12 of 12

I didn't think I'd get 12 pictures since I took a David nap today. A David nap is a nap that lasts a whole lot longer than a normal person nap. I think a normal person nap could be between 20 and maybe 90 minutes. A David nap, on the other hand, lasts at least 2 hours. Or in my case today (yesterday) 4 or 5 hours. But in the hours of the day that I WAS awake, here's what I did:

08:12. Jill, Rhonda and I went for an 8 mile run this morning. It was my first run in these new socks and I LOVE them. Love them, love them, love them! They have these great little tabs that keep them from sliding down into your shoes. Yeah, could've used those during the marathon... Anyway, I especially love that they are labeled with "R" and "L". That is so cute! And think of how handy it would be if there were little windows cut into my shoes so they would show... when someone says "turn right at the corner" I wouldn't even have to think...just look down at my sock.

08:30 After running, but before showering, I couldn't help but admire my new stuff that arrived on Friday. More of the same running socks (3 pairs in all), my fabulous Jordana Paige Knitting Satchel...it's even huger than I thought it would be!...and some lovely and fancy silver shoes that were specifically ordered to wear with an icy blue dress I plan to wear to my friend Rachel's wedding in July. But I'll wear them way more than that. Now that I think of it, I should put a picture of the dress on here later.

09:20 Yum yum! Brownies for breakfast! These are delicious! Don't worry...I didn't eat them all for breakfast, I had cut them and taken a whole bunch to share at school and at David's office as a way to say, "Thank you for coming to put my spare tire on my car".

09:30. I filled my knitting bag so I could take it on its first outing. I got a 10:00 appointment at Saturday Clinic to see what is wrong with my ears. Sounds are muffled, as they sometimes are when I'm getting a cold, but so far, no cold. Also, other sounds- the tv, the airco, my students' voices- are magnified to the point of being painful.



09.45 The best thing about going to the clinic is these giant Shi Shi dog statues you pass by on the way in. I also like checking in for my appointments and prescription pick-up by typing my name in the computer. And seeing my name in lights when my prescriptions are ready for pick-up!


10.46 More errands. Depositing some checks into savings, but as it turns out, for some reason I am not authorized to deposit into my savings account? Weird. So I deposited it into checking and then did an internet transfer to savings.

11:00. One last errand, in hopes that a package I'm expecting would arrive. Nope. Just the West Elm catalog, which I love and a pack of ribbon.










11:15. I noticed this droopy flower. I got the bouquet from one of my students for Teacher Appreciation Week. The pink daisy in the back was a student council Mother's Day fundraiser. I guess there was an extra one and the student council sponsor gave it to me.




5:45- I fell asleep at some point and didn't wake up until 5:45. I think I remember waking up and looking at the clock around 2:30, 3:45 and 4:45 and thinking "I need to wake up" but I just couldn't!








18:45 I'm in the midst of unpacking the things I "earned" through my Pampered Chef party (that's what all those checks were for too). I'm always disappointed to realize that the things look bigger in the catalog. But I did get a lot of really fun stuff. Now to find the motivation to use it! I'm sure it will be easier once my dishwasher returns. Only 1 more 12 of 12 and a few more days until he does!




19:15. I decided to go to the Shoppette because I was really hungry for some soup... anything really, since our cupboards are bare...but soup sounded like it would hit the spot. I ended up not even eating the soup. I ate some pretzels and an orange.

20:30. For dessert after my non-dinner, I opted for a Werther's Original. These things are so tasty! I hadn't had one in a really long time, but these two came with my Jordana Paige Knitting Satchel! What a nice touch! I like Jimmy Beans Wool!

I think that's 12, right?
Oh, and the doctor says there's nothing wrong with my ears and gave me Flonase. I thought of trying to take one of my 12 of 12s of myself administering my Flonase, but I couldn't manage holding the bottle, my opposite nostril AND the camera all at once...

