We are now officially in full on freak out mode

Ya know, there is just something nice about having the opportunity to watch men who are working on cars... I am not sure why...

So, what is going on?

At work they announced the first round of layoffs yesterday and one of our dear co-workers got a notice. It didn't seem fair. He was a great guy, worked hard, didn't have performance issues and he will be gone in 2 weeks. He will be sorely missed. Right now, the rest of us are on a heightened state of alert with another round of layoffs possible next week (a reliable birdie told me this...)

The interview in Phoenix went REALLY WELL. Unfortunately, the company froze all internal transfers and hiring on Monday (but they still interviewed me anyways...) I was told more than once during the day that they couldn't extend an offer because of the freeze but they would be talking to their managers to try to get around that... Sounds positive...

I am trying to keep a positive outlook through all of this crap, but it is really really hard to do that. I had hoped that some of the stress would be relieved after the interviews were over but the whole layoff thing heaped another helping of stress onto an already overfull plate. The surgery is on Thursday so I will have Thursday and Friday off of work for recovery time. Once that is finished, then it's all about waiting... and waiting... and waiting...

I am planning to do some dyeing this weekend to get my wits back about me again and to have some fun. After the surgery, I am going to talk to Noelle about learning to spin wool. It is something I have wanted to learn for a while but I really need someone who is a total GODDESS at it (which Noelle really is...) Learning that and having it would really be something calming, soothing and relaxing to get me over this stress in life. I am really looking forward to it!

A weekend... I can catch up on my sleep (3 hours on Wed after my flight back from Phoenix got delayed, 4 hours last night after the layoff mess), watch cars go around in circles, clean the house, dye wool, and maybe even have a nice adult beverage or two! Hubby and I are going out to Pelican's for dinner tonight and we will have some nice time at home afterwards. I am not going out of town this weekend for the wedding because of the uncertainty at work, so I will be showing up at SnB this Tuesday...

Forecast: Scattered Thunderstorms

We finally got that pool in our backyard that we have always wanted....











This is the runoff from the hill next to our housing develpment in Rio Rancho, NM













Here is the arroyo next to the hill that our housing development sits on...

The forcast for yesterday? Scattered Thunderstorms... Kids, this is why your parents won't let you play in the arroyo... I think this arroyo, when empty, is about 10 -12 feet high...

When in Rome...

I couldn't visit the Shrine of Speed without going onto the track and kissing the Bricks. This is a racing tradition both in NASCAR and INDY car racing that the winner of the race pays homage to the track by kissing the bricks at the start/finish line. I feel honored to have had the opportunity! (Yes, I am on the actual track and No, I didn't get run over by any of the vehicles that were on the track. I actually got on local Indy TV for doing this...)

Time for another round of "catch up with the elusive engineer".

First, the vacation was an absolute BLAST! Lots of cars, lots of excitement, lots of Europeans, the best group of people I could EVER have the opportunity to hang out with for 5 days! I went with some of my co-workers up to Indy for the F1 race, it was great. They had 3 other racing series there (Indy Pro Series, Formula BMW and Porche). The next door neighbor of one of our group actually had a Pro Series car entered so we hung out in the "garage" and watched them work on the car for a couple of days. I was in engineering heaven! Another surprise at the track, Frankie Munoz (Malcolm from the show "Malcolm in the Middle") was racing one of the Formula BMW cars, so that was pretty cool. We were also introduced to two very wonderful people named Al and Kittie. No trip to Indy is complete without a stop at Al and Kitty's house. We met all sorts of racing folks at their house and heard all kinds of really neat stories about NASCAR, F1 and Indy series. A big THANK YOU to them for opening up their house to us and showing us some wonderful Midwestern hospitality. I also discovered a new cocktail there called SKYLAB... Yummy!!! More on that in another post...

Medical update - I am going in on Thursday, July 20th to have said abnormality removed from my right breast. I will have Friday off of work, the weekend to recover then back to work on Monday, so no leave is necessary. Whee! Time to be out of it for a couple of days. A week to 10 days after the surgery, I will have the biopsy results.

Work update - Yeah, the bragsheet is done! Big relief! I had a phone interview on June 25th for an etch engineering position and I am going to Phoenix on July 12th for the second interviews! It will be a same day trip, so no suitcase is necessary. Today, I had a phone interview for litho engineering positions and they will be scheduling second interviews for that position on the same day, so it will be between 4 - 6 interviews in one day... WOW! I will hopefully hear the results by the end of the month so I can plan accordingly. Right now, looks like either October or January of 2007 for a move...

I taught my first class last night at Village Wools. Since it was my first class, there were a few things that didn't go as well as I would have liked them to go, but overall it was a positive experience. We went through beginning sock knitting. I printed up a 6 page pamphlet to cover the basics up through the heel turn. This weekend, I will finish the print out and go through the rest of the sock, answer more questions and put online resources into the document so the folks in the class will have reference material for after the class is finished. My 2 socks on 2 circs class may not happen since only 2 folks are signed up.

My kiddo, Chris, left for Florida yesterday to hang out with his Dad for a month. I know he will have fun down there, but I really really miss having him around! He's a great kid!

That's about all happening in life here... It's short so I will try to go into more detail if I get some time over the weekend...

On Da Road again...

<-Not my cat... It's one of the Jetty cats in Florida.

So, how is everyone doing on this fine Tuesday?

Wow, where to start... How about business before pleasure?

The job search is going very well. I had my first phone interview last Friday. It went pretty well. I sorta blew one of the technical questions, but the rest went well. I will find out next week if I am selected to go to Phoenix for the second round. I have another phone interview for a different position a week from Friday and I am waiting to hear from the third position. It looks like a move to Phoenix sometime between September and December of this year if I get one of the positions. This is a little bit quicker than we were anticipating, but not a problem. Last night, I was reading a book about Adult Children of Alcoholics and it mentioned how difficult job changes were to us because we are afraid of change... No big revelation there, but now I know why I have been such a schkitty-kitty about the whole thing. My poor hubby has put up with me through this whole thing, bless his heart.

