Damn Knitted Tank

OK, I can't decide....if I stretch the start I have so far, it might work. Maybe I can quit eating so dang many oreos and do more crunches...and it might work....I CAN'T STAND THIS!!!! I have that Kinks song stuck in my head....Should I stay or should I go now???? I think I'm going to keep knitting and I can always frog it later, DAMMIT!

Here's me this afternoon...

debate debate debate yadda yadda yadda

MAN, I'm trying so hard to be open minded, but I'm tired of hearing GW say the same dang thing over and over and over and over. I have to give the man credit, he speaks well and shows emotion and is pretty charismatic (compared to Kerry, not compared to a normal human) but OMG find something new to say! If I hear "uncertainty" one more time I might SCREAM again. PLEASE. Oh God, it's apparently catching as now Kerry is doing the same comments over and over and over.

OK, the really important part of this debate is that surely Ms. Heinz-Kerry can afford a hairstylist, can't she????? For the love of all that is holy, get that mop under control! Can I take a donation of products to send her way? Just say no to frizz.

I think I'm going to have to start watching the Daily Show again. I can't take the boring flat news any more...

SCREAMMMMMM OK, the wonderful (PERFECT FOR THE GAUGE) sexy tank is NOT working up big enough. I've got 5" of ribbing and it's supposed to be 16" across and it's not even that with a major stretch. I thought, maybe it will still work, but when I hold it up to me it won't cover the chubby belly. DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT

Bathroom update (come on, you know you're dying to hear more potty-time talk) so Miss Hateful's daughter hurt her ankle and she had to leave work early this afternoon. Her daughter is a sweet kid and I hope she's ok. BUT, now I guess the ickies will go on until I go insane and bring the rubber gloves & toilet cleaner & mop to work! OK, we think we figured out who left the nasties on the toilet and it is not surprising. The chick is nuts. I heard my old assistant saying Miss Hateful was saying something about me to her boss and Miss Grumpy (the ex-librarian) and I thought she was saying I was the one rubbing my butt all over the floor like a dang dog doing circles on the carpet and I was going to get a little pissy. Turns out Miss H. was just bitching about me with the regular complaints. Good thing as I just want it noted for the record that I use toilet paper for God's sake.

One other obnoxious thing happened this afternoon. In order to finish the work Miss Hateful left, I had to go work on her computer and sit in her throne. My assistant was joking about how much friendlier Miss H. looked now. ha ha ha. THEN the local boss came out and said, Christine, you look good in that chair....maybe we should think about a switch. Little man, you don't wanna go there. I have about 3 ounces of patience left and that is cutting it dangerously low.

SO while I'm trying to do a 15 minute little job, the newer chic was just talking on and on and on and on about strange things. I almost felt sorry for Miss H and Miss G. to have to work with her all the time. I mean it was like having Dustin Hoffman from Rainman sitting there on her little heating pad......HEATING PAD for CRAMPS....anyone anyone...??? She's nuts. Instead of getting some little detail off the Ford website for her report, she went on and on about how she was going to pretend to be a college student and call them to ask the question and then she could pretend to be a car designer and then and then and then I swear to GOD I almost punctured my eardrums with paperclips........She's like a really tall rainman...I left at 5:05 (TOTALLY out of character for me, normally I hit the door at 5:01 at a dead run) and she was sitting on her little heating pad STILL talking and NO ONE was there....creepy.

Tired of reading??? I'm tired of typing. I'm trying to get the guts to pull out my ribbing...maybe I'll leave it on the needle since it looks so darn pretty and just pick up a larger pair and try again.....DAMMIT

Comments Changed

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

OK, I love the new comments by Haloscan, but in putting the new one in, ALL my comments were lost. :( But, the good news is now ANYONE can post on this blog instead of just blogger members.

The bathroom saga continues....

It seems Miss Hateful was not happy about being asked to clean the bathroom. She DOES get paid for cleaning duties on top of her regular pay, so it's not like anyone's asking for any work outside her little job description or anything. So we ladies in the local office receive quite possibly the most inappropriate office email I've ever seen. Here's the text:

Subject line: "No self-cleaning fixtures here"

"I have been nominated to inform everyone of the problem we have been having in the ladies room. It seems that while some of us are on our cycle, we don't seem to notice the mess we leave behind. Please be aware of this and take extra precaution to clean up your own messes. I have heard complaints on the toilet seat, visible waste in the trash, and it doesn't much effort to flush an extra time."

I will say I am ALWAYS a 2 flusher if it is necessary. Our toilet is so dirty I almost cleaned the darn thing myself just to feel better. HHHmmmmm wonder why we've had a bug infestation in there and in the kitchen.....hhhmmmmm I guess mopping the floor IS a good idea. The trash has always been put in the trashcan, it's not like anyone's being nasty, bathrooms just need to be CLEANED for God's sake.

I don't know why, but that just made me laugh. I almost had to go use the nasty facilities myself. Good thing I'm not "on my cycle" now, or I might have had to take "extra precautions". OK, so I'm a dork, but it's funny. Just CLEAN the damn BATHROOM and GET OVER YOURSELF.

Today I'm feeling a bit..

