Monday, October 30, 2006

Cuteness, Finished Object and Not So Cute.

Hi gang! So, shall we start with cuteness, the finished object or the not so cute? I'm afraid if I start with cuteness I may lose you for the rest of the post. The finished object I'm saving for the end because most of you won't believe I actually finished something. So I guess we head right for the not so cute. This....this used to be an orderly stash room.

I found this when I got home Friday and went to find some yarn. I think it's time for another installment of "Stupid Conversations Had At My House."

Me: Baby??

T: Yes?

Me: Why is my dining room in my stash room?

T: Cuz I moved it in there?

Me: You're an ass.

T: For moving the furniture?

Me: No..Well yes, but for giving me a stupid answer. Why did you move the furniture into my stash room?

T: Because we're ripping up the dining room carpet.

Me: Oh. Ummm...You're sister and her husband are due here next week.

T: Yeah, it's easier to rip up the carpet and claim construction than it is to try and clean the carpet.

Me: The carpet is so bad you'd rather rip it up, hoping there's a serviceable floor under it and claim construction??

T: Yes.

Me: Are we that damn messy?

T: Penny was. When was the last time you looked behind the dining room table? She destroyed it!

Me: Ummm...well....behind, huh?

T: You're so observant.

Me: Piss off, dear.

So yeah, we're ripping up the dining room carpet. I guess. It didn't happen over the weekend so I guess my next few evenings will consist of...carpet ripping. I'm doing a lot of guessing here folks.

So anyway, on to the cuteness! I cornered Saoirse in the living room and demanded a picture of her saying her presence was requested. I got this.


Cold shouldered. By my own dog. If she could have reached me to bite me, she would have, y'all. Luckily, she is lazy and I would not step closer to her. I swear vengeance upon her come Wednesday when I get home and she and Alex are back from the groomers. Hee!

Now, this is where Tinker sleeps while I play on the computer. My cat is retarded.

He sleeps on my left foot. Under my desk. Alex sleeps on my right foot. I have living slippers. This will rock in the winter time if it ever comes to Texas. Until then, I am dying with the hot feet.

Moving on past the cuteness.....move on, people. Come on, get off the pictures already. I am dangling a finished object in front of you. Yarny goodness. Wanna see?

It's a dog bone mat! For the babies' water bowl cuz they are messy drinkers. This thing is fully washable and it's acrylic. I really don't care how messed up it gets because I can whip out another one in a day or two! I used blue, green and white to match my kitchen. The pattern was found on the Crochetville forums and was designed by Andrea Wallace.

I finished something! Now I need to move chairs so I can get to my stash because I know a few people who need one of these for their furry beasties. I just need to know colors folks or I'll just make it "bone" color. Anyone want one? I like making these. E-mail me. Seriously. I wanna make you people dog bone mats. Now.

*Ahem* Sorry. Obsessive. I'll go take my meds now. Hee!

Friday, October 27, 2006

Yarn's Bound and Wound

Yarn's bound and wound, we're loadin' up and truckin',
We gonna drive past San Antonio.
We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there.
We're West bound just watch ol' Stalker run.

Keep your foot hard on the pedal. Jo, never mind them brakes.
Let the yarn hang out cuz we got a run to make.
The girls are twitchy up in Dallas and there's wool to get in Boerne,
And we'll bring it back no matter what it takes.

Yarn's bound and wound, we're loadin' up and truckin',
We gonna drive past San Antonio.
We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there.
We're West bound just watch ol' Skitter run.

Yarn's bound and wound, we're loadin' up and truckin',
We gonna drive past San Antonio.
We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there.
We're West bound just watch ol' NanC run.

Ol' Smokey's got them ears on, he's hot on your trail.
He's gonna take your wool and lock you in jail.
So you got to dodge 'im and you got to duck 'im,
You got to keep that spinning wheel truckin'.
Just put that hammer down and give it hell.

Yarn's bound and wound, we're loadin' up and truckin',
We gonna drive past San Antonio.
We've got a long way to go, and a short time to get there.
We're West bound just watch these knitters run.


