As Commanded..... :o)

1) My uncle once: sent us a box of sugar free Jello for Christmas. Don't ask :)

2) Never in my life: will I sacrifice my values

3) When I was five: I started school

4) High School was: interesting

5) I will never forget: The birth of my children

6) I once met: Johnny Depp. In a dream. It was hot. Then I woke up. Damn.

7) There's this girl: she's always staring at me in the mirror

8) Once, at a bar: I got drunk. See # 40 :)

9) By noon I'm usually: making lunch

10) Last night I: started sewing Joey's costume and watched several scarrrry movies

11) If I only had: a clone. I could get so much more done.

12) Next time I go to church, I will: probably be attending a baptism

13) Terry Schiavo: nothing to say

14) What worries me most: sending the kids to school, and letting someone else take responsibility for them for several hours. There are some freaky people in this world.

15) When I turn my head left, I see: My bookcase

16) When I turn my head right, I see: The monsters...Natalie is sleeping on my bed, and Gabe is sitting up watching The Magic School Bus.

17) You know I'm lying when: I don't lie.

18) What I miss most about the eighties: Don't remember much, I was only born in '82!

19) If I was a character written by Shakespeare, I'd be: Hmm. I can't really think of one I'd like to be :)

20) By this time next year: I'll be the mother of an almost 6 year old...I feel old!

21) A better name for me would be: Your Royal Highness

22) I have a hard time understanding: ignorant people.

23) If I ever go back to school I'll: be getting my degree in...something

24) You know I like you if: I continue talking to you :D

25) If I won an award, the first person I'd thank would be: my family

26) Darwin, Mozart, Slim Pickens & Geraldine Ferraro: I've only heard of the first two...

27) Take my advice, never: Lie. It gets you nowhere.

28) My ideal breakfast is: Hash browns and scrambled eggs...mmmm

29) A song I love, but do not have is: I have all the songs that I love

30) If you visit my hometown, I suggest: you better like Marines!

31) Tulips, character flaws, microchips & track stars: Tulips...Pretty flowers. What character flaws? I'm perfect, thank you very much! Microchips...good with salsa :) Track stars...all that running, and they never get anywhere...

32) Why won't anyone: let me win the lottery

33) If you spend the night at my house: we'll probably get drunk on margaritas :D

34) I'd stop my wedding for: Blood. You had better be bleeding if you stop my wedding. Otherwise, I'm going to beat you senseless *lol* no really I'm already married, so it doesn't matter :p

35) The world could do without: Racism

36) I'd rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: eat it

37) My favorite blonde is: My sister

38) Paper clips are more useful than: no paper clips

39) If I do anything well, it's: standing up for what I believe in, no matter what anyone else says

40) The last time I was drunk: I got hit on by this hot girl while D stood by with a huge ass grin :D

41) And by the way: Irish people rule!

So you know...

I swear I thought I followed those Seraphina directions exactly. But the whole time I was making it, I thought "this doesn't look like the one online..." but I never stopped to check. Sure enough, it's totally different *LOL* I'm not sure how I misread the instructions, but I totally love the end result anyway :D

Batteries!!! :o)

Whoohoo! I found a spare pack of elusive AA's! *happy dance* Allow me to introduce my very first Seraphina:



Love it! Can you spy Gabe's Ninja Turtle costume and Natalie's Princess costume under there? :o)

Several days ago I was gifted with a package of goodness from Lynlee! You totally rock girlfriend, and you know you didn't have too :) I'd do it for you again in a heartbeat!



3 skeins of Stylecraft "Mardi Gras"
2 skeins of Trendsetter "Aura"
A TOTC "J" Hook (My very first! It's awesome!)
Yummy Toblerone candy bar (one of my fav's!)
An adorable pumpkin cande :)

And she included treats for the monsters! Pictured is one of two boxes of crayons, and what you don't see is the two packages of Magnetix that they haven't let go of since opening :) Thank you so much Lynlee, you're awesome!

Throwing things....

My cell phone is missing. And the battery is dead. So I can't hear it ring. This is the second time this week. And I'm pissed. Grrrrrrrr.

Another day with no pictures...

Man I really hate not having batteries! I have so many pictures to take, it's driving me nuts.

I finished my chenille Seraphina last night, and I'm rather pleased with it. I made several mistakes in the begining, but none are noticeable to the naked eye. Most of the errors occured when I wasn't paying attention, and put a 2dc shell where a 3dc shell should have been. Eh. Oh well :) The chenille yarn makes it wonderfully warm and thick, I hope it's intended recipient loves it as much as I do! In between crocheting, I've been re-organizing my craft area. The monsters and I share the room off the kitchen- me with my crafty stuff, and they have a play kitchen, bookshelf and several toddler size reading chairs. It's been really crowded lately, so I've been working to restore order. I'm happy to report I can almost walk in there again.

