Baby, It's Cold Outside!

I was a girl today. I painted my fingernails AND toenails. Silver on the toes and red with gold chunky glitter on top on the fingers. *thud* Being a girl is too much work, and I'm sure my nails will be chipped in less than 24 hours...

I'm thinking about taking a couple of classes from the Yarn Lounge this spring, and starting to go to knit nights. They're offering a Fair Isle class and a drop spindle class. While I already know how to spin, I'd like to improve. I have a feeling that the reason it's so awkward is because I'm doing it completely wrong... As for Fair Isle, I want to learn it, but I'm lazy. No better way to kick myself in the ass than to actually take a class... I feel like I should at least make an effort at being social sometimes, so I guess going to knit nights once a month is a good start. I'd like to take a couple of sewing classes, but I don't have a place at home to sew. It's really hard to sew when the only table is very shaky and tends to wobble with the slightest touch.

We're planning on moving in March! Yay! We have an apartment complex picked out, so now we just need to see if they're going to have any availabilities in March. Late February would even be ok. I don't mind paying double rent for a month or two as long as we get the hell out of this shitbox! I'm so sick of this place.

On that note, here is a Satan Kitty for you:

WAH!! BUGS!!

I decided last week that this was the weekend for yarn organizing. I would organize ALL of the yarn, and then be happy because I'd know exactly what I have. Well. I started digging through the living room yarn basket and found carpet beetles. CARPET BEETLES!! WTF?? I know they came from the next door neighbor two tenants ago. About a year ago, right after this guy moved in, I found maybe five little critters by the wall that separates our apartments. I squished them, vacuumed, and never saw any more. I figured it was just those few and didn't worry about it. Yeah. It wasn't just those few... I am so sick of being infested by bugs from other people in this building. Living on the fifth floor in the middle of downtown Richmond, there really is no way that these things made it in on their own. This isn't the first time we've been infested by weird bugs. It's a new bug with every new tenant, I swear. I can't wait to move. I'm even tempted to move ASAP and pay the $100 fee for breaking the lease early just because I can't stand this place anymore. Granted, we're moving into yet another apartment, but hopefully it will be better managed, less buggy, less sketchy people, and all around better.

I'm Boring

I don't blog much anymore because my life has been pretty damned boring lately. Weekdays I get up at 6am, leave for work at 8am, try not to let the stupid at work kill my brain for many hours, get home at 6pm, eat dinner, and then spend the next three to four hours trying to get my brain to work again. Lather, rinse, repeat... From 5pm Friday through about 3pm Sunday, I have to decompress and chill out from the previous week. Right around 3pm Sunday is when I start to dread Monday morning and the 100+ emails I'll find when I get to work. Bonus fun this week since we lost a person Friday, so we're once again down to four office drones babysitting 50+ sales, delivery, and warehouse people. Awesome. Here's a hint. Would you like the office ladies to do your bidding ASAP? Be nice, say please and thank you in a non-sarcastic way, and don't piss them off with stupid shit you are more than capable of doing your own damned self. Would you like the office ladies to ignore you until the last possible second? In that case, you should be rude, treat the ladies like shit, believe that we sit in our cubes with our thumbs up our asses just waiting for you to give us something to do, and think that we live only to do your bidding. You choose which one you prefer...

Anyway, I'm here alone for the week, so I get to watch the movies and tv shows that I want to watch, read with no interruptions, and only have to find enough food to feed myself and the cat. I may even go bra and sweater shopping one night after work. Ick... I hate shopping. I'm too lazy to knit sweaters, so I have to restock my sweater inventory every few years. It's been about 4 years since I really restocked, and it's getting obvious. There's a giant snagged hole (definitely not chewed, so no moths!!) in my favorite sweater (red, 100% cashmere), my every day sweaters are getting a little ragged looking, and I accidentally felted one of my favorites... I love that I can wear jeans and a sweater to work. I also need to invest in a new pair of boots. I'm thinking about getting a pair of the plaid Sorel boots that I saw on zappos.com today. They were adorable, about what I was planning on spending anyway, and they look super warm and waterproof. The tread on the bottom looks good too. I fell three times last year because the tread on my old boots is almost gone. I'm amazed I didn't break anything, and only bruised the shit out of my hip and hand/arm/elbow. I'm a little bit scared and paranoid now.

