The Cherry On Top Part:

Last we talked, I was telling you about my excellent weekend and my equally perfect Monday . . .

Here's the cherry part!

Sheila called me and said she had an hour to kill in SLO and did I want to meet up with her? Well hells ya. Since I was already out and about and done with Laguna Lake park, she suggested we get together at the SLO Goodwill. Funny, I had driven by it earlier and thought to myself "self, we totally need to stop there on the way home and check out what might be available in the knitting-related catagory."

We met up and wandered in. After about 20 minutes, the only thing I'd picked up for purchase was a good-sized binder to store printed patterns in. There's an 'upper deck' kind of area that I thought had only clothes so I didn't plan on wandering up there . . . but Sheila went and I trailed behind. At the back is the book section and I NEVER pass up on books. Grabbed me one and kept moseying around. Sheila found an area that had sewing-related stuff and I spied a lone bag of yarn but after looking through it decided to pass.

There were all sorts of nooks and crannies and drawers that I would have never looked in or around but Sheila is totally the opposite. THANK GAWD! She opened a drawer of something and we found a bunch of paired knitting needles. Out of that bunch she scored a pretty wood set of size 6s or so. Everything else in the drawer was nothing special. The next drawer down? We hit the freak'n motherlode of fiber tools!!!



I KNOW!!

How much does a bag like that go for at the San Luis Goodwill? You ain't even gonna believe it.



I KNOW!!

Seven entire dollars and one quarter. That's it. People, I about passed out from glee.

We bought our booty and made a mad dash to our cars (crossing Lower Higuera is risky!) Immediately, we broke open the bag and started organizing.



(Yeah, I need to clean my car - tell me something I don't know)



My half above, and Sheila's half below:



Because I already own a very healthy supply of straight needles, Sheila got first dibs on anything she wanted in that arena. She gave me all the crochet hooks because she's got tons from her late grandmother's stash. She only wanted one of the circs, which left me owning the other 4 pair. She kept the sizing template (I already own two different ones) and she gave me all the *things* that we don't even know WHAT they are, lol.

*Things* like this thing:



What the hell IS that?

Outside of the elation of getting everything for such a cheap price, we really loved seeing all the different and neat things we scored. Stuff like this:







There are tons more pictures of everything here of course.

Truthfully - I'm still so jazzed over yesterday's find!

Despite that high there have been other activities going on around Casa De Crazy.

Baking:



My first batch of cookies at the new place.

Knitting:



Still just the first one of my Ravelympic Socks for the Sock Put event. A few more rows and it's Kitchener time. Since I'll be in Kitchener mode, I'm going to finish my first sock from that delicious HazelKnits yarn I've been working on forever (seriously - forever people! It was half-way done at the WWKIP event and how long ago was that?)

Needless to say, no Kitchenering will be done if I spend even more time hanging out on the intronets so I gotta get to getting!

Ohhhh - and don't forget - tonight is the showing of Hitch at the Dolphin Bay in Shell Beach. Wahhhoooo :grin:

Perfection With a Cherry On Top:

We survived the build-up to the party, the party itself and then the post-party decompensing.

What a blast!

The place was clean and looked fabu:







'Scilly was SO well-behaved and we were very proud of her:



Callie . . . not so much. It wasn't that she "misbehaved" but Lawdy that cat can be a nuisance!



When she wasn't glued on people's laps or draped around their necks, she would perch on Becca's knitting bag (more about Becca in a sec). That cat loves her some perching!

People actually showed up . . .



. . . and had themselves a good time.





(Sheila and two of her friends came over also, but I didn't get my camera out until after they had left)

The lady knitting is 'Becca on Ravelry. She took me up on my invite the other day and brought her man Bruce. They are such nice people and totally fun and funny. They fit right in and I'm so glad they made it down.

I doubt I'll ever get tired of hanging out with other knitters. They just 'get it', ya know?



Our Ravelympic sock entries



Her handknit shawl

Oh, and 'Becca? I took that page out of your book and had some of your cake for breakfast on Sunday, lol. It was gooooood! Thanks for making it and bringing it.

Sunday was filled with a whole lotta noth'n. Mike slept in VERY late and we both napped that afternoon. It was perfect.

Yesterday (Monday) I lollygagged around and then went to the post office in the afternoon. My big trip out of the house in several days, actually. I picked the post office on Madonna Road because it's right next to Laguna Lake and I wanted to take some pictures.

