Ugh.  It's snowing.  It's times like these that I wish I still lived in Seattle.  Seattle rarely gets snow and rarely gets colder than the mid-30s.  If you want the snow and cold, drive to the mountains.  We used to go skiing all the time.  In New Hampshire, I haven't been skiing once since we moved here.  I don't think my ski gear even fits me right now.  I remember our first winter in NH, Cocoa and Petie (our original Chihuahuas) had never seen snow before.  They did NOT like it one little bit.  We had to dig spots on the grass for them to go potty.  Luckily, they were paper trained so they could go inside if need-be.

Officially, today is the end of NaBloPoMo for November, but I pledged to post one extra day since I started a day late.  I can't believe I was able to do it!  I've really enjoyed meeting so many awesome bloggers through Ravelry and I love to read what everyone is up to.  It's almost like having pen pals.  Blogging is like making the world your pen pal.  Wouldn't it be crazy if my actual pen pal from growing up is reading this?  I doubt it.  I lost track of her a long time ago. . . 

I don't know what it is, but I have been feeling down today.  I think I'm stressed about the upcoming holidays.  I have so much work to do and not a lot of time to do it in.  Back to knitting.

I am halfway done with another gift.  Not much else is going on around here.  Patrick isn't feeling well, so we are just hanging out relaxing.  I hope he gets better soon and I hope I don't get it.  

I'm not very inspired to write right now and I don't have much to say.  Sorry.

Here are the pictures I promised!  First, we have the delicious Thanksgiving feast Patrick and I shared.  Everything was so good.  Isn't the canned cranberry sauce wicked classy?

Next up, we have the awesome Weight Watchers pumpkin pie.  It was very tasty.  

Saffy loves cardboard tubes.  We totally don't need to buy her toys.  We just give her toilet paper rolls.  Yesterday was a very special day and Saffy got the tube out of some cling wrap.  It's extra thick and chewable. 

Last but not least, Saffy was exhausted after her crazy tube chewing and doing tricks for turkey.  Puppy hangovers are so cute!

I got tagged by Tangletale for a meme the other day and I wasn't even paying attention!  I'll even post a real entry later today once I download the pics I took from our Thanksgiving holiday.  Here it is for funsies.

The Rules:
1) Link to your tagger and list all these rules in your blog.
2) Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3) Tag 7 people at the end of your post by including links to their blogs
4) Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

1. I was born almost 9 months to the day after my mother's 18th birthday.
2. I love candy corn and conversation hearts.  
3. I like it when my husband sticks his nose in my eye.
4. I don't like mayo or mustard and would rather eat my sandwiches plain.
5. I don't like crafts that you have to clean up immediately after doing.  Like painting, polymer clay, anything messy like that.  Mostly because I don't like cleaning up after myself.
6. I want a French Bulldog that I will name "Fromage."
7. If someone else is driving, I will almost always fall asleep in the car.
   

I'm tagging: Nicole, Andrea, Lauria, Jennifer, Holly, Laux, and Michelle.  Have fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!  This was the sight that greeted us in our front yard two days before Thanksgiving four years ago.  That was the first time I ever saw wild turkeys and at first I had no idea what they were.  They looked like some sort of prehistoric creature.  Now they are a common feature around here.  Last November I opened the door to let Jesus out and didn't realize until it was too late that there was a group of nine turkeys in our yard standing next to our stone wall.  Jesus got out on the stoop, stopped and stared.  Without warning, he took off at top speed after the turkeys.  The all spotted him and took turns jumping the wall into the woods.  Unfortunately for the turkeys, Jesus was able to chase the turkey in the back of the group away from the rest and it was on.  The turkey turned and ran the opposite direction, her claws clicking away on the pavement.  She was flapping her wings and actually got off the ground a little in her retreat.  She eventually made it to the woods behind our house and Jesus gave up his pursuit.  Patrick and I watched this whole event unfold in hysterics.  We had no clue what Jesus thought he would do if he caught that turkey.  A four-pound Chihuahua doesn't have much of a chance versus a four foot tall wild turkey.  I only wish I had a video of the chase.  

