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Saturday, July 25, 2009

The light at the end of the tunnel

I'm finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Boo has a doctor appointment this Thursday which will confirm his medical condition and open up the Service for the Blind to assist us. To get his cane and magnifiers to qualify him for disability all those things.

We've been looking at places to live to see how much we need to have in hand before we can move out of my parent's house. I can't wait. I know we're in their way, sharing the kitchen the laundry room and the parking spots in the driveway. All that is a big pain.

When we move the first thing I'm going to do is fill up the entire fridge and cook something that takes a lot of pots and pans and all day in the oven.

Maybe I'll do it all nekkid :P

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Update

hmm where to start. I haven't had enough time, a good internet connection, the stillness to think of what to say, the inclination to share, or perhaps a combination of all four to post anything lately.

A lot has been going on though.

We've all moved in with my parents. I'm glad they could help us out but it's a little annoying for everyone involved. We don't like the kinda foods they eat, they don't like what we eat, so we're sharing the kitchen, the fridge and the stove and sometimes that's a challenge with two families.

Showers and washing clothes are another problem. I'm always concerned that we're using all the hot water. It's had it's hiccups but I think we're functioning pretty well now. Hopefully we won't be here much longer though.

Why did we move in with them? Well, Boo was the sole source of income for our family. We did all right with just his paycheck and I was a stay at home mom. When his medical problems began to act up, more about that later, he got fired. He can't get unemployment checks because the unemployment office says he's disabled. I can't find a job, I've had several interviews but never made it past the "short list" so we're here til I get a job and we save some money.

As for his medical issues, he's had high blood pressure for awhile now and it finally caused him to have a mini stroke on the 18th of March. It caused no permanent brain damage but he had unexplained shortness of breath and dizziness so the doctor told him he couldn't go back to work. Also as the diabetes went unmediated the diabetic retinapahy got worse and now we're to the point that he can barely see at all.

We've been meeting with people from the Services for the Blind and we hope to have an eye exam to see exactly how bad his eyes are this coming week. After that the SFB will be able to help him learn to get around, use a cane and things like that. He's been dealing with the vision loss very well. I'm not sure how I'd take it if it were me. Sam and I are learning to announce when we're entering or leaving the room he's in, warn him of step ups and downs while out and about and help him in general.

I'm learning to read braille. He said he wasn't interested in learning it. Apparently since so many things can be done with audio these days many blind people don't learn braille but I was curious so I set out to learn. It's really not as hard as it looks. Using a thick piece of paper and the stylus from Bam's DS I made some bumps and let him read them. He figured out what it said in no time! I need to get the proper tools to make braille though it's a little hard on the fingers to do it that way.

Hmm that's all I can think of to update you on right now. We're hanging in there. There's a lot to be unhappy about but we're trying to keep a positive attitude and meet each challenge as it comes. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have, so ask away.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The Bzz on Soleil Bella Razors

The BIC Soleil Razor has 4 blades and a soothing strip enriched with coconut milk to create a wonderful,smooth shaving experience. the handle fits nicely into your hand too. It even has a pivoting head to get around all those curves.

Monday, April 13, 2009

The Bzz on Nature's Source



I received these four bottles as part of a Bzz Campaign. I love them. Everyone knows I care about environmental things and these cleaners are made with 99+% natural ingredients. And since their made without ammonia or bleach they don't have that choking effect on you that some bathroom cleaners have. I hate that, by the way. This bathroom cleaner has a very pleasant smell but it still get's the job done. They're made by the same people that make Windex and Scrubbing Bubbles after all.

The glass cleaner is made using a corn based ethanol in addition to the derivatives of coconut and palm kernel oil that are in all the products. The bathroom cleaner has lactic acid to fight hard water stains and the toilet cleaner using both lactic acid and xantham gum to remove stains.

In fact, SC Johnson has been focused on environmental thinking and green chemistry since before it was the "IN" thing to do. They introduced a water based aerosol in 1955 and voluntarily emitted CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) propellants from their aerosols in 1975.

The bottom line is that I really like these products, they're easy on the environment and the person using them, yet they work really well. You can find them at Target and other mass retailers as well as grocery and drug stores.

