A little hodge, a little podge

I'm dealing with the cold that isn't really but isn't not. And if that made sense to you, you must have what I have!

My week has been a variety of fun emotions....mostly on the negative side, but I'm working hard to turn it around. I'm already stressed about the house thing. I drove by the first two houses my real estate agent found and the neighborhoods were a little....well....discouraging. The first was across from a tall apartment building and the houses next to it were not well kept (if you know what I mean). The second was so cute but seemed very out of place in the industrial area it was in. Sorry, but living next to a wrecker service wasn't exactly what I had in mind.....

I am *not* the poster child for patience and I'm already anxious about not finding something in time. And I haven't been out to actually view a house yet. This is probably normal...I mean, I just talked to my house guy for the first time Monday night. But I'm just ready to be done and settled! And don't get me started on the money. I start breaking out in hives just thinking about it.....

Oh, but I broke a promise to myself but feel it was totally worth it......I have now packed one box! I was supposed to wait until February 1st because, once I get started, I can't stop, and I swear my entire apartment will be packed in a week. But it's worth it because it makes me feel better when my stupid neighbors are making noise with their music, swearing and stomping up and down the stairs. It gives me a zen feeling that in three months (or less) I will move to a place where the only music making the walls vibrate will be mine (and it will be Dave...oh yes....it will!)

But back to the money (and total lack thereof), I've managed to spend a LOT of it this month. Not going so well with the budgeting. Some were necessary expenses (i.e., car registration, Rachel's birthday gift, etc.) Most were not (i.e., the shirt I bought MYSELF when buying Rachel's birthday gift). So I've got to get back up on that wagon because life as I know it will be over once I sign my life away to a 30-year mortgage.....

Then there's the eating. God, I can put away the ice cream! It's probably everything else that is causing me to eat worse than normal and it's showing on the ol' waistline (oh what pretty grooves my jeans make on my skin!). I've been doing better with the walking (and am about to head out in a minute). I just need to think before popping stuff in my mouth....because mindless eating is a bummer.....

On a happier note.....they have mentioned the s-word for Saturday night (no, not THAT s-word....the SNOW s-word!). If it happens, you can bet that I will be sitting all bundled up on my porch watching it all.night.long. It's been a long wait and I want to see some white stuff, dammit! I don't even care if it accumulates....just to see it fall will make me giddy. Oh please Snow Gods! Please let me see snow!

Ok, enough rambling. Time to go home and plan my strategy for tomorrow's house hunt with a glass of wine and a kitty on my lap....

The House - Part 1 in a series.....

I am the queen of whims. I get grand ideas in my head all the time. Most of them I never even follow through on.....some I do (like my trip to London).

My latest whim is a home of my own. It came about because of two things:

1) I am totally obsessed with HGTV. The thought of actually being able to ALTER my living space is just too tantalizing to handle! I want to paint.....I want to install things.....I want to tear things apart and put them together again. Can't do that in an apartment....

2) I have spent a good part of the last three years hating my neighbors. I live on the second floor of a three-floor building. This means I have people on ALL sides of me. My last two upstairs neighbors have driven my nuts.....the last guy was a STOMPER. I swear he was wearing concrete-enforced combat boots. The current guy plays reggae music very loud. And I think he owns only one cd. And it's not any better downstairs. The last tenants were a Hispanic couple that yelled and threw things a lot....and always at really inappropriate hours. The guy now screams out obscenities and bangs on the wall at strange intervals. Needless to say, I am SO looking forward to not sharing walls with anyone....

So today I took the first big step in the house hunting process.....I applied for a loan. I will hear on my pre-approval early next week and then I can hit the ground running. The lease is up on my apartment in April and I am *praying* that everything falls in to place at the right time. I am going to go and talk to my apartment manager about what I need to do. I am hoping that, because I have been a very good tenant for over 5 years, they will cut me some slack.

Anyhow, I am excited and scared. I really have no idea what I'm getting in to. I really hope I can afford all this (if I could just win the $205 million Powerball, this would not be a problem). My monthly payments are going to go up, I know that utilities will go up, and the upfront costs of movers, appliances, getting utilities switched, etc. But other people do this every day, right? If they can figure it out, so should I!

Next step is to find a real estate agent and have them start looking. The next three months are going to be a whirlwind of craziness! Hopefully ending in a cute little house that I can start to demolish......