OK, so I'm half knitting and half watching the news and the big lead-in was about a naked bank robber in Tennessee. They said he was only wearing socks....then they say after he entered naked and wandered around for a while, he pulls out a handgun....Is it just me or is anyone else wondering just WHERE he pulled the gun out of???

Working on the sexy tank top, and it's actually starting to resemble a sweater-to-be. I've got 3" of the back ribbing started and it's taking FOREVER since it's 6 stitches to the inch. I am using the tangliest yarn on the face of the earth. It's easy to knit with, but just becomes this horrible mess of knots...UGH. It's Trendsetter Yarn IGUANA in this strange mix of orange/blue/green/ I can't describe it, it sounds horrible, but looks really cool.

YEAH for me, I pulled enough out of the sale baskets at Knit Wits to make the tank and scarf and only paid $6.50/ball. They were still full priced at the Yarn Shop for $12 each. WOO HOO. :)

OH, the nicest thing happened at the Yarn Shop last Sat. I was in picking up MORE of the fluffy stuff I was using to make the donation scarf, and I was looking (ok petting) a selection of yarn and admiring this GREAT scarf a mother made for her teen-age daughter. She brought it in as she hadn't knitted in years, and forgot how to cast off. I was the "experienced one" scary, huh? and showed her how to do it and she saw I was looking at the few balls left. After deciding NOT to spend more money than I had and not get it, she came up and asked if I was going to get the last 2 balls if I would like the ball & a half she had leftover. She was going to just bring it in to give it to me. Wasn't that sweet??? I was good and suggested she use it to teach her teenage daughter to knit with and she could use it to make a matching scarf for one of her friends.

OK, I can't help it, POOR MARTHA!!! Here's her home for the next few months...They call it Camp Cupcake....


I'm addicted to Panera.....gotta have a muffin....and an iced green tea...I think there's liquid crack in there or something, I just GOTTA have one!

Blog Blog Blog

I stumbled on the funniest little drawings:
www.toothpastefordinner.com

Scarf day

"If it weren't for the last minute, nothing would get done."
--unknown

That's about the story of my life. I sewed in the ends on the donation scarf while stuck waiting at the train crossing. I forgot to get a picture snapped, but I'm making another one for an Xmas present, so I'll get that one for my little knitting journal book & blog. Also this morning I got together a big ol basket of cross stitch kits, floss and a couple of books to give to the auction also. I sure hope someone bids on them or I'll be all looking the other way when I hear "who's the loser who dontated that crap?" Ah well, maybe the rich little jo co mommies like crafty stuff. We'll see. If not, I'll buy the dang things back. :)

It was just cool enough this am to wear my fun, colorful Schaeffer yarn scarf to work. I actually wore it until a few minutes ago as it was colder than heck down in the dungeon. It's always a calming feeling to wear something you've made and love. My daughter was so excited about her poncho, she wore it all dang day yesterday (and it ended up 85 degrees in the afternoon). I talked her into taking it off and cooling down when I picked her up. We'll snap pics of her too, Joey is now helping design his "spiderman & GI Joe backpack" that I'm going to make for him. I wonder if Schaeffer yarn felts? I think it should, but will call the LYS to see what they say.

I'm just mellow yellow today. Here, calm, centered and all that.

Jildo, I love you, hope you have some pain-free days or that your mommo will unlock the pain pills cabinet and get you feeling happy. Maybe you could pop out a few extra pain pills and eat some chicken nuggets and cookies! NOPE, then you might gain a pound (gasp). Take care and FEEL BETTER!

I'm entirely too calm today, it's almost frightening. OH, don't worry, as I have to sit down with the hateful one to train on part of her job to do while she's out getting mallied (Sixteen Candles).

Can you feel the hate from there???

SO, little miss Hateful is in rare form today. I was all happy because she is getting married...(not happy for her, happy for ME) as she will be GONE for 6 days of work! woo hoo! How will I ever get through my day without that little dose of pure evil each morning when I start my day? Not to worry, as she is giving out extra little evil glares, slamming doors, stomping, eye rolling and complaining-to-bosses-about-me more than ever, so I can save some of this fun for those empty days when she will be gone.

One funny note, though. I did ask our controller (supposedly her boss, but everyone here is scared of the evil one) to ask her to mop the bathroom floor before leaving for her honeymoon. He said, Oh, she does that each week...I said, no, there's some stains of unmentionable stuff that have been there for over 6 weeks and new ones just appeared 2 weeks ago and are still there. He looked a little faint (I really just said "unmentionable", I didn't give the nasty details) and said he'd talk with her about it....the drama goes on.

I added spider guts and a squished cockroach to the lovely floor today. I wiped up the bug, but still some of the crud remains...ICK. I couldn't help it, I had to wonder, what the HELL are those little dark red spots doing on the floor out half-way between the toilet and the cabinet where our "lady supplies" are kept? Then I had to wonder, even if some nasty woman was hopping around trying to wipe or put something in somewhere and she left this little trail 6 weeks ago, couldn't she figure out what she was doing or why did she have to leave more 2 weeks ago?????? IIICCCKKKKK. Sorry. If I didn't write it, I'd say it and that is not appropriate work conversation.

I did it!!! Finished Projects!!

