Secret Pal 6 Questionaire

Woohoooo!! I made it! I signed up late so wasn't sure if I'd make it in, but I did! So, to start off, I owe my secret pal an apology for not having the questionaire answered. So sorry! :o(

Now, better late than never, lets get to the good stuff:

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer higher quality and/or natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?
Since I’ve only been knitting for a very short time, I have thus far been a yarn snob. I have only knitted with 100% cotton and baby alpaca. Of those two, I preferred the baby alpaca, however, I am open to expanding my yarn snobbery.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?
No to both. Though I might not mind learning to crochet once I’ve gotten the hang of this knitting thing.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)
Smoke/Molds

4. How long have you been knitting?
About 2 months, ok its October now, so maybe 3.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Not really. I have an Amazon list, but there is only 2 things on it since I just started it the other day. Maybe I’ll work on it some more when I have some time.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
Well, I tend to like cleaner scents like Victoria Secret’s Love Spell, Pear Glace, and just about anything that smells nice and fresh (vanilla, cinnamon, cucumber melon, linen, etc.) So I guess I don’t really have a FAVORITE.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?
Yes, especially for good dark chocolate and gummy things.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
Quilting, cross-stitch, a little sewing, and occasional scrapbooking.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)
I have very eclectic taste (Disney, musicals, country, classical, alternative, Christian rock, pop/hip hop, etc.) Not really into rap though; sorry, that's probably not very helpful. And yes, I have and iPod mini.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?
Blues typically, but depending on what it’s around and used for, just about anything.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I’m in a long term relationship and living together with the love of my life, Chris. (See photo) Only fish for pets, but I want a puppy or kitty someday.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)
I hope to go to grad school at the University of Oregon, make the Olympic team for shotgun, get married, and have a job that I enjoy (and still leaves time for me to do the other things I love). Oh yeah, and stay at home doing nothing but knitting and fun stuff while still making zillions of dollars. :o) (Don't I wish!)

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?
Since I’ve only been knitting for 3 months and have only really knitted with 2 kinds of yarn, so far I like baby alpaca. However, I am looking forward to expanding my yarn palette (got any yarn recommendations?)

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I’m not really a huge fan of fun fur or similar novelty yarns. I suppose they’d be kind of cool for an embellishment now and then, but otherwise not really. After perusing the isles of JoAnn’s and Michael’s, I’ve found that I don’t like cheap blends much either. (Mind you, I’ve only used 2 kinds of yarn, so I have limited exposure to many yarns.)

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?
Finding a local Stitch’n’Bitch to be a part of, working on my sisters Christmas present (which I can’t divulge since she might actually read this, so if you want to know email me and I’ll happily tell you), reading Crazy Aunt Purl’s blog, and finding cool new knitting projects that I can make and give to friends (basically trying to learn everything I can about knitting.)

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I don’t really have a favorite yet. However, I’m looking forward to learning to knit hats, gloves/mittens, socks, a shrug, and sweaters.

17. What are you knitting right now?
A present for my little sister for Christmas. (Email me if you want to know more, or see pictures.)

18. What do you think about ponchos?
Not really into ponchos.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?
I’ve never tried circulars, but I will on phase 2 of my sisters Christmas present. And, with all the hype about addi-turbos, I’m looking forward to trying some out.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I started on the cheapest plastic pair you could ever imagine and they were ok, until I found the more sophisticated bamboo. After working with the bamboo for awhile I found that my alpaca didn’t slide very well on them so I purchased a pair of aluminum. It seems to work better, but I have to wonder if the Brittany or Lantern Moon needles would be any better. So, I guess so far I like the aluminum best (the colorful Boyes with the silver flat cap thingy on the end are so pretty in a cup.)

