My personality...

Thanks, Sarah!

Almost Perfect- INFP 20% Extraversion, 73% Intuition, 26% Thinking, 46% Judging

So, you want to make the world a better place? Too bad it's never gonna happen. Of all the types, you have to be one of the hardest to find fault in. You have a selfless and caring nature. You're a good listener and someone who wants to avoid conflict. You genuinely desire to do good. Of course, these all add up to an incredibly overpowered conscience which makes you feel guilty and responsible when anything goes wrong. Of course, it MUST be your fault EVERYTIME. Though you're constantly on a mission to find the truth, you have no use for hard facts and logic, which is a source of great confusion for those of us with brains. Despite this, in a losing argument, you're not above spouting off inaccurate fact after fact in an effort to protect your precious values. You're most probably a perfectionist, which in this case, is a bad thing. Any group work is destined to fail because of your incredibly high standards. Disregard what I said before. You're just easy to find fault in as everyone else! Luckily, you're generally very hard on yourself, meaning I don't need to waste my precious time insulting you. Instead, just find all your own faults and insult yourself. ***************** If you want to learn more about your personality type in a slightly less negative way, check out this. ***************** The other personality types are as follows... Loner - Introverted Sensing Feeling Perceiving Pushover - Introverted Sensing Feeling Judging Criminal - Introverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving Borefest - Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging Freak - Introverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging Loser - Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving Crackpot - Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging Clown - Extraverted Sensing Feeling Perceiving Sap - Extraverted Sensing Feeling Judging Commander - Extraverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving Do Gooder - Extraverted Sensing Thinking Judging Scumbag - Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Perceiving Busybody - Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging Prick - Extraverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving Dictator - Extraverted iNtuitive Thinking Judging

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on Extraversion You scored higher than 99% on Intuition You scored higher than 99% on Thinking You scored higher than 99% on Judging

Link: The Brutally Honest Personality Test written by UltimateMaster on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

I'm finally going to post...

My house has the plague. Not the actually plague, because that would mean we'd have doctors (lots) to take care of us and make us feel better. No, we have the plague of all colds. I've been sick since last Wednesday. I missed work on Thursday and Friday. I'm here today because I know the doctor can't do anything for me; other than give me codeine which means I will sleep. I feel better when I'm sleeping anyhow. Sleeping is not a problem. Coming in to work when I'm coughing, sneezing, and achy, that's the problem. Jesse is sick. Fred is sick. My mom is sick. She's home right now. She doesn't even live in our plague infested house... I'd stay the hell away from me and my house right now if I could... I really wish I could. I also wish I could say I've gotten something done in the last four days. I wish I could tell you about a finished knitting project, something I sewed... I even wish I could tell you about a book I read. But, I can't... I can't even tell you what I watched on TV. I've been so incredibly "out of it." :(

Fred got me a cool 2007 calender. It's the Quilling pattern a day calendar. I'm excited to play with it. I know I'm always busy at work, but I hope I can take some time each day and do the little quilling project. Doesn't it look like fun? I really wanted the origami one last year and never got it, so I'm excited about this one this year. I don't have to work on Jan. 1, so I'm tempted to do the first one now, but I'm trying to be good. :) I know all you scrapbookers are jealous! :)

In the name of science...

I'm going to give you a link... please follow suit! :)

Here!

Fun and games...

Sorry guys... this is all you get from me. Life is hectic and I'm miserable! :(

You scored as II - The High Priestess. The High Priestess is a card of intuition, instinct and hidden knowledge. She knows all your secrets, you can hide nothing from her. Yet you will never know the secrets she herself protects.If well aspected in a Tarot spread, this card can indicate the use of intuition to solve problems; trust to your instincts. If badly aspected, it can mean suppression and ignoring of such instincts - following your head at the expense of your heart. II - The High Priestess 94% III - The Empress 94% XIII: Death 81% XVI: The Tower 69% XI: Justice 69% VI: The Lovers 63% VIII - Strength 63% I - Magician 56% 0 - The Fool 38% IV - The Emperor 38% XV: The Devil 31% X - Wheel of Fortune 31% XIX: The Sun 25% Which Major Arcana Tarot Card Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

How I speak...

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The South
Philadelphia
The Inland North
The Northeast
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

This is hilarious to me. I loved this quiz. My mom's family is from the south and my dad's family is from the north. My dad's family would laugh at me because I had a southern accent. My mom's family would laugh at me because I had a northern accent. I grew up very confused. I was born in southern Maryland. It's top border (and most of it's eastern border) are the Mason Dixon Line. This is supposed to be the line that separates the north from the south. So, I'm supposed to be southern. (Except in the Civil War... you know the whole "Maryland was forced to stay in the Union." )

Did you notice that it listed Missouri as one of my places? Does that mean I speak like Fred? Please don't tell him... I give him such a hard time about being from "misery." I know it's not pronounced that way, but I love giving him a hard time. Then there's the whole "show me state" nickname. I have so much fun with that. If he knew about this... I'd never live it down. LOL

I'm hoping to actually put some content here...

Things are so busy, that I wrote last week's post on Monday and didn't get it posted until Thursday. I really was hoping to put in some more content, but I forgot what I was going to put in there... Sorry about that.

