Guess who fondeled my sock?

Greetings from another business trip to the wilds of New Jersey! Only a short trip this time, in today and home on Saturday.

Got some quality knitting time in today while waiting to board the plane (cause you KNOW I was a good two hours early!) and while in flight.

A couple of people asked about my knitting, one of whom said I was the "cleverest thing ever!" once she heard I was making my own sock. (Noro Kureyon if anyone is interested)

While on the plane the lady across the aisle from me asked me about my knitting technique since I was knitting magic loop (my preferred sock knitting method) which she was not familiar with. We chatted about that (I gave her the basics and suggested google for more details) and the fact that I knit continental (apparently she does too). She showed me her sock she was working on, felt my sock (the Noro is odd... it feels like straw in the ball but gets softer as you knit with it).

We discussed local yarn shops (she had never heard of Soft n Sassy) and throughout all of this I am thinking to myself "this lady looks soooooo familiar!"

Well at the end of the flight I finally figured out WHY she looked familiar and why I kept thinking she looked like someone. It was because she IS that someone!

My sock got fondled by Carol Heiss-Jenkins!!! I totally would have Kinneared her if I had any remote chance to do so! For a skating geek like me this was a pretty darn cool way to start my trip.

Tradition continues here... I am at the same NJ hotel as last time and getting lost in the same places as last time. I had hoped to go into NYC this afternoon since I had the afternoon free but was about to chew off my arm at that point so it was time to get lunch which turned into dinner (at 4:30 I feel old) instead....

I might get over to the city at the end of the week to see my friend Kathe so all hope is not lost!

We interrupt....

the year in review to bring you breaking news from the kitchen/drive way!

We have a puddle forming since the blasted weather has caused a pipe to break somewhere under the kitchen.

A plumber has been called (before 7 am I might add). But I couldn't have them here at 9 because I needed to do my quarterly visit to the vampire (aka doctor for my quarterly blood work). So now I have a four hour window of between 10-2. It's just now 10 so hopefully the phone will be ringing soon to tell me the plumber man is on the way!

Trust me when I say this is not how I wanted to spend my three day weekend, but at least it happened when I was home. I am desperately trying to find a silver lining here!!! And I suspect it may have something to do with the pipe that feeds the never used hose which would also be a plus.

Oh and in case anyone wonders .... so far winter sucks.

New experiences

2008 review continues.....The year also brought some new experiences --- smooshed boobs and a traffic ticket. Sorry no pictures to go with this one (even though I have the ticket and my "booby bandaid" from mammogram #2) cause if I wait to get pictures of those things it will be 2010 before I finish reviewing 2008!

The mammogram wasn't hideous for anyone that is putting of their own for fear of agony. Although in my case the right boob is a total pain in my ass and caused me to go back for a second smooshing and an ultrasound. One cool thing though - they do give you a band aid with a bb attached to it to wear for the procedure.

The traffic ticket was also great fun! I managed to make it to 40 before I got my first (and hopefully only) traffic ticket. I missed a red light and the lovely police man was kind enough to stop me and give me an Independence Day present for it.

I did go to traffic court - which believe me was an experience in and of itself!!! I think my favorite had to be the guy telling a bunch of people he just met while we were all waiting that he had been totally honest with his parole officer when he said he had a dope problem. He even said that if he had to pee in a cup that minute the test would be positive!

Yes I admit, this is a side of life I don't normally see (thank Bob!). But anyway I ended up playing lets make a deal with the prosecutors office and had to pay a non-moving violation and court costs.

There will be further updates on 2008, hopefully soon! I'd like to get that year wrapped up before this year is too old!

A Year in Review (part one)

So let's see what happened in 2008? Not too much (yeah right!) actually it was a pretty busy year.

There was knitting....



















There was a rather significant birthday....

Happy New Year!

So much was left unblogged in 2008 (and by the way -- when the HELL did it become 2009!!!!! I mean hello I am pretty sure I just did this new year's eve thing last month or something) that I am hoping for a "year in review" post this weekend.

