Friday, March 30, 2012

Hooray For The Freaking Weekend!

Remember that customer that owed me a butt-ton of money?  They paid!!!  ::sags onto the couch::  Phew!  Quarter End is officially over...until June 30 that is, haha. 

I REALLY want to see "The Hunger Games" movie this weekend...and I'm getting my taxes done tomorrow finally.  I never wait this long to do them...probably waited this year so I wouldn't spend the refund too fast.  I need to send my sister's church the deposit for the wedding.  She is gifting me the church and hall fees but we still have to pay for the organist, the custodian, sexton, security deposit...etc. etc. etc.  Of course, if we win the MegaMillions jackpot tonight, I'll throwing a huge party and you're all invited!  ;)  I started a list of all the things I need to get done and people I need to call (caterer, DJ, photographer...OMG) and it's really overwhelming me. 

One thing at a time though.  I can do this!

I also logged back in to Sparkpeople today.  This will make my third attempt at losing the weight and I have an awesome incentive now...looking and, more importantly, feeling stunning in my wedding dress.  I'm super motivated right now and I hope I can keep the momentum going.  Fingers crossed!

I want to lose 67 pounds before the wedding in November.  Just saying it scares the beejeezus out of me but I can't conquer it unless I face it. 

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Goal Oriented

I mentioned in my last post that it's Quarter End at work.  We get goals in our department that we have to meet..both as individuals and as a group.  Basically, we have to collect cash (the group's goal) , clean up older invoices greater than 60 days old, and clean up any credit memos and cash on our accounts. 
I had made my cash/credit on account goal about a month ago...wheeeee...and as of this morning, I found out that one of my trouble accounts is paying a butt-ton of old invoices which means, this girl, made her goal!  It's such a stressful job sometimes that even having two days (the Quarter ends this coming Friday, the 30th) to not have to worry about making my goals is like a mini-vacation..lol.

A few months ago we had to submit our Self Appraisals at work to our managers. Now THAT was stressful. Basically you have to tell your boss what you feel you are doing right and what you need to work on. There's fifty gabillion (okay, so maybe it was only ten) questions you have to answer, citing examples from the previous year. Today I met with my manager and went over the appraisal he was submitting for me. I was pleasantly surprised at how highly he values my contributions to the department. Are there things I need to work on? Of course, but we both agreed on what those things are. All in all, a positive meeting. We will all find out next week if we are receiving raises..fingers crossed that I get one...I need all the wedding money I can get at this point.   Lol...if my ex is reading this, feel free to start sending child support again...it would be greatly appreciated. 

I'll be working from home tomorrow...one of the perks of the job.  I'll be sitting on my comfy couch, laptop plugged into work's network, watching movies and listening to music.  Ahhhh...bliss.  I might even weasel a lunch date with The Man.  :)

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

A Year of Projects: Post # 3



This week has been crazy busy.  We're gearing up for Quarter End at work so I've had to immerse myself in spreadsheets and call up Accounts Payable departments at big companies to tell them to pay their bills.  Sigh.  The whole department put in $1 each for the Mega Millions game (it's up to $360M right now so if we did win, we'd each get $10M...can you even imagine???)  I need every penny I can get, trying to pay for the wedding and to keep my growing kids in shoes. 

I pretty much scrapped the baby blanket that I was making.  It was making me irritated and I didn't want to dread figuring it out right now.  And so, I just started a new one using Bernat in a baby green color.  Just a simple Granny Square afghan for now...we'll see how it ends up. 

Here's what I have so far:


DS will be gone with his father this weekend so I'm hoping to finish it by Sunday night.

**Disclaimer**  I'm about to talk about the wedding so if you don't care to keep reading, feel free to just leave a comment now and carry on with your day.  :)

Made an appointment to go look at dresses with my adoptive mom, sister and DD in April.  Am anxious but excited.  We've pretty much decided that we'll have the ceremony at my sister's church (it helps to have a pastor in the family) and she's going to marry us too.  The reception will probably be at the church's fellowship hall...just a buffet style.  I'm really trying hard not to freak out but there's a lot of "What ifs" that are involved.  Since we have been together for eight years, we're not having a long engagement..at all...and thinking of all the stuff I have to get done before the actual day is here is a bit overwhelming.

Must not lose my mind...must not lose my mind...must not lose my mind...AAAAAARGH!!! 

