Squatter Kitty Rights??

Apparently Frisco has learned about Squatters Rights.





Do they apply to the feline persuasion??

Goodies, blessings and frustrations

Oh where to begin! Just before the holiday weekend I received a package from my swap pal in the Knitters Coffee Swap! Look at the goodies! Delicious cookies, Swiss chocolate *I have been so good - I left it home over the holiday weekend so that I wouldn't have to share it I didn't eat it all at once* A great calender filled with pictures of Switzerland sceneries *I'll take to work in my office so that I have something to daydream about when it gets stressfull* heehee



And look at this yarn! I just love the gorgeous blue! Thank you so much Andrea for a great package!



I had to work on Wednesday, so I did not set out for the folks house till early Thursday morning. It was a bitch to get up that early on a day that I knew I didn't need to get to work, but at least someone else was working that day and made my drive a tad more enjoyable. I could drive while that was the view out of my car window :)



After stopping at the Starbucks just at the end of my street I hit the road. It was about 6:45 AM. The drive was rather pleasant and not much traffic *now that's something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving morning* and I pulled into my parents' driveway at 10:15 AM. I pray, pray, pray that the NJ Turnpike people don't compare distance to time stamps or I'm in trouble! Somehow with my foot to the floor driving like Maria Andretti I shaved almost an hour off my drive time. I swear I was going with the flow of traffic! *whistles innocently*

My youngest niece gets sooooooooooo into the holidays and decorating. She's 8. She set the dining room table all by herself!


Mom made way too much food that evening. We had traditional Italian wedding soup, a turkey AND ham, oddles of different veggies dishes, fruit, desserts, and coffee and she was thinking of making PASTA! No matter how long my folks have lived in this country they still feel the need to turn every holiday meal into a 7 course Italian holiday meal! Needless to say I was send home with half a ham (I took the ham bone so that I can make 15 bean soup *yummy*) AND half a turkey breast! Anyone know any good recipies to use leftover turkey or ham???



Yup, that's me working on those fairy squares at the Thanksgiving table. Italians traditionally sit around after the main meal is finished talking and digesting before the dessert course starts *laugh* So, why waiste time?? I pulled out my knitting back and get to it! 3 more squares were completed this weekend!! For a grand total of 9 squares completed!! Just 7 more to go before I can put them together and have it start looking like an afghan!



While I was doing this I got to listen to my mother calling me crazy over and over again. My mom doesn't really understand hobbies. Strange considering she used to crochet and sew. And my mother wonderings why I don't share more things with her. It's a shame really, I had planned on having a heart-to-heart mother daughter talk with her this weekend about Mr. X and that whole situation. Yeah, that didn't happen after this.

While my mom was cleaning out some things she came across my baby blanket! She crocheted this one for me. When I was a little older she had taken the squares apart and turned it into a shawl, which is how it currently it. I had thought about taking back apart and turning in back into a baby blanket, but I don't think I can match up that yellow yarn.



She also found this granny square dress that my Nonna had crocheted for me when I was a wee little thing. I was really suprised the still had these things. There are some spots on the dress that I'm not sure how to get out. I'm thinking of getting a nice size shadow bow and putting both of these items into it so that I can hang them on a wall in my house.



Here's an update photo of my sister's Soft Waves ripple. I'm at the halfway mark!

My Weekend

My weekend started off with a package delivery on Friday! I was so excited to see another package from my Secret Pal!! I couldn't believe how fast it got here considering I had only gotten an email from her that morning!


Look at the dreamy goodies that were inside!! That is a box of Italian Torrone candy!! And look at that GORGEOUS alpaca silk yarn color!! That is soooooooooooooooo my color!! Thank you Secret Pal!!



This weekend my Mr. X came down to visit. It was a nice, lazy weekend for the two of us. It was really nice having him down. There's still a lot to work on with this whole situation, but we are slowly getting through it. One day at a time, I just have to keep reminding myself of that. Anyway, on Saturday I took him to the American Visual Arts Museum in Baltimore. We enjoyed ourselves and the art work very much.



Knitting update will have to come later :)

Fairies, and Kitties and Boo-boos... Oh My!!

