Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Hold on to your seats

As promised, here is a parade of FOs. Please forgive the terrible quality of the photos- cloudy day, no model, and lack of photo editing. :) Also, hats look goofy on bear heads.

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Sockhead hat from BohoKnits in MadTosh sockyarn in colorway Twain. This is the most recent of the knits to fly off of my needles. It is the second of three sockheads I'm knitting *love the pattern!

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Sockhead the second - I want candy Merino.Tensel from Yarn Pirate. And now, a random assortment of projects that I cannot remember when I finished. I'm guessing these were all knit in 2010, but I could be wrong. It was really a year of shawls. I'm still on the shawl crack. I just took a month or so to knit hats.

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This is the boneyard shawl by westknits knit out of a mustard colored cotton I got in a swap. The color is wonky here because of the clouds.

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This is the honey cowl from MadTosh (kinda gotta thing for them *swoon* ) knit in some purple yarn I got when the Opelika yarn shop closed. I kind of made it into a mobius cowl. Of course it was on purpose, why would you ask that? lol [edited to fix the link and the pattern attribute...doh!]

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This is a close up of a shawl I knit out of some more handspun. There are many of these knocking around the house.car.closet right now. :D

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This is one of my faves. I knit it out of more handspun (loving the handspun this last year). It started as a scarf, but I ran out of yarn, so I just sewed the ends to make an infinity scarf, but it will also fit over me like a caplet. I knit 2 more of these for friends right after this, but I don't remember getting pics of the. Oops.

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This is my first ever project out of Socks that Rock lightweight. The color is moss agate. The pattern is Stitch DC Infinity Scarf. I knit this at NWP in Orlando last Nov. Loved the project. It knit up pretty too. :D Ok. I think that is enough fiber in your diet for today. Whew. I have a few more in my flickr stream if you want to check them out. Knitters can go to my Rav page for more knitterly details. :D

Lack of Knitting Content

On a whim, I flipped back through the last year or so of posts, and man, I haven't posted any actual knitting on here in AGES! We're gonna have to fix that. Keep your eyes peeled today.tomorrow for actual knitting content! :D

Monday, March 28, 2011

Things I Know



This "morning", I rolled out of bed at 1pm before D woke up, and I decided to make him biscuits. He had purchased the sausage and the buttermilk for me last week, but I never got around to doing it. More important things to do like knitting and spinning got in the way. But not this morning. This morning, I decided to do it. And I did. But sitting here just now, enjoying the spoils of my labor, I started thinking about blogging them. That's when it hit me: I have no idea how much of each thing you need for these. I have no idea. I know what it looks like when it's right, but I couldn't tell you a measurement to save my life. I just know. And it was this train of thought that brought me here today. What do we know just because we grew up where we did? I know how to make those biscuits because I saw my mama make them 1000000000000000 times in my life time.


I know that you get a stainless mixing bowl, heap self-rising flour in the center until there is a little mountain, stick your finger into the top of the mountain to make a well (shorter the mountain, wider the well), and then pour veg oil in until it fills the well and runs around the side just enough. Then you add enough buttermilk to make it dough (it took half a quart today). That's all there is to it. Oh, and mix it with your hands no matter how icky it feels. Something about using a regular spoon messes with them.


Mama once made these to make extra money and sold them two to a wax paper envelope at her work. She mixed in bacon chunks or sausage crumbles along with shredded cheese. I like the sausage ones best, so that's what I mixed in this morning. I did have to call and ask Mama what temp to bake them at, but that is a tiny detail that always gets lost. Maybe I really do remember, but I want to talk to Mama when I make them. I'm not sure, but it is the one thing I can never remember.


So this morning, I toast to your health with a biscuit that I just know how to make because. I can't remember her standing me in a chair and telling me the steps, but somehow, I got it all the same. I want to say these are her grandmama's biscuits too, so I'm keeping the tradition of just knowing stuff alive. What do you just know?

Monday, March 21, 2011

Quilting to heal


Funnily enough, this post came today when I am thinking of crafting for family after T's death. Dad got me a bunch of T's cowboy/flannel shirts, and I was planning to make Mema and Dad a quilt from them. Now I have new inspiration after the post on WhipUp. I was only going to use fabric from the back cut into squares, but now I wonder what it would look like if I used the front with the pearl buttons or the back shoulders with the cowboy details and piping. I hope that my little crafty project can bring me some comfort and that the finished projects can bring comfort to a family who lost before they were ready.