Last week's trip to Phoenix was a blast! We got down to Julie and Loren's on Tuesday night around 11pm, chatted for a while, had a glass of wine then crashed out. Wednesday, we did breakfast at the Cracker Barrel (MMMMM, Sweet Tea, my favorite!!!) then went out and looked at model houses until 4pm. We went back to the house to change clothes, went out to Cooper'stown for dinner (a sports/rock-n-roll restaurant owned by Alice Cooper) and headed out to the Zappa plays Zappa concert. Man, what an excellent show! They were tight, even during improv segments. Some of the musicians were playing two instruments at the same time without missing a note (like sax and keyboards) which was pretty impressive. That had to be one of the best shows that I have ever seen! The complexity of the music along with the mistake free execution was something I have not witnessed in a LONG time! On Thursday, we went out looking at more model houses then came home. We found our dream house! OK, we could technically afford our dream house but we would have no money left for anything else (like important stuff such as yarn, vacations, etc) So, we are planning to scale back on the house a bit and pay off some bills. It's funny how age and wisdom will sneak up on you and make you fiscally responsible... LOL!

Tomorrow morning at 10am, I am off to Indy to watch pointy cars go really fast in circles turning left and right. I am really excited! I am heading out there with some of my co-workers. I think it will be really cool to see these cars up close and personal. These engines hit 19,000 RPM on a regular basis, that itself is pretty dang impressive. (since my car doesn't like going past 3500 RPM without raising a fuss). Thursday we get to go in the pits and check out the cars up close. Friday and Saturday are practice and qualifying for the cars and Sunday is the race. I am charging my camera batteries as we speak! Have I started packing? Nope. Have I come close? Nope. I will be running around like a mad woman tonight after SnB. A bunch of us (7 or 8 of us) are sharing an empty apartment that one of my co-worker's sisters manages. This saves us a TON of cash on hotel rooms. Now, I need to find the air mattress so I have something to sleep on for the next couple of days. I know it is at the house somewhere... Man, I am looking forward to this vacation!!!

Watch out where the Huskies go, don't you eat that yellow snow!

AWOL

Picture by Tim Hussin/Indedpendant Florida Alligator. (The UF school newspaper... and I think this one is an Independant Florida Alligator...)

Man, I just love dropping off of the face of the earth... Having life turned totally upside-down is a gas, also...

I read on MSNBC.COM that folks who get migraine headaches have higher sex drives. Yup, I will attest to that one!

OK, first, I have my surgical consultation on July 5th to discuss getting this unknown lump out of my breast and get it biopsied. Until then, no news...

Kiddo is in summer school. Lucky guy. So, I have been spending my lunch hour at work for the last couple of weeks playing "Mom's Taxi".

Work is a total mess. My favorite boss left a couple of weeks ago to go pursue greener pastures in another company. Right before our mid-year reviews... BLEH! (Yes, that is the task I am putting off to do this). The euphamism of rats deserting a sinking ship is coming to mind. I have been working to bring in a new process to our factory for the last 6 months and guess what happened??? (I think the punchline is obvious) We aren't getting the new process... GRRR... We found out about that a couple of weeks ago. Earlier this week, they made the announcement that they are WAY over headcount and need some of us to move to other facilities. Our choices? Either Phoenix or Utah... We can stay if we want to, but we may not have work if we do. So, I am now putting my name into the hat to try to move to Phoenix to start up a new facility there. No idea when we will hear anything about it. I am asking for a position in Oregon for a few months to get training, then I would be back in NM for a bit then to Phoenix for good to work at the new place. My bestest friend from elementary school (middle school and high school) and her hubby live there, so it would be fun to be close to them again. Why, in heaven's name, would I move to Phoenix? Here are my reasons:
1) Compressed work week! Yeah! It would be 12 hour shifts, 3 days on, 3 days off, 4 days on, 4 days off with NO ON CALL!
2) Night shift engineering! I have wanted night shift engineering for a long time!
3) Opportunity
4) I like living indoors and having food to eat
5) Culture - more concerts!
6) NASCAR (yup, anti-culture) - a NASCAR track in the same town??? Hell yeah!
7) Year-around motorcycle riding
8) The idea of 115 degree days and feeling like I am living in an oven somehow appeals to me right now
9) A change is due...

Yes, this is the first I have really told anyone about this. Hubby and I talked and agreed it's a good idea. I am really looking forward to a new opportunity to make a difference and I would love to be able to do it in a more modern factory. Yes, there are downsides (leaving friends here is the biggest one) but it's not leaving for good, it's just playing in another sand box for a while. We will know more in the next month, but nothing immediate. If I got the seed position in Oregon, I would leave in August. If I get a sustaining position in Arizona, we would leave next summer sometime...

Time for vacations! Hubby and I are heading to Phoenix on Tuesday night for a couple of days to go see a Zappa concert. I come back on Friday, work Mon - Wed then leave for Indianapolis to watch the US Grand Prix! I LOVE watching cars go in circles at high speeds! It's even more fun when they turn left and right...

I am thankfully off of the new ADD med that was giving me migraine headaches. I only took it for 5 days, but that was more than enough...

Dixie Chicks ROCK!!!

Hubby and I decided to make a stop at Best Buy on our way out to the movies last night. Both of us decided to pick up CD's that are totally out of character for us. Hubby picked up a Black Eyed Peas CD and I picked up the new Dixie Chicks CD. (Take a free listen to the entire CD here). WOW! I am not a huge fan of Country music, but these women have some serious talent!

