The absolutely true non-adventures of an insane housewife.

Neglect!

2008-10-21T17:56:00.000-07:00

So... I promised ages ago to update on all the new goings on around here, and I totally forgot... my bad! I've been swamped, between schooling the sometimes entirely resistant Mini, learning an impossible but fun language, and planning an adventure to LA to meet a fellow crazy fangirl, for a week of serious fun, including seeing these guys live:

*brainpop* I usually don't post my fangirling stuff here, but seriously...OMK! I'm not sure I'll make it through the show without crying and fainting or something, because certain songs cause me to forget to breathe sometimes... crazy sounding, I know, but so absolutely true.

Anyhow, of course, I have to do some knitting for the event... cause that's just what I do... we'll be rockin' some Slithers... if I can ever get a suitable yarn in decent colors, and all those buttons, wow :)

I've been studying Japanese language and culture, not just because of the music I listen to, but because it's just...amazing, I have huge *glee* moments now when I'm watching movies, or listening to a new song, and I can understand some of it without looking for translations... I've been working pretty hard at it, studying every chance I get, but it's so much fun, and I find such interesting things every time I study, especially when it comes to kanji, which I haven't really started studying yet, I recognize maybe...5 for now, lol, but I love reading about them and picking up what I can.

Anyway, there's a little bit of an update... I'm not sure when another will pop up here... I've been considering moving my blog again... I know, I'm horrible, but I get bored easily :D

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Now playing: Dir en Grey - Dead Tree
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Now playing: Dir en Grey - Ain't Afraid to Die
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Now playing: Dir en grey - Obscure
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Now playing: Dir en grey - Jealous -reverse-
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This space for rent...

2008-09-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

So yeah, I've been quiet... between Plurk and Ravelry, I've been sharing most things pretty much on the fly... I know not everyone uses them, but I spend so much time on both, I forget other people don't ;)

So what do I come back with... some nice "I'm not dead" filler, ha, you didn't think there was gonna be actual content did you? Ok, there will be some, but it will be tomorrow maybe, or the next day, after I organize all my thoughts and stuff that's happened and all that. Anyway, a lot of my friends have done a version of this, so I figured I'd lag behind as usual, and do it months after it's made it's run...now it's retro and stuff, yeah, that's it! :D

If you're one of the 3 people who haven't seen this one, it works like so:

Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
Using only the first page, pick an image.
Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into the bighugelabs.com mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you wanted to be when you grew up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Add one of your own flickr images.

There it is... and if you haven't done one of these, you should, you can get some strange results for some things...

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Now playing: VAMPS - LOVE ADDICT
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Another year older...

2008-07-21T01:12:00.000-07:00

Well I made it through another year mostly unscathed, even though we had a few scares... the BIG scare ended up to be something that's annoying, but not life threatening, a combination of 3 things, apparently costochondritis + pectoral girdle shortening + peptic ulcer = heart attack pain... who knew? I'm not thrilled, because when the pain is intense, it cuts into my knitting time severely, but, if it had been my heart, it could cut into my living time, so I'll take it.

Anyhow, this year my birthday was WAY better than last year... but of course, my family couldn't let me get too uppity, just because it was my birthday... this was my cake:

yeah... they claim it's because they didn't have all the letters they needed to write "Mommy" but I'm suspicious of these chuckleheads for some reason.

In crafting news...Eva sat me down and gave me a quick lesson on tatting, needle and shuttle... I picked up the needle tatting first:

I'm getting the hang of the shuttle now, but haven't much practiced beyond the main stitch, trying to get the thread to flip consistently before I move on.

I went on a knit/crochet WIP toss a couple days ago, and all the projects that are annoying me went to the frog pond... I'm on limited knit time, have to prioritize :) I've joined SOTSIII, and hope that I can keep up, I'm doing the swatch now, and it's coming out pretty good, except somehow I managed to get a bead in the wrong place, I think...

A couple weeks ago, I got these stitchmarkers from Melanie:

and a few people were interested in buying some if she ever decided to open an etsy shop... I talked to her about it, and she's decided she wants to go ahead with it, so we're going to meet tomorrow to try and get things figured out :)

I think that's about it, well, that I can remember anyway... that's the problem with only getting around to blogging every once in a while, I forget all the very cool things that have gone on since the last time...

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Now playing: Jay Gordon - Slept So Long
via FoxyTunes

twistedhausfrau says: she is freaking addicted to Plurk...

2008-06-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well just call me a bandwagon jumper right now, and get it over with, because seriously, I've spent nearly 2 days on Plurk, it's a blast... I actually...talk to people and stuff, all of my shy went out the window after about... 5 minutes, and now you just can't shut me up lol, you should come join me :) If you're already there, feel free to add me, I'm twistedhausfrau, of course :)

Knitting news... I've really got nothin', every time I think my shoulder is all better, it starts acting up. I have found that I can knit at my desk a lot easier than anywhere else, I guess because I can use my desk for support. When I can do more than a few stitches, I'm working on designing a pair of super girly gauntlet type dealies for Mini, who has decided she wants to join Amtgard, and since she's such a GIRL, all of her gear is going to be girly as possible... we're talking pink, ruffles, flowers, the whole bit, so when the guys get hit by her, it'll be even more hilarious.

