I’m moving!!! I’m so excited, I am in the process of buying a new house 670 miles from my last one. Its huge and old and perfect, only one problem, I cant move in yet.  It has chipping paint.  Who wouldhave thought just because the paint outside the windows is chipping it would put a huge halt on the whole thing. Turns out since the house was built before 1978 (ya about 60 yrs before that) that the nice folks at the VA would make the sellers scrape all the old paint off and put on new before they’d cut my check.  What do you want to bet it doesnt even have lead in it.  Oh well i guess its worth an extra week or two to be able to have nicer looking windows. *sigh* I just want to get out of grandma’s house….

    You may have noticed in some of my project titles I have (OSK) in there.  This stands for operation stash killer.  That’s my new goal.  Like many other ravelry folks I have a much too large stash of knitting stuff, especially yarn.  But unlike many of them, mine is pretty well all crap.  Its inherited fibers that probably would have been better off put into my gas tank rather than made into a yarn.  But I cant throw anything away.  I don’t know why.  It seems I’d rather have a box full of finished projects that I don’t know what to do with rather than throw away the yarn.  Give it away, you say, well I don’t want to put someone else in my same boat.  I am not the first owner of the vast majority of my yarn, and some how i seriously doubt that I am even the second or third owner of some of it.  But instead of letting it sit there i have a new goal, make stuff that it wont matter if it gets dirty or ruined. 
     For example there is my Pup rug, that you will see Corporal proudly displaying, It is made of all little scrap balls that i would be embarrassed to use in anything else, but who cares its going to get covered in pup fur and stink anyway.
     Well really i guess its not all crap, so I have a few things that I’ve made that are pretty good quality.  Well not good but fair.  Something I will use my self.  Or to give to my mom, she is probably tired of crapo pot holders, but if she ‘accidently’ sets one on fire while cooking it wont matter, she can throw it away and I’ll have a couple more ready to replace it at the next  gift giving holiday.
     Its a good thing i have a mom, cause I don’t know what else I’d do with all the junk I make and am too embarrassed to give to anyone else

I’m having problems adding pictures, but if you click on the links they will show them to you, and they’re super cute.

   Then there are the dogs… I thought you might want to see them and read their stories.  They’ve been driving me nuts today so I’ll do my best to be nice. 
First is The General:  http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3199/2760616249_824e575e97.jpg He’s my oldest.  He was adopted from the Little Rock Animal Shelter.  He was picked up as a stray because even though he had a collar he had no tags, and no one claimed him.  They had had him just over a month and I was surprised because this particular shelter/pound has such a high number of animals they cant keep them very long.  I’d always wanted smaller dogs (because they eat less, take up less space, etc) but I decided to adopt while my husband was on a deployment in New Mexico so I figured I better get something he’ll like so he wont have the heart to get mad, not that he would anyway…he’s such a softy.   But he had mentioned once that he’d always wanted a Yellow Lab so on to petfinder to find one.  www.petfinder.com I LOVE LOVE LOVE that site. So anyways, he was only about a year or a year and a half old so I knew he wasn’t going to grow anymore, well except wider because the poor thing looked half starved.  Not that I blame the shelter because I believe they do the best that they can with what they are given, and there is no telling what he looked like when they picked him up.  Anyhow when I walked into the kennel area all the dogs were going crazy and just barking like mad, and then there is this sweet looking little boy just sitting there looking at me.  Well thats a good sign right? So the shelter helper brought him out and the dog was so excited he just tried to jump all over my legs.  And that was it, he was my dog. So I paid my $90 but couldn’t pick him up til the next day, when he’d be fixed (ouch).  But he’s been the best dog ever, never bites, only barks at cats, still doesn’t really eat that much, which is good for the budget That was August 2006. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3016/2760615073_7b4fb91704.jpg   http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3133/2761460854_0975889633.jpg

