no two llamas are alike

introducing the august som. i actually finished this well over a week ago, it just took me awhile to get around to blocking it. the yarn is hand spun 100% llama, i think i picked it up at the 2008 wooster fiber festival, although it could’ve been from knitter’s fantasy. i also used llama for the june som, and this was a totally different experience. the yarn i used in june was a lace weight, very delicate and very soft. this yarn , from angel dust creations is also a lace weight and very soft, but it had little pieces of straw in it, and it shed like mad. i have no idea what it’s gonna do when i wear it. (shed all over my coat or what)

once i blocked it, it looks as though the yarn is “set”, but we’ll see.

the pattern is also from knitter’s fantasy, it’s the braided leaf scarf. can you see the pattern?

i don’t know anything about spinning, but i can only wonder if the differences in the yarn has to do with the process. both yarns were hand spun by two different spinners, (vs mass produce yarns) so perhaps this accounts for the shedding.

detroit tiger’s s&P

i drove up to michigan this morning, it was pouring rain down in my neck of the woods, fortunately as i drove north, the weather got better, in fact my face got sunburned. the weather was actually perfect for a baseball game, a little overcast so you weren’t sitting in the sun all the time and the temp was cool. i joined my friend mary, her father and her fiancee’ for a day at tigger, er i mean tiger stadium. it was officially the tiger’s s&p. the knitter’s were banished to the upper reaches of the stadium,

but mary used her connections to get us seats third row back behind third plate, we had a great view of the game.

when we arrived at the stadium we were treated to red carpet treatment, literally, they had us get in the line with a red carpet. we were escorted to our seats, i have been escorted out of places before, but never in. the best part, all this v.i.p. treatment and mary didn’t make me put out for it!

the tiger’s were expecting me, they even left me a greeting on the wall in the outfield!

the tiger’s pulled it out in the bottom of the eighth inning and beat the devil ray’s 4-3.  the tiger’s eyes light up when they hit a home run!

on the way back to the car we stopped by astoria’s bakery for a little treat.

my first ever black forest cake, whatever you do, do not tell jenny craig. (next month’s theme is going to be about fitness, but hey, that’s next month!)

i said my goodbyes and headed home. mary and sam send their love.

dinner and a movie

today was girls day. mom and my sisters jan and sharon and i went out for dinner and a movie.  we saw the time traveler’s wife,  they made a few changes from the book, they always do, and of course the book was better, but it’s still a good movie. (if you haven’t read the book i can not recommend it enough.) eric bana is just gorgeous, and rachel mcadams was not as bad as she usually is. i knew what was coming, knew how it was gonna end and teared up any how. after the movie we went out to old carolina’s for dinner, it’s a bbq place, same one we ate at, at the hof rib burn off last month. we were sitting at dinner when i told them that i found the hornet’s nest, it was actually in the ground. i hosed it with raid and i haven’t seen any activity, so i think i got them. my mom, who never kills anything, let out a sad little sigh~ooohhhh!!!!! my sisters started laughing and i looked at them and said, i got stung eight times and she feels sorry for the hornets! what can you expect from the woman whose flower bed was infested with june bugs, and since she didn’t want to kill them, she pulled out all the weeds and leaves with bugs on them and put them out in the middle of the road, in the hopes that someone would drive over them, and she wouldn’t be responsible for their deaths! (i can’t make this stuff up!)

excuse me? does my ass look big?

just down the road a bit from me lives a total ass. i was driving home tonight and he was out by the side of the road, by the time i walked back down the street to take this pic, he was hiding. i can’t blame him, wouldn’t want pictures of my ass plastered all over the internet either. my friend tracy laughed her ass off when i told her how the damn jack ass down the road would hee~haw in the morning and wake me up when i was trying to sleep in. she didn’t believe there really was a donkey just down the street. he lives on the same little farm (i am being generous when i say farm) as the dyslexic rooster. of course i haven’t heard the rooster in some time now, i hope he’s not stew~ing somewhere!

pardon my drool ~randoms~

i was driving home from the dentist, the entire left side of my mouth and tongue were numb. i got the hiccups. i attempted to drink some water, half of it ran out of the left side of my mouth, down my chin and i hosed the front of my shirt. it was almost like i was drinking from a dribble cup.

speaking of the dentist, august continues to be a very expensive month for me. i had to have a filling removed and replaced, that still does not guarantee that this will alleviate the pain, i could end up with a root canal if this doesn’t solve the problem. my share of the cost of this torture after the insurance? one hundred seventy seven dollars.

one of my co-workers knew i was going to the dentist, so the next morning he asked how it went. when i told him they took an old filling out, put a new one in and hopefully i won’t have to have a root canal. he bought me two doughnuts!

i was watching tv the other night and i thought to myself, i really like that sweater that she (the actress) is wearing, wonder if i could find one like that? then i realized, i can make one like that. i love being a knitter.