Source

Monday, March 14, 2011

Little Things

Image Souce


Thursday before last, the world went sideways for us at the Random Stitches house. We got an early morning call that D's uncle had been beaten by some unknown party and didn't look like he was going to make it. I had to go on in to work before any more details could come to light, but I was really upset. D's uncle (T) was one of the sweetest men I've ever met, and I cried all the way to work trying to figure out what in the world could have made someone mad enough to beat him to death. I managed to zombie through my day since I only had to suck it up and teach 2 classes as the other 2 were (thankfully) testing. We went straight down to the hometown that night to be there when everything started the next day, but T was already gone, and the story was known by this point.

The facts as known at this point: T tried to stop an argument between an 18 yo neighbor boy and his mother (the boy was on the attacking side in this whole drama). Words were exchanged, the boy tried to push T, and T wrapped him up in a bear hug. The two fell to the ground, and T being a late middle age man was not the first to regain his feet. Mr. 18 yo was. Mr. 18 went to kicking on T's face and head, and that's that.

T was brain dead at the hospital, and some of his organs were harvested for donation. I hope that some good comes from this horrible tragedy, and someone lives, sees, breathes better after T's ultimate good deed.

So that was Thursday.

Friday dawned, and because T lived in a poor neighborhood/town, the family had to clean out the house as soon as they could. D and his family went down there to try and get things boxed to move to a storage shed until things settle down. When they went through his truck on Saturday, they found a number of things stashed in the console of the truck. Now to understand this next bit, follow me back a year or two.

I have travelled a lot in the past few years for part of my job, and on one of these random trips across the country, I sent T a postcard. When I saw him again, he was as proud as a new papa about that postcard. Since he liked it, I started sending him a postcard from all of the little trips I would take on the weekends and on business. I loved sending him a card because I knew he would like it.

Flash back to the present and the clean out of the truck.

In the console, along with pictures of D's dad and step mom, D's Mema, and D was the stack of postcards I'd sent from all over the place. He kept them in his truck, right next to him, so that he could keep them safe and so that nothing would happen to them. These were the things he cared most about in life. A few faded pictures and some dog eared postcards.

When I sent those cards, I just sent them to make him smile. I thought he would like them enough to read them, but I never had any idea what they would mean to him. I can't tell this story without crying each time. There is a Jack Johnson song that has lyrics that now make me cry:


There's no combination of words
I could put on the back of a postcard,
no song that I could sing
but I can try for your heart,
Our dreams, and they are made out of real things,
like a shoebox of photographs,
with sepia tone loving,
love is the answer
at least for most of the questions in my heart,
like why are we here? and where do we go?
and how come it's so hard?
It's not always easy,
and sometimes life can be deceiving,
I'll tell you one thing, it's always better when we're together.


*****


The first lines now make me bawl like a baby. His memorial service was last Saturday, and I counted everything in the church I could see to try and keep myself from crying. The preacher didn't know T, but I was preaching the eulogy in my own head. I keep thinking about those post cards now. They play on my mind all day and night. Those simple little cards sent with little thought or effort meant more to him than I ever knew. It just brought me back to the awe that I have for simple things. Doing simple, good things for people and the impact that those actions could have makes me think about the life I live every day. Mema hot on to me last year at Thanksgiving because I was sending T postcards and not her. I do not regret a single one I've sent now. I'm so happy I sent those to T because they meant so much to him.

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So the whole point of this blog post is to think about those small things we could do for people every day that take little time, effort, or money to do. I challenge you and me to do them. Hold the door. Call your grandma. Wave at the strange fellow on the sidewalk. Make someone's day.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Local ... Love ... Hate

Local
I love local. I love art. I love pottery. I love local art and local pottery. Kelly McKernan is my favorite local artist, and she linked into a giveaway by a local blogger of a local pottery artist. How much more awesome does that get?!! [I'm using local in a wide sense as all the ladies come from ATL].

PS- I own almost all of KM's prints on her website, an original by her, and send out her postcards through PostCrossing.com. I loff her lots. I also go to ATL when I can to see her openings or shows she's featured in. LOFF!

Love
I hope all of you out there in blogoworldo had a great Valentine's Day. I did. My honey rocked out my day (also our anniv.). I've got pics taken, but they are still on the cam at home. Nothing dirty- promise. Just unbelievably sweet. :D I'm still smiling about it.

Hate
Joann's Fabric and Craft is on my *hit list. D's boss fired him 3 days before Christmas this year for being tired of the unrealistic expectations and telling him they were screwy. D left that day an hour and a half early after letting all of the managers there know. His boss called an hour later and asked him to bring the keys back to the store because he was fired. For leaving early. The day after he'd pulled an 11 hour shift because the boss couldn't make it to work for personal reasons. Jacked up much?!

So that is reason #1.

