What Ever Happened to the Meme?

When I first started blogging, meme's were all the rage. What ever happened to them? I kind of liked them. Anyways. It was So. Hard. To get up for class this morning. It was so nice to just sit around all day for a few days. Winter break is so close I can taste it! It'll be a welcome break, especially with my class load next term. Oh, next term. I have a feeling I am over loading myself, but I am determined to do it. I'm all registered and I am planning on taking five classes next term. Really, not that many, but they are going to be pretty homework heavy, and I've been pretty spoiled my last few terms with not having a lot of homework. In addition to trying to get into the work study program (basically working for the college) next term, I am taking Intro to Physics (should be a breeze for me), Western Civilization, Architectural History, Building Materials and Methods II, and an honors class- Legacies of Color. I'm also registered for Intro to Chemistry, which would give me 18 credit hours next term. I'm not sure yet if I am going to drop Chemistry or not. Hopefully my winter break provides enough R&R for me to tackle everything. I'll be rewarding myself, if I make it through, with a nice and mellow summer term. That should be good motivation!

Nerd Sadness

So, yesterday I was messing around (where I probably shouldn't have been messing around) on my computer, trying to get a game to work, and apparently did something wonky. After I restarted my computer, I couldn't log in. It was all, well, wonky. So, I ended up reinstalling Ubuntu from scratch. I didn't really lose anything, since Pretty much everything is still on my external hard drive, but I spent a lot of time making it look all pretty and installing programs and stuff. So, mild sadness. Oh well. Lessons learned the hard way, I guess. Also? need to look in to how to make a restore disc or something. Kind of bummed, though, because I would rather be knitting instead of messing around with my computer crap all over again. I really need to get cranking on the knitting- it's almost December! Are you knitting Christmas gifts this year?

Cop Out

Too busy knitting, watching chick flicks (Nights in Rodanthe is first on the list), and eating leftover pie to blog right now. If you haven't checked out Cake Wrecks, go, now! Laugh! Subscribe!

Friday Fill-ins

1. Wait! Wait, don't forget to remember what you are thankful for every day. 2. Thanksgiving dinner was followed at once by getting a wretched cold. 3. The trouble is that I just got over having bronchitis a few weeks ago. 4.My great family is many miles away. 5. With a faint pop ???. 6. The books I am reading, "The Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, are shadowy and ominous. 7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward torelaxing, knitting, and recovering, tomorrow my plans include more of the same and Sunday, I want to throw a little football in the mix! Any post-Thanksgiving weekend plans?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Again, a few things I am thankful for today: - My first homemade Thanksgiving dinner was a success! - Spending the afternoon with my wonderful boyfriend - Monsterette being a great this morning before going with her dad- she played in the leaves, helped me cook, and looked super cute in a new outfit and after a bath. - Comcast now includes the NFL Network, and I can watch my team tonight! Woot! - Ubuntu! Hope that everyone out there has a wonderful day filled with love, family, friends, and good food!

Three Thousand Words

Ten on Tuesday

Ten Things I am Thankful For 1. My amazing daughter. Every day she does something that makes me smile. 2. My wonderful boyfriend. 3. The fact that said boyfriend is an excellent cook. 4. My friends. 5. My awesome family. I am really blessed to have such great people in my life. 6. The opportunity to go to college. 7. Vacation! 8. Time to knit, sew, read, craft, bake, or just RELAX. 9. Bloglines. I seriously would probably never read the blogs I love without some sort of feed subscriber. 10. Ravelry. This has become an indispensable tool for knitting and crocheting.

Random Thoughts 11.23.09

- WHY do they call it "word verification" when it is just a random string of letters and NOT a word? That bugs the hell out of me. - It really sucks that they put the Thursday night football game on the NFL Network and the Monday night game on ESPN. I don't really think that is fair for those people who don't have cable or satellite. - The Monsterette has been quite excited lately that she is finally wiping her own butt. She runs around the house declaring it, and every time I giggle because it reminds me of that Adam Sandler movie. - I hate doing homework in my house. It is SO HARD for me to focus and it takes me forever. In a crazy coffee shop, though, no problem. I know, it doesn't make any sense.

Mosaic Bag

I made this over the summer. It's a little bag for stuff. I use it all the time, actually. I really love the organicness that is created with the combination of the tweed yarn and the pattern: The pattern is from the book 1000 Knitting Motifs, which a really excellent book if you find yourself wanting to add some colorwork to a project, but not sure what. I've used it a few times, and will definitely use it again. I love that it is spiral bound so it lays flat, and that the motifs are organized by origin. some close-up pictures: The cord is just a braid made from the blue yarn. The yarn is Plymouth Tweed, which is my favorite tweed because the tweedy bits match the color of the yarn. I love that! I'm really happy with the way this bag came out.

Blah.

