Holy Cow! What Just Happened?

It's almost been a full 2 months since I last posted. You might be asking, "What happened to you, Crafty Chick?" 

Well, since you asked...

My choir kids put on their fall show, Life School Musical, the first Sunday in November so I was pretty busy with rehearsals leading up to that. 

We went to Statesboro for Thanksgiving and had a great long weekend hanging out with family. 

My big project (that I've talked about in previous posts and on Facebook) launched the first weekend in December and I'm relatively sure that I was so busy working that weekend that I might have gone three or four days without make-up or a shower. Yuck! 

The second weekend in December was my choir's big Christmas shows and, on top of post-project launch activities that week, I had 15 hours of rehearsals in the span of about 5 days. Whew. 

By December 16th, I was celebrating my 13th wedding anniversary. As it turned out, it wasn't THAT big of a celebration because I was sick! I know - why in the world would I be sick? It's not like I'd been burning the candle at both ends or anything. Good grief. 

So, because I felt so bad and could hardly drag myself out of bed, I finally broke down and went to the doctor. I saw one of the new docs in the practice and she noticed that the last three times I'd been in had been for (surprise) FATIGUE. Ya don't say? (Oh, and she did mention that I've gained 15 pounds in the past year since my last visit. She did blood work to check my thyroid. Uh, whatever. I can tell you why I've gained 15 pounds...start reading from the top of this entry and  multiply that stress by 12 months. That should just about equal 15 pounds.) 

That brings us to Christmas. I've been off for one week already and I'm not scheduled to go back to work until the first Monday in January - a nice, well-deserved breather. 

The Punkin got a Wii for Christmas. What a hoot that thing is! We've had a blast playing with it so far; now we're waiting for some store somewhere to get another shipment of Wii Fit in stock so we can have an animated computer figure tell us how fat we are. HAHAHA!

I have plenty of pictures to post - as soon as I get around to getting them off the memory card. Hopefully sometime this week. Oh, and I did do a little knitting between all of that stuff; something has to keep me sane.

One Day as I Was Walking, Walking to the Fair...

Check it out... I'm now an "award winning" crafter! (Stop laughing; I can hear you.) I entered 14 items in the fair in my hometown and each of them won something! Now, it could be that everyone won something, but I prefer to think that the judges were simply smitten by my clearly superior handiwork. Yeah, we'll go with that.

This is the Golden Child jacket, hat and boots set by Candi Jensen and each item got a blue ribbon. I crocheted them in Lion Brand Suede solely because I fell in love with the pattern, not because I like anyone enough to give them a baby gift made of $75 worth of yarn. 

The pink afghan won a white ribbon. The pattern is from Simple Crochet for Cherished Babies by Jane Davis. It works up quickly and is my "go to" pattern for most baby presents I've made recently. 

In this view: the pastel bag on the top won a white ribbon. The socks below  (Flame Wave by Ann Budd)  won a red ribbon and my Monkey Socks won blue. The brightly colored bag (below and right of the pastel one) won a white ribbon. You might remember it as the bag that caused me to lose my religion with my sewing machine. The blue/green hoodie won a red ribbon. It's a good thing they didn't put in on a real kid. I know kids have big heads but it would take a ginormous head to fill up that hood. I think it was something wrong with the pattern. I'm just sayin'....

The green ballerina neck sweater won a red ribbon. (I actually expected blue and would have liked to have seen the entry that got first place.) 

My "Game Day Hobo Bag", a pattern of my own design, won a red ribbon! I had two dishcloths and another kid sweater that I entered on a lark and all of them won ribbons, too. 

All in all, I'm pretty pleased with the winnings from my first Fair entries; prize money . . . not so much. All 14 projects netted a whopping $33! I'm rich! I'm rich! A quick shout out to my mom who took the pictures for me: "Yahoo, Mom! You rock!" 

WARNING: Political Rant!

Those of you who aren’t interested in politics or our financial crisis need not read further. And if you’re one of my “church lady” readers, there’s going to be some harsh language – you’ve been duly warned.

Ladies and gentlemen, I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore! I’m sick of Congress and the Media thinking that we’re stupid myrmidons and we can’t do our own research and that we should just assume that everything they tell us is the gospel truth. Well I’m NOT stupid; in fact, I’m extremely intelligent and my head isn’t so far up my “politics” that I can’t see a line of crap when it’s fed to me.

I’m more than just a little torqued that the Administration thinks that the money I work my ass off for should be taken FROM me at the threat of jail and used to bail out companies that made bad business decisions. No one bailed ME out when, as an ill-principled college grad, I ran up astronomical credit card bills. No one! I worked HARD to pay off those debts and it took me more than 10 years! But, by God, they’re gone – as are my student loans. And no, I didn’t get a consolidation loan; I scrimped and scraped and spent nights and weekends at home until they were paid off. Big surprise – LESSON LEARNED – do you think I’ll EVER get in that shape again. HELL NO!