So watch this site but knowing me I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you!

Such an honor!

Ann just gave me this fantastic award!

The Spreader of Love award rules are simple:

1. Post a copy on your blog
2. Mention who gave you the award
3. Pass the award on to 6 others.

My six people are:

Heather kitteh pusher extraordinaire
Nicola my favorite fraggle
Emms my wonderful moustached friend
Calista a future crazy cat lady (in the best possible way!!)
Jesh spindle maker extraordinaire
Franklin if you don't know the charming and delightful Franklin your life is sadly lacking. He is a rare gem of a human being.

Oh and rule 4 ... leave a message on their blog letting them know about the award.

I know I know

Yes I know I still owe a Rhinebeck post but in the meantime here is a quiz...

Well my results from a quiz. And yes I was surprised at the result.

Your result for The Best Thing About You Test...

Humility

Humility is your strongest virtue. You are humble.

Humility is the defining characteristic of an unpretentious and modest person, someone who does not think that he or she is better or more important than others. And you? When you do the right thing, you're doing it for all the right reasons. All 7 virtues are a part of you, but your humility runs deepest.

It is likely you're a quiet type. But if not, then you just have dark, secret side that loves to give.

Humble famous people: JD Salinger, Isaac Newton, Harry Potter (pre-puberty)

Your raw relative scores follow. 0% is low, and 100% is perfect, nearly impossible. Note that I pitted the virtues against each other, so in some way these are relative scores. It's impossible to score high on all of them, and a low score on one is just relatively low compared to the other virtues.

YOUR VIRTUES

30% Compassion

56% Intelligence

63% Humility

56% Honesty

50% Discipline

0% Courage

58% Passion

Take The Best Thing About You Test at HelloQuizzy

Oh and just because...

I realized I haven't posted any new Bobble pictures in a while (I know, bad kitteh mamma) so to hold you over until I get home with Rhinebeck pictures here is a picture of the world's most adorable kitteh!!

WHEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

No pictures but I'm getting ready to leave for Heather's house so we can head off to RHINEBECK!!!!

There will be tonnes of VLT-ers there that I will finally get to meet in person plus yarn and fibre and other goodies!

No I'm not excited at all? Why do you ask?

Details and pictures when I get home!!!

I kow the contest is over.....

But I've gotten an email from the American Diabetes Association and with the economy the way it is our walk fell short of it's projected goals.

So if anyone still wants to make a contribution it would be gratefully accepted. The link is still to the left of the page.

Thanks!

This time I mean it!

OK after my oops I redid the contest. No fanfare, pictures or anything more than pieces of paper in my lunch bag today at work.

The latest (and someone that actually entered!) is Heather. Congratulations!!!

The Winner Is........

No pictures right now because I am at work and the camera and I can't do those kind of things here, but I wanted to make the official announcement of the winner of the contest.

Taralyn is the lucky winner of the beautiful skein of sock yarn. I have contacted her and am just waiting for her information to get the yarn in the mail to her.

OK scratch all of that.... new drawing tomorrow. I accidently put TaraLyn in the drawing when she hadn't actually entered! She was kind enough to let me know I goofed up.

We will try this again tomorrow!!

Thanks to everyone for their support (and to Tuscan Grove for the lovely comment).

Hopefully next year we can get even more people to participate and raise money for the American Diabetes Association!!!

OFFICIAL BLOG CONTEST BEGINS

WOW!! Only two days after I announce I am going to have a contest I am here to start the contest!

It's pretty simple actually. See the link to the left of this that says "My ADA page"? If you follow that link and make at least a $5 donation to support my walk against diabetes between now and October 3, 2008 (the walk is October 4) and leave me a comment letting me know that you donated I will enter you in a drawing for this lovely skein of sock yarn.




The yarn is one skein of 100% superwash merino wool hand-dyed by Tuscan Grove. It is in the colorway Venetian Glass and contains approximately 440 yards/110 grams.

