Not so miraculous after all...

Sigh. So it seems that a few cookies will cause a miracle while a pecan pie tart, several pieces of various pumpkin and apple pies, and dozens of reject cookies will reverse any sort of miracles. I honestly sweat sugar instead of salt. Not surprising considering the foods I've eaten lately.

So, color me at my heaviest but not biggest, thanks to jogging around the park. But, not to worry, by January 1st, I'll be back on track. Why then? Well, between making sure Christmas is taken care of, eating cookies and other fun foods, and getting a toothache fixed, my healthy goals aren't going to get much attention.

Not only that, but I'd really like to get to 60-70K (computerspeak for thousands) words on my novel. It's at 59606 at the moment. I've taken a bit of a break after November 25th, only writing a page or so a day. Ideally, I'd be done with it by April 1st, the start of Script Frenzy. A 100 page script in a month? Ha ha ha! Piece of cake! I have a lot more movie scripts written than I do novels for sure. I get emails from Inktip, which matches scripts with production companies. Using this, I'll let them give me ideas that a prodco might be interested in. Even if no one buys or likes it, the Frenzy will be a great writing exercise.

Speaking of exercise... I admit it. When I run, I'm a mouthbreather. Yes, the shame. Because my teeth are sensitive at the moment (Overdue for a scraping which involves FOUR shots in the gums), even breathing in 35F air is sharply painful. Shin splints? No big deal. Migraines? Enough Relpax and I run just fine. Currently 25F outside? Been there, run that. 20F and below hitting a sensitive tooth? No way in God's green Earth am I doing that. There's not enough Ibuprofen I could take to stop the hurt. Thus, I sucked it up and have an appointment for tomorrow. My dentist promised to use the baby needles on me.

In related fun news, I'm toying with the idea of signing up for a couple of runs. One is the annual Groundhog Run, which is 5-10K (ilometers) and is on January 26th or so this year. The other is in May through Oklahoma City's Bricktown. After KC's cloak of humidity in the spring, Oklahoma's air will feel crisp and refreshing, even in July. May won't be a problem. The goal, if I do the Groundhog Run, will be to finish. Bricktown's goal will be to jog the whole way without stopping, walking, or crying like a baby.

In knitting news, my friend Mary 'accidentally' dropped off her Hanne Falkenberg jacket in case someone 'accidentally' wanted to knit it. Since we upped our subscription to Netflix, the garter stitch will be perfect to do while catching up on our movies. Nothing is worse than having parents hipper than you on the movie circuit. I'm excited to work on a Falkenberg, just to say I have. There's a Drops pattern from Garnstudio that's very similar. I'm tempted to knock it out before starting Mary's, just to work out any bugs.

More knitting stuff... I'd like to wrap up some WIPs I have laying around. There's currently seven out there, one of them with a deadline of January 10. It's a scarf, no big deal, but still, they need finishing so I can justify starting new stuff.

It's a Christmas Miracle!

Who knew that only by eating a little bit of cookie dough, a girl could lose a couple of pounds?

I know, the miracle should be more profound than this, but...

Since August, I've been diligently training for a 5K. I could walk several miles, even at a decent clip, but forget jogging, or horrors, running even half a mile.

Then, one day, Mom and Dad ordered me a spiffy running outfit from Cabela's, thus obligating me to actually stick with the torture. That, and the jacket is so cool! It has a little strap for my headphones cord and inner pockets so keys and cell phone won't escape.

Two months into it, I was buying a sports bra and mentioned to the clerk that I liked to run. Weird, huh? I'm not someone who likes to pant for air, ignoring the inevitable shin splints. Something happened, though, blame it on endorphins, but I actually like running. It's rather like cleaning house. While I hate cleaning, I love the results. I'd hoped the weight would fall off a lot more, but it's remained a maddening constant.

In the past four months, I've not lost until just today. But, I've dropped from size 14 to a comfy 12, and can taking jogging a mile at a time for granted. I've also learned that running when it's 25F outside isn't as bad as you'd think. In fact, running (jogging, really) today when the temp is around 52F will be roasting hot compared to last week's mid 20's. Stupid shin splints, a sure sign of doing too much too soon, has kept me from running more distance more often.

