My Secret Pal has Hit!

Yeah! I received a package from my SP yesterday with the JoAnn's magazine that had the cable knit sweater pattern it in. I really like the sweater, and think it will look wonderful on me once I lose my weight. There were also a couple of other neat patterns as well that I look forward to trying once I get my "knitting hands".

I also finished the baby afghan for my boss last night. I think it turned out really great and I am very proud of it! I brought it into work today to show everyone, since he's not here. They all think it's great too! Now, I only hope that they actually use it! After all, that's what it's for, right? I'll take pictures when I get home and post them this weekend.

Now, it's off to get my car inspected and have the oil changed and tires rotated. Then I might just treat myself to a coffee and pick up a book I want. It's 30% off at Borders, plus I have a 40% off coupon too! Do you think I get both discounts? Gee, I hope so! Wish me luck!

Excercise is EVIL!

I have come to the conclusion that excercise is just plain evil. Here is my story.

I got suckered. You know those infomercials they do for excercise videos? Well, one of 'em got me. $9.95 plus shipping and handling for the fundamentals video, a 20 minute workout video, guidance for excercise and loosing weight, stability ball, and foot pump! How can you go wrong for $10? You can't even buy one of those balls at WalMart for $10 (not a good one at least). So I called. Then they tried to sell me magazine subscriptions and vitamins. I said no. Then they tried to sell me another ball. Again, no. Then more videos! No! I just want what it comes with, try it out, see if I like it, then maybe get more.....Here's the catch. They automatically charge you and send you two new videos every two months. You can cancel at anytime. Of course, who's going to remember that? Anyways, got my stuff - was excited and pumped up the ball right away. Then got sick. No working out for Jennifer! Finally started feeling better a week later, and did the fundamentals last Thursday. Didn't feel the excercises - was thinking it didn't work. But, it was only teaching me excercises, so the 20 minute video would be better. Woke up Friday, and couldn't walk. Pain running through the inside of my thighs. By the end of the day, it had radiated all around! Ouch! So, Monday morning I tried the 20 minute video - which apparently is only supposed to be used when you don't have time to do the longer video that I don't have (see? suckered). The video was good, and it was fun. I enjoyed it and actually wanted it to be longer. I think I will let those next two videos come before I cancel this subscription. I was excited because my knees were a little weak afterwards - this time I knew it worked! Come Tuesday, I can't walk. Pain radiating down from the tops of my shoulders all the way to the tops of my thighs! Ouch! Those areas were still hurting today, so I did the fundamentals again. Can't wait to see how I feel tomorrow. Lol. Again, excercise is evil!

On the brighter side of life, I received an email from my SP telling me she was able to finally find the magazine she wanted me to get with the cable knit sweater that she's going to teach me to knit! I'm so excited and can't wait to get it! It will be interesting to knit something other than dishclothes (which I haven't done in years), if I am somehow able to. Wish me luck! If I succeed, then I will finally have that perfect sweater that I have always seen, but never able to afford!

As far as crochet in my life is concerned - I'm getting behind. I decided to try my hand at designing a shawl from a pattern I found in "Encyclopedia of Crochet". It's coming along pretty good, but haven't quite decided whether or not I'm going to like it. I need to go buy some more yarn so I can finish it. I did finish another shawl from a pattern I found at C'ville. I really like the way it came out, but it's lighter (and smaller) than I hoped. I think it would make a great sarong though. Maybe my sister would like it... Oh, and I started a baby afghan for my boss. Baby girl is due in December and I have wanted so very much to make a star shaped baby afghan from www.angelcrafts.com. I'm about halfway through it. Hopefully I'll finish it tonight and be able to post photos tomorrow!

Alright - It's time to shut up and go home! Have a great night!

Puppy Pictures!!!

As promised in my last post....Here are some pictures of the new puppy. His name is Zero, and he can be kind of psycho, but we love him and he has calmed the other two mutts way down! Course, I don't know quite how I feel about having all three of them laying on me and snoring away at 8:00 at night, but I guess it's better than having them chase each other around the house, or peeing on the floor!

