Knitty's Fall Surprise -- Breast Cancer Projects

The Knitty Fall Surprise is in. Click below to go to a special printable issue in pdf Adobe format with some new breast cancer awareness and other projects as well as a good cancer survivor story. They give good advice for fibers to use to make the finished projects as soft and comforting as possible as well as stylish and fun.

Knitty's Fall Surprise

After you click to download, make sure to give it some extra time. (Mine looked like blank pages for a few minutes before the entire thing was downloaded.)

Also, if you're a knitter, you NEED to check out Knitty's site. They publish a web newsletter full of GREAT articles, actually helpful tips and FABULOSO patterns FREE FREE FREE!

My weekend/my stash

Weekend update:

Rain Rain go away.... rain postponed the big outdoor Halloween festival to Sunday Afternoon, so the kids & I had a "basement campout." This consists of unfolding the couch, putting their indoor sleeping bags (blues clues & some princess or other) out with favorite animals all sitting along the edges of pillows. Lights go off, big camping flashlight/lantern goes on with an orange cloth over the top. Each little munchkin is given a bendy straw and a cup of mini marshmallows to stap with the straws (sticks) to roast over our campfire. We sing songs and sit on logs (upside down buckets) around the fire and finish the night by watching scooby doo movies while laying on sleeping bags. OK, so scooby doo videos don't go with outdoor camping, but THIS is my house baby. :) Got kiddos set, my cousin (supersitter) came over and mommacita went out to play some cards...

Went to Station Casino, and sat down at a rather quiet, mild table and was called over to Shaw's table (some nice asian guy who's become my little poker buddy and looks out for me and hardly ever takes my money) and we took over this table. He left early and I stayed until 2:30am and OWNED the table. It's a good thing I'm not in line to be a dictator, or I'd become the great ice-queen-bitch of the world. mwaa haa haaa...I was very polite, I took everyone's money with a smile, but it was amazing...everyone looked to me for the bets and raises and just assumed I'd win hands....POWER. I actually left with money (something I need to do more often) and ended up with $312 profit on the night even after paying for a full tank of gas.... woo hoo. When I grow up, I wanna play POKER...that one's probably not going over well with Grandpa Joe, so I'll go with the graduate degree, real job thing. LEARNED--> most poker players do NOT knit, so therefore, do NOT understand that a stash refers to YARN....when someone asked what I was going to do with all his money, I said "enhance my stash". I had to explain that I was not, in fact, a major drug dealer, just a yarn addict.

Sat. I admit I spent a few $$ on adding to the stash... I got more Noro yarns to make some felted party purses with a few modifications of my own for my sisters in laws and an aunt. Instead of doing the smart thing and going with boring yarn and making my own stripes of colors, I went for the GOOD stuff baby. So much for saving for my future and that of my children's. I didn't spend all the money, just a little more than I would have had I not cleaned up the night before.

Sat. night I realized I'm truly an OLD WOMAN now. I gave up free dinner, drinks, dancing and unbelievable sex with a young friend/flirty guy (10 yrs younger) one of those strange "fwp" (friends with priviledges) to hang out with Mark & Russell and eat & chat & look at pictures & catch up and go home early to knit....OMG where's the dance party chic??? Has she died??? she's still breathing, just buried deep. I actually didn't want to have to shave my legs and wanted to cuddle up on the couch with their little doggies on my lap and be mellow.

Sunday I organized my yarns into this old canvas sweater hanging shelves thing and realized I have entirely too much crap to have only been knitting for a few months. Also had too much fun and will take a pic as I'm very proud of my work. DORK I know it, but I love it.

LAST workplace update/bitch of the day (ok the last bitch I'll type anyway) is that we're all decorated for fall....I brought in an orange pumpkin full of mini Hersheys, and now the ladies bathroom (that we KNOW hasn't been cleaned in over 12 weeks) now is fall-colored as well. There is a lovely yellow/green stain on the floor all around the toilet...the old stains in the middle of the floor have now turned dark burgandy and when I couldn't take it any more and thought maybe I'd just lysol everything and at least use the toilet brush to swish it around, it had a FREAKING SPIDER WEB connecting it to the WALL. THEN I saw the brush itself, that used to be white, is now a mixture of dark orange shades. Forget driving along the east coast or to the ozark hills for the foliage, go visit the dungeon's LADIES ROOM. Someone PLEASE tell Miss Hateful to CLEAN THE DAMN PLACE! I'm going to have to start going to Mr. Goodcents to go potty in a public restroom vs the one here.

Back to Dungeonland

"I asked her why she never told us about the Ten Commandments & she said she wasn't ever that good with numbers so she loved everything as best she could & I remember thinking who needs all those rules anyway with a mother like her around."
--www.storypeople.com

My goal in life is to raise my children to be good and kind and fun and a bit irreverent and I just loved this storypeople story.