Today should be fun. Fry has insisted she can run a 7 to 8 minute mile. Um hm. When it's cold, I run a 13 minute mile, when it's balmy like today, it'll probably be closer to 12. My bet is the girl can keep up for the first half, but will be hurting by the second. Still, she could surprise me and I hope she does.

On the novel front, the word count is 56,588 today. There's a lot of tension in this story, I'm having a tough time keeping the two protagonists apart physically. They're a bit too attractive to each other. A huge heap of sexual tension in a romance is a good thing, I'm betting. It's fun to write and addictive. I'd toyed with not finishing, but can't. I owe it to the characters to get them to the finish line. Yeah, sounds weird if you don't write fiction.

In knitting news... The little Goopa (baby sister) has claimed the Christmas Scarf as her own.


Mom loves her socks,
I'm hoping my mother-in-law likes her scarf. Seeing my friend, Mary's lavendar version, I'm betting she'll LOVE it. Hubby is lobbying hard for me to not felt it. He can want all he wants, but I'm still felting.

Fry would love her fingerless mits if she could find her other one. She's already lost one. The white part glows in the dark, which is cool, but not cool enough to wear to school or anything. (Yes, I'm bitter.)

Goaaaaaaaaaalllllllllll!

Would ya look at that:



But, my work here isn't done. I'm about halfway done with the story and it's pretty good. I know, I'm biased, but usually I don't like my own stuff. It's not 'perfect'. Something I'm thinking at the moment is, do I really need to finish the book? I mean, I hit goal, plus, I already know how it'll end. Why bother, in that case? There's yarn to knit, you know.

It's cute, being about the Oregon Trail and all, and my husband knows the lay of the land in Wyoming. He'll ask me every so often, "Are they at Ft. Laramie, yet?" They're getting close, about 60 miles west of Chimney Rock.

The whole thing with National Novel in a Month is a person is supposed to be writing like a fiend with NO editing. Right. That's like telling me to go to a yarn store but NO buying yarn. Whatever. Usually, I'd edit the prior couple of pages, then continue with the flow. I do know the novel will need editing to get rid of echos. It's when the author has used the same word several times in a paragraph.

Example:

Taking his dishes, she looked at him in surprise. He didn’t inform her of his whereabouts often. Bethie indicated the dishes in her hand, “Very well. Mostly likely, I’ll be here or washing something.” He gave a little wave as she watched him walk away. Once Daggart was out of site, she put the washing up in the larger pail to take to the river.

In this paragraph, I'll have to change a 'dishes' and a 'washing'. They'll bug me otherwise.

So, anyway, I have to brag about hitting 50,000. This is my third year and not only did I write more than half the month, I wrote above 7000, beating last year's word count. :D

Thanksgiving is WHEN? But, I've not lost last year's weight!

Due to popular request, here it is, an update! Chelle is popular and did request, so I'm not entirely overstating it.

What have I been doing? A few things. The whole election thing had me down. I voted Democrat in the last two elections to no avail, and didn't have hopes for this one. I honestly figured it'd be like when Bush Sr won after the dry years of the Reagan era. Horrible. Even so, it wasn't as bad then for the nation as it is now.

I tried to keep an open mind concerning McCain. I vote for the people, not the party. When he slung the first mud, saying Obama was responsible for the oil prices, I tuned him out. Both men voted against offshore drilling, until McCain was bought out by the Bushites. He did an about face for the money, which is funny, considering the Democrats had more to spend.

Besides the issues, I had serious problems with McCain's lying during the debates. Hillary calling Obama a Muslim had the same effect on me. If they'll lie during a 'date' with the American people, what'll they do after the 'marriage'? Several times during the debates, McCain would say what Obama would do, Obama would have to refute or clarify, then McCain would repeat the erroneous information. I don't mind a person being wrong. It happens. But when they know they're wrong and continue to perpetuate the lie, I can't trust them.

See? I don't like blogging about politics because it's not only difficult to find unbiased sources, I lose whatever bit of eloquence I might have. I do know that the current administration and its friends have profited beyond anyone's wildest dreams. They continue to do so, judging by the frequent bailouts of banks. Funny how the auto companies are given a miss on the money train. I wonder why, since it's not the lawmakers own money they're passing out so freely, but ours. If they want to help those hurt by the housing crisis, why don't they give the money to the homeless shelters, since that's where those who've been forclosed on now live.

