Stick a fork in 'em!

Holy schmoly! They all hatched at once! As un-worldly, un-fun, un-anything as it may be, do I just buy gas cards? I think that's what I am going to do-50.00 gas cards all around. Sounds like more than it is, really, but 50 bucks is, at the end of it all, 50 bucks.

If one of these is my godson's sibling, can I drop 50 on sibling this year, and 100 on him next year? Oh torture! I need gift-iquitte for grads! Help!

Weird though. I remember Bri's mom coming on a trip to Brindisi with me. "I'm pregnant, Bets!" I made a blankie for Sam when Sam was in the oven!! And why do all these girls have BOY names??

Fun stuff for Friday

It's TOTALLY Melanie's fault. This video was mentioned on Ravelry's MCY thread. She mentioned it on her blog, and I started giggling and can't stop.



Please God, make my hair sizzle when I toss it over my shoulder. For THAT, I would even vote the entire Democratic ticket.

Why do you have to turn off Food Network?

I beg your indulgence for just a few days more. I am coming to the end of a project which must not be named. It's been harrasstabating (a funny little word I picked up on Ravelry). Soon, I will be back to knitting hijinks.

While slogging thru this THING, I have, of course, been watching a lot of TV. I've been watching a lot of Ni Hao, Kai-lan (I can count to 3 in Mandarin!!) and reruns of this and that. The other day, Bobby Flay's challenge was the Puffy Taco Throwdown in San Antonio. I watched for a bit, remembering how the food section of the paper excitedly covered the filming two summers ago. I watched for a little bit longer, and then I realized Diana Barrios Trevino was Diana Barrios Trevino. And the little abuelita standing next to her was Viola Barrios.

The camera panned over the family and their bustling restaurant business Viola started many years ago. Then, I had to change the channel. Viola Barrios was killed in her home just a few weeks ago by a stupid punk neighbor kid during a robbery. The crime rocked the city.

Read some of the recipes from Los Barrios here.

591.69

In December, we stopped smoking. I quit on the day after Christmas, DH, about a week or so before. We did it with Chantix.

Taxes played a role in my decision to quit. I suspected they were quite high. Single packs of cigarrettes average between 4.29-4.99 at my local Stop&Rob, and come it at 39.00-49.00 per carton. When I went to China, I looked at the Marlboro ads in Duty Free.

$27.00.

I was tired of bearing the burden of everyone's failed school budget, but no smoker really wants to quit. The impulse is woven like burrs into a dog's coat-after a few years, smokers are enmeshed.

Chantix changed all of that. I felt a reduced urge to smoke with the very first pill I took. But I also felt something else.

I was despondent. Once I figured out that Chantix blocked all my happy receptors, I checked with another Chantix taker. She reported that at her house "they were afraid of me". Oh! Well, ok. I don't think this drug will be on the market too long. But, since it actually worked, I knew that I had to do my part. DH and I both quit. Concurrently.

And no one died, tho we did have to buy bigger pants. That 591.69? That's my saving since the beginning of the year. TRIPLE it for the household savings. This year, that will amount to over 5300.00. That's a lot.

Wonder if they'll decide to tax beer now.

What the hell is WRONG with people??

I shop by mail a lot. So often, in fact, that if there is a way to get it wrong, someone will do it on my order. Do you remember these little darlings? I ordered them earlier in the month. Let's just say I cancelled a very large order from Smartbargains.com because of their blind inability to process and ship an order. I've reordered them from here. Wish me luck.

In the same vein, I ordered some clothing from Land's End for an upcoming trip to Phoenix. It's an everything zen trip, where I get to go to my older brother's wedding. Eye rolling all over the place. He's 50 and his fiance is pregnant. It's wife number THREE. They are registered at a 'buy us a honeymoon' type place. They wanna go to the US Virgin Islands. Now, that kind of trip is fine for some people, but I distinctly remember my dad scooping him outta bed during 'dark time' so they could go catch a flight with the famous Flying Tigers. I think that trip idea is utterly boring, and not worthy of a kid who practically grew up at O'Hare. But I still need to look 'recenta' in the land of "Damn, it's hot."

