That I had stopped spending time reading Knitting blogs. I spent some time today catching up and realized how much I had missed reading about knitting.

My knitting is boring right now, to readers, I am sure, and sometimes to me. I am a very orderly person so I must work on my projects in order. I find I don’t do well when I switch back and forth between them.

To make a long story short, I will live vicariously through the work of other knitters until my boring work clears up.

I shouldn’t sound so peevish. Dh will love his slippers and I will love that he does and I made them, so I should shut up about the boring stuff.

Though I will get back to you once I’m under way on the nine remaining puppy puppets. Oy. That will probably be boring. Thank goodness it’s fast.

Dh and I watched The Terminal last night. We both really liked it. I think we were both a bit bleh on the ending, but the movie was good overall.

We have decided to cancel Netflix. Between the On Demand stuff, the eight gazillion HBO’s and the fact tht Blockbuster is being nicer to late returners like us, we can no longer justify then $20/month. We figured that the couple of dollars at the library or the occasional pay per view still won’t come out to $20.

Or at least we hope.
It’s nearly time to tuck peanuttie into bed….we have to clean up her room tonight since the cleaning service comes Tuesday…

when it rains it pours kind of week.

Keep in mind that right now we’re supposed to be in Sunny Florida. In MI it’s 28. In Orlando it’s 70.

Le sigh. That sucks.

I spent two hours reconciling our checkbook on Thursday. Everything was PERFECT everything matched up. We were in good shape, etc.

Friday Eric finds out that he’s probably going to have to work all weekend. I ask to go out for dinner since we’ll be stuck at home. He agrees. We have dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s and pay cash (thank GAWD) and go to Meijer to pick up a couple of things we need-cat food, rock salt (which we wouldn’t need if we were in FL!), a couple of things.

Get to the checkout.

Bank card doesn’t work.

try it again.

Doesn’t work.

Try it as a credit card.

Still doesnt’ work.

Use another card.

Come home, hurry into the house to check the bank balance to find out what the heck is going on.

Paycheck from Eric’s company has bounced leaving us over 1200.00 overdrawn.

Yeah. That’s fun.

Sigh.

Eric’s convinced we’ll find this funny at some point, but I find that unlikely since I never find financial things funny. We’ve been broke in the past. I still don’t think they’re funny.

Oh. And we’ve already paid $60 in NSF fees. Hooray!

I know this will be fixed on Monday, but I’m so worried about something happening this weekend and that we’ll need money and not have any.

Add to that the fact that I had hoped to find something for Emily and I to do since he had to work.

Le sigh.

And people wonder why I’m always stressed out! It’s because stuff like this ALWAYS HAPPENS!

IN knititng news, I’m halfway through the heel flap on Eric’s first fuzzy feet. I won’t finish them this week. MY drive to do anything has stalled out.

So, last night as ERic and I were fixing to sit down to watch Eternal Sunshine of the SPotless Mind, I pulled out my sassy sock. THat long suffering sassy sock longing to be reuinted with its mate?

Yup, that one.

I pulled out my sock and tut tutted over some dropped stitches (my needles broke which is the reason that sassy was set aside) and Eric started eyeballing me.

“What about my SLIPPERS??!!”, he demanded.

“Well”, I said, “I’m nearly half way through with this sock and I could have it done in a matter of a few days and….”

“No, godammit! I want my slippers! YOU PROMISED SLIPPERS!”

And, since he was right, I set aside my sassy sock and picked up his pukey( Not really true) green yarn and cost on for his DAMN SLIPPERS!

I have added 8 more stitches to the sock overall and will knit his cuff at 5 inches instead of 3. While mine fit me great, Eric is a foot taller than me and his feet are nearly twice as long and I want to make sure he gets a good fit because I said I was never going to knit him sock because his FEET are too BIG!

I am nearly to the bottom of the first cuff as of today. Fuzzy feet knit up so quickly and they feel so good and snuggly. HOpefully I can bust through them this week and finish sassy up next week so I can get to work on thost Valentine’s Day puppers.

Yeah, I’ve been watching I Love the 90’s part deux and feeling like I’m back in high schoo. SO WHAT? Add to that the 90’s channel on the XM and it’s been 90’s City around here this month so far.

I’m spending some time loading my old blogger posts into my blog here. I found the file when I was cleaning up my computer (three gig worth) and decided that there was no time like the present to do a little house cleaning.

I managed to finish uploading December 2003. I’ll just pick away at it. It’s not that fun.

I will probably upload my old reading blogs over to here too and then be done with blogger. I do have a reading blog operational here, I just haven’t started using it yet.

