sherriknits

Oh my, I have had my nose buried in bookwork all day today.  For the past 2 months, my computer woes have continued and today it finally kind of came to a head.  I could not get my home computer updated because my work computer has no way to get data out that will communicate with my home work computer.  Last month, I was carrying home the work computer to do the work.  This month, I just let myself get way behind because I didn’t want to figure it out.  I finally figured out a way I thought was ingenious (back up the data to a flash drive, put the flash drive in my laptop, burn a cd, put the cd in the home computer and transfer the info)…well, it worked but…the work computer was never updated at the end of last month so I still didn’t have what I needed.  I ended up calling our programmer who took my home computer to his house, updated it and inspected the usb drive that burned up my flash drive last month.  This is a new computer.  He found no problem which leads me to believe it was our hub that did all the damage.  So, that computer sits on my living room floor by the door waiting to be hooked back up so I can do that bookwork.

In the meantime, I spent the entire day wading through my own shop’s bookwork that I have neglected.  I feel close to crazy right now. 

lol

So…last night and this morning, I did get in a bit of knitting while my brain was turning at what to do.

The Lucky Lurker sock is coming along.  It’s an easy knit as long as the stitch count is right. 

And I am still considering if I want to knit this sweater.

 The only hard part of this one is that it’s hard to see at night.  I have made a few mistakes in knitting the wrong row, but didn’t get too far so it was easy to frog back.

We went for a little drive yesterday to get some ideas of a wedding location.  We’ve had a few ideas but here was one idea.

I honestly think this one is out of our price range (a ballroom upstairs but they do knock off a lot for having an alcohol-free event).  It’s an hour away so not sure we want to do that but will keep it in mind.  It made for a great Sunday drive and when we were heading home, the sky was beautiful.

It felt like there was going to be a thunderstorm, but we never saw one.

But, what did this girl have to do today to relieve stress?  Shopped for shoes!  Actually, I need new shoes for work and I had seen some I really liked in black and today looked online to see if they came in brown and tada!  They should be here Wed.  If I like them, you’ll see them then.  They will be great for handknit socks!

Ok, back to the grind.  I told hubby I felt like crying I was so tired of this.  He had to go back to work tonight, too. waa waa

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At knit night the other night, my friend brought in socks she had knit with scraps of all her sock yarns.  I could not believe how cool they are.  She used Trekking, Opal, Step (I think), and Tofutsies.  We all were so amazed at how well the colors blended.  Gosh, if I ever coveted a pair of socks, these would be it.

Most of us all immediately started wondering what we had in our own stashes! 

I spent my entire day at work trying to get my old computer set up so i don’t have to take my laptop there and back every day.  I am not very gifted when it comes to hooking up anything electronic…I can use my computer just fine, but I am so lost doing any setting up.  Hubby didn’t have time and told me to just follow the colors.  I did get it running in no time, but for some odd reason, all of the usb ports have quit working.  I took #1 son there tonight and we took it all apart and couldn’t figure anything out.  He checked all the drivers and all of the stuff I don’t understand.  We went to Staples twice and finally got online with an ethernet cable but now I have no working printer and I do need the usb port.  I did a search and found a few more things to try but I didn’t really enjoy having my whole day shot.

I am so excited.  I joined a sock club and got my first yarn today.  I’m not going to put pictures here until people start getting their yarn.  People were wondering on Ravelry and since I’m close to where the yarn comes from,  it was probably only mailed yesterday. 

Tonight at home, I was wondering why I didn’t wind it at work so I undid the hank and had it hanging off my arm and got excited about the Mariner’s coming from behind (and winning!) and as hubby walked thru the door, I was telling him and the dog came running in and put his head straight through the hank of yarn!  I ended up with a bunch of it all tangled and hanging loose!  My dear hubby held out his arms when I looked at him and we got it wound with almost no trouble.  I don’t recommend doing it when the Mariner’s are doing one of their coming from way behind, though.  He kept scolding me for not paying attention!  All is well now and I will re-wind it tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Friday and date night and I am so ready! 

