Friday, December 19, 2008

Ding Gifts Are Done

So my goal this year was to hand make all of my holiday gifts. I think I did pretty well, I only purchased 2, count em 2 gifts. One was to go along with another handmade quilt for my Daddy-O and Clytie (I'll be sending them the store bought gift, and following up after the holidays with the quilt) and the other store bought number was for P-Dub, for the simple fact that I thought it would be more practical for him. I'll be picking up some bottles of wine for the Dr's I work with, then calling it a day. We are having our office party tonight, the Boy is coming, then we'll be spending the weekend together, probably taking care of most of his holiday shopping. I'm off to get my cleaning and laundry done, so that I can enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

I've Been Bad

A bad, bad, very bad blogger that is. This time of year has become very busy for me, with laughing in the face of commercialism and handmaking all my holiday gifts. Add that to spending time with my new boy :o) working, holiday parties and just trying to keep on top of everything. Whhhhew I'm wiped out. This weekend the boy is at home, working on some things around the house, so I'm devoting today and tomorrow to getting gifts made and done!! I've got the next 2 days and another week and everything has to be ready to roll.... Nothing like a little pressure to get me motivated!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Who Knew?




You Are a Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin



You are smart, sophisticated, and savvy.

You love taking risks, and you are the first to know about new trends.



You are curious about the world and tend to have many interests.

You also are very talented. It sometimes seems like you are good at everything.



You are very social and inclusive. You'll be friends with anyone.

Even though you're very cultured, you're not a snob.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. I suppose that's because when I was growing up on Thanksgiving things would usually be peaceful, and everyone in my family would get along. I remember as I got older my dad would start to have friends over who didn't have anywhere else to go for Thanksgiving, and it was always wonderful and fun. As I got older, I took on this attitude myself and would have Thanksgiving dinners for whom ever wanted to come and share the day. It's always been a time of reflection for me, time to think of what I am truly thankful for. This year, I have a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful for my dear friends and family (some of these friends are the family I've created for myself). Thankful that my Dad is healthy, that I've for the first time in my life, started to develop an actual friendship with my brother. I'm thankful for the fact that I finally was able to end something that was sucking the life and happiness from me, and begin something new that has brought me nothing but happiness and comfort, and the feeling for the first time in a long time of really being ALIVE! I'm thankful for having a job that I'm mostly happy with, most of the time :o) And I'm especially thankful that I'll be spending my day with my very best friend/soul sister and her extended family. Now I'm off to make a card for the boy, who is still sound asleep, to let him know that I'm thankful for him this year! Best wishes to all for a very happy, safe, and healthy Thanksgiving.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Scrapple Fest 2008 (The Great Scrapple Experiment)

So the Boy decided this weekend he wanted to find out what all the local hub bub is about in this area about scrapple (He's not from these thar parts of town). I have personally tried scrapple (ewww) once and well that was enough for this lifetime for me. Being Mr. Food science guy, while I was working Saturday he treked over to the store and picked up not one but 3 varieties of this (nasty in a package) local favorite breakfast meat and decided he would do a little experiment. Fast forward to Sunday morning. The start of Scrapple Fest 2008. He followed all directions on the package, sliced up the nasty, fried it up in a pan, and taste tested, comparing texture, the way they looked while they cooked up, flavor and well, just about anything else you can compare when it comes to scrapple. After much taste testing on his part, and face making, nose crinkling on my part, I think it's safe to say we've both decided that it would probably be better to build a house with these bricks-o-nasty than it is to actually consume.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Simply Amazing

I have had the most incredible weekend! I've met a man who takes my breath away, makes me smile, laugh and feel better about myself and life in general. I seriously haven't been this happy in years! More to follow tomorrow :)

Sunday, November 9, 2008

For The First Time

In a very long time, I'm happy and excited about what the future might hold ;)

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Wow, it's COLD!

I wasn't expecting the swing in the weather, especially since the rain and dark, dreary day make it seem even more nasty and cold outside than it is.

I worked an extra 11 hour shift yesterday, and I'm already pooped. 3 more days to go...uhhhhg!

