Jaqi Zoo

Shhh

2010-12-31T17:22:00.005-05:00

This is all I can show you of what I just finished for now. Pre-blocked and stretched. It is currently sprawled out on my couch with 96 pins holding it in place until it drys. That left me with 4 extra pins...whew.

The reason it's on my couch and not on the floor where it usually would be is because of:
Canela is a teeny chi-weenie hanging out for the weekend. She is literally my shadow. I get up - she gets up. I sit down - she's in my lap. When I was pinning my project on the couch she crawled -under- it and hung out until I got up. As long as she doesn't freak out about the ferrets we'll be ok. So far she barked and ran out of the room when she saw the cage. But the cage is in the bedroom, so this could be interesting...

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T13:19:00.003-05:00

Little Ninja minus one eye (turns out it -was- a boy.. promise I'm not usually wrong on that one)

We tried to get one with a bow on his head, but that proved too distracting to get a focused picture. He absolutely -loved- all the wrapping and boxes!

Have an awesome and fun day!

One more thing

2010-12-18T20:14:00.005-05:00

Earlier this year we lost Buddy Rich. Above is one of the last photos I have of him with his favorite ball. He'd lost a lot of weight at this point. We only found out afterward, but he had a tumor on his intestines. One night he seemed to be doing very poorly and I took him to work with me the next day so I could keep an eye on him. By that afternoon he had passed. I'm thankful I had the foresight to bring him with me and also thankful he held on until Mike could come and say Good Bye.

Baby missed him a ton and seemed to fall into a pretty bad depression without him. I don't blame him, he was never away from Buddy since he was 8 weeks old. A couple of months after, a stray ferret came into the shelter who stole the hearts of everyone because she was so neat in her cage. After an exam by the vet we found out she was around 7 years old (that's really old in ferret years), had an enlarged spleen, and likely had some adrenal disease (which Baby also has).

I spent some time with her at work and she sat either in my sweater or on my shoulder, perfectly content for close to half an hour. I was won over and so was Mike. I brought her home that night and within a couple of days Baby and she were snuggled together and Baby was back to his old self! They are a super cute couple and Mike has named her Victoria. She is very loving and playful and fits right in!

With each loss comes the opportunity for a gain. I'm so happy for all of us, but especially Baby, that Victoria has come into our lives. I think she's just as happy to have us since she gives us kisses every time we hold her.

Early Resolution?

2010-12-18T19:54:00.006-05:00

I was shying away from blogging for a while, but I want to catch up!

To sum things up: I finished my cardigan and wore it a ton before it got too chilly, it's perfect. I'm working on Mike's Wash Sweater and the blur of lace which has turned out to be much easier now that I have the hang of it. Both I hope to finish before the end of the year.

Fosters:
I've had tons of kittens - here are a few:
Mercutio and Taffy. We almost kept Mercutio because he was so awesome. We had them for nearly a month while they recovered from URI and Conjunctivitis. These were the first (and only so far) that I had to bring back and put on the adoption floor myself. I'll admit it - I cried! I miss them tons.

Bumble Bee and Beatle Juice. They were my first kittens who didn't need to be bottle fed. They were super sweet and loved each other soo much. They were super shy at first but soon were sleeping in our bed with us. Ended up going home together which warmed my heart to no end!

My latest kitten was Ninjaa who was a girl. She was super sweet but had a really messed up eye so I don't have any good photos of her. She's out with another foster mom for a couple weeks then her eye will likely need to come out.

Lastly, I had a puppy foster for about a week! Her name is Snookie (but we called her Molly). Her front legs were deformed from being confined in too small of a crate for too many hours a day and we gave her physical therapy as often as she would let us. She's now completely back to normal and is waiting for her home at the shelter!

She's a little hellion, but she's awesome. I can't wait until she finds a permanent home. No puppy should have to grow up in a shelter. And she's so cute! I don't get it. She's like a little cow/pig cross.

Anyways, there are a few knitting projects I've made that I won't post about because this would end up too long. And I don't have decent pictures of them anyhow. I'll start posting them on here again from now on!

Promise.

Second Chances

2010-06-09T20:55:00.003-04:00

I was getting really far on both of my projects when disaster hit.

My Safire cropped cardigan was zooming along, I was almost done with the shaping and about ready to start the bottom ribbing when I realized... it seemed rather large. I had been trying it on to make sure it wasn't too small, but I didn't stop to think about if it was big. And it was. By many inches. I decided I needed to start all over. :(

But, I learned my lesson and -actually did a gauge swatch-! I went down 2 needle sizes and thought it'd be perfect. But oddly, it wasn't..I was still too big. Either I'm the loosest knitter ever or my yarn is thicker then the recommended yarn. So I'm now down 2 needle sizes and making the smaller size. It should end up just about perfect if my math was correct.

I finally restarted it today on the bus and it's already coming along nicely. After a very crazy day at work it was nice being able to turn on my podcast and just mindlessly knit on my way home.

My second disaster ended up being a very good thing. I was working on my shawl when....the last stitch slipped off the needle when I was moving the project to a different location. It was completely and totally unfixable. There had been bind offs and adding stitches, not to mention the sheer size of yarn and complicated stitches!

After making sure everyone in the house knew what a terrible thing had just happened to me, I ripped it out and started it all over again (it was only 18 rows. But each row is taxing!) But this time around I knew what I was doing! So I cast on much looser and did the first row correctly and man, you can tell. It looks a lot better and I am really glad I ended up restarting.

Oh, and I already want to start another project. I found a pattern for the sweater Wash wears in Firefly and Mike wants one!

2010-06-04T18:26:00.004-04:00

The instructions for my latest project. o.O The blur of letters is no trick of the eye. It's a bit daunting, but I'm confident in my abilities. The hardest part for me has been getting used to the size of the thread. I mean yarn.
Eventually I'm hoping it'll look like this:

It's a beautiful pattern by Anne Hanson. I've probably wish-listed half her pieces already. The yarn I'm using is an alpaca blend from Knit Picks (my fav company ever) in a really beautiful purple.

To give me some sanity breaks I'm restarting my Safire cardigan. My gauge was waaay off. I figure I should finally learn the gauge lesson. Luckily it's a super easy knit and I will bang right through it again!

Baby Bundles

2010-05-29T06:33:00.000-04:00

I can finally post photos of my latest creation! I've been working on it for a while and the wonderful Kendra now has it in her hands. It was really fun to make and the yarn is beautiful.

Hopefully I'll get a picture of a real baby wrapped up inside!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

2010-05-24T19:14:00.004-04:00

I had my first kitten foster the last couple of days! They were so young that they needed to eat round the clock, so someone had to take on such a hard task ;) Started off with a little 3.5 week old boy and then added in a 4 week old girl (who was actually smaller then the boy). The girl was very helpful in teaching the boy how to eat on his own! The 2 days of fun culminated with us all falling asleep on the floor together. The girl on top of my arm (I was sideways) and the boy curled up between my chin and shoulder. It was heaven.
Mike agrees:

They are now out in permanent foster for a few weeks.

While waiting to order more yarn I was going through my stash trying to figure out what I was going to do with some of the different yarns I had. I came across this on Ravelry and it was perfect! I usually shy away from such plain patterns, but I've been in the mood for something simple I can knit on the bus without referring to a pattern every other row. I'm making it in a really beautiful heather green that I got for Christmas.

I just placed an order for yarn to make 4 different projects! I'm so excited. 2 are very complicated patterns that will be a lot of fun to work on. One is a very simple pattern similar to the Safire I'm making now. The last one is an easily memorized lace pattern to make a tank top. It's going to be a great summer. Hopefully they last me all summer. I have some fall projects planned too once I bang out these 4 summer ones.

In closing, this is how hot it was today:

Burnout

2010-03-24T18:30:00.003-04:00

I've been working on two projects for weeks and weeks now. One more than the other and I'm feeling a bit of burn out. The one I haven't been paying much attention too I'm kinda not feeling right now. I won't need them until fall anyways.

I think I need to take a day or two to make a quick project so that I can get back to work on my main project.

Let me see if I can be more vague.

New Petfinder.com App

2010-02-25T06:48:00.001-05:00

I have taken over running Petfinder.com for the shelter. I think there is a lot of information that we can put out there for people. And a lot of browsers of the site could become new adopters!

I got an email from Petfinder yesterday morning announcing the new IPhone App. Sounds really awesome! So I download it right away and went searching for our dogs.

I couldn't find a single one! I searched in just our zip code and just for pit bulls to see if that would help, nope. On the real site we are on the second page in our zip code. I searched through 10ish pages on the app and couldn't find us. I find it extremely frustrating that a large organization like the MSPCA isn't easily found.

My only other gripe is that while searching the only thing you can see is a small picture of the animal. If you make your search criteria, then all those dogs should be a good mach, but then it's just on looks alone. But I understand that a lot about an animal that attracts people is their looks, I'm the same way. I'm really a sucker for anything gray, dunno why.

Aside from that the app seems pretty well put together. I think it's very clean looking and not too bulky. I read a review that said it crashed a lot, but so far it hasn't for me. I'll have to fiddle around and see how I'm going to get our dogs up onto some of these search pages!

Valentine's Nerds

2010-02-19T10:24:00.007-05:00

This is a photo of the best boyfriend ever. For Valentines he took me on a Stay-cation to the Westin where the annual Boskone was going on! Boskone is a sci-fi convention run by the New England Science Fiction Association. The guest of honor this year was none other then Alastair Reynolds, my favorite author ever. I got to meet him, get his autograph, hear a reading from his newest book, and hear him speak on a number of panels on everything from the concept of The Singularity, to how science fiction relates to what's going on in the real world, and beyond.

It was amazing. We got to meet other authors including Vernor Vinge, Charlie Stross, and Karl Schroeder. I did get quite a bit of beef from the girls at work. Everyone thought it was probably one of the nerdiest valentine's gift ever, but that it was the sweetest too. I agree.

I've pretty much stopped writing completely right now. It inspired me to start up again, now the only problem is finding the time to sit down and do it. After we get moved into our new (glorious) apartment I'm going make the time. In the new place there is a nice little nook just big enough for a small desk. I want to turn it into my corner. Enough space for my sewing machine or a laptop. We're going to purge a lot of possessions with this move, things we just don't need to hang onto. Some of the furniture will go up on craigslist and the rest is going to goodwill. The one thing that isn't getting purged is our book collection. Luckily the new place has a built in shelf that -may- hold most of them. For now. I'm looking forward to starting a new chapter without so much extra junk.

Button on Blanket

2010-02-02T18:34:00.003-05:00

Tadaa!

Pros:
* Super warm
* Really soft
* Layers awesomely under my coats!

Cons:
* When putting on the buttons, I did do it quite evenly, so the left side comes up further then the right. Weird, I know.
* I need better stitch markers so I don't create ladders like you see coming up from under the armpit.