So, here begins my RANT on this financial crisis and how, why and who caused it. I’ve linked where appropriate so that you can do your own research. You aren’t going to hear this on the CBS News with perky little Katie Couric because it makes certain people and their party look bad and that doesn’t fit the mold of the news they see fit to share.

The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 was a bill passed under the Carter administration. The Bill, like most, had good intentions but was manipulated for political gain. Designed to invest dollars in community revitalization, this Act was hijacked under the Clinton administration by groups like ACORN (I’ll get to them later) and used to brow-beat leading institutions into lowering their lending standards to make loans to people who would have not qualified under standard lending practices, hence the onslaught of sub-prime lending. Now for an aside – do you REALLY THINK for one minute that any bank, out of the charity of their heart, is going to loan money to someone they KNOW cannot afford to repay it? Of course not – that’s corporate suicide! They wouldn’t loan it unless, they were forced/coerced by the government to do so. (This is where Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae come in.)

Freddie and Fannie were NEVER government entities - they were Government SPONSORED Entities (GSEs) which means that they looked from the outside to be a true government entity, like the FDIC. The banks and lending institutions were leery of making these kinds of loans until Freddie and Fannie stepped in to say, “Hey, we’ve got your back. Make the loans, bundle them together and we’ll buy them from you.” Now, as a GSE, Freddie and Fannie were not governed by the same rules and oversight that normal corporations are subject to. In fact, Republicans warned against the coming disaster while trying to pass the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, which sought to curtail these kinds of lending practices. The warnings were NOT headed and the legislation was soundly defeated by Democrats in the Congress. In fact, some Congressmen went as far as to say that there was nothing wrong with Freddie and Fannie and the simple act of trying to clean them up amounted to a “political lynching” of Franklin Raines, the then CEO of Fannie Mae (who happens to be black) and now a financial advisor to the Obama campaign.) Under Raines leadership, Fannie is accused of cooking the books to generate fat bonuses for their leadership, including Raines. They were then forced to restate their earnings wiping out almost $9 billion in reported earnings.

Back to ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, ACORN is one of those “community organizing” groups that the Media is so fond of these days. What they don’t tell you is how they operate – or at least how they operated in the time period leading up to this financial meltdown. For example, ACORN representatives jammed the lobbies of banks, confronted bank executives at their homes, blocked the drive-thru teller lanes of banks, and otherwise intimidated banks into making these risky loans. So how is ACORN involved with Barack Obama? Obama was a trainer and an attorney for the organization during his community organizer days in Chicago. His campaign has paid more than half a million dollars to ACORN for “get out the vote” efforts. Speaking of “get out the vote efforts,” there are MANY instances of ACORN being involved in blatant voter registration fraud – some of them are detailed here – you can Google each of them for yourself. (For the sake of space, I didn't include links here.)

So, for the sanctimonious Nancy Pelosi to stand on her "pulpit" in the House of Representatives and preach to me about how it’s “all the Republican’s fault” that this happened is pure crap and a load of unadulterated lies – and she knows it. She also knows that most Americans get their news from ABC, CBS and NBC and they aren’t going to tell the whole story. Her lies are safe - safely perpetuated by the Media. (Which is why I do my OWN research.)

Were the Republicans PARTLY responsible? You betcha! Were they SOLELY responsible – OF COURSE NOT and it's stupid to try to place all the blame there! And for Pelosi, Barney Franks and Harry Reid to continue to pontificate that it’s the Bush Administration’s “failed economic policies” is an affront to the US Constitution. My understanding of that sacred document is that it’s the HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES responsibility to initiate EACH AND EVERY spending bill, NOT the President's responsibility (no matter his party affiliation). So, Nancy need look no further than her position as Speaker of the House to find the ultimate blame. Where I work, the buck stops with ME - I don't get to pass blame to others. Buck up, Nancy! 

Rick Warren once said that “you can’t fix the problem if you’re consumed with fixing the blame.” So, shut up Nancy and get about the business of fixing what CAUSED the problem instead of trying to put a $700 billion dollar band-aid over it!

Finally, to use my friend Jodi's words, "Nancy Pelosi, do you wanna piece of me?" Bring. It. On. I’m done and I’m going to uncork a bottle of Chardonnay. Discuss…

Hysterical!

Tim Hawkins is a Christian comedian and is hysterical. If you go to a church that does Praise & Worship music, you'll get a BIG kick out of this clip.

