12.30.2008

The Year to Come

Well, another year has come and nearly gone, and just around the corner waits 2009. It seems like everyone I talk to says they'll be glad for this year to be over so that they can have a fresh start next year; clean slate. This statement confuses me. When you realize you need to make a change why not start it right then? Why wait until the New Year? It makes no sense. The whole dieting resolution-I can sort of see the point in waiting until January with all the rich and fattening foods here around the holidays, but everything else...I just don't know.
A lot of people make resolutions but I never really have. After years of being asked "What's your New Years Resolution?" I finally caved and made one around March of this year and for the most part have stuck with it. My time does not expire until March of 09 so I still have a few months to complete my resolution. However, the world will not fall apart if my resolution is not finished. I will not be utterly disappointed in myself and need counseling if it's not completed. It's a resolution-it's something I'm working on.
So, this coming year I'm not going to make an 'official' resolution but there are several things within myself that I'd like to make an effort to work on.

* I'd love to get my hair cut. I guess that's the easiest to remedy. It's like my hair has just completely taken over my head and now it's branching out and trying to take over the rest of my body. So, a couple 2 or 3 inches would be grand! Of course, once I get it cut I'll hate it until it grows back out again. I always do. It's just the way the world turns.
* I'd like to start eating healthier and drinking more water. I'm not doing this to lose weight. I'd really just like to start eating more nutritious food rather than surviving on sugar, fats, and carbs. I imagine it would make a HUGE difference in the way I feel.
* With all of my being, I would love to finally let go of my greatest fear!
* I'd like to learn something new or try something different. Take a class of some sort or something. If you're not learning-you're not growing. An idle mind is the devil's workshop.
* I'd like to read my Bible and pray more. I've never read the Bible entirely through. That was my resolution last year for this year. As I said, I'm almost there. So, this coming year I would like to take a more in depth look at the Bible. God has been really amazing this year! I've really seen His presence in my life. I've prayed and prayed and prayed until it hurt about certain situations...and I may not have always gotten the answer I wanted, but God did answer, and that alone was worth the wait and worth my time.
* I want a personality make over. It seems that over the past month or two some people have seen me as opinionated. For some that may sound like a bad thing. For me though, I think it's great. For too long I've kept my mouth shut and sat at the wayside. I want to work towards being BOLD and unrelenting. I want to be honest with people and speak my mind even if sometimes it's hard for people to hear. I want to stand for what I believe in even if it means standing alone-unashamed. On the other hand, I want to always be compassionate and supportive of other people. I want to work toward being more outgoing and more outspoken. I want to be more optimistic. Over the years I've learned that anyone can have a negative outlook, but it really takes an effort to stay positive.
* (Crochet wise) I'd like to complete a Football Field afghan, a wearable for myself, and several prayer shawls to keep in stock.

So, 2009 I welcome you with open arms as I strive to make the necessary changes in my life and keep a postive outlook while doing it.
Now, let's party like it's 1999, in 2009!

12.29.2008

Finished Christmas Presents

I just wanted to drop in and post a few pictures of my finished Christmas Presents.

Here are some pictures of Ruby the Strawberry Girl I made for my Mother-In-Law.







and here are some pictures of Georgie the Grape Boy that I made for my Mother. She insist that it's a little girl though, so maybe we'll call her Georgina the Grape Girl.







I guess with Christmas over now I can focus my attention on other crochet projects...like the massive undertaking of a football field afghan! I bought the yarn for it this past weekend. I guess that means I'm commited...
...MORE ON THAT AT A LATER DATE...much later!

12.18.2008

One Down-Two to Go

Well, I managed to finish the baby blanket. The shower was at 2:00 on Saturday and I finished at 1:00. Never in my life have I ever...and never in my life will I ever again. Write that down. I didn't even go to the shower after I busted my rear to finish it. I just dropped it off at my MIL's and got her to take it for me. I had already used up half of my day finishing it and I still had cleaning and wrapping to do...so I just skipped it. Not to mention that I was totally embarrassed by the blanket. It's got to be the ugliest thing I've ever made. I dropped a stitch here and there, and my color sequence was off because of bad math on my part. It's just embarrassing. I really like Danielle too, so I hate to give her something that wasn't my best. My MIL said that she loved it though so I'm glad of that. She also said that everyone wanted to see it so it was passed around. Too bad that doesn't make me feel better. Here are some pics:







When I first started the blanket awhile back-I loved the colors. Not so much though when I finished. The blanket sort of reminds me of a Fair Ground. Imagine lots of kids eating lots of cotton candy and bubble gum and then getting on the Merry-Go-Round or the Swings...UUUUHHHH HHHUUUUUUUUHH. You know what I'm thinking right? It looks like puke, but whatever. As long as she likes it, that's all that matters.

So anyway, that's one thing down and crossed off my list. Two more Christmas gifts to finish and about 6 days to finish them in. Off I go....

