New job!

Woo! I got the job at the company I've been trying to get into for FOREVER, and after two days of work, I'm still excited to be part of the team. I have an office with a door, a window, and a phone. How cool is that?!

Stitches West went really well, but I'm kind of burnt out on doing customer service. I'm so tired of hearing old women say, "I've been knitting for 80 years," then ask me a rudimentary knitting question that could have been answered by reading the directions. And to top it off, they were tremendously rude to a bunch of people in the booth. I'm still blowing out red and blue fibers from when stupid people were waving skeins of angora in my face to ask how much it is.

I really enjoy running into people I know there, it's nice to touch base and catch up. I'm excited about Maryland, but I'm also a little worried, because Melinda says that it's even more work than SW. I was freaking exhausted after SW, and I have to go back to work Tuesday after Maryland. I have to sleep on the plane, or else I will be a dead rat on a stick.

I heart TiVo!

I know I've said it before, that we're living the life of the rich and famous since we got extended Basic Cable, and TiVo. But I had no idea that TiVo was so awesome.

I had lunch at home yesterday with my mom and Andrew (Andrew baked me a heart-shaped cake), and on my way back to work, Andrew called to tell me that we got streaming Broadway radio on the TiVo! Could my life be any better? I would have asked the TiVo to be my valentine if I hadn't already asked Andrew.

Facelift for my blog!

Not quite a facelift, perhaps more of a tummy tuck?

In any case, they should be quicker to load than the other icons, and despite the code being a little harder to scan, I think it's an improvement.

I'm working on a beeeeautiful golden yellow ribbon shell. It's getting lots of attention. The color is just striking. I think it would look better if I had a spray-on tan, but it's an extra expense so that's probably not going to happen. I'll take a picture, eventually. We all know I'm the worst knitting blogger and the worst dog mom because I'm lazy about taking pictures. It'll happen.

Weird dreams, part 3:

I attended a physics lecture by President Bartlet at a water park. The lecture was on a rapids type of ride, and President Bartlet was lecturing from an inner tube. It was AWESOME! The rapids were quick, and I was wrestling, high-school-flirting style with Josh Lyman in the rapids.

Except that the really cool part was that I am an ADULT in the dream, with my own place. So I say to Mr. Lyman, "You should come to my place." (I'm so bold in my dreams!) He agrees, and then I see the fin of a SHARK in the water.

I say, "Quick, we'll be safe on the linoleum!" and drag Josh into my kitchen. That's right, all of a sudden, the water park is the living room of my house, and LINOLEUM is the only thing that will save us. I'm bold, and a GENIUS in my dreams.

So, Josh and I are in the kitchen, with the dogs (whom I have pulled to safety from the carpet to the linoleum- and who are purebred chows instead of chow mutts), when I see the shark WALK THROUGH MY LIVING ROOM. ON LEGS. At which point I am so terrified of a shark that can mosey around my living room, that I wake up with a sudden start, expecting to see a shark with legs in my bedroom.

I am so amazingly cracked out, and I can't believe that my awesome Josh Lyman dream (in which I was so slick) was ruined by a damned land shark. GRR!

A feat of amazing knitterdom (and major FO)

Everyone knows that I knit in the dark. So, we went to see Brokeback Mountain, and I had Andrew's "Jeans" Lorna's Laces socks on the needles. So, in the dark, I knit the end of the cuff, turn the heel, pick up the instep stitches, and knit about five inches on the foot. ALL IN THE DARK! I'm pretty proud of myself. The world is mine!

The movie was sad, but pretty good. Not my favorite, but I have to say that watching Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhal get it on... pretty hot. But that's if you like man-on-man action. Which I do.

Making a complete 180, we've felt the knitting crunch, with Stitches West upon us. I finished my brown Tess ribbon shell, which is super cute. AND out of the UFO bin. That's right, out of my UFO BIN!!!

My dogs rule. They're super. I'm in a great mood, I've got a new job starting soon (woo!), and life is good. Except for having to stick to my budget at Stitches, things couldn't be better! (And it's about damn time!)

Awesome dream:

I had another sex dream about CSI's Nick Stokes. Obsessed? Maybe a little. But it's all about his man creases.

My dog loves Patsy Cline, and FO

So, this morning, as I was getting ready for work, Niki demanded affection. So, I started singing to him (because he demanded on being the center of attention), and I was singing Patsy Cline's "Only you". Well, the two lines that I know. His tail went NUTS! He was wagging like crazy!

