I'm Home

I made it home Saturday evening and have spent the remainder of the weekend in San Francisco with Erin & Jeremy.
I'll be taking the train home to Sacramento a little later this morning.

The trip was wonderful. Dublin was great, the whole country was amazing.

I'll be posting photos sometime this week.

This trip has really bitten me with the travel bug. I'm thinking next years destination will most likely be Florence Italy. Anyone want to join me for some Italian classes at the Learning Exchange this fall?
Although, Paris is second on my list of places to go.

Dublin

I made it in to Dublin last night.
So far Ive had a great time on my trip.
Today, I think I'll head over to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and I'm not sure what else.
Also, I'm on the hunt for a Starbucks. So far the coffee here has been rather crappy. I'm hoping I'll be able to get a good cup at a Starbucks.

Ireland

Im here and its beautiful.
In about an hour and a half Ill take a train out to Limerick where Ill be until Tuesday evening

All My Bags Are Packed, I’m Ready To Go

My journey has just begun.

This is a VERY long entry, I apologize for the rambling and the typos but I’m on Amtrak on my way to San Francisco.

I can’t even describe what I’m feeling right now.

This morning it hit me:

I’M GOING TO IRELAND.
I’m flying across our continent, ACROSS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN AND PARTWAY INTO ANOTHER CONTINENT!!!

Is this real?
Despite this realization, it does not seem real.
I can not believe that I’m actually going.

All this realization did was send me into a panic that lasted from about 9:30 this morning until about 7:00 this evening.
All day I felt like I was about to throw myself into an anxiety attack. The only way I could describe it was that it felt as though my heart was in my throat and my stomach was in my foot.
I partly blame this on my highly honed skills of procrastination. I’d put off cleaning out the suitcase until late last night. It involved the vacuum, and when that didnt work completely, I had to resort to the high pressure hose and leaving the suitcase out all day to dry. This left me with having to pack when I got home from work this evening. I also had to find a power converter. I’d thought that I’d taken care of that the other night,, but upon reading the fine print on the packaging last night, I realized that I’d gotten a plug converter and not a power converter. had I used this little device, I would have been able to plug in my ipod charger, or the battery charger for my camera, but the 220 volts coursing through the european outlets would have fried out my electronics that are only able to handle 110 volts. Why do plug adaptors even exist? Why even label them plug adaptors? Why not label them “Device to Enable You To Destroy Your Expensive Electronics & Potentially Short Circuit The Entire Hotel”? With my luck, thats what would have happened. I would have short circuited the entire hotel, and theres no way I would own up to it. I’d be standing in the candle lit lobby along with everyone else saying “What jack-hole did this?!?!? God! Some people!” Oh yes, I would deny deny deny that responsibility.


Anyways, my day was filled with high levels of panic and anxiety, calculating “okay, so I leave work at 5, get home at about 6, then mom is picking me up by 7:30 to get downtown to catch the 8:40 train to Richmond where I’ll transfer to BART and take that in to the city where Erin & Jeremy will meet me at the Civic Center at 11. So, this leaves me only an hour and a half to find a power converter, get cigarettes, and pack. Crap, and I have to call THAT client before I leave, and change the outgoing message on my voicemail so that my clients know I won’t be returning their calls.” All day, my coworkers were telling me to stop and breathe.

Ultimately when I got home I threw way too much stuff in my bag, I have most definitely overpacked. When I get to SF, I’ll ask Erin to go through my bag with me to pare things down . With my aunt having been a high school french teacher who took the summer tours to Europe every summer and Erin going with the group, she is a very experienced European traveler and will be able to help me pare down my suitcase to just the essentials and leave room to bring back all the stuff I’m certain to pick up along the way.

And in the middle of all of that panic and anxiety today, I had an interview at work today. My manager has asked me to apply for another position, and one of my coworkers who happens to be the “lead” for that group asked me to apply as well. i was interviewed by my manager, my coworker who is the “lead”, and another seniored rep. Coming out of the interview I thought “Dear God, I choked on that. I hope I didnt come across as flustered as I felt. A little later, the “lead” sends me an IM saying:

”Vanessa, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU IN THERE??”

Great, so I was as much of a spaz as I thought. Perfect.
My manager and the lead know my qualifications and have both said that they think I’m the only candidate qualified for the position. While they’ve never said it directly, but have insinuated it, I think the interview was just a formality. I just hope that my lack of composure doesn’t make them rethink that.

Anyways, more importantly, I’M LEAVING FOR IRELAND IN THE MORNING!!!
I will try to find at least one internet cafe during my journey, but honest, I’m not going to spend a lot of time posting entries. However, I will be keeping a journal during my vacation and will most definitely share excerpts, if not all of it, when I return. And pictures. There will be LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of pictures.

I’m excited, anxious, nervous, scared, and in disbelief all at the same time. I doubt if I’ll be able to get any sleep tonight.

Done.

So, I went shopping tonight and got the airborne, earplugs, eyemask, antibacterial wipes, bandaids, power adaptor, basically everything on my "To Get" list. So that is all taken care of. How can you spend so much $$$ on such small stuff?

On my "To Do" list, I've transferred money to my checking account and alerted my bank so they have a "travel alert" on my account and won't freeze it up while I'm in Ireland.
I still have to do...
pick up allergy prescription
laundry
clean out suitcase

and, I still have to pack. This will most likely be done very late Wednesday evening since on Thursday I'll be leaving work to come straight home, grab my bags and go directly to the Amtrak station to spend the night in San Francisco with my dear cousin Erin (on a completely different sidenote, I always feel like I'm selling our relationship short when I refer to her as my cousin, we're really closer than that - much more like sisters. I'm closer with her than I am with my own siblings after all) and her husband, Jeremy, before leaving out of SFO Friday morning. My flight leaves SFO at 1230 and according to Aer Lingus' site, they say I should arrive at the airport 3-1/2 hours early. REALLY? THAT early? I need to be there by 9 am? Ugh. I really don't like sitting around waiting in airports. Is that too early to start drinking? You have to pass the time somehow, right?

I've gotten some book recommendations:
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Rachels Holiday by Marian Keyes
Without Reservation by Alice Steinbach

All of them sound great, now the hard part is deciding which one to take with me.

Only 4 days.....

Only 4 days until I leave for Ireland,
In preparation for this trip, I have A LOT to get done.
Check out my lists below and let me know if I'm forgetting anything, please?

TO DO
pick up allergy prescription
laundry
tell my bank I'll be there so that they don't think any transactions are fraudulent and freeze up my account
transfer $$ to my checking account

TO GET
power adaptor tingy
travel alarm clock
new socks
pocket calculator (for figuring out the crappy exchange rate)
bandaids (I'm prone to blisters)

TO PACK (other than the basic clothing)
batteries
iPod charger
cameras (& the needed flash cards)
a book or two (any light reading suggestions?)

I'd give Martha Stewart a heart attack....

So, ummmmm....
I've never claimed to be the tidiest person.
Even at my best, I am definitely what you would call "unorganized".
Lets just say that my family, ever so lovingly, refers to me as "Messy Nessie" and theres a reason I've never posted any photos of the interior of my home.

However, this takes the cake.
Two years ago I took my younger cousin Holly to a national karate tournament in New Orleans. She won 1st place in sparring (and got a HUGE trophy) and 3rd place in forms (with a second, smaller trophy).
While there, I also may have purchased two or ten packets of Pat O'Briens Hurricane Mix (just add rum!).
When packing for the return trip home, what to do with Hollys gigantic trophy posed a bit of a dilema. I figured that the best thing to do was to take it apart and put it in my largest suitcase - the top tier came off easily and allowed it to fit in the suitcase. In that same suitcase I also put some clothing to protect the tophies, a few miscellaneous souvenirs, some boxes of beignet mix from Cafe du Monde, and the many packets of hurricane mix.
After checking in for our flight home, my largest suitcase was randomly selected for security screening. My bags are ALWAYS randomly selected for security screenings. I'm not kidding. Every time I have flown in the past 5 years, I arrive at my destination to find that little note from the NTSA in my bag letting me know that theyve opened it up and gone through it.
Anywho...
We get home and open up that large suitcase so that we could show off Hollys trophy and when thhe NTSA repacked it, they had not placed the clothing around the sharp edges of the trophy as I originally had. As a result, the sharp corners of the trophy had punctured a couple of the packets of hurricane mix. My suitcase was filled with sticky sugary powdery gunk.
I took the clothing out, and washed it. Washed the trophy and other souvenirs, but its possible that I didn't clean out the suitcase. Its very likely that I may have said "Ugh, I don't want to clean that sticky mess now. I'll clean that out later when I've rested from my trip" and then zipped it up and put it into the back of a closet and forgotten about it. Until now.
Normally, when I travel up to Oregon to visit Granny I use my medium sized suitcase. This gives me more than enough room for my clothing & what not for the 4-5 days that I'm there and plenty of room for anything that I may pick up while I'm there.
In preparing for my trip to Ireland (in only FIVE days!!!!!) I got to thinking of how to pack lightly so that I'm not taking a TON of clothing and shoes, and have plenty of room for all of the things I'll be bringing back. Then I thought "Don't I have a larger suitcase?" then I remembered the Pat O'Briens Hurricane Mix.
So, tomorrow I'll be opening up the suitcase to clean it out. Hopefully, it comes out easily. I really don't want to have to go buy a new suitcase right now.

