Monday, December 29, 2008

Home again

After driving all day, we are back in our own home. It was a sad thing to leave a sunshiney Nova Scotia early this morning, the golden sun gilding the grass and trees. The good weather stayed with us for the whole trip and while its wasn't sunny the entire time, it was quite bright and clear with excellent roads.
First order of business upon pulling into the ice rink that is the driveway was to race (cautiously) for the door and cuddle my Newnie. Newman relaxed in my arms for several minutes, purring forgivingly while I crooned and scratched all his favorite spots. The other pets were unimpressed with our return, though I think Blossom would have been glad had she heard us. She's getting pretty deaf.
Now the guys are on the sofa laughing at a Cirque Du Soleil performance on TV, I am online, and Newnie is terrorizing Flash and Miss Kitty.
Its good to be home.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Monday from NS

HI! We are in Nova Scotia and while lovin' it (LOVIN' IT!), there are small things that are annoying. Like, why is so much of the beer selection in CANS? Eeeeww. That and I can't buy my beer at the grocery store, but in a store adjacent to the grocery store and y'all know how lazy I am.
I made a quick trip to Tangled Skeins today (yarn shop in Dartmouth) because I lost a 4.5 mm DPN. Seriously, I was heartbroken to require a trip to a yarn shop. I wept! REal tears! Ok...not foolin' anyone....
Lovely yarn lady there not only sold me my needles (Brittany 4.5 mm dpns) but also sold me 8 ( EIGHT) skeins of Warani in my favourite colour which I didn't buy when it was available in Montreal (colour: clover...a lovely green) and now its not available in Montreal and I has regrets. Not only that, but because she's havin' a sale this weekend, she sold it to me at the sale price of half off. Oh yes I did score 8 balls for the price o'four! Uh huh...thats right...yeah baby! I have plans too...it will be the body of a 3/4 length sleeved patterned yoke sweater for yours truly. I will coordinate the yoke colours from available Warani in Montreal. In my head its beautiful (and I am thin...).
We are now in our rented accomadations here in the NS. A cozy farm house in Pine Grove.
I am very happy and have maybe had a bit too much vodka too fast...but i am lovin' it.

Hugs All!!!!!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Hmmm......




You Should Be a Doctor



You are practical, sharp, and very intuitive.

Optimistic and energetic, you are a problem solver who doesn't get discouraged easily.

You are also quite compassionate and caring. You make people feel hopeful.

You're highly adaptable and capable. You do well with almost any curve ball life throws at you.



You do best when you:



- Are always learning new subjects

- Use your knowledge to solve problems



You would also be a good therapist or detective.

One week later........

Snowmageddon is on its way to Ontary-ario, snow is headed here come Sunday , I am headed east come Midnight. HA! Take that winter.
Can you believe the snow that hit Las Vegas! Holy Frak. I feel their pain I totally do although for Nevada folk it might be a fun novelty.
Newman was to the vet today for shots, poo examination, and to get some sores checked out. What we put down as cat acne appears to be a fungal infection and now with a new ointment (Surolan) to torture him with, twice a day, on any and all boo boos we find on him (face, foot, and possibly belly so far). NOT NICE, man. Poor guy and now we be leaving him to the tender mercies of the pet sitters who come a few times a day to care for the house and fur children.
Knitting: Finished Dad's hat and it was too big and I had to shrink it. Another good thing about wool: shrinkability. HA! Casted on a scarf and frogged it. Casted on last pair of mittens and had to frog them too. Need to finish the thumbs on Dad's mittens (Procrastination, thy name is Me).
We are so excited to head out tonight. I hope everyone who visits here has a wonderful holiday season, no matter how its is celebrated (or not celebrated). May you all have joy in your lives.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Winter Frustration.

Its been a bitch of a day. Its not even the middle of December and we are already into the white for good and I honestly don't know if I can handle another winter here with any semblence of grace, aplomb, or even sanity.
Lets take into consideration the fact that its the busy time of year at work for Hman and he is not around much to do manly things like snowblower the drive way. And he doesn't do a very good job anyways.
I had my first incident of being stuck in my driveway for the 2008-2009 winter. Why yes I did flip out, thank you for asking. I coulda gotten out but at the last second a #$%^^$%ing van came down my street and I had to hit my brakes. This meant that my momentum could not carry me through the snow that the plow has set at the end of my drive ONCE AGAIN. We are on a corner so not only do I get the snow from my street but the snow from around the corner as well. The neighbor tried to help me out but my suck ass winter tires had NO traction. He took my kid to school for which I thanked him while I started shovelling to free my stuck car. then i freed said car, parked on the street to clear the drive and another #$%^&ing plow came around the corner and filled in the end of the drive even worse than it had been before I cleared it. Thats when I started to cry. And swear more visciously and contemplate plane fare outta here. And cry more.
Yes. I stood in the fucking street with my snow scoop (because SOMEONE does not trust me to operate the blower) and I cried my heart out hopelessly. Because this is just the beginning. I have 5 months of this to look forward to. I cried while I scooped. I cried as I shovelled. I cried as I gave it up and went grocery shopping. I think I was pretty much done by the time I entered the Maxi. Hard to tell.
I think I deserve some liquor. And lots and lots of chocolate.

