S&B fun!

we had our stitch and bitch last night, and it was as fun as ever! i only worked on the watermelon for a few minutes, as my arms are still in a bit of pain. this week has just wreaked havoc on me!

my friend's knitting is really progressing beautifully! she was working on a piece she lovingly calls the Muppet. check it out at her blog, she really is A Woman Obsessed! (Hey look! I figured out how to do links!!!... damn, i just might be able to do this computer thing!)

i am supposed to be working on a final, but i am at the local coffee shop, and left the papers at home. gee, damn, i guess that means i get to take the morning off!

tomorrow, my niece is working with one of my best friends as a makeup artist... i think she's going to have the time of her life. she's a little nervous since the people she will be making up are the same age as her, but they don't have to know that. she's going to be awesome! i hope that i get to see pictures. good luck, chiquita!

i am sitting across from a gorgeous man. mmmmm, good place to be sitting!

ok, stop ogling, and get back to work, damnit!!!

almost finished.....

as of an hour ago, i have finished the following:

3 resaerch papers
all homework assignments
intro to terp final
terp 2 final
asl 6 final
logic in class test 3
logic take home test 3
planted a garden
weeded said garden
rearranged my living room (actually, this happened a week and a half ago, but it still counts... it's finished!)

i stil have to do:

logic in class final
logic take home final
transliterating/terp final
tear up my carpeting
crochet SOMETHING!

the list is decreasing quickly! well, except tearing up the carpet. i have hardwood floor underneath, and i just hate carpet.

ok, back to work.

im sorry that my blog has been really fricken boring lately... i have just been too busy.

I hate school

hate really isn't the right word. more like am seriously sick of school. my advisor told me yesterday that they might not allow me to take my internship during the fall semester as planned because too many students are requesting it now. my question is that if a lot of students are asking for it, shouldn't that be a sign that a class needs to be formed? duuuuuuuh.
assholes.

all things considered

well, things are going better right now.

i finished all of my papers, but i still am looking forward to my finals (all this week, actually wednesday and thursday... yeehaw)

instead of being a good girl this weekend and studying like i was supposed to, i decided that it was a good idea to start a garden. it's BEAUTIFUL! well, it will be more so when all the seeds start to grow....

i am just too tired to sit here and type.

goodbye, old friend.

tomorrow i have to pick up my friend in hutto. she's there form rochester NY studying how to become a dog trainer. before she showed up, i was really excited about the fact that she was going to be here for a while. my hopes of seeing her on a regular basis were dashed within the forst couple of weeks that she was here. she was so busy that i only had the chance to see her for about a total of maybe 4 hours since dropping her off in hutto, three months ago. i am feeling a bit selfish because she is technically finished with training today, and she chose to stay up there for the evening... so i dont even get to spend tongith with her. (that sounded bad... thats NOT what i meant, PERVERT!) i mean, i dont even get to hang out with her tonight. she had said that i could go out there and stay the night, then we would just drive to the airport tomorrow morn. ummmm, sis, you forget the fact that i have a house, 2 dogs, and a kid. not gonna happen. anyways, i know that she wannts to spend the last evening here in tx with all the folks she just finished school with, because "they've been through the shit together for the last three months." hey, lady, don't you remember who i am?? we've been through the shit together for the last 9 years! who held the hair out of your face on your 21st birthday when you were praying to the proverbial porcelain gods? who stood behind you when you thought your then boyfriend, now husband, was having an affair, WITH ME?? who was there for you when you found out that you have a congenital disorder that has caused a lump the size of a baseball to grow between the lobes of your brain, giving you your first ever siesure? who was there giving you support through all three of your abortions, and never questioned your judgement, because i knew you had to do it? who did you help clean up their life, and take in when she was kicked off campus? who has driven over 2,000 miles, just to spend time with you? that's right. me. the ever supportive friend who feels neglected and forgotten right now. i think that 9 years of history and mutual support racks up a little higher on the "shit" scale. one evening. that's all i wanted. one evening.

crazy times!

stitch and bitch was a bit lacking for people last night. my niece and i were the only ones to show up form the regular crowd. good thing, though, i posted a message on austin's S&B listserve, and one woman showed up from the post! she is really nice, and pretty derned cool. she was working on a pair of socks for her daughter... they were soooooo cute! teensy little things... more patience than i have i required for stuff like that! anywho, i hope she comes back... and hopefully, more people will start to join in!