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A Year of Projects: Post # 2



Slogging along on the baby afghan...not pleased with how it's coming out...which is probably why I've stopped working on it for now.  The edges are becoming ruffled because I messed up the stitches and I just can't bring myself to frog it.  ::thud::



Sigh.  Sorry to be a Debbie Downer on this one...back to the drawing hooking board!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Top O' The Morning...Errrr, I Mean Evening!

I found out I am part Irish three and a half years ago when I was found by my original mom (I'm adopted) on Myspace. I never knew. The adoption agency only noted two nationalities on the paperwork they gave to my adoptive parents ..Scottish and English. I always felt left out as a child when St. Patrick's Day rolled around and everyone dressed in green. I usually wore black in protest.

Yesterday while I worked from home, I whipped up the rainbow hat using some yarn I had laying around.

Sadly, I didn't find a pot of gold when I was done but it came out okay. My son tried it on and just kept saying "It's so CUTE Mumma!!". *beam*

Monday, March 12, 2012

A Year of Projects: Post # 1


Ahhhhh...I feel accomplished after a glorious New England weekend.  Spent the bulk of Saturday running around for DS's birthday party...he LOVED his presents (golf clubs, golf cart, homemade golf club cover, and his very own yarn and hooks from my a-mother and friend). He and my fiance went out both Saturday and Sunday to the golf course.



I treated myself to my first pedicure of the season yesterday and today, I'm rocking out my sandals at work.  So happy the weather is getting so beautiful out and loving that it's going to be near 70 degrees all week!



Yesterday while the boys were out, I sat down and worked on the baby blanket for my friend.  I'm flying by the seat of my pants on this one but it's coming out nicely.  Might end up being more of a small afghan instead of a carseat blanket but I'm okay with that.  I have until August after all.


I used cream for the middle v-stitch pattern and now I'm going to use the light brown and light blue for the outside double crochet stitches.  So far I'm happy with it.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

So Close And Yet...So Far

Today is going to be glorious outside.  It's supposed to get up to around 67 degrees with beautiful sunshine. 

And I'm stuck in the house, working.  One day a week I work from home...and it's a double edged sword.  Yes, I can throw open the windows and doors and feel the fresh air rushing through the house but I am pretty much chained to my desk with my laptop, staring at spreadsheets all day.

I'm going to go for a long walk at lunch though...I have quite a bit of weight I want to lose before the wedding and while I've changed my diet significantly (see ya later cheese and pasta), I've been procrastinating about the exercise thing.  I do have to be gentle with my ankles...I'm plagued by weak ankles and if I push myself too much, my right ankle bone swells up like a grapefruit.  Nice visual, huh?  My son calls it Mummy's BooBoo Ankle.  I call it &%$#.  I used to be a runner...then I got in a car accident when I was pregnant with my son and broke that pesky ankle but didn't know it was broken until years later when I gracefully (like a damn hippo) fell down the stairs at home and had x-rays done.  They found that I had just sprained it during the fall, but that I had an old bone chip floating around from four years prior...from the car accident. 

Ummm...I should probably warn you...I tend to ramble when I blog.  Feel free to tell me to shut up...I won't be offended. ;)

In other news, I worked on the Golf Club Cover for my son last night.  Somehow I keep losing stitches in the top part (worked in the round) so I'm going to try and fix it today on my breaks (of which I think there will be MANY).  Not sure what I'm missing...it's pretty clear cut and the first attempt I did came out decently.  The final draft is eluding me though.  Sigh.




Monday, March 5, 2012

And The Peasants Rejoiced!

Welcome to my little crocheting corner of the 'net. I'm Christina, freshly engaged to my boyfriend of 8 years and to be honest, am freaking out over all the plans I have to make.  I've been crocheting for over 10 years but this is the first time I'm going to put myself out there with the things I make out of yarn and a hook. 

I felt empowered this morning though when I was trudging into work and some random woman got on the elevator with me and said, "Third floor please.  Oh!  I love your bag!".  I pushed the button and realized she was talking about the crocheted purse I'd made for myself several weeks ago.  ::blush::  I told her I'd made it myself and she looked shocked.  But asked me right away if it was knitted or crocheted.  :)

I just joined a group on Ravelry for bloggers and while they are at the tail end of their year long blog-a-long, I'm jumping in feet first so I hold myself accountable for the things I want to make for the wedding.

I'm going to make a page for the patterns I plan on working on now and throughout the year.  We're thinking of an October wedding so I'd better get hooking!