WoW #2 (Whiskers on Wednesday)

Cold weather makes for VERY friendly cats.As far as the knitting goes...there was great progress being made on the Soho Wrap until Frank decided he needed to be in my lap. My hand is stuck underneath him as well. He really didn't see the problem with this. In his mind, the only purpose for my existence is to provide for his every need and meet his every whim. Whipped cream only leaves the refrigerator to be served to him. He can hear the can shaking from the other side of the house.

As far as the Soho goes, I WAS involved in a knit-a-long with several Sisters of the Wool, but I think everyone else has temporarily left the project for other things. It is simple, but there are a few issues with the pattern. The designer has been following our KAL on Ravelry, and to the best of my knowledge is updating the pattern with the hiccups we find along the way. It has been especially nice to work on it over the past two days with our frigid weather, because it is now big enough that it covers my lap (hence the Frank problem).

Happy as a Clam!

Finally finished this little guy. Now where's the linguine & olive oil? Kidding! Just the eyes, stuffing, and a whole lot of finishing work (for such a little guy), but he is just so huggable! Tonight I'll try to finish the turkey in between sections of the Soho wrap.

Had the most delightfully dreary Monday today. Fire in the fireplace & hot chocolate & knitting while cold & rainy outside kind of delightful. Started off the day with family/friends over for breakfast (ohhh those yummy banana oatmeal waffles!). My oldest niece and a friend are headed off to a semester in Prague. Yup, jealous. One day I will see more of Europe than the inside of an airport. One day. In the meantime... I refilled the suet/peanut nugget feeder, much to the delight of the red-bellied woodpeckers, wrens, and warblers. Will have to try to capture a shot at rush hour out here. In addition to the previously mentioned birds, it usually involves over a dozen mourning doves, half-a-dozen cardinals, downy woodpeckers, goldfinches, house finches, juncos, chickadees, tufted titmice, blue jays, and a couple of phoebes by the pool. The Cooper's Hawk comes through every so often to make sure everyone is on their toes.

Whiskers on Wednesday

24, 7, 2, 7, 12, 1

{Please bear with me as this is the first time I've attempted to post to my blog via iPhone.}

Yes, it has been months. I am still here, just hindered by no Internet access at home. We moved into our new house, and hubby never ceases to amaze me with his "mad skillz" in home & auto repair. Still a long ways to go, but it feels like our home. Just recently ended my barista job to get ready to go off to school to cross-train in avionics. No exotic trips, but otherwise it has been life as usual.

The title of the post? Well, 24 is the number of unfinished knitting objects I found. Some just need a little finishing work, but that is just crazy! Seven is the number of gifts I'd like to finish before Christmas, and two is the number of of those projects that are part of the 24. Seven is also the number of days I have left to finish! Twelve is the number of sweaters I've committed to knit next year through NaKniSweMoDo. (National Knit a Sweater a Month Dodecathelon)

And one is the number of brain cells I apparently have left in my head!

And the Tofu Brain Continues...

Fortunately, when the AC stops working, it is a quick fix. Has it really only been three weeks since I blogged? Yikes! It seems like much longer! We found a house, THE house, and we close the middle of next month. I've read seven books, including the first four in the "Bloody Jack" series by Louis A. Meyer -- awesome books, couldn't put them down! I started Letterboxing and Geocaching (which is a challenge since I don't have a handheld GPS unit). I secured a part-time java job (start next week). My husband took off for Germany on Monday. In knitting news, there has been progress on the Annetrelac socks. I finished packing up my yarn from the second batch in the freezer. Oooo... I want to play with it all, and I want to play with it all NOW! I signed up for the knitting Olympics a while ago, and today just found the UFO Olympics. I have to choose one, and can't decide which will be best for the knitting mojo. The biggest complication is that I am packing up our house (by myself) and close on the new house in the middle of the Olympics. That may even be something I do alone, along with the beginning of the move. Of course before the move there must be cleaning -- LOTS of cleaning. The house has been empty for two years, and four of the windows were broken out. The crew that - ahem - "cleaned" it prior to showing left a lot of broken glass both inside and out. The pool will also need to be scrubbed. (Yes, I said POOL! Squee!!!! I have always wanted one! I don't care that it is a lot of work, so don't bother trying to rain on this parade!)

