Go you fuzzy yellow bees!!!

Woo! Georgia Tech beat Georgia!!!Yay!!!

Things I'm Thankful For, 2008

Tomorrow in the US is Thanksgiving Day, so it's appropriate to stop for a moment to consider all the things in my life for which I'm thankful. Even though I may blow off steam here from time to time, on the whole, I've got it pretty darn good.

I'm thankful for:

--my faith. I know that ultimately God is in charge and whatever He leads me to, He'll see me through. Now, admittedly, sometimes I have a hard time reminding myself of that, but it's a fact.

--my husband. Richard is the absolute love of my life and I just can't imagine what I'd do without him. I get all warm and fuzzy when I know he's planning for our future together too, like when we were at a service for one of our fellow church members who passed, and the minister was talking about the gentleman and how he visited his wife every day in the nursing home. Richard asked me later how we were going to make sure we were still together if one of us had to go to some place like that... Now *that's* thinking ahead. :)

--my mom. She'll be 80 next week, and I'm blessed to still have her independent and relatively healthy.

--my business partner Bob. The big brother I never had growing up came into my life 10 years ago.

--my stitching buddies. All of them are the sisters I never had. We've been together for quite awhile now, and seen each other through a lot. It makes me happy to see them each week, to talk to them on the phone, to get email from them, and to chat with them on the computer.

--my friends on Ravelry. What an unexpected bonus I got when I signed up to join Ravelry to see a few patterns and get reviews on yarn and books!!! I have met so many wonderful people there; participated in some great swaps; and found a group of NASCAR fans as rabid as I am. And I was touched beyond belief this past summer when people I've never "met" from there contributed generously to our efforts to raise money for the Southeastern Brain Tumor Foundation in memory of my dad. They only knew me from my snarky posts and my odd sense of humor, yet they wanted to help me. How great is that??

--my church. I can't imagine life without our church and in particular, our church choir and handbell group. What a fantastic bunch of people.

--the fact that Richard still has a job and that my business, while down a bit, is still going and paying the bills.

--the fact that I have a warm home, plenty to eat, and clothes to wear.

--our troops and the sacrifices they make to keep all of us safe.

--the fact that the election process is (almost) over. I'll be honest: my side didn't win, but my prayer is that our country can come together and our new leadership can make the right decisions.

Oh, and one last thing.... I'm thankful to that lady at the Publix today who let me go in front of her with my one small item when she had a huge cart full of stuff. I'll pay it forward as soon as I get an opportunity.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!!

Perhaps It's Just The Time Of Year...

...or a full moon, or something.

On Saturday, Richard and I went for lunch to the tea room in Woodstock. Nice place, but crowded parking lot. I circled and parked in an actual parking space. Others weren't so considerate. Some of you who have been reading my blog for awhile recall this post, where I posted the score of Hummer 1, Honda 0. We almost had a repeat performance, as someone parked their small piece of rolling fiberglass behind the Hummer, leaving almost no room for me to back out. Richard stood outside as I executed roughly 20 small "Y" turns to maneuver the Hummer so I could back out without knocking the small car into the street. When Richard got in the car, I stated that I should really leave a note giving that person who was stupid enough to park there what for.

So I did.

It was rather cathartic, although they'll never know who did it. At least I had the privilege of telling them off and slapping it under their windshield wiper so they could see it.

Oh, and I went back by the church's bank today to drop off some paperwork they say they were missing. Funny, when I signed the signature card, I was under the impression I had signed the signature card. Evidently that's not how they roll. We'll just say things deteriorated from there and the conversation got quite unpleasant. I'm creating an RFP to give to several banks for them to bid on our business. It will please me greatly to sign the check that withdraws the last funds from that institution.

To add insult to injury, my windshield cracked. Got in the car this morning, and there was a three inch crack from the top left of the windshield headed for the middle. Fortunately, my car insurance covers it, but they're gonna have to replace the whole thing. Still just a pain.

Random Rants on a Chilly November Friday

1. To the bank my church uses: I've been signing checks for 2 1/2 months now, ever since the death of our previous treasurer. Yet you pick today to embarrass one of our employees who tried to cash her check saying I wasn't on the signature card. Really? Let's see: you knew I was the treasurer; you called my cell phone; you've cashed all the other checks... So I think I was perfectly justified in losing my temper with you. And my pastor told me that even our Lord lost his temper with the money changers in the temple. So pfffffft. And as soon as I can get things together, we'll be changing banks, because this isn't the first time you've pulled crap like this. We're right across the street from you, for Pete's sake. Pick up the phone and call if you have a question.

2. To the gentleman behind me in line at the grocery store: hitting me in the rear end with your cart isn't going to make the line go faster. I checked.

3. To Jim Martin and Saxby Chambless, candidates for the hotly contested Senate runoff in Georgia: Stop calling me. I've already made up my mind, and neither of you are going to change it. Now both of you are just ticking me off. Ditto for your respective political parties and anyone calling on their behalf. Forget you know me, or you can kiss any future contributions goodbye. I mean it. And while you're at it, stop mailing crap to me as well.

