Sugar'n Cream v Peaches & Creme

I had hoped I'd have something wise to say today, for once. Instead, I sit and think about my stickyness. Let's not talk about the fact there was no AC or air circulation in the office today. I will probably start swearing again.

On my way home from work today, it was so humid that I saw spots on my windshield that could have almost been rain. At 79% humidity, it didn't surprise me at all.

So, I sit here, sticky. I'm sticking to the chair. Or, it's sticking to me? Thank goodness for small cotton crafts.

I finished another washcloth. I noticed three subtle differences between Sugar'n Cream (SC) and Peaches & Creme (PC).

1) Varigation. The SC varigated yarns tend to have longer sections of color. The washcloth in this photo is made from SC. Note how the yellow takes so long to appear, it pools in one huge section. The PC yarn, as seen in the photo in this post, varigates much quicker. I like it much better with small sections of color.

2) Softness. The PC yarn is actually a tiny bit softer. Since each washcloth was knit with a different brand, I played around and did blind "feel" tests. At first, I was spot on. (SD has more of a dry feel.) But after a while, test results were inconclusive. It may have something to do with "sticky."

3) Density. Last, and I hesitate to add this, it appears there is a subtle difference in the thickness between each yarn. I'll just leave it at that. I may be hallucinating. I used size 8 needles with each and they knit up differently. Of course, this may also be due to stress or other factors.

*At a loss for words*

Well, I guess I should go to bed. I'm totally drained.

Balls going south

Tonight I caught about fifteen minutes of South Park on XUPN. Apparently the kids had schemed of a way to get gifts or other free things from the Maury Povich Show.

The first thing I did was login to gtalk but Faythe wasn't there for me to tell her and pass it on to her balls-obsessed-significant-other. So I did the next best thing and took a few photos. The kids decided Butters should pretend that he has a birth defect; balls growing out of his chin! Here he is telling Maury all about how the kids make fun of him at school. He's inventing names like "Balls on Chin Boy," etc.

Of course, this cracks Cartman and the gang up. Cartman, being especially evil, thought it most hysterical.

Then Maury told Butters he was giving him a gift because all the kids made fun of him. He won a trip to the Worlds Largest Mini Golf Course (I think). The kids back home were upset and felt Butters double-crossed them.

So of course, Cartman had balls attached to his chin so he could win something.. I should add they're made of latex by Trekkie fans. Anyway, there's much more to the show, but I thought Ryan might appreciate these balls pictures. It was pretty funny.

The Butt = tortfeasor

This morning as Zoe looked up at me with her half closed eyes and smiling expression, I realized how lucky I am to be surrounded by people (and cats who think they are people) who love me. Take for example, this morning while I was getting ready for work. Zoe was happy to be in my presence as I stuffed my sausage legs into a pair of pants. She didn't care about the fat. In fact, she doesn't care if I am freshly showered, hair is brushed, makeup on, etc. She is just happy to be around me. She loves me.

Then there's Apollo. Now, let me preface this story by telling another short one real quick. Not too long ago, Apollo mentioned something about my butt swaying from side to side. When I shot him stink eye, he continued talking about it without even pausing. He was totally oblivious to The Dark Side in my stink eye. He then even mentioned something about its size. *sigh* Needless to say this spurned a bit of a "discussion" about how a woman does not like it when the words "sway from side to side" are used in the same sentence with "your butt." Though he learned a harsh lesson that day, he was still hurt because in his twisted little mind, these are good things. WHATEVER!

So, this morning, I got dressed, walked into the living room and said, "Geeze, does it look like I was poured into these pants or what??"

Apollo: *hesitating* Yes?

Me: Damn!

Apollo: But that's good! *staring at elephant butt with shiny eyes and stupid grin* (I am not exaggerating about the shiny eyes and stupid grin!)

Me: No, no it's not!

Apollo: Oh, then...no? *still staring gleefully at elephant butt*

Me: Stop it! *swaying out of room butt first*

Apollo: *trying to win back points* I dried them on hot in the dryer, they must have shrunk!

