CrazyCatMadame

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T16:29:00.001-06:00

>^.^<

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Green Defeat

2010-10-02T18:53:00.003-06:00

Dear Distilled White Vinegar,

I had high expectations for our relationship, Vinegar. I had bought into the claims that other cleaners are chemical ladened and causing strife in my life as I knew it. Insert you, distilled white vinegar, to the rescue as the miracle, green, all-purpose cleaner. Mirrors, counter tops, laundry, toilets, shower & bath - you, my savior, were supposed to clean and deodorize everything.

And for the most part, you have lived up to the hype. My mirrors sparkle so much I can almost hear the sparkle 'ding' only heard in commercials. Friends have raved about their experience using you to clean their floors and gym clothes. I have diligently sprayed you on the tile & in my tub. I have used a soft green scrubby to remove the ever present soap scum. Yet I wondered why the tub was turning grey. I've cleaned it several times a week using you, Power of Green, every time...it could not be you that was the problem.

Perhaps it was just the lighting. Yes, I agree it is a little darker in the room as a couple of lights have burned out recently. It must be the shadows cast by my body or that the light is different due to the change of seasons. Maybe it is not grey at all but just a figment of my imagination caused by my weary eyes.

Your kept your ruse up well, sir. Well played, I might add.

Today my old friend Magic Eraser caught my eye. A sexy little thing. She reminded me how well we had previously worked together cleaning the tub. Feeling a little guilty by betraying your trust, I put the magic white sponge in my hand and ran it along the bottom of the tub. Imagine my surprise when she revealed a white tub below the layer of grime you did not remove.

While my mirrors may sparkle to a degree which is blinding, your ability to clean my tub is...well frankly just disappointing. Consider yourself removed from tub and shower duty. My old friends Magic Eraser & Kaboom have reenlisted and are ready to serve.

>^.^<

Fail!

2010-08-14T07:39:00.003-06:00

I can admit failure. I have completely failed in my quest in the 100 push-up challenge. I'd like to blame my girlfriend who was going to do this with me when she injured her elbow, but the failure is really all mine.

I couldn't tell you when it happened, but one day I just stopped doing push-ups. Sad isn't it? I'm not surprised, I've never been able to stick to an exercise plan.

The up-side to this is that I can do 20 push-ups in a row! That is 10 more than I could do when I started...and those first 10 I can do without batting an eye.

>^.^<

Ulitmate Push-Up Challenge 2010

2010-04-05T08:05:00.007-06:00

It was my intention to blog every day during my Ultimate Push-Up Challenge 2010. Clearly that has not happened. Let's see how I've done:

Day 1
I struggled with my decision how to approach the challenge. Is the goal to perform 100 push-ups a day for 100 days. Should I attempt to perform 100 consecutive push-ups? Should I do one set of 10 at a time? Do as many as I can at a time? I obsessed over this a bit too much - as usual.

I decided to do as many push-ups as possible a day, with the goal of 100 push-up per day. I started at lunch and tried to do as many consecutive push-ups as possible. I first tried your standard "good-form" push-up where the only points on the floor were my toes & hands. I eeked out two push-ups. Really? Yup - just two. Then I tried an alternative-form from my knees. I managed to do 10 good push-ups. From the knees it is from here on out.

Before I left the office, I did another set of 10. OMG! I thought my right arm was going to fall off during my drive home.

No - I'm not kidding.

Before I went to bed I eeked out another set of 10.

Total push-ups: 32

Day 2

After I woke up I immediately did a set of 10. Then I walked into the bathroom and did a set of 10 reverse push-ups using the bath-tub as my support structure. Yahoo! It's 5:30am and I'm up to 20 push-ups for the day!

At lunch I went into a conference room and did a pitiful 6 push-ups before my arms completely gave out.

Total push-ups: 26

Day 3

I decided to take the day off.

Total push-ups: 0

Day 4

A breakthrough day!

During my obsessing on Day 1, I found a website that has created a six week training program to help you perform 100 consecutive push-ups. They're plan seems easy enough, so I thought I'd give it a go. I started at the beginning - Week 1, Day 1 (6 - 10 push-up column). Did two full sets - once in the morning and again before bed. I also did 6 reverse push-ups.

HOLY CRAP! I did as significantly more push-ups today! My goal of 100 push-ups a day is getting closer.

Total push-ups: 66

>^.^<

100 Push-up Challenge - Day 1

2010-04-01T10:31:00.001-06:00

An old friend of mine challenged me to participate in a 100 Push-up, 100 Days Challenge. This is based on the 100 Push-ups, 100 Days Challenge! she found on Facebook.

When she brought it up recently it seemed that we had different interpretations of the challenge. I understand it to be 100 push-ups per day for 100 days. Not consecutive push-ups, just 100 throughout the day. Her understanding...well it isn't mine and I'm not entirely clear what her understanding of the challenge is.

None-the-less the challenge starts today. Of course I had forgotten it started today until I read one of her FB postings reminding me of the start date. *sigh* I'm already off to a bad start.

Well it is lunchtime now and it is a beautiful day. I should march right downstairs (using the stairs and not the elevator of course) and do some push-up outside...and I would if I didn't feel so goofy about doing them in public.

I think I'm going to find a conference room and close the door. Wish me luck!

>^.^<

When your day doesn't start well...

