Wednesday, December 27, 2006

I heart Christmas.

How was your Christmas? Was Santa good to you? Did you have pie?

Ok, Ok and no. But, I enjoyed that people loved the things I gave them. Let's see, shall we?

Mom wearing her new sweater. And it fits. And she was suprised. Sorry for the quality but I forgot my camera and had to use my phone. Yay technology.









Jason with his new Bob Ross shirt. I had actually gotten this as an almost gag gift but he really does like it. We'll see if we ever actually see him wearing it - that will be the real test!











Jake wearing his nifty new hat next to Jon (Stacy's brother) wearing his nifty new hat. Both love them. You cant see the cables but they are there. And I think they are right. They look right anyway!









This is Marley - Jason and Stacy's new puppy.










This was Marley's Christmas gift about 30 minutes after he got it. Taste great AND less filling!









Jake got lots of cool stuff - A game boy, the blue man group key board thing and a new Hot Rod calendar. Can you guess what his favorite was? The gameboy.










I took a pic of baby Sean on this fine holiday:
My Dad gets here tomorrow to start work on the garage/into/den project. The baby's room is pretty much empty, now I gotta clean the carpets, paint the walls, get the baby stuff out of the attic and all that fun stuff. Good times.
Went to the doc yesterday. I'm up 15 pounds, my iron was great and my cervix is closed. All very good things.
Babyville the extended mix: Baby grows over 1/2 ounce of fat per day now. Dont be surprised if you (er, me) gain a pound a week at this point. Breathing may become more difficult as Sean grows and gives my lungs less room to expand. I'll be able to breathe more easily once he drops down agains the cervix in preparation for labor. 37 wks LMP - Earliest date of a full term birth: Get ready! Sean's lungs are ready. He weigs 6.30 lbs or 2859 grams and is 19.13 inches or 48.6 cm long.
T-13 and counting.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Disney Christmas Party Pics, as promised

Now, like I said, these may be a little, um, risque! We'll start with the best one...











HAHAHAHA! But, yeah - fancy schmancy.


Here's the strong guys...

















And the chicks in spandex slings...


























The hot guys and hot chicks together on the poles...










And finally, the artist that is Not Jason in the patent pleather...

A Crocheters Night Before Christmas

A Crocheter's Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas and all around me
There was unfinished crocheting not under the tree,
The stockings weren't hung by the chimney with care
'Cause the heels and the toes had not a stitch there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
But I had not finished the caps for their heads.
Dad was asleep---he was no help at all.
And the sweater for him was 6" too small.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I put down my hook to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash.
Tripped over my yarn and fell down in my stash.

The tangle of yarn that lay deep as the snow
Reminded me how far I still had to go.
When out on the lawn I heard such a noise,
I was sure it would wake up both Dad and the boys.

And although I was tired--my brain a bit thick,
I knew in a moment that it must be St Nick.
Yet what I heard left me very perplex-ed
For nothing I heard was what I expect-ed.

"Move Rowan! Move Patons! Move Koigu and Clover!
Move Shelridge! Move Starmore! Move Spinrite! Move over!
Lopi, don't circle around, just stand there in line.
Pay attention you sheep and you'll work out just fine!
I know this is hard as it's just your first year
But I'd hate to go back to 8 tiny reindeer."

I peered over the sill.
What I saw was amazing:
Eight wooly sheep on my lawn all a-grazing!

And then in a twinkle, I heard at the door
Santa's big boots stomping on the porch floor.
I rose from my knees and got back on my feet.
As I turned around, St Nick I did meet.

He was dressed all in wool from his head to his toe
And his clothes were hand crochet from above to below.
A bright Fair Isle sweater he wore on his back.
And his toys were all stuffed in an Aran crochet sack.
His hat was a wonder of bobbles and lace
A beautiful frame for his rosy red face.

The scarf on his neck could have stretched for a mile,
And the socks peeking over his boots were Argyle.
On the back of his mitts was an intricate cable.
And suddenly on one I spotted a small label:
"S.C." in duplicate on the cuff.So I asked,
"Hey, Nick, did YOU crochet all this stuff?"
He proudly replied, "Ho, ho, ho, yes I did.
I learned how to crochet when I was just a kid."