On my monitor the colors look pretty accurate, but just in case the yarn is brightly multi-colored with pink, light blue, greens and some yellow/oranges.

If you have any questions please leave a comment.

AND THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!!

Coming Soon!!

Once I get a picture of the swag prize I picked up there will be an official announcement about our first ever Mary Has A Knitting Blog contest.

It is going along with the fundraising for my American Diabetes Association walk.

So be prepared!!!

Kitteh!!

Oh I know totally like me to mention that I'm getting a kitten and then disappear for two weeks without a word.

Well I did get a kitten. Her name is Bobble Mia. Bobble for a couple of reasons:
1) it's a knitting term and I wouldn't have gotten her if I didn't knit
2) I also wouldn't have gotten her if I wasn't on ravelry and since Bob the Boston Terrier is the official mascot of ravelry, Bobble seemed like a good name.
3) Her middle name is MIA -- short for Missing In Action.

When I got her home after dying yarn at Heather's house with Jen (the blogless kitteh keeper)
I tried to get yet unnamed kitteh out of the carrier. Yeah she had a few other ideas and took off for under my bed. I tried to get her out and then she ended up under the night stand. I'm not sure where she went after that - I heard meowing around 12:30 in the morning but couldn't find her.

I closed off the craft room, bathroom and my bed room and slept on the couch in the living room.

Around 4:30 in the morning I hear a "meow" and see her under the chair with all of my exercise equipment. This time she makes a run for the kitchen and heads under/behind the refrigerator. In case you were wondering it's not very comfortable to sleep on my kitchen floor while trying to tempt a kitteh out from behind the fridge.

Eventually I had to leave to go to a birthday picnic and hoped she would come out while I was gone. No such luck - I knew she wasn't stuck since I would see her stick her head out and look at me but then she would run back and hide. I ended up calling in the reinforcements and had Barbara's brother Terry come and move the fridge.

While I was worried that someone wasn't drinking anything my resourceful kitteh was drinking the condensation off the fridge coils.

I got her to her safe room (aka the bathroom) and she started settling in a little bit. There was still hissing at me involved but she would let me pick her up and pet her.

Of course the next morning I discovered her missing from the closed bathroom. The door was completely closed and those of you that have been here know -- the bathroom isn't that big. I heard a "meow" and found Bobble in the cabinet under the bathroom sink. Had to wonder about that one, no opposible thumbs, closed cabinet door (a sticky one at that) and a kitten inside of it. Turns out there is a kitty sized gap between the counter top and the cabinet - big enough for an adventurous kitten to fit through. Later on I found her SITTING ON THE PIPES!!!


This is Bobble attacking her favorite toy (well except for the catnip mouse she got from Kathe (aka knittingfiddler) in New York)
I had to hide this in my closet after it looked like we were eating part of a feather.

Our newest trick though is to lay on top of the computer....
Which does tend to make it a little hard to type!

Shhhhh

Ok we all have to whisper right now.

I am blogging at work (shhhh don't tell!!!)

So no pictures but an announcement --

I am GETTING A KITTEN!!!!

Heather (of the cupcakes) has a friend that has rescued a litter of five kittens. They're about 6-8 weeks old (that's what they are telling me .. I know nothing!!) and very cute. (Again the work thing means no pictures and no links).

I should get him or her on Saturday so I'm sure we will have a couple of pictures after that. Unless of course Heather reads this, comments and posts some links :-)

Name suggestions may be helpful!

Cupcakes

Well since this is the last day of my vacation I thought I might get around to posting the pictures from the field trip Heather and I took to the cupcake store.

Well first we stopped at Miss Chickpea's for some yarn fondling (and buying). I found what I have declared to be the official key chain of the Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Group on Ravelry.
It's a cake key chain (obviously I know). I haven't decided what (if any) set of keys to put it on yet. Right now it's just hanging out on the dining room table. I've thought about making it a cell phone charm but I think it's too big for that.