I am amazed at what I can get accomplished when I take time to knit and don't sleep, eat or go out. :) No, that's not true, I ate like a piggy all weekend long and spent lots of time with the kids, but I also knitted a TON.

I put the last of the fringe on my daughter's poncho at 11:30pm last night and she wore it to school today! I also completed the scarf for her school's auction and it is COOL. Soft, funky and fun. I'll add pic's and details of what yarn I used once the www.photobucket.com is up & running again. Looks like they got hit with hackers, and had software & hardware problems as well. Apparently if you donated $$ to the site, your photos are up again. Since I'm cheap, and use the free service, I'll be waiting for a while. NOW I realize that I should have backed up all the photos I had there....but nope, I'm lazy. NEXT time I'd better do some backups.

I've been trying to find something fun to make for a boy that is not a sweater, socks, hat or scarf for Joey. Amanda gave me a brilliant idea of making a backpack out of my army/camoflauge looking Schaeffer yarn for him. COOL! He'll be all excited.

Knit-In this weekend!

I'm on a mission to complete some projects. And start AND complete a project. One way or another, I'm knitting my fingers like FIRE this weekend and going to get the poncho for my daughter DONE. That one may or may not get accomplished, but it's my goal. I'm also going to start and complete a scarf for my daughter's school's charity auction. I have to go pick up the yarn still, so that one will be my project for Sat.

We're supposed to have pretty weather this weekend, so I plan on letting the little monsters run around outdoors and sitting on my butt in the sun and knit knit knit.

I couldn't help it, I started the sexy tank top and it is going to be SO cool. I worked on it last night instead of finishing my resume and folding laundry or working on Beth's poncho. I think the yarn I picked up at Knit Wits will work. I think this will be my reward knitting project...If I get 3 more inches done on the poncho, I can work a few rows of the tank.... I'm trying to motivate myself in ways OTHER than eating oreos. BUT now I found out they have peanut putter filled oreos....I'm a goner.

I've also got to keep listing stuff on eBay at least until I can again see the floor in my bedroom. I've got all these crates and crates of crap to sell...old clothes, new shoes, new clothes, craft crap, kids stuff...but it takes time to get them on there.

NO social life whatsoever this weekend. I think I'd better shave the old legs just in case since I normally only do that before a hot date (or a leukwarm date) or before I go work out. Since I've had no dates for the last 2 weeks and cancelled my Wed. workout, it could get really scary.

Wow, what a wild life! I am going out next weekend with friends to raise a little heck, so I'm actually looking forward to my antisocial weekend coming up!

Boobie Names

OMG I totally stole this from Stephanie! But, hey, we all need to know what our girls' names are!

http://www.blogthings.com/boobiename.html

As Christine Long, my little ones are named "Siegfried and Roy". Great, my sad little chest is named after 2 gay guys that wear too many spangles. As just Christine, they're "Abercrombie & Fitch" I don't know which is worse!

Orange Oreo Hell

I'm now feeling the 12 orange creme double-stuffed oreos I ate last night at 11:30pm like a big fat rock in my tummy.....

Going to Knit Wits!!

"Be where you are; otherwise you will miss your life."
--Buddha

I'm tired of life going by without me. I resolved to live more in the moment. I know, I know, that sounds like almost every other blog out there, but baby steps here. Last night while Beth was in her little CCD (Catholic Sunday-school on Tuesday night thing), Joey and I spent 30 min's roaming around Hen House (LOVE that store) and had more fun. Then we went and colored outside the school waiting for Beth. Normally when the little ones are busy with an art project or "creation" I'm busy running around doing whatever. I sat down last night and shared a box of 8 crayons and had a BLAST. We went home, got baths, snacks, brushed teeth and went to bed. It was a very domestic, calm, amazing night.

I made 5 different gauges last night of every needle/yarn combo I could think of to see if I could find what I want to use for the sexy tank. I got close, but the one satiny/tapey/thing I thought I could use, looked GORGEOUS, but was just not big enough. It lost the good texture when I used 2 strands and smaller needles, so I'm going to head over to Knit Wits to see if I can't use up that merchandise credit I got when I returned the first set of threads & yarns I bought for it. I'm so excited, I can't stand it.

Also decided for our elementary school's big auction I'm going to whip up a funky scarf in red/black/burgandy splash yarn and give that plus a gift certificate to the Yarn Store (closer to the parents) for a class or for yarn. With how trendy knitting has come and how trendy all the little rich stay-at-the-country-club moms are, it should be a good deal. I t would suck if no one bid on my auction donation.

I've had 2 diet cokes already and am working on my green tea, and am just feeling kind of

Billy Graham and Boobies

Driving home from Worlds of Fun the other day, I saw a big ol billboard of Billy Graham with an expression I think he meant to be holy, but it looked constipated to me. The funny thing was, across the road, directly where his eyes were aiming their holy look was a billboard for one of the stip clubs, one of those signs where boobs are hanging out of everything and you have to look twice to make sure there's any clothes on them at all. It made me chuckle.

