On And Off the Needles

I got quite a bit of knitting accomplished over Christmas at my mother's house. And more done this past week while I've been home. Vacations with nothing much to do helps when you have a lot of knitting to finish. I'm going a little stir crazy, though, and am ready to go back to work. Remind me of this in two weeks when I'm ready to pull my hair out at work.


This is an unflattering picture of me, but not a bad picture of my second attempt at the Hourglass Sweater. This one was done with slightly thicker yarn (alpaca instead of hemp) and no hem. It was torture hemming the last one, so I skipped it this one. The sleeves and the bottom rolled a little, but it's not so bad once it's blocked. This sweater was originally intended for Sister for Christmas, but she told me never mind once she found out she was pregnant. She was afraid she wouldn't fit into it this year. I'm kind of glad she wanted something else (she got a baby book and a gift certificate to Lowe's so she can get started on the baby's room.) This will give me a chance to perfect my sweater skills a little more before I make another attempt for her next Christmas.



The purple earflap hat is done. It's just waiting for its fleece liner. I don't think I'm going to line it all the way up. Just the earflaps and up around the pattern section. I think the top will be fine unlined.



This is a close-up of the pattern section. I think it came out nice. It wasn't quite as complicated as I thought it was going to be. I'm going to be starting another one as soon as B and I can get to the yarn store. Mom has requested one.



The first Anastasia sock is finally off the needles. For some reason, these socks have been the bane of my existence. I think it's because they're too difficult to do anything else while I knit, but not so difficult as to keep my attention while I'm knitting. So my mind wanders and I lose count and screw up. I started this sock in July and finally cast off after Thanksgiving. I cast on the second the other day and have only knit 15 rows (the majority of that at the coffee shop yesterday with Circus and B.) I am determined, however, to get it done and to Hawaii for my sister-in-law for her birthday in February. Maybe if I have a time limit on it, I will finish it more quickly. I just want the darn things off the needles and out of my hair!

Slowing Catching Up

We're back from NY. Christmas was nice. Hectic, but nice. Well, Christmas Day was hectic. The rest of the week was pretty relaxing.

I still have the rest of the week off before I go back to work, unless BossMan calls us in to move furniture. It would be nice if he did, since we all could use some extra hours.
I'm trying to decide what to do with my free time otherwise. Aside from sleeping and cleaning. And reading and knitting of course. Gosh, what an exciting life I have. We've already planned to go downtown Wednesday night with Cris and B for First Night. Maybe with Sam if he gets settled in and wants to. He's moving in today. I'll try to get some First Night pics.

Perhaps I'll do some de-cluttering of this apartment. There's a bag of stuff that's been sitting in the bedroom waiting to go to Goodwill for a while. I've been meaning to go through the books and make some room on the shelves. Whatever Cris and B don't want, I'll bring to Webster's or Goodwill.

Today's tasks include the bank and post office and then hanging around and waiting for the UPS man, who is evidently going to deliver 2 packages from Amazon between 2 and 5.

Now, for your entertainment, a follow up Snowman picture. He had a bit of a rowdy night on Christmas Eve. What with the warm weather and the rain. And the beer.

Announcement!

Now that the family has all been told, I've been given permission to announce it here:

My sister is pregnant!!

I'm going to be an Auntie in June!

Sister is doing alright. She's been feeling sick, but the doctor gave her some meds to stop her from puking all the time, so things are better.

We are all very excited.

I took some pictures of her. This is Sister at 14 weeks. The first is taken at the family Christmas party. The second is in front of Mom's tree on Christmas Day.

How to Build a Snowman

A Step-by-Step Guide:

Step 1: Find Yourself Some Snow



This will do. It ought to be good, wet, packing snow.

Step 2: Roll and Establish Your Base




Preferably in a spot where people can see it and where it will scare the crap out of Mom when she sits at the dining room table and sees "someone" on the deck.

Step 3: Add the Torso:



Using some snow to make a little bit of a waist and to secure the torso ball to the base ball.

Step 4: Roll Out and Add the Head:



It's okay to have a funny look on your face when you do this. Safety work gloves are, of course, optional.

Step 5: Decorate as Desired

This Evening's Entertainment

My mother lost the keys to the china cabinet and the buffet table (both antiques.) We've been spending the past hour watching The Boy™ try to pick the lock in the buffet table. Unsuccessfully. Looks like we won't be able to use the Christmas dishes for brunch on Thursday. Also looks like Mom will have to call a locksmith.

A Meme

I'm normally not big on memes. But it's 8:30am and still snowing.