I'm Happy To Report

I'm quite happy to report that today (cue the music...) I am FINALLY GETTING MY ROOTS DONE! (Ta-Da!) So, after 2:30 this afternoon I will no longer look like a country-music-fan-fest-4 wheel truck-driving-Redneck-Princess anymore. Not that there's anything wrong with that...it's just not the "look" I'm going for. It's actually gotten so bad that, thank God I work from home a lot, I've resorted to the college-just-rolled-out-of-bed ball-cap-wearing look. 

For effect, I took this pic just now with Photo Booth on my Mac. Nice. Really nice. So, obviously you can understand my excitement about getting my hair fixed. :)

In the world of crafty endeavors, I'm working on some new projects. (Please, contain your shock...) All better? I've started this cute little cardigan (#22 on the link) using some stashed Lion Brand Microspun in a pretty purplish-blue Lilac. I currently have not one, not two, not three, but FOUR pair of socks on the needles; three on double points and one pair on one LONG circular. (I'm trying to teach myself to knit two at a time using this book.) So far...OK. I'm a "neat knitter" and getting started on this method is so far from neat that it drives me crazy. It's a hot mess!

I was going to enter some of my work, both knit and crochet, in the Gwinnett County Fair - however, I missed the registration deadline. As it turns out, that's good for all the folks who DID enter their "work" in the fair because I would have SO hated to make them look bad. My stuff was WAY better than their stuff. I'm just sayin'. (Bless their hearts.) So I'm going to send a whole bunch of it down to Statesboro so my mom can enter it for me in the Kiwanis Ogeechee Fair. Since I'm FROM Statesboro, I see no problem with this plan whatsoever. I'll post pics later of everything I'm entering, 15 projects in all. Who knows, I might actually win enough for a trip to Starbucks - or a gallon of gas! (Ha!) 

Woohoo!  

After Which Nothing Was the Same

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was working in sales at BellSouth and had just popped my computer into the docking station at my desk and hit my radio's "on" button to listen to WSB AM 750 (and my boy, Boortz) when I heard the news. 

What? A plane? Like a BIG one, or a little one? Oh, most definitely a big one. 

We all ended up in the Vice President's office watching the news unfold on the TV in her conference room. Numb. Shell-shocked. Speechless. Quiet ... odd, still, deafening quiet. Who could possibly work on a day like today? 

The girls and I went to Jocks 'n Jills for lunch because we knew they'd have on every news network. We sat for 2 hours and ate in near silence - remarkable for our group. How could this happen? In America? This kind of stuff happens somewhere else. Not. Here. All I could think about was my 9-month old at the baby sitter's house and how I wanted, no needed, to get there to hold her. 

A fog. A fog that lasted for days and days and days. You'd blink, thinking that it was a dream and you could just blink, wake up and will it away. But no, it was real. Painfully, heart-wrenchingly real. 

After 09-11-01, nothing was the same. Never will be. To this day I cannot step foot on a commercial airliner - for business or pleasure - without thinking of those people who, on 9-11-01, were going about their business . . . like they did every day before and thought they'd do every day after. But it wasn't an ordinary day. It was a day that profoundly changed us all - affected us to the core of our beings. Forever. 

And I will never, ever, forget.........  

 

Gettin' Cozy

So, I had some cotton yarn in my stash, but not enough of any one color to make a sweater. And since I'm not that found of a "Coat of Many Colors" for myself; I wondered what I should make with said cotton yarn. 

I happened to have just bought a case of Caffeine Free Diet Coke ('cause it tastes better than regular Diet Coke), I decided that those cans needed Cozies. So I grabbed a size G crochet hook and set out to designing. This is what I came up with.

The pink/orange/white one is totally random and made from scraps. The pink and black one gets me in touch with my "Diva/Princess" self. The pink camo one gets me in touch with my "Redneck Princess" self. (HA! I kill me. Redneck Princess...)

This blue and orange one is an experimentation in "team colors" - if your team colors happen to be blue and orange (University of Florida, Auburn....)

Then I thought, if you can make a can cozy, why not one for a bottle? So I did...

Red and black for the 'Dawgs. Some fuzzy boucle novelty stuff at the top. Now that I look at it, it should have been a little taller.

This "making up my own pattern thing" was working for me so I decided to take it a step further (or maybe a couple of steps). I designed my own mini hobo bag! 

How cute is that? It's about 7.5" long x 2.5" wide x 6" tall. It even has a zipper! (Don't worry - I didn't sew it with my sewing machine - I actually LEARN from my mistakes.) 

Another shot with the handle up...

It's perfect for "game day" - just big enough for your wallet or ID, some cash, keys and lipstick. Since I'm really NOT a Georgia Bulldogs fan, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with a red and black purse...

So, what do you think? Not too shabby for the first couple of original "OneCraftyChick Designs" patterns, huh? I have PDF copies if you're interested. 