I...couldn't resist. Blame NanC. We're going to Kid 'N' Ewe. I got stalking to do. See you guys in Boerne. Yay!

Oh and if you haven't seen Smokey and the Bandit, shame on you. Go rent it now. The stalker compels you!

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Menagerie

I really have nothing to follow up Austin with. I'm discussing Kid N' Ewe with the hubby and trying to ignore the coersion going on in the comments. Seriously. He wants me to go, we're just working out finances for hotels and such. Anyone want or need a roommate for Saturday night? I promise I'm fun to have around. Jo will attest to the fact that if it gets late enough I'll talk about damn near anything. Hee!

So to distract you from the lack of anything interesting, I give you pictures of Alex, Bonnie, Clyde and Tinker being his cutest self. I don't have any recent of Saoirse because she refuses to sit still for the blindy flashy thing after the shawl modeling debacle.


Someone needs a haircut. And a clue. Hee!

Happy girl!
Happy boy!


Mmmm.....they think they're tasty indeed.Love me, I'm cute.



Tinker says, "Why is the basket empty? Mommy wont share her yarn with me! Kitty abuse!" I think he's plotting my demise here. Eeeeevil kitty.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Austin Meet N Greet

Warning: This post is long and picture heavy. Yay!

How do you explain fun? How do you describe how awesome something was? I'll try, but damn, I don't know if I'll do it any justice. Seriously. I honestly figured there would be maybe 5 people there (including me) and that it might be a smidge awkward. I love when I am wrong. Sometimes. This time I loved it anyway.

As usual, I was running late to a function. Now folks, it doesn't matter if I leave at 7 am for a 2 hour drive when I don't have to be there until 10 am. I will be late. There will be accidents, construction zones and funerals. It's a given. I give up trying to be on time. I'm just going to accept my tardiness and be done with it. So I was supposed to be at Opal Divines by 10:30 am to be able to greet everyone and at 11:00 am I called the restaurant because I was still 45 minutes away. Shocked? No? Shut up. At least I called. Jeez. So I told the hostess to possibly expect people and to go ahead and seat them or whatever and let them know I was running late. Her response was that a few people had already showed and had been seated. Huh? People already? Cool! Then I began to panic. There were people already there and waiting. WAITING! Then it hit me. It's knitters. They have yarn. They are so not bored or anything.

So I finally arrived and by golly there was cheering! Mostly by me because I was out of Austin traffic and there was food in my future. Skipping breakfast is not so much for making a fun drive. I'll try and remember that in the future. We had a very nice turn out with folks from Austin, Dallas and Houston. You guys rock, you know that? So this is who showed up for our yarn party.



Let me see if I can get all the names right here. *Crosses fingers.* If I get anyone wrong, please let me know I'm an idiot so I can correct it. K? Thx. Starting with Jo in the blue shirt and going clockwise around the first table, Chris, NanC, Snowden (sadly blogless), Nancy (also sadly blogless), Ellie, Julia (who is hiding here but I got a pic of her tattoo. Hee!), Kristin, Meg and P-La. At the second table is Caro in the background and Stacy.

Here we have (from the left) Meg, Kristin and Amy showing proof that swatching happens. And what happens when there is no swatching?

Rrrriiiiiiiipppppppp. Poor Snowden. And she can't even blog her frustrations, hint, hint. We tried to promote blogging. We were ruthless. Ok, not really, but we can pretend, right?

Jene (below in the blue shirt, but sadly blogless as well) also came and played with us. Look at all the yarn on the table! So wonderful.


But then yarn on the table was the order of the day. Also, there was tattoo showings and adorable purses and project bags every-damn-where. And beer. There was definitely beer



Hi Julia's Leg!!


Also, there were some evil people there from a cool organization called Thundering Paws but y'all, they brought kittens. That needed homes. Kittens + Knitters = Lots of not looking that way cuz there are cute kittens. Also, lots of "Awwwwwwwww how cute!" There might have been a couple of "Well, we had talked about another kitten." and some "No, I cannot take a kitten home." I do not have a picture of the kittens. That would just be cruel. But if you click on the link for them, there are kittens. Consider yourself warned.

