At long last!

The little camera has software on the new computer! Hooray! Hubs found the software while cleaning out his office, and I installed it today.

Of course, the first picture had to be of the baby.


This is my current obsession. The yarn is Berroco's Love It! Colors.

Remember the Vogue Knitting with the cool little bolero on the cover?

Well, I wanted a cute summer shirt to wear to Stitches Midwest. I knitted up six pentagons, all attached to each other, then picked up stitches along the edge for the body. At first, I did all stockinette stitch (plain). Three rows into it, I thought, wouldn't it be cool to continue the pattern of the pents? The pents themselves need lots of blocking, since the middle tends to be pointy. I'm dying to make a bikini out of the pentagon pattern next, but that may be a bit too Madonna-ish.

Next up is the nearly finished purple cardigan. This baby needs buttons and it's done. The button band rolls way too much, I've not decided how to fix this just yet. Buttons or zipper? At some point, I'll have to decide. It'll probably be buttons, since I have them and not the zipper. :D


Finally, the best is for last. Here is Fry and her beloved Lucky. He's not a bad dog. Sometimes, I actually don't hate him. Once he's in obedience class a couple times and stops jumping on me, he'll be great.



Let's see... Medical news? Fry's arm is perfectly healed and out of the cast and splint. Doesn't take her all day to mend a fracture. Her tummy is also much better with the caffeine cut down and eating dinner earlier in the evening. All my yearly tests are done and back, everything's great for another year I suppose. Hubs went in for knee pain and seems to have osteoarthrits in that one knee. He's taking the glucosamine stuff. Lucky has been snipped and chipped, so no luck in losing him. Ah well, everyone around here would be distraught at losing him anyway.

Everyone except Claude and I.

Nothing to see here, folks.

At least my Mom, she of the dial-up, will love this post. No pictures just yet. I know. Bad blogger, bad!

Ok, there's been a vet visit, an ER visit, and a Cheesecake Factory visit. Lucky, a beagle mix, received his first rabies and stuff shot. He's around 6 months old and a holy terror in the vet's office. Thursday is the 'snip' and microchip thing. Nice thing is all I have to do is drop him off and run away.

The ER? It seems Fry's tummy hurt her a lot, had been all day. It would get worse then go away, then get back to worse. Finally, around 9:30pm, she still couldn't sleep and nothing was kicking it, we went to the ER. Not my preferred way to go, but better safe than sorry. You know how it is with kids. If you tell them to just deal and go to school, they'll barf all over or have appendicitis. But then, if you let them stay home, as soon as the bus pulls away, they're dancing on the tables and wanting to eat junk food. She supposedly has a bit of acid reflux, which I think is due to a bit of a stomach bug that's going around. This bug lasts longer than the usual 24 hours, which threw me.

In yarn-related news, Little Goopa's legwarmers are done! Never mind her birthday was in January, they are done at last! She emailed me from a library I suppose is near Greensburg. She's up there, helping her in-laws retrieve things from their house. The little gal who's wedding dress survived? That's Goopa's sister-in-law. Something nice out of all the misery is Little Goo's husband is home in emergency leave. This is his second time in Iraq. I'm hoping he has the chance for a third but doesn't have to go. :P

Wasn't that a fun tangent? Back to woolly goodness... There's only one sleeve and a button band left to knit on the purple cardigan. Yay! Next post, I must show pictures of Lucky, the cardigan, Fry's rapidly healing arm, and other such bandwidth sucking things. :D

Legal Cheesecake Day

Yep! It's my birthday! The one day I can have all the cheesecake I want and not regret it. Until tomorrow, anyway.

I keep thinking I'll update this when I can post pictures. I do have pictures, but they're on the computer upstairs. Heaven forbid I sit down up there and post them.

So anyway... There's been Mother's Day, my Dad's birthday, a new dog in the family, falling off the yarn wagon in a big way, finishing up the tiles in the kitchen, and instant gratification in the garden department. Fry is also wearing a splint, not a cast anymore. She had a green tree fracture, which is healing very nicely.