Monday, October 20, 2008

It's Official

Fall is here! Not based on what the calender tells me, but based on the weather as of late. It's been PERFECT! We had what I consider to be the perfect evening this past Saturday. The air was crisp, the sky was clear, the moon and stars shone brilliantly in the cloudless sky. The leaves and pine needles under my feet were just slightly crunchy and their sweet yet somewhat earthy aroma permeated the air, off somewhere in the distance I could smell the first fires of the season burning in fireplaces. The only thing that could have made it more perfect would have been to have someone to snuggle on a blanket with while gazing up at the stars. Oh well :o) I guess I just have to enjoy the perfection of the season by myself.

On the knitting front, yep finger is still numb, though I figured out how it's happening, and plan to see if i can come up with a way to prevent it. Apparently the way I hold my needles in my right hand, it rests on either a vein or nerve that causes the numbness, so I'm thinking if I can make some kind of cushion that I can put over that finger I should be good. We shall see. After starting and frogging and starting and frogging again, I decided that my beautious Schaefer
Heather yarn was not the right choice for Branching Out, so I switched it up and decided to use a ball of Koigu that's been sitting in my stash for a while. It's coming out much better, and really shows the stitch pattern quite nicely. I think the Schaefer will make some fabulous socks!

As you can see Oli is quite curious about all this knitting going on.


Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Catching Up From The Weekend

And since my weekends are Sunday and Monday, today is the perfect day to catch up. I did a bit o knitting and movie watching this weekend, I'm quite pleased with what I watched first up was Ghost World I absolutely loved this movie! Next up was Year of the Dog again, highly recommended. Last but not least Amelie this I was up until 2am watching and reading subtitles. It was truly magical! A fantabulous weekend of viewing all around!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Back In The Saddle Again

As far as knitting goes anyway :o) My finger is still numb, so I've had to set my socks aside for a while, but I find I'm able to work just fine with larger needles... YAY!!! I've been itching to make this pretty number since I first laid eyes on it. I had some free time after work yesterday and was going to stop by my regular LYS, but didn't feel like dealing with the parking and traffic, so I decided I'd go explore another LYS
and am I ever glad I did!! Everyone in the shop was soo nice and very helpful. I was specifically looking for the Noro sock yarn, they didn't have
that, so I was directed to the sock yarn they had in stock, there I found absolutely drool worthy Indira Gandhi colorway from Schaefer Yarns.
It was a wee bit pricey (by my standards) but so
beautiful, I just kept going back to it, so after
tinkering about the store a bit longer, she came home with me! It looks so different wound, but I love, love, love it so much. I decided I'd use it for Branching Out from knitty.com. Later last night, I cast on and am just pleased as punch. This is my first time using a "real pattern" aside from my poor little sock, but this pattern involves more than just knitting and purling :o) So I officially feel like a real knitter now. I have a day of knitting, reading and movie watching planned! A perfect day as far as I'm concerned! Here's my progress so far, and a peek at my poor little sock.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Knitting Related Injury

During my weekend of feeling o so crappy, I decided last night, that I would knit the time away and work on my lone sock. I am obviously a painfully slow knitter, and a really tight knitter it seems when I'm working with tiny little DPN's. So about 3 hours into my knit fest, I stopped for a break and noticed my ring finger on my right hand was numb. I put everything aside thinking that by morning it would be better. Noooooope It's after 5pm and I'm still numb. Hmmmmpf! Now that I'm through the biggest part of the sock (the leg and heel) I'm really anxious to get this thing done and start on the second one. Looks like I'll have to wait a bit longer.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Feeling Fussy

I don't know what my deal is as of late, but I'm feeling very unmotivated and just plain old fussy. I'm quite serious when I say I don't feel like doing anything. Like really nothing! The fact that my allergies are acting up like crazy and I've had a bit of a stomach bug this past weekend don't help my cause any. I'm wondering how much of this might be the change of seasons, it's finally feeling all warm and snuggly and that makes me want to hibernate (rather than be outdoors like usual). I'm also wondering if it's just a case of I've got too much crap around me, weighing me down and I need to PURGE big time. Sort of like the less crap I have, the less I have to worry about keeping clean, dusting around, etc. For instance, I have clothes out the wazzoo, most of them I don't wear, but have hung on to for who knows what reason (perhaps my hopes of being able to fit in them again) same with shoes, a ton of them littering my closet floor, but I only ever really wear a few pair of them. Cabinets full of dishes, serving pieces, storage containers, mugs o plenty, when it's only me. Sort of ridiculous really. I suppose the only good things to come of this slump in life is that I'm getting time to read and knit :o) I'm halfway done my first sock!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

New Pretties!