What else has kept me busy? Well, in November, it's been NaNoWriMo, and it's been going great! Woo hoo! I have a snowball's chance of finishing on time. So very cool. I love the story, romance on the Oregon Trail, have had to do tons of research, and have written well into the next day some evenings. If I'm seeming out of it, more so than usual, and can't seem to pay attention, blame NaNoWriMo. It's been fun writing the story so far and I'm sort of looking forward to finishing. Already, I'm planning the next story, so this has been a great jumpstart.

Here are Fry and Lucky in the park's creek. I run in the park three times a week, two if I get shinsplints. It's a one mile loop with some slight hills if you go one way, slopes the other. Most people go with the slopes, which I find funny. I mean, don't be half-assed about kicking your own ass, m'kay?

By run, I mean jog at a 13 minute mile, which, a mile is usually what I do. Sometimes it's 1.5 jog, others it can be 1 run, 2 walk. When it's nice out, the child and dog come with me, otherwise, they stay at home, dry and warm. :)


There was some Octoberfesting going on! Hubby and I went, Fry stayed home and worked on her teenage angst. We enjoyed beer and brats, funnel cake, and pig races. He's wearing the Liederhosen bought on our honeymoon, so be impressed. Seriously, because there's no way I could fit anything bought near our wedding.


This is why my Ziplocks of yarn have eensy little holes in them. SOMEbody likes pillows. Isn't Claude the sweetest? It's now cold enough for him to snuggle me every night. He also likes to use my foot as a pillow, making it tough to get drinks or take breaks. Wouldn't want to wake the spoiled rotten thing.


Finally, you'd think I'd blog about meeting the Yarn Harlot herself, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

My friend Chelle also posted about the Harlot, much more timely than I did. I've also stayed pretty busy teaching classes at the libraries. They've not been more than I can handle at all, just that there is prep time involved, of course. Materials gathering, driving to and fro time, then the two hours teaching. It's all really fun, though. I received next season's class schedule and there's fun there, too. We'll be knitting in the woods from the book "How to Knit in the Woods". I need to work out with the library how many books they'll have there. Being a writer type, I'm all about respecting the copyright.

There's been lots of fun minutia around here. Lunches with friends, shopping for yarn, hanging out with my child and husband. All of which is much more interesting if you were there, so I'll spare you. Instead, I'll go work on my novel.

A run by blogging.

I could do a long diatribe about politics, the economy, life around here, all that, but can sum it up on a few words.

Politics-sick of.
Economy-sick about.
Life around here-sick of cleaning.

There's been a little bit of knitting. Here's my latest pattern off the needles. Cute, hm? I like it. The mate is done and the pair are spoken for, while I'm doing a bigger size of these next. The yarn is wonderful and is courtesy of Dome Hill Yarns. You're no one if you don't have yarn from Dome Hill. ;)



Now for something fun, The Husband Quiz. I stole this from Alison Knits.

Me: What is your favorite thing about my knitting?

Hubby: Sweaters, socks.

Me: What is your least favorite thing about my knitting?

Hubby: Scarves

Me: What is something I have knitted, that you recall as good?

Hubby: A Sweater

Me: Do you think knitters have an expensive hobby?

Hubby: Moderate; Wool and other natural yarns can be expensive vs. synthetic yarn.

Me: Do you have any hobbies?

Hubby: Yes, coins & stamp collecting.

Me: Do you have a stash of any kind?

Hubby: Yes

Me: Have I ever embarrassed you, knitting in public?

Hubby: No.

Me: Do you know my favorite kind of yarn?

Hubby: Not sure of the name. I believe it costs around $75.00 a skein.

Me: Can you name another knitting blog?

Hubby: No

Me: Do you mind my wanting to stop at knit shops wherever we go?

Hubby: Not too much, depends on how many bills we have and if the bank account balance is sufficent.

Me: Do you understand the importance of a swatch?

Hubby: Yes, could prevent errors by knitting the pattern according to instructions prior to knitting the project.

Me: Do you read In Pursuit of Perfection? (this blog)

Hubby: Sometimes.