GOOD NEWS! i am finished with one more paper. i have signed up to finish all my video taping next week. Im still a fricken stress ball!

BAD NEWS! the coffee shop around the corner where i live was robbed last night! it had to have been professionals, because they obviously knew what they were doing. they sawed through a 1/4 inch safe! anyways, people around here are a little shaken up form this... this is the third robbery in the last 2 months in this area. im starting to get a little worried, since this was a really safe neighborhood. what in hte hell is this world coming to!!!!! the owner is taking things in stride, his comment was, "hey, at least no one was here, and no one was hurt. THAT would have really been upsetting. besides... this is what insurance is for!" right on, man, right on.

17 year old fun times...

sometimes the logic of a 17 year old gal just evades me. my lovely niece decided yesterday that she was going to "test her boundaries" again. why oh why did she choose this week??? i have way to much on my plate to even think about punishing her. what did she do, you ask? just a bunch of little things that added up to a big thing of disobeying me (aka the guardian...) the good thing is that after i berated her for not thinking, she sulked in her room for the rest of the evening, which gave me zero distractions from the projects at hand. at least i got 1 paper finished and turned in. anyways, i was a little worried that i wasn't doing the right thing in the way i was punishing her (she must make sure the house is clean before she even thinks about hanging out with her friends... and believe me, that's a tough job!) so i called a few people. the first person i called is my lovely lovely friend whom i have know since high school. she was very supportive, which always helps when dealing with a teenager. then today, i called another friend and she gave me what had to be one of the best compliments (even though a little misplaced, i think.) she said, "youre doing great as a 'mom'... i dont even know why you are questioning yourself." awwwwwwwwwwww. she is so full of shit :) so my daily advice for raising a teenager? make 'em clean... they hate it! and call all your friends (even though they might not have kids) and listen to them when they say you are ok!

so i have 100000000000000000000000000 things do for school in the upcoming days/next week. ok, maybe not quite THAT many, but a lot. i still have 2 more research papers to finish (1 down!), asl6 final, terp 2 final, logic test and final (crap, i forgot about those, and just remembered!), deaf events videotapes, daily homework, transliterating final, interpreted song (much harder than it sounds...), intro to profession final, and ummm.... i think thats it. i should probably gett my ass off the blog and onto the word processing, etc.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

i am brilliant! not really, but i just figured out how to put those stupid little breaks between the lines... i thought is was as easy as hitting the enter key, but NOOOOOOOOOOOO. those silly little people who are out to frustrate me make it only possible by having a < br > thingy in there... stupid computers, making life more difficult than it should be...

i hate being computer declined... i am trying to make my little blurb to the right have spaces in between the lines, and it's not working... here goes another try!

sledgehammer fun times!

so, yesterday at my local fave coffee shop (the one who has a new asshole of an owner) held its 6th annual tv smash. yes, that is exactly what it sound like.... here's how it breaks down:

throughout the year, people donate old tvs, computer monitors, vcrs and even dvd players to the cafe. whatever they can get donated, they collect. the third saturday of april, the tvs, etc. are piled in the parking lot of said cafe. then, after listening to bands for a while (or, if your me, sitting on the porch crocheting, waiting for the god awful bands to STOP playing) the participants grab sledghammers, axes, baseball bats, etc. and have at it. it's the epitomy of "kill your tv!" i will not lie and say "oh, yeah, it's totally safe," because it's not. the first year, one of the fireman's axes broke off its handle and hit a woman in the arm (butt end, not blade, thankfully!) her wrist was shattered, but it was still attached to her body. anyways, i got into the muck a few times and swung away. it was AWESOME! i always make the mistake of wearing my sandals (chaco's) but so far, i haven't broke/cut/lobbed off anything yet.... i shouldn't test the fates anymore...

the result of many an hour of pounding, slashing, primal agression is a pile of ruble that has to be cleaned up by the regulars (i get out fast, so i dont get roped in to this task.)

but today, i am UBER sore! good workout! anyways, just wanted to pass along the fun!

signing off...

teehee

oh, im a bad, bad girl!

i went to micheal's friday and picked up some of the yarn (patons grace in azure...mmmmm) for a new dress from better homes and gardens new crochet magazine (page 28 in the premier issue.) my, my, i AM ambitious... and probably fooling myself that i can actually pull this thing off. im about 7 rows into it now, and the shell patterning is showing up nicely...

i just posted a note on the austin stitch and bitch list serve for all those who are looking for a central s&b. im not sure how many people will actually show next week... which makes me a lee-tle nervous since it could be dozens and dozens but it could also be 1 or 2.

i havent started my felted watermelon purse... im having issues with figuring out the right shape going... i thought i could just make half circles, but that really didn't work in my swatch attempt... dern it.

take a wild guess how far i am with my papers... that's right! i haven't even started. shit shit shit shit.
the problem is that i dont have enough research for wither of them, and no one seems to have any clue how to help me. or even answer my interview questions, for that matter. shit shit shit shit.

