Happy Birthday Mum – a giveaway
Edited note: Remember, to get multiple entries you need to do multiple comments (not just saying “I followed this, this and this” in 1 comment). Otherwise my RNG won’t find you.
Today is my mum’s birthday. I cannot for the life of me remember how old she is, but that’s nothing new… I’ve never remembered. We’ll go with the classy reason of “To me… she is ageless.” Yeah… that one works.
The chocolate cake I made a few weeks ago is defrosting (first time ever freezing cake… we’ll see how it goes.).
Her pressies are ready and waiting (yes, you might think I’m a good daughter. Truth is, I totally forgot it was her birthday, but luckily I bought her presents last year and didn’t misplace them.).
So Happy Birthday mum. Hope it’s a good one.
Now onto the giveaway. No, this really wasn’t planned due to mum’s birthday… but again.. I’ll just say it is.
I have not announced this new little project before because I’ve been too busy. (Really… I need a full time assistant, and an actual work space now. This is getting ridiculous.)
The Asylum For Wayward Yarn is being a secondary sponsor for the Crafty Diversions Fan Appreciation Knit Along.
I am absolutely honored to be a part of this. I really like her patterns (had quite a few of them queued without realizing it when I agreed to be a part of this KAL), and this is a huge step up into the big leagues for my little Asylum.
I couldn’t have done it without one of my fans/customers being juts totally awesome and dropping my name when the question about yarnies came up.
Well, right now I am very sleep deprived. And when I am sleep deprived… I do stupid things. This stupid thing, you will benefit from.
On top of the prizes I am going to be doing for this KAL, I am offering up one now.
Oh, I guess I should talk about those first.
1) You are allowed to purchase some of my new colorways that I have not debuted here on the blog. (I guess I should do that) My only rule is that you actually participate in the KAL if you buy the yarn. I’ll be sad if you don’t, and a sad Erin means no more giveaways. (I’ll put the new yarn pictures down below)
2) I will be doing a Finished Object random drawing winner from this KAL. Doesn’t matter what yarn you use, if you finish your shawl, you can possibly win one of my yarns in a colorway of your choosing.
3) I will be doing an Asylum Finished Object random drawing from this KAL. If you use an Asylum yarn, you get entered to win another skein from me, colorway of your choosing.
4) Oh wait… 4… that was just me giving a skein to someone already. Nevermind… ignore that. (Yes, someone has already been lucky)
So I’m a gonna do another (yes, what great sentence structure from me this morning…) drawing. Right now.
There are several ways you can enter.
“Like” The Asylum on Facebook. – This one is obvious as to why.
“Like” Me, the author on Facebook. – I know, it’s blatant self promotion, but hey… my Asylum.. my rules. And I bet a few of you didn’t know that I have an author page on there now. Well, now you know.
“Follow” me on Twitter. – I’m not sending you to my Asylum one on twitter because I don’t really use it anymore. Just go with my personal one. I’ll do yarnie goodness on there as well. And I’m trying to be better about using twitter. (Make sure in your entry comment you tell me who you are on Twitter so that I can associate you with it)
“Follow” this blog.- Seriously, just do it. I don’t think you’ll regret it.
And one last one because I’m totally about promotion right now…
“Like” Aether Horizons on Facebook. – If you don’t know what it is, it’s a novel I’m hoping to publish later this year. Does it have anything to do with this KAL? No. But it’s my baby, and again… my Asylum… my rules.
Comment here in the comments each action you take. (I’ll be checking, so don’t try to lie… ) For each action, please leave a separate comment (it just makes it easier on me when it comes to picking the winner, and if you shove all of it into one comment, you’ll only get ONE entry.).
Alright, I think my insanity is over for the moment. On to photos of new yarn goodness.
“Beware” inspired by the most awesome band “Bitter Ruin”. I kind of love them. Kind of more than I should. If you haven’t listened to them, you should. Go do it. You won’t regret it. This yarn was created as I am knitting a hat for Georgia, who is the more feminine half of Bitter Ruin. But that is a post for another day.
“Les Pacte Des Loups” inspired by the creature that actually terrorized the French countryside in the 18th century. The Beast of Gévaudan (huh, guess I could have named it that… non? Oh well, if I ever have to change the name… that’s what I’ll change it to.) was responsible for an estimated 210 attacks, resulting in 113 deaths and 49 injuries; 98 of the victims killed were partly eaten. Some say it was a giant wolf. Some say it was a hyena (I don’t give into the people who say it wasn’t due to not having the right amount of teeth. When you kill 113 people or more, you are bound to loose a few teeth eh?). Some say it was a wild boar. Some say it’s sire was a red furred Mastiff. Some even say it was a Mesonychid. We will sadly never know.
“The Silver Kiss”, this one amuses me because while I was dyeing it I kept thinking it reminded me of Silver Kisses. Don’t ask why, it just did. I decided on Silver Kiss instead and only then remembered that The Silver Kiss was my very first vampire book that I read as a child. I’ve spoken about the book before, in my post about “Blood and Chocolate” by Annette Curtis Klause. She also wrote The Silver Kiss. So yes, I unintentionally named it after the first vampire book I ever read. It feels appropriate.
The photo does not do the yarn justice. The subtlety of the steam and brass and copper tones is gorgeous on this yarn. I can’t wait to see it knitted into something. I had been planning a series of Steampunk yarns for a long time now, this is just the first of what will be many. Oh hey.. there ya go.. there is the tie in to Aether Horizons. See, I can justify anything.
Copper Dragonflies is another in my Steampunk line. Inspired partly by the most fabulous friend of mine who is Copper Dragonflies. Her hats will be with me at Anomaly Con (ACK, another thing I haven’t posted about.. whoopsie. I guess I’ll be doing another blog post soon!) as she is my… “apprentice”. *shifty eyes*
The Governor’s Daughter is the next in the Parley of Pirates series. Betcha can’t guess who that’s supposed to be? I’ll give you 5 guesses and the first 4 don’t count.
“The Anguisette” is the latest in my Love as Thou Wilt series, based off the immortal works of Jacqueline Carey and her Kushiel Legacy. I think it turned out just perfect.
And last but most certainly not least…
Sleepy Hollow. I really wanted Fall colors for this yarn. I think I got exactly what I wanted. Headless horsemen, Ichabod Crane… things that go bump in the night…
Alright, you’ve seen all my new yarns (which other than for the KAL, will NOT be available until April, after the Anomaly Con is over.
Pucks and broken sticks…
My adventures in Denver for my first Hockey game.
Step One: Drive to Denver
Step Two: Starving, go to lunch at Panera. Once again disappointed with the tomato mozzarella panini.
Step Three: Realize we have about 3 hours before we can even contemplate going downtown.
We were near Park Meadows Mall and knew that there was a DSW. So Mother of Mine and I decide to see if there are any shoes that might work for the wedding.
I quite literally steal them off another woman’s feet… But I’ve got my wedding shoes.
Amethyst purple with a kitten heel and pointy toe.
This means the wedding colors changed. Thats alright. That’s a blog for another day.
Oh, I also bought 2 other pairs of shoes. A pair of sheepskin Chuck Taylors, and a simple pair of black Keds. I really needed summer appropriate shoes, hence the Keds, but the Chucks were a factor of “oh my god they actually fit”.
We even still go to the actual mall and poke around as we had only killed about an hour at DSW.
Wandered about the mall… definitely killed time. Bought something that you really don’t need to know about.
We head downtown and attempt to find parking. I’m going to gloss over that spot because well frankly… it was not pretty.
Head up the escalator to the very top of the arena, we are in the nose bleed section. A scary section I might add as if you trip… you will fall and nothing accept a small railing 15 rows down from the top will stop you.
Ask me how I know…
No… I did not tumble.. but I did stumble. I caught myself though.
We were in the very top row. This is our view: (and mind you, this is my camera zoomed in all the way)
Suddenly we see someone from the arena walking around with a stack of tickets.
That person comes up to us and asks us if we are wearing Av’s clothing. We are.
We get our seats upgraded since it’s a home game and it’s televised so they want more visible fans for the cameras.
This is our new view:
BIG difference no?
This is a picture of where our seats were, from where our seats are now.
Top section, middle of the photo. You’ll see 2 white blobs next to one of the columns? Yeah.. our seats were like 3 away from them.
The people who’s arms you see in the photo next to us, ironically had been sitting up near us, and it was their first game, AND they were from Colorado Springs.
Seriously… it’s weird when we go places.
On the other side of us, we sadly were next to the drunkest/loudest people in the arena. I was almost tempted to send the SOS text to get them kicked out of our section. Without fail we always end up being near “those” people at concerts/events.
Even though the Av’s lost, it was still a good game. I’m very glad I went as it was my first and last time I was going to get to go to a game here in Colorado before the move. (Sorry, it wasn’t in the budget to go to a playoff game)
I bought us hats. It’s hard to find a good charcoal gray hat.
After that we headed over to Casa Judd, our home away from home.
Saturday was spent doing the Colorado Tartan Day… Which… I really don’t miss doing those festivals. I of course was there as a civilian so I could come and go and do as I please.
There, now you have the blog I’ve been meaning to post for weeks now.
I have a new yarn base drying in the shower… I did the Vamp trifecta today in honor of the Moonlight marathon I’ve been enjoying. I am in love with this new base.
Tomorrow will be painting on some tshirts for my Florida trip.
And then Tuesday is my flight. Obviously I will not be able to blog while I’m gone. But I will make an attempt to do so. There is something that should happen while I’m gone that will require big uber announcement and dances of joy.
Grab a Freshie.
I promise I do have a kick ass post to post about the Hockey game.
I swear.
Really. You believe me right?
Well… this is not that post.
This post… I am debuting a new yarn.
Josef Kostan from Moonlight.
One of the Snarkiest Vampires on the small screen for a good long while.
You know.. Vampire Solidarity and all that.. Rah Rah Rah!
So grab a freshie, or a non fat soy vegan blood if that’s what you prefer and enjoy.
This, to my knowledge is the final Moonlight colorway I’ll be doing. I don’t know, we’ll see if I get inspired for another one the next time I watch the dvds.
Now its time to go make dinner and then have another Pumpkin Pillow cause those are just damn nummy.
The knitting crazies
So I had to take a break from the Doomsday Cardi. I was working on the sleeve for the … 3rd time?
I ended up with a weird hole in a spot that was gonna bug me, and then had another mistake so I just decided to frog the entire thing again.
I decided to take a break because I just couldn’t stand the thought of doing the sleeve again, and then start all over with the right sleeve. So I was going to attempt Two at a Time.
Now, I haven’t actually attempted this previously as I’ve been avoiding socks. I have no idea how this will be. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
To add to my craziness during the break I decided to pick up my Ishbel again. Not to jinx myself, but this time it’s going well. *knock on wood*
I’ve got 21 rows left till it’s done. Pictures to come soon hopefully.
I guess thats all for now. Trying to get back into the habit of blogging more often.
Such a busy time!
Alright everyone, it’s been quite a busy little time for me.
Well, busy and yet not.
Lets go in order shall we?
