Yay Brubby!

After three grueling years of hard study, after graduating magna cum laude and number 7 in his class, after worrying and fretting and working his butt off three months ago, the results have finally arrived.

Brubby passed the bar exam!  

There's a few more steps before he's officially admitted to the bar, but there's no worries about that.

My brother, the lawyer.  

I'm a proud sister right now. 

Flash Fic Holiday Blog Hop

And this is what I was talking about in the other post.

Being Me

So you may have noticed that I haven't been around in a bit.

I meant to post.  I really did.  But, you know, I didn't.  So there's no excuse for that, not really.  I just...haven't.

Anyway!  To fill you in on what's been going on...

Went to the BFF's new place last Friday, and I made her dinner and we also baked cookies. The oven was a little bit possessed and there was a bit of cookie burnage, but we managed to own that bitch and 96% of the cookies were full of awesome. It's just a cute little place, and it feels like her.  It's nice, and I fucking love her back door (get your mind out of the gutter, people!  lol)  Her kitty, Cersei, attacked the crap out of me.  It was so damn cute I don't even have words.  My hand was all chewed up, but I forgave her.  But it was awesome to have BFF time.  And I really loved giving her prezzies, one of which was her very own bob!

I had two days off this week and it was...not all it was cracked up to be.  Unfortunately.  Monday, I woke up with a migraine, and they suck donkey balls, and I was extra super pissed because it was a day I already had the day off of work.  At any rate, pills, and coffee, and unfortunately a little bit getting sick, took care of that, and the afternoon was mine. 

Tuesday I got bad news (and I was very sad), followed immediately by good news.  And also the Flash Fic Holiday Blog Hop sign up went live!  It's super exciting.  We've had quite a few sign ups so far, and I'm just thrilled about that.  And I really, really can't wait to see all the different stories that people come up with.  I think it's going to be so fun to see what's the same and what's different.  So Tuesday was just a roller coaster of emotion, and that made me tired.  It was mostly good, though.  

I've been yarning a bit.  I wanted to get the mitts done BEFORE I went to the BFF's but, yeah, that didn't happen.  But now I'm nearly done, so she really will have them in time for winter.  Her birthday present on the other hand?  Nowhere near done.  And since her birthday is like, in less than three weeks, well...let's put it this way.  I already told her it might be late.  She loves me so it'll be forgiven.  But I still really fucking love it, and she will too.  

And so, yeah, that's pretty much it.  Work is still work.  I've been writing, and reading, and yarning.  So basically, I've just been being me.  There were some low points, and I was really low, but mostly it was good.  

And  now it's Friday night, and I'm chilling and happy.  And I'm about to make tea.  And enjoy the holy hell out of my weekend.  

Sister Time!

So, Sis and I had extra sister time this past weekend.  Started with dinner out on Friday night, just because.  Then Saturday we hit the craft store and then had lunch out.  It was really good food.  Both times.  

While at the craft store, Sis bought a ginormous crochet hook.  The biggest they make.  And really fat yarn.  And then, she crocheted a wrap while I crocheted on a blanket and we watched West Wing.

 Comparison of one strand of the fat yarn, next to a single strand of regular, standard medium weight yarn.  Huge right?  Ginormous.  But that's okay, because it works up really quick.

 See how big this freaking hook is?  Do you remember my really big knitting needles?  It's about the same size, roughly an inch in diameter.  And you can see how it all works up, how big the stitches are.  How quickly you can make a 36" by 25" wrap.

And this?  This is the wrap.  Which is so warm and cozy it's ridiculous. And also mine.  Did I mention that part?  No?  Well it is!  She made it just for me!  Technically, she gave it to me as my birthday present, and said she did better than I did (yes, she did.  It only took her six and a half months, instead of the 11 months it took me for the first time, and the 10 it took me the second time)  And it's mine, and Sis made it for me.  For me!  Some actually yarned for me!

I LOVE YARN DAY!

Here it is again!  I love yarn day!  Woo!

I do.  I love yarn.  I love the way it smells, the way it feels, the way it works up to make something wonderful.  I love molding and crafting it, making my vision come to life.

I love yarn.  

If you are a fiber addicted, happy I love yarn day!  And if you're not, well you should be, but it's okay if you aren't.  Instead, wish your favorite yarner a happy I love yarn day!

Two Things

So you know I gave up on the CAL because it was just bad. (And not getting any better, I checked out the next clue just for shits and giggles and holy god, did anyone actually try these stitches together??  Awful!)  But that means I have this yarn, right?  And i know it's enough for a throw.  But while I was at the craft store this past weekend, I picked up one more skein of each color.  

I've wanted to make myself another blanket for a while now, and I love these colors (there's blue going on, I love blue, I can't resist blue) so I thought it would be nice for me.  And with the weather cooling down, it won't even be too hot to work on it with it on my lap.  And I wanted to think of something good and interesting.  So it's round.  Yep.  Round.  Well, actually, it's kind of like a soft octagon without defined points.  But yeah, round.  I'm enjoying the hell out of it.  I know I won't when it gets really big and it takes forever to go all the way around, but still.  I'll be happy when it's done.  