Self-Induced Jet Lag

It's Thursday and I'm mostly recovering from the jet lag I gave myself hanging out with people in time zones across America. There was a Virtual Crop at ScrapVillage and those things are just too fun to sleep through. At one point, I had been awake for 22 hours. After having just a 3 hour nap. It was a blast! I made 23 layouts, 1 mini album and a card. I had hoped to really stock up on cards, but alas...it just wasn't "in the cards".
Here are 3 of my favorite LOs from the weekend. If you want to see more, just click the link on the side to my gallery at ScrapVillage.




I won a couple prizes this weekend too, and can't wait to get them. Maybe they'll make me feel better about having to spend $307 getting new tires for my car after I got a flat. Apparently my non-flat tires were dangerously "bald" and as we enter rainy season, they needed to be changed.
This week I got a whopping EIGHT packages...but haven't been able to pick any up yet since I was without a car for 2 afternoons and then the post office closed early today. But I also got a whopping eight and a half page letter from my friend Britt, who claims to read my blog but never leaves a comment. Hi, Britt!! If you're reading, keep your calendar open for July 6! More details to follow!
I'm almost finished with the front of the Keyhole Tank sweater I'm knitting from Knit.1 magazine's spring issue.
And now I'm just rambling...

It's not even Thanksgiving!

Usually I manage to wrangle a few family members into playing Scattergories with me on Thanksgiving, but in blog-land, one needs no holidays...I've seen this around lately, most recently on Susan's blog: answer all the questions using the first letter of your first name.

Your Name: Rebecca
1. Famous Singer/Band: R.E.M.
2. 4 letter word: risk
3. Color: ruby red
4. Street: Rodeo Drive, baby!
5. Gifts/Presents: red roses
6. Vehicle: Range Rover
7. Things in a Souvenir Shop: road maps (?)
8. Boy Name: Rex
9. Girl Name: Rhiannon
10. Movie Title: Raging Bull
11. Drink: Root Beer
12. Occupation: Realtor
13. Flower: rhododendron
14. Celebrity: Rachael Ray
15. Magazine: Real Simple (Love that magazine!)
16. U.S. City: Reno
17. Pro Sports Teams: Rockies, Rangers, Ravens
18. Fruit: Is rhubarb a fruit? Anyway, raspberries.
19. Reason for Being Late for Work: Um...Running late? Oh, or Ran out of gas. That would be something I'd do.
20. Something You Throw Away: Rubbish
21. Things You Shout: Run for your lives!!!
22. Cartoon Character: Rainbow Brite

What does Rebecca need?

This has been floating around... I noticed it on Krista's blog this morning.
All you do is google "your-first-name needs". Here's what I need:

1. Rebecca needs enlightenment!
2. Rebecca needs support around her educational goals
3. Rebecca needs a family that will provide her love and support (already have that!)
4. Rebecca needs a family that is structured and consistent
5. Rebecca needs to find out (I guess I need to find out what it is that I need to find out first!)
6. Rebecca needs your help today!
7. Rebecca needs just one good meaty, dramatic role, and the chances of her skyrocketing into fame will increase tenfold
8. Rebecca needs to choose a database (huh?)
9. Rebecca needs to vent (LOL...don't we all, sometimes!)
10. Rebecca needs some love and prayers (don't we all, sometimes!)
11. Rebecca needs a very specific kind of learning environment
12. Rebecca needs to go back to the drawing board
13. Rebecca needs to have a serious think about her job (boy do I feel that from time to time!)
14. Rebecca needs a french or spanish companion.
15. Rebecca needs the receipts from each chapter's recruitment chairs (apparently, unbeknownst to me, I am the president of a sorority?)

Sounds like Rebecca is a very studious and family oriented girl. So I tried to figure out what my alter-ego needs and turns out she is very different...

1. Becca needs a boyfriend
2. Becca needs a prom date
3. Becca needs friends, especially as she doesn't go to school
4. Becca needs to wear fur coats ALL the time!
5. Becca needs excitement
6. Becca needs...(oh dear, better not put that one here as sometimes my Grandma reads!)
7. Becca needs to find the sum of 34, 46 and 108
8. Becca needs TiVo
9. Becca needs to be left alone
10. Becca needs to clear the house of evidence of her son. (Better do that before David returns, LOL!)
11. Becca needs to decide on which guy she wants (another one that would be best to do before David's return ;) )
12. And Becca needs to get over herself.
Hmm... I don't think I want to read anymore about Becca's needs.
Oh, and I'm sure somewhere on the other pages of results it must've said Rebecca needs a new Jordana Paige Knitting Satchel. Becca probably needs one too... it would look hot with her fur coat and probably catch her that boyfriend!

