All But Given Up

I had basically given up on ye olde blog. Life was crazy (baby, work, holidays, baby, more baby). I didn't feel like I had anything to offer, maybe I still don't but whatever. Honestly, I was still adjusting and it is just now that I am finally feeling able to take some bits of time for myself. I know making time for myself is important, it is just something that I wasn't used to having to work on. I'll admit it, my life has been pretty easy and "me time" hasn't been hard to come by until just recently.

So in a nod to making myself a priority (not top priority mind you, but on the list at least), I've decided to come back to the blogging world. I missed you!


taken 3/6/08

Updates soon!!

NaBloPoMo

So here we are, at the first post for National Blog Post Month (NaBloPoM0) in which I attempt to post every single day for a whole month. Yeah, I'm a joiner. I figured that a month of posts might get me back on track here. Or bore us all to death, we'll see.

Today was a really good day. Jaime was FINALLY able to bring Junior to my job to show off. Of course everyone loved him :) Actually, he got the best compliment to date. A man at my job said that Junior looks really smart (and then added "like his mother," which I didn't mind hehe). Everyone says how cute he is, and of course I agree. But most babies are. It just meant a lot that someone saw something else. I guess I've always been more about brains than looks.

Yesterday my new-mom buddy in the office stopped by to show off her sweet little girl. She'll be returning to work next week, so I've gone into overdrive trying to knit something sweet for her. She made it to my shower and gave me a great gift, but Junior was really new when she had her shower so I missed it. So now I get to make it up. I'm making a soft yellow bonnet, Miss Dashwood. So far, I'm only on the picot cast-on.



Better get back to knitting!

New Look

I saw the link for this lovely site from Heather B. and decided it was time for a change. I've wanted a new look for a while, but I knew it would take a time investment. And frankly, I don't see my own blog that much so it wasn't urgent.

So last night I spent a couple hours tinkering with the blog trying to get it the way I wanted it. You like?

Life has been crazy for the past week as my Aunt Vicki has been in town. She, like the rest of my mom's side of the family, has the unique ability to be completely fun and lovable one moment, and testy and demeaning the next. I used to take it personally that she still treats me like a child. I figured it was because I really have seen her since I was 12 so she didn't have time to adjust. But I realized this past week that she treats EVERYONE like a child. Completely annoying, but at least it isn't just me. So her, my mom, and I have been playing Upwords, doing puzzles, and cooking up a storm. I've been spending more time with them than at home the past week.

Of course this didn't leave much time for craftiness. I'm still working on the sock, but it isn't much longer. Hopefully I can knit away on it today and get a picture for you soon.

WW Update
I was so nervous for weigh-in this week, again. Of course I really had no reason to worry. I've been sticking to my plan and i have been exercising religiously. And it worked! Down another 2.6 pounds for a total of 11.8 so far. The exercise is still a challenge for me though. I have been enjoying the warm days by exercising in the pool, but my new sunburn means I'm going to have to go back to the treadmill. It's so hard to walk past the nice cool pool into the warm exercise room to walk. Ugh! But it's worth it. I just have to keep reminding myself of that.

Summer Of...WHAT?

Everyone is getting ready for a summer of great crafty projects. Some are getting ready for a summer of lace, others for a summer of socks or a summer of tank tops. Me? I'm a week into my own "Summer of Cross-Stitch." Thanks to some amazing inspiration from a friend I decided that I can manage an hour a day of pretty much anything, even this darn cross-stitch. And of course me with my obsessive personality haven't been able to put it down since. Here's the latest picture.



Ignore the hoop, I'm too lazy to take it off. So yeah, that's what I've been up to.

Actually last night I couldn't get to sleep and got out of bed at midnight to do a little spinning. I haven't done it in a while and it didn't go terribly well. I have such a problem with starting up again when I let the yarn get too thin and it breaks. So frustrating! But I'm going to try and practice a bit each day (maybe I'll actually do it this time) and hope I can get a little better at it. I have to make some progress if I want to be able to justify buying a wheel.