Oh, goody. 3pm. Time to break out my work laptop, do 10 minutes of stupid pointless work (run and email a pointless report), shut everything down, repack the laptop (it's an ordeal since the laptop doesn't actually fit in the bag they gave me), and then continue with my afternoon. I seriously have to work for 10 minutes on a Sunday because my boss is making the entire sales department work today to make up for having Thursday off. No one gets an extra day of pay either. Suck. They tried to get me to go in and do order changes, but there is just no way I'm driving all the way out there on a Sunday for less than an hour of work with no extra pay for my trouble.

But my cobbler is almost done! Yay!

This incredibly boring blog post is now complete. You may continue with your day.

FO!

No, not that version of FO.... I have a finished object!

In a Moment of Weakness...

I bought a Lock & Lock bento set. It's supposed to be a red and grey striped bag with red plastic containers, but I have a feeling it's going to show up looking more pinkish and tan... Regardless, I bought it in the hopes that I can force myself to brown bag stripe bag my lunch on weekdays. I have got to stop eating out. It's unhealthy and expensive. The problem with bringing my lunch is that I end up eating at my desk while I work, so I don't actually get a true lunch break. If I have to leave the office to forage for food, then I actually get something resembling a break. I'm thinking about heating up my lunch and then sitting in my car while I eat. I hate the car lunch, but it's my only option.

I've had excellent luck with bento lunches every time I've made them, I just never had a good container that didn't require five million cupcake cups every day. I hate using cupcake cups for more than two things. They're fiddly... I love bento because I like having small amounts of a lot of different foods. I get bored eating only a bowl of spaghetti or only a sandwich. Honestly, I don't even like sandwiches enough to eat a whole one without pulling the bread off and munching on the filling.

Now I just have to start making extra food at dinner and remembering to pack my lunch. Oh, and actually remembering to grab it on my way out the door instead of remembering it when I get to the office - 23 miles away from my fridge. Once I'm at work, there really is no going back. It's just too far to drive 30 minutes back into the city when I can head down the street and pick up some fried chicken at the gas station. Not to mention the fact that I technically only get a 30 minute lunch break.

All of this lunch talk has made me hungry. I ate dinner way too early today.

Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey...

I haven't been blogging lately because, frankly, I have very little to blog about. I've been reading, taking pictures, pondering how I came to dress like a fucking hipster, and not knitting much at all.

I've finished reading all of the Sookie Stackhouse books except for the most recent one, finished Neverwhere, re-read a few old favorites, and am about half done with The Court of the Air. Sookie is like crack coated brain candy. I hated the first book, read the second one in the hopes that she met a horrible death, and was hooked like a crack addict from there on out. I won't read the newest one until I see it in paperback though... Neverwhere was excellent. I loved every second of it even though it gave me weird dreams... The Court of the Air is interesting, but it moves a little too slow. We'll see if it gets better because I love the premise...

Peek-tures. I had to go to Vermont for a work thing last week. Having never been to Vermont (or north of DC for that matter...), naturally I took my camera. I met a little turtle friend and found a lonely boat.




I also went on a walk today down to the state capitol and took more pictures of the roses than of the capitol, because that's how I roll.





Yes, I dress like a fucking hipster. I caught a glimpse of myself in a reflective window in VT and realized I was dressed just like the assholes I was making fun of earlier in the day with their tight jeans, plaid shirts, and rude demeanor. While I can be a rude asshole, I am generally much less rude than the assholes I was making fun of. One of them had gorgeous tattoos though... I'm craving a new tattoo now... I also just bought a new pair of tight jeans and a plaid shirt yesterday. The shirt was only $15, and it's the orange and brown autumn colours that look amazing on me. I couldn't pass it up.