21. Are you a sock knitter?
No yet, but I’d sure like to try.

22. How did you learn to knit?
I taught myself from a learn to knit kit I got at Target.

23. How old is your oldest UFO?
Knitting: probably only a couple weeks.
Quilting: almost a year.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?
I don’t really have an all time favorite, but I’m rather partial to old school pooh and friens like in the Peter Ellenshaw prints (my all time favorite is “Autumn Leaves”)

25. What is your favorite holiday?
I suppose Christmas since I get to see my family, but I much prefer the season of Fall for its multitude of colors and brisk winds.

26. Is there anything that you collect?
Not really, but I’m always up for starting a yarn stash.

27. What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
None, but I’ve been contemplating getting Knit1, it looks pretty cool.

28. Any books out there you are dying to get your hands on?
Stitch’n’Bitch

29. Any patterns you have been coveting, but haven't bought for one reason or another??
You can buy single patterns? Cool!
(Editors Note: I just found these and love them. Gigi and Bear )

30. What are your foot measurements, and what kind of socks do you like?
I’m not real sure what it means by measurements, but I’m a size 8/8.5 most of the time. I like soft sockies, and saw a pattern for silk or cashmere ones that look yummy!

Vegas Vacation

This weekend I attended the Industry Masters Shoot in good old Las Vegas (this is the PR trip that I did all the crazy shopping/tailoring for). We weren't going to be there very long, in fact barely two days. We flew in Friday afternoon and met up with my buddy Collyn in the airport. Talk about a freak show!!! Ok well maybe not exactly a freak show, but it was certainly a hyped up "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" atmosphere. While Buddy (our marketing director) was getting the rental car paperwork, Collyn and I wen to the little ticket booth to see if we could find cheap tickets to a show. "Cheap" is not a word that exists in the Las Vegas vocabulary. It was ok though since there wouldn't really be any time to watch one.

We picked up the car and started heading towards our hotel which was only 8 miles away. After missing several turns and heading in the wrong direction for 15 minutes, we decided that the security guard had given us VERY poor instructions. In the end, it took us over an hour and one stop at a starbucks (which, by the way, are EVERYWHERE in Vegas) to get to the hotel, and not because of traffic. If you know anything about Vegas, you know that they make it VERY easy to get to the strip and spend your money. We, however, were not staying on the strip, but out in the middle of the desert. It turned out to be ok though; the hotel was nice and had all the amenities you could want (casino, pool, bowling alley, cinema, restaraunts, etc.) all attached.

Friday night we headed down to the pool for the reception to mingle with all the industry big wigs. We ran into the owner of Smith & Wesson, the director of the Great Outdoor Games, and the director of the National Shooting Sports Foundation to name a few. It was your typical reception; bad finger food, watered down drinks, and amuzing company. Anyway, the evening wrapped up pretty quickly since we had to be up early to head to the range in the morning.

Saturday was an interesting day. We got to the range early, got all signed up and ready to go. The course of fire included 10 stations of sporting clays, 25 shots benched rifel, 25 shots standing rifle, and 10 runs on the pistol course. Since Collyn and I hadn't shot the rifle or pistol events before, we were a little nervous. We lucked out though and started with the sporting clays event. Collyn whooped up and had the highest score in the event. I shot ok, but should have started with a different gun. (Oh yeah! We had to borrow guns since no one told us to bring them.) After sporting clays was over, we headed to the clubhouse for lunch. Bag lunches go down quickly, so there was a little time for the knitting (Woohoo!) And YES! I Knit in public.

Our second event for the day was rifle. You'd think I'd be somewhat comfortable with a rifle since I shoot shotguns regularly, but NOOOOOO! I was so nervous. These rifles looked like crazy mercenary guns or something. Buddy and John explained to us how to hold and aim the rifles. The first 25 shots were benched, and proved to be relatively easy. In fact, fun...almost. And then we had to stand for 25 shots. Boy was that tough to hold still AND see through the stinking scopes. Turns out, I had the heaviest gun of them all. The guns really didn't have much recoil, they were just awkward to hold. I did pretty well for being the first time shooting a big fat rifle like that. Next up, Pistol!

