Friday, September 19, 2008

Black notebook found!

Because of the excitement of finding the old notebook, I was willing to overlook the lies my child was telling me. The 'story' was that he found it in the bathroom in the linen closet. Now, while that is a very plausible story to anyone who knows my cleaning habits, I know it was not there because I recently cleaned out the cabinet in an attempt to hide the dozens of bottles of cleaning supplies. But I'm so happy to have it back I don't care!!!

I put all the balls of yarn I have hidden around the house and threw them on my bed and organized then realized I need to finish one project I have already started. I"m charging the camera to post pictures.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Yarn blackout

One scary part of addiction, is having blackouts. The only time I drank so much I don't remember anything, I was engaged the next day! I got so scared thinking about what I could have done, I hardly drink anything anmore. Tequila makes me do crazy things. Granted it worked out well for me -- we've been married 18 years now -- but still scary nonetheless.

I went thru the closets gathering items to take on vay-cay, when low and behold I found a stash of yarn. I don't recall every seeing this yarn before in my life! It was not in the store bag, and not in the clear zippered pouches I currently use to organize my projects. Said yarn must be at least 3 years old. I know in stashing terms, that is not a lot of time, but for me, it is. I think I purchased it when Knit Nouveau moved from Helena to Homewood. Which reminds me...I need to go see Mercedes..it's been far too long!

Monday, June 2, 2008

My 7 Ways Blogging and Bloggers Save me Money

Inspired by Heather and Amanda, I'm creating a list of 7 ways that blogging saves me money. I've never liked paying full price for department store things, and the last time I did was 3 years ago for a pair of blue jeans. I still remember the feeling in my stomach when it rang up. I thought I was going to be sick.

1. I'm a lazy competitor. If I see someone has done something, I am stuborn and will do it better. When I see someone has gone to Walgreens and purchased items and paid out of pocket $3.72, I figure out how I can do it and get it below theirs. I only purchase items I use, so it's a very fun puzzle to play, keeping my brain sharp. (I spent $1.27 btw hahaha)

2. I'm aware of the cost of items. I used to not be and just felt if I got it on sale it was a bargain. Boy was I wrong!

3. I never thought buying items at the drug store was economical. I prefer Walgreens, but am giving CVS a month to prove to me they don't suck. Luckily, when I went the first time and got the ExtraCare card, it had been previously scanned and I started out with $194.12 on the quarterly balance. I should get $4 ECBs back with that, along with the 5 I already accumulated. So that should get me going without ever spending money there.

4. I prefer to shop at Publix and always do the B1g1 free aisles. Now I will also use 2 coupons when I purchase on top of that. How silly of me to have never thought of that before.

5. Bookmarking coupon sites like coolsavings, redplum, smart source, makes coupon shopping easy.

6. It keeps me from watching so much mindless TV.

7. It's motivating me to take frugality to a higher level and donate a lot of my extra 'free' stuff to the church pantry.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Berry High School Class of 82

My bloggy BFF, Leigh, posted this evening that she has her 20 year class reunion this summer. Since I have 5 years of wisdom regarding this, I'll share my insight as a Berry Buc, reunion hater, and overall high school nerd.

I hated high school. I still bear many scars from those years. I was made fun of because I talked funny (obnoxious northern accent, which is why I don't talk much to this day), was an outsider (moved here summer before the 10th grade) and never knew how to dress (I went to a private school and had to wear dresses only). I was forced to go to my 5th reunion due to my friend Cindy and my dad consipiring against me. it was the best thing I ever did. After a lot of liquor and being abandoned by my buds, Cindy and Peri I was left at a party with only guys. All drunk, they told me what they really thought about me in high school. They thought I was so cool since I came from Miami, was a model because I dressed funky and was tall, and was a snob because I was so quiet. One guy said he was too afraid to ask me out! That moment changed my life! Prior to that moment, I felt strange because they all talked about the 'big' jobs they had, which top company they worked for, how important they were, etc. I just ignored. I hated business people.

I missed my 10 because my sis got married that afternoon and my mom threatened to kill me if I wasn't the last to leave the reception. Life is all about the photo op in that household.

