So two things first....

1. It's Banned Books Week.  Did you know that? I didn't!  That truely surprised me.  If I had known I probably would have participated or something.  Unfortunatly most of the week is now gone... I'll put it on my calendar for next year!

2.  Free Theater Night kicks off in October.  I'm fairly excited about this!  I'm lucky I live in the metroplex where there's a lot of options but apparently there's not shows everywhere.  However, should you live around some of the areas where there are shows - make the most out of this opportunity!  The one show I want to see however is on a Thursday - which is our weekly Office watching party.  Maybe we could skip it and watch the episode online instead after going to the Watertower Theater.

I did not get over to the fabric store because I walked out, got in my lovely Jeep - and it didn't start - at all.  Now if you known me long you're probably acquainted with my multiple car issues.  This time I was actually completely cool, calm and collected; that NEVER happens.  Normally I cry, freak out, etc.  This time I pop'd the hood, poured some coke on the battery, called a friend - Courtney Rocks! - who could spare some time to come help me and got my hands dirty.  I got a jump and my jumper cables literally come apart - but the car started!  Courtney follows me to Wal-Mart and we get the battery changed and do a bit of grocery shopping.  We set off on our seperate ways and I call my mom - and realize my Check Engine light is still on; great - more care issues.  I'm hoping to take tomorrow as a work from home day and get my car in a shop.  Now I'm on the phone with my mother and I learn that my dad is having surgery - a rather serious throat surgery at that - the day before my sister's court date.  My sisters mother and her husband cannot be in the courtroom or anywhere near it.  However, someone needs to take my dad home from the hospital and someone needs to be with my sister - thus my mom and I will have to split up and do the family duty.  I nominate myself for a guilt-free five minute pity party.

So I said in my last blog that I would look into the whole Rachael Ray recipes and what not.  I spent a few minutes looking over her site and printed off like nine recipes I'm going to be trying!  I think the first is going to be the Maple-Bacon-Monte-Cristo... Is it lunch time yet? Nope  :(  Oh well!  Going to cook Tilapia before The Office and document it so I can share with my bachelor friends  ~__^

I started reading Bitesize Theology; the concept of the book is what hooked me.  I've had dreams about retiring from whatever I do for the next 50 years and teach like at a community college or something elective courses.  I want to try to write up like an every-day person's crash course in Theology and whatnot.  Like what stuff looks like in the real world with real people language that anyone could understand.  Of course this is coming from me who does things best with a hands-on view so if this ever actually happened - you just know that would be one crazy class!  Maybe I should write a book? Nah - I'm not scholarly enough.

Anyways - I'm going to eat dinner, do some stuff and we'll see what happens.

Okay - so I got bored and did this. The first one on the left I like but... I don't know. I'm struggling with how to embellish it. I need fabric to speak to me.

The second one is growing on me, though I feel that it might look strange covering up my shoulder tattoos only partially. The design of the dress is really growing on me.

The third one, on the top with the sash I like - but strapless? I don't know.

The fourth, on the bottom is what I'm slowly leaning towards. It has a halter-top tie, and a toolish looking bit on the bottom. There's some pre-beaded fabric on the Joann's website I want to go look at.

My plans for tonight got canceled so I'm toying around with the idea of going to look tonight instead of this weekend. If I can just cut the muslin and work the fabric this weekend that would be great instead of stressing over going and getting everything and FINALLY getting to it - that idea's getting more and more appealing....

I need the brides oppinions! She's going to hate me texting her and bugging her - I just know it!

And I also saw some silver lame yarn on the web - and yes, the idea of knitting a silver shawl HAS entered my brain... Not sure if I will or won't on that point. Need to make the dress first and foremost...

I made a pot-holder!  Well, really what happened was that while taking stock of what I have as far as yarn and what I have to try making a beanie out of - I ran across this.  I think I started it as a scarf but um, completely forgot about it, who it was for and everything.  So I ripped out a few rows, finished it and here we are! A very tightly woven pot-holder.

I'm starting to think I may be making my stitches too tight a lot of the time; I hold onto the needles really hard and am always tightening stitches and realized at work that my knuckles sort of hurt.  I don't think they're supposed to.

I intended to start the beanie cap, but realized I needed the circular needle thinggies... I'll have to pick some up and just work on my 'blanket' for now. It's well over a foot in vertical length and I tried counting stitches; it's more like 150+ stitches - eventually I just lost count.  Basically it's a lot of yarn.  I should have knitted different squares really and just pieced them all together.  Oh well - I'll know better for the future now.

And I watched the latest episode of the Tool Academy; oh my goodness!  It's trash TV, I know, but it's great just for the drama, crazy stuff that happens.  The latest episode was all about the guys learning to appreciate their girlfriends and oh my goodness!  The guys go into an outrage and trying to fight some of the crew, destroy stuff - it's just so nuts!  The guys get the taste of their own medicine having to watch their girlfriends taken out on a date by a 'true gentleman'.  They don't see that it's fair turn around, they just growl and throw a fit about how it's so unfair to them.  Such an interesting show...

