Me + Laundry = Yuck

So I got to leave work early and drove through a snow squall to get the hair trimmed up a bit. Of course, this was unplanned, as usual, and I had no appointment. I walked into the super cheap-o hair place thinking there would be throngs of illkept heads waiting for help. Alas, I was the only customer. It only took about 15 minutes and I was out. YAY!

The hairdresser summed up the day's weather perfectly. She said it reminded her of a snow globe--one minute snow is a flying everywhere, the next, it's sunny and calm with snow blanketing the ground.

Speaking of snow, this is how my morning went:
Clearing off snow from the car and sidewalk, stairs and porch
Spy salt truck down end of street
Salt truck gets closer
Man in salt truck's gaze locks mine
Man in salt truck's eyes sparkle with glee as he turns the corner, missing my block
Drive down snowy brick road, slipping around
SCORE: SALT TRUCK MAN = 1 ME = 0

So what about the knitting?
Well, I plan to get going during knitting on SCARF, ATTEMPT #2 while catching up on some monster laundry. Keep your fingers crossed...

3rd Annual Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Fest

Get the dirty details here:
Knit Fest
Feb. 10th & 11th
Don't you wish you lived here, too?

In other news: the Heat Meiser aka my guy is away so I have the heat at 66 degrees! He would just about cry to hear this. I am still not warm, but no longer freezing. I also have more than one light on in the house.

It is snowy and cold and finally wintery here. I only wish a very big snow storm would blanket the city and make venturing to work in the morn risky, if not impossible. Alas, forecast calls for little more than a flurry.


Wish my lovely sisters, yes, they are twins, a Happy Birthday for me. My first born baby daughter, Madison Penelope, a true Aquarian if I ever met one, also shares their birthday. Isn't she gorgeous! She is 10 years old today.

I Survived Russian Xmas!!!

I made it! 3 days trapped inside a small house with too many adults and screaming children to count and standing-room-only moments. One bathroom with a toilet that could only be flushed after 2-3 uses in an effort to "conserve well water." 3 days of solid dreary cold rain. Adults giving me a crying child to hold and making comments about how I need to have one even though the child continues to cry and I obviously lack in the maternal sense.

It wasn't all bad though; I learned a great deal about their family customs, history and how to really make pierogi. Here is a photo of my newly-acquired Polish skillz::



I made them last night and they were pretty tasty AND vegan! So the next clan gathering is in the summer and I can forget about the mess of it all until then.

In KNITTING NEWS--here is the pic of my wash cloth and bath stuff gift for Kay


It's positioned on the shelves my guy finally finished in our bathroom along with our sea glass collection from the 4 years we lived on the beach.

I made a scarf for a sister (per her request) but don't like it. I'll post the pic later but while weaving in the minions of loose ends, thought of a way to make it much better. So back to the needles for me, will post some pics when I've gotten it going.

Not much else, trying to continue to sort through career options/job change. I finally mailed in my last student loan payment over the weekend after 10 years of monthly payments and am reluctant to go back to school again and start the whole student loan thing over again. I just want to do something creative and be able to enjoy my work, which is something I am struggling with of late. So back to the classifieds for me, my friends! Enjoy your evening and hey, it's snowing here!!

Mucho Busy...

I feel like I haven't updated all my fans in forever. I'm sure the masses must be wondering what fantastic adventures I've been so absorbed by that I am unable to blog. I could say anything here, really give you something imaginative and awe-inspiring. But you will get the truth.

I've been working and worrying and cleaning and watching very bad TV. That will pretty much sum up my life of late. Oh, and some shopping was in there too.

My job has been on my mind a lot recently. Sleep has proven difficult due to this as well. I stopped into Moonstones this past weekend for some assorted incense and found some soap and body lotion for Kay, called Hot & Flashy, which has lemongrass which is said to help with menopause. Anyway, on a whim I went ahead and had a reading done. I asked about my job/career and was given some guidance. I was also told I would have a male child who would prefer to drink a lot of liquids and would be an atheist (???). I'll keep you posted as to the accuracy of the reading as time goes by. I also had an interview today which I almost cancelled after the reading, but decided to go ahead and give it a shot. Now I seem even more confused than ever!

I will have a picture of my latest design, a small gift for Kay to go with the bath goodies. I'll post it after she retrieves the gift so as not to spoil the suprise, though I doubt she reads this or knows of its existance.

Anyway, I am headed out of town to the Icebox of PA tomorrow with the guy for Russian Xmas with his huge extended family. In the 13 years we've been together, I only made it to one giant extended family event. I'm a bit apprehensive, but will take along the knitting and Sudoku and will make the best of it all. Luckily, we also have a long weekend (Monday off) and I will be able to stay an extra night--yippee! Have a great knitterly weekend kids and drink something wicked for me!!!

