smarty pants!

Your result for The Best Thing About You Test...

Intelligence

Intelligence is your strongest virtue

Intelligence (also called intellect) is an umbrella term used to describe a property of the mind that encompasses many related abilities, such as the capacities to reason, plan, and solve problems. And you? Your brain shines. All 7 virtues are a part of you, but your intelligence runs deepest.

It is likely you're a smarty-pants. And it's likely (but not necessary) that your discipline score is high also. It takes a certain resolve to maintain all those neural thingies.

Intelligent famous people: Einstein, Shakespeare, Da Vinci.

Your raw relative scores follow. 0% is low, and 100% is perfect, nearly impossible. Note that I pitted the virtues against each other, so in some way these are relative scores. It's impossible to score high on all of them, and a low score on one is just relatively low compared to the other virtues.

YOUR VIRTUES

20% Compassion

67% Intelligence

13% Humility

44% Honesty

25% Discipline

57% Courage

58% Passion

Take The Best Thing About You Test at HelloQuizzy

Got this E-mail. Posting my answers.

Here is a fun and quick way to stay in touch.
Let's see how many I get back...

A) Four places that I go to over and over;
Home Depot (only cuz I work there), Starbucks (cause I'm an addict), Borders , Shop Rite (girl's gotta eat!)

B) Four people who email me regularly
Alicia, Jay, Gramps, Curt

C) Four of my favorite places to eat:
Que Pasta (haven't been there since I left Lodi), M&S Pizza, Paneras, Sushi places (generic)

D) Four places I would rather be right now:
California Speedway, North Carolina, skiing, at the 49er game

E) Four people I think will respond:
????

F) Four TV shows I watch.
House, My Boys, NASCAR (pre-race, pre-pre-race, race, post-race,dayafter post race) , Junkyard Wars

Glad I'll be rooting for the 14 next year!

So here is Joey Lagano (yes just turned 18, but don't think he shaves yet!) with next year's Home Depot #20 Camry. Really hate the paint scheme. Maybe Gibbs likes his rookies in a white car? Tony had a white car his rookie year. But really hate this paint scheme. The good thing is it has enough white on the sides that I won't accidentally start watching it!

Lagano is going to be racing 6 of the next 13 in a Home Depot sponsored 02 car. Don't know what that paint scheme will look like yet. I still think the kid should have taken another year to mature in the Nationwide series before bouncing up to cup.

Tuesday

Noro Taiyo it was Noro Taiyo! I couldn't remember the name of this yarn I was telling Sandy and Grace about this afternoon! It's a bulky weight wool/silk/cotton yarn. I really hate that!! When I can actually see it all except for the name on the label.
So yes, I met up with Grace and Sandy at Mara's. The other 2 people who had expressed interest couldn't make it this week. We had fun. I had a slice of apple caramel cheesecake that was absolutely sinful. And a wonderful cafe latte. Grace was working on a gorgeous piece of lace. Sandy was working on a sweater that she is going to steek. I think there is a reason steek rhymes with EEEK! I am definitely not ready for that yet. But the colors she picked out look wonderful together. I worked more on the ripple 'ghan. I'm almost to the next white stripe. yay!

When I went to Ace over the weekend to get the webbing, I also picked up some more toggles in their craft section so stay tuned for more stitch markers. I have a bunch of alphabet beads so I am sort of vacillating between knitting words (knit, purl, ssk, don't think i have numbers for k2tog) or names ( angel, maria, etc) OR maybe I'll use red and black beads and make SMOKE!

