Goat Edition - 80's Version

OK, so it seems a new past time on Facebook for the younger generation is sharing various videos of popular songs with screaming goats inserted at the appropriate time.

Someone has waaaaaaaaay too much time on their hands.

Clicking on one, I found lots more and this is my favorite.  I have watched it at least three times already and it never fails to make me laugh.

I think the goats need more hair though...

Just watched it again.  Still laughing.

A Nice Day Out

Spent today in San Francisco with Antonella.  Every so often we meet up at the Ferry Building and go from there...  Walking all about chatting, having a coffee or two, having a good, yummy lunch, and shopping.  There is always shopping involved.

Today we met up to do some wedding-type girly stuff.

While Honey and I work on the paperwork and process specifics, Antonella and I are getting our "girly" on.  For the curious, he'll be moving here, and we're about ready to apply for his visa.  I'll mention milestones on here about the process but probably not much more.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm not the girly girl type.  I don't wear makeup, I don't fuss too much over my hair (although I do complain about it a lot), I wear jeans and t-shirts, and it's very rare to see me in a dress.  I like all these sort of things, and I keep up with the latest happenings girly-wise but I just don't do any of it for myself.

Now that there is a wedding coming up and I'm one of the principal players, there is some stepping up that needs to be happening here in the Chaos.  There will be some regular attention given to my hair, some makeup applied, and some dresses tried and tried and tried on til the one that is "just right" is found.

Of course I have all sorts of ideas about how things "should" look and "should" be as far as a dress and hair and shoes and so on, but the reality will be quite different.  That's just the way life goes.  Just because I like the style of a dress or shoe doesn't mean that it will fit with my body or be comfortable.

My hair is currently in the growing out phase, so all it needs is some regular coloring to cover the greys and a trim every now and then to keep it in a good shape.  Once the wedding gets closer, I will work with my stylist to come up with something good to do with it.  We've already talked about some things and she's told me that it's best to wait until I get my dress, then we can figure out a hair style that will go with the vibe of the dress.

Anywhoo, today's 'girly-girl' outing involved makeup.  I don't wear makeup regularly and I haven't really ever worn anything more than maybe a bit of mascara or lipstick. Antonella doesn't wear makeup either, so we set off to find some help.  I want to look like myself, but my skin needs some evening out and perking up.  My skin is in pretty good shape but with the whole pre-menopause stuff going on, I find myself with areas of uneven skin tone, off and on red spots and the occasional purple cheeks of hot flashes.  I'm not worried about wrinkles because I don't have very many and I think that trying to cover them up makes them stand out even more.

After lunch we headed off to Sephora.  We walked in, started looking around and promptly walked back out.  We had no idea what we were doing, no idea what we needed, and no idea where to even start.  We had, however, gravitated to the mineral sort of makeup thinking it would be the best at letting my skin breathe.  From what I've read and heard about the makeup, it seemed the best thing to try out - for me anyway.

We ended up at the Westfield Mall (Antonella remembered seeing a makeup shop there) where we found a Bare Essentials.  A lovely young lady by the name of Jillian applied some mineral makeup just so.  I must say I was quite surprised at the outcome and both Antonella and I were impressed with the lightness of it and the difference in how I looked with such little product applied.  I must say I still looked myself, just with more even skin and brighter eyes.  They have this product called "Well Rested" that goes round the eye area to cover dark circles and generally brighten things up.  It works.

Jillian wrote down everything she used and I gave her my information.  I told her since I'm not used to wearing makeup I had to wear it the rest of the day to see how I felt in it before I bought anything. Since I really liked what she had done, if my skin didn't break out or something equally annoying, I'd be back the next weekend to buy the kit.  She was very understanding (I'm sure I'm not the first person to do that) and was so helpful with everything.  She really stuck to the fact that I wanted a "natural" look and very patiently showed me exactly what she was doing and why and what everything did.  I really like the fact that it is very subtle and I can't even feel it on my face.  I do however, feel the mascara, but that is just something I need to get used to I guess.

Bottom line, today was a very good day.  We spent some quality girl time together and learned you really can teach an old girl new tricks. :)  It looks like next weekend I will be going to visit Ms Jillian to pick up some makeup and will spend the rest of the time until the wedding practicing how to put it on.

