No more colds

I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving.

We are finally back on our feet after battling colds for the past three weeks, hence the absence from the blog. The house is also now back in order. Ahhhhh. :-)

We had a nice low key day today. I talked my DH into helping me construct and decorate a Gingerbread house. It was about 2 hours of fun...and I can't say how much sugar we ate, it was alot! I mean we had to taste test it. ;-) Here is the final result:I also have a pair of socks to show you the progress on.I really haven't worked on them in a bit, something about when you are sick all you want to do is chill and do something mindless. Knitting for me is not mindless.

We've also hired a contractor to work on our shed. He is going to get it weather tight for us. DH and I came to that conclusion that being outside working in 30 degree weather was not helping us stay healthy. I wish that we had started the shed earlier but that wasn't in the cards. It is disappointing that we can not call it 100% built by us. We will also be penny pinching through the end of the year to pay this contractor.

Off to get some knitting done as these socks need to be done by Christmas!!!

DH is sick

So, the shed still looks like it did all last week. Part of me is jumping for joy...it was really cold this weekend, the other part of me is freaking out because as the end of the year gets closer it gets even colder.

I ordered some flannel lined jeans today. Hopefully they will be here by the end of the week to save me from getting hives this weekend.

Anyone know of a contractor willing to put a roof on a 14'x16' shed? Homeowners willing to pay cash in exchange for labor. I figure it would take someone who knows what they are doing one day.

I'll leave you with a nice sky picture to bring on a smile. The rainbow was much brighter in person.

Faded Jeans

Here are what my socks look like moments ago:
I love the way the color is coming out and the pattern. I've been using K2P2 alternating each round.

I said that I wanted to be done with these before Christmas...well then I looked back at how long it took me to knit my first pair of socks and it was two months. If I finished these prior to Christmas that will be 3 months...so each pair is now taking longer than the prior ones? This just isn't right! I need to spend more time knitting.

This shed project is putting a damper in my knitting time. Actually I could blame my job as well. Since we are building the shed by ourselves (and not having the weather cooperating all the time), we'll need at least another month on it and since my job pays for the bills...can't give that up either. Bummer.

Check out this sky we had one night this week. The colors were so vivid.

I did it...

signed up for:I figured that I'll try it out for one year and see how I like it. I'm kinda of excited about it! I love getting presents and this will be one every other month in 2008.

My weekend did not go as planned. I expected to have the entire day on Saturday for craft projects. Well...I had just a few hours, I can thank the coastal storm - Noel. It brought downpours, which made DH's plans shortened and brought him home much earlier than expected.

So, I ended up reading more than knitting and surfing on site called Ravelry. You may have heard about it!? ;-)

I know you are waiting patiently to see the sock progress and well, I'm such a tease and you'll just have to wait a little longer.

As for the shed, it is going along sooo slowly. This 40 degree weather is really hard to work in. Besides the fact we found and had to resolve a major flaw in the blueprints. They had the beam over a foot lower than it should have been and it wasn't matching up to the roof joists...so we had to call on an engineering friend to help redesign. Thank you Zoot!!

Well that went well, I think

It appears, I stress the word APPEARS that the notification about my promotion went over okay. Also, for those who are keeping track...I wore dress pants and a sweater. Even though it was Halloween I still skipped the Halloween socks.

36 hours to a day just for me! WOO HOO!! I've been working on my socks every night this week. So I can't wait to show you how far they have come...but I think I'm going to keep you in suspense until this weekend.

I also have a dilemma. Do I sign up for the 2008 Socks that Rock Sock Club? I would like to try it out for at least a year but it is costly then again I just got a raise, but do I want to spend it on this? Then again, it is for 6 skeins of hand dyed yarn, bunch of fun stuff, coupons and patterns. I can't use the excuse of spending that kind of money before Christmas, as they take it out in January. I guess I'll think about it and make my mind up tomorrow.

I'm spending way too much time on Ravelry. Pretty soon I'm going to need a 12 step program for it.

How about another warm weather photo to leave you with? This one is from a month ago. Imagine that, October 1 and I still had Morning Glories in full bloom!

Weather/Whether

Ok, why is it like 60 degrees outside on a weekday, when on the weekends it is in the 40's? Doesn't Mother Nature realize that we are trying in earnest to finish this shed and would greatly appreciate the 60 degree weather on the weekend?

Tomorrow is the official announcement at work about my promotion. They are also announcing the moving of my boss to another department and the splitting of the team. This should be interesting at best. I'm debating on what to wear...a nice suit (come off as I mean business), pants/sweater (=trying to fit in somewhere between those that work underneath me and those that work above me) or casual pants/shirt (=not taking this too seriously or coming off as a bit threat). Hmmmm...decisions, decisions, maybe I should call my fashion buyer/consultant, BE! :-)

As the DH has reminded me, I haven't posted my vacation pics from Daytona Beach. You can find them on my Flickr account here: Enjoy!