Weekend update

I had a workout this weekend. I need a new couch for in front of the tv. I've been saying that for awhile now and actually did look at couches about 6 months ago, but only half-heartedly. Well now I had to get out snips and cut a coil spring that decide to stab me. So Friday night we went to Ashley and Suburban. I hate the weird short pillow arms a lot of the couches have now. And I felt like goldilocks , too hard, too soft, there were a couple that were too hard underneath the too soft. weird huh? Then we stopped at Jennifer on the way home They actually had 3 that I could work with. And all three came in dark chocolate. But, Curt wanted to check out more places. So Saturday morning while Angie was in tennis practice, we went down to Totowa. Went to Bob's, Raymour and Flannagan, Penny's and Macy's. Funny thing while we were in Macy's, the sales lady swooped down, I had my fill of salespeople, and wandered away as she's talking to us. So now I'm walking around, sitting on couches and Curt is about 150 feet behind me and he can't shake this lady. I'm sitting , standing, moving on and this lady is attached to Curt like a magnet. So I start to giggle. Giggle some more. FInally I'm walking around Macy's Furniture Store laughing. Anyone seeing me would have thought I was certifiable. Finally I turned looked at Curt and said I hate everything here and left. Curt followed me kinda pissed. Then when he found out what I was laughing about he was more pissed. But I bought him sushi for lunch and earned my way back into his good side. HEe hee hee hee. So we then went back to Jennifers and settled on the couch that Angie actually liked best the night before. it's a dual recliner. I'm going to be spoiled! So during the course of the weekend I sat in and got up from hundreds (want to say thousands but that would be an exageration) of couches. some of the really soft ones were a challenge to get out of. Some of the shorter softer ones were really tough. So - I'm not sure what kind of squatty exercise it was but it was a leg workout!!

Sunday I had to fix my Easy-up Canopy that I use for tailgating at the races. As you may recall there was serious rain in the Pocono's during the race at the beginning of the month. And I discovered 2 things. The solid wall does keep out even driving forceful wind until the tab that gets the peg hammered through rips off. And the mesh side (which the salesguy sad would keep out ran) only keeps out a drizzle. so while I have 2 mesh sides, I only have one solid side, and as I mentioned one of the tabs ripped. The second thing I discovered is that on the fabric portion of the canopy rain leaks in where the velcro tabs that keeps the fabric on the frame. But not all of them just some of them. Of course, did i do anything to distinguish the leaks from the non-leaks? NOOOOOOO that would be too easy, that would make sense. So I set the frame up on the grass. Curt (trying to be helpful I guess) raises it up to it's full height. How tall does he think i am?? So I lower it to just before fold down, so I can put the fabric over it upside down, and proceded to put 2 coats of sealer on all the tabs and then on all the seams. Later in the afternoon, I then turned ot the right way, and just as a safeguard, sprayed the outside with 2 coats of Scotchguard waterproofing spray. It was a bit windy for this endeavor, so I'm not sure how this will end up. Then I had to go to ACE and buy webbing, because our old cart broke, and we made a new one (pic's later in the week) to cart the canopy and chairs and stuff. ( we already have the rolling cooler. Why this sudden flurry of activity you ask? Sunday we are going to the new roadcourse track they built in South Jersey. I mean way way South Jersey. South of Atlantic City South Jersey. Think there may still be rebels around South Jersey. We are going to see the Rolex series race. Rolex, not really my cup of tea, but as Curt doesn't complain about years of being dragged to different NASCAR events I owe him one at least. ( I keep telling him I'm ok if he wants to go to Mid-Ohio or Trois Rivieres) Of course this is just a trial run as far as I'm concerned. The ARCA series will be at NJ Motorsports park at the end of Sept.

Ok - so several people have asked about Wile E.'s hat that was mentioned a few posts ago by curt. So here it is. Wile E and his infamous hat. When I forst learned to knit 4 years ago, I got kinda cocky about the whole deal. So I bought this purpley yarn and was going to knit a hat for my daughter. Of course the woman who rarely uses a recipe while cooking decides - I don't need a pattern, how hard could it be to make a hat? (this was before I knew about all the online pattern resources, but I don't know even if I did if I would have used one) It was also my first attempt to use circular needles. So I knew how to decrease, but not how to increase so I cast on and started working my way up. Made a brim, and started decreasing. Well problem number 1 - my circ's started getting too big. problem number 2- when layed flat it looked like a cool hat, when put on an actual head it no longer looked like a hat. it was not evenly hat shaped. It looked very weird. So, the Wile E that usually lives in the dining room was put into service while I tried to figure out what went wrong. Of course he doesn't have a people head . It looks like a kinda cool bucket hat on him. And since he needs a hole for his ears, the fact that the circs couldn't go down smaller didn't matter anymore. So I bound it off and it became Wile E's hat. So here is the updated ripple 'ghan picture. It is now 19 inches long. It needs to be 45 inches long. Sigh. It is just 194 stitches each row and so boring that I have trouble knitting more than the 3 row pattern at one sitting. I have gotten 11 repeats ( 33 rows) - basically from above the last white stripe done since my last update on it. After my next white stripe ( 9 rows away) the pattern goes to 4 repeats of orange not 6 between the colored stripes. Maybe switching colors more often will help with the motivation. Then after another 3black/3white stripes it goes to 2 repeats of orange. Sigh.

