I'm off

I'm headed to sunny Southern California :)

See you when I'm back (hopefully with a new pair of socks from plane knitting!)

An-ti-ci-pa-a-tion

In the words of my namesake (yup - I was named after Carly Simon)

Word on the new job is imminent. The HR Director was on vacation last week, but at my interview, they told me they would make the decision the week of the 19th, and that I'd hear the week of the 26th. I'm trying to remain patient, as having been out for a week surely means she has a list of things to do, and I'm sure notifying the new hire of the decision and specifics aren't necessarily top of her list. So I'm hoping Tuesday to find out. . . but it'd be really great if it were today!

Movie Meme

I saw this over here, and given that I've seen a lot of movies recently, I thought it somewhat appropriate. We usually watch the same movies over and over again, or find some horrible B-movie on cable - as Jake adores a REALLY shitty movie. In the last few weeks, though, we've both rented and gone to the theatre more than we normally do in a whole year.

What have wee seen?

Gran Torino - Totally worth paying movie theatre prices. FANTASTIC movie (and not just because it was filmed in Detroit, but I did recognize a fair amount of things in the movie!)

Burn After Reading - Typical Cohen brothers movie. Funny in it's own way, 3 out of the 4 of us that watched it enjoyed it, but Jake's dad - not so much!

Black Snake Moan - Ran across this sort of by accident at Blockbuster. I had wanted to see it at the movies when it was new, and never got around to it. I highly recommend it, excellent story.

Hancock - Meh.

Righteous Kill - Disappointing. I expect WAY better than this from Pacino & DeNiro!

Vanilla Sky - Came across it at Blockbuster, and I forgot how much I loved this movie. One of the few films I saw multiple times in theatre (though twice was at the cheap seats, only once full price!)

Now, onto the Meme :)

SUPPOSEDLY if you’ve seen over 85 films, you have no life.

There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own blog, paste this . Then, put x’s next to the films you’ve seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom. Have fun.

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show though I don't think I've ever seen it start to finish. . .just in bits
(x) Grease
( ) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x ) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
Total: 7

(x) The Princess Bride
(x) Anchorman
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
( ) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander actually have this in queue in the DVD player
(x) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
( ) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total : 5

() Scream
() Scream 2
() Scream 3
() Scary Movie
() Scary Movie 2
() Scary Movie 3
() Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
(x) American Pie 2
(x) American Wedding
() American Pie Band Camp
Total: 3

() Harry Potter 1
() Harry Potter 2
() Harry Potter 3
() Harry Potter 4
(x) Resident Evil 1 I hate scary movies, but for some reason Zombies are OK
(x) Resident Evil 2
(x) The Wedding Singer
(x) Little Black Book
() The Village
() Lilo & Stitch
Total : 4

(x) Finding Nemo
() Finding Neverland
() Signs
() The Grinch
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre
() Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
() White Chicks
() Butterfly Effect
(x) 13 Going on 30
() I, Robot
() Robots
Total: 2

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
() Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
() Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
() KingPin
() Never Been Kissed
(x) Meet The Parents
(x) Meet the Fockers
()Eight Crazy Nights
(x) Joe Dirt
( ) KING KONG (The Original)
Total: 6

() A Cinderella Story
() The Terminal
() The Lizzie McGuire Movie
() Passport to Paris
( ) Dumb & Dumber
() Dumber & Dumberer
() Final Destination
() Final Destination 2
() Final Destination 3
() Halloween
() The Ring
() The Ring 2
() Surviving X-MAS
( ) Flubber [the original]
Total: 0


() Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
() Practical Magic
(x) Chicago
() Ghost Ship
() From ***
(x) Hellboy
() Secret Window
(x) I Am Sam
() The Whole Nine Yards
() The Whole Ten Yards
Total: 3

( ) The Day After Tomorrow
() Child’s Play
() Seed of Chucky
() Bride of Chucky
() Ten Things I Hate About You
() Just Married
() Gothika
() Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
(x) Remember the Titans
() Coach Carter
() The Grudge
() The Grudge 2
() The Mask
() Son Of The Mask
total: 2

(x) Bad Boys
() Bad Boys 2
() Joy Ride
() Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean’s Eleven
() Ocean’s Twelve
() Bourne Identity
() Bourne Supremecy
() Lone Star
() Bedazzled
( ) Predator
() Predator II
( ) The Fog
() Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
() Curious George
Total: 2