Things you've already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven't done and don't want to - leave in plain font

1. started your own blog
2. slept under the stars
3. played in a band (does the school band count?)
4. visited hawaii
5. watched a meteor shower
6. given more than you can afford to charity (I've given, but not more than I can afford.)
7. been to disneyland/world
8. climbed a mountain (not a very big one)
9. held a praying mantis
10. sang a solo
11. bungee jumped
12. visited paris
13. watched a lightning storm at sea
14. taught yourself an art from scratch
15. adopted a child
16. had food poisoning
17. walked to the top of the statue of liberty
18. grown your own vegetables
19. seen the mona lisa in france
20. slept on an overnight train
21. had a pillow fight
22. hitch hiked
23. taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. built a snow fort
25. held a lamb
26. gone skinny dipping
27. run a marathon
28. ridden a gondola in venice
29. seen a total eclipse
30. watched a sunrise or sunset
31. hit a home run (I'd like to, but I'm so uncoordinated, but it would never happen.)
32. been on a cruise
33. seen niagara falls in person
34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors (I have no idea where that even is?)
35. seen an amish community
36. taught yourself a new language (I'd like to, but I'm so bad at learning languages.)
37. had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. seen the leaning tower of pisa in person
39. gone rock climbing (does indoors count?)
40. seen michelangelo's david in person
41. sung karaoke (have you heard me sing?)
42. seen old faithful geyser erupt
43. bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. visited africa
45. walked on a beach by moonlight
46. been transported in an ambulance (I don't remember it though)
47. had your portrait painted
48. gone deep sea fishing
49. seen the sistene chapel in person
50. been to the top of the eiffel tower in paris
51. gone scuba diving or snorkelling (Snorkelling, not scuba diving)
52. kissed in the rain
53. played in the mud
54. gone to a drive-in theatre
55. been in a movie
56. visited the great wall of china
57. started a business
58. taken a martial arts class
59. visited russia
60. served at a soup kitchen
61. sold girl scout cookies.
62. gone whale watching
63. gotten flowers for no reason
64. donated blood (I don't 'cause I have horrible veins, I know I ought to)
65. gone sky diving
66. visited a nazi concentration camp
67. bounced a cheque
68. flown in a helicopter
69. saved a favorite childhood toy (cabbage patch doll.)
70. visited the lincoln memorial (I have and I'd like to go again.)
71. eaten caviar (no thank you.)
72. pieced a quilt
73. stood in times square
74. toured the everglades
75. been fired from a job
76. seen the changing of the guard in london
77. broken a bone
78. been on a speeding motorcycle
79. seen the grand canyon in person
80. published a book
81. visited the vatican
82. bought a brand new car
83. walked in jerusalem
84. had your picture in the newspaper (when I was three)
85. read the entire bible
86. visited the white house
87. killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. had chickenpox
89. saved someone’s life (I would if I had to, but I'd like to not have to)
90. sat on a jury
91. met someone famous
92. joined a book club
93. lost a loved one
94. had a baby
95. seen the alamo in person.
96. swum in the great salt lake.
97. been involved in a law suit
98. owned a cell phone
99. been stung by a bee

Snowed In!

We are safe and sound at my folks' house. We decided to leave on Thursday instead of Friday to avoid the Weather. It's a good thing we did too. At about 8:30 this morning, the sky opening up and began dumping snow on us. It has just gotten worse as the day goes on. They're calling for 9-13 inches by tonight.

I went out and took some pictures for my brother to show his girlfriend. She's from Texas and is not sick to death of snow like the rest of us are.



These are the trees at the front of the house. Postcard pretty, if there were a little more needles on the branches at the bottom.




I took a picture of my feet to try to show how deep the snow is. I didn't realize it would only look ankle deep, seeing as how my jeans were rolled up mid-calf. Believe me, it's deeper than it looks.



This is Dad's new truck. Spiffy, eh? His poor old truck died on him one too many times and he had to get this new guy. Does well in the snow, Dad says. The accumulation on it in this picture is after about 45 minutes.

Where I Bask in the Glory that is Sleep

I woke up at some point in the night and, as I usually do, groaned mentally and thought "I ought to look at the clock and see how long I have left to sleep."

And then realized "I don't have to!" It doesn't matter how long I sleep today. I don't have to work today!
*does the 'I don't have to work today' dance*

I am still recovering from the three-day migraine. I think I am able to function today. I might be able to kick it with some regular over-the-counter stuff instead of the heavy-duty drugs that make me spacey.
Sleeping helps. Less stress helps. I knew that after Tuesday, the stress level would go down. I have been so unreasonably (I think. Maybe it hasn't been unreasonable, I don't know,) stressed about a possible confrontation with that awful music mother, that I haven't been sleeping well. When I don't sleep, I get migraines. (The confrontation never happened, btw. Hopefully, she'll call while I'm gone and someone else can deal with her. At any rate, it won't be anything I'll have to deal with until after the holidays.)

