Christmas wrapping

I brought out my box 'o Christmas wrappings, ornaments, etc. to wrap some presents. Buddy figured he could be helpful this year. By laying on the box. Twenty pounds of saucy cat to move so I can get into the box... Thanks Buddy.

knits

So it came to my attention that I had not posted my "Unemployment Hat, Gloves and Scarf" set. I just forgot, sorry. So here they are in all their glory:



I tried to zoom in on them, but it didn't seem to work very well. Anyway, the scarf turned out to be about 8.5 feet long. I made the hat and gloves first, and then used all the remaining yarn for the scarf. And in the picture, they look a little pink... In real life, they are more red.

On another subject, the church I go to is having Christmas concerts. We have a total of five shows that happen Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Friday was packed - I don't think there was a seat left... and it's a big church with a balcony! The first show today wasn't as packed, but the evening one was almost all the way full. My mom and other family members (possibly) will be coming to the Sunday evening concert. There's a full orchestra, drama, skits, and lots of singing of course. I don't have a solo this year, but I might for Easter - who knows.

Anyway, I'm pretty tired and am trying to decide if I'm going to go to the regular church service tomorrow or play hooky until the first concert. :)

Snow, School & Stuff

This is an actual "Christmas" tree. I put the word Christmas in quotes because the tree is so non-traditional.



I have a love-hate feeling about it. It's really pretty... but... it's not Christmasy at all! It's Springy! It has fairies, butterflies, dragonflies and pink sash-type stuff on it. Weird.

I doubt if the snow is visible, but it was snowing when I was at my new school (hehehehehehehe!!!!) doing the necessary paperwork.



I think you can see the snow coming down if you click and enlarge the picture.



I think this is the best picture of the snow (duh - it's the one WITH visible snow). I got up super early to drive on the freeway, and this is what I found on my car:



I'm not sure if we'll actually get any more snow this year, but you never know. It's fun to have it for a few days, even if it is cold.

So the school thing is scary. I have to learn stuff again?!? And I have to buy a graphing calculator. These things run from $50 to $130, I was amazed. Calculators aren't the same any more. They have USB cables so you can hook it up to your computer. One I saw also comes with online homework help! That one is, of course, my favorite. But I think This One is more my budget-style. Anyway, I'm still very excited. For once, I want to learn! I'm a little afraid that I won't be smart enough or something, but I'm willing to give it a try.

It looks like I'm going to be taking trig, calculous and physics. Yikes! That better be a REALLY smart calculator.

When good cats go bad, etc.

This is what happens when someone steals another's bed... or maybe they just think they own it. The stare-down:



The Pre-Slapfest:



I wasn't fast enough to get the fight & flight, but here's a picture of the Weapon of Doom:



So I'm sure a lot of you know that I am going back to school for my degree. I've recently been unemployed and it's just amazing how hard it is to get a decent paying job that's full time. It seems you need a degree. So, after almost three months of unemployment, I decided it's time to go back to school. I have the GI Bill, so that will make it considerably easier, however I'll still need to work so I can eat, pay bills, etc.

I recently (yesterday or the day before) chose my major to be Physical Science and hopefully a minor in Music. I took the placement exam today and am waiting for my orientation class. It's really weird going back to school. I had a year in college right after graduation, but it was literally ALL Acting, Singing and P.E. classes, with the exception of one Math class that they make me take. Well, I had fun!

When I was there at the school yesterday, I saw this and wondered if science and technology had come very far while I've been out of school, and made books really, really tiny:



In case you can't even see it, that's a backpack on her back!!! Hm. Maybe she has all the text books loaded onto her Blackberry or something. Speaking of blackberry... doesn't blackberry ice cream sound really good for some reason?

The Answer

Well Rayleen, we have our answer... hahahahaha!

You Are An INFP

The Idealist You are creative with a great imagination, living in your own inner world. Open minded and accepting, you strive for harmony in your important relationships. It takes a long time for people to get to know you. You are hesitant to let people get close. But once you care for someone, you do everything you can to help them grow and develop. You would make an excellent writer, psychologist, or artist.

What's Your Personality Type?

OR....

Your Scholastic Strength Is Evaluating

You are great at looking at many details and putting them all together. You are talented at detecting subtle trends, accuracy, and managing change. You should major in: Statistics Speech Conflict studies Communication Finance Medicine

What Should You Major In?