Baby goodies. And, I deserve it

Because no month would be complete without a baby shower (I REFUSE to drink the water here...this baby stuff seems to be highly contagious!), here's the latest little items to come off my knitting needles.




After making baby blankets until my fingers ached and repeatedly frogging sweaters, this little hat and booties were delightfully fast--I can measure my time spent on these in hours rather than days, weeks, months, or years *blush*.
These were for one of the special education professionals at school. She's expecting a boy, so it was a great excuse for me to use the "back-up yarn" I had bought just in case my friend Stacy's ultrasound was wrong. I definitely got my ooohs and aaahs at the shower after school today. The great thing about babies is that they don't know how to mind wearing a hat with a bunch of goofy little I-cords hanging off the top. (And I can NOT wait for one of my good-humored friends to have a baby because I've already picked out a pattern for a hat that looks just like a sprinkly sweet and delicious cupcake!) I only hope babies still wear booties...


And now, on to the next portion of my post. I want one of these Jordana Paige Knitting Satchels Probably in the cappuccino color. Although I also like the Cypress green. But the red is so fabulous too. But I think you can't go wrong with brown. Unless you're all in black, in which case I'd need the red. Anyway, everytime I look at them my heart goes all aflutter (and I've been looking at them for a long time...should've asked for one for Christmas like I wanted to in the first place) They're gorgeous. And large enough to double as a "personal item" on my flight to Cabo. A book, magazine and a couple of socks to knit (my airplane project) would fit comfortably. Plus there is a little zippered pouch that is removable which I could put my passport/tickets in. Can't you practically HEAR this bag calling my name?? Yikes about the price, though. But I've been sitting here all by myself for over 2 and a half months and I think that warrants me getting a fantastic bag. I don't think it's too much to ask...

If bruises looked like the things that caused them,

I'd have four new lime green, fuzzy bruises on my body! Last week I got hit in the mouth with a tennis ball. As if that wasn't bad enough... tonight I got hit in the head (twice) on the back (once) and on the arm (once). I also had several near misses. Very near misses. Like, "duck and cover" near misses. So I ask this--- is it that I'm a bad tennis player that I can't hit the ball? Or does it mean that the people that I play with--the ones hitting me with the balls-- are bad at tennis?

I don't know whether to be flattered or irritated...

How ridiculous is it that I seriously could have RUN A MARATHON in the amount of time I was on the phone with Expedia today? If I would have known I'd be on the phone for over four hours (and on hold for amost half of it) I would've packed a lunch and possibly a bed pan. I hope Dreams Resorts Los Cabos has lots of Mojitos prepared for me... by the time all this travel-schmavel stuff is over, I'm gonna need 'em!

12 of 12, right on time!

Who are those people who spend their spring breaks drinking, dancing and doing other things that will most likely end them up on Girls Gone Wild? My 12 pictures show a pretty accurate reflection of how I've spent MY spring break this year. In fact, it's pretty much how I've spent all of my spring breaks.

9:15- Pajama Day

The whole week has been full of pajama days!














9:45- Keyhole Tank, 8.75 inches.

This is my latest knitting project. I'm actually working on a little baby hat for a shower I'm going to as well, but I've focused on this this week. I started it on Monday, after taking apart another sweater I had started with the same yarn. The yarn was originally supposed to be used for a baby project, but since I ordered online and didn't have a color card, I didn't know until the yarn arrived that it was really just not babyish. So I'm making a sweater with it. Not that I really want to wear this color either, but I do have a white skirt with yellow/gold embroidered flowers that it will go with. It'll be good practice.




15:30- Time to shower.