After getting a checkup physical, I've decided not to have one ever again. They're rechecking the mammogram due to a spot that's probably nothing. I wore deodorant, which is a no-no I'd forgotton. Mary reminded me, much to my relief. I suppose I'll have to return all the yarn I bought for knitting in my final days. (Hey, it's an excuse, ok?) The CA-125 came back great, always a concern. The cholesterol didn't. 254 total, so the doctor put me on Chol-B-Gone that very day. I'm sure to take meds as directed, since the diet and exercise is still spotty. The new dog helps, amazingly enough.

New dog? In our/my cat-only world? Alas, yes. We have a dog. The neighbor found him wandering around, couldn't find an owner, so we've got him for now. Probably for forever. He's a beagle/basset mix named Lucky and is a decent dog so far. Fry is on poop patrol and is taking care of him so far. I knew we were keeping him when Hubs bought a fancy-smancy leash instead of the cheapie $4 one. All three of us take him for a walk every evening. Since I've started watching what I eat and exercising, I've gained weight. Of course. NORMAL people diet, exercise, and lose weight. I gain. Isn't that fun? Still, even if there's no changes on the outside or scale, there's changes on the inside with the arteries.

I finally opened my present from Susan! Thank you! I love them! Pictures later, but for now, they're lovely cloth coasters. Just gorgeous and a funny card, too. Also finally, I'm breaking down and using my coffee/espresso station from my parents. I didn't want to use it and mess it up before now. Fry is going to love the cappuchinos, too. We're all coffee drinkers over here. Not a lot, and the youngest get the decaf.

There's an inch to knit on the legwarmers, a sleeve and a half on the cardigan, and I really need to post a picture of the tam. Maybe after dishes, laundry, and a nap. ;)

Here, tell me if you hear this pin drop, 'k?

Have I been busy? No... Not really. I totally need to post pictures of the purple cardigan, since it's only lacking sleeves and a button band. Yes! The bad thing is, the cuff of a sleeve is a lot like the cuff of a sock. I'll get so far, then have to fight the urge to do the heel. Right.

So anyway, while I don't have pictures of Fry's cast and the cardigan, which shows I'm falling down on the blogging job, I do have pictures of a couple of varieties of iris blooming in the back yard. These are the only two so far, with another variety budding and getting ready. I'm still placing rocks, and once that's done, I'll get a decent picture of the ponds and stream. Fingers crossed it's before all the iris are done blooming. (I should post the pictures taken by my Mom of her iris in bloom. She's an artist.)

Tomorrow: Dad's birthday! I'll have to post about the birthday boy then.

Gotta go, 'the Man' is mixing up the last of the mortar needed to glum the tiles to the wall in our kitchen. I'm really good at moving the stove around after all this remodeling stuff. (insert sarcastic roll of eyes here) The nice thing is, three feet of tile to do and we're done. Except for the grout, curing, sealing, and more curing. (more eye rolls, please)

Picture time!

Fry is lurking just beside me, wondering why HER picture, one of her in her new cast, isn't to be put on here just yet. Tomorrow, when the light is better, I'll take her pic, right now, the light won't show off the beautiful red that it is. Us oldies may be unaware of the new colors casts come in. Wow! If she'd been out cold, I'd have got her the pink one, if only to see her try to pry it off. Buh wa ha ha ha haaaa!

So anyway, here's a bad pic of the Not a Poncho, courtesy of Frygirl. As you can see, people who have seen (meaning, Mom), most of the tile backsplash is done. A few more tiles slapped up there, a little bit of grout, and we are done!

Right now, I'm pooped, and now that it's after 8pm, no more to eat or drink until after a blood test tomorrow. Standard yearly physical stuff with an ovarian cancer test thrown in for good luck. I did the physical, ran to get Fry for the cast, then over to the Knit Wit to find out how to do a vertical double decrease. Not wanting to leave the kid home alone, the compromise was to run over, buy lots of yarn, and get a quick how to before running off. Fry is very well behaved, I didn't have a problem with her there, but enough people have had bad encounters with crazed kids, I didn't want to tick anyone off.