Anyway, I haven't finished knitting anything in a long while. My hands hurt too bad by the time I get home, and I'm too tired to concentrate. But that didn't stop me from buying yarn in VT! I bought 3 skeins of blue Malabrigo lace. I'm thinking a light cardigan... I could knit tonight since I'm just going to sit around and watch Doctor Who, and my hands aren't hurting too bad since I got to spend all day yesterday taking pictures of beer. My job title is not "Beer Photographer". I do not enjoy taking pictures of 50 different items in a dark, humid warehouse.

Oh! I almost forgot! J and I went to the fair last weekend. It was pretty standard as far as fairs go, but I got licked by a goat. A goat! I put my hand out so he could sniff me before I started scratching his head, and he just started licking me like a dog would. It was excellent! I kept expecting him to try to eat my hand, but he just kept lick lick licking away. He let me scratch his sides and neck. He was a sweet goat... I felt bad for the alpacas this year. There were so many screaming children around them, and they all looked so stressed and freaked out that I wanted their people to hug them. The alpacas, not the children...

Photo Post Number Three

This is really only a very small sample of what I've uploaded today... I should also mention that I do not own a tripod, and did not set my camera down on a wall or bench or anything for the fireworks pictures.

Photo Post 2.0

This is a Photo Post

I'm in the middle of a massive upload to Flickr, so I have decided to post some of the many, many photos that I'm uploading.







More to come! I'm on wireless/satellite/whateveryouwanttocallit internet, so my upload is slow... I also have well over 400 images to upload. Yikes!

TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!!!

Thought you ought to know... *thud*

Today's goals are to finish the zombie sock that has been a WIP since December, finish some stupid spreadsheet for my boss, have a Harry Potter movie marathon, clean my half of the living room (we don't actually split the living room in half, but I tend to sit on one side of the room so all of my junk accumulates in that area), and start organizing my yarn. Fun.

The Flying Dog beer dinner Thursday night was a ton of fun. The food was excellent, most of the pairings were great (one of them was way off though...), the beer was excellent, the service was amazing (it was something like one server for every three customers), the CEO of Flying Dog did a great job introducing each beer and including interesting anecdotes about the company, I finally got to meet a few people with Flying Dog that I deal with over email on a regular basis, I got in free, and my boss sat on the opposite side of the room. I sat with a bunch of coworkers that I like, but don't see very often (they all work outside of the office, while I am stuck in a cube of grey walls all day). I actually had a lot of fun despite the fact that I hate being social. The pours were a decent size, and the beer was mostly high alcohol stuff, so I was pretty smashed by the time I made it home. Add in the fact that my boss bought me a beer before the thing, so I was already starting to buzz a little by the time the dinner started. I probably should have declined that first beer, but working in the industry I work in there really is no way to politely say no when a higher up offers to buy you a beer. It was almost an "apologize and play nice" beer since we'd been about to kill each other all day.

1, 2, 3.

First: Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

Second: Timberwood Grill for dinner tonight with J's family.

Third: Erm... Maybe I don't have a third... I had a third when I started, but it's gone now. Ah, whatthefuckever.

Wii Fit Plus

We finally found one at Target yesterday. Yay! Bonus points for it being on sale. I'm totally excited. I even cleaned the living room so I could play with it. Of course, J has played with it way more than I have even though I'm the one who paid for it... In fact, he won't even let me watch X-Files on netflix streaming because he cannot stop playing the damned thing. He won't even let me keep a top score for an evening. He had to get right on it after I was finished and beat all of my top scores. Figures...

Thursday is Flogging Molly! Hopefully I won't have to work horrendously late that night. I'll be working 10-12 hour days pretty much every night for the next two weeks because my boss has to drop shit on me at the very last minute at the busiest time of the month.  Asshat.

Tonight's Beer:

Moa beer from New Zealand, Young's Double Chocolate Stout, and New Holland Poet oatmeal stout. I had a Session Lager with lunch today, and it was FANTASTIC! E was 100% correct when he said that it's a great lawnmower beer. It is exactly what you want to drink during/after working in the yard on a hot day. No aftertaste, incredibly tasty and refreshing, light on the alcohol so you're not incapacitated too early in the day... J is having a J.K. Scrumpy Hard Cider right now. It's pretty damned good as far as cider goes. It smells like straight apple juice, and is organic, unfiltered, and all that jazz.

