Such a nice smell......the little that I can smell........

I have a hazard at work. It can be somewhat avoided, but at some point, it happens to everyone. Oh the books, the books....I see a ridiculous amount on various subjects. It gets worse when you come across a book you have actually wanted to look at.

The only non-knitting magazine that I routinely read is Real Simple. It is conveniently delivered to my mailbox and I am never disappointed with the contents. It has great recipes, organization and cleaning tips, different uses for random items, and "product comparisons." I got intrigued when they started to advertise a cleaning book that was coming out. Working at a bookstore, I got intrigued.

I took it with me on my lunch break one day....and then again the next day.....and again the next. Usually if I keep going back to a book, that probably means that I like it more than a passing fancy. If you ever get a chance to take a peek, I recommend it. This is both for cleaners and non-cleaners, 'cause I was definitely a non-cleaner.

Seriously, I have a serious aversion to cleaning....or more like keeping things picked up. In fact, those that have seen my apartment are astonished that I am recommending a cleaning book.

Well, they should see it now!! Well, at least the kitchen and living room. Today was my first real day off in a while. Well, the first one in a while were I didn't have anything planned. It was even the perfect day for it. It's sunny, 72 degrees, and there is a back-to-back-to-back Lord of the Rings Trilogy marathon on today.

It even smells clean...well, what I can smell. You see, it has been a while since I have really cleaned like this and well, there's a bit of dust. Dust makes the nose stuffy.

Lesson I learned today: Per my new cleaning book, I used a seam ripper on the brush on my vacuum. It is WONDERFUL at getting off hair, yarn, roving, etc., that has gotten wrapped around the brush head. You just slice down one side and it comes right off.

Also, your vacuum doesn't work as well when it has had the same bag in it since you got it.....um, 5 years ago?!? Yeah, like I said, I wasn't much of a cleaner.

Hello......goodbye.......

To catch up from last time, almost all of the quotes were gotten except for #5.

"I work harder than God. If He had hired me, He would have made the world by Thursday."

This came from "Keeping the Faith", a cute, funny movie. I recommend to all!

Meet The Golf Ball...I got this car when I graduated high school and it served me well for many years. It got it's nickname after it got caught in the mother of all hail/ice storms about 5-6 years ago. Those in the metroplex know which one I'm talking about. It took about three months to get into see your insurance agent. (Ironic sidenote: This was while I was in college and when we were going through the parking lot the next morning, the Lexuses (Lexi?), Audis, and BMWs and such all had windows broken out, where as us with the "cheaper" cars just had body damage. I always thought that was funny.)

So my mom decided to get a new car. It's very nice and pretty. But it turned out that my car, with the hail damage and, well, let's say questionable interior that has 97,000 would have a higher trade in value than my mother's newer, practically immaculate car that has 106,000 miles. Yeah, figure that one out. So I drove up to Oklahoma Sunday, traded in my car and I got my mom's old one. We were amazed that they gave us what they did for my lovely lil' car I have had for 9 years. We took it and ran!

Then, on the way home, God decided to poke fun at me. It wasn't nice. I got to drive down the highway, for three hours, going at 40mph. Why was I going so slow? Well, it probably had something to do with the tornado, horizontal rain, lots of hydroplaning, TWO instances of hail, and semis going way to freakin' fast in that weather. There was lots of cursing, especially when the hail started. "WHAT IS THE DEAL?!? AM I NOT ALLOW TO HAVE A NON-HAIL DAMAGED CAR?!?"

But I got through it and stopped at McDonalds for an ice cream cone. It made me feel much better. Then I looked at the car.Still a beautiful car......

As much as I will miss my ol' Golf Ball, my new Sixer will do me good 'cause you can do things like change the volume on the radio, open all the doors, open the windows at the touch of a button, adjust the side mirrors.....it's the little things you know.....

The Movie Meme...and some business....

So, my interview on Friday could not have gone better and I appreciate all of the good thoughts. It's up to the Job Fairy now. I should know by Friday. I congratulated myself by going to my aunt/uncle's house to watch Texas beat he crap outta Stanford. Hopefully tomorrow, I get to watch them beat the crap outta Memphis. But on to fun things!

I stole this from my sassenach homegirl, who stole it from someone else, and so one and so forth.

The rules:
1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie (or get them out of your capacious memory).
3. Post them on your blog for everyone to guess.
4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly in the comments, and put who guessed it and the movie.
5. Looking them up is cheating, please don’t.

The quotes:
1. "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!" (Anyone but Tasha on this one!) The Princess Bride, gotten by IrishGal and Da' Purse Ho!

2. "You can say what you want. It's always the guy in my job that ends up doing 18 months in Danbury minimum security prison." The American President - Good job, Nell!