It is October what....

28th! Where did October go?

I haven't had any time to spare. Work days are very long and I come home exhausted, and then our weekends are filled with shed building. Mark my words: I will never complain about an interior house project. It is flipping cold and breezy out there! My face is now bright red with wind/sun burn.

I'm fortunate to have an older winter jacket and a winter hat that is washable. I'm also glad that the gloves fit inside my leather work gloves.

I nearly gave up on the shed a couple of hours ago though. There is a beam that is made out of 2 2x10's that span 14 feet, in the middle of those two boards is a piece of plywood and on top is a 2x4. In other words a DANG HEAVY beam. I just could not lift it over 8 feet in the air. It just wasn't happening and no one was around to call for help. We finagled a way to get it close on a pile of left over boards...just hoping that the wind wouldn't pick up until it was securely nailed. It got pretty hairy there for a time. However, it is all up now and we are breathing a big sigh of relief.

I'm really looking forward to this coming Saturday. My DH is off on his 'guys weekend' and I plan on knitting and cutting/sewing up lounge pants I'm making for him. It sure beats paying $15.00 for a pair and I think I'm going to enjoy this easy project.

Here is where I wish I was (Bermuda):

Day one

Of new official job, job title and new job pay...with the same company. Interesting. I was given a "promotion" and a new job title at work. It doesn't feel like I was asked, it was more of a realignment of the company and we need you to step in here. I wonder where I'd be if I said no...

Like quite a few people have mentioned to me, I'm already doing the work I might as well have the pay and title to go along with it. I guess.

I was required to be in an upper management meeting this afternoon to pick those individuals who remain on the team and those that we need to find places for in the company. As this is the one task I need to complete ASAP. Nothing like the feeling of totally changing the course of someones life. I realize that it is a part of business, but do I have to sign off on it!?

Then, there is the issue of who is doing my work while I am at all these meetings. Keep your fingers crossed we find someone to help my department ASAP! I arrived at work about an hour late, had a doctors appt. (got a really nice sore arm from blood draws and a shot), then had a meeting, back to desk for conference call which brought me to lunch time (of which I was feeling so lightheaded - really needed food!), came back to my desk then another meeting then it was time to go home.

Time at work: 7 hours
Time at work in meetings: 3 1/2 hours
Time at work on lunch: 1 hour
Time remaining to do my 8 hour job: 2 1/2 hours
Headache achieved by all the above: Priceless.

As for knitting...what is that?!

Even longer time

It isn't like I haven't been around. I've been here and there but mostly spending my internet hours on Ravelry. That site is way too addictive! It plays into my being organized streak. Where else can you catalog all your yarn by photo, type of yarn and be able to down an excel list to take with you!?

I also was a winner from eebeads.com I received an eebeads t-shirt and a $50 gift certificate back over the summer. I finally had some time to spend the gift certificate. I believe a new bracelet is in my immediate future!

The shed is progressing, a little slow but the overnight rains we've been having are not helping...by the time you give it a few hours in the morning to dry out.

I've had some time this past week to knit. I took Friday off to work on the shed, and well it poured. So, I continued on my Panda Cotton socks that I started in Florida 3 weeks ago. Here is what they looked like on Friday morning:

Long time...

Ok short time, lots of things going on. It is really hard to believe that a mere 15 days ago I was on vacation in another part of the country.

Well, as you know we arrived back safe and sound. Since then we have been building a shed. Not just any 'shed' but a 14x14 MONSTROSITY! Yes, we are doing it all ourselves. Yes, I have more bruises than I care to talk about. We started building the week we came back from vacation, when the weather was 80 degrees. Yesterday and today it was about 53 degrees. Ugh!

Needless to say the knitting has been non-existent. The last time I picked up my needles was in another state. I'm sure in another week or two I'll be back picking up where I left off...but for now we are under the crunch to finish the shed before the snow flies.

I promise pictures next time, as the camera is on the other end of the house and I'm being lazy.

Back from Vacation

Now this is what I call a perfect view on vacation:

There is something about waking up to the ocean from your room. The above picture was taken from our hotel room.

Daytona was great! I highly recommend staying at the Hilton in Daytona Beach. Seeing the actual racetrack was fun...well all except the 2 minutes the skies opened up and was pouring rain.

There is so much to tell I'm going to have to spread out the photos and stories.

However, let us just sum it up tonight (cause I'm really tired from my first day back at work) by saying it was great fun and I enjoyed spending quality time with my DH and SIL!

Vacation

So long, farewell...we are off on vacation. Daytona Beach here we come!

I'll be back next week.

Happy Birthday to me...

Happy Birthday to me! What a fine day it was! It started with this trinket from the DH...