I have be knitting up a storm lately in order to get holiday gifts out of the way. So far... none are done! *Hera help me* But I have several started... one crocheted blanket for my sister, one for Mom & Dad, and a knitted blanket for one of my nieces. I had this crazy fuckin' brilliant idea *HA! brilliant?? Is that another way of calling yourself CRAZY!!* to knit up all these different fairy dishcloth patterns and then stitch them together and make a blanket for my niece. She is very into fairies *just like her aunt*

Anyhoo... I made one square up and from there determined that I needed 48 squares to complete the blanket. 48 Freakin' squares!! What the fuck was I thinking?? I thought... no problem there's plenty of time! That was back at the beginning of October. Now we are in the middle of November and.... here are all the squares I have completed.


Yes, you counted correctly 5 with another on the needles right now! FUCK!! After calmly rethinking my plan *HA! I'm not sure I would know what calm looked like anymore!* I decided I will make one square in each of the 4 patterns in each of the 4 colors. Then jion those squares together as the center of the blanket and then crocket my ass off to complete the blanket around those squares... as if they were the center piece. *Erckle comes back to haunt me.... I meant to do that!*








Of course, as I am furiously knitting and crocketing away on all my holiday gifts.... wouldn't you know it!



My yarn holding finger starts bothering me. It's been bothering me on and off for about a month now, but I think nothing of it till Monday morning. When I woke up my finger was swollen enough that I couldn't get my ring on! That's when I knew it was time to call the doctor. So I did and had an appointment Tuesday morning. I was pricked, prodded, poked and X-rayed. Good news is it's not broken, bad news is it might be arthritis. *I would have preferred it to be broken cause at least that heals and goes away!* So as we wait on the blood results to come back I have to wear the finger brace, use ice and take anti-inflamitories.

So what did I do last night after work.... I went to Curves and did my workout, went home and showered, ate dinner, iced my finger, .... and knit for about two hours *laugh* I have to get these gifts done!

As I sat on the couch knitting away, Frisco curled up in his usual spot behind me and kept me company.

Long Lost Updates

I know, I know... where the hell have I been?? I'm not really sure how time seems to be getting away from me lately, but it is. Ironically thought, at the same time I feel like this school year is going by to freakin' slowly! BUT I won't go into THAT issue right now.

I've been very lackadaisical on my blogging lately cause I seem to be out of town every other weekend in October! You all know I was in GA the first weekend, partying hard with friends I haven't seen in a few years. The weekend after that I was in the Chicago area working on this with Mr. X and two weeks later I was back there again!

I'm still confused *for lack of a better word right now* about what is going on between us. There's a small piece of me that wonders "what the fuck are you doing?" I've never had a problem with walking away from a man that was stupid enough to do me wrong, but for some reason I cannot walk away from this one. I am still in love with this man. There is a larger piece of me that holds on to the notion that there is some sort of divine power at work because lets face it, we live 720 miles apart - it's not like I'm gonna run into him at the local grocery store or anything like that. So why else would we be talking again?

There's another large part of me that thinks this was a HUGE wake-up call for him. And I really do feel that there is definitely a change in him. I certainly see a different side to the man that I originally fell in love with. Not saying that's bad by any means, just a deeper piece of him that is being shared with me. I just don't know yet if it's going to affect his serious commitment issues or not. At least this time I have my eyes open a little more. Do I realize that I could be setting myself up for another heart ache should he run scared again after the baby comes... yeah, I do. I also look at the prospect that we can get through this, our relationship will be so much stronger and that is a good thing. I believe in 2nd chances when the person is making an honest effort to change.

Anyhoo, enough about that. While I was up there though, I did manage to snap a few shots of the blanket I had crocheted for him 2 years ago for his Christmas gift.





Tonight was Stitch 'n Bitch night. The Wednesday night group is getting so large that we practically take over the cafe area at Boarders!



Here's Maura working on lace stole.



And Bri working on her Arwen sweater.




And PhDKnitter working on hers!



Here's an update photo on the baby's blanket. I am at the half way point for the main body of the blanket. The border is knit separately and then stitched on. It's going to be interesting trying to block this thing when I'm finally done!