He was chubby and plump, a well dressed old man,
And I laughed to myself, for I'd thought up a plan.
I flashed him a grin and jumped up in the air,
And the next thing he knew, he was tied to a chair.

He spoke not a word, but looked down in his lap
Where I had laid my crochet hook and yarn for a cap.
He began then to crochet, first one cap then 2--
For the first time I thought I might really get through.
He put heels in the stockings and toes in some socks,
While I sat back drinking a scotch on the rocks.

Quickly like magic his hooks they flew,
Good Grief! He was finished by two!
He sprang for his sleigh when I let him go free,
And over his shoulder he looked back at me.
I heard him explain as he sailed past the moon,
"Next year, start your crocheting sometime around JUNE!"

Monday, December 18, 2006

Some pics

As I told you we decorated the Christmas Tree last week, here's what it looked like. I'm sure you can sense the Disney theme - that's about 90% of the ornaments we own! A few stooges thrown in for good measure, and bam you have our tree!:



















But, my tree is, sadly, topless.
I have no idea where my Angel is -
probably in the same bin as my
stocking. We have found Travis
and Jakes, but not mine. Oh well.

Jake's pretty excited about Christmas, see, he's dancing!








This is my newest ornament - I heart sheep!









I've got all of the shopping done, 75% of the last sweater knitted, about half the wrapping done, so I think I'm in pretty good shape. About 5 more inches to go, then the sewing up. Yay for a Florida Christmas sweater with no sleeves! Just sayin.

Here's a nice holiday pic of Gnombert to make you smile:








Babyville: Fetal Movement begins to slow a bit as the uterus begins to get full with baby. Lunar Month 10 (!), 36 weeks LMP. Sean weighs 5.78 pounds or 2622 grams and is 18.66 inches or 47.4 cm long. Doc appt tomorrow, I will let the doc know about the 2pm witching hour for contractions - every 15 minutes. No, it's not fun, but thank you for asking.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

A little cosmic balance, Puleeze

Ok, so I think the world is out to get me, or if not, REALLY get TO me. Let's go back a little in order to go forward, shall we?

I and my crochet friends have decided (in the "when I win the lotto" sort of way) that when we win the lotto, we will open a yarn shop. It will be called Knot Loose Ends, I have the website already, though it's not exactly, um, the prettiest or most functionally wonderful thing in the world, but I own it. You can see - www.knotlooseends.com . There are pics of Gnombert, and a place where I want to have stuff up for sale from all our gals, etc. I have an email there, etc.
Some of the things we crochet gals have started discussing things like how we want our shelves to look, sale promotions we'll have, classes, decor, library, and on and on. We had kind of always wanted an upstairs downstairs so we could have library and classes upstairs with the yarn shop proper downstairs (there is a point, I promise). Recently I brought up wanting to have an offshoot where we could sell our already made stuff - like a year round craft show! A place for people to buy handmade gifts without having to do the handmade bit themselves. In Brandon (the city that is close to me) there has been this antique shop on one of the main roads that has always caught my eye. Upstairs downstairs with an offshoot. I was telling the girls a couple weeks ago that it would be perfect, and that once the little old lady that owns it dies maybe it will go up for sale and we'll win the lotto and buy it. Great plan, huh? I thought so too! Well, except for the dead part, but I figured that'd be the only way it'd go up for sale. However, on my way to work on Friday what did my eyes spy? A for sale sign out front! My first thought was Here is my Sign! I bought 2 lotto tickets. When I got to work I called my Mom to ask her about the property (she's a realtor for Century 21 Sunshine and would LOVE to help you buy or sell a house. I have her number if you need a realtor, she's very nice.... and not only am I not just saying that because she's my Mom, but she's not even paying me to say it!). $455k, 4201 sq ft, 17 rooms. Big front porch (I was trying to find the mls but was unsuccessful. Sorry) just begging for rocking chairs. I havent been inside but it's so pretty from the outside. Not an inch of stucco or a palm tree on the property (that I could find, anyway). So I figured I was destined to win the lotto. Nope. 2 numbers - one on each ticket. Which sucked, but you know, now the worst thing that's happened in the last couple days.

