Now I'm depressed...

I just watched the final episode of Stargate SG-1. (No, I'm not going to spoil it for anyone who hasnt seen it yet)

This has been one of my favorite shows for ten years (except for a season or two when Michael Shanks {Daniel Jackson} was off the show) The only other show that I really enjoyed as much as Stargate was MacGyver (and gosh, how happy am I that Richard Dean Anderson was in both shows!)

At least they're going to have two direct-to-video movies coming out probably within the year. And at least I still have Stargate: Atlantis to watch, and at least one person from the original Stargate will be jumping over to Atlantis (Amanda Tapping)

Hopefully Santa Claus will bring me the entire series of Stargate in a box set for Christmas. I still have to catch up on those seasons I missed when Michael Shanks left the show.

I did something I never thought I'd manage to do. I somehow managed to use up about 3/4 of my yarn stash (it was mostly scrap yarn) I recently got a new bed, with storage underneath. So today I was finally getting things put away, and in a rare burst of energy, I decided to straighten out my yarn cabinet. So I opened it up and pulled out all the little yarn cakes and was surprised that there was not as much yarn in that cabinet when I filled it up last year (or was it the year before?)

I managed to get almost all of that yarn into the really nifty craft tote I bought on clearance at Joann's Crafts the other day, and also into a blanket bag (the kind when you buy new bedding that have zippers and are made of clear plastic) The blanket bag isnt even that big. So, now that I have a newly emptied out cabinet space, I decided to get my old laptop out of it's exile to my dad's office and it's now happily purring away in my yarn cabinet (which used to be a computer cabinet before it became a yarn storage device. Now it's a computer cabinet again.) When I start back to school this fall, I'm probably going to use that computer for schoolwork and that desk just for doing homework. If I manage to get my certificate for medical transcription soon, I'm going to probably also use that desk as a work area if I can get a transcription job working from home.

I'm now thinking of cleaning my closet tomorrow. I probably wont, but I am thinking about it.

I want to go buy new yarn since I got rid of a ton of scrap yarn, but I think I'll see how much more yarn I can get rid of before I start to stash it again.

Havent blogged for awhile...

So, I've neglected my poor little blog for a bit.

In my defense, I'll say I've been busy. I went on vacation (at the beginning of May) to the Black Hills. LOVED IT! (I have pictures, but am too tired to mess around with posting them right now)

I saw Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial (which I was surprised to learn was commissioned by the Lakota), went to Wall and shopped at Wall Drug, saw the Badlands (my favorite place in SD), went to Rushmore Cave, which is a big cave full of stalactites and stalagmites. Amazingly enough, I, a sworn claustrophobe and acrophobe actually went on the tour. I managed to make it thru the cave without curling up into a fetal ball, screaming, and rocking back and forth with my hands over my head. Outwardly I was very calm, but inside I was screaming in terror. I was almost to the end of the tour when my mind started to think about earthquakes (in South Dakota??!) and cave-ins, so I was a bit anxious to get out of the cave, but at least I didnt panic.

Also went to Deadwood and Sturgis. In Deadwood I went to the Midnight Star, which is the casino that's owned by Kevin Costner. I was thrilled that Costner's slot machines were generous enough to give me a $100 jackpot to go along with the $30 that I was able to accumulate before the jackpot hit. :)

On the way home we went thru Custer State Park, nearly got t-boned by a HUGE American Bison (buffalo) that wandered (ran) down the hillside towards the road we were on. Ironically, after we dodged the bison we drove a little further down the road and encountered a sign that said "Caution. Large Animals on Road"... The day after that we also saw Scotts Bluff and Chimney Rock in Nebraska...dodged some tornados on the way back to Omaha and then came home in time for the vision problem that I've had since last August to finally start to resolve itself to a point where I'm almost happy with my vision now. (knock on wood it stays that way...or gets even better)

I got a late b-day present! (my b-day was May 24th). My dad bought me a new bed. Not that I didnt have a bed before, but it was just a bedframe, and a mattress and box spring. My dad took us to Nebraska Furniture Mart last week, and I picked out my new bed (not a new mattress, I kept the one I had) It's really nice. It's a Captain's Bed...which just means that it's got a wooden pedestal base that has drawers (four) under it, and a nice headboard/bookcase.

Finally! I have storage! (not for yarn) I could have gotten even more storage if I got the pier that goes with the headboard, but alas...when we bought this house, I had the misfortune to get a bedroom with a funky shaped wall on one end where the bed goes. The pier (two TALL cabinets with a bridge and mirror thing that goes over the headboard) wouldnt fit in my room because of the funky shape of that wall. :(

My room feels much bigger now because I had to do some serious re-arranging of my junk....err...valuable things.