New pretties are listed in the shop! Grand opening sale $1 shipping on all orders for the month of September! LittleBrownDogStudio.etsy.com

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Messy House = Messy Life

After many months of feeling stalled and stifled in my life, I've decided that the biggest contributer to all of this must be my messy surroundings. Mind you I do clean like a good girl, and keep the clutter to a minimum, but it seems that during the work week, all of my best intentions are placed on hold, then I'm left on my days off with piles of junk mail, laundry, cleaning, dusting, and oh yeah, plies of cat hair to contend with. Being the procrastinator that I am, I tend to let these things go, then end up spending the time I should be relaxing, working on crafty goods, or just being with friends, frantically cleaning my ever so humble abode. My mission today is to start decluttering, and work out a system so that all I've got to do on my Fridays off are sweep, mop, vacuum and dust, and maybe a lil laundry. Junk mail and miscellaneous crap that's junking up my life BE GONE!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

New Etsy Shop Coming Soon!!!

I've made the leap into the wonderful world of etsy. I'm working on getting my shop together and will be having a grand opening soon. Please add LittleBrownDogStudio.etsy.com
to your list of favorites. Updates can be found Here and Here.

Thanks to everyone who has helped kick my hiney in gear to move on with this decision!!! You RAWK!!!!!

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Damaged Beauty

I went to let Kinsey out this morning and found this poor thing on my patio, It was about 4" wide and simply beautiful.






Monday, July 28, 2008

Friday, April 25, 2008

My Favorite Kind of Morning

Prompted by Kinsey's need to go out, I rolled out of bed at 5:15 this morning. Normally if this were a work day, I would be hemming and hawing about getting up so very early when it was probably after 1 am when I finally fell asleep last night. But this morning, I find myself very excited about the prospects of the day. It isn't that I have anything terribly exciting on my list of things to do today, it's more what's on my list of what not to do today that has me delighted. Aside from a little bit of cleaning, running errands and class on Monday morning, oh and working for a few hours tomorrow, I am pretty much FREE until Tuesday morning. It's so nice to be able to wake up whenever on my day off, with almost nothing on the to do list. Honestly today for the first time in almost a year, since this whole idea of going back to school popped into my head, I feel relaxed (because except for 2 quizzes and a quick oral presentation, my school work is done for the semester) and re-energized. There is a lot that I want to get done, but today, I will take great pleasure in knowing that I can do it, or none of it for that matter, at my own pace.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Procrastinating Yet Again

I don't know why I continually do this to myself, but it seems to be the way I work best. Putting absolutely everything off until the very last minute. Right now it's Friday night, almost 11:30 pm, I have 2 pretty hefty papers due by Monday and other than some light reading on the subjects of said papers, I haven't done a blasted thing. It's not like I've been so incredibly busy with other work, it's just that I'm a last minute burn the candle at both ends procrastinator extrordionare. This is actually a true story.. many years ago, before the internet was at my disposal, I called to order a tape from an infomercial to help me stop smoking, at the end of the call, the woman on the phone continues on with her sales pitch and says "Would you like to add the Stop Procrastination Now tape to your order?" My reply, I swear to god, "No, not right now!" Nuff said. So now I know that tomorrow when I get home from Sarah's B-day bash and all day Sunday I'll be cursing myself for putting all this off till the last minute, but dag nabit, those papers will be done and turned in on time. I suppose the only good point to all of this is once these are done, I've just got to show up for class 2 more times for some quizzes, then this semester is over :o) I'm really looking forward to having the summer off. And hoping that I can get some of my creative/crafty mojo back. I'd really love to create something, anything, soon.