There will be no in progress or finished photos until sometime in September though, since I'm cheating and also designing them to go up on Eva's newest project: Hook, Yarn and Needles. She's been working really hard on it, and I want to support her any way I can :D. I hope to start on my Nanner socks too, so I'm hoping the stupid shoulder behaves... if I have to knit at my desk, that's a bonus, since I won't have to deplurk. The Nanner socks are a free pattern from Wendy Knits...if you're a Plurker, that is. (sneeaky Plurkers, and their incentives to come join the madness)

Hmm, I had more, but then I noticed I had new plurks and I've been completely derailed... yeah, it's that bad... ha

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Now playing: Hyde - Countdown
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A little quiet...

2008-06-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

I know... I've been recuperating from a whole bunch of suckiness, and trying to stay sane while I can only do little tiny bits of knitting at a time. I have the house to myself at the moment, and I'm enjoying the quiet, and the utter lack of anything to do. When I'm entirely back on my feet, I'll be back with actual posts :)

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Now playing: Disturbed - Haunted
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Knitting through the pain...

2008-05-10T03:15:00.000-07:00

Urg, chest/arm/back pain again... none of the doctors have figured out what could be causing all of this pain, I'm trying to ease the sting of the huge doctor bill I just paid by thinking that even if they didn't find the actual cause, at least I know what's NOT causing the strange heart-attack like pains... so, some of my panic has subsided... not all, cause well, that kinda pain is just...scary, but I keep reminding myself all tests and films were cleaner than even the doctors expected...

I'm beginning to think it's some sort of repetitive stress injury or something... so, I'm not knitting a lot, but as soon as I finish up one last baby gift later on today, I'm going cold turkey *shudder* until there's no more pain.

I should probably be finishing up now, while the ibuprofen is still working... only about an inch or so to go on booties to match this hat:

That's the baby squash hat, from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders...very fast, easy and cute :D

Things have been...interesting, and just a little bit stressful around here, when it rains, it pours, and lately, it's been more like hail than rain :( We're trying to keep our heads up, but man, it's hard some days...

It's been a big week for Mini, she was rewarded for having a most excellent school year:

She's also started a blog and a Ravelry account... I monitor both very closely, she doesn't get to do either thing without me right there, but she's SO excited to have her own spaces. (Don't click the links if exclamation abuse and/or references to 80's movies bother you lol) And, if you can't tell from the second ipod picture...a haircut:

She's getting used to it now, but, she wasn't happy about it when I cut it (her face is all red from crying, but, she's a ham and had to at least TRY to smile when I took the picture)... I cut it because she decided her bangs were a bother, and just...snip, cut them almost down to her scalp in one spot. :O This isn't the first time, either... the day before class pictures in Kindergarten, she cut one side of her hair nearly bald... those are GREAT pictures... by the time we got it reasonably even, most of the boys in her class had more hair than she did...lol. She's seeing the potential of having the short cut now, easy for her to take care of, no more sitting through me braiding it, and it takes WAY less shampoo lol.

I had a few really good days of sleep when I was sick, I kinda want it to come back, so I can sleep again lol. Luckily, I have loads of things to keep me occupied at night, I've been burning my way through the backlog of audiobooks I've been neglecting for *gasp* real books...lol. I've made my way through the first 2 Twilight books, and I can't wait to start the third... usually, when I have a series, or an especially long book, I tend to take breaks to listen to/read other books, (Johnny can't wrap his head around the fact that I've usually got one book going in each room, and at least 2 on my nightstand.) but not these ones, they've sucked me in. I was surprised when I found how huge the following is for them... you'd think I would have heard of them before I stumbled across them on Overdrive.

I decided I HATED the way spring things was coming out in the silk, so, I've switched back to the "light" version, and it's looking so much better to me, it seemed too...busy for the yarn, maybe because of the doubling, I don't know, but I lovelovelove the look of the stockinette part, and can't wait til I heal a bit, so I can work on it more, I hope the border lace with the beading looks better than the all over lace did. The picture I have in my head is stunning, now if only the real thing can match up... it kinda sucks to be "grounding" myself from knitting for a while, cause I'm SO excited to see how it comes out.

Ok, time for me to get away from the computer, and try to relax, and hope that sleep decides to visit me soon...lol

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Now playing: The Cure - Burn
via FoxyTunes

Still Draggin' Tail...

