The horror!

I'm a coffee addict. Both my husband and I are. So imagine our horror when we popped on the espresso machine yesterday, and all it did was spin, instead of grinding the beans. It had worked fine the day before, and even yesterday morning. But now it just hisses at us.

So online we went, looking for a replacement. Now, our machine is, or rather was, a super automatic espresso machine. Meaning it grinds the exact amount of coffee, tamps it and brews it, all at the touch of a button. Touch another button and the steamer comes on so I can steam my milk.

It cost a lot. But since if you add up the money that we would have spent at Starbucks instead, it paid for itself many, many times over in the nearly 8 years we had it. Think about it. A drink from Starbucks is at least $4.50. I would buy one a day, my husband, 2. That's $13.50 a day. That's $4927 a year. And that's not counting the cost to go out of my way to drive there. I know it sounds crazy, most people would just buy a regular coffee maker or give up their coffee. But I know us. We wouldn't.

When we bought our first espresso machine, I was in the habit of drinking two iced mochas each night after work. That espresso maker paid for itself in under 4 weeks. The next machine we bought was a step up, and made far superior coffee, but my hubby was still buying coffee on the way into work to save time. Espresso Maker Number 2 still paid for itself rather quickly though. Then we bought the Saeco. Since it does everything on it's own even my hubby has time to brew himself 3 shots.

So to make a long story short, a refreshed Saeco is on its way. (No, we didn't pay that much for it, lol).

Why, oh why

can I not find any cute knitting patterns for kids? Not babies and toddlers, but kids! My kiddo is almost 8. Most patterns I have found don't range large enough for her. The idea of knitting a sweater for my kiddo is much less daunting than the idea of knitting something for myself. And I have always done better at things meant for others. Things meant for myself tend to sit ;)

Although, I have to say the scarf I was making for my daughter bored the hell out of me, so it sat too. What can I do with 400 yards of sport weight pink wool that won't bore me to death? Something with cables, maybe.

I need to learn a simple crochet chain. My shawl calls for a provisional cast on, starting with a chain. Eek. And really, I need to learn it anyway, since I made a summer tank for the kiddo that really needs the crochet edge to stabilize the arm bands. There has to be a site somewhere online like knittinghelp.com for crocheting, right? ;)

PS: Have I mentioned that I think it's the coolest thing that Denver is only the 3rd stop on the Yarn Harlot's tour? She travels on the 3rd, too. So hopefully she will actually have some time to see more of Denver than just the airport (with its slightly odd looking Bison art, lol) and The Tattered Cover. Speaking of which, I need to check on Ravelry and see if there are any meet ups planned for the day. Ciao!

Maybe?

I am going to cast on today, really. Well, maybe. ;) It depends on what I really get done today. I know I need to go to the grocery store. But first I need to plan next week's menu.

My scale should arrive today, just in time to portion up all of my ground beef into 1/2 pound packages. I should also portion the chicken breasts as well (2 per package), and get it all in the freezer.

And since I will now have a scale, I need to find my wax and soap stuff, so that I can start making some candles and soap.

The best laid plans...

I really was going to start my shawl today. I have the provisional cast on bookmarked at knittinghelp.com and my needles and pattern out, my yarn all wound into lovely cakes of wool.

But there's a slight flaw in my plan. His name starts with G. He's still laying in my bed, instead of at work. He's staying home to keep me company. Isn't that sweet? ;)

80s Music you're ashamed to love?

So I open up my browser and see on Yahoo, "Ashamed to love '80s music." and a list of 20 songs. Nope. I'm not ashamed to tell you that I knew almost all of them, and liked them too. And I'm not ashamed to say that of VH-1s 100 Greatest Songs of the 80's, I have most of them in my iTunes. In fact, it would probably be easier to count the ones I don't have, since I have over 11 hours of 80s music alone. There's around 20 I don't have that appear on the list. Can you guess which ones?

Let's put it this way... I never liked New Kids, or Michael Jackson. Or any kind of rap. Well, unless you want to talk the Beastie Boys, lol. We all had to fight for our right to party back then, after all, hahahaha.

I loved The Fixx, the boys in Duran Duran were the be all and end all as far as I was concerned (And dammit, Save a Prayer was originally released on Rio, not Arena, boo!). Dr. Noah Drake (Rick Springfield) on General Hospital was one of my first crushes.

I proudly admit, I am a child of the '80s. I came of age in the '80s and I see nothing wrong with liking the music I grew up with ;)

It's Done

But not without casualties, lol. We were trashing some old fixtures that no one wanted to buy, and the entire bloody thing decided to fall over on me. There were boxes behind me on the floor, so I couldn't get out of the way. I'm one long bruise on my right leg, starting with a palm sized one on my thigh and working down to my calf where I've a lovely series of scrapes to go with the bruises.