No real complaints with the pattern, (B.O.B)it was really well written. It does seem to be made for someone with narrow shoulders. Or, I have a very long neck. The sweater is supposed to have a turtle neck, but it barely comes up my neck at all. This was such a quick knit that I think I'll make it again with some added shaping in the waist and a higher collar. Maybe put in some more cables as well.

Honest Scrap

2010-01-21T21:17:00.002-05:00

Ok Kendra doing the Honest Scrap list for you!

10 things about me people may or may not know about me

1: I love animals. I love it when Mike says "Wow you get paid to do that?" when I tell him stories from work (MSPCA Adoption Center - Boston) *plug plug plug* I just really love being around animals constantly. I would probably live in a zoo if Mike wasn't here to hold me back.

2: I would absolutely love to work at a sanctuary some day. I think one for orphaned Chimps or Apes would be the most fun. I've seriously considered trying to get an internship/volunteer at Chip Eden in South Africa. If I could do that, it would be amazing.

3: I don't really know what I want to do with my life. I do know that I want to have a family, and I want to work with animals. Unfortunately supporting a family on an animal related salary will not be as glamorous as say, a doctor.

4: At the age of 19 I was diagnosed with Hyperthyroid. Meaning my thyroid produced too much hormones, so they literally nuked it. 2 years later my thyroid was no longer producing enough any longer. Now if I miss my medication or my levels are off I'm a very forgetful, tired, psycho. "You will ENJOY Christmas!" type of thing.

5: While I'm a very good homemaker, I'm very picky about when I want to be one. I love to cook and have a nice house, but I don't like cooking in my craptastic kitchen that's completely cut off from the rest of the house. So we usually end up eating out.

6: Which means I'm trying very hard to cook more to save money! It's my new goal for life; save as much money as I can. Frugal without feeling like I'm going without.

7: I only read books that are an escape from reality. I've tried reading some really great books, but I can never stay focused on them. My philosophy is that if it's similar to something I could live through, why read about it? I love space adventures, sci fi, fantasy (not the magic dragons and cheesy ones). On that same note, I have a hard time keeping up on the news. If it's not huge to the point everyone is talking about it, I probably have no idea about it. This is bad, I should probably work on it.

8: I used to write a lot of short stories. This is something I need to get back into. Problem is, I write higher quality when I put pen to paper, but then it's so dang slow!

9: I knit and crochet (incase you haven't seen any other posts, heh). There is something extremely enjoyable in making something with your own hands. My parents gave me a sewing machine for Christmas and I'm really excited to expand into that area too! Who needs clothing stores?

10: I'm in love with the most amazing man ever. Life is truly going to be an adventure with this one! When I'm content with sitting at home he pulls me up and we go out and have a ton of fun exploring new places. He's the reason I'm in Boston right now, and I really love it here (except for winter). I can't wait to see where life takes us and see our family grow. Ok, I can wait a bit for that last part.

So there we have it! Summary of me!

Long Time Coming

2010-01-21T20:49:00.008-05:00

Finally, some pictures of finished projects! I have a sweater that I was working on last week and was literally only the collar away from finishing when I ran out of yarn. I just got my shipment of more though, so tomorrow I'll be able to finish it! It's going to be warm and squishy and delish.

First off, my Hexagon Blanket that's been finished for quite some time now. I really love this thing, it's huge, it's snuggly, it's pretty! Mike says "Who makes a round blanket?" But I love it. It never lives on the bed, it's always in the living room, either nicely covering our couch or wrapped around me, like now.

Next, my Autumn Blanket. I actually only finished this last night. A little late for the season, yes. It's not as big as the Hexagons but it's beautiful, and will look wonderful over the couch next fall.

Lastly, my Glittens! Technically they aren't finished yet because I haven't put on the buttons to keep the mitten tops down, but shush.

Foster!

2009-12-17T10:01:00.004-05:00

I have officially stepped into the realm of being a Foster Mom! Let me introduce Dymond:

She is a beautiful, very sweet 16 year old kitty. Right now she has a bit of a cold, which is why she's living with us for a little bit. We all love her at the shelter and hopefully since she's 16 having some rest here will help her get better quicker. She absolutely adores her foster dad, only 20 minutes after coming home she went and curled up next to him on her blankets. She follows him around whenever he comes into her room.

She's really great. I caved lastnight and let her sleep in bed with us since it was so cold out. So far, every morning she has gotten up with me and followed me around the house. Now I really want a cat too. Hah.

Vacation!

2009-10-30T19:33:00.001-04:00

Mike and I took the day yesterday to go up to Portsmith NH and it was amazing. I love old old towns. Didn't go into any museums, but we'll be there again.

On the way home we stopped in Salem. Took a ghost tour that was decent but not scary like it said it would be. I goofed and bought combo tickets for a cemetary/witchcraft tour that we missed. Would have loved that and may do it sometime. They let us sit in on a "ghostly parlor show" that was ultimate cheese. Hah. It was fun but I want to go back when it's not Halloween and explore the history more.

Here's a photo from the car on our way out of Boston. All the leaves everywhere were gorgeous but the wind has taken a lot out

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Baby update

2009-10-27T20:06:00.000-04:00

Finally got in touch with the vet lastnight. Baby also has low glucose levels which could point to insulinoma or a tumor in his pancreas. Sigh. . Poor thing. He's still acting fine and lowering his antibiotic dose has helped with the diarrhea. The doc here at Angell said the same medication she recommended will help the low glucose levels too. She wants to meet up with me this week so go over some more things.

Since I have to prepare for the inevitable I also have to think of what I can do for Buddy when the time comes. The best thing I can thing of is to get another friend for them sooner rather than later. I don't know what would happen if I waited until after. And I don't want him to get lonely and depressed. I do think that were it the other way around Baby would have a rougher time.

Baby's News

2009-10-25T21:29:00.002-04:00

The week before I started my new job Baby got suuper skinny and had really bad (really smelly) diarrhea. He was pretty much skin and bones and was pretty dehydrated as well. We took him into the vet and, long story short, he's pretty sick. He was put on three different medications for 2 weeks. An antibiotic, anti gas, and something to help with the diarrhea. 2 weeks later and lots of hassle to try and get him in for a follow up (I don't want to explain, just trust it was a mess). The local vet found a mass in his stomach and did a 'quick' ultrasound. Which basically means he didn't sedate the little guy. The good part of it is my stubborn little fella became quite the cuddler and just wanted to curl up in my arms and around my neck.

We went to see the specialist at Angell (finally) and she says it's one of two things IBD (Irritable bowl disease) or Lymphoma. I have blood results waiting for me at the vet but we haven't had a chance to connect again on the phone because of my crazy hours. They may or may not confirm Lymphoma. Either way though, the conservative treatment is the same. So I've decided not to put him or my wallet through more diagnostics to figure out which it is.

The only real difference is with IBD he may live a lot longer then with Lymphoma. I've ordered a new food to switch him to that will be much better nutritionally and he will be on meds for the rest of his life now. But I'm becoming a pro at giving them, and he's learning to accept it. He still weighs the same, but he looks a lot better.

Hopefully tomorrow I can get in touch with the vet to learn the results of the blood test. And by the time he gets switched off his current meds and onto Prednizone my benefits should have kicked in.

He was the star of each vet office we went to. He and I had a great bonding experience through it funny enough. The vet at Angell got a kick out of him sitting at my feet and just watching me like a dog or jumping up and asking to be picked up like a little kid. I didn't realize that was not a normal ferret attribute, but it's always been my favorite thing about him. And he doesn't do it to anyone but me. :)

Who Needs a Whistle?

2009-10-19T19:56:00.001-04:00

Saturday evening Mike and I were walking through the park waiting for our movie to start when a Golden Retriever came up to me and buried her nose in my coat. Her owner tried for several minutes to get her to keep walking but this dog was not having it. I explained to her that I worked at the shelter and a few mintutes later they were finally able to continue on.

Tonight at the toy store I had another dog bound up to me and ask for lovings, but this was just due to my charm and good looks as I'd washed all my clothes that day.

I love being a dog magnet.

Lunch partner

2009-10-18T12:57:00.001-04:00

I have a new lunch partner. She loves pizza and donuts.

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Rollahcostah

2009-10-09T11:57:00.003-04:00

I'm upset. I'm going to be working with the Vet Hospital we took Baby to last night and still they would not let us do a payment plan for his diagnostics. I should've pushed to talk to someone higher then the ~~insensitive heartless~~ numb financial man.

But the good that came out of it? We pay less and I got to take my snookums home for the night instead of leaving him to be poked and prodded. He still got poke and prodded though. The lady behind the counter asked if he got bit by something. No, that's just the 8 pricks it took to draw blood from him.

They are looking for bad or worse. It makes me sad. But he did eat solid food this morning. And he likes two of the three medications we were given for him. The third takes 10 minutes and is authentically a baby about it. Twisting and gagging and wiping his mouth off because it's "Soo teerible mommy!" But he loves his new carrier.

Which is good, because he has to go back tonight for more blood draws.

It's happened

2009-10-01T11:07:00.005-04:00

I have too many projects I want to make and not enough time to make them!

Currently working on:
* Scarf for Mike (64% done)
* Hexagon blanket: (80% done. 3 more to finish and mail all out by end of October,then assembly)
* Autumn blanket: (90% done. All blocks are made, 4 more need to mail out and then assembly)
* Oh yeah and eventually I need to buy the last bits of yarn and finish my Christmas blanket!

Next in line:
* Hat to go with Mike's Scarf (will have to be solid Crimson, will run out of black poo)
* Glittens for me (b/c it's dang cold in the winter)
* Fix super big slouchy had I messed up
* Christmas gift 1 (probably the longest one too, need to get started on this one by November at the latest)
* Christmas gift 2 (Will make enough for 2-4 people depending on how I do it)
* Secret Santa Project

What I want to make for myself:
* This beautiful sweater wrap
* This shawl And there's already been at least 3 instances where I wish I already had it.
* This sweater
* Leg warmers (these may need to be bumped up with the Glittens, I need'em)
* about 4 other sweaters I can't decide which I want first.

This is a problem. I could hurry up and finish my Christmas stuff so I can get started on my stuff.. but we know that won't happen!

No Opportunities Wasted

2009-09-30T12:39:00.003-04:00

I can't believe how long of a journey this has been, but I am officially starting a new job!

I am working for the MSPCA as an Animal Care and Adoption Counselor!

Who's surprised?

There's a lot of hands on work. Taking care of the animals but also doing/assisting with preliminary vet checkups. Animal behavior tests. All sorts of fun stuff!

I'm surprised. I beat out 75 other interviewees and it's taken over a month for this whole thing to finally come to an end. It took me 3 days to track down my current boss to tell him. That equals my stomach in knots for that entire time, but it went smoothly. I'm hoping the find someone soon, or have a work study student take over most of my load so it doesn't fall on the Lab Manager.