Next up we start looking for a dress.

And there will be no showing of the dress on the blog because Honey reads it and he's not allowed to see the dress until the ceremony. :)

A Chaos Holiday Visit in Pictures

Back now from the Holidays and a wonderful visit from my two men, Honey and Spencer.

Everybody on their laptops time.

Decorating the Chaos

Finishing of the Chili Peppers socks.  Can't believe I didn't take a photo of them.  I'll have to get one from Antonella.  D'oh.

The annual making (and eating) of the most awesomest stuffing  along with Honey-made mashed taters. And turkey.

Christmas Brunch at Black Bear Diner

Cow Spa Time

A trip in a ferry to see friends.

A BART ride to San Francisco for some New Year's Eve shopping. 

An awesome Honey-Do project. An up-cycled  bike rack.

A Honey Birthday lunch at Cheesecake Factory followed by The Hobbit.

Finished Honey-Do project, unpainted - it currently has one coat of paint and our bikes fit perfectly.

Socks for Honey

The socks started out as a Honey Christmas gift...

That didn't happen, so switched them to maybe a Honey Birthday Gift.  Again, didn't happen.

At the rate these are going, they might make it as a Honey Wedding Gift - because Honey asked the question on January 4th, and I said "YES".

The future Mr and Mrs Honey

A Favor If You Please

I need to ask you all for prayers, good thoughts, mojo sending etc.

A good friend has just been diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer and will be starting chemo and all that stuff soon.

Please pray for him and his family as they go through this difficult time.  He's not even 40 yet and he and his wife have a young son.

Thanks in advance!

Crazy Time

There's been a bit of knitting.

Lots of rearranging, cleaning, sorting, worrying, stressing, sleepless nights, anxiety, surface of the sun hot flashes...etc etc etc

There has not been enough knitting and way too much of the other stuff.

But...I managed to color my hair so at least when I look in the mirror every day, I don't see a woman who looks as old as she feels.

Seems there is drama everywhere lately, plus a visit from Honey, Spencer finishing out the quarter, and the annual apartment inspection (today actually).

I felt a brief moment of "down-timeness" this morning on the way into work.  I was cruising on the leg of one of the Chili Socks and everything just felt all nice and chilled out.

That lasted about 5 minutes.

Tonight I am hoping for more chill time.  All I need to do is wash my comforter, sit back, relax, knit and see what's on TV.

That's the plan anyway.

Chili Socks in Progress

The Roasted Chilies socks for Antonella are on the needles.  Yay!  I had plenty of time to cast on and work the toes last night while I waited for Spencer to text me and let me know he'd made it back to school and was safely in his dorm. 

Note to all parents with younger children: No, you never stop worrying about your kids - no matter how old they get.

I also had plenty of time to work half way up the foot of one as I waited for a train this morning.  You know you'll have extra knitting time when the platform is crowded and people are arguing about who is cutting in front of whom.  I headed straight for a bench and knit on a Chili Sock while I waited for the platform to clear.

There will be no photos to see here.  I'll post all the details to Ravelry in a few days along with some progress photos so my knitter friends on Ravelry can check them out if they are curious.

Just because she knows that she is getting socks and has seen the yarn (I always get color approval from her before starting her projects), it doesn't mean that I'm going to show her what they actually look like while I'm making them.

She'll see them at Christmas.

And now to complete my lunch hour today by spending some time in the bathroom trying to get bacon and cheese grease off my newly washed fleece jacket and my t-shirt.

I got quite the deal when I paid $6.50 for that grilled cheese sandwich - with bacon! - and a cup of soup.  I got the very yummy comfort food soup and sandwich, a nice big double grease stain, an upset stomach and bloating.  Ooh and a hot flash, because here that comes now too.  BONUS!!

Sigh.  I need to start wearing a bib - and I need to stop eating stuff that I shouldn't be eating.

Some days though you just need the crispy grilled cheese sandwich comfort (with bacon!) that a salad just CAN NOT provide.

