Friday, February 29, 2008

TGIF

Let's try this again....Blogger must have been hungry, because it devoured my post with no warning.

I am a bag ho--there's no denying it. I just cannot resist the sweet call of a new purse or bag. My latest addiction are the creations of clm_n_rudd on e-bay (she's a fellow Raveler, too, but I found her on e-bay). I have one of her small project bags, and it holds a sock project or other small item perfection. This week, I won an auction for a larger bag and am anxiously waiting for it to arrive. The prices on these bags is great, and she doesn't ream you on shipping costs. The quality is also great.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

When's the Last Time I Blogged?

I think it is obvious that there is a lot going on in my life that's keeping me away from the blog. Do I need to repeat again that work is busy and family life (aka life with a busy teenager) is also busy? I didn't think so!

Here's what's going on in my world...

Kat has reminded me that she's patiently waiting to see a picture of husband's birthday present. Here you go!

I met husband in August 1983, and I think that's about the time I first heard him say that one day he'd own a baby grand piano. Well, almost 25 years later, he has one. It is beautiful to look at and even more beautiful when he plays it. Ladies, it was on sale, clearance sale, so how could we resist??

I'm still doing Weight Watchers, still enjoying it, and last time I weighed, I was down 8 pounds. That's pretty good! My jeans are fitting so much better these days. In fact, once again, I have fat pants and they are pretty darned baggy on me. I have zero time to get out to an exercise class, so the exercise has been brought to me. One of these now lives in my sun room.. We opted for the E-95 model. I love it!! It's so much easier to take 15 minutes out of the day here and there than it is to try to fit in a trip to the gym.

A few weeks back, I was desperately searching for somehing to knit with some Cotton Ease. I decided on Green Gable by the Zephyr girls, but I need a bust size larger than the 40 inches that the pattern I had went up to. I looked on their site and saw that the pattern had been changed to add more sizes. A quick e-mail to them asking if I should buy a new pattern resulted in them just e-mailing me the revised pattern. How's that for customer service? I didn't expect them to just give me the pattern at no charge, but their doing so has certainly won my customer loyalty 1000%! I was already a fan, but this was just such a pleasant bonus.

My top is in taupe colored Cotton Ease, and it's coming out pretty well. I'm up to the waist shaping now, so if I really put my mind to it, I could finish this off over the weekend. That probably won't happen because I also have a couple more projects in the works.

For example, I'm working on this cardigan by Knitting Pure and Simple. The pattern was making me nuts for a couple of days--I couldn't get past row one. I posted for help on the KP&S group on Ravelry and got help directly from the pattern designer. How cool is that?? I'm making my cardigan out of rose colored Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran that was in my stash. So far, I seem to be getting gauge, so this should be a successful project.

I am also knitting lace, The Maple Leaves Lace Scarf by HeartStrings Fiberarts. The pattern is nice and fairly simple. It's not charted, which I would prefer, and I've just not taken the time to chart it. It's still working up pretty quickly. I'm using some Knitpicks laceweight yarn that has been in my stash forever--KP Shimmer (70% alpaca/30% silk) in the Stained Glass colorway.

Yes, I'm aware there are no photos of any of these works in progress, but do you really want to see pictures of blobs? That's about what all these things look like at the moment.

For daughter, drama practice continues with a vengeance. The show opens on March 27 and runs through March 29. They are expecting sell out crowds which is not an unusual thing for spring musicals at our school. We have an amazing drama teacher who puts heart and soul into the productions. He has a way with the kids that gets them just as excited as he is, and it pays off. He also has a great coreographer, musicians, and a professional lighting tech who work with him. We have to go this weekend to find more costumes for daughter. I'm heading for the big Goodwill in search of 80s clothes.

Driving practice is ongoing. I will not yet turn daughter loose on the interstate--it scares me sometimes--but I let her drive around town which just thrills her to no end. I'm not quite as terrified of her driving anymore. She is improving, and practice will just make her better.

Friday, February 22, 2008

What a Day!

I think I may need a "do over" on yesterday. It was a bad day (insert gray clouds, thunderbolts, and other similar images here). It all started out with internet problems. I noticed the the 'net seemed a bit sluggish when I came into work yesterday (I work from home) but didn't give that much thought. Then, my phone started going out (phone service is through the cable company just like Internet service). By 2 PM, I was stranded with no Internet and no office phone. You cannot imagine how frustrating this is unless you are a remote employee who depends on these two services to keep you connected to the rest of your company. I tried to make the most of it by reviewing some documents I had on my hard drive, completing some outstanding filing, and that kind of thing.

Not only did I have these communication problems to deal with. I was also dealing with the local mall-based sporting goods store about delivery of an elliptical trainer that I purchased Saturday. The store contracts with a local delivery company to do their delivery and setups. I paid an additional $100 for this service, because the elliptical is a whopping 200 plus pounds, and I wanted burly men to carry it into the house and set it up for me. Well, after four days, I still hadn't even gotten a call from the delivery service nor could the store get a response from them. The store agreed to refund my delivery charge and let me pick up the machine myself. So....

