The girl with kaleidoscope eyes

7.30.2004

I'm back home. I spent 10 days in Manasquan and I only spent about 15 dollars during my entire vacation. The inlaws are pretty generous.

I didn't knit the entire time, except on the ride back from the shore. I spied a yarn store across from 7/11, but I tried to go there on Monday and they were closed. Oh well.

I'm taking medication that makes me have no appetite. It might be a blessing in diguise. I also found out from my dr. that these spells I have are most likely TIA's (Transient Ischemic Attacks) or mini-strokes. Wonderful, right? Oh well. So I have to take baby asprin, which makes my stomach hurt.

I've got to get Devan in bed now. It's late.

posted @ 11:31 PM

7.19.2004

This whole 'budgeting' and 'self-control' thing is hard work.

One good thing about being poor is that I appreciate when other people treat us to dinner, or when I find money in coat pocket or something. I just remembered that I have 3 dollars in my messenger bag from last semester, and I'm pretty psyched. I'm trying to scrape together enough cash to pay for my copay at my dr. visit tomorrow and then to buy gas to drive down to the beach house and spend some time with Jon's family this week. We're going to be actually 'vacationing' next week but I thought it would be nice for Dev to spend time down there with her gr. grandmother and aunt this week. Things will be better (financially) come Thursday, and I can't wait. Tonight we went to the grocery store. It was so wierd. No impulse buys at all. Ramen was purchased. We spent 20 bucks, and had a $4 coupon and we were thrilled about that.

Knitting news: Got my new Interweave Knits in the mail on friday. Also got the FC Easy Knitting. Here's a short review of both from me. IK - Bravo. Beautiful stuff. I love just about everything in it. The red Tartan Jacket is adorable, and I'll be knitting it in the future. Possibly this fall. North Island Vest - Definitely cute. I've been looking for a nice vest pattern, even though I've got that Ann Budd book (Handy Book of Patterns) and there's stuff in there, I like the looks of this one. I'd personally omit the fair isle because it's not my style. Dancin Dasies Pullover is cute, but reminds me of this one Christmas I threw up all over my grandma's kitchen floor, so I won't be knitting it. I love the Floral Felted Bag, and is this model carrying it not the cutest thing ever? Flower Basket Shawl is beautiful, but I'm not into knitting lace. The Lace and Tuck ensemble is GORGEOUS. I love it. I showed my husband and he thought it was really pretty too. I like the throw pillows, but I just sewed a bunch so I have no need. I'm excited about the Pooling Colors scarf. I actually have a ball of Schaefer Anne to use on that scarf. I'm glad I finally have something to use it for. I was thinking about socks, but that yarn was like $24.00 and I don't know if i'm fancy enough for $24 socks. And finally, I enjoyed the Staff Scarves. My favorite is the Ann Budd double basket patterned scarf.

And now for my review of FC Easy Knitting: BARF. Ok The ONLY pattern I liked in this entire $5.39 magazine was the little beige roll hemmed toddler sweater. The one with the seaquinned flowers. Everything else in this magazine was silly or fluffy or embarrassing. I'm sorry if that was harsh, but I hated it. I don't think I'll be buying FCEK anymore. I hated the summer one too. I just looked at it again a couple days ago. See what happened was, I bought it (an impulse) at the grocery store. I flipped through it, gagging the entire time, and then shoved in the basket under the coffee table. until the other day, when I thought I'd give it another chance. It's sad. Ok wait i found one thing I liked - the article about owning yarn shops. Genuinely interesting.

I've got about 80 projects at once right now. I'm making another Sophie, which I've altered quite a bit. I've made it a lot taller, and I'm making 2 handles instead of 1. I'm also going to make some pockets, maybe a narrow one for my cell phone and another for ..i don't know, change or something. Then I'll be lining it with fabric and adding partitions. Maybe. If I ever finish it. I'm working on the Icords right now and I don't know if I've said this enough - but I hate Icords.

I'm also working on that blasted teaset. Seriously, when I work on it, it takes me like 5 minutes to straighten my fingers once I put my work down for the night. This is not good. "my art, she will suffer."

