Sunday, December 31, 2006

The year is done

And I feel like I haven't done a damn thing I don't think I've finished anything other than a few hats. I've got a couple socks on the needles that are nearly done. At least 3 sweaters are on the needles and only one is even halfway close to being done.

I suppose I did knit the kid a sweater. It sits in my room though. I'm not sure why I haven't given it to him. Not like he can do much damage to it seeing as it is made of ack.

I finally took a really bad scan of the alpaca scarf I'm working on.



I used the main repeat from the Sun Ray Shawl on Elann.com. I started with 5 rows of seed stitch. The next row is 5 stitches of seed stitch, 5 repeats of the sun ray and then 5 more stitches in seed stitch. It's going to be kind of wide and I'm not sure how long I'll make it. Blocked, I think it will end up being about 10 inches wide. I'm at 16 inches long right now. I have quite a bit to go yet.

There has been a lot of talk about Wendy's yarn diet on the various knitting and crochet lists I'm on. While I'm not going to be jumping on the bandwagon per se, I won't be buying much yarn in the near future. That has more to do with my being broke than anything else. :OP Plus, I do have an awful lot of yarn that I could use up. Plus, I just got a gorgeous hank of sock yarn in the mail from Mystical Creations Yarn. I can't find the colorway on their website, but it is called Arrowhead. It's yummy yummy stuff. I think the Eagles Flight socks might just be the ticket for this yarn. We shall see.

I have no plans for tonight. I may have a few drinks. Then again, I may be asleep by 9pm like most nights lately. hehe I really should just sit and knit on something.

I won't be making any new years resolutions. I never keep them, so why make them? I do still need to work on loosing some more weight. Eating breakfast at work every day is NOT helping with this. I can't seem to pass up the scrambled eggs and toast though.

I'm thinking I need to get back on some of my medications too. It's very hard to keep up with the house when you're depressed. Mom thinks I'm depressed cause the house is a mess. Ummmm no. The house is a mess because I'm depressed. heh Sort of like when I argued with the psychologist about my being tired all the time. She insisted I was tired because I was depressed. Wrong, I was depressed cause I was tired all the damn time. Right now I'm depressed cause I hate being broke and I hate this time of year. And there is that nasty lonely part. But, when one is broke, it is hard to go anywhere and be sociable. Not that I've ever been the social butterfly. Attending 10 schools before graduating high school tends to turn one inward. blahhhhhh

I think it's time to go watch Queen of the Damned again. I so love the music from that movie. I think I'm going to have to pick up a copy of the soundtrack. I think in a past life I must have been a vampire. hehe

Anyways, Happy New Year y'all!! Hope you party hearty to make up for us party poopers at home.

Friday, December 22, 2006

No, I'm not dead

Yet... heh

Actually, I'm feeling much better. The cold is finally gone. I just have a slight cough but I think I'll live.

I'm dead ass tired though. Getting up at 4:20 AM just sucks ass. I've been in bed before 9:30 the last couple of days. Hell it's only 8:30 now and I'm ready to go to bed. The kid is at my folk's house since I have to work tomorrow. I do believe I'll be in bed by 9. hehe

The doily for my bro will not be done by Christmas. Oh well, he didn't know about it in the first place. It will get done eventually. This way at least, I'll have time to get the money together to put it in a frame for him.

All the Christmas shopping is done. All that is left is to wrap stuff. I really should wrap up a present for Nick, but well, I'm beat. I'll just wait until he is asleep tomorrow night. Well that is assuming that I will be awake when he is asleep. :OP

Hope y'all have a safe and happy holiday weekend. Eat some sweets for me.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Damn it's cold

It's finally getting cold again here in Iowa. I still don't think we will have any snow by Christmas though.

I had intended to spend yesterday afternoon working on my brother's doily. One small problem. There was a rather loud woofing noise waiting for us when we got to my folk's house. My lil doggie/niece Dakota greeted my son at the door and damn near knocked him on his ass. Dakota is a 6 month old Labradoodle. Just imagine Chewbacka on all fours. She is a damn moose.

Well miss Dakota doesn't visit unless she is with her parents. Seeing as I want the doily to be a surprise, I didn't work on it. To make matters worse, I didn't have another project with me. Thankfully, I had a skein of alpaca with me and some dpns. I downloaded a chart off of Elann.com and cast on for a scarf. It's actually kind of cute. Pictures? hahahahaha You're funny!

The day actually went fairly well. I finally got to watch Clerks2. Very freakin funny. The kid actually sat and had dinner with the rest of the family. He had spaghetti o's, but at least he was at the table with us. hehe Trust it to my mother to make sure I was grumpy by the time I left though. She got all over my ass about applying for the job at the hospital that I now have through the temp agency. But now that I have it, she is pissed. Last night she kept telling me how hard of a job it was. That I probably wouldn't be able to keep up with it. I was in a traumatic car accident 13 yrs ago. I have loads of nerve damage from it, but I am far from totally disabled. She was acting like I have one foot in the grave.

Cut to this afternoon. Mom immed me a little bit ago asking how work was. What did I do, did I keep up, am I tired. Swear she acted pissed when I said I was fine. It isn't any harder a job than I've had before. The only sucky part was the chill from the steel door I was standing near. lol I was sweating cause I was trying to keep working fast and I was freezing thanks to the door. Such is life.

Anyways, time to go make some dinner. Then I better get my ass in gear on the doily. How the HELL did it get to be a week before Christmas??????

Friday, December 15, 2006

hehehehe

Is it me, or do these guys look totally stoned??? They are so damned ugly that they are cuter than hell. I swear, some day, I'm gonna have a couple of these ugly buggers.

Overreaction

OK, so maybe my life isn't quite as shitty as I thought it was.

After many, many phone calls yesterday, I found a babysitter a block from me. She has 3 boys at my son's school, so hopefully he will actually go outside and play once in awhile now. hehe Nick takes after his homebody momma. My mom isn't real thrilled about my choice of sitter and she has warned me not to tell my dad who will be watching Nick.

What's the hub bub about? She is black. Mom didn't get upset with me but immediately made it clear I better not tell dad cause he would have a fit. I told her that it was his problem not mine. I didn't go into it more because I didn't want to argue with her in front of Nick. Not that he was paying attention to what we were talking about. He was staring at the game that Mom was playing on the computer.

Frankly, I couldn't care less what color my son's sitter is. I've been to her house and it is neat and clean. Much more organized than my house. hehe I've met her 3 boys. They were well dressed and displayed way more manners than my son usually displays. Of course that is the advantage of having more than one child. They have to learn to share not only their belongings but their mother's attention. Nick has never had to share me with anyone.

On to other things. I've been working on the doily. I really need to spend more time on it though and get the hell away from the pc. Is it wrong that I can put SimCity 3000 in the pc and spend 4 hours staring at the screen?? Don't answer that. hehe

I'm already planning projects for next year. Yes, I know I have loads of projects to work on right now, but I didn't say I was casting on for anything new did I??

Berroco has some really cute felted Christmas tree ornaments that were just released. I do have some crocheted angels that normally go on the tree, but I really think I need more. I could really go for the instant gratification of making some mini socks and scarves for the tree. Lord knows I have tons of patterns saved on disk. I really need to finish one of my sweaters before I start a new project.

Well, I'm off to rest for a little before heading to the hospital. I need to get the results of my TB test confirmed and take the paper to the temp agency. I'm really hoping that I won't have to buy a uniform to work at the hospital. I really doubt I'll get out of the laundry room and I really can't afford to buy new clothes right now. sigh

edit: Test was fine and I start on Monday. More good news, I don't have to buy a uniform or anything. Yeahhh!!

Thursday, December 14, 2006

More proof

that my life must remain one big steaming pile of shit.

It never fails that when things are starting to look up, someone decides to shit on me.

I got a call the other day that there was an opening for a temp position at a local hospital in the laundry. The hours are 6am until 2. OK, first problem, daycare at school doesn't start until 6:30. So I talk to my mom. She isn't able to watch Nick because she has to be to work early. Dad has to be to work at 6 some mornings.

Mom calls a lady she works with who just so happens to be a friend of my brother. She has two little girls that go to my son's school and she lives like 2 blocks away from it. She was all cool about it and said sure no problem. I was just to let her know when I would be starting so she could meet Nick before hand.

I gave the temp agency the go ahead and the hospital said OK but first a TB test needs to be done. I spent an hour yesterday at the hospital getting the stupid test done. The results will be read sometime after 11am tomorrow. I should pass no problem so I would be able to start work on Monday. I tried calling the babysitter yesterday morning to let her know but her phone isn't working. As of last night she was telling my mom that she would get a hold of me this morning about meeting Nick.

An hour ago, I got a call from her that she can't watch him. She has enough stress dealing with her own kids. (THEN WHY THE FUCK SAY YOU WILL DO IT IN THE FIRST PLACE?????) She gave me the number of another lady in town that does before school daycare. With a sinking feeling in my gut, I called the number. She has no openings at all. She gave me the number of a child care referral service. So I call that number. No answer but they give an 800 number to call if it is an emergency. So I call yet another number. No answer but you can leave a message. I'm sure they will be able to tell that I was tearing up and fighting back a full blown crying fit when I left the message.