Sucking me dry....

gas prices are killing me.
The low end of the average cost for regular unleaded here in Sacramento is about $3.15 per gallon.
A little over three years ago I made a horrible decision when I got a new car and I went with an SUV.
My behemoth of a car gets about 14-15 mpg in the city and 17-18 mpg on the highway, and the great majority of my driving is city driving with a lot of stop and go.
Average cost to fill my gas tank? $65.
How long does that tank of gas last? Only 5 to 6 days, and thats just for my daily commute to work and back and possibly a run or two to the grocery store or Target in the evening. If I do any running around on the weekends that can easily cost me a half a tank in gas.
Once I get back from Ireland I'm going to start saving for a new method of transportation, I'm just not certain of what I want.
My initial reaction is to go with a Toyota Prius or a Honda Civic Hybrid. What makes me think twice about that is the sticker price. I've never purchased a new car before. My first car was a 1972 VW Beetle which only cost $1,000. My second car was a used Oldsmobile something or another that was less than $4,000. Next was a Geo Prizm. Again, only $4,000. Most recently was my Ford Explorer which was $8,000.
Obviously, I am very frugal when it comes to purchasing vehicles. The thought of spending $25,000 on a car sends pains shooting down my left arm.
My next thought is a Vespa Scooter. There happens to be a Vespa dealership down the street from my house. Its possible that I may have stopped by this past weekend to look at their models. The LX 150 is a beauty, only $4,500 and gets close to 70 mpg!
The drawback to the Vespa? Sacramento driving. Scorchingly hot in the summer, think 110 degrees, cold and rainy in the winter. Plus people drive like maniacs on a lot of the major surface streets, and I would have to take a lot of those surface streets on my daily commute. I ran this idea past my chiropractor that I've been seeing since my accident in February and he pointed out that in the past 4-1/2 years there have been three times in which I've been at a complete stop at a red light, just sitting there (not a sudden stop, not having cut anyone off) and have been rearended and how badly I would have been injured in any of those accidents had I been on a scooter.
So, ix-nay on the ooter-scay. However, that doesnt mean that if I were to come into a sudden surplus of cash ((such as the lottery... or an inheritance from a distant unknown relative that died in a horrific car accident while on safari in Nigeria) that doesnt mean I wouldn't get one to have as a weekend toy. Scooting downtown to knit at the pub on Sunday afternoons, or something like that.
So, I'm looking at cars again. I want something fuel economic, but not too expensive.
For new cars I've looked at the Toyota Yaris, but I'd be hesitant to buy the first year of a new model just in case all the kinks haven't been worked out. The price tag is a lot more appealing than that of the Prius or of the Honda Civicv Hybrid though, but the gas mileage isn't as good as either of the hybrids.
I don't live close enough to work to ride my bike, and again with the crazy drivers, and public transportation sucks in the part of town I live in.
Any suggestions on a more fuel economic vehicle that has been on the market long enough to be known to be reliable and fairly reasonable in price?
I'd like to get a new car within a year or so. For this, I know that I'll need a large down payment in order ro keep the monthly payments low. To save up that down payment I'll need to pay off my debts first so as soon as I return from Ireland I am going on a debt-diet. I am determined to have my debts paid off by the end of the year. Before I started saving up for the trip to Ireland I had intended to be debt free by my 30th birthday at the end of August, but I reprioritized for the trip.

Only 9 days until I leave for Ireland.

Lesson Learned? Always Check Your Pockets...

Last night I put a load of clothes in the washer before going to bed.
I have always been bad at checking my pockets before dumping everything in the washer. Often times I will take a load of wet clothing out of the wash to put it in the dryer, and in the process I will find lighters, cash, scraps of paper, a couple of times I even found my drivers license or ATM card.
However, this mornings find was a whole new jackpot. One I'd never imagined I would find in the washing machine.
My cell phone.
At first, I couldnt even get the thing to turn on, but after plugging it in to the charger, it would turn on (with visible watermarks all over the screen), but would not respond to any of the buttons. I couldnt dial, couldnt check my voicemail, couldnt even turn it back off. Off I went to the Sprint store. Chris, the representive who helped me, wasn't able to fix my phone but hooked me up with this model:

I got the pretty pink one. It's rather Hello-Kitty-ish, don't you think?
Chris was able to pull the majority of the phone numbers out of my old phone, but it's so "jacked up" (thats the technical term), that some were lost and they weren't able to be transfered over to my new phone.
Lesson learned? Always check my pockets before doing laundry!
I gotta go.... I have about 100 numbers to program into my new phone.

Thank Heavens!

I found my passport.
One of those things where I "put it someplace safe" then I couldn't find it...
I had checked my safe (that would be the "safe" place, wouldn't it?), jewelery box, desk drawers, various organizers and storage bins, etc...
and come to find out I must have only INTENDED to put it someplace safe.
Where did I find it?
Midway through a bin of clothes intended to go to the goodwill. WTF was it doing in there?
I was really starting to sweat since I leave for Ireland in only 16 days and how would I be able to go if I couldnt find my passport? Call in sick to work tomorrow and drive down to the passport center in San Francisco to see about getting a rush replacement? That actually didn't sound like to bad of an idea to be honest considering half my coworkers are out of the office this week so its been CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY.
But, crisis averted. The passport has been found. I can now prove my country of origin... and go to work tomorrow. yay.

In addition to being excited about how close my trip is, I'm also starting to get a little... scared.
Not "maybe I shouldn't be doing this" scared, but "oh my god I'm going to be in a completely different country, on a completely different continent" scared. There is NOTHING that could stop me from going. I've been dreaming of this trip for years and I think that may factor in to my nervousness. Something I've been dreaming of for so long is finally coming into fruition and its a bit surreal... almost like I don't believe its actually going to happen. I just can't believe that I'm actually going to be seeing the world!
One thing that I'm not looking forward to... the 10-1/2 hour flight. I don't mind flying, what I do mind is landing. I hate it. I can trace back the origin of this slight anxiety to the first flight I ever took by myself. I was 16 and was going to visit my father in Boston for the summer, and flying into Boston the plane approached the runway from the harbor side. Well, this one runway starts at the shore of the harbor. Correction... theres the harbor, an area of big jagged scary looking rocks, then the runway. When the plane was coming in for the landing, I was sitting in a window seat and was absolutely positive that we were going to crash into those rocks. I know that it was due to the perspective, the close proximity and the downward angle of the plane but I was a 16 year old drama queen. I WAS GOING TO DIE A VIRGIN.
Anyways... 10-1/2 hours in a plane. That means 10-1/2 hours without a cigarette. HOLY CRAP what am I going to do?
Any smokers with tips on how to tolerate that long of a flight without a cigarette? I'm thinking of going in to my Drs this next week to see about getting a prescription for Ambien or something like that to knock my butt out on the flights there and back and to possibly help with the jetlag once I get home.
Another general question...
prescription sleep aid, or just Tylenol PM?

Resuming an old hobby....

Years ago, long before I discovered knitting, I was a cross-stitcher. I cross-stitched many pieces for friends and family, and if there was something I wanted to make, but couldn't find an appropriate pattern for, I would design my own pattern.
When my lovely cousin Erin got married, I wanted to make some throw pillows for her & her husband that had a celtic pattern on them. At the time leading up to their wedding, I could not find any celtic patterns anywhere. I was able to locate some 10x10 graphing paper (as opposed to the standard 4x4) and I procceeded to design 3 or 4 throw pillows for them. In the weeks leading up to Erins wedding day, I would work on the pillows at work and at night, and help with the planning of her wedding in the afternoons and weekends. They turned out nicely, were backed with velvet and trimmed with coordinating ribbon. Erin and Jeremy loved them and kept them on their sofa. Where they were much loved by the cats. A little too much - none of them still exist.
Somewhere between "Erins wedding pillows" and last year, I forgot my love of cross-stitch. Although I still have about eleventy billion pattern books, an organizer full of thread, and various pieces of aida fabric, I think Erins pillows were the last item I made. I may have made something after those, but I'm not certain.
About a month or two ago a local cross-stitch shop announced that it was going out of business. It was the same shop I used to go to when I was a cross-stitching fiend. In recent years with the trend in knitting, it had also expanded to include a minimal amount of knitting supplies - a few shelves of yarn, a couple racks of pattern books, and needles. I figured that with them going out of business, I would stop by and see what kind of clearance knitting items I could find.
I did find some great deals on knitting items. Everything was 60% off and I was able to find some needles and 3 random skeins of yarn that I have no idea what I'll use them for. But, the best finds?
counted cross-stitch patterns. I found my family crest as well as the crest for one of my friends - in both her maiden and married names. So, it seems as though I may be taking up cross-stitch again. I'm not sure when I'll get to this as I have a plethora of projects that are currently in the works, but the ones for my friend are on my to do list. The one for myself? I'm not sure of when I'll get that one done. I aways seem to put off making items for myself and work on those that are for others first.

I Couldn't Stop Crying...