Sometime later, when there's not a tam on the cusp of being finished, I'll address comments. That, and how SOME people are sending me birthday stuff to my undeserving self. Little stinkers. ;)

P.S. The house doesn't list to the right, the photographer does. So does the model.

I am a boneless chicken.

Mostly.

It's been the wonderful week of migraines, so I've either been sleepy or cranky. Loads of fun, hm? While being elderly isn't an attraction, menopause is.

What's happened since the last blog? A fractured wrist, on Frygirl, a dental appointment, both me and Fry, a bit of yarn shopping where I totally resisted the Summer Tweed, and pond cleaning.

I'll have to break out the digital camera tomorrow, to show off the Not-a-poncho, plus the one leg warmer for Little Goopa done so far. There's about three inches on the second. I'll also have to firm up the list for Stitches Midwest. It'll have to be projects to show off my intense knitting skills.

::snickers::

I am a cheap date, mostly.

Seriously, I am. While on the phone with Hubs, I managed to get MSN on the new computer. Of course they have to be compatible with Vista, duh, right? The bad thing is, AT&T's Yahoo browser isn't, just yet. The Internet Explorer does have a Yahoo toolbar with all my Yahoo favorites. The happy thing is, MSN had all my millions of Favorites. After MSN popped up just fine, I had to cheer at the ease of it. I'd tried to install the AT&T, first, and wasn't too optimistic about MSN. If MSN hadn't worked, I'd have had to cut and paste, or import/export the Favorites files. Hideously tedious.

Yes, very exciting. I think tomorrow, I'll post pictures of drying paint.

Does anyone else every want to say to others, "I'm honestly not an idiot." Last night in fair isle class, I knit up three color rows. They looked lovely, but the first row, about halfway through, had a glitch. I knit one lavendar instead of two and kept going in the pattern. They were all off for the rest of the row. Everything I did that evening, I had to undo. Makes me feel rather dumb, but oh well. I've not only undone, I've redone and gone beyond.

Chelle, no UTI, but a speedy computer. I'm VERY glad the bathroom is close to the computer. Ha! The weight loss suppliment is called "Triple-Action Weight Control". I've found it at Hyvee and K-mart in the diet pills section. After I take one, in 30 minutes, I'm not as hungry, and that's it. Dexatrim made me feel crazy, and everything else doesn't knock the hungries.

Susan, yes, I love birthday weeks. The computer is a combo Mother's Day/Birthday splurge. It's not for me, per se, but I've been the one hogging it all the time. I log out around 4:30pm when Fry hits the door, unless she wants the older computer. It still has all her Club Penguin kid stuff on it, so she's indifferent to the new machine. Both of them, Fry and Hubs, aren't keen on change, and they prefer the old. Works for me!

I can't pee!

Whaaa? you ask. It's true. Saturday, I went out and bought a computer. Fry argued with me, but I prevailed. It's an emachines with a 19 inch flat panel monitor. Gorgeous. With Windows Vista, 512mg RAM is slow, slower than XP Pro with the same amount. So, I ran off to the store and bought another gig of memory. It's in and working great.

Why can't I pee? The new computer is so fast, I don't have time for bathroom breaks. On the old computer, I could start the Sims 2, go potty or get a drink, then come back and click a neighborhood to play. Then, do what I didn't get done, and pick a family to play. After that, I'd pick a knitting project or something else to do while sitting. Paying bills, reading magazines, the above knitting project, all those plus laundry, dishes, all those could be done while the game loaded. Sad, isn't it? The monitor is gorgeous, it's really speedy, and has tons of hard drive space. The old computer, which I still have to blog, email, and check my list of blogs to read from, is connected to the new with a wireless network. I've not figured out how to ftp files between them just yet. Also something bad, the reason why we can't print or run AT&T and MSN browsers is they're not up on the Vista platform yet.

I need to work on my not a poncho, now that my class homework is done(fair isle knitting on Wednesday).

