Jacquie's Journal

I am a Rockin' Girl Blogger!

I have been awarded a by Alarming Female I think on the strength of my fabulous taste in music for the Shuffle Music Meme I did the other day.  Thank you Alarming Female!

Now it is my pleasure to present Rockin' Girl Blogger awards to 5 deserving bloggers.  I have to have an order to my list but all are equally deserving.

The first is an honorary award because this person does not have a blog, but she deserves an award for being a Rockin' Girl anyway - my sister Carolinne.

Second Mary Beth, one of our Sewing Divas, at The Stitchery  who has recently had to be very brave and strong.

Thirdly Eileen at Midnite Sky who has also had to be brave for her DH who is thankfully OK.

Number Four goes to Deb the Brit aka Melody Yarns  for being a wonderful co-admin at Crafty Threads 'n' Yarns 

Numbers Five goes to Terri Knits for doing a great job moderating on Crafty THreads 'n' Yarns and for her fundraising efforts for Autism.

Luckily Auntie Noo has already received a Rockin' Girl Blogger award - otherwise I would have had to break all the rules and award her one as well.!

I didn't know what to do for the best at the dog park yesterday but I had to do something!  When we arrived there was one dog already there but no humans at all.  The dog didn't have any tags either.  We were there for 30 minutes and no sign of an owner so I called the Police to come and get her.  She couldn't stay there forever.  We left after an hour and she was still there and the police must have got her shortly afterwards because they rang to check which dog it was.  She was a beautiful and very friendly dog - maybe a German Shepherd mixed with Labrador and she had one blue and one brown eye.  I hope she was left due to a misunderstanding and wasn't simply abandoned and she is reunited with her owners soon.  If she was abandoned I hope she gets a new loving family soon.

Auntie Noo Tagged Me!

1) What do you hope to achieve with your blog?

My aims are twofold.  The first is to provide family news to friends and family back in England, and theh second is to talk about my knitting, quilting and other crafty type things I do.  I attempt to do these things in a lighthearted and occasionally amusing fashion :)

2) Are you a spiritual person?

I do not believe in organised religion, nor in God in the traditional sense.  I do however believe there is something bigger than us - otherwise we would know all the secrets of the Universe - which thankfully we don't - it will be a very bad day when that happens.  I sometimes get freaked out by the idea that I am me and the thing that makes me me is inside my body looking out and I sometimes wonder what it must be like to be somebody else and whether they think the same way as me at all or whether they are wired completely differently.  Logically when we die we just end and that's that, but, in reality, I find it very hard to believe that when someone close dies they are not around watching over us somewhere.

3) If you were stranded on a deserted island, what three things would you want to have with you?

Well, I watch "Lost" and "Man Vs Wild" and I live in the high desert so you would think I would know immediately what I would need.  I think the first thing would have to be a book called something like "How To Survive On A Desert Island With Only Two Things Apart From This Book" that would contains tips on how to catch and cook snake, build a shelter from three sticks, a banana leaf and a vine rope, and a raft from coconut shells.  The other two things would have to be a sharp knife, and insect repellent - can't bear being bitten and wouldn't want to risk getting West Nile disease, malaria or sleeping sickness.

4) What's your favorite childhood memory?

I have quite a few, but close to the top of the list must be holidays spent with my Grandparents in Brighton.  We would bake cakes, knit, sew, one year we even did basket weaving, go for walks on the downs picking one of each flower (it was OK in those days!) to see how many different kinds we could find, or pick blackberries to make jelly, go to the shops to spend my pocket money, go to the beach where there was sea (of course) and sand (when the tide was out) and fairground rides, and the piers and the Volks Railway.  We would visit the Rockery - a huge rock garden in Preston Park and the dahlias and the rose gardens.  We would visit my two maiden great aunts who would always manage to find me the perfect peach for my tea.  We would go out in the evening to see the fountains outside Brighton Pavilion all lit up in different colours.  We would play the games my Dad used to play with when he was young - bagatelle, table croquet, solitaire on a big round board with marbles, and we would play cards - Cribbage and Chase the Ace were favourites.  Totally magical times that I have talked about on this blog before that have definitely shaped the things I love to have and do now.

