It Was Awesome!

I had a great Christmas with my family. The drive to my parent's house was not the like the third coming of Christmas's past. The traffic was surprisingly light. My parents live just on the other side of Peterborough. To get there, we just follow the lights that can be seen from outer space:


My parents for the most part, are doing very well. Just a little snag. The conversation sort of went like this:
Me- So, what's new?
Stepfather- Not much really. Neighbour has hemorrhoid, the pears we bought at the grocery were bad on the inside, step dad has a pace maker, they built a new Costco on highway 115....
Me- Wait, wait, wait....
Mom- hm?
Me- Back up a scooch,
Mom- I can't believe they would sell bad pears. That is so wrong. There are a lot of people who only have a certain amount of money to spend. They can't waste it on bad pears.....
Me- No. Not that far back.
Stepfather- I haven't been in the new Costco yet. I wonder if it is laid out the same.
Me- Probably. Not what I'm trying to understand though. What about the pace Maker?
Mom- Oh. Didn't we tell you on the phone?
Me- Nope. You mentioned that Len wants to go to Curves but they won't let him because he is a man.
Stepfather- But I think their workout would be better suited for me.
Me- It's a woman's only gym. Women don't want to be gawked at when they are working out. The pace maker?
Stepfather- My heart doesn't beat in rhythm. They are trying to fix it.
Me- Why do you know about the neighbour's hemorrhoids?

We watched a lot of movies on our little vacation. It's kind of weird. When I'm at my parents house, I forget they don't have the same channels as we do. We have the video on demand thing, which I absolutely love. You can pause and watch whenever you want to. You don't have to wait for a certain time. I always forget there is something I'm waiting to watch until it's too late. Then the program is done and I'm behind a few episodes. Anyway, we watched the second Harry Pottery film, The Secret Chamber I believe. I seem to only watch Harry Potter when I'm at my parent's house. We also watched Defiance. For any of you Psych or Sociology majors out there, this film shows great examples of Mob Mentality. We also saw Pineapple Express.

I also did a fair amount of knitting now that my shoulder has finally gotten better.
These are my Skeleton Stockings:

Look! The feet are complete.

I also worked on my wavy scarf:

Can you tell I like that close up feature on the camera?

I started a new project for one of my husband's kickboxing instructors:

Zoe Mellor's Moss Stitch Baby Cardigan. It is not much to look at now, but I have a feeling it will look pretty cool when I'm finished.

I also picked up some yarn to make a toque for Brian. It will have a Transformer theme. You remember that cartoon? The one where the cars are actually robots. They've made a few movies about it as well.

I'm not sure how the design will progress. When I have an image, I will be sure to share it with you all.

Oh! Something really cool to share!
Check the size of this monitor:


Maybe it is easier to see without Napoleon in the foreground.


Our friend gave it to us. I can't believe the difference from our old one. It's incredible. All my windows I have open are not all crammed. I transfer files so much easily. It's awesome!

I also completed a lot of my little projects on my list that I made at the start of my holidays.
I sorted all my yarn:

Looks pretty cool eh?

I moved around my living room furniture. I should have taken a picture of that for you. Tidied up a lot. We got rid of some things that we no longer needed. It feels good to be all uncluttered.

I'm all tuckered out now. So is Napoleon.

We did a lot in this short little time we had off.

I'm off to bed. Good night everyone. I hope you all had an amazing Christmas!

First Off....

Merry Christmas!

This is what it looks like on my way to work lately:

I just like that image and thought I would share it with you all.

I started my holidays yesterday. It was 14h17 to be exact. I should have started them at noon, but I wanted to finish a project. It wouldn't make any sense to me when I returned. I don't have a lot planned for my holidays other than the major trip to my parents for Christmas.

So far though, I've enjoyed some nice wines:

Has some nice shoes on the label. How could I resist?

Today is going to be domestic day. I'm all ready.
I have on my domestic cleaning clothes:


I love this sweat shirt:


I have my giant coffee mug:


My laundry is all sorted:

Just have to wait for the elevator to come off service. I hate lugging laundry down five flights. I always lose something. Usually it's the most embarrassing thing I own.

