Birthday Pics

Ok, so I don't normally post pics of myself because I have self image issues. Like, I need to lose about 45 lbs. But, I'll make an exception for my birthday pics, and the really great hair do that Casi did. So, below is the pic of my hair after I came back from the salon. It's in a semi-up do. It kinda reminds me of hair styles of the late 1800's. And, it lasted all day and night!

Next is a pic of me and Casi, at Easton Town Center.

Two Crazy Red Heads!

And the next one is a really good shot of the fountain on the north side of the shopping center.

And, those neon lights you see in the back ground are on the Mc Donalds. You can sorta see Ronald's big fluffy red do over the water. Hee hee!

And just so that I'm not the only making a rare appearance on the blog, here's one of Mr. S at a cook out at PJ's house.


I'll take pics of my Liberty footies tonight and post them tomorrow.

Happy Knitting!

What a weekend!

Well, let's start with what happened after I got off of work on Thursday, shall we? I picked up the girls and headed off for Katie's softball game. It was a home game, thankfully. And, as I watched the game, I finished the 2nd ribby footie in Lorna's Laces Liberty. I still have to take a pic of them. And, I get a call from Miss Amy. And the conversation went a little like this:

Amy: Ok, if I'm looking at the thermostat and it says 80 degrees, is that a bad thing?

Me: Is there any cold air coming out of the air vents?

Amy: No. None.

Me: Shut it off. I'll check it when I get home.

So, when I got home at 10 pm, it was hotter than all Hades in the house. First thing I did was change the air filter, and then try to get the a/c to work. No deal. So, Amy put in a call to the rental office that someone needed to come look at it on Friday. Now, mind you, I took Friday off to get things done, like renew my driver license and car tags, and a trip to the store. I finally called the rental office around noon, and she said that someone would be out that afternoon. Finally at around 2 pm, I decided that I couldn't wait any longer, as I was fearful of a long line at the DMV. I rounded the girls up and off we went. Twenty minutes later, I was finished at the DMV and on my way to the grocery store. I thought I'd call the rental office. I got voice mail, and left a message that I was on my way back to the house, so they could show up any time. While I was at the store, I figured what the hell, and picked up a bottle of pineapple rum and some orange juice. I went home, took a nap and got up in time to run Katie to her friend Taylor's house for the night. When I got home, Mr. S was waiting for me. I had to fight him to make dinner, and I already had everything waiting and ready. After dinner, I worked on trying to get him to crack on why I had to be up so early on Saturday. He didn't budge.

Saturday dawned bright and early, unfortunately. I didn't really want to be up that early. But, I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower. And since he beat me to it, that delayed me getting ready. He's trying to push me out the door, but I still made sure I did my makeup and dried my hair, not knowing what he had in store for me. By the time I made it up to the kitchen, he had made me a couple of frozen waffles. I ate those in the car on the way. And, I'm actually proud of the fact that he didn't crack, like he always does, and tell me what he had planned. He took me here. He had scheduled it 2 weeks ago. He said that because he didn't really know what to get me for my birthday, he'd take care of the 2 things that I had complained about: needing a pedicure & needing my hair cut. And the main reason he chose that salon is because his good friend Casi works there. My appointment was for 9:15 am, but he had me up and out the door by 8:15 am. So, I was pampered all morning. Casi only cuts hair, so my pedicure was done first. Then I was handed over to Casi. And my hair came out looking great. She styled it for our night out, and we were on out way. From there, we went back to the house to pick up Annie, and then went to the Columbus Arts Festival at Easton Town Center. There, we roamed around a little bit, and had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. Which was better than I thought it would be. From there, Mr. S dropped me back off at the house to get ready. I then took Annie to the ball field, as Katie had a make up ball game, and both girls spent the night at Taylor's. After I dropped Annie off, I went and picked up Miss PJ and her husbeast (and I call him a beast because I've had to endure his practical jokes for almost 18 yrs), while Mr. S picked up Casi's husband. We all met at the Japanese Steak House (sadly, they have no web site). They seated up early, as we had reservations for 6 pm. After we were done there, we went on to Easton Town Center, and decided that we would go to The Shadowbox Cabaret instead of the movie (Casi was scared of the movie). We saw the "Best Of" show, and have agreed to go back and see The Rocky Horror Show. The show let out at 1 am. From there, we just went home and collapsed into bed.

