Friday, March 28, 2008

I've been busy...

Hey everyone,

I have been thinking about posting more trip stuff and more other stuff that's been going on (honestly)...can you say there has been knitting in the house? Booyah. Unfortunately, I have only had time to think of it. Just plain Booo! Going to make an effort this weekend though.

I still have lots of stuff still trapped in the camera to show you...

And Thursday, I snuck out for an hour to do this...




That's about 6 inches off my friends, and I absolutely love my new 'do! Still all curly and wavy and stuff, but a lot less of the bulk.

Perfect for Spring.

Next up? Why painted toes of course! It's sandal wearing time out here in California!!!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee...

..or should I say Weeeeeeeeeeeee....

The swap begins folks! I'm so excited too.

My swap pal is Emily from PA. She has a blog and an Etsy shop.

Hi Emily...I hope you like the sock I'll make you. It's my first. It'll probably take me alllll weekend, in-between life of course, but I will get it done.

Think I'll make a pair, so I can have one here as well...they will be, after all, my first!

Time to get those needles clicking!!!!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Hurry! Only one day left!!!!

There she goes with the !!!!!!!s again. !!!!

As seen on Lime and Violet's Daily Chum, sign up's for the Wee Tiny Sock Swap end tomorrow....go HERE, sign up...you know you want to...

I'm knitting a Wee Tiny Sock this weekend!!

Finally popping the cherry on my sock knitting...it won't hurt, right? I'm starting out small - you know...just in case... (oh, i just had to...you know I did...haven't had any double-meaning/dirty knitted terms in forever)

Just wait until you hear the name of my sock pose. No-Blog-Rachel, you're going to love it.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Gah...

Well, I sure as hell ain't doing very well with this here posting more often thing, am I...sigh...

Actually, I have been quite busy...more like running all around and being so tired, I just don't feel like doing anything but going to bed once the sun goes down...

Anyway...The Honey has reminded me that I forgot to tell about Immigration once I got off the plane in England.

Not really much to tell, but sure as hell wish I had a photo of the guys face when I answered the infamous "Are you here on business or pleasure Miss?" with "I'm here on vacation!"

In England.

In February.

And...it's snowing.

Yes, I got quite "A Look".

An "Are you completely and utterly MAD, as in INSANE?" kind of look.

He was actually speechless there for a few seconds. I think I was only one of about a dozen or so US citizens from the plane. Everyone else were Brits returning home. The other US folks were there on business, or visiting family - there was even one family going to a funeral (really hated hearing that...).

But I was on VACATION!!!

After the usual grilling about where I was staying and all that, he finally let me pass. "Welcome to the UK Miss, urmmm...Enjoy your stay?"

Oh, and Stephieface....in answer to your comment about why I couldn't knit on the way home. Yes, they do knit in England. BUT, obviously, English Knitters are subversive folk hell bent on taking over the world - in an even worse way than I am. No sharp objects whatsoever, in any shape or form, are allowed on any flights leaving the UK. Knitting needles are first on the list.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

How not to travel light....

In the interest of posting more...and the fact that I've been at this work thing since 6am...and the lawn dudes are making an enormous racket outside my window...and it's time for lunch...

Here I am.

Thought I'd fill you in on what part of the Chaos I took with me to England. Thankfully, there are no photos.

One look inside my suitcase and you'd think...wow, this chick is organized. I had just the right amount of clothes...taking into account the fact that The Honey has laundry facilities, I packed light. And it was all packed - just so. Can't keep my apartment clear of clutter, but I sure as hell can pack!!!

If I was just taking over my clothes, I could have gotten away with one of those rolling carry-on thingies. Instead, I had a pretty big suitcase - which ended up weighing in at just 3lbs. under the allowable weight. What else did I bring?

Glad you asked...

Packed inside the suitcase were some goodies to spoil my Honey:
  1. Five shirts I'd found at all the sales that Spencer and I had been hitting over the Holidays. (blue and gray of course, to set off his blue eyes - sappy, I know...)
  2. One pound of Honey's fav coffee beans.
  3. One 3lb container of just-add-water pancake mix.
  4. Four small bottles of Vitamin Water in Honey's fav flavors. Originally had more, but those suckers really added to the weight factor, so had to leave half of them here.

Also packed inside were some things to give to my friend:

  1. Chili Spices Kit (she's from Texas...loves her Chili)
  2. Spanish rice mix
  3. Taco seasoning packet
  4. Sloppy Joe's seasoning packet
  5. And a few more seasoning packets I can't really remember

The Honey just cracked up when I started unpacking - pulling out item after item after item... "Did you actually bring any clothes?"

And the last bit of stuff in the suitcase was my extra duffle bag (in case extra packing room was needed on the way home, for umm - YARN?), toiletry overflow (anything larger than 3oz), my small messenger bag (great for doing the touristy thing), and stuff for the return flights.

