I Went Out ........

.........by myself. I did really well! Last night I went to my work's Euchre Tournament.....by myself! I did great. I had the fourth highest hand out of all the participants and third highest out of the women. (Including one man we made a woman because we were short one:P)

I went out today, by myself, to the mall. I am looking for a few garments for work and every day occurrences because I seem to have gone down a few sizes. Items in my closet are not fitting properly. :D

I bought a few dresses:


a skirt:


and a thing to charge the Playstation controllers because Chewy, a.k.a. Napoleon, insists on chomping down on every wire in the apartment:

I made sure this one was wireless.

Do you see the theme of me going out, by myself? I never would have done this before. I always went out to events or places with someone. I never felt comfortable going anywhere on my own. These last few weeks have been very important for me. I am feeling stronger all the time. I guess the word would be empowered? Whatever it is, I like it!

Now because of all this lovely greenery,

I'm off for a nap with a few allergy pills and drink. Enjoy your week end everyone!

Keeps Getting Better

I am good. I woke this morning and that realization. I am very thrilled. It has not taken me that long to get this point either. I have been on my own since the February. It is really not a very long time. I still have my down days where I will see a picture and then maybe get a little weepy, but overall, those days are very few and far between. I always knew I could live on my own. I had prior to the marriage thing. The difference now is that I eat better and take better care of myself. I actually make time to prepare meals. I make enough dinner so I have leftovers for lunch the next day. I also make sure all my food groups are covered. My body lets me know when I'm missing something. It has taken me a long to time to learn how to listen to my body.

I also budget better. I always had this capability, I just never did. I could leave that for someone else to take care of. Something about the need for a roof over my head is great motivation. I have made serious attempts at sticking to my budget as well. I reserve so much for fun, for food, for bills and so on. I have even managed to start up a savings account. I can take care of the little problems that arise, like needing to replace spark plugs. Maybe I'm starting to grow up?

I'm not into the dating scene though. I just want to go out and have fun with someone. I don't want to have to worry about any other commitments. I was chatting with one of my online friends last night. He made a good point. He suggested I just needed to evolve from a friendship relationship. There is no stress in those. I like this. Just need to form one of those friendship type of deals. I have been chatting with someone online though. I like this relationship. He lives in the States. We have our own living space. I am still on my own, but have that connection to someone. If it progresses beyond that, then great. If it doesn't, then that is awesome too. I'm really into the no pressure thing right now.

Other people notice I'm doing better as well. I've lost weight. I smile more. I laugh more easily and honestly now. It's not one of those forced chuckles. I no longer dread the week end. At the start of singledom, I liked work for the escape. The week ends left me to my own thoughts. I craved distractions. I noticed a few week ends ago, that this was not the case. I made a list of things I wanted to do or complete. I started doing this when I first moved in as a coping mechanism. A few week ends ago, I never even looked at it. I hung out, by myself. I played video games, watched movies, started painting again, knit a pair of socks and read. I feel like I'm evolving.

It can only get better from this point on. I can feel things in the works. Not sure what exactly, but I have pretty good vibe coming from the future. I've not had this feeling in a long time. I like it.



While I was looking for that song, I came across this one:



The lead singer, Peter Steele died last week. I loved this band when it first came into the mainstream. They always put on a great show. If anyone can tell me please the real name of the character in the video, that would be awesome.

Enjoy your week end everyone.

Further Experiments in the Kitchen

I did a bit of grocery shopping over the week end. Something possessed me to purchase crab meat. I believe it was the ready to serve on the label. This acquisition led to another of my many experiments in the kitchen.


I started off with frozen broccoli defrosted in the microwave:

There was more, but Napoleon sneaks it when I'm not looking. I had no idea cats loved broccoli.

I heated up some pre-made Alfredo sauce on low heat:

It looks all authentic in the sauce pan. I meant to take a picture, but I was busy protecting the broccoli.

I boiled my linguine:


I flaked up my crab meat.

I don't know what the proper term is, but I shredded up my Parmesan:


Poured a glass a wine from here:


Then mixed everything in my bowl:

Not bad eh?

I guess hunting broccoli makes you sleepy:

Night everyone :D

Happy Easter

I had a great week end. There was no stress or worries. My main goal was just to arrive at my parents' home and go from there. I am happy to say, I met my goal.
On the drive up I was thinking about how Easter was when we were small children. My sister and I would wake before the sun even showed a hint of an appearance and scavenge the house for chocolate. The dog normally beat us to the treats. Mom or Dad would hear us rustling about and shout, For the love of Pete get to bed it's not even three am in the morning yet! When the rest of the family woke, we would have breakfast and then get dressed for mass. We would be in matching pastel coloured dressed and have wide brim straw hats. Our Dad would stay home and watch Coronation Street and I would get sick to my stomach with the smell of Easter Lilies in the church.
Our Easter's have changed a lot since then. We do not have the need to attend church services. Just seems hypocritical. It's hard to watch the same people that sit in that building with you to nod along in agreement to the priest's sermon, then go out and continue along with the path that is complete opposite to what they just minutes agreed. I like what we do now. We have a great meal and just hang out.
The weather was unbelievable. We were in t-shirts and jeans! Spring/Summer clothing in the last week of March and first week of April. This is very rare for Canadians. I even have a farmer's tan! I love it.

