn't nearly as devastating (only a lamp fell over), but it lasted for over a minute and every time you thought it was getting ready to taper off and stop it would suddenly start up again and shake even more violently then the last bit. I remember actually saying "Please stop, please stop, please stop" over and over again as it continued because you just didn't know how bad it was going to get the longer it lasted. It's a complete sensory overload because it throws you off balance and the noise is buffering you and it's scary wondering if the next big rattle is going to bring something down on you. There is absolutely nothing you can do, but hold on and pray you're not unlucky. That particular earthquake woke my kids in the dead of night. I could go in their room right now and send a parade through and they wouldn't wake. But as I said before it's more than just one thing with an earthquake. I still get nervous any time it feels like something might be moving even a little even though I live on the East Coast of the US where we don't get earthquakes (I know it's possible because of a fault line that runs close to here, but not common). You do get used to them after a time and the little ones don't even cause a blink in your day, but those that last a good long while ..... you don't forget those. A minute seems like five. I've heard the one in Japan lasted about three minutes. That must have felt like an eternity and that wasn't even the worst of what was to come for some areas. Then to make matters worse, you're keyed up from the initial earthquake and then you have to deal with after shocks. I'll take a hurricane over that any day. At least I have plenty of time to get the heck out of the way in that case and can avoid it all together. I'm praying the death count doesn't climb much higher and that nothing else smacks them around while they're trying to recover from this. I hope every one else out there is praying for Japan as well.

No Time to Say Hello, Goodbye......

Busy times. Now that Spring Break is upon us I have time to blog a little. And knit a little. No lie. I have hardly been able to knit since school started, but I finished one of my classes (it was a short session) so I'm hoping that I'll have a little more time on my hands. If my Art HIstory class study list is any indication though, that might just be a pipe dream. They seem to be getting longer and LONGER and more detailed with every quiz that we take. I skipped the last quiz because I didn't think there was any way that I could cram that much info into my brain and have it still be functioning. By the end of last week I was convinced that my brain was going to liquify and seep from my ears. I still have work that I need to get done before the break is over, but I'm putting it off and knitting in the hopes that I find the CALM again. I was able to bang out these cute hand warmers while school was in session. Now that I'm on break I've started a few pairs of socks and an afghan. I don't know what I was thinking, but I'm sure that I'll have more cast on before the week is out. The socks are just standard toe up socks that I'm making for my little boy (should be quick knits) and the afghan is the Entrelac Baby Blanket from More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. It's being done up in a super chunky and super soft LionBrand yarn. I've got these bad boys on size 13 needles, which I've never used before this except once and that was to make something that was to be felted. I'm finding that I have trouble knitting big. I keep dropping my yarn and my hands and arms are aching like they never have before. But I am determined to finish this blanket and give it to my daughter, who will be overjoyed that I've knitted her a blanket at last. I've started it out with 5 triangles on the 1st tier so I'm sure that she'll be able to use it the rest of her life. How's that for longevity?!!! This blanket might be a lesson in longevity for us both. I found that it takes a whole skein to make one triangle. I only have 22 more to go. Woo hoo! Now that I'm thinking about it I might rip it out (again) and make it one triangle smaller (4*3 instead of 5*3).
Oh! And I've been working on this bad boy since Christmas. It's a clapotis, made with KnitPicks Imagination on US 3 needles so it's a cute skinny scarf. I've just started the decreases (since I just picked it up again last night after not working on it for almost two months) so I should have it done before my mom comes to visit and I'll actually have something to give her (it was supposed to be this and 12 tiny stockings as well as some tabi socks....... she always wants the tabi socks).