12.11.2008

Crocheters' Night Before Christmas

I saw this nice little poem in one of my Ravelry groups this afternoon and loved it and thought you all might appreciate it as well. :D

CROCHETERS’ NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

~ Author Unknown ~


‘Twas the night before Christmas and all around me
There was unfinished crocheting not under the tree,
The stockings weren’t hung by the chimney with care
‘Cause the heels and the toes had not a stitch there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
But I had not finished the caps for their heads.
Dad was asleep-he was no help at all.
And the sweater for him was 6inches too small.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I put down my hook to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash.
Tripped over my yarn and fell down in my stash.

The tangle of yarn that lay deep as the snow
Reminded me how far I still had to go.
When out on the lawn I heard such a noise,
I was sure it would wake up both Dad and the boys.

And although I was tired-my brain a bit thick,
I knew in a moment that it must be St Nick.
Yet what I heard left me very perplex-ed
For nothing I heard was what I expect-ed.

“Move Rowan! Move Patons! Move Koigu and Clover!
Move Shelridge! Move Starmore! Move Spinrite! Move over!
Lopi, don’t circle around, just stand there in line.
Pay attention you sheep and you’ll work out just fine!

I know this is hard as it’s just your first year
But I’d hate to go back to 8 tiny reindeer.”
I peered over the sill. What I saw was amazing:
Eight wooly sheep on my lawn all a-grazing!

And then in a twinkle, I heard at the door
Santa’s big boots stomping on the porch floor.
I rose from my knees and got back on my feet.
As I turned around, St Nick I did meet.

He was dressed all in wool from his head to his toe
And his clothes were hand crochet from above to below.
A bright Fair Isle sweater he wore on his back.
And his toys were all stuffed in an Aran crochet sack.

His hat was a wonder of bobbles and lace
A beautiful frame for his rosy red face.
The scarf on his neck could have stretched for a mile,
And the socks peeking over his boots were Argyle.

On the back of his mitts was an intricate cable.
And suddenly on one I spotted a small label:
“S.C.” in duplicate on the cuff.
So I asked, “Hey, Nick, did YOU crochet all this stuff?”

He proudly replied, “Ho, ho, ho, yes I did.
I learned how to crochet when I was just a kid.”
He was chubby and plump, a well dressed old man,
And I laughed to myself, for I’d thought up a plan.

I flashed him a grin and jumped up in the air,
And the next thing he knew, he was tied to a chair.
He spoke not a word, but looked down in his lap
Where I had laid my crochet hook and yarn for a cap.

He began then to crochet, first one cap then 2-
For the first time I thought I might really get through.
He put heels in the stockings and toes in some socks,
While I sat back drinking a scotch on the rocks.

Quickly like magic his hooks they flew,
Good Grief! He was finished by two!
He sprang for his sleigh when I let him go free,
And over his shoulder he looked back at me.
I heard him explain as he sailed past the moon,
“Next year, start your crocheting sometime around JUNE!”

12.10.2008

Countdown to Christmas Freak Out

Can you believe it's almost Christmas? I'm talking like 14-15 days away...I just can't seem to wrap my head around it. Usually by now all my gifts would be bought and wrapped under the tree. Not this year...I've still got 3 gifts left to buy and still have all my wrapping left to do. I'm feeling the crunch.
I started a baby blanket about a month or so ago for my husbands cousin that is due in February. I have had absolutely NO luck with this blanket whatsoever. I started a star blanket first and couldn't get the pattern to work out. It was written in mostly crochet symbols and I'm just not that good at symbols yet. I frogged that and started over. This time I decided I would do a blanket of granny squares. Sounded easy enough, quick enough. Wrong, it was a blanket of 3 inch granny squares. I got about 30 finished and I had, had all that I could take of weaving in ends and whipstitches. So I decided I would use the squares as the border of the blanket. I had that much accomplished and had my mind made up. I tried a couple of stitch patterns to fit within my borders, my alloted space, and I couldn't get a darn thing to work. Frogged, frogged, and frogged again. I decided that since the baby wasn't due until February that I would put the blanket down, do my Christmas crochet, and then pick the blanket back up at the beginning of the year.
Things were going smoothly. I got about 90% of one gift finished. Then out of the blue I get an invite to the freakin' baby shower for this Saturday. What?!? Who throws a baby shower right before Christmas? Apparently, they do. So, I picked the blanket back up and tried a couple of things-all to no avail. WHY IS THIS BLANKET GIVING ME SUCH FITS!?! So, I'm starting to panic a bit now. I have 3 days left to finish this thing. After this weekend that will only leave me around 10-11 days to finish my Christmas presents...OH and wrap all my existing presents. FREAK OUT!
So, I guess I'll keep winging this blanket. I would hate to waste some 30 3inch granny squares. I know, I know, I could save them until later, but that would never happen. They'd end up in the trash. Pray for me y'all. I'll post pics when I'm done. If I ever finish....

