I Moved!
Said Mouse@8:48 PM |
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Breaking up is hard to do.. Dear Blogger,
Honey, I think we need to talk. I know that we've been together for a long time (over 2 1/2 years) but I'm starting to feel like things aren't going to work out with us any longer. We've had our good times and even survived a move from Tennessee to Georgia but its the bad times that are laying heavy on my mind nowdays. I know that we've tried to make it work.. there was even that time where we saw other people.. but I came back to you because I loved your templates and HTML savvy features. Mr. Typepad was too rich for my blood, and it was only one date.
There are so many things that I still love about you and that I'm going to miss.. like the way you leave a nice cellpadding around your photos, your spellchecker, and the way I can change your fonts to whatever size or color fits my mood.. but darling.. its not enough. Lately it seems that all I get from you is "failure to publish" and "scheduled outtage" - its just not like it used to be when we were first dating. I've tried to look beyond all of these problems.. but I just can't anymore. You're killing my will to blog.. and I just can't have that.
I want to be honest with you.. I've met someone else. I wanted to tell you to your face so that you weren't surprised when you see us around town together. His name is "Dreamhost" and he really is a great guy. He's smart, has a lot of memory, and even lets me be mistress of my own domain. I'm going to be blogging with him from now on... We've been going together in secret for a little while and even though he's not flashy.. he makes me feel inspired. I would hope that you would want me to be happy... and I am.
I wish you the best in whatever you do.. and I know that you'll never be lonely with all of the new bloggers coming to your door daily.
Sincerely,
Mouse

(So.. that's it folks. I'm moving to www.knottymouse.com and I hope to see everyone there. I'll be hosting a little contest I think as a "blogwarming" party.. soon!
The Feedburner feed (which you can sub to with the 'sub to bloglines' button is the fastest I think.. so don't forget to update your links for me! - its been fun guys! )
Said Mouse@8:40 AM |
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They're Out to Get ME!!!! Ok.. first Blogger attacked me, then Bloglines refused to play nice with me claiming ownership of the new blog in their site feeds (it still is being HORRIBLE!!!), then the new blog DISAPPEARED.

On an up note.. I scored tickets to the 'training night' of a new restaurant.. and its FREE FOOD for the whole family! I was really afraid that I wouldn't get to go out for my birthday at all.. but this is even better.. even if it is 4 days early.

Now if you'll excuse me.. I'm going to go eat "bottomless fries" until I explode.
Said Mouse@3:54 PM |
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Changing like the weather.. Ahh fall. I wait and wait through the Georgia summer heat (which lasts entirely too long and is too hot and humid..) for this time of year.. and its finally here. The funny thing about Southern fall is that it happens abruptly - one day you walk outside in shorts and sandals and get hit with a wall of cold- just like that, summer is over. Being born and raised in the northeast, I feel like my body is programmed to expect this weather around the middle to end of September.. and I long for it the whole month. Now that it is finally here, I'm not so sure that I can deal with the grey, cold, frost-covered mornings of walking Munchkin to the bus stop in this practically treeless subdivision we live in.
I have been going through crap in my daily life that I'm not willing to talk about here, been rather in a dark and dismal mood, and otherwise been avoiding blogging very much for fear of what will fly out of my mouth. I've actually been blogging a bit more than it shows here, but its being done somewhere else while I decide if I'm totally "done" with Blogger and its stupid 'outages' ( I see it says we're due for another one at 2pm PDT today.. yippee..) and try to get the new one tweaked to my liking. I was actually going to move on Friday the 13th to the new blog.. but got irritated at all of it and stopped the whole thing. There's part of me that has been deciding whether I really wanted to keep blogging at all.. because I feel like this blog is a rather diluted version of my personality and views.. and there's a part of me that wonders what would happen if I just sort of 'let loose' and put it all out there. I guess after you get beyond 2.5 years of blogging that there comes a point where you have to decide how much of yourself you're willing to slather all over the internet for the general public to read.. and its a tough decision.
People who know me well.. know that I get like this around my birthday (which is on Sunday the 29th.. so its damn close to time for me to flip my lid..) and either avoid me like the plague, or step lightly as to not get their heads ripped off and used as door stops. To say that I'm sort of an 'emotional trainwreck' around this time of year is an understatement. I know that part of it too has to do with Samhain being only a few days away.. but I won't get all *insert twilight zone theme* on y'all here. I get this sort of "torch it all and start over" feeling around this time which affects every aspect of my life.. right now I want to re-arrange furniture in the whole house and throw out all of the clutter everywhere before I go out of my mind staring at it.
So that's where I'm at currently. I'm pretty sure that this is more 'reality' than I've put out on my blog in a long time.. but I sort of need to get all of this off my chest. I don't know what's going to become of all of this.. but I know that its not going to remain the same.
Said Mouse@12:52 PM |
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A well deserved win... I'm a total Project Runway fan and I am so happy that my favorite designer won -- Jeffrey Sebelia!