If you get a tight enough perm, she told me, it's almost as good as a face lift. But she had worked around a lot of toxic chemicals in the 60's, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt.
--www.storypeople.com

OK, I just liked that one!

SO, the dungeon goes on....

First of all, happy A, you look like a GODDESS! LOVING the hair!!!!!!! You are so dang stylish!

2ndly--the bosses can't understand why everyone's not all excited about dressing up on Friday and have low morale......this said 10 minutes after I heard staff talking about who was next to be fired.....hmmmmm can't figure this one out. My morale is actually at an all-time high...as now I just watch the chaos like I've got a front-row seat at a really bad reality show.

3rdly (is that really a word?) I actually brought up the fact that I'm a TAD BIT behind on my multiple duties and bossman just said, "really? you've got to get it done." I explained I could EITHER do this or that or that or that and he just smiled. I'm just an audience member who's now playing the part of the resident mental-patient here.

It's getting so crazy even my compadre's poker face flinched a little in disbelief and I about snorted with held-in laughter during a serious meeting. My stomach was making horrible noises due to holding in emotions...it's a dangerous thing. I was either going to cough, laugh out loud or get really gassy. I think there's now different levels of the dungeon similar to Dante's levels of hell in The Inferno. We've made it down to about level 5 and I'm hoping the end's in sight.

OK, this day is apparently NEVER going to end. 4 1/2 hours left.

Amanda and I went YARN SHOPPING today at lunch! She was laughing at me because I'm a total dork!!! It was like taking a pregnant mommy-to-be to find her first baby book.....OK, I AM a dork, but it was SO much fun....can't wait to spread this disease of knitting addiction!!!! She's taking a little class at the LYS, so once she gets the basic knit stitch shown the right way, I'll be there for any "oopsies" and to help her buy MORE MORE MORE yarn and get crazy like me. :)

Since I don't have ANYTHING going on in my life lately I decided to do this!


Yup, I'm going to write a novel in one month. I thought it sounded SO freaking cool. Content doesn't matter, the whole point is you get something written between Midnight Nov. 1st and Midnight Nov. 30th. There's a whole little project going that does this each Nov. and it's called NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month. It's a kick. Maybe that will help me get these LONG-ASS entries shortened up here on the ol' blog if I get to write 50,000 words in a month????

Friday Friday Friday woo hoo

Story People story for today:

This is a poison soup to kill all the bad witches, she said. How can you tell the difference? I asked. O, good witches are very polite & say no thank you. Bad witches just die.

I'm in a Halloweeney mood today...taking the kids to the Leawood Park's Halloween bash from 6:30-8pm. They get to go trick-or-treating and jump in giant bouncy pumpkin things and go on a hayride on a bunch of smelly wet hay in the dark and eat cotton candy until they feel like barfing. MAN it's good to be a kid. Trick-or-Treating and IT'S NOT EVEN HALLOWEEN YET!!!

Gotta admit, I used my new felted purse last night and it was still damp! I couldn't even wait...AND I could have sold a TON of them if I were better prepared!! My son's teacher conferences were set up with a bunch of moms selling their home-business/craft/jewelry/crap and I had all these moms saying "WHERE did you get the FABULOUS purse?" Maybe next year...Xmas presents, here we come!!! I feel like felting something RIGHT NOW!

only 6 more hours till freedom....big bosses keep adding more responsibility and "you're so smart why don't you just do this...because we can't afford to pay the cheapest company we found $12,000 for it, YOU can do it..." Yup, gotta love this job.
I'm now a webmaster, an entire billing department, an analyst, database administrator and an administrative assistant (doing 1/2 the job of one of the fired ones from last week)...YUP, I'm now about 6 people and I don't even have a split personality yet...AND I get paid ENTRY level bottom-dweller-wages...A teacher working 9 months out of the year with all major vacations off and SICK LEAVE gets paid the same amount I make working every freaking day of the year except Christmas day....A webmaster that can't even fix her blog's html...should be an adventure.........yeah right....

Understand why the new LIFE PLANS are being worked on frantically???

OK, I'm stealing again!

OK, this one's AMAZING...StoryPeople I'm stealing the idea from Stephanie and it makes you feel all warm & fuzzy & "yeah, that says it exactly" when you roam around and read these little phrases and 3-sentence stories...I LOVE IT! Here's my new fave--> reminds me of that time of close-exhaustion after both kids are in bed snuggled up with their stuffed animals and mommo here has dropped on the couch for a quiet time...

There are lives I can imagine without children but none of them have the same laughter & noise.

Cool, huh?

Welcome to our blogging world!