The days have been so wet and gloomy here lately, that the kids and I have been forced to find more indoor activities. Earlier this evening, we painted the before mentioned rocks. Many, many, many shades of color were involved *lol* Although much of the paint landed on the rocks, both monsters resembled ancient tribal warriors by the time we were done. Thank goodness for washable paint :)

Which Irish Gaelic Phrase Are You?

Stolen from Lynlee :)

Which Random Irish Gaelic Phrase Are You?
Ta me bitseach mealltach
Ta me bitseach mealltach - 'I'm a sexy bitch.'

Oh yeah :) I left off the rest of the "results" because I found them rather untrue and kind of insulting. But this first part, I like !

Random Stuff...

Well, I totally endorse chenille from the famous Rodney! Love it, love it. I ordered 3 different colors, for a total of about 4-4.5 lbs. My package got here really quickly, and included three little sample balls of assorted chenilles. Totally makes me want to go back for more!

I started my first Seraphina shawl this evening, using one of the said chenilles (a suede color). Because of the relative thickness of the yarn (it's thicker than Lion Chenille, but thinner than Thick&Quick) I'm using a J hook, and the shawl is growing by leaps and bounds. I'll be able to post pics as soon as I get more batteries for my always hungry camera. At least..I think I will. Gotta figure out who this is for first, as it's totally Christmas giftage :)

The monsters and I tried to take a walk today, but the sky looked like it was ready to burst at the seams any moment. We did manage to pick up some red and yellow leaves, in preparation for our next craft project. We're making turkeys! :) I'm hoping tomorrow is clearer, because this Momma is out of Diet Coke, and starting to go mental.

On an entertainment note, D and I rented Sahara on PPV last night. Pretty good! Not what I was expecting though. I hate it when you think you know what a movie is about according to the previews, and then it turns out nothing like that. Almost makes me feel like I missed out on a movie. Moving on. Drumroll please....There are exactly...


25 days
23 hours
08 minutes
13 seconds...

12 seconds...

11 seconds...

Until...Harry Potter and The Goblet Of Fire!!!!! *HUGE FREAKIN GRIN* I just saw a new trailor (well, new to me anyway!) at www.harrypotter.com and now I'm all a quiver :P And for those of you who think reading HP makes one somehow less of a participating member of society...well, you totally suck monkey balls. And thats a fact.

Look Out! It's Falling Yarn!

Oh. My. God.

I opened my door this morning to find an amazingly large package from UPS. I opened to reveal this fibery goodness from Ginny (airmedh):



2 Solid Wool-Ease !
2 Multicolored Wool-Ease !
2 Lion Suedes!
1 Bernat Soft Boucle!
1 Moonlight Mohair!
2 Knitting Fuzzies!
2 Jiffy's!
1 Bernat Matrix!

A FABULOUS crocheted clutch!
A groovy Ornament!
A groovy ornament notepad!
A SUPER groovy Shopping list!
2 Scary Halloween potholders!
Super cool Fall buttons!
A sweet butterfly bookmark!

WOW! Ginny, you TOTALLY ROCK!! You totally went above and beyond with this package, I was so touched! I can't stop looking at all the yummy yarns, it's a blast determining new projects for all of them! Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart! You're great!!

Park

Today the monsters and I went to the park. I love that it's so close, less than a block away from our house. Gabe was getting brave today, trying out the hanging bar thingies on his own:



He's pretty good too, but prefers to have me close at hand in case he wants to get down. I showed him that it's not far, and had him let go and jump down, but he still doesn't like to do it.

Natalie spent the whole time hiding from me and the camera :)



And here is what I was working on...the shawl! And a Diet Coke :)



Mucho thanks to Lynlee and Lani for providing me with the easier Seraphina instructions. It's next on my list, I have some new chenille yarn coming from Rodney on ebay (how does anyone buy their chenille from anywhere else!?!) thats perfect for it.

For those of you who noticed...

Natalie does indeed have braids :) I finally figured out that I had been trying to separate her hair into too many little braids. This way works out SO much better, and takes less than an hour, from start to finish. Now if only we could get Gabe's hair done...:)

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Make sure you have the requisite chocolate chips...


Add some sugar and butter...



Measure out your vanilla...



Don't forget to sniff it first...






Stir it all together...



Add the chocolate chips...





Sneak a few...



Drop those suckers on a cookie sheet...


10 minutes later...


Bliss!

Seraphina...UGH!