I took off work yesterday. I had looked at my schedule and seen that it's the only day in October that I wasn't completely swamped. I decided I needed the day off. I got to watch The Little Mermaid. Fred had brought it home for me on Tuesday. On Monday he brought me home The Lake House. (This is my husband's way of getting me flowers. I don't like getting flowers because they die...) He actually watched The Lake House with me. Isn't that sweet? I did a little bit of knitting yesterday. I did enough to catch me up with what I had to take out on Tuesday night. I was really into the newest episode of the Gilmore Girls. I was putting my increases and decreases in the wrong section and ended up with some strange shape. (It was supposed to be a rectangle with diagonal stripes.) LOL

Fred really wanted to watch a new show on Monday. It's called Heroes. It was a pretty good show. It wasn't Gilmore Girls or Charmed. LOL Heroes is definitely aimed at comic book fans. Fred loved it!

Right now, I'm listening to Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Has anyone here ever heard of them? They are a punk cover band. I really love hearing old favorites in punk. My favorite has got to be My Favorite Things from the Sound of Music. It makes me type so much faster! LOL

This past weekend...

This weekend was great!!! We went shopping in olde town Fredericksburg. Lot of walking and neat little stores. I loved it. Fred and I went alone on Saturday. I found Vera Bradley bags! I bought tons of them (Man! I'm so poor now!) LOL My favorite Colorway is Alpine Black. On saturday we bought the Villager, The Vera, the Zip Around Wallet and eyeglass case. I was going to use the Villager as a purse. It's a bit big, but I like the size of the straps. Well, on this street there are two (yes, you heard me! TWO) vendors that sell VB! I didn't even go into the second one because I already bought plenty of bags. :) Well, Sunday Mom decides that she wants to get a VB backpack. So, we head back to that lovely, lovely street. Well, the place I spent so much money is closed. So I take her to the other place on the street. Where I see the Hipster. It's absolutely perfect! Good size and perfect strap. Of course I had to buy it!!! I also got a cute little change purse to match. And an id case... My mom bought her first VB. I'm so proud of her. She got the backpack in New Hope. (which of course is being discontinued.) So, Fred bought her the little wallet to go with it.

I finished the baby blanket!!!! :) I'm so happy! I'm glad to be done with it.

Enjoy all the links. :)

Monday...

Here it is Monday and I'm in a really good mood. Isn't that strange? I hate Mondays. I hate workdays! But, I'm in a pleasant mood today...

Here are things that are NOT going to spoil my mood:

- I don't find out until 7 am today (when I get to work) that I'm expected to work an extra hour today to attend BioPsych. (I guess that means MORE comp time that I can't really use.)

- There is a hitch in the office space issue. It's all up in the air right now, but I have every confidence that the department chair will figure it out. She understand that it's NOT working for me to be in the basement lab with the surgeries, perfusions and microtome surrounding. Not to mention students testing rats...

- I can't go to lunch at Cerro Grande today because of time issues with when people need the brain cart. I get a little over an hour in between, but my mom has a meeting today and her free times don't coincide with my free times.

- After a long drive to pick up food and bedding on Wednesday, I will have to be back early for lab. Hence, I will probably be putting in more than an hour of comp time on Wednesday.

- Fred has a night job tonight and I won't be sleeping well. Tomorrow is a superbly busy day and I will be exhausted.

- It's still way too dark in the morning. I can't wait for Daylight Savings time. (End of October, in case you don't keep up with it the way I do.)


Here are the things that will help me keep my current good mood:

- Today is not Tuesday. :)

- I get to go to Cerro Grande for lunch next Tuesday for a friend's birthday! (One that I never get to see anymore...)

- I got to name a cat. :)

- I bought the yarn from Crazy for Ewe for the cardigan this weekend.

- I got to go to AC Moore's and Hancock Fabrics in Fredericksburg, VA this weekend.

- I did some more rows on the baby afghan. It's really coming along. (That really means that I will be able to start on the cardi!)

- I got Fred to help me do a bit of cleaning this weekend. :)

- I slept amazingly well last night. I don't sleep well anymore, so this is quite a feat! :)

- Today is a beautiful day! I love this weather. I love fall! :)

- Fred is NOT working this weekend and we are going camping! (I think that ppsassygirl and her beau should join us this weekend.) (WE HAVE MARGARITAS!)

Lady Eleanor

I really want to make a Lady Eleanor Stole. I'm bidding on this yarn for it. I think it will be really pretty in that yarn. I would have waited to buy it, but sometimes you see such good prices on eBay. I love it when people get rid of perfectly good stuff! LOL

I also really want to make a Cardigan from the book Big Girl Knits. I was eyeing that book in Crazy for Ewe when Fred was with me and he bought it for me. I can't really show a very good picture of the Cardi. If you click on that link, it's the blonde girl in the striped front sweater. I'm also going to make the Natalie coat from that book. I had bought some superwash wool for another project. But, it was too dark, so i'm going to use it for the Natalie Coat.

I'm still being very good and working on the baby blanket. I have 55 rows to go. The baby shower won't be until after the Neuroscience conference so, I have plenty of time! :) (For the cake maker, that means mid to the end of October.)

