Mmmm, Lazy Sunday

Now Playing:
Viva La Vida
by Coldplay

I really haven't been up to much of anything in the past week. Mostly just working, knitting and chillin' in the evenings.

Here's the progress on Stu's robe:


It's the back piece. I have about 10 more inches left on this piece... I have a lot left to do still. *sigh* I am having a hard time wanting work on it, but only because it's such a plain stitching. Knit, purl, knit, purl, knit, purl... *yawn*. But, I love my hubby, so I keep going! =)

Although, I did buy a brown sheet and a light blue sheet from the thrift store the other night. I actually went to get a coat because the zipper is breaking on the one I have now. I couldn't find anything I liked, so Ryn and I browsed the store a bit. I've been wanting to pull our bedroom (and every other room in the house) together visually for a while now. I found the perfect two sheets to start the ball rolling on that(Thanks Ryn for volunteering to call Dad and talk him into it, haha.) I just threw the light blue sheet on our box springs for a dust ruffle and tossed the brown sheet over our exsisting comforter and "Voila!", new look!


Before.


After!


And for just 8 bucks! Nice what a change only a couple things can make, huh?


Next, I plan on painting this pink monster dark brown. I'm excited!!!


Here's a little fluffy heaven in a tub... Can you guess what's it's for?


I've been craving a S'mores pie for about a week and a half. I finally made one today. I just made a graham cracker crust with butter and a little sugar, filled it with chocolate pudding pie mix... easy peasy. And then, the "pièce de résistance"...


Here is it with the heaven (marshmallow cream) on top! I can't wait to dig in tonight! Hey, that'll be my new begging line! "Pretty please, with heaven on top?"

I've also had a craving for old movies lately, especially those with Sharon Tate. Hey! It's not creepy! I really like her. So, what if the only way I found out about her was through coming across something about the Manson Family that spiraled into a thirst for any information on that case. Pffffft! She's beautiful and I love watching her.

A-NY-WAY!


My favorite right now is Auntie Mame. Love, love, love this one!!! It gets five yarn balls. Rosalind Russell is BRILLIANT in this film and the interaction between Mame and Miss Gooch cracks me up something severe. It's even made Stu laugh as he gets caught watching it as he passes by.


Next is Eye of the Devil. It only gets two yarn balls because I found it boring and the story flat. I had to make myself keep watching it to finish... and I only did that because I'm a completist (if that's a word). The only thing that saved this one from no yarn balls is that it had good cinemetography and Sharon Tate.


Next, I'll be watching Don't Make Waves, another Sharon Tate film.


And from the library yesterday I got Holiday with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant and...


The Trouble with Angels, another Rosalind Russell film (with Hayley Mills! I haven't watched her since the old Parent Trap when I was a kid!)

Well, I'm gonna watch some Ghost Hunters and knit now. Have a lovely Sunday evening all!

Where In The World Is Pixie San Diego?

Now Playing:
When She Was Bad
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
on hulu.com

I've been gone a long time. Of course I can't tell you everything that's been happening, but I'll give you a little update.

I'm still working on Stu's robe (no new pics right now) and now I'm also working on this Zig Zag Ease blanket...


It's for a secret recipient and I'm a bad girl for even starting it. I am trying to work on getting Stu's robe done first before doing this one any furthur. Hopefully I can still get it done in time for why I'm making it. I am a true sufferer of Castonitis. *frown*

This was just something humorous to see; coaster mania!


...Complete with evidence of our current Dexter addiction. We actually added Showtime to our cable so we could watch season 4 on demand. We couldn't wait for it to come out on DVD.


I got some Christmas cookie cutters. See the little ones there? Well, I used them for this...


Christmas cake pops!!!


I did trees (seen here), gingerbread men, candy canes, bells and christmas ornaments and gave them away as gifts. The flavors were lemon, strawberry and chocolate.

I found something disturbing while making them...


Here's some strawberry cake and frosting mix for some cake pops... Uh... Is it just me or does this look like cat food?!?!

Now time for presents!

Rudolph the Glove-Horned Reindeer


...and he's wearing the scarf Ryn knit me for Christmas.



Christmas (50s Pink Car) Computer
To: Me
From: Santa


Complete with Windows 7 and fancy guages!



Sushi Kit
To: Me
From: Ryn



Star Trek Scene It
To: Stu and I
From: Bruce and Marissa



Color Printer
To: Me
From: Stu




Chopsticks
To: The Family
From: Ryn


...with beatiful dragonfly details on them!

In other news:

I have found a job as a medical records retrieval agent. I had to take a dollar pay cut, but it's a pretty good job. I interviewed for a receptionist position there a couple weeks ago, but didn't get it. I'm still trying to spread my wings and have talked to the assistant manager and the HR assistant about other positions in the company. We'll see where it leads.