2010-01-08T13:02:00.001-06:00

One of the cats has peed in the sink.
Ends up on a snow bank in an attempt to avoid hitting another car.
Attempts to extract self from snow bank without avail.
Exits vehicle and evaluates situation.
Calls husband for rescue.
While waiting a kind stranger pulls car out of snow bank using a strap and a bad-ass Ford F450.
Contacts husband to call off rescue effort.
Merges onto expressway, reaches respectable speed and front end of car starts to shake.
Convinced of have a flat, pull the car over on the shoulder to evaluate the problem.
Find both tires are fine, but perhaps a little low.
Decides to call husband to report latest development, but has "Low Battery" cell phone juice.
Reasons problem is just the tires - no need to worry husband.
Drive slowly (read - posted speed limit) to the Oasis with intent to fill tires with air at the gas station.
Arrive at said gas station only to see the air machine is out of order.
Remember that there is an emergency air compressor in the trunk.
Hope that when you open the trunk that the trunk lock will latch and close properly without much fiddling since penguins are only comfortable in this arctic weather.
Plug compressor into cigarette lighter-receptacle-thingy. Attempt to turn on compressor without luck.
Plug compressor into second cigarette lighter-receptacle-thingy. Attempt to turn on compressor without luck again.
Blown fuse.
Now realizes why cell phone charger does not work any longer.
Also realizes problem with front end is not the tires, but a "bigger problem."
Continues trek to work hoping car will not fall apart.
Arrives to work with great urge to pull out knitting in an effort to relax.

How were the first 2 1/2 hours of your day today?

>^.^<

A Letter from my Husband

2009-09-17T13:26:00.002-06:00

Dearest wife,

Seems your daughter is even more "head strong" than you. (pig headed might even be an appropriate word)

Our little joy and I had a to-doo today that took a little over an hour of our respective lives. (Which of course, I have much less of in reserve)

Seems our "precious", enjoys throwing cat food around the kitchen as I found her engaged in this activity much to my dismay. I immediately took action to end the aforementioned activities and found myself demanding that she clean up her mess. I engaged her and she cleaned up every piece of cat food (at least a hundred or more) piece by agonizing piece by picking it up and placing it in the closest cat bowl. Over and over and over again until there were 7 pieces of cat food left on the mat. At this point she declined further action on the cleaning front and decided that she had done all she was going to do. This became an issue for me and our standoff commenced. She wailed her discontent and stopped only to insert her thumb into her mouth for the purposes of suction. I laid down and waited for her every now and then asking in a firm but reasonable voice to please "finish up," "Clean up her mess", "She made it, she cleans it." Etc. She removed herself a number of times only to have me walk her back to her perch and counter with her wails of discontent. The neighbors I am sure have called state agencies who are probably assembling with swat teams and firearms outside for a raid at any time. The standoff continued for a minimum of an hour with her scheming to walk off and entertain herself with a ball or other toy and I countering with a quick and decisive walk back to the cat bowls. The cats of course were probably starving but would have none of this war and stayed clear. Finally, she relented and picked up the 7 pieces of offending cat food. All is well with the world now.

I win and she gets to nap. Unfair this world be. Unfair indeed.

With love and affection,

Your husband.

>^.^<

January 20, 2009

2009-01-21T12:05:00.001-06:00

I see a light at the end of the tunnel. I have hope for my country again.

Good luck to you, Mr. President.

>^.^<

Nephew O's Hat

2009-01-14T12:11:00.008-06:00

Over the past couple of years, I have made various promises to my sister-in-law that I would make a hand knit for her son O. Initially I wanted to make a sweater on one of my knitting boards, but never got around to it. Then I discovered knitting on needles and decided he should have a hat. I dove into my stash and found some lovely alpaca. After modifying a patter, I realized that I did not have a circular needle in the correct size so I opted to use multiple DPNs. I'm a circular needle-magic loop type of girl, so using DPNs was a challenge. The hat was failure. It was too small (this child has a gigantic head for a 2yo.) and my gauge was terribly wonky. *sigh*

After an exhaustive rav-search I found the perfect pattern, found some acrylic/wool yarn in my stash (better yarn for a youngster who will probably lose his hat) and had the correct size cirs on hand. I present to you...

Project:Scrap-happy Celebration Hat by Cosette Cornelius-Bate. This pattern is available as a free dowload on Ravelry. This is a bit more information about the hat too.

Yarn: Wool-Ease by Lion Brand. I used three colors, but could not tell you their specific color names. Cream, Burgandy & Brown would be my best description.

O refused to even touch the hat so my girly offered to model. Yeah - it's too big for her.

Needle: Addi Turbo Needle US6 / 4mm - 32"circular. I used magic loop (as I usually do when I don't have a smaller cir. on hand.) I know the pattern calls for size US 7 needles, however at the time I didn't own that size. Decided to use a US 6 and hoped for the best.

Gauge: I didn't measure that. I'll have to do a better job of that if I'm going to blog about my projects, 'eh?

Finished size: See gauge

>^.^<

Girly Sez:

2008-11-04T13:04:00.000-06:00

Get out and VOTE!

>^.^<

Election Day!

2008-11-04T12:09:00.003-06:00

What more can I say that hasn't already been said...

VOTE!

People have died, been incarcerated & voluntarily gone on hunger strikes to give YOU the ability to vote. Don't take this freedom for granted.

Get out and VOTE!

Go now!

Really, I'm not kidding.

Go now and VOTE!

>^.^<

Dining in Pittsburgh

2008-10-22T19:27:00.005-06:00

Today I find myself with my co-worker 'D' in Pittsburgh. We're here a day early for a training class at a company facility. I have only been to PIT once before about 3 years ago. Similarly, I was here on business attending the same facility.

