Happy New Year! and a resolution or two

Happy New Year everyone!! Hope all of you out there in cyberspace have a wonderful and safe celebration this evening.

I usually don't do Resolutions. At least I stopped making the lists at some point because a) it seems so arbitrary and b) I really don't follow up too well on these things. That being said I am making a list this year. And here it is:

1) lose 10 pounds. So this gives me 365 days to do this. It really shouldn't be to hard, but you should refer to b above.
2) exercise at least twice a week. Again refer to b. And Joe this does not give you a reason to hassle me about going. At some point I have to do these things on my own.
3) organize. this refers to things such as the filing cabinet, the loads of cross-stitch and knitting items in the closet (and elsewhere), and we will throw in magazines for good measure.
4) cook. I really need to cook more, which in my case "more" would be, say, five times in a year.

That's all I can think of for now. I need to get downstairs and check on the meatballs.

Why the Internets ROCK!!

This is why.

Christmas Bunny

This is for Mom who said she wanted to see some pictures of our Christmas Tree. I thought I would get shots of the tree and the rascally rabbit.

The twinkling lights. I really prefer the colored ones, much more fun don't you think?


So ignore the orange buckets, just pretend they are invisible. And yes, Smokey does actually eat the paper. I think she is in love with the phone book. Yummy!

Stitching

I have been gone from the blogging world for almost a month. So sorry! I have had lots going on, some I can talk about and some I probably won't. I have been stitching on South Seas Mermaid and she is looking really great, if I do say so myself. I had lots of time this weekend to work on her while I was sick. Gotta love the Crud.

Moving right along

So, yeah I have been working on this a lot since Saturday. I am really enjoying working on this and can't wait to get all the shiny stuff that goes with it (aka beads and metallic thread).


Here you can see the bottom of her tail and some of the very bright green seaweed. I have noticed while looking through some other blogs and message boards that most people seem to either start from the top (maybe so they will have a face?) or they start in the middle somewhere. I haven't noticed anyone else who starts from the bottom as I do. Interesting... it seems the logical place to start if you ask me. But, it seems that maybe no one is asking me.

My faith...

in humanity has been restored. Seriously, I was worried.

Read this.

Alphabet Soup

So, I saw this on WhizGidgets blog and gamely asked for a letter. Here are the words that I chose and what they mean to me.

If you want to play along leave a comment and I will assign a letter for you to use. You are then instructed to go to your blog and list 10 words starting with said letter and what they mean to you. DO IT!

E is for:

Everything- We seem to have so much, yet people are still fighting over playstations.

Elephant- I remember my sister had bazillion elephants growing up because she collected them, only to find out that she thought they were OK but she kept receiving them as gifts because she “collected” them.

Equine- I dream of owning a few beautiful horses with an equally stunning barn for them to live in.

Elderberries- “And your father smelt of elderberries!” Monty Python the Holy Grail

Empirical- makes me think of science… I always liked science.

Energy- I wish I had more physical energy, maybe my brain sucks it all up being all obsessive compulsive like in my thinking.

Ecosystem- I worry about this, not so much global warming and all that but about the plants and animals around us. You know, the things that were here first.

Eggs- I love to eat them!

Epicureous- I like the way this word sounds and always associate it with food. Most likely because of the magazine with the same name.

Epilogue- I thought it would be appropriate to use this as the last word and then list some of the other E words that I decided not to use:

Education
Easy
Eternal
Easter
Explore
Excellence
Earth
Excel
Epitome
Egret
Empire
Ethical
Even
Executive
Enter

New Start

What's this? This would be the beginnings of another cross stitch project called "The South Seas Mermaid" by Mirabilia.


Starting this has made me realize that cross stitch is my first love and not knitting. That is not to say that I do not enjoy knitting and that I will stop knitting, but that it will not be my priority. It is interesting to me when I think about this. Why am I driven to do one craft over another? Why does one consume me in a way the other does not? I don't have answers to those questions now, but I find them very interesting. Especially since I find knitting to be so fascinating.

I have recently started timing how long I work on various cross stitch projects. To give you an idea of how consumed I am with this project (at least for the time being...) I worked on this 3.5 hours last night, which is the picture above. I have worked another 5 hours on it today. WOW! I guess that shows you how productive I have been in other areas of my life today.

Dinner

From the home of a woman who doesn't do much cooking. Here is what I had for dinner...