So pretty much I'm once again screwed. The warehouse I was working at is slowing down and I doubt that the supervisor will call me back cause I called in sick yesterday after telling him I would be all right to work. I woke up with a temp of 103 and I couldn't swallow. I wasn't up to doing anything yesterday. Just going to the hospital kicked my ass.

I would like very much to lay down right now. I'm beat, but I keep breaking down crying and frankly I need something to distract me and not let me think about how my life freakin sucks.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

More of me????


HowManyOfMe.com
LogoThere are:
3,096
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?
Frankly I'm not that surprised. I know of at least 3 other people while my same full name within 20 miles of me. In fact, I share a dentist with 2 of them and work for the same temp agency as another. hehe

Groan

Don't ask me how, but it is possible to pass biological viruses through blogs.

For the last couple of days I've been reading the blogs of some really nice knitterly ladies with colds and/or the flu. They are in all parts of the country and in various states of sickness.

And now, damn it, I've got a freakin cold!!!! I am so dang sore and chilled it isn't funny. I don't think it is the flu cause I did get a flu shot last month. Oh God, please tell me it isn't the flu. heh

I'm gettin in bed. I need to be able to go to work tomorrow. sigh

Monday, December 11, 2006

Oh so tired

I damn near fell asleep watching tv at Mom's house tonight. Hell I was having a conversation with my dad and almost fell asleep on him too.

I'll be going to bed very very soon. God, I'm a whimp. hehe

We finally got the tree up last night. I managed not to yell at Nick while we were actually putting it up. I was a screaming lunatic while putting the plastic up on the patio doors though. I thought the distress would continue during the assembly of the tree, but I think I only sniped at him once. He was hold ing up a branch and as I went to grab it he was moving it away frome me.

If it wasn't for Nick, the tree wouldn't have gone up or been decorated. I am anal about putting the tree away in the right order so that all I have to do it work from the top of the box and start putting it together the next time. So basically, Nick just took out a branch and handed it to me and I didn't have to think about where it went.

I usually put strings of beads on the tree but this year I didn't feel like it. There are strings of multi colored lights around the "trunk" of the tree that dance. The tree itself has white lights. I only put the lights and decorations on the front and sides of the tree since it sits in a corner. Yeah I'm lazy. :OP The deocrations are red, cream and gold bulbs with gold glitter on them. Plus some plain red and green bulbs. The of course there are the Avon collector decorations. Most of them are Disney types. The Avon ones all came from my mom when she decided to go with all santa decorations and red bows.

Nick put all of the bulbs on the tree. I moved some up higher where he couldn't reach. But he did the rest of it himself. He put 2 or 3 bulbs per branch in some areas. He used enough bulbs to deocrate the whole tree on just one side. hehehe It looks really pretty though. I've told him a couple times that he did a really good job.

The only bad part about putting up the tree was the question I got at bed time. "Is it Christmas tomorrow?" sigh

It's soon enough dang it. I still have to buy for the rest of the family. I so hate shopping for anything other than yarn. Somehow I don't think yarn will cut it though. hehehe

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

sigh

Well as luck would have it, the post office is open from 9am until 4:30pm. I had to work today from 9am until 5pm. Guess who didn't get to go to the post office today. I don't work tomorrow, so my one eBay package and the hats for Rabbitch will be mailed out sometime after the kid goes to school.

Got some cool news from Mom today. She is getting cable internet real soon. I shall be bogarting her connection as often as possible. hehehe It will be nice to slap my tags onto a disk and upload them in like 5 minutes instead of over a half hour. Plus, I might actually get all my mail downloaded for once. hehehe

I'm not feeling real great. Think I'll go work on the doily and watch Medium before heading to bed.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

hehehe


Go check out JenLa. I dang near peed my pants laughing.

Monday, December 04, 2006

grumpy


I'm feelin a little grumpy. We got sent home about 2 hours early today. They are only calling back 10 temps tomorrow. Thankfully, I'm one of the 10.

It did give me the time to head to the dollar tree. I picked up some coloring books, colors and puzzles for the kid. I also got him a couple of those guns that shoot plastic balls. Yes I'm one of those weird parents that likes to play shoot em up games with her kid. hehe

I'm also grumpy cause it doesn't look like anyone is interested in buying my knitting needles. There is someone watching two of them, but no bids. It sucks.

I kept having the idea about getting Nick some books off of Amazon and having them here in time. Well I'm a dumbass. We have a Borders here in town. You can search for books online and have them reserve them for you. Ya see I had been avoiding actually going in to Borders so I wouldn't be tempted to look for knitting magazines or books. hehehe

So last night I did a search and put 4 books on reserve for Nick. This way I can go in after work tomorrow and just go to the counter and get them. Cross your fingers that I can resist the temptation to go all the way in to the store. hehehe










Hopefully the kid will like these books. Maybe I'll even be able to get a discount on them with my Borders Rewards card. hehe

I've been working on my brother's doily again. I've got the second letter about half done. I should be working on it now but I'm a lil tired. I woke up a lil too early this morning. Maybe I'll work on it for a lil while before going to bed.

Well I'm off to search for my box of disks from my mom's old computer and for the address to send these damn hats to Rabbitch.

Saturday, December 02, 2006

I'm on eBay

Well ok, not me but my crap stuff. hehe

Take pity on my poor broke ass and buy some of my extra knitting needles.

I haven't gone through my crochet and cross stitch stuff yet.

Anything I make this month on eBay will be going towards buying the kid some books off of Amazon for Christmas.

If you have a kid in your life, you really should buy them books for Christmas. Expand those minds. Don't rot them with video games. (Sorry Snow) hehehehe











Nick loves the Junie B. First Grader books. I think I'll order him a few later. I've got too much of a headache right now to do a proper search for the right ones.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The price of knitting

On the knit list, there has been a big discussion going on about how much to charge people for knitting projects for them.

I no longer sell any of my projects. I have crocheted a few afghans for people I worked with. They were fairly simple afghans and I was paid about $120 each for them. They were made using good old Red Heart yarn. Yeah I know. hehe But in my defense, I live in the armpit of Iowa. 90 miles away from the nearest store that carries wool yarn. Hell this was back before we had a Michael's or Hobby Lobby even.

I had tried to sell refridgerator towels at garage sales for $6 a set. No one would pay that much because it was a garage sale and they wanted their shit cheap. I only make these for my mom now. I don't have anywhere to hang them in my kitchen. hehe My fridge doesn't have a handle on it, just a groove in the side of the door.

I crocheted an afghan for my father using the afghan stitch. I designed the blanket myself and had a friend graph the image for me. It is huge and very heavy. It has Jeff Gordon's name on it, his number 24 and the nascar logo. I detest Gordon, so every minute of making this blanket sucked the soul right out of me. hehe

My dad keeps trying to get me to put the blanket up on eBay. I've told him that no one would ever pay how much I would charge for it. He says to start the bidding at $200. Yeah, whatever. I wouldn't sell if for less than $350. And I'm sorry, no one is payin that much for a blanket that I made like 2 yrs ago and that has been washed at least 10 times. If he keeps it up, I'm taking the blanket away and giving it to my son.

Now I need to go take a shower and take a nap. I'm one pooped chicky.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Holy stupidity batman!

Sometimes I wonder about the sanity of some people.

story

Please someone explain to me how the peace sign is satanic or anti-christ. How do people with such fucked up ideas get into positions of power??? Ok it may only be a home owner's association but power is power. I personally think that it is home owner's associations that are evil. I would never live in a neighborhood where some yahoo could tell me what I could or could not do with my own house and yard. It's bad enough to have a pita landlord bitching at me.

grumble grumble

I'm off to knit. Yarn is less likely to raid my blood pressure right now. hehe

Monday, November 27, 2006

Very cool

If only this would work everywhere.

A special thank you

to the person who invented power steering. TYTYTYTYTYTYTYTYTY

Have you tried to drive a car without power steering lately???

My arms are sooooo sore. I was so tired last night that I completely forgot to mention that my power steering died just as I was getting off the highway. I had to stop and back up and try twice to get the dang car into the driveway.

More than once my car has acted stupid and then been just fine and dandy. So this morning, I went about my business and took the kid to school. Still no power steering. It's only a 5 or 6 block drive but OMG it sucked.

So I figured that maybe the power steering fluid just leaked out. It's happened to me before. I took the car over to Wal-Mart for a delayed oil change and told the guy to check the PS fluid for me. I did some Christmas shopping while I waited.

When the car was done, I asked one of the guys in the garage to show me where the PS fluid was at so I could check it should the check gauges light come back on. Well the dipshit couldn't find the PS fluid at all. Makes me wonder if the other guy checked it like I had asked. Well, while he was looking for the resivoir, he discovers that a very large belt was hanging off my engine. Makes me wonder if they even changed the damn oil or just parked the car in back and charged me for it.

So, long story short, I spent the next 4 hours sitting at the dealership while a real mechanic fixed my car. Turns out that a tensioner pulley on the serpentine belt went bad. The bearing inside it froze up and started to melt. This caused the belt to fall off. Which is why I had no power steering.