(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
() A Bronx Tale
() Darkness Falls
(x) Christine
(x) ET
(x) Children of the Corn My babysitter let me watch this when I was like 7. . . I think that is why I can't watch scary movies!
() My Bosses Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
( ) War of the Worlds
() Rush Hour
() Rush Hour 2
Total: 5

() Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
() She’s All That
() Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
() Event Horizon
() Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
() Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
() The Terminator 3
Total: 6

() X-Men
() X-2
() X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
() Sky High
() Jeepers Creepers
() Jeepers Creepers 2
() Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday (the original)
() Reign of Fire
(x) The Skulls
(x) Cruel Intentions
() Cruel Intentions 2
() The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total: 8

() Swimfan
() Miracle on 34th street
(x) Old School
( ) The Notebook
() K-Pax
() Krippendorf’s Tribe
() A Walk to Remember
() Ice Castles
() Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total: 1

() Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
() Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
() Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total: 3

() Baseketball
() Hostel
() Waiting for Guffman
(x) House of 1000 Corpses
(x) Devils Rejects
(x) Elf
() Highlander
() Mothman Prophecies
(x) American History X
() Three
Total: 4

() The Jacket
() Kung *** Hustle
() Shaolin Soccer
() Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
() Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
() Willa74
Total: 3

() High Tension (Haute Tension)
(x) Club Dread blame this on Jake's love of crappy movies
() Hulk
(x) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
() 28 days later
() Orgazmo
() Phantasm
() Waterworld
Total: 4

(x) Kill Bill vol 1
(x) Kill Bill vol 2
() Mortal Kombat
() Wolf Creek
() Kingdom of Heaven
() the Hills Have Eyes
() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
() The Last House on the Left
() Re-Animator
() Army of Darkness
Total: 2

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
() Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
() Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
() Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total: 5

(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
() Animatrix
() Evil Dead
() Evil Dead 2
(x) Team America: World Police
() Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
(x) Hannibal
Total: 6

Grand Total 81.

Apparently I'm close to lifeless. . . though I'd love to know the rationale of whomever put this together to begin with. . . quite the odd mix of films!

Knitwise, I swatched for both Surface and Oblique this weekend. . . . . I am torn on which one to officially start, though!

B is for Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

We're home! Well I should say I'm home. . . Jake was home for less than 12 hours before he was in the air for a work trip. He's now relaxing in a hotel room overlooking the Pacific Ocean :)

So I'll start with my official ABC-Along entry which mostly sums up the visit to NY. . . . Brrrrrrrrrrrr!
It was COLD while we were up there! The high temp on the coldest day was -3.3! I guess the good news was it was too cold to have any crazy snow storms. It had warmed up by the time we left and we had some crappy driving until we got past Syracuse, but it could have been much worse.

B also could have been for battery, since the one in my car died after the ridiculously cold night Thursday. There is no photo of the jump start, since I refused to take my hands out of my gloves!

B also could have been for balls. .. . . as in the most amazingly delicious oreo ball treats FSIL made. These little things are beyond addictive. . . and they shouldn't be! They taste like an oreo, not anything 'special'. . .. but they are special (nevermind terrible for you!). I don't have a photo of them, either, because I didn't want to ruin my new camera by getting the white chocolate that was on my fingers on it :)

I could go on with the b's, but I'll stop there :)

As a result of the trip, I have several FOs (the true measure of a good vacation, right?).

Firstly, Jake's socks that were started in APRIL are finally done. I am not certain what took me so long to finish these. I really like them, so perhaps I was subliminally averse to working on them based on the less than polite response I got from the designer on Ravelry when I PMd her a question. I had the tightest amount of leftovers to date. . . 4g! The socks didn't become nearly as tall as Jake would have liked, but hopefully he'll just wear them with shoes rather than boots so it won't be a big deal.

Secondly, and I guess I can't REALLY call it FINISHED because it doesn't have buttons sewn on, but I completed the knitting on the first Wisp.

Do you think I should block before or after adding the buttons?

