"It's alive!"

So I have been eaten by holiday work-time. The day job is requiring a lot of extra time this year. What is not mandatory from management is mandatory by my immediate supervisor. Yes, I do get paid real honest-to-goodness overtime pay, but I cannot even being to describe my horror & stress at being in that building any longer than I have to. Too bad there's no other place around here that pays as well.
I must apologize for being so negligent in my blogging. But all in all, not too much to tell until this weekend. And then.... all hell broke loose at my house.
The bf & I did some ET on Sunday night, and then after that nearly 12-hour day, we come home to find our water heater has blown up & is drenching our kitchen. Yeah. Great. And all this on a work night. While both of us are on warnings for attendance at work, we had to take a personal day to get the thing repaired. And then, Repair-guy installed a new water heater, said wait an hour & try it. Flash forward one hour: no hot water... AND no water pressure in the kitchen. Worse off now than when the water heater was leaking. So, we try and call the repairman. No answer. Goodie. We were slated to leave the next morning to go to Charlotte, NC for a Charlotte Checkers game. And we were determined to go. So Brandon's mother graciously offered to come over to the house while the repairman was there if we had to leave before he was done. So flash forward again to 9am Tuesday: Repair-guy calls. Says he's coming right over. Well, I take off to pay the utilities & internet & get the oil changed in the car while repair-guy is on his way. At 10:30, Brandon texts me. Says still no repair-guy. Beauty. The day is starting out so well...
But before we leave, he is able to correct the hot water issue, and Bran's mom comes over so we can go. Repair-guy got other issue fixed after a couple more hours. And surprise! He even fixed the leaky faucet! Yay!!
And... cut to our drive to Charlotte. A little rainy. Brandon drove & I played navigator. Uneventful drive. It was easier to get there than I had anticipated. And then we get to the hotel. We had decided to try an adventurous little inn right in uptown Charlotte. Its claim to fame was themed suites. We got the "Romance Suite". Ha ha ha! A Queen size bed that has a heart-shaped jacuzzi directly beside it. Yep, in the same room. On a slightly raised platform, but if you played your cards right, you could step out of bed & into the jacuzzi. And it had very poorly applied "tropical" wallpaper. And cable tv. OMG, how crappy is cable? Seriously, I never knew until this. I've always had satellite & I suppose I am slightly spoiled. But jeez, we couldn't even watch the tv to relax.
After we checked in to the hotel, we had a couple of hours to kill. We decided to walk around town, see if there was anything "tourist-y" so pressing that we had to see it before the game. Nope. We did spot some cute little taverns/pubs & coffee shops. And we ate at this great restaraunt: Rock Bottom Brewery. They had great microbrewed beer. I had a beautiful Gorgonzola, pear, and grilled chicken salad & spicy tomato bisque. Brandon got a hickory smoked burger & fries. Suprise!! I got a "Growler" of beer to go. When the waitress mentioned it, I was expecting a Schooner with a lid. What I got was a gallon of beer in a brown glass bottle. I looked like a lush trying to carry that down S Tryon Street. I decided to stick it in my purse :)
The Charlotte Checkers v Augusta Lynx game was pretty cool. It was my first hockey game. Not quite NHL, but they are feeder/affiliate teams with the NHL. Brandon & I were right behind the home penalty box. Everytime a Charlotte player got a penalty, we were up on the Jumbotron screen. And after the game, one of the officials gave us an official game puck! That was pretty durned cool, if I do say so myself.
Cut to the drive home: Me behind the wheel, Bran asleep in the passenger street. It rained from about 10 minutes outside of Charlotte all the way into Radford. Rain, fog, roadwork. Still a relatively uneventful drive, just not a relaxing one. And after we got home, I cleaned up the kitchen, got rid of the moldy smell from the water leak, washed clothes/dishes & started a baby blanket for the sister-in-law who's due the week of Valentine's day. Anyone have a good pattern for a little boy that's not a blanket or a sweater??
Well, that's it. Next post will be shorter, I promise. Less to catch up on. And some pics of stuff recently started or finished! Blessed be, all!!

I am addicted to online quizzes

You are The Magician

Skill, wisdom, adaptation. Craft, cunning, depending on dignity.

Eleoquent and charismatic both verbally and in writing,
you are clever, witty, inventive and persuasive.

The Magician is the male power of creation, creation by willpower and desire. In that ancient sense, it is the ability to make things so just by speaking them aloud. Reflecting this is the fact that the Magician is represented by Mercury. He represents the gift of tongues, a smooth talker, a salesman. Also clever with the slight of hand and a medicine man - either a real doctor or someone trying to sell you snake oil.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

And now we know what Tarot card I would be according to whatever site it was I was on... Oh and I just have to share!!! Lookie what Brandon bought me for my birthday!! This... oh, and this! Just thought I would share the lovelies!! Have a great day all. I am off to work out. I swear I will weigh less by Winter Solstice.

Here be photos

Come one, come all!! To the greatest show in town. No, really it's just some photos of recent objects. As I mentioned in the previous post, I have finished the knitting for my Ravenclaw house bag. And here it is, in all its Fair Isle goodness:

And a close-up. And no, I still haven't attempted the blocking. Right now it's being flattened out by my double-points. Still looks ok even without the finishing touches added. I have a beautiful leather purse handle I've been wanting to use, but it's just a little too short for the size of this bag. Oh well, I'll figure out some sort of strappy-thing to add on.

Lastly, this weekend is my birthday!!!! Yay, for 24. I feel like my life is just whizzing by, and I'm stuck on the side of the road w/ a busted tire (all the while knitting another scarf/purse). But for my birthday, I'll be going up to Winchester, VA to rescue my piano from the storage unit it;s been trapped in for two years. I cannot wait!! My piano used to be my life; and I have not touched one in a very long time. I'm actually quite afraid to see how far my talent has degraded. But eventually I will build my finger strength & coordination back up. The next time you hear from me, I will be one piano richer & a much happier person :)

Love & light-- Heather

Finished the Ravenclaw bag

So I may have "finished" the bag, but I still need to wash & block the darned thing. And... that's right, line it as well. I am just proud that I managed to finish a fair isle piece. I know it's only two colors & that is not really a feat for the normal avid knitter, however, as my first fair isle project, I'm just glad the yarn didn't get so knotted up that it choked one of my cats.
Speaking of cats, anyone know a good way to keep your little darlings from eating your most delicious, expensive yarns? Really, any yarn? I seem to be struggling with the discipline for this latest "trick". You'd think someone who can teach three cats to walk on leashes & ride in the car w/o getting sick or scared should be able to handle this little task. However, I apparantly am just not up to the challenge. I always wind up clapping my hands at them or smacking their little bottoms (not hard, mind you... They're my babies after all). But these things only keep them away for a matter of minutes. I guess mommy just isn't all that scary.
Oh well, enough for now. Have to go run & get lunch out of the oven. I've really got to learn to rely less on that oven. It's almost 90 degrees outside, we have no ar conditioner & I'm running the bloody oven twice a day. I just can't bring myself to microwave DIY foods. Microwave meals are fine, they're designed to be massacred in the death-box, but some things are just not meant for that.
Ok, really do have to jet now. Blessed be!

And this is the little princess

Brandon & Ellie earlier this month:

A Gatorade "junkie" (don't worry, the lid is on the bottle!) she's a ham for the camera...:

This is my favorite picture of her. This was actually taken last Halloween when I was taking her to Susana's church carnival. I promise, we didn't have her dressed up as a lion in November, the date was just wrong on Susana's camera.