My iPod is getting charged so I can reload some tunes on it:


Yarn to sort through:

Somewhere in that mess is some yarn for a few baby sweaters.

I have my partners in crime all pumped for action:


I think today will be a good day!

No Knitting :(

I think because my work space at work is not really ergonomically designed, I jacked up my shoulder. This is not a pleasant experience. I didn't even think I sat still long enough for my body to realize we were not supporting a correct posture. Oh well. Lesson learned. Tomorrow, I will carefully set up my desk to avoid this type of discomfort in the future. At the start of the work week, I feel normal. The more correct phrase is I feel very well, no discomfort. As the week progresses, I accumulate more stress and tension and then I notice my shoulder getting very tight. It almost feels like it used to during halftime when I played basketball in school. When Friday blessedly arrives, my shoulder is seized and I have to bribe it to make it through the day. After two weeks, I finally decided, something may not be right. What can I say, I'm a slow learner. At night, in the comfort of my home, watching television, I start to knit on one of the many projects I have on the go. The the shoulder wakes up and shouts stop. Like I said, I'm slow boat at times. So reluctantly, I'm on a knitting-free holiday. I never realized how difficult it was to just sit and watch television. I always have something in my hands to work on while the program plays out. It feels very abnormal. I don't really like this feeling. I have to be careful of the video games I select. I get right into some of them. They are so real it's unbelievable. My shoulders get all tense. I hold my breath. It's probably not very healthy. So, I will give it a rest for a week and see what happens. In the mean time, I'm surfing the net and trying to find some very different baby sweaters for when I'm back in full force. A lot of our associates seem to be expecting. I wonder if it has to the poor Leaf's season us Toronto fans are suffering through.
Enjoy the rest of the week end everyone. Only a few days left to prepare for Christmas Day.

Batty

Is finished.............

Welcome to Canada Eh :)

On my very interesting drive into work this morning, I have to question where their head is located. I live in a wonderful country. We experience two seasons, Winter and Construction. There might be some Autumn in the mix, but sometimes it passes by too quickly. Now that we are in the winter season, perhaps we should all band together and get on the same page. We all have different driving styles, some are professional, some are NASCAR wannabes, some are Sunday drivers, et cetera, et cetera. We should all be driving safely. There should be no argument with this safety. Not only are you driving for yourself and whoever your passengers may be, you should also take into account you are not the only ones on the road. Here are a few of my winter driving tips:

1. Washer fluid. Make sure you have some. Under the hood of your vehicle, there is a container specially designed to house this fluid. It comes in handy when someone passes you and sprays debris and snow onto your vehicle.

2. Wiper blades. Very good to have. Make sure they remove as much water from your windshield as possible. You do not need the extra challenge.

3. Windows. They have a purpose. They are meant to give you a view to the outside world. Before you leave your parking location, clear them. You should be able to see outside of all of them. Don't just use your debit card to clear off a little spy hole. Go big! Clear off the whole thing.

4. Snow removal. Clear all the snow off of your vehicle. Yes, the roof as well. For those of us vertically challenged, you can open your door, step onto the step and reach further along the roof. I do this after I get most of the snow cleared away. It works well for me. I only suggest this if are strong enough to support yourself.

5. Four wheel drive. Not all that great if you don't know how to operate them. There is that old adage, it's not the machine but the operator. Just because you have four wheel drive, it does not mean you can drive as you do during our Autumn or Spring month. I'm not sure about the Summer month. I'm always waiting for the friendly person to switch the sign so I may proceed slowly with caution. Four wheels will lose traction just as efficiently as rear or front wheel drive. You still must drive for the conditions of the road.

6. Reduce your speed. I cannot say this enough. If the old K car in front of you is doing a mere 30km/hr, there is a reason. I cannot tell you how many vehicles flew by me this morning, and then shortly up ahead were shiny side down. I don't know about you kind folks but I would rather arrive in one piece than in a bag on someone's table.

7. Space. I have a huge personal space bubble on a good day. It gets obscenely more in lousy weather conditions. When you think about braking, only a very small portion of your tire is making contact with the pavement (ice). The last thing you want to do is rely on that minute space when you apply your brakes. The more room you have in front of you, the more chances you have to react if you see someone ahead doing something irresponsible. Makes sense does it not?