When I was notified about the 20, I was all excited. I even joined the Reunion Committee! I was in charge of finding the lost people. I had so much fun and wanted everyone to come and not lose one person. Joe and Mark said they had everyones addresses. Little did I know they were using the addresses from the 10 yr reunion list! I worked 24/7 for months. I had my work cut out for me! I found everyone except 27 (out of 374). It was going to be so much fun! Sadly, my friend Sarah had died. Her sister said she suffered from depression and had taken her own life. Last time I had seen her was at the 5th. Same for Jim. He died of AIDS just after the 10th. I regret not seeing him. We made a powerpoint montage of high school photos and emphasized them.

With the reunion approaching,I realized I was a size 14 (a size 4 at the last reunion) and was mortified! I knew they would all mock me. I was mortified and didn't want to go, but had to since I had spoken to everyone in my class begging them to come! I crammed myself into a snug sun dress and showed up, with lots of money for drinks. I have never ever had so much FUN! All the bigtime movers and shakers lamented how they hated their jobs and working for 'the man' and were actually envious of ME for being self employed and working for myself. No one remembered any of the crap from highschool, only the fun happy times. Friends who had not spoken for whatever reason forgot why they had drifted apart and became friends again. It was just so much fun! Everyone was 18 again, without all the baggage. Unfortunately our minds may have been 18, but our bodies were 38 and didn't party like they used to. I got so many emails the next week telling me what a blast they had and that they were glad they came. No one noticed weight. Even one person, who was an ASS in high school was so nice to me and chatted me up most of the night. My high school crush and I had a lovely time chatting. I reconnected with girls from church, and we all delighted in our lives we have now and made fun of the high school days.

So Leigh, you MUST go! You will have a blast! All your friends have turned grown into lovely people, as have you, and you have to get to see the mature side of them!

Terri
BHS Class of 82!

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Busy Worker Bee....Reporting to Duty

I have decided I have enough crocheted dresses and hope that one will sell. This weekend (possibly) my sis will sew the bottoms and I'll post a picture. I think they are cute, hopefully others will also. I hope the "Creations" booth will make a lot of money! I know the bake sale will. Our church is full of so many great bakers.

Baskets are rolling along. Yesterday I picked up 2 hours of bowling including shoe rental at Vestavia Bowl. I'm going to confirm Alabama Adventure, McWane and The Zoo. I don't have them in my hands yet, but they said 'we'll get it processed' when I called. I just want them in my hands and will get the baskets to Judy to beautify. I feel like I should get them to her a few weeks prior since she's being so generous as to wrap and bow them for us.

As for being a bargain shopper, I know it will take time, but I'm still working on it. I've applied to get a ton of free samples, and utilizing the 'freebies' system, I got free this week:
Scotchbrite Stainless Steel Cleaner
2 bottles of Excedrin Migraine
2 tubes of Colgate Toothpaste
1 can Meow Mix seafood Medleys

Also got:
2 free panties from Victoria's Secret
MS Office 2007 Student Version (my FD had an extra copy and gave it to me)
$15 Best Buy Rewards. Andrew took these to use toward GTA IV (stop judging me)

My short-term goal is to save at least 50% on my grocery bill every time I go. Well, 50% on anything I buy. So far I've done that. I spent $20.69 at Publix, and my Total Savings was $24.56. The child needed new sheets and I got some good ones at BB&B @ 40% off and then my 20% off coupon. Wed nights will be my grocery planning/food savings night. I"ll clip coupons and search the grocery flyers to see how I can save. I also found this nifty website to make all the 'freebies' easier (and less time consuming) to utilize.

Well, off to work. Seems my clients only wanted to come in the last part of the week, so my Thurs, Fri and Saturday are BOOKED SOLID. I'm happy about that!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Only the F-D could tell me this....

I was told that "Ok, you are officially bored. We need to find you something to do!". Why is that? Because I stumbled upon internet things that made me laugh and I chose to share them with her. I played a game of 'click on a blog link' and wound up all over the place. Many fun chick out there! And I must tell you....if you have never been to faceinhole.com it's a must. Look at me....I'm Carmen Electra. When I got tired of being Carmen, I became the new face of Victoria's Secret. I bored of the fast-paced, model lifestyle, ie, I wanted food, so I retreated back to my little house in the 'burbs and became myself again.

I did a little crocheting today. Not much, but enough to clear out a little spot in my hidden yarn basket. It's gonna be a very slow work week, so I have to keep myself busy. Lord knows I have enough to do. I need to get an agenda together for a church meeting this Sun night. I'll do that tomorrow, after I crochet a few more tops. I'm cranking those babies out at lightning speed now. My sis is off beginning this Friday and can do the sewing. That will make them seem real.