So now I'm pretty much broke. It cost me $237 bucks to fix the car. There goes all the money I had saved for Christmas presents. I had just officially started shopping this morning too. Spent about $50 on the kid. I'm not so sure I'll be spending much more than that on his this year. I guess I better finish his blanket that has been hiding for the last 2 years waiting for the ends to be woven in and edge to be crocheted on.

I've got some Susan Bates sock needles sets that I'm gonna put up on eBay this week. And I've got some other circulars that are doubles. Maybe I'll list those too. Plus I really should dig out my old cross stitch books and get rid of them. I haven't picked up any cross stitching since I was preggers. hehe I'm not quite desperate enough to list any of my knitting books. They look way too pretty sitting on my shelf to part with them yet. Maybe some of my crochet afghan books can go. Only problem with listing things on eBay is that I actually have to dig it out of storage, which means cleaning of some sort. Man I hate cleaning. heh

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Sorry

I've become a bit of a bore as a blogger.

The last week or so hasn't been very pleasant. Nick decided to throw an absolute fit on Thanksgiving. For some reason he has it in his head that if something looks different then it must be poisonous even though his family is eating it. I spent most of the evening sitting in the family room by myself crying. I don't deal well with stress right now.

Nick and I have been fighting about food a lot lately. There are only a few things he will eat and anything else is total evil. I'm the one who ends up feeling sick and fighting to keep from throwing up. IBS just sucks!

I haven't been getting much knitting done. I don't know if it is how I've been sleeping or if I actually pulled something, but my left arm has been sore for a couple weeks now. It makes it real hard to knit when I can barely hold the needle. I think I'll try sleeping with the hot pad on it.

Sorry for no pictures yet. Yeah I'm lazy that way. Someday I'll get my shit together.

Monday, November 20, 2006

The job gods have smiled

Ok, so maybe they have just sighed a little bit.

The temp agency called and I've got a 2 day gig.

Over the summer I worked for a place that cleans up after fires and other such disasters. It would seem that the gods frowned upon some unfortunate soul and now I get to help clean up the mess.

Is it bad of me to hope that the mess is large enough that I'll be needed on Friday? Oh well, I'm probably going to hell anyway. lmao

There has been knitting. I just don't have pictures to share right now.

I did finally finish the hat for Rabbitch. In fact I've finished another one that should be good for a child. I've even started another one in red. Once that one is done, probably by the end of the week, I'll mail them off.

I also knit a hat for Nick. He was wearing a store bought hat and well it got a nasty run in it that I just didn't have the heart to fix. lol

I've also made a pretty dang good start on the fair isle sweater. Guessed which one yet? I've finished the first repeat of the second and third charts already.

The green socks are now the same length but I need to find my other size 1 addis cause 32" just isn't long enough for me to work two socks on. So, when I find it, I'll get back to those.

I'm gonna see if I can't snag Mom's other camera again. If I can, there will be pics this weekend.

Sanity

has finally prevailed.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Creativity

I haven't been feeling much when it comes to knitting. I have been slowly working on the second green sock. I can't seem to do more than a couple repeats at a time though. I've also cast on for another sweater. Yes, I know I have 2 sitting here that need to be worked on but well I'm a pita. hehe

I've been playing around a lot the last couple days with some graphics. As some of you may know, I make signature tags for people to use in e-mails. Well this afternoon I found a tutorial on making wallpapers for MSN Messenger. I had to do loads of tweaking to get a finished product that works right though. I uploaded a couple of my finished wallpapers to my tag site.

Check them out



I really like the kitty one. It is making me want to make some new Incredimail stationary. I don't have any of my stats uploaded yet. Maybe soon.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

OH for Christ's sake

I swear the people in one of the Yahoo groups I belong to have all gone insane.

One of the women has a signature line that includes:

January 20, 2009
America, please hold on!
The Bush Nightmare is almost over!
The list mom actually asked her in a group email to remove it. And a bunch of freakin hyenas pounced on it.
No politics, oh no, no politics here. None Keep it away Gahhhhh!!!
She hadn't posted about politics. I have no clue what the heck she originally posted about. No one would have noticed her signature line or said a damn thing until the owner decided to take her to task in front of the whole group.
This is a fairly quiet group that puts out maybe 2 digests a day. I think I've gotten about 9 of them today and roughly half of the posts have been out those 3 lines.
Over the years I've found quite a few things in this group to be a total pain in the ass. I've gotten in arguments with the owner over a few things too. But it is also the first fiber related Yahoo group I joined when I got back into crocheting.
I have no clue why some people feel the need to attack anyone that doesn't believe exactly what they do. God forbid they stand up for their beliefs. I say live and let live. sheesh
And now my friends I say:
January 20, 2009
America, please hold on!
The Bush Nightmare is almost over!

Monday, November 06, 2006

Unemployed again

Went into work tonight and promptly got walked out the door.

They gave no reason. When pressed I was told it was a "management decision". Yeah whatever.

I made sure that I let as many people still out in the parking lot know that I got fired. My little brother, who works there, is not happy. As if I am.

At least Mom said I don't have to pay on the car for right now. Cause ya see, I haven't bought the kid any Christmas presents yet. Good thing I was planning on a small Christmas this year anyway.

Oh well, cross your fingers that they don't give me too much trouble getting unemployment. I've already called the temp agency.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

the kid

I got back Nick's school pictures the other day. I can't believe I haven't posted them yet. lol


He was so proud of himself for not squinting or grimacing. The last few times his picture was taken he looked like he was constipated or something. hehehe


My little brother Nick gave me a picture of my nieces and nephew. They are all just too cute.


Left to right we have Breelle Lavina, Abigail and Isaiah Frazier. Bre is Nick's 10 week old daughter. Abigail is about 2 1/2. She is my oldest brother Russ's daughter. Isaiah is about 9 months old and the son of my lil sister Kelly. I have yet to see any of them in person. Unless you count seeing Russ carry Abigail across a parking lot while I was driving through. lol

Still no luck in getting my new hard drive to work. I may have to bribe Nick into visiting and having a look at it.

Now I need to go puke up my pizza and pass out.

sniffle sniffle

I put the hard drive in Nick's computer. Device manager could see it. "My Computer" couldn't.

I downloaded the fdisk utilities and put it on a floppy. Later on I'm going to disconnect my good hard drive and put the new one back in here. Then I'm going to try and format the damn thing.

This is just making me nuts because I'm normally so good with computers. I've taken umpteen classes on building and fixing computers. Hell at one point I could even program in C++. Somewhere along the line my brain is fried.

I blame it on the fiber. lmao

God I'm a dork

Well, I filched my son's computer from my folk's house.

I had to pick the kid up after work because Mom has an early morning appointment. Yes that means my child stayed up past midnight tonight. He was sound asleep 5 minutes after we got home.

I basically told Mom that either she lets me borrow the computer for a couple days or we would be visiting tomorrow afternoon. She gave in. hehehe

So I quick went in the basement and disconnected the PC and stuffed the power cord into my coat pocket. I had to practically climb over my son's tent that is set up down there. I have no clue why the heck this thing is still set up. It's been down there for over a week. Anyways, I tossed the PC in the back seat and hit the road home.

When we got home one important thing was missing. The power cord. It was not in my pocket. It wasn't on the back seat with the PC. It wasn't on the front seat either.

Sooooo the power cord is somewhere in my folk's house. Either it fell out when I was crawling over the tent and trying not to bang into the church pew (don't ask) or it fell out when we were getting in the car.

So if I can't get the damn hard drive to format right and then work in my PC, I'm gonna have to run over to my folk's house and find the dang cord. sigh

In actual knitting news, all I have to do is weave in the ends and the hat is done for Rabbitch. It will go in the mail on Monday. There is no way I'll be at the post office before 9am. I don't intend to be awake before 9am. lol

Ok, now I need to get my ass to bed.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Grumble

Well I finally got the hard drive installed. It took me a while to get my dang pc to boot with the new drive attached.

Device manager sees the drive and says it is working just peachy.

Unfortunately, My Computer can NOT see the new hard drive.

So I have a beautiful but empty 80gb hard drive installed on my computer that I can't do a damn thing with.

Anybody out there have any advice on how to fix this problem? I really do not want to have to burn all my crap off of my computer before reformatting. I so love drag and drop and move on. heh

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Gotta love

TigerDirect.com

I ordered a new hard drive for my pc on Saturday night. It was here this afternoon.

So tomorrow morning I'll get gusy moving all my crap off of this hard drive onto the new one.

I really wasn't expecting to get the new hard drive until Thursday. I'll definately have all my stuff moved by the weekend so I can reformat this dumbass pc. I've been having loads of problems with this damn thing for the last month.

Hopefully by Sunday it will be like having a brand new pc. :O)

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Sniff Sniff Sniff

Go wish Jon a fond farewell.

I'm gonna really miss you hun.

The whole reason I started reading blogs was because of Jon. I read his entire archive in like 2 days. hehe

I'm really going to miss reading Jon's hilarious stories. But I do so wish him all the happiness in the world.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

I got nothing

(edit: this post was actually started last Sunday but I didn't have time to upload the pictures lol)
Not much has been going on around here.

