Happy Saint Patricks Day!

So I went ahead and requested 3 books from the library, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter & Pride, Prejudice and Zombies both by Seth Grahame-Smith and Candide by Voltaire. The first two aren't exactly on my list of 10 Banned but I need some reading that won't tax my brain right now. I'm still all messed up things went crazy at my house and I haven't been able to find my rhythm yet. I saw Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter at the Atlanta Airport when I was desperately trying to find something to read on the plane and was caught between that and Dean Koontz Lightening. I went with Dean Koontz because I'd read some of his stuff before and liked it and I figured it was safer to go with the known then the unknown in this case. It was a good thing I did since was sat for an hour and a half on the tarmac in Atlanta while they de-iced the plane. I don't think I'll have time to pick up my books today but I'm going to give it a shot of hitting the library tomorrow after work. I can't wait to dive into Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. Should be interesting.

Back in October my office moved from a Satellite location to our headquarters office. Yesterday we found out that we are moving back to the office we came from. Seems like a terrible waste of resources to me but whatever. I just got used to working down here and riding the train into work and now I'm back to having to drive myself to work. I've gotten so spoiled here! My husband drives me to the train, I ride the train which drops me off a block and a half from the office, I walk to the office. No worries about trying to find a place to park or being late due to traffic. Now I have to drive myself! The hard part is that I don't have a car right now, so this is going to take some figuring out from Hubbs and I. But we'll make it work. The office should move in about a month. I just hope that they don't have me in charge of the move again. Last time it was a major pain in the butt and everyone second guessed me at every turn. So annoying but since the main person who did that is no longer with the unit, it shouldn't be so bad this time.

Is it really the middle of March already? Ugh. I feel so behind in everything right now. I have two weeks worth of clean laundry piled up on my dinning room table, I still haven't photographed any of my recent finished objects, none of my current works of...art are moving a long quickly, I haven't even begun any Christmas knitting and I'm feeling totally over whelmed by the need to plan three trips.

Hubbs and I are headed to Tahoe for a couple of days for a friends wedding in April, May is a cross country trip to Atlanta that includes driving a moving van back to California with a stop in Arizona and June is a trip to see my family in Oregon. It's going to be a crazy few months. At least the Tahoe trip is going to be easy. We're taking the 5th wheel and the dogs and camping out. It's way cheaper this way and we get to take the dogs with us. Poor little beasties have been abandoned by me lately. Between work and being gone for week, I don't think they thought I was coming back. They sure stuck to me like glue for a couple of days after I got back from Alabama.

I've been making some progress on my Thermal Sweater. I finished the first sleeve and am about a third of the way through the second sleeve. I can't wait to finish it and wear it before the hot weather sets in and it's too hot. I haven't been working on anything besides the Thermal. The sleeves for the Central Park Hoodie are on hold right now. For whatever reason I'm just not feeling the vibe I need to redo them in a timely manner. I've got a pair of socks on the needles too but I need to rip them out and restart them. I think they are going to be way too small on the current needle size. Note to self: This is why we swatch! Duh!

I decided to finish my Administration of Justice degree while I was gone to Alabama. My cousin takes classes on-line from a local Junior College and after some research I discovered that they offer the classes I need to complete my degree. My last year of school, back in 2004, I had to drop two of my classes because working full time, going to school full and and trying to buy a house that was not where I lived was just too over whelming for me. So I finished the year 6 units shy of my AA. Silly me, I never looked into classes after I moved and there fore never finished. So stupid consider that 6 unit's is only 2 classes! Right now I'm planning to take one class this summer and the last class in the fall semester. So potiently I could be done with my AA by the end of the year! I'm really excited about it.

I'm saving up my money right now to get a laptop. Hubbs and I have a desk top but it's in our main living area where the kitchen and family room is. We only have 1 tv in our house so it's not fair of me to kick Hubbs outta there in order for me to be able to use the computer. My mom is giving us her wireless router so I'll be able to work from another room in the house while Hubbs is watching TV or using the desk top. This also means that we'll be able to take the computer with us on our two trips and I can study while we're gone.

About my self challenge to read The Top 10 Banned Books of all Time. I've been trying so hard to read Ulysses. I'm about 700 pages into this book and I don't understand any of it. I decided that I'm going give up on this book. I'm tired of forcing myself to try to read this book. It's just not me and I'm not enjoying it at all. All the other books I read were at least somewhat interesting if not really enjoyable so it wasn't like it was work. Reading Ulysses is work and not enjoyable at all. I think it's in my best interest to be honest with myself and admit that I'm not going to finish this book. I took it all the way to Alabama with my and back and didn't read a page. I haven't touched it since I got back almost 2 weeks ago either other then to renew it. Sorry James Joyce but I don't like your book. It's going back to the library as soon as my next book arrives.

