Christmas trees!!!

I love Christmas. it's my absolute, hands down favorite of the holidays. yesterday was a tree hunt that turned into a comedy of errors, but all ended well. mom and I went and found the "family" tree at Lowe's (GREAT deal, btw!), and that went surprisingly smoothly. I think it took us all of ten minutes to find our perfect tree. I finished getting the lights and ornaments this evening, and we'll add the star once the pruning shears are tracked down. here's a night shot:




Now MY tree on the other hand . . .

first of all, I've been collecting ornaments of various shades of blue for years now. the big white trees that are everywhere would look great with the collection, and be perfect for my bedroom. however . . . the 7 or 8 foot pre-lit white trees are way too big for my space. so I started hunting for a 4 or 5 footer. well, Target seemed to have a white, pre-lit tree in-store when I checked online . . . perfect! so when mom and I went shopping friday I looked around. all I could find at the moment though was one (the only one left) 2 foot potted one. so I bought just in case. well, we got home and it was just too small. so, I headed back out to return it and check Hobby Lobby. no 4 foot white, but there was a 4.5 foot silver, un-lit. so I bought the silver Hobby Lobby tree. well, back to Target to return the 2 foot white, and grab a couple of things I had forgotten on the first visit. as I looked through the holiday section what did I find? the 4 foot pre-lit white trees! maybe some group was huddled in front of them the first time, who knows. so then it was BACK to Hobby Lobby to return the silver tree that I had just bought. after that a very tired me headed home to start decorating. here's the result:

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hop everyone is enjoying a drowsy turkey coma . . . I know I have been! my mom and I made dinner for everyone this year (especially after the last Columbus turkey-spam debacle . . . shudder.), and it was great. my grandfather was there (dad's side), my grandmother and her husband (mom's side), and a family from Kenya. it was a lovely meal.

tomorrow is the first Black Friday in YEARS that I have not had to work. THIS IS VERY VERY EXCITING FOR ME! I plan to sleep in, and then go see what sales are still going on. I also plan to be exceptionally nice to all the salespeople . . . no sane person likes working that day. be nice to your salespeople - having to be at work at 3am (at least!) to face screaming lunatics (because a lack of sleep can do that to you at 4am) fighting for "deals" at 4am isn't fun.

Toya posted another blog entry over at blackgirlslikeus, and I feel the same way about her post as I did about Tia's. one of my best friends used to be a stripper/dancer, and we share very different values when it comes to sex. HOWEVER, we both respect each other, and value the other's opinion. just sayin' . . .

well said

I was checking out my friend's blog today, and it pretty much sums up how I feel about this issue, so I'm posting it for you here:

Can I just say...- Tia

that I am constantly floored by how lackadaisical people are about sex. I'm sure I'm opening up a whole can of worms here but right now I just don't care.

I just don't see how another person being up in your body or you being up in another person's body can NOT be a big deal. I'm sure I'm coming off as sanctimonious and self-righteous. But if you really think about it, I mean truly take a moment to think about it, sex is a big deal. And just doing it with anyone just doesn't seem right. Making that HUGE of an emotional commitment to someone is so serious. And I'm astonished that people seem to think that because I don't want to just have any ol' body up inside my body that I'm uptight or old fashioned or that I need to "live a little." Eff that. I know how attached I can get from just kissing someone I'm in a relationship with. Don't let me fool around and sleep with someone and then they leave. I would be gutted. I would be an emotional mess for a long time.

Forget what you heard. If you want that level of commitment from me then you damn sure better be willing to wait for me. And I mean wait until we have the same last name. If you just want to get laid, stroll the eff on. I know me. And I know that I'm worth waiting for. And if you can't wait for me, then you don't want me. There's no love loss. We just aren't supposed to be together. And I'd be full of bullshishery if I said that waiting was easy. But there aren't really any alternatives for me. You do what you have to do and hard as it is, I'll do what I have to do...which is wait. But I'm not just going to let you up in my body because you want to be there. Child, PLEASE.....

