I'm feeling very old and wise tonight

I have been doing too much thinking for my own good today. I realized I am a veritable wealth of information. It would be unfair of me not to share these amazing things I have learned through trial and error and error and error. Things in my head as I was driving down the road....

***Always make your bed in the morning. I used to HATE doing this as a child and teenager and almost never did as an adult until recently. It doesn't have to be good, no hospital corners needed, just pull the sheets up and cover it all up with a big ol' comforter. This little act not only starts my day off with having total control over one piece of my life, but it also is a nice organized place to return to at the end of the day.

***I am truly addicted to diet coke. I start my morning off with a cold one and have one right before I go to bed. I have too many during the day. I've given up trying to get rid of this, I just make myself drink water and shatto chocolate milk (now in 2% LOVE THAT) and figure there's worse things I could be doing to my body. There's only so many healthy things a body can stand. Pick yourself out a nice little addiction and enjoy the shXt out of it.

***Double pointed needles are not actually tools of the devil, as much as I used to believe they were. I was working so hard at trying to learn to use the 2 circular needles thing and the loop thing that it was worse than trying to get a handle on the damn pointy sticks. I just realized it wasn't worth the trouble. Working with them is a lot like first learning to knit, you feel like a small child with clumsy fingers and a short fuse. After knitting that first scarf, your tension shaped up a bit towards the end. The second or third scarf and you realize you CAN knit. You enjoy it. It looks like it's supposed to. The same thing happened to me with the TON of wrist warmers I cranked out before Xmas. After the 2nd pair, I was doing pretty damn good. I actually now PREFER using them over circ needles. I don't regret burning the damn SHORT first set of dpns I used to create the ugliest most deformed pair of sleeves for my tempting sweater. Just remember, if burning wooden needles, they don't just burst into flames. Have a little bit of lighter fluid available for a nice even burn (or half a bottle for a burst of flame that will demolish them to ashes). I learned not to give up and not to make things harder than they actually are. (why is the "fire fire fire" "heh heh heh" in beavis & butthead's voices echoing in my head?)

***I highly recommend using your children for any excuse you need. You had them for the right reasons I'm sure. You're good parents, you put up with more crap than people should have to. Literal crap as well as the figurative stuff. I have lived through great quantities of every form of disgusting goo that comes out of a child...you name it, I've washed it off me at some point or other. I realized the standard tax deduction just wasn't doing it for me, so I'm using them in other ways also. Children are very handy for those embarrasing moments in the grocery aisle where you accidentally let a stinky one float out...and then someone walks up and gives you the look. Pick up a child, wrinkle your nose and say "diaper change" and you're clear. Don't want to go to another home sales party hosted by your friend but don't want to offend? sick child, too much homework, soccer practice, you name it, you can get out of it. The excuses usually work with YOUNGER children, though I still try to push the envelope. (Miss Amanda, I was totally NOT using an excuse with your party the other night I swear! :)

***In order to jump on and ride the grocery cart through the parking lot to your car you need to have it FULL of groceries or have at least one child riding on the other end or you WILL flip it and land on your butt in front of people who will think you're an idiot. Also your child will roll her eyes and go "mo-ommmmm". That part was almost reward enough, but seriously, either lean WAY forward over the front part as you ride or make damn sure your kid doesn't hop off before you're ready. Another nice tip is make sure the firetruck full of men from down the street aren't in their truck pulling through the lot and enjoying the show. end of story. We're not as little as we used to be anymore, are we? That whole center of gravity thing really bites you in the ass.

Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the Dog

A fun site with lots and LOTS of info on the Chinese Zodiac signs. The link goes to Monkey (mine) and you can click on yours from there. I always love that stuff. Yahoo has a good chinese horoscope page too.

I finished the tubey sleeves shrug part and have no pictures. You'll just have to believe me that I love it and it FITS so far. I'm going to get picking up stitches later tonight to start on the body part. Cross your fingers that it fits. I keep measuring my gauge like a good little knitter and am quite pleased.

We went to Michael's craft store for the kids' yarn project. It was pretty pathetic. Maybe it was the one we went to, but jeez. My kids could make neater stuff on their own in the basement with limited supplies. Joey made a sad little pile of yarn with google eyes called "Bob" and Beth did stitch some yarn through holes poked unevenly with a pencil (aka looks pretty crappy, couldn't they have at least eye-balled it to come out good? or used a HOLE PUNCH I think they sell them there.) so there were little tears around the holes and pencil marks all over the edges. She stuck a sticker on and wrote "happy valentine's day" and they were both pleased, so I'm sure it's fine. I know I'm a bit anal (yes I know a bit more than a bit) but STILL....it was pretty sad. Joey said, "couldn't I make some hair or something so the yarn man looks more like a yarn man?" and she said, "I don't know how to do that and I don't think we're supposed to let you." Joey took the glue, snipped some yarn and stuck it on top of the thing's head. They weren't ready at noon like they were supposed to be, so we shopped and then sat and WAITED for 20 minutes because I'm an idiot. THEN the poor lady who was demonstrating the nifty knitter hoop things didn't understand how to do it. I showed her as it's just wrap and lift over, like finger knitting or any of those peg-type boards. My daugher Beth decided she has to have one. The child CAN KNIT with needles, but Must Have the Nifty Knitter MOM. So, she spent her own dang allowance on them. I think they're cute, and a neat idea, but holy moly it takes forever to do something on them. She wants to make a pillow and has completed about 12 rows of the 60+ it wil take. I tried to tell her she could make it with needles in an afternoon, but will take a month to use the little circle thing, but she's happy so I'm shutting up about it.

I'm really boring when no one's pissing me off. It's sad, really. I've had no rants, no raves, just blahhhhhhhh. I'm happy, just boring. Ah well. The week is early. I'm sure someone will get on my badside soon and then I'll have bettter stories.

Tubby's coming along nicely

OK, that tubey sweater (dubbed Tubby by Jeff) is FLYING off the needles now. It took for-freaking-ever to get through the first sleeve and now I'm already finishing up the color stripe area on the 2nd sleeve. woooooooooo I'm liking this sweater! So far everything fits perfectly, can't wait for the body part! Come and make it with us, it'd be a good first sweater as there's NO seaming! I love that! Tubey Knit-A-Long

I had 2 hours tonight to myself. Did I sit and study like a good girl? Did I work to get ahead on the piles of crap mounting in my little "virtual office" aka corner of my bedroom? Did I fold laundry? Did I knit? nope. I played on my blog! I accomplished nothing other than doing my flickr (don't you love it?) and finally updating the quote of the day (last update was in October, oops) and other little tidbits. I'm someday going to get this thing in shape! Priorities, don't you know?

OH I forgot to put in the dialog that went with the picture my loving daughter took this am. Beth: "dude...mom...dude...your hair....DDDUUUUUUUUUDE" Yes, we're at the "dude" and "whatever" phase already. Nice, huh?

I NEED SOME HELP.....It's time for the talk. T.H.E. T.A.L.K. with my 9 yr old daughter as she's asking questions and is getting curious. I remember reading on someone's blog about the best book to share with their girl and I can't remember who's blog or what book. Can anyone suggest something they used? I went to Borders and was overwhelmed by the massive amount of birds & bees books they stock. cripes. I just want to explain things in a simple basic way that in no way allows for my winging it. Things always get interesting when I wing it.

AND by the way, the hair is much less scary now as there's much less of it. Allegra went scissors happy and I couldn't have big hair now if I tried. It's cute, it's short, and I'm sure I'll love it in 4 or 5 days. Apparently Kevin Appier's ex-wife has the same cut but just shorter and we're both "adorable" and have expensive tastes, but she can AFFORD the shxt I'm only dreamin' of. (Kevin A is an ex-pitcher for the KC Royals back a few years). MAN I should'a divorced a richer man than I did. What was I thinking?

what bad hair? I'm sexy baby

My daughter wanted to record this moment for history, so I thought I'd share. I know it's wrong, but I always feel better about how I look when I see funky-looking people, so this is my gift to you. You're freaking beautiful when you stand next to me today!

I lived through my "moment" of the day

OH my holy hell, what a day. I started with the normal single momma mania....worked half an hour, drag kids from beds, get them dressed, fed, and moderately cleaned (one had brushed teeth, one just rubbed fingers over teeth on the way out the door, you know you all did it once in a while too, don't you?) and off to school, drove across town, shimmy shimmy shaked my butt all over the floor and did some SERIOUS sweating with Jazzercise (I am now a believer. I have more energy and more stamina and was able to run into and out of Joey's after kindergarten care all the way without getting out of breath the other day, so it must be working), cruised across town to home, worked and showered and worked again for about an hour, drove to JCCC for my first Trig math class (going through the teacher cert program at Avila, but need a butt-load more math to be a math teacher and it's cheaper at JCCC), mildly FREAKED OUT on the way driving back home to work YET AGAIN.

Let's just say when the teacher kept saying "I hope that wasn't too slow for you" IT FREAKING WASN'T. OH MY GOD I haven't done that crap since HIGH freaking SCHOOL and it was a LONG LONG time ago and I didn't care for Trig very much back then and it hasn't improved a whole heck of a lot from what I can tell. Did I tell you I missed the first day with Joey's checkup? cripes.

Phone call to my honey went something like this....."mother XXXXer mother XXXXer son of a xxxen mother XXXXer" repeat throughout conversation. I'll save you the drudgery of reading that over and over and me from having to type it, but let's just say I curse a BIT when I get stressed. Amidst the cursing, there was some "what the XXXX kind of math teacher do I think I'm gonna make when I can't even XXXXing get through a XXXXing basic Trig class without feeling like a total and complete XXXXing moron?" and "I am going to be working full time and classes full time and children full time and I've only got ONE class so far and I'm XXXXing out already?" and "what the XXXX was I thinking?" and lots of fun stuff like that. THEN a cop pulls out from behind a bridge overpass right behind me and I really let loose about how he'd better XXXXing not XXXXing pull me over and ....... Jeff calmly let me rant and rave and did the "mmm hmmmm" and "uhhh huh" and all the rest of that stuff. Then I say "I know I can do it, I just have to schedule and organize my time better." Then I realized that I lost my freaking ORGANIZER's paper. nice, huh? more stress. I think the entire call lasted all of 5 minutes, so I was doing my SUPER fast talking, so I'm sure he didn't get much anyway. (I could probably be an auctioneer with almost no training from what people tell me)

Jeff finishes by saying "but you knew it was going to be tough, didn't you?" I very nicely and politely refrain from telling him where to stick his remarks, and said "yes, thank you for pointing that out." I also very nicely and politely didn't call the man I love a freaking idiot or a motherXXXXer as I was thinking in my head. See how nice I can be? Then I say, "I know I can do it, I'm she-rah. I can do anything. I'll just schedule. writing it in the book that I can't find with the paper pack that I also can't find will work. It will. I will S.C.H.E.D.U.L.E. my time and everything will work out. I'm scheduling myself a big ol' glass of wine for tonight, but only after finishing work, running to pick up 2 kids from 2 different places and taking them to the dentist's office and then home for homework, baths, dinner and bed. THEN I'm scheduling me some KNITTING and some WINE. Jeff very smartly decided to "not bother you tonight honey" as I think he's scared of "freaking-out-militantly-organizing-Christine." who wouldn't be? I scare myself sometimes.

Now I'm sitting here with an entire half an hour before I need to be anywhere or do anything. I'm going to go sit down and knit and drink a diet coke. I've only had ONE today, so am in some serious need of caffeine. Thank God I'm not PMS-ing or I'd really be scary.

Thank you for sharing my moment and the joy that I survived. May you survive your damn stress moments too!

Added later at 10pm...
OK, so the boyfriend is actually still the sweetest boy in the world. He called to make sure I was not stressing and to tell me he's not sure what he can do to help, but he'll help in any way he can. He even went through his old text books from college saying he'd learn it with me and we'd do the homework together if I wanted to. I just thanked him for letting me curse at him for a few minutes today and now feel much better. Life's too short to be all stressy. PLUS I found my Franklin Planner AND the sheets to put in it (of course in different places) AND both kids' school pictures (that I lost way before Xmas)!!!! wooo hooooo! I told you I was she-rah, didn't I? We women can do anything! AND to boost my superwoman powers, I'm visiting Allegra tomorrow to see what she is going to do about my funky hair. Can I get another whooo hooo?

Not as much done as I would have liked, but oh well

SO we had a great weekend! How about you guys? I tell you, I've just got sunshine coming out of every pore of my body. I'm freaking obnoxiously cheerful. AND it's Monday. scary, huh? bwa ha ha haaaaaa.

Exercised again, or as Jeff calls it my "exorcism of the butt cheeks". sweet, huh? I'm telling you people, you need to come jazzercise with me.

What else? OH there's the Sunflower Knitting Guild that meets the 3rd Monday evening at 6:30pm and the 1st Monday morning at 9:30am of the month. I'm gonna try to get there next month on the Monday morning thing if I can. They meet at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection at 91st and Mission Rd in Prairie Village (not too far from the Panera, mmmmmmm). I've never been, but have heard good things.

