Happy Birthday to ME!

For my birthday dinner, my parents took me out to eat at Sullivan's. It is a very pricey steak and seafood place (I don't think that is how they are advertised but that was ALL they had). It is in a small center with two other extremely popular restaurants and not enough parking. After driving around for over 10 min and finally being able to follow someone to their car, we got to park. My parents were already there and seated. The hostess told us she would get someone to take us to the table. Well we were standing right by her and she forgot all about us. Each hostess and host that came by she had them do something else. She finally remembered we were there (even told us she had forgotten us) and we were led to our table. The place was crowded but I think that was the style and mood of the place. It has a 20's style theme as if we were in Chicago or New York. They had loud music playing and it was hard to talk. One little funny was when my sister-in-law got up to use the restroom. She had placed her napkin down on the table. One of the servers immediately came by and refolded it for her. LOL!

Each item on the menu was a separate price, so if you wanted a potato with your $30.00 steak you had to pay $6.00 more. Same thing if you wanted a salad. My dad ordered a salad. It was not a salad. It was a head of iceberg lettuce cut into fourths and drowned with Blue Cheese dressing. That was it. Nothing else. Oh and just in case you did not like Blue Cheese…..well that is too bad as they did not have any other dressing. Not even Ranch. Only Blue Cheese. I think this was about the time my mom was not too pleased with the place.

When our meals came, they did not bring mine and brought my brother the wrong steak. We were told it would take over 20 min to cook another so he just ate what they brought him. I had ordered Tequila Lime shrimp. I finally got it and it was un-eatable. I only ate one (I got eight for $24.00). It was too hot. It did not taste like Tequila, Lime or even shrimp. Another worker, not our server told us that it is soaked in red pepper chilies. This would have been nice to know when reading the menu. So even after all this I still enjoyed my night. I am starving and have not eaten anything but that won't hurt me. I can tell you though; no one in our family will ever go to that place again. I think if it were not so busy, it would have been better. I just feel bad that for over $200.00 I did not get anything to eat.

This is a picture of B and me right after we were seated. Before all the mess-ups.

Here is my Mom and Dad.

My brother and his wife.

And me.....Yay! Happy Birthday to me!!!!

Wednesday - Works-in-Progress

I have not been feeling well so I neglected my poor computer this past weekend. Since I was not feeling well to go to work, I was also not feeling well to work on any projects. Then of course last night (Tues) I found myself working on my ribbed scarf and not even getting to one row when all the stitches came off the needle. I got them all back on but it was just not right. I mean the end of the yarn was four stitches from the end and not at the end like it was supposed to be. I just threw in all in the bag and decided to stress about it later. So fast forward to tonight…..I fixed it. I can tell where I frogged it too but that is just because I am anal. LOL! So here is a current picture of my ribbed scarf. I am using two skeins and have just started with the 2nd one. I was surprised how it looked when I hung it on the wall, as I had not noticed how the pattern of colors looked. I really like how the pattern is turning out. Now I did just start the 2nd skein so I am hoping that with this 2nd one it does not change the pattern too drastically. Is it too much to wish for that the pattern stay exactly the same? LOL! I can see though in the top left that it is changing already.

As for the garter stitch scarf, I am going to start over and do a different pattern. Probably make 2 scarves instead of one and make them single colored. I have never started a project and then changed my mind and decided to make something else before. Of course, I have never made anything specifically for me, as they have all been gifts and are specific in what I decide to make.

Project Update

I am such a slacker. I start to write an extremely interesting update and then I never post it. I mean it is really interesting and yet the time passes and I post something else. Same thing with updating my template. I have everything ready to go except a couple of things but I never change it. So today's post.........it is ummmmm one of the not too exciting ones. Well that is if you do not like crafty things. In fact I uploaded these photos last night and still did not update.

I am almost done with my garter stitch scarf. I am really not loving this scarf. Well I do think I will be excited once it is done but there are many things I do not like about it but I can say I have learned not to carry the color up the side on this type of project. Another thing is that it appears to no longer be straight. I have checked and I do have the correct number of stitches (no increases) but if you look at the picture you can see where the scarf is getting wider. I did find myself telling B that he is to no longer make any comments of any kind (good or bad) concerning this scarf or I will stop and may not start again. LOL~!

So even though I have many projects that I need to finish I did decide to start a new one. The other day I bought a couple of skeins of LionBrand Jiffy and I am making yet another scarf. Now I do not know what I will ever wear these scarves in the desert but I am excited to make them. This scarf is a knit2, purl2 rib. I love it!!!!! I realize that once I am done with this scarf I can move on to a much larger project with confidence. I started this new scarf the other night at 11:30pm (when I should have been in bed). Well I was in bed but I thought starting a new project would be better then sleeping. I did not like how my first attempt was coming out and restarted it making it not so wide. Now B is asking me why I get the cool scarf and he gets the icky scarf. Yeah. I don't think he likes the garter scarf either.

One project or two?

Are you the type of person that can only work on one project at a time or do you find yourself getting bored and starting multiple projects? If you do work on multiple projects do you find that you never finish? How many projects are you currently working on?


As for me.......I find that I get bored and start new projects. However the projects I first started out on never get finished. As for how many projects I am currently working on......they are too numerous to count.

FO: Tote Bag in Blue

I thought it was about time I shared this finished project.

I crocheted this tote for my sister-in-law for Christmas. The picture with the flash shows the real color of the pretty blue. I was looking for purple but this was the closest I could find. This was my first time working with cotton. The bag works up pretty quickly.

Pattern - Easy Crocheted Bag
Yarn - Lion Cotton "Morning Glory Blue"

This first picture will show you the shape. Sorry it is so dark. I don't know why it looks so dark as it looks fine on my system.

This second picture shows the true color of the yarn. It is such a pretty blue!

FO: Bounty

I am finished! I am finished! Yippee! I finished my first thread project ever that I did for the Thread CAL. Sorry for the dark picture but the flash inside was making the detail go away and I took this outside (it was overcast). I am looking forward to starting on my next project. I have it narrowed down to two. I just need to decide which to start first.

Pattern - Bounty
Aunt Lydia's Size 10 crochet thread in Natural
Size 7 crochet hook

Look up your house

You can look up your house. You can see what your roof looks like. How cool is that?

http://terraserver.microsoft.com/

Nyquil daze

Yesterday just seemed to drag on forever. After work I should have gone home but instead went to Michael's. I bought some yarn. It took me forever to decided on what to buy and I ended up with 2 different colors and styles. I am planning on making a couple more scarves to practice my stitches. I don't know why I bought more yarn as I am not yet finished with my current projects and we will not mention the projects still in the closet that I started years ago. I was thinking I could use a smaller knitting needles so I did not buy any, but since I bought bulky yarn I should use my size 10 needles. I only have 2 needles so far (7 &10) and the 10's are being used right now so I did not start any new projects last night. I almost bought some pink thread to make a heart doily but changed my mind and put it back. Then of course I bought a big 'ole stack of patterned paper when I already have tons. I DO NOT NEED ANYMORE PATTERNED PAPER!!!! I will never learn though. I bought this stack and I do not even know what is in it - so I hope I like it. LOL! So now I am feeling totally guilty for buying stuff that I should not have.

I took some Nyquil last night so today I am a bit loopy. Being loopy at work is fun. Talk about not being able to concentrate. If I thought my typos were bad before.....well today it is worse. I am sure that if I close my eyes I will fall asleep immediately.

I am going to finally post the pictures of some recently finished projects. I have been stalling because I made some of them for gifts and one of my sister-in-laws has not yet received hers and I think she may read my blog. I have also posted some recent layouts on the sidebar and will post info on them soon.

But for now you can go here for a huh? type picture. I find this picture funny but also wonder what they were thinking? Since I live in an extremely warm climate I am sure I would be freezing to death. Is this just something the cold does to a person? Seems kind of loopy to me. LOL!

