April News

Books I read in April:
Flyte
Physik
Queste
Syren
All by Angie Sage... all in the Septimus Heap series, which I actually started with Magyk last month. LOVED them. And I can't wait for the 6th book, Darke, to come out. I seem to be unable to find a release date for it though...
I know there are fewer books than usual but it has been a busy month. Silly me didn't write this post in draft as the month went on though so who knows what I will remember.

I signed up for yet another 5 weeks of circuit training. I haven't lost any weight but I'm maintaining (yet I think I'm eating a bit more too) and I'm definitely stronger.

I'm still knitting... and still unable to show you any of it. I made another baby item and I also made a camera cozy for my mom for Mother's Day. I can say that because even if she happens to read this, she knows it's coming because she asked for it. Last year I made her one for her GPS so now she wants one for the camera too. My sister said that while our mom was staying with her, she (mom) used the GPS cozy for her camera all the time. So anyway, I won't post a photo (yet) because even though she knows what it is, she doesn't know what it looks like!
I just started a hat with my beautiful Violet Manos del Uruguay. I haven't taken any photos but this is a picture I took of the yarn:


We got another dog. Yes, a 4th dog has been added to the furrie family. I need to post photos and his story on my pet photography blog. I hope to do that this weekend and so you'll have to check there for more info. I'll tell you this though... I discovered yesterday that if I scratch his back back by his tail, his mouth opens and closes and his tongue flaps around. It's hilarious! And speaking of the pet photography, I am currently editing two shoots and have two more sessions this weekend! Keeping busy for sure!!

I also started a "new" job. Some of you may know I worked for the National Park Service for fours years until last Fabruary when I got a promotion and moved over to US Fish and Wildlife. I liked it there but I missed the park so when I got the call from my old supervisor letting me know they were advertising, I jumped at the chance to return. It's another promotion for me and now I'm also in a "real" office with a door AND a window! Yay! I love being back and they are happy to have me! : D

And the biggest news of all... I got a new car!! My very first new car EVER!
I've been driving my 1997 Honda Accord since 2002 (and before that I drove a 1987 Honda Civic that had been my dad's until I turned 16 in 1991 and took it from him). The Accord was quite cute in her day... two doors, spoiler, sun roof, manual... but over time the paint was splotchy and faded; the cloth ceilings were coming down around me; the tinted windows were bubbling; and the worst part since I'm in Florida, the a/c didn't like to work when it was really hot out. Oddly, it was fine and blew nice cold air as long as it wasn't over 75-ish outside...
Anyway, she had over 165,000 miles on her and even though I probably could have driven her a bit longer I decided it was time to start looking around. I did my research and hemmed and hawed for more than a month... and I found something that I really like!
I went to the dealership yesterday and test drove... and bought... a Mazda 3 i Touring in Silver. Manual transmission... and I'm having a spoiler put on!
They didn't have one on the lot so right now I'm driving the same car but automatic and without the spoiler. They are getting my car from another dealer today and should get the spoiler in tomorrow. I'll be able to pick it up either tomorrow or Monday! Weeeeee!!!
You know I'll be taking photos as soon as I get it!!!

That's it for now. I might have to update before the end of May... : )

March

I can't believe March has already come and gone!!

Books:
Stoneheart - Charlie Fletcher
Ironhand - Charlie Fletcher
Silvertongue - Charlie Fletcher
Gods Behaving Badly - Marie Phillips
Forest of Hands and Teeth - Carrie Ryan
Magyk - Angie Sage

Knitting:
I'm afraid I can't share any of my finished or current projects (other than the sock which I haven't gotten any further on since last month) because they are all baby related and I don't want my sister to see them before I actually give them to her. So you'll have to wait in suspense or stalk my Ravelry page (although I don't even have photos there just yet) if you happen to be a member.

Misc:
I am continuing with the circuit training at my amenity center. I finished the first 5 weeks and signed up for another. I'm not losing any weight... and at one point I thought I was even gaining... but I'm definitely getting stronger! Maybe my body likes being around 130-ish even if I want it to be around 125-ish. Oh well.

I have also been to the doctor twice this month. I am having terrible (and unsual for me) allergies this year. I have been on two different antibiotics for sinus infections. I sounded like a dying frog for about a week. And now I'm also on a prescription strength antihistamine. Bleh.

I went to an art show... although it was technically in April but I'm a little late getting this post up. We bought some artwork by both Ed King and Phil Fung. Here's one of Phil's prints that we purchased called Bodhi Tree:


Oh! And one last mention... if you haven't already seen it. I was interviewed by a producer from our local PBS affiliate back in January for a show called 9 to 5 which features people with unusual/interesting jobs. He recently let me know that I could view the piece on his YouTube page... so if you would like to see it too, it's here.