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  I always get up in the morning and watch the Macy's Parade on TV followed by the National Dog Show.  Usually, Patrick and I spend the day alone.  Neither of us have any family nearby and all of our friends do, so they usually have plans that don't include us.  When we were in the army we used to have single soldiers from our units over for dinner.  In Seattle, we had a lot of friends like us who had family elsewhere so we would always come together at the holidays and we became each other's family.  In Wisconsin, all the family comes together and then the day after Thanksgiving, my mom, my sister and my grandma all go to Appleton for shopping and then to Green Bay to spend the night at the casino.  

Whatever your plans, I wish you a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving!

I baked my pie this afternoon.  It smells so delicious.  I can't wait until tomorrow to try it.  I have a ton of phyllo dough left so I am going to have to look for some more recipes to use the dough.  

I went to yoga this morning.  It was great.  I really have missed it and I am glad I am back at it.  I have been going Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I definitely can feel myself getting stronger.  I love how yoga ideals can be applied to your entire life.  Today the instructor was talking about finding joy even in a struggle.  I think that is something I am going to try to do.  Maybe it will help me learn to be less scared in my life.

Five more days of posting until I have completed my entire month of posts!  Yay for me.  

Thanks, Lauria!  You solved our no-heat-in-hubby's-car problem.  I suggested that my husband check the anti-freeze in his car and it was almost empty.  He filled it back up and, BOOM, heat!  You saved us like $80 which is what it would have cost if we got it looked at by a professional.  

I'm not as inspired to tell stories as I was last night.  Today was very boring.  I went to knitting in the morning, came home, ate lunch, took a nap and did some more knitting.  

My sister-in-law emailed me this morning to let me know she's been following my weight-loss adventures on this blog and started to document her own.  Her blog is Working Class Mother and I recommend you check it out.  Andrea is a great writer and an awesome person.  Probably the best thing to happen to my brother besides his three kids.  You go, girl!

Back in 1996 I was lucky enough to have one of those "what would you do if. . ." experiences everyone asks themselves about.  You know, the kind that you really can't say unless you've experienced it.  I was backpacking in Europe for two and a half weeks during my Easter break.  I had spent about four days by myself in Paris and Nice and was set to meet my friend Jenny in front of a youth hostel in Rome.  We were supposed to meet around 4pm.  There I was, standing on the street with all my bags, just waiting.  I had been in Rome all day and hadn't been able to find an ATM or anywhere to exchange the Francs I had left from France.  I was tired and hungry and Jenny was running almost an hour late.  Standing there, I finally dropped my bags and left them sitting next to my feet.  A minute later, a guy came up to me and started speaking to me in Italian.  I had no idea what he was saying and was just trying to get rid of him when suddenly he just up and left.  I saw him walk to the end of the block and turn the corner.  That's when I looked down and saw that one of my bags was gone.  The bag that was taken was the one with my passport, train tickets, plane tickets, money, and camera.  At that point, instinct totally kicked in and I was running at top speed after the guy who had spoken to me.  Around the corner, I spotted the guy and his accomplice and started screaming at the top of my lungs.  At that point, the guy with my bag dropped it and took off running.  I picked up my bag and started bawling.  I headed back to the street I was supposed to be waiting on and Jenny eventually arrived with her own story to tell.  Her flight had been delayed at Heathrow due to the royal family landing.  I guess they ground all the planes when that happens.  The one thing I learned from the whole experience is that I won't hesitate to act in that type of situation.  It makes me feel safer and more confident.  

I've been watching Band of Brothers with Patrick and wondering how I would act or react in war.  I had all the training and know what I would need to do, but it seems to me that it's one of those situations where you can't know until you are in the thick of it.  

I spent most of the day today knitting.  I am about a quarter of the way through another gift.  Yay!