It ended up with these from dear friends...

It is hard to believe that in 3 days I will be in Florida...that would be Daytona Beach to be precise!! YAHOO! I can't wait, I really need a vacation.

Of which reminds me I need to cast on some socks. I checked out the TSA.gov website and it appears that I can bring on needles, so I was thinking socks would be a good choice. They are small and portable.

Party is done.

The big party is over. Yahoo! It got so stressful these past few days. In fact I was still running on energy from who-the-heck-knows-where until 3AM! I just could not sleep. I was way too wound up.

All in all I've heard from a few people and they said they had a good time and the food was good.

I was up after 5 hours of sleep to clean the house like the mad woman. Like I said I'm just relieved it is over.

Now we have 5 days to get ready to use up DH's gift from me. We are going to Daytona Beach, FL. He is a big Nascar fan and I put together a weekend to head to DaytonaUSA. So now that I can talk about it, I should be less stressed about it.

There is still nothing happening on the knitting front. This party and subsequent surprise vacation planning has taken over my life.

I do have some sock yarn and was going to check out the TSA website to see about going on the plane with needles.

Stitch Marker Exchange

The stitch markers are in the mail (or will be tomorrow) to my partners.

I hope you enjoy them! For a sneak peek here is a photo:

Off to do the final preparations for the big party tomorrow. DH has a big"zero-ending" birthday and his wife is throwing him a party!

Ravelry

Oh sure, I'm stressed to the hilt with my TO-DO lists for the party on Saturday and what comes in the email box today? My Ravelry invite.

Well guess what I've been doing for the past hour instead of cleaning?

I need to find a club about blog addicts? OH OH maybe I should check that out on Ravelry....

Busy

Things in my life are insanely busy. I am putting on a party for the DH this Saturday for about 20 people in my house.
I've already started freaking out about it. There is so much to do in so little time.
Not necessarily for the party, but the preparing of the house prior...oh how I'd love to shut/lock some interior doors to certain rooms in my house and let it go.

Know the feeling?

Boat Drinks

Well, this weekend flew by. We went to the Jimmy Buffett concert on Saturday night. That was a fun time!!! He really knows how to put on a concert!

In getting there in time for plenty of tailgating, we saw some really funny sights:

• a pickup truck with it's own porta-potty on it, actual stairs w/hand rails leading up to it
• a guy trying to put together a keg style bbq grill - right out of the box. Took him about an hour, then he flipped burgers by using a paper plate?! Actually it was more than just one plate, about 4-6 as they kept burning.
• same couple trying to figure out how to plug the blender in. HELLO?!
• one guy dropped his entire beer on his shoe/foot and blamed it on the beer, quite loudly
• another guy was dancing by stomping, it looked more like a kill that bug, kill that bug...can you visualize it?! LOL
• there were tiki bars, generators (dude above should have thought of that), more straw skirts I've seen in years, and the ages went from high school to collecting SSI (and I am curious on what population was actually smoking the grass)

I could go on and on...I just get so much enjoyment out of watching other and making fun of them.

I didn't get much knitting in. Although as for house improvements, we finally have all the baseboard molding done in the bathroom. It looks so nice! It is amazing what we've been able to accomplish in a few weeks.

I blame Amy who blames Rachel

for the following purchase:I mean, as a HUGE bunny lover how could I not buy these? It was a "I have to have these." Maybe I can call it an early birthday present to myself!? No?! I mean wouldn't they look stunning with hand knit socks?!

As for the shawl, it is coming along. I got another inch or so done today. I had dropped two stitches, so it was a bit of a challenge to pick up the two stitches without my crochet hook, but I finally got it.

Tomorrow is the Jimmy Buffett concert. It is finally here! Let us keep our fingers crossed for the rain to hold until the final song.

I also received my Stitch Marker Partners today. Actually Robyn got them out at 3 AM!! I can't wait to spend the time reading their blogs this weekend to get some ideas for designs.

Must match

Big thanks to DH, did you see the new logo he designed? I love it!!

The beads were actually taken from my bead "stash"! Yes, you can, like in knitting, have a bead stash! DH created a light under a piece of glass with paper on it to take the snapshot that filled in the word BEAD. I took full opportunity of the set up to get a couple of my recently made jewelry photographed:
This is the first piece I've made that doesn't have a design to it...just beads picked up as needed on the wire. It probably took me 30 minutes from start to finish - thank goodness for that, as I wanted to wear it with the shirt I was wearing at the time and we had to leave!

DH and I have been quite busy today. We painted one wall of our bedroom. We used the Ralph Lauren, River Rock paint. It has sand in it, so it creates a nice texture. I wanted an accent wall and well we now have it! We also took down the molding around the front and back doors and put up the new molding that matches the rest of the doors.

Now it is movie time as we are ready to relax.