filler

Oh my poor neglected blog. It’s weird how I think of things to write about and then never quite get around to actually writing anything. Well, maybe not weird, maybe it’s ennui. Yes, I have blog ennui.

The only reason I’m even writing this now is because it’s on my to do list. Sure, it’s been on my to do list before, but today I have been busting through this list like nobody’s business! So here I am, blogging. Marking one more thing off the list.

Kinda sad… I’ll think of something much better to write about soon. Pinky swear!

a little knitting time

Hello! Long time, no see, err, blog…

Tonight I spent a great evening with a great group of knitters/crocheters and even a new member spinner at The Grove (I always find it a little strange when placed don’t have a website). You should join us. Our group information can be found here.

Just don’t be put off if our conversations turn towards things like:

• What can be eaten off the floor and other food topics
• Monkey clown sweaters in intarsia
• I had to pee so bad… stories. These may or may not have ended badly, but are always funny
• This one time at band camp… oh wait, I think that was a movie

I just started meeting up with this group the past couple of months, but what a group! You should really stop by and hang and share a few stories with us. It’ll be a hoot!

this is what i use technology for

This is an IM conversation I had with my friend Linda the other day...

Linda

*shrugs*

 u should pay me for bringing joy to your daily life

Judi  [2:28 PM]:

 wow

Linda  [2:29 PM]:

 what

 when u win the lotto

 ?

Judi [2:30 PM]:

 nope

 i'm greedy, keeping it all for me

 i might buy you a drink though

Linda  [2:30 PM]:

 ...

 i thought we agreed

 u wud get me a porsche

Judi  [2:31 PM]:

 nope

Linda  [2:31 PM]:

 ...

 i'm going to sue you now

 lol

Judi  [2:31 PM]:

 ok

 i'll counter sue

 i will win

Linda  [2:31 PM]:

 cuz u got your lotto money

 and your apt in france?

Judi  [2:32 PM]:

 pretty much

 but i will be house poor with my french apt

 it will be really sad

Linda  [2:34 PM]:

  but mostly happy

 cuz u got teh lottery

 while your friend gets nothing

 =(

Judi  [2:36 PM]:

 that about sums it up

This conversation is referencing a conversation I had with Joe while we were in Paris and I was admiring the lovely apartments with the fabulous slate roofs. Joe may have gotten a little tired of my admiration of the roofs, but he got me back. He always does…

Me: When I win the lottery I’m moving to here and buying one of those apartments with the fantastic
balconies.

Joe: You won’t have any money left after that.

Me: What?

Joe: Once you pay taxes on your winnings and then with the crappy exchange rate it won’t leave you much and those apartments are pretty expensive.

3 hours later, cause it never occurs to me at the time…

Me to myself: Who goes into exchange rates when I start a sentence with “When I win the lottery”? Sheesh!

And now I realize I need a prettier font for my IM.

silver lining

It’s my birthday and I’ll be sick if I want to…
Woke up this morning with a fever. Slept almost all day. Good times.

When I finally did wake up I found a cute box that Joe had left out for me to find with my birthday gift. I would have taken pictures, but, well, you’ll have to excuse that for today. I will, however, direct you to the website… I love it! I write a lot. Especially since we moved. Yes, I know you wouldn’t know that from the blog, but you know, it’s personal stuff. Stuff I need to get off my chest. Stuff I need to think about. Stuff that becomes clearer written down. So now I have this beautiful cover and my first ever Moleskine journal. It’s perfect. Plus, he left me a really lovely note inside and no, like my journals its not for public consumption.

So even though I woke up feeling like yuck on my birthday I feel loved. I received lots of Happy Birthdays and talked to everyone in my family, some of them several times over the day. It’s nice. Nice to know that people care and are thinking about you. Even if they are thousands of miles away.

Have a lovely day everyone!

field trip

On a Ravelry forum last week I was made aware of an interesting place near where I work called the Mechanic’s Institute Library & Chess Room. So today I went over for the weekly tour that they provide. If your in the city and looking for something to do on a Wednesday I recommend it… really interesting place with lots of history. I’m seriously thinking about becoming a member.

This staircase goes down five floors.

And chess…

They apparently have a very active chess club. I <3 these old worn tables. Can you imagine the years it took to wear that down?

And their very own chess director. Who knew?

I realize I didn’t take any pictures of the actual library parts. You know, the books and stuff, but I figure you all know what that looks like. Plus, these were the more interesting bits of the Institute. I found it all very intriguing.

On a completely unrelated note, as per normal, someone has been writing on my shiny new chalkboard. We will not be naming any names.

it’s on random

I only seem to have a few random thoughts for today

1. I’ve been procrastinating way to much lately. Even procrastinating with things I enjoy doing.
2. A simple (non-dressy) black skirt is apparently not available here in the city.
3. I need a lamp for my desk. It’s just not conducive to writing with an overhead light. The glare!
4. I need to figure out how to get the sound to work on my webcam. You can only hear me if I shout.
5. I’ve been reading my horoscope lately and it’s all true.
6. I have a super ambitious To Do list for this evening… see item 1.

silently sleeping

And I’m back. Again. Aren’t you three just all excited!?