The pistol event wasn't your average shoot at a paper target and get scored. You got 10 runs of six shots to shoot down 5 steel plates. For every plate left standing, time was added to your total time. It was so strange holding this little pistol out in front of me with nothing to steady it. Needless to say this was my worst event. I was lucky if I hit 2 of the 5 plates in each of my runs. It didn't help that I had 3 people trying to tell me to do different things (none of which worked.) Anyway, it was a good learning experience, and maybe with a little practice I could be a LOT better. When everyone finished their three events, we all headed back to the hotel to change and get ready for the awards ceremony and dinner.

After dinner, I roamed around the casino and spent a good $25 on the Star Wars slots. :o) I know I'm a dork, but they looked the most fun. At one point I was up $15 and should have quite, but I didn't and so I have nothing to show for my money. That's the way of Vegas though. I meandered through the rest of the casino to see what all they had, and ended up heading back to the room to pack and go to sleep. Early the next morning we flew home. My whirl wind weekend in Vegas was a nice little adventure without losing too much of my per diem. It is good to be home and watching football with my man!

Golf Lesson #4 & 5

At 9:00 am I had an interview with a very cool athlete training company. I think the interview went well, and look forward to hearing from them at the beginning of next week. The odd thing was, I walked in and found out I actually knew someone that worked there. (Last I had heard, she was working for a cell phone company.) Anyway, it made me feel a little more at ease during the interview. I really liked the atmosphere and size of the office (around 40 peeps.) It's in a old warehouse that's been gutted and transformed into this cool office space. The only down side is that they're looking for part time help and only paying $7.50-$8 an hour. :o( Wish it were a little more, but for this opportunity I might be able to stick it out until they decide to go full time. (Which I'm told is a possibility after the first of the year.)

After the interview, I spent the majority of the day at the shooting range (waiting for coach to, well, coach), before it was time to head to the golf course for my last class. The rest of our group would be meeting up on Friday, but since I had the class from hell yesterday and I will be leaving town tomorrow, it is my last class.

Thoroughly excited and armed with my camera, I walked down to the driving range to meet up with everyone. Ramone gave more instruction in the first 2 seconds of speaking than BJ did the entire class yesterday! We worked on 5 irons for most of the class, and I got to play with the woods at the end. With some gentle instruction, maybe even a little manipulation, and a few laughs, we made it through the class with great success. Everyone was sad that it was my last day, but promised they'd all set up a time to golf a round later and call me.

The learning, laughs, and company were well worth the $25 spent on this class. It just goes to show, you never can tell who you might meet and how much fun you could have until you try it.

Oh and in a side note, I took a leaf outta Crazy Aunt Purls book and started me up a budget. I don't think it will fully start until end of october, so I have an accurate estimate of budgetary items, but I put in some preliminary numbers for the time being.

And DAMN THE INTERNET GODS!!!! Because they certainly don't want anything to go right at work this week.

The Day of UNaccomplishment

Yes, you heard me UNaccomplishment. Buckle up cuz today was a thoroughly annoying day of getting nothing I had planned done! My only hope is to hole up and knit the night away snuggled up to the boy watching Fiddler on the Roof (but some how that dream will be dashed as well.)

4:45 am
I wake up and can not get back to sleep because I am thinking about all the things that need to be done for the day. Try as I might to ignore these things, I decide it is best to just quickly plan the attack for tomorrow and stop worrying about it. So I do, but I still lie awake.

7:10 am
Finally, and slowly, drifting off to dream land. Ahhh sweet sandman!

7:30 am
Time to rise and shine. :o( Ugh! Shower, dress, etc. Head to work.

9:30 am
Head to tailors to pick up shirt and shorts, unfortunately, when I arrived she said she had totally forgotten and that I should drop by tomorrow.

Head to the golf course for a 10:00 am makeup session since we got rained out last Wednesday.

10:10 am
Arrive and find my teacher attending the front counter. He tells me to go down to the driving range and introduce myself to BJ. So, I walk down there and say hello and explain why I'm there. BJ looks at me like I'm crazy, mumbles "good thing Ramone let me know" (all sarcastic like), grabs a club I am SOOOOO not familiar with, and finally gives me some balls. He says "just you know do like you were taught on the other clubs," and then promptly walks away, saying nothing to me again until I need more balls.