We went out and saw The DaVinci Code last night. Hubby and I both read the book a couple of years ago and wanted to see the movie (sans protesters). It was pretty good, hubby liked it more than I did. We played our "game" after the movie of "what parts were in the book that were not in the movie". It stayed pretty true to the movie but it did change a couple of minor details and left a few things out of the book. All in all, it was worth the money to see it...

Today, headed over to LYS to pick up some yarn I ordered a couple of months ago and to see what is going on. They are going to do a walk/run for breast cancer, so I want to throw my name into the hat for it! Then, time to get to the dying for the weekend. I picked up some more containers to store dye in, I am going to mix up the rest of my colors and see what turns out.

And our learnings for today are???

I believe.... OK, no redneck jokes today ;-P

It's 6:30 in the morning and I am at work finishing up on some data for a white paper that one of my co-workers will present for me while I am out on Tuesday getting started on my healing.

Yesterday, I went out to the Albuquerque Isotopes game with my co-workers, although I think the entire plant was at the game... We got beat BAD... It was painful to watch. When the highlight of the game is watching the manager get into a shouting match with one of the umpires for 5 minues, you can figure how bad it was... (Yup, we were cheering on the manager... It was funny!) After the game, one of my friends from work stuck around and we talked for a little bit about all that has been going on in my life and where I am at right now.

After our chat, I was driving home. I mulled over many of the things we talked about and realized how much I have grown over the last few years and how much in my life has changed. I have gone from being a very angry young woman to realizing that I am blessed beyond all belief. I have gone from feeling lower than dirt and thinking I was not worthy to finding that I am a gifted woman who can and does help others to heal not only outwardly but inner wounds also. I have gone from thinking that "I don't deserve any success, someday everyone will find out I am a fake" to thinking "What can I do to help the people in my life, the people on the periphary and the people that I don't like very much." I never realized what I have taken for granted after the hard work I have done the last few years and that I have finally got a self-esteem and those old tapes that used to play in my head about "how bad I was" don't play anymore.

Now, what does this have to do with the price of tea in China? Well, this whole situation started from a getting that phone call a few weeks ago. I am a believer in both Eastern and Western medicine. I believe to heal a problem you not only need medical procedures (Western) but you also need to heal what caused the problem in the first place (Eastern). This is a fourth chakra issue, having to do with the heart. It hit me like a ton of bricks on Tuesday. I had buried this issue very deep inside of me and minimized it so I wouldn't continue to feel that hurt. I cried for 3 days over it. I felt the pain of what happened and the anger over it. There was no way I felt ready to forgive the parties who were responsible for what happened and I thought it would be a cold day in Hell before I would be ready. After our talk yesterday, I thought more about it. Just before I got home, I realized that if my "Highter Power" can forgive someone, I can do it too. I said a little prayer and let it go. I got home at 6:15, decided to take a "little nap" and woke up at 4:45 this morning after the best night's sleep I had gotten in a long time. This morning, that hurt tried to come back, but instead of getting angry over it, I felt peace and serenity.

I realize I will need to confront this person about this hurt in the very near future. I am trying to find a way to do this with love and compassion for this person. I don't expect this person to ever change. What I do hope for is that I can express this hurt, this person will have the knowledge of the hurt and maybe they can heal a hurt inside of them that caused them to hurt me in this way. Tall order? Yup! I have a feeling that the whole situation that is happening is here to not only help me but to help me teach others. No, I am not that important in the grand scheme of things, but I am always looking for the good that can come from any and all situations, no matter what they are.

During all that is happening, the "Higher Power" that I have cursed, doubted and blamed for so long has been here with me, letting me know that I am not alone. I feel a debt to my "Higher Power" for this and now realize that I need to find my "calling" to start to "Pay it forward". I don't know what that looks like, but whatever it is, I will be there to do it.

And who's brain was it?

"Abby... Somebody."
"Abby Somebody.... Abby Who?"
"Abby Normal"
"Abby Normal... So you are telling me I put an abnormal brain into this body?"
"Uh.... Yes..."

That has got to be my favorite part of the movie "Young Frankenstein". ROTFLMAO!

I sold my first yarn today! Etsy sent me a note saying I had someone buy my Pink Houses and Caribbean Blue Yarn! Yippee! I have my new multi-colored yarns going up sometime later this week!

I went in for my "repeat" mammogram and ultrasound. This time, they took 4 additional pictures of my right boobie and one didn't turn out so I got to get an additional boobie squeezing on that side. I have come to the conclusion I would rather have a pap smear and gyn exam any day over the boobie squishing maching... OWIE! The results came back and there is a mass in my right breast that is not a cyst or fatty deposit. I am going back a week from Tuesday for a biopsy on the mass and we will go from there. Hey, a day off of work so I can have needles inserted into my boobie and possibly have the mass cut out, whoopie!

I have not been a real sociable animal in the last week and a half. I really don't feel like dealing with anyone right now... It's hard to describe. I have no fear or dread of the future. I know deep down that everything will be OK, even if this is a bit of a struggle in the short term. Hell, I can't go, that would leave too many people in my life that I would have to come back and haunt! I plan to live to 90-something and I will NOT be changing those plans anytime in the next 50 years! It's that things that used to be so important are no longer all that important. (Work is topping that list). I think this is my "Higher Power" telling me that it is time for me to truly look at what I value, look at my life path, look at what I still need to teach and what I still need to give back to the World before I am done. Kind of a "spiritual tune-up". It's necessary, but not easy by any means. I have learned a few lessons in the last week and half, but I think there is so much more growing and changing to do before this "crisis" is over. I think it is totally ironic that I was working as a test knitter on the "booby socks" and now, I am in the midst of it.

Now for those of you who haven't been paying attention during the last week and a half: GO GET YOUR MAMMOGRAMS! PLEASE! The life you save will be your own!

The Dyeing Be Done!