I guess it's safe to say that the people who really love me accept me for who I am. I, on the other hand, am much harder on myself. I still remember that dreaded day in the K-Mart dressing room, picking out clothes for layaway. I was around 8 years old and my Mom informed me I was going to grow up with hips like hers; that remark stung like lemon juice in my eye. It was like I didn't have a choice. I was doomed - GAH!

These days I am totally guilt ridden by my mass. Well, disgusted too. This morning to compensate for the too tight pants, I found a t-shirt big enough to cover my swaying, sausage, elephant butt. The shirt says *"tortfeasor." How appropriate!


*If you don't know the definition of tortfeasor, please, look it up now by clicking the above link.

Behold!

I actually knit something! Or should I say, I actually finished something! I purchased Mason-Dixon Knitting mostly due to this washcloth pattern. I'm chagrined to admit it's actually free if you know where to look. Either way, I'm glad I got it 'cause there's a lot of other interesting patterns and ideas I may try out.


Anyway, it only took a few hours (I was distracted by TV) to knit up this washcloth. It was a pleasure to knit. I love it so much, I'm going to knit it again but this time with different color combinations. The good thing about washcloths is they're knit friendly in this heat.

Color me happy!

Remember back in the day when our schools gave us flouride in that little paper cup? Wait, do kids still get flouride in school? The thing I remember most about "dental time" is the red tablets. As kids, we had a lot of fun with them but really they were used to teach us to remove all the plaque from our teeth.

The kid in me has always wished I could get some of those red tablets, just for the fun of it. Well, imagine my glee when I saw a commercial tonight for Listerine Agent Cool Blue! It essentially does the same thing those red tablets do. Sure, it's for kids but the kid in me wants some.

I'll let you know how it goes.

DAYUM

Apollo just went to Von's to get ice cream. THERE WAS NO ICE CREAM OR POSICLES. The only cartons left were somehow melting and oozing out the sides. It appears the heat is getting to people.

Lil Erv's MySpace pics

So yesterday Lil' Ervin called me and asked if I could take some pictures of him for his MySpace page. I hate Myspace. It's trashy, dumb and poorly designed. Nevertheless, I said "sure." Little did I know what I was in for. *sigh* So typical of MySpace types. (click on images to enlarge)

In my eyes, he's still a kid. These pictures crack me up. Check out his gun belt buckle.

I don't even know what this means. I assume it's a gang sign.

It appears he's doing his best LL Cool J impression. There were others where he did the lip tuck and I could swear he tried to lick his lips once while I was taking a picture.

Finally, Kermit has a fan base that's willing to spend a lot of money being green. Or giving up the green to be green.

*sigh*

He's already making plans on who his next girlfriend will be (she lives a couple thousand miles away).

More "sign language."

He's almost signing, "I love you."

His Dad has threatened to throw away his belt buckle.

Apparently he didn't know I was still taking pictures.

He didn't want any pictures that showed his shoes because he was wearing slippers so of course, you know what I had to do.

I still don't know how he didn't realize I was taking pictures. He was looking right at me.

And lastly, a t-shirt he really likes. And more "sign language."

Eye can't see U

At least that's what Prince fans are saying regarding the NPG site that went down unexpectedly on the 3rd. Word on the street is there's some sort of copyright infringement lawsuit goin down. Anyway....back to me.

The electric companies encourage us here in Cali to use our major appliances after 7:00PM when it's hot out. Since the temperatures have been extremely high and it's been especially muggy, a lot of AC is being used. At 8:30PM tonight, we had a brown out. Some appliances worked, such as lamps, others didn't. Approximately 30 minutes later, all lights were out. We were in an official black out. The entire neighborhood went black, even intersections and the fire department. We saw the firemen walking with flashlights, though we assume they had some generators or backup resources.

Thank goodness I had just purchased a 20lb bag of ice and a bunch of soda. I pulled out some plastic ghetto cups, filled 'em with ice and along with the cans of soda and juice, headed to the street. It was just too hot to sit inside!

