And the Winner is....

ME!

In our photography class, we each show 3 pictures a week, and then the class votes on which is best. The winner gets an 11x14 "print" (printed on a good color printer).

This picture of Sky won last week:





















I'll be passing on the print to Sky's parents. I can't wait to see it printed big. It looked awesome projected on a big screen. (That's how we view them in class.)

P.S. This picture was taken before class started. Since class started, most of my pictures have been AWFUL. TERRIBLE. I was afraid I'd peaked too soon or something. Was I thinking too hard? Was it just situational? This weekend, though, I managed to take some decent photos. Whew. Some more close ups of kids' faces and fireworks.

Christmas in July

We were at a family wedding in Midland, and on the way out of town, Lee said "Hey, isn't Frankenmuth around here?" (Just so you all know what a great husband I have...)

I had no intention of enjoying Bronner's, much less purchasing ORNAMENTS in JULY. Well, we got out of there for under $100... just. Dang it. If you have never been there, it is the largest collection of ornaments and Christmas crap EVER.

We found nifty ornament hangers, because we're trying to get out of putting up a tree. Because of cats, and laziness. Our idea is to hang up collections of ornaments. That could be cute, right?

Bronner's newest angels...

Memory Lane

When I was a kid, I'd spend time every summer at my grandparents' cottage on Big Star Lake. One of the highlights was always a trip to Jones'. Heee. We found ourselves in the area and took a little detour. Lee is always up for ice-cream. It's not like I had to twist his arm... at all.

Baldwin always seemed so far away from the cottage. Of course it wasn't, but this was always a welcome sight.

I realize it may look suspicious that I have an ice cream in each hand. Of COURSE they're not both mine... um... really...

And, be sure to catch this event in Baldwin...

Stunt Glasses

Lee and I had to drive separately this morning, so I asked him to get my sunglasses (since my eyes have rejected my contacts recently, I've had to wear my glasses all the time. I had prescription sunglasses made as well) out of his car and put them in mine. He said "I'll put them on your car."

This can can only end in tears.

I went out to my car and put my laptop and other stuff in the passenger side. I saw the sunglasses in their case on top of the car. I then decided that it was too cold for shorts. I went back in the house, grabbed some pants, got back in my car and took off.

I drove about 2 blocks, and heard "something" hit my roof. I looked in the rear view mirror, and... my stomach lurched. I went back and found my glasses case... EMPTY!! my stomach lurched again... then I saw the glasses about 10 feet away... a little banged up, but ok.

What made me think...

... I was smart enough?

We have these friends, a couple, who teach literature... on the college level. The wife of the pear lent me sum books to reed. The first won I tried was two hard.

I may not be smart enough, I thought, to read books that Anna likes.

It was all literary, poetic, and DEEP. I made my way through the best I could, skipping large portions of poetry, because, people, poetry makes no sense to me. I read the 1st stanza and it's like I am reading a different language, which I suppose I am. If poetry is the language of the soul, my soul is a dumb mute.

Moving on... the rest of the books seem to be ok. So I guess I'm SORT OF smart enough, but probably not as smart as Anna. :)

When in doubt...

Make Dishcloths!

I'm using up the cotton stash to make some fun, yummy dishcloths. No pic... you all know the kind I make.

Lee and I have been watching My Name is Earl (season 2). You all will want to check it out. Season 1 is out on dvd. They're 20 minute eps and therefore not a big time waster. Um... that is, unless you watch 10 in a row. Not that we ever would have done that last weekend.

Weight Watchers continues to guide my eating. I lost a point on my birthday... I just happened to be at the age break in the chart. Doh! You wouldn't think the difference between 21 and 20 points would matter, BUT IT DOES. This morning, I saw a weight on the scale I hadn't seen since LAST year at this time, so I'm pleased. I like my naked, morning weight better than my fully clothed, evening weight. Guess I'll have to start stripping at the WW weigh-in. Um, maybe not.... there's a guy there on oxygen.

Slacker!

I realize my posts have started to dwindle. It's not 'cause I don't love you guys! I have not been knitting much... just started that 2nd #$%@ teal sock... can only bear to do about 8 rows at a sitting.

