New Project

Here's the newest project I'm working on... Don't mind the plate of breasts.
Camisole of Death


I'm knitting in Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece. I'm totally in love with this yarn. It's so nice and soft, and it feels like it will be a nice cool summer knit... perfect for the tropics :) I chose the color "Perry's Primrose" because I wanted something feminine, yet a little dark. It also has a little shine to it so it will probably be something good for the day or evening. I can't wait!

I'm a snitch

Tonight I had the wonderful opportunity to be a snitch. If you are wondering what that is, I volunteered to work a murder mystery game called Clueless on Las Olas. People who want to participate buy tickets which give them a program that explains the event. Inside each program there is a scenario of a murder mystery. They are then given the locations of different stores throughout Las Olas where they can find 6 clues. The clues can only be deciphered with hints that they can buy from the snitches. The snitches are planted in different spots throughout Las Olas, but they are also free to roam. Each clue has two hints, so the participants have to do some wandering if they want to pull everything together. Once they have all the clues and hints, then they have to put it all together and solve the murder mystery.

The atmosphere was so much fun. People were all having a good time. Everyone was joking around and playing in character. If you ever have the opportunity to participate in one of these, do it. If you ever had a chance to be part of one, better yet.

The only bad side of being a snitch was that I had to walk up and down Las Olas at night wearing a fanny-pack and a t-shirt that said "SNITCH" on it. But it was all for charity, so I will gladly swallow my pride for an evening.

I love Florida

Today I had a cool experience that you can pretty much only get in Florida (unless you leave the country). For lunch today I decided to grab something from the cafe at work and take it down to a park by the river. As I sat there reading and eating, I heard this weird sound coming from the river. I looked up in time to see a herd of manatees coming up for a breath of air. I was so excited, this was my fist manatee sighting ever! I wanted to jump up and down shouting, "look everybody, manatees!" But seeing as the only person near me was a homeless guy sleeping on a bench, I had to settle for text messaging my friend Kolene. It was so cool though!

finish line

I'm making this a night dedicated to finishing up some projects. I'm moments away from finishing the sugar 'n cream tank top. Next I'm going to finally weave in the loose ends of my baby afghan for my friend Carrie.. seeing as she sent me a picture of the wee little one the other day. Next I'm going to finish up the felted bag I started eons ago. Then maybe sometime soon I can talk Mimi into holding a little felting party at her house *wink wink*.

I'm going to kill my cat

Of course I'm talking about Milo. Corduroy is perfect... except for when he pukes on my bed, but I'm not talking about that now.

This morning somewhere around 5:04 a.m. I awake to the sound of shattering glass. Not really a comforting sound to a single woman. After my heart resumed beating, I was able to pull myself off of my ceiling and assess the situation. I didn't hear any further noises, so I decided that it was something inside the apartment that broke and not a burley man climbing through a window.

I then got out of bed, put in my contacts (since I managed to loose my glasses), put on a pair of flip-flops. I walked into my living room, turned on the lights and was greeted with the site of broken glass from wall to wall to wall.

Milo had been playing up on my counter top and managed to knock my brand new blender off the counter. Now besides the fact that I have to clean up broken glass at 5 a.m., I was really fond of that blender. It's a long story, but basically I am really fond of all my fun kitchen gadgets and appliances. And that was one damn cute blender.

And how do I know it was Milo? Because he has recently become obsessed with climbing up on the counter and opening every single one of my cupboards. When I surveyed the damage, half of my cupboards were open... and there's black fur on my counter.

Anyone want a little black kitty? Free to anyone with insurance. Here's a picture of him looking innocent.

Progress!

Here's a picture of the Sugar 'n Cream tank-top! I'm really happy with it so far. I was afraid that the Sugar 'n Cream yarn would knit up to look like a large washcloth, but it's actually turning out really nice. I'm pretty happy with the pattern that seems to be coming out of the variegated yarn. It almost looks like a feminine camo-pattern. Which makes me wonder... where would one be able to hide in pastel blue camo?

tasty new project

Now that the everlasting baby blanket is done, here is my new project!

Sugar 'n Cream Tank

I'm using the color "Faded Denim"

I'm excited to be knitting an actual garment for myself! Until now I've only knitted scarves (including lace work), washcloths, blankets, and hats. Not to mention that I have pretty much given away most of what I've knitted. I'm keeping this.

Mission accomplished!