This is what was sitting in my garage a few hours ago... My first attempted foray into the world of putting more than one dye color onto a hank of yarn... The one on the far left is just an experiment, the second one is my secret pal yarn, the last two were stuff I messed up on last night after watching my race... The white stuff on the end??? Well, it got it's own special bath today! I decided to throw all caution to the wind and start dying hanks in more than one color! So far??? I think it's OK...




If you are my special pal in the Dye-O-Rama swap, look for these goodies to be arriving at your door very soon! (and how did you find out what my blog was???)The yarn is aqua, yellow and green with striping in it! (Although, I will confess, not the exact striping I was hoping for..) I came to realize today that I am not a machine, I do not make perfect yarn and that is all that there is to it :-)

My digital camera is not good at capturing the true colors of the yarn. I think I need to start taking the pix outside...

So what else is going on??? Hmmm... Going with the folks I work with to the Isotopes game on Thursday... That should be lots of fun... Get to skip a half day of work tomorrow for a Dr appt, should be ok... Kid is done with the regular school year on Tuesday, he is really excited. I am going to the Formula 1 race in Indy in July, that is REALLY COOL!

I will put up more pictures of dyed yarn when I get them dried and wrapped. I have 2 of them that I am really excited about! But, I can't wrap them till they are dry, which should be sometime tomorrow afternoon!

My yarn is here, waiting for Dye

Yippee! My new yarn is here, just waiting to be dyed... Hopefully, the dye will be here on Wednesday! My new rosebush came in today also!

Here is my first yarn for sale. I dyed some of Beth's 100% superwash wool and put it up for sale on Etsy. I have had a few folks look at it, but no takers yet... This guy is called Green Grass and High Tides Forever. It is a self-striping verigated yarn with different shades of green. The fun thing with the yarn is that it is a harmonic, random striping pattern. Should be fun!

Man, I woke up with the migraine from hell this am... Called in sick, slept in until 11am and got up. I still have the lovely residual headache, but most of the nausea is gone...

Mom's day was fun. Hubby took me out to the Melting Pot for dinner. We had an absolute BLAST! The food was good, but the company was better :-)

Time to go wind some yarn... Yipee!!!!

Why don't men have to go through this?

On Wednesday of this week, I went in for my first-ever mammogram... WHEE! My question is why don't men have to go through a similar non-invasive check (like having their balls put in the same contraption)? I had my well-woman check on the first of May and my Dr gave me the form for a baseline mammogram. I went on Wednesday. I had no problem with the "nekkid" part of it, but having my boobies squished in a giant machine, that sucked. My boobies really REALLY hurt. Then, the tech had to do a second picture on my left boobie since the first one didn't turn out right. Yeah, another chance to get my boobie stuffed into a steel and plastic vice... Fun stuff! Worked on my shadow shawl in the waiting room while I was waiting for results. The second picture of the left boobie turned out just fine and I would be getting the results in the mail in a couple of weeks.

Today, I got a phone call. I have a second mammogram appointment set up for a week from Monday at a different office. Apparently, they found an abnormality in my right breast. Now, I do monthly checks and I haven't felt anything. It was strange, I was driving to work after my first mammogram and I had this feeling like something wasn't right and they might find something. (So either I am psychic or I am really in-tune with my body.) The lovely woman on the phone was trying to be very reassuring that the second exam is usually OK (with no problems found) and that the cancer Dr here in town is having great sucess with lumpectomies and that the screenings being done at this office have resulted in VERY early detection so that the Dr has not had to perform very many masectomies. She told me that this appointment will take about 90 mins (rather than the 30 mins for the first one) and that they will explain in detail what they found on the first exam, what is found at the second exam and what will happen after that.

A little background: At my first post-partum check-up after I had my son (who is now a 17 year old man), the Dr found some abnormal cells during my PAP smear. (Family history: Grandma died at the age of 58 from Overian cancer, I have 2 aunts with hysterectomies from cancer. Mom is the only one in the family with her uterus still intact). Upon further review, they found I had the beginnings of cervical cancer. They froze my cervix, cut out the offending cells, and I have not had a reoccurance since then. This is why I faithfully go for my yearly well-woman checks.

What does this mean? One of two things will happen. First thing would be that all is OK with the second exam and I have nothing to worry about. Second thing would be that they find something wrong. If that is the case, it's early! It would also give me some time off of work to play with dyeing yarn (now THAT is a plus!) If it is found, I look at it this way, I beat it before, I can beat it again! I have a feeling in my gut that it will be the second option, hopefully I am REALLY wrong about that!

So, to all of you women who read my blog, DO YOUR MONTHLY CHECKS and GET YOUR MAMMOGRAMS!!! I love every one of you and want you to be here with us for a LONG TIME!

Dye-O-Rama Meme

OK, I play follow the leader A LOT... So, here is my Dye-O-Rama Meme:

Your favorite colors? Purple, blue, pink
Preferred yarn weight (Fingering, Sport, DK, maybe even Worsted)? Fingering or sport
Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn? Multi-colored
If your buddy is able to do so, would you like a variegated, self-striping, or self-patterning yarn? Doesn't matter which one
Would you be interested in a wool blend sock yarn (nylon, tencel, silk, acrylic, alpaca, etc.)? Would prefer wool/nylon or wool/silk
Imagine the perfect colorway. What would you name it? I don't know, it would depend on the colors I use for the colorway...
What was the biggest appeal to you for joining this dye-along? Learning to dye yarn

General yarn/fiber questions:
Have you dyed yarn/fiber before? Not before this
If so, what’s your favorite dye and method? Acid Dye
Do you spin? No
Have you knit socks before? Oh Yeah!
Do you use sock yarn for just socks or in other patterns too? I use sock yarn for other patterns too!
What are some of your favorite yarns? STR, Lorna's Laces, Opal, Regia Silk
What yarn do you totally covet? Lorna's Laces
Favorite patterns? None, I like to make it up as I go
Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object? No
Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)? Addi Turbo 24" circulars
If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be? 100% silk

