EnigLdy~SheepFaced

6/9/06 Still in recovery

DH & I have been hitting the sack before 9 p.m. every night.  Two parties and out of town visitors all in one month wore us out.  Or, as the native Texans say, "Wore plum out."  I'm almost half-way through Mexico by Michener.  I finished The Education of Little Tree audio book and now I'm listening to The Pelican Brief and I'm on the last of 6 tapes. 

Knitting, you ask?  Well, I am up to the center area of the back of the vest and it is nicely resting on the coffee table.  I followed the pattern for three additional rows and the pattern is either wrong or I'm pulling idiot stuntness.  I tinked back and set it aside.  On the "wall of projects" I had two cross-stitch projects and a pair of gloves where I started adding a longer cuff.  My sad (old) eyes have a difficult time with the cross-stitch so I picked up the gloves.  I'm not "in" to them so it is a struggle to work on.  I did work on them a little while awaiting the completion of my car inspection.  I need to quit downloading addictive games onto my phone.  Now I have 21 and I'll soon be ready for Vegas.  Uh, yeah.

This weekend DH & I are heading to Fredericksburg!  I'm soooo excited - most excited I've been in a really long time.  We have had zero alone time and I love road trips with him.  We'll be picking up hats for DBDon and DFMarc.  They're both pining for a hat like DH's. 

Speaking of vacation - I've started the countdown:

How do you like that?  I'm hopeful that my grade/high school friend David and DCChrissy are going to make it up to visit.  I need to get a knitting project ready for the trip.  Since we're not driving I will have to carefullly plan what I'm going to take.  I haven't searched out the yarn stores in the area where we're flying in --- I need to do that!  You know, just in case.  <smirk>

I finished the hyphen-boy bag and it took its swimming lessons like a good boy.  It felted nicely but I'm not sure that I like it.  It is too big.  I knew that it was to be a backpack but I was hoping against hope that it would turn out smaller.  I haven't decided whether I'm going to install the grommets and use it as a backpack or if I'm going to cut the fabric into smaller bags.  If I get crazy I'll post a pic of the results.

I guess that is all for now.  Here is your mensa for the day:

What do the following words have in common?  (The similarity has nothing to do with the number of letters, vowels, consonants or syllables.)

Snips  Racquet  Aback  Carton

Words to the Wise: I read one psychologist's theory that said, "Never strike a child in anger."  When could I strike him?  When he is kissing me on my birthday?  When he is recuperating from measles?  Do I slap the Bible out of his hand on a Sunday?       Erma Bombeck

Grandma Greg was a great fan of Erma.  I hope they're sitting together enjoying cocktails in heaven.

Old Stuff

If I were this pretty with my hair pulled back I'd be knitting me this hat.  Not that I like the hat.  Some people are just beautiful.  You would not want to see me pull a Demi Moore like she did in GI Jane.  Uh, no.  I guess I think this girl is pretty because she has the huge forehead that is prominent in my family.  Maybe we're kinfolk!

I haven't touched knitting, crocheting or sewing in days.  I'm completely caught up at work and that was the goal.  I've put all my efforts into that.  I am off next week and didn't want to have anything hanging over my head.  This caused me to not have energy enough to work on anything outside of work.  Sad, but true.  I'm overamped on all the changes that are happening in/to my family.  Having another one leave the nest and shipping the baby off to college seems to be more than my fragile psyche can handle.  I'm holding it together and that is all I can say.

Work, too, is going through changes.  We'll have a change of chair and we've already had a change of dean.  I think this is causing me unacknowledged stress.  When work and home change you have to create things to hold onto.  The fact that all things are good and not bad alleviates a lot of my angst.  Attending the ceremony to receive my award is also causing me stress.  That is bad.  I keep telling myself that it will not matter 10 years from now.

Mensa for the day:  What three letters can be placed in the blanks below to make four different words?

• ___tance
• ___lodge
• ___may
• ___cover

Is it my imagination or am I a mensa?  LOL

Words to the Wise:  Experience is the one thing you can't get on easy payments.

What a Mood!

I am dragging.  I had to return to work just so I could get some rest.  DD is all moved in to her new place.  Saturday I went home around 4 since we had the majority of the boxes unpacked and all that was left was hanging things on the wall and getting things into their proper place.  DH thought that I'd had enough and said, "Let's go home."  Sunday brought about the frenzy of cleaning the house and doing laundry.  I swept the floors and DH mopped, I washed/dryed 10 loads of laundry, put things in their proper place, and changed out the winter clothes for summer clothes --- all except the socks and pajamas.  I couldn't do any more.  Luckily, this only involves pulling the winter socks and replacing them with the summer.  We don't have a dresser in our room but three drawers under each side of the bed.  I had no desire to try and pull myself up off the floor so this will wait for me tonight. 