2008-04-30T02:08:00.000-07:00

So, Johnny came down with something over his vacation, and I keep *almost* getting sick... just enough to make me feel miserable, bleh... so I'm in slo-mo mode, even more than usual :| bear with me through some whining, there's good stuff below...lol

A few days ago, we noticed an odd mildewy smell in our bedroom. Of course, we had to investigate, and traced the icky to our closet, where we still have a lot of stuff stored that we've never unpacked... well, now we have a LOT less stuff. It turns out, our water heater sprung a leak... a BIG leak, and it's in a cubby right next to our closet, and had been leaking through the wall, and causing all kinds of nasty before it actually became noticeable... at this point, we may as well move, it's probably going to be less painful than fixing all of the damage. We're waiting on a new water heater, a friend is going to install it for us, but the other damage, who knows, it's definitely going to be more than this place is worth. I want to go back to apartment living, so if something breaks, it's not our problem lol.

I got a package today that I wasn't expecting for another couple days, the tracking lied to me, just this morning, and told me the package hadn't even been scanned in, so it was a pleasant surprise to find a package from Daisycakes Soap when I checked the mail. I got all this:

for less than $25... and it's all wonderful, lavender is one of my most favorite scents ever, so when I saw the whole little gift set, I decided it was the perfect gift for myself :) The best part is, I actually got it free, I joined RME, and they're running a promo until May 15, sign up and get $25 in your account, and $10 for every referral... I usually don't do these things, but there's a whole boatload of etsy shops that are accepting it, and well... I love me some Etsy :) Some of the yarnies accept it, but so far, I've been buying some non-yarn stuff, since that's what I would normally buy... I also ordered some awesome looking coffee, but that one hasn't come yet, the shop owner is just coming home from vacation, so it'll probably be at least few days before it's shipped...

I don't normally pimp things out on my blog... or anywhere else, really lol, but if you wanna give RME a whirl, do me a favor, and do it from here... you get money, I get money... and at least from me, etsy shops get a little more business :) Only a couple more weeks to get in on it, so...

Anyway, on to knitting progress... the blankey pretty much looks the same as before, only with less free ends... my shoulder's been bothering me, so I haven't been motivated to do more than run in the ends for now, I have to finish it this week though, the momma-to-be goes on maternity leave in just over a week :|

Spring Things... yeah, not much got done, just as I predicted... never enough quiet/alone times to do much with it...

I did have to rip it back a couple times, this is about the third try, I had yarn issues and needle issues, and now, it seems to be moving smoothly, just slowly.

TFH (Toddler from Heck) found my too-big Gryffindor house beret that I originally made for my oldest daughter... too bad you could fit all 4 of my kids heads in it...LOL or one TFH and one Mr. (what TFH calls Johnny)

I swear this kid grows by the minute, I can go back through the pictures of hats I've made her in the last year, and she's so different in each one... this is the first one, from just over a year ago:

hehe, she couldn't say my name right to save her life, the best she could manage was "Chibi"...now, we can't stop her, every 10-15 minutes she has to stop what she's doing, stretch her arms wide and launch herself at me for hugs and kisses, yelling "JAIMMMMMEEEE!!!" like she hasn't seen me in a year LOL.

I totally need to start that digital scrapbooking thing I keep considering, if only I could squeeze a few more hours out of every day... I barely sleep now, can't imagine if I started my graphics obsession again!

Anyway, it's time for me to go do some late night pampering, hopefully the lavender does it's job and sends me into a relaxed sleep... Something I found interesting, the massage oil is actually one of the blends recommended for OCM for my skin type... EVOO hasn't been as good for my skin as I'd hoped it would be, so I'm gonna try some on-the-fly mixtures with the lavender massage oil, and see if it works any better... here's hoping, if so, it will save me some mixing and figuring :)

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Now playing: Adele - First Love
via FoxyTunes

Meh... this and that.

2008-04-19T04:01:00.000-07:00

First, more news on Ravyn's schooling... after we called and verified Ravyn could enter 4th grade if she passed the tests, rushed to get the tests done like they asked us to, verified her test scores were high enough, filled out all the paperwork and faxed the very next business day, waited 2 days for them to verify everything... we get a call yesterday afternoon from Connections Academy... "Mrs. B? I'm sorry, but after review by the Principal and counselors for your local Connections Academy, we cannot admit your daughter, because she's too young for 4th grade." Um... I'm sorry, but isn't that why we spent 2 days verifying that she would in fact be able to apply and be placed under advanced placement? If it's such a problem, why, when I called for her test scores was I asked why I didn't apply for Gifted and Talented 4th grade, and why was I told that she qualifies anyway, based on her scores? I'm not going to rant and rage here, I've been steaming enough over this since yesterday, but, it seems like yet another case of the school system holding my child back, when she clearly wants to fly... and has proven time and again that she CAN fly.