You Are Ernie

Playful and childlike, you are everyone's favorite friend - even if your goofy antics get annoying at times. You are usually feeling: Amused - you are very easily entertained You are famous for: Always making people smile. From your silly songs to your wild pranks, you keep things fun. How you life your life: With ease. Life is only difficult when your friends won't play with you!

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

Friends

It soooo figures:

Which Friends character are you? Your Result: You are like Joey So, you probably aren't the sharpest tool in the shed, but it doesn't matter because your loveable and sweet. You are the 'I'll try anything once' person of your friendship circle, and you more than willing to help out when someone's in trouble. You might have had trouble finding work or maintaining an income in the past, but you have passion and really love what you do. You are probably also the biggest eater in your group of mates, but they love you for it.
You are like Phoebe
You are like Ross
You are like Chandler
You are like Rachel
You are like Monica
Which Friends character are you?

Grossness and Cuteness

I don't believe I've shared the following picture yet. I snapped a shot when I was going to the local library. I had to share it... I hope you can see it clear enough:




"Senior Foot & Toenail Care". Ewwwwww!!!!! I know, I know, I shouldn't be such a sissy about it, and so "girly"... but... ewww!!!!

Okay, on to the cuteness.

I have a couple of faux-sheepskin beds for the cats. They absolutely love them, and I love that I got them 1/2 price. Some cats fit in the ample space with ease.



Some cats fill up the entire bed.

Oh, he even got his tail tucked in there! (I tried to fix the eye-glow, but then it just looked weird.)

Then there are occasions of sunshine... you know, it's just best to sprawl out.

Oooooooh, that sun feels good - especially in the Oregon fall season.

Oh yeah... just keep slinking out...

She actually slid all the way out, legs flopping onto the couch. She looked down at her legs, surprised. The life of a cat... the definition of "good life".

New Blogger?

I just switched over to the Blogger beta... we'll see how it goes. I just tried to post a comment on somebody else's blog and it told me I couldn't post on a non-beta blog. Oh, now you tell me!

So most of you know that I broke up with the guy I was seeing (quite a while ago), even though I didn't post it. But hey, I had a boyfriend for a couple of months, dang it! Anyway, I went on a blind date last night. My friend Angi from high school really wanted me to meet this guy. I was a little leery, but she kept bugging me and I knew she wouldn't stop until I met him.

Let me digress for a moment and say that this is not to make the guy look like a freak, it's just to remind you who have forgotten the pain of dating.

So he described himself as a "skinnier, sexier Silent Bob". Oh nice. That's just what I'm looking for in a guy. And let me just say that he lied. I don't have any pictures because I thought it would be a little too obvious if I were laughing and saying, "No wait, I gotta post this!"

I asked Angi if he was a Christian (it's obviously VERY important to me) and she hesitated. "Well, no... but he's not against it." *sigh* In later conversations, he told me he was agnostic, but then told Angi he was "Okay with Him", pointing at her Jesus t-shirt. So the quasi-agnostic not-Silent-Bob guy wasn't really on to a good start. His hair was almost as long as mine. His bangs were way past his eyes, which he remedied by using both hands at his forehead and flipping his hair to a nice feathered style. And he did this a lot. Flip, flip, flip.

He was nice. But this "dinner" was apparently not so much a dinner as a party. A Mapleton style party. We never ate food, and I was starving! I was promised food! I didn't eat! Needless to say, the couple of drinks I had didn't set well on my stomach. Meanwhile, this guy was sucking them down like nobody. Angi told me later he was nervous. Whaaaateverrrrr.

By the close of the evening, I was nauseated and this wannabe Silent Bob was mooning over me. I do believe one of our conversations went like this:
Guy: So, I'm going to be brutally honest. I.. uh... I really think... uh.. you're pretty.
Me: Thank you.
Guy: Yeah. And I want to be honest here. I didn't want to come here tonight. But... uh... I just think... so... I'll just be totally... uh...
Me: Honest?
Guy: Yeah. Honest. You're pretty. *hic*

Yes, I know, it sounds kind of sweet, but his eyes weren't focusing very well (how could he even see me?!?) and he was slurring a bit. Now my good friend Angi has set it up for her boyfriend, her, and me to meet at the guy's house for dinner next weekend.
NOOOooooooooooooooooooooo
I didn't know what to say. Please God, let me get a job!!!