Oh, yeah...gotta follow up on the baskets. I need to make an official 'to do' list. I'm getting too much on my plate and something is bound to fall thru the cracks.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Memorial Day

My father-in-law was a WWII veteran. He never spoke about his days in the military to anyone. My hubby and sis-in-law knew relatively nothing about what he did. Then my son came along. Andrew loves military movies, especially WWII and the Civil war. So granddaddy and Andrew spent every single Saturday talking about WWII. He was in the Air Force division of the Army, stationed out of Tampa Bay. He went to Normandy, Germany, England and Brussels. He was almost killed by a German who walked three feet away from his foxhole but he remained silent and the guy just walked on. Granddaddy gave Andrew his dog tags, which he wore every day. Granddaddy died on May 14, 2003. It was a very sad day for all of us, but Andrew took it the hardest and still hasn't fully recovered.

My grandfather was in WWII, but in the Pacific. I don't know much about his journeys because I didn't know him. Mom was adopted and he died shortly after I discovered that he was my grandfather.

So here's to you, Cephas Leon Ray and Andrew Jackson Duesberry! Thanks for your contribution to my freedom.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Food, Basket and general Mountain Marketplace update

I've been test baking for the bake sale. I've narrowed my baking down to the following:

Hummingbird cupcakes with California granola (dried pineapple, banana, etc) on the top.
Homemade Turtles
Toffee Bars
Apple Coffee Cake
Paula Deen's Sour Cream Pound Cake

I absolutely love to bake. I'd do it for a living, but I'd be so friggin fat, I'd never be able to fit thru the doors to get to the market. I'd be found dead in my kitchen with a spatula dried to my lips and a smile on my face. Hey...it's one great way to go, isn't it?

The baskets have taken on a life of their own. My "Family Weekend" basket has turned into a "Summer Family Fun" Basket. Dinner for 4 to California Pizza Kitchen, 2 tickets to the Rave, and I've been promised tickets to Alabama Adventure, McWane Center, Bowling and the Zoo. I have three other places I haven't followed up on but feel good about them. Gotta get this one wrapped up this week so I can tackle the "Cooking" basket. Then the "Crafter's Basket". I'm down to under four weeks now. Time to crack that whip. Any blogging help would be appreciated if you have a hookup.

Today my boys went to Atlanta. They were given free tix to the Braves game. Did I use my alone time wisely and clean, do more church whoring, knitting or anything of the sort? Heck no. Instead, I trolled around thrifty, moneysaving blogs and signed up to receive about 50 free items in the mail over the next month. I used to be very thrifty and coupon conscious, but got off track. It was my sport, and after seeing how many women are sporty like that, I've decided to jump back on the band wagon. I printed out a lot of coupons. I need to find my old coupon organizer and get back to organizing it. I used to take the money saved and put it in a jar and use it on vacations for the fun stuff. Maybe I'll use the money for my secret yarn or my Ireland savings account. Now that will motivate me!

Free stuff:
Free Stainless Steel Cleaning Kit
Free bottle of Coffee-Mate
Lubriderm Lotion
Can of Mighty Dog dog food
Ban Deodorant, Excedrin, Tampons, Frizz-Ease and Drink mixes @ Walmart
Ziplock Bags
Sunsilk Shampoo
Dove Shampoo
Aveda Lifting Serum
Nature Made 14 Day Vitamins
Emergen-C
French Vanilla Splenda
Seattle's Best Coffee
Yogi's Tea
True Lemon (I'm excited about this one)
Smoothie from Taco Bell
Purex
More animal food
Starbucks Coffee
Caress Brazilian Body Wash
a 0.97 Walmart shirt for my neice
2 Molson beer tshirts

Those are the ones I can remember. Seems those blogging chicks know how to work the local CVS. I guess i need to start shopping there too. I'm not big on the facial freebies. i get tons of that stuff thru work, along with about 10 magazines free every month. Southern Living, Health, Country something, Architechural Digest, Hallmark ( great mag!), Fitness, and a few others I usually give away to clients.

I'm gonna learn to work the online coupons. That's my next step.

Back from Insanityland

I always lose my mind the last few weeks of school. I'm not quite sure why that is, but it's a fact I'm learning to live with. Usually it has to do somehow with Andrew. He missed three weeks of school this year and really got behind, especially in Math and Spanish. I realized right after spring break that we only had 6 weeks to get his one C, four D's and one F up. So, we have been diligently working on school things. He busted his butt (amazing what the threat of losing an XBox will do) and brought his grades up to an A, two B's and three C's. I'm very proud of him. He does have a summer tutor for Math and I'm going to check out CD's for Spanish practice.

