The Balls go to SeaWorld

The day started out innocently enough with a stop at Chick-Fil-A. The Balls seemed to take the cow face on the cereal box offensively, as seen in their body language.

We decided to go to SeaWorld. SeaWorld always runs a promotion at the beginning of the year where you can buy one ticket and convert it into a Fun Card, good for the entire year. Good thing too cause $56 is WAY too much for one person to spend for a single day at the park! Not to mention the $10 parking fee.

We got in just in time to see one of the killer whale shows. Three of the whales were lined up, ready to start the show. The one the furthest away is the baby born in 2004.

I swear, those balls are nothing but trouble. They kept getting in my way while I was trying to take pictures!

Oh, I forgot to mention that when they first let in the main whale, the baby whale shot in too but then realized it was alone without its mom and panicked. It quickly swam around the entire pool before shooting back through the gate to safety.


The show wasn't the best I've seen, I assume it's because they're training for tourist season. I wonder how deep the pool is? It must be pretty deep for a whale to be able to jump out of the water like this.


After the show ended, we meandered over to the dolphin area. It was feeding time and the dolphins were behaving badly if you didn't have any fish. This dolphin with the banged up fin splashed us several times in frustration when he realized that we didn't have fish.


The dolphins swam around open mouths, waiting for us to drop food into their mouths. I managed to touch them a couple times but when they realized we didn't have any food, they splashed us and swam away.


Ever wonder what the inside of a dolphins mouth looks like?


The penguin display is under construction. So for now, some of the penguins were swimming around outside in a pool. They were so cute! I was a bit surprised, I guess it wasn't too warm for them.


You may be asking, where were The Balls this entire time? They were in hiding! I brought them into the park in my bag, which was searched by an elderly gentleman. I know he saw them, they were hard to miss. He said nothing and kept a straight face. Due to all the little children around us and the constant barrage of other visitors around us, they spent most of their time in Apollo's inside jacket pocket. This may explain why Apollo seemingly offered them up in sacrifice to the sharks in the Shark Encounter. Needless to say, The Balls were not impressed. The sharks, however, were (see how that one sharks mouth is open in anticipation).


The Balls discovered a new meaning to, "Having your balls in a vice" when they checked out this set of Megalodon Shark fossil teeth. Scientists believe this shark reached 45 feet and preyed on whales. Nobody knows why they went extinct - can you imagine the horror of meeting up with this shark while out for a swim?


At the end of the day, The Balls were tired and got a ride on Uncle Apollo's shoulder. Since this was just our first outing with The Balls, we were a bit unprepared for their indecency and the nature of the events we would be attending. Never fear, more public outings are slated!

We have company!

I forgot to tell you guys, The Balls arrived this weekend from Spokane, Washington for a visit in sunny San Diego! Since they've been here I've had to work so they've been hanging around, which they tell me is customary, and sweating a lot. It seems the sweating is due to the warm weather here in So Cal. It took a few days for them to become climatized, but now they're good to go! Though still sweating.


Today is our first day out touristing. Apollo is a little unsure about taking The Balls out in public, but I'm sure we'll all have a good time. I have a feeling I'll be spending more time with them than he will. HEHEHEHE!!

Take two

I'm having some difficulty creating the cat face. I swear, I'm doing everything the books tell me to do! I may take it to a yarn shop and get some advice. Meanwhile, I'm considering trying a different pattern all together. This just isn't working out at all. :(

I think Faythe curses me as soon as she says, "frog??"

You may be wondering whatever happened to the pink sweater I was cable knitting. Maybe not. Either way, there was an incident involving me not paying attention and a cat face that was not round, but instead square. This incident required frogging. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind ripping something out and doing it over, but when I put a lot of time into something - well, I'd rather not talk about it. After Incident A occurred, Incident B occurred and I was forced to rip back to the ribbing.

Whenever an Incident occurs and I pour out my sorrow to Faythe, I know I'll inevitably see word, "frog?" in my conversation with her. *sigh* Yes Faythe, frog. grrr

Shawl-Collared Jacket

Hopefully, Peanut won't mind modeling this sweater for us so we can see what it really looks like.

Pattern: Shawl-Collared Jacket
Source: Baby Knits for Beginners, Debbie Bliss
Yarn: Knitpicks Shine worsted, Crocus

The collar is thick and comes up high in the back and is folded over. This was worked in a series of short rows.

Aren't these buttons cute? I liked them cause they allowed me to punch out the middle and matched it up with the petals to create the color combinations that I wanted. I wasn't too sure about using buttons that have bumpy edges since they may snag in the yarn but they were too cute to pass up. Hopefully they'll be ok.

That's right MSN, I'm brilliant! RECOGNIZE!!

Judge wants a reality show

I hate to join in on the ridiculousness that has become the fight over Anna Nicole's body, but here goes nothing:

Judge Larry Seidlin is driving me crazy! Did you see him fake crying? Did you see tears? I didn't see tears! Pulease! I guess this is what you do if you want a reality show. That's right! It appears he wants to be the next Judge Judy. He should be embarassed! Hell, I'm embarassed for him! No, scratch that. I mock him! MOCK MOCK MOCK!

*gasp* How dare he make me mock him!!

Wool boobs

That's right. Boobs. A hospital in Liverpool has asked people to knit breasts to be used as educational devices to help women learn how to properly breast feed and express milk.

Click here to find the pattern at the Lactation Consultants of Great Britain site.

I've been looking for something interesting to make. Maybe this is it!

A tiny bit of progress

Last night I discovered an error in the sweater. It will not be fixed. I refuse to frog! But first, here's a peek at the error free section:


So this is what I discovered. There's a step where I'm either supposed to TK (knit into the back of the second stitch and then knit into the front of the first stitch) or TP (purl into the front of the second stitch and then purl into the front of the first stitch). It appears I may have TK when I should have TP'd. Or vice versa. See how the other stitches below the arrow that fall at a backwards slant angle? The whole thing should look like that.

Since this is for a baby who does not have high expectations, I will be leaving it like this. If I had to rip out all these rows, well, let's just say there would be a lot of bitching going on. Fortunately, it's not really that obvious.

I think...yes, this is the year of the Anti-frog!

Thai Sweet Chili Sauce

On one of our recent trips to pick up groceries, I discovered this Thai Sweet Chili Sauce for only $1.19. I was suspicous that it might not be that tastey for that low price but it's delicious! It's sweet but the chili and garlic ingredients definitely stand out. You can see how much we've used in just two nights.

Last night I ate it with rice (yum!) and tonight I used it as a dip for my chicken. It was GREAT! Get some!

My day

I had jury duty today. I was actually hoping to get picked, I really want to serve. It would be a nice change to my schedule and give me something to think about other than thinking up new ways to respond to a donkey who says they have already "done all those steps" after I ask them delete their cookies.

It turns out I had to be at the court house at 7:45 which is much earlier than I have to be at work. I was actually early but to my surprise, so were a hundred+ other people. I ended up sitting on the floor. By the time my name was called several hours later, I had read half of The Red Tent. Admittedly, it was better the first time around. Anyway, I was called up with a handful of other people to sit as a jury (we had yet to be questioned), waited for about 15 more minutes and suddenly the Judge came out to talk to us. It turns out both parties settled after we arrived. It was a medical malpractice suit.

Outside the court house a mentally unstable guy read out of a journal and yelled things at us. Amongst his rant he mentioned cutting the throat of a baby boy, how the Hells Angels were pretty, women who kill their children, documented events that happened at 7:31, 7:32, 7:33, and so on and miscellenous quoted conversations with a judge. He was also yelling either "I'll shut up for a dollar" or possibly "I'll tell lies for a dollar" every two or three minutes. He almost got into a fight with a passerby who told him to shut up and angrily marched off after a bicyclist (pulling a cart of people) who mocked him.

After Apollo picked me up, we went to the City Delicatessen in Hillcrest. Isn't it kind of weird for a deli to offer liver and onions? I was grumpy, we decided to get our food to go. Apollo later described me as growling. (I can't help it if people act stupid when I'm tired.)

I got home and decided to take a little nap. Four hours later, the cats and I woke up to discover I'd wasted a perfectly beautiful day! I must have needed the rest. :) Anyway, that was my day. I woke up in time to see American Idol tonight and am hoping it'll leave at least a better impression than last nights show.

Guess I'll be back to work tomorrow, holding the hands of those who can get their own answers from an FAQ. I'll probably snap one of these days.

Cable sweater

Just a quick shot before I go to bed (I'm going to be so tired tomorrow). This is the beginning of the cable sweater I started this weekend. It has a couple different types of cables and patterns that will definitely slow me down but is keeping me occupied.


I'm using a cotton blend. If I make this again, I'll use something with more give. Perhaps wool.

Yay and nay

I'm finished with Peanut's shawl collar sweater! It's blocking now and looks huge. Jen may need to wash and reblock it when she gets it. Today I went to Michaels and got some different buttons for the sweater too. I had some others that were cute but decided I needed some that were more suitable to baby fashion. I ended up with some flower buttons and boy are they cute! Anyway, I'll post a photo tomorrow when it's dry.

I have jury duty on the 21st. I've learned some bad news about it too...I can't take knitting needles with me! What a waste of knitting time! I could have knit half a baby sweater with all that time.

