Pictures

Ok it's 4:38 I should be at work. We have a big ice storm here, but I usually don't let weather bother me. Well after 10 minutes I only chipped out a hole the size of my hand in the ice on my car. Not to mention I had to walk on the grass as the crunchiness gave it some traction. I was actually bracing my foot on the tire while chipping, and as I park on a slight hill, I'm not sure how to avoid sliding away from the car on that side. And there's the issue of my street is a serious hill, my driveway is a serious uphill. and there are 2 hard turns on downhills between me and I-80. At 3:30 I can hear the cars on the highway and that sounds clear- but I have to get there first. So I decided f this and called and told them I'd come in between 9:30 and 10 and stay until 3. Never was late for snow, but screw this ice.

Now the pics. This is actually a glass pendant bead I'm using for the button on my tony bag.



And here's the finished bag:



I also finished weaving in the ends off my stole and doing the single crochet border. Now it just needs blocking.



It came out a bit wider than I anticipated, so I'm a little nervous about it turning into a blanket when blocked.

Be the Bear!

So it was an 11 hour day for me. Mixed surprise, I got a carpet delivery. Apparantly we not only cancelled the 2 friday's appointments, but because the appt is really at 3 and Dan was leaving at 3:30, and their was no night crew, they cancelled last Wed too. I still am not sure why this stuff wasn't delivered last Monday, but I was really happy to see C when he showed up. Really didn't have the time to unlad him, but hey a girl's gotta have fun right?? So yes, i unloaded the truck and that added 45 min to my day.

I went in and tried to have a good day. I've decided to make Fozzie Bear my inspiration. When things go wrong he bitches at kermit a while and then lets go. Regardless of the absolute chaos going on around him, he goes out and does his thing. He always has a big smile on. He knows Waldorf and Statler are going to be negative whether his act is good or bad, but doesn't let it bother him, just goes out and does his best.

So I have been wearing glasses for less than a year. It took me a while just to get used to them at all - when I first got them they gave me a weird vertigo/seasickness. Currently they still bother me, in that if I'm wearing them, I can't see anything closer than 6-8 feet. So if I wear them driving, I can't read the dashboard. And at work I go from looking up, to looking at my screen and I'm either doing a backwards (what i call little house on the prairie look) sliding them down my nose and looking over them at the screen, putting them up in my haiir like a headband, putting them down on my cart. In the summer I had been sliding them on the neck of my shirt- but this doesn't work as well in a tutrle neck. So they weren't scratched so much as nicked from falling off the cart/my head and hitting the concrete floor.

Today, I guess the inevitable happened and some time between 10:30 and 2:30 a lens popped out I don't know where and is gone. I had 8 people walking up and down the aisles. looking in my clothes and hair- everywhere. couldn't find it. So I went back to the eyeplace. They wanted $110+tx for 1 lens. Now really this would mean 1 clear lens, 1 nicked lens. So why did I pay for insurance? Well if I lost the glasses it would be 50% of the 2 lenses + 50% of frame. So if I say I lost them for another 40-50 bucks I get a new pair? What if I say I lost them, and want to use an old frame?? (like we all have a sanford & son style drawer of glasses) They said the insurance requires new frames. Which is bull, because curt lost his a month before he could get an exam and new pair so he used an old pair and paid 1/2 for the lenses - but he goes to a different dr.

I was mad, and since we switched vision plans on Jan 1, I could get an exam and fix the whole near/far thing. So I went to lenscrafters tonite. Had an exam. paid the 56 for those 2 tests the insurance doesn't pay for. Got new frames, with the coatings and the scotchguard and the invisible lines for the bi-focals $480 for $72. ie - less than $110. $128 with the extra 2 tests. The only problem is I like the glasses w/o the metal on the bottom part of the frame. So they won't be readyy in an hour, they'll be ready on the 19th! great! sigh. Be the bear. Good thing I still have my binoculars. seriously. that's why I went for glasses to begin with. I was using them more and more.

Now if that wasn't bad enough, they did some tests the last eye dr. didn't. They took a picture of the back of my eye. One of the holes for my optic nerve is noticeably bigger than the other. I could see it. Everything else is fine.But she wants more tests done because it could be an early warning for glaucoma. Are you frickin kidding me? I'm only 42! She also said it could cause headaches on the left side - that's where I get my migraines! So I have to call my regular dr for a referal to a different place to get more tests and a baseline for the possible future issues. Sigh. i swear whenever I see a dr for one thing, the by the way part just kills me. be the bear. be the bear. be the bear.

Back to work

So, its back to work for me today. sigh. I worked so many hours on the 23rd so everything would be done for me to go on vacation. I know Dennis tries, but I know what it's like when he just covers flooring. I'm dreading hardware also. This is going to sound like the pod people got me. but while I was kind of bummed my carpet delivery 2 mondays ago got pushed to Wednesday, I'm glad I shouldn't have any outstanding po's so I won't get a carpet truck until Friday. C's usually off Friday so I won't see him until the following Monday. Sorta sad, but I won't have time to play anyway. I told the gals from the knitting group that Mon and Tues wouldn't work for me because I know I won't get out before 3:30 at earliest. Wednesday will be sketchy too. But since they won't allow overtime in January, I'll be out early on Thur.