   The Corporal:  On to November just three months later, and my husband was home on a leave for a few days, and of course he just thought The General was the best dog ever too.   It was a Saturday and we had decided to make a whole day of fun stuff because it was our first anniversary so we went to the Pet Co in a neighboring city, and wouldn’t you know it, it was their weekly pet adoption day, and they had tons of foster parents with their animals trying to find good homes for them.  So we oooh’ed and ahhh’ed over the cute ones and tra la la la’ed into the store to shop for The General, because he was fast becoming spoiled as a first child always is, even though we were dirt poor.  And my husband kept talking about one of the puppies he’d looked at, and I didn’t even remember which cause, I never paid that much attention to any of them, other than sure they were cute.  Well so before we can even buy anything he’s got to take me back outside to the foster parents to show me which one he was looking at.  It was a SUPER CUTE little rolley polley guy and only about 8 weeks old. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3045/2761457752_b7cb226e20.jpgI think he weighed around 9 pounds.  Well wouldn’t you know it, but the people with him had found him about a week before and couldn’t find the owners and couldn’t keep him.  So they weren’t associated with which ever charity had the foster parents, and since my husband was IN LOVE, and he was free (I’m a sucker for a good deal) we took him home. What was I thinking, right?  A brand new puppy, not house broken,  we had NO clue how big he’d be or anything.  But what are you going to do you know, he needed a mommy and daddy.  They only thing we could really tell was that who ever had him first had docked his tail (ya I’d run away too) so we felt he was probably going to be pretty big.  May have had some kind of bull in him. Who knows.  So over a year later he’s HUGE, I am guessing around 90 pounds but I don’t know, cause I cant weigh him, he’s too big to hold and to stand on the scale.  I just cant say no to my husband, and he’s such a good dog now, the best minding dog I’ve ever had, I just love him to bits. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3256/2760560873_e131377b3c.jpg

   Adm. Pacely:  That’s quite enough you say, oh no, my husband goes back to New Mexico for another month and a half while i get the fun stuff of a puppy that’s too young to house train, and doesn’t like to be alone at night.  At least he had a big brother that loved him too.  Then my honey comes home and around April I think we decide to go to walmart to get some stuff and there are people in the parking lot giving away puppies.  I was on the cell phone so I wasn’t really paying attention when my husband starts walking to the puppies instead of the front door.  But I’m thinking, its ok, he knows better than to ask for a third dog right.  So I get off the phone and he’s holding this TINY little girl pup.  And I didn’t even have to ask what he was thinking by the look on his face.  Now personally I don’t believe in breeding, because I’m a dog rescuer through and through, I believe in shelters and adopting starving strays or rescuing abused dogs.  And I think unless you are breeding a working dog, like for sheep or whatever, then your pets should be fixed. No exceptions.  And I cant even talk about the people giving these particular dogs away because I decided I wouldn’t put mean things on my blog, but I got the impression that the breed dogs and sold what they could and the rest that were either sickly or hurt, they gave away at walmart.  And thats just wrong.  But still my husband is holding this little girl and her nose is dry and crusty looking and she has a nasty scrape on her leg that looks green and infected and lots of other little cuts probably because they had so many puppies.  I don’t think they were purposely hurting the dogs, but when you have multiple litters all stuck together, they are going to hurt each other. 
Anyway the girl just looked lethargic, didn’t want to walk around and didn’t even really look around, and I just knew she was probably going to die in the next couple days, so I decided that my husband could keep her, that way she’d have a nice quiet home and lots of love until she died.   Well she fooled us!  I think as soon as we got her away from those people and home, she drank some water ate some puppy food, and within a day was just like any other 8 week old puppy.  We got ointment on her and all her little scratches and cuts healed up and now she’s just one of the gang.  She ended up being a healthy 55 pounds even though the people giving her away  said she wouldn’t get to more than 25.  (losers, oh sorry, no wait, not I’m not, they were just icky white trash and there’s no getting around it).  http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3126/2761459014_f8b84dbcea_o.jpg   http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3221/2708644556_c728da93ff.jpg

    Alas its a good thing my husband is in Iraq, so he can’t fall in love with any more pups.  And just so he’s not embarrassed I helped in naming the dogs.

