Manic Monday

Hi gang! Yep, it's Monday. I've been told there is supposed to be a post today. One sec...phone...

I'm back. Ok so we had a really, really laid back weekend this weekend. There was very little cleaning, very little of anything but gaming, couch cuddles and a bit of laundry to tide us over for the week. The most complicated thing I fixed food wise was a bit of beef stroganoff yesterday and some grilled cheese sandwiches on Saturday. One sec.....phone...

Back again. Where was I? Oh yeah, lazy weekend. I think last weekend was just soooo crazy we needed one to recover from it. Good thing too, because work today? Nuts. We had a conference call today at 2 pm. It covered all 4 location. Windsor, Ct., College Station, Tx, Boulder Co., and Bothell Wa. Nobody made one mention of time zone. Every one of us showed up at 2 pm. Our time. Ya'll, this was the longest conference call in history. We missed it by an hour. So we had a small impromptu one. By the time we got done, the Boulder folks were on. The Bothell people are still on it. I bet next time Windsor states the time zone for this sort of thing. Crap...phone....

Ok, where was I? Oh yeah, today? Today is crazy day at work for some reason. It's just...busy. Insane. Anyway, I've begun to notice a trend here at Casa de la Stalker. I've had a few picture of yarn aquisitions, but ummm....not a lot of yarn "content." I'm not working on anything again. Oh I have projects going, but that's so not the same as working on them. This is supposed to be about stalking and crocheting and knitting....and it's not. I mean granted, it's my blog and I can do whatever the hell.....damn phone...

Whatever the hell I want with it but I really do owe you guys some good old fashioned yarny goodness with projects and such. I'll get on that. In the meantime, the phone is ringing. Again.

Hard act to follow. Also known as rambling.

How in the world do you follow up after posting a panty girdle? Y'all, I put panties on my blog. Now what's left to talk about? Ummm....well...oh I know! I had a brave moment last night and went back in the box of horrors (Yes, I threw out the panties. You guys are sick) and I contemplated the bag of yarn intestines. Then I opened the bag. No smell. Good sign, that. So I very tentatively reached in and touched the yarn guts. Oh. My. Goodness. I cannot describe how soft and silky it is. I want sheets made of this stuff. Actually I want a long dress made of it and then to slip it on after a nice exfoliating shower where the legs have been shaved and to walk along and have it rub against my skin. Yeah, it's that good. It's sex yarn.

What do I do with this stuff?? Do I leave it white and once I use it hide it somewhere it will never get dirty? Do I take a small sample and see if I can dye it a satisfactory color and make myself something with it? Does anyone have a clue as to what this stuff could be??? It's like silk. It's jumbled in that bag but not knotted or frayed. A clue? Anyone?

So I went yesterday to get my passport for the cruise cuz you need one now to go that far south into Mexico. I went on my lunch break because I live in a small town. They wouldn't be busy. Nobody goes anywhere. Ri-iight. Two hours folks. That's 2. Hours. Sitting there. And since I was coming from work, did I have any yarn with me? NO! I did not! I had to sit there like a lump and smile at the nice lady with the screaming child like I didn't mind the screaming and there was no yarny goodness to be had. I didn't even have a book. I felt really stupid. It says something when you feel stupid because you're NOT crocheting in public, y'all.

Thanks to all of you who sent well wishes for the boy. He is feeling much better but now gets in trouble if I think he's breathing wrong. He now growls at me when I go to pick him up. If I see him trying to get on the couch, I tell him "No, sir." Then I go and pick him up by his front and back to put him lovingly on the sofa. The entire time he is smiling and growling in gratitude for helping him. I know he is. He loves his momma for taking such good care of him. He loves me so much right now, he is nice and stays out from under my feet by hanging out with Daddy all day. He's so considerate he doesn't even come to me when I call him and offer treats.

