Randomness Reigns

Nope, I totally hate alliteration, can't you tell? Yeah, right.

I picked three random pictures from this week that I haven't already babbled about. While I wait for them to load to see what order I'm babbling in.....I'm going to babble about music. I love music. I bet no one has yet noticed. HA! I once tried to figure out my taste, but since I'm multifaceted, so is my music choices. For example, on the current playlist I have Buckcherry and Conway Twitty. Now who else do you know would even TRY to pull that off. I should hate Buckcherry, but I don't. I confuse myself! Maybe it's an attitude thing. Who knows. Pictures are up!


Blogland, meet Sam's blanket. Sam's blanket, meet my bloguniverse. I knew you two would get along. Dee's minnow mate this year is one very talented Senior diver. For sectionals, I made her this double layered fleece blanket. The closer to the end of the season, the colder the water (faster, you know)...and these girls get COLD. So, that's what we did for her. She has been a blast to buy for all year. She has such a great personality that she's just fun to come up with gifts to give her. State send off is Thursday. I have one more idea, I just hope it pans out. I'm so proud of her. I hope she does great and enjoys every minute of her experience. I'm also glad to see that breaking her fingers on the board earlier this season didn't dash her State hopes.


Ah, our garage. The J man and Katie spent hours over the past few weeks working on it. It was a disaster area. Now it is not. :D. Looks good, doesn't it? It's a crazy garage, though, cos there are two more rooms behind the main garage. There is also an attic over it. I could harbor criminals and never even notice!


Here's sock #1 from the coveted yarn dyer in Germany. I love it. Her colorways are beautiful and striking. The yarn has NO PLAY in it, but is so strong yet so soft. I cannot wait to get the other one done, so I can wear them all over the place. Funky socks are kinda like funky undergarments. You can be wearing the worlds most boring clothes, but underneath you can be having your own color party. I'm nuts, you know that? Yeah, me too, but nuts IS fun.....so Shelly public service announcement of the day is GO HIDE SOME COLOR. The more conservative your wardrobe, the more you are in NEED of some crazy secrets that scream your personality, even if you are the only one to see and know of it!

*whew* What a day!

Good thing I don't believe in stuff like Friday the 13th because this one sure had the makings. However, it all ended up good enough.

I had 2 job assignments for today....they backed up nicely to make a full day. Tuesday, the bigger one of the two was cancelled. NBD, or so I thought then. My phone rang at 630...the teacher who was scheduled to be gone had a sick child and the computer system wouldn't let her enter her absence. We talked for awhile, and she went on to call administration to make the call as her whole day would overlap my other assignment in the building by an hour. She called back at 7:10 to say that I needed to get over there. I did. After I had called her back, gotten the verbal lesson plans, found all the stuff and got ready to make copies....I walked into the office area to discover that another sub had been contacted by the computer line. It was one of those minor details that get all of us every time. Technically, it was her job. I could have stayed, I'm sure, but what's the point at being difficult? I've vented enough about how I hate the new system. So, I went out to breakfast with the hubby and took a nap. i went back for my afternoon assignments and all was good. What a crazy way to get out of bed and not get paid for the pain. I'll be interested to see if they throw an hour at me or not for that one. I care. I do, but I tell myself that I do not. What good is that going to do? Getting labeled as difficult to deal with will not help my cause at all in the future...and all over a few bucks? Nah.

After work, I ran the swimmer to practice, to home and we picked up Plaza for dinner. YUM! Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE mexican food? I LOVE Mexican food. We dyed hair (as her season is over, and the days of two-tones half grown out summer and chlorine bleached hair are over...and mine had gotten all nice and orangy again) and cleared off the dvr. Hubby and K went to Kato and had some 1:1 time. Life is good.

I fell asleep on the recliner again. WTH? I don't DO that kind of stuff until recently. I do now. And now it's 10:30 and I'm hoping I get tired again fairly soon.

OHHHHHHH! We got Netflix to stream through the PS3 today. I LOVE MY LIFE. I love movies. Hubby already caught Paul Blart this afertnoon and I'm about to finish up 10 Things I Hate About You. I'm guessing that I'm going to get one more watched before I go to bed.

SWIMMING CONTENT (run for your life while you still have the chance)
Remember when I said if you have a lane, you have a chance? Well, she had a lane, and she made the most of her chance. Did she qualify for finals tomorrow, Nope. Could I be any more proud of her, NOPE. She took 4 secs off of her fly and 5 off of her back...or the other way around) Her seed time was second to last in both races. (Hey, somebody has to be) She beat 3 other girls in each event. Nice work. She won both of her heats, the last on a come from behind touchout. How exciting can it get. AND she looked good off the walls. That was almost as exciting as the first time I saw her feet come out of the water. Good times. I believe 7 swimmers from here advanced to finals tomorrow and 3 divers qualified as well. How COOL is that?

KNITTING CONTENT (damn.....I'm on a ROLL here)
I've been knitting on the infamous Central Park Hoodie. As I can do NOTHING exactly by the rules, I'm making mine a zip up vest. Hey. It's mine, and I can do what I want to it. I've got about 1.5 inches on the finishing ribbing. I'm going for 2 inches or so THEN I'm going to do an i-cord bind off and put in my first zipper into a piece of knitting. *scary* I'm getting pretty excited. I'm also on the toe of the first sock of the Wollemeise Sultan that I have from Germany. This stuff is AWESOME. I hope I'm half as happy with the finished product as I am working with it. This stuff has to be the softest and strongest yarn I've worked with to day. love love love it!!!! I'll have to see how it wears.