Finished Sock, On Deck redo, On the Needles Now, a Happy, Productive Visit

Knitter's Husband Marine Life Socks finished the other day.  They are approximately a size 13.  That's a whole lotta sock.  Told Spencer while he was here for Thanksgiving that his feet are NOT allowed to grow any more.  It's bad enough he's at a size 12.

A WHOLE LOTTA sock...

Spencer's SF Giant's socks not happening anymore.  The yarn is splitty, the colors are NOT working out in the jumble and I do NOT like knitting them as the yarn has too much nylon and it does NOT flow over the needles.  Spencer has agreed about the colors and has picked a different yarn out of the stash.  Cherry Tree Hill's "Middle Earth".  Photos later.  Still keeping an eye out for the right yarn as I do want to make him some Giants socks.  Definitely needs to be self-striping 100% Merino - which is way out of my price range at the moment.  This is how far I went before I had to say "NO MORE" - not black/orange/white but brown/coral/white.

Going on the needles today as I watch Da Bears trounce the Vikings - socks for my partner in crime Antonella.  After slacking off for three days, they are FINALLY going on the needles - Claudia Hand Painted Yarns "Roasted Chilies".  I have five more pairs to make after these.  FIVE.  Yeah, I should really get going.

 

Once Spence FINALLY got to my house, we had a simple Thanksgiving dinner of lasagna and a salad.  But first we had dessert.  We LOVE pumpkin pie in The Chaos so that had to be eaten first!

After we rested a bit after our mini-feast, we went through all the boxes he left in his room.  I made a special pile of them and we made quick work of going through it all.  We came across wonderful things that triggered many happy memories of his grandparents, both gone now.  Here we are in two of the many awesome hats from his hat collection.  Mom and Dad always sent him various hats for birthdays and holidays and hats were his souvenirs whenever anyone traveled.  Here, he wears the Davey Crockett 'Coon hat his Papa Bernie gave him, and I'm in a fancy Greek hat that Grandma Mary brought back from her Mediterranean Cruise.  He took the furry hat back to UCLA.

It was a Happy Holiday Visit, and we got some sorting and organizing done too!  What more could a Mom ask for...

Except maybe her Honey coming on December 14th for a Happy Holiday Visit and Honey helping sort and organize too!  I'll have them both in for Christmas/New Year's so look forward to whipping The Chaos into a bit better shape while they are here.  Looking forward to having access to strong, tall men.  I'll have to cook and feed them, but small price to pay for all the much needed help they will provide.

SQUEEE.

On Deck

These yarny cakes are destined to be black/orange/white jumble socks for Spencer.  He's a big fan of the World Series Champs, the SF Giants.  So I figured it would be cool to make him some SF Giants socks.

Do you know how difficult it is to find black/orange/white yarn?!?  Luckily for me, the World Series takes place around Halloween.  Enter plenty of black/orange/white of just about anything.  Except sock yarn.

It took me a while, but I found some.  I was hoping for self-striping yarn, but this is the best I could do so close to Halloween - a lot was sold out already.  Actually it was the ONLY sock yarn I could get in a wool I could use, that I could afford, and that - most importantly - did NOT include any other colors besides black/orange/white.

Hey now wait just a minute - jumble what?!?  (Insert sound clip of screeching brakes here.)

The color changes on this yarn happen about every 15 or so inches.  Can't really call this self-striping yarn, so I have to call it something.  So I call it "jumble".

Best part of jumble yarn?  Don't have to worry about starting it at the exact same place.  Not that it would be really all that difficult to NOT match black or orange or white stripes.  Unless you were completely in the dark.

Although lately, I'm sure I could find a way.

CKP ver 1.15

AKA the Cunning Knitting Plan in between 1.1 and 1.2.

Marine Life sock #1 has just been completed.  Sock #2 is ready for me to take it off the dpns and pop it onto my size 1 baby circs.

Defiinitely has helped having the second set of dpns to keep the socks in check while working one heel then the other.

I have decided to exchange the size 2 baby circs for a size 1 like I originally wanted to get.

The most ironic thing about this whole CKP business?

I knitted the heels one immediately after the other and they were done COMPLETELY different.  Something clicked in my brain between heel #1 and heel #2 and the pattern made sense.

