Can I Pretend ...

That this almost two-month lapse in blogging never occurred?  Cause ... I'm kind of ashamed ...

Okay, so I got the full-time position in the shoe department.  I work days (yay) so I don't have to put up with this open-until-11pm stuff.

I bought a car (I've never had a car before!) and her name is Molly:

2007 Pontiac G5.

Now that I'm not working late all the time, I find I'm going to my favourite yarn store more often.  But it's all good;  I'm making more money now!

Neglect!

Wow.  Sorry.

We moved on August 31st to the new place.  It's awesome.  :)

I'm waiting to see if I got the full-time position I applied for.  It'd still be the same place, different department.

Trying my hand at making my own spindle.

Ok, then.  See ya in a month.

You Were Fine This Morning ....

Surprises

 So, my dad and I were driving to Dundas on Tuesday to look at a record store.  Across the street is this little craft shop called Angela's.  Not a lot of yarn there, but I like to look anyways.

I went in and starting looking at their yarn.  I got to the back corner and saw some roving.  They've never had roving before!  Apparently they found it all in the back.  So I bought up most of the green roving (it's this beautiful irish green) and I plan to spin and knit a sweater.

I want to go back for the deep red I saw, too.

Used Car Buying Tips

1.  Always test drive the car before buying it - with the seller!  That way, you can put it through its paces and if the seller doesn't like it, then the deal's off.

2.  Until recently, this wouldn't have occurred to me.  Always check the mileage and make sure it's in kilometres (if, like me, you're buying one in Canada).  Ask me how I know.

3.  When checking out the car (oh yeah, always look at it first) bring a rubber mallet and make sure the body's stable.  People are really good at making crappy cars look nice.

I'll be adding to this list as I go.  Excuse me, though, I have to work on the car I just bought ....

Anticipation

Everything seems to hinge on what happens tomorrow.  If I don't get a call by 5pm from Friday's interviewers, then I haven't got the job.

If I don't get the job, not much changes.  We'll just have to wait a little longer to buy a used car.  We sold the Pink Panther this morning.  She would take too much money to fix again, more than what we bought her for two years ago!

If I do get the job, hey!  The sky's the limit, right?  New car, previously-owned/leased car, anything we want.

But we have to wait for tomorrow.

I Like It Better This Way

So, remember back in ... May (?) when I posted about moving?  Well, being the people we are (lazy) and under the circumstances, we decided not to move right away.  For two reasons.

First, our trump card was removed.  We were going to get out of our contract because the heat was turned off sooner than the by-law states.  Well, after filling out the application for the apartment, the heat was turned on again.

Because of this, we didn't have a reason to break our contract.  So, we sent in notice that we are moving out at the end of the contract, August 31.

And today, we were told that we get the apartment we applied for two days ago.  This one isn't the same one from two months ago, but it is on the same street.  I like this one much better.

This is my attempt to draw the layout on Paint.  Also, I didn't include the balcony, which is at least twice the width of a normal balcony and the length of the living room + dining room.

Also, my bedroom is much bigger.  And it has a walk-in type closet.  But the window is tiny.  (That's why Dad gets the smaller room.  The window is big enough for an air conditioner, which everyone knows I don't need.)

So, in 48 days (or fewer, depending on whether we move the weekend prior to the 31st) we shall be free of this apartment building with its superintendents that got the job because they couldn't pay their rent.

Oh, yeah, and I have a job interview tomorrow morning.

Creativity

So, I bought an electronic media device, and I want to make my own case for it.  As usual, I can't find a knitted one that I like, so I'm making it up with some help from my boyfriend.  (He comes up with these awesome ideas, ways to build stuff that I wouldn't have thought of.  Therefore, he's awesome.)

His idea:  Due to a need for more stability than knitting alone can provide, he proposed using cardboard and knitting around it.

Awesome!  (That word shall be used in abundance today.)  So, while cleaning and packing my room today, I came across the perfect-sized piece of cardboard.  Nice!  (I mean, awesome!)

I can use up extras for the knitting part, which I'll probably knit a touch looser and larger so I can slightly full it.

Now, to keep the device securely inside this cover, I plan (or rather, he suggested) to knit triangular corner holders.  And I (this really is my idea) plan to sew a zipper to enclose the whole thing!

I'll keep updating ... and stealing ideas from my boyfriend.

Bad Week

I lost a friend this week.