Works-in-Progress pictures

I have been taking pictures of my works-in-progress. Of course, I never shared them and end to end up taking even more pictures since I have been working on them. So here are some updates to my current projects.

First is my garter stitch scarf. It is actually straight but I think I was holding it at an angle and looks tilted. It was a bit larger than what is showing here but for some reason after about four stitches something went wacky and I could not fix it. So I tried to follow the steps to frog a couple of rows. I put a needle in certain stitches and then pulled the yarn out until I got to those stitches. I did not do it right as my needle was left with just yarn rolled around it and not attached to my work. I was able to catch the loops and put them on the needle. I surprised myself by being able to put them back on the needle the correct way (well I am not sure yet as I have not continued with my work but they look correct). Since the needle was facing the wrong way, I just had to transfer the loops to the other needle. I think I am back on track. I took apart maybe 5-6 rows so that is what is missing from this picture.

Now I like the front of the work (that picture up there). B is telling me he likes the wrong side (with the stripes from changing colors). I like it too actually but I am a bit bummed as I decided to carry the yarn and not just switch it out. So now I have that icky little trail of yarn up my piece. Being the perfectionist I am, I am trying not to dwell on it. LOL!

As for my thread project……it is still not finished. Here is where I am so far. I keep misplacing the darn pattern! LOL! I hope to finish it sometime soon so I can then figure out how to block it and then start on another one. They are fun! Now are they supposed to not be flat until they are blocked?

HEY! Grrrrr...

Shoot-out at the LSS!

Well I survived the crop! It was pouring rain when I left and it was slow going thru the flooded and dark streets. I finally made it there at around 7-ish. I started right in on scrapping and managed to finish 2 pages (one layout). Then I was super tired. I guess the week caught up with me. I started working on the second layout when there was a drive-by shooting (that was pretty much the consensus). The crop area in the store is right next to a huge plate glass window - in the front of the store. The store owner locked the doors and made us all go sit at the back of the store (I am hoping I can convince them to give me a copy of the photo that was taken). We were not allowed to go to the front (hence why I did not have my own camera). We were told to stay in the back until the police said it was okay. So we worked on a Make-n-Take (how is that for a scraping diversion). Finally the police let us go back to our cropping. Our call to the cops ended up being call #10. I ended up staying until midnight and although I only finished the one layout I did get some good ideas for the other pages I had planned. Hopefully I will get those completed sometime this week.

I took pictures of my works-in-progress but on Saturday I ended up knitting quite a bit on my scarf so I need to take new photos. I am already planning what my next project will be - I just need to decide it if it will be for me or B. If I make something for me I need to decide if it will fit or if I will have to make adjustments. I am interested in making a shrug (instead of the poncho). I need to decide if I have to make it wider or not. Why are all patterns make for the smaller set? It should not be too hard as this piece is just one rectangle and the sides are sewn to make arms. I am sure if I just make it longer it should work.

The weekend is almost here

Do you ever have one of those days/weeks/whatever where you just don't have enough hours in the day and when you do have a free hour you are so exhausted you don't want to do anything. That has been me. Although it has been actually a short week with Monday being a holiday, work has made the week feel longer. I am working my required overtime today and I am looking forward to getting out of work at noon. I have so many errands to run and I want to attend a crop tonight where I hope to actually scrap and not gab. It is sad when the one thing I have to look forward to is sleeping in tomorrow (Sat).

My uncle is sick. I was very upset yesterday to find that he has a malignant tumor but after speaking to my mom we don't know if we should believe everything he says. I think he is trying to see who looses it the most.

I have not done anything really crafty this week. My thread project has not progressed but I have completed a couple of rows in my garter stitch scarf, usually while watching a little TV before bed. I think B is disappointed that it takes longer for me to knit. He wants his sweater now! He asked me if he should put in his order for next year. I told him 'probably so'. LOL!

Work

Yesterday work was hectic. Today not so much. We are short one person and another will be leaving early but I think we can swing it. That means it will just be me and A@@. He came into work yesterday (after screwing us the previous) week and had the nerve to ask us if the work was piling up and what should he know. I am sorry but if it was me that ditched my co-workers during the busiest time of the year I would be ashamed to show my face. I am just looking forward to the time when he realizes he will not get holiday pay since he called in. Wouldn't you think that if you were planning on ditching you would not tell everyone at work about it? January is the only time there is a vacation freeze at work. When you are hired they tell this to you on the first day and it is mentioned many times through out the training. People that don't listen to this have learned the hard way. One guy had planned his wedding during this time and was told he could not have the time off. So when the A@@ asks the boss for time off to go to California he was told no. He has worked here long enough to know better. Well he then started telling everyone he would call into work. He gave different reasons but the main one was that he would not have a ride into work because his roommates were going to California. He made sure to tell everyone that he was planning on staying home the entire time. That since he was told he could not take vacation time he would not be going to California. Yeah right! I am just sure that when all of his friends and roommates left for this huge adventure (as he explained to the boss) that he told them. "oh just go along without me. I will stay home all alone". I noticed that he did not really talk to anyone yesterday but then no one really talked to him. The only thing he said yesterday was to announce really loudly how tired and exhausted he was. One of the other guys caught him on it and said 'how can you be tired when you have been off of work the past 5 days'. He kept to himself yesterday. Okay enough of my work gripes. As long as he does not talk to me I will not bring HR into it.

Yesterday I was a good girl and stopped to work out after work. It has been awhile since I have been in and there were some changes. They re-arranged the whole place (paint etc.) and got some new machines. I had to wait to watch a few ladies before I could use them. Hopefully I will go again on Thursday.

After the work out I watch the oh so entertaining Amazing Race. I am happy to say the Jerk of all time and his wife were eliminated (insert happy dance here). I was able to work some on my garter stitch scarf and I think I am getting the hang of it. I get scared when it comes time to change the colors as I am worried that I will do it at the wrong time and mess up the right side of the scarf. So far it is going well and I am picking up speed. I am carrying the yarn up the side and I have to remember not to pull too hard or the stitches get messed up and the side is not straight. I will have to take an update picture this weekend. I really need to finish this scarf as it is already in the 80's and there will be no need for one soon.

As for my Thread project......I only have 2.5 rows to go. I am excited to finish. I have read some directions but still need to figure out how to block it when I am done. I may wait though to block it when I finish some more thread projects but that may change (the blocking, not the other projects).

I am looking forward to this weekend. I am going to a local crop (YAY!) and I am really looking forward to it. I am also planning on getting some yarn for new projects. I just need to remind myself that if I start too many projects I may not finish the ones I am already working on.

And with Blogger down today I will not mention how long it took me to post! Urgh! That is all I have to say on that!

Some current projects

I thought I would write an early post today. B has gone hiking for the day and I get the whole place to myself. Yippee!!!

Here are photos of the two projects that I recently started. I am planning on adding more projects cause you know you cannot have just a couple. I still have a couple I have been working on from last year and previous years but I am only concentrating on new projects right now.

So far I am halfway finished with my thread project. Here is my progress so far. See I got the lopsidedness out of it. I had missed a ch5 and it threw the whole thing out of whack. I hope to finish this one and maybe start another sometime this weekend.

I have officially started my first knitting project. It is not anything fancy. Just a garter stitch scarf. I really think I am finally getting the hang of it. I tried to work on it some more this morning however but my fingers hurt too much. I am sure I will get used to it though.

I am using LionBrand Wool-Ease in Black and Oatmeal (I am loving this yarn!). The colors go well together I think. Of course everything goes well with black. This tiny bit (except for 2 rows) took me all last night (probably about 3 hours). I realize that knitting goes a lot slower than crochet and I am prepared for that. B is not prepared. He does not understand the difference even though I have mentioned it over and over. He wants his sweater now! LOL! I keep telling him that I only know one stitch right now and his sweater will have to wait! I guess I can take it as a compliment that he is already expecting me to be far more advanced than I currently am.

