The Last MMP of 2008 - What's your resolution?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
121

Whew! Caught up.

Glad the procedure went well, picu!

Speaking of marriage problems, I got an email today from a friend from grad school who got married recently and then separated after 7 weeks! They’re getting divorced now. I don’t know him well enough to be like “WTF??” so I don’t know if they rushed into it without getting to know each other and discovered major incompatibilities in under 2 months or what. How does one give up after only 7 weeks?

I’m jealous of everyone who’s off right now. Work’s very quiet, which means it should be a great time to get a lot done, but somehow my motivation tanked after lunch. I really wanna go home. Or go out and play in the snow. But instead I’m going to see if I can get back in the swing of things as soon as I finish posting.

I’ve flown lots of times with knitting needles - even metal ones. No one’s ever given them a second look. On my Christmas trip I had 2 scarves and one baby blanket in progress for a total of 6 needles in my carry-on with no problem even when I was flagged for special screening (because my return flight looked to Delta like a one-way that was not a credit card purchase because I’d bought the ticket through NW using a voucher from a previous trip… complicated but the point is that it raised red flags but the knitting needles didn’t). So in general I think the TSA is good about letting knitting needles through, but that’s just my experience.

OK, I’m going to try to get some work done. Yippee.

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Sometimes Amazon just gets a little weird… Two weeks ago, I placed an order for something like two books, two DVDs and some software. At checkout, they say it will be shipped in three separate shipments. No biggie - I have “Prime” so I really don’t care how many boxes will be involved.

Two days later, UPS drops off one box. Inside is my full order, all neatly stacked and shrink-wrapped. :confused: Brilliant packaging, BTW. It’s all tightly held together so the book jackets don’t get scuffed up, and doesn’t need five cubic feet of styrofoam peanuts.

Today, I order up the makings of a networked storage drive so we can back up our Macs with “Time Machine” - two one-terabyte drives, a case for them, and a DVD. At checkout, they say the DVD will ship today, and the computer stuff will arrive next Tuesday. An hour later, the email comes saying that the drive cabinet has shipped and the DVD and the drives will be shipped later. Eh, whatever. I know they’ll get it to me sooner or later.

Saw something unusual at lunch - a full-on bare knuckles fistfight on the sidewalk. My office is in such a lovely part of town… can’t wait for us to move into a nicer building downtown.

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Me: Read a book a month. Why is this such a big deal? 'Cause I don’t read enough.

Tripler
. . . and I mean books, like from a library. Not the Innerwebs.

124

Ok, so I want to knit another scarf. I want VERTICAL stripes, though. How to do this? I am :confused: I have the yarn, the will and the time. I need knowledge…

Help, please.

And yay for uneventful angios and other good news. I am making cookies for this departmental meeting tomorrow (which has turned into a political nightmare–we have another dept head coming to OUR meeting to talk to us about courteous behavior. This is the same dept head who was grossly unprofessional to one of our staff. I have no idea where our dept head’s balls are, but I think he no longer owns his own set. I could tell you stories!)
So, I thought we should have some cookies for our meeting. Morale is important [sub]and I’m bored.[/sub]

125

We bought a fab sofa table today picture of it

Love it- it was too expensive (by my count, but I think everything is too expensive), but we ended up getting it anyway.

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you’re young yet - wait until you go to your 25th or 30th (or higher) Not only have they changed, but most, if not all, of the petty crap that was so important back then is gone, and you all actually like each other.

::head in hands:: what have I wrought?

very good news indeed

right there with you, sister

a rare LOUNE sighting! Wow! How’ve you been?

Evening blurfiness will send me to bed real soon now.

127

Yay, great news, Picu about the angio! So good to hear things went so well too.

I turned 56 last September and am retirement eligible (I’ve got going on 32 years in service and am in the old CSRS so can retire at 55), but with this economy I definitely cannot afford to retire yet. I’d only have to get a part-time job so why not just stick it out? So I am definitely feeling it sometimes, the keen desire to retire. LOL I think at least some of you know what I’m talking about.