To give a little photo content, I'm sharing my Flair board from Facebook. Not over there as much as I was in the beginning, but still having fun with it. If you want a laugh, read the first three flair in the bottom row as consecutive sentences.

How COULD I forget?

The past six weeks! What ELSE have I been doing? Couponing has been resurrected! Yes, I AM one of those crazy coupon ladies, and I am not bashful about it! When I did it a couple of years ago, my successes included trips such as $465 worth of groceries for $65, and $123 for $0 (that isn't a typo). The big trip included beef and chicken, so don't even bother to start lecturing me on how it's only good for convenience foods that you normally don't eat anyway. So far I've scored $0.25 dish soap, $0.19 boxes of cereal, and several free items. Plus I have $7.00 more than what I spent at CVS the other day. Right now I'm mostly using The Grocery Game, with frequent trips over to Coupon Mom's website. I need to get back in touch with The Savvy Shopper, a gal in Mansfield who has her finger on the pulse of the local goings-on. BTW, if you decide to use The Grocery Game, please use my email (tayaschram AT yahoo DOT com) as the referring member. Once you get it set up, it doesn't take all that much time provided you maintain your book weekly. Last time I figured up my hourly wage to be $60 for couponing, including the time spent sorting the coupons and the actual shopping time. (And remember, you have to shop for food regardless of your methods.) Even if I donate a third of what I get, it is still the equivalent of $40 per hour for my efforts.

Purring cat...

...in my lap. Shadow. Frank's sister. She has quite the motor. I sit here faced with probably the same dilemma that I've had for the past, oh, six weeks? I'm tired, need to pack up and drive home (to the land of no internet access), I desire to blog, but just don't feel the comments to be worthy. Or there is so much jumbled up in the head I'm afraid once I start, I won't stop!

So, what has consumed me for the past six weeks? I lost my knitting mojo. Gone. Finito. Bye-bye. Not sure if it was the abrupt end of the yarn store plans (put on hold indefinitely for bigger & better things), or a burning out as a result of the Sock Madness frenzy (which yes, I realize I STILL have not blogged). Probably a combination, and I'm sure the little skin condition that popped up on my "yarn finger" contributed. Oh, and there was also knitting an afghan square with that HORRID cotton/acrylic yarn -- Knit Picks Comfy. Blech. I am happy to report that the mojo is slowly returning. Not sure if this is linked to finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel for the highlighter yellow socks, or pulling all of my stash together and freezing it. I decided I needed to freeze & bag everything, rather than taking a chance on losing the stash to the moths. The bizarre thing is that I now know I have 44 cubic feet of stash, because I filled my chest freezer twice. Random facts -- I just love 'em. I also participated in the Fort Worth Knit in Public Day.

Wii Fit and Facebook. Don't remember which came first in May. It isn't even my Wii, but I've spent more time on it than anyone else in the family. Facebook has just been fun, and I think part of what might have been my blogging efforts ended up over there. I've reconnected with people I haven't seen since college and high school, and some family members who are distant by geography. I'm also learning more about my local family members based on their pages.

Read a little, did a little sewing, husband came home (Squee!!!!), and still trying to work that Guard transfer. House hunted. Gave a couple 30 minute massages. OH! How could I forget! Hawaiian Falls! Have a season pass, VERY challenging to blog underwater. They frown on taking laptops down the water slides, too. So there you have it. The perfect excuse for lack of blogging. It may also be noteworthy that my brain completely turns to tofu in the Texas summer heat & humidity. (There is a REASON we TRIED to move to Virginia!) I do think the water park is one of the keys to survival. And certainly more fun than a cold bath.