Yeesh.

More HK patterns!

Crochet patterns...

...and knit too! Click here.

Oh the cuteness!

Check out all these Hello Kitty patterns! There's 50 to choose from. Oh Ryan, I know you want something with HK on it!

A trip to the zoo

I've been in a funk lately. So I was happy to meet up with Yaya and Peanut to go to the San Diego Zoo, which is a few miles from my place. (I live in a great location! Close to the zoo, downtown, airport, two malls, Petco Park and Qualcomm stadium and several major highways.) At the zoo, we met up with one of Yaya's friends, Michelle and and her son Luke.

Yaya and Peanut watch a bear eating something similar to dog food. The bear is hard to see, but if you look closely, you can see his silhouette in the entrance to the next cage. Peanut did a lot of finger pointing.

This sun bear was so cute! He was sniffing the air in our direction with his mouth open, sometimes sticking his tongue out to get a good taste.

Whenever she was close enough, Peanut kept grabbing for Luke's sippy cup. Grass is greener on the other side, you know. Even if you (ahem, Peanut) don't like sippy cups. You will want it because someone else has it.

I suppose the next best thing to being a lazy cat whose only concerns are eating, sleeping and pooping, would be to live the life of a baby. Think about it. Someone drives and pushes you around in your own limousine. Someone feeds you plus you have food and drink in a tray in front of you most of the time. You don't have to take bathroom breaks. You can crap your pants at will. Sure, there are some disadvantages but over all? They live the lives of royalty.

I took this photo specifically for Faythe. hehehehehe!! Peanut really enjoyed her....uh, what was it? All I know is she had something orange and something else with yogurt. Oh, and Cheerios. Cheerios are a popular baby treat. If you see Cheerios on the floor, you can be sure a baby has recently been there.

Unless of course a peacock is running loose and eats all the Cheerios. At one point Peanut pointed at the peacock and the bird leaned in to peck at her hand. Not because he wanted to hurt her but because a Cheerio was sticking to the side of her slobbery hand! Thankfully it fell off before he could get it.

Michelle took some pictures and showed them to Luke before sending them on to his Daddy.

After lunch, we headed off to the children's section of the zoo. Luke found this cute little, er, what's it called? Anyway, he stuck his face through the hole in the middle of this flower. It was cute to hear him giggling.

The meerkats dug furiously in the dirt for food or maybe an escape. The babies really like them. It didn't take long for Luke, who knows some sign language, to give us the sign for "done." So we moved on. (See? Babies have so much power!)

About four minutes later we were strolling out of the zoo when Michelle pointed out that Peanut had passed out in her stroller, face down onto her tray. She had some cute little marks on her face from the tray too.

It was good hanging out in the sunshine with friends and looking at the animals. It made me home sick too. Some of the exhibits had really nice pools and waterfalls. I miss home. :(

Stinky kitty question

My cats eat the same thing every day. Their bowl of Iams crunchy kitty food is filled frequently and they get a large spoon full of Friskies oceanfish soft food at dinner time. Sometimes if we have ice cream, we'll give them a few licks of ice cream too (only if it's vanilla).

So tell me, how is it that one day their poop smells "normal" and another day it stinks like they've been eating Taco Bell all day long? This phenomena puzzles us to no end.

Simba just made a stinky. It was so bad Apollo got up and cleaned out the litter box; no amount of Lysol was going to cover that stench.

On that note, hey look! I finished knitting Peanuts sweater! All I have to do is graft it together, add the buttons and wash it.

Yay!

If you know it'll annoy Faythe, take pictures

I'm quite pleased with myself.

First, I found my food scale and with Faythe's advice, am using it to measure yarn to make sure I have enough to finish Peanuts sweater. It looks like I'll definitely have enough. I may have to use the left overs from three different balls, but that's fine.

Second, I borrowed a cork screw from Big Mac! I had a rough couple of days recently which ended with my frantically rummaging through kitchen drawers looking for a cork screw while staring angrily at unopened wine bottles. There may have also been a couple tries to pull out the cork using a knife and some other random kitchen gadgets. Happily, Mac is letting me borrow his...I'm so happy!

I knew this photo of wine in a glass would bother Faythe. HEHEHE. Anyway, it tastes pretty good. I was a bit surprised myself as I've never really been one to voluntarily drink red wine. This 2004 Borsao Campo de Borja was recommended to me by the folks at Cost Plus World Market as a good red wine for beginners.

OK, back to the sweater. And the wine. I think I'm going to sleep well tonight!

Faythe is evil

Faythe knows the story. Basically, I've been playing around with the short rows on this collar for a couple days now. It seems the instructions with this pattern aren't complete. I finally figured it out and am happy to have worked through it.