It's taking me some time to get used to working nights. I only get to see the kid about an hour a day. That sucks.

He is home this weekend. Unfortunately, he has locked himself in his room. heh He has this thing about going in there and locking the door. As if I can't get in if I really wanted to.

He lost one of his front teeth this morning(last Saturday). It was all his own fault.

Friday night he was playing karate in the basement at my folk's house. He was probably watching Power Rangers or something. Anyway, my mom was down there yacking at him and he asked her to "please leave." As she was going up the stairs, he took off after her. She made to do a karate punch at him as a joke. He ran right into her hand full force. hehehe His one font tooth bled a bit and was just hanging there. I don't blame Mom. I know it was an accident.

Nick is just enjoying looking like a jack-o-lantern.


(Sorry for the sucky picture. I swear, I'm gonna get a new camera just as soon as I can.)
(he actually lost the other front tooth on Tuesday I think)

I got my yarn from LittleKnits yesterday. (last Saturday)


I'm thinking I'll use the Cherry Tree Hill yarn to make the kid a Christmas stocking. Yeah, I know it isn't really traditional Christmas colors, but I can't see wearing socks with a metallic thread in it. Yeah color me blonde to not realize that Super Glitz yarn would have metallics in it. :OP

I'm loving the Regia yarn. The colors are just yummy.



Eventually, I'll make some socks with them.

I've been pretty busy this last week cleaning up the house. I've got a bad back, so it is slow going. I do believe after some finishing up tomorrow morning, things will be good enough to get the landlord to go piss up a damn rope.

I've been thinking about moving the blog and getting some real web hosting. Yeah, I know that hardly a soul reads this thing. I have a web site that is dedicated to the sig tags I make for my always list. I was tempted to delete that group the other day though. I swear, no one knows how to say thanks for making them a tag. I don't think they realize how long it takes me to upload 100+ tags each time I make a new one. But anyways, the tag site is on Bravenet and I dunno how I'm getting away with it, but I'm using way the hell more than the 50MB disk space they allow for free sites. I have nearly 150MB of stuff on there. I guess they don't bitch cause I barely use any bandwidth. But whatever. I'm not sure I want to pay for a year of hosting all in one dang shot. Maybe I'll just start a sister site for the tags for the time being. I should probably wait to pay anything big until after my 90 day probationary period is up and the early yearly layoffs are over. I just know I'm gonna get laid off in January or February. I just hope like hell it isn't for the 15 weeks that this one guy got laid off for a couple years ago. groan

Oh, I made some new stitch markers tonight. I couldn't do any surfing while uploading tags tonight, so I decided to play with the ever growing stash of beads. hehe



They fit up to a size 8. I made one with an extra bead to mark the beginnings of rows. Someday I'll get better at twisting the wires.

Well, time to get my arse in gear and get the wash done so I can go to bed. Laters...

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Can we forget that today happened??

No??

Ok, so then let's put it all down in all it's horrors so that we will never forget.

It started out ok. I found out Nick lost his other front tooth. He looks too cute. hehe

I came back home after taking him to school and fell asleep.

I woke up to the maintenance guy opening my bedroom door.

I was naked!!!!!

Thankfully, I was covered up. I've told them time and time again to ring the damned door bell cause I can't hear someone knocking. My fan is usually on in here and I just can't hear the door.

So, after I got dressed, I got to listen to the landlord bitch about how messy the house is. She is always complaining that my room is a fire hazard. The maintenance guy even yelled at me about the damn garage. I've got one week to clean up the house to her standards.

All was fine after that until I got to work. Things went bad the moment I tried to go in the door.

I tripped on the door jam and I damn near smushed one of the ladies I work with. She thankfully was stepping forward when I ran into her and she was able to keep her footing. I pretty much ended up with my arms around her half on the floor laughing my ass off.

She was afraid that I had gotten hurt and I was scared that I had smushed her. lol

She finally believes that I'm a world class klutz. I warned her. hehe

Later on I was walking on the catwalk carrying a box and I smashed my poor little pinky on a railing. I'm gonna have one hell of a bruise on it in the morning.

I swear I'm getting a crash course on how horrible this particular job can be. The first 6 hours tonight was fine and then everything blew up in my face. Thankfully, I don't think my boss blamed me too much. hehe

When I punched out from work I smacked my pinky on a cabinet. I damn near started crying.

I think I need to go to bed now before I hurt myself worse. hehehehe

Monday, October 16, 2006

freakin meme

Yeah, ok so I got nothing better than a meme. Sue me.

Four jobs I've had:

Fast food goddess. I've worked for Burger King, Hardees and Subway.

Ran the snackbar at an arcade outside of Chicago. It was a kickass job. It just didn't pay shit. lol

Quality Assurance tech at a plastics factory. Very boring. I've actually done this job twice. Once for a factory that made plastic medical bags and then for a factory that made plastic bottles and caps.

Distribution specialist. That is my current title. Figure that one out. lmao

Four movies I can watch over and over:

The Silence of the Lambs. I soooo love this movie. I've been known to quote this movie in the midst of most any conversation. hehe

Army of Darkness. We are talking high quality shit here.

Any of the Back to the Future movies. Gotta love me some Michael J. Fox.

The Scream trilogy. I love horror movies. They are all the better when they are a little cheesy. hehe

Four places I have lived:

Dubuque, Iowa. I spent most of the first 17 years of my life living in various neighborhoods in this god awful town.

Cascade, Iowa. My folks decided that it would be real cool to move to a little bity shitass town my senior year of high school. We stayed exactly one year. Big surprise there.

Carol Stream, Illinois. My one escape from Iowa landed me in this Chicago suburb while attending DeVry. I had way too much fun and it didn't last very long. lol

Peosta, Iowa. My home sweet home for nearly 7 years now. Very small but not very far from Dubuque and all the stores I need.

Four television shows I love to watch:

Lost. Can't miss this one. Sawyer is just too damn hot to miss.

Law & Order et al. I adore all 3 versions that are on the air right now. I love catching old episodes of the original whenever I can.

Medium. I can't wait for the new season to start. It old you I love spooky.

Super Nanny. This is my son's favorite show and I just love threatening Nick with having her come and take over our house. hehe

Four places I have been on vacation:

Gurnee, Illinois. I was just there last weekend at Six Flags. Fun place to visit.

Panama City Beach, Florida. We went down to Georgia to get my brother from basic training and drove down to PCB so we could see the gulf. I almost moved down there a few years ago. Longgggg story.

Devil's Lake, Michigan. I've visited my aunt there a few times. Hopefully next summer we will go visit her for a weekend.

Sadly, I can't think of any place else. Unless you can count going to Ames or Cedar Rapids to visit friends for a day. I've never had much money for vacations. sigh

Four of my favorite dishes:

Pizza. I love love pizza. Sausage and pepperoni are my favorites. I do love taco pizza too though.

Tacos. Mexican food is just yummy.

Home made french fries. mmmmmmmmmm

Fried potatoes. Mom makes the best fried potatoes with onions. yummmm

Four websites I visit daily:

Yahoo. I read my mail online and then download what I want to save.

Bloglines. I'm a bit addicted to reading my blogs.

Queer Joe. For some reason I can get Bloglines to read his site for shit. hehe

Stuff on My Cat. I'm sorry but seeing those poor cats dressed up in goofy outfits just kills me. No I don't much like the ones where stuff is piled on the cats. That is just mean. But there is nothing funnier than a cat in a dress. hehe

Four places I would rather be right now:

Bed. I'll be heading that way in just a few.

The family room at my folk's house. We are talking a comfy recliner, big screen tv and cable. What more could I ask for??

Georgia. My buddy Ally lives down there. It would be cool to go for a visit.

Sue's house. I can't remember at the moment if she lives in North or South Carolina. I'm so bad. She is Ally's big sister and my other best friend. Sheesh, you would think I would remember where she lives at. hehehe

Four bloggers I am tagging:

Ummmmm I doubt there are even 4 people who read this damn blog. hehe If you wanna do the meme, do it. If not, don't.

Saturday, October 14, 2006

WTF???

I admit that this pattern is pretty, but are these people stupid???

At this writting, the bidding is at $71.99 for one stinking pattern. Just a leaflet. Not a book of patterns. One freakin pattern leaflet with holes in it.

sssssshhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeessssssshhhhhhhhhhhh

Friday, October 13, 2006

OMG!!!

Working until 2AM SUCKS!!!!!!

The only thing worse is having to get up at 6AM to go get the kid.

wwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I wanna go back to bed damn it.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

boy oh boy

It is gonna take me some time to get used to working 2nd shift. It might be easier if I could get my sleep all in one block.

As it is, I get to sleep for about 5 hours and then I have to get up and go get Nick ready for school. After I drop him off, I come home and try to get another 2 hours of sleep.

I'm not getting much of anything done here at the house. I really need to get some cleaning done.