Ok, have to breathe and take a cute break...

ahhh...that's better :)

Anyhow, I've been trying to get back on the ball with my knitting... of course, when I'm feeling blocked, I kinda reboot by grabbing some cotton and making a cloth... this time, I started a cloth and a baby kimono:

All the garter stitch on the baby kimono is erm...well, driving me batty(er), so I've been saving it for when I have something else I really need to give a lot of attention to, but still need to do something to keep my hands busy. I need to get to work seriously on it, the recipient is due at the end of next month, and he's a first baby, so there's a fair chance of him coming early. His Blankey is nearly done, it's going to be a carrier/carseat blankey, so rather than doing panels, I decided on long and narrower than a regular blankey, so it can be draped, and tucked under his feet, without causing too much bulk with all th e straps and restraints. I'm working on weaving in the ends right now, then one more color repeat, and the edging.

And like that's not enough on my plate, since I got my pretty silks yesterday, Of course I have to cast on for some lace... I swatched and split the cone of yarn in two tonight, and plan on casting on tomorrow afternoon, so I'm plenty awake and alert. I decided, rather than any of the other lace that I've decided I must do lately, I'm going to try the Spring Things Shawl again... I'm ready for all those charts now, and I think that would be a good start on my lace knitting for the year, take on the first lace pattern I bought and well, failed miserably at...lol anyway, I'm using my pale chamomile silk 3/50 nm from colourmart, doubled, and some pretty opal lined glass seed beads, and I hope this time, I can get it all together...lol I'm not sure I can take the embarrassment of being beaten by this thing again ;)

I couldn't get a good picture of the color, it's very pale, but, it's kind of off-white/peachy... it's very pretty :D It's actually probably not the best time to start this, Johnny is on 9 days vacation, so I'm sure he's going to keep us busy...we don't have any "get-away plan" for this vacation, If our vehicle was behaving better, I'd try to convince him that we need to go to Reno, or maybe Twin Falls but that's going to have to wait for another time *sigh*. He does have 2 more weeks vacation adding on soon that he has to use up this year though...hmmm.

Ooh, just realized how late/early it is... it's now the 19th! Happy 12th Birthday Gypsy! My Mini-Me, my little comedian (not so little anymore, creeping up on me in height and shoe size, poor girl) who I'm sure is gonna have jokes for me all year long, about how old I must be, to be staring into the face of having TWO teenage daughters. (eep) I always knew you'd be the jokey one... after that April Fool's joke... you know, the one where you made me think you were ready to be born...ha-ha, funny. (grumble) :D I love you!

Now, I should really be napping or something, can't call it sleep lately, the insomnia is really getting me this time :(

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Now playing: Bette Midler - Baby Mine
via FoxyTunes

tagged...

2008-04-14T22:47:00.000-07:00

Whoa, I got tagged for Bobmas Day... well, it started on Bobmas, who knows how long the tagging will go on? :) Anyway, Jinky, over at Life as a Stitcher tagged me for this one, 6 things I like to do, and, since it started in honor of Bobmas, I'll keep it fiber related :)

Knitting on smaller needles... not microscopic, but size 6 and under, with my preferred being 3, 4&5... you'd think with my big hands, and small patience level I'd be working with the speed stix, but I have such a hard time motivating myself to knit my projects that are on bigger needles...
Collecting crafting books... knitting, then crochet, then sewing and other... but I just can't stop. Johnny is more worried about my book collection than any stash I could ever collect. I take down piles of them almost weekly, and flip through for inspiration, and to look at the patterns I may have overlooked at some point with fresh eyes.
Lurking in the Ravelry boards... I'm quite shy, and most of the time, I'll start to post, then change my mind, but I'm constantly amazed by the range of people and opinions that you can run through in just a few minutes on just the main boards... and the group boards... wow!
Socks... I love socks, I didn't care so much about socks until I started knitting them, and now that I know for really for sure that I can't take wools, I'm on a mission to collect all the non-wool sock yarn I can, so I can always have socks OTN
Searching for the perfect yarn... some people find it frustrating, I'm really enjoying going through the good, the bad, and the ugly to find my perfect yarns... I've tossed a lot of bad and ugly in the last year, had to give away and donate some good, and somewhere along the way, got past some ingrained acrylic predjudice, and thoroughly enjoyed knitting with the supposed "lowest of the low" Red Heart! (Go ahead, sit before you faint, I know a lot of you would rather knit barbed wire...)
Learning new techniques, things that last year... hell, last week, I thought I'd never ever be able to do...

7. (Bonus, because I don't follow instructions well) Somehow, even though I'm shy as can be, and tend to sit back and watch, rather than participate, meeting and getting to know some of the most awesome fiber loving people everywhere from in my own town, to Saudi Arabia, and everywhere between and all around :)

I'm supposed to tag some other people, but... since I lost my blog mojo, I really started slacking off on my reading and commenting and such, and don't have a list of people to call out to play... so, I guess one will have to be all for me... Eva, your turn :) Anyone else wandering through who hasn't been tagged and would like to be... tag... you're it :)

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Now playing: The Monkees - For Pete's Sake
via FoxyTunes

4th Grade!