12.08.2008

Weekend Drama

I've had the same car for a little over 5 1/2 years now. It never seems to fail that once it's paid off and you actually OWN it, things start to break or quit working. This car was no different. Once I got it paid off I started having to fork the money over left and right to keep the darn thing operating. Over the past couple of weeks I had been noticing that the car would jerk when I'd shift it into drive. I thought that maybe it was just the cold weather, but after a week or two of that I decided I should take it in to the mechanic. The mechanic looked at it, cleaned it up, and decided that I would be best served if I traded the thing in. Of course, he said I could put a new transmission in it, but his best guess is that it would cost me around $3,000 for that...more than what the actual car was worth. Needless to say, my husband and I began car shopping last week. I hate car shopping!
I knew exactly what I wanted or at least had it narrowed down to a couple of different vehicles. I searched high and low on every car dealership website I could find. I rode up and down 123 and hit every car lot around. I just couldn't find what I wanted and started to get frustrated, but FINALLY, at my very last stop, Hendrick Honda, they said I could check out their website www.hendrickcars.com and search for the vehicle I wanted there. It is a compilation of all the Hendrick owned Honda dealerships and if I found a car I wanted off that website within a couple of hundred miles they would bring it in for me, free of charge, with no pressure to buy. I went home that night tired and frozen solid, and checked the website. Within minutes I found the exact vehicle I wanted. Within a day the car was brought in for me. After test driving it we agreed to buy it. OH MY GOODNESS! I LOVE THIS CAR!! It's a 2006 Pontiac Torrent.






BUT, unfortunately, the story doesn't end there. I brought the car home with me Friday night around 11:00 or so. The next day around lunch time I left the house prepared to run my errands and show my new ride to some friends and family. I remembered that I had left something in the back of the vehicle that I needed so I headed to the back. When I got to the rear of my vehicle I noticed red spray paint covering my back glass, covering my tag, and well, basically, all over the back of my vehicle including my bumper. I called my husband at work and asked him if he saw it when he left and he said he hadn't, but that he didn't really look because he was in a hurry. I asked him to get someone to check his vehicle and to call me back and let me know if they had gotten his vehicle too. It wasn't much later he called back and said that they had. He had red spray paint coloring in his back rim and a red streak all down the drivers side of his truck. Soooooo, I called the police and filed a report. I notified several of my neighbors and told them to be on the look out. Much to my surprise they said that on Halloween night a couple of mailboxes were sprayed, one ladies drive way was sprayed, and vulgarities were spray painted in the road, but no one filed a police report. We all believe it to be some rotten, punk kids in the neighborhood, but we can't prove it. I called the insurance company and they wanted $500 deductible on each vehicle -IF- mine is even covered since I had just purchased it and hadn't changed my insurance information over yet. WHAT A CROCK! INSURANCE IS A WASTE!
Anyway, the good news is that we worked away all weekend and were able to get the paint off of my back glass and all the paint off of my husbands truck. We're taking my car to a body shop next week to have the paint removed from my car. Lucky for me it was red spray paint on a black car so it's not that noticeable. Still makes me mad as hell fire though. PEOPLE HAVE NO RESPECT!!
I figured the police wouldn't take my report seriously. I imagine finding a random spray painter might seem like a waste of time to many of them. But we received a phone call from a detective yesterday saying that he had been up in the neighborhood looking through the woods and stuff for empty spray paint cans. He asked if we had any leads or suspicions. We mentioned the addresses of some of the kids in the neighborhood. He was a juvenile detective so he suspected kids as well. I guess we'll see from here.
It really sucks that it happened but I guess the silver lining is that it could have been A LOT worse!

12.01.2008

Distant Memory

So, today was my first day back to work after a long 4 day weekend. I really hate Mondays, but I especially hate them after a 4 day weekend. I can't even begin to explain how bad a 4 day weekend backs me up at work. I had 6 days of money worth to count and enough mail to start my own post office. I'm just glad the day is over. 5:00 couldn't come fast enough today. Thanksgiving seems like a distant memory to me now. Speaking of Thanksgiving...I did have a good Thanksgiving. We just did the usual family tradition. I woke up fairly early and made a large breakfast. My husband and I ate breakfast and watched the dog show then we put up Christmas decorations. After decorating I baked some rolls and a honey bun cake to take to a family get together later that evening. Good times...Distant Memories. That honey bun cake was off the chain for shizzy though! I ain't even playin!!!
I went to the doctor last Tuesday to have another small test done and to get the results of my CT scan that I had done a couple of weeks ago. Much to my surprise, I have kidney stones! In both of my kidneys. The doctor said they range in size from 2-3mm. He said they were too small to operate on but large enough to cause me pain if I passed them. GEE THANKS! He didn't even give me pain meds-in case! What's up, Doc?! Give me some stinkin' pain meds. Anywho, now I have to do a 24 hour urine collection and have blood work done to determine why I'm mass producing these things. Yippie! However, a 24 hour urine sample is probably the easiest thing I've been asked to do so far. Just wanted to let everyone know that I've probably got some fun times ahead of me.

Here is another interesting quiz I took. Pretty accurate...and Green is my favorite color! Yea!


Your rainbow is intensely shaded green, yellow, and white.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What is says about you: You are a contemplative person. You feel strong ties to nature and your mood changes with its cycles. Those around you admire your fresh outlook and vitality. You're good at getting people to like you.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.