Now, my last rant is about mold. Usually November is when I start getting an allergy break. NOT THIS YEAR. Apparently the corn here has a higher-than-normal amount of mold in it. SOOOOOO driving to and from everywhere that involves passing a field harvesting corn (ie EVERYWHERE besides in town) means I'm in trouble. Maybe that's why I'm falling asleep in places I've never slept before. *sigh* AND, I get to go back for an extra shot next week because I started a new vial Wednesday. Lucky, lucky, lucky me. I wish I could quit this stuff. I really do. Ah, well, if it wasn't this, it'd be something else, I'm sure. It's ALWAYS something.

Well, I'm not going to get any of that knitting done if I stay on here and type my life way. Have a great weekend and DO SOMETHING OUT OF THE BOX. Life's too short. Really!

Boy, do I know how to shut off the comments!

Guess I'm just talented like that. Still no knitting content. I DO have some, but it'll keep. Yesterday was all about our Vets. Today is going to be about swimmers, specifically mine. Now, this content is rated PG-TMI. I can't believe she didn't tell me that I couldn't blog this. However, I was instructed to keep it off of facebook. I can totally understand that. Here's some swimming 101. Most swimmers don't shave during the regular season. Why? Why do they wear drag suits and all other equipment used to make them stronger and faster....to build resistance (known as drag). Before a big meet (in this case, sectionals), they shave. The degree to which they shave is up to the swimmer. Back in my day of high school, our boys shaved their heads. It's all about getting as streamlined as possible. Below is her lower leg just moments before the coveted moment where she went to go about hair removal. She hasn't shaved since August, and it was driving her INSANE. That poor kid wore capri's in 90 degree heat....and wore tights to homecoming. Crazy? Nope, we call it committed.



Not pretty is it? Nope, but it takes a lot of tenacity at 14 to do whatever it takes. There are moments that totally amaze me. The best moment was the face filling grin I got when she came down and let me take a pic of her newly exposed calf. She yanked up the bottom of her pj leg and said, "I LOVE smooth legs" Double thumbs up, darlin'



Now...back to the point. I've tried explaining this to several people this year, and I'm pretty sure I've failed miserably. Swimmers are clocked to a 100th of a second. I've seen several ties this year, and not just in the shorter events like the 50 free. It's been ones that take a couple of minutes....six lanes and there are TIES. Swimmers fight for every last fraction of a second. Literally, races and meets are won and lost in less than a blink of an eye. So, for the big meets, they wear speed suits instead of the regular lycra ones and dehair as much as possible......because if you have a lane, you have a chance. There are no time outs, no half times, no substitutions, and no second chances.

How do I think she'll do? I doubt she'll make it out of prelims tomorrow. How do I feel about it? Fantastic. Several girls were fighting for the chance to even go to sectionals. She made it. Whatever happens from here is whipped cream on top of the sundae...and an experience of a lifetime. I can't wait to watch it all unfold!

Swim it like you love it!

Thanking a Veteran Day.

Short and sweet today. For those of you who are my friends on facebook, you've seen this before....but I thought I might hit a few more people this way.

Today is simple enough.

If you like your life, thank a veteran
If you hate your life.....change it and thank a veteran. Without them, you wouldn't have that choice.

Thank you Veterans. Two simple words that I hope can carry the enormity of what you've done for us civilians. Today is your day. May it be an incredible one.

Tuesdays not with Morrie.

Okay, okay, that was a good book. However, I didn't spend my day with Morrie. I did something better. I had a girlfriend date. I KNOW, right? I haven't done that in several weeks. What a breath of fresh air. We were gone most of the morning, and it couldn't have been better spent. Okay, on the beach with cocktails, maybe, but c'mon. This IS still reality, you know.

I've been exhausted this week. Too much stress and too little time? Yeah, that usually does it. I did a few shops yesterday. That was fun. We'll see how many I did right. (hopefully all) I checked the web, and so far there is no subbing for tomorrow. I could do a couple of public audits tomorrow, but they sure don't pay much. However, I am considering it. It depends if I have a ton of energy and need out of here or if I'm ready to tackle the house. Yeah, I wouldn't place bets on the house either. Cleaning has GOT to be one of the most overrated chores ever. Wash, vacuum, dust, repeat endlessly. However, it IS better than living without it being done. The top of my fridge totally needs attention. I tend to forget it. I can't see up there, therefore it doesn't exist, right?

I'm trying to remember how to play. Life's just to heavy for playing at the moment. When my brain stops weighing a ton, I bet I have a better chance. Maybe if I bought silly string.......I'd have a REALLY big mess to clean up! ack! No more of those.

Okay, here's what I'm tap dancing around with. I am supposed to forgive something, but in doing so, I have to allow myself to trust and open up for more hurt. I'm not finding the strength to do that. How do you forgive without letting the defense walls down? Can you? Are they two separate things or are they too intertwined? In my mind, they are a unit. If I cannot protect, then I am unwilling to forgive. No wonder all I want to listen to is hard rock. It's much easier to bang my head on the wall to the beat. Really. Is it really necessary to trust? Why can't I just live without it? Yeah, I know, not happening. Still. I hate this.

Ahhh, have I mentioned that I love music...and shuffled itunes?

Thank You ZBB.......toes in the water, ass is in sand, and I'm not going back again.
forget wahtever I was saying...I'm mentally OUT of here

Adios!