I'm still alive

I have been a little neglectful of my little blog so I thought I had better check in and say hello. We are still in Texas; our goods will be stolen from us starting August 28 and we will head out on September 2. No, the house has not sold. Yes, I’m still moving even if the house hasn’t sold. I have been busy pulling down curtains and sending them off to the cleaners. Side note here: if you don’t clean your curtains often, you should. It’s amazing what will grow back there! Next is bagging the stuff in the drawers that I don’t want the movers to see. Seriously, we would need two trailers if I actually brought all of my pajamas and underwear with me.

Speaking of trailers. U-haul has decided not to rent to Explorer drivers. I consider this to be discrimination and keep telling Charley that we need to file a financially motivated lawsuit. I happen to live with Mr. Rules Are In Place For A Reason And We Should Follow Them And Not Ask Questions so I guess I will be plotting my lawsuit on my own. We considered buying one and then selling to some other unfortunate Explorer owner but that $1200 was really eating into my food budget. We realized that we were not utilizing the back of the Explorer simply for the comfort of the dogs. Hmmm. $1200 or Annabelle only barks out one window. So, I am repotting the plants into small pots so they will fit in the backseat of my car and making due with a few less shoes. Yes, I move my plants!

We had an Open House on Sunday so the five of us went across the street to hang out at the neighbor’s pool. Calvin was tied, Annabelle was running free and I had just walked Baxter to the edge of the pool for an inspection when I heard a giant splash. Annabelle had fallen in. My 9-year old, 85-pound, hairy girl has never been swimming before! I ran to tie up Baxter and she managed to get to the edge of the pool but she couldn’t figure out how to get the hind legs up to pull herself out. Being a good mom, I dragged her out, only to have her run into the dirt and shake. A little later Calvin wanted to inspect the little waterfall (because it was really cool to drink from) and he fell in too. Only, he was still tied and his butt stayed above water. After that, he thought it was pretty cool to have us hold his leash while he ran the edge of the pool, pulling us on our floats. Baxter, being the prissy one wasn’t having any of that! He stayed cool and dry on the patio, waiting for his little girlfriend to come outside and play. How come you never have a camera when you need it?

This is likely my last post for a few weeks. Hopefully by the time you hear from me again, I will have a home and lots of FO’s to show.

I'm a Junkie

Not THAT kind...get your mind outta the gutta. I'm a junkie for quasi-reality tv. I love Cops, Dallas SWAT, Dog The Bounty Hunter... you know, the kind where someone else's life sucks more than mine. Is it wrong to feel good about myself because I don't have the po po knocking down my door - I think not. My MIL won't let us watch Cops when she is around because "it isn't nice to watch other people's misery". Ummmm, when you when you get stopped with a crack pipe in your lap, ya kinda asked for it. But, I have to question these other reality shows... has anyone out there watched Flavor of Love? Ok, Brad and Jennifer couldn't make it and yet women are falling all over themselves to get some Flava Flav. And does the boy have any teeth that are actually his own? Wait... I have to go throw up my popcorn... ok, I'm back. We criticize Barbie as being a bad roll model for girls and yet this show gets 2 seasons... yes, that is 2 seasons of women degrading themselves for a chance to "get wit that". Oh, got to go throw up again... ok, I'm done. Kim was telling me that some were outraged by the latest issue of BabyTalk magazine showing a woman breastfeeding - ummmmmmm, have they not seen E with Dr. 90210? It's all booby all the time!

Knitting? Yeah, I've been doing it. I finished sock numero uno for Boogie. I hope she likes it. Of course she will. She is two and it is from "her Kim". What can I say, the child loves me. I know, I don't get it either. I think she mostly likes Baxter and I'm just his PR person. My White Lies Designs patterns showed up yesterday and I can't wait to start on Krista. But, I have to finish the sock first. I don't want to be known as the woman who disappointed the two year old. I know she will be askin her momma "where my socks from my Kim?" She is just too cute!

Oh, good news! I frequently talk about my Pyrs and most of you get tired of it but, one fellow knitter contacted me about my rescue link. She also has a Pyr and tomorrow will be going to meet Xander (well, when you take in over 100 dogs a year, you run outta names!). She was going to come to SnB tomorrow but I think she will be spending time with her new snuggle buddy (crossing paws here!).

Well, Char has gone to a cocktail party which I bowed out of... ouch... my neck hurts . So, I am having my own cocktail party here at home. Baxter and I are enjoying ourselves while Annabelle scares of the JW's.

Dog Days of Summer

It is officially the dog days of summer. Now I know how it got it’s name – I am constantly hot, sweaty and smelling like a dog. LOL! The kids spend their days sleeping. They are exhausted from the hour of morning barking and they are resting up for the afternoon barking session. I would gladly pay people to stop walking past my house. After we scare off all the people, we have to scare away the killer birdies. School bus season will begin soon and Annabelle really hates that they steal the little children from her – all four buses, two times a day! Yes, Baxter is sleeping behind the treadmill – his sister can’t get back there to terrorize him!

I finally finished the sweater. Details:

Yarn: Filatura Di Crosa Diwa; heart, Luscious from Hobby Lobby
Color: Fuchsia
Needles: size 5 for the body and size 4 for the neckband.
Pattern: Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd, size 26 finished chest. The heart and ruffle from Style Your Own Kid’s Knits (but way cuter than the clown!).
The yarn seemed a little rough at first but when I washed it, it turned into this soft, drapey yarn. It really is nice to work with. It is perfect for those of us who live in a warm climate year round or just don’t like heavy garments. I sort of wish I had purchased more (besides the beige, fuchsia, light blue and burgundy, that is).


I have a bunch of the yarn left over so I am making socks for Susan’s Boogie. The pattern is from Sensational Knitted Socks on size 2 needles. Normally I like the longer DPN’s for socks because I don’t risk losing stitches but this time it is a big pain. I’m working with so few stitches that I am all needles.

Stash Bash

I call it this because buying this yarn was quite the party. What we have before us is Jagger Spun Zephyr in Fushia (630 yards for $11!); Artyarns Regal Silk in a pink colorway, on sale for $11 (woo hoo!); Euroflax Originals in a basic brown, perfect for a hand towel for MIL; Sensational Knitted Socks; and some size 6 DPN’s (for some reason I was missing this size – go figure). It was so hard to decide what to buy…"but honey, why can’t I have ten skeins of everything”. I think it’s time to admit I have no willpower! A note on the Euroflax… another customer commented on how expensive it was ($16.95). I thought about it for a second and told her that MIL will keep this hand towel until she dies and then will leave it to me in the will so it is likely to last a good 20-30 years – the gift that keeps on giving:-) I really hope she doesn’t will me the soap that is going with it!

I’ve been knitting a little. The sweater is nearly finished and looks pretty cute if I do say so myself. I hope the giftee likes it. Actually, I hope the momma likes it.

I have really been busy cleaning up the stash, putting everything into storage bags and making sure the inventory is up-to-date. Um, have I mentioned I don’t want to move? I think if I put off doing the moving stuff I can continue to live in D-E-N-I-A-L. It’s a great place. Really. I swear. I like it. I don’t feel like making new friends – I like the crazies I hang with now. Why ruin a good thing? We are fortunate to live in the World Wide Web. I will still be able to connect with friends and feel like they are less than a million miles away. And, when DH deploys next summer I will be hopping a plane “home” at least once. Those who wish for the “good ole days” before technology have never had to pack up and leave friends, live thousands of miles away from family or been without a decent place to shop!

Oh, tonight is Project Runway so stay tuned for the rundown tomorrow.