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We are leaving for vacation in the morning.  I thought I’d do a quick update and when I logged in to my server, it is all new.  I uploaded pictures but can’t find them, everything is totally foreign.  I may try to find them later, but I’m thinking hubby wouldn’t be too thrilled for me to be sitting here trying to learn something new at a time like this.  We have barely started packing.

A nice thing about going in an rv is that all the kitchen stuff is already in there.  I just need to carry our clothes out and some seasonings and then all our toys that we can’t live without for the week.  I have been making sure I have all my chargers for my iPod, camera, phone…it’s funny how many things I have.  Hubby will take his guitar and his iPod.  I fill my drawer with all my electronic toys.  He only has the iPod because I bought it for him. 

Anyway.  I spent most of yesterday sitting by the window in my shop watching them take the awning and theater sign off the building.  It was so fascinating I couldn’t rip myself away.  They took 10 (!!!!!!) wheelbarrow loads of pigeon ‘droppings’ away from just one side.  Gag.  The poor pigeons, though, they are so uprooted and tonight I saw them hanging on anything they could hold on to.  I wonder where they will find to go, they have lived inside and outside that theater for years.  I took 35 pictures yesterday of the whole process.

In knitting news, I am about 20 rows in to the final clue of the MS3 stole.  I have seen some of the blocked finished ones and I am wondering if I am going to like it.  It’s sure been a lot of work.  Hubby is quite convinced it will be beautiful.  I’ll finish hopefully tomorrow and then move on to something else.  I have to really figure out tonight what I need to take with me knitting-wise. That will fill a whole cupboard in the rv, it always does.  Thankfully we will have more room than we are used to since it will be the 3 of us for most of the week.  The others will come later in the week.

I am also working on a pair of little socks for Afghans for Afghans and hope to also make a hat.  Then I will be free to work on New Pathways (Cat Bordhi’s new method) and I’m excited about that.  I think that will drive me to get the rest done because I think about it all the time.

We won’t have internet in the park we will be in, but may go find a connection at some point.  It’s kind of a hard time to be away from email given some things going on in our lives, but that’s ok.  I’m sure we can use the break and it sure doesn’t stop the phone from ringing.  Sometimes I wish it would. 

We may have some company part of the week.  Some good friends were going to camp locally but it is supposed to rain and everything else kind of fell apart for them as far as their kids and their schedules so they may come find us.  That would be fun.  As some know, we have gone thru some very difficult things this past year and it just doesn’t seem to go away…and these friends are also involved so we could all stand to spend a day or two just having fun.  We plan to have fun no matter what.

Last year, we got to stay in the coolest rv site…it was so private and I really spent hours and hours praying and knitting by the river and felt secluded and peaceful.  They told us this year that they call that site the ‘honeymoon suite’ and it has been occupied all summer.  We may tentatively reserve it for next year.  This year we can’t have a riverside spot, but we’ll be right across the driveway from it and the park is nice no matter where we are.  I really don’t care this time.  I plan to enjoy whereever we are.  Hubby is just happy we are going over the mountains where it is dry.

Sooo, when we get home, I hope to have some knitting to show after I figure out how in the world to access my pictures.  lol

I have spent some time on Ravelry.  It gets more intriguing the more I look into it.  I uploaded some of my projects and book titles.  Haven’t had a lot of time to do much more than that.  I have been able to join a few groups and a few people have hooked up as friends so I can see what they’re up to.  It’s pretty cool and I certainly recommend getting on.  I think the waiting line is only 15,000 at this point.  I got in the day before the wedding (June 23) and haven’t really taken time until recently to see how really cool it is.

I got as much of my real job’s work done tonight but get this.  My flash drive broke so I went to Walmart to get a new one and while I was gone, hubby couldn’t get the mouse to work on the desktop.  We had to go to get the main computer from my job and bring it here so I could do the work.  I did leave a note in case they thought someone stole it!  I need to return it in the morning, that was a little more work than putting the info on a little jump drive though.  I hope to remember to ask the programmer if we can drop off our desktop and our new one that he has never been able to figure out how to get the program I use on to…he is going to clone it and I just haven’t taken time to take it all to him.  He is never in a hurry to get it back to us and one small boy then has nothing to use.  This is the perfect time for that although when I get home, I have to do more bookwork before we can finish our vacation. 