So while taking my morning off work, I happened to watch the Rachael Ray show - I don't think I've ever done that.  I was intrigued by her cooking and that this chicka's going to do a year of Rachael Ray recipes because she's inspired by the movie Julie/Julia that I have yet to see.  Anyways, I poked around her recipe archive and was thrilled to see she has a picky eaters section!  She's speaking to my heart...  Anyways, I think that I want to pick out some of her recipes and try them.  I should try cooking new things - my cooking's getting a little predictable.  I'm probably going to be cooking up some Tilapia tomorrow night for our weekly gathering to watch The Office so I might see if there's something new and exciting I can do to it.

Now for a bit of my nerdy side.  A friend of mine watches this show called Kamen Rider - and to be quite frank I used to mock him to his face and secretly about it.  I mean come on - live action battling 'monsters'? Super dumb.  However, one night I was bored and watched an episode of the Den-O season and I've been hooked ever since.  The new season, called Kamen Rider W (here on referred to as W for short) just started at the beginning of the month; we're three episodes in as it has to be translated before links go up.  The new season fills me with a huge sense of nostalgia as it reminds me so much of when I used to play Dick Tracy with my friends growing up.  The two male leads - I love.  The female lead - I hate; she's so freaking obnoxious and like nails on a chalkboard!  I'm enjoying this season though; last season with Decade was a bit of a let down - even though I left off like half way through and have yet to finish it I've been told I'm not missing much.

Either tonight or Saturday I will make the trip to look for fabric for the bridesmaid dress.  I have an idea of what I think I want to do in my head but it could require a lot of work and I may just end up taking the border to one of those stitching shops and get them to do the embroidery and not do it myself - but that's if I go with that plan.  I need to see fabric first!  I plugged in the reference swatch she sent me for reference.  As far as I can tell it's either straight up acrylic or some sort of blend, a bit course.  If I can find this particular fabric I'd completely line the dress with something more comfy - it's also going to be December in Oklahoma so I'm considering lining whatever I make so I don't freeze; if the wedding's in the church I remember - I have distinct memories of freezing through a service already.... I don't wanna be a brides-maid-ice-sculpture or anything. Hmm, I hadn't even asked about shoes - what kind of shoes we're supposed to wear makes a lot of difference too.... *goes to text the bride!*

Went to a friend's place last night and I got the worst heart burn I might have ever had.  I have a weak stomach so it's not surprising that I woke up ill to my tummy this morning.  So I took off the morning from work and am currently still in PJ's, on my couch, wearing my new NaNo hoodie, kick'en it with my Chinchillas.  :)

I studied JGibson's Simplest Cap of All pattern and I think with the help of knittinghelp.com I might just be able to muddle through it on my own.  I also found a knitting shop that's between me and my best friend, which makes it all that much easier to get to - plus they're open late a few nights a week which is so much better for me as the other shops I could only get over for a Saturday morning.  I'm going to muddle through it tonight hopefully and see if I can't figure it out.  I still have some of the Vannah White yarn in pea green and some in navy I can use on a tester to see if I know what I'm doing.

Okay, so I got the fabric swatch for my friend Danielle's wedding.  This wedding is a lot of DIY, which I love and hate.  Love because it's my best friend's wedding, hate because I'm going to obsess about making the dress simple and perfect and comfortable.  I only have until the last day of October for finishing it because I'm doing NaNo and I don't need the weirdness of trying to finish a dress and write all those words at the same time.  I still need to figure out where I'm getting the fabric from, and the parameters; she wants us to all dress differently.  Here's the problem - I don't like following patterns.  I spent a bit of time looking through a few websites and dresses and I've picked out some that I feel I could do in purple and layer with some sheer material and perhaps spruce up with some beading or something.  At the bottom are some pictures I'm leaning towards.



(on the left) I don't really know that I like how I think this black dress would fit; it looks interesting on the dummy, but I question all that sheer layering and whatnot.  I think it would end up looking like a bag if I made it.

I like the very simple design of this dress (on the right) ; I picture it in a deep purple, the skirt lengthened and perhaps a simple border on the hem.  Not even anything special, just a satin, ribbon border.



(on the left) This one - for sure would need a longer hem.  I think I'm more drawn to the idea of embellishing the collar - though I have to think about my tattoos and that a lacy neck frill like this would just overpower my top half.

And this next one (on the right), I think just really drew me in on the neckline and the interesting shoulder-wing looking things.  The cinched waist has me a bit leery just because I gained weight and I really don't know that this would look good on someone who's not a twig.  Just being honest!  While I really like the overall design of it, I do question if it would be a good idea considering a huge factor to me is comfort.