Hmm. I just found that link and look at their picture on there . . .



Looks an awful lot like the picture I snapped yesterday . . .



It was so peaceful there and the weather couldn't have been more perfect!









Lookie these people. They have a lake for a back yard. How cool is THAT?






Even the Fed Ex drivers 'round these parts have a great life:



Just as I was wrapping up my exhausting day of sitting and picture taking and enjoying the great outdoors . . .



. . . Sheila called and that's when the cherry plopped right on top of my already perfect time.

I'll tell y'all about it later. It's freak'n awesome.

Psssst:

Hey - don't forget there's a party going on at my house tomorrow!

The Mike has been very busy getting the back yard and the side area all spiffy and presentable for guests.

We bought some grub to chow down on and I've made my well-loved Rock'n Guacamole Dip as well as a batch of Standard Issue Onion Dip.

Tomorrow a.m. is one more pass through with the cleaning supplies (HELLO Mr. Swiffer Thing - nice to meet'cha!) and I'll steal a little more time for working on my craft room.

Holy crap, did y'all hear that thunder this morning? So much for sleeping in! The two outside cats took a sudden interest in the contents of the inside of the house, lemmetellya. I took some pictures and a few short videos of it. Outside of being awoken waaaay earlier than I'd anticipated, it was pretty neat. I'm so so glad I got the last of the boxes cleared out and in the house just in time.

So - hope I see ya tomorrow. I'll let you know how it all turns out. If you're coming, you can bet I'll be sticking my Ravelympic Sock in your hands for critique, lol.

I Don't Know What I Think:

This morning, I was reading the online version of my local newspaper and clicked on this article.

The name and the face weren't familiar but the information "Arroyo Grande High graduate" and "the age of 40" got me thinking. I'm about to be 40 and also an A.G.H.S. graduate.

I pulled out one of my yearbooks and flipped to the alphabetical listing in the back.

von Ruden, Nicole.

Ayup. She's there.

She was a year ahead of me and was apparently very active in school. She's in 5 pictures for each of the two yearbooks I have ('83 and '84). She was tester #23 for a Pepsi Challenge somethingorother at school, as well as being a member of the ski club, cross-country team, the press club and the dive team.

I don't remember her, and I'm pretty confident I didn't know her personally, but there's a 101% chance that I know many people that knew her well. My very first boyfriend (for three years, Mr. Allen Lee Shewmaker for those of you locals reading this, lol) was in her grade, and several people she's pictured with I knew one way or another.

Accidental deaths? I kinda get that. It's an accident and accidents happen.

This is a little more than I'm wanting to contemplate at the moment. Just up and dying from a malfunction of your body.

Ravelry Rocks - Reason # 793:

As I've been unpacking box after box after box (after box, lather, rinse, repeat) all the yarny crafty stuff has been put into the Yarny Crafty room for later organization and culling.

Last Sunday Sheila came over and helped me unload a few 'craft only' box contents and we puttered around a bit. After she left, I puttered around for several more hours, putting things here and there on my immense bookcase, working for 'the look' that I liked.

Towards the end of the evening, it dawned on me that my pattern book area was a bit sparce from what I remembered should be there. Once I got to thinking about it, I started feeling there was a good bit not accounted for, although I didn't know *what* exactly.

This week started with my usual chore activity for getting the house finished . . . six loads of laundry a day, cleaning up stuff, putting away five loads of laundry every day, finding yet another box of kitchen stuff and figuring out where it goes . . . you know.

One of the items on my to-do list was dealt with yesterday: unearthing the box that has my entire antique (and some just *old*) postcard collection and figuring out what to do with them all. These are predominately postcards of the Central Coast with a few of Porterville and some others thrown in the mix. I have around 30 in frames and about another 15 not in frames. My oldest postmark is from 1906 and the oldest postmarked on of my hometown area is of Avila from 1913. I have a postcard that shows an aerial view of Hwy 101 through San Luis Obispo, and there is no Madonna Inn - in fact, it shows construction of the freeway where it was decided to stop it from travelling through downtown SLO. I find them all fascinating!

So anywho. Once that was done, box emptying stopped for the evening and dinner got made. But. This means I only have two other boxes left to empty. Yeah. That's IT. FINALLY!