5) Is this your first meme?

No, I have done several - the last one was only a couple of days a go - a knitting one.  I like the ones that make you think a bit and let you get to know other bloggers a little better.  My favourite to date I think was the one where we had to make up 5 interview questions for anyone who requested to be interviewed

I am not going to tag anyone in particular but if you would like to take this then please do.

Harry Potter Character Compatibility Test

I saw this on Cheryl's Blog so had to try it for myself and was quite surprised at the result!

You scored as Albus Dumbledore. You are very wise, observant, and analyctical. You have a very "well-organized" mind, which makes you function in a calm and fair manner. Though you get angered easily, its rare of you to ever act out of temper. You are constantly seeing the good in people and are naturally forgiving because of it. You're easy to please and a great person to learn from. Albus Dumbledore 88% Remus Lupin 81% Harry Potter 72% Hermione Granger 69% Sirius Black 69% Luna Lovegood 66% Severus Snape 63% Neville Longbottom 59% Ron Weasley 59% Percy Weasley 47% Lord Voldemort 44% Oliver Wood 44% Draco Malfoy 41% Bellatrix Lestrange 38% Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test created with QuizFarm.com

6 Weird Things About Me

I was tagged a few days ago so I had better get round to answering before Christmas panic finally consumes me and I forget.

THE RULES:Each player of this game starts with the ‘6 weird things about you.’ People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.”

1. I can form my tongue into a W shape and my sister (who can do it too) and I have been on TV briefly demonstrating the phenomenon.
2. I did not learn to drive until I was 36 and it took me four goes to pass my driving test - and that was before they introduced the written exam.
3. I rarely wear make up and have never coloured my hair.
4. I am a female software engineer.  Where ever I have worked there has been a 1:10 ratio of women to men. 
5. I enjoy hip-hop dancing even though I am very old - but only slightly older than Michael Jackson - but hopefully not nearly as weird - though I bet he can't do the W tongue thing!
6. I enjoy true crime stories like Cold Case Files, but don't indulge too often in case people think I am weird.

Now I have to find 6 people to tag - let me see - who will it be?

Blogiversary

Yesterday was my 'blogiversary' - I have actually managed to keep this thing up for a whole year!  This is amazing for me.  I have never, ever managed to keep any other kind of journal or diary going for more than a week before.  So what is it about blogging that has kept my interest, you may ask?  There are lots of reasons.

• My friends and family like to know what we are up to.  Maybe they don't want to know in such fine detail, but anyway, this way I only have to write it down once, and everyone gets the same story - no more having to remember who I have told what to.
• I can journal my craft activities - mainly knitting, but  bit of quilting thrown in here and there.
• I feel like I am part of the world knitting 'underground' and we could be so powerful.  If so many can be called to action to join in the Knitting Olympics (not sure how many, but more than there were athletes competing in the other Olympics) just think what else we could do.
• I have met some great new friends both in real life and in cyberspace, and discovered how kind and generous people can be.  It has been quite embarrassing at times, I only have to mention how much I miss something and it miraculously appears on my doorstep within a few days.  I only hope I truly deserve to have this happen to me, and that I have done all I can to pay it back, or forward to others who deserve it in return.
• I have learned new computing skills.   I am a programmer by trade, as I may have mentioned on more than one occasion, but there is always new stuff to learn, and blogging has led me to learning much more about HTML, CSS, and Javascript.  I now own a copy of Photoshop Elements.  Luckily for some, I am still a little afraid to use it, but it is fun and I am getting  more confident by the day so watch out!
• I am starting to take a small lead in cyberspace by co-administering  Crafty Threads 'n' Yarns , our new message board for crafters of all kinds, and managing our webring.  I have also just started Bloggers' Paradise a message board where bloggers can share their knowledge and find answers to their blogging questions because I was seeing that the same questions about blogging were cropping up on the knitting boards I frequent and I thought it would be good to have a dedicated place just for that subject.  I am Over the Moon at how well both these ventures are going.
• It keeps me on track with all I have to do.  If I write it here that I am going to do something then I feel I am letting my readers down if I don't follow through.  Don't worry though, I haven't kept a list of all the things you have all said you are going to do on your blogs, so you won't be letting me down if you don't do everything you've said you will!  But I do have to say it is worrying when a fellow blogger goes quiet for a while, so please just pop in to say you are OK once in a while when life gets too hectic to post much.
• I am a bit of a show-off really, and a blog kind of gives me permission to brag a bit about what I have done and who I have met.  Here's a secret for you.  When I made my ambigram cushions I sent pictures to Scott Kim who is very famous in the ambigram world and he liked them enough to ask me if I would like to have one featured in his Brain Teaser calendar.  Of course I said yes, so unless he changes his mind, my Lucy cushion will appear in the 2008 Calendar.  We will have to wait a whole year to find out for sure!