After getting the key chain, some more sock yarn (yeah like I NEEDED that!!!) and some other yarn for afghan squares Heather and I walked over to the cupcake store. Main Street Cupcakes only sells cupcakes and they make a bunch of different kinds every day. I didn't take any pictures of the shop and for some reason the picture of my cupcake box shows up very pixitlated when I try to post it.

I went with a four pack of cupcakes.

From top left clockwise I picked:
Petal Cake (white cake with hints of almond, orange and vanilla covered in a butter cream frosting)
Wedding Day White (white cake again with a hint of almond and butter cream frosting)
Chocolate Covered Cherry (dark chocolate with a cherry inside and covered in a chocolate cherry butter cream frosting)
Day and Night (dark chocolate cupcake with white chocolate chips with white butter cream frosting topped with chocolate chips).

When I got them home I knew I wouldn't be able to decide on just one to try and I didn't want to eat all four of them at once, so I compromised. I cut them in half and had a half of each of them. This way you can see the inside of them. (cause stuff like this is all about you the reader!)I'm not sure why the picture comes out fuzzy here - it looks great on flickr.

They were pretty good cupcakes but I preferred the chocolate ones over the white ones. Heather said the same thing about the ones she tried too. Of course we said we can't pass judgement on only one trip so we will have to make another visit for mere scientific purposes of course!

More about ME!!

Swiped this from a friend's myspace page.... more than you probably want to know about me...


TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name: Mary
Birthday: May 30
Birthplace: Cleveland OH
Current Location: Cleveland OH
Eye Color: Grey
Hair Color: Blonde
Height: 5'2" (or so says the state of Ohio)
Right Handed or Left Handed: Right
Your Heritage: Belgian, Welsh, Irish and German
The Shoes You Wore Today: none yet (probably crocs later)
Your Weakness: carbs
Your Fears: abandonment and falling from great heights
Your Perfect Pizza: pepperoni, sausage, olives and mushrooms (pretty much anything except green peppers, pineapple and anchovies)
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year: Lose weight and have it STAY LOST
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger: no idea - I don't IM enough to know
Thoughts First Waking Up: ugh what time is it?
Your Best Physical Feature: Smile, eyes
Your Bedtime: depends on what I have to do the next day
Your Most Missed Memory: 1) spending time with my dad 2) having my bird climb into bed with me
Pepsi or Coke: Coke Zero
McDonald's or Burger King: Chipotle
Single or Group Dates: Single
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: Either as long as it's diet
Chocolate or Vanilla: Chocolate
Cappuccino or Coffee: Tea
Do you Smoke: No
Do you swear: Fuck yes -- I'm sorry what was the question?
Do you Sing: Yes - although some people probably wish I wouldn't
Do you Shower Daily: Yes
Have you Been in Love: Yes and I hope the next time the person loves me too instead of pretending to in order to use me
Do you want to go to College: Been there done that
Do you want to get Married: I want to find a person I can be with - I don't know if marriage is a requirement
Do you believe in yourself: Most of the times
Do you get Motion Sickness: No
Do you think you are Attractive: Sometimes
Are you a Health Freak: Sometimes (trying to get better about it)
Do you get along with your Parents: ummmmm kind of had to do this one (if you need to know just ask)
Do you like Thunderstorms: YES!!!
Do you play an Instrument: No but I want to learn how to play the bagpipes
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol: Yes
In the past month have you Smoked: No
In the past month have you been on Drugs: No
In the past month have you gone on a Date: No
In the past month have you gone to a Mall: Unfortunately
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos: Unfortunately (which is why I don't usually buy oreos)
In the past month have you eaten Sushi: YES NOM NOM NOM
In the past month have you been on Stage: no
In the past month have you been Dumped: no
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping: no
In the past month have you Stolen Anything: no
Ever been Drunk: yes
Ever been called a Tease: no
Ever been Beaten up: no
Ever Shoplifted: no
How do you want to Die: either quickly or with enough time to say goodbye to everyone I love
What do you want to be when you Grow Up: I'll let you know when I grow up
What country would you most like to Visit: Europe (yes I KNOW it's a continent!!) and Australia
In a Boy/Girl..
Favourite Eye Color: doesn't matter
Favourite Hair Color: doesn't matter
Short or Long Hair: short
Height: taller than me
Weight: doesn't matter
Best Clothing Style: able to be casual but also able to dress up when needed
Number of Drugs I have taken: only prescription
Number of CDs I own: too many
Number of Piercings: two
Number of Tattoos: none
Number of things in my Past I Regret: a few