Needless to say, I jetted out early, stopping to tell Ramone that our class was awesome and so was he and that I'd see him on Wednesday at our usual time.

10:45 am
Head to the range to meet coach for some training. Coach calls and says nevermind I can't go right now, let's go at 2:00 pm. :o( So I turn around and head back to the office to do a little work.

11:00 am
All office equipment is broken for one reason or another....NOTHING gets accomplished.

2:00 pm
Coach calls and cancels training. He's too tired.

5:00 pm
Head home to make dinner.

8:00 pm
Still waiting to make dinner cuz the boy hasn't called.

9:00 pm
Boy calls says everyone at work is going out to the bar and he must escort. Dinner still not cooked.

11:00 pm
I go to bed because the day has not gotten any better...at all!

Tidings of Male Mail and Chocolates

Still nothing exciting going on at work today. However, I finally got the shirt and shorts off to a tailor. The nice lady said she'd have them for me tomorrow. (Let's hope so.)

Oh! Oh!! Oh!!! The receptionist in our office received a lovely box of chocolates from her recently retired postman admirer. (Don't those look tasty?) Oh yes, and the expensive box of Russell Stover chocolates was precluded by an amazing bouquet of flowers. (aaahhhhhh!) She ate exactly one, and pawned rest off on me and my office mates, and considering I'm a sucker for dark chocolate, it wasn't like she had to twist my arm. (Me, the forget your lunch at home girl so eat chocolate instead.)

Other than that, no exciting news. Yours truly is still jobless and waiting for people to call back. You'd think that a company that I took the time to send a resume, interview with, and send an inquiry email would have the courtesy to call back and let me know if I got the stinkin' job or not. But NOOOOOOO! So, I wait.

Got home kinda early and contemplated heading to JoAnn's to show Mary my snazzy Not-So-Mystery Quilt, but decided against it once I arrived in the door. Spent the evening trying to type up a couple blog entries that totally got chewed up and spit out by the internet uploading gnomes. Needless to say, I did not feel like retyping so, of course, I resorted to knitting.

Kacie's Mystery Present is coming along, I finally finished 1 of the 5 sections of this stinking thing that's on such teeny tiny needles that I can only do like 5 rows before I just want to chop my hands off from the pain. Oh and don't even get me started on the detailing of the thing besides. (I wish I could be more specific cuz I realize this is soooooooo not at all interesting without pictures or details.)

Anyway, hopped off to bed before the boy arrived home from work (no I didn't go to bed at like 5, he didn't get home until like 11:30 pm. THANKYOUVERYMUCH!) Enjoyed a little light reading and drifted off to la-la-land.

So long and thanks for all the fish...

The Final Thread

Sunday hummed by as I worked incessantly on my Not-So-Mystery Quilt so as to get it off the living room floor (wish I had taken a picture to show you that our living room/dining room looked like a craft store exploded.) Between the quilt, apron, knitting, I promised Chris that I would get some of the crap off the floor. My hopes, as stated earlier, were to finish the quilt face at least.

BOY DID I GET A LOT DONE!!!!!

Look at me go!!! Woohoo!

I'm a sewing MANIAC!

2005 Little Miss Homemaker


The Not-So-Mystery Quilt
Ok, so I told you in a previous post that I would explain why it is what it is...the Not-So-Mystery Quilt. It all started November of 2004. *cue fog* I got a bug up my butt to start quilting, and what a great opportunity because the Super Mega JoAnn's had just opened and Chris' friend Woody had just had a baby. (Who obviously needed a handmade quilt from mua!) What a great opportunity to learn, especially since there was a class starting
on my birthday! Happy Birthday to meeeeee!