You're Ruining My Life!

Those of you know me well know that the Punkin has NEVER, I repeat, never been one to sleep through the night in her own bed. To say that we've been struggling of late with the sleep in your own room thing would be a gross understatement. 

So, last Thursday night was a doozy. Friday morning was not much better (considering none of us had had much sleep). So, after the battle to get her off to school, THIS is the note that was waiting for me on the white board in her room. For the benefit of those who cannot read I-just-started-second-grade phonetic spelling, it says "You ruin everything in my life and you need to say you're sorry." 

She has NO idea how much I can ruin her life. Just wait until she's a teenager! So, we're beginning to employ several techniques to get her to sleep in her room ALL night. Or at least to NOT come into our room in the middle of the night to wake us up. I'm sure there will be more to come on this subject.  

In crafty news, I'm working on the Farm Fresh blanket from the Candi Blankies book by Candi Jensen. Right now it would be a terribly boring picture to post - since all I've got finished thus far is about 3/4 of the green "field" that the cute sheep hang out in. Hopefully I'll finish this week. Fingers crossed. 

Laundry Update!

I'm happy to report that my 8 loads of laundry have all been folded. Not put away, yet, but folded. Baby steps, friends, baby steps. 

The Bag Lady and Her Albatross

I've been called a "bag lady" before, and with just cause. You see, I do love the bags. Here's my parade of finished bags from last week. I can't find one that the Punkin absconded with but it wasn't that great anyway.  

This is the one that gave me fits with the sewing machine. You can't see the inside, but I ended up hand-stitching the ribbon to the handles and the top edge of the inside of the bag. 

This one was done (*cough*) two years ago as a baby gift that obviously never got gifted. It's based on a Candy Jensen pattern and was super easy. (They all were super easy; crochet works up fast.)

This one. Well, it took a little longer. You can't tell from this picture, but it's made up of 26 triangles that are sewn together. Twenty-six triangles = LOTS of ends to weave in. A royal PITA (pain in the arse), but cute, no? It's a pattern from BH&G Easy Crochet a couple of years ago. Again, I made up all the triangles a while back and just got around to sewing them together last week. 
So, my friend Robin on Facebook reads my status on Saturday (which said "Hanging out at the PGA Superstore looking for a new driver" 'cause that's what I was doing) and comments, "Sewing, scrapbooking, marathons and now golf! Is there anything you don't do?" 

Uh, yeah, right. That would be housework. Laundry, my Albatross, to be specific. This is the pile of CLEAN clothes in my office/craft room that have yet to be folded and put away. 

Let's look at the pile from another angle, shall we? 

Nice. The Flylady would be so disappointed in me. 

I'm on a Roll...

Seriously! Three - count 'em - THREE finished objects in ONE week. (And "they" said I never finish anything.) After the sewing machine fiasco, I got inspired to break out some other unfinished bags and move them from the "to do" bin to the "Ta Da!" (done) pile. I don't have pictures taken yet - no time to take pictures when you're busy stitching - but TRUST me when I say, there are three bags hanging from the desk in my craft room. I'll post pictures soon, but for now, I'm on a roll....

There's Joy in the 'Boro!

I'm back from "the 'Boro" after a whirlwind weekend. My dear friend Joy did a concert at my parents church so we went down to support her. I didn't take any video but here's a snipit of her with my choir a few years ago. Hope you enjoy. Go to iTunes and buy her stuff. You won't be disappointed. 

A Rant About a @#$% Sewing Machine

It should have been an easy project - just adding some 3/4" grosgrain ribbon to the inside of the handles of a bag I finished crocheting. You know - a little something "extra" to finish it off nicely. Should is the operative word here. I'm here to tell you that nothing (do you hear me? Nothing!) sends me over the edge, makes me cuss like a sailor, drives me to drink copious amounts of wine, than my dang sewing machine! Apparently, I am NOT smarter than a 5th grader because this little bit of straight line sewing kicked my proverbial arse! 

First, there was the bobbin. Oh, the bobbin. The @#$%^&* bobbin! (I could sew if it weren't for the bobbin, but I digress.) You see, I wanted to use this shiny, hot pink for the top thread and a really cool transparent (clear) for the bobbin thread - so the bobbin thread wouldn't show through on the outside of the bag. Um. Not. In. This. Lifetime.

This is just some of the thread I wasted in my multiple attempts to wind my bobbin. (Why didn't I have an interest in sewing while my grandmother was living? Why!) If nothing, I'm persistent. I refuse to be licked by a heap of cheap plastic. (Translated: I wound, unwound, rewound - not with one color, but with three! Hot Pink. Clear. Light Pink.)

These are the handles after much fussin', cussin' and general "un-christian-like" behavior. I didn't get a close up shot because I didn't want you to see how crooked my "straight" stitching was. UGH!