   Ok so I decide to knit my husband a sweater for Christmas, mostly because I had been listening to podcasts and some of them mention men’s sweaters and I just really wanted to make one.  But of course when we got married he pretty well told me up front that he wouldn’t wear anything knitted.  Don’t worry it wasn’t offensive.  We are just really honest with each other, and that’s how I think a marriage should be.  It would be much worse for him to pretend to like something to spare my feelings.

   So anyway in the beginning I had decided I wouldn’t make him anything, but then i start hearing stories about how the reason some people don’t like knitted garments and all is because they are afraid they will end up with something in bright colors with lots of cables and bobbles and so on.  hmmm, so boys want super boring stuff.  And this made sense to me cause when i knit my husband doesn’t pay attention, he doesn’t know if its difficult or whatever.  He cant appreciate the work that goes into something.  And I don’t expect him to.  But I still wanted to make something.

   A little more background:  As I’ve mentioned before, my husband is currently in Iraq, so its easy to get some gift knitting time in with no spectators spoiling the surprise.  Unfortunately that also means I’m not really sure what size to make.  My husband is the kind of guy that can gain or drop 30 lbs with no reason.  He’s super tall and last time i saw him, which i believe was in march, he had a pretty average build.  But with the Iraqi heat and the fact that he’s started working out, there is no telling what he’ll be like when he comes home, probably in December. 

      So I start thinking about color, and from the podcasts and guys opinions I decide the darker and more boring the better.  So I Tra la la la off to walmart to get some ideas.  And I find some Red Heart in kinda a milk chocolatey color.  Not too brown and not too colorful but dark enough to be wintery.  I think the color name was Cafe.  But then I was thinking, it is for the love of my life, so maybe i ought to get some better quality.  And I’ve got plenty of time so I go home empty handed.  I think in a previous post I talked about going to Michaels Craft Store.  So I start looking around, and it seemed like when i found a color I liked, i didn’t like the fiber, and if i liked the fiber i didn’t like the price, and if i liked the price it was in girly or baby colors.  Sigh

   But my dad happened to be with me and he starts poking around, with his “what about this…. or this”  And I had to explain how much i needed because of course there were some that were the right fiber, color, and price, but not enough skeins.  And then he comes down the isle with three skeins in his hands and says “what about these, they are masculine colors”  And low and behold one of the three choices is Red Heart Cafe.  So I had to get that right?  And really I started thinking that he already told me he wouldn’t wear something knitted so why pour money into something he may not like.  And to make a sweater for him, and I’m making it kinda big, just in case, it was only like $20.  I mean I’ll force him to wear it at least a couple times, and I plan on calling it The Hiking Sweater, because we plan on doing some winter hiking this year.  But if I am lucky and he actually likes it then Red Heart should hold up to machine washings and I can always make him something better next time.

   Oh, I almost forgot, about the color and size.  So since I didn’t know a good size when i got home i started poking around in his side of the closet to see about measuring off of a shirt that I knew looked good on him when he left, and i pull out this long sleeved lite sweater type shirt, and was like, Damn. It was ORANGE. Well to be fair it was like a burnt orange, but still.  I mean I know his fav color is orange, but everyone else said “boring is better, get dark manly colors, guys don’t wear color”  But I still like my Cafe, but at least for next time if I decide to do it again, I have a little more room in the color department.