Now I'm off to crawl back into bed and relax. Hope you all had a wonderful March!! : )

February Books

In order of completion:
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie - Alan Bradley
Powerless - Matthew Cody
Gregor the Overlander - Suzanne Collins
I Love You, Beth Cooper - Larry Doyle (The beginning of each chapter has a drawing of Denis Coverman as the night goes on... they cracked me up! Not sure I have any interest in seeing the movie though.)
I'm With Stupid - Elaine Szewczyk (Yeah... got it super cheap for my Kindle... and it was... stupid.)
Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane - Suzanne Collins
Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods - Suzanne Collins
Gregor and the Marks of Secret - Suzanne Collins
Gregor and the Code of Claw - Suzanne Collins
Conversations with the Fat Girl - Liza Palmer (also another cheap Kindle book... but enjoyed it unlike the previously mentioned cheap Kindle book!)
Knitting Under the Influence - Claire Scovell LaZebnik (same as above!)

All the Gregor books were part of The Underland Chronicles. I found them in the teen section at the library and I enjoyed them immensely!! I really wish there were more than five!
I must mention that the reason I was in the teen section in the first place was because my husband wanted to read Powerless so I checked it out for him... and that's where it was too! : )

We also went to see Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (I read the whole series in December). I actually liked the movie despite the differences from the book. Chris was pretty grumpy about all the changes. Oh well... it happens. Sometimes I'm okay with it and other times not so much...

The circuit training is going well. After the first week, my calves were killing me. It felt like the muscles were too short for my legs! But it's all good now and I think my abs are getting stronger! Yay! I missed one class due to a terrible cold but have made the rest of the thrice weekly meetings.

My Who Hat is finished!! If you are a knitter and would like to make one, the pattern can be found HERE.
LOVE the finished hat! The original plan was to put different colored button eyes on each owl but I'm really liking it plain too so I can't really decide what to do...
More photos (there were a couple in my January book post)
Almost at the end... learning to use double pointed needles! Came close to poking my eye out a couple times! : )


The top of my hat. Decreases are purty!


The owls on my head!


Happy me in my hat. Need to get a photo outside... the flash kinda washed out the details of the hat...


I'm also working on the Hat Heel Sock. They will be my first pair of socks ever! I haven't gotten very far yet so no photos. I'll get some soon!

Hopefully this post makes sense... I wrote it at various times during February instead of trying to remember everything at the end of the month. hee hee...

Lent and shopping...

Every year I give up something for Lent.

My husband makes fun of me because I so rarely go to mass... and other people probably disagree with me because they think I should give rather than give up. But I give something up anyway.

For some reason I've noticed that my trend tends to be something edible... chocolate, pizza, ice cream, fast food, desserts. And they've all been very hard for me so : p. But this year I decided to give up

(insert drum roll here)

SHOPPING!

And no... it doesn't include things like groceries or contact solution.
But it does include clothes, books, YARN. And my jaunts about Target.
*sigh*

This might be the hardest thing I've ever given up. It doesn't help that I get sale emails all the time... or that one of the girls in my knitting group is getting an order together for Malabrigo. I'm avoiding Target... and the library and free Kindle books are my friends. Free Kindle books don't count as shopping, right?? They are FREE!

I do have to get an external CD drive for my computer tonight... but I consider it a business expense for Furrie Fotographie PLUS my internal drive isn't working so I haven't been able to do my taxes because it won't read the Turbo Tax disc. My mom said she didn't think the IRS would consider that a valid excuse. Darn. I'm definitely not looking forward to doing my taxes this year. We bought the house and I didn't do as well with tracking my business stuff this year as last year. At least I've learned my lesson and have already started several spreadsheets in Excel for 2010!

Anyone else give up something for Lent?

Anyway, that's it for now. I've already started my post for February's books and knitting so you'll see that next week!

Who Hat and January Books

Yet another resolution being worked upon... knitting in the round!
The first time I cast on for my Who Hat I managed to twist the stitches. I had to pull it all out and start over. See?


But now I'm coming right along and even though working with the cable needle was a bit fiddly at first, I'm starting to get the hang of it!
Here it was a few days ago:


Pardon the cell phone photos.
Soon I'll have to start decreasing at which point I'll learn to use DPN's. Double pointed needles for those of you who don't know knitting lingo. This has been an excellent learning pattern! : )

And now on to the...
January Reading List:
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment - James Patterson
Maximum Ride: School's Out-Forever - James Patterson
Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports - James Patterson
Maximum Ride: The Final Warning - James Patterson
(There is one more book out and one due out in a few months. I, unfortunately, did not enjoy the 4th book as much as the others. I read the first three in three days, probably mostly because I was sick in bed with nothing else to do. So, hopefully, I'll feel up to reading the 5th and 6th books soon.)