You can visit the products web page at Naturesourcecleaners.com

Sunday, March 22, 2009

My week. Both long and descriptive.

Alright, rather than tell this story over and over I decided to just blog the damn thing. This has been one hell of a week.

It began Friday March 13th.

Go figure.

John left the car's lights on. The battery ran outta juice. He has an emergency jumper box thingumabob so he tried that on Saturday morning. It didn't work. He had another battery, he hooked it to the charge box thingumabob and it wouldn't hold a charge either. Sunday, he finally called AAA. They sent some one out to give it a boost. The car wouldn't stay on. After switching batteries again and two more tries the battery finally held a charge and the car stayed in the on position.

The following Tuesday, while I was cleaning the tub, I tried to turn the hot water off and the handle came off in my hand. Water spurted everywhere and anyone who knows me knows how I feel about being wet. Argh! I ran to turn off the main water control for the house. Luckily I knew where it was. When John came home he started working to see if he could patch it til we could get a replacement part on the weekend.

While he was working on that I ran to the grocery store to pick up something I'd forgotten that we needed for dinner that night. I noticed that the car would wobble if I drove faster or slower than 40 mph. Great we have a bad tire. Lovely. Since finances are a bit tight at this time we had to wait til the weekend to get a new tire.

Now, Wednesday. John drove the car to work. I was worried about the tire but I also knew that he had AAA so if it popped he could call them. He emailed to let me know he'd arrived safely at work so I relaxed. Later that afternoon he emailed to tell me he was coming home an hour early because he "didn't feel good".

When he arrived home (it's an hour drive one way) he was having trouble balancing, and couldn't remember what he was trying to say. He complained that it his head hurt a lot. He went to bed. I woke him when dinner was ready and though he seemed to be walking and speaking better he still seemed off.

Thursday morning he woke up feeling much the same and called into to work to tell them he wouldn't be there. He went back to bed.

He had an eye appointment on Thursday afternoon for complications from his retinopathy so later that afternoon he went online to look for a general practice doctor near the eye doctor so he could visit after his appointment. He had no luck. He was getting nervous about what how he felt so we decided to visit the urgent care center in his eye doctor's building after his appointment.

Now, I had planned to drive him to said appointment but with the car tire problem I was extremely nervous to do it. I had also planned that Sam would let herself into the house after school and we'd be home a few minutes after. Trouble was, she had left without her door key and with the visit to urgent care, who knew what time we'd be home. I finally ended up calling my mom and asking her to get Sam after school and watch her and let me borrow her car to drive to the appointments.

Oh, did I mention that I was so worried and stressed out that I'd only eaten a few bites of dinner Wednesday and nothing since?

We went to the eye doctor. We went to urgent care. They suspected that he'd had a mini stroke on Wednesday and with his history of Deep vein thrombosis they wanted him in the ER and checked out. They called an ambulance and we were whisked across the street to the ER. *rolls eyes*

In the ER, or as they call it at Presby, the ED they took his vital signs, asked about his drug use, if he was abused at home or suicidal and sent us out to the waiting room.

Where we sat. Starving and worried until 8 PM.

Did you know that the smallest bill an ATM in the hospital will give is a 10? Did you also know that the largest bill a vending machine in the hospital will take is a 5? Are you further aware that people make HUGE amounts of noise rustling their chip packets while you're starving and no one has change for a 10?

But, back to the story. At 8, hungry, and fed up we left and came home.

Friday morning, John got up and went to work, sick and on a wobbly tire. I was a nervous wreak. After an hour he sent an email saying he was coming home. I continued to be a nervous wreak. An hour later he was home and seemed to feel much better. He had had a long talk with is boss, explaining the situation to him and his boss had sent him home. this relieved a lot of the 'oh am I going to lose my job' stress he was under.

We found a Doctor who was part of the Presby system, was relatively close and could see him on Friday, made an appointment and left to get the tire fixed. we wobbled to the tire repair place and that had a huge line that we didn't have time to wait in. We went to another tire place and they also had a line. Apparently Friday is repair your tires day. At a 3rd stop they were out of tires in our size.

