For you knitters... (and for those who love a knitter...)

There is a great contest going on over at Shut up, I'm counting. Cass has made it to her 333 post. Wow! That is great! :)

And for those of you who love (or like works too) a knitter... Here is an awesome gift! I want everyone I know to send me one. :)

And again... (Warning- Vent in progress!)

I'm posting again. Mainly cuz I have something I have to get off my chest...

I am the one in charge of moving the lab into the new building. I am the one working every single day of the week. I am the one who did NOT get a vacation this year. I am the one that was here all summer... If I hear one more time about how stressed this stinkin' move is making other people that did not work all summer, only work part time now and can take off work when they want, I'm going to blow the top of my effin head off!!!!!

(That's all for now!- Back to our regularly scheduled happiness.) :)

This makes me smile. :)

Posting...

Sarah says that I need to post. She says there are all kinds of things I can talk about... I don't know.

My weeks have been crazy lately. Last week I went to NIH in Bethesda, MD to pick up some mice. One of my students is doing some behavioral testing on mice. He's looking at Bi-Polar disorder. It should be really interesting. The trip to NIH was crazy. I hate driving on the beltway. Do people really need to drive that crazy???? They have signs saying "Aggressive Driver Imaging in Use- For your safety." What exactly does that mean? Honestly, I don't think it's working.

I had to walk a lot. The NIH campus is horrible for parking. And then I had to follow this cute boy for miles. Kind of back and forth... All I can say is that at least I got to follow a cute boy (Don't tell my hubby!) LOL

This weekend was nice and relaxing. Tho, I did spend a good part of it upset with my hubby. On Friday night, I really wanted him to play World of Warcraft with me. Instead of playing with me, he took off to play with some people in our guild. It seems silly, but that upset me. He had plans all weekend (plans without me...) I don't think asking him to play a video game with me was asking too much. I am about the least needy female. I tell him to make plans to play with his friends. He goes out every Sunday to play a game with our friends. Nearly every Saturday he goes and play a war game with his friends. Most guys would love their SO to want to play video games with him... (I think what I'm trying to explain with this paragraph is that my husband is whacked in the head... I didn't hit him, honest!)

I read two books this weekend:
Lover Eternal by JD Ward and Lover Awakened by JD Ward. They were incredible books. I haven't read anything that good in a while. I stayed up until 3 am Friday night reading. I won an auction on eBay for the next two in the series. I paid for them this morning. I really hope they don't take too long to get to me...

Sunday, I made a big pot of chili. I love my chili. It's great because I know I don't have to cook the rest of the week. With it now just being the three of us again (SQUEE!), that pot will last us a while. Fred and I don't mind eating the same thing every night, but Jesse will be complaining very soon! We got tomatoes, tomato sauce and chili powder at BJ's. Fred said this will be a chili winter. Honestly, I don't mind at all. I spend all summer wishing it would get cooler so I can have chili. I did tell him that I will have to make my beef stew this winter. Beef stew takes all day because my stew meat has to practically melt in your mouth, or I'm not happy.

Okay, so I found some stuff to tell everyone... Nice.

I do have one confession to make... I haven't picked up knitting needles in a couple of weeks. I'm so failing the Secret of the Stole. :(

Meet Bigga...

This is Bigga. He's an attention hound. He doesn't understand that there are times when I am not ready to love on him.

He's very cute and cuddly. He has lots of silky fur.

This is Bigga when I am trying to sleep. (Please click link.)

Ravelry and ppl's blogs...

I finally got my Ravelry invite. I'm Devilwmn there as well. I have already joined 50 groups!!! It sucks up a lot of time. :)

I think very few people actually read my blog. Most of those that do know me in person. I read a lot of blogs. I really don't comment very often. I often feel when I comment that I'm sticking my nose into other people's business. When I was a kid, my mother's best friend had a dog that had puppies. One of the puppies was everyone's favorite, but they were pure-bred and needing the money, my mother's friend had to sell that puppy. Everyone was crying. I was with them in the car when they took the puppy to it's new home. I was crying too. I spent a lot of time there and loved that puppy just as much as everyone else. My mother's friend turned around and looked at me and said "Why are you crying? It's not your dog and you have no business being upset." I try to keep out of other's business. I find it very hard reading blogs and getting to know lots of things about people's lifes. I like to comment. Generally, I'm a pretty happy and empathetic person. I like to send my good thoughts out into the universe. Maybe the good vibes will get where they need to go. It doesn't hurt to try, right? But, every once in a while, I feel that maybe I shouldn't even be reading ppl's blogs. I had been reading a particular blog and commenting several times when the owner of the blog had a give away. I thought it was a contest like i see on several blogs. I commented. I figured if she was doing a drawing to give something away that I wanted, it wouldn't hurt... Boy was I wrong! She sent back... "What are you doing commenting on my blog. I don't even know you. This is for friends only." The thing of it is, she's a knitting designer. She had a lot of neat patterns for toys. I liked her patterns and was going to purchase some... Upon getting that email, I cancelled my bloglines subscription for her blog. I have not been back and that was a year ago. Now whenever I comment on blogs, I feel like an interloper. I'm very sad that someone could ruin it for me. :( Now I think I only regularly comment on blogs of someone who is a friend or someone that I know is okay with comments from me... Hi Chris! :) and Rhonda! :)