This is the (still) unfinished bag. I will HAND stitch the handles onto the bag. I will hand stitch my label into the bag. And I will never try to do this on my sewing machine again. 

I. Do. Solemnly. Swear. (So help me, God.)

Or, maybe I should just take a sewing lesson? What do you think?

 

Ah...Summer!

If it weren't for the sweltering heat, the oppressive humidity and the total lack of rain, I would really, REALLY love summer. Don't get me wrong, it's WAY better than winter. (Though in winter you can put on extra clothes to stay warm. There is an acceptable limit to the amount of clothes you can remove in the summer and still be "presentable." I'm just sayin'. ) Any who, I thought I show you what I've been doing on my summer vacation (insert hysterical laughter here since I've actually had no vacation to speak of...)

I present to you my hydrangeas. Bask in their splendor.....

And this was after the "first cutting." I've given some to friends and I'm on my third week/vase full of blooms. What's left now is covered with spider webs and those of you who know me know that I don't do spiders. (There's that unfortunate incident while learning to drive when I found one crawling across my skirt and I, uh, let go of the steering wheel. Riiiight. We won't mention that one again.) 

I also went to the Deeper Still women's conference at Phillips Arena with 19,000 of my closest friends. It was great fun with wonderful teachers (Priscilla Schirer, Beth Moore and Kay Arthur). If you have one coming to a town near you I highly recommend it - if you can still get tickets. Here's the only picture I took - the place was packed to the rafters with women. Our church had a "party suite" complete with leather recliners - one of which I promptly procured for myself the first night. 

Check out my "pretty little cupcakes all in a row..." 

That was Punkin's idea and I, being the obliging mother that I am, had to assist in baking them. They're presently cooling and awaiting a covering of Better Crocker vanilla frosting directly from the can, 'cause that's how I roll. 

Speaking of rolling, that's what I'll be doing after I eat these. You'll have to roll my fat arse right out of the kitchen! Oh well, just another sacrifice for the children. :) 

Long Time, No See!

Well, it's been awhile since I last posted (like...more than a month) and you might be wondering what I've been up to. Well, I've been playing on Facebook. I know it sounds sad and desperate, but I've found LOTS of people who I used go to school with (both high school and college) and others that I've just lost touch with over the years. Remarkable, really, that it takes something like Facebook to get people to connect.

I've also been taking classes at the Apple store to REALLY learn how to use my iMac. Check it out....

I made this video of the Punkin leaning to ride her bike. I took the video/pics with my digital camera and edited it all together using iMovie. Why did I wait SO long to get a Mac? 

On the knitting front, I did finish the Harlot Socks but haven't taken any pics. I'm working on another pair of "plain" socks and I still have the fancy Embossed Leaves pair that I'm almost halfway through. Other than that, it's just too hot to knit. I'm already stashing away some projects for the fall, though.

My big project at the Death Star has (finally) kicked in so I'm thinking that I'll probably need to do a lot of knitting this fall just to stay sane. I've also decided to train for The Weather Channel Half Marathon on Thanksgiving - that'll help to manage the stress from work. I'll keep you posted on that progress, too. 

Much more to come...

Update on the iMac

Being a life-long PC user, I was a little worried about the learning curve on the iMac. I know. I know. Everyone that has one says that "once you go Mac you never go back." I'm happy to report that I'm almost there. There are a few quirky things that I haven't figured out how to do yet but I'm working on it. I finally got the outgoing email to work on Monday so I've been able to retire my Yahoo! Mail for a little longer. 

I took my first Apple One to One class on Monday and took a list of questions with me (would you have expected anything less from me than an annotated list?) and the guy was great. He answered all my questions, patiently showing me how to do everything. We spent the rest of my session playing with iPhoto - which could possibly be the coolest photo thingie ever. 

Speaking of photos, here's one my mom took this past weekend when she and my dad were here. Ain't my Punkin big? Not sure what's going on with her new "model poses" but they are cute. 

Speaking of my mom... "Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you-oooo! Happy Birthday to you!" (Trust me, that's way better than me singing it.)

It's Been Awhile

For the four people who actually read this blog, you'll notice that it's been awhile since I last posted. My brother and his girlfriend were here last weekend and we spent all day Saturday at the AT&T Classic and all day Sunday playing golf. 

Then, our computer finally bit the dust. (Insert moment of silence....) Last Thursday when we had finally had enough of fooling around with it, we trekked up to the Apple Store at the Mall of Georgia and bought an iMac 2.4GHz. I wish I could say it was "sweet" - but I'm not there just yet. 