3. "What don't you understand? I found the cure for the fucking plague of the twentieth century and now I've lost it. Haven't you ever lost anything doctor Bronx? Your purse? Your car keys? Well, it's rather like that: Now you have it and now you don't." The Medicine Man - Gotta give props to Miss Knotty. She came up with everything, but the title, so I figured I'd give it to her!

4. "Merchandising, merchandising, where the real money from the movie is made." - Spaceballs - gotten by Miss Knotty and Kerry!

5. "I work harder than God. If He had hired me, He would have made the world by Thursday."

6. "I'm not even supposed to be here. I'm just "Crewman Number Six." I'm expendable. I'm the guy in the episode who dies to prove how serious the situation is. I've gotta get outta here." Galaxy Quest - Another one by Da' Purse Ho!

7. "I was born a poor black child." The Jerk - Good job, Nell! For those who haven't seen The Jerk, think of Steve Martin saying that line back in the day.

8. "You have chosen... wisely." Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Another one by Da' Purse Ho!

9. "Get off my plane!" Air Force One - Another one by Da' Purse Ho!

10. "The funny thing is - on the outside, I was an honest man, straight as an arrow. I had to come to prison to be a crook." - The Shawshank Redemption - Another one by Da' Purse Ho!

One thing after another....

Hold on, I need a class of wine.....wine the Easter bunny brought me.....such a good bunny......

The maintenance guys came by on Monday, along with "third-party" plumbers. They were still working at 6pm when we last spoke. At 7pm, they were still there with the water off and, well, frankly, I had to pee. So I went up to work to see people and knit and drink tea (and pee). I went back home at 9pm to find one of the maintenance guys still there. The plumbers still hadn't fixed it so it wouldn't leak with the water on. To which I say, "Hey, you are a plumber and your job is fixing pipes. So you basically suck at your job."

The maintenance guy was trying to rig something up so that they could turn the water back on. He leaves about 9:30pm with it rigged up to where it's only leaking a little. He pulls a 30-gallon trashcan in there to catch the water so that I don't have to worry about it over-flowing or anything. That was nice of him (*rolls eyes*). I am dreading waking up to full-blown water gushing into my closet. Meanwhile, all of my stuff gets to stay on my bed and I sleep on the couch.

Tuesday rolls around and I get up from a restless night on the couch and go to work. When I get home, they had at least finished fixing the leak. There is still a hole in the ceiling, but it's not dripping water. They say it will be a while before they can come fix the whole so I can put my stuff back in my closet. WOO HOO, a night in my bed, which is good 'cause I am tired.

I head over to a work friends' house to watch a bit of The West Wing and go see my Chicks. I then get a call from my friend about 11pm that her brother was just killed in a hit-and-run. I please ask that you keep them into your prayers. It has been a rough and traumatic time for them. I obviously went over there and helped her out while her husband made arrangements for them. I ended up home around 1am, forced out after she realized I had to work in the morning! Seriously, she practically shoved me out the door.

Ah, Wednesday, good ol' Hump Day.....but it feels like a Monday.....after a long weekend of binge drinking. I get through work and head down to downtown Dallas for dinner with my mom, aunts, and my brother. There is loud music playing the whole way there, trying to vent frustrations and get in a good mood. The restaurant is one block off of the highway I start out on. Keyword is "start out on". The brain stops functioning and I end up going about 20 miles out of the way before I realize what I did. (For those around me, I was going to the West End, right on 35E and for some freakin' reason I took 635 to 75 before I realized. I have no idea where I was going.)

When I finally got there, I had me two of the BEST margaritas I have ever had. 'Nuff said. But it is short lived.....as I get home around 9:30pm I get a message from my apartment complex that they are coming by Thursday morning to patch up the whole, which means I have to take the crap BACK out of my closet....before I go to work at 7am, or sleep on the couch, again. Not to mention (actually, something that I HAVEN'T mentioned), I am working on a promotion and my interview is the next day after work. You know what I say? SCREW THAT!!! I leave them a message saying that I will not have my closet emptied, do not want them patching the whole tomorrow, and I will come by after everything to schedule an appropriate time. So I sleep, and all is well.

So yeah, my interview was supposed to be today, but she had to call and reschedule for tomorrow morning. Which kinda put an anti-climatic feeling on the whole day.....and I looked really cute too. So, I am drinking Easter wine....and it tastes good.

It's like sliced bread.....

I have weird feet. Really! I do.....check 'em out.
This is the product of walking on my toes for......well, a long time. I was thwarted repeatedly for it, but it was too ingrained in my brain to not walk this way. Although, I think it's kinda cool that all of my toes are the same length. Having these nice, extra-wide feet makes shoe shopping a horrid affair. This is why I love me some flip-flops. Would love to wear them all-year round, which in Texas, is easy to do. It's hard enough finding comfortable shoes that fit, much less ones that are work appropriate. Let's just say that flip-flops aren't work appropriate!