Running out of time before the Dr appointment we went home and moved one of the back tires to the front and put the spare on the back. I'm glad I know how to change a tire, because it would have taken twice as long and John would have been straining too much if he did it all himself.

We checked the kid out of school early, swung through Wendy's drive through, because you guessed it, I hadn't eaten in a long while and drove to the new Dr's office.

Well not exactly, when we arrived, late, we discovered we were actually at the wrong place, but since they're affiliated and had an empty slot they saw us anyway.

Sam and I sat in the waiting room for 2 hours while they examined him. When he finally came out he said he had to go to the hospital to have some tests done. Flashing back to Thursday night's hours long wait we drove over to the hospital. (Thursday night we were at Presby main in Charlotte, Friday we were at Presby Huntersville) They were ready for him, we filled out some paperwork and they gave him an ultra sound of the arteries in his neck. He also needed an MRI but that wasn't scheduled until 9 PM so we left. I came home, packed a bag for the sprout and took her over to her biological dad's house, we grabbed some dinner, made a few phone calls, and headed back to Huntersville.

We were told to go to the ED when we came back as the front offices would be closed for the night and again I flashed back on the Thursday night ED visit from hell. Huntersville's ED was miles different. They had art on the walls, big windows that showed views of the actual outside, rather than the brick walls at Presby main and bright open spaces. We only had to wait a little while before being moved back to a radiology waiting room where we watched 'Failure to Launch' until they were ready for him. A half hour later we were on our way home.

Saturday morning, his new Dr. Dr Phillips called to say that he had in fact suffered a mini stroke. The ultrasound and MRI showed no permanent damage but she was still concerned as after suffering from a stroke you're 9 times more likely to have another and the next one could be bigger.

So that's where we are now. He has an appointment Monday morning with employ heath to evaluate his ability to go back to work and then we go see Dr. Phillips again. Right now he feels better, and we're both much less stressed. I'll post again or update this post Monday afternoon with the latest.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Rooster




There is a rooster in my neighborhood. I don't have any idea where he lives but he wanders the whole neighborhood.

One day a few weeks ago, I was outside and heard a really strange noise. I looked up to see the rooster on my roof. That was our introduction.

Since then he's been in our yard several times. He can be heard crowing at all hours of the day and night, but apparently he's camera shy because he wouldn't crow as long as the camera was rolling.

A few days ago I noticed him outside the kitchen window while I was cooking. I threw a handful of birdseed out at him. I figured he'd like it, it's safflowers and corn pieces. He ate it up, and now he's back there every evening waiting.

Sam says his name is Bob.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

My two favorite words . . .

First, if you haven't already, you might want to read this.

Now my two favorite words are . . . Acid and reflux!

If you read that link up there you'll know i never gave another report on Boo's health. Shortly after he came home his insurance expired and he stopped going to the doctor and taking his prescribed meds.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. Boo moved from being a contractor at his job to being a full time employ. This granted him access to the gym in the building and he started using it. At first he was just walking on the treadmill and using the stationery bike.

After a week or two he decided to start using the weight equipment. As he strained a little harder he noticed that he vision was becoming blurry. By Wednesday of that week he had large spot of black in his vision from his right eye.

He called his eye doctor who referred him to a specialist and made an appointment for Tuesday of this past week. When the doctor examined him he discovered that Boo had Diabetic retinopathy. Long story short, blood vessels in his eye were bleeding and obscuring his vision.

The doctor did laser surgery in his office that day to cauterize the blood vessels and stop them bleeding. This gave Boo a bruise under his eye. We'll come back to that in a bit.

The next day Boo bopped off to work as usual. Then he called me at 3 in the afternoon telling me he was having chest pains and his boss was going to drive him to the hospital.

Imagine. All that crap from last year came pounding back!

When i got to the hospital he was still int he emergency room. They were drawing blood and such and sent him out to the waiting area to wait. He seemed relatively fine so I left to go fetch our car (which was in another state, btw) when i returned they had put him in a room for overnight observation. By that time it was 9 o'clock at night and I had the sprout with me and had to get her home and to bed for school the next day.

As soon as she was off to school the next day i was back on my way to the hospital. We sat down there all day waiting, they gave him a stress test, they ran tests, the check vital signs on the hour. It was horrible!