Perhaps the greatest thing about spring break is not having to shower until I feel like it. In fact, I didn't really feel like showering this afternoon. How bad is it that I think the secret reason that I did not shower is because by the time I would get out of the shower, it would be too late for me to go to a killer strength/conditioning class at the gym?




16:10- Party Prep

Eek! I'm hosting a Pampered Chef party next Saturday and haven't passed out my invites yet. I wrote some out today so I could take them to the ladies in my tennis class. And don't forget, you too can be invited to my party, even if you're not going to be in the neighborhood! If there's anything you need to order from the catalog but don't know anyone hosting a Pampered Chef party (and I'm jealous of you if you don't know anyone hosting a party, seems the ladies here have them every other week!) click here




17:00- Tennis, anyone?

Actually, this picture was taken when I returned from my hour tennis lesson, so probably closer to 6:15. The bad thing (if it's possible) about not going to work is that I don't think all the pistons in my brain were fully functioning. So today's tennis lesson wasn't as great as last week. The best thing about tennis today was actually hitting the ball over the next a couple times. The worst thing was my cat-like reflexes NOT activating in time to save me from being hit right in the mouth by a speeding tennis ball.




18:30- Putting off til tomorrow...

I had really intended to go to my classroom today, and stop at the post office to drop off our class penpal letters on the way. I also was going to stop at the library to return the book I finished Tuesday night too. Maybe tomorrow... My Sister's Keeper was a great book, by the way.







19:00- What happens when I don't plan ahead.

Yuck. This is what I had for dinner. I didn't feel like eating Stuffed French Toast for the 100th time since Sunday, so I dug through the freezer and found this. At least it was a good excuse to have some condiments. I love condiments! Tartar sauce, ketchup, mustard & ranch. Yum.




19:18- Stop voting for Sanjaya!

Here's the bottom 3 of American Idol tonight. (forgive the hot spot) Chris Richardson, what??? I love him. He's a good singer. He's not at all creepy. He is positively hot. So how come he's in the bottom 3 and Sanjaya, who gives me the heebie-jeebies, is still going strong?




20:53- Carthaginians, Start your Engines!

That's Chuck, the one in the upper right corner. I think he graduated a year behind me. He was on the track team. He was my roommate's boyfriend for a little while. And now he's making me feel like I'm one of just a small handful of Carthaginians that hasn't been on tv. (One of the Deal or No Deal girls is a Carthage grad and some guy who graduated way before me is doing an MTV show called Juvies, which takes place in my hometown) Oh, the show is called Bull Run, on Spike TV. At the end of tonight's episode (which is two weeks or so behind the episodes in the states), his team is in first place! Go Chuck!




21:20- Cirque du Celine

Yes I know I watch entirely too much tv. But really, it's just on in the background while I do other stuff. I was planning to watch the newest Lost episode, but I saw Kathy Griffin on Bravo and couldn't pass it up. I've watched this particular act 4 or 5 times but always crack up during the Celine Dion segment. I love Celine Dion. I saw her concert at Ceasar's Palace(which Kathy's act centers around), her CD has been in my car CD player for a whole week now (I can't listen to it at home because I'm afraid my neighbors will hear me belting out and, of course, come downstairs in search of Celine's autograph) but the things Kathy Griffin says are just too funny.




22:40-Let the Armhole Shaping Begin!

Not as much progress as I wanted to make today, but I was happy to make it to the armhole shaping.





23:40- The Opposite of Progress

Arrrggghhh. I should've quit an hour ago. Notice that my work in progress is now an inch shorter than it was earlier. Knitting and not being able to keep your eyes open do not mix. I ended up with a giant hole, some ladders and some weird portion of the row coming undone even though I was knitting away in the middle. So I started taking it apart and this is where I ended up.

From the kitchen of the Grilled Cheese Queen

There was a time when the only things I was willing to cook were grilled cheese sandwiches. Grilled cheese plain, gc with tomatoes, apples, mushrooms, peanut butter, ham, you name it, I experimented with it. The summer before I went to college, I lived on grilled cheese sandwiches--after all, I had to prepare myself for the move up to the land of cheese!