So, the hateful one is spreading her cheer. It's now "hate by association" down in the cellar. My co-conspirator and one of the few non-crazies at work has now dropped (or raised) to the level of incurring the hateful one's wrath just by breathing. How much energy does that take to be that evil? We wandered next door for our daily 5 minute break/$.28 refill/chat session and she comes storming (actually stomping) up the stairs behind us, stomps all the way to the Mr. Goodcents, and stomps her little self back down the stairs to work, slamming doors on the way. I must be in an irreverent mood today, or something.

Worked my little fingers till they were getting crampy on my daughter's poncho. I'll take a new pic and update tonight. It's now almost 14" long, and I'm getting ready to be DONE. How will I ever survive making a sweater???? Bigger yarn, but I love the delicate look of the sexy tank I want to make....maybe if I crank out a fun scarf at the same time I will feel like I'm making progress on something...

I'm feeling a bit

I Killed the Tag Board

Well, I killed my little Tag Board tonight. It was cool, but was linked to too many ads coming up on the blog. So sad. :(

Laughed till I almost peed LINK HERE NOW

OK, first of all looking back at Friday night, maybe taking the big bad imitrix migraine pill and a few advils might not have mixed well with the 2 1/2 cosmopolitans....could be part of the barfing problem.

One of my friends passed this one along. Go to www.google.com and type in Weapons of Mass Destruction and then click the "I feel lucky" button. Read the error message carefully, it looks like the standard error page, but cracked me UP.

Here's the link in case you have troubles getting to it...
WPM funny stuff (Remember that it looks like a server error page, but read the details!!!!)

nothing nothing anywhere

So, life is just here. Not bad, not good, just here.

I did have a nice weekend, interesting at least. I learned I am NOT a cosmopolitan drinker. Nope. I don't think I'll drink anything pink for at least two years.

First, my daughter had TOO much fun doing the little junior cheerleader thing at SME. Mostly they stood out on the track and watched the cheerleaders jump around, but she did her share of jumping also. Joey was amazed at the up-close action of the football game and had fun too. I was flashing back to my old band-geek days of fun...

Went home, my cousin came over and I went to "stop by" the 2nd grade parent party to drop off my donation for the elementary auction. They organized these little snack & drink parties that were supposed to last from 7-9pm. Apparently the 2nd grade rich parents at the grade school were not so uptight...all the other parties were shut down at 9:30, I found myself sitting outside on a beer cooler chatting with 8 married men. I thought, this is NOT a good thing for me, (I was TOTALLY behaving myself) but still, NOT a good situation. I went back to being the good little woman and hung out back inside with the rest of the ladies a while before staggering off the block and a half home. 2 1/2 cosmos and I was barfing half the night and every time Sat. morning I even thought about a pink drink. I had more fun than I would have thought possible there, and sent off little thank-you notes to the hosts and bartenders.

Felt like CRAP Sat, but had free tickets to go to Worlds of Fun with the kids. Thanked the good God above that it was lightning and storming until about lunchtime, so I was able to walk 4 feet without barfing. We ended up having a great day there. Was too pooped to even shave my legs, so cancelled with Italian man, my cousin wanted to come over with his girlfriend in town so she could meet the kids, so I called Russell & Mark and we went out for dinner and then I laid on the couch with my favorite little doggie, Sasha and Russell and I watched about 3 Will & Grace episodes from his dvd collection.

Today I knitted through my 3rd ball of Berroca and the poncho is now 12" long. I left the pattern at work, so can't remember, but think it's supposed to be 19"-24" long with trim. It's starting to resemble a real poncho now, I'm so excited!

Spent some time checking out Lion Brand's new poncho and sweater patterns, and think I'm too damn poor to be a yarn snob, so for my next project, I'm heading to the craft store....maybe. I just can't resist the temptation of those damn LYSs....

Friday Friday Friday Friday

"I know the answer! The answer lies within the heart of all humanity! The answer is twelve? I think I'm in the wrong building."
--Charles Schultz

So, the little knitted poncho is still pretty dang little. I keep knitting and knitting and knitting and I swear it gets no bigger....It was chilly outside this am on the way to drop off kids for school and Beth asked, Mom, will my poncho be done before it snows and it gets too cold to wear? I'm going to get it DONE one way or another. I wonder if I could knit while I was going on the treadmill? I almost fell over last night just walking and taking a drink at the same time, so I think I'll put that one off for now. Of course, the old treadmill is set with the back a few inches from a cement basement wall covered in paneling, so if I slip, I'm smashed.

Headache headache headache, don't want to be here.... my daughter's getting ready for her first overnight camping GS trip in a couple of weeks. We've been practicing girl scout songs. Today the one repeating in my head is "Gee mom, I wanna go, but they won't let me go, gee mom, I wanna go HOME." Hmmmm, wonder why?

Oh Holy Hallelujah! Allegra's available next Thursday to help get this pile of matted, ugly funky hair under control!!!!!!! Woo Hoo! Can't wait! Went to the grocery store at lunch to buy bc pills (just in case some naked guy falls down in front of me or on top of me--yeah right, I actually take them so I have tiny little "Aunt Flo visits" as my aunt would say) and bought a clip to get this mane under control! I can wear a hat for a week, no problemo.

Scary Hair

ALLEGRA, Please come home and cut my hair!!!!!!!

Just looked in the mirror and SCARED the crap out of myself. My hair is having an amazingly BAD BAD day. Don't have a hat here, no clippies, or scrunchies, I'm just screwed. Maybe I can find one of my daughter's things in the car. I've got strange "every day is an adventure" hair. It's either absolutely fabulous (rarely), slightly strange (normally), or freaking nasty (TODAY). One of my favorite memories is the "day of the bad haircuts" back in Emporia. Jildo, Betsy and I got our hair cut at an upscale (expensive) salon. Jildo & Betsy's do's were very nice. Mine was crooked. So, very nicely, I went back and asked if she'd even up the front as one side near my face was about an inch longer than the other and it bugged the crap out of me. Apparently, I pissed the woman off, and ended up with much shorter, more crooked hair. I'm almost in tears, Jildo says "it'll be ok Tina, we'll fix it". We go to every other shop in town, only one can get me in that day and it is no longer crooked, just kind of crappy looking...I get to the point that I can't stand the feel of the hair on my head, it's so freaky. We take off for Topeka and hit the mall at about 45 minutes before closing time on a SATURDAY so I'd have to stand my new crappy do until TUESDAY as beauty salons close Sun & Mon. Needless to say, I came home with almost NO hair left. It was shorter than most of the guys I knew, but with bangs and a touch of attidude.....basically if I wasn't petite, I would have looked like my big butch lesbian friends. They gave me a hard time as well.

Apparently I have "difficult" hair as it's thick and grows in a wierd circular pattern and has a mind of its own. Then I also have a touch of an obsession with it (I know, hard to believe that anyone would write an essay on hair). SO after years of bad haircuts, I met this wild woman, Allegra. She is a flamboyant, beautiful black lady with long gorgeous hair and slightly scary fingernails. We met at a friend's bachelorette party. She came up to me and said, "oh honey, you are STUCK in the 80's, please let me help you." and gave me a $50 gift certificate for a hair cut or a massage or whatever at her day spa. I came in, she cut on my hair for an hour (I swear to God) and I walked out of there with this new energy & charisma. She teases me that my new hair would give me power like a super-hero. Now, years later, I can't go to anyone else. There is some serious good-kharma powers in what she does to my hair. BUT she's in CALIFORNIA doing hair-weaves on a bunch of rich baseball players' wives that fell under her spell here in KC.

I put in a desperation, "don't make me get my own scissors out" call to Allegra, so hopefully she'll come home soon and rescue me from my scary hair days....

Yup, I've really got to get a life if that's my biggest worry of the day.

"Success didn't spoil me; I've always been insufferable."
--Fran Lebowitz

I would make the BEST spoiled rich bitch! I can already do flamboyant, flakey, passionate, SHOP, and can be an absolute pain in the butt...all I need is the money honey...

Various strange things in my head today...the hateful one is in a real peach of a mood, which I normally wouldn't notice as she hates me even on her "good days", but WOW. I just smile sweetly and look her in the eyes with my dingy, flirt with the old guys look and you can just hear her teeth grinding across the room...I never said I wasn't petty, I get my little kicks where I can.

Had to call a purchasing manager in IL today and his name was Kenny McFarland, the same name of the first boy that kissed me! I totally forgot about poor little Kenny. He was skinny, could do wheelies on his bike and was just coooool. He gave me a little Valentine's day heart candy that said "kiss me" and then pushed me down on the playground. I got up, pushed him on his butt, he got up and kissed me, then rode his bike down the road.... smooth. That was about the extent of the great romance. This wasn't him. The guy sounded about 95 years old with a serious NY accent. Fun remembering though.

Jildo, thanks for calling today!! I loved hearing your friendly voice!!! I think it pissed off the hateful one even more as she was SO pleasant telling me who was on the phone... :) Get over it. Hang in there babe, check back soon, I'm going to try to put a tag board on the blog so everyone can chat back & forth and see comments and stuff.

I'm going to KNIT KNIT KNIT tonight and list list list more crap on eBay!!! Going to try to run my sad little 2 miles again, it's a good thing I'm stubborn.

My crap on eBay

I finally got going on eBay again...listing some of the shoes I have had sitting in my closet taking up space and laughing at me since I have no life and no where to wear them! Don't worry about the Treasure Goddess, she has enough shoes to last about 10 years still!

Here's what I've got so far...
my goodies on eBay

My Wild Aunt Dot, the Knitress

My wild Aunt Dot has a lot of personality, lives in CA, just retired from teaching and was a big-time negotiator with NEA and just has a lot of sass. I love her. She said people ask her what she's going to do now that she's retired and she tells them she's going to be a knitress. She's fallen in love with this passionate knitting world and now cranks out cute hats & scarves and is going to a WEEK of knitting lessons in MEXICO next week. Can you believe it? Three hours of knitting lessons in the morning and shopping and eating in the afternoons. Is that a dream or what???? Guess I have to get a CAREER before I can retire.