2008-04-11T13:48:00.000-07:00

She made it! I just got the results of Ravyn's placement tests, and she's eligible for G&T 4th grade this year, bypassing 3rd grade altogether! Now, she just has to make the lottery for her actual spot in the virtual school, hopefully early enrollment, good test scores, and the fact that she has an illness that keeps her out of the public school will help get her in for this year. At any rate, I know we've been doing ok, and that my substandard teaching hasn't ruined her little brain forever lol!

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Now playing: 311 - Amber
via FoxyTunes

So sad...

2008-04-08T12:44:00.000-07:00

The drama today is making my head hurt... or maybe it's the icky that's taken over my body, or my lack of sleep...

I'm feeling incredibly mopey and just... defeated today, and from the looks of things in the knit-borhood, I'm not the only one... maybe we all need a nap, or some meditation... or chocolate, chocolate is good...

OMG, it just got worse, Ravyn's school forms and placement tests for the year need to be done today, if I'm to get her in advanced placement for the virtual school this year. ugh...

Spoke too soon pt. 2

2008-04-08T01:22:00.000-07:00

Yup, the wool finally got me too... freakingheck, I thought I had it beat! I didn't consider that the last time I had wool issues, it didn't start right away, I knit happily for nearly a month with only sneezles, and then my reactions got scarier and scarier... This time, after just a bit of stuffiness, every time I'd sit down to knit, my head would start POUNDING, and I'd start wheezing, so, I guess I'm done with the animal fibers for reals... I do have a backup plan though, I have a friend who lives in Riyadh who doesn't have access to a lot of yarns, and she does BEAUTIFUL lacework, so, my wooly/alpaca stash is going to her, and I've ordered some silk laceweight to get back to my own attempts at lace.

Johnny and I are both sick, of course Ravyn, who is grounded beyond grounded is healthy as an ox, I feel like my lungs are full of pudding, and what little bit of energy I DID have is gone... but, I can't sleep, so, TheraFlu helps me get all I need done, then I finally collapse at 4-5 am, and sleep for a few hours, get up and start over... could be worse, I could actually have to drag myself out to work like Johnny... luckily, he's getting over it way faster than I am, and has a couple days off to rest up.

Ravyn is beyond grounded for more reasons than I even feel like writing right now, besides basically deciding that since it's beginning to warm, she doesn't have to do schoolwork, and talking back to us in tones that truly set my teeth on edge, and make me want to... hell, I don't even know what, but it makes me damned mad...lol, that's really enough... granted, she's not setting things on fire, torturing small animals, or destroying any property lol, but I'm not about to let my nearly 8 year old think she rules the roost. She's lost all access to her Nintendo DS, and has no TV or other electronic entertainment privileges until she can manage to curb her attitude... she's back to willingly doing her schoolwork again, and oddly enough, I've had no chore issues out of her at all.

In her free time, when I'm not being mean mommy and making her practice her math or handwriting, she's been keeping herself amused with 2 of the best books ever for a kid like her, "The Daring Book for Girls", full of all the stuff we did to amuse ourselves before there was internet, and video games you could take with you... I seriously LOVE this book, and think every little girl should have a copy. I'm planning on getting her the boy's book too, called "The Dangerous Book for Boys"... just because I don't think "boy things" and "girl things" should have been separated... I know I did loads of so-called boy things back in the day...(it was a ~~Tuesday~~ According to hubby, it was in fact a Wednesday, by the way...)

The second book that's been keeping her occupied is an awesome kiddie mystery book, "The Name of this Book is Secret" by Pseudonymous Bosch. I read it first, to make sure it wasn't too intense, freaky or scary for her, since it's meant for older kids, and I have to say, I rather enjoyed it... she's also taken off with my "Super Stitches Knitting" and practices all the little stitch patterns that catch her eye, usually only one or two repeats, but, at least she's practicing on her own. She swears she's going to make something eventually, but for now, she's just happy making her yarn do stuff lol.

Well look at that, the theraflu's gone and made me chatty as all get-out... I actually have more I could ramble on about but... yeah, maybe I should use some of this quiet time where everyone else is asleep to try and get some things done tonight, so I don't have so much to do tomorrow... or I could just end up sitting here amusing myself with Ravelry radar and some easy knitting...

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Now playing: NPR - NPR: 04-07-2008 Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!
via FoxyTunes

Cheap? Me? Never that...

2008-03-29T23:40:00.001-07:00

No matter what impression my makeshift swift may give....

Stop laughing, it got the job done better than just flopping it over the chair and winding from there... unfortunately, I haven't gotten much knitting done from it, I've been having some shoulder problems, and I'm trying my best to be good and not work through the pain, and end up making it worse...