And the recession that has been here for about a year is freaking me out. I keep having these panic attacks that my business will slowly wither away. My Mother's Day gift certificate sales were waaaaay down, and I panicked. But looking at my books, I see that business is actually better, just shifting. I have many more weekly "paying" clients than usual, and less GC clients. So life is actually very good!

More tomorrow...today is MY day. I'll fill y'all in later on that.

Happy Memorial Day!

Monday, May 5, 2008

Chattanooga Tennessee

We spent the long weekend in Chattanooga, Tennessee and I learned to never leave my house without my camera! We spent weekend with my mother-in-law for an early mother's day and had a wonderful home cooked meal and did some catching up.

Sunday morning we drove around since the weather was so fabulous. We drove to Lookout Mountain and it was so spiritual. Of course spiritual AFTER driving past the million dollar houses lining the landscape. We did a little hiking and admiring of the gorgeous rocks and countryside. It reminded me a lot of parts of Mountain Brook. Old homes with a lot of beautiful yardwork and old times floral gardens.

Since I am an obsessive trip planner, I picked up a few brochures and when we return we will visit the battlefields, caverns and of course, Rock City. There is some sort of River concert in June. May be a good time for a visit.

Riding Shotgun is great times for doing crafts. I made two more crochet tops for the dresses. I'll knock out another one tonight.

All the outdoor activities triggered a migraine and simple partial seizures and I've been feeling out of sorts since Sunday morning. I haven't left the house today and feel very anti-social and more inhibited than usual. Thankfully I don't work on Monday. And tomorrow I have one appointment and should be good enough to work. As you can read, I cannot follow thought processes through.

but the drugs are good!

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Tisket, Tasket, can I fill a basket!


We sure do live in a cheerful, giving community! As I have been going about my life, I just ask for things, and so far, no one has said 'no'! My "Girlfriend Day/Mental Health" basket overfloweth. Sephora, Beauty Alliance and Bath & Bodyworks has been very gracious to the cause. It now consists of: $30 gift card to Zoe's, two hour-long massages, a bottle of Marc Jacobs body lotion, YSL perfume, 2 lip glosses and 1 lipstick (Laura Mercier), a dual makeup pencil sharpener, two small bottles of body lotion (Orchid), Matrix Biolage Shampoo, Conditioner and body lotion, Kenra Hair Finishing Spray. All of those were full size items! There are various 'samples' of hair products included also.

Today's project is to get an U of Alabama basket filled. That Nick Saban football looks so lonely! Walmart didn't say 'no', but I need a letter from my church first. That is next on my agenda. Swing by the church to get some letterhead, then swing by the usual athletic stores in the area. Sports is not my thing, so I'm winging it (that's how I live most of my life anyhoo).

Oh, and I forgot the selfish part of all this! When I left Walmart, Rob and Shannon were out front doing their broadcast and handed me two tickets to the Alabama Theatre to see Bowfire. I just took them, said thanks, and kept walking. My mind was so focused on sports I just assumed it was a sporting event. I was on a mission and hate being distracted. I am so excited about this now. AND it's the night we are doing the 18 anniversary dinner, so it's a perfect timing. They are very Celtic. I love Celtic.

I am not having such wonderful luck with the 'Bama 'Basket. I need to send my hubby dearest and #1son. I'll switch gears and focus on Cajun Basket. But that one will make me hungry !!!

Monday, April 21, 2008

Life is good



Last week I felt like I was Oprah. I'm not black, rich, a celeb or a jet-setter. But I do have a love/hate relationship with my weight, I worry about my pets, love-love-love-love free/discounted things and happy occurrences always seem to go my way when I have a positive attitude.

