Once Upon A Mattress et al

I can't believe I haven't posted in over a month. Yeah, real life got in the way, but that's besides the point. I should have been more proactive about keeping my little diatribes on a roll.

So, you ask, wazzup?!?!?

Let's start with work.... oooo, er.... nevermind. Who wants to talk about work?

I've become involved with my daughters' high school theater production. Don't get all excited. They don't act. My oldest is the senior stage manager and the youngest is training to take over once the oldest graduates this year. So they're both backstage. But, as some may know, I have a B.A. in Theater. I was a lighting designer and the high school group have no one with any experience in lighting, so I roped myself into it because, as usual, I couldn't keep my mouth shut. (Someday, I'll be missing an entire leg. I'll be chatting along and simply swallow the foot right on up to the hip... ) If I remember correctly, I'd stopped in to grab oldest daughter's books to carry home for her and made some sort of typical comment like, "You call that #*^@ lighting?!?!?" Next thing, I'm digging into a file cabinet for colors and crawling around the catwalks, inserting gels. Mind you, this was just a few days before the show went live, so it wasn't pretty. The next night, I'm refocusing lights and setting light cues. The results were worth it.

But now I'm sort of doing it every year. We won't mention the t-shirts, but I've been doing those also for the last couple years. This year was... er, interesting to say the least. I was actually beginning to panic that we wouldn't get them, but they're out being made as I write so that's another thing off the list.

What else? Ooo... I'm knitting this absolutely fabulous shawl! I tried taking a pic of the thing. IT's a real simple basketweave design, so it's reversible. Natural alpaca (think llama) colors and I found the steal of the century. 600 yds for $27.00. So I bought 3 hanks, wound them up (the balls are so big, they durned near fell off the ball winder ) and I've been working on that at the full-time job. It's going to be simply dreamy! I tried taking a few pics this morning, but you couldn't see anything more than a big blur. I think I have to play with lighting and stuff to get it to come out. Hmm... I have an Ott light. I betcha that would do the trick. Since I plan on doing some spinning later this morning (before I head off to the auditorium this afternoon to work on this year's production), I'll see if I can aim the light at the shawl and get a decent pic.

Oh, and I just returned from St. Louis. We had the big TEAM national convention. 35,000 people in the Edward Jones Stadium (where the Rams play football, I take it, since football isn't my game). Wow! If that doesn't convince me that I'm in the right place at the right time, I surely can't think of a better indicator. So I came back with some new goals and some new ideas on how to network this business all the way around the country. Oh yeah, I'm going to take this thing and run with it like they've never seen before. I can't wait for the semester at school to be over so I can hit the gorund running and never look back.

Today is exciting. Payday. Gee, I get to pay bills so we dole out the money before it's even settled into place in the bank. Lovely thought... Argh! Tomorrow will be a bit different. Shelby is finally getting her fibularsesimoidectomy. IOW, they're finally removing that dead bone from her foot. I'm sure we'll have to be at the hospital in the wee dark hours before the rest of the world realizes it's time to get up. And we get the pleasure of doing this on Mark's birthday. Oh boy. What did you want as a present? For my kid to have surgery on her foot!

Course, my birthday is just around the corner on Monday. What will I get to do? Go back to work!

Pfffffftttt! (think big, hairy raspberry )

Way behind...

Okay, I'm trying to upload some pics. It's not working yet. The good news is that I did get some pics. I'm really pleased with how my Tainted Love socks came out. Yarn is called Tainted Love and created by Gypsy Girl over at www.stonebarnfibers.com. Some of the most gorgeous yarn I've worked with in the past two years.

Frankly, I'm trying to keep it a closely guarded secret because if others find out how wonderful her yarn is, they'll overload her with orders and she won't create any new fantastic color combos and she won't have time to keep up with me and my Mom. Mom just ordered a dozen colors so she can create a stash to get her through those rough days.

I told her to get the yarn, bring it over and we'll wind it up into balls and tuck the balls into little ziploc bags. Each bag will have two skeins all ready to cast onto needles. Then you toss all these little ziploc bags into a big brown paper bag so you can't see. When you're in need of a new pair of socks, you just reach in and grab the first bag that feels "right". Boom... instant pleasure... LOL! I started doing this about six months ago and it's wonderful. If you keep a few skeins in there, you never know what yarn will come out and it's always a nice surprise to see which pair of socks you'll be knitting next.

