The Elusive 4th Knitting Needle

Deep breaths..........relax..........stretch........more deep breaths......

This has been my tactic to avoid going crazy over not finding my 4th knitting needle I need to use to knit my friggin' sock =/ I have my friend, A, be kind enuf to write down the pattern for my 2nd sock earlier - as I had it written on so many scraps of paper I had myself confused. And now I don't have all the needles I need. Its been months since I made the first sock, and it seems destined to be the ONLY sock I make at this rate. This kinda crap always happens to me - I am a shameful, sad excuse of a knitter gal. I am an embrassement to our knitting group lol Oh well, at least I provide ample opportunities for amusing entertainment with my sad knitting stories.

So now I sit here, watching the movie 'Band of Brothers' with my husband and wishing for a distraction to the bloodiness of the movie. The movie kinda makes me think that the soldiers could use some dry socks. I bet they would know how to knit some in no time at all if they had to - I bet they don't lose their friggin' knitting needles if they do lol

Merry Christmas Ya'All!

Ya know, I was dreading this day - but so far, I can say this Christmas has not been bad =) My older dachshund looks positively 'perky', my younger dachshund is snoozin' and behaving herself and my husband did pretty darn well at the gifts he got me. And if I look outside, I can see the sun shining - wahooo! It will probably change tomorrow, but at least today doesn't look depressing outside.

We got to spend Christmas Eve with my husband's daughter and should be seeing her tonight also - which is better than we had previously thought we were gonna see her for. Plus, we got to go over to L & C's for a bit last night and drink some good wine, and enjoy some awesome company. C even has a stocking for her cat - I feel bad I didn't get my butt in gear and get some for my dogs now! I feel inspired for next year now, tho =)

We have been pretty lazy so far today, and I will be surprised if we manage to make it out of the house - especially since my husband's foot is really swollen today. But we are allowed to be lazy on Christmas right? Shall we ask my M&M dude sitting by me in bed? He has a beanie cap on and an arrow to twirl around with answers on the cap such as 'Lookin' Merry', 'Ho,Ho...Don't Know' and a few others =) Once upon a time, he did have mini M&Ms inside of him, but alas! some greedy gal by the name of Lisa Marie gobbled them all up *Lisa tries to look ashamed*

Altho I just asked Mr. M&M dude if everyone was having a Merry Christmas and he said 'Ho, Ho...Don't Know', so I am not sure its worth asking him anything, if he can't even answer a simple question like that lol

What's Important...........

I got done watching a show where a guy was reunited with his Dad after 20 plus years. Apparently, his father did not treat him well when he was younger - and the little verbal contact he had with his father during those years was not good either. The reunion went really well, and his father seemed repentant and eager to reconcile with his son.

I sat there wondering how realistic that is to expect, can it really be that easy to forgive and forget? Would a father who was so cruel all his life suddenly realize the wrong he did? Was it just because he was so old now that he was afraid of passing away without making amends? I know my Dad has not been eager to do so, but maybe I have the 1% of fathers out there who do not care so much about reconciling with their children. This guy was clearly relieved to have seen his father, and to have put it in the past. I suppose I would be too, altho a small part of you would always be suspicious I would think - wondering if he actually meant it, if he would follow through on what he said. Or maybe that's just me being paranoid lol

Seriously tho, it really gets you to thinking about what is important to you. What can you not go without? What makes your life happy? I watched this show (yes, I am watching WAY too much TV lately) where there was this gal and her boyfriend who lived together - with three other roommates - all guys. She helped them out alot by picking up after them, making breakfast, etc. etc. So they all decided they wanted to show their appreciation and throw her a party. In the end, her party was incredible and she was really touched they went to such effort - saying they feel like family to her, and it was nothing to do a little laundry here, cook breakfast there sorta thing. And I agree with her, friends to me are my family - I do not think twice about doing stuff for them. They have been there for me more than my own family.

So what is important to ya'all? What makes life 'complete' for you?

Going Back To My Roots

I am sitting here, waiting for my hair color to be done 'processing' - so that I can wash it out. I am pretty darn tempted to wash it out already, as its getting DARK . But I figgered it was time to go back to more my natural haircolor - if there is one at this point lol I have colored my hair so much over the years, I am not entirely sure what my 'natural' haircolor was or should be. Last time I knew, it was an ash brown - which, judging from the darkness on top of my head, I can understand why I have been coloring it any other color for years and years *sigh*

OK, I *must* think of something else - or at least think of this as a 'new' me. I will be a different me in 2008, a better - newly improved me. One that does not care if her hair makes her wanna cry when she looks in the mirror. A me that will say to myself 'I have been uglier than this' and go about my day. And a me that will embrace this color as a sign that I AM brave.......

Is it just me that stresses over hair color this much? lol I have only wasted 3 minutes so far - so I have 7 more to go before I should rinse. Funny how time flies by when you don't want it to, but drags when ya just wanna get it over and done with.

At least my younger dog is not sitting there and staring at me bewildered like she doesnt know who I am anymore. As usual, she just sits on the couch with her blue ball, looks at me, drops the ball on the floor and looks at me again - waiting for me to play with her. Dogs sure have it nice, they dont have to worry about their friggin hair color lol

Headin' Back Home

Shew! We are out of NYC and in Ohio now - so we have made some pretty decent time today to get back home. It started sleeting this morning in NYC, and the weather forecasted it to do that and more the rest of the day. So we decided going home wouldnt be a bad idea - we get to pick up our dogs, sleep in our own bed and I have us scheduled for massages on Saturday afternoon - which we are both already looking forward to!

Its amazing how many things happen to me on vacation that normally do not happen to other people, tho. OK.....its not JUST on vacation, its pretty much an everyday occurence for me, but....

