I'M FREE!!!

Ding dong the apron's gone!

I've even avoided taking my painkillers today so I could have a drink and celebrate. And only 245 people ahead of me on Ravelry...is life getting better or what?

The final countdown

I have 6 remaining hours of retail hell!!!!

(i'll be able to dye my hair purple again!)

Back to the daily grind

I go back to work today. I'm not looking forward to it. But I only have 22 hours of work left at this place. Hopefully I can keep it together today. I have SnB to look forward to tonight, and a bunch of knitting to post.

Aftermath...

I made it through surgery ok. I'm home and in an expected amount of pain. I'm not allowed back to work until Wednesday, so if anyone feels like hanging out with me Mon. and Tues. I would welcome the company.

An to round out the strangeness of it all. Something that cheered me yesterday...I had a cameo in The Devil's Panties. I'm the one in the pig tails. You may remember that ensemble from this post.

Well I'm off to recover on the couch with some needles, wool, and movies galore.

The Bitter and the Sweet

Ok, I'll start with a few FO pics. First of all I did finish my knucks, but don't have pictures yet. It is quite impossible to get a good picture of gloves on your own hands. When I have my love at my disposal I'll get him to do it.
These are of the baby blanket I made for one of our contract workers at the store. She's due in September. We just found out the other day that their house burned to the ground this week. People, please check your dryers...make sure you have the proper duct work and clean out all the fuzzy crap. I don't want to hear about this happening to anyone else.

Specs are garter miter squares done in Sugar and Cream kitchen cotton (yellow) and random mystery kitchen cotton from stash (green).

On to the fabulous news. Friday, August 31st is my last day at my retail job!!! I got the job painting scenery for the University!!! I am so completely excited. The story of the job and the work I will be doing there will be followed more closely in my painting blog Footprints in the Sky.

Ok the sucky news: they had to put down my little brother's dog this week. He's taking it hard, but anyone would. She had lost a back toe nail to cancer about a year or so ago. This time it was in a front toe and her tail. After the surgery to have those amputated, she was unable to keep food down, and was partially paralyzed on one side. She had a small upswing last weekend but then went down hill this week. I'm not a dog person by any means but she was the best dog. Sweet and loving. I'll have to hunt around for a picture of her....

And for the worst news of all. I debated about writing this, but this blog is about me and the influence in my artistic life. I had hoped to have some uber-fabulous news for you all in about a month or so...but it's not to be. I had an ultrasound yesterday and it confirmed our worst fears. At 9 weeks into my pregnancy there was no heartbeat and I am beginning to miscarry. The baby made it to 6 weeks and stopped growing. Nothing we did, just a chromosomal issue and nature did what was best. I understand all that but it still sucks.
I'm having a D&C today. Which means I had to stop all eating and drinking at midnight. My surgery isn't until this afternoon. So mixed in with my grief is the fact that I am starving and thirsty as all hell.
We are dealing with it the best we can. I know I'll work through this with my art. Its how I do this. My mind keeps going to Freida Khalo's painting Henry Ford Hospital and that whole scene in the movie Freida. Not that I am comparing my pain to hers, but I know mine will show through my work.

So that's been my life in a nutshell. Some good some bad. Thanks for listening. I'll be ok, I promise. I'm not sure how much I will be blogging this weekend, it all depends on how I feel physically.

news to follow

Sorry for the silence. There's been a whole lot going on. Some good and some truly awful. I will write soon...I promise.

There's No Place Like Home

We got back Tuesday night and yesterday was a recovery day. It's so nice to be back in my own bed, even with cats waking me up at 4 am for scritchies. A lot is going on. I'm currently playing telephone tag about the job. Love is about to head into a disaster of a load in, and today is my first day back to work in almost 2 weeks. I'm afraid of what I will find. I'm not even sure I will have a job when I get back. I am widening my job search though. It's tough finding something that isn't retail though.
I have some knitting progress to show. The green and yellow blanket is done. My knucks are all but done themselves. I'm not sure if I am going to embroider them or not. I'm also plotting out my next project. I always have a hard time figuring out what to do next. Especially since I hate swatching.
Well I better get my day started. I have to be to work at 1pm (yuk!). Missed you all.

blogging break

Yeah, I've taken a little break from blogging. Been on vacation this week so my time has been spent with my adoring and very sexy husband. And then we're off on the road for a few days...with very limited internet access. I'll have tales and picture when I return. Have fun and keep cool.

Happy Lizzie Borden Day!

Yes, today is the day back in 1892 when Lizzie Borden hacked her parents to death...or did she? This was the first unsolved true crime story that I became fascinated with. I think it was about 5th grade and we had our RIF (Reading Is Fundamental) thingy where we were given the chance to get a free book. I took one on true crime. There were maybe 6 or 7 stories in it; the Lindbergh baby, D. B. Cooper, and others that I don't quite remember. But the one that stuck in my mind was Lizzie Borden. Even my Mom recited the poem from heart when I told her what I was reading about:

Lizzie Borden took and ax
and gave her mother forty whacks.
And when she saw what she had done,
she gave her father forty one.

To read up on Lizzie and the story try here at the Crime Library. Be careful...a very addictive site. I'm also quite a Jack the Ripper buff. I know this all makes me sound rather twisted. I just love a good mystery and forensics have fascinated me for a long time. That was a potential career path of mine, once upon a time. So read up and enjoy!

Do you know who did it??