End of July - not that that's relevant

I got a pedicure today. It's Opi Sugarplum Yum. The sandals are Easy Spirit from the Easy Spirit store at Discover Mills Mall north of Atlanta on I-85. It's more plummy than it looks here. It's got this shimmer that makes it change color when my toes move. Totally cool!

I received my copy of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off last night. Our Stitch & Bitch did a Knit Picks order and that was what I ordered. I worked on my sweater a little and read the book a little. Then I left early because it was really cold in the room at Burger King. I was home in time to watch The Closer and in bed shortly after 10. Yea!

I went to see The Little River Band Friday night with my friend Debbie. They sounded great and it was very reminiscent of high school and college. I was so tired. We left at the intermission. I was ready to go and Debbie was, too. But the concert was great and the venue, the Phenix City Amphitheater, was great. You can see the river and the bridge and there were boats and trains and kayaks! I haven't been there in years. It's really polished and nice. It'd be nicer on a day that's not in the 90's, but we really enjoyed it. Next time I'll take a chair and some knitting. :)

Have a great week.

More Grief

This is Scarlette. She was born August 25, 1991. I took her to my parents' house as a gift to them that October. She was spoiled and much loved. I called her "Sissy" - because we're sisters - same parents. When my mom died nine years ago (after a series of strokes over several years), it was Scarlette who let Daddy know. You can see by the picture that she doesn't like having her photo taken. One day I was following her around the yard trying to take a picture of her. She didn't like it. She went around to the back door. I told her I just wanted to take a picture of her. She hissed, swatted my foot with her paw, then jumped through the storm door where she'd pulled the screen off one corner producing her own cat-door. Scarlette died last Wednesday. One month shy of her 16th birthday. She will be terribly missed.

There was a lot of grief last week. I cried for several days in a row over Scarlette and my friend from church. There was a very nice funeral on Saturday. Over the years there were many times at drama rehearsals that Cindy would come up to me and say, "Would you go run sound?" It happened a lot. They would need microphones and there wouldn't be anyone to run them. Saturday I arrived for the funeral and sat down in a pew. After only a few minutes, I got a tap on the shoulder and was asked, "Would you go run sound?" It was fitting. Running sound one last time for her. She will be missed, too.

I'm still trying to learn to knit socks. I have still been getting up in the morning and exercising. I'm eating my fruits and vegetables. Ready to see some results. Come on fat, get the heck out of here!

Grief

A friend of mine from church lost a six month valiant battle with cancer this week. She was creative, funny, caring, smart. She was a great wife and mother. She had a beautiful singing voice. I'll miss working with her in the drama ministry and her friendship. Visitation is tomorrow and the funeral is Saturday.

There's other sad news that I'm just not ready to share yet. I'll get to it later.

My Heart Is Racing

Oh. My. God. The Yarn Harlot is coming to Atlanta. My heart started racing when I read this fact on her blog tonight. I felt like I'd done 30 minutes of aerobics. I could not be more thrilled.

Speaking of aerobics, I have been getting up in the morning and exercising! What a great idea for someone who needs desperately to lose weight. I have all these exercise videos that I'm just sick of. So, here's my plan: I have the Digital Cable. On the Cable is "On Demand" - or pay-per-view. There is something called "Free Pass On Demand" - free-per-view. There are exercise videos on there that they change out periodically. There are lots of videos. I shouldn't have to repeat many, if any. I think it's a good plan.

I went to sock class with my knitting group on Sunday at the library. It was very interesting, and challenging. I know I'll eventually get it; but boy, it's definitely not mindless knitting.

Tonight's Dinner Recipe (modified from Fitness Magazine):
Garlic Chicken and Zucchini Pasta
1 cup whole wheat pasta cooked
1/2 cup cooked chicken strips (bought the Perdue strips at Publix) (Fitness Magazine called for shrimp - I don't do seafood.)
1 thinly sliced zucchini (used my box grater)
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
Make It: Cook Pasta. Mix hot noodles with remaining ingredients. (I also steamed the zucchini. I don't like my zucchini to make noise when I bite into it.)

It was good. I made a double recipe so I can take it for work tomorrow. I also grated a little parmesan on top of it.

Okay, my pulse rate has returned to normal. Y'all take care.

