I have recently reconnected with my most dear old friends on facebook, and more friends and family have been directed to the blog recently. For the benefit of the new readers, I am providing a link to one of my favorite old posts. And it has pictures!
In June, 2007, my parents, my siblings, their families, and mine all met at Walt Disney World for a week. This post is from the trip home. Enjoy!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The Usual Delay
To those of you who have predicted "Death to Blog" as a result of the knitting challenge, well, it's not quite dead yet. I have the camera, but no batteries or USB cord. I've been distracted (of course) by other areas of my life. The Vansome is taking the camera with him to deer camp this weekend, so Friday is my new deadline to get the pictures taken. Of course you all know that means next week or even the week after that.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
I've Been Challenged
My beloved sister has presented me with a blog challenge involoving my unfinished knitting projects. It will involve much picture taking initially, so my assignment for today is to locate my camera. I am picking up Mason from school today for a little one-on-one Aunt Holly time, and his favorite thing to do at my house is help me clean the office/guest bedroom. That is the most likely location of the camera, so expect it to be back in my hands by tomorrow.
I have another fully scheduled day today. I made a larger than average mess with dinner last night, so I didn't finish cleaning the kitchen, so that's got to be done. I'm having lunch with my original knitting partner in a couple of hours, and I'm really looking forward to that. I'm picking up the Maseycakes as I mentioned earlier. (I asked him recently if he was too old for me to call him Maseycakes now that he's 8, and he said no. I told him I'd try not to call him that around his friends, and he said it would be ok if I did. I just love that boy!)
When I take Mase home, I will be joining Ame for her walking+ exercise class that she does on Mondays and Thursdays. The class is led by a friend of hers who is a personal trainer (I think, but I may be remebering wrong). Anyway, Kathy leads the class, which includes walking around a track and then something extra, like strength training. I'm curious as to how much walking stamina I have lost after two months.
Tomorrow, I will gather all of my unfinished projects from drawers, snap-top boxes, and knitting bags. I will gather up my honesty, as well. And then I will take pictures of each and every one. Each unfinished knitting project, that is. I can't really take a picture of my honesty. I'll post the pictures and officially launch the challenge this weekend.
I have another fully scheduled day today. I made a larger than average mess with dinner last night, so I didn't finish cleaning the kitchen, so that's got to be done. I'm having lunch with my original knitting partner in a couple of hours, and I'm really looking forward to that. I'm picking up the Maseycakes as I mentioned earlier. (I asked him recently if he was too old for me to call him Maseycakes now that he's 8, and he said no. I told him I'd try not to call him that around his friends, and he said it would be ok if I did. I just love that boy!)
When I take Mase home, I will be joining Ame for her walking+ exercise class that she does on Mondays and Thursdays. The class is led by a friend of hers who is a personal trainer (I think, but I may be remebering wrong). Anyway, Kathy leads the class, which includes walking around a track and then something extra, like strength training. I'm curious as to how much walking stamina I have lost after two months.
Tomorrow, I will gather all of my unfinished projects from drawers, snap-top boxes, and knitting bags. I will gather up my honesty, as well. And then I will take pictures of each and every one. Each unfinished knitting project, that is. I can't really take a picture of my honesty. I'll post the pictures and officially launch the challenge this weekend.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
A More Convenient Way to Waste My Time
The Vansome's massive television that takes up half of my living room has not been getting much use lately. That is a good thing. I have a tendency to become addicted to TV shows. Last year I was so overwhelmed with my job that I didn't make a point to watch anything except Fringe and Lost all season.
Hulu has become my new best friend. (Hey-did you notice I learned how to link?) The Vansome and I have started watching TV from the laptop. It kinda defeats the purpose of not having a television in the bedroom, but I'm still in denial about that. We were able to catch up on shows we liked and we're discovering shows we missed out on, not just from last season, but from the last few years.
I can't tell you how much I love the freedom of watching TV on my schedule, at my convenience. I don't know that I will ever be held hostage to a television show again. Except for Lost, but with the last season coming up, it's worth the sacrifice. I don't have the patience to wait until the next day for that show.
Our best discovery was Firefly. That is such an amazing show! I broke down and spent my dwindling financial reserves on the DVD of Serenity, the movie made after the series was cancelled. It is truly heartbreaking that the show was cancelled so early. I thought the movie did a good job of tying up loose ends, but it still left me wanting more. It was definitely better for me to have watched the series after the fact, though, knowing that it was cancelled too soon and the one season was all I would ever have. If I had been expecting more, I would have gone into mourning. For a stupid long time.