Feeling rather adventurous, I wanted to find a 'local' restaurant for dinner. And beer sounded really good too. After perusing a 'what to do while in Pittsburgh' magazine, I found Penn Brewery. The magazine claimed it serves German and American favorites. We both thought...yummmm German beer. Decision made.

Armed with directions from Mapquest, we started our adventure. Follow street A to street B. Drive through a trippy underground tunnel. Turn here, turn there. Exit on Exit 7C. Missed 7C completely. I swear there wasn't a sign. Drive out of our way. Turn around. Drive completely out of our way again. Finally we managed to get off the highway and onto a local road. Using the crappy map in the "what to do while in Pittsburgh" magazine, we managed to navigate downtown PIT and finally arrived at our destination.

The restaurant was super cute. They have a great cobble-stone patio which I'm sure is well used during the summer and on the weekends in October. Inside they have long tables where 6 or 8 could sit. Very European...or so I've been told.

I immediately ordered a Penn Dark. Very malty with rich flavor. Went well with the musical stylings of a little German polka band made up of a string bass & and an accordion. I wished I had a stein and had a few more friends around to really play up the toast the band occasionally made.

The menu was completely overwhelming. Not a scant trace of American food. Oh no, this menu was full of calorie laden, artery clogging German comfort foods. I was giddy. I could not decide on what to order, so the waitress helped. I ended up with this...

SCHWEINELENDENSTÜCK
Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloins grilled to order and topped with pan gravy.
Served with Bavarian Red Cabbage and Mashed Potatoes.

The beer was really affordable, however the food was a bit on the pricy side. All in all - it was worth every penny.

yum yum

>^.^<

12 Weeks

2008-08-06T21:06:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow I am going back to work after being on maternity leave for 12 weeks.

*sigh*

I have completely enjoyed spending time getting to know my girly. I feel fortunate that I could afford to take 12 weeks off from work, but I am sad that I must go back to work so soon.

Yes - 12 weeks = too soon.

>^.^<

Win the Essential BabyWearing Stash

2008-06-28T08:37:00.004-06:00

As some of you may know - I am a babywearer. It started with a recommendation from Audrey to register for a Hotsling. Unfortunately I registered for the wrong size, but by doing so it forced me to look at different slings on the market. What I found was a whole subculture of babywearing wares. Pouches, ring slings, wraps, mei tais with straps, mei tais with buckles, etc...

I purchased a MayaWrap ring sling in apple green and now I'm hooked! Mr. CrazyCat even wears the Girly in it. (I once woke up to Mr. Crazycat wearing the Girly while making muffins!)

I've been thinking of getting a BabyHawk mei tai for those times where I'll need to wear her for longer periods of time. Until then I'm going to try my hand at a wrap. I plan to stop by Joann today and pick up 5 yards of gauze. I'll just hem up the ends and give it a try. It is certainly less expensive than buying a wrap right, but of course I'm quite enamored with two commercial wraps this one and this one.

Now for my shamless plug in an effort to receive more entries in a contest....

For those of you who are interested in babywearing this is your lucky day. Alongfortheride.biz is holding a contest to win the essential babywearing stash. Enter by July 31, 2008 to win...one Gypsy Mama Wrap, one Hotslings pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Beco Butterfly, and one ZoloWear Ring Sling - in your choice of any in-stock colors or patterns. Click here to enter:

Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

>^.^<

The things I've learned in 17 days...

2008-05-31T20:33:00.007-06:00

Parenting my first newborn is one of the most challenging tasks that I've ever taken on. I don't think that anyone could have prepared me for the challenge either - I wouldn't have believed a word they said until I went through the experience on my own. (then again I'm just stubborn that way.)

Mr. CrazyCat has been my rock. I know this has not been easy for him either as we're both dealing with taking care of a newborn and my recovery from a c-section. I usually forget that having a c-section is MAJOR surgery, so I feel the need to be somewhat productive around the house and feel guilty when I take a nap with my girly.

Since my girly was born, I've learned a few things along the way...

Transition from the hospital to home -
During your pregnancy & while you're in the hospital all of the focus is on you. I felt like royalty at the hospital. The nurses were very helpful and caring and made me feel like the center of the universe. I (half-heartedly) expected some sort of fan-fare when I was discharged. The best I got was "room 1344 is discharged." while we were walking out of L&D. Not even a "Good Luck" from anyone. What happened to being the center of the universe? Oh yeah - that was given to the woman in the room next door who just delivered her baby minutes before. I was old news with my 4-day-old. And by the way - you're totally on your own once you leave the hospital.

Return policy for newborns -
It is totally normal to want to return your child on day two at home. I've done the research and cannot find any return policies posted on the hospital website. I know they've done this intensionally and am convinced it's a conspiracy.

Pushy lactation consultants - I have a lot of respect for lactation consultants. Breastfeeding is not intuitive. I really believe it is an art form where LC's are the art teachers. Now there are LC's who are there for you and there are others LC's who seem to have their own agenda. Beware of the latter. The pushy LC will tell you do not need to feed your babe anything other than your colostrum before your milk comes in (and then makes you feel guilty for even questioning her knowledge.) When it is 3:00am and the colostrum you're offering your screaming 10lb. is not enough to satisfy her hunger - supplementing with formula is OK.

Baby Spit Up - Nothing is more traumatic that watching your babe hork up breastmilk through her nose - especially when she horks up the same breastmilk you are currently feeding her. Note to self - keep a change of clothes for mom in the diaper bag too.