I think that is about it.  It has been enormous fun and I shall definitely carry on and see what another year holds for me in Blogland.

So enough about me - why do you blog?

Starting tomorrow, Dec 1, the windows on my little advent calendar should start to open.  It was such fun to do, so I hope you enjoy it.

Black Friday

The day after Thanksgiving is called 'Black Friday' because it is the busiest shopping day of the year.

People queue up all night to make sure they get their bargains, and some stores open at 5.30 or 6.00am so the agony is not prolonged.  There are stories of the police being called to deal with queue jumpers, people fighting over parking spaces, and choice items being sold out in seconds.  Just like the January Sales used to be in England - is it still such a big deal there?

We chose not to get involved in all that but we did go out later on at a more civilised hour when most of the bedlamonium had died down and were still able to get PhotoShop Elements 5.0 for $50.00 at Best Buy instead of $80.00 elsewhere.

We were also looking at HDTVs.  They had the one Gary, after hours of internet research decided was the best for us, on display at Costco, but unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look it, they didn't have any in stock.  Is it a sign of ageing that you feel the need for larger and larger TVs as time goes on?  Our one at the moment seems really small now and I have difficulty reading the credits and stuff on it sometimes.

Later on we took Charlie for a walk at Tanner Park.  We took the video camera with us and took some rubbish footage of her running about - I can totally see why professional directors refuse to work with animals!  We do have video evidence that, for the fourth time,  we met another Boston Terrier at the same spot  in the park.  This time it was Rosie who I believe we have met before.

Today we started getting the house ready for The Wedding.    I started by sorting out the pantry.  Where does all that stuff come from?  Gary started putting up the outside lights - he got fed up putting the same ones up again so we treated ourselves to some new red ones.

Progress on Lucy's stole continues.  I promise a picture or two tomorrow.  I need to put up a progress bar for it too.  I did have one dodgy moment when I discovered - or more accurately didn't discover a missing stitch and had to take the whole thing off the needles and unravel a couple of rows until I had the right number of stitches again.  Getting it back on the needles was the hardest part.  I have one word (or is it two) for you - LIFELINE.  Did I put one in?  No!

I am pleased to say Bloggers' Paradise is beginning to take off really well.  We have a great bunch of members and we have sorted out some interesting blogging problems and answered some great questions already.  Don't forget if you have questions about any part of blogging please come over and ask.  Our aim is to explain things clearly in plain English without using a lot of jargon so you can get your blog the way you want it with the minimum of fuss.

It's a Busy Time of Year!

I haven't posted for a few days I know.  I have been busy with a few different things, the most important of which of course is Lucy's stole.