This weekend was horrible! No electricity for a couple of days (I think that's why I have all these new projects planned!) My parent's basement flooded. The animal lab flooded (including cricket soup in a fluorescent light fixture... yummy!) I've put in several (up to 6) hours of comp-time. I have to stay an extra hour today and my day is packed with meeting people for different things! I guess that means I can't really say any more here today. I hope things slow down soon!!!

Baby Blanket...

I'm still working on that baby blanket. I am forcing myself to get it done before I go back to any of my other projects. I'm doing really well with that part. So, instead... I have days where I don't knit at all. I have done 194 rows out of about 200. I'm over half-way there. Why can't I just finish it? I think a part of it has to do with the fact that the person I'm making it for doesn't like me. I think that's making it harder. Otherwise, I would really enjoy knitting it. I'm doing a cabled blanket in a mint green color. I love making cables. They are a lot of fun. I like the color I'm working with. We all know i'm partial to green. :) The Knit Picks needles are wonderful. I don't know how I ever survived without them. So, why can't I just finish this blanket????

I hurt my shoulder/back. I pulled a muscle lifting heavy items at work. I didn't even feel well enough to play World of Warcraft. Fred was so lonely without me. I have almost a whole level of "rested xp" saved, so I should be level 43 in no time. :) I finally played again last night. The muscle is feeling much better than it was... I don't have to take the muscle relaxer and pain pill anymore. The days that I was on the medicine, I hallucinated heavily. That was really strange. I would be partially dozing off and would scare myself awake. I would hallucinate about falling down or something and I would startle myself. It was a weird three days! LOL

Jesse just started 6th grade. He's in middle school. He is already losing papers. I don't have any idea what to do with him. I set him all up to be organized, but when he's at school, he just can't seem to do it. :( Poor baby!

Good news!!! I'm getting an office at work soon. I will no longer have my computer, etc. in the lab. I think that will help me find time to blog more often. I might even answer an email from a friend now and then. LOL

Need sleep...

Do you ever have someone in your life that just absolutely will not let you sleep??? I have many. Way too many...

The first is Christine Feehan- I've read ALL her books, so I'm safe from her until lemme see.... uhhh... Sept 4th. (Guess that's not really all that safe. LOL) But, after that I'm safe until October 31st.

Then Kate Forsyth makes me loose a lot of sleep. I've read all of her books as well so I'm safe from her until... well, i can't really find out when the third book of Rhiannon's ride comes out. So, I'm safe for a bit. LOL

My latest problem is Anne Bishop. I am so far from being safe... I have read all of the black jewels trilogy. It was really good. Then when I saw Pillars of the World, I thought it would be harmless. I haven't sleep this week!!! I'm so stuck in that book! I love it!!! Now I'm not safe at all. I'm going to have to hope on over to Amazon.com and buy some more of her books. Will I ever sleep again???

You Are: 20% Dog, 80% Cat

You are are almost exactly like a cat. You're intelligent, independent, and set on getting your way. And there's no way you're going to fetch a paper for anyone!

Are You More Cat or Dog?

I haven't been updating. I haven't been doing anything interesting. I did do a bunch of shopping this weekend in Fredricksburg. I'm doing a little knitting. Most of my free time is spent keeping my husband happy playing World of Warcraft. I admit. It's fun. :) We have an awesome guild and have lots of fun playing. I got this quiz from Eva's blog. :) Thanks Eva! I agree with Eva, I really really really want the KnitPicks bag (including purse), magnetic board and matching needleset. Now, I just have to figure out how to convince Fred to let me spend that much. He knows how much I love knitting and how much I love things to match. (Well, maybe not in my home decor.) He does like his monitor and speakers, etc to match his computer. Maybe I'll use that against him. LOL

My too short weekend...

We had a long weekend from work. We got off Monday and Tuesday for the holiday. So, why did it seem like the weekend was so short? I loved being home. I didn't get any sewing done (which I had hoped to do.) I didn't get any knitting done (I was hoping again...) But, I did get my house clean. It was really nice to be home and have the time to clean my house. My cleaning was a bit hampered by the two extra dogs that are currently residing in my house. My parents are on vacation (I was supposed to go, but couldn't afford it...) and I have their two dogs at my house. These are feet dogs. They have to be under my feet everywhere I go. It makes the cleaning a tad bit harder.

My parents are camping at Niagara Falls. I really wish I could have gone. Luckily for them, I didn't. They called me Sunday and told me that their tags for their truck were expired. I spent half of my day on Monday getting it taken care of for them. I hate running my own errands and I had to spend the first day of my holiday running someone else's errands. Grrr!!! I wasn't too happy about that.

I actually got to spend time with my husband yesterday. I have only got to see him for a few minutes a day lately. With all the flooding north of us, he's been working until really late every day. I'm glad that we will be getting the money, but I miss my hubby! :(

I really don't know what else to say. My life is boring!!!!

I am the worse blogger ever...

I don't even know why I keep this thing. I so rarely update. All I can say is that I keep busy (much, much, much too busy!) I have the entire Division Office at work full of boxes of stuff that I had to buy with the end of the fiscal year money. I hated the shopping part and I hate the putting away part even more. There are tons of boxes and they are upstairs. Which means I have to carry all those boxes downstairs... :( I have spent this entire week working on updating the operant boxes and will be at work all day tomorrow (Saturday.) Why a Saturday you ask??? Because being low man on the totem pole means that I'm not allowed to use the room when it interferes with someone's precious testing or surgery. I have to work on the weekend. We all know that I will get fussed at when I try to use that comp time. That's the way it works around here.