YIPEEE!

oh joy, oh rapture, oh FINALLY! i have finished my scarf/belt! i looooove the yarn! it knits up to be sooo jewelesque! (can you tell im excited by all the exclamations??)

anywho, it's perfect and beautiful. yes, by perfect, i mean that unconditional view of perfection where all the flaws are looked at as a unique part of a personality and without which the object would cease to be perfect. wow, that was poetry!

anyways, here's a pattern for the dazzle scarf belt:

this is a mega-easy pattern for those who love versatile garments

materials:

3-50g balls of Dazzle in any color
size 15 needles (i used circular needles to prevent dropping when i wasn't working...)

cast on 30 st. turn. knit each stitch to end. continue this pattern until your belt/scarf is as long as you want/need. mine's about 65" or so.

see? i told you it's easy! cast on more for a more versatile garment! want a shawl made of brilliant gems? cast on 60 st! ok, i will warn you about this pattern, though... it is really loose, which i wanted. so give it a shot and see what you come up with!

i tried to crochet with this yarn, and i have to admit, it was damn near impossible. but im going to try it again with a technique i have in my head... i haven't seen any one else try it, and i wont publish it until i know it works. ill keep ya posted.

once i figure out how to write my pattern for the granny square purse, i will post that, too!

okie dokie... gotsta go!

free word processor!

i just found a free online download of a word processor! for all those of you out there who aren't willing to fork out $500 for microsoft office, you can download Open Office at www.openoffice.org and find that it is comparable to the MS version! and the beauty behind it is that it;s FREE!

i am feeling really stressed out wight now about school. i have a million things due this week, and i just now got started on all of it. i was freaking out yesterday about the fact that i didnt have any word capabilities on my computer, and all my assignments have to be typed. happy fun times! so now i have open office, and that worry has abated...

tip to all the crocheters out there... make sure that the tails of any granny squares you make are SECURELY fastened... my granny square purse tried to unravel itself yesterday... good thing i caught it! if this happens to you, you can take a strand of yarn (preferably the same yarn you used for that round) and recrochet the piece that is unraveling. if you are lucky, and the back of the item is not visible for all to see, you can tie the strand in a knot on the back, then weave all the loose ends back in so that the fix is (almost) invisible. clear as mud? good.

our weekly stitch and bitch was held last night. good times, my friend brought two bags of yarn for all to rifle through and plunder... just what i need, more yarn!:) i suppose i will figure out something useful for all of it! i want to make a reminants blanket where i take all the little scraps and 5-50 yard pieces i have and try to meld them all together in a nice blankie... sure, that's gonna happen.

anyone reading this is more than welcome to join our S&B on thursday nights at the flightpath coffee shop. it's at the corner of duval and 51st in austin, right next to the arabic bazaar. we are there from about 7:30 ish until 10:30 ish outside on the patio. please, join!

okie dokie... gotta get back to studying... IM NEVER GOING TO FINISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

signing off...

newsflash!

the new owner of my fave coffee shop is an asshole!