Me: Have you ever left a comment?

Hubby: Not usually. Just entertaining to read.

Me: Do you think the house would be cleaner if I didn't knit?

Hubby: I plead the Fifth Amendment on the grounds it may incriminate me if I answer this question.

Me: Anything you'd like to add?

Hubby: You have made a lot of friends with knitting. I honestly believe you have found your true calling. It is a business, hobby, and something you really enjoy.

Back to me. Isn't he a sweetie? I'm a lucky girl and I know it.

Sitcoms do it, maybe I should.

Lately, I've been mulling over the lack of separation in my personal and professional blogging. If sitcoms can have spinoffs, I think blogs should, too. It's something that's percolating in my mind, having this be my personal bitchfest blog, then having another devoted to all knitting, all the time. Guess which one will be featured on Ravelry, that wonderful knit website?

In the meantime, I've had bigger thoughts to ponder. There's an obvious one, which I feel perfectly comfortable blabbing about ad nauseum in real life but can't make myself blog. We'll leave that one alone and go on to a couple of scientific things that are rather cool. It'll also let everyone in on how my brain works.

Ok, so, I was watching something on Discovery, National Geographic, or the Science Channel about how early bacteria and plant life sucked out all the carbon from the atmosphere, leaving an oxygen-rich environment. The Earth went from a global steamy swampland to the crisp, cool (relatively speaking) planet we know and love today.

Later, those little carbon eaters died, were mashed and heated for a few million years. This pressure cooking turned them into the fossil fuels we're burning today. After this, I was thinking, "Hm, if we're filling up our air with carbon that used to be there, how can we make like the fossils and take it back out?" Could we re-use this carbon, maybe in a more contained system?

Happily, minds who are trained in this have been working on cyanobacteria. Pretty cool stuff. We Americans are great at outsourcing. Why not outsource our atom splitting to the obvious experts?

Cut to this morning and me goofing around on the internet. I'm a pushover for the scientific news websites and have spent too much time on them already. The title "The Oceans are Beginning to Die" caught my eye.

I'm selfish enough to first think, "What about the seafood?!"

Then, the thought hits... The oceans need oxygen, the air needs oxygen, how about we use the cyanobacteria here, too? Couldn't we use the oceans as farmland to grow the bacteria, and harvest it for fuel? Also good would be the possible use of the fertilizer, either filtered and recycled, or as something plantlike the bacteria could live on as single cell apartments.

On a related, but separate subject is the clean generation of energy from wind and solar sources. So, here I was, thinking about the Sahara and Australian Outback as great places to set up solar panels and wind turbines. Probably passing these in Kansas during a hot July weekend started me thinking.

But, setting up the energy gathering equipment does no good if you can't get the new power from point a to b. When I read about wireless electricity experiments from MIT, there you go. (Tesla did it first, by the way.) Set up way stations and let the power do island hopping to go around the world. In an ideal world, famine-racked countries of Africa could now profit from supplying energy to the rest. Sadly, I doubt the rulers would let that happen. Maybe they would improve their infrastructure, if only for their own convenience.

Enough on what happens when I have too much time to think. On to more pretty pictures!


Someone turned 13! I made her a guitar birthday cake and she got Rock Band from us. A very happy girl.


This is Frygirl holding an EMPTY bottle. She's giving her Dad a defiant, yet cute look here, so I had to include it. The beer was mine, so you know there wasn't a drop left for her.


My entry in the Ravelympics for the Works In Progress Wrestling. I wrestled this bad girl to the ground, finishing it on time despite tons of distractions. Yay! It looks good on me, if a little tight.


Sadly, this guy has been ripped out completely. Do over! It needed to fit on my foot and didn't. I went up a needle size, am making my fair isle looser, and am kicking it again.


I had to include this for my Dad. I love this photo, too funny!

By Popular Request!

If by popular I mean one person, that is...

The Frygirl wanted pictures of her pup, but first, updates.

The baby bunny from a couple of posts ago is doing well and is obviously gorgeous. Isn't it the sweetest?


Here is the largest ball of twine with two of my favorite models.


Of course I had to try and knit on it. I know, the camera added 50 pounds. So sad.