Next up (on the left) is a simple, V-neck dress with a hemline I feel would be more comfortable for me.  I might have to tighten up the V, the wedding's very conservative and I anticipate being very busy and I want to wear something I feel comfortable working and wearing and what not.

I looked around at patterns and found some that could work.  Some of them, like the Butterick 4443, I feel like I own this pattern already.  It wouldn't surprise me; the dresses are all fairly nice, you could make several from these patterns by using solids or prints and whatnot.  However, it's not exactly what I want - but I like it well enough I might see about getting it to have for later.  I need a better organizational system for the few patterns I still have and will probably buy.  The McCalls M5001 is one I'd use in a heartbeat - if we were using a shimmery fabric.  I think that in the matte one that's been selected it would just look like a big grape.  I need to talk to Dani and see what her feelings are on embellishing the dresses.  The McCalls M5879 might just be the pattern I use!  I like the one in pink - picture that in purple, with maybe some satiny purple ribbing on the neck, arm holes, and hem.  Maybe some tool on the bottom, and I could see me doing some light embroidery in a similar shade of purple just because I think it could turn a very simple dress - absolutely fabulous - but again, I need the brides okay!  The McCalls M5833 is sort of similar, but has an added, strange thing in front I might like - I need to see a pattern to really figure it out, but it might be a backup if the M5879 doesn't pan out.

All in all, I'm ready to tackle this project so be ready for more to come!

Well, it's 10:00 am, I should probably think about doing something with my morning; like shower or knit or clean the Chin cage or something ya know?  More to come later on my sewing and knitting craziness!

First - I dislike when lunch comes around and I'm not really hungry - but I know I need to eat now or not at all. There's very little left in my apartment to eat and just about nothing besides overy-sugary granola bars that fit for breakfast so I scampered into work today without anything in my tummy besides some lovely tea.  An hour and a half into the work-day I was totally drooping and in a meeting and recalled - I hadn't eaten! Well duh I was going to loose gas to power on.  So I grabed one of the incredibly yummy-yet-totally-not-good-for-me Chocolate Muffins - 600 calories, thank you very much!  I'll just promise myself that tonight I'll ride the bike before I head over to Courtney's for an impromptu girl's night.  Should be interesting to get through all that Cowboys traffic - I'm sort of dreading this...

Anyways - onward!

I think I've talked about this a few times before  :P  Actually - I know I've talked about it, but I have yet to talk about my knitting goals or anything just quite yet.  I'm still learning but thanks to having read The Friday Night Knitting Club I poked around and actually found two knitting shops in the metroplex; granted getting to either will be a task for a Saturday a piece as they're sort of restrained as far as the hours - but oh well!  Both websites lead me to believe they have people there who are capable of helping someone who needs some pointers!

While I want to be able to knit lots of cute things (such as adorable Marvin dolls from Hitchhiker's Guide, courtesy of OhMyStars.net), I'm going to focus on functionality for the time being.  I have a friend that aspires to have dreadlocks again and his birthday isn't for many more months - which leaves me time to learn how to knit hats and make him a rasta hat!  Granted in my search for the perfect pattern I've found quite a few I want to learn to knit just for the heck of it!

Something like Calorimetry would be a good first step; my hair's getting far too long to put into a hat and this design would allow me to keep my head warm and not fuss with my silly hair.

I think anyone who knows me knows that I like old things made new; the Chapeau Marnier pattern makes me think of the 20's or something.  I don't know that I'd actually wear the hat unless I cut my hair, but it's super cute and I want to learn how to make it!

I could see me making the Couvercle hat for other people, and maybe one myself!  But mostly for like guy friends or my brother Patrick; I think he'd dig this hat if I made him one.  He's partial to grays, which I think this would do great in a charcoal.  We'll see....

I have yet to find a good rasta hat pattern, but the one on Knitty for the Pecan Pie Beret looks awfully close; lengthen the bulk of it and it could work.  I'd need the advice of someone with more experience.

Anyways, I've also had it requested by a few people I learn how to make socks or knitted slippers so after I learn hats I'll see about footwear...  I also saw a nifty pattern somewhere for a laptop cozy - which doesn't look particularly hard and I think could be a useful item to know how to knit.  I'm not sure but my left hand might be swollen from all the knitting yesterday - then again it could just be that it's the same hand I broke and never went to see a doctor about; the knuckle's never looked right since then!  It doesn't hurt or anything, it's just a bit bigger.

Also going to set aside time over the next few weeks to do some character and world building for my NaNo; I think I have a really great idea but if I don't have a good foundation for the world or who the characters really are it'll flounder.  I need to give everything depth so that when I'm grasping for straws I'll have something to leap to; some explanation of why the social or religious system works the way it does.

