Actual knitting content

Well, since I still haven't figured out which box of crap my camera is in, I'm stuck scanning portions of my knitting. I've got about 2 inches past the join on the somewhat cowl, am LOVING this sweater. I'm going to put it onto waste yarn and try it on and hope it fits. It looks good enough when I hold it up to myself. Time will tell.

Here's a scan of the COOLEST fun shawl I'm making for my best friend Jill. I'm using KOIGU and loving the heck out of it. I'm using the pattern for the foulard with case pattern from the Morehouse Farm Merino Knits (my new VERY favorite book)and OH MY GOD it's the coolest thing. I'm making one for me too!


Ok, now for the color. Story provided by my dear friend Russell. Russell went home to his little town in Arkansas last weekend and was talking with his little nephew who goes to preschool. I think the kid's about 4. He got in trouble at school by saying "I'm gonna snap a knot in your butt" to this little boy that was bugging him. (said with a BIG ASS ARKANSAS twang) this is what his grandpa said whenever the boy needed a pop on the butt. He, understandably, got in trouble for saying "butt." So what did he say the next time the kid was bugging him? "I'm gonna kick your ass!" OMG I laughed and laughed. He said "teacher said I couldn't say butt so I didn't." HAH!

PS-->a few more finger crossings please, Jeff's out in NJ interviewing with the big boys for this company that may hire him. He'll get to still live in KC (whew) but will travel about 30-50% of the time. Just think of the frequent flyer miles....Hawaii anyone?

what a weekend!

WOW, let's see, where to start...

Friday, Joey learned to ride his bike without training wheels. I'd given up entirely as every time I try to get him going along with me hunched over holding on the back and panting he is all crying and scared to death. I've never let either of my children fall, but they are sure they're going to DIE a horrible death if I let go of the back of their damn bikes. I take Elizabeth out to pick up some KFC for dinner, come home and see this kid riding down the middle of the street and realize it's MY KID going to town. Jeff's walking along beside him, I swear you'd never know the kid just learned. He's on that bike every moment he gets now. YEAH! Beth suffered one of those "got to get out of something" headache/tummy ache things that night, so I told her she'd get on her bike Sat. one way or another. Repeat of the sobbing "poor me" child and then she just got going and said "Mom, this is no big deal." cripes. Now they're both riding all over the playground near Jeff's house, but sidewalks and turning left are still not in their bike repetoire. Soon.

Sat & Sun Jeff built the frame for a screened-in porch part of the back porch. It's amazing and I am going to LOVE it! We have a very pretty yard and I just love the idea of sitting out there with NO BUGS eating me! We basically rode the bikes forever, then went to my cousin's daughter's 2 yr bday party. We celebrated 3 birthdays there that day as other family came in. My favorite part of the party was when the little girl's grandma picked her up to see her cake. She leaned in close like she wanted to see it and then stuck out her tongue and LICKED the cake with a sly smile. LOVE that child! HAH! Kids all had a BLAST blowing bubbles and running around in the backyard while I sat in the sun and chatted and knitted.

Mothers Day dawned without be being awakened to see it! WOO HOO! My kids let me sleep in till 8:30 and it about killed them. They brought in handmade cards and some cool clay stuff made at school. Lots of snuggles to start the day.

We had another cousin's baby's baptism at 1pm. Church was at noon, but I was lazy, so we snuck in at 1 in time for the ceremony. We see a fire truck and ambulance with lights flashing right in front of the church. The kids asked what was going on and I said, "oh some old guy probably got sick and needed help". It was MY uncle. Had a heart attack during the service. He was actually having one at the beginning of the sermon but didn't want to get up until the sermon was over. He got the LONG WINDED priest, so it took forever. My uncle was very lucky that there was a doctor sitting right in front of him and a bunch of dr's and nurses there to help out, got him some nitris and aspirin and to the hospital. He's doing much better and they're going to run some tests to check things out. I think it was a miracle as he's a farmer from western Kansas and has been out planting corn in the fields all by himself far from his house for the last couple of weeks. Unreal.

Went to the library later that day with the kids and I found some GREAT knitting books and the kids got books. We probably spent an hour in there, having a good ol' time. Go to the counter to check out, I don't have my damn wallet. NO id. No problem, but the kids were so excited to take their books home then, I pulled out my sweater in progress, makeup bag and that's all I had. She said do you have ANYTHING with your name on it? I opened up the pocket and there's the good ol' BIRTH CONTROL. With my name on it. She laughed and said, that ought to prove you're you. Checking out books with birth control. Only in America.

Gotta Love those Mason-Dixon women!

Guess what??? My daughter Beth & I made the Mason-Dixon blog on their recount of the visit of the knitting chics to KC! (gotta scroll down a ways)OH I'm so glad they got taken to Jack Stack BBQ. mmmmmm. I must be feeling better as I'm hoongry now. towering onYON rings...mmmmmm. burnt ends. mmmmm. Still keeping the skinny by trying not to eat more than I have to, but damn it's hard. Beth was SO SO SO excited to see herself on their blog!

PLUS they've now got an official Mason-Dixon Knitalong going! Well, sign my ass up. I've not been this addicted to a group of patterns since a few issues back on Knitty. Heck, I'm even all excited about making DISHCLOTHS for the love of all that is yarny.

OK, I just couldn't stand it, I've got to put their pic up here too for my own record. I am LOVING this knitting with mom & daughter thing. Thanks again Kay & Ann!

Thanks for the finger crossings!

Well, we're one step closer to Jeff landing what we hope is a great job with the big-ass chemical company!! woo HOO baby! He had a great interview here yesterday and was just called and told to book a flight to New Jersey for the next step of interviewing! He's going next week, so MORE finger crossing then please! I may even cross a few stitches just for good measure.

Only a moment to type, so here's a few tidbits...

Survived a tour of KC with 48 3rd graders in the FREEZING ASS COLD today (is it really May or did we get hit with a freak November day?) in a BUS from 8:15am to 2:00pm with only about 5 quick little breaks outside. GOD BLESS our little overanxious and overachieving parents of our public school that really want to pretend we're a private ritzy school. The pta sprung for a VERY ritzy tour bus. We passed green and greener and barfing children bailing off their normal yellow school busses all day and just smiled. Gotta love southern johnson county, HOyeah. I'm thinking the cold was actually a GOOD thing as the kids were too damn frozen to go flying off like crazy children. I enjoyed the trip, learned a few things and am tired out. Beth walked along holding my had for part of the trip, I got teary eyed thinking this is probably about it on that now that she's almost a 4th grader.

Stomach is finally handling normal food. Guess there's a particularly violent thing going through the school and some are seeing a mutant rotovirus thing, so my one and a half day of hell wasn't so bad from what else I'm hearing about. ick ick ick. I did lose a mighty 12 lbs in 2 days from total dehydration and let's just call it "toxifying the system". Of course, I put on about 4 lbs immediately, but am loving the way my jeans look, so am trying to delay the return of the other weight by eating much less chocolate and processed foods. How long will this last? I'm not holding my breath.

GOT a TON of knitting done on the bus today, LOVING my sweater-to-be, still hitting gauge, am actually impressing the heck out of myself. STILL can't find the damn camera, narrowing it down to about 4 or 8 boxes. maybe this weekend.

Getting ready for the mother of all garage sales at my folk's house next weekend. Can't WAIT! Gotta unload some serious crap.

I'm alive

I'm eating bananas and drinking gatorade. I can't find my damn camera during this move, so I'm going to have to scan part of my somewhat cowl to show progress. I'm really enjoying this knitting project, can't wait to see what it turns out like!

Jeff's just left for his big interview, it was rescheduled from last week to today. CROSS YOUR FINGERS for him please! I know she's interviewing all over as she flew into KC from Little Rock from another interview. He looked SO FINE in his new suit and power tie. mmmmmm boy.

The man took very good care of me while I was sick, I think that's a WONDERFUL sign of times to come.

Tomorrow I'm going on the tour of KC field trip with the third grade. I sure didn't do this one right, as it's ALL DAMN DAY on a bus with 55 9 year olds. WOOOOOOOO hoo that should be fun. :) Ah well, life's short, party all night.

My daughter's limerick was published in her little class thingy. I got a kick out of it.

There once was a cat named Bread
Who wouldn't go to bed.
Along came a sheep
who said "go to sleep"
but he went to a party instead.

That's my girl!

payback's a bitch

You know what bad karma is? I truly do. It's when you call in sick on a Friday afternoon when you're mildly under the weather but really should be working. What happens to you on Monday morning when you really NEED to get your work done? Lordy Lordy I got stuff coming out of me in quantities you would not believe. Let's avoid the whole tmi thing here and just say BOTH ends of me. nice.

How do you know when you are a psycho-knitter? Is it when you have your tv project, your thinking project, your car project (waiting in the car), your DRIVING in the car project? No, no, no. That's not psycho-knitting. Psycho-knitting is when you're spending so much damn time sitting on a toilet that you think, hmmmmm, this could be some prime knitting time. At least I have the decency to not knit a gift in there, just something for me. I truly hope that I won't think of my somewhat-cowl as the stinking sweater or, even worse, the shixxing sweater. nice, huh? I can't be held responsible for when I'm suffering major dehydration.

I got my damn flu shot. Is this the bird flu striking Kansas City? cripes almighty. I'm thinking it could be a nice little case of food poisoning. I don't really feel bad, no chills and no fever, just barf-o-rama with the bonus stuff. We're so far past any slight food substance, now it's like a freak show. I've tried meds to stop this stuff, but they came up too. Another bonus beyond uninterrupted knitting time (seriously, no matter how much my kids want to bug me, they're NOT coming in there when mom's moaning and groaning) is my boyfriend is being the total sweetheart and spoiling the crap out of me. no pun intented. He realized how sick I really am when my daughter brought her piece of chocolate cake over to see if I wanted a bite and I started shuddering. He said, "You don't even want CHOCOLATE???" and got very concerned in a hurry. Yes, when my body rejects its main dietary substance, it's scary.