I'm knitting a cute little short sleeved sweater from Simple Knits for Little CHerubs in red. It's that recycled red yarn I've talked about. It's wonderful to work with, and even though working with #2 needles gives me arm cramps, I'm still enjoying it. Dev says she will like this one and she said "anyways, did you notice I don't like the pink sweater?" - the pink sweater is actually a red/white LB homespun hooded sweater that I bound off too tightly around the neck. Her head is too big to squeeze into it and she actually CRIED when I tried to put it on her. HAHA!

I'm also working on green and white opal socks. Of course, the Aran afghan that will never get done.and uhh.. my white buffalo sweater sans pattern. Where'd that damn thing GO? i've got a few other projects laying around but I can't think of them right now. I've got to start finishing. Someone needs to start a finish-along. That would get me going. Someone? Anyone???

Ok I think that's enough for tonight. I ramble too much. It's the mind-numbing drugs I'm taking. Hopefully I'll get some answers tomorrow and I'll be able to go off the meds and drive my car again!

posted @ 1:00 AM

7.16.2004

I'm making a vow right here and right now. Unless my father gets unexpectedly sick, goes to some sort of gambling, substance abuse, or impulsive crappy car buying/repairing rehabilitation facility to treat these problems for an extended period of time, or if he finds Jesus and decides to turn his life around(no offense meant because I'm only half-joking) I am not going to lift a finger to make any contact with him again. I WON'T say never, because I'm a pushover who is always putting everyone else in front of myself because I hate having people annoyed or mad at me or thinking I'm selfish or ungrateful for the things that they do for me - but I'm through being lied to and being told whatever it is he thinks I want to hear so I'll get off his back.

Sorry that rant was totally personal and didn't belong here but whatever, this is MY journal and I'll edit it if I change my mind about it later.

I'll leave you now with a tidbit from an e-mail I sent to Jon:

I hope you didn't need me to go to your moms - hope you did that yourself. if you didn't , you should pick up your envelope on the way home because i am feeling dreadful. I have to go take some percocet. Love, Rush Limbaugh

posted @ 10:13 AM

Ok, I have to STOP reading knitting blogs. With my financial situation as it is, not to mention the fact that I have more projects lined up than I know what to do with, it just isn't healthy the way I lust after everyone else's stuff.

If you're wondering what brought this on, it's Fluffa mostly. Looking through people's archives is a bad idea. this cotton jacket is making me forget about saving money. So is the Cashmere Collection by Debbie Bliss. I just outright cannot afford the chunky cashmerino so DB can kiss my butt right now.

I'm still working on the WB Unspun sweater with no pattern. I hope this doesn't end up being a problem. I've got to revise my works in progress because I'm not really making any 'progress' on them.

Devan just called me out on getting her a juice box. I said 'I told you just a minute.' and she said 'Well, you said 'just a minute' when I was upstairs.' Now she's tapping on the stairs with her pencil, saying 'COME ONNNN' so I better go. - don't get the wrong idea, I'm not intimidated by those 36 pounds of thirsty fury - I've just got a headache.

posted @ 7:44 AM

Ugh... Blogger changed again! Darn them. I'm too out of it to figure out whether I've set the settings correctly, and I'm not messing with html but damn. There should be an OPTION to keep things the same.

I just finished using up all of my brain power trying to get our bills under control. My husband (tee hee! it's still not old) is not dumb by any means, but he's almost annoyingly positive and upbeat - like, nothing bad will ever happen to him or because of some oversight or because he doesn't pay THE WATER BILL FOR 4 months...(sigh).

Also the state of New Jersey is just absolutely ridiculous when it comes to auto insurance. For some reason I was labelled a tier 3 driver, because of some non-existent lapse in my car insurance over the last 3 years. This meant we had to pay lots and lots of money in September because the auto insurance company I used to have could not find the proper documentation to prove I had 3 years of uninterrupted insurance. (I had it, damnit!) Well, instead of digging through our own records, and keeping on top of the home office, Jon let the ball drop and we ended up paying through the nose. This past spring when I was pulled over for speeding (because oh my gosh I do that from time to time) I stumbled upon the missing piece to the puzzle. An insurance bond my dad bought because I chewed him out and cried over the phone to him because, well mostly because I was suffering from post partum depression, but also because he was promising to pay my auto insurance and was not ever sending me the cards - it's a long boring story, I know. Anyways, this card proved I had insurance when the insurance company could not find the proof, so basically we were saved but Jon never called to tell our current company that. Tomorrow this will all change, and I expect a humongous credit. Well I hope for that anyways.

