WW Confessions - Week 34

Stayed exactly the same after missing a week's meeting and scarfing down more food and wine than should be legal. I'm taking it as a sign to get back on track, and after 2 days of walking in the morning and staying within my points, I'm doing just that.

Thanksgiving Is...

...cuddling up with the ones you love

...taking a break with good food, wine, and family

...playing loud games with neighbors

...playing silly games with your brother

...playing creative games with friends...and their beaver

...being adults but not acting like them

...hoping your best friends can find some peace when The Worst Thing Ever happens

I wish you all peace, happiness, and lots of reasons to be thankful

Nothingness

My dearest friend has lost her son.

I cannot express how much my heart aches.

I love you.

Must...Stay...Awake...

The excitement from this morning quickly evaporated into sleepiness this evening (now having been up for 20ish hours), as my family's flight was delayed for over 30 minutes, and I just talked to them not too long ago as they stopped for coffee and some food. Probably another 90 minutes or so until they get here. It's 11:30. I picked up the turkey, put sheets and blankets on beds, made up the couch for my brother, put together the ice cream cake portion of the Mocha Baked Alaskas (they do rock), baked 2 pecan pies, am letting them cool, started knitting, realized I was too tired to knit...

Yes. You read that correctly. I'm too tired to knit.

Called the only people I know on the West Coast, and they aren't home, checked a napping Joe to make sure he's still alive, obsessed about the strange noise coming from our furnace (of course at 20 degrees tonight it's acting funny). And now I'm blogging.

And if I might take a few moments from my frivolous rant...if you're reading this, please think of a very dear boy - Evan - and how much his family loves him and wants him to get well. The next few days are crucial. If you pray, pray. If you don't, then send every positive thought and virtual hug his way. I've known his mother since she was just a tad older than he is now, and my heart aches for her. Pammy and Evan, we love you.

One! More! Day!

So I'm sitting here this morning, just killing time before going into the office for my LAST day of work until Monday. Yay! As I am vacation-time-challenged, this time of year is always lovely with the "free" days off. Today will be spent wrapping up a few annoying work items, killing time with my good buddy Todd, and trying not to throw staplers at the people who annoy me. There are a few of them.

Then it's off to Jack's Meats for our free-range organic turkey, running home and putting linens on the guest beds, then baking some pies while I wait for my family to get here. Yay!

And now that I know I have another reader, I'd like to give a shout-out to dear friend Eric. HAAAAY! We missed you, buddy! I'll try not to be so knitting-centric.

STILL on the Needles...

Here's what you're likely to see on the needles for a while...although I'm hoping to complete some by Christmas...

Mom's Sock #1. I kind of got to a stopping point, because I wanted her to be around (she's coming up for Thanksgiving) to make sure I got the sizing right. She says just to make one like I'm making it for me. But she's got a larger foot than mine, and I don't want to take chances. So here it stays for now.

Joe's Cigar Glove #1. Once again, I'm waiting for a fitting. This is my hand, so it's a little baggy. Joe tried it on, and the knucks were fine, but I want to get the length of the ring finger correct. So waiting for him to get back from Sarasota today. Then again, we'll be too busy working on the house to do any fittings until after the family leaves.

Started this sock at the laundromat this morning. Because, yes, sadly, my dryer is toast. Well, technically it's just soggy bread. Because it doesn't dry or heat anything anymore. Tried the old tricks again, and I think it's more than just the heating element. Of course, I had one more load in the washer when this was discovered. So Sunday morning trip to the laundromat. The yarn is Sockotta, and it's okay. I like the patterns of the yarn, but the texture isn't my favorite. I think it'll make a nice bright pair of socks, though. I picked it up in St Louis when I was on a yarn high.

So that's about it. Joe should be home any moment, and the rest of the evening will probably be devoted to dusting, vacuuming, and detumbleweeding the house. If you have furry pets and hard floors, you know what I mean.

WW Confessions - Week 32 and Giving Thanks

I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about my gain this week. Once again, I'm reminded of the following equation:

No exercise + drinking + too many bad foods - not enough good food = GAIN.

Duh.

But I'm very positive this morning. Part of it is due to this lovely blog I read from time to time, written by great folks who probably think I'm a stalker. Read this, and you'll be inspired as well.

Another thing - at Blazing Bagels this morning, getting my coffee, I ran into my friend M behind the counter talking to another customer with the tell-tale WW books in her hand. We had a great discussion to start off the morning.

