Since the Ice Storms.

Christmas was nice. No running around this year, nice and quite. Money was tight, but not so horrible that the kids didn't have a nice Christmas. In fact I think they really enjoyed the day. I got an awesome coffee maker. I didn't even know I needed a new one until I started using the new one. I had a Krups that I bought off of eBay at least 4 years ago now. It was the carafe type. I hate burnt coffee. My MIL broke it last year while she was staying with us, but I found a new one at the Outlets on clearance for $10. She didn't like my coffee maker. I think she broke the original carafe on purpose....but then again she thinks I broke her coffee maker on purpose too. Oh well. Anyway, the new one is a Cusineart. It has the bur grinder built right in. All have to do is put the water in. I can smell the coffee grinding while I am downstairs in bed before the water even starts to cycle through. Mike is so good at knowing what I want, even when I don't! He got a car (truck) starter, and even though this present was really only there because of his brother it was nice to see him have something to open too.

New Years has come and gone too. My two resolutions are to a) be motivated, more motivated than I have been. b) get into some kind of exercise routine. Even if it is just walking. I've gained weight since I quit smoking last March. No regrets, but I do need to start doing someing about it. Plus it's just time to, 36 and all. Not that 36 is old at all, just time to make sure my ass doesn't spread into some kind of uncontrolable wad of goo. And I do not want to sport "mom-butt" in any form what so ever. I'm still a camel toe kinda gal and want to stay that way as long as I can help it. I think I should also be more systematic about the household finances, it wouldn't hurt.

Next week is suppose to be record cold. Again, this is New England and that's what happens. Jan. is always super cold. But it's also already almost half over! Feb. is short, and my anniversary. March is long, long and cold. I hate March, except it's Mike's birthday and this year I will be celebrating my first year smoke free. Yay me! Nothing can top that one actually. Then it'll be April and Spring will be here once again.

My company is being bought out by Dow. I'm still not sure if this is a good thing or not. But it should be complete by today, if not next week. Not that there will be any immediate changes I guess. I just hope there are no lay offs. Times are so hard everywhere. We had our group meeting this morning and it seems like I am involved in a lot of projects, helping out. Being a tech is a good thing, diverse and all. Hopefully that'll count when they are lining up the ax.

Crochet wise I am dababling in a few projects at once, as usual. I am working on an afghan for Taylor. Not the orginal plan, but orginal colors. She'll be happy with whatever I make her anyway. I am also working on a small brown wool rug for in front of the hearth. The one I have there now kinda got beat on over the power outage days. I also have made one mitten with the same wool. Now I have to make another. Thank God I actually followed the pattern for a change. When my BIL (lol, Brother-In-Law = BIL, his name is Bill) goes back to SC this Spring I am going to partally use the back room as a craft room. I want to organize my yarn, take pics for my notebook stash on Ravelry and display it in a way that looks nice and shows off the yarn before it's worked up into its final form. Yarn is an art in itself. Maybe someday I will have enough money to buy snob yarn. In the meantime I am really liking the Vanna's Choice colors. I should go crochet after I am done here as a matter of fact. I finished my ripple pictured above somtime around the holiday. I love the colors, done in Vanna's Choice too.

I am very sad about the trees Worcester is loosing to the ALBs (asian longhorned beetles). Utterly amazing watching the landscape change by the second. So sad. Wish I could do more to stop it. Wish I had known it was going on when there was still a way to slow it down. And I hope so much that my 4 maples in the back will make it. So far they are okayed by the feds, so far.

I've joined twitter, as happyhooking. Kinda cool to have updates on what people are up to. I mostly joined in case Ravelry is down, just so I know why, lol.