Also, we should be trying for another baby this month. Wish us luck.

Hugs, love and prayers!

I'm Not Dead.

Wow, a whole month since my last post. I'm still around. I was just going through a bit of melancholy during a month long job search and now I'm getting everything ready for the holidays. So, yeah, now I have a job. That's made me feel tons better. It's not my ideal job, but it's enjoying/challenging enough not to dread going to work or be bored to tears. I still hope to find a job close to what I had as my last job. It was the best job I've had all my life. I still miss it.

Anyway, I'll probably be back after the holidays, so don't stop checking back or take me off your follow list yet! Haha.

Hope you all have a happy holiday and a great new year! Thanks for reading.

Here's something cool to look at since I have no pictures this post. (I might've posted this before, but it's worth posting again.)

Harry Potter Scarf

I See-- A New Moon A-Risin'

Now Playing:
Awake
by Letters to Cleo

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Ahhhh! What is that?!?!


Ahhhh! It's a spider!!!-- Oh... a three legged, crocheted spider. Not so scary. (Waving the disembodied legs at Stu still makes his skin crawl though.) This little(ish) guy will be displayed in our house next Halloween along with a crocheted web. I started him the day before Halloween and didn't finish in time. So, know I work on him every Sunday (which I know have dubbed Holiday Crochet Sunday!) I will work on something for our house pertaining to the different holidays every Sunday. This way I don't need to spend a ton of money on decorations. It may take a good long time to build a good decoration collection, but it'll be so fun!

I'm nearly done with Mom's sweater. I ran out of yarn last night just as I finished the last sleeve. So, I need to buy a whole skein of yarn for sewing yarn and neck ribbing-- go figure, huh? But anyway, that means I got to start this-- (which makes Stu really happy!)


A robe for Stu!

I'm using this pattern--


It's the closest thing I could find to looking like a robe. I think it will work well.

I'm knitting it in Homespun in black and Edwardian (a kind of marbly black and gray).

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Speaking of Edward(ian)--


You know this is coming out soon, right? As you will notice from the picture, the release date is November 20th.

Well, we're going November 19th-- for FREE.

Okay, you can start hating me now. I'm not a huge Twilight fan (I enjoyed the first movie thought, so I wanna see this one), but Ryn is, so for her, we waited in line at a Blockbuster Video store for three hours for free tickets. Little did we know that we got two tickets each, so Stu and I can have some friends along too.


Ryn waiting in line for free New Moon tickets.


Here I am waiting in line for free New Moon tickets-- knitting, of course.

It was a pleasant enough experience, less the annoying girl who we found (quite a while after the fact) was not with the people in front of us that she plopped down with and talked to. And, to add insult to injury, annoying talks to everyone girl is joined by her annoying talks to everyone, comments on everything and has a million questions for everyone around her on how this is going to work mother. We found out by the people in front of us that they were not together. We said some things to them, they apparently tattled to store management that we were "harrassing" them, when honestly all we said is that it's not fair that they got in front of other people, us included. Yeah, so the tickets will go to the first 50 people no matter what order they are in and we were only like the 10th person back from the front. But, still, it's little exceptions like this that lead to other big exceptions and that upsets me. Like I said to annoying girl when she said that it doesn't matter what order we're in (which if it doesn't matter, why did they care so much about staying where they were?), "Yeah, because the principle of fairness doesn't matter." Gawd, I hate inconsiderate people!

Speaking of inconsiderate people-- We had some new neighbors move in early in the week, we share one whole side of our townhouse with them and our stairs are on the wall that their stairs are on. They are loud!!! Banging, bumpin, jumping, running up and down the stairs ALL DAY! Yes, they have young children, but please, teach them reverence for cripes sake!!! This started the day they were moving in and hasn't stopped. Apparantly they only speak spanish (or pretend to) because Stu asked them to quiet down the day they moved in and the guy just kept saying, "I dunno..."

We've called the office and security MULTIPLE times with no results. And last night we spoke to a very timid acting security guy. He said that when he went over they were all just sitting there watching a movie. Uh-huh, of course they were, "Okay, kids, sit down and shut up, I gotta answer the door and it's probably someone about all the noise we've been making." Then, while he was standing right there, there was a loud thud and more noise and we were like, "See, they aren't being quiet, you can hear that." Then he said that he'd talk to them and see what they can do. We're pretty sure he just left after that and I have my doubts that he even went over there at all because I heard his car door just before he knocked on our door.

I hope they get themselves evicted, like the last noisy ass people.

Okay, so, miscarriage, lost my job, deal with annoying people at video store for three hours, can find no peace in my own home... life is great, huh? I'm reaching the end of my rope.

