I just can't stay away - Ikea. Again.

Missing BB

I've been talking to some of the people I used to work with at BB lately and it's made me really miss them. Actually, I miss almost everything about working there. It was fun. I don't mind my job now and the people I work with are really nice, but I can only talk about coupons for so long. (I was told today that I'm a bad influence because I convinced someone to try the high-quality, $2 / portion, frozen salmon instead of the $1.50 / portion, bad-tasting stuff she's been buying. I apologized even though she said the expensive stuff tastes much better.) I miss walking through the warehouse saying hi to everyone - knowing everyone. I miss the women gossiping in the bathroom ("foreign language foreign language SLUT foreign language"). I miss being there alone after they locked up - it felt like a secret. I miss the maintenance guys: one who thought he knew everything, one who was almost a real-life Ned Flanders, one who often greeted me with "Hey darlin'!", and the one who jumped my car for me when I left the lights on (twice!). I miss the secretary who downloaded every "free" thing she could find on the Internet and then couldn't understand why her computer got so messed up we had to send the hard drive out to be recovered. I miss safety awards. I miss the little Hispanic guy who would say to me every Friday night "Your cheeks are like apples - I want to bite them!" in Spanish. I miss the creepy guy who knew the dirt on everyone even though no one really liked him or talked to him. I miss the people who would forget their passwords. I miss the supervisor who always said "Beth, partner... " when he had a problem. I miss sleeping 'til noon. I miss TonyD. I miss sitting around in offices, chatting. I miss going out for beer after work and then sitting in the car 'til 4 in the morning playing with the radio and laughing about stupid things. I miss calling Darla at the middle of the night with problems. I miss the guy who surprised me with plastic dinosaur theater just to cheer me up. I miss my Elvis doll. I miss the rumors (How could I be a lesbian and sleeping with one of the male supervisors at the same time? I had it on good authority that they were both true.)

I miss the guys in my department who didn't seem to mind listening to me talk and talk and talk. I miss talking about bands and hearing their secrets and making fake Internet personal ads with them. I even miss the beard. I miss all my goofy, goofy friends from there too. I miss work husbands and furby bowling and Red Lobster. I miss some of the nicest people I have ever met.

I miss who I was there too. I was needed to fix problems. I got along with everyone. I was nice and smart and funny and fun to be with. I feel like that's all gone and I miss it.

But I still have the ICQC calendar. and it still makes me laugh. Check it out:

The BB Calendar

Sam @ Ikea

Christmas pics

Christmas 2006

I put up some Christmas pics.

I didn't actually take very many this year. wierd, huh?

New Glasses

Yes, those are rhinestones. They're really sparkly!

Snow!

Everyone ran to the windows at work to watch the snow.

They laughed at me when I ran to grab my camera.

I94, the cathedral and a construction crane.

Fajitas. Strawberries. Chocolate.

Dancing in the kitchen.

It was a good night.

wrapping presents... with a little help

Dino hats!

I finally finished the dino hats!

These are for a few little buddies of mine.

I just hope they fit - I'm guessing on sizes!

More blog changes

As you can see, I've made a bunch of changes to the blog color scheme. Please let me know if something looks strange or if you think the colors make it really hard to read!

More Ikea...

mmm... meatballs & fries!

full moon

I got a new camera! I've been playing with it and having a lot of fun the last few days. Tonight I figured out where the long shutter thing is. I love playing with it. So I used the Eddie Bauer catalog I found in my mailbox (hey, I was just excited that it wasn't a bill!) to prop up the camera on top of the mailbox and took this shot. (Don't worry - I'll get better after a little practice! :) )

Thanksgiving

The classic family photo. Sam is, of course,

totally not paying any attention. lol

Anyone recognize that fabulous dish?

Possibly the best part - leftovers!

Kitty Dance

This is really funny. And the song gets totally stuck in your head!

you don't really care, do you?

I should have known better.

I modified my blog layout - please let me know if it looks strange!!!

Plush Puppy Slippers

Pattern: Plush Puppy Slippers from the Lion Brand website
Supplies: Size 9 needles & Lion Brand Tiffany yarn (love the Tiffany yarn!)

I followed the pattern but made them smaller based on my rough measurements of my nephew Sam's feet. I made them 20 stitches wide and did 14 rows with the garter stitch border and 10 rows of plain stockinette before the decreases. I would say they're roughly size 3 - 6 months. They're about 3 3/4" long, 4" around and stretchy. They fit Sam like I hoped they would - they're a little big but he can wear them now. (For reference, he's 9 weeks old, but tall (24") with big feet. Just like Dad!)

pics from last weekend

Sam & grandmas

reading...

trying to sleep

fluffy puppy slippers. soo cute!

Happy Halloween!

No cats were harmed in the making of this picture. One cat was, however, thoroughly annoyed. And a teensy bit (read that as totally) scared of my kitty ears (like puffy tail scared and everything! it was super cute!).

Sometimes I wonder how Spike puts up with me. Oh yeah - the Whiskas, that's how.

entrelac scarf

I finished the entrelac scarf I've been working on. Everyone seems to be impressed by this scarf, so here you go - be impressed!

Basic entrelac scarf based on the Danica pattern on Knitty. I used their numbers, but I didn't change yarns. It took 3 skeins of Patons SWS in geranium. I love this yarn! so pretty!