A quick history of his name - he was given to me by my husband for our 1 year anniversary. I was told I could name him whatever I wanted. Well, I wanted to name him Mufasa. I just think it's a cool name! And Kyle vetoed it! Grrrrr. So, I went for Pepe le peu since he has a skunk stripe down his back. "But, that's not Disney!" Kyle says. Another veto! So, he's now named Zero after the dog in "A Nightmare Before Christmas". Not Disney either, but Disney does re-do the Haunted Mansion every year at Halloween into "A Nightmare Before Christmas" and they sell trinkets and stuff. I guess that was good enough for Kyle! Ok, enough of the rambling - here's the pictures!
















Sleeping on the toys. The other dogs actually piled them up, and he just made himself comfy!

This one is actually my favorite picture. He likes to sleep under the couch. Too bad it's a little blury!












Not the greatest picture, but a good one of his skunk stripe! He looks like a good mix between the other two dogs, doesn't he?












This is one of the few times that he actually conked out on Kyle, so I had to post it! Aren't they just adorable? Ok, that's it. No new information to post. Hope you like the pictures!!

Procrastination

For those of you anxiously awaiting another post for me, you're in luck! Fortunately for you, I have a migraine, at work. And, working on proposals with a migraine, doesn't quite work so well. So, I took my last Zomig, and I'm hanging out waiting for it to kick in. Keep your fingers crossed that it takes away the migraine and just leaves me dizzy and drowsy. Otherwise, the migraine tends to get worse and I get sick. Don't want that, now do we?

On the crochet front, I've seemed to get quite a bit accomplished lately. I've managed to start on my cathedral window afghan and I'm really liking the way it's turning out so far. Unfortunately I have a bunch of stuff to do for Christmas, and with Secret Pals and the square swap, I'm going to have to put off the afghan for a while. Tell me what you think of it...

I've also finished 11 more squares - that puts me at 22 of my 40. Over halfway there! Need to sit down and finish those up. Maybe I can do that this weekend and just get it done and over with. Here are the squares for your viewing pleasure...

I've also finished some rectagular shawls for Christmas. Not so sure what I think of them. The yarn was kind of expensive, and I hate to waste it, but I just don't know if the people that I made them for will wear them or not. I keep going back and forth, and my husband is of no help! Here are the shawls...

I think that's about it on the crochet front. Now I'm going to go home and lie down. Hope you are all doing better than I am right now!

Weekend in Sheboygan

Well, my trip to Sheboygan was as expected and then some. I found out my second cousin Amy was getting married in September, and they were having her bachlorette party while I was there. I forgot to bring my camera with me though! We had so much fun. And her friend fried out brats and burgers! Woohoo! So, I had fish fry with Aunt Shirley, Aunt Judy and Uncle Don (soooo good to see Judy and Don again! It's been too long!), Gossi's for lunch (actually it's charcoal inn, but their steak sandwiches are still good!), brats and burgers at Leahs house Saturday night, and lots of Vodka! Let me tell you how much fun it was to drive the 5 hours back to Champaign on Sunday... I didn't get as many pictures as I had hoped while there, mainly because I forgot the camera Saturday night (actually, I didn't know about it until we got there), but I did get pictures at the Fish Fry so I'll post that when I get home.

I got to go yarn shopping with Aunt Shriley while I was there too. Bought $100 in yarn! Yikes! But, most of it is for Christmas gifts, so that's ok, right? I already have one gift done, and am halfway through a second. I also bought some yarn for my Cathedral Afghan. Though I still won't be able to start it until after Christmas gifts are done! I can't tell you how much fun it was to actually have someone to go yarn shopping with, though. I need to meet people who crochet in Texas so I can have someone to do that with! I think Kyle about had a heart attack when I told him what I spent. Lol. Poor guy. I'm gonna have to ship it home too! Don't have enough room in my suitcase...

I finished another 9 squares since I last posted. So, I've done 11 here and I have 10 more at home. Not too bad, eh? I offered to make some extra squares so that Collette could stay in the swap, so I better keep going! So much to do and not nearly enough time!

