Yay kitty! and Knitty!

Knitting camp was LOADS of fun. Now planning to attend stitches with Heather (CelticCoyote) and hopefully JPKnits.

I brought home more yarn than I brought to swap, plus we made that field trip to the yarn store....hehe

Gratuitous cat shot:




Love my kitty! We threw his little catnip mousy in the bag and he was off!




He just so BIG!




That's about it...our camping got my knitting mojo back. Some progress:







The best photo I could get of the stitch markers seiding made:




That's about it! Now to go knit whilst laundry goes...

A (rare) update

Hey y'all.

Sometimes I wonder what to blog here (and obviously not do anything about it) seeing as I have so many different groups of friends here on the internet. I could do the health/weight-loss thing, the knitting/crocheting/spinning thing, the church friends, the...everyone else.

So anyway, the CVS trips are continuing to go well, and Walgreens is looking pretty good for next month. We have a HUGE bag to take to Hesed House, and there are some things I don't think they have need for that I will drop off at Harvest. I like stocking up on things for myself (shampoo...I was definitely running low!) for FREE and getting more free stuff for others to use. Seriously, I spent cash to start-up at Walgreens, but at CVS I have spent $0 cash (using gift cards I got from transferring prescriptions) and received well over $500 in merchandise. It's crazy what they let you "get away with."

As for crafts, I crocheted this beautiful gift for a wee little baby girl who will be born next month. I can't share right now, so that the mommy doesn't see it! So excited. Just need to finish weaving ends and locate some buttons. Better hurry!

And next week I'm going up to Wisconsin for a fun few days of knitting and such..thanks to Elizabeth for planning it all...definitely looking forward to it since Matt will be out of town all week...*sniff* haha. party? Just me and the kitty, sitting at home. meow!

I also now joined Plurk. C'mon, see what it is HERE. I suppose it will be fun for a while and then I'll forget to check it. But then you lose Karma points. tricky!

Guess that's as much of an update as we need for now. Maybe I should do some actual work....

A CVS trip

Sooooo...yesterday in my e-mail I found a $5/$25 at CVS coupon. I was already planning on going there, but it made it even sweeter.

I purchased two blood glucose monitors (which I will donate...) and some razor blades that I actually needed. After my coupons, I spent $.54, from a gift card. I then received $26.00 in ECB (CVS dollars) for a future purchase.

Sometimes I wonder if these stores make any money...Then again, CVS can't be giving away too many things seeing as they only stock the shelves once a week. So they are limiting how much people buy in that sense...tricksters.

I now hold $47.95 in free CVS money. It's crazy. Considering I have spent zero cash thus far. How long can I go? ;)

Super Savings!

Even though I worked there for eight years, it is not my favorite place to shop. A lot of times the workers aren't friendly, they are out of many things, and the prices are high.

But this week they have a lot of General Mills things for 10/$10 if you buy a multiple of 10. Jewel also has automatic savings tied to your card if you check them online before you shop. My weekly deal was $1/1 Cinnamon Toast Crunch limit 2 per order and $1/1 Fiber One bars limit 2 per order. Then on two days I had $2/2 Pop Secret limit 6 deals.

I first bought 20 items for myself, costing about $6 after auto coupons and coupons from the papers.

Then we went back on Monday and bought 50 items, in 5 transactions with all the coupons I could find. We spent $13.78 on this:






After I took that picture, I went back on Tuesday morning because Matt was sick and needed 7-up and Jello, and got 10 more completely free with auto-savings items, plus a $1 coupon, meaning I spent -.77 for those 10, bringing my total for 60 items to $13.01 or $.22 per item!

14 cereal
12 popcorn
33 granola bars
1 chex mix

We kept only a few things out of these 60. The rest are going to a food bank. It's crazy when the stores want to give things away!

Also, gratuitous kitty pic:

Earn $25 Free

Yes, it really does work.




If you click here, and sign up (it's a financial site, so they require your SSN) but you don't even need to link it to a bank account I don't think...but I get $10 if you use my link, and you get $25 within minutes of signing up, no joke. Then you can refer your friends. Let's all make some money :)

The kitteh!

