She's got legs

It seems I started something over on Buck's blog when I made a comment about chubby legs that then bled over onto Becky's blog. So I feel obligated to participate.

Check out these gams...stems...pins...getaway sticks:


This picture was taken in May 1967 - and you'll have to do the math yourself.

While I was looking for the chubby-legged picture I came across another picture that I have always found odd:



To the far left is my granddad Omer, then my daughter Kate holding her cousin Leslie, my sister Penny behind the stroller, in the stroller is a family friend Trenton, then my mother Joyce, and me on the far right. This picture seems odd to me because, while we have always been a pretty close-knit family, we look like a bunch of strangers in this picture. No two are looking at each other, or even in the same direction. We're not talking or posing. And I don't even know who took it, I'm assuming it was my dad but I don't even remember it being taken. Judging from the ages of the children and my hairstyle, I would say that this was taken around 1993.

I'm thankful if nothing else:
1. I'm thankful that fat legs are cute for at least part of our lives.
2. I'm thankful I don't still have that big hair.
3. I'm thankful that I had 30 years with my granddad.

Oh, for Pete's sake

I woke early this morning, about 6:ooam-ish, we watched a little news and had some waffles and a little coffee, things were going well, we were going about starting our Saturday. Then, the clutz that I am, was attempting to walk and carry things in my hands and talk at the same time. I may have even been trying to chew gum, I don't know, but a series of unfortunate events resulted in a US 7 (4.5mm) bamboo knitting needle getting stuck (about 2" of it) in my left heel.

Here's how the conversation went:

Robert: Oh jeez.
Amy: I can't pull it out, you pull it out.
Robert: I don't think we should pull it out, I'm taking you to the ER.
Amy: I can't walk, pull it out.
Robert: I don't think we should pull it out, I'll carry you.
Amy: It hurts, pull it out.
Robert: (grasping the knitting needle like he is considering pulling it out) I can't get ahold of it, it's slick, I don't think we should pull it out, I'm taking you to the ER.
Amy: Bobby, it hurts, please pull it out.
Robert: (reluctantly) OK, Let me get something to get ahold of it.

He leaves the room and comes back with some pliers.

Robert: (grasping the knitting needle with the pliers) This is not a good idea, we should go to the ER...are you ready?
Amy: (takes a deep breath) Yes

With one smooth motion Robert swiftly removes the knitting needle and Amy feels instant relief.

Amy: (suddenly feeling flush) I'm gonna faint.
Robert: Lie down

Robert holds Amy's feet higher than her head, at the same time applying pressure to the wound on her foot. After a few minutes the nausea subsides and the color returns to Amy's face.

Robert: Are you OK?
Amy: Yeah, thank you.
Robert: I peed a little bit.

So, how was your Saturday?

Now I've seen it all

Have you guys seen this? Snoop Dogg and Willie? And if I know my cute boys (and I think I do) I would say that is Brad Paisley in the reddish hoodie and ball cap playing lead guitar.

What a strange collaboration. Willie is 75 years old, shouldn't he really consider settling down a little? Seriously, just a itty-bitty-tiny-little bit. What are they talking about anyway? Medicine?? I don't get it.



1. I'm thankful that Willie can still be Willie at 75 years old.
2. I'm thankful that my daughter told me about this video, because I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it.
3. I am thankful that September is just a few weeks away.

P.S. When I went to Brad Paisley's website to get the link I found a video there with him and Andy Griffith.(!) Holy smokes, has the world gone crazy?

We're dealing with a lot of stuff here!

I have seriously neglected blogging, both reading and posting, but I've been (as a very wise person once said) up to my @$$ in alligators around here. It's been a very busy summer so far.

There have been birthday celebrations:


One for Robert.


And one for my country.

There were ballgames to win:



There have been moderately successful attempts at staying cool in the Oklahoma heat:



There has been yardwork and wildlife to deal with:


Some soft and cuddly.



Some, well...not so much.

There were some more acts of kindness:


Ann from my knitting group made this hat for Dona. Thanks again, Ann. I have sent it off to Dona and I know that she will love it.

There has also been a (very) little bit of knitting:


This is another square for the Holly B and Tracy B blankie project. I loved that pattern, it was so quick and fun and easy that I decided that I would use some of the DK weight cotton I had sitting around here and size 3 needles and use the same pattern to make a pretty face cloth. However, that attempt did not go as smoothly as my first attempt at this pattern. It ended badly.

And there was this:


It may or may not become a finished object, we'll just have to wait and see how it goes. I took that picture in the house and those colors are not even close to the actual colors. Maybe if it becomes a finished object I will try harder to get a better picture of it.

Then there were some other things that weren't worthy of being photographed, like trying to get our house ready to put on the market so we can move back into Tulsa. I have decided that I am tired of working here for myself...by myself and I am trying to decide if I want to go back to work in a normal job or go to back to school, and doing what needs to be done in order to do one or the other. If there were pictures of these things, they would look a lot like me pulling my hair out. I've never been good at life-changing decisions.

Let's see if I remember how to be thankful:
1. I'm thankful to have so many career and housing options open to me.
2. I am thankful that Robert hasn't strangled me during this life-changing decision making process. Bless his heart. He's a saint.
3. I am thankful he won't be going back to Iraq in September.

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.