Drumroll, please... Baby Sadie! The mistake I made in the armhole isn't too bad because of the way the bottom of the arm is connected to the sweater. The yarn is atrocious. Bulletproof acrylic. Wore a sore spot on my finger where the yarn carried over! But I am happy with the way it turned out. The other great news is that the J Crew will be completed! I ordered some more yarn from Heirloom Handknits and they were very friendly and dispite a backorder they managed to get me the dyelot I had requested! Yahoo! And I seem to be on a purple kick. I had ordered some purple yarn from them and I checked my stash out this weekend and I have alot of shades of purple. Varying from Lavender to Dark Plum and Eggplant. Maybe I should do something with all those purple yarns. You think? Work question, or maybe a customer service question. You come in to rent a truck and tell the counter agent that last time you rented you had a problem with the truck and that the manager told you that next time you could get a discount. Okay, no problem...but not TWO YEARS later! Sorry dude, ten percent's the best I'll do for you. Go ahead stomp out and say that's not good enough. It's month end, there's lots of people willing to pay retail. Thanks! Jeezus! A pic for ya. Wouldn't be as fun without Ella! Looking a little psycho dog but she's really very nice. Snarf!

My mom makes me laugh. Today since it was so beautiful we decided to walk to the Drive with all the dogs and hit Sophie's Pet Palace to buy my mom's dog, Cole, a new collar. So we get there and my mom proceeds to buy up the store. A new tag collar, new walking collar with matching leash, new dog bed, Doggles and a plethora of doggie treats. So loaded down with this and 3 dogs my mom asks "Hey, isn't that really neat fabric store around here?" We wander off down the street to the fabric store and I sent her in unsupervised because I had to stay outside and watch the dogs. Two GIANT bags of fabric and candles later she emerges. This is on top of the two bags and three dogs we had from the pet store. I can't carry that 10 blocks home! Is she crazy? I guess not because even though I placed a call to the house pleading for a pick up on the answering machine, I ended up walking all that stuff home. Mom can't carry it because she has a bad arm. My arms are about two inches longer! Tired and sore but a great day! I love my mom!

Baby Sadie is complete! Pics up tomorrow! Yahoo! Now what am I going to do? Descisions, descisions... A glorious day here yesterday. We took the poopers for a long walk in the neighbourhood, ran into the people who lived in our house before us and had a nice chat, other neighbours came over to chat too and it was a little lawn party! So nice to get out and about and the girls slept like babies when we got back. In the evening my man took me out to Memphis Blues BBQ House for dinner where I ate till I couldn't move. As usual. It's so yummy! My mom is coming out today for a visit. The dogs are so funny. If you say "Where's Grandma?" they'll run to the back porch and look out. If they don't see anything there they'll tear off to the living room and jump on the couch to look out the window! Quivering with excitement the whole time! They love their Grammie!

I've been busy but I wasn't busy knitting. I've got the new guy, The Gatekeeper, at work and he's keeping me on my toes. Love him! Also inherited a new girl from another office and hired a couple more guys to wash cars. Busy, busy, busy. Training! Ack! There's stuff I found out I don't know! Crap! And I'm extremely jealous of this person's puppy. Baby greyhound! That's what Ella must have looked like! I want one!

J.T. Fever has hit the office! Here's the Small, Strange One and My Ty modelling their wishes.

Lil sis amazes me. Now she's won a radio contest and is going to have the band Gobsmack, play in her living room on Thursday night. (Link later) Now she's going to be unemployed and homeless. Hm.

Happy Monday! Coffee for you!

What a glorious day! Sun was out, temperature was about 17 degrees and I praise everyday that I chose to live here in Vancouver! Even on the craptastic days. I am well rested and almost ready to go back to work. Today I managed to sleep in till 10. A new record for me lately! The official first rite of Spring in our house is that the dogs get to go on the back lawn. We keep it fenced off until it dries out enough so they don't shred it to pieces. We let them out for a little tear around this afternoon. They have such fun! Now I'm patching up some scrapes and banged up knuckles. They are worn out and sleeping like little, tiny, puppies. They're so great! Baby Sadie is one arm and buttons away from completion. I realized today that I've been making this pattern wrong the last 4 times I've made it. It was one of the first sweaters I ever knit. I used a 5 mm needle on it as the pattern called for a size 5 needle. As in a US 5. No wonder the kids I made them for haven't outgrown them yet! Baby Sadie is on the right size needles and it looks great! Even with my little boo boo in the pit. I'll get a closeup of that tomorrow. My dear man has brought me home an artichoke. Told me he wrestled it to the ground himself to get it for me. He's a very, very, very, good man.