Reason the second: Now D is trying to make an unemployment claim. Joann's Fabric and Craft is fighting him on it. They are saying that he "quit" and that he used profanity. 1: he didn't quit. He told his boss he was going to quit if he didn't stop getting harassed. 2: Profanity isn't a fireable offense. It's a verbal warning. He got no kind of warning at all, written or verbal.

So please dear friends and readers, take your crafting dollars to Michael's, Hobby Lobby, or Hancock's. Don't support a store that doesn't care about it's employees. D was fired unfairly and had been being harassed constantly by his boss (who wasn't doing HIS own job) and his district manager. It's a crappy place that treats its employees like crap and has high prices for its own crappy merch. I haven't been back in the store since before Christmas, and I have zero plans for going ever again. I refuse to spend my money in such a place.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Busy

I've been keeping my hands busy since the COLD OF DOOM set into GA. I've been so busy in fact, that I have not taken any pictures of what's being going on. I've been knitting like a fiend. I have 2 new shawls hot off the needles. One has been hanging out since sometime before last Thanksgiving (WHOA), and the other was cast on and off in the span of a week. I've been very much knitting handspun too. Both projects were from my own- I'm so chuffed. [What does chuffed mean? Where did it come from? I blame Lime n Violet for my usage of it.]


This is the first one to be finished - Citron. I'm wearing it elegantly around my shoulders with a large pin holding it in place.

I also made something of a caplet/infinity scarf/biggass cowl using this pattern [Rav link]. I used stripey handspun, and it is really kinda cute. I found that it wasn't going to be long enough for a full on scarf, so I sewed the ends together to make it a circley thing.

I've also been keeping my eyes and ears busy while I've had the needles clicking. This is what I've been watching on NetFlix. It's really funny to me that his movies/shows still work in the current time. I'm going to profane the name and say he may be as timeless as Shakespeare. :D I think AH is terribly funny. Funnier than most people/shows are even today. It's nice to watch a very different breed of TV. Smart TV even.

I've also stopped watching some TV. I love the original CSI and the NY spinoff. But I heard Stella was leaving NY, so I can't really bring myself to watch it without her. I hear Catherine is also leaving CSI, so I'm not excited about it. I don't know if I'll keep watching if they keep going without her. I'm still loving NCIS and NCIS:LA. Gibbs and LL are both my homeboys. I also like H5-O and Mike and Molly. I'm a little mad because I can't really watch Mike and Molly any more. They were letting the episodes hit the website for viewing but stopped after I got hooked. No show is good enough for me to have a cable bill each month!

I find I have a large span of time in the middle of my work day now that has no strings attached to it. I've been filling it with knitting to keep me sane on the job. I'm not really on the clock, so I dare anyone to tell me I shouldn't. The only problem this presents is that it requires me to have a project on the needles. I cast my last one off last night and didn't have the time to start a new one. Bummer. That is how I find myself here today, telling the world about my dilemma. Any suggestions from the unnamed They about what to knit next? It needs to be something passingly simple since I'm doing it in a distracted environment, and I don't want to stress myself with charts and crazy directions.

Well, it's off to the saltmines soon. I'll leave you here until next time when I shall portray another little playlette to entertain you.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Holy Holiday Crafting, Batman!

Obviously, I've been quiet. I've been working nearly 12 hours each day, so I'm a little more than beat. Now my quarter is over, and it's on! I've go so much craft energy going it's scary (read: I-don't-want-to-clean-my-house-avoidance-energy). Here's a round up of the humteen million things I WANT to make in the nearly month break before I have to go back to working 12 hours a day again. Whew!

What's on the needles:
A pair of purple slipper/socks for a friend who has a new apt. of her very own.

Knitting has just been TOO SLOW for my ADHD brain this month.

Sewing:
I've made some fleece wrap things that I ripped off of a store bought article and have some fleece left over. I'm feeling these mittens with the leftovers. I don't love the elastic on the outside bit, but I'll figger' something out.

I just found these and LOVE them. I think my mom would like one and maybe me too. :D

I also need new stockings as I made my first set when I was a newbie...they hold almost NOTHING and stretch like I do...not at all! These look like winners!

I do NOT need to make this pillow, but I want to all the same.

I'm in the process of making this bear. I have gotten so far as to buy fabric. And print the pattern. And cut the pieces. That's it. :P I need a new snuggle bear because it's butt cold outside here, and my regular fella is just too old to snuggle without fear of taking the lovin' too far and squishing out some stuffin'. I tend to waller (as Mama says) in the night.


