Update

Woot! I am to the point in the pattern where I need to start placing stitches on stitch holders. Stitch holders?! Missed that part of the instructions. I own two holders, I need 4. Sigh. I shall be stopping on the way home from work today. I have momentum going, can't stop now ;)

By the way, I switched patterns after the third time I frogged the first pattern. By the third time I came up with one stitch too few I decided that the stated stitch count had to be wrong. So I went and looked at similar patterns, found one that used the same size needles and the same weight yarn and I was off again. And guess what? The first few rows on the new pattern were the same as the old pattern, just one stitch fewer ;)

I don't know what you are talking about...

Ravelympics? What's that? Halfway mark? Don't know a thing...

Err. Yeah. Not a single stitch has been knit. First there were the two frog puddles opening night, then there was a tummy bug that made me not want to move again, ever, let alone knit. And then there was real life and yikes! So this weekend is catch up time. But frankly, I knew that time was going to be an issue and chose a project that would reflect that. So I still believe I have a chance to finish ;)

Err.

I used to love Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake novels. Then they started turning more into bad erotica than paranormal mysteries. The last book, Skin Trade, was better. But I have to say, if you want to read Flirt, do what I did and get it from the library. It's a two hour read, easy. To call it a novel is a huge exaggeration. Really, it should have been released as a novella in a collection.

It wasn't bad. But it wasn't either. And it reads as a slightly regurgitated version of The Laughing Corpse (not my favorite early book anyway) crossed with a college girls' night out. And while it only had one sex scene, surprise, surprise! Anita now has a new man for her harem. Joy.

Sad thing is, I will be first in line to put Bullet on hold at the library. But no longer first in line at the bookstore...

Oh. My. God

So far the Ravelympics have not been a good time for me. Aside from the frogging issues of day 1, day 2 was spent feeling sicker than a dog and absolutely no knitting was accomplished. Blech.

And today I have to work (double blech!), so there may not be much knitting accomplished today either. And really there shouldn't be any knitting since today is my 19th wedding anniversary and my dear hubby's birthday and should be spent with him :)

Let the games begin!

And the frogging... I have frogged my 5 Hour Baby Sweater twice already. At the moment my needles are absolutely barren and I am tempted to pick up my sock instead. But I would probably mess that up as well at this point. My head just isn't in the game :(

I'm set for the Ravelympics,

are you? This year I am going to try and knit a baby sweater for a friend that is due next month. I hope she gets some use out of it before the weather gets too warm, lol. I'm also going to try to finish my Monkey sock that has been on my needles for well over a year now lol. I do need to go look through my needles and see what sizes I have,the baby sweater pattern calls for size 10.5 needles and I am pretty darned sure that mine broke somewhere along the way. I keep forgetting to look for new ones when we go to Walmart. *Sigh* Now it's only a week 'til the Olympics, I guess I had better remember soon, lol.

*Sigh*

Farmville and Fishville are addicting. Until a few days ago I'd never wanted anything to do with Facebook. But then I read a blog post about Farmville and got curious, lol.

But I need more neighbors! Please won't you be my neighbor? ;)

Good grief!

Is there anyone out there besides me who thinks that TV has to cook up something juicy all the time to keep our attention? Previously it was Jon and Kate (and thank God that's almost disappeared from my news now!). Now it's Leno/Conan. Shut up already. I don't give a flying flit who gets the Tonight Show spot, but I imagine Johnny Carson is spinning in his grave over this mess. But I don't particularly like Jay, and I never liked Conan, so I never watched either of them. And with all of this bru-haha I think even if I were a devoted fan I'd be so disgusted I'd never watch either of them again.

NBC has a public relations nightmare on their hands. Or do they? When I think of NBC I can't think of a single show on there I watch or have watched in the last few years. Yet it's amazing how Conan's ratings have sky rocketed since this all hit the news... Is it cynical of me to be sitting here thinking that this whole mess is just a giant publicity stunt to gain NBC viewers?

Remember that book when you were a kid...

...Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day?