And something else occurred to me this morning - maybe it's because I got to drive the "good" car to work today(that's what my hubby gets for parking behind me in the driveway) - I have a very good life. Very. Good. Life.

I'm having family and friends up for Thanksgiving - family I rarely see and friends I never get enough time with. I have friends online and close to home that bring me constant joy. I have a home that is drafty but filled with the warmth of fond memories and loving felines. So with that in mind, I'm going to stop being such a Poopyhead and just enjoy.

AUGH!!!

Exactly one week from today I'll be waking up with a house filled with five extra people for Thanksgiving! Augh! My house is a wreck! I know it'll be a lovely time, but between now and then I'm in HOLIDAY PANIC CLEANING MODE!!!

Deeeeeeeep breath...it'll all be okay...

Yeesh...

...didn't realize I was such a downer last night. Probably heavily influenced by spending a few hours on shelter financial statements last night. Really isn't that big of a deal, but I usually put it off until the last minute when I DREAD doing them. Plus it means our monthly meeting is not far behind, and to put it mildly those are always horrible. 2.5+ hours on a weeknight with people bickering over the tiniest little things. I'm one of the few with a fulltime job, and I'd honestly rather stand in line at the DMV than be at those meetings. At least standing in line I could knit a sock.

Speaking of knitting, I've been rolling along on Mom Sock #1 and Hubby's Cigar Glove #1. Had to frog some of the fingers due to total inexperience with the transitions (left some major holes between the fingers), but I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Finally felted my French Market Bag swatch, but it didn't felt so well. Now, being a logical person, I cannot jump to the conclusion that it's the yarn - it could be the fact that I now use a front load washer. I've read a few things online - how it takes longer but it still works, etc. So I'm going to give it one more try with my hedgie-felting-fave yarn. If that doesn't come out spot-on, then I'll be forced to save felting projects for a neighbor's house. Or hand felt. Maybe not.

For Lack of Anything Better Right Now...

UNO
You.
Can.
Only.
Type.
One.
Word.
No.
Explanations.

1. Yourself: tired
2. Your spouse: away
3. Your hair: restrained
4. Your mother: South
5. Your Father: deceased
6. Your Favorite Item: found
7. Your dream last night: wacked
8. Your Favorite drink: margarita
9. Your Dream Car: Outback
10. The room you are in: office
11. Your Ex: nonexistent
12. Your fear: irrelevance
13. What you want to be in 10 years? different
14. Who you hung out with last night? cats
15. What You’re Not? quick
16. Muffins: nah
17. One of Your Wish List Items: unindebted
18. Time: rushed
19. The Last Thing You Did: ate
20. What You Are Wearing: sweater
21. Your Favorite Weather: cold
22. Your Favorite Book: unread
23. The Last Thing You Ate: lasagna
24. Your Life: repetitious
25. Your Mood: somber
26. Your best friend: many
27. What are you thinking about right now? sleep
28. Your car: eh
29. What are you doing at the moment? typing
30. Your summer: over
31. Your relationship status: wondermous
32. What is on your TV? dust
33. What is the weather like? rainy
34. When is the last time you laughed? weekend

And with that, I bid you good night.

Fire, Fire, Fire, Light up ya Lighter

So Come on Come on, Sign up, Come on
This one’s nothing like Vietnam
Except for the bullets, Except for the bombs,
Except for the youth that’s gone

The show TOTALLY rocked. Almost 3 hours of jumping, yelling, and singing - college students and Baby Boomers, dread-heads and gray-heads. I was probably only 20 people from the stage, and I thought that the Mtn Jam show was amazing - this topped everything I'd been to in the last 10 years or so. Wow.

Fortunately I had scheduled today off, so I'm working on the house, which is a miserable wreck. You think I'm kidding?


Yeah. I thought so. This is our office nook leading into the laundry room (note the awesome new washer). So we recently realized we needed our armoire-turned-stereo-cabinet-office-storage to really be an armoire upstairs. Everything came out of it, and we moved the beast to the 2nd floor for blankets and clothes. And this is what I'm dealing with today. Yeah. Wish me luck.

Power to the Peaceful

Guess who we're going to see tonight...

Yup. Michael Franti & Spearhead. Way excited. Saw them at Mountain Jam, and to me they were the highlight. Am prepared to do lots of jumping and dancing and screaming.

WW Confessions - Week 31 - And Fiber Arts Avengers!