My blog is quickly becoming a beer blog. My hands hurt too bad to knit after typing all day (I am going to work on a pair of socks tonight though), I don't have a table sturdy enough for my sewing machine, and there's really nothing else I do with my life except work. Fail... At least I like the industry I work in?

Sah'Tea

Dogfish Head Sah'Tea is absolutely amazing beer. I think I'm going to have to buy a bottle or a case every time I see it in order to stock up. "Ale brewed with black chai tea and juniper berries." Sounds weird and maybe a little disgusting, but it is just amazing. It's the chai spices that make it so good. I may be forced to drink this whole 25.4 oz bottle. Can't waste good beer, right? I may not be able to stand up after I finish this bottle since it's 9% alcohol (and my third beer for the evening... plus a few good sized gulps of wine...), but I think it will be well worth it.

This beer is a really pretty colour. I figured it'd be a bit darker, but it's actually a really nice medium amber colour... I had to pour some into a glass and stick the rest back in the fridge because there is no way I can drink it before it gets warm. Warm beer is disgusting...

Pardon any typos, spelling, or grammar errors, my dear Grammar and Spelling Nazis. I believe I have not had enough to eat today to be drinking as much beer as I have. The world is getting a little bit floaty, and my fingers are not cooperating with my brain. I guess I won't be knitting anymore tonight while I continue with my Doctor Who marathon.

Star Trek Meets Monty Python

I think this video is an excellent way to start the weekend. 

Mission Complete!

Yesterday, I found shoes to replace my sad Vans that finally died this past week. It was a mission. An epic quest for foot comfort and style. After scouring the town, I ended up with a pair of Simple Shoes. Brown with elastic "ties" instead of shoelaces. The L: I haz it. They are incredibly comfy, but were more than I really planned on spending. It's so hard for me to find shoes that fit, so I end up having to sacrifice one of my three requirements (comfort, fit, price). Oh, well. I'm happy with my purchase. I'm also pleased with the fact that they're green and eco-friendly and all that jazz. They're even vegan and the soles are made from recycled tires! I'm not vegan, and I wasn't really aiming for fancy shoes with old tires for soles, but it all ends up being bonus points.

I made pear cobbler this morning and lasagna for dinner. They were both very tasty. I also scrubbed the kitchen counters and the stove top this morning. Much more effort than I generally put into life on a Sunday. Usually Sundays are my leave-me-alone-and-let-me-die-before-monday days. It's not that I hate my job, it's just that I hate Mondays. I always walk into a shitstorm from the weekend with people wanting shit NOWNOWNOW, despite the fact that they didn't bother to mention the project to me until Sunday night. This is utterly useless to me because I do NOT check my work email over the weekend, and now that I have a handle on my job, I do NOT work weekends unless I absolutely have to... Anyway, I plan to make fish tacos Wednesday night, turkey burgers Thursday, and baked chicken that may or may not be stuffed with cheesy goodness on Friday night. Yum. I was thinking about making cheesecake sometime this week, but I feel like I might be too L to bother with it...

e Sheets to the Wind (or 2.71828 Sheets to the WInd)

I got Flogging Molly tickets for my birthday! YAY! I absolutely love Flogging Molly. Easily in my top three favorite bands... Speaking of concerts, I'm thinking about getting J Chili Cook Off tickets this year for his birthday. Chevelle and Papa Roach are the main headliners this year, and J loves Chevelle. I just can't decide if he'd rather have gadgets or go to the concert. Gadgets would go better with his apocalypse preparation, but dude... Concerts win all in my opinion.

Tonight's beer is Delirium Tremens. It is mighty tasty. There is ZERO bitter aftertaste, and it is almost sweet, but not quite there. It was excellent with our baked chicken with taco seasoning and spicy corn. The bottle is pretty cool looking also. It looks like ceramic pottery and has brightly coloured animals dancing around on the label. J is drinking Ommegang Abbey Ale again. It's tasty, but I really wanted to try something new tonight... We also have a single of Ommegang Three Philosophers in the fridge. I'm assuming we'll split that one tomorrow night. 

