Guess who's engaged?!

That's right! I am! Mike proposed Christmas Eve night at my mom's house. In the room were my mom, me, Mike, my sister Stephanie, my sister Nicole and my niece Miakah. We were opening presents and I was on my last present which was a Hello Kitty mitten shaped stocking. Inside was the ring box. I opened the box looked at Mike then my mom and said "Is this what I think this is?" I was crying, Mike was crying so much that Stephanie said "well are you going to ask her or what?!" She's very blunt and know for saying what she thinks...lol. Mike was so emotional that all he could get out was "so you wanna get hitched?" Of course I said YES! We told his family the next day at Christmas and everyone is very happy for us. No plans for a wedding yet, going to take our time. This will be a second marriage for the both of us.

Funny story...Monday morning I had coffee with my friend April who I meet for coffee every Monday and Friday mornings. We were exchanging presents Christmas Eve morning and after we were done she said she had some exciting news which I figured was some cheesey gossip about one of our friends or one of her co-workers. She said that her boyfriend Matt a.k.a "Sarge" had proposed to her on Saturday. I of course busted out bawling and gave her a hug, which I DO NOT HUG PEOPLE!! I was so very happy for her and them both. Sarge is a good guy and very happy for the two of them. This will be the second marriage for them as well.

Funny...within 2 days me and my best friend April are engaged...who would've guessed?

Whew!

See what all I've been making tonight? I'm tired as hell! At work tomorrow we are having our "Secret Santa Exchange", "Cookie Swap" and "Holiday Lunch"... The snowmen above are the last things I made for Cindy at work whose name I got. For the cookie swap I had to make 6 dozen cookies. I made these "Mexican Wedding Cookies"...I just filled them with Dark Chocolate M&M's instead of nuts.

Did I say I love swaps?!?!

Today I received my Coffee Swap 3 package from Kitty in Switzerland!!! I was so excited because I have been waiting to see what was coming!

In my package was: Scottish traditional hand baked shortbread, Highland Coffees "Costa Rica Tarrazu" coffee, a very awesome ceramic coffee mug made by Kitty's husband Joe , a bar of "Green & Black's Organic Milk Chocolate" and a bar of "Green & Black's Organic Maya Gold" (which OMG is awesome! It is described as "dark chocolate with orange & spices"...freakin' awesome!!

I also received two balls of "Lang's Soft Shetland Wool" one ball in green and the other ball in blue (very soft! I love wool!), a set of Vintage size 6 knitting needles (very cool, I will have to find more!)...

A Hello Kitty tin coin tube (goes quite well with my growing collection! Did you or Joe make the ceramic buttons inside Kitty?), 2 knitting related buttons and a Vintage coffee card (OMG Kitty has the coolest hand writing, I'm so very jealous!)

Thank you very much Kitty for my great swap package! It was great having you as a first time swap mate and learning so much about you and your lovely family!

Finally something done!

This is a pic of the scarf I finished Monday night at the Sunflower Knitting Guild Meeting. I was making this scarf for myself to go with my lovely new Peacoat that my boyfriend was so kind to buy me this year. I used 2 skeins of "Plymouth Suri Merio Paint". The yarn is very soft!

She's crafty!

Ok so since there is inches of snow outside I decided no way in hell am I

going anywhere today! So as you can see below, I've been chillin' all day

in my lovely new Christmas Stocking Wearin' Skull-n-Crossbones

jammy pants!

But I have been productive! A couple months ago at my boyfriend's sister's house

we were all sitting around the table talking about that show that was on TV,

"Cougars vs. Kittens". It was some reality show about some guy going

on dates with 40-something chicks (Cougars) and younger chicks (Kittens)

to figure out who would win his heart or some kind of crap like that.

I didn't watch the show. Just saw the commercials.

Well at the table was me, my boyfriend, his mom, two sisters and brother-in-law. We were joking about his mom being too old to be a "cougar" so we would give her the name of "Mountain Lion". Another conversation at the table was about one of my boyfriend's sisters having a twenty-something year old living with her and she being 41, so then we started calling her a "cougar". Well, my boyfriend's youngest sister, who just turned 40 felt a little left out since everyone else had a nickname so we had to think of her. Well this sister has 5 kids! Lord save her! So we thought of a good name for her and said she was a "M.I.L.F." So as a joke for Christmas this year I decided to make them "wife beaters" that have their nicknames on them. They will get a kick out of it.