8. Braking. This is not the only option you have to slow down your vehicle. You have all those other gears at your disposal. If you apply your brakes and they do not react, slip down a gear so your vehicle will start slow to a speed you can control. Neutral is also a good gear to become acquainted with. Do not hit your brakes hard or quickly when you start to slide. You many end up one of those unfortunate shiny side down people. If you refer to point 5, you probably will not have to worry about this point as much.

There are so many other points that I could go into, but these were the main ones I saw on my way into work today. The only thing i really want to stress is to be careful. You may not realize it, but you mean the world to someone. They will be absolutely miserable if you do something stupid that shortens your time here with us.

I've lectured enough for tonight. I'm going to put my soap box and work on my mittens. There is not much left to do with them. I plan to finish them tonight. If I do, I will be sure to post the pictures.
Have a good night everyone. Stay warm and safe.

My That Went By Quick

It is Sunday already. My week end just flew by. At least I have something to show for the quickness :)
My Gone Batty Mittens:


I also completed my Mauresque socks:

These are not my favourite pair, but I did enjoy some aspects of their creation. I like that part where you wrap the yarn around 5 stitches. I am not sure what it is called, but I do like the effect.

I also watched a lot of movies. I finally watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. That is a great movie. I like that concept. What would it be like if our growth was reversed and we became younger as time moved on. I also watched Passchendale. I was a bit surprised by this one. It did not center on the war, but rather a love story that took place around that time. The war was a big part of the plot, but main story was very interesting to watch.

Well, tomorrow is another work day. I hope you all had a great week end.
Good night :)

I'm in a Better Frame of Mind

I am in a much better frame of mind. It all started with a little dinner at Denny's. There we were, sipping on our drinks and waiting for our hash browns when we heard this weird heavy breathing sound. Now, my mother always told me never to stare or point. So we continued to drink our drinks quietly and think the best route to take to peak around to see where the noise was coming from. We needn't of worried about making a spectacle of ourselves. I gave up on subtlety and quickly glanced over my shoulder. There to my surprise is an older couple........sleeping........in a restaurant! Move over People of Walmart for the People of Denny's. The older gentleman had fallen asleep reading the newspaper. His lovely wife had fallen asleep using her bewbs as a pillow. I dare you try that. I can rarely fall asleep if I'm not in my own bed, with my pillow, on my side; never mind the sleeping in public bit. I still am unsure how she managed that position. She did look really comfortable. I finally figured out the snoring noise was coming from her. She was suffocating herself in her chest. I felt sorry for the server. How do place the bill on the table? You might startle them. Then you have a whole new set of problems on hand.
Since we went out for supper, we didn't have left overs for my lunch. So, I thought I was being clever and bought a salad from the grocery section of the Walmart. It looked really nice. All the colours, crisp greens, bright red tomatoes. I was all excited about my lunch. So the next day, around lunch time, OK more like 10h30. I'm on the phone with a board member and I thought I would prep my salad. Tricky little lid. It said pop tab to open. OK. I can do that. OMG! It sounded like a shot. You could tell the neighbourhood I grew up in wasn't the friendliest. I sort of ducked down a bit. The smell thought. For the love of Pete. It was deadly. I thought the guys in the shop were doing some weird motor experiments again. Or maybe someone sadly ended the life of a skunk and the odour was clinging to their car. Finally, my blondness subsided and I realized it was my salad. I was quite embarrassed. I quickly dumped the remains in the trash can. Wasn't very effective. That odour was persistent. I doubled bagged it. Still not good enough. Finally, i found my little can glade odour hiding stuff. I emptied that little canister. Now we have a stinky office with a faint scent of mountain mist. Nope. Still pretty gross. Triple bagging that sucker now. OMG. It was too powerful. I had to travel outside with that bomb and toss it into the dumpster. I just hope animal control or environment Canada doesn't call. I don't really want to be responsible for some nuclear disaster.
Well now that I have provided you all some details about my dining experiences, I am going to retire to the living room for the new episode of Fringe.
Good night everyone. :D