The last book on the list is by Voltaire. I'm not sure I'm going to like this one either but I'm going to give it a shot. In the mean time I've read Lightening by Dean Koontz and The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. Lightening was good! I picked it up in the Atlanta airport and almost finished it before our flight landed in Sacramento. I would have finished it but my mom was yakking a lot and I figured I better enjoy the time talking to her, I can read later. My mom lent me The Last Song. Trust me on this...Do not read this book unless you want a tear jerker. It was so sad but good. I know I won't see the move because Miley Cryus's voice is just annoying to me but the book was good.

I think that is all the latest and greatest news from The Dropped Stitch household. I'll try again to get those pictures of my finished objects and get them posted. Still trying to find my grove around here and I'm hoping that I find it soon! Have a great week everyone!

I wanted to share the few things I actually brought back with me from Alabama. We still have a storeage unit full of items that will have to be picked up later this year and driven home. But these were a few of the things that I couldn't bare to leave behind.

This is my great, great grandmothers thimble. There was a note with it in my great aunts handwriting saying who the thimble belonged to and when they received it. It was dated 1881 and belonged to my great, great grandmother. It's so tiny and would have never fit on my finger.

I also brought home all the thimbles in my great aunts sewing box. I love thimbles and they were a wonderful memento to have.

A beautiful wooden needle case with machine needles inside.

Beautiful costume jewelry.

Wonderful butterfly pin

I loved this chicken bowl. It's small but beautiful. There are no chips on it at all. At one time the comb was red and you can still see some of the paint on it. I'm going to use it to keep some of my treasures.

I have a wonderful collection of thrifted ladies hankies and this family one will be a wonderful addition.

I loved the graphics on this pack of guitar strings. Neither my self or my husband play the guitar but he plays the banjo and I play the mandolin. I knew if I left them behind they would be tossed. The funny thing was that I never found any evidence that anyone in the family played the guitar. I can't help but wonder why my great aunt had them.

I brought home this great vintage hat. My mom says she remembers wearing one just like it in the 50's. It's covered in real feathers.

I loved this hat also. I wish I could have brought home all the hats in the house but I really would have not had anyplace to store them all. So I only brought home these two. Hopefully someone bought the other ones and gave them a good home.

This scrap book is from the 1930's. It's full of news paper clippings and moments of my other Great Aunt, Iva's life. So interesting.

While there were tons of photo albums in the house, I only brought home this one. The rest went into storage to be brought home later. The tooled leather cover is beautiful.

Inside was this wonderful picture of my mothers parents on their wedding day. My grandmother is still a beautiful woman but she was just stunning on her wedding day. And my grandfather was such a handsome man in his dress blues. I have a very similar jacket that I also brought home. It's not dress blues and it's not his working clothes but it's a very similar jacket to the one in the picture. I want to alter it to fit me.

My mothers senior picture from 1967 was also in the photo album. I love this picture. My mom looks so carefree. Her hair and necklace are so classic.

This is just one page from the photo album. There were so many neat pictures in it and I was able to easily find my aunt and my grandfather.

That's everything I brought back but I'm sure as soon as we get the rest of the stuff in a few months I'll share the rest of it then. I have boxes of McCoy pottery and beautiful glassware. Not to mention wonder vintage linens and tons of pictures. I can't wait to see it all again!

Sorry I disappeared for a while but things got a little crazy here at the Dropped Stitch house. I was working crazy long hours and weekends at work and then my great aunt passed away so I had to dash off to Eastern Alabama for a week. It was a crazy whirl wind trip but it was great to spend time with my mom and my cousin.

Here is the photo high lights of the trip. We ate at Cracker Barrel in Atlanta. Our flight was late leaving Sacramento and they had to hold our flight in Phoenix so there was no lunch, we were starving by the time we hit Atlanta.

Of course we had to take a couple of minuets to sit in the rockers at Cracker Barrel. I loved the little store that was attached to the restaurant and could have easily brought home one of everything in the store.

We finally arrived in Roanoke Alabama around 10:30 local time and went directly to our Aunts house where we met up with my uncle. It was good to see him. I hadn't seen him in a couple of years since he lives in Oregon near my dad.

This is my Aunts house. It was bought by my Aunt and my grandfather for their parents some time in the 40's. It's on about 75 acres. When they bought it it had been cleared for planting. My great grand parents were share croppers and this would have been the first piece of land they ever owned. The house is about 100 years old and falling down. It needs major repair work.

You can't tell by the pictures but it's cold. Real cold. Our day time temps were in the mid 30's most of the time. It had snowed the week before we arrived.