OH, the sleeves are not quite where I wanted to be, but I'm loving the ONE sleeve and back that I've got. I'm having a bad hair day, hence the neck down shot. Click the lovely model below to see an upclose version of the cool pooling of the yarn I'm using in place of stripes. I can't wait to get started on the body to see what pattern it'll make there. The pics here are a bit dull, the contrast is actually brighter.

Spent the whole weekend with Jeff and my kids. We went to Joey's bb game, you've not lived until you attend a 6 yr old basketball game. The crowd echos with "DRIBBLE HONEY" and "THAT MEANS BOUNCE THE BALL" and "DON'T RUN WITH THE BALL IN YOUR HANDS" etc. My superstar can dribble, but isn't too hot on the whole shooting thing. It's a riot. He did make the only points of the team (2pts) last game passed the ball to his friend under the basket who made a shot. Friday night we only lost 4 to 14, so we're improving. There are two boys on the team, who, bless their little hearts, are scared to death of the ball. The one doesn't want to be there, but his dad is convinced he just needs more practice and more YELLING at him. oooooh yeah, that'll help. The other one is a crackup. He's all "I'm OPEN I'm OPEN throw me the ball!!!!" over and over and OVER until a kid actually passes to him, then he screams and runs away. They have fun, and that's what counts. Plus there is some serious entertainment value going on.

We went for an "adventure" at a Japanese steakhouse after the game with Jeff. The boy can put away a serious amount of sushi. Not the pretty sushi with rice and veggies all rolled up, nope. The colorful sticky or crunchy fish eggs and slabs of uncooked fish. I prefer my meat cooked, thank you very much. I did try one bite of some strange fish egg thing and it felt like a combo of slime and pop rocks. Beth ate a chicken breast and rice and Joey ate his standby snuck-in-by-mom peanut butter and chips. We had so much fun watching the knives and the fire fire FIRE and I ate until I almost rolled myself home.

My son's checkup was great!

SO, we had a great time at Children's Mercy yesterday! Joey went for xrays of his lungs, CLEAR AS A BELL, lung functions (strong), sinus check (not too bad), and all the rest of the stuff. He'd even gained a pound since November and he had been losing weight before, so that's wonderful! (kids with CF need twice the calories and fat as normal kids and he doesn't eat enough for a normal kid most of the time). OH OH OH and the blood work. MAN almighty. Every place you go in CMH you are treated like a king, they ALL love children and do everything in their power to make being in a hospital or clinic as good an experience as they can...until you go into "the room." THE ROOM is not fun to go into. It's the outpatient lab. It's staffed by techs, not nurses. I love techs, they are some of my favorite people at CMH, but it's more the environment there, so clinical and so different from the rest of the hospital. They may have started out as nice people before their job was sticking needles in screaming kids all damn day, but let's just say it's not my favorite place to go and I'm not even the one getting stuck. They're good, they're quick, but it's just not a nurturing envirornment. Last time we had to do "the room" I had an almost hysterical sobbing, snotting, choking boy and I don't know who was more traumatized by the ordeal, him or me.

Yesterday Joey asked the doctor if he had to do the "vials thing" (they do a twice a year bunch of blood work and fill about 7 vials, so the thing's in his arm a while). The dr said "yes" and Joey was trying so hard to be brave. No hysteria, but this sad, resigned quiet crying. He'd wipe his little eyes and just sob quietly in my arms no matter what we said. The nutritionist said "why don't you just get the cream?" I said, "what cream?" Apparently there's this CREAM that you put on their arms and it deadens it. Because Joey's in a study where they need additional blood work, we were able to have his insurance approve his blood getting taken in the clinic with a NICE NURSE and the MIRACLE CREAM. He got to watch tv, sit on my lap and didn't feel a damn thing. WHY THE FUXX aren't we using this stuff all the freaking time? Does it cost the insurance companies more money? I'm damn well asking for it in the future. It made the whole day sunshiney and happy.

Anyway, the kid's as healthy as a cf kid could be. Looking at his class playing on recess, you'd never pick out Joey as fighting a big ass disease. YEAH WOO HOO and all that.

PLUS they're signing him up for one of those children's wish foundations. I said, I was thinking of waiting until he's a teenager and can really appreciate it, but the social worker said often they do a family wish as a child and do the Disneyworld thing or something like that and later he can be eligible for hanging out with a sports star or a shopping spree when he's a teen. How cool is that? He's been thinking about our "family wish" ever since. Beth's involved too as I said it's for our "family" so it hopefully won't make her feel left out or him too much of a freak or something.

I'm off to work, just had a minute in the crazy day. My honey came and saw me for a cup of coffee after dropping his boys off at school and we sat & read the paper together and did a little kissing to start the day. mmmm mmmm good. I am so happy!

I even got some knitting done, and am almost ready to start the other sleeve on the tubey sweater. I'm hoping to have the top shrug part done this weekend and will post a pic. I think this one may actually fit me!

Teresa, hang in there on the evil fluffy yarn. Check out this site for any HOW THE FUXX do I do that again??? kind of questions. I used it the other night to remember how to do the M1 bar increase. It's my very favorite site. It has different pictures to click on for continental knitting (left hand holds yarn) or english knitting (right hand holds yarn--what most Americans do). It has videos to show how to do almost anything...including the best kitchener stitch instructions I've seen.

KnittingHelp.com

I am woman, hear me "wooooo!"

Yup, that's how we JAZZERCISE women talk. You see, now that I've completed a whole 4 classes, I'm a pro. I'm telling you people, it's almost empowering to start exercising again. I FINALLY got to another freaking class, and I had a BLAST. The teacher, Angela I believe, was very Tina-esque and worked my living ASS off. Well, not quite OFF but she worked it and those thighs. wow. There were a bunch of newbies in the class too, and part-way through she explained that the way you talk in Jazzercise was a big ol WOOOOOOO! I ate well today, rewarded myself with a square of ghiardelli's dark chocolate, and EVEN jog/walked a mile this evening. I'm freaking she-rah.

Tomorrow I take my son Joey to the CF (cystic fibrosis, a genetic lung & digestive disease) clinic at Children's Mercy for his big yearly work-up. They see him every three months, but only do the xrays and blood work once a year unless he's having a tough time of things. We don't do too well with the blood aspect. Wish me luck! He loves going through the rest as he's not what ANYONE would call shy, so has some fans among the nurses and doctors there. He's treated like a king, so it's actually hard to get him to go home. There was a pretty cool article about a hopeful cf therapy that is cheap too. If you're interested, it's here...surfers give clue to cheap CF treatment

I've been knitting along on my tubey sweater, and almost have a sleeve done. I'm so freaking excited, can't stand it!