I have tried to talk the boss man into letting us wear black Crocs, but the whole "holey" thing just wasn't working for him. So what did I do? Found some without holes!These are my new best friend. All the cooshieness of Crocs with the coverage of good ol' work shoes. The first few days I wore them for about 9 hours straight, all of it on my feet. They did rub a bit, like all new shoes do, and they "exfoliated" the crap out of my feet. But after that little breaking in period, they are like butter. They form-fit to my foot without squishing them. If you are on your feet all day, running around, you HAVE to get a pair of these. They come in several different colors and I got them at Dillards for about $34. Doesn't get much better than that!

Well, shoe wise at least. Right now I am wondering where I am sleeping tonight. Why am I wondering? Check out my bed.See? And ya'll think I am exaggerating when I say I have a lot of crap. This is everything from my closet. So why is it on my bed instead of actually in the closet? Well, let's take a look at the ceiling, shall we?Yeah, I got a nice lil' leak going on. Luckily, it was slow enough and right in the center of the ceiling so it didn't get on anything. The problem is that this is still how it is at......6:00pm. And it's still not fixed and it leaks when the water is on. Which means that the water will be off for quite some time. I have been assured this will all be fixed by tomorrow, but that still leaves me sleeping on the couch without a shower in the morning.

But I have comfy shoes...... :-)

Happy Pi Day!!!

Yes, I am a geek, but you know this? What is pi day? March 14....3-14.... pi=3.14..... There we go! And it took me a while to find greek pi in the system....stupid HTML.....and then blogger wouldn't accept it. Poo!

In celebration, I would like to serve a little humble pie to a little someone who didn't actually believe I got buttons.....

BEHOLD!!!Pattern: Central Park Hoodie from KnitScene Fall '06, also available on KnittingDaily.com
Yarn: Plymouth Encore in #1444 (I think I used 7 skeins)
Needles: US6 and US8
Size: 40" (for the TMI of the day, my bust is 41.5")
Buttons: From Village Wools in Albuquerque, NM

Notes: The body is 1.5" longer than the pattern - I just wasn't paying attention! I Kitchenered the hood together, from front to back. First, this turned out a lot better than I thought. I was expecting the purls to look different, but they don't really, or I can't tell. Second, the back part ended up very pointy, but I think it will just leave it alone. I also added some reinforcement along the neck and shoulder edge to give it some stability via the Harlot.

Next time: I will add another button. I would on this one if my buttons weren't a 12 hour drive away. I also want to do my hood a bit different. I want to see about working decreases so that I can carry the back cable up to the top of the hood so it looks prettier when you aren't wearing it.

This did get some snow time in NM and a lot since I got back. The yarn is wonderful. It knitted up a lot softer than it was in the skein. Encore has definiately won in my book. It's other good quality.....cheaper than all get-out. I made this sweater for about $50, including buttons (which were $10, but so freakin' cute.)

Crazier things have happened.....

I have never been much for the whole New Year's resolution thing. I usually don't make them, but when I do, I usually don't succeed. Three months ago (ish), I made my Knitting New Year's Resolutions. Let's take a look at how they are going:

1. Finish my Central Park Hoodie - Done! I promise!! Buttons are on and I have worn it in public with them on. I have been having trouble getting pictures taken, but tonight is Knit Night, so I am sure one of my Chicks will help me out there.

2. Knit socks for my Mom - So, I have had this yarn, actually picked out by my Mom, for over a year and she still doesn't have a pair. Well, we are going to fix that!These are complements of a snow day, a day off and the Third Season of The West Wing. Really gets the mojo going. These are going to be knee-high Dublin Bay Socks done in Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock in Black Purl. I adjusted these to be toe-up so that I can utilize every scrap of yarn 'cause I only got three skeins. These are also my first toe-ups and my first done on two circulars. I haven't quite decided if I like the two circs but I really like the toe-up.

3. Knit Hats - This one was a long shot. The plan was to have hats knitted up for our ski trip. I did get one knitted up for me, but Mom and Dad kinda got shafted. I was hoping to have my CPH knitted faster so I could make said hats. We'll put that one off for the next ski trip.

4. Blog more - I think I have been doing pretty well on this one. Speaking of blogging, here's some!This was a shot from the Sticks 'N Stitches game on Sunday night, Dallas Stars vs. Colorado Avalanche. We won 3-0 and kicked some ass along the way. That was my first NHL game and it was a good one. Unfortunately, that was the only picture I took all night. I had worked on getting a picture of the group, but the logistics just weren't there. Hell, there were logistics required for getting in and out of seats. Let's just say you had to like the person next to you!

