No Resolutions. Just Promises.

I'm not a believer in resolutions. I think that you should just make promises to yourself. And not even just at New Year's. But whenever. I made the mistake last year of not making any promises at any time for anything. Hence, having a horrible year. For the year of 2011 I have made some promises to myself. They are...
-Do more! More knitting, crocheting, blogging, reading, walking, hanging out with friends, spending time with family, saving money, being grateful. More of all of it!
And that's pretty much it! I'm not going to promise to lost x amount of lbs. by this certain date, or promise that I'll eat healthier and exercise more. Anything to do with all that "stuff" will be decided by my doctor when I go for a check up later this month. Then, I will promise to stick to doctor's orders. I have a feeling the rules or orders I would set for myself would be alot harsher than what the doctor would, but then again, you never know.

On the craftiness front, I'm doing pretty good! I've managed to finish just a few things and have started quite a few. Oh, that reminds me, another promise! I'm promising to not have more than 3 projects going at once. It's just too much for me and I get burnt out and then don't finish anything. I'm hoping this way when I get bored with one project, I'll go to the other and so on with the third.

Here are some of the projects I've done, are still doing, or plan on doing:

Spiral Scrubbie - made for my mother. I got her a Paula Dean non-stick skillet for Christmas to complete her set. (She is obsessed with that woman, I have yet to see the appeal)


Sponge-y Scrubbie - for my aunt. She sent me a TON of cotton and nylon yarn and made me promise to make her some dishcloth/scrubbers in return. So far I've gotten this one (kind of) made. I have to put the sponge in the middle and sew up the sides to put it together. I'm also going to make her a spiral scrubbie as well.


Spice Solace Cap - made for myself. Started and finished on Christmas Eve! Super proud of myself for finishing it up all in on day!


Tiramisu Baby Blanket - Made for my dad's friend. Him and his wife are getting ready to welcome their first child, a daughter, in February. As you can see the main part of the blanket is pink. Soft pink by Caron Simply Soft, edging will be Chocolate (brown) by the same, and the ribbon a simple 1/2 inch wide silk ribbon.


Planned Projects:

Easy Peasy Socks for First Timers - I have yet to knit any socks! And that's what made me want to learn how to knit in the first place! I'm a little intimidated by it all. But I've been practicing and haven't done too bad so I'm promising myself to start them around February.

Sweet Loopy Scarf - I plan on starting this one ASAP as soon as I get the appropriate yarn.

Swirly Brooch - Already started, but ripped apart and thought I'd wait until I got the colors I like. Right now I only have black thread.

There's quite a few others but this has been a post and a half so I'll save some for later. Many blessings and good luck to everyone in the new year!

Catching Up

I've got alot of it to do lately. Work's been blah this week. I don't have Amanda up front with me so not only is it busier then usual for me, it's alot more boring. I hope she feels better soon though!
I decided the weekend before last that I was going on strike from cleaning. I mean I would pick up and make sure it didn't get gross with dirty dishes and stuff (I'm a stickler for the kitchen and bathroom being clean) but over all I wasn't going to do as much as I usually do so that maybe, just maybe, Clark would see for himself what exactly I do. Long story short, it didn't work. Not only did I have a dirty house but I also was in an argument w/him for 2 days. So yesterday and the day before that, I had to catch up on all the cleaning I stopped doing. Which meant about an hour and a half stuck in the bedroom putting clothes away, picking up all my books scattered everywhere and rounding up all the dirty towels. Then I had to clean Lucas' cage. That rabbit poops more then anything I've ever seen! And he seems to like one particular corner which makes it impossible to get really clean (well as much as I would like it at least). I don't really think he cares though.
The baby blanket is coming along nicely. I found that I had dropped a stitch or two maybe 2 or 3 rows down from where I was at so I had to rip that back and start over but I wasn't too upset. The baby I'm making it for isn't due until September so I'm not too worried. I wish I had my camera so I could show pictures but alas, I do not. (Stupid dog...gr) I have been thinking of going to a local pawn shop and putting one in lay-a-way though. I don't know if it would even be worth the trouble. Maybe I should just try and do the impossible and save up? I'm not that great with saving money.
I found a hook case that I adore! I already have one but this seems so fun to make and is super cute with the bright colors they made it in! I want to try and find some cute fun yarn to do it with but I don't want to get too ambitious. I've been doing alot of knitting lately and haven't done crochet in a while so I might be rusty and get frustrated if I use an odd yarn. What do you think?
Today is my appointment to talk to Dr. Booth about the injectables. Which I guess it's more of a do you think I should doctor? And if he says yes, then I go see the fertility specialist Dr. Burns who would put me on them. The thought of sticking myself with a needle everyday isn't too appealing but eh you gotta do what ya gotta do right?
Lately I've been putting alot of thought into going on a diet and quitting smoking. The only problem I forsee with that, besides the obvious of being miserable, is that I tend to be like alot of people and eat more and gain weight when I quit smoking. I don't know if I should do both of them at once or try one at a time?! I found this method for quitting smoking that seems pretty interesting though.
Well, I've put off working long enough...back to the ole grinding stone right?!