It’s been pretty quiet at work; a co-worker’s mother passed away on Sunday and we’ve sent her a plant. Her mother had melanoma and had been suffering. I ended up leaving work early; I’ll be in tomorrow but most of my co-workers are off for the holidays, and I’m not sure if anyone will be in on Friday.

The reason I left work early was to make a trip to a local Jo-Ann’s craft shop, where I got enough yarn to start at least one project, possibly two. And thanks to the suggestions of other Mumpers, I got some nice, soft yarn and it’s blue variegated, which I just love! I’ve already started on that project, which will be an afghan.

Happy New Year, one evening early. :slight_smile:

128

That’s great news on the results of the angio, picu!

I missed being in the old retirement system by a month and six days, although my service comp date is Sep 83 because I worked as a summer temp the summer of '82. Confused yet?

I started my active federal service on February 6th, 1984. I feel totally ripped off.
The FERS (Federal Employee Rip-Off System) is not going to be good to federal retirees. Okay, it really stands for Federal Employee Retirement System, but I like my name better.

My chest hurts. I think that cold I thought I had successfully fought off is coming on strong. Two of my office mates were coughing, sneezing and snuffling all day. I’m sure I’m next.

I completed my TDY orders for my trip to San Antonio. At first I couldn’t get a flight that was more advantageous to the government and almost lucked out and got a direct flight from Seattle to San Antonio. Unfortunately, our DTS guy made me try the cheaper flight again, and now I’m stuck on it. I depart Seattle, fly to LA, and then fly to San Antone. On the way back, I depart San Antone, fly to Denver, and then fly to Seattle. Blech.

I’m peering anxiously at my CD drive, but I do not see any cookies popping out for me, :stuck_out_tongue:

I guess I should figure out what I’m making for dinner. Strangely, I’m not hungry, but I’m sure the hubby is.

129

Once again, we had a wonderful dinner at the Japanese Steak House - I had the filet and scallops and **FCD **had filet and shrimp. Our cook was a real firecracker - certainly the most fun of the 5 or 6 times we’ve gone. But the guy at the table next to us, I swear, he didn’t speak. He did the juggling and the flaming onion and all the stuff, but in silence. Weird.

I wish it was a little less pricy, because we’d go more often. Still, it was nice. And afterwards, we went next door to Penney’s where my sweetie got 5 sweaters for waaaaay cheap! He needed then - one sweater he still occasionally wears is one I made him 24 years ago. It’s kinda ratty looking.

I’m tired. Hope I can sleep thru tonight. As long as Taz doesn’t hog my side of the bed…

130

Yay for uneventful angios, picu! See, I told you one like Papa Tigs’ was the kind to hope for. :slight_smile:

Pretty table, Soapy!

Tripler, referring to your comment to me about the helmet liner at the end of last week’s MMP, are you sure I was the one who sent it to you? Because I remember someone else volunteering to send you one, and I then got the pattern and knit several, but I honestly don’t remember sending it to you. So I’ll accept the thanks on behalf of whoever knit yours, but I can’t take the credit, I don’t think.

Rigs, to knit a scarf with horizontal stripes, it’s very easy – just knit the scarf long way across rather than short way. And if you’re really lazy, you can leave a 6" to 8" tail at both ends of each row, then start the new row with another color with similar tails, and voilà – you have a scarf with fringe all built in. This page has a recipe for a horizontal scarf with a really attractive woven pattern, and here is another one. Or you can just do garter stitch if you don’t want to do something fancy. I’ve been meaning to knit myself one ever since I saw a woman in the credit union with one last year, so I’m glad to find these patterns for myself! You don’t have to change color each row, but if you want to not have to worry about adding a fringe later, you can still cut the yarn for each row and you’ll have it anyway.

I’ve only got a few rounds to finish this hat – I decrease 4 stitches each round, and I’m down 32 stitches total, so why is it taking effing forever? I want to FINISH this hat! I’ve been knitting on it more steadily than I have on any project in recent memory – I’m usually far, far less monogamous project-wise! Plus I’ve got some other things that are just begging me to get back to them. Grrrr!