When I moved a piece of furniture this morning to vaccuum in preparation to the bed getting delivered, I discovered the last evidence that I ever had a dog. Under the bed, I found a towel that had been half chewed, a huge pile of dog hair, and a lone ancient dingleberry. (Ummm...how to explain dingleberries?? Hmmm...probably too much information, but my dog had hair that would collect things in it, and when he'd go potty, the hair would catch things, and they'd stick around a bit until they dropped off...again, probably too much information)

Strangely enough, the sight of the dingleberry, the chewed up towel and all that black hair I found under the bed made me wish TinyMonsters was still around. *sigh*

It's going to shock my friend that got mad at me when he visited last week because there was no where to sit in my room but on a footstool that day. He'll freak when he sees how clean my room is and the fact that I'm bringing my late-uncle's chair downstairs to keep in my room. So there'll be someplace to sit now (as long as I'm not storing dirty laundry on the chair)

In my little world of crochet and all things yarn-ish, I've finished a couple of projects. I did a couple more of those pineapple shawls, a giant granny square afghan, and I've done some more practice on the knitting that I've been teaching myself. I went out and bought myself an Addi Turbo circular needle. (got my sibling one too while I was at it...my dad forgot to get the sibling a present for a holiday) I REALLY like the Addi Turbo! It feels really neat to my fingers, and almost makes it feel like it's easier to knit. I'm going to have to eventually get myself a whole set of those needles in all sorts of sizes. I havent made anything with the turbo yet, just playing around with scrap yarn for now.

Well, I'm off to try out the new bed, and see if it's any more comfortable than it used to be (I had the delivery guys haul off the box springs, so now I've got a firmer mattress) I sat around on it earlier, and it didnt feel too bad. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep more comfortably now.

So my dad had a bunch of pictures professionally scanned...

My dad just got back a CD full of pictures that he had professionally scanned. I'm not very impressed. The pictures look VERY low quality to me. (but then, I'm half blind, so maybe they're not?) But, at least I have some more of our old film pictures of TinyMonsters. Here's some pictures of TinyMonsters and his little brother Corky. (we puppysat Corky for a week. No wonder we never got a second Bouvier when Tiny was alive) In the first picture, Corky is the one standing next to my mom...and in the second picture, he's laying down in the grass. He's cute, but I still think Tiny was better looking than his baby brother.

I think the scans are of poor quality, and that my dad probably wasted his money on this. At least we got all our originals back.

Today, it looks like Friday The Thirteenth was not a good day for computer equipment in our house. My mom's eMachine (wanna-be Gateway) crashed the other day. My dad and I took the computer out to Best Buy where we bought it last June, and the Geek there checked it and claimed that there was nothing wrong with it. So, we brought it home, hooked it back up, and it worked for about...two or three hours, and then started wacking out again.

So, today my dad and loaded up the piece of crap computer, and went back to BB...talked to the same guy. He kept claiming that there was nothing wrong with it. Until he tried to reboot it. :) It crapped out for him too! I had been told by the Geek Squad's online chat AND their telephone reps that they thought it was a bad sector, or some corrupted code or something. (those problems would be something we'd have to pay to have fixed) So, my dad and I were shocked when the kid at the store said that he thought it was the motherboard. (something BB's warranty would pay for! yay!)

Bad news...the computer is going to be gone for a month...and my mom is so not happy about that. I'm loaning her my laptop till she gets her computer back tho.

I've learned something. Dont buy an eMachine. I do have a Gateway, which probably isnt much better, but I've so far only had a few problems with mine...and I've probably just jinxed it.

A strange thing happened last week. I was listening to the first Harry Potter book on CD in my car. (borrowed it from the library) My parents were in the car, and my dad apparently has become hooked on HP. (mom was able to resist...) So now, I guess we're on the waiting list at the library for the CD version of the second HP book. I may attempt to crochet (or maybe knit?) my dad a Gryffindor scarf or afghan (if I make an afghan, it'll be crocheted) It's amazing how easily my dad got hooked on the story. We actually sat in the driveway the other night, with the back door of my car open, and my car stereo playing the HP disk.

Too bad mom doesnt like HP.

Colds suck..

So, I was going to post a nice memorial today to my dog TinyMonsters... Apparently my brain had other plans. (it's 11:40pm now...so I'm just going to do a short blog post and not bore you all with my dead-now-for-a-year dog.)

I've been fighting a serious cold (gee, thanks a lot Dad...is this revenge for me not getting you a birthday present?) and have not slept for the past two days. And then today, I've been in a fog of cough syrup and Claritin.

