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What I have been doing....

I noticed that once I got on Ravelry, my posting to the blog dimished entirely....not even by a tiny bit!

I have been dyeing yarn, copious amounts of yarn!  Getting ready for the Beverly Yarn Fest at the Beverly Arts Center on the south side of Chicago.  Being a north sider, I rarely venture down that far south - but a friend got me roped into it.

I'll post photos later of either the booth, or the goodies going into the booth!

I need this today

Take a look at my pretty turkey!

Busy weekend!

This past weekend marked the beginning of the Great Purge of 2008!

Tamara's sister Heidi came over and we spent part of Saturday and a good part of Sunday working on the unfinished side of the basement which holds my laundry room and all of the crap that we have accumulated over the last 10 years in this house.

Last summer when we flooded from the Big Storm, the workers who refinished the other side of the basement emptied out the finished side into the unfinished side, and my living room and dining room.  While I organized everything in all of those rooms once, the storage side of my basement took another hit later during construction and frankly, I have never had the time or motivation to do it again.

I have been stressing over the state of my house for a long time, and Tamara has been singing Heidi's praises for a while.

OMG, she wasn't kidding.  In less than 8 hours Heidi and took that basement room and transformed it from a junk pile into something I am no longer embarrassed to show.  HOLY COW! 

In the space of 8 hours she took me from despair and thinking that what I wanted to do with the room was a pipedream to an actual plan.  I am SO excited that I can hardly contain myself.  I am totally ready to purge the entire house.

The only drawback is DH.  While he didn't get in our way, and was surprisingly on board with getting rid of some stuff....there were some roadblocks....and last night after everyone else was in bed I got the brunt of his displeasure. 

You know it cracks me up, he is SO very much the first one to complain about the state of the house, he doesn't help (other than cooking), and is very much a saver.  If I hear "how much is that worth" again, I think I will scream.  What is it with men?  They haven't used something in 10 years and yet can't bear to get rid of it.  I mean seriously, do we NEED the air popper that I got as a high school graduation present in 1982...that no longer has a top?  NOT SO MUCH!

I did figure out the best answer to why I threw something away.  MOLD.  It was covered in mold....that is my new answer.

In other news, DD had a tick on her last night when she got into the shower.  I saw something on her chest and told her to wash it off, thinking it was a piece of a leaf or something.  She felt it and tried to get it off, then scratched at it, and when it was on her finger she said it was moving.  I took it on a kleenex and realized it was a tick.  Luckily, the head wasn't still attached to her body, so now it is a waiting game for the next two weeks to see if she gets any symptoms.  I called the doctor, and they noted it in her chart, so if something happens later than two weeks out, they will know about the tick bite.  Fun stuff!

In knitting news....this was finished a little over a week ago, and she loves it!

UGH

I refer you to this post

http://execudiva.typepad.com/avec_le_coton/2005/12/index.html

Well, it is looking like that will be happening again.  The last time I was in for a cortisone shot, the surgeon told me that it was time for surgery on the left hand.  I decided to try another shot and seriously thought I was good to go.  I had gotten huge relief from that last shot....no pain, no numbness, nothing.

Well, the Shetland Triangle Shawl changed all that.  I should know better than to think I can knit for an hour a day and not end up with trouble.

I haven't been sleeping, and the pain is getting bad again.  The thing is that I can't figure out when I can possibly fit in the surgery and not get terribly behind on my work....and who wants surgery in the summer?

UGH!

Things that make you go hmmmmmmm

So today was the last day of school.  Each of the kids had a party, but my son's ended earlier than my daughters.  So my son and his friend wanted ice cream.

We got ice cream and sat down.  Of course my son picked something he didn't like and needed something else.  As he got up I noticed that the woman at the next table had the same purse as my gorgeous Buddha bag that I got in Colorado.

They got up to leave and she complimented me on my taste in bags....then mentioned that she got hers at E-bags and that the reason she got it was that it was a Vegan bag.

It was then that I noticed the huge azz ice cream SHAKE in her hands. 

Vegan.

HMMMMM

The internet is a scary thing

I think by now my very few readers know my views on posting certain information on the internet.  I try to be very careful with information posted, and often google myself to see what is out there.  Some of it I can control, other information not so much.  I have realized that from now on when I donate to charities online be it The 3 Day, or Tam's Bark in the park....I will do so annonymously.

I mention this because today I read an article in the WSJ and it mentioned that if you use google to track your friends, you are behind the times.  It then went on to list various other search engines and I decided to test it.

Following Tam's idea of googling the most obscure person, I decided to search for an old boyfriend who I have lost touch.  I have never been able to find him because he has quite a common name.  Like John Smith, but a different nationality.

Well, I not only found him, I also found out who he married.  I found their house and via lovely satellite maps was able to find out that he has children and a 5 bedroom house in the western suburbs of Chicago.

The thing that gets me, is that if I were a different type of person, I could wreak havok on his life.  I knew his wife, and she would NOT be happy for me to suddenly appear in his life.

Just an FYI, I also did searches on some of the authors of some of the blogs I read.  Scary info is available if you only know how to search. 

Tagged!

By the person who I always thought hated memes....guess I was wrong.