No knitting. Sorry. I do have projects to take pictures of and share, but the batteries are dead on the digi. and I haven’t bought anymore to put in it yet.

But I’ve been scrapbooking though. 26 pages so far this year. I went to a crop on Friday Night and managed to get about 1/4 of my 2004 Christmas album done. After some work this weekend, I’m about five pages away from having my family 2000-2002 album finished up. I’m thrilled about that.

One thing I found when I went to the crop is that I was actually MORE productive with LESS things to choose from. Packing (this was my first crop) was a NIGHTMARE! I took EVERY SHEET of 8.5×11 cardstock I OWNED! I knew there was no way in hell I’d use a quarter of the stack, but you just didn’t KNOW if you’d need it.

I think I got 6 pages done, which is a LOT for me. Including a mini book for one of my pages. It was so great to not worry about my stamps or ribbons or embossing powder or those drawers of misc. embellishments I always dig into to see if I can use.

My bag from the crop is still sitting out on the table. I’ve been scrapbooking there this weeknd. It’s nice because i’m mostly using cardstock and minimal embellishments with occasional trips back to the bedroom for small items.

I love trying new things and pushing some limits on my pages, but it was nice to not do that for a while and just get some work done.

I’d scan them, but there are too many to do that with now. I’ve loaded them into my albums and felt a lot of relief. I’ve felt really behind and with some of the big changes we have planned this year, I REALLY want my albums to be caught up. ;o) MOre on that to follow. :O)

What’s on the agenda for this week:

Today I managed to get nearly the entire house cleaned. I have to call the Maid Brigade back and schedule my next clenaing with them (probably for next week). I need to pick up the bathroom and get to work on the bedrooms. OH and do laundry and change sheets. Being domestic sucks.

Manage to NOT go off my diet on the weeknd. It’s been too easy lately and I’m doing the two steps forward one step back thing. Last week I was off for two days. This week, three. I have to fix that.

And add exercise. I’ve been crappy at that too. Walk away the pounds in the morning, Yoga in the evening.

I’m taking all of my library books back on Tuesday. I’m not interested in them. I’ve got a few new lists from Fiction_L that I might use to get some new things on Tuesday. I need to call and see if I can find out what the story time theme is for this Tuesday since we skipped last week.

I am going to finish my sassy sock. I know I promised Eric his fuzzy feet first, but the sock is half done. Why not just finish it. It would take one evening in front of a movie to have it done, so I’m just going to do it. I found the first sock in my drawer this week and noticed that I really WANTED to wear them.

I finished my one project for sewing already this month, but I think I will try and get to work on a few baby outfits for Em’s dollies. Maybe I’ll get my desk cleaned off early this week. I suspect I will be able to sew through a whole project in an hour or sew( pun intended).

After I talked about measurable goals yesterday I FINALLY finished that dollie sweater that had been lagging since, what, August? September? I was short 1 dpn, but otherwise, it went okay. I’m afraid I didn’t knit up the collar quite long enough as it looks a little doofie, but Emily loves it and she and her dollie wore matching sweaters today.

It was a good thing I finished. It was cold. ;o) But, dollie was snuggled up in my handknit goodness and was happy as a clam. I also let Emily have one of the little baby hats I knit in November.

I’ll post pictures tomorrow of that and my finished sewing project. Emily’s having a slumber party day at school. Both of the nightgowns I made her earlier this year are looking pretty ratty. She wears them literally non-stop. OUt home and elsewhere. Theyr’e stained and the blue one….aka Wendy….alas. When you buy cheap flannel from the discount bin it shows. It was very thin to begin with and now it’s getting holes, thoguh not at seams. Emily will be heartbroken.

ANYHOW, I had material here to make three (!) more nightgowns. However, I was having pattern issues (meaning I lost part of it in the move). We went to Joann’s and found princess flannel. I couldn’t say no. I probably should have as she has three unfinished nighties here.

IN any case, we cut out the patterns today and I sewed them up this evening and she’s already for her pajama party tomorrow. I just have to size the pants and hem them up. Voila. Brand new jammies for her slumber party. :O)

Technique wise, I don’t think I learned much. I was in a hurry to get this project done and have it look passable. The ugly stuff is on the inside (a few places where I was rushing and didn’t catch both sides of my fabric good enough). That is what I want to work on this year, having a (reasonably) pretty inside too.

As far as the knitting goes, no new technique gained there either. I just wanted that project DONE! I probably should care more about the workmanship going into the little things I made, but I was about to throw the parts to that sweater away, so anyway I look at it, it was still a save.

Since I moved over from blogger last year. :o) Yay me! Of course, no one who knows me would be surprised, I always have things to say.