I can't even knit in the evenings. My hands are so sore from putting connectors and spade terminals on wires. :( They have to be squeezed on with a crimping tool. My left hand is still too weak to do it. This causes my right hand to have to do most of the work. So both hands are sore from this ordeal and I have more to do tomorrow. I'm really not looking forward to it. I'm very tired and really don't want to work tomorrow.

I can't wait until next weekend. I signed up for a lace knitting class. It's going to be taught by Annie Modesitt. I'm really excited to meet her. I wonder if I will see dumb if I take her book with me and ask her to sign it. I really hate making myself look dumb. (But, I'm really good at it too!)

I know this is short, but it's really all I can muster. I have to go and start carrying boxes and changing bedding and changing bottles and I may never leave here today! :(

It's been a long time again...

I keep waiting a really long time to update this blog. My only excuses are that I've been very busy and very grumpy. It seems that I'm grumpy all the time lately. I think it's work. I used to love my job. I loved coming in to work everyday and seeing what the day would hold for me. Even on my busy days when I already knew what I had to do, I still loved coming here. That was before we got an extra person in the lab. I think this person has some kind of problem. One day she will be really nice to me and the next she will be really short and snappy. I feel like I'm a second-class citizen because I have to do all the grunge work. I don't have a precious PhD. I don't teach classes. I am the slave. Maybe it's me. I guess I need to get a little thicker skin. I know that I take things personally, but I try to be nice to people ALL THE TIME, not just when I'm in a good mood (which doesn't seem to happen to this person often enough.) I know everyone is probably getting tired of reading all my whining, but it's been a horrible year. Hell, it's been a horrible couple of years. At least last year it was just problems at work. Now I have all the crap at home too.

More bad news... My A/C at home is broken. As many of you know, I hate being hot. It makes me grumpy. (So, we add that to the previous grumpy, and we get...) :::sigh::: I don't have the money to fix it and I don't know what I'm going to do at this point... I've already cancelled my vacation for this year. Which means that I don't even have a week this summer to look forward to not having to deal with work. :(

Okay... that's enough of the bad news. (How much bad news can you really take at once?) The good news is that Jesse graduates from the 5th grade next Friday. That's only one week that he has to make it through and we are done for the year. I always thought that celebrating a 5th grade graduation was silly, but I'm celebrating because I had no idea if we'd even get here... :)

Now back to the grumbling!!! It's the end of the fiscal year. Unlike cara_angelica, I hate the end of the fiscal year. It's summer, so I'm extremely busy and then add on to trying to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars!!! I don't have time for this. I worked two extra hours last week and then got fussed at (by email of course) for leaving early. Same person as mentioned in the first part of the post.

More good news... (I thought you might be enjoying the yo-yo thing I've got going on...) I'm going to the movies with my husband and a friend from his work tomorrow. Jesse has a school field trip (He's on restriction for the previous entry or else we'd take him to see the movie too). We have the whole day to ourselves. We are going to see X3! :) 1:30 tomorrow... anyone else want to tag along????

My child...

My child got suspended from school for today. He collected rocks and brought them into the classroom. Several of the kids were throwing rocks. Another kid got hurt. The principal said that Jesse didn't throw the rock that hurt the other kid, but he was throwing rocks and he was the one who brought the rocks in. I'm very upset. I don't have any idea what to do about my kid... :(

No more searching for a place to sleep...

My days of not having my own bed when I am camping are over!!! :) Fred and I bought a pop-up camper this weekend. It's used. It's a 1993. It needs some work, but it was a good price and the work it needs is all minor. :) We've been working on it every evening this week. It's sitting in my yard right now. I'm going to go camping this weekend. No husband... no kid... no animals. I don't even know what I'm going to do with myself! :) I've very excited.

Clapotis progress: I dropped my first stitch. (I told my mom this and she asked "On purpose?" LOL) My yarn doesn't drop so well. The yarn it calls for is wool and silk and my yarn is wool and alpaca. I have to tease it a bit to get it to drop. But, it is pretty. I also found another person on the Clapotis mailing list from Southern Maryland. What a small world! :) She just finished her Clapotis this weekend! I really want to use the yarn it calls for next time. I think I've decided on the Aslan colorway. It looks so classy. :)

I had a very busy weekend. Jesse had a soccer game on Saturday morning. They played the same team as last week. I hate this team. The parents are horrible. They act as if their children are playing professional soccer. The coach is horrible. He threw his clipboard when it looked like our team had scored one (to tie it up.) ... He made the kids to 50 push-ups for something stupid... and he told one of his players to act like our team was tripping him (this I heard from an eavesdropping 10 year old)... The players on the team push and make sure they are offsides when the other team might score. Then we went to a graduation party for sleepygrl25 at ppsassygrl's house and finally got to meet fairouz. Apparently the party really got started after I left. :( (At least that's the blog-land consensus!) I had to leave early because I promised my dad we would go to his show for the Knights of Harmony. The singing was good, but the seats were horrible. We didn't get home until 1 am!!!

Sunday was Mother's Day. We went to the Fractured Prune with Mom, Dad, Victor, Jenny and Sydney. It was really yummy. Then we stopped on the side of Route 4 to buy a camper (see above.) :) It was a really big weekend for us!