The rules are:
*Link to the person that tagged you.
*Post the rules on your blog.
*Share six weird things/habits/quirks about yourself.
*Tag six others. And let them know they’ve been tagged!

1) There are a number of foods which I don’t like in one form but do in another. i.e.. I love tomatoes, but hate ketchup.  I hate bananas, but like Banana bread (nothing else banana though)

2) I am like Alyssa in that I have to finish a chapter in a book before I stop reading for the night.  I also really need to finish a chapter in an audio book too before I finish listening for that time.

3) I have to completely get ready in the morning in one period of time.  If I go downstairs before I put my  makeup on, chances are it won’t ever get on.

4) I cannot sit and watch TV without doing something else.  I have to either have a book, knit, or be on the computer at the same time.  But I can go to the movie and not do anything else.

5)  I go in spurts where I will eat the same thing for breakfast for weeks at a time…then change it out and eat that thing for weeks at a time.

6) While I am firmly in the camp that there is NO correct way to knit….if I watch someone knit and throw their yarn (especially new knitters) for any length of time, it starts to make me nervous when I have to watch them stop, put their needles down, and throw the yarn.

I tag:Tamara, Amy, Barbara, Leslie, and Susie

Snow!

2:50pm, April 28, 2008 - Chicago

It is FREAKING SNOWING!

Will this winter never end???????????????????

Yarn Harlot

By now most of you know that the Yarn Harlot had terrible travel problems and did NOT make it to the book signing.

I left home at 4pm to drive the hour twenty drive down to the south side and on the way called Nana's Knitting to see if they needed my extra ticket.  She told me that Stephanie was running late and probably wouldn't be there until 8pm.  This was not necessarily unwelcome news as I knew that Claire probably needed the extra travel time.

I had time to kill when I got there and went to target and purchased some cute new brown flip flops, and a badly needed car charger for my iPhone.

We got to the hotel and got in line and found seats near the front and near an outlet, so I was able to charge my dead phone.....and the phone was almost charged by the time Trish from Nana's knitting got up on stage and told us that Stephanie wasn't coming.

I think that there is no other crowd like a knitting crowd.  I have been at concerts where the band hasn't shown up...and frankly, it is not a good scene....actually pretty scary. 

But this crowd of knitters either got up and left....or stayed and knitted together!  There was no collective groan at the news.  More, it was a collective sigh for Stephanie that she had to spend her day in an airport frantically trying to not let the weather get the better of her.

Sorry, Steph, but those of us from Chicago know that the weather or O'Hare (or O'hell as she calls it) will often eff you up.  Also most of us had driven to the event and the weather was really getting nasty.  My drive home wasn't the worst storm I have driven through.....but it ranks in the top 10.  Any time the windshield wipers can't keep up is a bad thing.

I wanted to go out after, but realized that the next day was going to be hell on wheels, so like a good mommy, I went home.

Saturday morning dawned to temps of 36 degrees (down from the 78 reading I had on Friday afternoon) and thankfully, John decided it was too cold to go golfing.  So, the two soccer games, two soccer picture appointments, one baseball game, one first communion luncheon, and one birthday party were not done by me alone.  YAY!  I also managed to squeeze in 2 hours working on a PTA thing, dinner with the inlaws who took the kids home with them, then John and I went out to the bar and watched a band lead my Mark Zeus (who used to be with Blood, Sweat, and Tears).  It was fun...and thankfully, John wanted to go home relatively early (midnight).

I slept in until 10am which is unheard of in these parts and really haven't done anything productive today.  Kind of a nice day, all in all.

I heard from another mom, that my son apparently asked a girl to Friday night skate.  He says he didn't, but it cracks me up that he might have done that. 

Apparently 4th graders don't really think logistics through.....how is he going to get her to the rink without a parent to drive him?  My husband did take him to Friday night skate, but he said there wasn't any girl near my son and that the boys were all skating in a pack behind the pack of girls.  Too funny!  It cracks me up how the moms are completely freaking out and there is conversation among the girls how to turn the boys down.

Not too much knitting going on....hopefully this week will hold more knitting time.

Sorry and a mini rant

Sorry my posting has been so infrequent of late.  It seems like once again, life gets in the way, and frankly, I'd rather knit than post.

Our knitting group has doubled in size.  This is great and awesome and I really like all of the new people.  It has brought on an unwanted problem.....there are too many people to keep up with all of the conversations.....I wish I could multitask conversations....cause I know I am missing something juicy on the other side of the room.

Mini rant ahead.

I have always taken great care to not post any identifying information or pictures of my family on the internet......so I get an e-mail today from my daughters spring soccer coach with a link to the team blog.  The team blog is a new thing which the new coach has put together.

Here is the thing.  He posted her FULL name along with our phone number and our e-mail addresses.  He also has the name of the organization which runs the soccer program, and identifying information as to location of the practices.

ARGHHHH!!!!!!!

I have a call into him to ask him to remove her name and our information from the blog.  It is a public blog, so anyone can stumble across it.  I spoke with my husband and the mother of one of my daughter's friends and both of them completely got my point without even going any further than the fact that her name was posted.  My husband about flipped when he found out our phone number was posted.

I get the fact that he wants a place to post information so that everyone can find it easily, I just can't stand the fact that he didn't understand that anyone else can find it just as easily and that he didn't think it was important enough to ask the parents.