I'm hoping to go yarn shopping tomorrow. I've been wanting to try Brown Sheep wool (a Nebraska-made yarn) and so I'm going to a REAL yarn store tomorrow (not WM or Hobby Lobby) and see if I can score a couple of skeins of Brown Sheep to do an attempt at felting. (I say "attempt" because I'm pretty sure I'm going to screw it up) I may also see if I can find some nice new knitting needles (circulars) to add to my growing collection...and after that, I'll probably stop off at Joann's Crafts (I have some 50% off coupons)

I've started a giant granny square afghan (square, not rectangular) and It's not quite half finished. It's mostly red, with some white and blue yarn thrown in to add dimension.

I did recently finish a green shawl for a former neighbor as a St. Patty's day present. I took pictures of it, but I used my dad's camera, so I have to have him pull them off since his computers have the program for removing them.

And just so I have a little something on here in reference to TinyMonsters, here's a picture.

March Blizzard...Part 2

Why am I hungry for cake?

I dont think we'll be grilling steaks tonight...do you?

The association snowplows finally showed up last night around 11pm. My dad got his car unstuck from the end of the driveway then (yay!) and he was silly this morning and went to work. (wrong move...it's snowing again now!)

I spent last night pug sitting my aunt's dog Pudge. It was like a slumber party. The dog slept in my bed and kept getting all grumpy because I kept making her move over. (she's a little furnace! and a bed hog!) My aunt spent the entire night at the hospital working because a bunch of nurses were not able to get to work to replace the ones that did. She finally got home this morning and Pudge was so excited to see her human. I was too. I didnt really mind watching Pudge, except for having to take her out to go potty in the cold snow. That's the ONLY thing that I DO NOT miss about my dog TinyMonsters...taking him out in the middle of a blizzard to do his business. At least Pudge was perfectly willing to go back into the house. TinyMonsters would go outside and see the snow, and think it was the neatest thing in the world and would refuse to come back inside. (always had to remember to take a cellphone out with me, to call for reinforcements)

Hopefully the snow melts this weekend. I want to go out to the movies sunday and my friend that's going with me has to drive from Lincoln to get here. Hopefully the slippery white stuff is gone by then (or at least plowed up decently)

This better melt soon!

Here's a few pictures of the white crap that fell today. It's nasty stuff.

This is a picture of my neighbor's front yard...If you look closely, you can see the snowdrift is leading up to the front door of the house.

and here's a picture of the storm from my basement back door. There are actually two magnolia bushes back there. One is much smaller than the other and it's almost covered by the snow. (the little one is to the left of the larger bush...you can barely see it in the snow)

The snow in the backyard has drifted a lot higher since that picture was taken. It's just unreal how much snow fell today. (there's a bad rumour that we got 15 inches! We were originally supposed to get 6 - 9 inches)

I have a few more pictures, but they're on my dad's camera, and I dont know where he put the cable to pull them off.

ohmygosh.

I just went and got my aunt's pug Pudge. That was an experience. A scary experience.

The snow went up to my knees...and my aunt has a snowdrift that I couldnt see from my house. It's in her driveway and is about 4 feet tall. Her front door has an even bigger drift!

So, rescuing Pudge from her dog crate in Jan's laundry room was not fun. Pudge wanted to run around the house like a wild dog...so I had to let her do that for a bit, then try to wrangle her into her collar. Grabbed some food, and then tried to go back out thru the garage door. The garage door wouldnt go down from the keypad. So, we had to go back into the house. Close the garage door from there and go out the front door.

Then, I had to climb over the ginormous drift that's in her front door (carrying Pudge) and get the the relatively clear spot in her front yard so that Pudge could "take care of things", before heading over to my house. I think I twisted my ankle and my knee, walking back in the FOUR FOOT DRIFTS of WHITE CRAP! We made it back to my house fairly quickly. Got my garage door open, and came inside. I had to change sweatpants because mine had snow stuck all over them up to an area above my knees (eeeek! cold!)

Once we got inside, Pudge did exactly what Tiny did the first time he came into our house to stay. She poo-ed on the floor. ohyayforthat...at least it was solid.

She's run around my house several times over...I'm hoping she'll calm down long enough to lay down and leave me alone for a bit. I've developed an allergy to dogs and this is the first time in nearly a year I've had a dog in my house. I'm hoping I wont need to break out the Benadryl. I'm also wishing that Jan had taken Pudge to obedience school...none of the commands that worked on Tiny seem to work on Pudge.

This storm is seriously dangerous. I was scared walking across the street to Jan's house. It's THAT bad.

Holy Snowballs!!!

We're in the middle of a blizzard (and not a nice tasty one from Dairy Queen). This is a real blizzard.

My neighbor across the street has a FIVE FOOT DRIFT in her driveway that goes all the way up to her front door!

