As the end of this dramatic hurricane seasons draws near, I would like to extend a thanks to all of those who sent their warm fuzzy (and dry) thoughts to us. After all of the headache, we survived three nasty storms while many others haven’t. There are still many people living in hotels or FEMA provided motorhomes. I am thankful that in the end the insurance came through and that the assistance we would have gotten went to those that really did need it.

Just five miles away there is still a sea of blue tarps. Let’s just hope they each get their roof fixed before the start of the next season!

And let the holiday season begin. Should you want to give your mailman a bit of extra weight, send me your snailmail address at miftik at miftik dot com and I will send you a holiday card!

I’m being even more productive, can you handle it?

This morning I was up at 6AM to get Josh off to work and the kids ready for school. Then after everyone was gone, I covered the second to last display for my dad’s shop. I think he and I severely over estimated the amount of material we would need. We have about 3 yards of blue velvet and about 2 yards of this nice gray linen. I wonder if there is enough to make a suit for AJ? NOT!

Following the display I decided to make some tea and knit a little bit. Then I started feeling unproductive, so I decided to get some things off of my desktop. I balanced the checkbook and then I updated the craftiness section to reflect some of my recent finished knitting objects such as AJ’s Spider-Man scarf, the blanket of doom, and the pocketbook slippers.

After the updates, it was on to the bathroom. No, I am not planning on getting that personal! I decided to redo the caulk around the bathtub and tiles. It looks so much “fresher” in there. I actually have a little more to do, but I am out of caulk. Not to mention I have impressions on the palm of my hand from squeezing the stuff out.

When I finished the caulk, I took a nap for an hour. All of this productivity was wearing me out.

Now the dishes are about to come out of the dishwasher and the clothes are going into the washer. Maybe I will do some more knitting while I wait. It is either that or clean off my desk. I really think I want to save that until tomorrow.

I was also thinking of making new holiday stockings for everyone tomorrow, but I realized I would need to make 17 of them. I’m thinking I’ll just buy some at the store and decorate them.

I managed to get two things done from my list of things to do. I feel so unproductive. I did have to add on to my list and get some other things done, but I didn’t get done what I really felt needed to get done.

Since we needed to get cat food and Jo-Ann’s is only a couple of doors down, I purchased two more skeins of the Sensation’s Angel Hair yarn. Good gracious is that stuff wonderful. I joked that I may make another pair of pocketbook slippers and use that. I’d never take them off. In the end, it would probably be true.

Josh got a dose of Puppy Break (and Kitten Break) from my previous post. For those that have clicked through, I think the Marvin the Martian cat is the best.

Well, the cat is harassing the bag of dry food we just bought. I should probably try and wrestle her away from it so I can put it up.

When you day is getting hectic, be sure to take a Puppy Break. For those who prefer cats, take a Kitten Break!

Last night, my brother, sister in law, nephew, and I went to Jo-Ann’s late last night. They were looking for a simple sewing book for my sister in law, but we didn’t find one. So they each used a 50% off coupon and I got three skeins of Jo-Ann’s Sensations Angel Hair yarn. If you have never felt this stuff, you should. There is just something so lovely about this yarn. I thought about making some fingerless gloves with it, but I think that would be too difficult to wear. I get the good kind of goose bumps every time I play with it! Can you imagine the grin on my face if I had it on my hands constantly?

Today I have to:
Clean up the bedroom.
Clean up the living room.
Work on something for two different clients and finish for tomorrow.
Watch the kids for a couple of hours.
Help Josh make some fixtures for my dad’s shop.
Get some rest.

Never again. What was I thinking? My sister in law and I went to the early bird special at Wally-World. They had LeapPad’s for $20, which is mucho cheap. We also needed some Bratz dolls and a few other things. We managed to find everything we really wanted, except for one movie. But it doesn’t make up for the physical pain. Someone actually kicked me while I was trying to get a Bratz doll! That’s just too insane.

We went to Target too, just to see how it was and there was no mad crowd there. We went in and it was actually pleasant. They had plenty of everything in stock. I can’t say what I got because some of the things I got are gifts for person(s) that read this. OK, off to recover.

Oh how true this list is. (Found at Chatty Kathy, which was found via BigPinkCookie.)

You Know You Grew Up In The 80’s or Early 90’s If:

1. You’ve ever ended a sentence with the word “SIKE”
2. You watched the Pound Puppies.
3. You can sing the rap to the “Fresh Prince of Belair” and can do the “Carlton”.
4. Girls wore biker shorts under their skirts and felt stylishly sexy.
5. You yearned to be a member of the Baby-sitters club and tried to start a club of your own.
6. You owned those lil’ Strawberry Shortcake pals scented dolls.
7. You know that “WOAH ” comes from Joey on Blossom
8. Two words: Hammer Pants
9. If you ever watched “Fraggle Rock”
10. You had plastic streamers on your handle bars… and “spokey-dokes” or playing cards on your spokes for that incredible sound effect
11. You can sing the entire theme song to “DuckTales” (Woo ooh!)
12. It was actually worth getting up early on a Saturday to watc h cartoons.
13. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.
14. You saw the original “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ” on the big screen…and still know the turtles names.
15. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.
16. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.
17. You played the game “MASH ” (Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House)
18. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets and were proud of it.
19. L.A. Gear….need I say more?
20. You wanted to change your name to “JEM” in Kindergarten. (She’s truly outrageous.)
21. You remember reading “Tales of a fourth grade nothing” and all the Ramona books.
22. You know the profound meaning of “WAX ON, WAX OFF”
23. You wanted to be a Goonie.
24. You ever wore fluorescent clothing. (some of us…head-to-toe)
25. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted.
26. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the only female smurf.
27. You took lunch boxes to school… and traded Garbage Pail kids in the schoolyard.
28. You remember the CRAZE, then the BANNING of slap bracelets.
29. You still get the urge to say “NOT” after every sentence.
30. You remember Hypercolor t-shirts.
31. Barbie and the Rockers was your favorite band.
32. You thought She-ra (Princess of Power!) and He-Man should hook up.
33. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets.
34. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes. (and like #24, probably in neon colors, too)
35. After you saw Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure you kept saying “I know you are, but what am I?”
36. You remember “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”
37. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates.
38. You ever got seriously ! injured on a Slip and Slide.
39. You have ever played with a Skip-It.
40. You had or attended a birthday party at McDonald’s.
41. You’ve gone through this nodding your head in agreement.
42. You remember Popples.
43. “Don’t worry, be happy”
44. You wore like, EIGHT pairs of socks over tights with high top Reebok’s.
45. You wore socks scrunched down (and sometimes still do…getting yelled at by “younger hip” members of the family)
46. You remember boom boxes. . and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that.
47. You remember watching both “Gremlins” movies.
48. You know what it meant to say “Care Bear Stare!!”
49. You remember watching “Rainbow Bright” and “My Little Pony Tales”
50. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot.
51. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac.
52. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool… and don’t even flinch when people refer to them as “NKOTB”.
53. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on “Saved By The Bell,” The ORIGINAL class.
54. You know all the words to Bon Jovi - SHOT THROUGH THE HEART.
55. You just sang those words to yourself.
56. You remember watching Magic vs. Bird.
57. Homemade Levi shorts… (the shorter the better)
58. You remember when mullets were cool!
59. You had a mullet!
60. You still sing “We are the World”
61. You tight rolled your jeans.
62. You owned a bannana clip.
63. You remember “Where’s the Beef?”
64. You used to (and probably still do) say “What you talkin’ about Willis?”
65. You had big hair and you knew how to use it.
66. You’re still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren’t you!!!

Let me also state that I am currently wearing a shirt that I got in 1991, during the summer before my first year of high school. Eeek. This list is also missing a mention of Shirt Tales. I so loved Shirt Tales!

I’m off to dad’s shop tomorrow. Wish me luck (and sanity).

I am strong!

A woman who lives two blocks away has a stack of crochet, craft, do-it-yourself books and magazines that she posted on the local freecycle list. I kept chanting, “I do not need any more craft books” over and over to myself as I read it. I just deleted the email and feel strong. Now if I wasn’t so drained from today.

My mom has gone with AJ, my other brother, his wife, and son (my new nephew) to visit some family. While mum is away, miftik will play. By play I mean completely rearrange her store. For those of you that don’t know my mom (that would be about 99% of you), she is prone to making a mess. It isn’t even an organized mess. It took most of the day, but I managed to get a large portion of the back organized. Tomorrow I plan to tackle the displays and Sunday will be inventory and final clean up. I’m sure my mother will more than likely pass out from shock, but I will just remember to leave smelling salts and instructions! They will be flying back Sunday evening, so I will prepare her.

In other news, I finally started working on the Irish Hiking Scarf. Good gracious is it easy yet difficult. By difficult I mean that I had to speed through the rows because someone would need my help with something around the last four stitches of the row. Too bad today was a day full of cheap bastards.

What else is new. I had a couple of odd dreams. The first was pre-airport drop-off. It involved my dear friend Calhoun. He was apparently the head DJ/host of a radio show, but the station building was in an old Kmart. Josh and I had stopped by to say hi. Yep, I don’t know either! The second dream was post-airport drop-off. I don’t remember too much about it other than not knowing who anyone was in the dream except for Josh. I woke up with a feeling of comfort yet discomfort. I think my body just telling me to get my butt to bed early tonight. On that note… Good night!

Woo am I tired.

Last night I finished up the second pocketbook slipper along with the last bit of Josh’s blanket. Last night I also started on a little runner for Skittles’ bench. I finished it today while working at my dad’s shop. Unfortunately I made it too narrow, but had I made it wider I would have run out of yarn. She can deal with it, she’s a cat.

Today was a day spent with my husband, sort of. I went with him to the field for their club fly in. There was a swap meet where things were bought and sold. Josh did well and sold lots of stuff to pay for his airplane habit. After the swap meet there were some silly games that made everyone laugh and some “half-time” shows. Josh participated a lot. During the down times I did some knitting. I finished one slipper of a pair of pocketbook slippers. I’m extremely tempted to just say they are little purses, as that is what they look like when you hold them by the strap.

I am doing a little light knitting before getting back to more pressing projects (Irish Hiking Scarf). I knew I wouldn’t get to just work on it in one straight shot, so I picked a pattern that I could put down and easily pick it back up. I did a lot of that today. I’m also trying to get myself used to using smaller needles again. I’ve used such large needles for the past few months that using a pair of size 7s was killing me.

Well, I’m going to go sit and enjoy the cold front. While it has been nice having the highs in the 80s, I do enjoy nights when we don’t have to have the A/C on!

I’ve sat here trying to think of something witty, intelligent, and thoughtful to say about today. The only thing I can think of is, Thank You.

At 5 A.M, Monday, November 11, 1918 the Allied powers a signed a cease-fire agreement with Germany at Rethondes, France, ending World War I.

“To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nation.”

-President Woodrow Wilson, November 1919

Between the wars, November 11 was commemorated as Armistice Day in the United States, Great Britain, and France. After World War II, the holiday was recognized as a day of tribute to veterans of both world wars. Beginning in 1954, the United States designated November 11 as Veterans Day to honor veterans of all U.S. wars.