I just finished some yummy homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert. Not that I made them myself – Papa Tigs stopped by the amputee center to say hello to the dogs (Sergeant Major George, the golden retriever, is on vacation, so there was a substitute golden and two labs filling in for him) and pick up as many goodies as he could carry for me. I’ve trained him well. :slight_smile:

So which yarn did you end up gettting, herbs, and what’s the color name or number? I adore blue variegated yarn; I’ll look it up online and admire it if you give the info.

131

By the way, GT, check your PMs.

132

Yay picu!

:: hugs for Taters ::

You knitters are ridiculously talented. Every time I try to knit a scarf it looks like it’s been chewed up and spit out by Olive.

rosie - maybe you’re right, although I can’t imagine us still having reunions 30 years from now. It’s not a school reunion, actually - when I was in college I was part of this huge student organization - we had members from all different kinds of universities - and for two years I was one of the handful who ran the whole operation. We were very active for a few years but after the class of 2001 graduated for some reason the whole thing petered out, and now we really don’t do anything other than get together every now and then. We have a LOT of history/drama that still hasn’t quite managed to bury itself yet. But in 30 years, who knows.

Last night Irish Coworker and another friend of ours, Musicman (he was a music major and is a walking encyclopedia of songs) came over and had some beers at my place. I asked Irish Coworker if he wanted to stay over but he had errands to run in the morning - going to the bank and stuff. I teased him about how I took it personally that he obviously found the bank more interesting than spending the night with me, and he basically fell all over himself apologizing. He’s always very sincere so it’s terrible of me to make fun of him like that, but he’s so cute when he squirms. :stuck_out_tongue:

133

Tigs–those scarves are gorgeous, but intimidating. I did buy a pair of circular needles. I am not at all sure how to change yarns, but I’ll get there. Keep in mind I’m doing all of this piecemeal and slowly. So far, I haven’t used a pattern yet–I find all those directions a bit much. Daughter’s scarf I just knit until I ran out of yarn… I understand the design of the lengthwise scarf, but the execution of it is something else. One wonderful thing about yarn and knitting–you can just unravel the whole thing and start over. I knit Daughter’s scarf 4 times (and was heartily sick of it by the end, but the stitches were much better and even in the end).
I suppose in time I’ll be doing the pattern stuff etc. I really like it, but I’m lazy as hell and also not all that ambitious.

I do have 2 skeins of yarn that I thought looked good in the store but I find their weight is too light (weave, whatever–the yarn is too thin) for me to comfortably knit right now. I’ll save them for something else (lost the receipts long ago). I do hope this isn’t the start of yarn storage for me. I find I like the pretty, pretty colors in the store and then I have to do something with them! Gah.

134

Of course it’s the start of your yarn stash, Rigs. Welcome to the dark side. Muahaha!

Seriously, just cast on a whole bunch of stitches and start knitting for a few inches, then bind off. Adding fringe is easy – just wrap yarn around a piece of cardboard or a book or something, cut at one end, and then grab a couple hanks at a time and, with a crochet hook, fasten them into one stitch at the end of the scarf. Rinse and repeat. That’ll give you an easy lengthwise scarf – and guess what? It’s following a pattern. Just a really, really easy one that I just wrote out for you. :smiley:

135

Got your PM and wrote you back, MamaT. Thanks!

Just finished skimming through the old MMP. I added the recipes I came across (Lemon Cream Cheese Pie, B52 cheesecake (including link to a normal-scale recipe), Corn and Zucchini Medley).

Hope everyone’s healthy now and weather has improved. I have lots of responses to last week’s posts, but no time, so…rosie’s sig. Also, hope you’re staying safe, SO. (Yeah, I know, it’s fairly far away from you, but still…) Thought of you when I heard that they were starting to call up reserves.

Also made the coffeecake **LiLi **shared a couple MMPs ago, this time with peaches and blueberries on top. It’s out of the oven now and should be cool enough to try shortly. Yum.

All the knitting is making me want to relearn. Maybe soon.

Back tomorrow.

Hugs.