*Update*

I forgot to give the guy his food label. It is..............
Three day old grilled cheese sandwich, using Velveeta and Wonder bread, fried in Crisco. Might have been good at some point, but just stale, bendy and gross now.

Traveling

So the other thing I wanted to blog about was this:



It's a water conservation toilet in the Portland airport! I've seen toilets like that overseas (not the same design, but same idea), but I had not seen it here as far as I can remember. It even came with instructions!



Hehehe, Number One and Number Two... how convenient! I wonder if the designers or sign makers were giggling when they decided on that. Of course, while I was taking these pictures, other ladies were thinking, "Why are "her" feet facing the toilet?!?"

Being unemployed has given me a bit of knitting time. I've finished a lot of projects in record time, including my Unemployment Scarf, Hat and Fingerless Gloves. I haven't taken pictures of them yet, but I will. I've also finished a little project for my mom (which I won't post just in case), and a hat for my cousin Elizabeth who is living with my mom. I could NOT get a good picture of it. It's actually powder blue with metallic silver eyelash yarn.



And this is what happened when I used the flash:



*sigh*

Anyway, I can't show everything until after Christmas... Well, I can't show my mom's until after Christmas, but I'll get some pictures of my Unemployment gear and post them.

By the way, I just want to send a BIG THANK YOU!!! to Rayleen and Apollo for putting up with me! I had fun and I'm so glad I got to go down there. I can't wait for you guys to visit me some time, even though I know it will be a while. :)
.

San Diego

As most of you know from my sister Rayleen's blog, I got to go visit her. I figured it was now or never. As soon as I get a job, it's not likely I'll be able to have time off for a while.

We didn't do a lot, we just hung out together. And that's really what I was wanting. It's just nice to do sometimes. We ate at a few favorite spots, watched a couple of movies, played some games and got some good knitting in! I would have liked to have seen people from church and stuff, but it just didn't go that way this time. That will always be my church family though.

While I was there, I took a picture of the apartment I lived in when I was able to live off base. It was incredibly small, but it was in CORONADO! I was within decent walking distance to the beach, to the base and to the beer. The kitchen could only have one person at a time (no joke!) and I had an old stinky couch that had made it's way through the barracks. I lived in the corner apartment on the top left, facing the street.



We ate at Todai, a sushi buffet which is located below a few freeways.



By the way, I have a couple of "honorable mentions" for my travels. First, the seats in the Alaska Air 737 that I flew in. Sure, there was no leg room to speak of, but the seats were nice! It wasn't just that horrible fabric from 1984 anymore! In fact, I do believe it was (*gasp*)... Leather!



I will have to keep the second honorable mention for my next blog. I've tried to upload the pictures twice, but Blogger seems to be tired tonight. It won't go. Hm. Is this their way of making me go to the "new and improved" Blogger? How is that anyway? Has anybody tried it yet?

Gee Golly, Let's Knit!

I recently acquired a library card. I was actually excited because I go through a lot of books and then they're stacked around my house. Then I re-read them. Again and again. But now I can just get different ones! Woo-hoo!!! Yes, this may be common sense to most people, but I've never accused myself of having that quality.

While at the library, I looked for knitting books. They didn't have many, and the ones they had were checked out. They had ONE on the shelf. When I looked at it, I knew I had to take it home and blog about it. It was copyrighted in 1973 - a very good year if I must say so!

This is the cover... Maybe they should rename the book to "Naughty Knitting".



These are, of course, highlights of the book. Hehehehehe!!!! Look at this bedspread!! Or whatever it's called.



Hey, maybe we should knit cosies... for everything. Hm. Then again, it's really hard to tell what's on the table. "Please pass the butter... Hey, that's not butter, but it's good to know where the toilet paper is..."



But what about clothes? That might look better... Or not. If you can click the picture and enlarge it, check out the glasses in her hand.



And this is my personal favorite. It just doesn't get much better than this!



Ah, the 70's. They bring such joy and delight!

A Bedframe!!

