Reality is the Only Obstacle
to Happiness! :)
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
...With all this yarn I should do some knitting!
A week or two ago I did some yarning on eBay, which I generally don't do, it's too accessible - too easy to hit SABLE status before I've even realized what happened. But since this was so nice and not too expensive, I said what the heck!
It's organic alpaca, undyed, superfine, in a sport/DK weight - camel color. Each little skein is about 100 yards and there are 10 skeins.
Without me saying it, you know this is sooooo soft! It has "shawl" written all over it - LOL!
Horses and Alpacas
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
So this past weekend I went to Lancaster, PA. Such a quiet little town with lots of farms, cows, and horses. I've taken to going about once a year for a few days. It's very relaxing and entirely strange to not be plugged into a computer or phone.
These horsies below were only a few feet away behind a fence, but look at all the land around them!! How nice! :)
I was there about the same time last year, but it has been quite an eventful year and the knitting bug has firmly taken hold. So this year, I looked up a couple of PA LYS - yea! The first one (Kitnit Needlecrafts) was just OK, ordinary yarn but I got a couple of patterns I had wanted so it wasn't so bad. The OTHER (Labadie Looms) was great! They had a number of yarns from their own brand, so I managed to force myself (yea, right) to get two skeins of some awesome yarn I probably couldn't get anywhere else!Check out the ALPACA in a gray & black twist!! Yum!!
This stuff is so freakin' soft, I may just leave it as is and make a pillow out of it! It's amazing!And this I just couldn't resist! It's sock yarn - and I don't knit socks - but I was totally taken with the hand-dyed colorway. It's so unusual and will probably pool a great deal, but I don't care - I love it!
It's half RED and half a blue-purple-lavender mix. Too cool! I wish the pics were better. I will have to start trying to take them outside. But trust me - the colors are beautiful!Now I have to go and dig out some patterns that call for sock yarn that aren't socks!! LOL :)
Couple 'a things....
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
First - let me draw your attention to the blog of my wonderful friend Dani! She is helping to raise money for Breast Cancer Research. If you have a few extra dollars - and if you have your health, aren't there people who need the dollars a bit more than you? - please donate something to the cause. And if good health isn't enough of a motivator, then how about a CONTEST?! Dani is giving away a lovely skein of handpainted yarn to the winner which was made especially for this contest. Second prize is a piece of woolly greatness right from her own personal stash!
You can find more details here where the contest has its' own personal page!!
And yes, I practice what I preach, I HAVE DONATED!
Second, I have joined Flat Scout! (also from Dani's blog - she has the coolest stuff there!) Ms. Scout is going to travel all over the world with pictures to prove it. I can't wait to show her around when she come to vist me! I think sign-ups may be closed by now, but go take a look anyway! I'll post pics when she arrives.
And last, for those of you who graced my home with your presence last month, take note that the wine situation has been improved!! I have since purchased actual wine glasses (no more plastic!) and even better, I have obtained a really nice corkscrew with the wingy things on the sides. Woo Hoo! The end of cork-in-the-bottle wine! Hey, I don't drink any alcoholic beverages so I ask for a little mercy in your judgement - LOL! But I do always want to be a good hostess so I upgraded my vino-related accoutrements. Next time (and there will be a "next time") sharing of the wine will be much easier!
TTFN!
GO DONATE!!
So Called Self-Help books
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
I love 'em!! Not the kind of book that tells you 'how to lose weight' or 'how to apply make-up', but the kind that gives you inspiration to do wonderful little things for yourself, your family, and your friends.
One of my favorites has always been "Wear More Cashmere" by Jennifer Sanders. It has 151 ways to pamper yourself. Now, nobody I know has the time to do all of them, but even adding a few of these suggestions into your daily routine is fun and makes you feel special. Some of the ideas cost a little (like actually wearing more cashmere or buying high thread count bed sheets), but many don't (like turning off the phone for a night and enjoying some down time). In any case, they are all designed to enrich your life in some small way. I highly recommend it!
And while we're on the subject, I just picked up a new book called "The Joy of Doing Things Badly" by Veronica Chambers. What a great title! And check out the picture on the cover:
She's KNITTING!! OK, the sweater has three arms, but who here hasn't been down the "OOPS" road while knitting?! And that's just the point - it's OK to not be perfect, the idea is to try different things and embrace the challenge. How cool. I haven't started to read this one yet, but I couldn't resist posting about it when I saw the knitting on the cover!
Now pretend I'm your own personal "Daily Om" and go do something nice for yourself today! :) You DESERVE IT!
Surprise!