They've closed all the highways and interstate between Omaha and Lincoln, and Omaha is pretty much shut down. (Lincoln got 6 inches of snow and their storm is already over...the lucky bastards)

Omaha had thundersnow this morning. If you've never seen thundersnow, it's just amazing. The snow will come down quick, very heavy and intense. And then you get dangerous cloud to ground lightning. Cool to watch, but scary to experience!

I've taken a couple of pictures of the white crap, but havent pulled them off of my digital camera yet, but I might post some pictures later.

The local news said last night we might get 6 to 9 inches. Now they've revised that prediction. We'll probably end up with something closer to FIFTEEN INCHES by tonight.

I think I'm going to go make a cake, or cookies or something and then go crochet something later. Hopefully my dad will be able to make it home. (he's got a 4wheel drive car) but he works in a hospital, so he at least has access to food and a place to sleep if he gets stuck at work. My aunt lives across the street from me (next door to the neighbor with the five foot drift) and I'm really worried she wont make it home. If she doesnt, I'll be pug sitting tonight. (Jan's got a cute pug named Pudge)

There's no way I'm going to try to go out in this...even the snowplows are getting stuck in the snow.

Good thing we stocked up on chocolate last night...this qualifies as a Chocolate Emergency! I think I'll go rustle up some junk food for my mother. (she HATES snow with a serious passion, chocolate might calm the beast)

Half Granny square shawl

After finishing the red retro sweater, I decided to finish the scrap shawl that I started several weeks ago. It's nothing exciting. I just made half of a granny square. The first round is done just like a basic granny, but after that you only crochet halfway around the square and then turn, and do that to each row. (I know, I'm not explaining it well)

Here's a picture

I just used scrap yarn, and changed colors when I felt like it. I randomly used yarn out of my stash and sometimes didnt care if I was putting a clashing color against a clashing color. I also didnt repeat any colors. The shawl is huge, and probably doesnt represent very much of my scrap yarn stash.

For the edging, I did one row of half double crochet, and then for the next row, I single crocheted in the first 9 stitches, did 3dc, ch-1, 3 dc in the next st, and then skipped 2 sts... all the way to the center point, where I did 1 hdc in each of the next 9 sts, and then started over with the scallops until I got to the last 9 sts and then sc in each of the last 9 sts. (have I confused you yet?)

Both my parents seem to like it a lot. I think my dad wants me to give it to him, but I think this shawl is for me. (I dont keep what I make very often) My parents can use it if they're cold tho..

I'm not exactly sure what to crochet next. I want to do a green sweater vest like the red one I did one blog post back. I'm also thinking of doing a scrap afghan. (I have a LOT of scrap yarn)

So, is it groovy??

I just finished this sweater yesterday

I got the pattern from the old (now defunct) Groovy Crochet website. (which is archived on the Internet Archive thank goodness) It's the Easy Crochet Vest. It's a pattern from the mid-60's.

I've done this pattern before, but the last time I did it, I followed the directions exactly, and the sweater was a teensy bit too small for me. (gave it to a friend)

This time I modified the pattern a little...I made it a little wider, and a little longer, and then just "winged" it to do the shoulder and sleeve shaping. I was shocked to hell when I got the shoulders sewn up and it actually fit.

I wore it out into public for the first time today (went to the grocery store) I dont think it looks too bad. I'm just hoping that the yarn doesnt stretch too much from wearing it. (I used Red Heart SS Cherry Red and a K hook)

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Just found these....

A friend of mine helped me remove an old hard drive from a computer that is no more and put it into a case so that I can use it as an external hard drive. (for some reason I can only use 50gb of the 160gb...go figure. My friend is going to diddle with it later this week to see if he can find the other 110gb)

I did manage to find some old pictures of stuff on this hard drive.

Along with a couple of pictures of TinyMonsters, I found some crochet pictures. Here's a few pictures of an afghan that I made in early summer of 2004.

I used scrap yarn for it, with a purple color in between each color change. This was the afghan that convinced me that scrap afghans look really cool when you throw in a couple rounds of a variegaited or ombre yarn to make the other colors pop.

I've still got this afghan, it's in my stash of finished afghans that I use for gifts occasionally. I think I might take this one out of the stash and use it on my bed.

I'm pretty sure that I used an "I" hook for this one, since that's my favorite hook size when I'm making the rectangle granny afghans.

And then I found this

It's a crappy picture of me that I took with a webcamera. Ignore me, and look over my shoulder. That's one of the several dozen American flag afghans that I've crocheted. You cant tell from the crappy picture, but I used half double crochet for the body of the afghan, and Red Heart yarn (RH SS Blue, {edit: it's actually RH SS Navy Blue} Cherry Red, and White...I edged it in Gold in half double crochet) That picture is probably from early 2002. I made a lot of American flag afghans during fall and winter of 2001 and spring of 2002. My aunt Jan has that afghan.