Think good tummy thoughts please people. Mine has had a workout from hell. I should at least get some six-pack abs out of this, right? Seriously, I've gotten more progress on my sweater in one day than I have in three weeks.

How much fun is this?

I'm having entirely too knitterly much fun lately. I go from knitting all by my lonesome for a long Loooooooonnnnnggggg time, too busy to get out to see the knit chicks, too busy too busy too busy. Screw that. I'm having too much fun now to go back. First a weekend of Nicky Epstein and local knitters, then I get out on a Thursday night and not only KNIT with other KNITTERS but they feed me too! WOO HOO! Happy bday to Teri! And oh my GAAAAAWWWWWWDDDDDD such chicken tetrazini (see, I probably can't even spell it, let alone cook it) and now my very favorite ice cream cake EVER or was it a frozen custard cake? I don't know, I don't care, I'm just getting more of it! AND then when I dropped Joey off at tae kwon do (for the love of all that is holy, never EVER call tae kwon do "karate" to the tae kwon do guys. They get really pissy) Beth and I zipped over to the yarn store to see some of my favorite bloggers, Ann & Kay from Mason-Dixon Knitting and got our book signed and sat and got to knit with Colleen too! I love putting faces to bloggers, it's awesome. Colleen, the sweater you were wearing was amazing, you rock!

Back to the knitters who fed me, OH people we need to get out in KC on Thursday nights as these are some GOOD knitting women to hang with. OH and I told my mom she wasn't the only total QVC freak that I thought she was because I was sitting with women who knew the personalities and also got signed bday cards and phone calls from the girls at QVC too! LORDY it actually made me go home and turn the damn thing on. I caught myself saying, "I do need that. I absolutely do. My life would be so much simpler and more complete with that." Don't have a clue what "that" was anymore, but I'm sure it was cool. My mom cracked me up today as she saw the UPS truck pull up outside, but didn't hear the knock, because *gasp* he wasn't there for HER *dammit*. She was all pissy, cracked me up. I'm bad enough just going to the mall, bringing the mall to me is a very bad idea.

Anyway, go buy the Mason-Dixon Knitting Book. Seriously. Go.buy.it. There are some linen washcloths, cotton dishrags and OH OH OH those blankets. I, who have cursed more than a drunken sailor on my few attempts at knitted afghans, MAY have to reconsider and make some of these things. AND good lord above, I'm going to make the knitted nightie in there. Yes, Yes I am. I don't know what the heck it will look like on me, but holding that thing in my hands (they brought nice samples) I knew I must knit it. Unbelievable. Go, spend money and prosper.

show N tell

OK, so here's the picture overload... I did make myself take off the pics of the books I bought too, so count yourselves lucky. You only got half the pics available...

First, here's the lace bottom of my soleil tank. click to see larger view. Notice the lace isn't quite right. I had knit & frogged so many freaking times that by the time I got it figured out, I just didn't care any longer. Where are the beautiful FEW straight lace edges? In front where everyone can see? NO, on my side under my right armpit. Nice.

Here's some of the flowers I made in Nicky Epstein's classes. The dark one is actually my fave, but hard to see in the scan I took. I wear it on my denim jacket and it really pops. It's made from two different knit edgings twisted up together and layered and tossed in with the felted stuff. LOVE it! Then there's the cabbage rose with leaf and the VERY VERY cool green one, cut from a felted $2 thrift store sweater. HOW cool is that?


Here's some of what I spent my cash on...Six skeins of the gorgeoso blue koigu destined to be a shawl for my friend....I've got to find a pattern that will only use 5 so I can sneak one for myself. toooooooo soft and tooooooo beautiful! Then I got 2 skeins of the mimosa hand dyed lace yarn from a sweet girl from our guild, and I can't dig out her info yet from the bags and bags and BAGS of crap I came home with. When I find it, I'll post it as I really liked her colors!


Somehow I reached home with MORE books...somehow. Needled to Death mystery by Maggie Sefton, 2 Nicky Epstein books--Fabulous Felted Bags and Knitted Flowers, The Morehouse Farm Merino Knits book (beautiful), and Shahman's Shawls & Scarves (LACE can you believe it?)

I'm like a junkie, man, I can't get enough!

OK, enough knitting content, this is totally screwing my rambling everything-but-knitting style. Got to go work to earn enough to keep satisfying my yarn cravings!

my weekend of knitting

OH I had such fun! I'm totally hooked on the knitting classes thing. I need more of these weekends as they're inspiring and FUN! I have no pics now. Most of the stuff I have is at Jeff's and the camera and scanner is at my house. We're getting closer and closer to having most of my crap over there, can't wait for official MI-Day!

Nicky Epstein is a hoot. I swear, she's got so much bouncing around in her head, it's a wonder she gets anything done at all. She just cranks stuff out and BAM there's another cool design. I had a blast. I took edgings & embellishments and also her class on knitted flowers. I spent WAY WAY WAY too much money at the market and had fun doing that too! OH the books I have, OH the yarn I have, OH the projects that are waiting for me!!!! I also got 6 skeins of the most luscious deep blues of koigu to make a shawl for my friend Jill! Haven't decided what pattern to use yet, but it's going to be REALLY hard to give away! I also love making new knitting friends! I'm going to have to get my butt over to the guild meetings more often and am planning on starting to do the Thurs night knitting at the Yarn Shop & More in downtown OP starting in a week or so. There's just nothing like sitting around with other women and knitting and talking and sharing and petting each other's yarns!!!

Mom & Dad survived the weekend with my children at the Lake and they all had a blast. Jeff also had no children, so we were just us two. It was wonderful. Friday night we painted the living room and munched on overpriced chinese food. OK, I painted two wall's worth of the bottom edging next to the trim and then was delegated to do the cracks where the walls fit together and he did the rest of the work. I've not got a steady hand, it wasn't pretty. SO, if you come to our home sometime, move the couch away from the far wall to admire my work. We used this lovely dark shade of brownish green, hard to describe, but I LOVE IT! What did Jeff do while I was out from 9am -5pm knitting my heart out on Saturday? Put a second coat on the living room, painted the dining room (2 coats) and then moved all the furniture back and hung pictures up AND built me a little cubby-hole thing to keep my shoes in our closet AND vacuumed the entire house. DAYYYYAAAAMMMMM I was so impressed!

Sat night we decided, hey, we've got no children, we need to go out and play. ***I totally forgot to go get some of my little chasers anti-hangover pills*** We went bowling with my favorite friend of Jeff's and his wife and had a BLAST and too many margaritas. GOD BLESS my old friend from the bowling alley as we should have paid over $100 and ended up paying $22. AWESOME! THEN we had too much fun to go home, so off to Scoreboards for karaoke and entirely too much beer. Long story short, I need to remember that now that I'm over 35, I need to pick ONE thing and stick with it if I go out drinking. Beer all night, fine. Wine all night, fine. Beer, margaritas, more beer, shots, more beer, NOT fine. Jeff was right with me. I always know when he's lit as he starts dancing. WOOOO baby we tore things UP that night (don't worry, I wasn't so bad that I sang or anything--I don't get THAT drunk any more!) I did get a bit mouthy, I know, I know, hard to imagine! OH LORDY LORDY my hands were shaking like an old lady's the next morning. Good thing my am class was on learning about fibers and all that was expected of me was to nod my head gently and knit a few swatches. By lunchtime I was better, and by night-fall I was ready for bed at 9pm and tired ass out.

SURVIVING HANGOVERS 101.....
FIRST of all, take those damn chasers pills with your first drink and again at some point in the night. If you forget like I dID, take 2 alleve pills before bed with a big glass of water. The next am, take 2 more alleves and another big glass of water. Move slowly. Drink something with caffeine, I've heard green tea works well, I do diet coke. When you can tolerate food, around lunchtime, eat mashed potatoes. Get some form of protein in you, I find fried chicken from KFC to do the trick for me. Avoid greasy burgers by all means. Later that evening, take a few sips of a beer or something mildly alcoholic and throw the rest out. Drink enough water during the day to drown a cow and you'll be feeling better in no time.

Through the weekend, I realized that there are a LOT of advanced and intermediate knitters who don't get felting. They want to, but don't quite know how. I was asked top share my tips, so I'll work up a FELTING 101 tomorrow or Wed, depending on how much work gets in the way of my fun.

Knitting in the Heartland

Well, I'm going to a bona fide WEEKEND of knitting! woo hoo! I'm so excited! Nicky Epstein (knitting on the edge, knitting over the edge and knitted flowers & embellishments or some such thing plus other amazing books) is going to be teaching and I'm taking her classes! How much fun is that? PLUS a little vendor's market. ca-ching, ca-ching, can anyone else hear my money being spent? OOOOOOOOh can't wait! I get to bring scrap yarn for the knitted flowers class to share. OH I have some good stuff to bring to share & play with! Yes, I am a dork. No, I don't much care. The weekend is put on by the Sunflower Knitters Guild. It's being held at the Radisson at I-35 and 95th in Overland Park, KS (suburb of KC). Vendor's market is from noon to five and they're going out to eat with Nicky Epstein on Sat. night. You can come out to eat even if you don't go to class, think about it! Email me or leave a comment if you want to come and we'll get your name added to the list. Know what's the BEST PART of the weekend???? My folks are taking the children to the lake! WOO BABY! No kids AND yarn in one weekend? I'm even thinking of getting a room at the hotel so I can sit around and knit all night long. Whataya think?

I have about 4 inches so far of my somewhat cowl. I'm using some knitpicks baby alpaca yarn in a heathery purple and OH LORDY LORDY it's heaven to knit with. HOW did I survive knitting with cotton so long? My fingers, they are singing with pleasure at the lovely soft strands being knit right along. I have now decided. I am not a cotton knitter. I keep trying as I love some of the patterns, and the IDEA of a knitted cotton tank top is delightful. In theory, it's a big gigantoid pain in the ass to knit. Sticking with the lovely animal fibers for a while now. Please ignore the large pile of orange cotton yarn in the cedar chest that thinks it's supposed to be knit up next. Maybe I can find some nice orange alpaca or merino. Orange merino. That says summer in kc doesn't it?