Obsession #583: Knitting

I've already touched on my love for crocheting, but I also love to knit. I first learned about 2 years ago from my co-worker, Kim (who has mad knitting skills). I made a lovely yellow and red Chiefs scarf (you know...the Chiefs....obsession #407). I made it from very basic Red Heart yarn and learned a lesson all knitters do.....stockinette stitch rolls.

I blocked. I washed. I dried under cinder blocks. I ironed (verrrrrrrry carefully). Still rolls. Oh well.

Up until a few months ago, I mostly crocheted. Crocheting is faster. I have self-diagnosed ADD. We ADDers love fast. But watching all the knitsters at my knitting group made me give knitting another try. I've gotten a little faster after taking up the continental method (learned from Amy on knittinghelp.com.....she's fabulous!!)

I am also working on a project now that gives me LOTS of practice.....I'm making a case to carry my needles in....and it's going to be felted! This is my first voyage into the felting world and I really hope it turns out the way I want. The thing about felting projects is you have to make things really big because they will shrink in the wash. This case has to be 36" long! That doesn't sound like much, but this is the case at a little over 23":




My yarn obsession has led to some nice new strange habits (knitter know of what I speak). I am already a part of a knitting group through Hands On Nashville (we make hats, scarves and blankets for the homeless, hospitals, nursing homes, etc.) and now I want to join the local Stitch n' Bitch group so I can work on personal projects with knitsters as well. I read one knitters blog....Crazy Aunt Purl. The girl is a RIOT and writes ten times better than I ever could. I can now spend hours at Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's Fabrics just looking at yarn and dreaming up possible projects. I Tivo the show Knitty Gritty on HGTV everyday. Oh, and I've become a no-bad-place-to-knit knitter. Of course I knit on my couch, during my lunch hour at work, and on airplanes......but I've graduated to knitting in my car in traffic (don't worry....no knitting is done while the vehicle is in motion!) I haven't become quite good enough, or brave enough, to knit in movie theaters or at church....but I aspire to those heights! (I also aspire to knit while not constantly looking at my work.....I know it can be done because I've seen others do it!)

I will post my knitting (and crocheting) adventures as they come along. Though I didn't too well on posting my finished sweater.....whoops. Guess I need to try adding "photography" and "posting to my blog" as obsessions...ya think?

I'm such a coward.....

The local Amnesty International meeting starts in an hour. I haven't been to one yet....and it doesn't look like I'm going in an hour either. Why not? Hell if I know. I guess I'm scared. Scared of meeting new people, scared I'm going to say or do something stupid, scared of leaving my house. And I know I'm going to regret it. (I already do) Why can't I do this? Why is it so hard for me to just get myself together and go?

Oh, but I will just sit here and make up excuses (for who, I'm not sure). But the guilt and feeling stupid will last all night. The next meeting isn't for another month....and I tell myself I will definitely go to that one.....kinda like I said I would definitely go to this one. This is bad. I haven't so much as stepped out my front door in five days. The only person I have had any contact with is an hour-long phone call with my mom. I am far too comfortable being alone.....this hermit-ness cannot in any way be healthy.

And doesn't stop with staying home from social functions. Oh, but I wish it did. I also tend to avoid phone calls. Unless I am expecting a call, I often let people just go to voicemail (to all my friends....it's not you, it's me!) I hate being caught off guard (it's when I tend to make my stupidest social gaffes). Of course, I hate talking on the phone anyway. I'm not good at it at all. I'm a very visual person....so when I'm talking to someone, I like to see facial expressions and body language. When I'm on the phone, I do a whole lot more of the babbling-to-fill-the-silence. It ain't pretty.

Ok, I need to stop thinking about this. It's too late to do anything now, so I just have to take a deep breath and tell myself that tomorrow is a brand new day and that I WILL get better at this. I really, really will.....

Where is winter?

It's a balmy 70 degrees here in Nashville, Tennessee. I hate it. I moved here five years ago from Ft. Worth in hopes of seeing "real" winters. Since that time, North Texas has gotten significantly more winter weather than we have. *grumble grumble*

I love snow. Love, love, LOVE! I am not a fan of driving in it....but, duh.....I stay in when the white stuff starts to fall! I'm a native of Kansas City, so I am not a run- to- the- grocery- store- for- all- the- bread- and- milk- I- can- grab person. Hello Nashville? When was the last time you were trapped in your house for a week due to snow? And I'm such a homebody that it's heaven for me to not have to leave my house for days.

I know I should consider moving even further north. I have thought about Minneapolis. Or even east to North Carolina. My politics have seriously got me looking at Canada. Hell, I could move back to Texas.....it's 32 there now! But I know the moment I pack up and head north, Nashville will have it's snowiest (is that a word?) winters on record and wherever I go will be snow free for years!