This concludes my soapbox rant for the day.

you can visit the original here.

signs

when you can't find the other Netflix dvd AND your current knitting project . . . it's probably time to re-organize. they're there . . . somewhere. I know because I JUST HAD THEM, but this morning they were not in sight. bah. time for more storage containers and trips to Goodwill.

I started a blog for my Etsy shop. I had considered just blogging about projects and such here, but then things would get mixed up in the posts. and since I've started blogging about my knitting projects, I don't want to confuse customers. knitting has become a hobby for me - there's no way I could do it for profit, but I still love doing it.

I finally got to see Amazing Grace this weekend, and it's excellent. in fact, it will be added to my dvd library very soon.

bunny love

here's the little sweetheart . . .

maybe this is it

I visited Athens Church this morning (they meet at the Classic Center theater but they are NOT Athens Church of Christ). it was great. definitely one of those, "wow. this fits . . ." moments. the small group intros start again in January, which is perfect. it gives me a few more weeks to check them out some more. this morning they were talking about clean water in Africa, which I think is something we as Christians should be at the very least aware of. it's great to send out missionaries, but if people are dying from the water they have to walk miles to get, then how are they supposed to learn the gospel? it was refreshing to hear a pastor in my town talking about something I've been caring about for a while now.

they're taking next Sunday off for the holiday, but I'll definitely be there again in two weeks.

and now I'm a little scared

(from overheardinathens.com)

• Sorostitute: On the way from school I popped both of my tires. This like might be a stupid question...
  
• Guy: Shoot
  
• Sorostitute: Do tires like, cost money?

really, what is going to happen to some people if they're suddenly actually cut off from their daddy's money? and who did they pay off to get into college??

men in black

for all of last week the buzz around campus was that Coach Richt had made a call to all UGA fans to wear black to the Georgia-Auburn game on Saturday. that was fine by me. the "blackout" sounded like a fine idea.

then came Saturday.

the stands were black, with the exception of a few red dots (a few didn't get the memo?). the cheerleaders were in black, and even UGA VI had himself a little black jersey on. the team was warming up in usual red. then they all went inside and the captains came out for the coin toss. nothing unusual so far, right? then it happened . . . a team in black came streaming out of the Bulldog's tunnel onto the field. the red-clad captains pealed back there jerseys to reveal the new black jerseys. and meanwhile the fans were going nuts . . . everywhere. cool would be an understatement. the team had no idea that they were finally getting the jersey's they had been asking for for years now until after the pre-game prayer in the locker room.

they went on to beat Auburn 45-20 on Saturday, and the campus is still electric.

vampires beware . . .

the butternut squash soup at Five Star is tasty, but they did NOT skimp on the garlic. it was obviously fresh too, because the soup had that slightly-sweet squash flavor that powdered garlic does not enhance. mmmmmm . . . autumn . . .

the first pair of socks are DONE! I used a different cast-off than I had first planned on, and I think I like it better. we'll see how it wears though. (link to the other way here) I've already started on a striped pair. yes, my name is Meredith, and I'm a sock knitting addict. :-)

new project!!!

ok, so I almost did a cheezy title involving socks . . . but it's early and there's no need for that.

I am almost done with my first pair of hand-knitted socks! toe up, short row heel, and I'm hooked!



the picture is a bit blurry, but it was late last night when I took it. I did manage to get one of my moon-face stitch markers in there though. the toe was done with the Magic Cast On, and Wendy Johnson's Generic Sock Pattern. Cosmispluto's short-row heel illustrations were also very helpful. it IS possible to do a whole sock start to finish on one pair of circulars, but I moved mine to double points so that I could do two socks at once.

turning a short row heel wasn't bad, and I ripped out enough stitches so that now I can get them back on the needles pretty easily. a few more inches on the cuff, and a little ribbing, and then the socks are DONE.

To cast off, I'm planning on using a binding method I found here.