Jeff's got his 2nd interview scheduled (yeeeeeehaw!!) for Tuesday and went out to buy a new suit to get all dolled up. He's been really active and has about 3 other interviews scheduled, but all for less glamour and less moulah than the big one. I'm hoping he finds something he can really enjoy. He's also been on a home improvement kick, replacing the old kitchen sink faucet with this super cool thing, putting in closet organizers, painting, you name it, he's doing it. MAN there's nothing sexier than a man that can DO STUFF! LOVE that!

Story Time

First of all, I finished the soleil. I have it wet and sorta-blocking. I've basically got it all flapped out on a table, but don't have pins sticking in it yet. Actually, I have never blocked anything. *shhhhhhhh* guilty secret. My clapotis with its rolling points, all kinds of stuff. The sweater actually FITS and I like it! Who'd a thunk it? TWO sweaters that FIT? woooo baby!

And now for story time! Some of you that know me know that strange things happen around me. I've this weird mojo thing. It keeps life interesting. Jeff used to laugh at me, but beware to those who scoff the mojo! It rubs off on those around me also sometimes....

Jeff took his boys and a dog-crate full o' pullets (I think that's what you call chickens that are older than chicks but not yet chickens) as a birthday present for one of his best friends down to his farm in SE Kansas for the weekend. They lived in a tent, did 4-wheeling, built fires, lived on canned hash and beer and pepsi and basically were regular manly men doing manly things. At one point, they had to give a horse two big ol' horse-shots of tetanus and horse antibiotics and sedatives. The two men tied up the horse, Jeff held the hind quarters and his friend stuck it with the first needle. The horse bucked, and the needle ended up in Jeff's arm. He called me later that night and sounded pretty loopy. I was freaking out, he said he was ok, his arm muscles were just very sore. I asked which medicine did he get? He didn't really know and wasn't concerned. Freaking men. Once he returned home and doesn't seem to have any big side effects and was still alive, I laughed my ass off at him.

Started swatching some of the knitpicks yarn to make the somewhat cowl. I also ripped out a few starts on projects I was just knitting because. Just because. Probably because everyone else was making them. I sat down and thought, will I actually WEAR this? Do I actually LIKE this? If it was no, frog pile.

Jeff had a 2 hour phone interview on Friday, which sounds pretty promising, we're supposed to hear from the head hunter next week and the chic that would be his boss will come to town to meet him and have the 2nd interview.

Hula Hoop champion OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!

Guess who's the third grade hula-hoop champion of our school? My Elizabeth! She was so proud. How fun is that? They had a competition with each grade and cut to the final 5 for each class. Elizabeth ended up going for AN HOUR. My tummy hurts just thinking of it! Towards the end of the competition, they had to do a bunch of activities while still hooping. She had to jump up and down, stand on one foot, get down onto knees and up again, do the macarena, and a bunch of other fun stuff. Talk about a creative gym teacher getting kids excited about exercise, she's the best! Beth is all excited as her name gets announced "DURING THE ANNOUNCEMENTS, MOM!" and she gets a prize of some sort also.

Jeff (my man) has a phone interview today with a big chemical company to do sales. He'd have to travel 30-50% of the time, but it'd be good money, so I'm crossing my fingers and toes and even a few stitches just to make sure. Have good "HIRE JEFF" thoughts, everyone!

Haven't done much knitting on my purple sweater as too much WORK here. Bossman's on vacation, so I get to hold down the fort. HOLY CRAP I forgot people actually WORK around here sometimes.

Had fun paying almost 40 freaking dollars for the cheap gas last night. Nothing like a $.12 jump in gas in 3 days. nice.

FINALLY!!!! a picture!!!

Can you believe it? An actual photo of a knitted object? I got some SERIOUS knitting done last night and ended up putting it down after the first 2 rows of the v part of the neckline started! woo hoo!

I'm in a beter mood today.

OH guess who's freaking BACK? In his old spot of the ceiling and wall? Yesterday in the midst of a major freak-out-boy-irritating-me-moment, I look up and see a shadow. I say "are you FREAKING KIDDING ME????" The spider Gus is back. Jeff said, "hello Gus!" can you believe it? cripews almighty!

Grrrrrr

Any and all persons over 3 feet tall with a pen1s (spelled funky so the other damn pervs with theirs won't hit my blog and start leaving weird comments) are pissing me off royally today. I'm taking my kids out to dinner at Denny's tonight and God help me if I get a waiter with an attitude. I may just stuff some pancakes up his right nostril, no, I think I'll put waffles up there as they're square and harder than pancakes.

No real reason, just ALL of them are irritating the living hell out of me. I normally am not a man-hater, and I still love the men, just from a DAMN SURE DISTANCE for the rest of the day. I think Jeff got the idea as he offered to take the kids outdoors to play in the front yard. smart boy. He may live to see tomorrow. maybe.

Still knitting away on Soleil, have no pictures as I finally got ready and the damn battery needs charging. grrrrr. that's the way the day's gone. BUT I have suddenly made progress. I'm almost to the end of the 7 sets of 1 increase row followed by 6 knit rows. Should be able to see the underarm shaping soon. woo hoo! I may wear this thing yet! Only problem is I cast on too tightly and the edges are rolling majorly. I'm hoping and praying that I can block it good and stretch the FUXX out of the edges. If not, I'm sure I'll be calm and good natured about the whole thing and not take a power tool to it.

I did have good parts of the day, my cousin's little kids came to play with Joey and me at lunch-time and the little boy told me "I missed you so very much" when he came in with a hug! AWWWWWWW love that! My kids have been pretty good and (I probably shouldn't type this as I don't want to curse myself here) GETTING ALONG really well. scary, no?

happy bunny day!

OK, so the cute as heck picture of the world's cutest bunny bread can't be posted due to a "short maintenance" by Photobucket. Take my word for it, it's damn cute. The Great Harvest Bread Co. has this wheat bread masterpiece baked in the shape of a bunny complete with long ears and round tail and raisins for eyes & nose. SO freaking cute! I think they're around $10/piece. I'm bringing one to Jeff's family Easter celebration and one to my aunt and her older single lady friends who I'm meeting for breakfast at 8am (what was I thinking saying ok to that EIGHT o'CLOCK in the morning on the ONE day I'll not have children or a boyfriend to wake my ass up?--kids going with Dad this weekend for Easter and Jeff's due back in town Sat. afternoon). ANYWAY they're cute. I'm going to bring it on a platter on top of easter grass with jelly beans scattered throughout. It should be sweet until we decide to carve into the thing with a big ol' knife. Mebbe that wouldn't be best in front of the children....hmmmmmm

Here's a link to see a pic, but it's not as cute as mine! Honey Bunny Bread

ANYWAY, I'm off to work some more, plant some flowers I bought at the Home Depot, and do some SHOPPING with Russell & his beau at the Oak Park Mall! They now have SEPHORA! and I think Dillard's is having their monster 75% off sale. Maybe I can find something to WEAR for Easter. I've not dressed up for a LONG time as we Catholics take it pretty easy with jeans, slacks, etc. I'm heading out with the Methodists and Presbyterians, so must wear something Eastery. At some point in the night, I'm sitting my butt down in front of the tv and knitting without interruption too. I promise to take pics of the never-ending soleil in process!

Happy Easter!!!

mystery solved

No, not the spider thing, he's still MIA and I have 2 new bug bites that I'm not sure of the source. We'll see. I survived my first night at Jeff's house without Jeff since he was out of town. Just me & the kids. Have I ever told you guys I'm a total wimp? Jeez I get creeped out easily. Ah well, woke up this am and both kids were still breathing and no hatchet-bearing creatures had broken in, so we're all good. (always remember, to kill a zombie you have to kill its head and don't let them bite you. good to know.)

SO, Jeff and I redesigned and moved crap all over his poor house. We have each of our 2 kids sharing bedrooms and the office is in the top floor of the split level, in a lovely big 4th bedroom. As we were moving stuff up here, we wondered, why oh why don't the kids ever come up here to play? It was a big room, full of toys and just waiting to play until we came along bearing desks and computers and boxes and boxes and boxes of crap. We moved the playroom to the bottom level den/living room thing. Well, MYSTERY SOLVED! The children must have realized that when the temperature outdoors goes up to 78 degrees, the top bedroom retains a general temperature of 428 degrees. I am sitting here with the lights out, the window shades down with windows open and 2 fans blowing directly on me. I have just finished moving my 2 big-ass desks into position and think I'm going to melt. The room isn't even in direct sunlight, but is on the south side of the house. OH FREAKING HELL, I think this is a new level of Dante's Inferno. Going downstairs, it reads a pleasant 75 degrees and I am now living with "nature man" who doesn't "believe" in turning on the air conditioning until mid-July. We'll see. The boy wants some loving, his honey wants the cold air! Don't they make little personal air conditioners at the Sharper Image or something? I may have to go shopping...

Still doing the soleil, some darkish purple color of Classic Elite Yarns "Provence", 100% mercerized egyptian cotton. What does mercerized mean anyway? Anyone know? I only bought 3 skeins from the Yarn Shop & More and am half-way through the 2nd skein and have a LOT of knitting still to go, I may have to run by and grab another one just to make sure. I was thinking of wearing it to Easter (if it fits) but since I've only got enough to cover the belly done and have to get going on the ponchos, probably won't happen. I'm still making gauge, though, so that's something.

random things in my head today

I'm not feeling very writerly today, so here's what's been buzzing about in this head of mine:

**Went to the boob dr for my follow-up appt. I have a few new cysts, but they all seem to be liquid and not masses, so all is well. My dr is such a dry guy and 99% of all humor goes right on by him, but Lordy he is SWEET and GOOD. If, God forbid, something ever goes wrong with these little boobs of mine, he's the one I want in charge. ANYWAY. He was listing the different locations, 4 o'clock, 12 o'clock....on and on, and then he ended with saying "so it makes four on the left and three on the right." and I swear it sounded like he was chanting it. My mind instantly went to "four on the left...three on the right...stand up, sit down, fight fight fight!" and since I am physically unable to just THINK something without it instantly popping out of my mouth, I completed his little chant out loud. Yes, he already thinks I'm retarded as when he had to remove a lump two years ago, they put you on these drugs that make you feel like it's about 4 margaritas into a long night but you're still conscious and it has some kind of amnesia properties to boot. The assisting nurses said they were cracking up at my attempts to convince him to either pump up the existing cysts while he was in there or to go on and pop in a few silicone beauties with humor that went right on by the poor dr. He always just shakes his head and smiles in an odd way when I say something stupid. SO, yeah for me and my healthy yet full o'cyst boobs! woo hoo!

