to my gilmore girls

Hello all,

To all of my Gilmore girls fans. I was just watching the eddie murphy movie Norbit and you will not believe this. They used the stars hollow set. The gazeboo, luke's diner, the church. they are all there.
They do alot of city scenes so you really get to see our dear stars hollow alot.
Take a look sometime.
Thanks,
mandie

sorry about the wait

Finally, here is my question answer form for the coffee yarn swap. Gosh i think i am going to end up being late for my own funeral.


November 3th, 2007
1. Whole bean or ground?
Ground, please
2. Fully-loaded or decaf?
Fully Loaded!
3. Regular or flavored?
Regular
4. How do you drink your coffee?
With flavored creamers. No sugar
5. Favorite coffee ever?
I had a dark roast from starbucks, I think it had the name dragon in it but i dont go there enough to know the name. I love columbian, french and just plain old dark roast. I love strong coffee.
6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do?
Any bean will do
7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee?
I love anything chocolate, Biscotti's, cookies, Dark chocolate, anything sinfull.
8. Anything else about your coffee preferences?
Nope!
9. Yarn/fiber you love?
Anything that is soft to the touch, I love soy silk by patons, and the soy from SWTC. I even like acrylics if they are soft enough.
10. Yarn/fiber you hate?
I hate mohair, and scratchy wool. I hate novilty yarn too.
11. What’s on your needles?
which set of needles. I have about 12 projects going right now. Lets see, a OSU blanket, fingerless gloves, a couple scarves for christmas, a handbag to felt, oh just lots of goodies.
12. Favorite colors?
Pink, reds, all shades of green, I love verigated yarns, lots of natural colors. I do not like purple at all unless it is in a verigated yarn and does not take over the colorway.
13. Allergies?
Unless you are going to send me medicine then none that concern my partner. lol
14. Anything you really love, really don’t like, or just need to get off your chest?
I do not like coconuts either, or lime. I love getting recipes. If you have a favorite recipe ship it here. that is so fun to try new foods that another family has cheerished for years.
The history behind something like that is just so wonderful.
I love love love, double pointed needles and anykind of bamboo or wood needles. I just like the natural feeling rather than that of a cold metal needle. I do however use my denise interchangable needles all the time. Plasitc is better for my hands than the metal. lol. I know you think i'm nuts now.
lol

Ok,
so life has been a bit crazy lately. I have been working non stop on a new client in Canada. It has been alot of fun but I hardly have any shoppers there. It is not like in California where if one person in one town can't do the shop they can drive 15 min. to the next town and do that shop. The towns i have in Canada are hours apart from each other. It just stinks.
Well it has been nice calling Canada everyday. It makes me want to be back on my vacation. I just love the accents.




Micah had a great time trick or treating this last weekend. He was a Grim Reaper kind of thing. I can't tell anymore what these costumes are.
We also had a fun costume contest at work. My team went as mental patience.
My boss went as a nurse. We had lots of fun showing our crazy side. I went at a man. My sister loved giving me a beard and a unibrow.
I came in second place for the costume contest. Oh well. Next year i told them that we should dress like the tv show "the office". I know i could do a mean phyills. Our new guy jeremy looks like ryan. lol.
That woud be so fun to turn our office into the Office.


Medical update:
I'm going down to part time at the end of November. I have to get to the doctors and find out what is wrong with me. I need to know if i have cancer. It sucks living your life and just not knowing.
Well i must go and listen to my OSU buckeyes beat Wisconsin ( I hope)
Thanks,
mandie












I forgot to mention that micah lost his front tooth. He looks so funny with it gone.




THis is my office. I'm the one in front with the unibrow and the green shirt. I was wearing a pair of joke underwear over my pj bottoms.. I also used my hospital gown as a cape.
It was fun.

ahhh the stress

Hello all,

i really have missed having time to write on my blog. It really helps relax me. I have been soo stinking busy. Work is simply crazy. I have had so many problems getting my shops in South lake Tahoe California booked. I get a headache just thinking about this.

Next topic.
Micah is very excited about trick or treat night. He wants to go as a ninja. Every year he has to pick the costume that i can't bundle him up in. Last year he was a ghost but the year before that he was spider man. I just am excited about the candy overflow. Ya know, they always have stuff left over that they won't eat but mom and dad just love.

Coffee swap:
I finally have all of the partners out for the coffee yarn swap. Silly me left my list of partners sitting in my desk last night and missed the deadline by one day. Oops, please forgive me.

Head docs:
I still have heard nothing from the oncologist. I know this sounds a little strange but i think god is trying to tell me to get up off my behind and make the doctors test me. Today i got in my car after work and the radio was on a christian radio station. I never listen to this station, so this was pretty strange in itself. I was driving out of the parking garage and the man on the radio was telling a story. He was saying that one day he found a black spot on his shoulder. He ignored it for nine months. when he finally went to the doctors they told him that he had two months to live, he had cancer and it has spread to his brain.
Now if this was the only time something like this had happened i may be able to brush this off as coincidence but this has been happening alot. Every time i turn around i hear something about someone having cancer and not getting checked right away.
So i think i have gotten the point and i am going to call the doctors tomorrow and light a fire under them.