I've been slacking again...

I was doing so good posting for a while... Then I got busy... I'm back and am going to try to do better...

Tuesday, I took my boy to the airport. He's going to be in Kansas with his grandmother for a month. It takes me a while to get used to it. I'm usually starting to enjoy it when it's time for him to be back. LOL He had just gotten back from Boy Scout camp on Saturday afternoon. He left for Kansas a few days later. I feel like something is missing in my life. I pack my lunch in the morning and feel like I don't have something important. Normally, I cut him a piece of watermelon every morning. I go to bed at night and feel like I forgot to do something. I try to check on him when he isn't even there. :(

This is how we got him back from Scout Camp. Apparently, they didn't teach him how to duck. He was hit by a flying log. An adult leader was banging a log against a tree. (I guess to make it smaller for the camp fire.) A piece went flying and got Jesse right in the face. Luckily, nothing is broken. I just hope the log looks worse.

I was in the living room playing video games with my husband and roomate. When I got up to walk through the kitchen, I found this. I had to check to see if it was alive. Can you believe that any self respecting cat would lay like this? This creature is crazy! He's such a fat lazy cat. I love him! :)

Yesterday...

Yesterday I went to see a Midwife. I was looking for a new gyn because I'm not happy with the doctors in my area. I had been really bad and hadn't been for a couple of years. Not since I went to the health department last. I had insurance, I just didn't want to go to the gyn that did my grandmother's hysterecemy. My grandmother got a staff infection from that surgery and never really woke up again. :( So, I heard about this doctor that several of my friends really like. The doctor had a midwife that works with him. The receptionist asked me if I wanted to see her and I said "Sure, why not." I like things like that. They are unconventional by today's standards, but a way of life in the old days. That's why I like knitting and sewing so much. It's also why I heat my house with a wood stove in the winter. I have a furnace, but oil is expensive and I like the wood stove better. Not that I don't like new stuff too. I love my laptop, DVR and big flat screen tv. I love World of Warcraft, but I just like the old stuff to, so I'll pick and choice which older things I can happily live with and which I can't. :)

I don't think I've ever explained the irony of my nick. As many of you know, I'm a wiccan. Hence I don't believe in the devil. How could I? I would have to believe in the christian god in order for one of the fallen angels to exist. So, you may ask, why Devilwmn? I like the irony of it shortened like that. It's actually short for Devilish woman. With devilish ( adj. playful in an appealingly bold way; "a roguish grin" ) being an accepted word in the english language. I don't have to agree with the origin of it... :)

For Freak Knitter: This is the hair tie culprit. He's so adorable, that it hides his troublesome personality! LOL

Here's some of his most interesting pictures:

MeMe

This is my first ever MeMe... I read it on Scarlett's Blog... that makes me tagged...

Rules:

go to Wikipedia and type in your birthday month and day only. Then post 3 events, 2 births and one holiday that occurred on your birthday, then tag 5 friends

Events:

1. 1692 - A doctor in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony declares that three teenage girls are under domination of Satan, leading to the Salem witch trials.
2. 1855 - The Devil's Footprints mysteriously appear in southern Devon.
3. 2001 - Disney's California Adventure, a new Disney theme park opened in Anaheim, California.

Births:

1. 1828 - Jules Verne, French author (d. 1905)
2. 1851 - Kate Chopin, American author (d. 1904)

Holiday:

1. Nirvana Day - an annual Buddhist festival.

If you are reading this, you too are tagged... :) It's actually a lot of fun! :)

Trying something here...

So, I see all these blogs with pictures. I have never tried to put a picture on my blog. I want to. It's summer, work is slow. I think I'll give it a try. Here goes.... (wish me luck!)

I did it!!!! :) I feel so smart... s m r t!!! :) Now I have to get my digital camera and take tons of pics! But, until then, another animal pics (I have those in abudance!)

Isn't that a pretty belly button??? I always want to touch it, but Tao won't let me. :( He's such a tease...

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???