Not a lot going on here, TFH had a birthday last week, and then got sick, so I haven't had her since last Friday... I think I actually kinda... miss the little twerp... I get to spoil the stuffins out of her come Monday though, and by the time my 8 hours are up, I'll probably be WELL over the missing her part, lol.

I'm trying to get back into the blogging thing, I've not only been slacking off on mine, but on making the rounds and seeing what everyone else is up to, I blame going back to Google Reader, instead of having them in my mail everyday. I spent way too much time every morning trying to keep up, and it just became way too much. I moved them out and now look, I'm hopeless, no middle ground at all for me.

I have no progress at all to share on anything, really, so I suppose I'll show off my Fawkes socks, actually on these huge things that I call feet...

Sooo... I spoke too soon

2008-03-22T00:29:00.001-07:00

Day 3 with the alpaca... wheezing and throat swelling so, time to rethink my patterns and yarns I guess. I'm thinking, I was going to make the Icarus a bit bigger anyway, so maybe I'll just use my gloss for that, and leave it natural colored. I've seen a couple done in heavier yarns, and they were just beautiful... huge, cuddly, and beautiful.

I'm also swatching for some more socks, I was considering Sunrise/Sunset from Big Girl Knits, but the pattern is kindof... hard to read, and 3 of the people I've seen attempt to do them, gave up and just used the stitch count, I may just swatch on all my needles, and figure out my magic sock number on each size, and work on something of my own, trying to make normal sock patterns work for my huge feet is a lot of work.

Anyhoo, I'm tired, and forgot what else I wanted to write... hate when that happens...

Listening to "Throw It Away" by Toby Rand

Spring Cleaning time again!

2008-03-19T21:59:00.001-07:00

I mentioned last year, on the old blog, just how much I adore spring cleaning... no really, it's like my favorite time of year, I'm kinda wacko like that.

I don't think my poor family knows what to do with me during the spring cleaning madness... they just walk around me in a daze, and I run from room to room with my vinegar, baking soda, ammonia, and bundle of rags. Ravyn is on "fetch" duty, lol, anything I forget for a certain area, she gets to fetch it for me.

Besides cleaning, it's my big whoop declutter time, so, I'm cleaning out some scrap yarns that I'll never finish off, donating some books that are collecting dust to the library, and get rid of loads of clothes this year, anything that can't be repurposed or donated is going to be tossed out. I'm feeling ruthless, we have SO much stuff in such a tiny space, and it's driving me nuts(er).

My knitting time has been cut a bit, I've been so busy lately I'm lucky to get in a few rows a day... I had no FO's for February at all...and only one so far for March, sad really... I've just cast on and finished a few rows of Icarus, not enough to take pics of yet though. The alpaca doesn't affect me like the one last year did, but it does float a lot, and I get stuffy after a little while working with it, no major reactions so far though .

I wish I could say the same for Ravyn, and her cold issues, we thought she was getting better, she's been able to spend little bits of time outside this winter... but no, last week, we gave her a bowl of ice cream, not thinking anything about it, it's never been a problem before, but this time, within minutes, she was breaking out in hives all over her throat and down her chest... wtf? She said she didn't have any breathing problems, and benedryl took the hives away, but who knows what could happen with it next.

We've started review and testing for the year, and putting together her curriculum for next year, and it looks like, for most subjects, she's ahead of her grade level, mostly she's falling in the 4th & 5th grade levels. I've had a hard time finding science and history books that aren't bible based, most subjects, it's not that big of a deal to use what you need, and disregard the rest, but those are biggies... My other problem with schooling her is since she's such an advanced reader, books at her level are either too mature for her, or just too long and/or boring for her attention span... just because she CAN read almost anything, doesn't mean she should, or even that she wants to read most of it...

Oh well, back to work for me!

(oh yeah, if this post goes horribly wrong, sorry, testing out a desktop program for blogging)

Listening to "Returner" by Gackt

What a month!

2008-02-28T23:37:00.000-08:00

I'm really trying to stay optimistic about how this year is going to go, after last years suck-fest, but man, this has been one hell of a month, for real... The ultimate high point, of course, being the earthquake that mostly missed us, did some real damage to a town about 50 miles away, but just tossed us out of bed at the buttcrack of dawn. After frantic calls to make sure everyone was OK, we settled in and rode the aftershocks all day. My poor future son-in-law was on the bus on his way to school in the town that was at the epicenter, and ended up shipped back to his bus stop, which is a good distance from his home, so, there was a bit of panic trying to get him picked up and home safe.

There are plenty of good things to go around though, like the appliances that we bought at the beginning of the month are finally being delivered tomorrow, new stove, washer and dryer... I feel so spoiled :D. My sewing class has finally been rescheduled, for tomorrow morning... I have made a teensy pincushion, but, I'm still not all that comfortable with my machine.