He also gratefully growls at me and shows me his pretty smile when I get out the peanut butter. See, his meds have to be taken with food, and if I roll the pills up in peanut butter, he doesn't spit them out. And of course, I went and got him organic peanut butter. The hubby gets Kroger brand. Nothing but the best for Boy though. I have a wonderful sense of priority. Anyway, to get him to take the peanut butter, I have to gently pry his mouth open and rub it on his tongue then quickly remove my fingers before he bites them in his zealousness to get to the yummy peanut butter. Then he gazes at me with love and makes appreciative noises that only SOUND like growling while he takes his medicine. I've had to remind him lately that kisses don't involve teeth, but he's such an affectionate little bugger.

I've been reading a lot lately and I highly recommend The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger and Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden. Both of them very nice reads. But then, I read a variety of things and use books as my escape from reality. My ultimate brain candy series is the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series, by Laurell K. Hamilton. Y'all, I really like her stuff. Not because it's deep or cause me to rethink my life or anything like that. I don't read books to better myself. Pffft. I read because I have an over active imagination and this gives it some place to burn off. Also, don't talk to me if I am reading. I will bite your face. It's not pretty. If you have to get my attention, bring a brass band and then run away until I finish the section. But yeah. Laurell K. Hamilton is my not-so-secret-any-longer vice. The books get a bit....umm...racy, but not in a Harlequin romance sort of way. Ugh. I really don't want to read about how he was pulsing and she was heaving and there might have been throbbing involved. And it's not that I mind a good sex scene in a book, but let's call a spade a spade and not a "moisture missile" or "throbbing python of love." Please? Can we NOT call them that?

Well, enough rambling. Now that I've broken your brains and horrified with my choice of questionable literature *snerk*, I'll end this silliness and call it a day.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Update: Y'all, I just read through this post again and it's all sex and peanut butter. I'm not sure what that says about me or what kind of people are going to end up on my blog now. I'm frightened.

Why mail order is scary as hell. Also, why vets rule and dogs are a pain.

First off, I really want to thank everyone for their well wishes in the comments about Shu Shu. I cannot explain how much they meant to me and how much they helped. I spent most of my weekend all weepy and depressed and very ummm.....unshowered. Eww. Am I over it? Nope. Not even close. But I can deal with it today and that's really all any of us can hope for when we lose a loved one. Tomorrow I may be a basket case again. Hell, it may happen by lunchtime. You can never tell. But there is coping and good memories. Moving on.

Warning: This is a loooong ass post. Seriously.

Monday. Yes. Ummm....see.....there was supposed to be this lovey dovey gross post about how T and I met and it was our anniversary and he is an absolute pain in the ass but I love him anyway cuz he puts up with my shit all. The. Time. Wanna know how my 7th anniversary went? Well, I didn't get to wake up to romance or breakfast in bed or little snuggle kisses or just laying in bed with hubby and puppies in one big furry family pile of love and giggles. Know why? Cuz we have 2 dogs in the house still and it is their goal in life to make us CRAZY.

Have I ever mentioned I'm not a morning person? Cuz I'm not. Mornings are for birds and worms and shit. If I see a sunrise, it better be because I am still awake and haven't gone to bed yet. If I have to wake up for a sunrise, do not expect romance and feelings of love from me. I will bite you in the face. My dogs know this. My dogs are very quiet for me in the mornings. They don't even bark at the mailman if I haven't had coffee yet. They are either very smart puppies or I am one scary woman in the morning. So, Monday morning, well before I want to be awake (see depressed, weepy and unshowered), I hear this whining noise. And little yips. And whining some more. So I say in my best mommy before coffee voice, "Alexander, that is enough." See, this is their cue to shut the hell up. And for me, they do. For T they just roll their eyes and keep barking because daddy isn't scary. Daddy is a pushover for doggy eyes. This time the whining did not stop. Wait......no coffee, I said "enough" and there is still pitiful dog noises. Hmmm....