I may need to start cleaning out my desk now... nearly three years means I probably have stuff here I didn't even realize. Which reminds me; I found a t-shirt I've been missing for at least a year in my locker at the toy store! I've really missed that shirt too. LOL

Dripping Luxury

2009-09-28T14:59:00.002-04:00

Before I share my news I have to show off this ridiculously glorious scarf I'm making for my dear. It started out as a scarf to wear to football games but the red is a little too rich. No worries, he loves it anyway and I have to admit I am a little sad that I'm not making it for myself! The yarn is Classica Elite Lush with angora. Angora is rabbit fur shed by the funniest looking rabbit ever. I definitely need more of this wonderful yarn for myself!

PS my news actually has to wait until tomorrow, you'll understand why.

One Man's Trash

2009-09-24T17:32:00.003-04:00

Look at this wonderful piece my Darling brought home! It's from the 20's or 30's and belonged to our neighbor's Grandmother. I have somewhere to put all these blankets I'm making!

PS. I have fun news to share tomorrow

Fall's Here!

2009-09-14T12:36:00.003-04:00

The weather is finally at a point where you can be outside all day and not have a care in the world! Although it's been rainy for a few days, and it going to be pretty nasty later in the week, for now it's just perfect! There are even some Eager Beaver trees starting to turn!

Every autumn I have a huge need to make scarves, hats, and gloves. I don't know why. I have enough scarves (3), but I'm already planning another one (2). Already worked out a hat and scarf ensemble to make for the Harvard Football games so we can be warm, cozy, and show our school pride! Going to learn a new technique while making it: double knitting. Oooooo sounds tricky hm?

I also want to make a hooded cowl to wear under my coats when I don't have my hooded sweaters on. I love hoods. I love being wrapped up in scarves Babushka style. I love wearing enough other warm cozy things that you don't need a coat when it's 40 out!

New England winters may be the death of me, but autumn makes up for it.

Snooze

2009-09-09T08:28:00.002-04:00

There once was a girl with a curl right in the middle of her forehead.
Everything was fine, when she was on her meds
and then they changed them and it was awful!

Not "It's Christmas and you're going to LIKE IT!" awful

more like "I know I just got 7 hours of sleep but I'm just so... so....what's the word?"

Friggin Doctors meddling with things.

Bad Math and Summer's Eve

2009-08-27T09:29:00.005-04:00

It's a bed of flowers, hurry and jump in before summer's over! I have 5 more to finish once I buy more olive. And beige. I much prefer the beige background over another color, but that's just me. If I were to make this blanket again all for myself, that's what I would do. Pick 3-4 motifs (probably the one with the round petals which you can find here and then the other sharper edge ones here and here) And then I would do the backgrounds in beige, only making the hexagons 6 or 7 inches each side, then join with olive. Then the flowers don't quite get as lost. Of course, I'd have to make more then 18 to make a whole blanket. The hexagons here are 8 inches a side. Which is pretty huge. Some of them you can see I mis-measured. So need to fix those once I get more olive. And that dang wave. I fear I'm going to have to rip out a few rows and redo them with less stitches to straighten the buggers out. Blast it all.
A big pile of leaves!
This is where the bad math comes in.. I could've sworn I had 10 done. That would've meant I was pretty much done except for my own. But alas, I only have 7 finished. I have two that are half finished. I also need to sit down and make sure I have blocks for people according to their color preferences. I sorta just.. started making them.. without paying attention to that. But! I'm sure I can find homes for them all. If not I'll just keep them for myself!

I'm waiting on two important packages that I ordered last Friday. Both were originally supposed to arrive by the end of the week. One (the most important one) is a air mattress that was supposed to be here between Wednesday and Friday, but now it says it won't get here until MONDAY. And my mom is going to be staying the night on SUNDAY. Crap. UPS took their sweet-@$$ time going from Arizona to Indiana (four days. Four days!) We drove from Colorado to Boston in two days, if we can do it, they can do it. Now it's in Buffalo. But come on, that's like, 7 hours away already!

Friday is our six year anniversary. (Monday technically, but I'll be in the Cape with some fam, so it's been moved up) Woah. We're going to Cirque de Soliel's Alegria. How exciting is that? This is becoming a tradition that I l-o-v-e- love.

Finally..

2009-07-19T21:15:00.004-04:00

The moment you've all been waiting for:

No outdoor pictures b/c it's just too dang hot. I had a hard time wearing it for the 5 minute photo op! The color is pretty close to true though. I wore it out to a comedy show the night I finished it and it was still pretty cool out. It's tucked away in a drawer for the next couple months though. If I wore a long sleeve shirt under it, it'll just about perfect for coat-less autumn wear.

Upcoming

2009-07-14T11:05:00.002-04:00

I joined two more swaps even though I haven't completed my Christmas blanket. I need to make 4 or 5 more blocks (I can't remember) so that it's big enough to snuggle in under and then join them all together. But, I'll finish it before Christmas, I promise!

One swap is made of hexagons instead of squares and they are flower themed. It's going to be beautiful, and probably large enough that I won't have to make extra blocks, but we'll see. Besides, it's a summer throw, so no need to totally wrap myself in it.

Swap two is Autumn themed! Squares again, and I may make a few extra, but possibly not as many as the Christmas. Oranges, reds, and browns all thrown together in an un70's fashion!

On top of all that? Mr. wants me to make him a blanket all on my own, just for him. Plus I really need to start one of my secret projects! AND! And I'm going to make myself a shawl. The last few nights I've really been itching for one, when it's really warm but then the sun goes down and it's -just- cool enough that you're uncomfortable. Plus, they are beautiful.

Going to be a busy busy girl. Love it.

2009-07-07T14:22:00.015-04:00

Here are my favorite pictures from our Fishing Trip last month!

The very delicious cusk.

Following behind the boat on the way back to shore, eating up all our discarded fish parts.

We saw some Minke whales and also a Blue Shark but I wasn't able to get pictures of them. They were so magnificent though!

Sun

2009-07-01T11:34:00.005-04:00

I need sun so I can take pictures of my finished sweater in it's full glory.

I need sun so I can feel it's warmth on my skin.

I need sun so that my flowers will stop wilting.

I need sun so I can open my windows and have a bright apartment.

I need sun so there won't be a cloudy fireworks display.

I need sun so that I get a summer.

I need sun to get me through the New England winters.

The Hobbits are Real

2009-06-22T13:17:00.004-04:00

In 2004 archeologists stumbled upon some interesting human remains on a small island in Indonesia named Flores. They found 1 nearly complete skeleton and 8 more partials. What was so exciting about these? They appeared to be a brand new human species! These humanoids, named Hobbits, stood 3 feet tall and would have weighed around 65 pounds. But the fascinating part was that their brains seemed to be perfectly normal, even fairly evolved, except they were very tiny. Evidence of tools and a camp fire were found with the Hobbits.

Debates ran wild as some scientists tried to prove that Hobbits were a new Human species while others tried to prove they were simply diseased modern humans. Now formally named Homo floresiensis, scientists have striking evidence in their favor of being a new species. Not only are their brains well formed and not simply genetically diseased, but their feet also point to being a separate species. They are closer to a chimpanzee foot without the opposable toe, but show all the signs for upright walking.

Here are a couple articles: a summary and some more detail.

The species was wiped out 8,000 years ago when a volcano erupted on the island and decimated much of it's land.

On a related note: It is being debated that Chimpanzees should be reclassified as "homo" as they are more closely related to us then they are to other Great Apes.

All Quiet on the Eastern Front

2009-06-17T11:52:00.002-04:00

I've yet to finish my sweater! It's become so much fabric that I couldn't bring it to work any longer. So it sits at home and I do an hour here and there. It's actually really close to being done though, one sleeve, the trim, and the ties to go. With the way the weather's been I may just get away with wearing it with a skirt when I'm done!

What I ~~have~~ would be working on at work is my Christmas blanket. But, I've actually been pretty busy here the last few weeks! (It's kinda nice) That combined with the fact that I'm making it twice as big as what the swap called for means that I will probably finish it in time for Christmas, and not too soon. I'm 8 blocks away plus sewing them together. The original blanket was 12 blocks, I'm making it 20.

In non-yarn news: I joined a gym yesterday! Dearest has a discount from school and talked them into giving it to me as well. So I have him to drag me out of bed every morning (Even when the alarms go off in the rooms and call me every few hours from midnight-6AM) and get my butt there.

Let me tell you, this gym is phenomenal. It's very small and pretty quiet even at 7 in the morning. There's a steam room in the locker room, a rooftop pool, classes. I'm excited. On Saturdays there is a Pilates class I want to take; all the other times are 9 or 10 AM. For the housewives and other non working folk -.- Same with Yoga! Come on now.

Went to Hampton Beach weekend before last, pictures will be up once I nab them from Dearest's computer.

Guess Whaaaat

2009-05-29T11:17:00.003-04:00

Who's the coolest of them all? Who is the Game Night master?
I WON RED SOX TICKETS! Woo-toot!

1 game of Pentago, 5 games of Jishaku, and one speedy 'double your money' game of Blockus and I had enough monopoly money to win tickets! Also: Quirkle, and Exago are very fun games.

2009-05-18T10:07:00.002-04:00

I've always been a monogamous crafter. I start a project, and I don't start anything else until that project is completely finished. This has generally been the case because I only buy enough yarn for one project at a time.

I'm slowly slipping. Unfinished I have my Christmas blanket (still waiting on two more squares), my sock (got bored after I learned how to turn the heel) and my sweater.

I am by no means getting bored with my sweater. Boy if that were the case there would be no hope for me! If lace and 3 cables all going through different row repeats at different times plus shaping couldn't keep my attention nothing would. But, that doesn't mean that I'm not planning ahead. (Yeah that's it.. planning ahead..) My present to myself after I pay off all my medical crap and tax crap is going to be yarn. ^_^ And somewhere to keep it that's not the box or bag that it came in.

Mr. has requested a blanket instead of a sweater. The last blanket I made for him is now acting as a slip cover. So I'm going to need lots of yarn for that, a zip-up sweater to replace the one that Buddy turned into a chew toy, and then two secret projects I can't tell you about.

Brain Flexing

2009-05-07T16:25:00.007-04:00

This sweater is a challenge. First sweater, first cables, first intricate lace work. Whew, not a mindless knitting. The biggest challenge is the way the pattern is written. It's sort of all written out, but not. It writes out each segment for the different cables and lace panels but then they only write out a 10 row segment which you repeat; changing increases and decreases that it lists out underneath that (in a very confusing, have to sit there for a moment and plan it out way). Examples:

Row 8: P4, work Row 8 of Lace patt over next 17 sts, p10 (12, 14, 16), work Row 8 of Small Cable patt over next 4 sts, p4, work Row 8 of Alternating Cable patt over next 8 sts, p4, work Row 8 of Small Cable patt over next 4 sts, p10 (12, 14, 16), work Row 8 of Lace patt over next 17 sts, p4.