At around 2 pm the doctor finally came in and said those two magic words. The chest pain was acid reflux!

yes he still has the diabetes to deal with, the hypertension and he eyesight problems, but he's not balanced on the edge of a heart attack. I didn't realize how worried I was until i heard those two words and all the worry dropped away.

ahhhhhhhhhhh

I'm so glad he's home :)

Oh and that bruise under his eye? They asked him if he felt safe to go home with me. As if i gave him a black eye. *rolls eyes*

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Part five of my personality profile

What am I talking about? Go here.

The last part: Extraversion you are: SOMETIMES OUTGOING, SOMETIMES RESERVED

Words that describe you: Moderate, Amiable, Laid-back, Temperate, Relaxed, Poised, Civil, Uncommitted, Pleasant

A General Description of How You Interact with Others

Lucky you! You enjoy your own company as much as you enjoy the company of others. You are a great conversationalist and thrive in the wonderful kinds of connections you know how to have with your family and friends. You also equally enjoy your own company, whether sitting in a favorite chair with your book and soft music playing or meandering in the woods by yourself. You like coming home to your family or your roommate; but if no one is home, you find quiet, solitary time to be just as pleasurable. What a great combination to enjoy being outgoing and to be just as comfortable being reserved. Lucky you!!

Because you are so amiable and relaxed, you are comfortable with almost any group of family or friends. Whether they are pumped up and lively or calm and subdued, you remain at ease. If someone needs to take over the conversation, you are comfortable taking the lead; you can also lay back and let someone else be in charge. If the conversation gets rowdy, your moderate demeanor will often draw it down to a more temperate level. If someone in the group loses their cool, you will most likely maintain your poise, and if they get nasty you know how to keep a civil tongue.

You may find yourself out of balance on occasion. If you're alone too much, you may need to get in touch with someone. If you spend too much time with your family and friends, you may need to sneak off for a day by yourself, to putter and read and clear your head of the noise of too much conversation. When you're at your best, you live with a rhythm of time with others, time alone, time with others, time alone It's a satisfying, comfortable balance. Lucky you!


I absolutely enjoy my own company. I have absolutely no problem with being by myself for hours everyday. I adore my family and I love it when they're home (most of the time) but I relish that alone time. I'm not fully myself if I don't get that time to recharge my batteries.

I like to think I'm almost impossible to offend. Yes I do get aggravated at times or angry at dumbassedness, but to truly piss me off takes some work. (Funnily enough Boo and The Sprout seems to know how to do it at will. LOL)

Later

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Happy Birthday to Mom

Happy Birthday Momma!

Lurve you!!

See I'm not even mentioning your age. *nods*

Monday, February 2, 2009

Part four of my personality profile

What am I talking about? Go here.


Today, How I approach obligations.

Your approach toward your obligations is: FLEXIBLE

Words that describe you: Spontaneous, Intuitive, Perceptive, Natural, Somewhat Disorganized, Unpredictable At Times

A General Description of How You Interact with Others

When there's a job to be done, like most people you want to know what the goal is and when it's to be completed. For you, that's a start. Next you want to know what the plan is to get to the goal. So you lay out a plan, or at least the major points of a plan: "Organize the kitchen sometime this spring" or "Get the project at work done as soon as possible." You don't need an in-depth specification of every little detail; in fact you prefer not to work that way. You lay out your goals, develop a general plan, and then you get things done.

You believe in intuition as well as organization. As such, you trust impulses as much as strategies and you value spontaneity as much as you do efficiency. In a word, you like to keep it flexible. When you set out to accomplish a task, you prefer to have some room to maneuver. Like an artist, you find that the best way to reach a goal is not always in a straight line. Some of the most productive times for you are the unplanned moments of inspiration and creativity that just come to you. While you do keep to a general plan, those times of pure vision and originality are what really drive you.

Some of the people who rely completely on an organized approach to getting things done may be surprised at your efficiency. But there is a definite method to your approach. With a creative flair that others may not have anticipated, the original plan gets met and there are often a few extra accomplishments along the way. Your comfort zone starts with a task and a plan but it also requires the freedom to be able to go with your instincts and impulses so that you can not just accomplish the task, you also have the option to explore something brand new along the way.


