6AM

No matter what I do, Kendall wakes up and demands to be taken out at exactly 6am every morning when HNB has managed to, er, um, fall asleep on the sofa - yeah that's it! he sleeps on the sofa! The jig is up, I am Trampy McTrampants, he is completely snuggled with me in my fluffy down bed.

Any way, the dog is driving me insane. Today for example, although I do not have to be at work until 11:30, the dog got up a 6, HNB and I slept in a little longer, but were both awake, dressed and drinking tea on the futon by 7:20...that crap ain't right! Any suggestions besides shipping the dog off to his gandmama's house would be appreciated.

On a knitting note, the wedding shawl isn't finished, but I did buy a few skeins of sock yarn and a wonderful book yesterday. HNB came over after I got my haircut and we went to the grocery store and got stuff to make chickpea burgers with, and then he cooked for me (have I mentioned how freakin' wonderful he is??), it was hard to not start knitting and stay in the kitchen keeping him company and showing him where all of my obviously inferior cooking utensils are. At one point, he looked at me and said "Is that the pan you really want me to use?" which he then clarified to mean "That's the only pan you have, right? This one?"

I took the opportunity to advise him that yes, it was the only pan that I had, and that Hello, dude - I DON'T COOK!!!!

That seemed to clear up some confusion.

I am doing WWWdotWEDNESDAYdotCOM a day early because tomorrow is my birthday!! Last one I am having, as I will be turning 29, after this year, we will be celebrating anniversaries of my original 29th birthday. For example, I will not turn 30 next year, we will celebrate 29 the year, part II. Feel free to hop on my delusion train, there's plenty of room for you and your knitting!

Oh, yeah, this weeks post is a little bit of a cop out, BUT the new Knitty is up and I think that is noteworthy. I didn't get a chance to really look through all the patterns, but I am sure I'll find something I want to make!

Off to work, the accident with the kayak is getting fixed today and I need to find some clothes and pack a lunch and a bag of knitting tricks! You know how I roll...with a thirty pound bag filled with crap...just like my mom! Peace out peeps - pictures to follow of the new haircut and lace blocking as soon as the auto focus gets itself fixed on the camera (think happy FinePix thoughts today!).

Blah

Not so much in the mood for blogging today, but if I don't, it sets a dangerous precedent for the whole week, and next thing you know its Tuesday next week and I realize I haven't blog chicka blog blogged in almost two weeks (Amy, you know what song I'm singing that too, right???).

First, giant props to My Lawyer Friend Nicole for both her lovely comment from two posts ago and the rockin' party she threw on Friday night. Good times were had by all, especially by her boyfriend the birthday boy. HNB also had a really good time. In fact, he was still being reminded of what a good time he had on Friday night when we hung out on Saturday night. Poor baby. On the way home, we made friends with a little bunny we saw on the side of the road, but, on the off chance that he may ever read this blog someday, I will not go into details. Suffice it to say it brought up the differences between two people, one of whom is a vegetarian and one of whom is a hunter. Interesting conversation to have at 2am.

Moving on, the wedding shawl continues to grow at a slightly alarming pace. Should have it finished and blocking by this evening, tomorrow at the latest. NOT loving the Moonlight Mohair or my Balene knitting needles, they are a little difficult to work with together although I feel that separately they may be okay. I don't know. I'm working with size 15US needles, and they are a little big to grip comfortable and work with quickly. I have to keep an eye on the yarn and make sure that I am not splitting it and that both strands make it on and off of the needles.

Truthfully kids, I'm just a little grump today. No one's fault, and really, I shouldn't be taking it out and complaining about my yarn and needles...it is so not their fault that I'm a wee bit pissy today. At any rate, I am getting my hair cut tonight, big ups to my girl Courtney at Jean Paul, her cuts last me a minimum of four months, and now that I am growing it for Locks of Love, its closer to six months. Just getting a trim, maybe add some layers, take out some weight/bushiness and of course, I'm getting my baby bangs.