Several neighbors came out while Tee played music from his trunk. The guys had their beer and we ladies had diet soda and lemonade. It was ghetto-fabulous. All we needed to complete our party was a busted fire hydrant and some good old fashioned police haranguing ("You can't drink there!" "But it's private property and I own it, you must be new on this beat." "Well...nevermind then. Carry on.").

Oh, Ed came over with his half wolf/half German Shepard dog "Ash." See Ash?

Oh, I'm sorry, can you not see him? Squint. Still no go? I'm sorry, it must be because we had no power. My bad!

Here's an edited version.

Ash finally figured he could cool off by laying in a patch of grass (it's amazing he found one here in Land O Pavement). This was after he had consumed all the cat poop and other bits of food particles he could find, of course.

After one unsuccessful try involving flickering of lights and playing with our emotions, the lights were back on at midnight. I can handle not having a TV, my new Gamecube, the internets, etc. But without lights, I couldn't even read a book. I thought about knitting but had no desire to knit while hot and sticky. I was so freakin bored. Not to mention that half of you didn't even answer your phones!

Anyway, it's nice to finally have power again! And I promise, no more Prince-Speak.

"Nearly" old biddie

In my world, if an event is not live but is "nearly live," this means it will be available on the website not long after it played live in the real world. This wording often irritates the uninformed user aka those who failed to see the small type at the bottom of the page or the asterisk * next to the item before they purchased it.

In a recent conversation with Faythe, I realized we were "nearly" old biddies. In fact, it appears we are only three steps away from receiving our old biddie card in the mail. If you look at the facts, you would agree. We love yarn and yarn accessories. We talk non-stop about things that don't matter. We have cats. We would have more cats if we could. An enjoyable weekend could involve the following: sleep, eat, go for walks, watch tv, surf the net, bid on china on ebay, check out yarn sales, play games like Scrabble, make fun of 'kids these days,' watch 'old' tv shows or videos from the supposed retro 80's or whip up a delicious dish that is also low fat and low calorie.

Upon further discussion we realized the three next steps we need to take to receive our Old Biddie Gold Membership would be:

1) Weekly visits to the beauty parlor
2) Purchase an entire closet full of matching polyester outfits
3) Play games such as Bridge

I was going to add "4) Shake our heads in horror while pointing at the youth of today" but then I realized we already do this.

I've been giving a lot of thought to age these days. While I don't eat like a "grown up" (todays lunch of beef jerky and a diet soda is a testimony) or make "grown up" decisions (did I tell you I bought a Gamecube and a Mario game? Weeeeee, there's going to be a lot of late nights for me now!) this whole adult thing is weighing heavily on my shoulders.

Today I had to use a calculator to figure out my age. *sigh* This in itself made me feel like one of those uninformed users who didn't see the fine print. In fact, where was the fine print? Why wasn't I warned? I want a refund! Or at least a do-over.


Fish pictured above is on my desk at work, "Bite Size Brian," next to his latest threat, fake bonsai with flowers. BIB is totally unconcerned with age.

He knows what he likes

Check out that expression on Simba's face. Dude loves the nip! (No, it's not a dimebag Graham!)

D'OH!

I finished the back panel of Peanuts sweater. Except...well, I got to the part where it asked me to decrease and then I realized no, this isn't where the sleeves are going, this is the neckline!! ARGH!! Now I have to rip out several inches so I can knit in Peanuts name!

The only good part about knitting the entire panel (always trying to put a positive spin on things) is now I can see now big the panel is going to be and choose my lettering placement now.

Well, let the ripping commence.

update: 5 inches.

My friday

Today is my Friday. Due to our crazy scheduling, the next two days are my weekend and I plan on enjoying them! First on my agenda is some heavy duty sleeping. I seem to be tired a lot these days, I just haven't quite recovered from Wimbledon.

It's been a shitty month. Which brings me to something I saw when I got home. The owner of the building has a bag of cat litter stored under the steps. He uses it in the parking lot to absorb oils and other spills. Well, it looks like some cat found it.

Oh the irony of being shat on when you shouldn't be.

Starting Peanuts next sweater

Using # 6 4.25mm needles, one ball of Shine worsted weight created an 8 x 11 inch object. Not bad for 75 yards. It only took a few hours too.

