Not Profound

I wanted to post something profound about the end of the year or something, but I just don't have it in me tonight. Instead here's some more pictures from my Christmas time in South Carolina:

This is the "new" Anderson County Courthouse that was built nearly twenty years ago. Here's a link to a daytime photo in case anyone's curious. The city does a big holiday display at a park on the lake - Hartwell, that is - or what's left of it - every year. I've never been up there and got Daddy interested in the idea this year. So we went. The gate donations go to several worthwhile local charities.
Yeah, that's the speedometer from my new car in the bottom of the shot! This is one of the displays. Cute!
We got out at the refreshment area and got some hot chocolate. There was a costumed Polar Bear, so I took Daddy's picture. There was a line for Santa visits, so we opted out of that.
After Christmas Day dinner, Daddy and I went to Belton, my Mom's hometown, and visited with the family. That's Daddy with my cousins Portia, Debbie, Aunt Sara, and cousin Sandra. Sandra had made some rocking coconut cake!

Debbie's daughter is a fantastic photographer. She's not a "professional", though she has made money at it - she has another job. Go look at her stuff on flickr. If you comment, tell her you found her on the Yarn to Knit blog!

I went back to work Monday after a week off. I didn't want to go. It's been relatively quiet. The only commercial client that's come in has been someone I enjoy working with, so it was no biggy. Today I directed three half-hour shows with a way-out-of-practice audio & graphics person. Whew!

Tomorrow Clemson plays in the Gator Bowl.

GOOOOOOOO, TIGERS!

Happy New Year, y'all. Make it a good one. Be safe. Don't make a resolution you can't keep. Keep the resolutions you make. God bless.

Christmas in South Carolina

Greetings from South Carolina where Internet access is only occasionally hackable. I hope you are all having a lovely holiday. The picture above is downtown Anderson decked out in her holiday finest. The picture below is from a house whose picture was in the Sunday paper. Daddy and I drove over there last night to see it. Very cool. The article is here with better pictures than I took.
Merry Christmas and remember the reason for the season. God bless your family this holiday.

Christmas Time is Here

Last Saturday I went to Pine Mountain to have Mexican food with Seth. The Pine Mountain Christmas Parade was that afternoon. I got a big coffee from the Circle K and we watched the parade. Enjoy it with us:

I was a flag girl in my high school band. I marched in many a parade like this.

This is the Jolly Trolly from Callaway Gardens. You can ride this through Fantasy in Lights. It's so much fun.

And here's Santa!

I mentioned in my last post that I was doing stage makeup for the Christmas Program at church. Here are some examples of my handy work: First we have a little donkey.
Then we have a little lamb. They were animals in the manger when Mary and Joseph went there to have baby Jesus.

I also sparkled up three angels. I don't know if you can tell in the photo, but their faces and hair are all covered in glitter.

This is the finale part of the program. Most of the drama is done with the children down in front of the choir, but at the end the curtain on the stage above the choir opens and the adults are up there doing the scene, too. See the angels on top of the manger? The little animals are down front on the right. There's also a "camel" on the very right.

At the very end, everyone comes down and the angels are on the stairs. I told them to move their heads a little so the glitter would catch the light. It was so pretty.

It was a very nice program. The choir sounded wonderful. The musical was so sweet.

I've got to go get some knitting done now. Y'all have a good weekend.

How I Spent My Thanksgiving Weekend

As I said in my last post, I got my new car and took off to Augusta (a four hour drive) the next day to have Thanksgiving Dinner with my family at my cousin David's house. Clockwise around the table beginning top left: My dad (Robert), cousin Randall, David's next-door neighbor (I've forgotten his name), cousin David, cousin Perry. Randall, David, and Perry are brothers. Their dad, Ralph, was my dad's oldest brother. He died a few years ago. I went around the table so we could see a little better. Randall and David are joined by our cousin Steve. Steve's dad was the middle brother, James. He died a few months after Uncle Ralph. Steve has a sister, Rhonda (the oldest among us - I'm the baby), who is the only other cousin. She spent the holiday with her daughter and two grandchildren.
Clockwise from bottom left: Cathy (Perry's wife), Katie (David's younger daughter), Garrett (Perry's younger son), Vickie (Randall's wife), and Aunt Eunice (Perry, David, and Randall's mom).
As you can tell from the pictures, David and Shari have a beautiful home. Here is a picture from the back porch looking out towards the pond.

I walked down to the pond and took this picture looking back towards the house. Just beautiful.

We all ended up in the driveway. Here are all of Aunt Eunice's grandchildren: Lindsey (David's older daughter), Katie, Bradley (Perry's older son), and Garrett in the background.