I really like American flag afghans. I never use a written out pattern for them. I usually just eyeball the dimensions. Sometimes I'll take a real American flag, and use it as a template to figure out how long to make the starting chain, and how many rows to do each stripe and where to place the Field of Blue. I've never managed to put stars in my flag afghans.

Sometimes I dont bother using a template, and just hope that I get the dimensions right. I usually dont get the dimensions right when I do that, but who cares...they're just fun to do...and it means that each American flag afghan is different.

Wow...that took forever!!

I finally finished my very first KNITTED project. (I've been cheating on my crochet hooks with some knitting needles)

It's a scarf... (what a surprise!)

It's done in knit stitch, and has a single crochet edging around the entire scarf.

Here are some pictures.

I started the scarf way back at the end of August. I was having a minor (ok, major!) vision problem at the time. (ginormous blind spots obscuring 2/3rds of my vision in my left eye) and I guess I felt that I needed a challenge. So, I taught myself to knit. I dont know why it took till I was half blind to be able to figure out how to knit.

I've gotten pretty darned good at the knit stitch, but purling is still fairly difficult for me...mostly the logistics of maneuvering the yarn. I have to use my right hand to wrap the yarn around the needle for the purl stitch, and after 30something years of crocheting and never having to use my right hand to do anything other than move my crochet hook around, it's still kind of difficult for me to grasp that concept.

I have a couple of other knitted scarves going on some needles...It'll probably take me another 6 months to finish each of them at the rate that I knit.

I like the feel of knitted fabric, but I prefer crocheting, probably because I can crochet an entire afghan in a week if I have to...it took me 6 months to knit that scarf!!!!

It's been awhile...

Usually I post more often, but it's been a crummy month and I didnt feel like posting...and no, I'm not going to go into why it's been such a crappy month.

I'm starting to get better at the knitting...my crochet hooks are jealous. I've bought maybe 3 or 4 pairs of circular knitting needles (I hate the straight needles) in the past 2 or 3 weeks...and yes, all of them but one are occupied. I'm still not really knitting many actual projects. Mostly I'm practicing different techniques and trying to figure out an easier way to do the purl stitch. I do have one scarf that's 3/4 of the way done, and the start of a poncho. The poncho will probably take me a couple of years to do. (why is knitting so slow?!)

I finally got a new PDA...an HP iPAQ. I'm still waiting for Office Depot to honor their warranty. My dad and I got tired of waiting and my dad got me the new PDA for Xmas. I get the feeling that Office Depot is hoping I'll forget so they wont have to replace my old one. (meaning they'd give me a gift card for the broken one)

The new PDA is GREAT and is better than my old one. It's come in handy for a lot of stuff lately. Plus, it's fun to play with.

The weatherguy on the news just way too cheerfully announced that it's supposed to snow tomorrow. There has to be a law or something that weatherguys cant be chuckling, giggling or snickering while doing a weather forcast in the wintertime. Good thing this is the weatherguy who usually gets the forecasts WRONG. :)

Damn store warranties.

I am never buying another piece of computer equipment from Office Depot ever again. Never. Never Never.

Last year my dad got me a PDA from Office Depot for Christmas. It was a floor model, so a lot of people had been poking at it before we got it. So, we bought the extended warranty because we figured I would need it.

About two weeks ago, it died on me. (touchscreen quit working) So, I called OD and tried to tell them it was dead and I wanted their warranty dept to either fix it or replace it like they said they would.

OD tells me that it's still under manufacturers warranty and wouldnt deal with me. So, I called the manufacturer (HP...love HP products) and they told me "sorry, manufacturers warranty expired on the 8th". So, I called OD back and told them what HP said. Emailed OD my receipt as proof.

OD claims that it's still under manufacturers warranty because I didnt register the PDA till December 26th. (ummm...it was a Xmas present) HP said that because it was bought December 8th that the 1yr warranty has expired. Office Depot is giving me the royal runaround and I get the feeling they dont want to honor their warranty contract.

I just spent a half hour listening to the crappiest hold music to find out that the warranty dept hasnt even bothered looking at my claim yet.

The guy on the phone said that if I know the PDA is unrepairable that I should go ahead and purchase a new PDA while they get things sorted out. Ummm...just how am I supposed to do that? They havent sent me the giftcard they give you when your warrantied item cant be repaired. Plus the fact that they dont even offer HP pda's in their store anymore, so I'm going to have to buy my next pda straight from HP (and I'm pretty sure they wont take an OD giftcard)

I explained that to Emilio, the barely intelligible warranty guy. (I know the warranty dept is in Florida, and there are lots of Spanish speaking people there, but can they at least hire someone who can enunciate clearly? I dont care if English was their 5th language, I just want to be able to understand what the hell the guy is saying to me without making him repeat himself because he cant pronounce the simplest words!!) Emilio told me that sometimes instead of a giftcard they can send a check, but that a check takes FOUR WEEKS to be processed. (what the f...?) It's nearly 3 weeks since my pda died...something that I'm not very happy about. (I used my pda for more than just reading fanfiction and playing solitaire) Now I've got to wait another four weeks??!?