He came to us with the name of Penguin, and Matt decided he is now Jack. Our pretty kitty! He's 10 and just unbelievably sweet and good-mannered. Here are some pics for now. (Matt needs to take pics of my newest knitting this weekend. So I maybe blog more than once a week, har har). Will wait for a sunny day to open the drapes and get amazing true-color photos because his eyes are an incredible green. We have no idea why someone left him at the shelter, sweet thing.

Sorry it took so long...

No excuses, really.

But we are thinking of getting a cat. I've been severely allergic to some cats in the past, but yesterday when I walked in the tiny room holding ten cats and played with one of them, I didn't suffer any adverse affects. Maybe one sneeze, but hey, that happens. We were looking here at Diva, a really calm and sweet calico. She seemed to like me, and would be good for our small apartment and the quietness of just the two of us. She used to live in a house with three kids, so she can tolerate a bit, I would imagine. Now we are waiting to be approved and call back to say when we can pick her up (they go to Petsmart on Sundays and Wednesdays). So tonight and tomorrow will be spent moving some furniture (we have so much....stuff. and we don't exactly like it. but we don't see too much we can easily get rid of. oh well) and making room for her things. But yay! my first pet. It's becoming exciting.

As for knitting...well, I think I will lose the space I was going to use to block my sweater. That's a pain...but hey. Kitty! And I can't leave my knitting out and about, at least at first. We'll have to see what all she gets herself into while we are out of the house. Need to see about how long we can leave her in a cage if needed, because it's difficult to train while not home, haha. And we don't want a cat in the bedroom at all, or else she could have easily stayed in there while we were at work...so it will take some thinking before we say for sure we want this kitty.

I have a vest that just needs blocking and buttons sewn. Also a sweater I really want to wear on Thursday for my birthday, but it needs 1.5 sleeves and blocking. But preliminary trials show it fits like a dream (yay!) So maybe I can knit a ton at lunch today and get it blocking before the cat shows up (happy birthday to me ;) )

That's about it...hopefully FO pics soon. and KITTY pics :)

oops. over a month

sorry..no pics today. quick post while at work.

-got a promotion! yay! i get a desk and a computer and everything! go me go.

-crocheted a scarf for my church secretary, since she gave me yarn she bought and never was able to really learn to knit so i surprised her by returning the yarn in the form of a scarf.

-halfway done with my Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace shawl. want to wear it in two weeks, hmm...

-crocheted a baby sweater (so cute!) for a girl from church. shower in a few weeks i think...

happy turkey!

My Wedding Photos!

Of course it is free to look, so enjoy!

To view the photos:

Click on the link provided at the bottom of this page - which will take you to the Michael Candid website.
Then go to the "Order Online" page, open it and click the "View Event" button.
When the new window opens, fill in the following name and password information:

User Name: Thomas

Password: 5632

Fill In Your Email Address and your first name, then just sit back and click to view the special event!

http://www.michaelcandid.com

yay marriage!

okay. i have no internet at home, and can only go to the library every so often. So...meh. at least you get an hour at a time, which is more than I have seen at any other library. It's not all that far from our house. And I can check internet at work. But I probably won't get a lot of time there either. so here are my honeymoon photos and yes, I went to Windsor Button, I met Stariel, and I bought some clover circs so I can start my fair isle sweater hopefully this month and some...yarn. and crap if I remember what it was. super soft laceweight alpaca. even though i wanted the sea silk but we got mixed up when we were picking out colours but I am still happy.

IMG_0011

*whimper* help me! Who uses flickr to add photos to their blog? I have the free version. lots of pics to share, but no idea how to do it simply. i know how to do it the looooooooong roundabout way, which i refuse to do. i do not have time. help me....bloglines is being a butt, meaning i cannot even look at fellow bloggers i know use flickr (like Laura and Cristi, but i bet they pay for flickr)

My Wedding Flowers!!

Yes, today I cast off one last white flower. And then, I discovered it was one extra. sheesh. even though I counted them over and over a million times and one. but they are DONE. This photo represents the last year of knitting, plus I made a Hush Hush and a garter and a contracted shawl, etc. But focused on these flowers.