**that chant got me remembering high school football games of long ago. I was a band geek (flute and tuba baby) and we played for a yuppie school with no talent and would get CREAMED by all the tougher schools. Our big "oh yeah" cheer for each time they scored against us was..."that's all right...that's ok...you're gonna work for US someday."

**spider Gus is still MIA. still majorly creeped out and jumping every time something brushes up against me. damn, just got chills again just thinking of him.

**STILL knitting on soleil and I SWEAR it's not getting any longer. I know. I've measured. I got all crazy last night as I was organizing part of the stash for the big move. Each UFO I pulled out I felt I'd better work a few rows/rounds on. Said hello to the French Market bag, panta (yes I totally should have been done with that by now but it's sitting in a bag patiently), traveling ribs scarf, an off-white shrug and even did a few rounds on my daughter's purple purse (I know that's so wrong, but I just couldn't help myself so SHHHHHHHH!) and a few other odds and ends.

**Do they make a pill that makes you keep your big fat mouth shut for at least a 5 second buffer??? You know, like when you have the i-control thing with Time Warner cable. It plays everything a short delay after the normal tv's so you can record it, or freeze it, or even better, REWIND it. That's what I need. Let's just say my big ol' mouth was working overtime today. At least 5 times I did the Homer Simpson "DOH!" and seriously needed a magic remote. Ah well, I guess I do make life more interesting this way.

**I think someone snuck some crack in my diet coke. I was chatting with Beth's girl scout leader and said "sure, I've got those 2 poncho's done that I said I'd make. sure! When were they needed again?" idiot. stupid freaking idiot. NEXT Friday night. sweet. Got um, NOTHING done on them yet. Good thing they're for young girls, as I should be able to crank out something.

Gus is missing....

and not missing in a good way as in "oh, wow, where-ever could he have gone..." while thinking "heh heh heh" in my mind as I secretly concealed the fact that I squished him, NO!!! Missing as in he was just sitting up there on the ceiling/wall crack and had been there for 4 days now so I thought I'd wait until Mr. Jeff left the house for a trip for a few days (TODAY). I go up to the office, glance over to see if he's still there and HE'S FREAKING GONE GONE GONE as in SOMEWHERE IN THIS DAMN OFFICE WITH ME and I don't know WHERE. damn damn damn damn DAMN I really HATE spiders. The thing so much as shows a shadow in here and he's toast.

OK major chills here, as I was typing, my hair flipped against the back of my neck and I freaked out. Swatting at myself and fell off my chair as the rollers don't quite stay on the little rollypad thingy. Sitting on my ass on the ground I realized I need to relax. I am bigger than the creepy crawly thing and it would be stupid to land on me, so relax max. I've still got goosebumps ick ICK ICK

Knitted away on my soleil with the beautiful egyptian cotton purple yarn, wonder if this puppy will fit? I HATE taking things off the needles onto waste yarn to try on, but I guess I'd better. Probably should measure gauge again to see if I'm anywhere near where I'm supposed to be. At least it's pretty. The lacy edge was knitted THREE times and still has two small blips, but I think I'd be the only one to notice so I don't care.

Off to work and to spider hunt. Enough of this nicey nicey woman thing. See where it got me? ick.

meet my officemate

Hello knitbloggers! My name is Gus. I currently reside in that little crack where the wall meets the ceiling in Christine and Jeff's new home office. Jeff is my good friend and named me. I cannot be killed as long as he's around. Christine looks at me with a gleam in her eye and a shoe in her hand. My days are numbered. If I decide to go to the other half of the office, the shoe and I will meet. I have been warned.

Can you freaking believe this? Seriously, this man of mine. He NAMED the spider. I said, "what is that spot up there? Is it dirt or is it a bug?" Jeff said, "It's Gus. He's my friend. You can't kill him." I have let the spider live for now. My new office is officially over here now, for 2 days Gus has stayed on his side of the office. He takes one long leg in my direction, and he's squishmeat. See how humanitarian I can be? or is it spideritarian? ick ick ick. The thing is not even tiny. He's like an inch long from leg to leg.

I made this sweet baby hat and need to post a pic. I've also got the first 2 repeats of the lace bottom edge of soleil and it's looking pretty dang good. I'm not the fan of cotton knitting as I am with wool or merino. It's WORK instead of gliding easily around the circs I'm always having to crank it around by hand every half turn AND it just doesn't feel so smooth and soft on my hands. I know, cry me a river, huh? It's too bad I like to WEAR cotton... I just can't see myself sporting a 100% wool tank top in the humid July KC weather.

Anyway, I'm off. Gus says "hey". Have a great weekend Ya'all!

busy busy busy

Where have I been? Holy crap it's been a long time since I was blogging.

I've been swatching my ASS off thinking of turning piles of these (click to see them in all their loverliness) into soleil in the purplish-blue wound ball of Classic Elite Yarns Provence Egyptian cotton, picovoli in the apricot knit picks shine cotton blend, and somewhat cowl in the lavender knit picks baby alpaca. Can we all say "mmmmmmmmmmmmm"? Can I get a woo hoo for startitis? WOO HOO baby. Yes, I'm still working on my panta and a cool traveling rib scarf that was meant to be worn with it, but peoples, I got me some new yarn.

Did I mention I got myself this?????? Denise Interchangeables? Oh lordy, I may never leave the house again. Unless I run out of chocolate (which I haven't yet, thanks to my cousin!) I never got them before as they cost $50. I ended up with a filled card at the Yarn Shop & More (imagine that!) and faced with the idea of buying two more addi turbo circs at $20 a pop, suddenly they seemed quite affordable. OH MY GOD how did I LIVE without these????? LOVERLY!!!

Weekend update...totally enjoyed the time to myself. Friday night was special for Joey and I as my daughter went to a lock-in with girl scouts and had a blast! I was cracking up at her description of the poor moms locked in with them. Apparently those moms were "kind-a cranky for some reason." Being locked in a church basement with 50 girls under 13, up until 2:30am and back awake at 6:00am.... "kind-a cranky" doesn't sound too bad. I'd have been massively psychotic, so I very smartly declined from volunteering. I'm smarter than I look.

Sat night the kids went to my cousins' house for a sleepover and I hit the town. Had a BLAST!!! and was a lame old woman in bed by midnight. Ah well. The best part of the weekend? ***those of you easily nauseated by excessive lovey-dovey stuff, click away now*** Best part of the weekend without a doubt was when my honey came home. Awwwwww. I know, I know. I'm a strong modern woman but there's just something amazing about being held by a man that loves you.

Jeff had been gone since Thurs with some old friends down to Tablerock MO. We stopped by his house before I took my kids to see Ice Age II (loved it) and he came home, took me in his arms, and held me tight, telling me how much he missed me, how much he loved me and kissed the crap out of me, then just held me. I could hear my kids laughing as they played in the backyard, the sun was shining, a fresh breeze blowing through the kitchen and my heart was full. THEN he offered to go to the grocery store for me when we were at the movie, and I just thought that was the sweetest thing I'd ever heard. I just love that Jeff shows his love for me in these simple kind acts he does without even thinking of them. Last weekend, he went out while I was in the shower and drove to the gas station down the road to get me a diet coke to have waiting when I came down to the kitchen. You know, all the crap I put up with in the man department may have just been worth it to make me realize how good life is now.

OK, got to go. Entirely too much warm fuzzy crap for one day. See what happens when I quit blogging? cripes. I'm off to play with my new toys and new yarn.

OH and the amazingly sexy beautiful prarie tank I was making? I CAN do lace, I just can NOT do it when watching a movie. I frogged and reknit and frogged and reknit and decided the damn thing is NOT worth this much effort. I still have some poor deformed thing that resembles a snake coiled around the needles, but it will not be knit by me. nope. not in this lifetime. Hence the startitis.

Shopping

I decided this Spring weather has made me crazy. I've GOT to knit something springy. I've always done tank tops in the winter and scarves and hats in the summer, I'm just all out of whack. After scrolling through the sexy knitters group blog, I decided I need more yarn. I'm going to make the Picovoli now that everyone's already made theirs and the knit-a-long's over. Nothing like being one with the group, huh? Ah well, I'm still thinking about making the knitty honeymoon cami and how long's that been around??? Then I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and try the somewhat cowl. I bought some Andean Treasure baby alpaca from Knitpicks in the color lilac, or was it sunset (orangish)? Can't remember. I also got some shine dk in either purple or orange to make the picovoli. Just had a total brainfart. Either way, I'm making some colorful stuff.

How much longer must we wait for the new issue of Knitty? I'm such a knitty ho. I'm just going insane waiting to see. Hope they have good stuff this issue or I'll be all pissy.

Jeff's heading off to the lake of the ozarks with all his friends (bunch of shawnee friends from high school) for the weekend, leaving Thurs afternoon. Remember on the Bundy show where Al & his old high school football buddies would retell stories? SAME exact thing, although these boys' stories go back to JUNIOR HIGH school football. seriously. They are a good bunch of guys for the most part. He needs some time away from the stress of job-hunting, combining households and all the rest. He has such an old soul, I tease him about being a grumpy old man sometimes, I swear even getting a new cell phone the other day had him all frustrated.

Friday night Beth's got a lock-in with Girl Scouts (I did NOT volunteer for this one as I don't think I'd survive locked in with about 50 pre-teen girls, call me crazy) and Joey's doing a sleepover with my cousin and her kids. Jeff's at the lake. Hmmmmmm. what could I do? Russell just got offered his dream job for $20K more than he's making now and is having a party to celebrate. I may just wander out to the casinos for a little poker too....hmmmmm could be fun.