OK, I found some great blogs out there and this one's a chic from Tennessee WITHOUT ANY YARN STORES NEAR HER!!! Can you imagine??? Poor baby! I actually go in to pet the yarn when I'm too poor to buy any, but want inspiration! I'm adding her to my links but wanted to put in a note here for you guys to see also! She's trying the sexy tank I wanted to make also. IF IF IF we can ever find yarn that will actually WORK for the dang thing, we can start a knit-along (and if I can figure out how to do that also) to create all these sexy-mamacita tops and TAKE OVER THE WORLD...ok, just go out and look hot maybe. ANYWAY, welcome to my new friend Nyxxie!

Nyxxie's Blog

Feeling better able to deal with the world now, and only 35 more minutes down in the dungeon...Gotta go to Joey's teacher's conference and then when the kids go to bed, I'm going to KNIT KNIT KNIT and drink me a glass of wine and have some peace and quiet!

Bad hair, bad makeup, bad body

I'm feeling very fat and ugly today. Ick. bad hair, thought my extra make-up was in the car but IT WASN'T, wearing the "is she pregnant or is she just fat?" sweater because everything else required ironing or washing or was TOO FREAKING TIGHT....FYI--"she" hasn't had sex for over 6 months, so it must be fat fat fat...I'm guessing the Good Lord above isn't going to mistake me for a mother-madonna-type so no worries of immaculate conception here.

At least I've got a cute purse! I'm the Fat Felting Queen of the World!



I realized the other night while eating my (swear to God) dinner of chocolate frosted zingers and peanut m&m's with diet coke (dinner ala Quick Trip) that MAYBE I'd better get back to eating healthier & exercising again to get rid of the stupid 12 pounds I gained in a LOT shorter time than it took me to recently LOSE the same dang pounds. Gonna start a boring blog documenting my new diet & exercise plan--> THE PANERA EATING PLAN...basically, I'm going to try to eat foods that are still recognizable as food elements. breads, soups, meat, veggies, fruit and cut down on zingers, oreos, and the like. Last winter I lost a ton just eating Panera's chicken chili soup (and extra bread). I've got NO willpower, so maybe if this works it could catch on...I know I'm not a big person and I hate when skinny little people whine about being fat, it's not that, I'm just getting chubby and can't wear my DAMN clothes any more and am TIRED of it!

I HAVE FELTED....and I'm HOOKED

OMG I finally FINALLY sewed my little party-purse's handles and bottom and ends and all that and ran it through the old washer a few times and I FREAKING LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! Here's before & after. I'm also working on a better link to show my projects while "on the needle" and through completion, so be patient and it should hopefully get better!

before & after:


I can't wait to get started on the boogey bag or sophie or something else FELTED!!!

Also got my act together and finished another red/orange fluffy scarf and am starting 2 more like my first scarf, but in other color schemes for the xmas parties. Here's the first 2:


Got the "easy" NOTICE THE QUOTES "easy" tank front done up to the point where I get to start decreasing but the pattern has NO directions for exactly how to do that, so I'm thinking I'll head to Knit Wits and see if one of the customers can show me how to proceed so I don't end up frogging any more of this thing:


And, this is quite possibly the strangest mix of yarns I ever saw in a $50 ball. It knitted up a strange thin scarf that actually looks kind of cool with a simple scoop-neck black top wrapped around the neck about 2-3 times:


For those of you following the work drama, it's stranger than ever, but I can't quite elaborate here yet. Just know that most of the day I had this look on my face like a fish out of water with my eyeballs bulging out and my mouth gaping open (really quite attractive if I do say so myself).

Why am I having so much fun?

OK, I guess I woke up on the obnoxious side of the bed today, as I'm just having a ball in this strange little land that is our workplace. Boss impressions are bad bad bad. Don't do them if you still want a job. Gotta remember that.

I think we need to have a reality show here. OMG we've got the villans, the crazies, the personality clashes, the tiny bits of hope being stomped to pieces, we've got it ALL baby. I already feel like I'm on survivor...no civilization, normal rules no longer apply, it's every woman for herself....we've got all the "alliances" the network show has, but the people voted out from here don't get to go on the Good Morning America show, they get to go to the unemployment office...

I don't know, it's such a silly day. There's no reason, but I can't stop cracking up. It's like I'm 13 yrs old at a slumber party at 4am and someone could say "dog" and I'd laugh until I snorted. Maybe the almighty Panera-bread-bakers put a little extra some-some in my french baguettes today. I know they have to know me as that obnoxious woman who ALWAYS asks for the extra bread (hey, it's free, it's good, and I'm a piggie).

A, I feel for you sista, hang in there with all the funk...maybe this will help on your fun adventure this afternoon...Seriously, you are an amazing woman and I'm glad you've become a part of my life.


OK, my boss just came in and I think he called me a mushroom and laughed. I have a light burnt out above the desk (God forbid we spend money on an electrician--so we'll be "customizing" the wiring down here--how have we not burnt to a crisp yet?), so I'm going for a lounge effect with my sinatra & harry connick music and trying to not notice the 45 files of PAPER PAPER PAPER on my desk....if I stacked them up high enough, maybe no one would notice if I were still here?