Feeling a little blah today, so not really in a mood to post much. Here's a few things I'm thankful for today. - The Monsterette cleaning her room. - Having ALL of the laundry done. - My wonderful mom. She is so sweet, and such a great woman. I have a ton of respect and love for her.

Friday Fill-ins

1. We need a nice long vacation. 2. Doc made me pancakes this morning and it made me smile. 3. If you want things done right, you got to do them yourself. 4. I have been really tired lately because I can't seem to get to bed before 11. 5. Massachusetts has a proposed 5% sales tax on elective cosmetic surgery; I think that is a brilliant idea. 6. Family and freinds makes for a happy holiday. 7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to hopefully getting some knitting done, tomorrow my plans include relax, relax, relax and Sunday, I want to watch football and make some chili!

LINUX

A few days ago I decided to switch to a LINUX operating system called Ubuntu. (non-nerds, this isn't going to get any less nerdy, so feel free to vacate if you want to, guilt-free. Promise. Knitting content tomorrow.) Actually, let me backtrack a little bit, because I really do not make major decisions like this on whims. About a month and a half ago, a friend told me about this "great operating system! it's LINUX! I'ts fast and pretty and awesome!" (Okay, that might not be his EXACT words. Sue me.) I checked out the website repeatedly for about two weeks. By "repeatedly" I mean that I probably wasted at least 10 hours of my life just researching this silly thing. Then I took a week or two off, and did that all over. About a week before I decided to make the change, I was looking up all kinds of crap. What programs could I not live without that don't have equivalents? What the bloody hell is an emulator? What makes LINUX so special? You get the picture. Finally, one day, I decided to make the leap. I carefully scoured my computer for anything that needed to be be backed up onto the external hard drive and did so. Then I started installation. (My first thought was to partition hard drives, just in case, but decided to just go for the fresh start.) So, now we are back where we started. I installed Ubuntu, blah blah blah. So far, though, I really like it. I think it is pretty user friendly, even for a non-nerd. There are TONS of helpful resources out there whenever I get stuck doing something. It is super-duper fast, and I found out how to customize and make pretty much everything a lovely shade of bubblegum pink. There is NOTHING on my desktop. (SQUEEEE!) the only major snag that I have run into (and yes, this is pretty major) is that I can't seem to get my printer to work with the OS. Sadly, Lexmark (my printer manufacturer) doesn't really have printer support for LINUX operating systems. Which, really, is just sad. I searched briefly for a workaround of some sort, but gave up pretty quickly, since I had homework to do. Anyways, besides the whole printer thing, I really, really like it. I am looking forward to spending more time in the Terminal (kind of like DOS) and playing around there. I think I am forever a LINUX convert already, though, and you would have to have some pretty compelling stuff to get me to go back to Windows or to shell out the major bucks for a Mac. I'm off to look for LINUX related knitting patterns. Tee Hee! Any of you use LINUX?

Knitting!

I know I've been promising some knitting content, and I finally got around to taking some pictures today! Woohoo! Today I'm going to share a hat I made sometime last year, I'm pretty sure in the fall: The pattern is called Opus Spicatum, and it was a lot of fun to knit: The yarn I used was either Paton's Classic Merino or Lion's Wool. It might even be both, but I'm really not sure. The pattern was a simple fair isle knit, and went pretty quickly. I absolutely love the cast-on in the second color: This hat is so, so cozy. There are definitely more colorwork hats in my future. Probably somewhere down the road, I'll make another one of these! I also want to make matching mittens and a matching scarf. The herringbone pattern is so simple, but looks so great! I really love this hat. Do you have a favorite hat pattern?

Ten on Tuesday

No new T.O.T. this week, so I went and found an old one that I never did. Ten Favorite Things to do During "Me" Time 1. Knit, crochet, sew... 2. Give myself a pedicure 3. Waste time on the internet 4. Sims 3 5. Take a long hot bath...often preceding number 2 6. Talk on the phone for hours 7. Curl up with a good book 8. Crank up the music! 9. Organize stuff (I know this sounds a lot like cleaning, but I really like to organize) 10. Browse the craft/fabric store What is your favorite "me time" activity?

Thankful

A few things I am thankful for today: -My amazing daughter. Every day she puts a smile on my face. -My wonderful boyfriend. I am so blessed to have him in my life. -College! Even though it is stressful at times, I really love being a student, and I am so grateful that I have the opportunity. What are you thankful for today?

Weekends are Never Long Enough

It's Sunday already! Gah! I hate how fast the weekends go. Doc and I had a great time in Santa Fe for our anniversary. Drinks, dinner, and much love and fun was had. He really is a great guy. I took him to one of my favorite places for breakfast this morning, and that was really yummy. I wish we didn't live an hour from there! Today is just a mellow day, watching football, doing some knitting. Hope you all had a good weekend!