Well i think i really need to go to bed now.
I am just beat.
Best wishes and happy stitches.
Mandie

I'm a hostess helper

Hey folks,

Life has been pretty busy here in little town ohio. I'm working my butt off at the office and i'm trying to knit as much as i can. I'm doing a couple swaps which are sooo much fun. I think one of the most exciting bits of knitting news is that i'm helping out on the lastest coffee yarn swap.
Knittymama J sent out the call for helpers and i offered my assistance. It has been alot of fun so far. I'm sure there will be little snags along the way but i've been having a good time matching up partners and checking out their blogs. I have even found a couple great new patterns.

A friend of mine is having a baby in a couple of months so i have been trying to knit up oodles of stuff for the new little boy not to mention that i am doing a craft show next month with a friend of mine so i have been busy building up my inventory.

Well i hope now that i'm busy in swap world i will be able to post alot more on here and get back to doing what i love. I'm trying to put work a little bit on the back burner and realize that i don't need to live and breathe my job.

Well i will talk to you all soon
best wishes and happy stitiches
mandie

wow it sure has been a while hasn't it

I've missed you all so much. Well let me give you a quick update.

HEALTH

I have yet to hear anything about the whole lymphoma thing. I've kinda tried to keep it out of my mind until i need to deal with it.

WORK

I still love my job. I am in charge of two accounts now. Coco's and Carrow's restuarants and Fountain tire in canada.

I've had some stress from all of the drama that comes with working with about 50 women but i'm getting used to that.

FAMILY

We just got back from a much needed vacation. This was the first family vacation for micah, his father josh and I together. We went to a very small town in canada to a cabin with my parents. It is right on a lake and soooo peaceful. No tv, phone or computer. I simply enjoyed the silence.

Pictures can be found below or at http://picasaweb.google.com/mandies2happy

All of the vacation pic's can be found here.

KNITTING

I have gotten so much knitting done. A scarf (no pic yet) that curls around itself. A beanie for a friends son with the anarchy symbol on it. She is a bit punk rock so it fits just great for her son.

I also made her son the Henry Rollins doll from the stitch N bitch nation book. I have finally finished the baby sweater i have been working on forever. I am currently working on another curly scarf. After that is done i will need to start to work on stuff for the craft fair i'm going to do in october. My friend Jeni and I are going to do our first craft fair together. I'm going to be making lots of school colored items (the craft fair is at the high school here in town), Cell phone cases, beanies, washclothes, belts, headband/ear warmers, fingerless gloves, and several kids items. I'm also going to be making some stitch markers.

All in all i've been really really busy but i'm going to make time for the blog from now on. I've missed all of you and the messages you send. It means alot to me to know that people actually read what i write about and that you care enough to leave comments.

Here are some pics for you.

Thanks all,

Best wishes and happy stitches

mandie

Micah showing off for the camera in a hat that was in a gift shop

Josh and I in a garden behind a gift shop. Micah took this pic for us

Micah's first catch of the vacation. He is pretending he is gonna kiss it.

MRI results

I met with my doctor on Friday to get my MRI results. I recieved some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that everything from my surgery went really well. I am showing signs of good spinal fluid flow and plenty of room for my brain.

The bad news is that they saw something on my scans that made them worry. They are sending me to an oncologist. They think i may have lymphoma. The last thing i expected to hear is the word "cancer". I have to have more tests run and meet with my new doctors so i wont know anything for awhile.

Work is going really well, well besides the ghost thing, but that doesnt worry me to much. I love a good ghost story, so working with one is kinda fun.

I found a new video on youtube that you may find interesting.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=OoCmYjfWus8
This is an actual surgery so beware if you get sick easy. This is the surgery that i had done in august. A crainial decompression and lumbarectomy.

I will keep you all updated just as soon as i know what is going on.
Tomorrow is my Sheryl crow concert and i can't wait. It's been nice to be able to focus on something else during this stressful news.

Best wishes and happy stitches
mandie

a ghost at the office.

This is morgan and kristin on the top (unused)floor of our office building. Look inbetween them and in the background. You will see a very bright circle. This was not on the floor.

Again, Morgan (showing her growing baby belly) on the top floor of our office. You will see a bright circle on her sleeve.

This one is plain to see. There is nothing on the wall by this light. The electric is shut off on this floor (4th floor) and is only used for storage. I actually took this before i walked into the room. I put my camera around the corner and snapped a pic.

Kristin by my desk. she told me to take this. SHe said she felt like if she put up her hands i would see something above her head.

The people in the office call the ghost "Bob". We just happened to be talking about him when i took this pic.

This was the first one i took. I could not believe what i saw. none of us saw anything with the naked eye.