I have finally finished the baby blanket that never ends! Well, not finished 100%. I still have to weave in some loose ends and washing and blocking would probably be a good idea. My cats have been laying on it since it was about the size of a dishcloth. They will be a little disappointed to have to give up "their" blanket, but they will get over it. Maybe I'll knit them a little something with some of the left over yarn.

Hey Mr. Seahorse

I'm looking for a seahorse knitting pattern. Like the kind of pattern you would use for a dishcloth. If anyone knows of any, please send them my way. I do have some graph paper so I may try to design my own, but I'm not quite sure of my talents. The knitting part I have down, it's the drawing part that worries me.

Happy Daylight Savings Time!

This time of year always amuses me. About two weeks prior to "springing ahead", the issue of Daylight Savings Time always starts making big news. And every year it never fails to show how many people get pissed off by having to turn their clocks ahead. Really, it's not that big of a deal. Is this actually the worst thing in your life right now? Or is it that you just don't like someone else telling you what you have to do? Why is it such a big deal? It's just an hour. It's not like we are forced to turn our clock 12 hours ahead. Plus, how often do we choose to screw up our internal clock when we voluntarily fly to different states our countries.

Personally, I like the extra hour of daytime. That's one more hour by the beach or another hour that I can be out enjoying the outdoors without worrying about the insecurity of darkness. People just need to start focusing on the positive aspects and learn to deal with a little bit of inconvenience. Or maybe they just need an excuse to bitch.

Panic attack

Yeah, I panicked a bit. I was in my apartment, minding my own business when I realized I had left my cell phone in my car. I put on my flip-flops, grabbed my keys, and went to go out the door. The only problem was my door handle wouldn't budge. I checked to make sure it wasn't locked and tried again. No go. I tried everything I could think of, and that blasted door would not budge. Realizing that my phone was in the car, I knew I was stuck. The panic attack started about now. I went around and looked at all of my windows to see if there was some way of climbing out. I have some kind of weird bar things on my bedroom window, and my front windows don't open in a way that would allow me to climb out. I started working on the door knob again. I tried everything I could think of and it didn't budge one bit. I really started panicking. So I did the only thing I could think of. I broke out my tool box and started going to town on the knob. I unscrewed the screws and took the inside part of the knob off. I tried to figure out the mechanics to see if I could turn the bolt mechanism by hand. That was a big no go. The next thing I know, the outside portion of the knob falls off... outside. I realized my mistake immediately. Door knobs are installed when the door is open, and that bolt was not going to budge. I could look through the hole and see out the the great outdoors, but that was about it. If nothing else I guessed I could yell to the next person who walked by, but how embarrassing is that? So without any other options, I just took out my hammer tried to wrench that bolt out of the door. SUCCESS!

I figured I would just go and buy a new door knob. Luckily it didn't look like it got too bent up, so I decided to try and reinstall it. As I was trying to put my door back together, one of my neighbors walked by. She gave me a puzzled look so I explained what I was doing. She laughed and told me I had it lucky. Apparently the same thing happened to her the other day. The only difference was that she had just gotten out of the shower. While still wrapped in her towel, she stepped out of the door for a second to let her dog out. When she went to go back inside, her door got stuck like mine did. I guess I can't complain too much. Besides, I managed to reassemble my door and it works just fine... mostly.

I'm an addict

Recently I've been popping pills left and right. Well, actually they are more like small hockey pucks and you dissolve them in water. Yes, I have discovered the joy of Airborne, the super multivitamin effervescent things that are supposed to boost your immune system to keep you from getting colds.

These things are great! I think they may actually work, and they give you a little pep! You gotta try these.

This kinda bothers me... but not really

The other day I saw a guy get hit by a car while riding his bicycle. It could have been avoided, but in a way they were both at fault. It was dark, the bicyclist was wearing dark clothing, and he didn't have a light on his bike. The car that hit him was turning right on a red light. I think he did more of a rolling stop, but there were 4 lanes of traffic blocking his view. Technically the car was totally at fault, but the bicyclist should have taken some more precautions... at least I would have if I were riding a bike in south florida.

The thing I feel the worst about is how much it hasn't bothered me. Don't get me wrong, I do feel bad for the guy, but it didn't surprise me. People drive like maniacs down here, and pedestrians take a lot of risks. No bicyclists follow traffic laws or take silly precautions such as wearing helmets or bright clothing. You will also never see a person walking use something as trivial as a cross-walk. The "I don't care" attitude is so thick you can cut it with a knife. Unless you live in South Florida, you have no idea how many times I see people do incredibly stupid things.

