Ketchup.... er... Catch-up.

Hello! Classes are over for the semester and FINALLY I have a minute or two to stretch and breathe. So let me catch you all up on whats new in Jen's World:

✔ Straight A's this last semester.

✔ I received a letter of commendation for outstanding academic performance in the Spring Semester 2014 as well as my name appearing on the official Dean's List. (Go Me!)

✔ I achieved my second certification when I passed the Microsoft 98-349 MTA: Windows Operating System Fundamentals exam. (YAY!)

✔ My dog Emma has had two surgery's this year: The first was to remove tissue from a cyst on her back that burst and get her teeth cleaned and her dangling dew claw (that I always feared would get caught and rip off!) removed. That surgery went fine, but then about two weeks ago Emma tore her ACL and had to have knee surgery. She is still recovering from this - but is doing well!

 ✔ Was told 2½ weeks ago that I am losing my job. (boooooo!) So I have been shooting applications and resumes all over the place. Also not sleeping and crying inappropriately. Yup - I am just a stressball!

✔ Partly because I neglected myself and partly because I just want to get healthier, I rejoined WeightWatchers online about two weeks ago and have been trying to eat healthier, exercise more, and in general take care of myself  a little better.

So  - I have been a busy bee with work and school and dog surgeries, and now that the semester is over I am searching for new employment and hoping I will gain a job that is positioned closer to the IT world than the retail environment I have been existing in. (I don't think screaming at my laser printer counts as "IT".)

I didn't get much time for fiber fun over the last 6 months, but am slowly getting my knitting mojo back and will post about that soon. (But let me say how MUCH I missed the knitting needles!)

Hope everyone out there is happy and healthy!

Monday in your face

Good Morning World. It's time for Insomniac Theater! Woke up at 1:00 this morning and could NOT get back to sleep. This always makes me so very happy. Nothing like starting out the week exhausted and crabby. **sigh**

I am pretty sure my neighbors don't appreciate my sleepless nights either. I put Emma out when I got out of bed at 2:12 this morning and she immediately ran to the very back of our yard and started barking like a mad dog. Nothing carries on a cold winter night like the sound of a dog barking. Then the sound of a tired woman in owl pajamas shivering in the doorway making kissing noises and whisper yelling "Emma!" and shaking the treat container. Yup. People know when I am up.

Then Emma curls up on her bed in the den while I amuse myself with the Internet, sighing a lot and getting excited for food every time I get up and go to the kitchen for more coffee. On a normal day when I wake up, it means the food will happen for the cat and the dog very soon. So when I wake up hours early - it's chaos. The cat has a timed feeder because she used to wake me up when she thought it was time to eat by standing on my sleeping form. Then the claws would come out when just walking on me didn't work. (ouch.) Then she figured out that I put my glasses on when I would get up, so she took to walking to my night stand and batting my glasses on the floor. That's when we decided to get a battery operated feeder.

 Here she is at 2:40 in the morning licking the empty bowl. She pretty much walks around glaring at me all morning because the food is not happening. Add to that I took her out of the bedroom where my husband is sleeping - so she can't go into that room. She will make the occasional walk to the bedroom door and claw frantically at it hoping she can get in. That makes for a fun game too. I will go and shush her away and when she hears me retreat and start typing again she will start back up.

Good times.

So that is what my Insomnia mornings look like. Add to that me wondering how early I can go into work for the day so I can leave early as I know I will be a wreck by around noon when I am up at this hour. I generally don't go in early on insomnia mornings - but I think I will today.

Insomnia days are just so hard. My brain is moosh. I can't generally knit much because I do bad things to patterns when I try. Any form of exercise is out. My diet takes a hit because I don't know when to eat and get confused about hunger and tired. (If I get up at 1:00 and eat breakfast at 4:00 do I eat lunch at 10:00 and and dinner at 3:00 and then second dinner at 7:00????) And if I go into work early THAT will throw everything off too. And if I go in early and come home early can I or should I take a nap or am I better off just going to bed early and trying to get a long sleep so I don't end up not being able to sleep a second night in a row? Meh. I know when I can't sleep it's going to be a long long day.

Wish me luck!

It's December!

And true to form that means it snowed here today!

Not this much snow though. This is a picture from about two weeks ago when we got our first real snow of the season. My hubby is chasing Emma in the back yard. You can practically here her saying in Puppy Language "catch me! catch me!"

I heard a factoid once that stated that Thursday was the worst traffic day. Ever since then I have been mindful of that and noticed that I seem particularly frazzled on Thursday's and that traffic to work (and home) is worse on that day. This morning as I was balancing:
1) my work bag
2) my purse
3) hot coffee
4) car keys
5) a bag of noisy recycling

And trying to make my way over the snow covered pavement to my car, I had a moment to notice that I was already about 15 minutes behind the time I told myself I was going to leave. Boo!

Some days are just like that for some reason.

This morning it was having to put on my hubbies boots with my pj's so I could go outside and show our dog that "No really! This white stuff is not acid that will eat it's way into your soul! So you can come out here and pee! See?!?!? I am out here in my pajamas, husbands boots, wool coat and hair sticking up in 8 directions and I am not melting at all! IN fact, I am turning into a pointy little rock! So come on out!" I think that might have been where my morning when awry....

Thank Riesling Tomorrow is Friday.