So I crawl out of bed with one eye open (my right eye. My left eye wakes up slower.) and pick up the boy who is whining at the foot of my bed. Because he wouldn't come to me. Again....hmmmm...this is getting weird. Boy not walking. Boy not jumping on bed. Boy whining. Check boy's feet. Y'all, I totally get brownie points for figuring that out before coffee. Now keep in mind we've had a very sick older dog in the house who has gotten all of our attention. The other 2 were given food, water and the occassional pettings, but were pretty much left on their own to rough it out. This does not make me a good mommy. We're working on it.

So what I found was that one of his claws had curled around and was in his poor little paw. Yes, in it. I burst into tears. Have I mentioned I'm not stable right now? Cuz I'm not. Stable. Not even a little. I walk into my computer room where I knew the hubby would be, crying and carrying Alex like he's some tragic figure in a Shakespearean play. My first words to my poor hubby on the morning of our anniversary aren't "Happy anniversary, baby!," "I love you!," or "I'd marry you all over again." They are "You have to help me he's hurting oh my poor boy!!" T thinks the dog is dying because I am just not stable. He finally gets me to calm down enough to hear the word paw. T checks the paws. T find the claw embedded in the boy's foot. T says "Baby, it's just his paw. We can fix this." My mind snaps and says "oh." So we clip the nail, get it out of his paw, clean it up and paw is fine. I feel pretty damn stupid.

We realize boy is really a mess so we start clipping fur. Alex does not like this. It tickles and he hates the tickles. He always snaps at the scissors all big and mean. He finally gets mad enough about being clipped so T picks him up to calm him down and love on him. Boy starts screaming, growling, yelping all at once. What the hell? So we put boy down and the whimpering thing starts again. Boy won't walk on his own. Maybe the nail was not the big thing? So into the shower I go while T calms down the boy. Off to the vet we go, me and the boy. On my anniversary. A hurt dog. After just losing one. Stable? Who, me?

Anywho, the doctor is swamped but will see him today. She finds a tender spot on his back. Boy needs X-rays. I cry. Vet thinks I am an idiot. She wants to keep the boy for X-rays and observation. She wants me to LEAVE HIM THERE AND GO HOME. I cry. Vet thinks I might be crazy. I sit in the waiting room of the vet's office for 6 hours reading a book. Vet has the nice men in white coats on speed dial. Alex gets X-rays and Vet talks to me from across the waiting room. Mustn't stand to close to the weepy mad woman who keeps saying "but we fixed his paw. It's ok now!"

Seems Alex has a teeny tiny bone chip in his back that had gotten inflamed. Boy is on 4 different meds for a month and gets to spend time in a kennel until healed. Have I mentioned I am going on a cruise? I am. I deserve this cruise now y'all. Alex is already better and we are in a power struggle to keep him from jumping on furniture. We don't care about dogs on furniture. We care about him hurting himself. The vet was super nice with him though and I was shocked at the fact that she only charged me $140 for an emergency visit, 2 X-rays, 4 bottles of doggie drugs and putting up with the crazy crying lady. This is why we always use this vet. But seriously y'all. I need a vacation.

__________________________________________________

Yarny Goodness and Scary Mail. Also why the Stalker limits her Ebay time.

So I have aquired some yarny goodness recently because Ye Olde Stalker buys things on the internet when she is sad. Or happy. Or breathing. It's a addiction but I swear there's no program for it. Anywho, there's pictures! Yay! Cheer now my friends, because horror lurks amongst the yarny goodness. I have been tainted.

First off we have a 2 lb skein of what looks like mustard yellow wool. It is, I assure you, a lovely natural shade for now.


This is for dying experiments. Wheee!!! I am looking forward to seeing just how badly I can screw up this yarn. I'm not even joking. I have never dyed a thing in my life except my hair and I butchered it every time. This is gonna be fun.

Next is some lovely yarn from an Ebay company called Jojoland and the colorway is...uumm....hell I don't know. But there's 10 lovely skeins of I don't know in that bag.

I tried for a close up of the yarn and for some reason failed miserably. I'll try again when I get home. I was in a hurry. This yarn is beautiful though. Purples, greens, peach and pink. Such subtle shadings that they look like skeins of different yarns. Click for bigger image. It may help. It may frustrate you further. How brave are you? Mwuahahahahaa.......