Fried bologna came up in a discussion at dinner last Friday night, oddly we were at a chinese restaurant. Here is the final product with a nice cold bottle of beer. Tasty!


I couldn't find any unsliced bologna, so I don't really feel like it is the same as Mom made growing up. Well, it was still really good! Anybody want me to cook one up?

Alright, gotta go and clean up the homestead since we will be having a few overnight guests tomorrow. Plus, Smokey's cage needs a bit of cleanup as well. funky...

A little overdue

So, I forgot to post this picture when it was a current news issue (as in before the election). This was hanging on a fence near where we live. Not much to say, except, it seems a bit extreme. I guess that is why we have freedom of speech and opinions in this country. In a weird way, since I do disagree with the sentiments of this sign, it made me happy that I live in a country where you can say pretty much whatever you want. Well, except, maybe, FIRE!!!!

It's a Hooker! and other things

So many things to talk about today. I have meant to post something for days, but there never seems to be enough time or I just plain don’t feel like doing it anyway. Heh, excuses are easy.

Let’s start with the Hooker. Everyone loves a good hooker and I am no exception. I may even have to give her a name since I feel like she is a part of the family now. I am so in love! And, DH, that does not mean I am still happy with the whole “TV situation” either. Merely pacified with the end result. There is a difference, really. Oh, and I know people are going to google hooker and be sorely disappointed by the actual topic of this conversation, but it makes me laugh EVERY TIME hookerhookerhooker

If you look closely on the coffee table (the blue thing on the left) you will see that I have been knitting as well, oh, and shameless plug for the teeny tiny diet dr pepper can next to it.

The Hooker, let’s call her Lily, led to another costly purchase… the beautiful hand knotted Indian rug. I love it! Not as much as Lily, but love nonetheless. Now we are poor and unable to buy anyone Christmas gifts for the next five years, at least. Please send money to the poor destitute couple with the nice furniture who can’t buy groceries.

Ah the fabulous rug. It actually looks pretty dull in this picture. I am having issues with getting a good photo of its true colors, it really is much more lively in person, really.

What else, what else… umm knitting, I mentioned a bit of knitting before. The purse is on hold. I had started on the handles which were the last of the pieces to complete. However, running out of yarn seemed to be the status quo. I bought an extra ball so that I could “finish” the bag and then promptly ran out again when I started on the handles. I did manage to get yet another ball, but now they are in a bag waiting for me to complete another project that is on a deadline.

What is the deadline project? Really cute shrug that I am knitting so that I can wear it over one of two black dresses that I own for the Company Holiday Party (is this sentence to long/fragmenty?? I hate typing in Word and it tells me I am fragmenting… what does that mean??). I was very cold last year in one of said dresses and thought it would be nice to have a little something on my shoulders. The yarn is mostly mohair that is lovely to work with as long as you don’t have to tink back. The humanity of it! stickystickysticky! I have completed the back piece and have started on the two front pieces. Pray I have enough yarn for this project since there is no more to be had at the shop.

Alright, that is enough of me blathering on for today. I will start logging new and exciting things for me to blog and hopefully be back a little sooner next time.

The Unveiling

DH and I spent some time on Monday unpacking the huge box that was delivered on Friday.

Looking good! The box anyway. Nice to see that this family heirloom was well packed.

Another layer...


This is the back of it. I am so excited that this is here!


Isn't it beautiful?!?! Yes, there is some cardboard and tape still on it, but it is on the inside of the glass and we had not found the key at the time of this picture. This is my grandmother's (NaNa's) grandfather clock. My aunt and uncle from Colorado packed it up and sent it to me. Thank you! Thank you! I am really happy to have it here! Once we decide where it will be placed in the house I will be calling an expert to put it together, clean it, and generally just get it up and running for me.

Do you sometimes feel as if things are just falling into place? I have been feeling that way this past week. Not only did the Grandfather clock arrive in pristine condition, but we will be receiving another addition to the furniture family tomorrow. I am super excited about it as well! More pictures to come...

Mail call!

Don't you remember when your postal worker would place any packages too large for your mailbox by your front door? Apparently, that is not the case any more. Well, at least at our new location.

This is what I came home to last night. Just laying right there on the grass.

I guess it's a good thing it didn't rain before I got home.
For those of you who are curious, this package is my 2007 Daytimer pages. Yeah!

So, I was going to cut the postal service some slack, but then I got up and looked out the window just now and what did I see? Yet another package just hanging out by the mailbox, laying in the damp grass. I guess it's a good thing that I have our sprinkler system turned off.