That's about it. Not to exciting, not that it's a bad thing!

$$$

I need to make more money. We had to refinance over the summer and went with an fha loan. This is suppose to be a good thing. Well we had to roll our taxes and insurance into our payment. It went up $400. I thought we could do it. We can't. I've got back a lot, and yes there are still plenty of things to get rid of but seriously, wtf? Everyone is being very aware of shutting things off and not wasting. I quit smoking 9 months ago, this should be $100 back into the house a month. No more wine, no new clothes, yarn only when I have a coupons and I buy one at a time (one coupon per visit per "day").
Here is the list of things left to cut:

• internet $60/m
  
• house phone $30/m
• motorcycle $300/m
• karate $90/m

Internet and house phone I am so ready to let go of. Most of the time the laptop is picking up the connection next door because it is actually stronger than ours (I do not know why). The house phone, who calls? Bill collectors and telemarketers, anyone else can call on the cell phones. The motorcycle, thats hard, because we probably could not sell it for what we owe. It's Mike's thing and I really do not want to see him loose it. If we give it back it will kill our credit, or whats left of it. Of course we aren't buying anything and don't really need credit anyway. And karate, it's not really an option. Its only on the list because it is extra. But Kenzie loves it and really I think she needs it. It is beyond worth the $90 a month.

I don't want to live in the lap of luxary. I just want to pay the bills and have enough to take care of food, clothes and some basic extras. It's not going to get any better. Mike is looking at another hand surgery. I am going to really look into the First Pinnicle stuff from our camp friends. Not that the program is going to get me out of this mess, but I look at them and they see the light at the end of the tunnel and have a grip on thier finanices.

Since writting this the phone has rang twice, both credit cards looking for money. I had to put my tires on my credit card. Now I need to have them mounted, I can't afford it. We're going to call the Vocational school and see if they will mount and balance them for less if not free.

If anything the mortgage will get paid today, the 21st.....it's due again in a week.
Okay I am going to post this then come back and make another post about crochet. I want to get this out, but I don't want to look at it, lol. Sounds like the mail!

Manic Monday

My head hurts. My to do list at work and home is ridiculous. I tried to crochet for a bit, and honestly I am just not interested. My life is far from sucking, but I feel a bit whiny today. They say money does not buy happiness....I call bullshit. So today that is my "expensive desire". And here is why it would buy me "happiness".

• Bills would be paid, no mortgage, no car payment, no electric bill, no heat bill, no grocery bill, no tuition, no tv bills, no phone bills....and so on.
• I would not have to go to work.
• I could stay home and take care of my family......thanks for the woman's lib crap btw!
• Stress? What stress? Bills are paid, belly is full and all is well.

K....back to reality....and whatever about the woman's lib comment. Despite sometimes I really feel like I would be a bigger asset to my family by staying home and taking care of it all, I know that's hypocritical cuz there is no way I could stay home and do what the man says. So on that note.....get out there and VOTE tomorrow. No vote, no bitching! Gotta vote to gripe. Here is my take on what I will be voting on tomorrow:
Question #1, lets get rid of the income tax......sounds great! I don't want to pay taxes, shit I don't even want to get up and go to work. Can we vote to get rid of work too? Sounds just as logical. I'd love to take thier excess money away from them, but it does not add up. They will take it from somewhere, like my kids school or up my property taxes....and the eldery's property taxes....where are they gonna get it from? So I will have to vote no. I wish there was a way to make these bastards more accountable for the way they waste our money. That's what we need.
Question #2, give a fine for an ounce of weed or less....yup. I will admit to several years of my youth in a fog of smoke, but that's not why I am voting yes.....I wasn't stupid enough to get caught, so no skin off my teeth. I am voting yes because harmless pot heads are using up some of that wasted money in question number one. They do not need to be using up time, space and money in our jails or systems. We have way bigger issues that need to be jailed, like rapist, murders and such. Plus why should someone who took a hit or two not get a job because they were stupid enough to get caught while they were enjoying thier youth. They want to repeat stupidity or move on to the big time, then put them in jail.
Question #3, no more dog races? I hate this one. I love animals, a lot. And I am not to sure about the truth behind how bad they are treated. What about our failing economy and the jobs that will be lost. I am having a real hard time voting on something that will take someone's job right out from under them. Plus it won't ban it in NH or RI, CT? More MA money going over the border like to NH tax free purchaces or to CT Casinos or the complete nude (no panties!) strippers in RI? God I hope they are not abusing the dogs like the oposers say. Ugh.
And yes, I am voting for Obama. McCain almost had me until he picked Sarah....there's the real womans lib joke, ha, ha. What a joke. Obama is younger, more in touch and more likely to envoke the change we truely do need. McCain is more of the same stereo typical old white man. So borish at this point in the game really. Either way Bush is finally gone. I am still in utter awe that man got a second term anyhow. So I will not be suprised however the vote turns out.