I finally updated my sidebar too, just FYI. So, back to cross-stitching :)

Update

Wow, even worse than my record of getting posts up is that of getting the sidebar updated. Well, I just went through and cleaned it up some. The projects site still needs some work, but I've been in front of this computer for far too long today already. Possibly due to a twinge of guilt over the price of the ring (which we may or may not have gone back to purchase yesterday!!!) or possibly due to the fact that I'm now completely broke from price of said ring, I've gotten serious about finding a job. I've applied to 3 places already and am hoping that one will work out. I'll probably be heading to a grocery store later to get an app just in case.

Well, I still have lots of reading to do tonight, along with going to pick of the needle I need for my Olympic project. I sorta failed to think about that part when I ordered the kit, duh! Is it crazy to anyone else that today is February 8th? Time goes WAYYY too fast nowadays.

Make it good :)

Reads

After owning the book for six years, trying to start it multiple times, and taking nearly 6 months to read it, I finished Anna Karenina!!! Once you're finished applauding you can read on... I've added a books section to my sidebar, and yes it was partly to flaunt my accomplishment. And I think reading might be cutting into my knitting time for a little while because of the awesome new book I'm reading, but I'll get into that later. So back to Anna. Some parts got pretty slow. Like chapter after chapter discussing farming and politics that I wouldn't have understood then and certainly don't now. But all in all I loved it. The last bit was great, I love Levin's discoveries. It has made the cut and will be a book that I'll keep to read again. I don't keep many books at all after I've read them, but I can tell I'll want to revisit this one to see what else I can discover about it (and if I can beat my 6 month best time).

So the new book is Babyville which is a really nice break from Anna. They are so different! This book is a much faster read for one thing. And it's pretty funny in that completely real way. I stayed up late last night reading it and will probably be going back to it after finishing this post.

This morning I got half way through the thumb on my mitten. They're saying snow (yay!) tomorrow so I'll need it! I just hope I can find an alternative to my chunky coat.

As I mentioned and you can probably see, I've spent some time changing my blog again. I'm finally beginning to know how to work this html stuff, when I started I had no clue. It took me forever (and it didn't help that Blogger wasn't cooperating for a time yesterday), but I like it much better. Now all I need is a stupid digital camera so I can finish my master plan for my blog. Darn January being so far away!

Sweet

Well, I haven't been doing much to speak of. I've spent most of today lazing and tweaking my blog. I'm such a perfectionist! I got my Sophie done. I LOVE it. Well, it isn't completely done. I haven't felted it yet (my felting party was a no-go). But I know it's going to be sweet! I got another finger done on my mittens, I'm thinking of skipping the thumb and starting the flap cause I'm not feeling like picking up stitches right now. I even worked on my boring but oh-so-pretty scarf. And I've committed to Wednesdays for x-stitch day. Don't let me slack on that now!

I need a coat. It's now oficially winter weather and I refuse to wear my hideous coat from last year. Yeah, I wore it last winter, but I didn't like it. It's too poofy and I can barely sit down in it. We won't discuss how it is on the bus; I take up about 1.5 seats lol. Not to mention it doesn't match any of my new scarves (or planned scarves). Ok, maybe it wasn't sensible to make and plan scarves/hats/etc. that don't match my current coat, but they're soo pretty. So I've decided to beg my daddy for a coat that will match my scarves, oh and one that fits better too. Yeah, the fit, that's what I'm concerned about. Right...

A few more inches

I'm up to 14 inches on my poncho now. I love this thing more and more everytime I look at it! I'm glad it's Friday so I can have a whole weekend to knit. And maybe I'll get to some of the other things I should be doing (darn responsibility!!).

I've been trying desperately to get this blog set up how I want it. Unfortunately my perfectionism is kicking in. It's better than before though :)