D.I.Why? Lollipop Tree

I made a couple of Lollipop tree's last month and they were a hit! I had found a photo of it on Pinterest.com and then followed the link through to this site http://meetthedubiens.blogspot.com/2011/06/lollipop-tree.html where the directions were. I went the hard road and primed and spray painted the pots. Let them dry. Then used Styrofoam glue to glue the foam balls to the pots. I also decorated with giant star stickers (only $1.00 a sheet at Michael's were I got all the supplies) and then loaded with Dum Dum suckers. (I got about 175 suckers on each tree.) I took one to a family picnic (giant hit) and the other I took to work for the break room. Fun and pretty easy. I think it would have saved a lot of time if I had used a pre-painted pot, but I had the spray paint & the Tera cotta pots were so cheap compared to the painted ones.

Also - I had the thought that gluing the balls to the pots makes the pots worthless after the suckers are gone - but I was worried the weight of the suckers would tip it over - so I just glued it on.

Jack Skellington Coffee Cozy

My co-worker S is turning the big 30 tomorrow and I thought it would be fun to knit her a Jack Skellington Coffee (or Bottle of Mountain Dew?) Cozy.

Since I had to make the pattern up from scratch I thought I would put all the details I could in here so if someone else out there in internet land wants to make this, they would have a jumping off point.

The Yarn: I knit this out of scrap acrylic. I had in a big bag with no labels on anything. I know the black yarn was Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Black 153 because this was the yarn I was originally going to knit Emma's I-Matey Dog Sweater out of. The black yarn was slightly thicker than the white yarn - which made the black yarn a bit raised up in the end product - and I liked that. (Happy Accident!) The White yarn I think is Lion Brand Wool Ease in White Sparkle. Not sure about that - but that is my best guess. The finished cozy weights in around 19 grams - so I am guessing about 38 yards of white and around 6 yards of black.

Needles: Knit on size US 7 Knit Picks Needles. This was knit flat and seamed up the back.

I started off by going to google and doing an image search for Jack Skellington Smile Faces. This took a bit of time to find just the right image. It had to be really simple and translate well to a knit pattern. I finally found one and saved it to my computer. Then I went to http://www.microrevolt.org/ and uploaded the image into the KnitPro pattern generator. I chose the smallest size possible and Knit Portrait. I saved the pattern it spit out into my computer and then started knitting.

I cast on 48 stitches using the Cable cast on method (see great video here on U Tube for directions on this - I was doing it wrong for years!) in the white yarn.

Row 1-4: Knit across

Row 5 and all odd rows up to row 31: k4, p40, k4

Row 6 and all Even Rows: Knit

Row 32-35: Knit

Bind Off.

We then had to make a run to Starbucks for a Venti Skinny Cinnamon Dolce in the Venti size so I would have a cup to wrap this baby around. Such a burden. ;) After finishing the coffee and giving the cup a good rinse out and wipe down inside and out - I wrapped my Jack smile around the cup to gage how it would fit and how to seam it up. I went a little loose on the seam on top where the cup is widest and then went in a bit on the seaming toward the bottom where the cup is skinny. Fit just fine!

The pattern began on row 7 and went through row 27.

The first and last four rows are knit - and the first and last four stitches of each row are knit

Odd rows are purled and even rows are knit.

I tried to carry the floats over the back only a couple stitches at a time and then twist them with the working yarn. Long floats are annoying to me and I was also concerned they would show through in the end. I don't have a lot of color-work experience - but am quite pleased with the end product here.

Yippy Skippy it's Friday!

What a long crappy week. We have been having record warm weather all week - then today BAM! November is in your face! Weirdly the cold weather brought in one of my better days at work - and not just because it is the last day before the weekend.

My co-worker, my service desk support people and myself have all been working on getting a printer to work for us for about a month now. It's SOOOOO frustrating - and the behavior it's exhibiting makes no sense whatsoever. It's possessed by the devil I swear. So that has been fun fun fun. I also had a former co-worker send me a bitchy e-mail where she did a typical sandwich compliment. First she thanked me for something. Then she made a snotty slap in the face comment. Then she wished me a happy birthday. Jerk. She exhibits the behavior my mom used to call "Dry Drunk" behavior. Her moods and emotions turn on a dime and nine times out of ten - kitty got claws. I have been on the wrong side of her angry stick too often. Argh.

So the weather is gross and that means it's time to do some outdoor projects! YAY! Tomorrow Tom and my dad will be out working on installing the new garage doors. I thought I would be helper girl - but now it looks like I will be hanging with my mom and knitting or whatever. Should be interesting. Not sure how spending that much time with my mom will go. We will see. I better put more wine in the fridge in case. And maybe do a taste test tonight. **Sigh**

As the weather gets colder and colder I find I want to spend more and more time in my owl flannel pajamas on the couch knitting. Sadly that doesn't do a whole lot for reducing the size of my fairly ample butt nor does it advance me in life all that much - but it probably keeps me from choking the living daylights out of my co-workers and family.

I have been struggling with being motivated with my diet and "healthy lifestyle". Mostly I ping pong back and forth a lot between uber goodness and wallowing in a slop bucket. It's been a rough year that way. I can't seem to get up enough steam to stay on the track of righteous healthiness. Well, I am on my last year in my 30's. The countdown has begun to the big 40. I am better health wise on my 39th Birthday than I was on my 38th Birthday. So I would love to say that again (but maybe with exclamation points and a marked lack of fear of swimsuits) next year. I mean seriously - if Valerie Bertanelli can look that flipping fly after doing Eddie Van Halen and having a kid - then what the hell is my excuse? Ok - I didn't start off looking that hot - but come on! I know I can look (and feel!) better than THIS.

And that is another issue. Negative Nancy in my head. What an evil thing that is to have an inner child who does nothing but point out fault after fault. I would giver her a hug but I just know she would use that chance to knee me in the crotch. She is NOT nice. I have got to figure out a way to silence her. Problem is I believe in what she is saying just enough to not feel like I CAN silence her. Garg. How do you learn to love yourself?