Before and after pictures tomorrow, along with the photos of my first attempts at blocking (wish me luck!). And now, my favorite way to end a post, random cute dog photo - ttfn!

Oopsy Poopsy

Sorry I disappeared all week. The elderly people at work have been a touch, well, disgruntled would be putting it mildly. I think someone spiked the prune juice.

At any rate, I didn't want you to worry that I cooked Monday and killed HNB with my cooking skills or burned down the apartment with my lack of cooking skills. We went out for dinner thankyouverymuch because I had promised the man food, I just preferred to pay to have someone else cook it for him.

To explain my absences, I will tell the story of the week in pictures.

I bought this on Saturday. There was a little accident getting it in the car, good story to follow in another post.

Look, here it is again:

See how sexy it looks sitting on the carpet in my apartment. It looked even sexier when I fell out of it and into the river after my paddling class Wednesday night. Good times.

This is the finished pink shawl from last post which demanded my attention all weekend, look at the pretty, pretty beads! FYI, getting glass beads on cotton 5 ply yarn, NOT the easiest thing to do.

As you can tell, it is unblocked. I finished it, promptly decided it doesn't really go with the dress intended for the evening,

And last night I took a trip to AC Moore, bought four skeins of Lion Brand Moonlight Madness, and began this ...

...and of course a picture of the new wrap in the sunshine. Once it is blocked out, twill be loverly!

But mostly the reason I haven't been blogging, is because the guy who left this ....

...on my obviously very dirty end table, makes me happy and I kinda just want to spend all the time with him I can. You can tell this by the empty knitting basket, the dirty glass on the end table and the fact that my legs are shaved.

I mean seriously, you guys understand, right?

It might not count...

...as an actual post, but I did update the 101 in 1001 list from the sidebar. Not doing too bad, percentages wise, I am right on track. Although, getting an MBA probably will take a little more time and effort than say, not eating candy for two weeks (that was damn difficult, so then again maybe it wont), I do feel like I am chugging away at an appropriate pace and stand a very good chance of not running out of time to get things done. I may run out of motivation or run into other stumbling blocks, but time does appear, for the moment, to be on my side.

Pictures of both my kayak (YIPPPEEE!!!) and the finished pink shawl from last post to follow later today. Or maybe tomorrow...HNB is coming over tonight, I might be - shudder, gasp, snort, chuckle - cooking him dinner! Hope he likes not real meat chicken ; )

Knitting Content and Healthy Food

Random post brought to you today by my complete running lateness.

This week's WWWdot WEDNESDAYdotCOM post is for the Honest Weight Food Co-op, which, if you live outside of Albany, probably doesn't concern you too much. I have orientation there on Saturday this week to become a member, and I am super excited. Only took me four months to do it, lol. I really think that co-ops are a great place to shop, even if you don't join them to get the discount. They are staffed with friendly and knowledgeable people who know how to help you eat better foods and take good care of yourself, not just some punk arse kids who need to work at Super Big Box Market to earn money to get their nails done or a new stereo in their car (go ahead, ask me if I am dissatisfied with the level of customer service at my local supermarket - ask me!!).

Even if you don't live near Smalbany, NY, you can just Google the word "co-op" and the name of your town, and I'm sure you'll get something good. I do believe I just wrote directions for how to Google something, perhaps my problem isn't that I am running late, perhaps the problem is that I never fully woke up this morning because who doesn't know how to Google??? Sigh.....

Continuing on, knitting content as promised. This is what the Giant Afghan 'o Doom looks like (it got fed a couple of skeins this weekend):

And these are pictures of my latest project. A very simple increasing triangle shawl, recipe 'a la Harlot.

Handsome New Boy (here on in to be referred to as HNB for reasons of my laziness), invited me to a wedding next month - yeah, I know - and seeing as there is the moratorium on buying new clothes, I figured a nice new shawl would jazz up one of my many black dresses and I would look lover-ly. I have started and ripped it out about five times so far because I tried to do an improvisational lace thing; I am not yet at the level of a knitter who should be doing anything improvisational with lace unless it involved throwing an impromptu dinner party on top of a lace tablecloth. Sigh, again....