OH and the books are right, when you have a stitch that needs fixing down a few rows, just knit or purl until you get directly above the bad stitch, drop the stitch and let it travel to one spot below the stitch, and use a crochet hook to work it back up. I always forget which side to do for knits & purls, so I turn the work so the knit side is facing me, insert the crochet hook from front to back and work it up that way. VERY cool. The pics I took didn't turn out very clearly as it's a light off-white fuzzy blanket.

I think I want to learn cables next. I always hear how easy they are and they sound pretty easy, so we'll see.

OH and I signed up on the artyarns website for their short rows & shaping tutorials. It's free and they send you these cool projects & instructions to your email and I'm enjoying this whole "learning" thing. The virgin is learning new things, look out world.

What else, oh since the get in shape and learn new things are going so well, wouldn't you think that "get organized" thing would be kicking along too? Well, it would be, but I lost the damn organizer calendar pack for my damn franklin planner book. nice.

another class another dollar or 189 dollars

You know, JCCC is really a heck of a deal. I'm taking another fun class (Trig) there and the three hours is only costing me $189. My freaking teacher certification program at Avila (starting next month) is costing me $389 an hour. cripes. I wish there were more classes I could take at Jucco. crap almighty. Good thing I'm going into a high paying career like education, huh? I may have to go work in the hood for a few years to get them to pay off my school loans.

ANYWAY, I did no learning yesterday. I am gonna try to test the book author's stuff and see if I can fix knits & purls down a few rows so simply as they say. We'll see. I've got a blanket I started with a pretty blocks of knitted and purled chenille yarn and have a few stitches wrong in the first couple of rows. I'm thinking it should work. I haven't dropped stitches in a long time, I'm getting all misty and think I need to make another clapotis! I do love my clappy.

I finally got some of the "stripes" started on my first sleeve of the tubey sweater. I think it should be interesting to see how it pools on the body part of the sweater. I'm hoping it turns out cool, I love working with variegated striping and pooling yarn, you never know what you're gonna get. Here's the first sleeve's detailing... Then there's a picture of Jeff's "manly" wrist warmers or as he calls them "fingerless gloves". I thought they turned out pretty damn nice. BUT he now thinks he wants fingers on his fingerless gloves. Only problem is that I'm using artyarns with size 6 needles and all the patterns I've seen call for sock yarn so I'm thinking of keeping these for myself as I LOVE them and making him those cigar fingerless gloves on Knitty a few issues back. Anybody made them yet?

No early Jazz today AGAIN dammit!!! I'm GOING to go at 1pm so help me. I've got to get shaking this bootie so it can get smaller. I've now eaten mostly healthy for three days in a row. I realized I've officially over-lapped myself. I'm a skinny little thing from the waist up, a size 6. My lower half is MORE than twice that size now. While being double down low can be cute when you're a size 2 or 4, it's not so hot when you keep moving up the scale. Combine the big thighs and butt cheeks with dry skin, and I'm a disaster waiting to happen. Seriously, on exercise days I put on baby oil after the shower and extra lotion so all that friction doesn't make me burst into flames.

How to get a horrible manicure...a tutorial

OK, so one of my big resolutions this year is to learn something every month and to share my knowledge with others. I learned to roll center pull balls of yarn last before the holidays, I am going to learn to correct knits that should've been purls and vice versa tomorrow. I've got a book and I'm gonna try it out. But tonight, dear people, I have learned a lesson that I'm thankful only cost me $18 and is not permanent.

Before I get started, let me state that this is NOT a complaint against Beauty Brands. I freaking love that store. I hardly use any of the stuff in there, but I must possess it anyway. I have actually spent more money there on hair and nail products and lotion in the last couple of years than I have saved for my children's college funds. I should'a bought some serious stock in that damn store, because I still cannot go in and leave with my hands empty.

How to get a crappy manicure and still tip because you're an idiot.

Step 1...While taking your daughter to Beauty Brands for a celebratory manicure (woo-hoo one week without biting nails...or at least biting them so minimally that there was actual signs of white at the end of the stubby short nails), decide, hey, I could use a $15 manicure, sure.

Step 2...Not listen to your gut instincts when the only woman in the store over 21 yrs old is a new nail tech with a bad attitude and no clients and happens to be the only one not busy. Think, nah, I'm sure there's a reason she's 45 and working for minimum wage with a bunch of kids at night.

Step 3...Explain that I'd like a french manicure but NOT the white maincure with PINK polish as it makes me look dead. She pulls out a lighter shade of WHITE but it's still freaking WHITE. Say, "no, my friend had hers done with light off-white tips and a warm natural color and that's what I want." When she pulls out ANOTHER freaking bottle of WHITE say "No, really, I think it looks tacky when the ends are vibrant white on anyone over 21 and I just don't want to go there." Can you guess it already? Can you believe I actually drive on the streets and am raising my own children? cripes. She pulls out another WHITER bottle of white and I glance down at the inch long claws she's sporting with the whitest white LONG tips you've ever seen. ssmmmmmoooooooootthhhhh one Christine. Let's just say I didn't quite pull out of that one and didn't have the guts to say no. (ok, if I just offended you too for wearing white tips, it's not you, it's me. I just don't like them on ME after I got old & bitchy. Other women can wear it fine, I meant to say ON ME it's tacky after 21.)

Step 4...Don't even try to talk her out of the pale bubble gum pink color she picks out for the topper when she explains that's what she wears. I'm a redhead (ok my hair USED to be red) and I've got the pale PALE complexion of a redhead that does NOT work with pink. Yup. I've got nails of a dead woman. Not just a fresh dead, still in the embalmer's room dead, nope, one that's been dead a while. Like on csi found in the woods kind of dead nails. OH and there's little hairs and fuzz in one of my gloppy dead thumb nail paint. nice.

Step 5...After chatting and admiring the beautiful job the 19 yr old nail tech did on my daughter's nails, my lady with the white claws decides to paint on some cuticle oil on my thumb. I said, "um, that doesn't look like cuticle oil." She said "oh, it's just packaging, isn't it cute how it looks like nail polish?" It looks like polish because it was. I have irridescent white painted all around the cuticles and even under the tips of my right thumb and up and down the sides of my left one.