I was really happy when they decided to go with a final 4 since the styles of the final designers were so varied. All in all I think that Jeffrey had the most talent and innovation out of the entire group.. and I'm glad that he'll have the money and recognition from the show to help carry him to the top.

(and now I have to go to bed because its entirely past my bed time..)
Said Mouse@10:48 PM |
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Randomness with fiber Its a very "Random Monday" here at Casa de Mousie Mouse - and I'm offering up pictures of fiber love to combat the absolute suckage of my weekend. The tire was taken care of this morning and my car DID make it to the clinic where Munchkin survived what appears to be his LAST vaccination for "the series".. I think that means we're free from clinic hell for a while.
To the left is 3 skeins of handpainted laceweight yarn from www.handpaintedyarn.com that FINALLY came in on Saturday. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what to say about this company since I've heard good things prior to my experience.. but I ordered this (all marked "In stock" ) on September 22nd and just recieved it. Seems as though some part of my order was backordered TWICE... but the customer service dept. did email me to inform me that my package was in limbo. The red yarn on the left is their new laceweight merino (for Hockeymom- hence the colors..) and the two others are 850 yds each of 'laceweight wool', one in "Saphire Magenta" and the other in "something something Loro" - the merino is by far softer than the 'wool'. The colors are 'off' from the website but since I generally feel that ordering yarn online (especially handpainted yarn) is hit or miss I am happy anyway, the colors are very rich and beautiful. I'm contemplating a lace shawl or stole with them.. but otherwise no plans have been made.
Next up are the things that are keeping me happy during all of this "lets cosmically crap on Mouse" week.. I ordered Barbara Walkers 'Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns' and I'm absolutely in awe of the fact that the book is chocked full of 700 different stitches. I'll be ordering the rest of the series between now and Christmas before they decide to become 'out of print' again. I bought this book with the part of my birthday money that isn't going to replace husband's stolen tools (insert nasty swear words, curses upon the thieves, and evil eye glaring..) and I'm definitely happy with shelling out $30.00 for it. The new VK is out.. and I'm loving the scarf on the cover - even if its knit with numerous strands of 90 inch i-cord. (um yeah.. I'm not quite that bored yet.. thanks) The rest of the magazine is remarkably more 'wearable' then some of their previous issues and I love the Asian influence section.
Edited to add: Yeah.. I totally forgot to mention the Coffee Mate creamer- its the new seasonal flavors "Pumpkin Spice" and "Peppermint Mocha" (the Gingerbread one didn't thrill me last year so I left it at the supermarket)which both just thrill me to bits when I saw them at Publix. I've gotten away from coffee in the last few years but I really enjoy a cup of flavored hot coffee when its cold and raining outside. I totally admit that I don't have a life and new coffee creamer flavors make me excited.
I've been doing a lot of spinning lately and decided to dig into the fiber stash and find something new to play with. This is the hand-dyed Corriedale that I picked up in August at Plying the Arts in Athens GA... and its absolutely gorgeous. Its overcast here and I'm having trouble getting accurate photos.. but its a very soft mix of purples, wines, greens and blues that reminds me of the colors that oil makes in water. I'm spinning it as a sportweight single (about 13 wpi for the spinners out there) and am not planning on plying this so that I don't "muddy" the colors too much. In the spirit of full disclosure.. I'm not spinning this on my Louet S-10 -- but on the Ashford Traditional that Hockey Mom left here during her completely random visit last Friday. She came through town and dropped off her Ashford Trad for me to take for a spin (har har har) and see if I liked it.. since its for sale. Right now, I'm really having a good time with the wheel.. we'll see.
Said Mouse@2:35 PM |
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Harlot scarf in progress After reading about Harlot's handspun scarf that she made I decided that it would be the perfect use for the purple merino singles I had on the bobbin. I'm very happy with the results so far and I have about 16 inches of the scarf done so far.. sometimes being away from the computer is a good thing! This pattern is really easy to memorize and was perfect for all of the waiting I was doing- waiting for the electrician, and the electric company, and the police for the theft report.. etc etc. It was such a beautiful day that I decided to spend time on the deck and knit straight off the bobbin (you can see my little mock lazy-kate in the photo.. a sheet of styrofoam and a knitting needle.. lol) and onto a set of size 8 dpns.
The resulting fabric is a really nice patterned stitch with no definite front or back. Its also taking care of the biasing and the thick/thin spun of my single.. even though its been somewhere between a fingering & sport weight yarn. I'm having trouble capturing the colors properly in a close up- the top photo is nearly color accurate..
I have a good bit still on the bobbin and another 6oz of this hand dyed merino roving in the fiber basket.. so I'm definitely going to have enough for a long scarf. The width of the scarf is about 3 1/2 inches and I'd like to make it around 60 inches long.. since I want to be able to wrap it a few times around my neck and have it trail down. Not sure about fringe yet but maybe some sort of interesting edging from the Nicky Epstein books I have.
I've got a few more things to show but they'll have to wait until tomorrow since I ran out of photo-taking light. Hubby has to run out before work tomorrow and get the tire fixed - it turned out to be a bad stem on the tire and there aren't any tire shops open on a Sunday in this area ( just my stinkin' luck..) and then hopefully I'll be back in business. The car is running like crap again but I've got to go to take Munchkin for more vaccinations on his day off (teacher in-service) from school. It'll be another fun day at the local health department where we'll wait ALL day to do something that will take 10 minutes... unfortunately he won't be allowed back in school without these vacc's current so it has to be done asap.
Said Mouse@7:21 PM |
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Saturday Stuff.. I'm usually a crappy KAL-er because I tend to get completely sidetracked and am unable to finish a single project when there are many fish in the sea.. I'm hoping to change that with Soctoberfest. This is my variation of the Cabled Footies from "One Skein" - turns out I wasn't properly following the cable pattern directions and I have a shorter and more twisted cable than the original. I've written down what I did and will just follow it on the other footie. These are super-easy but learning to cable without a needle is pretty much a necessity with these I think. I learned from the tutorial on Grumperina's site... very easy. These are knit with worsted weight LB WoolEase in "natural heather"..