I just stole 2 pens from the girl's desk who was so unceremoniously booted out of here last Friday. How much of a vulture does that make me? What is the appropriate mourning period before you can start scavenging for better office products from those voted off the island (ok dungeon)?

Midnight blogging

OK, it's midnight. I haven't knit a thing. I haven't gotten any homework done on my last class. I HAVE had too much fun reading reading reading all these blogs. Working on my blogroll, but it's pretty boring. I'm setting some new goals:

#1 --> Knit an actual sweater or tank top and WEAR it, being the ultimate sexy chic in knits (or at least feel that way)

#2 --> Get into grad school, get out of the dungeon

#3 --> Work on the blog format, get more attitude and less fluff

#4 --> Write an entry that doesn't take 15 minutes to read

#5 --> Battle the urge to eat EVERYTHING in this house

#6 --> Felt the damn party purse I knit, just have to sew the straps and wash wash wash it

Things I've learned in the Dungeon

SO, another week starts down here. This week I have no more "sick little boy" excuses, got to be here all week long. It's a good thing that Joey's feeling better, but I am still glad that if he had to get sick, it happened at the biggest stress-week we had lately so I got out of the line of fire for now.

Well, by observing the strange little environment down here I learned a thing or two...

#1--> If your bosses are suddenly concerned for you working too hard and find "help" and you get to train them to "ease your load" start looking for a job FAST. There's no such thing as free help in the dungeon, you're just training the poor chick getting stuck with your duties before they escort you out the door.

#2--> Don't bring more personal items down to the dungeon than you can comfortably carry in one trip. Watching a poor guy carrying about an apartment's worth of furniture, star wars dolls (or are they "action figures" once you're a grown man?) and other stuff up & down the stairs while we're all working is not a good thing. (I got pissy a couple of weeks ago and took every personal thing out of here so none of the bad kharma would touch my pictures of kids or other personal doo=hickey's I'd amassed down here so I'm good to go at a moment's notice).

#3--> The ones who wouldn't mind being laid off and get unemployment (I even volunteered) are the ones the dungeon-masters will hold onto until the bitter end. The ones who desperately need the job are those that are booted out the door.

#4--> Companies with less than 50 employess are not eligible for Family Medical Leave Act or any of the other government regulations that make sure employees are treated fairly and legally. It just doesn't matter.

#5--> It is JUST A JOB. It cannot define who you are. I do my job, I leave and go home. Once I reach sunlight again, I leave the crap behind me (or is it below me?) and get on with my life. It's just sad to see those who this place has broken...

A little bit o' politics

I stole this from Stephanie. You've GOT to go and see her post on the crazy soap lady a few days back. I almost wet myself laughing so hard...Click on her name & go back to Tues, Oct. 12 for the funniest story...

I went knit shopping oh oh oh oh oh

SO, first of all, Joey update...> The medicine I was stomping around the house about and all that seems to be actually working. YEAH! He still tires very easily, but ate a ton today, played a ton and was pretty much a regular, obnoxious boy again, which is always a good sign of health! He still isn't quite over his infections, but it's a step in the right direction.

LONG-ASS couple of weeks! SO, to reward myself (and it's payday on Monday also) I went shopping! I thought I would be smart and NOT go into the LYS to save my $$, and found a few deals elsewhere too!

First, a couple of weeks ago I bought 3 balls of Gedifra Costa Rica. I made a scarf out of this to donate to the school auction for my daughter. It looks strange, but works up as THE most softest scarf you've ever touched. It's going to be an Xmas present but I might have to make one for me too!


Went to Michael's craft store for some black plastic canvas (working on little candy-corn tiny baskets for Halloween parties) and found this Lion Brand Incredible ribbon yarn. I remembered a cute free pattern for a ribbon tank top, but they only had 2 balls of the City Lights color here, so I figured I could make a long thin accent scarf out of it....(I know, scarves, scarves, scarves, but I've got to make about a dozen before Xmas!)


Then I took a bunch of paperbacks to the Half Price Books store to sell, and made enough to get Beth, Joey and momma-cita each a book...but since momma-cita was the one with the $$, I got 2 books and the kiddo's each got one. Joey picked out a box of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles coloring books and Beth got a cool kit with a book & supplies for making friendship bracelets. I might just have to make some for myself! Here's my goodies:


Camp-out update...> We had SO much freaking fun at the Brownie/5th grade scout campout. I can't even begin other than to say that one of the other moms and I realized we not only went to daycamp at Timberlake, camped with our troops at Prairie Schooner (where we camped last night) but also went every summer to Oakledge at about the same time for our 2 week camps! ALL these memories came out as we talked and laughed and had a BLAST!