Okay, let's try to get that pic in here again... Yup, uploaded this time. I haven't figured out how to move the pic to a specific part of the page. I wanted it here -------->

but it loaded to the top of the page. Even worse, it's now the second picture. The one with the pink and red. (If anyone knows how to move a pic from the top of the page without having to figure code and computer language, please help out and either post or email me.)

But those are the socks. I'm going to send a copy of the pic to Cathi so she can see how gorgeous they turned out. My next pair was a pair I called "Parrot". (yup, the yellow and green, which is now posted first at the top of the page... Yikes! ) Koigu yarn (another lovely "find") but they don't name their colors and I simply refuse to call my socks by a number... I picked the colors because they reminded me of a colorful South American parrot. I've always wanted a bird, but my husband flat-out refuses that one, so this is as close as I'll ever get to owning a bird...

I have a feeling this will be a long post because there's so much that's happened in the last few weeks....

Tomorrow I get to meet the Second Sunday Fiber Artisans for the first time. A lady on the Spin To Knit group lives over in Madison and she invited me along. Considering I'm still getting my act together when it comes to spinning, I'm going to meet the ladies and try to watch and learn. Bring my latest socks (Lorna's Laces in Flames) so I can keep working while attempting to keep my mouth shut... yeah, like I've ever been good at that. I find the older I get, the more I talk...

Last night my boys lost to Dartmouth. I missed the game because of a business meeting. I was the one slated to show the plan and pass along the info, so I couldn't miss it. But everyone "bagged" on us. I had two people who were going to come and bring another two new people. But they had good reason to miss, so I'd hoped that others would bring some new people. Uh huh. Everyone they had also bagged. So I was real tempted to run out the door and see if I could catch the end of the first period, but that would be totally unprofessional and so I stayed. We put out heads together and made some more plans, but my night was really made when Mark came home and said that one of the players had, through gesture, asked him where I was. Yikes! My boys noticed that I wasn't there. Damn, they definitely pay too much attention.

OTOH, I'm going to make it up to them. I've already made arrangements so I can get a coffee cake back to them on Tuesday night when they next play. I just have to remember to make up a small plate specifically for the coaches. Last couple of times I sent a coffee cake back to the locker room, Rand assured me that the cake was gone before the tray hit the table... Hmm, think they like my grandmother's recipe?

So I hope that'll be enough to make it up to the boys for missing last night's game. Mark says it's my fault they lost. I wasn't there to cheer and yell and rant and rave. They couldn't get excited without my loud and obnoxious cheering to spur them on...

Tomorrow is fibers and fundraisers. Monday is work at the second job after I'm done with the first job. Tuesday night is race to get home so we have a coffee cake to deliver to the boys at the hockey game. I'll try to get back on Wednesday for an update on more shenanigans....

Dedication weekend...

Have to be at work in less than 6 hours. The new combo basketball/hockey athletic center is done and today is the big dedication. Yes, the building is state of the art. I don't think there's a center in all of the country that matches this one. (When Quinnipiac decides to spend money, they definitely do it right... ) But there's a double header basketball today with both men's and women's teams playing, followed by women's hockey tonight. Tons of crowds. Lots of press. And they want a whole slew of security around the place. So I'm going in this afternoon to work the second basketball game and tonight's hockey game. Probably won't get out much before 9 or 10 tonight...

Other news... I booked my flight last night. Going to St. Louis for the TEAM National Convention in March. Yup, it's that "business thing" I'm involved in. I still get looks like I'm crazy for what I'm doing, but they're expecting 30,000 to 40,000 people at this thing, so I'm definitely not alone in believing that this business is my one chance to not have to work for someone else for the rest of my life. This trip won't be cheap, but I learned way back with the publishing business that you have to invest what you earn back into your business to make it work. I know this is true. OTOH, the first year in publishing, I took an $8K loss in income. And that business began paying for itself after three years. All the bills were paid, the authors earned their royalties and we showed a profit. I honestly believe this business will pay for itself after just one year (sooner if I get off my tush and work the system) and the growth should be exponential.

I started one business on a shoestring budget. This one isn't much different, but this one has a system. Though I loved saying that my publishing company was a business I owned, let's face the reality. It was a company that owned me. TEAM isn't like that. Once I get my business rolling, it won't need me to keep going. That will be refreshing. I'm tired of being what they call a 95%er. And to get into the 5%, I need this trip and I need the exposure to thousands of people who are just like me.