Did I redo heel #1?  Of course not.  As usual, they look the same, even though my wrap and turns on the short row/increases for turning the heel were done quite a bit different for each sock.  The end result was the same - the heels got turned.

Knitter's husband won't know, and Knitter has never made socks***, so I'M the ONLY ONE who knows EXACTLY where and what is different and I'm not tellin'.

And there will be NO PHOTOS detailing the differences.  You guys only get a photo of the completed pair.

Stay tuned for that, it's coming up soon.

*** Update: Apparently Knitter has made socks waaaaaaaay back in the day, but hasn't made any since - and knowing me, I read "never made any" instead of "I have and don't like it".  My guess is that the fun went out of it since she HAD to make them and not because she WANTED to make them...that would  take the fun out of anything in a hurry.

Cunning Plans Can Change, Right?

I was just on the interwebs impatiently trying to find out where the hell my new tiny circ and mini dpns had gone off to when I took a really good look at my order.

(insert long, all-capitalized string of the nastiest four letter words you can think of here...and then do it again)

I SWEAR I was paying attention and ordered both the baby circ and the mini dpns in a size ONE.

There must have been a blip in the space-time continuum because I clicked on size ONE and somehow ordered size TWO.

Whatever.  At least the mini dpns are a size ONE like they should be...

Alrighty then...

So after a few seconds of waving both middle fingers at the screen, I figured oh well.  My chaotic little back and forth and this and that - which will soon be a bit better once the extra mini dpns arrive - has been working.  So much for that particular cunning knitting plan though.

Time for Cunning Knitting Plan (CKP), Revision 1.2: I'll be keeping the mini dpns and sending back the size 2 mini circs - IF they ever get here.

If they don't, I don't think the Chaos has the R&D resources for CKP Rev 1.3.

Stripe Sock Save

Important non-sock-knitting note:
Today is the Veteran's Day Holiday so the Chaos would like to thank all of our Nation's Veterans for their service.  Saw some things out on the interwebs about free meals for Veterans so hope as many as possible took advantage of that and I hope that your favorite restaurant participated.


And now back to our irregularly scheduled knitting...
First order of knitting business today is to get all knitter term geek on you guys.  Where I said I had tinked the second sock?  The term should have been frogged.  I tore that sucker back.  Tink is for a few stitches, I had to go back 6 inches.

Rip it - rip it - rip it...

Ok, now that I have that out of my system, time to move on...which has been a bit difficult since my extra sock needles still have NOT showed up on my doorstep.  Tomorrow is the observed day of Veteran's Day, so they won't be showing up then either since there is no mail service.

I've had to get creative since I now have a sock on dpns and one on a wee tiny circular.  I found another pair of size 1 dpns in my stash, but they are plastic and they are a teeny bit different size than my wooden dpn ones, so I can't really use those.  I have been using them as holders though.

I won't even go into explaining how I've been moving stitches here and there and yonder and back because quite honestly I don't think I can.  Plus, I can probably say for certain, reading such nonsensical jibber jabber is not why you are reading this right now.  You are hoping for some photos.

And here you go:

Some progress in the room...the shelves have been reconfigured and the table has been moved in and set up.  Now all I have to do put all my stuff on them.  Oh is that all.

And here are the now matching socks.  I love it when the stripes match up.  I have the gussets done on one sock and am working the gussets on the second.  It has been interesting, but what I have been doing is working.

Well now...

I just stripe pattern enhanced myself into tinking the second Marine Life sock.  I do love the colors on these socks - six different shades of blue.  Six different variations of Caribbean blue.  In a certain light, there are about three of the shades that look alike.

You can probably see where this is going.

When I use self-striping yarn - which is a lot because I just LOVE me some stripey socks - I try to start at the same color so that the socks more or less match up.

After I caked up the yarn, I pulled out the centers until I got to a point in the yarn changes where I had the same shade of blue.  Off I went on the sock #1 toe.

A few days later, I put sock #1 aside, out of sight in the main project bag, picked up cake #2 and started on the toe of sock #2.