Not much to report this week - very slight gain, but my behavior wasn't the best. My goal is to lose a solid 2 lbs this week so I can hit that golden 30-lb mark (I had been so close I was just rounding up, but who was I kidding) and get a new freakin' star for my bookmark. But as my wise meeting leader says, "if nothing changes, then NOTHING CHANGES." So my going to Copperfield's once every few weeks for a handful of beers and their buffalo chicken wraps (oooh, food of the gods) isn't helping my cause. Neither is the occasional pizza. Or bottle of wine. Or getting up too late to work out. Or not getting groceries on time and running out of healthy food. Or just letting the healthy food rot while I'm too lazy to cook. Man, I need a mental adjustment. I need to change my evil, evil ways. So that's my project for this week - scheduling time to take care of myself.

On another COMPLETELY different note - I got an email from bestest friend Amy:
"Here is a link I've been thinking of sending you, to do with as you please -- I'm on a message board of mothers, and one of them has a son with a brain tumor (you can read about it on the link) and they're selling knitting patterns to raise money for healthcare costs. So I thought I'd pass the link along to you in case any of the patterns appeal to you. Do with it what you like. Use, ignore, pass onto others, whatever. Should go to bed. Have stopped using complete sentences."

I should note here that Amy is the mother of a toddler and should be excused from using complete sentances, or words for that matter.

And so I have a new button on the sidebar - I've looked at the site only briefly this morning, but aside from the extremely good cause, I'm all about badass knitters. The patterns look cool, and there are several ways to help - the most important of which is sending good vibes and love their way. And Amy? I am SO going to learn how to crochet and make BTU that lobster! It rocks! Rock Lobster!

Dammit. That song's going to be sticking with me today, I can tell...

My First Sweater...or, The Joy is Short-Lived

So I got this GREAT yarn at the Rhinebeck festival, and the lady who owned the business also gave me a pattern of a sweater I saw in her booth. It looked a little, well, sparse on paper. Like I might need to take a class or something to understand it. So I spent a whopping $2.65 on some nasty yarn to knit a mini-version of the sweater - smaller needles, 1/3 stitching in all directions...
I don't think it turned out bad at all. I wanted my most pliable cat, Otis, to pose in it, but he would have none of that. Smart cat. It's more of a tunic shaping, so there's nothing complicated about it. But I'd like to have more instruction on the seams, so maybe I'll try another mini-test-sweater with another pattern. Not that I expect perfection, mind you - just don't want TOO much crap going on.

On another note...Sigh...SIGH...

This is my new washer. It is awesome. I had a smile on my face when I told Joe I was going to wash clothes (for the first time in 2 weeks at home). And then I put the load in the dryer. I don't know if the dryer was intimidated by Ms Neptune or if it was sad from the loss of its faithful companion of over 10 years. But I've had the same load in the dryer for about 2 hours now, and nothing's happening. I'm so very, very sad. Mostly because we'd hoped to wait a while before plunking down the cash for another appliance. And now, even if I order it tomorrow, it will probably be another 2 weeks - even for pickup. I'm so very, very sad.

EDITED (20 minutes later) to add: HA! AHA! I freakin' FIXED it! ME! The liberal arts major! As opposed to the Tech grad! BWAHAHA! There is joy in Mudville! I have a dryer again! Yay! Yay me! Yay to my clothes! Yay to our checking account! Yay!

Waiting to Felt a Swatch

So I bought this lovely yarn back in March when I met Snarky for the first time in NYC. We went to the Green Market and found such wonderful things - including this bounty. Strangely enough, my house is closer to the farm than Union Square is. Nonetheless, this looked like nice happy yarn to me.

Oh, what to make, what to make...I was still SUCH a novice at that point. My snarky new friend also introduced me to That Which Is Called LYS, and thus created a monster. But I saved this yarn for something...special. My first thought - and attempt - was the Knitty Wavy scarf. Bad idea. I realized the HARD way that yarn with varying thickness is NOT good for patterns that require pretty standard stitch size to show off the stitches. Of course, I started this scarf several times (and got half-way through) before I gave up on it. It just wasn't happening. So that's why the balls on the right of the pic are a little darker - they've been handled too many times to count.

I'm still saving them for a happy project - now I'm thinking Knitty's French Market Bag. The problem is, I don't know how this felts. I have no washer, and felting at the laundromat is rather pointless (and expensive). Not gonna even go to the place of hand-felting. Nope. No way, sistah. And so my perfectly-on-gauge swatch awaits the arrival of my new Maytag Neptune (the Toyota version, not the Rolls Royce version). And let's hope I can get a happy market bag going soon.