Can you -forget- how to sleep in? I think I have. Seems I can't sleep much past 9 now. Even though I crave more sleep. Hm. Baby Sadie's hoodie is arms away from completion. It's rocking along nicely. I noticed that I did make a mistake on it. Right after where I divided for the fronts and back. The pattern calls for garter stitch on either end for 4 stitches until the divide. On one row of the front I purled for 4 when I shouldn't have. Once again, like most of my errors, it's in the pit and I'm not ripping it back. I went up to the Michael's to see if I could pick up any Homespun for the sweatpant pattern in the Spring IK. Ugh. All they had were these colours. Eeek. Pink is not for me. Oh, excuse me, -rose-. Yak! Coral. Belongs in the ocean, not covering my butt. Need I say anything at all? I think I'll just order some online. At least then I may get a nice colour. I do notice that the colours are more intense than my monitor displays them. This could be a challenge. Today I'm going to be one of the 'ladies who lunch'. My girlfriends and I are getting together on the Drive. It gorgeous and sunny and I know it's going to be packed. I should have a snack before I go to meet them as I think we'll be having a very long wait for a table. Maybe I'll take my knitting. Either way I'm going to enjoy the sun!

What time is it and where am I? Home!!!!! Yahoo! A day off! A 3 day weekend! I'm unsure of what to do with myself for all this time. Not really. First things first. I'm going knitting.

Alright, one guy down, one more to go! My hamster was having trouble at the end of the day. One of the staff moved my car and didn't put the anti theft device back on the steering wheel. So when I went to go home I put it back on the steering wheel and then started the car up to go home! Hm...that's not going to work... Baby Sadie is left front done and right front almost. It's a quick knit. If I get to have a weekend this weekend I'll actually have time to finish it! We'll see.

I've been away because I don't want to blather on about how crappy my work life is! It freaking sucks! I had to go to work on Saturday so another 6 day week for me! So I fired one guy today and may fire one or two more by the end of the week. It's not fun at all. That is until 4:30pm today. I have a new celebrity boyfriend. Isn't he adorable? Cuba Gooding Jr.! Thank God I got to shake his hand before I really recognized who he was! The Small, Strange One and My Ty were with me and they thought it was pretty funny to see recognition dawn on my face. Actually it was fear! (Mind Mantra at that moment-I'm not wearing any makeup! I didn't brush my teeth after lunch! My breath, gum! God, is there a bat in the cave?!) After I figured it out I was all sweaty! And ladies, he is f-i-n-e. He's better than a chocolate sundae. Lord, I believe he's Chocolate Pudding! I love my job. I love my job! I love my job! Today, at least. I also started a new project. I'm still waiting for my yarn I ordered (still haven't heard squat) so I started a little hoodie for the newest baby. (Wait, she's not the newest as my penpal of 15 years just had a son.) Um, what do I call this one? Baby Sadie! And today I heard that another bun is in the oven for some other friends! What's up!? Did everyone decide that now is baby time? Is that going to make me freak out and want one of my own? I doubt it. I'm exhausted already, I don't need a kid to make my life more tiring. Anyway, here's the progress so far. And a close up of the eyelet stitch at the hem. It's pretty neat. It's a pattern from the first issue of Knit It! I also picked up a copy of the new Interweave Knits with the sweatpants that everyone seems to be raving about. I couldn't resist! Oh, I also received this news. Scroll down for the sordid details.

Ugh. I'm still here. It's just I've had to spend extra time there, at work. Spent my Saturday off, working. Totally, super, sucked! Now I have to see when I can schedule and extra day off. Maybe another 3 day weekend? That's a long way away! I'm waiting for my yarn for the J Crew. But I haven't been idle. I started a new little hooded cardi for another friends new addition. It's in a light lavender acrylic. I'm only about an inch into it but I will take a photo and post it tomorrow. There's really nothing exciting to tell. Oh Wait! Sarah turned 5 years old yesterday! Happy Birthday poopy dog!

Ha! Seventy bucks later and my one skein of yarn to complete the J Crew is on it's way! Along with 8 friends in the same type of yarn, just a nice solid colour for me! Woo Hoo! New guy, The Gatekeeper, starts tomorrow. (It's too easy to guess his name with that as his callsign.) I think he'll work out well. We shall see. I had to buy him 2 neckties today. It's hard to buy ties for a man you barely know! I really liked some of the classic striped ties but they were a little out of my price range. After all I hardly know him. Maybe after a year I'll splurge. Oh yeah, I got my notice for Jury Duty. Hm, is it rude if you fall asleep in the juror's box? These guys will sleep anywhere and all day!