So when the light turned green for me, I just went on my merry way. Besides, the guy that got hit was able to get up out of the road on his own, and the guy who hit him stopped and made a phone call, which I'm assuming to was 911. And if you had to get hit, this would be that place to do it. We were right in front of Broward General Hospital. As far as being a witness, I wouldn't have been a very good one. I didn't actually see the car hitting the biker, I just looked up in time to see the guy laying in the road and his bicycle in the other lane all crumpled up.

You say it's already February?

Where the heck did January go? This year is flying by already. Things have been going well in the world of the knitting pirate librarian. I had a little bumpy start to the year, but I knew it wouldn't last.

Here's a quick summary of the highlights.

The knitting: Right now I'm in the process of knitting a baby blanket for my friend. She is due in April, so I think I should have plenty of time... I hope. I was attempting to do some lace work, but I think my choice of yarn for the project was not the greatest. I've abondoned it for the moment, but will pick it up again after the blanket is done... with different yarn of course.

The pirating (the social life): I've actually met a really nice guy a week ago today. I won't go into knitty-gritty details, except to say that things are going really well. It was such a surprise and so unexpected. We have a ton in common and we really enjoy spending time together. I'm sure I'll be blogging about him more about him later. I'll call him OG for now. That pretty much covers my social life. I pretty much just have just been hanging out with OG. Met quite a few nice people through him. Ika has been super busy with school and work, so haven't seen her. She's going to move back to Broward within the next few months, so I'm sure I'll be seeing more of her.

The librarian: Things are going really really well. I'm very happy that I have made the transfer :) I am so incredibly happy with my job at the moment, I can hardly describe it. I'm not going to say I don't have any stress or bad days, but I love my job, and I love what I do for a living.

Thats about it for now :)

Grand Rapids Michigan, oh how I hate you.

Dear Grand Rapids,

These are some of the reasons why you suck. Not that I need to tell you, because you probably already know.

1. City income tax. Not only do the suckers in the state of Michigan have to pay an income tax, but you have to soak them for an additional 1.3% And come on, what do they really get out of this money? NOTHING! See below reason why you suck for further explanation.

2. Parking. You ain't got none. And the few spaces you have go at a premium. $0.25 per 10 minutes? That must be because you have so many wonderful places to go that are worth the cost. The only other cities who charge more are New York and LA. Gee, and you wonder why downtown GR is like a ghost-town with tumbleweeds blowing through the streets.

3. Garbage pickup. $1.25 per garbage bag? Again... Just what the hell does your tax money go for?

4. Public schools. No tax money going here! Look at your state standardized test results, particularly on the 12th grade. Here is the percentage of students meeting or exceeding state standards... Reading-50%, Science-33%, Writing-34%, Math 29%. Again... just where the hell do the tax dollars go to?

5. State of Michigan unemployment rate- 6.9% Second highest in the nation, only under Mississippi. Mississippi... Dear Lord, beating Mississippi does not give you bragging rights. Alaska beat you for goodness sake.

6. By the way, your economy stinks! Take some more money from education while you're at it... I'm sure the less educated your citizens are, the better your economy will get. You'll be out of the red in no time! But who cares if colleges increase their tuition... your residents won't be accepted anyway. No graduates, no problem!

7. Weather. What's the temp right now, buddy? About 20F you say? Yeah, it's about 79F for me right now. We'll get a high of 81 tomorrow. What's that? You'll only get up to 17 tomorrow with about 3 inches of snow. Good luck with that.

8. What time do your bars close? 1:45? How boring. That would be about 4:00a.m. here, unless you're talking about the Hard Rock which would be never... and is only a 10 minute drive.

What I've read - Catch up

Great. I'm already getting behind on this!

Two books to add.

#1 Beyond the Deepwoods (part 1 of the Edgewood Chronicles) - Paul Stewart.
Pretty amusing, very imaginative, and tons of cool illustrations throughout the book. Although I did feel a little foolish reading a book in public with lots of pictures. I know, I'm ridiculous!

#2 Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants - Ann Brashares.
I've been wanting to read this book forever. I'm not too sure why I waited this long. A good, quick read if you are in the mood for a little chick lit. Although I found Bee to be a bit annoying. Bee and her glowing hair. Gack.


Goal - 3/50

Bad day

Yesterday wasn't so hot. First I locked myself out of my apartment. I fortunately had a neighbor who was able to help me break in to my place and retrieve my keys. Then moments after grabbing my keys, I got into my car ready to go. Unfortunately the car wasn't so ready to go. I tried to start it and got nothing but a bunch of clicks. So I called on my neighbor once again. We looked at the engine and scratched our heads for about 10 minutes before he decided to try giving the battery a jump. The old girl got started right away. After talking to him for a moment, I realized that this was the original battery... about 6 1/2 years old! So I went to buy a new battery.