We met ten years ago.  Hung out every day.  I considered her one of my best friends.  She moved away four years ago, to another city, but I followed her two years later.  Life got busy, and we didn't see each other as often as we had before.  But we were still friends.

This week she got sick.  I visited her a lot this week.  Tuesday she seemed to be getting better, but then Wednesday evening she got worse.

She died on Thursday.  I miss my friend.

Refresher

Wow.  It's been a while.

I'm still working at WalMart.  Let me tell you, it's twenty times better than working at any local coffee shop (name, of course, changed to protect the guilty).

My current beef is actually with where I live.  I like it here, on the edge of the mountain, but it's really cold.  Inside.  Yeah, our stupid superintendent decided that the beginning of May in Ontario was a good time to turn off the heat.  Hey, just because we got one somewhat nice day doesn't mean summer's here!  My room is freezing.  Sure it doesn't help that there's a crack in it (on the non-opening side).  How do I know there's a crack in my window?  Remember our big storm on February 2nd?

Yeah.  In case it's hard to tell, that's snow inside my window.

So now we're moving.  We're giving about 15 days notice, and I know we'll get our last month's rent deposit back, because turning the heat on late and off early is against the rules.

And I'm still in a knitting funk, but that's only because I have a priority knit on the needles.

Jump In, The Water's Perfect

Out with the old ...

... and in with the new:

(This is the first picture taken with the new camera.)

Pretty Fruit

Last night I made smoothies with my boyfriend.  I couldn't resist borrowing his camera though:

Okay, there were also raspberries, strawberries, and banana in our smoothies.  Yummeh.

And I'm in a knitting slump, not made any better by forcing myself to knit.

Food Fail!

Apparently there's a huge difference between black bean sauce and paste.  Well, at least I now know what not to buy.  The sauce isn't that nice sweet stuff at the Vietnamese restaurants at which I'm always eating.

Now excuse me while I eat my plain sticky white rice.

Why This Weekend Feels Like Work

Yesterday (Saturday) we had band rehearsal from 9:30am to 5:00pm.  Two oratorio practices and one regular practice.

The oratorio is today.  We have yet another rehearsal at 1:00pm and the actual concert thing is this evening.

On Wednesday I've agreed to play in a competition with the concert band.

Then next Saturday is another mid-day rehearsal and then the concert that evening.

And that is why I actually took sick days this week to get rid of my cough.

Kool-Aid!

I was bored ... being snowed in makes me destructively constructive.  I'll probably wish I'd left the natural alpaca alone.

But I really like how that blue turned out.  That was a fluke.

And Here It Is

My latest finished object (believe me, those are a rare species these days coming from me):

I've called it "Blood Orange" because the colours remind me of the fruit.  (Obviously.  I haven't had my tea yet this morning.)

Pre-picture Post!

This one's mainly to remind me that I need to post pictures of my latest FO.  It's 198 Yards Of Heaven done in some miscellaneous yarn that looks suspiciously like Patons SWS.

This time I've remembered to take a picture of it before I block it (but I still forgot to get one while it was still dry).  Hopefully by tomorrow night it'll be fully dry and I can complete this post!

Won't Let Go

I think my camera's dying.  Lately it uses way more battery power than when I first got it.  I'll put new ones in and 10 shots later they're dead.  And it won't let me download pictures from my memory card to the computer anymore.

So much for Project 365.

I miss my camera.

Making Time To Block

I'd like to block this scarf, but it's so cold outside that I have to wear it.

Maybe I'll block it while I'm at work tonight.

Things Are Looking Up

I got rehired as a cashier at that last place.  Ok, it's Walmart.  It's only covering another employee on maternity leave, but it's a job!

Like everyone else (or so it seems), I've decided to do project 365.  But not here.  My boyfriend set up another blog so we can both use it.  Hopefully I'll make it.  Last year I lasted three days.

I'm also participating in a test-knit.  I've never done one before, but I figured hey, I have the yarn (or at least a substitute) and not too many WIPs.

Now time to get ready for a marathon band rehearsal!

Time To Hope

My part-time seasonal job is over.  I did have an interview a couple Wednesdays ago, but I won't hear from them either way until this coming week.  I really hope I get it.

I'm going on a yarn diet until November.  I'm sure I have enough to keep me occupied until then.  I mean, there is that afghan I want to knit!

Not much else is going on ... I'm just casting on projects way sooner than I should.  I've only got five WIPs so far.  I've a ways to go.