Well that was my day to a T. I've been on the verge of tears all day long (thanks PMS, you suck!). I finally had my interview today for the promotion I was supposed to get. It was pretty lame. Then the boss said he wanted to talk to me when the next person came in to cover me. She was late, and by then the boss was busy with our Loss Prevention Audit and couldn't talk, so I never got his take on the interview. And now I won't even see him until Tuesday. And then joy of joys, we get to do role-plays. Fuck role-plays, do I have the job or not??

So I cried the whole way home from work, totally frustrated and really heading for pissed off. I'm starting to feel completely jerked around about this job. If I don't get a solid yes or no answer soon I'm applying to work for the competition.

I used to like my job....

Isn't it cute?

Got a special someone you want to send a valentine to? From February 1-14, 2010, more than 60 volunteers come to the Loveland Chamber to lovingly hand-stamp each Valentine card sent to the ‘Sweetheart City,” Loveland, CO.

To have valentines re-mailed with the Loveland postmark, enclose your pre-stamped, pre-addressed envelopes (add extra stamps/postage for heavier/odd shaped valentines)and mail in a large stamped envelope to:

Postmaster - Attention Valentines
446 E. 29th St.
Loveland, CO 80538-9998

Deadlines for re-mailing and delivery by Valentines Day, Feb. 14:
Valentine cards/envelopes destined for re-mailing outside of the U.S. to other countries and international destinations should be in Loveland by Monday, Feb. 3.

Valentine cards/envelopes destined for re-mailing within U.S. and outside of Colorado should be in Loveland by Saturday, Feb. 8.

Valentine cards/envelopes destined for re-mailing within the state of Colorado should be in Loveland by Tuesday, Feb. 11.

The Olympics is coming!

In one month it will be time for the Winter Olympics. This year I am captaining Team Colorado for the Ravelympics 2010. I'm also hoping that The Yarn Harlot will put together the Knitting Olympics again this year, as it was a lot of fun 4 years ago :) (I knit a Dayflower Scarf then. This year I hope to knit this baby sweater as my main project as well as enter with my red Monkey Socks in the UFO category, lol.

The baby sweater claims to be a 5 hour sweater, but I know my knitting skills and speed and the amount of time I will actually have time to work on it and judge it a worthy project for two weeks ;)

Dammit!

The most comfortable bra I have ever owned just broke! I've only had it since Aug. and the underwire just snapped in two today. When I put it on this afternoon I thought it was fitting a bit odd but I was in a hurry and just shrugged it off as an oddity. It wasn't uncomfortable so I didn't think of it again until I got home and took it off. I thought maybe the wire had just shifted and I was all set to move it back. Imagine my chagrin when I discovered it was broken.

I loved that bra, darnit. And I've never had an underwire break that soon after buying a bra. So I rated the bra on the store's web site and sent off a peeved email to customer service. I guess it's time to start looking else where for bras now if the quality has gotten that poor.

Woot!

Red sock now has a cuff, lol. And a lifeline so I can frog back to pre-lace status if need be ;)

I was going to start knitting a baby sweater tonight, but then I remembered that somehow my size 10 1/2 needles got broken. And it snowed today, leaving the roads rather hellish so I didn't want to stop on the way home from work. (Hellish as in, 4 wheel drive and I was still having traction issues, no acceleration. Not that I wanted to go much faster than I was but....).

So I guess I will stick with the socks for the moment. Now that I have been knitting them I am antsy to get them done, lol. Guess we will see what the weather and roads are like tomorrow, maybe I can get a new set of needles then. Luckily, Baby Tess isn't due 'til March and even a slacker like me should be able to finish it by then. *knock wood*

Anyhoo, got a headache so I am going to head for bed.

Happy New Year!

Hoping for some changes this year :) Good changes. The biggest change will hopefully be change in my job situation. I'm still hoping for that promotion, but it looks like it may be sooner rather than later. The woman I would be replacing will be leaving (if all goes well) at the end of January, rather than waiting until March. Which means hopefully by the end of January I will have a new job, a higher wage, paid vacation, better benefits, etc. *Crossing fingers*

I wish you all a happy, healthy 2010.