The Adventures of Sally - P. G. Wodehouse
(Free Kindle Book)

The Book of Lies - Brad Meltzer

Checked out (from the library) and started reading A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole for a book club that I am thinking of attending in February. Having a hard time getting into it. Put it down last night to start another library book, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. I suppose I should have waited to post this as maybe I'll finish it by Sunday... but most likely not since I have a ton of work to do for Furrie Fotographie this weekend. We'll see. : )

PS!! I signed up for a 5 week circuit training class. It's three days a week - Monday, Tuesday, and Thurday... which means it won't interfere with Wednesday night knitting! Look at me working on all my resolutions!

Another scarf

Simple rib stitch scarf made from Colinette Prism for Hannah's birthday. She requested I knit something for her so I hope she likes it! : )

Lace Scarf

This is the Strangling Vine scarf that I worked like crazy on so I could finish it in time for Christmas!


Doesn't it look nice on my mom?!!?


I'm going to try to be better about posting photos of my knitted objects here... I'm also going to be better about posting them on Ravelry (you can find me as filmgirlie if you are on there too!) although I'm not too bad about that one now. : )

ps. I saw the Princess and the Frog on Friday. It was cute! And made me cry... but animated movies usually do for some reason!

December's Reading List

Books I read last month... this is the first installment of my 2010 resolution to keep track of the books I read!

Pirate Latitudes - Michael Crichton

The Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan
Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan
The Titan's Curse - Rick Riordan
The Battle of the Labyrinth - Rick Riordan
The Last Olympian - Rick Riordan

Murder Takes the Cake - Gayle Trent (Kindle book!!)

Will write more later... must go back to bed. Icky stomach bug...

Happy Holidays

from freezing me... and my happy husband!


I took lots of photos while we were in Kansas City for Christmas. Some will show up on my furrie blog soon I promise. And I'll have to share some here as well! Stay tuned... and try to stay warm too!

Almost the New Year

I thought I'd made resolutions the last couple years but when I went back in my posts it looks like I made one for 2007 and then 2008 but somehow left out 2009. So here we are about to start 2010 and I'm going to make resolutions again. I know, I know. I still have time to think about them as it's only mid-December... but I'm doing this a little early this time.

So 2007 was:
Resolution One
I will be more environmentally conscious.
and the typical
Resolution Two
I am going to eat better, work out more, and lose weight.

and 2008 was:
1. I want to be completely out of debt so I can get in debt with number 2.
2. Save for a new car/house/camera lens.

I talked about 2007 in 2008's post. But I guess I probably never talked about 2008's resolutions. I guess I can pretend they were two year goals. I'm not out of debt although I think I was much closer at one point. We did, however, buy a house in March of this year! I also have a new camera (Canon 40D) and I know I bought my 60mm macro this past year... So yay!

This year I have a knitting resolution! I learned to knit on January 16, 2009! And I like it!! So I have continued to make things this year... I now would like to make things in the round... so that's goal number 1.

I also would like to go back to a resolution from 2007. I know I'm not good at eating better but I would like to work out more and lose more weight. I was actually at my heaviest earlier this year at 145. I began counting calories and eating smaller portions... still my junk but just less of it. I'm now down to 130! I would like to lose 5 more pounds but I've been stuck at 130 for a couple months now. So I guess I should start running again or join the gym or something. The nice (and not so nice) thing is that none of my clothes fit... they are all too BIG!

And resolution three will be, hopefully, fun for me. I'm going to start tracking (on my blog) the books I'm reading. I joined Goodreads awhile back but I'm terrible about updating it. So I'm going to blog about my books. Starting this month! : )

So this year I have three resolutions:
1. Learn to knit in the round.
2. Work out and lose those last 5 pounds.
and
3. Blog about/track the books I read each month.

Nothing too crazy... all should be quite doable!

Shabby Apple Dare to Design Limoncello Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

I love yellow. And I uber-love yellow dresses!
But for some reason... well, I don't own a single one. And ever since I saw the episode of Glee with the mashup and all the girls wearing different yellow dresses, my hankerin' for a yellow dress has only increased. So imagine my delight at seeing this blog post!! Check out the purty dress... but if you enter and win, you better send me that yellow dress!! ; )

Shabby Apple Dare to Design Limoncello Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Yay!

New tile!!
The tile on the right is what was already here. We added the border and the tile on the left into our living room. No more icky carpet that the dogs can stink up!


Apple says she loves the new tile too!