I've realized my default time on Blogger is all sorts of not correct, but I don't have time to figure it out.  Lunch break almost over! Gotta scram.

So I made the decision that to conserve money I was going to really stick around my place this weekend with the two exceptions of going to church Saturday and Sunday.  It's been interesting, I sure come up with ways to entertain myself.

Friday I had this idea; I was thinking about ways to make money and that I should try to use the best tools I have.  So why not make money from something I like to do? Writing.  Now my idea is a bit scary but it's worth entertaining.  My idea was to do a devotional book; yeah - crazy huh?  I don't normally like devotionals most of the time because they aren't really applicable.  Everything seemed to be aimed at ages younger or older than I.  It's an idea I want to let stew; I won't have the time to seriously study and devote for this until next year.  I called Dani and talked to her about it and how I could incorporate other people I know, their experiences, and tap into their viewpoints to give it a very wide and interesting flavor.  Ultimately it would be aimed at people around my ago.

Other than that I've been writing a bit and watching TV and making total use of my Netflix and knitting.  I did have a run in with another one of those freaking huge roaches; currently it's trapped under a candle car in the middle of my livingroom because it's still alive.  Yes, I'm wimpy when it comes to these roaches; they're huge! If it doesn't die soon, I'm calling Billy and I'll let him deal with it.  :P  He did offer!

I did learn that the Tool Academy is back for a second season!  It's another one of my terrible, horrible tv show that I get pulled into liking.  I don't kow, maybe it's just how watching it makes me realize there are people like that out there.  I just watch it for the train wreck it becomes at times; towards the end last season the last few episodes I watched got less drama filled, but it's still very entertaining.

Apparently I'm knitting a throw, or maybe it's a full sized blanket.  Either way, I'm not quite sure.  I have this huge thing of run of the mill acrylic yarn and some time ago I started knitting it; only I knitted like 100 stitches on a line! Yeah.  That's quite a bit - equates to about a 66 inch long strand.  Yup - a little over five feet.  It's going to take me ages to get it done, and even then it's not exactly soft and cuddly, which is why I'm thinking that if I keep it, it should be a throw blanket or something.  Perhaps I should give it away.  I wanna find some chocolate colored yarn to do a border and perhaps tie in some of it here and there; light blue and chocolate - good combo, right?  Doubt I'll be done with it anytime soon but it'll be a fun winter project to haul around with me.  Eventually it'll be nice and warm to work on in the winter.  For now it just makes my left hand hurt holding all that to knit it.

Watching the second season of Dexter now - have I ever mentioned how messed up this show is?  Yet I still like it.  Go figure!

I was laying awake in bed last night for a short period and came up with an interesting idea for a short story.  It could possibly be a novel but I don't particularly want to invest in this story all that much.  It's not my preferred style and would require a lot of research to make it believable so I think I'll gloss over the details and make it a short story.

The whole idea centered on the thoughts I was having at the time; as a girl - I ponder possibilities of my future, doing something fun, new or exciting, meeting Mr Right, and so forth.  Well that's where the idea started.  I have a silly crush on someone I hardly know and I very much doubt there's any substance to the interest but I can't really squash it so it's there and I think about the possibilities sometimes.  This is where I branched off into the story-teller "what-if's?"  The idea centers around a woman who is so submerged in her imaginary fantasies with these people she doesn't really know that when one event happens that crushes her, she begins to take everything out on these real people - who are not the people she has imagined them to be.  Ultimately it's a mystery, crime-solving type of piece that will be interesting to write once I have the characters and perspectives penned down but that'll probably be my weekend project after I finish some other odds and ends.

I am working on being more faithful through tithing to my church.  There's a lot of stuff I should do better but I really felt convicted about my finances - which I stress over regularly if you know me at all.   I'm not particularly money savvy and I know it so I am over cautious that I don't become careless to the point you probably don't realize I"m terrible with numbers.  Confused yet?  LoL  Anyways, I tithed first and payed my bills second and I'm not worried about lasting until my next paycheck; it'll be okay regardless.  I know everything's taken care of and all I really have to worry about is making my food last and even then I am pretty sure I have enough food in my pantry to last me.  Now that the hot months are over my electricity bill should be lower at least so that'll give me a bit more wiggle room - right?

So this weekend will be spent at home knitting the bit of yarn I have at my disposal, finishing Code Geas hopefully, the second season of Dexter, my new Mercedes Lackey book, and cleaning up my place - well, doing laundry - Amanda came over and cleaned with me.  I am super grateful to her and Courtney; they're awesome friends.

OH! I found a dead roach this morning - they're dying and I'm celebrating.  Am I a terrible person?  I need to probably scrub down my counter-tops tonight and I'd like to disinfect my floors.