I had the 'ghan in my car all week, figuring i would work on it at lunch. But it was totally the wrong week to attempt that. Dennis was on vacation so I had to do all the counts, packdown tags, out of stock tags, price changes and orders for paint and decor as well as my regular work. Normally not a huge issue, but Dan was also on vacation in receiving. So while Tammy was covering daytime trucks outside with the propane forklift, she doesn't have a license to run the slip machine. So any truck that came in during the day( thank goodness most of our trucks come in after 4) that needed the slip to get the freight off, I needed to cover. Technically I was also covering the carpet trucks for Dan, but since I kinda took over all those trucks anyway in the beginning of July that was kind of business as usual. So I took a whole bunch of 31 minute lunches, coming back to unload waiting trucks. So with running to Dunkin Donuts to get coffee, I didn't really work too much on the 'ghan . Also since I have gotten spoiled with Dennis knocking on my car when it's time to go in, I couldn't really get as involved knitting as I would usually do.
Also, as school starts very soon, my daughter was kind of busy, and she wanted to drive herself to where she needed to go. (even 4 blocks she would normally have walked) So i spent a lot of time in abject terror in the passenger seat. She hasn't stalled the car when starting from a stop - even on hills- all week so there is some improvement. But she doesn;t want to slow down early or slow enough and whips around corners while I'm going brakebrakebrakebrakeBRAKEBRAKE!!!!! But she is getting better. Fortunately I'm getting all the extra gray's dyed with my roots this afternoon!

So I didn't get much done on my toe up sock. I only have 3/4 of an inch to go before I start turning the heel, but this project feels it is taking too long as well. Sigh

Wile E. Coyote's budget sheet

more graph humor and song chart memes

Me an optimist? this psychotic good mood I've been in has to go!

I got this quiz from my friend Grace's blog. you can find in under lovin comforts in the right margin.

Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test...

HBPS - The Optimist

Humanity, Background, Big Picture, and Shape

You perceive the world with particular attention to humanity. You focus on the hidden treasures of life (the background) and how that fits into the larger picture. You are also particularly drawn towards the shapes around you. Because of the value you place on humanity, you tend to seek out other people and get energized by being around others. You like to ponder ideas and imagine the many possibilities of your life without worrying about the details or specifics. You are in tune with all that is around you and understand your life as part of a larger whole. You prefer a structured environment within which to live and you like things to be predictable.

The Perception Personality Types:

Take The Perception Personality Image Test at HelloQuizzy

Talk about Tony

So Tony announced a number change already for Ryan Newman's car next year. Instead of being the number 4 it will be the number 39. Apparently Morgan McClure never said they were done racing the number 4, but NASCAR gave the number away anyway. Ryan won his first USAC race in the number 39, he also ran Nationwide in the number 39 when first coming over to stock cars and won races with that also. So Tony gave the 4 back and took the 39. Hopefully no one went off and got a tattoo. I don't really see Newman as having a legion of tattooed fans though. Speaking of tattoo's that girl Mikey almost went out with a while back go the Smoke logo as a tramp stamp. bet she's glad she didn't go with the 20 like she first wanted!The truck race was last night. I don't understand the whole let's run a race on Wednesday night. The grandstands looked full though so I guess NASCAR knows what it's doing. I of course ( having been up since 2:30 am) passed out asleep at some point in the race. Actually it was right after Jimmie Johnson wrecked. The wreck made me happy, but obviously didn't shoot enough adrenaline in me to keep me awake, and now today I'm sleepy. Bristol's always good for an exciting show so Saturday night could be interesting. (can you believe Curt suggested he wanted the big tv to watch the Giants and Jets pre-season game on Sat night? uggghhh my next husband will root for a real football team AND understand the priorities of tv watching. i mean it's pre-season! I'll compromise and let him have the little picture, even swap it to the big picture for commercials, but that is as far as I'll go) Bristol is a track I really , really want to get to someday. ( Hey Angie goes to college in Sept 2010, it's not that far off. Maybe to help me feel better Curt would take me to tennessee, what do you think?)