This afternoon I was bored so I convinced Patrick that we should go Candlepin Bowling so I could kick his butt (which I did).  It's so fun and so very New England-y.  It's like regular bowling, except the pins are smaller, the balls are smaller, you get three balls a frame and they don't clear the knocked down pins between balls.  I think it is actually harder than regular bowling.  We always make sure we bring our out-of-town visitors to try it out.  We took our nephews a couple of years back and my nephew, Michael, who was four years old at the time, had a huge temper tantrum because he didn't want to give the shoes back.  

I promised pictures so here is a picture of our downstairs powder room before (yes, Virginia, there is a Mr. Hankey):

And in progress:

Yay!  I finished another gift today!  That brings the total up to three finished Christmas gifts.

We also did our Thanksgiving grocery shopping today.  We are all ready for Thursday.  It is going to be just me and Patrick.  I plan on making a pumpkin pie I found the recipe for on the Weight Watchers website.  It uses phyllo dough for crust instead of the traditional crust.  It only has 3 points a slice as opposed to the 15 points a slice the cheesecake that I usually make has.  Hopefully it will be good!

It has been getting very cold here in New Hampshire.  Yesterday I put my VW Beetle convertible in the garage for the winter.  This morning I left for yoga and decided to take my husband's car because my truck is really low on gas and I hate stopping to get gas and avoid it at all costs.  It was about 20 degrees this morning when I headed out and Patrick neglected to tell me that heat in his car wasn't working.  It's about a 20 minute drive to the yoga studio and I couldn't believe how cold it was and how the car wasn't warming up.  I was counting the seconds until I arrived because the yoga I do is in a heated room--usually around 85-90 degrees.  In spite of the warmth, it still took me about 10 minutes to warm up when I got there.  My poor sweetie drove four hours in that car yesterday.  

I spent the rest of the day knitting and playing with the puppy.  I've taken a break from the crocheting for a little while.

I am glad it's the weekend and I get to spend time with my honeybunches.  We are planning on seeing the new James Bond movie and working on the house.  Hopefully I will have some pictures to post soon.

Yay!  Patrick surprised me by coming home a day early.  I was feeling kind of down this morning after getting pulled over for speeding.  Luckily I didn't get a ticket.  I also had my first weigh-in at Weight Watchers and I lost 2 pounds in my first week.  I was hoping for more, but you gotta start somewhere, right?  By the way (does anyone actually type out those three words anymore?), I just wanted to thank everyone for all the support and kind comments you have been leaving for me.

I've been knitting with my Harmony dpns and I have to say that I LOVE them!  They are so smooth and slick.  They also feel so sturdy compared to the Pony rosewood and the bamboo dpns I have been using.  They also don't have chewed up ends like my bamboo needles do!  Saffy is not allowed near my new needles.  

Tomorrow is my first weigh-in for Weight Watchers.  I thought I would post a picture of myself from last month as a "before."  It's amazing how you can't see what you really look like until you see yourself in a photo.  Ironically enough, I didn't even eat any ice cream that day.  I just enjoyed the juxtaposition of the tiny puppy and the giant ice cream cone.  

I'm still working on my big crochet project.  I also cast on for another one of my gifts that is easier that I can take with me to the meeting tomorrow.  The other gift I have on the needles is the kind of project that requires my full attention.  It isn't that difficult, but for some reason it is very easy for me to get lost.

Class number four for Saffy was today.  We learned "come" and started with "stay."  We still need a lot of work on "sit" and "down" before we can really get into "stay."  She did great with "come!"  The other dogs were so cute.  Lulu, the Lab/Corgi mix and Winston the Yorkie really like each other.  When Lulu and her mom were working on "come," everytime the instructor let go of her leash, she made a bee-line to Winston instead of her mom and the treat.  Winston always seemed to try to run to Saffy.  Saffy spent the majority of the class standing on her hind legs and waving her front paws in the air (so CUTE!).  All the dogs were full of beans today.  We couldn't figure it out.  Maybe Sirius the Dog Star is in retrograde or something.  Who knows.