Sunday night:
Had dream I was laid off. This was not me panicking. This was me happy, and deciding how best my day was going to proceed. I had decided in the dream that I was going to walk to the library every day, which is up quite a good sized hill. This urge to walk it every day, meant that I was skinny (less jiggly) by the time 1)I moved to England next year, and 2) the wedding.
It was a good dream.
Monday morning:
Come into work to find that 5 people had been laid off.
Go have a chat with the bossman.
He tells me that 3-4 more people needed to be laid off by the end of this week (err last week by the time I’m writing this)
Casually discuss with bossman that I’ve got contingency plans in place if I were to be laid off. Saw his eyes light up at that. Assured him that I was not volunteering to be laid off.
Go home, double check my contingency plans just to make sure.
Have some important discussions with family.
Tuesday morning:
Have discussion with bossman again about the whole layoff situation. Can’t go into details, but I just level with him more about my personal situation.
Wednesday:
Day off of work. Spent the day cleaning. Seriously cleaned my bedroom.
Thursday:
Work a 10 hour day with no lunch.
Was informed by bossman that I was in fact being laid off. Don’t worry, this is a good thing. I’ve got it all planned out, I’ve got contingencies, and I’m also leaving the country in 33 weeks. It just means that Pan (my kittah) will have to wait 6 months (That is of course if the vet tells me that he’s healthy enough for the process).
Drove home with a sense of calm. Which is odd after a 10 hour shift with no lunch. Wasn’t cranky. Didn’t want to cry.
Friday:
Good day at work. Another 10 hour day. Pack my desk up. Drop off my badge at the end of the day. Said goodbye to my favorite security guard.
I’m one of the few people who got to know ahead of time that I was getting laid off. Mostly, it was because I had given so much to my job, and been such a loyal worker for so many years. Not to mention all the s*** I had put up with.
It was a good Friday the 13th in my opinion.
Saturday:
YAY. It’s my birthday.
4:30am attempt to email from my phone- doesn’t work. Drag my butt out of bed and turn on the laptop. Quickly email Guy to call me.
5am he finally calls, when I’m supposed to be getting out of bed and getting dressed. So I talk to him for a moment.
6am we leave the house. Drove up to the Boulder Tea House (with a stop at Walmart first to pick up a few needed items for the house as it’s snowing and things like toilet paper are things you do not want to run out of in a snow storm)
I order a pot of my Russian Caravan. Nom. Love that tea. If anyone is ever curious what you can get me… Russian Caravan from the Boulder Tea house (yes, they are online) is a good bet. Lapsang Souchang is also another one. (There are a few that peaked my interest after I had ordered, but I wasn’t going to try it on that day. Mayhaps next month)
Katte and Mimi show up shortly thereafter. It was supposed to be a huge surprise that Mimi was in town. It was great to see her. I did know she was in town, which I”m glad I knew… if only because it allowed me to make my bedroom livable while she is here.
Mark, Darla, and Aidan joined us.
We had a grand old time, and breakfast was quite nummy. And I have the coolest friend. Crystal (of the Vampire Halloween Swap rescue package fame), sent me the coolest birthday pressie. A necklace of Wicked. I loved it.
Mother of Mine then dragged all of us to a yarn shop in Boulder. Which… to be honest… I wasn’t impressed with. I mean, it was alright… but… meh. I knew exactly who one of her suppliers was, as she didn’t even bother changing the name.
Then we scooted down to Denver so that Mum could be entered into the Wicked Lottery.
Mum gave up her ticket to Mimi so that she could join us for the show.
Unfortunately Mom didn’t win one of the spare seats. (You show up 2 hours before the show, and you get the chance to win a seat to purchase.)
We walked over to the Tattered Cover, and looked at books etc.
Then Mimi and I had to head over to the theater again.
Don’t worry, Mum had her own adventure with friends so it all worked out. And next year Mum and I will go see Wicked in London, so it will be fine.
The show…
The show was FANTABULOUS!
The girl playing Elphie was just… amazing. Honestly.
The girl playing Glinda…. was a bit nasaly. Which bugged me to be honest. But she was still good.
The boy playing Fiyero was good. Much better than the previous performance I’ve seen. (Though towards the end he played it… lets just say “a little less than straight”. Which frankly I prefer to the previous Fiyero who played it “ghetto prince”)
Everyone else was quite good.
Went and picked my Mum up at another LYS (which was not the original plan, but as I said.. she had her own adventure)
Drove home in the snow storm. (Started snowing in the middle of the performance)
Stopped at Petsmart for kitty food.
Stopped at Whole Foods for the dinner fixings. Homemade pizza with Chocolate Chip Angel food cake with homemade ganache for dessert.
Quite a splendid day all in all.
Sunday:
Was spent in jammies and a Firefly marathon, as Mimi had never seen it.
Which brings us to today:
This morning, I went to look at my phone to get out of bed, and dropped my cellphone on my face, busting my lip. Joy.
I was highly afraid it would set the tone for the day, but in fact it didn’t.
Started the unemployment process.
It was amusing, I didn’t get the phone call over the weekend, so I panicked, and I called my employers (not the bossmen, but the people who actually handle the contracts) as I had a few questions in regards to the form I had to fill out for the unemployment benefits…and I got a hold of her before she checked her email. And the convo went like this:
Me: Hi, I was laid off on Friday, but as I didn’t get the phone call, I was just checking in to make sure everything is copacetic.
Her:My computer is still booting up, it’s rather slow.
we chat about other things
Her:Just got the email from (Bossman). And it says ”I’m emailing you to inform you that I had to lay off Erin G*****. Please call her in the morning to inform her of this.” So, Erin… I have to tell you (trying not to giggle as it was amusing) you’ve been laid off.
Me: Phew. And yes my desk is already cleared out, and my badge was already turned into (bossman).
The reason for the amusement of the convo was 1)I’ve been aware that I was being laid off since pretty much last Tuesday. (Can’t talk about the details of how or why I knew. But lets just say the entire decision was not only bossmans) 2)It was now Monday morning, and I was laid off on Friday. 3)I was the calling her instead of the other way around.
But yup, she confirmed that I was now in laid off status, and that I am in the “Rehireable” status, and that all I needed to do was send her an updated resume. (which counts towards my UI weekly requirement.)
So I was able to finish applying for UI this morning, already made 2 out of 5 of my requirements for the week.
After that we decided to head to Garden of the Gods as the snow was finally starting to melt and the Sun was out.
Stopped at Colorado Mills to look at fabric. I finally found my wedding fabric. Of course, I’ve got taste. So it shall be highly expensive. Must see if I can find it online. But… I’ve decided on White Crushed Silk. As I will be able to dye it after the wedding, and thus my wedding dress will no longer look like a wedding dress, but instead a fabulous silk dress.
Then we get to Garden of the Gods, even stopped at the Nature Center. Which was neat.
Went through the hike on the path, it was quite a beautiful day.
Apparently they were filming The Biggest Loser in the park there. And I managed to slip on the one bit of ice right in front of about 10 of the contestants. But I spectacularly caught myself and didn’t actually fall. They applauded.
Came home, been watching Inspector Lynley. Just been enjoying the rest of the day.
I can now officially do the ”I’m Free at last” dance (Which I was doing a lot this morning while I was taking the hike through Garden of the Gods)
The weight is already off my shoulders. 
Tomorrow I have to drive Mimi to the airport in Denver.
Don’t worry, there shall be lots of photos of the Garden of the Gods, and the Birthday enjoyment, uploaded here and onto my FB.
Have gotten lots knitted.
Current book: House of Many Ways by Diana Wynn Jones
Bugs and Hisses everyone!
Too many things to list them all- Happy Halloween
I realize it’s been a while since I last blogged. Or mayhaps it just feels that way.
Sadly I don’t have much new to report. (Well, a few things)
Just been trying to get through the days at work.
Down to 35 weeks.
I have the best friend in Canada ever. Halifax, Nova Scotia to be more exact.
Here’s the story.
I was part of a Vampire Halloween Swap.
It was supposed to be secret. Meaning, we victims didn’t know who was “spoiling” us.
Well, right off the bat the secret got spoiled by my spoiler as she messaged me to make sure I was her partner. That took out a lot of the fun on my part right away.
Then the package finally arrived.
Lets just say I was less than enthused by the contents.
The colors were not colors I would choose at all, it was yarn I stated I was allergic to… and there was not a vampire related item in sight.
She reasoned that I didn’t want to have to ship things…. *head desk* Thats fine, but she could have included something that was vampire related.
So, to be honest. I was disappointed. I was well within my right, as other people noticed how lackluster the package was.
What does this have to do with my friend in Nova Scotia?
Well, a package arrived to me from my friend Crystal that knocked my socks off. It was to make up for the lackluster package I had previously gotten.
The yarn alone had me drooling. It is Seacell and Silk. Meaning it is HEAVEN to smoosh.
Honestly, I was so blown away and touched by the kindness of the package.
Moving along, here are some things I’ve made over the past couple of weeks.
Hoot is a little hair clip designed by Ysolde Teague. Whos work I absolutely adore. Hoot knitted up in like 10 minutes, I’ve actually made 2 of them as I couldn’t find the first one.
The stitch markers were little metal bobbles I found at Michaels craft store. I loved them so much that I went back to get more so I could make myself a set. These, and Hoot were going to my Halloween Vampire Swap partner, so they are no longer in the house.
I just made some new stitch markers for the Flirt and Flounce custom order that I have.
Yesterday I made myself exceedingly proud.
I made homemade bagels from scratch. Sure, a bread machine was involved, but that was just to save my hands from all the mixing and kneading. I do after all have early arthritis (or darn near close) in my hands, so I have no qualms about using my bread machine.
I made Cinnamon Raisin bagels.
And let me tell you,
No, they were not hockey pucks like I feared.
Yes, they were absolutely delicious.
No, they weren’t beautiful store bought perfectly round bagels.
Yes, they had the perfect crust, and the perfect texture inside.
No, they weren’t a pain in the ass to make.
Yes, it was amusing twirling the dough on my fingers.
I was absolutely shocked at how easy they were to make. The actual making of them… took far less time than I imagined.
The boiling in the pot was not as scary as I imagined it to be.
The only thing I might try differently shall be to use actual bread flour instead of regular flour. But pretty much.. thats the only change I’ll do for next time.
Eventually, my goal is to also know how to make Pumpernickel, as Cinnamon Raisin and Pumpernickel are my two favorites.
Other than that, we had a very quiet Samhain/Halloween.
Mum made a pumpkin sauce with black pasta for dinner which was very good. You can read all about it over here. (Once she posts the blog that is. So if it’s not up, just be patient.)
I guess really thats all I’ve got to say right now.
I guess I’ll end it on the note that yes… I’ve had the weird realization that this time next year, I’ll be in the UK and finishing up my wedding.
OOOHh! Just remembered one thing. Had an awesome dream last night. The kind of dream where in the middle of it, I was awake enough to go “Oooh this would make a great novel”. Can’t recall it at all, I mistakenly fell into the cocky writer mentality of “Oh, it’s so vivid and I’m awake enough right now… I’ll remember it in the morning.” – Yeah. How silly was I.