I guess they have called in paranormal investigaters before. I don't know what they found but i'm thinking about leaving a tape recorder on my desk over night, just to see what i can find.

Well i hope i didnt scare you to much.

Best wishes and happy stitches

mandie

sheryl crow here I come

Do I have a story for you. I was on my way to work last week, I was listening to the radio and they were talking about people who have stupid fears. Well i have a bit of a drive to get to work so i called in. The women asked what i was afraid of and then wanted my cell phone number. I told her about my fear of kittens, YES KITTENS. Go ahead and laugh, everyone does. After i was done talking to them i turned my radio back on and listened to the rest of the show. Then the DJ says that there is a twist to this fear thing. Just then my cell phone rang. It was one of the interns asking if i would be willing to face my fear for front row tickets to see Sheryl Crow and the Counting Crows. I said yes.

They put me back on air and asked me again. I said that i would do it.

I went into the station on Friday to face my fear. If you would like to hear what happened to me here is the link to the pod cast: http://www.925kissfm.com/cc-common/podcast.html

If you scroll down you will see the pic of a cat, clown and a needle. I really don't know why I'm scared of cats and kittens but i am. I've never been scratched and have never been bitten. I have actually been trapped in my car before because there was a cat outside. They always seem to find me.

Not a whole lot to say for knitting news right now. I will have a pic to add soon from my knitting group. we finally were able to donate some afghans to the foster care children of my county. I will also be able to post some pics of my latest package from a swap. It seems that one of the busiest women alive had me in the swap and actually was working on getting my package out. I feel really bad for complaining about the wait, she took really good care of me.

I'll have pics soon, i promise. Busy, busy, Mandie, lots of work to do.

My concert is next Monday and I'll be in the second row. If i can take pics you know i will.

Thanks all,

happy stitches and best wishes.

Mandie

New cousin, Sad day.

As some of you may remember a few months ago my son's cousin was murdered in Wyoming. Well his girlfriend was preg. at the time of his death.

Well she had the baby. A wonderful little girl named Alexia Micheal. After her father. I thought that was so sweet. She looks alot like him. well here she is.

Welcome to the world baby Alexia. We all love you.

This is such a bitter sweet moment. We are all so happy that she is here and she is a healthy baby but it is so sad that her daddy couldn't be here. It just brings up so many feelings from his death. I cant get over how much she looks like him.

I'll be sending her lots of knitted items.

She will look so cute in the berry tart hat. he he.

My MRI's went well. I wont know until the 30th what the results are but I'm just glad they are over. I was in that machine for 2 hours. I've gained a bit of weight since my surgery and if you have ever been in an MRI machine you know that there is not a whole lot of room in that tunnel. I told a friend of mine that i wish i had a picture taken of me because I'm sure i looked like Pooh stuck in rabbits hole. lol.

I'll let you all know as soon as i find out what in the heck is wrong with my brain now.

Talk to you all soon,

best wishes and happy stitches.

Mandie

you have to see this

I was reading some older posts from this week on a yahoo knit group i'm on. I see that someone was talking about these cupcakes. If you have not been to this blog yet you must see the pics. I copied a couple of them here for you but check out the link and take a look at all her pics and her lesson on how to make them. They are priceless.

Link for you:

http://veganyumyum.com/2007/06/knit-night-cupcakes/

On a personal note:

It looks like it back to the neurosurgeon for me. I've been having my headaches again. It feels like someone is standing on my head. It is messing up my vision and my hearing. I called my doc today and he ordered me several kinds of MRI's for saturday. YUCK. then my follow up apt. to see what he found on the 30th. wish me luck.

Best wishes and happy stitches.

mandie

Oh how i miss Lorelai

Micah is in the middle of this group, he is in the brown shorts. This is his swimming lessons down at our local park. On this day he had moved up from level one to level two. A big feat since he has trouble kicking under the water.

I had the pleasure of going to see Evan Almighty. It really made me miss our Gilmore Girls. It was a really cute movie. Another GG sighting. Jess ( luke's Nephew) is in the new Fergie Video for Big girls dont cry. He is covered in tattoos but looks so good in a bad boy kind of way. He always has had that bad boy thing though.

My classes in school have really suffered with my new job. I have not had time to focus on much of anything. I am just so tired when i get home I dont even want to make dinner. I never neglect food.

well here is a pic of the fishing derby we took Micah to. He had so much fun and even won a prize. He won $25 dollars for catching this little guy. He caught him after only five minutes there. Then didnt even get a bite for the next two hours.

This is the fish Micah names Spikes.

Tonight is my towns fireworks, I cant wait to see how my digital camera does with this. It has a fireworks setting on it but i've never tried it out. We'll see i guess.

Swap problems

I have a swap question for you all. I've been in several swaps with out a single complaint. Now i'm in the spring felted bag exchange. I have a wonderful partner to send things too. she seems really nice but the problem is the person who has me. we were supposed to send two packages. one at the end of may and the other at the end of june. Well may has come and gone, june has come and gone and i still have not recieved anything from her. She keeps sending me emails telling me she is sending the first package out this week but i still get nothing.