I was very lucky really. My thought as I went over was, "Well, doesn't this suck. Last day and I'm going to end up with a broken leg." But only my foot got caught under the thing, and it's not even bruised.

So it is done. I had a few weepy moments. Mostly as we all said good bye to one another. I had a few malicious moments, like when hubby and I (I drafted him for the heavy work yesterday, lol) were packing our Piece of Shit registers into the boxes they provided. They are 20 year old pieces of junk that never should have replaced the system we had prior to them. I really thought about just dropping them into the boxes and saying to hell with the peanuts. But they know where we live and the last thing I want is for them to hold my severance because their PoS system was trashed, lol. So I behaved.

Today I am planning the week's menu and getting ready to do some grocery shopping. I'm bidding on a scale on eBay, since my old scale got left behind in the move and if I am going to cook I need it for some recipes and if I am going to eBay again I need it for shipping weights ;)

We need to go to the library in a bit, and then we need to tidy up a bit.

I want to spend the afternoon scrapbooking with the kiddo. I asked my hubby last night to take the old broken bed rails out to the garage (since they are laying across the floor of the spare room, our craft space), but he didn't, so I guess I will just stand them up out of the way for now. All of my planters for my gift baskets and the acorn dishes I bought for container candles need to be put out of the way into the closet for now.

No work

As of Friday afternoon I am officially unemployed.

Saturday the munchkin and I will work on my mom's scrapbook, and hopefully finish that.

Sunday is family day.

But on Monday! Monday, I plan to begin my Flower Basket Shawl to celebrate (see Gilneas' lovely finished shawl here). Sometime before then I do need to go find the pattern and make sure I have needles and such ready to go. I believe that I may drag the shawl along to see The Harlot. Lifeline and hair-tearing, here I come!

I will try to document the life of the shawl here, lol.

I do need to see what I have for soap/ candle supplies as well, so I can make some for my Mother's Day gift baskets. Hmmm, maybe I need to go look at my wholesaler's for scents *g*

Owwwwww

Around 12:30 am yesterday I woke up with the worst ear ache I've had in over 20 years. It kept me up the rest of the night after that, since neither Advil nor Alleve would touch the pain.

Hubby went off to work with the promise of coming home as soon as he could and I little while later I woke the kiddo and we went off to buy a heating pad, cotton balls and over the counter ear drops.

Around 8:30 my ear started popping and the pain increased ten-fold. I called my hubby in tears and told him that when he got home I was going to urgent care because no way in hell could I wait until Monday. He left work right then.

I decided that maybe a shower would help, since my sinuses were pretty stuffed too, and hopped in. I pulled the cotton ball out of my ear to find fresh blood. That moment of seriously nasty evil unbearable pain was when my eardrum ruptured.

I am now on some pretty hefty antibiotics for the sinus crap and to try and avoid anything happening inside my eardrum.

The good news is that after the thing ruptured the pressure was gone and so most of the pain has gone. There's a bit, but the over the counter pain stuff works on it. Between it and the heating pad, I slept most of yesterday.

Unfortunately, that means I didn't do any of the stuff I planned to do yesterday, except return the library books that were due on the way home from the Sam's pharmacy.

No grocery shopping, no house cleaning, no scrapbooking with my daughter (we need to finish my mother's scrapbook, since we are going there over Spring Break). *Sigh*

There has to be an easier way...

A friend gave me a baggie of Amish Friendship Bread Starter. I wish I'd been thinking at the time. I'd have bloody well just baked it that day. Instead, I went through the entire 10 day process, which while not hard, it just a pain, trying to remember what day you are in, haha.

But now I have 3 baggies of starter to give away. I think I shall just give them away with the baking instructions, lol. All the people I know are really busy right now and I can see the starter hitting the trash because of that.

It looks like we will be closing soon. Our store has shrunk to 1/3 its size and the stuff we have left is exactly the stuff I expected we'd have in the end, haha. And some of the prices are just crazy! Hint: If you see a Pfaltzgraff boot planter or watering can on eBay, don't pay a lot. The slob selling them probably paid little to nothing for them ;) Oh, and beware Pfaltzgraff listings on eBay. Check their web site first. A lot of the stuff I see on eBay is going for more than Pfz sells it for!

Now on the other hand, if you see me selling gift baskets made from boots planters, well, then you should certainly buy it, hahaha. You're paying for the gardening goodies inside, after all. The planter is just a bonus. Look for those mid to late April, perfect for Mother's Day.