I'm thinking I should leave it at that. Whew. That's a lot. If I manage even two of those, I'll be amazed! :p

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Wonderment


I read craft blogs all the time all across the web. I read crafters, quilters, and momsters. They all seem to have so much more "life" than I do and so many more words too. I found a journal I started five years ago. I read through it and boggled that I had so many words then. I wonder what has happened to all of those words. Maybe it is like John Mayer says. Maybe my words have been wrapped up in the pictures I take where ever I go.
I have managed to create 1 skirt that fits me from two old tshirts with a few more in the works. I used the reinvention skirt pattern generously given to me to plus size test from MayaMade. I'm sad to report that my hips are too wide for the use of the 1 shirt method so far. I even went to a 3x and tried (and failed) to make it work. The four pannel works just ducky, but I want to have it work with the 2 pannels too.


I'll leave you with a picture of my work "costume" that I wore today since we only go through Thursdays. I got many comments and a few odd looks as I wore it out to a fast food place later in the night to eat wings. My students didn't seem to notice that I had dressed up-guess they all think I look this way daily. :P





Friday, October 08, 2010

It gets better

With all of the heartbreaking news of teens around this country killing themselves because they are struggling with being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, gender queer, or just plain different, I cannot stay quite any longer. I keep reading stories from others, watching youtube videos, and talking to friends who have gone through similar struggles. I want to add my voice to the chorus that is ringing out: It gets better.

I hated high school, and high school hated me. I was always confused. On top of being upset about crap life at home, I had to deal with being the fat kid at school too. Bullies who torment GLBT kids torment fatties too. Just a fact of life. Luckily, being a fat kid means you can get shoved inside of lockers. You don't get as much physical abuse because you're so damn big, but the abuse still comes. Teenagers are the meanest form of human you can find. They are freaked out because their bodies are changing, their lives are changing, and they are becoming something new. So to protect themselves from the scarrrry changes, they lash out. People who are different catch that nutjob wrath.

But it gets better. It gets SO much better.

I lived through high school and college. I thought very strongly about not living at all during those years. I wanted to die and thought about how to die again and again. I was just so unhappy, and I couldn't see the end of the pain. I was too chicken to ever actually go through with any of the elaborate plans I made walking down the hallways- If I take X amount of Y, what would happen? I lived through it. I was miserable. I thought death would be better than the hell of being a fat, confused teenager.

But it wasn't. If you die in high school, you never really live real life. High school is a terrible social experiment gone wrong. It's not real life. Those assholes who make fun of you today will be the same assholes stuck in your home town after you've graduated and gotten a real life.

Bullies will always remember high school as the best days of their lives. You won't. You'll go to college (do go- you'll never be the same after it), get a degree or two, and get a real life with real friends. That's when it gets better. As soon as I was out of my high school, I felt free. Those idiots who made fun of me, excluded me from their parties, and made me feel less than human are all trapped in their own lives. None of them are as happy as I am. None of them have made it more than 30 miles outside of our hometown since they've graduated.

I've been to a foreign country to help build houses, I've travelled around this country with the National Writing Project, I've become what I always said I would. They have not. Those bullies will always wish they had what you'll grow up to have if you can just live through high school and college. It sounds like a Hallmark card, but it is so very true.

I don't know if this will reach the eyes of anyone who needs this message, but I want to put it out there- just in case. It gets better. These are some of the darkest days you'll have to live through. The best revenge on those idiots who tell you that your life isn't worth living is to live the hell out of your life- no matter how messed up you feel now. You take that life you have, and you use it as a weapon against ignorance.

Wake up every day ready to fight those jocks who slam into you in the hallway by getting a full ride at a great school based on your grades alone. When they blow their knees, and they will, you will still have your scholarship. Live the hell out of your life. Giving in to that noise and bullshit gives them power. Live your life like a punch in the face. Slap them with every breath you take.

It gets better, but you have to stick around to see it. I promise it will be worth it, just wait for it.




***PS- I haven't forgotten the giveaway winners, but I'm broke as a joke right now and have been since half of my job was eliminated. Once I have the funds to ship, I'll get the stuff out to you. :D

Thursday, August 19, 2010

About to burst

I have a secret- I'm throwing D a surprise birthday party tonight, and if I don't tell someone, I might just die! We have lots of things planned for him, and his mom is even coming up from Ame for the event. I also hear that one of our drag friends plans a raunchy lapdance for the birthday boy! :D I'm not sure if D's ever had a birthday party before because he was a painfully shy kid, so I'm about to die of keep this to myself. So please, could you keep it to yourself until about 7pm tonight? Thanks. I just knew you'd understand.
Whew!