One of the ladies I work with lent me her current library book. It's the Sookie Stackhouse short stories. I'm halfway through it, and am actually enjoying it more than I enjoyed the last Sookie book I read. Sookie Stackhouse books irritate me because I can't stand the writing style, but I always enjoy the plots... I also splurged and bought the new Kim Harrison book, which I will be reading next. Hooray! I love her Rachel Morgan books for some reason. I get so sucked into those books that I can't read them on a work night otherwise I'm reading until 3am. I still find it hilarious that my great aunt (Mormon and somewhere around 80 years old now) introduced me to those books. She also introduced me to all of my very favorite trashy books.

(This is a Parenthetical Blog Post)

As the steroid dosage starts tapering off (it was one of those things where you start out with a mega high dose for the first day and then it drops down by about 4mg every day until you're down to nothing), I'm noticing a few things. 1) I do not do happy highs like I used to. I am just cranky and bitchy like an old lady with too many cats and no one to clean the cat boxes. 2) My hands have not hurt since Friday (arthritis), 3) my knee has not hurt since Friday (except for when I stood up too fast and the damned thing buckled on me), and 4) I've not had any of my usual daily mild asthma issues. J thinks I need to be on a low dose of this stuff at all times. I'd almost agree with him if it didn't make me so high and weaken my already weak immune system, but on the other hand... Besides the creeping crud and the still slightly itchy skin (this was one HELL of an allergic reaction), I haven't been this pain free since high school.

I just stuck a peach cobbler in the oven. I used canned peaches that we've had for a couple of years... J is convinced that there will be an apocalypse of some kind "soon". Whether it be zombies, nuuuu-cleeee-aaaar wessles (name that movie!), biological or chemical warfare, global thermonuclear war (name this other movie!), a natural disaster, or even simply a sharp drop in the iq of the people of earth (wait a minute.....), J is ready for it. We have costco sized bags of flour, sugar, and rice, canned goods up the ass, MREs, and a stockpile of tea (well, the tea just came from my inability to not buy tea when I see it, but I'll blame it on J anyway). We could seriously eat well for a month just on the stockpiled food. Unfortunately, this stockpiled food needs to be rotated out and eaten before it expires. So. I am trying to use up canned peaches (which I don't like unless they're home-canned), canned green beans (the smell squicks me out, but they're ok once boiled to death), and canned diced tomatoes (I don't eat tomatoes unless they are cooked to a sauce or a ketchup, and there are only so many times I can stand to make tomato sauce myself). What do I do with all of this? If this cobbler turns out well, I've got the peach situation settled, but green beans and tomatoes? I guess I could make a quick soup at some point (quick soup = broth from a cube, noodles, canned veggies, leftover meat, and whatever spices are needed to cover up the taste), but what the hell else can I use this stuff for? I don't like green bean casseroles. I could use the tomatoes for chili if I weren't too lazy to make chili...

I've only knit about 5 rows of anything in the last 2 weeks. I failed at finishing J's scarf before it got warm. I failed at finishing my sweater vest before it got warm. I failed at finishing any of the shawls before it got warm. FAIL. I've also noticed that I completely failed at baby blanket knitting also. All of the friends who were supposed to get baby blankets no longer have babies. They have toddlers wreaking havoc on everything. I am now stuck with..... 3 (?) different half finished baby blankets. There are also a couple of half finished baby sweaters and hats. Finishing shit fail...

(It seems that I love parenthetical statements today)

I was trying to put some pictures up today, but I can't find the only working SD card reader in the apartment. Figures. The one day I have time to weed through the crap and actually want to weed through the crap happens to be the one day I can't find the card reader.