The Vansome is in mourning now over the cancellation of Defying Gravity. I had read a few weeks ago that it did not have strong viewership, so I began to prepare myself at that time. I tried to warn the Vansome as well, but he was in denial. It sucked mightily that they cancelled it right on the brink of the "big reveal" they had been leading up to all season, but what can you do? I know that they had a few more episodes complete, so I'm hopeful that ABC will offer them online. That's how we watch anyway, so it would be awesome for us.
We set the DVR on our PC to record Bones and Fringe last Thursday. We tried to watch them last night, and it did not go so well. The difference in audio volume between the episodes and the commercials made it almost unwatchable. Even fast-forwarding through them, we still caught enough to kill our ears and make us angry. I think we will stick to watching on Hulu.
PS Did I mention that I can knit while I watch TV?
Hulu has become my new best friend. (Hey-did you notice I learned how to link?) The Vansome and I have started watching TV from the laptop. It kinda defeats the purpose of not having a television in the bedroom, but I'm still in denial about that. We were able to catch up on shows we liked and we're discovering shows we missed out on, not just from last season, but from the last few years.
I can't tell you how much I love the freedom of watching TV on my schedule, at my convenience. I don't know that I will ever be held hostage to a television show again. Except for Lost, but with the last season coming up, it's worth the sacrifice. I don't have the patience to wait until the next day for that show.
Our best discovery was Firefly. That is such an amazing show! I broke down and spent my dwindling financial reserves on the DVD of Serenity, the movie made after the series was cancelled. It is truly heartbreaking that the show was cancelled so early. I thought the movie did a good job of tying up loose ends, but it still left me wanting more. It was definitely better for me to have watched the series after the fact, though, knowing that it was cancelled too soon and the one season was all I would ever have. If I had been expecting more, I would have gone into mourning. For a stupid long time.
The Vansome is in mourning now over the cancellation of Defying Gravity. I had read a few weeks ago that it did not have strong viewership, so I began to prepare myself at that time. I tried to warn the Vansome as well, but he was in denial. It sucked mightily that they cancelled it right on the brink of the "big reveal" they had been leading up to all season, but what can you do? I know that they had a few more episodes complete, so I'm hopeful that ABC will offer them online. That's how we watch anyway, so it would be awesome for us.
We set the DVR on our PC to record Bones and Fringe last Thursday. We tried to watch them last night, and it did not go so well. The difference in audio volume between the episodes and the commercials made it almost unwatchable. Even fast-forwarding through them, we still caught enough to kill our ears and make us angry. I think we will stick to watching on Hulu.
PS Did I mention that I can knit while I watch TV?
Monday, September 21, 2009
Not About Knitting
I'm on my way to the revenue office to get my driver's license renewed. I'm not going to mention how overdue it is. Let's just say it expired while I was working and leave it at that.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
This One is About Knitting!
My Carla showed me her first completed knitting project yesterday. It was a striped hat for her son, Lucas. I had coached her through the Mattress Stitch on Tuesday, and she brought it over to show me the fabulous end result. (I know this post is useless without pictures, but I seem to have misplaced my camera. And rechargeable batteries. And USB cord. And I'm quite sure they are all three in different locations.)
When I first learned that my Carla was moving back, I immediately began devising ways to lure her to the darkside, AKA create in her an obsession with knitting to match my own. Having just given birth to her first child, the timing was ideal. I started buying books of baby patterns.
Now the obvious plan would be to start by knitting an impressive baby gift for the little guy, but I am Attention Deficit Knitter. I don't do gift knitting. Gift knitting unavoidably imposes a deadline. You do, at some point, have to finish the thing. Babies outgrow things faster than I can stay focused on a single project, and baby blankets are not so appreciated by the average school aged child.
I wanted to be a gift knitter. I had high hopes last Christmas. I was a relatively new knitter then and I did not understand my limitations. My dad is still waiting for the back and sleeves to the sweater I knit him. My mom would just like for me to bind off her shawl so she doesn't have to wear it with circular needles still attached. Although they could make an interesting fastener, if she looped them through the lace just right. Hmmm.....I bet I could live without that set of circs. It's not like I've used them since last December.
But I digress (don't I always?) Back to my Carla. I resisted begging her to let me teach her to knit, for fear of frightening her away. She actually expressed an interest first after I gushed about what I had been doing. I was still working when she arrived here last Thanksgiving, and between that and the run up to The Break, I neglected her along with everything else important to me. I was able to carve out some time to teach her the basics of knitting sometime in May. In July and August we had more productive instruction time as she provided me with the therapy I so desperately needed, but it has been hit and miss until this week.
