$24.00 out of $42 million

$24.00
That's how much I paid for our tickets to High School Musical 3 on Friday night.
The movie made $42 million!
That's a lot of people going to see the same movie.
I took 4 young girls with me, and I only dosed off once.
Hey, it was the 9:20 showing; you should know I have trouble staying awake past 10:00.
Was it a good movie?
Meh.
There were some very good songs in there, but the storyline....there was one?
They gave Troy's dad some very unfortunate hairstyle.
Yuck.
Anyway, now I can say I've seen all three movies.
Don't you want to be me?
Before we went to the movies, however, we had cake.
Why cake?
Because DN2 is celebrating a birthday tomorrow.
Here she is being bossy.
Where does she get that from?
Her sister, probably.



I love this pic because it looks as if she is throwing her face into the cake. She's actually blowing out the candles.



The two babies.



SN2 and his friend Z bothering one of the young guests.
She totally hated it.
NOT.



Z bothering the older girls too.
I asked them if they wanted to see HSM with us.
Z did, but everyone else wanted to see Saw V.
Their loss.


It was a good time, and then we spent the rest of the weekend recovering.
Or at least that was my excuse.
I did get some knitting done, but you'll have to wait to see that.
Today begins a very busy week, and tonight we are going to see SN2 play in a semi-final game in the Sectional Championship tourney.
Enjoy your week!

Thursday Quiz -- Holiday Parties on my Mind

I love this time of the year, with Halloween followed by Thanksgiving and then on into Christmas. It is as if these months bring celebration after celebration after celebration. One big, long party season.
As you all know, Halloween is next week. And on a Friday too! Now that is like picking the Willy Wonka bar with the golden ticket -- it's all good.
I'm still knitting ahead for the Christmas holiday - well, still working on the same Christmas stocking. No progress to report.
It's cold in my house and in the evening we really don't do much except go to bed early.
DN2 is having some friends come over for her birthday, so I'm afraid we may have to turn on some heat. You know I don't want to, but these little girls may get all whiny and complain.
Anyway, here's a quiz for you, since it is a Thursday:

What Your Halloween Habits Say About You

You're a friendly person, but not the life of the party. You like making someone else's day - and you'll dress up if you think of a really fun costume. You definitely think of yourself as someone who has a dark side. And part of having that dark side means not showing it. Your inner child is open minded, playful, and adventurous. You fear people taking advantage for you. You are always worried about protecting your own interests. You're prone to be quite emotional and over dramatic. Deep down, you enjoy being scared out of your mind... even if you don't admit it. You are a traditionalist with most aspects of your life. You like your Halloween costume to be basic, well made, and conventional enough to wear another year.

What's Your Halloween Personality?

Doctors

I went to the doctor yesterday for the first time in a long time.
Of course I have a slew of follow-on appointments, but one thing interesting came up.
It has been a very stressful weekend, because we were so busy, and yes I watched movies, but I couldn't sit down and watch them all at once. It was my turn for the birthday celebration in the office so I made an apple pie, pumpkin pie, fudge, magic cookie bars, and Cousin Helen Ruby's Sour Cream Pound Cake.
I don't know who Cousin Helen Ruby is, but damn, she makes a good pound cake, and it was a hit.
Unfortunately I couldn't stay for the feast, which everyone said they enjoyed.
I had to race down to the doctor's office.
When they took my blood pressure, which is normally normal to low, it was 142/70.
Was I calm?
Hell no.
I'd been rushing around all weekend and all that morning.
So when the doctor came in she told me that next time I come if my blood pressure is that high (!) again she will talk to me about medication.
I looked at her and said, "I bet if you took it now it wouldn't be that high."
She didn't.
She should have.
Because now I have another stressor.
Next appointment I am not going in to work before.
That is a given.
Because work is the penultimate stressor, isn't it?
Perhaps I should spend the morning knitting and listening to melancholy music, like this hit from Gilbert O'Sullivan:



Of course it may lower my mood straight into depression.
Well that's a chance I'll just have to take.

Get ready

Today's weather forecast - 62.
Tomorrow's weather forecast - rain mixed with snow.
It's coming, get ready.
I fear this will be the coldest winter in a while.
I'm still working on my Christmas stocking to put in the Holiday Helping Hands package. That stockinette stitch is slow going, and I knit through Iron Man, Baby Mama, and You Don't Mess with the Zohan. Well not all the way through, but partly, because stockinette, even on size 8s, can be extremely tedious.
SN2 went to the Bills game yesterday with some friends from school.
Thank goodness the weather was good.
One of the friends he went with is a fabulous singer (actually she provided his ticket).
She has sung the anthem at a Bills game previously, and this is the recording they use at the Varsity Boys' soccer games. I swear that before I realized it was her, I thought it was Faith Hill, but better. (DN2 said that before she realized it was a recording she kept wondering where all the people were who were cheering. We're smart, we are.)
She has a remarkable talent for someone who is still in high school, and she's traveled the country to sing at various sporting events.
Remember her, because I swear she will be going places.
And she doesn't need American Idol to get there.

Thursday Quiz - Being Canadian is Cool too

This is my 500th post.
I know I should probably celebrate it in some way, but that would be unlike me.
I'm on that road paved with good intentions heading toward the hot place, so I'll just announce it as a first line, and then give you a quiz because it is Thursday.
According to this quiz I am 65% British. Well I must be un-American because I watched the season finale of Project Runway and didn't watch the debates.
Sorry, finding out who won that contest was of more concern at that particular moment.
Did you watch the debate?
Tell me what you thought.
Do you think you're British?
Take the quiz and find out.