My yarn...

I'm using Serendipity by Dancing Fibers. This is the only link I have been able to find for it online. Ellen at Crazy for Ewe had it in her store. The one on the bottom left is the colorway I'm using for Clapotis. The top right colorway is the KISS purse. This yarn is incredibly soft. I already want to do another Clapotis in the reds and blues on the bottom right... and the bottom middle... and one to match my KISS purse... LOL The yarn is so soft that I could spend hours running my fingers through it. I've searched eBay and can't find it there either and I only left Ellen with 2 skeins of the colorway for the KISS purse and one of the Clapotis colorway (in case I need more... LOL)

Wow... Long post...

I am feeling a bit better. I've given the wallowing up. It takes up too much time. I had a very eventful weekend which helped to keep my mind off of things...

On Saturday, we had to get up early and be at the soccer field at 7:30 am. I have decided that this is much too early to be out of my house on a Saturday. Admittedly, I am usually up at this time on the weekends, but I'm usually sitting on my couch enjoying some hot tea and knitting on my latest project. Jesse had his game at 8:30 and had to have his picture taken before the game. Jesse is not one of those stellar players. He wants to sign up every year, but he wants to spend his time on the sideline. I'm not really sure his reasoning for all this, but that's what he likes. I can only surmise that it's the social aspect of the soccer team, but I fear that my family is right and he just wants to the orange slices he gets during half-time and the snacks he gets after the game. When he was smaller he thought you only got the snacks if you won the game. Personally, I hate sports. I hate watching all sports safe Hockey. I'm not sure what it is about Hockey, but I really love it. Soccer, I only watch when my son is playing. So, I started my next project. (Without completing any others of course.) I'm working on Clapotis from Knitty.com. I have been in love with this project since the first time I saw it, but couldn't justify spending the amount needed for the yarn it called for. I had been buying other yarn to get it to work out. I didn't like any of them. Then I found this obscure (at least it must be because that's the only link I can find for it online) at my LYS. I bought some for a different project. I was happily working along on it and decided it would make the best Clapotis. So, I bought (or sent Fred to pick up) enough yarn for the Clapotis. In the end, I spent as much (or more) on that yarn. Especially if you add the other yarn I bought to try it with that never worked out... I guess I can't be a yarn snob and cheap. :( (Wow! That was quite an aside...)

After Jesse's game, we headed down to Fredericksburg to go camping. I was happily knitting along on Clapotis when I realized I had made an error. And I finally figured out how my stitches were twisted when I was knitting, so Jesse unknit it for me and I started all over again...

The weather was warm and it was beautiful. Then... it got cold. Jesse didn't pack any pants. I had to run out to the store at 8 pm (when everyone else was sitting down to dinner) and find him some sweatpants. Mind you, I hadn't eaten since noon and we had gone swimming. I was halfway to the store and realized that I had no business driving. I'm sure I looked like I was drunk. Hypoglycemia really sucks! Somehow I made it back to the campsite with sweat pants. I got a little dinner and sat by the campfire for a little while. Everyone went to bed and Fred and I were sleeping in the tent. On our site, the only place to set up the tent was on the gravel. Not too bad when you have an air mattress. Not so good when you have an air mattress with a hole in it! I woke up two hours later (2 am) because I was really uncomfortable on the gravel. I grabbed my blanket and pillow and went to try to sleep in the backseat of my car. I get settled in and realized that I had to pee. I went to the camper and found out the door was locked! Luckily, my brother was awake because he also had to pee and let me in. I went back to try to sleep in my car. My back started hurting because I couldn't stretch out. I tried to the door to my dad's big truck. Unlocked! I thought "Finally, a bit of luck!" I tried to lay in there, but still the same problem. Guess that's what I get for being 5 ft 6 in and 2 in above the average height for a female. If I were shorter, I'd be happily asleep. Then it hit me... Victor and Jenny bought a hammock I'll sleep there. Little did I know that it was a evil hammock possessed by the cruelest demon imaginable! I tried to get comfortable and it flipped completely over and threw me on the ground. Now, I'm a stubborn person, so I wasn't going to let that deter me. I tried again. This time (I have no clue how it's even possible) it rocked up on it's end (it had the metal bars. And threw me out again. Resigned, I went back to the gravel. I played on my gameboy. (It was very dark out.) Then just laid on the gravel wishing the sun would come up so I could at least knit. I'm laying there staring at the door when my husband's big dog walks over to the door and starts smelling at the zipper to the door. Next thing I know... "ZIP!" He opened the door with his nose and was gone... I had to wake my husband up so we could go and chase the dog down right before sunrise... My husband (who can sleep anywhere and was asleep on the gravel...) and I caught the dog and chained him up over by the campfire. So I sat and waited for the sun and he went to sleep in the chairs... (Let me tell how infuriating I'm finding this super ability of my husband's at this point...) Good think my knitting needles (that I'm now holding and waiting for the sunshine) are wood... That's all I'm gonna say... Good thing they are wood and I didn't want to break them!