I plan to spend the rest of the day scrapping, reading my favorite blogs and cleaning (just a bit - I don't want to over do - LOL!). I am really looking forward to having the place to myself all day. I hope that does not sound mean but since B is not currently working he is always home. I do not get a day to myself anymore. Since I get 3 days off - one weekday and two weekend days I really looked forward to that weekday to do stuff for me.

Finally get to relax

After a very busy week that included lots of extra work and overtime, I was so happy to be able to sleep in this morning. It felt so good!

I really did not do very much today. Threw some beans in the crock-pot and planned to scrap the day away. I just could not get in the mood to scrap though. I could not get in the mood to do anything.

B usually goes out with the guys on Saturdays so I had planned to watch a chick flick and scrap. He ended up staying home so we watched Troy and I started to knit my first project. I am just making a garter stitch scarf with two colors. I think I finally have it down. I must say though that my hands are killing me. Not only do the tips of my thumbs and index fingers hurt due to the points but my entire right hand kind of spasmed up. I may be holding the yarn too tight or I just may not be used to it yet. I can say I am pretty pleased with my progress so far and I was able to cast on a new color with no problems. That was not the case last night or any of my prior attempts. I was so frustrated last night. I think it is because I am a perfectionist when it comes to making something. I am sure knitting will not be an exception. I am working with LionBrand Wool-Ease and I love it! I have another project I want to start that uses this yarn so I am glad to be able to 'test' it out first. I am not one to pre-buy yarn but I told B tonight that I am going out to buy a big plastic bin to store my left over yarn and any I may decide to buy. I also warned him that the yarn store has so many pretty colors. I do not think he was paying attention though.

As for my thread project, I have not worked on it for a couple of days. I plan to work on it some this weekend though. I am halfway finished with it so I need to find another one to start.

I will be sure to post my progress on all my works-in-progress this weekend. I am just so happy the work week is over and now I get to relax! Yeah to a 3.5 day weekend!

The day after Monday

Today was good, until it sucked. I had to deal with the impossible co-worker again today. He just really ticks me off. This is the guy that has to debate and argue about everything. I have written about him before. He did something really rude and I called him on it. He as usual tried to turn it around into it being all me taking it personal. I am so sick of him always doing this. The others just don't talk to him because they don't want to have him throw a fit. I was not going to let him get away with it this time. So basically I got to throw in the fact that he doesn't know what he is doing and that I had to fix his messes.

My group works on different queues. All the records we work on allow us to lock them so others don't work on them at the same time. The only thing we cannot lock is when we go thru the email inbox for our group. Usually there is only one person in there at a time but when we get busy we usually have more. To claim a record we rename it. So basically if you have an email with a name on it you know not to touch it. One usually will work from the top down and the other from the bottom up. I work in this particular queue most of the day. There are 2 of us that are very proficient at it and we have no problem clearing out the inbox. We had in fact already done it once today. I was the only one working on them when I notice that the subjects are being renamed. I asked who was working in the inbox and it was (oh I really need to think of a name for him so right now I will call him the A@@). This really surprised me as he hates to work in this queue (and all the other queues were high). I asked him if he was working from the top or from the bottom. He did not understand. I explained how the inbox is worked and I told him that I would start at the bottom. He then informed me he was changing all of the emails in the inbox because that is the way 'he does it' (he repeated this alot). I was basically kicked out of working on my queue. I called him on it. I told him he was rude to just do that and not check to see who was currently working on the records. I told him I did not mind if he helped me with the queue. I then proceeded to explain to him that there is no problem with multiple people working on the records but he cannot change them all or no one would know where to begin. Again he answered with his 'this is the way I do it'. I told him that I understood that he has only worked in this queue when he is the only person scheduled for the day (my day off) and I can understand he has a system but when there are all of us there he needs to follow the proper steps. I was going pretty well with stating my point, as he always likes to butt in and take over. I could tell he was getting ticked at that. So he tells me he cannot change it now. I said that was fine but in the future he would need to follow the steps. He then told me that he would let me do them. That he did not want to do them anymore. I told him I would not finish them as he needed the practice and he should finish what he started. I mean he did claim all those records as his. He had the nerve to tell me he did not need the practice. Now this ticked me off. I know that my manager wants him to have more practice because he refused to read the training and screws up. So I basically let him have it. I told him he did in fact need the practice as I had to fix up all his screw ups yesterday (this felt good to say). He did not like that very much and the argument ended when he yelled out 'Bite Me'. This is his answer to any argument he cannot win. I found out later when talking to my manager that he has been told not to keep saying this and my manger talked to him about his attitude again. However I do not like when my manager does this as he will sometimes make me come off as taking things to personal when I do not. I am the only girl on my team. We are very limited in number at my workplace. I am getting tired of everything being blamed on me being a girl. The A@@ uses this alot when he does not get his way.

So basically I came home with a headache that did not appear until after all this drama and stayed home - I did not work out as I had planned. I watched The Amazing Race (of course) and worked on my doily for the Thread CAL. I started it over. I have come to the conclusion that this pattern is incorrect. There is no way that after increasing each round that I still only end up with 16dc for 3 rounds. I just continued with it and did it my own way. It is coming along. It is looking kind of lopsided (as the scan shows) and I hope this is fixed when I continue with the rounds. I am halfway done.

It was a Monday

The day seemed to be very long and work dragged very slowly, which is weird since we were so busy. I was so happy when I finally got to leave. There is one co-worker that likes to argue with everyone about everything and anything and he started in with me today. He did something wrong because he did not read the training. So far, I have found two wrong accounts and it was left to me to clean it up. It was a very bad experience for the customer. Moreover, with how busy we have been it is unneeded extra work. I told him that he had done the first one wrong and he asked me to show him how to fix it. I started to show him and off he went on a tangent of how stupid the whole database was and he did not care and that the database needed to be changed completely blah blah blah. I never got to show him the correct way to do it. The database is working just fine and he would know this if he read the training. I told him that I think a person who has completed 2000 records (me) would know more about the database and what can and cannot be done than a person who has completed a total of 107 records (him). This is a guy who told me he argued with his high school English teacher because she said Shakespeare wrote in English. He said he told her she was wrong and stupid. Poor lady was put thru the wringer. This is how he is at work. Everything is a debate with him so our manager just avoids him. I am waiting for him to stomp on too many toes so he gets himself booted. My only consolation is that I make a lot more than he does and I am sure it irks him to no end.

As for my thread project…………well ummmmmmmm I may need to start that over. I was doing so well too. I finished a couple of rounds but all the time was feeling that it was just not right. At the end of the 5th round, I am supposed to have 64 dc. I did not have 64 dc so I took that round out and started it over. This time I got a bit closer but the pattern is not matching up. I will probably rip out all the rows back to 1 or 2. The only problem with this pattern is it does not tell you how many stitches you should end up with after each round. After completing the 5th round is the first time a stitch total is listed. Now I do have a question and I may have to ask on the crochet boards but when I join I always join in the ch 3. I am wondering if I am doing that correctly.

Well that is my update. I hope to have a lot more accomplished in the craft department tomorrow. However I do have a lot of errands and house stuff on my plate. Hey I never posted what our Christmas present was. I may just have to do that.

Good night.

Lots of goodies

I did not plan to go shopping today but I did end up with a few goodies. I stopped by the scrapbook store and bought some supplies (even though I probably did not need any). I have been on a roll with scrapping some pages and I hope to continue. I will post some to my blog soon.

B and I went out to eat at Chili's (Yay for gift cards)! Afterwards we stopped by Barnes & Noble (of course it is the other book store I have a gift card to) and looked around. I bought myself the Knit It! Magazine and Stitch 'n Bitch. I was going to buy the 2nd one (Stitch 'n Bitch Nation) but will save it for my gift card. I so already love this book and I can honestly say I have already learned some things on what not to do.