While pulling out the summer clothes from DGB's room, I pulled out all the purses and bags I've hoarded.  This is another example of not using something because you're so overwhelmed with the mass.  I had three large, wooden hangers draped with as many bags as it could hold without breaking.  Holy cow --- does one really need this many?  I cleared out 1 1/2 large trash bags full of purses/bags.  It is so well down-sized that now the summer purses can hang in my closet for easy viewing pleasure. 

I really like these bags: 

In honor of cleaning out the bags - I plan to make more using up a little of the stash.  Maybe these will turn into a Christmas present or two.

Words to the Wise: We cease loving ourselves if no one loves us.  Madame De Stael

New Pillow

Since I was at jury duty, I decided to make another pillow.  I picked up this Limited sweater from a g. sale a few weeks ago and the ribbed pattern goes wonderfully with the lite grey pillow I made a month or so ago.  This is where I started:

and this is what I ended up with.  It is hard to see the ribbing on the lighter pillow so you'll have to trust me on this one.  The lighter grey has a zipper and as you see, the darker has four vintage buttons.  I may have to rethink the closure (velcro and pretend the buttons are holding it closed) because I like to recover the pillows as the seasons change.  In 100-degree central Texas summer weather, there is no need to snuggle up with a wool pillow.  I used the sleeves on dark grey and turned them into fingerless sleeves/gloves.  I will probably do the same with the lt grey. 

I'm working on sewing up some lavender sachets.  I pulled out the iron/board and then sewed up one of them and now I can't find the lavender stash.  Ugh!  Oh well, they've marinated in the stash this long...

Idiotness confession:  I was dead tired last night which filtered into this morning and decided to work on the bear.  I should know that doing anything really *does* require the use of a brain.  I thought I was working on the scarf and didn't understand why they were having it attached to the bear but whatever.  I did the 16 rows on each side and then this morning I ripped it all out when I realized the instructions were for the arms.  Here is where using the brain may have come in handy: I could've left the work I did and added the paws.  It is only 32 rows of 8 stitches but I would've been that much closer to completion.

Great News!  One of my afghan entries was requested for submission to their offices.  For DC Ruthie, it was the blue one.  Cross everything you've got - we may be working toward a huge azz stash that I certainly don't NEED but wouldn't it be just wonderful?

Save the Needlework!

My cousin, Ruthie, and I are steadily working on the race to save the orphaned Needlework.  Here is a pic of two pillowcases I recently saved from orphanhood.  I think they were 50 cents each at the local thrift store.  What a find and what a bargain!  Yeah, I shoulda ironed them for their debut on the blog ---- I bet they feel like the woman on the news in her hair curlers.  Yikes, didn't know that was gonna happen or I woulda put in my teeth.

I finished the 2nd glove so that project is finished.  Don't you just love the blow holes?  One is sitting down on the job - I guess he got tired of waiting for me to get finished with his mate.

Isn't it funny how we are able to predict what our spouses will do?  Yesterday when we were installing the new dishwasher, DH had to pull everything out from under the sink.  That is one of the areas that I tend to ignore yet always have the greatest of intentions of getting clean.  He pulled it all out and I'm shrieking inside because I feel like a failure ---- only to myself, mind you.  I really couldn't care about what others think ---- hardest on myself.  Judge if you must, I beat myself so you don't have to.  When he got home from fishing he asked me what I'd been working on (small chit chat, you know) and I mentioned that I cleaned under the sink.  He said, "I knew you would do that.  I said to myself when I pulled out everything, "She will get under here and clean tomorrow.""  Isn't it amazing that Mr. Predicto is able to read me like that?  I was cleaning under there when I was talking to Seester and she was laughing at me and saying, "I have a dragon that lives under my sink.  I try not to disturb him."  If they only knew - I had to restrain myself to not put fabric liners in there.  Yeah, they're normal and I'm....well, not as bad as Ruthie.

Since I finished the gloves, I'm now down to only one project and that is the d@mn socks.  I wanted to keep it this way so that I'd finished them but I've got jury duty tomorrow and I don't think they'll let me in with the pointy needles.  You never know, I could lose my mind and start slinging them at people's heads.  It may not be an issue but I'm going to lean to the safe side of life and take something a little less threatening looking.  Therefor, I'll be starting another project.  It is kind of a fib when I say down to one project because I need to finish the arms for Mr. Bear and get him mailed off. 