Continue in patts as established, and AT THE SAME TIME decreasing 2 sts (as done onRows 3, 7, and 10 just next to the outer edges of the small cables) on every alternating 4th and 3rd row 3 times, then every 4th row 1 time = 70 (74, 78, 82) sts.

And after the first 10 rows none of the cables or lace panels line up. So I've been having to write down on a scrap of paper which row I'm going to be on in each segment for the next row of the entire piece. Luckily the smaller cable is only 10 rows long, and corresponds with the 10 row segment, except you'll be on row 8 and it's also row 8 of the small cable, but row 4 of the large cable and row 12 of the lace panel. wipes away sweat It also looks like I was only supposed to repeat rows 5-10 of the small cable and not all 10 rows, which really, why didn't you just write out 5 rows then? But I like the affect I'm getting with doing all 10 rows better then if I had followed directions ;)

I think I've gotten the hang of it though.

Cloudy Day in Boston Town

2009-05-06T10:42:00.007-04:00

Views from my office, just for fun.

That's MIT!

From my chair.

Roof at the end of the hall.

IDK

2009-04-30T14:04:00.002-04:00

I've never had the trouble of choosing colors before. Green has always been a yes. But now I feel like I have a lot of green. I don't really, but wearing green 3 days a week for work at the toy store makes me feel like I have a lot of green.

Red is a nice color too, so what happens? All of my long sleeve shirts are red. Granted 2 of the 3 are sports shirts, and they are all casual. So does that really count? I have nothing super feminine that's red.

I have discovered I like purple, but it has to be a good purple. So ordering purple online seems a little iffy to me. Although the purple I'm looking at is really nice.

Blue, I have no tops that are blue. Which is strange, because my eyes are blue, and when I do happen to wear blue near my face people always compliment it. But certain blues are just too much with blue jeans. I like bright colors. The light blue is nice, but I'm not really a light/pastel type of girl.

My other option is Teal which was my original first pick. But I wore a teal shirt yesterday and it was a nice color, but I'm just not sold on it anymore.

I would love to make a white sweater, I love white tops. But, I have one white pull over already and my light jacket is white. That's enough. Color time.

SIGH

Hip Hip!

2009-04-27T13:52:00.004-04:00

HURRAY!

I have been obsessing over this sweater by Sweater Babe for nearly a week now. I've figured out what yarn I want to use; the Knit Picks Andean Silk in Kenai. I'm all set to make it except I need to order the yarn AND buy the pattern. I've never bought a single pattern before. Just seems silly, but for a beautiful piece, ok I'll do it.

In my obsessing I was reading links about the pattern trying to figure out every trick and recommendation I could. When all of a sudden, I found this link to Women's World Magazine. They featured Sweater Babe in their last issue of the magazine and are giving away one pattern to each person! Yep, that's right. I got the pattern for free!! I was expecting to email them and then wait for a few days and then get it, but oh no. Five minutes later!

Now Knit Picks needs to hurry and finish dyeing the yarn!

Crisis!

2009-04-21T10:12:00.003-04:00

I'm in project limbo..

I have more Christmas squares to make but I kinda-sorta want to wait and see what I get from my partners first so I can see if there is a particular color I need more of. Or if I want more solid pieces or more superduper colorful ones.

In the meantime I've gotten an itch to make more tops for myself. Especially with the weather turning so nice, but I don't have the yarn for that right now. I also need more yarn for other blankets I have planed!

I'm also going to buy some stash storage this weekend so my yarn can finally move out of the Puma and Windsor Button bags it's in now. Then I can actually see it!

I should plan out some yarn to make Dearest a sweater for this fall. He'd like that.

Finito!

2009-04-18T13:30:00.008-04:00

I've finished my portion of the Christmas Swap! I spend all morning weaving in ends. I hate weaving in ends. I don't know of anyone who enjoys it. If you do, let me know! I might have a job for you. ;) Some of these are unblocked (mostly the curly ones) and are a teensy bit small, but I'll stretch them and flatten them.

Friday afternoon I raced home to change clothes for the Red Sox game that night. On my doorstep were these! Though I didn't have time to open them until after the game. It was torture; remembering, then getting distracted, then remembering again! Thanks TiggerRD!

My Mosaic

2009-04-17T10:38:00.005-04:00

Went into Google images and answered these questions and made this through flicker!

QUESTIONS:
1. What is your name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What is your hometown?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. What is your favorite movie?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your favorite hobby?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What is one word to describe yourself?
10. How are you feeling right now?
11. What do you love most in the world?
12. What do you want to be when you grow up?
13. At this moment, what do I want more than anything else?
14. Home, Part I.
15. Home, Part II.
16. What is my favorite thing to wear?

Funny enough, for the drink questions, I'd picked Raspberry Lime Ricky and the picture I loved was from the Delux Town Diner where Mike and I eat at least once a week!

New, Improved! Protien Inriched Coffee!

2009-04-16T09:29:00.002-04:00

I woke up about half an hour early this morning, so after lazying around for 20 minutes I got up and decided that I wanted to try out my new French Press again to try and master the formula for awesome coffee.

Everything was going well until I couldn't find Mike's coffee mug, so I decided he wouldn't get any of my awesome coffee. I grabbed my mug and poured the coffee in and it was really hot still so I was only slightly alarmed when it was sizzling a bit. I thought 'oh it's nearly boiling water with froth, that's all.' So, I get all ready, open my new splenda and grab everything I need.

Then it happened.

I looked into my cup and (I gag as I write this) a large, juicy, bug is floating at the top. Sizzling. This bug was easily 3/4 of an inch long. And plump. And apparently done cooking b/c it was now floating.

After a few minutes of screaming "Oh my god! OH MY GOD!" Mike and Kev ran in and Kev observed how purple the bug had turned.

Needless to say the remainder of the coffee is still sitting in the french press, and I will be scrubbing out my pantry this weekend. And probably buying lots of glass, air tight jars.

Yuck.

Christmas Swap Progress

2009-04-11T18:00:00.006-04:00

Here's what I have finished so far for my Christmas Swap. I'm really having a fun time working on these. There's a ton of creative juices flowing into these since the patters aren't big enough for the 12 inch requirement and I'm having to improvise a bit.

This last one on the right is my favorite. I'm going to make several more of them. I might make one more of each of the snowflakes too, not sure.

Swap Time!

2009-04-04T18:21:00.003-04:00

Last night Mike and I went out and bought my yarn and a awesome pattern book for my Christmas swap. The book is 101 Crochet Squares. Figures, that the ferrets decided to want to drink out of my water glass instead of their bottle. So they kept dunking their heads in it while it was in my lap then shaking themselves off over my book. So it's already got the 'I'm loved' scars.

I'm still experimenting a bit to get the size correct. Each square needs to be 12 inches. That's a big square, and most patterns are written to come out around 6-7 inches. So far so good though. Although, it's been so long since I've crocheted I was doing my DC's wrong >.< Goof.

This is going to be a lot of fun, I predict. The first one I tried out is a really beautiful snowflake. I may just have to make one of those for each of my partners since I'm sending multiple squares to each person.

Ahh

2009-04-01T21:13:00.005-04:00

Finished just in time for spring. And still yarn enough left over to try my hand at a pair of socks with toes and a heel! I still need to wash them and see if (hopefully) the ribbing at the top will tighten up some. Probably should have gone down a needle size when doing that. Oh well. If it doesn't tighten I might just have to get some thin pretty ribbon to weave through.

Christmas in April!

2009-03-28T16:22:00.003-04:00

I am so excited! I'm part of a group on Ravelry.com based around a brand of yarn called Vanna's choice (Yes, Wheel of Fortune Vanna) and we're doing a Christmas themed crochet exchange. Here's the run down, I make 12 squares based around whatever theme I get put in; either traditional Christmas colors or 'Winter Wonderland' colors (blues, silvers). Then I mail out 11 of them to other people in the group and then they do the same thing. So in the end I end up with enough squares to make a blanket! It's going to be a blast! I find out on Wednesday what group I'm in and I'll probably be buying the yarn on Friday. :P

In other news my second leg warmer is going a lot faster then the first. I switched from magic loop to using two circulars and it's much less frustrating. I need to finish it by Friday!!

Other then my exchange I have two other blankets forming in my mind. It's going to be a fun summer.

Distortion

2009-03-20T15:36:00.003-04:00

I decided to pick up my leg warmers again. Partially because having an unfinished project staring at me starts to eat at my brain, and partially because the only other thing I'm able to make right now is another plush (which I will do, probably next).

So I actually finished the first one! Yaaay! BUT when I tried it on, the thigh is -huge-. I mean... huge. I must think I'm fatter then I am! Or I was knitting a lot loser then I had been. Both of which are probably true.

However, this means that once I'm done with both I might have yarn left over to try my hand at some actual socks! ^_^ And I have just enough time before the hockey game to frog it down to where it gets huge.

PS: YAY AMY'S COMING TOMORROW!

Spring..?

2009-03-17T11:16:00.004-04:00

Can I say it's official yet? Three of the next five days are going to be in the 50s!!!

I get to open up the windows and not get pestered for doing it! I'm also inspired to use my strength to manhandle some things down into the basement and have the boys come home and go "How..." (On second thought, that just sounds dangerous. I'll put them to work)

Second item on the agenda: I have nearly finished my shorts! Once I get my drawstring made and get the legs pinned out so they don't curl up I'll get pictures. They are awesome clown shorts.

I don't know what I'm going to make next! I really loved the lace work on my halter top, so maybe a lace shawl? Ooo.. that sounds amazingly difficult and fun. I also need to figure out what yarn I'm going to use for a present I'm making :D

Surprise!

2009-03-13T10:12:00.003-04:00

TADAH!

Once it's above 40 degrees outside I might just be able to model it too! This was definitely the most challenging piece I've done so far but it was one of the most fun! It was complicated enough that I never got bored, but no so much that I was screaming in frustration.

I was going to take a couple days off from knitting to give my hands a rest but of course I didn't. :P I decided that with my almost full rainbow of super bright yarn I am going to make myself some new PJ shorts. I'm even sort of making the pattern myself. Sort of, I'm using a free pattern I found for a guide on the sizing and everything, but the design is mine!

The weather? Really?

2009-03-04T11:33:00.002-05:00

15 inches of snow! Wow. And now it's stupid cold outside. All after a 57 degree day. Which I took complete advantage of and wore sandals. :D

I'm working on a surprise that you'll see in a few days. This will be evidence of my need for warmer weather.

Until then!