You Are 65% British

Congrats, mate. You're are probably British. (If not, definitely Australian. Or Kiwi. Or Canadian.) You enjoy most aspects of mainstream British culture, without being stereotypical about it. You also have a typical British temperament. You wouldn't dream of being impolite.

How British Are You?

And it's true, being Canadian is cool too.
Now I've gotta run because my tea is cooling on the counter and I need to drink it.
Cheers.
P.S. I knit in class last night. I'm working on a Christmas stocking. How brave of me, right?
(Note to self - Next time use wooden or bamboo needles to avoid the clanging of the metal needles. It's distracting to me and everyone else, I'm sure.)

Stitching Up!

Yesterday some of us stayed an extra hour after work and laid out the afghan squares.
We decided that since these are going to a nursing home, and most probably will be used as lap robes, or lap blankets, that we would cut the size down a bit. The smaller size will keep them from being too bulky, and should not get stuck in the wheels of a wheelchair.
DN2 and I got all the squares out onto the table and stacked them according to color.
Wow, what a lot of squares:



And here are the lap blankets:














We then packaged everything up into boxes, keeping the layout intact and with a photo record to send to whomever will stitch a particular one together (these photos). Our thoughts are that everyone can take home a box and begin stitching. The target delivery date is the second Saturday in December, so we'll have plenty of time, for sure.
And now, time to begin whip stitching!

But really, can I punch him?

We went to a luncheon with some of our cousins the other day.
It's basically the descendants of my grandmother and her brother and sister.
They are dead of course, but I have a lot of old relatives.
And really, I mean old, not elderly.
During the luncheon we celebrated the 100th birthday of one my cousins (2nd cousin, actually).
Before the luncheon started I went over to say hello to my Uncle John.

Me: Hi Uncle John.
UJ: Hi.
Me: How are you?
UJ: You look more and more like your mother every day.
Me: (Laughing uncomfortably) Well, I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
UJ: You have the same smile...
Me: (Still laughing and trying to rapidly think of some smart ass remark)
UJ: ...except you're bigger.

I know he's my mother's brother and he's 94, but seriously...I'm hoping he means that I'm taller.

Old Time Country

Are you a big fan of Ann and Kay from Mason-Dixon Knitting?
I definitely admire their work, and I read their blog, but to be truthful I do not own either of their books.
After seeing this hilarious YouTube video I may just have to go out buy both of them.

26, 4, 6, 2, 1, 10:30, 20, 3/4, 34, 303, 5

Numbers, numbers, numbers.
I hate math, it is my least favorite subject and it always has been.
Here are the numbers floating around in my life.

26

The number of days between blog posts. Why? I'll tell you why.

4

The number of books I have read in between posting to my blog. It's been busy, folks, between class, knitting, and home life, oh, and stinky work (blah), I've been super busy. I have accomplished some things, though, and I will show you. But get this - I haven't done any "pleasure" reading, only reading for school. Now that is unlike me. I think it is because I'm addicted to sock knitting, although I still make mistakes, such as this.


6

Six is the number of stitches I need to ungraft on this sock so I can fix this screwy Kitchener stitch.
After that I will have...

2

Two complete socks. Yippee!!
Of course not all socks have pairs.

1

One sock left to do here, I finished the first one during yesterday's soccer game. I picked up the yarn literally off of the floor in the spare room (my knitting room, as I call it), and decided to really try and use up some of the crap yarn I have. I donated quite a bit to our charity knitting at work, but I still have some left behind. I thought I would make these for DN2 because even if she just wears them around the house they are made of acrylic and after picking up all the cat and dog hair on the floor will wash up easily.


10:30

The time we had to be at a soccer game yesterday morning. It was Senior Day.


20

Twenty is SN2's jersey number and what was embroidered on the blanket the soccer boosters gave to all of the parents of seniors. It was a nice touch, but you know I lost the blanket as soon as I came home. SN2 took it from me; he seems to think it is his. Ha! You know people still look at me strange when I knit during the games, but I don't care. It keeps my hands busy and I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing. And accomplishing something at the same time. So there.

3/4

I figure I can get about 3/4 of this sock done before running out of yarn. And guess what, I can't buy the yarn anymore because it is discontinued! Note to self, when they tell you one skein makes one pair of socks they are talking about people with normal sized feet. Not like me, well and Sweet Dee, who has HUGE feet.

34

The number of days past my birthday. Not much to report there, although I do need to thank my brother for sending this DVD my way. Very enjoyable viewing (and knitting) time.



303

The number of items in my Netflix queue. Do you think it will ever be empty? An even better question is, do you think my yarn stash will ever be decreased? Seriously.

5

The number of Sundays I have been teaching Sunday School. I wish I could tell you how many until it ends, but I would have to start adding Sundays up on my fingers. It is fun, but another added stressor. That's alright because I bring my knitting with me to church. Is that wrong?

So what did I tell you, numbers, numbers everywhere.

For the record...

Have you heard the latest about Angelina Jolie's magazine cover?
The one where she's nursing one of her children?
It's creating quite a stir.
Just look at this offensive photo.



What a highly sexualized photo, right?
Why it's almost obscene!
And while we don't actually see a nipple, we know it is there because she's shown both of them to the world before.
This is Lara Croft after all.
Obviously, as a sex symbol Angelina's breasts belong to the men in the world and should not be shown in this natural state on a magazine cover.
This photo might force men to desexualize her, and we can't have that now.
So let's all take offense at an intimate photo of a beautiful woman looking very content as she bonds with her child.
For the record...people are idiots.

We Have Our Suspicions

Yes, we have our suspicions...
...but we may never know.

(Handwritten sentence reads "because someone pooped.")