Moving

Yup, it's true.  We are moving!  Don't worry, it's definitely a good thing.  We'll be closer to work for both of us.  It will be cheaper than our current rent and we will be minus one annoying/messy/disgusting housemate.  See?  All good things.

Part of the moving process though, is packing.  I don't know about anybody else, but I HATE packing.  The other times we've moved, we've always waited until the last minute (I know, bad move on our part) and then it's a crazy frenzy to get everything packed and on the truck before we have to be out.  Fortunately, we've learned.  We have already started packing for our April 24th move.  All books (minus the knitting books, of course) have been packed.  All the art on the walls of the living room and dining room have been removed.  DVDs and games are all packed as well as all the CDs and cassettes.  I think we've made some good headway on the packing, though now those two rooms look very naked.

On a side note, if anybody knows anybody that is looking for a 55" Flat screen TV, it's for sale.  It's an older tube model, but works just fine and the sound is good as well.  It is probably not going to fit into our new space, and we really don't want to even try.  Send me a message if you want it!

Woolgirls Easter Kit 2009

Okay, it's official.  I'm a Woolgirl kit junkie.  Here is the latest kit!  A Vintage Easter kit that I just got it the mail today!

 

Here is the whole she-bang opened up.  Pretty, isn't it?

A cute little handmade Easter Bunny stitch-marker.

Handpainted notecards.  Aren't they cute!  I'm torn between keeping them for myself, or giving them away to another knitter that will appreciate them as much as I do!

The inside of the Vintage Easter box and a bag of Jelly Beans!

Some yummy Sock yarn from Madelinetosh in the color Clover.  Not my usual color but I really like it!

A notepad to keep track of all things yarny :)

A cute little origami bunny made by Jen at woolgirl.

A handmade pouch in some Vintage Easter fabric.

I still have yet to post all the awesome photos from my first sock club shipment!  There is just so much in Jen's kits!  What a wonderful surprise to come home to, today!

Loads of good new!

Well, it's been a good long while since I posted anything. Lots has happened in the last few months, and too much to even try to catch up on here. Lots of frustrating ordeals and whatnot that Nick and I have muddled through and we are slowly coming out the other side of.

My main reasons for posting are:

1. My pattern has been published!!! Details in a minute :)

2. I'm down 20.2 pounds!!!!

This last thing I am so incredibly excited about. I joined weightwatchers at the end of December. I didn't want to wait until January first, because I felt like I just needed to get started. No use in putting off the inevitable. It's been 9 weeks and I haven't felt at all like I've been dieting. It's all about the choices we make.

I have more energy than I've had in a long time. My clothes are baggy (yay!) and it's noticeable, which is always nice too. I simply cannot express just how happy I am. I feel like I've finally gotten some control over my body. Before, I felt like nothing I could do would help. The Atkins diet made me feel gross and I couldn't stick with it for any length of time because it felt like a DIET. Weightwatchers is not a diet, and I never feel hungry or deprived. It's awesome!

Okay. Now on to the other good news.

About 6 months ago, I contacted Jen from Woolgirl about the possibility of her selling my sock pattern. We exchanged a few emails, one of which had my pattern in it, and Jen LOVED it! She told me that she would be happy to sell it in her shop, but would be even happier if I agreed to let her use it for a special Sock Kit. After months of planning on her part and nail-biting on my part, the Glenda the Good Witch Sock Kit has finally been released! Woohoo! Here are some pictures:

This is the Glenda the Good Witch Kit as it arrived at my house

The Yarn is Madelinetosh and there is an adorable project bag made by Amy. If you wanted to order a bag from her, you could contact her at ablt4@msn.com .

My pattern :)


Plus lots of other fun goodies!



A sugar cookie recipe with a star and a crown cookie cutters.




A wand and a pencil with Glenda's saying "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?"



A Glenda sticky pad and bookmark.




A Glenda stitch marker made by WeeOnes.



And a homemade soap wand and a baggy of Good & Plenty!

So much fun and so exciting!!!

Yay for Weightwatchers!

I'm down 8.2 pounds in just two weeks!  I feel full and I can eat anything I want.  I'm so incredibly excited about this program!  

That's the only thing of real interest I have to report.   Lots of things OTN, including Stricken, and a Hooded Cable Scarf.  There are others but those are the big ones I'm working on right now.

Weight loss goal

I'm hoping that posting this here for all the world to see will be enough to get me motivated to lose weight.  I'm at the heaviest that I've ever been, and I have got to do something about it.  I've been thinking about joining weight watchers to see if that is something that could work for me.  We've toyed with the idea of joining a gym again, but Nick and I were both so bad about going that it was a HUGE waste of money.  We also plan on moving in May of 09, so we don't want to buy any equipment that we are going to have to move.  I looked up how much it would cost to join the YMCA of Oak Park...would you believe that it costs more to go there, than the fancy gym we belonged to before??  I find this very disturbing.  How are the poor people supposed to afford a healthy lifestyle that involves exercise if they cannot even afford to go to the local Y?  Not sure exactly what I'm going to do yet, but the ticker will keep track of my progress.