So, I took the class and learned all perfecionistic ways of quilt makers, and how they can hide their mistakes. The class took place in three parts; cutting, peicing, finishing. Mary, my quilting teacher, was a nice lady. She was super patient and so dedicated to helping me finish my first project. In fact, she gave me her cell number for when I needed a little extra assistance (And boy did I!) The only catch turned out to be not finishing before Christmas. Thankfully, we would be meeting up with Woody, Krissy and Baby Alex again in January for a wedding.

Being there from the very beginning, Mary was as excited about seeing it take shape as I was. When I finally completed the quilt, I had the hardest time giving it up...(it was my first afterall.) And you would think I'd learn from this experiend, but no (see Knitting below.) Nevertheless, I gave it away and promise Mary that I would just have to join another quilting class to learn more, (and keep one for myself...just maybe.) *Check out the goods! --------------->

My friend Emily and I signed up immediately and picked up our class supply list. After visiting, oh maybe 18 billion fabric stores (some repeatedly), we each painstakingly picked out our four fabrics. On the first day of class, we showed up with our fabrics and an eagerness to get this mystery started. Mary, bless her heart, though a good teacher with a pattern from a book, is NOT such a great pattern-writer-downer. We immediately noticed that there were five (5), NOT four (4) fabrics used in the pattern. Little did we know this was just the beginning of a long and mistake filled experience.











Each month the new instruction sheet inevitably had 3 or 4 mistakes on it. So, each month I would call Mary and double check what she meant against what the instructions actually said. Needless to say, in the end there was a block created in reverse that messed up the entire pattern and the worst piecing instructions I've every laid eyes on. Anyway, so I spent one long Saturday afternoon figuring out what I could turn this expensive mess of fabric into. My queen size quilt has turned out to be aproximately a twin and only a slight resemblence of what it should have looked like. (Oh and if I can find one of the other girls in the class that actually succeeded at assembling this right I'll post the picture.) So, long story short, the only mystery is how I'm going to get this quilted with such a small machine.

Oh, Oh!!!! AAAANNNDDD, I ran out of stupid thread one row from be done with the quilt (above). So, I had to run to the craft store and get some more thread. This trip turned out to be a good thing because I ran into Luann and asked about the stoles. She had printed the embroidery out, but it was WAY too big. Luann promised to find some other font that would go smaller and give it another try. She also helped me pin the waistband on my apron so I could continue with that project.

All the while, the boy is watching football!

The Boy: How's it going hun?
Me: Good...bla bla bla.
The Boy: That's nice. Looks good. DAMN! The Vikings lost!

Anyway, I got a little further on the apron pattern, but I'm thinking of altering how the rest is put together cuz I think there's got to be a better way. All in all, its turning out really cool and I can't wait for it to be done. I may have to shorten it some so that it doesn't look like your suppose to be wearing a dress though.

AND FINALLY THE KNITTING!!!
It's coming along... I swear! Dang I wish I could post picts of it... but you know it would spoil the surprise, so instead, I post my VERY FIRST knitting ever. Which again, I did not learn to keep my first, and have given it away as a present...again! Oh yah, and I bought this kit at Target in Colorado Springs. If you've read Crazy Aunt Purl's blog, she actually shows pictures of the display. (*waves to Aunt Purl*) However, this kit was not present. She had some ugly nubby pink baby thing. So I must show her that there was something "worthy" of my time. :o)

I found that the cotton yarn was hard to work with for a beginner, but the DVD that was included was super helpful. The worst was the instructions which were in knitting latin with very little explanation and absolutely no references to websites or books or helplines if I got stuck. (Good thing I had some nice old ladies where I was knitting...)

Disposal Date

The day began bright as ever with me waking up at 6 AM! So, what did I do to kill time? Sit around and read back archives of Crazy Aunt Purl because she has struck me as quite possibly the most witty person I know...or don't know per say. She also has the best patience for life (something I often lack.)

So, 9:30am roles around and we (the boy and I) head to Red Rocks Canyon to do a little AM rock hopping on the bikes. (Sorry no pictures this time cuz I'm stupid and didn't remember the camer....GREAT view though!)

