Fiberaddict's Fiber Fumblings

Let's see.....

1. Spent yesterday whipping up an "infinite gore" skirt. I still can't quite wrap my mind around how 5 yards of fabric will get me a skirt with a 7-yard circumference, but....it works. Himself told me the Math was right.....duh! I mean, *I* cut it out, but it still bends my brain a bit. :shrug: The skirt is lovely, and the color works *perfectly* with my new corset (which arrived today. :huzzah:)

2. Today was spent finishing Cyn's b-day prezzie - I had to sew the faces on all the placemats. I need to figure out my machine - for some reason, it's decided that there's only 1 stitch-length, and only 1 zig-zag stitch, no matter that I was using the cams on it. :sigh: Still, I got it done, and they are CUTE. I think I need to make us a set, just because....and I need to go to the designer's website and order the rest of the "set" - she has owl oven mitts, and a tea cozy, and I don't remember what-all else, but I forsee a few more presents out of this! :lol: (And I have a LOT of fabric left, so they'll all match.

3. I also helped Herself cut out her cloak. I'm not sure what's going on; the pattern said she needed 5.25 yards to make the small size. She had 4.75 (+/-) yards. I got the cloak AND hood cut out, and she still has some fabric left (not a lot; but enough for wrist-bands, maybe a belt, a headband, and some coasters. Probably 1/2 yard, all told.) It's too cold in the studio to keep sewing, so I'll help her assemble it when it warms up a bit.

4. Post Office weirdness. I had ordered Dusty a new blanket a couple of weeks ago. It arrived Friday, but after we had checked the mail, so Herself and I picked it up yesterday. The box was beat all to hell, and OPEN....and the clerk told me I might wanna send it back, because I owed postage on it. WHAT? It was sent Priority Mail ("if it fits, it ships!"), and I PAID the amount for that size box....but no, I owed another $24. :whatthe: I paid - because Dusty is too old to deal with cold, it hit 40* last night (and hasn't gotten above 44* today) AND it's going to get colder, and his old blanket got trashed completely by Finn - then went home and emailed the seller. Who is a gem - they promptly refunded the charge, and groused about the box more than I did (seriously, the lady in line behind us commented on the brightness of the blanket, because SHE COULD SEE IT when the clerk handed me the box. I'm surprised the blanket made it here, to be honest.) (And Dusty seems to like it; it's a tie-dyed neon Peace symbol blanket. :lol: Finn isn't sure what to think...he's not quite brave enough to try and bite it...yet. :rofl:)

5. Weigh-in. 190.5. Or 257.5. Take your pick. I think my scale is dying, because I got those 2 readings within minutes of each other. (And I KNOW I am not over 200. None of my clothes would fit if I were!)

6. Have I said how thankful I am for the firewood? Because.....I have had the woodstove going since 6 this AM, and it's still going. I'm not so worried about the wood supply now......and I'm *warm*. :happy dance:

7. I'm also thankful for Herself. We finally got her 'script filled yesterday.....but I'm not sure she needs to keep taking it. Both SG and I told her she could try weaning herself off, if SHE felt like it. We'll see. She's matured a LOT in the past few months...to the point that today, after she bombed math (deductibles)...she asked me to explain it to her, then re-worked all the missed problems - WITHOUT me having to tell her to do it! :blink: This is....huge for her. HUGE. And I am SO THANKFUL we've reached this point.

7a. And Himself.....he's hit a wall in Math (Quadratic equations; solving by the square method). Instead of whining (which he would have done a year ago), he asked for help, then actually SHOWED HIS WORK. :bigger blink: His maturity level has also shot up lately....it's amazing. And humbling. (And I'm not gonna tell him he's almost out-stripped me in Math. What Singapore has him doing looks suspiciously like beginning Trigonometry to me (the formulas they want you to use, I mean - it looks a lot like some of the stuff I remember.).....I need to start looking into the Community College here and see what they require for dual-enrollment. Because....I don't think I can teach Calculus, and we're about 1 year away from that at our present speed. :shudder: Khan Academy will help....but he's going to need some real-time feedback I think.

