Now I have the Pics on my puter...let's see if I can post them

This is the lace shawl I have started. I am really enjoying it, although it is definitely a challenge. For the most part I have to work on it only when the house is quiet, and there is nothing else going on to distract me. One day hopefully I will get a bit better at the lace knitting thing.




This is Dad's Sock. Actually it is his Christmas Sock. I went with the measurements of his foot and used the guide in the sock book. So this weekend when they come by here I will have him try it on. I may even be much closer to done with it by then.


These are Mom's Christmas Socks. I know hers fit, as I was able to give her the completed one at Christmas with the promise of the pair being completed before she left here this weekend. No pressure there. I really liked doing these socks. They are a great pattern and I plan to make a pair for myself as well.

Now that I know I can post pics I will take a new and improved pic of my Einstein Coat from Sally Melville's The Knitting Experience Book One - The Knit Stitch. I have just started working the front right side of it in the complimentary color that I chose. I am getting more excited about it the more I work on it. I hope the cold weather holds out until I finish it so that I can wear it a bit. Just don't let my DH hear that.

Will post my updated pics as soon as I have them.
Have a Great weekend!!!

Goal Accomplished!

Although the goal of having pictures on my blog has not yet been accomplished because said DH has finally replaced his long gone (since June) laptop, he is quite busy creating that tight bond between laptop and user. Hence, hopefully this weekend - basically at my request (read demand) - I am to be taught where he keeps the camera cords and such, as well as how to put pic 'I' want on 'my' computer.

I DID finish my class portion of my Einstein coat in time. Just in time... class was at 1730, I put my needles down at 1715 and packed it all into the bag. Although I did manage to get ALL the laundry (8 loads) done (but not folded - just neatly laid across the washer and the dryer), the poor kitchen was literally a disaster area. I even heard Rick ever so quietly suck in his breath as he walked in and saw it. I promptly told him don't worry about it, I will deal with it when I get back from class.

Having now started the second color on the coat I am quite the envy of my class mates as they love my color selections. I am getting more excited about it. I have even decided that I am going to use the darker of the 2 colors for the bottom 4-5 inches of the sleeves to create a cuff look.

The real issue is, I must put the coat aside for just a few days and try to finish my parents Christmas socks. I am almost there with Mom's, but Dad's is a bit farther away. Maybe this afternoon after work.

On the not so pleasant front...DH contacted a lawyer in AZ about our issue with the VA courts and the wench and so on....she does not think AZ will want to touch it because both parties live in VA and the laws in AZ are totally different. The kicker is she is beau coup expensive. That could have something to do with she is licensed to practice law in AZ, Washington DC and the Suprememe Court. Rick was most unhappy (read down right pissed). Especially since she intimated that we might only get the alimony reduced by about 200/month. It is just all very ugly and nasty. I must admit for once I think my hormones came to the rescue, as, instead of being totally pissed and wild about the outcome, I was very calm and reasonable about the whole thing. You can just never tell what those silly hormones will do from one month to the next.

Enough for now, I must go feed my starving girls - get ready for 5hrs of fun and excitement in the stock room and maybe even run the vacuum.

Have a great weekend, and look soon for my pictures.

I did it!!

Yes I did. I took pictures of my knitting... now I just have to wait until DH comes home from work, to a) find the cord that connects the camera to the computer, and b) show me how to make them go from the camera to the computer. Once they are here on my computer then I think I remember how to make them show up here on my blog.

I am officially 3days behind on the Einstein Coat knitting that needs to be caught up by class at 5:30 on Thurs evening. At that time we will learn how to do the button holes and then start knitting the top section (or so I think). I have decided that I love the colors I have chosen, I just hope the coat (which is considered to be "an oversized" pattern) won't be so over-sized that it looks bad. Although the good thing about wool is, I can always shrink it, but you can't make it bigger.

When taking the pic of Dad's Christmas sock - I must admit it looks strangely out of proportion (I just keep telling myself that Dad really does have wide feet). Mom's 2nd sock is almost done. Maybe with a little luck she will be able to take hers home with her. They arrive Sunday afternoon on their way home from Myrtle Beach. We are the stop-over point between Myrtle Beach SC and Conyngham PA.