i was online working on my last post, and the guy unplugged my laptop. said i was using all the power in the place. HEL-LO dickwad, there is no way i was using "all the power in the place!" and if he wanted an outlet that badly, he could have chosen ANY other outlet in the place! when i had plugged in, the only outlet available was by extension cord, outside, on the patio, freezing my happy little ass off and making it virtually impossible to type. when he told me to relinquish the control of said cord, there were plenty of other outlets available. (if i had seen this earlier, you can bet i would have had my sweet bippy back inside and plopped down right next to the heating duct!) anyhoo, he could have just as easily used an inside plug. SO, anyways, he told me that i was being rude and inconsiderate by taking a plug for my use. (ooo, a whole plug!) well, dipshit, if i had a choice, that wouldn't be a problem. he told me that i should get a new battery for my computer... umm, excuse me, but if he'll pay for it, i would be happy to have a new battery... they dont grow on trees, ya know. theyre fricken expensive, too! so after this little exchange, he unplugged me! which meant that i had nothing, and my computer went thbbbbbt, kaput. lovely, eh? well, at this time, i didn't know who i was talking to just thought he was the local idiot looking for a new home. so i told my friend (the barista at the time) and he said, "oh, i see youve met (insert generic name here), the new owner." great, so my favorite hangout place is being invaded by a little man that has issues about customers using equipment that the previous owner set up for the benefit of us. ten bucks says that he will no longer offer free wireless web to us either... the interesting thing i want to know is this: if he's treating paying customers (mind you, a customer that has been frequenting this business for almost 8 years) like this, how the hell is he supposed to stay in business?? interesting... i love assholes!

okie dokie... time for class.

I forgot to tell all about my easter fun day!

actually it was fairly unexciting. drove out to burnet to have easter bbq with my friends family. took the dogs, they werent so excited about being stuck in a jeep with only partial covering in frigid winter-like weather. but they endired it to be a part of a nice easter time. oh, my loverly gals, the first thing that the younger dog did was squat her happy ass down and take a dump... in the living room... where everybody was eating! oh, the ways they embarrass me!!! but m;y friend's mom was really cool about it, and didn't kick me out. thankfully. where was i you ask? i was in the next room trying to keep the other dog from jumping up and wating the sausages off the counter. then, the younger one comes in and steals a piece of bread right off my plate...maybe taking the dogs was not such a good idea...

anywho... good bbq, good times, frozen fingers on the way back home to austin.

alrighty, that's the lovely easter story

ok, the granny square purse is finished, not a bad turn around time! only took the better part of 2 days... my niece tells me that my crocheting is like crack to me... i think she's right!

it's really tough to type when my fingers are frozen... what's with this stupid weather? it feels like december right now... in the 40s.. i am NOT happy with this cold... ok, enough bitching about the weather.

the cool yarn i am using for my scarf/belt is called dazzle... appropriate name! i havent started knitting it again. hopefully i wil soon.

you know, it might be good if i could post pistures of my stuff, unfortunately, my only digital camera is a crappy one that came with my phone. it seems that whoever design this camera thought that all the brilliant colors of the world can be portrayed in a nice grey format.............. grrrrrrrrrr

ok, it's too freaking cold to be typing...

signing off,

ok, so here I am, the new kid on the blog. I've never been terribly good at keeping any kind of journal, but its always worth a shot, right?

okie dokie:

lets start with what's being crocheted/knitted right now. I have a million things I want to do, but never any time to work on them... alas, woe is me. hehe. I am working on a few really cool things, one being a scarf/belt made out of this really awesome yarn. lets see, how in the world do I describe this stuff... ok, it has two thin threads running as the main strand, and strung between these threads, every inch or so, is a swatch of colorful embroidery. anyways, it knits up to look like a beaded whatever you're making. I'm heading to Hill Country Weavers (the oh so lovely LYS here) to pick up another skein, so I guess I can post the name then. hmm, if I remember, that is. today I started on a really fun (and obnoxiously crayola-ish) granny square purse that I found in the new Crochet magazine. for any crafty-declined people reading this, a granny square is a crocheted, uh, square. its what you see a lot of afghans and blankets made out of because you make each square aeparately, then sew 'em together to make the final product. anywho, this purse is made from granny squares, with a crocheted lacy strap. or at least that's what I'm trying to make. I was looking at the pattern and it needs some tweaking since the final product measures about 5"x5". barely big enough to put my ciggies in. but this pattern is quick and easy,

I picked up a really cool book of crochet snowflakes this evening... take a WILD guess what everyone I know is getting for xmas this year.

nothing to complain about with the kid, right now, and my poochies are sound asleep, so nothing interesting there, either.

ooooo, I heard a really nice qoute today! my best friend in high school (who I am still very close to) and I used to share quotes and leave notes with cool quotes on them for each other. so if you are reading this, here's a new one for ya:

"Keep a clean mind, a light heart, and let happiness devour all your shadows."

nice, isn't it? a good mantra to live by. unfortunately, the guy who said that to my was an absolute nutter. but I like the idea.

alrighty, signing off.