I would like to take a minute and talk about measureable change for the new year. It seems I spend a lot of time making vauge plans about things I’d like to change. I’d like to “get healthy” or “do/be better at X” without ever laying out, measureabley, how I’ll do that.

This year I am trying to make measureable goals. It’t not enough anymore to say I’m going to get healthy. I’m going to do that by exercising four times a weak and following a certain eating requirement. It’s not enough to say I’m going to decrease my Intnernet time, I am limiting it (or working towards) 1 hour a day.

And so that brings me to the things I want to do. Even though my hobies are just that–things I do for fun in my free time–I feel like i need to have some measurable goals for those things as well.

I mean, beyond the idea that I want to read more, become better at my process of knitting (and not letting silly mistakes go unfinished) but to have a goal for myself.

So, here it is:

I want to finish 14 scrapbook pages every week. Two a day (particularly if I am cutting down on my Internet time) is perfectly simple
I want to read at least two books a week–a little more iffy. My interest in reading waxes and wanes.
Finish 1 knitted item a week. I know that I’ll make bigger projects this year and the idea of finishing a difficult item in a week doesn’t make much sense. I just want to keep my momemtun rolling–knitting wise.
Try and sew at least one item every month–again, I want my process (and therefore my FO) to be better and by not letting myself get out of practice constantly, I think I’ll be better at it.

This may be overly ambitious. Who knows. I think it’s all possible.

I want to sew Emily and new nightie for Pajama day at school on Wednesday. That means sorting through my patterns and pulling out my machine. The patterns might get to be iffy. I wonder if Joann’s has patterns on sale this week in case that pattern has gone AWOL.

I also want to finish that silly dollie sweater. That would be a quickie FO.

Emily will be five in a few weeks. That’s not my complaint (though I do wish she’d stay little forever, but I can’t complain because it doesn’t matter). I decided a few weeks ago that she needed a few outfits to finish out school. She had outgrown a few things, we had some things that needed removed from rotation (we all have a habit of wearing our clothes well past when we should) and that a few more outfits into the group would help out a lot.

We bought two outfits at the department store. One didn’t fit. Even though it was her size. That’s okay, things happen. I’ve been browsing Gymboree and tried to place an order last night, Their system has a glitch and this morning their sale is over. I just cannot bring myself to pay ober $150 for three outfits for a four year old.

Just.

Cannot.

Do it.

Wish I could, but I can’t. I know gymboree clothes are made well. I know they have good resale.

No thanks.

Which moves me on to my gripe.

I am looking for other places to buy clothes for Emily. I’m aware that I could go out to the department stores again, but I kind of wanted to buy on-line because it’s easy and accessable.

My daughter is four. She’s not 10 or 12 or 16 or 30. She’s four. She doesn’t need short shorts, mini skirts, crop tops or any of the like. WHatever happened to plain old children’s clothes? WHere did they go? I could go to a “boutique” clothing site and paying $100 for a pair of normal pants and a shirt. I could go to Old Navy (which I do love for adult and baby clothing) and buy t-shirts with saucy sayings on them (that aren’t comprehendable by her and shouldn’t be). Even stores like The Children’s Place seem to be promoting themselves to mini adults.

Where do you go to buy age appropriate clothes? That are reasonably priced. I’m not above spending money on her clothes. I love her and she’s beautiful, so why not, but jeepers. $50 an outfit is my BEST choice.

No thanks.

I should hook up my scanner, since all I have been doing lately is scrapbooking. A net friend is due with a much longed for baby in a few weeks and I decided that , in addtion to buying some goodies for her (well, him, I guess), that she needed a gift album.

Sooooo….I pulled out one of my adorable 4×6 Martha Stewart mini albums and am working on that now. I should be able to get it down quickly. I am using my Self-Addressed papers on the title page and it’s a pretty mix of masculine paisley and linen weave. I’ll have to get the scanner working before it does to its new home.

In other news, I am on day 7 of atkins. I can’t believe I made it so long. Last time I was off in a matter of days, due to reasons within and outside of my control. Eric and I had a long talk about the diet today. He wants me to join him on a diabetic thing, like he was/is doing. I had to explain that 1) 2000 calories a day are WAY too much for me and right now I’m focusing on trying to get off as much as possible because we have finally decided it’s time to have another baby. :O) At this point I’ve lost 5.5 pounds on Atkins. I will stay in induction another week and then start adding a few things into my diet. I MISS fruit and like nuts, so moving on to OWL will be good news for me.