Next time we get anything electronic or computer related, I'm going to Best Buy. They have repair people in the store...and their warranties are much much better...and next time I'll tell my dad not to buy the floor model.

I think I'll go write Office Depot a strongly worded letter about the crappy hold music they had on their phones. I dont think I'm ever getting that stupid song out of my head. I'm probably going to have to go listen to the song that I hate most in this world to get their hold music out of my head. (not telling what song I hate most in this world...one clue tho...it's by Toni Basil)

10 years ago today...

Ten years ago tonight (probably right about now...2am) TinyMonsters was born. Seems like he was just a puppy...

Too bad I cant clone him. (I have some of his hair...maybe someday?)

Merry Christmas!

Ohmygosh! We (my mom and I) got all our presents wrapped tonight. I actually ran out of my fabric bags (that's never happened before!) and had to resort to wrapping paper for about 4 presents.

While my mom and I were wrapping those, we both commented that my fabric gift bags are so much easier. We were both having problems holding the paper down while trying to wrangle with the tape dispenser.

The tree looks weird without the dog fence around it. (I miss TinyMonsters...his birthday is tomorrow, the 26th. He'd be 10 if he hadnt died in March)

I took some pictures of the tree tonight, but I'm too tired to load the pictures onto my computer to post them here now.

This is the last year for our current tree. It's going to a new home (friend of my dad's is taking it) We bought a new skinnier (not pre-lit) tree on sale at Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago. ('bout $45 for a 7.5 footer) My pre-lit tree was slowly becoming un-lit. The woman taking our old tree doesnt mind that not all the branches will light up. It's a good decent tree. I'll miss it a little bit, but I wanted a skinnier tree...It'll fit better in the place we're going to be putting it up in every year, and plus the new tree wont take up as much room in our Xmas closet.

I didnt get as excited about christmas this year as I have in other years. Think it was a combination of the weather, my eye being weird and colors not looking normal and maybe my dog dying last March. Just wasnt fun without Tiny trying to steal glass balls off the tree or trying to steal the fabric bags from under the tree. (he'd stick his head over the fence and try to get a mouthful of fabric to steal)

Yesterday and today was about the first time I got excited at all about shopping. Took my mom to Target to get stuff for my dad, went to WM with both my parents to shop for something that dad wanted to get for all of us (WM was out of the item) and then went to Kmart with my dad so that he could get my mom a few more presents because she seemed to have bought more for him than he did for her. I guess he wanted to even things out under the tree and this is probably why we ran out of bags this year. (I even made 5 or 6 new ones too!)

For dinner my dad cooked out on our grill (in 40 degree weather!) We didnt realize it till we started cooking, but we need to add another light to our patio. Dad had to grill by flashlight light. The steaks turned out perfect (dad's was a bit well done) and we had asparagus, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes with it. I was going to make biscuits but got sidetracked and forgot about them till we were bringing the steaks in.

My dad got himself an early present a few weeks ago. A digital videocamera. I'm still trying to figure out how to get the video onto my computer...not that I'll upload much video to the internet...dont have my dog to do cute and interesting things...he's about the only thing I'd have been interested in uploading to my blog.

I'm sleepy and worn out tonight...been taking an antibiotic for an infection this weekend and I think that's done a number on me too.

I think I hear the reindeer...better go to bed.

Yikes! Xmas is getting closer!

Good thing I wasnt crocheting anything as a gift...I've been neglecting my crochet projects and cheating on them with the knitting needles. (not knitting anything for anyone...just trying to make something for myself)

I may be a little closer in figuring out why my right leg has had numbness in it since April. (it may have something to do with a couple of back injuries I had a few months apart in '99, and a hip injury I got tripping ONTO and OFF of the train at the local zoo the day my hip went numb.)

I went to the doctor on thursday because the numbness changed in intensity and MOVED to another spot on my leg. I was disturbed enough by that and another symptom or two to go to a doctor. So, I had an ever so delightful (not) experience in an MRI machine again today. (MRIs and claustrophobia do not mix very well) Got a nice MRI of my lower back and spine...with a nice little injection of contrast medium (gadolinium). I better not go to the airport for awhile. I might set off their radiation detectors. I look like a junkie because I apparently have small veins. The MRI tech had to poke me repeatedly to find a good vein to put the contrast into.