GT

136

I thought you did, but it was a while ago, and I could have been mistaken. If you’re sure you didn’t, then I have to thank whomever did. But I have to tell you, they’ll enjoy it as much as I did. A preemptive thank you from me on behalf of the recipient!

Tripler
I am obliged. Thank you guys and gals.

137

Home. Blurf. Can’t wait for 08 to end.

Great news, picu! mmmmm…naked Mumper nurses…

LOUNE!!! Sorry about the unemployment. Cheerios are nice, though.

138

Cool. I’ll be sure to have my mom tell him it comes highly recommended from one who should know. I’m just glad your was so useful, no matter who knit it! And January is a miserable time to be heading to Afghanistan, so I suspect if I pass word along that I’m willing to knit more, I may get slammed with requests…but that’s fine; as someone who hates being cold, I have nothing but admiration for you guys and gals who are willing to put yourselves in such uncomfortable situations for extended periods in order to try to bring peace and stability to such a messed-up place!

139

Well, I’ve been to NYC which was interesting but too freaky for me. Then I made a trip through the South–Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana and Florida. Saw some interesting stuff and some pretty country but I don’t think I’d feel at home there… Nope, I like Oregon, it’s where I fled to be rid of California and I felt like I’d come home as soon as I got to Portland. Woodburn, huh? Right down the road–they have a WallyWorld nowadays!

Glad you enjoyed it, Pugs, I can assure you that the goggies enjoyed making it!

The van is very happy now that it has a bright shiny new passenger side mirror, headlights and door handle, yay! I’m taking it in early next week to have the upper ball joints and upper control arm bushings replaced, which will make it all perfect again–just in time to replace the tires since they’ve gotten all worn weird due to the suspension being off. The little car is still having difficulties since there was some other weird body damage from the effin’ garbage truck that’s gonna need welding and some fabrication work. I has grr for this.

The doggies had fun running around chasing a ball all day at the shop and out at my partner’s house–luckily the donkeys were up in the barn already because Bear has an unholy fascination with them and is gonna get his skinny slats kicked in by one or both of them if he doesn’t quit messing with them. Try telling a brickheaded lab/husky cross that, though. Yeah, I’ll wait!

140

Remind me not to knit dishcloths with double strands of worsted-weight cotton on size 6 (4 mm) needles again, or at least not until after I’ve had the joint replacement surgery on my right thumb. Because it is really Not Fun. Unfortunately, I need to get the second requested dishcloth knitted for SIL to get sent to her with her hat, and since it’s her Christmas present it seems only fair to get it to her as quickly as possible. But I realized today that I am sick of deadline knitting. It takes a lot of the fun out of it. So my resolution to plan better for next year is alive and well and shall definitely be followed! Just so I don’t end up finding myself spending more time on one project than I like, when I’d much rather set it aside for a few days and do something else. I have learned that I’m an exceedingly flighty knitter, alas.

Papa Tigs had his thyroid ultrasound today, and will hopefully hear (good) results either tomorrow or Friday, so do send good thoughts out to the universe on his behalf, if you don’t mind. I refuse to worry about either of us, although I did put in a call to my doc to make sure none of my medications contribute to higher eye pressure, just a common sense measure. Nope, he and I are going to be alive and well and bickering well into old age. And bicker we do. Just ask snowbunny. :smiley:

Oh, one sad piece of news: We’re going to have to cancel going to the inaugural ball that we were able to get tickets for. Papa Tigs has been informed that he will be reporting for work at 0700 that day, and will be working until whenever they decide he will. So we have no idea if he’ll be free that evening or not. :frowning: I am very disappointed, obviously, but I also understand that he’s needed, and it’s just a wee bit more important than us going out and partying. But I still would have really loved to go. If snowbunny were closer, she could have been my “date” to the ball, but otherwise, I just can’t see going. :frowning:

Off to catch some Zs. Tomorrow something amazing is happening – I’m getting some actual paying work! I’m actually a bit sorry I am, but Papa Tigs is much relieved, so I guess I’ll have to be a good girl and get it done. I was enjoying just being able to putter, though, and was hoping to be able to do it until next week!