Since most of life is seasonal, I'm kind of in the "not sitting and knitting" season. I've been working out for an hour 3 times a week, and I also started Weight Watchers again. (Got to pay the bill for the winter eating.) I weigh in for the 1st time tonight. I think I'll have a loss. Even if I don't, I already feel better. Here's some free adverts for WW (skip the rest of the paragraph if you don't want to hear it): I love their new sytem of points. I get 21 points/day PLUS I get 35 Flex points for the week to use however I need. So! Last Friday was a Women's Banquet at church. Saturday lunch was Thai food for mother's day. Saturday evening was a potluck. Ordinarily I would have stuffed myself and felt bad about it. This time I ate until I was full, even if stupid Thai food cost me 16 points. Yikes. (Oh, yeah, plus I get 6 points everytime I go to the KickBoxing class.) So, if anyone else has a hefty (heh, heh) bill to pay from the sedentary winter months: go ahead and try WW again.

End of Advertising...

I will try to post about other things as I think of them. I get some wacky ideas... just ask Lee. OH! I signed up for a photography class that starts in June. It's all about aperture and whatnot (see how much I have to learn?!?) and I'll get to use the Manual setting on my new camera. So I'm PRETTY SURE I'll be posting my pics from class. :)

For those of you who don't know, and are interested, Lee and I are blogging about our adoption journey here. His entries are the long funny ones... mine are the shorter, whiny ones. :) Also, I know the name of the blog is long, but I tried about 50 other cooler ones that are taken by UN-COOL people who are just sitting on the URL and not using it. See? Whiny.

No Knitting for YOU!

I COULD just show you the same picture of my 1/2 finished sock, because that's as far as I am. Still. I have not had time to work on it. Plus, maybe I am having an affair with my camera. I went to a wedding shower and a kids' birthday party this weekend, and brought my camera (unasked, of course) and just took pictures of people. I then threw the pictures up on the web in albums and emailed the link to the people. It was SOOO fun. Here is my favorite pic from the kids' party... I won't tell you what evoked this reaction. Ok, I will. It was bubble gum.














But THIS could maybe be another favorite, although she will hate me later, when I give the picture to her mama to show to suitors. I believe the boys "took ALL the leaves."




















She mostly looks like this photo though:





















Ok, ok... I think I have to post at least one knitting item. I want to keep my membership in the knitting rings. I am INORDINATELY proud of this. This is my stash. Yep. ALL my yarn and accoutrements fit in or on this little guy. Maybe some of you think this makes me a poseur... like how can I talk about knitting, when my stash fits in 9 square feet. Well, I'll tell you... I can't stand clutter. (Don't laugh, Mom! People change! My clothes no longer live on the floor! I put my clean clothes into drawers instead of pulling them as needed out of the basket!) So, in our de-cluttered house... if new stuff comes in, old stuff must go. This has worked really well for clothes. All of our clothes (all seasons) fit in the dressers and closet space we have in our room. We don't have/need other clothes storage. I love that. This also works with yarn. You know that yarn I bought x years ago to make x? I am willing consider them acceptable losses. I'll give it away or trade... but everything has to fit in the yarn caddy. I told you I was inordinately proud of this. Oh no! Pride goes before a fall! I'm sure I'll pay for that.

Ok, I'm exhausted. Can't spell anymore... time for bed.

It's not just me, is it?

I was leaving work the other day, keys in hand, kind of swinging them. La la la... I walked with a devil-may-care attitude, until I saw this...


















I suddenly became very paranoid about my keys. What if they fell in? How would you get them out? Oh no, oh no, oh no... where are my keys? Ok, whew, they're in my hand. Ok, easy... easy... walk FAR away from that nasty old grate that's going to suck the keys RIGHT OUT OF MY HAND...

People let me tell you 'bout my best friend...

Really, I don't know how I know about The Courtship of Eddie's Father and its theme song. I remember watching it, but I don't remember where I was... you know how sometimes you can figure stuff out if only you can remember where you were? I must have seen it in reruns, since it was on from 1969 - 1972. I'm guessing I didn't see it originally, since I was born in 1969. Unless I was a prodigy. That's always possible I guess. Although, you'd think someone would have said something.

But I digress. The best friend I wanted to show you is this: I am in love with Mint Tea. I like the others too, but I LOOOOOOOVE the mint. Every day I fill 2 big travel mugs with tea. Mint in the bigger one, of course, and a different kind in the smaller. Both mugs are empty by 9:30. I cannot account for my love of tea now, when it never held much appeal for me. Maybe I just had to pay more $$ and buy the loose leaf stuff. Regardless, I blame Theresa. She got hooked 1st, and dragged me down. Is tea an entry drug into something more dangerous? Freebasing coffee, perhaps.