   Here’s some background on our relationship in case you are curious:
I met my husband almost three years ago, in the end of Aug 2005.  We went out on a date and while i thought he was relatively interesting I decided he was too tall, and I even told him he was too tall for me to date.  An exact FOOT taller than I.  But we talked a little more and I decided to go out with him again.  Mostly because I was dirt poor and kinda hungry.  But then I thought he was pretty cool. So after knowing him about 2 weeks (maybe less, im not sure) and being in the National Guard he was called to do some hurricane Katrina relief in LA. The plan for the boys was three weeks in LA and one week home and so on. So we kept up our friendship on the phone for the first three weeks, and by the time he came home for his first week off we decided we’d not see other people anymore and see where this relationship would take us.  But then during his second three weeks in LA, he started talking about taking a non government contractor job that would pay well but keep him away for long periods of time.  And having tried the long distance relationship thing I told him up front that I wouldn’t do it.  It was too difficult emotionally to have someone so far away and knowing that if they chose they could just break up with you or stop calling and that I wouldn’t have a long distance relationship unless I was married.  So then we decided to do just that. and at the end of his second three weeks we got married on his week home.  He never looked into the contractor jobs and he didn’t go back to LA because he had gotten hurt on his second three weeks and a third trip was optional.  But there you go, our whirlwind courtship and marriage.  We eloped in Eureka Springs, AR.  One of those places were every other business is someone who can perform weddings.  And I count my self lucky because when you marry fast you never quite know what your going to get, but ever since I was young I had a feeling I would just meet someone and it would be fast and somehow I was right.  Of course being an Army Wife isn’t all its cracked up to be.  The other day I got a calendar and of the almost 3 years we’ve been together we’ve actually only lived together about 50% of the time.  And that’s super hard, but when you’ve found the right person its worth it right.  A
   One day a girl I knew said the reason we have such a good relationship is because we never see each other, and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for her, because if she really thought that, then she must have a bad marriage.  But then again most of the people I know have bad marriages, or are divorced and on their second try.  And that makes me appreciate what I have more. And right now I talk to my husband at least 6 times a week, and while I may not get a hug when i need one, i know he’s always there if i want to talk to him. 

   Ok enough sappy crap.  I am so not the over emotional type.  And the whole idea of “romantic” things gags me, but I like telling my story, and while so far no one reads my blog, its good for me, because i have a horrible memory.  So anyways…

   After my last post I decided I don’t like reviews.  I just don’t have it in me to write bad things about other people’s work.  So now if I happen to find something I just LOVE then, I’ll write about that.  Otherwise its just not any fun. 

   So on to something I love.  Cotton yarn.  It seems that its rare for people to love cotton, but where I’m from there aren’t a whole lot of choices.  I’m sure there are Yarn shops with lots of interesting fibers, but not close enough that I can get to easily.  As a matter of fact the closest place with much selection (other than acrylic) is Michaels Crafts Stores.  I actually went there the other day and was surprised to find alpaca and wool.  And to other knitters it seems those are THE only yarns.  But alas for me, my budget restricts me to the cheapo yarn.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not totally against acrylic like most people, because it comes in so many forms.  I hate fuzz balls but that’s just kind par for the course.  I know people spending $100 to make a sweater and it still gets fuzzy AND they have to hand wash it.  Also I have an aunt that used read heart for everything she ever did.  Of course where she lived, a town of probably 700, she still had to drive to the next town just to find that.  So on to my point about cotton…

   The reason I bring it up is because I’m thinking about joining a yarn swap, and if I decide to, they recommend having a blog so that the person sending you things will know what you like.  And I figure why not make it obvious what I like.  I think the reason I started loving it, was because my mom and aunt LOVE cotton knit or crocheted wash clothes, for washing dishes. Anyway, I decided any fiber that could put up with that, and still not get fuzzballs was exactly what i needed.  You can throw it in the washer with no chance of felting. AHH so nice.

   Then i discovered something new, mercenized cotton.  I probably didn’t spell that right.  But its cotton, but shiny!  I can make things that look fancy and they are still cotton.  Of course I haven’t yet.  But i bought some on clearance, only one little skein but I’m going to see how it goes.  Well actually I have two, because someone gave me one but I didn’t even know what it was because it didn’t have a tag, until i bought the new one.  Anyways, now everyone knows what I like, so if i decide to do a swap it will make it easier for the  other person.