Monday, April 7, 2008

I Feel Like a Dwarf

Stuffy, Sneezy, Sleepy, and Grumpy, that's how I find myself this morning. While I LOVE LOVE LOVE springtime, as soon as the first buds appear on the trees, my allergies kick in and keep on kicking in till the winter comes. It's not the most enjoyable thing in the world, but armed with antihistamines, decongestants and allergy drops for my eyes, I'll survive. I've got school this morning which is only half bad since I withdrew from my algebra class last week. It's really a shame that one terrible professor would cause me to withdraw from the class and alter my path of study, but YES he's that bad! So I'm changing things up and will be following the apprentice track to get my optician's license. If I decide at any other point oh I must have that degree, I can always go back and make up the rest of the classes. On a happy note, I have just 2 more papers that I have to write for English, one a research paper and one for my final exam. Then I'm done writing papers for school probably forever. It's funny really, I can write all day until the cows come home about something of interest to me, but make me write about a topic I have no interest in and I'll avoid it like the plague. Once I've completed these last 2 papers I'm sure I'll want to celebrate :o)

On some other notes, my burn is healing up quite nicely. I don't think I'll have much of a scar after all. Craig and I had another of our talks this past Saturday, after another big blow out the weekend before. I really hope he follows through with what he claims he will, this is the very very last chance he's got to get things right with me. The whole situation at this point is just very aggravating. Something or someone's gotta give, and it won't be me anymore. Well I suppose it's time to get in the shower and get ready for the rest of the day.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Burned by My Beloved

Monday morning, not only did I wake up sick with the flu, I also woke up to my coffee pot leaking all over my kitchen counter. This is totally my fault, because when I set the pot up the night before I had forgotten to put the top onto the carafe. Unfortunately I didn't notice that it had leaked until the entire brew cycle had completed. So I clean up the mess all over the counter top, grab the coffee pot and went to dump the basket (still filled with supa dupa hot coffee) into the sink so that I could make more of my beloved coffee, and in the process, spilled said supa dupa hot coffee all over my right hand and wrist. Despite my attempt to cool the burn and head off any serious damage, I'm thinking I've got at least a second degree burn here. Things seemed to be healing up pretty well, until last night when I was doing some cleaning and had an itch on my hand, I rubbed it on something because I didn't want to scratch it while it was healing and a large patch of (ewwwwwwwwwww) dead skin came off, leaving me with a slightly more painful, shiny, angry red looking patch of fresh skin exposed. I'd share pictures, but they'd be yucky and no one wants to see that...lol. The worst part of all of this is that I really didn't have much in the work department going on this weekend and since I'm now feeling mostly recuperated from the flu bug, I wanted to do some knitting, but I've got pretty limited mobility with this crispy fried hand of mine. Oh well, maybe I'll still tinker around and see what I can do.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Bitten Hard by the Flu Bug

Seems I've been bitten rather hard by the nasty nasty flu bug! Fever, chills, then the sweats, dizziness, feeling queezy, everything on my body just hurts. I've been sick since Monday, spent the entire day pretty much sleeping and feeling rather miserable. Yesterday, I spent the morning and most of the day home sick, then eventually went into work for a few hours, and I'll be doing the same today. I really wish I could take a whole day off from work to get all the rest I need and feel better, but the current staffing situation doesn't seem to allow that. So unless I can beg and plead with someone to work for me, I'll be heading in at 3:30... Off to my regularly scheduled get well sleep time.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Arrrrg

No I'm not feeling like a pirate this fine evening, I'm actually a bit frustrated by how quickly this past week has gone by. It should have been my "spring break" but I ended up working some OT this week because one of the girlies at work is away. Now I'm facing the fact that I have a ton of school work to catch up on, and an essay due Monday morning before 11 am. I really don't know where the time goes. I do know that it's going to be a very busy weekend for me. I am counting the weeks until this semester is over. I NEED a break!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Hope Springs Eternal

Just when I was feeling scattered and lost in the cold gray starkness of winter, a little birdie (literally) told me that spring is right around the corner. Friday morning, I was at the computer, Kinsey was outside and it was a decent morning weather wise, so I had the back door opened, nothing else was on to distract me, and chirp chirp, the birds were out in full force singing their happy little tunes that tell me that spring is almost here. Even last night, I noted that the days are growing longer, the sun seems to be shining brighter, and I'm feeling more focused and at peace.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Drowning in a Sea of Equations