You see, I'm a lifelong PC user and the transition has been less than easy for me. All of my little shortcuts no longer work. I can't "right click save as" or "right click open in a new window." And to top it all off, I can't SEND email and I can't get the thing to recognize my card reader so I can import all 650 pictures currently on the card into iPhoto. (iPhoto is one of the coolest things about the iMac - a definite selling point for me.) 

So, tomorrow, on Memorial Day, instead of sleeping late, I'll be trekking back to the Apple store at 9:00 in the morning for my first "One to One" session. Apparently that's where they take those of us who are in PC detox and slowly teach us how to use our new Macs. 

Maybe they'll at least teach me how to work my email and load my photos. After all, a blog without photos is just the tiniest bit boring! I'm just saying...

Mother's Day

Look what I got for Mother's Day... They'll be here sometime this week. WooHoo! To prepare for their arrival, we went to the Superstore and to the driving range this evening. Punkin hit her clubs and is doing quite well. She got a new golf glove at the Superstore and thought she was 'da bomb! How cute is that? We're thinking that she's going to be a better golfer than gymnast - she can't point her toes (kinda hard to be a good gymnast if you can't point your toes).

I sold some stash yarn on Ebay - at least (overall) made my money back. Someone in PA got a dealio on some Hobby Lobby Yarn Bee eyelash yarn - 20 balls for $8.50. It retails for $2.97 per ball - I only paid $1 each for it. I made up the difference on some Lion Brand Homespun that was gifted to me. Those 10 skeins sold for $15.50. All together - $24, $4 more than I had "invested" in the eyelash. As they say, one man's trash....

Taking the Edge Off

Nothing takes the edge off a perfectly crappy day at the Death Star like a nice glass (or two...or a bottle) of Chardonnay

and some new sock yarn.

That's 600 yards of hand painted from Spider Goddess in the Lucinda colorway - a lovely blend of pink, red and orange.
Can't wait to start a new pair with it, but first, I have to finish the Harlot Socks.

I'd say I'm about 85% done - I have a little more of the foot to finish, then the toe and I'm calling them done. I've been working on them on the train when I have to work downtown. Funny the looks you get when you knit on the train - it's almost like you have a communicable disease or something. The train can be packed with one seat left next to me and the knitting and seriously people will STAND rather than sit next to me. I'm mean, really, dude, I'm NOT going to poke you with them! Hello! Occasionally people will ask "what are you knitting?" and I'll politely reply "Socks. Keeps my hands busy..." but that's as far as the conversation goes. I'm waiting for someone to say something stupidly inappropriate like "they sell socks in stores" or "I wish I had time to do something like that..." so I can say "My parole officer recommended knitting to keep my hands busy. You know after what happened the last time...." How funny would THAT be? No one would ever sit next to me again. What a hoot!

On other sock yarn news - I've ordered my first skeins of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock in the Dixie Chick and Watermelon Tourmaline colorways. Can't wait to get them -should be sometime either tomorrow or Saturday. Happy Mother's Day to me! I have my eye on Pixie Park but I'm waiting to see if I like using this yarn before I "invest" anymore into it.

I thought you'd like to see some of the other yarn that I've gotten over the past few weeks.

Check this out....

This is 100 yards of Kollage Yarns Cornucopia in the Wine colorway - made of 100% corn!

Who knew they could make yarn out of corn?

This is 150 yards of Manos del Uruguay silk blend (30% silk and 70% merino wool) - it pretty much has all of my favorite colors in it.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing with it but I love it.

This is 270 yards of Louet Claudia Hand Painted linen in the Fresia colorway. The photo just doesn't do it justice - it's beautiful!

So pretty and orangey-pink. I got this and the Manos from Knitch when I went to see the Yarn Harlot.

This is my first purchase of the famed Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino in a beautiful colorway that should have a name but only has a number (912, which now that I look at it is the same number as my mom's area code - what a kawinkeydink, huh?).

It, too, has all my favorite colors. I'm not sure what I'll do with 2 skeins of it but I'm sure it'll be wonderful! I got this and the Cornucopia from Patternworks.

Lest you say that I have a "yarn" problem (to go with my "wine" problem, HA!) I'm happy to report that I currently have two eBay auctions ending tomorrow for some stash yarn that I'm getting rid of. I'm got 20 balls of [what I now consider hideous] eyelash yarn from Hobby Lobby and 10 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun that was gifted to me. Just doing my part to share the yarn-ey love with other crafters! Knit on!

Make Note of This - I FINISHED SOMETHING!

There were those (Bill) who said it couldn't be done - that I would never actually finish anything that I started. But yet... TA DA! I present to you a completely, totally finished, wearable sweater. BAM! That's what I'm talking about!

Head shot... (Punkin took these pics so they're slightly shy of centered.)

Dining room table shot...

Close up of the eyelet lace at the cuffs and hem.