My Eyes Hurt

For two days I have been watching every episode of True Blood on the internet, with and without Chinese subtitles (stupid Blockbuster doesn't have the DVDs otherwise I could have watched it with much more comfort. Stupid Blockbuster. How could they NOT HAVE IT.
Sometimes I couldn't get full screen and had to strain my eyes with a wee little window to get my fix. I started in the morning and watched as much as I could all day. Did you know that some websites limit your free video watching and cut you off for an hour!!!? Bastards.
I'm hooked. Hooked I tell ya. 12 episodes in two days...my eyes hurt. And yet I crave MORE!!!!! MORE MORE MORE.
I "heart" Bill and Sam. I wish I had a hot vampire and a hot shape shifter fighting over me.
Is Sam leaving town? Will Bill and Sookie stay together? Will Tara pull her head out of her ass and stop yelling at everyone? Is Lafayette DEAD?? (please no please no please no no no)
I swear this is the best TV I have ever had. If Santa saw his way clear to putting Season One under the tree for me I would really be happy.
Down side of watching approximatly 11 hours of True Blood is that I started talking with a Southern accent but accident.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Best. Knit night. EVAH !!

Last Saturday my knitting friend Geeta and I pledged to attend Knit Night this evening in order to celebrate our mutual birthdays. Her's was the 3rd and mine is the 8th.
Tonight was that night. Lots of lovely knitter friends came to knit night to help us celebrate! I want to take this moment to say THANK YOU ALL! Its was lovely to share time with everyone and knit together (and nosh together and sip wine together....).
Ginette our mostest hostess provided wine and tortiere and quiche and a birthday cake that I had to forego because Hman had arrived to pick me up (see wine sipping comments above for why I didn't drive) and was NOT willing to park and come in since he had an extra kidlet with him (Ben had a sleep over friend). I'll get my slice tomorrow at work ( I HOPE!!). It looked sensational.
Geeta and I each had a gift for the other but hers totally blew mine out of the water. TOTALLY. We'd all planned to have a Noro Scarf KAL in January after all the Xmas fuss was over and we could selfishly knit for ourselves. Turns out that my Bombay Baby ( I know, I know... its Mumbai now) knit me the scarf. It was her plan all along and she was surprised to see me at the shop one evening in November picking out my yarn for the scarf. So she and Ginette kept it a secret and I have the most kick ass scarf ever (especially since I didn't have to knit it...scarves are way tedious but this one is soooo niiice). The Noro Silk Garden yarn is way softer than I thought it would knit it up to be and she used the yarn colours I had picked out. HA! She got me big time! I was totally floored.
Dana, my pet and darling, she surprised me with an adorable little tin and my knee jerk reaction was to open it even though it was empty...NOT. What I thought was a cute empty tin was actually a tin with a gift card inside. SWEET! Now I can get the CD I want without guilt. Yes!
My pal and travelling companion to Rhinebeck, Janet also surprised me as I was leaving with a fantastic knitting book, Handknit Holidays by Melanie Fralick and its perfect for me. I have been close to buying it several times and have found patterns I admired only to discover that they were in this book which I didn't have. Now I do!!!
I am so spoiled. Great friends. Lovely thoughtful gifts. I am so very very blessed. Thank you.

Pictures will be added asap of the luverly gifts.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Colbert's "Nailed 'Em"

Funny knitting terrorism

Go to clip 2 of 4 from december 3rd.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Knitting and where I work






Since I had the camera out, I decided to play a little catch up with taking pictures of my little world.
What you see here is my Xmas knitting both finished and in progress (thrummed mitts and Vermont Hat for my dad are in progress), the LYS where I do time, and my wacky adorable "boss" Ginette. Hman brought the floor lamp from his office home and now I have a new knitting spot closer to my stash and out of the way of everyone (remarks were made about the yarn and sticks taking over the house).

Here we go: Newman





Unlike his namesake, my Newman is very difficult to photograph because he doesn't keep still long enough. Basically I ended up with a lot of ass shots because he moves pretty quick.
He looks like a dirty white cat right now but thats his colour coming in. By age two he'll be fully coloured. Wherever he looks dingey and dirty on the white is where the blue grey will be.
Even dirty looking he's adorable and as you can see by our cuddle, a true Ragdoll fur baby.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

I want these mittens


Hippocampus Mittens
Just looking at them makes me WANT them more. To that effect I brought home yarny goodness in the forms of Noro Kureyon sock yarn and Malabrigo sock yarn for them. When I have time. After the Xmas knitting. If I knit hard and long I could be casting on these babies on the weekend.

But what are the chances of THAT? I'll settle for this being my travel knitting when we go away for Xmas.
I took pictures of Newman this morning as well as of my boring old knitting. Will post them soon.

Monday, December 01, 2008

A Quote My Sister Emailed To Me

"Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit.”

Its funny cuz its true.