Remember my tirade on Resolutions yesterday. Well the first plan I need to figure out to implement (not a resolution) will be how to deal with hardware and flooring without hating life and being pissed off all the time. I don't know how to achieve this, and my usual stress relief of unloading trailers isn't going to work because of the sheer time constraints. ( No I'm not giving up my carpet truck, even on days C doesn't drive. That trailer's mine!) So positive attitude. Starting out with a positive attitude. ( don't know if it will last past 4:01 but I'm starting with one)

Angie goes back to school today ( although wth practice and 2 tournaments she's been in a lot anyway). She has 3 meets this week, but thankfully they are all home meets.

Ria

Resolutions

Ok, I know I promised my rant on Resolutions. I haven't made a New Year's Resolution since I was in junior high. I really believe that 99% of New Year's Resolutions are doomed to fail. By their very nature they are usually too grand and too strict with not enough wiggle room. They also tend to focus on the negative side of life and giving up something. It's like we look at our weaknesses and punish ourselves for them. Well if I can't give something up for 40 days of lent, how am I going to do it for a year. Remember the whole SMART system in goal setting? Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely. Remember short and long term goal setting? So let's look at some typical New Year's Resolutions:

1. The ever popular I will lose weight. Well that's kind of generic - how much? how soon? fat? muscle? A serious haircut or amputating you leg? Even those that are specific - I will lose 10 pounds 0 how soon? and then we get if youcan lose 2 pounds of fat a week - I will lose 10 pounds in 5 weeks. How acievable is this? Seriously , it leaves no room for a human slip up. And if it was realistic wouldn't you have done it in the last 5 weeks? Also what about the rest of the year? You can then gain 15 in the next 5 weeks.

2. I will exercise every day. Not even getting into the same issues the lose weight that this resolution shares, we have several issues. Every Day? so for the next 365 days you will never sleep in, not feel well, get really busy, be tired? And the real downfall to any of the "everyday" or "every week" resolutions is once you miss one day, you feel guilty go all out. Then you miss another day, go all out the day after. Miss another day, but don't have the time energy for a "penance" workout or their is a legitimate reason to miss and you skip 2 days. Then a bit later you miss 3 days, then because you can't make up 3 days you miss 4 days. Pretty soon, every day turns into never.

3. The strict budget. I am not saying budgets are bad, and yes you need to have a realistic budget. The problem is budgets written out while in the over zealous after effects of celebrating the holiday excesses. You are going to put x in savings, you are only going to have 5 dollars in miscellaneous cash a week - You leave not enough wiggle room for an unexpected expense, you get hungry from your extreme diet and spend $5.25 on food! The problem with extremem strictness of any sort is that while you may feel guilty the first time or three that you "transgress" You live through the guilt. You then find it easier and easier with each successive transgression, to finally there is no point to having a budget.

4. The I'm going to get organized. That is a landmine filled resolution. Most of us have so much chaos in out lives that we never even make it tht first week. ( I am assuming most of us can stick to a diet or go to the gym for a week) It can just be soo overwhelming that we become paralysed.

5. And how many people vow to quit smoking on New Year's Eve, manage to keep it New Year's morming because of their hangovers but are smoking by the first bowl game.

And all the corporate sharks are out there circling. Watch TV for an hour. The commercials for nutrisystem, bally's shapes, curves, lean cuisine, weight watchers, different financial places, space bags etc etc etc. Gyms are real tough - sign on the line we'll charge your card $X every month for the next year - even after you stop coming in March. Weight loss centers - membership fees or agree to 10 weeks of inedible food, even if you're back in the hagen das in 3 weeks.


Please, please don't get me wrong. I am not a total cynic. i am not against goals, I am not against taking stock of your life. The end of the year in my view is a good time to review your year/life. See what you did well as well as what you could have done better. Don't beat yourself up. You are human. But be honest with yourself. if you really can't think of anything you did well, you need some help with self-esteem issues before you can tackle a resolution. But I'm not a shrink here, so that's for someone else's blog. January is a great time for planning. You plan your spring garden, start planning your summer vacation, well start planning you life.

Look at what you did well. Either by design or by accident it doesn't matter. How can you keep this up, possibly even expand on it? Tweak it a bit. So for example, I was really hating work this time last year. This was stretching into months of hating work and actually considering leaving. Last summer I found a way to change my job a bit, and even though 90% stayed the same, that change made me happy again. Now they changed my job again ( as you regular readers are aware) well now I hate it again, but I'm not considering quiting this time, I just have to figure 0ut how to tweak it. This is not a resolution, I don't even know what I'm going to do yet, but I am thinking, planning. Another example, I both saved $$ and lost 8 pounds last year, by making and bringing my own coffee and peanut butter sandwich everymorning instead of hittimg dunkin donuts for an xl coffee and toasted bagel with butter, that is a positive I'm going to maintain.
Did you do some charity kntting that made you feel good? I did chemo caps and afghans. Now here is a positive that needed tweaking. I got rid of a lot of my stash yarn, I made goods for excellent causes. But I over extended myself on the afghans and the entire month of october knitting became a serious chore and added stress to my life instead of relaxing me. So I still want to knit for charity. i have to tweak how I approach it though. I am going to make afghans or squares for VJGC again this summer. it is a cause I really get behind. I am not going to start more than one 'ghan at a time. I also learned that maybe strip afghans are the way to go. I really don't like to seam, but the ripple ghan taught me that knitting one ghan can bore me to stress. I had also switched to mostly crochet because it was faster - but I don't like crochet as much as I like to knit, so while not ruling crochet out, I am going to focus on knitting for charity. But once again - it's planning no making some kind of decree.

