Yay!

Well, the secret's out - Pam's bambina blankie arrived. Woohoo!!!

I've been working on this since November, but I couldn't say anything, well, because, it was a surprise.

To Pam - ever since I learned of Nipper #3, I wanted to give you everything that meant love. And sunshine. And comfort. I hope that you will wrap your sweet baby girl in this blanket and feel comforted by the love that went into making it. Every stitch is a hug meant for you, Justin, Duncan, and this sweet baby girl. I love you with all my heart.

I'm Baaaaaaaack!

Once again, Frontier has impressed the heck out of me. I called on Saturday, and a very pleasant (on the eyes, too) service guy arrived with a new modem on Sunday. Sunday!!! I was still in my pajamas when he called. We have the internets again! Hooray!

Let's see...what have we been up to...

Friday was pizza and Jack Daniels (Joe and I are nothing if not classy), and we watched 3:10 to Yuma. We both really, really enjoyed this movie. It reminded me a lot of Unforgiven - mainly because it had heart and drama, in addition to the typical shoot-em-up bad-guy stuff. And for me, at least, it was Russell Crowe's best role to date. Just my $0.02.

Yesterday I started cleaning out the office. We have lots of wonderful shelves and cabinets that are filled with crap. So now that crap is on my dining room table, awaiting final judgment. I never get stuff like this done quickly, because it often takes me down Memory Lane...

Here is my treasured TI-35 (plus!). I bought it back in middle school or high school - can't remember which - for some math class that required we all go out and buy a scientific calculator. I used it throughout school, through college, and for balancing my checkbook most of my adult life. Alas, however, it is no more and only has weird dots on the display when you turn it on. All of the sin/cosin buttons have rubbed off, as have the add/subtract buttons. You were a good calculator - rest well, old friend.

In other news, I had to snap this the other night...

...they were just too damn cute.

Have a lovely day, one and all!

I Can't Believe I Won Something...

Back before Christmas, I heard a radio contest for tickets to a Broadway show. I went online, filled out a few questions about a great movie, then didn't think anything of it.

Imagine my surprise when - not one, but TWO - coworkers came up to me saying they'd heard my name on the radio.

Lo and behold, I won two tickets to Young Frankenstein the Musical. Not a show I'd stand in line and spend $200 to see, but wow - free seats. Free GOOD seats. And a good excuse to leave work early and hit the city.

Take THAT, you stupid modem. Something went right today...

I Haz Teh Gigglz...

moar funny pictures


ETA: Anyone know how to make the pic not so wonky? :(

Modemless

A few weeks ago, we lost our phone line. DSL was working fine, but no dial tone on the phone line. Tested the phones, made sure it wasn't a cordless phone issue - nope. Just no phones.

But hey - we have cell phones, and we have DSL. So no big whoop. We waited almost a week before calling the phone company, and they actually sent out a guy on a Saturday to fix the problem (connection on side of house was wonky - we'd had a bunch of windy days). I was very impressed with the phone company (that does not happen often), and it was pretty much a non-issue. Actually, it was kind of nice not getting sales calls and such.

But Wednesday night, I discovered something horrible. One lone, steady red light on the modem, no multiple green blinky lights - I was beginning to get a baaaad feeling about it. After a few tests with the lines and such, it seems our modem has died.

Oh, my, what to do? I had grand weekend plans of blogging and pictures and seeking help from Ravelry friends and resorting my queue after my deadline knitting is done and finally buying our airline tickets for Italy and making car reservations and paying some bills online and looking at funny cat pictures and cute cat pictures and cute coyote pictures and cute everything else pictures...

*pout*

Bourbon, Honey, and Lemon Juice

I have a cough.

It started off as dry, hacking, ick, but it has now progressed to There's Something Clinging To The Back Of My Throat, And If I Could, I'd Stick A Coathanger Down There To Fish It Out.

Ahem.

So I've resorted to Mom's cough remedy. Equal parts bourbon and honey, dash of lemon juice. Anyone who knows me, knows that I loves me some bourbon. But when you combine it with honey and lemon juice...?

Think of the worst, barfiest cough medicine you had as a child. That's what it tastes like.

But the shit works.

I spoke with my mom today, who laughed when I mentioned I'd gone to "the remedy." She recalls giving it to my older brother several times a day for a while...before she realized he only had allergies.

Moms of the 70's knew their shit. They were all about knocking us out and stopping the damn coughing.

While I hack away and go have another icky toddy, please enjoy some Dobby pictures. He's been by my side the whole time, only giving me halfway pissed-off glances when my coughing jostles his peace.

Yes, I Had No Life...

You paid attention during 91% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don't get scores that high! Good show, old chap!

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IT'S DONE!!!

...well, mostly...

Our master bath is, for all intents and purposes, fully functional. There are just a few nit-picky items remaining, and we'll probably be taking our time with those things. Because we're poor. And tired. And poor.

First, the sink...TA-DAAAAAAAH!

The plumbers came by yesterday and hooked up the connections to the sink. This is the vanity we fell in love with almost a year ago, and it's finally complete! The only thing is that we can't use the sink stopper thingy - the basins are extra deep (and lovely, oh-so-lovely), but the doohickies that connect the stopper thingies to the pull-stop-doodads is for a standard basin. So we have to find longer doohickies. No matter. The sinks are perfect, and made even more complete with our Snarky Soap! Also, we decided to nix the backsplash - not only was it the exact height of the molding (and looked weird), but it emphasized the unevenness of the wall. No worries - no backsplash needed! Now if anyone needs a weird strip of granite, give us a call...

A view from the toilet area - please don't mind the laundry on the bed or the salt container on the sink. I'm a phlegm machine this morning, and I've been gargling with the stuff pretty much all day. Oh, yum.