Sleep is good. Let that be the lesson.

Migraine: Day Three

Still not sleeping. Still stressed, I think. I'm done at work now until after Christmas, though. So hopefully my stress level will go down and I will be able to sleep better.

I feel like my brain is trying to squeeze it's way out of each individual hair follicle of my eyebrows. Not a pleasant feeling.

Work in Progress

I started a new hat for myself yesterday. The Ever Lovely Becca made the Greenbriar Hat for Circus, and I absolutely loved it. So, of course, I have to make one for myself.
This is the picture from the pattern's page. Mine will look slightly different when it's finished. It's purple and off-white to being with. The main color is purple; the pattern is off-white. And I've added earflaps. I like earflaps. I think it'll turn out nicely. I hope it will, at least. I'll post a pic once it's done. I'm hoping to finish it while I'm on break. I'm considering lining it with fleece as well. A nice, warm hat for winter.
I'll also have to make myself a new scarf, too. My current scarf is green. It's nice and I like it, but it's not really warm enough for the winter. Doesn't keep the wind from blowing down the top of my coat. And it won't match my new hat.

I Feel So Violated!

I'm back from the bank. It was easier than I expected, but not great news. I am a victim of credit fraud. Thankfully, the bank caught it before the person(s) actually took any money. They noticed someone trying to take money out of my account using my debit card number from an unusual place out of state. They put a freeze on my card.

When I went to the bank to ask about it, the very nice woman called a number and spoke to another very nice woman on the other line. They asked if I knew anything about said charge. I said no. They said the bank is mailing me a new card. The nice woman at the bank actually took my old card and shredded it right there for me.

So, I think everything is ok. I have no idea where whomever it was could have gotten the number from, but hopefully it's solved now that that number is no longer active. I have no money until the new debit card comes in the mail, but I don't suppose that's a bad thing for the time being. Need to save what little money I have this month anyway.

I feel a little disturbed about the whole thing. Especially since I have no idea where someone could have gotten the number from.

Public Service Announcement

Migraine: Day Two.

Brought to you by stress about the inevitable confrontation with a particularly annoying music mother.

Movin' On Up

The difference between a poor undergrad and a poor graduate student: the undergrad lives on Ramen soup, the graduate student lives on instant eggdrop soup.

(We put mushrooms and onions in ours. Gives it a small semblance of nutrition.)

Arg.

Looks like I'm going to have to go to the bank after work on Monday. My card was declined at the yarn store today, despite $600+ in the account. The Ever Lovely Becca nicely paid for my purchase (yarn for a new hat, sock yarn and a gift certificate for a friend - I only went in for the gift certificate.) She's such a sweetheart.

I had a problem with the card yesterday at Lowe's. This didn't phase me too much. I always have a problem with my card at Lowe's. I don't know why that is. I had them run it as credit instead of debit and it worked out fine. It worked at Target after that, so I just assumed it was the usual problem with Lowe's and thought nothing of it. I've never had a problem with it at the yarn store, so this is kind of bothering me.

I hope it's not a huge ordeal. I don't have the energy to deal with ordeals right now. The people at our bank are super nice (despite everyone else's problems with Citizen's Bank, I have never had an issue with them.) Think happy Bank Thoughts for me on Monday around noon.

Happiness is ....

.... when friends tell me their babies are wrapped up and sleeping in blankets I knitted for them.

They Must Be Crazy

I woke up early this morning for no real reason. 5:30am and I was wide awake. So I went into the living room, zoned out through a little msnbc and fell asleep on the couch for another hour or so. Woke up at 7:15, and went through my usual morning stuff - shower, dress, coffee, blah blah blah.
Sat on the couch to check my e-mail before work. A little gmail chat window pops up and Amber asks if we've canceled classes today (Amber teaches the little kids' theatre classes on Thursdays.)

"Not that I know of," I reply. "Why?"
"They've canceled school." She types. Hm. I change to Good Morning America. Sure enough, there's the little school closing crawl at the bottom of the screen. Neither of the ABC channels are our area, so I go to a website that I know has our local school closings. Yep. All of the local schools are closed. Cool. Maybe the BossMan will cancel classes and I'll get to go home early (not that I can afford it, but I'm fighting this cold and a half day might be nice.)