I said I’d write more about my trip to Portland when I’d figured out how to put what I was feeling into words.
here’s my best attempt, it’s disoriented, rambling, and all over the place, but it’s the best I can do at the moment.
I left my grandparents in Oregon about 4pm and didnt stop crying until I fell asleep around 3am.
I also felt nauseaus for SEVERAL hours after I got home and I still don’t know if it’s due to the two frappucinos at the airport while waiting for my flight, the three vodka tonics on the flight home, the jack in the box drive thru on my way home from the airport, a legitimate illness, or stress and emotions. Whichever it was, I hate nausea.

Heres the background.
In August of 2004 my grandmother, Grandma, was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. She has several small tumors on the glands surrounding her lungs. Shortly after her diagnosis she began chemotherapy. During the past 20 months she has only had one break in chemotherapy treatments and that was for about two months this past December and January.
During the past 20 months she’s also aged about 10-15 years.
It’s hard seeing her go through this.
Grandma D has always been so energetic, upbeat, positive, and vibrant. Now, she seems to sleep about 18-20 hours a day and her answer to most questions is “whatever, I don’t care”.

When I got to Portland last Friday, I took the lightrail half way from the airport to my grandparents which was perfect because the lightrail station is close to the hospital and Grandma D had a chemotherapy appointment about a half hour after my train arrived.
We got to the hospital, and as we were driving around the parking garage looking for a space, Grandma said “Can’t we just tell them that I’m done with this?”

Several times over my visit I got the distinct impression that Grandma does not want to continue with the chemotherapy and that the only reason she keeps going is that Grandpa D keeps pushing her.
I’m mixed on this.
On one hand I can understand her wanting to stop chemotherapy, she’s miserable. Shes been going through this for 20 months without any form of remission. I don’t think it’s fair for Grandpa to push her to continue the treatments when she hates it so much.
At the same time, I don’t want her to stop the treatments. I’m not ready to lose her and I know Grandpa isn’t either and that his intentions are to keep her going. To hopefully see her through to some sort of remission.
I’m also pissed at my aunt and uncle who live about an hour away from my grandparents. My uncle is completely in denial about how sick Grandma is and avoids dealing with it by avoiding her. They used to have dinner with my grandparents about twice a month. Now, my aunt and uncle only go out to visit on holidays and birthdays. It pisses me off because Grandmas doesnt have the energy or stamina to stand and cook meals, Grandpa can make toast, tea, and little else. Am I wrong for thinking that my aunt and uncle should be able to drive out there on Sunday afternoons and cook up a couple of casseroles, or whatever, that Grandpa could heat up throughout the week? It wouldn’t have to be EVERY Sunday, but SOMETHING just to help them out and to support Grandma.

Theres so much more going through my head right now. I’m trying to get up there to visit her again, but with my trip to Ireland next month (I leave 3 weeks from today), my father coming out to visit in mid-June, then the end of June and beginning of July being very busy at work, I don’t thinkg I’ll be able to visit her again until July. But, that could work out well, her birthday is in late July.

On a sidenote, tomorrow is my 1 year bloggiversary.
I really wasnt certain I would keep this thing up for a year.

I'm home

I made it home from Oregon, but not yet ready to talk about my trip.
I'm still trying put together how I'm feeling.

seriously? SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?

So, last night I go to make my hotel reservations for Ireland.
I enter all of my debit card information and get the following result:
"Your account can not be authorized"
WTF? So I try it again, double checking that I have all of the numbers right, the spacing in my name matches the spacing on the card, etc and resubmit it:
"Your account can not be authorized"
Now I'm REALLY confused.
Did I enter something wrong?
I have the whole "verified by visa" enrollment on my debit card, do I have some sort of conflicting information between the verified by visa and with my bank? whats wrong?
This morning, I log into my online banking and verify that I have MORE than enough funds for the transaction and rather than call my bank and deal with the whole "press one to hold for an hour, press two to hold for 45 minutes, press three if you would prefer to jab a fork in your eye than to deal with all of this crap...." I opted to use the "chat with a live representative" feature and since I'm at work I think this is AWESOME since I can talk to clients and take care of my personal banking at the same time.
CSR: Hello Vanessa, how may I assist you today?
ME: the past 2 days I have tried to make online purchases using my Visa check card and both times I've been told that my card could not be authorized. Could you tell me why this has happened?
CSR: Thank you for your patience Vanessa. How much were you trying to charge using the Freedom Check Card?
ME: one was for $10 and the other was for about $225
CSR: I am not sure why it would decline it. I do show that your daily limits on that Freedom Check Card is $200.00 ATM withdraw limit and $500.00 point of sale limit.
ME: ok - both sites were european sites (I'm planning a trip to Ireland next month) - would this cause them to decline?
CSR: It will be just a moment while I confirm this information for you Vanessa.
CSR: Thank you for your patience Vanessa. So when you go online, the transactions that you are trying to make are in Europe? Or are they in a different country?

----- really? did she REALLY ask that? I hate to sound so old-fartish, but what the hell is public education coming to?-----

ME: they are based in a different country - one was for a hotel in ireland (thats the one thats about $225) the other was a russian music store (thats the one that was $10)
CSR: Thank you for waiting. I'll be with you in just a moment.
CSR: Thank you for your patience Vanessa. Unfortunately Ireland and Russia are completely blocked for any type of use with your Freedom Check Card. Due to an increase of debit card fraud in foreign countries, Sucky Federal Credit Union's board of directors and executive team made the decision to block foreign transactions to prevent future loss. This block is only in effect for debit card transactions, and will not affect Visa credit cards. We do apologize for any inconvenience.

So, my lovely bank does not allow ANY foreign transactions AT ALL, no exceptions, no way to set up authorization for my debit card to work at all while I'm in Ireland. IT WON'T EVEN WORK AT ATM'S!! The CSR proceeded to tell me that if I got one of their Visa credit cards, then I would be able to use it internationally.
I'm trying to get OUT of debt, not charge up more and I refuse to get another credit card. I'm working on paying mine off and have had the credit limit reduced as I pay it off so that I can't charge it back up and when I do have it paid off, the limit will be a minimal amount for emergencies only - not even 1/4th of what my budget for Ireland is.
I do not understand why you would be able to use a visa credit card somewhere but not a visa debit card. I thought the point of these debit cards was to be able to use them the same as a credit card.
After work today, i went and opened a new account at a much better bank.
They even offer rebates on the purchases I make with the debit card. Also, I didnt know this, but I guess my employer has some sort of a partnership with them so I get all kinds of free benefits with the account, I havent even read through all of them yet. I'm just hoping that the direct deposit gets up and running between now and then. The woman who set up my account must have took pity on me when I told her about the problem with my old bank because she told me that if I need to deposit ANY checks between now and my trip to Ireland, to come into the branch and bring them to her and she'll make sure theres no hold placed on any of the funds just to be sure that I have all of my funds available for my trip.

It's destiny

My horoscope for today:
It's time to go beyond borders. That curiosity you've always had about distant lands, foreign customs and languages? It's time to explore them to the fullest. These avenues may just be life changing.

How spooky is it that I get this horoscope 5 weeks before I leave for Ireland?
To make it even spookier, about two months ago I went to lunch with a coworker and we were having Chinese. During our meal I was telling her how I've been trying to go to Ireland the past three years but that something had always come up to stop me from going but this year I had decided that I was going this year as soon as I got my tax refund. At the end of lunch I opened my fortune cookie:
You will step on the soil of many countries.
I remember it exactly because I tacked it up at my desk as a reminder to not allow anything to stop me from going this year.

Since then, I've decided that I do need to step on the soil of many countries and that from now on I will use my tax refund every year to travel to Europe. Theres so many things I want to do, like ride a gondola through the canals of Venice, see the Eiffel Tower, visit the Louvre, walk through Pompeii. Theres so much I want to see and do.
I can't even describe how much I'm looking forward to this trip. I truly hope that it is life changing like my horoscope says it will be.

I'm staying home this weekend. I had a nice time with my friend and her family last weekend (and to those who suggested I get a dog to satisfy that matenal itch - I already have one, an adorable pembroke corgi-miniature american eskimo mix who is the sweetest thing EVER), but I've got a lot to do this weekend. Some of its self indulgent, and a little bit of its housework related. I have some laundry to get caught up on along with other housework, but I also plan on getting a manicure and pedicure tomorrow and I have quite a bit of knitting and crocheting to do.

On the needles:

1. A messenger type bag experiment.
I've started this with the thought that it would be my daily travel bag for Ireland. Something to use in place of a purse to carry my daily necessities such as my passport, camera, guide book, etc. I'm thinking it may be too big though. Im knitting it up in stockinette using two stands of yarn - Patons Classic Wool in a heathered grey and black. I'm hoping that using the two colors together will give it a marbled effect. I'm using the two colors for the body and strap of the bag and I have a dusty blue that I'll use for trim to seam the sides up and possibly add a little pocket or two with.

2. baby afghan
one of the managers at work had a little boy last week that I'm knitting up an afghan for. Normally I would have had this finished before the baby was born, but they were waiting until the birth to find out whether it was a boy or girl so the day he was born I got the yarn (yes, I cheated on my yarn diet. AGAIN) and started the afghan.

3. A tank top type experiment.
Notice a trend here?
A while back I'd gotten some Moda Dea Ticker Tape because it was on sale at Michaels. This was long before the yarn diet. I've been hanging onto this yarn for about two months now, not knowing what I was going to do with it when I decided that the color (bright & light pink) would look great on my little cousing Janae. This pattern I'm making up as I go along. I have a general idea of the look I'm going for, so we'll see how it turns out. I'm putting it on hold for the time being to work on....