Step 6...tip the biotch. I can't decide if she was dumb as a post and just horrible at her job or if she is diabolical and figured out the perfect way to get back at the rude chic who called her tacky.

Step 7...put buying some damn fingernail polish remover on the shopping list for tomorrow. This wouldn't be a big deal to most women, but
A) I'm a total drama queen (hard to believe, huh?) and
B) I only get manicures about 2 times a year as I'm always using my hands and the polish chips off, so when I get my nails done, it's a special thing for me.


On a nicer note, I did GREAT at the Studio's big 25% off sale! I spent UNDER 50 dollars. Let me say that again, it took almost everything I had to put down the handfull of koigu I wanted to get to make that cool scarf in Last Minute Knitted Gifts and walk away from the wall of felting wool. Walk. Away. From. The. Wall. Just put the yarn down and back away slowly... Anyway, my tired grumpy kids were freaking angels and we ALL THREE got free water bottles with the Studio logo on them. I got more charcoal yarn for the tubey sweater just in case. They seem to have had a rash of purchases of my favorite superwash wool in the world, so I was getting nervous. I also got some sock yarn and a magazine and a book! I ended up saving $16 and just had a lovely time.

a quick note

Good morning! I've already worked, solved two problems and knocked everyone off our server, so it's time for me to take a break while the powers that be fix whatever I screwed up. SO it's off to the Studio for their 25% off everything in stock sale! woo hoo! I have to behave myself AND I have two grumpy children along, so it should be a joy. But, I'm gonna get me some new yarn, so it's all good.

I'm now to the point where in about 4 more rows, I get to do COLOR on my tubey! I've got this tremendous SLEEVE start with the shrug back so it looks like this deformed sleeve for a monster and had everyone at Jeff's folks' house concerned for my knitting ability, but I'm excited. I'm still checking gauge, so this sweater better damn well fit me as I'm wearing it ANYWAY when I'm done one way or another. I can either look like a knitting goddess showcasing a masterpiece of her knitting ability or a slug with stripes. I'm hoping for the goddess scenario.

Somehow I pissed off Jeff's sister last night without meaning to. Oh well. details later. Maybe not as I'd hate it to get back to her that I think she's a titch high maintenance. I'm actually a titch high maintenance too, but her titch is bigger than mine.

Gotta run, off to pet the yarn!

OH and I can't start my week off on Tues with early Jazzercise as I've got a conference call at 9am. cripes. I'm gonna try to sneak over later in the afternoon as I'm SERIOUS this time. SERIOUS.

How much do I love this man???

OH MY GOD I wish I had a picture of how ugly this thing was when I dumped it into Jeff's garage to see if it was savable this last summer. It was PINK and I don't mean a pretty pink, I mean a moldy version of barfed up pepto bismal pink. Globby paint and cracked wood, totally broken top, part of the back missing, but made of cedar. Jeff said he was "fixing it up" but I had no idea it was this amazing. I wish I took a better picture. He refinished it, sanded it, repaired it and TOTALLY built a new top out of boards for it. He put on the original (refinished) copper strips and even lightly sanded the inside so the cedar smell is strong enough to scare the bravest moth away from my yarn. Ignore the picture of the inside, it's now filled with yarn yarn yarn!

Jeff came over to the house to take care of me last night. He walked the dog, fed me, had the kids playing quietly so I could nap on the couch and then after I put the kids to bed, he rubbed my back until I fell asleep. AND he brought in the most beautiful HAND REBUILT cedar chest for my yarn. HOW could I not love this man?

PLUS I went to a real doctor and got real, made in the USA medicine. My head and lungs are now so clear it's almost freaky. I am on day 2 of the heavy duty Zpac antibiotics and have this wonderful yummy black cherry flavored CODEINE laced cough syrup, so I'm happily fuzzy and hardly coughing at all.

I thought I'd better get Jeff's fingerless gloves (men don't wear wrist warmers) done for him so I worked on that today instead of my tubey sweater. I'm to the point where I get to join and do the sleeves for the shrug part and am entirely too excited about that. I'm forcing myself to be patient and get Jeff's set done first. I hope to have sleeves done by Monday. OH, I got such a kick last night from Jeff asking why a bunch of women were all knitting a sweater called "tubby". I laughed so hard I almost wet myself. I also had doubled the dose for the codeine syrup, so was pretty much laughing at everything last night.

So much for my big exercise start of January. I'm hoping to be back on schedule and Jazzing starting Tuesday morning as kids are out of school this Friday for some teacher day and Monday for MLK day. I thought Joey's kindergarten teacher got it right as he came home talking about "Mr. King" as this "nice man who taught other people to be nice to each other no matter what." I think the world would be a much better place if we could do what Mr. King taught.

STILL can't stop coughing

OK, so maybe the penicillin pills from MEXICO weren't the best choice here. I'm getting pretty damn sick of coughing coughing coughing. I basically barely made it through a meeting tonight by holding my breath and trying not to barf from holding in the coughs. I think I may have even grunted at one point. I know I did one explosive sneeze/cough/snort thing that made people actually pull their chairs back away from the table. I told everyone "don't worry I've been on antibiotics for a few days now" and left out the part that they were in a $25 bottle of 500 pills or something like that. nice. I'm going to a REAL doctor tomorrow. dammit.

SO I was sitting here working at home like a good girl. cough cough cough. I thought, hey, wouldn't some home-made chicken noodle soup be good? I decided to do the soup the way I like it best, from Panera. Got in a car, drove myself through the freezing rain/snow/sleet to Panera to find NO chicken soup on the soup board for today. ALSO no chicken chili. No chicken ANYTHING. I was so pissy I decided I needed yarn. I went to the Studio for some SWEET Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted to use for the stripes on my Tubey sweater. I couldn't decide on different colors to stripe, so I thought I'd try something unusual. I'm using the mixed berries colors, which has blue, red, and different shades in it in the striped part of the pattern and we'll see how it pools and hopefully it'll turn out worth wearing.

It didn't help my cough as well as chicken soup would have, but it sure helped my attitude. OH OH OH and guess what I got also????? This would have been a Christmas present to & from Christine, but with it being January 10th, that doesn't actually work, so it's a STOP COUGHING present for me from me.... check it out baby. I spent $38 on it and LOVE LOVE LOVE it and my crap's already in here and it's a JOY to knit out of.



I'd better get better soon or this is going to cost me a fortune. Knitting out babies, I've got the charcoal shrug part almost to the point of joining to start the sleeves. That 22" is some of the longest crap I've ever knit. I did learn something, though. That idea of slipping the first stitch of each row purlwise makes a LOVELY side edge. I'm doing that on everything from now on.