Today is my Mom's birthday! She's a wonderful person who's made the world a better place just by being in it. She would disagree, because she's modest to a fault, but anyone who's ever spent time around her knows I don't exaggerate. Mom will send me a picture of her Ruffled Roses scarf, since I may have exaggerated on how tough Chelle was. Also how mad she was at me and how she'd beat me up if I didn't get a picture of the finished scarf.

I did promise to say how'd I'd lost weight on Easter vacation, didn't I. Ok, here's the deal, and it does seem I have issues with food. Who doesn't, right?

I've always had a healthy appetite, even as a very small fry. After reading Gone With The Wind at an impressionable age, I was/am embarrassed by how much I can put away. As a kid, I was very lucky to have a fast metabolism. Also, I didn't know how much portion sizes and computers could affect a waistline. Never mind how aging impacts weight, in the last 20 years, food sizes have increased and so has sedentary activities.

I hate being hungry, not because of the physical discomfort, but because I'm usually the only one who is so. My 'mantra' is if I'm hungry within three hours of eating a meal, then I can't be really hungry. With a family holiday looming, I didn't want to be the only one scrounging for second helpings at every meal, so I cheated. Was it sneak eating? Nope! It's called Triple-Action Weight Control. It has hoodia, green tea and magnolia extracts. The gelcaps also has energizing B vitamins. What I like about this weight control supplement is that I'm not jittery or odd feeling after taking one. The dosage is one to two caps before meals, I usually take one before breakfast and one before lunch. No one in our family tends to snack after dinner, which is another reason why I lost. I'm good on self-control until 10pm. Once the clock strikes, this mouse goes for the cheese. There may have to be one before dinner, too.

For me, this works because I'm not starving all the time. When I'm hungry, it's for a good reason and I feel fuller faster. The weight since I've been home has started to creep back up by a pound. It's the going to bed too late (blame the new computer), and eating at night (see prior blame). The supplement doesn't get me out of having to exercise or allows me to eat sweets all the time. Sadly, because of all that Easter chocolate on clearance. :D

Lucky 13

Friday the 13ths don't scare me. They're usually the days I get raises, win drawings, and get other good news. What's today's good news? Some loss in weight! Yay! I hang out at Sparkpeople.com where some of the members will whine about losing 'only' 10lbs that month. To them I say, "Bite me," while hoping to lose 10lbs in a year. (Actually, it takes my body about two months to realize we're not in a famine and that it's ok to let go of a couple of fat cells.)

But then, I'm sure there are those out there who'd say the same to me when I whine about how 'fat' I am. No matter who you are, there's someone thinner and someone thicker than you are.

I don't know if I've posted this story about body acceptance, but here it is. Once upon a time, I was at the gym, on a stair climber, working like a fiend to burn off not only the fat, but also the muscle. Why the muscle? Because I'm an apple and have frog legs. Let's pause and let my Mom stop scoffing/laughing at the imagery. Ok. Even when I was 115lbs (yes! I really was! Weird, huh? I even have pictures.), I had thick legs with not a bit of fat on them. Because I can't like what I have, my goal was to work off the muscle until my legs were nice and lean. Next to me, on another stairstepper, was a little ole gal with dancer's legs, working just as hard as I was. We got to chatting, because that's what I do, and lo and behold, she was trying to get MY legs. While I was working out and all the blood was going through the brain, I had an Epiphany. Instead of me kicking my own butt for thinner legs, and instead of her doing the same for muscular legs, why not each of us enhance and love what we have?

Except for that part around the middle. You know, the part that looks like a flotation device was put on BEFORE you put on the swimsuit.

In knitting news: UFOs include legwarmers for little Goopa, a purple cardigan for me, a primary color summer top for Fry, clogs for the clog-a-thon in our group, freeforming the brown yarns still, the Not-A-Poncho, and new this week's Alice Starmore Tam. Nothing lately has been done on the cardigan or summer top, the clogs only get worked on Saturdays at Java, and the Not-A-Poncho's front is DONE! Yay! Now the back, sew it up, then embellish. If the Tam doesn't kick my butt, I could have the whole back done by the time Jane returns.