I know. A first. It's one thing to finish socks (hello - they're in your shoes - no one sees them). It's another thing to finish little bitties for little babies. It entirely something else to finish something that YOU can wear in PUBLIC in front of people and NOT have it fall apart! Very cool. I wore it to work yesterday and half of "my girlz" were working from home and didn't get to see it. Total bummer. But hey, I have full-out pictures to prove it. As Madea says, "I lurve it."

Little Miss Personality

Claudia had this on her blog, and being one who's always up for another personality test, I had to do it, too. So, here goes - if you know me, let me know what you think.

You Are An ENTP

The Visionary You are charming, outgoing, friendly. You make a good first impression. You possess good negotiating skills and can convince anyone of anything. Happy to be the center of attention, you love to tell stories and show off. You're very clever, but not disciplined enough to do well in structured environments. In love, you see everything as a grand adventure. You enjoy taking risks for love. And if things don't work out, you're usually not too much worse for the wear! You would make a great entrepreneur, marketing executive, or actor. At work, you need a lot of freedom to pursue your own path and vision. How you see yourself: Analytical, creative, and peaceful When other people don't get you, they see you as: Detached, wishy-washy, and superficial

What's Your Personality Type?

Life's To Do List

JP posted this to his blog and I thought it looked like fun. If you want to do it, too, copy and paste and then bold everything that you've done. Post a comment on JP's blog so he'll know.

Here goes...

Life's To Do List

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula (NOT on your LIFE! Never! Am I clear?)
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said ‘I love you’ and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game (huge is relative but it was huge to me)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger (and dated for a while)
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day (does Southern count?)
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 10 provinces
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends (had? still have!)
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe (I have a backpack and I've been to Europe, does that count?)
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving (but I'd like to)
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken (sigh..)
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music (yep - singing back up)
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children (still raisin')
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart (not that I know of)
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone (just a toe and a finger)
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol (HELLO? I'm from SOUTH Georgia!)
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet (no ma'am...)
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach (WHY would you want to do that?)
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes (Yum!)
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office (nope; but I've thought about running for one...)
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you (does knitting/crochet count?)
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair (brown, red, blonde...)
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone’s life

FCS3, 10Ks and New Girlfriends (not mine!)

(The Blogger photo uploader is starting to pi$$ me off so there may or may not be photos with this post. I tried to post on 4/16 but the photo uploader kept giving me error messages. I tried again today and. Same. Freaking. Thing. Driving me NUTS! Sometimes it works...sometimes it doesn't.)

We went to Statesboro the weekend of April 10th (my brother's b-day) through April 13th and here's what we did...

To recap, strawberry pickin' - looks yummy, huh? Nothing better than picking your own strawberries. :)

We played a little golf . . . though some of us didn't play so well.

This is my brother and his cute new girlfriend - she's absolutely adorable; I couldn't have picked a better one. They're planning on coming to ATL for the AT&T Classic; she's a big golfer. (Which means that Bill thinks she's great, too.) Her only flaw is that she's a University of Florida grad and my brother is a huge University of Georgia fan. Oh well, opposites DO attract - or so they say.

This is where I WOULD post the picture of what I got from my FCS3 secret pal - Susan from Knitter's Delight. She sent 7 balls of Elann Camilla in a pretty shade of peachy-pink, the pattern for what will be my first shawl, a candle, some great beads, a notepad and various other little goodies. I posted about it here - the photo loader was working THAT day...

Here's what Claudia had to say about what I sent her. All in all, FCS3 was quite fun and I'll definitely do it again.

Last Saturday my friend Kimberly and I did the Corners to Crossing 10K. We walked - she's not a runner and I'm totally out of "race shape" and couldn't have run anyway. We finished in 1:35:48 (me) and 1:35:49 (her). Not bad given neither of us trained for it and only signed up a week before the race. We're planning on doing the Big Peach Running Company 5K on May 3rd - I'll let you know how that one goes; I'm thinking of trying to actually run that one since it's only 3.1 miles. This year all of their proceeds go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training, of which, as you know, I'm a big fan.

Well, that pretty much catches me up for now. If I could stop playing on Ravelry I would probably post more often. :)

Knit on, friends!

I Saw the Yarn Harlot

And proved once again what a total moron I am. Remember the last time the Harlot was in ATL? Right. Had a ticket - decided to stay home and help celebrate the hubby's birthday. Later found out that he would have been OK with me going to see her?

Well, I went yesterday and spent 6 hours with 600 of my closest knitting friends. (Here's where the moron part comes in.) Took my camera...No. Freaking. Memory. Card! OMG - You're kidding me, right? Idiot!