Here is where I am on it:

It is actually three panels of three marriage lines separated by single repeats of ploughed furrows.  At the edge there is a half ploughed furrow and 4 stitches of seed stitch.  I began the main part by picking up stitches from the edging lace and I will end by grafting on the other piece of edging.  I am really pleased with it so far.

Other wedding news.  As we are having the wedding at home just before Christmas, it will not be practical to have the big Christmas tree up which some in the family are a bit fed up about.  So I thought why not have a wedding tree.  We are going to get a small tree that can stand on a table and we will decorate it with white, silver and blue (their accent colour) wedding/Christmas things.
I went to see what they had in that line in Target at the weekend and found lots of hearts, doves, silver initials (I got an S and an L) decorated with Sworovski crystals, and the word 'Love' in silver, as well as white baubles, snowflakes, stars, garlands etc.  I found a pretty white Angel with a posy too.  I think it will look lovely.  I would also like to find decorations from the Twelve Days of Christmas song - perhaps a partridge in a pear tree or a gold ring or five.

I know some of you will have been impatiently waiting for news of what happened when I took the salad and the caterpillar back to the store.  Well the manager was summoned and we were given a refund for the salad and a $10 cash card which wasn't a bad deal.  She said it was inevitable for this to happen with organic produce and I guess it does at least prove that they haven't used pesticides on it.  I suggested maybe it shouldn't say "washed and ready to use" on the label because I believe that and really prefer not to have to wash it because it makes it all wet.

Anyway we ended up buying more salad and treating ourselves to a giant tin of Walker's All Butter Shortbread.   Last time we got one we bought ii in September with the intention of saving it for Christmas - it was gone by the end of October.  We have managed not to open this new tin yet, but I am not sure how long our resolve can last.  Ideally we will save it to serve at the wedding.  You may think we have been good but actually five of the six Terry's Chocolate Oranges that I bought a couple of weeks ago on offer at 2 for $5.00 also with Christmas in mind have disappeared.  Oh well!

A very important thing I should tell you about is Knit Unto Others that Margene is co-organising.

Don't forget to visit Bloggers' Paradise with your blogging questions

Bloggers' Paradise

I have had so much fun co-administering our Crafty Threads 'n' Yarns board that I decided to start another one.  This one is Bloggers' Paradise and is for personal bloggers (as opposed to business bloggers) to help each other out with all aspects of blogging.  Blogging is in itself a great way of passing on information but this board will provide a central place for bloggers  and future bloggers to come to to find out how to set one up, find out what the buzzwords mean, share scripts and maybe even dream up new  ways of using blogs.

It is very much in its infancy at the moment, but if you join now you will have a chance to influence the direction it takes.  I am very excited about it :-)   and hope some of you dear readers will be too.

Don't worry - it is not my intention to take over the world - I don't have time for that, but I have often seen questions about blogging on other boards and thought a board devoted to blogging would be a good thing!

Charlie is such a smart little dog - I know I may have mentioned this before but today she was very clever indeed.  I was sitting typing away at the table and Charlie was demanding attention by standing up with her paws on my leg.  Usually this means she wants to play and if I try to stroke her she backs away to get me to chase her.  Today though she wanted me to lift her up on my lap.  At first I thought how sweet and affectionate she was being but after a while I realised what was going on.  Charlie likes to sit in the sun and in the morning it shines through our bay window and makes a little diamond shaped warm area that gradually moves across the room.  Guess where the sunny spot was at the time Charlie wanted to sit on my lap - that's right, right where my lap was!
This picture was taken in August and is next to the chair I was sitting on (that is not me in this picture however).  The sun is lower in the sky now so it shines a bit further over.

