Bye Bye Beatrice

Finally it's a done deal. We had such a hard time getting this new car. First of all the financing is crazy because I don't work full time and hubby's had to file bankruptcy last year. So even though my credit is good, I don't make enough money on my own to afford the car. I have to have hubby co-sign but because his credit is crappy it brings both of us down. Anyway, our new lovely is sitting in the garage right now waiting for us to personalize her and drive her! She's a beauty! Now I just need find a suitable name for her. She drives like a dream!

Work has been so odd lately. Apparently I've been inducted into the "in" crowd at night. They call me their "Golden Child." Yuck...how humiliating. It's nice and all that they like me ("you really really like me" - Sally Field) but I don't know how I feel about all this. The drama is unreal. My young friend with cancer is dying faster than anyone expected. She was given five years but now is expected to live only a year. Yet she still comes into work as sassy and vibrant as she always has. I don't know how she does it. She's also one of the troublemakers. So while I love her I still think she's way over the top at work. She wouldn't agree with me saying she's Trouble...but that's how I see her - Trouble with a capital T! At times I'm afraid that all their shenanigans will rub off on me somehow - you know, guilt by association. At the same time, I know how hard I work there. The managers all seem pleased with me and the Assist Mgr is always happy when I get the chance to work with her. I like the job, oddly enough. I have no responsibility other than to work my shift. So when I punch out, I'm gone. No work needs to come home with me. Sometimes I have to remind myself that even though most of them are legally adults (some in their 20's), I'm still about 14 yrs older than the majority. That means when I was in high school they were still crawling around on the floor. It's nice to be liked and included in the night shift's clique but I also have to remember the age differences and life-style differences. On an upnote, my young friend wants me to knit her a heart in a bright pink so she can carry it with her.

So this is what is currently on my needles: a mostly done pink Lopi heart knit on size 10.5's that will be felted and given away, a barely started sock on size 2's that hopefully will be for myself, and a granny square dishcloth on hook I that I have to keep ripping out because I'm confused on how much to ch and dc and sc and how many times in each hole. I'm also planning on knitting a french girl fantine for my sister's birthday. But I need to run the cost of the yarn by hubby. It's Rowan Big Wool for about $14.50 a ball and I need 4 balls.

LD is doing great. We had a rough time at the dealership with him. When we went to sign the papers they were too busy for us even though we told them what time we were coming in. So we had to wait with a rambunctious 21 mo old for over 2 hours for them to do what they needed to do. Poor guy. He had the biggest meltdown I've ever seen and I don't blame him one bit. I reamed out our sales guy later that day about the whole process. And today when I went in to sign the rest of the corrected paperwork I was offered an apology by the office manager.

Tomorrow we're off to our BF's son's birthday party. He's six and hubby is supposed to be getting him something totally cool. It's a themed party - Red Sox - so we've been asked to wear our gear. Unfortunately, LD has grown out of all his BoSox stuff and I didn't have any to start with. We'll try to wear some red and white in support! Oh, I do have my red socks and so does LD!!!

Oh, for a night out on the town and several very stiff drinks. Riiiiggggghhhhhtttt!

Off for a quick nap before LD wakes and my night shift starts. Happy Knitting!

Almost Proud Owners

That's right! We did the paperwork on the new car today so all we have to do to drive it home is bring them our down payment and leave Beatrice *sob*. We've got the $$ now hubby has to get the bank check on Thursday so we can get the car Friday night or Saturday morning! Since I have to work Friday night, and I imagine as the primary owner I'll have some paperwork to sign, then I guess we'll have to do it Saturday morning before we go to Heidi's house. It's her son's sixth birthday party and we've never missed a birthday so we're not about to start now! Hubby is still a little bit on the fence about committing ourselves to a car payment at this point in our lives. You know, broke and practically living off my Dad. In any case, we really don't have a choice. A new car payment every month or $2 to $5k per year to maintain a car that is literally falling apart around my ears. Plus we're going from two beat up cars to one brand new one. Hopefully the car insurance will balance out.

On the knitting front, I've started my first sock...yup, you got it. The dreaded socks. I've got about an inch done and it's a tad frustrating! The needles are tiny and the yarn tinier. I don't know how people get addicted to the small stuff. I should have started with a pair of worsted weight socks. In any case, this is my attempt at knitting fearlessly! I'll hopefully add in a sweater at some point!