I joined a crochet Thread CAL (my first CAL). Did I mention I was doing this? This is my first time to using thread and a tiny hook. I started tonight and so far, I think I am doing okay. I do have to get used to the thread twisting

For my first project, I chose to make a doily – Bounty. I think it is very pretty and I am hoping it is not too much for my first thread project. I have only worked on it for a short time (last half of Desperate Housewives) but I have completed 3 rounds. At first, I thought I might have been doing the third round wrong but it seems to look okay. This is what I have completed so far (I will have to use a dark background next time).

I have a few finished projects I need to post and the pictures are already uploaded so maybe I will do so tomorrow.

Well the weekend is over and I have to go back to work tomorrow. I have not been in to work since Wednesday as I was not feeling well on Thursday & Friday. I hope it is not too busy. I better head to bed.

Snow!

The desert rarely gets snow. We have one small mountain (with ski slopes nonetheless) that gets very little snow. When it does snow, it is a big deal. The last time B and I saw snow was on our cruise to Alaska we took in 2002. We wanted to get out today so we decided (well I decided) to drive up the mountain as far as our little no 4-wheel drive/no chains Civic would take us. We stopped a little before the cut-off for chains and found an area that did not have too many people (just one family of four). It was nice. Of course, as you can tell in the photo B liked to cover me in snow. It was non-stop. What I find funny is even though there was snow on the ground it was not cold. We did not need to wear our jackets and B was only wearing a t-shirt. I did end up getting very wet though.

Now I do admit it (and I even mentioned to B). I can now scrap SNOW pictures!!!!! You do know that is the only reason we went right? :-)

Afterwards we stopped at Marie Calendars for lunch/dinner with my very wet pants then headed home. Now it is SCRAP time and I am hoping to get a lot accomplished.

Bummed

Today was the day I decided to get some yarn for some projects for myself. I have four projects picked out that will be just for me. Three are crochet and one is knit.

I started my adventure by stopping by Michael's since they are the only store that carries Frenzy by Bernat. This yarn is for the poncho that I finally decided to make. They had it but not all the colors I needed. At over $5.50 a skein, this poncho will sure end up being expensive since I need 10 skeins total. Since they do not carry all the colors used in the pattern, I have to decide if I still want to make it (heck yes!) so now I need to find a place to buy online I guess. I also need size 11 knitting needles, which they were out of by the way. The next project I want to make is a crocheted afghan. This afghan calls for LionBrand Wool-Ease. Since this yarn is much cheaper, this may be my next project. However, the store did not have all the colors I needed. Okay to be honest they had one of the five needed colors. So off I went to look for yarn for pattern #3. It is a crocheted capelet using Berroco Suede. It was a no go with finding the Berroco either. Now while I am looking I find a free pattern for a knit poncho. It says beginner but the pattern looks like there is more to it, as I would have to use three different needle sizes, including a circular for the neck. I even looked for the needles and yarn and they did not have it. So, I decided to look for the crochet thread and needle for the thread-along I am joining. Would you believe that they did not even have that! So I said good-bye to Michel's and drove across the street to the super Jo-Ann's.

Jo-Ann's was not much better but I did have a little bit of success. Jo-Ann's does not carry the Frenzy and they were out of size 11 knitting needles. They did manage to have two of the colors for the crocheted afghan but that still was not enough. I looked for the items needed for the free pattern I got at Michael's and they did not have any of the colors. As I expected they did not have the Berroco Suede. I was able to find the size 7 crochet hook I needed and the crochet thread. As I was waiting to check out the woman in front of me handed me a 40% off coupon so all was good!

On the way home I decided to stop by Ben Franklins. I do not know why as they never have anything in stock. I am always disappointed when I go in there yet I keep stopping by. I can say that the only thing they had was the Berroco brand! Of course they did not have the Suede. As I was leaving the store they had a table advertising 25% off the Christmas scented Yankee candles. There were three scents (Christmas cookie, Home for the holidays and Holiday Bayberry). The Bayberry is my favorite. I took the candle to the register and was promptly told it was not on sale because it was not a 'holiday' scent. They are such idiots. Needless to say I did not purchase it.

Now I am home and I think I may start on the thread crochet, look online for yarn or finish up some already started scrapbook pages. I plan to post some finished projects to my site as well.

To tired to think of a title

I have been asked to clarify more about a previous post. I guess I really did not explain it too well. which is a problem of mine. My thoughts are so much more detailed yet when I write I skip things.

I was asked the following:

If she had $50 (or even withdrew $50), then deposited $600, as you said in your
post, wouldn't her account be positive, not negative? I'm just curious, since
spending $50, then depositing $600 doesn't come out negative on my end. Could
you clarify?

The account in question was not a bank account. It was the cash drawer of a store. The customer took in $50.00 cash in sales. Her deposit at the end of the night to the bank should have been for $50.00 cash. When she entered her deposit into her computerized accounting program she entered it for $600.00 cash. This made the cash drawer a negative amount. The customer does not know the real amount she deposited to the bank and had to look at her receipts. I hope that clears up any lingering questions - I am good at math I promise. Explaining it fully with out going off topic is another thing. LOL!

The calls really do not bother me and if they did I am sure I would not have lasted as many years as I have here. I can understand that some people do not see things right away and need extra help (my dad is a great example). But when the person on the other end is yelling that it is our fault, that we do not understand that the account is negative and must be fixed immediately and does not give you the info you ask for (after multiple requests) to resolve the issue then the calls do get frustrating.

By the time I left work last night (an hour after my shift) there was no evidence of any police activity. It was a long work day (12 hours work - over 1 hour travel) and I was tired. It is sad when more time is spent at work and travel then spent at home. I was happy to be able to watch The Amazing Race but it was really gross last night. I will not go into it but B and I were almost sick. Who would have thought that a person's gag reflex is alive and well by just watching or thinking about it. The website does a really good job of narrating the episode but they did not write about the really gross part. I guess that is a good thing. I will not mention it here as just thinking about it makes me sick. Leave a comment and I will respond. I don't remember much after the show was over and I think sometime afterwards I headed up to bed. LOL!

This morning I woke up 3 minutes before the alarm. I have always hated that. I am one that loves my sleep. It drives B crazy. Once he is woken up there is not going back to sleep. I do not have this problem. I can even get out of bed but I can go right back to it too.

Today is another busy day. I think I do prefer it that way. The company is providing free lunch today so I think it is time I went to lunch.

Working Late

Well it appears I will be working late tonight. I had kind of planned on it but I just got a phone call from B asking me if I was on my way. I told him I would leave soon and he told me something was happening in are apartment complex - in the parking lot in front of our apartment. He says there are tons of cops, including a helicopter. He told me he saw them when he took out the trash and was yelled at by a cop to get inside and out of the crossfire! Well I guess I will just stay here a bit longer.

The holidays are over

....and it is back to the grind. No time off for awhile.

Work is starting to pick up. My team alone has hundreds of cases to work on and we are losing one of the guys tomorrow because we have been told that although our job is important it is not as important as people who call into the phones. So since I am skipping lunch on some days my posting to my journal will probably be almost non-existent. Of course I say this now thinking ahead to me being exhausted and tired of the computer but I will probably post as often as usual.

I got to listen to a few calls on the new software yesterday and I must say some people are not so bright. For example, one customer wanted to know why her balance was negative. As she is reading the totals in her account to us she is not getting it. "oh I have total cash sales of $50.00 then I deposited $600.00" Ummmm hello where did you get that extra $550.00? I will not tell you how long the call took. Then we get the customer who could not get a receipt to print. All I can tell you is I have never heard an person more angry when they realized they had to click the print button to get the darn thing to print! That is just a sampling of my day and what I have to look forward to when I start taking calls again on Wednesday.

Monday was B's birthday. I took him out for dinner for his favorite meal of legs. King crab legs that is! Why couldn't I have married a man with not so expensive tastes?

Since today is Tuesday I am hoping to get to watch The Amazing Race tonight. I am not too happy I missed an episode because the network changed the time, but it appears I am not the only one who missed it so now I feel better. I want to go work out at Curves tonight but need to check the show times first. How sad is that? TV before exercise? Well it will not be the first time.