I brought this scarf to the knitting group at work last week. The ladies at work were so impressed - the next day three of the women from the knitting group brought their friends over and asked to see my scarf again. lol

no more cold feet

I've been doing a lot of knitting lately.

Last week I made one pink ankle sock

(my own pattern, thank you very much)

and yesterday I knit one big blue sock.

Neither of them have partners,

so I wore them together.

At least my feet weren't cold.

My right ankle though? Very chilly.

I took the next few pictures of The Lawrence Welk Show for someone specific - you know who you are, even if you don't know who Lawrence Welk is. ;) (yes, there was wine involved in the decision to take these pictures. There usually is some form of alcohol involved when I start taking pictures of what's on tv.)

cleaned out the freezer...

... and found some lefse! We were so excited!

My car is over 100,000 miles now! I was waiting and waiting and waiting to hit 100,000 miles. I made sure to have my camera handy with a charged battery so I could be sure to get a photo of it - and then Monday morning I checked the odometer and it said 100,023. I missed the big moment! *sigh* You'll have to settle for this picture of mile 100,100.

A cat with something to say

I just don't know what he's so angry about.
It probably has something to do with his empty treat bowl

and the fact that he can't get the packet of

poultry-flavored Whiskas out of the cabinet by himself.

5 weird things

Erin tagged me with a meme, so here goes:

5 weird things about me

• I've had a ganglion cyst in my left wrist for more than 15 years. I like it - it comes and goes and is squishy. The coolest thing about it - when it's really big I can press a laser pointer to the side of it and the whole cyst glows. I've actually had a second cyst pop up, but the one in my wrist is the most consistent and it's my favorite.
• Most of the time I'd rather come up with an elaborate plan for something than actually do the thing I created an elaborate plan for. You may know that I knit and crochet a lot lately - I don't think I actually like to knit or crochet. I just the planning that's involved in it.
• I once scored a 167 in an online IQ test. The internet thinks I'm a genius! and you know, the internet is always right. ;) I took that test one day with a group of guys, one of whom was really excited about his score until I beat him by 30 points. ha! (I love outsmarting guys who think they're smarter than me, even if it's only on scientifically worthless internet tests. I am very good at standardized tests in general though.)
• I have pretty good hearing. I can often hear people who think I can't hear them. It's great for eavesdropping and picking up gossip. I'm also really good at recognizing voices.
• I've been to Irish pub-type bars in 5 different countries but I've never been to Ireland. (If you're interested - Ansbach (Germany), Lucerne (Switzerland), Paris, London and, of course, here in the US. (And yes - I've used the bathroom in all of them! you guys should have been able to guess that!))

and now 5 weird things about Spike:

• His favorite food of all time is potatoes: McDonalds french fries, potato chips, lefse and, his ultimate favorite - mashed potatoes with meatballs and gravy all mixed together. He also will beg for chicken, Whiskas Choice Cuts, milk, cheese, ice cream and Cheetos (he likes to lick the orange power off them!).
• He likes to play and be petted while laying on the stairs with his head hanging over the edge.
• He will only drink water from a drinking glass. He absolutely refuses to drink from a bowl and would rather go for days without water than drink from a bowl. (You can see it in the background of this picture.)
• His favorite place to sleep is anywhere on top of me. On my lap, in my arms, curled up on top of me under the covers in bed, even on top of my feet once while I stood in the kitchen and talked on the phone.
• He's very vocal and will have a "conversation" with me. He will also call for me if he thinks I'm home but in a different room. When I reply to him he'll come running to find me and then reprimands me for leaving him alone in the first place.
• bonus Spike fact - I think he likes being called "fluffybutt"!
  

Let's see... who can I tag... (you know what's coming here, right?) Todd - you're it - let's hear 5 weird things about Todd.

mmm... Ikea!

Meatballs, fries and a chocolate marzipan roll thing. yum!

and a treat for Spike. He really, really wants it -

can you tell he's standing on his back legs? lol

6 Spike fans can't be wrong!

I was talking to this guy at work today about web stuff and we ended up talking about blogs. I told him I had a blog and he asked what put on it. So I told him it was mostly just pictures I have taken of random stuff. I told him the last thing I had put up there was a photo of me and my cat. He said, incredulously, "People want to look at that?" I told him "6 Spike fans can't be wrong!" I don't think he got the joke.

I love checking the stats on how many people look at this. It's kind of pointless in a way, since only 6 people looked at my picture on Sunday. But on the other hand - Six people came to check out my blog on Sunday! I wanted to ask that guy at work how many people were interested in him and his dog on Sunday! so there.

I'm going to Ikea tonight. So, just for you, my faithful 15 regular readers, there will be pictures of meatballs!

Also, on a semi-related note - there are a few people in Virginia who keep googling Sven Sundgaard and ending up here. How strange is that? Seriously, it's happening like once a week. Either there's another Sven Sundgaard down there or someone in Virginia has a massive crush on Sven!

self portrait, avec cat

From Spike

too nice to stay inside today!

I swear, the Internet had some kind of personal vendetta against me this weekend. It wouldn't let me send pictures anywhere! no printing, no emailing, no blogging. grrr.

It took me a while, but I finally put up pics from a few weekends ago.

Sept. 23, 2006

Sep 23, 2006 - 7 Photos

(click on the photo to check them out!)