Rough Day

I didn't really have a good day today. I went to the funeral of someone who is very special to me. I found out on Monday that the gentleman had passed away that morning. I'm very close to his wife. She is very much a mom to me. Brian and I both think the world of this couple. They were married for 50 years. We attended their anniversary party not too long ago. The same people at that party were at this funeral.
The pastor today said it wonderfully. They were best friends and soul mates. That was definitely the case with this wonderful couple. There are very few people in this world who find their best friend. I'm still not doing very well. All I can think about is that she is in the house with the dog and the cat. His belongings are still there. She says she feels numb. That sounds like a good way to be until you can deal with your grief when you are ready. You know what I really don't understand? When people say be strong. Why? Why do you need to be strong. Why can't you be however you feel. I suppose it is because they really don't know what to say. I also really hate hearing, I know how you feel. I strongly doubt that. Even if you too have sadly lost your soul mate, that is your grief. That is a feeling only you can feel. You have no business telling anyone you know how they feel.
I don't really feel like saying much else.
Night everyone.

Week End Stuff

I hope you all were able to enjoy the weather I did this week end. We went for a walk yesterday and I was able to comfortable where a sweater and sneakers. This time last year, I believe we had a foot of snow. I'll take this winter any day. I do enjoy the winter season, but only for a month or so. After that, I'm tired of pushing my truck out of the parking spot in the morning because of the snow and ice. I also do not really care for sub zero wind that seems to suck the breath right out of you.
I watched quite a few movies this week end as well as a few of the series that I am addicted to. I finally couldn't wait any longer and wanted to see what the fuss was all about with regards to Twilight. Alright. I can see the draw. It had a good story. The characters were charming. I was suckered into the hype. I have to read the books now. I've added them to my Amazon wish list along with the Sookie Stakehouse books on which True Blood are based. I also watch My Bloody Valentine. I'm not going to recommend this one. I will say that it was a simply horror story that caught my attention for an hour or so. Because the plot was somewhat predictable, I was able to work on these:


I'm not really sure what I think of this pattern. It is called Mauresque Socks. I am knitting them because of the Pentathlon Sock group from Ravelry has introduced them. I like the idea. It does have a pleasing look. I think I am just put off because of the few mistakes in the chart. If it were not for the Yahoo group, I think I would still be swearing at them. What I am really enjoying is the yarn I'm working with. It is so soft. It also stripes up. The striping is not very noticeable at first. I just realized it did after I looked at the pictures I took online. That was a pleasant surprise.

There really is not much else going on in my little world. I'm just watching a lot of television and working on my little projects. I find I always mellow out around this time of year. It may be that because of all the illness that travels around. I personally think it's because of the shorter days. I drive from work home in the dark now. That is depressing. At lease I can keep myself amused.

I hope you are all well. Talk with you later.

Secret Identity

Here I am at work. For a brief moment, I am all caught up on my paperwork. This rarely happens. There must be something I'm forgetting to complete. At any rate, I'm surfing the online news sites and stumbled on this title: "Belle De Jour" call girl exposes herself..... Further reading of this explained that is the lady whose life the television show, Secret Diary of a Call Girl, was based.
This got me to thinking. If you could have a secret identity, what would you do? Let's just say, there would be no repercussions, no limit of funds and no limit for travel. You can be anything you want.
I would like to be a villain. Someone that gets to wear a cool costume and kick ass boots. I'd be able to actually run in said boots as well. I'd love to have a supernatural power. Perhaps teleportation. I'd get to utter that line: to take over the world (insert evil laugh here). I just sometimes wish I wasn't always on my best behaviour. I'd love to cause a little chaos every once in a while.
Happy Monday everyone. It's the start of a new week and maybe some new experiences.

Rebel's Book Club

It has been a wonderful week end so far. There has not been the rain that the weather people were initially calling for. In fact, it's been unseasonably warm. We went on our excursions this week end with only a light jacket. I'm loving this weather.
They have just built an Indigo book store in our little town. We couldn't drive by without stopping in. Hubby and I both found lots that to amuse ourselves with. Rebel seems to have taken an interest in our selections as well:

We found another Christopher Moore book:

I love this author's quirky sense of humour.

We also stumbled onto another of Marian Keyes' novels:

I think it is safe to say, there is probably not one book that she has written that I have not enjoyed. I'm a bit addicted to this author.