7b. Yes, I know where we are prophetically. I realize that we may not be here next year....but I can't use that as an excuse to NOT teach my kids. I know some people in real life that are slacking because they expect to go any time....and while I agree with the "any time", I can't agree on the slacking. I've been given the job of teaching them.......how would it look to tell Him "Oh, well....I knew they wouldn't need to know this stuff, so I let them do whatever!". :shakes head: (I can't think like that.....I mean, right now I'm only looking 1 year in advance. He's college material, but I'm not even thinking that far ahead, except in the abstract. IF we're here, I'll worry about it then.)

I need to get some packages out, but it'll be next week. Laters!

Yesterday was Field Trip day. We went to the Perot Museum - Mom had helped me buy a Charter Membership in December.

Short and sweet: WORTH. EVERY. PENNY.

Longer: Totally cool! It's set up in a neat way - you go in, and (if you follow the "plan"), you ride up an escalator to the 4th floor (top floor!). There, you start out in the Astronomy section (This is how stars are born! This is the wave length of light! This is.....totally cool!). From there, you head into the Archeology section - with TONS of fossils and casts. The jewel of the collection is the ONLY complete fossil of the Alamosaurus, which, so far, is the only "native" Texas dinosaur. (If I understood things correctly. You gotta understand, things got blurry after a while, there is SO MUCH to see!) There's also a lot of stuffed creatures - the....um....funniest was the 3 ground squirrels. 2 were in....normal-ish positions (1 standing, 1 sitting on his back legs); the other......well. Um. I need to get the photo of Herself's camera, but imagine a 70's era dude sitting in a hot tub. Yes, really. "Hey ladies. I'm your man! C'mon in!" TOO funny!

Then you go down the stairs to the 3rd floor, which is basically Earth Science. Dirt, Rocks, Minerals (the Hall of Minerals is TOTALLY AWESOME!) - and, this being Texas, there's a whole section on the Oil and Gas Industry, with a foray into Alternative Energy (the Plasma Reactor was totally cool....heck, the entire museum was!). Lots of hand-on stuff in each area - we got to "build" a bird on the 4th floor, for example, and you could build your own dinosaur, too. We got to work a Farraday machine - Himself managed to create as much energy as is in 1 drop of oil - and.....well, I'm blanking, but there was a LOT.

And there was 3 ISDs there, too.....so we skimmed the other 2 floors. :sigh: After the 15th loud SQUEALfest over the "Make your own Tornado" machine, I had to get out of there. That was the only downer - too damn many out-of-control school kids. I can't blame them their excitement - this is 1 Awesome museum - but the out-of-control aspect needs to be looked at and addressed.

The 2nd floor is the "Technology" floor. Robots and artificial limbs and earthquake-proof buildings. Too bad we kept getting shoved aside by rude kids. :big sigh:

The first floor has a dino fossil in the atrium, and H2O molecules on the ceiling that move as you walk under them. And the gift shop. (I came home with a Galileo thermometer). There's also a floor under the whole building, where the children's area and traveling exhibits are. With piano-keyboard stairs. :grin:

We'll be going back, for sure - we only scratched the surface, and there's SO MUCH to see and do there! I'm also budgeting so I can keep our membership, because....well, just because. :lol:

Weightloss: 189.5. Did so much walking yesterday that I didn't sleep - my legs cramped all night long (and today, but.....:sigh:)

Thankfuls:

1. Family. My kids are the best!

2. The opportunity to do stuff like we did yesterday - fun AND educational.

and has been for 24 hours now, and is supposed to for another 24. Praise God! We NEED this so badly! Yes, it's wet and squishy and muddy and mucky, but I don't care - it's RAINING!!!

Weigh-in: 189. Boo-ya! I'm aiming for 170.....that's right at 2 pounds per month. Should be do-able. :nods:

Stuffs:

Spent 2 hours yesterday making a circular needle holder. I've wanted one for years...but. I just can't spend $40 on something that's so simple to make. I had a bunch of fabric that my MIL gave me, so for $0 and 2 hours (because I had to re-thread the serger and do my daily Hebrew lesson), I have a nice hanging holder. Photos forthcoming....I have a lot of things to take photos of. :grin:

I got the Passover coasters set up, just need to sew them. Won't take long....but I want to get the Purim ones set up too, so I can sew them up all at one time.

Trying to find some salvaged cabinets, but not having much luck. I might have to end up buying some....:sigh: I'll keep looking.....it's not like I'm in a huge rush or anything. At the moment, anyway.