Swaddling -
My girly really likes to be swaddled. I watched the nurses in the hospital and have watched video's on the Internets. I however am swaddling impaired. I cannot swaddle my girl using a receiving blanket to save my life. For the other swaddling impaired out there - this - is the worlds best solution. It has been a life saver for us.

Usefulness of sound machines -
One of the most useful gifts we received was a sound machine. One of the 'sounds' is a heartbeat. It makes sense that a newborn would feel comforted by the sound of a heartbeat since she's listened to mum's heartbeat for 9 months. I learned the hard way how comforting the sound is when I set the heartbeat on a timer for only 60 minutes. At minute 61 my girly started crying.

Growth spurts & cluster feedings -
Nothing will make you feel more like a cow hooked up to a milking machine than growth spurts & cluster feedings. When your babe, who regularly eats every couple of hours, is eating every hour just give into the fact that your sole purpose in life is to be milked for the day.

Baby blues -
Feeling overwhelmed? Your life has transitioned into a new dimension with your old life never to return. Let yourself have a good cry. Talk to new parents - you'll be surprised that you're not the only one experiencing the same problems. And let me tell you it is very reassuring to know that you're not totally screwing up your two-week old child when you feel your world is about to implode because of her latest cluster feeding which sent you to the hospital website searching for the return policy.

All in all these past two weeks have been, well while stressful, very rewarding. ...and if I could figure out how to upload a photo to this post, then you'd see a pic of my beautiful little girl. Blogger obviously has other plans for me today.

edit: I've been told that the picture does display. There must be something wierd going on with my computer.

Joint Venture

2008-04-06T10:10:00.014-06:00

I'm a wee bit tardy in uploading this post. I try to chronicle my finished works in order, so that my progression of a knitter/crocheter moves forward and not in some random order. The following project was finished before the "security blanket." In fact it was the project which lead me to finally finish the security blanket, as I was left feeling much more confident in my crocheting abilities. So the story goes like this....

While visiting my dad on Easter, he mentioned that he found more of my mom's yarn stash in the house. This caught me by surprise as I thought I had found all of it. He left the table and came back with all sorts of treasures. One of which was a beautiful work-in-progress....a baby blanket.

I know that this blanket was not intended for my child-to-be. Mom had only known for 1 month that I was pregnant before she passed away and during that time she was undergoing her chemo/radiation treatment. She generally felt crap and slept a lot, so I'm pretty confident that this blanket was started long before her diagnosis.

As we examined the blanket my dad asked if I could finish it. The body of the blanket did not look too complicated, but my stomach lurched at the site of the edging. I said that I could probably finish the blanket by the time my child was 20.

Then I looked at the blanket again. I noticed that the last stitched row created a natural scalloped pattern. I started mulling over my options and decided that I would try to duplicate the pattern around the other three borders.

Now you have to know that this was quite the daunting task for me as I've never done a border in my life. Straight lines have dominated all of my previous finished works....and that's not saying much since I haven't finished many crocheted projects.

A couple of days later I picked up the blanket and the pattern and decided to charter into unknown territory. I decided to duplicate the last row mom stitched as the border for the other three sides.

I ended up with this...

The stitch itself is identical, but not quite the same. This mattered not to me as I was crocheting my first border!

A couple of hours later, I was done (dang TV watching always gets in the way.) I couldn't have been more proud of myself.

My girly will be the owner of a blanket started by her grandmother and finished by her mom. What a special gift to pass on to her.

One Baby Blanket Down...

2008-03-30T07:27:00.011-06:00

....many more to go!

Hurrah! I have finally finished the first baby blanket I started in this crazy race to make as many blankets as possible before May 11.

Let me introduce you to the "Security Blanket."

I picked the design out of a Vanna White book o'projects. It wasn't a terribly difficult pattern. In fact I'd recommend it to any beginner crocheter.

The finishing of the project was delayed when I had to weave in all of the end pieces. I'm not sure there is anything I despise more than having to weave in end pieces.

I know it comes with the territory, but I don't have to like it.

After the end weaving was complete, I started on the edging. I wasn't terribly fond of the ending recommended in the pattern. I wanted something a bit more eye appealing.

After a bit of experimentation, I settled on a picot edge.

Now all the blanket needs is a good wash and it will be ready for use!

Cats v. Alpaca Yarn

2008-03-24T14:32:00.005-06:00

I have 4 cats, all of whom have very different personalities.

One is rather regal and one is kinda dopey. One is my fat cat and the other is my husband's cat. Two of the cats get absolutely high off of catnip. One kinda gets it and the other can't be bothered with the stuff. One cannot leave me alone when I eat a bowl of cereal as he waits for the much anticipated bowl of milk to be placed on the floor. The other three can take the milk or leave it. Three love to be petted and fawned over, one enjoys sinking his fangs into the meaty part of your hand if you even think of touching him. One is inexplicably mesmerized with anything that dangles in the air.

So why is it that four cats, with such different personalities, feel it a moral imperative to get into my alpaca yarn, bat it around the house (creating quite the mess) and break the yarn into several short pieces? This of course leads to much cursing and batting of cats out of the way while I rewind the yarn back into a ball.

Mind you it is only the alpaca that they get into. They cannot be bothered with wool or any of my novelty yarns. Just my coveted alpaca.

Reminders of the past…

2008-03-12T09:24:00.003-06:00

Have you ever found yourself in the middle of an ordinary, everyday activity when you are suddenly reminded of someone from the past?

Over the years while cleaning the house (or perhaps more appropriately *thinking* about cleaning the house) I have been struck with the thought...

"I bet JJ's house is never this messy, dusty (enter appropriate adjective here.)"

