Monday, February 27, 2006

Eek! & Squee!

A couple weeks ago my hubby & I got into a discussion about looking for a new place since our lease is up in April. We were planning on renewing, but he wanted to see what was out there in order to make an educated decision. I was advocating we at least see what we qualified for in terms of a mortgage. Our initial plan when we moved out here would be that we would rent for a year & then attempt to buy a house.

So, after a lot of cajoling, Kris submitted an application via lendingtree.com and we quickly got responses. I was sure we would, but he didn't think so because his credit is kinda crappy. Not only were we approved, but with pretty decent terms too. So much so that Kris now thought it was crazy not to buy a house because we would be paying less on a mortgage than we are renting!

Friday we hired a buyer's agent & drove around. Saturday we did drive-bys on about 20 houses. Yesterday we hit the open houses. Today we are going out with the agent to look at some more.

We are going to buy a house!

Our First House!

SQUEEEE!

eek!

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Dude! I SO need a new Job!!

Ok. I was about 5 minutes from work & had just pulled over to get my morning tea when my cell phone rings. Its that crazy-ass boss of mine. You see, she is going out of town today & won't be back until next Wednesday. Well, she has decided that she doesn't have enough work for me to do while she is gone.. which is insane, because there is a shit-ton of work on my desk which I haven't had a chance to do because everyday is a new crisis with her. Anyways.. I have the next week off. Which sucks cause no work=no pay! Technically I am still a temp so I don't get vacation time, or paid days off in any way, shape or form. grrrrrrr!

So, here I am at home. Until next Thursday. sigh.

At least this gives me an opportunity to job hunt. I have spent the morning filling out a bunch of bid forms for U of M and scouring Monster.com for anything promising. I so hate job hunting. I'm not very good at it & I'm even worse at job interviews. sigh.

So, taking a break from the frustration I have been doing a little blog surfing. Which led me to this Johari site from the blog Brilliant Disguise. Please check it out so I can see just how self-deluded I am! ;)

Now onto the knits!

I could not wait to spin up the Merino/Silk/Bluefaced Leicester blend I picked up on Saturday. So, while watching the Olympics Saturday evening, I spun up about 200 yds of this...

Worsted energized singles

Which I promptly knit into this...


I based it off the elf hat in Handknit Holidays, but I modified it so much that it no longer reflects the pattern. I made this for my geekie niece. I just hope it fits! :)
I am thinking of making her matching mittens & a scarf. I think I may do the ruffle scarf pattern of Jillian's. Too cute!!

I also got started on my mum's sweater. Its not really fair isle enough, but she will love it. I will just need to do fair isle for someone else.



Wow.. this was a long post! See what happens when I don't have to work! ;)

Saturday, February 18, 2006

MeMe Alert

Cause I've been tagged! This is actually a first for me.. I'm so excited! ;)

4 Jobs I've had in my life:
  • Bartender
  • Technical Support
  • Nanny
  • Administrative Assistant
4 Movies I can watch over and over:
  • Serenity
  • Shaun of the Dead
  • LOTR
  • The Ring
4 TV Shows I love to watch:
  • 24
  • Lost
  • Gilmore Girls
  • South Park
4 Places I have lived (prepare for bordom):
  • Garden City, MI
  • Westland, MI
  • Canton, MI
  • Grass Lake, MI
4 Places I have been on holiday:
  • Toronto, Ont
  • Seattle, WA
  • NYC
  • Haliburton, Ont
4 of my favorite dishes:
  • Shish Tawook (love middle-eastern, yummy!)
  • Chicken & Broccoli in Ginger/Garlic sauce
  • Chicken Tikka
  • Pizza
4 Websites I visit daily:
  • Google
  • Yahoo
  • Pogo
  • Blogs on my side bar

4 Places I would rather be right now:
  • Seattle, WA
  • Anywhere in Europe
  • Australia
  • Japan
4 Bloggers I am tagging:

Fleece Fair, WIP, & FO (finally)

Hi all!

Remember me? I know.. I totally suck. Been so wrapped up in the Olympics & dealing with my mom's latest healthcare crisis that I just haven't been up to blogging.

Well, here I am at last & with exciting news. Today was the Spinner's Flock Spring (ha!) Fleece Fair in Chelsea. I was very good & didn't go overboard.. I still have quite a bit of fleece at home that needs spinning, but I can never resist new stuff. Honey even came with & did the buying! He Rocks!

Here's the haul...

There are 2 4oz rovings of Pima Cotton (yum); 2 8oz rovings from a Rambouilett/Merino cross ewe in a luscious rich brown; and 1 8oz roving that is an 70/20/10 blend of Merino, Silk, & Blue-faced Leicester. The colors are so girlie & the roving soo soft I just had to get it to make something for my niece with. XD

The fleece fair was just amazing this year. Every year it gets bigger & better. Now, if they would just have more people manning the check-outs everything would be great!!

So, in my last post I showed you the plastic bag yarn I was making. Here in the WIP:


I just need to make the handles, which I haven't decided how I want to do yet. So far it has turned out pretty nice.

Oh, and I finally finished honey's socks! On Valentine's Day (only 2 months late)!


Love that mountain colors yarn!! The colorway is Pheasant and it took less than a skein! Whee!

Oh. Joanne? Get a look at Kris' new guitar!


Its a Craviola by Jay Turser guitars. He just got it yesterday & it has a surprisingly rich tone for being very narrow in body. They are discontinued, so he got quite a deal on it through music123.com. I thought Brian might get a kick out of seeing it! ;)

That's all for now. I'm off to indulge in my Girl Scout cookies, spin some fiber & watch the Olympics!

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Yarn Squee!

Alpaca Direct totally rocks! Seriously, give em some love people! I placed my order on Sunday evening & received it today! Plus, their price on the yarn was $.50 cheaper per skein then anywhere else & they had a larger selection of colors!!

mmmmm, yummy soft Baby Alpaca!

This is the yarn for my mum's sweater. So glad I will finally get to cast-on something besides socks. XD The main body is the lilac/periwinkle, and there are 2 skeins each of pink, red, lime, & eggplant (dark purple). So soft & purty! Yippie!!

In other news, been turning this
into this

details to follow...

Oh.. and if you have a few minutes you may want to check out these recut trailers for the Shinning and Sleepless in Seattle... OMG funny! XD