This one goes out to the one I love

Today is Robert's birthday.

I am so lucky to be his wife. He is my rock, he's my soft place to land, he is my friend, he's got my back. **He's a cowboy wrapped in a genius, wrapped in a dream, wrapped in another cowboy**

Happy birthday baby, this one will be better than the last one, I promise.

**That was a line from the tv show "Frasier" the person that said it was talking about Dr. Phil.

Groovy (?!)

When I mentioned what a moron I was for knitting my square for the Holly and Tracy's Blankie Project before I dyed the yarn. It was suggested that a tie-dye square would be cool.

I knew that tie-dying the lacy leaf pattern square wouldn't work, so I had to make another square, just plain stockinette stitch and then I tried to tie-dye it.

It became abundantly clear that I know nothing about tie-dying, however, that didn't stop me.



Oh yeah, that's really groovy, Amy. But just look at that lawn, that Robert knows how to keep a beautiful lawn, I'm here to tell ya!

Here is the Lacy leaf pattern square now that it has been turned green:



It's kind of a sage color, but you'll have to take my word for it because I couldn't get an accurate picture of the color to save my own life.

Becky posted a picture of a moth on her blog today (maybe yesterday) and since I had a very similar picture I thought I would post mine too. I don't think this is a moth, I'm calling it "undetermined type of winged insect".



For my last photographic entry, here is something I saw while out running amok errands this afternoon.



I'm gonna get all thankful now:

1. I am thankful for my beautiful niece, Leslie. Happy Birthday, sweetie.

2. I'm also thankful that she doesn't ever have to say "But I'm almost 18" again.

3. I'm thankful that it has stopped raining.

I'm going to grow some flippers

It's unusual, Mid-June, to have this much rain around here.

Holly B, Tracy B and the Zombie Prom Date Knitters have a fun charity knitting project going on. If you're looking for a project, go on over and check it out. They're looking for 12" squares made from worsted weight washable wool in any shade of orange or green. Tracy lost her sister to cervical cancer and they are making a blanket in her honor to donate to the Hope Lodge. Go on...go check it out.

I decided I would make a square for them, I knew I had some bare superwash wool that I could dye green or orange so I got it out and made a swatch to figure out my gauge, then I started playing around with a pattern, before I knew it the square was done - and it is not green or orange. What a loser! I always do everything bass-ackwards. I guess I will pull my head out and do something that will cause it to be green today.

It looks like this right now, we'll see how it turns out.



Hasn't been a whole lot of knitting going on around here other than that.

Here's some things that I am thankful for today:

1. I am thankful for places like the Hope Lodge.
2. I am thankful that the high temperature in my area today is 79F/26C.
3. I am thankful that I live on a hill.

I've been tag-teamed

I have been tagged for this meme by Tracy B. and by Kristina Miss-I've-Been-On-Vacation-For-The-Last-Two-Weeks B. so I guess there's no way out of it.

1. What was I doing ten years ago?
Laying the groundwork for my self-employment and blissfully co-existing with a teen aged daughter. Was that sarcasm? Surely not.

2. Five non-work related things on my to-do list for tomorrow:
Non-work related? Does that include housework? If it does then, I got nothin'

3. What snacks do I enjoy?
Popcorn, anything with cheese in it or on it.

4. Places I have lived:
Tulsa and Sand Springs - which is basically Tulsa

5. What would I do if I were a billionaire?
Nothing that I didn't want to do, bah gawd!

6. Jobs that I have had:
A Waitress
Temporary Staffing Specialist - for a for a work-today-get-paid-today labor hall
Sales Representative for a collection agency - I only did Sales/Customer Service, no collecting for me!
Background Investigator

7. Now I'm supposed to tag some people, but since I just did the tagging thing about a week ago it probably wouldn't be in my best interest to do it again so soon.

Thankful list:

1. I am thankful to have had all of the jobs that I listed above.
2. I am thankful that I am not still doing the first three jobs on the list above.
3. I am thankful that the girl and I both survived her teenage years.

I'm going to write a strongly worded letter.

Who is responsible for this weather?!? I am sicktofreakindeath of all of the thunderstorms and high winds and broken limbs and and and. And as soon as I can figure out where to send my formal complaint you can bet that I will send it. I was in the process of writing a rant er, I mean whine um...post about the weather last night when another storm came through and knocked out our electricity. It was out until about noon today. I turned on the local news just to learn that there is another storm on the way. It's already looking dark off to the west, it may be too late to start composing that letter now.

Here is a picture that Robert took last weekend during one of the storms:



OK, I'll stop complaining about the weather.

Every so often I find myself in a situation that makes me say, "WHUT?" Yesterday was one of those times.

I do a lot of work for a company called United States blah blah, they normally just use their initials and call themselves U.S.x.x. I had to make a phone call and I identified myself as a representative of U.S.x.x. The woman on the phone asked me to spell my name, I did. She asked me again the name of the company and I repeated U.S.x.x. She then said, "Can you spell that for me?"

Um...no...I don't think I can.

Now, to be thankful:

1. I'm thankful that the weather hasn't really been more than an inconvenience to me, even though I've complained like it was a big deal.

2. I'm reminded again how thankful I am for electricity.

3. I'm thankful that, because of the rain, the high temperatures in this area have stayed in the low 90s.

Congratulations Graduates!

On Friday I went with my parents over to Ft. Smith, AR to watch my oldest niece, Leslie, Graduate from Southside High School. The ceremony was held outside, in their stadium. It was a pleasant Spring evening, the weather was perfect.

Leslie is a member of the National Honor Society, received the President's Award for Educational Excellence, and graduated with Honors.

She will be leaving her home in Ft. Smith in August to go to Abilene Christian University in Abilene, TX where she has received over $40,000 in scholarships.

During her senior year she played Princess Winifred in her high school's production of "Once Upon a Mattress". This part has been played by Carol Burnett and Tracey Ullman. This part requires singing, dancing and comedic timing and she pulled it off like a pro.

So I've established above that she is smart and talented, you can see in this picture that she is beautiful as well. This one has it all, she does.



That is not the only graduation our family had this year, though. My youngest niece, Madeline, graduated from Sonshine Preschool. At her graduation ceremony they performed "The Hoochie Coochie Song" and "Jesus Loves Me" they not only sang the latter, but signed it as well. Madeline will be staying at home and attending the 4-year-old program in August.

We seem to have more than our share of smart, talented, beautiful girls in this family.



I have some finished knitting projects to show, but my camera is a piece of crap and I apparently don't have the intelligence, patience, or emotional stability required to operate Robert's camera. We'll have to wait until he gets home so I don't cause any harm to his camera or myself.


Let's see...what am I thankful for today?

1. I am thankful for blue skies with no storm clouds.
2. I am thankful for Bo Diddley. Rest in peace.
3. I am thankful that Robert has a camera for me to use, even though I can't seem to figure out how it works.