Since my life is not that exciting and who knows when I will post next, I leave you with a prior post to waste away the time. Be sure to post your longest time! Enjoy!

What a way to relax

I spent my day scrapbooking. However, I really did not make a dent in my huge stack of photos as I have been working on only one layout. Granted it is 2 pages but it is taking me forever to complete. I am hoping that once this layout is finished I will be able to start cranking them out. All in all today was very relaxing for me.

Monday starts day one of our busy season at work. It will be hard to do anything fun this month as I am sure after 50 hour weeks I will be exhausted when I get home. To help out I have to take inbound calls for about 3 hours a day. I am not looking forward to that. I hope that our busy season is not busy at all so I can just do my regular daily stuff. Especially since we are expecting our daily load to double this month.

I plan to upload some pictures of finished projects soon. I am also looking forward to starting some new projects as well.

Happy New Year

Happy 2005!

Doesn't that look yummy? This is what B made for dessert last night. I thought it was very good.
Today was a good day. B and I went to my parents' house and got some baby time with the newphews & Niece. Well I got the baby time, B I don't think was as excited as I was. I will post pictures soon.

I hope you all had a great New Years. I am looking forward to a great year ahead!

Goodbye 2004

Just some photos of the last sunset of 2004.

B and I will be spending New Years Eve at home. It seems the older we get the lazier we get. I like being a homebody. B is making us a nice dinner along with dessert and after that, who knows.

Have a safe and happy New Year!

Blah blah

I was feeling better today and decided to go in to work. My group finished our training early so I don't have to go to work tomorrow (Friday) after all. I am very glad about that. So I will get my usual 3-day weekend. As of January 3rd, there will be no more Fridays off so I had better make the most of it.

Today was not a very interesting day. I left work about an hour early, dropped off some library books and came home. B and I just finished watching Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy. Dumb movie but if it makes me laugh then it is not a waste. I laughed. I must say though, Will Ferrell is either naked or in his underwear no matter what he is in (well except maybe Elf).

Now I may get some scrapping done since it has been awhile. I do have to finish my sister-in-law's gift tomorrow as we are getting together on Saturday. I will post pictures when I am done.

So what is everyone doing for New Years?

Blah

Today I stayed home from work. I am hoping I feel better tomorrow as I have to go in and cannot miss another day. At least the weekend is almost here. Since I have not been feeling well I pretty much slept most of the day. Why is it when I get tons of sleep I am still sleepy? I feel like my day has been so long when it really has not. I feel so blah.

I worked on updating my template a bit and even though the preview shows a nice patterned background, the actual webpage does not. So I am back to the drawing board. I finally got rid of the icky orange color for my titles though so all is good.

B and I watched a couple of movies tonight that I thought were really cute. We saw Skipping Christmas and Laws of Attraction. I must say I really liked both of them. I tried to work on my sister-in-laws Christmas present (yes I am still not done) but I just could not get into the mood.

Well if anyone wants to help me figure out why my background is not showing or if you can help me change my archive pages to a list of links that actually link to my posts and not blank pages please leave me a comment and help me out.

As for me........I am going back to bed.

FO: Afghan for my Mother-in-Law

This is the afghan I made and gave my mother-in-law for Christmas. It did not take me very long to make. I used all the yarn asked for in the patterned and did not make the fringe so my gauge may have been a litttle off.

Crochet

Pattern – 5 ½ hour throw
Yarn - Lion Brand Jiffy "El Paso"

It's Me!

I am finally able to post photos like I used to. Here is a shot of me that was taken on Christmas with my new camera - Yay!

Today was good

I started my morning by having to go to training for a couple of hours. It was supposed to take all day and then we were to work a couple of hours on our queues. I am supposed to be working 50 hours this week but I do not see that happening. Training today went very quickly and since I skipped my lunch, I was able to leave work at 3pm instead of my usual 6pm. It was very nice to get out of work while the sun is still out. I am hoping I can do this the rest of the week as well since I have to work on New Years Eve. As for the training, there were not any plans to train us (my group of 4) until much later. Everyone agreed to coming in for the overtime and I thought this was the reason we were being trained early. I found out today that this was not the correct reason. My department has merged with a different department. Because of this, all the employees not making the minimum for this department get an automatic raise. I will not be getting a raise. I already make over the minimum for this department. Out of the 4 of us on my team (myself included), only one will get a raise. The rest of us are already there. Now the raise cannot be put thru until the training is completed. This employee really pushed for the training so he can get the raise before mandatory overtime. So it is purely for selfish reasons why we have to do the training now. One bad outcome is that we now have to take these calls during our busy season where as before we were not going to be taking them. It should not be too bad, as we only need to take calls for our 10 hours of overtime a week. So I can handle about 2.5 – 3 hours a day with no problem. I say that now but I have been off the phone (for inbound calls) for 8 months now. It will be an adjustment I am sure.

For Christmas, my in-laws gave us a check and an advertisement for us to buy a 32-inch TV. B has wanted one for a long time. Me, I really don’t care. LOL! Well he spent the whole day looking for one at the price (amount) his mom gave us. He found a TV but we ended up spending about $100.00 more that we did not have. Then because the TV did not fit in our entertainment center, we had to buy a new TV stand for around another $100.00. I am not too happy about it but what can I do. My Dad and B brought the TV home in my Dad's truck but B and I went to pick up the TV stand at the store warehouse. We were waiting for over 1.5 hours. Finally, the idiots working there realized that our item had been sitting in front of them the majority of the time. Each time B had gone up to ask about them they gave him a different answer. After B wrestled to put it in the car and the 2 of use carried it inside, I take that back …he did most of the carrying and I was the weak one. He spent this evening putting it together and getting the monstrous TV on it. Now we have to get used to this thing. It is too big for me. Instead of looking straight, we have to look up.

Now I am exhausted and it is late and I am still up and I don’t know why. I can be falling asleep but I always force myself to stay up late.

My thumbs hurt!

Are my thumbs supposed to hurt? Is there something I can put on my thumb (like a thimble) so that they don’t hurt? I must be doing something wrong. I did attempt another swatch using thicker yarn and thinner needles. It seems to be coming along much better but when I get to the ends, I have a problem. I know that I am supposed to wind the yarn around the 2nd needle from the back to the front but it is not working out when I do that. Is there something different that needs to be done on the first stitch of a new row?

Okay. Enough whining for now. Even though I am frustrated, I am still enjoying it. Weird isn't it?

My attempt of the Knit stitch

I gave up on hello and just uploaded my photos the good old fashion way. Here is the result of my trying to learn the knit stitch. I have no idea what I am doing. I have never watched anyone knit before and do not know anyone. I am thinking that maybe I need to go to the yarn store so they can show me but I really don’t want to wait until February when I will get a day off of work (Mandatory overtime sucks!).

I guess I just don't understand where the tension is supposed to be. Is it the yarn coming off the skein? The tighter I did the stitches the nicer it looked but I was pretty much wrestling with the hooks to get the yarn off. The looser the stitch the easier it was but the end result was icky. It is hard to hold the needles too. I guess I am just not used to two. J I am also using thin cotton yarn and maybe I should use something thicker?

I have included a photo of each side as I sure as heck cannot figure out which is the right side. LOL! See how where the stitches are looser, the piece is bigger? I just want to be able to get the rows straight and close together. They are supposed to be close together right? The first couple of rows are close together. If you click on the thumbnail it will open a larger picture.

Well that just sucks!

I wanted to share a photo of my crappy knitting but Hello will not post my photos! Urgh! I don't want to use my photobucket account because I know that one day in the future I will forget the photo is on my blog and delete it.

I wanted to change the template on my blog and that is not cooperating either. So instead of looking the way I want it to be it will look blah. The blah template should appear sometime soon.