The Return of the Weekend

Wow! I like this weekend thing. It's so nice having a day when I don't have to work. My PMF (Platonic Male Friend) has been on vacation for a week and a half and got back to town yesterday. So he and I hung out and went to lunch and looked at his vacation pictures. Ahh. It was such a luxury and just delightful. Here are the postcards he sent me:

So cool! I love postcards.

Of course our lunch out followed me sleeping an hour later than I do during the week and getting up to a leisurely breakfast of grits and soy sausage with grapes on the side. Ahh!! I'm beginning to remember what weekends are about.

Fruit and Veggies

After work today I went to the produce market up on the north side. It's been there for years, but I never went. Now with all the talk of buying locally grown produce, I thought it was time to visit. I bought lots of yummy veggies. Came home and had a big salad. It was good. They have lots of other stuff there packed in simple zip lock bags. Some of it was snack stuff like you see in the supermarket - chocolate covered almonds, yogurt almonds, gummy bears, etc. I got some Sesame Sticks with Oat Bran. They are quite tasty. I threw some on my salad, too. The other thing I got was frozen hushpuppies. I love hushpuppies! Being allergic to fish, I don't get a lot of hushpuppies. I sure do like them, though. I had hushpuppies with my salad. Unorthodox, I know. It was really good, though.

A lot is going on at work. We're very busy. The station is in transition with new management and lots of changes are happening. It's exciting, a little nerve wracking, and who knows what's coming next.

All right, I'm getting off the computer now to go knit. Gotta work on that sweater.

Yea! It's Monday.

I know. People don't like Monday. But I get to go to my knitting group on Mondays. We meet at a cool Burger King in a historic house. I know it sounds weird. You have to see it. Lots of people have rsvp'ed for tonight. It should be fun. If you'd like to know more about the group, there's a link at the bottom of the page that will take you to our website.


Babysitting with Catherine was fun Saturday except she got jealous when I talked to her brother, the new dog, the cat. She was just having a night when she wanted Miss Holly all to herself. Here are her nails:

It's Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Purple Potion. Very irridescent. Here she is where she wouldn't pose for me with a smile like I wanted and I asked Adam, her big brother, to make her laugh:

I love that picture.

Yesterday was a lovely, lazy, rainy Sunday. After church and lunch and groceries from Publix, I came home and read the paper and watched tv all afternoon. Ahhhh!

So now, after a long day at work, I'm off to knitting. What a great way to start the week!

Cable Found

I found my USB cable and thus, you are able to see the lovely WIP (that's "work in progress" for you non-knitters) I told you about in my last post.

Today is Saturday and it's the first Saturday since I quit my part time job. I enjoyed the job and I'm definitely going to miss the people, but I just so needed my weekends back. I slept until 8am this morning. Unheard of in my world. It was so nice sitting on the couch in my pajamas eating grits and bacon and toast. I might miss my sausage bisquit and hashbrowns from McDonald's, but I had to eat those while driving. . . not on the couch in my pajamas. Ahhh. So here it is almost noon, and guess what! Still in my pajamas!

I will make my way to the shower shortly. I'm babysitting tonight for my litle friend Catherine. She's so much fun. I've already picked out some nail polish.

I also need to get my Sunday School lesson studied sometime today. Oh, the pressure.

So much yarn, so little time.

I'm working on my first sweater. It's in a cool Yarn Bee yarn called Paradox in a color called "Wild Night". It's black with hot pink fuzzies. So cute. I'm basing the pattern off one in a book that Julie from my knitting group is working on. Debbie from the group is also making one in the same pattern. Debbie is making hers in a cotton yarn. I'm sure Debbie's will be done before mine. A) Debbie seems to have more time to knit than I do. and B) Debbie is of a tiny frame and mine is quite ample. I just took a picture of my progress that I was going to happily post, but I am currently unable to locate my USB cable. Okay I tried one more place and still can't find it. Where did I put that thing? Eventually you'll see it.

Introduction

Hello, I'm Holly. I'm from Upstate South Carolina, attened Clemson University, work in television production, teach two-year-old Sunday School, and I'm obsessed with knitting. All of it: the yarn stash, the magazines, the books, the patterns. I knew I was in trouble when I had to put sub-folders in my Knitting folder under my favorites. Yes, I'd bookmarked that many sites. So, here I am joining the blogging world. See what happens when you give a girl a vacation day. I just hope my ancient computer can keep up. Let me know you've found me. I'd love to hear your comments.