Teresa, hang in there babe. Anything fuzzy or furry makes me curse loudly. I usually prescribe wine for knitting with hairy things. It doesn't make it any easier, actually you make more mistakes but with the hair/furr/fuzz who can tell? AND it makes it a LOT more fun!

Tubey-to-be

SO, I'm official now. I'm KAL-ing on the Tubey Knit-a-Long, come & join us. You know you wanna. I AM GOING TO KNIT THIS SWEATER AND I WILL WEAR IT SO HELP ME KNITTING GODDESS!!!! I've had what some would call "issues" with knitting sweaters so far. I'm made the move from beginning scarf knitter to experienced felted purse knitter. If you can felt it, I can make it. I have even started learning lace. I am a beginning sock knitter, but for some reason, I can NOT make a sweater that will fit on my body and not make me look like a freak of nature. I have not really wanted to all that badly, but now I MUST KNIT A SWEATER. It is consuming me. I have been dreaming of knitting sweaters and socks. Not thinking of them lovingly kind of dreaming, actual snoring at night DREAMING of knitting sweaters and socks. Looking back, the first attempts weren't all that surprising, close enough gauge really isn't. Yarn substitution on the Tempting made what should have been a lovely lightweight fresh wool blend sweater into a cotton nightmare that weighed more than I did.

ANYWAY, here's my start, isn't it lovely? Don't you just wanna pet it? I'm using my very favorite superwash wool in the WORLD, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Charcoal and don't know what colors I'm making the stripes yet. Click the pick to see the pretty shading of dark greys. It's lovely. Actually, it's loverly. This is the yarn I was cranking out the wrist warmers in, it has such a pretty hand-pained look that gives some interest to the yarn. I've measured my gauge all over the damn thing and am feeling pretty confident. I'm using sz 7s and that's my start from last night on the center of the shrug part.

SO, I'm still feeling like dog crap here in kc. Cough cough cough moan moan moan, repeat. The good part of being sick is you don't feel like eating, so it's always a good weight loss tool. Unless you're an idiot like me. I went and stopped by Jeff's house yesterday morning to pick up some stuff. I sat down and opened up his box of chocolates he had on the coffee table. I thought, "wow, that doesn't even smell good to me" and closed the box, eating none. Chocolate ALWAYS sounds good to me, I will quite possibly be eating on my deathbed. I was so amazed at that fact all day I kept picking up cookies, chocolate candies and the like and smelling them thinking "wow, how is this happening? I really don't want to eat it." Sounds great, huh? Just before dinner, either because I'm mentally challenged or because of the Mexican antibiotics I'm taking (don't ask I was an idiot instead of getting NORMAL drugs I listened to my man) I picked up a chocolate chip and m&m cookie and it still didn't seem that appetizing. I thought "what happens if I eat a bite? Will it still not appeal to me?" What the FUXX was I thinking? Of COURSE it tasted good. Chocolate is one of my main food groups, with beer and ketchup. I scarfed FOUR of them and was craving chocolate all damn night, ending with eating TWO packages of Little Debbie nutty bars before bed. stupid stupid stupid. If, in the future, chocolate ever does not appeal to me, DON'T PICK IT UP STUPID.

Is it any wonder my diet attempts don't work? cripes.

I truly amaze myself, really I do

SO, baby blanket DONE by 11pm the night before the baptism of my nephew Charlie. It turned out pretty, click the strange (I was tired when I took the shot) angled shot below for a close-up of the pretty stitch. This was a pattern from Jeff's grandma who is one of those crocheters who don't work from patterns. You know, like you cooks who can just KNOW what to put in. I am a religious pattern follower. It makes me sweat to try to "wing it". I also use my cookbook to make meatloaf. I'm just not that brave yet. I can wing it on felted purses, but that's it so far. Probably why I was good at cross stitching and needlepoint makes me sweat. I don't like sweating.

ANYWAY, I'll put down the "pattern" that I came up with from combining J's Gma's tips and two other patterns I found online into the fastest baby blanket in the midwest. I'm just too pooped to do it now. This would be so pretty in one of those variegated baby yarns, but was pretty though boring in straight white.

No Jazzercise today as I've got strep throat. ick ick ick. I hate that crap. I've been washing the shXt out of my hands lately so I wouldn't pass on my sore throat and now I'm on drugs. ick

I went to Michaels and used up a $50 gift cert I got from my little bro for Xmas. I got a butt-load (8 skeins) of Lion Brand Chenille thick & quick to make aNOTHER afghan I saw in a library book. I don't know what is up with the afghan-itis. It's like I can't stop myself. I also was thinking of checking out the wool-ease or simply soft carron to see about a cheaper version of the tubey sweater from knitty, but don't like enough of their colors. I'm thinking I'll probably try the superwash cascade 200. I don't know. I'm going to the Studio sometime this week to do a look-see.

OH and apparently it's time for a hair cut again. My 9 yr old daughter got home from Xmas with her dad. We were sitting on the couch watching MASH and she said, "mom, that guy has your same haircut." "seriously, mom." It was Alan Alda in one of the serious 70's wavy do days. Oh lord. I went to the mirror and saw Alan Alda looking back at me. I had the serious side part, the big wavey loopy thing on top and the not-quite-bangs slinking across the forehead. It was quite frightening. I'm calling Allegra later today. Beth is wanting "something new" for her do too, so we may do a mother/daughter day of beauty.

Just call me Shaky Legs McGee

OK. I did it. dammit. One and a half Jazzercise classes this morning. 8 freaking 20 am. I even "whoo-hooed" twice. twice. I then went to work (though I'm AT WORK more now that it's "virtual" and am supposed to be at home than when I was SUPPOSED to be at work and WAS at home, cripes). I carried 14 trips of heavy trashcans full of paper up the stairs to the dumpster. I ate 2 bananas and drank a bottle of water. I'm so flippin healthy this morning I might just keel over dead.

I'm getting a bit stressed as the shop I visited yesterday had NO baby blankets. cripes! I'm sure I could've crocheted the thing by now, but did I mention I'm a bit lazy? L.A.Z.Y. SO I've got one more option and you all better be crossing your fingers for me that there's a white baby blanket there or I'm gonna be up hookin' it all night long. Baby Charlie's baptism is Sunday and he may or may not be wrapped in a lovely white softness. Why do I volunteer these things? Hey, that was 2005. The 2006 resolution chicadee is the NO NO NO woman.