Okay, moving on. I need to hop in the shower so I can sit and spin a while before I have to go to work. Today is a day I need to sit and spin a while. Realign my thinking and maybe watch "Miracle". Meant to watch last night and got halfway through, but I was tired, so I conked out.

Have two new pairs of socks to put on the site. One was made from Stone Barn Fiber's Tainted Love. Came out really pretty. The other is Koigu. Haven't got a clue what the number is (why don't they put names on their colors? ) I call them my Parrot Socks because the colors remind me of ones you'd see in a parrot's feathers. You know you've got too much time at work to do nothing else when you can knit an entire pair of socks in four days. Yup, I started and finished my parrot socks in just four days...

BTW, made a deal with younger daughter. She got a new camera for Christmas. (Have I mentioned this before? ) I get her old camera and will use that for pics. ('Bout time, Bon!!!! ) So pics are coming once she teaches me how to get them from the camera to the computer.

In the meantime, I'm off. Have a sparkling day!!!

It's a New Year...

...and this is my first post? Oops. I guess I've been busy. I have gotten back to spinning on a more regular basis. I took some gorgeous merino top fiber I'd gotten from Lisa Souza in her Wild Things color and spun that into a beautiful skein. Now I have to set the twist. This will be my first time setting the twist so I hope I don't screw it up.

I joined a spinner's list, hoping to pick up some hints and tips (which I did save on how one woman "washes and whacks" her yarn to set the twist ), but right now the ladies are talking about how to knit two socks on one vs. two circular needles... Yikes!

Me? I like my dpns. I knit both socks at the same time (knit a cuff, knit the other cuff, turn the heel, turn the other heel, work the gusset, work the other, etc.) I can carry one sock with me or I can carry both.

Course, after two years of almost exclusively knitting socks, I'm making myself a pair of mittens. They were on my wish list for Christmas and the only thing I didn't get, so I'll make them myself. It's going to be a slow process but they'll be gorgeous. Lisa Souza's Sock Merino in Mars Quake on a size 0 needle. Yup, it'll take a while, but these babies are going to be gorgeous.

I did finish the pair of socks in Gypsy Girl's Tainted Love. Mom had gotten the yarn and kept trying to adjust the pattern so the color variation would work, but she just wasn't happy with how they were turning out. After frogging the socks three times, she gave the yarn to me.

Oh, I'll finally have pics. Youngest daughter got a new camera for Christmas, so I'm going to confiscate her old camera and she is REQUIRED today to show me how to go from taking a pic to loading it here on my site.

I got all the pics out to the family. Had some really great pics of my Dad, so I sent copies to my brother, my aunt, my uncle and my dad's cousin. Also have one pic of Dad with his Mom and one of his Dad (both of them had died before I was a gleam in Dad's eye, so these pics are the closest thing to having grandparents for me). Anyway, I did get all those in the mail as I had promised, so I'm happy about that.

The business is growing. There's some "fallout" with the new year. People who lost faith (or never had it to begin with) with how the business can grow, so they didn't renew their franchise fee. Their loss because this year is going to be a great year. My goal is to be Platinum by the end of the year, which means a lot of work on my part but I'm prepared, and all the bonuses that come with that. If I can reach that goal, I can quit my day job and concentrate 100% on the business. Imagine having the ability to quit your day job in a year and a half of time investment? If your boss told you that you could retire in two years if you gave him a few hours of overtime every week, wouldn't you give him the overtime? Well, that's the promise and I'm holding to that promise.

Lastly, in a huge fight with oldest daughter. I've forbidden her to have any contact with her now _ex_-boyfriend and she hates me. Oh well, I have big shoulders for my size. I won't tolerate a relationship I know is destructive and denigrating.

HAve to come back later with some pictures. I keep promising and never delivering. It's about time I delivered.

To mark the passing...

... of another year begs the question of what happened this year? Lots of stuff. Good and bad, but that happens every year, doesn't it?

Let's see. This year will remain in my memory as I lost my Dad back in July. I never thought I'd come to that day. Yeah, yeah, we all know it happens eventually, but isn't that supposed to happen to other people? Well, I can now say that I've got an angel on my shoulder because my Dad surely was an angel in life to put up with the likes of me...

