Way out in the Middle of Nowhere

The year was 1996, and fresh out of Tech College I landed a cushy job as a Maintenance Mechanic at a local Potato Chip Factory. Maintenance Mechanics by the way, make some tall cash and earn it about 30% of the time. The rest of the time is just piddly work. I'm digressing here.... My beloved Packers made it to the Superbowl!! I felt that this endeavor was enough to warrant a Father-Daughter tattoo. I was ready, willing and able to pay for Dad and I to get a tattoo of the Packer Helmet + 'Superbowl Champs 1996' written underneath on our upper arms. I had made the appointment. My Dad, he chickened out. He called and said, "Bren, I don't want the tattoo. Spend your money on something worthwhile." Oh GEEZ Dad! COME ON!!! So I did what he said, and I am left tattoo-less. Fast forward to 2011. Here we are at the brink of another Packer trip to the Superbowl (BTW, if that's got some trademark infringement thing going on if I say it, I'm sorry. The Bowl...

Not much new going on. I'm laid off of the temp job, so I'm back to sewing full-time again. I just figured I wanted to see some green........... The lady walking with the bag in the picture is my Mother-In-Law.

It's a presentation for our Knitting Guild; how to knit without turning your work. To that end, I've taken pictures of how I knit both forwards and back. I guess I'm a thrower. I wrap my yarn around my right index finger, stick the needle from front to back into the stitch, wrap the yarn from under to over, then pull the loop through. So that will be what you will see in the first pictures: Now, to knit backwards competently is mainly practice and noticing how you knit forwards. In order to knit backwards, I slip my needle from forwards to back in the back loop of the stitch, I then wrap the stitch around the needle from the bottom up and use the needle to pull the stitch to the front. So it's like the whole process is opposite of what is done as I knit forward. The Pictures: The yarn I'm knitting with is orange and the stitches on the needle are green. Now to purl backwards, the main thing to remember is that the yarn starts out in front of the work, just as b...

3. Marti and Leslie's wedding: Or The HS Reunion without the drunks. Marti and Leslie were High School friends of mine that met on FB and then got hitched last summer. It was a blast! Many of my friends that I've not seen in a while attended and some of the other people I went to High School were there also. Heck, I remember seeing Leslie dance in the Nutcracker when I was 12............. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. 2. AFC Conference at Chula Vista. Americans for Prosperity is one of those groups that was born from the frustrations with the way Government is run. We joined the group to add our voices and strengths to theirs. At the Conference, we discussed the Global Climate religion with Lord Monckton, Rules for Radicals with Vicki McKenna, Listened to a group of talented singers sing all 3 verses to the American Anthem, and chatted with the likes of Scott Walker, Ron Johnson, Dave Westlake, Rick Richard, and that Neuman guy I didn't care for. That's Vicki McKenna giving us...

6: Trans-Siberian Orchestra Tix Won! Vicki McKenna runs a talk show on 1130 Am out of both Milwaukee and Madison. We are regulars listeners as well as have her on FaceBook. One day she ran a FB contest: whomever could show her a large, ugly mass of Box Elder bugs won TSO tix. I sent over a picture of our mass of Japanese Ladybugs. Yeah, I was never good on details. Well, she was so horrified by my picture she gave the tickets to us anyways! So off to the Kohl Center we went: A visually stunning show, great seats, we had a great time. 5: Lunches and Open Knitting On Thursdays Both of which I miss. When Alex was going to the International Academy, I'd go into Janesville early on Thursday and take him to lunch. We'd end up at places like Subway or KFC, and talk for an hour before going to knit with the ladies. Open Knitting at the Dragonfly is a blast! Whomever would drop by would stop and knit, critique new knitting magazines, show off our stuff, and use some good ol' pe...

I'm going to remember 2010 by the good things that happen. Be ready for some funky memories: 10: Gall bladder surgery. Yep, that's a good thing. This stupid gall bladder has been invading my nighttime peace for about 3 years now. It's time that Fred and George the gall stones get a new living quarters of a plastic jar. 9: Firefly and Zoe. Two Shawls that I have designed all by myself. A learning experience to say the least! The easiest part is knitting the buggers, charting however..... 8: After a few years of messing with an old well pump, pressure tank and water heater, I THINK we're done now. Everything has been replaced. Next spring we'll have to do some landscaping where they dug the 4 foot trench but hey....I wanted to plant some new flowers around here anyways. 7: Alex is 18!!!!! My dear son has made it to be an adult! There's minimal scars, no juvenile record, no grandchildren, no rehab bills. We've made it!

So I picked up a job doing some data entry/mail sorting for a few months; mainly to pay off the debts on that junker of a car of mine. If possible, I'll save up enough for another decent-running yet used car. The bag selling enterprise is still running, albeit with less inventory. I can still do some sewing after work and on weekends, so I will be doing more fabric buying online. Which is good actually, since I get the better designer fabrics that way. Christmas is over, and I'm glad of that. The crappy Wisconsin winters make driving a stressful experience and for some reason, I do not do well physically at my In-Law's. I always wake up feeling as though I've been crumpled like a piece of paper. My sinuses were screaming and I could not deal with the lights at church. I ended up looking downward at the Nativity Set during the service. Our gift giving between Dave and I involved exchanging top-shelf liquor: Bourbon for Godiva Chocolate Vodka. I think it was a great...