For those of us more accustomed to cowboy hats than Tams, here's a photo from Knitting in Color:
In essence, it's a glorified beret without the extra floppiness.

Knitting In Color is a blog on my list of things to read, and Nanette is beyond great in her color knitting ability. Plus, who can resist a cute rabbit picture or two? This is also the only decent picture of a tam I could find. Once my own is done, I'm posting mine just so there's more than one. That, and my tam will have different colors.

Let's see YOU say no.

Seriously. Here is the Childsplay colorway for Lorna's Laces I bought in Shepherd Sport.


Then here is some of the lovely new Envy, which I now own in Shepherd Sock.


I know, I know. What about the yarn diet? No one can go to a sweetshop without stuffing a few cupcakes in their mouth.

Or maybe that's just me. Anyway, I went to Knit-wit for my Fair Isle class. Before I could pay out for the needles I needed, two skeins of each of the above colors just 'jumped' into my hands. What's an addict to do?

How was the class? I have homework. Yikes. Corrugated ribbing, which looks like this from Knitting in Color:





Otherwise, I'm working on the Not a Poncho. Jane is out of the loop for a couple of weeks, giving us all time to row madly towards shore. Which is a cute way of saying we're heading towards the neck on both front and back. Right now, I'm binding off stitches on each side of the front neck. Three more rows, and I start on the back. Yay!

Tomorrow evening is my last class to teach for this season. I've already received next season's schedule and it's looking good. There's a lot of beginner's classes. They're fun, although I feel somewhat guilty, leading others into knitting addiction. Buhwa ha ha ha haaaaaa!

There is a happy cat over here.

Claude is thrilled we're home and that we're loving on him. Poor little snookie. He had no idea why he was banished to the basement since Wednesday. Right now, he's griping at me to go to bed already.

Since we did a road trip to see all the family we could, I knitted up the Ruffled Roses scarf for my mother's birthday, the Multidirectional scarf out of Berroco's Boho colors for fun, and started on some leg warmers for the little Goopa. Did I take pictures? Oh heck no! :P

I had migraines most of the time, but the miracle of modern science helped a LOT. Yay meds! Poor Hubs, he was fretting in the back of his mind over our e-filing taxes. For some stupid reason, the e-file was rejected. He's already looked at it, can't fix it easily, and is determined to not e-file again. If a former IRS agent is driven to curse over the e-file, it's not a great idea.

The cat is back, complaining again after having a snack before bedtime. Since I have to rouse Fry out of bed, I'd better listen to Claude. Ha ha ha!

Which came first, the migraine or the taxes?

I think it's a tie!

There could be pictures, but it'd just be more of the same. The progress is slow, due to visits and visiting. I've been running around, getting ready for Easter with the families. We're all totally excited.

On the plus side, too, is that Relpax works. I'm headache free at the moment. Not only that, but my taxes are done. Because of the teaching, I get to do a schedule C. It's not bad if I've kept my reciepts and statements straight. You know I don't. C'mon, that'd be too easy.

Actual conversation after I looked at all the LYS receipts:

Me, to husband: You must REALLY love me.
Hubs: I do.
Me: There's a lot of yarn receipts I can't write off. (personal expense, not business)
Hubs: At least you didn't lose it at the boats.

Isn't he sweet? I'll have to make the boy a sweater. I've only got tons of yarn set aside just for him. :D He's only received one sweater and one pair of socks in all this time. Poor baby! I'll have to start something very soon for him, of course as soon as the heat of summer hits.

Of Cameras and Fish

How bad is the El'Cheapo camera of ours? So bad that this is the best picture I could get of the Not-A-Poncho in progress. Note to self: Wait until morning dew dries next time.

It's also so bad, Goldie IV committed suicide sometime last night. Even before he knew about the bad picture.


