Need the Weekend

Geez after a 4 day weekend. I could use another one. Getting up this morning was kind of painful. I am sure several of my rowdy readers will agree.

Events of this past weekend: My washer and dryer arrived. The lousy service people did not know what to do with the hose that would not go into the drain hole. It did not fit due to the end. Later on in the weekend, I see that they ripped off the tag from the hose and did not read it. It said to cut it if necessary. I did this before finding the tag, but after going to Lowe's and Sears. I have a service tech coming out from Sears for free this Friday. I am going to make him level the washer, because I don't think the idiots did that either.

I went to Asheville, NC for on Saturday. It was really neat. The yarn store is probably the best one I have found. It is a gorgeous drive and I will be returning there very soon. I tried to go to the mall there, but chickened out once I saw the parking lot. It was packed.

Finally, I knitted and knitted. What I won't say due to potential readership. I don't want to spoil the surprise. I must keep knitting and now return to my knitting. I will write more later in the week.

Steak

Okay, inquiring minds want to know about the steak. Here is the history of steak and Mary on Thanksgiving. Last year after the turdbutt break up, I did not feel like going anywhere or being nice to people at their house. Don't get me wrong. I appreciated the invitations from my brother and Lucy, but I just did not want to be around people. In the past, I have fixed all the stuff for Thanksgiving dinner and did it very well. The only major item that was not done correctly was the cranberry in the can. Okay I admit to it that I am not fond of cranberries. So I decided to have steak last year. I enjoyed myself and relaxed. This year I am planning the same thing. I have a steak. (I miss KC just for the grocery stores. I bought the steak at Wal-Mart. I think that says enough about the quality of the grocery stores here. In KC I would walk up to the meat counter and pick my steak out from a butcher.) I will grill the steak using my grillpan, saute some mushrooms, make a salad, and have some wine. I will be thankful of my friends and my new job. Whether or not I have turkey, stuffing, etc. does not matter to me. Good thoughts matter to me. (I did receive an invite from a co-worker to go to his house with his wife, kids and in-laws. I know that I work in a great place.)

Everything knitting is going along. I hope to make some progress on the Christmas gift front. I also plan this weekend to go to Asheville, NC to shop and look. It is supposed to be a cool town. My mom is probably going to visit this next summer and I am thinking we will go there, because Biltmore Estate is there, which is the ancestoral home of the Vanderbilts. I think she will like a visit. Otherwise we are going tacky and doing Dollywood.

Oh on the work front, I do have a couple of projects. I think that I may be impressing my mentor with my determination on one piece of equipment. It is a little difficult. I know that I will have lots of work next week which is good. I also am helping another engineer to present data in a better format. (I do data massaging!!) I do like the fact that my 3rd week of work is only 3 days.

I pray that everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving. Remember to be thankful for at least one thing even if it is this wee blog.

Return of the Client

Well, today my yarn client is due to return to the states from Italy where she was inspecting her house. (Please note it is her house as it is only in her name.) I hope she has had a good time and all of their stuff arrived safely. I am unsure how I will be able to represent my client since I moved to TN. I have a feeling there will be some other people trying to take over my contract. Sorry it is ironclad!!

I know the colder weather here has made me very sleepy, but I will survive. I need to figure out how not to bored before my TV shows come on. Remeber I am on Eastern time and the network shows do not start until 8pm. I should do some exercise, but I also have a mind set that I should eat at 5:30pm or 6pm. It creates internal turmoil. I know suck it up BABY!

The Amish bread was from a young lady at work. She gave me a starter, which you basically squeeze the bag every day and then on the 6th day you feed the starter. On the 10th day you reserve some of the starter for your friends and you. Continue the cycle. The bread is very good, but two loaves are produced. This amount is quite a lot, because it is only me eating the bread. It was an interesting experience. She is really nice and is just out of college.

This week I played bridge during a couple of lunches. I do not remember all the subltities of bidding and playing, but I am learning and meeting some people. It helps with the transition, because I do miss all my friends in KS and other places (Hi Tamara if you are reading this).

On the knitting front, I need to make some progress on the PURPLE SOCK THAT WILL NOT QUIT!! I have finished one red mitten and have started the second. And the wrap that I know my client is wondering about for my sister-in-laws. Hmmmm. What stinking wrap are you talking about? I have no clue about a stinking wrap that might be at the bottom of the knitting bag. I only know of purple sockie and red mittens. BLAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next entry, I will hopefully tell you about my Thanksgiving plans. Turkey will not be found, but steak!!!!

I hope all my friends are enjoying my blog and that I miss all of you (the new ones and the ones that I have been with me for 15 years) very much. I can say that I am blessed with such people to support me in my life. Love, M

1st week

The first week at work is finished and the weekend almost over. I almost had an OOPS on Friday afternoon. One of my co-workers was out of the office until Friday morning. He had scheduled a meeting for me at 1pm on Friday. I had planned and stayed so that I could have Friday afternoon off. Noboday informed me of this meeting until Friday morning. I went and discussed the situation with the co-worker. He rescheduled the meeting for 10am that day. The meeting did go long, but some interesting information did appear, which may help my co-workers result. Long story short Mary has her first project, which is helping this co-worker to import some numbers into EXCEL and Maple. I am looking forward to helping and maybe I can learn some stuff.