Here are some WAY-BELATED photos of the 2nd Monica tank for my older niece. We left off the ruffle piece cause she thought it was to babish for middle school. They grow up so fast!




Can you tell she's a ham??





On a more upbeat note, I joined Curves a little over a month ago and on Monday I had my first weight and measurements taken since I've started working out. In one month I lost a total of 14" all together! *does a little happy dance* The biggest shocker to me was losing 3 whole inches in my hips! WooHoo!

I will update you all on the other 2 Christmas afghan gifts soon, I promise!!

Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap Questions!

Coffee

What are your favorite kinds of coffee? (Brands, Roasts, anything at all you'd like to share!)
Smooth, and rich. Jamacian Blue Mountain or LavAzza Qualita Rossa (espresso)

Do you prefer whole bean or ground coffee? Whole bean prefferably since I have a grinder.

This time of year, there are often Holiday Blends available, and many flavored coffees - do you drink flavored coffee? Do you enjoy special blends? I do not drink flavored coffee, but I do like Starbucks Christmas Blend coffee

How do you take your coffee? Cream and Sugar? Straight up? Decaf? usually with soy milk and splenda

Do you prefer drinking from a nice thick mug, or a matched cup and saucer? I prefer nice thick mugs

Winter and Holidays - PLEASE be descriptive! Your pal will need this information to be sure to put together a package you will enjoy!

What is your favorite part of Winter? snuggling on the couch with a loved one, under a blanket.

Do you celebrate a holiday in December, and if so, which holiday? I celebrate Christmas

If you celebrate Christmas, do you put up a tree? Yes, I put up a tree

Would you enjoy items related to the holiday, or would you prefer a Winter themed package? either is good

Do you collect anything? Are there any holiday or winter-themed items (Snowmen, Angels, Snoflakes, Santas, etc) that you collect? I tend to decorate with Nutcrackers, angels, and fairies,

Do you wear scarves? Mittens? Hats? Yes, yes, and yes :)

What is your favorite holiday or winter treat? my all time favorites are these awesome cookies my aunt makes. And although she has shared her recipe, NO ONE makes them quite like her!

Please share a favorite Winter or Holiday memory.

Yarn and Crafting

Do you Knit or Crochet? For how long? I've been crocheting for about 20 years and knitting for about 1 year.

Do you like wooden, metal, or plastic needles\hooks? Circular or straight? I love my KnitPicks Options set! I have been debating on the KnitPicks Harmony set, but I think I will put that on my Christmas list *heehee* I would love to try those "Sox sticks" just can't afford them right now :)

What sort of projects do you enjoy making? I'll try almost anything once :) I have made afghans, baby booties, baby blankets, tanks, scarves, hats, dishcloths, ice cream cosies.

What are your favorite types of yarn to work with? I like soft, natural fibers. Bamboos, silks, alpaca. No fun furs or such yarns. I haven't tried yak, corn or banana yarn yet.

Do you spin or dye? no to spinning, but I would like to try my hand at dying sometime.

Do you do other crafts such as scrapbooking or needlepoint or anything else? I enjoy painting ceramics

General

When is your birthday? June

Do you have any children? (Furry kind count!) my kitty, Frisco

What are your favorite colors? autumn colors and royal colors. No orange or yellow though.

Do you have any allergies? only to my boss :)

What's Your Monster Name??

In honor of Halloween :)

Your Monster Profile

Wild Strangler You Feast On: Starbucks You Lurk Around In: The Hearts of Men You Especially Like to Torment: Republicans

What's Your Monster Name?

Knitter's Coffee Swap 3!

QUESTIONS

1. Whole bean or ground? Whole beans please

2. Fully-loaded or decaf? Fully-loaded and ready to go!

3. Regular or flavored? Regular

4. How do you drink your coffee? Usually make a soy latte with splenda.

5. Favorite coffee ever? Jamacian Blue Mountain or LavAzza Qualita Rossa (espresso)

6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do? Unfortunately very fussy. I grew up in an Italian household on true Italian espresso coffee :)

7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? A good book, my laptop, or knitting needles & yarn :)

8. Anything else about your coffee preferences? I like bold flavors.

9. Yarn/fiber you love? natural fibers, bamboo, silks, alpaca

10. Yarn/fiber you hate? scratchy yarns, fun furs,

11. What's on your needles? Oh lord.... baby blanket, arm cosies, 2 scarves, dishcloth, and then I have two crochet afghans started as well.