Knitting again

I've really slacked on the knitting front lately. Mostly in favour of reading. I've read a ton this year. When last I left my reading blog I was at 98 books on May 20th. By now I have easily hit the 200 mark.

But now the weather has turned colder and I'm actually wearing my wool socks and wanting another pair. So today I turned the bedroom upside down trying to find the Monkey Socks I cast on in 2008 (lol). In the process I broke a light bulb in my lamp, shelved numerous books that had been piled on the floor and found a stash of candy wrappers in the bed that I believe the dear daughter stashed there after surreptitiously obtaining them from the Halloween stash.

I did, or rather the hubby did, find yarn and needles and I found my pattern binder. But I think I shall have to frog, since I've no idea where I left off in the pattern! Luckily, I've only really done the cuff ;) So that's my plan for the evening. See y'all later :)

Just a reminder...

With the New Year coming, why not start it off with a faster computer? Run your defrag program (windows has one built in). It may take a while, so start it before you go to bed. Fragmented files take up a lot of space on a computer and if that's something you don't have a lot of any way, reclaiming that space will help your computer run faster. (My defrag is STILL running, at 84%. I had 35 gigs of fragmented space, eek!).

While you are at it, download all the recommended updates for your system. And make sure your anti-virus is up to date. If it's expired, go buy a new one. I hear so many people grumble about how anti-virus is a money sink, but it's amazing how much worse that grumble is when they find they've a virus and that it's going to take 72 hours to clean their computer and a whopping $110. Buy the anti-virus. Most software comes with multi-computer licenses. Split the cost with another family member or a good friend. When the subscription comes up for renewal at the end of the year, you only have to renew it once, so you can split the cost again ;) It really is a wise investment.

And don't forget to back everything up! External and portable hard drives are cheap now, if you don't have one go get one. I can personally tell you how heartbreaking it is to have your hard drive fail and lose every photo you've taken over the last 5 years! I was lucky, most of them had been copied to a disk for the grandparents, but some of them are lost forever :( Not to mention if you move some of those photos off your computer you can open up some valuable free space on your computer again :)

Happy Holidays!

Happy Christmas to all and a very Merry New Year :)

I have to work Christmas Eve, but only until 6 PM and honestly, I'm not really convinced it will be all that busy. I mean really, who needs copies or stuff printed on Christmas Eve?? Maybe last minute photos as gifts, I suppose.

We are mostly done with Christmas shopping. Just have to wrap our little bounty now. Thinking about nagging the hubby to help me with that in a moment, whilst the kiddo is still at school. (Last day before break, bet the teachers had a great day, lol).

We are rolling out and cutting our cookies tonight and I made Peppermint Patties to take in to work with me. Yum!

Anyway, have a lovely holiday and I will see you in the New Year!

PS Lesson learned: No matter how tempting the idea to use powdered sugar instead of flour when rolling out cut out cookies, DON'T. Even if a television cook says it is a good idea!

Glaring!

Typos that is. I get most of my news from the internet. I have a journalism degree and it really makes me crazy when I find typos in an article. Today I've found at least three.

This is the headline I just found, "No school! Alabama calls of classes for title game"

And then this one, "Different courts have came down on different sides on what exactly should be said, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said." from an article on Miranda Rights.

This one was at least caught and fixed at some point, but a note was left at the bottom of the article saying, "[Editor’s note: The original version cited the wrong year twice.]"

There was at least one more that I found this morning but can't remember which article it was from.

All I can say is, why is no one editing these articles? Why is there no proof reading, no fact checking? Why is grammar not important to internet news? Grrrrr.

Glad it's over for another year

Black Friday is over and done, and I believe we all survived pretty much in one piece! It was a bit hectic, when they put me on the schedule as "runner" they weren't kidding! I'd start off to get something for a register and a customer would grab me on the way. And since we had a line all the way to the back of the store, the register could not wait. So unless the customer asked for an item in the same area I was heading to I had to ask them to wait.