Best part of the night wasn't when the girls were learning songs around the campfire, hiking in the dark with flashlights, bonding with the moms, no no no. Best part was when one of the moms (my old gs pal) got up and threatened the girls that the next one to make a sound was going to sleep outside by herself in the dirt...and it worked! I know, that sounds so terrible now, but when you're tired & grumpy and they won't quit screaming/saying "shut up I want to go to sleep...she's touching me..." and on and on, and then there's complete silence, it's a good thing.

Between that and one of the poor moms is absolutely terrified of spiders....and out of ALL of the sleeping bags, the big hairy spooky tarrantula-looking wolf spider jumps down onto HER bag right before she climbed in...I didn't think we'd ever get her to sleep. Part-way through the night I turned over and my hair brushed against my arm and I jumped, saw a dark spot on my bag and yelled and smacked it, then realized oops, that was part of the bag, I don't think she slept the rest of the night. I told her "false alarm" I always yell in my sleep, but she wasn't buying it. I actually slept like a baby, toasty with my warm bag pulled up to my ears.

FYI, I don't think the 5th grade leaders will be inviting us along any time in the future. The two main leaders were like green versions of Hitler with boobs. They were not pleased that we were still packing everything up at 8am and the girls were just outdoors playing follow-the-leader and not performing organized skits and official girl scout songs. I swear these women were entirely too precise with their girls marching and singing in perfect little lines coming over the hill. I guess when we shrugged and said "so?" it was not the proper response. Ah well, we'll survive. Our 2nd grade little rich mommas were tougher than I gave them credit for and we had a blast even without Hitlerette 1 and 2 instructing us in the almighty Girl Scout Law.

The Bitch is Back, Baby!

SO, here's me! I'm back. Down in the dungeon, feeling sassy, rarin' to go. NOT looking forward to freezing my lilly-white BUTT off tonight with the brownie scout troop, but ah well. Those little 7yr olds will either decide the outdoors is entirely too cold and will never want to camp again, or they will be strong little ladies that can triumph over any obstacle....yeah, we'll probably never camp again.

Joey update, the kid's feeling better, not much in the way of ideas on treating the current infection other than a weaker antibiotic that may or may not work. We'll give it a try for 3 weeks then go in for more testing and see. He's back at his little pre-school today and was quite the king of the ball...imagine a child of mine loving attention.....how would that work? He's feeling better and that's what counts I guess.

OK--I missed a lot of the debate last night, but read the transcripts and heard all the tidbits in the am shows, but the world needs THESE political debates below...... make sure your voume is up and click away. I would suggest you NOT click the "share with friends" link as it opens up pop-up hell. Copy & paste from the webpage once you open the songs....Click the links for a little toe-tappin, political singin from those that would rule our country...

Political Bohemian Rhapsody

The Presidential Horror Show

Have I really not posted since last week?

WOW, well, lets see...my son's sinus surgery went well, but there were a few icky things that came of it. For newer readers, my son Joey (shown below with his uncle Mike) has cystic fibrosis (CF) and has been a very healthy little guy for his first 4 1/2 years. Basically, it's a genetic disease that affects his lungs & digestion as well as his sinuses. It pretty much sucks. We raise $$ each year in the big CF walk in May and I'll have a link to donate to "TEAM JOEY" added later to the site. In my links is the official CF site with more info. They are close at finding not quite a cure, but some good meds to help these people live normal, healthy lives long into their adult-hood.

Joey was a trooper and went under at Children's Mercy in KC (we are SO lucky to have them right here!) with the best ENT surgeon who is also a mom and has the best kid-side manner as well as being good at her stuff. He had more polyps and infection than they thought, and more tissue & gunk was removed than originally planned. He recovered fine, stayed one night and went home Sat. The people at work (I know I bitch about most of them, but this was pretty sweet) sent a big-ass cookie bouquet and he was all excited. I was proud of myself for not eating his cookies, as I've apparently dealt with the stress that is my life by EATING everything in site until I almost barf and knitting. (often at the same time)

The only prob is the stuff they removed cultured 3 infections. One is not a big deal, the 2nd one is a mildly bad thing that should also respond well to antibiotic treatment, but the 3rd is a bad sucker. Not the really bad cf one, but it's one level down from this thing that hits CF kids and does bad things to their lungs and is very antibiotic-resistant. The good surgeon was on vacation after the procedure, so I've gotten to deal with the one who talks down to mothers, thinks we have no business asking questions or, heaven forbid, questioning their prescribing a weaker antibiotic that my son has already built an immunity to and that since he's been on it since JUNE and we had to have the surgery to get rid of the infection as well as other stuff, MAYBE that wasn't the right plan??? (I was VERY diplomatic when discussing things, really). Let's just say I didn't have a very good time the last few nights while listening to my little guy struggle to breathe without coughing up a lung.