Well, well, well. It seems that I can still get some of the J Crew yarn at the website that T linked me to. It's -only- $6.80 a skein. Highway robbery! Shipping for my one lonely little skein of yarn will be $7.00. More than the yarn! So I guess I'm going to -have- to put together a substantial order to make the shipping cost worth it. Can you believe ordering more yarn was the guy's suggestion? I love that man of mine!

In this moment of anger at myself, I must quote Rock Chick. "Fuckity-fuck-fuck-fuck!" I seem to have miscalculated how much yarn was needed. Or the kid grew faster than I anticipated. This yarn is discontinued and they're sold out at the Wal-Mart I got it from. So the sweater will only have one arm. Maybe there's a needy amputee child out there who would like a hand knit sweater? All is not lost, yet...Terri left a note in my comments that had a link to where to get some more. I'll explore that after I finish this post. Aarrrrgghhhh! I also see in my weekend off that Nora has started on her Cabled Hoodie Pattern. Made me envious she did! Maybe that will get me over the heart break of the J Crew. Hm. Also, I found that sometimes there's no room to knit in this place! Look at Sarah stick her tongue out at me!

Mommy's knitting. She'll tell you about it later.

What day is it? Do I really get to stay home and away all day today? Yipee!!!!!!!!! Good thing because I got lots planned. Like knitting. I also want to visit the new thrift store that opened up down the street. I want to cook something wonderful for dinner. I wonder if the artichokes are any good at the store. I have to touch up the colour on my hair. I may send off the Baby Cable (finally!). Dogs need baths and toenails trimmed. Maybe I'll just knit today. Survivor Histrionics last night. Had lunch with the owner yesterday. He talked, I ate. Everything he said I had to agree with. I'm going to have to bring the hammer down on my staff. I'm always the first to greet someone as they enter. Maybe I'll keep my mouth shut for a few weeks and see what happens. See if they get it and pick it up. And I have to deal with Big B. I know he was frustrated with someone else but it landed in my lap. Egad! Ahhhhhhhh...3 whole days away from that! (insert crazy dance here!)

What day is it? Day 10 if I remember correctly. I almost had a meltdown today. My Big B was being contrary (I know, how unlike him) and I almost burst into tears! I managed to keep it in check, barely. So I did a little pro active planning. I decided to take Friday off. I asked my part time boy to take my place on Friday. Yipee! 3 days away from the madhouse! Everything seems to be blurring together. American Idol was a washout again last night. Ugh. Tonight is the premiere episode of the miniseries Kingdom Hospital starring my Andrew. Filmed here! I'm kinda sad that it's starting tonight. That means my dear, sweet Andrew is not going to be around for much longer. Sigh. J Crew lingers in the pits. I've only made about an inch more on it. I plan to put some serious focus on that this little long weekend too! One more day!!!!!

I know you can be put in jail for animal abuse...but what about when your pet abuses you? What happens to them? As I was getting ready to go to the hockey game the other night the girls heard Big B outside the fence. They -love- Big B. So they started to bounce around and swarm and bark and whine. I ordered them into the kitchen and told them to stay. Somehow in the melee I ended up with (Warning! This is a link to a graphic image! If you are at all queasy don't open it!)this. Here it is from another angle. Today it's almost black. Surprisingly it doesn't hurt. The initial welt did. The darkside of greyhound ownership. It was day 8 at work today and I have no patience. None. That's why I'm home now. I was sent home by my staff. The good kids are working today. The grateful ones. The ungrateful sots are up at the end of the week. Yipee. Here's a work ethic question. You work in a rental car office and have tickets to a hockey game. That means you have to leave immediatley after you shift ends. As you're closing up you accidently lock the keys in a vehicle that's running if front of the parking lot gate. You decide that it's too much bother and you don't have time to call a tow truck before the game, so you leave it there. Running. Then you decide that you don't want to take your own car to the game. You'd like to take a $50,000 SUV. You don't ask anyone if you can rent it for the night. You just take it and leave your own car in the parking lot. When you get called on your cell at 10pm because the police have called the manager to let her know about the running pick up, you say that I forgot about the pick up. Then when the manager calls back to say I checked the car control and there's an SUV missing, do you know where it is? You say that it was a vehicle replacement for another office and I forgot to write it down. Then when you get called back and told that I know you have the SUV because your car is here in the parking lot, you finally admit that you have the SUV. Then when you show up with the SUV it's apparant that you're drunk. Should you be a)fired, b)charged with auto theft, or c) both? Can you freakin' believe that? Truth, no word of a lie. What the hell is up with the youth of today? J Crew finally motors along! I'm just at the pits (bottom of the armhole, if you prefer) and I'm so glad I had time to work on it. Did you watch the Oscars? My two 'poor dress choice' picks. I'm tired, makes me cranky and catty.