Aunt Eunice tried on some cool Coach sunglasses Cathy had. David's wife Shari (who was in the kitchen cooking and cleaning while I took the other pictures - she's a great hostess) is standing behind her with Cathy.

Steve had driven Daddy the two hours from Anderson. After we ate, I drove Daddy home to Anderson in my new car. We followed Steve. Things Daddy said on the way home:

"I don't know why Steve is going so fast."

"Why's he going this way."

"It would have been quicker to go through Abbeville."

"Are you okay, Hon?"

"What town is this?"
"Can you see Steve up there?"
"Don't talk on that phone while you're driving."
"Are we in Calhoun Falls yet?"

"Are you okay, Hon?"

We made it safe and sound, despite his worries. We went out on Friday and went to the mall. Katie had reminded me about the big bonus sale they were having at Bath & Body Works. We went straight there when we got to the mall. Daddy was going to wait outside, but the lines were out to almost the front of the store, so I went and got him and made him stand in the line for me while I shopped. He was pretty close to the register when I finished and I went and handed him a coupon. "What's this?" "That's your coupon." "For what?" "For these," as I hand him two can of room fragrance. "I don't want these." "I do and I can only use one coupon. I'm using this one. I need you to use that one." "Oh, Hon." Anyway, I ended up with $196 worth of products for $65. Woo-Hoo!

On Saturday we watched my Clemson Tigers beat the Carolina Gamecocks! Go, Tigers!!

Eventually, I'd driven 378 miles and was down to a quarter of a tank - gotta love a Honda - and needed some gas. I realized this was my first fill-up in this car and documented the event:

That's Daddy in the car. Eat your heart out SUV drivers: (Remember, this is 378 miles worth of gas.)

The Sunday after Thanksgiving in Anderson always means the Toys for Tots Motorcycle Parade. One year Daddy and I happened upon it by accident. Now we make plans to be there every year. The weather this year was horrible. The crowd was down, but there were still die-hard bikers who made sure those kids will get presents. I did a video with my digital camera:

Anderson had some autumnal decorations lining the streets near city hall.

Daddy has two neighborhood cats he feeds when they come for a visit. They occasionally announce themselves by perching in the kitchen window. This one came by Monday morning while I was packing to leave.

I came back to more stress at work and a Christmas musical at church. I'll have to take some pictures to share at tomorrow's performance.

Thanksgiving

This year I can say with new honesty that I'm thankful to be alive. Surviving the grill of an SUV in your driver's door window makes you grateful. I'm thankful for all the prayers and encouraging words and offers of help that came my way following my accident. I'm thankful for good friends and family, for caring co-workers, and for my church family. I'm thankful for five days in a row off work! I'm thankful I get to spend Thanksgiving with my family, first in Augusta and then in South Carolina. I'm thankful that we finally worked out the insurance (and thankful my insurance didn't have to pay). I'm awfully thankful for my new car. I got it today and it's cool. I should have a chance to get pictures this weekend and will post them as soon as I can. Remember Internet access at Daddy's is extremely limited; so if I'm not very communicative, that's why. (At least I have an excuse!) Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Accident

I sent this out in an e-mail, but this is for the rest of you:

I wanted to let y'all know that I had a car accident Monday night (11/10/08) on my way home from my knitting group. I didn't even see the SUV coming. I remember thinking, "What's happening? Somebody hit me." Then just flying glass and me screaming. I have a vague memory of the grill of the SUV in my driver's door window as it shattered. My car did a 180 degree spin before it stopped. I had a cut in my hair just above my bangs, glass cuts on my left hand, and my left knee was killing me. I was pretty much stuck in the car - my door and the back door were smashed by the impact. When the EMT's got there, they covered the passenger seat - because of the glass - and I had to climb out that side. They made sure there was no glass in my head and made me take off my cardigan and scarf so they could shake out the glass. I sat on the back of the ambulance to take off my shoe and shake out glass and they looked at my knee which was already beginning to bruise. They said I didn't need to go to the ER that night. I went to my Chiropractor on Tuesday and he did a lot of x-rays and scans and I've had two adjustments now and I'm starting to feel better. My knee is twelve shades of purple and blue. Yesterday morning I picked up the accident report and the officer says he can't determine who is at fault since we both say we had green lights. Okay, but I was going straight and she was making a left turn. I had the right-of-way. It makes no sense. I found out late yesterday that they totaled my car. Pardon me, but this totally sucks. I shed a lot of tears yesterday. I liked my car. It ran great. Had a great stereo. I have so many great memories in that car. I worked so hard to take care of it so it would last me a long time. So now I'm stuck getting a new car, paying higher insurance, and all sorts of other hassles. Like I said, it sucks.