So, like a good and conscientious driver, I go out early, warm up the truck, scrape the big sheet of ice off the windshield and windows, and leave 20 minutes early for a 3 minute drive. It wasn't snowing, but I expected the roads to be icy and slippery. My little truck is a lightweight and doesn't do well in ice. Hell, it doesn't do well on loose gravel.

The roads are fine. Just wet. Not a patch of ice to be seen. Or felt.

They closed the schools for rain.

It is 1:30pm. I have gotten 16 phone calls and 1 e-mail so far today asking if we're canceling classes this afternoon.

For rain.

Work and Stuff

As much as I dislike it here, and as much as I'm not really doing what I'd like to be doing, part of me thinks that, with the economy being what it is, I ought to be grateful I at least have a job. Maybe we ought to just keep our heads low and stay where we are, doing what we're doing until things improve. There are people out there a lot worse off than we are. I'm afraid that if we move, neither of us will be able to find jobs, and then we'll be more miserable than we are now.

Anastasia Socks

I finished the first of this pair of socks today at stitch 'n bitch. It's an ankle sock because I can't stand to knit on the damn thing anymore.

I started it on July 15th.

I probably won't finish it until next July.

It's nice. It's a good pattern. The sock is pretty. It's just a lot of counting. I don't even want to look at it right now. I might not even post a picture of it, I don't want to look at it so much.

Talk about second sock syndrome.

Smells Like .... Yuck!

I was vacuuming the reception area at work today and the belt of the vacuum cleaner started burning. Smoke pouring out of the vacuum and everything. The smell was just nasty.

That was at about 2:30. It is now 5:30. Three hours later and I still can't get the smell of burnt rubber out of my nose.

The Truth, Dammit

I don't have any kids, mind you, so this is sort of a moot point for me. But it's something that is kind of bothering me.

I keep hearing things about how to explain to your kids that Christmas is going to be somewhat less ... Christmasy this year. Most of these aren't even explanations. They're simply ways to fool your children into thinking that the less expensive presents you get them this year are as good as the more expensive presents you got them last year. Fill up their little stockings with $1 knick knacks from the dollar store instead of $15 knick knacks from Toys R Us. Buy them clothes from Target or WalMart instead of the Gap or Abercrombie.

Try to pass off the inexpensive as the expensive.

The worst thing I heard was to tell them that Santa and the elves over produced last year so they're taking a vacation this year.

Bullshit.

Don't lie to your children.

They're not dumb. Okay, so they might not understand what's going on completely, but they know something is going on. How can they not? It's the only thing anyone can talk about right now. The economy is in the tank. Wall Street is falling under. The Big Three Auto is crying for help. A million people have lost their jobs. We're two steps away from the Great Depression. Recession, recession, recession.

Sit your children down. Explain to them that things are hard now. The economy isn't good. People are feeling the pinch. If they're young enough to still believe in Santa, tell them Santa too has fallen on hard times. Christmas is going to be small this year.
But the important thing is that we're together and happy and healthy. The season is about love, not about presents.
Sit down and watch one of those dorky Christmas movies together. Read a book. Sing a carol.

Don't lie to your children.

That is all.

Christmas Cheer

I'm feeling a bit stressed, financially and otherwise. I found out today that not only are we not having our regularly scheduled hours next week, BossMan and BossWife have decided to only staff the desk from 9-12 every day. Meaning there are only 15 hours for the week to split between three people.
K has generously said she will only take one day that week, leaving two days a peice for L and me. So I've gone from 39 hours for the week to 6. The Boy™ and I will have to seriously tighten our pursestrings.

To some of you who may be expecting presents from us for Christmas this year, I apologize that you will probably only be getting cards instead. And some of you who may be expecting cards may be not be getting anything. It's not that we don't love you or that we've turned into Scrooges all of a sudden. It's just that we're very poor right now, and just plain can't afford it. We still send you Happy Holidays and Merry New Years.

Scroogy or Not?

Is it bad that I'm not planning on decorating at all for Christmas? I just don't feel like it this year. We're going to be at Mom's on Christmas Day, and her house will be decorated. Part of me feels like that is enough.
I guess I'm just having a hard time getting into the holiday spirit this year. Not that I'm feeling like Scroogy McScrooge or anything. I'm just too tired and too busy with other things to be bothered. Maybe once this week is over at work and we're on the "holiday schedule" (whatever that may be,) I'll feel like it. We'll see.

First Post

I'm not sure if I'm actually going to be moving the blog here or not. This is more of a test post than anything else. I might use it as a personal thing for a while before switching over altogether. We'll see.