I think I'm very wrapped up in Intuition. I depend heavily on my instincts and feelings about situations. I covered that in a previous entry, I believe.

I'm all about getting where I'm going by whichever path works at the time. That applies to almost everything I do. I like to plan, I like to be packed for a trip at least a week in advance. I drive Boo nuts demanding to know exactly what time we're leaving for where ever. But Which road we take to get there, how often we stop along the way? Don't care. Driving to TN to visit his mom and seeing an interested road side attraction? Let's stop! I'm very free flowing when the project or activity gets started. I'm very in need a plan going in though :P

I realize that probably didn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense. But that's me too. You see it says Unorganized up there :P

Friday, January 30, 2009

Part three of my personality profile

What am I talking about? Go here.

Today we discus my emotional stability. Har har

On Emotional Stability you are: VERY RESPONSIVE

Words that describe you: Emotional, Insightful, Perceptive, Sensitive, Self-conscious

A General Description of Your Reactivity

Each one of us encounters some hard times; we get caught off guard, or feel a sudden swell of emotion, whether from fear, joy, anger or sadness. Life is just like this sometimes. You know that because you are an emotional person. Some people go to great lengths to keep their emotions under wraps, to keep a stiff upper lip, to not let others know what emotions they are feeling. But that is not you. You embrace all of life's emotions, both the joys and the turmoil that life brings our way.

When you're having fun with a group of friends you don't even try to contain your pleasure; you laugh hard and feel every moment of the conversation because of the joy that comes from the experience. You make very intense friendships; ones where all of the depth of emotions that you feel can be shared. Emotions are such an essential part of your everyday life. You may cry at intense movies or when watching a sad story on the evening news. You get angry, at others or at yourself, and you do not stifle it. Emotions drive your personality and your relationships - you simply are what you feel.

You experience both the highs and the lows more profoundly than most. And you usually relish the intensity of your emotions. For sure you enjoy the positive times. There are those times, though, when your feelings get the best of you and you wonder how you will manage the moment. But because you are so in tune with all of your emotions you will experience something very pleasant and will be able to engage with that positive feeling to again enjoy the wonderful intensity that life brings you


I am a tempestuous storm of emotion :P I wasn't always this emotional. I think I had locked a great portion of myself away. I DID NOT cry in front of people, I didn't show many emotions at all really. When Boo and I began our relationship he began jack hammering through that wall I'd placed around myself.

While that means that I now cry at sad movies and sob when I'm angry, it also means I feel all the joy that life can bring. I feel like a very different person emotionally. :)

I am extremely in touch with my instincts and am perceptive. I think nature gave us those abilities to survive and I can't fathom how people can be so out of touch with themselves.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Part two of my personality profile

What am I talking about? Go here.



Today we have my openness.



On the Openness Dimension you are: CURIOUS

Words that describe you: Original, Inventive, Thinker, Brave, Eccentric, Avant-Garde, Unique

A General Description of How You Approach New Information and Experiences

You think like an artist. Or better, you SEE like an artist. While most people look at life's straight lines, its height and depth and width, you're bending the lines with your imagination and turning black and white into shades of blue and yellow. And in conversations at work or with your friends you want to ask, "Do you see what I see?" A few might, most don't, but you've piqued everyone's curiosity with your own original and inventive ways of thinking.

You can, if you must, think in conventional ways. But left on your own, you'll usually opt for the eccentric or avant-garde; in fact you're usually bored with what everyone else is comfortable with. You learn from reading, talking, watching people and other fauna and flora, and simply sitting in the soft chair of your mind and wondering how people would learn how to count if they could only use uneven numbers. You are out in front of conventional ideas, bravely originally defining true and false, right and wrong, the good, the bad and the ugly.


See told you I was eccentric. :P This is pretty much 'nail on the head' right here. Hell, it even knows that I say "See what I mean?" rather than "Know what I mean?"

As far as the inventive way of thinking goes, I'll attach a scanned image for your perusal.

A math problem. 12 X 150

scan0002

This is just an example but that's how I'd figure it out. I've shown the sprout this method and while I think she understands it, she doesn't use it on her own.