For instance, we go to a deli place called "Maxie's" in NYC the night we got there. We eventually get menus and I start studying it to figger out what might be good - altho we had pretty much decided on trying their really huge reuben sandwhich and splitting it. We agree on that and I hand him my menu........well, I TRY to hand him my menu! The pages are bound with a spiral plastic binding and I manage to catch the end of the spiral around my ring. So I get frustrated and end up having my husband untangle it from my ring. 'Cuz, umm......I guess that sorta thing is beyond me lol

On the way to NYC, we stop to get gas and I get excited because I thought I had just saw a blue bird, almost like a toucan sam kinda bird. I think this is unusual and tell my husband about it, so when we drive back by the same place after getting gas in the truck - I show him where it was at. Turns out the bird was a blue Wal-Mart bag that had found its way into the tree and stuck there! And here I thought my eyes were seeing alot better since my lasik a week ago! lol Of course my husband has to point at every sign, bag, etc etc after that - saying hey! there is a bird! Uh, nope! Guess it was a bag......Guess it was just the stop sign.....*uggh*

Well, anyway! I better quit telling ya'all about how goofy I can be! I probably need to get to bed anyway and rest my eyes, so I quit seeing things that arent there lol

Never Stop in New Jersey

We just got done eating at a place called the 'Muddy River' something or the other in Portsmouth, NH and we feel terribly ill after splitting what they called the 'Squealer'. I think they are trying to insinuate that whomever can eat the whole plate is somewhat of a pig lol The plate was covered with ribs, beans, pulled pork and a half of a chicken - all smoked, BBQd, etc. Maybe we coulda made more of a dent in it if we hadn't had an appetizer called 'Fowl balls' too. And just to clarify what the appetizer was, it was round pieces of chicken wrapped in bacon - and they were surprisingly good =)

So here I lay, typing away atcha all! I did not make matters any better by eating 3 choco chip cookies the hotel offered in their hotel lobby either =/ But hey! Its our vacation, I guess I am allowed to do so - right?

I hated our stop in New Jersey - sorry to any New Jersians sp? who might possibly be reading my blog =) But if you were a Kansan who ended up eating at an Applebees, only to have to be rushed to a bathroom in a matter of 5 minutes after leaving the restaurant, you might feel the same way. Thats all ya say? Heck NO!! My husband drove around and found a Dunkin Donuts and then 5 minutes later a CVS Pharmacy, cuz yes.......one trip to the facilities was not enuf for me. Both places had REEEEAAALLY disgusting bathrooms, an if I had not been in a situation where I urgently needed one, I would have refused to use them. CVS Pharmacy even outdid Dunkin Donuts with overflowing trashcans, mildew on sinks, toilet paper on the floor, and.,.....well, I will stop there cuz I don't wanna be that descriptive now with the way my stomach is flip flopping already from eating too much. CVS Pharmacy was kind enuf to provide a homeless oriental dude outside of their building, who was rapping up quite a song. Despite their ability to provide farwell music for us, I was not impressed. There is a reason I have not heard many oriental rappers on the radio.

After that, we head to a gas station so we can fill up the truck and get the heck out of NJ. My husband just got in the truck and was about to take off when an employee who works there knocked on his window. He rolls the window down to have the guy ask him if he hunts.

"No, " my husband replies and then laughs and asks, "Why? Cuz of the Montana license plate on the truck"? (we are driving his company truck)

'No," the guy replies back with a grossed out look on his face' " I think I just found a deer leg in the trash can and it looks like it has been skinned and such."

AND to which my husband says, 'Nope, not ours! Sorry dude!" He then rolls up his window and takes off.

OK. Lets all take a minute to think on this situation. EVEN if he thought we hunted, which if he took one look at me, how would he ever think I could be with someone who killed Bambi's Mom and left her leg in a gas station's trash can, I dunno.......BUT seriously!! What kind of question is that to be asked? Even if it was ours, do you think we would say, "hey, yeahhh......sorry dude, that deer leg was ours, thanks for asking, we didnt mean to throw it away!"

Needless to say, I do not like NJ and it will probably take alot of convincing to make me think otherwise now lol

Somewhere Between a Cry and a Laugh

I am not sure my title will have anything to do with my blog post today, but after texting my friend L about a Sarah Buxton song, my husband and I decided to tune in to her CD on our drive to NYC =) And there was that line in one of her songs that I thought was somewhat profound - so I figgered that should be my title for the day!

Hopefully today goes a bit better then yesterday, as we weren't off to a good start for our anniversary trip. Considering our anniversary is today, I am hoping this day in particular goes well lol Altho, I did spend at least 10 minutes digging thru 2 bags trying to find my perfume. I almost said the heck with it, I shall stink today! But I really didnt want to start out our anniversary day that way lol Have you ever noticed that when you are trying to find the one thing in your bag you just saw, you can't? Granted, I had lasik done the other day, but I could still see - and even if I couldnt see, I could still feel around in the bag. Aimlessly wandering your hand around your bag trying to find something really peeves me off! *uggh*

We took Karma, my oldest dog, back in to the vet the other day and she may have pituitary Cushings disease =/ I hope not! The veterinarian we took her to was not the same as in years past, as she took a different position now and no longer practices. This veterinarian gave us more info then the last, but was a lot more 'clinical'. He mentioned there is a place in Europe they can cure the disease for 14,000 - to which my husband said he would spend that money. And to which the veterinarian looked at him like he was crazy for trying to cure a 15 year old dog. But I don't think he understands that Karma is more then just a dog to both of us - and any extra time we have with her - well, not to quote a mastercard commercial, but its 'priceless'.

We will probably need the mastercard to pay for the surgery lol