Sunday, we got up, bright and early, again. And that was because we had to pick up the girls from Taylor's. Then, we dropped Katie back off to the house to wait for her dad to pick her up, and dropped Annie off to PJ for the day. We then headed out to Dayton, OH to the Dayton Art Institute. We went to see the Marilyn Monroe exhibit. Sunday was the last day for it. Now, I'm a huge Marilyn fan, I've seen every movie that she completed, and even out takes of the movie she was filming when she died. The exhibit was good, but I was a little disappointed with it. And, this is why: They had a one day preview of the exhibit, and my SIL happened to be there that day. In that preview, they had on display the white halter dress from the Seven Year Itch. When we finally made it to see the exhibit, there were none of her costumes, or anything of a personal nature on display. There were only photos, artists renditions, intrepretations, and sculptures on display. Granted, it was good, but a little disappointing. But, Mr. S did surprise me by buy the last 2 copies of the famous Warhol's, the red one and the blue one. He told me that he would make his mission to find all the others for me, so I'll have a complete collection. Ain't he just the sweetest? From there, we went with my SIL and my niece that joined us for the exhibit, to the Dublin Pub. If you ever make it to Dayton, stop there. They have great irish food. And then we came home and vegged for the rest of the evening.

Mr. S said that he wanted me have the best weekend possible, with as little stress as possible. And that was what I had.

Monday, on the other hand, was.... yeah. Was. That's about it. Since no one ever showed up on Friday about the a/c, I was house bound until he showed up yesterday, sometime around 1 or 2 pm. Then Katie had a game at 6 pm. They lost, but it was only by 1 point. They played a great game, and once again, Katie was hit by the ball. I have started calling her "Maggie" (short for magnet), and she's not too happy about that. After the game, the coach took the team out for ice cream, and we hung around for over an hour in the ice cream shop parking lot, just chatting. All in all, not too bad of a day.

Ok, enough rambling on. I'll post pics later.

Nothing much in general

I was updating a couple of the sock swap blogs, and thought I'd update this one, too. There's not too much going on. Katie has a softball game tonight. I have taken a couple of days off at work, specifically Friday and Monday, as Saturday is my birthday. I just want to enjoy a couple of days off, paid, for my birthday. So far, as much as I know, we have 6 pm reservations at the Japanese Steak House and then it's off to see the movie 1408. Miss PJ and her husbeast are going to join us, and maybe Mr. S's friend Casi and her husband. But what worries me is the fact that last night, while watching Ghost Hunters, Mr. S looked at me and said, "Now, honey, I know it's your birthday, and you like to sleep in on Saturdays, but we need to be up, ready and out the door by 8 am. Don't ask, just be ready." Now, I'm the type that I like to plan ahead. I like to be prepared for what ever. That comes from raising 2 children on my own. But, I'm not too good with surprises. Well, gifts can be surprises. But I don't like events or trips to be surprises. I'm the type of person that you can tell me you got me a gift, tell where you hid it, and I could care less, I'll wait till you hand it to me. But tell me that you have planned a trip and not tell me one single detail, and I'll go crazy. So, I'll do what I normally do with Mr. S, I'll question and push until he can't take it anymore and he caves and tells me. What was it he called me the other day? Oh yeah. A "pushy broad." Hee hee! I guess I can't help it. It's a side effect from being on my own for so many years.

Oh well. At least I have some sock knitting to look forward to tonight at the game. That is, if the game doesn't get too exciting, like it did Monday night. (And yes, girls' softball games can get exciting.) I only got 5 rows done on Monday.

If you are interested in taking a peek, I am in the process of wrapping up the Sock Hop Swap '07, and today is the kick off of the Summer Sock Party '07.

Happy Knitting!

A new week!