Dot's son Kevin is my cousin on the linked blog who is working over in Iraq and sending emails home of his adventures. Here's a picture of my aunt Mary, cousin Kevin, and wild Aunt Dot at a castle in England on Kevin's R&R break from Iraq:


here's Kevin's adventures in blog form with pic's of Iraq stuff:
http://kevininiraq.blogspot.com

Getting my attitude back

"I will dare to just do what I do. Be just what I am. And dance whenever I want to."
--Beverly Williams

HA HA She-Rah is back. I found myself drifting back into "meek Christine mode" and it scared me. No big, bad husband breaking my will, nope, I was letting life hold me down in limbo-mode. I made my little life plans last week and am actually working towards them. I think this running (ok jogging/walking) thing could be empowering as well. I can't control much in my life, but I can choose to be strong, happy and all that. OK, enough pro-woman crap, sorry, I could be the best soap-box, televangilist, cult-leader type when I really get going...can be scary. ANWAY, not letting myself get pushed around any longer. I'm going to be nice, ladylike and tough as shit.

Normally when I have a bad experience with someone, I'll continue the sake of niceties and be polite and end up encouraging people I'd rather get out of my life. I am now vowing to surround myself with positive people and get rid of the negative.

Went back to bowling last night. The one scratch league for women in KC has a strange mix of people. Tough, manly-girls, old ladies who can still knock your ego down with charm, ladies who can't get competitive in life so they are freaking NUTS on the lanes, and normal women too. Interesting mix. SO I had TWO creepy BAD blind dates show up last night as well, as they knew I used to bowl this league. UGH. #1 was a bald (not that there's anything wrong with that--I think Sean Connery and Captain Picard were both sexy but this guy ISN'T) creepy guy that was almost a freaking stalker after one date just "happened" to stop by the bowling alley. eewwww. I used to be polite and make small talk but decided, nope, not the tough strong one, not me. He made a slightly sexual comment and I told him, though we had such a lovely time (gag) on our date, I'm not interested in pursuing our friendship and would appreciate it if he would spend his efforts on some other lucky woman. He almost cried. One down.

THEN an attractive, successful gentleman that took me to dinner & drinks on the Plaza and entertained me with stories and a lovely evening until the kiss good-night stopped by to say hello to a friend bowling in the other end of the center. This guy was smooth, fun, attractive, wealthy and CREEPED me out with our goodnight kiss. Instead of a normal, sweet kiss, or even a passionate thing, it was this wierd start to a normal kiss, and he JAMS his tongue all hard and pointy into my mouth a few times really fast. I can't describe it other than to say it was this wierd desperation thing like BAM BAM BAM until I stepped back fast and said, "OK then", and got into my car and took off. Told him it was so nice to see him, but Jeez sorry, I'm involved. two down.

I'm no longer doing "favors" for people and going out with their friends who would be "perfect" for me. There's a REASON these guys have to have BLIND dates.

OK, I'm not squishing any more bugs. I walk into the kitchen here at work in the basement office and look down at the floor. There are 12 (I swear to GOD, I counted) roly polies crawling around. When I ran outside for a "sunshine" break, three crickets hopped out the door when I opened it. I'm afraid if I squish any more bugs down here they'll all gang up on me and barricade me in my office.

OK, I've got to get to bed, but it's the "yadda yadda yadda" Seinfeld episode...gotta watch. Gonna be grumpy at work in the morning.

Weekend's over...

Well, perfectly BEAUTIFUL weekend in KC. Nothing social, just hung around with the kids. It was kind of refreshing. While my daughter went to a cheerleading camp on Sat. afternoon, I sat & worked on her poncho. It's now almost 9" long. I have to admit those little balls of Berroco are lasting a lot longer than I imagined. I have so many projects I want to start, but am forcing myself to get this one DONE before branching out.

My new dilemma is we have 2 LYS's now, which is a Good Thing as Martha would say, but I always seem to have the wrong shop's stuff with me when I want to go in and sit & stitch. I am working on the poncho (yarn from Knit Wits) when I wanted to head into the Yarn Store (they have a great little kids corner where my munchkins can occupy themselves and have fun while I sit & stitch & chat. Then the yarn I think I want to use for the sexy tank for me is at the Yarn Store, but I KNOW I'll need a lot of help on it and the best help is at Knit Wits plus I work just a few minutes from there, so I can zip in over my lunch break when I'm stuck. How tacky is that?

I also was roaming around Michael's yesterday and picked up some Caron Jewel Box in Jade and it's this amazing mix of jade & taupe with a hint of gold thread mixed in as well. Thought I might try it for the tank top as it's cute and a LOT cheaper than what I've been looking at, but it just works up too thick to hit gauge, and I'm NOT going less than the recommended size 3 needles. I'll try to find something else to use it for.

Life crap--> Sticking to my decision to change my life and quit my bitchin...ok, I don't think it's possible for me to quit bitching, but I can work towards a goal at least.... I got financial aid applied for, almost have the resume up and running and jogged 2 miles today. OH, I decided I'm getting a new job, applying for grad school/teacher certification AND I'm going to run a marathon. OK, those of you who know me can stop laughing now...JILDO...I have not run more than 20 minutes on purpose for the last few years. I got all inspired by this article about a mom of 2 sick CF kids who was tired of being overweight, stressed and felt no control of her life, so she signed up for a triathalon. She trained around everything in her life, got a bunch of sponsors and made all this $$ for CF. NOW she's being flown to Hawaii for the iron man competition and the iron man she just competed in in SWITZERLAND donated a bunch to CF and the Hawaii event is listing the CF Foundation as their main charity. I'm not getting that crazy, but I'm going to run. It might take me a dang year to get there, but I'm thinking Chicago wouldn't be a bad city to run around...good shopping and good food there too. Plus, have you ever seen a chubby marathoner?