Knitting has begun

I tried knitting tonight and so far I can cast on and I am working on the knit stitch. I have a big problem with tension. I am so used to wanting the tension to be tight when I crochet and it is hard to know what to do when knitting. I started out with tight stitches but I found it hard to get the loop off the left hook. The directions state not to work too close to the end but it is hard not too. I started to loosen up a bit and it gets a bit easier but I am not sure if I am supposed to tighten after each stitch. I have never watched anyone knit so I think I really need to do that. My first swatch is not coming out very well. I think I will work on it more in the morning and then see how it looks. At least I am getting a bit used to the different way of holding the needles.

Merry Christmas 2004

I am very happy to say that my Christmas was good. I spent Christmas Eve at my parents' house and Christmas day with the in-laws. Now I am finally home and relaxing.

Santa brought me a digital so now I can share pictures right away without having to wait for the film to be developed. It will be fun.

I had planned to share some photos I took with my new digital but Hello does not want to cooperate.

Santa also brought me a "how to knit" kit I asked for. I am a bit bummed however, as the advertising on the cover showed up to date projects yet when I opened it none of those projects were in the book. In fact, the company just put a new updated cover (not even attached) over the original book. It should be okay though as I am used to how this company formats the instructions in the book. Now I just need to figure out how to start. I think I may make a basic scarf or something to start with.

Well once I get this internet to work for me I will upload a few of my finished projects (well the ones that I gave away after I got the digital).

2 days!!!!

Me panic? No. Never!

Leave it to me to procrastinate. I had it all figured out that I would finish my mother's present (only 3 rows and a flower) and then felt the darn thing and be all done. Well I have run into a problem. The pattern calls for one 50-gram ball of 100% wool yarn. The only wool yarn in the entire store was from Patons. It is kind of a chunky weight. Since the rest of the bag is done in a chunky weight, I thought it would be no problem. I bought one 100-gram ball. This should have been plenty to finish my project. The pattern calls for me to use 2 strands. No problem right? Well no problem until I realize that I am running out of yarn. Now I am wondering if there are different types of wool yarn and maybe I should have been using only one strand instead of two. I am also wondering if the yarn company did not give me all my wool. So at this point I am at a stand still and do not know what to do. I can see the need for using 2 strands as I am crocheting the handles but if I use 2 strands I will need to see if I can find another ball of this yarn (I will not tell you how long it took me to find this one).

So basically the goals I had for today of finishing my mother's present, buying my brother's present and something a bit extra for my father may not go as planned.

To add to all that I am feeling a bit blah and realize I have to wrap some of these gifts. LOL! Luckily I really do not have to worry about the gifts for my brother or B's brother as we will not be seeing them until after Christmas. I just have to wrap the gifts for my parents and B's parents.

3 days!!!!

No more Christmas? Is it over and no one told me?

Well at Target it appears to be. I went last night to buy a couple of boxes I had not realized I needed. As I expected there were no boxes. What I did not expect is that the Christmas trees and holiday decorations would no longer be up on display. There was not a Christmas tree anywhere on display in the store and in its place were the huge Rubbermaid storage containers. It is not even Christmas and yet Target is already done with it.

What stress level?

I still have Christmas presents left to make. I have realized that since the only person in my family that I will see on Christmas will be my Mom - then maybe I should finish her present first and forget the rest for right now. How slow am I that I did not realize this before? LOL!

NO Amazing Race!!!!

I was so bummed last night. Amazing Race was on at a different time and I missed it completely. I hate when that happens. Usually it will be announced the week before that the next showing would be at a different time. This is one of the few shows I do watch and since it was not on I was at a loss of what to do.

Christmas surprises. NOT!

So since I had nothing to do and B was out (this is critical), I started wrapping a couple of presents last night. Well I wrapped a total of three. I need to get busy. Two of the presents I wrapped were for B. I cannot wrap them when he is home. I am sure that by the end of the day he will have squeezed and shaken the boxes to figure out what is in them. Buying him presents is no fun. His family has always been big on lists and you get what is on your list. So of course you know exactly what you are getting. His mom is good at wrapping stuff in something else in an attempt to trick you. B is famous for knowing exactly what is in the boxes and it bugs me to no end. I told him that it is not fair since he hates surprises and he told us what to buy. This year there was no list given to his family so he will be surprised. He did give a list to me though. I found 2 different sized boxes to use and in fact present I wrapped in a couple of kitchen towels so that it feels like clothes but also does not move. He is usually onto that trick though.

The Christmas Fake Out

My in-laws have always brought our presents over before Christmas so that we can have something to open in the morning and usually because my father-in-law has to work. One year she had us pick up the presents at her house on Christmas Eve. This was years ago when PlayStation 1 first came out. His brother had gotten one the year before and B wanted one this particular year. His mom called to tell me that this is what she bought him. When we went to pick up the presents there was a huge box wrapped up for him. He immediately started feeling the box for seams to see if it maybe was a smaller box inside a larger one. He did not feel any seams but kept insisting that it was his PlayStation. His mother did not say anything until we are ready to drive away. Her last words were "I sure hope you are not disappointed in your gifts this year". That is what did it. We are driving home when B gets upset and says 'all I wanted was a PlayStation. He ticked me off so much that I wanted to yell at him 'it is a Play Station you idiot!!!' But I did not. I just smiled inside. I had to make him open the present the next morning. Then of course when he found out it was a PlayStation he tried to play it off like he knew all along. I ratted him out to my mother-in-law and so far she is ahead on the Christmas fake out. Of course she also got us that year by handing me a very small and very heavy wrapped gift. She told me that it was extremely fragile and to be very careful. When we opened the present I reminded B that we had to be careful while opening. And what was it that was so fragile? A set of COASTERS!!!! She sure did trick us good that year.

UPDATE

Okay. Update while typing this. B just called and asked if the wrapped boxes were for him. I guess he did not believe the little tag on them that says To: B From: S. It appears that he knows exactly what is in each box. He is no fun!

5 days!!!!

Today was a long day. I got stuck on an escalated that lasted over 3 hours. We found more problems and so I am calling the customer back tomorrow. I have been light-headed ever since. It has been a long time since I have had to deal with a huge technical call. I have been off of the inbound phones since April 1st but do make escalated callbacks (at least one a day) and sometimes if we are very busy I take a call or two to help out or when a customer requests a callback. The calls that I usually do deal with my department (Merchant Accounts) or customer service etc. The call I made today was full blown out techincal with a very damaged file where I had to figure out what was wrong with it. Of course what I found out to be the problem was not helped any by my peers as I had been told could not be possible (Yeah right). So now I am just plain tired. I am so glad I don't take all the calls I used to. I don't think I could handle it anymore.

I have an update all ready to send about my icky week last week dealing with B's idiot ex-boss - but I will have to save that for another day.

Yesterday while washing our clothes someone stole B's jeans. I was so upset. I had put the jeans in the dryer and walked to my apartment next door to take the load that just finished drying. I was not gone that long. The jeans were soaking wet and someone still took them. So now poor B who only has 2 pairs of jeans and no other pants is less one pair. And they were the pair he wears when we go out. Good thing they were stolen the day AFTER the holiday party or he would have had nothing to wear.

On the crochet/Christmas present front....I feel as if I have accomplished something. Yesterday I printed out gift certificates for all of my customers to include in their holiday cards. I got some of those mailed out today and some of my personal cards out today. I usually send the cards going out of state first. I will be sending the rest tomorrow. Well that is the goal anyway.

Tonight B and I watched Collateral. Tom Cruise does not look real in the gray hair - it was very fake looking. It was a decent movie and kept our attention. Well enough of it anyways. B had his entire HeroClix collection spread all over the floor and table. Did I say all over? It covered what little free space we have. Have I mentioned that I have married a child? While he played I started crocheting the 2nd tote bag for my other sister-in-law. This time around, it is going much smoother and I made terrific progress. I think this one looks nicer too. I am using Lion Cotton in Morning Glory as I could not find any purple yarn anywhere in this city. The Morning Glory is close enough. It really is a pretty color. I worked on it for about 2 hours and I think I could probably finish it in a couple more hours or be pretty darn close. I will be sure to post pictures once the projects are done and presents given out. Oh and the film developed.