OK, I've just decided. I want to make Blaze. I'm going to make it in bright orange too. Just like the pattern. How cute would this be? Oh, crap. Need yarn. Anyone ever make this one? mebbe I could do a quick trip down to the Studio...

confessional

Bless me blogger, for I have sinned....(sorry, those old Catholic days of having to go into "the box" are with me still) or as Larry the Cable Guy would say, "I apologize Lord, that ain't right."

Confession #1...I have had a panta in my knitting bag for almost 2 weeks and it's only 3 inches long. This is a sit down and do in an evening kind of project, and it's just so sad. I've knit maybe 4 rows in the last 4 days. That ain't right.

Confession #2...Did not make it to Jazzercise. After making it through 2 and 1/2 days with no chocolate, gave in last night and ate FOUR cadbury eggs. Four. And I had to get out of bed for each one. For. Each. One. I'd thought to myself, "self, do you REALLY need to be walking your butt over to the closet and pulling out ANOTHER chocolate egg of gooey wonderfulness?" and apparently I decided yes, I did need each and every one. Dang server at work got fixed and I got loaded up with work, so couldn't leave the house yesterday. I'm REALLY going to try to get out there tomorrow morning as I need it. I was driving down the road and heard one of the songs, and started grooving in my seat doing old motions. so sad.

Confession #3...TOTALLY forgot about lent. Couldn't even remember what it was that I gave up (snacking between meals HAH). whoops. Mebbe I'll try again.

I'm off to work and say a few Hail Mary's (I know the lady was holy, but I bet she still got stressed out as a mom, so that's always my favorite prayer from the days of penance). Did you know now kids don't even have to kneel and pray after confession now? I used to get stuck on my knees for an HOUR afterwards cranking out the Our Father's and Hail Mary's and such. Now my kids have to help with a chore or think of something nice to do for someone, or some such stuff. It's very new-age and feel-good. I guess it is probably more effective, but there's something to that whole "fear of God" kind of thing. Or was it "fear of the one scary nun?" (the others were very sweet and fun, just one scared the living beejeesus out of me). Of course, I went to all that in the days of the doily on the head and where women couldn't go up onto the altar. It must have worked for me as I'm normally a pretty good person. normally. Unless you talk with my old friend Jildo and then the secrets come out. huh, funny thing, Jildo grew up in the days of the doily heads too. hmmmmmmm

The Ladybug Chronicles

Well, I'm being Ms. Supportive here, as honey boy is recently out of a job. I'm helping out where I can, standing by my man, and all of that. I offer to write down all the phone #'s and contact info from the boy's cell phone as it was a business cell and had to be returned. Going along, writing, not making comments about all the women in the phone, as most are friends, family, etc. I get to "Ladybug" and say, "what the heck is this?" Jeff blushes and says, oh, well, I don't really need that number any more, you don't have to keep it. I say, "ok, .......why? and what the heck is a Ladybug?" APPARENTLY it's the beautiful one. "It's just this little joke between us." and more blushing. Cripes. The ex-girlfriend that supposedly wasn't serious, but was described long ago as "a woman so beautiful that any man would leave his wife for her". She was the one who was the root of our first very big misunderstanding/almost-fight kind of heated discussion last fall. This was the one that when Jeff and I were just getting serious, he told me that I should be happy as she was moving to Chicago, so "that temptation is no longer here." This was just AFTER our big discussion of committment and faithfulness (I've had a few issues with the ex-hubby on that one I'd rather not repeat) and how I'd never have to worry about him, blah blah blah, but OH, since she's GONE, "NOW there's no reason to worry." The more he tried to explain, the madder I got and the deeper in shit he got. It was quite a doozy of a fight long ago, so I VERY NICELY didn't say anything other than "hm. good to know." and also VERY NICELY blacked out the phone number on the list.

This boy better get going and get a job so I can quit being so nice. My angry green jealous biotch doesn't come out often, but when she does, it's DAMN HARD being nice.

Got all the paperwork on Joey's wish foundation going out to the ex-hubby for signatures and then off in the mail. Thank goodness for our pediatrician's office, I found out my child was 20" long and 7 lbs 10 oz at birth, to complete the paperwork. Good lord, what kind of a mom doesn't remember her child's birth details? I remember Beth was 8 lbs 12 oz because when I called mom and expected pity over pushing something the size of a watermelon out of me, she told me all three of us kids were over 9 lbs and my brother Mike was 10 1/2 lbs. ouch.

I've done almost NO knitting for the last few days and I've been quite bitchy. Connection maybe? Last night even Jeff suggested I sit and knit for a while. Had to finish a big project for work, so was doing that until midnight. We're having connection/server problems, so *sigh* I'll just HAVE to find something else to do this morning. I'm off to Jazzy and then to KNIT my ass off. Panta, here I come!

OH, and I've been choosing paints to redo Jeff's house room by room. I looked closer at the names of the five colors I was choosing from and one was called Ladybug. Swear to God. The list of choices is now down to four.

go wichita state!

HEY how cool is it we Kansans still have a team to root for in the big tourney? WOO HOO! I love seeing teams get farther than anyone ever thought they could.

It's 3:40pm on Friday on a week from heck after a week from heck and I'm going to the liquor store. with a credit card. ca-ching, ca-ching, ca-ching. I've got to find Miss Amanda's present (I'm so good at hiding things but not so good at finding them, dammit) and then I.am.out.of.here!

Gonna start my panta this weekend, move my office furniture to the honey's house later too.

Wearing my tubey, which, by the way, makes me look great from the front and like I have this mutant back/fat/gigantoid shoulderblade/wing things sticking out of my back. It is also quite possibly the warmest sweater I've ever put on my body, even with the open chest sweetheart whatever you call it neckline. I don't think this will be a wear out in public sweater, but it should be perfect for drinking in a sportsbar kind of sweater. Ah well, it fits and that's enough for me now.

Joey got referred to a children's wish foundation and I'm filling out a bazillion forms and copying every document I can find and on and on. I am making it through the whole thing, when I see they also ask for age of diagnosis (Joey was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 3 1/2 months old) AND for length and weight at birth. Um, bad mom of the year award goes to....CHRISTINE! Can't remember. nope. not a bit. I know he was long, skinny, and had red hair but that's all I got. The hospital he was born at doesn't release that info without a buttload of forms and time, Children's Mercy doesn't have that either, so I left a message for the nurses at his pediatrician's office. I asked my folks and they looked at me like I was retarded (guess it's hereditary). ummmmmm baby book, not so completed, well, see, he was a sick little baby and I breastfed the child every hour. EVERY HOUR and he had horrible gas pains and then would shoot poop out of his butt and we'd repeat that around the clock. Plus bronchitis, pneumonia and the likes. SO, brain fart on the whole details of birth thing.

The wish foundation we're trying to work with does BIG wishes, but they're killers on the details. The wish has to be the child's desires, not the parents, every detail of every page has to be verified and signed and witnessed and I've got to get the ex to sign and date etc too, and he lives in NEW MEXICO and is not so good with getting paperwork back to me, ARRRRGHHHH PLUS they just got it to me 2 days ago and by the way, could we please do a "quick turnaround" and get it in the mail by MONDAY as their big approval meeting is in early April? crap almighty.

Joey put down that he wants to learn to surf or go to Disney World. We'll see what they say. They're supposed to include the immediate family so hopefully Beth and I can have our butt-white butts sitting on some warm sand somewhere too!

Gotta go, the liquor store's calling my name, listen, can you hear it? Gotta go!

Yes, yes I am a good girl

You know how you knit for-flippin-ever on a sock and swear there's no progress being made, the ball gets no smaller and the sock gets no longer but time drags by? Well, once I get to the start of the heel, I just can't stand it, I've GOT to keep going. It's so exciting to see the sock develop this whole SHAPE thing. It's fascinating and I watch with baited breath like I don't know what's going to happen and I'm all pleased as punch when the damn thing does just what it's supposed to do. Anyway...

I was doing the whole knitting as I waited at stoplights thing while running errands. Today I had to actually put the sock DOWN as I drove down the street as the current sock is with handpainted opal yarn and on size ONE dpns. (I may or may not have been sighted driving with my knee and knitting along on a pair of artyarns socks previously, but it was a straight road and it was big yarn and I was to the just knit forever part of the tube between heels and toes...) It was driving me batty as I HATE getting stuck in the middle of the pattered needle with the buttload of stitches on it. HATE THAT. So, I pulled into the Wal-Mart (said like Jeff Foxworthy as a two to four sylable word with big emphasis on both words) and immediately picked up the sock and finished the row before getting out of the truck, or putting it in park if you must know.

I get out of the car and hear this giggling in the backseat of the car next to me. Granny Rose is sitting there crocheting her heart out while her daughter got frustrated with her and went huffing into the store. She said to me, "she HATES it when I do this, but YOU understand. I want to finish my row." I said "Of course, what else would you do?" and she said "You are a good, good girl." I swear, I almost kissed the little old lady right on her cheek. GOD I love old people and especially those that KNIT and CROCHET. LOVE THEM. Except when they smell like pee. Then not so much. Or at least from a distance.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AMANDA!!!!! Happy Happy Happy Happy and all that!! I'm excited about our evening out! My daughter's doing a sleepover with a friend, Jeff's going to watch my boy with his boys (he doesn't actually know that yet) and I'm gonna have AT LEAST three margaritas. I think strawberry foo foo with salt instead of sugar. mmmmmmmmmm. Don't have too many before I get there, as I need to buy you a drink! OH and go buy some of those CHASERS pills (from Walgreens or Osco or somewhere) Take 2 with your first drink of the night. Just in case. Not that you'd over-imbibe or anything inappropriate like that. :)

You've probably already seen this, but my mom sent it to me (which being Madam Appropriate Behavior herself, made this doubly funny) so read it again and chuckle with me... from an email sent around and around and around...