Nothing to do with knitting/yarn/fiber in any way but seemed kinda fun:
Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack? Dove Milk Chocolate
What’s your favorite animal? Cats
Do you have pets? Yes
What are their species/names/ages? OK, from the top... Dog/Puma/8 yrs old, Dog/Roxie/2 yrs old, Iguana/Gorgo/7 years old, Canary/Godzilla/6 months old, Fish/a bunch/various ages, Cat/Ziggy/15 yrs old, Cat/Killer Shrew/13 years old, Cat/Entropy/7 years old, Cat/Maus/5 years old, Cat/Mewstrodamas/3 years old, Cat/Boris/3 years old, Cat/Fromage/3 years old, Cat/Natasha/3 years old, Cat/Dust Bunny/2 years old, Cat/Ashley/2 - 3 years old, Cat/Tabitha/3 - 4 years old
If you were a color what color would you be? Blue
Describe your favorite shirt (yours or someone else’s).. My Scooby Doo Shirt that says "Here comes trouble" on the front and "There goes trouble" on the back
What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature? Mother Ocean
Tell me the best quote you’ve ever heard or read. "You don't have a clue. You couldn't get a clue if you were wearing clue musk in a field of horney clues and doing the clue mating dance".
Do you have a wishlist? Nope
Anything else you’d like to share with the group today? Is it Friday yet??? ;-)

Not much going on in life... I dyed my first "test dye" on yarn... I hate how it turned out :-P So, I learned some lessons about choices of colors. I will probably play with my other color choices sometime this weekend! Self striping yarn is fun to do :-) I will start dying handpainted yarn for sale after I am done with my Dye-O-Rama buddy's yarn. I just ordered a whole bunch of dye and will see where I go from there. My yarn is going to be called "Moo Kitty Paw Prints" and I will be donating part of the proceeds from the yarn to ACAT, a no-kill organization helping cats here in Albuquerque. I have come to the realization that I can't save all of the kitties who need homes, so I will help them try to save the kitties!

Does anyone know how to contact Henry's Attic for wholesale yarn? I didn't see anything on the internet and would like to order some yarn from them....

Yeah, I know...

I should be much better about my blogging, but life seems to keep getting in the way... We all know how that goes...

Yes, I made it home in good shape. I really needed that vacation and after 1 week at work, I need another one... BLEH! Right now, I have a TO DO list at work that is growing longer by the minute and the headache that started yesterday at about 2pm is getting worse also. It's not a killer migraine, but it's enough for me to notice it while trying to work. We had a class last week called Human Dynamics. At first, I figured this would be one of those useless classes, but it turned out to be one of the best things I have ever done in my life! In those 2 days, I learned so much about myself, how I work and how to communicate with others who are a different dynamic. My cool discoveries? First, my emotional well being is tied directly to my physical well being. Yup, that is why I have stress migraines. Another really cool discovery is that I can feel other people's emotional state. It was weird, 2 days after I took the class, we had a couple of meetings back to back where there was a lot of bad news handed down. At the end of the second meeting, I could REALLY feel everyone else's stress and fear and it was starting to affect me! I left, found a conference room, knitted and did some meditations to clear my head. I came back to work fine after that. I never realized how much everyone else had been affecting me and that I don't have to own THEIR emotional reactions as my own if I do not want to (another startling revelation). The last thing, I realized that whenever something bad happens, I tend to blame myself first when that may not be the case. The message from the class I got was be aware, don't get into other people's muck (unless you want to) and detatch from the situation and ask questions to get objective... No kidding, the class was a freaking life changing experience! (BTW, the current headache is from sugar withdrawls...)

Now for the fun stuff! I have my warping board, I have my dye, I have my masks, I have my scrubs and lab coat, utensils, table cover, I am ready to do the DEED! I picked up some practice yarn at Village Wools on Saturday. Unfortunately, the weekend went by way too quickly and I didn't have a chance to play. Last night, I wound my first ball on the warping board and got the sections tied off. I am letting it hang in hubby's office to straighten a little bit (his office is also a cat free zone) and I am hoping to play with the dye on Wednesday!

The Shadow Shawl is really a lot of fun! I have the chevron stripes set up and am into the middle of it... SO easy to pick up and do! My socks are patiently waiting for me to finish the shawl!

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go

OK, well, I am in the process of packing my bags for the trip tomorrow...
Here is the rest of the week recap:

SATURDAY: We got up with the chickens and headed back to the beach! Mom, Dad, myself and the Dog made another beach run so I could get some pretty pictures of the beach. We got there and Mother Ocean was even angrier than she was on Friday. Way Cool!!! I decided I would try to go onto the Jetty to snap some pictures of the waves crashing over the rocks... I got about a quarter of the way up the Jetty and realized that these waves were big! Some of the spray coming off of the Jetty was going up 8 or 9 feet into the air... Hmmm... How to get to the END of the Jetty with camera in hand without giving the camera a salt water bath... Timed my walking down the Jetty and left my shoes in a dry area. When I got to the end of the Jetty, it was beautiful. Lots of waves and lots of pictures!!! I got a bunch of shots, thanked Mother Nature and Mother Ocean for their beauty and made my way back down the Jetty with my camera neatly tucked away in it's camera bag... I got about a third of the way down the Jetty and looked up... At that point, everything went into Super-Slow-Motion... Out of my mouth came the word "FUDGE..." (But I didn't say Fudge, I said THE WORD... The Queen Mother of ALL SWEAR WORDS... The F... Dash... Dash... Dash word...(From "A Christmas Story")) I turned back around and a 9 foot splash hit my back starting at the hair and going down... I ran into Mom as I was picking up my nice dry shoes. Mom commented that it looked like I got a little wet. I turned around and showed her that my entire back was drenched... She laughed! I took off my soaking wet t-shirt (Yes, I had a bikini on under my shirt and shorts) and walked on to meet Dad and the Dog... We walked around a bit more and I took some more pictures. The second lighthouse picture didn't turn out as nice as the first. (The reason the lighthouse picture was removed from my blog is so I can use PSP and put a watermark on the shot before I upload it again... This one could enter a contest someday) We went to the Dairy Bar for some ice cream (a tradition with Mom, Dad and the Dog) and hung out under the bridge watching a pelican successfully catch some breakfast. I looked through the pics and found a few nice "Ocean Spray" pictures. We left the beach and came home and watched the Busch race. After the Busch race, we went over to Aunt Jody's house (the aunt I ran into at the Phoenix airport last Friday) and went up to a little restaurant in Flagler Beach called Martin's. If you are EVER in Flagler Beach, go eat here... Dad ordered Prime Rib, Mom ordered Filet Mignon, I ordered broiled scallops and Jody had a broiled seafood sampler... Mom's Filet weighed in at around a pound (for $20) and Dad's Prime Rib had to be 4 lbs of meat (for about $20). THE PORTIONS WERE FREAKING HUGE!!! I don't think me and my son could have finished all of that meat! We drove home, watched the Truck Race and crashed out.