I am looking forward to the holidays being over only because I want to be able to do some of my crafty things without a deadline. January is our busy season at work so I don't really see myself starting anything - or if I start I doubt I will finish anything. Maybe in February I can be Super Crafty Girl!

6 days....

I found myself to be very busy this past week but just not busy with the right things. I have not finished any Christmas presents and the shopping for the men in the family (except my husband) is not going too well. I bought stuff but I knew B did not really like what I chose (heck neither did I) so I changed who the gifts were going to and I am happy with that but now I am back to needing to buy some more presents. One funny about Christmas shopping for Nephew #2, since he is the oldest boy currently in my brother's house and my brother and sister-in-law have their hands full with all the little ones I wanted to get him a game he could play himself. I got him a mini Simon. I was telling my mom about it and she got a look of shock on her face and asked me what size I got and was I sure. Come to find out she had bought him the big one (which I had planned to get but had changed my mind). My sister-in-law had suggested to my mom that he needed a game he could play himself and that is what she got him. So now, I have to go back to Target to return the one I got. I already have a different game for him so at least I do not have to buy anything new.

I can say that I have at least printed out my Christmas envelopes for my personal cards and my business cards. I have also printed out my Thank You gift certificate I give to my customers so I just need to fill out what I want on the cards and send them off tomorrow. That is one huge task off my mind.

Last night (Saturday), B and I went to my company's Holiday Party. We sat next to a nice couple and had a good time. I did feel however that this year was the most boring. Usually they have entertainment (like a magician etc). This year they had some staff members do a skit about work related stuff. What is sad is that no one knew it was being performed at the time. The lights were still dimmed and no one could hear. It appears that the company is not spending as much on the party as they used to. B and I were kind of bummed when it came to the raffle. There were 3 couples at our table, including us. The other two couples each won a raffle prize but B and I were not so lucky. My friend sitting next to us won a computer. How cool is that? Oh well there is always next year. I find it funny that we have the party all planned out when we go. We check in, get our free photo taken first thing (this is the main reason I like to go) and then we eat. We go home after the last raffle, as you must be present to win. A close friend was selected for the top prize ($2000 travel voucher). He had already left. He will be so bummed tomorrow and I am sure everyone will let him know he missed out on the prize.
Today is cleaning day so I guess I had better get busy. Maybe later tonight I can work on the Christmas Presents.

10 days....

If Santa is good to me this year I will get goodies to learn how to knit.

I want to knit this.

(Click for pattern and cool website)

Of course leave it to me to choose a pattern that is not fit for a beginner so I will have to save this one for when I actually learn how to knit. *Ü* I am now searching the archives for the easy peasy patterns.

All you knitters out there do you have any suggestions on what would be a good starting project?

Today is going very slowly for me. There is not much work to be done in my queues so I am being given escalated callbacks which I do not enjoy doing. Is it mean to say I hope I get an answering machine? The call I was given does not give too much info except to say that the customer called 3 times and is not happy. I hope it is an easy call. I don't think I can procrastinate much longer.

Only 4 more hours and I will be free and starting to enjoy my 4 day weekend!!!!!

Poor Santa

My co-workers and I have come to the conclusion that this picture just may not be real. However I still think it is clever and funny. Ahem.....I think that Santa may be a bit late in his deliveries this year! *Ü* Ouch! That must hurt!

11 days....

How exciting to be able to update my Christmas gift list. Of course I still have a ways to go. My plan is to photograph all my projects before wrapping so I can finally share. Well that is after I get the film developed. I sure do hope Santa is good to me this year and brings me a digital.

Grrrrr........ I have been trying to make my archive pages have links for each post instead of having the entire post. The directions to do that are here and they are understandable to me except the Archive section. Where the heck do I put that? So if things look weird (like my archives disappearing) it is due to me trying to edit my template and being unsuccessful. Help?????

Update: Okay! I finally got the archive page to show the links. I just now need to customize it. However when I do click on the link my post is not there. I seem to have lost them. So I guess it is back to the drawing board. Wish me luck!

Update Update: Okay so I guess I did not get it to work. I got the listing but when then I lost all of my posts. I guess I better learn css and these templates are not HTML. I just decided to go with a different template for now and will probably customize it back to have all of my personal stuff. I think I better get back to work now.

Final Update: I Suck. Therefore I am back to using the old template and my archives are icky.

Whoo hoo!!!

I have completed the tote for my sister-in-law! It feels so good to have one more present completed. While watching EarthSea, I was able to work a little bit on my nieces GameBoy holder but realized I was sewing it wrong. That will teach me to watch a movie until midnight and try to work on a project at the same time. I will try to work on it more tomorrow. I should have all of my in-law gifts completed by this weekend - just in time for me to mail them. It will be weird to mail gifts. I have never had to do that before. Usually I see them before or after the holiday but this year I do not know when it will be. It is sad that my in-laws are not that close. I love my sister-in-law dearly but the last time I saw them was Jan 2, 2004. I hate seeing them only on New Years (if that).

Okay...... it is past midnight I better get my butt to bed.

12 days....

Today I am working alone. Well kind of alone I do have someone helping me a bit in one of my queues. One of the guys has a vacation day and the other one changed his day off to Mondays - starting today. So I am working like a little busy bee today.

And needless to say I am a bit ticked about the mother-in-law but since I cannot remember if I sent her the link to my blog I don't want to say what is upsetting me. I could call her but then B would get mad because I am not supposed to talk to his mother. That is a big pet peeve of mine!

Needless to say it does not look like I will have any Christmas photos this year because we are going over there and I never get to take photos. I am very upset I will not be spending Christmas with my family!

I better get back to work and get rid of some of this frustration.

13 days....

I have not been near my computer lately. So much for my countdown to Christmas. Stayed home sick on Thursday and have not really done anything since then except some house cleaning. I have done nothing when it comes to making my Christmas presents. I am not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow.

I had dinner with some old friends on Friday. There are usually 6 of us but 2 ladies were not there. One now lives in NM and the other just was not there. We are really worried about her. It was nice to sit and have a nice dinner and exchange gifts. I have known these ladies for over 10 years and it is so nice that we still get together. Now that we have had our dinner I am starting to feel that Christmas is almost here. I think I have pushed Christmas to the back of my mind so that I would not realize how close it is. I have already received 2 Christmas cards so I know it is coming.

B is out Christmas shopping. Well he says that is what he is doing but he took some of his toys....ahem I mean HeroClix with him. So I think his telling me he was going Christmas shopping was a thinly veiled excuse to go to the gaming store. LOL! As for me......I was thinking it would be nice to do some holiday decorating while he was gone but since I don't think I could finish it completely and there is a ton of housework I could do I am at an impasse. I can say that I feel I have accomplished at least one thing this weekend. I have printed out my year-end sales flyer and I just have to get it in the mail. Wish me luck with my sale!

I have a secret to tell. I don't have my tree up. I don't know if I will have a tree this year. There it is out. Now those of you that know me personally and read this blog please quickly forget that I wrote it okay? Maybe later I will make my blog more Christmasy to compensate.

Car Balloons

A friend sent this to me today. It may have already been around the internet but it is new to me and I thought it was funny just the same. Read the info below before looking at the photo.


Step 1. Tie balloons to car.
Step 2. Drive like a bat out of hell.
Step 3. Watch people freak out!!!!

18 days....