SO, I sat and cried a bit when I should have been sleeping, OK, salt has to be cleansing for the face and all those zits that are now here as my body's craving for chocolate has reached an all-time half-bag-of-oreos-at-a-sitting level has brought out!!! I started reading all the knitting blogs that I follow as well as a few friends' as well. I didn't feel like typing myself, but I had a good time, had a few chuckles and ended up going to bed without eating any candy. OK, there's none actually left in the house, but I wasn't craving it either. :)

SO, long story (do I tell any others, sorry!) ending here. My son's better, we're working with someone in his CF clinic and the GOOD surgeon tomorrow to find a good system of meds to get rid of the bad stuff before it gets to the scary level and he's already feeling better and running around like a regular obnoxious boy again (just can't breathe well or sleep good at night yet)! I'm all inspired and had FUN reading my little blog friends, catching up on what's happening and what great things people are making and I knit the crap out of the "easy tank" and a new scarf to boot. I'm ready to start shaping my first armhole and I'm too excited. I've really GOT to get a life! I'll add pics soon.

This may sound tacky, but if your son has to be sick with a cruddy thing, how great is it that it happens at the same time as the big bosses are in town and things are at an all-time stressful level in the dungeon??? bwaa haa haa....evil, I know, but MAN he couldn't have picked a better time. I really REALLY may have more time on my hands soon, but at least I got out of a lot of not-fun meetings and today my little half-day (while Joey went to work with Grandpa in the am) happened to be the day the not-so-happy-person didn't make it in to the office.....JACKPOT! Don't worry, Miss Hateful was in rare form and stomped around the door to my office and complained about things that were my fault just out of my direct area, but you know, I just smiled and smiled......OH, and the icky, nasty floors in the bathroom and kitchen still have the same stains PLUS more.....wonder if we'll benefit from any more emails from Miss H?

I swear I'm going to stop typing now, thanks for all the happy thoughts everyone sent!

My daughter's first over-night camp-out is this Thursday night and it's supposed to be in the 30's!!!! Of course I used to be little miss girl scout, princess of all the outdoors, but now I'm an old, cold lady who's going to freeze her BUTT off and pee in a frozen outhouse in the dark.....THEN get up and go to work in the cold dungeon...

MUST STOP TYPING................................

A few pics Completed poncho & more goodies

Here's the poncho modeled by my daughter, the lovely Elizabeth, 7 1/2 yrs old. I did NOT take the picture, so I take no blame in cutting off the top of her head here!


This is my son Joey with his uncle Mike (my baby bro). Joey about died that they were wearing similar shirts, too cute!


Elizabeth in cheer gear for her first venture in cheerleading:


And I swear, you always need a dose of big hair.....the glory days....when I could wear a mini and dance all night! BF Jildo in the pink and I'm in the blue & white stripes. We might come back home about 4am stinking, falling down drunk looking like heck, but by goodness, that hair was STILL big!

SCORE!! Free Gift Time!

"A change in the weather is enough to renew the world and ourselves."
--Marcel Proust

It's such a pretty fall day outside, slightly rainy and cool and would be SO great for laying on the couch under a quilt reading or knitting by the fire or doing just about anything other than working your life away in the dungeon with the crazies...

Things overheard this morning from fellow dungeon-mates...
"It's keeping me sane..." --from one of the craziest
"la la la la-la la la......" THE FREAKING LIMBO SONG being sung over & over by our chatty one...HOW does HappyChic stay so happy up there??? I'm afraid I'd result to slamming a printer on her head after the 3rd verse of limbo limbo la la's
"how many martini's did I have last night?" --on the phone from a cutie who apparently has a much more exciting life than I do
"but the gun wasn't loaded ALL the time" --not even going to explain that one

THE TRUE SCORE--> Any other Lancome shoppers out there need to get themselves to the Jones Store as the free gift is going on NOW. The bag is about butt ugly, but it's filled with the BEST stuff this time!! I went in on Sunday for the Elizabeth Arden free bag (a CUTE pink leather-look handbag with wrist bracelet-holder thing full of crappy makeup) and needed foundation. The little barbie doll behind the Lancome counter (but a nice doll--I HATE snotty little barbie doll girls) told me to take some samples of the foundation, pay for the full sized then, and I could pick it up starting Oct. 6th and then get the free gift. BUT she gave me the foundation as well as the samples. I didn't think anything of it, put it in the bag with the EA goodies and went home. Stopped by the Jones Store last night, picked up my bag o' necessaries and when I got in the car, realized whoever packed the bag gave me ANOTHER foundation! woo hoo! $38.71 of covering my 35 yr old 5-zit covered face for FREE! I know, I know a "GOOD" person would have gone in. BUT I'm not so good. hee hee hee. I do actually tell people about mistakes at banks (I was a teller too long and they make your life HELL for $.50 let alone $38.71) or somewhere that someone would get in trouble for the error, but I'm LOVING my extra goody today!!