The ladies running the swap are looking into it for me. They have been great.

I just wondered if this has happened to anyone else?

Have you been in a swap with a bad swap partner?

The ladies from the swap said that they have an angel ready to step up and be my adoptive partner if mine doesn't come through by next week. We are giving her some slack because of the holiday.

I understand that problems come up, money gets tight and bags dont felt right but i wouldnt even have a problem not getting a package if she wrote to me and said "look, i lost my job and just dont have money right now" but she just keeps saying, next week, next week. AHHHH.

thanks i just had to yell for a sec. lol.

Well i think i'm done complaining now. If i get any good pics from the fireworks i'll post them tomorrow.

best wishes and happy stitches

mandie

Work is going great

Hello all,
I know you all probably think i went bye bye but no such luck. I'm still around. I am just having trouble finding a balance in work, family, and blogging. Not to mention the fact that i've also negected my knitting. My poor yarn has no idea what's going on. I've been able to work on the warm up america afghan a bit more and i should be able to finish it tomorrow. I've also been able to work on my brother in law's afghan as well.

so back to the job now. What i'm doing is scheduleing people to do mystery shops. now i know most people think it's a internet scam when they hear that but the company i work for is actually legit. They dont ask their shoppers to pay anything to become a shopper. That's when you know you've got a scam, when they ask for money. I'm really happy with the people i work with and the way the company is run. It is a very relaxed enviroment. My latest problem is now that i've actually got a job this is when my car decides that it's a good time to break down. That is just how my luck goes. I think my transmission is going out, so there goes about 1200 dollars that i just dont have. Yuck !!!!!

Well i will be back tomorrow to post a few pics. I'm going to bed.
good night.
best wishes and happy stitches.
mandie

The office

This is my new office. Great isn't it. I think it looks like something straight out of New Orleans with the fountain in front. My first two days went great and i can't wait to get back to work on Monday. I'm sure all that will change after I've been there for a while but for now i like the job. Working again is strange after I've been off for so long. I feel like I'm neglecting not only my child but my yarn and Dr. Phil. Oprah understands. lol. well i thought I'd share that with you all and i should have some new pics up tomorrow. We are taking my son to a fishing derby.
best wishes and happy stitches
Mandie

I am now entering the world of employment

Hello all,

Yes i got the job. I start on thursday so now the real challange begins. I will have to figure out how exactly i'm going to jugle motherhood, full time job and full time school. Oh when will i knit. I will find a way. I am very excited about this new postion, the pay could be better but it's better than the nothing i'm making now.

I have few pics for ya. first is a trial run of the pic i'm gonna enter for the knitty.com calendar contest. They want you to knit one of the patterns off their web site then photo it and if your pic wins it will be in the 2008 knitty calendar.

I borrowed my cousins son to model a pink tart hat. i think i may need to find a younger baby. I think he looks a bit to old for the idea I had in my head.

This is baby aidan

the next bunch of pics is from our family day out. we had a picnic at the town resevour then got some sparklers and had a bit of fun with those.

Guess who has an interview, hehe

I finally have an interview tomorrow. It is with a corporate research company and i would be doing the scheduling. I'm very excited. This sounds like something i really could be good at.
wish me luck and I'll let you all know as soon as i know if i got the job.
Oh and some new pics tomorrow.
best wishes and happy stitches
Mandie

finished it today

I finally finished a blanket i've been working on. this is my very first attemt at crochet. I figured if i taught myself how to knit then crochet should not be a problem. I made this for my grandmother. she had a spill and had to have surgery on her arm a while ago. While she is sitting in her recliner she likes to have a blanket to cover up with so this is for her. I hope she loves it. I loved it so much i fell asleep with it today.

This is made with Lion brand Jiffy and i think this is called a shell stitch??? i dont know much about the names of the stitches yet. I do know that i did alot of double stitches.

if you knit shawls you need this book.

a knitting swap buddy of mine just released a book. It went on sale the other day but I think internet orders must be pre ordered. Check her out on amazon and target.com to buy the book.

here is her blog
http://spindyeknit.com/
she is very talented and really really nice.
best wishes and happy stitches
mandie

pawfest

This weekend at our local park the humane society held the annually "pawfest" dedicated to raising money for the shelter. The dogs have a costume contest, run a obstacle course and they have a dog walk, where everyone walks their dogs around the park. well we couldn't bring our dog since he just had surgery but we went anyways. my son loves dogs so much. I think we were the only ones there without a dog. Here are the highlights.

Micah found some kids to play with.

a random dog owner playing with his dog

My friend Toni brought her two Bision Frise puppies, this one is Lilly. Micah loved them sooo much. I tried to hide one in my purse but Toni had a close eye on them.

My friend Krista and her dog chewy. she let Micah walk chewy during the dog walk, well until chewy had to go potty then Micah was done with him.