Hubby found another addition to the Dexter series:


I also found something that seemed a bit off the beaten path. Have to wait and see if I really enjoy this one:


Napoleon is more of a magazine lover:

Not as much as he would like to read it, merely sleep on. It's smooth surface makes for an excellent napping spot.

I guess all the excitement with the photo-shoot can tucker a kitty out:


On our walk today, we came across this neat looking tree:

I think it inspires all sorts of stories and pictures. That is one on the reasons I enjoy our walks so much. There is always something to catch our attention.

When we arrived home again, we settled in to watch a movies. We rented G I Joe; The Rise of Cobra, Drag Me to Hell and Bood; The Last Vampire. The last one is based on an anime film that we really enjoyed. We will watch that one tomorrow night. Wow! Are we ever wild. We watched two movies and I worked on my new scarf:

It is from the spring issue of Knitty, called Lace Ribbon Scarf.

Heehee. This week end might not be for everyone, but it is our favourite thing to do. I hope that whatever you all end up doing this week end, you have a great time. See you all later. :)

Nice Weekend

I had a great week end. I hope you all enjoyed yours. I visited my friend in the city. She got me hooked on television program named Raising the Bar. I just couldn't stop watching. The time passed so quickly. I'm really hoping the networks pick up this show for another season. I think my only complaint of the show is the length of Mark-Paul Gosselaar's character. As I'm now just reading this link, I see that there is actually a second season out there in television land. I think I will make that my mission for this month and track it down.

We visited Pick Up Sticks new location in Stoufville/New Market area. It is found in a wonderful piece of country.

Here are the goodies I came home with:

I see mittens in the immediate future with this happy combination.


I love the subtle transition of the colours in this Alchemy product. I didn't even notice the purple until last night when I was really examining the skeins. Those should make exciting socks.


Since I had such a great time the Intrelac Socks the first time around, I thought I would give it another go. Its always such a surprise when you see the next colour emerge.

This is the beginning of my Skeleton Stockings:

They do not show the pattern yet, but they will soon. When it becomes more obvious, I will be sure to post pictures.

Lately, I've been cruising the Internet highway for things other than knit patterns and video games. Surprising, I know. Who knew there was a whole other world out there besides the cyber one. Anyway, I have stumbled on a few things that were pretty cool or just plain bizarre. For example, there is an ocean forming in the Ethiopian desert. Now how cool is that? We get to see a natural event in our lifetime. I'm not sure whether there will be an actual ocean there in our time, but just being able to see the start is pretty amazing.

Something else I stumbled across is that the children's television show Sesame Street is celebrating 40 years. This program has sparked a countless number of studies. It is one of the few that have stood the test of time and reached not just the North American children it initially targeted, but children world wide. I had no idea until I wrote a paper for one of my courses in university. I also learned that James Earl Jones was the first celebrity to guess star on the show. I must say, my favourite Sesame Street bit was when Ricky Gervais was doing an interview with Elmo. I did put that clip on this blog somewhere. In case you missed it the first time.........


And since I was snooping around Youtube, I now have a new favourite song:


I'm going to work on my scarf now. I will chat with you all a little later this week. :)

It was Awesome!

We had a great Hallowe'en. We didn't really do much. We just watched movies and drank, but it was in costume. So it was special.

We had ambiance lighting:



Even Rebel seemed to enjoy the flamage:


I was a very tall witch:


Hubby was a contemplating medieval ranger:


We were visited by a poor painted action figure:


Napoleon was the quite the host and made sure the guest was entertained:

Not the best pic of Napoleon, but he is very photo shy and almost impossible to photograph.

Here is a close up of my boots:


And the tights I wore under them:


While we were watching our horror-fest, I finished a hat for one of Hubby's students:

The student's name is Bara, hence "BaraCuda".

The young man is from Dubai and not adjusting very well to our Canadian climate.

This time change we just experienced is playing havoc with my internal clock. I hope you are all adjusting alright. I'm off to go mellow out so I can try to sleep tonight. This may prove difficult as I have ingested an abnormal amount of candy. Hope you all had a great Hallowe'en! :)