In the backpack (yes, it's pretty big):

  1. Small baggie of toiletries (nothing over 3oz of course)
  2. Change of undies, shirt, and socks.
  3. Camera
  4. Various and sundry chargers and converters
  5. Cell Phone
  6. Wallet, passport, tix, and all that sort of stuff
  7. 3 word search puzzle magazines
  8. Notebook and pens
  9. Yarn, needles and pattern for fingerless mitts
  10. Yarn, needles and book about socks
  11. 1 very thick novel
  12. 1 small stained glass cable car hanging thing for the Honey's parents
  13. 2 small boxes of See's Assorted Candies (bought at the SF Airport - just couldn't pass them by and knew my friend and my Honey would enjoy them - OK OK...I WANTED them! Happy now?!?)
  14. 1 bottle of water that would need to be consumed before going thru security (no problem, drank it on the way to the airport)
  15. 1 adventurous Sock Monkey
  16. 1 shy and frightened Ms. Cow
  17. 1 light purple Pashmina shawl (wrap yourself in one of these suckers on the plane...mmmm...much better than those crap blankets they give you)

For the trip back and packed in my suitcase:

  1. The first 3 Terry Pratchett Discworld Novels
  2. 3 more word search puzzle magazines
  3. Various and sundry British gossip magazines and tabloids (these were bought while I was there, obviously, so ignore them for now)
  4. Plus most of everything else from before, minus the knitting of course (not allowed on flights leaving the UK)

What did I actually do on the way there? I did, after all, have two long flights and a layover...

  1. Did one word search puzzle in the SF airport.
  2. Roamed around the SF airport (yes, I was nervous and restless).
  3. Took a few photos on the flight to Chicago. Couldn't really move, so couldn't really do anything. (Good thing I'm not claustrophobic.)
  4. Roamed around the Chicago airport playing with the toilets and watching it snow and watching people (at this point I was VERY nervous and restless).
  5. Cast on for the fingerless mitts before getting on the flight to England.
  6. Knit, slept, screwed up knitting, slept some more...didn't watch the movies.
  7. Carried around a big ass backpack that weighed a freakin' ton!!!!
  8. Thought how ridiculous I felt carrying around a big ass backpack full of stuff I wasn't using.
  9. Thought that with all the stuff I wasn't doing, I could have packed what I needed in my Trader Joe's reusable grocery bag...sigh...

I'll fill you in later about the trip home...

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Getting There...

Yes No-Blog-Rachel...here it is...first of several...after all, I was there two weeks...

As all you regulars know, I left Friday, February 1st on my first ever, on my own, trip across The Pond. I'd traveled internationally before, lots of times. Never alone though...and it had been about 15 or so years since my last trip. And almost 14 years since I've had a vacation that wasn't with family (hmmm....strangely the same number of years Spencer has been around...)

Anyway, Feb 1st started out early. My airport ride showed up in the wee hours of the morning. They needed to drop me off and then make it to work early that day. I, of course, was all ready having calmly finished my packing the night before. Hah. Don't you just love fiction? The ready part was true...the calm? Not so much.

Upon arriving at the airport, the lovely, helpful lady at the check-in counter informs me that since I'm so early, they can put me on the earlier flight out to Chicago - which had been delayed, but was now scheduled to take off in about 45 min. Yay! I was excited about that. It would give me an extra 45min in Chicago to get to my flight to England.

We shall hurriedly mention the "BAG SEARCH!!!" "BAG SEARCH!!!" incident in security. Not very exciting and no needles were confiscated. They apparently didn't like the fact that I had a digital camera. Go figure.

On board I go...squeezed into the window seat next to a very large man with a cold. No, fellow knitters...there was no knitting on this flight...

Halfway thru the flight, I looked out and saw this...




Somewhere over the Midwest....all flat and covered in feet of snow...

Sock Monkey decided to come out from the backpack and take a look...my seat mate's snoring woke him up...



Yes, my friends, Sock Monkey is back and couldn't resist going on a new adventure...especially since he's never been in a plane before...

And we had another friend join along...Ms. Cow - she had some visiting to do as well.*



She was a little intimidated by the whole noisy plane thing, so stayed in the seat pocket. Sock Monkey tried to get her to look out the window, but she refused.

A few hours later...Welcome to Chicago Ladies and Gentlemen!



A cold and snowy day greeted us. The plows were working hard to clear off the runways. I was really hoping my connecting flight was still going to leave on time....

Check out the snow melting truck/machine thing! Coolest. Thing. Ever!!!!




With 45 minutes added to the 45 minutes I had to waste in the Chicago Airport, and being way too nervous to do anything but walk about, I, of course took pictures of the toilet.