What's nice about my husband is that he keeps meticulous records of every cent he pays. I am able to, at the click of a button see how much money we've spent at The Sussex Queen diner since July of 2000 (oh my god almost $700. What can I say, we like the diner..) I've come up with a pretty exciting plan to budget our money and pay off some bills (like the water bill - we had a huge, $2000.00 leak when we moved into our house.)

I'm excited to put our plan into action, and to demand credit for our auto insurance overpayment. It's such a great feeling to figure out a plan, and understand how it will work, rather than sit around wringing my hands worrying about bills.

I might start ebaying some stuff. I have all these old clothes that don't fit me. I am notorious for buying a bunch of clothes and having them be too big and never taking them back to the store. So I guess I'll see how much I can get for them on ebay.

This voice in my head is telling me to think about ebaying some yarn... but I'm ignoring that voice because I can't bear to part with any of it yet. I'll sell books, I'll sell clothes, hell, I'll sell art work and video games but I can't sell the yarn. Even the stuff I don't like - for instance I hate Rowan biggie print. I hate its guts. But deep down I know I can make a beautiful scarf out of it, because I have 4 balls. I can get 1 more for fringe if I'm feeling sassy.

I also have a bag full of essential oils I bought at Bath and Body works. I wonder if I should sell those. Or maybe my fragrance oils for soap making. I'm just not that into soap making anymore. I tried to rekindle the flame but nope. I'm pretty sure it's dead. Well I can at least sell the BIG mold I have, since when I do make soap these days, it's only a few bars at a time to test stuff out.

Oh yea, knitting content. Sorry : Ok, I have this beautiful 100% merino wool sweater in red. Fire engine red. Beautiful soft sweater. I unravelled it and now I have like 1500-2000 yards of soft, beautiful, fire engine red merino wool that cost me 1.00 at goodwill. I've got it all hanging in the bathroom right now, drying. I'm not sure what I'll use it for yet. I've also been knitting the White Buffalo Unspun sweater. I can't find the pattern booklet though, so I can't go too much farther. I haven't touched my Opal sock since Monday. I started the pitcher part of the fiesta tea set. After that horozontal I-cord stripe thing, I couldn't straighten out my fingers and hands for 5 minutes. it's torture. But it's so darned cute. It reminds me that Friday when my stepdad was here, he took 1 look at my yarn stash and said "you'll have arthritis before you're 30" Here's to hoping he's wrong!

posted @ 1:51 AM

7.14.2004

I saw Cold Mountain tonight and I just have to say, how do women like NIcole Kidman exist? She is just gorgeous. God. And her hair... ugh.

I knit my green and white opal sock during the movie, but didn't get far because unfortunately, since my episode on sunday (I edited out the info about it because it's just wierd and I wasn't explaining it well) my coordination has just felt off and my knitting is slow-going. It's not that I'm doing something wrong, it just doesn't FEEL right, even watching and knowing I'm doing it right -- it still feels foreign. This is partly due to percocet, and partly not. I have a dr. appointment on Monday and hopefully he'll shed some light on this for me.

Recently we've been having some money trouble - as in, we don't have any. It's kind of fun to list all of the bills and figure out a plan to pay them off one by one, and to watch it actually work. Kind of fun if you're me and you're bored.

If you've got any ideas or tips on saving money and paying off debt, that you think might help us, leave some comments. I'd appreciate it.

posted @ 1:33 AM

7.13.2004

Tonight I laid on the couch feeling really terrible. When I got feeling better, I opened my laptop after Jon was messing with it and this is what greeted me.

He thinks he's pretty funny.

posted @ 9:09 PM

7.12.2004

Devan just said to me

Mommy you are so beautiful with me sitting next to you on the couch.

posted @ 1:57 PM

I hate hospitals.