Really tried to knit it. Twine is tough, tougher than cheap cotton yarn, even.


When I say "bye bye," people listen. Is it the fun or the air conditioner? I have a feeling it's both.


What do we like about bye bye? Swimming! We need a decent rain, oddly enough, because Shoal Creek is getting a bit low. The only bad thing about walking around in the creek is the crawfish. They scurry away and it sort of creeps me out. The North Fork of the Red River, what I'm used to, is a lot clearer and only has minnows.


He's such a cutie! He's at the top of the waterfall in the picture below this one.


Notice the house in the background? I think it has the coolest backyard. Floods, not so much, but right now? Gorgeous.



Is this happy trails or happy tails? Trick question because it's BOTH!

The Stages of Grief

Did you hear the wail?

Bad news, I've just learned a pattern I submitted was rejected by Knitty. The good news? I can sell it myself now on Ravelry. As soon as I crawl out from under the heavy rock of Depression. Which will probably be when all the wine in the fridge and chocolate chips are gone. Gimme a minute, would you?

This would be a good time to run through the five stages of grief, don't you think?

Denial:
Example - "Uh oh, a silly email mixup."; "Wait. Not use my pattern? The note said NOT?"

Anger:
Example - "They obviously don't know a decent pattern when they see one. Mine is the best ever written. Ask my Mom."; "If my model had even TRIED to smile in the photo, something he could never do for our wedding pictures, this wouldn't have happened. It's completely his fault."

Bargaining:
Example - "Maybe if I offered to get a different model, someone who's able to freakin' SMILE in the photo.";(I'm really good at the anger stage.) "How about a new description? Something wordy, edgy, and possibly plagiarized so they'll like it."

Depression:
Example - "Of course they rejected the pattern. It's totally retarded and should be shot, like me."(This last phrase is best cried out while trying to crawl under the bed. Add to the pathos.); "Everything I do is stupid. Except the dishes. And cleaning toilets." "I'm going to need a Prozac I.V."

Acceptance:
Example - "Hm, well, at least I can now sell it on Ravelry. As soon as I retake the pictures with a model who doesn't do an Eeyore impression in every photo." (I know, still with the anger.); "Maybe I could write a book 'Being Rejected for Fun and Profit'?" Which, would probably be rejected and I'd have to do all this all over again. Still, a cute little pattern book could be fun to write...

It's been an hour and I'm still feeling bad about it. How long does it take for these stages, anyway? Since I'm so depressed and angry over this, I'll probably give up designing. Of course, there's a sock pattern I've promised, a sweater pattern I'm in the middle of, and several other pattern ideas I need to do. After them, that's it. When all my stash of unassigned-to-a-pattern yarns is done, I'm not designing any more.

People who have seen my yarn room know I'll have to exceed my life expectancy or sell off my stash to be able to stop designing. ;) I actually have to design, even if it's only for family to wear/endure.

After all that, how do I really feel? They had a limited amount of patterns to publish, I'm a first-timer and not heavily popular. They need web traffic, who doesn't? The pictures weren't taken outside and didn't heavily show detail. My description of the pattern was a bit concise, unlike my other writing. It could have been THE perfect pattern, but with all these little nit-pickies against it, there's no way for the sweater to have been included. Too much competition for the submission to be the slighted bit imperfect. Ah well, work harder on the next one is all I can do.

At long last!

Scratching and clawing, I pull myself back onto the ledge that is "The End of the Earth". There's been tidbits of excitement, relatively speaking. One girl's excitement is another's boredom.

By special request from his 'Mom', here's Lucky. Poor Fry is having to make do with my parent's dog, Larry. They've been fast friends, probably because Fry loves giving out treats as much as Larry likes eating them.


Hubby and I took Lucky to the park yesterday. We let him do some serious swimming in a large creek that runs along the walking trail. Right now, he's outside. I've left a sprinkler running to cool his pool and in case he wants some fresh water.


Here's a picture of the project currently driving me nuts. It's cotton, which is fine, but is taking what seems to be forever. If July 1st begins 'forever'.


Look what the dog dragged in!