In semi-sad news, we have had to cancel the Disney Vacation we were to take at the end of this month. ERic’s employee quit and left us in the lurch. Happily, we don’t lose the money we already spent on airline tickets , UNhappily, we have to find another trip to take within a year. I am trying to be pragmatic about not going, but it’s kind of hard. I’ve had a stressful year between two moves, Mom’s illness, ERic’s new job and new job and new schedule and the worry over the new job and the adjustments all these upheavals have meant that i was just looking forward to a week of ESCAPE! No cats, no dogs, no house, no sickness and no jobs. As sad as I am about not going to the parks, I think I’m more sad about not getting the escape I was looking forward to. I was hoping for a chance to feel rejuvinated and, for now, that chance has passed.

My resolutions did not go well last week. I was on the computer too much, Emily watched too much t.v. and I did not exercise four times last week, all three of which were my goals. ON the other hand, I did stick to my diet, take my vitamins AND drink more water, so maybe it’s a wash.

Wound the yarn for Eric’s fuzzy feet today. Mom loved hers.

First off, I finished my first book of the year yesterday. You can read about it at my 2005 2005 Reading Blog . Only 99 more books to read before 12/31/05.

Second, my first knitting project of the year is completed. :O)

I finished foot one before the New Year and foot two after. I felted them yesterday morning and they’re drying on the hearth as we speak (not too close! Don’t want to melt them).

My mom is back in the hospital today. Seems Herman the Hematoma may actually be her tumor regrowing. HEr surgeon decided to waste no time and she goes into surgery in about an hour and a half. She’ll be home tomorrow.

I can’t believe that we’re dealing with this damn thing again. :o( My Dad named the tumor “He Who Must Not Be Name” and like it’s namesake, it’s frggin’ hard to get rid of.

Anyhow, these slippers are a belated Christmast gift, but hopefully will be a nice pick me up for Mom tomorrow. They’re a cheerful color, dont’ you think?

Now, onto Eric’s fuzzy feet, I guess. I have to knit for 11 inches of feet. I’m thinking that may take a while.

Also, my Designing with 2005 showed up today and I can’t wait ot jump in. I’m going to clean up the bedroom some more so I can squeeze in Emily’s little table and we can go to town and be creative tonight.

Yes, I know that Christmas was a week ago and that the New Year holiday has passed too. However, I’m about .25 inches from my toe decreases on my mom’s fuzzy feet. I’ll post pre and pot felting pictures tomorrow hopefully. It shouldn’t take much time to finish these up.

I have finally figured out an order for projects for the beginning of this year. They are as follows:

1) Finish Mom’s Fuzzy feet
2) Knit Eric’s promised Fuzzy Feet
3) Finish Emily’s doll sweter
4) Finish second sassy sock.

At that point I have at least a two way tie for projects. Either knitting Emily a hat out of the other ball of alpaca yarn I bought for that purpose OR using my leftover Lamb’s Pride to knit her some slippers too. She had a very sweet pair of bunny slippers, but I don’t want her to feel left out.

Oddly enough my Mom’s slipper are taking more wool than mine. Perhaps my gauge has relaxed some? i didn’t measure either time as gauge isn’t important with this project. In the past I could count on using a needle size one step larger than the pattern called for to get gauge as I tend to knit tight, but maybe that is changing. I guess I’ll have to check next time I need to swatch for gauge.

And now I will touch on knitting and a sort of New year’s resolution.

I tend to keep crap. I can’t help it. I feel guilty getting rid of “good” stuff. I don’t know why. We’re not poor. I don’t have to wear clothes until they fall off. I can afford to replace a few items now and then.

I was going through my dresser yesterday and realized I wore about five things out of three full drawers. Well, maybe not five, but only a few things. Three short sleeved t-shirts (two of which I think may be ruined), two sweatshirts, a long sleeved t-shirt (Chrsitmas–moved into the unwearable pile) and a few pairs of shorts/pants that I sleep in. I suspect I have two drawers of clothes that are 1) stained and gerneally deemed “unwearable” or 2) that I hate.

So, my thoughts are, why am I keeping these things? I get depressed when I open my drawers and know that I hate 2/3 of what are in them. Why not just get rid of the things that need to be moved on because I don’t love them/won’t wear them.

So, my line of thinking is that it’s better to have just a few things that I love than three drawers full of things I hate and this is going to extend to my craft supplies as well.

I have some yarn I’m not going to use. I don’t like it. I’m moving it on. I have some scrapbooking supplies that I am not going to use. Why be eaten alive the guilt of not using them.? I’m moving them along.

No more red heart light n lofty yarn. I never loved it. No more ugly patterned paper that seemed like a great idea. Buh-bye.

I feel better just thinking about it.