In the same vein - look at what you did poorly or want to change. The first thing to look at is your motivation for change. Do you want to lose weight so guys will fiind you hot? Do you think you're husband will love you 10% more for every dress size you are less? Did your doctor tell you to lose it? None of these will work at least not long term. No even the doctor part. If the doctor part worked we'd all be non-smoking skinny minnies. same for exercise, smoking, getting organzed etc etc. So once you find the reason YOU want to do this for You, then you can come up with a plan. Use the whole SMART system to create the plan. And remember it is easier to make lifestyle/habit changes in small mamageable increments. if you need to lose 50 lbs - that's over 25 weeks. That is tough. This is where long vs short term goals come into play. short term lose 5lbs at a time, long term keep it off. ( Me i need to find the inner motivation to lose almost 100 lbs so trust me I'm not preaching) But it took more than 5 weeks of eating wrong to gain weight keep that in mind.

Now some last thoughts ( I told you this would be a rant) while you are making your plans. Why plan in January and not December you ask? If you plan in December you can implement everything by royal decree on Jan 1. First of all no matter how you're holidays are going happy , elated, depressed, what holiday? - there is holiday induced brain damaging sentiments that occur. No matter how logical you are the rest of the year - you have brain damage during the holidays. Also you end up only reflecting on 11 months. I don't know why the brain doesn't do Dec thru Nov, it just doesn't. And most importantly - keep this in mind during your planning period - you can't successfully make a bizzilion positive changes in oure life at once. They will be doomed to failure. so prioritize. start one thing at a time. Mix it up, start a long term change, mix in a short term, hard, easy. Try to put things in a positive light. Don't look at losing lbs (after all we're traing to find what we lose right?) See it as fitting into a new pair of jeans , making it up another flight of stairs without huffing and puffing, or ypu knees hurting that much less. And reward yourself. If you're getting in shape, maybe not with cheesecake. but a skein of yarn, a new top, an afternoon/evening all to yourself, a movie in theater , rented or on tv, it doesn't have to blow your budget, just somethiing that you can look forward to that makes you happy.

Remember don't rush it and next December you're done well list will be that much longer!

Knitting updates

Ok, the squatty bag is drying and still needs a button. I like the way the V came out not totally in love with the black on the handle.



Here's the dumpling bag- just has to dry so I can put the white in and it'll be good to go, and hopefully by that time I'll take a better picture!



And I'm on the last skein of Noro Taiyo for my wrap.



I really love how it's coming out.

Happy New Years !

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone's New Year's was safe. I ran out of batteries last night so I have no pictures. I took a couple with my cell phone, but w/o a flash they came out terrible. Speaking of terrible - whomever invented crackers with confetti in them should be shot. My brother bought a bunch of party crackers for the kids and when they popped them open confetti flew out everywhere!! Not nice large easy to vacuum confetti ( I had some in the shape of party hats, horns and 2009 on the table - easy to vacuum and if the vacuum misses them it's easy enough to pick them up) No this was fine multi colored confetti that now is everywhere! GRRRRR. We played gutar hero rock band for most of the night - you wouldn't believe how fast midnght showed up.
My daughter painted her room this week and had to move everything back into her room before the party. It wasn't looking good, but she got 2 of her friends to come over at 7am to help her finish. I was flipping out on her telling her everything not in her room was going in the dumpster! Especially since her friends were sleeping over and she needed a floor in her room for sleeping bags! But she pulled it off and by 2pm ( yes 3 people 7 hours- how is that possible?) it looked decent. She still hasn't hung her pictures back up but that's ok.
So french toast casserole w/ cranberries and mandarin oranges for breakfast this morning (easy breakfast for 8 ) I was up at 515 (it's a curse) and I realized I forgot all about the stuffed mushrooms and fried ravioli. So guess what we had for lunch?
After lunch Curt and I went to see Valkyrie. Excellent movie. I was rooting for cruise's colonel even though I knew how it would end.
For dinner we had the southern New Year's Day good luck dinner as always. Curt's Louisiana roots are a little different from mine so we have a compromise. All the food is supposed to bring you luck through the year. So we had black-eyed peas over rice, corn bread with whole kernels of corn and chili's inside with some cheddar on top in the crust, collard greens ( I hope my granma will forgive me - I used frozen collards) fried catfish and pomegranite sauce over vanilla ice cream.