But, grilled cheese probably wouldn't have been a big hit at my Easter breakfast, even though I do make the very best. You can even ask my mom. So I made somethings that I thought would be more pleasing to my guests. Just 2 guests, one a very picky eater. I have plenty of food to feed a lot more people, but I didn't want to dust off my extra chairs!

Here's the menu: (click the links for the recipes!)

Stuffed French Toast I have tons of this leftover! It was filling and delicious. I used frozen blueberries and raspberries, but as I was picking little raspberry seeds out of my back molars, I wished that I had left them out!

Spinach Salad with Strawberries & Grapefruit This was tasty and refreshing! The grapefruit I bought was so incredibly juicy and delicious!

Garden Vegetable Omelet Wreath- This recipe was from the Pampered Chef cookbook, All the Best. Hey! I'm having a Pampered Chef party this month... if you want to order this cookbook and everything else you need to make the delicious garden vegetale omelet wreath, you can order from my party by clicking here You get your stuff shipped directly to you, and I get hostess credit.

Carrot-Raisin Muffins- The recipe was from another Pampered Chef cookbook, Stoneware Inspirations. See above if you want to order that cookbook and help me get a half-price panini press ;)

Citrus Brunch Punch Nobody drank any of this at all. I made Mimosas too and Jill & Scott live less than 400 meters away, so they walked here...and that's why I have no Mimosa and a whole pitcher of citrus brunch punch!

Mimosas- Champagne & O.J. 'nuff said!


Lemon Pudding Cheesecake I had to run out to the BX in the rain an hour before they closed to buy a springform pan in which to make this cheesecake. It was worth it!
Sky High Brunch Bake and Peppered Bacon Twists Okay, I actually didn't make these things, although I bought the ingredients for them. Due to the fact that I drank 3 and a half frappuccinos the day before (see below), I had a bit of a tummy-ache when I woke up and my carefully planned preparation schedule went a bit off kilter. That's why I didn't make the bacon twists. I didn't make the brunch bake because I didn't have a second springform pan. I had enough cash for either 2 springform pans or one pan and the April 2007 Creating Keepsakes magazine and I went with the magazine. I'll make these things next weekend or another day this week.

Here's my table centerpiece/party favors. That's why I had to drink all the frappuccinos. Notice how the Easter eggs (except the pink one) match my tablecloth! My guests forgot to take their party favors home!

The Return of Brown Bunny

Yesterday I was just crabby. I got plenty of sleep- I had gone to bed at 6:45 the night before!- but still I was just crabby. On my way home from work, I stopped at the post office and picked up this package:



Now who could be crabby when that little bunny (and all that candy!!) shows up? My mom is great! I've been getting that little brown bunny for years, but I always seem to forget he's coming until he shows up! Did I mention that I LOVE Reese's Pieces and Whopper eggs too???? The only thing that would've made the package even better would've been a Cadbury Cream Egg. Haven't found any at the commissary/BX. Hint hint... :)

Dear Phil C.,

Ok... this morning, I was absolutely giddy. And all it took was ordering 24 plastic shoe boxes in which to store my 35+ pairs of shoes. The leather shoes here get moldy---ew. And all shoes no matter what are totally dusty. This place is dustier than a desert, I tell you! Plus, with the invasion of my little roach friends, I've become a bit neurotic about my shoes (amongst other things). So I was just thrilled. All day I was imagining myself in less than 2 weeks, stacking up my beautiful shoe boxes. Everytime someone said, "How are you?" I said, "I'm getting plastic shoe boxes!"

Then, I checked my e-mail. And Phil C. from Customer Care says I can't have my plastic boxes. What??? He says The Container Store won't ship to APO. Grr...show some patriotism, Phil.

If Phil knew me, he'd know better than to mess with me on a Friday. All the week's worth of stress is all piled up and just ready to be ranted and raved right out And what better way to channel my stress than in an e-mail to the mean man who's going to try to deny me my plastic boxes?

So, if you want a laugh, if you want to raise your fist in the air and encourage people to fight for those who fight for you, if you are having one of those days and you need to know that someone out there is a little bit more maniacal than you are, if you've ever had a run-in with some customer care person who seemed like he really didn't care at all... read on.
Ahem...