I knit them all, except that my super amazing friends helped me! Laura knit two for my bouquet, and three more were sent to me by Ana and Ceci. These ladies rock my world so much!

Upper left: Dark pink for mom corsages and white for dad bouttenaires.
Upper right: light pink for Matt and white for his two guys
Lower left: Three white for each of my gals
lower right: 7 light pink for me!
flower girl, ring bearer, ushers (who are just ushering, not standing up) and pastor get fake flowers I will arrange nicely. yay for calla lillies and the pattern is of course from last summer's Knitty. just in time to get me all whipped up into saying i NEED these for my wedding! And even though the wedding is just 30 days away, I do not regret saying I would do this for me. Time is not running out yet. Must go get assembling!

Please re-subscribe to my blog if you use a feed reader. I think when you switch to new blogger it messes things up.

what have i been up to?

Why, knitting. I think. But mostly moving into our new apartment! and by "moving" into "our" apartment I mean getting Matt settled in while I take as much as possible leaving with me only enough to live on for the next five weeks til I actually move in. Once we got it all set up, we realized just how much room we have! yay!

Click for big, of course.


Welcome to our home!



The coat and storage closet...



many kitchen towels thank to grandma...



Matching bathroom goodies!






The tile in the shower and on the floor looks NEW. Very nice.



Head across to the kitchen...



mmm, shiny red things! like a mixer which I have always wanted!



IKEA table and chairs.






shiny toaster!



I am going to put up my chair and my knitting basket in this corner in front of the bookshelf. mm, my own space!



The place where all the wires go...need more cords!



who's that guy??






one more room to see...



into the lair!



Where the knitting books hide!



fluffy new pillows






our generous closet.




There you have it! Now to organize my yarn for transport...keep watch. I may be getting rid of things for the cost of shipping plus a buck or so to cover boxes and PayPal fees. mainly akrill, but hey. it's good stuff.

Promise wedding flowers soon! Two left to knit...so close.

super generosity of knitties!

Last year I knit a shawl for Ana and Ceci's gramma. She LOVES it. Ana hired me to do it, and payment arrived, along with many more gifts! I am running out the door to catch a plane for my first ever trip to VEGAS (back Monday) but couldn't NOT blog this. links and details later, cuz i forget. and i need food fast, heh

okay!



























Stash yarn Ana dug out for me to play with, the last wedding flower Ceci knit me. A stunning necklace...flower made out of shells! I have many weddings to attend this summer, and this will go great with my dress. Cannot wait to wear it. it's unique and gorgeous!

And the payment for the shawl, some of Ana's handspun! IT's so soft, lovely, even, heavy, and I know the colour is "Forest" but I forget all the details. Will check back with Ana and give you yardage next post as well. It's amazing stuff. mmmmm and then the stitch markers Ana makes that I purchased.

These ladies are SO generous and kind and I love them. Yay Ana and Ceci!!!!

off i go!

Pictures, as Promised!

Okay then, here we go!

The completed knitting of Hush-Hush:



Promise a modeled pic along with all the details as soon as the ribbon is put on. hopefully soon! (forgot to take pics of garter in progress. oh well :p)

Next up, my wonderful package from Fee! These cookies are sooooo good, Bezzie! The traditional HobNob, but in mini form with chocolate cream in the middle! Oh, yum. And LOOSE PG tips, my favoritest tea ever. I am so excited to try loose tea in my nifty steeper thingie from the Container Store. And the yarn Pr0n!!! I never have this kinda photo-age!




Yarn is freedom spirit by Twilleys of Stamford in such beautiful colours! 262 yards total of a light worsted will make me a lovely scarf. hey wait, would it work for a mini Clapotis??? OH JOY! I wonder.....

And last but most certainly not least.... Tucker drove us into the city on a quite frigid, blustery, and snowflakes in the air April day in Chicago..... (SO typical!) to meet Amy!!! I think it was so great to actually see the garments from the book. I dearly want the light blue tiny-cabled sweater out of Rowan Calmer, but it'd need to totally be lengthened, and I don't wanna think of the cost of that...ugh. But here we are, and it was fab to see Kristen again.