HAPPY NEW YEAR- be safer

The year ended out on a good note for me. This year saw us all getting one year older (eep) as well as welcoming a few new family members. My SIL had a baby and I got a guinea pig that turned out to be pregnant and produced two more guinea pigs so that I now have three.
My BIL invited his niece over for New Year's. She's 21 and a sweet girl who was ready for drinking. My SIL was also ready since she's been tea totaling since she got pregnant last year. I'm usually the one that stay some semblance of sober (unless I'm DD and then I stay sober). I find this a great way to go because you can laugh at everyone else as well as help to avoid the things that sometimes go wrong when people get to drinking. My BIL's friend, A, came over as well and he's a daily drinker and is in his late 30's. I mention this because later, after BIL's niece had already thrown up once, I found him taking her to his house (which is across the way) and trying to get in her pants. I don't know what the specific law is, or if there is even a hard law against it, but my thinking and morality states that if someone wobbles so badly when they walk that you're afraid their going down any moment that they are in no right mind to make a decision about who they want to sleep with. No one else seemed to be moved to do anything so I asked BIL if he wanted me to go over there and get her (he mentioned he wasn't "comfortable" with the situation, but as I said before I was the only one with some semblance of sobriety). I took my son across the street and knocked on the door saying that my son was wondering if his cousin was coming back over to the house. I didn't even finish my sentence when he interrupted me and said "No, no. You know what you're doing." and then started cussing me. That tells me that if he knew why I was really there then he also was aware of what his role in all of it was as well. He's telling everyone that I cock- blocked him. I stand by my feeling that the situation was wrong and that you can't block something that isn't there.
I've made a resolution to blog more this year. I'm starting by doing a KAL with Let's Knit2gether on ravelry. They're doing socks for this month's knit a long and I've been eyeballing the yarn that DH had me buy him a few months ago with the promise that I would make him socks. I had planned to have them done before our anniversary, so it's been a long time that he's been waiting. I purchased a US size 0 circular needle in preparation to begin his socks. I realize the sheer craziness of that when I remember that he wears a size 13 shoe. I'll be knitting for forever. I'll just stick with the standard size 2 needle that I usually use for socks. My son will be getting socks using the size 0 needle and a beautiful blue self striping yarn that he picked out. I started them last night when I should have been starting DH's instead. Just the thought of all that knitting for the foot alone is making my stomach twist in knots. I'm going to have to find a nice pattern, but then I look at the pink, SPARKLY, variegated yarn that he has chosen and change my mind thinking that any fun pattern will just compete with the colors. What do you think? I need to get cracking soon so I need to make a decision.
Here's to the New Year. I'm starting small compared to other people, but I'm going to make a resolution each month and try to keep it. I'll get more done and maybe it won't be so overwhelming. January starts with socks and 5 lbs. February is pending.

Discouraging

Yeah. My sweater didn't turn out like I thought. Oh it was perfect in it's construction, but I ran out of yarn. Actually I'm still convinced that I bought enough, but that I've misplaced it. I've combed the entire house, which can only mean one thing. Yes, the gnomes are back. And this time they have stolen yarn. They have crossed a line. It's on.
I haven't been online much lately. Well that's not completely true. I've been trolling around on deviantart and making some artwork of my own. I filled out all my paperwork and will be going back to school in the spring for video game and simulation development. That's what I have down for now, but I may change my major to something more in line with the fine arts or maybe fiber arts. There are no programs for that in the current college I'm enrolled in, but for right now I'm just trying to get my foot in the door. I may come to love my current major and I also have medical transcriptionist as a backup that I'm also trying to finish up online. I need something in the creative field to work on.
Anyways even though I didn't finish the blue sweater I did manage to churn out a cardigan for my daughter that turned out REALLY good. Pictures on that are pending. Of course there's always socks, that I never tire of, hats and a Clapotis currently in the works. Again pictures are pending. Once I get all these bad boys loaded up, I'll have a picturific blog. Yeah. Hm.

Actual Knitting

I know. I've been bad about posting about my knitting. This is, after all, supposed to be a knitting blog, but in my defense life has been a little much lately. That and my camera's always seem to disappear whenever I want to blog (darn gnomes). I finished a scarf for my aunt Celia (if you're reading this know that I just have to finish weaving in the ends and I'll hand it to you when I come for Morgan's wedding).
It reminds me of Where's Waldo. I really like it.
I've also been hard at work on this sweater. I'm saying that it's for me, but it's not, but fear of the "curse" will always have me saying that it's my sweater ( I'm pretty sure we'll be safe regardless). I will probably wind up wearing it more than he will anyways.
Looking around at a small children's boutique in the neighborhood has me thinking about knitting baby booties and sweaters en masse and selling them there. It would be a nice little thing for a little extra money on the side. I've noticed that I'll knit myself things, but that I don't use them. I think it's because I'm afraid of ruining them. Eventually they'll wear out and I'll be upset if I have to pitch it. If I knit and sell my creations then I know they'll get used, but I don't have to watch the deterioration. It seems highly weird to me that I feel this way about my knits. After all the wearing out means that they were well used and well loved, right?
Regardless, I am working on these bad boys from Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up. I really like these and they seemed to knit up fast. I used Stroll Tonal yarn from KnitPicks.