My oldest daughter began the big college search and I'd secretly like to kill her because she has yet to begin the scholarship search, but that's going to be her problem. I've told her since she was six years old that I paid my own student loans and, collectively, we paid her father's. No way in hell am I going to pay hers. She's in for a rude awakening when she fails to come up with the financial means to go to the university of her choice. Sure, her grades are excellent and she's an educational institution's best possible candidate (she does community service, straight A's and plays sports, all kinds of activity clubs, etc), but she's still going to need financial aid to "fill the gap" of what she can afford.

Through no choice of my own, my job was changed. I used to work the main gate at the university, but they moved me into Siberia. So it's me and about 140 students off-campus where we smile at each other and wonder what we did to deserve this... Okay, I used to kid my bosses that my ultimate goal was to be paid to stay home and they've gotten me one mile closer to just sitting at home all day, but does that mean it will take another seven years to reach my goal?

I started a business. Introducing people to the concept of "Sip Twice, Eat & Profit". If you can drink twice a day and eat once, you can make money. People look at you like you're nuts, but it really does work. I'm sipping and eating and, maybe not making much right now, but I'm getting paid to do it. I hope this coming year will see the explosive growth that everyone swears is coming. Even if it doesn't, who can complain when they're getting paid about $150 a month to do stuff you're going to do anyway.

Which leads into what I hope to happen in the new year...

I hope to see growth in the business. I hope people are calling me and asking me how they can earn $150 a month to do nothing more than drink twice a day and eat once. My ultimate goal is to make enough that I can tell Siberia to take a hike. I hope to hand my boss a note that states, "Due to a restructuring of my life, I find you no longer serve a purpose in my day planner. Here's a crayon. (Pink should do it. ) Color me gone."

I hope to spin more and do colorwork in my knitting this year. No, not stripes. Try my hand at some fair isle work. I'm not sure of a sweater, but how about a nice big comfy and warm shawl for next winter? That would be wonderful, especially if it turns out nice.

I hope to get my daughter into the college of her choice rather than the one she's stuck with because she didn't do more for scholarships. But I have no control over that. That baby is in her playground...

I hope to work by choice and not by necessity. Boy, wouldn't that be a true dream?

I hope to not slobber and drool like a baby at my daughter's graduation. How in heck did she ever get old enough to graduate from high school!?!?!?! What happened to the ever-smiling baby with the belly laugh that was so infectious you couldn't help but join in?

I hope to bank lots and earn bonuses enough to take a real vacation.

I hope everyone stays healthy and happy and our remaining months with Shelby are filled with love and respect and not stress and strife.

I wish everyone the absolute best for the coming year and hope all your dreams are fulfilled. I'm still working on mine, but I hope to achieve a few along the way. Wouldn't it be sweet to look back next year and see that at least a couple have come true?

As the Beach Boys have been singing for 40 years, "Wouldn't It Be Nice?"

Good friends, good conversation....

Isn't that what Christmas is all about? Well, before I even get to that, I promised a lot of people a picture of Mom's shawl. Yup, that's what I made her. Really a stole because it's rectangular, but that's semantics, isn't it?

Yeah, I'd definitely prefer a better pic of me, but that's the shawl. Mom was wondering what color she should make her poncho and scarf and stuff like that. Hmm... let's see. She wears a lot of blue, but she really loves red, etc. I figure there's no worry with this baby. It's got them all...

One of the students who live in the complex where I work did this for me. Thanks, Mary!!!! I couldn't have done it without you!

Youngest daughter got a gorgeous camera as her big present and I know she took a ton of pics yesterday. I'll see if I can sort through and get some of the various socks and scarves I made for presents. The girls haven't told me yet if their socks are even the right size, but I hope they try them on today. I'd like to know because it's time to shop for some more yarn. Lisa Souza, love ya babe, but it's time to get some more Cherry Tree Hill Supersock yarn. And I've been dying to get some Gypsy Girl yarns. (www.stonebarnfibers.com) In fact, Mom passed a skein of Tainted Love over to me. The colors weren't coming out right in the socks she'd started, so she gave it to me. I use 12 sts less in my socks and some colors just work better at different st counts.