Thankfuls (since I may or may not post tomorrow....):

Rain. Have I mentioned it's been raining?

My kids. They've been SO helpful lately, it's incredible. AND, they haven't complained about our new school schedule - I've added a few things, and ramped up others. So far, so good.

My house. I don't say thank you enough for my lovely house. I tend to take it for granted, and i shouldn't. We are very, very blessed!

Well, I got some cleaning to do before we start school - laters!

and Weigh-in. Let's get *that* over with first, shall we?

189.5. Same as last week, which is amazing if you consider all the fried-stuffs we were stuffing ourselves with last week. Friday was FRYday....EVERYTHING was dumped in the deep frier. :lol:

Thankfuls:

1. My family. Miss my kids horribly, but they are having a blast at Granny's. Probably being totally spoiled, but hey - that's OK. It's a grandparent's prerogative, right?

2. The weather. It's been SO mild here lately - 70's yesterday. Today? It's back to winter - 40, with a windchill in the 30's. Looks like the grasshoppers are dead (THANK YOU LORD!!!!), so it's all good.

3. My State. No, we're not as "great" as Michigan....but we're getting there. Yes, our guv'nor is....well, interesting...but at least he's not trying to trample on our Constitutional rights just because of all the propaganda (and you can't call it anything else - why else show photos of the victims? We didn't after the CO theatre, or the OR mall. THINK about it before you have a knee-jerk reaction, OK? ) Gun-free zones should be abolished, IMNSHO - they're just *begging* for bad guys to come in. (And the arguments about not arming teachers, because the kids would have access? Um. Concealed means CONCEALED. If they're doing it right, the kids would never know WHICH teachers were carrying. Which is how it should be.)

4. My husband. Just because - he knows why. :grin:

Think I'll go do my ironing today.....that way tomorrow will be relaxing. I've got all my work-work done except for 1 company - and I got about 1/4 of it done today.

As well as weigh-in Wednesday and Thankful Thursday. :lol: I have spent TOO much time outside the house this week, so today is STAY HOME day.

Weigh-in: 191. Yup. Gained 1 pound. BUT. Tuesday was the office luncheon...and I had a lot of salty stuff that I don't normally have. Plus dessert. (It's hard to say no when the boss is paying and insisting, y'know?) I'm not upset - I had to tighten my sweats again, so it's all good.

Today I am thankful for:

1. My kids. Heart went thru the fence last night, and without asking both kids helped get her back on our side, AND they helped fix the fence. DURING morning milking. (Yes, this is a miracle! :lol:)

2. SG. He's been working early and late the past week, but he's still sweet and considerate - even dead tired. He's still silly - he's upset with me because I bought him a workout set (Tim Horton's 10-minute Workout DVD set. SG said I needed to find him a workout DVD.....so I did. Then I bought it. :lol:) - seems HE wanted to pay for it. :confused: Whatever - I'm just happy he's decided to actually TRY to lose weight (and...he needs to. Moreso than me - it's just taken him a bit to own up to it.)

3. Ms. boss. Yes, I'm thankful for her - she was more generous than I expected. And it was - and IS! - much appreciated. She even gave generously to the kids - both kids are over the moon. (And the candy/cookie gift bowl was a nice touch, too!)

4. My goats. The 4 does on the milk-line are STILL putting out almost 1 gallon/day....in December. it's amazing! And great - I have 3 gallons in the freezer, plus about 3 in the fridge...and they're still producing. Not sure what's going on.....but I'll take it!

The Lord is good!

SG took the MacBook to work today, so I am posting from his iMac. Weird - not used to the wireless keyboard. Anyway....

1. H, I hear ya on the blog thing, but...I'm lazy and really don't want to keep up 2 blogs. I don't think there's a way to limit the posting by tag.....so I'm going to think about this. For the moment, I'll leave the blog page up.....I might delete it later. I'm not sure how important it is soap-biz-wise...so, we'll see.

As for it going direct to the home page instead of the soap page.....yeah, but most of the soap sites I've visited (not counting etsy) do the same thing. Again, for the moment, I'll leave it - but I might add a "Soap" button.

1a. I slapped together a "goats" page last night, with photos of our does. I need to find decent photos of this year's kid crop, and I need to add photos of the bucks, but at least you can *see* the goaties now.