I don't have a Saturday Sky today for very good reasons.. mostly that since yesterday night (which sucks because Friday the 13th is usually a really great day for me..) everything has absolutely sucked. Around 6pm last night our power went out.. then went back on, then went out.. and then went dim. All of the lights in the house and even the coffee maker were all going half speed and half light.. it was really creepy. My husband was still 2.5 hours from home and I was forced to turn off the power at the breaker box and sit in the dark with Munchkin until he came home. Last night it was deemed too dangerous (a house recently burned down in our subdivision from electrical..) to have the power on.. so we went without. I really need to purchase some unscented candles for things like this.. because the house STANK of Yankee Candle by about hour 4.
Because the power was out.. the garage door didnt' close properly - and this morning my husband went to the garage to get a screwdriver and realized that we'd been robbed. They took ALL of my husbands tools..... leaving us with a hammer and a few random boxes of screws. We don't have renters insurance.. and are basically screwed. Needless to say .. I will not be attending SAFF this year. Its during my birthday and we were planning on going.. but we are going to need to use the money to replace some of the husbands tools.
The other thing that happened.. is that I woke up on Thurs. morning to a flat tire. It was going to be fixed this weekend.. but since hubby's air compressor was among the items stolen from the garage.. I'm going to have to pay a shop to fix it. I'm going to go hide in my bed now.
Said Mouse@8:19 PM |
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Friday the 13th
Said Mouse@4:24 PM |
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Sock Tea Party..
Just in time for Jane's sock contest I caught my socks having their morning tea. Everyone was there.. from the little Munchkin striped ones, the 2 unfinished (trekking & mountain colors) single socks (who I heard got along QUITE famously..) the Vineyard Stripes (who still can't stop talking about being at MSW) and the adopted Lornas Laces Waffle knits.. all enjoying a nice cup of green tea.
Said Mouse@1:50 PM |
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oh yeah.. it IS saturday!

I almost managed to forget that it was Saturday.. when you are sick the days seem to run together. Being sick made me crave comfort food something fierce, and we have had homemade soup for the last few days for dinner. I started out with the intention of making some buttered egg noodles for dinner and somehow ended up making chicken vegetable noodle soup!