driving into to work listening to the news on the radio they said over 700,000 new cars were sold as a result of the cash for clunkers program. i think that’s great. get more fuel efficient cars out on the road, people (like my parents) who may not have been able to afford a new car otherwise got a huge break and a lot of help, best of all the automotive industry has called back workers. the radio dj went on to say that the american economy is pulling back from the brink, but that progress is slow. what do people expect? we didn’t get into this mess over night and we aren’t going to get out of it overnight, it took gwb two terms to run us into the ground and bankrupt america, obama has just barley passed the six month mark, give me a break!

i wish they had grannimals for adults.

movie recommendation, the lost garden. a one hour documentary about the first woman filmmaker,  alice guy blache’

a few weeks ago i got stung by hornets while mowing the lawn. i thought is was a fluke at the time. i had moved the garbage can and got stung, so i thought they were just hanging around the garbage. a week later i was putting things in the car, getting ready for work and i had the porch light on, about twenty hornets swarmed the light. i finally found the nest, it was in an old railroad tie in the ground. i sprayed it with raid and that seemed to do the trick. someone at work told me to pour gasoline down the nest and light a match. i thought about it, but then i thought, it’s right smack in front of the house, and who knows where the gas line is? if i light a match and blow up the house, how would that affect my rent?

recently on a message board i go to, there was a post about being called honey, dear and ma’am. the post got mixed responses, but the author of the post went on to write two more post on the same topic, including “key details” she “forgot” in the first post. this particular person is a bit of a drama queen and i think this is why she’s not being taken very seriously at this point, she’s not getting the exact reaction she wanted, so she keeps trying for validation. the point of her post was she didn’t care for these terms. it’s not the fact that she didn’t care to be called honey and dear that got everyone upset, but the fact that she made such a scene at starbucks when the girl behind the counter called her honey and dear that the poor girl’s supervisor had to get involved. the other day i was scanning a patient and the patient called me honey multiple times and i thought to myself, what about this situation? when the “customer” or “patient” addresses the employee with familiar terms? what do you think would happen if i threw a fit and told her not to address me this way? no doubt the author of that post (if she were the patient) would then report me to my supervisor for being rude.

i was recently asked by a friend to help her set up a budget. (unfortunately i don’t think she’s ready to commit to it) she found that she was over spending by a little more than five hundred dollars a month. so here’s my question. if fifty cents is half a dollar, and five hundred thousand dollars is half a million, then why isn’t five hundred dollars  referred to as half a thousand? as in she is over spending by half a thousand a month?

october fest or being financially responsible

i have three paychecks coming in october.  this is very fortuitous seeing as i am going on vacation at the beginning of october. twice a year there will be a month in which there are three paychecks, i have a history of grossly overspending, anticipating all this extra cash i will have i would whip out the debit card and spend like there was no tomorrow not taking into account how quickly things add up, or how easy it is to lose track of just how much you have spent. when i sat down and wrote out a budget i only wrote for four months. dave ramsey recommends short term planning, but i knew lots would be going on in october. i have decided to renew jenny craig for another year, i still haven’t reached my goal weight and i won’t be there by the time my contract expires, the renewal fee is cheap so i have decided to go for it. with my extra check in october this is not a problem, but then i started thinking about other things i need to do and what i need to spend extra money on. so this time instead of going crazy with the debit card, i sat down and wrote out a budget just for october. made a list of all the usual monthly expenses, and made a list of other expenses i need to take care of as well, christmas shopping, buying yarn to make christmas presents with, a new battery for the car, and of course, vacation. when i sat down and took a look at how much i have coming in versus how much i need to spend for monthly expenses plus extras, i will have more than enough. i will definitely have the first credit card paid off in october, and i may have a little money left over to buy some new fall clothes. i really thought that living on a budget would be a challenge and i have to admit, august has been a particularly challenging month for me, but i feel more in control of this area in my life. in fact this is the first time in my life that my finances haven’t felt completely out of control. i have a ways to go before i can declare myself financially fit, but at least now i feel i can declare myself financially responsible. it’s a pretty good feeling.

i went shopping over the weekend it is amazing how my attitude towards money has changed. i had ninety dollars saved back for clothes. i stopped at starbucks and i was about to hand over my debit card for a latte, i felt real uncomfortable about it, so i took the cash out of my clothes fund. that left me with eighty six dollars and i still came home with twenty two left over. but how proud i was of myself for not giving in to the temptation to use plastic. i am so conscientious of my spending now and so reluctant to hand over the cash. my attitude towards money has completely changed. while i was shopping i was chatting with my friend prisca. she told me how proud she was of me, and how happy she is for me. she said sometimes it’s hard for me to see the changes going on in my life because i get caught up in the details, but as an outside observer she can see the big picture and she can see what a difference it has made in my life. i love cheerleaders like prisca, i wish everyone had their own cheer squad!

grandma’s new hotrod!

i have been told this is a generational thing, my parents have been together for fifty five years. in that time my mom has never picked out a car. not the make, not the model, not even the color. dad always chooses the car. one more than one occasion, dad would go out and buy a car, not even tell her he was going to do it, then show up in the driveway, hand her the keys and tell her this is what you’re driving. most of, not all of his cars were red. a few weeks ago my parents took advantage of the cash for clunkers program, trading in a 1991 econoline conversion van (that dad chose and mom hated) for a 2009 chevy aveao.