Well it's late and hubby wants to check his email so I'll sign off for now. Wish us luck with the purchase of the new car! I'm also trying to think what I'll name her. I think I'll have to drive her for a little while first then I'll know what kind of personality she has!

Happy Knitting!

All Things New

New car shopping basically sucks. It's anxiety driven and worrisome. You're afraid that if you make a deal with one guy you'll be missing out on something better somewhere else. It goes with that old saying that "the grass is greener on the other side." Somethings always going to look better from where you'll be standing. The only thing you can do is close your eyes, take a deep breath and pray that you're doing the right thing. We've decided on the Nissan Versa. At this point it doesn't matter what the dealership gives us as a trade-in on Beatrice - we just want this whole thing over and done with. So, we are now just waiting on the $$ which we will hopefully get Monday or Tuesday. Then we can do the deal that evening or first thing Saturday morning. Basically I want to be able to drive the car off the lot that day. I'm afraid I'll have to settle for silver as a color. I would love magnetic gray or cobalt blue but this dealership only has the silver one with the options we are looking for. Ah, well.

Speaking of $$, we got some really good news yesterday when we filed our taxes! We are getting a decent refund - YAY!!! Finally, something that seems to be going right for us. Things aren't quite as tight as they have been and now we'll be getting a little something back from the Fed and ST.

Work has been relatively quiet. We've been having fun, though! The past three nights have been pretty busy so I've kept myself busy. I've learned a few new positions and seem to have excelled at them. I guess when I "run" for drive-thru, there are fewer errors. Go figure, how hard is it to pack a sack of food correctly? I don't know why these kids screw up so much. I can't understand how they can not pay attention to what they are doing when they look like they are paying attention. What gets me is when some 17 yr old who isn't even in management (!?) feels like he can dictate my job when he's standing in one spot doing nothing and I'm running my proverbial butt off doing both front counter and running for drive-thru. I feel like telling him to get off his duff and do it himself. Instead I just vented to my manager only to find out this kid does this all the time. He simply needs to relax. I certainly don't get paid enough to put up with any crap from someone young enough to be my son. I tend to pull more than my fair share of work there and the mgrs will back me up every time. Like I said, I don't get paid enough to let this bother me!!!

On to other items: I've been slowing making my way through yet another dishcloth. This one is in rainbow colors and is almost finished. I haven't been able to concentrate on doing anything more complex. I finally found a pattern for a tunic sweater that I would like to knit for myself. It's really nice and I'd like to spend a little bit more for some nice yarn to knit it up with. Maybe a silk/cotton combination. Something definitely lightweight. Here is the pattern. I still have my tote bag to do, too. So maybe I'll tackle the tote bag (I can't wait to work with the yarn) and then I'll start the sweater. I'm going to make a run into Dover, NH to Spinning Yarns - they have wonderful, luxurious yarns and the owner is really knowledgeable. I'm hoping she can help me find out how much yarn I need for the sweater and what kind of yarn I can use. I also bought some Debbie Mumm yarn from Jo-Anne Fabrics and I'm not quite sure what to make with it. I bought all they had in the blue colorway and I need to find some more in the same lot. Maybe I'll make a simple cardigan out of it and try cabling.

We went to church this morning with LD and had a nice time. Church was packed as it always is this time of year. Then we drove around the local dealerships to see what they offered. Nothing any different than what we've already decided on. We'll be heading out to dinner with Dad in a little while - as no one knew what we wanted to do, thus no ham in the fridge!

I'm going to sign off and spend some time with the fam!

Happy Easter and God Bless!

Still Here...

Well, lots has happened in the last couple weeks. Work is still eventful though manageable. There was a big "todo" 2 weeks ago where several people lost their tempers and screamed at each other in the back of the restaurant. Colorful and tangy wordage was used much to the chagrin of myself and the other front counter worker. Also there were 2 customers in the store. I guess after my shift was over there was another blow out between 2 other co-workers and one ended up leaving in a huff. In any case, the manager wanted to talk to me and ask me my "mature" opinion about it last week. Now I'm not exactly sure what happened, nor am I all that inclined to ask, but somehow the subject was dropped and I never had to give my opinion (TG!) about that disastrous evening. So it's back to the typical soap opera shift. Which I admit, I much prefer over the yelling and screaming that took place. Way, way over the top. We'll see what happens tonight. I'll tell you one thing, it's never boring.