For the knitters: Today on the way to Manasquan beach I knitted most of the cuff of a ribbed sock using Opal yarn. I would have gotten farther but I forgot a stitch holder. Is that what it's called? There's something wrong with my head -- I'll get to that later. That's all the knitting content, if that's all you're here for.

Today was a crap day to swim in the ocean because the water was filled with jellyfish eggs. I mean just disgustingly filled. The water felt gritty from all of them. We got them in our hair and stuff. I'm still skeeved.

I got a little sun on my face, which always pleases me cuz I look cuter with a pink face.

edited: percocet induced ramblings don't seem to belong here.

posted @ 1:13 AM

7.08.2004

All felt up

Sophie's done and drying on the cabinet. It's a cute little bag.

posted @ 2:07 PM

7.07.2004

Today is my birthday and so far it sucks.

posted @ 11:34 AM

7.06.2004

i finished sophie - except I have to felt her.

Debbie Bliss and Jo Sharp yarns are still half off at my favorite yarn store. I'll have to scour my books for some good patterns so I can justify hauling home a carload of various yarns.

posted @ 9:43 PM

7.05.2004

I feel as though I've accomplished a lot today.

Today I made 8 pillows for my living room sofa and loveseat. They're simple, pretty, and sturdy to boot. I did a good job on them. I also took a couple minutes and made some magnets out of these pretty colored marbles I bought in Ohio. I got a little excited and hung them too soon, so a couple marbles slid down too far, but the vast majority were successful. I also finished the Top Dog.

I opted to not embroider on the mouth because I think leaving it out made the puppy look more primitive and everyone in the house agreed (yea, I asked everyone..) It also makes the puppy look more like a puppy. The mouth made him look like the chef who brings lady and the tramp the spaghetti and meatballs, which was not the look I was going for. It looks so much cuter in person. I'm really happy with it.

OH! and we also, finally have a new toilet in our downstairs bathroom so I can now shower in my own bathroom and not in the upstairs one!! yayy

posted @ 11:36 PM

7.03.2004

My proudest moment!

Yesterday I pestered my little sister for what seemed like hours, until she finally agreed to come sit by me and learn to knit. Here is a pic of her, learning how to do a cast on, garter stitch, and bind off:

After a day of knitting this is what Cady came up with. It would have gone on longer, but when I went to the Rag Shop for some black felt to finish up the Top Dog (oh, the recipient was born on Monday) we bought her some kids plastic needles and some soft lavender yarn that she can use for her own experimenting, instead of using my pink cotton that was meant to be a cardigan for Devan.

Something that annoys me about my husband (it's so wierd calling him that) is that sometimes he insists on watching movies... even when I'm like "no, I'm really tired, I'd rather watch Conan and go to bed..." So we'll turn the movie on, because I'm sweet and accomodating like that, and about 15 minutes later he's asleep. So because I'm not one to fall asleep while there's any sort of stimuli within a 10 mile radius of me, I'm stuck watching the movie and ... I have no idea where I'm going with that. Last night We, I mean I watched Big Fish - It was cute, but while watching the movie I made another teacup - the right way. I realized towards the top of the texture part of the cup that I made the yellow cup wrong. I read the pattern incorrectly. So here's a teacup done right, and blocking upside down on a juice glass on the top of my stove.

I'm probably going to see fireworks over at Franklin Pond tonight with the kids and Jon. We usually don't care about fireworks, but I think it will give us something to do. I'm still wrestling with using my spa passes on the kids since I don't know how Evan will behave and the passes are worth a lot of money to waste them.

posted @ 4:43 PM

7.01.2004

My hands kind of hurt from that teacup yesterday. It's upstairs blocking on a glass and so far it looks much better.

Here's what I've been working on this morning, it's a skull washcloth for my brother, Rick.

posted @ 12:09 PM

I'm a little teacup...

I started the tea set tonight. Well. Sort of. I just wanted to see how hard/easy the pattern was, so I used some sugar & cream and made the teacup.

It hasn't been blocked yet or anything, but I stuck my c2 (which isn't bad, by the way) in it so it wouldn't tip over while I took a picture of it. It's a little ugly, and hopefully blocking will help. If not, I'm sure Devan would love it.

posted @ 12:36 AM