I'll bet you are tired just reading this entry! I feel tired thinking about it all again. But, on the way back home, hubby and I finally got our hiking boots... :) I got Clapotis past the part where it was when I let Jesse unknit it for me! I think unknitting is his specialty! :) I have my doctor's appointment today where I should get cleared to lift things again... I'm looking forward to that. I slept from the time I got home yesterday (got up for an hour) and went back to sleep until I had to get up and come to work this morning. I love my bed! :)

Over a month...

It has been over a month since I last posted. I'm the worst blogger ever. I don't know why I haven't posted. I'm guessing I've just been entirely too busy wallowing. I'm usually not much of a wallower, but sometimes it has to be done. Life is kicking me in the head right now. You know about the illness I suffered a little while back, the surgery about 5-6 weeks ago and my grandmother passing away. But, there's more, oh so much more... :(

First... This is my son's father. He has to report to prison today. That's six years that my son will be without his father. That's six years that my husband and I won't get any child support. It's horrible and crazy. My son is having such a hard time. He's acting out in school and at home. I am at a loss as to what to do to help him.

Second... The gastro specialist is talking surgery. I don't have six weeks of leave left to consider getting the surgery. I'm supposed to go to Georgetown for a consultation with the surgeon. I don't want another surgery... :(

Third... My laptop, much like my body has decided to fall apart. I took her to the geek squad and really hope they figure out how to help the poor darling. She's only two years old. Such a short life. Wish me luck on her getting better. My husband and I want to play World of Warcraft, but we can't until Daisy (that's my laptop) gets better...

Okay... Apparently, I'm still wallowing... (Sorry!)

On a better note, I can knit again. I keep attempting lace over and over again. I have no clue why it's not working for me. I really wish I could figure it out. I'm so stubborn. I keep on trying...

Back at work...

I came back to work last Friday. But, I have been busy ever since. :( This is the first quasi-break I've had so far. Honestly, between the 5 students and 3 faculty members, things seemed to have gone pretty well at work. I didn't come back to a monstrous pile of dishes (which is always nice!) I have nightmares when I'm not here about the piles of dishes that I will come back to. I'm so glad to know that everyone can pitch in and take care of things for me. I guess that means that I am replaceable. It just takes 8 people! LOL

Met with my supervisor yesterday for my evaluation. I received the "Expected Level of Performance." I have resigned myself to be average. I'm okay with average. The last couple of years, I took being average really poorly. I'm proud of myself this year, no crying and no going home to sleep off the crying (not like I have the leave left for that!)

My finger is healing nicely. It turns out that I will not be able to fully use it until six weeks after the surgery. The joint itself doesn't hurt. Every once in a while it gets a little sore depending on how much I use it. I'm allowed to use it some, but I need to be careful not to over-do it. The incision isn't healed yet. I go the stitches out on Monday. They used nylon stitches. The stitches were the worse part as far as I'm concerned. They were too hard and they pulled too much. The incision is at the base of my thumb and it's a really bad area. Part of the cut is still partially open. The doctor's office gave me these things that look like little pieces of tape. I call them my sticker stitches. I have to use them for about three more days. They are much less painful than the nylon stitches. So, now all I have on the incision is those sticker stitches on the one side and a band-aid to keep the dirt out. I try to take the band-aid off for a while in the evenings so that it can get air, but it feels really weird not having anything on it. I have these really horrible pictures in my head of the incision pulling open and my thumb falling off. I know that's not going to happen, but I guess I'm being a bit of a baby. I'm also being a baby because I haven't been able to knit for two weeks!!! :( I might try a bit of knitting and see if it doesn't hurt too much after I stop using the sticker stitches and the incision seems to have healed. I really can't wait for that. I'm tired of "picking my nose." LOL

Well, I think I've droned on enough about my miserable life. I'm sure you are all bored to tears. Don't get the tears on the keyboard. They are a pain to clean out and you don't want to mess up your keyboard because I'm so boring! :)

A very bad month...

March has been horrible to me. I got a stomach bug. I had a fever, vomiting and diarrhea. It's been really bad. The vomiting and the fever went away. The rest still hasn't gone away. It's been two weeks. My doctor is thinking I have IBS since this has been an ongoing and frequent theme in my life. :( Tomorrow is my surgery and I have no idea how long I will have to be out of work. I know I won't be at work on Thursday, Friday or Monday. Wednesday is my first post-op appointment and I'm really hoping that things go well enough that I don't have to take too much time off. I had to use sick leave all last week and that has nearly used up all my sick leave. I am really hoping they get everything figured out soon and that I will be all better and not have so many problems. I stayed relatively healthy for a long time.

More bad news... My memere (french for grandmother) passed away last week. I was unable to travel to Massachusetts to the funeral because I was too ill. At the time I would have had to leave, my doctor was considering hospitalizing me. I am going to miss my memere. She was a very sweet lady and I loved her greatly.

I'm very excited about the brunch at ppsassygrl's on Saturday. And then Saturday evening, my entire family is going to Medieval Times. We even bought royalty tickets so we get to sit in the front row! That's very exciting. :)

Fred was really sweet while I was sick. He was stuck working 12-13 hour days everyday, so I didn't get to see much of him. I was a pain because I was miserable and scared. (I'd never been that sick in my entire life.) He bought me "Pride and Prejudice", "Walk the Line", "Sense and Sensibility" and "Prime" to watch this weekend. They were all really good movies. I watched "Pride and Prejudice" twice this weekend and am dying to get another copy of the book. I really want to read it again. Yesterday we picked up "10 things I hate about you", "Karate Kid", "Say Anything" and Season 4 of Charmed. So those should help me keep busy after the surgery. I also bought "Jane Eyre", "Mansfield Park" and "Sense and Sensibility" to keep me busy reading. But I will look forward to calls from friends while I'm home. I promise I won't keep you on the phone long because I'm not much of a phone talker. But it will be nice to hear some voices. :)

Okay... Well, don't expect another entry for a couple of weeks while I'm recuperating! :)

Type two...