12. Favorite colors? Earthy, fall, royal colors, especially reds and purples. No orange please.

13. Allergies? Work, ignorance and stupid people :)

14. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest? I collect fairies, love fantasy books, detest my principal and her severe lack of leadership skills, and I'm sure there's more that I'm not thinking of, but you can always email me for more information :)

One Hell of a Weekend Party!!

I had the most phenomenal weekend! Haven't had a weekend like this in a very, very long time!! I play on a MUD called Igor. I started playing Igor back in '92 when I was in college. Through this game I have met some of the most amazing people and not just from the US.

In '93 one of the players decided to put together a Meet (a weekend event where people from the game get together meet each other and hang out... and yes, lots of alcohol is usually involved). The first several meets we had use to draw a crowd anywhere from 50-75 players. Talk about a weekend party! Over the last few years, the meets have sort of dwindled here in the states, but this year two friends of mine (Paul and Brent) down in Georgia decided to give it the ol' college try and organized a GA meet. We didn't get a crowd of 50, just 12 of us for most of the weekend. A few of the locals had dropped in on one night or another. It was a blast! We certainly drank enough. :)

I can't even begin to think about the amount of beer and alcohol that was consumed over the weekend. I flew in Thursday night and spend the night at my friend Brent. He was so worried about me stay at his place for the night because he lives in a camper and was worried I couldn't handle it with my NY upbringing. It was a hoot!

Friday we headed up to Lake Lanier and got to the cabin around 3:15pm. We opened up the back door to the deck and found this little guy just chillin' on the deck. Isn't he beautiful! Unfortunately, Paul gave him the name "Bastard" and it sort of stuck for the weekend. Apparently, he didn't mind cause he hung out with us all weekend (especially after Jeremy gave him a whole chicken breast for Friday night's dinner!)



By 3:30PM there were a few people at the cabin and the drinking had commenced! Erika and I were up till 4am waiting for our friend Dave to get there. He was driving down from Cleveland for the meet! Dave was no means the person who traveled the furthest for this weekend. John came all the was from London *yes, London England* for the weekend!!

Saturday night was really the best night of the weekend event :) I was grill master for dinner and cooked up brats, chicken breasts and corn for 13 people for dinner. After dinner is when I changed into my bathing suit, opened my bottle of tequila and turned into a prune in the hot tub!! Ever have 7 people in a hot tub?? *LAUGH* By 5:30AM the bottle was empty and I was heading to be after a 7 hour game of Apples to Apples !! Ever play that game with 10 drunks?? Talk about hysterical!

Here are some of the picture from the weekend of debauchery!

Just Do It!!

Not THAT *though if you do have someone to do THAT with by all means GO FOR IT!!*

Well, I went by Curves earlier this weekend and set up an appointment to go in and find out more about it and that appointment was for today. I am officially a new Curves member! Of course, I'm also leaving to go out of town tomorrow for the weekend so I won't have my first official workout till Monday, but I joined! I'm half way there! While I was at it, I went ahead and joined the "Curves 6 Week Solution." Six weeks of small, intimate classes where I'll learn how to lose weight and keep it off for good. *zip your lips and exercise like hell* But seriously, battling my weight for as many years as I have, I've pretty much read it all, though a nice refresher course will be nice.

I am off for the weekend though! Heading down to Georgia to hang out with a bunch friends at a cabin on Lake Lanier. I'm so looking forward to seeing certain people :) And I need the little mini-vacation. Hopefully, I'll be sober enough to take lots of pictures ;)

Oh, almost forgot.... You can find info on the National Book Festival here!

National Book Festival and SP 11!!