From what I remember when we were growing up, one of JJ's chores was to clean the house. Perhaps she shared this task with her sister and/or her mom. I don't really know. My impression was this house cleaning chore was a weekly task.

Apparently this has been a lasting impression as I've obviously imagined that anyone who had to clean their house on a weekly basis as a kid would continue to do so into adulthood. It's funny how childhood memories affect your perceptions of people, places & things as an adult.

>^.^<

Reconnect x2

2008-03-09T18:53:00.004-06:00

Have you ever wondered what happened to your best friend from childhood? I have even though I've seen her on and off over the past twenty years. Now, when I say "on and off", that means about once every 10 years. Well today marks another 10 year anniversary for us, as we met for lunch at a local eatery. Five hours later we parted ways. That was a good lunch.

I still remember the day we met. My family had just moved into our new house. A friend of my mom's who lived in the subdivision told us that there was a girl in the neighborhood who was my age. I'll call her JJ. I remember hanging outside in the front yard when JJ rode her little blue bike past the house. She stopped and we started to chat. From there we were thick as thieves. There were a lot of good laughs - she was a bit of a clown. One time while at a local department store with me and my mom, JJ did an impromptu Playtex "cross your heart" commercial using a belt as her prop. She was such the actress. She had my mom in stitches.

This close friendship lasted for about three years until her family moved across the busy street. When you're in third grade, you're not really allowed to cross the "busy" street so we didn't get to spend as much time together. That's pretty devastating at that age. However, we persevered and still saw each other when we could. (Now that I'm reminiscing, I think we spent a lot more time together after that move than I originally remembered. The memory gets a bit foggy when you're reaching back 30 years ago...)

In school we had a different group of friends and by highschool we had very different hobbies and interests. I always felt that she was one of the cooler kids. Not a "popular" kid, but a cool one. She had an older brother and sister, so I was sure that she learned stuff from them that I would have to figure out on my own since I was the oldest in my family. I remember once she used the term "petting" and I totally pretended to know what she was talking about....then I looked it up in the dictionary. And that whole baseball reference to sex was utterly confusing to me. I understood what a "home run" was, but everything up to that point was really gray. I was so naive.

We somehow connected just before our 10 year high school reunion. We started hanging out, going out to clubs and chatting on the phone like teenagers. But just as soon as the relationship started it ended again. I'm not quite sure why, but I figured we'd see each other again. Little did I know it would be 10 years later and that we'd see each other "virtually".

I happened to have her email address in my address book. Our email carrier is so clever that it tells you when others in your address book who use the same carrier are online. A month ago or so I saw her on-line so I dropped her an IM and today we had lunch. Despite the ups and downs through her life, she has pretty much remained the same person I've known her to be...

...and I still like her.

Cheers to you JJ - I hope we remain connected this time around.

Unfinished Works and Works in Progress

2008-02-23T12:27:00.009-06:00

I finally took the plunge and learned how to knit with needles. New obsession - check! My god-mother and I took a beginner's knitting class at the Hawley Street Shoppe in Mundelein, IL. The group was small and I was sad to see it end. Of course I had also just finished reading "Friday Night Knitting Club" and somehow wanted to project the feeling of togetherness from the book onto our little group. Irrational I know. I'm also pregnant, so cut me some slack.

During the four weeks of class, my god-mother and I were able to spend a lot of time together - much more so that we ever have. It felt really good to reconnect with family who you see only once a year. There are those family member's who you see once a year and think..."now that's the reason why I only see so and so once a year." My GM does not fall into that category, I always leave wanting more from our visits. This might just be the year for us to break the chains of our old habits. We're committed to seeing each other at least once a month. That alone is forging a new path in our relationship.

Now that I have a new crafting obsession, I have a whole new group of projects which have been put down on permanent hiatus or are really a work in progress. Take for instance ...

Security Blanket - I purchased a Vanna White book o' projects and found this pattern. I started it before the knitting class. It was easy enough - half double-crochet stitches all the way across. The body of the blanket is finished. All that is left is to weave in the loopy ends and crochet the trim.

Did I mention that I have a new knitting obsession? Yes, this project waits patiently for me to come back to it for finishing.

Dishcloth - I started this project during the my last knitting class. An easy project for a first-time knitter to complete and keep you motivated to keep knitting.

And here it sits on the needle.

I needed a more challenging project - or so I thought.

Fans & Feathers - a project which has kicked my ass 3 times. You'd think I would have given up. Stubbornness really keeps me going. The pattern is easy enough, I just need to pay attention and not drop or add stitches.

I hope to have this afghan complete before I go into labor. Knowing me, I'll be finishing the damn thing while I'm in the throws of labor.

Yet another baby afghan - I started this project a while ago. I had meant to give it to my SIL's sister whose baby is now several months old. It started on my yellow KK loom using the trinity stitch. I've made several blankets in this fashion in the past and thought I could knock another one out. Some where during the process I become bored and put it down.

Where it still sits to this day. Still sitting on the loom.

I then pulled out my trusted knitting board, resigned myself to create a simple stockinette stitch blanket. While the blanket worked up quickly, I realized I was going to run out of yarn - and I have a limited amount. The yarn is out of my mom's old stash, so what I have is what I have. Concept frogged.

The project's next metamorphosis took on the form of the picture you see above. It was also born out of my frustration with the Fans and Feathers blanket. 100 stitches, garter stitch, easy stripes. Nothing to weave in later other than the starting and ending yarns.