The eBay sales went well.  I kept up with my spending level and have enough moolah to pay off the books and yarn I bought on impulse.  I bought $72 worth of someone's stash; I ordered Starmore's Fair Isle Knitting book at a h&ll of a good price; a guernsey knitting book; new dishes; candles at about a 10th of their original, retail price; book - Fancy Feet; 1000 Great Knitting Motifs; Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitters' Almanac; Handknit Holidays; and Decorative Knitting.  Who am I kidding?  They were all at a h&ll of a good price.  GF doesn't pay full price.  There is always a coupon deal or a discount or a clearance - sumpin!  Yes, I even got free one-year financing on yesterday's purchase.  About a half hour ago DD called me and asked if I needed socks.  Here she is, over at Target and picking out $1 and $2 socks for me.  I sure do love that my kids like my frugal-mindedness.  Trust me, DH is trained.  Not fully ----> but I didn't have to raise him.

I hit the thrift store during jury duty break and found three more doilies:
        and some fabric:
    No, I did not NEED any of this but the doilies are beautiful and in excellent condition and the fabric was calling my name.  At $2-$3 each, why not?  I also found some autumn decorations and an embroidery hoop.  Fall is my favorite season and I love the colors - in nature and in decorations.  I look forward to using them.  I enjoyed pulling out the Easter decorations and I have a new stuffed bunny that I'm getting to use this year.  DGB helped decorate the house - he's learning and will soon be the next interior decorator of the family.

Expensive Weekend

It is Saturday at 1:00 PM and we've already spent $1400 this weekend.  Holy crap!  We high-tailed it to Big-Box wood/appliance store and ended up buying a dishwasher (tired and new dishes don't fit - bigger plates = bigger waistline), a new garage door opener (took a shit yesterday) and a new DeWalt cordless drill set for DH.  Shek out the new dishwasher:

                         What is a woman to do?  I guess the eBay sales need to get hopping or I'm gonna have to find a way to cough up some cash.   I love the d/w.  We immediately installed it, have it loaded and running.  Super quiet and the kitchen is smiling.  I love the sleek design with all the buttons on the top of the door.  I shined it up after I got it running.  Life is good but expensive.

Brand Spanking New!

Shek it out!  DH has been bugging me for YEARS to buy a popcorn popper.  As you see, not just any ol' popcorn popper.  Everywhere we goes that has popcorn coming outta this thing, he's gotta have some.  We'd go to DS's football games and first thing he'd do is run to the concession stand for some popcorn.  Yeah, he likes it but $800?  How much friggin' popcorn can you eat?  Huh?  He told me during the week that he was gonna need 300 bucks cuz he was going to an auction on Saturday.  When he left early Sat. morn he said, "I'll be back with a popcorn popper."  He wasn't kidding.  He ended up spending $280 plus a stop to the restaurant supply to buy all he needed to give this mother popping.  Yeah, purtty darn yummy.

This is my first post with typepad.  It is weird to not have to be entering html code.  Plus, it appears that I can do much more than looking up code to move things around.  30 day free trial and then my annual fee shall commence ---- looking good so far.

My OCD took over on Saturday.  As soon as I got back from g. sales, I TORE APART the office.  I can't stands no more!  I felt this overwhelming organizational urge hit me on Saturday during g. sales.  I didn't think I would take on such a big project.  When you do something this big there is always a place you hit where you say, "Oh shit - I've got a lot of work ahead of me."  Since I'm about as anal as you can get and have to map out everything, I used an on-line room re-arranger but still ended up only moving a few pieces of furniture.  I shoulda taken before pics but only ended up with heat of the moment.  The closet ----- trust me when I say that you couldn't open it without getting pegged in the dome.  I cleared out all the bins of yarn and fabric ---- dumped the crap and put the rest of it up at eBay.  I have two huge bags of yarn going to MIL & SIL, another to DC Ruthie and the bins are storing what I kept.  Yes, I still had enough lying around the office to completely fill all the bins.  That is sad.  OCD hoard issues at its finest.  I still have three 4-foot stacks of items to list on eBay.  I oughta be ashamed.  I did make a list of things I need to hit ---- patterns, magazines and books.  I've got more than I'll ever need or use.  What got all this started?  It dawned on me that I was overwhelmed with all the stash and couldn't accomplish what I really wanted to.  Holding onto colors/types of yarn/fabric just to FIND a use for them is causing insanity.  Unloading all of this brings it to a somewhat manageable level where I can see what I've got and what I'd like to do with it.  It feels good to purge.  I'd like to have DSIL go through my bags and take what she wants but I know that I wouldn't be able to watch and then I'd feel bad for the ones she didn't take.  I'd continue thinking, "I wonder why she didn't take this one?  I like it a lot.  Poor bag."  Commit me now but please let me take my office!

 

Here are the pics:

 

 

Yes, it oozed out into the hall!  This was prior to me pulling everything outta the closet.  I had so much crap in the hall that DH wondered what the fire marshal would say.  I put it back into safety compliance by the time we went to bed.