Weird Hours

So, tomorrow is election day. Instead of my 8:30am-5:30pm work day, I'm working noon-11:00pm. Yuck. I'm getting up in the morning and going to vote around 9:30. I hope the lines aren't too long. Some of the races I know which way I'm voting, in others I'm still up in the air. I trust that God will show me which way to vote once I'm there. Whoever wins all of the elections that take place tomorrow, they will definitely need prayer. As you hear the winners announced, ask God to guide their steps during their term of service.

I promise I'll get some afghan pictures taken soon. I'm out of AA batteries for my digital camera!

Autumn in Pine Mountain

Fall Festival

Tonight was the Fall Festival at church. I was asked to help with the Trunk or Treat. Basically I sat in a lawn chair behind my car and handed out candy to the hundreds and hundreds of kids who came by. They were so cute. It was fun, but it was cold out tonight. I had gloves on for a while. Kids would say, why do you have those on? Well. . . because my hands are cold. I guess they thought it was part of a costume. I had on a Halloween sweatshirt and a headband with horns. Some of my "friends" said I was letting my "true colors" show. That's not nice!

Tomorrow we're having a Halloween luncheon at work. I've got to go make an apple crisp. We can dress up if we want. I thought about wearing my glasses, putting on a blazer, put my hair in an up-do, and saying I'm Sarah Palin.

It's an Afghan!

I finished my afghan late last night. I took it to work today to show it off. The other knitter really liked it. The aspiring knitter liked it. Everyone seemed to like it. I then took it to the knitting group to show it off. Everyone there liked it, too. Yea! There will be pictures soon.

100 % Fuzzy!

I've been a bad blogger, I know. I've brought you something fun, though:

Your result for Yarn Store Worthiness Test...

Your LYS knows you

100 % Fuzzy!

Your stash of yarn must be pretty big. Your local yarn

store knows who you are.

Go take the Yarn Store Worthiness test at HelloQuizzy.com.

My friend, Bookwyrm, from the knitting group had a totally different test from this site on her blog (clicking her name will take you to that particular post), but once I was there and took the test she linked to (Initially I tested "Musical", I took it again and came up "Logical" which really sounds more like me), I couldn't resist looking for knitting and yarn related tests. Voila!

Anyway, what have I been up to? Lots of working. So not cool. It's been a crazy time at the TV station. I've done a little knitting. I've started on a potholder. It's called Toto the Extremely Useful and Cute Potholder. It's from the new Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines Book. I have this picture of one:

That's not actually mine. I borrowed that picture from a knitter in Rome, Georgia. Mine will be pink where hers is green and green where hers is pink. I decided to make this because I burned my hand getting my cast iron skillet out of the oven shortly after getting the book. It was a sign. I've got one pocket done. This is my mobile project so I only knit on it at lunch and when I'm out and about. Work has been such that I haven't necessarily gotten to take lunch everyday. Seriously cuts into my knitting time. I'm in a much better mood in the afternoon if I get to knit at lunch. I'm almost finished with my afghan and chugging along on Daddy's vest.

Friday I went to my eye doctor for my usual exam. I've worn glasses since I was 10, contacts since I was 16. For the first time ever in my contact lens experience, I'm going to be wearing different lenses in each eye. I've always worn the same lens. I've bought one box of disposable lenses at a time. NO MORE! Crazy. My vision was stable for a long time, then I got to that age where you need longer arms. My solution was multi-focal contacts. They work like magic. All of a sudden I could see again. Now I need stronger versions of those. If you've worn contacts for nearsightedness and suddenly found yourself needing longer arms and/or reading glasses, give the multi-focals a try. I love love love them. My eye doctor is my age and has never worn glasses. It's not fair, is it? I can't imagine what that must be like.

Oh, what about the whole Tommy Bowden getting fired thing? (We all know that's what went down, no matter what the Athletic Director says.) I think it was crazy. They should have let him finish the season. The team has lost their compass. I'll be surprised if they win any more games. We'll find out Saturday against Boston College. BC got killed by UNC yesterday, so they could be out for Clemson's blood. Yikes! I feel for my Tigers.

That's about it for me. I know. I've been out of touch, and that's it? Well, I've been working. Working. It's taken over. Not much else. I need a vacation.

Tired, but Posting

I've been working some crazy long hours, but wanted to share my Pocket Book Slippers with you. They're so cute and fuzzy. I like them. Yarn is Yarn Bee Paradox in Wild Night.

I'll do a more proper post this weekend. I promise.