Best get back to work! Lilo and Stitch is on in 3 minutes, and of course, even though I have it on DVD at home, and have seen it a thousand times, I have to watch it.

Have a great night!

Travelling

Ok, so it's been a while since I posted, but I think that can be excused since I've been in Illinois since Sunday. I was told Friday I had to go - for two weeks! Nothing like having advanced notice! I've been supervising surveyors - not exactly what I call fun and exciting - and there's not much for me to do. Since Monday I have finished 2 books and 2 squares. I've started on another square that I plan on finishing tonight. Once I get some more done I'll post photos. I also have photos of the felted bag that I made for my secret pal! So I'll post those as soon as I download photos from my camera. Not much else to update other than since I'm here for 2 weeks I'm going to go up to Sheboygan WI to visit family. Not looking forward to the 4.5 hour drive there, but I am so looking forward to seeing my family! Not to mention Friday Fish Fry and possibly even a brat fry on Saturday! I'll have pictures from that too! Well, I guess since the only thing I'm doing right now is promising to post photos, then I'll sign off and work on some more squares. Have a good one!

Food, Food, and More Food

Well, it's been a couple of days since I've posted, so I figured I'd better give a quick update before heading to bed. Not much exciting happened on Monday or Tuesday, but on Wednesday I decided to have a girls movie night at the house and Kyle promised to cook us a gourmet dinner. Only Isabel was able to come for the dinner and movie, and Jessica was able to stop by at least for dinner. Of course, Kyle was cooking so she couldn't turn it down! He made us a wonderful dinner of seared yellowfin, steak, fried rice, stir fry veggies and a chinese salad. Wanted to give us a Japenese steak house experience at home, and boy was it yummy! Thank you baby! After dinner, Isabel and I watch "Diary of a Mad Black Woman". I must buy it now! It was a fantastic movie filled with humor, drama, and romance. Definitely a chick flick, but a must see!

Work got a bit stressful at the end of the day today as I realized that a report that was supposed to be delievered to our client on August 3rd was still not delivered. I thought it had been done, as well as a co-worker of mine, and my project manager completely forgot that we even had to do it. Good thing I discovered that it hadn't been done! It wasn't my job to get it out, but I was helping the lead. And since he's in Chicago, I'll probably be taking the blame for it tomorrow. Not looking forward to work tomorrow! Left work this afternoon and hit the gym. Had a good workout. Stopped by Popeyes for some dinner on the way home only to get a call from Kyle when I was 5 minutes away telling me that dinner had arrived! Oops! Now here we sit with pizza and chicken. Good thing they both re-heat pretty good! Can you guess what I'm having for lunch tomorrow?

On the crochet side of life, things are a bit slow. I'm almost done with the bag I'm making for my SP. Just 10 more rounds and some handles to make and in the washer it goes! I'll post before and after pictures when it's done. I think it's going to turn out great. And if she doesn't like it, then I'll just keep it for myself! I also finally got an email from my own SP last night. She said she has been knitting and crocheting since she was 12! She also teaches both at her local Michaels and has offered to teach me how to knit. I think that sounds like fun! A little worried of how it will occur over the internet though. Should be interesting. BUT I will finally be able to make that perfect cable knit sweater that I can rarely find and can never afford! I'm excited.

Well, that's about it for now. My back is killing me and I'm just about ready for bed! And maybe a little reading. I bought the 2ne book in Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series and I'm anxious to start it. I only have to finish my current book first...

Nighty nite!

Weigh in Day!

Well, today was my first official weigh-in day after starting my diet and excercise program, and guess what?!?! I lost 4.2 pounds. Woohoo! Now all I need to do is stick to it! It makes it hard when the health food is so much more expensive though.

Today is my one day a week where I will allow myself to eat anything I want as long as I don't go overboard. It helps during the week to know that if I'm craving anything bad, I can have it on Sunday! So, I'm making Grandma's homemade Mac and Cheese for dinner tonight. Yummy. I sat on the phone with my mom for 15 minutes last night listening to her making it and telling me how good the sauce was....Good think she's in California so I can't strangle her! Anyways, I couldn't resist making it tonight. I hope Kyle's OK with that!