And finally, here is some knitting content, because I'm sure you all were wondering why I'm blabbing on and on and on about TEA, for crying out loud.

1st pic is of a teal sock I am making. Yes, I KNOW what I said about hating to make socks. I'm actually pretending it's a mitten. For some reason that makes a difference. It's the leftover teal Cascade 220 from Wicked1 and Wicked2. And, wow, this camera is great. You can see the cat hair on the cuff!


















Here is the bag of wool Lisa gave me. Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but it's soft and I just want to pet it.

Shout Out to My Peeps... Yo!

I'll admit it! I'm a blog stalker. I go to many sites regularly and rarely leave a comment. I always feel that I must be Intelligent! and Meaningful! and Unusual! and Funny! Whew... that's a lot of pressure. I get comments from a select few on this blog, and it always makes me tingle when I see a new comment has been posted.

So, I was feeling like about 5 people were reading my blog... all family and friends... and it should have been enough for me... after all, didn't I SAY that this blog is for MY own amusement, and that I was OK if only I read it? Turns out that was a BIG. FAT. LIE. I had no idea. Honestly.

I remembered that when I signed up for the statcounter (at the bottom of my page), that I get more than just the counter. I get stats. I dug out the login and checked my stats, prepared to be heartbroken. Looks like a bunch of people I don't know are at least looking at my blog once.

With Stats like these, who needs friends! Ok, I still need friends! Wait, don't go!

Here's a big shout out to my regulars:

• Yay Mom and Pop (up der in da UP eh)
• Yay Katherine (who has her own blog, and 3 of the cutest kids EVER.)
• Yay Carrie and Paul (btw, saw Aaron at his new job. He really looks like your family now that he hasn't got the mohawk. I told him we weren't checking up on him, but that we'd tell you we saw him.)
• Yay Theresa (who loves the flip off gloves I made her.)
• Yay Nicola (my Barley friend)
• Yay Lee (cause, you know... I love him and stuff.)
• Yay Steve (Who else do I know in MN?)
• Yay Megan (She wins with the most visits besides me. Shouldn't you be studying? Miss you. Come home soon so we can knit and watch long chick movies! We have string cheese! And Cherry Coke!)
• Yay Melodie (See you soon! Driftwood united!)
• Yay Lisa (who deserves extra Yays for asking me, out of the blue, if I wanted a bag of wool and a bag of mint tea. Two of my very favorite things!)
  

Name this Institution

Is this a

a) prison
b) jr. high
c) building that needs a refurb
d) all of the above

Doesn't this hallway inspire you to greater heights in learning? Yeah, me too. Made for a sweet composition though. The tiles are freshly waxed, and I like the fore-shortened red emergency box on the right. Lights trailing into the distance speak to the impending doom of high school and endless days that stretch indefinitely into the future.

I guess the days don't stretch TOO indefinitely into the future, although it felt that way at the time. I graduated from HS in 1987. Holy cow. (Or "Hokey Toot", if you prefer.) That means this summer marks 20 years since then. I would like to speak to Time. Hello? Time? Where did you go? Remember that body I was unhappy with in High School? Yes? I'd like it back now. Also the skin. Ok, so I didn't heed the warnings about sun screen. I'm ready to listen now. Hello? Are you still there?

What about ME?!

Lee got a new guitar... shouldn't I get something as well? I should explain... we are not impulse buyers for big ticket items. Ok, sure, we'll pick up cheap items sometimes we were not looking for (items like this), but for expensive items we do take our time. Lee's been wanting a new guitar for at least a year. So. What have I been wanting for a long time? A camera more grown up than a point and shoot digital. (I have no problem with the point and shoot, EXCEPT that I have outgrown it, and I want to do more... like focus on what I want to focus on.) Anyhoo... here's me and my new friend. It's a Pentax K100. Every review I read mentioned that it's a good camera for those who have outgrown point and shoot. Perfect.

So, what does this have to do with knitting? Well...

Um...

Er.... I'll be able to take better pictures of my knitting? Yes, that's it. I finished a dishcloth. I guess I need a new project. Oh, wait. I started a new project this weekend. I'm making a baby kimono. (From the Mason Dixon Knitting book.) I'll post pics tomorrow, but for now, picture a rectangle in garter stitch. OOOooooh. Bet you can't wait to see that!