I know it involved fast cars… A theme park… a roadway quite like the autobahn, a sinkhole that swallowed a pickup truck, and promptly repaved it’s self (alright, someone repaved it.. but in the time it took me to glance away) with the truck and a body inside. A dying car crash victim, a lot of questionable money, the disappearance of the car crash victim and her body, and over all the entire sense of intrigue and “who can I trust” sensations. – Mind you, none of this is in the order it happened in the dream. It also no where near covers the depth of the dream and the complexity it had. By typing all this out for several times, I’m hoping to recall other details.. But no… no such luck.
I know, I know. I should have woken up and grabbed the dust covered notebook I have on the floor. But sadly I did not.
The only good thing that this is telling me, is that possibly the creative spark inside me that I feared was being killed by work possibly isn’t fully dead. This gives me hope that next year when I can actually sit down and write, I won’t just end up staring at my keyboard in vain.
Well, thats all I’ve got for now.
Ta everyone. Have a safe and happy start to the new year if you celebrate it.
Being Human, Repo the Gentic Yarn, and many other things
So my previous post was a little well… for lack of a better word… emo.
But hey, I’m a writer… it tends to be what we do at times.
After writing my blog, I went and scrubbed 2/3rds of my bathroom. This makes me happy.
I had a dust bunny, that honestly I thought he was the Prince of the Dust Bunnies, and was going to start plotting war against me.
For those who don’t know, this wood burning is from Catharsis Comic, which for the most part is on permanent hiatus, but it is still fun to go back and read through.
I kid you not about the dust bunnies in my bathroom. Colorado Springs is a dust bowl, and to be honest the dust drives me absolutely bonkers. By tomorrow my counter will once again have a coating of dust on it, but at the very least it will be a while before the grandeur of the Dust Bunny Prince decides to show his bunny self again.
So, I’ve been catching up on a lot of telly… but I’m not going to go into most of the things, cause I can’t remember most of them right now. This proves once again I need to take the time to blog more often to do my reviews.
But here is one that I am sooo ready to pimp out cause it’s like AWESOME.
Once again, a BBC production.
Being Human.
Blogger hides most of my photos no matter what I do to it in the upload, so to see Annie the Ghost, just click on the image and it will get larger. I’m annoyed at blogger for this. -.-
A Ghost, a Vampire and a Werewolf trying to live a “normal” life in Bristol.
What can I say, other than Freaking Awesome. The writing was witty, and refreshing, and well… human!
There were nice twists at appropriate places, and the episode 5 and 6 (meaning, second to last and last) had me literally going “Ohmigawd!” and squeeing and being quite creeped out at times.
I like their take on the Vampires, which it is amusing as it mimics a few of the “rules” my own vampires in “A Hard Day’s Bite” had. Ranging from sunlight to religion and the symbols of power. I liked it!
I’m never fond of the “Wolfman” style of werewolves, but I think that they pulled it off very well.
The Ghost, also had some great rules.
Mostly I liked how the stories intertwined, flowed and how you actually connected with each character. I actually cared about the characters which recently I haven’t been doing so much in regards to telly.
Oh, and it was great seeing in the first 2 episodes not 1, but 3 Doctor Who people.
Annie, played by Lenora Crichlow was in Season 3 of Doctor Who in “Gridlock”
George, played by Russell Tovey was in Season 4 Christmas Special: Voyage of the Damned (and actually it looks like he’ll be reprising his role of Midshipman Alonso Frame for at least 2 more episodes of Who, so.. WOOT!)
A character who’s name I cannot recall, was played by the actor who played Shakespeare in season 3 episode “Shakespeare Code”
I very much am looking forward to Series 2 of Being Human, I hope that it lasts for a good long while as it is a very good show. If you haven’t gone out and seen it yet.. Go do it now!
I’m actually getting inspired for some colorways from this show.
Sigh, I wish I had time and money enough to dye up all the yarn I want to dye right now!
Speaking of yarn…
I am currently knitting up a pair of socks called “Legal Assassin” which is a pattern completely designed by me! Don’t have photos at the moment since I’m still in the “working out the kinks” phase.
This sock pattern is to match the yarn “Nathan Wallace / Repo Man”
I’m quite proud of this yarn, it was my first time working with wool.
And it will be for sale. I’ve got only 1 skein left for sale at this time.
Which reminds me, I’ve been officially made into a Yarnie on Ravelry. Woot. I’m official.
What am I currently reading?
Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs
I can already say that I’m going to be pretty opinionated when I finish this book. Not necessarily about the story, but more about the over all books in general. I will be spoiling a bit for those who have not read, so when I do post that post.. don’t read if you don’t want a bit of a spoiler. Don’t worry, I’ll give warning.
I guess I’m done yammering for now.
Writing, Knitting and Dyeing- an update
Alright, so on top of the whole “someone trying to steal all my money” situation of 2 weeks ago. Last week my employer decided to over pay me.
Now I can hear you already saying “Woot. more money right?”
No, this is a bad thing. Why? Because the last time a company over paid me, it took over 6 weeks for them to correct the error, and Murphy is not my friend. It would not matter how long I would sit there and not spend the money, something would happen, and the day/hour/minute before the employer would get their act together and retrieve the money they over paid, something would happen ans *poof* it’d be gone from my account, thus making me extra broke and generally negative in my account.
Thankfully, I was pretty on top of the situation this time, and I notified my HR person, she sent the appropriate email, and instead of the company retrieving the funds from my account, simply took it from the next paycheck.
Sucks because this paycheck that I got today now has a whole lot less than it normally would, which of course puts me mentally into a not so happy place. Luckily, I had not had any bills clear, nor really buy anything I shouldn’t have, so the funds were still in my account, and I’ll still be golden for the week.
What does this mean? Well, once I finish paying bills for this month, I will more than likely be able to afford to buy some more yarn goodness.
I plan on finishing up my Moonlight colorways, (2 more planned for the series, Josef and Coraline) and starting on a little custom project that I have in the works. Here’s a hint… when I finish it.. it will be part of my Wicked set.. and it shall be called: “Little Ways to Flirt and Flounce”
So thats the update on the Dyeing front.
Knitting front:
I’m almost done with Sock #1 of the Fangtasm pattern (which I’ve dubbed my sock project to be “Playful Bites”)
I’ll most likely finish tonight and then cast on Sock #2. I’m terrified that they won’t match for whatever reason, which is very much making me want to start 2 at a time on the next pair I do. I didn’t do it this time because 1)I was still new to socks, 2)I had never done Magic Loop socks, 3)I had never done Toe Up.
Now that I’ve accomplished all those little things, I think I’m safe to move on to 2 at a time.
Next up: Writing.
Alright, the past two days have been a little crazy for me. But on Monday I did manage to write some. Which makes me happy. I’m hoping to spend this weekend busting out even more on the word count.
Mother of Mine is going to be out at the Elizabeth Celtic Festival (formally known as Kiowa Celtic Festival), and that means I’ll have Friday from Noon till I fall asleep, Saturday morning. Saturday Afternoon I’m going to go to the festival for my “very last time”. I’ll spend a few hours there then come home (thankfully, it’s not like I’ll be driving to Denver at all) and write till I fall asleep, and then I’ll have the bulk of Sunday till Mom comes home to write.
Hopefully I’ll be able to bust out my goal for the week and a whole bunch more past that.
Work: My backup who really was the only other person at work who
did anything broke his leg last week. I can’t recall if I wrote about this or not.
Well, Tuesday he went to see his doctor to find out if the surgery is a “go.”
And I don’t know what he did to piss off his doctor, but he is now banned from coming to work until the end of the month.
This leaves me screwed. Now, I’m the only one doing work until this desk closes. Yes, I have the other backloggers, but they do not get nearly as much accomplished as my backup.
This means I’m brain dead when I come home from work, and cannot write at all. Sigh. We’ll see how it goes.
Other news: I’m totally geeking out. I bought a new printer. It is a spiffy one, that is an all-in-one. Most importantly, it has a flatbed scanner (last year my scanner that I stole from the ex broke.). This means I can now scan all the photos from my childhood and not be without them when I make the big move. I am happy.
It’s spiffy. It’s new. It’s wireless. It will so pay for it’s self in like a month. (now I can do business stuff easier. Color printing.. woot! etc etc)
Alright, I guess that’s all I’ve got for now.
Talk to you later people.
Bugs and Hisses.
Beth and Mick wanna go home with you…
Oh yes… I went there.
Just a quick note to say that yes, my yarns for Beth Turner and Mick St. John are up for sale in my shop:
For reference images:
and
Beth Turner, the morning after
The wanna go home with you. They want to party. They want to be petted and loved, and they want to do wrap themselves allll over you.
How can you resist this pair? They know how to play. Watch out for Mick though, he’s a biter.
And for those who get to take these lovers home… I’m gonna be pervy here and say.. I want photos.
(Also, there will be a 10% off coupon waiting for you when a FO is completed and shown to me.)
Mick in the shower.. and Happy 4th of July
Alright.. that title sounds a bit.. well.. heh. But it’s true.
Today, 4th of July.. I dyed some more yarn.
Friday, I went to my Local Yarn Shop.. spoke with Shop Mom, and she is willing to work with me when it comes to ordering some of the Panda Cotton from Crystal Palace Yarns.
While I was there, I picked up about 6 balls of yarn.
I dislike working in balls, because they are so small. Generally about 100 yards each. This is frustrating when I prefer my yarn to be.. SKEINS and about 450 yards.
But now I’ve gotten to play with some Panda Cotton, Classic Elite Bam Boo, Classic Elite Silk, and Plymouth Earth Oceanside Organic (cotton)
They all took the dye slightly differently, but all took the dye really well. The silk is the most muted of all of them. But that is the nature of silk.
He will also be for sale once I pick up my scale.. (should arrive at Evilmart any day now)
Knit Picks was having a sale, and I picked up some books. (At 40% off can ya blame me?!) Specifically I picked up:
which means I can in fact start working on my Avalanche Hockey Sweater once I get all the yarn.
lots of good patterns, and I am so far liking Toe Up socks.
which already has given me several great tips. Woot.
Right now X-Files season 1 is on the telly, some NY Strip Steaks are being cooked, and the rain just stopped. So Happy 4th of July everyone. Hope your having a good one.
Oh, I haven’t forgotten the blog about JC in Denver.. and also I have another blog about not so fun drama that happened yesterday.. But don’t want to blur that ickiness with todays awesomeness.
Beth Turner, the morning after..
Heh. Sounds a bit kinky.. Morning after what?
Well.. It’s pretty mundane.
She’s dry. She’s cozy..
And here she is.. I’ll post the photo of the “One of a Kind” Cake soon. I thought I wasn’t going to like it. But it actually turned out neat.
Right now it is raining. I just finished watching disc one of Burn Notice season 2.. And now I’m watching Equilibrium. A Christian Bale/Sean Bean futuristic movie. Too early to tell if it’ll be any good.. but so far they just burned the original Mona Lisa… (oh, and apparently the guy who played Robert the Bruce from Braveheart is in the movie as well)
Today was brutally hot, and muggy in the morning. I’m loving the downpour right now.
I went over to Jes’s house and hung out with “The Girls” for a little while. Mostly just to prove that I am still alive.