(Seriously though, I have a lot to be grateful for, I'm just wondering when all the crap that's being slung at me and causing so much stress lately is gonna stop.)

ANY-WAY! Hope you all had a great weekend and have a great week to come.

Trying To Keep It Together

Now Playing:
Destination Truth on SyFy Rewind
Chullachaqui/Bermuda Triangle

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Here's my progress on my scarf for the Red Scarf Project this year...


I'd say I'm maybe a quarter of the way done. Looks good, may need some blocking. The seed stitch is a bit fatter than the other sections.


Just one sleeve and a neckline ribbing on mom's sweater and it'll be done! This is what I'm working on today/tonight.

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Last night Bruce and Marissa took Stu and I out to Keys On Main. We really enjoyed ourselves. Requesting songs can be expensive and Stu said the drinks were a little steep. Stu paid $20 to stop a song and request his own, but someone else payed one more dollar and stopped his. Bummer. But the piano players were quite entertaining. I'd go again, only have a couple beers and not request any songs.

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In other news, I'm still looking for a job. I have been looking for a total of five days. I've gotten no calls on jobs I've applied for, have gotten only one call back from all the staffing companies I've applied for and they also had me come in to register with them. My consultant there says that July and August were dead for them, but it's starting to pick back up. So, I hope something good comes of this one.

Given that I'm not even getting calls yet, I've been getting a little worried and started feeling defeated and stressing out. But, Stu has assured me that we've got enough money and money coming from school refunds and taxes to be okay for a few months. He also said that I've got time to look for something I really want and to quit worrying. I trust him, so I've mellowed a bit.

Stu also told me that in order to keep myself going, it might help to think of my severence pay as being paid for a month to find a job. Plus, the more doors I knock on, the closer I get to a job... "It's all a numbers game.", Stu said. And he's right.

I don't know exactly when we'll be trying for a baby, but we have about 5 more weeks until we can. I would like to wait at least until I'm working, but we'll see.

I just hope this all works out. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. Say a little prayer for me (us) please?

You've Got To Be Kidding Me

Now Playing:
Ghost Hunters
Fort Henry
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I knit a pumpkin hat and orange socks for a co-worker's October baby and she had his pictures taken in them! Cute, huh?

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[Photo property of Caron International Yarns.]

I was making this spider (and plan to make the web too) RIGHT before Halloween, but didn't finish in time. So, he'll be for next year's decorations.

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Our knit meeting this week was interesting... we had three husbands show up! Stu was there, Bruce tagged along with Marissa and Jessica's husband came with her as well. Stu said he had fun, it was nice.

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I'm trying my hand at painting. I'm using craft acrylics, cheap paint brushes and poster board. I'm only a beginner after all and this was stuff I already had on hand. This easel is homemade entirely of cardboard parts and packing tape.


[Clickable for larger view.]

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Happy Halloween!


Our family dressed for Halloween! I made the popcorn and Milk Duds costumes.


Ryn in her dead prom queen costume. The red eyes from the flash seemed fitting, so I left them.


I painted my nails black with orange polkadots! (Geez, I wish I could keep my nails long. I've been having a lot of difficulty keeping them from breaking for about the past year. I really miss my long nails. *sad face*)


Bruce and Marissa came over Halloween night and brought some huge pizza from The Pie. Stu and Bruce played some role-play board games while Marissa and I baked and decorated sugar cookies with candy melts and watched Ghostbusters, then The Nightmare Before Christmas.








I made this Joker cookie espeically for Stu... he didn't understand what it was!

We did have a Happy Halloween. But, on a sadder note...

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I was laid off from my job Wednesday. I never saw it coming... it bites. I thought everything was okay considering that my boss had always said it was great that we were doing good enough to not have to be letting people go, like so many other places have to. I knew things were tight, but I had no idea they were that bad. Another lady got laid off too.

We just had a miscarriage and are trying to start a family-- and now this. I'm trying to put a positive spin on this and actually look forward to some new opportunities. We also do have some options with health insurance that will be good for when I become pregnant, even if it's very soon.

It just would have been nice if I could have kept the same job until Stu graduated college and started working next summer. That would've been very favorable considering that I'd already been there three years and that would have given me some good perks with insurance and maternity leave.

I also got a month's worth of regular pay as severance, so we'll be okay financially. I don't see it taking a month for me to find work again. The only thing that's really bad about this is the fact that I thought I had a stable job, but out of nowhere had the rug pulled out from under me. That's causes very desperate feelings. Plus, I really don't enjoy job interviews, but who does? Haha.

Wish me (and our family) luck. I'm going job hunting tomorrow.

Lesson learned: Make yourself irreplacable and never settle for being the low man on the totem pole.