I got this meme from Kay crafts ... alot.

Kay's blog

Knitting Spouses Meme

My husband was co-operative and completed the questionaire.

1)What is your favorite thing about my knitting?
It keeps you occupied, and you're not bothering me 'cause your bored. It also keeps your hands busy during sporting events.

2)What is your least favorite thing about my knitting?
When you can't figure out how to do something and get frustrated.

3)What is something I have knitted, that you recall is good?
Well, definitely not Wile E's hat!

4)Do you think knitters have an expensive hobby?
I guess my bowling costs a lot more.

5)Do you have a stash of any kind?
You're always accusing me of being a packrat, so I guess all my stuff,

6)Have I ever embarrassed you knitting in public?
Believe me, knitting in public is not even on my top 50 lists of embarrassing things you do!

7) Do you know my favorite kind of yarn?
Sock stuff?

8) Can you name another blog?
I read a lot of bowling bags.

9)Do you mind my wanting to stop at knit shops wherever we go?
Happy wife = happy life.

10) Do you understand the importance of a swatch?
What's a swatch?

11) Do you read my blog?
Ok, he has no idea I have a blog, and for now I'd like it to stay that way, so I did not include this question.

12) If I didn’t knit, what would be different?
Much as you were before finding this cat-like activity. Annoying when bored.

13) Anything you would like to add?
A cat-like person, needs cat-like activities.

---

Thoughts on Chldren's Kntting group

Ontario Library Bans children's knitting group

Hopefully the above link works (I am notorious for not getting links lined right) if not google it and I'm sure you'll find an article. But anyway in a re-structuring, re-examining the budget type thing, the Ontario library is eliminating it's children's knitting group along with other crafting groups. Obviously, people are upset. Not just the kids, but judging from some Ravelry discussion threads a lot of knitters are taking this as a personal attack. Now, I know that the Yarn Harlot discussed the issue yesterday. I know I am no where in her league. But:

1. It's not the Brownies or Cub scouts or whatever Canada's version of such activities is.

2. The articles do not make it clear who is providing yarn/needles etc. If it is the library I can understand how this really isn't a "book" expenditure.

3. The library did say that if the girls wanted to turn it into a book group, where they discuss a book weekly while knitting, they would re-instate it. Seems reasonable that a LIBRARY would host a book club over a knitting club and doing both seems reasonable to me.

4. If the parents in question are so upset about loosing the group, that is so important to their kids, why can't they fnd another venue? After school at a school maybe. Also there is the cost and time of the library personnel involved. My daughter volunteers at our public library for the summer reading program. There is a lot of work that goes into it. There are not that many library personnel to do everything. Maybe if one of the parents volunteered to co-ordinate and supervise the group, they would still be able to use the library's facilities. (Our library has a fibercraft knit, crochet, needlepoint etc that meets in the conference room bi-weekly or monthly - I get off work about an hour too late to make it as it is at 1pm) Or do the parents see it as an hour of free babysitting weekly??

5. I can understand the library needing to spend it's budget on activities that will draw larger groups into their facilities, and it seems like only a handful of girls are part of this group.


Yes, I know this sounds harsh, but there is a reality here. People can't afford taxes increasing every time they turn around. A lot of people want the "government" to give them everything. Who do they think pays for all that? Municipalities can't run billions in the red like nations seem to think they can. So funding is limited. So priorities have to be met. As much as I really love that kids are being introduced to a great activity, libraries are literacy centers. many have become community centers, but at heart it's still all about the reading. I'm really sure if these parents were told they have to pay for the group they would be in an equal uproar. but they are fine with the rest of the community paying for it.

Bottom line. Libraries promote reading. The knitting group is only in the vaguest way promoting reading ( ok, maybe the kids check out a book while in the library and you have to read knitting patterns but it's a stretch) Someone, a librarian ( or media scientist as they like to call themselves) or activity director or someone who is getting paid must run this. I think the parents should have the kids turn it into a book club. The kids still get to meet, the kids will definitely be reading, the kids still get to knit, maybe non-knitting kids will come to discuss the book and be curious about the knitting and give it a try. parents still get free babysitting.

Or:

I'm sure parents can find another venue or possibly unoccupied time at the library. volunteer to supervise the group. kids still get to knit, kids still get to meet, maybe talk about abook in school who knows. Oh yeah, at least one of the parents loses free babysitting. hmmmm. guess that isn't going to happen.