I started making my SPs felted craft bag yesterday on my crochet day. I got so into it that now I'm almost done! AND, of course, I don't want to do the house cleaning that I promised myself I would do. I'm having the girls over for movie night tomorrow night, so it needs to get done! But that bag just keeps calling my name...I really like the colors I chose and I"m half tempted to keep the bag myself! Might just have to make myself another one sometime, because one is just not good enough for me. Especially with all the projects I have going on! I mean, the bag is big, but it's not THAT big! I'll post pictures before it hits the washer and after so you all can check it out and let me know what you think. It's going to be part of my SPs reveal package, so I'm not worried about her finding out who I am that way. I do have to be somewhat careful, though, just in case she does read the blog. Though, I am beginning to wonder if anyones does...Hello? Is there anyone out there?

Ok, enough feeling sorry for myself. I'm off to go clean and cook! Wow, I'm starting to sound like a wife! (I can't believe it's been almost a year already).

Hugs and Kisses to all! And to all a good night!

Happy Crochet Day

Today I dedicate my day to crochet. No grocery shopping, no house cleaning, no work. Just me, my dogs and my hook and yarn. Tomorrow there will be time to worry about the rest of that stuff.

So far today, I have been shopping for yarn and gifts for my SP. Found the stuff for my SP that I needed, but was unable to find yarn that really grabbed me for my Cathedral Window Afghan. Found one variagated that I really like, but there wasn't enough of it to buy in the first place, and of the skeins they did have, the lot numbers didn't match. Oh well. Guess I will have to go online to find that perfect yarn.

After 5 tries I finally got a carousel square to come out to be 6"! Woohoo! Now to try it will 2 colors! Here's the carousel square...
I'm up to 11 of my 35 squares. One of them is too big, though, so I guess that doesn't count. So, I'm really up to 10 of my 35 squares. Maybe I'll work on those today! Or maybe I'll start on my gift for my SP. I need to put a box together for her too, so I can get her first surprise in the mail! Secret Pals are so fun. And the one that I have is the BEST! Oh, here's a pic of the rest of my squares...

I still need to weave in some ends. I dread doing that!

Have a Happy Day!

Thank Goodness It's Friday!

Wow, is it really Friday already? It's been such a stressful week, but the time sure has flown by! I got off work early today because I had put in long days the rest of the week, so I drove out to Kyle's work and had lunch with him at Chili's (Yummy!) before heading to the gym and then walking with Jess and Angie. It's been quite the eventful day! I've been eating healthy and excercising, so I feel great about myself (even though I don't feel great about work, but I won't get into that) PLUS my little crochet angel helped me track down a pattern for the Cathedral Window Afghan Crochet Along (CAL)! So now I'm really excited! Kyle probably won't be too happy because it means I'll be buying even more yarn (I plan on going yarn shopping tomorrow for a couple things I want to make for my Secret Pal) and I'll be spending less time playing Warcraft, but he's just going to have to deal! Here's a picture of what the afghan looks like.

I'm not sure exactly what colors I'm going to use yet, but probably will be something similar to the ones in the picture. Man, is it going to be a lot of work! But so worth it in the end, right? I'll keep you updated on the progress. Just what I need, another WIP, right? Like I don't have enough already....I still have only a half of sleeve left of my car coat before I put it together and it's done. Been a while in that state. You would think I would take a couple of hours to do it! By the time it's done, it's not going to fit anymore! lol. Maybe I'll find some time this weekend. And then I can have pictures to post on Sunday or Monday! How exciting is that?!?!?

Ok, that's enough rambling for tonight. I'm tired. I need to let the dogs in to eat dinner, and I need to work on some squares for the square swap. What have I gotten myself into?

Just for fun

I just saw this on someone else's blog and thought it was fun... I could be missing some, but I don't think so...

bold the states you've been to, underline the states you've lived in and italicize the state you're in now...

Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C. /

Go HERE to have a form generate the HTML for you.

So Much for a Relaxing Bath...