W....T.....F......

That is about the summary for today. Ya'll, it's March. For most in academia, next week is SPRING Break. Not only it is March, this is Texas, ya'll.

When I get up this morning, (nice and leisurely, since I don't have to be at work until 3pm), I hear it raining outside. "Self," I say, "This seems like a good morning to stay in bed and read, especially since we don't get too many." I read for quite a time, until around noon (don't look at me like that), I think, "Hey, that rain is sounding really hard on the windows. I hope the patio isn't flooding (as it tend to do in high amounts of rain)." I slink on out of bed and what I see compels me to immediately get dressed and try to get to work. Why try?My normal 10-minute-door-to-door trip took almost 45 minutes. Last I heard, we were closing in on 7 inches of snow.....in Texas.....in mid March. Luckily, they closed the store early (with pay, WOO HOO) and I got back into my jammies with my book*. In the end, doesn't get much cozier than that....at least until I added the box of Girl Scout cookies to the mix.......and some hot chocolate......some Bailey's may have been added in there too.

*If your interested, I read (in a day, no less) Beyond the Highland Mist by Karen Moning. It doesn't require any brainpower, but it's entertaining enough.

Hey, what's that white stuff?

Okay, so I have been back from my ski trip for a week and still haven't blogged. I was hoping to have pictures of my CPH by now, but that is a story for later. Yes, it got finished, but again, story for another day. What? You want proof? Alright, here you go:This was taken in the airport terminal at Dallas Love Airport. I got there in plenty of time for my flight ('cause I am OCD that way) and sat down and sewed the sleeves in and finished up all seams. Yes, and then I put it on and didn't take it off all day. But more of that later....

Once I finished my CPH, the next logical step was to cast on something else. My Chicks were unnerved by the fact I was going on a ski trip, i.e. a place with actual snow, but did not own a knitted hat. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of hats I have wanted to knit. I just haven't gotten around to it. So while waiting for my flight (that was late, of course) I cast on a Lucky 7 Hat. By the time I actually boarded the plane I had the ribbing done. While we were sitting on the tarmac (and sitting, and sitting.....), my fellow passengers and I considered starting a pool to see if I would finish the hat before we actually touched down in Albuquerque. Sadly, I only made it to the head decreases. But, the rest was finished on the way to Red River, NM.
Pattern: Lucky 7 Hat by weezalana
Yarn: Um....worsted? I dunno....it's some handdyed I got from a swap. Anyone I swapped with know this yarn?
Needles: US 8
Mods: None

I was going to make the ribbing longer, but I didn't know how much yarn I had. I kinda wish I did, make it fit nice and low on my ears and have the possibility for a ponytail. Can't really have one the way it is, hence the braids.

What? Your checking out the VIEW?!? Yeah, it was really pretty up there.Check out one of the favorite sports at Red River. What you see before you is a run called "The Face", as in "the face of the mountain". It is a rather steep slope and there are quite a few people who go down this slope, or at least attempt to. You see, at the bottom of the slope is a nice little establishment called "The Lifthouse". It has a nice balcony, tables, chairs.....and a bar. Yep....one of the favorite activities, when you aren't on the mountain, is to sit out with a beverage of your choice and watch people fall down the mountain. It's entertainment folks. Normally, I might feel bad about something like this, but I fell down the face a few times and gave other folks entertainment. But you know what's better than watching adults fall down the mountain?
He's king of the mountain.....gotta love little kids in the snow.

I should really train for this.....

(What is with me and ellipses......anyone else notice I use a lot of those?)

Alright, so it's, what......11:15PM CST and I have had to put the hoodie down. Since Monday night, I have Kitchenered the hood (more on that later), picked up and knit the button band, and woven in any extraneous ends. The only thing missing are the sleeves.

And I have to stop.

You know when you knit too long and your hands start cramping? Usually you take a break for an hour or so, do some stretches and whatnot. Normally, I would have. But I am on a deadline people. I have a flight into Albuquerque in the morning and I am planning on walking off the plane in this sweater.

So, I push through the pain like one of those crazy athletes. Seriously, you need to train to be able to knit this long. We should have training camps for "Athletic Knitting". And what happens went you push too hard through the pain? You end up having to type most of a blog post with one hand.

Yeah, yeah, all will be better in the morning, but how freakin' anti-climatic is it to be so close and you physically can't do it?

Yeah, okay, so maybe some of this is the after affects of a couple of Venti Fraps and a large soda combined with slight sleep deprivation. But I digress......

See you on the flip side......I'll be the crazy one in an airport terminal sewing sleeves onto a sweater.