With that, I better get packin’!  I plan to be up much of tonight.  Have a great week, all! 

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I decided to just start over on the mystery shawl.  I felt a little emotional over getting through about row 80-85 since I did them so many times, but a friend showed me the optional chart written out and that is working for me.  I kind of feel like I’m knitting blind because I like chart knitting…but I am not tensing up as I near row 80 or so.  It’s all going pretty smooth and since I always thought it was an easy knit it’s just going as it should.

Sometimes I just make it hard on myself.

I’m starting the heel on the Jaywalker, but didn’t take pictures of the progress.  That one has also taken a little journey.  I thought it just seemed so big so I knit it on 0s.  It looked great.

The only trouble was, it wouldn’t go over my heel.

So, while riding in the car, it got frogged.

I started knitting it again on size 1s and it’s much better.

Yesterday was therapy for the boy.  We hadn’t been since April because of the wedding.  Summer will be hit and miss for both us and the therapist, but it’s always been this way.  She did some testing this time.

He had to stop the ruler with his thumb when she let go of it.  He caught it every time, sometimes just in the knick of time.  He also did some jumping.

Today was hot, hot, hot.  I went to lunch at a seafood restaurant on the river.

I nearly over-heated on the way back to work so decided to go home and change my clothes.  Summer skirts sometimes are not made to keep you cool.  I ran in to work and grabbed my keys and right back out and a wind came up that fast.  By the time I drove home and went back to work…10 minutes…the temperature had dropped 20 degrees!  The fog was coming in from the ocean.  It’s ok, I was hot for the rest of the day.

And last but not least…my little world travelers are both home safely.

I’m kind of holding my breath on the laptop…it shut off twice today and won’t open one of my Quickbook files, but I decided to not fret over it today.  I’m just happy to see them.

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Hubby and I got away fairly early on Friday.  We got a 2 day date!  I think this is the first time either of us could remember getting away and actually having some quiet, down-time.  We got to Seattle in the early afternoon and checked into our room.  We went out and got a bite to eat and drove around downtown Seattle a little bit.  It was crazy….lots going on!  I took a few pictures, but none of them were really good enough to waste space here.  For you coffee lovers, though…here is the Starbucks executive offices.

I wanted to get a picture of the original Starbucks but the crowds were so crazy and we didn’t get on the right street because we were sick of waiting for lights to change.

We got back to our room early and spent an enjoyable time relaxing for awhile.  Then we had to drive over to Barnes and Noble to spend our usual Friday night.  :)  The difference was, we didn’t have to drive an hour home.  We of course had to visit Starbucks there…but it’s not a B&N Cafe as we are used to and we had to sit in there without anything to read.  (Although I have been to that one several times and never knew I wasn’t supposed to bring things in to Starbucks just to look at!  I’m glad I never set off any alarms!)

Hubby was pretty tired and went off to sleep at a normal time.  I could not quit thinking about my Mystery Stole so I got up and started working on it.  MS3 and I are  not on speaking terms at the moment.  What’s crazy is the this is not a difficult pattern, but why I spend more time going backwards than forwards is beyond me.  I decided to put it down for a few days.  I was up until 2 working on it!!!!

In the morning we went to breakfast and actually just sat around the room until 11!  We can’t ever think of a time we just did that rather than being out and about and barely seeing the room.  It was great! 

Then it all kind of changed.  lol.  I realized I did not bring any mindless knitting with me and we were going to have lots of time to kill at the stadium before the concert.  Soooooo….I looked up several yarn shops in the phone book and told hubby just one was fine for me to stop at.  He wanted to figure out the parking at the stadium….but he said we had more than enough time to do that.  Well, we ended up way off track on the first shop and had to call #1 son for driving directions.  Since we wasted so much time driving through residential streets trying to figure out what in the world we were doing….it was getting a bit tense.  I also asked for directions to another shop.  That seemed easier so we switched plans and headed to that one.  Wouldn’t you know it?  It was downtown close to where we needed to be…but no parking.  Hubby dropped me off.  I won’t say much about the shop … I was so excited to go there but I had a really hard time finding some sock yarn (do love what I ended up with) and needles..and they didn’t seem to  understand that when I said hubby is driving around the block and I need this wound quickly please that I needed to get out of there.  I was feeling sick over it because it took so long at every light and I knew if he had to go around too many times it was going to be stressful.  He finally appeared in the shop (BEFORE they started winding my yarn) and told me not to worry.  The shop was cute, though.