This weekend I made my first trip down to the National Book Festival which is held in the National Mall. My gf Lorraine and I have been trying to get down here for the past three years or so and for one reason or another we never made it. This year we finally did!! And it was a perfect day. Sunny, 75 degrees, cool breezes, just perfect. But it was damn crowded... *like the National Mall isn't normally crowded on a weekend, what was I thinking.... apparently I wasn't*


As if the day couldn't have been better I came home to find this nice little package at my door! *squeal! I love unexpected packages!*





It was a package from my Secret Pal!! And just look at all the goodies that were in there! My absolute favorite chocolate *second only to Italian chocolate torrone that you can only get from Italy* Adorable fun pen that goes perfectly with the little knitting notebook *well that notebook is in my knitting bag for corrections and what nots, so yes, it's a knitting notebook* and cute sticky notes! And of course, I just squealed like a little girl when I saw the Handmaiden SeaSilk!!




Thank you Secret Pal!!

Color Me Crazy..... Again!

OH MY GOD! Talk about a gorgeous piece of knitting!! Check this out! I want!! I want!!

*call the paramedics .... she's lost her mind again!*

Sooooooooooo CLOSE!

Well, I did not make my walking goal for September. As you can see, I missed the 100 mile mark by 2.2 miles. I am not upset though! I think for having just started a walking routine, I did pretty damn good with my daily walking. I had even forced myself on days that I just wanted to crawl into bed and hide from world. In one month's time I have managed to work up to a 6 mile walk, so that's pretty good. I don't do 6 miles each and every time, because let's face it, I just don't have 2 hours every day :) But it's nice to know I can do that on the weekends!

Anyhoo, my main goal was to get my arse out there and exercise as close to a daily routine as possible, and I have. And I feel good about that.

My next step is to join Curves *yes, KozyKitty, you will be seeing me at Curves soon* I know that I need to add weight training to my weekly exercise routine in order to really boost my metabolism. It's funny, I usually do enjoy lifting weights when I have joined other gyms, so I don't really foresee that as a problem.

So, I will be stopping by Curves on the way home today. *hangs a big sign on her forehead so she doesn't forget* and my October goal is go to Curves three times a week and to walk the other 4 days of the week. I've boosted my walk goal up to 200 miles now. *good God no, not 200 miles in a month! Just another 100 added on each month to see what I really do walk in a years time*

I haven't lost as much weight as I had hoped with all the added daily exercise, but I think that's mainly due to the fact that I my body is going through a little bit of shock with the calorie cut back, the daily walking and the no smoking. But I'm OK with this. Every doctor or nutritionist says the slower you lose the better, so here's hoping the docs are right on that one :)

KIBorders

Wednesday nights my Stitch 'n Bitch group meets at the local Border's Cafe ad has a blast for a few hours. Here is our fearless leader Lynn, and sitting next to her is her partner-in-crime Denise. Between the two of them, there is nothing they can't help someone in the group fix or figure out :)



Our little group has grown from about seven to almost 20 weekly!! We love it! So does Borders :) *thank goodness since I don't there there is any other place in town that would take us in*giggle* Because each of us is so different in this group and yet we have a total blast together, one of the ladies has nicknamed us "The Island of Misfit Toys" I L-O-V-E it!!



This week we had a special treat. Cass and Bri both had oodles of skeins they needed to wind into balls and Denis just happened to have her ball winder AND swifter in her car *Now THAT's what I call a knitting addiction!* Don't worry, we love you Denise!

Picture Title: How many gals does it take to wind some yarn?




Yes, we got some very strange looks for the other customers as to what the heck they were doing *giggle*

Here's the end result - and no those gals didn't finish winding everything, least I don't think they did, but then again, I could be wrong. It's been known to happen, just not very often *laugh*


Knit On Ladies!!

The Last Wedding.... for a while that is

Busy, busy weekend! It started out calling in sick on Friday. My stomach was not doing well and I had to drive up to NY later that night for a family wedding on Saturday, so I thought it best to stay home and rest. When I finally felt OK to get up and start moving around I dragged out the suitcase to start packing. Here's the first thing that WANTED to be packed!