Finally some pics for you

I had to post all the pics as individual posts because blogger was not working with them all together. well Saturday i talked Micah's dad into taking me to the knitters connection down in Columbus. I couldn't afford to go to the classes but i still wanted to go to the yarn market. It was amazing. lots of booths and lots of yarn. wow. I met the Creator of yarn love yarn. She was really nice. you can buy her stuff at http://www.shopyarnlove.com/. I didn't have but five bucks on me but i think i made out pretty good. I came home with two skeins of yarn and some charms that say "made with love" so you can knit them right on to a project. That is a funny story how i got the charms.

I was wearing my GG shawl and the women running the fiberworks booth asked me about the yarn i made it out of. She had just began to carry jojoland melody yarn and liked the way it worked up. I told her what a great deal i got on the yarn from eBay and she said that i bought it cheaper than what she pays. YEAH for me!!!! I told her I always hunt for a good deal. I let her know how cheap i got my Denise knitting needles and she said she was gonna cry. Then she said that i should do all her buying, lol. Just then a women came up asking about the Denise needles. The lady running the booth just pointed to me. I let the customer know how much i love the needles and showed her how u can link them together, I pulled mine out of my purse (project on the needles) and she said "sold". She bought the set right then and there. I laughed and said "hey, I should get a commission off of that sale", lol. The women behind the counter said yes and threw something at me. It was a bag of twenty of the charms. I really didn't expect anything but was very grateful, how nice of her.

Before we left i wanted to head back over to the HBC weaving booth so i could get his card and write down the name of the yarn i fell in love with. When i asked josh to go get the yarn for me he brought it back and said "why are you gonna write it down?" I told him i want to order it later (really it's just cuz I'm broke and the yarn cost 29 dollars). He said "well here now you wont forget the name" and he put it on the counter. I was so shocked i couldn't stop smiling. He bought it for me. I was just so happy he brought me but to buy me yarn too. wow.

I did have a women comment several times how great it was that he would come with me to the yarn market. she said her husband never would of came, and she would say again what a great guy he is to come with me. I could see his head swell but he did deserve the attention. Not many men would do that.

He always surprises me, just not always in a good way like this weekend. lol.

well enjoy the pics, I'll have some new ones tomorrow from our trip to the "pawfest" for dogs (how strange for people without a dog).
best wishes and happy stitches
Mandie

I finished my Gilmore Girls shawl. I did my binding off on the follow week after the show ended. I was so mad. i had been so good at trying to only knit on this during the show and then the show ends before i get it done. oh well at least it is done. So i actually got my son to model for me. He didnt want me to show his face since this is a girls item. I told him to be glad i didnt knit a dress, lol.

the knitters connection took place at the hyatt regency in columbus ohio. now for the top pic you have to turn your head to the left and look sideways. I couldnt seem to rotate this pic. it is a pic of the hotel from my car window.

sincerity yarn from yarn love booth. it is a brushed mohair blend. i just love the color of this.

this is the yarn that josh bought for me at the HBC weaving booth. I am soo in love with it. He said i have to make something for myself with this yarn but i just dont know what to make. I told him i'm just gonna knit a cover for my pillow so i can be close to this yarn all the time. lol

HBC weaving booth, this was the find of my day. just soooo soft to touch. I dont know how he does it but he makes this yarn soooo soft. I bought one called precious, half merino and half silk. I'm in love. you can buy it at www.handpaintedknittingyarns.com

showing off the new spinning wheel. I was so jelous. i want one.

yarn love booth

you can buy her yarn at www.shopyarnlove.com

she has some wonderful stuff

again the fiberworks booth, she was so nice.

fiberworks booth

I'm soooo happy

Yes i know i haven't put up the new pics yet. I'm still fighting with my camera and those darn rechargeable batteries.

Now on to some exciting news. I made deans list at school. this is a first for me EVER!!! I've never been on honor roll or any kind of academic list. I almost cried when i read it. I couldn't believe it. I'm still fearful they are going to say it's a mistake.
In elementary school news, my son graduated first grade today. I cant believe i have a second grader now. Do they ever stop growing???

On the needles right now. I had to frog out a fingerless glove today because the cable went crazy somewhere in the pattern. I'm doing some felting tomorrow of a hand bag. I'm also working on a hand bag for a felted bag exchange.

Also tomorrow I'll be sending out two packages for swaps I'm in. I cant wait until they get them so i can tell you what i sent. I don't want to spoil the surprise.

talk to you all very very soon.
Mandie

I'm back,

Sorry about the wait for a new post. I am being completely consumed by school. This is my final week for my marketing class and i cant wait for it to be over. this has been one of the worst school experiences i think i have ever had. First my teacher not having a mic or a power point for class ( i take classes online), then her not actually reading my paper, then Saturday my small group project was due. They put 6 of us together and gave us a project to do. Normally this is a difficult task for a real world setting but it is almost impossible in an online school. Out of six we had four papers turned in, which sounds great but one of the papers didn't even mention the product we were supposed to be writing about then the other seemed to be copied. When we turn anything in to the school it is put in a data base to compare it against other students papers and published articles to ensure no one copies. A normal similarity score is anywhere from 0% to 11% one of the papers a group member turned in was a 69% similarity score. When she would not give us a reference for her information I refused to use her paper in the group assignment ( i was the group leader). This set me on a course of back and forth emails with her and another student "Gabe" who by the way was a complete god send. If not for Gabe i would not of been able to finish the paper. We pulled together and wrote what the other students would not.