He is clearly an ex-fish. I'm running off to trade out the fish, and hoping Goldie V looks somewhat like IV. Fry doesn't know about this latest tragedy. I may have to scuff up some dirt to pretend I buried him. No, I'm not.

Spring has sprung!

Look! A couple of days later and voila'! This is my favorite time of year. The other seasons have their merits, but spring is number one.





I've not knitted a stitch since Saturday. For some reason, people needed clothes washed around here. I know! Totally weird. I've started the group knit a long clogs, and have at least three inches of sleeves done on Jane's not a poncho. I'm dying to have it done already, it's going to be gorgeous.

I did say that, didn't I.

Yes, I remember vaguely something about knitting news...

There's been some falling off the wagon, but, the yarn WAS discounted 40%, beating the 30% exception rate. The not-a-poncho is coming along great, other projects are at a standstill for the moment. Fry and I goofed off today, hanging out at the mall, checking out the Dillard's clearance. We were amazed at how many stores have closed since we were last there. I mean, if the Waldenbooks and TGI Yogurt stores are gone, why go at all?

In the interest of eye candy and to show off the cool new door's best feature, here are some more house pictures. These will be the last until the kitchen backsplash is done, I promise.


Sigh. You can't tell the diamonds in the windows, but they're there. Then, the door has this button that you tap with your toe and it stays open. Very cool for us shrimpy people. She's not to be shrimpy for long! She's already five foot tall, three inches away from me. It'll be fun to see ho9w tall she really gets. :D

If I had a telephoto lens, you'd not only see the tree barely has buds, but that there's a black kitty in the storm drain.

I do windows!

Picture time! Yesterday, I got a call from the windows guys saying they'll be here 'tomorrow' at 8:00am. Didn't I just get rid of the floor guys? Not only that, but the new storm door was/is installed this morning, too. It's grand central around here. My younger sister called, always a very GREAT interruption in my day, and is wanting to keep my kid over there even longer. That is great, although, it'd be nice if the little rat was here to clean her own room. Ah well, at least now I can throw her things away with abandon. Ha ha ha!

Enough gab, now the good stuff:
This is posted solely for my husband's benefit. See the scratch? They'd even tried to patch it up at the factory. No dice. The new part is already ordered, said the message I got from the store today. I was outside, probably goofing off, when the guy called. We're supposed to call when the part is here.

Here's the new door in all its glory. A new storm door isn't that pricy, but then, that's after paying out to the roofers, the floorers, the countertop guys... Then the windows, sheesh. We'd been saving for a while, then with tax refunds, Army Reserve pay, all that, it was time to upgrade the house. What's that white blob? My finger with a bandaid. Never get in a hurry taking potato soup out of the microwave, especially when you see it boiling. Now I'm glad I don't knit Continental (holding the yarn in the left hand).


It's not often a person gets to see before AND after in one photo. Very cool. :D


Here is a closeup. The guys just left, all the downstairs windows that were to be replaced are done on the inside. They need finishing on the outside, but that's ok.


Looking out of two of the new windows. These are in the front, of course, then the back kitchen windows don't have the crosshatches. I love all of them.


Tomorrow, there'll be knitting updates, because despite all the dust, there HAS been knitting.

The Sounds of Silence

It's 11am, do you know where your toilet guy is?

I've read this email from Hubs," Plumber will be out around 8:30 - 9:00 Am on Monday morning. He will call first," at least three times. This IS Monday, right? The floor guys are coming back sometime to wrap up and clean up. Want to see?






The last picture shows the baby gift I've worked on since Wednesday. It needs washing, but then, I need my washing machine hooked back up, too. The photos are dark and so is the day. When all is back in place, I'll take real before and after photos with a better camera, then scan them in.

Meanwhile, there's new fixtures, new ceiling decor, new knit project(s), and new sheetrock.






Those aren't crystals on the chandelier, but plastic thingys. The good thing is they're very easily replaced with the good stuff.

Pooped out!