Mom loved her socks:


Her birthday fell on the same week end as Easter this year. So we had cake as well:


I also tried to explain one of my favourite movies, Constantine to my parents. It didn't go very well.

It's not a movie for everyone. They were relieved when we put on the Toronto game.

The two gnomes moved my truck so we could change the spark plugs and distributor cap. They are what we call morning people. I was still in pjs when they decided around 07h00 to start things moving along.

She keeps that stereo awfully loud.


We've been spotted.


Awful dusty in there.


OK. Get the stuff.

I like this series. It's rather sequential.

So I am not competent to change spark plugs and distributor caps and rotor wheels and all that. I even know what they look like! It is awesome to have the truck start on the first try. My hands have some killer bruises on them. Some of the wires were really jammed in there. I reefed on one and when it finally came free, I had launched my hand into the back of the truck panel. My shoulder feels a little weird. We dropped a few things down through the engine that didn't quite make it to the ground. I didn't realize I was that flexible. I can surmise that we found all the items we dropped. When I drove home, I didn't hear any weird clanking or grinding sounds. All in all, job well done I say!

I'm at home now with the fuzzy children. They haven't stopped telling me about their week end. I'm sure it was filled with lots of poetic thought, planning and chaos. It's what they do best. It hurts too much to hold needles, so I'm going to draw and watch Spartacus: Blood and Sand. Enjoy the last of this long week end everyone. :)

Need to Get a Passport

I came to this decision after reading some news online at work. There is this child, age 13, who is attending the University of Connecticut. He is upset because he has been told he is unable to attend an aspect of the program that studies environmental studies in South Africa. This young man has also traveled quite extensively over the United States and various parts of the world. So here is my thinking: If this teenager can get his act together to travel all over the world, why can't I? So I have a few new goals. One is to get this passport and the other is to use said passport. I think this is attainable no? I want to see all those places that everyone keeps send me pictures about through my emails all the time.

Mom's socks have moved along rather quickly. I just attribute my quickness to the amount of television I've been watching lately, be it on my actual television or online. I don't know how I managed so long without my Internet I'm on it constantly. I'm forever checking emails and certain sites, blogs, patterns, definitions, et cetera et cetera.

I have taught myself how to knit via the Internet. Youtube is an endless supply of fun, instruction and icky. Not to mention a few sites that just crack me up. Have you ever seen, www.textsfromlastnight.com ? OMG! Some are just too funny for words. I seem to keep arriving at the same conclusion that these people cannot be for real.

I have also been knitting like a fiend. I can't bring myself to finish the baby blanket. My heart is just not in it. I'm going to have to wait for a show on television that is just so interesting, I don't need to concentrate on what I'm working on.
Mom's finished socks:

I love them. They are designed by Verybusymonkey. This chick rocks. She has lots of coolass patterns. I enjoyed this one especially. It didn't take that long to complete because of the fun I had knitting them.

I started another pair of socks this evening watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off. These socks are fun.
Circle Socks, appropriately named I might add:


I'm using SRK On Your Toes by Kertzer:

It has aloe in it somehow. I'm wondering if that is why it's shedding a bit more than I'm used to.

Well, one cat is in the bag,

The other is hiding under the desk,

I think it's a subtle hint to try and settle down so I can sleep before the birds start. I'm going to read and finish my drink. I hope you all have a great day tomorrow.

Crack Medical Team

I was under the weather early this morning. Woke up around 0400ish and felt crappy. I hate that feeling. I tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't. The room wouldn't stop spinning. I wasn't even drinking. I was stone cold sober. I watched the time change on my clock. When the alarm sounded, I stumbled to the phone to call work. I didn't get much word in, and was told promptly to go back to bed. Sounded like a good idea to me. If the only the room would co-operate and quit spinning. So I made my coffee and sat on the couch to watch morning television.

I started to feel a little better so I started working on my next little project:

Rhombus Socks.
On a side note, my toe is not dirty. It's a nice little bruise from where I strategically dropped the can opener.

I like the swirly pattern:


My crack medical team is now strongly suggesting I rest a bit more.

I don't feel like arguing with them. I hope you all had a great day.

Not Really a Lot Going On

I've been having pretty intense cravings for Skittles lately. Not sure why. Actually, that's not true. They are a coping mechanism for me.
They are a big help at work:


They also help me knit:


I'm currently working on a project for a co-worker. I was putting it off for a while. It will be a baby blanket. I am knitting squares with different patterns. When I have enough squares, I will crochet them together. I was putting it off because I don't really like this co-worker. Someone suggested to me that since I knit "pretty good", I should knit something for the baby. I resent those kind of statements or suggestions. It takes a lot out of me to knit for someone else. I'm more of a selfish knitter. I changed my mind because of the new life that will enter our world. While I'm working on this little project, I'm just trying to put all my good feelings into it and wish the baby strength and love.

Last week, I contacted the Cash for Gold people. Today in my mail box, there was that postage paid envelope they tell you about on their ads.


The way I see it, I don't really have anything to lose. Those items are a symbol of something that has been. I do not want to go back to that point in my life. This seems the healthiest way to be rid of those symbols.

So I found those items and tucked them into that envelope.


Tomorrow I will wish them on their merry way:


I will let you know what happens.
I'm off to surf the web. I hope you all had a great St. Paddy's day if you celebrate. If not, then I hope you enjoyed the weather. See you later.