SUNDAY: We took Grandma out to brunch for Mother's Day... Yes, I know it is still April... But no one will be here for Mother's Day... We had a great time. The food was yummy and the company was even better. I finally satisfied my craving for Sweet Tea... (Yup, another Southern Thang...) We hung out at Grandma's apartment for a while and looked though pictures and where the wasps were trying to build a nest up on the 8th floor of her building. We headed to Target, got some Florida Gator National Championship Swag and headed home to watch the NA$CAR race... Then the rain started at the track up in Talladega, so we watched rain coverage... The race ended up getting postponed to Monday... Bummer... So we hung out, munched out on leftovers and did some stuff around the house... Now, it's time for me to pack. Mom lent me another suitcase so I could take my new yarn, t-shirts and other treasures home in. I have to leave here by 5:45 am (That would be 3:45am Mountain time) to catch my 7:50 flight. I get back home to Albuquerque at 9:50 am, have an 11:15 Dr appt (You know, that yearly check-up that all of us women have grown to love...) then back to work at 1pm...

Knitting content: Nothing got finished on this trip... I am close, though... I will see how tired I am on the flight back to ABQ. I may knit, I may read or I may just sleep... I will figure that out tomorrow... I will be back for SnB on Tuesday :-) When Mom comes out in August/September, she wants to come to our SnB meeting too :-) That will be Tres cool!!!

Cuz I'm leaving on a Jet Plane, Don't know when I'll be back again....

Guess the upload just takes a little time to work

Geez... Picky computer... Must be dial-up!

Today, we went to the beach... Then, I realized in utter horror that I did NOT recharge the battery in my camera. So, I take out the back-up camera battery... Dead... $*(&(@#*$&#@^$ We are going back to the beach tomorrow to take pictures... I had enough battery power to snag this shot at Ponce Inlet... Then, out to Krystal's for some YUMMY Krystal Burgers... (Think White Castle burgers...) I really, really, really, really, really, really miss Krystal Burgers. I think it's a Southern thing, but they are SO GOOD!!!

Summing up our adventures to this point...

Wednesday: spent most of the day taking the dog to the vet. Poor thing caught his toenail and ripped it up from the nail bed. Mom and I took Bo over to the vet and she asked for him to stay with her for the day. Mom, Dad and I then went up the road to the Farmer's Market/Flea Market at the Volusia County Fairgrounds. They had this really cute tote bag for 3 bucks with kitties all over it, had to get it. We walked around, tasted some of the freshest veggies I have had in a LONG time. The tomatoes I got were sugar sweet. MMMMMM. Saw a vendor selling plants with this HUGE purple rose bush in bloom... (Why can't I take it home? Stupid agricultural rules). Came home, took a nap. Got up, Bo was back from the vet, but he was really stoned (or still sedated). Dad made the bestest ribs for dinner. These ribs just FELL OFF OF THE BONE! The sauce was totally yummy. MMMMM...

Thursday: looked like a good day to go out running. Started at the meeting, then went to the new Harley-Davidson store down the road. Got DH a cool shirt (yes honey, it is in XXL this time) and found myself some clear goggles for the bike for 15 bucks. Mom was over at the sale rack and found this really cool ladies tank top (in pink) with the HD logo that says "Shut up and Hang on"... PERFECT!!! After the HD store, on to explore the LYS's in the northern Orlando area...
KNIT: this was a really cute yarn store out in Longwood. She had NO sock yarn, but she had some fun frou-frou yarn and a load of really soft alpaca yarn in the back of the store. A big table and a big couch to encourage folks to come into the store and knit... Tres cool! She was really really nice and very helpful. I found some funky yarn that will turn into something eventually. I also picked up my Addi Turbo needles (size 5, 24" length) for the shadow shawl. She is even open on SUNDAY!!! She had social knitting on Thursday nights (but I didn't go...)
NEEDLE ORTS:this was listed as a yarn store but there was NO YARN in there, just needlecraft stuff. I need to let the map muse know this store has NO YARN.
SIP AND KNIT: When we drove up to the store, I thought it looked really familiar from my former life in Orlando. Talked to the owners, it was the cake decorating shop I used to visit when I lived here. They had a silly looking cement sheep when you came up to the door... Cool! Went into the store, there was yarn everywhere! Yarn in the front room, books in the side room, yarn in the back room (along with a large table for social knitting.) Yarn out the Wazoo! I found some fun yarn called Swizzle for socks, they also had some Koigu that Village Wools didn't have (this yummy solid purple and some light blues), and this great new yarn I had heard of online but had never seen. Yo, Scout, can Village Wools order some Regia Silk??? This yarn is TO DIE FOR.... SOFT!!! I got a couple of balls in pink (I am in a pink phase right now) and it will be so nice to knit up!!! I am looking forward to it! I ended up with 2 Swizzles (100g balls), 2 Juvel (for socks, 50g balls), 4 Koigu and 2 balls of Regia Silk (50g balls) for less than $100... Steal of the Century in my book....