Warning: Whiney Blog Ahead

As the title warns, this is going to be a horrible blog. So if you don't want to hear me complain then just look away now. There's going to be alot of complaining in this blog because it seems that everything that could possibly go wrong within the past week or so, has gone wrong.
Let's just start with the fact that my bank is a complete and total joke in every sense of the word!! Long story short (very long story short), I was told one thing about when I deposited my check into the bank about how much money would be available to me and when. Then, once I deposited my check on Thursday, they switched around and told me another which in turn made it look like I had overdrafted by $9. Okay big whoop. I was mad b/c they backtracked and said no no no this is our policy but ok they're a bank they do those things. So let's just say I did overdraw by a measley nine frickin bucks! Does that justify you charging me $148 in overdraft fees? I think not! Oh and it gets better from there. As of right now they have charged me around $500 in overdraft fees when I deposited a check of a little over $300 and spent about $260 some. Yea... take that in for a moment... FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS IN OVER DRAFT FEES!!! FOR NINE DOLLARS!! mmhmm do you see my frustration now? So I contact the bank and was quickly told so sorry can't help you the branch manager that takes off overdraft fees or can freeze it for you is on vacation until Tuesday. This was hrm... Monday maybe that I found this out? Yea.. out of a whoooole bank only one single soul can push that one button that stops the overdraft fees so I can get this straightened out. Needless to say, but I'm going to say it anyway, I'm going down there Tuesday to deal with this. I'll suck it up and pay the first overdraft fee, which according to my pamphlets they gave me when I got the checking account is $37, but they are not in no way getting any more money from me! I'm going to play it safe and not even say the banks real name but I'll just let ya know it rhymes with Shmifth Shmird and consists of two odd numbers. yep. Suck it bank!
So theres that little hiccup in my life. Theeenn, yes there's more, I go and get an ovulation kit as suggested by my doctor and many other TTC couples. Been doing the little test strips every morning since Thursday (well Thursday was in the afternoon) and none have come back saying there is even a little LH surge. According to all of my charts today is the big O day. I am quite honestly fed up with this whole TTC thing. Really should it be this hard to have a baby? Why can a crackwhore pop out 8 of em and not take care of a single one but I can't even have ONE?!?!
Oh and to top this little cake of dispair off with a lovely cherry bomb, my knitting and crocheting has pretty much ceased to exist. I have no energy or passion anymore it seems. And when I do even try to being a new project, somehow someway I screw it up. Like a tote bag I was working on the other day. I get alooooot of it done and then realize the pattern says that there was an estimated use of 3 skeins of the yarn they used. I had one. Needless to say that was ripped out quite promptly and shoved into some container somewhere in my horrendously messy house.
Told you this blog was going to be a bad one.
Even though my life seems to be a big pile of crap right now I'm trying to take it all in stride and just breathe. Which is hard to do b/c I have bronchitis, but ya know what I mean.
I just hope whatever this slump my life is in, I get out of it quick. Like now!!

First spin kit!

Yes I got one! I ordered it off Etsy from BHMAlpacas. I'm super excited! I'm hoping and praying that I will be able to do it and not totally screw it up! I really want to get into dyeing fibers and spinning them, but I wanted to make sure I could even spin before I got into the dyeing part.
I got a beautiful hook/needle case from Joy off of the group RAK on Ravelry.