4. kids sweater.
Tara of Coffee Crochet has designed a childs sweater and I'm testing the pattern for her. Its going a little slow because of the other projects I have going on right now. Once finished, this one will go to a coworkers little one.

5. Roll brim hat.
I'm using Noro Kureyon. I love the colors in this yarn - deep jewel tones. Hopefully I'll have a finished product to show you some time soon.
I've started this damn thing about 3 times. The first time I got only 4 or 5 rounds into it when I saw that I'd dropped a stitch so I'd ribbed it out to start over. The second time I'd gotten to the point of decreasing and had switched to DPN's. About 10 rows after switching to the DPN's I noticed that I'd somehow flipped the hat inside out when I'd switched to the DPN's and had been knitting on the purl side ever since. I ripped out and started over. The third time I'd almost finished the hat. Had gone all the way down to the final decrease and had all but pulled the yarn through the final stitches when I decided to try it on. I swear I had measured the thing before I started decreasing but apparently, I screwed up. The think looked like a kippah.

6. The Brangelina Wide Ribbed Brim Hat
I'm using Crystal Palace Yarns Baby Alpaca Grande in black for this one. I love this yarn, its so fluffy and luscious.
I'm only on my first try with this one but have already managed to throw off the rib pattern for this one. I've ripped it out and will be starting it again.... eventually.
Pattern credit - Crazy Aunt Purl.

So, I've got quite a few projects in the works at the moment.
Theres also another felted bag in the works. Its a mix between the felted purses I've been making recently and this cute number by Crazy Aunt Purl. More on this one later.

Next Friday I'm off to Portland again to visit the grandparents. A nice long weekend to relax on the mountain top.

Let the bidding begin!

My crap, I mean treasured belongings are up for auction on ebay!
You can find them HERE.

Am I Going Soft?

Friday after work I drove up to Cottonwood (just 30 minutes south of Redding on I-5) to spend the weekend with an old friend/coworker. She'd moved up there a little over a month ago because she realized that she and her husband were never going to be able to afford to buy a home here in Sacramento. The area is beautiful, however it is way too remote for me. I do not think I could ever live in the "country" I'm pretty certain that I'm a city girl but I do enjoy getting away from it all to relax and unwind.
My friend has a son that just turned one about 2 weeks ago. He is adorable and for some reason he latched on to me from the minute I got there. I'd seen him before a few times when my friend would bring him in to work but I'd never really spent too much time with him. All weekend he wanted me to hold him, was bringing me his favorite toys, and when I went to leave this evening I set my bag down by the door for a moment and the kid started pulling all of my stuff out of my bag and taking it back into the guest room.
I've never really wanted kids. I LOVE kids, I really do, but I've always wanted to live vicariiously through my friends and family and to be the "cool auntie". Aunt Nessie. I just like the sound of that better than "Mommy".
But this kid? He made my womb ACHE to the point that I question the whole "live vicariously through others" idea.
Am I getting soft? Do I REALLY want a kid or two eventually or is this just some anxiety tied in with turning 30 in a few months? I would think that I'm too young to be having any sort of life crisis.

Irish Fact of the Day.....
Its green and in europe.
Its late, I'm tired, and I don't feel like looking shit up.

I'm so confused

Theres a strange bright orb in the sky.

Ok, so I'm a little lazy....

You want an Ireland Fact of the Day?
I'll be there in 45 days.
OH, something about Ireland itself, okay then.....

Guinness initially started brewing porters and ales in Leixlip. Guinness wasn't brewed at the famed St. James Gate brewery in Dublin until 1759 when Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease at the price of £45 annually. 1769 was the first time Guinness was exported when six and a half barrels were shipped to England.
Guinness only has 198 calories per imperial pint - this is less than an equal sized serving of skim milk.
The Guinness Brewery also produces Harps, Smithwicks and Kilkenny beers.

and yes, I believe I will be paying a visit to the brewery while I'm in Dublin.

IFOTD #1

The impressive Cliffs of Moher were the setting for The Cliffs of Insanity in 1987's film The Princess Bride.

51 days.....

Back to the grind...

I hate it when the weekend comes to an end.

Sunday I spent the day at the pub. Yes, the WHOLE day.
I joined up with my knitting group at about 2:30 yesterday afternoon and completely lost track of time. The next thing I knew, it was about 7pm and trivia would be starting in just a little over an hour so I stuck around for the game. Our team took first place and I didn't get home until about 11:30, BUT I've got a token for a free beer.
Knitting wise, I was able to get a lot done. I finished the ponchos I was making for my 6 year old cousin and her friend (photos to come the next time my oh-so-cute little model pays me a visit) and I got started on my next felted purse. This one is for my friend Heather and is being done in green and black. I LOVE the green yarn I'm using - it looks like that "grass" filler for Easter baskets. The yarn I purchased last week - I dont think I'm going to make a traditional felted purse like the other ones I've been making with that. I'm working up a design of my own for that one. I'll keep you posted on how thats coming along.
One of the other regulars was at the pub while we were knitting and after trying to annoy us a good portion of the afternoon he made the mistake of taking a nap next to us. Hijinx were had, and fortunately, I had my digital camera with me. Scarves were draped about him and other magic is being worked in photoshop:

WARNING: Don't nap near mischievious knitters

Then, it was back to work today. Where the air conditioner was broken and the office was 85 degrees at 7 am. By the time people started rolling in at 8, it was getting hotter. The air was finally fixed and it quickly plunged to 55 degrees. WTF? Is there no such thing as a moderate climate?

OH, and P.S. - - - 52 days to Ireland.
I'm considering starting an "Irish fact a day" feature between now and when I actually leave.
What do you think?
Yay? Nay?

I'm A Cheater.

Only two days in, and I've already blown the Yarn Diet.
I stopped into my favorite LYS on my way home from work this evening to pick up a pair of size 6 circs and dpn's to make this hat.
I walked out with the needles, a copy of Debbie Bliss "Celtic Knits", because I'm feeling the celtic vibe lately, and a copy of The Happy Hooker. No, not THAT Happy Hooker, THIS Happy Hooker. Just glancing through the patterns in the book, I can tell you that it is unbelievably cool. Theres a couple of cute handbags and one sweater called "cupcake" that I will DEFINITELY be making for myself.
I walked out with the needles, the books, and this:

I was waiting in line while the owner was winding yarn for another customer and, well, I got to looking around. I'm planning on using it to make another felted purse for myself.

Since Blogger has gotten its anti-photo glitch worked out, heres the purses I finished last Sunday:


and heres the photo of my coworkers Carrie, Heather and I on St Patricks Day.

Yes, Carrie and I showed up in the same cheesy sweatshirt and Heather was "Seein' Dublin".

59 days and counting....

59 days until I leave for Ireland.
I should be purchasing my tickets tomorrow. The only reason I havent bought them already is that I have to wait for funds to transfer from one bank to another.
And yes, I HAVE been compulsively checking Aer Lingus' site multiple times a day, you know... just to confirm that the flights don't, you know, magically disappear.
I need to lose some weight before the trip though. I can't imagine squeezing my current behind into an airline seat for a 10 hour flight. I'd like to lose 20-25 lbs by then, so my friend Katherine and I are joining Weight Watchers next Tuesday. I'd given WW a try last fall, but did not do very well at it. I think there were a number of factors that contributed to my failing.
First of all was my decision to go to meeting on Saturday mornings. Between sleeping in from going out on Friday nights, having work and social functions on Saturdays and the various weekend trips I took to Portland, San Francisco and Salt Lake City, I just missed way too many meetings.
Second, I tried doing it solo and I am one of those who needs a buddy to go with. If I'm going on my own, its too easy for me to skip a meeting and throw off my entire week. If I'm going with a buddy I feel a sense of obligation to go, like I'd be letting them down if I skipped a meeting.
Another thing I'd like to do before leaving for Ireland? Save up some more money.
Fortunately my tax refund this year was huge, and even after airfare and hotels (I've found some great deals) I should have enough for my trip. But, I want more. I'd like to have an extra cushion of funds in the event of an emergency... like if I need to bail myself out of an Irish prison... or if I find myself near the Aran Islands and there happens to be some luscious wools. Plus, I'll need to find two nice birthday gifts while I'm there. I'll land in Ireland on my baby brothers 17th birthday, and my third day there will be my aunt Glorias birthday as well. I'd be bringing gifts back for them anyways, but since its their birthdays I'd like it to be a little extra special.
Anyways, I'd like to go with a busload of money available. Is this greed or practicality?
Either way I'm going to have to budget between now and then. This means, cutting back on the starbucks, dining out, and :::gasp::: not buying any yarn. Fortunately, my stash is large enough to provide me with enough yarn for projects between now and then. Since friends and coworkers have been consigning my knitting and crochet services lately, the only exception to the new Yarn-Diet I'm going to allow myself is if its for a project I've been hired for, that way the purchase isnt coming out of my own pocket. I'll have to brown bag my lunch, this should help with the weight loss as well.
I'm also thinking I'll be putting some of my extra crap, I mean TREASURED BELONGINGS, up for sale on ebay to raise some extra cash for the trip. I've got an extra silver ipod mini left from when I upgraded to the 60gb ipod photo. I also have an XM Radio Roady2 Personal Audio System that was an impulse post holiday clearance sale impulse purchase. Its designed to make the Roady2 portable like a walkman HOWEVER, I don't have a Roady2. I have a RoadyXT. The two are not compatible and I got lazy and never got around to returning it and now its too late to return it for a refund. Plus, I lost the receipt.
But I digress,l I will have ebay auctions up within the next couple of weeks. But, due to the Yarn-Diet, there will be no extra stash going up for sale. That, and I'm a smoker so my yarn is all stinky and who wants to buy stinky yarn?
Also... NO NEW SHOES!!!! Okay.. MAYBE a couple of weeks before I go I may invest in a good pair of walking shoes and break them in before the trip. Any suggestions on some good walking shoes? My main problem with shoes is that they cut INTO the back of my ankle usually. This is why I wear mules year round. My only stipulation... they must look cool and not look like "practical" shoes.
In knitting news...
I joined up with my friends Maya, Jen and Susan for a little stitching and bitching on Sunday afternoon at the pub. I was able to put the finishing touches on the purses I've made for my aunt Gloria to give to the pastors wives at her church.......