Since I was out of town on Saturday and no internet, I hand-wrote my post. Here's what I wrote: Happy anniversary to me and my wonderful boyfriend! I can't believe it has already been one year. it's been a crazy wonderful adventure so far, and I cannot wait for the years to come. Hopefully there is lots of them! He makes me so happy, and is such a wonderful man. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful guy in my life! We are up in Santa Fe celebrating, and I am starting on my first drink- a yummy margarita in the hotel room. I'm sure there will be much more drinking, some yummy food, and lots of fun! See you guys back on the interwebs tomorrow.

Friday Fill-Ins

Sara does this, and I'm going to start doing it, as well! Here is the site if you would like to do it, too! The part that is in bold is what I have filled in. 1. The last band I saw live was TOOL a few months ago. 2. What I look forward to most on Thanksgiving is being with my family and friends. 3. My Christmas/holiday shopping is barely started. 4. Thoughts of knitting fill my head. 5. I wish I could wear pajamas all day, every day. 6. Bagpipes are cool. 7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to knitting and girl movies, tomorrow my plans include our one year anniversary celebration in Santa Fe and Sunday, I want to go to the bar and watch football all day!

Hmmmm.

Not really sure what to blog about tonight. I have a quiet night at home tonight, planning to watch Across the Universe and have some yummy pizza. There may be ice cream, too. We'll see. Ah, who am I kidding, there will definitely be ice cream. There will definitely be knitting, too. And even though it's lame, I'm kind of looking forward to getting to bed at a decent hour tonight. Oh, and something worth mentioning! I found Grace in Small Things through Donyale's blog, Indulging my Inner Thinker. I think it is a fantastic idea to reflect at the end of the day on the things that bring you joy. I think we tend to get lost in the negative a lot of the time. I know I definitely do! I don't think I will be posting my "small things" here every day, but maybe once a week. I did grab a cute little journal from the $1 bins at Micheals the other day, though, that would be perfect to keep bedside for just this purpose. I would love to know if any of you get into this! See you tomorrow!

Veteran's Day

First off, a huge thanks to those who have served or continue to serve our country. We would not be the nation that we are without those who chose to lay their lives on the line for us. For that, we are truly blessed. This is the first year that my grandpa, a Korean War veteran, is not here to be thanked. I didn't really even think about it until I tried to go to the bank. I really, really miss my grandpa, and I wish he was still here. Knitting content soon!

Ten on Tuesday

Ten Favorite Song Covers 1. Alien Ant Farm's version of "Smooth Criminal" by Micheal Jackson 2. Richard Cheese's version of "Rape Me" by Nirvana (Really, anything by Richard Cheese! Check him out!) 3. Hayseed Dixie's version of "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath (Hayseed is awesome, too!) 4. Dynamite Hack's version of "Boyz in da Hood" by Easy E 5. White and Nerdy" by Weird Al (originally "Ridin' Dirty" by Chamillionare) 6. Anything Apocalyptica did with the cellos (their new original stuff is SHIT) 7. Cake's version of "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor 8. Perfect Circle's version of "Fiddle and the Drum" by Joni Mitchell 9. Jimi Hendrix playing the national anthem. 10. TOOL's version of "No Quarter" by Led Zeppelin

Handmade Holidays

Alright, I know I said I would get knitting pics up soon, and I promise, they are coming! Maybe tomorrow, if there is enough light for pictures when I get home from class. And if I remember. Heh. Moving on... In addition to my (alleged) knitting, I enjoy a few other crafty endeavours, like sewing. I don't do a ton of it, but every once in a while I get on a sewing kick. I am always surprised by the near instant (compared to knitting, anyway) gratification that I get from sewing something. I am thinking about whipping up some hand-sewn gifts this Christmas. Not entirely sure what yet, but I've got my eye on some things! The Sew, Mama, Sew! blog is having their Handmade Holidays series for the third year now. Every day in November they post a handful of tutorials, mostly for sewing projects, for things that would make great gifts. I've been scouring the last two years' posts, as well, and starting to kind of overwhelm myself with ideas. I suppose I should settle down and pick a few and get to work! Speaking of work, I need to get back on my homework and studying. I'll leave you guys (is there really more than one of you??) with a few of my favorite tutorials from today's searching! Simple Keychains (how fun would it be to let Monsterette "personalize" these?) Beanbag Chair (Monsterette would LOVE this in her room) No-Sew Laptop Cozy (I want one of these! It would be great for my college-faring bro and sis, too. How cute would some applique or simple embroidery be on these?)