Not feeling that great this evening.  I have a killer headache.  My exciting news is that I got the 6" DPN Set I ordered from Knitpicks in the mail today.  They are so pretty.  I will definitely keep them away from Saffy.  I have been going through so many sock needles because of her, I had to find a less expensive solution to replacing them.  I feel a little guilty about not getting them at my LYS, but I just can't afford to keep buying new sock needles at $15 a pop.  Sorry Beverly.

I've been doing a lot of cooking lately what with the Weight Watchers and all.  I have to say I have discovered one of the best inventions EVER!  It's the Ziplock Steamer Bag.  I can perfectly steam a large portion of fresh veggies in the microwave in approximately 3 minutes.  I love steamed veggies, but I always have a tendency to over cook them in my stove-top steamer.  This takes all the guesswork out of steaming as it has all the cooking times printed on the side.  I highly recommend trying one out!

In craft news, I have been working really hard on my largest gift.  It's tons of small pieces that will require lots of finishing.  Luckily it's crochet so at least that part is going quickly.  I am just over halfway finished with the pieces.  I also laid a whole bunch of tile today.  Saffy wasn't happy about it.  She has been driving me nuts all day.  She has been very nippy and demanding of attention.  Tomorrow, I have knitting at my LYS so I will be taking a break from this tedious crochet project and crazy Chihuahua.  She's lucky I love her so much!

This weekend has been pretty nice.  Yesterday was rainy and icky outside, so Patrick and I had pajama day.  We watched TV and I worked on gifts.  Patrick also got some tile measured which he cut today so I will be laying tile this week (yay!).  I told Patrick that for Christmas, all I want is the floor downstairs and the downstairs bathroom to be completely finished.  Of course, this means a ton of work for me, but since I am not allowed to use the tile saw, I depend on Patrick to cut the tile for me so I can lay it and grout.  In case you are wondering, I am not allowed to use the tile saw because I am a klutz and I most recently almost glued my pants and underwear to my butt.  A wet saw with flying shards of ceramic is just tempting fate.

Weight Watchers is going OK.  I am finally getting used to it.  The good thing is that I haven't been hungry.  I pretty much can eat whatever I want provided I watch my points.  I've made it almost into a game to see how I can eat tons of food with the least amount of points.  The key is fruits and veggies.  I don't know why I can't do this not in a program, but hey, whatever works, right?

About my previous post, I know it wasn't very well written or cohesive.  I just want to reiterate how AWESOME my grandma is.  She really is incredible and even the most eloquently written praise of her could not convey the awesomeness which is my grandma.  

Two days ago, my grandma celebrated her 70th birthday.  She is one awesome lady.  She grew up on an Indian reservation in northern Wisconsin and ended up a single mother with six kids when she met my grandfather.  He said that she came into the garage that he was working in as a mechanic and all six kids were so well-groomed and well-behaved that he knew she was something special and fell in love with her right then.  Grandma has always been the kind of woman who will bend over backwards for her family.  If she can't be found at home, she is out driving someone around or playing bingo in Green Bay.  When she cooks one of her specialty meals (chicken and rice with fry bread is a favorite) an APB goes out all over Sheboygan and everyone shows up for dinner.  She is notorious for leaving her purse at my parents' house.  So much so that we once hid her purse from her and she didn't even notice she didn't have it when she left the house.  

My favorite thing to do with my grandma is to just talk and laugh.  Once her laugh gets started, everyone has to join in.  I lover her and miss her so much!  I really wish I could have been with her on her big day.  

I'm kinda tired tonight, so this will be a short post.  Last week I wrote about how I gave up soda and how I needed another goal.  Well, yesterday I joined Weight Watchers.  I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and was told that I am obese.  Not a nice thing to hear.  I basically decided to join on Wednesday and found a meeting in town on Thursday.  The nice thing was I ran into a woman that used to work at my LYS.  It was good to see a familiar face.  

I must admit that I don't like that I have to do this, but I really don't know what else is going to work for me.  It's hard, but I can do it.  The hardest part is that I am so impatient I want to see results RIGHT NOW!  Patrick has offered to surprise me with a (non-food) treat after every ten pounds lost.  Hopefully that will help!