   Then here is my next dilemma, what if I decide to do the swap and the person I get likes something not available in my area.  The swap that I looked at said $25 worth of stuff is what you send for 3 months in a row.  So if I order something off the internet it would be $25 plus shipping from the site, plus shipping to the person I’m sending it to.  That could end up being around $45.  And I don’t know that I can swing that.  I’m open for suggestions

   More to come…

Oh ya I just remembered that technically I am sort of against acrylic because it is a petroleum product, and not a renewable resourse, and as you will find out in my future posts that I am slowly becoming greener and greener, but I’ll save all that for later, if i remember.

   A few months ago my husband surprised me with an iPod.  I was really technologically behind when it came to downloading music, but music in general has always been a big part of my life.  I was never one to make mix tapes for people, or anything so dorky, but when it came to my own free time, I would WAY rather be listening to my satellite radio than watching tv. And let me tell you, satellite radio is the only way to go. Anyhow so I got my new iPod and went strait to open an iTunes account.  Then ripped all my personal cd’s to my music library and bought just a couple songs from iTunes.  And I thought, man, this is awesome, its tiny and can hold like 2000 songs.  And I just thought that was super cool.  Then one day I decided to try to learn Spanish, which you already know about if you read my last blog.  Anyway, so thinking back to the old days I started looking for cd’s on ebay or locally that I could listen to to learn.  And bought a set online.  But then I was looking through the iPod store thinking gee if i would have looked here first i wouldnt have to wait on shipping. 

   And low and behold guess what I found…  Podcasts!!  And they were free, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Hundreds of recordings that I could just download in minutes and start right away.  So of course I did.  So far there were two that I’ll mention quick because they are the ones that like the most so far, and they are Coffee Break Spanish and  Discover Spanish.  The only thing that i wish were a little different is that the Coffee break Spanish is from Europe and they are using a dialect more from Spain rather than Central America.  And being from the southern United States I would benefit more from a Mexican dialect.  But really I’m not being picky because when I watch TV and hear spanish  and am able to pick out a word here and there, then I feel like its good enough for me.  In the area that I am in if I were to try to communicate with a Spanish speaking person, I feel like they would appreciate the effort no matter how i pronounce my c’s.   It would be like someone from Queens, NY talking to someone from New Orleans, LA.

   OK so on to my point for this blog.  So then a few weeks ago I started looking for other types of  podcasts and bumped into Sticks and String.  And I LOVED it.  Of course it was started over a year ago so I downloaded all the previous episodes. 

   Here’s probably a good enough place to throw in some quick background about me so that my reviews may make more sense.  I believe, although I’ve never taken the time to be officially diagnosed, I have ADD and OCD.  A great combination let me tell you.  But with the ADD it makes it almost impossible to sit and listen to someone talk if they are a slow talker.  It drives me crazy, I cant do it.  Average speed talking- fine, fast talking- great, slow talking – wheres a knife…  Ok so next with the OCD, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  It manifests in different ways for different people, and lucky me, I have both obsessions and compulsions.  Good thing spelling correctly isn’t on of my obsessions.  But anyway the OCD effects my ability to read books and listen to podcasts because I cant do anything that is a series out of order.  THere was a funny bumper sticker I saw one time that said “I have CDO its like OCD but the letters are in alphabetical order, like they should be”  Ya that’s me. 

   Anyhow so of course when I find David Reidy’s Sticks and String podcast there were 70 episodes.  Could I just jump in and listen to the last few to get caught up. Oh no.  Not a chance.  I listed to the first couple of episodes and thought, well hell this would be nice to knit to.  He has an incredible accent, and his episodes sounded so professional.  It was great.  Here’s where the obsessive part comes in.  I started listening, just about whenever I could, cause I felt like I had to get caught up.  In the car, or while knitting, or while washing dishes.  No wait, dishes are you kidding. That’s what the dishwasher is for.  If it isn’t diswasher safe, it isnt in my kitchen…  (ya see there’s a nice example of my ADD)  ok so where was I.  Oh Right, so i get to episode 70 and realize he is taking a break so it will be a while until I can listen to the next one, so of course off I trot off to free podcast land and see what else they have to offer. And I’m just floored.

