Monday, March 31, 2008

I'm Still Here!

Wow, it’s been a while since my last post, but that is totally not on purpose though. It just seems that between work, car shopping, keeping the house in order and keeping the hubby fed, any time free time I get is spent vegging. I actually went 3 days without touching the needles because I was so tired. One of those days I fell asleep after right after dinner and woke up about the time I go to bed. That was a productive evening. And now that my mom will be here in 2 weeks (where did the time go?) and we are having a housewarming party that week, I have been busy around the house. Plus I just haven’t felt much like blogging. I always think of cool things to blog about but what I sit at the computer my mind goes blank. Has that happened to anyone else?

I have been feeling better though, I knit quite a bit on the cami over the weekend. I was stuck at a house in Orlando “helping” the hubby with a side job. I really am not much help with hanging TV’s and all that but sometimes he does need a hand and we were going to look at a car out there anyways. So while I sat and waited all day I knit. It was a beautiful day and the house was on a golf course with a beautiful view. I just finished the 4th ball of yarn and attached the 5th and while I didn’t grab a picture this morning (woke up late) I will get one this afternoon. I just finished the increases and am knitting on to the armpits.

Progress stopped completely on the Nutkin sock.


I tried it on and did not at all like the look of the pattern slightly stretched. I will either rip and re-knit in plain stockinette or possibly start Monkeys with the picot-hemmed cast on that I did. I do like how the Anastasia socks look though. Being so close to having a pair has kept me knitting them, even though I am very tired of the yarn and pattern.



I will leave you with a picture of Jessie, who thinks she is an outdoor kitty. She whines at the door wanting out, but since she is declawed, she only gets supervised visits in the backyard. She actually climbed up to the board in the tree on her own. T was trying to get her to climb higher after a stick, she is so smarter than that, I hope.



Diana is also doing better. We were worried about her rash on her belly since after starting steroids and antibiotics it spread and got really red and sore looking. It healed and looks better than ever now. Maybe at her next check up in a couple of weeks we can walk out with a bill of less than $200…sheesh. By the way, my cousin had her baby last week. She was 2 weeks late but mom and baby are doing fine. Baby Elizabeth Grace was 9lbs 8oz. I seriously doubt that the newborn sized hat will fit that baby, but it's the thought that counts right?

Monday, March 17, 2008

Weekend Catch Up!

Happy St. Patricks Day!! Have you seen this? funniest. video. ever. I'm glad I don't live in Alabama, not that Florida's much better :-)

What a weekend! We spent all day Saturday car shopping. Not my favorite way to spend a beautiful (and hot!) day. We were all over Brevard County and looked at a bunch of cars but we found one so I guess it was worth it. We bought a 2-door 97 Honda Accord. Its in great shape and we got a good deal on it. We still have enough left over to buy a 4-door car for me so we can get rid of the Mustang. We are one step closer to our goal!

On Sunday we met up with Angie and her family to go to the Warbird Air Show. It was ok, I don’t know about it being worth the $15 per person though. We had a good time and had a little barbecue with friends after. Nice end to the weekend.

I did end up starting the second never ending Anastasia sock but I also started Nutkin Socks with this:


This is White Willow Superwash Sock Yarn in Alice’s Garden. I got this about a year ago and I think this is the perfect color for Spring. It makes me smile to look at it. I wound it up and let it sit on my desk for a few days before I found a pattern. I am about 2 repeats in right now, but since the time changed I can’t get very good pictures in the morning now. I will get them tonight.

And since the recipient has the secret project, I can show pictures. They are the Evangeline Gloves from Magknits:



Yarn: Caron Simply Soft Heather in Charcoal Heather

Needles: 5.0mm Knit Picks Circulars

Pattern: Evangeline from Magknits January 2008

Date Finished: 2/29/2008

I loved the pattern and will probably knit these for me soon. I won’t need anything this warm for a while though. I couldn’t believe that it was in the 80’s all weekend. I am not ready for the heat yet. I actually got sun burned on my shoulders at the air show! Come on, it’s barely Spring.

Have you noticed the pictures of Diana and Jessie in the sidebar? Can you tell they are spoiled? They even have their own webpage.I hope all this publicity doesn't go to their heads!



Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Never-Ending Sock

Our life is finally getting back to normal, sort of. The hubby got a rental yesterday since the insurance company decided that the other driver was at fault. They gave him a newer Chevy Silverado. Nice truck!! I would love to keep it, yeah right. They also gave him an offer on his car that was not far off from what we wanted, not bad. We still have some talking to do and now that we know a range we can really start looking for cars. We have a few in mind that have been sitting lots for over a month, since the last time we were looking. They are overpriced but we hope that they will want to get them off the lot and take cash.

I *finally* finished the never-ending Anastasia sock.


I am finally to the point in my knitting that my socks are fitting me very well. It took me a while to figure that out. I love the way this sock fits and looks. Still, I don’t think that is enough motivation to make me cast on for the second sock right away. Maybe...

I did pull out the sewing machine over the weekend too. I wanted to make a few little bags. I saw the picture that Valerie posted and loved the Box Bag tutorial from Drago[knit]fly. I have never sewn a zipper in before and failed miserably. I will try again though as soon as I get back in there. I definitely think this was an operator error the tutorial is great.