PS.
my friend Carmen at work has an 8 year old and a 4 year old. The eight year old is heading into his 3rd year of rec-league sports. He is still amazed at the parents who will drop a little kid of in the parking lot and take off. he's always asking - what if something happens, what if it rains etc etc. Then he is freaked out because on the first day of a sport, parents do the same thing. Don't meet the coach, don't even stick around to make sure their kid is at the right field, right time. In the spring, the farm league coach stood out in the parking lot to stop all these parents, meet them and at least get their cell numbers. How crazy is that? Carmen's actually starting to respect the little gossip group, that drink coffee and talk in the bleachers completely oblivious to what their kids are doing because at least they are there! So sad as it may sound, a lot of parents treat these type of things as free (or in rec-league's case, they consider the rec fee) babysitting.

We have found the limits of my Tonylove!

Here's the squares I made over the weekend while outlet shopping in Lancaster. Well all except the 2 white ones. I made those at lunchtime at work. After 4 or 5 tries, I found a layout I liked for the 'ghan. I probably should've had a plan instead of just making red white and blue squares willy nilly. I took pictures of all the possiblilities. This layout is the one I like the best, so unless I get really confused by seaming the 'ghan should look like this. After it's all seamed together, I'm going to do a border of a blue stripe, white stripe, red stripe. The stripes will be ( I think, have to see how it starts looking) one double crochet wide on the sides, and 2 or three on the top and bottom. That way it will end up a rectangle. Ok, so going into this project i knew i really don't like seaming. I'm not very good at seaming (probably why I don't like it) but as your driver gets more points if you seam the afghan, and not that many people have terminal "Tonylove" (that term coined by my friend Min who is obviously insane as she doesn't love Tony AND she volunteered to seam all the squares people send her together) I read today that some Kasey Kahne fan is sending in 200 squares!!! well at least Jeffie won't wn. Back to topic. Even though Tony could use the extra points... seamiing afghan squares is absolute HELL! So I will seam this one as it will look weird w/o the border. But I think the homespun squares i made will be popped in the mail to Min and maybe she can find other squares to put them with. I am almost halfway on the ripple 'ghan. I think since Tony won't be in orange next season it has sucked some of the fire out of that one, but I am determined to finish it. i am also looking around my stash and am thinking about making a blanket similar to the one I made my daughter for Christmas 2 years ago. ( will have to take a new pic. Every year I copy my pic's onto a cd and then delete them off the computer. But I need my husband to get them back on the computer, so it will be quicker to take a new pic) Anyhow. That was made with 4 strands of yarn held together on really big needles so was quick. Yes a quickie for Tony! hee hee hee. ( I tell my husband if Tony ever rings the doorbell I'm outta here. he gets even by rooting for chrissie Wallace and the girl that drives the Supercut's car in ARCA. I think he also roots for Angelle in NHRA bikes. i think I have a better shot with Tony)

Weekend

My 9er's won! yay! Ok so there is some hope for my mental state this fall. After the beating they took from the Raiders last weekend, I was not too optimistic. Of course pre-season means absolutely nothing. But at least they found some sort of working offense.

We drove out to Lancaster county this weekend. We went to kitchen kettle village- hit the jam and jelly shop, of course had to get fudge. i was good with the fudge. Usually I fall for the whole buy 3 slices get 1 free, throw out 2 later in the week. Soooo i got one cookies and cream slice for Ange and one maple walnut for curt and I. I bought Angie some really nice silver/fake diamond texas star earrings. She wore them to dinner yesterday, but I didn't get a closeup shot, and she says she's not wearing them again until the 1st day of school in a couple weeks. We also hit some outlets along route 30. I got a new pair of Sketchers for work. Curt and Angie convinced me I should get the pair w/o laces as I haven't tied my laces at work in over a year. Usually I buy several pairs to last the year, but i just got one this time. never fear! Sketchers will be opening an outlet @ Tannersville in October so either way, I can get some more this fall. i got a car coaster - fit's in the cupholder of the car and absorbs spills somehow, it's stone like. Curt got one that was a red panic button and one that was a green eject button. i got one with a psychotic cartoon character on it that says Do I Look Like a People Person? hee hee.

This morning we went to Cabella's. They were having a sidewalk clearance sale! Jackpot! Got a bunch of stuff, really wanted this crossbow that was orig $1999.00 and was down to $500, but that would have seriously blown my cash for awhile so I passed on it:(

I did get 3 squares for my red/white/blue 'ghan for VJGC done on the trip. I did 2 today. Yesterday I sort of fell asleep when we hit Route 78 and only sort of was conscious on and off after we got off on 501.

We did get home in time to watch the NASCAR race. Not a spectacular finish for tony, but he did what he had to do and Denny and Jeffie had issues so he moved up to 6th. He seriously needs to win something in the next 3 or come the chase he's at the back. Still Love him though!

Too tired to download my camera so--- here's a pic of the package I sent out for the caffeine swap. Superstarved1 finally got it so I can post the pic now. One kinda embarassing aside - I read on someone's blog that they gave their treats from a swap to someone else 'cause they couldn't have sugar. I SWORE it was her's so I sent the sugar free tea rings. Well it wasn't her! Geez! At least she liked them..

Super Villain Archtype test

Your result for The Supervillain Archetype Test...

The Megalomaniac

Ambitious, Intelligent, Calculating

The Megalomaniac is the most prestigious of super-villain classes. If anyone is ever going to rule the world, it will probably be you.

Your main goal in life is power and domination, you have the tools to do it, and you know it. Megalomaniacs are intelligent and forceful, and they tend not to let their emotions cloud their judgment. Most of the time. They are usually found, or not found, working at the top of a huge structured organization, though many prefer to work by themselves.

The Megalomaniac has but one flaw, but its an invariably fatal one; arrogance. He knows that he can take over the world, and he isn't afraid to let you know, often elaborately and in great detail. They often do not foresee the fly in their ointment, because they do not want to admit that such a fly could exist.

Sample Megalomaniacs: Dr. Doom, Lex Luthor, Ras al'Ghul, Kang the Conqueror, Emperor Palpatine, Brain

Take The Supervillain Archetype Test at HelloQuizzy

Caffeine Addicts Swap

So here's my swap package from Diane from Maine. Green Mountain coffee, Dunkin Donuts Coffee, coffee nips, caffeine mints, white/mango tea, cool pad see below for wording, really pretty stitch markers and some really amazing sock yarn from a Maine dyer!
Here's a closeup of the stitch markers and pad. Diane didn't include her Ravelry name or blog so I can't send her a personal thanks.

I have pictures of the swap package I sent to amanda, but I don't want to post them until she gets it. Don't want to ruin the surprise!

Ok, long promised pictures from 2 Sunday's ago @ Pocono. Angie has been saying for years, Years, that she was getting a turkey leg for lunch. What has she gotten for the last 13 years? chicken finger basket with honey mustard sauce. One race she got a corn dog, but I'm not even sure if that was at Pocono. Well, we made a bet, if she ate the turkey leg, I'd eat ribs off the bone. if she didn't she had to eat a bloomin' onion. So I guess the fear of the bloomin' onion got her to the turkey leg line.
Tony after driver intro's on his way to the car with Harvick and Kyle Busch.
An army airborne diver during pre-race show.

Ok, I'm just retarded. I couldn't figure out how to turn this on blogger. But it was synchronized skydiving.

Over all a cold race. I got really wet during the rain delay, and as our seats are in the shade after about 2:30 i was freezing. The last 10% of the race there was a thunderstorm you could see the rain just past the back stretch. There was another rainstorm over the grandstands. So I got wetter. But I just wanted the rain to stay off the track, Tony was seriously hitting his stride at the end of the race and ended up 2nd.

Slow day

What was #1 on your Birthday?