Regardless, this next seven days will consist of a lot of staying home and being lazy - which after the last few weeks - I'm okay with.  I should also get back to working out.  Might even try out riding my mom's old bike!  *gasp*  If you never hear from me - I probably had an accident.....

Okay, so I have a particular friend (who will remain nameless) who has recently moved out on their own and quite frankly - doesn't know how to cook.  There's some simple things I've made that I promised I'd show how to make but considering the states that have sprung up between us - I figured it was far more convenient to just put it in a blog and share with other people how I make a tasty Cajun Shrimp Pasta!  To the right you'll see a big picture of a lot of the ingredients I use. I will show individual pictures of them or link to them so it's easier.  Also, a list of the stuff needed is at the bottom.

I like to use small, salad shrimp - personally.  There's just something about huge shrimp that's always freaked me out and I just can't eat them unless they're fried and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt they aren't going to crawl off the plate and attack me.  Yes, it's irrational but whatever - that's me!  These shrimp are about quarter to half-dollar sized; I usually have to get these at Wal-Mart in the fish section of the deli.  They will need to be thawed out before cooking with them so you might want to think about tossing them into the refridgerator the morning you want to cook this.  Otherwise you'll end up soaking them in warm water or something like I usually do to get them thawed out.  In my experience it's best to thaw them first and let them sit in a strainer to sort of dry out before adding them to the sauce.  This way you don't thin the sauce with water.  :)

When you're ready to start cooking I would suggest starting on the sauce first.  The reason being it takes just a tad bit longer and you want some time to let the sauce sit and thicken before eating.  I like to use these powder mixes from McCormick instead of a jar just because the taste is different, less heavy and I just feel like I'm almost making something from scratch here! (Okay, not really but let me dream, okay?)  Directions are on the back of the packets but you basically add a cup of milk per packet to a pan - I would suggest a slightly larger pan than you think you'd need because milk boiling over is never a fun thing to clean up! 
Don't crank the heat up to high either.  Select a temperature that's a medium-high range; cooking food isn't about how fast you can get it all heated up - it's about creating something you want to eat.  The directions call for about 3 teaspoons of butter per packet - when cooking with two packets I, personally, do not add that much butter.  It's not healthy, blahblahblah, you get the picture.  I think I add 3 teaspoons regardless of how many packets I use - but that's me!  I like to add my spices at this stage, when the sauce is still all powdery and chunky and you look at it and think - I'm supposed to eat this?  Yup!  I like to add a lot of this Zatarain's Creole Seasoning, though there are a lot of other Cajun spicy combos out there, this is the one I bought when I first moved out on my own and it's huge and I'm still working on getting through it!
I also like to add a smattering of other spices; Watkin's Onion Powder and Garlic Powder are sort of staple items in my pantry, as well as a generic Itallian Seasoning.  These are optional and totally not necessary to the meal, but they're good things to have on hand to spice anything up.  I don't really like Onions but I do like the flavor a good bit of the seasoning adds and Garlic is Garlic and can make a lot of things have a bit more pep.  I add just a bit of each, some salt and ground pepper and once I'm satisfied everything's sort of mixed together well enough, I put the water on to boil for the pasta.
I like to use the bowtie pasta for this dish, but any is acceptable - they all taste about the same!  I'm going to trust that cooking the pasta isn't rocket science; combine water and pasta, wait for boil, add dash of salt, and let boil until pasta is moist and edible - and then boil a few minutes longer!  I say that because I usually cook when I'm hungry so I want it done now, not in a few minutes NOW!  So I don't usually trust my judgment of if pasta's done or not.

Now, keep an eye on the sauce!  I think half the time I accidentally let mine boil over and it's a pain in the arse to clean up later.  When the sauce reaches an almost bubbly, fluffy looking stage, I like to spoon in the shrimp which will do two things - reduce the temperature of the sauce and cook the shrimp slowly.  This is when you really want to start stirring the sauce occasionally so the bottom of the sauce doesn't burn and stick to your pot.  Burnt sauce is a pain to clean up as well!

With all your things on the stove, it's a waiting game now.  If you want to bake a roll or a croissant now's the time to pop it in!  You have just enough time to do something else, but stay close.  How much time am I talking about? I'm not quite sure; I've developed this cooking timer and I just sort of 'know' when some stuff's cooked long enough but whenever you question if it's done or not - taste test!  Pull out a piece of pasta and nibble on it, fish around for a piece of sauce covered shrimp and try it; if the pasta's moist and good, and the shrimp is warm - you're probably done! 

If you started the sauce before the pasta then the sauce should finish well before the pasta.  When the sauce is done, pull it off the burner and set on another one out of the way.  The sauce will thicken as it cools a bit.  This generally gives me time to watch the pasta boil just a minute longer before I strain it a few times.  An old trick a friend's mom taught me was when the pasta's been strained and is in the strainer, run water over it again!  It washes away something and supposedly makes it healthier - but it's pasta so um, good luck with that!