10 million hikers/runners and 1 wrong trail later we are on our way home to shower up and see if the maintnence man showed up to fix the disposal. Too bad for us he hadn't. (It has been 4 days folks, 4 DAYS!!! This means rotting food sitting in the stanking disposal on which the reset button does not work.) (Also no picture, but trust me you don't want to see that.) To our dismay, we called the front office to inquire about our Saturday disposal date, and the nice ladies said that "anyone coming in on a Saturday is on their own time. We can't guarantee they'll actually come." With great stinking sadness we double checked that the maintnence order was in for next week and resigned to "toughing it out". Within mere moments of hanging up, the maintnence man knocked on the door. After some idle chit chat, a huge crowbar stuck down the drain and much fidgeting with the switch, the dude said he'd bring us a new one on Monday.

At least he got it to work long enough for the nastiness to be washed away. (Aaaahhhh! Febreeze fresh!)

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing boring, but necessary errands. Chris got his hairs cut so they would be properly grown out for his friends wedding next weekend, and we got our cell phones put on one account to save a little dough. (And I do mean a little... especially after we added insurance on both phones!)

Football ensued while I layed out the Not-So-Mystery Quilt to start putting this painful pieces of adventure together. (Which is a whole story in itself.) Needless to say I was up till 11 pm working on the stupid thing and all I'd gotten done was phase 1 of ironing...ugh! Anyway, will attack again on Sunday.

Oh yeah! And, I managed to get one more section knitted on Kacie's Christmas Present while Chris was getting his hairs cut. (Which I would love to post picts, but, well she might be watching... *peeks around the corner, looks under couch, in closet, satisfied no one is there* ...and find out what it is and ruin CHRISTMAS!!!

The Project Queen

Not-So-Mystery Quilt
Of which, the only true mystery is why it didn't come together like the teacher said it would.
Steps Left: Horizontal strips to sew together to finish the front, find a backing, pin it together, and decide if I'm actually going to quilt it or not.
Goal: Complete front this weekend.
Estimated Time of Completion (ETC): Christmas


Retro Apron
Don't get me started on these "Easy to Follow" instructions...
Steps Left: Pretty much everything but the side pieces.
Goal: Find help.
ETC: October

Knitting for Kacie's Christmas Present
We're learning as we go. 5 trips to the knitting store and going strong. This is all the hint you get....hahah you picked it out too!
Steps Left: Phase 1 of 3 "in-progress".
Goal: Get two more sections done by Monday.
ETC: Christmas





Graduation Shadow Boxes
A little rememberance for the 'rents.
Steps Left: Waiting to get print copies of embroidering to see if they'll fit on the stoles.
Goal: Check up with Luann.
ETC: Christmas


Bedroom Curtains
Sooooo sick of waking up when the sun does....turning into a zomby!
ETC: Not Started

Golf Lessons

I'm nearing the end of work now and starting to wish it were just over.

Wednesdays and Fridays this month I am taking golf lessons at our local golf club. Last week we learned putting and chipping, the former of which I am much better at controlling. This week we were suppose to start learning stuff on the driving range. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans. Wednesday we got rained out...or hailed, depending on when and where you were. Today, the news said no precipitation was expected, but I'll believe that when I see it.

Anyway, I can't wait to try out my cool new $25 golf shoes!

Tailor Troubles

Last weekend the team leader for a trip I'm going on next weekend accompanied me to the mall to help pick out team uniforms. On the shopping list were pants, shorts, and a dress shirt. Now, keep in mind that we're shopping for two guys and two girls (all of varying sizes.) The objective was to find a pair of dressy khaki pants to wear with a dressy button up shirt (to be embroidered with the team logo) to a fancy-shmancy party on Friday night. Then, a pair of khaki shorts and a polo to wear on the event day. All of which need to look similar if not alike. (We're talking girls and guys here folks, with matching outfits.)