That is all.....battery is just about dead and it is time to wake up hubby and put the kiddies to bed.

Rainy Day Thoughts.

What a yucky day! It is raw and rainy. I wish I was home finishing my Tiramisu Baby Blanket! The main part is almost done and tomorrow will be one week since I started it. It's not that I am loving working on this thing, it is that I just want it done!

I am suppose to go out to lunch with some people from work, but I am really hoping it gets canceled. Some people are whining about meetings and stuff already so it's looking good. I should be thankful for such a thing, but I am not feeling the love today. Oh well, bad me.

Does anyone need a Curtis Plow Frame for a '03-'08 Dodge Ram 1500? We have one, and it's for sale. Craigslist sucks, it brings out the cheapest people on the face of the earth. If I wanted to give something away I would post it on Freecycle! It is worth probably $600, we are asking $400...with some wiggle room. Why on earth would I concider $100 though? Seriously.

My next Jeep? Build my own online comes out to about $33k and it gets 15/19mpg.....not so effiecent, but damn it looks fun!

Here is my current Jeep.....and I LOVE it, but it is a lease and I will have to make a decision when the lease is up....granted that is not until March of 2010, but it takes me a LONG time to make car decisions.

She gets 27mpg, and is only $200/m. Wish it had the lifetime drive warranty. Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep is going to merging with GM from what I hear. I know I don't want to take that path. Maybe I will go back to the Toyota Matrix again? I kinda like the remodel.

I had this 2005:

Now it looks like this for 2009:

I don't care for it in this photo, it looks better in real life. Maybe it is that black piece on the front bottom? This built by me comes out to maybe $23k.....and still lots of fun!

I'll keep pondering. My head wants to save $$ and gas, my heart wants to be fun and zippy, my soul wants to drive over anything in my way, lol!

New Template?

Not sure about the blog template yet. I'm gonna leave it on for a few days/weeks and see if it grows on me. I loved the colors of the old one but the vines kinda got in the way of my words.

Todays to do list:

• Kenzie has a Halloween party at karate.
• Taylor has a homecoming football game....I'm not sure if we are all going, but I think so. Time lines cross of course.
• I should get a lot of crocheting done today while the kids do their thing.
• Laundry, vacuum, clean....blah, blah, blah.....right like any of that is going to happen today.

Eighty dollars for a crochet hook? Nope I'll pay the electric bill instead :)

ETA: Here is where I got the free blog template. She has some other nice ones too. I tried the Autumn one but something wasn't working in it so I picked this one. I think there are others there I like more.

Forty Days & 40 Nights......I suck.

Blah, I suck at blogging. Hello, my name is JoAnne and I suck. It has literally been forty days and 40 nights since my last post. Not much has really gone on since. If you are on Ravelry you can see my updated projects in my notebook. If you're not on Ravelry, then you probably don't care about my crochet anyway! Here is something to keep all entertained:



I don't even really feel like writing now, but I am out of guilt.

Other things going on that may be noteworthy:

*Kenzie is doing great with Karate. She really likes it and I think it has given her a certain amount of self worth and pride over something that is hers alone. Which I think is pretty important in life.

*Taylor is adjusting to Worcester Tech, although she won't admit it. Her grades are great and I think she's handling life pretty well. She doesn't seem so interested in her Mom lately, but I think that's just due to her mom working now. Funny how a job sucks the fun out of everything.

*Mike is going back to work tonight after a couple months out due his diabetes, long story short, I think the break did him well, but he is ready to get back to it. It has been nice having him home though, I will miss it.

*His mom....back for now, not for long. My door is officially closed after this bout. I really don't care who comes knocking on my door for a bed and a meal anymore. I've got enough to take care of with my own.

*My work....how in the hell are yearly reviews due already! Can I submit my blog as part of my review? Nevermind, that won't do, I haven't posted here in over a month anyway. I guess it's time to search for last years and do some control C and control V.