After all of the shopping was done, we hit I-4 at 4:30 pm from Orlando to DeBary... Major rush hour... Someone forgot to tell the folks on the road about this because we were able to do 65 the entire way home. This is a FREAKING MIRACLE! This is the first time on I-4 that I have not had words coming out of my mouth that would make a sailor blush! Dad made Coconut Shrimp for dinner and Mom made this yummy dipping sauce for it (sweet and spicy... MMMM). We hung out for a while (the dog is not stoned anymore and he is starting to act like his normal self again). For desert, we had this decedant concoction. It was strawberries (big, red and ripe) with chocolate drizzled over them and then we dipped them in mint-flavored heavy whipped cream... OMG!!! This is one for our next party! YUM!

Friday: Today was "go to the beach" day. I mentioned the camera battery fiasco already. We went out to Ponce Inlet down here and hung out at the beach. Dad took the metal detector around the beach looking for treasures (Yup, he is retired and loving it!!!) The wind was strong, the waves were crashing on the Jetty and we found 2 kitties hanging out on the Jetty looking for handouts from the local fishermen. One was a little gray momma kitty who was about to have her babies... She was so cute and such a talker. Note to self: bring kitty food to the beach tomorrow am when we go take pictures... Came home and now I am hanging out and updating the blog...

Knitting stuff: I am almost finished with the Sixth Sense socks and I have turned both of the heels on my test socks. Both should be close to done by Monday. I am about to start a new pair, but not sure which ones... I hope I have enough room in my suitcase to take all of my treasures home... I have a bunch of orange GATOR shirts that my parents found at the flea market a few weeks ago... I will add more later this weekend before I come home! I hope to have some fantastic pix to post from the beach!!!

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

Yeeeee-up! That about sums it up!!!

Just finished packing (and WHO needs a backpack full of yarn for a 6 day trip???) and ready to head to the airport. I was shocked that everything fit into ONE carry-on suitcase! This time, I remembered to bring my USB cable for my camera in case I get a chance or three to update the blog...

In my pre-knitting days, I used to be pretty darn good at PSP and making tags and stationary. I haven't played around with it for a couple of years, but I just found my old stash of tags and tubes! Maybe I should get back into doing that. Most of the stuff I made tended to be a bit on the "cutesy" side...

I am so happy to be finally going on vacation. I got the A boarding pass printed yesterday for Cattle Call Airlines, so I am ready to rock and roll... I get to Orlando at 9pm (7pm mountain time) and will be on my way home... Yup, my parents are newly-retired, so I will be having a BLAST with them!!!

I will try to update. See everyone on Monday!!!!

The weirdest thing happened to me in the airport

Yup, another week, another blog entry...

The weirdest thing happened to me at the Phoenix airport on Friday. I was at the gate, waiting to start boarding the plane to Albuquerque. I am hanging out, knitting on some socks, waiting.... Well, the plane that we will be boarding finally lands and the passengers get off of the plane. I look up and I see my aunt from Florida getting off of the plane. Now, how freaky is that? I ran over, gave her a big hug and we chatted for a bit... I will be seeing her in a couple of days when I go back to Florida and visit the relatives... Too weird...

Now, for the WIP's:

Here are the socks I am working on called the Sixth Sense Socks. I am knitting them with Opal Silk... They are turning out really nice so far, and they are a pretty easy pattern to play with while doing really dull things like waiting in an airport for a plane, or sitting in that plane on a runway while they are trying to get the "push back cart" disconnected from the nose of the plane. (Took them 45 mins... In Phoenix... In the heat of the day... with NO AIR circulating because the engines were turned off.... EWWW!)



The next pic is blurry, but you can see, this is the start of the mosiac socks from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch... Too persnickity, but fun to play with...

The trip to Phoenix was very productive...

Hubby and I are taking the motorcycles out again today to ride around with no particular place to go... We are starting at Flying Star for breakfast/lunch, then ride till it gets too windy to ride. Yesterday, we went to the car show here in Rio Rancho, then down to Thunderbird Harley-Davidson . After that, we hit the NE Heights, tooled around and checked out the buffalo down by the casino and headed through downtown Bernalillo then home... There was some kind of historic parade going on with horsies and wagons... Pretty cool. Today, we hit Flying Star, headed out to Madrid, listened to a guitar player sing "Ring of Fire", toured around the museum then headed home (stopping at El Pinto on the way for din-din). We have put over 300 miles on our bikes in the past 2 days and boy do I have a sore butt... I mean SORE... REALLY FREAKING SORE!!! I have discovered a couple of facts about motorcycles... First, the more you ride, the more confident you get. Second, Enchantment in the teeth is a bitch... Third, you make a pretty good headwind doing 60 mph, combine that with a 30 mph cross wind and it is a bear... Fourth, I really can't wait for Enchantment season to be over... I am also discovering I need a gel pad for my boney butt...

Time to turn on the TV and watch the F1 race I taped from this am... Last night, we hung out and watched the Cup race... We were also listening to the in-car radio of one of my favorite drivers, Kevin Harvick... He is a hoot on the radio... During various parts of the race you would hear him key the mic and start singing "The Chicken Dance"... ROTFLMAO!!! He won the race, which was really super cool... Wish I could have been there...

Dust Bunny is kicking some butt at Kittenwar.com

Page down a couple of posts... See the cute grey kitty??? Well, I posted one of his kitten pictures at kittenwar.com and he is doing quite well... So far, he has won 86% of his battles, lost 7% and had a tie for 7%... Pretty cool for a little grey fluffball kitten...