Dear Phil C.,
Due to the fact that I reside in Japan, there is no alternate address to which I would like the items shipped. What is the reason that you do not ship to APO? The same shipping rates apply as they would to ship stateside. The only difference is that one would need to fill out a customs slip including the addresses being sent to/from and a brief description of contents: "plastic boxes" would suffice.

It is highly disappointing that your company does not ship to APO/FPO. Overseas troops and their families are not afforded many of the "luxuries" that the general population takes for granted. We cannot run out to Target or Wal-Mart...and certainly not to The Container Store... to pick up plastic boxes in which to store the shoes that are gathering mold and dust due to the climate here. Our Base Exchange is very limited in selection and is frequented by over ten-thousand troops and their families, so you can imagine that, during the blue moon when there is something that one would want, it goes out of stock rather quickly. It's our only option for American merchandise!
I apologize for being so harsh and negative, it's just that it's rather tiresome to think that not only can I not see my family for years at a time, not only can I not see my deployed husband for over a third of the year, but also I can't even have some plastic shoe boxes. I wouldn't think that that would be too much to ask for.

So many wonderful companies make our overseas duty stations feel a little more like home... why can't The Container Store be one of them? If you could only see our housing, Phil, you'd recognize the need for lots and lots of organization aids! I realize that, short of taking my package to the post office and mailing it yourself, there may be nothing you can do to drastically change The Container Store's policy on patriotic shipping. However, I do encourage you to forward this e-mail on to someone who can. The members of my social circles are downright frustrated with the number of online retailers that are unwilling to fill out a slip of paper for us (heck, we'd even fill them out and mail them to you if it meant getting merchandise that we want!) and believe me, when there is a store that IS willing to go that extra inch for us, word gets around.

Please consider changing your shipping policy, or at least bending it for me (wink, wink). As you may have gathered, I really want those plastic shoe boxes.

Cordially,

Rebecca S

12 of 12 already??

06:20- Skype w/David. The voice-over-internet thing is really great with David being away! We get to talk just about every night and all for the low low price of FREE! (Well, plus the $100 he's got to pay for internet...but that's reimbursed!)

06:45- This morning, I put all of my clean clothes away. I've been using my bed as a "I don't really feel like hanging my clothes right now, so I'll just set them here" zone. See the little bear with the Bears hat? Well, the bear was part of my valentine from David, and I wore the hat to bed last night so I could sleep with all of the lights on...see the 7:30 photo.

07:10-We got new neighbors last week or the week before maybe. I hadn't met them until they came ringing my doorbell at 7:05 this morning. Luckily I was already dressed and ready to go. Anyway, they needed their car to be jump started. The guy came and rang the bell and asked if I would jump start his car. I pulled up to their car and my new neighbor took care of the rest. I guess he didn't trust that I would be very good at car stuff. Maybe he got that impression when I couldn't find the little latchy-thing with which to pop the hood. But anyway...that's the heroine of our story there in front of my window (the reddish one). Notice that the parking space across the lot, next to the silver car is empty. Thanks to me and my unbelieveable auto-skillz.


07:30-I wasted no more time calling Entomology to get someone to come out and spray for roaches! I had never seen a 2-3inch roach in our house before David left. There were SIX dead ones in my house this morning. I never want to live in a tropical climate again. And I thought the Indiana variety black ants and elder bugs were bad...

18:30-I forgot my camera at home this morning. I thought about turning around to come get it, but I already feared I might be an hour late to work because I didn't know if I was supposed to change time(I wasn't). Anyway, the bug guys got here at 16:15 (and I forgot to grab my camera AGAIN!) and then I had to leave the house for 2 hours. So I put on my running shoes, ran a mile to the gym, went to some crazy step aerobics class, ran the long way home to make it 3 and a half miles. By that time, it was safe for me (but not the roaches!) to return inside.