Home Again

Back home from a short visit to the mountains. Spent some time at the local park. Got some knitting done, and had fun playing cards over a few tequila sunrises. Relaxed a little bit. Got in some political debates. Had some yummy food, and there was no car sickness on the drive there OR the drive home! Woot! (The Monsterette is quite known for her car sickness. Major suck.) So, have I mentioned that my Grandpa is paying for the entire family, including me and The Monsterette, to go on a Christmas cruise to Cozumel? Pretty nice of him, huh? I'm actually kind of bummed- this means missing Christmas with my boyfriend. Also, I am a big of fan of a traditional Christmas. This will definitely be a little weird. I'm also stressing out because of money and the joys (SARCASM) of traveling with a toddler. Anywho, hopefully it'll be fun. It'll be good to see the family, at any rate, even if I will have to cram my fat pasty ass into a swimsuit in December. Blegh. Have you ever been to Cozumel, or that area of Mexico?

Heading Out

All packed for the overnight in Taos, getting ready to hop into the car for the 3 hour drive up into the mountains. Looking forward to the nice cool weather and some quiet time (well, as quiet as it gets with a toddler running around). Should be home tomorrow night, will probably blog again then. Knitting updates soon if I can get some pictures, and if I decide to continue the blogging adventure.

I'm thinking about taking a break from blogging. I know I have only been back in the blogging world for a short time, but I just feel like my blog is really... empty. The warmth and comfort I used to get from sharing, from being part of the online knitting community, from feeling like I had friends out there in this weird online world, all of that feels like it is gone now. I don't know. I'll be heading out of town for the weekend and going up to Taos, and won't have any computer access. I'll be doing some old school blogging (aka journaling) if I decide I'm going to keep up this whole blogging business. Otherwise it should be a nice relaxing weekend in the mountains with my wonderful boyfriend and my daughter and my knitting. See you Monday. Maybe.

Some days I really don't know why I try. I feel so lost sometimes. Like I don't know who I am, or what I am doing, or if I am being true to myself, or if I can. I think I am more fucked up than I think I am. Sometimes all this inner anger and hurt and turmoil and hate just comes bubbling to the surface, and I'm not really sure what to do besides try to smother it, cover it up, shove it away where it can quietly simmer, out of sight and out of mind, until something turns up the heat and it gets out of control again. I wonder if I have made the right decisions, if this is the life I want, if I even know what I want. Am I hurting everyone around me? Am I living a lie? Is my life really what I want? Sometimes I am so happy, so in love, so peaceful. Why can't I be like that all the time? What do I need to do to get rid of all the dark, secretive, horrible feelings inside so I can just be happy? Why can't I enjoy things? What the fuck is wrong with me? I really don't know what to do sometimes. Somehow, though, this is the shit I need to conquer. I just don't know if I can find the strength to do that. the strength the overcome myself. To become the person I want to be, instead of the person I act to be.

Vintage

I've always had a place in my heart for all things vintage. Buttons, post cards, seed packets, jewelry, you name it, especially if it's art deco. I was pretty overjoyed when I stumbled upon this blog. She also had a love for vintage, and finds the coolest ways to incorporate vintage stuff into her crafts. it's got my mind working for some vintage inspired Christmas gifts- maybe ornaments? Little stockings? Printed sachets? Not quite sure yet... A contest may be in order! Do I have enough readers left for a contest? I guess we'll see. So, here's the deal. Leave a comment with your suggestion for a smallish vintage Christmas gift. Everyone who leaves a comment with a suggestion will be entered, and I'll do a random pick for a winner. Winner will get some of whatever I decide to make for Christmas, and some other little goodies, probably yarn since most of you are knitters. If you're not a knitter, I'll figure something else out. Check out The Vintage Moth and Vintage Printable for some more inspiration or to get some vintage images for yourself!

Ten on Tuesday

Ten (Favorite) Ways to Waste Time on the Internet 1. Ravelry! (For those of you who don't know what that is, it's an internet heaven for knitters and crocheters.) 2. FaceBook 3. Searching for new recipes 4. Reading blogs (I use Bloglines) 5. Pogo 6. Searching for craft ideas 7. Adding to my Amazon wishlist 8. Browsing Etsy 9. Did I already say FaceBook? 10. Yarn Shopping Happy Tuesday everyone!

Halloween Pictures

The Monsterette as a princess: Me and Doc: I really love the mask I made! I got one of those plastic masks from Hobby Lobby. I covered it with some cool textured felt, added some sparklies, the pretty pink butterflies, feathers, and some ties. super easy, and I think it came out great! Some close-up pictures: Hope you all had a good Halloween! I think we are still recovering from the sugar coma over here. See you tomorrow!

NaBloPoMo

Yep. It's that time again. Another year where I am going to try to blog for the entire month of November. Yep. Every day. I think I can make it, and hopefully won't bore everyone to death! Finally uploaded my pictures of the Balloon Glow, so that will be coming up, and planning on posting some Halloween pictures tomorrow. I'm also planning to share some knitting, and thought I would visit some of my older projects and give updates on them. November sounds like a good time to start Soap Wars, too. Sounds like it should be an interesting month! Anything you guys would like me to blog about?