The next picture is to show how brave I am. I got a mixed lot of yarn on Ebay for $5 to use for Dulaan projects and such. Do you see what's in the middle of that box? Wooden knitting needles. Worth the admission price, right there.

In the box I found a lot of yarns that will be fun to work with, but I also found some finished stuff. This is a child's size sweater found in the bottom of the box. This will go into the Dulaan box for sure. Works for me!
I also found a bag of umm....well....they aren't circles. They are definitely crocheted but I don't know what the hell they are. They could be butterflies. Maybe. Or yarn amoebas. Or....I just really don't know. I'll find something to do with them.

Then there were also some confusing items that the more I looked at them, the more horrified I got. When they say mixed lot of yarn, I really expect yarn. I know, I'm such an optimist. But this....y'all, seriously. What is this? At first I thought silk. I'm afraid to touch it. The more I look at it the more it looks like yarn intestines. It's very..shiny. And disturbing. I am afraid of this bag. From the outside it's slick...slippery....well, slimy comes to mind.

Then the one thing that finally got me, This doesn't have anything to do with knitting, crocheting, tatting, yarn, crafting........anything. Why??? Why would this be in my charity yarn?? Someone somewhere is wondering where they left these! If these are yours, please let me know and I will send them back to you. Free of charge.

Shu Shu

Back in 1990 when I was 18 and fresh out of high school (some of you stop groaning and thinking how young I am, the rest of you I am not that old, piss off) I got very ill with pneumonia and ended up in the hospital for 5 weeks. When I got out of the hospital, I got to go through therapy due to the trauma (been there, done that, got the white streak in the hair) and a demerol addiction. Part of my therapy suggestions was a pet. At about the same time I was thinking it over, a friend I worked with informed me that her boyfriend's dog was in labor. Off we went. I got there right after the first puppy was born, but I got to help with the second one and hold her as soon as she was born. I claimed her for mine.

I went every day to spend time with this new puppy and get her used to me and so I could get to know her before bringing her home. She was an absolute priss of a pup. I told my mom this and her name became Shu Shu. Because she was very very shu shu and all that implied. Hated getting dirty. Walked with one paw in front of the other which gave her a jaunty little bounce to her walk. She was always happy. If she had been human, she would have been the perfect blond cheerleader. She liked everybody. There were no strangers, only new people to love her. She is the only dog I have ever seen that didn't squat to pee. She launched her back end into the air and held herself on her 2 front feet and when she was done would walk a little ways forward before she ever set her back feet down. She took prissy to an extreme.

As a puppy, she loved marshmallows. She would eat them if you didn't watch her, until her little belly was big and round. Then she would lay on the floor and give little burps. She never begged for food unless you offered her a bite first. If you gave her a bite first, she would then sit at your feet and if you ignored her, she would reach her paw up to touch your knee then sit back down. She was never rude.

When T and I first got married, money was tight and we lived with his folks for about a year. My father-in-law does not really care for animals. He adored Shu Shu. He would carry her everywhere, feed her cheese and treats and get upset if she sat in anyone else's lap. She won him over completely. When she sleeps, she sticks her tongue out of her mouth and when you wake her up, it takes her a good 10 minutes to get that tongue back in. I have proof. Here she is getting woke up by the camera.



Such a princess. At the age of 9 years old she had her first littler of puppies and she was a champ at birthing. Once she got them out it was our turn entirely. Puppies are messy. She didn't do messy. The next year she had her last litter. Five years ago we had her fixed and at the same time had a golf ball sized tumor removed from her stomach. We didn't do a biopsy. She was 10 years old. If it was malignant, we wouldn't have put her through the hell of treatment, and if it was benign, why spend the money for a biopsy?