Here's a sample of what my new lens can do... 1st pic is how my street really appears. 2nd pic is a close up of buildings at the far end of the street. Neat!

Gain vs. Loss

Take Money. Hard to gain; easy to lose.

Take Weight. Easy, and fun(!) to gain; hard to lose. Suddenly you realize that one more day of eating for comfort, and these pants will not even close.... maybe they won't even make it over the hips. Gah! How did that happen?! Why did I not choose food wisely once I was at a good weight last October? I'll tell you why - winter happened... and is still happening. From October to now we've had, what? 2 sunny days? And I've consumed what? Eleventy thousand more calories than I should have.

I was so cranky last night about weight, being depressed about work, etc... that I forced myself to work out. Stupid endorphins. I left the place feeling better, and with a smile for my husband when he got home, which I'm sure he was glad to see. He brought me Peeps. Sale Peeps.... and that means they were stale, and did I mention that that's how I like them? Yes, I ate them. GO AWAY ALL YOU HOLIDAYS THAT CENTER AROUND FOOD AND CANDY. The seams of my pants can't take anymore!

Thank you. That is all.

Dishcloths... now with 90% less enjoyment

Feeling bad about these last night.

I finished the dishcloth that was on the needles. Ran short of the hot pink about 5 rows from the end. EH! I winged it with a different color.

I pulled the DPNs from the socks and the mittens, so I could put the DPNs in my new DPN cases. Also, I just wasn't committed to finishing those 2 particular items. Back into the stash the yarn went... still in cuff format. No sense in Doing the Job Right.

Haven't dealt with the Miter Square yet. (By the way, I think the German language has it right when they capitalize the Nouns. Just makes sense, at least with how I talk. Well, maybe in German you need them capitalized to know where they are. Actually, for me, it'd be easier if they capitalized the Verbs. It gets confusing. It confusing gets. Don't get me started about past tense auf Deutsch.)

Ok, here's a story about me, as a newbie german speaker...
I went to Austria in 1996... I'll write up the "why" at a later date. My friend Brad picked me up from the airport in Munich. So, I'm extremely tired and stressed from travelling alone and a layover in Amsterdam. Alone. Anyhoo, we're driving, driving, driving, and we keep passing signs for Ausfahrt. By about the ninth sign, I say to Brad, "Man, that Ausfahrt must be a HUGE town." I don't believe Brad knew he was capable of laughing so hard. There may have been snorting involved. Through tears streaming down his face he said, "Chris! 'Ausfahrt' means Exit." I believe this story was told again and again long after I left Austria. So, if you've heard a version of it about a friend of a friend ... IT WAS ME. :)

A Rose by any other Name...

1. YOUR GANGSTA NAME (First 3 letters of first name plus izzle) CHRIZZLE, fo' shizzle!
2. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (fav color and fav animal) Blue Cheetah
3. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, and current street name) Elizabeth Whitney
4. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom's maiden name) Garchbro [ha, ha... I kinda like it]
5. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink). Red Peppermint Tea
6. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one your pets) Black Murray [or Black Sibbie]

Solitaire

Can anyone ever win Solitaire without cheating?!?! I can't. Never have. Never could. Didn't last night. Boo...

I got a nostalgic urge to play Solitaire after cleaning the porch on a very nice day. The day reminded me of my grandparents' cottage. I would stay there some time every summer... playing cards on the porch. Never winning at Solitaire. Or Monopoly. I did ok with rummy.

Here's the table and chairs I garbage picked. I painted them and re-upholstered them. [We were at an auction last summer and there was a cute, old-fashioned table painted yellow. I thought "Oh, how cute! I'll bid on that and paint it bright green!". Um, yeah, I already had made this one.]

What to do, what to do...

Lee is gone this week. He's being a Mr. Smarty Pants at BrainShare 2007 in Salt Lake City. He asked me what I was going to do this week. I could only shrug. And he said "No, really... what projects are you going to work on?" Ummmm.... Errrrrr....