And, just because he's cute..new random dog picture taken this weekend...gotta love the Mr. Kendall!

Happy knitting!

What a Wonderful Weekend!

This has been a fantastic week! Handsome New Boy and I introduced out dogs to each other, and things went pretty well - no extended growling or trips to the emergency vet, and Kendall didn't try to hump her (he is in fact neutered; he maintains however, a slightly frightening disposition towards humping things, even if they outweigh him by forty pounds) . I purchased the latest copy of Knit.1, and I am more than just a little in love with almost every pattern in there.

The good just keeps on coming, because my BFF Erika is coming to visit tonight! We are having an early celebration for my birthday, yeah!!!! We are going to go have fondue, both cheese and chocolate, Erika will drink wine, I will whine because I can't drink wine (not supposed to be drinking because of my belly, kinda forgot that rule last weekend - spent three days feeling like poo because of it). She will leave her kid behind with her mom in Syracuse, and I will leave Kendall trapped in the confines of the bedroom. We will go here, I will wear shoes that aren't named after an animal, and we will pretend we still live in Albany, are in college, have no children or real responsibilities and haven't started paying off our student loans.

Fantasy, such a sweet, wonderful far-away land.

I may even wear a skirt.

And as for the weekend to follow, I have a new client to see for Maya Abdominal Massage - very much looking forward to that. The rest of Saturday, I get to go to the craft store because Joann's is having a fantastic sale, and I have a coupon. The parent's Christmas afghan continues to need yarn fed to it, even though I have bought a great googly moogly amount of yarn already. I guess a six by eight foot *before* border blanket requires a lot of yarn. Makes sense.

Then Sunday, oh sweet Sunday... I will be taking Amy, the muggle I turned into a knitter, and we will go to the Massachusetts's Sheep and Wool Fair. It will be my first such gathering, and I am super excited. I also have an extra paycheck coming in next month, and birthday $$$ I can count on, so I think I may be doing a little "pre-birthday shopping." If I can have a pre-birthday dinner on Friday, why not pre-birthday shopping on Sunday, huh???

As for Monday, this is the most Delicious day of all. I will have nothing to do. No clients to see, no office job to go to. No Handsome New Boy to play with (he's going away this weekend), just a Chuck Palahniuk book to read and yarn to put away! Perhaps some laundry to fold, but other than that, zip. zero. zilch. nada.

Now, if you will excuse me, I have fondue to eat and large quantities of yarn to fondle. Have a great weekend everybody!!!

The Things You Don't See

This week's WWWdotWEDNESDAYdotCOM if brought to you by MSF/DWB (for those of you who do not read the Harlot, and therefore do not know about her wonderful work on this cause, this stands for Doctor's Without Borders, one of my favorite charities).

The link this week is the their annual Top 10 Most Under-reported News Stories for 2006. If you stop to think about how connected the world is, and the speed with which information can get to us and allow us to make changes and help people in need, you have to wonder why these are stories we don't often get to hear about. I will not get up on my soap box right now, because this blog was never intended to be a forum for that, but I do, on a very deep and personal level, question the news media and the stories they report, and the reasons why they report what the do when they do.

That's why I think the MSF/DWB is such a wonderful charity, and why all my tips from my massage therapy practice are getting donated there this year. Check it out, and if they tickle your fancy too, maybe you could donate a few dollars...everyone always gives around the Holidays, and for a lot of charities the Summer months are lean ones in the way of donations, so get on out there and help a kid grow into a healthy adult, where else can you help make a change like that for just a couple bucks??

And speaking of things you don't see, there is a sorrowful lack of knitting around here. Yesterday, I am almost ashamed to admit, I was in too terrible of a mood to want to knit, and therefor, -shudder at the thought- I cross stitched. That promptly turned more annoying than what was bothering me in the first place, and so I got over my problems. Aversion therapy is a wonderful thing, isn't it? Knitting content to follow promptly, promise!