Pictures as promised

*Warning! Picture intense posting!*

The baby sweater I made for my sister:





This was our weekend fun last weekend with Bronwyn and Ian. This is a trick taught to us one morning while sitting on the porch with some very dear friends after a night of imbibement. Flying June Bugs. First, you catch a June Bug, and let me tell you they are quite abundant around these parts. In fact only after I moved to NC have I seen beetles this large! They're light Japanese beetles times 10. They don't bite, and I don't think they actually eat as destructively as the JBs. Anyway, catch a few, and with thread tie the end to a back leg, right up against the body. It's kind of oookie, but just wait for the fun you'll have! Then you just let 'em go! They'll fly around in circles in their "kite" string and many laughs will be had as you duck and try not to let them land on you. (Yes, it's hard to see the bugs)






Tying the bug up, a primer in pictures (click for biggie goodness):





This is Inca in the vetch field behind my parents house.


Here's an shot of the field. In the winter it's great for sledding. But the walk up is long and hard...we usually joke about putting in a little mini ski lift to pull us back up after the ride down.




This is Obi out on the dock at the Cabana Boy's parents house. Obi is terrified of water, but he's even more distressed to be seperated from his daddy. Nate swam out to the dock and I took the paddle boat out and Obi paced the shore for awhile. Then he just said fuck it, and jumped in and swam out. Getting him to swim back was interesting.






Here is our sexy new van, a 2005 Honda Odessey EX-L. Her name is Moya and she is wonderful! Great ride, some sweet comfort, and plenty of space. We'll be taking her down to Atlanta GA for DragonCon in September.






And the pictures you've all been waiting for!
First, the unopened "blue" box. So very very sparkly! Or Glittr-y as the case may be.



And the contents! Note the blue theme throughout? All the yarn is just spectacular, and I can't wait to knit it up...once I decide on what it's going to be!


The funny thing about that scarf is, in the card Suzanne calls it "something that feels like a cat". I made my husband feel it and his first response.....yupper, "feels like a cat"! Love it! I can't wait until it cools down so I can wear it.



So I hope you all enjoyed all the pictures. I suppose I'm kind of like picture camel. I save up all my pictures for one big release. I guess that's more like a reverse camel....

Amy, I did see on your blog where you were Suzanne's SP! At first I thought, "wow, what a coincidence that she's sending her packages to a Suzanne!" I also saw her packages on her blog. I'm so glad you spoiled her as much as she spoiled me! She really does deserve it!

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Blue blue blue

Nope, not sad! That was just the color theme of my third SP package! And I promise promise promise I took pictures of it, and once I get my lazy butt around to uploading them (really, no excuse since we have high speed internet now) I'll put them here. Everything was so pretty and soft and just wonderful. My wonderful (not so) Secret Pal Suzanne has really really spoiled me, and made my first SP participation fabulous. And she's going to make me fabulous too, or atleast help out...because some the lovely Rio yarn is going to become a skinny scarf which I hear is all the rave in the UK! *wink* The Drake likes to be on the cutting edge!


Now, not that I was tagged with this, but I found it on a friend's blog.

id·i·o·syn·cra·sy
Pronunciation Key
n. pl. id·i·o·syn·cra·sies
A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.

Write down five of your own personal idiosyncracies. Then, if you wish, tag five people from your live gerbil or friendslist to do the same.

1. Never leave the house once: Nope, I always forget one thing or another and have to run back in to grab it. I think my personal best was 5 trips back in before I was ready to go. But I do say I get it honest. My dad is the same way!

2. Soooooo: And I hate this one. When I talk I start and/or end most sentences with soooo. Especially on the phone. I'm trying to stop this one.

3. Stuffed animals: If my husband wasn't there to stop me, I'd still be buying stuffed animals like a kid. I love the cuties! Thank goodness I knit now! I can just make my own cuties!

4. Makeup: I refuse to wear it. Hate it. Hate it I say! It feels horrid. On super special occasions (Halloween, really) I might put on some eye shadow...lipstick a little more often (though I've developed a super-love of flavored lip glosses). I am the Un-Girl.

5. I am the Un-Girl: I know, I said that already, but I have to say it's a subject all it's own. I like dresses, but I hate heels. I like nail polish and long nails but I also like digging in the dirt. I don't wear makeup, but I like to look pretty. I can't think of any other category I've ever fit in...I'm not preppy, or punk, or goth, or boyish....I'm an un-girl, one who is girly in her own non-girly way.