Wish me luck!

This is my gratuitous, I'm too lazy to write a real post, Saffy post. Enjoy.


A while back I sent a card to Saffy's breeder along with her certificate of spay.  I wanted the breeder to know that Saffy was doing well, so I gave the card to Saffy and she chewed it all up and I mailed it like that.  Much easier than the stamp pad/paw print signature.  For some reason, I thought it would be really funny if I made Saffy her own business card and then let her chew on it.  Saffy is an accomplished paper shredder.  Our living room looks like the aftermath of a ticker tape parade.  I love my silly silly puppy!

 
 

BTW, her business card says "Blueboys Saffron Fuzzypants -Chihuahua Extraordinaire"

That's her actual registered AKC name.

I started another Christmas gift so that means I now have:

2 complete

3 in progress

4 not yet started

The one I started today is pretty big, so I will have to put in some extra woman-hours on it.  I am going to have to work almost non-stop between now and Christmas to get this all done.  It's crazy.  I just have to keep reminding myself how much money we are saving by me doing this. We are really planning on only buying gifts for the nieces and nephews.  All our saved money is going to our 10th anniversary gift to Sandals in the Bahamas.  I can't wait!

Saffy and I had class today and the trainer worked extra with her on "sit."  Today we worked on "down" and discovered that Saffy thinks the hand sign for "sit" actually is "down."  So we are switching for her and now I just need to find a new hand sign that works for her with "sit."  We also worked on "leave it" and "take it."  Next week is "come," which will come in handy.  Saffy can be fast! 

My husband and I met in July of 1998 when we were both in the Army.  We were stationed at Fort Lewis, WA.  I was in the 14th Combat Engineering Battalion and he was in the 9th Finance Division.  Our barracks were across from each other with Patrick's unit being a tenant unit in our barracks.  Thanks to First Sergeant Mabini, I was on on duty in Patrick's barracks on a Friday in late July.  Barracks CQ duty was a 24 hour shift from 9am-9am.  During non-working hours we were allowed to bring our TV to the desk and watch videos.  The week prior to this fateful night I had taken a trip to Las Vegas and won over $300 with which I bought the entire series of Blackadder videos.  I popped the first one in after dinner when all residents in the barracks were coming in to pick up their mail.  A guy with gray hair and glasses came up to me and started asking me about my videos and actually seemed to be familiar with Blackadder.  I didn't really think much about it.  Being in a unit with about 500 men and 30 women, I got used to random men coming up and talking to me or asking me out on dates.  Most of the night passed as normal, watching TV and writing letters to friends.  About midnight, the gray haired guy came back.  This time he was wearing THE most obnoxious shirt I have ever seen.  It was a short sleeved silk shirt with swirls of hot pink, purple and all the other colors you would imagine make up entrails.  We started chatting and he started telling me about his two ex-wives and all manor of things you don't tell someone you just met.  About 5am he actually got up the guts to ask me out and against all my reservations, I accepted, as a meal outside the dining hall paid for someone other than me was too good a deal to pass up.  I really didn't want to date anyone and wasn't sure about this guy at all.  I thought he was some sort of weird serial marry-er or something.  However, he eventually won me over.  This coming March, we will be married for 10 years

I find it quite amazing that we had been living across from each other eight months and our paths had never crossed.  About a month before that night I had been dating someone else and Patrick had been previously married to someone else.  Thanks to fate, the US Army and First Sergeant Mabini, I met my soulmate.

Happy Veteran's Day.

Me and Patrick, Christmas 2001

Happy Monday to everyone!  I am in a good mood today because Patrick isn't going back to Bangor until Wednesday and he finished installing the microwave over the stove this afternoon.  I got a few things done myself.  I finished a gift, worked on two other gifts and made dinner.

I just ate an absolutely delicious dinner.  I thought I would try to make good use out of my rarely used Crock Pot and made a pot roast.  I just got a 2 1/2 lb. roast and tossed it in the pot with a sliced onion, chopped celery and some carrots, poured a can of beef stock over the top and cooked it on low for 8 hours.  It turned out wonderful.  I served it with mashed potatoes, gravy, steamed carrots and crescent rolls.  Patrick made us drinks (vodka tonic for me, gin and tonic for him) and we had a lovely dinner.  