I did finish the short row heel on my sock. But, I'm gonna rip it out and do it again. I just don't like the way that some of the wraps are looking. Somehow I ended up with an extra wrap on one side. That isn't the part that looks bad though. I think I'll take the hat to work on on breaks and work on the heel this weekend when I can sit and do the whole thing at one time. I think working 1x1 rib in spurts will be a little easier than trying to turn a heel 5 or 10 minutes at a time. hehe

So far Nick is adjusting well to not seeing me much. He did have to go to bed an hour early the first night at my folk's because he wouldn't eat his dinner. Last night though, he ate like a dang pig. lol He had a hot dog, tater tots, spaghetti and chicken nuggets. Most nights I'm lucky if he will eat a few bites of just one of those.

Mom has decided it is a waste of money for him to be in daycare after school. She doesn't want to have to drive back to town to get him. So 3 days out of the week, I'll pick him up after school and race like hell to get him to their house and to work on time. Traffic around here sucks big time around 3pm. We have lots of factories, 2 elementary schools and a community college that all get out around the same time. Granted, the traffic isn't as bad as if I lived in a big city, but it can still take 5 minutes or more to get onto the main road from my house a block away. I may try going through the college's parking lot today when I go get the kid from school.

Anyways, I'm off to try and clean up the living room some. Nick was only home for about 90 minutes yesterday but he sure made a mess. hehe

Monday, October 09, 2006

Good news

I've finally been hired on at my job. I'll be switching to the night shift tomorrow.

I'm not real happy about having to work 2nd shift. I'm really hoping that it will only last a couple months. I'm really going to miss spending time with the kid.

I already warned him last week that I would be working at night and he will be spending most of his time at my folk's house. I also promised him that we would be spending lots of time together on the weekends.

I will get to see him every morning before school. I'll head over to my folk's house and get him up and ready for school each day.

Mom was thinking that she would bring him home each night and put him to bed. I had to remind her that I wouldn't be getting off of work until midnight and that there would be times that I would have to work until 2am. If she brought him here every night, she would soon be getting very little sleep. I really can't see her sleeping on my couch.

I thin it makes much more sense for him to spend the night at their house and for me to go out there to get him up for school.

I think Nick is going to like getting that extra hour of sleep in the morning. I have been getting him up at 6am every day. Now he can sleep in until at least 7. I don't have to have him to school until 8am.

In knitting news, go make a hat for Rabbitch. I've started one using some no name unknown content yarn that I got off of eBay. I'll do a bleach test on it before I send it off to make sure if it is wool or not. No, I can't promise that I will actually finish the hat. I'm horrible about finishing stuff. But I'm gonna try this time.

In other Nick news, we had a talk tonight about his dad. He made the comment that we didn't have a dad in our house. I explained to him about how his dad took off before he was born and that maybe someday he will decide that he wants to get to know him. And that if that happens, we will try hard to work something out.

That is when he told me that he though his dad was dead. I dunno where he got that idea. We have only talked about him one time before and I basically told him the same stuff that time. I told him that no, his dad was alive but he lives far away from us and I don't know how to get ahold of him.

Nick even asked me what his dad looked like. I do have pictures of him put away somewhere, but I don't feel like digging them out because I'm not sure where they are. I think the thing that most shocked him, was that he now knows that his dad has the same name as his uncle. When I told him that his name was Joe, he looked quite surprised. lol

Anyways, I'm gonna head off to work on the hat. And Joe, wherever you are, call your son.

Sunday, October 08, 2006

What a weekend

It started with having to get up at 5 am yesterday. I do NOT like getting up that early on a weekend unless I'm getting paid for it. Just sayin... Besides getting a shower and getting the kid up and dressed, I had to try and straighten up the house enough to keep the folks from yelling about the mess. I swear their house looks like no one lives in it most of the time. I prefer the "lived in" look. Ok, so I'm messy. Whatever. The folks showed up a little after 6 am and we were off. We headed towards Madison and then turned south through Janesville. From there we headed towards Lake Geneva and finally our destination. Gurnee Illinois.

I have no freakin clue why the hell we needed to drive up to Madison and back down in order to get to some place that is no farther north than where we started out.

Anyways, thanks to Dad missing one exit and stopping for breakfast, we arrived at Great America at about 11 am. All during the month of October, they are celebrating FearFest in honor of Halloween. So right off the bat, the kid was nervous.

When we entered the park, everything was done up for Halloween. Nick was not liking all the headstones and "dead bodies" all over the place. There were performers in front of the carousel dressed up as zombies and singing some creepy songs. They didn't get too close to us, so he was pretty good.

Our first stop was the motion simulator. Normally it is set up as the space shuttle and you get to experience a space flight. In honor of Halloween, it is set up as Elvira's haunted house. When we first went in, Nick had to flirt with the lady sitting next to us. It made me smile that it didn't faze him one bit that she was black and he just chatted with her. I say this because my folks are bit prejudiced and I so do not want my son following their lead. They aren't openly rude, but they tend to go out of their way to not have direct contact. Anyways, the ride was real cool. I swear it felt like a real roller coaster ride. I had to keep reminding myself that we never actually moved anywhere. hehe Nick claimed afterward that it was scary, but he seemed fine during the ride.

I did manage to talk Nick into going on a couple of the smaller rides. We went on a scrambler first. Halfway through he told me he changed his mind about going on a roller coaster later and then got real quiet. After we got off he was fine though and we headed off to the Whizzer. It’s the smallest of the regular roller coasters. He did really great and I think he enjoyed most of it. I had enough reaction to it to realize that I wasn’t going to be going on the larger rides any time soon. lol

We played a lot of the smaller games that you can win tickets off of. Nick managed to get a small haul of junk toys. My wonderful father talked him into getting a harmonica. The man is a pain. hehehe

The food of course was outrageously priced. When we finally got around to eating lunch, I paid $13.50 for a slice of pizza, some bread sticks and a large Coke. Granted it was a huge piece of pizza but still. They take a small square pan pizza and cut it from corner to corner in fourths. So basically, you end up with a very wide short piece of pizza. I bought the bread sticks for the kid but he of course wouldn’t touch them. I swear I dunno how the kid didn’t pass out from hunger yesterday.

Nick went on all the rides in Camp Cartoon Network. He even went on the mini roller coaster all by himself.

That’s my munchkin in the gray shirt. He looks a lil scared if ya ask me. hehe Forgive the poor quality of the picture. It’s the one that the park snaps of you and is really the only picture we got of him. Mom forgot the camera in the car. Doh!!

The only ride in the campground that scared him was the 10 foot high ferris wheel. lmao The cars were enclosed and there was no danger, but when it stopped with him at the top he started crying a little bit.

Next we spent quite a bit of time in Bugs Bunny National Park. It is full of things for smaller children to do. He spent half an hour in the nature trail. It’s just like the play equipment at the McDonald’s playland. I dang near had to drag him out of there. hehe They had this one lodge that was a total madhouse. Imagine like 50 kids with air guns and air cannons shooting foam balls all over a 3 floor barn. I lost Nick the moment we walked in the door. After about a half hour, I had to drag him out of there so we could go find my folks. They had wandered off to a smoking area and weren’t able to find us when they got back because we were in the lodge getting pummeled. hehe

Next we came on some park employees dressed as evil clowns. Nick just flipped. Mom had gone out and got her camera and tried to get pictures, but later realized that she was hitting the power button and not the one you use to take the pictures. hehe One of the guys was a complete jerk and kept coming after Nick even though he had to realize the kid was terrified. I wasn’t too happy and it reinforced my dislike of clowns. I just don’t like em.

It took us 3 tries to get on the train that runs around the park. It was worth the trouble though. They had a mini show included. The train was highjacked by wild west zombies. Nick was a little freaked out by the actors getting so close to him but afterwards was real excited about the whole show.

Later we went back to playing some of the games. At one point we were at some of the crane games outside and Dad managed to get his quarters stuck in the machine. While we were all hunched over trying to get them out, I got a very pleasant surprise. An absolutely gorgeous Hispanic gentleman came up and gave me 2 Finding Nemo toys to give to the kid. If my folks hadn’t been along with, I would have tried to strike a conversation with him. As it was though, I just thanked him profusely and made the kid thank him too.

It was about this time that we decided it was time to head home because it was getting to be about 7 pm. On the way back to the front of the park we encountered the trolley coming through with a load of zombies aboard. The trolley stopped and right there the zombies performed a few songs. Nick did not like that they were so darn close. We left when one of the guys got up and started singing Bad To The Bone. Lemmie tell you, he was no George Thorogood. hehe

We ended up heading home a different way than we came up. We went through Rockford and then Galena. It was much more direct than the trip there. I don’t think Dad enjoyed the ride through Rockford much. We saw at least 2 people pulled over by the cops and one real nasty car accident.

I was going to post about the trip when we got home, but it was nearly midnight. Needless to say, I was pooped. We took most of the stuff out of the car and just dropped it all in the living room. Then I crawled into bed and passed out.

All in all, we had a great day. Nick is being quite lovey today. I’m thinking next summer we are going to have to visit when they have the water rides running. I think he will get a kick out of that. :O)

There was some knitting done on my green socks on the way to the park in the morning. But frankly, there was no way I was going to be doing a short row heel in the dark on the way home. I'll post pictures once I get the heel done.