Stop the press! Zoe comes out of hiding

Zoe has been hiding in the closet for almost two days now. The Incident involving Simba and Adonis freaked her out so much, she went into hiding and refused to let anyone touch her.

When I got home today, Zoe was peeking out at me from the closet. It took about 30 minutes of coaxing and she finally came out. Since then she has been making up for lost time by running around and playing with Simba.

She's still pretty edgy. Whenever she hears an unexpected sound, she jumps and runs away. The unexpected sound may be someone deliberately scrunching a plastic bag. Or it may be a foot dragging across the carpet. Or even something thrown near her. It's no wonder she's has this nervous condition!

Some may accuse her of being paranoid. They may even be right. But I'm sure she has a good reason! Meanwhile, Faythe has suggested Zoe lay off the 'nip for a while. Sounds like a good plan to me!

sunny blue sky
sneakily burns and blisters
unprotected skin

Practically attached at the hip

Lying on a Starbucks bag because it makes crinkly sounds, Simba always has to be touching Apollo in some way. Apollo gets no alone time.

Tint Devil

I got my car tinted on Wednesday. It looks a bit darker than it really is in the photo. I'm happy with it; the car is so much cooler on the inside. I don't even need to wear sunglasses all the time now since the light isn't reflecting off everything inside the car like it was before.

I went to Tint Devil in Miramar where I was treated very well. After researching tinters in the area and compiling a list of the top three favored in my area, I finally chose Tint Devil because they tint to the edge of the window. Some tinters leave a small space anywhere from a quarter to a half inch between the tint and the edge of the window. When quoting me a price, I wasn't pressured to get the most expensive tinting or a certain type. I was informed of the possibilities and got to take a look at the tinting before leaving the shop.

Anyway, just wanted to show off my baby. :)

The latest in mindless knitting

I finally finished Speckles, the washcloth I spent the last couple weeks working on. That work schedule just didn't allow for any knitting whatsoever, even if the pattern requires no concentration at all. I ended up with only a few inches of yarn left too when I finished.

needles: #3, 3.25 mm
co: 55
pattern: seed

Last night I started working on Fiesta. I found a pattern that allows me to work from the corner. So far it's working perfectly for the varigated yarn I'm using. I decided to switch out the garter stitch for the seed stitch, it looks a bit more finished to me. Ahh, mindless knitting.

After this, I'm going to start some "picture" washcloths.

Get in your car?.....I DON'T THINK SO

Hasselhoff's video


This is Hasselhoff's latest video, "Get in My Car." Is it me or does he seem a bit creepy, geezer style? After watching this video, I'll probably laugh at him more when I happen to watch that lame America's Got Talent show. GAH!!

My official vacation day

Yep, a vacation day and I planned on enjoying it! First I was supposed to get my car tinted. Unfortunately, they double booked or something and weren't able to do my car today. I say "or something" because I was actually relieved when I learned this and stopped listening at that point. It gave me one more day to obsess over the tinting percentage and brand before I actually commit. I am an obsesser. I like it that way.

While in the parking lot holding up bits of tint to the car windows, this guy in a van rolled up and said, "Hey, want to buy some meat?" Of course, Apollo instantly forgot about the tint and walked over to see what the guy had. He was selling everything from top sirloin steaks, mahi-mahi, wahoo (what's that??), pork loin ribs, ground round, and more. We ended up buying 4.5 pounds of Pork Country Style Ribs.