Friday, June 04, 2010

If you can't say something nice, blog about nothing important

It's the end of the quarter, and I'm feeling very prickly right now. So as Mama always said, I will say nothing at all about those things and go to a totatlly different subject. ME! I stole this from the weiner of the prize drawing once I realized her link was a blog click. She stole it from someone named David.

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1. What curse word do you use the most? F*ck

2. Do you own an iPod? No.

3. What person on your flist do you talk to the most? Aponi

4. What time is your alarm clock set to? 5:30am, but I snoooooze it until around 6:15ish.

5. Do you still remember the first person you kissed? Yes. His name was Nick and we went to elementary school together. He was my first boyfriend. We went to the school dance together. He gave me a carnation. It was either him or Dereck who kissed me after I chased him up the climbing wall at the same elementary school. Can't remember which came first.

6. Do you remember where you were on 9/11/01? I was a senior in high school. We were in Mr. Mitchell's art class for first block. Someone came in and told us about it, and he actually let us turn the tv on. While we watched, the second plane hit. We didn't realize or understand that it was REALLY happening live. We continued to watch through second block, Mrs. Goat (not her real name, but she raised goats) and A&P. It was surreal. My Papa told me about Pearl Harbor and where he'd been when I got home that night. Also about where he'd been when Kennedy was shot.

7. Would you rather take the picture or be in the picture? Take take take. I look like hell in photos. And fat. No photos of me.

8. What was the last movie you watched? At the movies: Alice in Wonderland. It was total crap. HATED IT. But I felt like I got my money out of it since I only paid $1.50 to see it at the cheap seats. At home: Jurassic Park - one of out all time favorites. LOVE IT.

9. Do any of your friends have children? One of them, and he's a cool little. The ones who I am no longer in contact with from college (mostly cause they found a new man and he was their new religion) have started making babies too. It is strange to me to see party girls and morons with littles. Scary.

10. Has anyone ever called you lazy? Yes. It was my mother's greatest insult. To be called lazy was to be the bane of the world.

11. Do you ever take medication to help you fall asleep? Sometimes I have to take a Benedryl to sleep if I'm really keyed up and the next day is really important. Or Nyquil when I'm sick.

12. What CD is currently in your CD player? Jack Johnson - Brushfire Fairytales

13. Do you prefer regular or chocolate milk? If I'm drinking it, choc. If it's on cereal, regular.

14. Has anyone told you a secret this week? Yes, actually.

15. When was the last time you had Starbucks? Um...a month or so ago when I got a vanilla cupcake from the Barnes and Noble 'bucks. I'm not into coffee. Cupcakes are gooood tho.

16. Can you whistle?Yes, both the normal way and also through my teeth.

17. What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?Eyes.

18. What are you looking forward to? The end of next Monday. I will have turned my grades in and have washed my hands of this quarter. Then I'll be off for a month of writing in Ame and I'll be with my people and happy. I may even want to still teach after that- right now- not so much.

19. Did you watch cartoons as a child? Yes. I liked Rocco's Modern Life. I hated Ren and Stimpy. I liked Rugrats before Dill was born.

20. Do you own any band t-shirts? Yes. I have some Guster t-shirts.

21. What will you be doing in one hour? Showering and getting ready to go buy foods.

22. Is anyone in love with you? Yes, or at least I think he is.

23. What was the last song you heard? dunno- but I have a Jack Johnson song stuck in my head...does that count?

24. Last time you cried? Yesterday. Like I said. The end of the quarter is an ugly time.

25. Are you on a desktop computer or a laptop? Desktop. But I want one of those laptop babies- the little net book.

26. Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos? Yes. I want to get a little sparrow on the inside of each ankle as a tribute to my Papa. He always put on his socks wrong- they had the little Izod alligators on them, and he would put the socks on with those facing inside. Always. I've wanted a sparrow since I saw a really cute one on a student, and I've wanted to do a tribute to a family member via tattoo (or I'd never get another one) like Amy from Spunky Eclectic. This would be killing 2 birds with 2 bird tattoos!

27. What’s the weather like? Dunno. Still in my pjs. Not wanting to know either. If I had to guess, really friggin' hot. Like prolly already 90+ F.

28. Would you ever date a girl/guy covered in tattoos? Oh yes. I would have done it as a teen to scare my parents too. I would sooo date somone tatted up. D is not tatted at all though. :(

29. What did you do before this? Make 2 grilled cheeze sammiches.

30. When is the last time you slept on the floor? The last time I visited my Mama. I started out on a nice, elevated air mattress....I woke up on a flat mattress on the floor. Something went wrong obviously.


31. How many hours of sleep do you need to function? TONS. I need at least 8. I love it when I get 10. Sleep is one of my fave things to do in this life.