OK, the chic who can squish roly polies, crickets and even spiders is apparently scared of grasshoppers. I was cornered outside by this green thing that I swear to GOD was the size of the mutant grasshoppers you dissect in 7th grade Biology. It came down to an eye-to-eye thing with his legs quivering like he was going to jump on me any second and me using what I assume to be the same posture and facial expressions of the cowered wolves to the dominant Alpha wolf....almost didn't make it back inside. creepy.

More life crap

"If you have fun at your job, I think you're going to be more effective."
--Meg Whitman, President and CEO of eBay

HHmmmmm. What a concept. I remember a time long, long ago in a place far, far away where I worked in this small bank branch in NM and once we got rid of the one poisonous-attitude bitch we LOVED it. We won all the awards for the company with accuracy and top sales, customer retention and the works because we LIKED each other and SUPPORTED each other. Wierd, huh? Enough bitching, gotta piss or get off the pot.

Life plan update--> Dad wasn't being supportive, he wasn't listening to me. He is still supportive, but now his advice is to "milk that job for each and every little dollar they decide to give you and be thankful...get the degree...THEN worry about something else to do." Ah well.

New plan, update resume. Apply for the heck of it, keep on track to finish the last few credits by mid-October. Get financial aid applied for and apply for grad school or teacher certification, GET OUT by Xmas vacation.

Knitting update --> worked my little fingers till they almost didn't move last night. The poncho for my daughter is now about 7 inches long. I'm aiming for about 19", so I've got some serious knitting to do still as it gets bigger as it gets longer. I'm also realizing I need to get over the love I have for thin, pretty yarns and try to adapt to the big stuff as it goes FASTER.

Best part of the weekend coming up --> I've still got a $52 credit at Knit Wit in Olathe! Might just have to mosey over for a look-see.... YES I've still got 4 projects going at once, but I'm close to finishing the fluffy pink scarf, so if that gets done, I'm going shopping.

Making Plans

"Life is what happens while you are making other plans."
--John Lennon

I think my new life plan might actually work. I'm tired of watching the world go by while I'm in the basement limbo level of hell. I had to sign up to be a "treats only, not helper" on 2 of my daughter's brownie meetings last night. It would be 2 days that I would come in early to work and have to leave by 3pm (gasp) which would, of course, mean "preferential treatment" which is the new sin down here. I don't know why, but signing that form and checking the "not helper" box really solidified my decision to DO SOMETHING about my life.

I went home, put the kids to bed, and talked with Dad about my plan. He actually didn't do his classic "my daughter is a flake" sigh but did give his "get the degree first..." spiel. I said I'm almost done there and making progress. I should be all completed by mid-October. He suggested I talk with a few people about working part-time and see if I can get financial aid to do school full-time instead of doing the long program I was originally looking at. Mom gave one of her "I'll wait and see" looks but didn't roll her eyes or make any negative comments, so I took that as a good sign. Dad said if I'm really serious I should keep going on the plan and he'd help out where he could. MAN I got blessed with the best parents and they got cursed with this daughter who turned them prematurely gray!! But, I did pop out a few lovable munchkins, so that helps.

Felt so good that I sat down and knitted a storm on my daughter's poncho... It's now about 4 inches long but it went really fast. Hopefully she'll get to wear it when it starts getting chilly.

New life plan

"Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough."
--Mark Twain

New Life Plan:

#1 --> Find something else to do...Avila grad school for teacher certification?

#2 --> Get the HELL out of this dungeon.

#3--> Not smack the crap out of anyone before I climb out of this hell hole.

#4--> Become a shiny happy person again.

Going knitting today!

I'm making a run for Knit Wits in Olathe, KS for my EXACTLY 45 minute lunch today, going to have to CRUISE! I was just knitting my little heart out Friday night, making some serious progress on the easy tank I started, got about 6" done on the back side when I realized I'd purled about 8 stitches in the middle of the previous row when it should have been knitted. Of course, since so far my version of fixing mistakes is ripping the whole thing out and starting over, so I had to put it in the bag and am going to ask my little all-knowing-knitting-customer friend to show me how to do the thing where you slip in another smaller needle in the row below the mistake and rip to there. I tried, but felt like an idiot as I didn't know which parts of stitches to put in front and behind the needle. So, I'm gonna LEARN something today.

The Monday morning meeting with the owners was not quite sunshine and roses today. No one even said "don't worry". This is what seems to be the new philosophy around here:



I'm just going to hide quietly and do my stuff, knit my little heart out at lunch, and get the heck out at 5:01pm.

Long weekend's over

"Seize the moment! Remember all the women on the Titanic who waved off the dessert cart."
--Erma Bombeck

You know, that's probably what I would've been thinking on my way down. Yeah, there's that loss of life, sorrow and all that, but I'd be thinking DAMN I should've eaten that 2nd piece of chocolate cheesecake...