Remember the Hot Momma chenille from a few posts ago? Well, it told me it wanted to become a Seraphina Shawl. Not being one to argue with talking yarn, I started it tonight. I made it to a whopping 3rd row. Wow. Those written instructions are really something terrible. I posted for help on C'ville, but I'm really frustrated. I think Seraphina may have to wait for another yarn. Now I'm busy perusing the web for an acceptable substitute. Of course, I will have to clear it with Hot Momma first.

Just for the record...

I < heart > Lynlee, for being such an awesome person even while facing a group of nameless imbeciles who have nothing better to do than make complete asses out of themselves. So there.

meme

After seeing this on so many peoples blogs, I've finally decided to give it a go myself! And I must admit, the results are pretty damn funny! Take your name, plus the word "needs" and type them into a Google search field. Post your results :)

Here's my top 10:

Megan needs a theme song (grin)

Megan needs to work on her gun control

Megan needs to become more acquainted

Megan needs lots of encouragement

Megan needs an organ transplant

Megan needs 10 volunteers (hell yeah, I got tons of laundry for you all to do..)

Megan needs coffee this early

Megan needs independence

Megan needs a vehicle (AMEN to this! The damn brakes went out in the van!)

Megan needs the assistance of a robotics expert

Had a good laugh yet? Give your name a try, it'll make you smile :)

Hot Momma!

Thats the name of my totally cool new chenille yarn! It came from The Chenille Shack on ebay, Jeanne has fabulous yarn at great prices, check it out sometime!



I have several ideas for this, and I can't wait to get hooking *grin*

Sparkly Rocks!

Today, we got in our stroller and went for a walk..



We found sparkly rocks...




And got frosty's at Wendy's! What more could a kid want? :) (Oh, and some Diet Coke for Momma!)



It was such a gorgeous day out today, we just couldn't stay indoors. I should say we also walked to the bank and paid a bill, but that's not as exciting as rock hunting! *lol*

I just finished HP6

Sob. Thats all I have to say.

Flowers? We don't need no stinkin flowers!

You know you've got a keeper when your mate brings you Harry Potter #6 by way of an apology, instead of flowers. Flowers die within days anyway. HP is forever :)

The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2001

Titles in Bold are the ones I have read

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
8. Forever by Judy Blume
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
10. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
11. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
15. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
19. Sex by Madonna
20. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
29. Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
30. The Goats by Brock Cole32. Blubber by Judy Blume
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
37. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood *I've been wanting to read this one*
38. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
40. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure *These are SO EXPLICIT!*
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
55. Cujo by Stephen King
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
61. What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
62. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
77. Carrie by Stephen King
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
88. Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
100. Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

I think I should be more rebellious and add a few more to the list in the future :)

drip....drip....drip....

Wanna see what D and I woke up to this morning?


Doesn't that look like a tornado?!



Yep, thats my living room ceiling. Falling apart. The leak starts at the top of the peeling ceiling, and extends all the way down to the window, then starts dripping there too. Sigh. I swear this house is driving me nuts. It's been raining steadily since yesterday (no leaks yesterday) D got home early this morning, noticed a small leak, put a bowl under it, fell asleep. We woke up....and the rest is history. Housing was supposed to send a maintenance person to "check it out" today, but no one ever showed. AND it's supposed to rain steadily for the next 3 days!! We've had to move all the furniture out of the way, and we have a line of buckets set up, because of course, rainwater is pouring through. My biggest concern is the growth of mold due to the constant dampness up there. I wonder how they'll fix this...and I really hope for little or no mold (this may be wishful thinking on my part) because I really don't want the possibility of moving to another unit right now. That would be a giant PITA. Grrr.

Freakin Hilarious

I came across this poem while online tonight, and I just about fell out of my chair :)

HOOKING, A WAY OF LIFE
Original Author Unknown

My wife she is a hooker,
Of this she's mighty proud,
And the stories of her exploits,
Are legends in our town,
She's shameless with her talents,
She'll go hooking anywhere,
And if people want to watch her,
She really doesn't care,
It seems to be a family thing,
Her mother taught her how,
Seems her grandma was a hooker,
And my daughters hooking now,
She goes to hookers meetings,
To learn the new techniques,
She starts hooking in a frenzy,
And won't talk to me for weeks,
She doesn't do the housework,
She doesn't make the beds,
No she doesn't have time for that,
She'd rather hook instead,
My wife she is a hooker,
And I curse that awful day,
When she first picked up the hook and yarn,
And learned how to crochet

Red vs. White

So, some disapointment that the Red Sox lost against their white counterparts this evening. We played a good game though, and only lost by a point. My main man, Johnny Damon was looking mighty fine :) OH! I found out that two retired Red Sox players are going to be coming to one of our local malls this week! Bill Buckner and Bob "The Steamer" Stanley will be here on the 7th, signing autographs! One thing that astounded me though (you may be able to tell I'm a relative newbie to the baseball world here) is that they actually CHARGE for an autograph! I told my mom I might just hang around and nab their empty soda cans instead *lol* So the kids and I are going, but whether or not we're going to pay the $35 per signature fee remains to be seen.