My birthday is in three days. I have to work that day, but it's pay day. What should I get myself for my birthday? I'm on a yarn diet (gift yarn does not count! *rubs face on the beautiful red Malabrigo lace J's mom got me for an early birthday gift*). I desperately need work clothes and nicer shoes, but that does not make a good birthday gift... I could get that new-to-me sewing machine serviced and cleaned! Then I could treat myself to some sewing time (do not tell me to treat myself with new fabric.... yarn diet also = fabric diet)! I could maybe finish that quilt that's been ready to put together for.... two years now? Or maybe finish that bag that's been pinned together for..... three years? Possibly cut up some of those t-shirts into a comfy skirt or a t-shirt bag? Mmmm.... *shivers with anticipation* I see more unfinished projects in my future.

Oh! Beer! I tried two new beers this week. I had a bottle of Chimay blue label and a can of Blue Mountain Full Nelson (local beer from Afton!). The Chimay was very good, but way too strong for my sick body to handle. The Blue Mountain wasn't too bad as far as pale ales go. I'm not a huge fan of pale ales though...

Kill It!!

I am going to claw my face off. On top of being sick for the last week and a half, I also had an allergic reaction to something last night. Hydro-cortisone cream did nothing. Benadryl did nothing. I went to bed with hives on my face and woke up this morning with hives on my face, neck, scalp, chest, and back. Excellent. I went to the doctor this morning and they gave me stuff for the creeping crud and some sort of steroid pills for the reaction. The combination of it all has made me so high that the walls are waving at me. Seriously. They go "Hello! SPARKLES!" at me when I look at them. The drugs also gave me a horrible headache. Needless to say, I'm taking another day off today. I was out sick on Tuesday also. My body is trying to kill me.

I need to keep my hands busy so I don't claw my skin off, but I'm too high to knit or really do anything. Typing is ridiculously hard to do. Bleh.

I'm Boring.

I have come to the conclusion that I drink way too much beer. I wanted beer and eggs for breakfast this morning, but we were out of eggs so I settled for just beer... But hey! At least it's good beer! We still have some Four + Rype beer (which was ok, but not great), half a case of Dogfish Head Indian Brown (this one is.... I don't know. I'm not a huge fan, but J likes it a lot), and I got a case of Smuttynose Winter Ale yesterday. The Smutty is awesome. Much tastier than their Summer Ale... Last weekend we tried Corsendonk Abbey Ale (I liked it, J didn't), Abita Purple Haze (meh...), Strongbow Cider (tasty!), Belhaven Scottish Pub Ale (can't remember...), Breckenridge Vanilla Porter (tasty!), Dogfish Head Palo Santo (gave us both seriously bad heartburn), Dogfish Head Raison D'Etre (tasty!), and Dogfish Head Midas Touch (I love it, but it makes my stomach hurt every single time I drink it). I am quickly becoming a beer snob.

I haven't been able to knit lately because my hands and fingers have been killing me when I get home from work. Typing all day is evil... I'm almost done with Hilja, almost done with J's scarf that has taken forever to finish because it's boring, and I need to cast on for the second zombie sock. I'm hoping to finish Hilja this weekend so I can wear it next week. It's possible that J's scarf will be done in time for him to wear it at least once, but it's not looking like that will happen...

I'm craving a strange mixture of Japanese food and Basque food today. I want Basque stew, but I also want sushi. Pfft. So I settle for oatmeal... Which has now made me want chocolate malt-o-meal. Damn.

Idiots in the Snow

Sometimes the stress really isn't worth the paycheck. The last week has been absolute torture, and I am really sick of being treated like shit. I don't sit around the office all day with my thumb up my ass just waiting on the next last minute project that you forgot to get to me.

I hate the snow, but I hate it even more when it's snowing sideways.

This is my hell. Welcome.

Despite being snowed in, today has been the Monday from hell. After not sleeping last night (finally got to sleep just in time to be scared shitless by exploding manhole covers... never got back to sleep after that), battling my work laptop all day, orchids trying to commit suicide by diving off of their perching spot (yes, orchids perch on things when it's too cold on the windowsill for them), the cat flipping out and trying to attack me from behind my work laptop, and trying to read my boss's mind all day, I decided to play some STO and blow some shit up . So I turned my PC on and heard the clickety-clack of death from my hard drive. Nice. Now I get to buy a new hard drive, back everything up, change it all out, and hope that all of my programs and files make it this time. Oh, but I can't afford to even think about doing that until my next payday, which is in another week and a half. Awesome. Thumbs up. Let's just add in all of my ex's, a yappy dog, moth chewed yarn, and some balut. Welcome to my own personal hell!