I used a can of chicken, a bag of egg noodles, bag of carrots from the fridge, half a bag of stew veggies left in the freezer, a can of chicken stock, and a can of tomatos.. also some spices, garlic, and onion flakes. Usually my attempts at homemade soups have been less than stellar - but this one was so good that I didn't mind eating it for 2 days.. even the broth had a good flavor! I'm pretty sure it was due to the fresh garlic and all of the seasoning I threw in.. but man, was it good.

I did manage to photograph another Saturday Sky.. this one was taken only about 30 minutes ago as the sun was going down. Hubby left us money for pizza - and we took advantage of the situation and ordered delivery from Pizza Hut for dinner tonight. I was busy chowing down on some mushroom, ham & extra cheese pan pizza with the munchkin while watching Disney Channel and realized that I was going to miss getting a picture for today; so I raced outside and nearly tripped over the cat! She's been acting rather flakey and territorial since hubby left on Thursday and I'm not looking forward to another week of her being under my feet every two seconds.

Said Mouse@6:37 PM |
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Drumroll please... Last week during all of the Blogger downtime and screw ups.. I got really fed up with not being able to access my shop site. I took a look at my finances and decided that I needed to take the plunge into dot.com ownership - and with some programming help (.. thanks for the install help Melissa..) www.Mousiemasala.com was born.
Even after all of the problems and being sick as a dog to boot - I'm up and running - the shopping cart and check out is working and its all ready to go! If you have any problems (besides the fact that the site is a mess in Firefox.. I'll try to figure out why that is.. until then you'll have to use IE.. sorry!), please email me ( its under my profile on the upper left of this blog) or comment. I hope y'all enjoy the new improved shop..

I'm going back to bed now.. It was the first day of "daddy trip" that we had to get up and ready for the school bus.. and we nearly blew it! Unfortunately "mommy" had a rough night with her sinuses and took some Tylenol Head Congestion PM at 4am - which caused her to sleep THROUGH the alarm at 7am and wake at 7:41am with 9 minutes to get dressed, drink some instant breakfast, AND find a library book before running out the door. * falls on face*
Said Mouse@7:25 AM |
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Birthday Wishes for my sis --
Happy Birthday Dragon!!
Here's to many more happy years...
(lets try not to both be sick for your birthday next year.. ok??)
Said Mouse@11:33 PM |
ABC-Along : O is for.. O is for Onions. Onions were never a big deal to me.. I don't particularly care for them but I will eat them in things.. as onion rings, in salsa, but not on burgers or hot dogs. Turns out that onions became very important to me when I married my husband almost 9 years ago - he's allergic to them! The dehydrated onion flakes in the picture are the only way that evil onions enter this house now.. and going out for food is always tricky. Thankfully he's not deathly allergic (throat closing up.. etc) but he does get VERY sick to his stomach and WISH he was on his way out !!

I'm not sure if ABC along has ended or not.. but I'm going to keep on trucking until I finish the alphabet.. only 11 letters left.
Said Mouse@7:17 PM |
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A late Saturday Sky... An entire week sort of blew past me at the speed of light - filled mostly of junk that I just can't talk about right now. The Saturday Sky to the left was taken at a birthday party for a relative of my MIL's best friend - a great cook out and awesome food.. but a tiring day. Munchkin was sick all last week and ended up being home from school for 2 days with a horrible cough and sore throat that is still hanging around. He's doing better now and is finally sleeping through the night again without the help of 'better living through chemicals'. As per usual of course, I now have the chills and a sore throat... yay me. I'm pretty sure my hair hurts right now- that can't be a good sign.
True to form, I'm over-doing it and am completely stressed out.. hence the "Cosmic Smackdown" as a really good friend of mine used to call it. That's where the universe sort of bitch-slaps you into seeing the reality of your situation because you're just too wrapped up to see it otherwise. I tend to need less subtle hints.. like the cartoon Acme safe hitting me upside the head and denting me into the pavement below.
I finally finished all of the llama,llama,duck sets and have all but mailed them out.. which makes me unbelievably happy to see them all go. I sort of felt held back by them and am enjoying working on some Samhain themed sets for 'release' to the shop on Friday. My husband is on his way out of town for his yearly "guys trip" to the mountains/florida on Thurs - which makes my impending bout of the plague right on time. I'm usually deathly sick while he's away and this is no exception. Now.. if you'll excuse me.. I have to go figure out whether I'm hot or cold.
PS. thanks for all the suggestions as to where to throw the blog when I get a free minute to give the finger to Blogger.. I'm running behind on returning comments but appreciated everyone's feedback. There are changes brewing around here.. bubble bubble.. * grins wickedly*
Said Mouse@9:16 PM |
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