Friday, June 16, 2006
See this pretty bag (which matches the gifites by the way)See the incredible knitting found here and here
Well it is now HERE (see below) as in "at my house"!!
I was so taken back by her thoughtfulness I was almost at a loss for words - and that is pretty unusual for me!! I was coveting the towel and dishcloths as I saw them evolve on her blog (and the cuuuute little green flower button), but never could have dreamed they were actually for me!! Blown away. Grateful. Flattered. I know Dani will say it was just a little something for no reason - but it means a heck of a lot more to me than that. I promised that I would use them - and so I shall - but it won't be easy. You can just feel the love in each stitch. Especially because she didn't have to, she just wanted to. I just don't know what I did to deserve a friend like that.
(All of my knittin' chicks, really.... Priceless.)
Dani, I could never say Thank You enough!!
Joyce's 80s Party - Part 3
Monday, June 12, 2006
Pics are here!! I have to start bringing my Digital Cam with me 'cause regular pics are great for albums, but they don't scan too well - at least these didn't. But you can sure see how much FUN we had!
We pretended to be teenagers again, so after the party - we went to The Diner! No pics exist of that, too bad though. We exhibited enough drunken rowdiness when we walked in that they sat us in the corner away from the other customers!!
And NO, I do not dress like that normally (but it was so cool, I may consider it!!) It was a reasonable facsimile of what I did look like in 1988/1989, only change the jeans for leggings, the tank top for an oversized shirt, and the cool "I don't give a f@@k" attitude to "Please like me". Ugh. Being a teenager is MUCH BETTER the second time around!!
Mary has some really, really good pics posted here
Check out Joyce's hot pink tights (too bad you can't see her matching hot pink pumps!)
Mary gave up the Wham! persona for this pic and is flashing the devil's horns with me! Of course, she does share her birthday with the apocolypse (6/6/06) and Joyce!
Look at those legs! They stretch past three people!
Notice the phoney bottle of Jim Beam I'm drinking
- filled with diet soda - I couldn't resist! It went so well with the Rocker Chick outfit.
Joyce's 80s Party - Part 2
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!
The Eighties came alive last night and I am dead tired today! LOL! I am way too old to be pretending I am 18!
More to come with pics and stuff.
ROCK ON!!
Joyce's 80s Party - Part 1
Monday, June 05, 2006
My friend Joyce is having a birthday this week - Tuesday 6/6 to be exact. (And while we're on the subject, so is Mary! Yes, same day!!) So Joyce is having a Themed Birthday Party the Saturday. The theme? The 80s!
Once I made it past the concept that my youth was now a theme party (am I the only one feeling old here?) I settled in and started to choose a costume - I can NEVER resist playing dress up! Was I going to dress early 80s, late 80s, Madonna 80s..... what???? I was trying to avoid the obvious, which was to duplicate how I actually dressed as a teenager. ROCKER CHICK. Yes, that was me. Heavy metal, black leather, short skirts, chains, the whole deal. I had left that long behind and it seemed more fun to create a whole different look this time.
Well, I worked at it, but it didn't hold. Stupid VH1 was having a "Metal Month" and they showed a documentary about the music, etc., and my interest was peaked. So I dug out my old denim jacket, the back painted with a poor representation of Steve Vai's "Passion and Warfare" album cover, almost every available inch crammed with a metal stud of some sort. And unfortunately, it still fit. It is so atrocious, it's downright embarassing. I can't believe I ever wore it and wore it proudly (it's autographed by Steve, by the way). But it is so perfectly, horribly 80s (even early 90s) that I was hooked. Someday, when I'm old and grey and dead, Goodwill will come and clean out my house and get beaucoup bucks for it because it is such a perfect representation of that era.
Funny thing is, I am starting to enjoy all this 80s stuff. I pulled all the 80s metal CDs from the shelf and loaded them onto my iPod. Now I spend all available time rocking out to Skid Row, Warrant, Poison, LA Guns, Lita Ford, Whitesnake, et al. I also dug out about 6 video tapes with dozens of heavy metal videos dating from about 1988 to 1991. One more awful than the other: the posing, the leather, the tight pants, the HAIR, THE EXCESS! OH MY GOD - I LOVE IT!!!!! The whole thing was a gigantic male fantasy and I loved watching it and playing along, or at least pretending to. Man, I am having so much fun and I haven't even gotten to the party yet!
Thank you Joyce! What a GREAT idea for a party!! I can't wait!
This will have to stop of course, once the party is over. It's getting quite silly, especially with all the silver jewelry I've pulled from the bottom of the box. And the hat, wait till you see that. But for now, it's a hellava lot of fun!
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