Lastly, I can reveal my secret project #1 - a Fabrege cowl that was a gift for FSIL.
We planned to get her an OTT-LITE, then Joann effed up my order for 12 days and by the time everything got hashed out, they no longer had what we were going to get, so it was a handmade gift parade instead! The yarn is Malabrigo in polygala and the beads are 'iris grey'. I totally love the combo :) She has this great camel coat that the purple goes so well with! It's a good thing purple isn't my color or I might not have been able to give it away. Adding to the handmade goodness, Jake made another swift and nostepinne to give. Jealous? You should be (I am!), version 2.0 of the swift is way cooler than mine. . the pegs were turned on his lathe out of a pool cue (how's THAT for repurposing!), and he turned the base, too. My swift was pre-lathe, so all store bought parts.

Closer to FO status are a few other projects.

Jake's sweater from hell is now just awaiting sleeves (which will be done together, otherwise this thing never will be finished).

I wish I'd just use an Ann Budd book. . . because the amount of stupidity in this pattern as written took me far longer to work through than it would have to just design the damn thing myself.

My Herringbone rib socks are past the 'hard part'. I will say I wasn't smart enough to get the gussets picked up two at a time, so I had to put one sock on DPNs to hold while doing the other, then put them both back on the needles.

I think I'm going to have a lot of leftovers because I couldn't make the leg super long due to my ginormous calves and I wasn't going to try to mess with making calf increases in the pattern somehow NOT look goofy.

My lace leaf scarf grew substantially, as well.

I hope to finish it up before I head out to spend next weekend with Jake in San Diego. They say it's cool in the evenings even though it is pleasant during the day, so a light lacey scarf would be the perfect accessory!

Next up, is Wisp #2 (the wedding is closer than I am accepting. . . I have a lot to do!) and then I can reward myself with getting going on my much coveted Surface! (Though I do fear at this point it will be done just as soon as it's too warm to wear!)

And, in case you are wondering, I'm still on pins & needles about the new job! They told me I would find out NEXT week, so I'm trying (rather unsuccessfully) to be patient. There is nothing else I can do at this point, since I think calling them to reiterate how perfect I think I am for the job would be counterproductive, so it's driving me nuts! I am confident that the other candidate couldn't have outshined me in enthusiasm and excitement for the position, so hopefully the other person doesn't have a big edge in experience on me! Keep thinking good thoughts for me!

Bon Voyage

Snowpants -- Check!
Ski Parka -- Check!
Sorel Boots -- Check!
Thinsulate Gloves -- Check!
Hats/Gloves/Scarves/Earmuffs -- Check!


The weather forecast has degraded (you can click on the image to make it bigger to see the numbers more clearly if necessary. . . . that IS in fact a high that is sub-zero). The good news is that no ice/snow storms are expected, so driving should be uneventful. The bad news, of course, is that I have to spend 4 days freezing. I plan on mostly planting myself in a seat near the woodstove and knitting away :) I am a bit torn about what to take. I'm doing a good job clearing my WIPs. Jake's boyfriend socks are almost done after so many months. I have a pattern repeat and a half left on sock #2. My Herringbone socks are close to the heel turn. Wisp #1 is also 1.5 repeats from done. That leaves Jake's sweater and my leaf lace scarf. I don't know if I want to trudge the heavy sweater and a bunch of balls of mainline up with me (nevermind I despise whomever wrote the pattern and really don't want to get back into it!) so I either need to suck it up and finish it. . . or use it as an opening to swatch for one of my next projects for ME! As much as I'd like to have his sweater over and done with, I'd equally like to get something going for me, so I'm torn.

So have a good rest of the week. . I'll be incommunicado while freezing my tushie off in the Great White North!

The Plague

I saw a scary little video over on LifeJunkie's blog. You should check it out.

I am, admittedly, an anti-Walmart person. I will not set foot in one except for the most extreme circumstances. I'll gladly pay an extra dollar or two for my items getting them elsewhere. And yes, I realize that is a luxury I have. . . . the ability to choose to pay extra without it meaning a sacrifice somewhere else. I understand that some people 'need' to shop at WalMart to stretch their income, but I also understand that WalMart's business practices, both diretly and indirectly, contribute to an economic condition where there are so many people who 'need' to save that money in order to make ends meet. I'll spare you the soapbox dissertation, but, you know, something to think about.

This is why we moved south

That is the lovely weather forecast for Jake's parents house. And yes, we are crazy enough to be leaving tomorrow to go up there.

I'd write more, but I need to go scour the house to find where I hid my snowpants and boots to survive the visit :)

PS - This is my post #300. Had I realized before, I probably would have planned a contest or something, so instead, I'll do a Post 333 contest when I get there :)

And then there were two. . . .

