Please heed this important WARNING

(hehehehehe SNORT)

I'm in a funk today

God I'm so BLAH today! I am tired and have no reason to be. It's been storming a lot here this week. Maybe it has something to do with it.

We just went to a Flea Market. It's always fun seeing things from your childhood, even if it is just the tea pot your mom had. But, my God, was it a FREAK SHOW! The people in those places are S-C-A-R-Y looking! LOL I did manage to pick up a mirror that can be fixed up for "A" and "E" 's bedroom. They didn't have one and need one to make themselves beautiful before school. The guy gave it to us for free. It needs some fixing up but isn't too bad looking.

After the Flea Market we went to the mall. I picked up 4 uniform shirts for "M". She has to wear light blue this year. "A" needs dark blue but they didn't have any. I won't know what color "E" needs until she is registered for school up here. I have to make an appt to do that this week. I think I'll take a day off to do it. Why the hell not?

We went to the Christmas Tree Shop. I bought three mixers for drinks. One is Pomegranate, one is Mango and the last is just a boring Pina Colada one that sounded good at the time. Maybe I need a drink!

Hubby is about to go buy Steak and Lobsters, corn on the cob and baking potatoes for dinner. Then I think I will knit a bit on my sweater.

I went spinning up at webs yesterday and picked up some Rowan Big Wool on Clearance. It's maroon and yellow and really caught my eye. I think I am going to make myself a scarf, hat and mittens for this winter. The colors should make me happy during the long cold months.

I'm also going to make these two pairs very soon so I have them ready for the cold months. They make me smile. :)






Link to Ladybug Mittens on Ravelry - The chart they had was too tiny and hard to read so I made one in excel. You are welcome to download the picture and use it. You'll need to use a generic mitten pattern of your own. They have these in Latvian Mitten books, etc.
...and here is the link to the yellow mittens on Ravelry and to the actual pattern.

New Mitten Swap Blog is up

http://mittenswapthree.blogspot.com/

I think this might be my last one since it is such a hassle to get some people to follow through on sending packages and I get nothing in return for my efforts. That might sound selfish but the knitting swap world is brutal. In my scrapbooking days the hostess always received little thank you gifts which ALMOST made it worthwhile. LOL But not in the knitting swap world...which really kinda surprises me since knitters seem to be the nicest people on the face of the earth. Hmmmmm

So, anyway, if you want to do it one last time...go on over and join. I'm sitting this round out as a swapper so I can focus on getting everyone to do what they promised to do....grrrrr

What's better than floating in the pool with an icy beverage?

Tastefully Simple has these new Drink Buckets that you just add the alcohol to; Mango Breeze Margarita and Samba Sangria Slush.

The Mango Margarita is AWESOME! We had it on the 4th of July. Last night I tried the Sangria Slush in the Hot Tub and am about to go have a glass in the pool while i read my book.

Relaxing like this is me favorite part of summer. :)

If you haven't tried these, and you drink (of course), find a Demonstrator on the website and help her earn some money. It's a win-win situation. I happen to have a co-worker who sells it. If you live in Western MA and want her name, let me know.

Noni - Seussish Cat in the Hat Bag

This one has been snoozing for a looooooong time. I am trying very hard to keep my promise to myself that I will pick up and finish and old project each time I start a new project so that my WIP's do not continue to grow without resulting in any Finished Objects.

So, alas, I pulled this one out of the bottom of my knitting basket and worked on it until it was done. I hadn't felted in a little while so it was fun to do that again. This is so whimsical and came out just like Noni's sample. I am very pleased with it. I can't help but smile when I look at it. It's such fun! (as I have mentioned before, I live in Dr. Seuss' hometown (Springfield, MA) so I had other motivation to knit this particular pattern. I am sure it will get a lot of comments.)

Feel the Sweat. Own the Energy.

OMG I went to an Aerobics workshop today with Karla from Sudor Taino. She is a Detective with the Hartford CT police Department. She is so motivational, but a bit nuts. LOL

The workshop was three 45 min sessions. The first one was kick boxing which I have never done and had me drenched with sweat by the time I was done. WOW. What a workout! The second one was a Core Workout. Imagine doing squats etc with your pelvis tilted up. We even did squats on our toes and tons of crunches and bicycles. The third session was Dance. Tons of fun! We did some Salsa moves etc. I don't have much rhythm, but somehow with her leading us, I was able to shimmy, and shake my ass like a real pro (a white, rhythmless pro....hehe). Nevertheless, I got quite a workout, sweat about 40 pounds off (I wish) and had a ton of fun.

If you live in the Hartford area, you should look her up. She teaches at a gym in Newington, CT. I know her because my gym at work had her come in and do an hour workshop a couple of weeks ago (that was when I found out that it was possible to sweat from your eyelids....snort). I am so glad I went. It was the best $30 I have ever spent (as good as the $30 monthly fee I pay to belong to the gym at work which has helped me regain my strength and power).

If you don't work out.....now is the time. You just feel amazing. I used to hate to sweat. Now it helps me know that I have pushed all of the negative energy out and replaced it with self confidence and strength.

Today is the day I also decided to get back on the Weight Watcher's Core program too. I have been following it loosely for a few months (since "A" was diagnosed) and decided that I need to get back on track. This month is the year anniversary of the beginning of my weight loss journey. I've gained some weight back since I started at the gym and stopped being careful with my eating. I know some of it is muscle weight, but not all of it is. I still have about 30-40 pounds to get to "my goal".

I earned about 19 points working out today. LOL I'm just going to eat a bit extra at dinner. No more slipping even if I do have the points to spare.

Finally finished my Monkeys...

I cast these on MONTHS ago. I can never focus on one project so it took me forever to finish them. They sat in my knitting bag untouched for a long time after I cast on the second one. I vowed to never succumb to SSS (second sock syndrome) so I would knit on it a little bit now and then but never focused on it for a long period of time. A couple of months ago I talked about them at knitting and decided I had to do the heel and gusset. But after I did those, I put it aside again.

Last week I decided that I needed another completed project in my Ravelry Projects so I picked it up again and knit on it a little bit every day. Well, I finally finished them last night. They are blocking now. It'll be months before it is warm enough to wear socks again, but when that time comes, I am armed with a pair of hand knit ones!

If you look in my stash and queue at Ravelry, you notice a slight obsession with sock patterns and sock yarn.....so why on earth are these only my second pair of completed socks? LOL The first pair went to my mom, so these are my first. They should be quick to knit. I have no idea why I can't seem to focus on them.