I thought that was the end of my hair pulling, oh I was so wrong. We also had to turn in a small individual paper called a discussion board. part of our grade is to read other peoples discussion boards post and comment on them. I was reading one when i got a nasty surprise. We had to write about two things we had bought, one large purchase and one small. I wrote about my car and a ring tone for my cell phone. This classmate of mine wrote about an adult sex swing for her bedroom and a cleaner for her adult toys. I was shocked and disgusted. This was school not some frat party. I have filed complaints with the deans office and my instructor, I'm not sure how far that will go but now other students are calling me prudish and i seem to be getting attacked verbally a bit.

Needless to say I've been a bit stressed. I got my camera and memory card back so later this afternoon I'll be finally posting the pics of my finished Gilmore Girls shawl, My lasted swap package and who know, maybe a glimpse of a special gift I'm making for a friend. I'll talk to you all later today.
thanks for sticking with stressful little me.
best wishes and happy stitches.
Mandie

Update on Lion brand report

I'd first off like to thank Ilana for the comment on my last post. I would love to send the report to those of you at lion brand. I just hope that i did the company justice. We had to write a time line in the report and it was near impossible to find exact dates on some of the info so i did the time line in decades. Just let me know who and where to email it to and I'll do that asap.

Early this morning i got an email from my professor. She regraded my paper and gave me a 92% A. It's not the 100% I'd hoped for but I'll take it. She never said anything about why she had made this mistake or why she had not read the paper the first time. I would of liked to go into more depth about my devotion to Lion Brand but I'm limited to only a certain number of pages and almost a whole page was taken up by this time line that we had to do. I'm not a time line kinda person. I'd much prefer to tell you why i love something but i guess it is a marketing class and they want facts.

Well Ilana if you are serous about wanting to see the paper let me know and its yours. As for everyone else i hope you have a great holiday weekend and lots of great BBQ food. Don't forget all the great knitting you can do while sitting at a cookout.

best wishes and happy stitches
Mandie

I miss my camera.

I hate not being able to post pics on here. I know i dont like reading a blog without pics so i dont expect you to do it either. my aunt gave me my camera back but needed to keep my memory card so she could get her pics printed.
I am stressed beyond belief today. As you may know i am attending a online school. I have really enjoyed it until late last night. I spent six hours researching and writing what i thought was a "A" paper. this was for my marketing class and we had to write about a brand product that we are loyal to. I wrote about Lion brand yarn. My professor gave me a 88% B, now some wouldnt have a problem with that but i want to get on deans list and i cant do that with B's. In her comments my instructor said, " while your history about healthy choice deli foods was good you needed more details about why you are loyal to this brand". I wrote about yarn. I did mention that i am loyal to several product such as Mt. dew and healthy choice turkey breast but that was only in one sentence at the beginning of this three page paper. SHE DIDNT READ MY PAPER. How can she give me a B and not read my paper.
I told my sister that next time i should write an amazing first paragraph and then for the rest of the paper just type out an episode of oprah and see if she catches it. lol
I'm catching a cold so i'm sure that doesnt help the situation any.

On the knitting front. I started a handbag for a friend, I'm working ont he last glove for a friends fingerless gloves and numorous other projects. I need to figure out how to crochet some knitted squares together, that doesnt seem to be going so well for me. I'll get it sometime.

Well hopefully i can post pics again.
I hope everyone found something to fill their lives with on tuesday. I just enjoyed american idol and i will be replaceing that with so you think you can dance. I did just hear that they cancelled several of my favorite shows. here is my short list of what they tv people killed off.

the class
the weddingbells
the winner
the war at home
thank god your here
studio 60

I'm not real happy with what i read about new show for the fall line up. come on i cant even stand the caveman commercial and now they get there own show??? what next, i'm afraid to ask.

best wishes and happy stitches
mandie

b day got better

Hello folks.

As you may know i'm gettin on in my years and am now a 29 year old women. UGHHHHH, let me rephrase that one. I'm a 18yr old in a 29 yr olds body. Yeah!! i like that better.