3pm later that day...WELL CRAPPPPPPPOLA, the little craft mall I remembered has been replaced. Back when the Walmart Neighborhood market came to town, apparently they were bumped out. damn damn damn. I'm off to crochet crochet crochet. OH and the whole healthy eating thing went out the window. I got a big foot long chilli cheese coney at Sonic complete with tator tots and diet coke. mmmmmm mmmmmmm good. I left a few tots in the bag, so I wasn't a total pig and I put enough ketchup on there to qualify for a full servings of veggies. That meal in itself wasn't so bad, but the kicker is to get that taste out of your mouth it takes chocolate. A sugar free breath mint isn't gonna do it. You know how wine tasters use a saltine cracker and a swish of water to cleanse the palette? I use chocolate. After something salty, you need chocolate. After something sour? chocolate. Sweet? chocolate. Alcoholic? lots of chocolate. Anyone wonder why I now need to lose 35 pounds? hmmmm. I can't do the life without chocolate. It's just not going to happen. I tried before Christmas and think the severe shock to my body is what put me in the migraine state. There's worse things to be addicted to, at least this one makes my breath smell yummy.

Happy weekend everyone, I'll be crocheting crocheting crocheting. I even just joined the knit along for knitty's tubey too! I was SO in the mood to start on that! Maybe I'll just go swatch some yarn and see if that helps my startitis to chill a bit. Anyone else making this around here? I'm not sure what yarn to use yet. I may have to spend my gift cert from my sp on some wool of the andes, but I think it'd be too itchy. I just can't decide. I heard a few girls were using cascade superwash, so maybe, we'll see. depends on what colors they have and if I can get gauge. Me, getting gauge? hah!

Aunt Christine

OH MY GOD I LOVE BEING AN AUNT. Is this not the cutest boy in the world? I know I shouldn't say that being the mother of another cutest boy in the world, but please! Look at the child! Guess what I'm doing today??? babysitting!!! and a little bit of working. I worked long hours yesterday and will tonight so I can concentrate on the job at hand, gurgling, gooing and laughing and snuggling and changing poopy diapers. Oh baby, I loved that stage with my kids where they COULDN'T MOVE. They just laid there in your arms adoring you and gurgling. mmmmm. new baby smell. mmmmm.

OH and the cedar chest was also being restored to be a yarn holder. Silly boy Jeff thought I'd be able to put ALL my yarn in there. Then he saw the dresser was FULL and I've got a small shelf full of bags of more yarn. I tried to tell him I'm not nearly as bad as the rest of my yarn buddies, really, I'm just barely on the stash-o-meter. He told me just because the rest of my "junkie" friends were jumping off a cliff, did I have to also? YUP I sure as heck do. Plus, how soft would the landing be? hah! I think he's resolved to ignore the yarn addiction.

Back to being "Aunt Chris" AND then this afternoon Dad's coming home from work to take over and then I get to go see Jildo! We're going to meet in Topeka, can't wait! What a day, started with a kiss on the cheek from my boy Joey, snuggling with him, dropping him at school, snuggling with baby Charlie, a little knitting while he naps, and then off to see my best friend in the world. It doesn't get any better than this!

Silly boy

So, it's finally happened. I thought my man was a bit off in that he was ENCOURAGING me to visit knitting shops. The few times we've gone out of town with our kids, he's always looked into seeing if a yarn shop is close by. Anyone remember that hideously ugly, no I mean FUGLY, hot pink globby painted BROKEN cedar chest I got for FREE at a garage sale and then dumped in Jeff's garage this summer? I thought it could be fixed up for a storage thing or just chop up and use the cedar bits as moth repellants. The boy has gone and refinished it, building a new top and lock and it's freaking GORGEOUS. He's still got some work to do and I will put some pics on here once it's done. A-Freaking-Mazing work. It's like a showpiece now and I can just see it at the foot of our bed (if WE ever end up with OUR bed instead of this dating and living in two places bs). ANYWAY he also was thinking (as he was working sanding on the new lid with gloves and then taking them off and then putting them back, etc that MAYBE those silly little wrist warmers I've been making every living moment are suddenly a good idea. He asked if I'd make him a pair. But he wanted ACRYLIC as he'll be "rough" on them. I said I'd LOVE to make you some, I've even got a man's version of the ones I've been working on but if I'm knitting them, they're gonna be wool. They can be superwash, but NO FREAKING acrylic. I'm sitting there thinking how wonderful this man is that understands my addiction. He understands me. He understands the woman knitter. Then when he asks what I am doing with my extra Christmas $$ from the parents and a couple of aunts, I say "buying yarn." like "duh". He said, "but you already have a dresser full of yarn." "Why would you want MORE yarn when you have yarn already?" silly boy. I tried to explain the idea of "stash" to him, he was getting into his "teach his frugal ideas to this silly overspending woman" mode, so I distracted him quickly by saying "you know, I could knit nekkid if I had the right yarn" and suddenly he thought buying more yarn was a great idea. Boys. Link it to sex and you can get just about whatever you want.

I forgot to post yesterday that one of my son's best friends' moms from their preschool (and one of my dear friends now) is now KNITTING as well! She decided she wanted to learn, went to the Studio and learned. Then she bought some yarn & circ needles and is knitting a MOBIUS scarf. Not the kind where you knit forever and then stitch it together with a twist. Nope, the real freaking I CAN'T EVEN DO THE CAST-ON FOR THE STINKING THING Mobius scarf. We met for the boys to play at a McD's playland so I could "help" her. OH YEAH RIGHT. I couldn't hardly tell what was going on. I said, did the ladies there suggest this as your first knit? She said, oh, no, I insisted and they were groaning. My faith is restored in their staff. I was a bit concerned there for a while. The chick went back to the Studio about 4 times in 4 days (and lives at least an hour south of there in Raymore, MO) and learned to purl, to to yarn overs, to cast on, bind off and to un-knit stitch by stitch. It was freaking amazing. I thought I was a bit of a quick learner and she put me to shame! LOVE THAT!

My two knitting pupils are now a little knitting group! We went over to one of their houses, brought the kids, turned them loose with video games, a dog and trampoline (with the net around it) and knitted and chatted for about 3 hours. It was WONDERFUL! We're going to expand our little three-some to other mommas at the local elementary school and do a regular little group girl-time thing. :)

Knit knit knit and I've been going over and over on my KnitPicks catalog my sp sent me as I have her $30 gift cert to spend and it's burning a hole in my knitting bag! So much yarn....wow....I'm getting some shine for a sweater and think I must have sock yarn. No, I've not actually completed 2 matching socks yet, and yes, I have at least enough sock yarn to outfit my entire family in socks, but they're pretty...and if you get the little 2 balls of each color set it comes in its own box. IN ITS OWN BOX...that's like getting the "free" gift at the make-up counter at Dillard's if you ONLY spend a few dollars more.... Somebody slap me. I'm going to make myself knit a pair of socks FIRST then order a few balls....and maybe then get the box.