Feeling Loved

2009-02-23T11:17:00.004-05:00

I have the biggest sweet heart for a boyfriend! I came home from work to find he had worked all afternoon on this:

<3

2009-02-13T11:42:00.003-05:00

What am I doing for Valentine's Day? I'm making Sweet Potato Jalapeno Soup with Italian Sausage and then the three of us are going to watch the DVD Mike bought me! What is it? Meet Me in St Louis! Apparently I talk about that movie a -lot- and neither of them have seen it!

Public Transit is Fun!

2009-02-03T10:21:00.002-05:00

I enjoyed my first taste of Spring yesterday, I even rebelled and didn't wear a coat! But today there are huge snow flakes falling again. It's actually very beautiful from my window. I just have to put out of my mind the fact that it's all going to accumulate.

Had a really interesting commute this morning. We rushed across the street to catch a bus that was packed with 6th graders that talked enough for 50 extra people. Then had to cram our way into a train with bags jammed between ribs. I started to smell burning rubber, so of course once we get into the tiniest station there is they unload us all and take the train out of service. In the middle of rush hour. We're all crammed so tightly that the people standing on the edge of the platform had to squeeze back to make sure they didn't get clipped by the next train coming in. Which was of course packed full. And very few people get off.

So the three of us say screw it and decide to go catch a cab the rest of the way to work. It was so full in the station that there were people waiting outside the turn styles b/c there was no room for them to get through.

Oh how I love city living.

$$$ = Value?

2009-01-27T09:50:00.006-05:00

Does paying more money really mean you're getting a higher quality product?

Unfortunately, in some cases, yes. Working in a store that sells both high-end and mid-grade baby gear I have realized that paying a little extra can do wonders in the long run.

Yesterday a rep from the Baby Silk company came by. While I wasn't there when she came by, I did get some sample products to take home (yay goodies!) One of the products I got was a travel size of their lotion. It is honestly the best lotion I have ever used. Ever. My hands take a huge beating throughout the day between washing more then the average person should (because I must) and eczema my hands look like old lady hands pretty quickly. This stuff made my hands feel like, well, a baby! I would love to use this all over. Unfortunately the full size bottle is $20. (no lies)

Another area I see $$ = quality of product is jeans. The average person had probably 2-4 pairs of jeans that last years. Assuming they aren't super trendy. So I see no problem with spending $80 on a pair of jeans. Especially in my case. I have a -hell- of a time jean shopping. Until I found Guess Jeans. I can't go wrong in this place! Yes, $80 for a pair of jeans, but I go into the store knowing I'm going to walk out with a pair of jeans that actually fits. That used to never ever happen for me.

Here's an example where $$ does not necessarily = Quality. Strollers. Yep, another baby example. We carry a variety of different strollers from strollers that cost $1200 to ones that are $125. Disclaimer: Those two strollers are vastly different in so many ways it would take an entire post just to explain them. My favorite is the Baby Jogger City Mini (plug plug plug) $220, will take an infant, car seat, holds up to 45ish pound, big wheels, easiest fold in the universe, and only 17lbs. Amazing stroller. You could try and get away with only having this one stroller. (most people end up with 3) Not much money, lots of value. While it's only 2 years old we've -never- had a problem with them. Not one return because it was defective. Without bad mouthing any of the other strollers we carry, let me just say, this kind of quality/awesomeness doesn't always come in a stroller. Some strollers seem great, but just tend to break down quickly.

Working in the industries I do I've learned that doing some research before you go buy something, even if it's not a huge purchase, it not a bad idea. Research research research!

Oh, and organic fruits really do taste better.

It's a Boy!

2009-01-24T21:02:00.006-05:00

His name is Jackson, and he's a big baby! So I'm really glad I went with a really stretchy pattern. Can I just say, that this yarn is gorgeous? I think I can.

!!

2009-01-23T09:56:00.002-05:00

Look at what Amy made!

On to the Next Chapter!

2009-01-21T11:11:00.002-05:00

I have quite a few things I want to talk about, so this might end up being two separate posts. First and foremost, the Inauguration! It was absolutely amazing to watch history take place. I really wish I had the forethought to make a trip to DC for it, but I'm not sure if the city could handle any more people! Mike and I took extended lunches and watched the swearing in and the speech at the Old South church (which is beautiful). It was as close to being there as one could get without suffering in the cold. When they said to stand, we stood, when they prayed, we prayed. It was really awesome. I'm really looking forward to seeing how Obama is going to put into place all the changes that are needed to dust us off. :)

Since I hate ending on a sour note, here's my gripe for the post: FAFSA changed their qualifications for independent student status. I'm not kidding, it's now TWENTY FIVE to be independent! WHAT? They really think parents support their children for 7 whole years after high school? Sorry, but I don't know -anyone- who's parents have done that. But, I don't know any privileged children either. Here's how I feel about this. If the drinking age were 19, I am currently 18 and 7 months old. Oh, just kidding, they changed the drinking age to 21! And then, when I'm finally 21, they change the drinking age back down to 19. -.- I'm really upset! I was so thrilled to finally get more financial aid!

Alright, so a good note to end on! Mike's cousin is having a baby (yaaay!) Of course he forgot to tell me until two days ago and she's supposed to be having it this week. Goof. They don't know what sex it is so as soon as they have it his mom is going to call me and I'm going to knit away! If it's a boy I'm going to make a hat and booties out of the same yarn I made the previous baby gifts in, only blue and green. If it's a girl I only have enough for booties and maybe some mittens. I have some yellow and green I could use, but they are really, really, bright. Mike said I should just knit both because there's always babies to pawn off booties for. And, if I make a hat and it's a girl I could probably sell the hat to MK so she can sell it at the store. (maybe I should do that with the booties...)

Always forget to put a Title!

2009-01-19T10:21:00.002-05:00

I want to talk about some movies coming out this year that I'm really excited about!

First off, I'm really excited about Disney's Princess and the Frog movie. I found out about it Christmas of '07 and have been anticipating it ever since. They are going back to the old style of animation and (get ready) it's the first ever African-America princess movie! Originally I thought it might be an actual African princess, but it takes place in New Orleans during the hight of the Jazz age. Very exciting.

A book I read while in Canada: The Lovely Bones, is being turned into a movie staring Mark Wahlberg. I must re-read the book as soon as I get through my stack I have from the library! It was a great great book.

They are making the second Twilight movie.... Ok, I LOVED the books, absolutely. I haven't seen the first movie yet because I don't want to pay for a movie that gets bad reviews. I've read that the special affects are laughably cheap and you need to have the state of mind that it's not a serious movie in order to not be disappointed. Now they are making the second one, and CUTTING THE BUDGET! lol.. this'll be interesting... Not everyone can do what Harry Potter did. (which is also coming out this summer woo!)

Where the Wild Things Are was turned into a movie! Not sure when it's coming out. Apparently there is controversy and it might be refilmed. But I can't find any other info on the web about it, so who knows. Also, this book wasn't very long at all, I wonder what they'll do to make it a full movie.

Toy Story in 3D! The third toy store is going to be great! Why? Besides the fat that it's Toy Story, every movie (with exception to the Jonas Brothers Concert) is awesome in 3D!

The new Pixar movie Up looks really cute too. Basically, an old man wants to have an adventure before he's done with life. So he ties a million balloons to his house and goes! Only to find that a stowaway (boyscout selling popcorn) was on his porch!

(this post is getting long, there are way to many good looking movies coming out!)

Who can forget: WATCHMEN IS COMING! I only recently read this graphic novel, but oh man, it's good.

Johnny Depp and Christian Bale are doing a mob movie. Fainting.. Have to go see that. No matter what the story line is.

Of course the next Transformers is going to be good. And Angels and Demons is being made into a movie. It was good, but just not as good as other books I've read. I'll watch it eventually though I'm sure.

Oh! Fast and Furious! The third in line, and guess whaat, it's the original cast! Yay Vin Diesel! And Terentino is making a new movie. About WWII (I see a theme lately) so that'll be awesome!

Apparently I'm equally as excited about the kid's movies coming out as the adult ones. But kid movies are so much better then they used to be!
All in all though, going to be a great year for movies I think!

Bebes

2009-01-16T12:32:00.005-05:00

Made these for a friend from HS who just had a baby about a month ago. Hopefully they'll still fit her! They look kind of orange in the photo, but it's really a tomato red. If I have time at work today (which I probably will) I'll make some booties to go with them. I'll edit that picture in once I get them finished (probably by tomorrow).

Here they are!

I would have finished them last night but my hands were really sore. Now to get them to Jarrod so he can mail them out!

Learn the Art of Layers.

2009-01-15T11:50:00.005-05:00

I'm happy to say that yes, I can layer my yoga pants with my jeans and still fit them inside my boots. Which is very helpful when it's 13 degrees outside and overcast.

I've been waiting for a week to get a bunch of yarn I ordered and it came on Saturday (yaaaay!) I started on a pair of leg warmers first:

Now, as you can see, I'm not very far. They are going to come above the knee when I'm done, and I'm about.. 3 inches over the heel. So I might get them just in time for Spring! lol...

I got a Barnes and Noble gift card from the toy store for Christmas so I went to the library and checked out all the books I wanted to read that I didn't feel the need to purchase. So now I still have my library card and 6 books sitting around to be read. I just don't know if I have time to do anything else!

New Obsession; Take One

2009-01-07T11:01:00.004-05:00

Alright! Let me introduce you to my new friend: ravelry.com! Best.Site.Ever. I can keep track of what yarn I have, what patterns I want to do, and search a HUGE amount of patterns and people to help me with them! My first project from the site was Squishy the Fish.

This is his good side! He really turned out well in the end, but I'm a beginner and the pattern was weird for me. But he's adorable. On the other side I somewhere picked up an extra stitch and there's a bit of a hole, but I still love him. As I was stuffing him with love <3 Mike asked "So what are you going to do with him?" Well, I thought maybe I'd give him to the ferrets. But he'd get pretty chewed up so I'm not sure if I could bear to see that happen! But I don't know what else to do with him, he's sitting on my end table keeping watch over the living room at the moment.

More project posts soon! I have a bunch of yarn on it's way, will be here on Tuesday wooo! I got bright pink, yellow, blue, green and purple to make some more toys and then some to make a halter top and some leg warmers for myself.

:D

Are you there?

2009-01-07T10:53:00.003-05:00

This is like walking into a house that hasn't been lived in for a year. These most recent posts are so old! So, one of last year's resolutions bombed: being in school by the end of the year. :\ I was hoping to get in for this spring but FAFSA is a boob. But I'm going to get early admittance for the fall and possibly the summer if I can get aid. Probably going to go to UMass too, it's the cheapest option here and a good school. Mike's a little wary of me going over there at night though. S'ok. I beat'em up!

Christmas brought a wonderful, well earned, and much needed vacation of just over a week. I've also cut Monday's out of my Magic schedule so that I have a little more time for around the house. All my spare time at the College has gotten me back into crocheting and I learned to knit! Weeee. I'll put up pictures in a separate post.

So this year's resolution is to quit putting things off! Stop putting off school, stop putting off getting my certification through work, stop putting off everything! Unfortunately that little resolution also gave me the wedding bug >.< but I think I've made it subside somewhat. I love Mike more then ever (yes more then last year when I said the same thing) and I wouldn't want something stupid like me being antzy about wanting a huge party all about me to put a strain on our relationship.

My Poor Darling Babe

2008-03-19T08:33:00.003-04:00

There is nothing more comforting in the world when you are sad then an animal. Last night while giving my love to my dear Grandpa through my Grandma, who is so strong in this time of hardship, my little Baby Sox roused from his slumber and came over to me. At first he was crawling on my lap and just letting me know he was there. Then suddenly he started to bite on my arms and hands as if to say "Don't be silly, buck up." And I must admit he helped me keep my voice from quivering and helped me be strong for my Grandma. Only once did I hear her voice shake.

Once off the phone I couldn't hold back any longer and fell into a long hard cry, which I must have truly needed because I couldn't hold it back. Quickly I realized that my little babe was no longer bitting on me. He had run off and crawled into Mike's PJ pants and all I could see was his little nose and his eyes, just staring at me from inside the leg. My weeping had been so much that I had scared him. Of course the only time he would have seen me like that was when I thought I was loosing him, and he I'm sure does not remember it. I lay down next to him and started to console him, which in turn calmed me down. Eventually he crawled out slowly and sniffed at my tears. Ferrets don't cry, I'm sure it was a very new experience for him.

It ended with him bitting my hand again, telling me to quit being so sad. Although I was exhausted afterwards, I felt a release that only comes after really letting it all out.

And Baby Sox, thank you. Thank you, thank you. Sometimes you really know how to show me that you do care.

Water and Oil Don't Mix

2008-02-27T12:46:00.003-05:00

In light of loosing an entire day on my game last night (*tear*) I started to wonder what would happen if I was forced to live one day over. What would happen? I'd probably run into different people, how would that affect me? It could change your entire life! It could be the difference between living and dying, loving and losing. So so much.

And how would you act on a day you knew you got to relive again? Would you go kill your boss? Ok, so if I got to live today over I would....skip work entirely and just chill at home. Well..but I would do fun stuff and wouldn't I want that fun stuff to last into the next day? I mean, wouldn't I want to have those stories? I wouldn't...

Having to relive a day would not be a good thing.

A to the D to the ..hey that's that..?

2008-02-21T11:44:00.002-05:00

SPRING IS COMIN GUIZ!

Spring and fall are my favorite seasons! Well I guess whatever is just around the corner is my favorite. But I'm super excited for this spring. I'm going to be visiting schools in the next couple weeks and getting all of that started. (yay!) It's narrowed down to....*drum roll* BC, North Eastern, Emmanuel, and Simmons. I've already looked at both BC and Simmons pretty seriously. They are all great, and none of them are drastically more or less money. So, I just need to go see them and get a feel for them. That's all I can do. I've been dragging my feet on this one for so F*in long that it's time to just hick up my suspenders and do it!

Next on the ADD order of business, what the heck is up with my mood today? Yesterday I was miserable and just *groan* all day. Today I took my meds super early so they'd kick in by the time I left for work and dun dun DUUN! I'm pumped. I was even making a grocery list on the bus, but I was getting motion sick.

Ok, one last thing before this post gets too long! Hellgate vs WoW:
Wren wants me to try out WoW. I'll give it a go I 'spose. I told him I could only handle so many addictions though and I -did- just convert my WoW friend over to Hellgate.

Wren's argument was WoW has better end stuff, etc. Well WoW's been out longer. I think Hellgate's more my style but then again I've never actually -played- WoW.

IDK!

Opiates, Oh my

2008-02-04T09:54:00.001-05:00

Early Friday morning I was in so much, intense pain I thought something terribly wrong had occurred. I only got to sleep by laying in one specific position that numbed the pain just enough to keep me from screaming. It got to the point where I couldn't move without being over come with pain. I tried to self medicate which helped to some extent, but the pain had moved up into my shoulders and it felt like I was being stabbed over and over again.

Around two I tried to roll over and was hit with so much pain that I just started to scream. Blood curdling screams that called out to Mike on the other side of the house. He rushed in and was pushing down on me trying to calm me down and finally I had to bite my fingers to get myself to stop. That was it, off to the hospital I went.

Pregnancy scare, ultra sound, IV, Blood work, morphine later I had a ovarian cyst that had ruptured. Since I hadn't moved the blood had settled up near my diaphragm and caused my shoulder pain.

So now I'm on vicodin, ibeprophine, and zrfran. And I'm feeling worse today then I did all weekend. I think my other cyst ruptured. But somehow I have to make my way into Magic Beans so I can earn money :(

I'm fitty years old man, Five Oh

2008-01-18T08:42:00.000-05:00

While I was mulling over the metro this morning, coming to the conclusion that I am thankful we didn't move to Dorchester, a man sat down across the isle from me and had the most entertaining conversation with Casper. It went as such:

"I was just hangin' out."
"You cash your check yet?"
"I needta light my gas."
"You seen my electric bill?"
"I was just hangin' out."
"Just hangin' out."
"I ain't no faggot man, I was just hangin' out."
"Cash your check yet?"
"God bless you man."
"I was just hangin' out."

There is no doubt that on my full bus was he talking to anyone but Casper. To further entertain my morning my first bus driver was throughly proud of himself after fixing the ticket machine. After not charging passengers for several stops I hear him banging away at the machine, clinking of change depositing, and then finally the familiar ding of a charged card.
Throughout the bus I hear a very proud Bostonian voice shout out "I fiiixed it!"

I wonder what else the day has in store for me?

String of Good Fortune

2008-01-02T11:47:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! A new year brings a benchmark to look back at where I was one year ago, so here it is:

One Year Ago I was:
* Almost single :'(
* Living in an apartment with no real room to speak of, in an area I disliked.
* Working a dead end job where I wasn't appreciated.
* Being selfish.
* Had no idea what I was going to do with my life.

Today I am:
* More in love with Mike then I ever thought possible.
* Living in the most amazing house, just the two of us.
* Working two fantastic jobs with great bosses and co-workers.
* Maybe still being a little selfish, but not nearly as much so (heh)
* I'm going to be a nurse!

So my resolutions:
* Be in school by the end of the year.
* Pay off those damn credit cards!!
* Live life as frugally as possible without depriving myself.

Horrah! Kisses all around.

Need a new heart?

2007-12-13T11:26:00.000-05:00

Holy Crap.

I am flabbergasted. I watched Wired News last night and a scientist took a regular HP printer and instead of ink in the cartridges he put different types of cells (muscle, bone, etc). So guess what he did? He printed a HEART. A two chamber heart that began to beat before it was even done! Layer by layer this printer printed a heart. Wow. He also created a spray on skin for burn victims using their own skin cells, and grew a working bladder in an incubator. But my goodness... he printed an organ!

Just imagine!

Succubus

2007-12-11T12:21:00.004-05:00

A story of a girl just trying to do her job and get by in a hard, treacherous life. Set in the near future, she works for a man who walks a fine line between obeying the law and bending it to the breaking point. Not one to kill unnecessarily, she finds herself in a tricky situation.

Sharon walked casually down the dim hallway. Around her paint and wallpaper peeled off the wall and was ground into the threadbare carpet. As she rounded a corner she pulled back on one side of her hood, glancing back behind for anyone. Licking her lips she smiled and returned the hood. At the end of the corridor she keyed in a pricey punch code and slipped inside the apartment unnoticed.
The room was completely black, but with a blink and roll of her eyes everything came into psychedelic waves of greens and yellows. Off in the corner was the red mound she was looking for. Silently she slipped over to the bed and mounted it lightly. Once seated atop her target she peered down at him, he was breathing deeply, so deeply in fact that had she not been able to see the heat rising off him she might have mistaken him for dead. She leaned down, letting her weight rest on his hips, and whispered softly in his ear, “Succubus has come to take what is due, jockey.” She brushed her tongue over his ear as he stirred, his form glowing an even brighter red. With a flick of her wrists razors slid out from below her nails and she pressed them against his cheek, her nose hovering only inches above his own. She rolled away her thermo vision and switched on a light above the bed.
Still half asleep he reached up and ran his fingers over her body, pressing up against her through the blankets. With a smile she dug her nails in deeper, drops of blood pooling out of the punctures slowly. Finally his eyes blinked open and flashed a grin up at her, “I been waitin for ya, mona.” Through nibbles against the tender flesh of his neck she muttered, “Then I’m sure you know why I’m here.” He arched his back, grabbing her waist tightly, “Ooh.. you do this for all ya targets?” While trailing thin lines of blood down his face she moved her hand down to his neck. She pressed her palm against the skin, tightening his airway, and scratched idly with her forefinger just below his jaw.
She sat up and reached into her tight jacket and pulled out a small chip. She waved the chip in front of his face and set it on the pillow next to him. “Who said you were a target? You know what I want from you.” She leaned down again and nuzzled her cheekbone against his temple, sending hot air over his skin, “Maybe you’ll cooperate hm?” His eyes rolled and he pushed up against her again, breathing out a “I think so..”
His hand left her waist and he pointed across the room to his console. With her face still inches from him she turned her head and followed his hand with her eyes. She slipped off him and with her hand still clutched around his neck she urged him out of the bed and over to it.
Chip in hand, she sat him down and handed it to him. She reached around from behind him and trailed her nails over his naked torso, leaving red scratches on his pale, pasty skin. He slotted the chip, transferring everything she needed over to her. Her eyes darted across the screen, watching everything that did or did not go onto her chip. Just as he was about to pull the chip out she tapped a razored finger against the screen at a file he’d hoped she wouldn’t see didn’t go on the chip. He chuckled airily and quickly moved it over.
Once the chip was back inside her jacket she spun the around the chair and sat on top of him, facing him with her arms wrapped loosely around his neck. As she scratched her nails against the back of his head gently she asked, “Now you’ll be a good boy?” He nodded stiffly, avoiding pressing against her blades. With a kiss on the forehead she got up and slipped out of the room as silently as she’d entered.