Ok so Lucky didn't drag this sweet little thing in so much as flush him out from the backyard bushes. I'm thinking the nest is under the deck's steps. I'd already checked and the official wild bunny site said to put them back and their moms will reclaim them. Hubs and I were worried bunnies were like birds, once touched by humans, forever orphaned. Isn't this the sweetest?


Speaking of sweet things... Part of why the blog was so quiet around here was this kid. She and I had girl's day out nearly every day before July 4th. Now, she's out camping with my parents, having to fish off of a pontoon boat, riding an inner tube, and playing on a waterslide. Poor little baby. Even on dry land she'll get no peace from my parents, who take the Spoil Grandchild duties of grandparents VERY seriously. I don't blame them, though. She's very spoilworthy.


The picture isn't so significant as much as I just want one of these. We have a topper already and don't need or can't use this tent. Isn't it cool, anyway? It'd make a great birthday or Christmas for my outdoorsy sister...


Someone asked me recently, "Are you finished with your pond, yet?"

Um, no. Is someone with a pond ever done? I don't think so. There's always something to do, fix, or enhance. At the moment, I'm working on the waterfalls, getting them splashy and leak-free. My thinking is the leak is not so much a leak as evaporation in action. We're going to need more rock to hide the tarp. Hauling rocks up a hill to put in the back of a truck is a great workout.


Hubby took us out to Howl at the Moon in the Power and Light district of town. There were happy hour drinks, finger foods, and two pianists taking requests. We had a great time just hanging out and want to make this a habit.

Is this good or bad?

39 As a 1930s wife, I am Poor Take the test!

Either way, I love quizzes.

It happens in threes.

Unless it's the lottery, of course.

What, you may ask, am I talking about now? Deaths. We've lost Dick Martin, Sidney Pollack, and Harvey Korman one week in the past May. Who were they? Not guys you'd know off the top of your head, unless you're in the 40's, maybe late 30's. Their comedy, once you saw the faces behind the laughter, is much better known by all.

Now with Tim Russert passing, my Hubs and I are wondering which two news guys, nationally known, will be next.

Edited to add, because I'm a doof: Duh! I totally forgot Jim McKay! HE was the first, although, I'd have never guessed Tim Russert to be next. Dang. Russert was way too young, even at 58. Funny how the idea of 'young' changes, the older a person gets?

Good news? There's only one left in the trifecta. Bad news? There's still one left.

End of edit.


This three at a time thing is so much a bummer.

For the inquiring minds: I haven't heard on the submission, yet. No news is good news, I think. In the meantime and while Fry is at Aunt Toppa's until tomorrow, I'm writing up the latest sock pattern. Also in the works is a simplified Aran sweater for the guys, a shawl showing off the colors of Oklahoma in the spring/summer, manly socks for the guy, and a leafy lacy triangle shawl.

These are all projects not counted as works in progress, which, I do need to finish soon. I don't like them hanging over my head, waiting to be done. Here are pictures of them and you'll see why I couldn't leave them alone.

I'm it!

Chelle tagged me for a meme. I'm not sure what a meme stands for, other than me me me, since the list is always about me. But, what is a blog except a lot of navel-gazing, hm?

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? What year is this...? We lived in Lenexa, KS and I was a computer programmer consulting around the city. Probably working in downtown KCMO, which was very cool. Like Chelle, I weighed less and looked younger. I think the 35-45 year span in a woman's life is the big slide downhill in aging, then levels off for a while. It's harsh, because it's the first big age slap.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today? Dishes(not done), exercise(ick), dinner(not done), take Claude to vet(done), call Kimberly (done)

3. Snacks I enjoy: Ice cream or ice pops, cheese and crackers, veggies and dip, salad.

4. Places I’ve lived: Walters, Elk City, Sayre, Weatherford Oklahoma. Perryton and Amarillo Texas. Lenexa Kansas and Kansas City Missouri. Louisiana and Utah very briefly. I know, nothing too exciting, but I've liked the places.

5. Things I’d do if I were a billionaire: Other than the obvious, pay off things and pay bills, this is tougher than you'd think. Charity? Probably, but which one? Start my own? Would I really want to run one? Heck, even after bills, being a billionaire is wealthy enough to buy your own American President.