Last night at around 10:45 I held my baby in my arms, told her I loved her and watched her take her last breath. I cried. I am still crying. I don't know why pets get to us the way they do. I just know it hurts when they leave. My father cried when I told him. My father-in-law cried and dug her grave for her. Today she was buried and all of the family attended. This isn't normal and we have never gathered for any other pet. She was just that special to us. I'm not angry about her death because she had a very long full life for a dog. It wasn't unexpected because she has been spiraling down for 2 weeks now. I'm just going to miss her and her happiness.

Goodbye, Baby Girl.

P.S Dear God, I'm down. Please stop kicking me now, k? Thx.

Not a real post. Ok, not a post about yarny goodness.

Ok, I know I'm behind on posting. And yeah, the last 2 posts don't really count as posts. Usually when I don't post it's due to laziness. Ok, sometimes when I don't post, it's due to laziness. Other times I don't post it's because I am in a whiny bitchy mood and really don't want to spread it to the blogisphere. The rest of THIS particular post is probably going to cross the line into TMI, also it will be boring. Also, there will be large words involved. Also, there will be ugly words. So if you're not comfortable with a peek into the non-yarn related personal side of life, I promise there will be a much nicer softer post later and until then there's always cuddly puppies and kittens.

First off, I'm not writing this for sympathy votes or well wishes or condolences or anything like that. I simply want to explain why sometimes Ye Olde Stalker goes AWOL. Cuz I do. Go AWOL, I mean. Anywho, some of you already know this, but about 4 years ago, my dear hubby, T, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. For those of you who don't know what MS is, you can read the short version of it here. Basically, it's a very mean disease for those who have it and for those who live with those who have it. It is a degenerative disease that effectively destroys the nerve endings in your brain, spinal cord and optic nerves. T has a version of it called Relapsing-Remitting which is the mildest form you can have. Mild is deceptive. This disease really fucks with you. To top it off, the drugs for it fuck with you too. Seriously.

So T is on this drug called Copaxone which is like a daily injection of angry. T is not angry about his disease. He has taken it well into stride. But the medication he is on can cause mood swings. They do not tell you this at the onset of drug therapy. So T has a really short fuse when it comes to his temper. If he holds it in, the stress can cause his MS to flare up. Ya see where I'm going here? Huh? I knew you were smart cookies. This means T has moments of screaming rage. This means that about 4 days out of the week I get a shit sandwich for breakfast simply because I'm visible. I know what causes this. Usually I just sit and listen to him rant and rave and keep him from harming himself or anything expensive. Some days I lose it, scream back and leave the house. Those are the times I will not post. Those are the days I am angry about his disease and don't want to spread the ugly.

I can't explain it to others because my friends and family think he has been abusive towards me and that's so not the case. He doesn't hurt people on purpose. He has driven off friends before because they couldn't understand his disease or didn't want to. He simply has very little control over his emotions. He can't afford to hold them in too much because, again, stress = MS flare up which = T going blind in one eye or the other for a while. Which causes more stress. Yeah. Ugly ass cycle, ain't it? So anyway, I know folks get worried when I don't show up in their comments or I don't post for a while. Trust me, I'm there. I'm just lurking and being moody. Also, I am the Stalker so I am all mysterious and shit. Ok, yeah, it's just being moody.

This weekend will be us time with no outside influences unless it's the pizza delivery dude with extra cheese. And Dr. Pepper. In large quantities.

Monday = gross lovey dovey post due to Anniversary.

Wednesday = super cool new yarn and book acquisitions post that will make you drool.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Love,

Ye olde moody bitch. Heee

Whatever.

Dear Blog,

Piss off. I'm busy.

Oh, and shadow puppets? Pfft. Lame.

Love,

Stalker Angie.

P.s. You're not the boss of me.

Surrogate blogger

Umm...Hi. This is Stalker Angie's blog here. I don't know where the hell Angie is. She claims she's always working, but I know she's spending time on other blogs. Leaving little comments all over the place. Don't get me wrong, I knew when we first got together that there would be other blogs. She's the Stalker, right? Can't hold her down to just one blog. Still, I do get jealous at times. She doesn't have to spend ALL her time being the Stalker. Maybe she's still over trying to free Norma and her stash from werk.