I was due for an appointment with the gynecologist later in the week. But early on Monday morning, I received a call from his office to tell me that my appointment had been rescheduled for that morning at 9:30 A.M. I had just packed everyone off to work and school and it was already around 8:45 A.M. Since the trip to his office would take about 35 minutes, I didn't have any time to spare. As most women do, I like to take a little extra effort over hygiene when making such visits, but this time I wasn't going to be able to make the full effort. So, I rushed upstairs, threw off my pajamas, wet the washcloth that was sitting next to the sink, and gave myself a quick wash in "that area" to make sure I was at least presentable. I then threw the washcloth in the hamper, donned some clothes, hopped in the car and raced to my appointment. I was in the waiting room for only a few minutes when I was called in. Knowing the procedure, as I'm sure you do, I hopped up on the table, looked over at the other side of the room and pretended that I was in Paris or some other place a million miles away. I was a little surprised when the doctor said, "My, we've made an extra effort this morning, haven't we?" I didn't respond. He finished the exam, I heaved a sigh of relief and went home. The rest of the day was normal...some shopping, cleaning, cooking, etc. After school when my six year old daughter was playing, she called out from the bathroom, "Mommy, where's my washcloth?" I told her to get another one from the cupboard. She replied, "No, I need the one that was here by the sink, it had all my glitter and sparkles saved inside it."

Panta me please

Have you seen this? I must make one or four. HOW cute are these??? Here's Electica's panta. (it opens as a word document)

I got nothing

Jeff's doing good, either is VERY organized and practical or in total denial. He's already signed up for unemployment and is out there networking. wow. WITH his 2 boys on spring break "helping". Thanks for the positive thoughts, I always am good with that!

Boring, blah blah today, so I'm out reading about everyone ELSE's exciting lives...

SO here's the most recent favorite quizola I found on Beth's blog:

You Are Miss Piggy

A total princess and diva, you're totally in charge - even if people don't know it. You want to be loved, adored, and worshiped. And you won't settle for anything less. You're going to be a total star, and you won't let any of the "little people" get in your way. Just remember, piggy, never eat more than you can lift!

The Muppet Personality Test

Anyone surprised I'd be Miss Piggy? cripes almighty.

It was a king-sized reese's and 5 hershey's mini dark chocolate kind of a day

Actually, it would've been more than 5 mini's, but that's all that was left in the back of my closet in the chocolate stash behind the shoes on the 3rd shelf. Yup, that was the hiding spot for the GOOD stuff, stuff I don't want any grubby kids in, and stuff that I can pretend it's not there and get along without chocolate in the house most of the time until either PMS or major stress strikes. wow.

Got a call from Jeff that he was taking his youngest son to get his foot x-rayed but he'd be thinking about me while getting my tests done. His son got his foot squished under two heavy boxes of unassembled computer desks (MY CRAP) that was leaning up against a wall the night before. Nice way to start a relationship, by damaging his child. (turns out foot is fine, just swollen on top and sore)

Went for the mamogram/sonogram yearly thing in the am. That's always a fun way to start out the day. Actually, it's not so bad, I just get cold sticking my ribs and little boobs up to be squished on a COLD METAL machine. brrrrr. Everything was good and copacetic (I've got some cystitis thing where I always have cysts full of liquid goo in my breasts, usually nothing to worry about). Sonogram showed a few clusters as bigger than normal, but again, they were all liquid and no biggie, until the BIG one was found. cripes. Here we go again....tech went to get dr, who went to get other dr, who I swear went out onto the streets of Olathe, KS to pull in a group of total strangers to see the amazing strange things in my poor little left boob. Gotta love modern medicine. I felt like I should at least get a couple of dollar bills for the big peep show entertainment or a warm blanket as it was FREAKING cold in there even without the cold goo slopping over my chest. After everyone was quite finished poking my sore boob, it was determined that OH, YEAH, it was a liquid cyst after all, no biggie. cripes. Let's make the poor woman a stress basket, shall we??? I go see the specialist that I love next month. He's NOT a freaking-out kind of person and I always leave feeling calm, no matter what's going on in my life. THAT'S what you're supposed to do, not make people feel like side-show bob.

THEN, I somehow lost my freaking mind later that afternoon and promised to take my children on their last big fling of the spring break in kc...chuck.e.cheese. (Their dad was supposed to come to town this last weekend but had to change weekends, so I was feeling bad for them) I call Jeff, he asks if I'd like to take his older boy, (younger one was stuck laying on the couch playing gamecube). I say sure, go drive over later and find out Jeff was just "reorganized" right out of his job. another cripes. He found out by the lackey sent out from the home office in Wichita driving to his house to tell him (while he has his boys in the home with him for their spring break). nice. He's got a great resume and good money in savings, so we don't have to freak out yet, but it's still quite a shock. It was a pretty small company (which can always be an adventure) and he hasn't been happy there for a while, but it still sucks. After a while, I loaded up 3 kids and headed off to chuck's. Ended up only spending $13 and sitting and knitting at a corner table where I could see the kids running around. We used a coupon from the paper, the kids got free tokens when they got there, and we left with a big ol' pile of plastic tacky crap they were very proud of.

Jeff's older boy's bday party is tonight, so I've got to go pick up some toy or other. I think I'd better re-fill the chocolate stash, as it's not good to be without in a time of need.

FO ALERT: pair of socks FOR ME!

Aren't we all impressed with Christine the wonder-knitter? Just wait until I show up wearing my tubey sweater AND socks...too cool, baby. Or should I say nice and toasty warm? Just in time for the big ol' snowstorm that's supposed to hit TODAY here in KC. Gotta love Kansas weater, one day you're wearing a tank top and complaining about the heat, next you're in your winter woolies and complaining about the cold. LOVE IT!

Back to the socks...notice the different color on the right toe? I ran out of yarn so had to use some artyarns left over from Jeff's socks & fingerless gloves. It actually blends pretty cool and I like the idea that a part of the yarn I used to knit something for the man I love is a part of the fabric I created as well...like knitting our souls together...or some such crap. Actually I came up with that as an excuse at about 2-Mike's-Hard-Limades-on-an-empty-stomach into the evening last night. Sounds better than "uh, ran out of yarn."

So, moving update... The official gradual move in and blending of 2 families began this last week of spring break...
Heart pounding, stomach raging, shaky hands panic attacks --> 2
Times spent screaming into the bathroom sink full of water (to relieve said stress--learned this one when I was a high strung high school student) --> 1
Fingernails broken --> 8
Bruised shins --> 2
Assembled "world's coolest beds EVER" quoted from my kids --> 2
Amount of children's furniture that I own that will FIT into the room they will share --> 15%
Sweet, quiet comfortable evenings after children are in bed and all is calm --> 4
Number of children's feet almost broken under a heavy box --> ZERO (almost 1 on Jeff's youngest boy last night, thank goodness the kid's just sore)


2 more months to go on this "gradual move". I think I'm gonna survive. I think we should've just MOVED all at once and got it over with, but Ah well, live and learn. For now it's weekends together and some evenings here & there. The kids are all no problemo about it so I think it's just stressful on us parents. Parents think too much.

In my day, we had a big ugly purple dinosaur with crappy music...

OK, I'm telling you young mothers of children today, you have it EASY! I know, I know, I was able to benefit from VCR's and carseats and other modern wonders, but I missed out on the good stuff. THANK GOD FOR THE WIGGLES!!!

Instead of having to hear "hyuh hyuh...I love you...you love me...." crap from Barnie or GOD FORBID the Teletubbies (although I always liked that controversial tinky winky and his purple purse), NOW when babysitting the young ones, you get to jam out on beatles-ish music and PLUS have you SEEN Anthony? (blue shirt). We were on our way home from my cousin's house and I made the kids listen to the Wiggles cd I found in our cd case. Joey said "Mom, I wish Anthony could come to our house for a playdate." I said, "Oh honey, mommy wishes that too!" yummmy! MAN I wish they would've been around when my kids were young.

So, we're on our way home, sun is shining, windows are down, I'm jamming out, singing and doing the motions to "quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, cock-a-doodle doo" complete with hand waving on top of my head, look over at the car next to me and this nice looking businessman is cracking up. Nice. He COUGHS because he was laughing so hard, and said "don't worry, we sing to that one at my house too." You know, between the Wiggles and Radio Disney, I'm able to survive the kids' music, but I still make an ass of myself quite often. Has anyone else forgot to switch radio stations and got ALL the way home, realizing you're be-bopping to Radio Disney? cripes.

Here's a pic of the happy knitters:


And finally, YES I have done a bit of knitting. Look what I finished last night:

Yarn: Artyarns supermerino self stiping superwash wool
Needles: dpns size 5
Pattern: Ann Norling Adult Socks II play on ribs
3k 1p rib for only 6" at first instead of 10" as I don't think I'll have enough yarn. I may still not, in which case, I'll add in the blue & green funky artyarns I have left over from Jeff's socks, which will be quite strange looking, but I don't care. The color pooling made a swirly design amid the stripes, it looks better than in the pic, I sure hope I have enough yarn to do this set! It's being knit from stash yarn so I only had the one skein.

We've painted the future office (extra bedroom on it's own floor of Jeff's split level house) in "picket fence" aka VERY white even though it looked off white in the store, but I like it anyway. We also painted my kids' room in Myrtle Blossom blue, and I LOVE it! What kind of paint? Why, what else would I use but Martha Stewart stuff? I'm still such a fan of hers! Seriously, the paint is good quality and it only took ONE coat to do each room! (sherwin williams store) We're getting the beds delivered Saturday, and are moving some of my furniture over this afternoon. It's getting exciting! Official move-in is set for May, but we're going to start spending more time over there. So far stress levels haven't been too bad, although I DID get THREE FREAKING ZITS from some extra stress earlier this week. cripes almighty, how old am I??? The boy thought he was being funny and called me "hey zitty" earlier yesterday. yes, yes he did. No, I couldn't believe it either. He redeemed himself last night when he held me in his arms, kissed me deeply and told me how beautiful I was....of course he was about 6 beers happy, but HEY I'll take the damn compliment any way I get it!