Friday afternoon I went to the mall here in Kingsport. The mall is small, but it does have a store that specializes in Bireckenstock shoes. (I know my spelling is horrible.) My friend, Kama, would love the store. 1/2 shoes and 1/2 purses. (Oh Kama congrats on finishing the bolero. OLE) I have not made up my mind on shoes. I want some that are way comfy. My poor little feet (I wear a size 5 1/2) have calluses and need to be treated in style. I just do not know if I should go with brown (dark or light), or black. I have tan, brown, navy and black pants. What do my KS/MO sylists think? I know I know buy 3 pair, but if I had to prioritize them, which ones??

Saturday, I went to a knitting shop here in Kingsport. It is small, but the owner had stated that some ladies drop in to knit on Saturdays. Well I stopped by and meet the owner again and two nice ladies. Thank god for knitting, because it will help me to connect with people. The only problem is that the knitting open time is only from noon to 2pm. I think there maybe personality issues with other knitters. Oh well, this event will open doors. We will see.

Today, I drove to Knoxville to do some shopping. (Knoxville is about 1 1/2 hours away) Why go to Knoxville? There is a mall there that has Eddie Bauer and Coldwater Creek. The ones up here do not have these stores. I was looking for some jeans and pants. I bought two pairs of moleskin pants and a tan leather jacket at Coldwater Creek. (I know Nell that I need some color in my closet, but I need work staples first. Color will be added as accent.) Eddie Bauer disappointed me big time. Hardly any jeans and no khakis. I will probably be doing some catalog shopping too.

While driving to Knoxville, I spyed something that made me think of Missouri. What do you ask will Mary drive 65 miles again in the next couple days?? BASS PRO SHOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is huge. Hmmm. maybe someone will hit on me there. A fishing girl can only hope.

On the knitting front, still working on the purple sock from he** and have the thumb gore to finish on my first flip top mitten for Tamara.

Time to go and check on some bread. I tell you about it tomorrow or the next day.

Rain

Let's see it is raining here in TN and the weather is supposed to drop from a high in the 70's to a high of 57. It appears that TN has the same weather as KC.

Today my boss made his first appearance in the office since my starting. He was on a trip for business. He is very nice and seems to want to give advice where needed, but not micromanage. My first boss as an engineer micromanaged to the hilt. Even the operators thought this and that says alot.

On the knitting front, I am making great progress on the mitten, but I keep forgetting the purple sock for work. I have an hour lunch break which is way too long for me (note 3 brothers makes you learn how to eat fast). I really want to knit some on the sock so that no IOU will have to be given.

I feel like a nice hot bath tonight. 9 hour days are a killing, but I think I know where I want to shop this weekend. Have I mentioned making great money is sooooooo goooooood!

First Day

Today was my first day at work. They already have some projects for me, but I need to install the software. Most of the group is away on trips. Actually there will be only 3-4 members of a about 12 member group there tomorrow. This is fine with me, because then I can settle down in the job.

I am a little nervous due to the fact this job is really what college was all about and I have not done some of these calculations in years (maybe even a decade). Oh I am old.

Okay on to the knitting front, the second purple sock is giving me fits. I am trying to knit on it while reading some posts from a yahoo group that I belong to. Needless to say the sock is not appreciating my lack of concentration on it.

I started another knitting project. Do not guilt trip me!! It is a Christmas gift for my friend, Tamara. We have been friends for over 15years last month. (So my friends in KS and MO, be afraid. You can't get rid of Bad Mary that easily.) I am knitting some flip top mittens for her. She moved this past summer to Madison, WI from San Antonio. Major climate change.

Last thing on the job front, I don't know how I will handle 9hour days Monday-Thursday and 4 hours on Friday. It should be interesting. I am thinking about starting at 7am. I know I am a glutton for punishment.

Purple

Well, my first comment was from she who is small, blonde, pink-addictive and cute. This fact is stunning since she is horrible about checking e-mail and notorious for not checking blogs. She must not want to study. Oh by the way she just LOVES to study.

I have started the second purple sock for my brother. Yes he wanted purple. Don't ask me why. I just was stupid enough to volunteer to knit him socks again. He has an 11 1/2 inch foot. YUCK! I purchased three balls of Cascade Fixation for this project. I am doing the Twin Rib from the Ribbing - Plain & Fancy booklet by E.J. Slayton. I will have to remind myself to pick up another copy when I am out in the Midwest. (Technically since I am in the Eastern part of TN, I believe I can say I live in the East and not the Midwest. I wonder where the line is drawn between the East and Midwest.)

I hope to have the socks completed by Christmas, because two Christmases ago he received an IOU for a second sock made from some alpaca yarn. Yes I did finish that sock, but I do not want a repeat performance. After all, brothers like to tease little sisters (except this little sister does not tease her hair!)

Start

Well I have arrived in TN. Been hooked up to the internet and know am blogging so that I don't have to send the same e-mail to my friends in order to update them about my life and my search for a house boy to clean my apartment. Whoops - don't know how that made it into this blog.

Time to Publish to see if I am truly on-line!!