On a lighter note, this huge truck came to deliver a very special package to me today. What is it?

It's entirely to big to get into the garage, that's what it is! I did manage to unwrap the plastic and remove a much smaller box that was there, but I guess the gigantuan box will have to wait until I find a couple of big strong men to help me unpack this sucker. Any volunteers?

I will keep those of you who don't know what this is in suspense until I can get it unpacked and take some pictures. Stay tuned!

Punkins!

There was much pumpkin carnage this evening at the pumpkin party this evening thanks to the lovely sharp pointyness of my new favorite carving tool. Many a pumpkin lost its top and guts for the festivities. Mmmmm pumpkin guts! Nothing like the sticky goodness of cleaning a pumpkin to whet your appetite for pumpkin seeds. Lenore.... I am waiting on my share of toasted yummy seeds!
















This was Wild Bill's pimped out pumpkin. Notice the lovely pimp hat and gold tooth. Stylin!

































Before I got to sleep (because pumpkin carving is tough business!) here is a picture of our hideously scary pumpkins.

Happy Birthday Jan!

43 years ago today! Hope you have a Happy Happy Birthday and many more to come!

I think this cheerleading picture is my favorite! Go Jan!!

Panic!

Since I have now decided that I need to complete the Noro bag that has been languishing it would seem that I would have to run out of yarn. And run out I did. Emergency situation! For anyone that does any kind of fiber craft, which in my world would be cross-stitch and knitting, you then know that dye lots can be very important. Different dye lot can mean no real noticeable difference or it could mean, "Hey look, I added a whole 'nother color over here and now it looks ridiculous." Lucky for me, when I called my local shop (Charlotte Yarn), they not only had the same color, but the same dye lot as well. Considering that I bought the original yarn in July in a California shop, I count myself lucky. On knits the Noro bag... I will post some pictures in the near future. Or, maybe not, the new piece looks a lot like the other pieces I have shown but a different shape. Not all that exciting.

Also on the knitting front, I have discovered the world of podcasts. The first knitting podcast I have been listening to is Lime & Violet. Fun and interesting! Once I get current I will start on a new one. Yeah!

Off to work a bit more on the bag and then clean up a bit. MIL will be here tomorrow for a charity auction that is sponsored by NASCAR.

Happiness abounds

Good news today! We finally found (and purchased) an entertainment center for the living room. I am so relieved and excited that this search is finally over. We were told that the delivery time is 6-8 weeks, but we are crossing our fingers that it does not take quite so long. I will absolutely post pictures when this wonder boy arrives!

On to some knitting news. Here is the partially completed square for the Lizard Ridge Afghan. I have almost completed one of the many squares that will be needed to complete this project. What I found amusing is that you knit from the inside and the outside of the ball, which is supposed to mix the variegation of the ball of yarn. Unfortunately, it seems that my ball had green on both ends with all of the other colors being in between... oh well, I am sure it will look beautiful none the less.

Below is the Noro handbag that I have been working on. I am done with the second panel, just need to bind off. Then I will start the strip that will connect the two side pieces together. You may see me carrying this around soon!



Finally, the sock. My lifes ambition all tied up in this one item... it is going to be ripped back and started over now that I have completed the class and learned most of the techniques needed. I am starting over because the ribbing at the top is too loose and there is a hole in the leg of the sock where, I don't know, I perhaps can't keep the stitches together. So, again the sock is to be no more and will, hopefully, start a new life as a much better constructed sock in its second life. Then I just have to knit a mate for it.



Gotta run... DH (dear husband for the one who asked) and I need to ready for the beer tasting party that we were invited to by one of his co-workers. We are bringing some Lambic beer from Belgium. Lots of fruit flavors, really delicious!

Blech!

Welcome to the world of rapid weather change! 80 degrees one day 50 the next and with that comes the happy land of sinus congestion and PAIN. My head could actually explode right now... seriously, it could happen. I will be back to the blogging fun once the pain recedes to a more managable level.
For more interesting fare you should check out Lenore, she got back from her lovely trip to Italy today.

Komen Walk

Time for an update on the Komen Race for the Cure that ocurred this past Saturday. I am super pleased to announce that I was able to raise a bit over $700 this year. This beats last years fundraising of $423. Thank you to everyone that donated this year!!