Now, I've gone and tagged Lisa, Heather, Amy of AmyLovie, Amy of GoodtobeGirl, and my longshot tag Crazy Aunt Purl. Muahahahahaha

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And the winner is......

The Honda Odessey.
We decided it was the best for the price, nice and comfy, good extras.
Barring any complications we'll be signing the paperwork this evening and driving the new girl home. My new girl. Woot!

Yah, cause the last new vehicle we bought was the cabana boy's Dodge truck, which was cool, but his. Then I got the sub, which also was cool, but used. Now it's my turn. I picked the color inside and out too. And it's real purty. Leather seats even! Not that we wanted them, but the best gas mileage only comes in the leather seat model. Ah well. Heated leather seats. I'm not complaining!

Dan Irving: Anywho - my Dad owns a Honda Odessey and I have to say, while I'm one of those gas-guzzling SUV owning types, if I *was* a mini-type I'd have an Odessey. I've helped drive the van up to Long Island NY where the other half of my family lives and it was a pretty comfy trip. Edumunds shows a consumer rating of 9.2 which isn't too shabby. My dad isn't very mechanically inclined (in fact he is somewhat retarded in that aspect) but he's been able to keep the regular maintenance intervals. The van is about 5yrs old now and still runs really well.

Glad to hear it! The reliability and longevitiy was definately a factor.

Helen: can't help you much...we had a Dodge Grand Caravan in '92, kept it til 2002. Bought another one. had a MAJOR accident (2004) and man, hit a guy, hit from behind by garbage truck and two other vehicles and ended in a tree...when i went back to see the van, i was amazed at how beat up it was..and i tell ya, our injuries were totally minor compared to the look of this mess...man. unbelievable. so i hope your choices are as safe as ours! we are now on our third Grand Caravan

The rental we have now is a Caravan. It's not bad. Sounds pretty safe too! Didn't get too good of a rating from Consumer Reports though (none of the newer American vans did though). We've got one Dodge, and decided to go foreign for this one. Wow though. Wow. I have a whole new respect for safety ratings, air bags, and all that now. Really really glad to hear the Caravan has served you well!

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When the car is the only thing you can complain about, you know you're golden

Really. I have to say that after all the complaining about losing a great and wonderful car, I'm just happy I'm not complaining about losing a great and wonderful partner.

And we get to go car shopping now! We got the replacement numbers from the other guys insurance company, so now we just have to sit down and crunch the numbers. But we're really leaning towards the Honda Oddessy. Yes, it's a mini-van. We do after all have two very large dogs. And hopefully some day some we'll have kids too. So rather than take our settlement and spend it on a crappy car to just "get us by" we figured we might as well buy a good, dependable, safe (side curtain airbag safe) vehicle now. We'll probably be making a few sacrafices for it, but it's not like we've never done that before. We'll get by.

I have to say I was pretty anti-mini. I have never desired to be the soccer mom type. First the test driving started to turn my opinion. They really are spacious! And comfy. Almost decadent really! Then we paid a few extra bucks a day to get a mini-van for our rental, then drove 9 hours to PA for family reunions. I have to say, it was the best trip we've had. The dogs has plenty of space. With all the seats down we could move around to get stuff we needed from our luggage (oh, luggage = rubbermaid bin. Yes, we travel in style) and if a nap was needed we just crawled back with the pups and snoozed in comfort (well, it's not soft-bed-comfort, but it's better then wehavetoomuchcraptoevenreclinethedameseats uncomfort!)

I have finished project pictures galore on my camara, but I just haven't gotten around to getting them off. My sister (who I got so see in all her baby belly glory! Hi P! It's a BABY!) got the sweater I made for her baby and by the pictures, I think she liked it. I hope she did! And the bear too. I have a picture of those to put up. I got the felted bag bug again, and knit up a bag with a little turtle intarsia bit. Kinda mixed and matched patterns, and came up with a cute little tote, that I still need to put the handle into and maybe line. But it's done and cute. I'm on my second repeat of the decreases on the clapotis, and it's looking lovely. I did 15 drops instead of 12 during the lengthening section, but only 5 of the 6 increases, so it'll be a bit thinner but longer. I couldn't resist showing it to my mom, even though it wasn't done. I just had to show her the beautiful alpaca yarn. I think she liked it! *grin*

Oh, if anyone out there reading drives a Honda Odessey let me know how you like it! Or a Toyota Seinna...that's our #2 choice.

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