I did some research and discovered Barry of "Barry's Meat Company" actually buys his meat from a wholesale distributor, Heartland Meat Company, in Chula Vista. OK, I admit it was easy to figure out since it says Heartland on the side of the box. The research part was finding out if the company actually exists. I was relieved to find that yes, they do. You can never be so sure when buying meat products from a van in a parking lot. :)


Next, I decided to treat Apollo to a little place called Abbey's Bar-B-Q in Kearny Mesa just off Clairmont Mesa Boulevard and the 163. Again, I have to thank Faythe and Ryan for introducing me to this restaurant. Apollo has never been there and probably doesn't remember my talking about it three or so years ago. Faythe, has it really been that long? *sigh* I had just talked about going to Ranch 99 so he was a bit confused when I pulled into an unfamiliar parking lot. Of course, like any good blood hound, he knew exactly where we were going when he saw "Bar-B-Q" painted on a window. Apollo cracks me up sometimes. He was talking about something when we opened the door but the aroma of smoked meat stunned him into silence. Only a few things can stop Apollo from talking. The aroma of properly smoked or grilled meat which has the capacity to make you forget anything else you were thinking about apparently is one of those things.

We both got the $7.50 lunch special which consists of a sandwich with the meat of your choice (we got pork), a side dish and a drink. I love that this place is low key. They don't need anything fancy or special to encourage people to come in. No, a paper plate and a styrofoam cup will suffice. The meat was tender and tastey but not overpowering. I usually don't like bbq sauce, but this stuff was perfect. For the first time ever, Apollo didn't ask for tobasco sauce. He said it tasted great without it! SHOCKING!! The owners 12 year old son took our order and served us. He even came by to see if everything was ok and if we needed anything else. He was so cute!

After lunch, we went to the beach in Coronado. Just as we arrived, it appeared there was some sort of lifeguard emergency. Sadly we did not hear the Baywatch music or see any hard plastic bodies running across the beach but we did watch as the lifeguards hopped on their boards and retrieved a few swimmers who were too far out. On a side note, I would be embarassed driving around a Subaru truck/car if I were them. It just seems...inappropriate. You can sorta see two of them in this photo.

I didn't see him until it was almost too late, but this guy took his two parrots for a walk. Interestingly, not many people stared or even looked at him twice. It appears tourists have seen everything.

If you've ever been on the beach in Coronado, you're very familiar with the various jets and planes coming in for a landing on North Island. This one was particularly loud, it looked old. At first it looked like it was heading right towards us, but we were only momentarily alarmed as it loudly roared over us and into the mysterious depths of the base.

For some reason Apollo doesn't want a tan. HAHAHA! We brought two umbrellas. Towards the end of our stay we took one down because I was getting cold and didn't need it. But Apollo with his sensitive skin stayed well within the shade. Maybe I should have brought him a bonnet. LOL!

It's funny, I've lived here in San Diego for years but I rarely go to the beach. Today I went swimming for about forty minutes! Yay! I had forgotten how nasty salt water tasted but it was worth it. Sure, I had a few bouts of irrational fear at first. See, yesterday I saw Pirates of the Caribbean and for some reason it triggered my fear of deep water. Aimee and I are both afraid of bodies of water where we cannot touch the bottom with our feet. It's almost worse when the bottom is covered with something like weeds, leaves, etc. Monsters can be in there!! *shiver* I think this fear was caused by realizing crawdads hid in the mass of leaves that collect at the bottom of the creek. We knew that if we stepped in it, we were running the risk of something pinching us. Man, the thought of it just made me shiver again!!

You're going to laugh when you read this, I actually freaked out a little when I saw my shadow! After realizing that subtle dark area in the water was my shadow and not a monster about to eat me (it took several minutes to calm myself down), I felt much better. And it didn't help when some seaweed washed in and wrapped itself around my legs, ohmygod, that was terrible! As you can see, I survived. Nothing ate me or took me out to sea. :)

I'm always fascinated by the Coronado Bridge. Even when I lived in Coronado I was like a child trying to look over the edge. Thankfully Apollo was driving this time so I really got to take a good look!

For the first time in years, I have a sunburn. Hopefully it'll turn brown by tomorrow and I won't look so sickly. That's right, I said sickly!! I haven't been this pale in years! Anyway, it was a great day. It was nice to get out of the regular rut and do something a little different. I didn't even think about work once!

Morning surprise

I was up this morning at 6:30. Being my first morning home waking up at a normal time, both Adonis and I were surprised to meet up in the livingroom. He was pretty stunned but also happy to see someone. I spent a great deal of time giving him a massage and brushing him as he flipped around and purred loudly. Has such a cute little voice and sweet personality. I wish my cats would accept him. He seems to know their routine too. Around 7:30 each morning he runs to the cupboard and hides and stays there until around 11:00 each night.


