Celebrating my birth

While most of my weekend was spent endlessly counting books there was some time for celebrating. I took Friday off. Most of the day was spent with the boys just hanging out but Rinaldo and I did escape for awhile with Tisha to go see Wanted. If anyone is interested I actually wrote up a review for Pink Raygun. It's got a bit of a crafty twist to it.

There were presents to be had as well. First up the husband got me some music and a dvd:
Then my darling workers also made their contributions:
See the new Motley Crue!!!

On Sunday Maribel came over and brought the last of the gifts:
Finally I got my Go Knit Pouch, now I can stop complaining, lol.

There was more:
The dyes and blanks came from Knit Picks but the holder and the bottles Bel picked up at the Container Store. She wanted to make sure I was completely prepared.

But the best thing of all? When you teach your best friend to knit there may come a day when it pays off:
It's nice to be loved:D

Wow is it Wednesday already?

The week is getting away from me. Which is unusual to say the least. I spent Monday doing my self evaluation for work, doing evaluations for the two managers who work under me and playing hooky with my husband while we waited to get the car fixed.

Fixed you say? What happened you ask? Well my husband occasionally parks our car on the street. Typically this is because he is going somewhere early in the morning and is afraid someone will have blocked our garage, which happens all the time by the way. Seems that someone noticed the thingie for the GPS on the windshield. It was empty but they figured it must be in the car somewhere. They smashed the window and rifled through everything only to discover it wasn't there. It was actually in the house. I do take some joy in knowing that must have ticked them off a bit, all that nefarious work for nothing. In the end they didn't take anything at all. Anyway we needed a new window so I took the day off to be supportive. We dropped the car off and headed to the movies to see the Incredible Hulk. Which was fun by the way.

There's been some knitting. Some projects finished actually but I'll save that for Friday. Yesterday in honor of the Summer of Socks I decided to pick up the dreaded RPMs to take to knitting group. I've been working on them since last night and I just discovered I am only half an inch away from the toe decreases:


...a-freakin-mazing! I never thought I'd see the day. Maybe they'll get done tonight, maybe, just maybe.

I have been spinning too:



...and a close up:


I've spun every day but yesterday since Friday night I believe. I spend a bit more then 10 minutes but it's been easy to find the time when I'm only aiming for 10 minutes. I hope I can keep it up.

Sew Easy

Ian and I were walking to school this morning and we ran into this:
For those not in the know, this is the Bronx Tour Trolley. It's a free trolley that stops at various places in the Bronx. I've often seen it on the road but oddly enough I've never seen it up close. I think I was more excited than Ian. I love trolleys! We picked up a schedule from the driver. We will definitely make plans to take it one day this summer.

On the knitting front, we have a kimono blocked and ready for sewing:

We have one bootie, finished and ready for sewing:

This is where bootie #2 was this morning before I left the house:

It is now a few rows away from finished and then it will be ready for sewing.

Can you all guess what I'll be doing tonight?

Have a great weekend!

ooh pretty beads...

A few years back Kathleen was the Queen of Bracelets. I admitted to my dear friend that I was intrigued by the shiny, sparkly things. A few Christmases ago she sent me all the fixin's for my own bracelet. The beads, et al have sat in my basket sadly neglected. When I was trying to figure out what to make for Ian's speech teacher, whom I adore, I suddenly remembered my crafty care package.

At around 8:30 last night I started stringing beads, by 10:30 or so this is where I was:


...by 7:00 this morning this is where I was:


...best of all? By the time I got to work I had a completed bracelet:


I still have to put the clasp on it but damn that was easy. Now I'm totally addicted. I need more beads!!!

Knitting in public and private

I did manage to knit in public this past Saturday. I took Ian to see The Backyardigans Live. While we were waiting for the show to start (and during intermission) I worked on the baby kimono. At one point a woman walked by my seat looked at my knitting and said, "great idea". I also knit on the subway to and from the show. Nothing out of the ordinary for me but at least I can feel like I represented a bit.

I signed up for a spin along this weekend. Carol is challenging people to spin at least Ten Minutes a Day:


Since I've been desperately missing my spinning I thought this might be a good way to get back into it. Unfortunately I didn't even find 10 minutes to do it this weekend but tonight I will do my best.

This reminded me that I signed up for the Summer of Socks 2008 awhile back:


Of course the irony is not lost on me. I had to temporarily give up on my socks to get my knitting mojo back but I am confident that once the dreaded RPMs are finished I will be happy to start another pair of a different pattern. I am really a fickle woman. Once I've knit a sock pattern I appear to be done with it. No matter how much I love it the first time, the next time I do a pair in the same pattern it is like being boiled in oil. Funny that.

Ahh Monday how I hate you so.

Friday, Friday, Friday!!!

Can you tell I'm happy it's Friday?

There was a bit of a blip first thing this morning when my mother in law called to say she was not going to be able to pick up Ian. Her back has been bothering her. She called out Tuesday as well to go to the doctor but I guess she woke up worse this morning. That means I have to leave work early. Most days that would be a pain but on a Friday in the Summer? Doesn't seem like much of a sacrifice does it?

My Ipod is in a weird mood this morning. I don't know if many of you have ever put an Ipod on a shuffle but they tend to have minds of their own. One artist will come up repeatedly. Today Caprica Six, so named because it is my sixth ipod (that includes shuffles), is in a Queen and Billy Idol mood, ooh now it's New Order. Sweet.