Isn't he cute! So anyhoo... I shooed him out of my luggage and instead of getting the hint and just curling up on the bed to watch, Frisco followed every step I made. I mean EVERY step! This little guy knows what that red bag means. I almost stepped on him, I don't know how many times, because he kept scampering around under my feet as soon as I moved.


Luckily the drive up to NY wasn't bad. I made it in 4 hours. *lets just hope the NJ Turnpike people don't check the times on my E-Z Pass account*


Now, a little family history between my and the mom. She hassles me about my weight EVERY time we talk. And when I say every time, I mean each and every time we talk on the phone or the first day of the visit - if not every day of the visit. *and she wonders why I lag between phone calls or get annoyed with her over the conversation topic*

So, I get to my folks house about 10 PM, say hello to all (sister and hubby are there as well as my aunt and uncle from Florida), then run to empty the bladder that was filled with 3 bottles of water from the trip. *I tend to drink a lot of water on driving trips so that I don't feel the need to stop for food - not so good on the bladder though*


10:06 PM

I came out Mom was heating up some of what they had left-over from their dinner. I told her not to do that because I wasn't hungry and I really didn't want to have a full meal in my belly when all I wanted to do was hit the bed. Not to mention that because of the drive, I had missed my 4 mile walk for the day. I told her I had something before I hit the road *I didn't tell her it was half of a McDonald's chicken nugget happy meal, but I had eaten.... and felt disgusting afterwards, so I guess that's one good mark of watching my weight since that's the first McD's meal I've had in months* She got annoyed with me! H-E-L-L-O!! Aren't you the woman that badgers me about my weight at EVERY conversation?? I'm home for 6 minutes and it starts!


10:22 PM

The movie (Kingdom of Heaven) they were all watching is finally over and Mom has the usual coffee and sweets ready for dessert. She fixed everyone a plate with a slice of cake and a scoop of some orange cream ice cream without asking who wanted and who didn't. Now, if I had just told you less than 15 minutes ago that I wasn't hungry would you automatically assume that I would want cake and ice cream?? I fixed my coffee and didn't touch my dessert plate *kudos to me* It took a few minutes for Mom to notice that I was eating my dessert, when she finally asked if I was going to have it. "No, ma. I don't want it"


"How about just the ice cream?"


"I don't want it, thank you."


Then she huffs and eats the ice cream herself! I just can't win! I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't.


Saturday:

Saturday was pretty relaxing. By the time I got up my mom and my aunt had left to go get their nails done. I made a quick trip to the local CVS to get hair gel and some pantyhose *whoever invented pantyhose needs to be shot!* Then I came home, changed into my workout clothes and got on Mom's treadmill *that hasn't been used in God knows how long* and did my 4 mile walk. The treadmill hasn't been used in so long that the motor started giving off a burning smell when I hit about 3 miles. I kept looking around the machine to make sure nothing was actually smoking! Then is was shower, hair, make-up and we were all off to the wedding.

The wedding was beautiful. The weather was kind of crappy, but they say rain on the wedding day is good luck. Hope so! Here are a few photos. You can click on them to see a larger picture.


The little guy in the picture with my mom and with me is my cousin's little boy. He's 6 months old and adorable. He was my dance partner most of the night so that my cousin could dance with her DH. I had 2 different ladies come up to me while I was holding him and told me "Your son is absolutely adorable!" Those of you that know, can just image how hard I had to work at keeping the tears from falling. The wedding was hard enough, but to hard these two women mistake this little guy for mine (honest mistake - I know) was just not something I had prepared myself for that day.

On Sunday my Mom shared the following documents with us all. Apparently she found some old awards that her grandfather, my great-grandfather, won! These two agricultural awards are from 1932 & 1933!! She needs to get them framed.





Lastly, is a photo of my great-grandfather from World War I!! Right side of the photo, 2nd row, 3rd guy in is Great Grandfather! I love all this old family shit!



And this is probably the last family wedding for a while. I do have two other cousin who are still single along with me, but one is a workaholic and as far as I know she isn't seeing anyone, let alone someone seriously, right now. My other cousin, well we seem to be two of a kind *guess since he was only born 2 days after me it makes sense* He in a very similar love situation that I am, minus a potential baby. Guess Geminis really do have twins out there.