I don't know how, but I am utterly, completely lost in my Algebra class. Well actually I do know part of the reason, my professor is horrible, I touched on this in my last post. I'm so lost in fact that at this point, I don't even know, what I don't know. I am also in a serious state of free time fun withdraw. I haven't had a chance to just relax and read or knit in weeks, and I'm quite bummed about that, but I've promised myself that once I am able to understand what the hell my professor is doing, then and only then will I be able to bask in the glory of free time R&R. I woke up way to early this morning, after not getting much sleep last night (because I'm worried about all this crap) so I think I might try and catch a little nap, then hit the books. Wish me luck!

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Screen Suck

I'm a victim of Screen Suck. On a very regular basis, and it actually bugs me a bit. I'm trying to understand how it is that the work day, and time spent in class or doing homework can pass so slowly, yet I pop online to check email, and hit my usual sites, blogs, etc. and in the blink of an eye, an hour or more has passed. I've really got to work on getting this under control and finding a way to really focus on other things throughout the day. Wish me luck :o)

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Ack, I'm Sick, and Other Rantings

So I was minding my own business and out of nowhere, blammo, I'm SICK!!!! Not even a good sick, but a yucky stuffy, all I want to do is sleep sick. Bahhh! I tried my best to get by on just nyquil and sudafed, but that didn't work (though thank you for your suggestion sexy Dr. man). So at 3:30 am I got out of bed after tossing and turning, because each and every time I would get settled in one place, my entire head would stuff up and I was left laying there like a 4 year old mouth breather. So I got my sad sorry ass out of bed and went in search of a 24 hour pharmacy. Let me 'splain a little to you about living in South Jersey. This used to be the land of every and anything you might need open 24 hours is/was within spitting distance. Well now so much anymore. I got out of bed, threw on some clothes (yeah now I look like a hobo chicken lady) and hopped in the car. Hmmm gas tank's on E, better stop for gas. First I'm outraged at the fact that $20 just gets me a little over a quarter tank of gas, and secondly, I'm peeved that in this state I can't pump my own gas. I mean come on people, just because I'm from Jersey and a girl, doesn't mean I can't be trusted to fuel up the road pig. I actually can work one of those new fangled gas pump thing-a-majigs. I feel as though I should at least be given the option, rather than be forced to sit and wait... and wait some more for the gas person to come and service me. These are valuable moments of my life that I will never ever get back! I suppose I was really more irate because I was just unable to breathe through my nose. Hmmmpf, ok, so I've got gas in the car, off to the 24 hour Walgreens to raid their OTC cold and flu section. WTF??? They're closed!!! Hellooooooo when did this happen. I had to toodle along for another 5 miles to find an open CVS. Now I'm looking like a flustered, mouth breathing homeless person. I raid the cold and flu isle like a swashbuckling pirate, and leave the store with my bag of loot. Which includes the forbidden by my Dr. (Love you Dr. K, but I gotta do what I gotta do, and I promise I won't make it a habit) Vicks Ultra Fine Mist, nasal spray. I scurry to my car, bust out the nasal spray and ahhhhh 2 minutes later and I can breathe again.
Now moving on to the back to school ranting. English, no problem, not worried one single bit about that, my Algebra class however... That's another story. To me MATH is a 4 letter word, and I like to avoid it at all costs. I'm not stupid by any means, but me and numbers or formulas or equations, well we just don't get along. My synapses in that part of my brain just don't fire as rapidly as they should. I walk into class on my first day, and shortly thereafter walks in my professor, well, there was a switch up in the teaching department, the professor I was supposed to have is no longer teaching this class. Satan incarnate is. The very first thing he said was that if we have any questions about the material, not to ask, because all that means is we shouldn't be in his class.. JACKASS. This is NOT going to be enjoyable. And it's the only time I can actually take the class. Uhhhg. Who knew Satan was a short, fat, bald, Jewish guy from NY, with a voice like Joe Pesci on helium in any of the Lethal Weapon movies, and a problem with nose blowing, making some god awful clucking throat noise, and uhmm spittle. Please remind me to sit far, far away from the front of the class. Now I'm going to try and sleep for an hour before I get to go back to work!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

