Winning battles

Some days you can score a major personal victory just by taking out the trash. Egads but my apartment has gotten out of hand - and while I can make all the excuses about never being home and never having time, part of the truth is that I am apparently a little diffident about the cleanliness of my living arrangements. Ugh. Well, at least it is STUFF and not FILTH that's piling up (and no, V, mountains of plastic bags still count as STUFF - I promise I am trying to break that pack rat habit :). I do, however, need to purge the STUFF so it doesn't turn into FILTH. Ugh, again.

So...today I've spent some time cleaning and straightening things I haven't gotten around to in a while. I finally built the etagere for the bathroom (God bless extra storage space!) and I've taken out the trash. Now I think it is time for some lunch, and this afternoon I plan on going through my wardrobe for donations to Goodwill. If I can finally get all that squared away, I'll have a large part of the bedroom straightened up and then...more work to do.

One baby step at a time...

Merry Christmas!

Yes, it is Christmas-time (albeit still just Christmas Eve :) and I'm home with family - lots and lots of family. Much as I may complain, though, I do love them all and am very blessed to be able to spend time with them. I wish that all my sisters and brothers could be in one place at this time of year, but until that happens, phones and the internet are great things.

May God's Blessings shine on you and yours in this season, and I'll be back after the holiday to show off a little holiday knitting. Oh yes, we are very thankful for holiday vacation time, too. :D

Hugs to all!

Fun flies when you're doing time

No, I am not (and never have been, to my knowledge) in jail. Really, life isn't all that bad either, but it seems like time just slips away when you have deadlines. :D

Right now, for example, I've been at my PC for a good 2 hours when I could have been finishing a Christmas present, wrapping others, doing laundry, and getting some other housework done. Ah, well - the call of the internet, donchaknow. Procrastination is always a good thing until the night before the deadline...or at least it seems like it at the time. It's okay, though - the world won't end if I don't finish a knit project on time (although this doesn't necessarily hold true for work projects *grin*).

Fun time is over for now, I suppose. It is definitely time for me to get some real work done before bed time. ...and perhaps maybe one more game. ;)

Spanks for the Memories...

Ok, it's a bad title, but I was listening to my latest Asylum Street Spankers album all day. :D

I've been ever so busy this past week rehearsing, rehearsing, rehearsing, for the CONCERT of the year that took place last night. Annually, Chorus Austin performs with the Austin Symphony on Handel's Messiah, and last night was this year's performance, this time directed by Peter Bay himself. I admit to a bit of a crush. :D I simply adore performing for him -- his facial expressions and body language are wonderful, as he really gets into the music and really lets the chorus and orchestra know what he wants. The concert went fabulously and I can't wait to see the review in the paper!

Back to knitting - the uterus at Knitty got a mention at bOINGbOING, of all places. I love Knitty and have made a few of the patterns, but this was unexpected. I expect that the web traffic over there will be increasing quite a bit, now. :D

Tonight, I am taking a well-deserved break from the music by weaving up the scarf that I dyed the warp for a few weeks ago. Saturday, we have another concert (the Sing-It-Yourself Messiah), so I gotta keep the pipes warm.

Loving the Good Things(TM)

First Thursday is definitely a Good Thing(TM). I not only got some fabulous yarn on sale, I finished three (count 'em, 3!!!) scarves this evening while chatting with some friends. Proof? Oh yeah...

Scarf 1, done in Trendsetter Masai, color 256. Scarf 2, in Berroco Lavish, color 7329 -- very soft. Scarf 3, in Flutter (color 40) and Plymouth Combolo (color 1046).

All three were done on size 19 needles in garter stitch. Scarves 1 and 3 have 6 stitches, and scarf 2 has 10 stitches. Not bad for about four hours' work, eh?

Of course, that brings us to another Good Thing(TM) -- a RAOK visited me this week! The lovely Jenanne sent me even more fabulousness to make more fun and frivolous goodness. I'm working on a few fast and fun scarves like those above to sell this season, and a few more for quick gifts, so this will fit right in. Thanks again, Jenanne!

Along with the good knitting and good shtuff, there were good friends -- Susan and Lisa and Lisa and Vanessa and Sammi and Latifa and Michaela and Her Debness :) and Fran and Kathy and Sabrina and a bunch of others I'm forgetting, and also the fabu HCW crew... It was a blast.

Next up -- more super quickie scarves! :D

Too, too funny.

Check out which search shows my site for the top two results. Isn't that a hoot? Oh, and should I be happy or horified that my site shows up in the top ten results for the search for "naughty crochet patterns"?

Well, tomorrow is First Thursday...still no word on what's on sale, though. It'll be a nice, brisk evening for sure.