32. Do you eat breakfast daily?Yes. I wouldn’t get very far without it. But I forget sometimes and feel really mean before lunch.

33. Are your days fast-paced? Without question. I go from class to class, and I squeeze in tutoring between classes. I don't have an office, so I'm always on the run. I am coordinator of a database that holds over 1100 student accounts that I oversee in the middle of all of that. Whew. I got tired typing that.


34. What did you do last night? Cleaned my nasty bathroom (partly), got a mani-pedi with my work PediPosse (TM), watching a movie with D, played Farmville, spun a bit.

35. Do you use sarcasm?A lot. It's my native tongue.

36. How old will you be turning on your next birthday? 27

37. Are you picky about spelling and grammar?Yep- I drive people nuts when I feel it is important. I’m slack when it doesn’t matter (like email, blog posting, facebooking). I am the person who changes signs in Walmark. And in the bathrooms at school! I even encourage my students to attack signs! hahahaha

38. Have you ever been to Six Flags? Yes. HATE it. I'm not a patient person- I don't wait well. That's what 6 Flags teaches you. The only ride I enjoy is the River one where you are in the round things and you bounce down the river. Not the one where you are in the water, but the one that is actually a ride.

She says it goes to 80, but these are the 38 she posted. Sooo, as she continues, I guess so shall I.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Squoze

First things first- I have a new weiner: murfomurf. Come on down to give me your across the pond addy. That means that Rae will get your mug since she's on this side of the creek. :D The email is Scooby_dooby_doo_2002 aht yahoo daht com. [Usual disclaimer- replace the aht with @ and daht with . ]

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We went on Vacay with D's mom a few weekends ago to Chattanooga, TN. We had a good time and did most of the touristy things to do in the town in 3 days. I know right?

We went up on Thursday night after work so that we could wake up in TN on Friday to make our 10:30 aquarium tickets.
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We got there early and since our hotel had a crappy breakfast, we were hungry. We found a little spot called the Blue Plate. It was awesome and had the best servers evar. We got this little hottie named David. He was a great server, got us great food fast, and gave us the DL on Chatty. He gave us tons o' places to eat, and I think we lucked out with him. More on him later.
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They have a sea horse exhibit down stairs, but to get to the real show, you ride what could possibly the the world's LONGEST escalator. This was taken from the top.
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It took ages to go all the way up. But the cool thing is that you go from the top to the bottom of the aquarium like following the water to the ocean. They had some wicked large catfish in a tank. There was a diver in there feeding while we were there, and the fish was as big or BIGGER than the huge man diver. UM NO. I would NOT be in that water. No way, no how.

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We have been to the Atlanta aquarium, so we have seen a lot of these fish before, but they had the coolest otters EVAR! They were HUGE and very playful. The TN aquarium wins over ATL because they have a better otter viewing area. I got great shots of them. IMG_6107
Of course, we were also in the middle of about 1000808 school kids- we went right when schools were about to let out, so they were all on friggin' field trips! ACK.
IMG_6264 This was in their butterfly garden.

After the aquarium, we went across the Walnut St. pedestrian bridge to explore the North Shore because hottie David said there was a good lunch place over there.
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I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm terrified of bridges. I hate driving over them, hate walking over them. H.A.T.E. them. Like I freak out and have panic attacks on bridges. Soo...yeah. We WALKED across the pedestrian BRIDGE to the North Shore to explore. They walked; I crept. I also cried. I really d.o. n.o.t. do bridges. I finally got across the damn thing. IMG_6304

It was worth it I guess because we crossed to find a great little ice cream place called Clumpies. They make all their own ice cream. FAB! I had lemon cream, D had butter pecan, and Moms had....something? The best part about clumpies besides the homemade everything was a shirt I tried to get D to buy: it said simply, "Creamy." I thought it was funny. He thought it was inappropriate. That's why I thought it was funny, but anywho.
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We walked around a little more, but we had to hoof it back across because we had tickets to ride the aquarium's River Gorge Explorer boaty thing. D and his Moms got all cracked out on the time and rushed us down to the dock (yeah, another bridge to get to the dock...ugh). They thought the ride started at 3pm. I knew it was 3:30 and kept asking if we could slow down or sit down. NO! WE HAVE TICKETS! So we finally get there and they realize what I've known all along: we're WAAY early. Of course, you know, it was my fault that we were early then. We did get to sit down in the shade finally on the dock and waited for the boat.
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It pulled up and was like a yacht big to me. It was crazy fun to ride that boat. It goes up to like 55 mph on the water and comes to a complete stop in seconds and on a dime at that! We stopped for every boat, float, and barge in the river that day- many many splashes!
IMG_6365 This is where I want to live when I grow up.

