What a Vacation!

Wow, this is the first time since my mom came and left that I have had a minute to sit and write a post. I will warn you, this is probably going to be long. We have been busy! My mom got in on the 10^th at 10pm, great flight huh. They decided to go check out the Space Center on Friday and we showed them around Brevard county on the weekend. It was a lot of fun since my mom used to live here. She recognized a lot of he area. On Monday we drove out to Savannah, GA to look around. Savannah is beautiful!

We ate at Paula Deen's restaurant, The Lady & Sons, on Monday night. We almost didn't get in though, just by chance they put 2 bar tables together and said they had an opening. The food was good, but the entertainment was better. Our poor server, Frances aka Gwen, worked for her money! She played along with our jokes and even called my mom's boss because she is such a big fan. Since Paula was not in town, she agreed to hold the sock for a picture.

On Tuesday, after staying in a nasty hotel in Garden City (Hotels.com had horrible customer service on these matters), we got on the bus for the Paula Deen tour. It was really interesting to learn how she got started. Did you know that she suffered from agoraphobia for 20 years? She even had her sons going around with a cooler selling the bag lunches for the Bag Lady. She really worked hard to get her business going with not much capital. The tour was great and I would highly recommend it, you get to see some great areas of Savannah. At the end of the tour we had lunch at Uncle Bubba's, Paula's brother. We had some awesome food there, and let me tell you, the oysters were great! He happened to be in the restaurant and was willing to meet all of us. First off, T asks him to do me a favor and he replies “I'm not taking my clothes off”. He must have thought we were crazy. I asked him to take some pictures with us and then asked him to hold the sock. We might have been ok after that but then my mom asked him to call her boss. After that he definitely must have thought we were crazy, but even after all that he was super nice to us.

We had a good time wandering around Savannah and left later that day. I have all the pictures here if you would like to see. The rest of the week was spent wandering around and eating, lots of eating. My favorite part had to be the air boat ride we went on. We were able to closer than I have ever been to some really big alligators. If it was not for the bars on the boat I would have freaked. We saw some turtles, a bald eagle (so beautiful!), and a really cool cypress swamp. We will be going on more air boat rides for sure. We even got to hold a baby alligator when we got back to the dock. Really fun...

I hardly got any knitting done since we were running around all week but we did spend some time at the beach so I knit a few rows there.

I did knit on the cami a bit too at knit night on Monday. I have now split for the arms. I should be done pretty soon here, but I know that I take forever to knit something. I saw how cute the little soakers turn out too so I think I make knit one after this. Something easy and quick.

I can't believe that it is almost the weekend. I think I need a vacation from my vacation! If you want to see all the vacation sets, they are on my Flickr page here.

Finally

After waiting so long for my mom (or someone) to come visit us she's here. We picked her up at 10:30 Thursday night and she stays until next Saturday when we will drop her off at 6:30am. She picked great flights huh? So the first few days have been busy sightseeing. We went to the Cocoa Beach Pier for some music and lobster, went to the flea market (at her request), and they went to the Space Center. It seems like the days go by much faster and we seem more tired since they got here. I haven't really had any time for knitting even. But I will have more time soon. We decided to drive to Savannah, GA on Monday. We are taking the Paula Deen Tour and eating at the Lady and Sons restaurant. I am very excited to see the area, it will be beautiful.

Maybe on the drive there I can finish the Cami...I really am not that far now. I am about 1 ½ inches from binding off for the arms.

Since I have had it rolled up in a ziplock it is kind if wrinkled. I am trying to not roll it up anymore so it doesn't get so wrinkled. Since it is so big now I have been knitting on my second Anastasia sock in the car. It has taken me forever to knit these socks.

I thought I was getting faster at knitting but these have taken more than a month. I will be glad when they are done.

Well now I have to get back to figuring out what to do with Diana while we are out of town. We didn't even think about where to take her since we will be gone for 2 days. This is the first time we have left since adopting her, and we usually leave Jessie here with a bunch of food. We thought about friends but since it is such short notice I think we will board her at her vets office down the street. Hopefully, if it's not too late now.

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?

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!

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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. :-)

The Worst Birthday Present Ever

Today is the hubby’s 25^th 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….

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?