Now, Land's End is know for conservative clothing. I ordered a few skorts, thinking, well, that model is probably 5'10", I'm 5'4", the length will be fine. I was wrong. They were chach monster skorts. Wax skorts. Seriously, I tried one on and thought-'I can't go to the grocery in this!!! I'll put someone's eye out!' Picture a pair of running shorts. THAT's how long they weren't.

The order that came in properly? Sequined Nanette Lepore Keds. 70% off. Now we're talking.

The audacity of hope

and stuff. Barack Obama has a book out with that title. That's not what I am referring to.



I went to a baby shower today. Little Nicholas' due date is any day now. I started a pumpkin hat for his mama, because Chris absolutely LOVES Halloween. I finished it and took it by her job a few days after Valentines' Day. I was absolutely shocked when I found out she'd already HAD him. He weighed one and a half pounds at about 25 weeks.



It hit me last week when I was browsing little onesies, looking for a gift. Such an optimist. Buying size 9-12 month clothing for a child who weighs less than my purse .... THAT is audacious hope, pal. Women do it all the time.



Speaking of hope, I got my Suede in this week. Couldn't stand walking by it, and finally I sat down with it. It was the center piece of one of those tops that starts as a circle, then morphs out into a real top. Gauge-wise, it wasn't QUITE gonna work. Then the amazing gassy dog laid on it and pushed a few stitches off the circs. Pthb! went the dog. Zip zip zip, out went the needles.



Those patterns are usually written as 'One size' and too bad if it ain't YOUR size. I don't really think Suede wanted to BE that circle top, but at least now I understand HOW it works, and have a good idea of the color layout. The top that it REALLY wants to be is trapped in my head.

'lo?

All's been quiet in blogland. I've had several nice half-day excursions to the VA. I am a leetle bit worried about what the doc gave me. I've got another appointment in a week, I will ask more questions then, but right now, this bottle of meds and I have been in a staring contest. I ain't taking it yet. It's used for hyperthyroidism, and to shut your thyroid down. Thanks, I'd rather be certain about it, I hate to experiment.

Last week, I got a message from my little brother. He had an emergency appendectomy. He THOUGHT he was going to go to Tokyo this weekend, but he was wrong. (Mothers KNOW this stuff already...you may feel really good after childbirth, but someone sneaks up on you and hits you over the head, and you fall on the bed. This happens repeatedly until the kid graduates.) So he's been bunny-slippering around the house. Good. He told me they weren't going to take his staples out early, and I said he wouldn't make it thru airport security.

Last week, I got my phone bill from China. That was not so good.

I haven't knit much lately. I think some of this is because the DVD player died. This is pretty annoying, especially since I bought a copy of Juno on Friday. It's stuck in the machine now, I haven't even seen the menu.

I've been pondering the whole thyroid issue-and mine's pretty simple, really-I have almost no TSH- and decided that it would be in my best interest to document my body's response to this process. So I joined Weight Watchers. It's pretty interesting-it's like Ravelry for Dieters, but they are (for the most part) no where near as cool as the knitters I've met. Just sayin'. It's been sucking a lot of time. I joined the Core plan, but staying honest is harder than it sounds.

One thing that's been especially difficult is food. Last week, I roamed thru Target gathering a care package to go to China (lots of nuts and organic stuff) and picking up bulgur wheat. Bulgur wheat is one of the things I am allowed to eat, but I can't even imagine a food it reminds me of. Possibly bean sprouts, but that's it.

Another thing that's been giving me grief is my scale-we've had a fancy schmancy digital one that stores body fat and composition for up to 4 people...trouble is, if you move the scale, your numbers change. So you might lose 5 pounds overnight because you've mopped the floor and moved the scale 8".

I went to Wallyworld today-to look at scales (I bought the old school boring kind for 10.00), a new VCR (they were out), and to pick up some cabbage for slaw (Italian beef night! YAY!) And I found this awesomeness:

It seems to be scarf fabric, or perhaps advertising background (the squares are 18"). It looks like polyester. And it was 1.00 per yard. I bought their last 3 yards. I think it would be FABULOUS purse lining. Isaac Mizrahi is leaving Target to move on to Liz Claiborne.