Anyway, the Evil Science Chick and Grace have some great pics posted and there are some in the AJC article, too. I won a prize at the raffle - an autographed copy of New Pathways for Sock Knitters by Cat Bordhi. The Harlot signed my book - she's as funny and charming as I imagined her. She's the kind of girl you'd like to hang with over a plate of nachos and a cold beer.

The next time she comes, I'll be WAY more prepared.

Late to the Party

I've been a Ravelry member since October 2007. However I JUST started seriously playing on it. Oh. My. Gosh. How have I not paid attention to this before? Now I know why and how people spend so much time on there. It's very addictive! Like, right now I should be in bed (because it's 11:30 on a "school" night) but what am I doing? Playing on Ravelry and blogging!

I now want to dig out all of my un-finished objects (did I mention I have can'tfinishitis?), photograph them and load them into my project file. Perhaps the accountability of actually having them posted on a forum where other people can see them will motivate me to actually finish a few. Hey! I can hear you laughing at me and that's not nice! :)

(Still no time to post pics from the trip last weekend, but I will. Gotta couple of big projects at the DeathStar that are due by the end of the week.)

I'm Back!

I'm back from my trip to Fort Mountain and we had a great time. Even though it rained most of Friday night and ALL day on Saturday we managed to get in a little hiking (can you say "out of shape?") and a little sight seeing in Ellijay. I have lots of pics to post but I'm burried in muddy, dirty laundry right now so that'll have to wait until tomorrow. More to come!

One of Those Days

I must be PMS-ing or something because I've had one of "those" days. You know the kind. The day where you have grandiose plans, make a great start and, at some point, the wheels just fall right off? Yepper. One of THOSE days.

It all started innocently enough. I had a "list." (SIDEBAR: Did I mention I'm a list maker? I make lists of lists...not quite that bad, but almost. I make a list of everything I need to pack, pack the stuff, and pack the list so I can check it off before I leave for my trip back home. I'm sure there's medication for people like me.) Where was I? Oh yes; the list. I had a list of all that I wanted/needed to accomplish today before my weekend in the mountains. I was working away and all the sudden up pops an email from one of the attorneys. Now I'm not sure you've ever worked with attorneys but when they email, they pretty much demand an immediate response. (Funny how it NEVER works the other way - it takes me days to get an answer out of one of them, I'm just sayin'....)

I'm a web master (I know; hard to believe given the savvy-ness of my blog - LOL!) and the attorney needed something posted "right away." No problem. I posted it. Then he finds an error in what HE sent me. Now, as a general rule, I do not edit other people's stuff. If it's crap, it should be their crap - not mine. But I guess he caught me at a weak moment because I edited it. I should have been overly cautious, (after all, it is a document written by an attorney). When I edited it and re-posted it - it went to crap! Pure crap! Red edits all over the thing - on the LIVE server! (I swear it looked "normal" when I saved it.) So I had to figure out exactly how he had turned on the "Track Changes" function and what password he'd used to protect the doc....blahblahblahblahblah.... I finally got totally frustrated, got it to "look" right in Word and wrote that dang thing to a PDF. Problem solved. (Note to self: Do not ever, EVER edit stuff you didn't create!) Lesson learned.

So, that ate up most of my morning and sent me on a downward spiral that ended at a quarter 'til 6 with plenty still to do on my list. There's only one thing that'll fix this day... two glasses of Pinot and a trip to Target.

I'm going to bed. I'll pack for my trip tomorrow. After all, I made a list. :-)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to you! I hope you were able to worship with your family today at the church of your choice. We were at PCBC today and it was packed. I love Christmas, but Easter is my favorite of the Christian holidays...without Easter and the Resurrection, Christianity is just another religion with a dead leader and no hope of a future.

After church, we had lunch with the Jenks and the girls hunted eggs together.

After lunch (WAY after lunch - like 4:00 after lunch) we came home and I took a big nap! I think I woke up about 7:15 PM. I had a screaming headache (can you say p-o-l-l-e-n?) and tried to sleep it off. We were outside all day yesterday doing this...

Working in the yard and getting everything ready for spring. It was pretty warm (low 70s) so I had on a tank top...and got my first sunburn of the season. :(

The we cleaned out the garage. Now I can park my van in there for the first time in (no lie) 4 years!

Then we went down to the school so Punkin could learn to ride her bike with a nice, flat surface since we live at the bottom of two hills. She was a quick learner - I think that gymnastics helped a lot because her balance was great.

She and Bill went back this afternoon when I was napping and practiced some more. She still needs a little help getting going but after that...she's a pro! All in all, it was a great weekend - no knitting...but some things are more important than knitting.

Next weekend we're going to the North Georgia mountains with the Jenks. We have a cabin rented at Fort Mountain State Park. Hopefully the weather will be nice (no rain) and we can do some hiking. I'm sure there will be lots of pics!