Well my birthday really was starting to go down the toliet, no one was home so i sat and zoned out on law and order. I mean first my gilmore girls go away and then every one else does too. We ended up celebrating my birthday on sunday instead of friday. My son, his father (josh), my sister and her husband went to olive garden and then to see Shrek the Third oh and then to cold stone creamery. I had to have the peanut butter perfection but i got it with dark chocolate ice cream instead of milk. Now for someone who is extremly lactose intolerent you would think that i would stay away for a ice cream shop but i just think the cold stone is worth the pain. All in all it ended up being a pretty good birthday. I have a feeling to make next years a good one it's gonna take alot of tequila. lol

On the knitting front i just finished my gilmore girls shawl. My aunt borrowed my camera so i will have to post some pics as soon as i get it back.

best wishes and happy stitches

mandie

happy birthday to me

Yesterday was my 29Th birthday. It was not what i had expected. I guess I'm always waiting for some big deal birthday and it just never happens. As a mom i think we tend to put ourselves last and make sure everyone else gets what they want or need, i guess i was just wanting someone to do that for me on my birthday. On the up side, everyone was gone so i was able to sit and knit in peace. I guess i should be thankful for that.

I was knitting a pair of fingerless gloves when i was ready to bind off and found a critical error. I forgot to add the thumb. AHHHHHHHHH. I had put a pretty cable on the front so i had to rip it all out. I'm not so good at finding my place in a pattern when i frog them.

I'll post some pics soon. I'm off to my marketing class.
best wishes and happy stitches
Mandie

no luck

well i went to the blog today to see who had won the photo contest. It wasn't me. I do have to say that i enjoyed the pic who won but the second winner was a poem not a pic. Both did a wonderful job. Oh well.

So has everyone recovered from Tuesday night yet. I'm still amazed at what a wonderful job the writers did. I'm going to have to check out Gilmore girls. org and see what they had to say.

The dilemma on the table this week has been to home school my son or not. We are looking at home schooling or a school for gifted children about a half hour away. what to do??? we have alot of thinking to do before i make my final decision on this one.
wish me luck
Mandie

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do not read if you have not seen the last episode, i'll ruin it for you

I really don't know what else to say but wow. As i sit here wiping my eyes I'm trying to find the right words but that's all i can come up with.

For not knowing for sure if this would be the last episode i think they did a great job. Full circle ya know. Lore and Luke, Rory and her career, Emily and Richard taking the steps to stay in touch with lore. I just couldn't be happier. They really did the show justice. I kinda thought that Logan would show back up wanting Rory to take him back but i think she is better off without him. Ya know now that i think a bit i would of liked to see Rory end up with Jess, he is enough of a free spirit to be OK with the travel she will have to do for her work. well last i had heard they were dating in real life so at least i have that. lol.

Speaking of dating, Can you believe Luke put that tent together by himself. Now that is love & what about that line he said "i just want to see you happy". Oh i was crying when i heard that one. That was perfect, they didn't make a big deal out of that, the kiss or the necklace, It just seemed as if everything fell into place.

Now let me know what you think, I'm dying to hear.
thanks for staying with the show and stopping by to see me. Like i said i will still be here writing and knitting away as long as you show up. I've enjoyed all my time spent with the Gilmore Girls and I've learned alot from them. As a single mom myself Lore has been a inspiration to me. I just hope my son turns out with the drive that Rory has.

Best wishes and Happy stitches
Mandie


P.S
So much was happening during the show that i was only able to knit two rows of my Gilmore Girls Shawl. I will finish this thing but i will reserve myself to only knit on it during GG reruns.
I'm committed to this process what can i say.

one more day :(

Hello all,

I just thought i would drop by and remind all to watch tomorrow night to see the last Gilmore Girls EVER. I think we will all miss sitting back and watching our favorite girls every tuesday night. I guess now i have to make it a mission to get all the box sets. Friday is my birthday so maybe if i'm lucky i'll get another box set. I recieved the fourth season for christmas.

I'm posting a pic that i took to enter into a contest for a swap i'm in. I am taking part in a coffee/yarn swap and they are holding a contest to see who could take the best still life photo of coffee and yarn. I wanted to see what you folks thought of the pic i sent in for the contest.

I hope you all enjoy our last GG episode, I've read the spoilers and i'm not sure what i think just yet.

Best wishes and happy stitches

mandie

my 2 cents

I have taken a few days to let this episode sink in. I wasn't really sure if i liked where it was going. I personally think that Logan will make a final appeal to Rory in the last episode. I cant see them ending the show with out them being together. I dont think they will be engaged but i think they will be dating again. Logan needs her. I was not a big fan of the talk with Rory and lore in Rory's apartment. I think that being raised by a forever single mom Rory is just following moms example and feels its best to go it alone. Now please remember this is being written by a single mom so no hate mail please.

I think the best thing they could do is give us an "update" ending to the show. When they ended the show six feet under they gave us the best ending i think i have ever seen on TV before. They played a wonderful song and followed each of the main characters thru there lives. It really gave the show closure. You were able to see them get married have children and see there children's wed, and also they showed some of the characters deaths (that is what the show was about anyways). I would be soooo very happy if GG would do something like that. I'd love to see a future shot of Rory on her wedding day or at a big newspaper and Luke and lore together at the diner.

Oh well i guess it is only a wish right. We will all see on Tuesday.

best wishes and happy stitches
Mandie

Well...