Saturday I spent some time with Jake, doing math problems that he loves, doing a little shopping, and all that. Travis comes home early and says "Hey, let me lay down for a little bit and we can go to Epcot this evening for supper and to see the lights. Call Kerry and Hans to see if they want to meet us." See, I'm sure that without that last sentence all would have been fine, but for some reason us meeting with Hans & Kerry when it does not involve our house ALWAYS seems to be horrible. We've had migraines and vomiting and all that fun stuff (Both on Travis' part, poor guy) and this time was not different. We leave here at 4:30 to meet them at 5:30. At 6:30 we had gone 12 miles (it's about 55 total). There was an accident involving a mack truck in the middle lane and 2 cars in the fast lane. We had gone 2 miles in an hour - we were not making good headway. I had finally called them and said, you know I think we'll just turn around and go home. We were all hungry, and I'm very sorry and all that. About 15 minutes later we were past the accident, and the traffic going the other way (toward home)was backed up so we decided we'd just go anyway, but to Downtown Disney instead of all the to Epcot. "Hey Kerry, we're going to come after all, how does Raglan Road sound?" Raglan Road is an Irish pub that has wonderful shephards pie with a nice Guiness gravy. Yummo. About 15 miles later or so, we had a tire blowout. Not a little flat, but full BLOWOUT. I'll try to remember to take a picture of it tomorrow before we take it in. I am so thankful that I wasnt driving because I would have gotten us in an accident. I called Kerry and said something along the lines of "This is almost funny" and I can hear Hans in the background saying "At least her water didnt break". I told her to tell him to shut his mouth because yeah, the fates were not looking down kindly on us. Travis threatened him with bodily harm if my water broke. Travis puts the donut on the car, we drive to the next exit, eat at Perkins then go home. As we ate I had a couple contractions and Travis says "I'm gonna hunt him down, I swear I am". Poor Hans. Poor Travis - he just wanted to go out to get a little stress-free time with friends. Whoops. We just werent meant to see them yesterday. Or Epcot.

And now, the Bucs are losing. of course. I'm gonna lay on the couch, watch the crappy game, maybe knit a row or two on the sweater and take a nap. Please pray for me, who knows, the couch could try to eat me, or my water could break. If it's the latter, please call Hans and tell him to run! Thanks.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

I know, I know

I've been such a slacker, sorry about that! But I do have stuff to share.

Saturday night was the Disney Christmas party, and it was fun, but long. They had some, um, interesting entertainment. Picture the Pussycat Dolls mixed with Cirque du Soliel. Travis has pics, but I havent gotten them yet from his camera. He also has the pic of me in my fancyschmancy dress. I'll post them when I have them. So home at 11. And up at...

Butt crack of before dawn, aka 4:30. I got up and dressed, and over to the craft fair a little after 6. Dani was already there, and Tra and Kerry were on the way. Kerry showed up wearing the berry hat I made her, which is also what Dani is wearing in her myspace pic, which is terribly ironic.... especially since this is the first time these 2 have met. They were both convinced that the other one didnt exist! It reminded me of that M&M commercial where the M&M's meet santa! Here's a pic of them...










The booth across from us was occupied by Jesus, well he looked like he could play Jesus convincingly in a film. Then we noticed that he and the lady who was working the booth with him seemed a little, uh, cozy? Jesus looks to be maybe 18, but the lady's face looked in it's 30's while her neck looked in it's 50's... we guess she had help with the face part. Just a guess. Here is what we looked at all day...









It kept creeping me out to see them like this. I mean, really! Moving on.