Another Knitting Quiz & a school on fire

Is this a bad omen of the big bosses coming to town next week or what? My horoscope today talked about how I should believe my intuition when I think I may have worn out my welcome? I may have a whole lot more time on my hands soon. That wouldn't be entirely bad either.

So first of all, here's the quiz:

What kind of yarn are you?

The first time I took the quiz I turned out as Novelty Eyelash and the 2nd time I was Mohair. Kind of fun. I think the shallow part of the description fits, but as it says, I don't really care. :) I'm also warm & fuzzy with Mohair's descript, so maybe I'm a warm & fuzzy shallow bitch.


You are Novelty Eyelash. You are very of the moment, hip, and happening. You are often seen wrapped around someone's neck. Some see you as too flashy and ultimately shallow, but you are having too much fun to notice.

OK, does this picture creep anyone else out? I can understand the idea of it, as most people sleep better with someone to cuddle with, but Shit the Bed! I'd freak out if I woke up in the middle of the night with someone's hand next to my head. I guess they're all the rage in Asia. CREEPY.


I'm packing for my son's trip to the hospital (he's having his sinuses worked on and they're trying to patch up some of the spots that are giving him nosebleeds too) and I'm taking the easy tank and a new skinnier version of my friend Jildo's scarf along. I started it with only 15 stitches and it's just the plain old garter stitch, which works out so pretty & bumpy & funky on those Schaeffer yarns! I think I'll make it long long long & skinny so I can wrap it around my neck a few times. In the burgandy hand-died mix, should be cute! I also am packing micro-wave popcorn, granola bars & diet cokes for momma to munch on while the little guy is resting.

Joey's pre-school's roof caught fire yesterday. Yesterday was such a freaky day I don't want to go into too many details about work. Let's just say it was the kind of day that when I received the call that "there's no danger to the kids, but the school may or may not be on fire" it didn't even phase me. I thought "ok then, lets go". Turned out part of the roof caught fire, but workers on the new extension being built saw it and called it in before it caused too much damage or even set off the fire alarms in the school. The munchkins were all out on the playground until their folks could pick them up. The kids were having a blast watching all the firemen and trucks. I think I saw the hubby of one of the ladies that quit here for a better job, but all those damn men look alike with their big heavy coats & boots & muscles & short hair cuts, yummy! I waved at them all just to be safe. :) I am pretty sure I saw him as one of the fire-fighter-women I recognized from his dept. when she gave my daughter's preschool a tour of their station.

Quiz of the day

All right, that's pretty optimistic, but after seeing this one on a bunch of blogs, (sorry I can't credit where I saw them as I wasn't paying attention), I think we need some quizzes!!!

What Kind of Knitting Needles Are You?

I'm retro pink aluminum:
You are pink aluminum. Retro, straightforward and fun, you love classic things. If they're 99 cents at Goodwill all the better! You are moved by striking colors and tasty morsels, and you like a stitch-n-bitch session in the sun. Just remember, while you're being kitschy cool, don't get too cold. Ice cubes are best kept in your cocktails, baby!

Beautiful weekend!

OK, I'm all "shiny, happy people" feeling today. Back at work, no Miss H. :) It's made a huge difference in the general attitude of the entire place. It's amazing how infectious evil attitudes can be. By general consensus, work has gone back to "The Dungeon" as "The Underworld" sounds too much like a bad mythological story.

Did nothing, went nowhere this weekend AGAIN except for kid stuff, knitting and cleaning. Woo Hoo the life I live, man the excitement is barely containable. Actually, I really enjoyed the break, which is scary.

I knitted my heart out, started a thinner scarf out of the same Schaeffer yarn I made Jildo's scarf for myself, got 9" done on the easy tank (done in green heathery yarn) and couldn't bring myself to frog any of the sexy tank start. I just keep trying to convince myself it will work, but I think I'm going to have to face reality and start over. It is just such small stitches on thin needles and had so much time invested.

Watching tv Sat night as When Harry Met Sally came on. Damn Meg Ryan, last weekend I watched You've Got Mail and ended up all melancholy and weepy. I cried my damn eyes out at the end of this one too. I'm basically happy with my life until those DAMN movies come on. Why don't I meet an extremely wealthy, sensitive, sexy, funny man who looks like a movie star walking down the street?? Yeah right. I'd get tired of him in a couple of months anyway. Changed channels to HGTV, saw some organizational show, got motivated and redid my piles of crap in one closet and a dresser. Felt much better about the world. NO more Sat. night Meg Ryan movies. I was smart enough not to watch Cast Away the other night, I cried for hours after that one when I saw it. Heck, I cry at oreo commercials, so that's not that big of a deal.