2. Attn HS'ers! Homeschool Buyers Co-op has a deal with The Great Courses. IF you go thru the co-op, you get 10% off, plus smartpoints that can be redeemed on other goodies. You can't stack discounts (so if you're on TGC's mailing list, you might be able to get a larger discount sometimes), but it's good for when you don't have a code. And the 10% works with the SALE PRICES, too! :happy dance: (SG just had me order him their new Photography course - $7.00 off helps!)

3. Turkey day is coming, so let the baking commence. Today is bread for Himself - he wants to make some herbed bread sticks. Tomorrow is Pie Day (Pumpkin/Pecan/Chocolate Peanut Butter)...this is going to be bad for my hips, I think.

3a. I did the Bellydance Fusion: Pilates workout today. I didn't know it was an hour.....and I didn't know how *intense* it was. I managed to do about 75% of it....and my abs are SORE. I think I figured out belly rolls....but I can't do them yet. I can't isolate my upper abs (bottom of ribcage) just yet. But I can work on it. And I will....because I am liking what is happening to my abs. :grin:

4. Short week this week - we are still schooling, but on a limited basis. My kids do better if we do SOME school every day - breaks don't work so well here. (Winter visits to Granny, while good for the kids, wreak havoc on our schooling - I have to spend another week/week-and-a-half in reminding them what they already know. Ah, well - it's really no big deal, right? Right.)

Need to go clean the kitchen before starting school - laters!

Let's see:

1. I finished my first sock yesterday, and immediately CO the 2nd. I LOVE this yarn (and "Monkey". I think it has to be my favorite not-me designed sock pattern - it's easily memorized, goes quickly, and makes a fabulous sock.) Photos will be forthcoming.....later.

2. This weekend was "clean up" weekend. The yard looks much better, and so does the house. The kitchen is almost clean - that's a Big Deal here. :lol:

3. Lame duck. Yesterday I did the Fat Burning workout...and couldn't do much the rest of the day. My calves were SCREAMING. So today I did the Slim Down workout - not quite as high-impact as the Fat Burning one, but not low-impact either. My calves are a little better, but I'm still hobbling around. I obviously need this....tomorrow will be a low-impact day, to let my calves recover.

4. Goliad has bred Dulce; not sure about Sasha. We'll be moving them out this week so that Calvin and his harem can go in; Malcolm will be with Annie, but I'll hand-breed him. No sense in trying to figure out a pen for just the 2 of them. Next month: Hobbes gets put in with the Cashmere girls.

5. I had to go to the App store today, to update Pocket Universe. The Editor's Choice....was Star Wars Angry Birds. :hangs head: Yeah....I dropped $2.99 to get it (on all 3 iPads - not a bad deal).....it's fun. :lol:

Gotta skitter - SG wants to bottle beer, so I need to clear off the island for him. And work on my sock!

and I seem to have caught it. Sore throat, stuffy nose, slight earache. Sweet Geek has the above, plus the upset tummy. Himself is OK, Herself has the head-stuff.

Himself, however, has other problems. He was running in gym yesterday, and he ran into the boy in front of him, and fell. The boy behind him stepped on his glasses. :grrrr: All accidental, but still.....the glasses are wonky, but wearable. Himself's elbow, however.....nice, 1" long scrape, and bruising. I applied E-balm to it, so we'll see how it does. We were planning on eye exams next month...guess they'll be moved up. :sigh:

Red Angel's latest post has had me thinking....it was about Mercy and Justice. I might post later - I gotta get my thoughts in order, first.

Sweater: Didn't get a whole lot done yesterday. Ms boss was SUPPOSED to not be in. I had planned on working on it....we got a surprise deadline, so the morning was spent getting the contract work done (usually we have time to do it..this was sudden. Oh, well...). I started knitting AT LUNCH.......Ms boss came in at 12:40. DURING our lunch hour. :sigh: Had to put it up, because knitting isn't allowed (even on MY OWN TIME!!!). :sigh: She'll be in all day today...so.....:bigger sigh:

Exercise: Did the "Fat Buring" DVD last night. It's.....OK, it's strenuous, but not as bad as the "Slim Down" one. And not as bad as I remembered. Lots of leg work. Tonight (unless I am hacking up a lung), I'll do the Hips/Thighs one. *That's* where most of my fluff is - my upper body is OK (needs toning, but it's OK.) I'll save the Abs workout for either tomorrow or whenever. Trying to decide if I want to alternate an "easy" DVD with the Slim Down/Fat Burning ones.