She stretched her arms up over her head, tummy exposed to the bitter cold beneath the hem of her jacket. Smoke curled around her face while she blew out breath to warm her fingertips. All around people scurried into warmer shelters, but Sharon stood in place, feeling the wind whip at her hair, her face only half protected beneath her hood. She tossed her precious chip up into the air, neon lights glinting off it's surface. With a whir a hover-cycle zoomed over head. Leather enclosed around the shiny object and slipped it into a pocket.
"Thus whispers are passed in this chaotic world of ours." She breathed in a long drag of warming smoke. Neon lights and holo-ads assaulted her senses as far as she could see. Huge buildings rising up like giants, the people inside them no less innocent. Just inside a dark alley lay a door that looked much to old for it's surroundings. Inside Sharon found the peace of a dark, smoke filled room. She rolled her eyes and peered into the deepest corners, finding a few human shaped bits of red. The sweet smelling smoke filtered out of their hookahs in a wave of color as it dispersed around the room. She plopped down into a bar stool just as her eyes returned to normal, being met by a huge toothy grin on the other side of the slab of wood.
"'Ello Sharry."
"Boris, how many times I gotta tell you not to call me that?"
Boris opened his meaty hand apologetically while the other reached under the bar and tossed a phone onto the bar. "'E said 'e call ya when 'e get back."
She rolled her eyes dramatically, pocketing the phone. "He don't watch it I'm gonna get antsy, never see 'im any more."
Boris grinned and plugged his ears. Sharon scoffed and waved her hand at him. "Usual then missy?"
She held her chin in her hands on the bar like a school girl, "Yeah.."

Just as she finished her drink and slid a fresh cigarette between her lips the front door of the pup crashed inwards. Before she had a chance to spin around in her seat multiple hands slammed her into the surface of the bar, wrenching her arms behind her.
"Sharon Green, alias Succubus, you are under arrest. To avoid immediate judgment you must comply calmly."
"Oh this if just fantastic." She tried to hold onto her cigarette but it was hastily pulled from her lips. Over her shoulder she saw Boris's large frame staring down the barrel of a gun while trying to stay calm, but she saw the quiver in his fingers.

She sat tapping her fingers against the cold metal of the table, her hands fitted with Kevlar gloves. Her lip had been chewed raw while she glared at the camera watching her. She tried to shake her hair hair out of her face to no avail. They had also taken the precaution to cuff her hands to the table.
"How long you fucks gonna let me sit in here, huh?" She slumped backwards in the chair, her head hanging upside down over it, facing the door. Finally it opened and in walked a very large Judge in full armor. Upside down she thought he looked like an action figure gone wrong. Like the artist had forgotten what human proportions looked like. Sharon's giggle didn't amuse the hero though and he grabbed her hair, yanking her head forward with an audible crack.
She smiled through her hair and finally shook it free, "Thanks, gonna save me money on the doc." As he walked behind Sharon the Judge slammed her head forward into the table. As blood trickled down around her lips she stopped smiling.
"Where is it?"
She leaned forward and wiped her face off on her jacket, "Well seein as I'm here, I'm guessin' whatever 'it' is wasn't in my cube. Maybe you can enlighten me?"
He slammed a fist on the table, his face millimeters from her cheek, his breath flowing over her, "The chip you whore. You killed Eon for his info, now where is it?"
Her eyebrows furrowed and she turned to face him, eyeing his tag she saw his name was Thompson. "Nah, I didn't kill'im."
Thompson reached inside a pocket and laid out photographs of Eon's corpse. The wounds on his cheek and the scratches on his neck and torso she recognized. None of them were deep enough to kill anyone. Most of them were hardly more then red lines. But the wound in his neck was wide enough to stick a hand into. She was sorry to admit she admired the quality of work. "I don't usually gotta kill for what I take."
Thompson flashed his pearly whites and stood up straight again. "No, I've heard of your...method." He ran a gloved hand through her hair and gripped it at the nape of her neck, forcing her to look up at him. "Isn't going to work today, and your boy won't be able to get you out of this one. We got that phone call, explained what it was you took. He's cutting you loose."
Sharon's mouth fell open in amazement. Did he really just cut her out when she'd done this for him? Well if this was the thanks she was going to get it, so be it.

The next morning Sharon ventured by the pub again, slipping inside quietly she went directly to the bar where Boris was standing. One look at her face told Boris to watch his mouth. Her lip was practically one big scab and her nose was crooked. With her arms crossed over her chest and weight all on one foot he towered over her, and yet his hands still shook ever so slightly.
"No uh.. no clone death missy?"
She sucked air in through her teeth, "No, Boris, no clone death."
His nervous laugh was quickly shushed when her mood still did not alter.
"Boris, you said other people were after that info, just which people did you mean?"
His shoulders slumped over and he wiped his forehead off with the back of his hand, "Ah Missy, it wasn't s'posed to turn out this way. You were s'posed to get it where it was needed and the it'd all work itself out."
"Boris. The fuckin Jakes are after that info. I took Eon's copy so that we didn't have to worry 'bout him, scan? Now he's dead. Our jockey is dead. And me? Guess who cut me loose cause I was caught? But I didn't have it anymore. I -did- my -job-, Boris. I did it well and you know it. You call up Davis and tell him I deserve better then this." She reach out suddenly and snatched up Boris's shirt, pulling his huge frame onto the bar top, "You know what I'm capable of Boris, don't make me do it."
As she walked out she yelled over her shoulder, "Three days, Boris."

And for three days she waited and watched. Generally unnoticed by most passer-bys she watched who came and went from the pub. She watched as Davis made his appearances. She watched when he locked eyes with her, he knew. But did he care? A couple times Boris caught sight of her as he hurried in. His hands shook as he locked up for the night.
As the sun dropped on the the third day she emerged from her shadowy territory. She slipped inside the pup and locked the door behind her. It was nearly empty. Silently she hopped up onto the bar and stat cross-legged, watching as Boris crouched underneath, restocking some alcohol. She sat perfectly straight and still, her hands sitting idly in her lap. Her patience began to wain however and she bent over at the waist and let her hair fall into Boris's line of site, her head sideways at an almost unnatural angle. As his eyes skimmed in her direction he jump, hitting his head on the bottom of the bar.
"Evening, Boris."
He emerged rubbing the back of his head and grumbling under his breath. She straightened so her eyes were level with his. By this time the other patrons had noticed the girl sitting on top of the bar, staring down the tender. They tried to avert their eyes and look enthralled in their smoke.
Sharron reached out and scratched a razored nail across the surface of the bar, smiling as Boris winced at the sound. "Missy I don't know what to tell ya. I tried talkin' to 'im be 'e just firm on this one." Sharon stuck out her lip in a tiny pout and caressed the side of Boris's face lovingly, the sharp tips of her nails missing his skin. Without a change in emotions she struck out at Boris, slicing four thin wounds across his cheek. As the blood seeped down onto his shirt she raised up onto her knees and pulled him into her, rubbing the back of his head to comfort him while he tried to ease the bleeding of his face. She kissed the top of his head and whispered, "Tell him I'm coming to see him tomorrow. Tell him that you are mine again."
She jumped off the bar, retracting her razors as she landed. She slid a clean rag down the bar to him which he immediately picked up and pressed against his face. As she unlocked the door and left, Boris watched, the shaking in his hands gone.

Boris banged open the door to Davis's office. The wounds on his cheek were still fresh but had stopped bleeding. He walked casually over to Davis's desk, a stark contrast to his entrance. After seating himself without asking he watched as Davis finished up typing on his terminal and slid it aside.
"It's late Boris."
Boris shrugged, "'Fraid that's not to be avoided. Sharry's comin ta see you tomorrow."
Davis tapped his fingers against the desk and leaned back in his chair, "And?"
"And I ain't stoppin'er. Was pretty fucked up shit you pulled, sir. Cuttin 'er lose when you was the one who told the Jakes Eon had that info they been searchin high and low for."
Davis opened his hands, palms up.
Boris stood his massive frame looming over Davis's desk, planting his hands on it and staring down at him, with a raised voice he declared, "You know damn well she did what you asked. Hell, the chip was outta'er hands fifteen minutes after she left Eon's place! No way she was gonna get caught with it. Jakes weren't in my pub but ten minutes later."
The door to the office eased open and out of the dark hallway Sharon emerged, her eyes glazed over. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she reopened them, her eyes appeared normal once more. She stooped down and picked up a small snake that had slipped under the crack and eased it up onto her shoulder. Her fingers trailed over it's smooth skin, "Thanks for the pet Davy. The range of his video feed is amazing."
Boris had turned towards the door and now stood straight with his arms across his chest facing Davis. Sharon walked around the desk and stat on top of it, swinging her legs on either side of Davis's chair, "So, here's how it is. Your guys out there?" She wiped her hands off and opened them, "No more, it's just you and me. And Boris, who I'm sure you've figured out isn't on your side anymore." She planted her hands on the desk between her legs and leaned forward some, "So, I suggest you listen to me."
Davis watched her cooly and pulled out a cigarette to puff on. "Sharon I created you, you'd do this to me?" She laughed and took the cigarette from Davis's mouth. As smoke trailed out of her mouth she said, "Do what to you? Sell you off to the Jakes? Test your loyalty as you so test mine each and every day?" She laughed again and passed the cigarette back to Davis, "I'm sorry, but no, I'm not dealing with this any more. You created me, now see what you have done." She sat up straight and opened her arms, her head tossed backwards and razors extended beneath her nails. She lifted her head and tilted it to once side, "You see?"
Davis nodded in understanding, "So what is it you want?"
Sharon giggled softly and reached out towards Davis who was just past her reach. He sat forward and allowed her to run her fingers gently over his face. "Davy, you run the show 'round here, no one's challenging that. You're good at it. Just as I am good at my job. I wouldn't enjoy the paperwork side of what you do. So, here's the deal." She raked her fingers through his hair, the blades scratching his scalp just enough to redden it, "You keep doing what it is you do best. But this time, everything goes through me." She slipped off the desk and eased onto Davis's lap, "Like partners."
He gazed down at her with a stern face for a long time, "If I say no?"
Sharon smiled, "If you say no then we play a few games so that you understand my meaning." Her eyes followed her fingers as she brushed some of Davis's hair out of his face, "You know I'm good for you, that we make a great team." Davis closed his eyes, turning his head to plant a kiss in Sharon's palm. She flashed a smile at him and pulled his face in to kiss him softly. "I'm glad you agree."
She raised herself off Davis's lap and moved around to Boris's side of the desk, trailing her hand over his back as she passed him. The snake slithered around her neck and tasted the air around Boris. She watched Davis from behind Boris, only half her face showing to him.
"So what did happen with the Judges, Sharon? You showed back up pretty quick without a CD on your hands."
Sharon moved around Boris and sat in one of the chairs, letting the snake curl around her forearm, "They think I'm retrieving that data for them."
"And when you don't turn up with it?"
With her razor nails now retracted she ran her fingers over the snake as it snoozed with a smile, "Oh, I will turn up with it. Just...altered."

Two Face

2007-11-26T11:09:00.000-05:00

I had the most disturbing dream last night. Mike and I arrived at what was supposed to be his/our house. There was a girl there who was his best friend (no jealousy issue) I walked into another room and I can hear her whispering to him that there's no better time then now and to just do it. He walks in and gets down on one knee and proposes! I was so happy and excited, but then I realized it was a dream and calmed down. Then suddenly is flashed back to when we'd just gotten there again, the girl was also there. We were sitting in the living room and instead of proposing the said I was stuck on the friendship level, to which I replied that it was him who wasn't able to move forward with our relationship and stormed off in a huff. From the bedroom I could hear the girl scolding Mike for what he'd said. Right after this the real Mike walked into my bedroom and I woke up. I don't really know what to make of it o.O I would so love to get engaged right now, but I am content with where we are as well. And the girl in my dream, it was like she was me telling Mike what I was thinking in each dream.