Will spring break never end??????

wow, it's been a LONG week already and it's only Thursday. The kids have been out of school forever. They not only have the entire week, but had last Friday and next Monday to boot. cripes. It's been fun and my kids have been troopers, but LORDY I'm tired. I think of you mommas out there that homeschool your children and I think, nope, mine wouldn't survive it. Not even on a good day.

Let's see, yesterday....short version....got up, ran around like crazy, went to bed. Long version....got up, worked, did laundry, worked, drove to Nebraska Furniture mart out in Bumblefuxx, KS to show the kids the amazing super-beds I bought for them that will be delivered this weekend, drove to Raymore, MO to work at boss's house and official office, while there kids played with their grandkids and Beth got her hair cut by their daughter (CUTE DOO!), drove home, worked, laundry, sent kids outdoors to give me a rest from crazy crack-head-children (too hyped up to stand them), cleaned house, worked, drove to Jeff's house, sat kids in front of new x-box that was supposed to be their Christmas present (but they got too dang much crap anyway so I was saving it). They turned into zombies for the night and were giggling and having a blast, COOKED and put dinner in the oven, went upstairs and painted the trim and all the edging for the new office at Jeff's house, Jeff came up and did all the roller work and also almost got zapped while changing out the electrical sockets (at one point the lights went out and I heard this big ZZZZAPPPPP! and he yelled "Missed Me!" while my hair stood on its end), took dinner out of the oven and it was GOOD, chatted with Miss Amanda and admired her butt-load of scarves she's been designing and knitting!, ate dinner, put kids to bed, cleaned up kitchen and paint and snuggled on the couch with my honey, vented some SERIOUS pissy emotions bottling up inside me for the last day with the boy (thanks to Kelly for listening and yes, men ARE often stupid and it's SO hard for me NOT to tell them when they ARE), ended on a very nice note and went to sleep. whew. NO knitting what-so-ever. That's not right.

Today WILL be much more calm....sorta....maybe.

AND my dinner was freaking GOOD! Amanda got to be living proof! I used some of the terriyaki sauce from Tastefully Simple, my cousin is now a rep and I'm freaking LOVING that food & sauces & mixes! I had terriyaki chicken with veggies and brown rice (not even the 5 minute kind...I had to SIMMER and everything!) It was SO GOOD! Jeff ate three pieces of chicken so he was liking it too! I'm telling you, I am loving this happy homemaker kind of thing. I now own 5 cookbooks (one the new Joy of Cooking, thanks Susie for the recommendation!) That book is amazing! It's got hoity toity stuff as well as stuff for me like HOW TO BOIL AN EGG. Seriously, I did not know how. It even tells you how to make coffee (again, did not know how).

Gotta go, OH OH OH OH OH my ebay Malabrigo yarn stash came in the mail and it is LOVERLY! I've GOT to get some pics going and I can't decide what to make with it!!!! Maybe another clappy? A scarf and head-band ear warmer set? Mebbe I could just make a big ol' blankie out of it and snuggle up....nope, not enough yarn, I'd have to buy more....that would be just terrible, wouldn't it?

Girl's day out on the plaza!

OH wow! Jennie, you should have stopped by to say hello! We did day #2 of the knitting camp at the Studio yesterday morning. Then these girls came upstairs with STOCKINETTE stitching AND they could cast on AND cast off! Unbe-freaking-lievable! They were SO proud! We went to the cheesecake factory to celebrate. They asked if they could PLEASE bring their knitting, I swear I almost cried with pride! I'm really hoping this will be a bond my daughter and I can share as we enter those dreaded teenage years. I still remember my aunt Janis (who died of breast cancer years ago) teaching me to crochet when I was 8 and that was my start on this long love affair with all things fibre.

I'll post some pic's tomorrow, I promise. I'm sitting in my bedroom corner office, Beth is casting on stitches onto a circular needle BY HERSELF as she is now going to make a purse to match the small bag she made yesterday. OH MY GOD...I joined it for her and knit one round, set it down to go help Joey with his project, she picked it up and has been KNITTING right along! No biggie. I said, "OH, do you know how to tell which way to go? Let me get you started".....and she'd already said, "MOM, the smooth side goes out and the yarn from the ball is attached to the needle for your right hand." DAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNNNN! The girl has GOT it! I totally recommend letting someone ELSE teach your child to knit. I had taught her a while back just the basic knit stitch, but somehow it was not as exciting or as much of a learning experience as dumping her and walking AWAY from the children. I asked if I could sit in on the class and Cindy said, "sure, as long as you stay out of the way and DON'T HELP" I thought I'd better just walk my butt upstairs. GOOD PLAN!

Know what else? My nine-year-old daughter just taught ME the long tail cast-on that I couldn't ever get figured out from other teachers. You know that weird bunny hole/tree/2 fingers up and loop around thing? I don't want to use it as I like my elastic thumb cast-on, but I need to learn it so I can teach and help others as that's what almost everyone else learns first.

More spring break stories soon...

TOO much fun!

OH OH OH my daughter and her friend (both in 3rd grade) signed up for the Studio's craft camp. They had their first class today, KNITTING! WOO HOO! They made cute little bookmarks with 3 different yarns and learned the knit stitch, to change yarns and to bind off. They had a few younger girls that were out of control, having sword fights with their needles and pouting and whining, so they didn't get to learn the cast on yet. Tomorrow is purling and hopefully learning casting on also. They get to start a purse, and OH those girls are excited. It was such fun seeing them after the class, coming up and wandering around petting yarns. They each went home with a bundle of lambs pride bulky and I'm going to get them working on making a couple of rectangles we'll felt down into coasters. One has pink and one has purple, so they're going to share to make stripes.

Now four girls in my daughter's grade all are beginning knitters. I think we're going to start a little knit club.

Good weekend, crazy busy today, more later.

School days, school days...

I totally forgot to write about the meeting with the school principal. It looks like we get to STAY at the same elementary school through 6th grade! woo hoo! As long as we live within district borders, and shawnee mission's a pretty big district, and Jeff's house is right smack in the middle of it, we get to stay with the same school! I'm all excited!

THEN I got talked into going along on Joey's kindergarten field trip yesterday am. We took a 45 6 year olds to SM East high school for a visit to their enviornmental science lab. It was a RIOT! OH the sights.... my boy is more brave than I thought he'd be. He normally shies away from critters a bit, but he was holding frogs, toads, salamanders, snakes, lizards (I mean those BIG ugly bearded dragon things), turtles, mice, chincillas, guini pigs, shark teeth, crocodile head, and other lovelies. I passed on most of the critter holding, but did do the let a BIG ASS BLACK HAIRY tarantula, yes, I said TARANTULA, crawl on my hand. Joey passed on that one, but I did it. It was quite creepy. I did fine until the thing started crawling up my arm...I was doing it to SHOW the kids how a tarantuala is just one of earth's creatures, just like us....so I was trying really hard not to scream GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET THE MOTHERFUXXER OFF. I just said "um, could you please take this NOW????"

I've got a whole 3 inches of the back done on that cotton yarn prarie tank thing. I realized "holy crap, I'm making lace". It's not actually lace, but it's got holes and stuff and it WOULD be lacey if it were with thinner yarn. No big deal. Of course the damn thing's on size THREE needles so may NEVER get completed, but it's something to pass the time. Gotta go work. Have a GREAT weekend people!!!

The first load

Well, it's official. My crap is moving its way over to Jeff's house. The boy is doing pretty well, but is having some ISSUES with sharing his space and his stuff. So far the comments have been "...but, well, you don't have to bring THAT over yet, right?....I mean, it can stay at your folks' house a little longer, right?" cripes. I think the boy means "move in together" being MY body and those of my childrens with maybe the clothes on our backs plus one knitting bag. cripes almighty. I am TRYING to be gentle. It's all just stuff. He's just worked so hard to make his house a home for him and his boys that it's a difficult step for him. I very sweetly kissed him on the cheek and said "I love you" and also very sweetly left off the "dumbass" that was on the tip of my tongue. See? I can be diplomatic sometimes.

I think the IDEA of the move-in is easier than the actual physical ACT of the move-in. He has really worked at condensing his stuff and making room for us, I've just got to not be my normal self who would kick the door open and make my noisy way. I've got to be "Considerate Christine". She doesn't come out very often.

Jeff has done a lot of nice things in preparation, he and the boys have already drawn up plans to get his boys moved into one bedroom and some ideas for getting my two kids into another room. He totally redid the pantry, putty-ed, painted, put up cool shelves, reorganized, etc. He is helping me move in my office furniture to the other bedroom to become our office, and is really being considerate, just still looks awfully damn nervous most of the time.

Ah well. I did leave my knitting bag at his place tonight and he called to make sure I could make it through the night without it. (I LOVE to sit in bed and knit to the news and seinfeld before bed). I thought it was sweet. I told him don't worry, I've got other projects I can work on. really. one or two....or 8. Eight's good, that way you don't get bored.

Spring Break has officially begun and we're not sure what the heck we're doing yet. I think I'll take Beth and one of her girlfriends to the Studio's knitting classes for tweens/teens on Monday and Tuesday morning. I've got to work too, so I'm going to try to find neat things here & there.

Dog Barf Scarf

I am SUCH a fan of malabrigo yarn, it's almost scary. I can't help but pet this yarn. I just couldn't stand the wait for the veritable plethora of malabrigo to come in from my ebay orders from the long night of too much spending. I broke out the funky colored malabrigo in my stash that I bought because it was the last 2 skeins of the stuff at the studio last fall. The colors are strange, but I love the look against denim, which is a great part of my wardrobe. SO, I finally decide on what textural pattern to use to showcase this beauty and am knitting right along.

I'm using an adaptation to the traveling rib. I'm listening to country music. Then, it HITS me... the name for this scarf. (I can't knit something without it having a name.) It's the ON THE ROAD AGAIN SCARF (get it? traveling rib? Willie Nelson songs? the PERFECT knit to take on a road trip?) LOVE it! I sat there all proud of myself knitting away.