So, I spent all day in and out of the rain and on my hands and knees cleaning a concrete sump. Sounds like fun, eh? By the time I got home, I was soaking wet and freezing cold. All I wanted to to was relax in a steaming hot bath, with a nice cup of hot tea and a good book. That lasted for all of 15 mintues. Then hubby came in with lasagna. How sweet! It IS going to be a good night. He even sat in the bathroom and ate with me. Brownie points for hubby! Then, he did this...

Boy, was I unhappy! The little #$%&#$! Now, I must say, my doggies do not like water. You should see the scratches from them trying to climb on me to get out of the water. The whole time Kyle is just laughing. I wanted to kill him (and so did the dogs)! So much for my relaxing bath...

On the crochet side of things, I've made some progress on my "Fluffy Pink Shrug Schematics" shrug from Crochetville. Not much progress, but progress. Unfortunately it just looks like a white square.

I've also made progress on untangling that yarn! I got smart - the yarn is actually 3 pieces together - so I started untangling one piece at a time. Makes it easier, but still time consuming. I spent most of my day on Sunday doing this.

On the sad side of life, I still haven't heard from my Secret Pal. Seems like everyone else is getting emails and eCards on a daily basis. Several people have even received packages! I wonder if my SP exists?

Oh well, here's a rainbow to brighten everyone's days.

Now that I'm about ready to throw the computer out the window because it took me 6 tries to load the picture, and a couple of minutes to put it in place.

Ta ta for now!

What a Mess!

Well, today went by entirely too fast! I went to work and did what I could do until I ran out of things to do. Then I took my two pugs to the San Antonio Pug Meetup. They had a blast! Idiot me forgot to bring the camera though, so I didn't get any pictures. This is them afterwards... wondering where all their new little friends are. And making a mess, of course!

While they laid down for a nap, I decided to tackle this...

Yikes! It started out as a beautiful hank, and turned into this while trying to make it more manageable. I don't know what I did wrong...Maybe it's time to buy a ball winder. Spent an hour working on this and it doesn't look much different. I think I need to make a deal with myself to work on it a little every night until I can finally make the scarf that it is meant to be! Any suggestions for avoiding this in the future will be greatly appreciated.

Oink oink!

I ate WAY too much pizza last night. And, what's worse, didn't even touch my crochet WIPs. Bad Jennifer! I feel miserable this morning. Had a hard time getting out of bed and am having an even harder time getting into the shower and heading off to work! I'm only going to put in a couple of hours at the office, then I'm going to grab my dogs and head off downtown for the pug meetup, then back home for some more work. Then maybe crochet? My hubby is trying to convince me to spend time on the computer playing World of Warcraft (www.worldofwarcraft.com) and levelling one of my lower level characters too. Ugh. I need more days of the weekend! Hopefully I'll have something to show on my next post...

Finally!

Wow, what a nasty week of work! And unfotunately, although it's Friday, I still have one more day left. I'm trying to make up some time that I missed last week due to doctors appointments and Doctors orders. Turns out, I have vertigo. Woohoo! The doctor has put me on medications that make me loopy, and told me to take it easy and stick in the office for work for the week. Well, that was all good until my boss forced me out into the field for groundwater sampling today. I wasn't a happy camper. And now I'm feeling about 10 times worse. I'm surprised I actually made it upstairs to check email! (I keep waiting to hear from my SP, but nothing :( ) Oh well. Time to order pizza and work on some long awaited projects! And spend some time contemplating whether or not I want to move from working as a Geologist to working as a Chemist.....All sorts of fun!

Yeah!

With the loving help of my frustrated husband, I was able to figure out how to post a picture in my profile and how to add buttons and actually make them work! Now, all I have to do is find a way to make it pretty and make sense...Got a lot of learning to do, apparently. But, alas, I still have 3 hours worth of work that I brought home with me, and since it's pushing 9 pm out here, I best call it quits for the night.

Testing...

ok, I've been wanting to do this for a while, but never really took the time to sit down and do it! Course, I still don't have the time, but I did it anyways (I'm procrastinating at work)... Now, I just need to figure out how everything works, and get the word out to those that may actually be interested in keeping up with me.