Waiting..... always waiting

Hoping they'll call this week and let my hubby know if he got this job or not so that I know whether or not I can start packing. OR if I can go and start looking for a job again. These are things that would be nice to know. They called about two weeks ago wanting more info to send to the HR which tipped us off on the fact that they might be hiring him, but we haven't heard back since. I don't want to move again so soon, but it would be nice for the hubby to have a job so that it's out of the way and taken care of. I hate waiting.

LawnMower Man

At nine this evening I was driving around and there was a "dude" riding a lawnmower in the dark. Cuttin' the hell out of some grass. The lawnmower even had headlights (which is the reason I noticed it to begin with). This is obvious to me that these things have always had headlights and perhaps I just never had cause to notice before? Or they don't and this guy wired his up so he could run that bad boy at night?
My hubby got a new cell phone and he got a Mario Bros. ring tone. I told him he should get the theme song to Star Wars as my ring tone when I call. My son piped up and said " Yeah, you should get the one that goes : (starts humming Darth Vader's theme) cause then you know when the bad guys are coming." Thanks son.

The Hits Just Keep on Coming

Of all the things I had planned for my day yesterday, breaking my ankle was NOT one of them. Not only do I feel stupid for falling down the stairs (there were only two of them) and I cringe every time the picture of my ankle turned completely to the inside comes to mind; the knowledge that I was on my hands and knees on a sidewalk of a busy street with my butt facing traffic screaming curses at the top of my lungs makes it all that much worse. At least it gave me something to laugh about while waiting for the X-ray. Actually the jury's still out on whether or not it's actually broken. It may just be a horrible sprain (keeping fingers crossed because that's only two weeks of recovery time and the crutches and I are not getting along). I've sprained my ankle before and I don't remember screaming quite so much in pain. I would have rather have had another gall bladder attack or be in labor again because it was less painful then the pain that radiated off my ankle yesterday. Not to mention the fact that once I crawled to the stairs and got seated I thought I was going to puke from the pain. That's only happened once before and it required surgery to remove the offending gall bladder. It actually stopped hurting for a good twenty minutes as I went into shock, at which time I realized I had also skinned my knee (something I was completely unaware of until the pain in my ankle stopped). I am still in awe of the amount of pain caused and NEVER want to feel anything like that again, thank you very much.

There's a First Time for Everything

Almost six months since my last post. I've been busy working at the Waffle House. Or I was until I got fired. I was shocked. I've never been fired before and how does that look when after seven years of no work you come back only to get fired in five months. I'm wondering if this is a case for the EEOC, but part of me realizes that it's not really worth it because there are better paying jobs out there. For me it's the principal of the thing because I feel like I was wrongly fired. In fact I'm sure I was wrongly fired. I felt like I had a target on my back ever since the new manager got there and even more so after the register mishap. If I did get my job back then it would probably be less than a month before I lost it again for some other insanely asinine reason. Seems like it's not worth it until I think about going to look for another job and them calling the Waffle House to find out why I was fired. It may keep me from getting another job, not to mention the fact that they would be undeservedly smearing my character and I'm not okay with that. I need a few days to think however, seeing as I am upset and any talking to anyone will only result in my crying in frustration because the conversation goes in circles, like they have one thought in their head and it can not be changed even though the truth is in the ticket books.

Celebrating 100 Posts!!!! Woot!