We cruised through the river gorge and it was really pretty. It was just nice to be out on the water after being off of it for so long. I grew up on Lake Oliver here in Col, but when I got to be a teen, it wasn't cool anymore. I can't tell you the last time I was on ANY river on a boat. Riding up top was really cool too.
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That night we ate at the Market Tavern per David's suggestion from that am. It was 'lish! I had a bison burger (locally raised!) with cheese and they had chicken and fish- my burger was so good that after they ate their foods, they ordered another bison burger to share. :P This place was big on fresh, local, and fabulous. The burger bun was a roll from a local baker. Yum. They also had cupcakes from a local bakery: amaretto, strawberry, mocha, and red velvet. We got all but the mocha- we're not coffee ppl. The red velvet was so good that D and I split it at the table and had to order another one to take with us.
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The next day, we had 3 attractions to hit: Ruby Falls, See Rock City, and the Incline Railway. It was a threefer pass, so we were set.
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We hit Ruby early because it was Racin' at Ruby and we are NOT race fans. That started after lunch, so we wanted to be in and out before the race nuts got up the mountain. It was an interesting place. I would NEVER go again. It's a privately owned attraction, and I don't like how they keep the caves and falls. They take HUGE groups through the caverns with 1 tour guide for like 50 people. She can't keep an eye on them. You know if you touch the formations, they die. Folks kept leaning and touching stuff. I was going nutzo. And it's a half mile in to the falls....you get like 5 minutes at the falls before the lights go out. And then it's a half mile out at break neck speed. You could tell the whole time that it was a money machine and not a true attraction for the beauty of the formations. It felt like they were pimping the falls. I didn't like it at all.
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There weren't even any bats in the caves. What's a cave without bats?
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Since we had walked a billion miles before lunch, we went to the Incline Railway next. We got on at the top and rode down and back up. It was intense. That was one crazy train ride. The little speakers said that it had served to get expectant moms down the mountain to the hospital to give birth. I loved that.
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We saved Rock City for last, and I'm really glad we did. After the obvious capitalism of Ruby Falls, Rock City was like an untended wild space for me. I loved it. That's where the title of this post comes from.
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If you don't know about Rock City (how?), it's this crazy place full of paths and gardens in, around, and through huge rock formations. The thing I can remember the most about Rock City from my childhood is Fat Man's Squeeze. I'm officially a squoze fat person now. I got through the needle, but Fat Man's Squeeze was really squeezy. I got in there ok, but half way through, I couldn't go any farther....ruh roh. So I wiggled down to my knees and crawled the rest of the way out on my hands and knees. It was very ladylike I assure you. Ah hem.
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I love the icon of the red barn with "See Rock City" painted on it. LOVE IT. I also love that Neil Gaimen made it a holy place. :D
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I even walked on the swing along bridge. ACK. Had to keep telling myself, "it's not a bridge, only a weird path..not a bridge....not a freakin' bridge....not a bridge...just keep swimming swimming swimming..."
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I don't know about seeing 7 states...but they say you can.

As it was the weekend of freakin' fears and bridges (also don't do heights):
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Best place at Rock City:
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And I should have taken a shot of the outlook I had to go out on to get this picture:
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It was like a concrete slab poured on air with a rail sticking it to the side of the mountain. I couldn't do the standing up out there, so I kinda crawled out there and got on my belly to take that shot. Great picture- terrible experience taking it. I feel ill just talking about it. I should note that neither D nor his Moms would come out there with me. [Another note: D doesn't have multiple mothers. He just calls his mom "Moms" for whatever reason.]

When we went back down the mountain, we found a tunnel to go through on the way back to the hotel.
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And we went barhopping. Best Long Island Ice Tea in TN.
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Thanks for reading the longest post on planet earth! I took lots of cool photos. More of them can be found on my flickr. :D
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Monday, May 17, 2010

Hidden

Hideandsheep has hidden away! I haven't heard not a peep (sheep) out of this person! I'm giving Hideandsheep until next Tuesday to stop hiding and sheep up for the prize. After that, I'm gonna pull a new grand prize wiener.

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Won

Congrats to hideandsheep and RaenWa who both won! That's right. I pulled two names. I felt bad having only one winner (and even still felt bad after all of y'all put in, but I am not MADE of money!), so I'm diggin' in the stash to make up a second prize of Stitches goodies. I think I found something to go- a little ball of colorful Laines Du Nord Korall yarn (it says fancy on the back?)- it's soo cool. Each ply is a different color and it says that it's "100% Merino Fine Irrestringible" which sounds like a good thing. I got this at Stitches last year too. Notice that I'm not willing to part with the haul from this year yet- still too new. Like a new baby I guess- only mama can hold her! :D

So you two lucky ducks email me at Scooby_dooby_doo_2002 aht yahoo daht com. (Y'all are smart enough to know that aht should be subbed for @ and daht should be . Right? Right.