So I'm going to sing "Stand by Your Dog" and see if it gets the same reaction. This is what happens when you leave a country station on for the dogs when you're not home.

Big FO!

The red ribbon tank is done! (For the show. It will have sleeves, but not for Stitches West.)

A Blockin' Good Time

So, last night we had a Stitches "Cram Session" at my house. This means, mid-week knitting in preparation for the Big Weekend. Cynthia brought her FINISHED! top pieces over to be blocked, and we pulled out the new Scunci steamer that I bought in December. It freaking RULES! Pics to be posted. Really.

I am the grandest nerd that ever there was

It's true.

Last night, I was folding laundry in the bedroom, with the TV on, and the preview for this week's CSI came on, and Lady Heather is making another appearance on the show.

I shrieked, having missed 90% of the spoiler due to folding, fly down the stairs (to my laptop) and cue up the preview that they posted online. Andrew asked what all the excitement was about, and I was like "Lady Heather! CSI! *squeal!*"

This was akin to the squealing I did in middle school over Dean Cain, from my favorite show (at that point), Lois & Clark. That's right, folks. I was the President of the Superman club. Jealous? I know you are.

My life doesn't revolve around CSI (I *heart* Tivo!), but damn do they have good looking men. Although the writing borders on horrid occasionally, it's a good kind of horrid. Except for when they referred to the fiber from goats as "angora".

Quick fiber lesson for non-nerds:

Angora comes from Angora bunnies. It's horribly expensive, and I am wickedly allergic to it.

Mohair comes from Mohair Goats. It's a breed of goat, like Merino is a breed of sheep.

Cashmere comes from Angora Goats. The higher altitude the goats live, the better quality the cashmere is. I know it's confusing, but seriously, it's not.

Aside from the "angora" episode that left me twitching, I enjoy the CSI. Can we talk about Nick Stokes' Super Trooper hair and mustache? Ick. If it weren't for his man creases, I would be entirely uninterested. Grissom I'll take bearded, unbearded, whatever, and Greg Sanders in any shade of "wierdness". (Sorry, I've been to Berkeley, I've seen wierder.)

On the same nerdly vein, I love Excel. It's magical to make graphs out of data.

So yeah, Andrew was a little surprised that I squealed over a TV show. Oh, and we're going to see Ron White when he comes to town.

.....They call me TATER SALAD!

Niki antics and FO

I have the cutest dogs ever. Seriously. Niki's latest thing is to jump on me (to get my attention), then sit (very quickly) so that I sit down and give him some affection. Now, bear in mind that he NEVER does this when I have time to actually sit and snuggle.

Noooo, he does this while I am trying to get ready in the morning, but obliging parent that I am, I sit down for a few minutes and snuggle my puppers. Then his sister bounds into the room, demanding affection. She sits, wagging her tail, with her ears tucked back (so all you see are big, brown eyes). If you don't pet her within what she considers to be a reasonable amount of time, she'll get up and stick her face in yours, to make sure that you've seen her. If again you fail to notice, she'll growl. Good times.

FO:

I wasn't great about keeping my New Year's resolution, but it was a half-off sale and I bought stuff for about 9 projects. (2 sweaters, 1 scarf, 6 pairs of socks) My FO is a pair of Lorna's Laces "Safari" socks for Andrew.

February, FO's, and stuff

So, my horoscope said to get rid of excess baggage, which means I'm returning the extra Lorna's Laces Sport that I got from the LYS that canned my friend.

Now, normally, I would just find a new home for the yarn, but it's like $100. You may wonder why I ended up ordering about $100 worth of extra yarn. I didn't know I could get a pair of socks out of one ball.

In all reality, I can't get a pair out of one ball, but basically, I can get the second sock down to the toe before the first ball runs out. So, I can go through my stash and stick odds and ends in for the toes, and get back $100 of my money.

I discussed this with the friend who got canned, and she says it's totally okay, because they hosed her. AND, they made that nasty remark that I posted about.

Additionally, I am in the works for getting rid of excess emotional baggage, in the form of the thing I alluded to. So I may be joining the ranks of David, Paul, Kai, and Billy fairly soon. In a totally different capacity than my friends, but still, it'll be freaking AWESOME.

Stitches West is nearly here, and I'm working my fanny off to get the red ribbon top done for Melinda at Tess Yarns. It's coming along really well, and will be a FO before the show. (That rhymes.)

FO:
I finished the Cherry Tree Hill Northern Lights socks that had been sitting on my dresser being an UFO since South Dakota, on Jan 31st, but since I'm lazy, I didn't post them until now. So they're officially a February FO.