THEN the kids told me Miles (our shitzu with ISSUES) barfed. on the wood floor. after eating crayons. The brownish pile of foamy icky stuff with chunks of color resembled the On The Road Again Scarf a bit too much. I couldn't get it out of my head. I'm now knitting the Dog Barf Scarf. If you listen very carefully, you can hear Willie singing "and I can't wait to knit the dog barf scarf again...." twang twang.

I've got to write up the details of the stitch as an actual pattern because this is my favorite textured scarf since the my so-called scarf came around. I need to make it and see if I can get it out of one skein or 2.

wish me luck

I'm off to talk with the kids' school principal this morning about letting us still go to this school after we move in with Jeff. It's a public school, but one of the nicest and I already KNOW which teachers I like and which to avoid (won't bring that point up with Madam Principal). The parents pay for the salary of a part-time school counselor and a spanish teacher and we've also got a full time nurse. The rest of the schools in the district have no counselors and almost no foreign languages and the full time nurse is BIG for us with Joey having CF. Plus I think it would just be less turmoil in our lives. Only problem is, EVERYONE wants in this freaking school, so it may be a tough sell. We're still going to be in the district, but in a different high school's territory, so am not sure how well this will go.

Good thing my kids are good in public and not trouble-makers. The last family to talk the principal into letting her boy stay has a TOTAL CHAOS child, so I'm hoping she doesn't think about that. The boy that if the boy's name comes up in any discussion, parents all groan and say "oh, XXXXXXX, bless his heart." Let me tell you, my goal in life is to not have my children's names connected with that little phrase. I am guilty of this myself. You SAY "bless his heart" but you MEAN "crazy little psychopath."

And, Gordon Parks died last night. The third famous person. creepy.

I've got a pic & pattern of a cool malabrigo scarf pattern but will have to post it tomorrow. Have a good one and enjoy those little signs of spring out there! I saw teeny tiny specks of yellow on the forsythia bushes down the street and little crocuses and green sprouts from bulbs are poking up everywhere! It even smelled like spring this morning! woo hoo!

Libraries, spring break stuff

WHY didn't I ever think of LIBRARIES before? I've had such fun taking the kids to the different area libraries each weekend. We start in the knitting section, I grab oh, about 15 books or so and then we head to the kids' section where I sit and flip through the pages and the kids roam around having a blast. Just like most of us, I'm first drawn to the new new NEW books and the flash of the new patterns and such, but started roaming through the old books and there's some seriously GOOD stuff in there. There's more to READ. I also found more pictures of my strange thumb cast-on. I learned a lot and had a blast. I came across 450 Knitting Stitches Vol. 2 and have had entirely too much fun. I must admit to a bad night of ebay shopping and a buttload of the world's most luscious merino, malabrigo, is on its way to me. I decided to swatch up some malabrigo I ALREADY HAD and have decided to knit scarves and matching ear warmer/head band things. Because what else would I be knitting on now that winter is OVER and spring is here? sure. makes sense.

We're sticking around kc for spring break. I've got to work and the kids have no where to go, should be interesting, no? At least my work is pretty flexible, so I can work half days and then at night after they're in bed. I may take a couple of days and do a little mini-trip, but don't have any ideas where to go. I'm in KC so anyone got ideas? I'll probably do the lake of the ozarks with mom & dad for a couple of days, but I'd rather go to a hotel somewhere and just have fun. I've heard good things about the Omaha zoo in Nebraska. maybe.

Sometimes it's good not to be famous. Kirby Puckett (baseball), Dana Reeve (Christopher's widow) both died so young and were such neat people. Famous people always die in 3's...who's going to be the third? Sorry to be morbid, but I wonder about these things.

Please adopt me! FREE SOCK YARN!

KV note: The lovely yarn has found a home! Thanks!

Hello, my name is Susie Sockotta. My twin sister is Sally Sockotta. We're color #19 and both from the same dye lot #909. I'm the one with the cuff and leg knitted and my sister's the one with the loosly wrapped remains of our owner's original sockie that never quite made it off the needles. We knit up with fun little swirly designs with red, purple, green and yellowish orange muted colors. We can be knit on 1's-3's, but our owner hit gauge of 7 stitches to the inch on size 2 needles. Click on the picture to see us in bigger detail. My twin sister (the one with the frogged yarn still attached) has only had less than a yard snipped from the end when our owner was learning and relearning the figure 8 cast-on. I've only had about 6 inches snipped from the end of me, so together we're about 417 yards of machine washable sock yarn. Specs: 45% cotton, 40% superwash wool and 15% nylon.

If anyone out there would like this yarn, please send an email to treasuregoddessATkcDOTrrDOTcom or leave a comment. I just don't like knitting with cotton yarn on little needles. My current tank top of 100% cotton may just kill me. I can only handle knitting a few rows before I run back to wool.

This is very nice sock yarn and I think I would love to WEAR sockotta socks, I just can't seem to KNIT them. If you don't like frogged and wavy yarn, feel free to snip off the used parts and knit away with what's left. I am soon moving to a new home (can I get a woo hoo?) and need to pare down the stashola. So, it's FREE, it's nice, barely used, and from a non-smoking home. Let me know.

On the home front, we got a call from the crazy people who were selling the house we looked at on Vday. The people called and said they had decided to sell their house and though they supposedly had higher offers, they wanted US to be the "good Christian family" to buy their house. This was on WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, after taking 14 days to decide whether or not they were going to sell their house. Jeff said, "let me talk with Christine and my banker and I'll get back to you in a couple of days." On FRIDAY afternoon I went by the house to get a feel of it and to see if I could go look inside again on the weekend to make sure, and the FSBO sign (for sale by owner) was gone and a realtor's sign was up. I called and said, "um, this is Christine and we wanted to let you know we would like the house..." and she said "Oh, well we hadn't heard from you guys....blah blah blah...and we're so sorry...blah blah blah" and they'd signed a month contract and are now asking 20 grand MORE than they agreed to sell it to us for, making it the most expensive house in the entire subdivision. nice. There's a much longer story of goofy stuff that makes us think the place probably has bad kharma anyway, so we're sticking with Jeff's house. I'll just say that the owners BOTH drove white vans with no windows on them. Yup, the white van thing.

sing a song....sing it loud....sing it strong...

Well, my daughter just made me proud as punch tonight! Elizabeth and one of her girlfriends, Konner, got to sing a duet for the third grade at the primary school concert. It was SO cute and of course wonderful! It was the first two paragraphs (or is it refrains? I was the tuba and flute player back in my youth, not the singer in the family) from the song "sunny side of the street". It was such fun! Freshly painted pink toenails, new sandals, fluffy flowing dress, ribbon in the hair, such fun!

BUT seriously, what kind of torture is it to sit through those grade 1-3 concerts? God bless the music teachers! Without them, our children and our world would not be the creative wonders that they are. I tell you, those teachers have it rough. There's no way I could do it. My favorite moment of the night behind the proud momma of the girl singing up at the microphone AND a lovely grandma behind me being asking lots of questions about the "boiling of the wool" on the felted bag I was knitting on before the concert began, was the moment I realized there were 40+ little butt-white johnson county first graders singing some Swahili (sp?) African song/chant thing with the drums going and they were all trying to move in time to the beat and it was the saddest thing I have seen. It's just wrong. wrong wrong wrong. very ambitious, I'll give them that, but still wrong.

Crazy people with the house we looked at on Valentine's Day called and left a message for Jeff yesterday that they "think" they've decided to sell their house. When he called them back, they still weren't sure what they wanted for it, so who the heck knows what's going on there. cripes almighty. We may or may not be checking into it. If not, we're going to move into Jeff's house, which is not a bad thing either as it's in a great neighborhood and is a good home.

We've had a few issues of the whole "stuff" stuff. You know, moving one family into another's territory is not the same as everyone moving somewhere new. It's "my stuff" and "your stuff" and so much STUFF! So far only a few tears have been shed (mine of frustration) and one piano is determined to go into said house. (The boy has it in for pianos I swear. He doesn't even have to move it up any stairs, it can roll right into the main floor. I may have to move this one in on my own with some help from my girls, we'll see.) All in all we decided it's all just stuff. Plus I have a lot more stuff than the boy realizes, hell, I have more stuff than even I realize sometimes. I'm trying to pare down to more simple living standards, but I've still got over 30 pair of shoes that I don't think I can part with. I have donated 12 pair of silly shoes with very high heels I no longer wear, but have those that you just never know, you MAY well NEED someday... Good thing yarn is able to be shoved into drawers, bags, tubs, etc. Silly boy thinks it will all fit into the cedar chest he made me. Silly boy.

startitis anyone? anyone? bueler?

SO, here's the newest sock on the needles. I finally realized I really NEED to just knit and figure out the damn thing the way everyone says to, so I measured and calculated and decided 56 stitches with sockotta yarn on sz 2 dpns. I did about an inch and a half of 2X2 rib and am now doing stockinette. I'm not sure if it'll fit, I'm using my least favorite of sock yarn in the stash to use as the base sock. From here I'll go get all creative and shit. We'll see.

I also cast on and knit the first 6 rows of the beautiful tank top I want to make, but realized I must be yarn-over-challenged as the yo's when I'm purling are different than the yo's when knitting, one is twice as long as the other, so my cute little holes are turning out all wonky. I'm going to go watch my favorite knitting help website's videos to find out what I'm doing wrong.

OH, I am SO phyched! I learned this strange thumb long-tail caston and have NEVER been able to find pictures or directions for it. When I teach someone my caston method, they have nothing to refer back to. NOW I found it! You have to scroll down to click the little camera button by the THUMB METHOD to see it. TOO COOL! I have to say I LOVE THIS AMY CHIC who does the KnittingHelp.com website. I go there for EVERYTHING. I just saw I was doing the purl yo's right and the knit yo's wrong.

I am just ITCHING to go get started on a new project or 4. Starting the sock appeased the monster inside a little, the cotton start & frogging helped a bit more, but I....MUST....START.....MORE MORE MORE MORE projects! Maybe it's the spring weather outside, I don't know, but it's getting hard to sit still. Speaking of which, have you SEEN this site? Drops Designs free patterns from the Garn studio? OOOOOOOOOhhhhhh they have some cool stuff!