We then drove to Qwest Field.  We have gone to enough Mariner’s games that we knew where to look for free parking and it’s a good thing we decided to do this hours before the concert.  People were already heading to the stadium.  We didn’t have to walk far at all.  In fact where we parked by a business, they were renting their lot for $20 a space. 

It was hot, hot, hot.  We walked around outside looking at all the fun stuff.  They were giving out free hot dogs, water, and pop by the Brooks and Dunn truck.  We’d just eaten, but stood in line for water, it ran out right before us and we tried a Jones diet cola…not bad for free. 

We got in line as a crowd started forming since we’d been told they’d open the gates at 2:30.  Thankfully we’d bought water but it was so hot and I almost finished mine.  For some reason, hubby didn’t open his.  We stood there baking and by the time they opened the doors at 3…we were all pretty hot, but in good spirits.  I had to throw out the rest of my water because it was open, but he got to keep his.  Our tickets were on the 3rd level and hubby said we should just walk up rather than find an elevator.  I think he might have regretted that decision later!

It’s a long walk when you’re hot and tired.  He wanted to walk around a bit but for some reason, I got concerned about our seats.  I am horribly afraid of heights.  He said he thinks all reason left me.  lol  

I wanted to go find our seats and let me tell you…they pointed up the highest section and said follow the alphabet until the double letters started, then find our seats  (we were ii)  As he started climbing, I fought panic but stuck with him.  Gosh… 35 rows up and it was already high.  I’m not sure if it was good that there was really no one else there yet or not.  Here is our view:

Please note the fact that the roof is hanging right over us.  I managed to take this picture after I finished bawling from being so freaked out.   I do have to laugh.  Poor hubby had a permanent crease in his shirt from me grabbing it when I felt like I’d spill out of the seat.  It really IS better when there are people sitting in front of you.  He is so patient and talked me back to rational thinking.  I was trying to figure out how in the world I was going to get back down, though, I didn’t think he’d enjoy seeing me crawl or go down backwards.  LOL

I was more than grateful for sock yarn at that point.

Sorry it’s blurry but I was not done shaking yet.  I don’t know how I managed to get that much knit, but by then people were coming up and I felt more secure in my seat.

A little aside, I am sick of this kind of thing ruling my life.  I had to rationalize my thoughts and looked around at everyone else laughing at how high they were and actually run down the steps.  If I believe God is in control, then I need to act like it even when I don’t feel like it.  I hope that’s progress.

Hubby really wanted to go walk around and convinced me that to sit in that seat from 3 until 11:30 pm was not very feasible.  Down we went.  I can do it easily if someone is walking in front of me.  We enjoyed roaming around but there is something I totally regret.  There were seats outside the food area that we think now were not ticketed seats and we could have easily had one!  I was kind of ticked that our tickets were NOT the cheapest ones and I couldn’t see how any seat there could be any worse than what we had.  I later met a lady who spent even more than we did and she was on the other side in about the same place.

This plane flew in circles around Qwest Field for hours. Someday I will think to zoom in so you can actually see what I’m trying to get a picture of.  It said “KC 2nite  and the name of the radio station”

When we made the climb back up, I told hubby I wasn’t going to do that again.  It was too much in the heat.  I would rather stand than climb all those steps again.  We stayed up there for 1 1/2 groups and then he wanted to go get dinner.  We took all of our stuff and ate down there and then found a great place to stand.  It’s good it was great (although it was behind those seats that we could have had) because we stood there for over 3 1/2 hours!  My legs ached so bad all the way home and all day today. 

