Monday, April 28, 2008

spring????

spring has sprung, and with it has come the md sheep and wool festival. I have taken the weekend off to properly pay homage to this event. I have invited family and friends. We will of course travel on separate days. I can shop with friends, but not with family. Family, not being knitters, will be obsessed with prices. Friends, being knitters, will be obsessed with shopping. See the difference?

I have also completed (sort of) a 7 day total body cleanse. I won't bore you with the details, just let us say it went fairly well. I am trying to start a healthier eating regimen, less red meat, more fish and veggies. If you have ever watched "You Are What You Eat", you can probably understand where this is coming from. Plus my cholesterol is waaaaaay too high. Exercise is next on the to do list.

Since moving into my sister's house, life has been a little different. Some of my favorite foods are a little harder (meaning impossible) to find (like good thai and good chinese), but really bad stuff (like burger king and mc donald's) are a lot easier to come by (we are off of the highway - meaning near one of those handy-dandy blue exit signs reading gas, lodging, and cheap food). The family doesn't have any sort of eating plan except to get whatever is easiest. It's hard. I mean, I wasn't the healthiest eater before, but this is ridiculous. There is pizza, every week. Even on my own I didn't get pizza more than once per month, and sometimes not even that frequently. There is Wendy's or Mc D's practially every week as well. The amount of soda consumed is staggering. I am, I don't know what I am . Anyway, my sister suggested I cook whenever I feel like it. Actually, I suggested we come up with a menu and shopping plan. She told me to plan away. She didn't actually say anything about the shopping. I can't afford to to the shopping for 5 people on my salary, I guess we need to have a more serious talk about it. Either that, or I will continue to buy my own stuff, and take a friend's advice and get myself a small fridge to put downstairs in my space for stuff I want for myself. I already take the fruit I want downstairs because if I don't it will vanish with none left for me. It's hard. Thank heaven for knitting. It's keeping me sane.

Friday, April 18, 2008

can't wait!

okay, this has been an eventful week.

missed my pal Justine due to food poisoning (i really have to teach my housemates/family about the evils of leaving food out all the time)

almost
fired two team members (my team leader is such a sucker for a sob story and a snow job)

had a birthday lunch with my mom (my birthday is monday, but she took me to lunch today - soup for me due to the still weak stomach)

i have started my cph again, and it's going like gang-busters

i have invited mom over for lunch on monday (did i mention it's my birthday). i plan to make my own cake, 'cause nobody knows what I want more than i do :-)

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

back in the saddle, yeeeeehaaaaaa!

well, after an extended hiatus, i am blogging again.
the move was more expensive than i thought it would be, in many ways, but i am now relatively comfortably ensconced in my sisters basement.
i have good and bad feelings about this, but hey, it's $400 a month, plus an extra 10 for they y membership. not a bad deal.
my computer isn't hooked up, so i am forced to use the kids'. they have like no memory on this thing so there may not be pictures for a while.

now for the important stuff, the sock clubs.

i oh so love twisted fiber arts yarns!!!!!!! her selections for the club have been fantastic, and the ravelry group is great. everyone gave out great suggestions for patterns. i made two pairs of socks from the yarn she sent, and i ran out of yarn for the 2nd pair, but purchased a great lovely 100% bamboo in a slightly brighter pink from this place, my new favorite yarn shop (i'm a sucker for a shop with a couch :-). it's less than 15 minutes from my house. how cool is that! back to twisted. the second sock installment has arrived and the colors are darker, but fabulous!!!! i love it, have i said i love her yarn?

ooooh and the yarn from jolly jumbuck was equally fantabulous!!! they sent this wonderful stuff in the most wonderful shades of blue. it was called mermaids ........um, don't remember the rest, but i think you get the drift. anyway, they sent a list of pattern suggestions along with it. love it. they also sent stitch markers, hand crafted, and a baby sock blocker key chain along with a baby sock pattern. and chocolate eggs, too! I can't wait until i get my next installment of this sock club. the next one if from a different dyer. will it be as great as this one??? who knows.

the last club was the eleganza club. it included a binder, newsletter with pattern included and, of course, the yarn. the yarn was a very bright kinda cottony thing for ankle socks. it was very nice, but i am not much of a lacy top anklet kinda gal. i'll probably look around for something else to mix it with.

on the other knitting front, I started and finished my noni triangle bag. what did you say? what noni triangle bag? what happened to the cabled sweater from hell and the central park hoodie projects???? well, the cable sweater is still lying around, incomplete. the cph has been frogged and is awaiting a restart. i found this pattern while searching through the noni website and decided i would order it one day. well, while perusing the shelves at my new favorite shop, i found it! i decided it would be a great bag to have. who cares that it's april and the weather is about to change! i am going to make me this bag, in charcoal and tan (because i have this yarn i bought for another project and changed my mind and used another yarn for it) lambs pride bulky. i haven't started felting it yet but i am way happy with it so far. it's going in the washer tomorrow night after work. it was a little tight on the tan yarn front, so i made a few changes (very minor - the strap has a stripe instead of being a solid color) but i think it's going to be great! i am going to line it. my other sister has a sewing machine! can't wait to add pictures!