I had my 2nd interview today for the job I REALLY REALLY want. At the end of the interview, I asked how many candidates were in this round. The answer was TWO. HOLY CRAP! I'm glad I didn't know that going in, because my stomach dropped when they told me and I immediately got nervous! I'm not sure I could have had a successful interview had I known I just needed to be more impressive than one person. . .. too much pressure!

So they plan to make a decision next week, but HR is out next week (it's a small place, HR is the director and an assistant!), so it will be the week of the 26th that they tell me if I get it or not! It's going to be a LONG two weeks! Keep your fingers, toes, knitting needles. . . anything crossable - crossed for me!!

The hat that is. . .

Well, I decided after being told the recipient shaved his head because he gets too hot on deck, I decided that a lining for the Jacques Cousteau hat was unnecessary, so I wove in ends and am shipping it up to Alaska tomorrow. I really, REALLY love this pattern! Jake begrudgingly modeled for me so you could get the full effect :)




I am almost done with my first Wisp, too. I knit out one ball and will use a 2nd to get 2 more repeats. I'm trying to finish one of the two pair of socks OTN and THEN I can work on Surface!! Yay!

A is for Adorable

I can't help myself! I'm such a sucker for pooches. Last night Jake and I were going through all our digital pictures to find ones to put on a memory card for a digital frame that is a gift for his Grandma. We have an OBSCENE amount of pictures of dogs!

So I will share a few with you to get the ABC-Along for 2009 rolling!

This is Sam, our foster.

He will only be with us for a few more days, and I have to say I'll miss him despite his constant stinkiness and lack of training. He's only been with us a few weeks, but made really nice progress learning house rules. I hope he finds a very happy home, he deserves it! I think Jimmy Ray may miss him more, as they spend a lot of time sleeping cuddled next to each other (but of course, no photos since Jimmy Ray has a freakish sense for the camera being anywhere near!).

If you're looking for a beagle, go adopt him here! I promise, he's extra cuddly and cute!


To keep the adorable coming. .. . .

Zosia in her glory (she loves paper and had a field day with the packing paper!)


Caged puppy. . . cranky to be restrained on the porch of my old condo in Vermont!
Snow hiker! (That is my friend Karen with Jake in the photo. . . on New Year's Day 2006. We had awesome trails back behind our condo and took the puppies often.)
Enjoying the fall. (We really did a lot of nature walks/hiking with the dog when we were up north!)
Learning to Fetch (how nice to remember she used to bring it back!) I can't believe how small she used to be!


OK, I could go on, but I'll stop for now :

First FO of 2009

I tried to wrap this one up before year end. . . It was knit once but the edging was too small so I had to tear out and start again and with one week of my mom and then 4 days of Jake's parents, I had no down time where I could actually sit and COUNT to pick up stitches. But I finished it this weekend once the house was quiet (and Jake & I both agree NEVER AGAIN to have back to back house guests!) This is Retro Redux Shrug from Lace Style.
I wore it today in the mild weather and didn't need to wear a coat over my tank top. I sort of wish I'd used some Malabrigo, because the Araucania Nature Wool is not the softest thing ever, but it's not unpleasant or anything. I can see getting a lot of wear out of this baby!


The details are here on Rav if you're interested!

I also finished my secret project, but it's a secret, so you can't see it yet.

My previously secret wedding gift project has been received by the giftee, so now I can share my Hemlock Ring, too! I love, LOVE, LOVE the Hemlock Ring and totally want to make another. Unfortunately, I don't have any fancy artistic photos of it. The weather didn't cooperate to take it outside, and it was kind of big to layout anywhere at home that didn't blend into the taupe. So we live with marginal photography :)


Here it is pinned out and blocking. It ended up being just about 6 feet in diameter.
Again, details here.

I hope it gets lots of love for many years with the Newlyweds, my friend Jenny & her new hubby Dave ;)

Back to the grind

Anyone else dreading today? Two weeks off of work does not make me very enthusiastic about going back! At least I'm not working a full week the entire month of January and with any luck by February I'll have a new job :) I have an interview this week and my 2nd interview for the job I really want next week.

We've got a long weekend trip to New York and a weekend in San Diego this month, too!

Here's to making it through the rough couple days back, though! I finished two more knitting projects, I am trying to finish two more before I let myself cast on for Surface!