We went to see Kenny Chesney but enjoyed much of the rest of it.  What I forget about events like this is that many people get pretty rowdy and it can get a bit much to deal with when they start knocking in to you.  It was still fun. Hubby was a professional musician when we got married and he just loves all the lights and equipment and everything about the production.  All our friends laughed when they heard what we were going to…because now all hubby does is worship music but that part of him will always be there to see the big show so the kids gave him tickets to The Flip Flop Summer tour.  Here he is looking at all the equipment down below where he wishes he could have walked.

 
We loved when Brooks and Dunn did “Only in America”….they had several video screens behind them of differnt flags, and then at the end of the song, different members of the military came out and stood across the stage.  I’d have gotten a picture but they got a standing ovation and it was way too cool to think about taking pictures.  Hubby sang that song at church several years ago when the whole worship team wore cowboy hats and stood behind a scrim so we could only see the outlines and red, white and blue shirts. 

Anyway…Kenny Chesney really knows how to put on a show and appreciate his audience.  I love that.  Look how beautiful it was.  (my Saturday sky picture)

See that bright spot down on the floor?  Here’s a closeup.  He came up out of the stage and played for a little while. 

 It’s pretty awesome seeing a show like this.  Outside, warm…lots of energy.

At the end, he signed a guitar and gave it to a little girl in the audience. 

When it was all over, the crush of people leaving was incredible.  We walked down the ramp and hubby had someone step on the back of his sandal and loosen the strap.  If he’d tried to stop and fix it, there would have been a domino effect of people falling so we just kept moving.  I tried to take a picture on the last round before we hit the street…the camera was over my head and I just clicked…and missed the mass of people, but you get the idea.

We got home at 1:30.  Hubby had to be at church by 7:30 this morning and the middle kids were playing on the worship team this morning also so they had to be there early too.  This left the little imp and I home to get there by the time 2nd service started.  I got up at 8 and could not believe how bad my legs hurt.  When I decided we should start getting dressed and maybe make it to first service so we could have the rest of the day home…I couldn’t find the little guy.  He was asleep in our bed after getting up around 6!  He slept until 11:30 and I gave up and zoned out on the couch.  That’s a rare occurrence but I just didn’t have it in me to drag him out of bed, get him dressed (tons of verbal reminders) and figure out how to get myself ready too. 

The day was relaxing.  I worked on my new sock yarn a bit.  Can you guess what it is?

Pretty, eh?

Before  I show you…here is the boy doing his sprinkler imitation.  LOL  Big sis didn’t get the whole picture, but you see the fun he has.

Here’s hubby convincing me he should go to Stitch n Pitch on July 26 to see the Mariners…

He didn’t want me to put this on here … but then said I could.  He’d been sleeping and had put my knitting on his chest so he didn’t mess it up.  I asked him if he was knitting and he showed me he was.

Here’s the evidence that I did the work.

The daughter was taking pictures of me unbeknownst to me and I am not sure I really even combed my hair today so this is all you get to see.

And here is what I’m making.

If you’re still here after such a long post, thanks for sticking it out.   I’m finally making a Jaywalker sock…a few years behind everyone else.

ps.  My computer has been repaired and should be home Tuesday!!!!  No word on that blessed iPod.

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I had a fun day today. Our family has a tradition of having “Birthday Breakfast” together. I honestly didn’t care this year if it was Dutch Babies or French Toast. I just wanted cherries. We had a great breakfast together (french toast…it’s the little imp’s favorite and his birthday is in 2 weeks so he’s glad to get mine out of the way!) Hubby has the tradition of taking the birthday person to lunch but today a friend called and asked if she and another friend could take me to lunch. I could tell it really took some pressure off hubby and we just planned to do a family dinner instead. It was a great time. I have always felt like the restaurant we went to is a “chick restaurant” and I always enjoy it there.

For dinner tonight, we did shish kabobs, the yummiest corn on the cob, and baked red potatoes…it was so good.

While the barbecue was going, hubby put together my new porch-knitting chair.  :) 

Tonight I decided to face the music and see if I could get into my Quickbooks files for my business. I had them taken off my harddrive of my dead computer. It only took me an hour and a half to access the files off the disk. Gosh, I think I sweat off 10 pounds trying to get the program to give me permission to get into the files. I have done this before and never had the problem I had tonight. I can’t tell you how sick it was making me to think I had lost all of my bookkeeping for my business. All is well now and I’m not overdue on any bills….whew!!!