Another personality test

Just to hold you over until I can get the pictures from the cupcake field trip uploaded.

Independent Thinkers are analytical and witty persons. They are normally self-confident and do not let themselves get worked up by conflicts and criticism. They are very much aware of their own strengths and have no doubts about their abilities. People of this personality type are often very successful in their career as they have both competence and purposefulness. Independent Thinkers are excellent strategists; logic, systematics and theoretical considerations are their world. They are eager for knowledge and always endeavour to expand and perfect their knowledge in any area which is interesting for them. Abstract thinking comes naturally to them; scientists and computer specialists are often of this type.

Independent Thinkers are specialists in their area. The development of their ideas and visions is important to them; they love being as flexible as possible and, ideally, of being able to work alone because they often find it a strain having to make their complex trains of thought understandable to other people. Independent Thinkers cannot stand routine. Once they consider an idea to be good it is difficult to make them give it up; they pursue the implementation of that idea obstinately and persistently, also in the face of external opposition.

Independent Thinkers are not the type who easily comes out of his shell. Speaking about their emotional life is also not one of their strong points. Anyway, social relationships are not particularly important to them; they are happy with just a few, close friends who find it easy to share their intellectual world. They find it difficult to establish new ties. In love, they need a lot of space and independence but this does not mean that their partner is not important to them. Independent Thinkers often make a cool and reserved impression on others; but this impression is deceptive: they can hardly bear it if people close to them should reject them. They prefer a harmonious, balanced relationship with a partner who shares their interests and with whom they can realise their visions.


Adjectives which describe your type
introverted, theoretical, logical, planning, rational, independent, intellectual, self-confident, analytical, structured, dogged, witty, resolute, self-critical, visionary, inventive, independent, unsociable, reserved, nonconformist, quiet, visionary, honest, demanding, hardworking

I am thinking this one seems relatively accurate.

40 and fabulous!!

OK well first we will post something not usually seen here in Mary-land. A picture of me!!!

OK I'm not thrilled with how my hair came out but I am past due for a haircut so whatever!

Dinner was AMAZING!!!! And I have pictures of everything except dessert (I forgot but trust me it was awesome).

I started with the mussels which have spicy sausage, garlic and white wine.
Everyone had a different appetizer and I got to try all of them (only one other person wanted to try mine). Even the chicken livers were good! I want to try and figure out how to make the roasted beets and the Jamison baby lamb ribs were so tender they just slipped off the bone. The bruschetta was garlicy and crunchy and delicious. Oh and I almost fell over when the "bowl" they brought me for my mussel shells was a calphalon pan. You could tell it had been well used but still!

For my entree I had the hanger steak. The picture is a little blurry but the dinner was fantastic. I had mine rare and it's served over chickpeas with red peppers -- YUMMY!!! I chose the soft polenta as my side (I was being adventurous) and I am sooooo glad I did. They make it with marscapone cheese (and another one I can't remember) but it was phenomenal.

Barbara and Rich had the snapper for two. I had a taste and he was pretty yummy too.

I didn't have any leftovers but Terry and Sarah did and they package them up in these cute little boxes. OK and if anyone cares the polish I'm wearing is OPI Got the Blues for Red.

I almost forgot to post the picture of the yummy beverage I started my evening with. It's called a Zeta and it's champagne, cranberry juice and peach nectar. It was as good as it looks too.