Cheryl was having fun with an online translator and invited her readers to try it for ourselves.   I translated  the paragraph about Charlie above into French, then German, then back to English and it came up with this

"Charlie is a small so smart dog knows that I could have mentioned this, before, but today she indeed was very intelligent. I rested the Daktylographie far at the board, and Charlie required the attention at the conditions upward with it from the legs on my leg. Usually this means that she wants to play, and if I try, it to rub her supports far to hunt in order to force me, it. Today, although it wanted that I put it up upward on my cover. At the beginning I thought, how tender and affectionate it was, but after one time I had carried out, which continued. Charlie may set itself in the sun, and the morning he shines by our out-standing window and makes a little for hot sector as diamond, which shifts gradually by the hall. Where the ensoleillée mark was then Charlie guesses/advises, wanted on my cover to be based itself - which correct, gerad is, where my cover was! This photo was taken in August and is beside the chair that I rested myself above (that is not to say me in this picture however). The sun is in the sky of lower, which maintains in such a way, he polishes little far a more."

How funny - please give it a try with one of your posts for much merriment!

Spring Cleaning

I have spent a couple of hours spring-cleaning my blog.  It was all getting a bit disorganised.  Now I have everything to do with knitting on the right hand side and everything else on the left.  I have made some subheadings in my lists to try and keep everything neat and tidy.  I still  have some things to add - I'll do them when I have a few moments - or when I come across a link that should be there and isn't.

I was a bit fed up yesterday. The passport applications still haven't been delivered, and I am really annoyed about that - both with USPS and myself for not choosing a better option.  Anyway, I thought I would go and look at clothes with a view to maybe buying a skirt for the summer.  And that made me even more fed up.  Why do they tell us capri pants suit no one, and then cram the shops full of them?  Why do they not have a single nice skirt anywhere?  Oh, except in white, which, I can guarantee, would become indelibly stained within the first five minutes of my ownership of it.  I couldn't find anything I liked.  Is it just here or is it everywhere?  Or do I just have weird taste? 

Thanks everyone who voted in my vest poll, and for the very helpful comments.  I will leave it for a while longer and then decide what to do.

I have knitted some lace like I said I would and I was very pleased with that.  It needs pinning out and blocking and then I will post some pictures.

This and That

I have just about come to terms with what happened with Gary's sweater and am well on the way to completing the front again.  Unfortunately I did have to rip out back to the dropped stitch because it hadn't unravelled to that point - I had just kept knitting over it.  It was right in the middle of the front and there was no way I could wiggle an extra stitch through as many rows as I would have needed to and have it look good.

Our poor old Montero (Shogun in UK) refused to start yesterday and we had to get the tow truck to come and take it to our trusty neighbourhood garage that has looked after it since we got it 7 years ago.  The verdict was a problem with the fuel pump - $500 of work.  Gary was trying to get out of them if it was really going to cost that much.  They said well actually they had hit the fuel tank with a rubber mallet and it was going OK again - for now.  So we brought it home again.  We will have to buy a rubber mallet before we drive it anywhere again.

Charlie is so clever!  She is the only dog we have ever had, so I don't know where she falls on the doggie IQ scale, but I am impressed.  She has a new dumbbell toy (to replace the tongue toy she got for Christmas, but managed to pull apart the other day - that was a fun toy that lasted a lot longer than some others she's had, thanks, Russell and Nicki).  We throw it for her and when she brings it back, she knows that we can't get hold of it if she holds it straight across the middle so she adjusts it in her mouth so that she has one end and you can grab the other to play tug o' war.

We have been to the off leash dog park again, and met some more dogs.  I think she is starting to realise where we are going now and gts excited to get in the car.

We went to Barnes and Noble today - not knowing quite what to expect since my talk with the area manager.  We were quite prepared to leave if necessary, but luckily there was no big meeting.  It was quite busy with normal customers just there for a quiet cup of coffee, and a read.  I don't know if the staff know it was me that complained, but they were very nice to us as usual.

Finally, I am just self-centred enough to have thought of yet another 100 things about me.  I am really enjoying blogging, and reading other people's blogs, I would recommend it to anyone.  I had a visitor from Cost Rica today so will add that to the list.