*shrugs* makes perfect simple sense to me :P

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Part one of my personality profile

What am I talking about? Go here.

I figured I'd share the profile with you in pieces.

Here's the bit on how I interact with others.

You are best described as: USUALLY TAKING CARE OF OTHERS

Words that describe you: Understanding, Unquestioning, Humane, Selfless, Gentle, Kindhearted

A General Description of How You Interact with Others

Here's one important truth about you: you have a tender heart. Yes, you know that others need to learn to take care of themselves. Yes, you know they need to accept the consequences of their foolish or bad behavior. And sometimes, even when your instinct is to help them, you will let them fend for themselves and let them suffer the consequences of their choices or circumstances.

But most of the time you are there to help when they need you. If they are in trouble, you offer compassion and go out of your way to be helpful. If they need someone who will listen, you are trustworthy and sympathetic. And you are direct with them; when they need advice or counsel, you offer it in a straightforward, direct manner, without beating around the bush.

You're also smart enough to know that you cannot take good care of others if you fail to take good care of yourself, so you listen to your own wants and needs. If you've run out of sympathetic energy, you spend time restoring yourself. If you've ignored your own pain or frustration, you find a friend who will listen well, or go into your own private healing place and give yourself permission to focus on you.

But before long, you're back at it with your friends, offering a sympathetic ear and compassion on which they learn to trust, also giving straightforward advice and counsel when they ask for it. You do know how to take care of yourself, but your genuine interest is in taking care of others.


That's pretty much me. I love taking care of others, I go into a private healing place when I have an issue. I am insanely focused on fairness. I always try to make sure things are fair. I have zero tolerance for selfishness.

I dunno about the unquestioning bit. LOL anyone who knows me knows I ask a ton of questions and rarely take things at face value.

More tomorrow.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

My personality profile

I'm not sure if you've seen those eHarmony commercials. They only air once every 5 seconds after all. I saw one a few weeks ago in which the person was talking about how well eHarmony pegged their profile. The commercial also said something about a free personality profile, so I was inspired to go see how well it did with mine.

They ask a TON of questions, everything from "Are you shy?" to "Does it matter what religion a future partner might be?" I tried to answer honestly as if I were actually filling out a profile. Surprise surprise the synopsis did pretty well on describing me.

It did so well, actually, that Boo decided to go and give it a shot. It didn't do as well with him, but it still got more than half of the things right on.

I didn't know at the time that taking the test would automatically sign me up for the free portion of their service, but it did and I began receiving "matches". The smoofy thing? Boo came up as one of my matches after he'd filled out his personality profile.

LOL

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

View from my window - Inauguration Day 2009

I've decided I'm going to start posting pictures of the view from my window. What I see when I'm sitting at my desk. I thought it might be interesting to see how things change over the seasons. There are a few trees, a fence topped with Japanese Honeysuckle and Morning Glorys, and a pile of old tires in my neighbor's back yard to watch.

And what better time to start tracking change than Inauguration Day January 20Th, 2009.

It's snowing!

DSC02828

Friday, January 16, 2009

What's the deal with Walmart?

I used to shop at Walmart, basically because of convenience. Then I stopped. I didn't walk through the doors of a Walmart for 4 years. Then this past holiday season we got umpteen Walmart gift cards so I decided to go spend them.

I don't understand what the big deal with Walmart is. Yes, some prices were cheaper, but not enough to put up with hordes of screaming kids, (some running around completely unsupervised) rude employs, and loooong lines.

Really, I seriously had a headache when I walked out of the store. It's crazy! There are what? 40 Cash register lanes. Only 3 were open on a Friday evening. Not only were the employs rude in general, but the one pushing around a giant trash can through the store actually bumped into me and kept going without a word.

I know there are lines at lots of places, and I know that employs have bad days and aren't as friendly as they're supposed to be at lots of places. I also know that's it's not the store's fault if parents aren't parenting their children. But Damn. All those things together and it's just not worth it.

I guess we'll be spending the rest of these gift cards online.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Happy Birthday Boo!

Today is Boo's birthday!

The love of my life, dunno what I'd do without him.