I've Been Punctured


So.. a few weeks ago I got this idea in my head that I HAD to get my nose pierced. Usually when my inner voice tells me I should do something (and is persistent, no I'm not crazy, and don't actually hear voices..lol) I do what I'm told. I took some time and put it off for a while, since this is the first thing I've had done that is not by invitation only, my tattoo's and other piercing is hidden from the world for the most part, unless I want someone to see them. Since I work in a somewhat conservative field, I really wanted to give it some thought. I ran the idea by one of my boss's a few weeks ago, and he insisted if I was going to do it, I get a proper bone in my nose (jackass), I didn't even mention it to the other Dr, because I'm sure he'd have something to say about it, so honestly I'm hoping to slip it by him when he's having a moment of cerebral flatulence. So today was the big day!!! Craig and I went over to the studio after a late lunch, I am stunned he actually came with me, he only hemmed and hawed about the people at the studio little bit while we were waiting, though we both agreed the piercer was cool. Craig is rather conservative, and quite opinionated, so I made him promise before we got there not to utter the word freak until after we were out of the building and back in my car. Knowing this, I'm actually quite shocked that he was cool about my getting this done. I got the whole happy nervous adrenaline rush of butterflies while waiting (I so love that feeling before any piercing or tattoo's, ok so maybe I am a little off). We made our way back to the piercing room, went over the whole procedure, aftercare, etc. and not but 2 minutes later I was walking out the door the proud owner of a new nose piercing. Now here are my thoughts on why I NEEDED to get this done. Even though I'm working my way through school to get my opticians license, I've always had the desire to do something independent and creative for a living, but lets face it, I've got bills to pay, and I'm not in love with the idea of being a starving/hobo artist. So for me this piercing is my way of keeping what I truly want in perspective. Finding a way to combine my 2 loves, my career in the optical world, and my creativity. I have been newly inspired by some ideas for my future. And this is my everyday, visual reminder, to keep my eye on the prize and work towards making my dreams come true. Oh I also got to see Nicole today :o) I've missed her so, since she's moved to South Carolina. And got my fan-freakin'-tabulous new glasses today. They scream dork, but I love them so!!! It's been a good day all around. Now if only I could get used to blowing my nose with this little bugger (I said bugger not Booger), I'd be set.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Knitty Knitty Bang Bang

First off, thanks to all of you who commented on my not smoking stats. I'm pleased to say that with time the edge is slightly more off than it was a week ago. I'm feeling slightly better (I'm no longer climbing the walls) but I know that it's still a long haul. One day at a time is the only way to think of it.

I had a lovely day yesterday. I got to sleep in, took my time getting dressed and ready in the morning, there were no errands to be done, so it was quite leisurely. I took a trip to one of my favorite places on Earth, the library! I love library's, book stores, etc. I have a thing for any place where there's a lot of any one thing, craft stores, heck, even Home Depot. But I especially love library's. Books make me so very happy, and if I had my way, I would have them stacked to the rafters. However, in my attempt to green up, the library has replaced my book buying for a while. (Unless there is something that I MUST have that a 3 week loan will not take care of). I picked up 2 knitting books with some great ideas for patterns that I'm interested in trying. A few Janet Evanovich books, Middlesex, The Mermaid Chair and Rise and Shine. So between reading and knitting, my free time for the next few weeks is pretty well filled with happiness.

I'm in utter disbelief that school starts up again in a week. This past month has gone by so quickly, my head is still spinning. I'm using this week to get myself used to waking up super early (for me) to deal with Algebra at 8 am twice a week. I'm not at all looking forward to it, but it's only 15 weeks out of my life. Craig has agreed to come over on Wednesdays (my long school + work day) and let Kinsey out to take care of her doggy business. So that's a relief. I have serious Mommy guilt when I leave her alone for too long.

On the knitting side, I've got to get myself together this week. I want to get as much done as possible before school starts, so that means finishing up Craig's scarf, and getting at least half way through my first sock. The momentum from that should keep my procrastinating self going. So I'll be toting my knitting along to work, and any spare time I have over the next week, I'll be knitting my fingers to the bone. Pictures of FO's (Finished objects) to come. Happy Tuesday!