   I didn’t know where to start there were so many, and just for knitters.  So I do the OCD thing and download the first 2 episodes  of every knitting podcast I could find at iTunes.  I decided that with my ADD that if I didnt like one by the first two episodes then they weren’t worth downloading the rest. Especially when there are so many to choose from.  Oh and for those of you who dont have an iPod, I think you can still get an account with iTunes, but really I dont know.  Feel free to leave a comment.

   Ok, so here’s what I found so far:  Wait back up, first let me tell you a little about my criteria.  First off I am not an editor or a professional reviewer but I know what I like, and to review properly I’d have to give you what I was looking for.  Here’s the things that I didn’t like:  Um, uhms.  If someone is Um-ing too much it distracts me from what they are trying to say and then I just cant listen anymore.  (its the ADD, i don’t take responsibility)  Long pauses.  I cant be the only one that that drives nuts.  I understand some people use the long pauses for dramatic effect, but come on if you take out all your pauses and your podcast is only half the same amount of time then its too much.  Besides I hate it when people are being dramatic on things that don’t really require it anyway.  I mean come on, knitting is supposed to be relaxing and fun.  Lets see what else, for my personal enjoyment the voice has to seem friendly, don’t get me wrong I’m not all bunnies and sunshine, but if they are cussing when its not really required, its the same as the um’s, its distracting.  I guess you could put that in the over dramatic category, Its like when one is cussing just for the sake of using that particular word instead if it being particularly necessary.  Sorry I know I’m not coming across like I should be.  Here let me put it another way.  Have you ever been out in public and seen a bunch of 12 year olds and one of them is cussing and you know he’s just trying to empress his friends?  Its not like I’m even offended by the language (cause I can cuss like a sailor…I dated a sailor once, anyway)  but I’m more annoyed.  They just sound dorky, you know?

Ok so I think this blog has been more about me and less about reviews, but now that i feel like if explained myself better i can get on to telling you which i liked and which i didn’t.

1) Sticks and String:  I already talked about this one a little, I enjoyed it, Professional, informative, educational.  There wasone some thing I didn’t like though.  It was the music.  For 2 reasons:  one was that in the Begining there was too much music.  But I believe that may have been kind of for filler while he was really getting good at the podcasting in general.  And if you like your podcasts to have music interspersed through them then you’d probably really like it.  But then later it was the type of music.  It was like when he started using less music, he starting using a different type of music.  Some of it was ok, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea.  But he got lots of positive comments on it, so I’m sure many of you would like it.
2)  Cast On.  I couldn’t handle it.  It seemed to have many of the things that don’t work for and ADD, OCD listener.  First let me say that I only listed to a few of the older podcasts, so she could have changed.  But I felt like they were over dramatic, there was too much music and she was a slow talker.  Those things distracted me to the point that I couldn’t pay attention to what she was actually trying to get across.  However, there are good points of course.  I didn’t like this podcast much but it was at least very professional sounding.  Unlike many, I think she has good quality equipment and that makes a difference sometimes.
I feel like such a bad person puttingthis stuff down, and I never hear anything bad about Cast On from other people, so I’m sure its just me.  But like I said, I couldn’t handle it.  I had to delete it from my list.
3)Barknknit:   I’m still deciding on this one.  Ive only listened to a little, but I will probably go back and download more and see where she gets too.  She is also on  ravelry and seems pretty talented.
4) Let’s Knit 2gether.  THis one is a video podcast, and I liked it alot because the podcaster went to events and fiber festivals and I got to see alot of things I wouldnt normally.  Where I live if they have anything like that I’ve never seen it.  So that part  was fun for me. Kat (not sure if it is a C or K)  was a little cheezy sometimes, but she was always fun and informative.  And the podcast seemed VERY professional. 

Ok I think I’ll stop the reviews there today, because I haven’t listened enough to really review the rest yet.  Plus I’m hopeing for some comments so you all can tell me if I have my head up my ass.  I feel like I’m goingto be stepping on toes.  But its whats been on my mind lately, and I am also hopeing for some comments that lead me toward some other podcasts that you all may think are great.  I’d love some suggestions as to what you think are the best choices.