I like to have a roll or bread with this and cheesecake goes uber well with it too.  So I forgot to take a picture of the finished product but it's good.  Hope this helps!

Ingredients

• Bag of Mini-Shrimp
• 2 Packets of McCormick Alfredo Sauce Mix
• Some form of Creole/Cajun Seasoning
• 2 Cups Milk
• 3-6 Teaspoons Butter
• 1 Box Bowtie Pasta
• Onion Powder (optional)
• Garlic Powder (optional)
• Itallian Seasoning (optional)
• Salt & Pepper

Utensils

• Medium Sauce Pan
• Pasta/Large Pot
• Strainer
• Mixing/Serving Spoons
  

So I didn't get to go to last month's book club because it was at a bad time with everything happening recently so I opted to not go - thus I was at the mercy of everyone else for choosing our new book. I was sort of dreading it - to be very honest. We've read some books I wasn't too interested in, and I'm guilty of chosing one of those books! When I heard the title I groaned and rolled my eyes as the text scrawled across the screen of my phone and thought to myself: Great! Another boring book I'll probably not read and feel guilty about.... But I did get it and I did read it. Also, it might be worth noting - I'm an aspiring knitter. I can make a mean scarf, and that's about it. However, The Friday Night Knitting Club isn't about knitting at all, it doesn't even take central focus of the book. Sure everything happens around yarn usually, but it's not the main focus at all. The real focus of the book is the cast of inter-woven characters who enrich eachother's lives with their trials, their accidents, their lives and their messyness. I think it's a great book, and I found myself crying at the end with their trumphs and tragedy. I don't really like books written in real life situations; I think I have enough life happening around me that when I read I want an escape - but I really identified and liked the characters and story Kate Jacobs created in her book.

In other news, I found a knit shop around downtown Dallas I want to pop into once money sort of loosens up and I can afford to drop a few dollars on some yarn and see if they don't have a sit-in session I can do and get some tips. I just need to learn the lingo and understand what's going on and I think I'll be a good knitter!

So I've decided to start tithing despite difficult times; I'm more than a little freaked out by this.  I'm not quite sure how my funds are going to stretch over to my next pay-day but I just have to stay hopeful, ya know?  It's stressful and I really want to whine and fret and complain about it, but I can't and I won't.  One way or the other it's going to work out, I just have to tell myself that!

It's also forcing me to be a bit more creative about coming up with cash; I think I'm going to start trying to pick up odd jobs.  Like brows Craigslist once or twice a day for gigs I can do for a little extra cash or something to make it through things.  I have a very small pocket of cash saved up but I want to use that for Christmas; I know it's going to be a sparse year and I'm okay with that but whatever - I still want to give presents!

I might also try to do more home-bound activities; card-nights, movies, and not cook for people as much - or if I do, ask them to bring something to offer instead of offering it all myself.

But I'm a bit warry on that since I'm in a war with those roaches right now. They will die!

Well, it's about time for me to head off to the tradeshow.  That's going pretty interesting; it's fun and I like being around everyone but I just don't know that I have any idea what's going on most of the time!  I'm sure I'll survive.

Until I post next....

When Roaches Attack
Originally uploaded by Cidly
Okay, I think it's understood this is a stressful week for me what with my mother's awesome race and getting back to jump in head first into very serious work stuff.

I'm sure that in two days I'll laugh at this, but that anyone who reads this will get a good laugh out of it right now. Now once before I had a similar instance but it was in my kitchen and was easily solved by the garbage disposal. This time however, it's like 6am, I've set my alarm early so I can get a few extra things done, roll over after pressing snooze for a bit only.....

....something hisses at me!

I live in Texas where we've had an aweful lot of rattlensake issues - usually when something hisses at you it's a snake or rodent and in the current weather situation whatever has come inside is probably not happy. However a second later I see what it is - a gigantic, hissing cockroach. I still loose it; I can eat crickets in Thailand, but a hissing roach in Texas first thing in the morning destroyed me. I jumped out of bed, probably yelling and doing a squirm dance, start shaking the blanket off like an idiot and loose the thing. I then proceed to tear my bedroom apart looking for it for a long time. Long enough I think it's gone.

In defeat I go to the bathroom and start thinking about getting ready but I'm apprehensive about leaving the roach business unattended to. You see the owner of the company I work for is staying with me tomorrow and what would I feel like if the same thing happened to her? OMG I'd probably die. (No, not really, but I'd feel so bad and guilty and whatnot I'd want to) Anyways! I'm standing there, called my mom to whine and complain that suddenly me - who can handle plenty of blood and guts from doctoring livestock, assisting cows in giving birth, I can eat a fried cricket or frog with chopsticks, looses it to a stupid hissing bug...

when.....