Foster Care

Demetryus and I have been thinking about becoming foster parents for several years, and we've reached a point in our lives now where we are ready to open our home to more children. I was pleased to recive a call-back today from the director of the Norfolk Foster care program, and had a nice long discussion with her. We discussed the programs needs, the classes we will need to take (the next round starts up in January), and a few questions about the children we would take in. She wanted to know the ages we were comfortable with, D and I feel that ages newborn-6 will best fit with our current family, and that we could take up to 2 kids at a time. I was caught slightly off guard when she asked what races we would accept... Of course I told her that it didn't matter to us (gender either, she asked about that as well) and seeing as we were a mixed race couple, we've already dealt with public reaction to our family not being all the same color. It's sad to think that the question even needs to be asked. I passed this phone interview with flying colors, and she said she would be mailing me additional materials in the next few days, and was looking forward to working with us in the future. I'm totally thrilled, and can't wait to share this with D when he gets home.

Other than that, not much excitement today. I did finish my latest HP book (#5) about 20 minutes ago, and all I can say is...WHY?? I kept turning the last few pages, hoping to read that Sirius hadn't died after all..but to no avail! It's gonna drive me nuts to wait until next payday to get the next book...nobody spoil it for me!! :)

Yarn, Yarn, Everywhere!

Boy, how I love shopping for yarn. Even when it's not for me! I picked up several skeins of yarn yesterday, for the Falling Yarn Swap over at C'ville. It's going to be hard to say goodbye to them *lol* I also got started on my swap purse, and it's coming along great. I have to say though, while I love the look of homespun, it's a bit of a PITA to work with! Am almost finished with Judy's hats, and hope to get those in the mail tomorrow. Ohh...while I was out, the kids and I stopped at Target again, just to browse around. I love checking those clearance aisles! Guess what I found- a GORGEOUS king sized quilt, orginally $90, for $22! AND two matching pillow shams! *happy dance* D and I have a queen sized bed, but this quilt fits it magnificently. Gotta love a great deal like that! We had been talking about getting a new bed set for a while now, and this one just fell in my lap! I saved the reciept just in case D didn't like it, but he gave his approval :) I'll snap a pic of it later, so you can truly enjoy it's beauty, it has several lovely shades of green and embroidered flowers, and is made of micro suede...yum!

I started the 5th Harry Potter book this morning, " Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix". It is, of course, excellent. I absolutely love the HP books and movies and I can't wait to see the Goblet of Fire movie. The previews look great, and the actors are oh-so-adorable *lol*

Spent a good chunk of the day yesterday cleaning house, although I have a wee bit more to do today. Plan on washing the sheets and making up our bed with the new linen, have some other laundry to do, and the master bathroom needs some TLC. Such fun. Oh well, at least I got D to help a little yesterday before he went to work, that lessened the load a bit. If only these kids weren't so darn messy :)

Meetup

Yesterday was so much fun! Got up early and the kids and drove over to Starbucks to meet Lani (dhaune) from Crochetville. She is fabulous! We had a great chat, and then wondered over to Target, where picked up some of their new "Dollar Spot" yarn. I got two skeins of the lavender "fur" and two skeins of a mulicolored pastel "fringe". I'm hoping to knit a scarf holding the two together, since I think they are too thin to crochet with. Anyhoo, Lani and I plan on getting together again, and we're going to make stitch markers together. I can't wait!

After our meeting, I took the kiddos over to Wal-Mart. I was looking for a pattern/yarn for the Purse Swap I joined. Can you believe I actually found a fabulous pattern and some yummy yarn to boot? Go figure. I usually can't find anything at Wal-Mart except baby yarn and fun fur *lol* I'm going to get started on it in a few days, but I have to finish my hat order for Judy first. I'm hoping to get those in the mail by Tuesday at the latest.

Mom called two days ago, they FINALLY got the official word on them moving! It's a go for December, which means some carefully executed planning on their part! They will be coming to my house for Thanksgiving/Gabe's birthday, and then moving 2 weeks later! I'm glad that they will be so close though. 4 hours is a much better drive than 10-12. Although, I loved visiting them in MA, the area was so rich with history, and yarn shops :) *lol* D will be dissapointed that he and my brothers won't be able to take their annual snowboarding trip at Xmas, especially since Mal's bf Drew was supposed to go this year. Oh well, gotta sacrifice somethings ;)

Off to crochet..