A cat as adopted us. She was a stray from the creek in the back yard and she was dying. She weighed about 3 pounds when I taught her to eat. I didn't want her to die in pain and thought a bite of tuna may make her feel better. Anyway, she's a vibrant cat now and comes in our house when the doors are open. "Stripey Cat" has a urinary tract infection and it would cost us $185 to take her to the vet (before the cost of meds). A client of mine diagnosed her with a urinary tract infection. That afternoon another client of mine offered to call in antibotics for me to give her. Wow.....I got out of this cheaply. It was called into the Publix, which offers 8 different antibotics for FREE, and this was one of the free ones! Taking care of God's animals has its rewards :)

Then, I had a delightful new client on Friday. I was discussing the Mountain Marketplace raffle and baksale/cafe. I'm working diligently on that this week. The raffle baskets are coming together nicely! I have a 'family' basket, a 'cajun' basket, and a 'girl friend' basket. Each has restaurant coupons and various other things. I had a connection to get a football signed by Nick Saban, but thought it was a longshot. I cannot describe how surprised I am that Nick Saban and JP Wilson signed TWO footballs for us to raffle/silent auction and they are in my possession! I also have a shot of getting one signed by Bart Starr. I told this to my new client, since he's a Bama grad, and he was happy for me. When my client left, he handed me a a check for $100 made out to the church as a donation! I was so touched! My goal for the raffle/silent auction is $1000, so I'm 10% there! My food goal is $2000.

And lastly, there seems to be some glitch in the Victoria's Secret computer system. Every day I receive a card in the mail for a free panty. So far, I have three :) Each one is addressed differently to me, so I'm hoping this will continue every month!

And I lost 1.5 pounds! Now I need to get moving on finishing those dresses. Gotta keep the good karma going. Maybe I'm more Earl than Oprah. I dress like a fat version of Joy Hickey. I'll ponder on that as I'm crocheting today!

Friday, April 18, 2008

No Pain, No Gain


I've blown off exercising for the past week. It's hard to eat and exercise at the same time. Last night I returned to Hip Hop dance class and this morning I feel it! I slept really well last night and this morning I was sore when I got out of bed. I drank two bottles of water before I went to bed to ward off pain, but it wasn't enough. Thankfully I'm getting my hair cut this morning and that should be a wonderful pick-me-up.

I must focus on the fact I have lost 3 of the cake pounds. I pulled out my bathing suit as a reminder of my goal. Sadly, when I pulled out my blue suit, I found an army green BIKINI I purchased last year. Bikini = Abs. Not good...not good at all. Now that the weather is nice I need to walk every evening. And see if Andrew's orthodontist can sew my mouth shut.

On a happy-happy-joy-joy note, I've been sent a bloggy BBF. Thanks Leigh! Leigh attends Hip Hop Dance Class (Special Ed level) with me. She and Flo are on the graceful side of the room. I'm the fool who is falling all over herself and is about 15 steps behind. It's so bad that our instructor, Chesney, put curtains over the mirrors so she can't see me. She claims it's because it's too much of a hassle to put them back up, but I know the truth.

Oh, and Leigh....my pirate name is Dirty Bess Rackham.

You're the pirate everyone else wants to throw in the ocean -- not to get rid of you, you understand; just to get rid of the smell. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Monday, April 14, 2008

Hooking on a Monday

Got one dress crocheted. My goal is at least one a day. Deep purple on the top and the material is lavendar with navy and deep purple flowers. Woo Hoo! I'm hitting the mango orange one next! I wish crocheting/knitting were an aerobic sport.

I spent my morning at the dermatologist. I highly recommend Dr. Henderson at Shelby. I hate wasting my time at other people's discretion and waiting rooms really annoy the heck out of me. I came prepared with two knitting mags and post-its to flag pages to copy. My wait time was under 5 minutes. I went into my room with the nurse, reviewed why I was there, then waited under a minute before the doctor came in. I was over and done in under 30 minutes from entering the office to leaving the office. When I was down with the flu, I was on the sofa for a week watching crappy TV. All those syphilis commercials convinced me my skin condition was syphilis and that I needed to get to the doc ASAP before the insanity set in. I have seborrheic dermatitis and will survive. I was on the road by 11 am.

That gave me my usual Monday...hanging with the galpal. Lunch and hanging out at her house. I'd write more, but as she said, "What happens in the kitchen, stays in the kitchen." It literally was a Sex and the City episode (without the sex). Then to the grocery and made my #1 child grilled cheese.

I have to block the foodnetwork channel from his TV. He saw Bobby Flay throwdown grilled cheese. And he wanted it at 9:30 pm yesterday. I had no bread, Brie, goat cheese or bacon in the house, so a market trip was in order. It was a good sandwich, but not as good as I anticipated. I did like the bacon in the middle. Bobby put a green tomato slice in the middle, but #1 son wasn't having any part of that. I'm glad it wasn't intricate. He liked it, but not *that* much. I guess I'll be eating a lot of cheese this week!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Whoring on a Sunday -- I have no shame

Really, it's Leigh's fault. She was sniffing around my blog and followed the scent of food. I mentioned the June 21 Mountain Marketplace that the church is having and *wham* I remembered I needed to make some things for the church donations. I've been so wrapped up in chairing up the bake sale (I've scrapped that idea and have upgraded it to a Cafe) that I forgot that I had to make something.