There were thousands of daffodils in the yard. Most weren't blooming yet. But in a couple more weeks it would have been magical.

There was a huge chestnut tree on the property. The spiny pods were unbelievable. They looked like hedgehogs to me.

This was a house, just outside of the city limits. No one lived there but it was a neat old house. We played a practical joke on my little cousin who wasn't with us by telling her this was Miss Ever's house.

The corners of the house were held up with stacked rocks. It looked like it would blow over in a strong wind.

The old chimney was beautiful but also leaning badly.

The four of us got our first taste of Fried Dill Pickles! It was love at first bite!

Yum! Fried dill pickles, mozzarella sticks and onion rings!

Me at the city limits.

We had lots of cleaning up to do. My Aunts house was stacked to the ceilings in some places with old magazines, ton's of fabric scraps, vintage handbags, old hats and tons of various stuff. We filled two giant garbage bin. We also have a 10 foot by 10 foot storage unit full of family things we couldn't bare to part with, not to mention the other things that we had a garage sale with.

It was a crazy week and I'm glad to be home. Hopefully things will calm down some around here. I have a few finished objects that I want to show you. I just need five minuets to photograph them! Hopefully I can get that done today.

Well, I'm not sure I'm every going to finish Ulysses by James Joyce. This book is a really tough read and the first one that I've had to renew at the library. It's due back on the 23rd and I don't think I'm going to finish it by then. I'm slightly less then half way through. It's going to need a 2nd renew. This is the toughest book I think I've ever read and I rarely meet a book that I don't like in one way or another. It's just a tough read.

The formatting is weird, there's no quotation marks and the sentences are very choppy and hard to read. 90% of the time I'm not sure who's talking and this far (except for some not so nice comments about the queen of England) I'm not at all sure why this book was banned. From what I understand from my cube neighbor at work, apparently the main character, Mr. Bloom, has an affair but thus far, I've only read one mention of the mysterious lady and her letter that she wrote to Mr. Bloom. It seems like all Bloom does is walk around town and drink in pubs.

At this point I'm just hoping to finish this book soon! Hubbs keeps suggesting that I give up and move on to the next book, the final book. But I'm not sure I can except defeat. I really want to finish even though I don't really like the book or understand it. I decided that after this list is done I'm going to read the top 10 post apocalyptic books. It's a great list that includes Planet of the Apes, I am Legend & The Postman. I loved these movies and I'm sure the books will be even better, they usually are.

Today's Victory brought to you by Weight Loss!

Several times last year I tried to get back on the band wagon with my weight loss. There were many attempts and many failures. But as of the first of the year, I was back on track and have been doing great. I'm down about 5 pounds so far, with less then 10 to go. But that's not today's victory. Today's victory is that my white blouse no longer gaps in between my boobs anymore! It stays closed!!! I'm so excited!!!

(Sorry for the bad pic) See the arrow? No gap!!! So excited! And I noticed that my skirt wasn't as tight today as it was a few weeks ago. Hubbs and I have committed to walking the dogs 4 days a week for 45 min's each time. This is our first week and its scheduled to start raining on Friday so we're trying to get it all in before the rain. Next month I'm going to challenge myself to 1,000 minuets of fitness for the month of March. I hope I can do it!

Finished Object!

Pattern: Summer Lovin' Socks by Knittingnonstop

Yarn: Knit Picks Essential Kettle Dyed in Gold

Needles: US 1.5

Started: 02/04/10

Finished: 02/12/10

Mods: One additional repeat on the leg to make the socks longer.

I knit these up with with some of my birthday yarn and my new needles that Hubbs gave me. It was a very fun pattern that really helped bring me out of my grey winter sky's funk. I'm so ready for spring!

I also finished up my Central Park Hoodie only to discover that the sleeves, while a perfect length are too small. They are so tight that I just don't think I could wear it comfortably. I'm afraid that it might cut off the circulation to my hands. I'm going to take the sleeves back off and then rip them out. I have one extra skein of yarn left so I think that I can make them again one size larger and reattach them. I've never had to do anything like this before so it's going to be a learning experience.

My Thermal is on hold for the moment. I finished the body of the sweater but I decided that I didn't want to deal with using double points that have very rounded ends to knit the sleeves. I ordered a set of 8" Harmony Double Points from Knit Picks last night. Soon as they come I'll be back on the Thermal.

In the mean time I'm going to work on ripping out the sleeves for the Central Park Hoodie and trying to Finish the Tuxedo Vest. It's blocked and just needs to have the cowl neck tacked in place and it should be ready to wear...fingers crossed that there is nothing wrong with it. lol.