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 Happy Halloween! 

Thursday Thunks - Hootin'Anni Style

Thursday Thunks - Hootin'Anni Style

Welcome to the October 21st edition of Thursday Thunks!

(which we always seem to post on Wednesday)

Where we make you think a little bit before you blog!

We pick a subject, and your job is to interpret it anyway you want.

Write about it on your blog... simple as that.

Maybe you can interpret it as a picture - we don't care!

Please only leave a link if you have written a Thursday Thunks post.

Don't forget to go visit the other participants' blogs.

Read and comment about all their Thursday Thunks responses!

That's what all this is about after all, isn't it?

We'll have so much fun and become lifelong friends....

Today's questions are brought to you by the color purple, witches' brooms, the number 800-555-1000, and hootin' anni.

1] We all love snuggly things, right? In your own words, explain how the "X" and "O" became symbols for kisses and hugs!  Because a great kiss can have the same take your breath away impact as a knock out punch - so X for a kiss,  And a hug can just surround you and cocoon you from the world so O envelopes you in a hug!

 

 

2] Besides eliminating sticks, what would you put in a non-stick pan? Well tonite it will be sauteed mushrooms and gnocchi.

3] x=y over pi squared. What are your thoughts on crematoriums having discounts on those that die in fires? OMG!!  The thought of being cremated is the biggest creep out to me ever!  Burned - alive or dead makes me shudder!

4] Tongue twisters are fun...but, it's torture to try to say lisp with that "s" in the word. What is your favorite tongue twister? Risque answers get extra credit! I don't know any except for the She sells Sea Shells, or Peeter Piper and his Peppers

5] Cold weather is coming up. If it's zero degrees Fahrenheit, and tomorrow night it's predicted to be twice as cold, what temperature will it be?Well 0 degrees Farenheit is -17 degrees Celcius, So twice that is -34 degrees Celcius  which is -29 degrees Farenheit.

6] Your significant other is upset with you, would you rather be skating on thin ice or be in hot water? Why?  I'm a hot head - which a lot of  my friends know.  So if I were skating on thin ice I'd just melt the ice and end up in hot water anyway.  My style is big all out fight, and then be over it (hot water) Curt is more roast and stew and avoid conflict (thin ice) and those differences are actually the biggest thing we fight about!

7] What's worse, expecting the unexpected or being a wise guy?  Any of you actually following my life know that at this point the unexpected is the norm, and I'm usually a wise ass - so I think being in an rut of the expected or being boring is the worst.

8] What brand of vacuum cleaner sucks the best? Mine really sucks!!!  Hoover.  may lose suction and need to be emptied but I want that Dyson guy to show me how much dirt he actually vacuums up at once that it would be a pain to empty, or does he have already vacuumed concentrated dirt in his closet until next time?  We checked it out once,  Dyson doesn't lose suction as it fills, but if you have a half full or less Hoover you will get more suction.  And I empty mine every time I use it!

 

 

9] How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire? Do you like playing with fire?  Cause you aren't trying to build a campfire in the pine needles at the side of the path??  Actually, thanks to some psychotic apocalyptic relatives, I can build a campfire w/o matches.  Can't tell you how unuseful that is in my life.

10] Toys R us...what was your favorite toy?  Really tough call,  my Robin Hood Long Bow? My Erector Set? my Etch a Sketch?, my Lincoln Logs? my Spirograph? my BeeBee Gun?  my chemistry set?

11] Halloween is near...let's go grave robbing....what would you like to find? How cool would it be to find an empty grave??

 

 

12] Do you wake up or open your eyes first? I'm not sure if it's a good idea to open your eyes before you wake up, what if you are face down on your pillow??

 

13] What mask would you wear to a Halloween Party? Masks make me claustrophobic. So i do makeup but no mask on Halloween!

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

Welcome to “Sensational Haiku Wednesday!”

Click here for info and background on this weekly event!

The basics:
Haiku is simple! It is 3 non-rhyming lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively (a great way to use your fingers!)