So whats new today?

   I’ve been trying to think of things to fill my time while my husband is away and of course one of those is knitting.  However I am also a student but i have a little time off before fall classes start, and thank goodness its my last semester! Well for now anyway.

   So of course I’m knitting away and once I joined ravelry I started looking at their features and saw that one was a stash feature.  So I started looking through my stash and realized no one should have all that.  In my own defense most of it was given to me.  I have a gran that if she hears you have a hobby then watch out because she loves auctions and yard sales and so on, and if she thinks you can use something your going to get it.  Which really, is a nice thing to do because I’m dirt poor and would have much otherwise. 

   But alas it is taking up too much space.  So I’ve been knitting away and yet the piles dont seem to be dwindling.  Now if you are a non knitter and bumped into this blog because of tags like Iraq, then you wont realize a stash is something in the fiber arts industry that is pretty well universal among these hobbyists.  We will have closets or drawers just full of fibers and yarns thinking some day we will get to them. 

   Some of us (not me) even try to fool themselves into thinking that well “I only buy what I need for a particular project” Ya right, no one has enough years in their lives to be able to do that many projects.  Which coincidentally is why I have such a stash.  Other people stashed away so much that they died before they could use it all then my Gran picked it up at their estate sale and gave it to me.

   So, now, out of concern that I may die before i use it all and force some other young girl into being the 3rd or 4th owner, I have decided to try to use it up, as much as i can, before my husband comes home from Iraq in December!

   But anyway…

   Ok so some other ways to fill my time that I wanted to talk about:
I’ve been attempting to begin learning Spanish. And with any foreign language it seems its nearly impossible to learn with no one else either learning with you, or no one else able to correct you.  For example I started learning sign language a few years ago and took a couple classes at college, I wont say where because the classes were a joke!  They were sooo bad, but just taking them helped me meet other people that were interested in the same thing. And one evening while practicing with a classmate I met a hearing impaired guy.  While he was able to hear with hearing aids for whatever reason he didn’t have them in.  So we got to “talking” and hung out quite a bit after that, so just using the language helped me to grasp it quite quickly.  I should have prefaced that with the fact that i had a deaf friend in elementary school and had a bit of a background, however when she left for the state deaf school I lost most of my ability to remember the signs.  Either way, when you use something like that it stays with you.
   Thats where I run into the Spanish problem. I do not know a single soul that knows Spanish.  Thats where you come in dear readers… (well that is if i get any) Feel free to leave me Spanish comments.  I would love to add to my lessons with actually trying to read in Spanish.  I really feel like in the future i will be able to use it but for now I only know enough to embarrass myself.

Hubby’s on the phone, be back later.

My first blog.

I’ve finally decided that I’d join the rest of the internet world and start putting my thoughts and random information online for whoever may be interested in reading.  Most of this blog will be about my family and my knitting, because for the most part I imagine at least for now, that this blog will be only linked to my ravelry.com profile.

So a little about me:

I currently live in the southern part of the united states with my three dogs.  My husband is in Iraq and will be home probably somewhere around december.  Having him gone has been an interesting experience but I’ll be glad to have him home, that’s for sure.  It seems being an army bride has its benifits, but it also has its drawbacks, For example, things around the house only break when my husband is out of the country. And I’m way too stubborn to actually pay for a “handy man” so i get to do it all myself, and let me tell you, its not as hard as men make it look.  Just takes a little muscle and some intellegence and you’re good to go.

Dont get me wrong when my husband comes home he’ll get to do all that stuff again, but thats because it sucks, not because I cant do it myself.

I fancy myself a bit of a photographer so I’ll probably be adding a few random photos on here as well.  Between knitting, photography and perhaps travel, when I can afford it, that about covers my hobbies.

So for one of those random photos I’ll go ahead and introduce you to one of my dogs.