Tonight I finally got off my ass and made it to the Crafty Meet-up that I’ve been talking about and telling Joe that “I really should go” for months.Gah! Why do I wait so long to do this stuff? Besides the fact that I met other super nice yarny/crafty types (hi Alice and Anne!), it was nice to get out and do something I like to do with other people who like to do similar type things*. Fun! With no pictures! Cause that’s how I roll… not even one shot for Instagram. There’s always next time…

On yet another entirely different topic, um besides the fact I need to work on better segues… I think Leeloo is giving Joe and I the stink eye. It may not be entirely unwarranted, but it’s disconcerting nonetheless. Thank goodness we kennel her while we sleep. One can only imagine what shenanigans she’d get into when we’re sleeping as payback. For what you may be asking? Because we are at our wits end with all the barking. It’s not only embarrassing, but a few weeks ago she made some poor little boy cry cause she scared him half to death with her crazy barking self. Something had to be done and none of our training techniques were doing a bit of good. So, at the recommendation of a fellow dog owner I purchased a citronella collar to startle her so she would think twice about barking. Yeah, well, considering everything from the motorcycle that drove by outside to the crazy shake she does (this time inside) sets it off, not really a winner for teaching your dog to stop barking. Could be good for making your dog neurotic, but not much else. So last week I started the search again and found this remote control buzzer with electric shock**, which seems to be doing the job. She hates it, but has been staying fairly quiet even when it’s not on her. She hates it, but quiet wins every time. I kinda hate it too, but I don’t have any better ideas. *sigh*

She just looks so cute and innocent when she’s sleeping…

*Yeah, the long, convoluted run on type sentences are epic around these parts.
** not to be used at our house…

good things come in threes, but mostly twos

What? A post three Wednesdays in a row? That’s right people, I’m working on consistency.
Of course, since I’ve now mentioned it I’ll probably fall right on my ass next week. That’s how I roll…

Now on to our regularly scheduled blog posting.

I realized this afternoon that while I’m walking around, far, far away from paper, that I think about really interesting  or clever things to write about. Then I get distracted and they’re gone. Gone without a trace. And then later I think… what WAS it that I wanted to write down. No clue. I’ve come to the conclusion that two things could actually be happening:
1) I’m missing out on really great ideas and things to write about
2) they’re really mediocre or bad, but seemed really great at the time and should be forgotten

Now for the experiment. My shiny happy iPhone has a voice recorder and I’m going to start using it. I mean, I have that thing with me ALL THE TIME. This, of course will lead us down one of two paths as well.
1) I’m gonna have really great things to blog about. And I will!
2) I’ll never mention this again. I have a feeling this one may be the winner. *sigh*

And now for something completely different.
I decided to check on my horoscope today and the one thing that caught my eye was this statement: It's also a good day to handle paperwork relating to finances. Huh, it’s like they knew two things:
1) my taxes are still not done
2) but they were already on my to do list for today

I don’t know why I have waited this long to finish them up. Actually, they’ve been done for about a month, but I needed to do one last run through. That apparently takes a lot of time. Apparently. The point here is two fold (yes, again)
1) they’re done!
2) to forestall this happening in 2012 I’m making a vow

The vow is as follows*: the second any tax forms come in I’ll get them into TurboTax (love me some TurboTax!) immediately. Or at least within 48 hours. That means 2011 taxes will be done by mid February. To this end there’s now a reminder in my calendar with an alarm, no less, reminding me of this fact. Stay tuned ten months from now for my riveting follow-up to this story.  I know you will…

So to that end. This post is over. And I’m off to get some sleep. Nighty night!

*ultimately vows are made to be broken. I just won’t be responsible for how this all turns out.

wants

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I want to do with my future. What I want to do with my life. What I want to accomplish. It’s vague and full of knots. Rolled into one big ball of sorting out the big picture into the bite sized pieces.

This is what I want:

• I want to be my own boss.
• I want my own space to fill.
• I want the freedom to make my own destiny.
• I want the freedom to succeed or fail on my own merits. To own my own dreams. Not based on arbitrary standards & measurements.
• I want to sell lovely, cute, well made, well designed things to people who will appreciate and enjoy them.
• I want hard work that’s fulfilling.
• I want a challenge.

So what this means is that I’m looking for a change. I have an idea, but I need a lot of help and a lot more information and investors. Of course, if I had my way I would jump in without looking back. That’s why I have Joe. He’s my temperance to my impulsiveness.

It’s a road I’ve started down though and that’s something. I’ll let you know where it goes…

why i don’t knit gauge swatches and stuff

So, I had all these grand plans to write a blog post last week about my trials and tribulations with this new stole I started knitting. How it suggested using a size 4 needle, which I didn’t have on hand so I swatched (yes, I swatched for a stole) and it totally lied did not work out at all. I went to Imagiknit twice and bought a total of 4 circular needles. I finally settled on size 5’s and started the darn thing and took it with me on our flight to WV this weekend. I should have know this story was not going to end well… especially since I flagrantly decided not to take any of the other needle sizes with me. I was so confident!

I’m sure you can see where this is going… on the plane I realized that the fabric was too loose and, you guessed it, the size 4, suggested needle size, was what I needed. You know, the one I left at home. This meant yet another knitting shop, this time Kanawha City Yarn Company, and success! The first repeat of the stole looks great!

Maybe not the greatest picture. Of course, this is about par for my picture taking abilities, especially on a plane.

As I mentioned, Joe and I flew to WV for a nice long weekend visiting our families. It’s so strange being so far from home. No longer a quick 4 hour drive for a visit, but a hard 8 or so hours flying across the country. It makes me appreciate them all the more! Hopefully we can get back for another trip before Christmas, but I’m thinking that’s not too likely…

On a lighter note, hello to you lurkers out there! It has come to my attention that more than two people are reading this here blog. When I say more than two, I’m thinking there now might be five. This makes me very very happy! So I’m going to ask a favor, por favor. I would love a headcount. A hello. Nothing fancy. Just a quick hi in the comments to let me know you’re here. One time. You can do it!