I realized I should not take the pride and joy of my new work (Beth Turner) with me to show off to people whom.. well.. they don’t knit, and thus do not care.
As there was a 2 year old running around, I was not able to work on my stitch markers like I had planned.. I had forgotten that Kasha is growing and growing quickly. So I did some knitting, which I now have to go count a few rows to make sure I’m where I’m supposed to be, as I didn’t have a pen to mark my place, and if I don’t I’ll forget what row I’m on. Luckily, I know at least one spot I’ve done, so it’s just a matter of counting from there.
After that I stopped of at EvilMart to get some groceries as I was passing right bye it. Got myself a real pair of gloves for dyeing. I discovered I didn’t like using latex disposable ones, as of course your hands get sweaty and gross on the inside, and also my hands smell of powder for hours afterwards.. no matter how many times I wash them. And also, if you get dye on them, they don’t wash very well, and can transfer. So.. real gloves it is, and will also give me a bit more protection from the heat that the disposable ones didn’t. Some day I’ll upgrade to a pair of Bluettes (like.. THE gloves) And a new bucket for when I’m doing the yarn prepping and rinses.
I really need to buy myself a digital scale so that I can start knowing the shipping cost of something without having to actually go to the post office and have them weigh it for me. Ugh. Evilmart has one for 16.99$ online that I’ll prolly get. If I remember correctly it does grams as well, so I should be fine using it for the UK.
Now, I am going to go. Have some stitch markers to make. I will get to the Denver adventures to Jacqueline Carey soon, I promise!
I think I’m going to make some pizza for dinner.. mmmmm Yummy.
Bugs and Hisses!
Oh and on a random note: My Lucien from Fresh from the Cauldron arrived yesterday. Woohoo. More of the yummy werewolf. And a pattern I was hoping to get called Vindication.
Beth Turner.. Welcome to the World.
Alright… Just a quickie as it is well past my bedtime, and I am also running on less than 4 hours of sleep (don’t worry, you’ll get to hear all about the adventures in Denver and the Jacqueline Carey book signing) And forgive me any of you who have already seen this announcement in other various places.. I’m excited.. and I’m also trying to get my work out there.
This is my very very first yarn dyeing attempt.
Yarn: DK weight 100% Bamboo, chain style
Dyes: Cushing Direct Dyes
Colorway name: Beth Turner – Moonlight
In the photo’s she’s really dark, but thats because she was still quite wet. As she’s drying I’ve already noticed the color softening. Which I’m fine with because I originally envisioned this colorway to be ‘softer’.
I have to admit that the perfectionist in me is slightly disappointed in a few spots of it, but for a first attempt it’s certainly not too shabby, there were only a few spots where the purple and the yellow mixed in a not so pretty way or that the color got on a section it wasn’t supposed to.
I was very much flying by the seat of my pants doing this, and I learned a lot with each color dipping I did. So I’m keeping my head up and really I’ll wait to see what the morning light brings. If nothing else, I’m learning that I can actually get things to translate from the image I see in my head, to the yarn I hold in my hands. (just a matter of perfecting it now)
I’ll decide in the morning when she’s dry if I’ll be selling her or if I’ll just be keeping her for personal use.. either way.. I had fun.. I just very much wish I had a larger kitchen! (Thankfully, the Hunny of Mine knows that I will require a large kitchen for when we are house hunting.)
I have realized my problem now though…
I am now completely out of undyed yarn. 
I shall have to order some…
100th post, and huge news!
How very lucky am I that I have huge news, and it also happens to be my 100th post on this particular blog. (Meaning, since I jumped over from Myspace… I don’t miss it. I haven’t even logged into Myspace in most likely, 2 months)
Yesterday started something major for me.
You’ve seen it coming.
The Asylum for Wayward Yarn is now up and running. It’s a little bare at the moment. I’m working on logos and such like that.
I posted my first set of stitch markers.
A set of 4 Doctor Who “Pinstripe 10″ themed gems. I already knew there was interest in them prior to posting them for sale. And guess what, they sold immediately. (didn’t get the confirmation until after I came into work, simply because I had to go to bed at my normal time, and I don’t have time to check my email before I come into work)
I had already had the package ready to go, it just needed the address, the postage, and the envelope to be sealed.
Mother of Mine has kindly added those last few pieces so that it will go out in the post today instead of tomorrow.
I am excited.
Here are the envelopes ready to go:
I had stopped off at Hobby Lobby on the way home and picked up some more fixings, also so as to pick up some envelope blanks, so that I could decorate them and of course get things shipped out.
Here are the fronts of the notecards:
New set of markers I made last night: and you can also see the inside of the notecards
Beth Turner, and some more Pinstripe 10
Tonight I must work on more of the skeins. If I get time, I will make more stitch markers, but first comes the skeins.
I still haven’t gotten my dye pot. I hope it arrives today.
The knitting is going slowly, as the past few nights I’ve been focusing on *ahem* other things.
The next set of stitch markers, shall be Mick St. John. I look forward to him.
I also plan on having in my shop a “Mix and Match” option, so that, say if people want some of Beth and some of Mick, they can have it.
Alright. Time for me to get cracking at work.
I’m just very excited.
Oh. Quicky book review:
Dead and Gone – Charlaine Harris
Finished last night. I can see why some people are starting to feel that CH is kind of loosing the steam when it comes to the Sookie verse.
I don’t quite know how to explain it. But whenever something major was happening, it reminded me of my first notes. It didn’t actually show much of the violence (thinking of a big scene towards the end). It was written in the “I didn’t think they would cut me. They did.” type style. That style was how I would do my quick shorthand notes. Not the finished product. I don’t know. I really don’t know how to describe it. I don’t know if I’m happy about what happened to a certain Vamp. Actually wait.. that really bugged me. This certain person had silver capped teeth. This person bit a vampire. That vampire was supposedly then poisoned. WTF? how would being bitten by silver be any different than having a silver chain cut into their flesh? Why then did they not get silver poisoning then? Totally a cop-out methinks. And also, CH forgot her own rules. Bill entered a house without permission (or no permission that we were aware of).
Alright I’m done for now as I really must get back to work.
Bugs and Hisses people.
Best laid plans..
Alright, so Mother of Mine and I had a plan. Friday was supposed to be a double header of our local AAA baseball team. Saturday was supposed to be opening day of Faire.
Well turns out there was a snafu with the tickets for baseball (basically someone got the wrong info. Not only was the game on Saturday, not Friday, but the tickets were also completely sold out, but there was the possibility of two tickets for us.)
We had decided that we could miss opening day of Faire.. as frankly.. it’s no big deal to me anymore. I don’t know about Mother of Mine, but I’m not rushing out to faire.
So Friday, we spent chilling at home waiting to find out if we’d have tickets for the game on Saturday.
Late that evening we found out that there were not any tickets.
No biggie.
Friday (I think… I can’t recall.. the weekend has blurred) I spent the day washing and rewinding my tragic Bamboo. Yes, this is that bamboo yarn from months ago that arrived damaged. Figured I should get it washed since I was going to have dye arriving soon.
Oh, Friday I also stopped at Home Depot and picked up the final supplies for my Yardage Meter, and a PVC Niddy Noddy.
Got it washed. Got it skeined into two very large skeins.
Saturday, I decided I was going to deskein it into mini skeins. And when I say mini.. I mean 450 yards as opposed to 2 skeins consisting of 1800 yards.
Well, everything is an experience, and one learns from those experiences.. Lets just say, I have learned a lot.
I made the mistake of thinking I corral the yarn, having it draped on my wooden staff, while I slowly pull the yarn, run it through the meter, and put it onto my swift.
Simple plan right?
BIG mistake.
Thankfully, it was the smaller skein of the two that I had been working with..
But yes, the half entire mess slid off the staff at one point and now is a pool of tangled bamboo yarn.
I spent all of Saturday night, including staying up past midnight working on untangling bits.
I also spent most of Sunday doing the same.
What do I have to show for over 10 hours of untangling? Oh.. about 300yards. Thats about it. And that poor skein has so many joins in it. Thank goodness I wasn’t planning on selling it.
Finally after giving up about 3:30 in the afternoon (seriously, after having worked on it since 8 am) I felt like I could fall asleep right then and there. I was so exhausted. I forgot to mention my back, neck and knees throughout this entire process were on fire. After dinner (about 4:30) I finally decided that I couldnt’ just give up for the night entirely. I had put away the tangled mess so that we weren’t tripping on it, but I took down the much larger skein. The one that I was originally afraid of tangling lol.
I put it on my swift.
I then slowly ran off 450 yards worth through my meter and onto my ball winder.
Took me about 15 minutes. And the reason it took that long, was because the skein was so big on the swift, I couldn’t just pull the yarn and make it move. I had to pull a section off slowly, and then run it through and cake it (put it on the winder). Then repeat the process.
I’m just going to cake up the entire amount, and then after that I’ll use my niddy noddy to skein it for dyeing.
And then.. then and only then will I go back to working on the other skein of tangled mess.
I have to admit.. Other than my back hurting to the point of tears… I am quite proud of myself when it comes to this fiasco.. I didn’t get frustrated, I didn’t scream and yell.. I just sat there with a zen like concentration untangling the mess and watching movies.
By the by.. on to movies.
The Unit season 3- very good season.. Sad that it was cut short due to the writers strike. But loved it.
Battlestar Galactica season 3- also a good season. I admit I was very confused by the first episode. But then everything started making sense.
Doom- Yup. Finally watched it. I needed a Karl Urban fix. It was a fun movie. Brought back memories, as I remember playing Doom when I was kid. It was the only video game that was at our friend Grace and David’s house.. so guess what I played? yup. I sucked at the game. But the movie was amusing.
Mulberry- a British show from.. well I have no idea when it was done. The music for the opening credits and the closing credits are HORRIBLE. But otherwise the show was amusing. It was about a mysterious man who was sent to deal wtih a horrible cranky old lady. turns out, he’s a grim reaper sent by death. The show was cute.
Primeval – I really liked this show. Not much to say about it other than I’d really love to have my own little Rex.
Umm.. I think thats it for now…
I’m flipping exhausted by the by.
Oh and I’m reading Dead and Gone the newest Sookie Stackhouse book. I am once again slightly sad that I do not have HBO as the new season of True Blood is starting. Well.. haven’t seen season 1 yet fully so it’s not a big deal but everyone loves to chat about it online. Sigh.
Okay, I guess it’s back to work for me. I’m less freaked out now by work than I was on Friday.
Bugs and Hisses
Excited again, and The Great Batsby
So I’ve been meaning to blog for a little while now.
I’ve even had things to blog about. But, I just never seemed to have the chance or the brain power to do so.
I am excited.
Oh, lets get through the other stuff first. 
Work = dull right now. Thats alright though.
Saw Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. It was quite fun. When I was younger I loved the Air and Space museum, so seeing it in a different light was quite enjoyable. Ben Stiller didn’t even annoy me that much. No, the only person in the movie that annoyed me was the “I’m only famous because I’m fat and am slightly a comedian” actor Jonah Hill. I’m sorry, John Candy used up all the “I’m fat and stupid, so that makes me funny” quota. No one has ever come close to being him. Oh, and sadly the Jonas Brothers were in the movie as flying Cherubs. They were annoying.
