Give it a whorl...

So I sat down at the wheel for the first time last night. I'm glad I picked up a visual how to book with a section on trouble shooting. That was a big help. I understand the basic concept now it is just a matter of perfecting it. I will say I think it helped having used a drop spindle first. As you can see in the picture it doesn't look so bad, but I do need to work on tension a bit.

So I took my first dance class in a long time and boy I am A: out of shape and B: Out of practice! I have a lot I need to work on. But I did have a good time and that is very important. Of course my arms were killing me by the end of the class so I did not last to long on the wheel LOL!

Weekend in review....

My weekend was ok. I had told Ashley she could use my apartment for the weekend as she had friends coming in from out of town for her birthday. So I headed p to mom and dad’s for the weekend. Things were great until my computer decided to go blue screen of death Friday night! Ugh! Just what I need. I am about to fork out a ton of money on these braces and the computer decides it wants to have a fit. So dad worked on that all weekend for me and still has it. Fortunately I have my new spinning wheel to keep me company otherwise I would probably go crazy not having my computer this week. Hopefully we can fix the issue and I will not have to get a new one.

Saturday I danced the Moroccan dinner that I do every year. This is the fourth year I have danced this party and I also danced the hosts birthday. They are a fun group. I love hearing that my craft is improving every year. I have to say it felt good, I do miss dancing. But I am very well aware that with the braces coming on I will probably not be able to get any gigs for a while. Which is fine, it gives me time to practice and work on getting even better. I am going to start taking a class with a friend of mine in the area. Just to have something keeping me moving and dancing. It is on a Monday night too which is nice. Wafaa in my office is going to take it with me so it should be fun.

Friday night I had dinner with mom, dad, TJ and his friend Jo. As we were talking I was telling them about my new wheel and how much I am enjoying spinning. Jo does volunteer work at both the Baltimore Zoo and a rehab facility. It just so happens they have sheep and alpacas at the rehab facility. Apparently last year they had a hard time finding anyone who wanted the wool!? Guess what?! I told her I will take it ALL! So hopefully I will be getting some nice FREE wool in the near future. I am really excited about that.

Uhhh this weekend was a bit hard on other fronts. I’m back to hating seeing couples, specifically hold hands. And for some reason Baltimore contains a large amount of heavily tattooed people(???). Which of course led me to think of Dale, which leads to all sorts of feelings. This has really hurt. I just can’t understand how someone can go from being so in love with you to turning it totally off. I mean all day long messages “I miss you, I love you, Are you my girl?, When asked can I keep him getting a yes.” I just don’t understand. It just leads me to think I need to question anytime anyone tells me they love me and miss me. Was it all a lie? How will I know when it is for real? How do you just turn those feelings off? I mean in truth there is a part of me that still loves Paul and Steve. These are two people that I shared a lot of memories with. They will always have a special place in my heart despite how they ended. So I can’t understand how someone who seemed so genuinely in love with me could just turn those feelings off like a light. Sighhh……

New stuff

Finally I get to try my hand at spinning on a wheel. Not that I don't love drop spindles, I just want to give this a whorl too. Thank you Ashley!
So now that the Domestic Diva is cooking, the wool has to come out of the freezer! I found this on Craigs list. It is a cedar chest. In decent shape could use a little love but dad and I will work on that. Nice father daughter project. As long as it keeps my wool safe I am happy!
Trinity Casino is officially open! Mom loves Vegas, so when she saw this at some trade show or convention or what ever it was she had to have it! Now that she is over it, I have it! LOL How many people can say they have a fully functional slot machine in their house?!
This is not new LOL. My Mindy girl. This is her "Mom I'm trying to sleep stop taking pictures of me" look. :-)

So what else is new...hmm. I got my spacers today on the top teeth. Basically all it is is a set of rubber bands stuck between the back molars. The purpose is to create room for the brackets for the braces. They basically just feel like something is stuck in you teeth. Kind of weird.

Lets see...the toe feels better. I can pretty much walk on it normally but I am not pushing it. It is still very bruised. But I think I will live and should be ok to dance this private party Saturday.

Not a whole lot else going on. Still dealing with a lot personally. As I said in a post a while back my life seems to always be wrong place wrong time. In this case it was wrong time. In order to allow for time to heal wounds I have decided it best to cut ties for now. Best for him and best for me. Until he figures out what he wants he does not need me there to influence his decision either way. It's not like I'm going anywhere anyway and again with the braces coming I will be a complete dork and I would not date me. So he wants his space he's got it. I don't want to linger in dark shadows.

Oooowwwwwww!

Ouch! So mom is going to tag along for the trip down to help me with the cedar chest. Which meant crap must clean! So as I was frantically trying to get the apartment straightened up for the impending critic. I was putting dishes away when the bottom drawer (fortunately housing only Tupperware) came off the track and dropped on my big toe! Smack dab in the middle of the nail. Instantly turned purple and proceeded to throb badly! I sat on the floor with a dish towel and ice and cried like a two year old. It hurts so bad. I don't think anything is broken just very badly bruised.

OOOOOOOOOOwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Domestic Diva

Since few things are stable in my life at the moment, I am really trying to focus on this healthy eating. If I have at least one thing to really focus on it seems to help keep my mind off of other things. I went shopping last night and got tons of healthy yummy food. Problem is I got home and went to put it in my freezer and there was too much wool in the freezer! LOL Why you ask? Well for the non-knitters it is the one place you can store the good wool and know it is safe from moths and other fiber loving critters. I have some nice wool I picked up in Ireland and I did not want to take any chances.

So now I am faced with the dilemma of where to put the wool! I do have a small and I mean small cedar chest which was donated to my cause by my friend and manager at the local cigar shop. But it is due time I get a nice sized cedar chest to store a few linens and all the GOOD wool. So I have found a lovely little chest on craigslist and will hopefully with the help of my loving daddy be picking up tomorrow! Along with a spinning wheel that I purchased from my friend Ashley.

Also in my domestic diva frame of mind, I made a little stop at Home Depot. I had a lot of success with growing herbs a little while ago but as I was not cooking they kind of went by the wayside. So I picked up a little bag of potting soil and some herb seeds to get that going again. I really do love my plants. It makes me feel good for some reason. Guess it is that need in me to be taking care of something. All of the plants that my mom gave me when I moved in are actually doing VERY well. So hopefully in due time I will have some nice fresh herbs to use and dry. I also picked up lavender which dried is also great for keeping out the moths :-)!

Pictures of all of the above to follow soon!

Blah...

Ugh I am so tired. In all fairness I have just had a lot going on lately. I was late getting back from New York Monday, then a lengthily physically and emotionally draining call Tuesday night. Sleep has not been great lately. It's probably not helping that I have a lot on my mind at the moment. My little New York trip was great for a small break, but the underlying issues were still there when I got back.

I went to the Endodontist today. I hate having to do all of these consultations. Well this one the most. I had to waist time out of my work day just to go to them for them to tell me that I need a root canal. Well duh!!! It just seamed like a waste, why could they not just make the appointment and start it and deal with it then? Oh well, so now we are scheduled for the root canal on April 9th. I'm just gonna take the day off because they are putting the top braces on that morning and the root canal in the afternoon. Ugh! So now I am just waiting on the referral for the wisdom teeth to come out. I need a assistant to keep track of all of these appointments for me!

On top of all that I am still dealing with a lot of personal stress. I think that is more draining than anything. But I think Tuesdays call got a lot out in the open and hopefully it will have positive results.

New York and other news...

So New York was a lot of fun. I was able to meet up with my friend Peter who was visiting from Ireland and got to see a lot of things on my check list. I went to Tiffany's, Central Park, Time square by day and night, saw Chicago on Broadway, went to the Pogues concert, FAO Swatrz, Rockefeller Center, and the Lionbrand Wool Studio. I stayed at a great little hostel that was close to everything. It was awesome. Great city on the weekends but all the crabby workers come out of their shells on Monday ugh. But all in all great time I'm gonna try and do it again at some point.

Tiffany's in all her glory. No one told me it was 6 floors! And yes Stacy did take a little blue bag home ;-)

Me and time square at night.
Hanging out the Hibernia pub. I know what you are thinking and no. Still drink free, yes I spent the weekend in NY and still managed to not drink a drop and have a blast!
Me and time square again

My friend Peter and I

The Pogues!!! Awesome time!

My hostel dorm. I got top bunk :-)

Time square by day

I managed to get a bit of knitting done on the bus.

And it all stated at Cosi in Arlington with a very sleepy Stacy.

In other news...

I got amazing news Monday. My orthodontist called and we went from 6 teeth to be pulled down to just the two wisdom teeth! I am so excited about that. What truly makes this good news is that all of the prep work needing done is on the bottom. The wisdom are on the bottom and the tooth needing the root canal is as well. Which means I have nothing I am waiting for to start the top ones! So next week I am getting the spacers on the top then the braces the following week! And so it begins....

I am really excited about all of this. Every picture I look at of me all I see are those horrible eye teeth sticking out. Everyone has something they hate about their image, for me it's my bad skin bags under the eyes and those teeth. I have been working very hard to get my skin under control so that is one thing off the list. And now I am working toward a beautiful smile :-). As for the eyes I think I'm stuck with them I would never go under the knife to get that fixed. Oh well...2 out of 3 ain't bad right?

Sonnet 26

When I got my new iTouch I went nuts downloading all the free applications. One of the applications was the complete works of William Shakespeare. Can you believe that? Free! It is actually very sad. I have enjoyed reading random sonnets here and there. I found Sonnet 26 awhile back and it seemed to have been written for me. I pretty much reflects what is going on in my mind at the moment. I thought I would share it with you.

Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage
Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit,
To thee I send this written ambassage,
To witness duty, not to show my wit.
Duty so great, which wit so poor as mine
May make seem bare, in wanting words to show it,
But that I hope some good conceite of thine
In thy soul's thought, all naked, will bestow it;
Till whatsoever star that guides my moving
Points on me worthy of thy sweet respect.
Then may I dare to boast how I do love thee;
Till then, not show my head where thoust mayst prove me

William Shakespeare Sonnet 26

Does this say NY?