I thought long and hard about what I could make. Should I use up the large box of bead I have and make lots of jewelry? Naw..I'm used to the bead clutter. How about use up all the fun ribbon yarn and make a ton of scarves? Naw...it's in June. Who wants a scarf in June? Then I remembered this cute thing I saw on HGTV. I went to Hancock's fabrics to see what I could scrounge up that was summery. Mind you, this was last November. The clearance bin was a goldmine! So, without further ado, I am making about 15 of these cute dresses for little girls. It takes me about two hours to crochet the top part and my sister will sew the fabric. She's a whiz with a sewing machine. I"m having trouble deciding a price. I usually just double or triple my cost, but when I say I purchased this on super clearance, I'm serious. I need to go nosing around cute girl shops. having a son, I only know the cost of t-shirts, underarmour shirts and cargo pants.

I'm inspired to get these done so I can go back to my ribbon summer sweater. I'm selfish that way.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Whoring for the church

I've gained 6 pounds (no kidding) because I've been baking for the semi-annual church bake sale. Chocolate chip pecan cookies , chocolate crinkles, peanut butter cookies and chocolate spritz cookies. I love to lick the bowls. But that's not where I got into trouble. It was fuckydamn's birthday cake she made for her husband. Words cannot describe this gastronomical gift from the food gods. I saw the cake on FoodNetwork's Throwdown with Bobby Flay. It was the cheesecake episode. Bobby made this phenomenal Caramel Apple cheesecake (which won) but it was up against a Devil Food Cheesecake. What is so amazing about a Devil's Food Cheesecake? This ain't no ordinary cake. It's a four layered cake. yes, a 4 layered cheesecake. The devils food cake is just three layers, but between the first and second layer of the decadent cake is a hidden layer that is a cheesecake. This thing is so amazing, that the FoodNetwork will not even have a photo of it on their website! And between these layers of heaven is this fluffy fudge icing. It's very fudgy, yet light. It's a miracle icing.

She didn't have a cake plate that was high enough to hold this 10 inch tall cake so she gave me half of it. Except for the one large slice my son took, I ate it all. Yes, I say that proudly. If you had it in front of you, you'd eat it all too. I promise. Here's a photo of the SMALL cake recipe. Picture it in your mind with two more layers of cake.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

What the Heck is a Fuckydamn?

My girlfriend and I have a relationship like no other. It transcends all.

We both inappropriate laugh at other people, not each other. We have our own language and codes. I'm the only one who can tell her things and she doesn't explode, and visa-versa. We quote from TV shows and movies. We watch trashy TV. No judgment. She took a photo of me in my bathing suit as an incentive to diet. NO one sees me in my bathing suit. It's just different.

One day while she was in a funk, Grey's Anatomy had a scene where Christina is trying to describe her relationship with Meredith to Burke. She could only sum it up by saying "She my person". When questioned even further, she said "She's the person I call to help me hide the body". So my friend Delisa texts me and says "You are my person." We both got it.

The same week of the Grey's Anatomy episode, I received an email from a very angry Chinese woman. She was dating my ex-fiance in China. I'm not very familiar with the Chinese culture, but this woman had been trying to befriend me. I thought of it as international stalking, by my ex said it was just 'cultural'. She had demanded that he give her all his passwords to his computer (which he did). She changed his myspace page to only have pictures of her and she deleted everything on his page wrote of his devotion and love for only her. Did I mention she was engaged to another man? Like I said, I don't get the culture.

She also had access to his email accounts and all of my email addresses. She therefore would email me 3 times for every one email she sent me. That pissed me off. Not to mention that she wanted to be added to my friends list on myspace and yahoo. I told him to tell her to leave me alone. I do not need any more psycho's in my life. He just laughed. But she read the email and he broke up with her. Not good for the yarn whore.

So I receive (three times mind you) this utterly pathetic email from her saying that, in essence, I was trying to sabotage their relationship and I had lied to him about her. She typed numerous times 'fucky damned'. I just laughed and found it very amusing.

So did my person.