18:45-Logging on to SparkPeople(dot)com. I heard some girls talking about this on Sunday and I wanted to check it out. Although I don't necessarily think I need to lose weight, this is a fun way to be more aware of what I'm doing and what I'm eating. You earn points and you can join "teams" and track your calories, etc. There's recipes and articles and it gives you exercise demos too. If you haven't been there yet, check it out! If you decide to join, tell 'em "BeccaSuze" sent you! (I'll get 10 points!)


19:18-Looks like this picture should've been taken 12 hours ago, doesn't it? Do you ever just want a bowl of cereal instead of eating something else? I do. Tonight I had breakfast for dinner and it was delicious.


19:30-On Sunday I started knitting my first pair of socks using the Magic Loop method. I took the beginning apart just once and now I'm this far, just finished the toe increases and ready to knit the body of the foot.

19:56- 60 Minutes comes on here on Mondays. I always think of my grandma when 60 Minutes comes on because I used to be at her house a lot at 6pm on Sundays I guess. I love 60 Minutes and all the other news-magazine type shows. But I especially love 60 Minutes because Andy Rooney cracks me up. And I never cease to be puzzled by the fact that Andy Rooney has looked the exact same age since I've been like 6 years old or something. Sometimes I wonder if they taped millions of Andy Rooney segments a long time ago and just air them now. But he does always have some hilarious things to say about George W Bush and other current events...so he must still be making the segments, he probably uses a really great moisturizer or something!


21:45- I'm calling knit a night and stopping here. I guess I made a decent bit of progress on my socks tonight. But still not enough... I'm going to have to wash some socks to wear this week because these just aren't going to be finished on time!


21:53-Picking out my clothes at night really helps my mornings go more smoothly. I used to waste a lot of morning minutes sitting in front of my closet wondering what to wear, wearing it, changing my mind about it and wearing something else. Sometimes I still end up changing my mind and wearing something else, like on the 13th, I wore that shirt (I love that shirt!), but not those pants (I don't love those pants).



22:04- And that's the end of my day.

No Idle Hands Here!!

My friend Stacy is having a baby! Stacy teaches 2nd grade and we've spent many of our prep periods talking and talking and talking...without realizing that we had used our whole 40 minutes talking and none of it working! She is so great.

When she told me at the beginning of the school year that she was pregnant, I knew I wanted to make her something special! Her mother-in-law is a scrapbooker, so I figured she'd take care of things on that end. I came across this adorable baby sweater pattern on knittingpatterncentral.com It's the Quickie Baby Sweater and it really was QUICK! I made it in one weekend, except for sewing on the buttons and weaving in the ends, which always seems to take me longer than the actual project to get myself to sit down and do it!

There would be a shower for her at school, but I would also be invited to her personal friends shower. So I decided to make 2 gifts! I started this blanket using the same yarn as the sweater so the gifts would coordinate. Here's how far I had gotten as of February 9th.


I put my knitting down for a while in a fit of housecleaning. I didn't have the energy for both, I guess. On February 25, the day of the marathon, I realized that Stacy's school shower would be in just a few days...and that her other shower was only 2 weeks after that! Well, the good thing about running a marathon is that your legs and feet hurt afterward, but not your hands. So I spent my recovery period on the couch with my feet propped up and knitted up this blanket. Actually, it took me the entire two weeks to knit the blanket and only a few days to recover. But it was still nice to hang out on the couch so much!
It was a close call, but I finished the blanket last night---the shower is today!



If any knitters out there are wondering, the pattern for the blanket is the Basketweave Blanket from the Storey Publishing book, Knit Baby Blankets. Yarn: Some Red Heart baby-type white, Patons Astra Hot Green, Lily Sugar n' Cream Rainbow. Same yarn on both projects. I used a total of 4 skeins Sugar n' Cream, 6 skeins of the green and about 1 skein of the Red Heart-the skein had been partially used before, and I did run out just before the top border of the blanket. (I spent over an hour removing the iridescent string from a ball of white/sparkly yarn to finish the project!)

Against the advice of my SV friends, I did ask Stacy if I could borrow the sweater back to give to her at her other shower. She doesn't know about the blanket! I want to give them together to up the "Wow factor". The shower is in about 2 hours... I can't wait!
And I hope my next project will be much smaller than a baby blanket!