My kids now officially have better social lives than I do. This weekend was birthday party central. MAN you can only take so much of being in those kid-heaven-parent-hell kind of places! Kaleidoscope at Crown Center was pretty cool, the kids had a blast and it wasn't too stressfull until we all walked across to the food court for bday cake...the kids just took off running and turned a corner and were GONE. Thank God my munchkins stopped at the end of the hall and didn't follow the rest of the little 5yr old psychos. Two of the moms didn't even look for their kids once we all got caught up and got the little monsters back going the right direction. I said, "um, I don't see your son..." and she was like "oh, he'll figure it out, we shop down here all the time." Another mom looked at me with the OMG expression, I took her son with my kids and she went and found the little guy, who was taking apart the train in the expensive train store (not the toy store) that you weren't supposed to touch. He was on a whole other level of the mall. Cripes. Good guardian angels or something.

Afternoon at Bump City, a LOUD hyped-up version of a gymnastic place with cool stuff and the kids had a blast. Sunday we went to Jeepers which I believe is Chuck-E-Cheese on Crack. They have the obnoxious loud games, tickets you have to carry around, stupid prizes your kids will sell your soul for AND indoor roller-coasters, bumper cars, train, and other rides as well as really really bad pizza. We survived pretty well on not too much out-of-pocket extra $$ and Joey & I each hit a ticket jackpot and we got 3 big ol' inflated toys, scooby doo, wolverine and a dolphin. We looked like we were stumbling home from the fair...lugging all this crap home. They had a blast, and I survived, so that's what matters.

The Underworld

I no longer spend 41 hours of my week in the dungeon. Nope, now I spend that eternity (I swear it feels like 82 hours) in the UNDERWORLD..............The Dungeon just didn't do it justice. That could be a dank, dark, smelly place. THIS is a dank, dark, smelly place that is also a strange little alternate universe and the crazies are fighting out who's in charge. I think it's Dante's 14th level of hell and the scary thing is we drive here of our own free will and climb the stairs down to our personal torture chamber, knowing that scary, strange things will happen and people will send emails about ladies behaving when we are on "our cycles." You know, it's bad enough we can't get our paychecks until the DAY AFTER we are supposed to. We get paid the day AFTER the 15th and the day AFTER the 1st. They couldn't even hand out the paychecks at the end of the day on the real payday. nope. SO at least we get them when we get in to the office at 8:15am. NOT TODAY. The controller is out fishing, and we're waiting for the boss-man to come and hand out our sad little reward for surviving another 2 weeks. What, do we have to beg for the little $$ we get now????? OK, I know I'm too pissy about little details, but this is getting ridiculous. It's the point of the matter. I'm going in in half an hour and suggesting that he give us our MONEY please. I hate it when boss-man give out the paychecks becuase he stands there until you say "thank you sir, may I have another" just like in a monty python movie or bad fraternity prank where you keep getting paddled on the ass with a big ol' board but can't stop asking for more or being polite or they beat the crap out of you.....AAARRRGGHH

I'm REALLY REALLY PISSY today (no, really). I think it's spending that half hour in Miss Hateful's chair yesterday. The evil kharma soaked through my jeans and infected my butt. Stay out of my way and don't piss me off. THEN she came in to make up the time she lost yesterday, so I got to start my day off right with her stomping into my office and sharing her special rude manner demanding some detail or other. I nicely explained her boss asked me to start on the work she left behind and she said "FINE" and stormed out, slamming her hand on my door with a BANG. Yup, just how a bride-to-be should be acting the day before her special day. Share the love. I wanna be home with my kids and my knitting and thinking happy thoughts.

I'm going to have to become a web comic artist. Of course, I can't draw, is that a problem? Seriously, I believe if I could illustrate some of the craziness it would help vent through my system. Maybe I'd better wait until I'm not financially dependent on surviving in the Underworld.

I just know I'm going to get myself fired. The big bosses are coming to town in a week, so I might have a LOT more time on my hands. I could do unemployment. Do you still get unemployment if you get fired for blogging???

Stranded Republican Video

Just one more political entry here...

Here's a link to a pretty cute video ad for the Stranded Republican. I got a kick out of it.

http://www.moveonpac.org/10weeks/?id=3910-3956209-znD4cLIZk.0dZs4lFCfo5g

Amanda and I had a little political discussion on Iraq, Korea, Africa and other such topics this am. Very cool, yet slightly odd since we normally discuss very important items such as shoes, shoes, shoes, men, clubs, friends and the like. See what watching a political debate can do to you??? I'm so excited for Amanda as it's her first presidential election! She was in Europe for the first election when she came of age so this is the big one!

And did anyone else notice that both wives were wearing the same freaking outfit???? I think their collars were different, but other than that they looked like little bobbsy-twins! Doesn't someone call to verify that???? Although Mrs. Bush's hair did look much better.

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.