This week’s theme is: Freestyle 

 

Closing my eyes I

can feel the heat of your breath

but you are not there!

 

Closing my eyes I

want your warm embrace to be

real not fantasy!

 

Closing my eyes I

want my memories to be

real in life again!

 

Opening my eyes

I know I am lucky to

have loved before loss. 

Your Sleeping Position Says You Need Peace

You are calm and rational person with a good deal of balance in your life. Friends consider you to be kind, caring, and truly loyal. You are easy going and trusting. However, you are too sensible to fall for mind games. Open to the world, you are not afraid to be yourself. If you don't get enough sleep, you are: Able to cope It's hard to sleep next to you because: You're a bed hog

What Does Your Sleeping Position Say About You?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

       

Before their baths (Kimmy/Samantha spoilers)

Tomorrow I am planning on felting my Samantha and Kimmy bags.  I followed the lead of several people in the KAL group and used the leftover yarn from Kimmy to make a dumpling bag.  I ended up having about 3 yards of the light brown left.  Talk about close.

So here's the dumpling before:


Kimmy all ready for her bath:



And Samantha before felting - the sun was at a weird sideways angle - this picture sucks but is actually the best shot of the pockets:



I didn't do the handle the way the pattern called for,  I didn't like the way it came out in other people's pictures.  So I made a braid - but didn't create a loop to attach it, but had each cord in the braid attach to the bag evenly on the ends:



Hopefully I will have the after pictures later in the week.

I just finished the last square for my VJAC afghan - now I have to seam it together .... ughhh...
 

Lunch!

OTomorrow there will be pictures of the three bags I've been working on before felting. (Hoping to felt Mon or Tue)  I think I have figured out the football cowl I plan on making to utilize those adorable buttons I got.  This morning, our power went out for about 45 minutes.  THere was a very loud bang and then these two things that seemed to attach to the things that look like giant springs on the pole next to the transformers started swinging loose.  I think they waited longer for the cop to show up behind them so they could start working than it took to do the repair!  We did do a final harvest on about 90% of our plants on the deck and then cut them down and tossed them (wish I had a compost) We have a handful of green tomatoes I hope will grow a bit more before I fry them up.



And because it came out so yummy, a picture of lunch!

Cup o Joe

You Are a Plain Ole Cup of Joe

But don't think plain - instead think, uncomplicated You're a low maintenance kind of girl... who can hang with the guys Down to earth, easy going, and fun! Yup, that's you: the friend everyone invites. And your dependable too. Both for a laugh and a sympathetic ear.

What Kind of Coffee Girl Are You?

Blogthings: We Have a Quiz for Almost Everything

       

Swap Goodies!!

I got a most awesome Swap Package from Vecere on Ravelry.  She totally figured me out!



There are candy pretzel molds shaped like racecars ( you know they'll all be red when I make them!) fall cookie cutters, some fall towels and a hand knit dishcloth because obviously between pretzel molding and cookie cutting there will be clean up, stitch markers, a cute tin (contents farther down), a hand made card, the only instant coffee I like - Starbucks darkroast VIA,  a super yummy coffee called Dancing Goats ( great tribute to the "discovery" of coffee) , three great skeins of yarn - 2 of Cascade 220 heathers in red and orange and one variegated blue of Knit Picks Stroll.  The absolute cutest pumpkin now gracing my entertainment center :



A great Good Karma mug! (perfect color for rooting for Tony, the 9ers, the Devils! woot)



Inside the little tin was two more great surprises! Stitch markers:



And the absolute cutest football buttons!





Am I not totally spoiled or what?!

This is a pic of my package to her.  Hoping she likes hers as much as I love mine!!

I See Dead People

I See Dead People

Welcome to the October 21st edition of Thursday Thunks!
(which we always seem to post on Wednesday)
Where we make you think a little bit before you blog!
We pick a subject, and your job is to interpret it anyway you want.
Write about it on your blog... simple as that.
Maybe you can interpret it as a picture - we don't care!
Please only leave a link if you have written a Thursday Thunks post.
Don't forget to go visit the other participants' blogs.
Read and comment about all their Thursday Thunks responses!
That's what all this is about after all, isn't it?
We'll have so much fun and become lifelong friends....