That being said, I think it's safe to say the poorly worded and omitted steps nearly drove my neurosis into overtime.

There was a lot of obsessive compulsive frogging. The yarn seems to have gotten a little fuzzy in that area. Too.much.frogging.

I don't know what Faythe's problem is (besides the "Evil") but she loves to hear about my ripping out stitches. When I begin to tell her about a knitting problem, her first word is usually, "Frog??" Oh, how she cackles on and on. I'm sure she looks like she's having little seizures while cackling wickedly. So this one is for you Faythe. A nearly completed short-row collar! The seams on each side are the top of the shoulders. The bottom portion is the back panel and the two sections on the left and right are the front panels.

Now that I've worked through this issue, I shouldn't have to read "HEheheHehehEheHEhEeheheE" in chat anymore.

Peanut: pattern tester

I started a new sweater for Peanut just after the Superbowl. I spent the morning going through my yarn supply and as luck would have it, I had just enough KnitPicks Shine for this project. I think.

I've already finished the back and front two panels. Next up is the ribbing of the collar and the sleeves. And buttons!

It seems to be running a bit large but that's ok, at least she has some room to grow into it. For the well being of all other babies out there, I hope Peanut doesn't mind "testing"out baby knits, even if they are too big.

Yarn war attack!

Monday was a great day. It was my day off and was spent in leisure. Yep, the day was full of relaxation and was quite uneventful up until the mailman banged on the door and gave me a package. As soon as I saw the drawing of a toad farting on a kitty on the bottom of the box, I quickly remembered Faythe telling me she had recently shipped a package with a nice little surprise inside. There was a hole in the side of the box so I peaked in and thought, hey, a clown hat! It looked like the hat was sitting on a piece of Styrofoam or something which was used to help keep shape. Opening the box, I was HORRIFIED to see that it was indeed NOT a hat but one of those crocheted toilet paper covers!! With toilet paper in it!

I'm not even really sure what to say at this point. I mean, I am now a proud owner of a clown hat/toilet paper cover that is so coarse, it feels like insulation. Or at least what I expect insulation to feel like. *sigh* The colors are shockingly bright and the top...the top is covered with a rose. ARGH!

I don't even think this photo does the colors justice. Sure, my bathroom has some bright colors. But I do believe they, and the way they're used for decoration, are used tastefully. Not clownish! My bathroom will not be mistaken for a clown's dressing room.

Even the cats don't like it, Zoe keeps staring at it with her tail slowly swaying in the air, touching it slowly with her paw, and Simba just knocked it off the table - on purpose. The only good thing out of this deal is the freebie toilet paper Faythe used to stuff this atrocity with. So, now what? What do I do with this now??

I decided to leave it in the bathroom, for now. Maybe it will inspire me to come up with a good revenge gift!

Sunset at the harbor this evening

Poop an S

This is the advice I received when I called my aunt for some feedback about an over the counter medication. She's a nurse so if I have any big questions, I call her. Of course, I also think she's responsible for my not going to a doctor when I should. Because she works in an ER and see's a lot of people who either don't really need to see a doctor, she's taught us not to be sissy's and to self medicate when needed. Consequently, I don't go to a doctor unless I'm spurting blood from a major vein, a broken bone is sticking out or my eye is crusted over and I can't see. Fortunately, none of these have actually happened but I've been pretty close.

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I'm a bit obsessed with poop. First, there's the word, "poop." It's fun to say, there's no end to the poop jokes and really, the word "poop" looks and sounds funny. I realize you may be thinking, "this girl is a FREAK" but...well this is just who I am. I'm going to be 35 in a couple months. I have started my downhill slide into old age and that arena of not caring what other people think. Poop-talk is entertaining.

Then there's the other end of the spectrum; my Grandpa is dying from cancer that originated in his colon. I'm paranoid about genetics and the possibility that his eating habits did not enable healthy digestion. True, there are other possible causes of colon cancer, but I'm pretty sure this is why Grandpa is sick.

Did you know that approximately 57,000 people die from colon cancer each year? Some say it's second to lung cancer, others say it's the leading cause of cancer deaths in the nation. And yet, because colon topics (read: poop) are taboo, we really don't know much about prevention or what is normal. I encourage you to at least read about prevention. Know the warning signs.

That being said, after listening to my Aunt's tirade about pooping an S and learning her source (Oprah), I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks about this sort of thing. I do feel sorry for Apollo though. He has to listen to my TMI poop-talk all the time. And he's so gentleman-like, he won't even fart in front of me!

Well, I guess you may go now. I will refrain from poop-talk or TMI in the near future.