Um, no, just tired. Let's not be literal. Yesterday, I did do a lot, cleaning around the pond, sorting tools and DIY supplies, moving chairs from kitchen to living room. Today, I about fell asleep while knitting and sitting on the stairs. This is the part where my Mom wonders, "During all that noise?" to which I reply, "I know!" With the floor still being put in, there's a kachunk of the nailgun, a BRRRRRRRR of the air compressor, and a whuuuuhhhh of the circular saw. Every once in a while is a bam bam bam of a hammer. Despite the noise, the floor looks great. Everyone over here is pleased and as a bonus, Toppa gets to come over and see it! I'm thrilled to show it off to someone with great taste. We have similar tasts in home furnishings, by the way. In case you thought I was being overly gushy about the sister.

My stove has been in the living room since Wednesday. Everyone here is ready for me to get back to cooking. After the Chinese buffet on Tuesday, the Olive Garden and Pizza Hut for Wednesday, and tonight's Wendy's, we are so ready for something with a bit less salt. Hub's mission this weekend is to get the grill out and ready for the season. We (Fry and I) need our kabobs!

I'll have to post pictures of the floor soon. They're done with the tough stuff, now it's all straight lines. I'll be surprised if they're here much past lunch tomorrow. The wood floor looks better than any of us anticipated, we're very happy with it. :)

To drivel or not to drivel, that is the question.

Your Dominant Thinking Style: Modifying

Super logical and rational, you consider every fact available to you. You don't make rash decisions and are rarely moved by emotion. You prefer what's known and proven - to the new and untested. You tend to ground those around you and add stability.

What's Your Thinking Style?

Not only that, but after taking this:

You Are a Smart American

You know a lot about US history, and you're opinions are probably well informed. Congratulations on bucking stereotypes. Now go show some foreigners how smart Americans can be.

Are You a Dumb American?

I feel qualified to tell Newt to take a flying leap. A confession now? Maybe he's not a hypocrite any more, but he's not one any less, either. And to also tell Haliburton "You're welcome" to the "Thank you" we should get for getting my husband and others to give them Iraq and all the oil. All the other Americans should get a huge thank you, too, since they paid for Iraq while paying for heating and transportation for themselves. Somehow, I don't think it's a THANK you we're getting from them. A different 'K you, certainly.

I do want to give a thank you to whomever fired the former Surgeon General, Kiley. His arrogant attitude over the mistreatment of those injured soldiers was disgraceful, both as a member of the armed forces and as a human being. I hope he gets way more than he deserves for all this. Especially after he made the lower ranking officers the scapegoats. They followed his orders, they had no choice. Generals need to 'be the man'.

And now for something completely different. Fry had a choir event tonight, she did great and was beautiful, of course. There was an 'incident' though. It seems the group had to sing "Three Blind Mice." Her face turned red and I could tell she had to work to keep from busting a gut laughing. "What on Earth?" I thought, then remembered from Monty Python's The Mouse Problem. After that, it was a vicious circle, me trying not to laugh, getting tickled by her trying not to laugh while singing "Three Blind Mice." I love that kid. Hubs thought we were strange, but then understood once I told him about the farmer's wife in the blue cheese mouse film.

The Not-A-Poncho is still cooling its heels, I've finished a handbag for a class today that no one attended. Yay. Still, we had fun in Lee's Summit in the Colors in Knitting class. There's a group down there now that can intarsia and fair isle. Yay!! Right now, I'm knitting up a onesi from the latest Knit Simple for a baby shower Hubs was invited to but is skipping out on. He has to, it's a guy imperative.

Chris Meloni is on Conan O'Brian in a moment. Must go and drool on the TV as usual. :D Yeah, I'm a bit red-blooded at times despite the sweet and innocent gal I try to be.

Later, falling off, then clawing my way back onto the yarn diet bandwagon. Curse that clearance yarn, curse it.

Blog, what blog?