My first four eBay auction items end tonight.  It's so exciting!  I'm making about $40 off the four items, so I can't complain too much.

I'm pretty proud that I have been actually posting every day!  I also really enjoy reading all of my new Ravelry friend's blogs.  Keep up the good blogging, girls!

Not a whole lot happened today.  I mostly just chilled and went to the grocery store during the Pat's game so I knew it wouldn't be too crowded.  Saffy spent the day perfecting her shark impersonation and Patrick installed the outlet box above the stove so we can put the microwave up there.

In Etsy news, I have decided from today until December 31 I am offering free shipping on all the items in my shop.  Check it out and shop early for the holidays!  I am also planning on adding lots of new items so keep checking back!

I woke up Patrick at 9am this morning and told him he needs to get up and take me out for breakfast.  We had a nice breakfast together and we are having a movie date tonight.  We are going to see Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

This afternoon my bra was so painful I picked up and went to a lingerie shop to get fitted for some new bras.  I was wearing a full band size and cup size too small.  Now I have really really pretty Prima Donna bras.  Very expensive, but I probably won't ever go to a less expensive model if these work out for me like I believe they will.  Being the size I am, it is very difficult to find something pretty and supportive.  

Patrick started working on installing the microwave over the stove today.  When he pulled out the hood we discovered that the contractors that built our house just busted a hole in the wall to wire the hood in place instead of wiring an outlet box into the cabinet above as they were supposed to.  As we are working on the house, we are discovering all the shoddy work that was done on the house which is making our work more expensive.  Thanks guys!

Today marks my second week without soda.  I honestly believe that I had a little bit of a Diet Coke addiction.  Last week I was even dreaming about drinking it!  It has gotten much better and now when I think about having one, it just reminds me how hard it was to stop and I don't even feel tempted.  I decided that the best way to make changes in my life was to do it a little at a time.  Now I just need to decide what's next and when to start.

I got a call from the guy who was in charge of the volunteers at the Milford polling station yesterday.  He set up a blog for everyone who volunteered in Milford to post thoughts and pictures.  If you want to check it out, here's the link.

Here's the homemade Christmas gift count: 1 finished, 2 half finished, 1 three-quarters finished, and 5 not even started yet.  I've been working on the three-quarters finished gift and I hope to have it finished within a day or two.

Patrick comes home today for the weekend!  I'm so glad.  I miss him.

Last night around 9pm the phone rang.  I assumed it was Patrick calling to tell me good night and that he loves me.  Surprise, surprise!  It was my friend Sara Jo that I have known since first grade.  I haven't seen her since my Junior year of college.  We've emailed now and then over the years.  She has just moved to Syracuse from Germany and we have reconnected thanks to Facebook.  It was really great talking to her.  We actually spent an hour and a half on the phone.  It was interesting reminiscing and finding out that she didn't even remember not talking to me in seventh grade.  Of course, from my perspective, it's kind of hard to forget.  Anyway, I'm planning a visit for a couple of days next month once Saffy's school is done.  

I've been working on sit with her today and I realize what the problem is.  I'm supposed to use just the hand signal which is open palm in front of her nose and then over her head.  However, instead of sitting down and looking up at my hand which triggers the click and reward, she stands up on her back legs and tries to get the treat out of my open palm.  So, I need some new ideas on getting her to sit.  Any suggestions?

I have been so tired today.  I had every intention of going to bed early last night, but got sucked into watching the returns.  Of course, Obama being declared the winner at 11pm didn't settle my mind.  I kept expecting to wake up to hear that McCain had won.  I've been smiling all day particularly every time I hear the words "President Elect Barack Obama."  