In other news, school is out and while I'm usually driven crazy by now with the free time intrusion, it's not so now. Fry and I have had a great time, every day being 'Girl's Day Out'. There's been Spongebob watching, walking to the store, drinking overpriced coffee at Borders, lots of fun.

We've had interesting weather, nice, but stormy, and the pond still isn't done. Yeah, I've procrastinated a little, but mostly have been trying to find the small leak. The ponds leak only when the water runs through the system, and if the ground would dry even a little, I could trace where the oops is.

Anyway, there's been a ton of knitting, just none I can blog about at the moment. As soon as I can, you betcha I'm telling. I've also been trying to avoid buying yarn, since the yarn room is getting full and the projects are going slow.


In the interest of entertainment, and because I can't show any of the latest pictures due to incriminating the terribly guilty, I leave you with this, stolen like a thief from Knitting the Blue's blog. She has a cool blog, how can anyone not steal a neat idea from her?



Click on the above picture to make it larger.

1. Water Lily, 2. Food and Wine, 3. Flying W Land Run, 4. Verde no Aquarius, 5. Chris Meloni, 6. { PEPSÌ diêt }, 7. Reykjavik Iceland at night, 8. Blueberry Cheesecake, 9. Three laboratory retorts, 10. Cambridge streets: Victoria House, 11. disneyland reflections, 12. Laura's Coffee Shop

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.
The rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.


I tag anyone with enough free time to do the above meme's. :)

I'm bored and don't WANT to clean my room.

Is it time for PMS already? I'm bored and don't want to do anything one minute, and want to do everything the next. There's a pond to finish, a secret project that's getting close to done, pets to play with, a house to clean and spiff up, books to read and write, and walls and pictures to paint.

I'm also wanting a new digital camera, one that works with my current Pentax's Tamron lenses. While loitering in Barnes and Noble on the birthday, I tried reading the latest photography magazines. They looked like English, but read like Greek. There was one article in Outdoor Photographer about landscape photographers and their preference for film based camera. Finally, something familiar. Still, I want the digital.

Me, and my birthday cake. Can't see the number, can you? Ha ha haaa!

It has to be PMS. I've been wondering, do I deserve a digital SLR when I have the camera phone? No one's paying me to take pictures. This is that week where I think any talent I have is the talent for procrastination and general laziness. And eating. I'm fantastic at that.

My friend, Chelle, has been going through something similar mentally to what I'm thinking but not blogging. The midlife weight, the am I doing all I can, and what was it I was supposed to be doing, anyway type questions. Me, too.
Except for the weight. I weigh more. Woo hoo! I win, I win!



Um, wait. That's not winning, is it. <- Yes, a statement, not a question.As you can see, here, I've been reading every diet book, trying to figure out why I keep gaining.


Last, and most important: Today is the Toppa's birthday AND my parents' anniversary. Two for the price of one, hm? The Toppa's big 40, or yet another 29th, birthday party is on Friday. We're all going to party down then. Toppa is an amazing person. She's been through things guaranteed to make a person crazy and still is a sunny girl. She's also one of those who is the center of social information and is 'in' on every trend. Athletic, energetic, and direct, Toppa is amazing because she's often the exact opposite of me. Although, there is one thing she and a lot of my family members share, including me and the Fry. If we're dancing on a table wearing the lampshade, it's for the laughs and never because we're drunk. Ever. Who needs to drink to be silly? Not us!

Second part of the last: My parents' anniversary. I can NOT imagine being married to someone for 44 years. The very thought of being committed to one person for that long makes me shudder. But then, that's more than my whole life so far. Maybe when I'm in my early sixties... Naw. If I'd stayed in the first marriage, it'd have been 22 years. Yechhh. Thankfully, my parents did it right the first time and married the love of their life. Their marriage has been a great example to see. Never perfect, but always full of love. Which is how I think it should be.

For my parents, since they're the only ones still reading this drivel... Here's the baby, her beautiful face covered by those ugly glasses. She LOVES those glasses, and has taken my favorite mock turtleneck shirt. It's black, shortsleeved, and she looks like one of those coffee house poets. So brainy! Fry has also commandered another of my mock turtlenecks, a grey one. I'd be upset if she didn't look so darn cute in them.

It was a bit rainy a couple of weeks ago.