I ought to know that one. Shelby's socks? Boy, what a mess. First, I was making them in Lisa Souza's Gendarme. They were absolutely gorgeous, but I have to totally rework my st count because the yarn is more a lace weight than a fingering weight. So I ripped that out and tried Shelby's in Cherry Tree Hill's Rose Garden. Wouldn't you figure that simply adding 4 sts to the pattern made the green section lump all together in one area? Yup, would have ended up with a very lopsided and mishmashed green stripe down the back of her leg. So I finally called Mom and she had Gypsy Girl's Watermelon Tourmaline. Whew! They came out simply gorgeous! (Hoping youngest daughter got pics of those. They really are fabulous!)

So what did I do with the Gendarme? I doubled it up and made it into a scarf for my friend, Linda. I did the quick and easy scarf design from Knit Picks where you YO every stitch in every 3rd row and then drop the YO when you knit the 4th row to make "holes". Then get a ribbon (I used 7/8" ribbon in a gorgeous peach) and thread it through the "holes". It came out very, very pretty.

So what's on the fire for today? Well, I really should trot myself off to the gym and start working off that lucious potato salad and ham from yesterday, but I think it's too risky. With the bed head on top of my noggin, I'll definitely be scaring small children and animals. So I might skip that one and get back on schedule tomorrow. More spinning today. I got the spinning stool to go with my wonderful Kromski Prelude wheel, so some more spinning is definitely in order. Best of all will be tonight. Concert in Hartford at 8PM. Trans-Siberian Orchestra to round out the holidays with an evening of heavy metal Christmas music. This is Mark's first time seeing them and I'm making him go. (He was nice and offered his ticket to Linda if she wanted it. He's not getting out that easy... ) For all his trepidations, I know he'll love the show.

So enjoy your after Christmas bonanza and drop a line to let me know what you got! I'm going to see if I can keep the girls out of the mall for one more day. Today is almost as bad as Black Friday with the madness. Yeah, I've got money burning a hole in my pocket also, but I'd rather miss the crowds if possible. (It's never entirely possible, which is why I prefer to shop online, but that's a whole 'nother post. )

Almost done!

Two days and I'm almost done with everything that needs to be done. All the presents are made or bought, wrapped and waiting to be put under the tree. The ham is in the fridge and waiting to be stuffed in the oven. The veggie dish is staying cool. Tomorrow is the day to make some potato salad to go with the ham (buffet means food that doesn't mind being cool, so I do salads as opposed to hot stuff).

And I bought some eggs the other day because the girls were making cookies and I really thought we only had like three left. So I bought a couple dozen only to find out we already had a couple dozen. What to do? Tomorrow I hard-boil a couple dozen and make up the centers for deviled eggs. I won't stuff them until Christmas morning (once I get the ham out and make room for a tray... Yikes! ).

Dee is ready to make up her "sh!t dip", which is a Mexican-like dip for tortilla chips and goes over wonderful. In fact, her Spanish class remembered it from last year and requested it this year for their class party. And, because of this, we have chips and lots of them.

Desserts? We've got desserts. Shelby made some fabulous chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies and (all of our favorite) the chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips. Add a mouth-watering red velvet cake and a strawberry-topped cheesecake. And I might just whip up one of my grandmother's chocolate cake... er, just in case... I haven't quite decided on that one yet because I can attempt some Butter S cookies or some terrific sugar cookies. I got the recipe from Kathryn Dallimore, one of the students from the university. She's so sweet, she brought me a little tin of cookies last year and I have to say that her cookies were the best sugar cookie I've ever tasted. I guess I'll decide once I get moving in the morning.

Shelby's out at the movies. Her boyfriend is leaving to spend the holidays in Virginia tomorrow, so she's out trading gifts with him. (That and having a chat that he has to STOP saying nasty things to and about Dee. If he doesn't, he won't live to see Christmas. Trust me and I have the firepower to prove it... LOL!) Anyway, she still has several miles to go to finish her Christmas projects and I'm kind of torn. I could help her out by sewing up some stuff while she's out or I could let her do it herself, but then she won't clean. Part of me says "sew now and watch her clean later"....

The big thing is that I'm going to nag the heck out of her next week. Once the actual holiday is over, her main job will be to get out and submit for scholarships. We're definitely going to need money in our pockets when we talk to her future alma maters next year and I'm going to chain her to the computer until she gets those applications in.

Oops... youngest daughter is roaming the house. Translate that into "When are you gonna be done?!?!!?" so she can Facebook or whatever she does with her friends.

So happy holidays in case I go MIA...