The baby kimono? Not done but not so far off that I'm stressed.

I was hoping to get some of the shots that my BFF and our friend Irene took at the Duran Duran concert a few weekends back but they haven't uploaded them yet, slackers;) Irene did send this link for a site that had some good shots. The concert was amazing. I do enjoy a good outdoor concert on occasion and the boys of DD were in excellent form. It's also a small venue which is a pleasure when you're seeing a band you really love.

Just to keep you interested here's yet another meme. I think there have been some interesting ones going around lately.

Got this one from Bag'n'Trash

Yes/No

YES/NO GAME RULES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

You can only say yes or no. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages you and asks!

Over 18? Yes
Danced in front of your mirror naked? No
Ever told a lie? Yes
Been arrested? No
Kissed a picture? Yes
Fallen asleep at work/school? No
Held an actual snake? Yes
Have YOU Ever run a red light? No
Ever drink and drive? No
Been suspended from school? No
Ever been fired from a job? Yes
Totaled a car/motorbike in an accident? No
Sang karaoke? No
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? Yes
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Yes
Ever laughed until you wet yourself? Yes
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Yes
Kissed in the rain? Yes
Sang in the shower? Yes
Sat on a rooftop? Yes
Thought about your past with regret? Yes
Been pushed in the pool with your clothes on? No
Shaved your head? No
Blacked out from drinking? No
Had a gym membership? Yes
Been in a band? Yes
Shot a gun? No
Liked someone with nobody else knowing about it? Yes
Played strip poker? No (Strip Uno - Yes)
Been to a strip joint? No
Donated Blood? Yes
Liked someone you shouldn't? Yes
Have a tattoo? Yes
Have or had any piercings besides ears? No
Made out with a complete stranger? No
Caught someone cheating on you? No
Skinny dipped? No
Regret any of your ex's? Yes
Been to a rodeo? No
Been to a NASCAR race? No
Been in Love? Yes

Have a great weekend!

Don't Mess with Mother Nature

I guess Mother Nature heard me yesterday when I was bitching about the heat. She sent quite the storm to cool things down. About 10 minutes after I got home from knitting group the wind suddenly kicked up violently and then down came the rain. I swear I was standing right in front of the open window sucking in that cool air like it was water and I was in the desert.

There was quite a bit of damage around town this morning. Both Avery and his godmother sent me some phone shots of trees they ran into heading to school and work, respectively.

Avery's:



...and Bel's:



Don't mess with Mother Nature...

Can somebody please explain...

...where the hell Spring went?

Seriously I feel like I went straight from the grey days of Winter into the (hell) dog days of Summer. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the heat? Have I? 'Cause I do, I really, really do. Plus my whole family is ready to toss me out the window because of my "no air conditioners until July" rule. I know I'm evil but I'm just recovering from paying the heating bills from the winter, I'm not ready to pay the damn electric bills of summer.

Risa and/or Ann be warned, Rinaldo is threatening to invade someone's house if they have a pool. You may wake up Saturday morning to find him swimming around in one of your backyards!

Does anyone knit in this heat? Oddly enough I do, see:

I'm just about ready to decrease on the arm and then finish up the left side. I might have finished this weekend if it hadn't been so freakin' hot. Still nice progress for me and my mojo. I'm hopeful it will be done by the end of the week. I'm making it for a baby shower on the 21st which means I'm in good shape for a change. I had to adjust the pattern a bit for this, my third, kimono. I'm doing it with a DK weight yarn so it will be nice for the summer, babies always need something for the air conditioning. I'm also doing the border in seed stitch just to keep it interesting for me.

Weather Pixie tells me its 93 degrees, that's 34 celsius for those of you who speak metric. I hate it. Swear to the gods I'm retiring to Iceland, screw Florida...

Who am I?

I loved this meme when I saw at Vicki's yesterday, I loved it just as much at Margene's this morning:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

The Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Mathews 2nd Annual Memorial Day BBQ

While this year's BBQ was not quite as exciting as last year's it was still a lot of fun. We were noticeably light on the knitter and hooker front but Maribel managed to represent by getting her Gilmore Girls socks closer to completion:

She actually finished them the next day.

Rinaldo held court over the grill:


This is practically p*rn for Ann so I had to show it;)

We did let him get away from the grill later to play with the other kids:
There is nothing more fun than getting together with good friends. There were a number of people who I hadn't seen in years. A friend since preschool that I recently reconnected with came as well as some friends who I hadn't seen since Ian was born. They came with their new son. It was the perfect way to spend the holiday weekend.

Birthday Goals

June is the month of my birth as such it usually is also the time I get the birthday blues. I'm not sure why that is it but it's been that way since I was fairly young. I have coping mechanisms for it. This year I decided to come up with a to-do list that I'd like to accomplish by June 27th.

1- Apply, yet again, for my learner's permit.

2- Take the Notary Public exam. My grandfather was a notary and for some silly reason I've always wanted to be.

3- Continue with the health kick. The eating habits haven't been great but I have been exercising a bit each day for almost a month. The scale doesn't show much difference but my clothes are fitting a little better.

4- Learn a new skill. I'm trying to learn web development so by the end of the month I'd like to have picked up at least one of the codes/languages involved.

5- To knit 1 baby kimono, 2 washcloths and one beaded bracelet for gifts.

Let's see how much gets done by the 27th.

I might post some more this week. There was last week's BBQ to talk about and the fabulous concert I went to. Finally blog fodder!