This seems so cruel to me. I've been giving more consideration to my friend and her daughter who have asked about him yet again. They dote on all their animals and are a loving family. They have cats but supposedly their cats are really accepting. I may give her a call to see if it's a good match. I just feel so bad that a nice sweet cat like Adonis (who by the way, has not had any behavorial incidents such as peeing) is forced to hide out all day long. Apollo and I have already gotten attached to him and are having a hard time with this decision but also want the best for him.

Seed stitch

Today I caught up on some much needed sleep after being called in to work last night. I fell asleep a couple times while talking to people, only a handful noticed. It seems a lot of people are willing to wait for my responses after they've been in the queue for 20+ minutes. I just can't handle being up for 24 hours after working these kind of hours for a couple weeks. :(

Between naps today I untangled two different balls of yarn and several knitting needles that had been in my purse. It didn't take me as long as I thought, cotton yarn really seems to hold up well and not given in to the temptation of knots. Jen had asked what my current project is. Well, I think I'm finally going to be able to finish a seed stitch washcloth I had started some time ago. Here's the pattern, in case you want to try it (Jen). :)

Cast on odd numbered stitches
Row 1: knit 1, purl 1, repeat
Repeat until you're done.

The difference between seed stitch and ribbing:

seed stitch: knit the purls, purl the knits creating texture when you turn each row

ribbing: knit the knits, purl the purls mimicking each stitch you've already knit when you turn each row. example:

Cast on even number of stitches
row 1: knit 1 purl 1,
row 2: purl 1 knit 1.

Check out the cuff of your socks for a good example.

Sausage King

Today was my last day of The Crazy Shift. I hope. We'll see. Yesterday one of the temps asked me if I was angry. I asked, why? He said, "You look angry." Apparently my sleepiness was causing me to glare some stink eye from hell.

Of course, the end of involuntary stink eye called for some celebration. (Stink eye should not be thrown around casually, it should be saved for special occassions.) I decided it was a good time to celebrate (and really, do you need an excuse to celebrate) so I picked up Apollo and we went to the Sausage King on Washington. Faythe and Ryan introduced me to this deli a few years ago and I'm so glad they did!

The Sausage King is an old German deli that also carries other various food items located at 811 Washington Street in San Diego near the Hillcrest area. The building is old and retro while the deli itself is sandwiched between a Mexican restaurant and a bar. Speaking of bars...

When we drove up to the front and parallel parked, we were greated with this message on the back of a pickup truck. "Kill Bin Ladden." There was a big gun in the back, or at least a replica, and some other various militant like stuffs.

Interesting. We both stopped talking when we saw it. The owner ended up coming out of the bar while we were feeding the meter, he looked harmless enough.


I studied German for a couple years but have forgotten most of it. But walking into this place today and listening to the customers and owners speaking Deutsch, it was like music to my ears. It almost made me want to take a German class just as a refresher course. I was even looking at the UCSD Extension site when it occurred to me that maybe I should take Spanish. It's not like many employers ask for German speaking people after all!

I apologize for the blurriness of the photos. I'm too embarassed to ask if I can take pictures and resort to the point and shoot sans flash method.


The shelves are filled with popular German treats. Gravy's, cookies, jellies, chocolate and more.


The deli isn't pretty. But the hanging sausages and links make up for it! It smells SOOO good!

Another customer deciding what he wants. There were so many options, it took us a while to figure out what we wanted. Of course, we didn't know what 3/4ths of it was.


They still use one of those old fashioned cash registers that throws up huge numbers indicating the price. You could tell they were practically pounding on it when adding up the order. Oh and if you stop by, they only accept cash. Though I could swear at one time I used a credit card.

Behold, our treasure! On the left is some Italian sausage of some sort. To the right is Linguica, a Portuguese pork sausage and on the bottom is a Polish sausage. The last two are already cooked. Apollo has planned, of course, to grill what he can. :)