All shirts were made with the pain in the ass "GeMagic Kit"...biggest pain in the ass ever! Do not buy one! My fingers are sore from the damn prongs in the "gems" and if you ever are so unlucky to watch the infomercial (I didn't buy it from the infomercial, got it at Wally World) they make the damn thing seem so easy...damn liars!!

Guess what my Mom asked for this Christmas?!?

That's right! My mom is the new owner of a K-State Purple Powercat

on her right ankle! We asked what she wanted for Christmas and as of 9pm

this evening...she got it! Never in my life would I ever think of would be

taking my Mom at 56 to the tattoo shop to get a tat after all the grief

she has given me and my sisters for our tattoos and piercings!

The Last Knit...

This is how I feel sometimes...

I love swaps!

Today I got my Caffeine Addicts swap package from Kim!

Above I have Hello Kitty Berry & Cherry Lip Balm, Shimmer Stick, awesome coffee mug, Sniff Kleenexes, Bubble Bath, and Bath Scrubbie...

Flavor Xotics French Vanilla Ground Coffee, Chocolate Crunch cookies (Kim, they really weren't in pieces!!! And they are pretty damn tasty, had to sample the goods!)

And 2 skeins of Cherry Tree Hill Louet Gems Merino in Moody Blues!!

What an awesome package that came all the way from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada! Thank you very much Kim! Awesome job on all the HK goodies! Can't wait for some coffee, cookies and to knit with my new yarn!!

Aren't they pretty?!

Some of my lovely yarn purchases from Churchmouse Yarns & Teas in Bainbridge Island, WA.

Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Socks that Rock, Lightweight in Carbon Dating

Lanna Grossa, Meilenweit Cotton, in Festa.

Araucania, Nature Wool Multy

Mountain Colors, Bearfoot in Wilderness

Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Socks that Rock, Lightweight in Farmhouse. Also features the sock that I have started. No real particular pattern, just hopefully it works out and I can finish a pair! LOL

Scenes from our trip...

View of the Westin Towers outside our hotel room.

Another view outside our hotel room at the Warwick.

View of Bainbridge Island, WA while on the ferry.

Bainbridge Island, WA

Me with a cheesy grin holding on to my bag of yarn goodness I got at Churchmouse Yarns & Teas in Bainbridge. Cute store!

View of downtown Seattle from the ferry.

Another view outside of hotel of a seagull.

Picture of the Experience Music Project building. Very cool museum with all different music related things. Should check out if you go to Seattle. Plus if you buy a ticket to the EMP you also got a ticket to the Science Fiction Museum next door as well.

Seattle Space Needle. I really like this pic that Mike took. I'm thinking of blowing it up and framing a copy of it.

Pic of Mike's new tat that he got from Aaron at Laughing Buddha Tattoos in Seattle. Aaron was a very cool guy and this didn't take him no time to do!!

Pic of seagull outside resting by the pier for the ferry to take us to Bainbridge Island.

Pic of ferry.

Famous Pike's Place Fish Market. Known for the low-flying fish.

Pike's Place Fish Market.

Pic of Mike and Rachel at the Pike's Place Market. Rachel is the market's bronze piggy bank. Rachel weighs in at 550 pounds and was created by Georgia Gerber. Rachel is named after a real 750 pound pig who was the winner at the 1985 Island county Fair.

Entertainers in the market.


Mike and I had a really good time. Didn't want to leave to come back to KC. I look forward to hopefully coming back there soon and seeing more things that we were unable to see this trip.

Seattle here we come!

Tomorrow afternoon my boyfriend Mike and I leave for Seattle! It was actually a surprise trip for his birthday but only stayed a surprise till Saturday night when Leland guessed where we were going and I couldn't lie! So we will be there from Friday till Monday. Nothing really planned. Mike wants to get new ink. I think he is planning on getting the Breaking Benjamin CD cover on his calf.

I haven't decided yet what if anything I might get and where I would put it. I guess I will just have to wait and see.

Since I will be on a plane for approximately 10 or more hours in the next 4 days this will give me time to catch up on doing some knitting. I have no idea what I want to make right now. I did buy 2 balls of Lavish 100% Superfine Alpaca in Cranberry and 2 balls in Royal Blue last night at MisKnits to possibly make Mike some fingerless gloves. I can't believe I'm actually considering making something KU related... I did try to start on the gloves last night but I think I was having a case of "Knitters Block". Couldn't decide if gloves was what I wanted to make, what exactly I wanted to make or how exactly I was going to make something. I will post when I get back as to what I finally worked on when we get back home.