Gnombert enjoyed himself a great deal!









































I got a new knit book from Zooba yesterday. It's this one http://www.amazon.com/Yarn-Girls-Guide-Beyond-Basics/dp/1400097983 and I love it. There are so many projects in here that I would like to attempt!
Like this one:











And this one but all in one color:


















Or this one:

















Decisions, decisions! Although, that looks like some Real Knitting. I will NOT let the pointy sticks defeat me!


Babyville: 35 wks LMP. Sean weighs 5.25 pounds or 2383 grams and is 18.19 inches or 46.2 cm long. He is almost completly formed now.


Since Sean is still, sadly, roomless I have been having some major anxiety that he will be coming early. One of the blogs I read is www.highenergyknits.net - and she is, er was, about the same amount pregnant as me. Lets see - she was 34.3 on Saturday, I was 34.6 on Saturday. Well her water broke on Thursday, she delivered her little one on Saturday. Go see, he's adorable. Go ahead, I'll wait. So, because her water broke that's been added to my panic. Fantastic. So now we're up to delivering in the bathroom when I go, um, the second one; crashing my car during my contractions and now my water breaking. Welcome to my neuroseeeees. However, my Dad is coming on 12/27 to start on the garage on 12/28 and I am praying REALLY hard that Sean can hold on a bit longer. Yes, I am not fond of the contractions or heartburn or waddling or not being very lady-like when I have to pick something up off the floor, I am MORE wanting to have an actual place for Sean to sleep when he does arrive, so he can stay where he is... where I can keep an eye on him!

Doc appt tomorrow morning, I hope he does a pelvic (oh, the irony) just to make sure I havent dilated from any of these contractions. That's it for now.

Friday, December 08, 2006

Today and stuff

Lets see... I finished the back of the sweater - I gave up on the real knitting when I saw that I forgot one of the areas for holes a few rows back, and I'm not brave enough to frog something. Again with another shining example of why I am NOT a real Knitter. Or even a real knitter. I am about an inch into the front of the sweater. Lets see, today is 12/8, and that leaves 17 days until Christmas. I can do it, right? Along with getting the baby's room in some kind of order and cleaning all the was-Jake's-now-will-be-Sean's crap that's in the attic. Still. Oh, and at some point I'd like to put up a Christmas tree. Lofty goals, I tell ya!

At 3 I leave for a Board meeting at the same hotel my folks have their Jet Ski business. On the way back from that I will stop my by Grandparents and deliver my Mom's Turkey Tonail soup since she is, aptly enough, going to be at the soup kitchen tonight! I just have to try to remember the soup in the freezer when I leave. It's a bigfrozenblockOsoup now. And 52 degrees and dropping outside, so I have no worries that it will be the least bit thawed out in 3 hours. It takes overnight on our kitchen counter for one of the quart things to thaw, this is a 3 quart. Yeah, no worries at all! Oh, and I got dressed up(ish) for the meeting. Here is me today!













Tomorrow, I am taking Jake Christmas shopping for his family. He usually gets gifts at the Christmas store at school but they arent doing it this year. So, it's $20 and the dollar store for him! I think that before we leave I'll have him write out a little list, so he can follow that and try to learn something about budgeting. Again with the lofty goals, I know! Then... tomorrow night is the Disney Christmas party. I am pretty excited about it, I just hope that it starts warming up just a bit since my dress is shortish and has no sleeves. BUT it is cute and was on sale for $20 at the mommy store. Yay sale! I'm wearing it with these little black velvet shoes and Gram's black (that look grey) pearl necklace. Fun fun fun. I'll show you pics on Monday.

Sunday is the craft fair in Safety Harbor. I have to meet the girls at 5:45 which will be early since I probably wont get home from the party until 11 at the earliest. But it sucks more for Tra and Kerry since Kerry's got to go from Orlandoish to Tra's house in lakeland to tampa to meet me by 5:45. Twont be carloads of happy campers, I assure you. Although I am pretty much a morning person. Tracie, not so much. I have a long list of stuff to do for this fair - I have already washed the aprons, but now they are a shrunken wrinkled mess. Next step - iron them flat, then iron on the logo that I have successfully made into backwards logos per the instructions that I didnt read the first time! (whoops!). That will get done Saturday after the shopping when I ship the kidlet off to his grandma's house for the night.