I got some great fabric at Joann’s a couple of weeks ago. I wanted something more like spring and I think I got it. I love how bright this bag is.


That’s all I have for now, but I think I will have some time tonight to cast on for a sock. :-)

Friday, March 7, 2008

The Worst Birthday Present Ever

Today is the hubby’s 25th birthday. This is what he got:


He was in an accident this morning, but he is fine. I wouldn’t say that his car is anywhere close to being fine though. He was not at fault so now is the fun of dealing with the insurance companies to try and get some money from his car. I am just glad he is ok. The car is probably totaled since the airbags deployed and there is pretty extensive front-end damage. He is pretty upset about this since out of all the cars he has owned, this was his favorite. Of course this was not his only present, he also got a set of speakers and an amp, and was in the process of building a custom box for the car. Ugh…

I am going to try and keep up with my posting but I have a feeling that our lives will be pretty hectic in the following weeks. If you would like so see the pictures you can see the set here. Now we’re off to find another car….

Thursday, March 6, 2008

And The Winner Is...

Thank you all so much for entering. I definitely got some good ideas for things to do around here. I know that my mom will have a blast. I am just so excited to see her again, it has been about a year since my last trip to California. Out of the almost 3 years that we have been in Florida, my mom is only the second person to come visit us.

So, after using a random number generator, the winner is Gnat from BarknKnit. Thanks for all the entries!!

While I have no knitting content today, I do have some news. T's cousin is pregnant and having a girl. I am happy for her but also a little worried. She only graduated from high school about a year ago and was working and going to college. I was really surprised to hear about this, I just never expected this from her. Since she has always been involved in school and sports, I thought that she would graduate from college and go out on her own before starting a family. I know that she will be taken care of because she has a family that loves her very much. She was not the first girl to have a baby young. About 2 years ago, another of T's cousins had a baby girl. Since she was the first young girl to get pregnant, everyone was shocked. Her grandfather actually didn't talk to her for most of the pregnancy because he was so disappointed. She is doing well and making a life with her fiance and little girl. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised, I am used to this, it has happened a couple of times in my family too. My sister had a baby at 16, when I was 14. I grew up seeing how much more difficult her life was with the addition of a baby. We love my nephew and I would never think badly of him, but I think her life would be a lot different if she didn't have him so young. I have noticed that teen pregnancy is a cycle. My best friend in high school was pregnant our senior year but since she was in love, they tried for the baby. Her mother also had her when she was a senior in high school. I guess I am just on the fence on how to react to this. What do you think?

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

No More Stressing

**Last day to enter the contest!! I will be drawing a winner tonight at 5pm**


The contest is going great. Thanks so much for the comments; they have had some great ideas. I think I need to start a list for us even after my mom is gone. I didn’t realize there is so much to see close to home.


I know I have been a little lagging with the posts, I just saw that I had 5 for February…Geez. Mostly it was because of work and my real estate class. My license expires for the first time this month and for the first renewal I had to complete a 45-hour class online. Well, I of course had to wait until the last minute to start and I barely finished the class part on the 29th. I thought that I would be able to take the test more than once to get all the questions right (like the rest of the chapter tests) and I was wrong. I could only take it ONCE. After just skimming through the whole thing I knew I was not ready to take the test so I headed into my office Saturday morning and spend about 5 hours cramming and taking the test. I passed by three questions, three! That is so not like me. Usually I study for big tests and pass them with no problem. Boy am I glad that it is finally finished. I can’t believe how much I can stress myself out.

So after the test I went and picked up Bella for a trial run at my house. As soon as we let her into the back yard to sniff, Diana was going crazy inside. So we put them both on a leash and let them sniff each other. Of course Diana was scared of Bella because she is bigger so she barked at her and Bella barked back only scaring her more. After a while they started to get used to each other and I have no doubt that they would have been fine together, but it was Jessie that was the problem. Bella saw Jessie from the porch and wanted to chase her. Her barking had Jessie looking like she stuck her tongue in a toaster. Bella had never been around cats before and we were worried about how they would get along. Because of that, and that she had fleas, and some kind of skin issue on her back, we decided not to keep her. Plus, we would have had to get her spayed. I know that she will find a good home soon!

So this is what I wake up to just about every morning:


She is so spoiled!! She has to sleep under the covers and will dig under them if you don’t let her in and she likes to sleep late. When I get up she wakes up but she will go back to sleep until I am ready to leave for work. Then she comes out stretching and waits by the door to go outside. It’s getting to the point that I know what she wants. On cold evenings I will have a blanket over my legs so she will stare at me until I lift the blanket and let her lay with me. Lazy Dog!

I have been trying to finish up the projects that have been just sitting in the drawer lately. I almost finished the scrappy hat this weekend. All I have to do is pick up and knit 5 rows for the rolled brim.

I don’t really like how the gathered part at the top looks but it looks ok when it’s on. I am not thrilled with the end result but I am just happy it’s done. This on took a whole year!

The never-ending Anastasia Sock is close to being done. I am so tired of looking at this yarn, I really don’t think I will be casting on for the second sock right away.


At times I like how it looks, and other times I don’t want to touch it. I think I need to cast on for another sock with some spring colors in it. I can’t wait for Spring so my plumeria's will start blooming. I also finished the secret project, so I will show pictures as soon as I send off the package.