So to give me a little mind break I am going up to NY for the weekend. Never really been so why not! Do these glasses say I belong in NY or tourist trying too hard!?

So what I'm still a rock star! I got my rock moves!

Orrrrrr maybe not. So I think I have hit a early midlife crisis. Last night I found myself needing this adorable pair of Dr. Martins (hey they were 50% off I got them for $42.00). I haven't really had Docs since I was a teenager. Well that's not true but I finally got rid of them before moving to Ireland. They were just too heavy to take. I remember how big it was to have docs when I was in high school I had the boots though awww they were so cool! Those things saw several HFS festivals and many more concerts. Yeah I was a wanna be punk! So I had to have these, as I tried them on they made me giggle so home they went with me.

A couple of weeks ago this appeared...my mother affectionately refers to it as a "Booger Catcher". Always wanted to pierce my nose. Paul would not let me do it. And I was really craving another tattoo but just dint have the cash for that now. So we added another hole to my head.

Are you still with me? Docs and piercings...

PHOTO REMOVED BECAUSE SOMEONE CAN'T TAKE A JOKE!!!!

I would love to say these are the fantastic teeth of a redneck hillbilly...but sad to say those are mine. Parents use this picture to scare your teenagers! The good news is they will not be this way for long. At the fantastic age of 28 I am getting braces. Finally! Just have to pull six teeth then we will be ready to go.

So we have Docs, piercings AND braces...

PHOTO REMOVED BECAUSE SOMEONE CAN'T TAKE A JOKE!!!!

Do you ever stand at the mirror and try to make the worst face possible just to see how bad you can look? I do, this isn't it I can do much better. But for arguments sake we will go with this picture. Not very attractive is it. For everone who admires the hot little bellydancer, I am so sorry to burst your bubble!

Here starts my random ramblings feel free to tune out...

What the hell is going on! 28 not 18...why am I suddenly feeling the need for braces and to feel and look young again. I'm too young to feel like this. Oh wait...I know what it is. Something to blame your marital status on. Don't you hate that? I hate filling out forms and having to answer my marital status. Yup....28...yup...still single......yeeeaahhhh. In lite of my resent situation I am left puzzled yet again. Twice in one year I have been told you are a good person but I just don't know what I want right now. This is not BS I am a good person. And it took a long time for me to realize that. I'm far from perfect I know that but for the most part I am doing pretty darn good for my age. And unlike most people my age I don't want to be single. I want to settle down and start a family.

So what the hell is wrong? Ugh. Truth is I have no idea this time. I will say this it has left me feeling that my hope is dwindling. I know everyone says your young your crazy you will find someone. But the truth is I already found someone. He just hasn't found me yet(you know who you are don't squint your eyes at me). I'm tired of looking and I'm tired of a big empty hole in my heart. Twice this year it has been crushed. Whoever said "Tis better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all", clearly never loved and lost. It hurts like hell. Especially when there is no logical answer or reason as to why. Am I really TOO good of a person? Do I just care TOO much?

So back to early mid-life crisis and marital status. Since I am about to go into braces I think it is pretty safe to say I will be full blown polish dork. Not the most attractive state to be on the hunt. Lets say I will be in the braces for two years. By the time they come off I will be 30. They say everything goes to hell when you turn 30. At least Ill have a pretty smile! In conclusion I already have someone, I don't want anymore heartache at this point. I'm giving myself till the braces come off, then I will worry about turning 21. :-)

Here is hoping that long before then that guy (you know who you are) I found who still needs to find me will realize he has had me all along all he needs to do is look right in front of him. At the wanna be rock star with the hot braces, nose piercing and sweet doc martins. Yeahhh that paints a sexy picture doesn't it! LOL

Valentine's Day 2009

I spent my morning at the shop getting two new tires...but after that the day got better. I got on the road and made it to Dales around noon. We meet up with some of the guys Dale works with and went out to dinner up in Fallston. After that...I went into a time warp! These pictures are not from the 80's! Actually I had a great time. This is a band that are friends of Dales called Korupt. They did mostly hair band rock covers and were really good. Nice guys and a lot of fun. Oh I also got a very nice card and a beautiful bouquet of roses :-)

My blacksmith has been hard at work again!

So I fianlly talked him into making a few things to try and sell. Check out this awesome candle holder he made this weekend. It is now featured in our little Etsy shop,

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6815324&ga_search_query=smithknit&ga_search_type=seller_usernames

Smithknit

Gypsies, tramps and thieves!

Saturday the 7th of February proved to be mayhem and thievery as once again rebels and rascals ascended on Betty and Jerry's for a night of mischief! Our theme this year "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves". Perfect setting for my gypsy self. All were present for this night of mockery!

So I have my knitting...

He is a blacksmith :-)

Working hard on a candle holder which he gave to Lyn and Heather.

My weekend getaway. A drastic change from my basement apartment in Arlington.