Thank Goodness for Google

My Internet service is acting all weird. I checked my email just fine then tried to go to ravelry, but it wouldn't load. Lots of sites won't load. Couldn't read the Anderson Paper, but got the Columbus Paper to load. Then ravelry finally loaded. I asked my tech-guy (Seth). He said to reboot the computer and the modem. No change. Google works, so I'm able to post since Blogger is a Google thing. I can't click through from Google to anywhere else, though. I think I'm going to go knit now. See ya.

More Knitting!

My friend Gail had her first baby, Luke, in early August. A first baby calls for booties. These are
Free Baby's Best Booties Knitting Pattern, a simple and quick to knit pattern. I used Lullaby by Berroco, a pretty nice yarn, but they've discontinued it.

I thought Luke also needed a Bunny Blanket Buddy. The head's supposed to be stuffed, but mine turned out flat. I think it's a good idea since it belongs to a baby. It will allow Gail to wash it easily after Luke's chewed and sucked on the ears or paws when he's teething.

Gail also is the guardian of her 12-year-old cousin, Bailey. I couldn't send Luke a gift without sending Bailey a gift, too. I made her this hat using the Knifty Knitter long yellow loom and a pattern in the Knitting with the Knifty Knitter III. This is Red Heart Light & Lofty in Antique Rose. Gail says Bailey loved the hat and that it was her favorite color. I'm so glad!

I'm working on Daddy's vest and I'll be through with my slippers in a few days. I can't wait to show you how cute they are. I walked around Panera last week, wearing one slipper and a sandal on my other foot so all the knitters could see. Everyone liked it. I'm working on another project that's my own design. It was a matter of knowing what I wanted and not liking any of the options I found on the Internet or in books, so I crafted my own. I really like it. I'll show you when it's done.

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Yesterday I went to the Cotton Pickin' Fair in Gay, Georgia with my friend, Terrie - Catherine's mom. We got something called Chocolate Jelly that was amazing. The website is http://chocolatejelly.net/. We also bought earrings. Mine are Clemson Earrings like these except dangly. (They don't have a picture of the dangly ones, so the link goes to the stud ones.) Terrie's are UNC earrings. They are made of real Georgia marble and really cute.

On the work front, we produced our first High Definition Commercial this week. It was a simple spot for a client we work with all the time. It's going to be really exciting to see our new edit suite get finished and learn what we can do using High Definition. Welcome to the 21st Century!

What is this world coming to?

This afternoon our news department started telling us the news: Bill Heard was closing their Chevrolet and their Cadillac/Saab dealerships in town, along with their other 11 dealerships around the country. You can read about it here. My thoughts immediately went to Mr. Tom and Ms. Cheryl. Tom and Cheryl are our Sunday School directors in the Preschool Department. Tom's worked at the Cadillac dealership as long as I've known him. I saw Cheryl tonight at church and just gave her a hug and told her I was sorry. She seemed okay, but please keep them in your prayers.

So then, I get to church and find out that vandals have spray painted swear words around the church property. When I got there, the children's minister (who happens to be Tom and Cheryl's son-in-law) was putting poster board over the door to the preschool hall to cover it up.

And what's up with the gas? How can gas stations run out of gas? It's really crazy. All this makes me wonder what's going on? Where are we headed? I just pray that God will give us the strength and wisdom to face whatever challenges continue to come our way.

On a positive note: Remember Daddy's vest? He was supposed to get it last Christmas and I only had the back done? Well, I finished the right front Monday night at the knitting group. Yea! So now I get to make a big, but fast project for me (the instant gratification will be motivating, honest), then do the left front. Also, I'm knitting some slippers and finished the first one at lunch yesterday and seamed it up last night. It's so cute! My coworkers were sufficiently impressed. I'll get pictures soon. I cast on for the second one today at lunch.

What I've Been Knitting (It's Finally Been Delivered, So Now You Can See It!)

This hat is for my friend Lesa's husband, Glen. Lesa and Glen both work at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. Purple and white are their school colors.

This hat is for Lesa's son, Reese. Orange and black are the colors for Kirksville High School where Reese is a student. Yes, you've seen this before - here.

These three hats are for Lesa. Girls need more variety in their wardrobe than guys do.

These three hats are for Chloe, Lesa's daughter. They lived in Columbus when the kids were little. I helped Lesa raise Chloe from age 1 until they moved to Missouri shortly before Chloe turned five. (Lesa traveled a lot for work, and Chloe would always stay with me when she was out-of-town) Chloe turned 14 this week. I still think of her as my first child.

There are a couple of other things I've been knitting, but they are en route to their recipients, so that will have to wait a few days before being made public. Let me just say that my hat binge is over! For now....