What? You thought there would be photos? So did I. HOWEVER, Bloggers being a major pain in my ass and won't load any of my photos.

Anyways, I finished the purses which was mainly just sewing on the handles, but I'd been putting that off for a while since I hate to sew. Thats not entirely correct. I don't HATE to sew. I just don't do it very well.
I was at the pub long enough that after finishing the purses I was able to start a kids poncho which I finished last night... no photos of that yet since I have two more to make and I'll post the pics of all three at once.

I also had a photo of a couple of coworkers and I on St Patricks Day to share with you.... oh well, hopefully I'll be able to post them tomorrow.

I'm half way there....

My request for vacation time was approved.

I WILL BE GOING TO IRELAND IN MAY!!!!!

I am so excited right now that I am SHAKING.

I'm having to transfer money between accounts so I won't be able to actually buy the tickets until Wednesday, but I AM DOING IT!

GAH! I'm so excited.
This will be my first international trip anywhere, ever.
Well, I have been to Quebec City, which I know is another country and therefore it is technically international, BUT since its the same continent and you can just drive across the border (well, this was way back in 1993 so you could just drive across the border - they didnt even check my ID) I don't really consider it to be "international" travel.
I did LOVE Quebec City - absolutely gorgeous. I imagine it would have been very romantic... had I been there with anyone other than my father.

But... IRELAND!... IRELAND!!

IRELAND, people!

I'm going!
GAH!
In TWO MONTHS!
I havent been able to stop smiling in the past 2 hours.

Of course, I do have fears with traveling to Europe.
Such as....
I won't understand the currency exchange rates and will find myself completely broke my second day there.
I'll commit some sort of major cultural faux-pas and offend everyone around me, therefore becoming that tourist woman that people talk about for months.
That I'll unwittingly break some bizarre law and find myself in an Irish prison (shut up. It could happen.)
I won't have the proper type of power adaptor for my hair dryer and will set the hotel ablaze (perhaps thats how I'll end up in prison)

However, I am more excited than I am afraid.
I know that this will be an amazing trip and that I will have one of the best experiences of my life.
And, its only 60 days away....

Woooo Hooooo!

I'm getting my car back today!
Happy St. Patty's day to me!
After 2 weeks I am DONE with my rental car. My big ol' butt was not made to fit into a Chevy Cobalt.
I decided not to bake cookies for the guy who fixed my car for 2 reasons:
1 - I'm not that great in the kitchen.
2 - LAZINESS

But, I have assembled a gift basket for him containing:
Chocolate
cookies
ghiradelli hot cocoa mix,
cashew roca
cookies
chocolate
chocolate covered cookies
chocolate

seriously - theres about 15 or more items in the basket and theyre all variations of the above. Can you tell I was a little hungry and moody while I was shopping for it?

FINALLY, some good news...

My car is NOT being totaled.
I reap so many benefits from my late grandfather having worked in the auto body business its not even funny.
The repair shop where my car is being fixed is owned by a friend of my grandfathers, and he knows that I am not wanting to have to buy a new car, and he has knocked down his labor costs to keep the quote below the blue book value so that my car won't be totaled. I owe him a HUGE thank you - perhaps I should bake some cookies for him and his staff? Would that even begin to cover him the humongous thanks I owe him?

Also, Kim has posted a meme. Not necessarily to me specifically, but to anyome in general:

1. Why and how did you start a blog?
I've always been bad at keeping diaries and journals and thought that this format may maintain my interest longer than a traditional journal. On my very first post, my dear cousin Erin commented something along the line of how she'd started a blog or two herself in the past but wasn't able to maintain it and wished me better luck. I took it as a sort of challenge.

2. If you have a special "nom de blog", how did you chose it?
Initially, I wanted to go with Miss Ness since my family and friends often call me 'Ness' or 'Nessa', but that was taken. So was "lochness" another nickname for me among fewer friends and family, so I went with Nessacery - - something an old friend from Boston (whom I've unfortunately lost contact with) referred to me as.

3. how did you come up with the name for your blog?
Same as above, it was my friend George who started calling me Nessacery a number of years ago, he even spelled it this way (or misspelled it this way) to suit my nickname of Nessa

4. What things do you tend to blog about the most, and why?
I think the majority of my posts tend to be about craft projects - mainly knit and crochet with the occaisional beaded project thrown in. I also whine about some of the crap going on in my personal life, such as my recent car accident.

5. Are there subjects you'd like to blog about, but don't, and if so, what is stopping you?
Theres some personal topics I'd like to blog about - loneliness, fears, more introspective themes but insecurities prevent me from doing so. Anything too personal is hard for me to blog about - some of my posts regarding my grandmothers battle with lung cancer are the most personal I've been able to post and thats been hard for me, I just have a hard time sharing anything too personal. I have started a few rough drafts about personal issues that involve myself only but have never posted them - theyre just saved as word documents on my desktop, waiting for me to gather the nerve to share them with all of you.

6. How do you organize your blogroll/links:?
Alphabetical order

7. How do you feel about the design of your blog? Are there any changes you'd like to make to it?
its okay. There are some changes I'd like to make but I am an HTML MORON and don't know how to make any changes. Tara of Coffee Crochet (link in blogroll to the right) made me an AWESOME button, but I've got no clue of how to post it. I've tried, it doesn't work for me. Any techies out there want to give me pointers? I work on a Mac if that makes any difference.
I'd like to post more photos, but I forget my digital camera at home a lot. For example, last night I had a party at work, and wanted to post pictures to prove that I do "clean up nice"... I had a PRETTY red dress, did my hair and makeup, even had my nails and toes done - usually I can be found in jeans and a sweatshirt - as I was getting ready I kept mentally reminding myself to take my camera with me. Half way to the party I remembered that I'd left my camera at home.

8. How often do you post new entries on your blog? Would you like to post more (or less) often?
Ideally I'd like to post every other day, but thats a rare occurence. It seems like I tend to post only once a week, sometimes twice.

9. How often do you read and/or comment on other blogs? How do you find new blogs to read?
A few times a week - however this is going to decrease since rumor has it that my employer is going to start monitoring personal usage of the internet. DAMMIT!

10. Have you done anything special to get others to read and/or comment on your blog?
Other than commenting on others blogs, I don't think so.

My baby brothers worst nightmare has come true.

My brother Ryan has a new girlfriend named Nikki and I think shes great. She’s sweet, friendly, nice to sit down and talk to, AND the best part.... she wants me to teach her how to knit and crochet.

I don’t think Ryan fully comprehends what this means....
Nikki and I will be stitching, and what happens when a couple of girls sit down to stitch? They bitch. And the one most obvious thing we have in common? MY BROTHER.
Theres a 12-1/2 year age difference between my brother and I so I have very clear memories of the bizarre stuff he did as a child.
It is going to be so tempting to tell her how when he was about three he continuously flushed his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles down the toilet because they were supposed to live in the sewer. At least once a week our dad had to remove the toilet and snake Ryans toys out.
Its also going to be hard to not tell her about the time when I heard him playing in the bathtub making weird sound effect type noises and splashing all over the place (I think he was 4 or 5) so I peeked my head in to see about 20 or so pink plastic applicators floating in the tub. He had discovered my box of tampons, thought they were weird little submarine and rocket toys and was launching them in the tub.
I must resist the urge the embarass the hell out of him.
I’m a BAD sister.
BAD. BAD. BAD.

This entry is brought to you by the letter “F”

Caution: this entry is not for those with sensitive ears (or would it be eyes?). Massive amounts of profanity ahead.

I have said the “F” word so many times today.

This afternoon I dropped my car off at the auto body repair shop, picked up my rental car and spoke with the insurance agent of the woman who hit me.