Here you can really see the difference between the refinished floor and the old floor (in the bedroom). The old floors still have the 100+ years of layers upon layers of polyurethane (or whatever they used) - and in some instances they didn't even bother sweeping before they coated the floor. So it's darker, rougher, and kind of orange. We're eventually going to redo all the floors. Just not all at once. Of course, we still need to paint the door, too. NOT a priority.


View from the doorway. We still need to box in that ductwork above the toilet, but it's just cosmetic. We also want a glass enclosure for the shower, but we've got some thinking to do about that - as well as some savings too.

Linen cabinet and new hamper. We're still undecided about what kind of window covering. In the daytime, we really don't need anything. But when I shower in the morning it's still dark out, and I fear I would give the kids going to the bus stop the shock of their poor little lives.

And a shot with all the lights on. The flyover/task lighting on the vanity is really nice. All other lights are CFL and, while they take a while to warm up, are perfect for the area.

A far cry from this, eh?

Hooray to Joe - he did 90% of this all by himself. I'm a lucky, lucky gal. :)

Dear Mister Almost Roadkill...

At 5:30 this evening, after the sun vanished for the night (winter afternoons are dark in NY), and while the non-accumulating-or-so-they-say snow was dandruffing my windshield, I observed the following actions by you, the pedestrian:
- You were walking on the right side of the road, with your back to traffic.
- You had ample - albeit slightly sloped - shoulder upon which to tread, yet you chose to stay on the road.
- You were wearing a dark sweatshirt and camouflage pants - what, did you go hunting? Or, I'm sorry - were you attending your middle school dance FROM NINETEEN EIGHTY THREE???

Even though I was traveling a mere 30 mph (the posted speed limit), I had to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid hitting you. While I can attest to the fact that I would not have killed you (or seriously have maimed you, for that matter), I do resent the threat you posed to my little Hyundai. You would have dented my beater car, and you would have sued me. You probably would have won - what was I to say - because of the camo pants I thought you were a tree???

And while one of my self-promises is to do no harm, I can certainly WISH you harm. May you get bumped off the road - just enough for a big bruise or maybe even a sprain. Because you are truly stupid.

Thank you for giving me a panic attack when I was on my way home towards a Happy Place of knitting and DVRd movies. You suck. Like a great big sucking thing that sucks a lot. And not just a lot of sucking, but sucking...a lot of the time.

Promises

It's 2008. One of those years - or so we thought when we were in elementary school - that would bring butler-robots and flying cars. But here we are - I don't have an AI unit working for me, poverty still exists, and who wooda thunk that U2's frontman would be such an icon for world peace.

Huh.

Of course we don't take "resolutions" seriously. Who would? As a frequent diet-get-healthy-stop-starving-ite, it's easy to push thing off until Monday or next month or next year.

But this year? 2008? When I turn the dreaded three-six?*

I promise, first, to do no harm.

I promise, also, to express my love.

Lastly, I promise myself to not get so wrapped up in other things as to ignore taking care of myself.

And as a side-note, I promise to knit wonderful things for myself! :)


*please note that it's not 36 that's a bad thing, but the fact that certain things were to be accomplished by the age of 36 - children, wholeness, overall grownupedness....

Help From My Friends...?

Okay, folks - knitters and non-knitters alike. I need your help...

Last year, I received the most wonderful birthday present from Lorena - this beautiful sock yarn. I was in love from the moment I saw it. Pictures do not do it justice. Deep reds, flaming orange and yellow...everything I'd expect from a sunset or a violent lava flow. Just beautiful.

I was very attracted to a pattern from Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles - Columbine Peak. I had grand illusions of the mountains of Hades or something similar - just great, kickass socks. I swatched, I cast on, and the pooling of the deep red was AWESOME. I loved it. I totally knew this pattern was perfect for this colorway.

And then I realized my swatch lied. I needed a bit more if it was going to fit my foot. Unfortunately, the pattern is a 12-stitch repeat. So I had to up it by 12. This is what I got...



Please note that these pictures do not tell the truth. It's not purple - it's the deepest blood red. Regardless - because of the difference in stitches, I now have Ronald McDonald striping socks.

My gut instinct is to rip these out and wait for another great pattern to showcase this beautimous yarn. But I just wanted to get a little input from the peeps...what do you think I should do...?

Not Much...

Sorry for not posting much, but here's the excitement of the last week...

- Joe & I had a burger at Sweeney's. I haven't had a burger in a loooong time. We discussed local politics and Britney Spears. Mostly talked about our gargantuan debt, though.

- Just got a new hamper for the bathroom (we've never had a hamper before...not one that we actually used). It's cool, it's large, and it's somewhat good for the planet. However, it smells. Seagrass smells funky.

- Got a nice thank you card from Mailman Ralph. That's how he signed it - Mailman Ralph. He and Mail Carrier Jill rock our world. If you ever tried to walk up our sidewalk in the ice, you'd know.

- Our pothole got filled! YAAAAY!!!

- Tomorrow is Pammy's birthday!!! One of the few I remember!!!

- I have this weird pain in my legs. Don't know if I should be concerned or not.

- I worked enough Mon-Thurs (45 hrs) to be able to bang in on Friday, right? RIGHT????

So, yeah. That's my exciting life.

On another, totally different note, at the risk of sounding preachy, please love the ones you're with tonight. I don't know why, but this story really shook me. Maybe it's because it happened in my hometown backyard. Maybe because we've all gone for short hikes without thinking anything of it. Maybe because we were all 20-something and totally in love with our dogs and life and believed that everything was good and okay. It makes me really, really sad. My heart goes out to all family and friends, Ella included.

When Snow Brings the Pretty