It is offical...we have hit the retail wall of after holiday non-shopping season. Which translates into payroll cuts and therefore cuts in hours. Which I have been looking forward to since about the beginning of Sept. Unfortunately with things not have been settled in court with the Wench we are still shelling out huge amounts of $$ and the new hot water hearter fiasco (which has also not only set us back lots of $, but has forced us to move out of our bedroom into the guest room because of the noise) I can't really afford to be out of work. So I am definitely hoping that my corporate intiative with the Coldwater Creek higher ups will come to fruition and I will have some more work heading my way. It would also entail some traveling which would most certainly not break my heart in the least.

Anyway... I will try to post the pictures as soon as possible (with a bit of help from DH)

It is back completely

Hey Everyone, my voice is completely mine again!!!! Yahooooooo. As of yesterday it returned sans raspy-s, squeaky-s, or any other strange sound that could come from ones vocal chords. This also means I finally feel like I am back to the business of getting on with my plans for the new year.

So with that said, I have been knitting madly on my Einstein coat (although right now it just looks like a very thick wooly table runner). As of right now I am 1 and 2/3 days behind. So if I take the chance today (unexpected day off) to catch up that will be good. The thought of maybe even getting ahead by one day is a good thing.

The socks are coming along, but a little slower due to Einstein. Last night I decided I wanted to try to do a bit of my shawl (especially since my next one just arrived via the post yesterday), boy was that a mistake. I was obviously not in the place that I thought I was. I must admit though, that due to a bit of an emotional shake up by a friend - maybe last night was not the ideal time to launch into the one project I have going that requires absolute attention.

As for my attempts at decluttering...they are showing up in little bits here and there. Several (ok lots of) bits of paper from my desk. Little chatchkies that are just sitting about and a few bits of clothing are actually making it to the trash. My sock yarn stash has a promise of relief from my knitting group - who is very excited at the opportunity to poke through and pick some lovely skeins for a very reasonable price. Especially since I have not yet mastered getting pic from DH camera onto my computer, it makes selling things tougher.

Well today the only thing I have going is an eye doctor appt - to which I must get ready to go to.

Have a wonderfully peaceful day everyone!

So Now it is Official

I now sound about 97% like me. Although the cough is still pretty impressive, for the most part I am feeling more like me as well.

Today was suppose to be the start of a lovely few days off spent with my best friend from high school. She was to arrive later this evening (after my Einstein Coat Class #1) and we were going to spend some girl time, and friend time and just enjoy ourselves over the next 5 days. With the word "suppose" being key here, alas, her poor Mom (who is battling Dimentia and Alzheimers and who still lives at home with her Dad) has taken to falling lately, and this last time has broken something in her lower leg. Therefore my dear friend needs to stay with family at this time. Her poor Father is getting no rest, and not much sleep as well. While I would do the same thing if I were in her shoes, I must say I am a bit bummed.

This means that I am available to work and extra shift on Sunday night, as well as go to a Breakfast and Yarn Meetup group tomorrow morning. I have been wanting to go to a knitting group for a long time now. Just a chance to get out and meet new people and do some knitting.

So today I will do some much needed cleaning and a bit of organizing/weeding things out to give/throw away. I will also take the time to knit on my lace shawl (which has been terribly ignored lately) and then tonight go to class.

I am off to write an email to a friend and then on to my plans.

Have a great day!!!

I'm Back (says the little voice)

Yes, my voice is finally pretty much back. It has only taken 10days!!! I still have a bit of a cough, but for the most part am feeling more like me these days. I actually had a phone coversation this morning. A very important one, and could be heard as well - not just squeaks and raspy sounds.

I have decided that I am now officially done with being sick for 2007. That means the rest of the year is to be a healthy one for me. Including getting back on track with my food habits and exercise. I must admit the exercise is a habit I have yet to create. I am thinking I will get back on the treadmill and find some good books to read. That seemed to work for me previously, plus I actually got some reading time in. Although I must say it will probably not get started until Thurs. as tomorrow is my very early work day (must be out of the house by no later than 0630) and won't get home until 4:30.

This is just a short little update and hopefully soon I will get some pictures into this dreary little blog.

Moving Forward

Here it is Monday... I can honestly say I have regained, each day, a bit more of my voice. I am sure it would have come back sooner if I had taken some time off of work, but since current circumstances don't really allow for that.... I shall take what I can get.

Rick was quite the dear this weekend, and very busy as well, put more dirt in my flower garden, and then fenced it in, so the girls would stop digging it out. He made the most scrumptious Turkey soup with the turkey legs and such left from our Mesquite smoked Christmas turkey. It is just heavenly - especially when you have a terrible throat and cough and such.