Hi, My name is Amanda...

and I'm a Britney Spears fan.

OK, I'm sure I'm going to get tons of shit for this post, or maybe not? Yes, I did by the new "Blackout" CD, and yes, I actually do like it. Don't' get me wrong...I'm not for the Britney that isn't taking good care of her kids or keeping up with her responsibilities. I do like her music, or at least I like the more current music that isn't too much of the "bubble gum pop" and is more dance/club type.

The boys are back!!

Ahhh...My boys McNamara/Troy are back in business for Season 4 Nip/Tuck.

UGH...Mondays!

Thank god my Mondays start with "coffee morning with April"...sounds like a NPR program or something....hmmm, there's a thought. But I don't think we could get paid to do it so scratch that idea. April and I meet every Monday/Friday morning at Starbuck's. These are mornings to either talk about our weekends or bitch about our weeks. I love coffee mornings! Unfortunately our morning was cut a little early due to the fact I had a lovely 8am dentist appointment that I had to rush to in the downpour of rain this morning...not fun.

As usual, I go to get my teeth cleaned, listen to the hygienist repeat herself about how "I need to brush twice a day and floss and use mouthwash and brush and floss and..." Granted I brush once a day and use my tongue cleaner, apparently I'm not doing enough. WTF?! I guess I'm supposed to take 15 mins out of my morning to stand in front of the mirror and concentrate on my gums! I have a hard enough time waking up in the morning on time that now I need to wake up even earlier to concentrate on making sure that I'm brushing against my gum line? Ugh...I'm going to try...or at least I will try for a week and go back to being a slacker. We shall see...

Next stop before work is the lovely trip to the Wyandotte County Courthouse to file garnishment papers on a customer that loves to play fucking games and not pay his bill. I want to say that we took him to court in April and he has yet to pay his judgement. I think I have now went back to the lovely courthouse maybe 10 times to try and get money and still have a about $500 to collect from a $1500 bill. And let me tell you...the clerks at the Wyandotte County Courthouse are not the most friendliest chicks! I swear, every time I go there I either come out feeling like a complete fucking moron for asking questions as to how to fill out paperwork or that I put them out by having them file shit for me. Isn't that their job? Out of all the courthouses I have had to go to for small claims cases for work, Wyandotte County is the least on my list that I like going to.

Finally I show up to work around 10:30...typical lovely day in Accounting. I seriously need a new job... A new job that I don't have to constantly hear customers whine about not receiving an invoice or how they have no money to pay their bill or how they can't understand why they were charged what they were charged. I don't know why I'm in Accounting. I hate Math! I hate numbers! I guess the job pays the bills...although, I win the lottery or someone offers me another job and I'm out the door in a hurry!

On a positive note...I have signed up for two swaps via Ravelry! I've never done the swap thing before. I'm doing the "Caffeine Addicts" and "Coffee Swap Three" swaps! The CA swap is an annoyomous swap. I did hear from the person that has me today via email and they seem to have the same possible warped sense of humor that I do... (OK swap buddy if I'm wrong, please correct me!) I have also emailed my swap anonymously letting her know that I have her. I like to blog stalk her so I can see what she is into so I can get ideas as to what to hook her up with...

For my CST swap they made it so your and your buddy are swaps. My swap is Kitty! She is from Scotland and we have talked via email several times! Kitty is awesome and I always look forward to her emails. I have done some shopping for her and I hope she likes what I'm sending her...hopefully we don't have to beat some ass to get it delivered though since the postal service is on strike :(

I almost forgot...My dad called me from San Diego this morning telling me that he was being evacuated from his house. I guess the fires were coming towards his house and work and he has told to leave. I can't imagine what it would be like to have to deal with something like this. He also mentioned that he was going to try and go to our friend Kris' house but something to do with traffic being so bad from all the people leaving that he didn't know what he was going to do. I guess we all have to pray that the fires stop. Houses can be replaced, people cannot.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today we celebrated my mom's birthday by having dinner at my gma's house. I made my mom's favorite German Chocolate cake. Which I was impressed at how good it looked and tasted. I guess those Wilton Classes at Michael's worked!

Lovely view from the top...

Lovely side view...

After gorging on dinner and cake we all watched the "Lost in the 50's" dvd that my gma bought my mom from their last trip to Branson, MO. Also we got to watch Baby Fuzz be ornery and look cute. Since none of us like our pics taken I took some of Baby Fuzz...

The kid is totally ornery and unfortunately takes after her mother, Stephanie!