Friday, January 11, 2008

If It Were Thursday

Or any other work day really. I'd still be sleeping. I can't be the only one with this affliction. Waking up WAY too early on my days off, but having to be drug out of bed kicking and screaming on work days. I just can't figure why I have to wake up at 4:30 am.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Monday Afternoon Stats

Andrea - Smoke free for Five Days, 15 Hours and 48 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 11 Hours, by not smoking 141 cigarettes that would have cost me $44.92.
My skin is still crawling, I want to do nothing more than sleep, but I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the first week tunnel.

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Rib-it, Rib-it

Nooo not like ribbed for her pleasure. More like frogged for his pleasure. I was really just about an hour away from finishing Craig's simple garter stitch scarf, and decided that even though it was nice, it didn't do justice to the YUMMY yarn I'm making it from. So I sat and just started ripping, quick like a band-aid, watching all my work unravel and get wound back into a ball to start from scratch.

On another note this not smoking/detox thing sucks ass. I feel worse right now than I ever felt smoking. And this has probably been physically the worst quit I've ever gone through. Usually I feel fine, just go a little mental. This time, I've not gone crazy in the head, but my entire body is out of whack.

I'm off to find a pattern that I'll be happy with, and get to knitting this scarf all over again!

Friday, January 4, 2008

2 Down

So far on my list of resolutions, I've gotten 2 down...lol . The first, I've not had a cigarette since 1:00 am 1/2/08. And second thing down, I actually finished something I started. My not smoking has me knitting with abandon. I'm finishing up Craig's scarf and I finished my very first knitted hat. YAY ME! My next project...dun dun dun... I'm going to take on sock knitting. Wish me luck with that. I've got to get the scarf done first before I'll allow myself to cast on for the socks. Since I'm practically drooling over the beautirific sock yarn I bought last week, I'm hoping to finish up this scarf today. I've taken tomorrow off, whooo hooo not too many Saturdays off in my life. In hopes to finish painting my apartment, but I'm stuck on the color for my kitchen, I'm between several options. So for now my paint chips are all taped to my wall and I keep glancing at them to see what strikes me. In the meantime, Here's my cute little hat (and me of course) notice the matching scarf, uh-huh, I've been busy.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Happy 2008

Ok, so here's where I'm supposed to write down all my new year, new me resolutions and whatnot. I suppose that mine are the same as so many other people out there, lose weight, get healthy, quit smoking, get organized, get out of debt, figure out what the hell to do with my relationship with Craig, etc. A part of me feels like that saying these things is just really scratching the surface. I mean anyone can say they're going to do something, and start with the very best of intentions, however actually digging in and getting these things accomplished are quite often more difficult. I think that this year in order to actually succeed with what I have on my resolution list, I actually need to sit down and work out a very detailed plan as to how I'm going to approach each of these issues, something that will make them more attainable, rather than jump in with both feet. So my only immediate resolution is to create a game plan for the other resolutions to follow :o) See, simple, easy step.

When I look back at how much I accomplished in 2007, I'm really quite amazed and inspired by myself. Even though I didn't manage to complete what I had originally set out to do, (hence the same resolutions this year) I did make some pretty big changes. I have become much more green, and aware of my personal impact on the environment. I've cut out almost all of the chemicals I was using in my home and on my person, opting for more natural and greener products. I've stopped using paper towels for cleaning, going for microfiber cleaning cloths. I've switched over most of my light bulbs to compact florescent bulbs. I've been diligent about recycling and picking up litter around the complex when I'm out on walks with Kinsey. I've made an effort to buy less and reuse/re purpose more. On a personal level, I've gotten to the point in my relationship with Craig that if he doesn't get his issues together and worked out, that I'm ready to move on. I've not been able to say this until now, but I do know that I'll be alright without him if that's what needs to happen. The biggest thing I accomplished in 2007 was getting my GED and going back to school. I never ever would have thought at the start of last year that I would be doing that. But I'm happy with my decision to do it, and my actually doing it. I'm also thrilled to bits that I got a B in Algebra :o)

The rest of my plans for my resolutions will follow as I work out how I'm actually going to tackle these issues. In the meantime, I'm going to make the most of the rest of my evening off before heading back to the grind tomorrow.