I’m still knitting on clue #1 on the mystery stole. I have not a clue how some of the ladies had their first clue completed in a matter of hours. I feel like I’ve knit pretty steadily off and on and I am only on row 79. I’m not that slow a knitter and I haven’t had to do much tinking and no frogging. The pattern is fairly easy if you just go slow and like I’ve said before, I am loving the bead knitting. I have tried and tried to get a picture of the beads but they just don’t show up on the camera. The pattern doesn’t call for a lot of beads, just enough to get the hang of it. I am pretty comfortable with the concept now.

The work week ahead is pretty sparse. Today was my day off, I work tomorrow, am off on Wednesday for the 4th, work Thursday and am off Friday and Saturday because hubby and I are going to a concert Saturday afternoon (Kenny Chesney and Brooks & Dunn!) The dear friend who lent me her laptop offered to work for me on Friday. We’re so ready for a break … recovering from the wedding and all the hassle with all my electronics…. just ready for a break!

Semi-good news on the electronics front. I called on my iPod once again. It’s been almost 2 weeks since they said they’d mail me a label so I could return the defective iPod they sent me. I am pretty ticked because it’s been over a month now since I have had it. The kind lady said she could fax me the label…why couldn’t they do that before? They have tried twice to email the label and once to snail mail it…and always told me all that had to be requested from another office. I told the lady how very disappointed I am in their service. She filed a complaint for me and then transferred me to their customer service to file a complaint myself. Who knows what good it will do but I am really fed up. (did I already say that?) I hope and pray I don’t go through all of this with my laptop, which should have arrived to the repair center by now. I really hope they don’t decide to replace it with who knows what they would offer me.

I think I need to be rolled off to bed…after dinner we had ice cream sundaes and I only ate part of mine. It was a good day even though the Mariners lost tonight.

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One of these days I might learn.  At least I’m enjoying playing with my new yarn and beads so I wasn’t too terribly heartbroken at having to start over when I realized I was not following directions.  My yarn came today for my Mystery Stole 3.   My first attempt, which got frogged, I forgot that only the right side of the pattern showed on the chart.  I know better than that, but I got about 8 rows into the pattern and was really thinking it was not very attractive when I realized I was not knitting it right.   I got a good start the 2nd time, but although I could see the lace pattern, it still looked a bit jumbled.  As I was waiting for hubby to pump gas (date night!), I realized that rather than knit on the wrong side, I was supposed to k2, p to last 2, k2.  I am not at all sure why I thought it said k on all the wrong side rows.  I was pretty excited that I wasn’t going to have to purl all those long rows!  I also had another problem of every few rows having an extra stitch, which I just k2 tog at the last of the row.  It was definitely causing the pattern to look a bit off.  When I started over tonight, I still had the problem and sat staring that the chart for several minutes when it dawned on me that in the center stitch every few rows, it said to s1 k2tog psso and I had read it as s1 k1 psso.  I thought it was odd, especially that they used the ^ , which I knew meant to k2tog in there. 

Soooooo, I am now on track and LOVING what I’m seeing.   When I purl the wrong side, it really makes the beads show up a lot more.  I think I like bead knitting so far.  It is slower, but I think it’s worth it!  I wish they showed in the pictures.  I didn’t get a chance to try in daylight since my camera battery was dead today.

This morning I got to go to breakfast to celebrate my friend’s and my birthday.  Hers was Wednesday and mine is this coming Monday.  Another friend takes us out to celebrate both at once.  We had a great time and I was stuffed for most of the day. 

While I was at breakfast, I got a call from another dear friend who said she was leaving her laptop off at my shop for me to use until mine gets back.  I can’t imagine having no need for my laptop until September like she doesn’t need hers, but I am totally blessed by the offer.  I spent an hour at least trying to get it hooked to internet because I had to get it hooked to the dsl modem and I didn’t have my “welcome letter” that I got years ago when I got the modem.  I had to call tech support and they got me up and running, but it was’t an easy process.  I was getting mighty tired of crawling under my desk to read things to him from the modem!