Today is Sunday, great day for a bike ride... DH and I took the Harleys over to Moriarity to go look at the new car my hubby bought 4 months ago (that I had never seen until today..) Sounds like he is going to bring the car home next week... Still needs some paint and other minor work, but it is pretty neat... Seriously, you could fit 4 people in the trunk of this car... It's really freakin' huge!!! It's a 1948 Chrysler Windsor, but I think he got it from the mafia on the cheap... There was an oil change tag inside the windshield from a service station in Gainesville, Florida... Tooo cool!!! The ride was fun but battling the wind going down Paseo doing 65 mph on a bike is no fun... Came home and hung out in the hot tub...

I am now sufficiently worn out from the ride... I would take a nap, but it will be bedtime in a couple of hours...

And where have YOU been, Young Lady???

Well, I wasn't there... That is from my California trip last month...

Let's recap our wonderful week, shall we???

Monday: started my new dosage of Concerta (my ADD drug)... New dosage is working really well. Starting to get better organized in my work tasks. My to-do list for this week includes 11 items, 4 of which I can reasonably accomplish during the week. This includes the major excursion that I am in the middle of getting contained and dispositioned...

Tuesday: OOOH! Stitch and Bitch! My favorite! Kept working on the major excursion. Went to another area and looked at 11 lots of bad material under a microscope to classify the extent of the exursion and what would need to be taken out as bad material... Looked at so many wafers that my eyes got crossed for most of the day. Went to the big meeting to discuss how to take care of the bad material and had all of my duckies in a row! Yay! Went to another meeting to pass down the knowledge from the excursion and was given the task of organizing and presenting 2 training sessions in the next week in identification of defects... Both of the classes will keep me at work late Friday and Monday... Went to SnB and had a wonderful time! You grrrlz save my life each week! Also looked at the calendar, found I can finally take a couple of vacation days and bought a ticket to Florida for April 25 - May 1 to go see my parents. I have been trying to schedule this trip since February...

Wednesday: Are ALL of these meetings scheduled REALLY necessary? I guess so... Finished up the disposition of the bad material and sent the information off to the powers that be. Somehow, my TO-DO list has now grown to 25 items, how did that happen? I have finished the 4 items I needed to finish this week and I am now working on the data pull from hell... Met with my counterparts from across the country to find out another factory had the same kind of excursion that we had. We will all share our learnings next week at a face to face meeting at our factory in Phoenix. Went to one meeting where someone handed running the meeting over to me and I was not prepared at all. I was able to wing it pretty well for that situation. FINALLY got my butt back on the ice... Man, I was sore when I got off of the ice, but it was SO worth it... No sleep for the weary tonight, too many thoughts flowing through my head. Ended up on the couch so I wouldn't keep my hubby awake all night... Finally got to sleep around 2am.

Thursday: I am tired and cranky from no sleep. Still working on the data pull from hell when someone mentions another problem that came up. Researched the problem and found the cause. Tried to find the person to help me fix the cause, but he was out sick... Everyone wants the cause fixed immediately but we can't do that because of the sick human. Noticing my derriere is getting smaller from the chewings I am getting from the problem... How did my TO-DO list grow to 32 items? Finished the data pull from hell after my computer decided to crash 4 times on me... I think I need to do a major hard drive backup before this computer crashes for good. Went to my 2 late meetings and got out of work at 7pm. Went home, started working on the test pattern and found that there was a mistake in the pattern... Oh well... Hit the hot tub with my hubby and watched a bunch of Law and Order episodes. Tried to get to sleep, but sleep was not forthcoming... Who needs sleep? Crashed on the couch again around 2am...

Friday: That would be today... Just finished one training session, I have different one at 1pm and yet another different training at 5:30 pm... I am training a lot of folks this week... I still need to get the presentation finished for the 5:30 training session so I can post it for future reference... I am hoping to leave work by 6:30 to get my butt to the rink by 7pm and skate for an hour or so... Hopefully there will NOT be a busload or three of munchkins there, or else I will not be skating tonight. Nothing is worse for me than trying to practice a jump or spin around a bunch of "wall rats". Since they can't skate, I have to anticipate their moves and plan my moves around that, no fun... My TO-DO list is now up to 40 items, WTF??? So far, I have been able to cross off 20 of those, so that leaves 20 things to start next week off with (not including what will be added later today).

Saturday: Plan to do social knitting with Bev and Noelle! I am SO PSYCHED! I also plan to stop by Village Wools, submit my idea (semi-syllabus) for a 2 socks on 2 circs class and chat with Scout for a bit.

FYI: I am not going to be around very much for the next 2 weeks. I am leaving at noon on Tuesday, April 18th for a business trip out to Phoenix. I am coming home from that trip on Friday, April 21st at 5pm. I will be home for a couple of days, then I am leaving again on Tuesday, April 25th at 5pm to lie under palm trees and drink "that frozen concoction that helps me hang on" (Thanks to Jimmy Buffett). I am coming home from Florida on Monday, May 1st at 9:30 am and will drive to my Dr for my yearly "well woman checkup" at 11am. I will be back to normal reality life at 1pm... I will post my WIP's tonight or tomorrow :-)

Now, back to your regularly scheduled blogging already in progress...

Uber cute web site...

Another picture of Dust Bunny...

If you want an Uber Cute Web Site, click on this link... It is totally adorable...

Not much going on at the old homestead... I am still knitting on 4 sock projects at the moment... I have my SnB sock (the six sox knitalong for April), my mosiac sock, my test pattern sock and my other made up sock that I am quickly losing interest in... Maybe that sock needs another pattern...

Looks like rain again today... I may just head out to the tub for some after work relaxation... It already looks like a killer week and it's only Monday... BLEH!!! Still working on the organization thing with the yarn... I may pull that off this week... Nah...