Isn't it gorgeous?!! =D

The Dogwood Arts & Crafts Festival is this weekend and I'm super excited about that as well! I'm looking forward to finding some great jewelry and candles! I need some more tarts as my dog has eaten most of mine! =]

I go next Monday to my obgyn to have my follicle ultrasound done and see how things are growing. I keep having this whimsical wish that I'll go in and during the ultrasound the tech just casually turns to me and says (something along the lines of...) "Well it seems as though everything worked because you're pregnant. There's your baby." *Turns monitor around so I can see my little jelly bean I've wanted my whole life. Yea wishful thinking but I'm still praying for it. If you would like to send any prayers my way they would be much appreciated!

I'm off to go feed my face. Husssooonnns! YEA!

Socks & Margaritas

I have started and frogged my first pair of socks about 8 times now. Now I must admit defeat and do a gauge swatch. grumble... Hates em.
But things are good for now. I got my beautiful stitch markers from Hayley yesterday @ SnB! The one's I got aren't up there (I think I got the last set), but the rest are equally if not more beautiful along with the jewelry n what not. I am very much going to be a future customer! =]
Tonight shall be a fun night I declare! Amanda and I have plans to veg at her house drinking margaritas (she's determined to make me try it on the rocks bleh) and sing karaoke. I'm sure I will have YouTube posts to share later ha. Along with the drinks and songs, we'll be pigging out on a bunch of junk good since her hubby's gone and we went shopping yesterday. Never send 2 girls to the store alone... especially when one just got off of a no sugar thing for 45 days. Yea.. needless to say we have plenty of stuff to snack on! lol
I finally found a shawl that I want to make, but it scares me as most lace-y type things do...
It's gorgeous and I'm still undecided if I would even wear it or not. It can always be a gift but to whom? I'm still mulling the idea over.
I've begun to feel like I need to have more hobbies and releases. That was the main reason I started crocheting and knitting in the first place. Now that I'm into that I want to do more things. Photography, spinning, dyeing yarn, and making stitch markers/jewelry with polymer clay seem like the top choices I've been putting through my mind. I'm open to suggestions.
Off to finish my gauge swatch and actual work. C-yas!

Am I ever gonna get there?

Considering that I don't work on Saturdays, Clark is at Lucasville, I got my entire apartment clean, and tomorrow is going to be Easter you'd think I would be in a good mood. Well you'd think wrong.
*Warning: TMI coming up*
I woke up to a very disapointing discovery that I started. I was super duper excited for a while b/c even with taking my hormones I hadn't started. I was hopeful and shouldn't have been. So yea... I'm not that happy.
Then while trying to clean every room I find multiple flip flops chewed up behind the couch thanks to devil dog. So not only did I have alot more cleaning then I had anticipated b/c of her, after I got everything clean she somehow managed to hide a piece of paper from me and tore it up all over my clean spotless living room carpet that I vacuumed for like an hour.
Since I started of course I've been having horrendous cramps so I took my pain med as I usually have to with most of my painful cycles. Which, in turn, has made me feel like I'm stoned. Can't feel my fingertips and feels like I'm not breathing and whatever's going on around me isn't really going on type of stoned. So with that being said, this blog may sound out of sorts. I'm not in the best state of mind right now.
So instead of sulking on the couch by myself watching TV I sulked on the couch watching TV while eating an awesome sausage, onion, and looots of cheese omelete.

Looks nasty like dog puke but hit the spot and made me feel better.
Then I FINALLY figured out the tiger stripes on Jaycee's scarf. I ripped it apart 3 times before getting it at least partially right.