Thursday Thunks: I See Dead People

The TT questions are brought to you by Bud, the color of a bad back and the 28.

1. Berleen is sending you away again. You can travel anywhere in the world; one destination per day from Friday through Monday. Where do you go and why?   Friday - Rio de Janeiro  because after all it's the ultimate party town.  Saturday - Ireland - although you may have trouble getting me t o leave.    Sunday - Martinsville, VA  because that's where Tony will be racing this weekend.  Monday - Philly, it would  fun to surprise Angie for dinner with Mon night football.

 

2. Would you keep a secret from the closest person to you if you thought it was in their best interest?
Trying to decide whether that would be Curt or the Angie..  But the answer to both would be absolutely, IF it would avoid them being hurt in some way.

 
3. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you that you have not revealed in some other crazy meme. I have serious issues with skin and bones in my food, so you will never see me eat an actual chicken wings.

4. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the 'world peace etc' BS) - what are they?

5. If you could change anything about your living situation, would you? Other than a bigger garden?? Nope, I'm a pretty happy/content person.

6. Who is your favorite character from a comic strip? Please post one strip for us to laugh at.
Hard to decide between Calvin & Hobbes, Opus and Garfield.  But since I loved the other day's Garfield I'm going with the fat cat!

 
7. Now we have found you dead. What five people do you want to MEET in Heaven? Atilla the Hun ( um do I have to believe they are actually in heaven?), Leonardo DaVinci, Jeanne d'Arc,  Benjamin Franklin, and most of all my Great-grandfather.


8. So since you are dead, what will the title of your life story be? Short Attention Span Theatre ! (duh)

9. Word association time! What's the first thing that comes to mind when you see the word pleasure? Guilty ( of course)

10. Kimber is by the Arizona ocean. She finds a message in a bottle. What does it say? If you believe you are on the shore's of the Arizona Ocean, I have a bridge to sell you!

11. Would you like to guest host Thunks one week? Answer “yes” here and email us here! If the answer is “no” who do you think would be a great guest host? I will once again, nominate Thom!

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

Welcome to “Sensational Haiku Wednesday!”

Click here for info and background on this weekly event!

The basics:
Haiku is simple! It is 3 non-rhyming lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively (a great way to use your fingers!)

This week’s theme is:Pathways

Walking through darkness,

Branches brush against my cheeks,

Calm and peace at night.

 

Looking through the woods,

A crushing , beaten walkway,

I'll never take it.

 

Give me a sharp scythe 

A cooler with beer and lunch,

I beat my own trails. 

I can show you pic's!!

My Creepy Cute swap partner got her package.   So I  can show you what I sent.



My Skeleton Bride and Groom




The whole shebang.

I mailed out my caffeine swap package this afternoon.  So by Friday, I should be able to show you that one. 

You Live Out Loud

You are adventurous, outgoing, and totally fearless. You just go for it! You tend to have all eyes on you, and you don't necessarily mind. You were born to be a star. You would make an excellent rock star or actor - you have an undeniable charm. You are magnetic. Even if you aren't ever famous, you're still pretty darn popular. People love to be around you.

Do You Live Out Loud?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

       

A  WIN!!!

FINALLY!!!

I have no idea how much Frank Gore gets paid, but seriously, it isn't enough.  I STILL say we need a new QB, and better play calling by the coaches. Singletary is seriously on my sh*tlist!

 I am getting WAY, WAY to much practice at this:

You Should Take Some Deep Breaths

Part of what's stressing you out right now is that there's too much going on at once. You hardly have room to breathe. And to be honest, the idea of taking on a little project to de-stress yourself is even stressful. So don't worry about doing much. Just take a few deep breaths. In fact, try it right now. Doesn't that feel good? Repeat this as often as you need to. This is the first step to clearing your head and feeling better.