Yes, I've been very neglectful. This time last week, I was frantically putting everything from the kitchen, dining room, bathroom, and laundry room floors into the living room for the flooring guys. Um, didn't happen. It seems that waviness of the floor wasn't my imagination, the floor really IS wavy. While I'm very glad the floor guys were honest with us and said the laminate wouldn't work for the long term, I'm pissed as hell that the measuring guy didn't catch that little fact. Dummy. Not only that, but my Sims 2 expansion pack, Seasons, arrived the day the floor was to be ripped up. Okay... I moved the system upstairs so I could install and play, such is my addiction. The expansion is wonderful, the Sims can fish and garden, which is great! Something else I need to do is add the pond to our Sims house. I created our home as exact as I could in the game. Why? So I could try out redecorations without fear of messing up the real house. I know I'm retarded, playing a computer game at my advanced age, but still. A gal can't go from Pong to the Sims 2 without some addiction occurring.

Now for the good stuff, pictures.

The carpet is about to be replaced with hardwood floors, so look while you can. The old and new materials exchange should happen Friday, with the guys coming back over to install all the flooring sometime after Tuesday. I'm teaching two classes and going to a choir concert by the Frygirl at 7pm, so Tuesday is packed.

I found the fabric at Joann's and had a heck of a time getting the gal to measure it for me. She kept asking how much I'd need and I said all of it. She didn't believe me and asked what I'd use it for. I relented and said recovering the kitchen chairs and possibly for draperies. She said I couldn't do both and to pick one, which pissed me off. I don't care how much I need, I wanted ALL of it. I LOVE the fabric. She snarked that I knew it was mill end, and did I know what mill end meant. Um, duh. Yes, I did, but I was nice about it and refrained from saying "Just give me the goddamn fabric already." Fry knew the woman was doomed when I gave Fry the look of, well, doom. At first Fry was worried the look was for her because the gal had snotted to Fry about kids touching the machine and messing it up, but I whispered "YOU'RE fine, SHE'S not," as the gal measured my freaking fabric.


Um, so anyway, the roundy thing next to it is Claude's new kitty bed! He loves it AND can fit on it, always a bonus.


Here's just his bed, close up.

Then here's just the fabric. I love it.

Nice kitty bed, but where does Claude sleep when I'm upstairs? Here at my feet. He follows me from floor to floor. Either he likes my company, or is hoping I'll randomly open a can of cat food. It's the latter, I'm sure.


The ONLY self portrait in the bathroom mirror, a requirement in a partially knit blog. The next one will show me significantly thinner, which may never happen, ha ha! Let's hope it does, though.


Here's a two-fer-one shot. The Grey sweater is DONE! And, it fits halfway well. It'll fit much better once I'm even 5 lbs closer to my target weight. It's not bad, just a little tight around the chest area. I'm not used to that. Not only that, but the picture shows the new sinks and faucets in the master bath. All that's left is Fry's bathroom sink and faucet. Yay!



Here's the purple cardigan so far. It's wide enough to go around, and about 10 inches long. At 14, I start the armhole bindoffs. After I reach the neckline, continue for the shoulders, and bind off, I'll pick up the stitches along the neck and middle edges, and knit it the button holes and buttons. There needs to be sleeves, too, of course.


Next week, after or while the flooring is being put in, I have things to keep me busy outside. Before the backyard snake wakes up, I'm moving rocks around to be less wobbly and cleaning out the ponds. It's not something I'm as eager to do as to have had done already.


Did I ever show a picture of our new roof? Don't think so, so here it is! We like it and it keeps the rain out. It works.


Lastly, Claude has moved from the bed upstairs, to his own bed. He uses the lime green spider thingy, now pretty beat up, as a pillow. The spider toy has a little pocket for catnip. Every year, I grow the 'good stuff' and Claude likes only fresh. In winter, he makes do with the dried, but goes nuts for the home grown. Ha! I'll have to make him a felt mouse with velcro for the good stuff this year.


The sun is setting and I've not done my neighborhood walk, so, must go. Thanks for all the comments, I do love and read them all. Later, I'll post about the Not A Poncho, but for right now, it's cooling its heels until the rest of the knit along get caught up. I was a little enthused on the knitting and overknitted a bit.