Booty

So here it is, some of the holiday booty I acquired. From sister: Southern Culture on the Skids tote, home of the future travel knitting by me. From guy: Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughn and the most kick-ass knitting needles a girl could want. The needles are from kiku, in size 13. I can't wait to knit with them and am thinking up a pattern as we speak.

This is Madison Penelope asleep on our new couch. She's a monkey!

Oh--I was NOT in fact able to mail out my sissy's package due to the closure of federal offices following the death of President Ford. Thankfully, my dad warned me of this development last night so I did not waste a quarter in the parking meter this AM to find the post office closed and arrive late to work for no reason at all. Today was actually a pretty good day all in all.

Oh, and last, I would like to thank The Sun for making an appearance today, you brightened up the hood like no one can. Peace!!

So my hibernation is about over. Tomorrow I return to work. I wish I had a few more days to organize, clean and KNIT!

So this was a gift I made for a certain sister. It was not completed in time for the 25th, so it will be mailed to her tomorrow. Along with the un-dented replacement cannister I had ordered online (the original arrived dented and the replacement did not arrive until after the big day, despite the site owner's claims to the contrary). GRRRR!!!!

Anyhow, these are called Beachcomber Mitts by me in a pattern designed by me so she can wear them on the chilly beach and still pick up the sea glass and shells that are best found this time of year after a good nor'easter.


I did not do well in completing my holiday knits this year. I would like to also put forth the fact I was sidelined for the past 3 weeks with a cold of some sort, the likes of which I have not encountered before. First was the sore throat the some coughing. There was nasal cloggage, then nasal drippage. Feverage came next. Then more nasal drippage, then extreme sinus cavity pain. Now there is some final (I hope) drippage and my voice continues to sound very manly. I included this because I am sure if you suffer through my blogging, you must really want to know every detail.

I brought in the year 2007 in Station Square in the rain listening to Winger. We hit a neighbor's house party first and really, should have stayed there. Earlier I watched the Steelers crush the Bengal's chances of making it to the playoffs. What a fantastic end to the season! Carson Palmer, you are the whiniest little baby of a football player ever and this was karma from your Sports Illustrated article when you bashed the Steelers. Oh, and Cowher, thanks for all the years and wins and cursing on the sidelines, we'll miss you and watching a Steeler's game won't be the same without your animated facial expressions and red-flag tosses.

On the needles now: a scarf for another sister. There will be some knitting time ahead of me in the car when we travel to Lopez, PA for Russian Xmas in two weeks to see my guy's family. That's one positive way to look at that trip.

Wishing you peace and happy knitting and good vegan eats in the year 2007!

Couches of years past...

We are getting a couch tomorrow! It will be deliverd between 12PM and 2PM. My guy will be here to supervise the delivery. This is a huge milestone for us: our first ever brand-new couch! We have a futon right now. In the past, we have accumulated a couch or so per state we lived in. We bought a slightly worn blue and white striped one in Colorado from one of those furniture rental places. I bought an old "vintage" couch at a thrift store for $50 with the goal of refinishing and then re-upholstering. We moved it out to North Carolina and one of the cats peed on it and then we put it outside for large item pick up day and I watched our crazy neighbors (who almost had as many cats as I did) pull the couch from the side of the road straight into their home. I guess they weren't too particular about smells.

In North Carolina, we got another used couch, the couch of all couches, absolutely free from the owner of a home that he was refinishing. They also gave him our living room tv, it was the largest-screen tv we ever got and free, too! You could say these people were loaded. The couch was a three piece sectional in a deep dark winey red courduroy. Me, my guy and 5 cats could all stretch out and co-exist peacefully together on this thing. It was great but took up pretty much the entire room.

Then we moved to Pennsylvania and decided our new rental could not accomodate it the sectional, so my guy gave it to his bachelor friends who probably destroyed it rather quickly. The futon, we've had since Colorado as well. It's been good to us and travels well. No more moves are in our future now though. It was time.

I had to talk my guy into it. For MONTHS we have been looking for a couch and a dining table and chairs. I can't take it any more. The furniture stores are like car lots, you can't make eye contact with anyone or you are followed all over the store. I finally had to say, what are you holding out for? We've seen the same things in every store for months, we need to either made a decision here or you need to tell me what would be the right couch. He couldn't tell me so...we made a decision. I'll post a pic tomorrow, I can't wait for my new knitting spot to arrive!
Oh, the futon? It's going upstairs to my knitorium. With the women's prison foot locker thing...don't ask. I'll tell ya some other day!

Now go watch the Three Little Dwarfs HERE to put yourself in the holiday mood!! I'm Hardrock, I'm Coco, I'm Joe!!