they got the full $4500 credit, plus dealer incentives for a total of $6000 off sticker. for the first time in her life, mom picked the car she wanted, and the color she wanted. she told me “your dad likes red cars, so i got black.”

she loaded it up with all the bells and whistles. i can not tell you how happy it makes me that my mom got the car she wanted i was more excited about that fact than about the car itself. i finally got to see it for the first time on sunday, here’s my seventy two year old mother and her very first car of her own.

when did shopping get to be so hard?

i had a deal with jennifer. i was having a hard time getting motivated to return to the gym. i wanted to buy some new clothes for my upcoming vacation in october, so the deal was go to the gym this week and i could go shopping. i reached my designated goal and today i set out, cash in hand to do a little shopping outside of my comfort zone. this means i can not buy anything black, brown, gray or beige.

i called prisca this morning, she had been on my mind and i wanted to say hello. i told her these were the times i wished my friends lived closer so they could help me shop. it is amazing how hard it is for me to find clothes i like in colors. prisca laughed and asked why i called her since she mainly wears black herself! (ok, so i just really missed her) it took two and a half hours and a dozen or so stores to find six tops. i finally gave up and went home with cash left over because i felt like i was looking for the sake of looking and not really having much fun. i did manage to find a few things.

these pictures aren’t the greatest, but this is actually a pink and white tie-dyed t-shirt.

and a baby blue long sleeved shirt.

it’s hard to tell by this photo, but this is actually a green striped shirt. (it looks gray in this shot, but it’s actually green)

i picked up this cute pink shirt just because i like the color, well i must really like the color because i have another t-shirt in the exact pink, but different style.

and finally my favorite two shirts. i liked the orange one because of the color, i liked the blue one because it really made my eyes pop. i couldn’t decide so i got them both.

i think maybe next year i need to plan a trip out east so beaners and pinky can take me shopping. this was some serious work!

last day of summer vacation

today was the last day of summer vacation for my nieces and nephews, school starts tomorrow. we took the kids swimming and spent the day at the park, picnicking and just hanging out with the family. my niece lexie enjoyed a chocolate frosted cupcake, she’s sitting on grandma’s lap.

as usual, noah was the life of the party, here he is with my nephew kyle.

noah was great company for pappap too.

every time i see dad he looks a little better. i spent my day sitting next to my pop, knitting a christmas present for klye. every time dad needed something i was up on my feet getting him his drinl or food. after last month i just wanted to do as much as i could for him, who knows how much time is left. on the lighter side, mom was teasing me about how nice it was for her to have a day off.

let’s not and say we did, hikes 10 and 11

the cvnp hiking challenge runs from june first through labor day. every year they include the salt run trail, this year being no exception. i have a confession to make. i hate this trail, it’s hilly and steep and hard on my knees. when obama released all the stimulus money earlier this year i have to say that i was concerned, still am. just where is all this money coming from? cvnp received part of the stimulus and they ran an article in the local paper disclosing how the funds would be put to use. this made me happy to see some of that money going to the park because they earmarked it for their most critical needs.  what i don’t understand is why the included salt run this year due to construction this trail has been closed all summer long. the challenge is over in a matter of weeks and the trail has been closed the entire time. why even include it? that being said, when i attempted again to get to the trail only to find it closed, i decided to just skip it all together. instead i hiked the cross country trail. the cross country trail was part of last year’s challenge.

i had started out on the lake trail and then had to double back once i had found that i could not reach the salt run trail head, i then picked up the cross country trail, this was just one of several hills i had to climb, my cheeks were burning!

i passed through a few blossoming meadows,

and of course there was the main attraction. one of the reasons i like to do the cvnpchallenge is because they pick trails i wouldn’t ordinarily choose myself. the cross country trail was one such trail and is now one of my favorites because of this magnificent tree,

the trunk of this tree is so big two people could stand on either side and not touch fingers.

i walked two trails today, the second being boston run. before heading out to the park i was sitting at home contemplating what i wanted to do. the house needs straightened up, there’s food prep to be done for tomorrow’s family picnic, i would love to take a nap and i haven’t been hiking in so long it would be nice to get out to the park. as these thoughts were forming in my head, the neighbor’s kid started screaming at the top of her lungs, again. whatever it takes to motivate i suppose, so i pulled on my hiking boots and headed to the park for some peace and quiet. after a few minutes of walking in the woods, my soul settles and i feel at peace. the only sound to be heard being my own foot steps and the leaves rustling in the wind. the air is cool, the shade is deep.

i walk along, grateful for the quiet, grateful that no one is screaming, thinking how nice it is to be outside when i noticed i was not alone.

can you see her? back in the trees? a white tail deer.

towards the end of the trail there are two hills one short and steep,

and the other starts out short and steep, briefly (very briefly) levels off and then starts a long gradual ascent.

this second hill i dubbed no knees hill. i remembered the first time i climbed all the way to the top without having to stop, and what a total rush that was.

i came home and was excited to see the neighbors weren’t home, maybe i could get some peace and quiet at home at last. that lasted twenty minutes. they’re back. i heard them coming.