The guilty bug crawls straight up to me. Yes, the bug just simpley scuttled over the faux wood floor in my bathroom where I promptly squished it a bit. I missed like half of it but it's dead. I of course then squealed to my mom and squirmed and finally put it inside an old candle jar, put plastic wrap over the top and left it on my leasing offices door step. I anticipate a phone call today.

Now for your viewing pleasure - my attacker. granted half of him is missing, it's probably either still on my floor or my shoe. He was about 3-4 inches long which as I understand for the type of roach it is is small... That makes me even more unhappy; that this is only a baby - mommy, daddy, and siblings are out there somewhere...

This is war.

Breakfast

• Dr Pepper
• Chocolate Muffin

I failed at breakfast this morning.
I also failed at finishing up this day and posting this blog
:P

Okay, so I need my bangs trimmed; I had blond streaks in them and I just sort of got tired of it.  Now I'm a complete brunette, where before I was a confused red-head with blond streaks/pieces.  Except the blond in my bangs seems to have been too dry to really hold the color, so they look sort of lighter/greenish/brownish/some color I can't quite identify.  I want them trimmed anyways, and I'm thinking of getting a shorter bang style to get rid of that weird hair quicker.  Except anyplace I try to look up online to see the reviews is either super expensive or dirt cheap with poor reviews.  I'm going to Bellissima (however you spell it) to get my eyebrows waxed; maybe they can trim my bangs? Dunno, but I just don't want to pay $15 to trim my freaking bangs.  Anyways, I'll end up paying $10-$15 to wax my eyebrows, but that's soooo worth it!

Tonight I'm hoping we finish The Office and I can hopefully clean out my car; maybe even vaccume it.  That would be nice.  Need to wash clothes, put stuff away, tidy up, dust - OMGAWD do I need to dust! Chin hair and dust is like, everywhere.

Starting to get real excited about NaNoWriMo.  :)

Forgot to weigh myself in again this morning.

Breakfast

• Oatmeal + 2 creamers.  From now on I'm just getting the regular Quaker brand.  Everything else tastes like cardboard.
• Mug of green tea

Lunch

• Pizza leftovers from last night
• Mug of green tea

Dinner
wound up having people over unexpectedly - had to adjust what i'd planned to eat.

• white rice
• chicken
• soy-vah terriakki sauce
• mushrooms
• slice of pinapple bunt cake thinggie

mixed together it's awesome

*Note - again i forgot to publish this last night

I totally failed to weigh in this morning.  It's just one of those days where everything is happening all at once and I just swim in constant frusteration.  Hopefully it gets better!

Breakfast

• mug of dilluted green tea
• Oatmeal + two creamer thinggies - while off-brand oatmeal may be cheaper, it just doesn't taste very good.  Adding creamer gives it something appealing.
• Hungry at 10:45 and watching the clock for lunch like a vulture.  I think I have a granola bar in my purse.....

Lunch

• mug of dilluted green tea
• left overs from yesterday; ate more of the potatoes than I should have.

In-Between

• almond granola bar
• a serving of pringles

Dinner

• meat-lovers pizza
• green tea, putting less sugar in it
  

I just feel stressed about up coming work things.  I think I may skip the women's night at church in favor of staying home and watching The Office.  Church would be 'good' for me and I know I'd like it but I just have so much I want to get done and do and whatnot that I'm dreading not getting it all done.  Plus I want to see the entire 5th Season on The Office before the new season starts.  I also want a new digital camera, but you don't see that happening! :P  Oh well, it'll work out, I just need to stop being so stressed out.

I sort of messed up tonight; I meant to get a lot done in a little time but it didn't happen.  I wound up spending a lot of time shopping and came home to only get a short time to cook dinner, do stuff and get to bed.  So I did pizza; bad choice, I know, but it was quick and I don't eat like half the pizza.

Going to watch some office and go to bed.  Making plans for NaNo, even bought the hoodie and tshirt!!!!