Hubby and I decided that we'll have to put down "Beatrice." She's going to be a trade in for a new car. The bad news is hubby had to cash in his old 401k to get enough money for this deal. We're paying 1/2 in cash and financing the other 1/2 (plus poor Beatrice who really isn't worth much $$$, but is priceless in my mind). The other part of the bad news is, while our bank was willing to put up an auto loan for us, they wanted 36 month financing which we can't afford. The whole point of paying so much $$ up front is to lower our monthly payments. We can't afford much. The good news is we should be able to get decent financing through the dealership. We are looking at getting the 2008 Nissan Versa S with stick and power package and ABS. There is one on the lot for $14,300 and we think we can get it for $13,000. Add in Beatrice, our down payment and whatever incentives they have for the end of the month and we should make out ok. In any case, we need to wait a few more days for hubby's check to come in. Then we'll see.

We also moved the whole house around. Those of you who've been keeping up know that we are living with my Dad and have been relegated to 2 very small adjoining rooms next to the kitchen and the front door. It's bad enough that there's all kinds of noise going on but throw in the fact that the baby could see us by looking over the edge of his crib and you know we've got NO PRIVACY! So last week, amongst car shopping and 3 anxiety attacks (yup, the worst one ever - it totally SUCKED), we managed to move 2/3's of the house. The living room is a whole lot neater, we now have an office and the baby has his own PRIVATE bedroom! (And, so do we!!!) The bad news is I got my period the day we moved everything and haven't been able to consummate our new circumstances!! However, that will be remedied in another day or so.

Whew! As I said, a lot's happened since I last posted. On the knitting front, I finished the sweater for my niece and also a dishcloth for my MIL. I'm currently working on another dishcloth (all my mental ability can handle right now). I have tons of options for my next project, one of which is a beautiful tote bag - I've mentioned it in previous postings. I'm also looking for the perfect garment for myself. I'd love to knit a light weight tunic with 3/4 length wide sleeves and a deep scoop neck. Unfortunately I can't seem to find one and I don't know enough about designing and how things are put together to design and knit my own. So the search continues!

LD went down for his nap a little while ago and if I want to get in some more knitting or reading then I'll have to sign off. I might just take a nap seeing as how I have to work tonight!

Until next time...Happy Knitting!

Drama

It was the A, B, C show the other night at work. You remember my referring to the situation of A and B? Well, it started when A came in and wanted to go right back home. The arguments escalated from there. All night long it was back and forth, from front counter to back storage, in and around grill. It was long, loud, rude and completely disruptive. Throw in C, who is B's best friend and also a good friend of A's and you have a trio of total chaos. To make matters worse the Assist Manager was on that night and you would have thought she'd put a stop to it. As amusing as it was, it lasted way too long and sustained at a volume you wouldn't have thought possible. All we could do was duck and cover. Fortunately there were three of us manning the front counter and drive through so we managed to stay efficient and there was one other young guy doing grill who was pretty competent. Wow is all I can really manage to say at this point.

Friday night was much better. And much busier! The time just flew off the clock. When I got home I went right to bed and crashed hard. I had to be up early Saturday morning to take care of LD while hubby took Dad to the bus station. He was going to Logan to fly down to Atlanta to visit my sister in college. Hubby then went to visit his dad at the hospital only to find out he was discharged. So he went looking for him at the nursing home - all dad's stuff was still covered. So he went to visit his mother at her work to find out what was going on and WHY we weren't told about it. Come to find out, my FIL has to spend 2 weeks at a rehab center in Portland before he can be readmitted to his home at the nursing center. She had no excuse for not letting us know this information.

Saturday night was not as chaotic (all the players were at the game again) and it wasn't as busy. We all managed to have a lot of fun and the major players managed to keep the volume at a much lower level. Now that C has become a major player we find out that C is getting back together with, let's say D, and A has a serious problem with it. Not that A is jealous, but that D had previously cheated on C and A has risen to the defense. While I admit it's nice to have friends stick up for you, if you're going to resume a relationship with someone who's stepped out on you in the past then it's ultimately your problem. This was part of the major issue last night. C wants to tell A but can't because A will take it out on D and C wants to protect D from A's abuse. Whew! (There may not be enough letters of the alphabet to cover this mess!) In another story, B is jealous that A may be interested in someone else. In addition to this mess, I suspect that C also likes A but is getting back with D because A is unavailable. Double whew! Well, enough about that.