Since I am on the subject I wanted to post a link here to an issue that I have long felt strongly about, but was really not able to explain this in a really logical fashion. Today I was searching for some information on breast cancer and I came across this website for Breast Cancer Action. Ok website, but what really caught my eye was their article on Think Before You Pink. I have long felt that companies may or may not be taking advantage of "Breast Cancer Awareness" or other such worthy causes so they can sell more of there product by making the buyer feel that they are really supporting said worthy cause. I am NOT advocating that these products not be purchased. What I am advocating is that you ask yourself why you are buying it and if you are buying it soley based on the pink ribbon on the box then ask yourself is this company really doing a service for this cause.

Disney fun!

Whew! We just got back from the fantastical Disney World yesterday. Can I just tell you how much I love that place?? I have been so many times as an adult and I just can't seem to get enough. The only downside this time was that I seemed to be so tired. Of course, Disney is all about walking in the heat and there seemed to an infestation of "lovebugs" while we were there. Has anyone ever been to Florida during lovebug season? It is a complete infestation! Seriously, I have never seen so many bugs in my life! The air was actually thick with these things! Luckily for us, they were only bad on the first day we were there, which was Wednesday, and they thinned out by afternoon. From what we were told they usually arrive later in October and they are like that for several weeks. Nice.

So, I should probably talk about the actual fun that I had and not the icky bugs, huh. Well, we stayed at the Beach Club Resort. Thanks D&R! We were there with my aunt and uncle, my brother Joe and DH. We had so much fun! I don't have the pictures with me, but we went to the Magic Kingdom first and Mickey met us at the door for a picture. I have so many pictures with the characters... I can never seem to have enough. The next day we went to Animal Kingdom, which is definitely in the top two of my favorite parks there. Animals are cute!

Here is DH and I posing in from on the new Expedition Everest. That's the giant mountain that they built with a really cool roller coaster ride in it... at least that's what I heard. I chickened out and waited for them in the gift shop.

Here is a picture of the Tree of Life.

Here is a picture of a cute littel bird that was kind enough to pose for DH in the bird of enclosure. As you can see my new camera rocks!


OK, we did go to Epcot the next day, which is my other very favorite park. They have a new ride called Soarin' that was really cool. Not only did you get to fly over California, but it included smell'o'vision as well! The other cool ride is Mission Space, this ride is so intense that they now have the easy baby ride if you don't want to go on the full force one... Joe, DH, and I went on the REAL ride!

Here is DH and I with Chip 'n Dale at Epcot.

Last, but not least, here is the super friendly squirrel friend that we made in France (Epcot). This guy knew how to get some pastry and cake from everyone. He would come right up to your shoe. I actually thought he was going to crawl right up onto one of my shoes while we were there. So cute! Of course, my luck he would bite me and I would end up with rabies or something. Suffice it to say, I fed the little guy, but there was no petting.

I think that's about it. We had a fabulous time and can't wait to go again!

Brand Spankin' New

You might notice some changes on my blog... I realized last night that, with the old template, that if you view the blog in Explorer that the side bar was on the bottom of the page. I am open to opinions.... let me know what you think.

House and Lottery

Sun is out today, so maybe I will get some things done outside. Things like removing the rest of the horrid pine straw… maybe I will get outside to take some before and afters. And replacing it with the lovely mulch. Have I mentioned how much I love mulch? LURVE IT! Pine straw could possibly be the bane of my existence, at least where outside lawn products are concerned.

Hopefully, when I get home the brick masons will have been there removing the brick from our front porch. To make a very long story short, when they cleaned the concrete off of the brick it removed the finish from it making it a completely different color than the house. You know that looked good. I did notice several weeks back that someone came by to “fix” it. What the fix looked to be was someone spackling some concrete like substance over it so it would blend with the house brick. Needless to say, this looked really poor. My ultimatum to the builder was Friday the 15th… we will see how that goes. Then we can work on the fixit things on the inside of the house. And they were doing so well up until the 30 day review.

And now for something completely different:
I guess the first thing that I need to say is that I really love to gamble. Since black jack is not available to me here I have had to make a substitution. Anyone care to guess? I know some of you know… it would be scratch off lottery tickets! Why, you ask? I haven’t the slightest, but I have been keeping track of my winnings losses on an excel sheet. Pretty interesting. At some point I would like to link the spreadsheet to the blog. Anyone know how to set that up?

Weather and knitting

Has anyone looked outside lately? It is yucky and nasty outside here (check out the poor weather pixie to the right). Rain, rain, rain, all day long. Plus, it is starting to get cold out there. Not freezing by any means, but it feels like the start of autumn.