What does it mean?

Break Down

2007-11-20T11:36:00.000-05:00

Since opening the page to start this blog I have calmed down somewhat. I have been going crazy all morning about work and Thanksgiving. Work because I have a -lot- to finish up today so that it's all caught up for the rest of the week that I'm taking off. Also I was going to start my second job today, but she didn't email me until this morning, and I don't have my green shirt with me but I do have bunch of laundry with me. So I wouldn't have time to go home and then go back and Mike's busy all day and can't help. So I said it was impossible for me to start today, but that means I need to get a jump start on my cleaning when I get home this afternoon so that I'm not rushed on Thursday morning.

So I'm stressed about cleaning, the apartment is a mess. Most of the garbage and laundry is picked up or done, but it's just dirty. I need to do dishes, the bathroom, scrub the floors bla bla bla. But it's ok, I'm master of the 10 second tidy, just need to turn it into a 6 hour scrub down.

Now about Thanksgiving, apparently we're just sitting at home doing nothing. -.- So then what am I so stressed about? Hahhahahaha.....ha.. ha... ok.. But I think I'm ok now. I got it figured out with Jerrod what they are bringing and he knows what I'm planning on making. Got an awesome recipe from Soul for some cider and I might have Mike help me pick out some wine if the budget allows it. As for the bird, I'm buying it all ready cooked! ^_^ Boston Market is my friend. I can't deal with roasting a turkey right now. Maybe next year I'll branch into that.

So... I'm definitely an over achiever when it comes to this kind of thing, but I really like to make people feel at home and what better way then a huge feast for thanksgiving!?

Russians and Middle School Teachers

2007-11-19T10:24:00.000-05:00

My Saturday night was just a normal night, unless of course you pay close attention. After walking across the Longfellow Bridge (which trust me, is long) and going to the bathroom in the haunted Omni Parker House hotel, we caught the subway out to the middle of nowhere by the beach. While there, we stopped to pick up some liquor and I was eyed by an African Gray Parrot because I was staring too much. Fast forward about twenty minutes and we're drinking Stoli vodka and a Ukrainian honey and pepper vodka with several Russian immigrants while learning what knife, spoon, fork, table, and chair are in Russian. Up on the roof top we are smoking pot with a middle school German teacher, discussing how half a student in his class might use German outside of school.

Later on a rose is growing out of Mike's chest just for me and we are dancing an Irish Jig to Flogging Molly. Over the course of the night I ate several different kinds of fish, pickled, dried, ect. The dried fish was a whole fish, eyes and everything. Russian host rips off the head and skin and then hands me the fish, telling me to make sure I eat the dried caviar portion of it. It was delicious, but the caviar part was like eating a fish flavored gummy bear that stuck all over my teeth. Our cab driver home was a funny man who had to have been a little stoned. We get into the car and Kev "Oh, this is The Who!" Cabbie: "This is not The Who." Next song plays, "This isn't the Who either."

And so I wake up the next day not knowing how I got from the front door to my bed and with a cut on my thumb I have yet to identify the reason for.

Just a normal Saturday night.

Oh Dear

2007-11-16T11:09:00.000-05:00

Hello darlings.

We will skip past the 'Oh yay Sox won Sox won' bs and onto the real point of this message.

I've done a bit of soul searching lately. Mostly last night while sitting in a dry tub with all my clothes on, shoes included. We won't discuss how I ended up in a tub with all my clothes on, just know that that's where I ended up. I'm getting a part-time position at a little toy store for the season, yes I realize I'm crazy. But here's the reasoning behind it; I have been out of the world for over a year, even more so since February when I started my current job. I quiet literally have no face to face interaction other then with my friends or neighbors. Not all of this is my doing, but I can't say I've been doing much to reverse the situation.

Money has been tight lately. I have been lost as to how some people have money they can just spend frivolously, when I can not even find money for simple things that would improve my life. They are not needs so I push them aside. This was the first reason for getting a second job for the season, or maybe even permanently if I enjoy it and can swing it. The second reason I have stated above, I need interaction with warm human beings. Not just words on a screen. My mind works well but my body language and mouth have atrophied.

Therefore I am doing this more for my mental health then for the monetary gain. I am worried that I won't spend as much time with Mike, however, this is something I need and we will both gain from it. He told me he felt bad that I felt I needed to get a second job to help out (even though I barely make enough for my own bills let alone our shared ones) but I reassured him as to why I was doing it and he said I could work as many shifts as I wanted to.

So I plan on it. And I'm going to take half of what I make to pay off debt, and the other half to do as I please with it. Which will most definitely be enjoyable. We are also moving at the end of the year which will help slam me back into world of people. New roommates makes for new opportunities and friendships.

It's cracking

2007-10-17T13:01:00.000-04:00

My heart is slowly cracking, chipping off in pieces. My cereal isn't hitting like he used to and my little rookie isn't either. The terrible two have put up some numbers and sexy legs has hit a few. But without home runs we just aren't doing so well.

I was really looking forward to a Rockies vs Red Sox World Series. When is the next chance that is going to happen? Well, if the Rockies keep up how they are doing maybe it'll come around again.

After I'd decided I wasn't going to stay up all night just to be disappointed I went into the bedroom and Mike was talking to Adam. I haven't talked to him since we moved, and he asked to talk to me :D I was pretty happy about that. You know you are a cool girlfriend when your boy's ex band mate wants to talk to you! He fought off all the groupies for me too. Haha I talked to Peach the other day too, I miss those guys. I miss a lot of people from Colorado. I am going to have to make an effort next time Mike and I are both in Colorado together to go hangout with them all again. Between Mike's family, mine, and friends in both northern CO and Denver... oi... I'm going to have to take 2 weeks! It'll be nice though.

This was a pretty pointless post :P Except to say that I am realizing what it is to be a Red Sox fan and that I love being that awesome girlfriend.

What about me?

2007-10-11T10:32:00.000-04:00

*Exhibit removed because it was being a brat. Please enjoy the rest of the park. Thank you*

Lost Memories

2007-09-18T10:09:00.000-04:00

Honestly I forgot I had this already :\

I found out yesterday a girl I went to high school with was murdered. Murdered. How does that happen? She was in the grade below me and I had choir with her, but everyone knew her anyways. But not because she was super popular or pretty, but because she was so strong. She had been diagnosed with Leukemia in middle school. Through most of high school she was was battling for her life. She went through surgeries, chemo, all kinds of things. And through it all she was a happy person! She's one of those girls you just absolutely fall in love with. Apparently she married into an abusive relationship, but got out (another strong strong thing to do!) but unfortunately he was jealous when she started to see someone else... and shot them both.

Everyone who knew her is just in shock. How does this sort of thing happen to such a wonderful person? How can one man decide that he is going to rid the world of such a great woman?! HOW DARE HE. How dare someone change the world in that way. How dare someone decide that they are powerful enough and important enough to take someone else's life.

Physical Thinking

2007-09-05T08:04:00.000-04:00

There are more ways to be spoiled then through money. I've never been broken. I've never had to survive after something ended without my planning it. I've always had something to fall back on. The only thing I've ever done all by myself was my Vet Tech school. Interestingly enough I put my whole heart into it.

I need that again. I need to cut the apron strings (Sorry Mike you now have an apron) and toughen up. I don't know right now if I could rely on myself to get through things. I need to explore myself. Scary as that sounds, I'm completely comfortable with it. The idea came up that maybe I need to live by myself for a little while. I've always been terrified of that. Completely terrified. But right now.. that actually sounds ok. I'm not sure why, but I feel like I need something like that. If I can afford it, maybe I should once the lease is up.

A lot of thought needs to go into a decision like this, but I feel like if it's possible, I should. I need to test my own strength and find out my capabilities.

I need to be broken.

But What about the Snail?

2007-08-30T18:25:00.000-04:00

"Malnutrition is a general term for the medical condition caused by an improper or insufficient diet. It most often refers to under nutrition resulting from inadequate consumption, poor absorption, or excessive loss of nutrients"

Nothing ever talks about those college age people who simple eat poorly. Over the past week I've experienced irritability, fatigue, general bitchiness, and I still haven't gotten over this damn cold. Today Mike quizzes me on what I ate today like I was an anorexic to which I answered; powdered doughnuts (ran out of cereal shush), and pizza. What did I eat yesterday? An apple, some chick peas and fruit loops. No I'm not anorexic. I simply ran out of food in my refrigerator and have yet to get more. He diagnosed me as being malnourished because of my poor eating over the last week. I need to get back to my Kashi and naked juice!

I hereby make this pledge as of tomorrow to take better care of my body and reverse my poor health.

And then there were 5

2007-08-28T10:04:00.000-04:00

I thought up something that I was going to research and learn about today, then tell all you wonderful kiddos about it. But unfortunately that thought flew the coup and we've yet to track it down. When we locate and retrieve this escape artist we will report back. So please watch this soap opera instead:

As of right now I have 4 roommates. I'm torn between my territorial side and my social side. I really do like having people around me, even though I'm sort of a loner.. if that makes any sense.
But on the other hand I like things the way I like them and with roommates it doesn't always stay that way :P It's a temporary situation, won't be a problem at all, but does make things a little cramped. It's like having a party and not enough seating. Plus I have to be a little more cautious of what I throw on after being in the throws of passion! Oh and don't tell my landlord! He already tried to raise the rent on the neighbors when they had a guest for a few days.

On a side note, I'm going to pass out here in my office. Paint fumes are filtering up these old walls through four floors. Not really supposed to open my window because "I bird could fly in and infect everyone with bird flu." Seriously? Yes, I'm serious. Crappy, worthless Veterinarian. This is why I need to become one. Are those tumors on his chest? "No, he's just fat." 0.0 Oh and the classic, "Just soak it, it'll get better." Honestly.

Blog eh?

2007-08-27T12:13:00.000-04:00

Apparently I have a blog, who knew. So I guess I'll use it and let my thoughts run rampant! Maybe instead of a zoo I should've called it a wildlife habitat..since they'll all be free to do as they please.

That said, any thoughts that might offend or upset, I do not take responsibility. Upon entering you have given up your rights and will not be pampered. This is a wild life exploration of Jaqi Zoo. Please keep arms, legs, and head inside the vehicle at all time. Otherwise you will be bit. And we do not have medical staff on hand to stop the bleeding or reattach anything.

Have a wonderful trip!

Oh, and also it is advised you remove any shiny objects as the thoughts tend to be attracted to them. They will be stolen and you may possibly be maimed in the process.

That is all.