I took a cute little personality test. It was easy. Here's the results. What do you think? Is it me?

the Helper Test finished!

you chose CX - your Enneagram type is TWO. "I must help others" Helpers are warm, concerned, nurturing, and sensitive to other people's needs. How to Get Along with Me Tell me that you appreciate me. Be specific. Share fun times with me. Take an interest in my problems, though I will probably try to focus on yours. Let me know that I am important and special to you. Be gentle if you decide to criticize me. In Intimate Relationships Reassure me that I am intersting to you. Reassure me often that you love me. Tell me I'm attractive and that you're glad to be seen with me. What I Like About Being a Two being able to relate easily to people and to make friends knowing what people need and being able to make their lives better being generous, caring, and warm being sensitive to and perceptive about others' feelings being enthusiastic and fun-loving, and having a good sense of humor What's Hard About Being a Two not being able to say no having low self-esteem feeling drained from overdoing for others not doing things I really like to do for myself for fear of being selfish criticizing myself for not feeling as loving as I think I should being upset that others don't tune in to me as much as I tume in to them working so hard to be tactful and considerate that I suppress my real feelings Twos as Children Often are very sensitive to disapproval and criticism try hard to please their parents by being helpful and understanding are outwardly compliant are popular or try to be popular with other children act coy, precocious, or dramatic in order to get attention are clowns and jokers (the more extroverted Twos), or quiet and shy (the more introverted Twos) Twos as Parents are good listeners, love their children unconditionally, and are warm and encouraging (or suffer guilt if they aren't) are often playful with their children wonder: "Am I doing it right?" "Am I giving enough?" "Have I caused irreparable damage?" can become fiercely protective Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele The Enneagram Made Easy Discover the 9 Types of People HarperSanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages You liked the test? so please RATE it :-) You are not completely happy with the result?! You chose CX Would you rather have chosen: AX (SEVEN) BX (NINE) CY (SIX) CZ (ONE)

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 0% on ABC You scored higher than 30% on XYZ

Link: The Quick and Painless ENNEAGRAM Test written by felk on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

It's been too long...

I guess without ppsassygrl here to remind me to update my blog, I just don't do it. In my defense, things have been crazy for me. Shortly after the last update, I developed some kind of bump in my left thumb joint. It's been painful. I haven't been able to knit (I did get that Nantasket Basket done. I also got another one done in shades of green in Cascade 220.) I have been to the doctor's, gotten a sonogram done on my thumb and have been to an orthopedic doctor. I have a cystic lesion. It's some kind of cyst thing in the bone. I have to have surgery on March 16th. She's going to remove the cyst and adjust the pulley in my left thumb. I will have to go two weeks without being able to use that thumb. I'm very unhappy about that. I actually cried when she told me. I won't be able to knit and I won't be able to do my job at work. I'm such an independent person that I have the worse time with this. I was miserable when I couldn't knit because of the pain in the thumb. I'm going to have to figure out how to knit without my left thumb.

I'm totally obsessed with the Nantasket Basket. I have finished two already. I have one on the needles that is almost finshed. And have yarn to make about 7 more. They are so much fun to make. I wonder when I'll get tired of the pattern (prolly never!) LOL I also bought the stuff to make myself a purse. The KISS purse by Sally Melville. I had bought a varigated in shades of blue and green. I had originally bought some light green Cascade 220 to go with it, but I have decided that I want to use Onxy by Lamb's Pride. But, of course the LYS is sold out of it. I was hoping to have it completed before my surgery! But, it doesn't look like that will happen. :(

I hope everyone enjoyed the long post. Wish me luck in my surgery. I'll try to update again before then! :)

Nantasket Basket...

I had told myself that I was going to finish some old projects and not start any new projects. I was wrong. I was home alone Saturday and had every intention of working on some of those projects that have been sitting half done. I was really planning on figuring out a particular hard band on Heirloom Christmas. It's that band where I cut the fabric before I stitch it. It's kind of scary to me and that project has been sitting for over a year! But, I couldn't bring myself to do it...

Instead... I started my Nantasket Basket. I used the Winter Night and Mulled Wine. It turned out really pretty. I haven't felted it yet because I don't have a zippered pillowcase. I heard that someone messed up their entire plumbing system from felting stuff at home. I don't have the money to replace my plumbing system, so I will wait to felt it, but it turned out great. I think I want to make one for my mom and my brother's girlfriend. I think I may make one for my son's teacher as well. I don't know her favorite colors, so Jesse is supposed to find out the colors we should use.