We are currently in a holding pattern about the whole legal issue until we can contact and retain a divorce lawyer in AZ. Which translates into - yes, we will continue to pay her big buck, while we slide deeper into debt each month. Really sucks the big one, but life will go on.

I have decided I must always remember that no matter how poor we are we will always have the one thing that she cannot buy or obtain... we have an incredible Love for each other that refuses to waver. We have each other and no matter what we can build a life together and be happy. (although we may end up poor as church mice, we can figure out how to be happy). We also have friends, and those friends are not our friends because of $$. Luckily we have people who support us and are there for us because we are there for them as well.

We will prevail to the best possible outcome in this situation.

Well, with all of that out and about, I guess I really should get some laundry done and work on my portion of the household finances before it is time for me to go to work.

Take Care All and Keep us in your thoughts

From Rocky Start to Landslide...

While I know I should remain as positive as possible in the public's eye, today takes the cake. The long running saga of our dealings with Rick's ex have come to a head that we never even imagined. Apparently - unbeknownst to either lawyer - there is a law on the VA books that states if a divorce is settled outside of the state of VA then there can be no changes or amendments to that divorce decree in the courts of VA. Hence, we now have to go to AZ where the divorce was settled all those years ago. Don't you think it would have been helpful to know this before the last court appearance that ruled against us. As in, it never should have been in the court in the first place, and we could have already had a settlement done and over with by this time. At least then we could already be digging ourselves out of the ever deepening hole that we seem to be in habiting.

With all of this, I am still without voice, and doing enough coughing that I slept on the couch downstairs last night so that poor Rick could get some much needed sleep in preparation for this, this, "fiasco" today. I feel like Ka-Ka, and cannot seem to kick this nasty cold thing.

I have talked with my friends and the ones in AZ are out scouting lawyers for us, the one in PA was just there for me, and supporting me as best she could while I squeaked into the phone.

I must keep on going. Today is catch up on laundry (not sure exactly when I last did it, but there is ALOT), and vacuum up the dust bunnies and their bigger counterparts the dust jackalopes that have come to inhabit my home over the last 2wks. This business about not being well enough to clean and do the basics is definitely troubling me.

Then there is some much needed knitting time. More work on Mom's socks (which I have now caught up to where I was when I had to rip it all out), and maybe even some work on my shawl.

Rocky Start

This has definitely been a rocky start to a new year of fun and excitement. While I managed to kick the stomach virus that took me down the 27th-30th (with a 7lb wt loss that I have maintained I might add) - throat monster stepped up to the plate and took over by the 31st and has been in full swing for 3 days now. The bummer is I really can't afford to take any more time off work (both because we are quite busy and because of $$).

The good things are I am about 2/3 done with Dad's first sock. These fellows with big feet definitely make sock knitting a challenge in keeping it exciting. Especially since they don't really seem to be into have cute and interesting little patterns in their socks - go figure. Plus I am also re-attacking Mom's second sock. Had to do some major un-knitting since I made so many mistakes that I just couldn't fix them anymore and still have a decent looking sock. As for my shawl, I have not done anything on it lately but am hoping to get it back into the rotation of daily activities (4 rows each day). We shall see. Then there is the Einstein Coat I am to start next Thursday. The nice thing about that is, it is just knitting. Means I can do it when I am doing other things (like chatting, watching tele, and so on)

Well, here is to keeping to plans made and do the work to keep those nasty little pounds from creeping back on - infact here's to doing the work to make even more of them go away for good!!!

Hope everyone is well and do what they like to do most.

Welcome a new year of possibilities

Here it is, a new year of possibilities before us. A chance to make some improvements in my time management skills, my decluttering efforts, and my hand crafting projects.

I don't think I am going to call this my resolutions, just things I hope to acheive. Knowing full well, I must keep up a pretty steady work schedule due to financial issues out of our control, I must work to make the rest of my life what I want it to be.

So what is it that I hope to achieve?
1. Finish Dad's Christmas Socks
2. Finish Mom's Christmas Socks
3. Finish my first attempt at lace knitting in the form of a shawl
4. Start and complete an Einstein Coat
5. Declutter my relatively large home
6. Organize and sell off some of my Counted Cross Stitch Stash

I think this is a pretty good start for my year. I hope to keep up on my blogging somewhat regularly and maybe even get proficient at posting pic to help show my progress.

Here's wishing you all the very best for the coming year