The good news is, most people were very good about it. In order to keep the cashiers from getting too stressed and to keep an aisle clear we actually formed a single line about 5 feet before the registers, then funneled people to the cashiers as we could. We only had one woman (that I know of) try to bogart her way into line. I politely informed her that the end of the line was toward the back of the store, she turned around, looked at the line, looked at the one item in her and and said, "You've got to be kidding me." But she went to the end of the line and still only waited about 5 minutes 'cause we rock ;) We had every register in the store running.

We sold a crap ton of computers and would have sold a crap ton more if we'd had them. In fact most of our computers were sold before we even opened the doors (Yay for the voucher system!). We sold a crap ton of GPS systems too. And software. And... a whole heck of a lot of other stuff lol.

The one regret I have is that our system was down so we couldn't pre-ring transactions. We have a system kind of like Sam's where we zap everything, stick all on a little card and all the cashier has to do is zap the card at the register. Very handy with long lines, but I'm guessing that due to high volume, the system crashed, just when we needed it. *Sigh* But like I said, we still rocked it without it. And our lines we done by 7:30 AM. After that it was just a steady flow all day, enough to let us breathe again lol.

Frankly, the days after Black Friday were worse! Mostly because that's when people come in expecting to get the items we had on sale on B.F. and of course we sold out of them.

Here's a tip for you bargain shoppers out there: At Christmas time, go the day the ad comes out! Supplies are limited. After the debacle of being stuck with too much stuff last year stores ordered lower volumes this year. And when you come in 3 days after the ad (when sales have changed over completely!) and someone tells you they are out of that item, please don't yell at the employees. We have no say in the matter. We don't do the ordering. We would like to have the product as much as you would like us to have the product because we can't sell what we don't have and that hurts us too! We will do what we can to get you the item, but it may be that it's just not out there to get.

Wish me luck!

I've applied for a promotion at work and I am interviewing for it today. This would make me full time, better benefits etc. It also would add more responsibility. Honestly, there are three of us applying for the position, 2 of us whom I really think actually have a shot at it. Although the 3rd person could surprise me and interview very well. He has a charm about him (don't get me wrong, I like him for the most part but the man is a snake oil salesman and would do very well selling used cars...) that could be in his favour. But, I think that he would be the most disadvantaged if he got the job, because frankly I think the others would have a hard time working for him... Then again, they may have problems working for me, as I am not a proven entity in sales.

Honestly, if I don't get the position I won't be crushed. It's basically sales leader, and my sales skill are rusty and I've never played team sports so my coaching skills are non-existent! But then again, the other two have zero coaching experience either, lol. I've applied because I need the sales experience if I am going to get anywhere within this company. And well, full time/better benies, you know.

If I don't get the spot, in a few months another position opens up and my boss has already told me he wants me training with the woman now. I'd still have to interview for it, but being trained for it already would give me a huge jump on anyone else who might apply within the company, and already being in the location and part of the team is huge ;)

I've huge shoes to fill with either position. But like I told my boss, I don't want to be a cashier forever. Of course, he told me I was selling myself short, 'cause I'm not just a cashier, and that made me feel really good. I have had a minor promotion to internal key carrier (no extra cash, just a lot of trust and again, that makes me feel good) so my time as cashier is actually quite limited lately. And I don't have to run a register on Black Friday, yay! But I digress...

Seriously though. If I don't get the spot I'm interviewing today and the one guy gets it, I will be thrilled for him and wait my turn in February ;) And since I at least have that option and the other two don't, I consider myself pretty lucky.

Anyway. I had better get moving as I need to finish my coffee and get ready for work still, and I'm down to 10 minutes, lol. Ciao!

Update: Little bit pissed off still. The guy that was doing the interviews decided to do phone interviews and between he and my boss (who just days before told me he thought I would be good for the spot) decided that I would be better suited to the second spot that would be opening up and therefore decided not to interview me. But a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, and the future job opening is still unsettled. The woman who is leaving may decide not to leave or something. So that bothers me. I'm glad to know the job is mine if it happens, but...