On to more positive and less chaotic events! I've started the sweater for our niece. It's really really chunky! I can't believe how quickly it's knitting up. I can only fit in a couple of hours a day so it's really nice to see that the body is done and I'm almost done one arm already. I have the other arm and the hood part of the hoodie to complete. I think she's really going to like it. She's such a tiny little thing it ought to show off her slim waistline. I think before I go on to knitting my tote bag I'm going to do another dishcloth. I need a small project before I tackle something else. I also want to get a needle felting kit so I can needle felt an appliqué onto the tote. I think I can get them fairly inexpensively online along with a small bit of carded wool. It should be interesting to explore!

Hubby is working all day today - a real bummer but he is getting paid overtime for the whole day. We really need the money so I've had to suck it up. Poor LD and I have stayed home the whole day bored out of our skulls. Beatrice is still laid up until we can save enough money to fix her.

On the good news front...we'll be doing some more remodeling upstairs. Hopefully we can get it done while Dad's gone. We've been staying in adjoining rooms downstairs and LD can see our entire bedroom from his room. Can you say no privacy??? We decided he needs his own private room and so do we. So we're all moving upstairs to the two vacant bedrooms. We're moving my sister down to our old bedroom and LD's room which will be adjoining hers will be the office. It's opening up so much storage for all of us. Dad won't have to do a thing. His room will be untouched. It'll be nice to get upstairs and make the most of the storage space and most importantly to have our own bedroom again. It's been 14 months since hubby and I have been able to have conversations (among other things) in our bed. It's about time!!!

Ok, I need to get LD's supper ready. He's been very good during this whole posting! BTW, I've printed off pictures of all our family and I'm going to make a collage for LD's room. That way he'll recognize his family when he sees them - considering some of us live a ways away from each other!

Happy Knitting!

A New Day Part Deux

What I didn't get a chance to tell you all yesterday was my horrible experience trying to get my ancient old GMC Jimmy (I call her Beatrice) inspected. She failed miserably of course. She has been my trusted companion for years and I love her. Quite frankly I would hate to have to drive anything else. Unfortunately she's going to cost us another $1,200 to keep her on the road. She needs brake work and ball joint replacement. We have no idea where we're going to get the money so she's garaged for now. I feel like I'm stuck at home now because she's really not safe to drive. The good news is my dad is going to visit my sister at college for spring break next week so I'll be able to borrow his car. After that, who knows? My job at McD's was supposed to be paying for the groceries and feeding my yarn habit. It'll take me nearly a month and a half of paychecks to supplement my savings in order to fix Bea. So much for groceries...and at least I have a bit of stash to work with. Have I mentioned how being poor really really sucks??

LD had a great nap. He was out for almost 3 hrs! It gave me time to cast on the Very Cropped Hoodie Sweater I'm making for my niece. I was a little unsure about the pattern and I've already found one error (and corrected it along the way). So far it's knitting up quite well. I'm almost done the yoke, then I'll have to divide for the sleeves. It's knit with a double strand of Patons Shetland Chunky Tweed on size 17 and 19 29" circulars. So you can imagine how bulky it is! It's a lovely color of tan with bits of light and dark blue as the tweed accents. I can't wait to see how it looks when it's done! I just hope Jenny will agree to model it for me (and it actually fits her)!

After the sweater, I'll be doing another bag. This one is a tote with side pockets. I'm going to use the lovely yarn I got on sale this past weekend. I need to look into felting needles. I'd love to learn how to use them and make a pattern on the outside of the tote. The pattern calls for sheep but I think I'd do flowers. If I decide it's going to be a yarn bag then maybe I'll consider the sheep appliqué.

Well, got to run for now. Dinner needs to be made - chili has been simmering all day, just need to make the cornbread - and LD needs a little one on one before Daddy gets home!

Ciao and Happy Knitting!

A New Day

Things always look better after a good nights sleep! We found out that my FIL is doing much better. He managed to have a solid nights sleep Sunday night then all his test results for his heart were negative. I guess he just needed to get some good news for a change because hubby's SIL, Sue, said he was in a very good mood. He was able to talk to several people at the same time and not get "jiggy." Good for him. Really! I'm not being sarcastic this time! I'm actually happy he's doing better!

Today is my best friend's birthday!!! Yay!!! So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEIDI - I MISS YOU AND HOPE THAT YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!