At your 100th post you're supposed to write 100 things about yourself so here goes:
1. I survived the flu and am feeling better starting today.
2. I'm pretty sure I will wind up with a flu again before the year is out since I can't get a flu shot.
3. I conveniently developed an egg allergy just in time for the swine flu season keeping me from getting said flu shot.
4. I like cartoons
5. More than my kids
6. In fact I'm watching Ni Hao Kai Lan right now at one in the morning without one kid within the vicinity.
7. I am okay with this....... most of the time.
8. I'm a night owl
9. I sleep better during the day
10. I've tried sleeping at night like normal people only to be sleepy all day and wide awake at night (this was still after a month of having a "regular" sleeping pattern).
11. When I go on trips this does not apply for some reason ( I sleep fine at night and feel fine during the day).
12. I am afraid of enclosed spaces
13. I'm equally afraid of wide open spaces
14. Apparently my spaces have to be just right
15. I love listening to The News from Lake Wobegon
16. It reminds me of stories that my grandparents tell
17. Last year my grandfather died.
18. We knew before leaving for Guam that he was going to die
19. The man living next door to my SIL looks like my grandfather
20. I cry everytime after seeing him
21. I wasn't here when my grandfather passed and couldn't go to his funeral
22. I think it's just now hitting me that I'm not going to see him when I go home to visit my family
23. Someone told me that not being there would make losing him "not as bad"
24. They were wrong...... it just delayed the realization
25. I just moved back to the states from Guam
26. We were there for three years
27. It was pretty and warm and there were no Wal-Marts or Olive Gardens
28. It takes a whole day flying to get to the east coast of the US from Guam
29. That's way longer than any human being should have to be on a plane
30. I like watching the Star Wars movies
31. I like the originals better.
32. I also like Wallace and Gromit
33. Mainly because Gromit knits
34. I'm a self taught knitter
35. I first picked up the needles when I was 12
36. I picked them back up and became addicted at the age of 23
37. I always feel like I'm forgetting to do something important and it makes me have a moment of panic
38. I have a reoccurring dream where I'm at school, but I don't know where or when my next class is or I can't remember my locker combination so I can't get my books or my schedule and so I fail school, or I'm supposed to have been working for the past few days but I forgot and now I've lost my job.
39. I hate this dream
40. I wish I knew why I have that reoccurring dream so that I could stop having it and so I could stop feeling like I'm forgetting something important all the time.
41. For the record I have never forgotten something important
42. I am a procrastinator
43. I work better under pressure at the last minute
44. I enjoy playing video games
45. I like the games where you fight melee style because I like smashing things
46. This preference crossovers to real life in the form of Filipino Martial Arts
47. I have four rattan sticks and I love hitting things with them
48. I'm not above cheating in a fight
49. I believe the only fair fight is the one you lose
50. This means that I am a biter, pincher and hair puller.
51. I poke eyeballs too
52. I will poke other balls as well.
53. I hope to never be in a fight, but I believe in being able to defend your self
54. I love to read
55. I read my first novel "Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself" by Judy Blume when I was five years old
56. At the time I thought a colored fountain was a fountain where the water came out in colors or maybe had coke instead of water (like a soda fountain) and I wished that they still had them because they sounded cool
57. I later found out (several years later in a history class) what a colored fountain really was. It wasn't cool.
58. I hate having sand grit on me. It's the most annoying thing ever.
59. I cringe everytime I hear the word "panties". It just sounds like a bad word.
60. I have an auto immune disease. It's psoriasis.
61. It burns like a second degree sunburn and itches until it makes you cry from frustration
62. My mom also has an auto immune disease. Crohn's
63. I'm the lucky one.
64. When I was a kid I never thought my mom would live to see me graduate high school
65. She did and was there when my daughter was born
66. I think she'll outlive us all
67. I always thought I would die by the age of 25
68. I'm glad I didn't
69. I hope I outlive us all.
70. I want to travel the world
71. Preferably in first class
72. My children act out movies while they watch them. When no one's around, so do I.
73. cuddling with my kids, hot cocoa, warm blankies and knitting are my favorite things
74. This may be why my favorite season is autumn
75. I enjoy reading fanfiction on the internet
76. Mostly of the mature persuasion
77. Someday I hope to write a novel
78. That doesn't suck
79. When I get hungry I actually crave vegetables
80. I think this comes from a childhood of mainly Hamburger Helper for dinner
81. I think older things have more soul then newer things (furniture, homes, etc)
82. I stopped believing in ghosts this past year
83. One would have to appear in front of me, say "I'm a ghost. Check this out." and then fly through me before I think I would believe again
84. I blame the hoakie Ghost Hunter shows for this
85. I'm not sure anymore what happens when you die
86. I hope there's another existence on the other side
87. It saddens me to think that there might not be
88. I wish a ghost would appear and clear all this mess up.
89. Nicely
90. I love Cracker Barrel
91. Sometimes I wish I could live there
92. When I was a young girl I wanted to marry Wolverine of the X-Men
93. After seeing Wolverine: Origins I realized that I still want to
94. If I won the lottery I would still buy a Kia for my car and spend less than 120,000 on a home
95. I like to think the rest would go to charity
96. In reality I would probably spend it on traveling
97. I hate when my husband snores
98. Sometimes I think of putting something like raisins up his nose to get him to stop
99. I also think of drawing on his face with a Sharpie while he sleeps
100. If he ever really pisses me off, I will.