Husband and I hopped into my Explorer and headed over to the mall last night to get the machine we weren't far from home when the "check engine" light came on, and he smelled an electrical smell in the truck. We turned around, went back home, and got his pickup truck. Did I mention it was pouring rain and cold?? We set off again to the mall, got the big honkin' box loaded and came back home. It wasn't too bad unloading the box--we've moved so many times that we have got this moving heavy items thing down pat. I plopped down on the sofa in the sun room and noticed that the box said "carton 1 of 2." That couldn't be good since we only had one box sitting there. A call to the store confirmed that yes indeed, we have another box to pick up. By now, it was almost time to pick daughter up from drama practice, so we headed back out, went to school to get her, stopped at the mall to get the box, struggled to squeeze it into the Civic (still in the pouring rain and the cold), and decided we needed to eat out. It was almost 8 PM by now. We did manage to end the night with a nice meal at Macaronni Grill (I had hardly eaten all day, so I don't think I did terribly with my WW points) and finally dragged into the house after 9 o'clock last night.

This morning, we planned to take the Explorer to that nice dealership out near the mall for repairs. I was also going to take daughter by Starbucks for a coffee on the way to school, but she decided to have a clothing related hissy fit this morning (insert images of a pouty teenager who has "nothing to wear" in spite of the jam packed closet and clothing flying all over a bedroom) because she can't find an appropriate outfit to wear to school. We got a bit later than desired start to school, so I didn't even mention Starbucks (not that a hissy fit throwing person NEEDS a treat). The Interstate was backed up because of an accident, it was pouring rain, and I was driving the Civic which I hate--too tiny, too close to the ground, and you can't see shit out of it. We did manage to get off the highway and take an alternate route to school. Daughter may possibly have gotten there on time, but I'm not sure. Meanwhile, husband was stuck on the highway trying to make it to the dealiership in the Explorer....

He and I finally met up at the dealership and dropped off the truck. They just phoned that it's going to take $1100 to fix my baby. That's cheaper than a car payment, and I do love that truck. Hopefully by noon today, the truck will be all better and back home where it belongs. It has almost 125,000 miles on it and is 8 years old, but I'm not anxious to trade it in.

I hope that the day will start looking up soon. So, how has your week been?

Saturday, February 16, 2008

I'm a Survivor

We held daughter's b-day party last night. About half the kids we'd invited weren't able to come (it's winter break at their school, and a lot of them had out of town plans), but the ones who were here were among her closest friends. That made it really special. It was nice having the kids here.

Today, daughter took me for a drive and we ended up at Starbucks. She bought me a coffee, and we sat for a while and looked at some new magazines we'd gotten this morning and chatted. I feel sure this is one of those "life time" memories and hopefully the first of many of these kinds of outings.

Daughter's driving skills are getting better. She's getting more confident with each passing mile. :-) She's not bad at all for someone who has only driven for 4 days now.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

The Moment She's Been Waiting For......

Yesterday was a big day as you can imagine--daughter was 15. It was a very emotional day for me. I can't believe my baby girl is so grown up. The highlight of the day was taking her to have her driver's permit exam. She was bouncing off the ceiling, but that's pretty much how she's been for the past two weeks just thinking about taking the exam. I watched her take the test (I was in the waiting room and the walls of the exam room are glass), and she danced after every correct answer. The test is on a computer, so there's instant feedback as to whether you get an answer right or not. The beaming smile when she walked out of the exam room was enough to tell me my worst fears had been realized--she passed. Wait....I thought that was my worst fear. My worst fear (to date!) was actually the drive home when daughter drove me. I swear there are fingernail marks in my car seat from my grabbing it in shear terror.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

You'll Always Be My Little Girl

Fifteen years ago today, I was blessed to give birth to the most beautiful and perfect baby girl the world has ever known.



Today, that little baby turns 15 years old. My, how the time has flown. Sweetheart, you are even more beautiful and perfect to your Daddy and me today than you were so many years ago. We are so proud of you!

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Just Words

Things on the knitting front a pretty quiet, so there are no photos to share. I don't think you want to see photos of me working or driving a kid all over town, and those are the things that have been taking my time lately.

This week has been spent chasing down all the documents needed so that daughter can take her driver's permit test next week. I never got a copy of her birth certificate other than the souvenir one they give you at the hospital. After I figured out which county she was born in, that was an easy task! I always thought the hospital was in Columbia County, but it's not! About 13 years ago, we got daughter's social security card, but of course it is nowhere to be found now. We filed for a replacement yesterday (takes 2 weeks to get the card) and had them print a letter which should suffice as far as the DMV requirement for proof of SSN. I have to tell you, the SSN office in Augusta is amazing. The place was packed, but they have a great computerized "take a number" system that seems very efficient. You choose the reason you are there, the machine generates a need specific call number and you are routed to an employee who only works with that particular need. We were done in 45 minutes. I was impressed.

I've officially been doing weight watchers for 3 weeks and have lost 2 pounds each week for a total of 6. I have eaten anything I wanted and have not felt at all deprived or hungry. I'm doing points, so if I want a treat, I budget for it. I've eaten out at Chic-fil-A and even had the friend chicken sandwich with no negative impact to my weight. I've eaten dessert many times. It's great. I am not currently in an exercise program, but we're shopping for a Stairmaster. Going to a class is just not an option with my schedule, but I can easily steal away 10 minutes here and there to do the Stairmaster. Another benefit of buying a piece of equipment is that all 3 of us benefit from it.