On to knitting... I am really happy that I finally took that knitting class! Like I need something else to do with my time. Oh well! This is not the best picture as it was getting dark outside, but here is my completed scarf. I think Buddha really likes it.


Here he is modeling my new handbag. Ok, yeah, I realize it looks more like a reallly short belt, but I took that picture about a week and a half ago. Yes, I am that slow to put stuff on here. At this time I have one of two panels completed. I have just started the second one. I will try and get a nice daytime picture of it when I can.


Just to torture myself a bit more I found this today. Is that not gorgeous? I am actually kinda jealous of the setting of the picture as well. Wouldn't that be a nice back yard? I digress... the only problem is that this particular yarn is not only beautiful, but expensive as well. Hah! When has that stopped me? You may be seeing Buddha wrapped in an afghan before long...

Happy Birthday DAD!

I had almost forgotten about these pictures that I had scanned several years back. I have no idea how old he is, but he sure is a cutie!

Hmmm... high school picture? Not sure about this one either.

Happy 65th Birthday and many happy returns!!

Delayed Thoughts

Joe and I celebrated two anniversaries in the month of August. One was our 10 year wedding anniversary and the other was 17 years of “being together” (not sure what else to title that one). It amazes me that we have been together for so long. It is rare in this world to have two people meet in high school and then still be a couple years later, much less into adulthood. Don’t get me wrong, it’s the best thing that ever happened to me, it just amazes me that we lasted through all of the growing up that we had to do at that age. Another thing that always surprises me, not to be redundant, is how long we have been together. I actually had to do some math to be sure that 17 was correct. I guess time does fly when you are having fun!

To celebrate the moment I thought I would dig up some wedding photos.

You can always tell an exciting wedding when the fire truck is parked outside!

This is me attempting to cut the first slice of wedding cake. Really, cutting the cake was easy, but someone should tell the bride that there is a piece of cardboard under the cake. It makes pulling the cake out a little difficult...

No wedding celebration is complete without a giant replica (this was bought at an auction by my dad and his brother as a gift for the bride) of a boa constrictor from a movie set. Hehe I'm not sure who won in this battle, but I think they are both tuckered out.

Lazy

You Are A: Duck!

Found in many lakes and ponds, ducks are a common site the world over. Known for their famous quack, ducks tend to congregate in flocks or go off on their own in pairs. As a duck, you may seem friendly at times but will not hesitate to bite if someone is bothering you. Your love for travel and your ability to swim are some reasons why you are a duck.

You were almost a: Bear Cub or a Frog
You are least like a: Groundhog or a MouseCute Animals Quiz

Yes, this is the lazy girls post. It is cute though... I will attempt to get off my lazy butt and tell you all about my super exciting life this weekend. Joe will probably accept a few wagers on that one...

Huge tracts of, um, something...

So I was returning home from the gym (yes, I have been slowly making my way back into the world of exercise) and I saw something weird on the garage door as it was making its way up. What was it you ask? You know I had to close the door and then go outside to see what it was. Enter our night visitor...


And for good measure, I, well, er, measured him/her/it. Four inches of icky slug is attached to my garage door. I hope it doesn't find anything good to eat in my yard cause I don't think I have the nerve to squish anything that big. UGH!



Other than giant slugs there is not much of note happening around our household. Just a little more knitting on ye old scarf this evening and in general being a bit lazy. Kinda nice.

Attack of the dull, dull little birds

Not sure why, but our back yard seems to be a very exciting place for these birds. This is the second time that we have seen a gigantuan flock of these little guys hanging around our backyard. They don't seem to be eating our grass seed, so I think it might be all the weeds back there that is grabbing there attention.


Joe ran out back and screamed at the birds and they hi-tailed it to the safety of our roof. It was actually quite funny! So many birds, but I have no idea what they are. They look pretty boring actually. Just brown and dull. However, when there are 50 of them in your backyard one tends to take notice.

Budda loves knitting

I have finally completed my first scarf! It has been 99.99% complete for months, but I finally learned how to bind off, so it is officially done. Thanks to Aunt Rebecca for the beautiful yarn and the lessons on knitting!


Now I am on a knitting frenzy! OK... lots of exclamations going on here, but it is so neat to see something take shape like this. This is my first scarf that has a pattern. I will be learning how to do variations on the knit and purl this Thursday so watch out!