And yes, it rained on us, so we really did see the movie.
Now on to some more exciting stuff.
Sunday I had a bit of a break through in the writing.
No, I did not add to the chapter I was working on, but I actively got a Chapter Outline started, and it actually helped me get past the place I was stuck. So I am quite excited about that. I allayed my concerns that I had about certain pre-existing correlations, but in the end.. Hey.. those authors had the same process on human friendship as I did. So I’m not going to fret.
Guy was quite helpful in figuring out some of the military stuff, and yes, I have a lot of play in what I actually end up working with, but now I at least have a base to start from.
On to other exciting stuff..
Tomorrow, I am going to purchase my first set of dyes. Yes, yes I will.
I can’t recall if I’ve mentioned it before, but I have just found a supplier of non acid dyes, that work just like Acid dyes.
What does that mean?
Well, all the readily avail dyes out there for the non animal based yarns… suck. The process is “Cold” and so takes FOREVER. And you don’t get good vibrant colors either.
Well, the dyes I just found are “Hot” like the regular animal based dyes. The process is the same, the only thing I won’t have to worry about is the pH level of the bath. WOOHOO.
I already know exactly which colorway I’m gonna do first. I can’t wait. I’m excited. It’s odd, because the colors are not something I would normally do for myself. But, this is an experiment, and also it was the only colorway I could do in only 3-4 dyes.
Also, any day now I should have a Rolotape meter arriving, so that I can accurately count off my yardage. Hey, I’m for real on wanting to start a business.. I need to know exactly how many yards are in my skeins.
Also, any day I should be getting Santa Olivia from Amazon.com (i was buying the rolotape, so I figured I could justify the cost of finally getting Santa Olivia)
The reason I am buying Santa Olivia is because June 25th, Jacqueline Carey will be IN Denver for a book signing. Woohoo!
Her new book Naamah’s Kiss comes out the DAY before her visit, so I will pick that one up in person instead of running the risk of it not arriving on time for her to sign it.
Saturday mom and I are going to a baseball game.
It is opening day of faire, but mom got the tickets thinking the game was on Friday. No worries. I’m alright with not going to Faire opening day.
I might go closing day.. but who knows.. I’ll go if and when I feel like it.
An awesome person on Ravelry gave me a free copy of one of her new patterns, as it was something I had slightly requested her to make. (I asked her to make a gargoyle pattern, and this she made first.. so it’s close) The condition of getting the pattern free is that I have to make a SteamPunked Bat. Woohoo I think I can do that.
So I cannot wait to start playing with The Great Batsby
He actually clips on things. Tee hee.
Alright, I guess I’m just trying to kill time.
oh, and I’m bummed because Since JC is coming to town, it means I cannot go to REPO the Genetic Opera in Denver the night after. I just can’t justify driving to Denver two nights in a row for no other reasont than to just see a movie and get a book signed. lol
The love of Terminator. And cuddly werewolves.
Alright. So, yesterday I was cranky. So very cranky that I couldn’t wait to get out of work. I think what started the crankiness (Other than dealing with crappy internet services in the UK.. don’t ask) was when the person who is my backup strolls in (late mind you) and immediately tells me how to do my job. I’m sorry, I was on break, I hadn’t even logged back into my computer before he asked me to work a certain case. Which by the freaking way, I would have seen as soon as I logged in. But it was the fact that he told me to take care of it, just urked me. And he has done this with others, I frankly wanted to tell him to frak off and do his own job. (Which by the way, there was no reason he couldn’t have taken care of the ticket himself. It took a total of 30 seconds to type 2 sentences and send it back to where it came from.)
That was about 9 am, and it put me into a foul mood till I got out of work at 12:30, which was 30 minutes later than my normal Fridays thanks to Monday having been a holiday.
I decided that it was going to be a day where if I stayed in the house, it would be a bad thing. Grabbed Mother of Mine and headed over to the mall to see a movie. Now, we normally do not go to the mall for movies, but I technically had errands on that side of town. (mostly, gas had been cheaper over there for the last few weeks. Of course because I was finally going to that station, it was now the same price as everwhere else.)
Mother of Mine and I puttered around the mall, and got ourselves some pretzels. Dealt with noisy kids, and a pain in my neck from walking around the mall. I was reminded why I don’t like to go to that theater. (Granted, I hadn’t been to that particular theater in quite possibly.. 10 years, but it hasn’t changed)
Then we saw it.
Yes, we saw Terminator Salvation.
Now, those who don’t know me, won’t know my feelings when it comes to all that is The Terminator.
I love the movies. I grew up watching them. I personally feel that the first one is a romance chick flick. Yes, yes I did just say that.
Why do I think this?
Mostly, I can give you 1 reason.
Kyle Reese.
“I came across time for you Sarah.”
Makes me melt every time.
Hmmm between Jareth from The Labyrinth, Kyle Reese from Terminator, James Bond, and James Fraser (Outlander books) it might explain why I have such a high standard for men lol.
Being a youngin’ that I was, I remember actively making the decision to watch T1 and T2 on the special Judgment day. Which, for those who don’t know, was August 1997.
Skynet came online August 4th, and Judgment day was actually August 29th.
I dislike the 3rd Terminator movie, because.. well it just didn’t feel right.
I have grouped it into the batch of movies I pretend don’t exist. Though, this one I will actually own, as I will have to have all the T movies.. most likely on Blue Ray someday. (Yes, technically my copies of T1 and T2 are still on VHS, and I’m not going to upgrade till after the move. – Hunny.. hint hint but wait till all 4 come out in whatever spiffy boxed set they’re going to do.. as you know they will. )
Now, moving on to Salvation.
Once again, I love Kyle Reese. This time he was not played by Michael Biehn, but instead is played by Anton Yelchin. (You’ll know him from many things, but most notably the new Star Trek Enterprise movie) Who I have recently gotten an extreme crush on. He is so adorable.
Marcus, played by Sam Worthington is a hot Aussie, and I kept catching his accent, when I’m sure not too many other people would. But yeah.. He’s hot. He did a good job in the role he had. I won’t go into details as that will spoil things.
Christian Bale played John Connor all grown up. Though he was limited by the existing lore of the character, and the actors who have played him previously.. I think he did an excellent job.
One thing that annoyed me in the movie, was the tapes that Sarah Connor made for John. I was sitting there in the theater thinking “how could they get someone else to do the tapes? Why didn’t they just use the recording of the original tapes from the first movie?? They got the freaking photo of her, why couldn’t they get the tapes?”
Well, my annoyance was that it didn’t sound like Linda Hamilton.
To my chagrin, it was Linda doing the tapes. She went uncredited in the part, but yes, it was in fact her. In my defense, it really sounds nothing like her. And Mother of Mine also did not think it was her. Linda has a very distinct voice to me, as I grew up listening to her in Terminator, Beauty and the Beast, and everything else she’s done. I always know it’s her. So I was completely shocked when her voice sounded so different.
Mayhaps I’ll just mentally chock it up to the tapes having been distorted in the 30 years since they had been made and thats why it didn’t sound like her. – That might be plausible enough lol.
There were many little homages in the movie that made me squee in geekdom. (For those who haven’t seen it… keep an eye out for a scene later in the movie involving John, a metal walk way, and a Terminator… it is very.. reminiscent of a very good scene from T2)
Arnie was in the movie, not as an actor, but just his likeness. And I think they did an AMAZING job.
On a different note, there was a scene that amused me. I couldn’t help but think of a scene from The Princess Bride, and the entire time I watched this scene I had Vizzini’s voice in my head saying “Those are the shrieking eels”. Again, for those who have not seen it, you’ll know which scene I’m talking about.
The movie made me jump many times. Which is slightly hard for a movie to do to me anymore, so this was quite fun.
All in all, GO SEE IT. It is very worth seeing on the big screen. I laughed, I cried, I jumped out of my seat.
Now moving along.
Yesterday I also received my 2nd package from the Vampire Club.
Whoohoo more Lucien yarn.
This month also included a cute little stitch marker.
I love the pattern by Gherkin, that is called Fangtasm. Unfortunately, it is 1) a sock, and 2) a toe up sock. Which until I get over my aversion to socks, this one is going to not get touched. And also I do not yet know how to do toe up socks- which is not nearly as simple as doing a regular sock. I did wish to learn how to do a toe up sock, but then my aversion happened.
Here are photos, and I apologize for the lack of photos previously (I can’t recall if I had posted them or not) as I didn’t get good photos last time.
Today, the light outside was gorgeous.
And now for an action shot with my lovely new swift. Ignore the chaos behind it, we are rearranging the house-mostly the front room, so it’s a mess.
I absolutely LOVE the swift. It took me 10 minutes to cake up a skein of yarn with it instead of the hour it had taken previously, and that was if I was lucky enough to not have it tangle into a horrible mess like Lucien did previously. (Seriously 8 hours minimum spent untangling it)
Oh, and on a completely random note… I just watched a cute movie. “The Student Prince” It was enjoyable. It had Rupert Penry-Jones (Known from Spooks, and Casanova) when he was verra young.
Okay, I guess I’m done rambling.
Bugs and Hisses.
Ramblings of the insane, and a few reviews.
Last night Mother of Mine and I watched Australia.
I must admit, that when I originally saw the trailers for it… I thought “hmmm looks like something I want to see.. but it looks like something I’d need to be in the mood for”
Which is why it hadn’t been watched until now.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a HUGE fan of Baz Luhrman. I do in fact own the Red Curtain Collection, and Strictly Ballroom has been one of my all time favorite movies.
I’m also a huge fan of Hugh Jackman. I mean, heck… I once recorded a PBS showing of Oklahoma! because he was in it. (I managed to somehow not watch it before I accidentally recorded over it, but you still get the point.)
Now, one of the reasons I was meh about watching it, was because I just have to be in a mood to watch one of her movies. I’m not saying she’s a bad actress… I’m just saying I tend to have to be in a mood.
But Australia finally came in last night at the library.
Now, the first thing I will say… is if the trailers had actually shown what most of the movie was about… I would have watched it a LONG time ago.
The trailers made it seem that the movie was ONLY about War coming to Australia.
And also, that it was because of the war that Lady Ashely (Nicole Kidman’s character) goes to Australia for.
Without giving away the movie.. I’ll say, that only about the last half to last quarter of the movie has anything to actually do with the war.
Ironically, I’m glad that I’ve watched McLeod’s Daughters a bit prior to watching Australia, because if I hadn’t… I think all the Droving, would have just made me think of City Slickers (you know… Billy Crystal). Which, though there were a few times I snorted thinking about that movie… I was glad my mind was flicking more back and forth between what was on the screen and the droving of McLeod’s Daughters. (Mostly, I was just thinking about the “Station House” and how something can in fact have been around for over 100 years, and doing the exact same thing as it was built for originally.)
The movie, very much had Baz’s signature flair. OR at least, the very beginning did. There was no doubt in my mind watching the first 30 minutes of the movie that this was in fact a Baz Luhrman film.
The music was very gorgeous, and of course I ended up going to bed having “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” in my head. Which, if you see the movie, you’ll understand.