SO, great weekend!! JILDO came to town! Woo Hoo! Man, it's sad when you realize you're old enough that your memories are wilder than you are! We caught up, talked a lot, ATE a lot, went gambling, stayed up late, had a good time. YOU get back to KC soon! We have a lot of unfinished business to take care of...Missy B's drag queen show, back to the boats, eating, all the good stuff! I also realized that we must have killed a few too many brain cells in the old days as when we talked I realized I FORGOT a LOT of stories. I'm going to have to start a memory collection...another page full of bad examples for my daughter NOT to follow as she grows up.

Took the kids to the KC zoo and had the best day yesterday. No whining (even from mom), no fighting, beautiful weather, but the zoo really sucks. There's NO animals I swear. We'd walk for 10 min's then see one sleepy animal...walk 10 min's and another sleepy animal... But, we enjoyed the weather and adventure.

Did NOT want to go back to work. Walked down the stairs and was immediately sniffly and stuffy and crud. It's either my mind messing with my body or the layers of mold I believe is growing in the ceiling tiles and under the carpeting from our years of rain leaking down to the cellar...

Why can't I just smack her?

I'm getting a little tired of the crap from "the hateful one". I don't mind that people don't like me, but I get tired of being "above it" when someone has that much hate directed at me for NO good reason. Sure, she's a bitch...Sure, I'm cuter than her...Sure, she wanted my job...Sure, my kids don't get into screaming fits with me...Sure, the big bosses like me...I DO MY FREAKING JOB and am NICE to other people. Seeing as I'm not total white trash, I will restrain myself and be ABOVE it, but I'm tired of it. I'm going to get a candy bar. Dammit.

Oh, besides good manners, professionalism and all that, she'd kick my living ass if I smacked her, but it'd be fun for a minute or two...

OK, it's now almost time to go home and I'm feeling much better. Had a little sunshine, a little venting, realized the dungeon is a crazy place, can't let the crazies get to me. Yup, much more better....gonna have a glass of wine and some chocolate later tonight and kick back & relax.

Yarn Yarn Yarn!

"Nice guys finish last, but we get to sleep in."
--Evan Davis

SO, spent some time in the Yarn Store & More in OP. I know, I know, I wasn't pleased the last few times I went in there, but I made up for that with my checkbook...

I'll attach some pics this weekend, but I got some GOOD stuff! I'm all excited and now I have too many projects going on at once, but they're all fun and also only about 2" long.

Got some good stuff for the sexy tank, it's now about 1 1/2" long with tiny size 3 needle stitches. It might just be finished in time for NEXT year's Xmas fling, but I'm going to find a way to get it done before this year if it kills me.

Before I found the goodies for the sexy tank, I got a pretty green-ish brown heavy worsted with a touch of tweed for the Summer in the City tank and got about 2" done on the back.

While working on the Summer in the City tank gauge, saw this lady sit down with some Spangle pink variated fluffy stuff and got one skein and size 17 needles and while watching the KC Chiefs lose last night for about an hour got about 2 feet of it done. This will be a bday present for my daughter in Nov.

Started her poncho, which has LITTLE stitches and after working forever, it's now about 3" long. I brought it to work and got laughed at when I said, check out the poncho I'm making....and held up this little tiny thing... It was pretty sad.

Joey's still wanting "boy stuff" so I'm going to have to do some searching out there. I'm not ready for sleeves yet, plus the kid doesn't like sweaters. I've almost finished his camouflage scarf & mini scarves for his stuffed animals, and need to find something else. Everything's pink, fluffy, fun, and girly, so I'll try to find something.

Back to the dungeon that is my life here at work...gonna sit in the sunshine this afternoon and do a few rows of the poncho.

Jildo's coming to town!

"But old women are different from everybody else; they say what they think."
--Ursula LeGuin

Jildo's coming to town! Woo Hoo! I think we realized we were kindred souls from the first time we met (no we're not lesbians, but I LOVE her). We were both young women who said exactly what was on our minds at almost all times. That in itself is not a big deal, but we were in a sorority of about 60 women at the time. I was always in the "inappropriate behavior" discussions with the officers. I was not necessarily a "good influence" with our younger members. Jildo was much more obnoxious, but somehow knew just when to smile and look passive, something I still have not learned. Oh well, life goes on.

My best memories of wild times were with this chic. Padre Island, Panama City, every afternoon & evening heading out. Going "to the library" aka rolling our drunk butts down the middle of the main street in town home from the bars, sitting on the front steps soaking up sunshine and making the trek down for a diet coke from the convenience store...driving down the road with all the windows down and air conditioning on playing Violent Femmes, sitting up talking all night eating m&m's and popcorn and diet dr. pepper... HAIR SPRAY, Red Door perfume (which I still wear), fun times. Man that crap makes me feel old.

If I hear "don't worry" from one more owner, I might just start worrying about the stability of the company...except I'm secretly hoping to be laid off so I can get unemployment, knit, finish the 2 classes I'm in, get a job that actually pays enough money to be able to eat, take off some time and actually see my kids after 7:30 am or before 5:30pm. BUT, the big problem is if they actually close down, I'd be here till the bitter end as I'm the one that gets the invoices ready to send out to keep money coming in. I keep hearing "job security" "job security". Gotta get myself organized.