The newlyweds headed off on their honeymoon today and I thought they were pretty cute if you ask me.  When they get home, real life starts.  I have to chuckle because I only got a one night honeymoon!  These kids will be home a week from tomorrow, but they were offered the use of a timeshare and bought the package that covers all food the whole time.  I’m excited for them…but I told the bride not to talk to strangers.  haha.  She said she has to since her new hubby doesn’t speak Spanish and she is the one who has to communicate.

I am trying not to stay up all night working on my mystery knitting, but I started a load of clothes and forgot to shut the lid on the washer so I have to wait to switch them to the dryer before I can go to bed.  It’s just too much fun!

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Tonight my daughter’s boyfriend commented that it’s been a long time since he saw me just sitting there knitting.  I am enjoying playing on the sample for the Mystery Stole 3 KAL.  I wasn’t going to test knit until my yarn came, but I broke down this afternoon and wound up some pink lace yarn.  I couldn’t catch the color, but it’s a soft pink and it’s beautiful.  Here is my first sample…

I couldn’t find enough pins to pin it nicely to block, but I do know it will work.  I am not sure if the yarn I am getting is this weight or not.  I liked this until I tried using the beads.  I don’t know if it’s possible to capture the beauty, maybe in the daylight tomorrow, but I love the beads!

The beads are kind of irridescent.  The process is really slow-going, but something worth sticking with.  The needles are sooo slippery and the yarn is so fine so trying to pick up the bead on a crochet hook and slide it over the stitch is a bit of a challenge but I plan to do the real thing on an Addi Lace needle, which is not as slick.  I hope to be able to get a picture that actually shows how pretty it is.

Today, my laptop went off to the hospital.  It’s no small chore to send it off…I had to fill out paperwork, try to get online with a dial-up connection to figure out which of the many numbers was the serial number, and then pack it all up safely and call DHL to come pick it up.  They were there in 20 minutes!  It is more than a little frustrating that my old laptop is so ancient and can’t seem to load a good majority of the pages I want to go to.  I also couldn’t get it to download the latest version of Acrobat Reader so I can get the info for the knit-along.  grrrr.  A friend kindly brought the info up to this point to me today after another friend called her and asked her to.  (thanks, Patty and Shanda!)

I am really ticked that I have yet to receive the label to send back my iPod.  I couldn’t access the page today to find the  number to call them.  I will call tomorrow.  What is the deal anyway?  This has gone on for over a month!  So much for their promise of quick service! 

We got the silliest picture the other night of the little imp when the kids were opening gifts.  Can you see why life is a joy (most of the time) with this kiddo?

I am being “haunted” by this owl.  He was in the barn when we were setting up for the wedding.  I said he was NOT going to be part of the ceremony.  Every time I turned around, he was somewhere the kids knew would bug me…including the front seat of my car.  The culprits were mostly my oldest son and my only son-in-law.  (prior to his holding that position).  It became quite the joke for them.  Well, tonight I came home and guess what is on my desktop on my computer?

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Things just don’t stop happening here.  As if we haven’t had a lot going on, yesterday we have an official new driver in the family!  It would actually have been nice to have this kind of help before the wedding.  The little sis got her license!

Home safe after her first drive alone. 

Big brother was pretty proud.

Immediately following this celebration, we took all the gifts to the newlyweds’ house so they’d be there when they came home from their 2 nights away, before the official honeymoon.  We had a creative helper.

These kids have been blessed!

This doesn’t really look like their hands (the fault of the photographer mom) but the rings are pretty close.

And today I decided I needed to put my mind to knitting again.  I tried to work, but I was so tired that I really just kind of played around.  I did manage to get my laptop hard drive backed up so I can send it in for repair or whatever they are going to do…grieves me…as does the fact that they have yet to respond to getting my iPod replaced!  grrrr

But the high spot is that I ordered yarn to take part in the Mystery Stole 3 knitalong.  I am hoping it ends up being something I like, but I need a knitting challenge and the surprise element appealed to me.  Hopefully the yarn will arrive tomorrow or Friday so I’ll be able to start with everyone else.  I didn’t ever get a chance to swatch, but hey…why start with that now? 