I totally failed and didn't "publish" the last post before I went on my vacation, so it's a double poster today.  Anyways - I'm rather sure vacations that include strange road trips don't do anything good for you health wise; for several days I was limited by what I could choose to eat due to being subject to the whims of cyclists.  Now if you are not acustomed to the strange eating habits of ultimate cyclists, let it be known their eating habits along with everything else about them is just plain strange!  My mother and her friend were out to attempt the Last Chance 1200k (right at 752 miles) in under 70 or 60 hours; a lofty goal.  Now my mother isn't really human, she's some strange bio-engineered thing that didn't pass on those genes to me for which I'm very bitter about.  She only slept about three hours in three days while she did this race.  She is crazy.  And, cyclists are just as crazy about what they eat.  They track calories and content and are very conscious of the foods in gas stations that contain the calories they need - these are not the kinds of foods someone who is attempting to restrict their calories and lower their weight should even blink at.  In addition we were leaving Texas with some pretty hefty time restrictions; roughly 16 hours allotted for the 15 hour drive - I think I got us there with an hour and a half to spare because I'm awesome like that.  That also meant that Tuesday when we left I ate like, two Chickfila chicken buttermilk buscuits; I never intended those to be all I'd eat in 24 hours.  The rest of the adventerous vacation was much like that; a bagle here, a busicuit when I got to my friend's place after they'd cleaned up breakfast, dinner twelve hours later, lunch the next day, a pitifully late dinner, a day full of junk-food eating while babysitting my friend who decided to chug vodka (I don't understand that, really), and two days of one real fast-food meal supplimented by gas-station rations.  I did drink a heck of a lot of water and was really glad I brought tea with me because it kept me from drinking any Dr Peppers until the trip home - okay, I had raspberry Izzys but those are sooooo gooooooood!

I may attempt to swear off Dr Pepper altogether; I don't like the idea, but it's probably good for me.  Might try diluting my tea as well and slowly backing off the sugar.  I don't like that idea - tea is like the best thing about some of my days.

My vacation in and of it's self was very fun.  I got to see people I grew up with, people I write online with and old college friends.  I also decided to go from a confused red-head to a brunette.  I had sort of reddish hair with a few highlights that were a raspberry pink and several hidden locks of blond hair with a fringe of blond in my bangs; now it's all deep, dark chocolate brown.  It's a bit drastic but I like it; it'll also be cheaper to maintain - but I still need a haircut.

This week is going to be super crazy n' all.  Tradeshow starts next weekend and I need to rebound from this Colorado trip big-time.  Tonight I have set aside for washing clothes, grocery shopping and watching some Office before really making demands on my time the other nights. 

Today!
37 pounds over target weight.

Breakfast

• Light Yogurt
• Nature Valley granola nut clusters
• mug of green tea, diluted and with sugar

Lunch

• Half a filet of salmon - with catchup - it's about the only way I eat any fish, smothered in catchup
• Green beans - I swear the way the cafe makes them, they can't be healthy
• Potatoes - these were probably really unhealthy, didn't even eat half of what they gave me but they were uber good
• it should probably be noted the cafe gives far too much food and I usually always eat half or a little less and save the rest for the next day.  Today I really wanted the deep fried chicken fingers :(  But I got the fish instead.
• mug of green tea, diluted and with sugar

Dinner

• Dr Pepper - totally forgot I'd sworn them off - so much for self control
• Itallian panninni - not healthy, it's like 600 calories alone
• half a serving size of original Pringles

So I need to get my eyes checked, things are starting to be all fuzzy.  I'm walking through the grocery store and squinting at stuff; sort of miserable and trying to figure out how I'd pay for an eye exam, new lenses for my glasses and contacts.  That's a hefty price to pay!  It's rather sad that a person can work a normal, salary job, and yet still cannot pay for life in general.  It's rediculous and depressing that I can have a respectable job and yet cannot be self-sufficient.  I even have a financial planner that looks over things for me and verifies that I'm not like spending my money foolishly - I just have some particular expenses I guess.  Ug, and on that note, I will go to bed.

Okay, so in the last year and a half I've added some extra baggage to my life - about 35 pounds of it. I want to say goodbye and change what I'm doing so an easy way for me to handle things is by tracking and catagorizing it; I've tried writing down what I eat but I just forget, however I'm awefully good at finding time for my laptop so I'm thinking of starting a blog a day to help me keep track of what is going in and what I'm doing. I will probably also ramble; I'm rather good at that.

Daily Stats
morning weight - 35lbs over target

Breakfast

• mug of green tea
• chocolate muffin (it's Friday, I get a little wiggle room, right?)

*I've been hungry since around 10am, perhaps Chocolate muffins aren't a good choice. going to hold out for lunch!

Lunch

• Dr Pepper
• cup of potatoe soup
• almond granola bar

In-Between

• 2 serving sizes of Pringles

Dinner

• PB&J
• chocolate chip cookies
• Pringles
• green tea

I think I stayed up till 5am.  Then slept till noon and didn't crawl out of bed until almost 2pm.  I love being lazy on the weekends.

However, I also fail at things like following a schedule or weighing myself like I mean to.  I think I snacked on Pringles when I first woke up, can't remember.  It's now almost 8pm and the first thing I've really eaten is pizza rolls I bought last weekend; I haven't had pizza rolls in years, probably since high school.  Wow - that's a while!  One good thing is that I only drink tea and water on the weekends.  I have no idea how late I will stay up but it will be a while.

Until I know for sure the Colorado vacation is off I'm still planning to drive through Tuesday  night.  So, I'm staying awake for most of the night and sleeping through most of the days.  Should make for an interesting holiday weekend.