The cinematography was absolutely without a doubt breath takingly gorgeous. And they did such a great job with the Green Screen, that you can only tell it was employed in very few scenes. I don’t know how many it was actually used in, but there are some where you could tell. Which, there were obvious reasons for it.
Wicked’s vote: I’ll own this someday. (And thats saying something!)
Moving along…
I quickly read over the weekend, the latest book by Joanne Fluke.
Cream Puff Murder.
I have to admit, though this book was slightly annoying in the aspect that it was mostly centered around Hannah’s waistline and the need to loose a few pounds.
The person who died in this one… I, like others am very glad to see dead.
Mike, one of Hannah’s two boyfriends… I have decided I do not like. Originally, I used to be more Team Mike rather than Team Norman. I mean.. who wouldn’t want the hot police detective as opposed to the slightly normal looking dentist. Dentists have the highest rate of suicidal tendencies per year. Perhaps I’m the only who thinks about that in the grand scheme of things when it comes to choosing a partner.
Yes, Mike has more danger when it comes to his profession, but is less likely to kill himself when it comes down to it.
Right now, I’m definitely more in the Team Norman camp. I’d kill for his house. lol.
Almost through with Sandman Volume 3 by Neil Gaiman.
Started reading Summer Knight again by Jim Butcher. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish it this time before it’s due back at the library or one of my other “gotta read this now because there is a waiting list a mile long” books comes in.
That means Sookie has been put down for the moment.
Oh, on completely random news. I got something really cool, and I don’t recall if I had talked about it yet or not.
Leslie over at Dv’yne Writes, has a contest every month for those who subscribe to her news letter. As I have known Leslie for years thanks to the Colorado Ren Faire… and I’ve owned at least one of her notebooks, and have lusted over many more of them.. I of course would be a subscriber to her latest news. I mean, I never would have known about her awesome leather covers for say.. Harry Potter, or the other books she has.. I mean amazing work.
Well, I happened to win this months free journal give away.
It arrived quickly, as well.. she lives only about 70 miles away from me. Ironically, the journal via the post office, would have traveled more than that, because though she lives in Littleton, I’m willing to bet it had to go to Denver (north), then back south to me.
I opened up the box, and was BLOWN away. I mean absolutely blown away by what I found.
I was expecting one of the little soft sided refillable notebooks.. (like the one I have) I mean, it’s one of the less expensive books she sells (which is why I have it. I mean I bought mine at least 10 years ago, and I could never afford any of the more expensive ones), and one generally figures that for a free give away, it would not be an expensive one.
Well, the journal I got was a 60$ slightly hardsided non refillable journal.
Sad news is that Leslie will not be at CRF anymore. She officially sold her booth, and is moving on to other things. I wish her luck though, and I don’t blame her for wanting to move along. CRF was not a money maker for her in the recent years (I know this due to having a friend who worked her booth for a few seasons) I’m sure she also has other reasons for moving along. She will be missed.
Moving along…
Yesterday.. or was it the day before? I got an idea into my head. This is always dangerous. As I should have been writing or knitting. Not painstakingly editing a photo so that I can maybe make it work in a chart, and then attempt to knit it up.
If this works, it will be FREAKING AWESOME.
If it doesn’t work… I will be once again reminded why I do not like socks. lol.
I won’t really say what I’m working on yet… but I will say this.. “Wuv… True Wuv”
Hmmm I wonder if this can count as part of my Read/Knit Along? I’ll have to see.
Alright. I guess I’m done rambling for now. I guess I should try to write.
Oh, and I must say.. .even though I put down Alex and her world of vamps… they are still talking in my head. Constantly.
Which recently has come up a lot it seems. Marissa commented on her blog, how writing is an acceptable form of schizophrenia. I agree with that statement. (Mind you, I was paraphrasing) It reminded me of the introduction in the first volume of “Comedity”, where Garth talks about his friend’s experience when it came to being a writer.
His friend had a high paying job (he delivered payroll in his own car, through nasty parts of town.. so he was really really well paid due to the danger involved). He quit his job to become a writer and work on his novel. Well, of course when Tax time came around, he went from reporting a lot of income to reporting 0 income for the year. He of course was audited. He went in sweating and freaking out, and having everything he could possibly have ready to explain his expenses for the last year, and when the taxman asked “so… why did you go from reporting _____ much, to reporting nothing”
Friend: “Well sir. I quit my job to write”
Taxman: “Oh.” *scribble and rubber stamp* “We’re done.”
Friend: “What?”
Taxman: “You are crazy. And this crazy is explainable. Have a good day.”
Apparently, per the IRS, writers are insane, as we will willingly go from having high paid careers (ha i wish) to having zero income for a year or more.
(Again, paraphrasing.. but the words crazy, and insane were actually used, and the convo was that short. I’m not willing to dig out my copy of Comedity right now as it is upstairs)
So not only are we schizophrenic, but we per the taxman are also insane.
This makes sense to me. As I remember sitting in my 2nd period class my Sophomore year of highschool working on a play I was writing.. my first one “Just an ordinary day… like no other”, and my friend Nikki (not the crazy Irish one, but slightly Hispanic one) asked me how I could write what I was writing. I mean, 70 pages of dialogue? She wanted to know where it came from. I couldn’t explain it other than “I just hear them talking.” And it’s true. It’s also the reason I only wrote plays for the longest time.. Because I could hear the voices, but I sucked at the “The color of the mountains at dawn reminded me of a glass of sherry held up to the light coming in from the window.” That kind of stuff.. I sucked at it back then. I wrote poems and plays. That was me.
I’m partly still sucky at it, I have to force myself to do description, and thats partly why I end up putting down somethings I’m working on. Actually, that is one of the reasons I had to put Alex down, Denver and it’s descriptions were kicking my ass lol. I digress..
Is it insanity, when I clearly hear entire conversations of people who do not exist? If I never put my pen to paper, and I only just spoke of the convos… would I have been forced to undergo meeting with psychiatrists? No, I don’t think so. Mostly because I come from a family where we tend to embrace our creativity in all it’s forms. (or at least we do now)
I was never a child who had “imaginary friends” or at least none that I remember. I don’t consider the voices I’ve always heard my imaginary friends. Though, these voices in my head tend to be best friends. So, I guess in fact they are the epitome of what one would call an imaginary friend.
Well.. I’m rambling.. so I guess I’ll leave it here. But yes, I guess I just confirmed what all of you have thought of me for years. I’m absolutely bonkers.
I think the only thing that really drives me crazy, is not only do I have Alex, Daniel and Kit talking in my head right now, but I’ve got my people from my new novel chattering as well. It can get confusing at times lol.
Oh and the final note. My gods… homemade chocolate chip cream cheese rolls.. are just still so wonderful.. no matter how many times I make them.
Twice cursed
Okay, lets just say that if I think of something to post, and don’t post it that day… I for the life of me cannot recall what I wanted to post. So yes, you all are missing out on some witty quips because I’m too exhausted when I get home to post them.
This one I remembered.
Yesterday Mother of Mine and I were twice cursed by the same curse.
Mother of Mine made Lemon Bars as a little while ago we mentioned them and then went “Ooooh that’d be really good right now, and we have all those lemons”
Well, as Mother of Mine puts it “The bottom was cooked too much and the middle lemony part was not cooked enough.” (We forgot to adjust anything for altitude, and I honestly don’t believe we’ve made Lemon bars while living in Colorado. Having a daughter who is allergic to citrus like that tends to not make them high on the list.)
They were still quite yummy, they just require a fork to eat them. And my craving for lemony goodness has now been sated for another 10 years. The remainder of the bars will go with Mother of Mine to her quilt guild thingie today so that they are out of the house.
Also yesterday when I got home, I had been craving cream cheese filling/frosting. Don’t ask why.. I just was. This was before I knew mom was making Lemon Bars.
But so I started whipping up a batch. It didn’t taste right. I didn’t do anything different than I ever do. (Mayhaps it was that I didn’t measure the powdered sugar??)
No.. it was the curse.
For those who don’t know… I am cursed. If I have a craving for something, it will inevitably taste… wrong. It does not matter if I make it, or go out and buy it. Or heck.. have it at a restaurant. If it’s something that I’m craving (and yes, it has to be a craving.. you know… the kind that just stay with you until you give in.. that kind of craving).. it will just not be right.
This is highly annoying for obvious reasons.
The frosting, I have decided I will make the other part of it’s original purpose, and that will be to make my chocolate chip cream cheese rolls. The frosting/filling, on my tongue tasted odd, will be just fine paired with the rolls it is originally meant for. Perhaps it was just my tastebuds being funny.
So this weekend, I shall dust off the bread machine and whip up some of the dough.
This week at work, (and yes I realize it’s only Wednesday) has been… well not off to a good start. Thanks to the pesky earthquake in California on Monday, over 700 email servers went down. That meant.. I was busy. Everyone whining that they don’t have their email.
We have finally caught up, but thats only because I worked my ass off and have already worked 241 billable tickets. Lets put this in perspective… Normally, I try to make sure I have 80 tickets… for the entire week. Anything above that is just gravy. So yes… I am exhausted.
At home:
I’ve been reading Absolute Sandman vol 3- don’t know how I feel about this one yet. It’s good.. but I don’t know about the story.. Delirium is not my favorite character… Neither is Despair.
Also been rereading Dead Until Dark. It’s amazing to remember how much I liked Bill at first.
Haven’t been knitting the last few nights because I’m just too tired to deal with it mentally.
Been watching some of McLeod’s Daughters (season 3) I really do need to go back and watch the earlier seasons, as I never ended up seeing them whilst my mom had them from the library. The show is good, and now I’m hooked. So back to the beginning it is for me. And by the way.. Season 3 is like… Sigh.. they were evil.
The heat is becoming an increasing issue. I can tell already that it will be a brutal summer, and my sleep is already becoming sporadic.
Okay, I guess I’ve rambled enough for now.
Bugs and Kisses people.
Angels and Demons, Bones, and a moment of panic.
So, I cast on and started my special project.
Some how, I messed up, and either cut an extra bit, or I split a bit, and I have to figure out what I did.
Figuring out that I messed up was actually only found out after I finished my second row, and 3 parts came off. It left me with a WTF? moment.
So after giving up last night due to frustration and sleepyness, I have not picked it back up again. I don’t know if I will pick it up tonight or not, as my back is hurting, and I do not want to transfer any of the back pain vibes into the knitting. Which happens. And as this is a gift… I have to make sure it doesn’t happen.
Yesterday I nearly had a heartastroke as, well mom and I went to see Angels and Demons.
We went to Whole Foods to buy a bit of lunch, and I must say that I feel as if I am cheating on my Whole Foods every time I go to the WF over on that side of town. It is a smaller one, and not nearly as good on top of the whole “I’m cheating” feeling.
After eating lunch, mom and I went to Coldstone next to the theater and got some ice cream.
Then we went into the theater. Of course we were the first ones there.
I sat down, got up, went to the loo, got us napkins, sat down, chilled, got comfy. So on and so forth.