Without even getting a quote from the repair shop both my insurance agent and the other womans insurance agent are talking about totaling my car out. Apparently the blue book value on my car is only $5,000 and they are anticipating the repair costs to exceed that.
MOTHER F*CKING SON OF A B&TCH!!!!
I JUST paid my car off less than two F*CKING months ago!
And I KNOW that if they pay me $5,000 to total out my car I am NOT going to be able to replace it for that amount. I’m going to be stuck with a F*CKING car payment again.
DAMNIT!
I’m only THREE months away from being completely debt free! In three months I will have my visa bill and my student loan COMPLETELY paid off! I was SO looking forward to it - to being able to put money away for a trip somewhere, to opening a ROTH IRA like my father so heavily suggests, to buying luscious wooly yarns, to just having the relief from not owing anyone any money at all.
F*CK
F*CK
F*CK
F*CK
F*CK

I am trying to remain optimistic. I’m hoping that the repair costs won’t be as high as the insurance companies are thinking they’ll be, that working with the insurance companies will be a breeze, that everything will go smoothly. I’m trying.

I'm baaaaack

I got home last night, the trip was great.
Grandma does seem to be doing better on the current round of chemo. She is still weak and tired most of the time but she has managed to put a little weight back on and her spirits are up. I made her another chemo cap while I was there using Berrocco Softwist, but I FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE! I am a horrible bloger. bad. bad. bad.
Whil visiting the grandparents, I did NOTHING. I hung out with my grandparents, watched movies with my uncle, and went shopping with my grandfather for a new pair of tennis shoes. I also spent some time relaxing in their hot tub which felt sooo good.
But now, I'm back at home and dealing with insurance and auto body repair shops and rental cars... so. much. fun.

How was my Tuesday morning?

This is how my morning was:

I was rear ended on my way to work, only two blocks from my house.
I paid off my car just a month ago, and got hit this morning.
This is the THIRD time I've been rear ended in less than 5 years, and the SECOND time at this same intersection in this same lane and in the same position in traffic - first car in the right hand turn lane, preparing to turn.
What have I done to offend the auto gods?
What can I do to get back in their good graces?
I'm okay. A little sore, and I figure that if I'm hurting already it's going to be hell tomorrow (Wednesday).
I was stopped, prepared to make a right hand turn and leaning a litte forward, turned to my left to watch for an opening in traffic when I was hit. Sitting like this caused me to whip back against my seat in a very awkward way and now theres this weird clicky like noise in my neck when I turn my head to the left.
My neck, shoulders and back started hurting within about 20 minutes, then about an hour later tingling, in the same area started shortly followed by lightheadedness, dizziness and nausea. I saw my primary care physician this afternoon who took some xrays and confirmed that my neck is out of alignment and gave me prescription for vicodin. Vicodin doesn't knock me out like normal people, it just takes the edge off the pain and makes me a little foggy. I apologize for any and all typos.
I've filed the claim with my insurance, have an appointment with my chiropractor tomorrow afternoon, and will be making arrangements to have my car repaired tomorrow as well. I don't think it will be able to be done while I'm in Oregon so I'm going to have to get a rental car as well. Its at least going to need to have the bumper replaced - overall, it did hold up pretty well. But, it should. The things a freaking TANK!
All said, I know things could have been worse.
The woman who hit me had her son in the car - safely in a car seat in the back. he seemed okay at the time, and I certainly hope that he is. The woman who hit me was very nice as well, apologetic, easy to work with, readily exchanged insurance information. The last person who rear ended me tried talking me out of exchanging ANY information at all, then said they would take care of the repairs without going through insurance and when I told them how much the appraisal for auto body repairs was they said it was too expensive and tried talking me out of getting my car fixed, then when I reported it to insurance since they were trying to screw me over they called and left nasty messages on my voicemail.
So, in the past couple of years I have become slightly familiar with dealing with insurance companies, auto claims and medical claims and am covering my butt to make sure that I don't get screwed over again becaise I want to be a nice and agreeable person. Screw being nice. I've started a file folder and am keeping ALL receipts - from the ibuprofen I bought this morning to my office visit and prescription co-pays to copies of my time sheets showing the time I'm taking off from work to deal with this (1/2 an hour late this morning, left at lunch for a Dr's appt today and will be leaving 2 hours early tomorrow for another Dr's appt).
Anything I haven't covered?
Does anyone have any suggestions on working with insurance companies & injuries?
Now, I can't sleep. After my doctors appointment earlier today I called my insurance and filed the claim, then took a nap. Not too long of a nap - only an hour.
But, now I can not get to sleep.
Am I using this time to prepare for my trip to Oregon this week? No.
Am I catching up on the pile of laundry that is taking over my bedroom? No.
Am I doing anything that is the slightest bit productive? No.
So, I'm knitting and watching the replay of the Ladies Short Program Figure Skating from the Olympics.
The 2010 Winter Olympics are set for Vancouver British Columbia. I've never visited Vancouver, and attending an Olympic Games is on my list of things to do before I die, so I'm thinking of taking a road trip in 4 years. This could be the vicodin talking, it could be my love of road trips and figure skating talking. Who knows.
I leave for Portland at the butt crack of dawn Friday morning and am really looking forward to it. I want to visit my grandparents, uncles and cousins. Play with my grandmas kitties, relax, cook some good meals for my grandparents (grandpa can't cook worth a crap and grandma doesnt have the energy to cook from all of the chemo treatments so they eat a lot of frozen meals and take out), maybe do a little yarn shopping, pay a visit to Powells Books, hang out with my cousins - theyre 15 & 18 so it will most likely be at the mall. I have to be at the airport at 6 am friday morning. It's now going on 3 am Wednesday morning and I have not done any laundry, any packing, or anything at all. I won't get it done tonight either - I have to drive down to San Francisco after work to pick up my iPod I left at my cousins last weekend and then drive back the same night. I HAVE to have my iPod for the plane ride and while waiting around at the airport.
I was wanting to be in better condition than this for my trip to Portland, not zoned out on vicodin the whole time, so hopefully I'll be feeling better by this weekend.
My grandma has a chemotherapy treatment the day I get there so I wont see her until she gets home that afternoon. My uncles going to pick me up at the airport and let me take his car and he's going to drive his old clunker of a truck so that I'll have a car while I'm there and can go out and do stuff on my own. I'm thinking I'll go to my grandparents house after my flight gets in and fix a nice dinner to be ready for them when they get home from the chemotherapy. Any meal suggestions?
I leave you with this:

I don't have any photoshop programs on my computer to blur out my license plate number so please, don't stalk me. Thank you.

Sometimes, I can go a little "overboard"...

On occaision, I can get a bit carried away with things. One might call it OCD tendencies, and as I've said before, I believe it's genetic.
Whatever my current interest is, it becomes all consuming.
When I first started beading, I was going to the bead shop at least once a week and to Gemfaire whenever it was within a reasonable driving distance. By the way, to me "a reasonable driving distance" was whenever it was within approximately 100 miles. I told you I can go a little overboard. Anyways, I had to have more beads, all the different types of pliers and crimpers. I was making necklaces, bracelets, anklets, cell phone charms, etc. for EVERYONE.
When I first resumed crocheting about 10'ish years ago (after a loooooong hiatus from when my great-grandmother first taught me as a child), I had to have every size crochet hook made, almost every color of Red Heart yarn (egads - I had yet to learn the beauty of local yarn shops and natural fibers), and EVERYONE got afghans. Then when I began knitting late last year I discovered a few local yarn shops and some BEAUTIFUL yarns and bamboo needles. Considering I have more disposable income now than I did 10 years ago, I can afford nicer yarn than Red Heart and my bank account reflects this. Whenever I walk into my favorite LYS, the owners face lights up.
Also, I'm always more than happy to help any charity or worthy cause - most notable it the Sacramento area blood bank. I am TERRIFIED of needles - come near me with one and I'll start to hyperventilate, seriously. Two years ago my mom (who is a medical assistant) got to test me for allergies and thought it would be hilarious to pull out the biggest needle she could find. The office receptionist said all of the other patients in the waiting room jumped when I screamed. BUT, every 8 weeks I'm at the blood bank giving a donation. Why? Guilt. It works wonders. My senior year of high school I got talked into donating at the blood drive we had at our school, and found out that I am O-. Ever since then I get the following message on my answering machine every 8 weeks "Hello Vanessa, this is Vampiress from We Want To Suck You Dry Blood Bank and did you know that your blood type is the only type that can be transfused into infants and premies? Think of the babies, Vanessa, THIIIIIIIIIIIINK OF THE BABIEEESSS!!!!!!!!"

So, what do you think happens when you mix a touch of OCD, a bit of a stash of Red Heart, and a fondness for charitable organizations?
THIS:



TEN GRANNY SQUARES.

Last week Drew made a plea for granny squares in reponse to the current volume of request for comfortghans from the organization, Heartmade Blessings. I thought I could knock a couple out while watching TV and send them off to Drew. Well, that turned into a nightly routine of "I'll just make one more tonight & then send them tomorrow"
I'm a stinky smoker, so I've Febreezed them well, and threw a couple of fabric softener dryer sheets in the envelope for extra April-Freshness. I'll be taking them to the post office on my lunch break Friday.

Drew, I hope they're not too stinky.