I have yarn for two more blankets. Mr. CrazyCat has asked me how many baby blankets could one child need? I responded, "Is there a limit that I wasn't aware of?" The oh-so-patient Mr. CrazyCat just shakes his head and lets me be me....knitting into oblivion.

Female Carrier Type

2007-11-11T12:17:00.001-06:00

It has been quite the roller coaster ride over the past couple of months.

During August, Mr. CrazyCat and I dropped off his freshman twins at their respective colleges. I wish I could say that the experiences of dropping off each child went really well. Mr. CrazyCat and I did our best to make their move as easy as possible, however their mother really went out of her way to make the experience as miserable as possible. Being the eternal optimist, I hope next year's move will go a bit better.

Less than a week after dropping off the last child at school, Mr. CrazyCat and I took a holiday trip up to the CrazyCat family farm. During the trip I had sneaking suspicion that life as I new it was going to change forever. After returning from the trip I used a rudimentary chemistry set (cup, dropper & test strip), took my results to Mr. CrazyCat and announced that I was pregnant.

Good Grief!

This certainly wasn't something that we were trying to accomplish, however we weren't exactly trying to prevent it from happening either. The results certainly took us by surprise. So my next step was to make an appointment with my OB/GYN to confirm the pregnancy. To my surprise, a positive home-pregnancy test means you're really pregnant. I had no idea. I learned it is the negative result that one must be leery of.

That evening Mr. CrazyCat and I, armed with the lone test result, made the rounds to the grandparents-to-be and made our announcement. I'll admit, telling my parents that I was pregnant was really exciting - much more so than when we announced our engagement. Mom had been in ill-health since the beginning of the year - bacterial pneumonia which lead to a diagnosis of lung cancer which lead to her treatment of radiation & chemo. To tell her that she was going to be a grandma was probably the best news she received all year. Sadly though she would not survive to meet her grandchild as she passed away on October 8. Being pregnant for the first time and coping with the loss of my mother hasn't been easy. I thought for sure that she'd be around to help me register for the baby shower, be there to answer my frantic 'first-time-mom' phone calls and to enjoy being a grandmother to my child. I wonder if she had many of the same thoughts after she and dad adopted me as she lost her father just two weeks before I was born. It's strange how life has the habit of repeating itself.

Many of our friends have asked us if we were going to the learn the sex of the baby prior to the birth. It was a no-brainer - we wanted to wait for the surprise. Recently I called the OB's office to receive the results of my CVS test. The nurse ruffled through a bit of paperwork to find my file and then proudly announced...

Nurse: "The results are normal for a female carrier type. "
Me: "umm... ok.... What is a female carrier type?"
Nurse: "A female carrier... female sex... you're having a girl."
Me: "Oh! Oh. Thanks."

So there you have it....I'm having a female carrier type.

Couple of Nerds

2007-06-24T20:51:00.000-06:00

While watching a training DVD with my step-daughter, she says..."I must really be a nerd. I really enjoy watching this!"

She vocalized my exact thoughts.

Progress of Direct Home Sales

2007-06-24T08:24:00.000-06:00

I have been an official consultant for a body care/skin care company for just about two weeks. Since then, I have been absolutely mad in organizing my business. I think I've nearly killed a tree with all paper I've printed up.

The Company recommends that new consultants host a "business launch" within 7-10 days of starting the biz. This is mostly to keep you motivated and to help start placing parties on your calendar. The idea is that you invite your friends & family, pamper them a bit with some product, they fall in love with the product, they purchase some product, they schedule a party & if you're lucky someone decides that they want to become a consultant as well. Well.....I scheduled my business launch, invited my friends and no-one attended. Several did respond that they could not make it, however I harbored the secret thought that someone wouldn't officially RSVP and would just show up. Silly I know. Time to start over. In the mean time, I've been planting seeds (sometimes not so delicately) with friends that they should hostess a party. It will eventually all come together.

On a positive note, I have recruited my first consultant. Haven't even had a party yet I've managed to recruit someone. For recruiting someone within my first 3 months, I receive $75.00 in free product or kit building materials! Yahoo! That someone happens to be my step-daughter. She's as mad about The Company products as I am. This will be a fantastic job for her - especially since she is headed off to college in the fall. We think she'll do really well on campus!

Time to watch an instructional DVD. The training materials are actually pretty good!

As for "The Company" - if you'd like to know the name, then you'll need to email me for the answer. I will leave them nameless for now. I will tell you that it is not Mary Kay. Those women give me the creeps. (Sorry BlkShadowRider & Fancy!)

Out Of The Comfort Zone

2007-06-14T21:39:00.000-06:00

Every year I try to push my boundaries a little bit. Never in such a way which is personally dangerous or causes me to spiral out of control. Just something which pushes the comfort zone. This blog for example was an experiment. I'm not sure that it is going exceedingly well, but it's my little ole blog and I'm happy with it.

Last week while cleaning the house before a family get-together I found a postcard which I had tossed to the side. After pondering for a bit, I told Mr. CrazyCat that I wanted to attend a meeting to explore direct home sales for a company that I just love. He was extremely supportive (he is Mr. Entrepreneur himself) but had some questions just to ensure that it was a good business venture.

While at the meeting, I was excited and hesitant all at the same time. I asked my questions and wanted to share with Mr. CrazyCat. He, of course, could not be reached during my time of need - so I made an executive decision and signed up! I'm much more impulsive by nature so it didn't surprise him to learn that I joined. I was super excited when I called him - but he had question after question. It kinda squashed my excitement, but I know he was looking out for my best interest. (for the record - he is still super supportive and encouraging!)