Hairstory Update: I know that I slacked on this (sorry Laurie http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/, whom I doubt reads this, but let me dream because she's all famous even though she doesn't think so). My Mom sent me this a while ago (see, with the slacking!) and I had wanted to be able to post them individually, and I'm sure the technology would allow me to do that had I the time/energy/brain power but I dont so here it is all at once! I will try my best to tell you when each of these is from, starting from the little bitty one on the left going clockwise (click to big).
1. Jr year - 1992 (yeah, not 80's but still)
2. 9th grade dance - 1989 (that is a strapless dress from Contempo that was $109 and I thought I was all that and a big mac in that dress!
3. Probably 1984ish
4. 7th grade - 1987.
5. 8th grade - 1988
6. 88-89 - this wasnt a school pic but one we had done at like KMart. Please notice the over-accessorizing!
7. 9th grade - 1989. That was the picture taken on the same day that the first Hairstory pic I posted was taken. Notice the peace sign I told you about? See, I dont make this stuff up!

So, that's my hairstory - I wish I had some more from 7th/8th/9th - which involved a large amount of hairspray, and my very own Sun-In incident! Scary times, I tell ya! Moving on.
Babyville: The rapid flow of blood through the umbilical cord keeps it taut, preventing tangles.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Sorry about the MIA thing

I know, it's been a while but work has been pretty well kicking my arse.


Hrm, where to start? Lets see - I have gotten the whole back of the sweater done (except for the opposite side shoulder which I will do tonight at crochet group - I'm going to pretend I'm not knitting, hopefully no one will notice! Then I will start on the front. I didnt realize there was fancy knitting involved in this here sweater. Since I am not a real Knitter, it scares me, but I am muddling through - hopefully the recipient wont notice, or will at least pretend not to notice!

Christmas shopping is close to done - Travis is going out to Disney to get the last couple people things and thats it. I am hoping that on Sunday while I'm at the craft fair that he will get the tree out of the attic and up so that evening maybe we can decorate it. That would be nice. Hard to believe that I have actually managed to make 5.5 Christmas gifts - I'm pretty proud of myself! Last year I cheated by sending a whole gaggle of craft fair scarves up to some of my colder-weather realitives and let them pick out which ones they liked best amongst them... no thought involved on my part what-so-ever! See, cheating. Not so this year - what with the fitted garments and all!


I sent my application to the fair for the pink angora baby dress. I do hope I win SOMETHING so that I can claim to be "award winning". Course I would really REALLY like to win best in show - that one pays out $50! How strange, I cant find a pic of it. Let me take one real quick...










This is front, back and a closeup of the button. It's a china rose, and I love it and think it totally makes this little dress!

Works getting bad so i need to hurry.
Um, This is me today:













On Saturday I had my baby shower, and had great fun celebrating with 8 of my closest friends and family. Well, the ones that could make it anyway! I got some nice goodies, and gnombert helped me out with some games:
This upcoming Saturday is the Disney Christmas party - I have my fancy schmancy dress to go along with Gram's black pearls - I will be sure to post some pics come Monday.
Sunday is the craft fair in Safety Harbor (for those locals, go to www.safetyharborkiwanis.org for more info! We're booth 608). It was a good one last year so I have high hopes for this one too!
Um, guess that's it, now for.....
Babyville: We have set a date... 1/8 at 1:30pm at Brandon Regional Hospital.... yippeeeeee! moving on. A sufactant, which helps Sean breathe after birth coats the air sacks in the lungs. The placenta which feeds baby, and acts as a barrier between he and I, continues to grow. 34 wks LMP - Sean weighs 4.73 pounds or 2383 grams and is 18.19 inches or 46.2 cm long. My antibodies to disease begin to flow rapidly to baby through the placenta. Sean begins to develop sleeping patterns (Don worry, they arent ALWAYS going to be a night owl... whew!).