Coolest. Toilet. Ever! Press a button on the wall, and a new toilet seat cover comes out and around the seat...whirrrrrr...now I'm really wishing I'd taken video...

No pictures from the flight over unfortunately (which left right on time, by the way). I was in and out of consciousness on it and trying to get in a little knitting in-between. I had finally started the second of my fingerless mitts about 30 minutes before we'd boarded the flight in Chicago, and had gotten more than half way through it by the time we landed. Knitting on a plane! YES! Had many friendly conversations with other passengers about it during the flight, the technique I was using (two circulars instead of dp's), and the stitch pattern (Anne the pattern writer calls it Pave). I apparently messed up somewhere around where the thumb gusset increases started. Several days later while in the car traveling to somewhere with The Honey, I noticed my mistake. Gah!

We arrived Feb 2nd, at 6:15am - ish...on a cold and snowy morning in England. We were an hour early (!!!!!!) and with all of us from the flight making frantic phone calls to our rides saying we were early. I sent a text to The Honey while in line at Immigration saying we were early and I was heading thru to the luggage carousel already. He replied that he was still 30 minutes away. Had expected as much since I didn't find out we were going to be that early until we were about halfway thru the flight - so I couldn't tell him.... and he wouldn't have found out until he woke up and checked the airport website.

After making my way thru all the official hoo hah, 15 min later, The Honey arrived and we set out.

DAY-YUM IT WAS COLD!!!!! I knew it would be cold and tried to prepare myself for it, but there is just no way to do that if you're not used to it. Took a while for the shivers to go away. Yes, I was bundled up, but it was definitely a shock to the system.

Luckily, The Honey's car has a fully functioning heater.

After a snowy drive home and several incidents of The Honey talking to himself as I passed in and out of consciousness...we arrived at his house.

Here's a view from the window on the second floor at the top of the stairs...



First thing I thought was...Good Heavens, I'm in a PBS show!!!! Looked just like the houses you see in the British shows they have. LOVE IT!

Honey thought I was crazy...and then bundled me off to take a nap before I passed out cold.

In case you haven't gotten it, I don't travel well. Also didn't help that I hadn't been able to sleep for those last few days before I left...

Coming soon...Off to Wales!!!! Castles!!!! Foreign toilets!!!!!! Bridges!!!!! Visiting with The Honey's Family!!!!!!! And Stairs...Lots of Bloody Stairs!!!!!!!

Whuh....a little unstable never hurt anyone...

* Ms. Cow has a bit of a relationship with Cow, who just happens to hang out with The Honey in his Home Office. Ms. Cow hangs out in my home office. They met for the first time when Honey came to visit, and have been an 'item' ever since. Ahhh....Bovine Romance....how sweet.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Coming soon to a blog near you...

Finished objects! Two of them!

Needles on fire! I'm knitting again!

Future projects! Yarn P0rn!

First post about vacation!

Other stuff!

Not so many exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But first, I need to decompress from this week (with some knitting and some Viggo and some pizza), and I have a busy weekend ahead.

!!

Saturday, March 08, 2008

The Last 24 hours...

Once work was done...I putzed around the apartment, basically doing nothing. Whatever. Round about 9PM, I decided to be productive. I wanted to knit. Imagine that. I needed some background noise for the knitting...which movie to watch? Wasn't ready for any Viggo - don't think I could have handled it. WTF? Couldn't watch Viggo?!? There is DEFINITELY something wrong with me.

Anyway, decided instead on some Brendan Fraser, John Hannah, and Oded Fehr (sp?) in The Mummy. I think I've seen The Mummy more times than I've seen Viggo I, II, and III - hard to believe, but yes. I knew exactly what was happening and could happily knit away.

I'm happy to say, I'm almost done with the second mitt...the former demon mitt from hell. Instead of tinking over 2 inches (it was worse than I thought), I just took the whole shebang apart. Rip, rip, rip...R.I.P. second mitt from HELL. It was wonderful to sit and knit and watch gorgeous men on the tellie. Sigh. What a wonderful Friday night. No kid, just me, and my knitting, and Brendan Fraser.

This morning I got up early and headed to the Flea Market in Berkeley. Found some nice crytals - think I'm going to make earrings out of them...I'll post them when I finally do...got some sunglasses for both myself and Spencer. Nothing else struck my fancy, so headed back home, met up with Spencer and headed to Target.

At Target, there lives the Perfect Purse.




I. WANT. THIS. PURSE. But I won't let myself buy it until I organize up my little office space. I stopped by it to visit. I pet it, I told it that it would be coming home with me soon...then walked off before I was tempted to toss in the cart and run to the checkout.

As I was wandering thru Target wanting the purse and feeling sorry for myself, I came across this...