I reached for my chapstick in my right pocket, and realized there were only 2 items in my pocket. My chapstick and my Orajel (the tooth I had a root canal on, and has been damaged etc has been bugging me, so I started keeping numb stuff with me again… you’d think that after 3 years (or more) of sucking that stuff down I’d be immune to it… nope. still works.. well for the most part. The problem I have can’t be fully numbed, but I’ll do my darndest.).
What was missing from my pocket was my flash drive.
I had distinctly remembered putting it in my right pocket when I left work.
Que me panicking.
I search under my seat.
I trace my steps back to the loo.
I come up with nothing.
Mom said she remembered seeing it poking out of my pocket while we were in the car eating.
I did technically have time to go out and check the car, but there was a reason I didn’t. The reason was this: If I simply clung to the hope that it was in the car, I’d be able to possibly enjoy the movie. If I went out to the car and it wasn’t there. I’d cry, and thus not really enjoy the movie. So, the fear of not knowing helped me in this case.
Fast forward, yes. It was in the car. Thank gods.
Seriously, I’d rather loose my wallet then loose my flash drive.
Not because the stuff isn’t replaceable (at most I’d loose a few reference images, that I had just added, because I’m a smart girl and saved a copy of everything on my computer.) but because that would mean a copy of both my unpublished novels, my resumes, documents on the whole “starting my own business” thing. (Including a list of all my colorways.)
a wallet would be, though expensive (just the fees of replacing my cards etc) would be less frightening to replace then the creative content that would then be floating into the world without my control.
Now, on to the movie.
Angels and Demons
I absolutely LOVED the movie.
It was breathtakingly beautiful.
The music was fantastic.
The changes they made, for the most part were completely understandable, and did not affect the overall story too much.
The only gripe I had, was the “Illuminati Diamond”
I will not give spoilers as there are people who haven’t seen it yet.
I have to say also, that it is amazing, how just 1 scene.. an innocent scene, can cause the entire audience to collectively gasp. And no, it’s not a scene any of you prolly think it is.
I’ll wait at least 2 weeks, then I’ll chat about it.
One thing I can say without spoiling anything.. .because I doubt anyone other then myself would have noticed it…
But the writers created a paradox.
That, is amusing to me.
They created a paradox because, the story of Angels and Demons is supposed to be set prior to the events in The Da Vinci Code. This, was also established in the DaVinci Code, because of Robert Langdon saying “I’ve met the pope” or whatever the line actually was. It implied the story that we didn’t see. The story of Angels and Demons.
Well, in Angels and Demons, they set those events AFTER the events of The DaVinci Code, and makes a point of setting it AFTER.
Which means they created a paradox. Considering the subject matter… the fact that they created a paradox just highly, highly amuses me.
After the movie, mother of mine and I went to Hobby Lobby, as she needed to pick up some more paint. Why is it, you can have over 50 bottles of paint in the house, but not have the exact color you need?? I swear it’s a giant conspiracy.
I picked up two rubber stamps, as I couldn’t not get them.
One is of a crooked witches hat, and the other says “Bugs and Hisses”
I had to.. I just absolutely had to.
Caught up with Moonlighting season 3, man that show was good. And oh my gods, Mark Harmon was a hottie in it. Yes, the show immediately started to jump the shark after the whole “hook up” moment, but I’ll still continue to watch the seasons as they come out on dvd.
Right now, I’m starting Season 4 of Silk Stalkings. Again I love that show.
I finished reading Death Du Jour by Kathy Reichs. The 2nd book of the Bones books.
I know I’ve commented on this already, but it was highly enjoyable, and I honestly can’t wait to read the next one. Got to actually see more of Detective Ryan, which was enjoyable.. I very much am starting to imagine David Boreanaz when I see Detective Andrew Ryan.
Next book up, I’ll be finally actually starting The Princess Bride, and I’ll also quickly reread Dead Until Dark.
Today mother and I went out to Panera for breakfast to use our last free sammich certificate before it expires. After that we hit up Evilmart, and I bought myself a new pair of jeans. Mother of mine found a pair for me, that actually fit, and when we rung them up, 3$ oh yeah, nothing like finding a pair of jeans that fit and paying less than 5$ for them.
Wait, no that still bothers me. I hate shopping at Evilmart, but I just can’t justify spending 40$ on a pair of jeans right now when ever penny is trying to be saved.
My last pair of Evilmart jeans lasted me nearly a year, and that was a year of tough wear, so these should at least last me till the move if I’m good at rotating all my jeans out.
Alright, I think I’ve rambled on enough. I gotta go check on my dinner.
Bugs and Hisses everyone.
Pondering the Animalia of my life..
For those who have known me, know that I have had this plan for “Apartment Sized Sheep”
Yes, a Mini Sheep about the size of a MinPin. Think about the lawn maintenance you could do with just 1 sheep!
As of recent and my ever growing allergy to wool… I have let go of this genetic dream. Not to mention, I really don’t want to deal with the maggots and tar that go along with Sheep herding.
For my indy dyeing business, I will be more than happy to buy my yarn already off the sheep.
Guy and I have discussed the menagerie we might someday have. Bunnies… Kittahs… a tortoise… a Hedgie…. these are all critters I’d like to have. Including mayhaps a dog.
we have now added… a Wallaby.
Yuppers.
It all stemmed from a BBC news article.
So… when we have a well fenced yard… I foresee a wallaby in our future.
It rather amuses me.
And obviously, I’m in a much better mood today. Work was crazy. Not as crazy as yesterday.. but still crazy.
Tonight I’ll get to watch Rise of the Lycans.
I can’t wait.
Ch-ch-ch-changes
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-changes
Dont want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
(turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I cant trace time
Come on, you all know you now have that song stuck in your head.
But, yes it rings true. I think I have finally given myself something serious to think about with the direction of my novel. It’s something that a lot of authors end up doing. You get a really great story, but somethings not working.. so gotta change. For some, it means putting the idea on the back burner for 10 years (a la Jacqueline Carey, and her new Santa Olivia), for others it can just be as simple as changing the hair color of a character.
For me, it shall be a bit of a drastic change. But one I’m willing to embrace.
I think part of the reason I hadn’t been able to write recently, was things were just feeling a bit off. My own fears about reality were creeping into my world too much.
Not to mention, one of the characters, just kept fading too much from my mind.
And yes, I consider the location a character as Denver, is quite the character unto it’s self. Well, Denver and I have not been friends for a while. I have not hung out with Denver for about 4 years, other than the occasional drive through, or quick trip to say hello.
And in my novel, the backdrop of Colorado, and Denver specifically was kind of important.
Certainly it will adjust a future novel. (I mean come on… it makes total sense that there would be werewolves in Boulder.. right?)
But I think the change I’m making will be for the better. I was getting too bogged down trying to remember things. I’ve been meaning to take a trip to Denver, and it just hasn’t happened, and all of this will only get worse after I move.
Then, here is the reality that kept trying to creep in.
If I were staying in the US, then as an author trying to pitch a story set in the city of Denver, wouldn’t be a big deal. I can sell internationally even though it’s a small US city (yes, Denver isn’t that small, but compared to NY.. it is.. see my point?). Look at LKH, and KH, and even the tiny towns like SM, and CH proved.
I won’t change my main character, she’ll still be who she is. But just the backdrop will change, it opens up more possibilities, and actually tackles a few of the little problems I was having. (just little stuff I doubt any of you would have thought about.)
It’ll be tough, because I won’t be able to experience some things first hand until things in life settle down. But I think I can make it work. I am a woman who knows how to use her resources, and also who knows how to do her research.
For once, the fact that me being too brain dead to write has been a bonus.
So, I’m hoping that this will be a good change. I’m confident that it will be. And it will allow me to feel more stable in the world I’m creating.
The things one hears in a bookstore..
So there I was, in Hooked on Books this morning, and this highly amused me.
I over heard this conversation:
Little Girl 1: “No, you have to go to mom’s corner to find her books”
Little Girl 2: “Mom has a corner?”
As the two young girls walk right past me into the very much “Romance” area of the store.
Little Girl 2: “Oh.” (in a very knowing way)
Moving along, today mom bought a Spinning Wheel.
Yup, we are once more the owners of a wheel. But this one, is not in need of repair, which means you can actually… spin on it.
After picking up the wheel, I dropped my mom off at her church so that she can work in the garden. Even though it is drizzly outside, they are determined to get the garden going again.
We were early, so we found Poor Richard’s. Which is a used bookstore in Downtown Co Springs (it was literally a block away, so that was fun)
Now, here are my thoughts on Poor Richard’s.
I’m quite undecided if I like it or not. It is the neatest, cleanest used bookstore I’ve ever seen.
It doesn’t look like a used bookstore at all.
You can find everything right away, and it’s attached to a coffee shop, and it’s also attached to a toy store, and has a lot of things for sale.
I honestly think it bugged me at how neat and organized it was. And it still didn’t feel like a used bookstore due to the high amount of duplicates of the books.
I had taken my copy of Breaking Dawn with me, because the plan had not been to go to Poor Richard’s but instead to Hooked on Books.
I had decided not to take my copy into Poor Richard’s because 1)I didn’t know if I would find anything I wanted to take home, and so I didn’t want credit at a store downtown instead of HoB which is closer. and 2)a woman was walking in with a copy of Breaking Dawn. So generally used bookstores don’t like multiple copies (this was before I went in and saw the many multiples.)
So when I was done dropping mom off, and we were done with Poor Richard’s, thats when I headed towards HoB. Sure, it took me wandering around for an hour to find all the books I wanted.. .but also it was only my second time there. It is organized in the classic Used books manner, which means cluttered and there is the chance of tripping over some books… But it just felt a little nicer.
As I was trying to actually use my Trade Credit, that is the reason it took me so long to actually get out of there. The books I tend to read tend to be the ones that you can’t use trade for.
The ones I ended up with was
Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris (book 2 of Sookie. So what that means, is I just need to find the first one and then I can send it to Guy without any guilt)
Digital Fortress by Dan Brown – haven’t read it yet, so finally decided to pick it up.
Hunter’s Moon by Lori Handeland – yes, it’s a trashy romance novel, but once I’m done I’ll take it back to the store for credit. And heck.. it’s werewolves and such. So it’s a fun trashy romance.
Books:
Still reading “White Witch, Black Curse” Kim Harrison
Watching:
Just finished Supernatural season 3. Man I enjoy that show a lot. Damn now having to wait for season 4.
Started watching Ghost Whisperer season 1. Meh.. .it’s alright… I’m annoyed by the wardrobe choices made for Jennifer Love Hewitt. I’m sorry, but when you work in an antique store and actively moving boxes/gathering new merchandise…. you do not wear long flowy white dresses. So that bugs me. And my gods, it repeats so much dialogue it’s not even funny anymore. “I call them earth-bound spirits, those who cannot pass on”.
I am whilst having the house to myself, watching Smallville season 7. Oooh Bizzaro!
Health:
I finally figured out why this week I’ve been so cranky… My body decided that after nearly 6 months of not having a period it was time. (yeah yeah… I had been meaning to force one, but I just kept putting it off so I wouldn’t be cranky at work)
That would explain why my tailbone felt out of whack yesterday, and why I’ve been so very irritable. Also why my entire body is all achy. So today I’ll start my round of spacer pills and just go with what the universe and my body apparently wanted.