So we merged the two together and we became each others "fucky damned person". Now it's just shortened to 'fucky damn'. Everyone should be so lucky to have a fucky damn. It's not even a cuss word anymore. It is what it is.

And ironically, we did hide a body together. And that's the least of the offenses we've done. But we do knit together and out of fuckydamnedness, she gave me some knitting magazines to get me through the rough time I'm having putting together my new notebook. I'm losing valuable knitting time over this.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

My husband is one smart cookie

No, he didn't find the book, but he did the next best thing. I think he was tired of that forlorn look in m eyes. No matter where I am in the house, my eyes are always on high alert for the notebook. After he cooked me dinner last night, he said, "let's go to the bookstore." That's a common hang out for him on the weekend evenings. Sadly, it used to be hip bars, 25 minute Madonna remixes & Crown and Coke but now it's Barnes and Noble, Caramel Macchiatos & pseudo-intellectuals. My how times have changed. But I digress......

After our coffees, we headed home, but hubby had another idea. He pulled the car into the Office Depot parking lot and said the most glorious words in the world, "Let's get you a new notebook." Now, I had never thought of purchasing a new one. I am a reuser and was going to use whatever our son could salvage after the school year was over. But I feared there wouldn't be one capable of holding my beloved pages. If you have an 8th grader, you know what I'm talking about. After 9 months in a cramped locker and backpack, most notebooks look like they've been in a 3rd world, war-torn country.

Before my eyes was an entire wall devoted to notebooks. I carefully chose one that was just perfect. It's preppy striped. No one will EVER mistake this for anything but a girl thing. I ran home and spent an hour looking for many of the patterns I had. I will print them today.

So, the hubby knew what he was doing. He got thanked in a BIG way ;)

Friday, April 4, 2008

Sigh....No Sign of the Knitting Bible


I'm allowing myself one day of mourning for the kidnapped knitting notebook. I slept in late (all the way til 7:10!) and am not working out. I am, however, watching the Turbo Jam infomercial on TV. At least I'm not unshowered and eating Godiva. I'll post pics for Leigh to see my handiwork. She's my new dance friend. I've also found a new pattern to begin. It's quite lovely and from knitty. I'll have to make a run to a yarn store to have someone tell me which yarns I already own I can use. Although it *is* an excuse to buy more. I'll have to carve out a new hiding place. I did make some extra room in my great-grandmother's hope chest while I was looking for the MIA notebook.

Here's a photo. Imagine a fat girl instead of a skinny chick.

It will be the first in my new notebook. I'm purchasing a pretty new notebook today. Maybe purple or green. A knitting pick-me-up. Maybe they have lots of them at Staples or Office Depot. I will be sure to put my name on this one.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

I'm in yarn hell

I'm in super denial. I have this utterly organized, black one-inch, three-ringed binder that I have all my patterns in. I print out the free patterns online, and on one side, I enlarge the photo, then print the directions on the back. I spent hours over my monitor on Garnstudio.com alone. I went page by page looking at the thousands of patterns. I printed out only the ones that I adored. There are dozens of them in the notebook. When I go yarn shopping, I take the book with me and when I see fabulous yarn on sale, I ask the sales person to help me with the yarn-to-pattern conversion. I then write on the front of the pattern which yarn to use. This justifies all the yarn I have around the house. I tell hubby dearest "that's for the blahblahblah sweater." It makes me feel like the hoarded yarn has a purpose. My family knows the sacredness of the black notebook. My yarn friends are jealous. Yarn store owners stare at it in awe. It's a wonderful creation. As chaotic as my life is, the black notebook was perfection.

That was until the black notebook went missing. I scoured the house. Looked under and over everything. I looked in my car, even the black hole of a trunk. I went to the church where we have the knitting group and looked all over, with a friend. It's no where to be found. I know the truth: It's been booknapped. I want it back. I have all this yarn and don't know what it's for.

If you see it, please contact me. It's my life. That's how pathetic my life is.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Been busy and lost my computer

This is the newest project I'm working on. It's from Garn Studio (ohhhhh....ahhhhhh....yummmmmm) I"m using a ribbon-type yarn that is lavender, blue and white. I've made one side, but am afraid to make the other side because I fear it won't match. So I've switched projects. I'm making charity projects for church. I'll post that tomorrow. I've also started a knitting group at church and have made new friends.

Last Fall, our main computer died. It is unsalvageable and I lost all my bookmarks, all my favs and just everything technical of importance.