I've finished her birthday present and hopefully I can get it in the mail today... I'll post pictures later this week.

In the meantime, LD and I went outside for about an hour this morning. The temperature was a lovely 45 degrees with a warm wind. Everything is melting as fast as it can. I guess we are getting a rainstorm tonight which is supposed to freeze everything solid. Great :( Just what we need - more ice. Anyway, at least we were able to get some fresh air until LD got soaked!

It's lunch time now so I'll take a break for now.

'later!

Unraveling

So many things in life can make us unravel. Sickness, death, financial concerns, stresses too many to list. This past weekend was an example of unraveling. My FIL is in the hospital for a rare infection that no one knows how he contracted. It took them several days to isolate but they finally have and now they are treating it with more specific antibiotics. He's on the mend but he'll only heal to the point he was at before he was admitted, which is to say, still not that great. He lives at a nursing home because he has diabetes and neglected to take care of himself. He's pretty much wheelchair bound. So this hospital stay (the most recent in a long line of stays) is giving him a chance to further unravel the family. He's become a master at playing his wife and kids. To my lovely MIL he's a complete monster - yelling at her and berating her for the littlest of infractions. (Fortunately, she doesn't hesitate to tell him to stuff it *smirk*). With my SIL's he's caring and considerate and with my husband, he turns on the doom and gloom. "I'm dying." "I'm never leaving the hospital." To which I say, "blah, blah, blah." Now that may seem insensitive on my part and maybe it is. I just hate the way he manages to get his way no matter what. My husband, my wonderful kind sensitive husband, gets the brunt of this torturous manipulations and, quite frankly, it pisses me off. The most recent comment was when we visited him yesterday with LD. Because LD was overwhelmed with the weekend traveling he was on the grouchy side. Not to mention we were in a hospital - which could turn the stomach of the strongest person. It was late and my FIL had his back to the door. So when LD let out a screech and screamed, my FIL says to hubby, "he hates me...my grandson hates me." I almost lost it. The problem is that LD doesn't really know him. He needs to warm up to my FIL every time he visits. So to see this strange man not wearing his normal clothes, with tubes and wires hanging off him is just a tad bit intimidating. Ok, end of vent. To my FIL's credit, I can see why he's so morose. He is sick and tired of being sick and tired. My problem is that it's his own fault and could have been entirely preventable. If he wasn't such a stubborn selfish person.

***SPOILER FOR HEIDI - DO NOT READ - BIRTHDAY STUFF!!*** On a happier note, I'm about 99% done with the latest bag. It's such a lovely shade of aquagreen. I have the perfect button for it and I'm so excited to be able to give it to my best girlfriend for her birthday! I agonized over which bag to give her, the Noro or this one. The Noro was more expensive and was thusly the most logical choice for a gift. I have to admit it didn't turn out nearly as well as I had hoped. It looks twisted for some reason. And the embellishments I used were terrible so I ripped them out. It definately needs something but I don't know what. In any case, I am dissatisfied with it so made this one last minute. Her gift needs to be perfect for her and this one I'm am (so far) very pleased with. I'm hoping to finish the buttonhole flap and felt it tonight. ***END OF SPOILER***

My next project is my first sweater. I'm going to knit a cropped long sleeve hoodie for my 19 yr old niece. I have the yarn and all the materials and I'm really anxious to get started! After that will be a felted tote using this absolutely luscious Lambs Pride Worsted wool I got on sale at my LYS. It is a beautiful cranberry color and was part of a dye lot that didn't meet Brown Sheeps specs. Fine by me! Also, I'm waiting for another pattern to crop up on the dishcloth KAL that appeals to me.

On the job front, whew! There's so much drama going on. I hesitate about telling specific stories because I want to protect their names so I'll do my best to keep it short. A is dating B, B is in love with A, A is on the rebound. A has a life threatening illness. A finds out it spread and has been given a "timeframe." A can't deal with illness and B so breaks off with B. Understandable. B doesn't get it and pressures A to get back together. A says no. B carves a phrase into his arm and freaks out A. A's situation is tragic. A is a great person and has had a rough patch for the last few years. A is not getting a break it seems. That's only one of the stories I've seen. It just happens to be the most tragic. Most of the time, the drama is amusing! I don't have much time left so I'll leave some of the other stories for later!

My SIL and niece are coming over for dinner tonight and we're expecting them any time now. So I'll sign off and do the quick once over!

Ciao and Happy Knitting!