Last night I decided to compare sock #1 and sock #2 to see how well I had matched up the stripes again, because I'm very good at starting up the socks at the same color and I was ready to admire my latest stripe success.

EPIC SOCK STRIPE FAIL.

A few minutes of tinking later and I'm back here tonight starting sock #2, this time at the correct shade of Caribbean blue.

I STILL do not have my second set of sock needles so I consider this a blessing in disguise.  Now I have something to do on the train again.

Time to re-knit sock #2.  This should last me for a few days while I wait impatiently for my new needles.

Mummy Talk

Look here for the Doctor Who reference...

Still haven't received my extra needles.  Still don't feel like uploading photos.

All you get tonight is a youtube link.

Back to the movie.

No Photo Monday

The extra needles did not show up today, so there are no photos of socks ready for heel pattern enhancements. hahaha

There are, however, photos of the latest work done on Spencer's room.  Just not tonight.

I was just too lazy to download/ upload/ add to post.

There was, however, a small bit of exercising and then some watching of the Viggo 2.  I was in the mood for some Viggo and I finally re-did the cables from TV to cable to the digital whatsit thingy I had to get from the cable company so that my old TV (bought in 1990) could get a digital signal.  It's just a big cable-y mess behind my TV, but now I can watch DVDs again.

I think tomorrow night there will be some "Mummy" watching while I work on some Marine Life heels.

Design Features

Back when I worked in software (shudder) for hours and hours a week, there was a thing that happened all the time called problems, errors, f-ups, mistakes or whatever you want to call it.  In other words, you put in some code, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.  Sometimes it did something with the product that was FAR from what it was supposed to be doing.  If it didn't work, you crawled back into your cubicle and spent day and night trying to fix it.  If the program still worked, it was called a "Design Feature".  Especially if you were before the customer and had no time to change anything.

I was never a coder or programmer, but I did work closely with them.

Things rubbed off.

When it comes to knitting I now occasionally experience "Pattern Enhancements".

Let me just say that it is extremely easy for me to live with Pattern Enhancements, so it is rare that I actually tink something just for a mistake on one or two stitches.  I'll tink it because I don't like it or I have become bored with it, or because I MAJORLY f'd up, but not because there is a small mistake.

That being said, I've used this same pattern for every pair of socks I've knit.  I've read and re-read the heel part of the pattern several times over immediately before execution and have knitted this same heel about 16 times now.  I think every heel I've done is different.  Seriously.  It's not really anything that messes up the heel and they pretty much all look the same, it's just for some reason I interpret the pattern differently every time I make a heel.  A stitch more here, one less there, a purl instead of a knit, a knit instead of a purl, a turn instead of a wrap and turn, and so on, just one stitch here or there that is wrong.  When it's all said and done I always end up with the correct amount of stitches in each section and no holes, so I don't really worry about it too much.

Why am I babbling on about this now?  Well, the foot portions on both Marine Life socks are complete and it's time to execute my cunning plan of working both heels at the same time.  Time to see if this pair ends up with any "Pattern Enhancements".  They should at least be the same - in theory.

My second set of dpn's should arrive tomorrow.  Once I get both socks on the needles, I'll take a photo.

The Day Off

I hit the snooze just as planned.

I got up before the 'official' alarm - way too early (6am, which is my normal weekday wake up - too bad my body clock didn't take the day off too.)

Was text whining to a friend about what I was going to do with myself (no, I don't take days off very often, and no, I couldn't think of anything that didn't involve, sorting, cleaning, laundry or other sort of housework) when she suggested I hang out at a local cafe to chill and knit while I was out and about.

Perfect.  I needed to get some things so headed to the local downtown.  It was much easier than going on a weekend - more buses running.

Didn't get all I wanted, had an early lunch, skipped the cafe knitting and came home.  I was tired and bored.

What did I learn?  I really need to take more days off and learn how to relax during the week.

Today I checked out the newest local grocery store called Sprouts - love the fresh fruits and veggies.  It's not that far off the bus and that means I can still get there without causing too much inconvenience on the feet and knees.

Had a very long chat in the afternoon with Honey.

And now I'm vegging out on the couch.