I'm still using yarn my sp sent me a few months ago, I tell you, it's getting fun digging through the yarn that I have....THANKS again sp!

Jazzy notes...NOT going to make it there until my children are back in freaking school. Who's flippin idea was it for them not to go back until THURSDAY of this week? OH MY GOD I barely survived. Don't get me wrong. I love my kids, but trying to work from home with a 6 year old in my hair is not working. I'm counting down to the drop off tomorrow morning. He's still young enough to love school, so that's great. Beth is due back this Sat, so will miss the first 2 days back at school. Her dad wasn't able to schedule the trip back in time, so I'm being flexible and nice. Yes, I can be nice, but No, I don't really enjoy it. It doesn't agree with me. Being nice makes me eat too many double stuffed oreos. OH YEAH, jazzercise, my big plan is to drop chitlins off at school at 5 min's till 8am and then fly across town to try to make the 8:20am workout m-f or as often as I can. Anyone wanna bet an oreo on how long that lasts?

I'm so proud....

OH BABY, ALL of the people I've taught to knit have now completed and given gifts of their hand-knitted goods. Can you believe it???? Another resolution is to spread this little addiction of mine to all who come near... Yeah for everyone!! I'm going to try to get pics from my students and will post. Miss Amanda finished her first scarf that she started back over a year ago. Then, in a burst of creativity, finished a wool & FUN FUR combo in DARK BLUE yarn in a mere matter of DAYS!!!!! AND she said "hey, I'm almost out of yarn, I'll have to go shopping." YES YES YES!! woo hoo! The two ladies I taught back from the lessons I donated to the school auction have both finished their first scarves, one has finished two scarves and part of a BLANKET! My daughter gave away one of her first purses to her step sister and was so proud! We all need another WOO HOO for that!

SO, remember that little "oh, I'd LOVE to crochet a baby blanket for baby Charlie for his baptism!" crap I was spouting before Christmas? WELL, the baptism is in less than a week and said blanket is only about 8 inches long. Aunt Christine must have been smoking some serious acrylic yarn ends or something when she volunteered that at Christmastime. Yes, we could just spiral wrap the little dickens in it, but that probably isn't going to cut it and preserve my "crafter of the family" "jr. Martha" title here. Nope. And, since I'm no longer stressing over things, I'm not going to crochet until I'm crippled, sleepless and crazy. Nope. I've got an idea. I'm gonna find me an old lady and get a baby blanket and give it to the proud parents. I won't SAY I made it, I'll just smile knowingly and if anyone infers it, fine by me. Now, I've just got to find a baby blanket toting old lady. There used to be a craft mall near 87th & Metcalf, that's my first stop tomorrow. If not, I'll probably end up not sleeping and crocheting, so wish me luck. Anyone know of an old lady in the kc area who'd like to make some $$ for a white baby blanket, let me know!

Yes, that's probably quite evil, but I'm already on that handbasket ride to heck, so this shouldn't speed up the trip too badly. I don't kick dogs or anything, and it's been a long time since I've toyed with the affections of a rich old man, so I figure I'm ok for now.

My goal is to jazzercise tomorrow morning. You know, the first time I met most of those ladies was out drinking and dancing at a live 70's band club. I thought they were crazy from the alcohol. Nope. You chicks are crazy just all on your own. Add alcohol and then you just have MORE freaking energy. I'm still in the back row, but my goal is to get this butt o' mine moving and learning the moves enough to slowly work my way up towards the middle. I'm not even aiming at front row stuff yet, if you girls are that perky that early in the am, it's not gonna happen for a long damn time. wish me luck on this one too.

OH, here's the pic of the ornaments Jeff carved for my folks. I think they're beautiful! Click the little one if you wanna see a bigger image.

2006, the year of the light up frog

OH MY GOD, I laughed when mom opened this gift from my brother Mike. She was always finding these ugly cement frogs for Mike's garden and yard at his old house. No one really knows why. Mom doesn't collect frogs, Mike's never mentioned a frog, it just happened. Needless to say, the frogs (rain gauge frog, etc) all stayed at the old house when he and his wife moved. SO my mom and I share a taste for things sensationally tacky. Impressively tacky, not the regular wearing butterfly ankle bracelets under pantyhose tacky, but the big stuff. Mom freaking LOVED this lighted up Xmas frog. It's going with them to put out by the R.V. at the family reunion this summer. Best gift of the family Christmas no holds barred.

Anyone got some good new year's resolutions I can copy? Here's mine...
#1 Get my damn blog updated with the blogs I read, current pics, and change the damn quote of the DAY more than once a month.

#2 Be more selfish. (who couldn't keep this one?) It includes saying NO more often, taking time for my kids and myself to do nothing, spending more time with the honeyboy and exercising (I FINALLY joined Jazzercise and HOLY MOMMA that's a workout) and eating right and all the usual BS that gets abandoned by Jan. 31st.

#3 Be more patient. Since I'm not patient in the LEAST, this should be achievable.

#4 QUIT FREAKING OUT over things before they're even problems. Learn to just LIVE and LET LIVE and not worry. This one may take large amounts of wine or beer to happen, and I'm willing to make that sacrifice.

That's all I got.

OH OH OH OH OH OH OH I've got lovahboy news!!!! The boy and I have had some "issues" lately off and on for the last few months and I think he was having some serious comittment issues but he thought I was the one with the problems. I wasn't ASKING for any comittment, but he's not one to just care for someone deeply without a lot of other crap getting all tangled in. Once I realized it wasn't me, it was him, (Don't we women ALWAYS think It's not you, it's me?) I felt better and figured I'd wait him out and see what happened. WELL, instead of always being there, I decided I'd live my life and fit him in when he wanted to be there and not stress. He realized he missed me and asked to spend more time together. I said sure. We did, and realized we don't drive each other crazy too much, and it's a good thing. WELL, at midnight last night or close to it anyway, he took my face in his hands, kissed me, and told me the big three words! I LOVE YOU. He's not one to say that lightly, we've now been together about 8 months. I was so touched I almost cried. AAAWWWWWWWWWW I must say it was one of the best new year's eve's I've had.

Gotta run, my chiefies are on tv and I've gotta be there for the boys. Don't know if we'll have a coach after the game or not, but for now I'm just a fan watching the game.