Work:
My backup is about to make my life a lot more stressful, as he has reached the breaking point with the politics at work. Basically, remember me this time last year, and you’ll understand where he is at. Though I moved past it and just have hit the apathetic state, he is in the angry state and is doing everything he can do to get a new job.
I do wish him luck, and I do hope that he finds something (I cannot begrudge anyone for not wanting to stay there… If I didn’t have the light at the end of the tunnel.. .I would have quit a long time ago)
But, it he goes.. that will mean I am loosing really the only real worker I have, and the sad fact is there is no one that I can replace him with. Quite literally, no one. Everyone else only works half days, or gets sent over to other desks. I do not have anyone who is trained for backlogs, that is always there. (And those who are not trained… well lets just say, there is no one up to snuff on even being able to do backlogs)
Knitting:
I’m almost done with my first sock. Woohoo. I’ve turned the heel and everything. I got very frustrated with the instructions for the heel, because it was wanting me to do something that is not physically possible.
There are times, were you just cannot fit 13 stitches, into a space where it only allows for 10. So that made me frustrated to the point where I had to hand it off to my mother.
I understand what the instructions wanted, but there was just no way that I could squeeze those stitches in there.
We’ll see how the second sock goes.
Well… I’m officially starving, and I think I’m going to be decadent and make french toast.
Later peoples.
Frogged and A Hot Fairy Tale
I do feel like such a slacker for not having written any of AHDB recently, but the stress of normal life, was making me unable to write as my cathartic release.
I’ve been knitting instead.
I started to teach myself how to do Cables, so that I could get a leg up on the Alexandra coat that I’ve been talking about for months.
I’m very, very glad that I decided to give it a go with normal yarn as opposed to my Lucien. (Which, I know has been dyed, but I have not received due to the “club” nature of it. I’ll get my first two skeins of it in the next few weeks)
I was banging my head against the wall trying to do the cable chart, and then I finally said screw it, and cast on the entire project, as if I’m doing it entirely.
Well, I discovered my first problem. I was counting the chart as 26 stitches, instead of the 25 it actually was. That was just my mind merging a symbol that looked like another symbol, hence getting 26 instead of 25.
But, once I got past that, I discovered other problems. I didn’t get 7 rows before I ran into this problem.
After frogging and putting it back on at least half a dozen times, I gave up and started poking about online.
Thats when I made a significant discovery. Everyone (minus one person) has had extreme problems with the pattern. There are many bugs in it, and entire parts missing from the instructions.
Woohoo. This means it’s not me messing it up! It means that it’s just a bad pattern.
Well, one of the girls I was chatting with, talked about picking up the project again and completely rewriting the pattern, but she hadn’t thought about that in forever (really not since she had put down the pattern in the first place)
But, me chatting with her reminded her how much she loved the sweater and how it looks, and thus is inspired to possibly pick it up again. If she does, she’ll send me the pattern. Which at this point, I’d trust her pattern over the original author any day. (The author put errata up on the pattern site, only after the girl I was chatting with pointed out the mistakes, and it doesn’t count all the mistakes)
I’m about to start Marissa’s project, as I picked up the last skein of yarn I needed today.
This, most definitely might count as the “neat thing” & holiday gift, as it is quite a well.. it’s a good project. I hope she’ll like it.
Everyone else is just getting a little small item.
I am also, starting a “Princess Bride Read-Knit-Along”
I’ve never read the Princess Bride.. I remember starting it in the 5th grade, but that was the day before school was ending, and I couldn’t borrow the book from my friend. So I read a total of 1 page before I had to give it back, and somehow it has managed to not make it in my reading pile all these years. So I have till June 21st to finish reading the book and knit something related to The Princess Bride.
I now have a copy of the book, as I finally checked out “Hooked on Books” which is not far from my house. I like it much more than The Book Rack. But still not as impressed. I guess I’m just spoiled thanks to The Bookworm (Boulder).
The version I have is amusing. I think it was a cover that was directed towards the adults rather than kids. It’s got artwork from like the 80′s. But the back… the back is amusing..
“What Happens-
When the most beautiful girl in the world marries the handsomest prince in the world and he turns out to be a son of a bitch?”
I also picked up:
Death Du Jour by Kathy Reitchs, it’s the next in the Bones books.
Shakespeare’s Landlord by Charlaine Harris, first in the Shakespeare series
Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris, 4th book in the Sookie Stackhouse series – mmm Eric. love him.
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, woohoo.. finally gonna get to read it.
I was able to justify buying the books, because I only spend 23$ for all the books, and they are all books I plan on sending to Guy to read during the summer break and books to get him through exam times etc.
We ended up going to the bead store, and I’m honestly surprised how much I got for as little as I spent. Mother of Mine had a 5$ gift certificate, so with buying a bead for her, I only ended up spending 3$ (and 1.60$ of that was the bead for her)
Oh, random knitting note (sorry, typing past my bed time.. what do you expect?)
Having figured out how to DO cables, I have now accomplished one of my two main goals for the year. The next is to tackle simple socks. Woohoo.
Mother of Mine and I hunted slightly for Easter dinner. Which I can’t recall if I’ve spoken of or not.
Now as you all know, I do not celebrate the christian holidays as I am not christian. But as Mother of Mine is connecting with her church and stuff like that, I am supportive of her. So I was sitting there thinking what we might want for Easter dinner, because she’ll want to have something nice.
And really, the only thing that came to my mind was “Hmmm.. Rabbit would be nice.”
Yes, I am that twisted.
Rabbit on Easter. bwhahahahaha
Unfortunately, the rabbit is not meant to be (this year). We left of inquiring about it till today, and the only kind we would be able to get would be whole (ugh) and frozen.
Nope, won’t work for this year.
Oh, random jump.. sorry again..
I finally found the damn buttons. Remember the quest for the buttons? I hadn’t gone to JoAnn’s. Honesty I just should have looked there first. Perfect purple buttons, and I’m slick enough that they are the perfect size. Again, they were 50% off. SWEEET.
They are even stitched on to the leg warmers. So, as soon as Mother of Mine finishes weaving in the ends (i did the buttons, but it was her knitting project) i’ll get to wear them, and will also post photos.
The purple was a grand choice and goes well with the blue. Woohoo!
Random: watching Alias season two.. and it is just always weird to see a Russian Cowboy bar and Russian cowboy songs it is not new, but it still amuses me (First time I ever saw it was of course James Bond, Goldeneye. But that was still in english)
Work: It was a rough beginning of the week just because things were changed and other things were in the spotlight. Nothing was my fault as I wasn’t there. But it was blown out of proportion due to it being something that really NEVER happens. It just happened to happen and it bit us. (Mostly, the only reason it happened at all, is because one of our agents screwed up in the first place. Then things just slipped)
So that lead to meetings, and more meetings, and more meetings. Which just made it an unbelievably tiresome and hectic week, and made me freak out about my job. I really do just need to remember to take a deep breath and remember that I am a good worker, and I do my job, and that I’m not one of the people they want to let go.
It didn’t help my mindset either to find out that another one of my Ravelry buddies ended up being let go this week as well. It was completely out of the blue, which is another reason everything that happened made me so freaked.
I should stop rambling about it. As I am rambling as I am quite tired.
Later peoples…
Oh, one last note:
Doctor Who season 4… FREAKING AWESOME!
We just finished watching it. And OH MY GODS.
I still don’t like Catherine Tate, but I do like Donna a bit more.
And everything else… just… wow.. wow wow wow wow.
Another random note:
I have an entire rant to post soon, but I’m too tired to try to rant about it now, and when I first went to rant about it, Blogger didn’t want to work on my work computer. So, I’ve got it sitting waiting for ranting.
Seaweed goodness, And the chance to win a Wicked handmade
Alright, so I realize I’ve been a little quite.
I’ve been.. busy, and then yesterday I was avoiding getting on any site I actually care about. Why risk the nastys that are floating around the intarwebs. (considering we’ve been dealing with a nasty virus at work, and it’s not that conficker thing, I just again don’t want it on my comp at home.)
Knitting:
I’ve been working on a “Seaweed Shrug” as I’ve been calling it..
Not a good photo, but you can at least see why I’ve been calling it the sea weed shrug.
This photo is from a few days ago, and it’s at least 3 feet longer by now. Okay, mayhaps not that much.. but darn near close. I will of course have photos of the finished product.
Also on the knitting front, I am opening up a little give away.
I originally posted it on my facebook, but I’ve gotten no one to actually follow the rules. I might give them something anyways, if I can’t get 5 people to pay it forward on their own.
I’m feeling crafty…..so I think this one will work out fine
The first five (5) people to respond to this post will get something made by me. (You do not have to have been tagged.) This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully: HECK I MAY JUST SEND TO ALL THAT POST A COMMENT
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.
2. What I create will be just for you, with love.
3. It’ll be done this year (2009).
4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. It may be baked goods.
5.I reserve the right to do something extremely strange, if inspired to do so.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text into a note of your own and make something for me and the first 5 to respond to your note.
7. Send me your mailing address if you don’t live close to me!IMPORTANT: This offer is at your discretion but I would like to think null and void if I do not see you post your own note to pay this forward
Moving on..
I am rather tired this morning as it started snowing yesterday. What was supposed to be flurries was as ferocious as the blizzard we had.
So this morning something woke me up before my alarm.. might have been my internal alarm that i set last night, and also my cat helped wake me up. That meant I was out of bed when I my first alarm went off at 4:30.
I was dressed and downstairs 10 minutes later brushing off my car. Thankfully the snow stopped, but it was nothing but ice on the streets.
Had to stop and get gas, because I was not going to deal with trecherous driving on a nearly empty tank. Nope.. thats just asking to get stuck somewhere and not being able to run your car every 10 minutes for warmth because you ran out of a gas after the second “gotta keep warm” segment.
I got to work by 5:30, but I took it slow and steady the entire time. Yeah, a few red lights happened while I was still going through the intersection, but any cop would see that there was no way I could have stopped and I was already half way through the intersection before it went red.
Today is going to be a long day no matter what the call volume is like. Just because I’m so very tired.
Yesterday was odd… it was the first time in a long time where I didn’t talk to Guy at all (when I wasn’t upset with him.)
I wasn’t on any real chatting sites or anything that could snag my info, and he was also at a Rugby match (right? I can’t recall if it was Football or rugby) in Bath.
Which accordingly to the email I got this morning, Bath is now on one of the lists of “It’d be nice to move here.” From what I’ve seen in photos and such like that, yes I would enjoy Bath a lot. So I’m not opposed to the idea. It’s very Roman in the archtecture and just.. beautiful. I can’t wait to someday visit.
Had some unpleasentness at work the past few days, but it’s been resolved, and in the end I was doing my job as I was told to do it. So.. *shrugs* it’s all good and my manager backed me up on it.
I guess I’m done rambling for now..
Books:
Bed book: Mirror, Mirror by Gregory McGuire
Couch book: Unusual Suspects – (Sookie Stackhouse short story is in it)
Purse book: the unchanging – Peshawar Lancers