Seven Words

Ommegang Abbey is a wonderfully tasty beer.

Fajitas!

Someone make me get off my ass and make fajitas. I was lazy and bought preseasoned, presliced chicken, precut peppers, no onions because I was too lazy to back track to the produce section to grab one, and white rice. I just have to throw the rice in the rice cooker, cook the chicken, and then throw the peppers in for a bit. So easy. But I'm too lazy...

By the way, I've had free lunch 5 days out of the last 7 working days. Seriously. The free lunches are quite possibly the best part of my job... Well, that and when good beer goes on sale for $6 a case. Yes. $6 for 24 bottles of beer. That equals 25 cents per bottle... Well, those two things and the guy who sells stew and donates everything to charity. It's seriously good stew... Well, those three things and the fact that I can wear jeans to work... Well, I'm sounding like the tenth Doctor Who now, so I'll STFU and cook my damned fajitas.

Is it over yet?

I made the mistake of starting a new job during the busiest time of the year for the business. So not only did I have to learn how to do my new job, but I also had to do double the work of the person I replaced. FUN! I've been working all day, evenings after work, and at least one day of every weekend for the last month. I've been there for two months and I already need a vacation. I've been told that things will start getting slower around the middle of February. Hopefully they won't fire me before then because I'm so far behind. It doesn't help that every other company owned by the Big Corporation has two of me working full time, plus another part time person doing the pricing portion of my job. In other words, I'm doing the work of three people plus some miscellaneous stuff for the office manager. Isn't that just special? But it pays the bills. That's all I can ask for right now... Well, health insurance would be good, but that should be happening in the next week or so. Then I get to choose the first thing to get fixed! Should I get my knee fixed (it hurts worse and worse every year), get my sudden inability to process things checked (I never had this problem until about two years ago), find a fix for my being colder and more tired than usual (new thing this past year), get my ears checked (my left ear has been hurting off and on for almost a year now), or try for some BC to lighten my massively heavy periods (that are actually much lighter than they used to be since I started using a menstrual cup instead of tampons)?

On the knitting front, I am almost finished knitting a sweater vest (my first v neck item!), am 1/3 of the way done with another Jayne hat, and am nearly done with sock #1 of the zombie socks. I haven't had much time to knit with all of the hours I've been putting in at work, but the sweater vest has been fucking flying off the needles. It would be a 1-2 week project if I had more time to work on it. I go through about 1.5 50g balls of yarn every time I work on the thing, and I am just about the worlds slowest knitter when it comes to worsted weight yarn. Needles between US 5 and US 8 just kill my hands for some reason...

I am so addicted to Torchwood right now, it's not even funny. I ran out of Doctor Who episodes yesterday (I almost started sobbing during Journey's End...), and am thisclose to preordering the complete specials dvd coming out next month that has the unveiling of the new Doctor. *sniff* The ninth doctor was my first, but the tenth is my favorite... Anyway, Torchwood sucked me in. It's like a sexy Doctor Who meets X-Files meets CSI. I love it.

Cooking! I've been cooking lately! Now that I can afford the ingredients, I've been making us eat healthier. Well, healthier compared to what we've been eating... Besides our usual spaghetti, baked chicken, and fish, I've made lasagna, bacon wrapped meatloaf, and two berry cobblers from scratch (including any sauces!). This doesn't sound like much, but it is amazing when compared to my usual level of cooking. I'm trying to put together a plan for next week and the week after, but I have zero motivation right now.

Current beers: Harpoon Octoberfest and Four+ Brewing Rype. Octoberfest isn't too bad. I'm not a huge fan of Octoberfest beers though. I didn't like Rype the first time I drank a bottle, but it's growing on me. The orange flavor makes it rather tasty... I had a bottle of Three Floyds Dogfish Head Popskull earlier this week. It wasn't half bad. Lots of coffee and chocolate flavor. Not something I'd drink regularly, but still pretty tasty.