I enjoyed making each and every one of them, it gave me the chance to do more crocheting than I've done in a long time and I was able to try out some new patterns.
But, I think what I enjoyed most about making these was that they reminded me why I started crocheting again 10 years ago this fall.
When I was little girl, I would spend a considerable amount of time at my great-grandparents house and would watch my great-grandma crochet items for church missionaries, including granny squares. Being the pain-in-the-ass, I mean curious, child that I was, I begged her to teach me what she was doing. I THINK I was about 7 or 8 at the time, and she gave me a hook and some scrap yarn and taught me the basic chain and single crochet. With this information I managed to crochet a scarf or two for my Barbies (they were just chains) and some "area rugs" for my doll house (it looked REAL classy). That was about as much information as I was able to absorb before my attention was diverted to something else and I completely forgot about crocheting. It was probably George Michael. I was a big WHAM! fan when I was 8.
Then, in 1996 just before I turned 20, she died. I had just moved to Boston and had started a new job only two weeks prior to her death but I was able to fly home the morning of her funeral, then had to turn around and fly back the very next morning. Being 3,000 miles away from my family, by myself in a new city, I wasn't grieving very well but decided that I needed a scarf for my first New England winter. I got some Red Heart and randomly picked out a crochet hook (mind you, I was not paying any attention to the hook size, but rather which color hook was prettiest) at the local Walmart. That first scarf was... interesting. I had to rip it out and start over SO many times. I didnt have anyone to teach me, I didnt have internet access to look up anything, and my budget couldnt afford any instructional books, and it was obvious. BUT, with every stitch and every row, I remembered my great-grandmother. I remembered her sweet tea that could induce a diabetic coma, all of the afternoons that I spent at her house, my cousin and I playing dress up in her spare bedroom and picking hydrangeas, geraniums, and azaleas from the front yard.
I remembered her teaching me how to crochet on summer afternoons over 10 years earlier.
That was the first time I was able to cry since learning that she had passed. For me, crocheting is a way to remember my great-grandma, to remember how much love she put in to every stitch, and to try to continue it.

Is it a sign??

Recently Maya was asking if anyone wants to go to Paris with her.
Then today, I take this quiz and find out

You Belong in Paris

Stylish and a little sassy, you were meant for Paris. The art, the fashion, the wine, the men! Whether you're enjoying the cafe life or a beautiful park... You'll love living in the most chic place on earth.

What City Do You Belong In?

Paris is one of the cities I've always wanted to visit. Actually, theres quite a list of European locales I'd like to visit:
Paris
London
Ireland - all over the country
Italy - Rome, Florence - again, all over the country
Prague
Greece
Oslo
Amsterdam
thats just naming a few though.

My to do list....

Just trying to make note of all of the knit and crochet projects on my to do list....


1. "Cute Felted Bag" for my aunt to give to the pastors wife at her church. 20% completed
Last week my youngest aunt celebrated a year and a half of being clean and sober. I am SO proud of her. During the past year and a half, as she's gone through recovery, the pastors wife at her church has been a great source of support to her and has given my aunt a lot of clothing for herself as well as for my youngest cousin. My aunt saw my felted bag and remarked that its something the pastors wife would like so I'm making one with black Cascade 220 and a pretty bronze and gold metallic lash, Aura by Trendsetters Yarn. This is about 20% done (not including the felting and attaching handles).

2. "Girly Baby Stuff" 10'ish% completed
One of my coworkers is going to be a grandma in about a month and has commissioned me to make all of the "pink girly stuff" I can between now and when the baby is born.
I do know that I will be making the ugg style booties from Candy Babies by Candi Jensen in pink and at least one baby afghan. I started this afghan this evening. Its a quick easy pattern I've used before and I had some Lion Brand Baby Soft lying around.

3. Sweater for coworker 0% completed
The same coworker has asked me to make her a sweater, she's a "little person" and has never been able to purchase a sweater that fit properly since you can't really hem the sleeves of a sweater. I've purchased the yarn but haven't been able to start it yet.

4. "Cute felted bag" for another coworker 0% completed
today another coworker commissioned me to make a cute felted bag for her as well. She knows that I have several projects lined up ahead of her so she's not expecting it too soon.

5. Granny Squares 0%
Drew, aka The Crochet Dude, has joined together with Heartmade Blessings, a wonderful organization that assembles granny square afghans, "Comfortghans", for people in need of comfort, either due to illness or due to the loss of a loved one.
At this time, they have a "back order" of requests for Comfortghans for people in need of comfort and are looking for any crocheters or knitters who would be interested in busting their yarn stash for a worthy cause.
If you'd be interested in helping out a worthy cause, the guidelines for Granny Squares can be found HERE.
Seriously, its a great organization and I personally know how much hand made items can mean to a person going through an illness or loss.

6. Comfortghan for my Granny 0%
Last time I visited my Grandmother in Portland I made her a chemo cap with matching scarf and since then she doesnt leave the house without them. She hates wearing her wig, complains that it makes her head itch, and gets too cold if she goes without anything. Seeing how much she appreciates the hat and scarf, I'm going to make her an afghan as well.
Like I said above, hand made items can mean A LOT to a person going through an illness or loss.

7. Hat and scarf for Gramps 0%
I don't want to leave Grandpa out, so when I go to Portland in 3 weeks to visit the grandparents I'd like to take Grandpa a hat and scarf as well.


This doesnt include all of the projects that I'd LIKE to make for myself. There are a few things I want to make for myself, some of them I've even bought the yarn for, but I keep bumping them down on the list.

Fug-O-Flauge

Don't say I didn't warn you.
I told you that some tremendous fug was on its way.
I do believe this is the ugliest thing I've ever made.
A coworker saw a hat that I had crocheted a few months ago and asked me to make one for her husbands birthday.
In camoflauge.
Because he likes to go hunting.
I find it hideous, but thats just my own opinion.




Also, I've finished my knitting bag!
I like how its turned out, and it was fairly easy to make. The DPNs were a little tricky, but I muddled my way through them.
The hard part was the trim around the top of the bag, but I think it would be easier if I were to do it again. It was a 3 stitch cast on icord, picking up an extra stitch along the edge of the bag.

I've been sick the past few days, so I've been able to get quite a bit of knitting and crocheting done.
Now that I've finished my knitting bag and the hat for my coworker, I may be starting an afghan for my grandmother in Portland. I'll be going to visit her in 3 weeks so I'd like to have it done by then. She's been off of chemotherapy for a few months now. She was having some extreme weight loss and other side effects from the chemotherapy, so the doctors took her off the chemo so that she could put some weight back on and during that time the tumors didnt grow any, so the doctors have kept her off the chemo and have been monitoring the tumors so that she can get a break from all of the chemotherapy. Shes been on it since September of 2004, and being on chemo for that long has really taken its toll on her overall health and frame of mind. She'd gotten down to about 95 lbs at one point. I'm hoping that she's feeling better when I go to visit her in 3 weeks. When I was there visiting in November she had no energy and spent the majority of the day in bed, or lying on the couch. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone up in Oregon and spending time with all of them

One F'ed Up Bag.

And by "F'ed" I mean felted, of course.

D's bag is finished, and it did shrink more in the length than in the width. From here on it shall be known as "The F'ed Up Bag"
In the photo of D's purse by itself, you really can't tell how odd the shape is. Its got a curve to it, I'm assuming from the extreme felting I did.
See, being one of those who believe "if one is good, then THREE is even better!" I over felted it. After the first wash I could see that if was shrinking more in length than in width, so rather than stopping there, I ran it through the wash two more times.
Because I'm stupid.
So, it has a football-esque shape to it.

For comparison, heres the bag I finished for myself.
It has a nice shape, lies flat, I love it.
Heres the F'ed up bag in front of my own.

I took the F'ed Up Bag in to my LYS and they said that it is from over felting, and when I explained that it was already shrinking more in the length than in the width after the first wash and that I ran it through again in hopes that another wash or two would correct it, she said that most likely the first wash was too hot.
When I felted my own purse, the first wash was done in warm and the second was done in hot. The owner of my LYS said that this helped because putting it straight into a hot wash sometimes can "shock" the wool and thats what can cause the extreme shrinkage. Hehe.. shrinkage.. I loved that episode of Seinfeld, only this time its due to hot water and not cold.
To remedy this, she said that I could soak it in warm water, and then stretch it out. She said that it will be hard to stretch and may take two people. Joy. I hope stretching it works, I only have a week from tomorrow before D's birthday. I'm sure that I can get another bag knit up between now and then, but I really don't want to have to start all over again.
Also, be prepared for some crochet fug. I am in the process of crocheting the ugliest thing I have ever made. Photos soon to come.

My name is Vanessa, and I'm a Yarnaholic

I've been working on my knitting bag this past week. I like how its turning out so far.
It's my first circular project, and I think it's going well. Of course, I haven't gotten to the DPNs yet.
I did screw up the icord handles though and as a result, I needed to get some more yarn.





This is what I needed, one skein of Crystal Palace Yarns in Circus Celery. I really like this yarn, its soft and the edging on it has a nice terrycloth texture to it.
Note, I only needed this one skein.





However, this is what I walked out with.
One skein of Trio.
One skein of Cascade 220 in black.
Three skeins of Cascade 220 in a charcoal grey.
One skein of Cascade 220 in lavendar.