I have no issues with relaxing on the weekends, it's just during the week that gives me problems.  Feel like I should be somewhere else doing other things - maybe at work?

Anyhoo, I have LOTS to do tomorrow since I have not managed to do any chores or things that needed to be done today.

First I have to NOT wake up at 7am and go OMG I'M GOING TO BE LATE.  My whole inner schedule is off because of my day off on Friday.  And yes, I have done that on Holidays.

I think I need to put a note with big letters across my alarm clock: GO BACK TO BED - IT'S SUNDAY.

Maybe I should also put one on the bathroom mirror...don't laugh, I've done it before.

A Day to Myself

Tomorrow I have a day off.  There are no appointments scheduled.  This is purely a day off just for the sake of having a day off.

I like those sort of days.

There are a zillion and one things I could do tomorrow.  It all needs to be done.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

I think I'll start with hitting the snooze button a few times and then just go from there.

Sock #2 begins

Yesterday morning about halfway down my train commute, I finished the foot of the first Marine Life sock.  All 8" of it.

Last night I started the toe of the second so I could have it off the dpn's and onto the mini-circular for the commute this morning. **

Good thing too.  I definitely needed something to distract me.

Today is the San Francisco Giants ticker tape parade down Market Street.  They expect 1 million people to show up.

They told them to take the train.

The people listened.

The bus to the train was full - and so was the train.

Too bad my mp3 player ran out of juice, I could have benefitted from some music on the way in today.

** I'm trying something new this time with the socks.  Going to do the heels at the same time so that they both match.  I still have issues with heels, so if I screw up again, at least I'll do the same on both socks and no one will know but me (I have no issues with leaving mistakes).  BTW, I usually don't realize I screwed up until I've cast off the first sock.  Then I can't remember what I did to mess up when I do the second sock.

Really?

Since when are jeans size 16 Short too long on me?

Apparently I am also shrinking.

Lovely.

Making Changes, Hoping for a Win

Different things have been happening here in the Chaos lately considering health.

They mainly revolve around the fact that I am a 49 yr old woman (or as my doctor is fond of saying "you're not getting any younger"), I'm overweight and I am a 49 yr old woman.

I other words, I'm aging, I'm fat and I'm in peri-menopause.

All three are working against each other to cause each of the other issues to get worse.  For the most part.

After many conversations with various health professionals, I have decided against Hormone Replacement Therapy.  I have too many risk factors to feel comfortable adding that to everything else.  Various health professionals agree.  And we all agree that it's much too soon for that anyway.

So, now the search is on to find something that works and doesn't have any adverse effects on any of my other issues or cause new ones.  My main fear is that it will set off my allergies since all this stuff is natural and made from stuff that grows and I'm pretty much allergic to most things that are green and grow.

It's proving to be quite difficult to make any improvements as the age, the weight and the pre-meno all add up to life being pretty damn rough right now.  I find one thing that works for one issue and it'll cause weight gain, which will then trigger more joint aches and pains, sleepless nights, bloating, and then the other issues come back stronger and so on and so forth.

I've tried several things so far. They work for about a month or so and then abruptly stop.  Today I started my third try.  I've also found some exercises I may be able to handle.  There is no bike riding (hot flashes cause dizziness and I've almost passed out a few times-scary!), there is no walking (the extra weight gain on top of my already overweightness has caused foot issues so there is no walking for more than 2 or 3 blocks now), and at this point, just thinking about movement usually makes my knees scream for mercy.

Wish me luck as I take another stab at the whole thing.  Someday soon I will find something that works and helps alleviate all issues.  I'm definitely still in it and fighting.  Right now I'm not aging very gracefully, but that will change once I find something that works and I can finally see and feel some changes.

Off I go to try out those exercises I found while trolling the internet this weekend.  Luckily, there are some "try it out" videos with a few exercises to do to see if your body can handle it.

I've also decided to buy a trainer so I can ride my bike inside, that should be a lot safer for me.  I won't tip over and crash on the side of the road.  With the trainer, my bike will be nice and stable and if I feel bad I can just get off and chill on the couch til the flash passes.  Or even go lay down if that's what needs to be done.

Sigh.