Just an update...

Life has been busy, busy. I've gotten quite a bit of knitting done, just haven't really had too much time to write about it. Most recently I finished a pair of socks using the Yukon leaves pattern and knitting with Interlacements Tiny Toes:




I also knit up an itty bitty baby sweater for Chix with Stix using the Sock it To me Baby Pattern and some Berrocco Sox yarn:




The other really exciting news is that we are adding to our family. On June 21st we'll be picking up our second puppy! Her name is Bridgette and we are going to keep that name. So, we'll have Abigail and Bridgette! Here are a few pictures that the breeder has sent us:

Hell of a day!

So, once a week, I have to open the restaurant that I work at. No big deal, normally. I get up around 4:30am, arrive at work around 5:30 and start to turn things on to warm up for when we open at 6am.

My routine this morning was the same:
Turn off alarm/turn on lights.
Turn on the grills in the kitchen, the toaster, the syrup warmer and the donut machine.
Make coffee.

Then I usually put on my makeup while the coffee is brewing and I wait for my cook and my first server to arrive.

Laura (my server) was a few minutes early this morning, so I didn't actually get a chance to put on my makeup. The moment she walked into the kitchen she yelled my name and said "Why is there smoke back here?" to which I replied, "what are you talking about?" while running into the kitchen.

Sure enough there was smoke, and a lot of it too. There was a horrid burning smell and flame licking up from behind the deep fryer. Laura's yelling about the fire and starting to panic and I'm trying to figure out what the hell is causing the damn fire, so I pull out the fryer. It's hard to see, but there is some sort of hose on fire, so I try looking to make sure there's no flame coming from the fryer itself...nope. Laura's yelling that maybe the red handle on the front of the fryer turns it off...nope again. That handle opens up the drain for said fryer and spills oil all over my shoes and jeans. Damn.

I'm plum out of ideas, and I really didn't want to use the fire extinguisher if I don't have to, so I start calling my boss while I have Laura call 911. We're told to wait outside, just in case it's a gas fire and something explodes... O_O

The first to arrive to the scene was a Downers Grove police officer, who immediately asked for the damn fire extinguisher (a girl can hope, right) which I grudgingly gave to him. I escorted him back to where the fire was and without thinking twice he pulled the pin and aimed. He had to use the entire contents of the extinguisher before the fire finally flickered out. :bigsigh:

Then he just dusted off his hands and went on his merry way, leaving me with the fire department, who had shown up just a minute previously. They checked things out and unplugged some stuff, but ultimately couldn't figure what had started the fire. They left shortly thereafter, saying the health department would be in later today. Great.

So there I stood amidst smoke and the powder from the extinguisher still in the air and a kitchen that looked like it had seen much better days...and we should have opened 15 minutes ago. I had already had to turn customers away, since I didn't know if it was safe or not to let them in. Now I had to turn them away, because I had a kitchen that was literally covered in the fine yellow powder from the damn fire extinguisher. Everything had to be washed. It doesn't seem like much...but when you have a full kitchen...it's overwhelming. The grills had to be cleaned, the floors swept and mopped, and mopped again. Every last dish and utensil that was in the kitchen needed to be cleaned. Every pot, pan, spatula, you name it, it had to get washed...and I still hadn't had my damn coffee.

So I go and pour myself a coffee, still no makeup on, roll up my sleeves and start washing dishes. I washed dishes for an hour and a half...during which I managed to spill my damn coffee down my front :shakeshead: Jimmy came back after having gone home to take a quick shower (I had woken him up when I called him) and the cleaning continued. We weren't really ready to open for business until nearly 8 am.

By 8, I was exhausted, and I still had another 7 and a half hours to go before I could go home. I ended up running next door to Kohl's so that I could at least buy a clean shirt (and put on my makeup while I had a chance). The rest of the day consisted of one inspector after another until we were given the double thumbs up and we could continue business normally.

So, what caused the fire? Freak accident.

The theory is that there was a very small gas leak in the hose that connected the gas line to the fryer. When I turned on the flat grills, the flames apparently shot out towards the back of the grill because they are set up on some type of horseshoe-like coil or something (I still don't quite understand that part). There was enough gas from the leak that the flames from the grill traveled over to the hose and ignited. Everything next to that hose also lit up because of the grease that was behind the fryer.

I'm lucky that we caught it in time, and I'm damn lucky the thing didn't blow up in my face when I was stupidly trying to figure out what was on fire. All that was left of the burnt sections of hose was wire mesh. All of the rubber casing had burned or melted off. It's a miracle, frankly, that the damn thing didn't explode.

I'm still in shock.