In the US- You Keep Me Hangin' On - The Supremes

In the UK- Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys

In Australia - Friday on My Mind - The Easy Beats

Knitting Updates

I really like all the fancy beaded stitch markers I see online and in the knitting magazines. I did have a short period of time when I thought I wanted to make beaded jewelry. But I have nails and I won't give them up for anything. So beading was a pretty frustrating hobby and it fell along the wayside with the many other crafty endeavors I flitted in and out of before finding knitting. (I think that's why so many of my family are outright amazed I'm still knitting) anyway... I decided that I would try to see if I could make my own markers. I have all the stuff necessary- except I couldn't find my jump ring closer , grrrr. My first attempt failed miserably- there is no photographic evidence of that debacle. I took them apart and tossed the wire findings put the beads back in the box and put the idea on the back burner. Well, after simmering for a while I took out my beads, findings and tools and made 2 sets. the charms say love, laugh, hope, dream, believe and the long one says live. This is destined for the swap I'll mail out on Monday - she likes green and black.
Not much progress on the sock. Only about 3 of the pattern repeats last week. usually I work on socks at lunch and other places outside of home, but I've been working on squares for my red/white/blue afghan for the Victory Junction Gang Competition. ( kasey Kahne is seriously in the lead) I did decide about halfway through the week that I didn't like the way it would look with the different patterns together, so it will be all granny squares. The 5 blocks I made already of different patterns, I'll either work more and make a different 'ghan or I'll mail them to Min who unbelievably has volunteers to seam squares together. The blocks I made this week are still in my car, so no pics at this time.

Here's the update on the ripple. I've managed to get past the next white stripe. it is only currently 16 inches long. So I'll need to get 4 more orange/black/orange/white sections plus an orange/black before I'm done. sigh. Well, hopefully I'll get some done during the race this afternoon.

More on Saturday @ Pocono

So what's Saturday @ the track without shopping? Angie took a bunch of shots with Bobby's trailer. She was all happy that the trailer was out of the Texas Tuff shirt she bought @ the June race, 'cause that meant not a lot of people would be wearing it on Sunday. She didn't actually buy anything at Bobby's trailer but she did buy a black no fear boybeater and a long sleeve yellow Sprint Cup shirt. I made out pretty well at Tony's trailer. Everything was on sale. I didn't want anything that was all about the 20 or Depot, but went for stuff that really features Tony. So I got 2 tank tops, a t-shirt, a fleece blanket (came in really handy on Sunday) a flag, coffee mug and a die cast - all for under $50!!
Here's angie and I in the stands before the ARCA race.
I've been rooting for Dexter Bean out of Wisconsin in the ARCA series mostly because his main sponsor is Glock. (my husband says talk about playing to a demographic) Of course since I was rooting for him near the end of the race he's in the top 5, some idiot hits Kimmel who totals the 37! Curt was rooting for Chrissie Wallace ( more stones than Juan Pablo in June - her car caught fire, there was a huge flash that went over the whole car, and she DROVE it back to the pits!) then the girl in the supercuts car (don't remember her name) I can't really say anything about his rooting for women - not wth how obsessive I get over Tony!
The kid that won it had a really impressive burnout. I really thought he was doing a Jeff Gordon and putting his fromt bumper against the wall but when I took a picture of the rubber marks he was no where near the wall. I would have had an awesome shot of the car coming out of this huge cloud of smoke but i hit the off button instead of the shutter !! AARRrgghhhhhhhhh!

Ok- next post Sundays race.

Last Saturday @ Pocono

So Saturday at Pocono Speedway was crazy! Cup practice was cancelled due to a huge thunderstorm that had come through in the morning (discovered a few leaks where the tabs are sewn in to my easy up tent thing) So around 10 Curt and I decided to go into the track to see how washed out the track was and to find out if they'd be running happy hour. Practice was indeed cancelled, and the ARCA race was moved back to 2pm. Then they started makng announcements that they wanted people to "take shelter" and leave the grandstand area because of lightning danger. So naturally, and I blame the 50% of my DNA that is japanese, everyone's runnng away and I'm taking pictures with my phone. But check out these pictures! The clouds looked like they touched the ground and were boiling!!

This was taken outside the grandstands a few minutes later- you will notice that there were no other people around, because they were all smarter than I. The cloud that is by the 2 water silos were the same ones that were a mile away in the first picture just moments before..... Yes I got VERY wet a few seconds after that shot.
The wind was soo strong it ripped the top of the flag off the ropes that hold it to the pole! The really amazing part is by the time the race started a few hours later you never would have known it rained at all, it was warm and sunny- perfect race weather! But I'll talk about the ARCA race later.

Harry Potter Husband Test

Your result for The Harry Potter Husband Test...

Mrs. Black

Your perfect HP man is Sirius Black.

You want a relationship filled with fun times, with a guy who you know will always back you up. Sure, he's a bit of a jerk with anyone who he doesn't approve of, but as long as he likes you, he'll be a lot of fun. Your days will be filled with laughter and merriment, though if you ever have kids, you'd better be prepared to lay some rules down or else they'll end up with a bunch of reckless rulebreakers running around, transforming into animals at every turn.