On the way to the yarn shop I thought that perhaps I should get a skein of the black Cascade 220 in case the felting of D's bag has gone awry (see previous post) and I have to make another. I already have a second skein of the Crystal Palace Fizz so I knew that I wouldnt need that.
Once in the shop they had a display of a CUTE felted tote bag with an available kit. The kit contained the yarn for the project as well as the pattern. For $50. Looking at the kit I could see that it was a fairly simple pattern, the bag was most likely done in stockinette and the handles were done in icord and there was some icord edging on the seams, then it was felted. The yarn in the kit was the equivalent of what I purchased in the charcoal and lavendar Cascade 220. I think I can make this bag without the pattern and managed to save about $22 in the process.

Another example of my impulsive yarn purchasing....

Monday night I went to Michaels to get the handles for the felted bags I've made for myself and D.
All I went in for was the handles and possibly beads.
However, THERE WAS A SALE.
Moda Dea Ticker Tape.
Normally about $8 per skein, it was marked down to $2.67.
Who doesnt need 5 skeins of Ticker Tape in Pink Passion?
I have no clue what I'll make with it. I'm thinking something for my little cousin Janae, her 6th birthday is in April.
Any suggestions?

Note that I did not NEED any of this yarn.
I did not need any new projects, I've got enough lined up already.
As soon as I'm done with my knitting bag I'm going to make a sweater for a coworker and after that I was planning on making a slightly larger version of the cute little felted bag in some purple variegated yarn I have.
Plus I've got TONS of yarn, acquireed from inpulsive purchases such as this, that I'm sure I could find SOMETHING to make with.

C'est Fini!

My Cute Little Felted bag is all done!
Ultimately I did go with the lucite handles, but had a hard time finding the type of button or brooch that I had in mind. While I was at Michaels picking up the handles I looked through their beads and found some that are close to what I wanted, only much smaller. Because of the size I thought that I would put the beads all the way around the top of the bag, but after sewing on the first one I liked the way it looked with just the one accent bead.

Delainas bag is being felted. It just finished one round in the wash, but I dont like the way its shaping. It seems to have shrunk more in the length than in the width. I'm hoping that another round or two in hot washes will correct this. If not, I do have time to whip out another one before her birthday - it's still a week and a half away.

I made a trip to Target this evening. I do love that store. Especially the dollar area when you first walked in. Tonight they had flavored coffees. I got a couple of little Carolans Irish Cream flavored coffees. There were also Jack Daniels flavored, I'm not a whiskey drinker and didnt know if I'd like so I passed on that but may go back to pick a couple up.










Also, I've been eyeing these shoes for a couple of weeks. When I first saw them they were about $20 but I was in post-holiday-shopping budget recovery and feeling very cheap at the time. Tonight, they were marked down to $3.74. Got to love the clearance section.

I'm back from San Francisco

The trip was great, but much too short.
Saturday morning I boarded Amtrak in Roseville headed for Richmond, where I would travel to a Bart train in to Civic Center San Francisco. I was prepared for a long ride, I'd brought along my laptop, ipod, journal and knitting.
Halfway between Roseville and Sacramento the train stops. We spend an hour stuck behind a couple of freight trains. But, I didnt mind the wait since I'd planned on having to entertain myself for those couple of hours. I was listening to my ipod with the earbuds in. When someones wearing headphones, isn't that the universal symbol to leave them alone? This did not stop nearly every person that walked by from stopping to tell me that we were stuck behind a couple of freight trains and would be there for a while. Oh well, they were all well intentioned right?
Once I arrived in SF Erin, Jeremy and I went to GREAT cafe in North Beach. Eguna Basque at the corner of Union and Powell. Wonderful cappucinos and amazing croque monsieur. After lunch we walked to Union Square where I did a little shopping at Lush. LOVE LUSH. The soaps and bath bombs are so cool. Theyre pretty and they smell wonderful. Some of their items can be a little pricey, but theyre so neat! I got the Arabian Nights henna hair conditioner, Coal Face soap, and a lavendar bath bomb. I can't wait to use the bath bomb.
By the time we got back to E&J's apartment we had enough time to enjoy a cup of coffee before getting ready for the Broadway sing along. We made it to the church in time for the cocktail hour, and met some interesting people at our dinner table, and had a great time at the sing along. Many of the congregants are from eastern europe so we had a few soloists performing czech operas as well as more current broadway standards and for the group sing along the majority of the selections were Rogers & Hammerstein so we got to sing a lot of South Pacific and The King and I. We had a great time.

Erin and Jeremy at dinner.


Erin and I at dinner.
After dinner, we met up with some friends who were also visiting from Sacramento for a few drinks then called it a night.

Sunday Erins parents joined us for lunch. We ate in Chinatown, then walked around North Beach and had more cappucinos at Cafe Trieste, sat out on the sidewalk and just enjoyed the evening before I headed back towards Sacramento.
I do love the city, and Erin and Jeremy have been heavily petitioning me to move there. As it happens, the city controllers office does have a position posted for a payroll clerk and tomorrow is the deadline to apply. I really think I'm going to send in my resume.

Felting in progress...

I've put my own cute little felted bag through its first wash cycle.
However, its not as felted as much as I'd like and hasnt shrunk as much as I'd like. Now that is most likely because I'd only put it through a warm wash and not hot. When I went to put it in the washer my internet was down (It's COMCASTIC!) so I couldn't look up felting instructions. I thought it was hot that you're supposed to put it through, but I wasn't positive so I decided to err on the side of caution and go with warm. I've ran it through one wash in hot and its about half way through the second wash in hot, so it should be finished felting shortly. All thats left is to attach the handles and find a cute button to adorn it with.
I haven't been able to do too much knitting this week, so D's birthday bag isn't quite finished, but I think I should be able to get the knitting completed by tomorrow night. I won't be able to complete the felting this weekend as I'm going out of town. I'm venturing down to San Francisco to visit my dear cousin Erin and her husband Jeremy. A local church is having a fundraiser for their music department... a Broadway Sing Along! This should be so much fun. I LOVE singing along to showtunes.

I've already selected my next knitting project. Valerie was looking at patterns for knitting bags, and I think I need one as well. I've selected this one.
I'm going to be using the same colors in the photo, although it was a tough decision. I was thinking about using the Lilac-Fuschia and the Lilac-White, the ultimate decision maker? Only O-N-E LYS in the Sacramento area carries Crystal Place Trio, and the selection there was very limited. The Circus-Celery and Kiwi-Celery were the only coordinating colors they had that I liked. I also purchased my very first circulars and DPN's.
The bag calls for a few techniques that I've never heard of before. A cable cast on. I-cord handles. Thankfully the pattern has links on how to do many of the techniques



I also got some Outback Mohair from Plymouth Yarn (on the right) while I was there. I'd purchased the Outback Wool (on the left) a couple of months ago but wasnt sure that I wanted to do with it. I think I may use the two to make a larger version of the Cute Little Felted bag.
I'm not sure when I'll be working on this one as there are a couple of projects lined up ahead of it.

Tag. I'm It.

I've been tagged by Tara!
Four jobs you have held:

~ Telemarketer for Olan Mills Portrait Studio
~ Export Agent for a freight forwarding company
~ Photographer and Make Up Artist for Glamour Shots
~ Customer Service Representative for Fed Ex

Four places you have lived:

~ Citrus Heights, California
~ Chelsea, Massachusetts
~ Malden, Massachusetts
~ Citrus Heights, California

Four vacations you have taken:
~Disneyland
~ Disneyworld
~ Washington, D.C.
~ New York City


Four vehicles you have owned:

1972 Volkswagen Super Beetle
1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass Calais
1993 Geo Prism
1995 Ford Explorer

Cute Felted Bag.... Almost.

Well, I've completed the knitting portion of my Cute Little Felted bag.
I'll give the felting portion a try tomorrow.
I've decided to go with a black lucite handle instead of the knitted strap like the pattern calls for. The only thing left is to find a vintage looking button or brooch of some sort.
Yes, I did complete my bag before the one for D's birthday.
D decided that she wanted a Cute Little felted bag for herself as well. Actually, after picking out which bag she wanted she said that I could just buy the yarn and needles and teach her how to knit it herself. Little does she know that my plan is to include some additional yarn & needles inside the bag.
So, I've started on D's bag. Like mine, I'm using Cascade 220 in black, but the Crystal Palace Fizz is black with silver flecks instead of the pink with gold like mine. I'm thinking for D I'll use lucite handles as well.

After last weekends beer & hockey fest I was looking to stay a little more low key this weekend.
Yesterday, I slept in and then did a little yarn shopping for D's purse as well as the sweater I'll be making for my coworker. My cousins Holly & Meghan were here when I left and they wanted to go with me. They had fun fondling yarn and every time they found something soft & fuzzy they would come up begging me to make them a scarf out of it. Actually, they came up to me whispering for me to make them a scarf out of it. I finally asked Meghan "Why are you whispering?" and she told me "Its like a church in here. but for yarn." I like that comparison.
After taking the girls home, I came home and finished my bag.
Today I got started on D's bag and then went to see Brokeback Mountain. One of my coworkers had seen it last week and has been wanting to talk to me about it all week long so she told me that I had to see it this weekend.
The movie was fantastic. Usually when theres a lot of "hype" over a film I go into it with high expectations and then walk out disappointed, then later on - like a couple of months or more later - if I see it on DVD I like the movie a lot more than when I saw it in the theaters. That was not the case tonight. Brokeback Mountain lives up to all of the acclaim that it has received.