This would be my first project using intarsia! I'm just proud that I even understood the directions let alone did them! I'm hoping and praying that it will work out. I want her to have it to show the girls she cheerleads with. So if anyone has any further tips please feel free to share. I'm not sure what kind of backing I'm going to put on it so that's open for discussion.
Oh and if it didn't bum me out enough about not being pregnant, I get on myspace and there's like 5 girls that I went to school with that are pregnant. And most of them are younger then me!
I firmly believe in not questioning God and his decisions for my life, but that in no way means that I can't be angry about it. What is it about me that's so bad that I should'nt produce offspring? Am I cursed? Do I have evil blood or something?
Right now, I'm doing BBT, cervical mucus readings, and charting my cycles along with taking prenatal vitamins, hormones, and Clomid. whew... I'm full of everything that should've gotten me pregnant by now but alas I am not. Part of me wants to just say forget it and let it happen whenever. But I can never keep that thought out of my mind that I want it now.
I've decided that since today was so horrible for me & I didn't go to Lucasville like I wanted, I'm going to spoil myself and go to Wal*Mart to get some new needles and "Breaking Dawn". I downloaded it and started to read it but can't not get the book ya kno?
Here's hoping that tomorrow is better.

Lovely day

As the title suggests, today was a lovely day. Very lovely actually. I found out I got a 25 cent raise (woot!!) and had a decent day at work. Amanda brought in some knitting books so I immediately ganked the one she wasn't reading at the moment and started reading it most of the day as it was fairly slow. (woot again). Had a dr's appointment. Only real blah part of the day I guess. My dr. told me I'm doing extremely well w/my anxiety problems and that they strongly feel within the next few months, only with my approval, I will be off medication and be able to function normally. But I just feel like I'm not doing quite as well as they think I am. Maybe it's because they don't hear all the things going on in my head. Maybe it's because they only hear what I tell them even as honest as I am with both my dr. and therapist. This time in life I am praying that I am wrong!
I finished mom's scarf yesterday!!! Considering it was my first knitting project I'm very proud. Amanda taught me how to cast on, knit stitch, purl stitch, and basics on tension and function of needles, etc. I watched a video on how to bind off and did it by myself just by watching an instructional video which was quite a feat for me as I'm a very ok move my hands for me the way they should go kinda person lol.

Considering I've never worked with such a "textured" yarn let alone in knitting, I'm proud. LOL
I have begun a basic stockinette stitch project that I have yet to figure out. It's too thick and big to be a scarf... and as it is bright orange I'm hoping to change to black in some sort of pattern and make something for my niece as her school colors are orange and black. (I may have mentioned that in a previous blog? my memory is well non existent lol)
Oh, and I also found myself in the store many many times looking at yarns thinking "oooh I loove that oooh that's greatt!! but really I don't have a project to do with that so it'd be really dumb to buy it" not anymooooore! =] I've finally decided that you know what, darnit, I'm gonna get that beautiful yarn even if I have no idea what I can do with it! Because if I can't do anything with it then maybe I can gift it on RAK (ravelry group) and someone else can! Or maybe it will inspire me to start a project I would've otherwise said NO WAY to!!! Inspire me!! haha I am doing this however, within reason. That being said, I'm not going to buy every yarn I love at every store I go to. haha. Although I wish I had the money and space to do so.
That reminds me... there's a knitting/crochet/yarn store just down the road from me... I wonder when they close...? OFF I GO!

Wet n mushy day...

So since the moment I woke up it's felt like Friday. And as any of you sane people know... it's not. Work was the usual accept on of the dr's wasn't in today which made it alot slower. (That's a good thing) I pretty much got through 3/4 of Twilight. I'm still loving it, probablly even more now. ha.
I don't know what exactly inspired this but lately I've become very interested in spinning. I've done a little research and just don't know if I'm coordinated enough to do it. Not to mention that my insane devil dog gets into every skein of yarn I get! I love her like a child but I honestly don't know what I would do if she tore up a skein that I spun myself... aagh I don't even want to think about it! lol
I've found some pretty good sites that are very educational but they all seem so... stiff? rigid? I dunno it doesn't seem to be clicking in my head how I will do it. It's probablly just me because I'm more of a visual learner. So I'm sure it's just my own stupidity that's keeping me from fully understanding it. I really don't want to get involved with another project or hobby and not be able to finish it up. I'm still learning how to knit, and not that great at it I may add, and also still trying to get better with crochet. Oh, and I also just got my sewing machine working... most of the time anyway. I'm still hopeful that Clark will get me a new one for my birthday even though we really can't afford it.
I'm still hopeful though that somehow I'll manage to get better at both knitting and crocheting. I have alot of free time since I'm such a homebody so who knows...