I hope she's being careful too. I've seen some of those other blogs. Some of them are infected with Ads. She better not bring that shit home to me. You can't get rid of ads once they get into your coding. "Ooh ooh click on me baby and I will show you a whole new URL." I just don't think so. Now don't get me wrong. If your blog has Ads and you're ok with it, I'm ok with it. I just don't want it personally. I've seen what it does to your sidebars.

I also understand she's going on some stupid cruise in April. Is she taking me along? Hell no. She'll ignore me for the entire time. I hear she's taking that flesh-bag who gave birth to her though. Oh sure! I hold all her comments, her precious little photos and clean up all her coding mistakes and what do I get out of it? Nothing. Nothing at all. Where's the URL for that bar? I need a drink. Oh, here, ummm...shadow puppets. Enjoy.

A camel!



A goatl!


A flying bird!

A wee bunny rabbit!

Ok, and now it's your turn. What kinda shadows can you make?


Maybe the Stalker will actually grace us with her presence on Friday. Ungrateful cow...

Grand Opening!

First off, Happy Birthday, Blog Mistress!!!!! Y'all head on over and wish Ms. Ryan a Happy Birthday.

Yesterday was the Grand Opening of the Stalkee Gear store at CafePress. Ok, so the opening wasn't so grand, as it was just T and me. I did send the link to Christina to check out but at least it's up! Yay!! I'm really happy with how things turned out and if anyone sees something they'd like with one of the other images, just let me know. I'll brew it up for ya. Any money made on this deal will go towards yarn for Dulaan knitting. Basically, it'll be the $2 or $3 difference between acrylic and wool so I can make warmer wool stuff to send. Anywho, the link is on the sidebar, go check it out!

Some of y'all expressed a bit of interest in the upcoming cruise, so I thought I'd share a bit of info with ya. I'll be taking my mom with me as she deserves it for raising my sorry ass for so many years and not drowning me which is kinder than I sometimes deserved. She's so excited it's unreal. Makes me so glad to be taking her. Anyway, we'll be going in April on Royal Caribbean cruiselines. It's a 7 day cruise (Sunday to Sunday) and our destinations are Key West/Florida, George Town/Grand Caymen, and Cozumel/Mexico.

I'm not scared of going on the actual cruise, what frightened me is dropping that much money at once. On something that has nothing to do with our house, the cars, the dogs or our marriage. Dropping that much money on a cruise when we may have to replace all of our plumbing (I'll find that out in a few hours), my car needs to be in the shop, T's car needs to go into the shop, all of the dogs are due for a serious grooming for the upcoming spring mud season we are ripping up carpets this year, the walls all need to be painted, the house needs to be leveled (ah, pier and beams) and I want to replace the siding on the house. Then I stopped this weekend and thought about it. I have wanted to do this for a very, very long time. I have saved this money for over a year and a half with bonuses from work that I worked my butt off for. This is a dream of mine that I'm making come true. Fuck the house. I'm heading for the open sea. It's fruity drinks with umbrellas, dancing, sun, water and sexy cabana boys named Umberto for a week! Everybody sing with me!!

Aruba, jamaica ooo I wanna take you

To bermuda, bahama come on pretty mama

Key largo, montego baby why don’t we go

Ooo I wanna take you down to kokomo

We’ll get there fast

And then we’ll take it slow

That’s where we wanna go

Way down to kokomo

Check it out!

Y'all, I totally made this. Yes, it's my second one, but it amazes me every time I finish something that I can actually do it. Plus it's tiny! It's standing next to a normal sized gravy boat for Heaven's sake.

Do you ever finish a project and after all of the knitting/crocheting/tatting/quilting and tucking in ends and such, sit back to look at a finished object and just think "Wow. I MADE that. With my own 2 hands. I f*cking rock, dude!" Yeah, I did that with this bear. I have carried him with me for 2 days now and I kept taking him out and putting him on my desk. He's actually now headed to Washington state to a friend so she can gift him to her sister. I really hope she likes it. If not, she can send him home and we'll be ok with that. Hehe

This weekend I will work on getting the Cafe Press store set up so I can get the prizes set up and sent to the winners. I am so excited!