How Should You De-stress?

Blogthings: Learn Something Surprising About Yourself

       

YES, I am still here.

Rough week at work,  had a background headache that sort of ebbed and flowed into my consciousness all week.  So forgive me if this is not the most inspired post.

Thom asked me about my vertical garden.  Seems good to me after the season, one plant died, but the rest seem pretty robust.



We definitely are into that fall late afternoon light in that picture and you can see the spruce tree has started dropping it's needles.  We've had a definite frost, so my eggplant and tomatillos are toast, but my tomatoes and peppers don't seem to get it and have been flowering and setting new fruit.  Seems sad to pull them up.  My hanging basket flowers also seem to be optimistic.





Fall flowers are here - loving the mums and daisies!





I can't get a picture of how truly deep and rich the red mums are, but you get the idea.  I have finished 2 crochet projects and a knit one, but they are for swaps so until they get to their intended recipients I can't post the pictures.  My two bags were put on temporary hold until those got done, so I hope to be felting next weekend!


SInce I have been feeling considerable  stress this week I figured I'd share 2 stress quizes:

You Are Driven Stressed

You have a lot of stress in your life, but a lot of it is your own doing. You put a lot of pressure on yourself. You have high standards, and you won't stop until you meet them. You can become work and goal obsessed. You sometimes suffer from too much micromanagement. Slow down and give yourself a break. When it comes to stress, you are your own worst enemy.

What Kind of Stressed Are You?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

        

Your Stress Level is: 54%

You are somewhat prone to stress, especially when life gets hard. When things are good, you resist stressing over little problems. But when things are difficult, you tend to freak out and find it hard to calm down.

How Stressed Are You?

Blogthings: If Quizzes Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Take Quizzes

       

Your Seduction Style: Ideal Lover

You seduce people by tapping into their dreams and desires. And because of this sensitivity, you can be the ideal lover for anyone you seek. You are a shapeshifter - bringing romance, adventure, spirituality to relationships. It all depends on who your with, and what their vision of a perfect relationship is.

What Is Your Seduction Style?

Blogthings: Quizzes and Tests and Memes, Oh My!

       

Another 50 Questions Meme, Part One (perhaps!)

Another 50 Questions Meme, Part One (perhaps!)

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing. Sunday Stealing originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of memes from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent memes. You may have heard of the expression, “honor amongst thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we also have our rules. First, we always credit the blog that we stole it from and we will “fess up” to the blog owner where we stole the meme. We also provide a link to the victim's post. (It's our way of saying "Thanks!") We do sometimes edit the original meme, usually to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, sometimes to select that meme's best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from either this new meme or recently asked questions from a prior featured meme. Let's go!

Today we ripped this meme of a blogger known as Nigel Vanstone at Away for a Bit. Nigel explains that he was tagged to do the meme, but does not credit the blogger. But, it was probably stolen there as well. So, of course, that will be as far as we go. Tracing back our theft's thieves might take some time. He promises to post the next 25 questions, soon. If he writes them by next Saturday, we will complete his meme. Link back to us at Sunday Stealing!

Cheers to all of us thieves!

Sunday Stealing: Another 50 Questions Meme, Part One (perhaps)
1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?  Uggh.

2. How much cash do you have on you? Cash? what means this cash? ever since Dunkn donuts started taking cards, I rarely have this cash...

3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?  Floor!!!  I love floors!!  Not a huge fan of carpet - but a fan of the guy who brings me my carpet!

4. Favorite planet? JUPITER 

 

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?  Bahri - the eedjit who "runs" flooring in my building.

 

6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone? I don't know how to link it here. But bahri's ringtone is Achmed saying... " Silence... I kill you... silence ... I ... KILL you... Silence I kill you..... stop touching me!!!"

7. What shirt are you wear? Ok, I sucked at English class, but dude wtf??

8. Do you label yourself?  I defy any attempt at labeling!!! 

9. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently wearing? Target flip flops - silver

 

10. Bright or Dark Room?  I know dark rooms are for film... bright rooms are for???

11. Did you do anything to celebrate John Lennon's 70th yesterday? Didn't know, didn't care, not a fan.

12. What does your watch look like?

13. What were you doing at midnight last night? Same thing I do every night Pinky, dream of taking over the world! mwahahaha

14. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?Now I am excited ;P

15. Where is your nearest 7-11?  I think a couple miles down 46 ... but I personally get slurpee over Tony ...

16. What’s a word that you say a lot? Dude!

17. Who told you he/she loved you last? the Angie

18. Last furry thing you touched? the Angie

19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days? Do caffeine or alcohol count?

20. How many rolls of film do you need developed? One word... Digital.

21. Favorite age you have been so far?Yes.

22. Your worst enemy? Normal people.

23. What is your current desktop picture (extra points if you post it.)?  Tony of course!!
 


24. What was the last thing you said to someone?  Have fun! Luv ya! ( Angie heading out with friends)

25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly what would it be? With my luck if I could fly I'd be shot down with a PATRIOT missile.. but cleaning up after a million bucks...

 

Thank you for playing this week on Sunday Stealing! Please leave a comment or link when you have posted. Feel free to stop back and visit other player’s posts. Have a great week. See you next Sunday!

Grace's Birthday & Spoiler Alert.

If you are doing the she-knit's mystery knit for Kimmy or Samantha - and you do not want a Kimmy Spoiler, do not scroll down any further.  There is a picture of Kimmy after clue 3!

That being said, a little bit late I have pictures from last Thursday.  Last thursday was my friend Grace's Birthday.  I picked her up and took her to lunch in Montville.  It had been literally months since we got together, since she was ill and hurt her knee. (two seperate reasons, sad, but true.  A few months ago she had a blog contest.  I don't even remember what it was.  But I was one of the winners and I won a great shawl. ( Grace makes the best shawls)  Also the last time we had gotten together I was all whiny because the store where I had been buying my favorite tea (yes I sometimes put the coffee cup down and have a tea) stopped carrying it.  So Grace, who buys the decaf (yuck) version of the tea, ordered me 2 boxes.  Grace has been making the cutest gnomes lately ( she goes on such fun knitting sprees, cats, bunnies with their heads on their butts - funny story-)  and she made me  a gnome!  


My gnome hanging out with Kermit - my eggplant plant.



My gnome,  tea and shawl.

THANK YOU GRACE!!!!

Here's a peek at my bag - Kimmy-  after clue 3.  The final clue, involves interior pockets and attaching the strap and then felting.   But I need to catch up on the other bag - Samantha I am making.  Hopefully I will finish clue 3 on Sam before I need to drive Angie back to school tomorrow.  

the Angie is coming home!

Angie's sabre' lame'  has some dead spots. really worn spots in the metal threads, so it won't pass for competition use.  There is a really big tournament next weekend CHAOS that her club is going to.  So she needs a new one, and she's pretty sure her mask won't pass tech inspection either.  Since she's hard to fit, and wants a different brand of lame' she needs to try them on so I can't order online and ship to her.   Surprisingly the closest place to Philly that sells them for sabre's in an actual brick and mortar store where she can go try them is Absolute Fencing Gear in Bridgewater.   They give 10% off to the club she belongs to up here so it's almost comparable to internet pricing.  Since they are about 30-40 minutes from us, she decided to come home.  So as her last Friday class ends at 1230, she will take the subway to the PATCO to the red river line? and I can pick her up in Trenton.  Since it will take her 2 - 2 1/2 hours we should get to Trenton around the same time! 

Sneaking Out

Sneaking Out

Welcome to the October 7th edition of Thursday Thunks!

Where we make you think a little bit before you blog!
We pick a subject, and your job is to interpret it anyway you want.
Write about it on your blog... simple as that.
Maybe you can interpret it as a picture - we don't care!
Please only leave a link if you have written a Thursday Thunks post.
Don't forget to go visit the other participants' blogs.
Read and comment about all their Thursday Thunks responses!
That's what all this is about after all, isn't it?
We'll have so much fun and become lifelong friends....