In addition to hat admiring, she and I spent the bulk of the day together yesterday, grocery shopping, knitting, talking, entertaining the boy child. My Carla has an issue that is weighing on her right now, and I am so grateful that I am well enough to be the friend to her that she has always been to me. While talking through her worries yesterday, she said to me, "I just want to go buy yarn." I must say, she is my favorite of all knitting projects.
When I first learned that my Carla was moving back, I immediately began devising ways to lure her to the darkside, AKA create in her an obsession with knitting to match my own. Having just given birth to her first child, the timing was ideal. I started buying books of baby patterns.
Now the obvious plan would be to start by knitting an impressive baby gift for the little guy, but I am Attention Deficit Knitter. I don't do gift knitting. Gift knitting unavoidably imposes a deadline. You do, at some point, have to finish the thing. Babies outgrow things faster than I can stay focused on a single project, and baby blankets are not so appreciated by the average school aged child.
I wanted to be a gift knitter. I had high hopes last Christmas. I was a relatively new knitter then and I did not understand my limitations. My dad is still waiting for the back and sleeves to the sweater I knit him. My mom would just like for me to bind off her shawl so she doesn't have to wear it with circular needles still attached. Although they could make an interesting fastener, if she looped them through the lace just right. Hmmm.....I bet I could live without that set of circs. It's not like I've used them since last December.
But I digress (don't I always?) Back to my Carla. I resisted begging her to let me teach her to knit, for fear of frightening her away. She actually expressed an interest first after I gushed about what I had been doing. I was still working when she arrived here last Thanksgiving, and between that and the run up to The Break, I neglected her along with everything else important to me. I was able to carve out some time to teach her the basics of knitting sometime in May. In July and August we had more productive instruction time as she provided me with the therapy I so desperately needed, but it has been hit and miss until this week.
In addition to hat admiring, she and I spent the bulk of the day together yesterday, grocery shopping, knitting, talking, entertaining the boy child. My Carla has an issue that is weighing on her right now, and I am so grateful that I am well enough to be the friend to her that she has always been to me. While talking through her worries yesterday, she said to me, "I just want to go buy yarn." I must say, she is my favorite of all knitting projects.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
My Quirky Husband
The Vansome has a quirk that used to irritate me to no end, but then apparently the irritation did have an end, because it doesn't really bother me now. Also, he tries really hard not to do it anymore, which is why I was reminded of it this morning.
When the Vansome tells me something, usually an instruction of sorts, I don't always catch the whole sentence. When I ask him please to repeat, he frequently only repeats a portion of what he said. The quirky thing is, he repeats the part that I did actually hear.
Example #1:
Vansome: mumblemumblemumble heat it up in the microwave.
Me: What?
Vansome: IN THE MICROWAVE.
Example #2:
Vansome: There's more coffee if you want to mumblemumblemumble.
Me: What?
Vansome: THERE'S MORE COFFEE
With the exception of the times he repeats the entire sentence (which used to be rare, but are becoming more frequent, probably because I have given him such a hard time about it) he will, without fail, repeat only the part that I heard. It doesn't matter if I heard the first part or the second part. He subconciously knows which part I missed, and then repeats the other part. Possibly some latent irritation that I sometimes don't pay attention to him when he's talking.
The conversation this morning (involving the coffee he left for me) was an example of his increased awareness of the quirk. I can't remember which half I actually heard him say because it's been a couple of hours now, but he repeated the entire sentence the first time I asked.
Yeah, yeah, there's no knitting in this post, but that's the "attention deficit" part of my new title. (Ooooh, Shiny!)
When the Vansome tells me something, usually an instruction of sorts, I don't always catch the whole sentence. When I ask him please to repeat, he frequently only repeats a portion of what he said. The quirky thing is, he repeats the part that I did actually hear.
Example #1:
Vansome: mumblemumblemumble heat it up in the microwave.
Me: What?
Vansome: IN THE MICROWAVE.
Example #2:
Vansome: There's more coffee if you want to mumblemumblemumble.
Me: What?
Vansome: THERE'S MORE COFFEE
With the exception of the times he repeats the entire sentence (which used to be rare, but are becoming more frequent, probably because I have given him such a hard time about it) he will, without fail, repeat only the part that I heard. It doesn't matter if I heard the first part or the second part. He subconciously knows which part I missed, and then repeats the other part. Possibly some latent irritation that I sometimes don't pay attention to him when he's talking.
The conversation this morning (involving the coffee he left for me) was an example of his increased awareness of the quirk. I can't remember which half I actually heard him say because it's been a couple of hours now, but he repeated the entire sentence the first time I asked.
Yeah, yeah, there's no knitting in this post, but that's the "attention deficit" part of my new title. (Ooooh, Shiny!)
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