First of all, thanks for the compliments on the sweater! I'm pretty partial to how nice looking the model is, too. He's a great sport about my pushing him into poses, and even had final say over photos showing off too much of his scalp. :P

He loves the sweater, too. Happily, it's much too warm to wear it. Since then, I've been working on a project to submit and one of the rules about it is no blogging. It's my stealth project and has been tough to not talk about. Happily, my Mom has tons of patience for boring chatter and I've been bending her ear when I can't stand not talking about it any longer. Plus, I have some great test knitters who have really been great with questions and the speed of their knitting. They're amazing.

What can I show? How about this? The fun thing is, I've already started the heel flap so the picture is out of date. Why do I blog on cloudy days? I don't know, but the next sunny one, I'll snap lots of pictures for the next gloomy day post.


Spring showers created a pond out of our creek in the back yard!


Sadly, it didn't last very long. This is the same creek where Hubs's sweater pictures were taken, and all that was underwater.



Is spring cleaning done? Well... I can't decide when to let the carpets be soggy, so officially, no. Other than that, it's the usual mess around here.

There's been working out, bike riding, walking the dog, but with Mother's day (champagne brunch), Hometown Buffet, Jose' Peppers, and the looming birthday visit to the Cheesecake Factory... If I maintain the weight, I'll be doing GREAT. :D

Update time!

Here's my husband's latest sweater.

He wants everyone to know, it's the sweater that has a tummy, not him. Really.


In the news... Not a lot going on around here. Someone got a new bike, someone else has been walking around the neighborhood with a pup, and still others have had dental work. I already had a new bike, and all of us have walked Lucky at one point or another, and poor Hubby is the one needing a new crown.

Funny Chelle, saying I've been spring cleaning for weeks and weeks, or what seems like. She's right, it does seem like weeks, but... Cable guys, bug spray guys, and Schwan's guys have all interrupted the 'fun'. Once the carpets have been steam cleanned, I'll call the spring cleaning 'done.

I'd show off knitting fun, but honestly, other than the sweater, everything's been going in slow motion. Is it because the biggest needle I'm using is a 1US? For the agriculturally savvy members, a 1US is almost as big as baling wire. There's a couple of stealth projects in the works, one a present, one I want to submit as a design. The present will be a hit, I know, while the submition, at worst, will be a new garment for a guy around here.

In the "Oh no you didn't" news, I've learned there's a big difference in what a body can do at age 17 and at nearly age 43. (Me? 43? Can't be true.) How do I know this? Well, when I was in high school, my mom and I used to do Jane Fonda's workout. This was on RCA's Laserdisk, obsolete before it came out, seriously. It's the original and the best. I want to buy the video, since the Laserdisk copy is very skippy, and then copy the video to DVD. Cool, huh? Maybe I'll go crazy an copy the skippy copy, if it'll come out ok. I've done tons of workouts in the past mumble-mumble years, and this is the only workout that continually kicks my butt. Literally. When I last did this, Sunday, I had to remind myself of the age difference in my young self versus the old self. The youngster weighed 115, now I'm up a bit from that.

I'll wait until the crowd stops snickering. Yeah yeah, I'm heavier but am a much better cook.


Oops! Thunderstorms, gotta go.

Too much to say and not enough that's interesting.

I know! It's true, though. While I've been running around town or spring cleaning, I've done nothing that's very riveting. What's worse, my blog reading is way behind and I have no idea what my friends are up to unless I've seen them in person. Thursday, when rain is scheduled, is when I can catch up on the reading.

Like in the movies, let's do a montage. Play whatever cornball '80s music you like best, be it from Rocky (barely 80's) to The Karate Kid (barely watchable).





















In between posts there's been lunches with friends, walks with Lucky, obviously yarn shopping, and spring cleaning. At long last, the top floor is 'done'. Dusting and steam cleaning the carpet are all that remains for up there. Here, as in life, the stuff is rolling downhill. I've tried to declutter the kitchen and living room when sick of the bedrooms, and they're half done.

In knitting news, there's not much. It seems I can buy much faster than I can knit. Still, I'm on the second sleeve of Husband's sweater. I'm trying to keep my focus on that, since if I start anything else, or even pick up a current work in progress, the sweater won't see daylight for a long while.