Last night's softball game went well, even if it was a little windy with lots of dirt flying. I had so much dirt in my eyes, I almost couldn't see past the mud it was creating. Ok, so maybe that's a little dramatic. But I couldn't wear my contact lens today, because they need a long soak to get all the dirt off. But, back to the game. Katie's team won again, 27-10. Her batting is improving, and she was named slider of the game by the coaches. She also figured out why those uniform socks are so long and why you should always wear them, as she tore up her left shin sliding into home. Her batting is also improving, as she got a triple play, with the bases loaded. On the down side, the game was too exciting to knit, so I only got 5 or 6 rows done on a footie that I'm working on.

Speaking of footies. Here are few pics of the set I finished last week.

The Specs:

Yarn: Lorna's Laces (love that yarn)
Color: Mt. Creek
Needles: US 1 Crystal Palace (my favorite)
Pattern: My own plain vanilla ribby footie

As I was taking these pics, I found another bruise from last week's fall up the stairs at work. You can see it in the bottom pic, on my right leg, just above my left heel. How I missed that one, I'll never know. But it's big enough that it wraps around the outside of my leg. Ouch.

Stop by Lexa's page to wish her well. She's feeling under the weather.

Happy Knitting!

Ok, I give up!

I am positive that there is a cosmic filing cabinet and it contains a huge folder that reads on the little tabby, in bold letters:

Things that only happens to Tonia

I have had my share of illnesses, viruses, common colds, migraines and what have you, for the rest of the year. I want no more illnesses for the rest of the year. All last week, I was at home with sever migraines, and a stomach virus to top it off. Then, to continue in that theme, the second day back to work this week (that being Tuesday), I fell up the stairs on the way in. In that accident, I punctured my left wrist, bent and bruised my right wrist, jammed my right should upwards, hit the steps with my right thigh, and if Miss Amy had been moving any slower in opening the door, I would have hit my head on the steel security door. These kinds of things only happen to me. Just like the weekend before I was home sick. I decided to get an account at a major video rental chain (which I shall not name, but I'm pretty sure you know who I'm talking about), and I receive a notice in the mail to return a movie that I never rented. My reaction was WTF???? I called the store to inform them that there was something wrong, and I needed to find a way to fix it. The manager took the offending articles off of my account. After I hung up, I started wondering how that could have happened, so I called back to talk to the manager. When I asked if someone else could have been using my account without my knowledge or consent, he started to get short with me. In a very snippy tone, he stated that it was an error. When I pointed out that it could've been a costly error for me, he then proceeds to say, "Well, I can investigate if further, but I would have to put them back on your account, and that might not go so well for you." At this point, the evil little b*#ch in my kicked in, and I said, "Is that a threat? Because, that sounds like a threat to me." He just went on being a jerk, and then made the mistake of asking me if there was anything else he could do. I replied, "Yeah, learn better customer service skills." And I hung up on him. At the point, I was spitting angry. I called another store and asked for the 800 # for their corporate office. I then called and filed a complaint on that manager, and the nice customer service lady called the store to make sure everything was taken off of my account. Upon hearing how the manager treated me, she acted outraged on my behalf, and said that my complaint would go to the local field investigator. As soon as I was done, I decided that I would drive right over to the store and cancel my account. And, as I pulled out of the garage, we found out that I had a flat, and those tires were less than 4 months old. So, Miss Amy handed me her keys, and I went and canceled my account. Once that was done, we took my car down to the corner gas station, and I put air in the tires and took it back to the tire shop. The had it fixed, and they tires rotated in under 20 minutes, for free.

But, I haven't forgotten to mail out the packages that need to go, it just may be another week or so, considering I missed a full week of work, unpaid. Yikes! That hurts. But, they will be going out soon. I promise.

I'll have some sock pics to post soon. As soon as I take pics of them. But, I will leave you with a pic from yesterday's lunch with Mr. S at Easton Town Center (for those of you that aren't from around these parts, that's a huge shopping center, on the scale of a small town, and it has to have it's own street maps, no kidding).



This poor guy! It was hot, and granted he was playing with the kids in the fountain, but that suit was rubberized, and I can lay odds that it was really hot. I hope he was paid a really good hourly rate.

This is so funny!!!