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

I've been bad

I had been doing so good lately. It's been weeks since I've bought any yarn.

Then someone from LittleKnits had to post to the sock yarn sales group that they were having a sale. lol

I picked up a skein of Cherry Tree Hill Super Glitz Sock in Spring Frost, and one skein each of Regia Surf in Dune (Color #5421) and in Sylt (Color #5418). I got all of that for under $35 with shipping. Color me tickled.

I've finished the turban. Well, the ends need to be weaved in. I'm not doing that until I figure out how the hell to get it on my damn head. roflmao If I can't figure it out, I'll turn the yarn into some footies for my mom.

Turns out that the kid and I will be going to Six Flags alone. When my cousin told her son about going to the park, he freaked. Turns out the last time they went he got scared shitless. He wants nothing to do with it.

While I'm sure Nick would have had a blast with Lars, I'm glad it will just be the two of us. Makes it easier to plan for the yarn stores on the way. hehehe I just want to be able to walk into a store and fondle some good yarn. I can't even bring myself to go into Hobby Lobby any more. Most of the stuff just makes me cringe. sigh

Well, I'm off to bed. I almost fell asleep at work this morning. I better get some zzzzzs.

Saturday, September 30, 2006

I shoulda known

My folks were being way too reasonable and making things way too easy. When I decided to suggest that Nick and I go to the amusement park by ourselves, I expected my dad to just flat out refuse to give over the tickets. He offered them up without a fuss. I talked to my mom this afternoon and she didn’t make a fuss either.

After talking to Mom, I took Nick to the playland at McDonald’s for dinner. When I got home, there was a message from Mom that she had a great idea about next weekend.

If you don’t know my folks, it all sounds quite reasonable. I have an older cousin that lives in Chicago and she has a son that is just about the same age as Nick. Mom just happened to talk to her right after our talk today. Turns out cousin would love to meet us at the park. Then afterwards, we could stay the night at her younger brother’s house. He lives right near the park. That would eliminate a late night drive home.

Sounds all nice and reasonable. Unless you know my folks.

God forbid that Becky drives herself and her child 4 hours to a very public amusement park and spends the day with her son. Oh no she can’t drive that far alone without someone waiting to make sure she can make the long trek on her own without crashing the car. And no way can she drive in the dark. Oh God forbid!!

I barely know these cousins. They grew up a couple hours from me and are at least 5 yrs older. I think I’ve seen the male cousin once in the last 10 years. And my mom expects him to just say, “Sure no problem, I’ll open my home up to these virtual strangers!” I see the cousin from Chicago maybe once or twice a year. We have nothing in common other than the fact that our kids like to run around like insane people when they see each other.

My dad has a problem with me driving an hour away to go shopping. If I go anywhere out of the immediate area, he practically freaks. He has always been like that. It isn’t something new with my having a kid. And he can’t say it is a fear of my car breaking down. Hello!!! Until a couple months ago, it was his freakin car. It’s got new tires on it and a new alternator along with a new battery.

I have not had a car accident in 13 years. (knock on wood) Granted it was a horrible accident. But I’m no longer 21 and feeling bullet proof. Hell, I haven’t even put the car in the ditch because of snow in like 8 or 9 years.

Ggaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

I just feel like banging my head on a brick wall. My folks wonder why I damn near picked up and moved to Florida without telling them about it.

Sigh

The whining is over. For now. I guess. But I reserve the right to have another fit at any moment. *wanders off pouting*

Friday, September 29, 2006

The best laid plans...

Ok, so they weren't actually plans per se.

About 2 months ago, my dad won tickets to Six Flags Great America. We had planned as a family to go this weekend.

Well, Dad lost his job. So my folks are a lil strapped for cash.

Last night Mom told me that she came down with pneumonia. So she is in no shape to be going anywhere.

I had kind of forgot all about the trip until this morning. I got all excited about taking Nick on our first trip together.

So I get home today and give Dad a call. Surprisingly he agreed right away to give me the tickets so that Nick and I could go alone. (If you knew my dad, you would be shocked by that)

Happy lil me goes onto the web site for the park and finds the calendar showing when the park is open.

It is closed this weekend. wwhhhhhhaaaaaaaa

So now I have to cross my fingers that I don't have to work next weekend. And Nick is being a bit whiney cause a week for him is an eternity.

So the big plans for this weekend is to go to freakin McDonald's. They have a play area at the one near where I work. Cross your fingers that the lil turd doesn't get stuck and the top and start screaming like the last time I took him. lol

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Monday, September 25, 2006

Dark place...

Ok, I admit it. I'm feeling a bit depressed. (read that as pretty depressed.. I tend not to admit my depression until I'm deep in a pit)

Nothing really horrible is going on.

I'm a tad bit nervous about my job since dad got fired. I'm hoping that the company is above holding me responsible for my dad.

I did leave after an hour this morning though. I was just feeling so damn sick I wanted to cry.

The damn IBS is being a bitch.

Every morning I feel like I'm gonna puke, so I don't eat. That makes me feel wonky. And I get the trots so bad, I can't go to far from the bathroom.

I've been off my meds for about 2 months now. I'm tempted to call up my doctor's office and ask if I can get some samples. Of anything. sigh

Part of me is happy to finally not be taking any meds other than over the counter allergy meds. Part of me whines that I need my pretty little pills.

So basically, I'm feeling icky physically and mentally.

Hell I prolly just need to get laid. heh

Here is a pic of the first sock.



Yeah the picture sucks. My camera is a piece of shit. Buy me a new one and I'll take better pics. :OP

Now it is time for me to get to bed. I'm beat.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

frustration

My life is a study in frustration.

Dad hounds me to apply for the job he says I should have. I apply and get the job. Other than how damn dirty I get, I kinda like the job. I've been there for over 2 months. Now he is hounding me to apply for a different job. This is at a place that I worked off and on as a temp. The pay is a bit better, but they regularly make their workers come in to work at 4:30 in the freaking AM!

Also, it is a boring ass job where there is no radio to listen to. Ok so the music they play where I work now sucks donkey dick, but at least there is music playing. The music ranges from The Supremes and other shitty 50s and 60s music to a few more modern easy listening make me puke elevator music types. At least I get to hear Michael Buble sing Home at least once a day. sigh

To add to the angst at my job, I just found out that the only halfway interesting guy at work is married. whhaaaaa He is a bit of a dork, but he is a total sweetheart. It isn't often that you find a true gentleman in this day and age. sigh I guess it just reaffirms my rule of not messing with people I work with.

In other news, I finally cast on for the second sock. I've got the toe finished and am up to the patterning on the instep. I actually got to this point twice today. The little nubs at the corners of the toe were makin me nuts, so I ripped out the sock once. I just couldn't figure out how to get the slipknot to hide itself. The new sock looks much better. I had the sock cast on yesterday but I was feeling so icky that I didn't want to mess with figuring out the increases. It's a good thing I didn't get past the first couple rows, cause I cast on the wrong number of stitches. lmao

I'll try and get pictures of the socks tomorrow. The cuff on the first one is about 3 inches long I think. I was starting to run out of yarn, so I figured I better get the mate cast on and caught up so that they would be the same length. hehe

I got some Peruvian Collection Sierra Aran from elann.com off of a friend. There are 11 skeins of color 783 and one of color 782. I had hoped to get more from elann so that I could make a sweater for myself. But alas, they don't have any in either of those colors. So, it would look like Mr. Nick will be getting a sweater out of it. Unless of course I decide to felt something with it. lol

For the time being though, the yarn will get hidden in the stash. I have too many projects going right now to start yet another one. Although I did cast on something yesterday. Like I mentioned, I was feeling icky. I had one of my really nasty headaches that was making me want to puke. I can't just sit and watch tv though. I have to be knitting or reading or something. So anyway, I had a skein of the light blue alpaca in my bag and some dpns. I cast on for a circular shawl. I guess I'll just make it up as I go along. Who knows, I may end up just cutting the damn thing off of the skein and throwing it away. hehe

Ok, I'm off to do some laundry and hit the sack. I long for a time when I'm not tired. sigh

Thursday, September 21, 2006

This blogger sucks

Yeah, I'm a crappy blogger. I'm a very tired blogger.

I've had a cold for a week now. It just won't go away. The IBS is acting up again too. No appetite in the morning and intestinal issues.

I've been steadily working on the turban and my fake cable socks. I don't have any pictures for y'all cause my camera just sucks rocks. I really need to get some overtime in so I can buy a new camera.

Nick is having good and bad days. One day he is happy and very obedient. The next he runs away from me screaming that he hates me. We are taking it one day at a time.

I should be in bed. Why can't there be more hours in the day??

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Let the snotfest begin

I've tried to deny it. I ignored it as long as I could.

My body had declared war on me and it is kicking my ass.

I have a nasty slimy drippy head cold. blech

This morning I had to blow my nose and spray shit in my nose for a full hour in order to be able to breath well enough to go to work. I took two different kinds of antihistamines and used some nasty feeling nose spray.

I did pretty well for most of the day. Then at about 1, my nose exploded again. I sneeze and it looks like some horrible alien has flown out my face. And to make things worse, if I sneeze too hard, I have to run to the bathroom cause I start to pee my damn pants!!!