So all in all, I would say it was a grand success and will definitely happen again. It was so cool to get to meet everyone and it was just...damn fun, guys. There was yarn petting and pattern drooling and so much laughter. There was music, food and drink. There was talk of rotating the Meet 'N' Greet and I like the idea. I like the idea of rotating between Austin, Houston and Dallas so that the same people aren't having to make a long drive each time. Plus, it will allow those folks who simply cannot afford to drive across state to participate. No, we won't be holding one in El Paso, I'm sorry. There had been talk of San Antonio but, damn, this bunch loose on the River Walk? Scary. We'll see how we progress.

So around 3 pm, Chris, NanC and I headed for the Lonestar Knit Out and Crochet. It was nice and relaxing and we met some really cool folk there as well. I don't know names (unfortunately) but here are some of the pictures taken there.

Scary Doll. Cool sweater.


Now this next photo is a kicker. Everyone know of Mom of the did not give birth to me variety? The woman on the left in this picture, is her sister. I shit you not. I haven't seen her in almost 10 years. I flipped out.



The poor woman on the right with her finger stuck in her eye? She's the one who put the whole Knit Out thing in Austin together. She's allergic to wool, people. I will give you a moment to process the horror that is her knitting life. Bless her heart. She had to have been miserable all day.



I love that bright hat. I covet that hat.

And then this woman was perfectly lovely and fun to hang out with and she knit a Princess Leia hat!! How cool is that??



So around 5:30, Chris, NanC and I headed off to find food. Well, they ate and I sampled a bit. At 7:00 I met up with Jo and her lovely daughters for dinner at the Hula Hut in Austin and y'all, I cannot recommend it more. The food was fabulous, the atmosphere was awesome and the company was way too fun. There was singing and dancing in our seats and food. Damn good food. I won't tell you how late we hung out on the pier where the restaurant is, because it was an ungodly amount of time that just seemed to fly by.

I cannot thank everyone enough for coming out to play and just making it a very kick ass Saturday. I don't think we should do this once a year. I think we should do this once every 4 months so we hit all 3 major cities in a year. I miss everyone already and cannot wait to hang out again.

Friday, October 13, 2006

Because I Am Obviously An Idiot

Eek! This is going up much later than I wanted it to. Stupid, stupid work and the stupid, stupid customers. I have things to do people! I cannot be sitting around all day dealing with your problems! There is blogging to be done!

Anyway, is it Saturday yet? No? Dammit. So I thought I'd throw in a final idea of an itinerary (snerk) since, ya know, this whole Meet N' Greet thing is tomorrow and all. Here we go!

11:00 am - 3:00 pm
  • Opal Divine's Penn Field. 3601 S. Congress Ave Ste K100, Austin, Tx.
  • You can reach them at 512-707-0237 for directions. It's just south of St Edward's University.
  • When I get there (hopefully before 11 am when they open) I'll make sure the door folks know of their impending doom and to steer anyone asking about knitters, crocheters or stalkers over to wherever they stick me.
  • Bring a project! I like petting yarn. Hee!

3:00 pm - 6:00 pm

  • Lonestar Knitters Knit Out and Crochet at Borders, 4477 S. Lamar, Austin, Tx.
  • You can reach them at 512-891-8974 for directions.
  • I would imagine there will be someone to follow. I have a map.
  • Be afraid.

There will most likely be a hotel room involved Saturday night for myself to crash into, I honestly haven't decided. I should get on that, huh. Hopefully, none of the Harlot's big, hairy spiders will be involed. Otherwise, I'm sleeping in the hotel pool. Just sayin.

Dear, sweet Jeebus is it Saturday yet??

Oh, and there will be pictures taken and blog fodder happening. Do not be offended if I am sitting like an idiot writing down names and blogs. My memory is shit. Go ask Christina about my memory. She'll have stories. They might be funny, I don't remember.

See you tomorrow!!!