Oh. My. God. Purse? What purse? Viggo. Oh sweet Viggo. Sigh.

Fast forward a few hours to...On the way to his soccer game tonight (they won by the way!!!), we were running ahead of time, so did some shopping in Oakland on the way. I suppose I'll post a picture of my new jacket at some point. I love it!

No purse at this outing. Almost had some shoes, but I'm sure if I tried to walk in them I would have most likely fallen flat on some part of my body which would have been very entertaining to watch.

But I got a new jacket - and I love it - and it'll go fantastic with my new mitts. FO pix of those coming soon!

Friday, March 07, 2008

Something to tide you over...

...while I get over this week.

It started off wonderfully...getting stuff done...organizing trip photos and thoughts...blah blah blah.

Then reality (in the form of work) stepped in...and I stepped back a few paces...

So, in the interest of tiding you over for just a few more days while I try and pull myself up and out of my 'work sucks funk' and 'I'm too tired to do anything funk'...I give you something easy that Honey sent me today.

Enjoy...even not knowing the intracies of World of Warcraft, I found it quite entertaining.



ROFLMAO

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Reason to Celebrate!!!

There is some a whoopin' and a hollerin' goin' on here in the Chaos. Well, not really, but we are very, very excited!

We just found out that Spencer has been accepted into the High School that was his first pick. I am so excited and proud, I could bust a gut. This weekend we will go to a fancy dinner to celebrate. Evanna's Italian Kitchen here we come!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to organizing my trip photos - but thru tears now... 'cause you know my baby is going to high school soon... and I just can't help balling my eyes out.

Sniff, sniff.

PS You guys did notice I said 'organizing my trip photos' right? That means the first trip post is coming soon. Yay!

Monday, March 03, 2008

Taskmistress Buttercup...

Don't know if anyone else but me could hear it, but there was some whip crackin' 'round the Chaos last night...

For those of you who don't know...I like the PowerPuff Girls...especially Buttercup. Not only does she dress in green (hello, my fav color), but she is a badass little Superheroine - she of the kick ass first, ask questions later school of Superheroing...

First, a view of my current Buttercup/PowerPuff Girls collection...massively downsized after the office closed as I kept it all there. Posing of course with Marvin, the resident DFS (Dalek for Scale).




Yesterday...which I'm pretty sure was Sunday, Antonella and I headed out for one of our favorite San Francisco destinations - Chinatown. Time chitchatting on BART, walking up and down Grant Street...nom nom nomming on giant sesame balls...OMG YUM! And generally browsing the stores trying to stay out of trouble - as in not spending too much.

Anyway...here's my latest addition to the Buttercup Collection. It was an impulse buy I could not resist. I've been wanting one for ages...and it was on sale for $10. As I hadn't seen any PowerPuff Girls stuff lately, I pretty much pounced on it...and brought it home. Here she is with Marvin.





My brand new Buttercup Alarm Clock. Yippeeeeee! SCORE!

One of my favorite pieces from my collection, besides the hat is this little gem...came in handy at work...whenever anyone ticked me off...you'd hear this...




Struck terror into the heart of many programmers...let me tell you. Usually happened right before I threatened to cut off all their access to the source code...

Anyway, I was hoping for an alarm along those lines...you know...PowerPuff Girls theme song..."I'll Whoop your Heiney if you don't get up" kind of thing.

Instead, I got this...





WTF is up with the "Little Mermaid" music?!? GAH!

So... "she" got this....




Between me and Marvin, we took care of her. She is now a SILENT part of my Buttercup Collection...

Although I do think she would be perfect to set off in Spencer's room at about 5:30AM next Saturday. Bwahahaha...yes, I am an evil Mother. That's what he gets for losing his house keys while I was off on vacation.

ANYWAY...back to the title...setting off that damn alarm jolted me back into reality...WAKE UP WAKE UP it said...(add whip cracking noises here)...I listened. Reality rushed back into the Chaos and I've been taking care of business here. No more moping about the house. Vacation is over, I can't use Jet Lag and Time Change as an excuse any more. Honey is not here. I am not there. That reality sucks, but nothing we can do at the moment. He'll be back in these parts in June. In the meantime, life goes on, stuff needs to be done...projects need to be finished and started...I think I'm finally in the mood to knit!!! It's been a month now since I've picked up the needles. Good Heavens girl...get with it already!!!

And no, I didn't turn the volume up just for the video...that's the "normal" volume... there is no mute or volume adjusting switch...that damn thing is so loud it could wake the dead. But now it is silent...gloriously silent...and it shall remain that way until I choose to torture my teenager with it.

Watch out! She's baaaack...

PS...notice snippets of sweater sleeves. Isn't it gorgeous? And yes, I will get on with the trip photos and stuff...and post pictures of the sweater. Good grief people, one thing at a time.