Thursday Thunks: Sneaking Out

The TT questions are brought to you by Bud, the color of a pumpkin pie and the number 3333.

1. When you snuck out of your house for the first time, who were you meeting and why? Out the window, across the porch roof, down the trellis...  meeting Tommy ... slurp... guy around the corner.... you've known me this long... guess.

2. Tell us about the last time that you got your heart broken. Extra points if you publish their naked photo.  That would have been a couple weeks ago, Tony in the lead, just before the white flag lap... runs out of gas... has to coast around the final lap, crossed the finish line while winner was doing burn out.  I wanted to curl into a ball behind the couch..... If I had naked pictures of Smoke, I wouldn't be sharing them!

3. Tell us about someone you know named Bob. (Yes, we know this is a stupid question. Stupid is what we do best.)  Bob Nardelli, corporate destroyer.  Was paid over 200 million to leave Home Depot,  Chrysler hired him, he flat out told Congress he wouldn't give up any of his perks, laid of thousands, was paid millions to go away.... yeah, I hate his guts.

 

 

 

 

 

4. We just found the perfect retail space. We are giving you the store. What’s its name and what do you sell?  Sip and Knit.... would be part coffee/tea shop with those big comfy chairs and couches, coffees, teas, cocoas and sammies and desserts, and part yarn store with amazing colors, textures, featuring indie spinners/dyers a class/club room and a store cat (can I have a store cat with food around?)  And I'd get my friend Grace (best ever KIP buddy) to sit and knit to encourage others, and I'd get her to knit my samples!

 
5. Tell us about your last “friend with benefits". But it would be so much more fun telling you about my next!  Actually I can't, we're friends w/o benefits now.

6. Kimber worries a lot. What was the last thing that you worried about? How my daughter was adjusting to college.

7. Do you believe “once a cheater, always a cheater”? Not necessarily.  Some people just are cheaters and don't care to change.  Other times, I think there is something wrong in the relationship caused by both people's actions or inactions and definitely non-communication, so one or both people end up having needs fulfilled somewhere else.  If the communication is fixed, and both parties are able to look honestly at the relationship, it can be fixed.

8. Tell us about moving out of your parent’s home. Who did you move in with?  Dad a deacon, me an embarrassment, Dad issues ultimatum, me had issues with ultimatums, Dad gets mad, me comes home to all my stuff on the sidewalk, dog tied to fire hydrant, cat leashed to dog.  Who did I move in with?  See  #1. (whenever I ran away, I ended up in his walk in closet)

9. What was your most recent regret? Ordering the large caramel apple latte at dunkin donuts... blech....

10. Berleen recently ranted on face book about having to got to parent-teacher conferences when your child has great grades. What was the stupidest meeting that you most recently endured?  Three hours this morning of you all suck, we should fire all of you and hire in people for half the pay that would be able to fail audits just as well, blah, blah, blah.  Ok we did fail the audit. (lowest score since I've been in the building in 2004)  But we failed because Dept Supvs, Ops Supvs didn't do their work!  So where was the Ops Mgr?  And not for nothing, but my area got 100%.  So it was time for my nail appointment, I got up and left.

11. Do you collect anything? In no particular order, Looney Tunes stuff, Tony Stewart Stuff, 49er stuff, friends who for some obvious deep seated self hate issues are 

Cowboy fans, and oh yeah... Yarn.

12. Has anyone ever told you that you were in the wrong job?All the time.

13. Is there something that you’d like to complete before the end of 2010? organizing/redoing my bedroom. Since I share it with Curt, not likely.

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

Sensational Haiku Wednesday

Welcome to “Sensational Haiku Wednesday!”

Click here for info and background on this weekly event!

The basics:
Haiku is simple! It is 3 non-rhyming lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively (a great way to use your fingers!)

This week’s theme is: Waves

 

Dive in, paddle out,

tread patiently waiting for

the ultimate ride!