While I was getting the battery changed, the guy called me over to my car to show me something in the engine. He informed me that the serpentine belt is on it's way out and I should replace it very soon... not cheap, and I trust him. The place that I took the car to doesn't do that type of repair and he didn't slip me a referral to his buddy's shop or anything, so I don't think he's trying to take me for the money. On my next day off I'm taking my car to the dealer to get an oil change. I'll ask them to poke around to see if there is anything I need to have done and see if they give me the same verdict.

Great. But I don't think this is an indication of how this whole year will go, it was just a bad day.

#1 - Reading 2007

First of all, I have decided to try and keep track of how many books I read this year. My goal will be 50. I got the idea from a group in livejournal. I think I may end up being shocked at how little I actually read. I would read 1000 books a year if I could, but I just can't find the time!

So here is #1
Gregor the Overlander - by Suzanne Collins
Children's book

Gregor is babysitting his two year old sister, Boots, when they fall into a mysterious underground world. There they meet strange people, and gigantic talking rats, cockroaches, and spiders. While trying to get back to their world above the ground, they become the catalyst of a gigantic war between the different creatures.

The story is fast-paced, action filled, and a good basic sci-fi/fantasy. It's ending obviously points towards sequels, so anyone craving more is sure to get their fill.

Progress on goal:
1/50

Total pages read:
320

For the love of the sunshine state

The other day an old friend of mine from college said something that really irritated me. The more I think of it, the more it pisses me off. He currently lives in Washington state and wrote a blog about how his area got pounded with the big storms. He talked about the damage and said he felt like he was living in Florida. On his myspace profile he had a couple of pictures from Florida and has made some other comments about Florida.

So I innocently wrote him, wished him luck with the storm, and asked if he had previously lived in Florida. He responded back almost immediately and said that he had lived in Florida off and on for about 10 months over the past few years. He's a claims adjuster, and has been working on insurance claims from the storms. Then he went on to say that Florida is the most God awful place in the world and that he would rather live in Iraq than Florida, etc.

Excuse me? He is entitled to his opinion, but *ahem*... I LIVE HERE! And I happen to love my home very much. I think this is one of the most beautiful places to live. I am surrounded by green tropical plants, tons of birds and animals, the most beautiful beaches, and some of the best boating in the world. Aside from that there is never a lack of things to do, and I love the cultural mix of people that you meet. I literally have friends from around the world. Granted there are some bad things and downsides to living in South Florida, but there are bad things about anywhere.

He doesn't have to like Florida, but at least take your friends into consideration before you tell them that their home is the crappiest place in the world. And the comment that he made about rather living in Iraq really pisses me off. If you would rather live in Iraq, then sign your butt up for the Army and get your ass over there. I don't find comments like that funny at all. Why doesn't he get over there and let my cousin and a few of my friends come home. There are thousands of men and women over there dying or becoming seriously wounded every day. Don't make jokes about it, it's really not funny at all.

And by the way... we don't like claims adjusters that well. They are the agents of the greedy insurance companies that steal our money and don't want to pay out when our roof gets ripped off our house.

I think my mom is trying to kill me

Recently I decided that it would be a good idea to do a little working out. I even switched health care plans this coming year just so I could take advantage of the free membership to a gym that they are offering. Instead of waiting until January, I decided to get a head start by working out at home a little bit. To help motivate me, I asked for a bunch of workout paraphernalia for Christmas. My parents really got into the spirit of it all, and included one of those big exercise balls. It even came with a DVD to show you how to use it.

I almost died. Do you realize how dangerous those things are? No only did I almost roll off it about a million times, I almost broke my nose a few different ways. The first time I was laying on the ball and was supposed to walk forward with my hands until my shins were resting on the ball. The end result was supposed to be push-ups. They people make it look so easy. Do they understand that the rest of us have to deal with something called gravity? I darned near broke my nose when I went a little too fast... strait into my couch.

Then there was the other time when I was supposed to be flat on my back. I was supposed to pick up the ball with my ankles and and lift my legs up until I looked like an L. Then from there I was supposed to continue on and bring my ankles further back until I touched my toes to the floor behind my head. YEAH RIGHT! It wasn't going that well to begin with, but it went downhill when my legs gave out and I dropped the ball on my face.

Maybe I need to start with some more simple moves.