And on November 14th our new beautiful sectional and ottoman will be delivered! The room is gonna be gorgeous! Yay!!

Today's Pet of the Day is...

Professor!!
Check it out HERE!!

Now I just need to submit our other four pets...
: )

Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

This Queen of Hearts costume is absolutely Uh Maze Ing!! Check it out! : )

Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

Oops...

Okay, so it has seriously been like a million years since my last post. I realized how bad it was today when I went to my friend Katie's blog and there were so many posts I hadn't read that I even had to go to the next page... and then I found where she had actually recommended a website to ME! It had to do with knitting with DPN's for those who are curious...

But anyway!
Stuff that's new in my life:
We bought some new furniture! A king sized bed and a fabulous mattress (which better last FOREVER since it cost an arm and a leg) as well as a mongo sectional for the living room. Furniture should be delivered Nov. 14th! And, yes, we got the giant ottoman too! I love ottomans!


We also bought tile just yesterday. A lot of our house is already tiled and we tried our best to find the tile so it could just continue out into our living room but with no luck. Discontinued. But we did find the brand, Florida Tile, and picked another tile with scalloped edges (that was what made it so hard to find something too) that's a gray color with speckles. Our current tile is kinda beige with grey and tan flecks so this will still be the same color family but different. We'll put a border in and then have the new tile at an angle to break up the spaces. And the new tile matches the countertops in the kitchen so that's good too. It was super stressful and we spent more on the tile than I wanted to but in the end I decided that it was worth being done with the stress!
We have a tile guy and hope to have it put in around the first week of November... before the furniture arrives! And then everything will be purty for my parents' visit for Thanksgiving. They've yet to see our new home!
New tile is Florida Tile Mendocino Mist:


On the knitting front... I've been working on a lace scarf and a blanket buddy for various other people. I finished a scarf for me but no photos of it just yet. It has finally cooled down here this weekend (it was 66 at 2 yesterday afternoon!!) so maybe I'll get a chance to wear it!

Still having issues with Max and his allergies. It's been a very long spring/summer with many, MANY vet visits. We have tried various things and nothing works for long. Meds clear him up but then the allergies return when the meds are gone. We switched to a hypoallergenic food but it doesn't seem to be doing anything either although since it has only been 6 weeks of the new food, we'll keep him on it a bit longer. Our next step is allergy testing but he has about another month before they can do that because the meds he was on have to be out of his system. Which means that even though he is all itchy and broken out again right now, he's only on benedryl... and is wearing an old t-shirt of Chris'. Poor guy.

Oh! And Kristen had her baby!! Sean Wyatt! He was a couple weeks early but came out weighing 6lbs, 15 oz and was 19 inches long. I got to go visit in the hospital and even hold him! He's tiny but very cute!

And now I'm off to dig up some lunch. I'll try not to let to blog go for so long next time! : )

Old Swampy

Yes I'm quite aware that the above is probably the worst photo ever... but I know you want to see what the last post photos actually turned into! The pumpkin cupcakes were delish... and I have enough pumpkin and buttermilk to make more... so I'm tempted. Mmmmm...
Plus who wants the extras to go to waste? : D

You'll have to wait to see the peanut butter bars though... I think I took a photo of them. I'll have to look tonight!

Mmmm... food!

I just got back from St. Pete this afternoon and all I really want to do is flop down on my bed and snooze with the monsters... but I have a baby shower to attend tomorrow and I'm baking!
Before photos for you!
Pumpkin cupcakes. Recipe from Hello, Cupcake! Going to be making Old Swampy (alligator). Will definitely have to post after photos! : )




And my peanut butter bars:




Ingredients in a bowl. Art. Mmmmm...

Song

I can't resist an amazing piano/cello piece!
Love this!

I did it...

I didn't really think I'd ever join Twitter... but I finally caved and joined last week! I'm still figuring it all out and trying to find people/vendors I know. It's actually kinda fun to see the little updates!
You can follow me here: http://twitter.com/filmgirlie

Are you on Twitter??

Finished Knitting!

I finished a couple things this weekend... so I have to share of course!
First I started AND finished a catnip mousie. It was from a pattern that my swap partner sent me (see previous post)... I decided it was time to quickly make one after I caught Clementine playing with my knitted bracelet!
It was super quick and easy... and it's cute!

Plus, as you can see, the cats liked it!

Do you see who is poking her head out of the tube behind Uni?
Clementine wanted the mouse! I think I'm going to have to make a second one so they can each have their own... and not wrestle over this one!


And the other finished object is a seed stitch scarf! I made it for Chris and he loves it! Yay! He'll be able to wear it when we go to KC for Christmas...







Now I have to figure out what I want to make next! I'm thinking I need to go back and finish my sweater...