In my last post I commented about Winter coming. We are getting ready. The pool is shut, although stuff needs to get put away. The new pellet stove is in and the proceeds from the old one (13 years old) bought the seasons pellet. I don't know why the yuppies can't find stoves or pellet? Whatever, more for us.

We will vote next month for the next president. What a joke either way, wow, what can I say. I watch these debates and I am in awe of all the BS. Palin, what was he thinking? McCain will probably win, this country is so misled. It makes me sad.

I will mention my final decision on an afghan pattern for Taylor's (adult) afghan. I am trying Entrelac crochet, and it is coming out very nice. Here is a crappy pic off the cell phone. I have several more rows done, but haven't taken a picture since these three rows. This pic does not show the colors very well either. I am using Vanna's Choice yarn in Eggplant, Sapphire and Magenta. It is going to take me FOREVER! But she really likes it and that is what is most important! Wish I had more time to work on it. It won't take long before I will only be able to work on it from home because it is going to be BIG and HEAVY! I'll try to be a good girl and update sooner than later on this one.

I'll be back eventually!

Winter Will Come

Soon enough Winter will be here. This is a clip of what it can be like getting up the hill to my road. Of course it takes a special someone to keep trying. I've long given up and know when to park it and walk. In the meantime the last camping trip of the season starts tomorrow. School is back in session and the girls are adapting quickly to life. Mike still isn't "himself" and I still think getting back to work would do him more good then not. Crochet is there, not as much as I wish it was though. I need to stop burning time up on Ravelry and actually crochet. I love the site, but what a time suck!

Guilty Update

A month has gone by and I have not posted, oh well....I broke the interwebz. That's okay, cuz the freak from Freecycle won it in a virtual argument with me anyway!

Lets see since vacation what's new?

• Mike is still feeling like crap since his potasium spike and other diabetic/kidney failure related shit. I think he's starting to feel somewhat better, seems like he has more energy....still not himself though.
• His mother moved out, or at least says she has. Her shit is still here, including her cat. Whatever.
• We finally epoxied the bedroom floor in the basement, came out mint....but had to paint the walls when we were done, just cuz I wasn't happy with the color anymore after the floor came out so nice.
• Got a dumpster and cleaned out 15 yards of stupid junk. We were able to give away a lot (no thanks to the king of the internet at Freecycle....another story that if I reference again I guess I should tell). Either way this should not only help out the household health, but should really help out on the mental baggage end of things too.
• Bought a new pellet stove to replace our 12 year old one. So funny watching the yuppies run around trying to scoop these things up. Good thing yuppies need pretty to make thier stoves burn hotter. We got a great deal on a plain jane power horse Breckwell at Robins Garden Center in Oxford....highly recommended to the non-yuppie. No BS, no pretty, thank you.
• Kids are going back to school tomorrow, already! So did some school shopping. They are ready to go back. Not an exciting Summer, but I think they did enjoy themselves. Taylor will be going to a new high school, back in the city....Worcester Tech. She is nervous, wish I could make it easier for her. Someday (I hope) she'll be glad about the choices we've made for her. Kenzie will be going into the fourth grade, same school, but more responsibilities. She wants to take the bus, shudder. People think we should put Taylor on the bus too. It's hard to let go I guess, we'll see as the year goes. With gas prices the way they are, we really should.
  
• Work is the same. I'm debating bidding on a night shift job here, to help Mike and his health out. My thoughts on this swing from one side to the other every other second.
• The last camping trip of the season is this coming weekend. We are on the group site and my brother in law and his clan will be sharing the site with us. It should be nice. We'll be at Otter River of course :-)
• I haven't crocheted to much in the past month. I made an ottoman cover out of random granny squares that I made at camp and waiting for Kenzie at karate (who is on the verge of testing for her next belt, purple....Yay her!). I am working on a square for a comfortghan for one of the girls in the SnB group that has been diagnosed with a rare form of liver cancer and I am working on a shawl for the Ravelympics that I am never going to finish before the end of the Olympics. No medels for me, lol. I have to take some pics and upload to update my Ravelry notebook. Which I am sure I will do after vacation.