This morning I hopped on ravelry (as I do every morning and every hour on the hour and sixty times more as the evening progresses) and went poking around
my library there. I've been a very good girl about cataloguing (sp?) my library stash and Thank GAWD for that. Now I can see all the books I own that haven't shown up yet in the unpacking process!

I gotta go finish those last two boxes STAT. I know for sure one box is all craft content so fingers crossed my beloved items are in there.

There has been knitting activity overall 'round these parts, but my entire day and evening was shot and not one stitch was created on my socks. I did, at least, take an in-progress picture today which I will post real soon.

Until then, I leave you with these snaps:

Funny Man:

This evening, The Mike and I have been watching the Olympic coverage. We *finally* have television, albeit only one channel - NBC. I'll tell y'all the story of why another day.

So anywho, we watched Michael Phelps nail his first '08 gold medal, as well as women's volleyball, men's gymnastics and even some female swimming events tonight.

At one point, there was an interview with the three American women that swept the top three spots in Fencing.

As we're listening and watching, Mike turns to me and asks "What is fencing? Is that like sword fighting?", to which I replied "Uhhh, yeah. If you're a PIRATE!"

Who the heck has never heard of and/or seen the sport of fencing? EVER? In their thirty-eight years of life on this planet (not counting just discovered Amazon tribes of course).

He cracks me up even when he's not trying to be funny.

In Ravelympic news, the progress on my socks has been sloooooooooow. Sadly so.

Friday I jumped in the frog pond twice, and that was just on the first half of the first repeat of the pattern.

After that though, I think I've hit my stride. In no way do I consider what I'm doing 'athletic' or 'noteworthy' but even so I must say I really got a boost of confidence and adreneline (sp?) from watching interviews and the competition with Michael Phelps tonight.

What a winner that guy is - in personality, in dedication, in belief, in hard work and in youth. A class act guy.

As I keep knitting on my sock, I think about alot of things. How far I've come as a knitter, how afraid I let myself be of so many techniques, how inspired I am by people I've met and people I follow, how I want to show my finished socks to Suzanne and Carolyn because I've challenged myself to make something proudworthy (is that a word or a made up-ism?) and they both will be honest in their praise and their critiques.

At the beginning of the ravelympics, I wasn't thinking of The. Olympics. - just knitting some stuff in the time frame alloted. Now I'm starting to think about the dedication and commitment that make up the athletes involved in the events and what I can take from their goals and accomplishments.

Me finishing these socks will be my personal gold medal in knitting. A real challenge for me and when completed, I know I'm going to dance around kissing them and shouting "look what I can do!"

Have You Ever:

Have you ever met someone that you immediately take a disliking to? Maybe you can't put your finger on exactly why, or maybe you know EXACTLY what rubs you the wrong way, but there's an immediate dislike.

I'm pretty sure I'm on the receiving end of that feeling at the moment.

There's this chick I've met two times now, and almost from the outset it's been a chilly vibe wafting my way.

One word responses to generic questions, derisive 'bye' as I leave - you can hear the sneer in the tone, talking to everyone but me, not responding when I join the conversation.

Lord knows I've felt that 'immediate dislike for no apparent reason' myself. Sometimes I never see that person again, usually I end up being right about my original gut feeling, and every so often I change my opinion after getting to know the person better.

It's no great shakes this chick isn't planning on being my new best friend. I got lots of friends, and even some best ones - more than my fair share maybe, and if me and this chick never do hit it off I will figure out a way to drag myself out of bed every morning and live my life with a purpose.

I've never felt it like this before. It's palpable. It's like another presence hovering between us.

Conversely, have you ever NOT met someone in real life but just KNOW you guys would be great friends?

I'm starting to feel that way about Dani of the Brown Eyed Mom podcast. She's so funny and I love her conversational style. Her voice is kinda sexy in weird way too.
(andohmygawdifsheeverreadsthisIhopeshedoesn'tgetarestrainingorderagainstme!)
Just like with Holly B I'm pretty certain I'd enjoy their friendships, despite them having kids, lol.

I'm off to bed in a minute - the Ravelympics start time (for my time zone) is five FREAK'N a.m. tomorrow.

Hope all you slacker sleeper-inners have a good one tomorrow!

Locked and Loaded:

The socks have been torn back to nothing and the yarn has been color separated into their respective balls.






Pictures have been taken of the sweater WIP, to mark where I am at the dawn of the Olympics.


I'm ready for the ravelympics, my friends!

Somehow, I'm going to focus on my knitting goal despite this temptation in my back yard.