I have a bedframe! I'm so excited about it - I don't know why. I guess it makes me feel grown-up or rich or something. I'm just so happy! And it's not just a metal thingy on wheels, it's wood! My mom and cousin Liz came up to drop it off, along with an extra bed and little metal frame. I have an extra bedroom, so it's nice if I ever have company. We started loading into the house and all the neighbor guys took over. They said, "What are you doing?!? Let go of that.... Gimmee." So we did. It was really nice of them. I bought them thank-you-beer later for their hard work.

I really wish I would have cleaned my house though. Doh!

The cats love it too. It smells strange to them (it was stored in my mom's barn for a while) and it's fun to climb on.



Each side has a little cupboard and drawer along with the open space. I have my light, book for reading at night, alarm clock and phone in it now. It's so much better than the cardboard box I was using!



I have however, hit my leg on this end twice. Hopefully I'll learn after that last one, because it really hurt.



Grace is looking relaxed and pretty. She loves sleeping on my bed. And if you think the cheetah print is funny - that blanket is warm, dang it! And besides...



They have a bed to match. If you pop it up, it opens into a thing to play in. I got it for Buddy when he was little. He's way too big to play in it now (he would have to squat down and he'd still stick out on both ends), but it doubles as a great bed.



On a totally unrelated note, I live near a high school. They practice their marching band at 8:00 or 8:30 a.m. That's just wrong. And annoying. I just wanted to say something about it because it's kind of bugging me. I feel better now.

Oh, and my "Unemployment Scarf" has turned into a scarf, hat and fingerless gloves. Sheesh.

Buddy Hammock

Lately I've been letting the cats go into the garage. Now of course, they want to go to the garage ALL the time. In fact, Buddy is pawing at the door and meowing as I type. It's the newest and greatest thing... the garage.

I looked out into the garage the other night and didn't see Buddy. I called him, looking around the boxes and stuff... and Roger... and the lawnmower... Okay, so I need to clean my garage! But there are spiders out there! *shudder* Anyway, I couldn't see Buddy anywhere. Until I looked up.



My friend Jeff aptly named it the "Buddy Hammock".

*sigh*

And Finally... Jamaica

This is a part of Jamaica called "Fern Gully". It was actually really pretty... and really not wide enough for too big of a vehicle. I thought it was kind of cool because of the cartoon though.



This is a nice view from the top of a mountain. You can see the ship harbored down below.



In the same place I took the picture above, there was a guy with a donkey. He stopped the van in front of us and it seemed like they paid him to take a picture of him. Or maybe they bought flowers... Either way, I took a picture while they were talking and he was posing.



Here's a little waterfall... I couldn't get much of a picture because we were being "attacked" by people who wanted us to buy their wares. We had the opportunity to "start their day going right" by buying things. They were REALLY pushy. But we bought stuff... It's how they make their living, after all.



I realize I should have taken more pictures, but some didn't turn out very clear and to be honest, most of the time I was just trying to relax and not think about being unemployed. I had a great time and it was great being back out at sea.

More of the Cruise

Early in the morning, the chairs are set up for sunbathers... I didn't lay out because I didn't want to reflect the sun and spoil it all for every body else.



Welcome to the Grand Cayman!



We took a little tour with another family and a couple... We stopped here for some reason, but I have no idea why. It was still pretty though.



Believe it or not, there is a town called "Hell". This is part of it. A small part, but very fitting. Hell wasn't as bad as I thought. So... I've been to Hell and back. And I sent my mom and sister a postcard from Hell. hehehee



This is downtown near the port. You can see the post office and whatnot. I actually liked the Grand Cayman island - very touristy, but not as pushy as other places.



More to come later...
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Gone Cruisin'

As I'm sure you all know, I was blessed to go on a cruise to the Caribbean. We had a really great time and relaxed a LOT. By the end of the cruise, I actually felt a little bit on the human side again. I tried to get some pictures, but I'm sure I didn't get enough. I'll break this into groups, since I have dial-up and it's going to take forever to upload the pictures.

We went on Carnival, which just might be the "getto" ship of cruises, but we really didn't care.



Sorry it's blurry. This next one is of the ceiling directly above that picture. Of course, it's a little prettier when it's not cloudy...



I got my hair cut and had highlights put in, but it was getting kind of long before that. Here I am before it got cut.



Okay, that's taken enough time for now. But more to come, I promise.