It is probably apparent to you, and me, right off the bad that we will be hard pressed to find anything truly "matching" for guys and girls that still look like they fit their recipient. Needless to say we found pants and shorts at good ol' Old Navy that fit the bill pretty well. A pleated khaki pant and short for the guys was perfect. Then we found a cute pair of khaki slacks (with a ribbon belt that will have to go since its green *ick*) and a pair of khaki bermuda shorts. Unfortunately, the bermuda shorts go past my knees. So obviously they will need to be hemmed.

Finally, we found white wrinkle resistant long sleeve button down shirts for the guys, and a white wrinkle resistant 3/4 length sleeve for the girls at Eddie Bauer. After trying on several samples, we came to the conclusion that a medium (though it fit properly around my tummy,) did not fit around my bust line as one might want if they were intending to reach for, well, anything. And, that the large, though fitting well around the bust, did not fit anywhere else. The nice sales lady suggested that we order a petite large because it would be like a half size between and slightly shorter. So what do we do? We believe this lady and order them since they had no girls sizes on hand.

The shirt arrive yesterday and I tried it on... Let me just say the nice lady, though well intended, was VERY wrong! So now I have this huge shirt that needs to be tailored to fit me because its too late to order another. :o(

I have just spent the last 30 minutes trying to find a tailor that a) speaks english well enough for me to understand, b) understands the problem and how I want it solved without making me look like I sewed this thing up. Again, I wind up empty handed. So now I have a call in to a friend who I know does tailoring, just not how well. *Note to self: Maybe she can help me translate these "easy to follow" apron sewing instructions to common english too!*

All in all, this whole mini trip is stressing me out a bit. I'd much rather stay home and train...or just sleep in. (More on that whole training thing later.)

In other news, today we unloaded targets at the range. An entire semi, 24 palates of targets only took from 8am to 1pm to load!!!! If the juniors hadn't stopped helping we could have been done in like 3 hours. Oh well, we got it done and at least we had help for this load. Apparently another semi is coming in 10 days, when no one else is here. Grrr! On the brighter side of things, I got to drive a HUGE fork lift. If I can get a picture next time I'll be sure to post it.

Jury Duty

Well, I got summoned for jury duty today....in OREGON.

I promptly filled out the excuse form and faxed it back to the clerk...

"I am asking for an excuse of duty because I live in Colorado for school and training. It would cause undue hardship for me to purchase a plane ticket to come home for an undisclosed amount of time to complete jury duty. I do not know when or if I would be coming home for any of the school breaks. Thank you for you consideration."

I've already been called and excused once from home. In fact, Colorado even requested my presence for jury duty at one point this last winter. Now this little loop hole in the Colorado system allows for non-residents to be called for duty as long as they've paid taxes in Colorado. Talk about lame. What a great way to piss people off, especially if they get put on standby (like I did) and not even called in. I was hoping for some really cool, long, criminal trial. Where a nifty CSI agent was gonna come in and wrap up the whole case right before our very eyes with cutting edge technology...but alas, I was not called. I suppose I will have to wait for another call from Uncle Sam (or whoever Uncle Colorado is... General Palmer maybe?)

In The Beginning...

Happy Birthday to Meeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Ok, not really ME per say, but to my blog! Yes, you are witnessing the very beginnings of this experiement in blogging. Though it's the HOTTEST thing since sliced bread, I have been living in a cave and trying my very best to stay there, it is time to break out! It may be tough to get in the habit at first, but I'll give it my best. (Heck, I got nothing better to do besides find a job, train, workout, study for the GMAT, blah, blah, blah...)

So WHAT pray tell am I going to write about? Well, your guess is as good as mine. How about a little of this and a little of that! But what inspired this great experiment you ask? Well, a new obsession with Knitting has drawn me to blogger so I might participate in the ever popular SP7...or 6 if it's not too late. (If only I can figure out how to get in touch with those hip chicks running the shindig! *ack*) Ugh! I suppose I should work on that contact.

Anyway, Happy Birthday to Blog and I hope you come back to visit. :o)