He left yesterday afternoon, and I spent the whole evening finishing Wicked2, starting a blanket, and watching Veronica Mars. I did vaccuum last night. AND cleaned cat vomit off my bed. Murray has a delicate stomach, which apparently LOVES emptying itself on our covers. Also, I ate 1/2 a box of Girl Scout Thin Mints. So much for no sugar. I'm back on the wagon this morning... clearly still not able to control myself. I felt pretty gross after eating all those cookies, but not so bad that I wouldn't do it again today. Hence, the severity of my disease.

My options for "things to do" are these:
1. clean house
2. paint back entryway
3. strip wallpaper
4. put finishing touches on kitchen
5. knit something

Exciting, non? Number 5 sounds best to me, but 1-4 will make me feel better in the long run.

I saw mulch for sale this morning. Spring is coming! That means yard work. Ugh. We usually hire a kid to mow our lawn. We may have to expand the duties to include weeding, raking, mulch hauling, etc...

Fat Tuesday 2007: Sugar Free

It just so happens that I was in Venice for Mardi Gras in 1997. I had been working at a castle in Austria just then, and the town I was in offered a bus tour to Venice for the day. I didn't really want to go, but I was suddenly gripped by a "carpe diem" fever. The bus left at 4:30 a.m. and 6 long hours later, we were in Venice. I was there with a woman I didn't know - she was visiting the castle too. A pigeon pooped on her shoulder. In Venice. I don't know why that STILL makes me laugh 10 years later. I hope that she can laugh about it now.

It was cold and misty that day. It was that cold mist that sinks in and chills you to the core, especially when you're just wandering around in it. It took me the whole next day to warm up. We ate several times that day, just to be able to sit in a restaurant and warm up, and use their ultra short toilets. Seriously... 1 foot from the floor. I used an ATM in Venice... took out 75,000 lira. Sounds like a lot. Wasn't. Pizza cost 12,000 lira.

We didn't really have a plan that day... we walked around and went in buildings when we could. I suppose the true Mardi Gras festivities started later that night, but there were people dressed up wandering around. At one point, as dusk was gathering, I looked into a restaurant, and seated at the table by the window were about a dozen people all dressed in black capes, hoods and masks. I wanted to take their picture, but I was spooked by their appearance, and assumed they'd be up to no good later on. Or maybe they were accountants.

I'm thinking that we didn't really pursue "real" Mardi Gras happenings that day. We ate a lot, but that's not the kind of sinning that Mardi Gras was designed for. Nothing I've seen of Mardi Gras has ever made me want to participate. That it was that day I happened to be in Venice turned out to be incidental.

We got back on the bus at that same night and arrived back in Mittersill at 4:30 a.m. It was a long, uphill walk to the castle, then I stumbled into bed and slept until noon. It still seems like a very long, surreal 24 hours. I actually get tired again thinking about that day. Not just tired, but deep down weary...

Here's where the title fits in... FINALLY! I gave up sugar last week. This is day 7 with no sugary anything. My main reason for doing this is to break my addiction to sugar. Once I start eating cookies/candy/whatever I CANNOT STOP. Cold Turkey is the only way for me just now. I wanted to give up my addiction before Lent, because Lent is NOT about giving up sugar. Well, maybe it is if sugar keeps me from God, which maybe it does. If I were to get in the Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) frame of mind, I'd eat everything in sight today, and do all manner of sinning, and give it all up tomorrow for Lent. I don't think that's what God wants for us.

This post has turned out very somber... that was not my original intention, but perhaps that's ok... getting into the Lenten frame of mind to look soberly at my life and see what parts of myself I am keeping from God.

Me, Me, Me, I, I, I, I... Me, I, Me, I, OH!

I've never gotten tagged by a meme. JARGON ALERT! I'm sure everybody knows all this, but I'll spell it out, since I didn't get it for a long time. A "meme" is one of those questionaires that goes around on the web and email, where you answer questions about yourself. Me. Me. Ah, got it. In my head, I was pronouncing it "mem". Also, once you've filled out the meme, you "tag" other people to fill it out too.

One going around the knitting blog world is showing your knitting spot. Ok, it went around awhile ago and my blog is so new that I'm guessing about .05 people read it regularly. Thanks, BTW.

Not that anyone asked, but here is my knitting spot... you can tell it's mine by the shape of the middle cushion... it's pretty much form fitting now, if you know what I mean, and I think you do.

As a bonus, here is the view from my knitting spot. My feet are up on a space heater. I don't know what I'd do without the heater, frankly. See all the dishcloths in the basket? Mmmmm... I still touch them every day.