Ya want some? Me too! I think I'll be scarfing some berries whilest I knit along.

What are you guys working on?

Off The Hook:

No, not "off the hook" in the social slang sense.

Off the dinner hook!

Mike won't be home in time for me to cook dinner and get to my knit night this evening, so he's just gonna make do. Yay. Works out well though, since the box** that I packed with all my seasonings and spices and cooking staples has mysteriously disappeared in our move.

In anticipation of my participation in the Ravelympics, tonight I will be frogging these socks.

I'm a member of Team Central Coast and I'll be representing in two challenges: Sock Put and WIPs Wrestling. My WIP's submission is that baby sweater I started back in April for my Knittingversary. All it needs are the sleeves picked up and knitted. THAT'S IT. So sad, my laziness.

The Ravelympics are only two weeks in duration so once it starts I have to spend all possible free time on those socks. I'm going to be doing the short-row heel, thanks to Suzanne's help and instructions. I'm also going to be separating the colors so that I can control the blending - I don't want to deal with the common "Noro Surprise" that comes with their self-striping yarns (read knots and sudden color changes). I'll be doing this at knit night tonight.

After that, since it's in the same shopping center, I'm going to hit up the grocery store and buy all those damn kitchen supplies that I cannot find. Grrrrrr.

**Oh, and I think that box also had our ceiling fan blades in it too, but that's a tiff he and I are going to have another day. I packed and he loaded but somehow these missing fans are going to be *my* fault.

Kitchen. Done:

Sheesh oh MAN it's taken a while!

When we moved in, the dishwasher and the stove/oven weren't installed. The main crux of the problem was lack of electricity running to most of the kitchen outlets (and some outside of the kitchen).

(here would be pictures to help tell the story, but noooo . . . Boo on Blogger!)

'Member the other night we had an electrician and a flooring guy here? The guys that stayed until 11:FREAK'N30 pm? Well, between the two of them, they thought if they cut out a hole on the dining room side of the wall, behind the stove cubbyhole on the kitchen side, they could fix the problem from that way.

Not so much.

They did do something right though, since electricity magically appeared some how some way about an hour after The Cutting Of The Hole.

Electricity? Check.

The next thing we needed was time to move and install the items still missing. For some reason, Mike would rather spend his weekend hanging with his boys and me and I would rather spend mine hanging with Sheila and him.

Ergo, nothing in the way of progress this last weekend.

Today was a whole 'nother story though.

Mike took off one electrical plug and installed another on the dishwasher and we were up and running on that applicance.

Then I helped him muscle in the stove/oven from the garage and he got that all hooked up. It was actually fun to help him do what he does for a living. I helped hold different sides of the oven up so he could adjust the legs accordingly, and at one point he said "I smell gas". Not only did I not smell it myself, I had NO CLUE what to do at that point (besides flick my bic, lol). He wanted a squirt bottle with some soap and water in in but the only squirt bottle we possess is one with 100% water and used as a non-harmful pet deterrent. No way was I going to put soap in that thing! He figured out that Windex would do the trick too. You squirt the gas line at the joins (joints?) and if you see bubbles (not the bubbles the Windex or soapy water makes, but different ones - you'll know when you see them) then there is a leak. A few squirts later and *I* saw the bubbles. Yay me, HA.

That left the last major appliance to be dealt with. The 'fridge.

This is our 'fridge that has travelled to a few homes on the central coast, to Porterville and back again this last time. It's always worked Aces and we love it. When we cleaned it out and moved it to its spot last Saturday we got a rude surprise. It was only chilling the bottom quarter of each side (fridge/freezer, double doors, whatever that's called). That meant that anything we put in there could only go on the bottom shelves/spaces.

We put up with this for a week, because we were afraid to hear a diagnosis from a professional.

Putting up with it meant eating out most meals. Now I am a firm believer that "a person" can eat on the cheap away from home, and eat pretty good. Both Quizno's and Subway have good deals and I love both of them. Back when I was single I ate out almost every meal and hardly spent any money.

Mike though. Mike eats like an elephant with an extra stomach. And a hollow leg. No lie. A trip to Taco Bell can cost over $20 for him. Alone. Extra this and extra that and double meat blahblahblah. Anything more pricey than Taco Bell, you get the picture.

This last week has been a financial doozy in the eating department. Finally, we had to decide to spend the money on a fridge repair/replacement or just eating out all the galldarn time.