Eva and I went to the other knitting group today, at The Gallery Bar, where I worked on my Fawkes Socks, in yarn I dyed myself with Kool-Aid and (don't laugh) Crystal Light:

we probably won't make it in there often, we're the "mommy group" so, we need to go places we can take our kiddoes with us... We headed over to JR's for dinner after, and talked a while, and Eva surprised me with a Dark Mark Needle Roll:

So far, no allergy issues to speak of with the Bare yarns, a little sneeze here and there. I have the Alpaca Cloud quarantined from the rest, so I can check it out and see how it affects me when I wind it with... my other surprise, hehe, I never find anything good at yard sales and thrift stores, but, Eva does, and she found a yarn winder for a buck, and sold it to me for the same... hehe, I offered her extra, a little profit, but all she'd take was the buck...

Here's hoping I can work with the Alpaca, I'm going to TRY to knit The Rona Lace Shawl from the Peppermint for a possible fair entry, and the Horizon is probably going to end up being Icarus. I also got 3 100g hanks of the wool/silk Bare, for maybe another attempt at a couple Spring Things, I will not be beaten by this pattern, lol, and I'm hoping I've picked up enough skill to actually get it knit... my eyes were definitely bigger than my skills when I picked that one, lol.

I think that's really all there is, for now... ok, probably not, since I don't actually blog much anymore, but all I can think of for now ;)

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Now playing: Adele - Cold Shoulder
via FoxyTunes

From the mouth of Mini...

2008-02-01T22:59:00.000-08:00

When she came home from her grandpa's house and saw this on my desk:

"Sheesh, you already had 85,000 craft things, now you have 85,001!"

Yup, like I really needed one more thing... I decided that I MUST learn to sew... headed to the local sew shop, asked for an easy, but sturdy machine, signed up for a class, and got the quick runthrough... I've been butchering some pieces of cheapie material I picked up for practice off and on since. I haven't managed to MAKE anything, but had a grand old time just zipping up and down the fabric, trying to get it straight...

I've wanted to learn to sew forever, and never got the chance, My grandmother was a seamstress and dollmaker, but she died before I was old enough to sit still and learn from her. I had about 2 minutes in home-ec in Jr. High, before I transferred to another school where they were just finishing sewing, and starting cooking... so I got a double dose of foods, and never got to sew. Now, I will... if I can manage to stop the damned machine from un-threading itself over and over :|

I stopped being lazy... only temporarily though :)

2008-01-31T19:29:00.001-08:00

Finally, got them off the camera and stuff... a friend found this fun program, and she thought it was just perfect for me, lol, knows I like to do fun things with images.

Yeah, not a lot finished, but not bad considering I wasn't allowed for the first part of the month.

I love my Total Tote, I haven't QUITE figured out where everything is going to go for good, but I have plenty of room to play until I get it the way I want it.

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Now playing: Storm Large - Fat Chick's Revenge
via FoxyTunes

Only in Elko...

2008-01-31T03:40:00.000-08:00

could you overhear something like this... I swear, direct quote, that came out of a group as they walked past me today...

"Would you PLEASE tell your mom she can't wear fishnets to my dad's funeral!?"

Just. wow.

Anyway... I have been getting some knitting done, with less and less pain, well, until the past couple days... back to the cardio doc on the 8th, then back in a month for my echo... still no news, but, he hasn't called to tell me I'm going to croak, so... I guess that's something.

I seriously need to upload some pictures, I finished a pair of Dashing for myself, a couple dishcloths, cast on a blankie for Pirate Baby, who is due mid-summer, all done in waves of blues and green, I thought if he's going to be a pirate, I'm giving him his first sea. :) Hopefully, I'll make it through the blankie, and still have time to knit him the Pirate Sweater from Baby Knits. It starts at a size 6mo. so, I figure by the time it gets chilly around here, he'll be ready for it.

Mr. bought me some great gifts today, a nice suede coat, because it's COLD here this winter, like... ridiculous cold, and as sick as I've been, I don't need to be running around in a sweatshirt like the rest of the town...yes, even on the coldest nights, it's not often you see real coats here, everyone throws on sweatshirts, and out they go. He also got me the knitting bag I've been all adrool for, the chocolate Total Tote. Ok, so I'm really after the latest Jordana Paige bag, the Bella Bag
(droolslobber) but, as much stuff as I carry, the tote was a way better choice for now, and maybe I can use the Bella as a motivation tool to lose some pounds this year... maybe as a 50 pound gift to myself, I think that would make me love it even more :)

Anyway, that's it for now, eventually I'll stop being lazy and upload some pictures...

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Now playing: Nouvelle Vague - Escape Myself (The Sound)
via FoxyTunes

Kinda Funny...

