Update; Ugly Foot

I guess that I was not very clear about the "trauma" associated with the destruction of my beautiful Mother's Day Pedicure. The nails are real, only the color is not my own. The nail that fell off was not fake, but a real nail. I just wished that it had chosen a different time to let go of its tenuous hold. I am waiting for the corrosponding nail to fall off on the other foot.

I took a break from knitting for most of the weekend because I have given myself a "crick" or, in my house, a "cricket" in my neck. I think that this comes from, once again and as usual, laying on my fat ass and knitting. You would think that I could at least sit up. But, my personal life philosophy has always been Never stand if you can sit, and never sit if you can lay. And I wonder why I have a fat ass-- and for that matter fat abs as well.

I am waiting for a shawl kit from Yarnia.com. I had previously gotten a purse kit from them and it was spectacular. It is the white purse in previous pictures. Based on this experience, I ordered a shawl grabbag. Unbeknownst to me, I was sent a scarf kit by mistake. I didn't think that two 50 gram balls of cotton would make a shawl (long eyelash was knitting with the cotton), but I went on faith and undertook the pattern provided for a fairly basic triangular shawl. It turned out to be an over sized triangular scarf. I stewed about the prob for several days, and finally wrote Yarnia. I was not pleased with the price that I paid-- supposidly discount-- for two small skeins of cotton and one of eyelash.

I am so glad that I did not just write Yarnia off as a bad company. My e-mail was answered within an hour, even though I wrote it late in the evening. They are sending a replacement. I opted to try again rather than receive a refund-- which was offered. I'll let you know when it comes.

You want Roses, Check out these Roses!!!!!!

How about this view!!

Ignore the dirt around this bed, but I planted hibiscus and white lantana today. This rose tree is like the energizer bunny. It will not stop blooming. It has gotten so heavy with flowers that I had to put a trellis under it just to prop it up.

This is the first wave of the blooms. Note the lounge chair. This is where I lay and work on making sure my ass gets as fat as humanly possible.

This is the best view of everything.

Roses, Roses and assorted other Flowers

No knitting content at all today. I worked in my flower beds all day today. I think I have planted all the flowers that I can plant this year, or at least until the nursery that I like reduces the perenials by 50- 75%!!! I finished my bead markers today for the bead-it exhange. Does that count as knitting content? I tried to take a picture of them, but I could not get one to stay in focus. Anyway, today is all about the flowers-- and the four racks of ribs that I put on the smoker this morning at 11!! Six hours later, they were some kind of good!!!!!!

What a Pisser-- Warning, Ugly Picture

I was very happy to receive a very much wanted gift certificate to my favorite nail spa for Mother's Day. My kids did the thinking and the shopping!!! Amazing event in my family. Sooooo--- I went to get a wonderful spa pedicure on Saturday. I met a friend and we smuggled our Diet Coke and Vanilla Vodka drinks in Sonic Cups. I got a nice pink color and splurged for a painted flower. Lovely.
Here comes the pisser part. After leaving the nail place, I came home and got in the pool. You know, to enjoy a little sunshine. As we all know, brown fat looks much better than white fat. That is why we don't eat our pork chops medium rare. Wellllll, I have a couple of bad nails from tennis injuries, but didn't really think anything about it. I put one foot in the pool, a nail floated off and this is now my perfect pedicure.

Yuck!!

This was a great bag. The crocheted rose was really fun and easy. I still need to add two leaves, but wanted to post now.

This was a bag that I test knitted for the Bag-a-holic group. It was designed by Karen in Utah-- thats the only name I have. The design was brilliant in my simple opinion. No sewing. I wish I had made it bigger.

This is the March bag from the Bag-a-holics Group. My mosaic knitting was terrible. The checks, that I added on my own, felted way tighter than the rest of the bag. Also the handle tabs felted crooked. Its ok, not great.

Bad Blogger

I swear, I spend so much time reading the e-mails from the several lists that I follow, I have little time to knit or work. In the past week, I have read at least 2.5 billion e-mails, drafted three important legal briefs and knit three bags. I would post pictures, but I don't have time. I have had to resort to listening to book on my Ipod. There is only so much a girl can do in a week. All three bags felted last night, hopefully pictures tomorrow!

Can't even Frog right.

OK, I'll admit that a hot pink, sueded yarn tam was probably not a really good idea. I have been to France, more than a couple of times, and although we always sing about the raspberry beret, I have never, ever been tempted to buy one. So why was I compelled to knit one. And in Suede, no less. Needless to say, it was a disaster. No elasticity. No shape. No fit. Sooooooo, I decided to frog away and add the hot pink to my Ruana-- which is almost to the halfway point. I cannot get the sorry sucker to frog. I have been picking out stitches for almost 2 hours and it will not rip. Somehow, I am froging in the wrong direction. Never has anyone been so stupid as to have a problem unknitting. I could not feel more stupid. Done in by a not even Raspberry beret. I'm going to take my bath now.

Back from Atlanta

Now that I am no longer traveling, I am staying in some major luxury hotels lately. In Denver, we stayed at the Peabody. The room was not very great, but the hotel amenities were terrific. Both of the bars in the hotel were really nice-- of course, we went to both of them-- and we had the most amazing meal at a French restaurant in Downtown.
In Atlanta, we stayed at the Ritz-Carlton in Bucktown. We stayed on the Club level. Drinks available all day, as well as breakfast with Bubbly, lunch with wine, snacks with cocktails (seeing a pattern here) dessert with cordials. Although we left the hotel for dinner, we pretty much stayed in the hotel the rest of the time. Although I helped with the preparation for the deposition (the reason we were there), we saved our client a few bucks and I didn't attend the show. I stayed in the hotel-- imagine why!!! I tried to get to a LYS that I read about on the internet, but a sudden thunderstorm forced me back to the Club room. There is not much that I like better than a crafting opportunity, but I was OK with the Club room.
Although I really did not enjoy the experience of my first clappy, I decided to do another. I'm not really sure why. The first one was my first experience with so many knitting rules. I have always been a strange knitter; my mother claimed that I knitted backwards and would never help me with anything. When I started Clappy, I learned about twisted stitches. At the time, it didn't occur to me that all my stitches were twisted, so I struggled to learn a new way to knit. With the second, I did more thinking-- or should I say less thinking. Once again, for some reason I chose acrylic again, even though I have loads of really nice yarns. This time, I just knit like I wanted to. All I have to do is knit 5, then purl 1. I only pay attention when it is time to make a new stitch or drop an old one. So much more enjoyable. I started the decreases yesterday and, of course, cannot wait to finish. Socks are next up, but I have vowed not to start anything new until I finish Clappy. This one is really going to be a shawl!!!!

Clappy Revisted!!

What do you think of my beautiful baby?? He is going to the Prom and boy, did he look good, if I do say so myself.

This was an amazingly fun night. Hubby, who is incredibly technologically stupid, somehow turned the pool heat up to 97 degrees. I generally keep it at about 81. The lower temp is pretty good in the spring, but as soon as you get out of the pool, it is really still cold. At 97, our pool became Oklahoma's biggest hot tub!! It was fun while it lasted, but I am not looking forward to next month's gas bill.

My husband hates this plant. We, among our many interests, make homebrew!!! So, being over-achievers, I decided that I had to grow my own hops. This plant takes over!! It produces major amounts of really large hops. I think that they are Cascade hops.

This was a tiny little rose tree last year. I can't believe how big it has gotten.