I also spent yesterday at lunch getting photos taken for a passport. I have been saving for over a year now and April 2nd I am taking my mom on a cruise. A cruise. No seriously,y'all. A real honest to goodness get your ass on the boat we're headed for the Caribbean cruise. I booked it today. Scary stuff that. The kick-ass camera is going with me. I am bouncing off the walls. Wheeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope everyone has a great day!

Stalker Attitude

When I started reading blogs I was fascinated by the idea that people throw their lives out there for the world to see and wondered how they did so without feeling completely exposed. When you blog you're giving little pieces of yourself away to perfect strangers. You open yourself to hurtful, snide remarks and ridicule. You can't control what people are going to say or think about you and you can't make people be nice.

When I started my own blog, I was all too aware of how mean the world can be, but I wanted a way to share the things I have made and am making, because I am proud of them. I was very hesitant to really be myself. I'm never going to be a consistent blogger. It's really not who I am. I'm an inconsistent individual. Yes, flighty is a damn good word to describe me. I have a short attention span on the best of days, but I find myself being very consistent about one thing. Checking for comments. I live for the darn things. Once I post I check my email every 15 minutes to see if I have any, then if I do, I actually change websites to read them directly on the blog instead of in my inbox. It's a dorky thing to do, but I discovered something on this blog thing we do. It's really not about the blogger. It's about throwing out an idea, a finished object, a vacation photo or 2 and seeing how others react to it. Yes, we put our lives on the internet, but it's in exchange for the little snippets we get back when someone leaves a comment. We find new people to connect with, new blogs to read, new lives to explore with new ideas. It's about discovering a whole new community of people who couldn't be more different and still have so much in common.

I smile everytime I find a new-to-me blog that I really enjoy and there in the comments is a familiar "face." Maybe it's just because Steph, Ryan, Margene, Claudia, Norma and the others are every-freakin-where, but I think we've just got a really good thing going. With that being said, I made a post on Monday about the contest and as usual was waiting oh so not patiently for comments and was a little thrown by them. Then I went back and really read the post. I think I owe some folks a serious apology! I did not mean for that post to sound like a whiney bitch and that's exactly what it sounds like. "Oh my gosh nobody loves me and nobody will play with me and I will just go play by myself screw you guys I'm going home and stop touching my crayons." What was that all about?? I was seriously not upset by the lack of participation and it really was my own fault for dropping the ball on it. Then yesterday, the actual last day of the month I got a submission for the contest. And it's brilliant! What kind of moron sets a due date for a contest on the next-to-the-last day of the month? So yes, my dear, dear Stalkees, we have contest winners. Dear Stalkee Christina sent in a plethora of buttons to use and I think I'll throw them all on. I hate not using any of them since she worked hard on them. Besides, I like them all. So grab a button! You know the drill about saving it on your own server blah blah bandwidth blah.










So Christina wins 2 skeins of the sock yarn of her choice from Knit Picks and a Stalkee mug. Which means it's a damn good thing we had a merchandise entry or she'd be getting a nice blank mug and some crayons.

The entry for the merchandise came from Michelle, who is obviously very talented. She went in a direction I hadn't even thought of and executed it brilliantly. Now I have to decide if I want to use the lines version, the color version or just use both and have a choice. I like having choices. So Michelle, you are the winner of a Stalkee gear T-shirt with your design on it, a set of 8 stitchmarkers made by me with your choice of colors, and a shopping spree of up to $35 at KnitPicks. I have your email addy (muahahaha) so I'll let ya know how I have it set up and get ya taken care of. You might wanna head over and start some window shopping. :^D So without further ado, my Dear Stalkees, the winning (ok only but it still rules) submission(s)!





Sheer brilliance! So what do you guys think? Way to go you two!! Big stalker hug to the both of you.

Hope everyone has a great day!