2008-01-23T04:31:00.000-08:00

Funny weird, not funny ha-ha... While anyone with access to tv, radio and internet is on forced Britney Trainwreck watch, very quietly, in a NY apartment, while waiting for a massage, Heath Ledger slipped away. Meanwhile, at a hateful site I refuse to link to here, people shouted with glee that the evil "pervert" who sinned against God to make a movie that glorifies homosexuality was dead, and have already started circulating flyers to organize a protest at his funeral... WTF? I just can't wrap my head around someone picketing a funeral, let alone to do it in the name of God... just wow. I hope his family can manage to escape the antics of these hateful people, and the craziness of the paparazzi too... so sad.

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Now playing: Celtic Woman - The Soft Goodbye
via FoxyTunes

So I'm here...

2008-01-09T01:15:00.000-08:00

Still kickin', off bedrest, but on light duty (or according to hubby still on bedrest as long as he's around ) meds all taken, feeling mostly better, and even able to knit little bits at a time. I'm tired as all hell, and trying to take care of a sickly mini, but, happy to be here and able to feel the tired and the pain. Hopefully I'll regain my full strength and energy soon, but for now, it's time to dose the kiddo for the night, and then off to bed for me.

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Now playing: David Draiman - Forsaken
via FoxyTunes

The last gasp...

2008-01-01T13:34:00.000-08:00

of a horrible year... gah, so, I didn't spend my New Years drinking champagne until I was loopy... I was in the ER being poked and prodded to see why I've been having fleeting chest pains since Christmas... fun, right? No better place to be on New Years Eve... The good news is that my heart seems to be in top-notch condition... clean EKG, cardio enzyme bloodwork, and films. The cause of the pains seems to be an infection in the muscles around my ribs, and as a bonus, the pain is aggravated by knitting, so, I'm going nuts with nothing to do... even reading is no fun if I can't knit too. (probably shouldn't even be writing this, but, dammit... I gotta do something) I'm looking at the whole thing as the year getting in one last jab, before clearing the way for a good year... because honestly, at my size, that pain could have been something entirely different... I still have to see a cardiologist for more tests, even though everything looks ok, because of my weight and family history... bleh

So, I guess, I'll use some of this downtime to plan the family lifestyle change, which actually WASN'T brought on by this event, but totally cemented by it. I've been Using SparkPeople for about a month, and got hubby started in it, and we're SO ready for this.

The rest of the downtime, will probably be used to plan my knitting for the year... well, the stuff I *need* to do, because I totally get distracted by a billion little shiny things that I "HAVE TO MAKE RIGHT. NOW!" The only solid thing on that list so far though, is I want to make myself a sweater this year, probably CPH, since it's available online now, and in *ahem* extended sizes. I actually want to knit a lot more stuff for myself this year, almost everything that wasn't a dishcloth last year, I knit for someone else, even if it started out as something for me.

Meh, just realized I never did get around to posting the Christmas photos... and I'm not posting them now, lol, camera has gone missing :|

Anyhow, Happy New Year, here's hoping this year sucks less than the last!

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Now playing: Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights
via FoxyTunes

Next, she'll be taking over my blog... (not that I've been using it)

2007-12-23T20:08:00.000-08:00

This is the influence of a certain knitter's advice to beginning knitters on the Yarn Craft Podcast... about 4 rounds in for her (I cast on and knit the first round to show her) She set it down mid-needle, and ended up throwing in a short row, but other than that, she's trucking right along. Now, she's sitting in the living room designing some super secret plans for who knows what, knit, knit, knit... scribble in journal, knit, knit, knit... measure... lol, I'm really curious to see what she's working on, it's kinda scary how seriously she's taking whatever it is.

I've got a billion things going, it seems, I finished Perdita today, except for buttons, knit a bit on Gypsy's scarf, and then switched to crocheting some grannies in Caron Simply Soft, no real plans for them, but, I figure, I get enough of them done, eventually, I'll have an afghan, so, I get to brush up, switch the motion to save some stress on my wrists, and eventually, have something soft and cuddly when it's all done.

I guess that's all... hope everyone has a happy...erm, whatever you celebrate with your friends and family, and that the season isn't making you too crazy...

Everyone who I've been missing catching up on their blogs, I am incredibly sorry, I'm hoping to catch up after the holiday insanity is over!

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Now playing: Kristin Chenoweth - Popular
via FoxyTunes

Starting Fresh...

2007-12-15T14:32:00.000-08:00

Back where I started, oddly enough. It's been a rough year for me, for everyone around me, it seems, but, we're all still alive to tell about it, so I guess that's something.

This won't be just a "knitting blog" since my life is so much more than knitting, and I can't say I'll update often, only really when I have something to share... I'm sad I lost so many old posts, but the other blog was a mess, a huge mess, and it was just easier to start fresh.

There's some things cooking up over here, but I'll save those for later, I'm insanely tired, and don't really have the words for a whole post right now :(

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Now playing: Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - Baby, It's Cold Outside
via FoxyTunes