I hate MRI's, but at least they dont put you all the way in for a lower back MRI, (they do for a brain MRI and they strap you down with all sorts of kinky stuff so you dont move. Eeek! and when they say "open machine"...that's a lie...I dont consider it "open" if I have a giant magnet about 2 inches from the end of my nose) Having to lay completely still (you can move your arms a teeny bit for a spinal MRI) for about 40 minutes is not fun at all. (an hour and a half to two hours for a brain MRI...not fun when you're strapped down!) My back is pissed at me now.

I spent some of the time listening to country music on headphones and thinking up what I want to crochet/and or knit next. Part of the time was taken up with wishing I could scratch the itchy spot on my right knee.

I've been working on some stuff for Christmas. About 5 or 6yrs ago I got my first sewing machine. It was a WalMart special (pretty much a piece of junk) I had it for about 4 or 5 months when my dad bought me a Husquvarna Viking machine. I cheerfully gave up my WM Special (gave it to my cousin) and have totally embraced the Viking. I still cant do much more than straight lines down the fabric, but I do have fun making simple gift bags to use at Christmas.

My dad LOVES the gift bags. He's wrapping paper challenged. Growing up I could always tell which parent wrapped the presents. My mom's were obsessive-compulsively taped down on the ends, paper folded almost perfect and she was fairly thrifty with the amounts of paper she used. And she would put a tag on the present that said who it was for and if it was from the parents or Santa.

My dad on the other hand was just happy that the presents were wrapped so that we couldnt see what was inside. And he would write mine and my sister's first initials on the paper instead of using a tag. Sometimes you couldnt tell where he wrote our initials. He'd have to take a moment or two to search all over the present for the letters "E" and "S". Sometimes he wouldnt be able to find it so he'd guess (wrong).

So my dad was totally thrilled the first time I made a fabric gift bag. So now, every year I pull out the sewing machine and crank out a couple of bags for him to use. We're pretty much almost exclusively using fabric bags for gift wrap now.

I've also got several oversized pieces of fabric that I hemmed the cut edges. We either just drape that fabric over any oversized gifts, or I've even wrapped a present or two with the fabric like you would with paper, using cloth ribbon to tie it closed. It's kind of fun. I reuse the ribbons every year, and last year my mom and I decided to not toss out the gift tags. I'd been using the kind that have a hole punched in the corner and string looped thru the tag. You just slip the tag onto the ribbon before you tie the bag closed and everything's all set. My dad just totally loves this. I think he's going to let me get some fabric (when it goes on clearance after Xmas) to make more bags. He wants me to have more of the larger bags. The largest bags that I've made are about pillow case size. 1yd of fabric, I pin the selvages together, and one end of the bag. And I hem the opening. Very easy to make. Made a few the other day. Took me about 20 or 30 minutes to make 3 bags. (used half yard pieces of fabric.)

I'll take a few pictures of my tree tomorrow with some of the presents under the tree.

Yep...I was right....

The fickleness of my optic nerve is starting to get on my nerves. (yes...wasnt that punny?)

I had some improvement over the weekend, and then monday morning I get up and my left optic nerve is screaming (in pain) "Just kidding!!"

And then I went to get my new glasses Rx filled yesterday. That's just made the optic nerve even more angry at me. The new lenses are making dizzy, and my left eye is not liking the change at all...Altho, I am pleased with my vision out of my good eye. Wow...nice, crisp and clear. Very happy with that.

The left eye, with the new glasses, has a bit sharper vision, but the damned fogginess and decreased color perception still sucks. And just so every one knows, new glasses wont improve the fogginess and decreased color perception. That's a nerve problem and the best corrective lenses in the world do nothing for improving that. I have to wait for it to heal, if it does. Which can take up to a year. If it doesnt improve within 2yrs, it's probably going to be permanent.

It's not so much the fuzzy vision that bugs me. I can deal with that. It's the wonky color vision that bothers me. I never realized how much I love color until this happened. Yarn shopping isnt as exciting as it once was. I went clothes shopping and found a nice red skirt (and a black one too) that I liked. Bought them, brought them home, hoping that the red would match a red shirt I have. Put the shirt and skirt together and wasnt sure about the color until I showed them to my parents. (didnt match, but gives me an excuse to go shopping for a matching shirt now)

At least I know my eye is capable of improving...it's teasing me enough with the glimpses of good vision. Just wish it would hurry up and make up it's mind.

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We got the Xmas tree out of the store room the other day...and it sat on the floor in the family room for several more days. Tonight we took the tree upstairs, put it in the spot where it's going to sit for the next month or so. I went as far as plugging in the lights on the tree (it's pre-lit) to make sure they work. We're buying a new tree this year. Either after Xmas, or before if we find one we like at a good price. I dont think I'll be getting another pre-lit tree. They're nice, but once the lights start to go fubar.