The other things is that sometime at the end of the month, I'll get the first edits back for my novella which will probably release sometime at the end of January.  I'm equals parts excited and nervous.  It's going to be work, and it'll probably sting a bit right?  Because I love these guys and their story. But it's going to be fun too; working to make the story better, and getting my very own cover.  

So at any rate, I'm anxious and exited in equal measures.  And I hate waiting, so even though there's still twenty days or so to go before I get that first thing, it's a little bit wearing on me.  But I look forward to the end of the month doubly so now.

Hope everyone is doing well in their respective corners of the world!  

Story Time!

This is the story about how I'm a hero and kept my BFF out of jail.

So on Saturday, the BFF moved into her apartment.  She reserved a U-haul so that she could throw all her stuff in, truck it over, unpack, and be done.  She asked me to drive her to the pick to pick up the truck, and of course go in with her.  Now, there's two guys working behind the counter, sweet, little Abe, and rude, mean douchenozzle.  Point of interest, douchenozzle was only rude to Abe--he was overly sweet and over the top polite to the customers.  Anyway, Abe is checking the BFF in and DN interrupts to say that there are no trucks.  BFF sees red.  But Abe jumps in and says that BFF has a reservation.  DN is still being rude to him and says that there aren't any trucks, but then kind of relents and says that there was one due back at 9 and he'll reach out to them and see where they are.  They were, it turns out, on their way back.  So the BFF calms down a little, and I murmur that it's okay, cause it's only a couple of minutes after, and she calms down some more.  And then we're made to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

We saw the truck pull in and we knew Abe went out to check it in, and still we're waiting.  And being ignored.  And kind of indignant on Abe's behalf because of the way DN treats him.  And we're still waiting.

Swear to god, if I hadn't been there, the BFF would have done murder and y'all would be reading it on the news.  Eventually, finally, we're done and we leave and head back to her place.  I meet her there, so I can direct her into the driveway because she wanted to back in.  So she's starts to do that, but there was a van in the way and she was going to hit it.  So I tell her she's got to pull forward more.  Which she does.  But then she somehow manages to get the truck in a weird spot.  So I'm like, it's okay, just back up and start all over again.  It's all good.  But she's frustrated and worked up and that's keeping her from being on my wavelength so she's not quite understanding what I'm wanting her to do.  So she gives me puppy eyes and asks me if I could just do it.

Now, something interesting of note is that not only do I hate driving, but I'm pretty sucky about backing into driveways/parking spaces.  But I knew what I wanted the truck to do, so I hopped in the cab and...first try!  Exactly perfect backing up!  I totally did a happy dance.

So I'm the hero.  I kept her out of jail, and backed her truck up.  Yay me!

Fight Like A Girl

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month...and there's always a lot of fundraisers and events going on, raising the awareness and money to beat it. This is a cause that is near and dear to my heart.  I've had several aunts and a couple of cousins fight this battle and win. And one aunt who fought and lost.  

Fight like a girl.  Big or small, let's save them all.  Save the boobies!

It's a worth while cause.  Get your mammograms.  Do the self check. Early detection is the key.  And if we can find a cure for this cancer, thousands of lives will be saved.  

October

So it's October which is, overall, probably my least favorite month.  The only thing I like about it is that fall is well and truly here.  Though not quite in my area; it's still rather warm.  But it's getting there and that makes me happy.

Don't know why I dislike October as a whole.  There really isn't a reason for it.  Just do.  

Okay, so the CAL?  Yeah, I'm done.  This was week four, I still didn't get the clue despite several complaints.  I had to go to the website, and then wait for that to be updated.  And then when it was...another awful pattern stitch choice.  I thought perhaps it was just me, but nope.  I checked out the forum, which I hadn't been looking at, and several other people were all, these stitches don't go together!  They don't look good!  And it's true.  It doesn't work together.  It doesn't look good.  And even though I started the next one, about three rounds in I was just like, nope!  I just couldn't do another one.  Just couldn't.  So I've given up on the CAL because I can't, in good conscious, make something that I think is ugly.  I did it in the first place because of the donation from the sale of yarn, and for the fun "choose your own adventure" feel of it.  But it's awful, so I'm done.  I will continue to buy that yarn, and I will use the yarn I have to make a throw instead, because I have enough, especially if I frog what I've already done.  But I'm so over this CAL it's not even funny.

I had a really lovely two days off.  It was incredibly wonderful just to chill.  I treated myself to fast food breakfast one day.  I read.  I wrote.  I napped.  It was wonderful.  And in a couple of weeks, I get to do it again.  It'll be lovely.

And yes, I know it's silly, but the Bobs?  They still bring me great joy, they are growing like awesome with new leaves and new shoots emerging all the time.  I talk to them, and I swear they preen.  One of my great joys is walking 'round the room and giving everyone their drinks.  I check on them daily.  And I want more.  

So even though October makes me cringe, it's here and there's nothing I can do about about it.  It'll be over in 30 days, and I just have to wait it out.  And take joy in the little things while I'm at it.