4. To the idiot who tailgated me, passed me, and then cut in front of me, only to have us stop at the stop light at the same time: gee, that really worked out well for you, didn't it?

Connor Cap finished!

I've finished a cap for Connor and his friends. Oscar was a bit of a reluctant model:I fear treats were involved after that one.

I'm waiting for a mailing address to get this one in the mail. Pattern is the "House Hats" from Charmed Knits, and it's made with Encore Worsted so it's nice and washable. (I don't particularly enjoy knitting with Encore, which is a blend of wool and acrylic, but it's durable and quite suitable for something like this.)

Connor needs caps!!

It's a rare day indeed when I'll post twice, but I came across something thanks to my friend Jen from Ravelry that I think all of you knitters and crocheters who may read my blog need to see.

See, Connor's a little boy with a brain tumor. Stage III. This is very, very bad. Surgery isn't recommended, but they are doing chemo and radiation which, you guessed it, will make his hair fall out. In Wisconsin. In the winter.

Now, some of Connor's friends want to shave their heads in solidarity with him... but his best friend's mom, Beth, got the idea to have everyone at his school wear a cap in their school colors to show their support. You can read her post about it here.

There's a short time frame involved. They need around 200 caps to be mailed before December 1. Gauge isn't important, because there are kids and adults of all ages at his school.

I'm going to go cast on a hat now. You know how close to home anything involving brain tumors hits for me.

Can you help? Please?

It lives!

No... I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. It just seems that way for those of you who have been waiting for me to actually write something on the blog rather than just post survey results. :) As I said before, life's been... interesting. Not a lot that I can actually go into here, but suffice it to say it's a combo of clients, church, family and stuff in general. Nothing major, but just a lot of little stuff.

When last we visited, I was about to head out in the Party Van(tm) for Hilton Head and A Stitchers Gathering. For an excellent review of the classes we took, I'll refer you to DF Teresa's blog. The event was held at the Marriott resort, and the folks there couldn't have been more friendly and accomodating. The weather, unfortunately, didn't cooperate: it rained cats and dogs on Friday when we were there, so that pretty much curtailed any outdoor activity, especially since in the evening there were gale force winds, and those and the Party Van(tm) didn't mix too well.

But, on Saturday between classes, we were able to take a brief walk on the beach:
(That would be DFs Jill, Ann and Heather proving we were actually at the seashore. Note that Jill was the only one actually experiencing sand between her toes).

Highlight of Saturday evening had to be the costume party. Teresa and I had been planning for months to go as "pit lizards" -- those ladies who stalk pit road at NASCAR races in hopes of snagging a husband/driver/baby daddy. Our costumes were well planned:(For those of you not accustomed to seeing me as a blonde, I'm on the left.) The mismatched 8s are a henna tattoo that is actually still fading and are the work of a still slightly perplexed Indian shopkeep in Town Center Mall. DF Andy went with me and did an excellent job of explaining to him how the tattoo should look (we had also brought pictures), and he was game for the whole thing. I tipped him well. :) What you can't see in this picture is the 5" heels I'm standing on. Richard and I went into the local Shoe Carnival and when this nice young man came up and asked if he could help us, I replied that I needed some "cheap ho shoes". After he stood up from being doubled over from laughing, he helped me find these lemon-drop yellow numbers that were leftover from summer. I'm still amazed that I remained upright on them.

Of course, while the classes and food and such at ASG are great, this is the real reason I go:
On the back row are Debbie B, Vicky, Teresa, moi, and Joy. Front row are Jill, Ann, and Angela. The "come hither" pose in the front is The Magic That is Heather.

The most kewl thing about ASG is that, were it not for it, I wouldn't even know Jill, Ann, Angela, Joy, Teresa, Heather, and DF Judy. They're now some of my best friends. Isn't it amazing how sometimes very unexpected goodies come into your life?

Now *this* is a horror movie

Which Website are You?

Thanks to Min for the meme.

I promise a post soon with some ASG details and a catchup on life. Work has been... interesting. The rest of life has been... interesting. And interesting in that ancient curse way of "May you have an interesting life" sort of thing that I'm probably not up to sharing entirely. But life goes on. :)

For the record, I never watch horror films

Your result for How Long Would you Survive in a Horror Film?...

The Horror Aficionado

Sometimes known as "the wise guy" or "the totally platonic best friend". This character is usually either the most likeable or most excruciatingly annoying character in the movie, because he's almost always the comic relief (or lack thereof). Sometimes he is the first to die because he figures out what's going on, tries to escape and is killed. However, the horror aficionado will more likely use his knowledge to devise the plan that eliminates the threat. That means he survives until the end where he ends up dying as a sacrifice so that the heroine can carry out the plan. Though he tends to lack a backbone, you do feel somewhat bad when he dies.

All possible results:

Jock/Cheerleader

The Black Guy

The Horror Aficionado

The Hero/Heroine

The Killer

Please remember to rate, but more importantly, please message me if you've found any blatant errors (especially with the results page and links). Thanks!

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