Not that I dont add extra lights to the tree. Since 9-11, I've done a patriotic themed tree. My tree already has clear lights on it, so I just add a string of red and a string of blue...put my patriotic ornaments on it. This year, I'll have to either cover up the dead light spots with the red or blue lights, or pile on the garland.

At least I dont have to put the dog fence up. I miss Tiny, and would gladly corral my tree again to have Tiny back, but it is kind of nice to see the tree without a 3 foot tall metal fence surrounding it. As soon as I get the tree decorated, I'll post some pictures of it.

Whoohoo! real improvement!

I was crocheting tonight (gosh, what a surprise? Me? Crocheting...) and I noticed something. My left eye didnt feel like it was pulling towards my nose like it has been...and the lamps in my room werent making me feel like I wanted to rip them out of the wall and toss them into the backyard. And it feels like my eyeballs are finally starting to cooperate with each other again.

So now I think I had some improvement in my visual acuity tonight. Colors still look wonky and slightly washed out, but the fuzzies and blurries are nowhere near as bad as they were yesterday or even this morning. Reds still look weird (kind of an orange-ness quality to them) and greens are a little funky looking. Light doesnt look as dim either.

all I can say is IT'S ABOUT DAMNNED TIME!!!!!!!!!!!

and I'm fully expecting things to look crappy again tomorrow. I've had bits and pieces of improvement for several weeks now, but it hasnt always stuck around...it'll get better and then a little bit later my eye goes "just kidding" and gets wonky again. It's less wonky each time, but this is the best bit of improvement that I've noticed in a long time.

It's also been exactly 15 weeks since my left optic nerve decided to go on it's little vacation. Yep. 15 weeks ago at this very moment, I was curled up on my bed, crying because my head hurt so bad. Worst migraine of my life. Ever. (The second worst migraine was about 3 weeks ago, after walking around in WalMart...those fluorescent lights are just evil)

And may I re-iterate that if you ever have a headache that you would call THE WORST HEADACHE YOU'VE EVER HAD...Go. To. The. Doctor. Immediately!

From what I gathered from the 3 doctors I saw for this problem this was caused by either a virus or a bacterial infection (actually I saw 5 doctors, but one was an ER doc and the other was my regular doctor and they referred me to 3 that helped figure out what was wrong) I had strep throat for about a week before my eye went fubar, and apparently it decided to set up shop in my optic nerve.

Hopefully my vision will stay normal from now on...especially tomorrow. We're taking my mom to see A Christmas Carol for her birthday. Movies havent been a problem for my vision, but I'm not sure about a live play.

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As for what I was crocheting tonight...I pulled a couple of projects that I havent worked on for the past 3 months out and did some work on them. Finished a chenille scarf for my aunt Jan. Worked on a star shaped afghan that's half finished, worked on yet another pineapple shawl, I knitted a little bit (learned how to increase AND decrease in knitting! yay!), worked on a shawl I'm making with Joann's Rainbow Boucle', and in a non-yarn moment, I arranged the fabric that I'm going to make gift bags out of later this weekend with my sewing machine (as long as my vision doesnt go out of order again.)

I was quite productive tonight. :)

I even cleaned my closet out last night.

and I picked up my Rx sunglasses from Sam's Club this afternoon. (where were these whenever my eyeball exploded when out in the sun, or near any source of light?!? Now I get them...argh) Now I just need to go to Lenscrafters and get new lenses for my regular glasses. (got a new Rx) At least my Lenscrafters lenses can be made in an hour.

At least now I can see...for the moment.

*screaming in frustration!!!*

I switched to Blogger Beta a few weeks back (basically because this stupid thing made me) and I just spent 10 minutes trying to log in to do a blog post. It just kept giving me the royal run-around, not allowing me to log in. So, now I dont even remember what I was going to post!!!

ARGH!!!!!! *grumble*

I think I even made the comment in a post back when I did the switch that I hoped I wasnt making a big mistake. How prophetic.

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I saw an afghan pattern in a knitting magazine a few days ago that I've just fallen in love with (need to go back and buy the magazine), but I dont know enough about knitting to either follow the pattern, or even do the stitches. I think the afghan uses yarn overs and some sort of knitted lace stitches. Same deal with a shawl pattern that I found for free on the internet somewhere. Knitted lace just looks neat. Hopefully I'll figure that out soon.

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I've noticed on several forums that a lot of people are using my rectangle granny square pattern. Seen the comment that people are worried about the long sides of the afghan narrowing while the corners on the short ends stick out. This is perfectly normal. Once your afghan starts getting bigger the weight of the afghan will make things even out. You dont need to do anything special to fix it. (I'll post this information on the blog post that has the pattern too)