The next morning I woke up and I wondered, "What the hell did I just do?" I felt so overwhelmed ... I need to schedule my business launch, I need to start booking parties, I need training, I don't know the entire product line, I don't even know what to say at the parties, I don't want to be that pushy sales lady with my friends...GACK!

While at work, I shared my new business with a friend. She was very excited for me, but not familiar with the product. I told her that I'd love to go over to her house and show her the product. Which is totally true. She gets to try product and I get to work out the kinks. win-win!

This might not be so bad after all!

Garage Sale Discoveries

2007-06-03T08:08:00.000-06:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had purchased a bit of yarn at a garage sale recently. I know quite well that there wasn't any rational reason to go to the garage sale and purchase yarn - especially when I have over three totes full of yarn which have yet been touched. None-the-less I could not help myself from driving over and perusing the stash which was on sale. I ended up with yarns from around the world...

#1 - Cotton Twist - 100% cotton, 3.5 oz, actual yardage is unknown, made in France. The color is more of a light brown versus the mushroom shown in the picture.

#2 - Twiggy Tweed - 100% wool, 3.5 oz, 380 yards, made in France

#3 - "Focus on Cotton" by Patons , Cotton, Mohair, Acrylic & Nylon, 25 grams, made in Great Britain (purchased 4 - 5 of these)

#4 - "The Ritz" by Olareve for Tahki. Viscose, Mohair, Polyamide, Lamb's wool & Polyester. 80 yards, made in France. (I bought three of these)

#5 - "Dusty" - Cotton & Linen, 220 yards, made in Holland

#6 - "Fable", Pima cotton & Silk, ~ 184 yards, made in Peru

All of this just for $20.00 USD!! I'm not quite sure what I'll do with all of it. I thought perhaps I'd make items for an upcoming craft faire where I'll be donating a part of my proceeds to my local chapter of NOW. I've already made two scarves and have a third in progress. Yippee!

Holiday Recovery

2007-06-01T18:52:00.000-06:00

Memorial Day 2007 has come and gone. Summer has unofficially started. Where did the first 5 months of the year go? Good grief!

Well, Mr. CrazyCat and I took the girl up to the farm for the holiday. There we met the rest of Mr. CrazyCat's family. There was much fun, relaxing, eating, drinking, recovering, CatchPhrasing and sleeping. That 'eating', though, can get you into trouble...and I don't mean overeating. Food poisoning is more like it. Yep, yours truly caught yet another case of food poisoning. Of course the day I started feeling crappy was the day that I convinced the family to make a trip over to Bayfield, WI. Everyone was excited to actually get out and "do something" - except me. Don't get me wrong, I was happy to go but I wasn't as excited as I had expected to be. At the time, I wasn't quite sure was wrong but I knew that I didn't want to be far from a bathroom. Sad. While I may not have been feeling up-to-par, I still managed to spend time in the yarn shop and purchased two patterns. I might just give this needle knitting thing a chance.

During the weekend, I did manage to knit up two scarves from yarn I purchased at a garage sale.

#1 - The Neckwarmer
I was really intrigued by this yarn. Silvery, metallic-y, mohairy, French yarn.

The result is a beautiful, lacey neckwarmer. I used the mock-crochet stitch on the blue round knifty knitter loom. 12 - 14 stitches wide (I don't remember and am too lazy to walk downstairs to count). Not sure about the length. I used just shy of 65 yards of yarn. I know - I'm a wealth of knowledge.

#2 - The Scarf
I used the mock crochet stitch on the small blue round knifty knitter loom for this scarf as well. This scarf is just 8 stitches wide. The length is unknown, but long enough for you to wrap around your neck once and still have plenty of length left on the ends. The color is so delicate - light peach with medium rose slubs spun in sporadically.

I really love the way this stitch create a bobble finished edge. I wish I could wear mohair - I would love to wear this scarf out-and-about. Instead I am resigned to sell it at a craft fair in August.

This and That

2007-04-06T19:31:00.000-06:00

WOW! It has been quite a while since my last post. I can't say that I have a good excuse. Laziness would be my best justification.

I finally finished my "Valentine" knitting project. I made an afgan for my momma. It's stunning if I must say so myself. :) Since then I've been trying to make a baby blanket. I purchased some yarn, and created a pattern in my head. Yeah...that didn't work out so much. Then I looked around at different patterns and tried again. Strike two. I decided the problem was the yarn so I return the unused yarn and bought new yarn. Ok, so the new yarn is working out pretty well until I'm about 3/4's of the way done and realized that due to the stitch I used, the yarn pulls pretty easily. It occured to me that if the yarn is pulling on me, it will pull on the new mother. And who wants to deal with that. Time to frog the project, return unused yarn and buy more...again! Now I'm armed with new yarn & a new pattern. It was working beautifully. The pattern is very lacy and the yarn is very light yet warm for the baby. I'm going along and am almost finished when I realized that I dropped a stich 10 rows back. ARRGGHHHHH!! This baby blanket is not meant to be.

While Mr. CrazyCat & I have been married for about a year and a half, we still had not merged cell phone plans. We did so this week - yes it really is love. We stayed with T-Mobile. (Shout out to Nicole & Kris at the T-Mobile store at Gurnee Mills. If you need a new phone - go and see Nicole. She know's her business.) Getting back to the story... a new phone plan means getting a new phone! Much to the dismay of my coworkers I retired the "stripper" phone and replaced it with a pink Motorola RAZR with a cherry blossom tatoo design. YIPPEEEE!! I have the ultimate in gurly phones.