I have always wanted to knit with beads and tonight we left town a bit early to try to get to the bead store before they closed.  Shipwreck Beads is supposedly the world’s largest bead store.  We really were cutting it close and when I ran through the door, the gentleman on duty told me I had 9 minutes.  I needed to find size 8 seed beads and I did know what I wanted.  I was actually able to find a size 13 crochet hook that belonged to my grandma that fit through the little hole in the bead so I’m all set.  I think I understand the concept of attaching the beads this way so I’m confident I can do it, although I won’t be suprised if it feels awkward at first.  I’m up for the challenge.

I don’t know if you can tell how tiny that hook is…I can’t believe it just slides right into the hole in that tiny bead so easily.  I’m excited to try this!

I got to have a nice dinner with hubby…it was our ‘mini-date’ night and we went to a nice (and cheap) Italian restaurant.  Then we got to meet up with the newlyweds at Barnes and Noble just because we had some gifts in the car for them.  We’re dead set on not bothering them too much, but it was nice that they wanted to meet us for half an hour.  They had to stop here on their way home to pick up her laptop (which works!) and another gift that was left here.  I loved listening them talking to the other kids and enjoying each other.  My kids are all used to going to their big sis’s house on Wednesday nights to watch Lost after youth church. 

I still have so many pictures to look at for the rehearsal and decorating days for the wedding, but it’s a huge chore.  I’ll just make flikr pages as I get them done.   Hopefully I’ll have more knitting content to share in the days ahead….a nice change of pace.  I did work on my Tofutsie socks today in the car in spite of that fact that all those days of being tangled in my purse bent one of my size 0 addi’s pretty bad.  I got it somewhat straightened and it should be ok. 

And now, to bed!

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This morning I got up early and headed out of town to find ribbon for the jars for the flowers for the table.  lol  The bride and I found some really cool lantern type candleholders at JoAnn’s….and the great thing is that they were 60% off!

I then went to my sister’s house and we spent hours tying ribbons on jars.  I could not believe that we had almost exactly the amount of ribbon that we needed for the jars.  The last few, I use 3 strands of skinny ribbon on the big jars and they were cute.  We used lots of different kinds of ribbon. 

I left there to race home so hubby could go to work for a short time.  I have spent hours and hours tonight trying to get my email configured on my home computer.  I think I mentioned that this computer is brand new.  No one will ever use Outlook Express but me anyway.  I had to talk to 2 tech support people to get help getting them configured.  I have forgotten so many of my passwords so I spent time getting them set up also.

I called to find out why I did not get my mailing label for my iPod.  Apparently they sent it, but I never got it.  Therefore, I get to wait another 24-48 hours to get another.  I am not a happy camper.  I called to ask them about that, then I asked if this was the number I talk to to get my laptop repaired.  lol   They had to send me to another number.  After I did everything the lady told me to do, she determined it needs to be sent in.  I had almost finished giving her all my info and the phone went dead on her end.  I waited awhile to see if she’d call back, I wonder why I thought she would.  I’m glad I wrote down the number so I didn’t have to call the iPod number again.  I got a guy who finished the call and I think the news isn’t that great after I told him the other issues I was having.  There is a good chance I can get my hard drive backed up before I send it in, though…and that is good news although I will have to pay for it.  It will save me months of work, though.  I hope I learned my lesson on backing things up!!!!  He said they may just replace my laptop, which does not thrill me in the least because it won’t be the same thing at all.  I am really bugged.  I think I want an Apple like my daughter’s.

I had a very long talk tonight with the mother of the groom.  My cell phone died while I was talking to her, though.  It doesn’t seem like my week when it comes to electronics!  I am the gadget girl and this is so amazing to me that I am having as much trouble as I am. 

But…I can laugh and I can count my blessings!  And you know the cool thing that happened to me today?  A friend offered to pay for me to have tips put on my nails!  I have never done that before.  She just wanted to bless me.  I cry these days at the drop of a hat, mostly good tears.

No pictures today, I am too lazy to get down on the floor to attach my camera to the tower.   I might not get back up! 

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