Take The Harry Potter Husband Test at HelloQuizzy

Compared to other takers

• 10/100 You scored 42% on Lupinity, higher than 10% of your peers.
• 86/100 You scored 56% on Snapesquity, higher than 86% of your peers.
• 73/100 You scored 63% on Harryness, higher than 73% of your peers.
• 96/100 You scored 57% on Ronness, higher than 96% of your peers.
• 33/100 You scored 25% on Lockhartiness, higher than 33% of your peers.
• 91/100 You scored 62% on Dumbledority, higher than 91% of your peers.
• 32/100 You scored 25% on Dudleyness, higher than 32% of your peers.
• 97/100 You scored 71% on Siriusness, higher than 97% of your peers.
• 77/100 You scored 46% on Mad-Eye-osity, higher than 77% of your peers.
• 5/100 You scored 30% on Nevillity, higher than 5% of your peers.
• 96/100 You scored 69% on Jamesiness, higher than 96% of your peers.
• 58/100 You scored 63% on Billiness, higher than 58% of your peers.
• 86/100 You scored 69% on Twinsosity, higher than 86% of your peers.

How everyone did

• Lupinity
• Snapesquity
• Harryness
• Ronness
• Lockhartiness
• Dumbledority
• Dudleyness
• Siriusness
• Mad-Eye-osity
• Nevillity
• Jamesiness
• Billiness
• Twinsosity

Light a Candle for Tibet

I don't remember where I saw this, but people are putting a candle in their windows on Thursday night, to remember the human rights violations China is currently committing in Tibet. The opening ceremonies are on Friday night. Yes, I am lighting a candle, no I'm not boycotting watching the olympics. I don't watch that much of the summer games anyway. I'm more of a winter olympics fan. But I'm dvr'ing all the fencing (especially woman's sabre where our team has an awesome shot at the gold) to watch with my daughter ( who is a sabre fencer on her school's team)

This is killing me!

I now know why the pattern for this 'ghan is for several strips to seam together. It takes so long to finish one row, that by the time I get the 3 row pattern done, I end up putting the afghan down. I really need to get this done for the end of September, so I am going to try to do at least 1 - 3 row pattern done every day. On the plus side, I got several more squares done for the red/white & blue 'ghan. I checked the "leaderboard" on the Victory Junction Gang Camp competition and Jeff Gordon is seriously in the lead!! Must get working... cannot let him win.....

Knitting Updates

It's been crazy but here are my knitting updates and promised pictures. Above is the pair of flip flop "fittens" (foot mittens) I made up the pattern because my daughter likes to wear flip flops even when there is snow on the ground. I'm still not really happy with the bindoff on the big toe, but other than that I'm pretty satisfied with how they came out. I have discovered that it is hard to take a decent picture of a sock that is on your own foot, so you really don't see the split well.
This is the start of the lace anklet that I'm making with the yarn Sandy from Ravelry gave me. It is my first attempt at a toe up sock and it is going well so far. Of course the proof will be in the heel but I have a ways to go yet.
This is the promised picture of the yarn Sandy gave me ( one skein of the blue is not in the picture as it is already in use on the anklet) I'm going to use black sock yarn on the toes and ankles so I can make a pair of anklets out of the yellow/black skein. And I'm not quite sure what my daughter wants out of the purpley roll, but she loves the colors. (If you're reading this thanks again Sandy!)
I posted a picture of the package I sent Sherry M from my MSN knitting and crochet group. This is the package I got from her in the exchange. 2 bags, 2 hang over a knob towelish things, and a granny square. As well as a postcard and magnet from Chicago.

I am in another exchange on the Caffeine Addicts group on Ravelry. I need to stop by Mara's to get some coffee. I also need to pick up some yarn to send. My partner likes green and black, not my normal colors so it will be a bit challenging to find a yarn to send. We are also supposed to send stitch markers and a small knit/crocheted item. I am going to send a market bag ( not green and black I just can't work with those colors!) and I am trying to make stitch markers. I have a bunch of beading supplies from my brief foray into beading and it will put them to good use. If I can't make them come out good, while I am shopping for yarn I will have to pick some up at the yarn store.