Meet my little baby punkdoodle

Or my Josey-kitten.....or the Josmeister....or do-wat ("do" as in "do-re-mi" and "wat" as in "lightbulb watt")....or the most precious baby kitten on the planet.....the nicknames do just go on and on....



Josey is 9 years old and queen of the household. She was named after my favorite song by a college band I used to see....Deep Blue Something ("Breakfast At Tiffany's" anyone?). Though most people assume her name comes from Josie and the Pussycats. Cute. But not true.

So far Josey has tolerated her human fairly well. I may be a little slow on opening the door to the back porch, I don't make trips to the fridge to get her chicken/turkey/ham as much as she'd like, and then there's that having the audacity to think I can sleep in HER bed. But she's kept me around this long.....what a cross she must bear.

She would tell you that, despite my shortcomings, I'm good for a few things. I take those wonderful showers every morning that leave water on the tile for her to lap up. I fill the birdfeeder to give her hours of chirping enjoyment with the birdies. I bought a papasan chair perfect for afternoon naps in the sun. And I DRIVE to Texas every Christmas just so she can go and see her Nana and Grandad, peruse their much bigger habitat, enjoy three laps instead of just one, and chirp at many more birds than our poor little apartment ever sees. But she's not spoiled....not at all.....

Happy Birthday, Dave!

Today's is Dave Matthews' 40th birthday (I had to look up the year....I thought he was only 39...). I love Dave. I would marry Dave (except he already has a wonderful wife and two beautiful girls). If I could find a guy that LOOKS like Dave, I would be happy. *sigh*

My DMB obsession started back in 2002. Actually, I had bought Under The Table And Dreaming in 1995 because I loved Ants Marching. But, at the time, I didn't like anything else on that cd. My musical taste must have gone through a dark period. Anyway, fast forward to 2002 and a very brief "relationship" with a Dave fan (yes, I know there are five equal members of the band, but it's just easier for me to refer to them as "Dave"). I had mentioned said blip-on-my-dating-record to my best friend from college and this sent her into a frenzy.... "Oh! I love them! Do you listen to them?! You should! Oh my god!" So, in a moment of weakness wanting to have something else in common with the Blip, I asked Laurie to recommend a cd where I could get a good sampling of music. As any real fan will do, she suggested live stuff.....Red Rocks, I believe, was her first choice. She also mentioned that they had a new cd coming out soon....Busted Stuff. And, oh my god, I should go out and get as many Dave cd's as possible right.this.minute!

Well, I waited until Busted Stuff was released (July 7th....a date I remember well). I went to Best Buy because they tend to put everything by an artist on sale on release day. Bingo! I got about 5 cd's that day....I was so excited! I popped Busted Stuff in as soon as I got in the car and headed home. I enjoyed the title track....windows down....very nice. But the second song. Oh, that song. Grey Street. See, Blip had broken my heart. I was not in a good place. And that song. I know it sounds stupid, but Dave got into my head and wrote that song! I had to pull over I was crying so hard. And then I listened to it again. And, thus, my love for the DMB began.

So, today (as with pretty much every day (hee....Everyday!) ) I will be listening to Dave and his lovely voice on WDMB radio.

Love you, Dave! Happy Birthday!

Mom, it's my birthday
What would you say...
-What Would You Say, 1994

New Year, New Blog

Hello 2007. Will you be better than 2006? Worse? About the same? I'm going to put all my chips on better....because, really? What do I have to lose?

So far this blog hasn't had much direction...and I'm not promising it ever will. Most blogs I've read (and there haven't been that many....yet) have a "theme"....one thing that the blogger is mainly focused on. But my interests and obsessions change day-to-day and what I want to focus on today is not necessarily what will interest me in the least tomorrow (ADD anyone?). Five years ago I would have talked ad nauseum about Garth Brooks (*ahem* stalker *ahem*). But today I hardly listen to him at all (though my lovely right ankle tattoo is a constant reminder of the life I used to lead). Today's obsessions include knitting/crocheting, the Dave Matthews Band, getting asked out, my weight, travel, reading, my Tivo.....oh, the list goes on and on.....

As of today, I have not made this blog "public" (haven't told a soul)....I probably will soon. And then we'll see just how many people want to obsess with me! (one way ticket to psycho coming up....)

Ok....off to knit....while listening to Dave.....and thinking about where my next date is coming from....