Happy Birthday!

Friday, January 9, 2009

Speaking of DPNs

DSC02789

Poor things are a bit warped after three pairs of socks in a short amount of time.

DSC02790

This one reached it's breaking point!

Luckily I knit socks on four needles and this is but one of the five needle set. *whew*

Thursday, January 8, 2009

A hat for Grandma part 2

The first part is here

DSC02784

Here the bank has been knit all the way to 19.5 inches and then the ends have been grafted together. I know I promised a pic of that part, but I forgot, sorry.

Here is the grafted seam. It's still visable, but not as much as it would have been if I'd used a three needle bind off I think,

DSC02785

Yes, that's my desk. yes I was knitting and reading guildchat while waiting for a spawn in WoW. What's your point?

Here I've picked up 60 stiches along the edge to start making the rest of the hat. I can't stand picking up stitches.

DSC02786

And yes those are double point needles instead of circulars. I don't like circulars at all! All that scooching of the work around the cord to the other needle. Who has time for that madness. I much prefer bamboo DPNs because they're not as slippery as the metal ones but metal is the only material I had in the correct size. It'll do.

And here is the finished product. It's looks a bit like an acron, no? Perhaps that's why our lovely model is coping a bit of an attitude.

DSC02788

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

A hat for Grandma

Yes I did finish The Sprout's socks. I'll post about them with a picture soon.

Right now I'm working on a hate for my grandmother.

DSC02781

That looks like a hat, right? lol, I know it looks more like a scarf but it's a hat, promise. It's Ardelle by Ellen Bartz and I lurve it!

That red yarn at the end will come out. It's there to hold those stitches until I knit a long enough band to go around the head. Then those red stitches will be unraveled to allow the band to have a, um, seamless seam. I'll show ya when i get there.

I adore cables. They look so complicated and involved but really they're not at all. I'm a little nervous about picking up the stitches around the cabled band to make the crown of the hat. Picking up stitches is not one of my strengthes. But I'm a fearless knitter and I'll try anything once :P

More pics incoming as I work on it.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

The Bzz on CoverGirl Outlast Lipstain

Bzzz

I'm not a big fan of lipstick. It always feels so caky and thick and dry on my lips. When I was asked to test this lipstain I was a bit hesitant. Bu then I read that it's a stain, not a lip stick. According to the info included in my package the water based color instantly infuses into the top layer of your lips rather than coating them. This means it stays on longer and once it's dry, which takes seconds, you can't feel it at all!

Oh did I mention that it has a marker tip. That's great for women like me who aren't that skilled with the whole makeup application thing :P

CoverGirl Lipstain should be on shelves now, Target will carry it I've heard. It comes in 10 colors from Everbloom Kiss to Flirty Nude and Plum Pout.

I really like it, and from someone that generally hates products on her lips, that's saying something!

I have 10 coupons for $1.00 off any CoverGirl lip product to give away. They don't expire til March 31st 2009. If you'd like one be one of the first ten to leave a comment with your email address.

Monday, January 5, 2009

I'm a Bzz Agent

Bzzz

I'm a Bzz Agent. You can become one too at http://www.bzzagent.com/

When you're an agent companies send you things to try out and share you're opinion of. A few weeks ago it was Smucker's Uncrustables. They sent a box of uncrustables, and a lunchbox uncrustables keeper and asked me to try them. All they want in return is that I share my honest opinion of the product. They even send along some coupons to give to friends.

I told you all that to tell you this. I'm going to start using this blog to share the Bzz on things I'm testing. I'll share the coupons too. :)

Friday, January 2, 2009

Collard Greens=Fail

I said yesterday that I'd blog about my collard green experiment. Let's just say it wasn't meant to be.

I started them too late because I didn't know how long they'd take to cook until too late.

The pictures I took to share here are all out of focus. I think something is wonky on that camera. I really need to check into and fix that.

And they didn't taste very good. We ate them, but they were a little bitter. Maybe I didn't cook them long enough.

I'll try again one day.

Maybe.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy 2009!

Happy new Year! Make sure to eat your black eyed peas and collard greens. This will be my first year trying to cook the greens so I may blog about my experience soon.