Which is the "stripper phone"? Take a guess - I dare you.

I'll admit, that's all I have for now.

"If we were like Jesus, think of the money we could save!"

2007-02-20T19:22:00.000-06:00

No truer words could have been uttered by my wildly drunken friend whilst gazing upon the empties which had accumulated on the counter. Three bottles of port and one bottle of wine consumed in the matter of just a couple of hours. At least the dog was sober.

Well the weather outside is frightful

2007-02-04T10:06:00.000-06:00

I've just come inside from taking the trash out. The trash remains in the garage as the garbage cans were knocked over by the wind and I was not properly dressed to monkey around in this cold weather. Oh my goddess - it is freaking cold outside! Weather.com reports it is -3 degrees F. ...and I'm walking around in my pj's and a sweatshirt. I'll admit, I'm not the brightest ray of sunshine at times.

I had previously blogged that I had completed all of my holiday 2006 gifts. I was feeling pretty good until I started thinking that I had wanted to give scarves (in addition to their hats) to my girlfriend and niece. Now of course they wouldn't know the difference that I cheated them out of a scarf, but I would and I was feeling terribly guilty. Needless to say, I made the scarves. I am now guilt free.

I actually had quite a bit of fun making the scarves. The purple scarf, in particular, is a favorite of mine due to to randomness of the pattern and the deconstructive look. I was inspired by a scarf my boss wore the other day. The pictures do not do the scarf justice. I should remember to take pictures during the day rather than at night. The lighting in our house is really poor.

I've learned that pom-poms take forever to create. Of course I make them like my great-grandma taught me - wrapping yarn around a piece of cardboard. Each one was a struggle. Now I could go out an purchase a pom-pom maker - but where is the struggle in that??

I made both scarves on my Knifty Knitter board. My knitting board is presently occupied by my next project which is due on Valentines Day - but not for Mr. CrazyCat. More about that project later.

I've got tooo much time on my hands...

2007-01-21T12:28:00.000-06:00

Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm pretty busy. Work, political & feminist activism & family, and not necessarily in that order. It's a wonder how I manage to have any time for knitting. I think this is one reason why I enjoy winter so much. Activist activities slow down dramatically. Who really wants to attend a protest when it is 20 degrees F outside? I've done it. I'm sure I'll do it again, but I'd prefer to sit fireside with a glass of wine, Mr. CrazyCat and my knitting.

I promised Mr. CrazyCat that I'd make him a hat. Since I've made hats for just about everyone else, he had a point that he deserved one too. He picked out his colors and left the design up to me. Using my knitting board, I weaved using a rib stitch for the entire hat. Here is his hat modeled my by fabulous step-daughter. The hat is a little big on her, but just right on her dad.

For a couple of months, I had been eyeing a yarn at a local big-box craft store. It was a bit on the pricey side, so I decided to wait until it either went on sale or I broke down and bought it at full price. After receiving a new winter coat from my parents, I decided that I must have a new hat/scarf/mitten set. The stars must have been aligned as the matching yarn of my desire went on sale the following week. Yippee!

I decided to try something a little different. I wanted to make a beanie, using my knitting board, rather than my typical fold over brim hat. I wanted to have a k2 p2 band at the bottom, and use the stockinette stitch for the body of the hat. When it came time to create the band, my execution did not work as expected. Instead I decreased by one stitch on each side and used a rib stitch. Viola! My hat. The yarn is a bit fuzzy, so you really cannot see the detail of the stitches. I am really please that it turned out this well. Next time I think I'll make the band a bit shorter.

Well, that's a huge noggin. That's a virtual planetoid.

2007-01-15T18:53:00.000-06:00

I've finally finished my last "holiday" gift. I wanted to use my knitting board again, but was lacking in creativity so I decided to purchase a pattern. I thought, "This is gonna be so easy, just follow the pattern and I'll be done." The end result? A hat which doesn't even fit the largest headed man I know. This hat is HUGE! I cannot tell you how many times I check the pattern to make sure I was reading it correctly. I was so disappointed. So disappointed that I couldn't even frog it to start over. I left it as is and started with a new skein of yarn.

I mustered the last bit of creativity I had and redesigned my hat. The result? A hat for normal sized heads. Yahoo!!

Now it is time to wrap up the hats and ship them off!

The pressure of the holidays is finally over.

What? I'm a knitter?

2007-01-09T19:38:00.000-06:00

I picked up a pack of Knifty Knitter round knitting looms back in September or October, 2006. I have since developed a passion - perhaps obsession - for loom knitting. My hubby purchased knitting boards (from Knifty Knitter as well as Knitting Board) for my birthday & for Christmas.

Needless to say, I've been making crafts for everyone. Mostly hats. One scarf. One half knitted shawl/wrap (work in progress.) Here are a couple of hats I finished during my last trip up nort' at the farm...

The red and black hat was made on my green KK round loom. The crazy hat with earflaps was made on my knitting board. I'm pretty pleased with the crazy hat as it was my first attempt using the knitting board. I used a pattern and was a little disappointed with how big around the hat turned out, so I decided to cinch up the top and magikly it fits!

Post #1

2007-01-05T21:08:00.000-06:00

In creating my new blog I've come to realize that I will actually have to post messages. This is obviously the point of having a blog, but not easy for one who has a fear of sounding like an idiot.

Those who know me, know that I haven't any problems vocalizing what I think...but to sit and actually type out those thoughts...good grief...my mind becomes an empty slate. I like to push my various boundaries and comfort zone on occasion. Looks like I'm off to a good start.