Mom: got all the tubes out yesterday. Still in ICU. Finally got rid of some phlegm - but not by coughing. (Upset tummy, basically. :ugh:) I need to call the nurse...maybe later today? Not sure when she'll be home.

DIY: Have been looking for a Wooly Board for blocking sweaters. (Yes, they ARE a necessity for well-knit sweaters, IF you want said sweaters to look their best.) That's the cheapest I found them for....so I kept looking. I found a link for plans for a PVC one...but...I really don't LIKE PVC. It looks...cheap. (OK, I AM cheap, but...I also like things to look nice. Plus, the price quotes were around $40....that's still a little high - especially for PVC!) Then, I hit paydirt = Wooly Board Instructions from Knitting Beyond the Hebrides (I used to be a member, way back when she who will NOT be named was really getting nasty). This uses 5 36" dowel rods, 1 thinner one, and a 36" long piece of scrap 2x4. CHEAP. And nice looking! :grin:

Sweet Geek has promised to make me one. When, I don't know, but he's got until his sweater is finished. :lol: It's adjustable, and I do have plans for more sweaters, so it IS a necessity.

Need to drag out my office sweater - it's COLD up here. :brrrrr:

this morning. Sweet Geek left at 4 AM (he had to be at work at 5, since he's getting off at 1 to pick up the kidlets. :sigh:), so *I* got to feed this AM. 38*, rain, wind.....I was smart, though - I took a shower AFTER I froze! :lol:

Sweater: I now have a deadline - March 6. Sweet Geek's b-day. Haven't informed *him* of this, of course....but that's what I'm aiming for. I already have a prezzie for him (a music CD by some Dallas Cowboys. :grin:), so this would make a lovely surprise.

While I didn't make any resolutions/aspirations this year, I did decide I need to get into better shape. So....I am back on the belly dance bandwagon. I have the Belly-Twins set, and the Fitness Fusion set....unfortunately, I only have 1 of the Twins offerings on DVD. And I don't really *like* the Fitness Fusion set (I'll give it one more try, then it's out of here. It's....belly dance is fun. Pairing it with Pilates was different, with Yoga made me uncomfortable, and I haven't tried the Jazz or Hip Hop ones yet. I...just have a weird feeling about the whole set. :shrug:) When Sweet Geek swapped TVs, he didn't hook up the DVD/VCR combo we have - just the Blu-Ray player. So....I have 1 workout tape to do. And it's INSANE. (The "Slim Down" one....you NEVER. STOP. MOVING. I am NOT in shape. It's.....funny. :lol:)

Sweet Geek is all for me working out - but he says I don't *need* to. (Sweet Man!). We made a deal - he'll make sure I do 1 portion per day, and HE won't watch - or, if he does, he won't laugh. (Seriously - I am NOT as coordinated as the twins. I feel like a whale next to them!). He also said I could get DVDs of the VHS tapes I have. :snuggles:

eBay to the rescue! I was able to get them under $15/each (each DVD consists of *2* VHS tapes, so...I thought tat was pretty good!). I'd like to be able to do a different workout each night (to keep boredom at bay, and keep me going). I also got Shamira's DVDs - I have her first VHS one, and it's good (but it's an HOUR - the Twins are 30 - 45 minutes each) AND at the end she does a dance for Cpt. Picard. :snicker:

You can blame Anna for this - she's trying to lose the baby-weight, and I am trying to be an online buddy. It's NOT a competition, or anything - but I needed a push, and she posted her goals on a good day for me. :lol:

I've done the Slim Down workout 2x...on Wednesday, I made it to the 15 minute mark. Yesterday, I made it thru the whole thing. I didn't do ALL the exercises - I bounced thru some of them (they don't *explain*, they say "Now, add a twist/hop!" and.....WHA???? I bounced and watched and tried to figure out what they were doing), but I'm moving now. And sweating.

I have a little time before having to take the kids to school/heading to work, so I think I'll knit a bit. :grin: