My Little Piece of The Net

Goals for the 26th year

Quit Smoking.
Write to Someone I Admire (Can be anyone from friend to celebrity).
Send 27 Post Cards (I miss connecting with people outside of the internet).
~~Leave the State for vacation.~~
Pay off my credit cards.
Give handmade gifts for special occasions. (Due to my schedule, I will give as many as I can)
Publish writing.
Sky dive or bungee jump.
Start a work out routine.
Debate with someone and try to see their side.
Walk for a cause.
Take a dance class.
Read a book a month (at least).
Give a gift to a stranger.
Hang out with my brother more often.
Seek Grammar/Writing Education Opportunities.
Volunteer my time outside of school.
Stop to reflect on the good things. (May decide to blog it, may decide to write it down in a journal).
Maintain a sick time balance at work.
Save up for a cushion/emergency fund.
Slumber Party/Diva Evening. (I miss sleep-overs!)
Learn to walk in heels!
Bring lunch to work (at least 3x a week).
Take a financial workshop.
Learn to cook/cook more often.
Go Camping!
Stop spending all my money on coffee!

FYI

Sunday, June 22, 2008

I haven't disappeared again. Grim and I are in the process of moving into our new apartment. Well we're actually done moving stuff it's more like trying to figure out where everything should go. -=giggle=-

Internet will be back up tomorrow, so a post with pictures will be up shortly!!!

Labels: Moving

posted by Valerie @ 2:34 PM 2 comments

Last Stages of the Baby Blanket

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

So I finally have it all seemed together and I am weaving in the ends. The problem is that it's in stockinette stitch and it's curling at the edges. I don't have a suitable place to block it. So what are the alternatives? Would it be possible for me to use a sewing machine and sew backing onto it or would that screw up the yarn and cause it to unravel? Any suggestions?

Labels: Baby Blanket

posted by Valerie @ 9:19 PM 4 comments

Meme Fun!

Sunday, June 8, 2008

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

I was 14 years old and still living in Ohio. I think at the time I was still in school, it was probably 8th or 9th grade. I was in trouble all the time for attendance issues but I still managed to pull off straight A's. -=giggle=-

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?

Go to the casino with my mom, grandpa and grandma, take back my library books, drop off stuff at Goodwill, finish seaming the baby blanket.

3. Snacks I enjoy.

Nacho Cheese Dorritios, Poppycock and Hershey's Kisses w/ almonds.

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire.

Pay off my family's debts, buy a house/condo, pay off my bills, take some time off work to go to school and do the things I want to do.

5. Places I have lived.

Mansfield, Ohio/Hernando, Mississippi/ Albany, New York (for now)

6. Jobs I've had.

Video store clerk, Pizza cook at Pizza Hut (3 times), Busser at an Italian Restaurant, Telemarketer for the Republicans (before I knew what any of the political crap meant), Made subs at Blimpies, Worked retail at Totes, Big Dogs and Hot Topic, Worked as a Secretary for a Family Practitioner and at the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Now I am a secretary at an Environmental Engineering Co. Wow, I didn't realize how many jobs I had. -=giggle=-

7. Peeps I want to know more about:

Labels: Meme

posted by Valerie @ 10:28 AM 0 comments

A Real and Complete Post

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Hello everyone! I have finally returned to the blogging world! -=wave=- I apologize for the absence but it's been getting a little crazy around here again. I'll start with the life update and make my way down to knitting.

In case you haven't been checking my personal blog (link on bottom right side) here is the information on my dad.

I am not sure where I left off last. So I am going to go over everything. My dad has really bad knees/legs due to a serious car accident. Basically when he was young he was passenger in a vehicle that had a 18-wheeler roll on top of it. The front tires were sitting on my father's knees, his neck was crushed. He had a ton of surgeries to repair the damage to his neck/spinal column and they wired his legs/knees with metal rods and plastic. I'm telling you this so you understand the damage he sustained that led to these problems he recently had. So over the last couple of years his legs have been giving him quite a bit of trouble. He would start to feel pain as he walked or feel winded and tired after a while. So at the end of March he went to his doctor to check the circulation in his legs. His right leg was 95% blocked off of blood flow. His other leg has minor blockage but nothing compared to the right leg. They also discovered that one of the valves to his heart is seriously blocked but the blood rerouted itself so that is no longer a concern.

Long story short... (To Late Eh?) he had a surgery to open up the stint in his leg. He was fine, went home a couple days later. Lisa (step-mom) noticed he wasn't healing correctly, that something was wrong. He was having serious difficulty walking and was in a tremendous amount of pain. She checked the pulse in his foot and couldn't find one. Back to the hospital. Turns out the stint failed... another surgery takes place to rework the stint. It takes and doesn't collapse. Now due to seriously seriously poor nursing the entry becomes infected and the graft is at risk. If the graft is infected the infection will travel up the blood stream and would cause the artery to burst and he would die. There was a lot of argument regarding whether or not we would go through another surgery. In the end, he decided to do it. I left the day after the last surgery. I didn't want to but I am officially out of sick time at work due to this.

Since then he was released to go home where he has done fine for the most part. He forgot to take his medication (life events got in the way of him going to the pharmacy) and the infection came back in full force. However, since then I have heard very little except that they both now have new Harleys to cruise around on. -=giggle=- Sooo I am guessing he's doing much better.

As far as my life goes. April was chaotic, emotional and absolutely crazy for me. I think the worry over my dad, life's general concerns and personal issues really got to be. May was better if not busy. We gave notice that we were no longer interested in living in our current apartment and we quickly found another one that is beautiful and much bigger! That's right, we're moving!!! So I am sorry to report that I may not be posting regularly until we've got everything situated at the new place. That's the general summary of everything dears, if you want to read more it's all posted at the personal blog.

Onto the knitting pictures!!

Dream Swatch - Nervous Knitting Project #1- It's funny I used to be terrified to try this project. It looked to complicated. When dad got sick, I dove right into it and figured it out. -=giggle=-

Leg Warmers-Nervous Plane Knitting- A gift knit for a friend of mine. I just have to weave in the ends and I am all done with them.

Oversized Shrug- This project is on hold until such a time that I can get my rump to the yarn store to pick up more yarn for it.

The Baby Blanket of Doom!!! -=giggle=- Eventually I need to get around to seaming this up and sending it out.

Misti Alpaca Scarf - Another project that is going to have to wait until I can get to the store and buy yarn. It's a gift knit.

I also have the front panel of the record bag completed. I need to pick up more black yarn to finish the back section. That is pretty much all that I have on the needles right now. I am going to frog the Blossom Baby Wrap and re-work it in a different color. I also want to make sure the stitches are tighter. I also have the Green Tree still on the needles and I am seriously debating on frogging the damn thing. I haven't touched it since I had to rip it back and it's just sitting there in a box.

On the note of yarn, I will not be buying anymore unless it's for a project. I have so much yarn that it's ridiculous and it's just sitting there. As it is I am taking 2 full shopping bags of yarn (mostly bargain yarn) to the Goodwill.

Oh! One more thing, does anyone have any recommendations on sewing machines? I want to take up sewing.

Labels: Dad, Knitting, Sewing, Update

posted by Valerie @ 12:24 AM 6 comments

About Me

Name: Valerie
Home: Troy, New York, United States
About Me: I am 26 years old. I work, go to school, participate in roller derby and knit every chance I get. Oh, I also love hanging out with my boyfriend (Grim) and two cats (Kiya and Sigh).
See my complete profile

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