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Yes, I Should Be Working. Shut Up.

So yeah, I know I should be working but I'm having a real hard time giving a shit today. I'm betting I'm gonna be having these days. Plus I was sick yesterday and I hurt all over because of it so I'm not really caring that our customers can't figure their computer systems out. No, I'm not being all depressed and blah, or maybe I am. How do you tell if you're depressed? Seriously, cuz I'm actually all excited about this weekend and trying to decide what project to drag along with me and just...I don't know, having a DAMN good time with strangers. I'm actually looking forward now to the next 3 months and finding new work and having a change. Maybe I wasn't meant to have a long term job anywhere. I get too bored easily. After about 2 years in one job, I tend to get twitchy. Perhaps this was all for the best.

Anyway, off the doom and gloom. Not much going on at Casa de la Stalker these days except cleaning, and that's not exciting. We've been re-arranging the living room and y'all, some of that shit hasn't moved in 3 years. I don't dust. It shows. So everything that got moved, got cleaned and let me tell ya, you can go through a crap load of cleaning wipes in one room. Hell, I even took all of our DVD's out of their racks and wiped them down. We won't discuss how nasty that was. The worst part of moving furniture that hasn't moved in 3 years? Untouched carpet. Carpet that no longer matches the rest of the carpet. If we have company, I'll be sitting on the pretty carpet to hide it. So sad.

So, yeah I have pictures! Yay! Looook at the shiny piiiictuuures. Don't think about your duuuuuust.

Tinker seems to be real comfortable in his new home. Hubby needs a shave. Tinker doesn't care.


I was also going to have a picture of Alex in the backyard here but when I took the pic, I didn't realize he chose that exact moment to hike his leg and we don't do doggy porn here, folks. And I can't wait to see what kind of hits I get from THAT little sentence.

Can anyone tell me what these are? They grow between our house and our deck every year and bloom every Fall. They're gorgeous and I want more of them. Anyone?



My grapevines are coming back and really seem to be enjoying the chicken wire we put up to keep Bonnie and Clyde in.


Here a shot of what it looks like if you stand in my backyard and look straight up. Our pecan trees have gotten huge!


And last but not least, remember the pear tree incident? I think you do. And remember this shot of the pear tree's revenge?


Pear trees says, "HA! Screw you, fence dude! I'm glad you cut me down cuz some of my limbs had that damn tree fungus. Not now, fence bitches! Look how healthy I am!"


You go on with your bad self, Mr. Pear Tree. You just go on.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Real Quick

Cuz did you know that when you get a lay off notice that it's a silent request for everyone in the damn company to demand you do something for them RIGHT NOW? Yeah. It is. I didn't know either! They should send out a memo or something. So yeah, it's been crazy busy and stuff.

Anyway, just thought it was a good idea to say "Hey! Look! I'm alive! Woohoo!" Things are looking up even though I am still losing my damn job (bitter much?) and don't have another one lined up yet. BUT, I have some leads and I've got ideas running through my head (but there's so much room!) that I might try selling stuff on Etsy, creating patterns and maybe try my hand at writing...something....or something. A Stalker Angie book.

......

.......

Pppfffttttttbuahahahahahahaha! Heehee....damn that's funny.

But seriously, thanks to those of you who have sent me job ideas and application links. They are all being seriously considered (Do you think you could work with me? Do you think you'd get anything done with me around?) and some applications have been sent in. So again, thank you!

Keep your eyes open for an Austin countdown timer on the side somewhere. I'm so ready to go. I'm also gonna try and stay in town that night cuz....ya know....there's alcohol and such. Not that I'll be getting drunk (cuz we all know I'm a mean ass drunk) but a couple of drinks might be nice, ya know? Plus, someone might wanna hang out and sit around a hotel room and knit or something. It could happen. Shut up.

COME TO AUSTIN!!! (It's not that far from Washington/Vermont/Illinois/Canada dammit. Carpool or something)

Back to work. *sigh*

Update: The countdown time was wider than I thought so it goes up top instead of on the side bar. Thanks for the link Christina!!