Shopping Fun!

I had to start 2008 with some cool new knitting stuff!

Just arrived in the mail: My Basspro "Extreme" bag, which I'm going to use to tame my ginormous collection of knitting needles. No more searching through a huge messy pile of needles to find the right one (I hope). This nifty bag comes with lots of plastic sheets that I can use to store my circular needles in by size. It was fairly inexpensive (about $18.00 I think) compared with some of the bags I have seen that are specifically designed for needles, and the word is that it does the job just as well. You can purchase at BassPro

Can't show a picture but I just ordered the cutest mitten kit from Morehouse Farm: Gator Mittens! So cute for the little guys, who love animals dearly and will really like these ones with claws on them! Liam gave me the Shark mittens back today, as they need a seam stitched. So it's repair time!

LOTS of snow here in Spokane today! We were all hoping for a snow day off of school, but no such luck. District 81 is too efficient darn it. The weather guy this morning threw his hands up in the air and said "We're Doomed!" He was just kidding, but it was a good one, as the Spokane news people are always giving these breathless breaking news stories about the 1" of snow that is predicted.

Adventures in Babysitting

6:00 am came mighty early, but I was up and at 'em for my first day as 'nanny' to my 4 little guys. They were VERY happy to have Gramma Laurie on the job (Mon-Thurs) and were super good, doing all their chores and earning points for hot lunch (why do little kids love buying hot lunch so much? It must be the thrill of standing in line with a tray cuz it sure can't be the food) Alex and Liam both had excellent days at school too, with Allie earning '29 points' for behavior and Liam getting '3 happy faces' for his good behavior in class. RJ was his normal sweet self and Mikey was def. part of the boys' club.

Home Sweet Home

My flight finally arrived in Spokane an hour and a half late (nice job Southwest). It's good to be home, though to be frank, I miss LA. I really liked it in So Cal, which surprises me! I promised Katie I'd visit soon, so am already trying to figure out when I'll have a few days to visit.

The flight was uneventful, but jeezus the line at LAX was unbelievable. It took over an hour to make it through check in, baggage drop off and security. I loved it when a bearded fat guy snuck in line in front of me, and the two guys behind me ratted him out. He pretended not to know he had jumped the ginormous line. We weren't buying it.Spotted no celebs at the air-

port, but then again, any celeb worth his/her salt would NOT have been caught dead standing in that line.

It's cold and a little snowy here, I'm going to have to accustom myself to real winter weather again. It doesn't appear that Steve and Rotch moved a single thing while I was gone (including the Xmas tree or various piles of crap) See what happens when Mama leaves town ;-)

I had a great time with Katie, we actually ventured to the beach at Venice this morning and had a nice lunch. She was such a good sport, even took me to 5 thrift stores this morning (lucky for her 4 of them were closed) I miss my little Katie Cat soooo much, but I know she is going to enjoy her LA adventure.

We Heart LA!

We are here in beautiful Marina del Rey, and Katie's apt. is all set up. I have some photos, but they'll have to wait till I'm home to download them. Meantime, the highlights:

Her apartment is very nice, a one bedroom very close to the beach (allegedly all you gotta do is cut between the Ralphs and the building next to it and you are there), and just up the road from Venice. Hopefully, the weather will be a bit nicer tomorrow so we can walk there before I have to go.

Woot Woot, she's right across the street from a Starbucks, and within walking distance of Costco!

Driving to work may be a bit of a nightmare for poor KT, rumor has it the freeway over to Cedars Sinai is really awful. But she's already whizzing thru LA traffic like a native, so it should be no prob.

She has a tiny little balcony which looks out toward the beach (not that you can SEE the beach or anything). She'll have to get a little plastic chair so she can enjoy the great outdoors.

That's about all for now, we've gotten everything unpacked and we're going to cook her first dinner in her new digs (if we can figure out how to cook without using the stove, since it doesn't seem to be working.)

Road Trip!

Sorry no pix but here's the Spokane to LA Road Trip 08 update:

DAY 1:

TEAM PLACK:

• Knitting Project? Check
• Backup Knitting Project? Check
• Every possible knitting gadget I might need? Check
• List of every thrift store and yarn shop en route? Check
• Starbucks grande brewed coffee w cream? Check

Team Plack is ready to roll!

Team Meowfoy:

• Ipod? Check
• 2500 tunes uploaded to Ipod? check
• All 28 podcasts from the Ricky Gervais Show? Check
• Lots of cute, coordinated outfits and shoes? Check
• Starbucks grande nonfat caramel frappuchino, no whipped cream, or some drink I couldn't possibly order because it's too complicated? Check

Team Meowfoy is ready to roll!

And we're off! With the immortal thoughts of Karl Pilkington as our companion, we hit the road Wednesday morning, bound for the City of Angels. Somehow Lavs has driven all the legs with really crap weather (pouring rain in Oregon, heavy snow and high winds around Mount Shasta), but "Cherry" the Trail Blazer handles it all with no prob, and looks good too.

Tonight we made it to Sacramento, and Katie was able to obtain her Cali. nursing license before the office closed. So now she's legal for duty come Monday morning. We're tucked up in our Holiday Inn Express beds (with GOOD pillows, unlike the ones they normally use in caskets that were offered at the Travelodge in Grants Pass last night).

We treated ourselves to a movie since we've managed to stay on schedule thus far. "Atonement" which was excellent, if not exactly a feel good story...

We also made a stop this morning in Ashland to visit the Websters, a faboo yarn store. Katie bought some super cuddly kid mohair to make her stole, and I got a pair of Addi lace knitting needles for my hideous sweater project. They were well worth the $16.00, the sharp points make lace knitting so much easier and faster.

We plan to hit the big city tomorrow afternoon, and can get into Katie's apt. on Saturday. Will report on whether Marina del Rey is as ritzy as it sounds...

The 2007 Tally

I managed to finish around 30 projects in 2007, not too bad. Of course, I have at least double that number sitting in the storage room waiting to be started. But that's another story.

One of my favorites was these Bear Paw mittens (from Morehouse Merino). I also made a pair of Shark Mittens, which are super cute too. The Bear Paws got separated on the Centennial Trail, but amazingly, 2 weeks later, the missing mitten was found sitting along the trail. Whew!

And We're Off!

Katie and I start our drive down to LA today! We were planning to leave about 9 am, but since she's still in bed and I'm sitting here blogging, I don't think that's happening. I will keep you all posted as to our adventures as Team Fluther/Meowfoy heads south!