She made the wrong decision. She should have said yes. What does she have to stay in New England for? I suppose the fact that she didn't spend the rest of the show devastated and depressed means she didn't really love him enough. But I stick to what I said. Wrong decision.

I think the series finale will be a huge let down. Doesn't look like too much excitement will happen. In addition to last week's disappointing episode maybe it is time that they let the show go. Ever since Lore called it off with Chris the show has been slow... mellow... boring. I guess I would rather say goodbye now, loving the show and always loving the show, then having several seasons of disappointment and coming to hate it However, if Rory were to say yes to Logan and move west it leads to a natural series finale.

Now that all of that is said... I teared up when Lore was clapping at the ceremony. Lauren Graham does a fabulous job of contorting her face when Lore is upset and trying not to show it. She always makes me tear up. I look forward to seeing her in Evan Almighty and I think I'll go through the IMdb.com and add some more of her movies to my NetFlix list.

Its really over :(

I'm sorry to bring you bad news today. It was announced that Gilmore Girls will not be back for a 8th season. You can read more info on www.gilmoregirls.org This was announced last week but I had not visited the site for a while so this mornings news was abit of a shocker for me. After reading the email from the gilmore girls.org founder i realized i too am faceing a decision. Do i keep my blog up and running. I have decided that i will, as long as there are people who want to visit, share there knitting projects and just talk about gilmore girls i'll be here. We now only have two more episodes left. Two more weeks to enjoy all that stars hollow has to offer.
I say let's make the best of it and enjoy them while we can. These last two episodes will be packed full of exciting things ( i wont spoil them for you) for us.

Again i'm sorry to bring you the bad news
i'll be back tonight to discuss the show
thanks
mandie

trying to find a pattern

Hello all,
I'm trying to find a pattern similar to this one. This was my fav sweater but it got felted. I love the neck line and how the sweater would hang. the cuff's used to hang a bit too. I guess they call this a ballerina top? i'm not 100% sure. The only ballerina top patterns i have found are wrap around, and that just wont work with my body type.
any help??
please let me know
thanks
mandie

sorry so late

I too was able to call last nights episode. I am having a hard time with the new writers. I know that they had some big shoes to fill but they must think we are stupid. I have given up on reading the spoilers, i don't need them. I think i can even tell you what is going to happen in next weeks show. I'll keep it to myself, but i think i know what is coming. Regardless of being able to see the future i still enjoyed the show. I like how they showed a calm Layne. She was so scared when she was preg. and just freaked out a few times. now they have showed her as a great mom and a very understanding and loving wife. speaking of babies, Dula is MIA... I love how TV shows can make a character disappear.

So Logan wants to marry Rory, hummmm!!!! I smell trouble. Now is when Chris is gonna reappear and Luke is soo gonna run into him. OK that's it no more predictions. sorry for that one. I did enjoy Rory's dream of the future and a bit of the past. I like Paris living in Rory's house, she has always ran to that house for comfort.

So recap. Layne's man is going on the road sans wife and baby, Rory now has an apartment in NY, Logan is moving to San Fran, Logan wants to marry Rory, lore is having a heart attack at the thought of Rory moving and getting married, Rory is going to graduate in next show, Luke has no April/ boat, and lore is singing love songs. OK I think i got it all. well now that i write it all I'm not sure if I really did like the episode. I think i like that it is Gilmore Girls, and it's new but as far as GG goes it was not my fav. I guess alot of nothing happened. strange how after writing about it my true feelings come out.

I'll stop babbling now. thanks all
Mandie

Watched GG with my Mommy

So my mom has never seen GG and is unfamiliar with all the complexities of the story line but she sat down and watched it with me last night while she was visiting from out of town.

When I heard about karaoke, I looked at my mom and said, watch, Lore is going to sing a cheesy love song and Luke will walk in. When Logan came to talk to Lore, I also looked at her and said, I bet Logan wants to drag her to like California or something. Even though I called these things, I still liked the episode.

I find myself constantly worrying about what is going to happen in Season 8 (if we do indeed get a season 8). I need to chill out and just watch the show :)

In knitting news, I have one button band finished on my Cardigan, Branching Out continues to progress. I haven't worked on the baby cardigans sleeves. I'm a bad girl.

some works in progress

here are some works in progress.

This will be felted soon. I just thought " how cute would a British flag be on a felted bag". I was right. the Jamaican flag is next.

I'm not sure if you all remember me telling you a few months back about my son's cousin who was murdered out in Wyoming. well his girlfriend is having his baby girl, she is due in July so now i have a reason to make something pink. I decided to make the baby tart hat from knitty.com. I may enter this in the calendar contest they are having.

Spring cleaning. All this mess on my bed is going to be donated to a local school that is having a rummage sale. This school is for mentally challenged children and all the money from the sale goes to funding new and existing programs for them.

well i'm sure i'll be back later tonight to post about our favorite girls. Talk to you all soon

mandie