Jesse was in a school play last night. He played the horse's head for a Johnny Appleseed skit. It was really cute. Jesse did a good job. :)

As always, work has been crazy and this week is taking forever to be over!!!! I'm so glad tomorrow's Friday. Fred gets paid and I'm going to order the yarn for mom's and Jenny's basket. :)

I tried lace knitting on the Adamas Shawl from Knitpicks. But, I can't seem to get the hang of it. My YO's twist too much and I can't find my stitches. :( I think it may have something to do with the way I knit... I think Eva should tell me how she does it! :)

No more ponytails....

I got my hair cut. :) I have a much shorter style now. The lady cut off 5 inches of hair. No more ponytails! :)

Saturday, my hubby and I went shopping. We went to Prince Frederick (small town only about 40 min away.) They have a great used bookstore there. I love the used bookstore. I never remember to get my books together to get a credit. I just keep buying more. We also went to Fashion Bug there. I was looking for a particular sweater. Instead of finding that sweater, I bought three new shirts that were on clearance. I just love clearance! :)

We also went to Lowe's this weekend. I have a shelf up in my utility room. I have been wanting one forever. Fred finally decided that he would put it up for me. I don't have to have all my laundry accoutrements on my dryer anymore. It makes it much easier to clean out the dryer filter!

The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning. The boys both got to leave the house to do fun things on Sunday. I was stuck home cleaning. :( I didn't even get any time for doing any crafts.

I bought some cool origami stuff on eBay today. I can't wait until it gets here! (Shhh... Don't tell the hubby!)

Not quite right...

Your Scholastic Strength Is Developing Ideas

You can take a spark of inspiration and turn it into a full fledged concept. You are talented at brainstorming, visualizing, organizing, and independent thinking. You should major in: Natural sciences Computer science Creative writing Math Architecture Journalism

What Should You Major In?

Wow! This is so far off from what I do, but I didn't see any questions that would have included busting your ass, breaking your back and receiving little to no recognition. I also didn't find the working on weekends and holidays... Oh well! :)

Computer science is the field most of my family is in. I know I'm good with computers, but I just had to be different. Maybe that's why I make so much less money than they do! :)

Mysterious but boring... LOL

What is your sexual appeal?
brought to you by Quizilla


This is interesting. I know I've been described as aloof. Maybe I was really mysterious and not aloof. :) Thanks cara-angelica for the really great quiz. So, my life has been pretty boring lately. No big new purchases like cara-angelica (too poor for that). No big new jobs like ppsassygrl. Not even the excitement of going back to school like sleepgrl25.

I've made quite a bit of progress on piecing together that crocheted afghan. Otherwise all I really do is go through Sudoku puzzles. I found a good book at BJ's this weekend and have been spending all my time doing those puzzles. They really really really are addicting!!!!!

I hope everyone's life is much more exciting than mine.

Trying to do better...

I'm trying to do better with posting. I still think my life is boring. :) I've been reading about dinner parties that cara_angelica and ppsassygrl throw. I had to go and ask exactly what a dinner party entails. I've never been to one. cara_angelica says that they are just having people come over and cooking dinner for them. In that case I have tons of dinner parties! :) Yay! I'm not missing anything! :) In fact, this weekend I had a breakfast party. I have those frequently as well. My family finds out that I'm cooking my husband's favorite breakfast on the weekend and they all descend upon my house. They are insistent that I make the best sausage gravy and biscuits ever. :) I needed some furniture moved this weekend, so I had a breakfast party so that my brother would be there to help move furniture and spare myself some heavy lifting. :) Slick, aren't I? My mom and my brother's gf, decided to clean my kitchen (spotless!) while they were there. :) Not too shabby, eh?

Fred's big dog made my brother's gf's daughter (wow! possessive hell!) fall down and knock out her tooth. (the tooth was already loose...) She was playing outside and he was chained out. He tripped her with his chain. Fred has a very sweet dog, he's just really big and not really smart. I'm sure he couldn't tell where his chain was. In my defense, I did tell her not to play in the yard when the dog is chained out. But, she's six and chose not to listen...

I'm off tomorrow. I plan on doing some relaxing... :) I finished watching Season 5 of Gilmore Girls. I'm looking forward to the new episode tonight (finally!!!) I have 4 squares left to do on the kaleidoscope afghan, then I just have to attach 48 squares together!

A really long time...

It's been a really long time since I updated... I know, I'm horrible. I love reading everyone's updates, but I'm not nice enough to update my own blog. I guess I just really feel that I have nothing to say. I feel like if I go on about my life, I'm going to bore you all...

Christmas was really nice. I got "Tru Calling." Fred got me season 1 and my mil got me season 2. I watched that over the break. It was a great show. Fred also got "South Park" seasons 2 and 3 for me. I also got the last season of "Friends" and season 5 of "Gilmore Girls." I also got some books on stained glass. I'm dying to learn how to do it and my only option around here is to learn from a book. :( Lastly, I got some clothes and some books and videos on working with polymer clay. I had a great Christmas.

Over the break, I got a quilt that I had been working on for several years done. I also finally started sewing Jesse's rag quilt. It's all made with flannels that he picked out. And I'm down to having 5 more squares to crochet for an afghan I've been working on for a really long time. I started it a tad bit after Fred and I were married. If work would give me more time at home, I could get more projects done. LOL I did manage to get 21 hours of comp time over the holiday. :)

I can't really think of much more news to share. I hope everyone had a great holiday. I hope everyone is in good health! :)