Last night I decided I better get my butt in gear and pick up all the yarn I needed to make the rest of my Christmas presents. Balls of yarn purchased = zero. As in None, Zip, Nada! Mission failed! Mainly I was looking for purple cotton. There is no purple cotton. I have been looking forever and last night was no exception. I drove to the opposite side of town to look. I may have to try the closer places this weekend. I still could not decide on what to make the babies. Can you believe that the stores I went to (Joann's & Michael's) did not have any magazines/books on crochet? They had the basic pattern books but I wanted something new. I have as yet to find a magazine in this city that has to do with crochet. While I was out driving around B was home making a yummy spaghetti dinner. (Leftovers in fridge for lunch but not sure if they will last that long). Because of my driving I got nothing accomplished in the creative department. But I can say the twins and my youngest niece (that is not a twin) are all taken care of. Each time I have been to Joann's I have seen a cute felt blanket rolled up in a felt bag and at 60% off that is what I got. I don't even know what the blankets look like. How is that for making a decision. I am usually one that rethinks things constantly but this time I just spent the time deciding on colors (oh and a quick phone call to mom) and those blanket sets were mine. So I need to update my Christmas list so I don't feel like too much of a slacker. I did manage to get out of there with Christmas cards but who knows when I will have time to send them out.

This morning my car was frozen. I got out my trusty drivers license and started scraping away. It did not take long and soon I was on my way. Of course dummy me rolls the window down and in this car when the window is wet it stays down. So lucky me got to drive my 30 min to work with the window down. It was cold - thirty degrees is considered cold right? I am sure not as cold as some places but cold enough for my butt. In my office someone likes to play with the thermostat and turn the heaters WAY up. Because of this I have to dress like it is summer and today was no exception. Needless to say my ears are frozen due to my decision to wear a ponytail today.

Today should be another quiet day at work. My entire team is in training. It will just be me and two other people (only one sits next to me). Speaking of work maybe I should get started on it.

19 days....

Woke up to a very rainy day. I am not used to it being so dark while driving to work. The sun usually is rising during my drive but not today. It felt as if I should be driving home and ending the day and not to work and the beginning the day.

I am expecting my work day to be very long and because of this I am not looking forward to it in any way. I have been here just a bit over 2 hours so far and I am already ready from my lunch break. Maybe if I work on my project during lunch I will feel better about the day. I will try and scan my progress here at work later today. That is if my finger is not being all icky.

I think the stress of only having 19 days until Christmas is starting to get to me. Christmas will be very very bleak this year and it will be hard not to get presents for everyone in my family.

Gross alert - you do not have to read any further.
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Okay. Sorry for the gross post. My finger will not stop bleeding! I am so tired of this! It had started to heal but would bleed occasionally. The top skin will repair itself but then it will fall off and the bleeding will start again. Very frustrating as it is hard to type and do anything at all that requires this finger. I cannot wear a band-aid when it is like this so now I have a napkin taped around my finger. This is the 2nd one in the past 30-45 min and I think it is time for a new one.

20 days….

My Dad is good. He is home. I guess the doctors don't know how to fix him so they just put in a shunt.

Today has pretty much been non-existent. I woke not feeling very well and spent most of the day in bed. I finally got up sometime in the afternoon and I have not done anything. Usually on days like this, I never leave the house but I can say I did go outside and drove to the bank so I am not a total slacker. My plan tonight was to watch Desperate Housewives and then go back to bed but Desperate Housewives is not on tonight. Talk about disappointed. B was looking forward to watching it too, which I think is cute.

I have done absolutely nothing of my Christmas presents the past 2 days. All of them are pretty much on hold right now.

I only turned on the computer to download my email. I am glad I did because I had over 15MB to download. I do not know where it came from. So far it has not been anything big.

21 days….

I have not been feeling too well this past week. I think it is all the overtime I worked this past week. So last night I took some Nyquil before bed. It did not help. Someone's car alarm went off all night until after 7am this morning. It was not your basic car alarm. At first, I thought someone was just honking for someone. This was at about 9pm or so. But it continued. If it was not the honking then it was a sound like a phone ringing – just once but it continued with a few seconds of silence and then it would ring again. Just as I would drift off it would ring and wake me up. Even though I knew, it was not my phone I guess it is just a subconscious thing. I finally got some good sleep after it went away.

I was all ready to go to the hospital this morning but woke up sick. I knew I would not be able to see my dad while I am sick and called my mom. Good thing I did because they had changed the surgery to 7pm tonight. She told me to go back to bed. I just called her a bit ago and she says that the doctor changed his mind and my dad is currently in surgery now. She told me she does not want me to come because I am sick and that she has two of my aunts with her (my dad's 2 sisters).

I need to find something to do to keep me from going stir crazy. It is rainy outside and I so love to read on the rare day like this but I don’t want to put myself to sleep again. Do you ever have one of those days when everything that normally interests you just bore you to death?

22 days….

My Dad is back in ICU. He just got the staples out 2 days ago and he is now back in the hospital for the same thing. He was in Emergency from 3am to 4pm and they finally put in him ICU. His doctor still has not shown up. I don't know how many times we will have to go thru with this. So I think since he is having the same problem the doctors only drained and did not repair a thing. You see the doctors still have not told us what they did during his first surgery. He is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning at 7:30.

I think I am burned out on making presents. The tote I am making for my sister-in-law is almost done and does not look right to me. It does not look long enough. I think I need to revise my list.

23 days....

Yesterday the servers went down at work. I have literally over 100's of cases to complete today. I had no worries until the power supply in my computer went out. So I had to wait a couple of hours until I got a new one. During that time I was tasked with getting a fellow employee away from his phone and to keep him occupied between 9-10. He was to get an award and needed to be free to do so. I am lucky this guy loves to talk but it sure was hard trying not to get his suspicions up while I just stood there and chatted about non important- non work related things. LOL!

Now on the Christmas presents front it is not looking too good. The tote bag for my sister-in-law just does not look right. It looks too short. I am starting to work on the handles now but even with following the instructions I am not ending up with the correct number of stitches. I have come to the conclusion that this pattern is flawed. The pattern has me make a decrease in 2 dc, then make 19 dc and then another decrease in the next 2 dc. This leaves me with a total of 21 dc right? The pattern says I should have 23. Do I count the one decrease as one dc or two dc? I am wondering if I actually need to make 2 decreases. This is what the pattern says. Please someone help in figuring out how I am supposed to end up with 23 dc at the end? With this pattern the the ch 3 is supposed to count as a dc.

Here are the instructions:

Ch 3, dec 1 dc in next 2 dc, dc in each of next 19 spaces, dec 1 dc in next 2 dc, dc in next space - 23 dc.......................OKAY I am an idiot! As I am writing this I realize that it does equal 23 dc. Urgh!!!! Maybe my problem was trying to work on it after 12 hours of being at work!

Okay! I need to get away from this computer. My butt has not left my chair for 4 hours and I need a break!

24 days....

Yesterday I worked alone in my group. Everyone else was off. Since I knew I would probably be stressed I decided to not spend my lunch at my desk (which I usually do) and brought my current project to work on during that time. Let me tell you crocheting a project in the very bright light of my office is different than working in my dark living room. Since the living room is the brightest in my house I thought I saw all, how wrong I was. I am working with 100% cotton. That stuff just picks up all kind of lint! I keep all my projects in plastic bags to keep them clean and yet my project looked like I threw it on the floor and hat the cat play with it. Okay maybe not that bad but it was annoying. So between me picking lint off my work and having to spend the entire time to undo a giant tangle I did not get any work done on it. Last night while watching The Best Show Ever! (aka The Amazing Race) I was able to untangle the yarn and start working on it again. I got past the point where I had to undo it the other day however the project I am making is a tote bag and it sure does not look long enough. I have a feeling that once I am done with this project I will find out that it is not written right and will have to end up buying my presents.

It was quite amusing to hear my co-workers while I was working on my project. I was away from my desk and in a corner on a couch. Women are in the minority so all my comments were from the guys. After about the 5th one commenting on my 'knitting' I just started answering with 'yep'. LOL! I don't think they understand the concept of crochet being different. We will have to see what they say today.

On a funnier note.......I have a co-worker that is trying to come up with come on lines to get a date. He has it all mapped out on how he is going to get women to date him while shopping at Target. He is such a hoot! He has me laughing all day and it gets quite dull when he has the day off.