I guess I kinda of haven't posted because I really like the picture below of White Lake and wanted it to stay on the top of my blog. Silly I know. I added this Meez avatar to the left, although she is knitting...something I kinda suck at....it is still for the love of fiber so I'm gonna let her hang for a while. I saw one on another blog somewhere and thought she was cool so I made one of my own. Another time suck, lol.

Fingers crossed for a good first day of school for the girls. I'll try to post before vacation again, but doubtful....probably after.

Short Week!

Short weeks always sound like a good thing at first, but then once you get into it you realize real quickly that you still need to get the same number of things done, but now instead of having 5 days to do you only have 4! Honestly 5 wasn't enough anyway! I know I'm a good worker, especially compared to most....but lately I am just not feeling it. My boss is going away for a month (she goes back home to China to visit), so she has got a firecracker up her butt right now. She wants everything done, and everyone to have enough to do while she is gone. Understandable. But after Thursday I am out of here for almost 3 weeks myself! And this must be why I am not the boss of anyone....all I care about right now is going on vacation! Today is 3/4 done, three more to go.

Something odd and wonderful (knock on wood) is going on at home.....my children are getting along and enjoying their Summer vacation with each other. I call and IM to check up on them through out the day and each time I get happy children on the other end....maybe I have the wrong number? Nawww....they're pretty good anyway, at least I think so, but I am bias. What a stress reducer though, to know that I can count on them to be cool to each other. Don't get me wrong I still have to intervine and so on, but way less then ever. Maybe they are starting to get it? But I guess just like the vicious circle of bad karma, there is the same circle for good karma and it really helps. It's so much easier to treat them to goodies, they usually don't ask for much anyway.....a trip to the candy store, a movie, whatever....when they are good it's so much easier to give, they're happy to get it and then they are good again. It sounds so simple, why is so hard to impliment. Well we all got our groove going for now, I am going to enjoy it as much as possible.

Mike's on days this week, so we'll be a mess. It was hard to get us both out the door this morning, but he got to work on time and I made it inside my "window" too. I am still getting used to getting in here at the crack of dawn and ended up eating my sub for breakfast. We are all trying to cut down costs and our carbon footprint. Brown bagging lunch is a good start, just I am hungry at 9am, lol!

This week is 4 months now that I have not been smoking. I thought having the MIL at home smoking (outside) would make it harder, but I think the awful smell has helped remind me how bad it is. Something about her body chemistry or about how quick she wolves a butt down, but she carries the worse smell after a cig. I can stand outside at work with the smoking peeps and be social, it does not bother me. She comes in after one and starts talking to me I have to cover my mouth and walk away. I think at this point she believes I hate her anyway. I don't, just the smell. Other tensions are there, but my own fault for not confronting her directly. Mike (the poor thing) addressed her this weekend about helping the house out. I don't think it was easy for him, but he knew he had to just get it over with.

We are so looking forward to our camping trip coming up. We will be at White Lake State Park in NH for over a week of my almost 3 week vacation. We camped there once a few years ago and it was so nice. We kind of blindly picked our site, we know it's close to the water, but we can not remember exactly what it was like. We'll find out. We are going after the holiday weekend, so it should be quite.

And last, but not least on my mind today is Kenzie's blanket. I made a couple squares over the weekend, not real nuts about rushing it. I have 4 small squares to make and the rest of a medium square. Some joining to do and the edging, which I will play by ear. It's easy to sit and crochet while I am waiting for Kenzie at karate. She has it this afternoon at 4:30. It's gonna be a bit rushed because both Mike and I are doing days. I'll post some pics on Ravelry later today or tomorrow too. I need to add a couple projects, like the karate felted bag.

Right now, I gotta get to it. I need to be working to keep the boss lady happy enough until vacation. It's really nice out, may 75F and real sunny. I hope the girls go swimming.

(PS. Click on the flag afghan above (it's not mine) it will bring you to the free pattern on the Lion Brand website. Not that anyone but a total freak would be able to finish that before the holiday weekend coming up, but I thought it was pretty cool looking for a flag afghan.)