I learned how to drive the forklift/picker at work today! The one where you actually go up and down WITH it, to pull boxes of books off of high shelves in the warehouse. Kinda thrilling, actually. We just won't tell my mom. She doesn't like the thought of me using the regular forklift you walk behind to get things down, when i worked at the grocery store. hehe all in all a good day and i'm feeling pretty good =D

and now i need some sleep...when us super-pale gals don't get much sleep, it really shows around the eyes....

working on it!

hi! I promise I have been knitting things. I am just way lazy. Plus i am rarely home when the sun is out to take any decent pictures. I have finished the knitting portion of Hush Hush and I have ribbon and strap findings on hand. Now to attach it all and weave ends. I have an entire skein of Gloss left to play with at will. I also finished the knitting portion of my garter; now to sew up and add ribbon and elastic. Which I may wait til closer to do ( so the fit is perfect)

Now to knit flowers! And tomorrow Tucker and I drive into the city to meet AmyKnitty! Yay!!!

I also got a FAB package from Fee!!! Fabulously soft wool in gorgeous varigates, PG Tips LOOSE tea (mmmm! my favorite!) And HobNob Creams! ohhhhh they are goooooooooooood

pics soon.

Shopping Spree!

sooo, yay for tax returns! heh. I have decided to spend it on some clothes that I do actually need (like a new pair of denim capris or else I would have nothing to wear this summer) and some things I want (like a dress) and a few other wedding things. The rest will go to one of my loans.

my mom had a 30% off thing with her charge at Kohls and they had a major sale (like they do every week, haha)

so i got these:



Matching purses, but in two sizes, and for only a 30-cent difference. Strappy but comfy brown sandals! The bonus is, I already own one brown dress. And I have Matt's graduation to attend, and will hopefully go to Stinny's July wedding wearing that old dress I have. And then for Vegas fancy dinner and my rehearsal dinner I got this at Penney's:



Very happy with this! I am all set with fancy things. Now just to find wedding shoes.....

I also got the gifts for my bridal attendants. Yay!!

Whilst in chat, we were discussing shoes and such. So here are all of mine, except for the pair of sturdy black pumps, and yet another pair of brown lace up regular shoes (and my ratty old work shoes)



Not too many at all! Pleased with myself and they way they have pared down over the years and how little I have bought in the past few years.

and these beauties are going on eBay. yes. 4-inch glitter platforms. woo hoo for high school!



So that's it for now.... Hush Hush is nearing the completion of the knitting portion. Progress pics soon.

whoops!

Here I was, swearing to update this more. But I haven't

Meanwhile, I finally got a new job!!!

It's at a Christian book publisher, in the warehouse. You take the order that prints up, you find all the books from the boxes, put them in trays and double check, then send them on down the line to the people that pack and ship. How cool is that? And the pay is pretty much equal to what I make now. Insurance kicks in when they want (usually 90 days but he says they can always shorten it if you do amazing work ;) ). So I think I may still stay part-time at the grocery store for the minimum required hours to keep my insurance until I get it at the new job. I really want to quit there, but I don't feel safe without health insurance. Then again, if they kick it in say 30 days, I could deal. But I don't know the time period. And hey, my work may not WANT to keep me at part time. If they can't have me full time, they may just tell me to get out. Which is fine. I don't wanna be there.

Lion Brand actually had something that caught my eye (in a good way) in a recent newsletter. Michael's is always hiring people to teach classes. Well hey, if I could use a bit of extra cash, and this job really does get out early in the day, then I *could* teach some knitting or even crochet on the side. How's that for really enjoying your job? YES. I get to work with books every day and then I will eventually get to work with yarn? Life is good.

I also bought myself my very own first car, but have neglected to take a picture. Soon, because I need to take pictures of things to sell on eBay as well. Promises, promises. A brand new '06 Kia Spectra, beige, fully loaded. It's pretty nice. I'm happy.

Now to go e-mail the family and tell them the joyous news!