This morning I Goozoogled "Appliance Repair San Luis Obispo" and called the first listing.

I cannot sing the praises of The Best Appliance Guy enough.

He came, he looked, he poked and prodded and he fixed our problem lickety-split. All that was wrong was the little motorized fan that circulates The Cold was not working. Once he pinpointed the problem, he said he couldn't in all good conscious try and sell us on a replacement one because ours actually works really well. He thinks that the sitting unplugged for three weeks made something stick and the motor is so low horsepower and it can't kick itself into spinning (you know - something like that).

He is charging us the $60 service call fee which is absolutely fair. Thing is though? He wants to come back in a day or so just to make sure it really is working, before we pay him for his diagnosis.

Oh, and you know what else he did, just because? He checked out our other appliances and gave us pointers on them. Seriously. For nothing. Just because he's that kind of guy.

Now THAT is some customer service.

You live on the Central Coast and need some appliance repair? Please call Todd first.

Tonight, or *first* meal at home was . . .

DRUMROLL PLEASE . . .









A "take and bake" pizza from Von's.

Tomorrow is the real deal! On the menu is Chicken & Dumplings.

After all the hulabaloo of today's activities (bear in mind I also put my kitchen in order, did three dishwasher loads and four laundry loads during all this) I'm freak'n DONE. Tonight I'm going to drink some wine, paint my toes and knit some more rug.

I'll be grinning ear-to-ear every time I go into my kitchen though!

A Relaxing Sunday:

Not to be confused with my relaxing Saturday yesterday, LOL.



You can see the pictures here . . .

A stroll through downtown SLO, around the creek and the mission, and then sushi dinner at Chin's.

Once again, despite the large geographic size of this town and the surrounding towns, Mike ran into somebody he knows (well, actually we both did, but my part was only because I was with him. It's *his* gift, not mine). We ran into Misti just outside of Beverly's Fabrics. Go figure.

MAN I LOVE THIS PLACE!

It's a Date:

Yesterday, Mike hung out with his "boys" all day and I hung out with Sheila knitting and taking pictures.

Apparently, Mike's "boys" talked him into having a party at our house on the 16th of this month.

See why he can't be trusted alone?!

So, it's a party at our house two Saturdays from now.

You're invited too! Mike's buds and their women (but no kids!), Sheila, the Tuesday Night Knit girls . . . everyone's coming over.

If you can't make this one, never fear. I'm planning on a JUST FOR ME party in October. It'll be my 40th on 10/12/08. No one will be shooting off fireworks in my honor, or holding a world-wide knitting event, but it'll still be a blast.

Depending on people's schedules the October one may start mid-week and end on a Sunday. That way people like SisterDi and KnittingSuzanne and ZubieJen and Jollyewe and Ellen Bloom and Yarnologist can work around their schedules.

YES! ALL Y'ALL ARE INVITED!!

Kind of like a 'knitting retreat' or 'mini knitting vacation'. Crafting and noshing and the enjoyment of refreshing libations while at the Coast . . . heaven, if ya ask me.

So. Either I'll see you two weekends from now, or I'll see you in October. Hell, maybe I'll see you both times! That would be awesome.

Until then, please be lured by these pictures of life around my house and town:

For CJ:

In honor of Shark Week, here are some pics of my BIL's shark:

(this one is right after he ate - he was moving around so fast!)

Dude. When you come over this way, you can see him live and in person.

Last night we went over to Brian's for some BBQ. It was soooo good. We didn't get home until after midnight! That's mighty late for us, and especially for The Mike.

It was alot of fun though. Brian and Misti are leaving Monday for Hawaii. This is MAJOR. My BIL doesn't fly, due to his (unfounded) fear of it. We always wondered, if him and his band made it big, how he'd travel to gigs because of it. This girlfriend of his has been a great addition to his life and the family. His wife was nothing but baggage and annoyance and we all collectively let out our breath when he finally (after almost 20 years, mind you!) stopped putting up with her particular brand of The Crazy.

The girlfriend is a nice person anyway, and a wonderful compliment to the BIL's easy-going nature. It sure seems like "love" if he's willing to board a plane for her, lol.

Oh, and towards the end she and I had a nice little chat about the choice of child freedom and how she thinks she leans that direction. She's given it considerable thought and continues to do so.

AWESOME!

I think I fell a little more in love with her my own damn self, LOL.