Sorry for all of the broken hearted out there. It's like the Audi commercial says, in all friendly competition, there is a winner....

** I LOVE that commercial. We saw it during the Olympics, and I thought we were gonna hork Dr. Pepper through our noses! hahahaha

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Now for Freeness

Since we can't all make it to the Stitches Show, I thought I would bring a little stitches home with me. I swiped things from all over the place. This is the racked up swag:
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The prize includes:
The Eat.Sleep.Knit coffee cup from the Rav party with a pen, 4 mini skeins of yarn, and a coupon.
2 mission falls samples
a lion brand catalogue package (has a lion brand magnet- a $3.95 value!)
a plastic zippy change pouch from univeral yarns
a cha cha scarf pattern
a blue go knit pouch
a Hello my Rav name is buttonn
a Stitches South 2010 Bob and Peach button from Rav.
a sock pattern from Plymoth yarns (basketweave socks)
a cocoon scarf pattern in both knit and crochet *this was EVERYWHERE this year- weird
PLUS- 2 skeins of Stitches South 2009 yarns that have been hidden away in the stash- 1 purple and 1 green of Elsbeth Lavold silky wool (192 yrds each, 45% wool, 35% silk, 20% nylon
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To win:
Leave a comment here. It's that simple. Since the coffee cup is kinda heavy and is um..fragile, I'd like to keep this in the states (and Canada). However, if you are just gonna die if you can enter and live across the pond, we can try to ship it to you over the big bad ocean.

If you plurk, tweet, facebook, blog, skywrite, etc. this giveaway, give me a linky and I'll give you an extra entry for every medium into the drawing. So that means if you comment, plurk, tweet, facebook, and blog it, you get your name entered 5 times. Simple, huh? I'll leave this open until April 30 at 6pm EST. At that time, I'll write you all on a slip of paper, clip you apart, and let D draw a winner. He's half blind in one eye and deaf in the other, so it will be fair to all entrants. Promise. Scout's honor.
* the coupon to eat.sleep.knit expires on the 26th though. If you're gonna die without that, email me and I'll tell you what it is*

Stitches South 2010

Whew. I'm kinda glad to be home in my pjs and listening to John Mayer and the rain fall. Today was one long, busy, crazy, fun, fantastic, wooly day.

Whew.

Before you read any further, I need every one of you out there in the Intarwebs to raise your right hand and repeat after me:

"I will not tell D what all L purchased today. I will not mention it in his presence, bring it up to him, or say, 'Golly, how much did you let her spend!'"

Realize that this is a solemn oath between all of us. You keep mum or I'll dig secrets up and tell your person of interest! That is not a threat. It's as solemn as the oath above- it's a freaking promise!

Now that we got the legal stuff out of the way, we can move on to the haul:
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That's the fambly picture that I took once I wrangled them all together. You can see Cousin Swift lurking in the back of the pack- someone said that his cotton ties made him look too country. He'll live though ( a steal at $25 at Just Our Yarns- coulda spent a mint on her handwoven scarves!). I posted notes on the flickr page.

Highlights:

Hello- doorprize that I won at the Rav. party on Thursday night:
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BUGGA! 'Nuff said.
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Crazy Good sale at Booth 419- Emma was the discount code for a 10% off- her bulldog. NO IDEA WHO THIS IS!
stitches collage

MacKintosh Fibers - the yarn logo with the cute puppy in the logo
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This person was so sweet and nice. We talked forever while I was buying this braid. Really cool person. I want to steal her dog a little.

Or a lot.

Meeting the RavDudes:
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This is MaryHeather and Casey the CodeMonkey doing the meetngreet outside while we were hearding into the Rav Party. If you blow up the pic, you'll see that casey has MONSTAEYE OF DOOM! because I was trying to fix the redeye, but made him look more crazy when I tried to fix it. Eh.

And if you've made it this far, you get a great reward. I'm going to post a giveaway in a seperate post in just a few minutes. Now you know about it. I've giving away swag from the event plus some yarn I stashed from there last year...that I have YET to knit. Sos life I guess.

Here's the 1 pic I took today- H taking a pic of the ultimate stash wall of doom.
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And 1 really cool pic I took while I waited for D outside on Thursday.
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Come back in a few for the giveaway. :D