Saffy and I had obedience class this afternoon.  Saffy did not do so well with "sit."  We also did an exercise where we had to stand in one place, no talking, and every time our dog looked at us we had to click and give a treat.  Saffy figured that game out pretty quickly.  She just stood there and stared at me for a while.  She is no fool.  I like taking her to class as it wears her out.  She really enjoys playing with the other puppies.  There is a Yorkie named Winston and a Lab/Corgi mix named Lulu.  They are all friends.  Saffy is the oldest and the smallest.

Still knitting away on the Christmas gifts.  I got new size 1 dpns that I keep very far away from the puppy's mouth!  I've also got 9 items up on eBay and have about five more to list.  All the items are listed under the username "ivory_knight" if you are interested in taking a look.  

It's been a busy day, for me at least.  I left the house about 9am to vote.  It took about a half an hour and the majority of the time was spent trying to get into the parking lot.  I got very emotional when I got in the voting booth and I teared up a little.  I'm sure I am not the only one.  The stress of this election cycle has been insane.  I definitely agree with the comment on my previous post that there is a lot hold over from 2000 and 2004.

After I voted, I headed over to Starbucks for my free coffee and to Target to return a curtain I bought for the kitchen that was the wrong color.  Then it was off to Nashua for my knitting group.  I left early to spend a little time with Saffron before I had to head back to the polls to volunteer as a poll checker.  I had a really nice time poll checking.  Everyone was really nice.  The Milford poll moderator brought over a ballot that a woman had cut out of the newspaper and given to her three-year old because he wanted to "vote" too.  He colored all over it with red and blue crayon and then gave it to old man collecting the ballots.  It was very cute.  As of 3pm, there were over 5000 votes counted in Milford.  There are about 13,000 people in town, so there was quite an impressive turnout.  

Tomorrow I have a little less happening.  Just Saffy's obedience class.  I'm not talking to her right now because she is driving me crazy.  

Today I decided to join NaBloPoMo (National Blog Post Month) which means I pledged to post one blog entry a day for 30 days.  I started a day late so I guess I will be wrapping one day into December.  I've also joined with a group of bloggers on Ravelry to make sure we all comment on one another's blogs so we don't feel like we are writing just for our own amusement.  

Patrick left this morning for Bangor.  He hasn't been in almost a month.  He was very glad to not have to fly.  I'm not sure if he'll have to do any major traveling in November or not.  I do think I will get a nice long weekend with him for Thanksgiving.  I miss him so much and I wish I could spend more than two days a week with him.  

I am still working on all the Christmas gifts.  I got a phone call this afternoon and I put my knitting down quickly and Saffy got ahold of it and chewed of the ends of two of my size 1 dpns.  So, I'll be putting the knitting aside for the evening and taking up the crocheting.

I can't wait for this election to be over.  My tummy has been nervous for the past week.  Don't forget to vote tomorrow!!!  Go Obama!  

After being down and depressed not so long ago, I have been working on making some changes in my life. Most of these changes involve getting off of my butt and doing things that I have been putting off. Of course, these means that I have updated my Etsy shop and have at least four more pieces that I need to list. Doing the photographs is the major pain but I have been taking care of that and the new camera I have (10 megapixels!) makes the photos turn out very nice.   Here's my pink origami necklace that I will be listing later this week.


I have also been going through the house and finding things to post on eBay. This week I will be listing some random Lia Sophia jewelry, RMWC collectibles, and other various things for sale.  Here are a few of the items up for bid on my own personal version of the price is right:

Framed RMWC postcard from 1907:

A lot of assorted Swatch watches from the early 1990's:

Lia Sophia "Toasted" necklace:

I am also volunteering as a poll checker for the DNC at the Milford voting site, so if you see me, don't say hi, I'm not supposed to talk to the voters.  Last but not least, I have cancelled my gym membership because we just couldn't afford it anymore.  I have decided to re-take up power yoga to help me in my weight control battle.  It's Diana vs. Hypothyroidism/Chronic Depression.  A hard battle which can be frustrating and seem futile at times.

Thanks to everyone who sent me kind words of support over the last couple of weeks.  I really appreciate everything and am so very lucky to have such wonderful and caring friends and family.