There are good things happening in the land of Frod though. I got a new used rocking recliner for the living room. It is almost the exact shade of rose as the old recliner, complete with the brown fleck in it. The old recliner had a huge spot on the seat where Nick decided to glue a bunch of paper to it. My folks picked up the new chair at a garage sale for $25. Not too shabby.

On the knitting front, I've almost got the heel turned on the first mini cable socks. I'm doing a simple short row heel over half the stitches. I tried to locate the short row heel instructions I saved from Wendy's blog. I'm pretty sure that I printed it as a pdf and at the moment I can't open the damn things. No worries, I just have to restart my pc and they will open again.

This thing is a pos. There is a fan on my motherboard that is trying to die. I'm afraid that one of these days when I turn it off, it won't start up again. So I leave the dang thing on 24/7. I just do a warm reboot once in awhile when I can't clear enough memory to run my programs. If it were a larger fan, there would be no problem in just replacing it, but it is a very small one and so far I haven't found one to replace it. Ok, so I haven't really looked anywhere but at TigerDirect. I've had good luck in buying stuff from them, so that is the first place I head.

Anyways, I'm gonna go take a super hot shower and go to bed. Maybe after a bit of a snooze I'll be alive enough to do some knitting.

Thursday, September 14, 2006

ugghhh

Things are not good in the land of Frod.

Nick is having issues. I'm not really sure why he has been acting up. He does fine during classes at school. But when it comes to the after school daycare, he has been being a total brat. He has told the sitters that he hates them. When I come to get him, he climbs under the table and hangs onto the bars and screams that he doesn't want to go with me. I end up having to carry him outside and drag him to the car. I think some of it may be that he is only able to see his grandfather one day a week.

That is all about to change. I just got done talking to my mom. It would seem that my dad got fired today. They just called him up and said, "see ya." This is not good. Ya see, I work at the same company but as a temp. I worked at another company as a temp through an agency where my dad had gotten fired. Once the woman who had my dad fired found out I was his daughter, I got let go. Needless to say, I'm a bit nervous.

Anyways, things have to change around here. I've got to leave the majority of the Yahoo groups that I belong to. I belong to way too many of them to begin with. I need to spend more time with the kid. And now that my dad isn't working 2nd shift, we will be spending more time over at the folk's house. I'm thinking that I might try to teach the kid how to knit. I've got loads of large needles and cheap yarn. Maybe if he has something constructive to do, he might calm down.

OK, off to spend some reading time with Nick. ta ta

Monday, September 11, 2006

Warning: Drunk blogging ahead

Yep, I'm drunk.

It's a Monday night and I have to work tomorrow. But I'm sitting here drinking. Yuppers, getting even more drunk.

Nothing on tv but Sept 11 stuff. Everywhere I turn there are reminders.

I was watching live news coverage when the second plane hit. I had lost my job a couple weeks before and I have no earthly clue why I decided to get up early and watch tv. God damn I wish I had slept in.

I might have dealt better had I not watched it all play out on live tv.

Yeah, so I'm in Iowa. What of it? I didn't know anyone that died that day. I had no personal connection. But I still get unbearably upset when I think about it all. My folks couldn't understand why I wanted to grab my son and head to their house that day. Call me a wuss who wanted her mommy. heh

On a completely different note but one related by death, my heart goes out to Anna Nicole Smith. She lost her 20 yr old son just days after giving birth to a baby girl. He was in her hospital room when she woke up and found him sitting in a chair dead. How fucked up is that??? No clue as of yet why he died. Doesn't really matter in the long run. She has to be devastated.

Ok, enough. I'm not gonna be able to breath if I don't calm myself down and blow my damn nose. Yep, slimy runny nose to go along with my running eyes.

Man I make a lousy drunk. :OP

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Hmmm

Not really what I expected.


You Are From Mercury

You are talkative, clever, and knowledgeable - and it shows.
You probably never leave home without your cell phone!
You're witty, expressive, and aware of everything going on around you.
You love learning, playing, and taking in all of what life has to offer.
Be careful not to talk your friends' ears off, and temper your need to know everything.



I always knew I wasn't from this planet. But I wasn't expecting Mercury. Hmmmm, I wonder what planet the kid is from. I swear, if I hadn't seen him pop out, I woulda sworn he was from Uranus. bwaaahaaahaaaahaaaaahaaa

Finally






Two and a half long months ago I ordered The Harmony Guides Volume 5 from Amazon. It finally arrived the other day. They kept delaying the shipment and it was driving me crazy. Just when I was going to cancel the order out of sheer frustration, they decide to ship. hehe



It was worth the wait though. There are so many beautiful stitches in there. I so love the stitch recipes they give. I'm not sure I could really visualize putting the different cables together. I can't wait to have the time to play around with some cables now. I've got lots of projects to finish up first though.

I'm almost done with the first ball of Esprit on the turban. I suppose I would be farther along if I worked on it more than just during breaks at work. he he It's nice to have some mindless knitting to work on while I eat lunch though.

Time to go take a short nap. My allergies kept me up half the night and then I had to get up at 5 am and go to work. At least I didn't leave work looking like I had been working in a coal mine, like I usually do. :OP

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Sick of me yet?

I've calmed down now. The kid is feeling better and he is feeding his face.

Here is the baby blanket I started for my sister.


The pattern can be found here. It's real simple and I'm using 10.5US, so it is going fast. I'm using up a bunch of old ack that I had stashed. Yellow Red Heart, Baby Brights Ombre Simply Soft, Off White Dazzleaire and some Pink that has no wrapper. I'll keep making the blanket until I run out of pink I think. Cross your fingers that it will be long enough.

I'm also working on my Cherry Tree Hill socks.



I like this yarn, but there are flaws in it. I'm not sure if it is because it is mill ends or if it is in all Cherry Tree Hill yarn. There are just spots where there is no twist in the yarn and the skein of yarn was actually in 3 parts. One ball ended up being a lil bigger than the other two. I'm going to work the socks from the two small balls and then finish them off using both ends of the larger ball.

I searched for a cable sock pattern that was toe up, but just couldn't find anything I really liked. After some digging in my saved patterns, I found an old word document with a stitch pattern and a sock picture in it.

I have zero clue on where this pattern is from. It comes from the days before I saved the web address for where patterns came from. If it's your original and want me to remove it, lemmie know.

Multiple of 5 stitches

row 1: *p1, k1tbl, p1, k2, repeat from *
row 2: *p1, k1tbl, p1, k1, yo, k1, repeat from *
row 3: *p1, k1tbl, p1, k3, repeat from *
row 4: *p1, k1tbl, p1, k3 then pass the first stitch over the other two, repeat from *

I'm working the sock over 70 stitches on size 2US addis cause I have huge feet and I don't like tight socks. hehe Right now the pattern is only on the instep and the sole is plain sts. I'm thinking of using a 1x1 rib on the sole of my next pair of socks to see if that doesn't provide some cushioning. I have no clue how long these socks will be. It all depends on how far the yarn goes. I would like them to be knee socks. We shall see what fate brings me.

Oh well, time to get my butt in gear and get some knitting done. Laters...

I'm so pissed

I'm practically seeing red right now.

The kid has ransacked both of his nebulizer set ups. One is completely gone. I have no clue where it went to. The other one is missing the green cone that kinda makes the whole fucking thing work.

So basically, he has no nebulizer at the moment.

His puffer? Both of those are at my freakin mom's house!!!!!!

So now I have to get dressed, get him dressed and listen to my mother bitch at me for not taking care of his nebulizer shit. Forget the fact that I had the damn things put up in the bathroom. gggggggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

edit: I ransacked the bathroom again and found the old holder for the nebulizer. It doesn't need the green cone like the other one. So the kid is sitting and nebulizing as I type. I still have no freaking clue where the masks are at. He is using the tube which isn't as effective. He is still going to bed early. grumble grumble

sigh

G'day Steve

Monday, September 04, 2006

confuzzled

It's been a tired time here in Froddoland. I've been on cleanup duty at work mostly and it is kickin my butt. I need to get a pedometer and figure out how far I walk each day. It has to be 4 or 5 miles easy. *sigh*

I picked up a new copy of The Fellowship of the Ring. I had totally worn out my old vhs copy. I'm too cheap to get the series on dvd. I was able to pick the vhs tape up for under $4. Watching it again has reminded me about my conundrum with Frodo. I've been using the names Frod and Froddo since well before the live action movies came out. Frodo had always fascinated me. But with the Peter Jackson movies, I came to realy dislike Frodo. He just seems to be a whiney little bastard that always needs saving. The real hero of the movies is Sam. He is always covering Frodo's ass. But still I use the name Frod. I just can't see myself as a Sam. hehe

That whole argument seems so stupid though.

Today Steve Irwin died. It bugs me that the death of a celebrity can upset me so. I really have enjoyed his various animal shows. His upbeat outlook on life was very appealing. My heart goes out to his wife and kids. I do think it was a blessing that he went out doing what he loved to do. I just thank god that it wasn't a croc that bit his head off or anything. lol

I'll have some actual knitting updates later. I've started a pair of socks with some Cherry Tree Hill mill ends I got off eBay. I have some issues with this yarn.

I need some rest though. Allergies are kicking my poor ass yet again. sniffle

Sunday, August 27, 2006

I'm in Love!!!

OMG He is just too cute!!!!

I swear he looks just like Mater. hehehe

"Get er done, son!" hehehe

She lives

and knits.



I'm done with the diamond patterning and on to the plain stockinette. I'm at about 10" and I need a total of about 28". Lord only knows how long I'll actually make the sweater. I like mine to cover the tush.

I'm still plugging away on my turban. No update picture cause well it is just 4 x 4 ribbing. But man there is a lot of yarn in a ball of Esprit. I swear I keep expecting to find the center and it keeps on coming. I guess it is the tootsie pop of yarn. hehe

Now it's time to drag my tired ass to bed. Toodles!

Saturday, August 19, 2006

I lost my son yesterday

I didn't panic. I'm used to him lollygagging when we are out shopping. I usually have to stop, back up and tell him to get his rear in gear.

He wasn't so easy to find this time.

We had been in the office supply department at Wal-Mart picking up the last of the dumbass shit that he has to have for school. Why a 7 yr old needs a set of dry erase markers and an eraser, is beyond me.

I gave in and bought the whole freakin set up and told Nick to get a move on and proceeded to head back to the craft department. I usually go through the fabric remnants and the beads to see if anything catches my eye.

When I got to the fabric, he was no where to be found. I rolled my eyes and headed back towards where we had been. I thought maybe he stopped to look at the movies because y'all the kid is addicted to movies. He has more than I do. hehe

Nope, no Nick in the electronics area. So I head back to the office supplies, but I went one isle too far over. Still no Nick. And I can't hear him freaking out. This kid starts whining and calling for me if I go around a corner and he doesn't see where I went.

Just as I was about to get worried, they did a page over the intercom that they had a lost mom and would Becky please come to the service counter.

Poor kid was all puffy and red from having a fit. I had to rub it in though. I had to ask him if now he understood why I made him learn my name. Now maybe I'll get him to learn our phone number and address. He used to be able to rattle off our phone number but now always says he doesn't know. sigh

Finally a peek at the sweater.


This is the Peacock Lace sweater from I would be a heck of a lot farther along with it, if I wasn't so damn tired. Man working sucks. hehehe

I picked up a new book at Borders I paid a bit more than this for my copy. But then again, I had it in my hot little hands right away.

The reason I was so wanting this book you ask?




Can we say yummy????



I have 2 skeins of this yumminess. It is Silk/Angora Lace Yarn from Japan. Manufacturer: Hasegawa Corporathion. In color #11 Comet Blue. It is 30% Silk 10% Angora 20% Nylon 33% Wool; 660 yrd per 100 gr hank.

I'm currently bidding on another skein so I can make this.

Why yes, I am nuts. hehehe

It won't get made any time soon though. I've got too many works in progress and other planned projects. But man it will be nice to know I've got the yarn waiting for me to play with.

Ok, enough yabbering. I really need to go get the dishes done and make some dinner for the kid. Yeah I know I should do that in the opposite order, but I already have enough dishes to fill the dishwasher. hehehe

toodles

Sunday, August 13, 2006

Insert Snappy Title

My brain is just too damn fried to think of anything interesting to say.

Before I started this blog, I battled with terrible fatigue that drove me batty. Well it would seem that it is kicking my ass again. I've just been sooooo tired it isn't funny.

I have been knitting. I'm working away on the Peacock Lace sweater from Great Big Knits. Even though I'm having to use US 2s to get gauge, it is going pretty fast. I'm on something like row 24 or there abouts. Too tired to get off my ass and get my bag from across the room to see for sure. hehe There are 155 stitches per row, so I don't think I'm doing too bad.

I'm really liking how the wool is feeling. I can't imagine this sweater in cotton like the pattern calls for. Especially at this gauge. It would prolly be real stiff. I can't get over just how stretchy this yarn is though. I keep breaking out in giggles.

I am not liking how the pattern is set out in the book. I copied the pattern and printed a working copy cause frankly the book was feeling ungainly. Well, I just can't read the pattern for shit and keep my place. I've had to type it into notepad and increase the font size so that it is big and bold and in my freakin face. While at mom's I got ahead of my typed up copy and I had to actually write it out long hand. One row of the pattern is mushed up and takes 6 lines of type the way the book is formatted. I think I just got used to using charts and having to work from written out instructions is giving me problems. I'll get over it though.

I'm thinking I should have added a salvage stitch for sewing up later. The pattern puts K2togs right at the edge of the fabric. I'm not reknitting 3700 or so stitches though. hehehe

I'll try and get some pics of the sweater tomorrow. I really am liking it although the pink is awful bright. I just have to remind myself that my favorite sweater for years was a bright smack you in the face blue monstrosity and I wore it with relish. hehe

Monday, August 07, 2006

Blah de Blah Blah Blah

Man oh man did Monday come too soon. Work was just peachy and I didn't have to work overtime. I did stay at Mom's for a bit though. She had corn on the cob on the stove. I had to gobble 2 ears before heading home with the kid.

I spent the afternoon swatching. I've decided to make the Peacock Lace sweater from Great Big Knits. I love love this book and it's predecessor Big Knits. Sure I wish that there were multiple sizes, but at least the one size is big enough that I don't have to alter the pattern.

The pattern calls for Rowan Handknit DK Cotton. Ummmm welllll I don't have any. I do have two cones of Schuss-Plus DK wool. The pattern calls for US size 6 needles. I had to go down to freakin size 2s. I've cast on for the back and I have to use US 1s. Gaaaaahhhhhhhh

But I have gauge. Sort of. hehehe It's close enough when you take in consideration the oversized fit of the sweater. I will be measuring lots as I'm going along to make sure that it doesn't end up being absolutely huge. hehe

BTW: Look down. Like my new divider? I think it's just the cutest. I got it from Tara. I didn't realize it until today, but she has started a blog to share her graphics. She has lots of cute stuff there to snag.

Anyways, I'm off to finish the edging on the sweater and then I'm hittin the sack.

Night Y'all!!

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Bra talk

Since Jon took such note of my mentioning of the bra's cost. Let's talk about the bra. hehehehe

The only reasons I mentioned the price were the fact that it was literally half the price of the outfit and that I just bought it that morning.

If the boots had been half the price of the outfit, I would have mentioned it. As it were, the boots were about $10. They are only comfy enough to were for a short while. But man were they heaven compared to the high heels I was going to wear. Those weren't even the first choice. I was going to wear some velvety type high heels only to discover that at some point or another half the fuzzy stuff was scraped off one of the shoes.

I need to invest in some new dress shoes. The only comfy dress shoes I have are boots really. I even have an old pair of granny boots. hehe It just sucks having such huge ass feet. I'll have to see if I can find a shoe store in Chicago that caters to guys.

Well, I'm off to swatch some pink wool. I'm not real sure if it will work for the sweater I'm looking to make. Hell I just want to make any of the sweaters out of Big Knits or Great Big Knits. I just have to find one that works with yarn that I already have. hehe

Saturday, August 05, 2006

It's over!!

The brother is married off and the festivities are over.

Joe was trashed when I left and there were still loads of people there dancing and drinking but man I was/am tired.

Only 2 of my uncles showed up. The other 2 and my aunt were no shows. I'm most pissed about the aunt. She hates my dad, her brother, but she is Joe's godmother. Why the hell we have to pay for the fact that she is pissed at my dad is beyond me. But she is not going to be a happy chicky the next time I see her cause I'm going to rip her a new one.

I did manage to get the shrug finished. I didn't wear it though. When I added some ribbing around the body opening, I bound off too tightly. I was just not comfortable in it. It didn't help that the high heels I was wearing were tighter than shit. I ripped no less than 5 pairs of nylons while trying to get ready. I ended up wearing a slightly mismatched pinstripe pants suit. The pants and jacket are the same color but different materials and the stripe is slightly wider on the jacket. But hell my entire outfit, including the $20 bra, cost me about $40. I forget just how much I paid for the individual pieces but I know it wasn't much.

The ceremony was short but sweet. It was in a small room with theater seating. The bride almost tripped when she went up onto the stage. She stepped on the front of her dress. The dress was lovely, btw. It was a light cream and strapless with roses around the top and lacing on the back. Nick behaved himself and sat down next to me and sat quietly during the nuptials.

More people than were expected showed up at the reception. They had to move the cake and put out more place settings. The food was pretty good. Roast beef, fried chicken, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy. Nick managed to eat a plate full of popcorn and a piece of chocolate cake. heh

All in all it was quite lovely. I cried a little when they showed a slideshow of pictures of the bride and groom as kids. I totally lost it when I did the dollar dance with Joe. After a minute, I just gave him a hug and rushed off. I turned into a mass of tears for about 2 minutes and then was fine again. It isn't easy going to a wedding when you are emotionally unstable. hehe But, I don't think I embarrassed the poor boy too much.

Anyway, I need to go tie the kid to his bed. He is still so wound up from dancing. I'll post pictures as soon as I get some and I get permission.